Cat-Ra

(Title changed from She-Ra IF)
"If" is such a powerful word. What if the reasonings for our duo were different? What if the personalities of our two favorite females were altered ever-so slightly? Would their adventure be any easier, or harder? How would Catra go about trying to be a hero? What sort of struggles would change because of a simple switch? And most of all, what if Catra became She-Ra?
Current Episode: Season 4 Episode 2 Part 1

Notes:

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: Episode 1: The Sword Part 1 P1

Chapter Text

Hey Guys, monokub here! Brand new user to Ao3, Thanks to WingedPegasus for the invite! Anyway I hope you all enjoy this series as I look forward to all the feedback from you guys! Comments are welcomed all over! Leave a like fave, share, etc., whatever you do on this site ^^. All these chapters are on my fanfiction page too, hence i have so much to post here. As such, I have author notes i post at the beginning of chapters for the people over there so if some things don't make sense, ignore them.

Other than that, enjoy ^^!

A/N: A few things to note before we begin.

1, to my fellow RWBY fans, I'll be taking a break from Rwby for awhile. I need to get back the energy i used to have by trying something new, so the latest rwby series is on a short hiatus, sorry.

2, I'll be posting the episodes in 2 parts per episode. For those who know my usual work, I usually write verily long chapters, and while some people love that and all, they also know for rwby's short 10-14 minute episodes, i write near 8k+ chapters. Cause of that, I'll be splitting these into two parts per episode, otherwise I'll be looking at a freaking 15k episode posts, and I dont think anyone wants to go through those incredibly long things XP.

And 3, the last thing, I'll be posting these in both she-ra sections, the old one and newest one. Reason being? Because I'm 90% sure half the She-ra 2018 fanbase is on that side of things such as they are on this one- I almost posted in this in the classic she-ra section myself by accident, so given how easy it is to make that mistake, i'll be posting on both sides so everyone who's a fan of Netflix's she-ra can see this.

So with that said, onto the show ^^!

...

"Crap!" Catra hissed as she raced down the halls.

Life in the Horde was never easy. You were expected to follow orders, ask questions never, and preform routine training regimes until they came of age and joined the Horde themselves. For the glory of Hordak and the unity of Eternia, all members of the Horde were expected to work hard and earn their keep, prove themselves to their fellow peers, and surpass any and all expectations of their leaders.

That's why it was a sorry morning for Catra herself when she realized she overslept. It was bad enough when she appeared late to her training sessions but it was so much worse when she did it on a constant basis. It wasn't her fault though, at least to her, that she was a heavy sleeper. Being part cat aside she found little to no enjoyment in her line of work. Everyday it was always "do this", "do that", "do all of these things" repeatedly and without end. There was never a break for her.

And a break was the least she wanted out of this.

What she truly wanted was respect. Not once since being raised in this place did anyone ever show her an ounce of courtesy. No one wanted anything to do with her, no one wanted to acknowledge her existence, it was almost like she was diseased or carrying a plague that everyone wanted to avoid. It was tolerable from her fellow teammates and all that, the real trouble came from her superiors that graded and scored her numerous tests, both physical and mental. It always felt like they pushed her harder than everyone else and acted like she as at fault when someone else messed up.

Naturally all of these demerits and bad scores weren't just accepted with a slap on the risk or a stern talking about whatever teamwork-related fancy shmancy piece of garbage they could find in their rulebooks. These ranged from simple things like cleaning an entire room with their own toothbrush, running laps back and forth across a room a hundred times until someone melted down to their kneecaps, to being forced to miss dinner for the night and breakfast before the next training regime. And those were all the easy penalties one could receive around here.

The unlucky ones were never heard from again. The really unlucky ones came back with the inability to recall what they went through without breaking down.

But these sort of things were to be expected for those serving for the greatness of the Horde. To bring absolute peace and rule under all of Eternia under one banner, the followers of Hordak followed these rules and tough schedules without hesitation. They were all too proud to give their life for the Horde, some of them owing them as a form of debt for saving their lives, other out of fear of what would happen if they opposed the Horde.

Thankfully, like many others, Catra found herself on the former end of things. Brought in as an infant like many others, Catra found herself indebted to the great Hordak. Granted, there were times she found it hard to muster any energy to support the Horde, due to the constant abuse she suffered throughout this place, but as long as there was one person who treated her as a person within these grounds, there was hope that anyone else would turn around.

"Catra!" The familiar sound of an overseer shouting at her appearance said otherwise. "You're-

"Late, tardy, run laps after, blah blah blah." Catra shrugged, having heard these words hundreds of times in the past.

"Actually they just went in." Well that was a first. "Now hurry on up or you will be running laps afterwards!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." This kind of conversation was about as polite as it got between Catra and anyone else other than her friend.

She wasted no time leaping into the obstacle course of the training room, using her literal cat-like reflexes to help leap herself from the ground to several of the nearby pillars, jumping from place to place till she managed to reach the top of one of the many pillars. From ahead she could already hear the sound of gunfire, the flashing of lights, and the sounds of blasters going off, assuring her that the rest of the team was already partway through the course. That left things generally easier on her end to manage since it meant they took the liberty of destroying several of the training bots throughout the room, provided any of them could reach her from her vantage point.

Still not wanting to find herself behind any of the other four, especially someone like Kyle, Catra leapt her way between each of the individual pillars, being careful to watch her surroundings of any of the nearby droids. While these roly poly robots were nothing more than training dummies, they were still equipped with blasters capable of paralyzing a rookie trainee or disabling a heavy piece of machinery like a tank. The troubling part to this is that those paralyzed were wearing protective vests, ones that would let them know if they were shot and failed the training session. She had yet to see what would happened if she wasn't protected and got shot by one of these massive blasters, and that's how she intended to keep it.

After a mere thirty seconds she finally came to the end of the training session, having easily avoided the other robots that were too distracted by her dimwitted teammates to pay any attention to her. Below her she could see the only other person she could expect to make it this far into the course, and the only person she considered the closest thing to a friend within this abysmal place.

Adora. The one person that treated Catra with respect. They grew up together since they were infants, they got into trouble even though most of the consequences were forced on Catra rather than shared between the both of them, and she was the only person who saw Catra as one of their own, not some freak with a tail that deserved to be shunned by society or casted aside like a rat. She was her only friend, her only ally in this bleak place.

And she wasn't about to see her friend fail just because her other teammates were too pathetic to keep up with her.

Before Adora could act, Catra brought it upon herself to strike first. Right before the massive droid could fire upon her, she leapt through the air over to the massive construct, catching Adora's surprise and distracting the droid for just a split second, long enough for it to bring a sudden halt to it's cannons as Catra landed on back of the robotic spider-like bot. If there was one feature Catra adored about herself it was her feline traits. They were useful, subtle, and gave her claws sharp enough to dig her hand straight into the control panels of the massive construct's back.

"This looks important." Catra joked aloud as she ripped several wires from the giant mech. Not wanting to waste any opportunity, or take the chance of pulling the wrong wire, Catra continued to scrape and tear out anything and everything she could dig out of the machine. No matter how many sparks, wires, or computer chips she tore from the machine, she didn't relent until she the machine started to rumble with a low-pitched hum ringing out.

Smoke and the sound of it's legs scraping against metal could be heard as the machine slowly started to tumble in upon itself, it's legs folding in place as it began to descend slowly into the hole from whence it came. Grinning to herself, Catra quickly climbed over the giant droid, flipping briefly through the air before landing perfectly ahead of the robot itself, her back turned to it as she simply grinned to the massive wreck. Nothing but broken sheets of metal and wires could be seen strewn about, cables flailing with electrical sparks as the machine collapsed into it's dark pit.

With a smile she turned her attention back to her fellow comrade, Adora looking at her with a small grin and her arms crossed. "Did you seriously just wait all this time for us to do all the work?" Adora asked, earning a chuckle from the cat. "That's low, even for you.

"Oh come on, someone has to know how make an entra-AHHHHHHHH!" Catra's reply was cut short by the time she took a single step forward. If she had paid any attention to her surroundings, specifically the robot behind her, she would've seen one of the cables accidentally lash around her legs just as she began to walk away. The suddenness of the event was enough to catch her off guard and send her tumbling to the ground, almost immediately getting pulled along into the hole with the robot as it descended into darkness.

If there was anything to be thankful of, it was that the cable just as quickly unwrapped around her leg just as the robot fell further below, otherwise she would've been living the rest of her life on a crutch, provided the Horde even kept her in the state she would've been in. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to react to the event, having been distracted by her friend, to grasp any of the surrounding walls or side of the hole as she found herself plunging into darkness, her reflexes failing her the one time she most needed them.

It was only at times like these, those moments that lasted a split second, that she truly envied having a friend. By the time her head just passed the opening of the hole she felt a strong firm grip grasp her hand, saving her from whatever painful fall she would've suffered. Unsurprisingly she was greeted with the smirking expression of her only friend, Adora finding it all too fitting that the cocky cat nearly fell to her fate simply from trying to show off.

"So what joke works here? See you next fall or something? Thanks for hanging around? Let me know, I can do this all day." Adora teased, earning nothing more than a sarcastic chuckle from the cat.

"Ha. Ha. Ha..."

...

"Ghhhh." Catra grunted to herself as she straightened out her hair. The locker rooms were empty save for the two friends who continued to settle in for the day, with Catra working on her hair she messed up with the fall and Adora unequipping her training armor. "I seriously can't believe I only got one robot before failing the course."

"You didn't fail the course, you just fell for one trap. Besides, if it makes you feel any better, you got one more robot than Kyle did." Adora commented still in a slightly joking manner.

"Wow, what a surprise! It doesn't."

"Aw come on, you're always so cheerful. I thought you'd be happy that we're both senior cadets now. This means we'll be going out in the field soon, fighting alongside the rest of the Horde!"

"And still taking orders like lapdogs." Catra retorted. "Don't you ever get tired of all the work, all the orders? The higher our ranks climb, the less fun we're going to be able to have around here and the more grunt work we're going to be forced to do."

"Fun? What are you talking about? There's plenty of fun to be had around- HUH!" Adora let out a startled gasp as she pointed away. "Is that a mouse?!"

"What? Where?!" It took several seconds of Adora's snickering and follow up laughter before Catra realized she had been played again for the hundredth time by the exact same trick.

"Hahaha," Adora laughed holding her sides, "are you ever not going to fall for that?"

"I don't know, are you ever going to LET IT GO? It was one time." The humanoid cat muttered with a small pout.

"I know, but for some reason it's always funny."

This. This is exactly what Catra was referring to earlier. These little moments of just the two of them chuckling and joking back and forth were the things they were never going to have once they moved on out in the field. For all Catra knew, they might even be assigned to different sections of Eternia! It's not a thought she wanted to think of, but with all that was going around here, she wouldn't put the possibility past her, especially when they had to follow orders from someone like-

"Adora." A voice greeted as it stepped out of the shadows, catching the two teens by surprise as Catra leaned off the lockers.

"Shadow Weaver." Adora greeted back with a respectful salute. To this, Catra mentally rolled her eyes rather than physically, knowing how easy Shadow Weaver was to anger whenever anyone other than Adora addressed her.

"You have done well." She complimented with a pleasant tone. "You've completed your training course in record time."

"Uh, well that wasn't just me. You know, Catra did, too." Adora gestured to her friend, trying to share the praise.

"Ah, yes." Like every other time Catra was involved with a conversation with Shadow Weaver and Adora, her tone shifted from a friendly and polite demeanor to one of utter annoyance and displeasure. How someone as unmotivated as you completed the course in that time, I'll never know. Personally I would've seen you demoted after your little stunt nearly cost both of your exams. You're quite fortunate someone as dependable as Adora was there to save you."

"Always serving up those pep talks, huh, Shadow Weaver?" Catra tried to joke, only earning the sternful voice and Shadow Weaver's ire.

"Silence!" She barked as her hair blended in to an ever growing darkness behind her. Even something as minimal as a joke with Shadow Weaver was enough to earn the dark witch's wrath. Already Catra could feel the soft coils of Shadow Weaver's magic crawling upon her skin, slowly rising up her body. "Do not be flippant with me, cadet."

Shadow Weaver was the best and worst part of a mother and father put into one. When she addressed Adora, she acted like a mother should be; polite, sincere, only raising her voice only so often if needing to discipline her, which she never did. She was always soft and patient with the young blonde. Then She was the worst part of every abusive father whenever she addressed Catra. Whether it was a joke, or simply crossing her path, almost everything Catra did earned Shadow Weaver's scorn. It was almost as if she had a target on her back that only Shadow Weaver could see.

Not wishing to prolong whatever anger she incurred from Shadow Weaver, Catra pushed aside from pride as her eyes shifted away. "Sorry, Shadow Weaver." With that simple apology, the shadows that crept up her face and the rest of her body immediately receded, vanishing to who knows where.

"Adora," She addressed again in a pleasant tone, "walk with me." She ordered as she slithered away. Unsure of what she wanted or why she wanted only her, Adora gave a puzzled and slightly concerned look to her friend. Being the friend that she was, Catra could only shrug as she crossed her arms, giving her a small smile as Shadow Weaver called her again. "Adora." Shadow Weaver barked again, Adora quickly following behind before she had to be told a third time.

Catra just smiled for a bit as she watched her friend leave, her expression slowly changing to a scowl when the two were finally out of sight. This was her life. This was their life. Every day came down to just training, yelling, training, yelling, and if they were lucky, training and yelling. The only difference between her and Adora was that half the time Adora had the joy of not being the one yelled at, not that she expressed this glee audibly.

As she walked out of the locker rooms Catra found herself wondering to herself. Why did she continue to follow orders around here? Why on Eternia did life have to throw her into a lifestyle like this? Being seen as nothing more than a runt who was destined to follow orders for the rest of her life? Always working while someone else took the credit for their hard work while they continued to boss them around without worry or care? This garbage?!

She was meant for something greater than this, her and Adora! And why shouldn't they? They earned it! At least that's the conclusion Catra thought to herself. Both being orphans as infants and being raised in the horrid place that was the Horde? That was a fate some would consider worse than death, and whether or not Catra grew used to that sort of life, it didn't mean she came to find it comforting or happy. Everything about this place screamed oppression for people like her, people others saw as "freaks" just because they were part animal in some nature.

The Fright Zone was the furthest thing from a home. The Horde were the last thing she would call family. Even her so-called allies were the furthest things she had from friends, Adora excluded. Speaking of which...

*thud*

"Ah-!" Barely registering what she collided into in the first place, Catra just gave an unamused look as she noticed the two guards she bumped into in the hallway. She barely gave them a shrug as she continued walking past them, an evident lack of care coming off from the wildcat. "Watch where you're going, freak!" One of the guards huffed before continuing their patrol.

That was the word that caused Catra's ears to twitch. "What'd you call me?" She growled silently as she walked back to the duo. It'd be easier to look into their eyes if they weren't wearing helmets.

"What? Got cotton in your ears, freak?" The left guard replied.

"This freak happens to be a Senior Cadet now thank you very much." She pointed out. "So show some respect!"

"Oh, a thousand pardons your majesty!" The right guard mockingly bowed as he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "I had no idea I was speaking to such royalty!"

"Do you want us to shine your helmet after we dust your royal throne, your highness? Pffft hahaha!" The guards both broke into laughter as they walked away again from this mockery.

Catra squeezed her claws in anger. She knew getting fed up with guards like these was pointless, and knew attacking them would be a bigger mistake. Senior Cadet or not, they still held seniority over her by several more ranks. Guards such as these would be several ranks higher than her, those trusted to guard the Fright Zone being picked out by lord Hordak himself. Attacking them was a sure way to find herself in a jail cell, regardless if they started a fight or not. Even if she did attack them, that would give someone like Shadow Weaver too much of an excuse to personally destroy Catra herself no matter how much Adora tried to protect her.

All she could do was grit her teeth as she stormed off in the opposite direction as she made a simple vow to herself.

"Those fools will be the first one to pay when I rule all of this..."

...

It was only a few minutes later of marching down the hallways Catra picked up the familiar scent of her friend. With a mischievous grin, she leapt to the pipes towards the ceiling, leaping from each of the pipes as she followed along the scent to the outside balcony of the base. Sure enough there was Adora, leaning against the rails overlooking the Fright Zone. Surely she had to have some fun bit of news if Shadow Weaver wanted to talk to her in private. With a grin she waited till Adora turned in her direction before leaping in to strike, tackling her to the ground

"Ah-!" Adora let out a startled yelp.

"What'd she say?" Catra asked curiously as her attention shifted to the badge. "Hey what's this?" She examined the strange badge as she leapt onto the side rail. It had a strange green batwing-like design stretching out from the center of the emblem.

"Hey! Give that back!" Adora's attempt to swipe the badge back from the cat was futile as she leapt to a higher pipe above the balcony. It took Catra a short while to determine what the strange badge was, longer to believe it was real.

"No way! You've been promoted?" The slightly embarrassed look on her friends face told her all she needed to know.

"Well... kind of." She replied humbled. "I mean, yeah, I guess. Heh." Catra's eyes widened at this. This was all too good to be true! It didn't matter to her if she herself got promoted or Adora did, all this meant to her was that there was so much fun to be had! "But it's not that big of a deal." Catra jumped down from the pipe as she stood alongside Adora.

"Are you kidding? This is awesome!" She beamed. "We're gonna see the world and conquer it! Adora, I need to blow something up!" She couldn't hold back the pur that escaped her throat as her eyes light up with the sparkling stars of the night sky.

"Um..." It was only with that mumble that Catra snapped back from her hyperness.

"What?"

"Shadow Weaver says... you're not coming." The minute she used the words "Shadow Weaver" Catra instantly knew she wasn't going to like what came after before Adora finished her sentence. And what do you know, she lost every bit of excitement she had building up when she processed what she fully said.

"What?!" Catra stammered with a high screech. "But my time was just as good as yours today! Is this because of that stupid pitfall thing or whatever? Because I still finished it within the record time, we both did! What is Shadow Weaver's problem with me?" She hissed again leaping onto the balcony.

"It doesn't have anything to do with that, I think at least." She struggled to find the right words to say, anything that sounded the least insulting to her best friend. "I mean you are kind of disrespectful."

"Why should I respect her? She's just bitter that she doesn't have any real power that doesn't come from Hordak and everyone knows it!" She pointed out walking across the rail. "I'm sure it must be easy being a people pleaser like you."

"I'm not a pe-" Catra didn't even give her the decency of finishing her sentence, completely ignoring Adora's following plea to come back. With a sigh, the newly deemed Force Captain chased after her feline friend, knowing the usual spot where she could find her.

...

Life wasn't fair.

That was the one simple rule most people had growing up anywhere in Eternia. For Catra though? She envied those who complained about their own lives being unfair. Those people were nothing more than selfish little pests in the world. She knew they were completely unaware of how potentially good they really had it wherever they were. They had the opportunity to complain about how things weren't given to them, yet for a place like the Fright Zone getting anything at all from someone else was nothing short of a miracle.

All she had around here was this nice little spot at the top of the Fright Zone that could overlook the entire Zone, sitting with her legs curled up on a balcony as she just stared into the distance with her thoughts.

And now, here was Adora's new badge, given to her by the one person in this world who hated Catra's guts to no end. Of course she would get something from Shadow Weaver, she would get anything from Shadow Weaver, she would get everything from Shadow Weaver! Sure she was jealous, but for far more than just a stupid badge.

Adora had someone that cared about her deeply, deeper than she could possibly understand. The same Adora she could hear approaching from behind her.

"Huff... Look, I'm sorry," she apologized as Catra shifted her eyes, "I didn't even think you wanted to be Force Captain."

"I don't." Catra replied in a huff as she handed the badge back to her. "Here, take your stupid badge." It pained Adora to see her friend like this, curled up upon the railings in a pout with her tail strewn across her bare feet. She could understand everything bothering her, she just didn't know the best way to truly cheer her up.

"Come on, Catra. This is what I've been working for my entire life." Adora commented as she leaned over the railings, Catra shifting her eyes back to her. "I was hoping you could, I don't know, be happy for me."

These were the moments she hated Adora. Not when she was complaining, not when she was pouting about something, in fact she found that kinda cute and funny. What she hated was when she was pouting or bothered by something Catra herself did, and usually she always had the right reason to be bothered by whatever she did.

"Ugh, whatever." She grunted. "It's not like I even care. I just want to get out of this place before I die of boredom." She moaned lying back on the rails. "I wonder what's even outside of the Fright Zone anyway."

If there was ever a single thing Adora could do to turn Catra's mood into a full 180*, it was dangling the keys to a skiff over Catra's face.

"Why don't we find out?"

...

"I take it all back! You're officially awesome!" Whooooooo!" Catra cheered as they soared through the land at top speeds. Not once since they've been taught how to use these Skiffs have they ever been allowed to ride them, much less drive them, across the Fright Zone, or anywhere for that matter. This was the first time Catra actually had actual fun within the last several months, and more importantly, a sense of freedom. "I can't believe you actually stole a skiff!"

"Borrowed," Adora corrected as she piloted the skiff, "please don't make me regret this."

What was there to regret? They were two friends out in the open world, away from the horrid Fright Zone, and, at least to Catra, they were having the time of their lives! "What's there to regret? This is awesome! I've always wanted to drive one of these things. Here, gimme!" Catra insisted, wasting no time to swipe the control from Adora.

"Whoa there, save us enough fuel to make our way back!" Adora warned. She loved hanging out with her best friend, but even she was aware of how reckless the cat could be when she got too excited.

"That is a problem for future Adora and Catra." She stated. No sooner had she sped up the skiff to twice it's speed were the two already wrangling with the controls from each other like little kids fighting over a shared toy.

"I'm driving."

"I want it!"

"Can't have it!"

"Let me!"

"Give it! I'm doing it!"

The argument went back and forth endlessly as the friends fought over the skiff. All the time as they fought they were completely unaware of the change in speeds, directions they were turning, and just how far from the Fright Zone they were venturing from. They weren't even aware they were nearing a strange forest as the two had tackled each other to the ground of the skiff. By the time either of them got back up, the scenery changed from it's decrepit wasteland appearance to a more tranquil and peaceful-looking forestry, bluish green grass highlighting the trees with numerous and strange plants growing around the surrounding forest.

"Whoa! Catra!" Adora's yelp loosened Catra's grip on the skiff, giving the blond soldier enough time to wrestle control from it and bring the vehicle down to a halt before they crashed.

This was nothing like the two had ever seen before, nor anything like the two knew exist. Was it the power of the evil princesses that gave these plants life or something else? They wouldn't put it past them if the former, often hearing stories of the evilness of the other princesses, being trained day in and day out through their upbringing to defeat these evil fiends.

Yet it did nothing to deter their curiosity of this place.

"Whoa... What is it?" Catra whispered as she looked around, speaking quietly as if something could attack them had she raised her voice.

"I think this must be the Whispering Woods." Adora guessed correctly. "They say there are strange, old monsters in there, and the trees move when you're not looking. Every Horde Squadron sent in there has never come out again."

Old creatures? Moving Trees? No Horde has ever come back alive from? This was awesome!

"Let's go in!" Catra's suggestion caught Adora off guard as she immediately sped up the skiff again.

"Wait, what-? Ahhhhh!" Adora's scream was drowned out by the loud humming of the skiff as Catra sped it straight ahead.

"Woo-hooooo!" Catra cheered having the time of her life.

This was perfect! Everything about this current situation was perfect! Two simple Senior Cadets minding their own business, skipping the fact they stole a skiff, accidentally wandering into the dreaded and dangerous Whispering Woods where no Horde soldier has ever returned where evil monsters and who-knows-what roam? This was promotion material for sure!

All Catra would have to do is venture the skiff a little further into the forest, a simple plan as long as they stayed on board. The deeper they went into the forest, the more likely they would get the respect they deserved when they returned, the respect SHE deserved when they finally returned. Why, if she even ad libs a little by saying she saved Adora from one of those old monster things, she might finally get respect from Shadow Weaver of all people, or at least enough for the old witch to stop pestering her anymore!

Not only that, but if they could do something like find a trophy off a dead animal, some ancient remains, or anything that looked important around here, there's no way Hordak could possibly pass her up on a promotion to Force Captain! Then nothing would be able to keep the two of them separated!

It was perfect! It was simple! It was-

"Catra! Tree!" Adora quickly yelled as she took control of the skiff again. Apparently Catra had been so caught up in her thoughts she didn't even register the tree they nearly crashed into. Luckily thanks to Adora's quick reaction she managed to divert the direction directly upwards, just seconds away from crashing head on into the large tree itself.

Despite preventing the crash, and possibly saving their lives, Catra still found herself a little irritated at the idea of Adora messing up her plan. "I got it, I got it. Just give me back the-"

*Whack!*

"Ahhhhhh-!" The few feet of space Catra traveled to shove Adora out of the way was the only few feet necessary to place Catra on the receiving end of a heavily large branch that smacked into her face, bashing her straight in the head and throwing her off the skiff from nearly a hundred feet in the air. There wasn't enough time for Adora to grab for her friend by the time she processed what just happened,

"Catra!" Adora cried out in fear, doing whatever she could to pilot the skiff again. Unfortunately she found her controls hampered by the increased wind resistance against the skiff's sails, a process that became more troubling as Adora was forced to change directions several times to avoid any oncoming collisions. There was no time to make a quick U-turn.

Back on Catra's end of things, the cat found herself thankful for the helmet she always wore from keeping the branch from knocking her out cold. That did little to protect her from the fall as she didn't even have anything close to grab onto. The only thing that came within arm's length of her was another large tree branch that managed to break her fall, crashing straight through it before finally hitting the ground with a large thud.

Following a large flat bushy bed, the last thing Catra registered was a loud crashing noise before everything went black.

...

"Ngggh..." She groaned a bit to herself as she rubbed her head. Now she was slightly regretting the stupid helmet. It was useful for taking small blows directly to the forehead, but it sure left a ringing sensation all throughout her head when something hard slammed against her whole body - like the ground. If there was any bright side to anything that just happened, it was the fact this bush was here at all to break her fall, even if it didn't lessen the soreness through her whole body. "Huh? Adoraaaa?" Catra called out.

So much for her big idea. Now, if Adora felt like tattling, she was going to find herself on the receiving end of whatever backlash this genius plan had for her. She didn't know which direction she came from thanks to the fall, which meant there was a 50/50 chance of either getting lost in the woods and possibly eaten by something, or, if she was lucky, finding her way back to the Fright Zone, after she found Adora of course.

That was when a strange glow suddenly caught her attention.

"Huh?" Of the many things she thought she would see within this place, a mysterious sword tangled in roots was the very last thing on her mind. She felt like her body was reacting on it's own as she approached the mysterious blade, being mesmerized by it's brilliant light. "Whoa... Awesome."

She didn't know what it was. She didn't know where she was. All she did know was that this was possibly the biggest thing she needed to get her promotion. Sure, falling out of the skiff and crashing to the ground put a damper on things, but as long as she came back with something that looked important, a mysterious glowing sword growing out of some roots seeming like a good start, then this all would've been worth it.

"This is so worth a promotion!" Catra declared as she reached for the sword. The moment she touched the tip of the hilt though, she let out a gasp as everything around her began to be engulfed in a blinding light.

All at once, numerous images began to flash within her head. Strange symbols, various planets, mysteriously large gems, the cosmos themselves, all began flashing within her mind. All of this played on as a strange voice began echoing in her mind.

"Balance must be restored." It stated. "Etheria must seek a hero." The next two things Catra saw were very confusing to her. The first one was an ancient-looking temple, one she was sure were within these very woods given the scenery surrounding it.

As for the latter image however, it was not only confusing, but harder to make out given the blinding light that surrounded it. All she could see here was a mysterious swordsman, possibly a knight, with flowing long hair and a cape, standing on what appeared to be a cliffside. Whether she was willing herself closer or the strange voice was controlling her imagery, she found herself being drawn closer to the mysterious figure, followed by what sounded like a baby's cry.

That was when everything began to distort in front of her.

"A...ra...Ra..." Just as the figure itself turned it's head, it's piercing white eyes looking at Catra herself, she felt everything becoming blurry. The strange sound of static began to hiss around her as the images themselves began to distort. Everything began to distort like a television breaking down. The previous images coming back to her were now distorted messes of what they once were, some of them filled with a reg pigment, others distorting like a screen cracking before her very eyes.

"Err... Or... Inv...Er..." The source of the mysterious figure finally revealed itself to her briefly, appearing as a mysteriously tall purple woman, who became just as distorted as the previous images did, all while everything around her was swallowed in a surrounding darkness. "Err... Y-Y-You are n-n-not-"

*bzzzt*

"-n-n-not the-"

*bzzzt*

"-tore bal-al-al-al-al-ance-"

*zzzt*

"What are you talking about?" Catra finally found her voice as she asked the strange figure. "Not what? You're not making any sense!"

"Y-Yo-Yo-You must-"

*bzzzt*

Normally this kind of conversation would've annoyed Catra to no end, feeling like she was speaking to someone over a broken radio. But for the first time, she found herself more curious and confused on a situation, and slightly afraid. "Must what? What do I have to do?!"

"Y-Y-You-"

*zzzt*

"-Ra-"

*bzt*

The voice began to fade as darkness slowly filled her vision.

"Ca-"

*zzzt*

"Catra... Catra..." Were the last recognizable words she could gather before everything went dark, almost immediately being filled again as the voice changed to one of familiarity.

...

"Catra? Catra!" Adora screamed again as Catra's vision returned, finding her right on top of herself with worry in her eyes.

"WHOAREYOU-!" Catra herself screamed as she shot up, paying little mind as she accidentally collided her helmet into Adora's forehead as she did, pushing her off her body.

"Ow!" Adora whined rubbing her poor innocent forehead.

"Huh? Huh? Huh?" Catra couldn't explain to herself why she was freaking out. Every ounce of wonder and need for information was slowly replaced by confusion as she looked around. Everything looked the same as it did when she looked up the first time, almost down to the exact detail in every way. She was back in the forest, sitting up like she did before, and still in the flat bush that broke her fall! Annoyingly enough even her soreness was back to the same way like when she woke up the first time.

The only key differences now was that Adora was here, rubbing her head for reasons Catra hadn't picked up on, and the strange sword that took her on a hallucinatory trip was nowhere to be seen. Not the sword, not the roots that entangled it, nothing! It was like neither of the two ever existed in the first place.

"What are you talking about?" Adora asked, finally getting through to her delirious friend.

"Adora?" Catra blinked as she looked to kneeling friend. It was thanks to her presence that the anxiety of her confusion finally washed away, still doing little to remove her confusion. "W-Where... where's the sword?"

"The sword?" Adora questioned as the two got up.

"T-T-The sword!" Catra explained as she walked a few yards ahead. "I-It was right here, there were roots everywhere, I touched it, a-a-and then this big purple lady or whoever showed me all these really weird images!"

"A lady?"

"Yeah!" Catra's tail shot up for a moment in glee, feeling as if Adora knew what she meant. "I-I never got her name, but she was so mysterious! Then, I saw like a dozen different pictures in my head, then I saw another person, or at least I think she was a person cause her eye was seriously glowy, then everything started to get scary, and weird, and it was like this person was on a radio or something, and then-!'

"Catra, Catra, slow down, you're not making any sense!" Adora said, frantically shaking her friend by the shoulders. "None of this could've happened, you were only gone for a minute!"

"I-? A minute?" That revelation finally snapped Catra back to reality, despite not getting rid of the sirens of panic going off in the back of her mind. "That's... No, no, no, that's not possible. I mean that person, she was-"

"There was no person!" Adora stated as a matter of fact. "You were lying here for maybe thirty seconds before I finally found you, it took a dozen more just to wake you up."

"But that's..." Catra shook and rubbed her own head as she paced back and forth. "N-No... No that can't be right... I was awake for probably several minutes before I woke up again- I mean..." She managed to catch the last line of confusing dialogue herself. "I mean that' can't be right I can't just wake up and then wake up again... I don't think... unless...! Oh my gosh, I finally understand now!"

"You do?"

"Yes!... I must've gotten brain damage." It was the only detail that made sense to her! She fell from incredible heights, was so focused on finding something that could get her a promotion, and then after she hit her head hard enough with either the branch from earlier or the ground the bush barely cushioned her fall from, she hallucinated the events that felt like minutes had passed despite the fact only seconds had. "I mean what else could it be?"

"Brain damage?" Adora couldn't help but smirk slightly as she raised a brow. As worried as she was for her friend, it was rather humorous hearing her suddenly declare that she induced brain damage from her fall. "I'm pretty sure you weren't brain damaged, Catra."

"But it has to be brain damage! Wait, would I even know if I was brain damaged? Can I be aware of I'm brain damaged?" All of this confusion was adding on to an already-growing headache, making it harder to determine if she was brain damaged or not. The fact of the matter is, she knew the sword was nowhere to be seen, yet she felt like there had to be a sword beyond all reasonable doubt. She was almost certain the imaginary sword was real, yet at the same time wasn't sure if it was real.

It was such a headache!

"Well like I said, there was nothing here except you when I found you." Adora said trying to sound calming. "Whatever you thought you saw it must've been in your dream. Now come on, we've wasted enough time here. We better get back before Shadow Weaver finds out we're gone." She said, walking back over to the parked skiff.

"Y-Yeah.. Yeah you're right." Catra found little point in arguing. Amongst the alternatives, wasting time wondering "what if" was a lot worse than angering Shadow Weaver. Here they were, in the middle of a forest they had no permission from Shadow Weaver or Hordak to be in, after stealing a skiff, and nearly crashing in the middle of the Whispering Woods and getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.

With a heavy sigh to herself, Catra followed behind as the two cadets hopped back into the skiff, wasting no time to get a move on and out of these woods. Today had been a rather tiring day for the young catgirl, one she wasn't sure if she wanted an explanation for. In less than a day she became a Senior Cadet, found her friend getting promoted without her, stole a skiff Adora insisted they just borrowed, got thrown off a skiff from nearly a hundred feet in the air, and took a hallucinatory trip after touching a sword, which was most likely the result of severe brain damage she was suffering.

Despite all of this however, something was nagging at her. Something was telling her from the back of her mind that she needed to go back. Something told Catra she needed to do all of this, like it would help her accomplish one of her biggest dreams. Whatever the case was, there was one deepening concern that continued to cross her mind.

What was her dream trying to warn her about?

...

A/N: And with that, that concludes Part 1 of part 1 of The Sword ^^. I gotta say I really do love this series despite how recently i got into it! I know this episode seems fairly similar to the original version with only a few key differences, and the future ones will be based on the episodes too, but i promise there will be some good/big changes between this series and the official series, so you guys can expect some fun differences here and there. While I will still keep to the series as best as possible, i promise to throw in a few sun surprises and scenes here and there.

Be sure to leave your thoughts and reviews too if you enjoyed it! The faster I get feedback, the more positive energy i receive and the sooner the updates come so I know people want more of this ^^!

Chapter 2: Episode 1: The Sword Part 1 P2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, another lengthy chapter to my new and old fans! Gotta say i'm actually having a blast writing these (how quickly I updated this being proof of that)! It's like I said before, while this will try to stick somewhat to the show, you can be assured of key differences here and there when needed. Thanks to those already reading and following the story, I hope not to disappoint!

Now onto the show!

...

"Ngh..." Catra mumbled in her sleep as she tossed in the corner of Adora's bed.

The last few hours, both awake and asleep, had been a relatively big headache for the young teen. For the last several hours, her head has been filled with brief flashes and images of the distorted scenes the mysterious voice showed her. They would appear for a millisecond every couple of minutes, just enough times for her to comprehend what she was seeing after awhile. What made them so troubling were the echoing voices calling her name every now and then, as if asking for her directly.

At least, she assumed it was for her. What bothered her the most out of it was how it never sounded complete. Whether the images distorted themselves inside her head or the voice did, she never got a complete vision of one or the other. It's like the visions themselves were living and struggling to actually tell her everything she needed, like it was actually suffocating to call out whatever she needed to hear.

All of this played in her head for the last several hours, and what she was hoping would be a few hours of relative peace only ended up being a colossal nightmare. As opposed to a peaceful slumber of either a happier dream or nothing at all, her dreams were filled with never-ending visions of these strange happenings, going back and forth repeatedly without end. It was actually worse in this case because of how frequently it repeated.

Eventually it reached it's climax when she finally awoke on the bed. While the images began to end, the voice kept calling to her louder and more vocal no matter how hard she squeezed her ears. "Catra... Catra... CATRA!"

"SHUTUP-!" Catra nearly yelped as she sprang from bed. It took her a moment to realize no one but the voice was talking to her at this time, Adora still sound asleep in her bed by the looks of it. And yet while the voices appeared to have ceased, there was still a ringing sensation going on throughout Catra's head, an irritation that wouldn't stop until she obeyed whatever was calling her. "Alright, alright, I'll go, whatever." She muttered to herself quietly as she walked out of the room.

She didn't know if the voice could hear her or not and she was already aware of how crazy it was that she was physically responding to some strange voice only she could hear in her head. If this was some form of brain damage, then at least she knew she was going crazy, which was a much better alternative than the annoyance that built up her headache.

All the while she was completely unaware of Adora suspiciously opening her eyes.

...

"Shut up, shut up, shut up..." Catra continued to mutter to herself as she banged her head softly, quietly exiting the door as the other cadets slept.

The good news was that the images had finally stopped entirely and the voice no longer echoed throughout her head! The bad news was that literally every instant that she so much as decided against going back to the woods, they instantly came back again. It was like having an annoying dog that kept barking outside your home every time you tried to sleep! Whatever this thing was about she hoped it was worth it because at the rate it was going, if it was brain damage, she was willing to jump another hundred feet from the air and plummet to the ground if it meant turning it off!

"Hey, where are you going?" She heard Adora whisper to her as the door opened again.

"Wha- Nowhere! Just go back to sleep." Catra whispered quickly as she tried to move on.

"Not until you tell me where you're going!" Adora demanded as she grabbed Catra's wrist.

"Ugh!" She growled rolling her eyes." If you must know I'm- Ah!" She quickly yelped as she covered Adora's mouth and pulled her behind several pipes protruding from the ground to the ceiling. She had to wait until one of the scouting droids patrolling the halls left before she could continue. "-going back to the woods."

"The Whispering Woods? What for?"

"How should I know? But ever since I came back from that place I've had this stupid voice inside my head that I can't turn off!"

It pained Adora to admit something so crazy, but there was a good chance Catra was right about earlier. "Maybe you really are brain damaged? Come on, I'll take you to the infirmary-" She suggested as she tried pulling Catra along, only for the feline herself to swipe her hand away.

"Wha- No way!" She tried her best not to sound too insensitive, knowing Adora was trying to help. "If we go to the infirmary, they'll want to know how I got like this in the first place, and then they'll find out about the skiff we stole and we'll all be in trouble!"

"No we won't," Adora insisted, "we'll just make something up, like you banged your head in a sparring match or something."

"That's even worse! I just got promoted to Senior Cadet this morning. If we tell them I got brain damaged from a stupid sparring match or something, I'll be demoted for sure at best!"

"Then we'll just come up with something else or-"

"Ngh..." Catra moaned as she rubbed her head again. The longer she paused like this, the stronger the ringing sensation became, and the longer the two remained in the hallway like this, the better chance they both had of being caught. "Look, I really can't explain it, but I need to go back to the forest and figure out what's going on, okay?"

"Then I'll come with you." It was moments like these Catra really hated. Her friend always insisting on doing whatever it took to help without realizing how much trouble it would cause the both of them eventually.

"Absolutely not! If Shadow Weaver finds out you left because of me, she'll skin me alive!" She stammered.

"But Catra-"

"Look, if I go to the forest and don't find anything, I promise to come all the way back and we can go to the infirmary together. If I do find something, I'll bring it back and that'll be my proof about everything. Okay?" That was the only agreement Catra could think of at that moment, the increasing ringing becoming harder and harder to concentrate and plan out with each passing seconds.

Sadly, Adora was still having a problem processing this. It was her fault in the first place that any of this happened after borrowing a skiff. If she hadn't done that in the first place, they never would've gone on a wild ride through the Fright Zone, entered the Whispering Woods, get Catra knocked out of it from a hundred feet in the air, and finally end up with what appeared to be brain damage. There was too much of a guilt factor on her end of things. "I don't know... Do you absolutely promise to come back if you don't find anything?"

"Just give me two hours, three tops." Catra smiled, relieved that she was finally reaching some common ground with her only friend.

Perhaps a little too relieved as she didn't bother waiting for Adora to finish her reply. "Well... I don't-"

"Great, knew you'd understand. Gotta go!" Catra quickly sputtered as she quickly and quietly rushed down the hallway.

"Catra? Catra! Ugh..." This day kept getting more worrying for the young girl.

Now she was ending up with a headache...

...

"You're not crazy, you're just traveling into the woods because a disembodied voice told you to... You're not crazy, you're just traveling into the woods because a disembodied voice told you to... " This is what Catra had to repeat to herself for what she felt like the last half hour.

She couldn't really process how long she had been in the woods for, nor did she care anymore. Every time she started doubting herself the ringing sensation came back to her, just like it did every time she, as she assumed, took a wrong turn, because whenever she did the ringing instantly grew twice as loudly which was followed by a distorted image in her head. No matter how many times she tried to tell herself all of this, the reality of the matter came back to haunt her.

She was crazy. There was no disembodied voice. There couldn't be! She didn't know if she'd been out here for minutes or hours anymore as her ability to process time dwindled with each individual ringing. What could've been a few hours already felt like mere minutes while what could've been a few seconds felt like hours to her. Nothing about this day was going out right!

Was she crazy? Was there no disembodied voice? Thinking back on it, she remembered Adora mentioning something about strange old creatures right before she fell out of the skiff. Maybe one of these creatures bit her or stung her after she passed out, or maybe she landed right on top of one? Maybe they were poisonous in some way that affected her mind, or maybe the bush itself was poisonous and gave off some poisonous pollen or something that caused her to hallucinate all this! This would be a lot easier if her crazy side didn't ring louder as if to tell her she was wrong!

Every time she tried to make sense of it, this whole sword dilemma came back to haunt her. First there was a distorted image, then a disembodied voice, then she finally had a ringing going off in her head when her vision returned to normal. She had no idea if seconds were passing during these distortions or minutes, just that the sooner she figured out what was going on, the sooner this problem would be resolved and she could finally get some sleep for crying out loud! Especially since going to the infirmary started to sound like a good idea regardless of consequences.

"What the heck am I even doing out here? Adora has to be right." Catra muttered to herself as she pushed her way through the foliage. "A stupid sword covered in stupid vines in the stupid woods? She has to be right, there's no way any of that stuff could really happen! If I'm lucky, this is all a hallucination or a really bad dream. Either I wake up any moment, or I go home, forget all of this happened, get to the infirmary, and-" That's when it happened.

There, through the thickness of the forest, she saw a familiar glow of light emanating. There was no way it couldn't be from the same thing in her hallucination, that brilliant, mesmerizing glow being an exact replica of what she once saw.

"No way..." Catra found herself in disbelief as she neared it, not realizing that the ringing had finally come to a complete end as she did.

Sure enough, as she pushed her way through some of the large leafy bushes of the Woods, there it stood; a tranquil, almost angelic light, shining through the forest, all coming from a mysterious, possibly powerful, sword that was trapped in a tangle of sturdy looking vines. The very same sword from her vision, the very same thing the voice kept calling for her to vine.

The very thing she needed to get everything she wanted.

"JACKPOT!" She couldn't help but cheer. After all, how couldn't she when everything was so perfectly lined up?!

Everything she set out to since they stole the skiff finally came in full circle! They explored the woods, found a mysterious object that was bound to be full of power if the light it shined was any indication. Oh man this was too good to be true!

She could see it now, bringing the sword to Lord Hordak himself, everyone bowing before her as he makes her his second in command, or maybe even his right hand! And there at the bottom of the steps would be a pitiful looking Shadow Weaver, forced to bow before her so that even her head was planted firmly on the ground, which Catra would happily step onto just so she would know her place.

And then, the scene would instantly shift to an unspecified amount of time later on where everything is made out of Catra's perfect image of her own Kingdom. After getting rid of Hordak through whatever means necessary, there Catra would be, sitting on her own kind of throne, with Adora rightfully placed as the head of her entire army! And like before, she could picture the perfect spot for Shadow Weaver: at the bottom of everything as a measly janitor mobbing and sweeping up everything around her, if she was lucky.

Heck, why stop there? After that, her armies would set out to conquer all the surrounding kingdoms of Eternia, commanding all of them to submit to her rule and power! She wouldn't just stop at one kingdom, she would continue on to the next, and the next, until the entire world itself was within her grasp! And then and only then would everything be hers, right down to the very last bit of dirt across this planet.

And nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to ruin that opportunity... at least that was the mindset she had before she heard two other voices coming into the clearing.

"Bow, just let me lead the way, okay?" A feminine voice said as a mysterious figure appeared from the forest.

"The light came from the edge of the forest." The other voice spoke out, sounding similar to that of a young teen boy.

"Yes, you saw the light. It's this way."

"The tracker pad says otherwise."

"It's this way-"

"Huh!" The two figures gasped simultaneously at the sight. Their eyes instantly locked on to Catra's very own, all three of them going wide-eyed at the sight of each other, each of them taking several seconds to so much as respond.

"Horde Soldier!"

"I see her!"

"Ahhhh!" They both let out a warcry. Catra eyed the two briefly before shifting her gaze back to the sword. She came all this way to claim it and knew that ultimate victory was within her grasp.

Paying no mind to the duo, she gritted her teeth as she charged head first at the sword, claws stretching out just in case she had to get violent. After the major headache she's had to endure for the last several hours she was not about to lose the only thing that annoyed her up till now! Surprise still came to her as a purplish light blinded her temporarily, quickly taking the form of the young girl from earlier who suddenly appeared beside the sword. She didn't care how young the kid was, the sword was hers and she was willing to fight for it!

Looking back to Catra herself, the young girl wasted no time as Catra reached for her, quickly teleporting out of the way before Catra grabbed her and reappearing several yards behind her with the sword in hand. Such magical ability was strange to Catra, but it did little to stall her as she quickly chased after her. Thanks to her feline qualities, she took the opportunity to leap straight into the air, ready to pounce on the poor princess like the little mouse she was.

*WHAM*

That was before she was suddenly in the side by an oncoming arrow with a fairly large bulbous design on the end, almost in the same appearance as a boxing glove itself. While it was somewhat fortunate it wasn't more barbed and deadly, Catra refused to let any gratitude be known from her as she quickly sprang back to her feet, resuming the chase once more.

"Bow, catch!" Glimmer quickly called out, throwing the large sword at the bowman. Bow found himself in a startle as he quickly dropped his precious weapon, being forced to grab the sword with both arms before he dropped it and without cutting himself, and quickly took off on foot thereafter. Catra didn't even get the chance to catch the purple girl herself, who she could've used as a potential hostage, as she quickly teleported again, this time reappearing at Bow's side.

"Grrrr I'm getting really annoyed with this game!" Catra growled as she gave chase. From what she could gather, she was faster than the two, and from what she could observe from the purple girl's powers, she could only teleport a short distance away while she was in a hurry, meaning she had the terrain advantage as long as she didn't slow down. "If you drop the sword now, I promise not to hurt either of you!"

To her surprise, the purple girl appeared to have the same train of thought as she glared back at the supposed spy, reappearing several feet in front of her with a strange glow in her hands, halting Catra where she stood. "Since when do Horde Soldiers not hurt anyone?"

*boom*

"Agh!" Catra screamed covering her eyes. This was one of those few times she hated her animal-like qualities. Despite the increased senses they gave her, they also came back to bite her when the increased senses worked against her, such as her increased sense of sight giving her a near-blinding flash from the Glimmer's purple explosion. If it wasn't for the fact the explosion itself was very minor, the blast could've dazed Catra for several seconds at least.

Still she was not discouraged, powering through the haziness as best she could as she saw the two running again. She came so close to getting everything she's ever wanted and she would sooner let Shadow Weaver skin her alive before she'd ever let this opportunity slip.

Reacting quickly on her own, catching the princess off guard, she quickly leapt into the air onto her shoulders, just as quickly leaping off those and pushing her to the ground as she leapt into the air again. Bow found himself at a loss as he realized the catgirl was in the air again and was unable to escape her oncoming strike in time as she toppled right on top of him, knocking the sword out of his arms and straight on ahead.

Catra would've gladly scarred the guy as much as she could if she wasn't in a hurry, focusing her attention entirely on the blade as it slid forward and chasing after it. She couldn't allow these two to take her precious prize, she just couldn't! Without it she'd be going back to her miserable life for however long that was until the end of her days! She failed to realize the purple girl had materialized above her once again until she was right on top of her, tumbling the both of the several feet ahead, nearing the sword itself.

By the time Catra regained her focus, she suddenly found herself locked in the purple girl's arms, the girl holding her right arm as best she could. Before Catra could possibly swipe at the girl, she found her other arm captured by Bow, all three of them now grunting as they struggled to both grab the sword and keep the sword from each other.

"Nghhhh!" Catra growled as she inched her free right foot towards the sword. She didn't care what she had to grab it with, she would've used her tail if it was close enough at this point. She was willing to use everything, and give up anything, at this very moment, to get what she wanted. "The sword... is... MINE!" And with one scream, she managed to touch the sword with the tip of her toe's claw.

And just like when she found it the first time, the entire world around her was engulfed in a brilliantly bright light.

...

This time the light came in fashion, descending from an absolute world of darkness before Catra herself, who quickly realized the surrounding forest and the other two people she came upon had disappeared. This strange, ominous, light was giving off a dazzling array of sparkles as it grew in front of her, illuminating the scenery that had so drastically changed around her. There was no more greenery, no more forest. All that surrounded her were strange runes and symbols upon what appeared to be mystical enchanted crystals.

"What...?" Catra whispered to herself in disbelief. At least everything was less distorted than last time. She could even see and feel the scenery around her now, including herself. For some reason she felt both calmness and fear from the bizarre happenings around her, something screaming at her that everything was alright and wrong all at the same time.

That is when she appeared. The strange, mysterious, oracle who Catra only glimpsed of the first time she had these visions, now whole and in person, looking straight at her.

"Hello." And now it was speaking to her... unless she was hallucinating again which she found just as likely at this point. "I am Light Hope. I have been waiting a very long time for this moment."

"Y-You can see me?" Catra questioned still in disbelief as she got to her feet.

"Yes." Light Hope responded with an almost robotic tone. "I could not reach you before until you had forged a bond with the sword."

"Forged a bond with the sword... right..." Catra scratched her head in confusion. "Look, before we continue on with this, are we going to get some static thing going on like last time? Because I'm going to ram my head against the tree if I get stuck with another headache of visions in my mind again."

"I apologize for the discomfort previously, but there was an malfunction created when you first came into contact with the blade." Light Hope explained, adding on to Catra's confused state.

"Malfunction? What, was the sword broken or something?"

"I can not comply in my current state. This message is broadcasted in the event of an unforeseen circumstance such as this. I can only respond to certain statements."

"You're kidding... right?" Catra asked in somewhat hopeful disbelief.

"I can not comply in my current state. This message is broadcasted in the event of an unforeseen circumstance such as this. I can only respond to certain statements."

That was a yes. It became more infuriating when Catra realized this person before her was also slightly distorted, though not as much as her previous incarnation.

"Ugh... fine, just give me a minute." Catra scratched at her head as she thought, pacing back and forth. She didn't know where she was at this moment or what was going on. All she wanted at this point were answers to everything within the last few hours, and she was only going to get them to very specific and related questions. "Ok... first question! What is going on- no wait. What is this sword?"

"This sword is a powerful weapon forged by-"

*bzzzt*

"DATA CORRUPTED." Light Hope suddenly distorted entirely for a moment.

"Oh come on!" This was getting really annoying! First she couldn't ask non-specific questions, now she couldn't ask specific questions without a chance of the data either missing or being corrupted for whatever reason! Now she was actually wishing she was brain damaged so she wouldn't have to put up with so much annoyance! "Just tell me what you can then!"

"Affirmative. This sword was created in ages past for the one who was chosen to wield it."

"Chosen to wield it?" Catra pondered the statement for a few seconds. "You mean... me?"

"DATA CORRUPTED. Etheria has need of you, Catra." Catra nearly shouted in anger when she heard the annoying "DATA CORRUPTION" line again, finding herself thankful that it had more to say after. "Will you answer it's call? Will you help fight for the honor of Grayskull?"

"A Gray-Skull? It's honor? What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!" Much to her dismay, much like it had when she previously saw this strange vision, she was met with distortions building up all around here, all flickering between a blueish-to-reddish hue, this time save for Light Hope Herself.

"If you wish for all the answers you must find me..." Light Hope stated as she began to slowly back into the blinding light, her form dissipating along with the scenery around her.

"Wait, no! Don't disappear yet! I'm so confused!" Catra herself began to disappear, her voice fading in and out in waves, presumably coming back to reality as the vision slowly faded. All she had left by the end of this strange meeting were more questions than answers, and Light Hope's last two fading words echoing in her head.

"FIND... ME..."

...

"Mmh..." Catra moaned as she slowly came to. Much like before, the vision ended with her waking up again upon the grounds of the Whispering Woods. The only difference this time is that she could feel herself sitting up. That and the unmistakable scent of that she wasn't alone this time.

"Hey! She's awake!" She suddenly heard bow screaming on her left.

"My hearing's FINE! You don't have to yell!" Catra snapped back in his face, her sensitive ears twitching from the recent yelling. A second later she realized Glimmer was kneeling on her right, still glaring daggers at her like she had been all throughout their previous scuffle. "What?" As she tried to move from her spot, her attention shifted to her newly bound hands, finding them tightly pinned together by the wrist. "Okay. No." She grumbled trying to pry them away from each other. She needed just a small bit of slack to get her claws to cut their way through, noting how efficiently the two must've tied them to prevent her from using such an escape.

Sadly for her, they took every precaution for that as their knot tying proved quite effective. Seeing how her current captors were two teens that appeared to be within the same general age as herself, she tried starting up a seemingly-pointless conversation with the two as she tried to think of a plan. "What happened?"

"Quiet, Horde spy, I ask the questions!" The princess shouted. Much to Catra's annoyance, along with the fact she was now taking orders from some wannabe pixie girl, she also had the sword in her hands. Now she was going to have to think of a plan to get out while also not getting cut up into ribbons by the girl who think she owned it. "How did you get into the Whispering Woods?"

"I rode a magical dragon that can shoot fireballs from it's eyes, what do you think?" Catra sneered. "I walked in, duh! And I'm not a spy!" She stated looking back to Bow.

"Sure, sure. You just happened to find yourself in the Whispering Woods, like you just so happened to try and steal our sword." Glimmer pointed out in a sarcastic tone.

"Ok first off, I know it's not yours or it wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere in the first place. Second, I found it first. It's mine!" She exclaimed as Bow stood.

"The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion's protection. You were lucky to make it as far as you did." She commented walking around the supposedly-helpless captive. "Come on Bow. Let's get this spy back to Bright Moon where she can be interrogated properly.

Ok, so Catra officially had to admit. Out of the many things the supposed princess wannabe had to show, she was rather surprised they had the gull to use interrogation techniques, not that they would've had any effect on herself of course. They probably had no idea what real interrogation was like. Heck, if they wanted to truly interrogate her, they should just force her to live in the Fright Zone for the rest of her life! She watched as Glimmer pulled Bow to the side a few yards away, flicking her ears up as her tail flicked curiously to eavesdrop.

"This is perfect!" She squealed. "Not only do we have the First Ones tech for the Rebellion, we've also captured a Horde spy! My mom is gonna be so impressed!"

"Mama's girl!" Catra insulted shouting over.

"Hey! This is a private conversation, criminal!" Glimmer grumbled as she marched over. "Now come on, on your feet!"

This was going to be a long day...

...

Ok. Step one, Catra had to find a way to get away from these two numbskulls, which was easier said than done since one of them had a bow and arrow, and the other one could teleport in the blink of an eye. Step two, she had to escape after getting the sword back. That alone was going to make the hassle of escaping even more tiresome since it required lugging around the heavy sword while also keeping these two off her back. It wasn't enough that they knew the terrain, but they also had that stupid gadget tracker thing that could show them where she was, or at least the sword, at all times.

Step three, finally find a way out of this place along with all of the aforementioned stuff up above. As much as she hated to admit it, she had no idea where she was at this point in the forest. Her entire sense of direction coming to this place was based solely on the sword itself practically telling her where to go. She might've been able to find her way back to the sword's previous location and find her way out from there, but with tweedle dee and tweedle annoying following her she would've been forced to lose them somewhere else in the forest, and that would've ensured she get lost.

All of these problems piled on atop of each other as each one made the situation worse than the last. If she wanted to do one of these things, she needed to do all of these things at the same time. And seeing how these two had the home advantage of knowing the Whispering Woods, at least compared to Catra herself, she found herself at a severe disadvantage before the two.

Except for one small problem.

"You're positive you're going the right way, Glimmer?" Bow asked after walking for the last twenty minutes.

"I know what I'm doing Bow." Glimmer insisted. "Can you please just trust me for once?"

"You know I always trust you, but I'm starting to get a little freaked out." Bow glanced around their unfamiliar surroundings. "I mean I pretty much grew up in these woods, and I've never seen this part of them. I've heard stories about weird stuff out here."

"It's fine, okay? Just let me figure this out." Glimmer said fidgeting with the tracker pad as she teleported away.

Well this was definitely a new way to die Catra didn't see coming. If the two didn't kill her themselves, get eaten by a giant monster, fall from another hundred foot height to her death, she could now add getting lost for the rest of her life in these woods by these two idiots. Boy, what a fun day this was turning out to be...

"Okay, touchy." Bow commented as he pushed away from drooping plants from Catra's face. "Sorry about her. Usually she's really nice." He waited a few moments for a response. "Not much for talking, huh?"

"What was your first clue?" Catra snarled. "It's not exactly comforting talking to the people taking me as their prisoner you know."

"There." Catra was startled a little as he quickly helped her over a protruding branch she nearly tripped over. "Suit yourself."

Up a short ways away the two came to a stop as they watched Glimmer teleporting from place to place several feet around them. It still baffled Catra that she was the prisoner to these two numbskulls, shaking her head in disgust at everything. "If she's what your princesses are like, I'm surprised the Horde didn't take over everything years ago. Isn't she supposed to be some 'all powerful empress capable of razing cities with her bare hands' or something?"

"Is that what Hordak told you?" Bow asked curiously.

"Meh, just bits and pieces. Honestly, I know which parts of them are lies and which parts are the truth unlike most of my... well..."

"Family? Friends?"

"Allies! I was going to say allies." She mumbled looking off to the side. "Most of them would stab me in the back if given the chance..." She glanced back to the princess who still didn't seem to know right from left. "Anyway, what is she to you? You her servant? Butler? Personal Guard or something?"

"What? No, we're just friends." Bow's smiling demeanor gave Catra little room for doubt.

"Grrrrr," The two turned their attention as they heard the princess grumble, frantically poking away at the tracker pad, "come on you stupid thing, WORK!"

...Well almost no room for doubt.

"No, seriously, why are you with her? Does your family owe her money or something?"

"Look, I know she might seem a little rough around the edges, but she's really nice and considerate. You couldn't ask for a better friend than her."

"Yeah, sure you couldn't..." It was during this time Catra kept him distracted that she continued to saw slowly at her bindings. A few minutes prior to this conversation she managed to get her pinky loose enough to reach one of her claws towards her wrist. It was still going to take awhile as she had barely a centimeter of room to move her pinky, but it was better than nothing at this point. All she had to hope for for now was the princess boy over here would be distracted long enough with their conversation.

"Hey," Catra nearly flinched as he called back to her, startled momentarily thinking he caught her, "have you ever actually met a princess?"

"I've heard of at least one at the Fright Zone, I think, otherwise no. It's not like I have much interest in them anyway."

"...Mind if I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What exactly are you doing all of this for?"

For the first time since this conversation began, she found herself surprised by his unexpected question."What do you mean?"

"I mean why are you working for the Horde and all that? No offense, but you don't seem all that interested in a lot of things related to all this. So you have to have some reason for wanting to work for the Horde, right?"

Between the two she officially decided Bow was the least annoying of the two. Withguarding the fact he's the only one she's had to actually talk to for the last several minutes, he did at least seem genuinely interested about her in these last few minutes compared to any of her allies she's know for the last dozen or so years.

She still hated them equally of course.

"I-"

"Ahh..." The sound of Glimmer whimpering up ahead caught their attention again. Wasting no time to figure out what was going on, Bow quickly ran in her direction, dragging Catra along by her arm as he did.

Pushing their way into a clearing, they came upon the source of Glimmer's discomfort, the same look of terror and dread filling Bow's expression shortly after. This wasn't just a simple clearing Catra had entered or the ruins of some civilization, these were the desecrated remains of what used to be a city. All around her was nothing but wreckage and mayhem from the aftermath of a Horde attack, the very side Catra fought for.

Despite being inflicted with the same feeling of discord and sorrow, Bow's expression hardened as he looked around, reminding himself of every reason he fought against the Horde. This is what they were truly like. Savages who only wanted destruction and mayhem wherever they went, not caring who got hurt or what the reason should be. People just like this Catra prisoner here, which he quickly reminded himself of. There was no point delving into her personal story for now, all he did was continue dragging her towards a despairing Glimmer.

Glimmer herself did her best to maintain a strong expression as well. She was a princess, and no matter how hardening or sad things got, a princess must always put on a strong face for her people no matter the pain. Even though there was no one else around save for the prisoner they captured, she still couldn't bring herself to ignore her princessly duty. She held back the tears as she picked up one of the remains off the ground, displaying a crude drawing of a child and parent holding hands.

"This. This is what the Horde fight for. Destroying lives and homes everywhere they go. Are you happy now?!" She snapped at Catra.

"Tch..." Catra scoffed shifting her eyes away annoyingly. "I wasn't here when it happened, princess. They probably deserved it for one reason or another anyway."

"What is your problem!?" Glimmer shouted, shocking Catra slightly as she pulled her closer by her shirt. "Don't you care about anyone other than yourself!? Don't you care about all the lives and families that potentially died here?"

"It's called war, princess!" Catra yelled back. "Bad things happen all the time in war! There was never a good thing that happened in a war!"

"How can you be so...Ugh!" Glimmer grunted loudly as she stepped away. "Why do you have to be so selfish?! Can't you care for once about someone other than yourself?!" She asked angrily gesturing to the surroundings.

The environment didn't have much of an effect on Catra, the young catgirl just looking almost bored at her surroundings. There were ruined pieces of rubble here, a busted droid that definitely came from the Fright Zone there. There was nothing to be gained or used by standing around this place. She even thought Bow making a small memorial off to the side using the scattered belongings of this place's inhabitants, yet Catra was unaffected by that all the same. Everything about this place screamed depressing and not one thing here got to Catra.

Except for that. Over off to the side she saw what appeared to be the burnt remains of a small woolen doll. If there was a woolen doll like that, that definitely meant there must've been children here when the attacked happened. For just a moment, a tinge of guilt pang through Catra's chest that was just as quickly replaced with calmness. It was a child, for all she knew the Horde must've picked it up and orphaned it in the Fright Zone. In fact maybe the Horde never attacked this place to begin with? Maybe something else did and the Horde found this place like the rest.

It was the closest thing to sympathy Catra had for the possible child, provided there was one to begin with at all.

"Ever since the Horde got here they've been poisoning our land, burning our cities, destroying everything in their path." Glimmer continued to rant as she marched up to Catra. "And you're a part of it! Why do you have to be so self centered? Why can't you have an ounce of respect for the people here? Is it too much to ask you to just pretend you care about someone else's misfortune other than your own?! What makes you so above everyone else that you can't even acknowledge someone else's sadness-"

"BECAUSE NO ONE EVER ASKED WHAT I WANTED EVEN ONCE, PRINCESS!" Catra exploded. She could only put up with so much ranting and mad raving about herself for so long. And she was completely oblivious to how much it showed that it bothered her, her cat eyes narrowing as they focused on the previously-angry princess.

"You think I'm selfish," she went on, stepping forward as Glimmer backsteped, "you think I only care about myself? Well guess what princess, you're right! I am selfish. Not once since I learned to so much as walk did anyone ever ask 'hey what do you want Catra', 'hey Catra, do you want this?' or anything of the sort. Everything I was given in my life was something I had to work for. Everyone I've met in my life wanted nothing to do with me. Anyone I ever helped in my life never repaid the favor. And anyone that seemed interested in my life was only out to get me!"

"So you know what? You're right, princess, I don't care about anything! I don't care about these people, I don't care about the Horde, and I certainly don't care about-!"

*rumble-rumble-rumble*

"Huh?" If there was a single thing in this Universe that could've distracted Catra from her incessant ranting just now, it was the overpowering earthquake that caused the ground to rumble violently.

"What is that?" Glimmer asked looking around. As far as she knew, Catra wasn't capable of something like this, and Catra was pretty sure of the same for her.

It was then that the ground between the surrounding trees started to violently ripple as a large streak of devastated earth ascended from the scenery near them. The rumbling became more violent and vicious as a hideous grey insect-like creature of unknown origin suddenly protruded from Etheria's mantle, pulling itself out of the massive quake in the ground as it towered over the trio of roamers, raising it's mandible to crush the collapsed princess Glimmer immediately upon exiting the hole it pulled itself out of.

"Watch out!" Bow quickly warned, relieved as Glimmer hastily teleported before being crushed by the great insectoid. Glimmer quickly reappeared on a nearby outgrown root of the tree, leaping back onto the face of the giant creature as she let out a giant blast of her magic at point blank, possibly blinding the giant creature along with attacking it. Unfortunately, both plans seemed to be a waste as the creature didn't seem the least bit fazed by the attack, instead seeming angrier by the inferior strike.

This was just the distraction Catra found herself needing as she finally finished sawing through her bindings enough to pull her ropes apart and free herself. She wasted no time heading straight for the sword that was dropped at the creature's appearance. She gazed at the sword in excitement, seeing her reflection coming off of the shining blade and relishing all that was going to happen once she brought this back, all while being unaware as the creature itself prepared to strike at her until she saw it in the sword's reflection.

"Look out!" Bow quickly leapt to her side as he shot an exploding arrow at the creature, covering it's mouth with a strange sticky green substance and halting it's attack. Catra grinned with a mental sigh of relief at this, fortunate the bowman made himself useful in distracting the creature for herself.

"Thanks!" She sputtered as she quickly ran away into the woods again with the large sword in hand, leaving a baffled Bow to look back, somewhat discouraged.

"Hey!" He yelled back.

"Look out!" Glimmer quickly shouted as she tackled him out of the way of another of the creature's giant mandibles. The two found themselves too preoccupied to worry about the sword now with the massive creature on their tail. There was no way they were getting it back, provided they lived long enough to realize that.

At the same time, Catra grinned to herself as she peeked around the tree she was hiding, taking a moment to enjoy the usefulness of the Whispering Wood's creatures. They gave her everything she needed to perform the perfect escape, and a way to dispose of the two delinquents without causing her further discord. Now she just had to be on her way, find her way back to the clearing that she found her sword, and make her way home from there!

"See ya later guys, thanks for the assist." She joked to herself as she began to walk away.

That was when another of the unexpected list of things happened. Before she could take her third step away from the tree, the blade glowed with a blindingly fluorescent light, one that blinded her for merely a full second, before disappearing again all the same. The timing of it along with her actions helped Catra put two and two together, though she was incredibly skeptical of what she was thinking.

"What?" She asked it as if it could speak. She stared at the blade as if expecting an answer, growing irritated by the second. "What? You want me to go back there and help them?" Once again nothing, yet something told her that's exactly what it wanted. "Are you kidding? Forget it!" She grumbled looking back behind the tree. "I mean look, they're doing fine, I'm sure they can handle it anyway."

The line of certainty quickly dwindled as she saw the twos' bodies being thrown against a tree with Glimmer landing on top of Bow before falling to the ground. Despite the injury, Bow seemed to be the least injured of the two as he quickly got back to his feet, frantically firing several ineffective exploding arrows at the creature while protecting a temporarily out-cold Glimmer.

"Well... they're still doing fine... sorta..." She mumbled growing increasingly unsure. She looked back to the blade in annoyance as if expecting an answer, never getting one no matter how hard she stared. "Look, it's not like I owe them anything anyway, remember? They're the enemies, we're not on the same side, and your my ticket to a better life!" Once again, nothing. That's when her attention was caught by the frantic shoutings of Bow again.

"Glimmer! Glimmer! Wake up!" He yelled shaking her worriedly. He grumbled as he stared back to the giant monster itself. The last stand he was prepared to make for himself was using the study bow as a weapon, the other arrows most likely having little to no effect that could delay the creature any longer.

"Mmmmmmh..."

"Come on you giant freak, I'm right here!" Bow yelled swinging his bow against one of the approaching mandibles. The best he could hope for at this rate was for Glimmer to wake up and teleport the two away to safety, or hope he distracted it long enough, through whatever means, until Glimmer awoke and escaped by herself. It was a worrying case scenario but it was the only alternative he had. The only other thing left that could've saved the two of them was some sort of miracle, and that was never going to happen!

"Hey bugzy!" Or maybe it was, because to his surprise on the other side of the clearing, he saw Catra again with the sword in hand, waving over to the massive bug and catching it's attention. Step one of her brilliant plan was working. Now she just needed to think of and execute a plan two. She moaned to herself as she looked over the sword again, shaking it violently to get anything to happen. "Come on you stupid magic sword, do something! Create a laser beam, shoot fireballs, anything!" The ground shook more and more violently by the second as the creature neared Catra.

Whatever she decided to do she needed to do it fast. She knew her claws were too weak to pierce it's hard outer shell if exploding arrows didn't so much as leave a scratch on it, and she wouldn't be able to jump in and dive the blade head first into the giant creature thanks to the annoying weight of the blade. That's when another idea rose from the recesses of her mind. It wasn't like an idea she herself was forming, it felt like something else was creating the idea she needed most at that time.

"Umm...How do I use this thing?" Catra asked herself quickly. "Do I need a password? Is there an on switch or something? I could use a hand here you stupid sword!" Typical, the one time she actually wanted the sword to say something to her throughout the entire day and it was silent. The answer was on the tip of her tongue, she knew she was close to it but she couldn't piece together what! That's when she saw the creature towering over her again, surprised by how quickly it rushed over, and raised it's giant mandible over her head to strike. "Ah!" She yelped, using all her might to lift the heavy blade over her head.

It was then, all at once, that an emanating, glowing, light ascended from the blade just after the creature's massive claw struck it. Like all the previous times, each and every time Catra tried to connect to the blade through some physical means, did she see the various visions play out in her mind along with a familiar voice.

"Catra..." Light Hope's familiar voice echoed as the images played out. The ranged to more varied and vivid locations, from a tranquil castle surrounding a giant gem, to the rocky plains with a mysterious black hole in the center, to an asteroid crash landing on a planet, closing in with a mysterious ruin she had never seen before, and finally to an image of the sword itself shining in the darkness. "Catra... will you serve for the Honor of Grayskull?"

That was it.

"For the Honor of Grayskullll!" Catra shouted at the top of her lungs. Immediately, light expanding from the sword across the surrounding clearing, just as Bow was helping Glimmer back to her feet. The two were shocked by the massive energy they felt radiating from the Horde spy, watching in amazement as light enveloped her entire body, causing the massive creature itself to seemingly recede a little.

It was then, just as the light dissipated again, that they witnessed someone they had never seen before. A mysterious young knight who was enveloped in the light's benevolence, appearing out of thin air. There stood the same person who was once before, now changed by the sword's magic. Her clothes at changed drastically fo pure white, as golden shoulderplates formed from her shoulders, and another pair of golden bracelets appeared on her wrists. Even her helmet had changed ever so slightly, the tips of it now slightly larger with a small ruby gem focused on it's center.

Within the center of white chestpiece was a symbol. A symbol of hope and light, one with a great brightness over the middle, protruding from a blue gem, stretching out across the chest on all sides, and connecting from the top to the bottom of the chest piece. All along with her pants which had shortened drastically, now just barely a few inches below her waist. Despite that, the figure that stood before them was the image of a proud warrior, one who was ready to battle and defend those who needed it.

This, was Catra. This, was She-Ra...

...

A/N: You know the hardest part about being a writer while being mildly autistic? It's not using the same words repeatedly. You might think that's easy but when you write as much as I do, the challenge is not saying things like "They thought this", "They thought this", "They thought this" over and over again while still making it apparent what I'm trying to say.

Anyway thanks to those who have messaged me with their support and interest in the series! Be sure to leave your thoughts and review of what you think! And if you notice some subtle things here and there that dont make sense, have no worries! I guarantee all of those parts that don't make sense WILL make sense later on in the volume as I happen to have an underlying reason for all of that... *cough* *cough*

Anyway-! Leave a like fave and be sure to review if you liked it! Tell your friends too if you can, the more support the better! Stay tuned!

Chapter 3: Episode 2: The Sword Part 2 P1

Chapter Text

A/N: Idk if I said it before, but I'm having a lot of fun with this series ^^ I think the quick lengthy updates are proof of that (then again I had a day off of work due to snow so that really helped XP). As always, these episodes will come in two parts per episode. While it might seem like some parts are rushed here and there, always keep in mind that, aside from always having an idea, these are nice and lengthy ^^.

So with that, onto the show!

And yes people, this is a show. So I will be doing THAT at the beginning of ever episode/when posted X)...

...

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

~(we must be brave) ~

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

~ We must be STRONG! ~

There was a small radiant glow coming off of the transformed warrior. Catra herself had apparently changed in various ways, right down from her wardrobe to her demeanor. There stood the same person who was once before, now changed by the sword's magic. Her clothes at changed drastically fo pure white, as golden shoulderplates formed from her shoulders, and another pair of golden bracelets appeared on her wrists. Even her helmet had changed ever so slightly, the tips of it now slightly larger with a small ruby gem focused on it's center.

This, was Catra. This, was She-Ra.

Catra herself felt a strange mixed variety of things she had never felt before. For one, for whatever reason, she felt... lighter. Both physically and emotionally. Half the things that used to plague her mind on a constant basis had seemingly vanished and had been replaced with a strange calmness she never knew of.

Physically speaking, her whole body felt like it was barely touching the ground. With her feline characteristics, she commonly felt and was capable of leaping to great heights and distances far more than the average person. This time, however, she felt like her feet themselves were barely magnetized to the ground, like she could blast off into the air at a moment's notice. She barely registered the weight of the sword itself, now feeling no heavier than a common tree branch.

Everything about her felt completely different, and for some reason she actually liked this.

Even the massive creature seemed to settle down from her brilliance, though it still had a strange air of neutrality to it.

At the same time, both Bow and Glimmer on the other side of the clearing were at a loss for words. First this crazy Horde Spy snooped into the Whispering Woods, Rebellion territory, bent on taking a sword they believed rightfully belonged to them. Then, after a scuffle followed by dragging the spy along to a desecrated town, they were suddenly attacked by one of the vicious creatures inhabiting the forest. That's when the catgirl herself attempted to swipe the sword again and made a getaway, leaving the two of them to whatever cruel fate would have befallen the duo.

That's when Catra surprised them once more with something none of them, Catra included, thought she would do - she came back! Definitely not with a plan in mind as she seemed clueless on what to do with the sword or how to use it, but their salvation came to them all the same when the mighty beast struck Catra's sword and enveloped everything in a gloriously bright light.

The end result of all this is what brought them to where they were today.

"Glimmer?" Bow asked completely baffled.

"Yeah, I see her Bow." Glimmer replied as if reading his mind.

"Okay. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me." The disbelief on both their expressions were understandable. After all, not many people can say they witnessed a strange Horde Spy come out of nowhere, come and save them at the last minute, then transformed into some bizarre looking white knight. Catra herself wouldn't have believed it either if anyone told her this story, and she was the center of it all!

And she was all unaware of these details until she looked down herself.

"What the- Ahhh!" She screeched drooping her ears and shooting her tail out, collapsing on herself as she fell back trying desperately to cover her legs. "Where are my pants?!" She screamed, noticing a slight draft between her legs, seeing her long-length pants replaced with new shorter white ones that practically looked like boxers to her.

Just as quickly as the transformation had occur did the transformation come to an end. Upon falling to the ground, there was another near-blinding flash of light, one much smaller in size as it appeared to personally cover over the entirety of Catra herself. Once the light dissipated again, she found her outfit changed back to normal, her previous fashion wear returning to the way they once were.

This still left a bewildered expression on Catra's face as she saw the sword gleam one more time.

What was going on here? Who was this mysterious Light Hope person she met when she touched the sword? Why was any and all visions she had distorted whenever she attempted communication with this person? What was the deal with this sword? And most importantly, why on Etheria did the sword's only magical power seem to give her a wardrobe change?

Everything was so confusing!

Meanwhile, Glimmer saw her opportunity as she teleported, reappearing before Catra as she tried to take the sword again. "Nghhh gimme that!" She grumbled as she tried to take the sword.

"Hey!" Catra grumbled back as she pulled in turn, rising to her feet.

"Stay where you are!"

"What the heck did your stupid sword do to me?! Did I catch your princess-ness or something?"

"Being a princess isn't something you can catch, fur ball! I had nothing to do with it!"

"The heck it isn't, Pinkie! Your stupid sword stole my clothes for a minute!"

"Your clothes just changed, they weren't stolen!"

"Okay, okay, everyone calm down!" Bow finally said as he tried to pull the sword in his direction. The three of them were now in the midst of a game of tug-of-war, pulling the sword closer to each other with more confusion on their mind than their desire for the sword. "Wanna tell us how you did that?"

"How the heck should I know?" Catra yelled, still a little fluster by the brief change in appearance she had. "Why the heck would you guys have some magic sword whose only power is to steal your clothes? That's the stupidest power ever!"

"We don't have weapons like that!" Glimmer yelled back as she pulled. "And your clothes weren't missing, your entire outfit changed! And it's not... happening... again!" Glimmer finally screamed as she won the game of tug-of-war, knocking Catra off her back.

Immediately after taking the sword, the mighty creature's eyes lit up again, as if awakening from the mere misuse of the sword itself or the transfer of it's ownership. There was a deathly silence amongst the three as they heard the creature growling again, rising itself off it's feet slowly as it growled hungrily at the teens. With a mighty roar, it crashed it's front mandibles before itself, narrowly missing the trio as they jumped out of the way in their own separate directions.

Looking back herself, Catra was rather surprised when she realized the creature was less focused on her and more focused on the duo who hid themselves within the tree. It was almost like something was drawing the creature towards them, though in a much angrier manner than before.

*WHAM*

The entire ground shook as the creature collided into the tree repeatedly, trying it's hardest to either topple the mighty oak over, or break through it enough to reach Glimmer and Bow who were hiding inside. At this point, the two were stuck between a literal hard place and a giant monster that seemed more interested in destroying them rather than eating them, a factor that didn't really make the pair feel any better.

There was only one idea that acme to Bow's mind as he looked over to the sword in Glimmer's arms again. "Do it again! Do it again!" He begged as he rushed out, narrowly avoiding the next collision between the insect and the tree.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out, frantically teleporting out of the way and back to Bow's side before the creature finally managed to crash through the tree.

"Do what you did before!" Bow continued to plead as he handed the sword over to Catra.

"I don't know what I did before!" Catra yelped, looking over the entire sword. There weren't any options that seemed wise to the young teen. How was she supposed to know what to do when she was barely aware the first time? All she remembered was the creature hitting the edge of the sword and then a great white light went off, and she wasn't tempted to try the same tactic twice, especially when the creature seemed more intent on charging the group rather than crushing them this time!

"No time. We have to go!" Glimmer instructed as she ran past Catra, the other two quickly following behind. Like it had been before, the great creature roared angrily as it gave chase.

How the heck were any of them supposed to lose this thing? It's husk was too sturdy to penetrate with anything they had as a weapon, it's hulking size gave it a vast amount of strength that could easily let it crash through trees, like the several the three just passed seconds ago, and despite it's hulking size the giant creature had formidable speed, keeping up with the runaways just mere yards behind them.

The thought of possibly ditching the two did cross Catra's mind for a brief moment. She could leap great distances and find a good spot to duck out of the way while the monster continued chasing the other two, but two key details kept crossing her mind on this line of thinking.

One, she didn't know if the monster was more focused on them or the sword itself. If the monster was more focused on the latter, then that meant it would continue it's chase for Catra itself, and there was no way Catra could afford to lose the sword after all the time she spent trying to get it in the first place.

Secondly, she still didn't know where she was in the woods. Misdirection aside, she also had no idea what else could be inhabiting these woods. For all she knew she could end up falling into a nest of these giant bug monsters and she would be forced to fend for herself in that scenario. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed the help of these two until they came upon a viable solution.

*thud*

"Wha-Ahhhhhhhh!" Catra screamed as she crashed into bow and Glimmer, too preoccupied on her thoughts to notice them stopping, and crashing down the small cliffside the duo stopped in front of. The group came tumbling down one by one until they came into contact with the hard, strangely metallic, floor. Annoyingly to Catra herself, while she did manage to react in time to land kneeling upright, she was toppled by the other two delinquents who were starting to pester her, landing right on top of her back.

The group moaned in soreness at the heavy fall, Catra more due to the heavy objects that landed on top of her, but her own soreness was quickly replaced with curiosity and surprise as she noticed the strange surface of the ground she landed on, with it's intricate markings and design, all leading up to a path with a very mysterious triangle against a a wall.

"What is this place?" She asked aloud, hoping from a response from either of the two. Any chance they had of answering was interrupted as the familiar growl of the monster approached as well as the thunderous quake it caused when it moved.

"No idea," Bow replied as he helped Glimmer to her feet, "but in there's gotta be better than out here." They barely had a second before they scrambled back to their feet, Glimmer picking up the sword as the three ran from the monster sliding down the slope. Luckily for them, as the monster crashed to the ground, several broken pillars collapsed atop of it, buying them a few precious seconds until the monster dug itself out.

Bow took the initiative as he attempted to crash through the triangle-shaped entrance itself, only to find his charge as effective as crashing through a wall. He refused to allow that to stop him as he attempted to pry the door open with his bare hands, trying anything that could save them from the monster.

"Everyone, grab on," Glimmer instructed as she reached out a hand, "I can get us in there!"

"Glimmer, no!" Bow quickly dismissed. "You've never teleported three people before."

"Well now's a good time to try, isn't it?" Catra retorted, slowly backing away towards them as she saw the monster slowly pull itself from the rubble. Looking back to the door itself, she noticed the strange symbols on the door, having another moment of de sha vue here. "What's with the writing on the door? Is it a password or something?"

"Y-You can read that?" Bow asked surprised.

"Yeah, why? Can't you?" Catra replied raising her brow. Their attention was brought back behind them as the giant monster crashed through the rubble, finally free of it's imprisonment and roaring madly at the others.

"What's it say?"

"Hang I'm, I'm trying to figure it out!" Catra grumbled. She was more irritated by the speed she was reading these symbols than the rush the others were obviously in. She couldn't exactly see it all at first glance, the words unrecognizable entirely to her. Yet for some reason the longer she stared at it, words slowly translated in her mind. "E... Ter... Ni...A..." Then, as if a lightbulb had gone off, the entirety of the word made itself known to her. "Eternia!"

Suddenly the runes and symbols on the door began to glow, coming to life as if on command by the mysterious password. The three watched in amazement as the door split apart from all sides rather than one way or the other, providing the sanctuary the three finally needed.

"Oh come on!" Glimmer grumbled as if jealous of Catra's ability to read the mysterious dialect. Any and all feelings they had for their situation was put on immediate hold as the three rushed inside, Bow pulling Glimmer along with him, retreating into the inner sanctum just as the monster was about to assault them. Just as quickly as the door opened, it immediately shut upon their entering, the last thing the three heard from the creature being a mighty ram as it shut itself, swallowing the room in darkness.

...

After a brief pause to gather their bearings and catch their breath, the next thing any of them saw was Glimmer's magic as she illuminated a small space of the pitch black room, allowing the others to see her and eventually the rest of the great room in a dim light.

Just like her vision, the room matched the mysterious nature of all the things Catra had seen since touching the sword. There were crystals strewn across the room here and there, and there were more mysterious writings along the wall and floors, though it was too dark to get an accurate view of what the words actually were. All she knew was that this place was somehow connected to the sword and the mysterious things that have happened to her within the last day.

"So, Horde soldier, have you always been able to read the First One's writing?" Bow finally asked, breaking the silence.

"The First Ones?" Catra repeated with confusion. The two were temporarily blinded as Glimmer approached with her with her enlightening magic, having the same look confusion as Bow as well as anger.

"Wanna tell us exactly what is going on here?" She questioned Catra in an interrogation-like manner. Catra just sneered at this as she rose to her feet, brushing off a thin layer of dust from her pants she collected after the long chase.

"I already told you guys, I don't know." She replied. "I just looked at the writing on the door and the word just came to me."

"Riiiiight... You just read a word in a language no one's spoken in a thousand years, and the door just opened into a mysterious ancient ruin. Sure." The sense of doubt in Glimmer's tone was almost too obvious to her.

"It's the truth!" She insisted. "I didn't exactly ask to catch your princess-ness you know! No one slapped a label on it saying "Warning, maybe turn you into a pantsless Princess", Pinky!"

"Pinky?" Glimmer blinked at the comment, unable to tell if she was being serious or insulting. "My name is Glimmer, Princess Glimmer to Horde ruffians like you thank you very much!"

"Whoa, whoa, Glimmer, calm down." Bow interrupted, trying to break the tension rising in here. "She did save us, remember?"

"I don't care!" The princess pulled away a bit. "We can't trust her, Bow. Or have you forgotten all the horrible things the Horde's done to us? The people we've lost..." The mere mention of it built a small amount of tears from the corners of Glimmer's eyes. Cata just looked away with no comment, unwilling to continue an argument over something neither of them had control over. She waited until she finished sobbing to herself and wiped away her tears before facing her again.

"Look, I don't care much for what the Horde does and I don't have anything to the supposed people you've lost." Catra's eyes looked back to prize she came here for. "So why don't you just give me the sword and we'll never have to see each other aga-" Catra began as she tried to reach for the sword. Unfortunately (and annoyingly) for her, Glimmer simply held the sword an arm's length away from her, fully intent on keeping it away.

"You think I'd give this to you after all that's happened?!" The idea that Catra even thought it'd be okay fueled her anger further. "I wouldn't give this to you in a thousand years! I don't know what the sword can do but there is no way I'd ever allow a thug like you to have it either!"

"Well I'm not going anywhere without that sword!" Catra's tailed waved a little as she grumbled.

"Hmph, fine," Glimmer puffed as she walked passed her, "then you'll just have to follow us all the way back to Bright Moon if you want it so bad. I'm sure my mother would have quite a few choice words for you regarding the sword."

"Oh come ooooon!" Catra groaned rolling her eyes. She could potentially eliminate the two and take it by force, but even with her heightened sense of sight she wouldn't be able to find her way through the pitch-black darkness if Glimmer's magical light disappeared as a result. Not to mention if she came across the monster again or another one, the last thing she wanted while having the sword was for another one of her visions to kick in and leave her too helpless to fight or retreat.

She was stuck with these two no matter how much she hated them.

"Hey," Bow spoke up again while Catra refused to look back, "so, thanks for saving us from that bug thing back there when you could've escaped instead." Catra remained silent for a few seconds before scoffing in turn.

"Tch, I didn't do it to save you, the sword made me do it." Catra herself was almost just as skeptical as bow by her choice of reasoning.

"Are you sure it's not because you secretly like us?" He asked with a smug grin. All Catra had to do to prove her point was stretch out her already sharpened claws in front of his face. "Heh... point taken." That seemed to please Catra enough to drop the conversation because the next thing he knew she was casually walking down the hallway with her arms crossed, definitely peeved by how the recent events were unfolding.

Still, he wanted to make his gratefulness known even if she didn't want to hear it. "Thanks for saving us all the same." He repeated as he walked by her side. "I'm Bow by the way." It was hard to tell if she was ignoring him or simply didn't hear, an impossible detail given the large cat ears, given the lengthy silence and lack of physical reaction that came from her.

To Catra, if keeping everyone else quiet meant playing along, then she would play along as long as she possibly needed until she got her sword back. "...Catra..." She muttered.

"Catra, huh? Weird name for a-"

"Freak?" Catra assumed.

"I was going to say Horde soldier..." Bow corrected.

"O-Oh..." If there was ever an instant of surprise ever present on Catra's face at this, it lasted for less than a millisecond.

"Still, it is kind of an uncommon name for a Horde soldier and all."

"I don't know what my real name is, I guess they just gave it based on my appearance."

"Heh, guess they're not the most creative bunch, huh?"

Meanwhile, while trying to drown out the conversation the two behind her were spewing, Glimmer looked closely at the sword in her hands. A sword as powerful as this, possibly forged by the First Ones themselves, must've been of great importance and power. Bringing something like this to her mother was sure to gain her recognition, not to mention the fact she successfully captured a Horde soldier at the same time!

The only thing that could make this situation better was if she could unlock it's power. She saw the strange transformation Catra went through, the raw power glowing off the newly transformed warrior along with her sword, and how the creature seemed to practically submit to her will the very instant it laid eyes on her. That kind of power could be the very key she needed to turning this entire war around! All she needed to do was figure out how to acquire it.

Thinking back on it, overlooking the sword once more, she thought back to the very instant before Catra transformed. The creature struck the sword, a bright flash emanated from the sword, and then she spoke a certain phrase, possibly a password like the door. Viewing the bright gem itself, she whispered. "For the honor... of Grayskull."

"What are we doing?"

"Ah-!" Glimmer jumped at Bow's sudden question, realizing he was standing right behind her. "N-Nothing! I mean uhh... Look at these carvings! I think these might be a First One ruin." She stated trying to change the subject. She watched as Bow apparently took the bait, stepping ahead of her as he looked over the writing on the black-walled surface. Catra, on the other hand, just grew a cheeky grin as she leaned in over from behind the princess.

"Can't get the sword to work, Pinky?" She teased, earning nothing more than a small grumble from Glimmer herself. Insults aside, she was just as curious over the strange symbols displayed on the wall. "What's with this First Ones mumbo-jumbo you guys keep mentioning?"

"You've never heard of the First Ones?" Glimmer couldn't tell if she was feigning ignorance or serious, given the events that led up to this moment. She also didn't have the capacity to care for it either as she continued on ahead.

"The First Ones are the original settlers of Etheria." Bow explained in Glimmer's place. "They disappeared over a thousand years ago, but they left behind a lot of old ruins and technology. Like this place."

If the First Ones left technology like this sword or the other strange devices she's come across up till now, there was no telling what other sort of powerful objects laid hidden across Etheria. All of these details were the key to obtaining everything she could've dreamed of! All with one underlying detail she did need to ask about. "Whatever happened to them?" The cat was growing curious at this detail and she wasn't planning on getting killed over it.

"No one knows." Somehow she knew that would be his answer. "They just disappeared. The Horde didn't tell you about them?"

"If they did I didn't care much to listen to them." Catra shrugged. "They taught us the basics of basically everything, then drilled into our heads how we're all 'destined to bring unity and balance to Etheria' or some garbage. When it came to whatever they considered important matters, they always kept it to the higher ups."

"Ugh!" The two stopped as they heard Glimmer moan, standing up ahead. "How do we get out of here?"

"It'll take forever to find a way out at this rate." Bow replied looking around. Wow. Catra was joking when she thought to herself how she would die getting lost with these two earlier but that was going to be the case at the rate things were going. "Hey, you wanna turn on some light, Catra?"

"Huh?" Did he think she was magical too or something? "What? Do you want me to use the glow-in-the-dark powers I don't have or something?"

"Maybe there's a magic word..." He rubbed his chin trying to think. "Ooh! What's the First One's word 'lights'?"

"I don't know, 'Light's on' or something?" She had to resist the urge to facepalm when Bow took a second to look around to see if it worked.

"Mmh we're wasting time." Glimmer stepped between them as she handed the sword to Bow. "Everyone, stand back." She instructed as started to gather more magic.

"Uhh Glimmer? Maybe you should take it easy." Bow suggested sounding slightly worried. "We're a long way from Bright Moon. It'll be awhile before you can recharge."

"Bow!" Glimmer yelped at the small detail he just gave away.

"You have to recharge your powers?" Catra smirked for several reasons. That was an interesting detail Catra was unaware of. Who knows what other juicy bits he could give her before the day was over?

"Can we not talk about this in front of the Horde soldier? Now, stand back." The look Catra saw on his face seemed to be glossed over as he stepped near her and away from Glimmer.

With the distraction out of the way, she watched as the pixie-looking girl began to gather a larger amount of magic within the palms of her hand, a large shining pink sphere growing in size with each passing second. This too actually got Catra interested as she studied her every move. On top of the sword, every bit of detail she could return to the Horde could prove invaluable for her chance at a promotion.

On the off and incredibly unfortunate chance she failed to get the sword before returning to the Horde, as well as any other First One tech she could find, she needed something she could fall back on to make up for it, no matter how minor and inefficient it was. Knowledge was power after all, and it was the last thing Catra could bring back with her to prove all of this wasn't for nothing.

Her attention shifted back to the princess as she heard her groan slightly with unease and discomfort. A small piece of sweat dripped a little from her forehead as the orb continued to expand, growing wider and wider before Catra's very eyes.

Then, with one mighty roar, Glimmer threw the large sphere into the sky, as high as it could reach above these ruins, and expanded like a great shining sun.

"Whoa..." Catra's own eyes sparkled slightly in astonishment, finding herself actually surprised at the massive amount of magic this young princess had welling up inside of her the entire time. She was brought back to focus after hearing the Glimmer groan again, a little louder than before.

"Wow, are you okay?" Bow asked checking on her.

"I'm fine Bow, okay?" Glimmer insisted a little weakly. Her attempts to continue on with the trek was immediately stopped as she turned around again, the sight shocking her at what she saw.

Before all of them, stretching across the wall to nearly the ceiling itself, was a large glass picture, the frame itself embedded within a large sturdy stand keping the picture up. There was a myriad of colors that danced across the picture, depicting of what appeared to be a young warrior, a princess perhaps, standing what appeared to be a magnificent, majestic sword in front of her.

What made the picture so compelling was the similarity it had to recent events. This large beautiful image in front of them bared a striking resemblance to what Catra transformed into, with the large curved edges to her helmet and shoulder pads of her armor. Even the symbol while being partially covered by the sword itself, was too similar to Catra's outfit to not be a coincidence!

"Hey, that's you!" Bow exclaimed as Catra stepped forward. She couldn't help but find herself mesmerized by just how similar the mural was compared to her own image when she transformed.

"That... That can't be right." She shook her head at this. "That doesn't look anything like me!"

"No, I mean the other you." Bow said looking back to the mural. "The large sword, the whole Tiara thing, " Catra briefly checked to see if her helmet was either missing or different at this, "it's gotta be you."

There were a few striking differences, however, and not just with the person as a whole.

"Well minus the cape thing if you really want to look at it." Glimmer commented. "Do you know what the inscriptions say?" Catra took a look at the strange words that were slowly translating in her head like the door.

"It says... whoever found the sword first should get to keep it! Well, if the mural says-" Catra said with a grin.

"Nice try." Glimmer was already two steps ahead of her as she stretched it away at arms length.

"Eh, worth a shot." Catra continued to look over the inscriptions. Luckily it was only one word, thus the translation was over almost as quickly as it began. "It says... She-Ra."

All at once, light stretched across all the inscriptions as it ascended from the base of the picture to the mural itself. Just like with the door, the phrase appeared to bring the entirety of the room this time to life as light danced across the long hallways and the mural from whence it came. Everyone watched as the ruin of the First Ones practically sprang to life under these effects, all of them finding themselves in a practical trance as they watched with amazement at the wondrous light show displaying before them.

It didn't just end with the picture itself coming to life with light, the light stretched across the entire room and then some, illuminating the very floors they stood on and the walls to places they've yet to come to. It was like the First Ones' ruins themselves were alive, awakening after being called upon by one chosen to awaken it. Even the ambience in the air somehow felt more alive than it previously was, all of this culminating from just one word.

She-Ra.

"Greetings, administrator." A full-sized image of a person resembling Light Hope suddenly popped up from the ground, causing the group to jump with fright along with Catra's tail.

"W-What is this thing?"

"What is your query?" It asked.

"My... what?"

"I think it's some kind of ancient hologram." Bow stated as he looked at the transparent being.

"What is your query?" It repeated a third time.

"Um... hi. What is this place?" Bow tried to ask, expecting an answer that never came. "...How do we get out of here?" He asked again trying to sound as blatant and direct as possible.

It didn't help.

"What is your query?"

"Well she's broken." Bow concluded.

"She's just old." Glimmer pointed out. "I'm surprised any of this stuff works at all." She waved her hand through it as she said this. Whatever she did didn't seem to agree with the hologram because almost immediately the hologram glowed red as if angered.

"Administrator not detected. Lockdown initiated."

For a pile of what was supposed to be old junk and ruins, the three found themselves caught off guard at how quickly it reacted and initiated the lockdown. The entire room lit with an angry red as the floors began to rumble. One after the other the various entrances and exits to this place slammed shut and tightly with completely flattened, metal surfaces, leaving little to no means of prying the doors open or gripping the door no matter how hard they could try.

That wasn't including the doors and locks that came down from the older pieces of the ruin. The other areas that were locking down found themselves grinding to a harsh halt, the magic of time catching up to the structures, causing the doors to some sections to completely collapse on top of each other as well as the entranceways that housed them. The amount of force pushing on these structures were enough to shake the ground more as it caused bits of the ceiling to come falling out of the sky, glass murals from above falling one after the after around them.

The entire room would collapse atop of them at this rate, and none of them had the means to protect themselves from the ensuing rubble.

"Catra, you've got to stop it!" Bow finally stated.

"What makes you think I can?!" No amount of assurance could convince her when the world was literally falling down around them!

"Query not recognized."

"There's got to be a password or something," Bow suggested, "just like all the other times!"

Catra found herself on wits end, refusing to let her skepticism keep her from possibly saving their lives from a simple guessing game. "Uhh cut it out- er no I mean stop it. I order you to stop it!" Catra ordered assertively. It was met with the same results as Bow's attempt at stopping it, but she wouldn't give up. "Uhh S-She-Ra! Light Hope! Uhh Eternia? Come on, give us a break!" Catra shouted.

It was then that Catra looked back to the picture itself, the one displaying She-Ra, the person she resembled and the potential key to all of this. There was something about her that had to give them the answers they were looking for, and it all rested on the one thing she was holding in her hands.

"Give me the sword!" She quickly told Glimmer.

"What? No!" Glimmer pulled away.

"We need crazy lady in the cape!" Catra asserted. "If this place is as old as you said it was, then maybe it'll listen to someone close enough to resemble her. You can't deny it's worth a shot!"

"Mmmh." There was a strong urge to deny it but she knew better than not. If they didn't get out of this place it wouldn't matter who had the sword anyway, and that was worse than a soldier running off with the sword at all!

Almost at least.

"Ngh... She-Ra! Uhh Catra! Bow, Glimmer, First Ones?" Catra continued to list off as many potential words and names as possible, hoping any sort of miracle could get them out of their situation.

While she still had misgivings about the soldier, Glimmer wasn't about to leave her behind after realizing the only thing she could do at this moment. Quickly grabbing Bow by his arm and Catra by her tail, freaking the girl out for the very first time since meeting her.

"Hey, what are you grabbing-!" Catra tried to snap about the tail.

"Hold on!"

"Glimmer, no!" Bow tried to warn but it was too late. Perhaps it was good fortune that Glimmer used some of the last remaining fractions of her powers because no sooner had she finally teleported the three of them, a large slab of colored concrete landed where they previously stood.

She had little control though over where they ended up next as the next thing Catra knew they were well above the Whispering Woods, over hundreds of feet from what she fell from the first time that started all of this madness. Worse still, the one who threw them into this situation out of another situation didn't appear to be conscious, which would've explained the calming sleep she was under because there was nothing but panic filling Catra's mind.

"Uh Pinky? Hello? Wake up, we still need you!" Catra tried to shake awake to no avail. Whether or not half-human half-cats always landed on their feet gravity always proved to be the more dire detail to the statistic.

"Hold on!" Bow shouted as he pulled another arrow from his quiver. The boy managed to surprise Catra as he always seemed to have an answer to their troubles because if there was ever an exact thing they needed to save them at this moment, it was the net that grew out of his arrow the moment he shot it at the trees below them, hanging on for dear life as the group had landed straight in the center of the life-saving contraption.

It was a narrow escape for the group, but one that they had officially survived.

...

"Glimmer?" Glimmer heard an echoey voice as she slowly conscious. "Glimmer?"

"Ugh..." She moaned, slowly opening her eyes. She doesn't fully know where she ended up taking them or where they were at this moment, all she did know was that she, Bow, and even Catra were all safe, the last of them having a vague hint of worry in her incredibly annoyed look. "Did it work?"

"What do you think?" Catra huffed as she leaned over. "Word of advice if you don't want to lose your fingers; don't grab a cat by her tail anymore, got it?" Glimmer was so used to her method of speaking that she wasn't even fazed by her nonchalant threat.

"Are you alright?" Bow asked as he carefully helped her up.

"I'm fi-Ngh!" Glimmer clenched her teeth as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. "I think I used up too much power back there..."

"I don't know who could've predicted that... oh right, me." He said with a slight tease. It didn't make Bow feel any easier knowing this was to be expected after the amount of power she's been using, but it did at least give him an excuse to be a little smug about it.

"Bow..."

"Like an hour ago..." He added.

"Bow!"

"I'm sorry, I'm just glad you're okay." He apologized as she picked up the sword. She was too relieved for words when she realized she was still holding the mighty sword in the palm of her hands.

And a little confused.

"You... didn't try to take the sword?" She asked looking back to Catra.

"Trust me, I wanted to," She crossed her arms as she puffed her cheeks, "but aside from Bowey over here, I... just wanted to make sure you woke up before I did. I hate owing people who help me so consider this making us even." While it was far more one-sided on how much Catra owed her, Glimmer decided to just accept the consideration without saying a word.

Although that didn't keep her from finding more things to question. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" Catra replied with the typical roll of her eyes.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

"What do you think? I want that stupid sword so I-"

"No, not that." She interrupted. "I mean why are you fighting for the Horde? I mean you don't seem to be all buddy-buddy with them. You even said you didn't like anybody over there so what's the point of working for people you hate so much?"

"Because she's over-!" Catra quickly looked away as she caught herself. "I mean... I just feel like I owe them one, ok? No matter how much I hate their guts they did raise me since I was a baby. Least I can do is find some way to pay them back before I leave them entirely."

"Sounds rough." Bow commented scratching the back of his head. He couldn't even begin to know what it felt like working for a group of people you have absolutely no care for. "But if you really don't care that much for them, then why not just leave them? You could... fight for the Rebellion!"

"What?!" Both Catra and Glimmer stammered at the same time.

"Are you out of your mind?!" The Princess shouted. "There's no way we would-"

"You're still interested in the sword and what it can do, right?" He continued.

"Yeah...?" Catra nodded with a curious brow.

"Well Glimmer's mom knows more about First Ones' tech than anyone. She'll know what's going on with the sword and can probably show you how to use it!"

"You don't say..." She rubbed her chin as she thought to herself. She did have to admit, there was an appeal into knowing how to use the sword rather than just the sword itself. As it stood it was no more useful than a giant sharp paperweight the way it was now. But if she could unlock all the secrets it contained there was no telling how much power she could unleash on her enemies, especially Shadow Weaver of all people!

"So? What do you say?" He asked offering a hand.

Her options were either A: Accept the deal and get back at everyone she's hated for years now, or B: Decline the deal and find some other means of getting the sword back as well as an alternative solution for finding her way home, which became increasingly difficult since she didn't know where Glimmer just teleported them within these woods.

The choice was obvious.

"Come on, we're wasting time." Glimmer butted in before Catra could so much as offer a response, pulling Bow along with her. "There should be a village a few miles from here. They should be able to give us a ride back to Brightmoon." She didn't give either of the two a chance to continue this conversation as she sped her way up the path a little, looking sternly over to Bow as she whispered. "Are you out of your mind? She's a Horde soldier! She'd never work with us!"

"I know you're upset, but this could really help all of us!" He whispered back. "If she really hates the Horde as much as she says, she'll be willing to help us figure out how to defeat them! She must know loads of battle strategies and weaknesses of the Horde, she'd make a great ally!"

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Catra's superior hearing allowed them to eavesdrop on their whispering even when they were several yards away. She knew exactly what they were talking about even if a few words here and there were incoherent for her. She knew they wanted to use her to help them win the war and they wanted her to join them and fight on the Rebellion's side. All all throughout this there was only one thought on her mind that made her grow a sly grin.

This... is too easy...

It's a funny thing when you have time on your hands. Most people can enjoy activities or socialize with other people about various events in the world. During the near full hour they had to wait for Glimmer to wake up, there were quite a few thoughts running through Catra's mind. How was she going to get the sword, how was she going to get back home, and then a new thought occurred; how could she use this to her advantage.

When the idea finally came to her, she knew what she had to do. All she had to do was show a little caring and concern here, a little sympathy there, and find some way to get either of the two morons to sympathize with her. Top that all off with a bit of inner turmoil followed by a dash of possibly betraying her own allies, and she had them eating right out of her very palms.

Because at the rate things were going, she had the advantage over the two. And before this day was done, she was going to get far more than some maesily sword!

...

"Mmmh..." Adora mumbled holding herself worriedly as she walked back and forth within the halls of the great building. "Where is she..."

This was a disaster. A complete and utter disaster!

Here she was, newly promoted Force Captain fighting on behalf of the Horde who was currently worrying over a verily late friend of hers. She promised Adora two hours, three tops. She promised she'd return either with the supposed sword that she mentioned or she'd go with her to the infirmary to see if she was suffering some mental injury. And she trusted her friend to keep her word and would have returned within the day just like she promised.

That was all seven hours ago!

She was well over her deadline and incredibly late within the day! If she didn't show up soon, any of her other friends would've noticed her missing! They'd notice her missing, they'd gossip around the base, then one of the staff would've heard, and one way or another it would've eventually ended up with Hordak of all people finding out she was missing! Maybe he wouldn't have been bothered by the announcement of a single missing cadet, given the numerous soldiers he dealt with on a daily basis, but at the very least one of the other soldiers would've noticed, or even worse, Shadow Weav-

*thud*

"Ah!" Adora yelped as she backed away from whatever she collided into. Her fears were intensified as she realized it was the very last person she wanted to literally bump into. "S-Shadow Weaver!" Adora quickly stood at attention, as always, as she saluted. "G-Good day!"

"Adora," Shadow Weaver greeted in her usual calm demeanor as she always did with her, "how pleasant it is to see you." If one thing that scared Adora, it was the fact Shadow Weaver was always nice to her. If there was one thing that terrified or scarred soldiers always recalled about Shadow Weaver, it was that things were always bad when she started a conversation seemingly nice. She was completely living on edge in her case as that's how Shadow Weaver always spoke to her. "I was wondering if you've seen that certain... soldier... friend of yours. Catra, was it?"

"Err n-nope, haven't seen her!" Adora replied with a nervous smile. While she was aware of how strange she was acting herself, she knew everything would be alright as long as there wasn't any proof of where she could be. "I mean I think I heard she was out running an errand or something, so I'm sure she'll be back in awhile."

"Oh... I see..." Outside from the eyes, the other impossible thing to tell about Shadow Weaver was what was on her mind. Without any shift in her tone or voice, there was no way to tell how she was feeling or what she was feeling based on her lack of emotion. "In that case, could I borrow you for a moment? I need your help with something." She instructed as she gestured along with her.

"Oh, o-of course, Shadow Weaver." Thank goodness. For a moment there she really did think Shadow Weaver was on to her about her missing friend. But mundane tasks were nothing uncommon for anyone who Shadow Weaver instructed, so she didn't see any issue with the command.

"Wonderful, thank you dear." She replied as she lead Adora to one of the rooms down the hall. "I would like your help with this issue I came across."

"It's no problem, Shadow Weaver." Adora nodded as she entered the room, curiously approaching a strange waist-high fountain she found in the center. "What kind of help do you nee-" She was instantly cut off as her eyes widened.

Within the center of the fountain, she saw an image displaying everything she questioned, wondered, and feared in that order. Within the fountain she saw an image of her friend, Catra, traveling within the woods alongside two other stranger she's never met before. Whether or not she was being forced to tag along with them or followed them of her own free will wasn't the issue at this time.

The problem was, Shadow Weaver knew.

"You see, it's the strangest thing," Shadow Weaver said as she approached Adora from behind, "I was just told by a certain somebody that she had no idea where Catra was. Yet you seem more worried at the sight of the picture than confused. It's almost like you knew she was gone..."

This was beyond all sorts of bad. It wasn't surprising to see Shadow Weaver had caught Adora in her lie either, being a master manipulator in both emotions and mentality. What came off as troubling was not knowing the repercussions or who would incur the wrath of said repercussions. As much as she respected Shadow Weaver, she also knew how soft she was to her at times compared to others, and that's what worried her most.

"Ok, look, Shadow Weaver? I'm sorry I lied," Adora apologized with pleading hands, "but you can't blame her either! I promised her I would wait for her to get back so if you're going to be angry, I take full responsibility for this! Just please don't punish Catra for-"

"Who said I was ever angry about this?"

"-leaving, I should've just taken her to the-" Adora paused as she just processed what Shadow Weaver had said. "Wait you're... not... mad?"

"Of course not," she said in a soothing tone, stepping over to Adora's side as she gazed in the water, "I'm actually quite worried."

"You... are?" Was she really? She's known Shadow Weaver to have an angry side with others but not once were those situations of anything dire. Maybe she really did care when the situation truly called for it?

"Yes, Adora. That happens to be a Princess with her, you know." With the wave of her hands, the image in the bowl suddenly shifted to a closer look of Princess Glimmer herself, her spiteful, anger-filled demeanor still covering her face.

"So what's what a princess looks like." Adora muttered gazing in. This was her first legitimate time ever seeing a princess that wasn't a hologram from a simulation. "But then... what is Catra doing with her?"

"No doubt she and her lackey have somehow brainwashed your dear friend. If we don't react quickly enough, they'll take her to the closest facility where they'll interrogate her. And I guarantee they'll force her through the most barbaric of means to tell her what they want to know before disposing of her."

"D-disposing of her? You don't mean..." Adora caught a lump in her throat as she saw Shadow Weaver narrow her eyes. That one look within her wholly white eyes told her exactly what she was thinking, and every detail of how they would proceed with that creeping up in the back of her mind. "We have to do something- I have to do something!"

"Of course, Adora." She soothed, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Now would be a very good time to begin."

"Begin?" She repeated questionably. "Begin what?"

"Why, your very first mission, of course..."

...

A/N: Well nothing gets cheesier than writing a freaking intro to a series, right XP? Lol... oooohhh god i have no life X*(...

With the intro series I'd like to request help from anyone who can provide it! If someone writes scenes to go with the lyrics for this version of she-ra, their intro will be posted at the beginning of every episode as a prize, as well as have the opportunity for a non-canon episode they would like to see of in this version of she-ra ^^!

As always, leave a like fave review and follow if you enjoyed! Especially review, as I'm doing what I did for Danganronpa and requiring at least 3 reviews for my next post- i like reviews a lot because I feel people get more attention for their fics the more reviews they have. That and I just like hearing feedback for my series XP

Lol.. anyway, hope you all enjoyed it! Can't wait for part 2, and I'm the one who's writing it ^^!

Chapter 4: Episode 2: The Sword Part 2 P2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey guys, bit of a shorter post this time around but for good reason. Specifically: I had a lot of fun with the 30-1 minutes worth of show I put into this one XP. I kid you not I probably added 30 seconds worth of story from the episode in this one, kinda give you guys an easier read and a break for a change compared to the other chapters. On top of that, I posted this piece early because as it stood, the episode would've been extremely long if I posted the rest of the episode along with this 30 seconds of footage XP.

So with that said, i hope everyone enjoys this "brief", albeit fun little episode. Apologies if anythings rushed, was having a bit of a wonky day so writing might not be 100% today. Either way enjoy!

...

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No..."

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO!"

Glimmer was just about ready to tear her hair out at a moment's notice. For the last half hour, the trio that consisted of Princess Glimmer, her friend Bow, and the Horde soldier they met named Catra had been walking through the Whispering Woods on their way to one of the nearby villages to help transport them to Brightmoon Castle.

To say the day was full of "interesting" events would've been an understatement. In less than a day, her mother grounded her, she snuck out in search of lost First Ones' technology, came upon a magic sword, captured a Horde soldier, discovered a saddening sight of a desecrated village, got attacked by a giant bug monster, watched the sword transform Catra into some sort of magical warrior, escaped into a Great Ones' Ruins, almost collapsed the entire ruin after somehow activating it, using all her remaining magic to teleport the three of them out of there,

And none of it was as bad as what came after.

After noticing Catra's demeanor when it came to the Horde, Bow came up with the interesting idea of possibly recruiting her to their side, which wasn't a bad idea in all fairness. The only thing better than a captured Horde soldier that wouldn't cooperate was one that would, knowing all the ins and outs of the Horde and be willing to divulge as much information as she possibly could. Not to mention it was less likely she would lie about anything if she was willing to do it.

Unfortunately for Glimmer, that meant putting up with Catra's annoyance for the last half hour as they tried to reach the village. Not once since they started this trek did Catra keep her mouth shut, the seemingly-former Horde soldier finding it far too amusing to annoy the Princess, knowing she couldn't do anything that would risk her changing her minds and ruining her chances of proving herself to her mother. Catra was fully aware of this little detail as well.

And man was she loving it!

She could do whatever she wanted, say whatever she wanted, and, as she fully intended, get anything she wanted out of this. She knew Pinky, her little nickname for Princess Glimmer, wouldn't try to pull anything as long as she was with them, and, knowing she was out of magic, she didn't have to worry about her casting some sort of silencing spell or teleporting Catra off a cliff or anything.

The only one who seemed immune to Catra's annoyance was Bow himself, which was probably for the best for Catra. While he did know she was doing it intentionally, it was his idea in the first place to bring him, and Glimmer definitely would've been more irritated if he took back his offer just because things were starting to annoy him. As long as she just tried to annoy Glimmer he was alright with it, provided things didn't turn violent like it appeared it would soon.

"Are we there-"

"You can see we're obviously not there," Glimmer pointed out as she looked back, "so why do you keep asking?"

"Does it annoy you?" Catra asked with a cheeky grin and her arms crossed.

"Yes!"

"Well there you go." She laughed silently as she saw Glimmer squeeze her head. It was like being the passenger in the backseat of a car. She was bored as heck of walking through the woods for who knows how long by now, so she had to entertain herself. At this, she slowly leaned herself forward, head coming closer to Glimmer's ears, and took a deep, quiet, breath. "Haaaaaaah... arewethereyet?"

"NGGGGGGGH-!"

"Yes!" Bow answered smiling, catching their attention.

While it did ruin Catra's hope for any future fun, she did find herself curious and surprised by the sight ahead. This was the very first town she's seen since leaving the Fright Zone, and it was.. different. Very different. There wasn't steam anywhere from the machines, no guards patrolling the streets, there was a surprising array of color amongst the buildings and decorations around the town, and there weren't people harassing each other over the most minor of details. And it wasn't just filled with humans. It had a grand number of hybrid people around here too, many of them with twisted ears and horns on their head.

"Welcome to Thaymor." Bow introduced.

"So this is Thaymor, hu-Ahhhh!" Catra let out a startled yelp as she suddenly felt another yank by her tail, pulling her back behind the building. She hissed as she pulled back her sore tail, giving a glare to the pink princess. "Hey! What did I tell you about grabbing a person by their tail?!"

"What do you think you're doing?" There was no telling if that was a rhetorical question or not coming from a princess.

"Uhh... going into town?" Catra answered with a questionable tone.

"What? In that?" Glimmer gestured to the entirety Catra's outfit. "You're a Horde soldier! Everyone's going to know who you are at first glance!"

"Well what do you want me to do? It's not like I brought a change of clothes you know."

"Already got you covered." Bow stated as he removed Catra's helmet and tossing it in a nearby bush. Before she had a chance to growl back, she suddenly found herself covered with a strange bluish tunic that stretched to her left thigh. As if this wasn't enough, the final nail on the coffin was a small pink flower placed on the left side of her head. If Adora was here to see her, Catra would immediately use up eight of her nine lives after dying repeatedly from embarrassment.

It only gave Glimmer more satisfaction noticing the slightly pink blush growing on her face, feeling a small bit of justice being served for the previous annoyance. "It's not the best look, but I think it will do."

"Ok. The flower? Absolutely not." Catra stated as she shook it out of her hair, only for it to be replaced a second later. "Mmmmhhhh..."

"Come on Catra, just for a little while." Bow said as he led the way into town. "You need to blend in until we can get a ride to Brightmoon."

"And a low profile." Glimmer added. "We don't want to be attracting too much attention around here."

"I doubt that's gonna be a problem." She said as she watched the crowds of people set up decorations. "They're too busy doing something weird. Did someone die or something?"

"What? No, that's just a festival they're setting up." Bow replied. To his shock, Catra just raised a brow to this, revealing what he could hardly believe. "Haven't you ever been to a party before?"

"Par-tees? That some kind of food?"

"Oh my gosh, how have you never been to a party before?" Whatever confusion was on his face quickly changed to excitement because the next thing Catra knew, he was trying to pull her to one of the nearby stands. "Come on, you've got to experience one!"

"What? No!" Glimmer yelled quickly running up in front of him to block his path. "Bow, we don't have time for this! We have to get to Brightmoon right away!"

"Glimmer, please, this is serious!" He decreed holding her shoulders. "She's never been to a party before. EVER!" Glimmer just moaned as his eyes sparkled at this.

"Uhh if it's all the same, I think I'd rather sit out on this one. I don't do things with crowds."

"What? Catra come on, you don't know what you're missing! There's food, there games, there's a whole lot of people to meet-" He insisted.

"I said no! You already got me wearing Pinky's frufru outfit, I don't need anymore attention!" She insisted crossing her arms.

While she could've gone without that frufru comment Glimmer was at least glad Catra had the same level of discreteness as she did. "Then in that case, you won't mind waiting around here while we find someone to give us a ride to Brightmoon."

"And let you leave with the sword? Yeah right!" Catra grumbled back.

"We're not going to leave you if you really plan on joining the Rebellion. It's just that if you really don't do that well in crowds, you're better off waiting here by yourself. It's probably gonna take us awhile to find someone who can transport us." Glimmer explained.

"Mmmhhh fine, just make it quick." Catra ordered as she leaned against a wall with her arms still crossed, ears lowering in annoyance. As much as she hated to admit it, Glimmer did have a point. The more people she saw, the more they might want to talk to her. The more they might want to talk to her, the more she would have to talk back. And the more she would have to talk back, the closer she would be to clawing the next person to annoy her!

"Gladly. Come on, Bow."

"Awww but the festival..." Bow moaned audibly as Glimmer dragged him away. He didn't know if it was more depressing that Catra's never been to a party before or she had no interested in one.

"Hmph, what's the big deal about these stupid parties anyway..." Catra mumbled looking around.

In all honesty she was actually curious about these party things he mentioned, but at the same time she didn't want any part of it or the other people. The only person she's ever managed to get along with or even come to call something close to a friend was Adora, and not one of these people seemed to have the same head on their shoulders as she did. They just seemed too giddy, out of character, they acted like everything was alright with the world and there was nothing else to worry about.

Like the war going on for crying out loud!

In fact, she actually found it a bit insulting! Why on Etheria did these people get to go about their daily lives with stupid smiles on their faces while there was a war going on? What gave them the right to live free and jolly while everyone else either suffered or were suffering from this war? It didn't exactly look professional to pretend everything was right with the world while someone else suffered! At least in the Horde even young cadets knew what was going on and were preparing for their futures, they weren't holding hands, singing songs, or some annoying festival while everyone else worked.

She didn't even understand the appeal anyway. Why bother celebrating things for no rhyme or reason? They made people do stupid things, made them lazier and incompetent compared to how they already are, and they wasted so much money that could be used for resources and such. Instead they were all just running around like a bunch of morons laughing and dancing while someone else somewhere was fighting a war.

Like herself!

*thud*

"Ah!" Catra yelped a little as something collided into her legs. Looking down, she saw several kids with goat horns, Satyrs as they're called, like the adults had that came up to her waist, presumably seven or eight years old, with the one in front of the group rubbing their head a little.

"Ow..." He mumbled.

"Hey, watch where you're going, brats!" Catra hissed, instantly sending shivers down the spine of the several children.

"S-Sorry!" The head one apologized quickly before the groupie of kids ran off in fear.

Oh yeah, that was the other thing that annoyed her. Kids. Painfully obnoxious,painfully stupid, and painfully annoying kids. If there wasn't one thing wrong with them there was another. If there was one mess they made, there was another mess to clean up. All they did was break everything they came across or hurt someone else from too much rough housing too much.

Sure, she was a kid too at one point, but at least she knew her place better than most of the kids she grew up with in the Horde. On top of that, she only ever hung around Adora through a majority of her life, and while she wasn't a stranger to pranks and such, at least they had the decency to clean the messes up after.

Usually because Adora insisted on it.

*thunk*

"Ugh," and the annoyance just continues as someone else crashed into her leg, "what did I just tell you- Oh."

Well this was a bit different. This wasn't like the last several children she had to deal with that were rowdy and rambunctious. This one was rather... young. Real young. Like four-years-old by the looks of it since she barely came up to her knees. She was wearing a nice little light blue tunic with woolen brown sandals like many of the others had, and had tranquil blue eyes with short pink hair. And the most notable thing about her was what Catra detested most about kids.

She was a mess.

Here was a four-year-old girl who collapsed on her behind after bumping into Catra, and she was a mess. She had this strange colored purple smear over her tunic and her face, and upon closer inspection, Catra noticed she got some of that strange food stuff on her own tunic, though she wasn't too bothered by it since they weren't hers to begin with.

From what she could gather from all of this, the little kid must've been eating something when she bumped into Catra in a hurry, smushing whatever it was across herself and the bottom of Catra's tunic.

And she looked ready to cry.

"Mhmmmhhhh..." She whimpered, sniffling a little as her eyes watered.

"W-What... What are you doing?" She was too powerless to resist drooping her ears at this.

"Nghhhh..." She sniffled again. How was Catra supposed to resist frowning a little when she had a kid crying right in front of her.

"St... stop that. Come on, it wasn't that big of a deal right?" Her hopes that her orders were somehow listened to were ignored as the kid continued to whine. "Come on, stop it. It... it was just food, ok?" Shockingly this was only met with more crying, "Mmmmh..." Catra took a brief glance at her surroundings, remembering she was supposed to keep a low profile, then crouched in front of the little girl.. "Come on, it's not that bad. Here, look." She gave a small lick to her own thumb before helping to wipe off whatever she could of the girl's face, then wiped off any food chunks she could from the girl's tunic.

"There, you see? No biggie. Now run along and go do whatever, ok?"

"Mmmhhh..." Catra groaned internally as the whimpering continued.

"What's wrong now?"

*gurgle*

As if to answer Catra's question itself, the next thing she heard was a small gurgling hunger emanating from the girl's stomach. "Let me guess, you're hungry?" For the first time the little girl replied with something other than more whimpering as she nodded. With a roll of her eyes and a quick look around she spotted a stand that was selling, what she believed to be despite the weird appearance, food. "All right, come on." She directed as she took the girl's hand and walked over to it.

She presumed whatever they were selling was some sort of food thing after watching another couple take something from the stand eating it, though the look of the strange fruit things left. "Um... hello?

"Hello, how can I help you?" The Stand's owner greeted.

"Uhh could I get some of that fruit or something for her? I don't have any money but-"

"Oh, nonsense, the food is free for the festival." The owner informed her as she handed her a pink-colored piece of food. "Here, hope you enjoy!"

"Um... thanks, I guess?" It felt so weird for her to be given something by someone she's never met before, but she quickly shook it off as she walked over to the little girl again. "Here, will this make you happy?" She watched as the girl took the strange food, her sniffling and whining being replaced with a more curious look as she switched glances between the food and Catra. After waiting several seconds for any sort of response, Catra finally sighed as she rose back to her feet. "Well... there you go. Hope you're happy kid, later."

Well that was an interesting way to waste a few minutes. Hopefully she could go through the rest of the day without any more unwanted attention, especially from a little kid.

Sadly fate wasn't so kind when she felt a tugging on her tunic exactly three seconds later after walking away. Doing whatever she could to surprise a moan she turned her head back as she looked down to the curious goat girl. "What?" She really did not want to spend the entirety of the day with her. It wasn't anything towards her specifically of course, she just didn't trust kids enough to be alone with them. One moment you could be holding ones hand and the next one they could be starting a fire in the middle of the night of all things!

That was a very brief pyromaniac phase she went through...

Watching the kid closely, she was a bit surprised as the kid broke off a small piece of the food and tried to hand it to her, a wide and excited smile on her face. "What?" She stared at the girl for a few seconds, the concept of what she was doing completely new to her. "What do you want?" Regret started to build up again as the happy face on the kid's expression slowly changed to a small whimpering frown. Seeing her options limited, Catra gave another silent sigh as she took the small piece of food offered to her.

She examined the bizarre thing as if it was poisonous, looking back to the other kid as she happily ate her piece of the food. Shrugging to herself, Catra gave a silent gulp as she squeezed the gushy thing one more time before eating it. "Well, bottoms up..."

"...!" Catra's eyes widened as she tasted the strange food. What the heck was this thing? It had the strangest texture yet the best taste to anything she's ever tasted! It was like a jelly filled pastry but with a fruity skin to it instead of bread, and a soft texture that made it easy to eat! "D'ish ish..." She paused momentarily as she swallowed her mouthful. "Good!" To her embarrassment, the little girl was looking up at her with excitement in her eyes. "I-I mean you know for some...Par-tees kind of thing..." If this kid was an evil mastermind then she knew perfectly well Catra was trying to play it cool because the moment she said that the kid's face brightened up.

What happened next was beyond her control, unless she tried in the least bit to resist, because the next thing she knew the little girl was pulling her with both her hands as she dragged Catra towards the festival. "H-Hey wait where are you going?"

Well, it was just a little girl. Knowing her she was just going to take a few minutes, right?

...

Oh how wrong she ended up being.

Three hours.

Three long and grueling hours.

That's how long the girl dragged her around for. And in all honesty... it wasn't completely abysmal! Sure, it's not a process that she would ever want to repeat in a million years, but throughout it all, she could say it was... peaceful, compared to the last eight hours of her day.

The first thing she got dragged over to was a banquet table where she found several of the adults dancing on the table while those seated around them watched and ate in peace. The little girl seemed to be having a heck of a fun time finding as many different foods as she could find and bringing them back to the "new best friend" she met several minutes ago. Not wanting to upset the kid or cause her to cry in front of all these people, she found herself forced to take bite after bite of the various foods, and to her shock, not one of these foods were disgusting to her! Sure, some foods tasted better to her than others, but still.

There was one moment where she found herself waiting awhile for the girl to come back and bring more food for her when another couple tried sitting at the spot reserved for the four-year-old, forcing Catra to calmly and patiently explain to them how that seat was reserved for another person.

At least what she considered calm and patient the couple who ran screaming considered it hissing and threatening to claw their eyes out with her literal bare claws.

The next thing the girl excitedly dragged her over to was a rather strange event. She couldn't exactly tell what it was but for some reason the children surrounding it seemed intent on bashing the brains out of the stuffed paper mache toy. Watching for another minute, she grew surprised to see what appeared to be some form of candy bursting from the broken toy, just enough for the kid hitting the toy to get a few pieces of candy.

Feeling the girl tug on her again, she looked down to see the little girl giving her the bashing stick, looking at her expectantly as she pointed to the toy for her to break, and finally pulling her over to it. Honestly, it did feel a little weird, and embarrassing of course, to be standing in the middle of a crowd of children who were watching her questionable expression with smiles on her faces. Not wanting to get the kid into another crying fit though, she took a deep breath as she pushed her embarrassment down, taking a quick battle stance as she focused on the toy.

She needed to do this perfectly, without hesitation, and in one shot. She observed the paper contraption from head to toe, trying to pinpoint where the best spot to strike would be for the biggest impact and best results. Then she just needed to focus, trying to imagine the paper mache toy as someone she should hate, someone she would be all to eager to smack with all her might...

It only took two seconds for her to visualize Shadow Weaver's covered face over the toy before obliterating it in one strike. As opposed to the many distraught and depressed faces she expected to see upon the children's' faces, she instead found herself surrounded by the cheers of the numerous children as they all gathered the numerous pieces of candy, including the little girl herself who started this whole tour with Catra.

Catra was too proud of herself, evident by the cheeky grin on her face, to be bothered by the splattered remains of the toy that covered her face and hair.

The last stop on their numerous adventures was probably the most boring of the several dozen places they visited and took all of Catra's willpower to stay awake, and even more to keep herself from walking away from it. It appeared to be a simple story area where an elder was telling a story to the kids in in front of him, all watching intently and with excitement as he delved into his story, making numerous different hand signs of animals and other creatures in the world as he did.

The biggest (and only) thing keeping her here was the four-year-old girl, and in a more literal sense in this case. Unlike the previous times where she was out on the sidelines, this time Catra found the little girl in her own lap, forcing herself to sit cross-legged as the kid watched with awe at the storyteller's show. All Catra could do was force herself to sit right up, resting her hand on her chin as she propped her arm up against herself with the most bored expression she's had on her face since this misadventure began.

Surprisingly to her, however, the look of boredom on her face didn't last indefinitely. While watching the storyteller with half-opened eyelids, her ears perked up as the storyteller took a strange looking bag out of his pockets, sprinkling around the glittering dust around himself and creating a rain of sparkles for everyone watching to see. Then, all at once, the storyteller threw the entire bag in front of himself, creating a short flashbang in front of the children and everything everything from his chest down.

When the dust dissipated, the crowd was left in oohs and awes as nearly a dozen white birds flew from the ground, ascending to the sky as the children all clapped in applause as the man bowed. While she failed to get as invested in it herself, even Catra found herself smiling from the small performance she just witnessed. A part of her almost regretted not listening to whatever story the man was telling just now.

Emphasis on almost.

By the end of this long endeavor, Catra found herself walking alongside the small kid again, the both of them holding their own serving of cotton candy. If someone ever accused Catra of trying to have fun with somebody else before today she would've happily left them with a few scars to remind them of their mistakes. But after the day she's had, and everything she's gone through in the last several hours, she could admit at least one thing.

It was... a little fun!

"Ok, so what do you wanna do next, squirt?" Catra asked, trying to hide her eagerness.

"Kimberly!" A female voice suddenly called out catching their attention. Looking ahead Catra saw another one of the Satyrs, a female one, quickly rush up to them in a panic, hastily scooping up the four year old in her arms and hugging her for dear life. "Oh thank the queen you're alright! I was worried sick!"

"Huh, so you must be her mom, right?" Catra greeted with a hand. "Hey, my name's-"

"What were you thinking!" The mother snapped angrily.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Do you just go around taking children away from their families without their permission?!" She shouted as she set her daughter down by her legs. "I've been looking all over for her for the last two hours now when the other kids found her missing!" That would explain to Catra how the little girl stumbled upon her on her own. "You're lucky I didn't call the guards on you young lady! Where are your parents anyway?"

"Ok first off, she bumped into me and dragged me around, I didn't kidnap her or anything." Catra grumbled as she squeezed the stem of her cotton candy. "Secondly, I don't have any parents, so back off!"

"Typical, another delinquent in the midst of a festival. If that was the case why didn't you bother to just look around for her parents since the moment you found her?"

"Because I-!" Catra suddenly paused as she thought to herself. Why didn't she just go around and find her parents? She didn't want anything to do with the kid yet she ended up getting side tracked for several hours because the kid was so insistent on bringing her around. "I don't know..."

"Well hopefully next time you'll think for a few seconds before acting on instinct, young lady! Come sweetie, we're going home." The mother stated as she lifted her daughter and carried her away. The last thing Catra saw of the young girl's face was her looking over her mother's shoulder, frowning slightly as she gave a small wave goodbye, before they both disappeared into the crowd.

This.

This is what Catra hated about people. There were too many different types of people in the world. Strong, weak, brave, scared, smart, stupid, fun, boring, the list was never ending. In every day of her life she's only ever met the worst kinds of people, people who were either quick to judge or quick to act, who were always against her. They wanted nothing to do with her, nothing to say to her, and had no interest in being around her. This is what she always had to deal with, and these people were no exceptions.

The little girl was a brief exception to this list. Just for a moment, the girl seemed to be the only other person in the world she knew that actually liked Catra for no reason. She liked hanging around her, she liked playing with her, and she liked showing her all the cool and interesting things around the festival. It almost made Catra feel like she herself was wanted for a change, for possibly the first time in her very life!

Sadly, that had to come to a close when she met the strictest and painful of mothers apparently. If Kimberly was everything right with the world, then her mother was everything wrong with the world. She was quick to jump to conclusions and not even take a moment to try and understand someone different from themselves, not once taking a moment to themselves in trying to understand the "why" to everything to themselves.

They were just people who didn't bother to take the time to spend a second or two to understand something. Lazy people at it's finest. The absolute worst kinds of people that Catra loathed. This is what made up everyone around her.

"It was a stupid party anyway..." She hissed to herself, throwing the cotton candy to the ground before walking back into the forest.

Unaware of a certain princess having witnessed the whole event.

...

"Catra?" Glimmer called out as she looked around the edge of the town. "Catra? I know you can hear me, I just want to-" She froze as she discovered the state of the tree before her.

It was scratched up.

Badly.

There were numerous dozens scars from scratch marks located all over the tree from top to bottom, stretching up half the tree to at least ten feet. It wasn't just around the side Glimmer was facing, there were scratch marks across the entirety of the tree on all sides. Wherever there was an amount of open space, there were scratch marks, and wherever there weren't scratch marks, there were large chunks of tree bark missing.

Either Catra had been here or termites had gotten very specific with their eating habits.

"Catra?" Glimmer called again. "Where are you-"

"I'm up here." Glimmer looked up as she spotted the feline halfway up the tree, knees curled up to her chest with her tail wrapped around her feet with her back turned to Glimmer. She appeared to be wearing her old outfit again, helmet included, with her previous outfit torn to shreds and laid right next to her. "What do you want, Pinky?"

"Catra, I just want to talk. I saw what happened back in town. I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk about it-"

"I'm fine!" She hissed. Glimmer tried to find a branch or way she could climb up to Catra's level to no avail. Apparently Catra made sure there was no means for anyone else other than her to reach her. "Just leave me alone. Where's that Bowey guy anyway? Shouldn't you be bothering him?"

"He's playing with the children setting up another pinata. You know, the thing you broke apart in one swing?" Her reminder was the first line to get a physical response out of Catra as she turned her head back.

"If you were watching the whole time then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you looked like you were having fun, and you were playing with the kids so we didn't want to bother you."

"Yeah well thanks for that heads up, I'm glad you had my back when Kim's mother went insane on me."

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't step in, I didn't know what was going on at first. But you shouldn't let her influence what you think of people, they're really not all that bad-"

"You think I CARE what you stupid people think of me?" Catra growled as she leapt back to the ground. Glimmer started growing a little nervous as she backed away from the approaching Horde soldier, the same one stretching the claws out of her right hand. "Well let me tell you something princess; I DON'T care what people think of me, got it?" She nearly made Glimmer flinch as she swiped any and all plants that came near her claws. "I don't care what you stupid people think of me, I don't care about how your stupid people feel about me, and I definitely don't care about how your stupid people see me!"

The princess panicked a little as she realized she backed up into a tree, only thankful Catra finally stopped moving forward at this. "Because when I join your little Rebellion thing," she continued, "your mom is going to make it worth my while. Got it?"

"W-Worth your while?" Glimmer repeated. "I promise you if you help us win this war, money isn't going to be an issu-"

"Pffft, keep your stupid money, I want something bigger!" She stated, leaving Glimmer a little confused.

"Bigger than money? What could you possibly want?"

At this, Catra gave another sly grin as she placed her claws at her hips.

"Simple Pinky: I want a Kingdom!"

...

A/N: So now we see Catra's motives behind everything including what she wants! Personally given how she is in the show, I think this is the most likely thing she would ask for if she wanted anything ^^

Anyway thanks to the major fans I've gotten recently who left a review! The reviews really help and make the writing even more fun! So with that said, please leave a review on your thoughts of the latest chapter which I hoped you all enjoyed. As expected, this is most likely going to be a 3-parter now unless the next one takes like 8k words for only 4 minutes of scenery or something, otherwise next part should be the last ^^

Leave a like, fave, and review if you enjoyed! As always, 3 reviews for the next chapter, and if the last one was given great feedback, then I feel the next chapter should be here in no time!

Chapter 5: Episode 2: The Sword Part 2 End

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, another grand finale to a grand episode! Now I'm really glad I spaced this and the last one out or we would've been looking at like 15k words to read, and even I wouldn't want to read that much :/ I think I also am going to leave an END whenever I reach the end of any episode, in the event anything takes more than 2 parts to write out.

Huge thanks to the numerous fans coming to this series and all the feedback! I have a tradition where I do a freebie chapter of choice to anyone who reviews when I've reached a certain amount, so if you guys have a request or idea for a non-canon episode involving Catra's time in Bright Moon, please let me know!

Should point out this might be a bit rushed in some parts and confusing in others cause when I wrote this i was on sleeping medication for like the first half of this in the middle of night, so no telling how rushed or how badly something I wrote came out X/.

With that said, enjoy!

...

"Alright kids, now watch closely." Bow instructed as he spun the whacking stick playfully.

Festivals were the best, weren't they? There was so much to do at these events and so many fun things to do that one could forget their troubles of everyday life and just enjoy themselves, just like Bow was displaying before the dozen giggling kids. He knew he was acting goofily in front of them but it was purely intentional.

As a supporter of the Rebellion, he knew what kids needed was a good laugh, and displaying such over-the-top behavior was the best way to draw out those smiles. "This is a technique I used to take down one hundred Horde soldiers single handedly! Hooowahhhh!" He screeched, once again gaining the support and laughter of the kids.

"Did you really take out a hundred soldiers with one attack?" One of the curious five-year-old girls asked.

"Oh, you bet!" He eagerly demonstrated the events of that day by himself. "There I was, surrounded in the Whispering Woods, when all of a sudden a massive Horde army crashed through the trees, heavily armed with massive tanks and weaponry the likes of which you've never seen before!"

"Are tanks really big?" Another girl asked.

"Oh yeah, bigger than big! They're heavily equipped with massive thick metal plates and weigh a ton! In fact, whenever they were on the move, you could feel the ground beneath your feet beginning to rum-"

*rumble-rumble-rumble*

"Is this what it feels like?"

The group of children and Bow were interrupted by the vibrations of the very ground before them shaking. They had no idea Bow was so good at storytelling, believing for a moment that he was the one putting on this giant ground-shaking display. As for Bow himself, the bowman found himself confused at the shaking he felt underneath his heals, questioning what was going on and realizing too little too late what it was.

"Oh no..."

...

"You what?"

"You heard me right, Pinky. I want a Kingdom." Catra declared proudly. It had been a rather harsh day for the cat girl, and after what happened through the last half hour, she didn't care how she came off. If anything, the events she experienced a short while ago only fueled her desire for her own Kingdom.

She actually thought for a moment she could fit in here, for the first time in her life! After arriving in town with the other two and being forced to participate in some strange festival "par-tee" thing, she actually found herself having something close to a good time! There was plenty of new and tasty food she got to try out, various events around the town she had to participate in, granted she rather enjoyed them after awhile, and she met a rather sweet four-year-old, the very same who dragged her along in the first place, who seemed interested in her!

The very first person she's ever met that wasn't scared of her or suspicious of her since Adora, and she seemed interested in her. It was the first time in Catra's life she found herself possibly making a new friend, finding something to actually smile about, and how did it end? The same way it always does whenever these situations revolved around her.

Badly.

After exploring the festival with her quiet friend did they come across the kid's mother who had been frantically looking for her young child during the several hours Catra had been playing with her, and just like everyone else, she only saw Catra as a monster. Sure, she admitted she probably should've tried to find her parents instead when she literally bumped into her, but she was having too much fun! She's never met someone who warmed up to her so quickly before, and instead of understanding that, the mother just snapped at her before taking her daughter away, an event Glimmer herself happened to notice.

It was at that time Catra reminded herself of every reason she was doing this, every reason she hated people in the first place. They were all the same arrogant, snobby, good for nothings that judged first and asked questions later, never the kind who just took a moment to understand something different than themselves. They were all the same to her, no exceptions.

They were nothing but garbage.

"But why do you want a Kingdom?" Glimmer asked with mixed shocked and confusion. "What would you even do with that in the first place?"

"That's for me to know and anyone I feel like who needs to know. And no, you don't fall under that category." Catra snarled crossing her arms. "But I do know your mother can make that happen, and I expect it to happen when this is all over!"

"Look even if I did tell her there's no guarantee she would even agree to it!"

"Then I guess you can find yourself someone else to help your stupid little Rebellion." She stated turning her back to her.

She was kidding, right? She had to be kidding. Up till now Glimmer's known her to be snarky, blunt, insulting, and many other selfish-related terms, but this was a new low. "Can't you just do this out of decency though?"

"Decency?"

"Yeah, decency! Kindness, selflessness, whatever you want to call it! I know there's good in you Catra, you showed it when you were with that little girl."

"...Pffft...Tch, hahahaha! Oh gosh, that's what you think that was?" Catra cackled as she looked back. "You've got to be kidding me! If you thought for a second I cared about that stupid kid or her mother, you're sorely mistaken!"

"What do you-"

"I never liked that kid!" She continued to interrupt. "I was just with her because the whiny brat kept crying her eyes out whenever I didn't listen to her! You said it yourself I had to keep a low profile around here and that's all I was doing. Keeping a low profile. That's all it was. That's all it ever was! I was just mad about having to deal with a bossy mother, I didn't care about that little pipsqueak in the slightest! I don't care about anybody!"

"...I see..." Catra watched as Glimmer's expression hardened into the stern glare she usually had when addressing Catra. "I guess I was wrong about you. You really are just like the Horde."

Catra just stared at her eyes for a brief few seconds to this. "...Like I said at the other village, Pinky. I don't care. All I care about is myself and that stupid sword."

"...Of course. That's all you ever cared about." With a final huff, Glimmer began to walk away.

There was no end to the irritation Catra had building up inside of her. How many times did she have to say it out loud to her? As long as she got the sword, nothing else mattered in the world! The sword was her ticket to fame, respect, and a stupid promotion! And at this point, with Bowey preoccupied, now seemed better than ever to take that sword by for-

*BOOM*

Both Glimmer and Catra were caught off guard as the sound of an explosion rang throughout the entire village, a small vibration trembling through their feet.

"What was tha-"

"Glimmer!" Bow suddenly shouted out as he ran up to them in a rush. He was already panting and breathing heavily as he finally reached the two.

"Bow? What happened? What was that?" Glimmer asked worriedly. With her enhanced hearing, Catra's eyes widened as she could hear the sounds of smaller explosions and crashes through the other end of the village, realizing what it was.

"I-It's the Horde! They're attacking!"

"What?!" Glimmer stammered. Her mind was already putting all the possibilities and all the explanations as to why this could possibly be happening, taking no more than three seconds before she returned the harshest glare Catra had ever seen her give to her. "You!" Catra was so surprised by the sudden expression on her face that she failed to react as Glimmer tackled her to the ground, pinning her by her shoulders. "You did this, didn't you!"

"What?" Catra's skepticism didn't register to the angry princess.

"Glimmer, what are you talking-" Bow tried to ask.

"Just think about it, Bow!" She yelled. "The Horde just happen to attack after we bring her to the very first town we go to? This entire meet-up was all part of an ambush, wasn't it!"

"Ambush?" There would be no end to Catra's annoyance after this, she just knew it. "Would you just listen to yourself for a second? Why on Etheria would I ask the Horde to attack the same town I come to? I'd just get caught in any crossfire!"

"Glimmer, Catra's right." Bow placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Plus she wouldn't still be here if all she had to do was find the town. She would've taken off by now."

"Nngggghh..." Glimmer grumbled for a bit as she processed this, then grunted to herself as she finally helped Catra back to her feet. "Fine! Then what are the Horde doing here?"

"I don't know." That was the one detail that worried Catra the most. "But I know how to stop them. I just need to find whoever's leading this operation and force them to stop."

"And what about us?"

"What do you think? Hide? Help the townspeople? Do whatever you want, I don't care! Just don't get in my way when I'm going in!" And with that, Catra leapt to one of the nearest buildings she could, hopping to the closest building with each leap.

There wasn't any way to find comfort in the present situation. Was Catra on their side? Was this all a trick? There were too many questions throughout the entire day and not enough answers, and that's what infuriated Glimmer the most! "Come on, we need to help everyone we can find." She didn't even look back as Bow replied with a nod, taking off into the warzone that would determine who was on who's side...

...

Madness. Chaos. And plenty of fire and smoke. That's all that filled Catra's view since she ventured into the crumbling city around her. She knew that wars were supposed to be violent and all, but... this? This was just a stupid town in the middle of nowhere that were trying to have some sort of boring party thing.

Was that really worth attacking them over?

Looking back towards the streets and walls surrounding the city, she took notice of several droids who were followed by soldiers, all flooding into the town while the townspeople ran away screaming in fear. That was when she took special notice to the large rumbling that came from the wall as a massive tank crashed through it. "There!" Catra determined for herself as she quickly leapt to the ground. If there was a tank, there was bound to be a commander, or at least someone in charge of this entire operation.

Waiting till she found a path up ahead, she quickly leapt back to the ground, holding her arms out to grab the Tank's driver's attention as she cut it off. "Wait!" She watched, slightly nervous, as the tank steaded to a halt, just inches away from the barrel of the massive cannon touching her. "Come out here, whoever you are! We need to talk!"

There was no way to tell who could possibly be driving this dangerous weapon, and the uncertainty of it is what left Catra most nervous. It could be any number of people to someone she knew, one of the higher ups, to possibly Lord Hordak himself if the army was large enough. She could've been unfortunate enough to even come face to face with Shadow Weaver herself, though if it was the latter chances are they wouldn't have stopped the tank.

At last, the tank's hatch popped open, finally revealing the very last person Catra expected to see here. "Adora?" The brimming brightness on Adora's face completely confirmed it was her.

"Catra!"

"What are you doing he-ahh!" This was the second time Catra found herself tackled to the ground within the last 5 minutes, Adora squeezing her arms around her as she helped her to her feet.

"Phew, thank goodness you're alright, I was so worried! You were gone for over eight hours and ...What is this?" She tilted her head as she pulled a strange flower out of Catra's hair, reminding Catra of the one thing she forgot to remove.

"Oh, it's nothing forget about that. What are you doing here anyway?"

"What do you think I'm doing here? I'm here to rescue you!" She wasted no time grabbing Catra's hand as she pulled her towards the tank she considered salvation. "We got to get out of here as soon as possible.."

"Wait- what? Leave?" Adora was surprised as Catra shook her free all of a sudden. "I'm not leaving Adora, you gotta get everyone else out of here yourself!"

"You're not coming? Catra don't you understand what's going on here? They're going to interrogate you, you're their prisoner here!"

"I'm not anyone's prisoner here, Adora, I want to be here!"

"Want to..." A look of terror began to fill Adora's face. "No... they really did brainwash you didn't they?" She grabbed Catra's hand again, squeezing it comfortingly with both her hands. "Catra, I know it might be hard for you to understand right now, but you're here against your will. You need to come home with me right now, we can fix whatever spell they casted on you!"

"I'm not- ugh..." Catra rubbed her eyes as she tried to explain. "Look, Adora, you're the one who needs to understand. I'm not here against my will, I'm not here after being tricked by anything, and I'm doing all of this because I want to! Do you understand?"

There was no way to tell what Adora was thinking at that moment. She had a vacant look in her eyes and her face keeping Catra from telling what was being processed out of all of this. She didn't like the town itself or anything like that, but that didn't mean she found it fitting to just attack a random town out of nowhere regardless of what their reason was. On top of that, if they really were just here for Catra herself, they could've just come in disguise or something!

"...I understand..." It brought moments of pure relief to the founder of the sword.

"Huff, thank you!" Catra sighed turning around. "Look, I know it doesn't look like it but this town's harmle-"

*BZZZZZZZZZZT*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Catra screamed in pain as she collapsed to the ground. In her place just a foot behind her was Adora, her best friend, looking over her friend with regret and a stun baton in her hands.

"They really did brainwash you, didn't they..."

...

*BOOM*

"Get to safety!" Bow shouted to the fleeing civilians as he fired another arrow, destroying another of the round droids in a large explosion.

Glimmer found herself questioning if everything up till now was going to be worth it in the end. All around her she saw the remains of ruined buildings and the poor people who were still running for their lives from the invading Horde. All this destruction, all the fear she was watching fill the faces of the townspeople as their lives became hectic.

Was it really all worth? Just for one Horde soldier who may or may not be able to use the sword to help the Rebellion? She wouldn't find out until they got out of this place alive, and only if they got out of here alive.

"That's the last of the droids in this place." Bow stated turning to Glimmer.

"I think the civilians in this part escaped too. We should regroup with Catra and see if she needs any- LOOK OUT!" Glimmer quickly yelled, teleporting him and herself nearly a dozen yards away before a building crumbled atop them. When they rematerialized seconds later, Bow could instantly see the color of life drain from Glimmer's face, knowing the massive toll she just took on herself.

"Glimmer!" Bow cried worriedly, catching her as she fell. It was then that he heard the sound of oncoming droids, knowing their fight was far from over. The only thing standing between the droids and Glimmer's capture was him and the dozen arrows he had left in his quiver.

"Come on Catra, where are you?"

...

"Ngggh!" Catra grumbled as she pushed herself a little off the ground, nerves still suffering from the immense physical shock she just experienced. "What the heck, Adora?!"

"Eep! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was reflex, honest!" She quickly apologized. "But I need to bring you back, you're not well!"

"I'm not well? You're not well!" The fire in Catra's eyes left Adora in a questionable doubt.

And slightly too nervous for Catra's own good.

*BZZZZZZZZZZT!*

'Ahhhhh!" Catra cried out in pain again, little streaks of lightning coursing around her body. "Stop that!"

"I'm sorry, you just..." It was hard to explain everything wrong with a person who didn't know there was something wrong with them! "I'm trying to help you! You need to open your eyes, Catra! They did something to you-"

"Open MY eyes?!" Catra groaned and stammered as she slowly rose back to her feet, still weakly as she tried to shake off the shocks going through her body. "Look around Adora, they lied to you!" As she insisted, Adora took the moment to look around her, noticing how strange this place looked for what was supposed to be a facility. "Do any of these people look like soldiers or guards? They're just stupid people running for their lives because you attacked them!"

"This... This doesn't make any sense..." Still in denial of the situation Adora took the opportunity to dig through her coat pocket, pulling out a digital tracker pad that displayed all the information provided for this mission. Nothing about the info matched up with the information she was given! She was told this was a facility yet, like Catra said, there were nothing but innocent people running for their lives! "Why... why did they lie to me about the mission?"

"Because that's what they've always been doing, Adora!" The soldier's shouting recaptured her attention, and distress. "They've been lying to us since the day we've been found. Are you just now realizing this or what?"

"..." The quivering in Adora's eyes showed the inner struggle going through her mind. How was she supposed to be able to comprehend this? Just to go on her first mission at random and find out everything she's known was a complete lie since the beginning? On a mission to save her brainwashed friend? Was she becoming brainwashed?! "I... Don't... This isn't..."

"Adora," Catra spoke again grabbing her hand, "call off the attack. Now."

"But... But how am I supposed to know you're telling the truth? How do I know this isn't some elaborate trick? I mean why would you even work for them willingly to begin with?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Catra's face brightened as she said this. "Adora, this is our chance to get everything we wanted! The Rebellion's queen is going to give me a Kingdom, they won't have a choice. We can have our own land where we call the shots, we can do whatever we want, rule whoever we want!"

"..." Her voice was silent as she stared into Catra's face. All she did was pull her hand back from Catra's grip, a sense of unease coming from the blond Force Captain. "You.. you just left because you wanted something? You sold us out just for your own gain?"

"What? No, Adora it's not like that!" Worry began to build up in her mind, feeling like she was losing her. "I did this for the both of us! That's how it's always been, just us!"

"And what about our friends, Catra? What about Kyle? What about Lonnie? What about Rogelio? Where do they fit in in all of this?"

"Who cares, they can come too if they want." The fact Catra could shrug off some of her friends so easily distressed Adora. Did they really mean so little to her? "It doesn't matter. What matters is what we can get out of this if we team up!"

"...Do they really mean nothing to you?" Catra watched as Adora's face slowly twisted to anger. "The people we grew up with, the family we knew? You'd just throw that away for a few shiny trinkets or some stupid piece of land?"

"I-It's not stupid!" Worry and fear began to infect Catra's tone. "Look, just take a second to think about it-"

"I don't need to think about it!" Adora swatted Catra's hand away as she tried to hold it again. "From where I'm standing, you just decided to betray us because you couldn't stand living with the Horde, and the only thing keeping me from fighting you right now is the possibility you have been brainwashed by these evil Princesses!"

"A-Adora... that's not it at all-"

"Then tell me Catra!" Catra took a step back at the rage building up in Adora. "Tell me exactly what this is because I am begging you to help me understand!"

"Kiiiim!" A familiar shout cried out, catching Catra's and Adora's attention. "Sweetie, where are you?"

"You've gotta be kidding me..." There was no control over her actions as Catra ran over to the sound of the mother.

"Catra wait-!"

The woman looked more terrified at the sight of the familiar face, as well as the addition of the Horde outfit said face was wearing. "You... You're with the-"

"Where's Kimberly? What happened?" The woman continued to look stunned at the young teen.

"You were the one who took my daughter, and you're with the Horde..."

"Listen Lady!" Catra shouted shaking the woman's shoulders to snap her out of it. "Just tell me where your daughter is. Now!"

"I..." The lady shook a little from fright, both from the Horde before her and the worry she had for her daughter. "I don't know... When you invaded, we got separated in the chaos."

"Do you have any idea where she could've gone?"

"H... Home..." The woman struggled to maintain her composure as she answered. "I always told her to head straight home if she ever got lost or in an emergency." Catra followed the lady's hand as she pointed to one of the rundown buildings. To both their dismay, there was a large chunk of the house destroyed on the second floor, a sizeable hole in it along with the rubble that fell around it.

"No..." For the first time, Catra's pupils shrank for someone other than herself, somehow finding her feet moving on their own as they ran past Adora yet again.

"Catra, what are you-"

There was so much going on, too much in fact! First she doesn't want to go home, then Adora found out the information she was given was falsified, and now Catra is going out of her way for someone else Catra had no way of knowing for more than a few hours! She didn't apparently consider the friends back in the Fright Zone she's known till now family and yet here she was, leaping up to the second floor of a small dome building, looking for someone she had no way of knowing for longer than several hours compared to the literal years she spent with her allies!

During Adora's confusing mental episode, Catra hastily ascended the partially ruined building as she looked over the second floor. From the looks of it, this entire smaller upper floor was for the four-year-old's own use, noticing a crumbled bed, a toy chest with several toys scattered around the floor, and several giant stuffed animals in the corner of the room covered in dust from the debris.

The same dust that messed with Catra's sense of smell as she examined the room. She couldn't get a good lock on the kid's scent or where the strongest scent of it was coming from, everything the girl touched mixing with the air and masking it. She already found herself on a deadline to stop the attack before more people got hurt around here, and every second she spent searching in here could potentially waste the time she had to find her if the kid was somewhere else entirely.

"Kim?" Catra called out, checking around the bed and the toy chests for possible hiding spots. "Hey squirt, where are ya? I really need you to say something if you're here!"

*rumble*

Catra tilted her head up as small bits of debris and dust rained from the ceiling following the most recent rumble. "This whole place is going to fall apart..." Why was she doing this in the first place? Why did she care about some brat she's only known for several hours anyway? She kept asking herself this and more as she searched top to bottom of the room. She knew as a kid she must've had some sort of hiding space around here, but she's overlooked every possible spot imaginable! Well, everything except for the-

*Creeeeak*

As if to answer her line of thinking, she instantly looked back to spot a lone wardrobe at the other end of the room, a wooden door still creaking ever so quietly and still opening just slightly. "Kid?" A small shuffle could be heard scraping from the inside, confirming her suspicions. Hastily running to the door, she felt a rush of relief overcome her at the sight of the lone four-year-old looking back at her huddled in the corner of the wardrobe."Hey there, squirt..."

"Ehhhehehhhh!" She cried, tears flowing down her face, like any child would in the present situation.

"Hey... nice hiding spot kid. Come on, your mommy's waiting for you. She's just outside-"

"Ehhhhhhehehhh!" The kid cried again as she tried to push herself further into the small corner.

It took a moment for Catra to realize what she was crying about. She wasn't fearful of the monsters outside, she wasn't terrified of the explosions she was hearing, or at least not in comparison. She was terrified of Catra, the person currently dressed like a Horde soldier in an outfit anyone would recognize. "I keep forgetting I'm wearing this... Look kid," she did her best to put on the kindest smile she possibly could, "I'm not with them, all right? Your mommy's waiting outside, she's here waiting for you!"

"Mmmmhhmmmm..." She girl continued to sniffle.

"Come on, I mean it. Come look, she's right down there, I can bring you to her and you two can get out of here." Looking back on everything, Catra found herself in a bit of amazement. For one of the few times in her life, she actually found herself needing someone to trust her like their life depended on it.

Mostly because it really did!

At the same time, both, Adora and Kim's mother, continued to look at the hole in the wall with anticipation and worry. Nothing about today was going the way Adora expected. She expected to break into a high tech facility heavily armed and guarded, find Catra and hopefully break her out of whatever illusion or brainwashing was influencing her, and bring her back to base where she could be healed and rested after the long day they both had. And what did they do instead?

She found herself not attacking a facility but a seemingly-harmless little village, finding out she's been lied to about hundreds of different things in the matter of seven minutes, found out her orders were complete hogwash, found Catra, who might not have been brainwashed after all, unwilling to return to the Fright Zone, discovered Catra might have done all this for her own gain, and now found herself risking her life to save someone she deemed more important than the closest thing she's known to family. This day could not get any worse.

Except it did.

*clank-clank-clank-clank-*

Both the women waiting outside turned their attention to the sound of mechanical gears clanking across the surface of one of the few non-destroyed buildings, finding themselves face-to-face with one of the few round mechanical droids that were invading the city. Noticing the two, the droid turned it's immediate attention to the mother as the center of it's core began to brighten, charging it's laser to attack.

"S-Stop!" Adora ordered, quickly placing herself between the droid's line of fire and the mother. Analyzing the person who stepped forward, the droid immediately powered down it's laser as it registered the Force Captain, much to Adora's relief.

Said relief quickly came back into full panic however as the droid's scan detected directed it to two other living signatures; specifically, Catra and Kimberly who were still on the second floor of the crumbling building, charging up it's laser once more. Adora's eyes filled with fear and concern at this, realizing there was no way to call off the attack without the radio or placing herself between her friend and the child she was trying to save. "Catra!"

"Huh?" The rescuer only had enough time to notice the droid for a few seconds, realizing too late what it was about to do. "No-"

*pew*

*BOOM!*

"Oh my gosh!" The mother cried out with tears flowing down her eyes. Adora herself was in just as much shock as the two watched the entire building collapse. The droid didn't fire directly at Catra herself, not that she could tell from her vantage point, but that mattered little as the attack targeted the building itself, causing a minor explosion that managed to knock down the entire building, reducing everything to pure rubble as the droid returned to patrol the rest of the city.

"N-No..." What was Adora supposed to feel at this point?! Every minute she spent outside here was causing her life to go from bad to worse with each passing second! The building was destroyed, the very one her friend was scavenging in order to save the life of an innocent little girl. Now, not only did she inadvertently cause the death of a little child by a mission she was tasked with leading, as well as possibly many others throughout the city, but now she just lost her best friend in the entire world.

This... was a nightmare. No, scratch that. Nightmares usually ended no matter how badly they got. This... this was what Nightmares had nightmares of. This was... pure terror. Dreadful, absolute, terror-

*rumble*

"Huh?" The two's moment of complete despair was interrupted as a pile of rubble started to shake amongst the debris. Was Adora supposed to get her hopes up again at the unlikely possibility? Was there a remote possibility that the impossible had occurred? She didn't know. She couldn't tell if it was worth getting her hopes up. After everything that transpired this mission she realized each and every one of her hopes and dreams were dashed in an instant. It couldn't have been worth it!

But... fate decided to show leniency, just this once. With a large mound of rubble beginning to shake, both witnesses to this tragic event found their hope replenished and certified as right there, pushing a large flat mound of wooden rubble with one of her arms, was Catra, the former Horde soldier, coughing her lungs out at the smoke and dust that flew around, while in her other arm, was the innocent little life she went to rescue.

Both covered in dirt, both with several scrapes across their body, but alive and well.

And coughing.

"Hack-ough..." Catra groaned as she wobbled a bit with the explosion still fresh and ringing in her ears. She shook off what little dust she could while pulling her feet out of the rubble, walking out of the rubble as best she could. "That was one sturdy wardrobe kid..." She was more than thankful that she was on the second floor of the building when she popped into the wardrobe before the collapse. There was no way the wardrobe would've been able to withstand two entire floors worth of debris without being crushed. "You okay, squirt?"

"Ough!" The little girl coughed a bit looking up at her, a big bright smile brightening on her face as well as her eyes. "D'ank you." She lisped, speaking for the first time since meeting the girl.

Never in Catra's life had she felt such embarrassment. She was incapable of keeping the small pink blush off her cheeks as she turned her eyes away from the bundle bursting with joy in her arms. "Um... yeah, it was nothing. Just consider us even for the festival..."

"Kimberly!" Kim's mother cried screaming with pure happiness and joy as she quickly scooped Kim into her arms, hugging onto her for dear life so she could never leave her side again. While Catra still hadn't forgiven the woman for snapping at her earlier, she did at least acknowledge that the mother was legitimately caring for the young girl in her arms the way all mothers' should. She found her attention turning to Catra herself, Catra preparing for whatever yelling the mother had in store for her now. "Thank you so much!"

"Yeah... Uh..." Well that was unexpected, along with everything else today. She was preparing to make some witty retort to anything she had to say but a "thank you" was the last thing she expected. She didn't want to make a habit of saving people like this but something told her if she wanted to claim her own kingdom, she was gonna have to get used to it.

Alot. "W...Whatever... Just get out of here while you still can." The mother wasted no time with arguing with her instructions, quickly sprinting off in the opposite direction as she went to find safety. Just like before, the little girl was waving back to Catra, fading into the distance like the blush that had been on Catra's cheeks. That just left one thing to do now. "So Ado- Adora?" What was she doing?

Adora had her back to her as she casually walked over to the tank. Was she preparing to leave again? Was she going to continue going through with her mission after everything that had been going on? Was she crazy?!

Climbing up on the tank, for a short second, Catra feared she really was going to go through with her mission as she climbed into the hatch. Instead of taking off like she thought though, she pulled out a small radio, along with the most stern and assured expressions Catra had ever seen from her friend.

...

"Ugh... Bow?" Glimmer mumbled waking up again. As much as Bow wanted to smile back, he was too preoccupied with the soldiers and droids approaching their location.

The last ten minutes have been hectic for the young warrior. He was down to just several arrows left, found himself running from cover to cover, and carrying Glimmer along with him as he tried to outrun the invading soldiers that patrolled the city. There was no end to them, or they were just really good at tracking their location, because no matter how many droids he shot down and how many soldiers he trapped with his numerous arrows, another one was there to take their place.

They were definitely focused on Glimmer herself, the best bargaining chip the Horde could possibly get their hands on. Get the princess and there was nothing the Horde couldn't ask for that her mother wouldn't be forced to comply to, if only to assure her daughter's safety.

By now, Bow found himself stuck between a pile of rubble he used as cover and the walls of the city. There was no way he could carry Glimmer and himself over it, and he wouldn't even think of abandoning her, and he was out of explosive arrows that could've cleared a path through the walls for the two of them to escape. Much like his encounter with the giant bug several hours ago, he found himself stuck protecting the princess and trying to find the solution to their problems.

At least he had a few more arrows he could count on.

"Glimmer," he spoke turning his attention to her, "can you teleport yourself out of here?" In the state she was now, there was no way he could possibly expect her to teleport the two of them at the same time, not with her lack of energy. Unfortunately, her answer came with the shake of her head, eyes still filled with exhaustion and tiredness that the day had taken out of her.

"No... I don't think so..." Eyes were filling with fear as she saw over the debris. They were about to get captured, at best if Glimmer was staying hopeful. "Mom was right... I don't know what I'm doing anymore... I really am too reckless..."

"Are you crazy?" The smile on Bow's face alone was enough to give her a small ounce of confidence. "Glimmer, within the day you found a sword belonging to the First Ones, found a First Ones' ruin, and we recruited a Horde soldier! Maybe you are a little reckless but that's always been your best quality!"

"Hmm..." It was comforting to find such kind words from her friend despite the situation the two were in. Although she was already taxed, maybe she could pull off one last teleport? The situation looked grim, but even if she passed out immediately after, he could carry her away with him somewhere safer. At least, assuming it didn't cost her her li-

"Hold your fire!" The two cornered teens looked back as they heard one of the helmet-wearing soldiers shout. The soldier placed his hand on the side of his helmet, trying to make sure he heard exactly what he thought he heard. "What did you just say, Captain?"

"I repeat: all soldiers are to stop what they're doing and return to the dropzone immediately!" Adora ordered assertively.

"You want us to retreat?" The soldier turned his head to the other surrounding soldiers, unable to believe what he was hearing. "B-B-But mam- Sir! We surrounded the-"

"Are you disobeying a direct order from your superior, Cadet?!" Adora shouted. "Do you want to be held for treason once this is over? Or maybe you wouldn't mind a chat with Shadow Weaver herself after this!" That was the one bargaining tool Shadow Weaver told her to use in the event of insubordination, or the off chance someone with a death wish wanted to disobey Force Captain Adora's orders directly. And while Adora herself might have been against such threats, she wasn't against using them in a time of crisis like she found herself in.

"I... I understand, Captain." With that, the two watched as the soldier gestured to all the other soldiers before walking away, the robotic droids following in suit. The two were baffled at the sight of this miracle of wonders, unable to comprehend how or why the soldiers had retreated, until Glimmer smiled widely.

There was only one person who could've brought this miracle about.

"Catra..."

...

"Phew... thank's Adora." Catra sighed with relief, catching herself on her knees. The battle here was finally over which meant Catra no longer had to be concerned with anybody in this stupid village... much. Her optimism and hope for the future were dashed, however, when she saw her friend descend into the tank, the large vehicle humming with life as it was started up again. "Adora?" Her legs were too numb from the earlier shock she sustained along with everything she had to endure immediately after. All she could do was cry out again as her friend turned the tank around, leaving her and the village behind her. "Adora!"

She didn't know what to believe in anymore. The look of anger and betrayal was still on Adora's face as she drove the tank out of the city, ignoring the numerous monitors showing the city around her, including the view of Catra. What was she fighting for anymore? Who was telling her the truth here? Everything she fought for up to this point came crashing down upon her after her very first mission, and she had no idea who she could trust.

What made it hurt the most was just that. She didn't know who she could trust. Could she trust the family she knew since she was a baby that raised her and taught her how to fight for the unity and peace of Etheria? Or, what she found herself painfully asking, could she trust the friend who betrayed them for personal gain? She didn't bother asking Adora what she wanted like a friend would, she didn't bother trying to bring Adora with her on this adventure no matter how much Adora pleaded.

All she knew is that she felt betrayal from her greatest of friends, and that didn't change the expression on her face even as a single tear rolled down it, wiping it away with her thumb without hesitation or distraction.

She couldn't trust the Horde. She couldn't trust her best friend. And she's never felt more alone in her life than she does now.

And Shadow Weaver had a lot to answer for upon her return.

At the same time Catra's ears and mood drooped as she watched her friend leave. This wasn't how things were supposed to go if Catra ever caught up with Adora again, especially this soon! She thought she'd be overjoyed and welcoming in joining Catra in on her plan. With everything they could get out of it there was no reason for her to possibly turn down Catra's offer! They could've had virtually anything they ever dreamed of!

So why did she? Why did she consider the few people she knew in the Horde more important than Catra herself? Did she find herself wrong about Adora? Did she not care about her at all? Maybe she didn't know Adora as well as she thought she did. If they ever met again though, she would need to get some answers.

"Catra!" She heard her name called, slowly rising back to her feet as she saw Glimmer sluggishly approaching.

"Oh, hey Pinky." She was surprised to find Pinky in a state as sorry looking as herself. Then again at least she could flaunt how she had a building collapse on her to get to her sorry state. Then again, she'd rather avoid a conversation about her little rescue attempt after her repeated denial about caring about anyone else. Glimmer never would've let her live it down if she did. "You still hanging in there? It'd be a shame if you killed over before your mommy got me my kingdom."

At this point Glimmer was so used to Catra's snarkiness that she didn't even care anymore. "Heh, I'm sure you'd be crying your eyes over it if you lost your chance at a kingdom."

"Oh, I don't know," Catra rubbed her fist against her own chest with pride, "when you're as talented as me, you can get anyone to listen to you. I mean I did get them to call off their attack after all, right?"

"Yeah... you sure did..." She didn't want play into Catra's ego. She didn't want to agree with anything she had to say at the moment knowing Catra would continue to brag on and on about how amazing she was. Yet at the same time, she found her deserving of the praise.

Despite everything they've been through, all the chaos this day had brought about, she deserved some praise for saving their lives twice in one day, no matter how much she didn't trust them. On top of that, Catra had risked her own life and credibility by confronting whoever was in charge of all this and getting them to stop what was going on. How couldn't she trust someone after saving a whole town?

During her moment of thought however, she noticed a slight pained look in Catra's eyes, noticing how she looked out into distance that the Horde retreated to. "Hey, you okay?"

"Huh?" Snapping back to reality, Catra quickly shook the concern out of her mind. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just... ran in to some familiar faces and all..."

That's right. How could Glimmer forget?

Catra was a defector now. She's betrayed her own people and who knows how many of her friends. She still had no idea why someone would demand a kingdom as payment, nor what one would do with a kingdom if it was placed into someone else's hand. All she did know is that Catra might've been hurting a little, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

While she might not have been an actual animal, in some sense, she did deserve some form of "treat", and something she didn't expect to give away until she returned home. "Here." Catching Catra's attention again, her eyes widened at the sight of what was in Glimmer's hands.

"Y... You're seriously giving this to me?" She took it without hesitation of course, but she didn't think it would be this easy. Within her grasp was the very sword that started this entire adventure, her entire reason for being out here in the first place. It was FINALLY hers!

"I still don't know if I can trust you completely, but-"

"Geez, about time!" That reaction was expectant to Glimmer after the long time they've been out here. Catra wasted no time taking a few practice swings with the massive sword, trying to get a feel for it's unusual weight. "You know if you had just given me the sword in the first place, we probably could've avoided all this mess."

"Yeah, but then you couldn't have saved a town then, could you?" Glimmer asked cheekily.

Catra sneered back at this, grinning. "Heh, don't think this lets you off the hook, Pinky. I'm still expecting a full-fledged Kingdom after this is all over."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard it like a dozen times."

"By the way, where's Bowey? Is he dead or...?" Catra looked around noticing the one absent member of their group.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's just getting something to help me ride in. I don't think I'll be able to walk all the way back on my own," she looked back with a playful grin, "unless you plan on carrying me all day."

"Well as fun as the idea is of having princess sweat drip from my arms, I prefer not getting any more of your princessness." She looked over the sword again, seeing a smaller reflection from the gem in it's center. "I still don't know how that happened in the first place.

"Well you should probably find a way out before we meet my mother. If you're going to have any chance of convincing her to let her join you, much less get a kingdom, you're going to need to-"

"Hey guys!" Bow calle from the distance.

"Oh, hey Bow! You're back!" Glimmer smiled to him as he approached with her ride.

"Hey Bow, you doing ok- WHAT THE FREAKING FRESH HECK IS THAT THING?!" Fear and absolute panic filled Catra's mind at the sight of the strange creature.

Whatever this ride was it was the strangest creature Catra had ever laid eyes on. It had four legs, an incredibly long face, least compared to other creatures she knew, a strange mohawk-like mane for it's hairdo, and caused it's feet to clack with every step as it approached. Glimmer couldn't help but look back to her newest ally with a tilted head, curiously looking over her frightened face, noticing her body shaking with chills.

"What? It's just a horse, Catra." Glimmer replied. "Don't you have them around the Fright Zone?"

"I think I'd remember having something this freaky looking." She muttered, tail flailing about as her ears tilted. Glimmer looked back and forth between the horse and cat, growing a mischievous grin at what she was seeing.

"What's wrong, Catra? Is the itty-bitty-kitty all scawed of the big mean horsie?" She taunted.

"N-No! I just think it looks freaky looking!" She stuttered.

"It's really nothing to be scared of Catra, really." Bow assured as he stepped off. "Here, look." He displayed how gentle and affectionate the horse was as he stroked it's mane, the horse calmly tilting it's head to get a better scratching spot. "Come on, give it a pet."

"I-I will! I just... Y-You know, don't want to catch fleas or something!" Her excuses were starting to become too obvious to the two, one of whom were enjoying the sight.

"It doesn't have fleas, Catra. It gets groomed and taken care of every day."

"Oh, just leave her be, Bow." Glimmer continued to taunt. "She can't help being scared of da big bad howsie, can she?"

"I-I'm not scared, alright! I can pet it without any hesitation!" She wished she was as confident as the words coming out of her mouth sounded.

"Alright then, go ahead and pet it." Glimmer gestured to the horse, the animal continuing to stare at the trembling cat in front of him.

"I-I will!"

"Then do it!"

"F-F-Fine!" Catra gulped as she slowly raised her hand to the strange creature. She couldn't figure out why she herself was so terrified of the creature, just that if any creature looked as strange as this horse did that it had to be bad news. It had strong sturdy legs, a look of any commanding officer in the Horde, and enough of a temperament to stare down Shadow Weaver herself!

Ok maybe not that last one but the point remained the same.

*Neeeeiiiiigh!*

"Ahhhh-!" Faster than they could blink, Catra instantly disappeared from the spot, leaving a large trail of dust in her wake, and reappeared hanging from the top branch of a tree when the two next saw her, her eyes completely white and body shaking with fear.

She could not believe she was seeing it for herself, but Glimmer had finally found Catra's weakness, something that finally scared the previously terrifying member of the Horde. She was going to have to get used to the horse eventually, she didn't have a choice if she was planning on meeting the queen and getting everything she wanted. She was going to have to follow along with them whether she liked it or not, and Glimmer was fully aware of that one little detail, all the way home.

Payback never felt so good.

"Oh, this is going to be a very fun trip."

While today might've been the start of many victories for them, one thing did cross Catra's mind. In just a few short hours, she left the Horde, lost her placement naturally in said Horde, and lost the only friend she's ever had. A terrifying fear sprouted in the back of Catra's mind, no matter how much she tried to ignore it.

How much would she end up losing by the time this was all over?

...

A/N: I know it might seem weird for Catra to be scared of the horse, but has she even met the horse yet? I don't remember. Even if she's not scared of it in the show, that's what makes fanfics so enjoyable XP.

Anyway hope to get massive feedback for this finale of episode 2 as i'll be gone most of the day working all day (UGGGH). Same rules as always, 3 reviews for next chapter and such. If you want to request a freebie/non-canon episode of any sort involving catra, you must include it WITH A REVIEW of the episode first. Otherwise if you want to just review to review, feel free to do that too ^^!

With that said, hope to see you guys next episode! Leave a like, fave, and review and see you guys later!

Chapter 6: Episode 3: Razz Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Another fun-full episode for our Cat-Ra fic ^^ (maybe i should call this Cat-Ra from now on? Nah XP).

Anyway, as another reminder I'm still looking for someone who can come up with scenes for the intro lyrics to this fic. Whoever does will get their scenes added to each of the episode first parts that have the intro in it!

With that said, onto the show!

...

Bright Moon Castle. The heart of the Rebellion. The single, unified resistance that made up the only force capable of opposing the Horde.

After several long hours of travel, the trio of allies had finally made their way through the Whispering Woods. Like Bow expected, Glimmer was already warn out of it by the time they made it there, even though she was riding most of the entire way out there as he directed the steed. On the bright side, she did have a fun way to entertain herself, looking back to her newly recruited ally with a smirk.

"You doing alright over there?" She called over.

She hated this. With sooooo much of her hate as possible. Here was Catra, a newly promoted Senior Cadet of the Horde who was now a newly defected member of the Horde who gave up her old life for her own personal gain.

Up till now, she thought the worst was behind her. After the events that led her to this place, she wondered if she truly was brainwashed like Adora told her she was. It would make somewhat of sense after all when she thought about it. Yesterday she was happily working alongside her only friend and allies as they worked through their obstacle course to become Senior Cadets, and after finding a mysterious sword created by these First Ones in the Whispering Woods, she found herself now siding with the Rebellion of her own free will.

Well, technically free will would imply she wanted to out of "kindness" or anything Glimmer said people had in their hearts. Catra on the other hand had a much more personal objective out of all of this. Playing her cards right, and eventually find herself the ruler of her own kingdom gifted to her as a reward!

That and the sword she finally got after putting up with a day's worth of annoyances. And one regret.

Adora.

She could not comprehend any reason that Adora turned her down. Having met each other not two hours ago, she offered Adora to come along with her to get anything she desired too. She could've had anything she wanted along with the kingdom like riches, resources, who knows what this queen would offer? And what did she do instead? She completely ditched her to return to the Horde!

Why is the question Catra asked herself ever since. Didn't Catra herself mean anything to her compared to those other no-necks she called allies? Did she make Adora made before this whole thing started? She was insistent on not bringing her along to find the sword after that morning, so maybe she felt left out or something?

Whatever the case was, it was the second biggest issue she had to deal with, the first one being... Glimmer's new horrifying monstrosity.

"I-I'm fine! Really..." She shouted back, holding the sword firmly in both hands as she stood thirty feet behind the two.

She didn't trust that horrifying beast, and couldn't figure out why she was so scared of it in the first place. Maybe it was the animal half of her but something in her instincts told her to be wary of the mighty creature. With it's thunderous footsteps and it's massive bod, she didn't know what the thing was capable of doing and she didn't want to find out. As long as she was over here and that thing was ten yards, thirty feet, over there, she wa happily fine with being this close.

And Glimmer was enjoying it by every second after Catra's constant harassment on the way to Thaymor. "Come on, Catra, the horsie's not going to biiite." She taunted, petting the Horse's mane again.

"That's what you said the last time it tried to eat my hair!" She growled.

No reminders were needed on Glimmer's end of things, having fond memories of the second time Catra tried to pet it and the twenty seconds it took to pull her large hair out from the Horse's mouth. "Really? Did that happen? I must not have noticed..."

"You were laughing your butt off while it happened, Pinky!"

"Alright, we're here!" Bow announced. Glimmer continued to watch Catra as the cat gulped to herself. She knew she had to get up to them to see everything, and the only thing keeping her from it was the monster that was named Horsie. With one deep breath to herself she shuffled over to the gang, never taking her eyes off the monster even as she moved around it's side, then quickly jumped to the front several feet ahead of it. She's never felt her heart race so badly to anything that isn't Shadow Weaver, hoping to herself she'd never have to face the creature ever again.

"Phew..." She exhaled, catching her breath.

"Heh, you can relax now Catra, we're here." Bow remind, gesturing to the palace. "Welcome to Bright Moon Castle."

"Huh?... Oh..." Catra's eyes lit up at the sight of this place.

She'd hate to say it, hence she wouldn't, but this place was gorgeous looking. All around her was the very definition of serenity and peace in every sense of the word. The skies were clear and beautiful enough to see the birds fly across them, and there was a strange tranquil peace that came from hearing the waterfalls across this place. The castle itself had a similar triangle-shaped design to it, where amongst a large pillar ahead of it held the grand jewel of the castle, the Gem of Bright Moon.

It kind of reminded her of what was drilled in her head ever since she was little, back in the Horde. They would always go on to say how once everything was under absolute control and order, every place would look as beautiful as this place with the right figure ruling it all. While she questioned if it truly would've looked like this as of now, she wondered if Hordak had meant every word of it.

"So what do you think?" Bow asked curiously.

"Mmh, it's not bad, I guess." Catra replied shrugging. "Definitely has a Princessy feeling to it. Kinda small though, isn't it?"

"Just wait until you get inside." Glimmer replied, having the horse take a few steps up. "Some of the rooms go into the mountain itself."

"Well then, why are we standing around? Let's go-"

"Whoa, whoa whoa, wait a second." Glimmer quickly interrupted, putting the horse between Catra and the pathway. "I'll go on ahead. I'll recharge, talk to my mom, then introduce you after awhile. Bow, why don't you take Catra through the backway? I might need a few minutes talking my mom through this." With her instructions given, Bow nodded as the two watched Glimmer trot away. "This is going to be fun... I'm sure..."

Honestly, as long as it kept her away from the horse, Catra was willing to listen to anything Glimmer had to say. Besides, she was interested in the idea of there being a secret entrance to their castle. If it was anything like her time running around the Fright Zone's numerous shortcuts and hidden paths, she could tell she was going to have a lot of fun using it.

"So, what's this secret backway she mentioned?"

...

"YOU CALL THIS A BACKWAY?!" Catra shouted angrily and fearfully, hanging on the rope for dear life.

"I told you not to look down." Bow reminded casually as he climbed through the window. "Besides, I thought you liked heights?"

"Yeah, heights, not picturing what would happen if I fall from this height!" She was all too eager to grab his hand as he helped her inside.

On the list of numerous and stupid things she's done today, this was the biggest. At first she thought diving head first into a collapsing building was the stupidest thing she could do, and before that she thought stopping in the middle of the road in the hopes that a tank wouldn't run her over was the dumbest thing she could do. Thankfully with the right encouragement from Bow, she finally realized what the greatest and dumbest thing she could do today was.

Climb three-hundred feet up a mountainside in order to reach a single room in a castle full of people that would most likely attack on sight if they spotted her.

What a great plan!

At least the room itself was rather nice looking. While she couldn't tell if it was a bedroom for someone or something else, the space around here was already more liveable than the bunks she used to share with a dozen different cadets back in the Fright Zone. It only further emphasized how much of a Princessy-feeling this place had.

"Oh hey, here! Why don't you put on this robe on?" Bow didn't even give Catra enough time to look back to him before tossing the robe to her, covering the entirety of her head with a pink garment. "No reason."

"You're trying to hide me, aren't you?" She already put two and two together, the unamused look on her face telling her all she needed to know.

If his quick recommendation wasn't enough to tip her off, his terrible acting was. "Whaaat? No. I'm not trying to hide you, I'm just uhhh trying to help you blend in better..."

It's official. He was hiding her.

...

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

~(we must be brave) ~

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

~ We must be STRONG! ~

...

"Glimmer!" Queen Angella shouted angrily. "Where have you been?"

"H-Hey mom..." Glimmer sheepishly replied as one of the guards escorted her horse away.

Ok, she just had to think. There were several different things she needed to get through to her mom, while at the same time trying to avoid being grounded for life. Given that her mom was the queen, she could easily make that happen. At least she didn't have to worry about making a scene inside of the castle instead of the entrance to it.

Too bad it didn't make talking to her mom any easier.

"All of Bright Moon has been worried sick." Her mother stated as she stood before her. "What were you thinking?"

"Mom-!" That was the only word she managed to utter before her world suddenly became lighter. Her vision grew hazy by the second as her mom's shouting began to echo all around her.

"How could you be so selfish and disobedient?"

"Ugh..." Glimmer moaned as her head filled with fog. Everything was going lighter. Lighter. Then everything began to fade to black as she collapsed.

"Glimmer!" Her mom cried worriedly. This wasn't like those times when she was little, always pretending to be sick or out of magic just to get out of trouble. This was serious. Looking on ahead to the gem of Bright Moon, her mother quickly scooped her precious daughter into her arms before stretching her wings out, flying her daughter to the gem without pause. Grounding her for life and giving her a stern talking to came second.

Being a mother came first.

At least Glimmer caught a brief glimpse of her mother's caring concern before she passed out again.

...

"Mmmh.." Glimmer moaned as she finally came to. She felt better, re-energized in more ways than one. Light filled her eyes as she gazed into the miraculous Gem above her, the source of their magical power. And there in the corner of her eyes she saw her mother, with the sweetest, caring, smile she's always known her to have.

"Are you all right?" She asked calmly.

"I'm fine mom." She replied as she leaned up. She twiddled her fingers back and forth as she watched the small sparkles of light dance around them, ensuring her her powers had returned.

"Don't think you're not still in trouble." Her mother said as Glimmer continued to test her magic. "You didn't even take the time to charge up before you left?"

"I didn't think I'd be gone that long." It was comforting to see a warm smile coming from her daughter despite the circumstances.

"Where did you go anyway?"

"Ok." Glimmer stood as she began her lengthy explanation. "Bow and I found a super powerful First Ones tech in the woods. We knew it would help the Rebellion, so we went to get it and bring it back, but we got a little sidetracked. It was fine though, I totally had it under control. And while we were out, we found something even better!"

Everything was going well so far. Even the skepticism on her mother's face told her so. "What did you find?"

"I can't tell you yet. But you're going to love it, I promise!" She was so excited! She couldn't wait to hear the praise and pride her mother was surely to give her after everything she's been through!

"Glimmer-"

"Ah! Wait here, I'll be right back!"

"We are not done talking about this, Glimmer. Glimmer!" There wasn't any time to get a single word out before her daughter teleported. Angella sighed as she rubbed her brow. It was times like this she couldn't tell if being a Queen was easier or being a mother was easier. All she knew is that it left her with a splitting headache that never ended...

...

*thud*

*thud*

"You know you're more likely to draw attention if you keep slamming the door open and shut, right?" Catra commented as she slouched on the bed. There were too many things going on that was growing her impatience. She didn't know how Glimmer's talk with her mother was going, she didn't know how long they had before someone else had found them, and she didn't know how long she could put up with Bow quickly opening and closing the door to make sure the coast was clear.

And it didn't help when she had this weird stuffed creature that looked like a mix between a butterfly and an elephant staring at her for the last twenty minutes.

"It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious." Bow commented quietly, never looking away from the hallways. "I've never really smuggled in a Horde soldier before into Bright Moon castle."

"Yeah, well I never defected before," she reminded, "so how do you think I feel?"

There really was a sense of tension in the air. How was she supposed to know if Glimmer's talk with her mother was going to work in the first place? Was she supposed to expect a simple escort of Glimmer bringing her mother to the room? Or was she supposed to expect the heavy march of a dozen armed soldiers ready to raid the place and capture Catra before she had a chance to escape? Time would only tell, and time is what made Catra the most nervous.

"How are you holding up with that, anyway?" Bow asked closing the door again. "Glimmer said you seemed a bit out of it ever since we left Thaymor."

"Meh... I don't know..." Catra replied leaning against the bed. "Honestly I never really felt welcomed in the Horde in the first place. Whenever I talked to anyone I always felt like they weren't even looking at me half the time, it felt like they were looking at the wall."

"Was it really that bad? I mean, I get the Horde would be kinda rotten, but I figured they'd at least treat themselves better."

"Well they did... for the most part..." She looked over to the sword on her left, the thing that started this whole defection. "They still weren't welcoming to everyone though... " She didn't bother going into detail out loud, not that it mattered. It was just something worth forgetting about, like everything in her past...

...

*sniff*

The little cat girl cried silently to herself as she sat behind some trashcans on the playground.

A playground was one of the strangest places to picture being present within the Fright Zone, weirder to picture guards and cameras watching the place, but it wasn't without it's purpose.

Like everything else meant for the upbringing of children amongst the Horde, the playground was exclusive to young children between four to six years old. It was the beginning fundamentals of teaching kids how to interact with other people new to them and grow some muscles. It also taught them how to use the environment to their advantage, whether it was playing tag or something more simple like Hide-and-Go Seek. If it educated or helped children grow to become better cadets and future soldiers, the Horde would have it.

Unfortunately, this didn't mean everyone had to like everyone, and, to her, it seemed everyone was intent on not liking one person in particular.

This particular person was a five-year-old girl named Catra, a simple girl with cat-like features who found herself crying away from the other kids. What she was crying about remained mysterious, save for the simple large red mark across her right cheek. Nobody paid her any mind, nobody seemed to care about the strange crying noise they heard near the trash, and those who did immediately left after seeing who was there.

Except for one.

"Are you okay?" A perky voice spoke up, causing Catra to lift her head from her arms just enough to see who was talking. The greeter seemed to be a strange blond girl Catra had never met before. Around the same age as herself presumably, given her height, and definitely one of the happiest-looking kids she's ever seen within the Fright Zone.

Catra continued to cry to herself silently, digging her head back into her arms as she sobbed. The blond girl tilted her head as she watched her sniffle to herself. "Why are you crying?" She still didn't give an answer. All she did was try to wave her away, letting the other girl get a good look at her small claws. "Ooooh... those look sharp." She commented. "Are you the one who scratched Lonnie earlier?" As if to answer her question the girl's sobs grew louder and the sniffling doubled.

"Mmmmhmmmh..." She whimpered into her arms.

"I heard about what happened." The girl continued as she sat left to the crier. "Kyle said Lonnie took someone's doll without permission and made her cry, then some monster attacked Lonnie and made her cry." She heard Catra hiccup at the mention of the word "monster", confirming what the girl already thought. "I heard the guards got really mad and hit the monster then to scare it away. The monster they were talking about was you, wasn't it?"

For the first time since she came across her, the young Catra tilted her head up a bit, letting the new girl see her different-colored eyes and the tears that flowed down her face, along with the red mark on her cheek.

Why couldn't this girl get the message? Catra remembered thinking to herself. I just want to be alone.

"The girl with the doll was more scared of the monster than Lonnie, and she wouldn't even tell the guards what really happened."

"Mhmhmmmmhmmm...."

"Now everyone else is scared of the monster over here, and everyone hates her and calls her a freak."

Then get it through your head already! I want to be alo-!

"But I don't." She remembers going silent at this statement, fully lifting her head to look the strange girl in the eyes. Nothing but sadness and a runny nose filled Catra's face, and none of it bothered the other girl. "You don't look like a freak. You were just trying to help someone fight off the bully, right? I think that's really nice!" There was no audible indication coming from Catra's sobs, only a small twitching sensation as her small tail wiggled slightly.

"Do you wanna be friends?" That was the one question that sent Catra over the edge. She remembered doubling her cries of misery and sobbing as she laid her head into the girl's shoulder, holding her tightly like she would disappear if she didn't. She was the first one to ever say an F word to her that wasn't Freak, the first person to ever make herself feel wanted. She couldn't remember what was going through her head at that time, just that she didn't want to be alone at that moment.

The other girl continued to smile as she patted Catra's head, enjoying the possibility that she made a new friend. "My name's Adora. What's your's?" It took all of Catra's willpower to fight through the sobs, continuing to press her head against Adora's shoulder as she answered.

"C-Catra..."

"Catra..."

...

"Catra!" The sound of Bow calling out her name snapped her out of memory lane.

"Huh?" She blinked to herself as she came back to reality. It felt like minutes had passed through her mind despite the several seconds that came and gone in the real world.

"You all right? You just kind of zoned out there for a minute."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine..."

What was that?

Why did she just recall an event like that?

Flashbacks and moments of de sha vue were a common occurrence in everyday life, but this is something that shouldn't have occurred with Catra. She hated recalling her old life, she didn't want to recall any moments of her past. Everything about her past was something painful or saddening, and most of the time, usually both. It's like something forced her to recall those events no matter how much she wished against it.

"You know when people say that they usually aren't fine?" Bow commented walking over. "I get it if you feel weird about all of this. I can't imagine how it feels to suddenly betray your home."

"My home?" It sounded like she was ready to chuckle at the word. "My home wasn't anywhere in the Horde. Honestly I was better off

betraying them from the very beginning. If I screwed up even once there since becoming a Senior Cadet, they probably would've chased me off with robots and bombs anyway."

"Well if you ever want to talk about it, we're here you know." Bow reminded sitting next to her. "You can talk to me about it, you can talk to Glimmer about it, you can talk to anyone. It might feel weird but you're among friends here."

"..." Somehow that one silent expression on Catra's face told him everything she had to say about that.

"You... Don't really consider us friends, do you?"

"Don't take it personally, it's not you thing, ok? If you guys don't stab me in the back, I won't stab you in yours, but it doesn't make us friends." She gazed into the sword again as she held it in her hands. "I just-"

*Swoosh!*

"Ahh-!" Bow nearly shrieked as Glimmer materialized back within the room, powers fully restored.

"Ok, I'm here!" She announced happily as the two stood back up. "My mom's on her way, but no one panic."

"What-"

"I SAID NO ONE PANIC!" She screamed. "Don't worry, she'll love you. At the very least she'll have to trust you, especially after you transform into She-Ra!"

"Wait, we're jumping straight into She-Ra first?" He could see the logic behind the idea but it was all at the risk of a gamble. "Shouldn't we tell her how she saved Thaymor first before we try the whole She-Ra thing?"

"No, because like I thought when they first invaded, she's probably going to think it was all a plan to get closer to Bright Moon."

"But... " He really wanted to find a way to ease her mother into the information. "I mean she's only done it once you know."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Catra asked raising a brow. It almost sounded like a challenge to her and she wasn't one to back down! "I can do it with one hand tied behind my back. Watch!" Grabbing the prized possession and raising it above her head, she called out. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

"..."

"...?" Ok, that was nothing to worry about. "I said, for the Honor of Grayskull!" She raised the sword even higher, meeting the same results.

"..."

"...Uhh Catra, it's not-"

"Just give it a second!" Catra cut bow off as she shook the sword. "I said, FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!.....Come on you stupid thing, transform me already!"

"Ok, so you can't exactly call it on the fly, but no worries." The panic in Glimmer's tone was slowly settling in. "You just need to practice it for a few minutes while I take my mom the long way up here. It's simple, right?"

"Err... ha, of course it is!" Catra looked away nervously while trying to pass off with a smile. "I'll have your mom aweing at my She-Ra... ness... by the time she's up these stairs! Hahaha...........ehhhhh..."

"You don't sound too confident." Bow commented.

"I-I'm sure I'll have it in a few minutes. I mean I did it once in the woods on the first try, remember?"

"She has a point." The princess agreed enthusiastically. "She just needs to get the right feel for it, like she did in the woods."

"But Glimmer, I don't think-"

"Would you stop it with the negativity already?" Catra groaned interrupting him. She hated put downs. She hated people talking down to her. Above all else, she hated people who repeatedly told her she was incapable of doing something! She heard enough of that in the Horde, she wasn't about to hear that crap here! "I'll be She-Ra any minute now! Just give me some space and I'll be She-Ra by the time you get back!"

"That's great! Then Bow and I will go get her while you work on it!" The warning lights in Catra's mind telling her she made a mistake were going off like mad as Glimmer said this.

"Ehhh W-Wait I don't think we need to go that fast-"

*Swoosh!*

Anything she had to say after that fell on deaf ears as Glimmer and Bow teleported in another flash of light. Catra found herself left in a room all to herself with a very heavy level of awkwardness filling the air.

"Ok... Soooo... it's nothing to worry about..." Telling herself this didn't make the worry go away. In fact, she the worry only doubled saying this out loud. "Eh hem... For the Honor of Grayskull!" This was it! She was going to transform into She-Ra! She just had to think positively about everything up to this point and what she wanted to look like! A superpowered Knight in a golden tiara and bracelets with the whitest outfit she could imagine.

And for some reason one that shrunk her pants.

Despite using the correct phrase, the sword didn't react in the slightest. Was it solar powered? No, that couldn't be it. It was well into the night when she used it against that giant beast, remembering how her transformation came immediately upon deflecting the creature's attack-

"That's it!" Catra's eyes lit up with revelation. "I just need something scary or big to intimidate me and everything will work out!" Realization aside, she just needed to find something now to take the place of that scary monster. The monster itself wasn't too frightening to her, even with her instincts telling her, so she just needed to find something around here that was just as scary.

That alone brought up a troubling realization to her. How the heck was she supposed to find something scary around Bright Moon of all places?! Being a castle, she knew this place would've been heavily guarded with constant patrols probably a mile outside of the castle just to ensure no monster could trespass among the ground, or Horde soldiers for that matter. Obviously she couldn't just pick a fight with the guards themselves, that would've made negotiations and alliances a teensy bit more difficult to pull off otherwise.

If she was going to find something to attack her, she needed something already within the walls, and that could've taken forever to find-!

*Neeeiiigh!*

"No..." Her ears drooped at the familiar sound. "Anything but that..." She begged to herself as she looked out the window.

Fate was always a cruel and mysterious mistress. Sometimes it threw a bone to someone and jumped in at the time it needed, like when someone needed rescuing and there was no one around. At other times, it was a royal pain in the tush, like when someone needed a winning hand at a gamble they placed, only to lose everything in one go.

Catra, sadly, fell in to the latter category.

Sure enough, over on the nearby hill a little ways from the castle, was the all too familiar horse that made this entire trip to the castle horrifying and frightening for her.

And gave Glimmer more than enough excuses to exact her revenge for Catra's previous annoyance.

"Ok, so what are my options?" She prayed the one she needed didn't involve the horse. "Either A: Fail to get this stupid sword working, caught by the Queen or guards, and spend the rest of my life in a jail cell where I'll never see natural light again, or B: Get the Horse thing to help me get this sword working and risk it eating me alive or at least my hair, or C: Return to the Horde, forget everything ever happened, and hope nobody remembers anything I did in the last twelve hours of my life.........Ugggh!" No matter how much she hated it she knew she didn't have any options.

Looking back over to the couch, sighed as she surrendered her dignity by donning the pink robe. Least with this she wasn't going to get attacked by any guards that saw her... hopefully...

...

"Heh heh... hey horsie..." Catra greeted with a nervous smile, holding the sword tightly in her hands. "Well... go on with it... attack me or something!" She demanded holding the sword out. She just needed the beast to attack her or the sword and then she could call out for Grayskull and all that. The horse looked at the pink-robed knight in front of him for a few seconds, then returned to grazing in the grass like she wasn't even there. Catra blinked as she stared at the horse for a few seconds, scratching her head at the calmness and peacefulness it seemed to be giving off. "Huh... guess you aren't exactly aggressive, are ya?"

Was this a good thing or a bad thing? On one hand, she didn't have to worry about the horse terrifying her as much, on the other, she was right back to square one. Ok, well I'm still a bit freaked out by it so maybe that's enough to get it working. She thought to herself, taking a deep breath as she raised the sword again. "For the Honor of Grayskull! ...Let's try this differently." As long as she was near the thing that intimidated her, it should work... right?

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" ... Maybe she had to feel more intimidated? She breathed deeply as she took a few more steps towards the horse. "Ok... for the Honor of Grayskull!" ...Still nothing? Much to her grievance, she found herself being forced to take an additional step closer each and every time it failed.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" This was it! She was five feet from the horse so it had to work!

"...For the Honor of Grayskull!" Any second now! She was right in front of it now!

"...For the Honor of Grayskull!" She could feel herself transforming into- "Oh come on!"

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" She was on it's side. "For the Honor of Grayskull!" She was on the other side. "FOR THE HONOR OF FREAKING GRAYSKULL ALREADY!!!" She grumbled again. By now she was sitting on top of the horse. It's amazing how quickly you can get over your fear of something when you have something more annoying than what you fear. She slumped over on the horse itself with a moan, looking over the sword irritated as the horse looked back at her curiously.

"Look you stupid sword, you spent half the day torturing me and nagging at me after I found you, so at the very least you could give me this one thing when I truly need it!" She stared at the reflection in the sword as if expecting an answer, getting nothing but utter silence in return. She didn't get a headache, she didn't get any sense from it, she didn't even get one of those annoying visions.

"Ugggh..." She groaned again as she lied on the ground. "I'm so boned..."

*Neeigh!*

She looked to her left as she saw the used-to-be-horrifying horse, enjoying the feeling of the grass right next to her as it lied on it's back. "What do you have to be so miserable about? You're a horse." She muttered. She raised the sword over her head as she stared back at her reflection. "How am I supposed to make you work? I swung you over my head just like this and then..." Her eyes slowly widened as the memory came to her. "Wait a minute!"

...

That's when she saw the creature towering over her again, surprised by how quickly it rushed over, and raised it's giant mandible over her head to strike. "Ah!" She yelped, using all her might to lift the heavy blade over her head.

That was it.

...

"That's it!" She sprang to her feet as she looked around her surroundings, looking around until she spotted a large boulder next to a tree near them. "I don't need anything to attack or scare me, I just need to give this thing a good hit on something hard!" She grinned to herself and her reflection as she came up with this. With absolute pride in her veins and certainty in her mind, she swung the mighty blade against the hardened boulder.

*CLANG!*

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" Yes. Yes! It was working! She saw light emanating from the center of the gem locked in the center of the blade! Her eyes lit up as much as the blade did, maybe even brighter with how proud she was of her ingenious plan!

Everything good from this was coming back to her. She could become She-Ra, take on the Horde that treated her so badly, get the kingdom she always wanted, rule it alongside Adora, and live out the rest of her days in peace, luxury, and a brand spanking new castle! And with this sword, no one would dare threaten her kingdom for as long as she-

*PEW!*

What was that?

This didn't happen before. The sword was NOT supposed to be doing this. Those few sparks that filled her with encouragement previously ended up being traitor in disguise, because the next thing she knew the supposed sparks she saw coming from the sword began channeling several beams of light, shooting across the hill a dozen different times.

"Oh no..." She started to grow worried as the beams of light continued to dance around her. Did this happen before? No, she's pretty sure Bow or Glimmer would've mentioned it if any beams of light hit her before turning into She-Ra. Did she make it mad? To be fair, if someone hit her against a rock that'd tick her off, and she knew the sword had to be alive in some way. Then again maybe it was just really advance? That's when the beams of light suddenly struck the horse.

"Ahh! What's going on?!" The Horse began shining entirely all around itself. Did the lights really transform things that way? Was it going to transform the horse into some form of She-Ra? She watched as the light enveloped the entire horse, hearing it screaming in fear and trotting side to side as it underwent a bizarre transformation. After several seconds a final brief flash went off, temporarily blinding Catra until everything faded away. What she saw next left her baffled.

"Umm... That's not normal for horses, is it?"

The horse itself opened it's sparkling eyes, almost immediately beginning to panic as it saw it's newly evolved state. The horse's mane, for starters, changed into a more serene morning appearance with several shades of warm oranges and yellows. Secondly, it's newly grown wings which spanned almost as long as the horse's body, were spread away, revealing a dazzling array of rainbow colors across it's new feathers. As if none of that was enough, the final piece of resistance was the newly fashioned horn that grew from atop it's head, spanning at least a foot long with swirls of yellow.

Naturally, like any sane person or animal coming across this strange phenomenon, it reacted in the most casual way possible.

Panicking.

*Neeeiigh!*

"W-Whoa, calm down!" Catra began to panic as well as it flailed about. Before she knew it the majestic creature began running away as if running far enough would remove whatever ungodly curse had been placed on it.

This is bad... Catra thought correctly to herself. She had no idea what was wrong with it or what the sword did, and both cases would've made meeting the queen rather troubling. Was the transformation permanent? Temporary? Was the horse going to burst into flames after a few minutes for crying out loud?! It wouldn't exactly look good to meet the queen and mention how she accidentally turned her horse into some more horrifying creature of beautiful terror!

Oh god what if it was contagious?! That'd be really fun story to explain to the person that she didn't want to anger!

She was so preoccupied with her worries and the sight of the horse flying up and down that she didn't even realize as she was running into a Rebellion training camp. Numerous passersby were watching with confusion, surprise, and/or shock as they saw the mysterious creature and the strange person that was chasing it. All she was focused on was trying to get the horse back that could ruin everything!

Gritting her teeth, she used her enhanced agility as she quickly lept to the horse several feet off the ground, grabbing onto it's left wing. Any moments of relief or victory she could've felt were ignored as the horse started flailing about, falling from the sky and into an empty tent before Catra could realize grabbing onto a horse that never flew before was a bad idea.

That's a third thing she could add to her bad-idea-list.

*CRASH!*

Dust and a bit of debris from whatever wooden materials were present within or around the tent were flung in all directions as the horse crashed, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the camp. As the dust began to settle, the trainees all saw two shady figures through the dust cloud, one of which opened it's wings again as it took off in a hurry. The gust it created was enough to give everyone a proper view of the other mysteriously figure, the same one rubbing her sore head from the crash.

"Ugh... stupid horse..." It was at that moment she saw nearly a dozen soldiers of various size and races slowly approach her, half of them enraged and the other half already having drawn their weapons. Something was off about this. She knew they might've been mad for destroying one of their tents, but the hate in their eyes was one that was all too familiar to her - the stare of somebody gazing at their mortal enemy. "What?" It donned on her as she stood up from the ground, noticing a slightly heavier draft around she didn't feel before.

Looking down, everything became clear as she saw the robe she came out in earlier, slightly shredded and completely fallen from her body. If they weren't aware of her allegiance from the helmet she, once again, forgot to remove, the full outfit she was wearing was proof enough. "Oh..." Her ears perked up just as quickly as they drooped after hearing the various shouts of anger from the surrounding soldiers.

"It's the Horde!"

"She's infiltrated Bright Moon Castle!"

"Someone catch her before she gets away!"

"Grrr..." Catra growled as she raised her sword. Any chance Catra had to possibly remove some of the tension and anger she had building up throughout the day were dashed away as she lowered the sword again, remembering one very important detail that was preventing her from causing trouble. "Oh, right... same side..."

"Huaaaaaah!"

*WHAM*

Catra narrowly avoided the oncoming slam of a giant mace from behind her, quickly sidestepping several feet away as it collided to ground with full force. No sooner had she dodged did she find herself tackled again by another soldier of hulking mass, grabbing her and intending to hold onto her until she could be bound. She found herself forced to scratch at his vulnerable face, being careful not to damage his eyes, causing him to cry out in pain and lowering his grip, giving her enough time to climb atop his shoulders before kicking him away from her.

"You guys have no idea how badly I want to fight you right now!" She hissed. She found herself blocking another strike from a giant axe that nearly decapitated her, finding the female soldier's strength quite impressive as she slowly pushed Catra towards the ground. "F-For the Honor of Grayskull!" What she was hoping would get the sword working only aided in providing a confused look on the soldier's face. It gave her enough time to quickly legsweep the soldier off her feet, backing flipping out of the way as another soldier tried to attack her.

There wasn't enough time to fend off the army of soldiers that continued to chase after her, she had to get away! With sword in hand, she sped off through the trail of tents behind her, being careful not to run directly into any approaching soldiers and switching between left and right turns whenever she found her current path blocked off.

Eventually it led her to a cliffside overlooking a ravine with a small river running through it, finding no time to stop as she lost her footing and began tumbling down the rocky side several dozen feet into the freezing cold water. It was at that time several soldiers began pulling strange white colored orbs with fuses on them. Coughing out what little water got into her mouth, skin shivering at the freezing cold water, her attention turned back to the soldiers just as the strange looking explosives were right over her head.

*POOF*

As opposed to what she thought would result in a fiery explosion she instead found her entire surroundings coated in a strange white dusty substance. Her confusion didn't even have a chance to surface as she got back to her feet as her entire body suddenly felt heavier and her head filled with fog.

"Hack! OUgh!" She covered her mouth as she inhaled the strange smoke. "Ngh... W-What is this?" She rubbed her head as she found her consciousness beginning to weaken. She had no time for answers as she continued to run off as fast as she could, several more explosions of these white bombs going off around her, each one of them ending up right next to her in the process. "D-Don't fall asleep." She kept telling herself. With each additional explosion her body became heavier and her legs wobbled further. She didn't know how these bombs were making her dizzy, just that they were intended to make her capture easier.

The only ease she got out of this entire chase was the explosions stopping as she entered the nearby woods.

"F...For the Honor of Gray... Grayskull..." She muttered, hoping to herself the sword would finally aid her. Like every other time, no matter how much she begged to herself for the sword to help her compared to all the other times, she found her prayers unanswered, no matter how much she pleaded. "For... t-the Hon... Honor of Grayskull..."

It was too much. A fourth of a mile into the woods she finally collapsed onto her knees, panting heavily. She couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't stay awake no matter how hard she tried. What little resistance she had in her arms gave out as she finally collapsed to the ground, eyes growing heavier as she dropped the sword. She couldn't feel if she was holding the sword anymore or not, just that everything was getting dark.

"F... For....... For the.....For the Honor of..." As the last bit of light began to fade, she saw a mysterious figure looming over her, too dark to see through the growing haze. "Grayskull..........." And with that final utterance, everything went black...

...

The Fright Zone.

The place that started the violence, that declared war on Etheria itself. Here, numerous races found themselves aiding a cause they thought to believe pure, one to unify the world under one rule by their leader, Lord Hordak. It was the place many found a purpose in life, for others a home to the races that considered them outcast.

And it was within the hallways of the fine Citadel of this place that Shadow-Weaver eagerly awaited Adora's return.

Adora was her pride and joy. Adora knew it, everyone knew it, and everyone else feared her for it. If anyone had a death wish, confronting Shadow-Weaver on anything or doing something to harm or threaten Adora was the quickest way to do it. She expected the best for Adora. She expected the most from Adora. Not once in her life had Adora ever let her down. And she knew today would be no exception.

Just as she predicted, right on time, she saw Adora entering from the Launch site. There was a strange look of fire in her eyes, no doubt still filled with the passion of battle flowing through her veins.

"Adora," Shadow-Weaver greeted with a welcoming hand, "how was your first mission my dea-"

*WHAP!*

"!" What just happened? For the first time ever in Shadow-Weaver's life Adora slapped her hand away.

Harshly.

"You lied to me!" She hissed, pointing to Shadow-Weaver accusingly.

"Lied to you?" The weaver of shadows grew intrigued at the statement, being careful not to show it. "About what my dear?"

"Everything!" She stated. "You've been lying to me since day one! That wasn't a mission to a facility, they weren't heavily armed! They were just civilians running for their lives!"

Oh my. Someone had apparently given the revelation to Adora. She knew the soldiers were wise enough not to do it themselves. Any soldier that was aware of the truth behind all this knew better than to display this information to any of the other troops, especially Adora herself. That could only leave one other possibility that made Shadow-Weaver's blood boil.

The cat.

"What was everything I've been working for?" Adora continued angrily. "Have we always been like this? Have we been spreading nothing but chaos and destruction since the very beginning?!" Shadow-Weaver's silence only drove her more insane. Was she admitting through her silence what Adora found out? Was she unaware of everything just like Adora was? She needed some answer from her because no matter how troubled she found herself, Shadow-Weaver was the only person she could turn to for answers! "Tell me!"

"...I see..." Her tension remained as Shadow-Weaver placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Oh, my poor, innocent, Adora. I see there's no point in trying to hide it from you." Adora flinched at the reply. Was she actually admitting it? Was Catra right all along?

"So... you admit you've been lying!"

"No," Shadow-Weaver shook her head to this with a saddening tone, "I just haven't been completely honest with you. Come with me, my child. I believe there's something you should see." She turned around as she floated away. She stopped halfway through the hall as she noticed the lack of footsteps behind her. "Now!"

"..." Adora remained steadfast as she followed along. Shadow-Weaver was the last person she could trust, and even that wasn't much of a margin. Out of all the people within the Horde though she was the only one most likely to give her the answers she needed. If she couldn't trust Shadow-Weaver, there was no way she could remain within the Horde. This is the one thing she needed from Shadow-Weaver to renew her determination.

And that's exactly what Shadow-Weaver intended to do. Show her the truth.

At least, show Adora her truth...

...

"For the last time." Queen Angella spoke as she walked through the halls of Bright Moon Castle. "What is this grand surprise that I'm supposed to be so impressed with?" It was just like her daughter and her friend. Tell her there was something special or interesting she had to see and force her to come see it herself instead of just telling her.

"You'll see it in a minute, Mom, I promise." Glimmer was so excited! "Bow, can you go check and make sure the surprise is ready for us?" She requested coming to a halt.

"You got it, Princess." He replied respectfully, giving a short salute to the Queen before taking off. It brought a smile to the Queen's face to know Glimmer had such respectful friends.

"I like that boy."

"I know you do, mom. You'll like this surprise even more."

This was it! She was going to prove everything she risked her grounding over and her mother was going to shower her with the praise she always wanted to hear! She would prove herself to her mother, they would gain a new ally in the process, and they would be on their way to win the war! And history would look back on this day recounting Glimmer's heroics as she brought this miraculous victory herself!

With the sound of a door slamming, they watched as Bow quickly trotted himself back, the look of excitement on his face so grand that Glimmer almost thought he looked worried! And for some reason he felt it necessary to pull Glimmer to the side.

"So... problem." He whispered.

"What?"

"Your Majesty!" A female guard called from the end of the hallway. "A Horde spy has been discovered on the Bright Moon grounds. She attacked several of our troops at the Training Camp before running off into the woods."

"What?!" If there was one thing Glimmer regretted at that second, it was acknowledging her surprise and shock at the same time as her mother.

"She couldn't have gotten far, your Highness. We struck her with several of our experimental Tranq Bombs before she could get away."

"Find her and bring her to my Throne Room at once!" The guard saluted and left immediately upon her Queen's orders. That just left one angry mother to glare at two nervous teens. "What. Did. You. DO?!"

Things could only get worse from here...

...

A/N: Now to post over on Ao3 and play my favorite(annoying) game: read my fic, get annoyed with all the typos, and recorrect them a dozen times cause I'll miss it the first 8 times around XP.

As always, leave a like, fave, review, and share with your friends! Hope to hear your guys' feedback as we start getting into the series and it's interesting differences ^^!

Chapter 7: Episode 3: Razz Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hiyo! Not much to say this time around, just thanks for all the feedback and all that! Loving the feedback and comments i'm getting, they really help motivate me ^^ Also I'm trying to focus on not writing so much as of late cause, *shockingly*, i tend to write a lot of details about simple things, so some scenes might seem shorted or something compared to others. Hopefully it still makes scenes make sense and isn't too distracting.

With that said, enjoy!

...

Gruel!

One of the most important meals of the day!

Sure, it may have just consisted of your standard boiled milk mixed with cereal, but to the kids amongst the Horde, it was a blessing! Especially on Mondays at the beginning of each month when the cafeteria added an assortment of muffins for the children. It was during these wonderful days they found themselves blessed to be raised amongst the Horde under Lord Hordak's rule, and couldn't wait for the day they got to repay the favor by joining his army!

At least for those who weren't under constant harassment like other unfortunate souls. Those who were picked on on a constant basis knew to keep their head down. They couldn't get the help of the guards, nor the staff who ran these children facilities since half of them were just as likely to pick on the unfortunate souls as well.

One particular unfortunate soul found herself eating at a corner table of the cafeteria by herself. It didn't really matter, she preferred it this way. If she was over here, no one would want to walk all this way just to bother the freak and then back to the table. Aside from being a waste of energy, they didn't want to take the chance of the guards noticing them as they watched over the lunchroom.

*squish*

"..." The young five-year-old Catra continued to frown as she poked her gruel with her fork. She preferred her meals this way. Quiet, peaceful, and away from anyone else-

*clak*

"There you are!" Adora's chipper voice nearly startled her as she placed her lunch tray right next to Catra. "I was looking all over for you."

"..." The quiet girl looked all around her, wondering if there was anyone else watching her, then back to the girl. "What are you doing here?" She asked quietly.

"What do you mean? I wanted to have breakfast with you!" There was no end to the positive energy coming off of Adora.

It was kinda scary.

"No, I mean... Why are you sitting near me?" She clarified.

Adora tilted her head like she had no idea what she was saying. "Why do you think? We're friends now!" She reminded. "Friends stick together!"

"They... do?"

"Well yeah. Don't you hang out with your other-" She stopped before she could say something regretful. It took Catra's saddening gaze to remind her of what her previous state of being was. Friendless. "Err I mean... Well friends just stick together is all. I don't care if those other bullies make fun of me or not."

"..." She waited for a response from the human cat girl who went back to poking her food. It was at that time Adora noticed something missing from her tray, something no child should ever be without!

"Where's your muffin?" The timid girl paused briefly at this with her lip trembling.

"..."

"...Did those bullies steal it from you?" Her hopes that not answering Adora's question would prevent her from finding out proved futile. There was already anger building in her eyes as she looked back several tables away from her, hearing Lonnie and her lackies laughing.

"It's fine..." She meeped.

"No it's not!" Adora retorted. "Muffin day only comes once a month! Do you want to wait an entire month before having another muffin?" As she waited for a response, a possible thought suddenly dawned on her. "Have you... ever had a muffin?" Like before, the shorter girl paused as she looked away. She didn't want to show her lip quivering again, unaware her current action was already confirming what Adora wanted to know.

This was terrible! Nobody should be without a muffin on Muffin Monday! There were several flavors to choose from between plain, chocolate chip, and the delicious blueberry that Adora rarely every got to enjoy herself! In fact, she's only ever had it three times in her life, and each one of those moments were unforgettable! And now she was before little girl, her new friend, who has never had the sweet taste of a delicious muffin!

Someone needs to report to Lord Hordak about he injustices of Muffin Monday!

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard the faint sniffling of the sad girl next to her. To be living this kind of lifestyle, to just be ok with everything that happened to her, even when she was trying to do what was right, was incredibly hard and sad to live with. And as her new best friend, she wasn't about to let her continue suffering by herself!

"Here." She chirped happily as she placed her own muffin on Catra's tray. Humorously enough she watched with a smile as the young girl looked back and forth between Adora and the muffin in shock. "You can have it."

"Wah-? N-No, it's yours." She stuttered. "I can't have it-"

"It's fine, really!" Adora insisted. "I've had plenty of muffins in the past. I don't mind missing one."

"Mmmh but... but... " Catra wanted to argue against it. She really wanted to argue against it! But she struggled to summon the will speak her mind.

"Go ahead, it's all right." She encouraged patting her back. It was fun seeing Catra growing happier at the sentiment. She might not have noticed but her tail was wagging more and more at the prospect of a sacred chocolate chip muffin.

"Mmh..." Her lips became wet as she slurped with anticipation, grabbing the muffin. "Thank y-"

*SQUASH*

"Ah!" Everything just seemed to slow down around the two of them as they processed what just happened.

Here Catra was, about to take her first glorious bite of one of the delicious muffins created by the Horde. Every hair on her body was raising with excitement as she imagined all the wonderful tastes and wonders she was about to experience in her very first bite! And what happens next?

Gruel happens. From out of nowhere, from out of their view, someone threw a large chunk of gruel at the poor girl, splatting across the left half of her face. Regardless of how hot, cold, hard, or soft the substance was, that barely mattered in comparison to the aftermath.

The muffin. The great, glorious muffin, was dropped from her hands, falling into the slush that was gruel. The muffin was quickly absorbed into the meal, drowning the entire muffin from head to toe. Nobody wanted a soggy muffin, and nobody wanted a muffin covered in gruel.

"Freak! Hahahaha!" Adora grumbled to herself as she glared back at the thrower. Just like she thought, there was Lonnie, raising her fist proudly as the other kids near her cheered for her fantastic throw. Maybe she didn't see the muffin she was holding and maybe she did, it didn't matter. All this left was a very distraught Adora.

And a very sad Catra.

"Mmmmhmhmhhmhmmmm." She cried silently, forcefully keeping her mouth close as she sniffled to avoid more unwanted attention. She didn't care about the stinging gruel in her eyes as much as the act itself. It stung. It hurt. It reminded her of every reason she was unwanted by everyone.

"Grrrr that was terrible!" Adora grumbled squeezing her fist. "I'll show them-!"

"No!" Catra pleaded grabbing her other arm. "Don't leave... please..." Adora was surprised as she looked back to the tearful looking new friend. Even after all they just did to her, she still preferred to let it go, opting to cry as gruel continued to drip from the left side of her face. "I don't want to... to..." She sniffled. Strangely, her following words were inaudible, yet Adora acknowledged it like she heard what she said.

"Mmh." It made her feel worse thinking those bullies would get away with what they did. People like that should always get punished, just like Shadow-Weaver always taught her! Yet, she couldn't bring herself to leave her friend as she was. She was in need, in fear. She couldn't leave her side in this state. "It'll be okay, Catra. Hold still, I can get this off." She gave her a warm smile as she grabbed one of her napkins. At least gruel was easy to wipe off. She wished all of their troubles could be solved so easily.

At the very least, Catra found comfort in someone else. She found someone who cared for her, wanted to protect her.

For the first time, she found herself wanted...

...

"Mmmh..." Why did her head feel so heavy? In fact, her whole body felt like it was made of lead, a numbness tingling from her fingertips and toes. "Ah..." She felt like she was on the border between consciousness and sleep.

Perhaps a better question would be why she was having another one of her memories resurface? What was the purpose? What was causing it? She hated these memories of her, she detested them! She's gone through most of her life trying to repress these stupid memories that caused her nothing but turmoil and grief.

"Ah good, you finally woke up from your nap, Mara!" A strange voice spoke. It took a great amount of exertion just to open her eyelids partway.

While her vision was still hazy and nearsighted, she saw a mysterious old woman come into focus. She was verily old looking to Catra, having a grand hag-like appearance to her with the sloppily messy grey hear and dozens of missing teeth. If the added fashion sense of weird bracelets she wore that looked like they were made of stone wasn't enough, the several butterflies and the shaggy purple gown that draped over her whole body did show just how ancient she was.

She couldn't get a feel on this woman either. She looked every bit of crazy as you'd expect for an old lady yet there was something peaceful about her too. Then again, seeing how half her body was still numb, maybe it was just Catra herself?

"M...Mara?" Did she mean her? "M... My name's... name's not... mmh..." She still felt the paralysis spread across her body in waves with each breath. Just trying to say a few words risked her passing out again.

"Oooh now no more fussing, Mara." The woman hummed to herself as she began pouring several liquids into a small bowl. "It's just like you to take your nap in the middle of the woods. Always sleeping, always tired, always lazing about." With one more bottle of strange liquid added to the bowl, Catra almost thought she saw a strange puff of smoke puff up from the concoction, as she came over to the tired girl's side. "Now, be a good girl and drink up, Mara. We have a busy day today."

There wasn't much room for Catra to argue. She couldn't even bring herself to decline the offer as the woman helped raise her head slightly to drink the strange bowl of liquid. She didn't know if it was poison, she didn't know if it was just a simple bowl of soup based off the smell, all she knew was that this woman had total control over her for the time being. At least it didn't taste that ba-

"HAAAAAAWWWWW!" Catra drly screeched as she shot up. She grabbed her throat with both her hands as tears and sweat uncontrollably dripped from her sweat.

What in the sweet name of the First Ones was this horrible thing?! Her entire throat felt like someone lit a fire on it from the inside! Her tongue itself felt like it was swelling like crazy, blocking off her airwaves slightly enough to make the burning sensation even more unbearable! She couldn't help as she heaved dryly, waving her hands over her face as she tried getting anything resembling a small breeze on her.

"Wawew! Wawew!" She panted loudly, trying to utter a single word desperately.

"Hmm maybe I used too many Ravenberries." The strange woman shrugged as she pulled out a small bottle. "Here, try some of this-"

*gulp!*

She didn't bother seeing what it was she was drinking. As long as it was a liquid and offered to her, it had to be better than this!

At least it was before the taste got her.

"MMMMMHHHHHHH!" Her face scrunched up like she swallowed the world's most sour lemon. It was official, she died after passing out from whatever those soldiers threw at her earlier, and this was her evil tormentor for all eternity. What else was she supposed to conclude out of this? She almost wished she was dead after what she's gone through for the last several seconds! It was almost a blessing that it only lasted ten more seconds before her face felt normal. "Huff... Huff.. you trying to kill me you crazy hag?!"

"Ah, good morning sunshine." The replied completely oblivious to Catra's insult. "It's nice to see you finally up and ready for the day."

"Don't change the subject you-" She paused as she looked at her hands again. It finally dawned on her that she had feeling all throughout her body again. She could move her fingers fluidly and her body felt almost as light as a feather! "I... I can move?" Did she purposely feed her those strange liquids just to help her?

"Of course you can move, Mara." The woman replied again as she shuffled around the room to collect some belongings. "Madame Razz always has the solution to your problems."

"Mara? Uhh my name's Catra, lady." She tried to correct. She couldn't tell if anything was registering to this woman given the far-off look she displayed. "Anyway, thanks for helping me out... I think..."

"No need for thanks, dearie. I'm just glad your nightmares are gone."

"My nightmares?" Did this woman see into her dream or something just now?

"Yes, you were fussing and moaning about some door or something." She explained. "I don't know what it was but you seemed pretty upset about it."

Did she force me to drink that awful stuff not even knowing I couldn't move? Catra wondered to herself.

"You wouldn't even let Madame Razz hold your sword for you." Catra's eyes nearly shot out as she quickly looked around herself. Thankfully she saw the sword resting peacefully on her right, untouched and undamaged.

It was at this time she managed to get a closer look at her surroundings. She appeared to be in a shack-like room within the base of a withered old tree, seeing numerous small roots on the outside of the walls surrounding her and a withered dusty curtain over the entrance like a door. All around her were various pots and trinkets of varying quality. Some looked ancient, others looked like simple nicknacks you could find lying around the ground, and so on.

Whoever the strange woman was she was also decent enough to try to make Catra's sleep as comfortable as possible. While there weren't any beds around her, she did at least provide a small blanket over her legs and several bundled rags to form a makeshift pillow. Overall she knew whoever this strange hag was, she wasn't with the Rebellion or didn't care about the Horde.

As long as she didn't have to worry about the soldiers finding her she was relieved.

"That's nice, Mara." It didn't register. "Anyway, you're just in time for our outing, dearie. Those berries won't pick themselves after all."

"Uhh... Ok..." She stretched her arms briefly before rising to her feet and taking the sword. "Anyway... soooo thanks I guess for the help lady, but I got to get going." She announced as she walked over to the door.

"Are you going to take another nap, dearie?" Catra ignored the rambling hag as she pulled open the curtain from the entrance. "But you just got here. You always seem to be such a hurry, always visiting Madame Razz one moment and leaving her again the next moment with that sword."

Catra blinked at this statement as she looked back. "Wait, you know about the sword?" Was it possible? If the woman knew about the sword did she know how it worked? Could she possibly help her transform into She-Ra? "What do you know about it?"

"All in good time, Mara." She watched as the old woman placed a basket over her sword as she went through the door. "Now come along, sweetie. The faster we get those berries the sooner Madame Razz can make your favorite stew."

"Mmmh..." Forced to comply, Catra resigned herself to following the old woman. She needed to know how to turn into She-Ra before she even thought about returning to the castle, and on top of that, she did kind of owe the woman for saving her from the soldiers in the first place. At least this way she could kill two birds with one stone.

Hopefully Glimmer and Bow were having a better time on their end.

...

"What were you thinking?!" Queen Angella shouted from atop her throne. Her fury and anger were well placed.

Being a Queen was never an easy job. Day after day she had to deal with news in all forms of details ranging from good to bad. Sometimes it ranged from simple news like the details involving yearly harvests and food for the kingdom, at others it involved hearing of an incident that befell a town somewhere within her domain. It was a well-balanced scale of news that always kept her job productive and never boring.

In the midst of the war however, all news was considered bad. Week after week since the Horde Invasion, nothing good ever came out of it. People were lost, towns were destroyed, and lands were burned. The closest thing they ever got to good news was hearing that a town repelled a Horde invasion, and that was rarely ever done. Even when it was, eventually the Horde returned in greater numbers and firepower to retake the town with almost no survivors ever coming to recount the evasion.

The stress this built up day after day was clearly understandable.

On top of this she also had to deal with being a mother. Raising her daughter all alone in itself was a tiring task, and her daughter always had new and excitingly dangerous ways to make her mother's job harder. If she previously thought her disappearing while she was grounded was the worst news to discover, the information Glimmer and Bow came back with and what they were doing during their outing was far worse.

"Didn't you take a moment to think about what you were possibly doing? Bringing a Horde soldier here of all places?!"

"B-But mom, you don't understand!" Glimmer tried to plead her case. "She helped save me and Bow in the Whispering Woods, she became She-Ra!"

"I don't want to hear of it, Glimmer! You already left while being grounded, and on your way back you bring a member of the Horde with you? How could you be so irresponsible?"

"Y-Your Majesty, please," Bow tried to speak on Glimmer's behalf, "I know it sounds bad alone but you can trust her! I'm sure there was a good reason she attacked the training camp. Maybe it was self-defense or something!"

"Silence!" Angella ordered waving her hand. "Bow, I want you to leave us. I need to speak to my daughter alone. Now!" Bow and Glimmer looked at each other nervously before he marched out the door. If the Queen ordered something, it had to be done no matter what objections he had. Glimmer watched with a hint of dread as Bow walked out of the door, turning back to her mother like a dog guilty of eating something he shouldn't.

"Look, mom, I understand that you're angry, but you have to give her a chance! She truly wants to help!" She assured.

"Oh really?" Her mom looked doubtful as she leaned on her arm against the throne's armrest. "And did this Horde say she wanted to help out of the decency and kindness of her heart or something?"

"Yeah! Ehh... I mean... kind of... heh..." She poked her fingers with a nervous smile knowing there was no way around that detail. "I mean, she did kind of... ask for a bit of a... reward and all that..."

"And what possible kind of reward would that be?"

"Oh, nothing much. I mean she just kind of... ummm... maaaay have wanted something small like... a kingdom? Eh heh..."

"YOU PROMISED HER A KINGDOM?!" The entire room went so deathly silent that even a single strand of hair could be heard hitting the floor if it fell.

"I-I didn't say I'd give her a kingdom! Just that I might've... you know... talked to you about it?"

"Guards, clear the room. I wish to speak with my daughter in private." The guards nodded in turn as they began clearing out the rest of the same along with themselves, save for the two personal guards that were always at the Queen's side. With room bring cleared, the Queen let out great moan as she pinched the bridge between her eyes. "Ugh... Glimmer... What am I to do with you..."

"Look, mom, you can ground me for life for all I care after," she said stepping forward, "but at least give her a chance. I know she can help us win the war!"

"That's not the point, Glimmer. Don't you understand your actions will reflect your future?" Her mother still maintained a hint of concern behind her angry words. "I won't be here forever, Glimmer. One day you will be forced to make decisions that affect the future of not just you, but the entire kingdom. And you can't make hasty decisions like this just on an impulse."

"I understand mom, I really do. But she's already proven herself twice! She even helped save Thaymor from a Horde invasion!"

"So she drove off an entire force with her mere power?" Angella asked questionably.

"Y-Yeah... I mean... She forced a Horde Captain to call off the attack, but-"

"And you saw this happen yourself?" She quickly interrupted.

"Ye- I mean, sort of... The soldiers were surrounding us when they were called off. We would've been captured or worse if she didn't stop-"

"I mean you saw her make the Horde Captain call off the attack?"

Glimmer knew exactly what she was doing yet found struggled to maintain her optimistic composure. "Well... Not exactly but... but..."

"Then for all you know, this was their plan from the beginning just to infiltrate Bright Moon."

"I... I had that thought too but... but..." What could she say at this moment? Every time she came up with something her mother countered it perfectly. There was no hesitation in her voice and little room for any doubt in every word she spoke. It's as if she predicted this entire meeting and prepared for every possible thing she had to say.

That's the power of a true queen and a mother.

With the silence continuing to drift around the room, Angella sighed as she rose from her seat and walked to her daughter's front. "Glimmer, I know you're trying to help, but you can't make decisions without thinking of every possibility."

"I.. I know that mom... I just..." She went silent as her mother gently raised her chin so she could see her face-to-face.

"Glimmer, can you look me in the eye and say with absolute certainty, that you trust this soldier?"

"I... Y..." Her mother brought her to attention again as Glimmer tried to turn her face just a little.

"Don't look away. Look me in the eyes and tell me you trust her, one-hundred percent."

"..." The words wouldn't escape her throat no matter how hard she tried.

"...That's what I thought." She pulled her daughter's head gently as she embraced her in a comforting hug. She knew her daughter wasn't bad. She wasn't acting out for attention, she didn't cause trouble for the sake of having fun, she was just trying to help for the sake of being useful to her mother and their kingdom. Angella couldn't have asked for a better daughter. "Until this Horde soldier is found, I don't want you leaving the castle's grounds. Otherwise you are free to leave."

"...Yes mother..." She couldn't find an single fragment of strength to argue against her mother. All she could do was make her way to the door, ignoring a confused and curious Bow who wanted to know what they talked about.

How was she supposed to like this? Despite everything Catra had done for her, she couldn't deny the smallest, minimal, possibility that she was secretly still working for the Horde. Appearing just as they found the sword, the Horde attacking shortly after their arrival to Thaymor, and calling off an attack she didn't witness herself? How could she? She said it herself that she was just in all this for herself, and that was the way she intended to keep it.

...

"What do you-"

...

Those words kept echoing in her head since the moment her mother asked her. She wanted to trust her plenty, a part of her did trust her enough. But until she could figure things out, she couldn't look into her mother's eyes, or stand up for her new ally.

She couldn't trust Catra...

...

"For the last time, what do you know about the sword?" Catra was just about ready to tear her ears off.

This woman was impossible to get information out of. Every minute she spent trying to get information out of the old hag she found her asking a completely different question in turn, having a completely random answer for her, or completely ignoring the question and answer all together and asking her other random things, like why Catra decided to grow a new tail or cat eats.

It was becoming harder and harder to believe she wasn't dead and was her eternal tormentor because every moment she spent with this woman made her believe she was!

The only reason she found herself around the hag at this point was to repay her for saving her. No matter how much she hated someone else she refused to give up her "eye for an eye" philosophy. She could be saved by some reptile that saved her from getting bitten by a poisonous insect and she would repay it however she could, like feeding it a piece of meat. No matter how miniscule her favor-in-return was, she always saw it through.

"Oh yes, Mara, these are nice and fresh!" Madame Razz said with joy, picking the berries off another bush. "I can't wait to see Loo-Kee's face when he sees this harvest!"

"And dare I ask, who is Loo-Kee?" Catra forced herself to squeeze her claws into a fist, doing everything in her power to keep her sanity.

"Oh, he's my good friend who's always at my side! But he's invisible, so make sure you don't tell him!" She replied as she pressed on.

"..." Catra could feel her eye twitching from the stupidity of that statement as she followed her. "This woman's eaten people before, I just know it..."

"Ah, here we are!"

"That's what you said the last twenty places we went too... collect..." For the first time since meeting this lady she actually took Catra to an unbelievable place.

The Ruins of the First Ones. All around her were the same designs as the previous First Ones ruin she came across with Glimmer and Bow. this time with an impressive establishment standing before her that stretched above the trees. All around her numerous dark roots grew across the mighty obelisk, giving life to strange looking plants every several inches along the roots and glowing red flowers that grew from the ground the roots seeded into.

The surprising part about the roots were just how far they stretched along the ruins. They didn't just cover everything within a near-hundred feet of this place, they stretched up to the top of the obelisk itself, these ones covered in various thorns and bramble. It's as if these roots were specially grown just to protect whatever was inside the great ruins.

Or perhaps it was to keep whatever was hidden locked inside?

"I... I've seen this before..." Catra commented as she looked around. "I had visions of this place. They're First Ones ruins, aren't they?"

"And the best place to pick fresh berries!" In the short few seconds Catra wasn't watching the woman, she suddenly found her climbing the ancient ruins, already halfway to the top.

"What the-! What are you doing up there? You're going to get yourself hurt!"

"Relax, dearie, the butterflies will catch me." With every surprising leap the woman took and every root she grabbed, a piece of the ancient ruins lit up with life. It was as she neared the top of this mighty structure that she touched the last of these strange runes, bringing the entire ruin to life as it hummed with a eerie emerald glow.

*bzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhh!" Razz cried out as the ruin zapped her, blasting her off the top. Catra wasted no time as she dropped the sword, jumping onto the structure for a boost and pushing off of it as hard as she could. She dove head first as she caught the frail woman in her arms, several yards from the ground itself as the two of them fell through the air and onto the ground. While landing might've been a bit harsh for Catra herself, the woman managed to remain unscathed. "Hooftah, thank you butterflies for telling her to help!"

"Ugh..." Ok. She was done. This woman was driving her insane and she finally saved her life from a massive fall. "Consider us even for earlier. So if you don't mind, I'm going to take off now. Good luck with your berrypicking or whatever." She thanked her one more time as she picked up her sword.

"But you'll miss the stars, Mara." Razz stated as she looked to the sky.

"What stars-" Following the woman's gaze, she saw something she never had before.

Stars. Millions and millions of beautiful stars.

The ruins illuminated the sky with a strange display of tiny lights amongst the pink skylight it generated. Whether they were stars displayed simply from the ruins itself or the ruins cleared the sky to display the stars, it didn't matter. These mystical tiny specks of light were dazzling to Catra, being bundled up in an open display just for her and Razz to see. It was beautiful to witness. Beautiful and somehow familiar.

"These are... stars?" The term was unfamiliar to her.

"Oh. We used to come here all the time to look at stars." Razz awed in wonder. "Do you remember the stars, Mara? They were your favorite until they disappeared." Her voice became sorrowful as she said this. "What happened to the stars, dearie? Why did they all run away?"

"Why do I remember all this? Why is it all so familiar?" It was then that the visions returned to her, displaying several images and events like before.

For the first time in awhile, she saw Light Hope, the woman who started this mysterious adventure for her and turned her life upside down. This was followed by several flashes of scenery and wonder. For an instant, she could've sworn she saw Bright Moon Castle, recognizing the majestic scenery she had witnessed nearly an hour ago. It was like watching the screen of a security monitor, the image so clear that she could reach out and touch it.

But like all her previous visions, these ones started to distort and break apart. The images began to waver and pan around with several strange views displaying before in in a misty red hue. One of the scenes were of a strange deserted area with a bright sun looming over it. It was quickly followed by several flashes, each that became more distorted than the last.

She saw what might've been a shooting star crashing to the ground, a strange purple hole opened in the middle of the air before her sucking up anything that drew near, it could've been anything! The last flash was the only one she recognized as these strange ruins, looking incredibly younger and more newer than they did now.

The final image that appeared to her though, it stayed with her for a bit. And it was the most terrifying.

She couldn't move, she couldn't make out what she was witnessing, she couldn't tell what was going on. All she could see was fire. Fire and smoke out in the distance as she looked out of a strange large hole. What was she looking through? A window? A basket? The horrifying addition to all of this was how real it felt to her. She could feel the intense heat of the fire, she could practically taste the smoke that filled her lungs. She could feel the tears flowing down her face!

Tears? Why were there tears? Above all, why did she hear... screaming? All she could make out through the haze was the sound of people screaming. Screams of fear, screams of agony, all echoed through the distance. And the last sound she could make out was that of a baby's cry. It wailed as it cried out for help. It was scared, was in danger, it was... lonely...

"Ahh!" Catra finally screamed as she collapsed to her knees. She was squeezing her head in pain as she breathed heavily, finally snapping back to reality. Her eyes were shot open as she inhaled in and out, unable to blink once.

The entire time she was zoned out, Madame Razz just stood there watching her. Unfazed, unnerved, unflinching. All she did was casually stare at her as she ate one berry after the other.

"What... what was that?" Catra struggled to get out. It was then that she noticed small droplets of water dripping down her face. Was she sweating through all of this? No, not sweat. Tears. Tears were flowing from her eyes. "I'm... I'm crying?"

"It would seem so, dearie." She didn't flinch as Catra grabbed both her arms tightly, tears slowly receding.

"Please, just tell me what's going on! I have to know!" This woman was driving her mad but now for all the wrong reasons. Why was she crying? What were with these images? What was up with this stupid godforsaken sword! All this pain was unbearable to her. "You have to know something about the sword, about me! Please, just tell me!"

"I will tell you what's going on." For the first time Catra was willing and happy to hear what she had to say! "Your basket is still empty, and there's plenty of berries that need picking." And just as quickly did she find herself annoyed again, slumping to the ground, not caring as her face flatted on it. "Now come along!" She didn't care. She didn't bother reacting as the woman began dragging her behind her by the tail.

She just wanted this day to be over.

...

"Mmh..."

"Hey Glimmer, you doing okay?" Bow asked as he approached.

Ever since the last meeting with her mother she hadn't uttered a word. All she could do for herself and possibly everyone else was wait on the front steps of the castle for Catra's return. She didn't plan to disobey her mother this time, aside from the fact she was still grounded, in the hopes that Catra somehow made her way back to the castle. If she did, she knew she would be the only protection Catra had from any guards that could possibly attack her. It was also the last chance to try and convince her mother of Catra's assistance.

At least it would be if Glimmer could muster up the courage to face her again. It wasn't matter of bravery this time around, but trust. She needed to find every reason she could in order to trust Catra one-hundred percent and look her mother in the eyes with this conviction, but she couldn't! With every possibility and event that's happened today, no matter how much she did trust Catra, she couldn't say beyond reasonable doubt that she might still be working for the Horde.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think at least." She said with a shrug. "Did you find her anywhere around the castle?"

"Unfortunately no." He shook his head with a frown. "I checked every room twice, even the backway. But I want to know how you're doing right now. Are you all right?"

"I don't know..." There wasn't an easy way to answer. "I don't know what my mother plans to do if she gets her hands on Catra first, and I can't vouch for Catra unless I can look my mother in the eyes and tell her I trust her."

"Well why are you having such a hard time with it?" He asked as he took a seat next to her. "I mean she did help us a lot you know. Thaymor probably would've burnt to a crisp without her."

"I know Bow, and I really want to trust her! But I just can't say without certainty that she's truly on our side. And it won't even matter if she can't turn into She-Ra in the first place! It's almost pointless to think about."

Bow tried to find the right words to say. He agreed with everything she was saying, he couldn't see a flaw with any word he mentioned about Catra. Yet he needed to find the right words that could convince her, no matter how impossible it might seem. "Well... maybe you should just have faith in her."

"Faith?" Why did he mention something like this in this situation? "What's faith got to do with trusting her?"

"Well, it's really no different in this scenario." He smiled standing up. "I know she can seem off-putting and kinda mean at times, but she's always came through for us in the end, right? Even if she's doing it for selfish reasons, there's got to be good in her."

"But how can you say you trust her beyond reasonable doubt?"

"I can't." She couldn't tell if he was trying to help her or not at this point. "But all the same, how do you know I won't defect to the Horde?" He quickly continued before she could flip at the suggestion. "Just speaking, of course. After all every day they burn down another part of the woods or destroy another town. For all you know they might make me an offer I can't refuse."

"Heh, yeah, I bet." She chuckled with a small smile. "I know you wouldn't do it Bow, you're my best friend."

"Exactly. And Catra's our friend too. I'm not saying you have to trust her completely, all you need to do is stand up for her prove that you will trust her. I know everything seemed too perfect between us meeting her and the attack on Thaymor, but sometimes things just happen for a reason." She was beginning to see his point. He wasn't saying she had to lie to her mother and pretend she trusted Catra, just that she was willing to trust Catra no matter how she felt about her. It didn't matter if she even did trust Catra one-hundred percent, all she had to do was show that she could. "Anyway, I'm going to check the woods around here. Hopefully I'll bump into her somewhere."

"Good luck." She wished with a wave goodbye. Her happy expression flipped once more as he left her sight. Despite the little heartfelt talk they had, saying something and actually doing something were two different things. She wanted to trust Catra with all her might, but it was like there was a small roadblock keeping her from making that final leap! She needed something to prove to her that she could trust her, some assurance of kindness.

She needed something to put her faith in.

"Princess." Two guards greeted as they walked up to her. She gave them a brief smile as she saluted back to them before they walked around her on each side, continuing to the castle.

"So did you hear about the attack on Thaymor?" She overheard the guards speaking.

"Yeah, I almost had a heart attack when I heard about it. Thankfully the Horde retreated before they could do too much serious damage." The other guard spoke.

"Speaking of which, how's your family doing? Are they okay?"

"Thank the First Ones, yes. I got a letter from my wife not half an hour ago actually. My little girl was safe too, but the letter was so bizarre."

"What do you mean?"

"Well she just kept raving about some Horde soldier risking her life to save my little girl."

"Huh?" Glimmer's head perked up at hearing this.

"A Horde soldier? Really? Since when do they help people?"

"Honestly I don't even know if it was a Horde soldier. My wife just went on and on about how some cat or whatever saved her before the building fell on her. Personally I think she was just in shock."

"Yeah, I don't blame her either. If I was living a normal life and suddenly found my village burning down, I'd be hysterical too-"

"Wait!" Glimmer quickly sprang to her feet as she chased after the guards.

"Princess?" Both guards greeted curiously as they turned around.

"The letter thing, the attack on Thaymor?" She paused briefly as she attempted to speak clearly. "What were you saying about a cat?"

"Oh, it's alright Your Highness. It was just my wife raving about something that couldn't happen. It's a waste of time to-"

"No!" She yelled. "Tell me everything about it! I have to know!" The two guards looked at each other for a second and then back to the princess. It didn't matter if the story was crazy or irrational in the slightest. If a princess ordered them to so much as jump off a cliff, they would do it.

"O-Of course, Your Highness." The right guard nodded as he recounted the story.

For the first time Glimmer found something positive going on that was impractical. Everything else that happened up to this point was too impractical to occur, nearly all of it happening purely out of chance. Now, she was finding herself moping around, sitting on the front steps of a castle, just as two guards happen to pass by her while one of said guards, who just happened to be related to someone in Thaymore, had the answers to her dilemma.

It was too perfectly time, but it happened for a reason, and it gave her something she desperately needed.

Faith.

...

A/N: Hopefully people still enjoy the episode and don't find it too short (I know, who's ever heard of someone not posting up to 8k words on a chapter P_P, *gasp*...) compared to my usual works.

Also i know I'm making some occasional scenes with Catra seem sillier than what they probably should be, but again, keep in mind her and adora switched roles, and there are some rather silly/humorous moments that Adora had to go through.

I also had my own fun writing out Catra's interesting flashback scene in the middle of this. While I don't know what her backstory in this reboot could be, I am pretty confident I can work it in in same way even after we (hopefully) get adora's and Catra's backstory.

As always leave a like, fave, and review! Just minor note, might be awhile before next post unless I get it posted tomorrow. I got school friday and i plan on focusing full time on work, and i got work early on saturday so I might not even get time to finish the next/possibly-last chapter for this episode till Saturday night, if not sunday evening. Anyway see ya folks later, and hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 8: Episode 3: Razz Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Uuuuugh, im still not done with this episode yet _?! *sigh* honestly I'm just as surprised as any. I guess i called it when I said some episodes would be longer than others and made the right call with stating I would post final parts labeled with an End at the end of the chapter episodes. I can safely say with 100% certainty next part WILL be the last for this episode, so sorry to those wanting the finale before my short break.

1 thing to keep in mind here- as I am going through the episodes scene per scene in some cases, some parts of this are going to "appear" rushed more than others. Keep in mind a majority of this takes place during the last seven minutes so even that's going to be a bit stretched out in here. As such i apologize if some parts are a bit choppy or rushed looking.

All the same i hope people enjoy!

...

"What... What is all this?" Adora examined the room she was brought to.

It wasn't anything fancy or a room she was never brought to before. It was the Loading Bay for the dropships and various hovercrafts the Horde was supplied with.

She needed this moment to get a grasp on what was going on. Her first mission ever proved to be the most complicated one she's ever come across on an emotional level. At first she was looking forward to it. After all, after being promoted directly to Force Captain almost immediately after reaching the rank of Senior Cadet by Shadow-Weaver, the closest thing Adora had to a motherly figure within the Horde, she was ready and willing to do everything she could to repay the only family she's ever known. And how did her first ever mission go?

Oh, about as well as she could expect. What was being dubbed as a rescue mission in order to save Catra, who Adora originally believed to be brainwashed by the evil princesses of Etheria, from a facility that was going to interrogate her ended up being a harrowing misfire of epic proportions.

It wasn't some princess stronghold where they kept weapons of mass destruction, it wasn't some secret kingdom facility where they experimented on their own people with various chemicals and mutations all for the sake of power! It was nothing more than a simple village full of innocent civilians running for their lives! There was nothing remotely to even suggest that it was a facility to interrogate Catra, unless she had a strange phobia of all the flowers and festivities that were scattered around.

The one dilemma Adora had in believing Catra entirely was her behavior. After finding her several minutes into her mission, she didn't have any desire to return to the Horde, she didn't want anything to do with the rest of their friends. In fact, it almost seemed like she didn't want anything to do with Adora either! What did she want instead?

Who cares! Nothing she came up with mattered to Adora! Here she was, her best friend in the world, suddenly announcing how she was turning her back on the Horde and everything they stood for! How was Adora supposed to know what to feel when she dropped a bomb on her like that? There wasn't any comfort to it, there wasn't any reasoning to explain it. All there was was a distraught Adora who hastily called off the mission in order to protect what seemed to be everyday civilians

Now, here she was, demanding answers to all the confusing mysteries she came across in the last day, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer! On the bright side, Shadow-Weaver seemed intent on doing just that. The minor setback was, what was she supposed to make of what she was looking at?

"It's what I promised to show you, Adora." Shadow-Weaver replied, displaying the numerous caches and container before them. "All of these materials were collected during the raid on Thaymor. You can check the manifests and data for accuracy, if you so desire my dear."

This didn't make any sense. Where did these things come from? Why the heck did Thaymor even have half of these things. As if they were illusions, Adora checked over the containers and their contents, feeling the smooth texture and craft for authenticity. Sure enough, however impossible, these weren't fake. All of them were real.

And they were all sitting right in front of her.

"This... This can't be right!" Adora argued. "None of these things were brought to my attention before! Why am I just finding out about this?"

"Well my dear, I was hoping I didn't have to remind you of that, but from what I hear, a Force Captain supposedly threatened insubordination for not following her orders." How could she forget something like that? Adora herself was the one who issued them in the first place! "Granted, I am very proud of you using whatever means necessary to get your fellow soldiers in line, but because of it there wasn't any time to report on their findings."

Adora turned back to the caches she was kneeling in front of. There must've been at least eighty pounds worth of materials here between explosives, weaponry, shields, etc. "But... But... This can't be right! Thaymor was just a peaceful village when we came across it! Nobody was attacking save for the guards, and even then they-"

"Oh, my poor, innocent, Adora." Adora found herself embraced in a hug from behind. She could feel Shadow-Weaver's caring hands caressing her cheeks softly. "This is the reality of our war. Why do you think these weapons were found in the least likely of places to begin with?"

"What... What do you mean?" She turned to look into her nurturing eyes. While she couldn't see it through her mask, Shadow-Weaver gave her a soft smile at this.

"Tell me, my dear. What makes for the best kind of shield in the midst of a war?"

"T-There weren't any shields. A-All there was... was civilians to... to..." Like a fire slowly burning to life, a realization came to Adora's mind. "N-No... they wouldn't..."

"Oh, sadly they would. The Princesses cruelty know no bounds. If it means keeping a low profile, they are willing to build a town around their facilities just to keep a cover, all the while the supposed happy townspeople are oblivious to the weapons of mass destruction being produced right under their noses."

"But... But that would mean the Princesses... they... they..." It was too painful for Adora to speak.

"That they would willingly risk innocent lives just for the sake of winning this war. Every town we've struck, every seemingly-horrible thing we've been forced to do, has been for the sake of Etheria." Adora didn't know what to say. Shadow-Weaver's caring tone seemed genuine enough, and with how evil the princesses were this seemed just like the sort of thing they would do. "They force us to combat them on their own turfs, less we continue to allow them to run amok, bringing chaos and destruction across the land. And because of this, they force us to attack the towns infes- filled," she reworded, "with innocent people. Do you understand now, dear?"

This.. This was too much. How was she supposed to know what was real anymore? Her friend left her, the princesses are risking civilian lives for their own sake, and they are forcing the Horde to fight them in towns filled with innocent people?! Were these just more lies or was Shadow-Weaver actually telling her the truth out of all of this? If it was a lie, it was an incredibly elaborate lie, and if it wasn't, like she hoped, then it furthered every reason Adora had to fight against the princesses!

"I..." After a small silence, Adora finally spoke, keeping her head down. "I'd like some time to examine these caches, if you don't mind, Shadow-Weaver."

"Of course not, dearest." Shadow-Weaver calmly patted her shoulder before turning her attention towards the wall. "Guard!"

"Y-Yes, Shadow-Weaver!" He rushed up to attention.

"See to it that Adora isn't interrupted during her examinations, and give her unrestricted access to all the details and manifests regarding her mission to Thaymor. I don't want a single line of info withheld from her."

"A-All of them?" As a personal guard to Lord Hordak himself, he knew what that level of information could reveal. It wasn't anything someone even of Adora's ranking were allowed to simply view. "B-But mam, Lord Hordak states that-"

"DO YOU DARE TO DISOBEY A DIRECT ORDER FROM ME?!" Shadow-Weaver's eyes narrowed as darkness filled across the room towards the frightened guard. He could already feel himself suffocating under the weight of Shadow-Weaver's piercing gaze and she hasn't even reached him yet with her magic.

"N-No mam! I'll see to it everything she asks for is presented to her on the double!" He stated asuringly, only finding relief once the shadows around him faded.

"Good!" As with everything, her demeanor and entire expression shifted to a peaceful tone as she directed herself to Adora once more. "Take as much time as you need, my dear." She watched as Adora turned her head in Shadow-Weaver's direction for a moment before looking back to the caches. "I trust I'll hear of your findings upon your inspection?"

"Of course, Shadow-Weaver." Adora replied unwavering. She planned on examining every single piece of these caches twice to make sure there was little to no room for doubt. It was also her \excuse to give herself some time to think. She didn't know what to make out of all these stuff. The one problem plaguing her mind at this moment was whether she was to abandon all her morals and principals, or trust the very family she's held dear to her heart.

Seeing her so focused on her personal task and knowing the guard wouldn't dare leave his duty, Shadow-Weaver floated away, smiling to herself as she exited the room.

"Oh, my sweet, sweet, Adora. One day you'll understand everything I do for you... no matter how much of your innocence I must break..."

...

"So you don't know anything else about the sword?"

"How would Madame Razz know about it? I've never seen that sword before."

This woman was like a broken radio to Catra. Whenever she wanted to make headway of this stupid sword and unlock it's power, Madame Razz had something to get them sidetracked or distracted to the point she forgot the entire conversation. It didn't really matter to her anymore after the day she's been having.

Her day's been nothing but a nightmare since she woke up. Thanks to Madame Razz, Catra managed to escape the training camp she fell into and eluded the numerous soldiers that nearly captured her with their strange sleep powdered bombs. If Madame Razz wasn't wandering the woods at that time she didn't know if she would've gotten out of that situation, much less alive. From there she found herself following the old hag after she mentioned she somehow had knowledge of the great sword in Catra's grasp, in addition to finding the right way to repay her after saving Catra's life.

Unfortunately, even after finding returning the favor by catching her from fall, all she's been given was more questions and confusion, half of which was provided by the old lady herself, the other half provided by the mysterious visions she saw in her head after activating some mysterious First Ones ruins they came across, a simple glimpse of a starry sky bringing back visions and scenery the likes of which she's never encountered.

Since then she's been trying to piece together the strange vision shes had of that as well as the mysterious memories she's encountered at least twice so far today. Whether she was passed out or conscious didn't seem to affect her ability to have them. They came to her no matter how badly she didn't want to, and there was an infinite abyss of how much she didn't want to.

"You should focus more on looking for solutions than finding answers to all your problems." Razz suggested as she pushed through the woods.

"I would be if this stupid sword wasn't solution to the problem!" Catra moaned looking at the sword again.

No matter how many times she uttered "For the Honor of Grayskull", or how much she focused on what she wanted, the power and form of She-Ra never came to her after that one time. There was no way she could return to Bright Moon if she couldn't figure out how to transform into She-Ra, and there was no way she could turn into She-Ra at this point without finding out how to use it properly. And the only one within Bright Moon who might've had more answers was the ruler herself, Queen Angella.

There was a no-win situation here that seemed feasible to Catra. At this point she didn't know what to do anymore.

"You need to find a way to relax, dearie." Madame Razz continued. "So much anger is going to cloud your mind. Here, have one of Madame Razz's berries, they're good for you."

Still skeptical for obvious reasons, Catra resigned herself as she accepted one of the blue squishy berries from the old lady. She wasn't entirely wrong about the anger issue, granted she was causing a good chunk of them. And at least the berry tasted-

"Oomph!" Catra's entire face paled as she spat out the horrendous berry. It tasted like dead fish over a dead rat over a dead bird over a shoe. Even the gruel she ate as a child tasted better than this, and those were flavorless! "BLEGH!" She spat wiping her tongue. "What was that? It tasted horrible!"

"Well what did you expect? It was rotten."

"What the-? Why the heck did you feed me a rotten berry of all things? It was disgusting!"

"Yes, but are you angry now?"

"..." She didn't want to give the satisfaction of an answer, instead ignoring her as she walked on. Of course she wasn't feeling angry anymore, but having a disgusting taste in her mouth wasn't exactly the best substitute for anger either! If anything she found a new reason to get angry!

...So why didn't she? Did the berries actually have some sort of anger-repressing effect or something?

"You see? Solutions are all around you yet you always try to focus on one answer instead of all the answers." Razz continued to ramble. "Instead of just jumping into a problem head on, try thinking of every solution first, and then facing your challenge. It'll cause less stress and..."

"And what?" Catra awaited an answer as the woman suddenly paused. She continued looking at her until her foot brushed against the dusty rocky surface of the... wait a minute. She looked on ahead, growing shocked at the sight before her.

Desolation.

Vast emptiness and sorrow in it's physical form. All ahead of her she saw nothing but complete and utter ruin of the forest behind her, the land itself practically cutting off between what was once a lush beautiful forest into a deserted land devoid of life and beauty. There was no life here, nor was there a sense of death. All she saw here was an empty desert of concrete and coldness, and the trunks of desecrated trees that remained.

This is what the Horde did. This is what she used to fight for before she defected. There wasn't any room to doubt their involvement here either, the numerous tanks they left behind with their symbols sprayed across them. There was even steam rising in the air at some parts.

Just how recently was this part of the forest destroyed?

"What... was the point of all this?" She couldn't fathom the reasoning. It was a forest, it was pointless. That wasn't any reason to destroy it though!

"Ah, it's the same old story, dearie." Razz frowned as she touched the cold twisted steel of one of the tanks. "Wicked people destroy what they cannot control."

"Once, the princesses would have protected us. But these days, they... they stay in their castles, caring only for their lands and their people. Some would say it's selfish desire that drives them." Catra couldn't help lowering her ears at that comment, rubbing her shoulder with unease. "Meanwhile, the Horde creeps ever closer." Catra didn't notice as the woman looked up to her frown with a small smile. "You remind me of my dear Mara in many ways."

"I doubt that's a good thing..." Catra muttered.

"No, I mean it in the best of ways. She was strong, put on a brave face for everyone, always threw herself at whatever challenges came before her." Catra could understand that much, she guessed. Especially with throwing herself into danger, whether or not intentional. She looked back as the woman held her hand. "But she could never face herself. No matter how much pain she was in, or how happy she seemed, she was always frightened of how the world saw her."

Catra grimaced at this, pulling her hand from Razz's grip as she walked away. "We're nothing alike. You don't know anything about me, you old hag."

"I know you fear being abandoned." That one single statement made Catra freeze in her tracks. "You talk very loudly in your sleep. Just like Mara used to do." What was with this lady? Everything she said for the last several minutes felt like it had actual purpose to it, and at the same time it felt like she was just putting on one big joke. The way she thought she got into Catra's head, the way she compared her and this Mara character with a smile on her face.

What was she trying to do?

"I'm not afraid of being abandoned, lady!" Catra declared crossing her arms. "Matter of fact, I prefer being alone, I actually hate being with people! They're lazy, they're annoying, and they're never dependable! I don't need anyone but myself." The woman seemed to pay her little mind as she removed her glasses, wiping off the lens for a better look.

"Then what are you afraid of? And why are you still with me if you prefer being alone?" The old lady looked around some more as she put her glasses back on. "Do you even know the answer yourself? Are you going to think of an answer I can't question or are you just going to say the first solution that comes to your mind, like always?"

"I..."

"You know what I think? I think you're too scared to embrace what you are because you don't know what will happen next." As she said this, she dug her hand into the ground, pulling out a pocket's worth of ash that filtered through her opened fingers. "You throw yourself at any obstacle that blocks your path without hesitation so you don't have to think about what happens after. Some would definitely call it brave my child, and sometimes a situation calls for it, but others would call it foolish. The very same foolishness that brought you here today, no?" Opening her hand again Razz revealed, what Catra at first assumed would've been empty air, a small acorn from one of the burnt husks of tinder.

In all honesty, Catra could see some truth to the crazy lady's words. This entire adventure began because of one bad fall from a skiff just because Catra wanted to have some fun. From there, she's made reckless decision after reckless decision, throwing herself at nearly every problem she came across and everything that got in the way of her grand schemes. She doesn't regret saving a little girl, but almost everything else that had gone wrong today was because she rushed into every first solution she came across, making her ordeal through the last several hours more challenging with every passing minute.

It was her own fault that she was here to begin with.

If she had just taken the time to tell Glimmer or Bow she needed a while to master using the sword, she might've gotten that done by now. If she didn't decide hitting the sword against a boulder could shake it into working, the horse wouldn't have transformed and started a wild goose chase. And if she didn't attempt to leap at the horse in mid-air, she probably wouldn't have lost her stupid pink robe and reveal herself as a member of the Horde in the middle of a Rebellion training camp!

Everything that happened today was the result of pure recklessness. And she had no one to blame but herself.

It did leave her with one nagging question.

"What exactly am I supposed to embrace though" Catra asked as Madame Razz planted the small acorn within the soil. "You said I should embrace what I am but what is that? Should I try to become She-Ra and stick with the Rebellion? Should I go back to the Horde and beg for forgiveness with the sword? Or do I just chance it and go back to meet the Queen without the She-Ra?"

"Why does Madame Razz have to answer all questions? Why don't you answer my questions, like you don't come to visit me more often!" While it did bring a sigh to Catra's lips, she did understand her point.

Probably.

She had to find the answer for herself. She wasn't going to get the answer just by asking a whole bunch of questions to someone she's never met before.

*Neeeeiiigh!*

Both Madame Razz and Catra were caught by surprise by the sudden shriek of a certain animal, one crying out in pain and fear. Now matter how hard Catra didn't want to believe it, her heightened sense of hearing wouldn't allow her to ignore the familiar cry of a certain horse.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

...

*Neeigh!*

Despite the improbable odds of the events leading to today, everything happened as if it was destined to. Down below the cliff before the two, Catra and Madame Razz bore witness as the mystically-transformed horse was crying out in terror, struggling against it's hunters as half a dozen Horde soldiers were attempting to apprehend the creature with hardened whips. No matter how hard the soldiers attempt to pull at it however, the horse continued to put up a resilient fight, pulling back with all its might and throwing several attackers to the ground often on.

As for the Horde themselves, they seemed to be well-armed too.

They had several tanks within the canyon as well as a small base of operations within the center of this great field. If there appearance wasn't enough proof of who they were, the large flag displaying the Horde symbol did. There was little doubt that Catra was staring at one of the numerous Horde Outposts around Etheria. Judging by the one hulking hairy behemoth watching the soldiers doing the hard work, she was confident that he was the one calling the shots here, and most likely responsible for the destruction of the surrounding forest.

"That stupid horse made it here of all places?" Catra commented still in disbelief.

"It must've been frightened quite badly by something to want to flee all the way out here." Madame Razz remarked in a slightly knowing tone. The look of Catra's face along with her shifting her eyes away confirmed what she already knew. "Thankfully it seems we have the opportunity of surprise here to catch them off guard. The question is, what are you going to do now?"

"Pffft, what do you think?" Wasn't it obvious to everyone? Catra grinned looking at her sword. "I'll just try to go She-Ra and then..." As she stared at her reflection again, memories of the past mistakes began to resurface to her. She wasn't aware of it as Madame Razz grew a slight smile at her silence, already telling what was going through her mind. No matter how badly she wanted to fix the entire situation, no matter how much she hated the Horde's guts, she couldn't be reckless again. It got her into enough trouble as it was, and this time something depended on her to save it.

"...No... No, I can't do that." Catra shook her head before planting the sword firmly in the ground. "If I did that and failed, I'd just get angry over it and do something stupid."

"Really now? Then what would you do instead?" For once taking the advice of someone else, Catra crossed her arms as she observed the situation.

"Well... they seem pretty intent on burning down the woods around here, and given the amount of destruction they must've been here for quite awhile." While she didn't know it right away, Catra rubbed her chin as a line of thinking began to build up. "So if they were here long enough then they probably haven't been back to the Fright Zone for several days or even weeks. Which means... they probably don't know that I've defected yet!"

It was weird. Very weird. Compared to the previous times she came up with a plan, she actually felt a sense of calmness coming from the situation here. So much so that she knew if that planned already backfired, she could easily jump in to fight them head-on instead. It was rather relaxing to say the least.

"Taking time to plan things out help clears the mind and the heart, dearie." It was as if Madame Razz was feeling the peace coming off of Catra. "Just remember a little recklessness never hurts either."

Nodding to this, Catra quickly made her way down the cliffside, taking care not to be seen on the way down, and hid behind one of the various tanks. Looking over the side again, she turned her focus to the large behemoth running the operations here. If she convinced someone as scary-looking as him to let it go, nobody else would question it. Taking a deep breath to relax herself, she began walking towards the crowd, heads turning in her direction one by one until the large man himself saw her.

"Halt!" One of the guards ordered. His thoughts of drawing his weapon drained away as he noticed the outfit she was wearing, recognizing it as a fellow member of the Horde.

"Hmm?" The leader watched as she made her way directly towards him. "What is someone like you doing out in these parts?"

"I'm on private orders from Lord Hordak himself." Catra lied with as much authenticity as she could muster. One wrong move could result in a blaster firing into her back. "He wants you weasels to return to the Fright Zone on the double. There's been some commotion about a riot or some crap going on."

"A riot? Ha! Don't make me laugh!" He mocked. "No one would be stupid enough to start a riot against Lord Hordak himself!"

"Then what else would I be doing here, idiot?" Catra asked raising her brow. The leader took a few moments to look back to the other soldiers, each of them giving curious and confused looks to each other, then pulled out one of his tracker pads. Already seeing a possible hindrance to her plan, Catra quickly slapped the pad out of his grip, scratching him a little. "What part of private orders did you not understand, stupid? It's not going to be in those useless piles of junk!"

"..." His unnerving gaze made Catra's heart race with every beat. While most people would've been intimidated by her tone and voice, here she was facing someone who was almost as intimidating as she was just by his mere appearance alone. It took all her composure just to keep any part of her from shaking, even her tail. "How do I know you're even telling the truth here? Maybe you're a spy instead!"

That one announcement actually made things a little easier on her. "Oh, right, I'm a spy. I just happened to find your random outpost in the middle of nowhere completely by chance while wandering through the wasteland." She joked. With the taunt of her expression, she crossed her arms once again as she started to walk away. "You know what? This is just a complete waste of time. I'm sure Lord Hordak will be happy to hear how you disobeyed his direct orders when you get back. You know how understanding he can be..."

"...W-Wait!" The leader shouted almost begfully. He paused for a few seconds in deep thought. "S-Solders, pack up your belongings and prepare to leave. We're taking off in half an hour. If you're not ready by then, you're walking home!"

"B-B-But sir, what about the-" The soldier didn't even get time to finish his sentence. With all the soldiers distracted and their grips loosened, none of them had time to react as the horse shook off it's restraints and flew away. Catra watched as it disappeared into the sky with an inner smile.

The plan had actually worked!

"Forget the stupid horse! If Lord Hordak wants us to return to HQ, then we're going to return to HQ!"

"B-But sir, we we're ordered to- gak!" The soldier began suffocating as the man raised him off the ground by his throat with a single hand.

"Are you going to question Lord Hordak's orders, runt?!"

The soldier struggled to get a word out, much less breath as his legs flailed around. Uk..ack..n-no...erk...s-sir..." Satisfied with his answer, the leader dropped the man to the ground.

The soldier never felt so lucky to be alive. Looking back to the soldier who provided all this information, the leader called out. "Do you need a ride back to base too?"

"Nah, I already got my own ride." She replied as she began walking away. "If I don't get it returned to the Fright Zone myself, Hordak's going to have my tail. You know how he hates wasting resources."

"Of course, I under..." The leader blinked to himself as something occurred to him. "Wait a minute, what did you say your name was, again?"

"It's Catra, moron. Get it through your thick skull." She said with a smug. She was unaware as the leader went over to the information device again, slowly scrolling through several details as if searching for something. "Anyway, I'll see you lemmings back at base. I got one more job to take care of befo-"

"Swiff-Swiff-Swiff*

"Ack-nnnngh!"

There wasn't even time to react. In less than three seconds she felt the hard steel-like leather of several ropes wrapped around her neck and both her arms, dropping her to her knees. There was an incredibly strong grip against her joints, preventing her from being able to pull or twist her way out of the strong bindings. The one around her neck tightened with every breath of air she tried to inhale, feeling the noose-like rope slowly close in on her neck, It took all of her energy alone to keep one of her feet planted firmly on the ground, preventing her attackers from pulling her closer.

Turning back, she silently hissed as she grinded her teeth, seeing the smirk plastered on the behemoth-like man. In his one massive hand, he was holding all three of the whips that were currently binding her. There was no way she was going to overpower him in this state, the continual decline of her air making it more difficult to think of a way out.

"Ah, I thought I recognized you from somewhere." The man said standing behind her. In his hands he showed the device displaying a large pool of information about Catra herself. While she couldn't make out the smaller words, the one that did worry her the most was the large red print under her image that displayed, 'WANTED'. "Catra, newly promoted Senior Cadet. Wanted for treason and aiding the Princesses against the Horde."

"H-Ho-How?" She struggled to ask. This didn't make any sense! There was no way that information could've been displayed so quickly in the short time of her defection! At this, her eyes widened as she felt the man's massive foot press against her back. It slowly pushed her towards the ground while the whips tightened around her, especially the one now squeezing against her windpipe. If suffocation didn't kill her at this rate, she would've found herself breaking her neck against the man's tightening rope.

"I know, right? It's hilarious!" He bellowed with laughter. "I've never seen someone pushed so hard on the Horde's wanted list in the matter of time you did! You must have someone who really hates you because they're offering a HUGE bounty on your head!"

"H-Ha-Ha..." She couldn't finish the word, finding her breath dwindling. It truly didn't make sense to her at first. It's been twelve hours since she left the Fright Zone, half that time before she defected, and half of even that time before anyone could've made the announcement of her defection and bounty. That meant someone had to hate her enough to put her bounty on within a mere three hours! And like the fading consciousness, it slowly dawned on her who that someone could be. "Sh-Shadow...W-Weav...Urk!" She gasped in pain as he man applied more pressure to her back.

"Ah, Shadow-Weaver, that makes sense." No one was unaware of Shadow-Weaver's disdain for the girl, no matter how high or low they were in the Horde. "You must've done something to really make her mad. I don't know what you did, but man oh man is she going to make the reward worth my while." He grinned turning back to his fellow soldiers. "You hear that, boys? We're gonna be set for life!"

"Wooooo!" Catra couldn't drown out the various cheers and applause from the other soldiers and she didn't care. Too many lights were beginning to go off in her mind, slowly reaching the one that kept her conscious.

"And you know what the best part is?" He asked lowering his head closer to hers. "She's offering double the reward money depending on how we bring you back to her! And guess which one that is?"

There was no way she wanted Catra brought back alive.

"So why don't you stop struggling and it'll make the end much less painful, freak!" Uh-oh.

There it was. The one simple word that made Catra's eyes shoot open. Time after time, day after day, she's heard it uttered from nearly everyone she ever came across. Not one person within the Horde, save for Adora, has ever called her anything else. It was never weirdo, it was never creep, it was never stranger. It was one single, solitary, word.

And it was the last time she was going to put up with it.

"I... am... not... a... FREAK!" With one mighty roar, using all her strength to support her right foot, she quickly spun herself as far as she could as she scratched at the leader's face with the claws of her other foot. The fool had made a mistake of putting his face so close to the tiger's cage, and now he found himself with several mighty scratches that would never fade.

"Ahhhhh!" He cried out, releasing the ropes and covering his face. Catra immediately pried the ropes from herself, gagging a little as the air returned to her. "My eyes! My eyes!" By the appearance of it, she didn't cut deep enough to blind the man, noticing the distinct lack of blood, but it didn't matter. This distraction was all she needed to deliver a powerful uppercut to the unsteady man, dropping him straight to the floor as he continued to spasm.

That was one person down. Now she just had to contend with the surrounding soldiers.

None of the soldiers wasted times drawing their weapons, several of them drawing their stun batons while the other few attempted to use their whips. Already having learned from her previous mistake, Catra grabbed onto the incoming whips with one arm, quickly pulling it and using the soldiers on the other end of them as weapons as she flung them into the other incoming soldiers that tried to rush her. She still had to duck out of the way of another baton that tried to strike her, grabbing the attacker's arm as he attempted a follow-up attack, and hurdled him against one of the ironclad tanks, knocking him out cold.

As she fought, her ears picked up the sound of another tank as it was humming to life. She barely escaped the incoming blast with her tail still between her legs, ducking in cover behind another tank as her previous spot was vaporized in a single explosion. Gritting her teeth, she quickly rushed the tank as it charged, taking careful measure to duck side to side as the cannon prepared another shot. Right before it went off, Catra leapt into the air, avoiding the attack in time and landing squarely in front of the soldier who trembled at the sight of her.

"Get out." She didn't give him any time to respond as she tossed him out of the driver seat itself, quickly hopping into the seat as she took control of the tank.

She wasn't going to bother using it on the lemmings around her, she could take them. Her only two targets were the other tanks positioned around the base. She wasted no time firing upon each of them just before any of the other soldiers could board them. The few moments she had of reprieve were quickly interrupted as the entire tank began to shake violently. Wasting no times asking questions, she quickly leapt away just as the tank was lifted onto it's side. As she slid against the dusty ground, she gritted her teeth at the sight of the large man again, back on his feet and enraged.

"You're gonna pay for my face you stupid brat!" He roared. She grinned a little at the sight of the four claw-marked scars she left over his face. It didn't bleed surprisingly enough, but there was a definite bright red scar now over his face and his intact eyes.

"Trust me, it's an improvement!"

The man roared again as he charged at her, Catra doing the same as she kept low to the ground. As the man raised a mighty fist to strike Catra leapt straight around him, leaving another painful scratch through the opening he left for her, dropping him to one knee. Turning around, he immediately found his face scratched again as Catra quickly dashed around him, covering the fresh wound with his other hand and growling.

Looking around, he noticed the empty view surrounding him, save for the several unconscious guards and the wreckage of the destroyed tanks. "Come out here you stupid brat! Fight like a soldier!"

*skreeek!*

"Ahh!" He yelped as another cut scratched him behind. Just as quickly as the attack came did he notice her vanish again, seeing a mere shadow pass by before he was alone again.

*Skreek!*

"Gah!" He cried again, this one scratching at his right ankle he was kneeling on. "Grrrrrrr I'm done playing around kid!" He lifted the collar of his shirt a little as he began speaking into a tiny radio.

Catra had him on the run, peeking around the wreckage of one of the tanks to see him kneeling there. As long as she targeted the joints further away from the body, she could strike at him without getting close enough for him to counter. On top of that, each of the joints were weakening his stance, however small, and was bringing him down further. "Just one more strike..." Then she could fight him hand to hand.

With a short breath to herself, she sped off, aiming at him from behind again. There was no way he was going to be able to catch her even if he did realize what direction she was coming from. One more attack on the other ankle, and she could bring the behemoth of a man crashing dow-

*swiff*

"What the- Ahh!" It was too fast for Catra to witness. There were too many scents to notice any soldiers approaching. Just as she leapt to claim her final strike, several more whips from the arriving soldiers from the base sprung out from behind her, wrapping around her ankles tightly and halting her entire assault, and dropping her back to the ground. She barely had time to register what just happened as she felt a large hand wrap around her mouth and another one squeezing her two ankles tightly together. 'Mmmmhhh!" She let out a muffled scream.

She found herself being lifted over the head of the large man as he held her at both ends far above his head. No matter how much she tried to scratch at his hands he wouldn't loosen his grips. "Let's see if you find it funny now, freak!" With another mighty roar, Catra found herself suddenly pulled while being bent backwards as far as he could possibly pull her.

"Mmmh!" She cried out in pain as she tried everything to pry his grip from her head. The pain was unbearable as she felt herself slowly bending backwards in half and apart at the exact same time. This guy wasn't just trying to break her back, he was fully intent on ripping her in half at this rate! And there was no means to fight back at him or scratch the rest of his face as he had her too far above himself for her to reach, and there was no prying her feet away as they were still bound within the whips.

There was no way out of this.

"Say your prayers, kid-!"

*Neeeigh!*

"Huh-"

*CLAP!*

"Ahhh!" The man didn't have any time to react as he found his face suddenly pounded with the strong firm hoofprints of the flying horse, the creature arriving with Madame Razz on it's back just as he man was about to finish off Catra. While it didn't knock him off his feet, the combined pain of the scratches now with blended in with the fresh and firm hoofprints over his eyes forced him to cry out in pain, tossing Catra harshly away with all his might, as he rubbed his face again. "Agh, stupid horse!"

*THUD!*

"Uuuggh..." Unfortunately, Catra found herself slamming her back harshly against the side of one of the tanks. The impact along with the physical stress she previously suffered proved too much for the poor warrior, passing out as she slumped to the ground.

"Mara!" Madame Razz cried out worriedly as the horse flew over to her side. Looking around, she saw the leader of the group already rising back to his feet along with several dozen soldiers closing in on their location. With their options limited and Catra's unconscious state, she hmphed to herself as she pulled out several assorted berries and vials. "Razzle Dazzle!"

*POOF*

With one large shout, she tossed the assortment of items to the ground, causing a massive explosion of glitter and dust in the surrounding area and blinding all the soldiers. By the time it all dissipated in the few seconds it lasted, all three of them, Madame Razz, the horse, and Catra, were gone...

...

There was a strange warmth in the air again as Catra's consciousness slowly returned. She squinted a bit as she felt the touch of the strange horse rubbing it's snout along her face, hearing it's whine of concern as she slowly opened her eyes. She was back in the Whispering Woods, and more importantly, safe.

"H-Horse...?" She mumbled. Opening her eyes slowly, she was slightly startled to find the faces of both, Madame Razz and the horse staring back right at her.

"Hello, dearie." Razz greeted.

"Ah-!" Catra jumped slightly against the large cushion, almost immediately yelping as she rubbed her sore back. "Ow..."

"Swift Wind and I have been talking while you were asleep." Razz commented.

"Swift Wind?" Catra wondered. It took the Horse's neighing get her the right idea. "Oh... so you talk to horses now..."

"He would prefer it if you called him that from now on. He thanks you for coming to his rescue."

She found herself slightly tickled as the horse nuzzled against her neck, though did her best not to show it. "Heh, yeah, well... thanks for coming back for me too..." She muttered petting his mane. She was officially and completely over her fear of the horse, which meant one very important thing to her.

Pinky couldn't torture her anymore!

"Also, he wanted me to let you know he won't eat your hair anymore as long as you don't call him stupid." She didn't know whether to look at her with surprise or more confusion. Did she really know how to talk to horses? Given everything else she's seen her do and put up with, she wouldn't put it past her. "So, how do you feel?"

"Honestly?" Catra scratched her ears a little as she came to a realization. "Nothing. I don't feel any better or worse than when I started, really. In fact, I think I prefer being reckless compared to thought out and tactical or whatever. It suits me better." She said looking at her claws. The battle with the large man was proof of that. If she had gone in head first and taken them by surprise, she was more likely to bring the large man down before he got the jump on her instead.

"Wonderful! It's good that you know yourself, Mara." She still seemed intent on calling her that.

"But I thought you wanted me to learn how to be more tactical or heroic? Wasn't that the point of all this?"

"Is that what you thought?" She did until Razz gave her a questionable look. "Dearie, dearie, you haven't learned a thing. I was never telling you how to be one way or the other. What matters is how you choose to be yourself. You can choose how you want to be and who you want to be. Never let one's judgement influence you."

Annoying. Pure and utterly annoying. This whole time, this whole trip with her, Catra thought she was going to learn some sort of "valuable life lesson" or other tacky thing from this lady, but she didn't. She didn't learn anymore than when she started this trek, and if anything, she's learned less than she already knew.

...But to be fair, she understood her point. The entire time, she was looking for answers on how she's supposed to be and what she needed to be when the reality was, there was no answer. She has to decide for herself if she wants others to see her one way or the other, and in addition, see how she sees herself.

It was strange, and didn't make sense... but for some reason, she felt more confident in how to use the sword than ever before.

"I... I think I know what to do now."

"And what would that be?"

"What I always do. Be reckless and throw myself before the Queen." To this, Razz smiled brightly with a small nod.

"If that is what you think, then embrace it."

Catra gave her a small nod in return as she shook her hand. "Thanks for the help old ha... I mean Razz." The old woman gave her a nod in turn as she watched the mysterious warrior mount the horse, giving her a short wave.

"You can come and visit anytime you'd like. You know where to find me."

"I wouldn't count on it!" Catra replied in a snarky tone. Despite what she just said, she doesn't think she would mind visiting this place once in awhile. With one final wave, Razz watched as the two flew off through the trees and into the sky. It was just now after everything she's been through that Razz returned to her home with a rather annoyed and confused look on her face.

"That was one weird dog..."

...

Catra held on as she flew through the sky with her horse. She might not have learned anything new or gained any help in using her sword, but she felt a strange sense of peace now compared to before. She found it rather cliched that the sun was now lowering like in a natural fairytale, yet rolled with it as she headed off to Bright Moon Castle. She didn't know what to expect or how she was going to be greeted, and for once she didn't care. After all, she was never one to back down from a challenge.

She just embraced the breeze blowing through her ears, hair and tail, and grew determined as she headed off to the next obstacle. She just finished a long battle against the Horde, and part of herself. Now she was going to face her greatest challenge today.

Queen Angella herself...

...

A/N: And as stated, another lengthy chapter. Least this one had some (hopefully) fun action in it ^^! I really don't know how long the next one will be as we're seriously cutting down to the wire. There's like 4 minutes left from this point of the show in the episode, so I'm expecting maybe 3-4k at least? Maybe more, who knows? Anyway again sorry for the choppy bits here and there. I had a long day for the longer half of all this but a fun time with the fight scene ^^ Lemme know what you guys think of those.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed, and see you in a few days! *ENJOY THE EVIL THAT IS THE CLIFFHANGER! MWAHAHAAHAHAAA!*

Chapter 9: Episode 3: Razz End

Chapter Text

A/N: Dear GOD am I exhausted T_T! "Why's that monokub?" Oh not much just the fact I've been up since 6 (5 hours straight) WRITING THIS X_X! (I'm too nice to you guys XP). As side note if anything is wonky in the writing now, you know why ^^

Lol, all honestly I actually enjoyed writing this verily much. The exhausting part comes in how I did all this AND still have the rest of the day i NEED to use for work. I know I said I wouldn't be posting till saturday or sunday but I was, and less be honest everyone else was XP, too excited to see the finale of this episode.

HOOFTAH!

Don't think I got much to say about this one other than the above, but I'm fairly excited about how these will turn out. And dear god this ended up being much longer than I thought it was going to be (once again, I had fun XP so 3-4k turned into 6-7k... I HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM X_X!). Anyway, hope you all enjoy today's episode/last part of the Madame Razz finale!

Enjoy!

...

"Come on, we're almost there, Swifty." Catra commented as she saw the castle over the horizon. Her attention lowered down to the horse's face as she heard a questionable whinny coming from him. "What? It's just a nickname. At least be happy I gave you something close to your name compared to Pinky's." The horse let out a gruff-like snort as they continued towards the castle.

There was no way to tell how this meeting with the Queen was going to go. She had yet to master her transformation into She-Ra, knew little to nothing about the sword still, and had an entire life's worth of years serving the Horde under her belt. There wasn't a single thing she had to offer the queen at this point, and at the rate it was going, she never would. The only thing she could possibly offer the queen were her own services, and that was something she wasn't planning to use except as a last resort.

What else could she offer her otherwise? Given how Swift Wind's transformation came about, maybe she could whack her sword a hundred times and give the Queen a flying air force? Even that was under the impression she could get the sword to do the exact same thing without breaking it. For all she knew she probably would end up setting the horses on fire!

But whether this ended somewhere close to good or horrendously, Catra wasn't going to back down. After the last several hours she spent with Madame Razz, the crazy old hag that saved her during her escape from a Rebellion training camp, she came to two great realizations. One, never spend over a minute with a crazy old hag or you'll waste your time! She just kept going on with a whole random assortment of things that half the time Catra wondered if she helped her at all.

However, the other lesson she obtained from her experience was something she found more useful. Up till now, Catra thought She-Ra was her only ace in the hole, the only way she could possibly meet the queen without worrying she could spend the rest of her life in a jail cell. And a part of her was still sure that would be her only salvation. She knew her personality definitely wouldn't win her any marks, unless the queen had a sense of humor, and it didn't help her case when she attacked several soldiers during her escape from the training camp. She thought changing her personality and tactics would improve her appearance, and that almost resulted in her demise a short while ago when she saved Swift Wind.

It was then that she realized there was nothing she could change. She would always be reckless, always find herself snarky, and found herself without a She-Ra to transform into. And as of now, she was perfectly fine with this. There was no need to change the way others would view her or who she was going to look like in front of everyone else. After all they were her best qualities. And if she was going to offer her service to the Rebellion to get her own Kingdom, she wasn't about to change anything either.

She just hoped it would be enough.

...

"Did you find her yet, Bow?" Glimmer asked worriedly, coming across him in the courtyard.

For the last half hour, the two had searched high and low for their new ally after she went missing from the Castle. She was their best chance at turning things around for this war, and for Glimmer, proving to her mother that she was competent. And what could be better than finding a member of the Horde who was willing to defect to the Rebellion and who could transform into the legendary She-Ra, an apparent symbol and warrior from the age of the First Ones?

The minor setback she had was Catra's sudden disappearance from the castle followed by her mother finding out about what she did. She wasn't trusting of the Horde soldier, Glimmer could understand that. What she couldn't understand was why couldn't she give Catra the benefit of the doubt and a chance? She pushed so hard in ordering the soldiers to find, capture, and bring Catra directly to her throne room. Which wouldn't be as bad since that was the plan anyway if it wasn't for the fact she had no idea what she would do if she got her hands on Catra first. Given how angry her mother was, she wouldn't be surprised if she threw Catra away in the deepest dungeon, somewhere so dark Glimmer couldn't teleport herself in or out of.

And that was the best case scenario.

Sadly, her friend gave her a silent frown as he shook his head. "I haven't seen her anywhere. I even checked the surrounding forest on all sides and I found nothing."

"Mmh where is she?" Glimmer fretted. Was she actually a spy all along? Did she come all the way to Bright Moon Castle just to find their location or discover something to report back to the Horde? "Did she say anything to suggest where she might've gone when we last saw her?"

"I don't think so. She just said she needed a few minutes and space to practice transforming-"

"And that's probably what drove her to run into the training camp." Glimmer said finishing his sentence. "There has to be somewhere she would go. Maybe she's still hiding somewhere until the coast is clear?"

"Well how long will that take?" Bow questioned. "She could hide in one spot anywhere between a few minutes to a day or two if she needed it. And I'm pretty sure she'd need it given all the soldiers looking for her."

"What about when you two were going through the back way this morning? Did you tell her of any other secret spots or entrances."

"I wished I did at this point. At least then it would narrow down our searches."

This was bad. Beyond bad. Every minute they spent wondering where she was and searching for her, there was another minute minute increasing the chance the guards would find her. Glimmer could never forgive herself anymore if she ended up getting her new friend captured or worse all because of her selfish desire to make her mother proud.

"Huh?"

"What?" The princess looked back to him as he looked towards the sky.

"What kind of bird is that?"

"A bird?" She looked over in the direction he was facing as she tried to see what he was staring at.

What was that thing? With the sun lowered further it was hard to get a good look at the strange being without the sun blinding them. It looked like some sort of bizarre animal human hybrid as she saw some human-like shape over whatever was flapping their wings. The creature was getting closer to the group as they examined the strange creature. It almost looked like someone was riding atop the beast as it neared them. It was hard to tell, but if Glimmer didn't know any better, she was almost sure she saw-

"Catra?" She spoke out. It was then as she flew out of the sun's rays that the two finally caught a glimpse of their new ally, bringing untold joy and relief to the two as she flew over them, a determined look on her face and the sword of the First Ones firmly in her left hand. "Catra!" She was here! She was okay! It didn't matter to either of them that she was flying what seemed to be some horse creature with rainbow wings. They were just glad their dear friend was all right!

"Hey, Catra!" Bow shouted excitedly as he waved his arms. The rider didn't seem to notice the two as she flew fifty feet over them, maintaining her composure as continued on her way.

"Hey! Catra!" Her happiness changed to confusion as she continued right past them, feeling invisible and neglected compared to whatever else had her attention.

"Where is she going?"

"I don't know. She's just heading towards the... castle..." Both their eyes shot out with panic and worry at the realization, panic filling their minds and hearts respectively. "Oh no... Mom!" Glimmer screamed, running as fast as she could back towards the castle with Bow trailing behind her in a hurry. There wasn't any fear over what would happen to her mom. Quite the opposite, she was worried what her mother would do to Catra once she got there.

...

"We haven't found any trace of her, your majesty." One of the royal guards announced as the Queen stood from her throne.

"Well keep looking, she couldn't have gotten far!" She ordered. There was no telling what a Horde spy could do if they infiltrated their castle. They might've stolen schematics or documents pertaining to their plans, they might've sabotaged whatever experiments or supplies they had on hand. The only thing she knew she didn't mess with was the Runestone, the great majestic gem that presided over Bright Moon that could be seen through the massive archway of the Throne Room.

What made the situation worse for her was the fact her daughter was involved in all of this. Her daughter, Princess of Bright Moon, brought a member of the Horde to the Rebellion without a second thought! Fear and worry was going through her mind endlessly because of this. Her actions could be considered treasonous if word got out about her involvement, and there was only so much Queen Angella herself could do to protect her daughter depending on how much the Horde ruined.

She would gladly take her daughter's place in whatever punishment deemed necessary to maintain the faith and order of her subjects and people, but she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"I want everywhere checked thoroughly." She continued. "Check the yards, check the forest, check any of the nearby towns. I don't want anyone to stop until this Horde is fou-"

*-ap-flaP-FLAP-*

"Huh?"

*WHOOSH*

The queen braced herself against her wings as she felt the massive gust of wind brush right past her, the dozen guards maintaining their stance and composure as they drew their weapons at the sight of the recent intruder. Unfurling her wings from her person, the Queen's eyes widened at what she saw. Several of the random townspeople were mumbling among themselves, dukes and duchesses alike, at the sight of the unbelievable display.

There, in the center of the room, was a great majestic creature, one who's wings flapped steadily until it lowered itself safely to the ground. On top of the strange creature was the last person she expected to see come to her directly, the last person anyone would expect to come directly to the queen save for a trained or skilled assassin. It was a Horde soldier, dawn in a blood-red vest and an intimidating helmet befitting any member of the Horde. The cat-like qualities were the least concerning part about her, excluding the claws, but what she saw her carrying proved the most troubling.

A massive sword, one befitting any strong warrior. And she carried it all the way into the Throne Room where the Queen herself was located.

"Guards!" The Queen shouted, wasting no time. There was little doubt that this was the very same Horde Glimmer and Bow mentioned, and she was foolish enough to come to the Queen herself.

"W-Wait." Catra called out, lowering herself off the horse. She looked around the room noticing the constant stares of worry, fear, and confusion of the civilians, as well as the angered, protective, expressions of the guards who drew their spears. Sighing to herself, Catra lowered her weapon and her ears a little, ready to resign herself to whatever craziness she was about to go through. "My name is Catra, mam. I didn't come here to cause trouble, I've come to help."

"Guards." The Queen called out again. The guards stood their ground as ordered, though their weapons were still drawn. "I am Queen Angella of Bright Moon, leader of the Rebellion. What business do you have here, Horde?"

"Well, that's kind of the thing." She took a deep breath as she prepared her explanation. "I want to join the Rebellion in their fight against the Horde. I... Don't exactly have a lot of background information for you, but uhh... I got a sword of the First Ones, if that counts for something." Numerous whispers and comments were drowned out by Catra, the girl keeping her focus solely on the Queen.

There was something slightly amusing from a Horde that flew in on a rainbow-winged unicorn that came to make an audience with the Queen. And very foolish. "I heard about a Horde my daughter brought with her to Bright Moon. Am I to assume you are the one she was referring to?"

"Tch, no, that's a completely different Horde she mentioned. I just bumped into him and stole his sword on the way here." She joked. The fact her demeanor or facial expression didn't change at all sent a slight shiver down Catra's spine. If anything, she actually looked a little angrier at Catra's amusement.

So much for a sense of humor.

"I mean yes, lady- err your highness." She corrected herself appropriately. The Queen already seemed to be without a sense of humor, and like with Shadow-Weaver, Catra knew when and when not to push her luck.

"She also mentioned this soldier could transform herself into the legendary She-Ra from ancient times. I take it that's also you?" Like previously, this comment was met with several murmurings from the surrounding viewers. And a twinge of worry from Catra as her heart sped up a little.

"Err... Yeah, I mean...Well I kinda can... I did it once... A-And I saved your daughter and her friend when I did!"

"I question that." The Queen wasted no time getting to the point. "For all we know, you really are a spy or possibly another member of the Horde that tracked the real defector all the way here." The way the Queen managed to announce all of this firmly and without hesitation scared Catra a little. She was direct, firm, and blunt about everything she needed and wanted to know. "If you truly are who you claim to be, then show us. Transform into the mighty She-Ra before all of us."

This was it. Do or die, and hopefully not literally. She raised her sword to her face as she stared at her reflection blinking back to her. She could see the nervousness in her reflection that she could feel in her eyes, the small twitch of her ears as her heart began to race faster by the second. This was what it all came down to.

On the Queen's end of things, she needed to see this. She had very little doubt that this was the self-proclaimed defector that Glimmer mentioned, but it wasn't enough to convince her mother. She-Ra was a symbol of both power and hope in the ages past, and only those with a noble heart could draw upon the sword's power. Catra's transformation would be the ultimate key to determining which side she was on, and it would prove that Catra truly wished to aid the Rebellion and wasn't just spouting lies.

Even if she was just doing it for the opportunity to obtain her very own kingdom.

Thus, the room went silent as everyone watched the soldier raise her sword to the sky.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

"..."

No... Catra tensed a little as she held the sword. You can't be serious.

She couldn't believe it. She just could not believe. After all she's been through, all the pain she went through emotionally and physically, all the annoying things she had to put up with through her time and the hardships in her life, and she still couldn't catch a break. There was nothing emanating from the sword. No light, no She-Ra, not even a single spark.

What was she missing? She thought she gained some semblance of peace, some means of transforming into She-Ra. Something even told her she could transform into She-Ra if she tried hard enough. Here she was standing in the middle of a Throne Room in the middle of several dozen people, a dozen highly trained guards, and an angry Queen staring her down.

How could it get any harder than that?!

The murmurings became silent as Queen herself looked unsurprised. "Typical." She scoffed a little. "A Horde soldier could never truly change no matter what they say. Your actions and words may have fooled my daughter, but they will not fool me."

"Wait, y-your majesty! Just give me a chance to-" The panic in her voice was obvious, whether to the failure of her transformation or what will befall her remained unknown.

"Enough!" The Queen barked. "You've made a mockery of this castle and to the First Ones themselves. Guards, take her away." As ordered, the guards all along the edges of the room slowly drew closer to Catra with every step. Swift Wind himself snorted angrily as he tapped his foot across the ground like an angry bull, ready to protect his savior with his life if the guards got close enough.

As for Catra herself, she was drawing a total blank. What was she to do now? She was wanted by the Horde, and the Rebellion hated her guts. Even if she ran away she would never be welcomed by anyone ever again! The other princess' kingdoms wouldn't welcome a member of the Horde, regardless of their affiliation to the Rebellion, and even if they did she had no desire to stay in one spot for the rest of her life. She felt like an alien on a completely foreign planet, one who was an outcast to everything around her!

There was nothing that could save her here. No hope. No She-Ra. Nothing.

*CREEEEAK*

"Mother, stop!" All eyes turned towards the door as it let out a loud creak, followed by Glimmer's sudden appearance. The Queen herself rose from her Throne at the surprise.

"Glimmer?" By the time Catra could so much as blink, Glimmer already teleported in a flash of purple light, just as Bow ran through the door, to her mother's side.

"Mom, please, don't do this!" She pleaded grabbing both her hands.

"Glimmer, we'll discuss this later, but for right now-"

"No! Not later, mom!" Glimmer shouted again, shaking her head. "I know you're just trying to protect me but you don't have to anymore!"

"And why's that?" Angella asked with genuine curiosity.

"Because I trust her now! One-Hundred percent! Just like you told me I needed!" The Queen found herself taken back by this remark at the same time as Catra did, sharing her surprise and disbelief with the Queen.

"She... trusts me?" Catra muttered to herself.

"Of course she does, why wouldn't she?" Bow remarked, standing at her side. "Your majesty, you have to at least give her a chance. Even if she can't transform into She-Ra she can still be a valuable ally to the Rebellion!"

"Glimmer, Bow, I understand your reasoning, but you can't just let a single action persuade your views." The Queen stated. "If she can't even be true to herself, then what chance is there that she could be true to the Rebellion?"

"True to... myself?" As the mother continued to talk, Catra found herself echoing the last words she spoke. Her entire being shifted to her past encounter with Madame Razz, remembering the exact words she mentioned.

"But she could never face herself. No matter how much pain she was in, or how happy she seemed, she was always frightened of how the world saw her."

"I know you fear being abandoned."

"You know what I think? I think you're too scared to embrace what you are because you don't know what will happen next."

When she came back to reality, she found herself staring into the sword again, meeting the same solemn, saddening, look that always stared back at her.

I... I'm...afraid. She finally admitted to herself. I'm afraid of what I'm getting into... She looked off to the side as she saw Bow shouting. I'm afraid I'm going to mess something up... Everything around her was muted she was so deep into thought. All she knew was that these two were fighting for her. I'm afraid of letting them down... And... And I'm... I'm afraid they'll leave me once I disappoint them...

It was weird. Too weird. These saddening thoughts weren't affecting her the same way they should've been. As opposed to feelings of remorse, or just flat-out sadness, she felt differently. She felt her heart beat with a strange sense of courage, for the first time in awhile, as she spoke to herself. It felt strange. It was cold but comforting. Hot yet soothing. She felt a strange sense of strength and relief for the first time that she's never felt in ages.

But I'm not afraid to keep pushing! And it was then that a single pang echoed through her chest, calling out to her to raise her sword as the others continued to shout.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKUUUULL!"

Then, it happened.

All went silent before her as Catra was engulfed in a brilliant pillar of light, Bow backing away as well as the horse as the light enveloped her.

All around her lights of a dazzling displayed danced across the scenery as her entire body shimmered with a sparkling glow, save for her eyes that remained pure light. With the humming of her sword, she brought sword to her face along with her illuminated hand, crossing them side by side until they formed an X in front of her.

With a silent breath, she began pulling the sword and claw against each other on opposite ends, scraping her claws against the mighty blade which danced with a sparkling light. As she did, little by little her outfit changed into a majestic white color, growing little by little along her body as she pulled the blade away from her claw. By the time her claw reached the end of her sword, her entire outfit had finished changing, now sporting a white colored vest with a yellow light image bursting from the center of a light-blue gem, along with a white colored short skirt across her waist.

Finally, she brought her empty hand to her face. She held it there as a golden light enveloped both her wrists, forming a beautifully golden set of bracelets. As a final piece, slowly pulling her hand away from her face as her helmet changed to a golden color, the spikes on the end growing several inches longer as they curved out against her form, just as golden pads stretched from the shoulders.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

The room was filled with various gasps of shock and surprise, everyone staring in awe and wonder at what they had just witnessed. Here she was, a former-Horde soldier named Catra, who had just transformed into the mighty She-Ra in numerous details. Her outfit had changed, her stance seemed more determined, and a faint golden glow shined from the soldier. She was no longer a member of the Horde from the views of the citizens, nor a monster to the eyes of the guards that the Queen ordered them to capture.

She was a Symbol of the Rebellion.

It was then that Catra finally snapped back to reality herself, eyes widening as she looked around her being. She couldn't believe it. She could seriously not believe it! Was it a dream? Was she hallucinating? Was this just some stupid vision the sword constantly annoyed her with? She pinched herself just to make sure nothing around her was fake, the joy coming off her so grand that she couldn't even form a smile.

"Hey, you did it!" Bow cheered with excitement.

"I... I did it?" Words could not describe what she was feeling at this moment. Phenomenal? Sensational? She could not tell for the life of her what she was supposed to be feeling. All she knew was that the sword had FINALLY worked after all this time.

"You did it!" Glimmer shouted over.

Queen Angella herself was struck with disbelief. Glimmer was right. Bow was honest. Neither of them lied to her or mislead her. Here she was, the form of She-Ra displayed right in front of her very eyes. It didn't matter if her whole appearance didn't resemble the She-Ra she knew about, noticing a distinct lack of height and the lack of a flowing red cape, but everything else was word for word. There was no way anyone could fake the form of She-Ra in this world, and even if they did, the mesmeric light would never shine over someone so evil.

Everything they said was true. Catra was here to help.

"Guards, clear the room." She continued before Glimmer could voice a possible complaint. "I wish to speak to this... She-ra, alone."

*tug*

She looked down as she found her daughter's arms wrapped around her waist, Glimmer pushing her chin into her with a warm smile. "Thank you mother! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The Queen smiled in turn as she wrapped her arms around her head.

"You're welcome sweetheart." She found herself being pulled slightly closer as Glimmer whispered in her ear.

"And thanks for giving her a hint." Angella smiled all the same to this.

Her daughter was smart. Too smart for her. She was all too aware of her mother's sly remark about Catra being "true to herself". She was just thankful she acknowledged this quietly between the two to avoid possible embarrassment. It proved alone that her mother had a lot more trust in Glimmer's words than she was willing to display.

With a wink to her mom, she made her way back to Bow and Catra with a smile. "Good luck!" With a simple wave, not wishing to waste any more time so Catra could speak with her mother, Glimmer nodded over to Bow as she walked off with the rest of the civilians.

"Good job, Catra." Bow congratulated again, patting her on the back before following behind Glimmer.

By the time the room was emptied, all that remained were Queen Angella, Catra/She-Ra, and several of her close personal guards. The horse also trotted off through the large doors, though it was more comfortable and certain that Catra would be fine. With one final smile to the horse, Catra turned her attention to the Queen of Bright Moon, the Queen, once again, looking unamused as she sat back in her throne. There was an awkwardness filling the air as Catra scratched her cheek. After waiting what felt like an eternity to her, Catra finally spoke

"So! Um... am I in the Rebellion now?"

"It would seem that way." The Queen confirmed.

"Phew." That was the best sigh Catra ever felt. She felt like hundreds of literal pounds were lifted off her shoulders. Then again with the sword's empowerment, she probably could lift hundreds of pounds without breaking a sweat. "Great, glad that's taken care of. So I don't know if Pinky told you yet, but-"

"Pinky?"

"Err your daughter, I mean." She restated. "Anyway, when I agreed to do all this, I also did it under the agreement that-"

"You'll get your Kingdom." Catra didn't know what surprised her more. How quickly the Queen cut her off or how emotionless she sounded when she did.

"Wh-Really?" That was easier than she thought.

"Yes. I should inform you though that the amount of land to call your own is limited, even more now thanks to the Horde's efforts. With things being the way they are, the best possible solution I can provide for you is offering you the Fright Zone, once the Horde is taken care of."

"T-T-That's great!"

Were there angels in the background? Because that sounded like paradise to Catra! Her eyes light up with stars, sparkling as brightly as her helmet-like Tiara was. She could not ask for a better case scenario, heck, she preferred it that way! What better way to get back at everyone who mocked her than ruling the land they currently stand in?! She was going to look down at everyone who mocked her and picked on her from her own special throne, surrounded only by the best of the best, and Adora, ruling at her si-

"However," the Queen continued, interrupting her fantasy, "be aware that as of now, you are a member of the Rebellion. That means you will be forced to possibly fight against old friends and comrades. Are you prepared for that?"

While it felt like a trick question, Catra gave a firm nod to this. The only one who would give her hesitation at any point was Adora herself, and what was the possibility she would run into her on a constant basis? And even then, it's not like the two would end up fighting every time they met up. For all she knew, the minute they met up again, Adora would gladly join her!

"Yes mam." She replied.

"Good," the temperature in the room felt lower as the Queen stood from her throne, "because now I want to make one thing clear." It felt like the weight of the world was slowly coming on top of Catra as the Queen walked over to her. She felt like her body was being pushed down from her sheer presence, her ears drooping further and further and her tail slowly coming to a stop as the figure loomed over her.

"I don't trust you, cat. Not even a little. The only reason you're not spending the rest of your remaining life in a stockade at this point is because my daughter trusts you. She trusts you, and that's as much trust as I'm willing to throw at you." Catra nearly jumped as she grabbed her cheeks, puckering them tightly as she lowered her head towards her. "So I will be watching you, got it? And if you do anything do anything to betray that trust, raise suspicion, cause doubt, or even disappoint her in any way," it was like staring into a black void as Catra was forced to look into her eyes, "I will make whatever nightmare you fear most look like paradise compared to what I will do to you. Are we clear!?"

"Y-Yesh mam." She muttered through her puckered lips. At this, the Queen released her grip from her as she made her way to the door, guards following behind her. Catra was still rubbing her cheeks as she made her way to the door. She didn't even find humor at the sight when she opened the door to find Bow and Glimmer falling to the ground, the duo having pressed their ears against the door to eavesdrop.

Wow. Just wow. She never thought she would see the day. She never thought it'd be possible! But here it was, right as rain and standing in front of her!

She actually found someone who scared her worse than Shadow-Weaver.

Thankfully those thoughts of horror were brought to an abrupt end as Glimmer instantly teleported over to her side, squeezing the life out of her as she threw her arms around her.

"You did it!" She cheered, unaware of the pain it was causing Catra to her sore back. She was still too rattled from the Queen's threat to consider pushing Glimmer off of her, worried of the off chance she could give her so much as a sliver of a cut by accident.

"Erk. And apparently we're hugging." She squeaked.

"Way to go!" Bow's seemingly-friendly expression of joining in on this hug as he wrapped his arms around Catra and Glimmer at the same time. This just went to worsen Catra's pain, her eyes widening at the increased and crushing hug.

"Ok, too much hugging! TOO MUCH HUGGING!" She squealed louder. Both Glimmer and Bow gave an apologetic smile as they let go of her, giving her some breathing space.

"Sorry. But you should be happy! You finally transformed!" Glimmer reminded.

"How'd you do it, anyway?" Bow wondered. There was no way she was going to go into a full sappy story of detail about everything she went through. She's had a long enough day as it was and she wasn't planning on recounting everything she just did.

"Meh, you know." She boasted, twirling the sword in her hand with pride. "Some people are just more skilled than others. That's just the burden I have to live with."

"Oh, really?" Glimmer smirked with her hands at her side. "So you weren't just worried about us or anything like that?"

"What you?" She scoffed playfully. "You were mommy's girl, Pinky. She wouldn't do anything to you. And I assume Bow since he's allowed to roam the castle."

"Oh, ha ha ha." Bow laughed in a sarcastic tone, throwing his head side to side as he did.

There was a brief moment as Catra went silent again, looking to the ground as she held the sword behind her neck in both arms. "But um..." Glimmer and Bow were curious as she continued. As much as she hated to admit it, she did owe them one. "If it's all the same... um... thanks and stuff... for having my back, I guess." Looking back to each other, the two grinned again as they turned back to Catra.

"Was that the sound of appreciation I heard, Bow?" She asked teasingly.

"Gee, if I didn't know any better, it almost sounded friendly." Bow added.

"Gh!" Catra nearly choked at the comment, a small blush forming on her cheeks. "T-That doesn't make us friends, thank you!" She stammered. "It just means that you're... slightly less annoying than I thought you were gonna be!"

"Do you find us less annoying cause you consider us friends now?" He continued to tease.

"Ok now you're getting annoying again..."

"Heh, sorry." He knew better than to push his luck.

"Why don't we head to the Dining Room to celebrate?" Glimmer suggested. "We can get some cake or ice cream or something. Your call."

"What the heck is cake and ice cream?" Neither of the two knew how to respond. There was no words to describe what kind of horrible life style one would have to live without knowing of the existence of the two greatest foods across the Universe!

"Oh man, you are missing OUT!" Bow shouted enthusiastically, leading the two to the door.

"Just you wait, you won't believe how good it is!" Glimmer already slurped her lips at the mere thought of food.

As much as she hated to admit it, Catra found this to be... nice. Not just this but everything that's happened.

She found a cause that seemed more like they wanted her than just accepted her, she found the means to make her biggest dream come true, she finally, after the most painfully obnoxious day of her life, transformed into She-Ra, and despite what a bad taste it left in her mouth and her mind to think it... she actually made something close to friends. She still found their strange quirks rather annoying but they were... tolerable to her, to say the least. And best of all, everything came together in the end! No matter how reckless she got, how temperamental she was, she managed to pull through in the end and everything worked out! It was definitely a stressful gamble, to say the least, but one that proved things could work out as long as she pushed hard enough!

There was just one thing on her mind now after all of this.

"Um... guys?" She called for their attention. She gestured to her entire self as she spoke. "How do I turn this off?"

...

"Ghhhhhh!"

*SPLASH*

Shadow-Weaver grumbled as she splashed the image in the water before her.

Unbeknownst to the three almost-friends, their little meeting wasn't being held privately. Not just the get together they were having now, the entire scene between Catra and the Queen herself since the two met.

Despite every precaution she took, every assertive approach she had, and every counter-measure she insisted upon, somehow, some way, Catra still managed to get the sword, unlock She-Ra's power, and joined the Rebellion. She thought the Queen herself would've taken care of the job for her of disposing of Catra in whatever way, yet she proved too soft-hearted in the end too. It didn't matter to her how much she managed to unlock from the sword, what worried her was the fact she managed to do it at all in the first place!

"That stupid fleabag is being a thorn in my side." She hissed to herself as her hair flailed angrily. At the very least, it was Catra who found the sword. Manipulating her emotions would prove far easier in the end. She was nothing but a useless little kitten pretending to play hero. Besides, at least she still had-

*Shoom*

"Adora?" The sound of the mechanical doors opening drew her attention. There she was, her pride and joy, walking into the room with a look of unease on her face. She knew she wasn't here to deliver news that would disappoint her, the look on her face with her head lowered and as she twiddled her thumbs assuring her any news she had was good news.

Good for her, at least.

"So," she began to speak slightly nervous, "I... I took a look at everything, and..."

"Yes, dear?" Shadow-Weaver dissipated the image in the water entirely before hovering over to her. There was so much in Adora's expression that she was drawing comfort in. The nervous look, the tense There wasn't anything wrong with it. "Everything checked out, word for word. The weapons were found and confiscated from Thaymor. Even development and research notes were found apparently." It was still too painful to imagine the numerous towns the princesses force them to attack just to defend themselves. "Shadow-Weaver, I'm... I'm sorry I-"

"No, no, don't trouble yourself, my sweet Adora." She shushed gently as she tried to embrace her in a hug. "I know it's a painful reality, but you'll come to understand why we have to-"

"No!" Adora quickly yelled as she pulled back. "I don't care what the mission is, we shouldn't be attacking innocent towns and civilians, it's not worth the lives we take!" Shadow-Weaver was taken aback by this, maintaining her composure.

"But Adora, don't you understand? It's necessary to defeat the princesses. To bring unity and balance to Etheria, you know that's always been our goal."

"But we can't keep attacking people who are just trying to live their lives! There has to be a better way than this Shadow-Weaver, please!" Adora cried out as she embraced Shadow-Weaver in a hug this time. Shadow-Weaver watched as she cried silently into her stomach, the witch still hovering high enough that she was forced to. While she still remained silent at it, she could tell there were tears coming from Adora's face, the sniffling slipping out of the young girl's cry here and there. This is what she loved about her dear Adora. She was filled with such an innocent spark.

It just made breaking that spark so much more fun.

"Oh, my sweet, sweet, Adora." She soothed, wiping her face a little as she took Adora's face into her hands. "You've had such an exhausting day, filled with so much sorrow, so much betrayal." As if Adora needed that little reminder. She still lost the only friend she's ever known and she doesn't even know why. "I'll tell you what, dear. I'll find you the proof you need to show you that sacrifice is necessary. Until then, I'll withhold all missions and deployment, so you won't have to worry about the people out there."

Adora sniffled again as she wiped the tears in her own sleeve. "Y-You promise?"

"Of course, Adora." If it wasn't for the traumatic day Adora's had and the numerous lies she's been thrown at since this day began, she would've been far more suspicious of Shadow-Weaver's possible lie. But after everything she's been through, she resigned herself to the words of someone close.

"Thank you Shadow-Weaver." She thanked with another quick hug. She coughed a little to clear her throat, standing at attention as a good soldier should with her hands to her side. "I-In that case, I think I should return to my quarters to rest a bit. I've had a long day."

"Take as much time as you need, sweetie. You've definitely earned it." With a nod, Adora gave a firm salute before she headed for the door. "Oh, and Adora?" She called out again, stopping the young girl. "I've spoken to Lord Hordak about your first mission. Despite the call off, he wanted me to let you know he's very proud and impressed with your results." The teen said nothing to this, just a small smile and a nod as she left.

With the room empty again, Shadow-Weaver made her way over to her ultimate possession, the Black Garnet, the very thing that empowered her. It was magnificent, radiant, and beautiful, just like her little Adora.

It's funny when she thought about how smugglers are paid to bring things out of a city, yet the one she hired was paid to bring stuff in. She has to admit, she was surprised he even managed to bring around weapon and shield documents to the city too. It made her lie that much more convincing. It's too bad she had to remove said individual when it came time to pay for his services, otherwise she would've gladly enlisted him again.

Nothing was going to stop her from bringing about Adora's rise to greatness. She was willing to destroy anything she found unnecessary.

And right now, she found a troubling cat very unnecessary...

...

A/N: And we come to the end of episode 3 ^^...and it only took us 10 or so chapters...dear god this is going to be a long fanfic XP. Ah, honestly everything after this will be a bit more towards the series. It'll be a good while before we get to another episode that differs so much like this one did with the scenes (like the scene above here? this was just from like 2 minutes of the show and then some).

And again, had fun with this. I especially liked writing out Catra's transformation scene, which you should get used to as I will be showing it off a bit more here and there ^^

And as previously stated, I am looking for someone to add scenes for the intro, any and all takers are welcome :D! With that said, see you guys next episode which WILL be sunday cause i got work tomorrow early and unless i get cut, it'll be till near 4 when I get back home, meaning i'll only have 3-4 hours to work before i get exhausted and sleeping for same shift following day.

Anyway, with that said, hope you all enjoyed this episode as much as I did! Leave a like, fave, and review if you enjoyed!

Chapter 10: Episode 4: Flowers for She-Ra Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Once again, a verily fun chapter to write towards the end ^^! As always, not much to say, so allow me to prove myself wrong by writing whatever crap I usually do after saying that XP.

Not much to say to the fic itself, side from how it's been awhile so might be a bit wonky in some parts i had to come back and forth to throughout the last few days, thanks to everyone for their continued support, and a huge shoutout to Nightmaster003 on Ao3 for their hard work and assistance in providing me with an awesome Intro for this series! Huge shout out of thanks to him! It was thanks to his main portion of it that i managed to get an idea for the theme, editing a few bits here and there myself. After initial editing, I say it's about 70% of his work that isn't changed, 30% I added details to.

So remember, if it's bad, it's completely his idea and I had no input in it, unless it turns out to be incredibly awesome, in which case I came up with everything despite what I just said about his involvement...

Lol, joking aside really am thankful to the guy for his help. Also, weird question, but is anyone interested if i did a bonus episode for a Christmas special? It's an episode so it would take a couple chapters but it would be a christmas special during Catra's time in Bright Moon. While i don't know about when it would specifically take place, the fun thing about non-canons is that you can write anything you want there and no one would question it related to the plot XP just for a bit of fun.

Anyway, onto the episode, and hope you all enjoy!

...

Without opening her eyes, Glimmer could already feel the nice, gentle, warmth of the morning sun touching her face. It would always make her wanna lie there for a few extra minutes as she soaked in the sun's beautiful rays. She smiled to herself as the new day greeted her.

Each and every day was pleasant to wake up to, no matter what troubles loomed over her or her friends. Everyday would start the same morning routine. First, she would feel the sun touching down on her.

Good morning Mr. Sun. She'd think to herself.

*tweet-tweet-tweet*

This would be followed by the sounds of the beautiful birds chirping. No matter how far they were, she would always hear their beautiful songs through the wind early morning.

Good morning birdies.

It was such a pleasant way to wake up every day. By this time, the rest of the castle's inhabitants would find themselves waking up, starting their routine manner. The maids and servants would be sweeping the halls, the guards would be changing shifts for the day, and everyone would have a morning smile on their face.

*puuurrr*

Good morning, kitty. Ah yes, how could she forget her beloved kitten? If everything else wasn't enough, then there was always her favorite animal, laying on her bed-

Glimmer's eyes shot open. Wait a minute, I don't have a cat. Almost instantly, Glimmer leaned up from her bed, donned in her sky blue Pajama top and pants with a few starry lights patterned across them, staring at the sight that made her eyes widen.

At the foot of her bed, a bed she had hanging from the ceiling for that matter that only she and a select few could access to without her steps, was her new friend and ally, Catra, purring and sleeping peacefully as if the bed was hers.

It was only yesterday that she officially joined the Rebellion after a harrowing day of trying to turn into She-Ra. At first nobody knew how the meeting was going to go. Catra risked everything on an entire gamble that she would transform into She-Ra at all. And to her misfortune, she didn't do it right away. It was thanks to Glimmer's and Bow's sudden appearance that she received the motivation and drive to push herself one last time, finally obtaining the form of She-Ra before the entire Throne Room.

Needless to say, everyone was impressed and shocked at the show they bore witness to. They witnessed history in the making, the change of tide that would determine the very outcome of this war. Everything they saw showed them, the Queen included, that anyone was willing to stand alongside the Rebellion and fight against the Horde, including one of their own.

Even though it was for the selfish desire of her very own kingdom, followed by some pleading from her daughter who assured her she trusted Catra with her life, Queen Angella welcomed Catra with somewhat-untrusting arms.

And for some reason she decided to sleep on Glimmer's bed, still dressed in the outfit she donned yesterday evening.

"Ahhhhh!"

"Ack-!"

The sound of Glimmer's screaming was like a blow horn going off in Catra's ear this early in the morning. The loudness of it alone sent shivers down her spine to the point her entire body shook violently, finding herself getting the claws from her feet stuck to the bedsheets before falling off the hanging bed itself. Glimmer frantically pulled back on the covers, barely managing to keep Catra suspended halfway through the air to the ground. Sighing to herself in relief at the quick rescue, Glimmer looked over the bed to see the dangling cat girl herself.

Strangely enough, nothing seemed out of place with her in terms of attitude. She still seemed as moody as ever, glaring a little at the rude awakener above her.

"Sheesh, will you keep it down?" She growled. "People are trying to sleep!"

Welcome to Day One of the Rebellion.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

A scene of kid Catra and kid Adora training together in the fright zone under Shadow Weaver. Before being replaced with a image of Adora glaring at a heart broken looking Catra who's on her knees across a battlefield.

~ We're right beside you ~

But than Glimmer and Bow teleport to Catra side raising her spirit back up, as shown with her surprise blinking when Gimmer offers her a hand, than she smirks accepting the help as she takes the lead ahead of them.

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

The scene shifts to Hordaks throne room where the evil shadowy figure sits upon his throne, his red glowing eyes being the only noticeable part of him, surrounded by notable members of the Horde, consisting of Adora and Catra's squadron, Shadow Weaver, Adora, Scropia, and even Entrapta.

~ and never let go ~

The scene shifts to an epic clash between Catra and Adora, the She-Ra gritting her teeth as she presses her sword against Adora's electrical baton, as the Force Captain herself grins with chaotic excitement as the red jewel from her headband shines.

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"Awwwwhhhhn." Catra yawned as she leaned in the chair.

"How about these?" Glimmer asked holding another pair of shoes.

"Nope."

"Ok... these two?"

"Nada."

"Mhh how about these?"

"Not happening."

"Catra come on..." Glimmer moaned looking through another dozen boxes. It was around that time Bow finally appeared through the doorway, entering the verily large Dressing Room. It housed an assortment of different clothing, anywhere between undergarments, pants, shirts, coats, gloves, and so forth. All of this was divided into nearly a dozen different colored sections of the room, each of them divided for their individual clothing.

At present, Bow found the two within a yellow-colored section of the room designated for footwear.

"Hey guys, I was wondering where... You're still in your She-Ra form?" Bow asked, surprised as Glimmer had been by the appearance.

"Not by choice, I can't get this stupid thing to turn off." Catra snarled rubbing her left eye sleepily. "I've been wearing these clothes all night."

"What? It's like actually stuck to you or something?"

"No, but I don't really have a spare change of clothes around here."

"I already said you could borrow some of ours you know." Glimmer reminded, sorting through another pile of boxes.

"I'm not wearing any stupid sparkly dresses or whatever." She eyed her own outfit with an irritated look. "I already got this ridiculous outfit going on, I don't need more."

"Oh." He had to admit, she had a small point. Up till now the two of them thought Catra was joking about "turning off" this She-Ra form of hers, not realizing how literal the magicat was being about it. Taking a glance around the room and the near one-hundred boxes tossed to the side, he turned his attention back to Glimmer. "What exactly are you guys doing in here anyway?"

"Well apparently, Pinky thinks I should be wearing shoes around here for some reason no matter how many times I tell her otherwise." There was a sense of annoyance coming from the She-Ra-in-training, hinting at just how long they've been at this. It was then Bow finally noticed the shoe-less ex-Horde wiggling her toes.

"Hey, I'm the one who's been sorting through boxes for the last hour, all you've been doing is sitting there and watching." Glimmer grumbled. With such a specific list of preferences, Glimmer found herself tossing out over half the boxes before Catra even had a chance to look at them or try them on. "The least you could do is help you know."

"I'm not the one who wants to wear shoes, Pinky!" Catra replied as Bow kneeled over to Glimmer's side to help. "I don't get what the big deal is, either. I keep my feet clean you know."

"Ok first of all, you lick your feet your feet clean." Glimmer shivered a little at the gross thought. "That alone is disgusting!"

"I don't lick my feet! ...I lick my hands and wipe my feet clean." She corrected nonchalant.

"That doesn't make it any better! Besides, even if you scrubbed and washed your feet clean like a normal person, that doesn't help with everything your claws are scratching up while you're walking or climbing. Remember how long it took to get your claws out of my blankets?"

"Well maybe if everything on your bed wasn't so frilly, I could've gotten untangled sooner!"

"Why were you on her bed to begin with?" Bow asked curiously.

"I was just trying to sleep." The proof was evident in Catra's tired eyes. "I'm not used to sleeping by myself, okay? I always shared a room with half a dozen people."

"Well if you wanted to sleep with me, you could've just asked last night you know." Glimmer commented, walking over to the end of the shelves.

"I would've if your mother didn't have it out for me."

Glimmer poked her head around the corner of the shelves at the comment. "She doesn't have it out for you, Catra."

"Hmm, what were her exact words?" She put on an irritating face and an exaggerated tone as she tried to mimic Glimmer's mother. "If you do anything to my angel, I'm gonna skin your fur and boil you in lava." While the voice was blatantly terrible, Glimmer did smirk at the impression itself.

"As intense as my mother can be sometimes, I'm pretty sure she would never say 'skin your fur and boil you in lava'."

"Well she said she'd make my nightmares look decent in comparison to whatever she has planned so I can't imagine anything worse than that." It was the furthest thing from the truth, but Catra was against giving Glimmer potential ideas. "And do I really need to wear these things? I mean they're just shoes! I'd rather walk on my hands around here than have to wear these things."

"Look, either you need shoes around here or you need to clean your feet and trim your claws. My mom's not gonna want to have to deal with torn up carpeting and whatever else you decide to climb, and the maids aren't going to want to clean the floors wherever you walk each day. Besides, there's nothing wrong with being well-equipped for everything."

"Oh yeah, these boots are gonna save my life!" Catra said sarcastically with the roll of her eyes. "I'd pay good money to see that-"

"Ah ha!" Bow called out triumphantly. "I found the perfect shoes!"

He displayed them proudly as Glimmer and Catra walked over to him. The shoes themselves were more along the lines of boots that stretched up the heels a foot long. Any laces the boots would have were instead replaced with thick bronze buckles, two on each boot, with a set of string to tie the boots up against the heel. Interestingly enough, to Catra's taste, they did have a nice color of red and black to them, with a black coating around the sides of the boots and an inner red running down the middle.

They had a bit of a Horde-ish look to them, which would match the rest of Catra's outfit if it ever changed back to normal.

"Ummm Bow? Those are boots." Glimmer pointed out.

"Combat boots!" He corrected with a toothy smile. "Great for long travels, mountain climbing, trudging through the snow, annnnnd, best of all, they don't track mud!"

"Seem kinda hefty if you ask me." Catra commented, smelling the boots as she examined them.

"Will you just try them on before you hate them?" Glimmer said with a groan.

"Fine, fine, your high-and-mightiness." It was clear Catra had no interest in the shoes despite the admittedly-interesting design. Taking the boots in each hand, she took a small bit of time to give them a thorough inspection. The texture, the smoothness, the hardened letter. If there was a few things she was grateful to the Horde for it was determining how well or how efficient simple everyday items could be.

Giving in to the curiosity, Catra tried them on one boot at a time, undoing and redoing the clasps and buckles until they had a suitable tightness around her feet. It felt a bit strange having something this weird pressing against her toe's claws, but if it got Glimmer off her back, and presumably her mother, then she was willing to put up with it.

"It looks like a perfect fit!" Glimmer commented.

"They still feel kinda weird if you ask me." This would've been one of the few times Catra found herself trying on a pair of anything on her feet since she was little. She took a glance around her feet on all sides, giving it a small kick against the wooden shelves to check how sturdy it was. "But I guess it's ok."

"Great, then we can head the Rebellion meeting!" Bow announced.

"Oh shoot, I completely forgot about that!" Glimmer said as her face flashed. "We hold one every week with the other Rebellion Generals. This is your chance to meet everyone!"

"I'm... invited?" There was a skeptical look on Catra's face. She did just become She-Ra not even twelve hours ago, so hearing the possibility she was already invited to some sort of important meeting with the other leaders of the Rebellion left her in doubt.

"Of course! My mom invited you herself! Come on, this is your chance to meet everyone before the meeting starts!" Glimmer said as she ran to the door with Bow following behind her. "If we make it fast enough, we might be able to get a few snacks too while we're at it-

*thud*

The two friends looked back as they heard the sound of something weird shuffling across the boxes and hitting the shelves. Over on the other end of their gaze, they saw a somewhat trembling Catra who was slumped over one of the shelves, her legs wobbling from the waist down as she held onto the middle row of the shelf for stability.

"Are you ok?" Bow asked, watching the magicat trying to get back to her feet.

"I-I'm fine!" Her assurance left them questionable as they saw her shakily pull herself back up until she was standing straight. "I just need to get my footing is all." Catra looked to her boots again as she contemplated her next step, literally in this case. She's never worn something so strange before or so hard on her feet. In addition to the hard inner and outer exterior, they left a good half an inch from the ground, which, while some might adjust to on the fly, left a strange imbalance under Catra's feet. She was used to keeping her balance on opposite ends of her feet, not on her foot as a whole, as it allowed her to react and leap to great distances on a moment's notice.

"Do you... need some help?" While there was amusement in seeing Catra trembling in such a state, Glimmer couldn't help feel a little sorry for her. The girl wasn't even wearing high-heeled shoes yet she still walked around with as much coordination as a two-year-old trying to walk.

"N-Nope, I got it!" Catra said trying to contain a bit of her embarrassment as she took a slow step. "It's just one foot over the othER-!"

*crash!*

Glimmer and Bow closed their eyes briefly to avoid seeing the aftermath of the ensuing crash. If there was any karma from Catra lazily watching as the other two did the hard work of finding her a pair of shoes, it was the sight that greeted them.

Here she was, hope of the Rebellion, the proud and mighty She-Ra, displayed before them collapsed over her front with various boxes toppled over her and a dozen pair of shoes thrown around her entire body. While the boxes themselves weren't that surprising, what did catch them off guard was the sight of the large white shelf that toppled over her too, pinning her to the ground and covering over half her body, leaving only her torso, arms, and head sticking out from the massive pile.

Apparently her second attempt of walking while holding onto the shelf backfired as she refused to let go of the shelf even as she fell. While normally one wouldn't bring an entire shelf down upon them, she didn't know just how strong her She-Ra state had left her, allowing her to easily pull the entire seven foot tall, twenty-feet wide shelf down with her. To her, it hold no more weight than the average book. Sadly it came with all the pain of a full shelf pinning her stomach to the ground.

It took all of Glimmer and Bow's willpower to keep from making a face at the admittedly hilarious state Catra found herself in, Catra herself twitching a vein angrily, all because she wasn't used to wearing a simple pair of shoes.

"Not... a... word..."

...

*Clack!*

"Keep your guard up on your left Kyle, always defend your most vulnerable position immediately after an attack." Adora instructed as she watched several of the cadets training with batons.

Yesterday proved to be a stressful day for the newly promoted Force Captain. There were too many things she came across that would've driven anyone in her mad from insanity.

First and foremost, her best friend defected. The friend she knew for as long as she remembered, a fellow member of the Horde, and the very last person she ever thought would betray them, defected to the enemy's side. It wasn't just the fact she defected at all that bothered her, it was the fact she couldn't tell if she was in control of herself or if she was being manipulated and brainwashed by the Princesses of Etheria. All things considered, she was hoping that was the case.

Secondly, she discovered just ten minutes into her very first mission just how horrific the war was. Their mission wasn't to some secret facility or some stronghold that she wanted to save Catra from, it was just a simple village full of innocent townspeople! She couldn't believe what she was doing, comprehend that this was what the Horde had always been doing since the war started. Attacking an innocent village that appeared to be no threat to the Horde? That sounded like something the princesses would do, and she refused to believe they were as evil as they were! She needed proof, she demanded proof!

Unfortunately, that proof came in the form of Shadow-Weaver, the closest thing Adora had to a mother around here and the only person Adora found herself able to trust at this time. Shadow-Weaver wasted no time preparing for every eventuality, including this. She showed Adora various details and data revolving around the mission to Thaymor, including a dozen caches of weaponry and documents detailing various research and developments the Rebellion was working on. None of it was forged, none of it was faked. Adora made certain everything was as Shadow-Weaver described it.

She just didn't know all of it had been smuggled into the city before her arrival by Shadow-Weaver's hand, whether or not directly.

Since then, she's been doing everything in her power to keep herself distracted, waiting for Shadow-Weaver's promise of proof that everything they were forced to do was necessary. She didn't want to think of everything she's been through in the last day, all the lies or half truths she's been told all her life. And she found the best way of keeping herself distracted was training the other cadets and friends she's known through her life.

She watched diligently as the cadets fought against each other with batons in the training room, specifically Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle themselves. Just standing here, watching them train and have fun while they were doing it, it reminded her of the good times she used to have when they were all together, Catra included. At least in those times, she believed in everything without an ounce of doubt in her mind. Here, she was lucky enough to find something to take her mind off such thoughts.

"Ahh!" Kyle yelped as he was tackled by Lonnie, the older and tougher girl tackling him off his feet from the side. The girl just grinned to herself as she raised her baton again, seeing her moment to strike while Kyle remained disoriented.

"Heads up!" She warned, raising the baton above her head. A simple tap on their combat vests was all she needed to claim victory, having beaten Rogelio a minute ago, yet the punky teen seemed more insistent on bringing pain to her enemies than victory to her allies. Right before she could land the finishing blow however, she found herself stalled as something grabbed on to her baton from behind. Turning, she found an annoyed Adora looking at her with a slightly stern look on her face.

"That's enough." She deemed, walking over and helping Kyle over to his feet. "You don't have to go overboard here, Lonnie. It's just a training exercise, not a real fight." She took note of the fact Lonnie's tackle was technically illegal for a sparring match as she spoke.

"Oh come on, I barely hit the pipsqueak!" Lonnie grumbled. "Besides, do you think the princesses are going to show restraint? We need to use any and all means to help us if we're going to win this war."

"Just because the princesses fight unfairly doesn't mean we have to." Adora insisted. "We need to show Etheria that we're better than them, that we're all allies here."

"Tch, that's a laugh." Lonnie mumbled rolling her eyes. It was at that time Rogelion made his way over to the group, still silent as ever.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means? Have you noticed a certain feline missing around us lately?" Kyle and Rogelio shot each other an uneasy look. Not out of what she said, but who she was saying it to. "Where is the little furball anyway?"

"Catra's..." She turned away a little as she spoke. "Catra's been brainwashed by the princesses, all right? I don't know what they did to her but I know we'll get her back."

"Oh really? Cause that's not what I heard."

"L-Lonnie, maybe you shouldn't-" Kyle tried to warn.

"What? Tell her the truth?" She interrupted as she shot him a look. "That little kitty cat here never wanted anything to do with the Horde to begin with?"

"What do you mean?" A small weight began forming in Adora's chest.

"What do I think I mean, little miss Captain?" She sneered. "I'm saying Catra betrayed us because she wanted to! She didn't care about anything, she's always been in it for herself!"

"T-That's not true!" Adora tried to argue, though her voice wavered.

"Oh yeah? Did she care when she decided to leave in the first place? Did she insist on bringing you with her when she left us?"

"Yes!... I... I mean..." It was painful to recall everything after the previous day's events.

...

"Absolutely not! If Shadow Weaver finds out you left because of me, she'll skin me alive!" She stammered.

"But Catra-"

Sadly, Adora was still having a problem processing this. It was her fault in the first place that any of this happened after borrowing a skiff. If she hadn't done that in the first place, they never would've gone on a wild ride through the Fright Zone, entered the Whispering Woods, get Catra knocked out of it from a hundred feet in the air, and finally end up with what appeared to be brain damage. There was too much of a guilt factor on her end of things. "I don't know... Do you absolutely promise to come back if you don't find anything?"

"Just give me two hours, three tops." Catra smiled, relieved that she was finally reaching some common ground with her only friend.

Perhaps a little too relieved as she didn't bother waiting for Adora to finish her reply. "Well... I don't-"

"Great, knew you'd understand. Gotta go!" Catra quickly sputtered as she quickly and quietly rushed down the hallway.

"Catra? Catra! Ugh..." This day kept getting more worrying for the young girl.

...

"Your little friend never cared about any of us since day one." Lonnie continued to talk down as Adora lowered her head. "She didn't care about who she hurt, she didn't care about who was involved, and she didn't care about you. All that little freak ever wanted was whatever benefitted herself. End. Of. Story."

"..."

Kyle and Rogelio looked at one another nervously. They knew how Catra was a close friend to Adora compared to the rest of them, heck she was the only one Catra was friends with, and everyone else within the Horde knew it. They knew about the rebellious magicat and the blond friend who would get into all sorts of trouble together and all sorts of mischief. It wasn't always in good fun, but the two were inseparable.

"...push ups..." Adora muttered.

"What?" Lonnie nearly flinched as Adora grabbed the collar of her vest, pulling her closer so she could see the anger burning in Adora's eyes.

"I said push ups! One-Hundred of them! Now!" She ordered.

What little chance and resistance Lonnie planned to put up were immediately dashed as she saw past Adora's shoulder, towards the corridor of the training room. There, she spotted the floating mass that was one of Shadow-Weaver's shadows, the strange semi-living entity that could see all it needed to and show Shadow-Weaver in turn. It's presence alone was enough to keep Lonnie from asking questions or disobeying orders.

Adora's word was Shadow-Weaver's word. Her orders were Shadow-Weaver's. Cross Adora, and you would feel the unholy wrath that Shadow-Weaver would plague upon you.

Grumbling to herself at the situation, Lonnie swallowed her pride as she got down on all fours, keeping to herself as she counted.

Adora didn't like that.

"I want to hear you count!" She ordered, pressing her foot onto Lonnie's back. The girl grumbled louder at this but refused to bark back.

"One... Two... Three..." It took all of her energy to resist lashing out in anger at this. She was irritated with Adora, now more than ever, but she would never try to cross Shadow-Weaver and get on her bad side.

Not like Catra did.

"I want you two to resume training until she finishes counting. Ok?" Adora ordered in a somewhat softer tone. The two cadets nodded to this as they resumed fighting each other with the batons. "I didn't say to stop counting! Start over!" Adora shouted down to Lonnie, continuing to apply pressure to her back. It was becoming harder to bite back the urge to shout at the Force Captain.

Catra was her dear friend. Perhaps sister, perhaps something else. They played together, they lived together, they learned together, they cried together, they did everything together. Catra was one of the few people that made Adora genuinely smile and vice versa, neither of them tiring of each other's company. When one of them got sick, the other stayed by their side. When one of them were sad, the other wanted to know what was wrong. It was this pairing that helped each other get through the best of times and the worst of times, no matter how often they occurred.

She was her dear friend. Adora would continue to fight to get her back and find out who she could trust. And she would NOT tolerate anyone trying to insult her or accuse her of treason as long as she was around...

...

"Ok, we're here!" Glimmer announced as they finally arrived to the meeting room.

"Finally!" Catra groaned walking past the two.

The walk to the Meeting Room had been... less than fun for a certain ex-Horde member of the Rebellion. After struggling and failing to walk so much as 5 feet through the Dressing Room, she found herself forced to rely on an all too eager Glimmer who was more than happy to help her new ally walk around the first minute.

Mostly because she wasted no time taunting and cooing at her like she was a one-year-old trying to learn to walk. "Take my hand" would be her first taunt, followed by others such as "look at you learning to walk". Not just the fact the Queen already has her on a tight leash but because they're now allies is the only reason Catra found to not scratch her face.

No matter how tempting it got.

After getting her bearings though she found herself adjusting to the new boots quite well. She still preferred her no-shoe policy, which Glimmer was fine with as long as they were outside the castle walls, but she did at least find them comfortable enough to walk around with. If it wasn't for the fact they reduced her ability to take great leaps or cling to surfaces, thanks to missing about half her claws with this, she would've considered using them everywhere.

Entering the room, she found the scenery quite nicely, for a meeting room anyway. All around them the walls were painted with vast, numerous, pale drawings depicting several kings and queens all across the room, each of them with a piece of a star's light illuminating over their hand. Along with this, there were moons on each of the walls, each with a shadow cast over a certain portion of it. From front to back, it casted a full moon, slowly darkening to one side of the room until it came back full circle.

Even the ceiling itself was was adorned with a giant majestic jewel that gazed over the giant round table in the middle. Just like the walls there was an array of moons over the ceiling, each casting it's own shadow over a portion of it as well as a different portion of the light.

This room had the perfect semblance of a Meeting Room for a Castle. Everything about it was elegant, proper, and beautiful.

And yet, strangely empty.

"Look's more like an art gallery than a meeting room." Catra commented looking over the walls.

"Is that She-ra?" Catra's ears perked up as she overheard the whispering from the only two other generals of the meeting. It didn't matter how quiet one was when they whispered near the girl. If someone was in the same room as Catra, she could pick up on almost everything within thirty feet.

"She looks so much more different than what I imagined." The purple one replied quietly.

"Come on, the meeting's about to start." Glimmer stated as she walked by Catra.

"Start?" Catra looked around the room, realizing out of the dozen or so chairs that occupied it, the only two other people aside from themselves and the two at the table were the guards. "Isn't it a little early to start? There's barely anyone here. Where are the others?"

"This is all the others." Glimmer replied solemnly as Catra followed her. "The Rebellion had a big defeat years ago, and most of the old princesses gave up. Now all the kingdoms keep to themselves. And the princesses do the same."

"Other than Spinnerella and Netossa." Bow added taking his seat. "Hey, guys!" He waved. The two gave him a simple smile as they waved back. "We're not really sure what they do." He whispered.

"Well this keeps looking more and more promising." Catra muttered taking a seat next to Bow. Finding it a little uncomfortable, she tried making the most of the seat as she leaned in as far as the chair would let her, relaxing her feet over the table. First she finds out the other princesses weren't even a part of their Rebellion anymore, and the supposed other leaders of the Rebellion only consisted of two other people. She couldn't wait to see the meeting take place and learn they were planning to surrender the very next day.

Right after she joined.

It was then that she noticed the panicked and worried expressions of the surrounding allies, half of them looking ready for a heart attack, and the other half prepared to jump out of their seats in a hurry. "What?" The She-Ra raised her brow before looking to her feet. "Oh come on, don't tell me you're too stuck up for manners. At least the shoes are clean."

"That's not your chair!" Bow whispered worriedly.

"Who's chair is it then?" Almost immediately she felt the familiar drop of temperature that she alone seemed able to feel. As expected, looking to her right, she found the leader of the Rebellion, Queen Angella, looking sternly at her.

"That's my husband's chair." Her tone was cold, angry, and firm. As opposed to anyone who would have the more logical sense to either vacate the chair immediately or apologize for taking the wrong spot, Catra just made herself more relaxed as she closed her eyes uncaringly.

"Oh yeah? Where is the old stiff?"

"Oh my god, she did not just say that..." Glimmer facepalmed.

"I haven't seen the guy since I got here." Opening her eyes again, confusion sank into her mind. All around her were dropped jaws, save for Glimmer who still had a hand over her face, shocked expressions, and silent gasps. Even the guards looked to themselves a little disturbed. All of them were acting like Catra just came to this meeting completely in Horde armor, never announced, and had never met any of these people before today. "What?" That was when she noticed the Queen again, her majesty seeming to do everything in her power to contain her anger in her squeezing fist.

"Ha ha ha, what a kidder, right mom?" Glimmer joked panicking, quickly teleporting to Catra's side and teleporting back to her chair with Catra sitting next to her. Still confused about everyone's behavior, Catra leaned over a little to the sparkler girl.

"I don't get it, what's everyone so worked up about?"

"My dad died a long time ago fighting in the war." Glimmer muttered back.

"...Oh..." She couldn't tell which dropped first. Her tail, her ears, her face, her dignity, her respect, her pride, or any chance of getting so much as an ounce towards the Queen's good side.

All at once the gravity of the situation hit Catra like a ton of bricks. She felt a small rain cloud of terror looming over her head. Looming over that was a cloud of sheer terror. Looming over that was her conscious telling her she had a good life. And looming over that was a guillotine, one specially designed by the Queen herself that would ensure Catra felt nothing but absolute pain and misery during those brief few seconds between life and Catra finding out her head was missing.

Knowing the Queen as she did up to now, that would be her being merciful too.

Taking a moment to herself, patting the back of the large chair that reminded her of her dearly beloved, the Queen released all her anger silently as she took her seat. "I've asked you here because I received a distress call from Princess Perfuma. The Horde is laying siege to her kingdom. She's asking Bright Moon for assistance. General?" She called over as a dark-skinned soldier took her place standing next to her.

"Perfuma's kingdom, Plumeria, is located near the front lines." Catra watched as the table itself came to life, displaying a pink holographic image of the land, while she spoke. "The Horde has set up camp in her territory, cutting off their main supply route." She directed with a small rod.

"Bright Moon will provide food and humanitarian aid." Angella announced.

"Ooh ooh ooh! I have a better idea!" Glimmer rose from her seat enthusiastically. "We-"

"Fight the Horde?" Her mother cut her off, hearing the suggestion a thousand times. "Glimmer, you propose the idea at every meeting."

"No," Glimmer tried thinking of a way to reword her suggestion with a nervous smile, "I was going to say let's use aggressive fist-to-face sparkles."

"As much as I hate to agree with her, she has a point." Glimmer was a little surprised to hear Catra taking her side. "It doesn't matter how much aid you send their way, the Horde's just going to keep coming."

"The answer is still no. Now sit down." The Queen stood assertively with her wings out. Any hope Glimmer had to raising an objection to the reply quickly dwindled with her mother's firm tone.

"...Your majesty, if I can make a suggestion," Bow spoke up as he stood, "why don't you have us lead the relief mission?" He said gesturing to the three of them. "We can provide food and aid to the kingdom, and Catra can provide aid if the Horde attacks."

The Queen looked at Catra warily at this, Catra herself looking away a little nervous. Withholding the fact she just insulted her husband and King before the meeting had even begun, there was still a trust value she was going to have to get over involving the ex-Horde member. Whether or not she could turn into She-Ra, there was only so much the Queen could end up losing within her life before her world shattered.

Like her daughter and her friend that she would be tasked with protecting.

"I actually think that's a great idea." Spinnerella replied supportively. "It would give the locals a chance to see the infamous She-Ra themselves and raise morale."

"Huff... Very well." Angella sighed in reluctance, much to Glimmer and Bow's joy. "You will deliver food and supplies to Plumeria. And under no circumstances will any of you engage the Horde." Catra could feel her piercing gaze as she spoke, feeling as if she was only telling her out of the three. "You will leave at dawn."

Glimmer and Bow looked at each other with excitement at the statement. It was rare that the Queen allowed the two of them to partake in any mission, often finding themselves in a mission once out of every five or so meetings, and now with a new ally in their midst! And while Catra herself was a little bummed about not being able to engage in any fun, aka fighting and beating the snot out of the Horde, she was at least looking forward to a chance to explore the world, and more importantly, get away from the Queen who continued to loathe her from a distance.

And starting tomorrow, her first mission as She-Ra would kick off!

...

"Achoo!" Catra sneezed wiping her nose again. "I hate this place already." The girl was groggy, tired, and finding herself sneezing rather frequently as the trio traversed Plumeria while pulling the cart of supplies behind them.

At first, she thought she was going to be in for a spot of fun! She would get to see the world, go on missions, and looked forward to any excuse to kick someone in the face she knew from the Horde. To top it off, she was still in her She-Ra form, the form strangely not having removed since the day prior, throughout the journey. It was weird but it felt like the longer she wore it, the more it was slowly draining her energy. Maybe it was, or maybe it was the fact every time she found herself asleep she kept having more unwanted visions of her past.

Sadly reality kicked in for Catra as she traveled through the new kingdom, finding out just how fun the mission was going to be. For the last several hours the trio had walked, each taking turns pulling the cart at hourly intervals to conserve strength. While it was far easier for Catra to given her new form, it was still just as taxing as the lack of sleep and recent runny nose kept her from preforming at her peak state.

"Did you get a cold last night?" Bow asked looking back as they walked.

"No, I was perfectly fine this morning!" She retorted. "My nose just got a little runny within the last half hour alone."

"Maybe you're not used to all the flowers here?" Glimmer wondered aloud.

"Pollen?"

"Yeah, it usually spreads between the birds and bees around here. It helps them grow. Plumeria is known for it's beautiful and vast array of fauna, but you might not be used to it growing up in the Fright Zone." That made a bit of sense. Too much sense actually. Everyone in the Horde found it rare to find a single flower within the Fright Zone, save for potted plants that either the staff members had while teaching the children, or ones taught to them about the various poisonous ones that could be used against their enemies. And given Catra's enhanced senses, it made everything come together a little too perfectly for her taste.

"Is this pollen stuff deadly? Why aren't you guys sniffling or sn...sn... Achoo!" Catra's face momentarily fogged up as she let out another one. "Sneezing?"

"Well we're used to being surrounded by plants." Bow replied smiling back. "Heck I grew up in the woods myself, there was nothing but flowers and trees everywhere."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's a good sign that we're close." The violet princess said trying to raise her spirit. "We'll probably be at the village any minute now!"

"Good." She sniffled again. "I could use a break once we get there. I haven't slept in-"

...

"Mmmhhhmmm..."

"Catra?" The young five-year-old Adora rose from her bunk bed sleepily, wearing her grey woolen pants and shirt pajamas, as she rubbed her eyes. A child crying around the Fright Zone wasn't that uncommon. Usually if a kid got into trouble, got punished, or simply got scared, the latter usually being the most frequent case scenario, a kid would start crying for several minutes. It was another everyday part of life in the Horde the kids got used to, sometimes several kids throughout the day would cry, sometimes only one.

This time was a little different. Normally when one cried, it was throughout the day. This time, however, there was someone crying above her, in the middle of the night. While knowing it was Catra, her bunkmate, she didn't know what reason she had to cry or why she was doing it. Checking around to make sure everyone else was asleep, she quietly climbed the ladder at the foot of the bed, poking her head over the top to find the little bundle whimpering while her eyes were still closed.

"Catra?"

The other five-year-old quickly snapped her eyes open, turning over to find her little caller. "A-Adora?" Panic filled in her head as she did her best to wipe away the tears and snot flowing from her face. Another bit to living within the Horde was whether you were allowed to cry and when. If you were severely punished by the Horde, it was acceptable to cry. On the other and, if you found yourself crying because you were tired, crabby, or simply frightened of something, any of the children's staff members would make sure you had a real reason to cry. It was the Horde's way of toughening up the children quickly ,which, while cruel, proved effective. "W-What are you doing here?" She asked still sniffling.

"Were you crying?" The innocent child asked.

"N-N-No!" She took another moment to wipe her face again quickly. "I was just... just..." It was hard to think of what to say while she was in the middle of crying. Taking another quick look around, Adora quietly climb up to the bed itself, crawling over to her friends side while patting her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything's going to be alright. I won't tell anyone, I promise." She assured. She watched as Catra continued to sniffle, incapable of stopping the flow of tears coming down her face. "Did you have a bad dream?" Catra lifting her weeping and sniffling face was all she needed to get a yes out of her. "It's okay. Remember what Shadow-Weaver said? It's okay to have many bad dreams as possible because eventually you'll get used to them, and it'll make you stronger!"

"I-I know but... But I..." Adora felt extremely sorry for her littler friend. Bad dreams were another common occurrence around the Fright Zone, especially among young children. It was rare that anyone had a bad dream so horrific though that they would end up crying upon waking up. Whatever Catra just experienced must've been something truly horrifying, maybe something along the lines of the evil princesses eating her or something.

"Would it help if I slept with you?" Adora offered, catching the young girl by surprise.

"S-Slept with me?" She meeped. Adora nodded her head with excitement as she pumped her fist.

"Yeah! That way if you have any bad dreams, I can punch those bad dreams away!"

"Mmh..." She didn't know what to say.

There wasn't anything wrong with a child comforting another child within the Horde, in fact it was actually one of the few things that were encouraged around here. It helped build trust and support amongst allies who the kids would be fighting alongside one day. It helped build teamwork skills and so forth.

Curiously enough, it was actually shunned by many of the kids themselves, the older ones at that. They took the teachings from the great leader Hordak quite seriously, and wanted to prove their loyalty and awesomeness by upholding his traditions of strength and power. They didn't allow anyone to help anyone else who appeared weak unless that someone was a part of their "gang", which in and of itself made no sense, but none of the younger kids questioned it. Almost all the facilities across the Fright Zone that housed the children had at least one kid that would form a gang. In this case, that person just happened to be Lonnie, the very same girl that was part of their dorm living quarters.

What it really came down to for Catra was Adora's involvement in this. She didn't want to have to worry about the horrifying dream she just had, still struggling to forget about it, but Adora actually helping her to get through it. The gangs that harassed anyone who needed help like this didn't just target the kids who needed it. They targeted both, the one in need and the one willing to provide help. They considered softhearted kids almost worse than the ones who needed the help in the first place.

It was like a commandment amongst the children, one that all of them knew of. Yet, despite knowing all of this, Adora offered to help the young girl. She was brave enough to help the young girl and didn't care if it caused trouble for her or not. The only one that did care was Catra herself.

"I... I don't know..." The girl mumbled looking away. "Y-You'll get in trouble, won't you?"

"Who cares about that?" Adora passed off with a smile. "I don't mind if they pick on me too. Plus, there's no trouble if we just sleep together, they don't even have to know I'm doing it to help you." She helped wipe away one of Catra's tears with a thumb, trying to dry the girl's face. "Ok?"

"...Ok..." With that, Adora pulled the girl over to her as the two settled into the bed once again, side by side. Catra shuffled a little as Adora hugged her closely and pulling the blanket over them. It comforted and let her know she would always be by her side. It helped somewhat as a small smile grew on Catra's face, one Adora was happy to see as the two of them finally closed their eyes.

The nightmares would never cease, but as long as they had each other, there was nothing the two would have to fear.

...

"Catra!" A flash of light went off in Catra's eyes again as she came to, seeing Bow and Glimmer's worried expressions as they stared at her. Blinking to herself, she looked around in confusion as she examined her surroundings again. They were still in the woods of Plumeria, the two of them staring at her while Catra was still standing where she did with the cart still firmly in her hands.

"Huh?" The other two sighed in relief as she finally came back to reality. "What just happened?"

"You tell us!" Bow replied. "You just stopped walking all of a sudden and stared off into space."

"I was?" She didn't know if she should be doubtful or skeptical of the accusation.

"Well, it was only for like ten seconds or something but-"

"But that can't be right!" Catra quickly interrupted Glimmer, snapping a little. "I mean I was there, I was..." She paused as she realized what she said, seeing the curiosity growing on both their faces.

"Where to?" Glimmer asked. "Catra, what are you talking about?"

"Mmh..." What the heck was going on here? That's like the third time she had a vision and it continued to be one she preferred locking away in her heart. At first she thought she only had to worry about these things whenever she passed out or fell asleep, but now she had to worry about them happening in the middle of anything else? Who on Etheria was messing with her like this?! "Forget about it." She muttered. "Are we almost there?"

If there was any bit of good news after what she went through, it was seeing Glimmer giving a small nod. "Y-Yeah, we're here." She directed looking back. Which was almost perfectly timed as Catra finally realized the sneezing had subsided too.

Following her gaze, Catra's demeanor reverted to a previously calm state, at least compared to the anxiety and anger she just felt, as she looked on ahead. In front of her, she saw what appeared more to be a camp site than a village with the numerous tents along the ground and the various tree houses she saw in the surrounding place. It had something of a more tranquil appearance to it compared to Thaymor, noticing how happy everyone seemed and peaceful they were while living in something Catra would consider shacks, at best.

"Welcome to Plumeria, the heart of Princess Perfuma's king-"

"Finally!" Catra huffed ignoring Glimmer's welcome. Wasting no time to find an excuse to relax after the long morning, she quickly lifted the cart above her head, feeling no heavier than the average book in her She-Ra state, and walked on ahead again.

"Catra, wait!" Glimmer called out as she and Bow ran passed her. "You can't just rush into a village like this, you might spook someone lifting something like that."

"Oh! You're here!" A voice cried out happily from behind. Looking back, the trio saw a grown woman at the front of a small crowd of people, quickly racing to them with sheer delight. "You're finally here!"

"Ah, Princess Perfuma." Glimmer greeted with an open hand. "I'm commander Glimmer. It's nice to finally meet-" Before she could finish her introductions, with a wave from Perfuma's hand, she found herself holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers, with a flower crown appearing over Bow's head several seconds later.

"Ooh, I get a hat!" He was loving this place already.

That was when Perfuma saw passed them, the one holy warrior that legend describes. All around the figure she saw a radiating aura of elegance, both literally and metaphorically. The same figure also shot her a look, albeit with more confusion, as the princess continued to stare at her with her mouth gaping open. This was followed by several more townspeople who started to gather by the dozens, all awing at amazement at the sight before them. It was like looking at the sight of a beautiful goddess, one stood for everything right and beautiful with the Universe. If anything, this person was the Universe, here to fulfill their wishes for peace across Etheria!

"Ooh!" Perfuma squealed. "Everyone, come quick! It's... it's..." She couldn't even finish her sentence as the excitement got to her. One after another, the townspeople ran past Glimmer and Bow, rushing to Catra's side as they all fawned over her with sparkles in their eyes. Catra folded her ears a little as she found herself a little questionable, unsure of what she should be feeling exactly. The townspeople looked over her from every angle, unable to comprehend who they were in the presence of, or the fact they lived to witness it themselves.

"The Universe had heard our pleas!" Perfuma continued in astonishment. "It's sent us the legendary She-Ra to save our home!" Looking past the crowd over to Glimmer and Bow, she decided to just roll with it as they gave her a small wave to go on.

"Umm... Yes, I uh..." It was hard to put on a serious face when this many people adored the sight of her. Wanting to catch her breath for a moment, she gently set the cart full of goods to her side, trying her best to be professional with the first group of people she's met since becoming She-Ra. "We have come here to...uhh... help with the assistance of this town...supplies and blockade and... and stuff..." What was this? Everything she said made her feel like an idiot yet the townspeople continued to gaze upon her, some of them actually tearing up with joy.

Like Perfuma herself. "Welcome to Plumeria, She-Ra!" With one proud welcome, Catra suddenly found herself completely surrounded now as the townspeople gathered around here. Somehow it got so bad she found a baby hugging onto her arms as if it wanted her too, just like the rest of the town did.

"Umm thanks... I think?" It was the most confusing predicament Catra found herself in as she handed the baby back to, hopefully, her mother, who was also hugging her. "Anyway, umm... thanks for the warm welcome... I guess, but we really should be getting back-"

"Oh no, you must stay!" Perfuma insisted running to cut her off again. "We need you here! We want you!" That was the first thing that made Catra legitimately curious.

"You... want me here?"

"Oh yes, yes!" It took all of her strength to keep from crying out in pure joy. "You're the one we've been waiting for for so long! We'd love to have you here! Everyone, let's welcome our beloved She-Ra!"

"She-Ra!"

Catra looked all around her as the townspeople cried out and cheered her name.

What... was this? It was weird. These people weren't fearful of her, they didn't question her odd looks, they just... welcomed her. They were actually happy to see her, not one of the pointing out her weird cat-like features or the fact she was some bizarre transforming cat who turned into a powerful warrior just by calling out some dumb phrase. It was weird, it was strange, it was...

Perfect!

This, this right here is everything Catra wanted when she finally had her own kingdom. She wanted to see the thousands, if not millions of townspeople who would cry out her name in glory whenever she passed by! She wanted to feel like they wanted her for herself, not just because of what she could do or what she was capable of! She could even see herself greeting her kingdom's capitol every morning. Stretching out of bed, walking over to the balcony, and a simple wave to the masses of townspeople that would applaud and cheer her name as they greeted her and the brand new day!

It was just too beautiful for words to describe to herself. Everything around here was perfect, everyone around her had the right idea to be blessed and welcoming of the great hero she was! And she was going to relish every second of it. With a grin, she wasted no time flexing before them, watching and enjoying the sight of them cheering even louder in applause.

"Well, if I'm going to be welcomed so warmly, who am I to say no?" She commented with a smug grin. "I can even tell you guys some of my heroics if you want..." It didn't matter what she would tell these guys as she walked past them. Knowing them as she did now, they would believe anything she had to say, the townspeople following right behind her as they continued their praises and cheers.

As they walked, a certain Princess found herself worried about the sudden turn of events. Their mission was solely to bring aid and assistance to the townspeople as needed. Sure, she wouldn't mind getting into some Horde action if the situation called for it, but now she just found herself in a new dilemma, one she curses for not thinking about earlier.

She just brought the princess of all egomaniacs in the world to a village that worshipped She-Ra as a goddess. Only difference was that they weren't worshipping a goddess.

They were worshipping Catra.

"Uhh Bow, do you think we should maybe pull her out of here?" Glimmer asked, waiting a few seconds for any response before turning to him. "Bow?"

"She-Ra! She-Ra! She-Ra!" Well that explained the lack of response. Finding himself getting in on the action and the fun, Bow couldn't help himself as he rallied in cheer along with everyone else, pumping his fist in the air along with them with every beat. Glimmer groaned to herself as she slumped, realizing how she was the only one taking any of this seriously.

"This day can only get worse from here..."

...

A/N: Hopefully the slightly larger size plus the new kick-butt intro to this made the wait worthwhile ^^ Again huge shout out and thanks to nightmaster003(000 on fanfiction) for his grand help in making the intro! Outta curiosity do you guys just want the intro for the first part of every episode, or all parts throughout the series, bonus episodes aside?

Also for those wondering: Yes, you have NOOOOOOO idea how badly i wanted to make the obvious "sleeping with someone/her" joke in the opening of this fic XP in fact I already wrote out several paragraphs at first before deleting them. Reason being? Simply for the fact that I hold true to my genre, demographic, rating, etc. in keeping this a K+ rated series, ages 7+, for the kiddies, and wasn't sure if that kind of joke would get me a T-rating or not.

Most likely yes XP.

Anyway not much else to say here aside from thanks. Now for my favorite portion of the day where I read my own chapter and groan every time I find one typo/error i correct, re-edit, re-post, then find more I missed, at least 30 times repeatedly XP.

Anyway, leave a like, fave, review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 11: Episode 4: Flowers For She-Ra Part 2

Summary:

Good news lucky folks! You're getting your episode a little earlier than fanfiction since idk if I can post this via mobile copying and pasting without my computer without some hassle. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter Text

A/N: Another fairly fun chapter here! Not much to say, and i do mean that this time XP! Next part might be the last depending on where i end things on here, which is hopefully the case since then I won't have to worry about finishing the episode-episode friday and can focus on my school work.

Hope everyone enjoys, and remember: any parts rushed, it's cause of medication + working on this at several different points in time. Either way, enjoy!

...

"Catra?" Glimmer called out walking through the village. "Catraaa?"

Typical.

Expected, yet typical.

Their first mission was nothing more than a simple supply run for the to aid the kingdom of Plumeria, the kingdom that belonged to Princess Plumeria. They were supposed to go in there, provide relief and aid for the villagers with a large surplus of supplies, after the Horde cut off their supply routes and resources, possibly drive out any Horde forces if they were under attack, and then get out. It wasn't just a mission to aid and potentially recruit one of the princesses of Etheria into the Rebellion, it was one of the first ones with Catra/She-Ra with them.

Catra was a new symbol of Hope for the Rebellion. With her ability to transform into the mighty She-Ra, she became a symbol of everything good in the Universe and everything it stood for. She was possibly the one single force that could combat the Horde, push the Rebellion forward. She-Ra was known for her beauty, strength, wisdom, courage, bravery, kindness, and most importantly, decency. With her on their side, the Rebellion actually had a chance of fighting back!

Unfortunately, the new She-Ra seemed less than interested in maintaining any sort of respect or honor. Instead, she seemed incredibly interested in showing off her new She-Ra-ness to the surrounding townsfolk.

In hindsight, bringing her to a town full of villagers that loved and adored She-Ra like there was no tomorrow was probably a bad idea. It was basically the equivalent of pouring fuel to a fire, watching the fire blaze out of control and waiting for it to burn itself out It didn't help in her case she spent the first several minutes by herself unloading the various boxes of provisions before searching the village for Catra. She thought it would be easier to find her if she just followed any small crowds she came across or anyone mentioning She-Ra, but she found them to be all over the town with people talking about "The incredible She-Ra!" all over the place.

At least the village was fairly small for a kingdom's capitol so finding Catra in this place shouldn't take that long.

Especially if she just followed the never-ending cheer that's been driving her crazy for the last fifteen minutes.

"She-Ra!"

She swore she was going to have that chant stuck in her head for the rest of her life at this rate. Thankfully, she finally came to the last large group of people who finally had Catra with them compared to the last dozen groups that were just cheering her name. The sight she came across was rather strange.

"67... 68... 69..." Catra huffed with each squat.

Pushing her way passed the crowd, Glimmer finally got a clear view of what Catra was doing. With her ego continuing to rise higher with each and every squat she did, she showed off in front of the crowd as she lifted weights in front of them while they cheered and praised her. What made the cheering and weightlifting so spectacular here? The fact she was squatting an entire bench filled with people on her back without breaking a sweat! While Glimmer could admit it was impressive on it's own, it was only furthering to fuel Catra's ego and the people's worship of her.

And Catra wouldn't have it any other way!

This, everything around her, was exactly what she wanted! Maybe she would've gone with a different look for a kingdom compared to just numerous tents surrounding one massive tree, but she would take what she could get. The people worshipped her here, they praised her! She's never felt so much joy before in her life! This is how she wanted every single day of her life to be when she finally became leader of her own realm, gaining constant love and support of her fellow peers.

And why shouldn't they love her? She was awesome! After all, she was the greatest warrior who ever lived, She-Ra, and they should be graced with her presence. She-Ra was the hero this Rebellion needed, something she was going to make sure of. Appreciation and support was just a natural thing that should've came her way anyway! They were lucky to have her, they were supposed to want her.

There was nothing she couldn't do with the constant support she had!

"98... 99... 100!" With a final huff, Catra carefully lowered the bench filled with villagers as the townspeople continued to cheer. Gazing amongst them, she couldn't help but feel all giddy inside, evident by the giant smile on her face. "This is the greatest day of my life!" She muttered to herself, walking over to a nearby table as the townsfolk followed her.

"Catra! Wait!" Glimmer tried to call out, only to fall on deaf ears as her voice was drowned out by the masses.

"Ok," Catra smirked placing her elbow on a table, "taking all challengers! Let's go!"

"I'll take that challenge!" A muscled-bound villager proclaimed, pushing through the crowd. He was the prime example of every muscle bound meathead Catra could picture. Muscles bigger than his own head, big tough attitude as he uncaringly pushed passed the crowd, and making the entire ground shake as he slammed his massive elbow onto the table. "Come on, shrimp!" He taunted, grabbing her hand.

Oh this was too easy.

Almost immediately, the large man grunted loudly as he attempted to push down the mighty She-Ra's formidable hand, wanting to prove himself just as tough as the legendary warrior herself. Veins could be seen popping around his skull and face as sweat flowed down his face. Catra on the other hand, just smiled the entire time, letting out an insulting yawn with her hand over her mouth. If she wasn't in her current She-Ra state, he might've actually been a challenge. As it stood though, he felt stronger than a simple mosquito that she would slap down the minute she felt it.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did we start yet?" She taunted. By the time the man could so much as glance back to her, she already slammed his massive hand's back onto the table. Like everything else she did, as it should be, the entire crowd cheered in praise as the buffed man slumped over in a pout, walking away from the table. "Ok, who's next!"

In the matter of three minutes, she quickly dashed away challenger after challenger, beating them flawlessly and without exhaustion, minus the small bit she felt before coming here. Time after time, she downed another opponent, many of which clearly tried their hardest. From young to old, the masses that challenged her lost, some of them taking defeat with pride while others felt honored to lose to the beloved She-Ra, adding on to the cheering she heard. She even beat an entire group of five or so villagers that tried to arm wrestle her at the same time. She took absolute joy out of tossing them off the table all at once.

"Come on, isn't there anyone who can give me a proper challenge?" She asked slightly taunting again with another yawn. That was when she saw the next contender come up to the table, growing surprised by the sight as the rest of the crowd awed.

It was a young girl, possibly around five-years-old, with light brown hair and small horns on the sides of her head. She had a nice little yellow dress on and a pink flower along her left ear. Like everyone else around here, her eyes sparkled at the sight of the infamous She-Ra, grinning widely as she took in Catra's awesomeness. She actually reminded her a bit of Kim from Thaymor, the young girl seeming full of energy as she took Catra's hand.

This shouldn't take long... Catra grinned to herself. Almost immediately the little girl started grumbling to herself as she tried to push down Catra's incredible strength to no avail. Catra actually found this a little sadder than the previous performances. At least with those people she actually felt a little something pushing against her, here it was nothing more than a brush of wind against her palm. She took greater joy as she slowly lowered the girl's hand towards the table, the little girl panicking as she tried using both hands to push back.

That was when she noticed the crowd beginning to grow silent, shifting her eyes around as she paused. Everyone was so excited and happy up till now and suddenly she found the crowd murmuring and muttering to themselves with worry because the little girl was losing. While no one was saying anything, nothing her ears could pick up at least, she could tell they were all concerned more for the little girl than her at the moment. It was a bit ironic that up till now, winning was getting her praises and cheer, and after the girl showed up, the cheers her wins were getting her were starting to dwindle.

Grinning to herself, she put on her best act as a look of terror filled her face, moaning to herself as she grabbed her wrist with her other hand. "Oh no!" She screeched, catching the girl's attention. "Can't... keep... up!" Realizing what was happening, or at least what she thought was happening, the little girl immediately grumbled to herself again as she pushed with as much force as she could. To her joy, and the rising joy of the audience, Catra's hand started falling into the opposite direction, Catra seemingly doing everything in her power to keep her hand off the table. Despite her best efforts, she let out a cry of fear as the little girl eventually slammed the mighty She-Ra's hand to the table.

It was as if a bomb went off with the uproar that the crowd let off as everyone doubled in praise at cheer at her loss. Everyone respected and cheered for the selfless She-Ra that let the little girl win, the little girl herself cheering for herself with both hands in the triumphantly. "I won! I won!"

"Heh, you sure did kid." Catra congratulated, patting her head. The crowd continued to cheer as the little girl giggled, walking off back to her parents as the praises continued.

This. Was. Paradise. She could do whatever she wanted here and she would be praised. She could defeat anyone that she came across and she would be worshipped. She could probably ask for anything and no one would question it. This was a small taste to her of what her kingdom would be.

Absolute Joy.

"I could get used to this." She commented to herself as she leaned back.

...

This was utterly shameful on Glimmer's end of things. Catra didn't even know these people for a minute before she went crazy for the attention she was getting. She was taking clear advantage of these people by milking them for as much praise she could get out of them, and she hasn't even made any demands for things she wants yet! She was not looking forward to things when she finally wanted something around here.

"This is embarrassing..." She pinched herself between her eyes. Hero of the Rebellion, the person she finally trusted with all her life, acting like the exact opposite of how a princess should behave in every practical way!

"Isn't she amazing?" Opening her eyes again she saw a beaming Princes Perfuma standing before her with her hands clasped.

"Hey," the two looked back as they heard Catra calling, "where can a hero gets some grub around here?" She asked picking her teeth with her claw. Several of the nearby townsfolk wasted no time as they ran off to search for food.

"...She's something all right..." Glimmer muttered crossing her arms. "I'm really sorry about her."

"Sorry? What do you have to apologize for?" Perfuma asked as she smiled. "You've given us a great blessing today!"

"I would've gone with a more appropriate term like curse, but ok..."

"No, really! It's so amazing that you answered our hour of need!" As if to clarify the importance of the matter, the two watched as several dead leaves fell around them. "Our forest has been dying for awhile now, ever since the Horde came in."

"The forest is dying?" It was just now Glimmer realized just how distracted she was by this She-Ra fiasco. Look around herself, she saw the numerous trees and flowers that slowly withered the further away from the village they went. "I don't understand. How is this happening?"

"It's because of the Heart Blossom, our Runestone of Plumeria." Perfuma explained as she directed her towards the giant tree in the center of the village. The tree seemed to be the healthiest of all the foliage she's seen around here, the pink healthy leaves atop it's branches being a symbol of the peace and love Plumeria stands for. Yet even that didn't prevent it's leaves to fall slowly, one leaf at a time. "Ever since the Horde arrived, the Heart Blossom has grown weaker by the day. They're draining the forest of it's energy, including the Heart Blossom itself."

"Wouldn't the Horde have to be close to drain the forest like this?" Glimmer pointed out.

"They are." She trailed Perfuma's hand as she pointed beyond the forest to the North. "Whenever they start draining our land of it's energy, smoke rises from their base up ahead. Even after they stopped, they've still monitor everything around them."

"Wait, the Horde stopped draining the forest's energy?" That didn't make any sense at all to her. "Why would they just suddenly stop? Did you attack them or something?"

"Good heavens, no! We're opposed to violence, all we want to do is live in peace." At there there was some sense coming from these people. None of them appeared to be the least combat experienced, even those who were built up to fight. "Even if we weren't, we couldn't risk leaving the Hearts Blossom unguarded while it's weakened."

"I understand that, "Glimmer nodded in agreement, "I don't know what life would be like if we ended up losing the Runestone of Bright Moon." It was a thought she rarely ever wanted to come across as she saw the sparks at the tip of her fingers. What would her life be like if she went through it all without any of her magic powers? More importantly, what would happen to her if something happened to the source of her powers?

"But you don't need to fret any longer. Now that She-Ra's here, everything will be fine!" Something sounded a little worrying about that statement.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because now that she's here, she can finally heal the Heart's Blossom itself! She's returned at the hour of our greatest need, just like in the stories!" Her face let off a brief flash of realization. "Ooh, I better make sure everything's ready!" With this she turned away as she headed back to the center of the celebration with excitement.

All at once, everything around her made sense while also filling her with worry. These people weren't just worshiping her because she was She-Ra, they expected her to actually heal the Hearts Blossom itself! How was she supposed to know how to do that when she didn't even know how to turn the She-Ra form thing off in the first place? Better yet, could she even turn it off at all? For all they knew she could be stuck that way.

"Catra!" Glimmer called out worriedly as she ran back towards the celebration.

...

*crunch*

"Does this food please you, She-Ra?" One of the horned woman asked as she served another bowl of the green-colored fruit.

"Aww 'oo 'idding?" She mumbled while eating her food. She let out a great belch, one that nobody seemed bother with, as she swallowed another mouthful. "This stuff is g...g... achoo!" She sniffled a little, finding that the pollen issue wasn't as gone as she thought it was. It didn't help she had several floral necklaces around herself. "Great!" There wasn't a lie about it either! They didn't have anything close to this good in the Horde, even when it came to fruit! Granted some of it was rather salty, but she wasn't about to complain any time soon!

"Oh, that makes me so happy to hear!" The woman brightened with delight, running off to collect more food.

If there was something better than paradise, Catra was pretty sure this was it. All these people were her all time favorite people in the world by this point forward! They had the right attitude to her, they had more than enough respect to offer her, and they definitely knew how to make a hero feel welcomed! If she could trade up her new Rebellion life to live out the rest of her days in this place, regardless of all the flowers and pollen, she'd do it in a heartbeat!

*thud*

"Huh?" Catra eyed the strange bell-looking thing the five-year-old girl from earlier set upon the table.

"It's for you!" She said with a bright smile. Her ears tilted a bit as she grabbed the strange looking decoration.

"O-Oh! T...Thank you..." She put on her best smile while examining the strange thing with mild confusion. She was more than happy to accept a gift from anyone around here, though it would help a little more if she knew what it was in the first place. The rest of the crowd seemed to adore the sight of the small child interacting with the greatest hero in the Universe, so Catra did her best to show her appreciation. "It's ehh... I-It's lovely!" She felt awkward as she examined the strange balls tied to string within it. "I mean, I've always wanted one of... these things so I could... uhhh... this here..."

"Wind Chime!" The girl beamed happily.

"Yeah, that! Wind Chime, just what I was going to say!" Catra quickly said, trying to sound like she knew what she was saying. "This is by far the best Wind Chime-y thing I've ever gotten. Thank you so much!"

"Hehehe, you're welcome!" The girl squealed excitedly as she giggled. Catra watched on as she ran back to her parents again, the two of them patting her head as she overheard how proud they were of her.

"Catra!" Glimmer called out again as she teleported behind her.

"Huh? Oh hey Pinky, what's up?" She didn't bother giving her any attention as she dug right back into her food.

"Catra, I need you to come with me. We need to talk." She stated.

*crunch*

"'an 'ih 'ait ju'sh a minn'a? I'm bu'shy." She claimed digging back into the food.

"No it can't wait just a minute, now!" Glimmer fretted as she began pulling her arm.

"Hey, hey, hands off!" Catra yelped a little pulling away. "Go mess with the flowers or something, I'm in the middle of something." Getting back to her feet, she called out to the surrounding villagers again as she made her way back to the other table. "Ok folks, round two! Who's up for more?" Almost immediately she was surrounded again on all sides as she made her way.

"Catra! Mmmmmmmh!" Glimmer grumbled loudly as a small bit of steam rose from her head. "Fine, if you wanna play it that way..." She muttered before teleporting in a purple dazzle.

"Ok, who's up next?" Catra called out as she planted her right elbow back on the table.

"I am!" Glimmer didn't even give her a chance to accept or decline as she suddenly teleported on the opposite end, grabbing Catra's hand without intending to let it go.

"Fine, but don't expect me to hold back or nothing." She grinned, tightening her grip.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Ha, your funeral. Ok, get ready annnnd...Go-! Ngh!" Catra was suddenly startled as she found her hand already halfway towards the table. Apparently the princess here had a lot more strength behind her than Catra originally thought. There was little doubt she was possibly channeling a portion of her power into her strength, just to keep up with Catra.

"When I win, you're coming with me!" She declared.

"F-Fat chance!" The Magicat She-Ra gritted her teeth, bringing her hand to the middle of the table again. Everyone around them watched with much enthusiasm and excitement as their body could muster. They weren't just graced with the presence of She-Ra, now they got to enjoy the sight of another princess challenging her! "Why do you have to be such a buzzkill around here?"

"I'm not being a buzzkill, I'm trying to help you!" She retorted quietly . "Catra, these people care more about She-Ra than they do you."

"Uhhhh helloooooo! I am She-Ra?" She rolled her eyes.

"No you're not! Your name is Catra and you're a part of the Rebellion!" Glimmer corrected. It was like Catra had completely forgotten about her old life in the last half-hour they've been here.

For all she knew, she did.

"Ugh, why are you so laaame? Why can't you be more like Bow? He has the right idea."

"Bow?" She had almost forgotten about him after everything that's happened. Without skipping on the details, Glimmer looked to the right as Catra's tail directed her.

Off over in the distance, a couple dozen yards away, she saw Bow entertaining several kids and adults while holding a stick like a sword. "How about the time she saved Thaymor by staring down an evil Horde Captain, and made them call off an attack through sheer willpower! Or how about the one time when She-Ra borrowed my toothbrush, and single handedly defeated a hundred Horde Soldiers!"

"Bow, don't lie to them!" Catra called out with a grin.

"You're right, I'm sorry... It was two-hundred soldiers!" The kids around him cheered with excitement as Catra laughed.

"Hahaha, I officially know which of you two I like more now!"

"Yeah, I'm just going to ignore all of that." If Glimmer got irritated by every witty or sassy comment and insult from Catra, her hair would've gone white by now from mere stress. "Look, Catra, I know you think these people worship you, but it's not like that! They think you can help them with their problem here."

"And who says I can't?" She questioned proudly. "I'm the great She-Ra after all!"

"But not like this!" Her ego was becoming more inflated by the second. She didn't know if it was possible, but she was pretty sure Catra's head would've popped by now by how inflated it was. "Catra, the only thing these people are interested in is what you can do for them, not you yourself."

"Hmph, says you." Her eyes narrowed a little angrily. "I don't know if you've noticed Glimmer, but these people love me. I don't care if they want me to do something for them. I'll gladly do it, and they'll praise me even more for it!"

"But Catra, you don't understand! Just listen-"

"No, you listen!" She hissed as she leaned forward. "You wanna know what I think? I think you're just jealous!"

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, jealous! You're so used to being mommy's little princess, getting all the attention by anyone you wanted, and getting anything you wanted that you're jealous of anyone else who seems to be hogging the glory!"

"That's not even true! I'm trying to help you-"

"No, it is true!" She wouldn't give her a chance to finish so much as a sentence. "I'm surrounded by people that want me and you're trying to ruin it with your princessness. Why can't you just be happy for me?!" There was a small quake in Catra's tone as she said that.

"Catra, please, I'm not trying to-"

"No, I'm done listening, now you're going to listen. I finally found a place that feels better than any home I've ever had, and I'm not going to let anything happen to it. I won't let anyone destroy it, I won't let anyone interfere with it, and I'm certainly not going to leave it anytime soon! And you wanna know one more thing?"

"What?"

She grinned. "I've been holding back this whole time."

*Crash!*

That was a little unexpected and planned on Catra's part, but she hoped she proved her point. By the time Glimmer could react, it was already too late. In one fell swoop, Catra not only slammed Glimmer's hand away with relative ease, she also ended up tossing her several yards to the side through the air. What was unplanned about it were the several barrels she ended up hurdling her into, not intending to do that much damage to the princess. She didn't let it get to her though as the townspeople rallied in cheer at her newest victory, almost ignoring the fact she just tossed a princess away through the air.

A small fraction of her actually wondered if she was okay.

Seeing the scene that unfolded, Bow quickly set the children climbing on him down as he ran over to where Glimmer landed somewhat worriedly. "Glimmer!" He called out, pulling one of the barrels off of her. "Are you ok?" To his relief, he saw her pulling herself out almost instantly after he pulled one of the barrels off of her. Thankfully the barrels seemed to be empty for the most part, only a few of them having anything in them and just a few pieces of fruit at that.

Glimmer on the other hand was fed up. With a scowl, she ignored everything going on with Catra, even as the She-Ra looked back to her with a slight hint of concern, patting all the dust from her shoulder, boots, and so forth. With a single grumble to herself, she teleported angrily back to Catra's side as she stood up.

"Hey Pinky... you-"

"You know what? I've had it." Glimmer interrupted without a care. "Every time I try to help you, either of us try to help you, you always have to be bitter, bossy, annoying, or some other thing, just to get a reaction out of me or Bow, and you know what? I'm done. I'm done trying to help you. So instead, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to just watch. I'm going to stand off to the side and watch everything unfold. And when your world shatters in the next few minutes, I'm going to force the biggest grin I've ever made onto my face and tell you 'I told you so', and I'm going to be happy about it."

"She-Ra!" The two looked over as Perfuma made her way over to them happily. "Preparations are in order the main event! Will you be gracing us with your blessing now or after the Drum Circle?"

While having no idea what she was referring to, she was still a little peeved as she glanced over to Glimmer. What was this girl's problem? First she tries to steal her away, then she tries to ruin her happiness, and now she tries to ruin her mood in the midst of all this?

How ungrateful!

"You know what? Let's do the whole blessing thing now while we're all up and at it." Catra's insistence was followed by another round of applause and cheer by the crowd. With another smirk to the other princess, Catra walked on as Perfuma lead the way, the crowd following behind her continuing their cheers and praise as they followed along.

Looking between the two back and forth, Bow quickly walked over to his dear friend as she continued to stare. "H-Hey, are you ok?"

"Just go with her." She practically ordered. "I want to enjoy this in private."

"Look, Glimmer, I know she can be stuck up, but you have to remember she's from the Horde." He reminded. "Maybe she-" She didn't give him any time to finish. Before he could finish his sentence, Glimmer teleported, to who knows where. Sighing to himself, he jogged himself over to the moving crowd.

He knew perfectly that this wasn't going to end well.

...

"Allow me to extend my deepest gratitude again, She-Ra, for gracing us with your presence!" Perfuma thanked with her hands clasped.

"Heh, yeah, you're welcome... for the fifteenth time..." Catra replied. It was starting to get a bit embarrassing just how much she was being praised.

But not boring.

"Behold, the heart of our beloved kingdom, the Heart Blossom!" Bow and Catra gazed upon the massive tree as their eyes widened at the sight.

This might've been one of the biggest trees either of the two had ever come across. Stretching far above to the sky, maybe half as tall as Bright Moon Castle itself, was a gigantic pink plaster of bark that could be seen from the furthest stretch of the clearing here, from any single place in the entire village! The massive roots of this great oak stretched far beyond anything either of the two could comprehend. Massive sized roots dug throughout the soil of this giant tree, with individual roots sprouting flowers from the tips of these additional roots.

Everything about this place spoke peace and beauty to all that gazed it.

That's when Catra's attention shifted to the giant pink runestone embedded within the center of this great tree. It was weird, strange to her. Being this close next to one of the first Runestone's she's seen since the Black Garnet, a runestone she wouldn't dare come near again, she could've sworn it was humming. She felt a warmth coming from the great stone the closer she got to it, a warmth none of the others seemed to feel save for possibly Princess Perfuma herself.

But it was also weaker, she believed at least. There was something about it, cold, hurt, feelings emanating from it that told her that it was in pain. Was it another ability she possessed being She-Ra now? Could she sense how the tree was on the inside? The color itself made her question if the tree was even healthy as it appeared. She could almost swear the runestone was supposed to shine brighter than this.

"What do you think, mighty She-Ra?" Princess Perfuma asked with a small bow.

Scratching the back of her head, she tried to think up an answer for the villagers. "Well it's... uhh... certainly big... and... pretty?"

"Thank you! We respect all boundaries of nature and live alongside it peacefully." She replied touching the tree. "It's been here for centuries, providing us with protection and prosperity for our people." As she went on, Catra and Bow took notice as several leaves began falling from it's branches, quickly shriveling up and decaying practically into dust before them.

"What's going on with the leaves?" Bow asked as he watched more fall. "Is something wrong with the tree.

Perfuma frowned as she turned her head a little. "The Horde has been collecting and siphoning the tree's energy up to this point. Until recently, the tree's grown weaker by the day and the plants around us have begun to die."

"Until recently?" Catra repeated. Did that mean they stopped? Why would they stop in the middle of something? With the village being as peaceful as it is, they could easily overpower the villagers and take the tree's energy without a second thought.

"But that's all in the past now because you're here with us!" Perfuma chirped as she walked back to Catra. "Now you can use your power to restore the tree and the land as it once was!"

"Uhhh do what now?" A small tingling sensation was growing in the back of Catra's mind. It wasn't anything that could kill her and the troubling part was something told her she wanted it to compared to what she was about to go through.

"You know, restore it! Heal the tree and save our land!" She pleaded. "Just like the stories!" She walked off along the sides of the giant roots as she used her magic to move the foliage covering several scriptures involving She-Ra. "She-Ra, the warrior that tamed the beasts of Beast Island with a single word!"

"Uh... I did that?"

"Yes! Every time we've needed you, the Universe answered our call and brought you to us!"

"Like the Great Famine that struck us several millennia ago!" A villager called out.

"Or the time you struck down the mighty beowulf with one hand!" Another called out.

"And now, you're here to answer our pleas again!" Perfuma said assuringly.

"She-Ra!"

Catra smiled nervously as the villagers walked closer to her while chanting.

This might've been a slight problem. Here she was, recent center of attention, who was tasked with doing something magical with the sword, healing in this case. Why did it have to be healing of all things? She thought she was going to fight a Horde soldier or some monsters, or maybe save some villagers from some evil monster trying to eat their children! What did she have to do instead? Preform some magic with a sword she's barely used at all to restore an entire land to it's former self! She might as well be ending world hunger while she was at it!

That's when she noticed Glimmer, princess of Bright Moon and Queen Angella's daughter, passed the crowd. Sure enough, just like she promised she would be doing, she was leaning against one of the trees while crossing her arms with a giant smirk across her face. She was going to watch this and enjoy all that she could get out of it.

There was absolutely no way she would ever give her that satisfaction!

"Hmph, fine then, I'll do it!" She said with a determined face. Like everything else she did, this was followed by cheers and applause from the people around her, all watching as she walked up to the tree.

"Use my Wind Chime for good luck!" She heard the little girl call out. She looked back for a second before looking to the Wind Chime she was still holding.

"Uhh Catra?" Bow called out as he walked over. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" He whispered.

"I don't even know how to change back to normal, what makes you think I can heal this thing?" She whispered back nervously.

"Then let's just step back for a minute to practice or something."

"Are you kidding? Do you see how they are now? They need me to do this!" She looked at the sword in her other hand, seeing the person she needed to be right now.

She-Ra.

"If they expect me to be a hero, then that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"But how are you going to do it then? You've never done anything else with the sword."

"Well... how hard can it be?" She gulped to herself as she leaned the sword against the tree, using her free hand to feel the tree itself. With direct contact to the stone, she could feel it. It was definitely in pain like she thought, a small fraction of it's power slowly draining to the surrounding forest. Taking a deep breath, Catra closed her eyes as she tried to concentrate, everyone, Bow and Glimmer included, watched intently as Catra tried to work her literal magic.

Come on, please! She said to herself. Give me whatever power, use whatever power you have, to help these people...

She needed this to work. It had to work! This wasn't just a matter of proving Glimmer wrong, she wanted to make everyone proud of her! They worshipped her and praised her ever since they got here! Even someone of Catra's demeanor couldn't bring herself not to repay their generosity! They're some of the nicest people she's ever met, they didn't deserve whatever cruelty was being inflicted upon them. And she was willing to fight off anyone she needed to keep these people specifically safe.

As she concentrated, she heard numerous oohs and awes as the people watched.

"Catra, you're glowing!" Bow announced.

"I'm trying to concentrate!" She quickly shushed back to him. This had to be it, it had to be working! She dared not open her eyes as she tried to focus all her thoughts on the tree itself. If she was glowing, it had to be a good sign.

She drowned out the numerous murmurs and mutters she heard around her as she continued to glow, her hair raising slightly as her body coursed with power. Nobody knew what to expect, Glimmer herself actually finding herself surprised by what Catra was doing. Was she really going to pull it off? Was she actually going to heal the tree and save the day like Catra said she would? Maybe she wasn't just showboating about the whole She-Ra thing either?

I... I can feel something... This warm soothed her nerves as she continued to concentrate. This strange warmth brought her comfort in this hour of need. Perhaps all her troubles were finally behind her now? Maybe she really could be this legendary She-Ra everyone begged of her? This was fantastic! It brought a smile to her face. She finally had a purpose in life and a place where she belong-

It stopped. Everything stopped. All the feelings she felt, all the thoughts running through her mind, it all left her. Nothing filled her mind or her heart until she started hearing several disturbed gasps and murmurings coming from behind her.

"What?" She asked looking back. Save for Bow, everyone else looked at her in shock. Catra looked at what was troubling these poor people that had been so good to her, eyes widening at what she saw.

Herself.

Her transformation had finally ended.

She was just plain old Catra again.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" She growled grabbing her sword. "Of all the stupid times to change back you pick now?!"

"Who are you?" She looked back as she saw the somewhat scared and questioning looks of the villagers. They looked like they were just meeting her for the first time again, but more nervous or angry instead of happy or joyful. "Where's She-Ra?"

"Uhh right in front of you?" She answered like a rhetorical question. "I've been She-Ra the whole time here, it's just this stupid sword that transforms me into-"

"Are you not She-Ra?" Another woman questioned her. There was a sense of dread emanating from the audience who watched her.

"She's just a girl!" Another elderly woman said.

"News flash, so was She-Ra." Catra retorted. "Anyway just give me a few minutes to get this thing working, I'll have it down in no time."

"But you're not even She-Ra!" Ok now it was starting to get annoying.

And concerning.

"I thought you were here to help us!"

"What did you do to She-Ra?"

"Bring us back She-Ra!"

All around her the entire crowd of people just went from one thing after the other as they continued to bombard Catra with an array of questions and demands from here. What just happened to these people? Here they were, worshipping her literally one minute ago and now they throwing words and, at this point, insults at her like she was a witch from a witch hunt. Did she just enter some parallel dimension or something while her back was turned?

Even Perfuma looked at her with complete shock and dismay at what just happened. This wasn't the She-Ra she remembered! She-Ra was supposed to be a soldier radiating with an aura power and wisdom. She was hope incarnate that would come to their world in their greatest hour of need and save them from whatever evils left them in peril.

This? This was a Horde soldier. A Horde soldier who's animal-like features actually looked more terrifying to her than anything she's ever witnessed. Sure, she wasn't as terrifying as a monster or anything, but compared to her previous attire and appearance, she looked like a wolf who took off sheep's clothing.

"Can... you not save us?" Princess Perfuma finally asked. Now Catra was starting to get steamed.

"What is wrong with you people?!" She shouted squeezing her fists. "I AM She-Ra!"

"Catra-!" Bow tried to interrupt.

"I CAN get the sword to work!"

"Catra-!" She was oblivious to the increasingly worried look on his face.

"If you just stopped pressuring me, I can get it done in no time!"

"CATRA!"

"What?!" She finally growled back, too little too late.

*CRACK!*

Her ears twitched as she suddenly picked up on the noise, finding the source of it coming straight from her hand. Her eyes widened in shock as she just realized what she had done. In the midst of all this anger and frustration that was being built up, she failed to sense any feeling of touch coming from her hands. Because of this, she was completely unaware as she continued to squeeze the beautiful Wind Chime someone had gifted to her all before any of this stuff happened. And without skipping a beat, she brushed it in her bare hands like it was nothing.

It was a gift from a simple five-year-old girl, one she let win in arm wrestling, and one who reminded her of Kim. The very same girl who now had tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she looked back. For one of the first times in her life, at least since leaving the Horde, she felt a tinge of remorse. She was someone who idolized her, even if it was because she was She-Ra, and on top of making her cry in front of all these people, she destroyed something that was precious to her.

She didn't even have the time to utter an apology before the girl ran away back to her parents. They quickly hugged her in turn as she cried into their legs, glaring back at the would-be She-Ra like the rest of the villagers had.

"You're a monster!" The villagers shouted.

"You're not She-Ra, you're just an imposter!"

"Go back to where you came from and leave us in peace!"

This... was a nightmare. Nothing but a complete nightmare. She was no longer in the same paradise that she once relished. She was in a nightmare of her own personal torment, her own personal torture.

One that she designed.

"Ugggh! Forget you stupid people, I'm done!" She growled. Gritting her teeth she picked up her sword as she hastily marched her way back into the woods. Princess Perfuma could only shake her head at the scene before returning to her villagers, trying to calm them down and come up with a way that could best explain what was going on along with Bow.

At the same time, a princess off in the distance continued to smile at the scene. This is exactly what she told her would happen, what she tried to warn her about, but did she listen? No. She decided to be stuck up as always and completely ignore Glimmer even as she tried to help her. On top of that, she felt it necessary to toss her aside into a cluster of barrels. Whether or not it was an accident, it didn't matter to her. She didn't want to listen to anything she had to say and she was the one suffering for all this.

And now she was going to walk into the woods to reap her rewards from the selfish egomaniac herself!

...

"Oh Catraaaa~" Glimmer called out with glee.

Thaymor.

That's what this entire scenario reminded her of. It had basically the same formula of the disaster that struck the down, or at least involving Catra and not the Horde attack after. She mingled with the people, participated at a festival of sorts, got chewed out by adults who were angry with her, and then she ran off into the woods to pout. The only difference this time is that she didn't care!

She was done trying to help the girl whenever she didn't truly need it. She thought she could get away with acting like a complete snob when she was trying to help her in the first place? Fine! Who cared what happened to her in the process as long as she didn't get hurt! Ever since she met her she was mean, prideful, snobby, selfish, uncaring, rude, lazy, and, a new one she could add to the list, egotistical!

So now, she was going to get her time. Glimmer was going to find her in these woods and rub it in her face just like everything Catra did to rub any insults into her face.

Sure enough, just like Thaymor, she found her beside a tree again, now standing on the ground like she was. This time, she was near it with her right shoulder leaning against it with her back towards Glimmer, no doubt crossing her arms in a huff. Oh, she was going to enjoy herse-

*sniff*

"?"

Was she crying? She couldn't tell as she felt a moment of concern. Or is it the pollen again? It must've been the latter here. After all, she was still wearing several of the flower necklaces she was given at her celebration. Shaking the thoughts from her head she quickly smirked as she crossed her own arms.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." She waited briefly for any sort of reaction out of her. No doubt she would remain silent through most of whatever insults of "I told you so" Glimmer had to dish out. "Did you enjoy the festival? I know I sure did!"

"..."

"I think my favorite part was right after you turned back to normal in front of everybody. Gee, talk about bad timing, huh-"

"What do you want?" She asked turning her head barely an inch. There was something weird about her tone of voice, being impossible to see her expression passed her hair. There was a strange coldness to it unlike anything she's heard Catra say before. There was no emotion to her words or any sense of demand from it. It was just nothing, hollow. It's like she's lost any emotion she ever had.

Still, she wasn't going to let it ruin her chance of payback. She pushed aside the thoughts as she continued. "Oh, nothing, just came to see where you ran off to. I was surprised to see you running so fast, and after such a fun festival too!"

"..." Catra just turned her head again away from Glimmer.

"You know I'm pretty sure if you weren't so keen on doing everything like a goddess, you wouldn't be in this mess."

"..."

Ok, now it was getting a little annoying. She didn't think Catra was capable of keeping to herself for this long when someone was purposely trying to mock her. Her tail wasn't wagging around through some subconscious means or anything. It just remained lifeless, like she was being. "It was a shame you had to go and destroy that gift that little angel made you, you know? I'm sure at least then someone still would've liked you, even if you weren't She-Ra."

"..."

*sniff*

Something was wrong.

Everything about this was wrong. It became more apparent to her as she suddenly saw Catra rub the corner of her eye against her arm. It wasn't just that, it was Glimmer herself. Why was she doing this? She wasn't feeling any better about all of this, she wasn't getting any joy out of these reactions. If anything, she felt a little sicker with herself just for trying to get some sort of reaction out of Catra. She came here hoping to smile her whole way through this, but now she was just feeling concerned... and a little hurt herself.

"Catra..." Catra ignored the shift of emotion in her voice. "Are... Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She hissed.

Well that got a reaction out of her.

"Huff, look, Catra, if you weren't so obsessed with wanting to hear how great you are, none of this would be happening."

"...What?" She turned her head a little more back.

"I just mean if you just tried to act normal and not show off in front of everyone, you wouldn't be feeling as bad as you do now. You just let all the praises and compliments get to your head, that's why things ended up like this."

"...You think I was doing it for all the praises and garbage they were giving me?" She finally turned around to her, facing her directly. It was impossible to tell if she was crying at any point or not. All Glimmer could see was an empty stare into her eyes.

"W-Well... yeah... I-I mean that's why you were showing off in front of them and everything... wasn't it?" This conversation was starting to flip in on itself from how Glimmer pictured it.

"Showing off? What part of anything made you think I was showing off just so they could praise me?"

"Huh?" Was she joking or using some form of reverse-psychology on her? Did Catra even know how to comprehend reverse-psychology? "What do you think? Try everything you were doing in front of them that earned you cheer!"

"Pinky, I could care less what they were cheering for me or praising me for." She squeezed her fist a little. "I was showing off because these people actually cared about me!"

"You... think they cared about you?"

"I know they cared about me!" She hissed, turning around to lean against the tree once more. "They enjoyed seeing me, they liked having me around here! They brought me food, cheered at everything I was doing, I got a freaking gift from someone for pete sake! And I didn't know these people and they still cared about someone they just met!"

"Catra... Ohhh..." Oh, great. Just great. She definitely wanted things to turn out this way! Oh how happy she was to see everything flip in on itself the one time she wants to be the snobbish one around here. "Catra, they weren't caring for you in the way that you're thinking. They were just happy because they thought you were here to solve their problems."

"Yeah, and I probably could've if they didn't instantly hound in on me the minute I changed back!"

*sniff*

There was little doubt left about what the sniffling was from. She was crying earlier.

"Look, Catra, that wasn't..." She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I thought you were doing it for all the attention and everything. I just figured with how you throw yourself at everything in front of people, you liked the attention they were giving you. Just like the attention people gave you in the Fright Zone." There was an eerie silence looming around the air as she waited for a response. When she didn't get one, another thought occurred to her that she didn't think of. "...Did... you get any attention in the Fright Zone?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, I got plenty of attention in the Fright Zone." She quickly replied without hesitation. "I got just comforting words like "oh hey look, it's that freak again", and "oh great, what is she doing here", or my personal favorite "ugh, why do they allow that in the Fright Zone"! They really knew how to make a girl feel welcome you know!"

"Mmmh look, Catra, I know kids can be cruel sometimes, but-"

"Who the heck is talking about kids? I'm talking about the stupid adults that raised us!" She shouted. "And they were the nice ones about it too! They at least muttered it to themselves thinking I couldn't hear them! Don't even get me started with the children I was raised along with..."

Ok. This was completely unfair.

Here Glimmer was, who hoped to go into the woods to confront an egomaniac named Catra and get back at her for all the hardships she put her through and the annoyances she had to put up with up till now, after one single day in the Rebellion. She was going to do it, show off in front of Catra, and feel totally better about everything that happened up to this point.

What happened instead? She came to a greater realization than anything she or Bow could've thought up. Catra wasn't showing off just to upstage anyone, she didn't want the world thinking she was the greatest person alive, or at least not around here. She wanted to show these people how good she was because she thought they welcomed her, respected her. She thought all the attention she was getting was a sign of compassion of some sort.

Like a family.

And it left Glimmer with a sickening feeling after realizing all of this. She thought someone as hard struck as Catra wouldn't be bothered by all these emotions and whatnot, especially since she was raised in the Horde. Here, she was nothing more than an average person, one who's life was torn upside down like the rest of the world, if not more so given the people who raised her. And here she was planning and wanting to rub it in her face thinking Catra was a snob.

She was nothing more than a person who became intoxicated with the amount of praises she got, thinking it meant others cared for her.

Glimmer had nothing but ultimate regret for every reason she came out here to find her.

"Catra... I'm... I'm sorry..." She apologized lowering her head a little. "I didn't know."

It didn't matter to her at this point. This entire mission, everything about it, was a complete crush on her mentality and her emotions at this point. She couldn't wait to get back to the Castle as of now. At least then she'd be surrounded by people she knew didn't make her feel welcome.

"...Just forget it." Both of them wished they could.

"Catra! Glimmer!" Bow could be heard shouting as he rushed up to them.

"Bow? What's wrong?" Glimmer was the first to turn around curiously, noticing the worry in his eye as he panted out of breath.

"Huff... Huff... " He fell to his knees as he collected his breath. "The... The Horde..." Catra instantly turned around at the mention of the word. Nothing with the word Horde in it ever resulted in something good.

"What? What Horde? What happened?" Catra demanded as she ran to him.

"The Horde, they're..." He let out a final breath before getting back to his feet. "They're at the village, an entire force of them! At least fifty, maybe!"

"They're attacking the village?!" Glimmer fretted. That was just great. Now she was going to hear how the Horde appeared out of nowhere just after she left it for her own selfish reasons.

"Well..." The two looked at him bewildered as a strange look crossed his face. "That's the thing. They're not attacking, they're... negotiating."

Glimmer and Catra looked at each other as if they had never heard the word before. Negotiating was a staple of what every war should've been to avoid bloodshed and violence, so lives could be spared and both sides were relatively happy. Never have they heard the words "Horde" and "Negotiating" ever in the same sentence.

"Negotiating?"

...

A/N: So what's the moral of today's story? ... I don't know, that's why I asked you guys XP.

Lol, anyway, had a bit of fun with the ending of this one (I mean it still tug at my heart but you get the point). Fun thing about my writing, if I know what I intend to write about and whatnot, I can write out lickity split! Otherwise for the scenes that are going scene-by-scene from the show, they take awhile obviously cause i have to keep going back and forth with watching it and writing it down and whatnot.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed todays episode! I have work all day today so dk when/if I'll even be back before possibly 10 TONIGHT X_X i'm gonna be tired... but I will have my phone at least so feel free to message me about concerns or questions you have.

And again, let me know if you guys want the intro in the beginning of all episodes, or just the first part of every episode. Idky I just feel like it would be nifty if the intro was in all of them rather than one-third of them or something...

Anyway! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 12: Episode 4: Flowers for She-Ra End

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, lordy lordy! This one was LOOOOONG and FUUUUUUUN to write!... well minus when it started eating into my work time and everything but you get the point XP. Anyway, not much to say here. There are some bits more rushed than others (least feels like it to me), especially during the later half (again just feels like it to me), but this is the result of my trying to shorten down and push in 6 minutes of the series into just 8k or so words for a chapter.

Clearly, I failed XP. And this was me trying to write a little less compared to usual so add that in to any scenes that aren't as detailed as they used to be.

For those wondering why i write so descriptively, look back to my danganronpa days. When you're writing a visual novel, you NEED to write more for the scenes when you're writing about a bunch of people standing around in one spot for several chapters...

Anyway, enjoy!

...

"You want us to what?"

"You heard us, rats!" The behemoth of a man bellowed as he continued to talk.

This day was the first time Glimmer, Catra, and Bow found their day go from bad to worse to confusing, in that order.

The Bad: Bringing Catra to a village that worshipped her like a goddess. The minute the praises and compliments came from these people, Catra began doing anything and everything to gain as much praise and compliments as possible from these people. This was one of the best days of her life and the most welcoming towns she ever came across! Too bad that only lasted as long as her She-Ra form did because almost immediately she found herself hounded and practically hated by everyone that came across her. It's like they were completely unaware that Catra and She-Ra were one and the same!

The Worse: What followed after. Having been fed up by Catra's arrogance and attitude up to this point, Glimmer decided to try her hand at being the snobbish one for once and give Catra a taste of her own medicine. How did it go? Oh, about as well as she could expect it to be. And by that she means heartbreaking.

What she wanted to be a good bit of payback as well as a life lesson for Catra's ego ended up being a heart-wrenching realization on Glimmer's end of things. Catra wasn't being arrogant as she thought. She liked the praise, she wanted the attention, but for an entirely different reason. She thought the amount of attention and praise she was getting was a sign of compassion, a feeling she was never used to before in her life among the Horde. She was so enamored by the compassion she felt that she didn't want the feeling to go away, making it saddening for the both of them when the truth was finally known.

And finally, the Confusing: At present, visible by our two-and-a-half heroes from behind one of the many trees of Plumeria, there was what appeared to be a negotiation at hand. Nothing could explain why such a momentous event was occurring, nor why the Horde suddenly decided to negotiate in the first place. The Horde, up till now, has been attacking and decimating anything and everything they come across, whether people, the land itself, or anyone who disagrees with them. Now, they were like a completely different army by preforming this never-before-scene, at least within the Horde, known as negotiation.

And not one bit of it settled right in the pits of Catra's stomach.

"Ugh, what the heck is he doing here?" She groaned, recognizing the large behemoth-like man.

"You know him?" Glimmer asked curiously.

"Yeah, some all brawns-and-less-than-brains sorta guy I ran into yesterday." She replied. "He was trying to capture Swifty, that flying horse thing, when I came across him. Guy nearly ripped me in half too while I was saving it."

"But what's he doing all the way out here?" Bow asked, never taking his eyes off the meeting. There was no way he could look away from an entire group of villagers staring at an army of fifty soldiers lined up side by side behind the leader of their group.

"How should I know? He was way out on the other side of the forest he burned down when I met him."

"Can you hear what's going on from here?" Glimmer asked, seeing how they were incapable from hearing as well as her from sixty feet away. They couldn't risk being spotted while the Princess of Bright Moon was with them.

"Yeah, just keep it down..." Her ears twitched a little as she tried to get a proper hearing.

"Lord Hordak has decided to grace your kingdom with his everlasting mercy!" The large man continued. "Either you surrender your runestone to us and join the glorious might of the Horde, or your village will be the next thing we burn down!"

"B-But we have no desire for war!" Princess Perfuma stated. "All we want to do is live in peace. We are not a violent kingdom!"

"Be that as it may, your options are limited." He huffed. "Lord Hordak's mercy is not to be taken lightly, and you will NOT be given this opportunity again! Either your people can join the glory of the Horde, or be cut down like the rest of your remaining trees!"

Following this, everyone, the trio included, watched as a sudden plume of smoke rose passed the forest. Looks of concern and fear crossed the faces of the many villagers, all gasping and murmuring at the sight of the dark smoke. It was at that time dozens of leaves began to fall from the Hearts Blossom, the treasured runestone of the kingdom, as blackened tendrils began to crawl along the bark of it. The tendrils glowed with faint yellow streaks of light as the life of the tree drained slowly by the second, the surrounding plants beginning to pale and shrivel up as a result.

"Until you make your decision, your precious tree will be drained of every last bit of it's strength!" He announced.

"Please, we..." Perfuma looked lost in thought. What was she supposed to do in this kind of situation? The Horde were the enemies of everything the Rebellion fought against. Even if she was no longer part of the alliance, she couldn't turn her back on her past friends and allies. But she also couldn't endanger the life of her kingdom and her fellow people. There was no win in this situation! "...We need some time, please..."

Whether out of leniency or otherwise, the large man huffed once more as he punched his hand intimidatingly. "You have one hour to decide! When you've made your decision, you will come to the base in person, alone! Hopefully for your sake and that of your people, you choose wisely!" With his final threat, he nodded to the surrounding soldiers as they marched off back into the woods, in the same direction as the smoke stack.

With the coast clear, the three ran towards the group of concerned townspeople. What were they supposed to do in this situation? They couldn't risk being known as betrayers of the Rebellion like other kingdoms, but they had no means to fight back either. Everyone last one of them were harmless! They were so distraught in their thoughts that half of them barely paid any mind to Catra's return. Those that did however seemed less than happy to see her.

"Perfuma!" Glimmer called out as she ran up. "What's going on?"

"The Horde is offering us peace in exchange for joining with them." Perfuma replied. "Unless we comply they're going to drain our runestone of everything it has."

"You're not going to listen to them I hope!" Catra said with a low growl. Several more heads were turned at the sound of the familiar magicat.

"What other choice do we have?" One of the villagers asked. "Either we join them or we lose everything!"

"Did you forget everything they did to you though?" Bow reminded. "Everyone we've lost since the Horde arrived? The land they've scorched since coming?"

"We can't risk our lives when we have no chance of winning."

"So you're just going to let them boss you around until you fall in line?" Catra looked over the dozens of frowns and concerned looks of the villagers. Not one of them seemed the least bit hopeful or brave enough to fight.

"If we join with the Horde," Perfuma said softly, "then maybe we can live in peace. At least we won't have to be afraid for our lives then."

"You'll never not be afraid for your lives if you join them!" She retorted. More heads raised to her as she spoke. "You have to believe me on this. If you join them your lives are only going to get harder! You're never going to know peace working for them!"

"How are we supposed to believe you?" One of them grumbled. "You're not even the real She-Ra!"

"You couldn't even heal a tree when we needed it. How are we supposed to oppose them?"

"For all we know you're trying to trick us! Maybe you're still with the Horde!"

This was just like the tree all over again. One after the other people started throwing accusations and words at her from all sides, several faces angered and several filled with sorrow. While she didn't care as much, Catra still found herself getting stressed from the bombardment of comments and doubts being thrown at her. Nothing went silent until Perfuma lifted her head again, just as dismayed as the rest of the villagers.

"Maybe this is the answer the Universe has provided for us." When faith was all one had, even the most dreadful of options seemed the most necessary. "Perhaps this is the only path left for us to obtain something close to peace."

"But... Mmh..." How was she supposed to argue with these people? They were so blinded by their faith of the Universe and nothing she came up with would reach them. And she couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound insulting, especially after the annoyance she's gone through, that would turn them on her more.

"You need to listen to her!" Glimmer said taking a step forward. Catra was surprised to hear her support in all this after the last few minutes. "Catra's lived within the Horde since the day she was born! She knows how horrible and cruel they can be even to their own people! If you join them you're only going to suffer more than you are now!"

The people of Plumeria went silent as they all gathered their own thoughts to this. Another princess was speaking up for someone else, someone they shunned on a moment's notice. They couldn't tell if they should be inclined to believe her or more troubled by the turn of events. It still did little to ease their conscious either. If anything, they only felt more troubled at the thought of doubting a fellow princess.

"...You still don't understand..." Perfuma shook her head in response. Raising her arm in front of them, the three watched as a flower materialized in the palm of her hand. "I grow flowers. That's all my magics good for. Others weave quilts, some make pottery. We're not warriors, we have no means to fight back."

"Well then use your gifts to fight back!" Bow squeezed his fist with pride. "Just because your talents don't make you warriors doesn't mean you aren't one! What else do you have to lose anyway? It's like Glimmer said, you'd be throwing your lives away just by joining the Horde."

More silence followed this as Catra looked around. This was it. This was all the force they had to fight with. Against armed guards and a military base, with weaponry of who knows what, against a handful of villagers who didn't seem to know how to throw a punch, it would be a slaughter.

Gritting her teeth, Catra shook her head as she began walking away. "Just forget about them." Bow and Glimmer looked back in shock at the statement.

"But Catra-"

"But nothing!" She didn't give Glimmer three words before cutting her off. "If they'd rather be miserable and follow their stupid beliefs, then let them. This is just a waste of time. Let's just get out of here."

Something wasn't right. She knew Catra to be cold at times but she was being a little too forceful on the situation here. She usually preferred drawing out all the talk she could whenever something was going on, never cut through the middle of it like this. That was when she saw something, a strange miniscule look from the corner of Catra's eye as she turned her head back for just a sec, ever so slightly. It was brief, almost nothing, but strange for someone like her.

Against her better judgement, she gestured to Bow as the two followed along with her in the woods, leaving the town to sort itself out with their own dilemma. Perfuma was at a personal loss for what to do. Whatever her decision was at this point, she only knew she had less than an hour to decide...

...

"So, mind telling me what that was about?" Bow asked as they followed behind Catra. He knew she had every reason to be mad at the situation, given all that happened, but he figured she'd hate the Horde more than how the village treated her.

"What do you think?" Catra shrugged. "That town was getting annoying, so I left. Plain and simple."

"So... what's the plan then?" Glimmer asked.

"Beats me. Go home, destroy the base, your call princess. I'm just here because the Queen told me to."

"But what about the Horde then? Aren't you going to do something about it?"

"Who cares. If they wanna join them so badly then good for them. Long as I don't have to deal with them anymore I'm all for it."

This was starting to reach the point beyond weird. She just had the most stressful moment of her life, at least since Glimmer knew her, and all of a sudden she didn't seem to care about anything. What was this sudden change in personality? It's like everything that happened in the village didn't even phase her-

Glimmer suddenly stopped, Bow taking another step before noticing her pause.

"Catra..." Catra froze in her tracks, keeping her back to the two. "You... You still care about the villagers, don't you?"

"...Huh?" It was the same as last time. She didn't give her any face as she turned her head a little, still with the uncaring tone she's known her to have. Except this time Glimmer noticed how a little too forceful the non-caring attitude was.

"You left them there because you don't want them to fight, right?" She guessed. "You're worried they'll get hurt if they try to fight back."

"..."

"Catra... is that true?" Bow wouldn't be able to believe it if she told him herself. It sounded nothing like the Catra the two of them knew, and at the same time something sly enough for her to try.

"...Tch, are you for real?" She snorted. "Why the heck would I care for a bunch of idiots that think the Universe is going to solve everything? Did you forget everything they did to me after I changed back to normal? If they care more about She-Ra than they do me then their whole village can burn down for all I care."

"Then why are you heading towards the Horde base?" Catra blinked at this as she looked to the sky. Like Glimmer said, she was heading in the direction the smoke was coming from.

"Huh... look at that. Guess I took a wrong turn."

"Oh would you just knock it off!" Glimmer teleported in front of her. "Stop acting like you don't care about the villagers already! If you want to help them then just say so! We'll all go together!"

As sure she was that Catra cared for the villagers, it was impossible to tell from the look in her eyes. They had the same lack of glow or care that she had when she confronted her after she ran from the village the first time. Yet with everything she was doing up till now, it was impossible not to think she didn't care for the villagers.

At the same time, the annoyance coming from Glimmer was getting irritating. TIme after time, she kept insisting that Catra cared for the same people that treated her like a goddess one second and then an outcast the next. She never found a town so backwards with itself that it would change it's personality on a moment's notice. It was like the town had it's own split personality it didn't know about, or a contagious mood swing that every villager was infected with.

Whatever the case was, she wanted this mission to be over, and as it stood, there was only one obstacle keeping her from finishing it.

Looking off to the side, Catra exhaled deeply through her nose as she spoke. "If we just destroy the base, will you get off my back already?"

"Gladly." Well, not entirely gladly, but she would take any acceptance she could get from the girl. Rolling her eyes, Catra looked back between her and Bow as she replied.

"Fine then, just give me a minute to do something first." She directed. "Find a clearing with a good view of the base, and I'll track you there."

"What about you? Where are you going?" Bow asked as Catra began to take off.

"I just got to take care of something first. I'll be back in a few minutes!" She said before disappearing from view.

It was hard to get a read on the girl. She was She-Ra sometimes, Catra many others, she liked a group of people she met, she hated them the next, there was no end to the number of random things that made up Catra's personality.

But there was at least one thing Glimmer knew for sure now, something she could smile about.

Catra still cared about them.

...

"How much longer are we going to have to wait?" Bow asked peaking around the giant slab of metal.

It took them a few more minutes until the two finally came across the Horde base, and man was it defensive! All around it was a hard metal plated wall with mixes of concrete that surrounded the entire base on all sides, stretching up to at least the same size as the surrounding trees. All around it were guards on all four corners, with Bow counting several patrols that crossed one section at least every other minute.

The opportunities to infiltrate the base were pretty slim too. Night would definitely be out of the question. Aside from hearing better during the quiet night, there were several spotlights at various corners surrounding the wall. And that didn't take into account any and all security cameras they had lying around the walls either.

Another factor they had to take into account was was what sort of security measures, if any, they had to deal with. There might've been tripwires somewhere around the walls they didn't know about, or there could be simple sensors that went off whenever something unauthorized moved around it.

Not to mention the soldiers themselves that filled the entirety of the base. There was no telling if the fifty they saw at the village was all they had or merely a fraction of whatever army was in there. There might as well have been a thousand soldiers stationed inside if they were daring enough to make a base anywhere this close to another kingdom capitol. That or they were brave enough to build something this menacing this close as a sign of intimidation.

This was a base fitting for anyone in the Horde, and most likely going to be their last mission if anything went wrong in this place.

*shuffle*

Bow quickly drew his bow and arrow as Glimmer gathered magic into her hands, hearing a strange noise coming from one of the trees behind them.

"Relax, it's just me." Shaking her hair free of any twigs and leaves that got caught, Glimmer and Bow sighed in relief as they saw Catra appear before them.

"Phew, almost thought it was a patrol." Bow commented wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Where were you?" Glimmer asked as Catra brushed herself off.

"I was just taking a look around, that's all. Also I got my hands on this." The two watched as Catra dropped an entire suit of Horde Armor in front of them, just like the ones the guards had.

"Where did you find that?"

"From a guard who's going to regret going to the bathroom by himself around here." She replied with a cheeky grin. "Pretty sure he's not going to return to base anytime soon butt naked either."

"Too much information..." The princess mumbled rolling her eyes. "But why did you waste time getting a suit anyway? Can't you just sneak in or something? You still have your Horde outfit and all, so even if you get spotted, no ones going to raise questions immediately."

"Well, there's kinda a funny story about that." Catra muttered, scratching the back of her head. "Long story short... someone kind of has it out for me, because nearly everyone in the Horde knows I've defected by now. And there's kinda a big bounty on my head."

"Already?" Bow couldn't tell if he should be surprised or confused. "How did you get yourself wanted this quickly? I mean I know the Horde is orderly and all that, but wouldn't it have to be someone really high up to do it this fast?"

"You have no idea." It was at times like these that Catra loathed Shadow-Weaver more than usual. If there was something a way to make Catra suffer, Shadow-Weaver would immediately exploit it. In this case, it was ensuring she had zero chance to return to the Horde or a chance to use her momentary absence to her advantage such as this. "Look, the point is, I'm more likely to get shot on sight than either of you two are. So any chance of using me like that isn't happening."

"But there's only one suit." Bow pointed out. "How are we going to get ourselves inside?"

"I can't just teleport us without knowing what's on the other side and where." Glimmer added.

"Yeeeah... about that..." A slight tinge of nervousness crossed the two as Catra scratched her chin. "I already have an idea for that bit, buuuut you're probably not going to like it that much..." It's almost like they instantly knew what she was thinking. They didn't hear the plan yet, they had no idea what it involved, yet somehow the two knew it was going to put the two of them into an uncomfortable situation.

"...What do we have to do?"

...

"I found these soldiers wandering around the base, sir!" A disguised Catra saluted wearing the soldier suit.

There were too many issues with this plan, and over half of them revolved around Catra herself. The biggest of the problems? Her hair was sticking out. While she managed to get her head through the helmet just fine, there was too much hair that squeezed out the back of her helmet, resulting in a tight fit alone. That didn't take into account the cat tail she still had showing through the opening she hat to cut in the back of her pants. Save for the cat ears, you would instantly know who she was if you saw her face.

Secondly, they were her prisoners. Here stood Bow and Glimmer with their wrists tied in the sturdiest vines Catra could find on hand. If it wasn't for the brown tint to them, there would be no way these could pass off as ropes. It didn't help that they were also holding the ropes themselves at the ends to break out in case something went wrong.

Taking a look at the three of them, the two guards glanced at one another, weapons still firmly held in their grasp.

"...Who are you?" The left guard asked, instantly sending shivers down Catra's spine and worry between Glimmer and Bow.

"Err... I said I have prisoners here, sir!" She repeated.

This won't end well. Glimmer gulped silently to herself.

"You Horde, scum!" Bow yelled back to her. "You'll never get away with this! The Rebellion is going to wipe the floor with you!"

"Pipe down, maggot!"

*WHACK!*

"Ow!" Bow would've rubbed his newly bruised head if he could.

"Must be one of those annoying tracker guys in the woods." The right guard said tilting his head. There was some relief among the trio even though Glimmer and Bow tried to hide it. They couldn't risk any weird looks around here, at least until they got inside. "Heard there was some hassle from them down in the Whispering Woods or something."

"That still doesn't explain who you are!" The left guard stepped forward in front of Catra. "Take off your helmet and identify yourself!" He didn't bother waiting for a response as he walked over to remove the helmet himself.

Catra had no choice but to comply with the orders as she tried to think of a plan. The minute they saw her face the alarms would be raised and they would definitely find themselves going into the base- in shackles and with Catra trapped in a box. That didn't even provide the fact if she was alive or not. On top of all that, Glimmer was the princess of Bright Moon. If the Horde got her hands on her, there was no telling what the Horde could order from her mother and-

A thought suddenly came to her.

*thump*

"Ow!" The guard yelped hopping on one foot as he rubbed his stomped one. He glared back to the annoying girl who had the guts to do that as she did.

"This is completely unacceptable!" Glimmer shouted. "Don't you despicable loafs have any idea who I am?! I am the princess of Bright Moon! And I demand that you let me go or else!"

"G-Glimmer!" Bow stammered, catching onto the plan.

"Wait a minute, that's the Queen's daughter?" The same guard stepped over to get a closer look. Grabbing her chin tightly he tilted it in all angles, getting a proper examination of the so-called princess. "Well I'll be, this really is the princess!"

"Hmph!" Glimmer huffed pulling her chin away. "About time you ingrates realized who I am! Now I demand that you let me go or else!"

"Yeah, it's definitely her."

"She's a little pudgier than I thought she'd be." The other guard commented.

"PFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTT!" It took everything Catra could manage to keep from bursting out into laughter, finding herself bending over as Glimmer's face burned red. There was never a moment like this when Catra wanted to cry so loudly with laughter, finding this one simple comment to be the most hilarious thing she ever heard. "Yeah- pfffft... she could stand to lose a few pounds couldn't she!"

*BAM*

"Oof-!" Catra nearly lost her breath as she doubled over, feeling the surprisingly painful elbow that was Glimmer's jabbed straight into her stomach.

"And she's a fighter." The same guard added.

"I noticed..." Catra coughed out, shakily getting back to her feet.

"Take them right on in and bring them to the stationary cells. The Captain's going to want to see them for himself." The previous guard ordered, opening the door and allowing the three through. All of them felt awash with relief as they made their way through. The easy part ended for these three.

Now the hard part begins.

There were several facilities located across the base, with dozens of soldiers patrolling the place, the other half of them just standing around and chatting. Anything they did up to this point would be seen by everybody, and that didn't include the cameras either.

"What's the plan?" Glimmer whispered over. "Should we head straight to the facility or what?"

"What else would we do?" Catra muttered as the three of them marched straight into it's direction. "The minute we blow that thing to kingdom come, the sooner the villagers will forget about joining them. Just keep your heads low to avoid any atten-

"Hey!" Catra and co froze in their tracks as Catra picked up the familiar sound of someone's shout. She only knew one stubborn moron with a voice that heavy. She found herself forcefully turned around as the caller turned her by the shoulder, the large behemoth man seeing his reflection in her visor. "What are you doing?"

"O-Oh! Captain! Sir!" Catra saluted, trying to make her voice sound more rough to keep him from recognizing it. "I was just taking these prisoners to the stationary cell, just like the guy at the front gate told me."

"Is that so?" He raised a brow of suspicion. "Have we met somewhere before? You look kind of familiar to me." Bow and Glimmer watched as dozens of other guards started to surround the three of them.

"Heh, don't we all with these helmets on?" She tried to joke.

"I suppose we do... but I swear I've seen you somewhere before..." He looked closer into the visor of Catra's helmet. If it wasn't for the fact her hair was pushed behind her, giving it a somewhat longer flowing look, he'd be able to tell in a heartbeat.

"Uhh maybe we met on another mission at some point? I get transferred around a lot, so we probably bumped into each other before."

"A transfer?" Catra swallowed some of the saliva building up in her throat, realizing she made a mistake. "Why wasn't I told anything about a transfer around here? And where's your paperwork, soldier?" Something was definitely off about all this.

"Oh, b-because umm... I was dropped off a short ways away!" She quickly lied. "I had the paperwork with me too when I found these spies trying to get closer to our base." The large man looked passed her to look at the two so-called spies, both of them giving him a nervous smile, then back to her. "Unfortunately I lost my paperwork in the scuffle we had, but thankfully I managed to capture them both before they could get away."

"You don't say." There was stress being built up with each passing second. On top of the fact guards continued to approach the scene unfolding, they were running out of time. Each minute they waste was another one towards the one-hour deadline. "All right then, I guess that makes sense..."

"Thank g- I mean thank you, great Captain!" Catra gave another quick salute. There was one thing he still needed to check.

"But before you go please tell me. Why are you heading to the Siphoning Station?"

"Huh? O-Oh! Haha, I wasn't taking them to the Siphoning Station! I was just, err... going to check the coast to make sure it's clear! You never know how many spies might be lying around." A large wide grin grew over his face at this answer.

"Oh I think I have a very keen idea on all the spies around here." He replied lowering himself towards her head. "You wanna know how I know?"

"H... How?" He didn't bother with a verbal reply right away. Instead, Catra found herself shocked as the behemoth immediately slapped her helmet off without a second thought.

"Because no moron around here calls it the Siphoning Station!"

What else could she do other than give a nervous smile?

"Oh... crap..."

...

With each passing second dozens and dozens of more leaves continued to fall from the great Hearts Blossom. Princess Perfuma frowned as she placed her hand on the mighty tree. Several dozen villagers watched, all wondering what her judgement would bring them.

What am I to do? That's the question she asked herself without end. She knew the Horde was cruel, vicious. She didn't know what life could await them if she decided to ally with the Horde. Not to mention the fact they were practically being forced into this, and every second passed meant another second the tree drew closer to death.

But at the same time she couldn't just decide for herself. This was going to be a decision that would affect her entire kingdom, not just herself. She needed to consider every person she ruled over, every man, woman, and child that turned to her and the Universe for answers. She couldn't just think of what she wanted for herself, she needed to think of what was best for them, most practical. She just couldn't figure out an answer.

Please... give us a sign...

"Hey, Perfuma." One of the villagers approached her with a paper in hand. "I just got a message from that cat lady a few minutes ago. I think you might wanna read it." She accepted the letter with curiosity, reading over the message as if Catra herself was saying it herself.

Hey Flowey,

I know I didn't end up being the hero you guys wanted, and I really don't care what it means to be one. But you guys can't join the Horde! That's no way for your people to live! All you'll be doing is subjecting them to a fate worse than the alternative. If you need to, I recommend heading to Bright Moon, maybe the Queen will help you out or something. I don't know, I just know you'll be better off there.

We've gone up to the base camp in an attempt to stop them ourselves and destroy whatever's killing your forest. I might not be a hero, but I don't have to be one in order to fight back. I just wanted to let you guys know I'm sorry in case we-

Perfuma skimmed over several words that appeared to be hastily scribbled out.

Whatever you choose, I wish you luck. Hopefully whatever you choose will work out for you.

-Catra

P.S.: Even if you didn't mean it, thanks for making me think everyone cared for me. I appreciate it.

Looking back towards the giant plume of smoke, everything came to Perfuma at once. That smoke was a result of what the Horde stood for. They brought destruction and fire everywhere they went, everything they touched. This wasn't a life she wanted anyone to be a part of, even if it meant accepting them just to survive!

She couldn't allow that same fate to befall her people!

"She's still trying." She spoke to everyone. "Even after we were so negative to her, she's still risking her life to save all of us... Glimmer was right! This our home, we can't let her do this alone!" She directed herself to the rest of the crowd, filling with determination and a fire in her eyes.

"Everyone, She-Ra and our friends from Bright Moon are risking their lives to protect us from the Horde. We need to help them!"

"But what can we do?" One of the villagers frowned upon the statement. "We're not fighters, we're not heroes of any kind."

"But neither is Catra!" The Princess stated. "We treated her horribly even though she was just trying to help. She proved you don't need to be a hero just to do something right!" Many heads nodded in agreement, several nodding to each other, others filling their veins fill with courage and hope. "Get the warchimes, we march!" Perfuma smiled proudly as the crowd rally with cheer.

They finally had their answer.

...

*WHAM!*

"Ugh!" Catra grunted as she was thrown to the ground again.

If this day could get any worse that would be the biggest surprise in Catra's life. No sooner had the helmet been thrown from Catra's head did the three of them find themselves fighting for their lives. Thankful they didn't tie their hands for this situation, Glimmer quickly teleported with Bow in her hands, distancing themselves several yards as they drew the attention of the surrounding soldiers. Catra already had her hands full with the giant that smiled before her, she didn't need any other soldiers to play with.

Almost immediately the two found themselves fighting for their lives upon teleporting back, Bow quickly ducking out of the way of an incoming punch, tossing the attacker aside into several other goons that followed them. Pulling out his weapons he fired several large arrows at several groups of guards heading straight for them, immobilizing several of them in a stick sap as the other several were trapped within a large net. While the sap may have worked, the net proved ineffective as they pulled and cut their way through the ropes, charging straight for archer.

Glimmer drew forth as much energy as she could to blast the guards that came one after the other, teleporting again just two feet away as another tried to strike her from behind with the electric baton. Following up, she blocked another incoming blow as she grabbed the baton with both her hands. Seeing another soldier rush up to her from behind, she quickly threw herself to the ground before the guard to hit her, accidentally striking the other guard with his weapon and knocking him out cold. Without a second thought, Glimmer hastily blasted the last attacker away, jumping back to her feet as more guards continued to approach.

Catra almost wished she was dealing with the masses or the single one because this guy was proving himself way more cautious than the last time they fought. Every time she attempted to get close to him he already blocked whatever attack she had to throw, grabbing her and throwing her into the distance. While she managed to land gracefully on her feet the fist couple times, mixed in with the injuries she started sustaining from his counters, she found herself getting more and more thrown off her balance. Eventually she struggled just to get to her feet before the man charged straight at her, much less keep herself from landing harshly after each throw.

There wasn't even enough time for her to get her sword out and call upon it's power. Every moment of peace she found was immediately dashed away with another swipe of the big man's hands. She couldn't afford to get caught by him like last time, remembering the dreadful state she found herself in when he almost ripped her in half. And unlike before, she didn't see any chance of someone saving her this time around. With Bow and Glimmer stuck fighting their own battles, there was no chance for a rescue.

She was completely on her own.

"Nice to see you still have some energy in you, freak!" The man taunted. "I was afraid this was going to get boring!"

"Huff... huff... are you kidding?" She panted, wiping her mouth against her wrist. "I'm just getting warmed up." There wasn't any part of her the man found intimidating like this. As of now, she was nothing more than a belt he was too eager to skin! Cracking his knuckles, Catra prepared herself as he stomped his way over.

"I'm really going to enjoy making you look like what you did to my face!" He implied, reminding her of the scars she left him with the first time.

"No thanks, your face is ugly enough." She couldn't tell if he chuckled at her pathetic taunt or the situation itself. He had every reason not to fear her at this point.

"Nice knowing ya, fre-"

*Whaaaaooooooooooooooooooo!*

Everyone across the base looked to the sky as they heard the strange sound of a horn going off. Looking back to the source of the sound, everyone gasped with surprise as the walls began to crumble away, making way for hundreds of large powerful green vines that pushed their way through. Atop of them, Catra's jaw dropped as she saw a smiling Perfuma riding the wave of vines herself, chuckling as the vines continued to push their way through as dozens of villagers raided the base.

"I always said the Universes will repay the Horde one day! Well I guess that day is today!" With a squeal of delight, she struck several incoming Horde guards, effortlessly pushing them away as the raid went on. Bow and Glimmer smiled to one another before continuing their assault on the guards.

Catra could only watch in amazement as the villagers cried out in cheer for Etheria, each donning whatever items and weapons they could carry along. Practically every villager from the women and men, right down to the small children, carried their items with them as they attacked the incoming guards.

Several of the villagers ensnared the guards with the thickest quilts they could find, pinning them to the ground before subduing them. Another one of the villagers she saw encased an entire guards head in a vase as he threw himself at one, tackling him to the ground. No matter how feeble these villagers are, they made do with what they had as they fought back against the oncoming soldiers. Fighting back, and, shockingly to her, winning.

Perhaps her favorite moment of the fight was watching as the familiar five-year-old girl kicked one of the guard's shin, the guard briefly hopping on his foot in pain, then turning his direction to the girl himself. Despite the fact he was heavily armed and much taller in comparison to her, he found himself getting confused as the girl smirked back crossing his arms. As if answering the reason behind this, he found himself lifted from behind by the scruff of his neck, recognizing the large muscular man who was one of the first people Catra armed wrestle.

Growling at the frightened guard, he tossed the guard straight over one of the large twenty-foot walls, his screams fading over the distance as he flew passed everything. Smiling to each other from their victory, the two nodded to each other triumphantly as they gave each other a quick high-five, the little girl jumping in the air to reach his hand.

"I... did not see this coming... " All of this was happening right in front of Catra, and she still couldn't believe it. Thankfully, or not, she didn't need to worry about this for much longer. By the time she could so much as think of the man she was fighting, she found herself getting slammed away by the man's massive arms, hurdling her straight ahead and through the walls behind her.

*CRASH!*

"Ngh..." Her back was sore. Her legs were sore. Her arms were sore. Everything right down to her tail was sore as she picked herself up off the ground, knees shaking, as she rose to her feet. Looking around her eyes widened at the sight of the massive room she was now in.

All of it housed a massive generator she saw in the center of this mighty building, the center of the very base itself! Several massive long, wide, cables connected to the sides and tops of the great machine. All around it a dozen empty vats of strange growing fluid slowly oozed into the containers, no doubt being the actual energy of the Hearts Blossom itself. She was standing in the room with the very core of today's problems.

And the only thing keeping her from destroying the blasted machine was the large hulking man who pulled himself out of the hole in the wall he created with her.

"I gotta admit shrimpy, I didn't think you'd actually get the town to fight for ya." He commented.

"Believe it or not, neither did I." Catra replied. If there was one thing that could turn the fight in her favor as of now, it was the massive sword she pulled from her back, one that grew the man's curiosity. "Guess it just goes to show how unpredictable life can be."

"Oooh, what's that there? You gonna cut me with it?" He welcomed the challenge by the looks of it.

"A nice idea to go along with," she grinned, "but I'm just gonna even the playing field." Raising her sword to the sky, she prepared herself as she was about to topple the behemoth's strength with just five simple words. "For the Honor Of Greyskull!"

"..."

"...I HATE THIS STUPID SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!" Catra hissed with as much gusto as she could, flailing the sword violently. Every time! Every single stupid time she needed the sword like this and it wouldn't work! Was it because she was too exhausted as it was? Did she need more energy to call upon the swords power in the first place? Or was it on some form of cool down she didn't know about?

She failed to notice the large man standing over her until it was too late.

"Hahaha, that was pretty entertaining for a freak!" Before she could react she found the large man toppling over her, pinning her to the ground and squeezing her neck with all his might as he crushed her airwaves.

"A...k...eh..." No amount of force she could muster could push off the large man's grip no matter how hard she tried.

This was worse far than last time. At least if he ripped her in air it would've been quick! Here, her lungs struggled to inhale any form of oxygen, her nose failing to get a single molecule of air as the flow was cut off. On top of it, every second of pain made her cry out even more, already increasing the amount of stress and desperation of air that she needed.

"As much fun as it's been, I got a bounty to collect with your name on it!" Somehow he increased the pressure constricting her neck. "If it makes you feel any better, you'll always be the girl I remembered who turned my life from upside down!" Opening one of her eyes to this, she hissed angrily as she showed her teeth.

"R-Right back at ya... bub..."

"Huh?"

*skreeee*

"Ahhh!" The large man yelped as he instinctively covered one of his cut legs with one of his hands. He failed to remember how Catra's claws were far worse on her feet than her hands themselves. The girl was thankful that he failed to pin both her legs to the ground, feeling her left leg free to roam and claw around, like the inner thigh of the large man's left leg. That was the opening she needed from this.

"Haaaaaaa!" With one mighty roar, with every last bit of energy she had, she pulled both her legs out from under him and pushed straight into the man's stomach, raising him to the air. No sooner had she done this did she send him flying behind backwards, shooting him backwards and upside down as he crashed into the heavy machine, breaking through it and cutting off several of the large wires and vats that sustained it.

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The main screamed out in pain as his whole body sparked with electricity. Catra coughed rubbing her throat, rolling back to her stomach as she saw this. The machine began to hum louder and louder with life as Catra gazed at the giant man who sizzled without control. In a few short seconds following this, Catra saw a bright flash, covering her head and her eyes as the machine finally came crumbling down with a thunderous, while small, explosion.

...

*BOOM!*

"Ah-!" Perfuma's entire being brightened as she felt a strange wave of energy course through her. Looking around herself, her slightly paled skin returned full with life as magic surged through her veins. Testing the limits of these powers, she laughed joyously to herself as her magic danced around her in a colorful display.

All along the ground leading up to the Hearts Blossom, the once darkened roots of evil became brimming with pure life, cutting off the flow of energy being drained as the vines choked from the beautiful array of flowers that danced across them. All of this lead to the very heart of the Hearts Blossom where the runestone brimmed with a powerful pink light, the various twigs and branches bursting with life as the leaves restored by the thousands per second, until eventually the entire top of the tree was pink and beautiful once more.

As for the soldiers around her, they were helpless to fight back as the princess quickly ensnared any of the remaining soldiers still standing around, those lucky two to three who managed to escape running for their lives as the base filled with vegetation and flowers. Nobody cared as they saw them take off in the skiffs that flew over them. There was too much joy and cheer among everyone, including Bow and Glimmer, as they raised their hands to the sky victoriously.

The war had been won.

...

She didn't need the extra sensitive hearing to get a load of the excitement coming from outside. Covered in bruises and scrapes from head to toe, with a severe pain she rubbed in her right arm, Catra still managed to find a way to smile. Her very first mission had ended, exceeding the expectations and plans ushered by the Queen.

Her first mission and day had finally been over, and everything was a success.

"Heh heh heh..."

So why did she still hear the large man chuckling? Glaringly, she walked her way back to him, seeing the sorry state the man was left in. He was covered in bruises and burns all across his body, the smell of burnt skin and hot steam still coming fresh off of him. He was covered in multiple cables from head to toe. Those that weren't broken over him tangled around his arms, legs, and neck, immobilizing him in his entirety. There was no chance of him escaping on his own, and that was if he had any energy left to do so.

So what was he smiling about?!

"What's so funny?" Catra demanded to know. This was her victory along with the Rebellion's. She did not want anyone else to feel like they won in this moment who wasn't on her side.

"Heh heh... you are... freak..." He mumbled. If it wasn't for the fact he already appeared to be in fresh pain and misery she would've gladly clawed his face at that. "You did... exactly... as she predicted... right down to the very detail..."

"Her?" Did he mean Adora? Someone else? Was she the one who ordered all of this to happen? Because Catra was gone? Every question related to her was too important to ignore! Regardless of his pain, she quickly lifted him towards her face by the collar of his shirt, the man cackling in laughter and pain at the same time. "Who's her? What are you talking about? Tell me!" She hissed as she got another bout of laughter, smelling the man's rancid breath as he did.

"Heh... who do you think..." Leaning his head just a bit, he whispered one name into her ears before passing out. "Shadow-Weaver." Her pupils instantly shrank as she dropped the large man, feeling a chill of death spread across her entire body.

Was the entire point of this to deliver that one message? If so, it definitely worked! It was only now that Catra realized how vulnerable she was without Adora around. Without her, Shadow-Weaver could target her. All of this was nothing but a greeting card from her, informing her of her current status. There was no Adora, and no protection against anything she could do.

She could feel her entire body grow cold at the thought, holding herself as her body shivered. Before she had nothing to fear. With Adora around, Shadow-Weaver would barely lay a hand on the girl without Adora's interference and pleading. Now, no matter how far away she was, she was open to any form of attack from Shadow-Weaver, any form of torture she could inflict from afar. Just thinking about it brought back memories of last time-

"Nghhh!" She squeezed her eyes shut and head between her hands. She couldn't allow herself to remember that day, refusing to recount every detail that happened. It was the one memory in her mind she begged wouldn't resurface, she wished with all her being. Shaking her head, she pushed these thoughts as deeply away as she could, forcing herself to back to the group outside. This wasn't a moment she was supposed to be dreading.

There was a victory to celebrate.

...

"Ha ha ha!" Perfuma smiled with glee as she watched the parading villagers. Never has she felt such happiness before, such a grand reason to celebrate. "The day is ours!"

"Mhhm." She turned to see a grinning Catra with her hands at her side. "Guess you guys had a bit more fight in you than you thought, huh?"

"Ooooh, c'mere you!"

"Erk-!" Catra found herself suffocating as she was crushed into the huggable Princess's chest. She found the sheer embarrassment overpowering the pain she felt at the moment, trying her best to push the princess off of her who interpreted this as a hug in return. It was a hilarious sight to see as Bow and Glimmer found the two again. "Please tell me this hugging stuff isn't going to be a thing..." She muttered finally pulling herself free. "Anyway, I hope you guys learned about the whole "Universe providing the answers" thing."

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.

"Well you know, learn to do things for yourself." Catra grinned. "Don't wait for answers to come for you cause the Universe will never answer."

"Are you kidding me? If anything you've restored all our faith in the Universe!" Catra's expression, tail, arms, and ears dropped all at once at this.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't you get it? You were the Universe's answer we needed!" She said perkily. "It's because of you our village was saved, you inspired us to save ourselves! We owe our thanks to you and to the Universe for sending you to us!"

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" Catra growled loudly with a new height of annoyance filling her body. It was this stupid thing called "faith" Catra found ridiculous beyond all reason. It's what made these villagers stupid to her in the first place and most likely the thing that caused them to go furious at the thought that Catra wasn't She-Ra after all.

"Just let it go, Catra." Sensing the anger flowing from the cat, Bow rolled his eyes as he pushed her away, keeping her from attacking the next thing that spoke. Laughing at the scene, the two remaining allies stepped towards one another brightly.

"Sorry about her," Glimmer apologized, "but we're all extremely thankful for your help and assistance."

"Please, if there's any way to repay you, please tell me!" She practically begged. She refused to let these people go without any way to pay them back!

"Come join the Rebellion and help me reform the Princess Alliance."

"Um, are you sure?" Her request was met with just a speck of hesitation, which was far better than Glimmer expected. "Didn't that go horribly the first time?"

"It went horribly for our parents. But we have a chance to do it right. We're clearly stronger together." She showed the numerous townsfolk who were still celebrating, some of which began to run passed her for something. "Think what all the princesses united could do!"

Taking a moment, Perfuma returned Glimmer's suggestion with a curious smile. "Would I get to hit more people with flowers?"

"Absolutely."

"Then our answer is yes!" The final victory of the day had been claimed by Glimmer. Today was a great example of what the princesses would be capable of. This was just two of the princesses who united for one short battle on a Horde base. Picturing what they would be capable of with the rest of them united filled her with excitement! One that overlooked the small look of concern growing back on Perfuma's face. "Oh, but..."

"What?"

Perfuma rubbed her shoulder with a sense of guilt coming off her. "Mmh... is there a way we could repay Catra? I feel terrible for the way we treated her after all this. Perhaps a feast? Another festival? Something to let her know she's appreciated?" Looking passed her, Glimmer just smiled back as she stared off to the distance.

"Nah, I don't think that'll be necessary." Turning around, her expression matched Glimmer's look of joy as she saw the scene.

Before the two of them the princesses watched as Catra stood in the middle of a large open crowd. She wasn't in her She-Ra form, she wasn't showing off in any way, shape, or form, and nobody seemed to care as she looked around herself with confusion and unease. All the while Bow stood from the side with a proud smile on his face.

All around her the people cheered on her again, all thankful to her assistance and guidance in helping them find the strength to fight back against the Horde. They were just like they were before, all smiling and cheering on her despite knowing who she truly was this time around. They didn't care she wasn't the She-Ra from the past, they didn't care how intimidating she looked up close. She was accepted by all the people around her once again, even as she let out another sneeze.

For Catra herself, she didn't know what to feel this time around. The last time she wanted to be accept and accepted being accepted, it ended horribly for her. They were vicious to her, loathed her from the sight of it, and didn't want anything to do with her. And how were they now?

The same way they once were! They were happy to see her, they wanted to see her after all the help she's given regardless of her selfish desire out of all of this. She found several of the kids playing around two, one clinging on each arm with the familiar five-year-old on the right arm, and a small baby behind her playfully reaching for her wriggling tail. It was a weird sensation to be admired like this again, unsure of whether she should accept the feeling of pride and warmth once again.

All she did was look back to a smiling Glimmer, shrugging to her with a questionable expression.

"I think she already knows."

...

Play.

Stop.

Rewind.

Repeat.

This is what Adora did for the last half hour of the two minute clip on the monitor.

"This... This can't be real..." She stuttered in denial, all to Shadow-Weaver's unknowing glee as she stood at her side. "Play it again!"

"Adora, I'm afraid no matter how many times you repeat it, the video will never change."

"B-But this is impossible!" Small stands of hair dangled in front of her face, Adora paying no mind as she saw through the tiny, unimportant, strands. "We... We offered them peace! Assistance! We gave them a chance to join us!"

She had no idea what she was supposed to be feeling at this rate. Anger? Sadness? Confusion? The one emotion she couldn't feel from this was happiness. Happiness and peace. How could she feel something? How could this something be happening?

She thought the rest of Etheria all desired the same thing; peace and order. She thought if the Horde reached out to any of them they would've welcomed the chance to end the conflict and the violence. She even gave the princesses the decency of chance for peace, and their response was violence! It was too awful for words, too shameful for action. She just stood there, seeing the proof right in front of her that she never wanted to see.

The very proof Shadow-Weaver promised to show her, unaware of the numerous arrangements she made to pull all this off.

"And do you see how they replied to our generous offer?" Shadow-Weaver questioned replaying the video once again. "They wage war against us. Not just the princesses, not mere soldiers, everyone. The men, the women, even those poor children. All of them are forced to wage war against their wills, the very people you said we shouldn't harm."

"This... This can't..." Adora lowered her head, staring at the console in front of her.

"Adora, my dear," she soothed, holding her shoulder in comfort, "do you understand now? Why we must continue to fight for the sake of Etheria? Why we must make sacrifices for the greater good? You asked me to show you proof, my dear, and here it is."

"...Eggghhhhh!"

*BAM*

There was no concern showing in Shadow-Weaver's eyes. Instead, they were filled with joy, and pride at the harsh growl Adora let out. Seeing her anger erupting before her, seeing her slam her fist into the console itself. It didn't matter that her knuckle blackened a little to this, it didn't matter she broke the console's buttons where she slammed it. The small dent her fist made into the machine was all the proof she personally needed to see if her plan worked.

"...Yes, Shadow-Weaver..." Adora replied directly without emotion. "I understand it all now." Without another word, Adora stormed through the doors of Shadow-Weaver's chambers, unable to keep herself from lashing out at whatever Shadow-Weaver had to say next. Waiting a few seconds to make sure she left, she turned her attention to the other monitor in her chamber, watching it come to life as it displayed an image. The person on the other end was blackened, save for his red glowing eyes and the small pet that sat in his lap.

This, was Lord Hordak.

"Well?"

"Everything went exactly as I detailed it, Lord Hordak." Shadow-Weaver assured, nodding.

"I hope for your sake that your efforts bare fruit." The disdain in his voice echoed through her mind and her blackened heart. "We just discarded a valuable source of energy for this one girl."

"I promise you, Lord Hordak, the results will be worth what little we have to give up in exchange for it, I promise."

"I don't want your promises, Shadow-Weaver, I want results!" The pet in his lap hissed as if displaying the master's anger. "Make sure to report to me the results of your next little expenditure. I hope I have to give up less than I did this time for the both of you..."

"Yes, Lord Hordak." Without so much as a blink, Hordak cut communications from the monitor as the entire screen went dark. There was no telling if he had a means to see her at this moment and anger built up in her hands, nagging to herself all the annoying things she just tolerated within the last few minutes. She hated everything about their leader, everything that spewed from his mouth. The Horde deserved someone more fitting for the role, someone who could truly snuff out the light from this world.

Someone like her precious Adora.

Deciding to take a moment to herself, she returned to the fountain behind her. Peering into it, she smiled at the scene it displayed, smiling at the last person she thought she would ever be thankful to.

"Oh, dear, dear, Catra..." She brushed a small wave of the water as she watched the pitiful citizens continue to cheer for that disgusting excuse of a creature. "You make this all too easy for me." With another grin, she empowered the fountain as the scene shifted to a view of Adora, one she was more than happy to watch all day. "Who would've thought the farther you were, the more useful you were to me."

She relished the sight of the anger stamped on Adora's face, Adora herself still fuming from everything she came across recently.

She wasn't fazed as the tears streaked from her face, it didn't change the look of anger that contorted on Adora's expression. All that was there was a newfound hatred for the princesses and everything they corrupt. The princesses who could shift the emotions and thoughts of their fellow citizens with nary a thought. Every last one of them that forced them to do the unthinkable and attack towns for missions that are absolutely necessary.

The very princesses that took her best friend away from her. "Sacrifice is necessary." She told herself coldly. It didn't feel any better. It hurt to say such things, it was painful to think of such thoughts. But if the princesses were as evil as Shadow-Weaver showed her, then there was no avoiding the conflict and discord this war would bring. She would burden that pain all her life from this moment onward, and carry it to her grave.

Unaware of a small darkness that was planted in her heart, one seeping with the negativity of all dark thoughts that plagued her...

...

"Ugh... dumb... stupid... queen..." Catra mumbled to herself as she made her way back to the bedroom.

Well that was a nice hour of talking her ear off she didn't need. As shocking as it was, the Queen was less than thrilled to hear about how Catra suggested and insisted on a mission to stop the Horde from sucking the life out of the Hearts Blossom and potentially preventing a compromising alliance between the kingdom of Plumeria and the Horde. While she was relieved to hear that everything worked out in the end, she was less than happy about the idea of her daughter being used as a fake prisoner without any sort of disguise to hide her identity.

It didn't really help that Catra refused to let Glimmer herself plead a case to support her.

Because of all this, she had to stand through one of the most boring lectures she's ever had to ignore in her life, unable to sit a single time during the long speech the Queen seemed to like making everyone listen to. At least that's how Catra saw it. She didn't gather much from her hour long struggle of forcefully ignoring the queen, something about "think before you act", or "never drag my daughter into a base filled with Horde soldiers that would know her on a moment's notice" or something else. Whatever she was yapping about, it was long, tedious, and boring enough to make Catra wanna pull her ears out. At least by the end of the day she could return to a peaceful solitude known as slumber, the one thing where nothing bad happened save for potential nightmares.

That is until she finally pulled open the doors to her room and found a surprised-looking Glimmer and Bow staring all over the place.

"Sheesh, did you and the bed have an argument or something?" Glimmer asked looking at all the feathers around her.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Might've murdered my bed last night." She replied casually scratching her ears.

That was the one detail she had forgotten after everything she went through today. Before she snuck into Glimmer's room for a potential sleeping buddy, as revolting as the thought made her, she attempted to get some understanding of sleeping by herself on possibly the world's most plushiest bed she's ever had the misfortune to come across. While it was disturbing to look at and made her question how it was going to feel, she did have to give it respect for how soft and comfortable it felt to her as she lied on top of it.

...For about three seconds. A single second afterwards, she found the bed attempting to practically devour her, sinking her whole body into the plushy cotton with barely her tail sticking out. With instincts kicking in and the bed refusing to acknowledge who the one in charge of this bedroom was, she mercilessly tore the bed limb to limb, shred to shred in this case, ignoring the hundreds to thousands of feathers that scattered across the air in the ensuing combat. By the end of it all there was nothing more than a single bed frame that stood before her, thousands of feathers scattered across the entire room. Some were even thrown into the empty bathtub and the potted plants from the ceiling.

"To be fair, it was in self-defense. Better question now, what are you two doing in here?"

"Well, since you've never slept in a room by yourself before, Bow and I thought we'd throw a sleepover, then you won't feel so alone." Glimmer answered cheerfully. Around the two she noticed several sleeping bags and pillows the two apparently brought.

"And... we're doing this why?"

"Well, you know... to celebrate and stuff! After all, we did achieve a great victory today!"

"And Glimmer got grounded for going against her mother's wishes." Bow added.

"F-For one week," Glimmer quickly interjected, "which is three weeks less than usual! And she'll consider reforming the princess alliance, so that's another plus for us!" The enthusiasm was shared by two of the three occupants, with the latter looking less than caring about it. "So, we decided on a victory party, via sleepover!"

"And we can do it tomorrow too if you want!"

"Uhhhh huh... Later." Catra muttered as she turned away.

"Oh Catra, come on," Glimmer whined grabbing her arm, "we're just trying to show a little appreciation." Despite every bone telling her to run away, she couldn't help but look back at this.

"Appreciation...?"

"Well yeah!" Bow smiled walking over with a firm pillow in hand and another he was holding behind his back. "We don't care if you don't consider us friends yet or anything, we still appreciate everything you're doing for us." Catra took the pillow he offered with uncertainty.

She wasn't a stranger to appreciation, heck she gave it herself when she felt someone deserved it. Even if she's only counted up to several times in her life on one hand. But after the events of today it felt a little weird to hear that by two of the newest allies she's made within the last few days. Sighing to herself with a roll of her eyes and droop of her ears, she finally resigned herself to whatever fate this sleepover business had to offer. "Fine, fine, I'll try this whole sleepover thing." She replied to the others' delight as she took a pillow. "Just keep it down, I'm a light sleeper."

"Caaaaan do!"

*whomp*

"Ha!"

"..." The same look of excitement on Bow's face wasn't shared with the magicat he struck with a pillow.

*whack!*

"Ow!" He yelped rubbing his head again. He could still feel the other one she gave him during the mission resurfacing. "What was that for?"

"Well what did you expect? You attacked me!" Catra hissed a little.

"Catra, he was just having a pillow fight." The glittery princess said, showing her own pillow.

"A... Pillow fight?" This concept was never mentioned in the Horde. While there were times kids would play around using their imagination with various things they could find, not once did anyone think of using a pillow, and not just because it wasn't allowed.

"Yeah, you know, a pillow fight? You just hit each other with pillows and all that. It's a great way to tire yourself out before bed."

She reexamined the strange softness in her hand. This? This was supposed to be used as a weapon of play? How? How was there supposed to be any enjoyment to be had by hitting anyone-

She quickly looked back. "So wait, I can hit you guys with this as many times and as hard as I want to, and I can't get into trouble?" A bead of sweat slowly dripped from the back of Glimmer's head.

"W-Well, I wouldn't exactly put it like that but uhh..." There was no longer any room for talk as the two saw the grin growing on her face. History would look back on this day and regard it as one of the bloodiest (featheriest) battles ever sustained through the annals of human history, that lasted for many many nights and several more sleepovers.

It was a weird way to sum up the day for herself. She went from being worshipped and praised to hated and loathed to worshipped and praised again. It felt like it lacked any luster or meaning though when she was praised by the same people who despised her the first time around. She didn't mind it of course, but there was just some emptiness to it compared to the first time, some feeling keeping her from understanding if this was the same kind of praise she delighted in as a sign of comfort.

There was one thing she knew for sure though, as she chuckled alongside Bow and Glimmer, the three of them using their specialties to make the Pillow fight more interesting by the minute. She had a lack of understanding of what it meant when other praised her that weren't these two, but she could understand a bit of appreciation when it came from her allies. Going through all this just to try to ease her a little, to make her stay at the castle a little more manageable. She had to admit coming from these two...

It felt nice to be cared for.

...

A/N: And by golly I can't remember the last time I wrote so much in 24 hours... actually I can! It was one of my rwby chapters I had to split into two parts (which I regretted cause the first one without the 2nd part came with significant backlash... one of the reasons im posting this all at once instead of 2 separate parts). You think this is scary? THE OTHER ONE NEARLY HAD 20K! And that was in 10 hours!

It's clear I had a really fun time with that one ^^.

Lol, anyway, thanks again for the huge amount of feedback and support folks! Another shoutout to Nightmaster003 as I have this wonderful intro to play at the beginning of my episodes now ^^ I know its not as fitting and someone actually did answer my question on that at one point, but I really am considering placing the intro at the beginning of all chapters maybe... idk, i'm still debating with myself.

Also this is probably the last friday I make a post unless I do miraculously get done with my other school work over this. I keep getting distracted by this on fridays so from now on, unless finished early again, fridays are a no-go-for-posts day.

Coming up next we'll be finding ourselves with a very fun seafaring adventure, as well as, as im sure 99% of you are excited to see, another confrontation between Catra and Adora...

Anyway, thanks for everything guys and remember to leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed! See you soon! And by that I mean either sunday or monday as the weekends are usually the busiest/longest hours of my job.

Chapter 13: Episode 5: The Sea Gate Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey folks, MK here as always ^^! Not much to say here so there's going to probably be several paragraphs as always XP.

Bit of a shorter chapter this time around- side from thinking it's alright given the last massive chapter I posted, just felt like the right place to cut off at the end for the first part. Thanks as always for the constant support from everyone and I hope you continue to enjoy the episode regardless of it's length.

Enjoy!

(Woot woot, actually wasn't much to say this time ^^!)

...

"Nooooooo!" Catra cried out as her claws scraped against the rugs.

*skreeeeeek!*

"Nnnggghhh! Come on!" Glimmer grumbled as she continued dragging her by separate feet with Bow.

"I don't wanna!"

*skreeeeeek!*

"You said you would help us on the mission, remember?" Bow grunted as he pulled her inch by inch.

"I said you needed a captain, I never said I would go with you!"

*skreeeeeek!*

This is the annoyance the two found themselves in for the last fifteen minutes.

A week ago Catra began her first mission with Bow and Glimmer. It was nothing more than a simple delivery mission to provide provisions and resources to the kingdom of Plumeria, after the Horde had cut them off and drained their land of materials. It was one of the first missions Catra took part of since joining the Rebellion and the results were... still something she was processing throughout the last week.

As of this morning, the three of them found themselves on another mission that Glimmer had proposed at the last Council Meeting. Knowing that the princesses united would be the greatest fighting force the Rebellion needed to turn this war around, she proposed a diplomacy mission to Salineas, the kingdom known for it's great naval fleet and bountiful fish, in order to recruit the next princess into their cause.

Needless to say, the mother was a little less than skeptical about everything. She was outraged to hear about the details of the last mission, specifically one involving Glimmer and Bow pretending to be prisoners captured by Catra so they could infiltrate the Horde base, all for the sake of destroying a machine that was sucking the life out of the forest of Perfuma's kingdom. While she was relieved and overjoyed to hear everything turned out all right, the idea that Catra endangered her daughter even further made trusting her a bit more complicated.

Still, they knew if the princess alliance was restored then there would be a chance to fight back against the threatening Horde, no matter what grievances she had against the ex-Horde. So, despite her better judgement, provided with Glimmer's encouragement, she allowed the three of them to partake in this next mission to the Salineas Gate, all for the sake of recruiting the princess Mermista, and bringing her into the Rebellion.

The details themselves involving the mission were pretty simple too, so things were looking up for awhile! They knew they'd be safer if Catra/She-Ra went with them, they knew they needed to find a glorious sea vessel as well as where to find it, and they realized they needed to find a mighty sea captain that could direct sail them to the heart of the heart of Salineas itself with relative ease. Things were looking great!

There was just one small problem two of the three were currently dealing with- Catra.

Almost immediately upon realizing she was actually going to be joining them on the mission, the hero-in-training looked as if she had a massive heart attack, bolting back to her room after the meeting was adjourned and locking the door shut. Unfortunately for her, doors and locks proved ineffective when you were dealing with a princess that could teleport. For whatever reason, reasons that became obvious when they remembered her cat-like qualities, Catra had no interest in the slightest to join them on their voyage through the ocean in the middle of the sea to some place she's never been to before.

Since then Catra found herself being dragged forcefully throughout the castle as she sunk her front claws as deeply as she could get them into the rugs, refusing to budge an inch and forcing them to spend the last fifteen minutes dragging the cat through the castle on a mission they technically started half an hour ago!

"Catra come on, you're acting childish." Glimmer grumbled.

"Oh, really? Maybe we should see how you react if someone threatened to toss you into a volcano!" Catra hissed back. "I'd like to see you willingly go along with it!"

"Ok, now you're just exaggerating. Nothing bad is going to happen, the seas are totally safe!" No matter how calmly she spoke, it did nothing to erase Catra's fears. "You can swim, can't you?"

"Of course I can, Pinky," it was one of the basic necessities that were taught to all the children, "I just really hate water. I don't know how cold water is to you guys but being soaked in it myself is like being thrown into a freezer!"

"Come on, Catra, just think about it." She looked back as Bow gave her a comforting look. "We're going to the land of Salineas! Vast open seas, plenty of fresh air, and, Salineas has all the best fish you could eeeeeeat~"

"Really... you're going to try that..." Catra spoke completely unamused. "Duh, ok, why don't we sing songs on the boat while we're at it?"

"Yeah!"

"For the love of..." If it wasn't for the fact they were the only thing keeping Catra along the ground, she would've happily facepalmed with one of her hands.

Glimmer herself was starting to get annoyed with the situation. Every minute they wasted was another minute something else could be happening and another opportunity for the Horde to launch an attack on one of their allies! After what happened with Perfuma's kingdom, there was no telling what they could try to pull off next!

And despite her better judgement, she knew they needed Catra. Not just for the mission in and of itself, but to actually go on the mission in the first place! If she didn't have Catra with her, her mother would've been less than agreeable with Glimmer going out into the open sea with just Bow in the first place. On top of that, they still needed She-Ra's power and appearance to convince the other princesses to join them, at the very least increase the chance of them coming along.

With time being of the essence, as well as the untimely embarrassment this was causing for her and Bow with the numerous guards they passed along the way, Glimmer found herself left with little choice.

She had to use the secret weapon.

"You know what? You're right. You don't have to come with us at all." Glimmer announced with a smile, dropping Catra's foot. Both her and Bow looked back to her in disbelief at that.

"I... don't?" She wanted nothing more than to believe everything she was hearing. The only problem was who she was hearing it from.

"Nope. Not at all. Come on, Bow." Bow looked back between the two of them as Glimmer dragged him along. He knew she was up to something, he just had no idea what.

Something was wrong here. Glimmer never let Catra have her way, at least not as much of the way as Catra wanted it. She always commented and yelped at every little thing Catra did around the castle, from climbing atop the balconies from the outside, climbing the drapes across the walls when she found a perch with a great view, and nagged her to no end about putting her feet on the table in the middle of meals. The annoyance came to no end!

Now, she was offering to let Catra have her way for once in every way she wanted, going off and telling her how she would leave without her too. What on Etheria was she planning?

"Ok, I'll bite, what are you doing?" Catra demanded to know as she got up and caught up to them.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." Her mouth and her facial expression was telling Catra two different things. "I figured if you're going to be like this the entire way to Salineas we might as well let you stay here."

"Y-Yeah, you should!" She smiled proudly.

"Yup, this is all your call." She nodded back. "You're the one in charge, and you are She-Ra after all so who are we to say no?"

She bumped Bow with her elbow a little to give him the same idea. "Huh? O-Oh, yeah! We can't force you to do anything you don't want to, so who are we to argue."

"Mhhm!" Catra nodded crossing her arms. "It's about time you dweebs learned who's in charge here!"

"And we most certainly did." The princess replied with a small curtsy. "So you can stay here in Bright Moon Castle by yourself and my mother while we continue the mission."

"Ha, you're darn right you should..." A vast amount of color and glee drained from Catra's face as her ears drooped. "Wait... what?"

"What? You didn't think you'd be here by yourself, did you?" Of all the things Glimmer could remind her of, this was the last thing she wanted! "It'll just be you... my mom... in a castle... along with all of her royal guards. Knowing her she probably won't allow you to leave the castle either, which means you'll be forced to spend some quality time with her here and there."

It was at that time Catra finally realized what she was doing. She couldn't believe someone like her would stoop so low either. "...You wouldn't..."

"Wouldn't what? I'm not doing anything. I'm just reminding you that you won't be alone around here." There was evilness behind those sparkling eyes, Catra just knew it. "If it makes you feel any better, we shouldn't be gone for that long."

"Yeah!" Bow joined in. "I'm sure we'll be back in a couple days, if not a few weeks. But, oh..." He looked semi-worriedly to Glimmer. "If we got lost at sea, we might be gone for months on end!"

"Oh, that would just be terrible! We could be gone for nearly a year before we ever made it back. And my mom would probably be so mad at whoever let us go off on our own. I've seen her give lectures that lasted for literal days, and hoo boy, they aren't pretty." She shook her head at this in exaggeration. She knew of Catra's two great est weaknesses other than water: Her mother, and getting talked down to by her mother.

Neither of them cared about the twitching brow of death Catra was glaring at them with. Catra has never felt more hatred and contempt for anyone in her life than she does at this very moment. Here she was, She-Ra, ex-member of the nefarious Horde, the person that would've probably cut these two on numerous occasions if they were all in the Fright Zone, being blackmailed by two of her so-called "allies".

"So basically, you're threatening me by saying I either have to go with you or I have to spend who knows how long with your mother?" Catra stated bluntly.

"Threatening? No, I would never threaten anyone. I'm just pointing what may or may not possibly happen around here while we're gone. And you know how easy it is to anger my mother half the time, right?"

"Why are there claw marks all over the hallways?!" As if on queue, the three looked passed Catra in the direction of the Queen's voice, the forcefulness and anger of it already sending chills across Catra's body. So now she found herself with all of the above concerns involving Glimmer's mother, including another thing her mother could get angry about, like the claw marks Catra made when she was forcefully dragged through half the castle. "Catraaaaaaaaaaa!"

She had no choice.

"...I really really hate you."

"I know."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

Seaworthy Cantinas, the greatest establishment in the history of merkind.

Whenever one had troubles or woes to deal with, the average person turned to their favorite beverage down at one of these places. The present one located right off the cliffside of a dock yard, the trio of diplomats made their way through the doors as they continued their search for a ship with a stalwart captain.

They couldn't just go with any run of the mill kind of captain either. They needed someone who looked like they knew the sea like the back of their hand, but also didn't seem vile enough to hold malicious intent. While the cantinas tended to attract customers of all shapes and lifestyles, they were almost always occupied by at least one or two sea captain that could brave the mighty seas and it's many terrors.

If there was ever a time one needed to find themselves a moment of peace, or those looking for mercenaries or allies of any alignment, the cantina was the solution to all of life's greatest problems. It was also home to a dozen or so cutthroats half the time but thankfully, as the evening light was still over their world, they had little to fear for the time. .. hopefully.

Peaceful or not there were still plenty of ruffians to go around. From merman and merfolk just having a good time and refreshing drinks with each other, to other brigandes and thieves matching wits and cards against each other in a manly game of Go Fish. While there wasn't anything to too ominous or worrying about the partygoers, nevertheless, the group remained cautious as they examined the great house of fun.

"This is so cool!" Bow squealed at the sight of the awesome-looking place. How could he not be excited to be in the same room as dozens of other shipwrights and captains, regardless of who was hitting each other after losing a card game! "Seaworthy is just like I imagined it! Everyone here looks just like a pirate."

"Focus, Bow!" Glimmer clicked her fingers to grab his attention. "We're here to find a sea captain."

"No pirates?'

"No pirates."

"Arrr..." He moaned drooping his arms.

"I don't see what the big deal is between one or the other." Catra commented, trying to ignore the hungering smell of fish. "If we need to get to Salineas why not just pick one?" Her eyes shifted to the side as something caught her curiosity.

"Yeah, see!" Bow brightened at the agreeable magicat. "Catra has the right idea!"

"Ok, you, never agree with Catra!" She told him before turning her attention to the other party member. "And we can't risk asking a pirate for help when we don't even know if they'll betray us or not."

"Uhhh hello? Who cares if they'll betray us or not?" She grinned pulling out her sword. "She-Ra here, remember? I can handle any of these guppies with one arm."

"Yeah, and how are we going to navigate the ship then without their help?" All the enthusiasm Catra had quickly dropped along with her ears at the realization.

"Oh yeah..."

Rolling her eyes, Glimmer made her way over to the server across the counter. Even the staff here alone had a rugged look to them, the pink woman in front of her having surprisingly large muscles for a person who wiped and served tables all day. And there was something rather unsettling about this one having a fishing hook tattooed against her bulging left arm in a cantina full of merfolk. "Uhhh hello? " She smiled nervously as the server gave a small glare back. "Heh... we need a sea captain that can take us to Salineas?"

The barkeep was quick to answer as she pointed across the room into one of the nearby booths. There, the group watched as they saw half a dozen merfolk gathered around one table as a large green one grunted like his life depended on it. Drawing closer, they saw the man arm-wrestling with someone more human, one donned in a blue coat and white shirt with a red bandana around his neck. With his dark brown pants, leather holsters, and spurs on the ends of his boots, he looked like a mix between a pirate and a cowboy put into one.

With cheer, the man cried out in victory as he finally slammed the large green man's arm to the table. The merfolk all around him groaned in dismay as they walked away, the stranger cheering for himself as he leaned back in his seat. "Ha ha! Drinks all around! Put it on my friend here's tab!" The man laughed as others walked away. He flicked around the tips of his moustache as the three made their way over to him. "Ah, children, no doubt you are here to partake in more of my glorious tales?"

"Huh? Oh no, we were told you were a sea captain?" Glimmer looked him over.

"Indeed!" The man planted his feet on the table without a second thought, posing before the gang as heroically as he could. "I am the one, the only, Sea Hawk!"

"...Sea Hawk? ...That's the coolest name ever!" Bow cheered pumping his fist.

"Yes! The one and the same! He who hunted the seven wonders of the seas, he who battled the mighty Kraken when only a board of his ship remained, and he who saw the dreaded terrors of the deep and councurred them all! I am the Legendary Sea Hawk!"

"..." Glimmer didn't know what to make of this. With just a few short lines and a couple words of dialogue Sea Hawk somehow became more full of himself than Catra was capable of.

"Awesome!" Bow's eyes shined like never before, the stars in his eyes glistening with glee.

"Look Captain, sir? I was wondering-"

"Please, just call me Captain Sea Hawk." He insisted, leaning in his bench again.

"Sorry. Captain Sea Hawk, we're interviewing potential captains to take us to Salineas." She explained taking a seat. "Would you like to apply for the position?"

"Hahaha," he laughed again, "apply for the position? I am the one and only Sea Hawk. I'm offer only."

"Offer only?" Catra pulled over one of the over chairs as she sat in it backwards. "You have the right taste but terrible self-advertising. Saying your name is Sea Hawk doesn't tell us anything about your qualifications. For all I know you're just a hack."

"A hack? A hack?!" He choked. "I once ran the 50-klick Galebreath Gauntlet in less than 20 klicks."

"Yawn."

"I maneuvered the Serpentine with nary a chip in the paint of my bow."

"Oh, wow, congrats on the pain job." She rolled her eyes.

"My shanties are considered so desirable, that sirens fling themselves into sea at the sound of them."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if I-" She paused briefly as she leaned over to Glimmer. "What's a shanty?" She whispered.

"Basically just singing done by sailors." She whispered back.

"What? Ugh, I think I'd throw myself overboard too at the sound."

"I admire your flattery young one, but the sea is my only mistress." Sea Hawk replied.

"I... wasn't trying to flatter-"

"And because I can tell you're wondering," he continued, "my moustache is naturally shiny."

"It is shiny! You're hired!" Bow decided, earning a quick slap in the arm from Glimmer. "Ow!"

What were they supposed to say to this? What was the most appropriate response? None of them were thinking the same thing and were nowhere near considering how the other felt about this mysteriously brash and prideful man.

Glimmer didn't know how to respond to someone of his caliber. Despite her experiences this past week with Catra living around the castle, even she wasn't as open with herself like this guy was. Bow on the other hand was in too much awe at the man's greatness. He was just one detail away from practically being a superhero, having all the right and cool things to say, dressing like he was donning a hero's costume. All he needed now was a superpower and the awesomeness would be complete!

As for Catra, her one minute experience with this man was a little more than she could ask for. "...Suddenly staying with your mother seems a lot more tolerable. Later." Catra said as she tried to walk away.

"No." Glimmer said flatly, grabbing her tail to Catra's annoyance. "So, are you available for hire then?"

"Me? Hahaha, what makes you kids think you can afford me?" He asked leaning over the table a little.

"I assure you, Captain Sea Hawk, money is no object." How could it be when the fate of the world was at stake? On top of that, riches were one of the few perks one had to look forward to when you were a princess. Without so much as a thought he dug through the opening of his shirt, grinning as he handed a small slip of paper to the hiring princess.

"Behold my fee." Taking it with a bit of queasiness, the three leaned over as she opened the folded paper tab. Revealing it's contents before them, Glimmer and Bow were devastated at the sight of the unreasonable demand of money. Out of the three, Catra was the only one who didn't drop her jaw at the sight, finding herself actually surprised as she let out a whistle.

*Fweet!*

"I can buy myself a nice castle with that kinda money." She commented.

"Eh heh... money might be an object after all." Having enough of the irritation presented to her, she stood back to her feet along with Catra as she glared at him. "You know what? Fine! We'll just find ourselves another Sea Captain."

"Good luck with that. You won't find another soul who knows the treacherous sea routes to Salineas like I do. I brave it often to visit my close personal friend, Princess Mermista." As fast as he turned them away he quickly reeled them back in with the announcement.

"You know her?"

"Do I?" He questioned in a joking manner. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. It all depends on how much my services are worth to you."

Grimacing at the sleazy bargaining, Catra whispered over to Glimmer's ear as she stretched out her claws. "Just give me two minutes with this guy and I can get him to agree to anything." While Glimmer was a little curious in how effective she could be against her seeming counterpart, she couldn't abide to possible torture of any kind, not even to her enemies. She smiled as she came up with another idea, planting Catra in the chair in front of her and pushing her to the table.

"Why not another offer? You and Catra, right here, one on one. If you win, you get everything you asked for and then some. If you lose, you take us to Selineas free of charge." Perking up at this, Catra smirked as she set her elbow firmly on the table.

"Sounds good to me. Unless, of course, your afraid of bring beaten by a little kitty..."

What kind of fair bet was this? Either he won and got everything he demanded and then some and took them to Selineas, or he lost and took them to Selineas free of charge. It all came down to a simple game of arm-wrestling against the mysterious cat girl that sat before him, grinning like a predator that just cornered it's prey. For all he knew she might've been capable of throwing him out the building in one toss, it would explain why they're so desperate to settle this in a match of strength!

But, his pride was at stake! As a captain of the nefarious seas of Etheria, no man or woman has ever or will ever best him in a game of arm-wrestling! He's taken on creatures that would make little children wet themselves, he's scaled the coasts of the most hazardous terrain. He, was Captain Sea Hawk! And he would never allow his dignity to fall to the likes of these three troublemakers!

"Very well, I accept your challenge! But know this lassie. For all the men and all the women who have faced me, none have ever won a single match!" With a yank of his hand and a firm grip in the cat's, the match had begun!

As Glimmer and Bow looked over her with cheer, Catra had to admit- for a guy that was clearly full of himself, he wasn't slouching and skimming on the details either. He had a great amount of strength in that showboating arm of his, forcing her to focus intently on her own defense until she felt him give way.

"Go Catra! Put him in the dirt!" Bow cheered. She was actually finding herself kind of wishing she could go She-Ra right now given how long this was taking.

"Come on, you can do it Catra!" Glimmer cheered as well.

"Nnngghhh!" She grumbled, gripping the table with her other hand to concentrate.

"Ha! This is the best you got?" He provoked. "I once beat a Tyrosaur with biceps the size of my head, in an arm-wrestling match that lasted two weeks!"

Sea Hawk himself was just as impressed with the magicat, if not more so with the young girl's strength. For such a young one, to last this long against the likes of him was nothing but impressive. She had that fierce determination in her eyes, the grip that held a thousand weapons, the strength of a mighty bull! Why, just thinking of how glorious this victory would be when he finally won, he could imagine all the wonderful celebrations this would lead to-

*thud*

"Huh?" No, it couldn't be! He refused to believe it regardless of it being right in front of him!

"Hah!" She grinned, folding her arms behind her as she leaned back in her chair. "How's that for a lassie?

"Haha! Yeah!" The two behind her congratulated, Glimmer high-fiving her as Bow patted her back. With all that had happened up till now, Sea Hawk didn't know what to say. He was beaten, for the first time, not just to a girl but to a child at that! He couldn't allow his credibility to be at stake, not after all his glorious wins!

"W-Well, truth be told, I let you win so as to, ahem, boost your confidence." He revealed.

"Oh, really?" Catra looked over the wad of paper as she flashed it in front of him. "Such a shame too, we probably would've given ya a little something." He coughed a little to clear his throat, already filling with regret and grief over his newest loss.

"Y-Yes, well, all is in the past." Jumping over the table, he acknowledged the others as he stood before them. "Truth be told, I've been wanting to go to Salineas anyway." Reinvigorated, he threw his arm over Glimmer as he pulled her in to his embraces. "Come on, kids, with me! Forward to adventure!"

This was definitely going to be the strangest day so far of Catra's time in the Rebellion, not to mention the most annoying. She was going to be spending who knows how many days at sea, surrounded by the dreadful water she despised so much, and stuck socializing with these three for who knew how long until she managed to rip her ears off from going insane.

What kind of kingdom was Salineas going to be anyway? Was it going to have some town filled with nut jobs that worshipped a goddess to the point where they would turn on her if she ended up being anything different? Because she already had enough of that with the last town she visited and she was not going to go through that scenario again! Sure, she did find a small bit of comfort when they appreciated her again in the end, but it felt hollow and empty after the harsh feelings they left her after the first time.

She was so focused on these thoughts that she failed to pick up on the fact they were being spied on. Up above the floor atop of them, looking over the railing, was a lone shadowy spectre, one that relayed all the necessary details to it's dark master...

...

"So, Catra appears to be in Seaworthy..." She spoke, examining the image displayed with Adora at her side. While nothing of Adora's appearance said otherwise, yesterday had been a dark turn for the young girl who was once pure of heart.

Peace was what she thought the Horde stood for, what the Horde fought against the evil princesses of Etheria to achieve. After the botched mission of Thaymor, she requested for Shadow-Weaver to find any and all proof that what they were doing was justified, unable to think of the numerous towns they've attacked up till now and who knows how many innocent people caught in the crossfire. It just wasn't something she thought possible!

Thankfully, or not, Shadow-Weaver was more than eager to accept the request, spending no more than a day to find all the necessary proof that Adora longed for. What she found was simply more troubling than what she had started with.

Unaware of Shadow-Weaver's underhanded tactics and ruse with the proof she displayed, she watched as a hapless village, one that looked no more threatening than a simple bird among the skies, attack one of their Horde outposts with fire in their eyes and anger in their actions. They attacked with everything they could get their hands on as they beat back her fellow soldiers and allies, capturing who knows how many troops and doing whatever unthinkable things Adora dared not to comprehend! What made this scenario even darker for her?

This was their response to peace. They offered this village peace and a chance to unite with the Horde in order to restore peace and unity to Etheria, and this was their response. Violence. Incomprehensible, unnecessary, violence. She couldn't tell if the villagers were aware of their actions or, more likely, if the evil princesses that ruled them pulled the strings to goad them into fighting with their sinister magics and trickery.

It was then, only after witnessing the carnage and violence herself, that Adora hardened her resolve. She had nothing but hatred for the princesses across Etheria, the people who tricked and enslaved others for their own selfish reasons, and the ones who took her best friend from her.

She still didn't know what form of trickery they had placed on Catra, she couldn't tell if they were controlling her magically or with lies like the rest of the simple citizens. All she knew was that they angered her to no end, and out of all the people she wanted to show mercy, they were nowhere on her list.

At least not the ones in currently in the Rebellion.

"Do you think we can bring her back?" Adora asked hopefully.

She admitted, it did pain her a little to trick her precious Adora in this way. She was destined for greater things than Hordak could dream of, and she was the closest thing to a daughter she truly had within this place. But as it stood, all of this was required to bring about Adora's rise to power. "I'm afraid until I know more about her situation, I can not help her."

"T-Then let me go to Salineas, Shadow-Weaver!" She insisted as she stood respectfully. "Please, you have to let me catch up to her. Maybe I can bring her back, even if I have to use force! Plus, it would be a great boon if we can either destroy the Sea Gate, or convince the kingdom of Salineas to join the Horde. In either scenario, we could approach Bright Moon Castle from two sides if we succeeded."

There was that spark again, that one little spark that revolted Shadow-Weaver at the after everything that happened, all the proof she gave Adora, she still had a strong semblance of sincerity and care for the other citizens of the world, and was willing to find allies wherever they may be. It would take time to truly blacken her heart of everything she cared about, and she was a very patient woman. "I think that would be a wonderful idea my dear." Her eyes allowed Adora to feel the smile coming from the motherly-figure. "But are you sure you're ready now?"

"Yes, Shadow-Weaver." Shadow-Weaver was intrigued by the certainty of her voice.

"Then what will you do if you encounter hostiles?"

"Restrain first, use force if necessary." There wasn't any hesitation, no thoughts of the alternative, not a twitch from her fingers or the corners of her eyes. She was clearly seeping in to the teachings of the Horde, however little at a time it may be.

"And, if you encounter any princess who's part of the Rebellion?" Adora's face hardened with a scowl.

"No hesitation. No mercy."

She was so proud.

"Excellent, my dear."

*pat-paT-PAT-*

Their attention shifted to the door briefly as another thought occurred to the dark witch. "Ah, yes, I almost forgot to mention Adora. For this mission I'll be sending you along with several other cadets as well as another ally."

Adora watched as a figure appeared from the darkened hallway, being met by a hulkish figure covered in insect-like scales across her chest and around her shoulders. She had a very intimidating presence to her, the figure standing over a foot taller than Adora, almost two feet, as well as supporting massive and durable claws where her hands should've been. The figure's smile alone already put Adora on the defensive, feeling like she could strike at any point.

"Adora, I'd like you to meet Force Captain Scorpia." Shadow-Weaver introduced. "She'll be accompanying you for the mission to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"You don't trust me?" There was something about the wording she used that made Adora a little hurt.

"Of course I trust you my dear," she assured stroking her cheek, "what I don't trust are those blasted princesses. As it stands you're still fresh from the grounds as a Force Captain, with only one mission under your belt. And while I believe you're more than capable of, others would prefer you being assisted by someone else who's been in the field many times." She glanced back to the silent white-haired girl. "That's where Scorpia comes in."

"I see." It made sense to her. After all, like Shadow-Weaver said, she's only completed one mission so far, to rescue Catra from the princesses, and that was a total failure. With a nod, she walked up to the large figure as she held out her hand. "Greetings, Force Captain. My name is-"

"Adora-ble!"

"Huh-?"

*Craaack*

"Ack-!" Adora's face scrunched up as she felt the massive pair of arms wrap around her, lifting her off the ground as she was crushed in her titan-like grip. Come to think of it, asking to shake hands with another person with scorpion claws wasn't much better than this. "I see we got a hugger..." She squeaked. All the air that was pushed out of her came rushing back again as the scorpion girl dropped her again, Adora rubbing a few new sores she felt around her ribcage.

At least making a new friend didn't look like it was going to be challenging.

"I'm counting on the both of you to make sure the mission proceeds smoothly, and to have each others back." Shadow-Weaver directed, Adora following along with a respectful salute as always.

"We won't fail you, Shadow-Weaver." With one last nod, she turned around with Scorpia as the two made their way for the door.

"Ah, Adora, one more thing." She called out again, floating over as Adora turned back curiously. She watched as the witch of darkness dug through the opened sleeves of her large robe, searching for something. "I was hoping to give you this earlier as a reward for your first successful mission, but... well..." She couldn't bring herself to speak ill of the girl's failings or emotional state. Blinking to herself at the touch, she pulled out a small rectangular green box, about half the side of her arm, as she handed it to Adora. "For you."

"For... me?" This was a nice little surprise as Adora took it with gratitude. Very rarely did Adora ever receive a gift from someone in the Horde, almost every time being from Shadow-Weaver herself as she was raised by her. Those occasions themselves were even more rare as there was a mere handful of times Adora ever received a gift. Opening the box curiously, she didn't know if she should be grateful or confused at the contents.

It was a large woolen red wrapping, adorned with a single red gem in the center.

"It's a... headband?" She said a little questionably. Before she could touch the mysterious gift, she flinched as Shadow-Weaver shut the box closed without a second's notice.

"This item is to give you an edge in your fight against the princesses, my dear. If you ever find yourself in need, wear it upon your head. But you must only do it if and when absolutely necessary." She warned. "It will give you a significant boost to your combat capabilities, but it will affect your mind and your emotions in turn without proper training."

There was no lying to her Adora like this. If she was going to give her an item, she needed Adora to know all the risks that came with it, less she be surprised by it later on. With Adora having little reason to trust so many people after the events of Thaymor, Shadow-Weaver saw little reason to lie to her about it's drawbacks. The more she assured Adora and assisted her like this, the closer Adora would be drawn to Shadow-Weaver, and the more trust she would have in the only person she had left in the Horde.

"I... I understand. Thank you for your generosity, Shadow-Weaver." Adora replied with a small bow, returning down the hallway once more.

Shadow-Weaver grinned a little as she turned back to the fountain, continuing to watch Catra and the rest of her allies as they entered the docks. Every little thing Catra did just helped to push Adora one more foot in Shadow-Weaver's arms. Whether Adora succeeded or failed in her mission was irrelevant. The girl would indefinitely require the use of the headband she had given her, and that alone was more than enough to make this mission a success.

Adora would be one step closer to everlasting darkness...

...

A/N: Thanks to all the people who've been a great boost of moral support! Once again i apologize for the lack of size this time around, like I said, just felt like it was a good cutoff point (otherwise I'd be looking at another obnoxious near-13k-word posting, which, while I don't mind, cuts into my real life where i'm supposed to be working Xo but writing's just so much more fun...*sigh*)

By the way, I'd be extremely flattered if anyone was to start doing fanart based on this series. I noticed in the past people with very successful or very popular OC's fics, they usually did fanart which gathered a large following of people- like Nyx from MLP and such. If anyone was to start doing said fanart, I'd be more than willing to point them out in the shoutouts (as well as possibly reward them via a spin-off chapter or something based on this fic of their creation ^^).

Anyway! As always leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 14: Episode 5: The Sea Gate Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Fun cat fact of the day: Why do cats hate water? Because apparently the oils of their fur build up and absorb water much faster and larger than humans do, and because of it it makes them colder!

Why am I mentioning this?

...no reason...

ENJOY!

...

"Ahhhhh~" Adora breathed in the fresh air as the ship sailed across the sea. She was fortunate Shadow-Weaver could provide them with one of the finer sea vessels for this mission, at least compared to that other run down vessel that sounded like a vehicle breaking down every five seconds.

This would be Adora's first full-fledged mission since the incidents of Thaymor, the first one she felt fully prepared for and was ready for the unexpected compared to last time. She wasn't going to let anyone get the better of her or catch her off guard. She was going to recruit the princess of Salineas, or she was going to crush her along with the Sea Gate that guarded her kingdom.

Violence was still a subject she wasn't prepared to deal with when the time came for it. She was hoping to resolve most if not all the issues she could without resorting to such methods, except for anyone from the Rebellion. They took her best friend, through whatever methods of their evil cunning and sorcery. And there was no way she was going to forgive or trust any of them until she could get to the bottom of this.

What troubled her most about the ordeal was Catra. She didn't know what sort of manipulations they pulled on her, and half the time she questioned if they actually did manipulate her themselves or not. Just seeing everything that was going on in Thaymor, mixed with Catra's surprising concern to rescue a small child she likely didn't know for long, it was just too weird. She always knew Catra had good in her, but with how straightforward she was being with it, it just left a strange felling in Adora's chest, a strong uncertainty that almost hurt to think about.

And that didn't include the troubling words she had to give Adora, the memory still fresh in her head as if it was yesterday.

"But... But how am I supposed to know you're telling the truth? How do I know this isn't some elaborate trick? I mean why would you even work for them willingly to begin with?"

What kind of trickery did the princess use? Did they even use trickery at all? The way Catra spoke to her, the way she seemed so willing to join them just to get what she wanted. Was she actually under their control at all? Was she doing this for herself like everyone else said?

"You enjoying yourself there?" A voice spoke up from behind her. Looking back, she snapped out of her thoughts as she smiled back to the other Force Captain, one specifically assigned to assist her by Shadow-Weaver.

"Oh, hey Scorpia." She greeted as Scorpia leaned on the ship's rail next to her. She smiled as she looked out into the vast ocean, feeling the breeze blowing through her hair and the sound of the birds who flew through the sky.

"Oh, I just love boats. Don't you?" Scorpia commented as she leaned against the rail next to her. "Wind in your hair, ocean on every side, miles and miles from the nearest dry land, watery death awaiting at the slightest mishap."

"Heh, yeah... would prefer to avoid the latter of that but I know what you mean." The glory and excitement she felt was a little smaller now due to her commentary, though it didn't ruin her fun.

It was at the time Scorpia noticed a slight solemn look on the other captain, a quietness as she stared out into the ocean. "Everything all right, Adora?"

"Huh?" She snapped out of her look as she was addressed. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about-"

"Catra?" Scorpia answered for her, earning a small nod. "You guys must've been pretty good friends, huh?"

"Mhhm," she nodded again, "we grew up together through most of our lives. Every day we would dream of getting out of the Fright Zone and being able to see the open world. Fighting alongside the Horde, fighting the princesses that corrupted everything. It was... nice..."

"Must've been pretty close then." Scorpia's stinger wagged a little with glee. "Most people I meet usually don't have nice things to say about her."

"Yeah, I'm more than aware of it." She remarked, remembering how openly Lonnie talked down about her. "It's not that I don't understand either. Catra was... a little blunt towards everyone else, and she got annoyed pretty easily. But she was a really nice and sincere person when I first met her. She was shy, innocent, she actually cared about others no matter how scared she got."

"I'm betting it didn't last that long though?" She was a little regretful at her question as she saw the small frown growing on Adora's face.

"No. Just... one day she just... changed. She became cold, distant to everyone else." She found it a little saddening to think about. Remembering the usual brightful cheery face just switch to an uncaring cold expression out of nowhere. "She didn't even care about who needed help unless I got involved in it myself. She didn't want anything to do with anyone else from that point on. And she wouldn't even tell me what was wrong or what changed... Sometimes I wonder what she would be like at all if we weren't friends, if she never met me to begin with. Maybe her life would've turned out better without me..."

"...Well that's dumb." Adora was caught off guard at the blatant feedback from the smiling Scorpia. "You think she'd be better off without you? Based on what you told me, I think she owes you a lot more than you're willing to admit. You were there for her when she was distant to everyone else, and you think it's your fault that she turned out like this?" She turned around as she continued, leaning against the rail backwards. "I don't know what happened either. Maybe it was your fault or maybe it wasn't. But you at least took it upon yourself to stick by her side to make up for whatever mistakes you could've made. If you ask me, she couldn't ask for a better friend."

Adora really didn't know what to say as she smiled warmly to this. She didn't think someone as rough-looking and tough like Scorpia would be as sentimental as this. She practically knew the exact thing to say when she needed to hear it most. It actually reminded her of Catra a little bit, seeing how tough she on the was on the outside yet sincere on the inside.

"Heh... thanks Scorpia." Adora smiled back.

"No problem... so when are we going to Salineas?"

"What do you mean? We're already on our way, aren't we?"

"Nope. We've been going off course for the last ten minutes." She announced.

"And... why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Oh, because the scary lady in red told me to follow your directions all the way through. She even joked about how she would "declaw me" if I spoke once out of line too!" There was something about the way she said that with a clear smile on her face that made it a little unsettling.

It was nice to find a new friend in another Force Captain, possibly someone else she could trust while trying to piece together what was going on around here... even if a little clumsy.

...

"Welcome aboard the Dragon's Daughter Three!" Sea Hawk announced several minutes after they set off.

These were the moments he cherished the most. Excitement, adventure, and entertainment! The three E's, at least according to him! Out here a man like him could be anything he wanted to be! He could be vigilant, he could be a coward, he could be a notorious thug, he could be a righteous hero! Out here away from the rest of civilization among the populace where their laws and legislations ruled the land was nothing for a man like him.

Here, he was a man who was free, along with his new temporary crew that consisted of Catra, Glimmer, and Bow!

Sure, he might've lost a game of arm-wrestling to the cat who seemed a little less than comfortable looking off the sides of the ship, but that didn't matter to him anymore! Here one could turn their life around with just a simple victory, a climactic fight against the legions and various creatures of the dark abyss below them. And it was here he knew he would reclaim his honor!

"Do I even wanna ask what happened to the first two?" Catra asked with a moan, not taking her uneasy eyes off the surrounding ocean.

"Tragically, they went down in flames." He mourned.

"How did that happen?" Bow asked, eyes alight with stars for the fourth time since meeting this man. Whatever reasoning Sea Hawk had had to be a glorious tale of heroism and terror!

"I set them on fire." There wasn't a care in his voice at the reply. Groaning, Catra shook off his brash enthusiasm as she walked towards the other side of the ship. With gusto, he stood at the very bow of the ship, pointing directly to the sea of opportunities. "Now, onward to adventure!"

"Bet he's not exactly what you expected, huh Catra?... Catra?" Glimmer looked back when she noticed a distinct lack of snarkiness in return.

...

The sword. This one simple object she stared at into her hands. Each and everyday she would think about how her entire life changed the moment she touched this stupid blade. Made by the First Ones, the supposed settlers of Etheria and the ones who created advanced technology. This was supposedly one of their crowning achievements of advanced history, and now it was completely within Catra's grasp.

Man was it a piece of garbage!

Every time she needed to use it, every chance that came when it felt the most necessary, the stupid sword wouldn't answer her calls no matter how dire it was. Whether she was saving an entire village from the oppression of the Horde, fighting against a behemoth-sized man with muscles twice the size of his own head, it never answered her calls when she needed it most. Not even after her long harrowing journey with an old hag did it answer her call, not at first anyway.

To this day she's only ever gotten the sword to answer her call twice, and one of them was completely by accident. Was she missing something? Did it work at specific times of the day or once every few days? Given the two or so days between her first time using it and last time using it, it seemed the most plausible. But she felt a strange power coming from the blade at all times, like it was telling her she could use it whenever!

Whatever the case may be, she took a stance with a deep breath, holding the blade before her as she begun swing it in rhythm along with her quiet voice. "For the Honor of Grayskull... For the Honor of Grayskull... For the Honor of Grayskull..."

Practicing just swinging a sword like this was a bit embarrassing but what other choice did she have? She didn't know what was needed to activate the sword on command and until she did the sword would be useless as any other sword. She needed to find a way to get it working when she really needed it, something that would get the sword work every time she asked for it. Maybe she just had to feel a certain way about it? Maybe she needed to feel a specific amount of joy, sadness, anything to get the blade working?

*poof*

"Hey Catra, what are you do-IIIIHHH!" Glimmer jumped as she teleported in front of her. Both she and Catra nearly had a heart attack as Catra stopped the swing just inches away from the tip of her nose.

"Ugh, what do you want, Pinky?" Catra grumbled, turning around as she continued her practicing.

"Well, if you don't plan on stabbing me for asking," she sighed briefly before walking over to her right side, "I wanted to know what you were doing or if you were okay."

"I'm fine." She replied without skipping a swing. Glimmer watched for a bit as Catra continued to swing her sword, chanting the infamous line with every swing.

"You still can't get the sword to work right, can you?"

"No, I just like walking off in a random direction to swing a sword for no reason." She retorted sarcastically. Honestly, given Catra's personality, Glimmer wouldn't be surprised if that truly was the reason. Just going off on her own to swing a sword to blow off some steam. It seemed to match pretty well with her personality now that she thought about it. "Was that all you came here for?"

"No, actually. I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"Well... anything, really."

Catra took a short break from the swinging as she turned to her at this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean about you." She clarified. "Catra, you've been with us for awhile now and we barely know a thing about you."

"Yeah, consider yourself lucky to know what much." She mumbled.

"And I really want to know what your life was like just in case..."

"In case of what?" It was one of the few times Glimmer went silent when speaking to her.

"...In case of another mishap like at Plumeria." She was met with a small scowl from Catra's face as she went straight back to practicing. She knew she was still harboring confusing feelings from that day, most of which resulted in anger now whenever it was mentioned. She knew it wasn't all bad at the end of it, seeing how unsure Catra was when she was cheered for again by the end of everything, but it wasn't something easy to bring up. "I don't want to rush into things again thinking you were just being egotistical because of all the things you did. I don't want to assume something about your life by accident to regret it later."

She couldn't tell if a single word was getting to her as Catra continued to practice with the sword, not that she would blame her either. She knew there was some small miniscule growth from Catra's character, seeing how she didn't threaten Glimmer or anyone else to leave her alone the minute they approached her within the last few days, yet she never seemed to move passed that either. She kept things to herself in almost all conversations unless someone was talking to her directly about something, and half the time she ignored them anyway.

"Please, just tell me something?" She continued to plead.

"Mmmmh..." What was she supposed to do here? She was trapped on a boat surrounded by water with nowhere else to go. For a moment she wondered if this was all planned or if she was just being paranoid about everything? What would be the point of it anyway if she just told her something about herself? Would there be any benefit to it?

...Wait a minute.

"Tell you what, Pinky. If you do something for me, I'll tell you one thing about myself of your choice." She already regretted it as she saw the lights grow behind Glimmer's eyes.

"Really?!" This was great! She could tell she was definitely getting closer to them as a friend! Step one down, ninety-nine to go! At least she hoped so because she was just as quickly startled as Catra shoved the sword in her face.

"ONE. THING." She emphasized. "Help me figure out how to get this stupid sword to work."

"Oh..." She rubbed her chin as she looked over the sword.

To be honest, she didn't have a single clue about the sword, not anymore than Catra did at least. From what little she did know about it, it was a sword created by the First Ones, and, according to her mother, it was supposed to be powerful too. The First Ones were supposed to be an advanced race, seeing how they created the technologies and the ruins that the kingdoms continued to study to this day. For such an advanced society you'd think they'd have an easier method of using the sword and calling on She-Ra.

Sure, nobody she knew made the sword. Who knows what was going through the minds of the First Ones when they first developed the sword? Maybe She-Ra wasn't a single person? Maybe that was just the names of all the warriors back then, She-Ra being a title one had to obtain through heroism or right?

Whatever the reasoning was, there wasn't a single bit of evidence or past knowledge that could help her figure out how to use the sword anymore than Catra could. But she wasn't about to give up her one chance to get to know something about her friend!

"Um... Hmm,..." She looked all over the sword from the tip of it's blade to the bottom of it's hilt. "Maybe it needs something to trigger it?"

"Like what?" Catra said with a slight growl. She would prefer if Glimmer didn't state the obvious or the things she's already tried.

"I don't know, like... mmh... Ok for starters, what did you do the first two times it worked?"

"How should I know? They were both random." She crossed her arms leaning against the rails of the ship. "The first time around you guys were in trouble and the sword practically nagged me to help you."

"And the second time?"

"I don't know, you guys were getting talked down to by your mom?" She shrugged. While it wasn't entirely the true case at that time, she'd prefer keeping the situation professional around here. She didn't want to go on with some emotional sappy episode about how she was "true to her feelings" or some garbage. Especially since it didn't work the last dozen times she tried it. "I mean you guys weren't in trouble, so I don't think that has anything to do with it."

"But you might've been worried about us?" Glimmer suggested. She was a little intrigued as she saw the faintest of blushes on Catra's face.

"I-I was just worried cause if you guys got into trouble then there was no telling what would happen to me!"

"Uh huh, suuuuuuuure." She smirked.

"Keep it up and I'm not telling you anything."

"Sorry." Taking one more glance over the entire sword, she was struck with a possible realization as she handed it over to Catra. "But maybe that's the key to using it?"

"What do you mean?" Catra tried to contain her curiosity and hope for this.

"Well just think about it. The last dozen or so times you tried to use it, you were using it by yourself when you were alone and trying to defend yourself, right?"

"Yeaah...?"

"So, maybe try thinking of defending someone else for a change?" Her suggestion was met with a strange, unsure, skepticism from Catra as she looked at the jewel of her sword. Come to think of it, practically every time she did try to use it was whenever she was by herself, and half those times when she was with someone else or surrounded by a dozen other people. It was like that too when she defeated that force captain who was sucking the energy out of Plumeria's Hearts Blossom, even if there was a town she was trying to fight for. She wanted to use the sword to defeat her enemies or when she prioritized someone else for whatever reason.

She never really considered it was just a matter of when she was trying to defend someone else.

"So... just think of defending someone else or something?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Glimmer was just as sure of it as Catra was, which is to say not at all. "Just try it and see if it works.

"Huff, fine..." She puffed, standing her ground again as she raised the sword above her head. If that really was the method to getting the sword to work, then she was willing to try anything around here, no matter how humiliating it might be. Swallowing the little bit of pride she was forfeiting, she took a deep breath as she cleared her mind of everything that didn't have to do with defending people. "For the Honor of Gr-NGGGHHHH!" All at once, Catra's entire body shivered violently as goosebumps spread across her entire body.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?!" What just happened? Did Glimmer's suggestion actually make things worse? Oh gosh, what is she going to tell her mom if she ended up breaking She-Ra?!

"Aggghhh!" Catra garbled as she dropped to her knees. She was squeezing her ears for dear life as if they were going to pop off if she let go. "So...HORRIBLE..."

"Horrible?"

"-I am, I am!"

"Huh?" It was at that time of silence that she finally picked up on the sound of a strange singing.

It was horrible for sure, no doubt, but by the way Catra was acting, she was behaving like someone was running a saw blade through her ear drums. On the other side of the ship, jumping from point to point with Bow admiring each and every one of his leaps, Sea Hawk gazed upon the scenery with his cutlass as he sang his triumphant song. Like many other qualities to him, the entire song was about Sea Hawk himself, no doubt boasting about his greatness once again.

"If you want to ride on the waves of deepest blue,

Through perilous winds, Then I got you~"

"You're kidding, right?" Glimmer questioned looking back to the trembling Catra. "I mean it's not the best song I ever heard, but it doesn't sound that bad. It's actually kinda catchy-"

"No, not that!" Catra hissed, pointing off into whatever direction the source of her pain was coming from. "Whatever's making that atrocious scratching noise!"

"The scratching noise...?" Looking more closely, she finally realized what the source of Catra's true pain and suffering was. Alongside Sea Hawk as he continued to sing, there was Bow, always present at his side with a violin in his hands. Personally she found that more debatable than the singing itself. Bow might not have been the world's best musician or anything but the music he was playing was anything far from horrible. It wasn't even close to being considered bad! "That's just a violin, Catra. Haven't you seen or heard one before?"

"Do you think I'd be pulling at my ears like this if I had?!" She continued to growl, slamming the side of her head against the wooden ship so her ear was pinned on one side while using the other two hands to squeeze the other. "Hurry up and tell them to turn that racket off, Pudgey!"

"Mmmmh!" Glimmer marched over with a small blush as she grumbled.

Oh how she wished it didn't stick with her. Oh why oh why did that one stupid guard from Plumeria have to make that one single comment about her size? Ever since they came back from Plumeria, Catra came up with the incredibly funny name, to her at least, "Pudgey" whenever Glimmer annoyed her more often than not.

Half the time, she was never annoying her.

She used it whenever they were eating meals together, they used it whenever they passed each other in the halls when she was grounded for the last week, and she used it just to get a reaction half the time she was minding her own business in her own room. She never thought a day would come when she actually preferred being called Pinky but here it was.

"Hey guys." Glimmer greeted as they paused their song.

"Oh, hey Glimmer. Something wrong?" Bow asked curiously.

"Nope!" Glimmer shook her head with a smile. "Catra just wanted me to ask you guys if you could play your music louder."

"WHAT?!" She grinned as she heard Catra's shout.

"In that case, who am I to deny a fair maiden of my wonderful vocals!" Sea Hawk decreed as he took a deep breath.

"I am Sea Hawk, I am I am,

I am Sea Hawk, I am I am~!"

As expected, along with Sea Hawk's catchy tune, Bow did everything in his power to increase the volume of his beloved instrument, the very one Sea Hawk had carrying around his ship for situations such as this. While he wasn't as enthusiastic about playing an instrument for just the fun of it, if Catra liked his music so much, then he would play like his life depended on it!

Neither of them were aware of the smirk Glimmer was giving back as she looked off into Catra's direction. At this point the cat was slamming her head against the floor in a vain attempt to pass out, trying to do anything to drown out the noise, including drowning just to do it.

Maybe next time you'll think about calling me Pudgey!

"I'M DROWNING YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!"

...

Crooked shaggy rocks. Broken ships and debris scattered all around them. Torn apart sails that look like they've been here for years.

"Something's wrong..." Glimmer muttered checking over the map from the Crow's Nest. "According to the map, we're way off-course."

For the last half hour, following the wonderful music Sea Hawk and Bow displayed for ten minutes straight, the crew had worked around to make sure everything was maintained and kept in working order as they sailed. Unsurprisingly, Catra didn't want anything to do with Glimmer other than cut her into little ribbons on the next possible chance she got. So, knowing she would never be able to pull it off without someone noticing, she decided to spend her time keeping the lookout atop the Crow's Nest, unsure if Catra would follow through with any of her threats.

And for awhile, things were going great! Granted she heard Bow crying his eyes out for two minutes when Catra suddenly bashed the violin on the ground, and partly over Sea Hawk's head, but the three seemed to quickly get over the issues as they set up a table along the ship using several boxes and clothes they could gather. From there, the trio spent a dozen or so minutes having several different rematches in a glorious game of arm-wrestling.

From her point of view, it appeared that nothing quite like a game of arm-wrestling could make one forget about their past arguments. Or, the more likely case, they were having too much fun trying to best each other in a display of strength.

Chances were the latter.

Teleporting from the Crow's Next, she reappeared next to the rest of the crew as they were finishing their next match, the victor being Catra once again.

"Ha! That's three in a row!" She cheered.

"Ghhh best 4 out of 7!" Sea Hawk grumbled with demand.

"No! No more arm-wrestling!" Glimmer stated slamming her hands on the table.

'Tch, typical..." Catra groaned internally. "I start having fun and you have to ruin it."

"Just forget about your fun for a second! I spotted a ship graveyard over in the distance and we're heading straight for it. Is anyone worried about this?"

*crash!*

"Ah!" The rest of the crew sprang to her feet as Glimmer let out a scream. "What was that?!"

"Ah ha! We're here!" His moustache glistened as Sea Hawk stood upon the makeshift table with one foot. "We're here!"

*CRASH!*

"Ahh!" The group screamed in unison as they were tossed several feet around the ship in all directions.

The boat was suddenly flung in the air as the crew found themselves flung several yards into the air, feeling and seeing a massive fin smack into the right of their ship. With haste in his veins and pride in his heart, Sea Hawk quickly stepped up to the rails of the ship again, staring down the terrifying abomination that swam around them.

"The Serpent of the Sea! I knew he'd be lurking in these waters!" As he continued to mumble whatever idiocies he had to say, Catra stared back at the sword itself, looking once more into her reflection.

"I need to think about defending everyone..." She mumbled looking around.

Let's see... Everyone's in peril... The ship needs to be saved... And those two are going to die... Compared to what one should feel when they had such thoughts, Catra felt a wave of glee as these thoughts entered her head, her heart calming as she held out the sword.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

All around her lights of a dazzling displayed danced across the scenery as her entire body shimmered with a sparkling glow, save for her eyes that remained pure light. With the humming of her sword, she brought the sword to her face along with her illuminated hand, crossing them side by side until they formed an X in front of her.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

The rest of the crew were taken back by the appearance of this golden light. Having seen it only twice to this date, even Glimmer and Bow were surprised to see Catra had finally transformed into She-Ra again, the warrior princess that the Rebellion had needed and longed for for so long.

Just like the rest of them, Catra looked over herself with shock, one that was quickly replaced by an overwhelming waterfall of glee. She couldn't help the excitement building up in her, seeing how she finally cracked the code. After so many headaches, so many annoyances through her life, she finally discovered a power and the means to finally summon it!

"Catra..." Bow stuttered to speak. "You... You finally transf-

"Yahoooooo!" Any comments from the peanut gallery fell on deaf ears as Catra quickly rushed the giant monster before her. With no care about the others she passed and little concern for her own safety, she leapt to the air with sword in hand, continuing to grin as the ferocious demon of the beast clashed it's teeth against her mighty sword. She didn't even care when she was plunged into the murky depths below into the freezing cold waters. This was her moment! And she was having a blast!

"Is that... normal, for her?" Sea Hawk asked, unable to take his eyes off the sight as the two disappeared into the water.

"Believe it or not, it's a bit unusual for us too." Bow commented. "This is probably the third time we've seen her do it." He smiled back to Glimmer who continued to look in amazement. "Can you believe it? She finally got it to work!"

"Did she take my advice?" Glimmer questioned.

"Pfffft!" Catra spat out the sea water as she rose to the surface again. "I got him-! Err wait-! Whoa!" She let out another yelp as she was dragged under again.

"So your friend... doesn't need help?" Sea Hawk asked slightly disappointed.

"Nope! I think she's just fine." Bow answered chipperly, unaware of the captain's dismay.

Why did no one tell them this? Why did no one warn him he was going to be traveling with a fellow hero of all things? All the glory, all the riveting details that he was going to have the young ones tell about himself were all dashed away by the sudden reveal of the hero before them.

If they had told him that earlier, he would've gladly turned down the offer beforehand! Why would he want to travel alongside a fellow hero who was going to hog all the glory for themselves? Sure, he wasn't one to usually turn down the young ones when they requested it, whether or not they beat him in arm-wrestling, but why was he needed if another fellow hero was in their midst? Was he needed for anything for that matter?

After waiting another several seconds, the three watched as air bubbles rose violently, followed by a still-excited Catra who was still grinning.

"Ok, now I got him!" She announced swimming to the ship. "I can barely feel the water like this." Just one of the many perks she had to look forward to with being She-Ra, she supposed.

"Awesome job, Catra!" Bow congratulated. "Now hurry up and get on the boat!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, I'm coming." She wondered what other perks she had to look forward to as She-Ra. With her already superb agility heightened to greater lengths, the vast amount of strength her new form obtained, and her defenses increased to the point where she could barely feel the water, there was no telling how much She-Ra benefitted her. "Just give me a min-"

...

"Alright, everyone, settle down, settle down." Shadow-Weaver directed with as much kindness as she could. It was hard to forcefully switch her personalities on a dime. "I want everyone in bed by the time I reach the door." The kids gathered around the bunkroom as they turned in for the day, all dressed in matching white shirt and grey pant PJs. After another long grueling day of education and training, like most five year olds went through on a daily basis, the kids were all finally washed up and ready to settle in for bed.

"Can you tell us a story before bed?" A smiling five-year-old Adora asked running up to Shadow-Weaver.

"Well..."

"Please! Please! Please!" The kids around her began to beg in unison. Normally she would've been more than happy to silence the little pests that practically ordered her to tell a story like this. But when the request came from the adorable angel that stood happily before her, how was she to say no?

"Huff, I spoil you too much." She said, softly patting Adora's head. No one was unaware of Shadow-Weaver's favoritism towards Adora, and everyone was too smart to point it out. "All right, one story children, and then it's off to bed." The kids all around her cheered in tandem as they gathered around the floor in front of her and on the edges of the bunkbeds, the right hand of Lord Hordak pulling up a chair as she turned to the only child she cared about. "Adora sweetie, would you like to sit on my lap again?"

"Huh! Come on, you wanna sit in the front?" Adora asked the girl behind her.

As usual, Adora's face brightened at the chance as Shadow-Weaver always allowed her to. But her excitement quickly faded as she looked back to the smaller child behind her, one that made Shadow-Weaver's blood boil to a burning point.

A small, miniscule, rodent seen no more as mere vermin, who went by the name of Catra. Ever since Adora came across the young child, she's been nothing more than a distraction to her. Whether it was training in the gyms or playground yards, studying across the numerous classes that taught her mechanics and how to fight, or simply to eat lunch day by day, she was the one and only thing Adora ever talked about. Not to mention the severely unneeded attention she gave the girl.

She couldn't understand why Adora was so drawn to this little pest. She was always the sheepish one in her classes, she was the one that was rightfully picked on by almost everyone within the Fright Zone, and, fitting her qualities, she was considered a scaredy cat when it came to anything dangerous. The only times she ever got the bravery or courage to do something was when someone else was in need of help, and that alone was a rarity around here when the kids picked on each other for helping one another.

Like always, the quiet girl fearfully shook her head, hiding behind Adora as the other kids stared and looked at them. Shadow-Weaver's hatred for the young girl was known by all and felt only to a few. And while Adora knew of Shadow-Weaver's harshness to her, she didn't really see it as any different to her harshness towards everyone else. To her, it was just Shadow-Weaver being Shadow-Weaver, completely unaware of how personally she despised Catra.

Thinking for a few seconds after seeing her friend's shyness, Adora smiled back to Shadow-Weaver as she shook her head. "Umm I think I'm good tonight. Thanks though!" She replied, sitting at the edge of the group of children with Catra sitting next to her. There was a brief moment of silence as Shadow-Weaver's hatred seethed, bottling up whatever rage she was filling so as to not scar the children for life.

"Fine." She said with a small hiss. Catra could already feel the anger from the witch suffocating her, knowing she just made things worse. Deciding to move forward, the children watch with excitement as Shadow-Weaver began using her magic. She manipulated the shadows within the palms of her hands as she put on a personal display, showing shadowy versions of everything she was depicting. "I believe you children know this one."

"Once, many eons ago, this world was ruled by terrible creatures of power, the ones you know today as the evil princesses."

"Booooo!" Many of the children exclaimed, just as Shadow-Weaver expected.

"They used their evil magics to spread chaos across the lands, ravaging anything and everything they came across. They burned down cities, set fires to homes, devoured the flesh of little children like yourselves." She didn't skim on a single detail. She could feel the fear coming from some of the children surrounding her. "No amount of armies could stop them, no technology was advanced enough to fight them, and no amount of hiding could avoid them. There was no avoiding the princesses forever. You either submitted to their eternal rule, or you faced horrible death!"

Adora smiled as she patted Catra's back soothingly, hearing the young girl gulp quietly.

"But then, passed the stars and beyond the moons, a lone warrior came down from the heavens. One who stood for honor, decency, and unity throughout all the cosmos. You know him today as Lord Hordak."

"Yaaaaa!" Like with the boos, the entire room filled with cheer from almost everybody at the mention of his name, seeing a heroic-looking shadowy figure being displayed by Shadow-Weaver.

"He saw all the corruption, all the lies and turmoil that the evil princesses spread. Together with a select few heroes, he began his war across Etheria, slaying monster after monster, princess after princess, until finally, he came across the last one where he rules today. Many of his friends and allies had fallen by the time he reached the last princess. But with their sacrifices in his heart, and their courage living on in his blood, he finally struck down the mighty princess, and claimed the land you know as the Fright Zone."

"But why are there more princesses then if he killed them all?" Another random girl asked, clearly never hearing this story before.

"Because just like vermin and rats, the princesses always find a way to return." Shadow-Weaver explained. "They continue to hide in the shadows, even to this day. Waiting, plotting, organizing everything around them so that one day they could strike back against the Horde!" As opposed to fear as many of the children would have felt, the kids instead displayed simple smiles of pride and respect. "That's why each and every one of you has an important role within the Horde. One day, you too will find yourselves fighting against these creatures of darkness. And, if you work hard enough, you may earn the Honor to work alongside Lord Hordak himself!"

"Yaaaaa!" The children all cried out in cheer again as several rings of applause burst throughout the small gathering,.

What an amazing story! It was full of heroism and evil monsters, just like the children were always told about! They knew Lord Hordak was a wonderful being, and each and every one of them felt proud to be living within the Horde, knowing the sacrifices and effort Hordak went through for their safety and livelihoods. Each of them owed Lord Hordak their lives and not one of them planned to let him down!

Sure the days may be hard from time to time. And yes there were days a kid wondered if learning how to fully customize a shock baton from scratch was the best way to spend their childhood. But they would have nothing if not for Hordak's generosity and wisdom, they would be suffering if they didn't have him watching over them! The fact of the matter is, they wanted to prove themselves to Lord Hordak, they felt like they needed to in order to feel fulfilled and give their life meaning! They would happily die for Lord Hordak, and some of them were ready to even now after hearing such a great story!

"...Are all the princesses really that evil?" All heads turned the speaker of the question, including Adora. No one had ever said such a horrible thought, such a questionable thing to say. It was safe to say Catra's fear was overwhelming, feeling the intense gaze of everyone she spoke in front of now. "I-I mean... isn't there like, I dunno... A nice one or two?"

This right here. This little rodent summed up every single reason she was detested by Shadow-Weaver. She didn't know her place, she didn't fall in line without questioning others. She didn't take everything and accepted it as it already was. She just asked whatever questions she had to ask like she owned the entire place.

At least that's how the other children saw it.

"You don't think Hordak's story is true?!" One of the boys asked while gasping.

"N-No, not like that! Just that... you know... Maybe there's a princess out there who might be nice. I mean if there's plenty of bad people out there too, isn't it possible that one's good... maybe...?" She wondered, second guessing a little as she tried to reiterate. To Shadow-Weaver's surprise, many heads looked around the room with the same look of curiosity. Was there actually any good princesses out there? Was one of them actually good and helpful?

Without any hesitation, the magicat suddenly screamed as she was pulled off her feet by magic, pulled over with immense speed as Shadow-Weaver grabbed her by the throat.

"Such insolence!" Shadow-Weaver shouted angrily, scaring the children not even half as close to how much she was scaring Catra. "You would dare question the honor and duty of Lord Hordak himself?! Do you not appreciate all that he has given you- no. Sacrificed for you?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorryyyyy!" Catra cried as she flailed around her feet. This was the absolute terror Catra feared most. The anger within her eyes, the hair spiraling out of control, the magic that went berserk throughout the room. This was the definition of true terror. "I-I didn't mean it, I'm sorryyyyyy!"

"You would be nothing more than a rat from the gutter in any other kingdom, and you would dare to question the righteousness of Hordak's Horde?" Almost every fiber of her being was redirected towards the small figure pulling at her robe down below. It took all of her power to change her persona to someone softer, trying desperately not to take it out on the lone figure that she cared about.

"She didn't mean it." Adora assured with small pleading eyes. "It was just the slip of the tongue. Right, Catra?" Without saying a word, Catra nodded repeatedly like her life depended on it.

Mostly because it did.

This stupid cat was one of the few things she would decimate on a whim. People like her, things like her, were what ruined the Horde around here. They were a plague that gave false ideals and unnecessary hope to the other children and citizens of the Fright Zone. With people like these around, their entire kingdom could come crumbling down.

With a growl in her tone, she dropped the child where she stood, brushing passed the terrified Catra who quickly ran into Adora's comforting arms.

"Consider any and all future story times officially cancelled!" She announced, half the room filling with whining and moaning. As the door automatically opened, she shot one last look to the cat girl as she left. "If any of you have a complaint to make about all of this, you can thank your fellow cadet for the trouble she's caused." And without another word, she left, leaving the hefty automatic doors to shut loudly with the amplified silence in the room.

All eyes turned to the two girls as they glared with unbridled rage. Because of her, their story time was forever over! Thanks to her Shadow-Weaver was definitely going to make their lives harder! That one stupid girl who continued to cry into Adora's comforting hands ruined the best days they ever had to look forward to, all because she was a little too curious about the world. They would all make sure she paid for this later, through whatever means and whatever excuse they had.

The only one who had any compassion still for the young girl was Adora. She knew she couldn't blame Catra. It was just a story after all, and it's not like none of them ever had the same question pop up into their minds. She was just the first to speak about it openly. If anything, she was more proud of her for being so brave enough to actually ask something everyone else was too afraid of saying!

But that did little to ease the minds of her fellow cadets. They were all enraged, they were all fuming, At least like this for the time being, Catra didn't have anything to fear.

She just hoped nothing bad could happen to her comforting friend...

...

FREEZING! That's the immediate sensation that was sent all throughout Catra's body as she snapped back to reality.

Where the heck am I?! Catra hastily looked around in a panic as she felt a strange floaty sensation. Everything around her had a dark blue hue to her surroundings. What just happened to her? Normally when she had these stupid visions pop up she came back to reality wherever she stood. Looking around her, she felt a strange floaty sensation as she saw her outfit. She turned back to normal, her She-Ra transformation apparently having worn off much sooner than her second time around.

"Agghhhh!" Catra nearly choked as she opened her mouth. Seeing the dozens of air bubbles that escaped her lungs as she clamped her throat tight quickly sent an overwhelming fear through her mind. Dark blue hues, a strange freezing sensation throughout her person, air that floated directly above her? There was only one place this girl could possibly be.

I'm in the ocean! She screamed to herself. Without a second thought she quickly swam to the surface with all her might, rushing to get back to the fresh clear air as her body shivered. Of all the stupid times for this thing to give me a vision! She didn't know how long she had been down here. Did she just sink all the way down while the visions played out? Why of all the times did this stupid sword have to give her a vision while she was underwater?

Better yet, why the heck did it have to turn off her She-Ra form at any point while she was doing it?! How much air did she have left? How much did she waste while she was stuck as She-Ra earlier? There were too many questions and not enough time to answer them! With every stroke and kick of her body her senses dimmed little by little. Whatever amount of oxygen she had left was running out with every movement.

I-I can see the surface! That was the only bright side to all this, literally in this case. She must've been fifty or so yards away from the top, yet however close she got the farther it felt like she was. Come on! Come on! She kept shouting to herself. Fifty yards became forty yards. Forty became thirty. And so on and so forth. She was almost there, she could see the surface coming closer to her by the second! She had ten yards left!

Then it happened.

Her body betrayed her as it suddenly convulsed against her will. No matter how hard she tried to fight back, her body opened up all the airwaves her body contained. All at once her lungs instantly filled with water, her body's weight increasing as she struggled just to stay afloat where she was now. Paralysis spread through her entire body, lights were fading in the corner of her eyes. She couldn't fight back as everything slowly came to an end.

Finally, everything stopped around her. She couldn't move. She could barely think. She couldn't even register what was going on. All she knew was that her body had given out, and she was slowly descending downward to the ocean once more. Of all the ways she could possibly die on this adventure, why did it have to be like this? She should've stayed at the castle like she wanted, she knew something bad would happen on this trip.

Not until a shadowy figure splashed into the water from above her, barely seeing it through the corner of her eye. While she lacked any sensation of touch, she felt herself slowly moving upwards again as an arm wrapped around her. Something was moving her, someone else had came to save her. One figure at present came to mind as she blearily saw the darkened figure that dove in to save her.

Adora...? Was she hallucinating? Was it really her? She couldn't tell what was going on at this moment as more and more lights continued to fade around her. It was almost at it's final bit of light when the two finally reached the surface at long last.

*splash!*

"I got her!" She could hear Bow shouting. Immediately she began coughing out the water that filled her lungs, little by little, just as Glimmer quickly reappeared in the water at their side. Grabbing the two of them, she used all the magic she could muster as she teleported the three again, reappearing several feet above the ship itself before they landed on it with a solid thud. Like a fish out of water, Catra flopped around as her body collapsed, this time emptying it's contents of all the water that filled her body as air returned little by little to her.

"Hack-! OUgh-ough!" She coughed violently, cupfulls of water pouring out of her mouth one at a time. She felt a hand patting her back as it tried to help her breathe out the water, recognizing the firm palm of it to be none other than Sea Hawk himself.

Her entire body was still soaked, she was freezing beyond compare. Somehow she felt colder as the air breezed around her body, her skin tingling at each sensation. Her hair itself was drenched like the rest of her body, soaking passed her face as she felt live flow into her at long last. She couldn't believe she had actually made it, despite the improbable odds. Here she was, alive and well.

Well not exactly well, more on freezing like never before followed by a dizziness from nearly drowning.

But alive.

"Are you okay?!" Glimmer kneeled to her side quickly as she helped pat her back.

"Ack-! Ough...I'm...ough... I'm fine..." Catra rasped, her voice a little sore from the salt water she forcefully inhaled. Looking around her various things began to dawn on her.

First off, these visions were a world renowned pain at this point. After her experience a minute ago, she could officially state that when and if these visions appeared were unpredictable. During the few times she's had said visions within the last week before this mission, she had the fortune of them not popping up unexpectedly or inconvenient times. At most, she probably found herself having a vision once or twice in the hallways for several seconds.

Now she was realizing that it didn't matter what she was doing or where she was when these visions occurred, and that could prove very problematic in the future.

Secondly, her She-Ra form went off way too early compared to last time. There officially had to be some bug with this stupid sword at this point because the second time she went She-Ra, she found herself in her state for nearly a full day, twenty-four hours to be exact. Here, she lasted maybe several minutes before it wore off, and that's not including whenever it passed off while she was having a vision.

Lastly she realized...

"Y-You guys... saved me?" For whatever reason to her, this apparently warranted the two to smile back to her.

"Of course we saved you," Glimmer said brightly, "we're a team!"

"Yeah! The Best Friend Squad sticks together!" Bow declared.

"...Ok I'm throwing myself overboard if you call us that again..." It was strangely humorous hearing that from Catra. Unlike most of the times, there was always a small hiss to her tone whenever something annoyed her. Here, she just spoke a bit more commonly than usual, like she was purposely making a joke.

True, they wouldn't put it passed her if she would actually do it, but all the same it was a nice change of pace.

At the same time, Catra didn't really know what to make of it. Why did they bother to help her? Why did they look concerned when she saw them? At the Fright Zone she would've easily drowned as the others watched on and laughed, less Adora saved her. Here, these people who meant nothing to her dove head first to save her from a watery grave, despite everything she said about them and thought about them. Whatever miniscule chance of positivity she could've come up with was swept away as another thought occurred to her.

It was just the stupid sword... She told herself. It was clear their intention was just for the sword, why else would they try to save her? They didn't care about her, it's not like they wanted to save her. They just wanted the sword in case they could unlock it's powers for the next person who wields it. That was the only reason they saved her, it must be the only reason they saved her.

...Right?

"Well done, lads!" Sea Hawk cheered pumping his fists. "Clearly the lessons I've taught you have brought us a great victory today-!"

"Oh would you just knock it off!" Glimmer yelled as Bow helped Catra to her feet, her body still a little numb.

"I'm sorry?"

"We're trying to save Etheria and all you care about is whether or not we're impressed with you. Catra almost drowned today just because you were trying to boast your own ego!"

"W-Well... I wasn't aware she had any conditions or anything... but uhh..." This wasn't exactly the turn he wanted things to take. First the cat girl transforms into some heroic figure with an outfit and transformation then immediately charges at the first thing that endangers them? How was he supposed to know she had some sort of swimming condition? It's not like he asked her to charge the giant monster herself anyway.

And it's not like he didn't feel guilty about it either. Like Glimmer said, someone almost died because he wanted to show off. He never meant to put the lads in any dangers, not the likes of children who looked up to him! This was something completely on him that would take time to get over, and longer than that to possibly earn forgiveness.

"I need this mission to go right or my mom will never give me another!" She continued to rant pulling her hair, forgetting Catra's senses despite them still being partially numbed.

Yeah, that's what I thought... Just the mission... It was weirder saying this time around. She couldn't explain it, she didn't know why, but for a moment thinking those thoughts actually made her a little sad... why?

"Come on, we'll get you some warm towels." Bow said with her arm around his neck, helping her walk away.

"Whatever..."

"Just get us to Salineas. You've wasted enough of our time." Glimmer ordered, still a little angry.

Strange thing was, regardless of all that happened, Catra was still a little bummed out. Not of her botched "heroics", not due to the fact her stupid She-Ra thing messed her up in several different ways, and not because of her recent questioning, but something else entirely. She hated to remind herself of it, she hated how she nearly forgot all about it, and right now drowning seemed like a slightly better alternative to the latter. She knew there was no avoiding it though after everything that's happened.

She had to answer a single question from Glimmer...

...

A/N: Another funtastical chapter complete! (side note: Funtastical's an actual word? Cause spell check doesn't catch it :O!).

You know I was contemplating to myself how I can show my appreciation to the fanbase of both the series and MY series, and as opposed to sending each reviewing 1 Million dollars, cause let's face it, who the heck wants THAT of all things XP, I decided to make the next chapter a little interactive for everyone! How? Simple!

You guys get to choose what's the one question you want to ask about Catra's past ^^! I kid you not, originally going through this I fully intended for Glimmer to ask a specific question, but seeing the nice and awesome feedback I keep getting from fans, I think I'll treat them to a chance to ask the magicat herself practically.

Now the question can be about anything or ANYONE (hint hint) except Shadow-Weaver, mostly because she's the one person she never mentions. But it can only be ONE question. Now I have to go to work for the entire day, so you guys should have plenty of time to decide on the one question you have- and I only accept the question from people who REVIEW FIRST XP Sorry but i just love the feedback I keep getting, so keep the question at the end of your reviews if able. If you dont want to ask and just want to review, that's just as fine ^^

By tomorrow I'll tally up any questions I get and answer either the most-asked question of the bunch, or whichever question seems the most interesting in the event of a tie ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed today's episode/part cause I know I did! I had a heck of a fun time with the latter half of this myself ^_^!

As always leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 15: Episode 5: The Sea Gate Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, another fun chapter down! Sorry for the wait on this one folks, been busy with a bizarre work schedule + school. On the bright side I got the entirety of tomorrow off (Yay) but sadly no day off next week (Boo), but overall I might/should be able to finish the last part to this episode tomorrow too.

I'd also like to take this moment to bring up a recent reviewer I met named "Farla". I don't know much about him/her, but after much prodding they were...*kind* enough to leave a review on my fanfiction dot net version of this story. And I use the term kind loosely because the review itself was rather...well... just look at it.

I'll be 100% honest, I actually really like the review despite how degrading it is ^^! I feel so giddy for some reason just to meet someone who claims to be a die hard fan of the show to review my work... in a rather questionable way, but it's nice to know that the fanbase is strong with it. Now i'm not here to start a fanfic/author war, and not just because i would win *cough cough* (lol jk XP) but because she did bring up something several times that I wanted to address.

Do you guys think I'm doing Catra's character all right? I know I have her a bit different from the show and I accept that. The problem I want to address though is whether or not you guys find it enjoyable. Based on what they said I seem to be taking her character out way too much (which says a lot for someone doing the same thing apparently...) and I don't want it to be distracting from the original. i mean I want her to continue the personality I gave her, but my overall question is whether or not you guys enjoy Catra this way. Are you having fun with the fic, are you not having fun? Just let me know and I'll change it. If you are having fun, then I'll keep it the same ^^

With that said, I do recommend supporting Farla's work on fanfiction/Ao3 of She-ra. It's another "What if Catra stayed after thaymor" story, and while I can't say it's the best (not out of rudeness, I mean in detail wise- and no I don't think mines the best either. So far my absolute fave She-Ra fic is by someone named X-ross or something, they do the same plot but it's really touching and fun. I think it's the best so far and support their work too ^^), it's still an enjoyable read. And don't give her a hard time over what I said above here. I'm actually thankful for Farla for pointing it out so he/she's all good as far as I'm concerned ^^

And with that out of the way, enjoy!

...

Catra - WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

Subject has been charged with multiple accounts of treason to the Horde, including but not limited to:

-Sabotage of Plumeria's Energy Plant

-Defection

-Attacking fellow Soldiers

-Refusal to disclose essential information involving possible ancient First Ones Technology

-Resisting Arrest

-Aiding and abetting the Rebellion

Subject has been deemed dangerous to fellow members of the Horde and should be approached with caution. Subject has been seen attacking fellow Horde Outposts on several occasions and reported as suffering possible dementia as a severe side effect from personal encounters with the Princess' magic. All Horde members are to proceed with capture with caution but are not advised to avoid unnecessary force. Subjects capture is deemed secondary to termination. Any and all members of the Horde must report to higher ranking officials or Lord Hordak directly if they obtain any information deemed necessary to assist with her capture.

Anyone caught assisting with the defector will be deemed a liability and charged personally. All members are to report suspicious behavior of fellow cadets and officers to higher officials immediately.

"Mmmh..." No matter how often Adora reread the transcript, the data on the electric manifest refused to change. Sitting in the small cabins below the deck, leaning against the bed with her eyes focused intently on the data pad. This is all she could to occupy her time until their arrival in Salineas.

Wanted dead or alive? Charged with treason? How could they consider her a threat as severe as this? She wasn't a traitor, she wasn't at fault for any of this! She was a dear friend and fellow ally, she was just like everyone else in the Horde! Sure, she had attitude half the time and an uncaring characteristic the other half, but it's not like she was at fault here.

It was those stupid princess'! They had to be the ones responsible for everything, they must be the ones responsible! Adora knew they had to be at fault here, who else could it be? Maybe they caught Catra herself with their magics, maybe they cast some intense illusionary spell over her to make her follow their orders? That had to be the reason! There was no other reason Catra would ever work for the Rebellion!

Or was there? In Thaymor she seemed fully aware of what was going on around there, and she was right about the place being nothing more than a simple town, even if they were harboring weapons that were unknowingly smuggled in by Shadow-Weaver. Did that mean she was telling the truth? Was it just one of the many tricks orchestrated by the princesses? She didn't know what to think anymore! She knew the only person she could trust at this point was the closest thing she had to a mother figure throughout her life, the only one who seemed to be helping her with this.

Shadow-Weaver.

It was at that time her attention turned to the small box she kept in her Horde jacket, pulling it out to examine the contents again.

"How is a headband supposed to help me?" She wasn't inconsiderate of the gift. If anything, she was more than overjoyed to receive such a gift, any gift for that matter, from anyone in the Horde. Shadow-Weaver continued to give her trust to Adora, she knew that perfectly well. She enjoyed her company, she had high expectations of her, and she continued to shower her with sympathy throughout all that's happened. She was the only one she could trust at this point so she was sure this was meant to help! The question was how?

Taking the headband out herself, she felt along the fabric as she rubbed the small gem adorned in the center of the headwear. It had a strange smoothness similar to the robes Shadow-Weaver wore on a daily basis. Did she make this herself out of the same material? Did that mean it had a more personal touch to it than Adora could notice? It was strange. Just holding it in her hands like this, knowing it came with strange side effects that Shadow-Weaver warned her about. It was...

Huh... now that she thought about it, staring into the gem itself, was there any harm in wearing the headband already? I mean she was told it would affect her mind and her emotions too but who knew in what way? Would it make her blind, would it make her feel constant sadness? Come to think of it, there was nothing wrong with a bit of practice, right? There was nothing to say she couldn't hold it closer to her head. It was strange, it made her feel... comfortable on the inside. She could see her own reflection coming off the jewel itself, despite being the mere size of a thumb.

"I guess it... wouldn't hurt to try it a little..." She told herself with a small smile.

Hey, she was smiling, imagine that! She was worked up about all the stress she had going through her mind till now and just holding this band this close to her face was already relaxing her. Was that the side effect she warned her about? Relaxation? Why would she worry about something that made her relax a little? It was funny just thinking about it. "Heh... heh... that's a laugh..." She didn't know Shadow-Weaver had a dark sense of humor...

Ha! Shadow-Weaver! Dark! Man, what a tease! And what was with this headband? It felt great being this close to it alone! How good would she feel if she just put it on her head for a second? After all, she was a Force Captain now, so of course she would be expected to have some practice with it, right? Collecting both ends in both her hands, she unfolded it as she raised it towards her forehead. She was already happy just having it in her hands like this. Who knows what could happen if she actually wore it for a cha-

*knock*

"Ah!" Adora yelped suddenly dropping the headband to the floor. She shook her head of the small fuzziness she felt, rubbing her forehead a little to ease the tingling. What just happened? She opened the box, she felt the headband itself, and then she... It....

*knock*

"Hey, Adora?" Scorpia could be heard calling from the other side. Shaking her head clear of whatever was troubling her mind, Adora quickly scooped the headband back into the box, stowing it in her jacket again, and made her way to the door.

"Hey Scorpia," she greeted back with a smile, "is something wrong?"

"Nope! Just wanted to let you know we reached Salineas!" Eyes widening at the news, Adora quickly brushed passed her as she ran her way upstairs where the rest of the crew, Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio, we're waiting. The ship itself was hidden among the rocks almost half a mile out from the Sea Gate itself, the ideal location to spy upon the kingdom.

"It's the Sea Gate, Force Captain!" Kyle stated as he handed her a brass spyglass.

Looking through it herself, she was amazed at the sight of the massive structure. It was one giant archway that blocked access into the kingdom from any sized ship, practically five times the size of their own boat. It also appeared to be held in high regard given it's design, the archway itself consisting of two opposing mermaid statues holding tridents against one another. And it was within the gap of that archway a massive barrier stood, glittering with beautiful white lights as the sunset shined behind it.

She had to admit. For a kingdom of water like this they really knew how to design their structures.

"That's the Sea Gate?" Adora lowered the spyglass, seeing the large barrier easily enough from where she stood. "I thought it was going to be some giant wall or an actual gate. Did anyone else know about this?"

"Well sure, a lot of us did." Scorpia replied as she came up. "Didn't you get the details at the Force Captain Orientation?"

"Orientation?" Why was she the last one to know about these things? "We have Force Captain Orientations?"

"Yeah, a few from time to time. I think Shadow-Weaver said you were excused from it due to the problems you were having with your friend."

Oh, great. Another thing she can add to the stress she's been going through. Not the fact she wasn't aware or informed about Force Captain Orientations from anyone, but the fact she wasn't told of it because of the issues she's been going through since Catra's defection. This pretty much summed up to a matter of her stress keeping her from preforming at peak efficiency, and the last thing she wanted was to slow down or become problematic for the Horde.

"What are your orders, Captain?" Kyle asked as he stood at attention with Rogelio and Lonnie. Looking back to the gate itself, Adora took a few seconds to come up with a plan.

She wanted to try and align with any people she could save from the Rebellion's clutches. She didn't want to have a repeat of the last time this happened in Plumeria. If they attacked first they could dash any chance of a possible alliance and if they waited too long the Rebellion could easily recruit them. Was it even worth trying since they maintained the Sea Gate for them anyway?

"Wait..." Adora quickly brought the spyglass to her eye again as something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Looking passed the Sea Gate itself, she saw what appeared to be another small ship coming through the small fjord from within the kingdom itself. No matter how small the image was after zooming in as far as she could, the one thing that did was the sight of a familiar friend at the helm of the ship. "Catra!" She gasped.

Catra. The Traitor. The Defector. The one person everyone said betrayed the Horde and doing everything out of her own selfish desires. She knew she was innocent in all this, she had to be. There was no way the same friend she grew up with was this same backstabbing traitor that everyone else claimed she was. It wasn't Catra's fault she was here, it wasn't Adora's fault she was here. She knew exactly who was responsible for all these misgivings and the one person she needed to direct her anger at.

The very princess that approached Catra from behind.

She still couldn't piece together what she did to her. Maybe she manipulated her through trickery without magic, like how they fooled Adora into thinking Thaymor was a completely innocent village? Or perhaps there was some spell being played on her that kept her from realizing what she was doing? A simple spell that could erase her memories could do wonders too. All Adora knew at this point was that she was responsible for Catra's defection. Her and the rest of the Rebellion that continued to sew chaos wherever they went.

"...Captain? Your orders...?" He didn't want to push his luck and anger the captain anymore than she seemed. They already learned from Lonnie's experience that you didn't want to push it when it came to Adora's anger. It wasn't so much that she herself was intimidating, entirely, it was the person who raised Adora more personally that they didn't want to anger.

"...If the Rebellion's already reached the kingdom, then there's no point in trying to call out to the princess of Salineas." Adora stated as she collapsed the spyglass in her hands. "Get the cannon ready. We're taking down that barrier if it's the last thing we do!"

"Yes sir!" The three cadets saluted before running to their stations.

Turning back, Adora was still seething with anger as she knew what awaited them on the other side. Her best friend, and her personal enemy. If she could catch the both of them in one shot then this entire trip will have been worth it, though it wasn't her key priority at this rate. Her first and primary objected was to capture and bring back her dear friend alive through any means necessary.

Even if it meant she had to drag her all the way back herself.

...

"Catra?" Glimmer called out as she slowly approached from behind. The other girl was still shivering a little as she continued to dry off with the warm towels hugging her.

It was a bit annoying when she thought about it in the long run.

After all, she finally got a stupid She-Ra transformation to take form for the third time after finding this sword, using her newfound strength to fight off a sea beast the captain lead them to for the sake of pride, and what happens next? She nearly drowns because of it! Why couldn't a single good thing stay a good thing whenever she came across it? Whether it was finding the sword, being praised upon by the locals of Plumeria, or getting her transformation to work a few minutes ago, every time something good happened it was immediately followed by something worse, like how she thought these two were concerned for her for a brief moment.

She was surprised to find herself suddenly being rescued by the two just as her body gave out and she began to drown. Bow jumping headfirst to dive in after her, Glimmer teleporting them back to the ship, it all seemed too unreal to her. Didn't they hate her because of all her insults? Weren't they fed up with her like everyone else she knew? It was for a single second she actually thought these two genuinely cared for her, and what followed this immediate thought?

Glimmer makes the mistaken comment to the captain she was shouting at about how she needed this mission to go right.

That one single comment confirmed to her how she was seen on this mission. She was nothing more than a means to an end, a tool to be used in their war against the Horde. And honestly, that's the way she was fine with. That's how it's always been all her life and she didn't bother caring about it now. LIke her, she found them as a means to her own end. If fighting with the Rebellion got her what she wanted then so be it. At least then she wouldn't need to worry about unnecessary thoughts.

"Hey, you doing okay?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, just fine. Nothing like a good drowning to make you feel better." Being used to the sarcastic attitude by this point, Glimmer simply smiled at this. If she was well enough to joke around then she was doing all right. "What do you want?"

"What do you think? I came to check on you after-"

"I meant your question!" Catra restated a little peeved.

"My question?" With all that's happened up to this point she actually forgot about it. How could anyone remember anything after having a panic attack when a friend of theirs nearly died on a mission?

"We had a deal, remember? Help me get the She-Ra thing working, I'd tell you something about me?"

"The deal to... Ooooh that!" The realization grew upon her face as she remembered the details. "What about it?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you? What question did you want to ask me?"

"Heh, you don't have to worry about it, Catra." Glimmer smiled. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"Tell me what it is already!" Catra yelped.

What was irritating her this time? Usually she wasn't annoyed or bored with a conversation this early into it, she usually waited until someone gave her a piece of information and then she snarled at it. Here, she just fumed a little at the greeting alone. How close would she come to attacking someone for having a conversation at this rate? "Catra, is... is something wrong?"

"I'm fine." If it was anymore clear that she was lying, she'd turn invisible. "I just want to get this question stuff over with, that's all." She took the time to dry off her hair with the towel as her body dried off. From the looks of it, they were going to reach the shore any minute from now and she didn't want some other princess yelling at her for getting the floors wet.

"Well...do you mind if I think about the question first then?" She wanted to know specifically what to ask. The last thing she needed was to ask something that offended her or got her angry at everything again. There were too many things she was curious about Catra's life, the life of anyone who grew up in the harsh environment of the Fright Zone. How did they live, what was their life like, what did they teach them all their lives? Simple obvious questions like those were the most likely to get a reaction out of her.

And not a friendly one either.

"Just come up with something before the day is over, ok?"

"Deal."

"Land Hooooo~!" Sea Hawk exclaimed as the ship came up to the coast of the kingdom.

Salineas, the kingdom of water. Known for it's powerful naval fleet and it's vast variety of seafood. From here, the kingdom could obtain and export nearly any sort of fish to the neighboring kingdoms, as well as aid the Rebellion directly from the sea. With it's massive Sea Gate guarding the kingdom itself, they were the last line of defense between the Horde and destruction from the sea.

Looking around the scenery, Catra gazed around her as her ears twitched from side to side, as if trying to locate something that she couldn't see. "Is something wrong?" Glimmer asked seeing the strange look Catra was giving off. She waited a few seconds for any sort of reply until Catra finally turned to her.

"It's way too quiet around here." She stated.

Taking the lead the two followed after Bow as he jumped from the ship to the rocky coast, being the first bit of solid land any of them have touched in nearly a day. There was a stirring silence throughout the place like Catra said. There wasn't any people, there wasn't any noise among the winds, there wasn't anything. For a kingdom known for it's massive watery structures and infamous sea gate, you'd figure somebody would be walking around and maintaining everything.

It wouldn't be as troubling if the city itself wasn't so massive. Looking at the structures that stood before her, Catra was amazed at the severe lack of people. Most of these buildings alone were the same size as any of the massive watchtowers in the Fright Zone, and not a single one of them housed a single person.

At least not anyone she could pick up on.

"Where is everybody?" He turned to the others with the same unknowing look.

"Hmm... Very odd indeed." The captain scratched his chin looking around. Though it was sunset, there was still enough daylight out for this place to be bustling like any village. Even the village guards would be making a patrol around here so there should've been at least two or three people present. "If I know the Princess Mermista, and I do, something's amiss-"

"Halt!" Everyone looked to the nearby archway of stairs that lead deeper into the village. There, from the center of one of the many tall buildings, was what appeared to be a lone guard, flailing his trident around in proclamation. "Halt I say!" He wasted no time running as fast as his feet could carry him down the stairs. Catra could hear the man panting heavily from this far alone as he reached the stairs to the docks. Whatever kind of guard he was he took his job very professionally, not slowing down a single step until he reached them himself, panting heavily and out of breath as he sweated. "What's your business in Salineas?"

"We've come to speak with Princess Mermista." Glimmer stepped forward as she answered.

"Tell her Sea Hawk is with them." Sea Hawk quickly butted in pushing passed her. "She'll be excited to see me."

...

"Ew, who let him back in here?" That was one way to formally greet a man who seemed very keen on meeting her. Lazily insulting him while leaning against her arm on a throne she didn't seem to care about.

The throne room they stood within was pretty much everything and anything Catra could expect from the Princess of Salineas. The throne itself was decorated after the finest sea-based fauna you could find in the ocean, with giant corals and barnacles stretching across a watery pond surrounding the throne. All the walls and floors were colored in an oceanic blue coloring to them with many hues between light to dark, along with several variations of clam and sea shells decorating the exteriors of the floor along the edges.

The walls in particular also had their own artistic designs to them. It kind of reminded Catra of the painted walls within the Meeting Room back in Bright Moon Castle, dozens of different displays being depicted on several of the walls. And on the back walls themselves, there were bright pink lines that strewn across several portions of the wall, each centered with what appeared to be a bright white pearl.

All in all, it wasn't that bad a touch for whoever this princess was, especially for one who had the right kind of attitude to Catra.

"Princess!" Oh how wonderful it was to see her again! No maiden should be without the wonders that is Sea Hawk's person, and without skipping a beat he hastily ran up to her throne, kneeling respectfully with his arms swayed out. "Oh, it's been too long. I've dreamed of you night and day since we parted."

"Uh huh," she moaned as if half asleep, "and who are you?" She referred to the approaching members of the Rebellion behind him.

"My name is Glimmer of Bright Moon. We've never met, but our parents fought in the Rebellion together."

"Oh yeah, I remember hearing about the old Princess Alliance." It was like everything she said was emotionless and bored at the same time. "My dad said it was a total disaster."

Ouch. No wonder she frowned at that.

That was a way to strike a soft spot on Glimmer's person. Of course the previous alliance was a disaster, she didn't need a reminder of it! So many good and innocent people were lost to the Horde scum that wiped them out. Every person she lost was like a quick needle to her heart as it reminded her immediately of her father. It didn't matter if she knew them as well as him, it didn't make a difference if she was friends with the people she lost or the worst of enemies. She didn't want anyone to go through the same pain her and her mother went through.

A single constant pain that came back every single time it was mentioned.

"I didn't think it was possible, but your beauty grows greater with each passing day." If words could make someone gag Catra would'e thrown up a dozen times by now as she listened to Sea Hawk's continued displays of affection. Thankfully the guard at her side, the same one who lead them here, was decent enough to elbow him away.

"Would you quit it? I'm trying to talk to my new friend Twinkle."

"Pfffffft! Ok, she's officially my favorite person in this room!" Catra chuckled, getting a reaction out of a blushing Glimmer.

"But you just met her!"

"Yeah, and she's already my favorite person, Twinkle. Pffffft..." She sneered. Glimmer couldn't help but feel a little irritated and jealous. After all the times she and Bow have worked on trying to get Catra to open up and think of them as friends, she instantly goes on to say how the random person she met not a minute ago was her new favorite person. And now she had a new nickname to look forward to, oh joy.

"Butler, can you bring us some hors d'oeuvres." She ordered. The same man who was once the princess's right hand guard quickly swapped out his spear for a small towel over his arms, proceeding with his orders without a second thought.

"Ooh! Hors d'oeuvres!" The captain squealed leaping to the side of her throne.

"For everyone but Sea Hawk." She added.

"Your guard is also your butler?" Bow wondered exactly how many jobs a single guard can have. He was more curious as to why a single guard would have more than one to begin with.

"I'm a little understaffed right now. Everybody fled because the gate is falling apart or whatever." She explained walking away from the romancing Sea Hawk with her trident in hand.

"What?!" That might've been the very first time the three said anything in unison.

"Yeah, I know, right? It figures I'd inherit a kingdom that's crumbling, but it's totally fine. I'm handling it." With a swish of her trident, the waterfall next to her cleared up, allowing the group to see through the window directly to the Sea Gate itself. Nothing she said just now convinced them of her words, the princess turning her backs to them as she stared out the window. Seeing her reflection, Catra noticed the small look in her eyes. It was one she was all too familiar with, having seen it in the mirrors herself plenty of times. "It's just kind of inconvenient, because the Horde won't stop attacking us."

"Why is the gate falling apart?" The other princess sped a little to the window, looking at the failing gate and Mermista.

"I mean, who knows?" She shrugged back. "But it's getting weaker every day. And if the Horde tries to attack us again, we're pretty much dead."

"The Horde is the reason we're here.We want to rebuild the Princess Alliance. None of us stand a chance on our own, but we might be able to stop them together."

"Hah, sure, because that went so great the first time." Mermista scoffed as she walked back to her thrown, the waterfall descending over the window again. "Why should I help Bright Moon? It's not like they've ever done anything to help us."

"Mermista, if I may." Sea Hawk spoke up, preparing to sing. What little fear Catra had building up inside her from the atrocious song quickly went away with Mermista's insistence.

"No! No more shanties. Why did you bring him here? He is so annoying!" She teethed.

Ok, it's official. She's the first person I like around here. Catra grinned to herself.

"I thought you said she liked you?" Bow looked back to him with confusion.

"We have a rich, complicated past..." The depressed captain hinted a little.

"If by that you mean you got us kicked out of the Dolphin Social for challenging the doorman to a duel, then sure." She clarified.

"Iiiiii don't recall doing that." He tried to pass off as he fell into her lap on the throne.

"And that time you set our gondola on fire in the Tunnel of Love." She also added, throwing him off her legs to the ground. Like everything else he did he was quick to spring back to his feet with as much dignity as he could display.

"Heh heh heh... that I do recall..." He blushed.

The Tunnel of what? Catra shook her head as she walked away. She could only put up with so much nonsensical talk between the two before she started to hate both of them, and she refused to put Mermista on the same list as the rest of them! Besides, there had to be a better way to spend their time than just bickering like this. She had her She-Ra transformation down now, realizing she needed to think of defending others other than herself, so she knew that could help a little.

Provided she didn't have to wait for it on cooldown or something.

It was at that time her attention was drawn to the murals along the wall, her vision getting glued to the sight of one as she compelled herself to walk forward. There was a... strangeness... going on here. Looking at it like this from top to bottom, she felt a weird tingling sensation going through her mind. It was just like the time when she first met Bow and Glimmer. It was the same day she found the sword, and stumbled upon...!

"This is First Ones' writing." Catra realized, quieting the rest of the room.

"...And... who is she again?" With the annoyance that was in the form of Sea Hawk, she almost forgot to ask about the strange cat girl that Glimmer brought along with her, wondering who she was and why she was wearing a Horde outfit. "What is she doing?"

"Oh, that's Catra." Bow replied with a smile. "She has a magic sword." Noticing the perplexed frozen stare she was giving off, Glimmer ran up to her side with curiosity.

"What does it say?"

Catra remained silent for a bit as she was entranced by the mystical mural. Without thinking or knowing what she was doing, she slowly brought a finger up to the mural, reaching out to touch it. "I... I don't know... It just...It's coming to me slowly... something about a gate siphoning it's power from... the Salinean Runestone. Something must've happened to disrupt it's connection to the power source."

"We suffered numerous attacks from the Horde in the past." Mermista commented. "Maybe it shook a wire loose or other over time."

"Do you think you can fix it?" Glimmer asked a bit hopeful.

"How should I know?" Unlike her previous witty remarks or stern looks, Catra kept her attention on the mural. She couldn't bring herself to physically turn and look Glimmer in the eye when she said that. "Everything else about it is either jumbled or taking too long to translate to me. It's like it's.... Ngh....Aggghhh!" Pain shot throughout her head as she squeezed her head, falling to her knees.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out worriedly, kneeling next to her as Bow ran over to the pair. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Nggghhhh!" What the heck was this? This wasn't like the time at the ruins and this wasn't another issue involving random visions. At least she thinks it wasn't that. It felt like someone was drilling something straight into her head from every angle inside and out! Some bizarre numbing pain shooting throughout her brain, feeling as if it was reeling from one side of the pink residue to the other, bolts of lightning briefly but painfully streaking throughout her mind.

"Should I get the butler in here?" Mermista got to her feet as she ran over, noticing the seriousness of the situation.

"Ngghh....N-No... No, I..." Then it finally stopped. Opening her eyes again, Catra stared at the mural once more, still seeming to be entranced by it's depictions as she had earlier. Something clicked within her mind without her control, something she wasn't expecting and the last thing she thought she would receive as a solution to the crisis at hand. Slowly getting back to her feet, Glimmer preparing in case she collapsed again, she stared at the others with a look of certainty on her face. "I think I know how to fix it!"

"Wha-You can?" Was Mermista supposed to be impressed? Confused? This random Horde girl who strolls on in here with another princess says she has the solution to all her problems and she's supposed to accept it with no questions asked?

"I mean... sort of..." Catra glimpsed over the mural to recheck everything. "I don't know if I can fix the barrier itself, but I might be able to restore it's connection with the runestone."

"Mermsta, we really need your help, and you need ours. If Catra can repair the gate, will you please consider joining us?" It was the only chance she had to ask her. If she said no to this arrangement there was little doubt anything could convince her to join the Princess Alliance.

With a groan, one that didn't really spark much more emotion into her tone, she replied. "Ugggh... I don't know... I guess. But he has to leave." That was her condition as she pointed to the captain who brought them so far.

"But... where am I supposed to go?" For the first time since meeting him, his voice cracked a little with worry and sadness.

"Maybe wait with the boat, okay, buddy?" Bow suggested as politely as he could, directing the captain to the door as calmly as possible. "We'll take care of the gate."

...

"No... not here...mmh where is it?" Catra mumbled to herself as she felt along the massive statue's arm.

There were many twists and odd turns this day was bringing the group. The first would have to be the Seaworthy Cantina they had to go to in order to find themselves a sea captain. Out of the many possibilities, there was only one who had enough experience and social standing to take them to Salineas, and that was the self-proclaimed infamous Sea Hawk himself.

The infamous part was a little questionable after the several shanties and misdirections the crew took, like to the ship graveyard where the captain wanted to show off his prowess in order to impress the young shipmates. That went about as well as expected; terribly. While they managed to fight off the massive creature itself, thanks to Catra finally transforming again into She-Ra, it was a bit of a hectic turnabout when a vision went off in front of her again and the next thing she knew she was drowning a hundred feet underwater.

Not the best vision she's had the pleasure of seeing so far.

Then, after reaching Salineas, they enter what appears to be a town that's more barren than the ship graveyard was, the populace all but evacuated and having swam for their lives as the kingdom started to crumble. The Sea Gate was the one source of protection they had against the terrifying Horde and their invading armies, and it was finally revealed how it was starting to lose any connection to the source of it's power, the Salinean Runestone.

Until now, everything else seemed pretty simple in explanation and complexity. Why? Because Glimmer was still trying to figure out why she and Catra were standing atop one of the mighty Sea Gate's large structures, one of the humanoid statue's arms to be exact, as Catra continued to feel around the ground with her hands. It was about twenty yards above several floating platforms that led up to the Sea Gate, where a lone relic seemed to be expelling it's mystical powers from the center of the gate to form it's barrier.

"Would you mind telling me again what you're looking for?" It was times like this Glimmer was thankful for her teleporting powers. She didn't want to imagine being up this high without some way to break a fall if she slipped. It also made carrying the toolbox in her hands much more manageable.

"I already told you, I don't know." Catra repeated as she continued feeling up to the hand. "Something in my head is just telling me what to do one piece at a time. If I knew everything to expect, I'd be telling the rest of you in seconds to get this done faster."

"What's telling you? Is it the sword?"

"I don't know. It could be a split personality for all I know!" She paused for a few seconds as she stared off into space. "Actually that would explain the blackouts and the visions now that I think about it..." Brushing the tips of her claws against the back of the hand, her eyes widened as she felt an unusual scrape. "Ah ha!" She quickly began tapping several invisible codes that flashed up for a second with each click.

Glimmer continued to watch in wonder as Catra fiddled with whatever she found. She didn't know if it was something useful or something dangerous. The only one who did at the moment was Catra and, as she shouted several times, she needed everyone else out of the way as she did her confusing work. Waiting another several seconds, she started hearing what sounded like the strange screech of metal as the stone parted several feet to each side from the back of the statue's hand.

To both their amazement, within the exposed statue itself, there laid several dozen wires and machinations of unknown origin or identity. Each one seemed to be alien to the princess with several pieces protruding in a strange manner in some areas, other areas having a strange glow of energy running across it.

"Jackpot!" Catra declared victoriously.

"Whoa... it really is First Ones' tech!" Glimmer exclaimed, kneeling down over as she placed the toolbox at Catra's side.

"I'm guessing they made the gate first and built the statue around it afterwards." Catra suggested as she grabbed one of the wires while digging through the toolbox. It was so weird seeing Catra suddenly turn into some sort of mechanical expert out of nowhere just by staring at a mural.

"So now do you know what to do?"

"Once again, no." Catra never took her eyes off the various technologies she was fiddling with. "It's seriously just one thing at a time. I don't even know what to expect next until it pops into my head. And as soon as it does, the other thing goes away!" She didn't know what half the things she was pulling were, she couldn't tell why she was unscrewing what bolt with her hands. All she knew was that if she was going to fix this thing, she needed to do whatever her brain was telling her to at this moment.

Even if it meant pulling the wrong wire by accident.

*bzzzt*

"Yeowch!" Catra yelped a little bit as she nibbled on her burnt thumb.

"Are you going to be okay working on this? A lot of this tech is still old. Some of it might still be unstable."

"Ya think?" She rubbed her thumb a little soothingly as she went right back to work. "If you want to help give me some space here. This is going to take a couple minutes."

It wasn't just Glimmer that looked over the situation with confusion. Down below them, on the closest floating platform that reached the center of the gate, stood Princess Mermista and Bow, the two hanging back as they watched Catra work in unison. With Glimmer still nearly a day's worth of travel away from home, they couldn't recklessly have her expend all her energy to teleport all four of them to the top of the arm with them. It was fortunate enough Catra managed to easily scale the statue's structure alone, meaning she had a way to get herself back on top if she ended up slipping and falling.

"Are you sure she knows what she's doing?" Like everything else, Mermista asked this without a single care.

"She has a few... quirks... from time to time, but she's always pulled through." Bow's assuring smile left a little hint of nervousness behind his own voice. Out of the many things he has seen her do since joining the Rebellion, technician work isn't one of them. For all they knew she was suffering some strange vision-induced sleepwalking, which, after everything else so far, wouldn't surprise him.

At the same time, Glimmer's focus shifted to the docks where the ship previously landed. To her surprise, having a great vantage point from atop the arm, she saw the legendary captain Sea Hawk, master of the oceans who braved the mighty seas, conqueror of monsters and capable of swooning woman with a single shanty, untying his boat from the dock post without hesitation. Grumbling to this, she looked back to Catra for a quick second. "Will you be fine up here by yourself?"

"The quieter it is around here the better." Catra spoke as she refused to take her eyes off the repairs. With that assurance, Glimmer teleported from the statue's massive arm to the bow of the captain's ship, catching him off guard.

"Eek-!" He shrieked.

"Where are you going?" She puffed with hands at her side.

"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped doing that!" Whoa, that was a total shift in his voice. Every word he just said sounded like it was in-between a cry, the screech behind it blending with his feelings of turmoil.

"Are you leaving without us?" She guessed correctly as she earned a hearty sigh from the captain.

"It's for the best," the one reasonable thing he said all day and right as he was about to leave, "I keep getting in the way of things. It's time for old Sea Hawk to be where he belongs, alone." That was... actually sad to hear from the once chipper captain as he walked along the rails. It's like resigning himself to reality brought out his true emotions and standards. "I wasn't always like this. Where I'm from, I had friends, a crew. Every day an adventure more daring than the last. The fact that I kept setting my boats on fire was considered charming. But here, I can't get anyone to take me seriously. Huff, you have no idea what that's like."

"...Actually, I kind of do." Glimmer mellowed, leaning against the rails beside him. "Everything I've done up to this point was to prove I could be responsible, mature enough to help in this war. Even after all we've done up till now though, nobody will take me seriously."

"What? You? But you're a princess."

"Try being the daughter of an immortal queen when your powers are *sparkles*." To prove her point, she showed off her fantastic sparkling-ness with a wave of her hands.

"Glitter..."

"Glimmer!"

"We've just met, but I can tell you are a brave and powerful soul." He smiled. He was surprised to find the person who yelled at him a near hour ago to be so relatable to his own troubles. It's like looking in a mirror, albeit if he was a princess, with every word she said. He could hear every word and feel every emotion behind it. It was rather endearing to think he had any similar qualities to someone of royalty. "Anyone who'd underestimate you would live to sorely regret it."

"Thanks Sea Hawk." She returned with her own smile. "And you know what? You still have friends and a crew. Reporting for duty, Captain!" She saluted.

Who was his to kid? She was absolutely right! He was THE Sea Hawk! He was THE one and only true captain of the legendary seas! Where he went, adventure followed. Where he journeyed, thousands were in awe at his prowess. With a crew at his back and friends at his side, he knew there was nothing the illustrious adventurer that was he couldn't accomplish! For he was Sea Hawk, the greatest Captain Etheria has ever known!!!

...

"So this over here... remove this..." Catra continued to mumble to herself as she fiddled with the controls.

It was really strange how this was working out. The information she needed to fix this thing came in her head one after the other, and then mysteriously vanished. She had no idea what she was doing and whenever she completed the previous step she forgot all she did to accomplish it. Sure, she was picking it up by herself as she kept a side memory of the details of what she did, but she just couldn't figure out what her mind was trying to tell her or how it was doing all of this.

*chunk*

"Huh? Oh you gotta be kidding me! Ghhhhhhh!" She growled angrily as she took out another panel. What kind of advanced prehistoric race were these stupid First Ones supposed to be?! After about several minutes of playing telephone with her own mind, rewiring the last wire and removing the eighth bolt, she thought she would be done! It shouldn't take that long to get a stupid gate this advanced up and running again if the first settlers of Etheria were as advanced as everyone said they would be. And what did she get instead?

Another stupid hatch behind a false panel with even more confusing technology! It lead a few inches deeper into the hand and had a shockingly more advanced system by the appearance of it. Several of the screws were completely different from the ones she's seen everywhere else, there were at least several different meters displaying various scales of information, and last but not least, this stupid contraption was apparently on a rotation with every stupid side to it having even more confusing and irritating mechanics!

In short, she just wasted several minutes of her life to fix something that wasn't what she needed to fix! Given the complexity of the various sides, there was no way she was ever going to keep track of everything in her memory. If there was any solace to all of this it was that it seemed to be the core to the advanced Sea Gate barrier and the key to fixing whatever was wrong with it. At least the sight of a dozen flashing and dimmed lights informed her there was something legitimately wrong with all this.

"Everything okay up there, Catra?" Bow yelled up.

"I just wasted several minutes to open a fake hatch!" She yelled back, peeking over the side.

"There's a hatch up there?" Mermista yelled. As a child she often had fun exploring the sea and the kingdom a dozen times over. She's been all over the kingdom through the city itself to the surrounding ocean around it, and not once did she ever come across something like Catra just described.

"Yeah, I think it's the thing that channeled the connection between your Sea Gate and the Runestone. I think I can get it fixed in a few minutes."

"...Uhhh Catra?" The bowman grew nervous as he looked at the sea behind him. "I don't think you have a few minutes..." Her and Mermista looked back to the direction he was facing, growing shocked at the same sight that worried him.

Beyond the tide, making it's presence known from behind the shaggy rocks, the three gasped at the sight of the mighty battleship that displayed the infamous Horde symbol on the mast. There was no telling what it was capable of or why it came all the way out here on it's own. All that worried them was how it was daring enough to come all the way here without any sort of support, the presence of it alone showing off it's incredible strength.

"It's the Horde!" He shouted as Sea Hawk and Glimmer approached from the other side with the boat.

"What?!" Why did the Horde suddenly show up like this? What was their plan to come all the way here by themselves?

Meanwhile on the ship itself, Scorpia could be seen pulling a massive lever attached to the side of a giant canon in the center of the ship, the canon itself being about fifteen feet long and eight feed wide. With one mighty pull, the canon charged up it's powerful attack before releasing a giant burst of energy in one shot. Reacting quickly, Bow grabbed Mermista as he ran off to the other platform next to them, narrowly avoiding the explosion that took out the platform itself. Waiting for the ensuing dust to settle, the two looked back in fear as they saw the decimation left behind from it's one blast.

Not even a pebble of the platform remained.

Turning back to the three other cadets, Scorpia gave them direct orders as she charged another shot. "You guys know what to do. Continue forward and don't slow down for anything!" With a salute the three rushed to their battle stations as they prepared for the oncoming war against Sea Gate itself. Following this, she watched as another blast went off from the canon, striking the Sea Gate's barrier directly. The blast was powerful enough to leave a brief melted hole in the barrier, slowly reforming as it repaired itself. Unfortunately for Catra, the amount of energy it exerted caused several surges of electricity to run rampant throughout the core, sending several thousand volts through her body in an instant.

*Bzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhh!" She screamed pulling herself away from the mechanism. She shook off the pain as best she could from her slightly burnt hands, grumbling as she turned towards the others on the lower platform. "You guy's mind taking care of that! I can't leave the gate like this or the whole system could explode, the Sea Gate with it!" She didn't bother waiting for a reply as she quickly got back to work, realizing how little time she had left to fix this entire mess.

Nodding to each other Bow and Mermista ran down the other platforms till they were near enough to jump into the water safely. As she did, Mermista used her magic to create a set of fins where her legs were, ready to take on the Horde with everything she had to protect her kingdom.

As for Catra, she bit bottom lip with tension as she wiped her brow. She fixed one of the sides already, at least she hoped she did, as she directed her attention to the next side. With one side down and another three to go she was sure she could get the Sea Gate fully function again, provided she didn't end up incinerated from a direct blast by the canon. Wiping the sweat from her brow, tail swishing back in forth as she tried to keep her composure, quickly reached in for another one of the tools, frantically trying to feel around for any sort of item that could help her unscrew and tighten several nuts she found loosened from the core's panels.

"Gehhh where is it?" She looked down to the toolbox as she became agitated.

"Is this what you're looking for?" A familiar voice asked as it handed her a screwdriver.

"Oh, thanks Adora." Thank goodness she was here. It was always handy to find Adora at her side like this as she fiddled with the mechanism. Having two people on the job definitely made it easier when... Catra's eyes flashed open as she hastily turned around, unable to believe what she was seeing.

It wasn't a vision, it wasn't a hoax. It wasn't an illusion, a hallucination, it wasn't someone in disguise. She recognized the scent of the one friend she had in this world, she recognized the look of those eyes that nobody else could duplicate. This was her, the real thing, standing right in front of her, equipped with a large stun baton on her back and a hook rope over her shoulder.

This was Adora. The real thing. The person she hasn't seen since the incident of Thaymor. And right now, she was responsible for the attack on the Salinean Sea Gate.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

...

A/N: What's the most evil way to end a story? On a cliffhanger that people have been waiting to see since day one X)! Mwahahahahaaaa!

Lol, anyway thanks for all the positive feedback as always guys. And I know some bits above here are a bit chappy. Keep in mind i was working on this in the mix of several days and at random intervals so I had to keep coming back and forth to it here and there so some parts might be a little wonky.

Btw if you know any other fanfiction-like sites be sure to let me know! I might consider posting on Deviantart at some point, idk, but for now leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and can't wait to see you next chapter!

Chapter 16: Episode 5: The Sea Gate Part 4

Summary:

It's time for our first confrontation between Catra and Adora! How will things play out for our two favorite characters? Let's find out...

Chapter Text

A/N: You folks would not believe it, but I did. I actually wrote this on the same day I finished my last update. 8K words after the near 3k I added to the last chapter!

Why am I not posting them both at the same time then? Because idk if it'll register if I post 2 on the same day, and even if it does, this gives me a legitimate excuse to take an entire day off for myself ^^ Day of relaxation here I come! (No i dont get stressed writing these stories but, you know... can't disappoint the fans XP)

Yes people. I had a lot of fun with this one. And I do mean a LOT of fun. You folks are hopefully in for a fun right too, because we enter PART 1 of our first Catra & Adora Confrontation!

...

"Adora..." There were not enough words in the dictionary to convey the number of emotions Catra was feeling right now.

Ever since Thaymor, what happened to Adora and could be happening right now to her was one of the few things constantly on her mind. The girl who attacked Thaymor under false pretenses, the friend she knew since childhood to be filled with curiosity and innocence anyone else would gladly take advantage of. The only person she was close enough to call a friend throughout her life, the very same still fighting for the Horde.

The one person in charge of the operation on the attack of the Salinean Sea Gate.

She didn't think she would bump into her again, at least not this soon. It was like looking at the ghost of someone she knew couldn't possibly be dead, the vision of something she never thought she would get. Here upon the very arm of the a giant statue, one that covered the core piece of ancient First Ones tech, the very same she was trying to fix to restore the Sea Gate, was her dearest friend, alive and well.

What was she supposed to say at a time like this? Hello? How's it going? She was more worried about what could be happening to Adora after calling off the attack on Thaymor and now she was here before her, with that simple smile on her face that Catra found special compared to anyone else's smile, and the look of determination like she could take on the very world. What was going on here?

"Hello, Etheria to Catra, you in there?" She teased a little, poking Catra's forehead to snap her out of the strange stare. Shaking her head forcefully she cleared her mind of questionable thoughts as she regained her focus.

"Adora, what are you doing here? Why did you come all the way to Salineas?" Catra needed any sort of answer to prove it was her.

"What do you think? I came here to rescue you!" Her answer didn't ease the worry Catra felt in the back of her mind. Something was wrong about this whole situation. "We caught wind you were heading here and I came to bring you back home!" She smiled grabbing Catra's hand softly. "Now come on, if we leave quickly enough we can get out of here before the princesses catch on-"

"What? No!" Catra shook her hand away to Adora's surprise. "I mean why are you here attacking the kingdom itself? Did you forget everything that happened the last time you went on a mission?"

A look of certainty and firmness crossed Adora's face at this. "The mission on Thaymor was also to rescue you, remember? And it wasn't for nothing either. They were hoarding a whole bunch of dangerous equipment there Catra, the entire village was just a ruse!"

"You're saying the village housed dozens of dangerous weapons and were using the town itself as a simple cover for it's operations?" Did Adora see the small nitpicks behind this entire issue?

"That's just it, Catra, they weren't aware of it!" It hurt her just to think of the sickening details of it. "The princesses were using it as a base of operations without the town even knowing about it! Nobody in that village was aware of what was going on and the princesses were willing to risk their lives as a living shield to protect it! That's how it's been to every village the Horde attacked!"

"The princesses? Who in their right mind fed you that garbage? That has to be the stupidest explanation I ever heard!"

"For your information, Shadow-Weaver told me, thank you very much!" She yelled a little angry.

"Oh, pffft. That explains it." The unsurprised look as Catra rolled her eyes added on to Adora's irritation.

"What do you mean that explains it?"

"II mean you should think for a moment, Adora! Whatever Shadow-Weaver told you was a complete lie! There weren't any weapons or junk at the village, it was just a simple village having a festival that you invaded. Unless you're going to convince me they planned on strangling us to death with their streamers and other decorations, there was nothing violent about the place."

"Do you think I stupidly believed the first thing Shadow-Weaver told me?" Catra had to bite her own tongue to refrain from answering. "She showed me the manifests, I saw the caches myself! Everything she said was word for word!"

"Oh my gosh, Adora! Even if what you said was true it doesn't mean you're right about attacking a simple village."

"Stop putting words into my mouth, I didn't say it was right!" The tension building up between the two close friends was starting to thicken a little. Every sentence that came to them one after the other added on to a small bundle of fire, one that grew with every stick they threw into it. "All I said is that they had a reason to attack the village, I never said it was the right thing to do! Besides, it's not like we have a choice in all this. The princesses have done this numerous times to the other villages and we can't sit back and stare while they gather more forces and weaponry to take us down."

"Adora...ugh..." Catra twisted her ears a little as she tried to remain calm. This was her one single friend she was talking to and the last thing she ever wanted was to make an enemy out of her. "Look, I know I can't explain it to you right now, but you have to believe me! I'm telling you the truth, you know I wouldn't lie to you."

"Catra, I want nothing more than to believe you." A small frown formed on the blond's face. This was Catra, her best friend in the world, who's gone through who knows how much torture and possible brainwashing to believe she was on the right side. She wanted to take her words seriously of course. It was hard to though when you knew the person you were talking to weren't being themselves. "But I can't take your word over someone else's after all that's happened. How am I supposed to trust your word over the others?"

"Because I can prove it!" Adora tensed a little as she saw Catra pulling the sword from her back.

*Boom!*

The two covered their faces as the smoke from the most recent canon-fire exploded against the barrier near them. There wasn't going to be any comfortable way of talking to her when there was an actual war going on all around them.

"Adora, give me one chance. One chance, right now, and I can prove what I said to you." Catra pleaded. Looking into her friend's pleading eyes like that, how was Adora supposed to say no? She seemed so sure of what she was saying whether or not she really was being brainwashed. Come to think of it, if she could prove in turn that Catra was in the wrong here, perhaps it would be easier to convince her to run away with her back to the ship.

"...Scorpia, this is Force Captain Adora." Adora stated as she spoke into the small watch-like radio attacked to her wrist. Scorpia listened closely as she heard the feed coming through on her end. "Pause your attack for just one minute, I need to check something."

"You got it boss!" Scorpia replied, chipper as always. With a nod to herself Adora turned her attention back to Catra with a small comforting smile.

"Ok, you win. Show me the proof you mentioned right here and now, Catra, and I'll believe what you said." The smile growing on Catra's face paused midway as she continued. "But you need to prove to me, right here, right now, that what you're saying is true. And I don't mean just with Thaymor either. If this all started with the sword then show me what you're saying is true. Otherwise you have to promise to come back with me to the Fright Zone. Deal?" She said offering a hand.

Taking a moment to herself, Catra smiled back as she shook with her free hand, "Deal." With the two smiling, Catra raised her sword to the sky again as she prepared herself.

Ok, same as before. This kingdoms in peril, my allies are in danger, and I need to defend them all. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm the tension going through her heart at the present situation, Catra focused on the five most powerful words she had to say.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

"..."

"...Catra-"

"J-Just give it a minute!" Catra interrupted, a small twinge of fear growing in the corner of her eyes. "I said, For the Honor of Grayskull!"

"...Catra, it's-"

"H-Hang on, I have this!" She pleaded with a saddening look. "Come on you stupid thing, work!" Shaking it a bit, she focused with all her might on this one last try. "FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"

"..." It hurt. It hurt painfully to see her friend like this. Her dear friend, entrapped by whatever wicked spell the princesses had placed on her. She was trying so hard to prove to Adora that everything she said was true, yet here she was looking up at the sword with fear, worry, and shock.

No... No no no no no NO NO NO NOOOOO! Catra screamed inside her head, almost feeling a small tear forming in the corners of her eyes. This can't be happening! Please, I need this to work now more than ever! What was she supposed to do? What was she missing?! She did everything Glimmer suggested to her and it wasn't working! The one time she wanted the sword to work more than any other and it failed to work. There wasn't any glint in the small gem from it, there wasn't any sparks of power going off, there wasn't anything. All there was is a simple magicat who failed to get the sword working, despite doing the exact same steps the first time and succeeding then, when she needed it the most.

"For the Honor of-"

"Enough!" Catra's body froze as Adora embraced her in a hug. "I know you think this is real, Catra, I really do. That's why we need to get you home, right away!" For one of the few times of her life, she felt a small streak of tears running down her right cheek.

Why did she have to suffer this? This one blasted sword that never worked when she wanted it to, that never did anything for her except plague her with horrible memories she wished never returned. A single object that couldn't give her the one thing she wanted at this very moment. It was almost like what Adora was saying was true, yet she knew it wasn't. She knew the pain Adora was going through herself right now, seeing a small tear rolling down her left cheek as well. The two of them were in pain at this very moment.

It had yet to be determined who's pain was greater. All they knew was that they could feel each other's pain, and it was agonizing.

"Adora... I... I swear..." Catra couldn't bring herself to say anything at that moment. What else could she say to convince her friend? Ask the princesses she loathes in the first place for proof? That was about as smart as lighting a match in a room full of gasoline!

"It's ok, it's alright." Adora cooed, wiping the tear from Catra's cheek. "When we get back, Shadow-Weaver can fix you. You'll be as good as new."

All at once, the tension, fear, anger, and bile immediately rushed back into Catra's heart as she backed away from her. Shadow-Weaver said she would help? Help her? "You... You said Shadow-Weaver plans on "fixing me"?"

"Yes, Catra, she can! She says she knows a spell that can remove whatever enchantment they placed on you! That's why we need to go back while-"

"I'm not going to that witch!" Catra snapped. "Are you aware of the stupid bounty she placed on me in the first place? Did you know she's rewarding people for bringing me back dead or alive?!"

"She didn't want to, Catra, she had no choice!" Adora insisted. "She was ordered to by Lord Hordak. If you want to blame anyone, blame him! Shadow-Weaver's actually trying to help you!"

"Oh, and let me guess. She told you that too?" She scoffed.

"Would you knock it off! Why do you keep accusing her like this? I know you two didn't get along in the past, but at least she's the one trying to help you!"

"Dogs and cats don't get along, Adora. Spiders and butterflies don't get along. What Shadow-Weaver has against me isn't a stupid case of not getting along!"

"Catra, you have nothing to worry about, I promise! Even if she was angry about something, you know I'd never let her hurt you!"

"Yeah, cause that worked so well in the past! Did you even know how she- Nnggggh!" Catra clenched her stomach in pain, dropping to her knees as sudden memories resurfaced.

...

"You think you're in pain now? I will show you what true pain is like for what you did to Adora!" Shadow-Weaver roared as shadows and streaks of red-colored lightning surged from her hands towards her.

...

"Ngggghhh!" Catra was still screaming through her teeth as she squeezed her head. She wanted the memory to go away, she didn't want to live through it like this! No matter how far into the future since it happened, the memory always resurfaced with the pain she felt on that day.

"C-Catra!" Adora cried out worriedly, kneeling to her side. "Catra, what's wrong? Are you okay? It's that spell they placed over you, isn't it!"

"N-No!" She grunted, wobbling as she got back to her feet. She took several deep breathes as she calmed down, trying to shake the memory and the pain out of her head. "I'm not under some stupid spell, Adora. I don't know how many times I can repeat myself."

"Well repeat it as many times as you want to after we get back to the ship." She grabbed Catra's hand again firmly as she began walking the two to the other end of the statue where they could climb. "If we destroy the Sea Gate as a result, I'm positive I can convince Shadow-Weaver and Lord Hordak not to enforce any kind of punishment. They might even give you a promotion for it if we're lucky enough-"

She came to a halt as her grip loosened, turning back to see the defector looking away with a small frown. From the look in her eyes to the way she gazed away from Adora, she could tell she wasn't planning to move any time soon after all the drama the two went through for the last several minutes.

"Catra?"

"Adora, I..." Her ears drooped a bit as she turned her head further away. "I'm not going back, Adora."

"W-What? But we had a deal!" She yelled angrily. "You promised you would come with me if you couldn't prove your point!"

"Yeah and I actually expected it to work!" Catra shouted back with her own anger. "I can't explain how this stupid sword works, I've tried it a dozen and one times practically every day and only got it to work a total of three times, including today. I can't show you the proof right now Adora, I just need you to trust me here."

Trust her? She was actually being serious. She wanted Adora to trust her? What in anyone's name made her think that Adora would trust her after all she's had to put up with till now? She was worrying frantically over her, she tried desperately to convince her peers that there were alternative solutions to this war, she spent all her trust in Shadow-Weaver who was the only person at this time to show her any form of proof! And she just stood there, after breaking a promise, and expected her to trust her of all things?

"You... you seriously don't plan on coming, do you?" Adora's heart quickened a little with distress at the proclamation. She didn't know what spell she was under, she didn't know if she could catch the same spell just by being near her or the sword she seemed so obsessed with. She just knew Catra was refusing to trust her own word in all of this.

"I'm sorry, Adora, but I can't go back to the Horde. Not now, not ever." She apologized with a solemn look of pain. Knowing time was of the essence she made her way back to the control panel with haste. If she could get the last who-knew-how-many steps finished, she might be able to fix the barrier in time and then convince Adora of everything.

*zzzt*

With her ears twitching at the sound, Catra turned back to her friend, seeing the angered expression on her face as she had the Stun Baton at the ready in her hand.

"Catra," she spoke with an authoritative voice, "you're coming home with me. Now."

This couldn't be happening. Not to her, not to them, not at all. With how everything was playing out, it was almost poetic. Two best friends meet again after a period of time, both being on opposite sides, and now they were staring each other down. One with a fiery passion of rage in her eyes, the other with a deepening distress.

The two could feel the wind bristle against their knuckles as the tension reached their fingertips, their gaze never taking a hint off one another. What would be the point of fighting at this rate anyway? If Catra won, then what? She couldn't bring her back to the Rebellion and expect the Queen to show leniency, not with her personal encounters with her, and she couldn't allow herself to go back with Adora and submit to whatever horrifying experience awaited her by Shadow-Weaver's hands.

On top of that, neither of them wanted to fight! They wanted their dear friend to come back with them yet both sides were too stubborn to trust one another. Sure, one side was legitimately in the wrong but they didn't know that. At times like these Catra questioned if she really was under a Princess's control, a part of her wished she was so she wouldn't have to worry about the guilt.

This? This right here? Was the one thing Catra and Adora never wanted to find themselves in.

"Adora... I really can't... I'm sorry..." Catra didn't know how much longer she could keep apologizing. It wasn't for a lack of effort, she didn't have much time to fix the Sea Gate's core.

"...I am too." Adora kept her gaze intensely on Catra as she raised her wrist to her face again.

"Adora, don't-!

"This is Force Captain Adora, do you read me Scorpia?"

"Yup, loud and clear, Adora." A staticy Scorpia said over the radio. "What are your orders?"

"Adora, please, don't do it!" Catra begged raising a hand forward. Adora stared at her sternly, making Catra wonder what was going through in her mind. Was she going to listen to her? Did this situation warrant enough to hope for it?

There was plenty of hope present in this situation, none of which reached the two best friends.

"Take down the barrier and everything around it!"

"No!" Catra lunged the Force Captain as fast as she could, too little too late as Adora slipped the radio off her list and into the water below them. There was no going back from this point. Reacting quickly, Adora backed away several feet before Catra could swipe her, creating a good gap between the two as they stared at one another.

*BOOM!*

Catra had to cover her ears from the sudden ring that went through it. As much as she wished against it, back at the Barrier the two stood in front of, there was a gaping melted hole in the bottom left portion of the barrier, the massive canon from the ship having fired another massive burst of green energy at the mystical wall. Like last time it slowly reassembled itself, though at a very much slower pace, as it reconstructed it's shield.

Also like last there, there was another surge of electricity from the control core behind Catra, the cat gritting her teeth with worry as she saw the sparks going off and several lights around it starting to dim. If she didn't work fast enough the barrier was going to run out of power, and something in her head told her she wouldn't be able to fix it if the entire thing was destroyed.

"Ahhhhhh!" With the sound of Adora's battlecry filling her ears, Catra quickly looked back in time to block the attack of her baton with her own sword, watching the sparks dance between the two of them as Catra narrowly avoided the baton from striking her head. Being up this close, seeing the anger in Adora's eyes, she knew they didn't have a choice. With a hiss Catra pushed off Adora's attack as she pushed her back once more, the blond member of the Horde not caring an inch as a few strands of hair danced in front of her.

Neither of the two allowed the other a moment of reprieve as they rushed each other, both growling to one another as their weapons clashed again with the sparks practically bursting from the impact of the two powerful weapons. Neither of them planned on backing down from this fight as they came here to accomplish what they wanted to do. They wouldn't let the other tell them what to do, and they weren't leaving here until the other answered their request.

And neither of them were going to take No for an answer.

...

Leaping from every ledge he could till he reached the ground level, Bow fired one of his arrows attached to a rope directly at the flag of the ship. With a secure line between him and the boat nearly twenty yards away from him, he leapt from the ledge as he slid against the rope using the bow itself to hang from.

With Catra's priority focused on the repairs itself, everyone else was preoccupied with disabling the ship that attacked them. The Sea Gate was the Rebellion's biggest line of defense against the Horde when it came to attacks from the sea. If they managed to destroy the mighty structure, one Catra revealed to be created by the First Ones' themselves, it would allow the Horde to not only invade the kingdom of water, but wage direct warfare on Bright Moon castle without going through the hazardous forest.

Landing upon the ship itself, Bow prepared himself immediately as he glared at the several cadets that were still stationed on the ship itself. With a grin, he fired one of the many arrows towards Kyle, pinning his shirt by the shoulder to one of the walls of the ship. Seeing how he was disabled for the moment, Lonnie growled to herself as she rushed towards the bowman with a smaller stun baton charged and at the ready, unlike the double-sided baton Adora was equipped with.

With the singular target coming after him, Bow ran straight towards her with another arrow at the ready. Right before she could land any form of strike he gracefully leapt over her as he fired another arrow several feet in front of her. In an instant the ground before her was encased in a solid form of ice. The cadet had no time to react as she was slid against the ground itself, finding herself sliding even after she collapsed to the ground until she slammed into the wall ahead of her. While it didn't disable her for as long, the impact was enough to daze her, and that was more than enough time to turn his attention to the canon.

There he could see the scorpion human hybrid that was Scorpia, the Force Captain preparing to load another shot from the ship's mighty canon. Straightening his aim he fired another arrow that bursted in midair just before it reached Scorpia, scattering Scorpia's vision in a hazy dust as she coughed the small particles from her throat. When her view cleared again, she saw both she and the canon she was touching were encased in a strange sticky blue sap. Whatever the strange substance was, it was going to take awhile for her to pull herself out of it.

He was given little time to continue his attack on the ship as he was suddenly tackled away, flipping over to his feet as he looked back to the attacker that was Rogelio. Like any seemingly all brawns lizardman like him, Bow expected him to charge him directly as he fired a minor explosive arrow at the reptile, hoping to knock him out from the blast of the explosion.

What he didn't expect was for the reptile to maneuver himself around the arrow as he charged so he could grab it with his arrow. It was thanks to Adora's attentive training regimes that he could react in time with the incoming projectile, flipping it around in his tail and flinging it back at Bow in a single second. With Bow's attention distracted by the brief display he was incapable of reacting fast enough as the arrow was shot back at him, exploding just two feet in front of him and blasting him off his feet over the rail behind him.

When his head cleared of the dizziness from the shockwave of that blast, he was startled to see himself being hurdled directly into one of the several bladed engines that kept the ship afloat for combat like this. He had no time to reach his arrows and nothing to grab onto that could prevent him from his deadly demise. His fate would've been sealed if not for the timely intervention of Sea Hawk himself the very captain Glimmer helped out of a slump, as he swung across a rope and grabbed Bow just seconds from a shreddy death.

"Sea Hawk!" Bow squealed a little with stars in his eyes. This was just like those moments in every hero story where the hero leapt into the scene, just in the nick of time to save the day! Granted, that would've technically made him the damsel, but it was worth the minor title if it meant he got to see a real hero leap into action before his very eyes. Grinning down to the young teen for a moment, Sea Hawk swung his way over to his ship, the same one Glimmer was currently steering along with Mermista.

"Bow! Are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," he gave a smile with a thumbs up in response, "thanks to Sea Hawk here!"

"Hmhmhm, all in a day's work for a captain like myself." He exclaimed proudly. The four allies looked back to the ship as they could see the small sap Bow used to cover the mighty canon. To Bow's dismay, Scorpia was already halfway done peeling the sticky substance off of herself and the canon.

"That's not going to hold for long. How much longer does Catra n-" Glimmer paused as she looked back to Catra, seeing her friend battling a mysterious stranger. "Wait, who's that?"

"I think we have bigger problems, young ones." Sea Hawk stated as he pointed back to the other ship. Checking it again, her eyes widened as she saw Scorpia had finally removed the last of the sticky sap. With a grin to herself, the scorpion woman turned the canon a little into their direction, preparing to fire another blast of energy straight at them.

"Hold on!" Mermista shouted as she raised her trident. Gathering all the magic she could as fast as she can, she used the very oceans themselves as she pushed their small ship out of the way, narrowly missing the incoming blast that struck the rocky structures behind them. The crumbling rocks splashed fiercely as the waves pushed them further out closer to the ship. Finding herself forced to, Mermista gathered her magic again as she pushed herself passed the ship, barely scraping the rear of the side of their mast from under the Horde's battleship and thankfully before it could ram into them.

On the bright side of things, this apparently caught Scorpia's attention as she continued to her attempts at blasting the group out of the water. It didn't keep the ship from continuing towards the watery kingdom, but it would give Catra a couple more precious minutes of peace, at least as much as she could while dealing with her own situation...

...

"Agh!" Adora yelped as she was thrown off her feet again. Her heart nearly jumped as she felt herself sliding over the arm, rapidly flailing all her limbs to get herself back on top of the arm's flatter surface. With a sigh of relief, she glared back at her possibly-brainwashed friend as Catra twirled the baton in her own hands.

"I have a better balance up here, Adora." It was evident throughout the battle these two had for the last several minutes. While she could match Catra's strength against the ancient blade, she was helpless to fight back while maintaining her footing against the sleek arm at the same time. Half the time she found her shoes sliding across the ground and the other half she nearly fell over the side completely. If that wasn't enough to show off Catra's point, she looked to her clawed feet herself, seeing them scraping against the statue's exterior. "And a better grip up here than you do." Without giving her a chance to speak she casually tossed the baton behind her away from her friend, panic going through Adora's mind as she watched.

Nevertheless, it wasn't enough to dissuade the Force Captain from continuing to fight back, charging forward again as she attempted to strike Catra with her bare hands. At this, Catra simply caught her hands in her own grip, having sheathed the sword partway through the fight after watching Adora's continued fumbling. "Ngggh!" She growled, trying to claw at her. She wasn't willing to give up no matter how weaponless she found herself. She was going to keep fighting if it meant saving Catra from the Rebellion's clutches.

"Stop it already, Adora!" Catra growled.

"Why can't you understand I'm just trying to help you?!" Adora yelled, small ducts of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I don't need help Adora, there's nothing wrong with me!" With a free leg she rolled back as she kicked Adora behind her several feet, somewhat regretful as she saw the several small tears her clawed foot left in her shirt, feeling thankful she didn't see any cuts or bleeding from where she kicked. "I'm not going back and that's final. Either join with us or go back home before you hurt yourself!"

"Ngggh..."

She refused to believe there wasn't anything wrong with her. This was her friend, Catra, the very girl she grew up with since they were children. No matter how much she changed she knew she couldn't be so heartless as to defect to the Rebellion without a legitimate reason. She refused to believe such things!

If that was the case, then everything people said about her had to be true! She was going it out of her own selfish desires, she didn't want anything to do with her or the rest of her friends, she didn't care about all the people she was hurting, the people that raised her! There was no power on Etheria that would make Adora believe it, and she wasn't going to stop fighting until she brought her home.

Adora gritted her teeth as she wiped the side of her bruised lip with her sleeve. As she did, she noticed the small green box slip out of her coat pocket, reminding her of Shadow-Weaver's warning of a last resort. Seeing the strange package from where she stood, Catra tilted her head at the mysteriously bowed package.

"What's that?"

Not wanting to give her a chance, Adora quickly scooped the box into her hands as she removed it of it's contents, the red-colored bandana blowing against the wind as Adora got back to her feet. "A precautionary from someone who cares about me." She stated, unfolding the beloved gift in her hands.

"Wait, you mean Shadow-Weaver?" Fear struck Catra's heart again at the realization. "Adora, what is that thing? What's it supposed to do?"

"I don't know, and at this point I don't care." Her words weer cold, emotionless, as she raised the band closer to her head. "If it helps me bring you home, then it's worth any risk." Closing her eyes, she surrendered herself to the mysterious band as Catra continued to panic.

"Adora, don't-!" She tried to run over to.

But it was too late. With the band around her forehead and the ends tied against her head, the gem socketed in the center of the beautiful cloth shined brightly with a red flash as it began to work it's magic.

"Ghh-! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Adora screamed in brutal agony as she clutched her head tightly. All around them, from Catra, to Sea Hawk's ship, to the Horde ship itself, all eyes were turned to the direction of the bloody cry of pain. Catra wanted nothing more than to run to her side to help her, to rip the horrid item from her worst enemy straight from her head, if she wasn't distracted by what happened after.

Shadows. Shadows from all over the place, be it the crevices in the structures and cliffs, the various shadows that rose from the sea, even copies of her own shadow split apart from it as it rushed under Adora, gathering in one solid spot as her shadow grew wider and rounder from the incoming shades. The darkness itself slowly started to grow upon her body, rising over her clothes as it slowly spread through the entirety of Adora's body. There was a strange atmosphere through the air, one paralyzing Catra's senses as she felt frozen in place.

Some instinct inside of her was telling her to be afraid, to fear whatever was building up within the Force Captain that continued to scream with tears rolling down her eyes. All Adora felt was pain, a terrible, agonizing, pain that continued to pile up to greater and higher lengths. Eventually, the darkness rose all the way to Adora's skull, covering the girl's body in a pitch blackness, as all the shadows seemed to seep into the gem itself. The last bit Adora Catra saw was her fearful eye as it was swallowed up in the darkness.

How was she supposed to help her? She didn't know if touching her could affect her own body, she didn't know if removing the headband, wherever it was in her pitchblack form, could make things worse. All she could do was wait until the darkness over Adora slowly spirited away, disappearing little by little until Adora's slumped over form could be seen again. Her head was down, her arms were drooped. There were no tears flowing from her face.

All she knew was that whatever happened just now could only lead to trouble!

"...Huh?" Adora popped her head up again, looking as casual as she did earlier with a look of surprise on her face. There weren't any tears in her face or hints of sadness as she looked at her hands and her own feet. "...That's it?" She looked all around herself as if expecting some sort of horrible transformation, like Catra did until right this moment. "Nothing else... happened?" It was weird. She almost felt disappointed to find nothing changed for some reason.

"Adora, are... are you okay?" Catra asked as she cautiously approached her.

"Yeah, I... guess I am... Was that all it did?" Seriously? That was it? That was...Lame! All that pain, all that screaming for literally nothing? She went through the worst pain she felt in her life, feeling like her skin was being set on fire and doused in an instant as the darkness spread throughout her body, and all it added up to was just a simple flash from the red gem of her headband? How stupid was this thing?!

"Good." Wasting no time, taking advantage of Adora's distraction, Catra quickly grabbed one of her hands as she used the other to grab onto the headband itself. Reacting just as fast, Adora grabbed the thieving hand with her own.

"What are you doing?" To Catra's surprise, her grip was much stronger than it was a minute ago. Almost...crushing, as a soreness spread throughout her arm. It was at that time she noticed an incredibly faint red hue within Adora's eyes. It was almost impossible to notice anywhere over a foot away from the girl, yet here Catra had an up close and personal view of her friend's eyes in front of her.

"I'm taking that thing off of you! If Shadow-Weaver of all people gave it to you it can't be good!" She grumbled, trying to struggle through Adora's newfound strength. Something was very wrong here. Earlier, Adora struggled to maintain the same footing and fight back against Catra at the same time. Here, she was standing perfectly in one spot while holding Catra's wrist like it was nothing.

"What? No! I'm not letting you take this from me!"

"Ghhh let go!"

"No!"

"Stop fighting me on this, Adroa, and let go!"

"I said...NO!"

*Wham!*

"Gah!" Catra howled with pain as she was suddenly thrown against the massive statue's upper arm, falling to the ground soon after.

"Whoa..." Adora could only blink to herself as she looked at her hands again. That was... new... Without any seeming effort behind it she tossed Catra nearly twenty feet through the air and into the upper arm like she was a ragdoll. Where did this new burst of strength come from? She barely felt any weight behind Catra as she threw her, feeling no heavier than forty pounds at most. Her fingers still tingled with the strength, the tips of her fingers dancing with the power that coursed through her.

"What... was that..." Catra hissed rubbing her back as she stood. That wasn't anything like Adora's managed before. Sure when they were kids she often got lucky in their spars, but even then she was never capable of something of that caliber.

"...Heh... heheheh..." Adora's face slowly twisted as a small grin formed in the corners of her mouth. "Heh heh heh...Tch hahahahaha!" Oh geez, this was so funny! She held her sides as she burst into laughter, looking at Catra like she was the funniest thing on the planet. "Oh! My! Gosh! That was so hilarious! Did you see yourself like that? You were like "wahhhhhh" when you were flying through the air!"

"Adora, what... what's wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me? Nothing! Hoof! I feel great! You wanna do some push-ups? I wanna do some push-ups! Let's do some push-ups! Come on start counting, I'll go first!" With the same grin of excitement on her face she dropped to all fours as she, as suggested, started doing push-ups.

In the middle of what was supposed to be a fight.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Oh come on, this is too easy!" She quickly switched from two hands to one hands. When that got too boring for her, she started to use both her fingers on each hand. As if that wasn't enough, she finally switched to one finger, placing it between herself as she continued her push-ups with that. "Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! Come on, you gonna join or what?! Whoo!"

This was the best feeling in her life! She didn't know what was going on with herself and for the first time she had absolutely no care about it! She felt like she was on fire, took off the fire, hugged the fire, beat the fire to a pulp, and then set herself on fire to do the entire process all over again! Man, this was the best feeling in the world!

"Adora... you need to take a deep breath..." Catra instructed calmly as she slowly approached. She needed to figure out what happened to Adora, find some way to break whatever magic took a hold of her. But she soon gazed passed her as she saw the core she was working on sparkling a bit.

I need to get that thing working but... She huffed internally as she tried to prioritize the situation.

On the one hand, she could try to figure out what's wrong with Adora, waste who knows how much time either trying to convince her to stop this or fight her off, or on the other hand, try to fix the machine while goldilocks here messed around like a three-year-old. As much as she hated the choices, she knew she needed to fix the machine while it was still fixable. Besides, at least Adora did seem genuinely happy, and more importantly distracted, as she continued doing push-ups like she moving the planet itself.

Steadying her heart rate, Catra slowly moved around the girl, Adora seeming too focused on her own little stunt, as she got around the excited girl. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the the core as she dug through the toolbox like before when this all started. Thankfully, she had two sides left to deal with, and the current one appeared to be halfway done. After a few more tweaks on this side she just had to deal with the last side and then-

"What'cha doin'?" Catra nearly jumped as she heard Adora whisper in her ear with mild curiosity. Unlike her previous state of being, she appeared more attentive of what was going on with a more semi-serious expression on her face. She didn't give Catra a single second to answer either as almost immediately she was lifted by the collar of her uniform, being pulled off her feet as she was flung through the air to the other side of the arm.

Unlike last time she was ready for it, twisting her body around as she landed on her feet. She didn't know what was going on with her erratic behavior, but as long as she kept her eyes on the girl, she wouldn't let her get the drop on her agai-

Where'd she go?

"Peekaboo!" Catra barely had time to register the sound of the voice as a pair of hands squeezed over her head, pinching her eyes shut tightly as she was lifted off her feet from behind her. She felt an immense pressure as she kicked around her legs, trying desperately to pry the grip off her eyelids.

"Ngggh! Let go!" Catra shouted. She couldn't believe how much Adora changed from this one single headpiece she was given. She was strong enough to toss Catra around with ease, and now her speed was fast enough to race behind Catra right before she landed.

And that was AFTER she tossed her!

"Nope! Guess again!" This wasn't Adora. Adora was sweet, innocent kind, she always preferred finding a way through things peacefully rather than through violence. The person standing behind her was nothing like that. She was violent, mean, laughed at the pain she was causing others. Who was this girl? "I'll give you a hint! It has "a door" in it's name! Heheheh!" She grew a more malicious grin as she leaned her head closer to Catra's ears. "Do you think if I squeeze harder, I'll hear a pop?"

"Nggggggggh!

*WHAP!*

"Ahh!" With all the strength she could direct to her feet, she gave off a loud grumble as she swiped her clawed feet against the side of Adora's face, proving effective enough as Adora instantly dropped her. The second her feet touched the ground, she let out a growl as she drew her sword, preparing to strike.

That Headband's gotta go! She shouted to herself, raising the sword over preparing to strike the cursed object. There was no time for Adora to grab at or dodge the blade that was seconds away from her. Fearing it was going to strike her directly, all she could do was cover herself with her arm as she waited for the inevitable.

*CLANG!*

"What?!" The sound of Catra's gasp caught Adora's attention as she opened her eyes back up. Was she impervious too? She heard the strange sound of the sword colliding into something solid, something practically made of metal itself. Did someone else block the attack for her? Did some numbnut trying to ruin Adora's fun get in her way? That's when she saw the very thing that filled Catra with everlasting fear.

From the ground beneath her, a lone shadow stretched all the way along Adora's arm up to the tip of her fingers, an eerie dark haze seeping from all sides around it, as it formed a single magnificent blade-like appendage over Adora's arm. The blade itself looked genuine, like any great sword or axe you would find.

What troubled Catra so much about this was what Adora wasn't focusing on, not until she followed her gaze in turn. All around her, to the shock and glee of the Force Captain, nearly a dozen different tentacle-like appendages grew from the base of her feet, coming out of her own shadows. The tentacles danced around her, reaching up to her shoulders in length. As if it was an animal, Adora curiously touched one of the strange tentacles, the tentacles gently touching back with it's own curiosity.

With a thought forming in her mind, she swished her arms from side to side, watching as the tentacles all danced in unison to her arms. It made every passing second Catra watched all the more terrifying, watching as the blade-like appendage morphed back to a normal shadow-covered tentacle. She backed up slowly as goosebumps spread across her body, tail swishing back and forth as the fear built up inside of her as the lone tentacle danced alongside the other tentacles that swayed.

This wasn't a simple matter of Adora having a power all too familiar to her. This was a matter of Adora having a similar power to that of Shadow-Weaver. An evolved version of Shadow-Weaver's power.

"Heh... heheheh! These things are awesome, aren't they?" She chuckled. Smirking back to Catra personally, she continued to chuckle as the tentacles all began spreading along the sides of Adora's arms, six on each side, as they twisted and morphed into an incomprehensible form. Watching the massive sprouts of darkness forming along her arms, her eyes nearly bugged out as the pairs of six merged together along her arms, forming something completely different.

From the tips of her shoulder down to her very fingers, an entire mass of shadow had taken form and was given shape from the mere thoughts of Adora's mind. Catra watched in horror as the darkness slowly transformed until it became a solid form. Where once was Adora's regular everyday human arms, now rested two gargantuan arms, one on each side, with claws that stretched out to the size of Catra's sword, the arms themselves stretching passed Adora's knees.

She had strength. She had magic. Now, she had the ability to manipulate shadows into solid matter, and morph them into whatever convenienced her. And every single detail of this brand new shocking reality only filled Adora with more glee, growing one of the most sinister and twisted looks of amusement Catra's ever seen on a single living person.

"Now, let's have some fun!"

...

A/N: Ah so much glorious fun ^^ I really hope you people enjoyed today's episode cause I had a blast writing it!...hopefully i didnt' screw too many areas up or make it boring. And yes, this is surprisingly going to be over 4 parts (I mean would you want it any other way since we got our first Adora & Catra moment since Thaymor :P? Lol)

Anyway, as always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you (hopefully) on tomorrow's conclusion!

Chapter 17: Episode 5: The Sea Gate End

Summary:

The Thrilling conclusion to our first meeting between Adora and Catra. But will be leave better than when we started...?

Chapter Text

A/N: Annnnnnnd another episode finally completed! Hooftah indeedily!

Just on record, the latter half of the i had to slightly rush in the matter of three hours, so I'm really hoping that it doesn't feel too rushed. And if it does, bare in mind this is during the last 4 minutes of the episode, so if anything I should've written LESS than I did her XP.

With that said, hope you all enjoy the episode and the conclusion of our first Adora and Catra confrontation!

...

*Clang!*

"Ghh!" Catra grunted as she was lowered to one knee, trying desperate to push the massive claw off her sword.

She didn't think she'd ever find herself on the opposite side of a claw trying to cut someone. If anything, she always thought she'd be the one clawing someone's face off, not the other way around. What's more, it wasn't just anyone's claw in particular that she was dealing with either. It was the darkened claw that belonged to the one single friend she had in this world.

Adora.

The blond Force Captain continued to grin as she looked at her other gargantuan arm of darkness, flexing the tips of her fingers while ignoring the person she was playing with.

All this power, all this wonderful power she now had. To think, such a wonderful, lovely, gift like this came from the mother figure of her life, Shadow-Weaver. It amazed her that such a simple headband, one adorned with a red gem in the center of all of it, could fill her with this much power. Man she wishes someone gave her this power sooner!

This was the greatest feeling of her life! She felt so strong, she was so much faster than before. All the stress and misery she felt for the last several days, all the drama and sadness that she had to put up with, all of it was gone. She felt so much lighter for the first time, so free of all the burdens she had to put up with for most of her life. This power wasn't just a gift from someone, it was a godsend that relieved her of all the pain she felt.

For the first time in a long while, she felt happy. Joy.

It wasn't just the incredible increase of character that this band rewarded her with. It was also magic. Magic, one of the greatest of things that ruled over Etheria next to science, was now in her grasp. Well, more accurately, in her shadows. The strange power this headband blessed her with, all the dark energy this gem had harnessed from the mere shadows of her surroundings, be they the environment or the people around her. All of them were drawn in like bugs to a headlight as they swarmed over Adora and gave her this incredible gift.

The shadows moved however she willed it, mastering it's control in just a few short seconds. The tentacles that sprouted out of her shadows danced around her hands, swaying side to side as she played with it with a childlike curiosity. From there, she decided to test out her new power by creating the newly formed arms around her, covering her normal arms with massive gargantuan ones. Ones with claws the size of Catra's sword, one pitch black with the darkness they hailed from.

This, is what true power felt like. And as far as Adora was concerned, it felt almost as good as pinning the cat to the ground with one hand.

"Man... you have no idea how wonderful this feels!" Adora commented nonchalant, twiddling her fingers around.

"Yeah, I think I'm feeling enough of it!" Catra grumbled, trying to push one of the hulking hands off of her. Looking back to her, the sinister grin on Adora's face barely twitched with the excitement building up.

"Aww, what's w'ong? Poow wittle kitty can't stand?" In an almost mocking fashion, she pulled back four of her fingers while leaving one planted firmly on Catra's sword. To add insult to humiliation, this didn't lighten the load on Catra's sword. She only increased the pressure as Catra was forced to her second knee. Any more and she swore her knees were going to pop. "You know looking at it, I think I owe you one, Catra." The struggling girl looked to her at this remark. "If it wasn't for you leaving, I probably never would've gotten this power. Thank you so much!"

"Consider it my deepest reGRET!" With as much strength as she could kick with, she pushed off Adora's powerful finger as she leapt straight for the girl herself, intending on destroying the headband that started all this.

"Uh uh uhhh!" Adora tsked with a smirk. As quickly as Catra leapt for her did she just as quickly find a powerful grip tightening around her entire throat.

"Ghh!" Her airwaves constricting fully, Catra dropped her sword as she scratched at the mighty hand for dear life, trying everything in her power to get any sort of air into herself.

Adora noticed a small twinge of pain erupting from the shadowy fingers as Catra left her claw marks deeply into the massive hands. The marks themselves gave off a small purple glow at where they were sustained, the purple residue seeping out like blood. Apparently despite the fact these fake giant hands were over her real ones, she could still feel the pain of them being scratched as if they were her own. Pain was something she wasn't immune too, which she would have to keep in mind for future reference.

"Bad kitties shouldn't scratch people like that. It HURTS!" Shouting with a burst of rage, Catra found herself suddenly found herself being thrown across the sky, flying until she landed painfully against the wall again, only this time it wasn't the same one the arm was connected to.

She found herself thrown across the Sea Gate towards the statue on the opposite side, straight ahead from where the statue's arm was pointing. Despite the pain she felt from landing against the jagged cliffside, she found no time to sooth the irritation as she felt herself sliding down from the cliffside towards the ocean itself. Catra scampered with her claws, hastily scratching away until she found a firm grip on the other statue's smooth arm. She was somewhat in relief as she found herself on the same level as the other statue's arm.

Now she needed to find a way over to the other side.

"Don't go away yet, the fun's just getting started!" Adora sneered with the twisted expressions of a mad man. Looking back to her, Catra's pupils shrank as she saw Adora taking a running start straight towards her, jumping into the air as she leapt off the statue's hand towards her. Harnessing as much power as she could in those few precious seconds, Catra leapt up to the statue's upper arm, narrowly avoiding as Adora sunk her claws into her previous location with ease. "Oh come on, now you're teasing me! Heheheheh!"

With one arm after the other Adora pulled herself upwards towards Catra's location. It almost felt like she was just toying with her as she hummed to herself, the wicked glee she was getting out of this adding on to Catra's uneasy nerve. Not wasting any time to herself Catra continued to leap higher and higher from one spot to the next, climbing over the statue from it's shoulder, over the the ear, and eventually to the top of the head itself, all the while Adora was an arm's length from her, giving her no more than several feet of distance between her and the massive arms she pulled herself up with.

From there Catra sprinted towards the archway, carefully running over the jagged top that connected the Sea Gate itself. The salty air of the sea didn't faze her or her intended target as she made her way across, taking the split-second glance back at the wickening Adora that gave chase. The girl didn't look like she so much as blinked since this strange transformation began, her gaze focused solely on Catra the entire time.

"Adora, you need to snap out of it!" Catra shouted down as she reached the two tridents at the top of the arch. "This isn't you!"

"I know!" She cackled. Twisting the images in her mind and the focus on her arms, Catra watched as Adora transformed her right arm into a massive tentacle, culminating from the mass of shadows that stretched nearly ten yards. With a mighty push off the statue she was on she threw the dark appendage over to the other trident, reeling herself up posthaste as she easily got on the same footing as her prey and blocking her off from her path. "It's much better than me!"

Grabbing onto the trident's edge with her other hand, she attempted to swipe at the cat with her tentacle-like arm, forcing Catra to back behind the stone structure as Adora pulled herself over again. For the single moment Adora passed by Catra, the magicat could gaze perfectly into her friend's eyes. There wasn't anything of the original Adora there, not that she could see anyway. All she saw was a monster that was bent on her entire annihilation.

Pushing away the small bit of fear growing inside her, she jumped from the Trident's edge towards the center of the intersecting Tridents, several feet higher from her original spot. Seeing the weaker plaything continuing to run, Adora threw her long arm to the top of the trident again, pulling herself up as she looked down at her escaping prey.

"Oh, the itsy bitsy kitty climbed up the water spout~" She sang amusingly. The shadows gathered around her right leg as they started to amass into a new form. From the great merging of darkness, her foot took on a more massive form, at least three feet in length and width, and most definitely growing on in weight as it took on a solid form. Her mouth watering with anticipation, she jumped several feet into the air as Catra pulled her way to the other side of the tridents. "Down came my foot and CRUSHED the kitty out!"

*WHAM!*

"Ahh!" Catra screamed as she nearly became her enemy's footprint by a single inch. The impact of the great stompage sent a tremor all throughout the archway, causing Catra to fumble as she fell back over the archway. She barely had time to grab on to the ledge by a single hand, watching as the few bits of pebbles fell passed her into the watery depths below.

Grinning to herself, Adora casually lied down onto her stomach as she overlooked her friend in distress, taking as much joy out of this as a child watching a funny show. "You know that sounded way better in my head but that's just me." The shadows around both her arms and foot completely dissipated as she playfully grabbed onto Catra's finger one after the other. "This little piggy went to market~"

"Ngh!" She groaned as she felt her entire body sink deeper towards the ocean with the removal of a mere finger. Her hand trembled as she struggled to maintain her grip. "Adora, don't!"

"This little piggy stayed hoooome~"

"Agh!" If her arms weren't as sore as they were from crashing into the statues twice she would've swung her other arm over to the ledge. She knew it would've been pointless though as long as the blond princess of darkness continued to toy with her. She needed to come up with something and fast!

"This little piggy had roast beef~"

"No!" Any attempts she made at trying to scrape her feet against the barrier to pull herself higher was met with naught. With the barrier being as it was, her feet kept sliding against the perfectly-smoothed barrier, unable to form any sort of grip with the great wall.

Standing back up, Catra watched in horror as her shadows gathered along her arm again. It straightened out and sharpened into a massive blade, the very thing she used to block with the first Catra tried to cut the bandana from Adora's head. "And this little piggy got it's head cut off!"

...

*Splash!*

"Ahh!" The part yelled as they dodged the last attack by a slimmer margin than the previous one.

While Catra was preoccupied with her friend-turned-psycho, the remaining defenders of Selineas were dealing with their own problems. For the last several minutes they found themselves preoccupied with Scorpia and the several other cadets that maintained the Horde Battleship that assaulted the Sea Gate.

After Bow's daring attack on the ship itself in an attempt to disable the canon, the group had found themselves sailing for dear life on their own ship, one puny in comparison to the size of the Horde one. Every time they got distance, Scorpia attempted to blast them out of the water. Whenever they tried to hide from the canonfire, the ship attempted to ram into them and crush them. They weren't safe at a distance or at close range. All they could do was sail as fast as they could, Mermista expending a large amount of her power just to keep dodging like this.

Sighing with exhaustion, Mermista gasped for breath as she pressed her hands against her knees. Leniency in this situation was a very brief but welcomed gift for the young heroes. They had about half a minute or so after each canon blast as the gun had to recharge to avoid overheating. It didn't make the mermaid princess herself feel any better though when she was the one pushing the waves themselves to help them dodge out of the way.

"Huff... huff... if anyone else wants to push the boat... huff... be my guest!" She panted.

"Bow and I can buy you some time if we hold them off on the ship itself." Sea Hawk turned to his first mate, Bow returning his suggestion with a firm nod.

"Are you sure you guys can handle them on your own? You'll still be outnumbered." The princess of Bright Moon wasn't prepared to lose more people at this point, the war taking it's toll on her emotions long enough.

"A lot better than we can like this." Bow retorted. Turning to Mermista, the princess nodded as the two jumped into the water. With the simple wave of her hands Mermista sprouted a large pillar of water, pushing the two up to the deck of the ship where they prepared to engage the cadets once more.

"At least they stayed distracted long enough for Catra to... Catra!" Glimmer shouted with worry.

Throughout the majority of the chase, Glimmer barely had any time to so much as check on the She-Ra-in-training herself, believing her to be able to handle whoever she was dealing with at the time. All that positiveness and belief crashed down to the planet as she saw the current state of her dear friend.

From afar, she could see her poor friend hanging on for her life as she attempted to get some form of footing onto the archway again. Standing right above her Glimmer could see the notorious Force Captain, the one who lead this entire mission and, unknowingly to her, the one who took charge of the attack on Thaymor itself. There she could see the deranged Adora raising a massive blade-like arm over Catra's head, ready to cleave her in twain.

Panicking, Glimmer quickly teleported from the ship, Mermista freaking out as she had to grab onto the ship's steering wheel, placing herself on the statue's arm that housed the control core to the Sea Gate. Gathering as much power as she could in both her hands, she combined her magics into one giant ball of energy, throwing it directly at the Force Captain's head before she could swipe the blade at Catra.

*Whish!*

With dust settling and clearing over a few seconds, Adora blinked to herself completely unfazed, almost looking untouched, as she felt the strange ball of energy that attempted to blast her off the archway. Looking ahead, her previous emotional state of happy and giddy took a full one-eighty as it was replaced by a new emotional state.

Unbridled Fury.

It's her! Adora screamed to herself. Her, the one princess that was responsible for everything that was wrong with Catra, the one who turned both their lives completely upside down.

She knew she was the princess that started all this. She was the one who turned Catra against the Horde and herself with her cunning manipulations and dark magics. She was the one who made everybody think Catra was no better than a good-for-nothing traitor to the Horde, the person who defected to the Rebellion out of her own greed. The very person who thought she could blast Adora off her feet and into the dark waters behind her.

The person who took her best friend away from her, and turned her into a mere tool for the Rebellion.

"YOU!" Adora shouted in anger, wasting no times as the shadows took form in both her arms into the gargantuan claws they once were. Noticing her distracted state, Catra quickly looked back to who her new target was, gasping silently at who she saw.

"Pinky!" She yelled, Glimmer unaware that it was a warning to back away and not a cry for help. With a mighty roar, Adora leaped from the archway as she pulled back a claw, preparing to cut the princess to shreds. Glimmer gathered a mass of energy in her hands again as she prepared to fight back, unaware of the newly empowered state of Catra's friend. "Nooo!"

Pulling herself up just enough to get her feet on the the archway's side, Catra kicked herself off the Sea Gate with as much power as she had, bursting towards Adora as she pulled back her hand. Before she could swipe at the evil princess she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her arms, Catra crashing into her as the two of them bounced off the statue's arm and over the edge to the second largest platform located underneath them, the previous one destroyed by the Horde's attack.

With the two rocketing towards her Glimmer sidestepped out of the way as she watched the two plummet to the platform, landing with a harsh thud as the two landed on the platform with a loud crash, Catra rolling out off her friend with a groan. "Catra!" Teleporting, she reappeared at Catra's side, grabbing her hand, and then teleported back to the statue's arm as Adora appeared to be out cold. The two of them were out of breath, Catra for the injury and Glimmer for the burst of magic she used in the short amount of time, but still alive. "Are you okay?" She asked between breaths.

Rubbing her sore sides a little and wiping her chin of the bruises, Catra nodded back. "I'm fine. But you need to get out of here. You have no idea how strong she is!"

"But I can help!" She insisted. "Let me hold her off until-"

"No!" There was an unusual anger behind Catra's voice as she yelled. She wasn't yelling out of Glimmer's own safety, there was something else she seemed angry about. "Everything will be fine if I get the engine working again, but until then you guys need to take care of that stupid ship!" There wasn't a chance to voice her opinion or questions at this as Catra ran immediately passed her, seeming intent on finishing the repairs that she continued to get distracted from.

What was with her strange behavior? First the unusual anger and and now she was instructing her on what to do without a second thought or emotion to it. If anything it sounded like she was telling her not to fight Adora for a different reason, one they didn't have time to explain because of the massive ship.

Speaking of said ship, it appeared to be have given up it's chase for the smaller boat as it made it's way back towards the Sea Gate itself. Either it was fed up with playing cat and mouse, or the shipmates saw Adora in peril, rushing over back to the gate to assist her. Even as Bow and Sea Hawk fought atop the deck against several of the Horde's cadets, they still seemed intent on charging head first into the Sea Gate.

"We need something big enough to destroy that ship in one shot..." Glimmer muttered to herself trying to think. "Something like... like..." Looking around the surroundings, her eyes were drawn to the sight of Sea Hawk's vessel sneaking around some rocks from behind it. "That's it!" In a flash of purple light, she teleported form her spot, leaving Catra by herself as she fiddled with the mechanics of the Sea Gate's core.

...

Back on the Horde Ship itself, Bow and Sea Hawk were maintaining their ground as they continued to fend off the cadets as best they could. While they managed to keep the distraction up for a few minutes, it dawned on Scorpia what they were truly up to as she forced her way back to the main canon, continuing the charge towards the Sea Gate as Adora originally ordered.

To the surprise of the two heroes, the three cadets were more properly trained than they originally let on, thanks to Adora's teachings. While they managed to keep them fended off pretty well, they were outmatched as the trio continued to alternate strategies back and forth.

At one moment Kyle could be charging straight at one of them, and after fending him off in a single strike, one of them would find themselves tackled to the ground by Rogelio. It forced them to fight off the person pinning them down while the other fought off the two other cadets. Another moment all three of them could be charging at them at once, intentionally drawing Bow's attention and giving him a clear shot to ensnare one of them in one of his trick arrows. Immediately after firing, one of them, usually Rogelio or Lonnie, would take the hit for the other two as another cadet jumped to their shoulders before leaping after Bow himself.

The randomness of it all made the trio unpredictable.

Thankfully despite their numerous strategies, the three were a pretty easy match for the Captain and his first mate. With Bow's long range and Sea Hawk's hand-to-hand experience, sword or otherwise, they managed to fight off the cadets pretty easily. The only setback they did have to deal with was trying to fight passed the trio and reach Scorpia and the canon, a process which became harder after Bow used up his last arrow.

"How we doing so far, Captain?" Bow asked as the two stood back to back with their weapons.

"I've taken on fish bigger than them, though never usually on a time frame..." Sea Hawk's moustache flashed briefly as he steadied his sword. With the cadets ready with their stun batons and the heroes with their weapons drawn, it was anybody's move that determine who won.

*Fwoosh!*

The cadets were nearly blinded by the sight of the bright purple flash behind the two as Glimmer appeared before them. Without wasting a second she grabbed the two by the shoulders as she teleported the three of them away, leaving the baffled cadets who watched them disappear in a glittery flash.

"Where'd they go?"

...

*Fwoosh!*

Mermista blinked as the three reappeared on board in front of her. She was starting to wonder if Sea Hawk or Bow were okay after the few minutes of loneliness, a very small fraction of her worried for the boastful captain.

"Huff..." Glmmer panted as they reappeared on the Captain's ship again. The total amount of energy she spent between teleporting to Catra's aid, blasting her friend with all her might in a great burst, teleporting again to Bow and Sea Hawk, and then teleporting all three of them at once to the smaller ship was taking it's toll on her.

"Are you okay Glimmer?" Her close friend asked, knowing how taxing such magic was when teleporting three people.

"Yeah... huff... I'm fine." Wiping the sweat of her brow against her wrist she turned her attention back to everyone's favorite captain with a grin. "And Sea Hawk, I'm going to need you to do something for me."

"What's that lass?" Withe vigor in his veins and the spirit of adventure still burning within him, he eagerly awaited as Glimmer told him his favorite thing to hear.

"Set your ship on fire!"

...

"Mmh just one more side." Catra sighed, scraping through the tool box at the ready as she switched over to the final side. There wasn't much time as Catra noticed more spikes of electricity going off more and more frequently, nearly zapping her on a dozen occasions and giving her a small jolt on at least three. Her fingers were getting a bit crispy from the constant zapping, the small of burnt skin still fresh in the air as her fingers tingled.

Switching to the final panel of the core, her eyes widened at the view of the ancient technology. Unlike the previous sides and panels she worked with till this point, she was greeted with many different switches and wires that were completely alien to her. Several of them had a strange magnetism to it that connected the wires in several different parts, while other strange switches popped out of the machine, requiring Catra to fiddle with the strange dials in a certain order like she was opening a vault, before popping them back into place.

It was a bit of a crazy scenario for her, to say the least.

The last panel however, that's when things got a little more... simple, actually. Unlike the past panels, all along the panel here was a variety of strange-shaped bulbs, some your typical average roundness, others more unique in shape like one in a triangle and another one in a strange T-like shape. All of these bulbs were displayed around this strange circular area within the panel, looking as if it was supposed to store energy into the contraption.

While they were a bit interesting to look at, what really caught Catra's attention was the one lone bulb that was supposedly missing. Where was the mysterious bulb? Oh, not that far, just rolling at the bottom of this stupid panel which probably STARTED THIS WHOLE MESS TO BEGIN WITH!

Looking back on it now, it did relate a little to what Mermista said earlier...

"We suffered numerous attacks from the Horde in the past." Mermista commented. "Maybe it shook a wire loose or other over time."

That was probably the dumbest realization Catra had at this point since joining the Rebellion. To think all of this, all this stupid techno work and gadgets, all the problems currently going on with the Sea Gate, every annoying zap this stupid bug-zapper-wannabe machine gave her, all of it stemmed from this one stupid loose bulb!

Didn't those stupid First Ones' think of making more stable light bulbs?!

*crackle*

"Huh?" Catra's ears picked up the faint noise of stone creaking around her, possibly below her by the sound of it. Taking a quick peek, she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. The platforms were still there, the Sea Gate was still under attack, and she had a few minutes to resolve this crisis. Everything was perfectly fine by the looks of it... until she noticed one detail missing. "Adora?"

*Shink!*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as she she fell backwards.

She was unprepared for it. Anybody would've been after noticing a friend of theirs missing. No sooner had she called out Adora's name, barely an inch away from her face, did she find a blackened spear-like appendage stab through the statue's hand, stretching up at least seven feet tall, and breathing with the dark shadowy residue just like Adora's arms did.

From below the statue, the blond grinned. There, Adora hung from below the arm, practically fifty feet above the water, as she used her other arm to make a similar spear-like appendage. This one was thicker than the previous one, whereas that was used to penetrate the statue with ease and her intended target, this one was to maintain a grip on the statue's underside while she attempted to impale a certain nuisance to her life.

"You kept me from getting her!" She roared, pulling the weaponized spear out the statue swiftly.

Knowing what was coming up, Catra backed up as fast as she could on her behind, narrowly avoiding one piercing strike that cut along the left side of her leg by a thin cut. As she did, Adora gave chase from under her, alternating between arms as she went from one arm trying to stab her and hold on to the other arm trying to stab her and hold on. Everywhere in-between a second Catra found another spear attempting to stab her, forcing her back further and further from the control console. Given how this was all running, she was surprised these multiple stabs into the statue didn't interfere or damage the console all of this was connected to.

At least she hoped it didn't.

Backing up towards the upper arm, she looked behind her as her hands brushed against her sword again, feeling an ounce of relief wash over her as another dark spear stabbed in front of her again, this one just inches from her face as it stabbed between her legs. Reacting without hesitation, Catra grabbed her sword before slicing the massive shadowy spear right in half, the top part of the shadow falling to the ground near her foot as it slowly dissolved into nothingness.

"OW!" Adora screamed from under her as she pulled her hand back out. Looking at it, she saw a small cut among all five of her fingers. While being thankful the resulting cut off didn't result in her hand missing a few extensions, the pain itself was real enough to warn her about pushing her chances. "Ghhhh!" Gritting her teeth she reformed the claws again as she climb her way over the massive arm, popping her head out of the side as she saw Catra running over towards the console again.

I need to fix that bulb! Catra yelled to herself. She didn't know what to expect after this, the instructions in her head telling her to focus solely on the bulb. As to how this would've helped remained unknown to her, but the sooner she got this fixed the sooner she could try to fix Adora.

"No you don't! Adora shouted as she flung her tentacled arm at the girl. Just before Catra could grab the bulb she found herself being pulled off her feet, slamming her head straight down as Adora began to reel her in slowly. "You are coming back home with me and that's final!" She growled.

She couldn't understand this new flux of emotions going through her and she didn't care in the slightest. Whatever this strange headband did to empower her, this strange magic that filled her entire being, she was going to take full advantage of it. She was going to bring back Catra whether she wanted to or not.

And then she was going to deal with a certain princess!

As Catra scraped against the statue, trying fruitlessly to dig her claws into the statue's arm, her attention was drawn to the stun baton that she tossed away earlier, the very same Adora brought into this fight to begin with. Scraping away with all the strength she could, she struggled to reach the baton as she pushed her body's stretching to the limits, feeling it scrap against her claws within mere inches of the weapon. Right before she was completely pulled away, luck came to her side as the tip of her finger's claw finally dug into the baton, pulling it back far enough to draw into the rest of her hand. In one fell swoop, as she slammed the baton into the unearthly abominable tentacle.

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Nnnnngggggghhhhhh!" Both Catra and Adora screamed internally in unison as they both felt several thousand volts passing through their systems every second.

It didn't surprise Catra that she was also affected by the massive shock, seeing how the tentacle was tightly wrapped around her leg, but it beat the alternative of getting dragged away by Adora after all this. It took over ten full seconds of electrocution before Adora finally pulled the claw away, both of them collapsing on their backs and breathing heavily through the small paralysis that numbed them.

Sadly for Catra, she knew she didn't have a moment to herself as she had to hurry up and fix the machine. Gritting her teeth tightly, pushing passed the pain she was in, she crawled slowly over to the device weakly, grabbing onto the single bulb that fell out and started this entire disaster. As much as she would rather take her anger out of the stupid piece of appliance and crush it into her hands, she gave a small growl as she slammed it into the socket.

"There!" With the bulb reinserted, the mark of victory shined to life all around them.

A massive hum rang out from around the Sea Gate as sparks and color began to dance across the Sea Gate's core after long last. At first, Catra panicked worrying that she somehow ended up wrecking the machine, feeling a lack of instructions coming from her mind and recognizing the strange sparks that danced around it like it did whenever she pulled or twisted the wrong thing. She was almost sure it was going to explode with how out of control it was this time around.

But then she noticed the bulb, the one that was empty with life, slowly filling up with a pure white light like the many other bulbs and wires, as energy began seeping it's way through the machine and into the center of the panel itself. The center illuminated with a bright shining light in the circle, growing large and large in size until the entire core itself was burning with a great white light.

Followed by the sound of another hum, Catra flinched as the metal panels of the hand slammed shut in front of her. From there, everything around her began to glow as the engine's light could be seen shining through the incredibly slim openings of the panel, blinding her a little as the Sea Gate regained it's functions. All around her streaks of white light began to shine along the entire statue itself, all growing from the small seed of an engine that gave life to everything around it.

Like the veins of any creature, light grew over the length of the Statue's arm, several lights illuminating as it followed along the arm to the base of the elbow. From there, the lights spread across from top to bottom of the statue as it began to glow all around the cracks and crevices of the nearby cliff. The light spread all throughout the statue and up to the tridents where the tips intersected one another, with the light spreading down the other trident as it gave life to the other statue in turn.

As both statue's burned with life, Catra watched as their eyes began filling with the same burst of beautiful light as the rest of the statues did. With their eyes filled with energy, the final streaks of lights danced over the archway, drawing towards one another as if they were soulmates, clashing into each other as it put on one final display.

The barrier that blocked off the Horde from invasion, that protected the kingdom of Salineas from any and all forms of danger, started to wash over with several dazzling displays of light. From the cryptic red coloring that signified the end was near, it started to lighten as several waves of color crossed it. From red, it became a sunny orange. There, it grew a beautiful serene green color. After several more vibrant colors glossed over it, the final color, one that was as blue as the ocean, fully formed over it, the barrier bursting with it's own miraculous sparks of colorful life as it was finally healed after long last.

The Sea Gate. The thing she spent so long to work on in the last ten minutes, was finally restored.

*CRASH!*

"Agh..." No sooner had Catra finished watching the lightshow did she find her leg entangled by a mass of tentacle again, this time pulling her over harshly and slamming her into the upper arm of the statue behind Adora.

"You traitor!" Adora screamed. Writhing the darkness collected around her arms, she formed the gargantuan fists she had at the start of this second round, slamming it straight into Catra's entire stomach from her shoulders, all the way down to her waist, pressing her back further inch by inch into the statue with each strike.

*CRASH!*

"Everything that's ever happened!"

*CRASH!*

"Has been because of her!'

*CRASH!*

"She's the one hurting me right now!"

*CRASH!*

"AND SHE'S HURTING YOU!"

*WHAM!*

With a single hand she pulled Catra's body out of the foot-deep crater she left in the side of the Upper Arm and tossed her to the ground behind her, scraping her against the ground.

Why couldn't she understand everything that was going on around here?! Everything here has been the princesses fault! Everything that they touch they corrupt! They were the one responsible for taking Catra away from the closest thing she had to family, they were the ones who forced an entire village to attack an outpost that offered them peace, and they were the ones who brought Adora out to this wretched place and forced her to fight Catra!

Come to think of it, it was their own fault that the Horde had to attack Thaymore in the first place! Shadow-Weaver was right. Everything the Horde did was because it was absolutely necessary! They didn't care who they involved, they didn't care what they destroyed, and they didn't care how many people they had to sacrifice! They were responsible for each and every horrible thing the people in the Fright Zone have gone through, what Catra has gone through, what she herself has gone through! And she wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way of destroying them.

Looming over the weakened friend, Adora's eyes flashed red, covering her eyes and her pupils as the rage inside of her reached the pinnacle of possibility. Gathering every single shadow she could into her right arm, she created the giant blade, the very one that started this entire fight and the one she had yet to use until this very moment.

Nothing was going to stand in her way. She wouldn't allow anyone to cross her like this, not again. Not the princesses, not the Horde, and definitely not-!

"Snk..."

Adora blinked. With eyes full of hatred and rage burning inside her, she still managed to hear it. That one little faint cough of pain coming from the person lying at her feet, the dear friend she knew since they were young, the very person that was at her side even through the worst of times.

"C... Catra...?" What... happened to her? She looked all around her and was shocked by the sight of her weak friend. From head to toe, she was covered in bruises, scratches, scrapes all across her knees, face, and arms. Anything that was exposed outside of her clothing, she was agonizing... actually... crying a little... from all the pain she was in. A single tear rolled down Catra's closed eyes, tearing up alone looking like it was taking all the strength out of Catra's body.

"Catra... what... what happened to...?" Who... Who did this to her? Who caused her so much pain like this? Slumped over and severely beaten on her side... who could be this cruel? It... it had to be the princesses! She was sure of it! They must've did something to her in the few seconds Adora tossed her to the ground! Sure, they were just fighting earlier, but that was just Adora taking out her anger on... on...

Taking out her anger... on what? She looked at her hands, seeing the evil shadows that danced around her palms. She didn't do this... she couldn't have done this! They were just roughhousing, like when they were kids from time to time! She didn't do this to her dear friend! She... she didn't mean to...

Why would she say that? That was like admitting she really did do it! It couldn't have been her, it was impossible, it was... No... No she did... She only now realized everything she had done. Overwhelmed with her feelings, she let her emotions take over for her. She took sickening glee with watching her getting tossed into the arm, she took wicked curiosity in testing out her new magic, she let rage consume her merely seeing the princess she pushed all her anger.

Now, she was drowning with despair, sorrow. A bottomless sadness that filled her upon her grand realization, one that emptied the red hue within Adora's eyes.

She was the one who hurt Catra. She was responsible for her friend's suffering.

"What... What have I done? ...Aggghhhh!" She screamed in terror and pain as she pulled at the headband practically glued to her forehead. She thought being consumed in the shadows was painful, here it felt like she was pulling a footlong nail out of her skull! With every inch she managed to pry from the band, the shadows around here started to dissipate into a black mist, disappearing into thin air with every yank. With a scream to the top of her lungs, she finally pulled the cursed object off of her head, collapsing to her knees and hands as she gasped for air.

An endless flow of tears drained from her eyes at the immense pain she pushed herself through, not just physically, but emotionally as well. Taking no time to recover for herself, she crawled over to Catra's side, gently shaking her by the shoulder so as to not hurt her, not anymore than she already has.

"Catra... Catra please wake up..." Adora cried looking over her. The twitches she saw from Catra's body weren't enough to convince her she was okay. She wanted her to- no. She needed her to open her eyes, however little, to prove to her that she was alright. "Catra, please be okay, I'm... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

If she never woke up, Adora would accept that. She just caused who knows how much pain to the friend that meant so much to her by her own hands. If she didn't wake up, that would be Adora's punishment. She would suffer the infinite torrent of guilt she felt for the rest of her life, and she would live it through it's entirety to atone for a mere portion of everything she did to her.

Out of the many horrendous ways this could've ended, all the terrible endings that could've come out of this fight, a single miracle was blessed between the two for this one moment.

With a weakened groan, fingers twitching at the tip of her claws, a single slim line of her eyelids were opened, no higher than the thickness of several pieces of paper. Using the little energy she had left, she shifted her eyes to the corner of her face, seeing bleary vision of her friend passed the hazy mist in her own eyes. She didn't see the headband over her head, or if she did it was too hard to make out. All she could see was Adora's upper body to the top of her head.

All she knew at that point was that she wasn't surrounded by shadows anymore.

"Ad... or... a..." She weakly spoke.

Whatever. She would accept it. It brought more tears to Adora's face as she smiled a little, patting the side of her friend's cheek softly.

"Hey... it's okay... you're gonna be alright..." She hoped she would never have to use this stupid headband ever again. Seeing as the first mission failed, she could take some comfort in knowing the second operation was a bit more successful. With Catra being in the state she was now, she would be easy to bring back to the Fright Zone where she belongs. There, she could rest easy, recover from all her injuries, and Shadow-Weaver could save her. Then, everything could go right back to the way things were-

*Splash!*

"Ahh!" Adora cried out as a large pool of water was directly blasted at her, knocking her off the arm and into the large pool of water waiting below. With her body being nearly untouched in comparison to Catra's, she managed to survive the fall into the ocean waiting below her, swimming back to the surface with posthaste as she was dunk several feet under. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she was going to be bringing Catra back anytime soon, not that she deserved it after the horror she put Catra through.

At the same time, Catra's eyes opened a little more, still not even halfway up, as she saw Mermista pushing herself out of the pillar of water, running over the ledge to check on the state of Catra's attacker. While she seemed to be fine, she didn't bother to waste time on her as she rushed to Catra's side.

"Hey! Catfish! You okay?" She asked mildly worried. Catra couldn't help but find some humor in the nickname, finding it a little silly she wasn't the only one who came up with nicknames around here. She carefully helped her lean up a little, soothing the sores around her shoulders as Catra winced with pain.

"Y-Yeah... I'm fine..." She replied, still weak. Everything around her hurt to move, it almost hurt just to breathe. But given what the alternative out of all of this was, it could've been worse.

A lot worse.

Looking back to the ocean itself her pupils widened a little at the sight of the incoming Horde ship which was still intent on attacking the Sea Gate despite being operational. "But what about that?" Looking up as she heard a chuckle coming from the Princess of Mermaids, she saw her giving a cheeky grin as she looked back to the ship.

"Heh, don't worry about that. It's covered."

Back on the ship itself, Scorpia began to charge the canon for another blast. The Sea Gate might've been restored as of now, but it did't mean it couldn't be weakened a little to the point of failing like it did before. If they were lucky, they might've struck it in the right place to destroy the gate completely! With the three cadets taking over the charge itself, she grinned as the Canon hummed with life, ready to fire again at the massive wall of energy.

"Ha Ha!" Oh man not that sound again.

She's known him for a few minutes here and he was already the most annoying person Scorpia ever met in this kingdom. Looking off to the side, the ship belonging to Sea Hawk could be seen swimming around the massive boat without hesitation. It wasn't enough for them to be circling around them. What made it so baffling to Scorpia was when they turned around and headed straight for the Horde Battleship itself!

At the helm of the ship was the glorious captain, giving his own smile of triumphant victory, one they haven't even achieved yet, while also holding a small fiery torch in his hand. Standing next to him was Glimmer, the captain's first mate on this mission, as she smiled back to the Captain with cheer in their voices and the same stupid look of victory on her face.

"Adventure!" With a single shout, the two raised their fist in victory before teleporting in the blink of an eye. No sooner had they did the boat itself burst into a giant ball of fire, one charging at the dumbfounded scorpion Force Captain and the remaining members of their crew. There wasn't any time to turn something this big and it was too low to the ground and close to fire with the canon itself.

All they could do was scream in terror as they jumped overboard, pushing away from the massive boat that collided into the burning captain's ship.

*BOOM!*

Safe to say, there was nothing left of the fiery wreckage as the Horde ship crumbled to pieces. All around the resurfacing cadets and captain were wreckage and debris from their own ship, forcing them to grab on and find any floating pieces they could to use as a floatation device. Almost immediately after finding a piece for herself did Scorpion look over to see Adora swimming towards her, scooting over to the side a little to let the other Force Captain hang on to the floating pile of garbage.

"Hey Captain, did..." She was quiet. She didn't even look Scorpia in the eye as she casually kicked along with her feet, swimming across the ocean.

"I don't want to talk about it." She stated. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want anything else to do with this day. Looking back with a saddening look to her brainwashed friend a final time, the corner of her eye teared a little as she saw the Captain and Glimmer teleporting atop the statue's arm near Catra, Bow watching the Horde members leave with a snarky wave as they retreated.

She failed in her mission, both of them in fact. She didn't destroy the Sea Gate or recruit the Princess of Salineas, and she failed to bring Catra back with her.

And somehow, she felt like she lost a little more than she came here with...

...

The victory was won after long last, the several friends looking at the beautiful gate that glew with color. All across it several dozen star-like designs spread across it, forming alignments of the very stars themselves. This was a victory that the four would never forget, being their second major victory against the wretched Horde.

"Huh, what do you know? You actually fixed it." It took all of Mermista's power to not sound impress by the display of wonder standing in front of them.

"It's beautiful!" Glimmer couldn't be more proud of Catra's work in all of this. No matter how tedious or threatening the situation seemed, she followed through on her mission and fixed it just as she said.

"I guess you're going to be needing a new ship." Mermisa added looking at the easygoing captain on her right. Coming back from the fantasy of fame and fortune he was so fond of in his imagination, he looked over to her with surprise. "Ugh, I suppose you can have one of mine."

Gesturing to the small dock behind the four, Sea Hawk's eyes almost flashed as brightly as the Sea Gate itself. Standing there within the waters was a vessel, a ship as magnificent as his last three, if not more, that greeted his attention. Hooked up to the poles of the ship, it shined like the beautiful ocean under a night sky, seeing the beauty of it's colors sparkle over the mast in mixes of emerald and sea coloring. Next to it was the one lone butler/guard who never left the Princess's side, breaking a bottle over it to signify it's great launch into the ocean.

Truly, it was a ship worthy to the most worthy of Captains like himself!

"Ahhhhhh!" There were no interpretable words coming from Sea Hawk's mouth. All he could do was gaze with wonder at the sight of the magnificent ship. He felt like a father proud of his son, tears coming into his eyes as he gazed at what was practically perfection! "She's gorgeous!" He cried.

"Please don't set this one on fire this time..."

"No promises!" Grinning, he turned his attention back to the generous princess of beauty. "But, Princess, if I may ask for one more favor." He begged, holding her hands as if he was about to propose to her.

"Ugh, you're always ruining it!" She could already taste the bile forming in her stomach.

"You should think about joining Glimmer's Princess Alliance." He said pulling the princess in question to his side. Suggestions by the captain were never usually a good thing for her, but this one she did admit was a little... intriguing. "She is a brave and strong captain. With her at the helm, she is sure to lead the Rebellion to victory."

"Aww, Sea Hawk." She was touched at how beautiful his statement was. "You even got my name right."

"Heh, yeah. We can't even get Catra to call her that, and she's been with us for awhile now." Bow commented as he chuckled. Blinking to herself, Glimmer looked all around the foursome as she noticed someone out of place.

"Hey wait a minute, where is Catra?"

...

The sea. The one thing that covered the planet more than the land itself. If she was to jump into it right now, would she disappear with the rest of the water that drained into it? So much was on Catra's mind at this moment, so much pain she didn't want to deal with. And it all came from two specific sources: the sword clutched into her right hand, and...

"Hey, Catra!" Glimmer called out as she rounded the corner with Bow. They were both relieved to find her just beyond the Captain's new ship, staring out into the ocean. After hearing about the beating she took during the small war, they feared the worst. But by the looks of it, she was just fine!

...and her.

"You did it! You fixed the Sea Gate!" She congratulated.

"We've gotta celebrate big time when we get back to home!" There was no way Bow would take no for an answer. They HAD to celebrate! "Better yet, we can do it right now! Remember what I said about all the delicious fish they had?"

The two smiled as they awaited her response. After everything they did today, from finding a boastful captain, to Catra nearly drowning, to fighting off a Horde warship while fixing a ruined Sea Gate, one would think someone would've gone crazy from not going insane. Yet here they were, alive and well, and victorious after a grand mission like today. They couldn't wait to celebrate several times, some with the captain and Princess of Salineas, and later on back home. It would be just the three of them, four if her mother felt inclined to join in! It would just be her, Bow and...

...Catra...

"...Catra...?" Silence was never a good thing when it came from the cat. They had yet to figure out how Catra functioned. What made her tick, what was going on through her mind. All they knew was that whenever she was silent as this, something was wrong.

Given the incredible amount of silence from her, something was terribly wrong.

"...You lied to me..." She stated coldly as she clenched both her hands. The sword trembled in her grip from sheer force.

"I... what?" She had no idea what she was talking about, and chances are she didn't want to find out either.

"...I trusted you, for the first time... and you lied to me..." Raising the sword to her head, she stared back at her own scowling reflection, the same one Bow and Glimmer could make out no matter how far away they stood. There was rage, desire, and sadness within her eyes with rage seeming the most dominant. "You told me... if I thought about defending others, I could get this piece of garbage to work."

"It... didn't work?"

"I did it, word for word, exactly as you said." She continued in a tone as if she didn't hear anything the princess said. "I thought about saving everyone. The kingdom, you guys, everyone who wasn't me. I gave all my energy and trust to you in that one moment I needed it most... and it did nothing..."

"Look, Catra, it's not her fault or anything. None of us know how the sword works-

*swiff*

"Ah!" Bow yelped as he suddenly pulled back his hand. He had three new claw marks to stare back at him as he saw the scratches she left behind.

Glimmer couldn't believe what she just witnessed. Catra always playfully whacked or threatened to scratch the two of them from time to time, but nothing like this. He almost looked ready to bleed from the scratches they were so deep. "Catra, what are you-"

"You kept telling me to trust you guys." She continued to ignore her. "You said we were allies, according to you guys you were my friends. And after everything I've done to help, everything I've done for your stupid war, this. This right here, is how you repay me for helping you. By lying to me the one moment I needed you two."

*drip*

Their jaws dropped to the ground in their minds, neither of them believing what they had just witnessed. A single tear, one they couldn't see dripping down her face with her back turned to them, dropped to the floor. For the first time ever, they were there to witness her single cry.

"I could have won us more today, given us a new ally if you had just told me the truth."

"B-But Catra, I didn't-"

"SHUT UP!" She shouted turning to the two again. There were tears in the corners of both her eyes yet not a single one dropped like the first one that slipped out. Glimmer had never seen Catra like this before. An expression filled with rage that pushed passed the sadness she was showing in her eyes. "You keep pestering me over and over again. You were kept telling me we would get along better if I gave you my trust, and this is what you have to show for it. By stabbing me in the back!"

*clang*

The two were so focused on the rage emanating from her that they practically jumped as she dropped the sword in front of them.

"I'm done." Without another word she marched her way passed them, purposely shoving passed their shoulders without a second glance. "If you want me to fight in your stupid war then fine by me. But from now on, you're doing it without She-Ra!"

This... This didn't make any sense! What was wrong with her now, why did she think she lied to her? She would never do that, especially if it seemed so important to her! Why did this moment seem more important than all the other times she tried it? Did it have to do with that other person Catra was talking to? Did it have to do with...

Running over to pick up the sword, staring at it like it was the source of her problem, Glimmer shot back. "Catra, wait! I want to ask my one question!" Every fiber in Catra burned with rage as she stopped, almost as much as Adora did when the two fought. The only difference here was that she didn't lash out and attack the two... yet. "You said you owed me one question and to ask it before the day was over. At least give me that!"

"...What..." Her hisses didn't even have any emotion to them like they used to. They were hollow, masked over with the rage she was still displaying.

"Who... Who was that person you were fighting?" It pained her to ask this. She knew whatever happened within the last few minutes was because of that girl Catra was fighting not long ago. She was fine, more or less, up to that point and now she was burning inside and out? If she didn't have an answer or care for her then Catra wouldn't be acting like this. She had to be someone special to her, she must be.

It was clear that she was as the two saw Catra's ears drooped from behind her. The girl might've been able to mask her face but the rest of her body displayed everything else she felt.

Sadness.

"Her name... is Adora... And because of you... she's gone..." With a final hiss, she walked off to the ship.

Today was supposed to be a momentous day for all of them. Saving another kingdom, recruiting a princess to the alliance, and defeating the Horde with just the few of them. But now, after everything they witnessed, victory felt like the farthest thing from what they had.

All they could feel now, was defeat.

...

A/N: Gah, i have to get to work now! I know and im sorry if this seemed rushed and all that but like I said, I had like 3 hours left to my day before i had to work all day today AND tomorrow (so no updates tomorrow possibly, sorry).

With that said, I hope you guys still enjoyed the episode plenty and I didn't just add some people to the suicide hotline out of too many feels XP. A cartoon thats fun and actiony is good. A cartoon that gives you feels for FICTIONAL PEOPLE is amazing- that's my motto.

As always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon ^^!

Chapter 18: Episode 6: System Failure Part 1

Chapter Text

PS: THIS IS THE SHE-RA IF FANFIC, I JUST CHANGED THE NAME TO SOMETHING POSSIBLY A LITTLE MORE FITTING. LET ME KNOW IF YOU GUYS LIKE IT OR NOT.

A/N: And another fun little chapter down the line followed by the beginning of a new episode!

One thing I need to mention before we continue, my writing from this point might get a little bit whompish, whatever that means. Reason being: Unlike the other dozen or so episodes, episode 6 is the one I hardly remember, so I'm kinda going on it by the fly. Don't get me wrong the episode itself is still good, if anything it's one of the funnier ones just because of Adora's Drunken/drugged-up state she's in through half of it XP and I got my own little thing planned to for Catra (Hehehe...)

But as such, my writing might not be the best here for awhile, especially as work continues to pile up in both work-life and school, so expect some more grammer/writing issues possibly here and there. I'll still try to make this as fun as possible, and hope you guys enjoy it all the same.

With that said, enjoy!

...

The halls were unusually silent and ill this time around as Glimmer walked through them.

What was she supposed to do? For the last few days, the one thing that's been on her mind was the very last thing Catra said to her, to anyone for that matter, after restoring the Sea Gate of Salineas and recruiting Mermista into the Princess Alliance.

"Her name... is Adora... And because of you... she's gone..." With a final hiss, she walked off to the ship.

Who was Adora? What did that answer out of anything? Was she a personal enemy of hers? A rival?

...A friend?

Out of the three, the third scenario was the only one Glimmer could think of that would explain Catra's distant behavior. Ever since they returned from their last successful mission, she's been skulking about, giving everyone that crossed her path the silent treatment save for the Queen when she asked her something directly.

And even then it was short and without emotion.

It pained her inside, feeling a hint of the possible pain Catra was going through. She might not have known what sort of relationship they had, but she could picture every practical feeling she could've felt if Adora truly was her friend. Meeting each other after so long, coming across each other again on the field of battle, it was something almost out of a fairytale, one with a dark twisted ending to it. One where no matter how bright things seemed, darkness was just around the corner.

Strange thing was, she actually felt a little guilty herself despite Bow trying to convince her not to blame herself. Each and every day she and Bow keep pushing on Catra to open up a little more and tell something about herself, usually resulting in her hissing in turn and walking away from them. Up till now, she thought it was stubborn Horde pride that she had to get used to, something she would have to wait to go away.

Now, she was starting to think differently. Looking back on it, throughout all the times she ever did reveal something about herself, it was just after Catra was inflicted with some sort of emotional pain. Whether it was caused by her surroundings or her relationships to the past, every time Catra opened up it brought ruin and turmoil. It was almost like a curse, one that siphoned the joy and wonder of her life, and filled her with despair.

Since they've returned, a saddening aura filled the air. Whereas Glimmer would be making the usual retort not to call her "Pudgy" or "Pinky", she was finding herself longing for those days. In the few days of immediate silence she's had from Catra's commenting she was now wishing for, finding the nicknames to be a lot more comforting than the deathly silence that now surrounded her.

"Glimmer!" Panic went off in Glimmer's mind at the sound of her mother's voice. Running down the hallways, she saw her professional yet caring mother standing in the middle of the Hallway, arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

Right outside of Catra's locked door.

"Y-Yes, mom?" There was a small prick of nervousness in Glimmer's voice she hoped her mother wouldn't pick up on.

"Glimmer, is there something going on here you haven't told me about yet?" She asked raising her brow as she tapped her finger impatiently.

"S-Something I haven't told you?" She feigned the best smile she could put on her face. "Like what, mother? Heh heh..." She let a small chuckle slip out through her teeth.

"Well, I don't know. I thought about taking a pleasant stroll through my castle, check in on the staff, the guards, see how everyone was doing. And on the way I happened to come across something a little out of place." Nothing she said sounded uncommon to the princess, seeing her mother in the halls a dozen times throughout the days and actually joining her from time to time when she was younger.

"Out of place? L-Like what?" She already knew she was going to regret asking.

"Oh, I don't know, a crooked painting, a smidge of dust, and possibly this!" Stepping out of the way as she folded her wings again, Glimmer freaked at the mere sight of what she saw.

The Sword of the First Ones. The very thing that started her relationship with Catra, the one thing that made Catra the She-Ra she was today. It was currently embedded into the wall right outside her door, stabbed halfway through the opposite wall with a few cracks sticking out of place.

It was at that time she remembered the other part of Catra's dire warning to her and Bow.

"O-O-Oh, that!" Glimmer laughed forcibly as she struggled to take the sword out of the wall. It took several mighty pulls before she managed to pry it loose from the solid concrete. "Haha, oh, you know that Catra. She was uhh...t-trying to make a coat hanger for herself!"

"You mean like the dozen coat hangers in her room's closet?" Her mother retorted, using her all-knowing "mother powers" to discern the truth. And the fact she's seen the room a hundred times on separate occasions. "Or the fact she doesn't wear a coat to begin with?"

Oh, yeah, she forgot about her mother's other superpower; Common Sense.

"W-Well, you know, a lady always has to be prepared! Heh heh heh..." If Glimmer was any more obvious she'd be a Captain like Sea Hawk. Within three seconds Glimmer quickly teleported into Catra's room, ignoring the deathening glare she gave her, dropped the sword, and teleported back outside to her mother again with the same nervous grin on her.

Looking at her with her still-suspicious face, Angella's expression softened as she lowered herself to her daughter's eye level, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Sweetie, I want you to promise me, if she does anything strange or out of place, you'll tell me. I can trust you on that, can't I?"

"Of course, mother." There was sadness and a sense of remorse her daughter could see in the Queen's eyes. What was she so worried about over Catra? Sure, she used to work for the Horde, and her attitude left much to be desired. But she at least did everything she could do what's right, which was far more than could be said for practically everyone else in the Horde.

With a small smile, Angella kissed he daughter's forehead, continuing down the hall to complete her inspections for the day. Sighing to herself, Glimmer leaned against the door as she contemplated everything else she had to deal with.

On top of the previous issue with Catra wanting almost nothing to do with the rest of them, more than usual in this case, she also had to hide the fact Catra gave up her job of being She-Ra. While there wasn't any rule forbidding her to, much less a law requiring that She-Ra be She-Ra, the last thing she wanted was for her mother to find out. She already had enough annoyances dealing with Catra's mannerisms, the last she needed was finding out Catra was no longer being the symbol of the Rebellion like she once was.

"I wonder if she's still mad..."

*Chhhkk!*

She couldn't tell if that was the passage of timing playing on her or if Catra actually heard through the doors, because the next thing she knew she found the sword impaled directly above her, missing her hair by a single inch. In fact, it was hard to tell if Catra stabbed through the door intentionally trying to hit her or not, because the thought entered her mind after seeing a couple strands of hair falling down in front of her.

At least it couldn't get worse from here.

...Right?

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"You want to what?" A five-year-old Lonnie sneered as she looked back to the two. Based on her height, being nearly half a foot taller than most of the other kids in the bunk room, you'd think she was seven or eight.

"We want to join your gang!" A perky five-year-old Adora repeated with a somewhat frightened Catra hiding behind her.

Ok, as long as she stayed calm and let Adora do most of the talking things would be ok.

Hopefully.

At first, she had to admit. Asking to join the group of bullies, or at least the one who lead the other two, and wanting to be their friends seemed ridiculous to her. Why would she ever want to join the group that kept tormenting her on a daily basis? Better question, what made Adora think they would be welcomed in said group? It didn't matter if Shadow-Weaver had the final say in everything related to these children, there was no way she could force them to make them feel welcome in their group.

On the off chance it did, so what? That would mean they were with the group of bullies now and everyone would have more reason to hate and fear the "Freak of the Horde", the honorary nickname half the kids dubbed Catra with. They already bugged and bullied her throughout the day so why would she want to give people more reason to hate her? Being known as the kid that ruined Story Time months ago was enough!

From simple trippings to spiking her food with hot sauces, creating the most screechy noise people could to irritated her sensitive ears, placing her hand in warm water in the middle of the night, making a very awkward morning when you slept next to someone who tried taking the fall for you, there wasn't a single portion of the day where someone didn't bully her! At this rate she was one slushy away from making the bathrooms unsafe.

It took several days of coaxing to convince Catra of the alternative. If she did join the gang with her, then they wouldn't bully her anymore. No matter how rough a gang within the Horde was, all members forbid one another from bullying each other. On top of that, if she did join a gang with Adora, it meant those who bullied her would protect the both of them since the gang looked out for themselves. They had a very strict guideline and morals to maintain, no matter who was involved or what race they were.

And seeing how one was a frail boy who mostly took orders and a reptilian friend who was always by his side, the odds of her being allowed to join looked good, especially since the gang only comprised of three members.

"And what makes you think we'd ever allow you to join a group as big as ours?" Lonne asked grinning.

"W-Well actually Lonnie, there's only three of us-"

"Shut it, Kyle!" She yelled back. The frail boy quickly hid behind the somewhat larger reptilian, the lizard hissing with his tongue like a snake as he did. Catra had to admit, it was kind of humorous and endearing to see an opposite relationship between the kid and the lizard. While she was the timid one and Adora was the one who looked out for the both of them, the kid here was the timid one while the animal kid took charge of them.

It was quite ironic and amusing to think about.

"And what makes you think either of you two losers are good enough to join us anyway?" Glaring at the cat alone was enough to make the kitten tense while Adora stood strong. "Last I check our group doesn't accept babies who wet the bed!" Her joking seemed to be funny to just her as the other two remained silent.

Noticing her friend's drooping ears and small blush, like always, Adora spoke up for her. "You know as well as I do she didn't do it, someone just pranked her!"

"Heh, yeah, that'll make a nice defense." She chuckled. "Oh I didn't wet my bed, someone else peed in it!" The two behind her chuckled that time.

"Mmmh and you keep saying you allow anyone to join if they can prove themselves!" Adora's reminder caught the leader off guard. She wasn't entirely wrong in that regard, seeing how when she started the gang that was Kyle's requirement to join her and Rogelio. The problem was she really didn't like either of these two brats, like the freak with cat parts sticking out of her.

At the same time, she was a little curious as to how far she could get away with. If these two were willing to go to any lengths to join their gang, regardless of person, then there was no telling the amount of fun she could have at their expense or what kind of trouble she could get the two in.

The possibilities were endless!

"Hmm... so you brats really wanna join with us, huh?" Lonne rubbed her as she eyed the two. "Does that mean you're willing to go through our initiation?"

"Initia-?" Kyle was shushed by Lonnie before he could question it.

"Mhhm!" Adora nodded smiling. "We're ready to take on any challenge you throw at us!" Catra could practically sense the dark thoughts forming around Lonnie's mind regardless of how animalistic she was or not. Adora was way too trusting of people like her, others who took advantage of the foolish or gullible that surrounded them. Lonnie was no more than a bully stepping on an ant, one who took joy out of ripping the legs off a spider.

It sickened her to think about it, to think about the way she knew she saw Adora.

And a little angry.

"Alright then, squirts. If you wanna join us so badly, there's two things you have to do..."

...

*scratch-scratch-scratch*

"Hmm?" The guard poked his head around the corner at the sound of the mysterious scratching, unaware of the figure looking over him. Strange noises were commonplace around the Fright Zone. Whenever there was a noise, it usually ended up being a rusty pipe going off, the sound of rats scurrying around, or a simple droid making it's rounds around the Fright Zone.

It was times like this he questioned why he had to stand guard if there were already hundreds of robots that could've been programmed to patrol the hallways in the first place.

*scratch-scratch-scratch*

There it was again! Coming from behind! Drawing his weapon, he carefully proceeded down the empty hallway, taking care to check every corner of the room at once as he passed down it. When a noise went off once in an empty hallway, it was fine. If two noises went off without anything making it's presence known, it was unnatural. Nothing made noises around here twice that wasn't a living person or robot around here, and there weren't any rhythmic steps to the noise to tell him it was a robot.

*whap*

"Tag!"

"Whoooa-!"

*THUD*

That was the last thing he expected to see, the shock of the sight making him jump off his feet as the small figure jumped him. His heart raced momentarily as the shock settled into his system. He took several deep breaths as he collected himself, looking back towards the opposite end of the hall as he saw the small figure run behind the corner. Whatever it was or whoever it was didn't matter to him. If a little brat thought it was a smart idea to attack a guard for fun in the middle of the night like this, they had another thing coming.

The figure itself was none other than a chuckling five-year-old Catra. It went exactly as Adora planned for it, right up to the guard giving chase after her like she predicted. It didn't matter if she was a freak to him or a simple human like she was, the guard was going to give chase to her either way. And if it went the exact same way, then that meant she was going to come to a dead end right about...

Now.

"Uh oh." Catra spoke as she saw the hallway's end. While there were doors on the opposite sides of the walls, they were restricted to everyone without access to them. Turning around at the sound of footsteps coming towards her, she stared straight up to the menacing guard. It didn't matter if there was a helmet covering his face, she could feel the anger coming off of him.

"So you like playing tag, huh brat?" The guard grumbled. If a kid misbehaved there was a leniency using stun batons in this situation, specifically if they attacked a guard first. That being said, there also weren't any specific rules about how much he could use the stun baton, or at least not from his superiors. Catra watched as the guard's baton started to spark, knowing full well how he intended to use it. "All right then, let's play tag!"

"There you are!" The two of them looked back down the hallway as they saw Adora calling out. Running up to them she happily held Catra's hand as she stood in front of her, blocking her from the guard. "I've been looking all over for you. You know it's bedtime!" She smiled back to the other guard with a wave. "Thanks for finding her for me!"

That was the one minor complication between all of this. Every guard who valued their lives knew of Shadow-Weaver's fondness over the girl, just like the children did. Except where the most a kid would earn was terror beyond recognition, depending on how young they were, all the guards would face one particular penalty that none of them would walk away from.

Grumbling again, the guard stashed his baton back to his holster as he walked down the hallway again. "I don't get paid enough for this."

The two waited for the guard to make his way around the corner again, Catra picking up on his footsteps as her ears twitched little by little. Once he was finally far enough she nodded Adora with the same smile she had. "Ok, he's gone!"

"Awesome! Did you get it?" She asked excitedly.

"Mhhm!" Catra replied as she twirled a keycard in the air, the grey-colored object with a single green line running across it in a zigzag. "He didn't even notice!"

"Hahaha! You did it!" Adora cheered, hugging her tightly. This earned the sweetening laughter of Catra as she hugged back, feeling accomplished for one of the first times in her life.

The entire plan to swipe the guard's keycard went off without a hitch! It was a bit of an odd request from Lonnie in order to join their gang but it was all going to be worth it. After they finished their first test they would only have to deal with one more part of the initiation. Whatever that involved was going to be easy if this was the first half of their challenge, and Catra could hardly wait!

All this time, she was the one people would pick on. Nobody ever so much as batted an eyelash whenever someone gave her trouble unless Adora was around to stop them. She was always the one to protect her, the guardian figure of her life, and after today that would all be behind her.

Because after today, she was going to be part of a gang for their sector of children. She was going to be protected by more people who would accept her as one of their own for the first time ever.

More importantly, she was finally going to make more friends...

...

*click*

"Hey, you in there?" Catra was greeted by Bow looking at her curiously while snapping his fingers. Having come back from her most recent vision of memory lane, Catra simply scoffed a little as she pushed right passed him without a word. They were used to her visions by this point after the last dozen or so times they were around to see her staring blankly into the scenery. What they weren't used to was the immediate silence that followed afterwards.

Walking across the rocky cliffside, the three continued on their way to Entrapta's castle, the next Princess to recruit for their Princess Alliance. Usually at this point Catra would be asking several questions about the information on the princess, moreso now since she decided to skip the last Rebellion Meeting. It took forever to convince her mother that Catra overslept and was doing fine, not wanting her to get anymore suspicious of her after what she found the previous morning.

At present though, the three were continuing a silent walk through the rocky hills as they moved through Entrapta's kingdom. With Catra barely saying a word to the two, much less anyone else, since the events of Salineas there had been an awkwardness felt between the two would-be friends and the retired She-Ra who walked ahead of them.

It was hard to tell who was at fault here for those events. Maybe it was Catra's for not telling them more about herself sooner so they didn't agitate her? Maybe it was though two for trying to pry too much information out of her, a very small bit of information at that. If you asked either side, neither of them would be prone to answering, and nobody would be foolish to point it out to Catra directly.

The ex-She-Ra herself took the matter personally. Day in and day out since Salineas she's never stopped thinking about everything she witnessed on that day, the dramatic changes that went through her friend. She no longer resembled the loving, compassionate, friend she once was. While there was still compassion in her, it was slowly molded, twisted, beyond Catra's recognition. She thought what the Horde was doing now as ok, as long as the means were justifiable. How long exactly has it been since Catra left the Horde? Days? Months? Years? While obviously not the latter, it was impossible to say given how much Adora had changed.

And that didn't include how she changed physically! There were no words to describe the horrifying abomination she saw Adora transform into, the dark twisted version of what was once a dear friend. Watching as the shadows swarmed her from every angle, hearing her screams and cries of agony. All of it was centered around that one simple headband she was given by the one person Catra feared and despised more than anyone.

Shadow-Weaver.

The headband twisted Adora in more ways than one. She didn't just change emotionally, becoming more erratic and unpredictable as their fight went on, she changed physically as well. With the shadows that gathered and entered her heart she could manipulate them into all sorts of manner between fists, blades, spears, any wonder her mind could shape them into. She became a horrifying monster that Catra couldn't even recognize, one that overpowered her and almost killed her single handedly. And who was the one responsible for all of this?

Glimmer.

That girl, the one person who spent most of her time trying to get to know her, was without a doubt responsible for all this mess. She kept going on and on every single day how they were friends and how they could trust one another, never giving Catra a moment's peace to herself. At least that's how Catra saw it. After numerous annoying conversations with the princess she decided to throw her a bone. If she could help her figure out how to use the sword, as in how to transform into She-Ra without fail, she would tell her one thing about herself.

And at first, it worked! Being attacked by a sea monster, she called out the sword's almighty power and transformed into the benevolent form of She-Ra for the third time since getting the sword. She was ecstatic, thrilled! She found a way to finally transform into She-Ra after all this time, and could finally be of use to the Rebellion!

But all that sense of hope came to an abrupt end upon reuniting with Adora later that evening. She thought it was beautiful to hear how Adora was willing to give her a chance, willing to believe Catra as long as she could prove to her that everything she said was true. And the best way to do that was to transform into She-Ra herself, the one being that could resolve all of Catra's problem at this one exact moment. A moment that never came.

She did everything in her power to transform. She followed all the steps, took several deep breaths to concentrate, and went as far as to trust what Glimmer said about transforming, and nothing came of it. There wasn't any She-Ra, no flashy imagery, not so much as a spark. In fact, the only spark that did come off of it was the tension this erupted between the two friends, eventually forcing the two to fight against each other.

That's why it reminded Catra of her personal philosophy of who to trust.

No one.

She gave her trust, she wanted to believe her trust, and she needed her trust in that one moment most of all, and it all came to ruin. Glimmer's words were the very thing that possibly ruined her relationship with Adora, the one person who cared about her in this entire world, the one person Catra could always find at her side, and she was no more.

This was all Glimmer's fault, that's the revelation Catra came to after restoring the Sea Gate. She trusted her for the first time ever, trusted anyone other than Adora for the first time ever since the Fright Zone, and this is what she had to show for it. Betrayal.

"So... has she said anything to you since then?" Bow whispered over to Glimmer, the two hoping Catra couldn't hear them like this as long as they were at a twenty foot distance.

"No, nothing." Glimmer frowned. Looking at the sword in her hands her mind still flashed with vivid memories of Catra declaring how she quit being She-Ra. If she was willing to help fight for them then it was just as fine, she supposed, but she still needed to keep her mother from finding out. "I've been too nervous to talk to her too. She just keeps glaring at me whenever I see her." Bow eyed her at this with a small grin. "You know, more than usual."

"Well we should say something to her. We can't just keep ignoring her like this." It's not like he didn't understand Catra's point of view either. If this Adora girl was supposedly one of her friends, the fact she had someone she considered a friend surprising, then there was no telling how much it meant to her. "Have you tried talking about something differently?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know... say something to her."

"The last time I did she didn't want to talk to us anymore." It hurt just thinking about that line of dialogue. How do you go about your conversations when the last conversation resulted in someone never wanting a conversation with you again?! Man it was confusing. "Why don't you talk to her?"

"I wouldn't know how to talk to her. You talk to her!"

"I don't wanna talk to her yet, you do it!"

"No you do it!"

"You!"

"You-"

"If I ask you two morons a single question will you shut up!" Catra snapped back, the irritation blending in with the rest of her scowl. Much to their dismay, twenty feet away and whispering still wasn't enough to keep the cat from hearing them. Who knows what other awkward things they mentioned thinking she couldn't hear them.

"D-Deal..." Glimmer stuttered, feeling the anger still coming off of her.

"Who the heck are we recruiting this time?"

"Well, her name is Entrapta. She's a brilliant inventor. She makes all sorts of robots and rehabs old tech left by the First Ones'." Catra already regretted hearing Bow's droll about this mysterious Entrapta. "She's a pretty big deal in the Etherian Makers community."

"..." Catra was hoping for once that Glimmer had a clue about what he was saying because she wasn't catching on to a lick of it. "The... "Ether Making" what?"

"The Etherian Makers Community! Which, yes, I am a part of, because I drabble in gadgetry myself."

*pop!*

It was a sad sight to see a bowman pull out a simple pen-sized bow and arrow just to fling it off like a firework and shake his hands like an excited kid. If Catra liked either of them in the slightest bit she might've felt sorry for him.

"...Does he come with a translator cause I got none of that?" She whispered over to Glimmer.

"He means if we can convince Entrapta to join the Rebellion, she'll invent all sorts of cool junk for us! And weapons we can use to fight against the Horde!"

"Like my Trick Arrows!" Bow couldn't wait to meet the princess himself, already wondering what sort of fascinating contraptions she could show and teach him to make.

"All I hear is boring, boring, and more boring." That's just what Catra wanted to recruit, a science geek. "I really don't see how that's gonna help us."

"Are you kidding? It means she'll invent a whole bunch of cool junk for us!" She couldn't tell if she was seriously unable to see the benefit or still being stubborn about what happened before. "There's so many wonderful things she can help us use, a lot of stuff she can teach us about the First Ones!"

"Yeah, cause that's what I want. Some supernerd going around telling me how to use the..." Catra's eyes flashed off as the sudden thought struck her. Without warning she quickly swiped the sword out of Glimmer's hand before she had time to so much as blink.

"Wha- Hey!"

The Sword of Power, the very one created by the First Ones. No matter how advanced it's designs were or how complicated the circuitry of whatever ran through it, it was still technically a machine in some way. Something that was created by the First Ones that have made her life miserable since day one. A sword she had yet to figure out what was wrong with.

Looking briefly at her own awing reflection, she looked back to the princess of Bright Moon with something other than anger or contempt. "So wait, do you think she could figure out what's wrong with this sword then?"

Yes! She absolutely can! That's exactly what Glimmer wanted to say at that moment. After a near week of silence from the girl, she would've accepted any form of help in getting her to talk again, however insulting, compared to this silent treatment she's been putting up since then. It would fix all their problems and things could go back to being semi-normal around here!

The problem? How could she take that chance? Every time they went on an adventure up to this point, it's always turned out badly for Catra. In Plumeria, Catra's newfound praise and encouragement was mistakenly taken as a sign of compassion, something she's never gotten before in the Fright Zone. Last mission she ended up running into an old acquaintance of hers, someone Catra must've cared for given the negative reaction she was currently having, whose relationship Glimmer might've ruined after Catra failed to get the sword to work on her advice.

The result of the latter were the events currently being displayed by the magicat, the tormenting silence she was giving off driving Glimmer insane.

So what would happen if she ended up being wrong about things this time around? Would she remain forever silent? Quit working for the Rebellion entirely? Go back to working for the Horde? Who knows how Catra would react if one more thing went wrong throughout the entire mission?!

It pained her to say it, but she couldn't take that chance.

"N... No," she lied, "I don't think so."

"Are you sure?" It hurt to see a small frown grow on Catra's face after the brief optimism she was feeling, Bow shooting her an odd look at the same time. "I mean, it couldn't hurt to ask could it-"

"I said no!" Glimmer stammered. "She's not going to know anything about the sword Catra, so forget about it already!"

"...Hmph..." The scowl of anger slowly returned to her face as she glared at the lying princess. Looking at the sword for another second she hissed to herself as she tossed the sword to the ground, nearly over the cliffside to which Bow had to rush over to get it. "That's what I thought. This really is a stupid waste of time..." As expected, Catra grumbed at this remark as she turned to walk away again, continuing to glare even though her back was turned to them.

What was unexpected, Glimmer felt pained by this. Now she didn't just discourage Catra right in front of her, she lied about something she didn't even know yet to be true. Maybe Entrapta really could've helped figure out what was wrong with the sword, but she didn't know that. She was too scared to think of what the aftermath might be if she ended up being wrong, in Catra's point of view lying, again.

That wasn't a detail that went unnoticed by Bow as he walked back to her with the sword in his hands. "You mind telling me what that was about?" There was a small bit of irritation in his voice, Glimmer's lie being all too obvious to him. The two watched her as she came across a pile of boulders blocking the path, effortlessly leaping over one after the other as she climbed the pile and over it. It was a sure indication she was out of whispering range.

"Do you want to be the one she gets mad at if we're wrong again?" She replied with a moan. "Every time she gets her hopes up they immediately get shot down some time later. She spent the better part of the week ignoring us and that was from trying to help her with one thing. Can you imagine how negative she'll react if we got her hopes up over this and it proved to be wrong?"

As much as Bow hated to admit it, she had a good point. Lying was nowhere near as good as Glimmer was making it out to be but what choice did they have? With Catra being the way she is now, who knew how badly she'd react if her hopes were dashed for a third time?

"Mmh... it still doesn't make it right." Bow muttered.

"I know, and you're right." Glimmer agreed patting his shoulder. "I think we should at least see how this plays out first before we get her hopes up. If we can find something good out of this, then Catra will be overly thrilled. If we can't, then she won't feel any worse than she does now."

"Are you idiots coming or what!" Shouted Catra from over the pile of boulders.

She proved Glimmer's point. Nothing good could come out of raising her hopes.

Sighing in defeat, Bow nodded in agreement. "Fine, I won't tell her either. But what are you going to do if she finds out you lied intentionally?"

"Simple, accept it and move on." She mumbled as she started to gather her to teleport the two of them. "Same way it's always turned out at this rate..."

...

*Crackle*

*Bzzzzzt!*

"Whoooa..." Bow oohed as they came upon Entrapta's mighty fortress. "She's got lightning!"

Catra found herself rather surprised by the scenery. Compared to all the other past kingdoms they've been to, this thing looked nothing short of evil. Plumeria's kingdom was rich of fauna that made so much of this weird pollen stuff that Catra found herself sneezing for hours. Mermista's kingdom, while emptier, was built and constructed after the merman and seafolk inhabiting it, with a restored beautiful Sea Gate that greeted anyone at the entrance.

This place, on the other hand, looked like something out of an evil scientist horror story! The tallest structure she could see was a massive lightning rod with a flashing red light going off below the top of the building, and a single tunnel-like bridge feeding into the cliffside. All around the outside of this place was a massive purple wall that protected everything from within the fortress, but also looked like it was constructed to keep something from getting out.

She swore if she closed her eyes right now and felt the atmosphere alone she would be standing right in the middle of the Fright Zone right now.

Noticing the eerie red light glowing from the tower, Glimmer teleported to the top of the wall, inspecting the beacon at a closer distance. "Something's wrong. The castle's distress beacon is lit. They must be under attack!" Turning her head from side to side, Catra twitched her ears up and down as she examined the surroundings.

"Are you sure? I don't hear anything." She stated, taking a sniff of the air carefully. "And there's no scent of the Horde here either. Actually there's not much of anyone's scent in this place." Wanting to see the situation herself, she leapt to the great wall next to Glimmer, pulling herself up as she just came to the ledge. Unbeknownst to her as she stepped by, a single frame of the ground gave way immediately after she jumped from it. In it's place a row of several dozen sharp spikes rose to the surface.

Bow nearly jumped as the spikes revealed themselves, carefully stepping around them as he tried to reach the others coming down from the wall. "H-Hey guys, wait a minute!"

"Where is everyone?" Having a closer view of the place, Catra was more than convinced this was a Horde facility. From the evilly purple-colored walls and smaller structures around here to how barren and lifeless this place seemed. What kind of nut job of a princess ran this place?

*rrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrriiiiiirrrrrrr*

"Ah..." Catra yelped as a sudden pitch filled her head. She rubbed her forehead lightly as she tried to soothe the discomfort. It wasn't painful exactly, just very... weird.

"Are you okay?" Glimmer asked noticing her current state.

"Yeah, I'm fine, mind your own business." She huffed. Glimmer could tell this was going to be an uncomfortable day between the two of them. "It's just this place feels... off... to me. Forget about it." She looked back with annoyance as Bow offered her the sword back, taking it from the young man with the sides of her glare twitching. While she still had her grievance with the hunk of junk, it still did have it's use as something to hit people with. With another woosh of her magic,

Glimmer teleported Catra and herself further into the place as they continued their search. Nothing about this place made any sense to the princess, and it gave worry to Catra personally. It was way too quiet of a kingdom. At least with somewhere like Salineas there was the scent of ocean water filling the air with life. Here everything was the complete opposite, dry and lifeless.

Where is everybody?

*creeeak*

"Hey!" Catra yelped as she extended her claws. Bow and Glimmer didn't need extra sensitive hearing to catch the sound of a door slamming shut. The place was too quiet to ignore a single step. Her tailed swished back and forth aggressively, and a little excited at the thought of something to take her anger out on.

"Hello? Princess Entrapta?" Glimmer called out as she walked towards the source. "We're here to, uh, recruit you for the Rebellion... hmm?" She looked down to her legs as she felt a strange sensation crawling up her legs. Instead of your average everyday goosebumps like she expected, she was greeted with the sight of a disembodied hand- "Ahhh!" She screamed in terror, jumping a little.

"What's wrong?" Catra asked quickly rushing over.

"Oh... it's nothing I guess." Looking closer at it, she felt a little embarrassed at what she thought was someone's severed hand. While she got the hand part right, it turned out to be a part of some currently-handless robot.

Looking down at it herself, Catra smirked as she walked over to pick up the severed hand, waving it helplessly in front of Glimmer's face. "What? Is wittle princess a-scared of a little pile of junk?"

*clamp!*

"OUCH!" All of Catra's sense of hearing was put to an immediate hold as the severed hand sprang to life. Before Catra had time to react, the small yet speedy hand danced around her arms until it reached her left ear, squeezing it shut in a powerful grip as it continued to tighten. "Get off of me you stupid piece of trash!" Twisting and yanking at the aggressive mech, Catra grumbled in fury as she finally pried it from her ear, throwing it harshly to one of the nearby building's walls where it shattered.

"You guys! We have to be careful! Entrapta has traps set up all over her castle." Bow warned as he reached the two.

"Yeah, a little late on the news flash, bub!" Catra groaned, rubbing her sorely twisted ear.

"And they're supposed to be really cool!" As to how Bow was flashing his eyes with stars at this Catra would never know.

*Boom!*

The entire place shook violently as an explosion went off, echoing all throughout the cliffside and around the heroes.

"They're coming!" A goblin-sized creature warned as she popped her head slightly out of a manhole. "Get out of the square!"

"Wait who? The Horde?" Catra's question fell on deaf ears as the goblin retreated back to it's hole. No amount of pounding on the cover seemed to prod the creature back out of hiding. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Hello?" Glimmer tried to call out as she teleported to her side. "Come back!"

*whomp-whomp-whomp-*

All around them the continued pounding of heavy footsteps filled the air, the trembling increasing in force and sound with each passing step. Catra was finding all of this so bizarre, never once dealing with an enemies or creatures in her life like this that she couldn't get a firm scent on. Even the droids back in the Horde she could eventually get a small whiff of from time to time.

What kind of things did Entrapta make around here?

"I'm thinking we should probably move away from whatever's making that sound." Glimmer commented, running over to the nearest alleyway with the two following behind her. The destination proved to be sorely lacking in peace as the three stopped several feet into the alley. From the darkened shadows ahead, they watched as a lone broken figure lumped it's way through the alley, the three backing up slowly as it revealed itself.

It was a robot. A fully fledged humanoid robot, one of the near hundreds Entrapta had lying around this place. Despite it's damaged appearance of a missing right foot, dozens of wires strewn about it, and part of it's left arm missing, no doubt the same one that Catra recently destroyed, the robot seemed to be operational as it wobbled it's way towards the three, seemingly possessed by some otherworldly force.

There was no way someone like Entrapta couldn't be working for the Horde if this was her work.

"What the-

"Rrrrrrrrghhhhhhh!" The robot screeched, the high pitch instantly hitting Catra's sensitive ears.

"Ngh!" The pain it caused her was minor, but the fact it proved painful at all from a mere shout was troubling. "Shut up!" With her own personal roar, she lunged at the limp creature with her claws, slicing the head clear off it's shoulders and kicking it back against the wall. What moment she could've had never came to her as the creature, now headly and torn, continued to limp over to them with it's severed arm. "What are these freakish things?"

*Woosh!*

With a single arrow, the entire robot itself was engulfed in multiple streaks of electricity, letting out one more metallic roar as it shutdown. Looking back she saw Bow with his weapon still drown, smiling proudly as he took down the beast with one shot, the very same she failed to after decapitating it. "Tch, beginners luck..."

*Wham-Wham-WHAM-!*

The footsteps never ceased as they got louder by the minute. As Glimmer and Catra hurried on through the alleyway, Bow took a short pause as he looked closer at the creature, kneeling down. "Look's like one of Entrapta's designs. Why would it attack us?" Out of the many strange things he could see from it's damaged remains, one thing that did grab his curiosity was the faint red crystal-like heart revealed in it's chest, followed by a strange steam of green smoke. With the sound of a sword being drawn and a reflective flash of light hitting his face, he gasped as he saw Catra with the sword drawn, ready to stab into the wooden door in front of her and Glimmer.

"I don't care who this crazy girl is, I'm breaking this stupid door down!" She yelled as she ran for it raising the sword.

"Wait, Catra no! It might be a-!

"Wahhhhhhhhhhh-!" He didn't have any time to finish the last part of his sentence as just a foot away from Catra making herself a new entrance, the entire doorway and floor in front of it gave out, pulling the two helpless victims in as they fell. It quickly returned to it's previous state by the time Bow got there, refusing to open up again through whatever means Catra did and leaving him on his own. Pounding on the door gave it no way as he found himself alone out here with the sound of approaching metallic steps.

"Glimmer! Catra! Mmmh-!" Backing up into the alleyway again, he failed to notice as a pair of hands wrapped around his mouth, pulling him into the brink of never ending darkness. There was no one to help him from his unknown assailants, and there was no means of Glimmer to teleport herself and Catra until they came to a landing, less she risk accidentally teleporting herself without Catra nearby.

Still, if anything was positive out of the events of these last few minutes, it was a very valuable lesson Glimmer learned.

It can always get worse...

...

A/N: You know I really gotta work on writing less cause at the rate i'm going here, I'm gonna end up start writing 10k words for every 1 minute of the freaking episodes i'm doing XP lol.

Again, sorry if the writing isn't the best, been hitting a bit of a slump lately, especially with the parts here I wrote on the fly here and there. But that shouldn't be an issue next episode cause next episode i got some stuff already planned out and ready, which I'm sure people will enjoy much more ^^

With that said, hope you guys enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 19: Episode 6: System Failure Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Another fun-filled chapter down the drain! ...idk if phrasing it like that actually makes it sound better or worse out loud... Oh well. Going to say there's 8.7k words of fun to read cause I got a bit of a lengthy author's note down below- sorry :/

Anyway, i'd like to take this moment to make another shout out to someone, someone by the name of HJSDGCE, hands down someone who needs to make their name more say-able XP. As many of you might remember, earlier I talked about a certain person who seemed overly critical about my work and made me question it's worth and detailing. Needless to say, it got out of control. The guy kept badgering me for 3 hours the previous night (Wednesday) after I made my own comment about his catra seeming out of place here or there in a chapter, no matter how many times I apologized, claimed he was probably more accurate, and how he was more likely right, and since he made his "review" a week or two ago, he left me very questionable and concerned over everything he said.

It got me doubtful and left me in a slump as of late. 1 because apparently of how much anger issues he apparently had, and 2, as to whether or not I was ruining Catra's character or not. While it's not my intention, the last thing I want to do is make the fanfic unbelievable or boring to the rest of you guys who enjoy the fanfic.

That was until I got HDIJSJSH (seriously hard to remember the name without looking at it XP) HJSDGCE's overwhelmingly positive review which helped bring me back out of it. He went on to say how much he was in love with the fic, like many people have of course, but also how Catra felt in character behind all of this. I was so overjoyed to see such positive feedback and confirmation from someone showing that I was keeping to the story accurately, at least for this "What-If" Scenario I created.

It's then I learned... that i don't care! No not of his review or anything, I meant what the negative review I received earlier about Catra being too out of character. I remembered the bottom line of fanfics is just that- this is a fanfic! I didn't make this fic for that one person who was overly critical, I made it for all the fans of She-Ra and it's wonderfully done characters. It's that wonderfully orchestrated series that i wanted to bring to the internet for people who've always asked "What if Catra found the sword instead" to themselves. And so what if he thinks Catra's out of character? That's his view of it, not everyones...i hope...

If he doesn't like it, fine. It's not his approval I was going for, heck I wasn't going for anyone's approval (not to say I don't enjoy the awesome feedback from you guys ^^). All i was doing this for was for the fans of the show. So thank you so much HJSDGCE, i really hope you continue to enjoy the series of the real one and the one I'm making down below.

The same shout out goes to the rest of you fans who've supported and cherished my work for the last month. It's thanks to your positivity that keeps me going in this and in life so I can get through a stressful life with a smile on my face. You guys are the best!

I actually had several more paragraphs of explanations here but didn't want to fill up the A/Ns so much so I deleted them. If anyone wants to see a more detailed reasoning for my feelings from this guy's feedback PM me. I also apologize if something up above is out of place as I edited it a dozen times over this morning XP.

HOOOOOFTAH, that was definitely one of my longer Author's Note's ever. Thank god I didn't start off with another "not much to say" line XP.

Now with all that said, I hope you guys continue to enjoy yourselves and the chapter!

...

Anger.

Sadness.

Regret.

Turmoil.

Distress.

These were just a few of the words a sniffling Adora could use to describe her present situation as she sat curled up on the bunk bed she used to share with a dear friend.

Every single night she's been plagued by the same nightmare, usually twice a night when she'd wake up in a mad sweat. It would always start out with her in a seemingly black void, completely lifeless and lacking any sort of emotion. She'd forget where she was for a moment until the sound of a familiar friend's scream would catch her attention.

Running through the darkness, she'd find her way to her friend, Catra, as she would helplessly fight off a monster covered in darkness, one she had no chance of winning against. She would try her best, throw in a claw or two, and yet she would simply pass right through the monster with each swing. The monster would cackle with wicked glee at her useless attempts before striking down the catgirl with a single blow of their arms.

From there, it would roar with anger and joy as it continued to pummel Catra with each swing. There, Adora would cry out for her friend, attempting to run to her every time in order to save her. But no matter how hard she tried, how long she ran for, she would never catch up to them, the fight seeming to move further away every time she stepped closer. This would go on and on as her eyes were glued to the scene, ending only after the final blow was delivered.

Sometimes Catra would be in a miserable state, at other times much worse. The aftermath of the carnage was always more brutal with each passing dream, becoming more violent every time she fell asleep. It was only after the fighting was over would Adora managed to catch up to the two, tackling the monster headfirst away from her injured friend. She would glare at the face of the monster with rage in her eyes and tears from her face, and what would she see next?

Herself. She would see herself staring back at her with malicious intent, a wide smile over her lips as she laughed at Adora's pitiful attempts at stopping her and the state of her friend. She would always go on to insult Adora without end, telling her how this was the way they were now, mocking her by saying how much she enjoyed beating her friend, the satisfaction she came to when she almost killed her. And the previous night was the worst.

There, there was no running from the scene, there was no need to run towards the scene. In it, she saw everything that happened from her own personal view. She was looking from within the monster itself, seeing through it's eyes and saying things against her will. She would feel every touch as she slammed her friend to the ground, pulverize her until she was severely beaten. She wouldn't be able to stop herself no matter how much she begged to herself, unable to tell Catra how sorry she was for what she was doing.

Then, it came to an end. When Catra was beaten to the ground, the monster she was inside of would raise both their mighty shadowy arms to the air, preparing to deliver the killing blow once and for all. And then, she would wake up before the final blow itself.

Her dreams were no longer a safe haven for herself, a place she could go to to forget all her problems, no peace from the memories that haunted her. And it all came from the one thing she had yet to let go of since she first put it on.

The one single headband that granted her this great power.

"I never should've worn you!" She muttered to herself angrily. She would never want to hurt her friend, she would never even consider harming her friend, and this stupid headband made it so easy for her to push pass her morals, her ideals. What sickened her the most was knowing how good it felt to put it on.

The stress since Catra's defection got to Adora the hardest. She questioned each and every day why she would leave what Adora considered family. The people who raised her, the friends and allies they grew up alongside. As if it wasn't enough to think about Catra's defection, it was even harder to hear all the people who would insult and mock her about Catra never being one of them to begin with, how she wanted to leave for her own greedy desires.

And this headband is the one thing that took away that pain. It made her feel happier, safer. It pushed her negative emotions to the back of her mind without a second thought, filling Adora's person with overwhelming power and entering a state of euphoria. She had no problems in the world when she put it on, and every second since the failed mission of Salineas she's been forcing herself to resist the temptation of it. She didn't want to return to the horrid creature that she once became, the one that nearly killed her friend.

Nothing good came from this unholy gift, no matter how much her mind tried to tell her otherwise. With a grunt, she tossed the headband across the bed and over it, not bothering to look where her headband landed.

Or who caught it in the process.

"I see you've been busy..." The familiar voice commented in a slightly joking manner. Lifting her head straight up, she had to wipe off what few tears gathered in her eyes, knowing a true soldier should never show their emotions in front of someone of higher authority.

Like Shadow-Weaver.

"S-Shadow-Weaver!" Adora said with a small gasp as she hastily stood from the bed at attention. "I-I was just-"

"Calm yourself, Adora, it's alright." She assured soothingly, gently pushing her back down to the bed as she sat on the opposing bed to it's left. "I heard you were forced to use the headband during the mission. How did that go?"

With a small frown Adora lowered her head, staring at her twiddling thumbs. "Not good. Not anywhere near good. The entire mission... it was a complete failure... We couldn't-"

"I mean, how did it go when you used the headband?" Shadow-Weaver clarified.

"It went... even worse..." She said, pained with remorse. "I couldn't... I couldn't control myself... I went insane..."

"I warned you it was to be used as a last resort. What possibly could have happened to make you keep to yourself for the last several days?"

Silence took Adora at this. Why did she have to explain her experiences with the headband, the very thing she loathed right now? Loathing her headband third, her memories second, and herself first, there was no easy way to describe the experience. "I... I turned into a monster..."

"A monster?" The witch of darkness was no stranger to the effects of the headband. After all, she created it specifically for Adora, and she wanted to hear every detail from Adora's own lips. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I turned into a monster!" Adora shouted angrily as she wept. "I don't know what I was thinking. I just felt this incredible rush of power and the next thing I know I feel like I'm invincible! Then, I'm running around, pulling shadows out from under me, trying to stop Catra, feeling who knows how many different emotions, and then I... I... tch..." She sniffled as she squeezed her teary eyes. "I... I almost killed her...geh... tch..."

No force on Etheria could keep Shadow-Weaver from forming a mere grin on her face, yet somehow, she forced herself to. Not that it would have mattered with the mask of cloths covering her face, but she suppressed it as best she could. To think that Adora, the one she raised alongside that despicable urchin, came so close to killing the very friend she found dear for some reason. She almost thought about slipping out how proud of her she was.

"Oh, my dear, sweet, Adora..." Shadow-Weaver soothed, taking the girl's face into her hands as she wiped her tears with her thumbs. "You've been so troubled these last few days. If it were up to me, I'd give you all the time you needed to collect yourself. Unfortunately, you can't sit by and do nothing around here. You're a Force Captain now, and you have work you need to return to."

"B-But how can I? How am I expected to work like this?" She sniffled. "I don't want to turn into that horrible thing again, I don't want to live with the regret! What if I lose all my control next time and I attack one of our own?" Admittedly, she brought up various good points. She used the headband in front of Catra alone when she was fighting her. She doesn't want to picture how or what she would be like if she used it in front of her allies. "What did that thing curse me with?"

"Curse you? Oh no, my dear, it didn't curse you." She laid out the headband upon Adora's lap. "The headband itself doesn't give you anything you don't have already, save for an essence of my magic I gave to it for you."

"G-Gave me? You mean... like the shadows?" Was she supposed to feel appreciative or angered? It was nice to receive something that came personally from one another, but at the same time it filled her with shock that it was her magic that turned Adora into the shadowy figure in the first place.

"Yes, Adora. You see the reason you were out of control was because you had no control over your own emotions." She began to explain. "The headband doesn't just strengthen your physical state several times over. It also amplifies your emotional state as well. If you were chuckling the least bit, you'd be filled with laughter. If something irritated you, your anger would explode a thousand fold. What you need is to master controlling your emotions, close yourself off to everything that affects you."

"C-Close myself off?" She questioned back to the band. In what way did she need to do that? Forget about all the good and bad times she had? Figure out how to keep the smallest twitch from making her irritable beyond compare? "How?"

"The same way I did with my powers, Adora. What you need is training."

"Training?" She frowned a little more as she looked at the gem in the headband's center. "I... I don't know...I don't know if I can-"

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of forcing you to, Adora, not if you don't want to." She stood as she stroked Adora's head. "But if you ever want to get your friend back, then that headband's the only way. It's the only means you have of toppling Catra's power the next time you meet, anywhere you find each other." Adora watched as Shadow-Weaver began to float away towards the exit, still contemplating what she said. "The choice is yours."

Having left the room, Adora squeezed the headband in her hands. She couldn't think of ever wearing this cursed object again, she wouldn't dream of harming her friend one more time after the last. At the same time, the longer Catra was with the princesses, the more evils she commited, the more destruction she would be spreading under the princesses name. She would never be able to live with herself as long as Catra remained brainwashed under the princesses control, incapable of looking into her eyes if she saw the untold horrors that she committed.

It was a painful choice, if she could even call it that as of now, but one that left her with the biggest chance of saving her. She needed this power to save her friend, the power that could wipe all the evil princesses off the face of Etheria. If Shadow-Weaver offered a solution to master this newfound power, then she would welcome it with open arms, running straight for the door to catch up to the one person she had left.

And she would make sure nobody stood in her way again.

...

"I don't believe it! You actually got the cards?" Loonie continued to gape at the keycards in awe.

To be honest, she didn't think these two were going to pull it off. With the two, or at least Adora, going on and on about how she and Catra wanted to join their little gang, the very one that bullied Catra endlessly, she thought they were crazy. Even Catra showed more sense in not wanting to join them given everything they've done to them. It was due to that one rule they had on not picking on their own members that Adora found cherishable.

So naturally, she decided not to let the two scrubs join unless they managed to pass the initiation that she had in mind. It wasn't anything she thought they were capable of obviously. In fact she half expected these two to get their rear ends handed to them and punished severely in the process. So when the two came back after having finished the first stage of their initiation, she was nothing less than shocked.

The two had actually done it. They managed to swipe a keycard from a guard without the guard finding out they stole it and they managed to bring it back here! Man, if it wasn't for the fact she wanted nothing to do with these two she would've been more than thrilled in letting them join!

"Haha, you can thank Catra!" The chipper five-year-old Adora stated, gesturing to Catra who stood behind her shyly. "She's the one who did all the work."

"Y-Yeah... B-B-But it was all Adora's idea!" As much as she loved the praise, she wasn't about to let her friend go without some credit. "I couldn't even tell what to do without her help."

"Heheheh!" Adora chuckled as she hugged her close. With an inseparable duo like themselves, there was nothing they couldn't handle! They couldn't wait to be part of a new gang and make new friends!

"G-Good job you guys!" Kyle congratulated, Rogelio nodding next to him in agreement.

"Hmph, well I guess it was ok... But it still doesn't mean you're in the gang!" Lonnie reminded. The two were well aware of the fact Lonnie had one more task for them to complete before they could officially join. and both of them were ready to do it side by side. "Are you prepared for your second and final test?"

"Oh yeah!" Adora nodded enthusiastically. "We can take on anything together!"

"Hah! That's funny, because for this one you two have to do something different!" Without giving them a chance to let the information sink in, she pulled out two white cloths from out of her pocket.

"D-Different?" Catra muttered, looking at Adora with uncertainty. She wasn't useless on her own of course, she's handled numerous challenges and exercises on a daily basis. What troubled her was what kind of challenge Lonnie was going to put them through, the nerves making her skin crawl as she watched Lonnie tie the blindfold over Adora's eyes.

"Yup! It's our club's philosophy. Every member has to be able to pull their own weight, so if you want to join the club you'll have to prove you're not useless on your own." She grinned maliciously as she looked down to the fearful Catra who drooped her ears. "Unless of course you guys aren't material enough to join us."

"Mmmmmh..." What was she supposed to do? She was plenty scared already, she didn't want to imagine whatever sort of horrifying task someone like Lonnie had for her. Knowing her as the bully she was, she might make her jump into an ocean of sharks, or maybe skydive from the tallest building in the Fright Zone! There was no end to the horrifying possibilities from the bully of the sector.

That's when she felt a blindfolded Adora squeeze her hand softly. "It'll be okay, Catra. You can do this. We both can!"

"...Yeah!" Catra nodded smiling, paying it no mind as she was blindfolded next. Adora was right. As long as the two were together, however far apart, nothing bad could happen. If Adora was going to stick through it for her then she was going to do the same, no matter how frightening it got. She was almost certain Lonnie was annoyed at the encouragement, hearing a small rumbling emanating from the girl's throat.

"Yeah, yeah, save your pep talk for if you two pass the last test. Kyle, you know what to do." Lonnie instructed. Jumping a little as she felt her other hand being grabbed, she allowed herself to be lead wherever she was going to be this late at night, ready for whatever challenge Lonnie and the rest of the gang had in store.

"Good luck!" Adora's cheer always brought a smile to Catra's face, even as she set off to face the unknown.

In some regards, this was the happiest moment of Catra's life, one where she felt pure joy at the prospect of making new friends and making Adora proud of her again for being able to do this.

And it would be the last time she ever smiled so innocently.

...

"Hey, are you okay?" Catra's ears twitched as she heard Glimmer's voice bring her back to consciousness. With her blurred vision slowly clearing in front of her, she saw a small look of worry on Glimmer's face as she saw her opening her eyes. With a sigh of relief she smiled a little as she stood up with the ex-She-Ra. "Phew, I thought you were out cold for a minute there."

"Pinky? Ngh..." Her head feels like it went through a washing machine a second ago, rubbing it to try and dull the ache. "Where are we?"

"Don't you remember? We fell inside of here after the trap at the front door went off."

"Front door? ...Oh, right..." Now it finally came back to her.

Out of the three missions she's had so far involving the princesses, this was by far the most dangerous. They weren't greeted upon arrival by a swarm of happy go-lucky villagers or find themselves in a cantina in search of a stalwart sea captain. They were greeted upon by a dozen traps and a deadly robot, at least one that tried to look deadly given it's missing limbs and loose wiring. And after disabling the surprisingly formidable machine, one that could survive having it's head ripped off, she and Glimmer stumbled into the trap door that lead them to where they were presently.

Looking around she wondered just how long she was out of it or whether the vision kicked in before or after she banged her head against whatever. Examining the surroundings, they appeared to be in some sort of purple cage, a small one at that, that connected to the large pipe overhead that trapped them in here to begin with. All things considered, she found it quite fortunate that this was all that happened, less her vision kicked in while she was being dropped into a meat grinder or something.

"Who the heck boobytraps the front door with a dozen different things?" Catra asked beating the cage against her fist. They were definitely sturdy, maybe too sturdy to break apart without She-Ra's additional strength.

"Entrapta does, that's who." Glimmer answered, bringing some magic to her hand to brighten up the dimmed surroundings.

She was going to have to be careful during the entire time she was with Catra. With the former She-Ra already having it out for her after her last failed attempt at transforming into the powerful warrior, any one thing Glimmer could say could set her off. She didn't want to raise Catra's hopes about anything, she didn't want to say anything insensitive, which proved harder when you knew little to nothing about the person you weren't trying to insult, and she needed to be careful about what she did from this moment until they found Bow.

The last thing she wanted was to anger Catra enough to leave the Rebellion wholly, and that was at best if she didn't plan on skinning Glimmer alive in the first place.

"We need to get out of here as soon as possible," Glimmer continued, "Bow's up there all by himself. He needs us."

"Well what the heck were you doing standing around watching me sleep? Let's go already!" Catra growled, fuming through her nostrils. Already Glimmer was getting to Catra's nerves and that was in less than a minute of being alone with the hybrid.

Was this supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing that it took this long?

Pushing the thoughts from her mind, she nodded as she gathered her magic again and teleported with Catra holding her shoulder. Reappearing seconds later, the two found themselves crouched atop of one another as they entered a rather small hallway. Either that or Glimmer's magic somehow shrank everything around them.

"Uhh...Glimmer?"

"Hang on, I'll try again." Once more, she gathered her magic, this time reappearing at the top of the beacon of the mighty fortress that she saw after arriving here. Both girls' hearts skipped a beat with panic as they hastily grabbed onto the beacon itself, feeling themselves sliding off of it.

"This isn't working!" She grumbled, thankful that now like many times of her life her claws made it easier to stick to the slick surface.

"Mmmh..." A third teleport later, the two found themselves falling. Briefly filled with confusion, the two girls panicked even more as they saw themselves falling towards a massive bear trap, one five times the size of their bodies. There were mere inches between the two and the trap's massive jaws before they managed to teleport for the last time, reappearing inside of an average-looking hallway with Glimmer piggybacking on Catra.

"Nomoreteleporting!" She squealed, shaking the girl off of her as she flattened out her hair a little from the fall.

"A-Agreed!" Glimmer's heart still raced as she panted out of breath.

This was by far the worst place everyone has been to so far. Not one location within this bleak fortress was considered safe, save for the hallway they currently found themselves in. They couldn't trust their teleporting to bring them to a safer location, the scentless air left Catra without the ability to tell who or what was around the corner, and the constant minor grinding of gears throughout this entire place distracted her hearing enough to prevent her from getting a thorough reading on anything that could be approaching them.

Both girls were powerless to get out of this place themselves, and had no means of using their tricks to their advantage.

"Why didn't your stupid teleporting work?" Catra yelled looking around. It felt so strange being in a place her senses were dulled, almost frightening a little. Even the Fright Zone had plenty of smells and noises going around to pick up on just about everything within a dozen yards of her.

"I'm sorry! I can't exactly teleport us safely without seeing where we are. It takes too much concentration just to fit us in a location where we won't find ourselves stuck inside a wall." Explaining the details of how teleporting work did little to soothe Catra's irritation of her and the place surrounding them.

"Pffft, typical."

"What's typical?"

"You are, princess. We get to a place where your teleporting mumbo-jumbo is more necessary than ever, and you can't provide for us." Every word from her comment was filled to the brim with agitation. Nothing that came out of Catra's mouth didn't tell Glimmer exactly how she saw her right now.

Useless and annoying.

"Hey, at least I'm trying to help!" She retorted. "If you're so much better at navigating then you lead the way!"

"I would if there was a single smell in the-" Catra blinked as she looked up again. Her nose twitched as she picked up a singular scent, walking towards it almost like a trance as she followed it.

"Catra?" Seeing the girl sniffling so loudly in this quiet place gave her a bit of hope. "What's wrong? Do you have somethi-"

"Shhhh!" Catra shushed covering her mouth.

The air was getting heavier with the one scent that wasn't their own as her ears twitched at an increasing noise. Something was definitely different in the air and heading their way, She couldn't tell if it was another trap or one of these robots again, only that she wasn't going to be the one caught by surprise when it came out.

Stepping quietly over to the side of the wall, her scent went off like mad as her ears twitched to the sound of the nearby pipe's massive rumbling. Gritting her teeth, stretching her claws, she quickly jumped to the large pipe with a hatch over it, swiping at the metal plate that opened it. Without looking she dug her hands into the pipe, immediately yanking out the first thing she felt and throwing it to the ground.

"Wah!" The figure yelped in fear, landing on her back harshly as Catra jumped at her. She wasted no times raising her claws to her neck, lifting her from the collar of her outfit in her other hand.

Glimmer ran over to her side as she saw the strange person Catra pulled out. Admittedly, she didn't know who she was at first. With the strange red eye-like goggles attached to the strange mask she wore, and the fact she was digging around through the large pipes, she at first assumed her to be a robot. It wasn't until she got a closer view of her exposed skin through the outfit and the familiar twirls of hair she had that Glimmer recognized the figure.

"Princess... Entrapta?" She questioned. Taking a quick look back at her, Catra looked over the supposed princess in her grip. Seeing her nod, the two watched as lifted the metallic mask from the face, greeting them with a cheeky grin.

"Eeeeeeeeee..." The princess squeaked as she continued to stare at Catra.

Feeling a little disturbed by the squealing princess who showed her teethed grin to her, Catra released the girl from her grip as she scratched the back of her head.

"Uhh... hello?" She waited for any sort of response. "...Uhh Glimmer, I think I might've broken her-"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The princess squealed loudly, reaching the right frequency and pitch to make Catra squeeze her ears in pain.

"Ahhh! Keep it down, will y- ahh!" Before Catra could finish her demands, she found herself suddenly lifted off the ground by two massive purple appendages, all stretching out from the scalp that was Entrapta's head. Catra struggled to free herself as she found her left leg and right arm entangled by the living hair.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" Catra was too helpless to shout or fight back as she found herself twirled around in every second. One moment she was upside down, the next she found herself stretched to the limits, then find parts of her face stretched by the scientist herself, and so on. All the while the squealing princess continued to jot down information with her notebook in her left hand, with her hair writing in it, a tape recorder in the other. "Observation entry Mark MC-7-01. Assuming it's genetics are similar to that of previous history's findings, I may have successfully discovered a legitimate specimen!"

"Put me down you moron!" Catra demanded, trying to untangle herself from the hair.

"Subject seems fully capable of humanoid speech and movement. Oooooh, the Etherian Science Committee is going to be so stoked when I-!"

"Uhhh excuse me, Princess Entrapta?" Glimmer spoke up from behind. Looking back to the girl, Entrapta greeted her with a hearty smile as her hair returned to her sides.

"Hello!"

"Ahhh-!"

*Thud!*

She completely ignored the cat she was messing with not two seconds ago, the very one she dropped from the air in mid-inspection. Rubbing her sore cheeks, she hissed back to the crazy scientist as she rose to her feet. "Congratulations Pinky, you're no longer the second most hated person in my life."

"Yeah, whatever." Glimmer replied completely ignoring her. "Sorry for the intrusion earlier. We kind of let ourselves in." She apologized.

"Intrusion?" Entrapta took a moment to ponder what she meant. "...Ah, yes. I see what you mean. It's no biggie. Welcome to Dryl!" She clasped her hands together as she smiled. "I can't thank you enough for your generous donation!"

"Donation?" In the blink of an eye Catra let out a small yelp as she found herself being lifted again, this time by her tail.

"Oh yes, your donation! I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am that you brought me one!"

"Put me down already!" Catra screamed flailing around. The grip on the tail was proving more painful than the fact she was currently being hung by it. What short relief she felt after being let go was washed away as she found herself face first on the ground again. "Ow..."

"What? Oh no, no no, no, Catra's a friend of mine. I didn't bring her to give her to you." Glimmer said, chuckling as she shook her hands.

A look of surprise and depression grew over Entrapta's face, the scientist tilting her head at this. "You didn't? Awww... Well no biggie!" She quickly reverted to her happier state of being as she Glimmer from all around, looking at her fashion sense from her cape to her hair, molding the hair around her into hands and footrests. "I'm just glad for the company! Things are usually more fun around here but right now it's all kind of deadly."

"I noticed." Catra mumbled rubbing her sore tail.

Without skipping a beat the science princess continued on her way as the two followed behind her, Entrapta not looking as her hair carried her around. "You guys should consider yourself lucky I found you. I designed this castle as a labyrinth."

Catra took a short pause as she grimaced at the sight of the blue cat painting they passed. Why does this painting bother me? There was something that bothered her when she passed by a cat painting in a deathtrap-filled castle like Entrapta's.

"I'm the only one who can navigate it."

*thunk*

"Ow!" She rubbed her sore head as it bonked into one of the pipes behind her.

"Which means you can help us find our friend, right?" Glimmer kept wondering if Bow was safe so far. He was a strong fighter and a great archer, there's no denying that. But there was no telling how well he'd fair against vicious machines like these and the unpredictable traps that were placed around it.

"She means her friend." Catra restated turning away. The non-friend groaned to herself as she rolled her eyes.

Ok.

Fine.

She made it clear she was mad. The least she could do though is pretend not to hate them so much! Everything that happened was outside of Glimmer's control. If she had it her way, she would let Catra use the sword wherever she wanted whenever she wanted... provided she was still on the Rebellion's side of course.

It didn't bother her so much that she hated Glimmer as it did when she sounded like she was mad at the both of them. While she could've been mad at Glimmer and only her, she felt like she was taking her anger out on Bow too. He had nothing to do with any of it so she could at least acknowledge that! If she wanted to be made at someone let it be her and only her. She's the one whose advice Catra took, Bow had nothing to do with it.

"Absolutely!" The scientist assured as she jumped from the alcove they stood atop. With Glimmer jumping after Catra, trying to ignore her contemptuous nature, the three found themselves back in the hallway they passed by not too long ago. What surprised them the most was how it lead directly back to the painting of the cat Catra passed by earlier, getting a similar sense of being captivated much like the kitten in the painting.

Ok this painting is starting to disturb me...

"I'm pretty sure we passed by it already." The other princess pointed out. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Truthfully... I don't know. Normally I have my electronic map to assist me with this place but like my bots it's sort of evil right now." Leaning over her shoulder to see the data pad itself, the other two were greeted with the angered bright red face with a scornful expression. Along the side of it were several red roots that trailed around the item giving a faint pulse of red which each flash of the expression's face.

"Yeah, that's the other thing I wanted to ask-"

"Why exactly did you invent killer psychos?" Catra said it earlier and she'll gladly say it again. This girl was giving off major Horde vibes over everything she did.

Robots were an essential part of their war against the Horde. They could be programmed to do any task, they were easy create when it came to the basic machinations, and most importantly, it lessened the loss of other lives. People wouldn't have to worry about their families never returning if robots filled the masses. That much Catra could understand.

What she nor Glimmer could understand was why a princess of all people would want to invent one to begin with!

Glancing back at Catra, she let out another chuckle as she took out several items to examine her closer with, from another notebook, several rulers, and magnifying glasses of various sizes. "I still can't believe I'm really looking at one!" Catra crossed her arms as she eyed the weird girl. Was she supposed to be like those hippie villagers she met in Plumeria? Because the last thing she wanted was getting praised all over again just for being She-Ra and shot down again after several hours. "Why helloooo, what's this?"

"Don't touch it." Catra warned placing her hand on the hilt of the sword. "I found it myself, and I plan on keeping it. And why do you keep talking about me like I'm an item or something?"

"Ooooh, sorry, I just can't help myself!" She went back to her notes as she turned the voice recorder on again. "Observation entry Mark MC-7-02. Subject doesn't seem to know about herself or the mysterious First Ones' tech she has. Could she be from a different society of her race? One that didn't perish with the kingdom?"

"Kingdom? Perish? You're not making much sense here you know."

"Additional research is required to find out." With the click of the recorder she smiled back to the swordsman as she twirled her massive hair. "As for the robots, I'm sorry about them. Usually, they're super useful. They do almost everything for me." She counted off with her hair as fingers. "Cleaning, filing, basic hygiene." Glimmer made a face of disgust at that. "Ooh, and they're sound-activated. Here, I'll show you!"

*clap-clap-clap-clap-clap*

"Ah-! Maybe you shouldn't do that." Glimmer's suggestion came too late for them, even after closing Entrapta's hand herself, as the three felt the familiar rumble of the ground shaking.

Down the hallway behind them, the three saw a massive machine with scrubbers across it's bottom and several other scrubbers acting as hands. Like many of the robots that roamed the halls of this place, this one had blood-red eyes that filled it's vision, giving off the same disturbing hum as the first one they encountered as it spotted them.

Not giving it a chance to catch up to them the three ran for their lives in the opposite direction, Entrapta following only after she felt Catra pulling her hair away. Continuing to watch the robot as she ran, Entrapta awed at the sight of the gargantuan being as it scrubbed everywhere while giving chase. However strong it was it proved during the chase as it scrubbed over the painting in it's pursuit. With this, the painting was scrubbed harshly away from the wall, Entrapta oohing at just how powerful and efficient her mighty machine of washing could be.

"Hahaha! Isn't it adorable!"

"How are you this crazy?!" Catra shouted as they ran.

*Clank*

All three turned their attention back to the metal machine as the sound of it colliding against the risen bars went off. Seeing the monstrosity, the trio watched as it struggled to give chase, pushing with as much excess power it had available to no avail. The machine itself looking back, it unleashed an earthly howl which penetrated Catra's eardrums again, followed by the strange tingling sensation filling her mind as she squeezed her head.

"Isn't that amazing?! It's trying to talk!" Entrapta revealed as she ran over to it's side.

"Whatever it's saying, I don't think it's good." Glimmer commented in turn.

"Tell it to shut up!" Rising slowly to her feet, head filling with a numbing pain, Catra groaned squeezing her head. That strange unholy screech it was releasing was hurting her on multiple levels. It wasn't just the screech itself that made her ears first, it was the strange sensation spreading through her mind, like a plant was trying to force it's roots into her mind. "TELL IT TO SHUT UP!"

"Make what stop?" Her ally kneeled a little as she checked on her. Why was Catra in so much pain all of a sudden? Was she actually in pain or trying to make Glimmer feel worse about their situation? Cause either way, it was working!

Climbing up to the machine's stomach with it's hair extensions, Entrapta grabbed for her recorder as she refused to turn away from this wondrous display. "Bot 329 is attempting to communicate." As she examined it the behemoth of a machine finally pushed it's way through the metal barriers, breaking through it with relative ease as the robot charged head first towards Glimmer and Catra again. During this time Entrapta's dangling hair was caught in it's sweepers, the scientist starting to panic as she failed to pull away her hair. "Oh, no. Bad bot. Bad bot!"

"Ugh, get out of the way!" Grabbing her sword, Catra ran towards the machine with a fire in her eyes, intending to tear the creature into hundreds of pounds of scrap metal. Leaping to the monster's face, Catra yelled as she swiped the sweepers away from her as it attacked, cutting one of the sweepers in half before running up the arm-like structure to the robot's head. With a great big roar Catra impaled the sword directly through the robot's red face, right into the creature's face.

It was in that moment, only but a moment, that Catra witnessed the strange red starting to grow over her sword. She didn't know what it was, she didn't know why it was growing over her sword. All she knew was that during those few seconds of consciousness, something was penetrating her mind.

At the same time, with the machine itself having died down, the princess of Dryl finally managed to get her hair pulled out. With a solid yank of her prehensile hair, she managed to pry it loose from the machine's scrubbers of death, inadvertently falling over and landing to the ground with a solid thud in the process. Nevertheless she was thankful for the quick assist, more so at the fact she didn't lose her hair out of it as a result.

*wham!*

The two turned back to the face of the creature as the pounding continue. Up above they could see Catra continuing to strike at the dreadful machine with a furious anger, crying out in fury with each ferocious swing. As she did, Glimmer noticed a faint red glow sparkling from the jewel of the sword. It had an eerie glow, much like the robot she recently struck down. A drop in the pit of her stomach told her to be worried as she teleported to the top of the robot where Catra stood, exactly whatever needless revenge she needed out of the contraption.

"Catra? H-Hey, stop!" She cried out.

It didn't make any sense to her and she didn't care. Everything around her, everything that was against her. All the anger and rage she's felt throughout most of her life was coming out in this one moment. Swinging away at the dead machinery, reducing it's head to a stump by now, Catra angrily continued her assault against the machine as her eyes went off with a bright red.

She couldn't explain her anger, she didn't know why this machine made her so angry, and it didn't matter to her. It felt good. Too good. Every swing of her sword brought down a mix between relief and fury, her sword never dulling and her arms never aching as she swung away at it. She barely paid it any mind as Glimmer attempted to grab the sword, struggling to pry it from her grip.

"Stop it! It's over now!" She yelled. "Give me the sword, let go!" With a grunt, in the one instance that Catra had a loose in her grip, Glimmer managed to grab it out of the girl's hand, tossing it behind her into one of the damaged scrubbers from the wreckage.

"Ngh... Ahhhhhhhh!" She screamed from the top of her lungs as she grabbed her head in painful frustration. From anger to confusion to realization and back to anger, Catra's mind exploded as she felt an influx of emotions swarming her head. Every emotion, the good the bad, the ugly, flowed into her mind repeatedly without end, swarming the girl's mind as she collapsed to her knees.

"Catra?" What was wrong with her? First her unbridled anger, the glowing red eyes, and now this? Why was she suddenly in pain when the machine was destroyed? What did that red stuff do to her? Waiting a few seconds, she watched as Catra's arms dropped to her side, the girl's head dropping with it. Cautiously, she reached a hand over to her tormented friend, shaking her by the shoulder as gently as she could. "C-Catra? Are you okay?"

"...Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." A small growl escaped the girl's lips as her body shook.

"Catra?" With her friend staring back at her, Glimmer gasped in fear at the sight before her.

Catra, the friend-in-progress of a friend, looked at her with fury. Not just any fury, a primal fury, one given by any animal of the wild. Her teeth ground against one another, her ears tilting not out of fear but as a sign of aggressiveness. With claws extended, a blood-lust filling her eyes, Glimmer let out a scream of terror as she was tackled off the robot to the ground, Catra pinning her by the shoulders, as her mouth watered with hunger.

Unable to focus her magic from the sudden daze of the fall, Glimmer struggled to push Catra's claws off her to no avail. Staring back at her, her eyes widened in horror as Catra opened her jaws like a tiger ready to devour it's prey. With mouth full of thirst and stomach filled with hunger, Glimmer let out one last scream as Catra lunged at her throat.

"Catra, no-!"

...

"...Hmhmhm... Catra?" A familiar voice spoke up.

"Mmmh..." Catra moaned as she rested against the silky sheets.

"Catra? Wake uuuuup~"

"Mmmh!" Catra moaned irritably as she felt something flick the tip of her ears. "Leave me alone..."

"Oh Catra, come oooon, you're going to be late."

Opening her eyes slowly, her vision adjusted as it cleared from it's hazy sleep-filled eyes. "Would you give it a rest? I'm trying to sleep Ado-!"

Huh? What was going on? She could swear, blinking her eyes to clear them of the drowsiness that overtook her, that she was gazing back at Adora. A smiling Adora. A smiling Adora who was in her bed. She was lying on a pillow next to her, wearing a light blue pajamas as she stared back at her in this... wait...

"Wha... Where...?" Catra slowly rose from the bed as she rubbed her eyes clear. What was this place? Where was she? What... What was she doing before now?

The last thing she remembered was... something... something important... maybe? If it was so important then why couldn't she remember? If it was important then she shouldn't have forgotten in the first place, right? It had to be important for some reason, something telling her this was all wrong.

But what was it? And what was she sitting on.

Head still filled with fuzz, she looked around herself as Adora rose from the bed too. She was in some strange bed, a round luxurious one at that, in the center of a barely lit room. As her eyes adjusted to the furniture around her, she saw several different dressers with nearly a dozen drawers on each row. They were neatly aligned with the polyester, standing among each other proudly and ready to provide for her for various occasions.

Over on the other side of the large room, she saw a large desk with a mirror in front of it, a few different combs with different brushes thrown across it and one located knocked over on the side of a wooden stool that stood in front of the strange furniture. It was pure with a bright white coloring, the only other color being a faded pink all along the side of the mirror.

Seeing the mirror itself, she noticed herself in the reflection, looking down at her own clothing with a questionable brow. She was wearing pajamas too, a large woolen shirt that stretched passed her knees. Unlike Adora's, hers was more of a red color, almost bright enough to be considered a pink despite the clear red it was presenting. She didn't bother caring about the mess of a hairdo her bedhead gave her, she could deal with it later.

And in front of her? It was weird. Yes everything about it was weird, but this was just weird weird. There were a pair of beautiful red drapes strewn across the wall, several on each side in front of what appeared to be a window, while in the middle of all these was a massive door window with curtains across the entirety of it.

Nothing about this place screamed fearful. In fact, Catra felt almost... happy... for some reason. Something about this place told her everything was all right, that she had no reason to fear this place. Her mind told her that this was where she wanted to be more than anything else in the whole world.

But where exactly was this?

"Geez, you seem really out of it this morning." Adora commented as she flattened her side of the bed. Scratching her ears, letting out a yawn, Catra rubbed her eyes again as she tried to get her barrings.

"What... What is all this?" Something about this place was familiar and unfamiliar to her at the same time. "And what are you doing here?"

"Uhh duh, sleeping? We've slept together since we were kids, remember?" Adora reminded playfully.

"Oh, right..." Yes, of course she was right... she was right, right? Was this right? How did she not know if she was right or wrong? All of this screamed strange to her in the back of her mind, a scream that slowly continued to silence as time went on. "But... where exactly am I?"

"Heh, you really did party too much last night, huh?" She smiled back to her friend as she pulled the ropes of the curtain.

In a flash of white, Catra was blinded by the penetrating brightness that instantly filled the room. Everything illuminating round her, Catra slowly adjusted to the new brightness as Adora took her hand, leading her. She could hear the faint murmurs of other people, the numerous scents of the fresh air, the sound of birds tweeting beyond the horizon. All of this felt commonplace to Catra no matter how strange she felt about it.

"Now come on, your highness. The people are waiting for you to greet them for the day."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard it a bunch of...?" Opening her eyes clearly, she turned back towards Adora with confusion on her face. "Wait... what did you call me?"

"What do you think?" Taking her hand as she smiled, she lead Catra over to the balcony where the magicat's jaw dropped.

People. People as far as the eye could see. Everyone with a smile on their faces and happiness in their voices as they cried out in cheer at the sight of their beloved Queen. From all over the cheers of people filled her ears as the vastness of the surrounding town overflowed from her eyes.

From simple town houses to utility functions, to the numerous markets that lined the streets and the beautiful clear sunny day that greeted her along with the rest of the town who gathered around a statue from below her. Seeing the statue itself, Catra took in the beautiful form she was greeted with.

It was a statue of herself, the one and only Catra, the one and only owner of the legendary Sword of Power created by the First Ones. The statue itself was designed with the regal appearance of any royalty, donning the unique look that her She-Ra outfit gave her. Out of solid stone, from top to bottom, not a single thing stood out of place, nor a single crack within the stone that shouldn't be there.

Taking a look at the small chuckling behind her she was met with Adora giving a small salute to the still sleepy girl. "Official good morning, your majesty."

"Majesty...?"

...Oh... OOOOHHHH... now she understood! Yes, it all made so much sense now! Man, she was feeling incredibly silly about everything, feeling giddy like a small child at a carnival. Why did it take her so long to remember where she was and who she was? She must've looked really silly to the rest of the townsfolk who greeted her that morning too.

She was Princess Catra, and this was her Kingdom!

...

A/N: Don't think I have much to say I didn't already say in that massively ungodly chunk up above XD. Just another shout out of thanks again to HJSDGCE, and others like Endlesschain, Nightmaster003, Shadow Joestar, Socram, Kraven, Sd, lucian, halo master, etc. and anybody else I missed for their continued support. I hope you all enjoy and continue to enjoy the series as it goes on!

With that said, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 20: Episode 6: System Failure Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: *gasp* I went TWO days without posting?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MEEEE!!!

...Lol, pretty simple actually, as well as really ANNOYING. A tip to writers and all, type on your email accounts via drafts, then copy and paste them to here or to a word document to upload :P! It's a convenient way to always have your story wherever you go so you can type it on the go!

Only setback is, make sure you have a stable internet connection, because if it's wonky like mine, it might cut out in the middle of your fic, and, without you realizing, even after the internet comes back, the draft might FAIL TO FREAKING SAVE AND THEREFORE MAKE YOU FORCED TO WRITE THE ENTIRE THING ALL OVER AGAIN X(!!!

*sigh* My fault honestly, I should've copied and pasted it just in case after the internet connection lost so I'd still have the words even if it didn't save. With that said some parts of this might seem/feel rushed compared to usual because it's rather annoying when you have to rewrite everything twice, and for that I apologize.

All the same I really hope everyone enjoys today's episode as we learn a little bit about everyone today!

Enjoy!

...

I'm dead! I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead! Glimmer yelled inside her head, unable to look at whatever bloody fate awaited her.

Catra had every reason, at least according to herself, to be angry at Glimmer. When the princess you trusted for the first time in your life ended up being wrong about something when you needed it most, how could you not be angry? She needed it more than any other time the last time she met up with Adora, to prove to her in the one chance she gave her that she was telling truth behind all of this. What happened next, one might ask?

Nothing. Nothing at all happened the one time in Catra's life she needed it most.

Why did she blame Glimmer over this? Oh, no particular reason. Some might say it was because she was used to blaming Glimmer for everything, others would say it was because she had no one else to blame. If you asked her though, it was because Glimmer was the one who gave her the advice, advice Catra asked for herself, in the first place.

She couldn't understand why the sword didn't work either, seeing how it worked perfectly the first time she took her advice. She thought about defending others, she didn't think about defending herself, and possibly every other thing she needed to do it, and it didn't work. The one time she trusted in someone else ended in costing her what felt like everything.

So when Catra suddenly went feral after destroying a strange robot, it was only natural for her to lose all sense of self and attack Glimmer out of nowhere. Having pinned the girl to the ground, dazing her and preventing her from using her magic in the few seconds she lunged her jaws for her throat, Glimmer awaited whatever horrible fate lied before her as her past mistake mistake finally caught up to her.

Am I going to feel it when I die? Will I know when I'm dead? Such thoughts might've been weird to others, but when you never experienced death yourself how were you supposed to know? It was one of those new experiences that you never wanted to experience more than once, much less at all for that matter.

*sniff-sniff*

"Eh?" Too nervous to snap her eyes open at once, she slowly lifted her left eyelid partway, being greeted by a sight she didn't see coming, nor ever expect from anyone like her.

Catra was... sniffing her. She winced a little as she neared her nostril towards her eye. This was beyond weird for the pinned princess. Why was Catra acting so strange? Did it have to do with those red veins she saw growing over the sword before Glimmer pulled the sword away from her? Was it affecting her mind somehow? If she didn't know any better she could've sworn she was acting like a-

*Sllurrrrrrrrrrp!*

"Aggggghhhhhhhh!" Glimmer screeched with morbid shock as her entire body shook with goosebumps from disgust.

That was by far, without comparison, the most disgusting thing she has ever gone through in her life. Nothing from her youngest days of childhood to her personal interactions with animals in the past ever disgusted her like this moment right here. With a single action from a now happy-looking Catra, she created the most sickening experience in Glimmer's life.

Simply by licking her face.

"Ugh, gross, gross, gross!" She didn't care if Catra was still on her or not. She quickly jumped to her feet as she wiped the Catra slobber, two words she never thought she'd have to put together, from her face. During this time the apparently feral Catra just stared her in confusion, squatting onto her hands and feet as licked the back of her hands as she started grooming. She didn't seem bothered by Glimmer's weird behavior, rubbing her head with her licked hands as she groomed herself.

After a minute of wiping the disgusting slop from her person Glimmer shot her attention back to the bathing Catra, at a loss for words about what she was witnessing. "What is wrong with you?"

"Awww! This is amazing!" Oh, right. That was the other person Glimmer nearly forgot about, the reason they were here to begin with. Princess Entrapta, leader of the Kingdom of Dryl, genius inventor who could control her hair like a prehensile tail. The very person who observed Catra with scientific fascination as she wrote down notes in her personal notebook while recording herself with a voice recorder being held in one of her extensions. "Observation entry Mark MC-7-03. Exposure to the red crystalline substance seems to have reverted the magicat to her feral status!"

As she spoke, she wagged a few simple conjoined strands of her hair in front of the Catra's face, getting her attention quite easily as she bobbed it up and down. Angered at the peculiar object dangling in front of her, Catra let out a small hiss as she swiped at the purplish strand with her claws. Seeing the thread of purple continue to taunt her, Catra let out another growl as she gave chase to the escaping appendage of evil.

"The subject's behavior more closely resembles that of a panther or other feral beast than a house cat. It doesn't seem like it knows it can walk either. Did it forget it's basic humanoid mobility or is this another result of mental degradation? I need further study." Oh boy, she could hardly wait to see what the Committee would reward her with! Maybe it would be a new kind of prize, maybe they would give her a brand new title!

Huh! Maybe they would even invent a brand new title for this!

"What the? Catra, why are you acting this way? What's wrong with her?" Glimmer asked worriedly to the toying scientist.

"Science happened!" She squealed clapping her hands. For every thought she was spending trying to explain this to Glimmer, another thought was being processed at any and all possible rewards she would get for this! "See, I've been experimenting with a disc I discovered in the mines recently. It was a total game changer!" The two turned back to the feral friend as she began climbing the walls, doing everything in her power to devour the strange purple that seemed to taunt her.

"It held more complete First Ones code than anything I've ever seen before. But it seemed to have a reacted with the First Ones tech that powers my bots. It infected them with some sort of a virus." Interrupting the two, they both jumped at the sight of Catra falling from the air in front of them. Landing perfectly on her feet and hands with balance, the magicat shook herself free of the dust she gathered, scratching herself behind the ears with with her left leg like a dog.

"But why is it causing Catra to act like this? She's never done anything this... weird..." She was already hoping this wasn't going to be a permanent problem. Aside from being the She-Ra the Rebellion desperately needed, she didn't want to see her friend being stuck as some animal in a humanoid body for the rest of her life.

"Well, I already have a theory or two on that, but just in case, let me take her apart and see." Entrapta smiled as she took a scalpel from her pockets, the scientist prepared for every occasion of observation.

"Rrrrrrrrrrr!" Eyeing the scalpel which glinted in her eye, Catra roared fiercely as she lunged for the scientist directly.

"Ahhh!" Her screams of terror quickly refilled with laughter despite the situation she found herself in. "Hahahaha! This is incredible! Observation mark Entry MC-7-04, the subject reacted defensively at the sight of a dangerous object! She seems to retain foreign memory of important everyday items of interest and objects that mean something to her in some way! This would be a million times more exciting if she wasn't currently drooling with the intention to eat me."

"Catra, no!" Glimmer panicked as she ran to her. It took all of her strength to pull Catra's powerful grip off the chuckling scientist, the very one who jotted down notes without a second thought. Almost immediately Catra gave up any resistance she had as she turned back to the caller of her name. In no time a smile slowly appeared over Catra's face as she began rubbing her head against Glimmer's leg affectionately, like a pet to it's master, letting out a pur as she did. "Catra?"

"Oooh, a breakthrough!" Amazing! There was so much data and details being revealed to the scientist in the short amount of time she's known these two! Who knew that the best way to gather information was to have intruders invade her home on a daily basis! "It appears the magicat retains a strong subconscious memory of people she's met before and interprets as friends!"

"F... Friends?" Did she hear that right? Half the dialogue coming from the kooky scientist didn't make sense to her and somehow that was still more understandable than the person currently rubbing against her knee. "Catra... sees us as friends?"

She wanted to know that since day one. Time after time she and Bow tried all manner of things to get Catra to open up about herself and see them as more than just allies who fought together. They tried socializing, they tried eating together, they even had a couple sleepovers in the past weeks. But no matter how many times they did that did Catra ever seemed the least bit attentive or open minded about being their friends.

In fact she was almost convinced to a certain extent that Catra would never have an interest in being their friend. There was nothing wrong with that on a whole, of course. If Catra wanted to keep their business strictly professional then Glimmer would've accepted that after awhile. Now she was being told Catra saw them as genuine friends?

If it wasn't for the fact the person claiming this seemed to be short of a few screws loose she'd believe her in a heartbeat.

"Yeah, either that or she sees you as the one who feeds her." Sadly that seems like the more probable explanation. "So can I take her apart now?"

"First off, you are not taking her apart!" Glimmer yelled slapping the scalpel out of her hand. "She is a person," she paused briefly to look back at the cat scratching behind her ears again, "kinda. Second, if we destroy this disk, will that turn off the bots and turn her back to normal?"

"Destroy it?" Was she mad? What kind of insane person would want to destroy a creative masterpiece of technology created by the first ones?! Did she not see the benefits such ingenious pieces of technology could give their society? "But the experiment isn't complete yet!"

"Rrrrrr!" Finding an aggressiveness behind the raised voice directed to her master, Catra nearly lunged for the purple-haired genius again, just inches away from swiping her face. Thankfully for her sake, Glimmer managed to react in time as she grabbed hold of her from the back of Catra's uniform, pulling a bit of her hair as she did.

"I think we can safely say this experiment is a failure!"

"But what if it's not-! No, you're right, it's a failure." She didn't need Glimmer's declaration to get the picture, though she still wished it didn't have to be this way. Sometimes when one wanted to pursue the higher glories of science they had to sacrifice something in return. In Entrapta's case it was sacrificing science for science. Why couldn't they ask to take her life instead?

"Rrrrrrrr!"

"Um, easy, girl?" Glimmer tried to calm down the feral-minded Catra, gently patting her head. "Um... there, there?" This was the weirdest day of Glimmer's life. As if getting licked by someone minutes ago who seemed ready to devour them wasn't enough, patting a friend's head and trying to calm them down like a pet definitely did. There were so many things she needed to make sure her mother didn't find out about today.

She also noticed how the irritation in her voice lasted a little longer than previously, the grumbling from the cat sounding more ferocious than the last. "Is it me or is she getting worse?"

"No, it's not you, it's her." Entrapta said in a happy tone. "Chances are the virus is getting progressively worse by the minute. It won't be long until her animal instincts override her memories and she forgets everyone."

She'd forget everyone? Exactly how much would she end up forgetting? Better question, how much would she end up forgetting including the people she knew? "And... what happens if she forgets us?"

"Oh, she'll eat us."

...

"Morning Princess!"

"Morning!" Catra greeted back with a wave.

Ah, this was paradise. Nothing but her Kingdom all around her, the villagers walking by as they went about their day, and Adora, always there standing by her side as she checked over some details in the planner she was carrying. Everything was right in the world, as it always was since the day she received her kingdom.

After defeating the Horde as she vaguely remembers, she was given the kingdom of her dreams as promised upon her by the Queen of the Rebellion itself, Angella. She doesn't entirely remember it being this peaceful, in fact she barely remembers winning the war in the first place, and she didn't care. Everything about this kingdom was exactly as she wanted it from the people greeting her with smiles on their faces and no one scoffing at the sight of her or muttering behind her back.

Feeling a little casual today, she decided to don a more everyday kind of outfit for such a great sunny day. She wore a nice, simple, thin, long sleeve red shirt and blue pants for today. They felt a hundred times better than anything she wore before during her time in the Rebellion, feeling the smooth silkiness of the woolen garments pressing gently against her skin. It was almost as comfortable as the bed she slept in with Adora everyday, and that was saying something!

And what kind of princess would she be if she didn't accessorize a little? She was the ruler of this kingdom and she needed to show for it. For starters she had a nice golden oval pendant around her neck, one that opened up to show a picture of herself and Adora standing side by side like the good old times. She also decided today was more of a nature-like theme for today, deciding to wear a sapphire gold ring on her left finger and an encrusted forest green emerald ring on her right finger.

Finally, she did something this morning with Adora she thought she'd never do.

She combed her hair. She didn't brush it like usual just to get a few knots out of her bedhead, she legitimately combed it for the first time in awhile. She had it nice and flattened so it drooped alongside her right shoulder, clean and smooth to the touch as she had it scrubbed thoroughly this morning in the bath.

Adora also took a noticeable change of wardrobe, however slightly it might've been. Compared to her previous red colored jacket, she was now sporting a light blue coloring, one that stretched down to her thighs. While she also had the same white shirt from earlier she also had a serene beautiful blue pants, ones that clashed perfectly against the jacket. And like Catra, she let her hair hang more openly as she no longer had a ponytail. She let her hair hang loose and smooth behind herself, sporting a pink flower around her right ear.

Everything about this place was paradise, and one she knew wasn't fake like her time in Plumeria. That was one memory she didn't need to recall.

So why did everything feel so strange to her?

She couldn't put her finger on it but ever since this morning she felt like something was off about all of this. Did she forget a meeting she had to attend? Or maybe there was a missing servant around the castle today? Something in the back of her mind kept tingling to her like she was forgetting something important. It was also likely she was just fooling herself too. Adora did mention she partied quite late into the night last night with her kingdom, so who was to say.

All that mattered was that her kingdom was happy and flourishing like it did everyday. Not a thing stood out of place to her, no one had any clouds looming over their heads, and nobody gave her any pause to question. The same day like every day she walked through her kingdom with Adora at her side, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Oh! Good morning your highness!" A local fish butcher greeted as he was setting up his stall. "Care to try one of my new Tuna sandwiches? I'm experimenting with several different ingredients to make the perfect one."

"Ha, like I'd say no to that!" She grinned walking over to the stall. Her nose was overwhelmed by the delicious scents of the freshly caught fish, ranging from small finger-sized krill to arm-sized basses and other aquatic animals. Octopi, eels, clams, everything you could expect from a butcher who specialized in all sorts of different sea life.

Taking the offered sandwich itself, she gave it a good smell before taking the first bite. It had a little bit of a strange flavoring to it, tasting possibly several different varieties of mushed fish put together, though nothing that ruined the taste. In fact the taste only got better with every second she tasted it in her mouth.

"Well?" He asked eagerly awaiting her reply.

Swallowing the food with a happy sigh, she gave him an assuring nod as she smiled. "It's great! I think it needs a little less salt though. it's offsetting the flavor."

"I'll make a personal note of that. Thank you your highness!" He bowed respectfully as Catra continued on her way down the street, still eating the sandwich.

"Your majesty!" A woman in a green dress greeted happily. "Any chance you could come visit my baby girl today? We'd still like your advice on a name."

Names? That was one of the few things she didn't think she'd do. Sure, she's been a princess for... however long it's been, but she was the princess she supposed. It was one of the everyday kind of things she'd have to deal with it seems. "Hmm... why not something like Korra? Or no, maybe Gem!"

"Gem sounds wonderful!" The woman beamed clasping her hands. "Thank you so much, your highness!" Catra smiled as she watched the woman run her way back, most likely returning home with a happy bit of news for her husband.

Man being a princess was great! Everyone relied on her for the solutions to their problems and treated her with the respect that was rightfully hers! While some might get annoyed with having so many people relying on themselves for simple situations, Catra was more than eager to answer any of their problems. After all, she was the princess of this entire kingdom, and it was only made sense that she had the answer to all of life's problems.

"Ok, so first you have a meeting with a Duke and Duchess from the North..." Adora began as she went through the day's planner.

"Pass." Catra replied with a smile, holding her head against her arms behind it.

"Today you have an opening ceremony for several new buildings that finished reconstruction."

"Skip."

"We have an appearance we can make today at the public park."

"Uh... no thanks..." She raised a brow as Adora went off the list. There was a strange tone to her voice as she went off each and every thing in today's planner. It was like she was saying each thing as if it was the beginning of her list, not anywhere in the middle of it. "Let's just enjoy the day for ourselves, ok?"

"Of course, your highness." Adora said cheekily. "It's not like we had any other plans today."

Did she mean that sarcastically? It was strange how nonchalant she said that. It was like they actually didn't have any plans for today, like they disappeared all of a sudden.

"Look, it's mama!" A high pitch squeak yelled from behind.

"Huh? Ahh-!"

*Thud*

"Hmhmhm..." Adora covered her mouth as she let out a small chuckle. It was always adorable to her how the kids greeted the princess of the kingdom each and every day.

Catra was at a loss for words at what was going on here. Immediately after turning around she found herself being dogpiled by seven different kids of various ages, some toddlers, other probably around seven or eight and so forth. All around her she saw kids chuckling and hugging her limbs, several of them on one leg alone, and a small child playing with her tail. The kids ranged from humans to other subspecies such as lizardmen and satyrs. All of them were excited to see her like they always were, Catra feeling as if this was a completely normal routine for her.

"Mama's here!" The kids cheered one after another.

"Mama! Mama!"

"Did you come to play with us today? Didya? Didya?"

"Uhh... whose kids are you again?" Catra garbled as one of the kids pulled her cheeks.

"Hmhmhm, don't act like you don't know them, Catra." Adora chuckled again. "They're the kids you had the orphanage built for."

"Orphanage?" That... didn't sound like something she would do. Did she? She didn't have a problem with the really little kids or anything but she couldn't exactly picture herself having an orphanage built for all the children in her kingdom. Then again, every kingdom had to have some sort of orphanage for the poor kids who lost their parents, she assumed, so maybe it's something she did? Who cared if she recalled it or not, she was the princess. She probably forgot about it after whatever other meetings or plans she had for the day.

"Can you come play with us mama?" One of the kids asked excitedly. It set off a chain of sparks as she was bombarded with requests and pleas from the other kids soon after.

"Come play with us!"

"Please! Please! Can ya?"

"Let's play!"

"Ack!" She yelped feeling a step on her tail, jumping to her feet. Even though it irritated her she wasn't about to snap at kids like this, especially in public. "Look, squirts, thanks for the offer and all but I'm kinda busy today." Which wasn't exactly a lie. She did want to spend the day for herself hanging out with Adora so it was kind of the truth.

"Aww but you promised!"

"I did?"

"Indeed." Adora perked up, flipping through the pages of her planner. "Exactly 3 weeks, 4 days, and seven hours ago to be exact."

Trying her best not to show it in front of the kids, she shot Adora a look. "...You really know when to be annoying."

"I know." She smirked back with a wink.

"Come on, mama!"

"Yeah come on!"

"Come on, come on, let's play!" The kids wasted no time as they began pulling her against her will.

"Ack-! Ok, ok, we'll play one game, all right?" The Princess found herself unable to fight back, unwilling to hurt the kids around her that just wanted to have some fun. And she had to admit, she can't remember the last time she ever played with these kids her kingdom adopted. Heck, it was already a beautiful sunshiny day! Who could ask for a more perfect weather than this to play a game or two on?

She was taken back as she felt a small tug coming from behind her. Looking down, she couldn't help awe at the sight silently as she saw a small one-year-old with pink hair, wearing a bright blue dress with a sunflower on it that stretched halfway over her green diaper. The little girl was raising her arms up as it wanted to be held, looking at Catra with a big pair of adorable eyes. Looking back to Adora to see her fawning at the sight, Catra sighed.

Back to the baby, she chuckled at the small kid, picking her up in her right arm, the little girl giggling as it held on and kicked her legs playfully. "All right, come on you. You get to ride front seat." Which was more along the lines of front arms since there weren't riding any vehicles, not that the toddler complained.

"Excuse me, your majesty?" A florist spoke up as she walked along behind Catra. "Can I have a moment of your time?"

"Umm maybe later. I'm kind of busy here."

"But I need your advice on a bouquet for a wedding tomorrow-"

"I said no!" She yelled looking back to the depressed flower keeper. Why didn't she understand that she was busy? These kids needed her first, stupid flower stuff could come second. Why, stupid flower stuff always came second in her kingdom!

"Catra, who are you talking to?" Adora asked as she, as well as the rest of the kids, looked back to her in confusion.

"Uhhh who do you think? I was talking to the-" She came to a stop as she looked behind her again.

There was nothing there. All she saw was the smooth concrete cement road that went all throughout her kingdom and the passersby who greeted her as they went on about their day. She was talking to blank empty air without a soul in front of her. She would've looked crazy to anyone else who came across her like this.

"Umm... no one, I guess?" She replied with a shrug, continuing her walk. What was going on here? She was sure, almost one-hundred percent positive, that she was talking to someone a few seconds ago. In fact she was pretty sure she was talking to several people at the time. Who was she talking to? Kids? Adults? An imaginary friend? That would've made more sense even though it would've made her look a little loony.

Ah who cares. It was her kingdom, right? She could talk to a sign post for all that mattered and she would still be worshipped upon. This was her kingdom, not anyone else's, and she could do what she wanted with it. She could set a building on fire, provided it was empty, and the people would probably praise her name in glory. It was just her, her kingdom, and Adora, and nobody else. And that's the way she preferred it.

All the while she was completely unaware as the citizens disappeared one by one as she passed them.

...

*sniff*

*sniff-sniff*

"Ngggh, Catra, slow down!" Glimmer grunted as she held tightly to the rope around Catra's neck like a leash.

The entire trip through the castle was less than grand despite how magnificent the labyrinth was. If it wasn't one thing it was another between Entrapta leading them through it and Catra's animal instincts making life harder for the last princess with common sense running through this place.

First, there was the exploration itself. Every time Entrapta lead them through one corridor she immediately backed out and explored the other one. It was clear to Glimmer she had no idea where she was going, not that she'd blame her given how massive this castle was from the inside. At other times Entrapta would find a secret hatch that would open a rotating wall which connected the hallways, almost resulting in Catra getting separated from them when Entrapta accidentally flipped the wall again with Catra being on the other side. Thankfully she stayed long enough in the spot to get back before she could run away.

Her navigation was probably the easier of two evils to deal with since the greater of two evils was currently sniffling around this place like an animal. Throughout every interior of this great maze Catra took it upon herself to sniff about the strange surroundings, often at times digging through whatever cabinets or drawers they came across when Entrapta lead them to a room by accident.

At least several times during this exploration did Catra pick up the sound of robots approaching, forcing Glimmer and Entrapta to hide while holding back a growling Catra. It became awkward for the pink-haired princess when she was forced to pet or scratch Catra's head comfortingly to keep her from growling loud enough for the robots to find her. While this only reduced the noise to small purrs instead, it did at least lower the volume enough for them to wait in cover while the robots passed them.

And not two minutes ago did possibly the most disgusting part of this journey happened. With her nose picking up a familiar scent, one that made her hunger, Glimmer and Entrapta found Catra suddenly chasing away at something she found in the hallways. It took nearly five minutes until the two finally managed to catch up to her, resulting in Glimmer regretting every decision to do so when she found out what Catra had finally caught.

A mouse. A lone single mouse no bigger than a strawberry that somehow managed to makes it's way within the sanctity of the entire castle. No doubt it found it's way in during the viral robotic outbreak, seeing how all the systems and sensors that kept such small infestations out were now running amok. That same mouse was now currently dangling for it's life as Catra held it by the tip of it's tail in it's mouth, almost as if she was offering it as a gift or a food for Glimmer herself.

She really wished she did accept it t compared to what Catra did to it afterwards.

"I still can't believe she ate it..." Glimmer mumbled, shriveling with disgust. The only bright side to it was that it was all in one gulp rather than in horrible tiny pieces.

After finding themselves getting lost by Entrapta's navigation or Catra running off towards the next distraction did the girl finally get fed up with playing a game of cat-and-mouse between the two. After exploring the next room, a supply room, they came across after Catra's meal did she take the moment to examine the room, finding it fortunate enough to come across a couple of ropes that stretched a couple yards. It proved to be a convenient makeshift leash for the girl so Glimmer only had to worry about following one girl the entire time.

Speaking of whom, the animal side of her continued to grow over the course of this exploration. Her senses heightened over the time they took exploring this place, her irritation and aggressiveness towards Entrapta raised as she tried to attack the girl several more times, though to be fair she was trying to study her on numerous occasions, and she started looking at Glimmer as if she never met her before on at least two occasions. It was clear she was losing more and more of her memory and time was running out.

The upside to that was on the one occasion they accidentally stumbled across several robots thanks to Entrapta's navigation skills. While Glimmer could've possibly dealt with the bots herself, Catra roared at the metal monsters as she lunged straight for them. In no time at all she ripped the robots to shreds one by one with her bare claws, ripping the limbs from one another until they were piles of garbage scattered around her. It was the one time she was glad for Catra's animal instincts, seeing how swiftly she managed to deal with them before the robots created enough noise to attract other dangers to their location.

Suffice to say, this had been the weirdest mission Glimmer had undergone throughout her time in the Rebellion, and given the numerous monsters and locations she's been to, that was saying a lot.

"I think we're almost there!" Entrapta declared with a smile.

"You said that the last eight times." Glimmer commented as she held the leash to the girl crawling around on her hands and knees.

"Well this time I'm more than sure."

"You said that the last three times too." She sighed. At the rate things were going she started to wonder if she was going to get killed by the monsters, lost in this maze forever, or eaten by Catra after her memories completely vanished. Speaking of wondering, that was the other thing that came across Glimmer's mind as she looked to her animal-driven friend. "By the way, what did you mean earlier about Catra?"

"About what?"

"About her being the last of her species or something? Some magic cat?"

"Oh, you mean magicats!" The scientist giggled as she took out one of her various personal notebooks. "It's pretty much what I said, she's a magicat. A cat-like race that lived not too long ago really. They even had their own kingdom."

"They did?" Taking a glance at Catra, she continued her questioning. "But you said she was last, right? What happened to her people?"

For the first time since meeting the princess, she answered back with a shrug of uncertainty. "Beats me. They were wiped out some time ago. Some say it was a sickness, others say it was a some sort of accident. None of the history I've read up on really has a specific answer. All I know is that she could be the very last magicat alive."

"I never really took you for the historian type more than the science girl."

"Are you kidding? History is the second most important thing next to science! How else are we supposed to know how civilizations built their technologies in the first place? Plus it makes it all the more fun when you work on a piece of technology never discovered before or one they had yet to finish, like the First Ones!" Just thinking about it made her oodle with glee, squeezing her hands with excitement. "It's like putting a puzzle together when you try to replicate a piece of ancient technology never seen before. And the more advanced the technology, the more fun it is!"

She might not have been a science girl as much as Entrapta but she could see her point. With all the strange things and technologies left behind by the First Ones, there was no telling what sort of benefits they could give to the people of today. Even the Rebellion continues to use and search for unearthed First Ones' tech to help them win the war, as well as assist people with new technology and medicines that can make their lives easier.

Heck, Catra's sword was a piece of First Ones' technology. It gave her the power to transform into a benevolent figure, one who was stronger, faster, more powerful than anything the Rebellion currently had. She could just imagine how easy it would be to win the war with as little casualties as possible if there was something as powerful as the sword to give all their allies.

"Plus I just read about the fun parts of history."

"LIke the science?" Glimmer assumed correctly.

"That's right! By the way, did she ever say where she came from? Did she say if she was with her own kind when you met her?"

"Um... No, not really." It felt like the more reasonable thing to say than to say she was a Horde defector.

It also gave her another worrying thought. How much did Catra know about her own species and her own people? Does she know anything about them in the first place? Have her people been working for the Horde as well up till now? It would explain why people don't know much about them if they were shunned for joining the Horde, yet it didn't explain why nobody ever mentioned them like the other kingdom that joined the Horde.

It didn't help that Catra's revealed little to nothing about herself either. For all she knew maybe her entire family died and the Horde took her in? Or maybe they were okay and were working for the Horde willingly, meaning Catra was betraying her still-living family and the Horde at the same time. Then again, maybe she really was the last one of her kind, explaining her off putting attitude towards others because of her painful history. Whatever the case was, it opened a lot more possibilities about Catra's origins and personalities, as well as questions about her.

And another hint of sadness too. To be living a life where you're the last of your kind, where your're all alone in the world without anyone to relate to, it must've been a horrible experience. That was something Glimmer would never be able to understand, and hoped she'd never have to.

"Ah, we're here!" Entrapta announced proudly as she came to a corridor in the middle of the hallway.

"Do you mean it this time?" There was enough evidence to leave Glimmer doubtful at this rate. Luckily silver tidings seemed to wash over them as Entrapta marched over to the electronic door.

"Of course I mean it! A scientist is never wrong, just inaccurate!" She sneered.

"Uhh isn't that the same... nevermind." As long as it meant their journey was almost over and Catra would be fixed then she didn't care. "Can you open the door?"

"You bet!" With eagerness in her veins she quickly tapped away into the twelve digit control console, unprepared for what happened after.

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*

Upon the final key, Entrapta's entire body lit up like a christmas light as static and electricity danced all around her. Her body flashed back and forth between being fully lit to practically seeing her inner skeleton, unable to stop herself as the power surged throughout her body.

Noticing the strange person flashing in front of her, Catra neared her head towards the lightning figure as she sniffed her. Glimmer barely caught her in time as she pulled her leash back before Catra could get any closer to the lightning rod of a princess, Catra giving a small hiss at this in return.

After another several seconds had passed the lightning show finally came to an end, Entrapta covered from hair to toe in burn marks all around her body, the smell of cooked meat coming off her body as she tingled, the scent making Catra lick her lips in hunger. "Wow. The door's infected, too. It won't let us in." As to how she could sound excited at the fact they were powerless to press on, Glimmer would never know. And she was fine with that. "That is so smart. And awful. We're all gonna die."

"I could try to teleport inside, but I'm not sure it's a good idea." She wasn't afraid of the robots around here and the possible dozen inside the room, she was more worried about the idea of leaving a feral Catra with the girl who wanted to dissect her. She didn't know who would be dead by the time she got back out here.

"Huh! You can teleport?" Entrapta clasped her hands again with enthusiasm. "Tell me how it works! Show it works!"

"Yeah, sure, later, like maybe when we're not in the middle of a robot uprising?"

"It's a date!" She clapped.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrng!" Catra let out a ferocious growl as the ends of her hair stood up, tail swishing back and forth furiously.

"Catra?" She and Entrapta turned towards the rightmost corridor Catra was hissing at as they felt the approach of trembling footsteps.

To their dismay, the two shrieked at the sight of another verily large robot, one sporting a simple brown hat, and a massive arm that towered over the both of them. Like the many robots they had encountered, there was a menacing evil behind it's glowing red eyes, a familiar red crystal at the bottom portion of it's torso, right above it's wheeled legs.

"Roooooooowr!" Immediately Catra lashed out as she charged forward against the monstrosity, her leash slipping straight out of Glimmer's grip before the pink-haired princess knew what happened.

"Catra no!"

The she-beast didn't care. With her instincts taking over a majority of her mind, all she could process was that this thing was a threat to her and to her friend. Like with the previous robots, she leapt across the ground on the tips of her feet, picking up speed as she neared the dangerous being with her claws at the ready. Right as she jumped into the air, pulling back a claw to rip the creature to shreds, did it open it's mouth to release an unearthly scream.

*Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

"Rrrrrrrrrng!" Dropping straight to the ground Catra cried out in a beastly pain, her entire body shaking at the sound of the ear piercing scream. She had no knowledge of this strange sound, no past experiences she could remember with hearing something at such a high frequency and sound. All she knew was that it was sending her instincts out of control, her entire body warning her that she was in more danger staying here than trying to defend herself.

Letting out a shrill cry Catra took off in the other direction, heading down the other corridor passed Glimmer and Entrapta. As Glimmer watched on in terror, Entrapta let out another bout of giggles as she brought out her tape recorder again, clicking it on. "This is amazing! Apparently the bots have adapted to the magicat's fighting styles and weaknesses! Hehehehe, they're learning!"

"Entrapta," Glimmer stopped as she grabbed her arm, "could we please stop spending so much time having fun and spend more time on getting AWAY!" Glimmer didn't give her a chance to actually answer the question, and Entrapta didn't need much time to determine that either, as the two ran down the same corridor that Catra ran towards. The bot from the hallway gave chase as it roared angrily, drawing in several dozen bots in turn that followed after the bot as well.

Now on top of the lack of means to fight back, they were down one Catra if the magicat couldn't fight to her fullest against these adaptable fighting machines. With every step they ran they heard another two steps following closely behind them, more bots giving chase as they were drawn in through the noise they were making. As if the dozens of traps scattered throughout this place wasn't enough, they had to contend with the killer bots that never tired as they gave chase.

They were all running through a literal Maze of Death.

...

"Are you sure about this?" Shadow-Weaver asked as she and Adora stood right outside a door.

"Yes... Shadow-Weaver." Despite her assurance, Shadow-Weaver could feel the doubt emanating from the young girl. And Adora didn't care.

She needed this to happen.

She had a means to finally fight back against the princesses thanks to the headband Shadow-Weaver gifted her with, and it came at a terrible cost to. For everything it amplified and empowered, it also caused her emotions to run amok against her will, amplifying in addition to the rest of her. A simple laugh left her falling to her sides clutching them in giggles. A single glare burned an inferno of anger through Adora's core. A mere tremble of the lip caused tears to pour from Adora's being at whatever regret she had committed. She couldn't allow this.

She didn't like the headband either, not that she would show her dissatisfaction to the being who gave her such an incredible gift. When she wore it, she felt a wave of warm wash over her. It calmed her down, it made her feel happy, and it made whatever problems she had beforehand feel like yesterday's news.

It was almost addicting, in a way, how much the headband made her feel better after all the stress she's had to deal with up to now. With Catra's brainwashing from the princesses, the rumors going about that she defected for her own selfish reasons, and the idea that each and every day someone could come in and turn in a bounty for a dead Catra left her with fear. She couldn't keep going on like this knowing there was nothing she could do. Absolutely nothing.

Until now.

With a private training room secluded for their personal use, Shadow-Weaver opened the door. Inside, all Adora could see was blackness, a terrible feeling of sorrow, and a fear of unknown origin reaching her heart. "Once you go in, Adora, I can't let you out until you complete the training."

"I understand, Shadow-Weaver. Thank you." She replied with a respectful nod as she stepped in.

"For your training, you must learn to close off your emotions, learn to channel what you must to survive. There will be three droids within the room. Eliminate them, and your training will be complete."

"That's it? Just... eliminate them?" She had to admit, it did sound a little too easy.

"While mastering to control your emotions, my dear." Shadow-Weaver reminded. "I will warn you right now, Adora. The experience will be... unpleasant, but it's the quickest way you'll master this power to fight against the princesses. Unless of course..." She didn't need to finish the sentence for Adora to know what she was implying.

Basically it came down to either mastering this new power and save her best friend, or taking her chances against superpowered creatures of evil with her bare hands and risk losing everything. She might've made it sound one way to her, but she knew better than that.

There was no choice in this.

"I know, Shadow-Weaver. But I'm ready for this, I mean it." Pulling out the headband from her pockets she cleared her mind as she donned the dreaded band for the second time in her life.

Unlike less time, the pain that came over her this time around was much more bearable. The pain she felt last time when she was being burned alive was reduced to what felt like someone kicking her in the head for several seconds. In addition, the shadows simply gathered at her feet this time around rather than overwhelm her entire being. She could still feel the shadows tingling through her fingertips though, so she knew her shadowy shapeshifting was still in affect.

And, her favorite part, she felt a wave of relief over her, one she was planning to maintain throughout the entire training exercise.

"Good luck, my dear." Without another word, Shadow-Weaver had the doors sealed shut, leaving Adora surrounded by endless darkness.

"..."

"...So... how is this supposed to help me?" Adora asked herself aloud.

That was probably the one thing she should've asked Shadow-Weaver before they started. Looking back on it, Shadow-Weaver never mentioned once exactly what they were going to do to train her. Sure, fighting a bunch of robots was a good way to practice her shadow magic, but without a means to see in the dark how was she supposed to? Even if she used her other senses like hearing and such that still wouldn't help her figure out how to control her emotions.

As if to answer her question, a voice called out in the darkness, one Adora never thought she'd hear.

"Adora!" Catra cried out in pain.

"C-Catra?!" With fear entering her mind, her entire body shook with the rise of goosebumps. From her head to her toe she felt overwhelming fear overtake her, panic filling her mind as her heart raced. "Catra! Where are you?!" She shouted out.

The voice echoed throughout the entire room, the training facility being large enough to stretch nearly half a mile long in all directions. With such a large empty location the acoustics reverberated all around the walls.

"Adora! Help meeeee!" Eyes filling with tears of dread, Adora took off directly ahead of her, chasing after wherever the sound of the desperate cries for help.

Catra needed her, she begged for her. Adora was well aware that this was all a ruse and yet her heart refused to listen to her mind. All she could think about was running into the direction of the voice, trying to listen as best as she could through the emptiness to find her beloved friend.

"Where are you? Catra?!"

"...Heh heh heh..." That voice. She's only heard it once, hearing the battle cry as she launched an ineffective ball of magic straight at Adora's being. She didn't care if she didn't know the owner of the voice. All that mattered was the burning rage inside of her that expanded upon hearing that one laugh. "Hi Adora~" It taunted.

"YOU!" In an instant, despite not seeing it herself, Adora grew the gargantuan arms of shadows over her arms, claws stretched out and ready to tear that stupid princess into tiny little pieces!

"Gosh, what a great friend you have here."

"Grrrrrrr!" Who cared if she could see or not! If she swung anywhere, she should be able to hit something, right? And that's exactly what she did as she began flailing her arms around, trying to hit wherever the sound came from next. "Get out here!"

"It was so much fun playing with her. You should've heard her screaming your name by the time I was done with her~"

"SHUT UP!" Forming the massive tentacle in her right arm, she spun it around in a complete 360* of herself, hoping to hit anything. Like the attempts at clawing at everywhere, she hit nothing but empty air. This didn't prevent her from flailing about though, continuing to slam the tentacle in every other direction soon after in vain.

"You know, I'll never get what she saw in you. If you were such a great friend, why didn't you try and help her when she needed you most? It was almost boring torturing her for the last several hours of her screams. At least it taught me a very fun lesson! When you torture someone to the point of crying long enough, their tears can actually dry out! Who knew, huh?"

"ENOUGH!" With another roar, Adora drew the shadows into her other arm, creating another tentacle just as large as the one on her right arm. Screaming at the top of her lungs, grasping both her tentacles together, she slammed the tentacles all around her creating an earth shattering vibration throughout the training room, the sound of metal creaking with each pound. She didn't care if she hit the thing or not. If she got any angrier at the feeling inside of her, she swore she would've exploded!

"Adora?" Adora blinked as the sound of her friend reached her ears again. Unlike the first time, this time it was different. It had a higher pitch to it. Softer, kinder. The one Adora easily remembered as the sweet and innocent little kid Catra used to be. As quickly as she formed them did Adora's shadows dissipate, a feeling of joy coming to her teary eyes.

"C-Catra? Is that you?" She sniffled smiling.

"Hey, can we play games like we used to? That's what friends do, right?"

"Y-Yeah!" Her voice cracked at the sound. The memory of when they were kids was so beautiful. It was before their lives changed for the harder, when training drills and lessons took up both of their time. Before Adora's one mistake changed Catra's personality for the rest of their lives. "We c-can play one right now if you want."

"Really? That's great! Can I choose the game?" The little girl voice of Catra asked.

"Sure! What do you want to play?" This was getting weirder by the minute. No matter how many times Adora's mind told her this was all fake her heart overruled it. It was like her thoughts were coming from her heart instead of her mind and her emotions were coming from her mind and not the heart. It was a twisted experience nobody would want, less they'd be willing to sacrifice any sanity they had left.

"How about... TAG!"

*Pew!*

"Agggh!" Adora cried out in pain as she was blasted from the back, blasting her to the ground.

That was the blast from a fully automated droid, one that began to illuminate after blasting Adora away. The pain from the blast was excruciating, feeling a severe burn from where the blast came from. In all honesty, it was preferred and surprising compared to the alternative. A blast from these droids were capable of destroying a tank or collapsing an entire building. The fact Adora was still alive and wincing was proof of how powerful her physical state has heightened thanks to this band. She could deal with a small burning sensation building on her back, not a hole through her chest.

Gritting her teeth, she rolled over to her back, leaning up as she rubbed the sore spot. In front of her she watched one by one as the three droids she was tasked with destroying revealed themselves, illuminating their entire bodies through the blaster itself, the darkness of this room providing the means for their entire being to be shown.

Thankfully for her, they didn't release any blasts. It seemed Shadow-Weaver made sure whoever designed these things knew not to shoot her when she was down, when she was in physical pain. These bots wouldn't stop until either they were destroyed or they eliminated Adora, being silent enough to tread through the darkness without making a sound, something Adora noticed as she chased all over for these things.

Worst of all, the one thing that made this all inhumane, was the voices constructed into these creatures. From left to right the droids "talked", in the same order that Adora heard the voices.

"Please! Come save me Adora!"

"Don't worry about Catra, Adora. She's perfectly safe with me."

"Can we play again?"

As quickly as they came did they disappear into the shadows, the highlighting beams dimming around them as they stepped into the darkness once more.

Groaning to herself, rubbing the sore on her back, Adora stood. The seriousness of the situation made itself perfectly clear to Adora.

If she didn't master her control over her emotions, these bots would destroy her. If she couldn't destroy the bots, she would be trapped in this eternal darkness forever. Everything in her life brought a wide array of emotions to her, both positive and negative, and she always had the memories of those emotions to help push her forward through most of her life.

Now, she was going to have to master sealing them away. She couldn't allow herself to be tethered by her emotions from here less she wished for an untimely end.

The Horde needed her.

Her allies needed her.

Catra needed her.

And if saving Catra meant transforming into the most hideous creature on the inside, then she would become the ultimate creature of darkness, no matter what the costs...

...

A/N: And hopefully this nice sized mid-episode chapter made the wait worthwhile ^^! I did have a good chunk of fun here and there, and enjoyed the dream sequence myself. I'll be honest, originally I was going to go for a bit of a different feel through it, but after all the fanbase and feels that came from everyone who was excited, I changed it up a bit! I'll still maintain whatever point I need at the end of course, but here's hoping you enjoyed today's episode as much as I did!

As always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 21: Episode 6: System Failure Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, another possibly lengthy (haven't posted so haven't seen word count yet XP) chapter! Not much to say this time around unless I'm forgetting something which I pretty sure I am...hmm... oh, right. Should make a note my writing here might be a little wonkier than usual (wow that was sad to say). A big challenge over this chapter compared to the past ones is that I'm going in to it completely blank. The episode wasn't that memorable for me in terms of big plot points despite the fact I do find it one of the funniest (come on, who doesn't love a drunken-acting adora XP?) episodes as well as the best moral out of all the episodes in season 1!

Sadly I can't remember much from this one as much as I can from the other ones, and because of that, some spots here and there I had to add on the spur of the moment and while rewatching the show 100 times over. SO sorry if some parts of this are either confusing, seemed rushed, etc.

With that said, hope you enjoy!

...

*whack!*

"Ha! Way to hit it, squirt!" Catra yelled as she and Adora watched from the bleachers.

The day had been rather strange for the cat girl who had just about everything she ever wanted from this place. She had a butcher's shop that specialized in fish and seafood, she had everyday citizens that wanted to ask her for her advice and assistance, and apparently she had a whole flock of children from an orphanage that wanted to play with her every single day. There was even an infant bouncing around in Adora's lap that giggled at the sight of the kids having fun on the baseball field.

Life was good. Nothing more, nothing less. Actually if there was anything less than this then life would've been miserable, and a miserable lifestyle was no way for a princess like Catra to live!

So why did it feel so strange to her?

Did she forget to do something this morning? Maybe she had an important meeting she accidentally forgot about? Or maybe there was someone who needed to see her about a major problem involving the kingdom? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that some tingling in the back of her mind was telling her this was all wrong, almost silent enough to be mute yet loud enough to never go away.

Was it a price that came with being a princess? With everyone who relied on her for every day advice, it wouldn't surprise her if she got mixed up between someone needing help and an important event that was taking place.

Or perhaps she was overthinking it, just enough to make her shrug it off.

This was her day. Everyday was her day in this big beautiful kingdom on this nice beautiful day! Without a single cloud in the sky, she watched the kids as they hit the ball around with the bat, taking turns here and there, as she managed the outfield to collect whenever they hit it too far. It might not have been playing like the kids asked her to, especially since she spent more time watching it from the bleachers than the field itself, but it was enough to satisfy them as they had fun among themselves while the princess of the kingdom watched.

"The kids really seem to be having fun out there." Adora commented as she played with the baby's little hands in her lap. "Why don't you go join them?"

"What, and ruin their fun? I don't think it would be fair for either side if I was on the other team. Besides, even if it was all of them against me, I don't think they'd let me lose even if I went easy on them, being the princess and all." It was still an amusing thought to Catra.

"Oh, I don't think you'd have to worry about that." Adora cooed at the infant as she lowered her face towards it. "I bet da kiddies could kick Catwa's kitty butt, don't chu?"

This earned several bouts of giggling from the infant as she kicked her legs around in Adora's lap, pulling at her golden strands of hair. "Geheheheh!"

Yeah, they probably could if her kingdom raised them right. She had a kingdom that was both regal and powerful, one where everyone could fend for themselves while helping each other whenever they needed it. If people helped these kids from time to time as much as the orphanage itself did then there was no telling how good these kids would be at a game of baseball.

In fact, there was no telling how good anyone in her kingdom was, seeing how perfect it was. It was perfect, peaceful, full of energy... everyone was happy... not a thing changed during the entire day... "Mmmh..." Catra mumbled staring up at the sky.

"Is something wrong?" Adora asked, noticing her perplexed expression.

"Huh? Oh, no, nothing really. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"...Does something feel strange to you around here?" She wondered turning back to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... like the sky for example." She said gesturing towards the big ball of fire. "Is it me or has the sun been like that all day? And I haven't heard any birds since I woke up this morning. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a single animal around here since I woke up..." She looked back to her dear friend with a raised brow. "Doesn't that seem kinda weird to you?"

"Mhhm." Adora shrugged. "Maybe you're thinking too much on things." Looking to the sun herself, she smiled as the wind blew through her hair, the infant staring at the sky with her. "I mean, would you really want a perfect day like this to end?"

"Heh heh, yeah, I guess not." What was she thinking? Why would she question everything when the day was already perfect? That was like winning a lottery and then complaining that the millions you made in cash wasn't any bigger.

So what if everything seemed out of place? She was happy like this. The kingdom was in peace, she had her best friend since childhood at her side, and everyone was pretty happy! Why, she could remember how glorious it felt the day she received her kingdom when she... the day that... um...

"...Adora?" Catra spoke up again as a thought occurred to her.

"Yes, Catra?"

"...When did I get my kingdom?"

"Uh, hello? When we beat the Horde at long last, remember?" She rolled her eyes playfully at the obvious answer.

"Yeah, I know, I know. We beat the Horde, the Queen gave me a king... gave me... a queen... Ngh..." Catra moaned as a sudden pang went off through her head. It was a faint one that felt like someone tapping repeatedly from the inside of her mind, almost going away faster than it came to her.

"Catra? What's wrong?" Adora stood as she checked on her friend in need.

"N-Nothing, I... I'm fine..." She shook her head for a moment as she rubbed the sore spot on her temple next to her left ear. "Just a... brief headache, that's all."

"Baaaall!" The two looked back as they heard one of the kids shouting. Seeing it for themselves, the two watched as one of the kids struck the baseball right into the air, flying over the field as swiftly as a bird before finding itself over the fence at the end of the outfield. Catra had to admit, for a five-year-old that was an impressive hit!

"I'll get it." Catra called out as she maneuvered her legs around the metal bleachers.

"Uuuwaghh!" Her ears twitched a bit as she turned back to the infant, the child reaching for her as if wanting to be picked up by her.

"Awww, she wants to go with you." Adora cooed at the infant she was holding.

Catra smiled at this as she pat the kid's head. "Don't worry squirt, I'll be back in a minute." She said as she continued her way through the levels of rows of seats.

"Oh come on, Catra, you can bring her with you."

"It's fine, Adora, I'll only be a minute."

"But Catra-"

"Relax. I'm getting the dumb ball, I'm not leaving anywhere. Give the baby a pacifier or something if it starts crying, I shouldn't take long."

"What baby?"

"Gee, what kid? Who do you think, I'm talking about the-" Turning back, Catra went dead silent as she noticed the sudden lack of figure in Adora's arms. In fact, there wasn't anything in Adora's arm as the blond gave her a curious look. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"Where'd who go?" It was weird hearing her ask this. It wasn't the tone that concerned Catra, it was the seriousness behind it like she had no actual idea of what Catra was talking about.

"T-The kid, the squirt, the b-baby you were holding a second ago!" Catra stuttered, looking around the bleachers near her to see if it somehow crawled away. What was going on here? Did the kid have some sort of magic she nor Adora were aware of? Did it erase Adora's memory of her before it disappeared?

"...Riiight..." Even her reply concerned Catra. She had no actual idea of what Catra was talking about, Catra could tell by her look on her face alone. "Catra, do you want to sit down for a minute? You look a little stressed."

"What? No, I'm fine, it's... I was..." .. Why did she feel fine all of a sudden? She felt like she was looking for someone and then immediately stopped partway through. Why did she feel like someone was missing when they didn't exist in the first place. "I'm... It... N-Never mind." There was that strange pang on her temple again, the one that went off not two minutes ago. "I'm gonna go look for the ball, stay here with the kids."

"Well, all right." Adora smiled sitting back down. "Shouldn't be too hard watching three kids for a bit."

"Yeah, all three of... three... huh?" Now that was starting to bug her. She could've sworn- no. She was positive that were more kids here earlier, like six or seven. Looking out to the field though only confirmed what Adora had said. There were only three kids, consisting of a batter, a pitcher, and someone playing in the outfield, all looking back at her as they waited for her to get the missing ball. "Uhhh yeah... you watch all three of them... I'll be right back."

...

Jumping over the gate and into the nearby alleyways, Catra continued her search for the ball as her mind continued to fill with fuzz in all corners. Something strange was going on around here, even though she had no idea what. She felt like this town was getting smaller to her, that the sky was looking a little less blue. In fact she could've sworn she saw a very faded red over it now, streaking across the sky as the sun continued to shine over them.

But it's always been that way, right? Yeah, it had to be! She remembers being greeted with that same redness that she woke up to this morning, the one that greeted her every morning along with the hundred or so people that made up her kingdom. It was all right if something felt a little off about today, right? After all, as the princess of this kingdom, her word was law and her rule was concrete. If she wanted the sky to turn red, it could... somehow... and nobody would question it. Not her, not Adora, not that person who gave her a Tuna Sandwich this morning, who... he was...

Wait. What sandwich? Why was she thinking about Tuna now? Sure, the cat side of her savored the taste of fresh fish, she might even go get some after she finds the ball for the two kids. All she needed was to remember where to find a sandwich in this small kingdom of hers, searching under various cardboard boxes thrown into the alleyway as well as behind some of the trashcans she came across.

That was when her hearing picked up the faint sound of a rolling object. Looking out of the alleyway and into the streets of her kingdom, she smiled as she ran out for it, picking it up with ease." Got'cha!" She cheered to herself, tossing the ball a few times in front of herself in her right hand. "Now to get it back to that kid and..." As she contemplated to herself, she noticed another thing out of place, one that made her legitimately worried about what was going on around her.

"Hello?" She called out. She was standing in the middle of one of the various market streets of her kingdom, the place that should always be busy whether rain or shine. It was one of the many cornerstones of her kingdom's wealth, one that supplied the kingdom with currency and resources from traders and barters from across the world.

And in her present street, there was nothing. Nothing alive anyway, save for herself. The stalls were empty, the wind carried a faint trail of dust, there wasn't even a footprint belonging to anyone else around this part of the town. Looking down the other direction she was met with the same results. Nobody around for as far as her eye could see, not a single sound of someone running, much less walking, around the market place.

"Helloooo?" She called out again as she walked down the curiously silent street. She didn't have anything she needed to do at this moment, it's not like she came out here to find a ball that didn't exist, so this gave her plenty of ample time to search the kingdom. "Where did everybody go?"

She knew her kingdom was small, but nothing like this. Sure, it had about twenty to thirty villagers, which made it weird when she compared that to the number of buildings she saw around herself. This place looked like a ghost town yet she remembers the numerous people who greeted her this morning. They were all cheering her name, praising her simply for waking up to greet them. She couldn't ask for a better group of people than that!

Here, however, she was asking for any group of people to appear in front of her. It's like everyone decided to up and vanish, like they decided not to exist anymore. If that was a choice, she would've gladly done so on numerous occasions through her miserable life so she knows it wasn't that.

Maybe she should ask Adora? Yeah, that was the better solution. She wasn't going to find anything out in these parts of the ghost town, and since Adora was still at the Castle like she left her this morning, she should be pretty easy to find. It's not like she was going to get her answers by exploring the empty town anyway.

That was the mindset she had until she looked straight on ahead, seeing what couldn't possibly be real, large enough for her to see it grow from the edge of town.

Red.

Pure, violent, red.

What was it? Red was all she could call it. It was a giant wall of red that stretched up to the sky, the same sky that now turned red as it connected with the red in every other direction of her kingdom. She felt like she was in a box, being stuffed inside of it without her knowledge where no other life could get in or out of.

"What... is that...?" A strange fear was planted into her heart, a warning telling her to get away from the dangerous thing she's never seen before. Against her heart's wishes, she ran towards the bright wall of red. She knew it had to have the answers to all her questions she's created today, all the explanations she needed to explain why everyone had disappeared. She felt that once she had this mystery solved, a great realization would be revealed.

Unaware of how deadly the situation was slowly becoming...

...

"Catra, wait!" Glimmer cried out as she chased after the feral-turned friend, as she herself was being chased by an army of bots. This was going to be a great day to put into her diary, if she even lived long enough to write in it.

Dear Diary,

Today my new friend somehow got turned feral after being exposed by some red crystal thing that the princess we recruited was experimenting with. Apparently she now things she's some sort of protective tiger or a jaguar as she seems savage enough to tear robots limb from limb but peaceful enough to be domesticated like a house cat. This also came with all the annoyances such as keeping her on an actual leash, trying to keep her from attacking anything that neared me, and watching her as she disgustingly ate a small mouse.

On the one bright side behind all of this, according to Entrapta, the princess we came to recruit, the reason she's so protective is because she apparently sees us as friends, if not the people who feed her which is sadly more likely the case. At least it's nice to think that Catra really does consider us closer than she let's on. No matter how far it feels like she's pushing us I think it's a good sign that she might be a little more welcoming of us than we originally thought.

...I hope so anyway. To the future Glimmer re-reading this the next time you write in your diary, be sure to tell Entrapta NEVER TO EXPERIMENT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE REBELLION EVER AGAIN, and to see if she can learn anything else later on about Catra's species. I don't know what this "magicat" thing is, but based off what Entrapta said, it sounds like Catra might be the very last one. I'd ask my mom about it but I don't want her to find out about everything that happened today, especially how Catra nearly ate me awhile ago.

- Love Always, Glimmer.

P.S., Bow, I swear, if you're reading this again and I catch you, I will personally drop you into the middle of the Ocean!

Yup, that would be about as much as she'd expect to write if she got out of this alive.

Nothing she could do for the time being proved useful. She couldn't use her teleporting powers because, aside from the dozens of robots chasing them, there was no telling where they'd end up. Having tried it the first couple times she was in here with Catra she put them into one horrible scenario after the other, taking several times to teleport again until they were safe. She also couldn't afford to waste her magic blasts since there was no telling how many of these robots ran rampant throughout the halls, and the last thing she'd want was to be out of magic when she needed to teleport.

Sadly, Entrapta wasn't of much help either. Throughout the entire chase as the two ran for their lives, following behind a fearful feral Catra, she was more focused on taking notes on the endeavor than trying to get away with her lives. Every single thing she saw was a great new experience for her. She's never learned so much in one day like this since she was little, and she had Glimmer and Catra to thank wholly for this!

"Incredible development." She spoke into the Tape recorder held by her hair. "The robots seem to be working together. This confirms my earlier hypothesis that they're learning, possibly at an exponential rate!"

With a grumble, Glimmer pulled her arm back down as she interrupted. "Right now, I think that's a bad thing! We need to find another way into the lab."

"We can use the air duct! It's one of the few places I didn't program any robots into. At least, not anything big."

"That's great, but what about Catra?" Glimmer looked back to her friend running on all fours with worry. "We can't just leave her out here on her own, and I doubt she'd enjoy getting dragged into a cramped space as she is." It was troubling to say that was the least of their worries.

With each passing minute, Glimmer was aware of Catra's continued progression into a feral state. She noticed how she became more tense over the course of their exploration through the castle, noticing her hiss a little more often and how she continued to get more aggressive whenever Entrapta got too close. There was one point she almost swiped at Glimmer herself as if she nearly forgot who she was.

Coming up around the corner, the two found themselves cut off like Catra was, the magicat growling angrily at the wall of bots that cut off their path. They came in all varieties and designs, from some being two feet tall to others being four feet taller than any of the three present heroes. Some of them had scrubbers and hoses on the ends of their arms while others had sharpened blades for cutting and shearing, ideal for all manner of tasks between sewing, mowing the lawn, and giving proper haircuts.

They also doubled as guillotines for those pesky intruders they happened to stumble upon the castle without an invitation, or anything they'd consider an invitation.

"Rrrrrrrragh!" Catra roared angrily, the ends of her hair standing up in anger as her claws stretched out ready to attack. Seeing the state of the feral creature, the robots repeated the same procedure they did the first time that started this mess.

All by opening their mouths simultaneously.

*Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!*

"Rnnnnnnnnnnnngh!" Catra hissed in pain as she clutched her ears, falling over to her sides in front of the other two princesses.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out. There was something different going on this time around, something that made her all the more worried than the last time this happened. All around her forehead, growing from the corners of her scalp, red veins could be seen slowly growing, stretching over centimeter by centimeter as it stretched a fourth of the way above her eyes. "What's happening to her?"

"Eeeeeeeeh-!" Entrapta was torn between the excitement building up inside of her and the seriousness of the situation. She knew there was a time and place for excitement and sadly Glimmer told her earlier that this wasn't one of those times. "This is incredible! ..And bad. It's incredibly bad." She nibbled on her gloved thumb.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Glimmer couldn't take her eyes off her friend as she continued to watch. The loud screeching noise was irritating her too but definitely nowhere near as bad as Catra currently was. She ran over to her friend, rubbing her shoulders soothingly in any attempt to ease her pain.

"Yes, though I'm amazed it's happening at all..."

"Well what's wrong with her then?" As they bantered Glimmer saw as the veins grew another centimeter over Catra's forehead.

"Well, based on what I'm seeing, I think the robots are intentionally creating that noise to accelerate her mental degradation."

"In english, please!"

"Their screaming is making the virus spread faster!"

...

"What is this thing?" Catra continued to stare at the pure red wall in front of her. Two feet from where she stood, she was gazing at the massive wall of red standing on the edge of her kingdom. North, South, East, West. Wherever she turned there was another wall of red blocking off her kingdom from the rest of the world, including the sky above where the sun used to be.

Why did a giant wall appear to begin with? Better question, where were the rest of her citizens? She was princess of the entire kingdom, who cared if it only consisted of twenty or so people! There should've been one or two people coming to the edge of these walls to examine it themselves and she found herself being the only one. Did nobody else see this going on here?

And was it her or was this strange red glowing a little? Why was it making her want to touch it? Surely, there could be no harm in giving it a little tou-

*Zzzzzzt!*

"Ahhh!" Catra yelped pulling back her shocked hand. She squeezed her wrist tightly as she tried to rub the pain away. The steam rose from her hand as she stared at her burnt fingertips, looking back to the red wall as she processed what was going on. "This stupid wall is electrified?"

*eeeeeeeeeeeeee-*

"What's..?" The air began to fill with a sound, one familiar yet mysterious to her. In all directions, up to down, left to right, she could've sworn she heard the noise coming in all directions. It echoed throughout the air, never ending or diminishing wherever she looked. "Where have I... heard that bef-"

*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-*

"Nggggggh!" Gnawing at her own teeth, Catra growled as she squeezed her head in pain, squeezing her hands against her ears. What was happening to her? Why was she in so much pain from this strange noise? She dug her nails into her head, trying to push them as tightly as possible against the drills she felt being pushed into her ears from all sides.

It was like nails on a chalkboard while being sharped against a blacksmith's sharpening stone. The shivers it sent through Catra's body was on a whole 'nother level compared to all the past noises she's heard. She'd rather deal with nails on a chalkboard at this rate compared to the horrifying noise that was penetrating her eardrums. It was like it was trying to force something into her brain, make her remember a past she didn't have... it was almost... like...

Her eyes snapped open as the pain instantly subsided. "I remember now..." Everything came rushing back to her as she looked at her hands, surprised and confused at the sight of the rings on her fingers and the state of her combed hair. "I was in that crazy geek's castle, and then..." She didn't need to remind herself of every detail she remembered. What mattered to her at this time was everything else she didn't know. "How'd I get here?"

*crick*

"Huh?" Now she was hearing other strange noises coming from around her. The only difference this time was that it sounded like the wall itself was making that noise.

"..."

*CRACKLE!*

"Whoa-!" Catra jumped back a few feet as the wall started moving towards her.

The wall that shocked her to the touch, the walls and sky above that were filling with red, all of them were starting to close in little by little. They pushed passed the ground that seemingly blocked it's way, crushing it under it's terrible redness as the ground itself shook violently. Catra backed away slowly as she saw all the walls closing around her from every direction of the kingdom. With the world slowly sinking in on her, the only safe location she could think of to buy herself some time was the castle itself, the center of all this oncoming destruction.

More importantly, it reminded her of another crucial detail that mattered to her. "Adoraaa!" Catra screamed running back to the castle. She couldn't explain why she was there, she barely knew how she got here herself in the first place. All she knew was that her friend was still here in this crumbling kingdom, and she's the only one that mattered to her around here...

...

"Ghhhh!" Catra continued to growl in the outside world, the red veins growing across her forehead continuing to stretch.

"Haaah!" Glimmer screamed as she fired another bolt of magic at one of the approaching robots, blasting it's head off as she backed closer towards Catra. She panted out of breath at the excess of energy they were spending. If they were just screaming in annoyance in an attempt to hasten Catra's viral spreading, that'd be one thing. It'd be easy to deal with these things if they stood in one spot while screaming. Even though there weren't any more of them approaching, the twenty or so that still remained proved irritating enough for the three of them.

Unfortunately, the robots weren't content with standing in one spot while playing a degrading sound affect. They approached one by one on the group as they seemed strangely focused on Catra herself, drawing closer to the magicat in distress who squeezed her head in pain, groveling on the floor. She didn't know what they wanted or why they were so focused on her and she didn't care, She wouldn't allow them to harm her friend without getting through her first!

Hopefully not literally.

*CRASH!*

Speaking of protecting her, it was nice to know Entrapta was willing to put the safety of others first and foremost and the necessity to study every little detail second, no matter how much it seemed to pain her. Stretching her hairs from pipe to pipe that crossed the ceiling, she managed to get atop one of the monstrosities, sinking her hair straight into the small cracks and openings of the robot's limbs before yanking the heads off whichever ones she could. So far, the count was five for Glimmer and three for Entrapta, the scientist getting momentarily zapped once or twice after the last two robots she dismantled directly.

And it still wasn't enough to halt their advance. Several times throughout the fighting did the girls find themselves nearly getting cleaved by a giant pair of scissors or find themselves flattened by a giant mallet-like hand pressing down where they once stood. The robots didn't need reinforcements as their special qualities and numbers gave them an edge over the two and the downed friend they were too focused on protecting.

"Agh!" Glimmer groaned in pain as she was suddenly slammed to the ground by two different robots. The one on her chest was actually torn in half, the upper torso maintaining a strong grip on the girl's shoulders as the other massive one, one with two giant tanks of water equipped to it's back, pressing her down with the other bot helping it. Struggling to break free, her magic too exhausted to attempt any teleporting, she found her face being drenched in a waterfall of liquid, all pouring out of the robot's giant mouth, the deluge pouring over her entire face without end.

I can't breathe! She screamed to herself, kicking her legs in order to achieve any form of slack to slip out of either robot's grip. It proved useless as the two pinned her in unison, Glimmer helpless to pull away from the two as the torrent of water continued to suffocate her, not even a fourth of it's tanks emptied as it continued.

Entrapta was ensnared by two other robots, the one to trap her taking the form of a robotic barber. Like any classy barber, he donned a white apron with a curly, albeit fake, white mustache, a rather slim body given it's surprising strength. Using it's efficient rotational comb to catch Entrapta's hair as she flung it at him. In no time at all, the robot drew in the princess's hair, pulling her over to it as she struggled to untangle her hair.

"Ack! Let go!" She yelled, pulling at it in a futile attempt at freeing herself. Looking ahead of her again at the sound of a strange buzzing noise, she realized the robot pulling her in was the least of her problems. The actual robot she had to worry about was the one with a buzzsaw for a hand, one of a dozen ideal robots for construction and refurbishing parts around here, drawing towards her with the enraged glowing redness like the others. "Wait! Wait! At least donate my body to science!"

Sure, she could handle getting chopped up into bits and mauled to a bloody pulp, but she couldn't go on living with herself without contributing one more thing to the world in the name of science!

All this left an agonizing Catra to grovel as a hulking figure loomed over her. Her entire body was wracked with pain, the instincts incapable of doing anything to defend itself as the ear shattering screams continued to torment her to no end. Her entire body felt paralyzed as as the mech approached her. She couldn't lift her finger, she couldn't kick her leg, even her tail was shaking against her will. There was nothing she could do to defend herself.

There was nothing any of them could do to save themselves.

And they didn't have to.

*BOOM!*

"Haaaaugh!" Glimmer gasped for breath as the endless waters finally came to an end. She coughed up a mouthful of water as she could feel the air flowing through her nose again, panting heavily for the breath of life that eventually returned. Above her she saw the blown remains of what used to be the giant robot's head, the bot stuttering back and forth briefly until it finally fell backwards with a massive thud. Looking to the other bot who pinned her shoulders down, the small figure barely saw the oncoming attack until it was too late, finding it's head smashed away by a friend's weapon she was all too familiar to. "Bow!" She never felt so glad to see him!

Or the reinforcements he brought as the entire area filled with a white, hazy, smoke.

"Come on!" She heard Bow yell. It wasn't directed to her though, but to the friends he apparently brought with him. Not wasting a moment he fired off two more arrows into the distance, bringing down the robot that had ensnared Entrapta and the one that was a foot away from giving her a permanent haircut. Squirming with fear she untangled from the mass entanglement, pulling it out and running towards Glimmer as the other bots approached from behind her.

Coming through the clouds Glimmer watched as his allies charged headfirst towards the robot, one consisting of what appeared to be a butler with various refreshment bottles, a large pastry chef with her light-green bundled up in a simple bow, and a small younger servant who appeared to be about one foot shorter than bow himself. While she had numerous questions to ask she was more than willing to put that on hold- there were still bots to deal with.

With the smoke obstructing the views of the twenty or so bots, all of them ceased their screeching in unison, finding the bizarre happening to be all too distracting. Almost immediately, the feral Catra's eyes shot open with fury as she leaped upwards at the robot who nearly grabbed her, digging her claws straight through the robot and pulling out several wires that let loose electrical sparks until it's life faded away. Without skipping a beat she angrily jumped towards the next closest robot as she continued her rampage.

The pastry chef continued her charge towards several of the smaller bots as she easily bashed them out of the way with her mighty arms. Coming across the fourth bot that matched her size and possible strength, she quickly dug through her apron's pockets as she blasted two cake filling's worth of frosting at the monstrosity, blinding it and pushing it back enough to trip it backwards to the ground. Before it could get up the pastry chef happily crushed it's metallic head under her heel, grinning to herself as she did.

It would make for a crazy tale to tell her kids, if she had any in the future, how she defeated a bunch of psychotic robots with the power of pastry.

Meanwhile the other two servants were working together as they continued to fight off the bots with their own unique skills. The gentleman of the two began spraying several bottles worth of refreshments across the floor, tripping two of the robots and short-circuiting one of the bots that were low to the ground. With the grounds freshly watered and slippery, he smiled back to the shorter servant as he pulled her hand and slid her against the watery surface. Sliding against the floor the servant whisked a dozen round dishes through the air with enough precision to cleave many of the robots' heads, destroying them instantly.

The brief moment of joy she felt at her personal accomplishment quickly turned to terror as she ended up colliding into a hulking robot at the end of her slide. The arms of the terrifying bot were thicker than her entire body, its fingers almost the same size of her head.

Temporarily frozen with fear, she could only watch as the bot raised it's massive fist over her head, ready to strike down. Just as it was about to deliver the first blow, Bow jumped into the scene at the last second, planting his feet straight onto the robot's shoulders as he aimed towards it. It took a single arrow through it's head to destroy the terrible creature, the bot trembling with sparks of electricity dancing around it's entire body as it slammed back to the ground.

With the smoke clearing the three previous princesses looked on with joy, Catra mildly confused, as the robots surrounding them were all finally destroyed. All that was left of them were broken parts and loose nuts, a few of them leaking oils that fueled some of them, and broken pieces of scrap all around the room.

This was definitely a victory Bow would never forget.

"Bow!" Glimmer cheered happily as she ran to him, hugging him tightly as he returned with the same. "Thank goodness you're all right! I was so worried!"

"I'm glad to see you're okay too." He replied as he gestured to the other three. "You can thank them for saving me up above. I might never have found you if it wasn't for them." Looking around, he smiled over to the other princess in the room, walking over to her for a formal greeting. "Big fan of your work, Princess Entrapta." He bowed, kicking away a twitching hand as he did. "Maybe not this work exactly, but your other work."

"Haha... Hi..." She chuckled nervously, shaking his hand with her hair to which Bow kissed respectfully.

*sniff-sniff*

"Uhh... Catra?" That left him to check on the last remaining friend in the room, the same one he questioned as she circled him on her hands and knees. "Uh why is she sniffing my legs like that?"

"Long story short," Glimmer replied as she grabbed Catra's makeshift leash, "Entrapta accidentally created some virus from a disc that's affecting the robots and somehow infected Catra's sword too, and her along with it. She's been acting like a wild animal all day." Worry came over her as she noticed Catra's forehead. Even after the robots were destroyed, the red veins growing over her forehead had yet to recede. "We need to get back into the lab and turn off the disc to turn her back to normal before she forgets us!"

"Heh, I don't see what the big deal is." Bow commented squatting down. He stuck his hand out in front of her for her to sniff. "Even if she forgets us, we'll just stop the disc thing. It's not that bad."

*snap!*

"Whoa!" Bow flinched back as the feral magicat attempted to bite at the stranger's hand. Glimmer pulled back on the rope as she noticed Catra's aggressive state, the girl hissing at him with anger and distrust. "I take that back. But it still means we just have to destroy the virus and she'll be back to normal, right?"

"Well not as long as you don't think about the degradation effect it'll have on her after." Entrapta added in, earning looks from Bow and Glimmer.

"Wait, what do you mean by after?" Glimmer felt a lump forming in her throat as she asked the dreadful question. "I thought you said she would only forget us after awhile?"

"Oh... I didn't mention that part?" The scientist poked the tips of her hair and her fingers with a nervous chuckle. "Yeeeeeah, it doesn't really matter if you destroy the virus if her entire mind is corrupted by then. It'll affect her permanently afterwards."

"And... what exactly will happen if her entire mind is corrupted by the virus?" Why did the only questions that came to her have to be questions that worried her the most?

"Oh... there won't be anything."

"Oh..." She's never been more thankful to hear the results of a question that was filling her being with fear. Bow himself smiled to her at that. "That's a relief. For a second there I thought you were going to say something bad would happen."

"N-No, I mean... there wouldn't be anything left of the Catra you know. She'll be gone forever."

...

*clang*

Unscrewing the hatch of the air vent, Entrapta slowly made her way out of the crawlspace, Catra following closely behind her as she tried to bat at her hair she was being baited with.

With the track record that's been going on for awhile, Glimmer refused to think things couldn't possibly get worse from here. On top of Catra forgetting all about them, now she's saying Catra, the one they've come to know for the last few weeks, would be gone. That was no different than saying "Catra will die" if her entire sense of self was erase from existence!

The trip up to this point was met without resistance. There weren't any other robots the group came across as they traversed the air vents to the main control room, the origin point of the viral outbreak. Catra didn't appear to be getting any worse during the travel but she seemed a lot more hesitant and untrusting of Glimmer as she tried to egg her along into getting into the air vents. Eventually Entrapta came up with the creative idea to lure the girl around with her own hair, angering the cat enough to make her follow the purple monster all the way through the vents.

She was glad she didn't get her hair tangled up in her claws during the last several times she managed to nab at it.

The room itself was in the worst condition compared to the rest of the castle. All around the walls, stretching to the ceilings and floors, the room was filled with red vein-like roots that grew in every direction. Everything the roots touched stemmed from the one location of the entire virus, the viral disc itself, that was implanted in the large computer at the far end of the room. As expected, surrounding the computer were dozens of bots, all standing guard to protect the master core that gave them all aggressive life.

Sneaking behind the wreckage of the room as the others crawled out of the vent, Entrapta glanced through a small opening, Bow standing right alongside her and looking through another opening. "Okay. Where's the disc?" He whispered.

It was during this time Catra silently hissed back to the rope-like leash that was kept around her neck. The thing irritated her to no end, brushing against her fur-like skin with every moment. Noticing Glimmer's distracted state, she began gnawing on the evil leash like a wolf caught in a trap, eating away at the bondage that angered her to no end.

Pointing over the distance, Bow saw the overgrown computer that the bots had been guarding, a single glow shining from the source of the corruption. Roots had grown over the core itself in protection, the roots keeping a firm hold. "How fascinating. It has completely protected itself! I wonder if the bots surrounding it guard it out of direct orders or out of free will?"

"All right. We need to find a way to turn it off." Bow whispered back to the others behind him. "Does anybody have an idea?"

"Rrrrrrrrragh!" Catra roared angrily as she charged head first into the swarm of bots. Pupils shrinking, Glimmer took a double take between Catra and the rope that she ate through, panicking as she saw her method of escape.

"Catra, no!" Glimmer shouted, running after her as her magic was too tapped to teleport.

"Glimmer!" Bow shouted after.

"We'll take care of your friends." The pastry chef stated, rolling pins at the ready in her hands. "You two get that disc turned off."

"Keep them busy." Bow smiled at the assurance, proud that his new friends had the confidence they needed to chase after his friends. Grabbing onto Bow with one of her ponytails, Entrapta shot her long hair extension towards the ceiling, swinging themselves over as the rest of her friends dealt with the bots.

The worry they had for Catra's well-being proved unnecessary as Catra dove into the crowd of the bots, diving both her claws into the first two bots as the rest started to swarm her. None of them were any match for the feline as her quick reflexes worked to her advantage, swiping and clawing at the numerous limbs that came at her before the bots could so much as reach her. It didn't leave Glimmer without worry that her friend was fighting on her own, especially as she saw the small red veins growing closer over her forehead, stretching past her eyes.

The same worry was well-placed as she watched Catra getting grabbed entire torso, pinning her arms to her side. The bot had an arm twice the size of it's body, lifting her off her feet as she struggled to squeeze out of his grip. With the cat failing to pry his grip her, the bot opened it's massive mouth as let out another maniacal scream, right in front of Catra's face.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

"Rnnnnnnnngh!" Catra cried out in pain, unable to close her ears as the bot kept her arms pinned together. The veins over her head pulsed brightly as they grew at an exponential rate, growing closer by the inch over a few seconds. There was nothing she could do to protect her sensitive ears or her mind as the virus spread all throughout her brain.

*Wham!*

Dropping the cat girl, Catra fell to the ground as the young servant's foot planted straight into the bot's massive face, kicking it to the ground as she leaped away. Seeing the bot ceasing it's function, she turned her attention towards the downed comrade that she was tasked with saving.

At the same time, the two other servants ran side by side as they passed Glimmer, tackling the robots that neared the princess of Bright Moon. With her pins the chef pounded away at the incoming bots, bashing them out of the way as the other servant short-circuited the others with ample amounts of liquid. The two cleared the path for her as she ran up to Catra in the middle of the room, the girl appearing passed out as Glimmer kneeled, raising her up by her shoulders.

"Catra! Catra wake up!" Glimmer yelled as the smaller servant ran off to take care of the other bots. She had no idea how Catra was, seeing the veins in her head were a single inch apart from each other. Any more and she was sure Catra would forget everything about her, everything about all of them. As Entrapta put it, the Catra they knew would be gone forever.

An ounce of relief filled her as she saw her friend wincing a little, beating the alternative of never waking up at all. Noticing a small twitch in her clawed hands, Glimmer sighed as she turned towards the three servants who continued to bat away at the oncoming enemies. She's never felt as useless as she did now without her magic, unable to assist the others without a weapon and her magic nearly depleted.

At least she could take heart that Catra was fi-

*Bash!*

"Ahhh!" The refreshment server yelped as Glimmer was thrown into him, the two crashing against the floor as the other two looked back. With the crash coming to a halt Glimmer picked herself up off the servant, helping him to his feet as she did, then turned her shocked expression over to the one who attacked her.

It wasn't a bot. It wasn't some red giant root that sprang to life.

It was Catra. The magicat who stood on her own two feet, body shaking as her head was lowered. She nor Bow, the latter looking back from the computer he and Entrapta reached, could believe what she just did. That wasn't a play of a teasing or joking manner, she didn't get annoyed with something and wanted whomever to stop. She straight up attacked Glimmer, throwing her into the air so she'd crash into one of the servants who destroyed a bot a second earlier.

Lifting her head, the other four were met with her face. The face of a monster whose pupils glowed red with fury. She gnarled her teeth together as a threat towards the others, Glimmer gasping as she saw several robots approaching behind her. But they didn't attack her, they didn't stare at her with the threatening red that they glared at her with.

They were standing side by side, as if allies in arms.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" With a massive scream of rage, Catra stretched her claws out fully, growling at the other fleshy creatures with unparalleled fury. Catra had join the side of the other bots, roaring angrily as she took the charge of the surrounding bots, pressing on the attack.

Catra had been taken by Virus.

...

A/N: And with that, we're one chapter away from finishing the episode ^^! Which is especially great since it means I'll be going back into writing the episodes I remember more entirely. And because of that, I'll be adding my own spins on them which I manage to write out faster than anything scene for scene.

Translation: it means faster updates again ^^

Gonna apologize up front because despite the above cliffhangar, the fight itself might be a little short (still a couple thousand words and whatnot) since we are seirously at the last 3-4 minutes of the episode here XP, but i promise it'll still have a nice length ^^

We're almost there guys! We're almost half-ish way through season 1 ^^! dear god i am praying I get this done before season 2 cause I'll never be able to watch it till I get this one done so I can keep this up in turn with the series XP.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 22: Episode 6: System Failure Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah, with a near 11k Words, I am proud to announce we are practically haflway done folks! HALLELUJAH!

Now as I mentioned last chapter, don't expect that much of a "fight scene", i mean there is basically like 1 minute of the fight left and whatnot. I still think the chapter should be plenty fun though as we get bring our episode to a close, as well as another grandiose flashback regarding Catra's past.

Hope everyone enjoys!

...

"Adoraaaa!" Catra continued to yell as she ran through her shrinking kingdom.

Everywhere she looked, everything she saw, buildings, the ground, the air itself, all of it was being consumed by the dreadful red light, destroying everything it touched as it shrank onto the kingdom. There was no touching the wall of death, having burnt her fingers from a static discharge it gave the first time she tried it. And all through this chase, this giant run through the city, there were two questions plaguing her.

One, what was this obnoxious screeching sound she heard all throughout the city? During her run through the city, there was this low pitch screech noise that irritated her ears. Thankfully it was quiet enough not to mess with her senses directly, though that still left the question of where it was coming from to begin with. Were the walls making the noise? It sounded like it came from every direction, so that seemed like the most probable solution. At the same time though, it was hollowed out, almost waning. Where was the source of the noise coming from?

Second question, where was everyone else? This entire place was her kingdom, she realized that part of it. What she couldn't figure out was where she was or how she got here. She remembered going on a mission with Glimmer and Bow, going to Entrapta's Castle, and that's it. From there, she woke up, and the next thing she knew she was outside this entire place after the screeching sound began. She couldn't remember it, she couldn't remember anything!

The one thing she remembered was that there was one other person in this entire kingdom, the one person she knew would be at the castle, which supposedly belonged to her.

Looking behind herself as she ran, she gulped silently as she saw the continued desecration of her kingdom, the red walls coming in every direction. She didn't know where the two of them would go from here. All she knew was that anywhere would be better than this. As long as she found Adora, things would be fine.

Coming to the giant wooden doors to her castle, she grunted as she pushed with as much for as she muster, nudging the door inch by inch as she made her way through. She didn't know if these things could destroy everything as quickly as they moved, but if anything could slow it down she hoped these doors could.

Finally managing to slide herself in, she wasted no time turning and slamming the doors shut, slouching against the door as she panted out of breath. That might've been the longest run she's ever gone without slowing down, spanning over three miles to reach the center of her kingdom. "Huff... Huff... Ado... Adora!" Catra called out, being met with a silent echo all throughout the place. Her heart raced a little from the lack of response to this. Was she still here? Oh no, what if she left?! "Adora! Adoraaaa! Where are you?"

"I'm here Catra, I'm fine." Adora yelled back casually as she walked down the large staircase. Catra managed to ease her tension a little, rubbing the center of her chest as she tried to steady her pacing heart. Adora was alive and well, greeting her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Geez, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?" She asked placing a soothing hand on her shoulder.

"There's no time to explain!" Catra yelled. "We need to get out of here, now!"

"Get out of here?" Adora blinked in confusion at the sudden announcement. "Why? What's the hurry?"

*CRACKLE*

There was no need to answer her directly. The two of them were drawn towards the door at the sound of the fierce crackling of ground and building. To Catra's shock, the doors and walls of this place proved useless against the horrifying might of the red. Seething at the sight of the red approaching her, Catra grabbed Adora's hand as she took off up the stairs. "I don't know, we just need to get out of here while we still can!"

"And go where?" Adora questioned as she continued to look at the red wall while running.

"I don't know! Maybe there's a secret passage around here? Some magic to teleport us?" There was no telling what they had in this castle, having lost most of her non-essential memories upon her memory's return. For all she knew they might have a time traveling wizard that could turn the clock back for them. "I don't care! Let's get out of here while we still- Ngh!" Catra froze at the sight in front of her.

The walls were coming in from the hallway. At the other end, she saw the wall coming closer. Behind her, a wall was still giving chase. In the middle of this long hallway, where a single window sat, she could see an approaching pile of red coming towards her. No doubt there was more red coming from the opposite direction, throwing that possibility out the window too.

"No..." She couldn't believe it. There was no means of escaping this place. All around her the castle slowly crumbled to bits of dust, falling around her as the walls and ceilings gave way to the walls of death that continued on her path. The one direction she didn't see red was directly below her feet, seeing an empty void above where her feet were standing. If there was any getting through that way she'd take it in an instant. Falling forever into a seemingly-bottomless void was still preferable over whatever thee things could do to the two of them.

Everything was gone, disappearing. Closing in on her here by the second, she could tell everything else was gone. There was no kingdom outside these walls, the castle walls that is, and everyone she knew had simply vanished without a trace. She didn't hear any screaming through the kingdom, not a trace of anyone lied about. She was alone in this very kingdom.

Her, and Adora.

"Now what do we do?" Catra squeezed her hand anxiously, trying to come up with a plan.

"What do you mean we? It's just you now." Catra turned back towards her friend at the monotonous sound of her voice. There was a blank expression on her face as she stared at Catra. It was like she wasn't even aware of the surrounding walls that continued to near them.

"Adora, what... what are you talking about?" Worry started to take hold of her as she saw Adora slowly back up.

"What do you think? It's always been about you. What you wanted, who you decided to like. You just kept pushing everyone else away. Anyone you didn't agree with or didn't like. You never really cared for any of them."

"T-That's not true!" Catra tried to argue, remaining where she was. "I-I didn't push anyone away! I just... I just didn't want anything to do with them! I didn't want to scare them, I didn't want to make anyone angry."

"And you thought by turning your backs on them that they would be the only ones who left?" By now, Adora was halfway between the remaining hallway, stopping in place as the walls came behind her. "You didn't think anyone who cared about who you pushed away would want to stay with you? You didn't think anyone else would be affected by your simple turn aways?"

"...The people..." It was then that Catra finally realized why everyone was disappearing, who was to blame for her kingdom being empty.

Herself.

She was the cause of the kingdom's nothingness, the reason nobody still remained. What short few menial tasks she felt were unnecessary were small tiles on the path of a large chain of dominos. When she didn't want to meet one person, two people were affected. When she didn't want to give any special attention to a lone infant, a couple kids left one by one.

Anyone who so much as noticed those people missing would leave in turn. One by one the people around her started to dwindle and disappear, eventually leaving her with a kingdom without it's people.

A world without any friends. And those who did remain by her side were starting to disappear themselves. It was at that moment Catra watched as the wall finally reached her, Adora slowly fading into the red itself.

"But I... I didn't mean to push anyone away, I swear! I just..." A grave look of despair crossed Catra's face as she looked away. "I just didn't want to be hated..."

"Well good for you." Adora's voice started to echo as the wall consumed the rest of her. "Now you'll never be hated again. Now you'll be alone..."

"Adora!" Catra cried out trying to reach for her. It was already too late as the tips of her claw brushed against the incoming wall, sending a painful jolt against her hand, leaving a crisp burn around it. Her eyes widened in terror as she backed away from the wall, looking around herself as the walls were a couple yards away from her in all directions. "No, no..." Her ears twitched as her tail wrapped around her waist, trying everything to keep herself as far from the walls as possible. Mentally preparing for it, the walls all a foot away, she prepared for the worst of it, ready for whatever pain it had to bring.

There was no amount of preparation for this kind of pain.

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT-!*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Catra cried out in an immense roar as the wall in front of her and behind her pushed closer to one another. Nothing but pain and sorrow came from these walls of terror as an endless jolt of electricity surged throughout her entire body. She was being pressed against the walls in all directions, the walls unable to push passed her body as she blocked herself with own arms. It did little to keep the walls separated, yet enough to stop them from crushing her.

The trouble was, now what could she do? The minute she gave any slack, the second she lost the will to survive, she was going to get crushed. She was going to die. With no one else around her, with no way to get herself out of this predicament, what else could she do by cry out for help?

"Someone... anyone... help!" She begged tearfully. The worst kind of suffering was when you forced yourself to survive through it.

The only suffering worse than that was knowing that no one could save you, not when you found yourself all alone...

...

*wham!*

"Agh!" The small servant yelped as she was kicked away square in the stomach by a feral Catra.

The battle taking place outside her mind was far more stressful for the surrounding allies as they struggled to fight off the horde of Robots and a mind controlled Catra. Her eyes were burning with fire as the red veins across her head pulsed brightly, being signaled by whatever force compelled her to do it's bidding.

Sneaking up on her the pastry chef attempted to hold back the feral-turned enemy, Catra hissing and roaring as she hugged her tightly from behind, squeezing her arms tightly together. With a growl, Catra sank her teeth into the woman's arm, the chef letting out a cry of pain and losing her grip enough for Catra to squeeze through. Sliding out from under the arms, Catra wasted no time as she miraculously lifted the large woman over her shoulder, tossing her away at the smaller servant who rolled out of the way, barely in time as the large chef landed heavily on the ground.

Following this brief display of might, she found herself cowering in fear and disgust as she was sprayed heavily by the refreshment's servant, pushing the cat back enough as she covered her face, buying times for the others to make a quick recovery and get back on their feet.

When one of them were fighting Catra, the others were fighting off the robots that came into the room one by one. When they weren't dealing with the robots, one of them were dealing with the much deadlier Catra, the girl's claws sharp enough to cut through their bones if she tried hard enough. Between the two whoever was dealing with the magicat found themself less fortunate, the robots that moved sluggishly being a blessing compared to the feline who was swift and deadly.

Finding the oncoming drench beginning to wane, Catra took the miniscule opening as she dashed over to the servant, jumping to the air and pushing him to the floor. She bared her teeth angrily at the servant, rising her sharp claws to swipe at his face and leave him with a few new stitches if he was lucky.

That's when Glimmer managed to jump in when her guard was down, tackling and pushing her off the servant. Helping him back to his feet, she gathered what little magic remained inside of her into her hands, ready to fight off her friend for as long as possible. "Catra, snap out of it! It's us, remember?"

"What did those bots do to Catra?" Bow asked as he and Entrapta continued their attempts to pry the source of virus from the computer.

"I know, isn't it amazing!" These were her favorite people from this day forward. One after the other, Entrapta found herself amazed and perplexed at the multitude of scientific studies these people were giving her! Whether intentional or pure coincidence, ever since she met these people a few hours ago the fascinations and discoveries never seemed to end! "The robots assimilated Catra into becoming one of their own! They think she's one of theirs now because of the virus inside her and so does she!"

"Is she still in there then?" Bow asked as he pulled at the disc that was stuck in place.

"Um possibly?" The uncertainty in her voice left him concerned. "The sooner we stop the disc the sooner we'll find out!"

"Ngh... agreed... Ghhh..." Bow grunted as he pulled at the device, planting a foot on the machine for a better grip. Despite his best efforts, the disc remained in place. It felt like he was trying to pull a tree out of the ground with how stuck it was. "Ugh, it won't move. What now?"

"Ah! The power conduit!" Entrapta deduced, following the power cables of the super computer to where they were plugged in. There were several large cables plugged into the socket of various color, all plugged into the same socket that powered the entire machine and the robots in turn. The two grabbed as much of the large cables as they could, tugging on the conduit until the large cord finally gave way and snapped from the outlet.

With a hum, the rest turned back to the machine as they saw the power finally die off, the red coated computer monitors flashing briefly before slowly dimming away. At the sight of their victory, Bow and Entrapta cheered to one another, congratulating each other for a job well done!

A job that was short lived as the core of the machine began to shine brightly. The remaining heroes watched as the machine hummed again, statical electricity surging through the entire computer again as life flourished all around it, practically empowered by it's recent turn off as the monitors flashed with a bright red light. All around the core the roots pulsed with a heartbeat, surging it's own energy throughout the complex and bringing life back to it's robotic world.

Returning to life for a second chance, all the robots, including the feral Catra, turned their attention immediately back to the the computer as they charged right after it as a means to defend it. As they did, Catra took lead of the robots as she scrambled by Bow and Entrapta, standing in front of the machine as she gaped, awestruck. Pausing for a second, the others saw her pull out her sword from it's sheath, slowly raising it so it's gem was nearing the disc's center.

"I don't understand, what's it doing?" He couldn't tell if he was more confused at the sight of the machines still bursting with life, or Catra trying to touch the disc with her sword.

"Ooooohhhh! It's running on it's own power source!" Entrapta exclaimed. The stars within her eyes shined like a bright morning sun, escalating with each passing second.

"But what's it trying to do to Catra?"

"Oh, that's the best part!... Well terrible, but still best!"

"What is it!?"

"Don't you see it? The virus wants to integrate it's technology with the sword! It wants to study the sword on a vast scale and replicate it's technology! Or make superpowered bots using the sword's schematics, take your pick." Turning around, she grabbed Bow with her hair as she pulled herself to the ceiling, right before they found themselves trampled by the incoming robots.

Looking back to the disc, Bow steadied his aim as he pulled out the last arrow in his quiver. "I pick we don't let any of that happen!" With his aim focused, steadying his shot, he released his shot, the arrow piercing through the air at top speed as it soared towards it's destination.

*swiff*

"No!"

Only for it to be grabbed by Catra's other hand, never taking her eyes off the machine, stopping the tip from reaching the disc by a single inch. Jumping back to the ground, the two watched as Catra gazed at the evil arrow, fuming at the thought that this one simple tool almost destroyed the very machine she worshipped for some reason.

"Fire another one! Fire another one!" Entrapta begged worriedly.

"I can't, that was my last arrow!" Bow revealed, his quiver empty of ammunition. Backing up to the group herself, Glimmer watched as the robots stood side by side, forming a personal wall between the computer and the heroes on the opposite side of the room.

*Bang*

And that served to prove how little time they had left. Hearing the massive pounding on the sealed door behind them, the others looked on in fear as they saw cracks beginning to form. With every pound the door bent inwards more and more, the cracks beginning to break apart small fragments from the door where the robotic red eyes could be seen.

"We need to destroy that thing fast!"

"How?" The young servant asked behind him. "We don't have anymore ammo or magic, and we're not gonna reach Catra before she destroys it!"

Glimmer knew she was right. There were a few seconds until Catra decided how to break the evil machine and there was no way any of them were going to break through the line of bots while they were low on supplies. There was only one shot they had left, one she hadn't tried yet.

Why was this arrow bothering Catra so much? The more she stared at it, the angrier she felt! She had a strange urge to crush the arrow in her hand, to pull it apart into millions of tiny pieces! It shouldn't exist in this world or any other world at that! She had to destroy it, right here, right now.

Destroy it.

Destroy it!

DESTROY I-!

"Catra!" Glimmer shouted over, grabbing everyone's attention. "Destroy the machine!"

"Glimmer?" Bow questioned as he looked back and forth between the two.

"I know you're in there still! The same girl who lost her best friend! The one who hates me because of it! You have every right to be mad at me but we need you right now!" It was a small chance, but the last chance they had. If any portion of Catra remained in her head, if it hadn't been

"G-Glimmer's right!" Bow shouted in agreement. "What happened to the girl who was tough on everybody around her? I don't recognize this weakling. The Catra I know could be it with both claws tied behind her back!"

Taking the hint, the remaining allies continued to shout words of encouragement over to her. While limited in the amount of praise they could pitch in, having met the girl not ten minutes ago, they knew enough to support her finesse and strength in this short time of distress.

What were they shouting about? Catra didn't know these people, these weird creature things. They were just trying to confuse her! That must be it! There was nothing about these creatures that meant anything to her! They meant absolutely nothi...nothi...not...n...

...

How long had she been in here? Minutes? Hours? Days? Who cared if the last one was far fetched? When your entire body was wracked by an endless pain to the point where your body was numb, you had the right to say anything you wanted to.

Catra didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. The walls were still pinning against her, the one thing keeping them apart being her resistance to give in. Why didn't she want to give in though? Her eyes were heavy, her body was sore. There was nobody around her, no one who cared for her because she drove them away. Who cared if she disappeared anyway?

Come to think of it, she was just dreaming. Yeah, that must've been it. Nothing bad could happen if she just took a little nap, right? Her eyelids were beginning to droop, the pained sorrowed expression on her face dropping with it. Maybe it would be ok to take a short nap, a little break from all the princess duties she went through today, and the ones she ignored. It's not like anyone needed her anyway. Eyes coming to a close, she had to wonder what kind of princess she would be, if no one wanted her to begin with-

"Catraaaa!"

Instantly, her eyes sprang open. Who was that? Where did it come from?

"Catra, wake up!"

There it was again. A different voice this time, but one calling out her all the same.

Who were these strange people? A voice came to her every second, echoing throughout the place as it replaced the terrible screeching sound that filled her head up to this point. It did nothing to alleviate the pain she had, and she didn't care. If there was a voice calling for her out there, maybe it could help her?

If not... maybe she could help them?

"Who... Who is that?" Catra called out, looking around despite the field of red that surrounded her.

"Catra, hurry!"

"Hello? Hellooooo!" Catra called out, eyes opening slowly as she found energy returning to her arms and legs. She didn't care if it brought along the sense of feeling again, feeling the painful electricity continue to burn around her. All she cared about was the fact she was no longer alone.

Someone was still at her side.

"Hey! Heeeey!" She shouted rasply. She barely registered as she managed to push the red wall a little bit away. It still shocked her, and she was surprisingly fine with it. If this was her chance to get herself out of her then she was going to take it. Growling loudly, she screamed to the top of her lungs as she made one final call.

"Get... me...OOOOOOUT!"

...

"Ghhhhhhhh!" The Catra on the outside moaned in agony as she dropped the sword, squeezing her head in severe pain.

Glimmer gasped at the sight of her friend's inner struggle, joy filling her surrounding friends as they saw this. "Catra!"

Eyes still red with rag, the magicat looked to the arrow she was squeezing in her other hand. Why did she want to destroy this thing so badly? Something kept screaming at her to do it, screaming at her to put a stop to everything! It warned her, threatened her, insulted her to destroy it, yet she couldn't do it! Why couldn't she do it.

Turning back to the machine, she ignored the sounds of the door caving in, her friends preparing to defend themselves against a losing battle as the room began to fill with an endless swarm of bots, more of them popping out of the air vents and breaking apart the walls of the room as they forced their way inside.

Something told her not to do it, to let the robots take the people who meant nothing to her. It promised the pain would go away after awhile, that she'd have nothing to fear.

Its last mistake was claiming she was afraid.

"Aggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!" Catra roared for the last time, slamming the arrowhead straight into the energizing disc.

All at once, the entire room filled with an ear piercing sound, the frequency reaching Catra's own ears, causing her to double over in pain as she squeezed her ears tightly. All around her and the others the robots began dropping like flies as the frequency reverberated throughout the room. Any of them hanging on the ceiling came crashing down, the oversized ones toppling on top of one another as they fell over.

Best of all, to Glimmer and Bow anyway, the two ran over to her downed friend in time to watch the horrible red veins dissipate from her head, the same veins on the jewel of her sword disappearing as the beautiful blue light shined at long last.

With the two of them kneeling next to her, Glimmer took Catra into her arms, the look of concern present on her face as she shook her unconscious friend gently. "Catra? Catra wake up, Please be all right!" Glimmer pleaded. There was no telling what effects the virus had on her, and the detail that it could have a lasting effect on her only worsened Glimmer's fear.

"Come on Catra, you have to pull through!" Bow called out, awaiting, and hoping, for his friend's recovery.

"...Ngh... ugh..." Catra meeped as she opened her tired eyes a little, just enough to see Glimmer staring over her, with Bow doing the same on her left. She had that semi-tired look on her face, the small scowl on her expression, but for all they knew that as just from pure exhaustion. They needed some semblance of self to prove that she was all right, that she was still the same Catra they knew and cherished. "...You have five seconds to stop touching me before I scratch you."

"She's back!" Glimmer screamed as she hugged her friend tightly, Catra nearly gagging as all the air was pushed out of her.

"Accckk! Ok, three seconds! Two seconds!" She hissed.

"She's okay!" Bow cheered soon after, hugging the friend he almost lost.

"That wasn't your queue to join in!" Catra shouted, squirming in their arms, the cat was powerless to stop the squeezing that crushed her body, feeling like her face could burst as all the blood from embarrassment and force rushed to her head. And for whatever reason, this prompted the two to laugh cheerfully, the others speeding over to the trio to check on them.

"Eh hem..." Entrapta grabbed their attention as she let out a small cough. Seeing their distracted state the two huggers were in Catra pushed them off as far as possible, springing to her feet soon after. "I would... like to offer my gratitude, cat person... and her two sidekicks, for saving our lives."

"Sidekicks?" Bow raised his brow as he got back to his feet with Glimmer.

"Hmph, least she knows how things work here." Catra smirked.

"I would be honored to join your Rebellion and provide you with weapons." Her announcement brought two and a half smiles from the three as they looked among themselves. Another princess to join the Rebellion was another ally they had against the Horde. More importantly, it brought them one step closer to defeating the Horde once and for all.

"Thanks, guys. You saved us all back there." Bow smiled to the three companions who saved him earlier. "The Rebellion needs regular people now more than ever."

"And we'll be ready!" The two servants put on a dazzling display as they used a fizzy drink to blast a dish tossed into the air.

"Yeah...by the way..." Glimmer spoke up as she took Catra's sword off the ground. "Entrapta, any chance you could do us one more favor?"

...

"Save me, Adora!"

"I wonder what else she'll scream if I torture her?"

"Where are you, Adora?"

"You said we would always be there for each other!"

"Do you even care what I do to Catra anymore?"

"I thought you said we were friends, Adora?"

The insults never ceased as Adora meditated within the center of this everlasting darkness. There wasn't a single thing they said that affected her up to this point. All around her body were the blast marks and burns from dozens of direct blasts from the droids, her body still simmering from the burnt skin and the seared clothing.

Every single time she felt something, she was punished for it. When her worry got the better of her, she was blasted from the left. When her anger took advantage of her state, she was shot in the back. Any time she had her hopes up and ran happily to the source of the familiar, joyful, voice of the childlike Catra, she was blasted off her feet. And this was a process that continued without end for the last hour, filled with nothing but pain and suffering, all because she simply cared to much.

She didn't have a choice to care, either. Her heart, the thing that was putting her through this misery, was the cause of her pain. Why did she want to have a heart in the first place? Time and again, it brought her only pain. Pain, stress, confusion, so many conflicting emotions that distracted her wherever she went. It was the bane of her existence at this point, the cause of all sorts of misery and turmoil she found herself going through.

It was also the key to finishing this training she agreed to. She wasn't training to use her heart, she was training to suppress it. She needed to keep it bottled up inside of her. She couldn't afford to let it distract her anymore, to let it make her second guess herself about all her past decisions.

The princesses were using every trick they could, whether it was through direct manipulations or to put the lives of innocents into harms way. The only way she could see anymore to fight against them was to fight the same way they did. She wouldn't resort to harming the lives of innocence, at least not her own allies at this rate, and she would fight them feeling the same way they felt.

Nothing. She wouldn't allow a single emotion to affect her anymore. She was tired of all the pain it caused it, all the manipulations that were played against her with it. If she wanted to save this world, to save her best friend, she could no longer allow herself to feel.

Thus, she found herself where she now sat. In the middle of all this darkness, meditating with her eyes closed as she sat cross legged, she waited. The robots came whenever she followed the sound of their voices, whenever she thought about succumbing to her emotions. So, why not play their own game against them?

She waited here, in the middle of all of this, waiting for the faintest sound to come to her. The robots were designed to attack in her response to her emotions. So what would happen if she decided to wait for them instead?

Sure enough, after what felt like five or ten minutes, she heard them. The insulting voices drew closer to her with each word, the taunts and cries of her friends and enemies voices becoming increasingly aggressive, yet she never faltered from her meditation. It was then that all three of them appeared.

Yards ahead of her, in an arc of twenty feet, they made their presence known. They began to give off a small glow as they prepared to fire, ready to take out the target in one concentrated blast. It would've worked in most cases, seeing how weak and feeble the Force Captain had become. Here, she would've been an easy target for all three of them, if she felt the slightest twinge in her heart.

But her heart wasn't here anymore.

*Sheem!*

It came fast. Too fast for their processors and sensors to pick up. They didn't know what happened at first when Adora swung her arm in front of all them with one swing. By the time they noticed a disturbance in their diagnostics it was already too late. One by one, the three droids slowly felt their upper halves sliding across their midsection. Sliding half way off, the droids exploded one after the other as Adora retracted her massive blade arm.

The sounds of the explosions filled the entire room, the explosions being no bigger than the droids themselves. With the droids destroyed, Adora having yet to open her eyes, she listened to the sound of the doors behind her opening up, the light from outside filling the darkened room, all while a lone figure floated behind Adora, stopping behind her as she placed her hands of comfort on both of Adora's shoulders.

The girl had done it. She suppressed her heart, her emotions, showing no hesitation as she dismantled all these useless droids in one single blow. With a smile upon her head, a sense of pride filling her blackened heart, Shadow-Weaver stroked Adora's head soothingly. Her training had been complete.

Whenever Adora donned the headband, she would ensure she never felt anything again.

"Well done, Adora~"

...

"Well that was a waste of time." Catra mumbled as the three traveled along the cliffside.

Like at the start of this adventure, the three heroes found a good distance of space between the three of them, with Bow and Glimmer walking twenty feet behind Catra and Catra seemingly ignoring anything they had to say that wasn't related to her.

Her behavior was a bit more understandable at this point, seeing the results of a particular test they were given not ten minutes ago.

...

"How much longer are we going to have to wait?" Catra groaned, leaning against the outside walls of the castle.

"Catra, it's a sword created by the First Ones." Bow reminded. "I wouldn't be surprised if it takes several days to run her tests!"

"Besides, it's only been a few minutes." Glimmer added, feeling a little sheepish about saying anything to the magicat at this time.

She wanted to be happy that everything worked out in the end and Catra was back to normal. The problem was, Catra was back to normal. She remembered everything from her one, single, friend in this world, the strange dream she refused to mention to these two, and a particular hatred she seemed to have for Glimmer herself. She still hasn't forgotten about the failed attempt of transforming into She-Ra when she needed it most, and she would never forget who she blamed for that failed attempt either.

So when she decided to come clean and ask Entrapta to see if there was a problem with the sword, Catra was a little... less... than amused. This morning she was telling Catra, almost snapping at her, that Entrapta wouldn't be able to fix anything about the sword and she shouldn't bother trying to ask.

Now she was admitting she basically lied to her in front of her face and Entrapta might've had an answer after all.

As predicted, she didn't care what Glimmer's excuse was, she didn't want to hear her reasoning that she didn't want Catra to come up with false hope. Surprisingly, she was actually a little more interested in finding out what was wrong with the sword this time around than her anger issues with Glimmer.

Just a little.

"Well how many minutes is this going to take? I don't know about you guys but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life around this place." She took a brief glance at the surrounding robots who were repairing parts of the broken walls to the castle. "Especially with those things running around."

"I'm back!" Entrapta chirped as she ran out the front door, sword in hand. Catra wasted no time to take the sword back from her, examining it to make sure there wasn't anything missing or damaged from whatever Entrapta's examinations did to it.

"See? I told you it'd be quick." Glimmer said with a smile.

"Mmh hope she didn't break anything..." Catra muttered, taking a few swings of the sword in the air to inspect how it felt. "So, what did you find?"

"...Um..." The hesitation and nervousness coming from Entrapta scratching the back of her own head didn't go unnoticed. "Ok, so... promise me you're not going to be mad?

"...I promise not to scratch you after."

"Great! So anyway, good-ish news, depending on what you want to hear and don't," Entrapta went on as she flipped through a handful of papers, "based on what I found, there is a small inhibitor keeping the sword's power from, being fully utilized."

"Fully utilized?" Catra repeated, looking back to the other two who gave her a shrug. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means there actually is something in the sword keeping you from using it's full power." She clarified.

Glimmer took the moment of silence to stare at Catra as she awaited her reaction. How was she going to take it? Staring at the sword in her hands, there was no telling what was on her mind. Was she sad about it? Angered? Confused? She could've been annoyed beyond belief and Glimmer wouldn't be able to tell. The girl did a good job at keeping her emotions to herself, the last several weeks attesting to that.

"...Huh..." Catra shrugged herself, looking at the sword on both sides. "So it is the sword's fault I couldn't transform? I always figured that."

"You're not mad about it?" Bow wondered.

"Well of course I'm mad about it, but it's not anything that can't be fixed, right?" With some hesitation, her ears drooped a little as she looked back to Entrapta. "You... can fix it, can't you?"

A face full of sorrow and regret materialized over Entrapta's face. "I'm sorry about that, but... I can't... I already tried tinkering with it for a few minutes, but the technology itself is actually more complicated than anything I've came across. I mean I'm sure I could of course, but I don't know how long that would take. I don't even know if I can dissect it without damaging something permanently. I might end up breaking it worse than it is now!"

"Typical," Catra rolled her eyes as she sheathed her sword, "I find the one person who can study it and she can't study it."

"Sorry..." Entrapta mumbled, poking her fingers innocently and the tips of her hair. As much as Catra wanted to be angered over the mad scientist's failure over her one tasks, she just couldn't be. Whether or not she lied, this is exactly what Glimmer said would happen at the beginning of this adventure, reminding her why she shouldn't get her hopes up.

"Tch, forget it." Shaking her head, the magicat began to walk off, heading towards the open hole of the walls surrounding the entire castle. "Let's just get out of here, already. I've got a killer headache to deal with."

There were no words to say as the three watched her walk away. For what few seconds she was out of it, she mentioned how she was having a strange dream while she was infected with the First Ones' virus. Obviously, she was less than inclined to tell them the details of it, repeatedly telling them how she didn't want to talk about it and how they should mind their own business.

Another good indication that she was perfectly back to normal!

"...So..." Glimmer waited till she was sure Catra was out of earshot. "Was there anything else you discovered about the sword? About She-Ra, I mean?"

"Oh, that part?" Entrapta flipped through the pages again, feeling a little more chipper at the prospect of talking about science. "I took several more tests on that note, and to be honest... well... You promise not to tell her this?"

"Trust us, our lips are sealed." Bow assured.

"We wouldn't want her to get any angrier about it than she is now."

"Ok, if you insist. As it turns out... there's nothing wrong with it." Entrapta revealed as she showed them a blueprint schematic between the sword and Catra. "Despite the inhibitor built into the sword, whatever it is, it's not affecting Catra's ability to transform into this She-Ra character you keep mentioning."

"Wait, it's not?" Glimmer blinked rather surprised.

"No. In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything to suggest Catra shouldn't be able to transform into this She-Ra."

All this time, even after telling Entrapta not to tell it directly to Catra, she thought there would be a grand reveal about why Catra couldn't transform into the infamous She-Ra, the symbol of the Rebellion. Time after time, she's attempted to transform into the infamous She-Ra, having only three successful marks under her streak, and one of those times were completely by spur of the moment!

There wasn't some cosmic force at work here telling them she couldn't do it. There wasn't some big story explaining why she couldn't transform into this She-Ra. There was nothing. Nothing but surprise, confusion, and worry about how Catra would take this if she decided to tell her.

"But why can't she get the sword to work?" Bow hated to watch his friend try time and again in vain to transform. Especially with all the times She-Ra could've proven useful, they absolutely needed to figure out what was wrong. "She's done it before, so it's not like she's incapable of doing it."

"I've actually come up with a theory on that too." Digging through her pockets, she began typing away on the data pad held in front of her by her hair. "See, a lot of First Ones' tech has a tendency of bonding with the user. At least the ones we've come across so far, right?"

"Yeah..." Glimmer didn't like where this was going.

"So, with that in mind, I tried coming up with numerous scenarios and explanations for why it isn't working for her, and after a few minutes, I've come up with one final theory that should explain everything... however vague it could be."

"And.. that theory is...?"

Entrapta sighed as she prepared her answer. As a scientist, she was never supposed to be the one to give an assumption. Scientists were the cornerstones of every civilization. They provided explanations, reasonings, details that could explain the many mysteries of life! So when she had to tell her what was basically a guess, she felt like a disgrace to the many wonderful, proud, geniuses of Etheria.

"The problem isn't with the sword... it's with her."

...

"Do you think we should tell her?" Bow whispered to Glimmer, making sure they were farther away this time.

"Tell her what exactly?" Glimmer asked back. "Hey, it's not a sword problem, it's a you problem. I'm sure she'll love to hear that. We don't even know exactly what about her is keeping the sword from working."

"Still.. I hate seeing her like this. I can't even tell if she's angry or sad about before."

"Mmh..." Since leaving she's been quiet to the two again, acting the as before when this adventure took off. She seemed cold, acting distant. She didn't care at all if they were twenty feet behind her or twenty feet in front of her, as long as they kept their distance. That was their viewpoint on it, at least. And as much as she wished to keep it that way, she knew it couldn't last forever.

She needed to confront her on it whether she liked it or not.

"I'll talk to her." Glimmer finally decided, speeding up a little until she was a foot behind her friend. "Catra?" The ex-Horde continued walking without giving so much as a notice. "...Look, I know you don't want to hear about it again, and I don't like bringing it up either, but I need to get this said, so I'm going to just come out and say it. I'm... sor-"

"Forget it." Catra stated, catching Glimmer and Bow, who decided to support his friend from up close, off guard.

"W-What?"

"I said forget it." She repeated, shooting her a passing glance as she continued forward. "I don't want to talk about it and I don't want to discuss it, so forget it ever happened."

This was... shocking, honestly. All this time she's been harboring an obvious hate for the other princess and now of all times she decided to drop it? "Are... Are you sure? C-Catra, I was just trying to say... I really wish you didn't hate me all the time, so I wanted to... you know... apologize for it..."

"Hate you?" At this, Catra paused in their walk, giving Glimmer her full attention. "Who said I ever hated you? Both of you for that matter?"

...Was this really the same Catra or did she end up being replaced by some artificial AI that took over her brain here? Because that would be the only explanation for the complete shock of display presented by Catra. That was possibly, without a doubt, the closest thing to an actual nice thing she ever said to the two.

...And it was kind of scary...

"You... don't hate me? About before?" The suspension of disbelief was all over Glimmer's face. "B-But you were so mad about everything, and you didn't want anything to do with us. How was I supposed to think you didn't hate us?"

"Well, duh, I was mad about it, but it doesn't mean I hate you for it. It's not your fault for being stupid." She commented, continuing their walk.

"Gee, that's encouraging to hear..." Ok, now there was about a fifty-fifty-chance this was the same old Catra.

"But you don't hate us?" Did Bow hear that correctly? Was there truly a possibility for the Best Friend Squad after all this time?!

"Of course not. I just don't like you two."

No there was not.

Noticing the lack of response to this, Catra grimaced, looking at her sword again. She hadn't forgotten everything that happened in her dream, how that once blissful reality turned into a ravaging nightmare with a few choice words and decisions. How her entire kingdom came down upon her head in a matter of hours, in the dream anyway, because of who she wanted and didn't want to be around, who she kept close and who she pushed away.

She was tired of the long day she had, all this sappiness that was coming out of her mouth even as she spoke. But... she didn't want to relive that. She didn't care about anyone else, but if that was the kind of reality that awaited her in the future, if it would only last as long as she kept people from feeling pushed away, then she needed to change, if only a little. She couldn't afford to lose her kingdom like that again.

Or Adora.

"But..." The two perked their heads up as she went on. "If it means... anything..." Ugh, why did she have to do this? Wasn't the fact she was fighting with them enough for them? Or did they like to torture her by being a bit more open about this kind of garbage? "Compared to everyone else I grew up with... most of them, anyway... you guys are... I don't know..." A small pink blush picked up on the side of her cheeks, barely noticeable until Glimmer leaned over to her side a little bit to see if she saw what she thought. "... More tolerable. People I dislike the least. All right?"

"Catra..." She did everything in her power from squealing out in pure delight, her and Bow both!

For the first time ever, without any hint of sarcasm or joking behind it, Catra, the very Catra they've tried to open up with since the day she joined the Rebellion, said the very first closest thing to something nice about them! While in retrospect some would find that to be the most unbelievably saddest thing to hear, to the two friends who fought side by side together since day one considered it one of the greatest feats they've ever achieved!

It wasn't merely a sign that Catra could be a bit more open with them, it was a sign that Catra was getting closer to them, however little it proved to be! It was a bleak, unfeeling statement from the girl, yet it sounded like one of the nicest things Catra said or ever could say in their entire lives!

And they were more than happy to take it!

"Can we get a move on, now?" Catra groaned again, scratching the back of her head while blushing. "I don't know about you two but I'm starving. I've had this weird taste in my mouth for the last half hour."

That was one comment that was more than enough to make Glimmer's face beat red. She would spend the rest of existence making sure nobody would ever find out about what Catra did to her immediately after turning feral. "Uh heh heh, gee I can't imagine what could be the reason behind that!" She quickly stammered, grabbing onto Bow so he wouldn't say anything and teleporting ten feet ahead of Catra. "I'm sure the castle's chef can whip us up a big dinner for tonight!"

"Wait, you didn't tell Catra yet about-?"

*whomp*

'Owww!" Bow yelped as he rubbed his newly stomped foot. Already Glimmer was regretting telling Bow everything about what happened between him finding them and Catra turning feral. She would have to enact a brand new law forbidding Bow, much less anybody, from telling Catra about what happened on this day. It would be her utmost priority the day she finally became queen herself. All she had to do now was think of what sort of punishment would be suitable for such a thing...

Watching the two act like the morons she came to know, Catra sighed.

So she wasn't supposed to push people away? Fine. She could deal with that. It was something she was going to have to adjust to over time, but she was sure she could find some way to do it.

But there was no way she was ever going to let people get any closer to her. She didn't need a vision to give her memories about what she was talking about. She could never forget about what happened that day, and she would never allow anyone to make her feel close.

Never again.

...

"Hehehe! Are we almost there?" A five-year-old Catra giggled as she was lead through the complex. She couldn't wait, she was excited

After spending who knows how long trying to fit in, trying anything in her power to make a new friend, this would be the day she finally waited for! Sure, she was nervous when Adora told her they were going to try to make friends with the gang of that sector. Who wouldn't be when you were talking to the group of kids who used to pick on you on a daily basis? They were mean, rude, bossed the other kids around, and nobody messed with them since Lonnie, easily the biggest of the kids, was in charge.

No one would stand up to her. Who would be brave enough to start a fight against the toughest, meanest, and strongest kid within the sector? Naturally she thought everything should go her way, when the adults weren't around anyway. She was the self-proclaimed maturest one on the block and the most elite kid in the sector. Anybody who tried to stand up to her would get pummeled, save for the one time Catra did to get a girl's doll back.

She learned the hard way not to mess with her, not when almost all the guards had it out for her for being an apparent freak.

But all of that was going to change after today! After going along with Adora's idea, the two found themselves with their first task in stealing a prison keycard from one of the security patrols in the area. Using her quick wits and judgement, Adora decided Catra was the best kid for the job, using the girl's nimbleness and stealth to their advantage. After securing the target, she made the personal appearance to keep Catra safe from the guard themself, who was completely unaware that he'd been robbed by the time the two made it back to Lonnie.

Now, she was on her way to her next and last test, as part of her initiation. Admittedly, she was nervous. Not only did she have to wear a blindfold on the way to the next destination, she also had to do it without Adora's help. For some reason the last test required the two of them to do it alone. And while she was easily worried about doing such a thing without her only friend, Adora did assure her and show her confidence in her that she could do this.

With her encouragement in her heart, she was ready for this, willing to complete it!

*Shoom*

Her ears picked up at the sound of what appeared to be a door opening, finding the ecoustics of the place they entered to be rather large. "Where are we going again?" Catra asked Kyle as he held her hand. The young boy and the lizard kid at his side were given their own task in regards to Catra's initiation.

"Um... it's a surprise." Kyle muttered. "W-We're almost there."

"Oh, ok." She hoped he could tell she was smiling, having been doing it all the way up to this point. "I'm so excited, I can't wait!"

"Uh yeah... You um... You really are excited about this, aren't you?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I am! Because once I've done this, I'm going to have three new friends!" She noticed how they stopped walking as she said this.

"You... really consider us friends?" There was a hint of worry in his tone, but Catra was too excited to notice.

"Of course I do! We're going to be able to hang out whenever we want, we can play together, and we won't let people pick on us anymore! That's what friends do, right?"

"Y-Yeah... of course..."

"I hope you're not weirded out cause I look like a cat or something." She said with a small frown. "I don't know why, but everyone else just seems kind of scared of it. The adults won't tell me why, and the kids just make fun of me for it. That's why I'm really happy we're going to be friends."

Way to make a kid feel nervous, Catra. He saw the face Rogelio was giving him, being unsure of himself as much as Kyle was. "Umm... Catra, I uh... I think there's something you should..."

"Yeah?" She questioned. What was he sounding so nervous about? Was he worried this test was going to scare her? She could handle it, she was sure of it! And then, they were going to be friends after long last!

"...N... Nevermind." She felt as he continued to pull her along. "We're almost there."

"What did he have to say? Without seeing his face it was really hard to tell. For a second there it almost sounded like he was worried about something, or he had something to tell her?

Whatever the case may be, it would have to wait. The ambience of the air began to change around her. She didn't know where she was but it had to be somewhere big. She was almost positive she could feel a great amount of space within the air around her, the sound echoing through her ears. She even thought they were descending an elevator for a moment, hearing the strange noise of one going off as they stopped for about ten seconds.

After another two minutes of walking, Catra felt the three of them coming to a stop. She started hearing a strange beeping noise followed by a click, then walked forward as she felt Kyle gently pushing her on the back.

"Ok, keep going forward for a few seconds and you'll find your test." He informed. Smiling, Catra felt her way forward. Oh man, what was it going to be? Maybe they had some sort of obstacle course for her? Or maybe it was some sort of surprise they made her for! Or maybe-!

*tap-tap*

"Huh?" Catra felt as the tips of her claws brushed against what felt like solid metal. Curiosity getting the best of her, she decided to finally remove her blindfold, taking in the scene that lied in front of her.

A wall. A single, metallic, wall. How was this supposed to be a surprise? Did she need to get passed the wall or something? Come to think of it, the room itself was actually pretty small. There walls were only about seven feet apart, the ceiling ten feet high, and the floors themselves were practically rusty. Heck, there was even a small bed in here, and... a toilet? Why was all this weird stuff in here? What did it have to do with her test?

"What is this place?" Catra asked looking around. "Hey Kyle, how is this my... Kyle?" Turning around, she saw a small frown on Kyle's face with Rogelio standing beside him. Without saying a word, he lifted the keycard to the side of the wall, outside of her field of vision. What was with this weird place? Why was there an uncomfortable bed in here? Why was the entrance a giant hexagon in shape? Why did...

Catra's eyes widened as she gasped, realizing too all too late where she finally was. "Kyle, nooo!" She begged running for the entrance.

*Bzzzzt!*

Right before she could pass through it, a green electrical barrier dropped in front of her, zapping the poor girl as it blasted her a foot away. Catra let out a cry of pain as she licked her injured hand, fighting back the urge to wail a she stood back up, staring at Kyle through the translucent green. "Kyle! What are you doing?"

"What do you think he's doing, freak?" That voice was impossible to forget as the figure made it's presence known. How could she forget what Lonnie sounded like when she heard her voice not ten minutes ago? Walking into view, Catra's urge to cry out increased as she saw the smug grin on her face. "He's putting you into your place." She patted Kyle on the back as he looked away. "Well done, Kyle."

"I... I don't get it... is this part of the initiation?" She asked looking around the room again.

"Initiation? Pfffft hahahaha!" Lonnie bursted out laughing, holding her gut to keep herself from falling over in a fit of chuckles. "Oh my gosh, you actually bought all that?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean you stupid brat!" She snapped, managing to make Catra fall back in fright. "There is no initiation, there never was!"

"B-But why did you have us do this?"

"Oh come on, you can't be this stupid. Why do you think we had you do this, idiot?! It's because we didn't want you here!" Catra's heart ached at the words as tears gathered in her eyes. She was confused, scared, unable to comprehend why they were doing this until now. No matter how badly people considered her a freak, they never treated her anywhere near this badly.

"You think anyone would want a freak like you hanging out with them? I'm surprised Adora hangs out with you as much as she does! You keep messing up everything you do and your a bother to everyone you come across! What kind of moron goes around and ruins storytime for people for crying out loud?!"

"I-I'm sorry about losing storytime!" She cried. "I didn't mean it!"

"You think this is just about Storytime? Everything you do is annoying! You're always the freak hanging out where you're not wanted, you're always the crybaby in sparring classes! The fact is, nobody wants you here! Everyone practically asked us to do this!"

"T-That's not entirely tr-"

"Shut up, Kyle!" Lonne yelled back, cutting the kid off.

"W-Where's... " Catra placed her hands around her mouth as she prepared to call out. Noticing this, Lonnie quickly used the keycard again on the side of the door. Instantly, a large metal wall slammed shut in place of the barrier, filling the room with a pitch black darkness. "Adoraaa!" Catra cried out, begging for her. "Adorraaaahahaaa!" Hearing snicking on the other side of the wall, she watched as she saw a small rectangular panel open in the middle of the wall. It was about the size of a serving tray, no doubt used to give prisoners their food.

"Adora can't hear you, brat." Lonnie stated, peeking her eyes through the opening. "These walls are soundproof. They're used for putting rotten prisoners like you in the hole where they belong. As for Adora, the little squirts outside right now, doing the real initiation."

"R-Real initiation?" As they spoke, the scene shifted to a view of a five-year-old Adora. The girl was smiling to herself as she sat within some inner tubes outside on the playground, watching the rain fall outside of it.

"All she has to do is spend the night outside. If you ask me, she's taking it a lot better than you are."

Wiping her nose and tears, Catra slowly got up as she made her way towards the light. "W-Will you let me go if I do the initiation, too?"

"Of course not! We made that stupid initiation thing up! Even if you did the same initiation, we'd never let you pass!"

"W-Why..." Catra sniffled as she wiped her face again. "Why don't you like me, Lonnie? Is this about what happened a few months ago? I'm sorry for scratching you." She hiccuped, sniffling.

"What? The incident with that stupid doll? I'm all over that." She raised herself to her feet so all Catra could see was Lonnie's night time shirt. "As for why we're doing this?" Although she couldn't see it, Lonnie grinned. "Because Shadow-Weaver said we could."

Without another word, the room filled with perfect darkness again as the small hatch was closed. They couldn't hear her screaming, they couldn't hear her pounding on the door, they couldn't hear anything. From within the prison cell, Catra broke down into tears, pounding on the door endlessly for someone to let her out. No amount of night vision was going to help her within this cell, the walls and ceiling specially designed for hybrids with features like her that could let her see easier in the dark.

All that was left was a lonely, crying, five-year-old girl named Catra, who found herself trapped and abandoned within a prison cell she didn't belong.

She was helpless.

Frightened.

And worst of all, alone...

...

Never! Again!

...

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, the bit of her friends encouraging her was a bit "cheesy" and cliched, but in my defense, this is still basically a kids show (granted a very AWESOME ONE!) so of course there would eventually be a bit of a cheesy/cliched "friendship-encouragement" moment somewhere XP Don't worry promise you won't see that often...hopefully...

Anyway! We've finally hit the end of ep 6, and are practically at the halfway mark as of now! More importantly, unlike this episode, the rest of the episodes I have more planned out for so aside from updates not being as tedious, I should be able to push some better quality writing, not on the spot bits like this one left me.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you out!

Chapter 23: Episode 7: The Horrors of Mystacor Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Dun dun di dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun! Yes people, it's true. You're not hallucinating, you're not imagining things, it's legit. Behold, not just a new chapter, but one posted ON THE SAME DAY as the previous one :D!

Yeah, who cares if there was like a freaking 13- hour difference, it's still the same day XP. I am more than happy to say I have a more concrete plan for this one, as shown with the numerous additions i had thrown in here and there. And I actually got a good 1/4th of the episode done, so we might actually get this limited to 4 parts ^^ Not that I'm against more parts, but if I'm going to finish his before season two, I need to limit these as much as possible XP

No, no worries, that won't affect how much I write, so relax on that part XP. Anyway, enjoy!

...

Sleep. One of the most important parts of the day for every living creature.

It offered rest and respite from the harshness of the world, allowing one to relax and recharge their energies for whatever tomorrow had to bring. Within the center of the Whispering Woods, that's where we found our hero of three lying about, all resting peacefully on the ground without worry nor care.

After the events of Dryl, in their mission of recruiting Princess Entrapta, things had gone relatively normal, back to the way they once were between Catra, Glimmer, and Bow. Catra no longer seemed to be harboring the same hatred for the princess she once did, after a concerning issue regarding Adora on the previous mission left her ignoring Glimmer for over a week. The girl was still snide and sarcastic, she seemed to have the same lack of manners she used to, but it was a least a little more peaceful and welcoming than straight out ignoring her like she had been.

Matter of fact, things might have gotten a midge better since then. She no longer seemed intent on telling Glimmer and Bow to leave her alone. She no longer used her comforting words like "bug off", "get lost", or their personal favorite, "get within five feet of me and I'll claw you". She seemed a lot more passive than she used to be, no matter how much she insisted she wasn't. At one point, she almost asked them to leave her alone.

Asking someone to leave her alone was beyond shocking to the two, Bow almost fainting in how polite it was in comparison to all the other times. There was still a lot of the same old Catra within her, of course. She still called Glimmer "Pinky" and Bow "Bowey", but it was still just as welcoming, if not more so, than the week she went on ignoring the two.

Overall, things seemed to be right back to normal, the way Glimmer and Bow liked it.

Catra on the other hand was dealing with two of her own problems. First off, as told by Entrapta after studying the sword for a few minutes, there really was a problem with it that prevented her from exposing it's full power. Something within the sword kept her from bringing out all its might, restricting her to possibly the bare minimum of what the sword was capable of. And while she would've been more than fine with that, the troubling part was that it had nothing to do with her ability to transform into She-Ra.

Unbeknownst to her, Entrapta had informed her friends of that minor detail. As it stood, the scientist wasn't entirely sure what the cause of it was. The only explanation she could come up with was the fact most First Ones' technology had a tendency of bonding with the person using it. In that sense, she came to the conclusion that whatever was keeping Catra from transforming wasn't with the sword, but with Catra herself.

Naturally, the two refused to tell her about this additional detail. All it would do is cause Catra to be upset and angry about everything again because of something outside of her control. Even if they did tell her about that it wouldn't do anything to help her with her transforming. Until they figured out the cause behind Catra's inability to transform, they found it safer to keep it between the two of them.

The other problem Catra was facing wasn't anywhere on the outside. It was the dream she was having on the inside. Evident by the pained expression on her sleeping face, the way she tossed and turned in her sleep, something was going on in her mind that brought discomfort to the young girl.

Where was she? Where was anyone? There was an endless, vast, darkness surrounding her on all sides. Almost being aware of the fact she was dreaming, the magicat took a walk through the darkness, hearing her footsteps echoing all around her. There wasn't any Glimmer, Bow, no one. The ground itself was pitch black, half the time making her wonder if she was about to step into a hole by accident.

"Hellooooo?" Catra called out, being met with the same echo several times. "Is anybody there?"

Was this what remained of her fallen kingdom after the hallucinatory dream she had last mission? During her time in Dryl, she came under the effects of a virus created by First Ones' technology, in part thanks to Entrapta fiddling with the device in order to study it. After destroying a robot and being infected through her sword, she found herself in a dreamland-like setting, where she was the princess and having the greatest day of her life.

That day slowly escalated into a horrifying nightmare as people began to disappear one by one, all while the kingdom itself started to get surrounded by massive red walls in every direction. After examining these walls, the nightmare took a deadly turn as they started to hound in on the girl, disintegrating the kingdom and everything it touched as it narrowed on Catra's own castle. If not for the encouragement of her allies as they shouted to her through the dream, she might've found herself crushed along with the rest of the kingdom that had abandoned her.

Now she was surrounded by darkness, one that possibly could've existed within the same space as her kingdom, and at the same time not. It had a distinct lack of wind, much less everything else, yet she could feel a strange coldness emanating from her surroundings. Could those walls destroy the wind to begin with? Was that even possible?

It as hard to say.

All she knew was that she was alone again in this darkening abyss, without a single soul around her. "Can anyone hear me?" She shouted again. Scratching the back of her head, she finally came to a stop as she started to think. "Ok, so... probably dreaming right now, so... I gotta wake up at some time, right?"

Seemed like the best option, all things considered. If she could wake herself up from in here, great. If not, no biggie. She doubted she would be trapped in this place forever, and it's not like Glimmer and Bow wouldn't wake her up if she didn't by morning. All she had to do for now was think of a way to pass the ti-

"Catraaaa..." A single voice called out through the darkness. The very instant it reached her ears, her heart rate spiked up, the hairs on the end of her skin rising out of sheer terror.

"W-Who's there?" She prayed the voice didn't belong to who she thought it did. There was only one person in this world she knew of with a voice that twisted. One that seemed comforting and wholesome on the outside while being filled with terror and maliciousness on the inside.

"Oooh, have you forgotten already?" The voice asked almost amusingly.

"You're not here... This is a dream!" Catra yelled, looking all around herself to find the source of the dreadful voice.

"Do you really think you're safe anywhere you go, you little wretch?" The voice let out a cackle of laughter at that. "When will you ever learn? There is no place you can go where I can't find you."

"S-Shut up!" The forceful shouting was diminished at the sight of her drooped ears. There was no intimidation coming from this frightened girl. "Show yourself!"

"And now you think to give me orders?! Oh, Catra, Catra. I thought you learned your place a long time ago. Clearly I was wrong~"

"Shut up!" She shouted louder, lacking the ferocity she usually had behind it. "You're not here! You can't do anything to me!"

"Oh, can't I?" The voice grew deeper as it approached, Catra continuing to search in all directions in vain. "Haven't you realized, yet? No matter where you go, no matter who you claim to be, I am always right behind you."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Catra repeated squeezing her ears shut. She closed her eyes as she shook her head, drowning out all the noise that she could as she tried to ignore it. This was her dream, out in the middle of thee Whispering Woods, where no one can find her. She could say all she wanted and she could make all the threats she had, and Catra knew she wouldn't be able to touch her out here.

She was safe here. She had to be safe here. Even if this was a nightmare, it was still a dream, right? There was nothing she could do to reach her out here, no actual pain she could cause her.

Opening her eyes, she took a quick look around in every direction twice, including above and below her. Without and sign of the mysterious voice Catra sighed. It was a dream. All of it was a dream. As long as she kept telling herself that, everything would be all-

*Gnnk!*

"Agh!" Catra yelped as she shot out of bed, panting heavily. Right before she woke up, when she thought everything was all right, she felt it. A cold, scathing, hand belonging to the one person who loathed her most of all tightening around her neck.

She felt it.

FELT IT.

Darting her eyes back and forth she realized she was awake, sweating profusely as she huffed. She was back in the Whispering Woods where she fell asleep with the others. Bow was sleeping a few feet away from her on her left, and left of him Glimmer was sleeping a few feet away, curled up with the cape over herself like a blanket and a small bundle of bushes as a pillow.

That wasn't a dream. It couldn't be. Pain was something people could never feel in a dream no matter how much they thought they did. Here, before she woke up, she felt everything. She felt the squeeze on her neck when she grabbed her, she felt her airwaves constrict for an instant.

Looking at her own arms, her eyes widened as she realized her own hands were at her throat, pulling them away as quickly as she could. They weren't the ones choking her, she was positive on that. They were trying to pry the grip from her suffocating throat, the person who attacked her in the one place she thought she was safe.

She didn't want to think about her. She didn't want to remember that without Adora she wasn't safe around her. All the sweat, all the worries building up in her mind, all of it was living proof that she was here in some way, in some form. Gulping to herself, Catra stared up at the night sky, seeing the moon looming over them.

She uttered the one name she feared most of all.

"Shadow-Weaver..."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*splash*

"Ngh..." Catra splashed the water from the pond against her face for the third time within the last several hours. Kneeling in front of it for the fifth time by now, she took a deep breath. She needed to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes, the exhaustion of the days events leading up to this. Being a bit more awake than before, she looked at her reflection within the waters, waiting for it to calm as her reflection cleared up.

"Ok... You're fine... You're safe..." She spoke to her reflection quietly. "Shadow-Weaver's not here. She couldn't be." Raising her head she saw the tranquil scenery around her. All across the large pond was beautiful fauna and trees, the sound of birds chirping in the early morning to greet her. "This place is way too peaceful for her to be here... right?"

Staring back at her reflection, she flinched at the new face she was greeted with. It wasn't her own, it wasn't one part of her that greeted her. It was Shadow-Weaver's own sinister eyes glaring at the young girl, her blackened hair waving out of control. "Ahh!"

She wasted no time swiping at the evil figure that stared back at her, falling to her back from the shock of the image. Shaking her head clear she crawled up to the water, sighing when she saw her own reflection again. "Get it out of your head!" She told herself lightly pounding against her forehead. "She's not here, all right? Nobody else is here. It's just you and-"

*rustle-rustle*

Her ears perked right up at the sound of the strange rustling noise, making a dash to the nearby tree as she pressed her back against it. She breathed silently to herself as she grabbed her sword. If someone was out here, they must've been working for the Horde! How else would Shadow-Weaver find her last night? Yeah, that must be it!

She wasn't about to let them make a fool of herself either! Slowly pulling the sword out of her sheath, she waited until she heard the stranger beginning to pass by. Waiting until her heart rate finally settled down, she let out a massive shout as she grabbed the figure from behind, slamming them against the tree she was against as she raised her sword to their neck. "Hah-!"

"Ahh!" Bow yelped as he raised his hands surrendering. "Catra! It's me! It's me!" He panicked.

"Bow?" Glimmer could be heard speaking up as she came through the same bundle of bushes. Imagine her surprise when she saw Catra holding a sword up to his neck in a threatening manner. "Catra, what are you doing?!"

"Huh?" The girl in question did a double take between the two, shaking her head again as she backed away from the endangered Bow. "What are you guys doing here?"

"What do you think? We came here to find you!" Bow sighed rubbing his neck. Any longer and he swore she would've cut it. "I didn't realize you weren't a morning person."

"Oh... yeah..." Rubbing her eyes again, she suppressed a small yawn welling up within her as she sheathed her sword. "Sorry..."

"Catra... What were you doing out here?" Glimmer asked. There was a strange speck of sorrow and discord twinkling within her eyes, from what remained the question.

"N-Nothing!" She insisted walking back to the pond. The two watched as she took another handful of water and rubbed it thoroughly against her face. "I was checking the perimeter to make sure the place was clear. We were being foolish keeping ourselves unguarded in the middle of the night."

"And you decided to... do this by yourself?" Bow pointed out the detail in her explanation.

"Y-Yeah! I mean, someone had to, right?" She rubbed her face some more to get every trace of her sleepiness out.

"Exactly... how long were you keeping watch, Catra?" Glimmer and Bow could easily see the tired state of their friend's eyes. From the looks of it she was awake well passed an hour or two.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter." The girl's insistence did nothing to convince the two If anything it only made them worry more for her. "Someone had to keep watch and that's exactly what I did."

"Why were you so convinced you had to keep watch?" Bow asked looking around. "Did you hear something last night?"

"Um... Y-Yeah, of course I did!" To emphasize her point, her ears twitched back and forth. "I'm a light sleeper, remember? I can hear a pin drop from the other room when I'm asleep!"

"But if you were having so much trouble sleeping, why didn't you wake us up? We could've helped find a solution to your sleeping problem."

"I... I don't know, OK!" The magicat was unaware as her ears drooped while she hugged her knees, staring into the water.

Did Catra still have trust issues when it came to the two of them? She thought they were making progress over the last few days yet it was cases like this that left her doubtful. On top of that, Glimmer felt that wasn't the whole story. There was something coming off the girl that rubbed her the wrong way. It wasn't some strange sadness, she didn't seem angry about something she or Bow did again, she just seemed a little... troubled...

Almost... frightened...

"Catra-"

"Hngh!" Catra nearly jumped as Glimmer brushed her shoulder, the princess nearly teleporting herself out of reflex. It reinforced her thoughts that something was wrong with her.

"Did... you get any sleep at all?"

"Yeah!... Maybe... Someone had to stand guard, all right?" Catra stated as she walked along the pond with the others following her.

"Okay, I know you're on edge because of what happened with Entrapta's infected robots, but it's all over now!" She smiled to her friend as she patted her shoulder. She still looked pretty glum as she stood against a tree holding herself. A part of her wondered if the events that took place in Dryl were a good thing or not given her recent personality change. "You've got to relax. In fact, what you need is a vacation. Which is why we're going to Mystacor "

"Huh! Mystacor? No way!" Catra couldn't tell if she should be happy or nervous given Bow's reaction to this. The boy looked like he saw a superhero for the first time with the way he was squeezing his head in disbelief.

"Who's Mystacor?" Catra asked, genuinely curious.

"Not who, where!"

"It's a secret floating kingdom that's home to all of Etheria's sorcerers." Glimmer explained. "It's got tranquil gardens, beautiful beaches, and healing springs. And, my Aunt Castaspella just happens to be head sorceress there."

"...And... what part of that is supposed to convince me to go?"

"Trust me, Catra, you'll love it!" Bow assured. "Plus, you won't have to worry about the evil things in the woods." He became more excited as he saw her ears rise a little higher at this. "Mystacor is protected by an invisibility spell, so evil can't find it!"

"It's the safest and most peaceful place in all of Etheria." Glimmer added.

"Really?" She contemplated his words as she gazed around the forest. There was a definite look of possibility on her face, one that told Glimmer and Bow she was actually considering it. Even if they didn't know what was troubling her at the moment they knew she was more than open to the idea of going somewhere peaceful for a change. "Well... I... Guess it wouldn't hurt to find somewhere to sleep where I don't have to pop my head up every ten minutes..."

"Haha! Then it's decided!" Bow cheered as he threw his arms around the two. "Mystacor, here we come!"

"Hey! Personal. Space."

Compared to usual, Glimmer smiled as Catra said this. Even her threats were becoming less aggressive than before! From straight out punching or scratching the next person who would throw themselves at her like this to threatening them directly with violence, she gave a very direct and straightforward warning that didn't contain the threat of violence. No matter how much she insisted to the alternative, Catra really was changing on them.

However small.

"Heh, sorry." He chuckled releasing her.

"Are you sure there's going to be a way for me to relax, though?" The skeptical magicat continued to question. "I know it might shock you, but I'm not exactly a fan of water."

"They've got other methods of relaxation there, you know." Glimmer counted off with her fingers. "There's spas, saunas, meditation chambers, a whole bunch of stuff."

"...And what do they have to relax there?"

Glimmer mentally rolled her eyes at this. "Maybe it'll be better just to show you."

As the three took off, Catra took one more glance behind her. She couldn't figure out what was bothering her so much. There was something in the air surrounding her, some sort of tingling in her skin, telling her to be afraid. She didn't see anything, and she hoped it stayed that way. If Mystacor was as peaceful as Glimmer said it was then there shouldn't be anything to worry about, regardless if Shadow-Weaver can reach the girl or not.

Besides, she wasn't one to say no to a vacation... mostly because no one ever offered her one in the first place. If these vacation things were as relaxing as they told her then they should be able to relieve her of her troubles too, right? An entire kingdom full of sorcerers and sorceresses ought to be well defended compared to anywhere else in Etheria. And if it gave her the chance to relax for a change compared to going somewhere where trouble was stirring, then she would gladly take it!

All the while, the three heroes were unaware of a figure made of pure shadow, poking it's head out from above the trees. It was silent, deadly, and hidden from the keen senses Catra was known for. She would never be able to catch these things spying on her unless the shadows wanted to be found themselves.

And it brought such wicked glee for a certain witch watching these events.

...

She felt a wave of energy as she recharged her powers from the Black Garnet. The stone gave little resistance as it filled the witch with it's dark energies, the gem atop of Shadow-Weaver's mask glowing radiantly with a red, pure, light. The stone knew better than to defy her, it's master by all right. She wouldn't accept anything less than complete obedience, no matter how much she had to bend the massive stone's will.

With the door opening to the room, Adora made her presence known as she walked in. This would be the sight she was usually greeted with, seeing Shadow-Weaver starting about her day by absorbing whatever energies she could from the strange stone. At times she wondered herself whether the stone could feel pain or not, often hearing Shadow-Weaver demanding a portion of the stone's power, as if it was alive.

Clearing her throat, Adora stood at attention as she gave a salute. "Shadow-Weaver, I was told you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, Adora." Shadow-Weaver greeted calmly, draining the last of the stone's power she needed for the day. Turning around, she walked over to her favorite pupil, patting her head as she always did. "How have you recovered from your training injuries?"

"Fine, all things considered." Adora smiled back. To say she was fine would've been an exaggeration for anyone who knew what Adora went through a short while ago.

With the events that have been since Catra's defection, Adora found herself wrought with endless misery and stress, doing what she could to support her friends innocence against the rumors that disgraced her name. She didn't put up with anyone's insults towards Catra, she wouldn't allow them to speak their mind in her presence regarding her. She knew her friend was innocent, and she wouldn't allow anyone to spread false information or lies about her.

They would often say how Catra was never really one of them, how she's doing all of this for her own selfish reasons. There were times Adora wanted to question it herself, but she knew better than that. Catra was a friend of hers and still was. Somebody she knew had a good heart, despite dark mood she always brought with her. She saw that and she wanted everyone else to see that.

If they weren't going to accept that then fine. But no one was going to call her a traitor as long as she was around!

Because of these events, she found herself relying on a certain gift given to her by Shadow-Weaver, one that cleared her mind of most doubts and stress she came across through the last several weeks. While only having worn it twice, it felt wonderful to equip the headband given to her. It made her worries disappear as if they never existed, pushed back to feeling like it happened centuries ago, not recently. It gave her a sense of peace that no one else could, save for her dear friend and the motherly figure of her life.

Yet as good as it was, it came with one major drawback. Whenever she wore it, it amplified everything about her. Her speed, her strength, her mentality, and, the part that made it the most troubling, her emotions. They ran erratic every time she wore the thing, making any emotion she felt suddenly explode at first feels. A chuckle would make her roll on the ground in laughter, a doubt would make tears drain from her eyelids.

Anger would make her unleash her fury on anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves near her.

Thus, at Shadow-Weaver's suggestion, she subjected herself to a harsh and cruel training exercise, one where she mastered closing off her heart to her emotions whenever she wore the band. Naturally, the always bright and good hearted Adora had difficulty with this at first, unused to the emotionless cold state that her friends and allies were used to. It took nearly three hours for Adora to be blasted constantly by the training droids, ones specifically programmed to draw out Adora's emotions, before she finally mastered closing her heart off.

Now, whenever she wore the band, she felt nothing. She didn't feel any joy, any sorrow, any anger. All her emotions flowed to her head where they were locked away for safekeeping.

It didn't mean they stayed that way either. As long as she kept the headband off she could feel any of her natural emotions whenever she needed or wanted to. It was only as a last resort that Adora used the headband, which, as of late, has become more and more necessary.

"The nurse said my burns should heal completely within the next day or two." She continued. Being used to Shadow-Weaver's expressionless mask by now, she could tell the floating figure was smiling at her as she lifted her chin in her fingertips.

"I can not express how proud I am of you for your hard work, recently." She complimented.

"Heh, yeah, I know... you kind of mention it everyday." She chuckled. "So... what did you need me for?"

"Ah yes, about that," Shadow-Weaver began as she lead the girl to her fountain, "it would appear our... ally... is being lead straight to Mystacor, as we speak."

"Mystacor?"

"I trust you've read up on your studies, Adora?"

"Yeah, for what little there is." Adora rubbed her chin as she tried to recall. "A lot of people questioned if it even existed or not, but it's supposed to be an entire nesting ground for sorcerers and sorceresses, right?"

"Always so informative, aren't you?" She chuckled stroking her cheek. "As you can see before you, Mystacor does, indeed, exist, and they're headed there as we speak."

Peering into the water, she glared as she saw the particular princess that was the cause of all of Adora's suffering, the one who was known as Princess Glimmer, walking alongside Catra as if they were friends. "I'll begin preparations for an attack right away, Shadow-Weaver. I promise you I'll get her back this ti-"

"No." Shadow-Weaver stated, cutting her off. "That is not why I brought you here, Adora. I brought you here because I am about to attempt a ritual that will hopefully bring back your dear friend. What I require for you is to stand outside my door and make sure I'm not interrupted."

"You... don't want me to take care of this?" Adora felt a little discouraged as she asked.

"Not this time, I'm afraid. As strong as you are, Mystacor is filled to the brim with the greatest of magic users from all across Etheria. Even if you were fully rested from your injuries, you wouldn't stand a chance no matter how many people you brought. That doesn't even include the barrier that protects it."

"B-But I can do it this time!" Adora said pulling out her headband. "I've been training for this. I can be in and out of there in no time! Just let me get a strike team put together and-"

"NO!" Shadow-Weaver's shout of rage actually made Adora jump. The Force Captain couldn't recall the last time she ever heard Shadow-Weaver shout directly at her, and possibly for the first time because of what she herself did. Seeing the small glimpse of fright upon her face, Shadow-Weaver quickly changed personas as she gently placed her hands on Adora's shoulders. "You're one of the Horde's greatest soldiers, sweetheart, but we can't afford to lose you. I can't afford to lose you. Do you understand?"

Adora turned her head away at this, even after Shadow-Weaver's expression shifted to something softer and more motherly. She knew she treasured Adora dearly like a mother would, but she wished she trusted her enough for a mission like this.

Still, she was right about one thing. Adora didn't know if Mystacor was even real up until now, and clearly Shadow-Weaver had a better grasp on the situation than she did. Sighing in defeat, she returned Shadow-Weaver's gaze with a solemn expression, nodding apologetically. "I understand, Shadow-Weaver. My apologies."

"It's quite alright, my dear." Shadow-Weaver replied, turning back to the fountain. "I understand your concern for your friend. I promise you, I will bring her back from this. You have my word."

"Yes, Shadow-Weaver." With another salute, the Force Captain made her way to the door, exiting Shadow-Weaver's chamber.

Waiting for the captain to make her exit, Shadow-Weaver immediately fumed as she looked back to the image of Catra through the fountain. "Oh, Catra, Catra. You have no idea how much you're making her suffer. Or how much closer you're bringing her to me." With a simple laugh, she began to channel a massive force of energy into the palms of her hands, electricity dancing around her arms as they flowed towards the fountain itself.

From outside the walls, Adora could feel the ground shake as Shadow-Weaver began to work her magic. Curiosity building up, she was powerless to resist the temptation of poking her head inside the room, letting out a small gasp as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her.

"From the farthest regions of Etheria, I command you, be as one!" With a single roar, Adora watched as the numerous shadows began to draw towards the fountain in the room, reminding her of how it felt when those dark shades infested her body the first time. Within the fountain itself, a single diamond-shaped ruby formed, glowing from a dark twisted shadow mass of shadows that grew out of the pool. Adora watched in horror as the shadow gave shape and form, enmassing into a large, single, entity that let out a monstrous roar.

Letting out another small breath of shock gave away Adora's hiding spot as Shadow-Weaver turned around, seeming unamused but unbothered by the girl's presence. Turning to the monster in front of her, she pointed towards the image of Catra within the pool, the creature of shadows dissipating as it understood perfectly well what to do.

There wasn't a single lie within that statement. The creature knew of it's purpose upon creation, and would never question or resist the call of it's master. It would set out to find it's target, and fulfill it's master's wishes as directed. And it would solve all of their problems after all time time.

Hers, anyway...

...

The morning had proven nerve wracking for Catra during the entire trip, which didn't go unnoticed by Glimmer and Bow during the trek up here. Every couple of minutes, they would spot Catra looking over her shoulder worried about something, And every time they tried to question her on it she would just say it was nothing. They would've been more inclined to believe her if it wasn't for the fact she continued to do it even after they called her out on it the last dozen times.

Thankfully, the group had finally neared the end of their journey as they came across the cliff side, one overlooking a peaceful-looking pink cloud. That was the one thing that eased her senses a little. No matter how tense the day had made her since last night, they did travel across a rather peaceful forest. The day itself was bright and sunny for what few clouds loomed overhead.

"We're here!" Glimmer announced as the three stood atop the cliff.

"...Uhh Pinky? We're on a cliff." Catra pointed out. Was this supposed to be the whole amazing Mystacor they kept going on about? The freaking bathrooms at Bright Moon looked more relaxing than this! "And we're overlooking a thousand-foot drop."

"Yes, we are." She nodded happily. "But not for long!"

"Woo-hoo!" WIth a mighty cheer, and a near-heart attack from Catra, Glimmer and Bow happily jumped from the thousand foot cliff, cannonballing into the sea of clouds below.

"What the-!" Catra screeched. What the heck did they just do?! How was she supposed to tell the Queen about this?! Oh hey Queen, hope you're not unhappy or anything, I just wanted to tell you how your daughter and her strange friend suddenly decided to throw themselves over a cliff while I happened to be with them! No hard feelings, right? "Guys? You better not be dead!" She was already contemplating the numerous ways the Queen would execute her when she found out about this.

That's when she heard the telltale laughter of her two allies, watching them as they began to rise up with the stone platform that rose to the air. To her relief she wasn't going to lose her head anytime soon. The two were happily waving to her as they rose to the air, coming up to the cliff's level then some.

"Come on, Catra! Jump!" Bow yelled over, watching as his friend stared dumbfounded at the scene.

Taking a deep breath to relax, she slowly backed up a couple feet, clearing her head before she sprinted to the ledge. With a giant kick from her legs, she leaped over to the other side where the platform was, ready to grab onto the ledge as it passed her.

At least, that was the plan until something else caught her attention. Hearing the strange sound of the wind coming below her, her attention shifted back to the cliff as she was caught by surprise. There, squirming against the ground as it moved, her jaw dropped a little as she saw a familiar shadowy figure sliding into the clouds themselves. The distraction was so great she barely registered as her head collided to the side of the rising cliff.

"Ahhh!" She screamed as she stared to fall. Knowing her luck, something told her she wasn't going to be greeted with a peaceful landing of another floating platform like the first two were.

Racing over to the cliffside, the two gasped as they saw Catra plummeting back to the ground, with no possible way for the girl to get back to them or save herself from the severe fall she was about to suffer. Reacting quickly, Bow shot one of his many arrows at the girl, passing by Catra in time as a rope sprang from his bow, stretching all the way passed Catra. Without needing to be told otherwise, Catra frantically grabbed onto the long extension, washing over with relief as the two grabbed onto the rope and began pulling her up.

Pulling repeatedly on the rope for over a minute, the two watched as Catra's claws finally made it's way to the platform, Catra herself panting out of breath as she made it to the top of the platform after long last.

"Are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly, trying to check on her.

"I'm fine!" Catra hissed, slapping her hands away. She didn't give the girl a single notice as she stood up and walked passed her, trying to distance herself a little between the two, standing in the center of the magical debris.

"Catra, what happened back there?" Bow asked stepping forward.

"Nothing, ok? I just got a little... distracted. That's all."

"You? Distracted?" Yeah, and Bow was president of his own fan club... if he had one yet. "Catra, you have greater senses compared to most people I know, and I don't think I've ever seen you get distracted."

"W-Well it was just a slip up, all right?"

"Catra, it's fine. It's the stress, isn't it?" Glimmer guessed, trying to comfort her.

"Y-Yeah, just the stress." Catra looked back to the cliffside again to check the coast. It was clear from her viewpoint, not that it did anything to make her feel any calmer. All she saw was the cliffside fading into the distance and the clouds what surrounded it. "Just the stress..." All while she and the others were completely unaware of the shadow that attached itself to the rising earth from underneath them.

Taking in the view that approached them, Catra looked with surprise as they came up to a large transparent barrier, one that lit up as they easily slipped through it. That wasn't as interesting as the giant fortress they came across as the platform continued on it's route to the massive temple itself.

Layers upon layers of the temple were surrounded by mountainside and buildings all stretching into the mountain itself, several other floating platforms around the place with their own buildings too. Out of all of the places Catra had been to up to this point, this one definitely felt the most mystical, and a possible nightmare for anyone else who had a severe fear of heights. Thankfully she didn't fall into that category, not with her history of climbing around the Fright Zone.

WIth a small crash, the other two laughed with excitement as they jumped from the platform, Catra racing after them from behind.

"We road a flying mountain through clouds." Bow smiled with delight. "It never gets old."

"Uhh... yeah..." Catra mumbled, taking one more look at the mountain they flew on before joining them. "It was... interesting..."

"Just so you know, my Aunt Casta can be a lot." Glimmer commented. Catra didn't know what that was supposed to imply. Did she mean a lot like her? A lot of magicalness? Or a lot like Glimmer's mother? The very thought of it made her shiver briefly. "But don't worry, I know how to handle her."

"Is that my Glimmer?" A perky young woman called out as she approached, arms open and ready to embrace anyone.

"Hi, Aunt Casta." Glimmer waved over.

"It's been so long since you came to visit!" She squealed, hugging her dear niece in a tight hug. "And Bow," she greeted with another hug, "so nice to see you too." Noticing another member among them she smiled. "And who's this?"

"This," Glimmer began pulling Catra a little closer, "is my friend, Catra. She's also sometimes this mystical warrior named She-Ra who transforms by using a sword she found in the woods created by the First Ones." She continued, pushing her closer to her aunt. "So don't freak out when it happens."

"Uh... hi?"

"Catra." There was a small hint of wonder in the woman's eyes, one that disappeared as quickly as Catra picked it up. She wouldn't be surprised if she actually imagined it it was so fast. "How nice Glimmer has finally started making some new friends."

"Well, friends, is a bit of a strong word..." Catra mumbled looking away.

"We were all so pleased when she started bringing Bow around. I was pretty sure she made him up at first."

"Pffft." Catra rubbed under her nose as she held back the urge to snicker. Seeing the small blush on Glimmer's face confirmed exactly what her aunt said, making it all the more hilarious for Catra. "Yeah, sometimes I wonder if he's imaginary too!" She joked.

"Eh hem!" Glimmer interrupted clearing her throat.

"Oh! You've done something to your hair?"

"What? Yes. I cut it."

"I can see that. I also see you're not wearing the sweater I knitted for you." She commented, pulling on the outfit Glimmer was currently wearing. "Don't you like it?"

"Sure, I like it. It's great!"

Catra found this too good of an opportunity to pass up as a devious grin grew on her face. "Really? I thought you said that old rag was too itchy for you?"

"What?!"

"S-She's kidding, Aunt Casta!" Glimmer fretted as Catra burst into a fit of laughter. Backing up to the irritating cat, she elbowed her enough in the gut to make her stop. "CATRA, has this crazy idea that she's so funny..."

"Ghhh..." Catra groaned, rubbing her gut.

"But you'd tell me if you didn't like it, right?" Her aunt asked worriedly.

"Yes. I'd tell you." The expression on Glimmer's face was too priceless for Catra. She had this nervousness in her eyes as she tried putting on her best, forceful, smile.

"I'm wearing the socks you sent me." Bow pointed out.

"Well, I've always been fond of this one." Aunt Casta smiled to the young man, glad someone seemed to appreciate her work. "So, what brings you all the way out here to visit your aunt? Is it once in a blue moon already?" She teased as she lead the way.

The unamused expression on Glimmer's face said it all. This is the kind of thing Glimmer warned Catra about before coming her, about how her Aunt can be a lot to take in all at once, and Catra couldn't have found it better. If she could hear any more hilarious facts about Glimmer while she was here then this entire trip totally would've been worth it. "We're on a diplomatic mission, Auntie. I'm rebuilding the Princess Alliance-"

"My goodness, then you must be starving." Her aunt interrupted again. "I'll have a feast prepared." She totally ignored the facepalm this earned from Glimmer as she walked off. "I'm sure your mother hasn't been feeding you."

As always, Catra had to be the witty one around here as she leaned over to Glimmer's ear, smirking as she whispered. "Really? Cause I've heard some guards say otherwise~"

"Zip iiiiiiit!"

...

The view around the temple couldn't have been anything less than what Catra expected from the proclaimed Magic Capital of the World. All around her, as far as the eye could see, she saw sorcerers and sorceresses one after the other. Young and old, wise and weird, the mages and spellcasters came in a variety of people, the interesting differences in them matched only by the variety of magics they displayed as they trained.

Some were forming fireballs within their very hands, juggling back and forth several at a time and then dissolving them into thin air. Then they would regrow the fireballs to repeat the process all over again. Others worked with the air itself, forming small waves of water from the elements in the air surrounding them. Waving their hands, the water would dance across their arms as they smiled, enjoying the peaceful touch of the water's texture as it slid across them. Then, with the flick of their wrist the water would evaporate into the air once more, or, in another case she saw, spread across the ground beneath them to make the flowers grow.

Suffice to say, this was the very definition of a mage capitol. And if this was what they were capable of doing just by playing around, there was no telling what they could do if they ever joined in on the war.

"You've come at the perfect time." Her aunt continued as she lead the way. "There's an eclipse this evening." Gesturing to the sky, the three saw three different moons, all crescent, from smallest in front to biggest in back, staring back at them. "I'm headed right now to inspect the Lunarium for the ceremony. And nothing would make me happier than to give my favorite niece and her friends a tour."

"Uh... Bow and I have had the tour before." Glimmer replied, trying to be polite. "And we don't wanna get in your way."

"it's all right, Glimmer." Bow spoke up. "Catra hasn't seen it yet. It'll be fun." For a moment, she gave him a glare of irritation, one usually reserved for Catra or coming from Catra, Bow shrugging in confusion as to why that bothered her.

"Oh. Well, I guess it's up to Catra, then. What do you say my dear?"

"...What?" Catra turned back to Casta, distracted from her previous observations. She wasn't really sure what she was talking about, only seeing Glimmer standing behind her mouthing a "no" to her while waving her hands. If she had any more interest in socializing with people, she would've been able to translate her strange gesture more accurately. "Uhh... Let's go?"

"Oh, I like her." Casta beamed as lead Catra directly, pushing her in the direction as Glimmer groaned.

This was going to be a long vacation...

...

A/N: Yeah, I know it's a bit of a weird spot to stop it but it's 8k alone, and I'm 5 minutes/ 1/4th into the episode so seems like a good stopping point XP.

You know one of the only annoying things I have to deal with with this and autism? When I use words repeatedly X/ when I write my chapters so close to each other i keep getting paranoid I either write one word too many times or end up not using another word enough. Hopefully that doesn't become too distracting, sorry if the writing quality is a bit lacking as of late.

You're also probably wondering why I write such big summaries explaining what happened last episode. Well, aside from people who are new to the fic and just reading the most recent chapter, it's a good way to summarize everything that happened last episode in it's entirety rather than having to read a near 40-50k words, ya know XP?

Plus blame my history of reading, i swear those freaking high school books authors wrote have some sort of drug-like addiction to writing as much as possible because they put SO MANY ANNOYINGLY UNNEEDED DETAILS into a thing T_T I swear to god i once read five pages about something describing a freaking spoon, so consider what I"m doing a blessing in comparison _

With that said, hope you enjoyed today's episode! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 24: Episode 7: The Horrors of Mystacor Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Another chapter done and man was it a fun one! While I can't say how many this chapter, much less all future chapters, will have, I can safely declare this fanfic halfway done you guys ^^!

As always, had a lot of fun with this one! Not much else to say that I can think of off the top of my head, except for one celebratory HUZZAH because we've reached the 100 Review Milestone on Fanfiction dot net! Not only that but I current come in first place for the most reviews for a she-ra fic on that site which I consider an accomplishment!

So, here's hoping you guys enjoy the episode as much as I did with all the fun I was having!

Enjoy!

...

"Mmh... stupid Lonnie... dummy Adora..." A young six-year-old Catra grumbled as she poked at her usual morning breakfast of gruel and fruit.

Life sucked.

Everything sucked around here, more than usual now because of Shadow-Weaver's involvement. It wasn't bad enough that she was constantly picked on day in and day out. It wasn't enough that she was harassed and mocked by the numerous kids and staff running around the place either. And apparently it wasn't enough for her to be locked into a jail cell for over twenty-four hours until a guard finally found her, scolded her for playing around, and had her returned to her bunk room where all the other kids were.

She didn't tell Adora anything about what occurred that day, and that's the way she planned on keeping it. What would be the point of it anyway? Adora wanted to be friends with the very bullies who put her in that cell to begin with, and after returning to the kid's room, she finds a happy and excited Adora going on and on about how they were all finally part of a gang, how they both had friends now. As much as she started to hate those around her, she couldn't bring herself to shatter Adora's view of the world or ruin her chances of possibly making friends. At least then she would be safer than she would be if she protected Catra all the time.

And that wasn't what bothered Catra the most.

No, now she got slapped in the face with a hard ball after the revelation Adora had to make the other day...

...

"What do you mean you're leaving?!" Catra whined as Adora continued to pack her bag.

"I'm sorry Catra, but Shadow-Weaver said I have to." Adora replied, frowning a little. "She said me and some of the other kids have been doing a really good job around here that they're taking us to an advanced class."

"Who are you talking about? What other kids?"

"Simple. Lonnie and the others." Adora said, waving to Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio as they packed their own bags. Catra gave a small glare at the girl as she smirked back. Something told her this was their reward for that horrible prank she pulled on Catra, when she lied to her about the initiation and cruelly trapped her in a prison cell for over a day. "Shadow-Weaver said we're the hardest working kids she's ever seen, and she said if we do a good job in that, we'll be promoted to Junior Cadets early!"

"Junior Cadets?" No one hasn't heard about the Cadets. When one became a cadet, an entire world of opportunity opened up in front of them! They could then work towards a different career in the Horde between engineering, weapon's expertise, prison guards, the whole nine yards! Better yet, there were a whole bunch of better benefits that came with it! Better food, softer clothes, comfier beds, and so on.

Usually kids wouldn't start training to be a cadet until the age of eight, but if Adora and the others were going to become cadets earlier, then they definitely had to have impressed somebody around here!

Or, more likely, Shadow-Weaver was pulling the strings to advance their training. She did always favor Adora, after all.

"But... what about me?" Catra frowned, drooping her ears a little. Adora went silent at this, sharing the same frown as her best friend. Both were aware of what this meant for them.

"...I'm sorry, Catra but... Shadow-Weaver says you need more training." Adora replied, zipping up her bag. "I tried to ask her to bring you too. Lots of times! But she says the training will be a lot harder than the classes that they're giving here. She says some of them are even dangerous."

"So you're just going to leave me...?" Catra said as the tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. "We're not friends anymore?"

"No, of course we're still friends." Adora gave her a hug with a small smile. "It doesn't mean we won't be friends anymore. We'll just... see each other a little less..." There was no easy way to bring up that bit of news. "Most of the classes we'll have will be different from the ones we used to do... and there's another sector they're bringing us to, so... we won't be able to sleep together anymore."

"B-But..." Catra sniffled. There wasn't any positive side to this that she could think of. Adora was her best friend, and now she was going to go away for who knows how long? What if they never saw each other again? What if an accident happened that separated them for life? What if she got another promotion that sent her to another sector again?!

"But hey, it's not all bad!" Adora tried to cheer her friend up. "With Lonnie and the others going, no one else will pick on you as much. And that means no one will be stealing muffins on Muffin Monday anymore, so that's good, right?"

"...I guess..."

"And we'll always be friends forever. Remember the promise we made before?" As if she needed a reminder of that day.

"Yeah..."

"No matter how far apart we are, nothing bad can happen to us-"

"-as long as we have each other." Catra sniffled.

"And we can still write to each other too! No one says we can't write letters to one another around here, so we'll be able to keep in touch with each other, no matter where we are!" While that might've sounded good to some people, Catra wouldn't be surprised if those letters conveniently disappeared while they were being sent back and forth. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she got Adora's letters and Adora didn't get her letters, making her think Catra didn't like her anymore.

"..." She didn't know how to respond to that. Was she supposed to accept everything that happened and move on? Who on Etheria would be that cruel to her? It made things worse when she saw Adora's own pained expression, knowing she wasn't feeling any better than Catra was about the situation. "I hope you have fun, then." Catra mumbled as she walked away. She couldn't bare to look at Adora anymore, more out of sadness than anger.

The only one who did have her ire right now was Lonnie, the girl she gave a silent hiss at as she continued to smirk back at her. Lonnie was the second worst person in her life. She picked on her, pranked her, and did so many cruel things to her for a five-year-old, and she was being rewarded for it!

She didn't care about Kyle or his excuses when he tried to apologize for the prank, she barely paid any mind to Rogelio while still being as angry at him. She was taking her best friend away, they all were. Why couldn't Adora see that? This felt less like a promotion and more of a means to torture Catra even further. And just because Lonnie and her goons were leaving didn't mean the pranks would end! It's not like Lonnie was the only one who pranked her every time, just the one who did it the most.

All she knew was that the world was against her right now. Lonnie was against her, Shadow-Weaver was against her, and for the first time, the thought of which made Catra's heart ache, she felt like her best friend was against her.

...

*splat*

Speaking of which...

"Freak!" The shout of laughter that followed the handful of gruel that was in her hair went on to prove her point. It didn't matter if Lonnie was gone or not, she was still going to be picked on, she was being picked on. She could feel every slimey bit of it oozing through her hair, the stickiness making her ears twitch as she felt it.

Why? Why did this always have to happen to me? Catra would ask herself. It was like the entire universe was against her! Everyone hated her, nobody else wanted anything to do with her, and the one person in the world who liked her was now leaving her, possibly forever! It was unfair, it was cruel, it was heinous! To be treated this way no matter how many times she tried to be nice, no matter how often she tried to ignore it!

That's when it finally hit her. The tears that used to form in the corners of her eyes quickly dried up as her face contorted with an unfamiliar anger. What was this feeling? For the first time in her life, she didn't feel the sadness of being picked on, the terror she was inflicted with whenever she was bullied. She felt a different feeling boiling up inside of her, a volcano that was dormant until today.

She hated these people. She hated the way they always treated her. Most of all, she hated Lonnie and Shadow-Weaver.

Claws outstretched from her fingers, she picked up her tray. Her ears were tilted back with irritation as she casually walked her way over to the thrower's chair, tightening the grip on her tray with each step. Standing right behind the young boy, she tapped his shoulder, grabbing his attention as she pulled back the tray in her hands.

"What do you want, freak?"

*WHACK!*

...

"-end usually do that?" Was the first thing Catra heard as she came back to reality.

"She's fine, Aunt Casta." Glimmer replied as the four of them stood in the hallway. "She just has a habit of... daydreaming, from time to time. It's no big deal."

"Ngh..." As usual, Catra moaned as she rubbed her head, letting the others know she was back to normal from whatever vision she was recently having.

"See? She's perfectly fine!" There was some lie and some truth to that, the lying part of it Glimmer hoped wouldn't be picked up by her Aunt Casta.

Ten minutes into this vacation and things were already off to a rocky start.

Following the morning, which was more like Midnight in Catra's case, the girl found herself pretty exhausted from spending the whole night keeping watch for the three of them as the other two continued to sleep in the middle of the woods. It's not like she didn't want to get back to sleep either, but the nightmare that woke her up in the middle of the night kept her from ever thinking about going back to sleep again.

Shadow-Weaver. The person who used to torment her on a daily basis through various means, and the person she feared the most since defecting to the Rebellion. When she was in the Horde, Shadow-Weaver wouldn't dare to strike against her unless she was punished for some reason, taking any excuse she could find to do so. She constantly mocked Catra and scolded her on a moment's notice, and did everything in her power to remind her how she was inferior to everyone else no matter how many times she tried to prove herself.

She also reminded her how she was no longer safe, no matter where she was, since joining the Rebellion. Her twisted magics could reach her anywhere, she could infiltrate the girl's dreams and turn them into nightmares if she wanted. She could make Catra suffer beyond the wildest horrors Catra could conjure up.

She had a very thorough experience of that memory.

There wasn't any Adora that could keep her safe anymore. There wasn't anyone strong enough to protect her from her magic. All save for this place, Mystacor, the magic capital of the world, she currently found herself in. Being protected by a magical barrier and enchanted with a spell that kept the land invisible to others, she hoped this place could offer the relaxation Glimmer promised her that she desperately needed. She needed it, and the others knew she needed it too.

Ever since this morning when they found her, she's been on edge. Always checking over her shoulders, always pausing to check her surroundings, even going as far as to grab Bow out of nowhere and threatening to cut his head off when they snuck upon her at the pond earlier. The girl was clearly paranoid for reasons she wouldn't explain, chalking it up to the pressure and stress she was under after the events of Dryl.

That's why they hoped this place could offer her some moment of peace and respite. There was no other place in the world Glimmer could think of where she would be protected and capable of resting better than Mystacor, the one lead by her very own Aunt Castaspella.

Now if her aunt stopped dotting on her over every single little thing, then she'd be able to relax too.

"You all right, Catra?" Bow asked, rubbing her shoulder.

"I'm fine." Grumbly attitude, shaking him off of her, wanting to move on and completely ignore the conversation. Yup, she was all right.

"Are you sure you don't want to consult with one of our mages?" Aunt Casta asked with a hint of concern. "We have a lot of mages that can help you with your daydreaming issues."

"I think I'll take my chances." Catra folded her arms behind her head as she walked passed her down the hallway.

"She really is fine, Auntie." Glimmer assured with a nod. "She's always like that, trust me."

"It'd be worrying if she didn't act like that these days." Bow joked as they continued down the same hall.

"Well, if you're sure she's okay." It always warmed Glimmer's heart to see her Auntie caring about others as much as she did, even if it became a little tedious every now and then for her.

"Anyway, onto the Lunarium!"

...

"Woah..." Catra stared in amazement at the room.

All around her, from top to bottom, back to back, side to side, were thousands upon thousands of beautiful pink diamonds. Surrounding all across the walls, all of them reflecting it's beautiful magnificent light off of each other from the skylight in the ceiling above, Catra could turn and watch ten or twenty diamonds sparkle in every direction.

The floor itself was nothing to gawk at. Beautifully crafted with a pristine violet color, which helped to reflect the sun's warming ray, and polished possibly three times a day by the looks of it. Everywhere around the floor was spotless and clear, her reflection greeting her wherever she walked.

This room was the very definition of beauty, or the closest thing Catra could consider.

"The Lunar Lenses." Aunt Casta spoke as they looked around. "We use them in the monthly ceremonies to renew Mystacor's magic defenses, and keep us shielded from the outside world. You will be coming to the Eclipse Ceremony tonight, won't you?"

"Uh..." She wasn't sure how to respond. Does she decline her offer and possibly incite some sort of vengeful aunt on herself? Or does she say yes and partake in possibly the most boring who-knows-how-many hours of her life?

"Aunt Casta," Glimmer thankfully interrupted, "I've seen the ceremony dozens of times. And we're all really tired from traveling." She slouched as if to emphasize her point. "Maybe we'll skip it this time?"

"Nonsense. Your friend Catra hasn't seen it yet," she retorted, pulling Catra closer to her, "and it's quite a sight to behold for a newcomer." It was the most awkward feeling for Catra when the sorceress suddenly booped her on the nose out of nowhere. "Besides, don't you want to spend more time with your aunt?"

"Of course!" The princess frantically nodded in assurance, doing everything she could to keep from looking rude to her dear aunt. "But we also really wanted to show Catra the beach."

"Well, if the beach is the only reason you're here, I really shouldn't keep you, should I?" Oh no, she was doing it again. The one thing Glimmer hated that her aunt would always try to pull on her to get Glimmer over to her side. The Guilt Game. "I certainly don't want to waste any of your time. I mean I know it's been so long since we last saw each other, but what's another year or two, I suppose..."

"Ugggh... Auntie, please don't do thiiiis..." She groaned.

"Do what? Just remind you of how much I care for you and ask to spend a little quality time around here?" While the three tweedles were currently preoccupied, Catra walked along the room to examine the diamonds up more closely.

If she ever came to this room on her own, she'd think this was some sort of treasury. All the crystals were neatly organized and arranged in every direction, not a speck of dust covering a single inch of this place! Maybe when she got her own kingdom and her own castle she could make a treasure room like this, filled with nothing but beautiful diamonds and jewels, decorated gems from beyond the seas, and floors covered in solid gold which would fill the room with a beautiful yellow hue.

Looking at this place made her crave her own treasury more, and this was just some stupid Lunarium room! Imagine what the rest of this place could look like, she wondered to herself as she stared at the large mirror-sized diamond in front of her. Maybe they have a dining room the size of a baseball field around here? Maybe all the servants used magical projections of their elements, like summoning golems and whatnot to do their bidding! Even the shadowy figure in the mirror seemed-

"Huh?" Catra quickly shot behind her as she saw the apparition in the mirror. For a single, solitary, second, she saw it. A ghostly mass of shadows which dissipated as quickly as she saw it. Where did it come from? Was it a part of this place? Her instincts were telling her to investigate down the hallway, the source of the strange creature seeming to originate from there.

As she did, Bow took notice of the missing member from their group. "Catra?" Grabbing the others' attention, Aunt Casta smiled as she saw Catra run her way towards the hall.

"Well, someone is enthusiastic."

...

The hallways were just as elegant as the rest of the building, if not more so than the rooms they connected to. Between the walls and the interiors, the opened windows that shined the magnificent sunlight in, the archways connecting to the doors of this open place, everything was decorated and painted with a serene view. It went on to give showmanship for the crafts and details of this fine temple, further indicated by the amount of display brought onto each wall.

But she wasn't here to sightsee.

Ever since this morning, she's had this nervous twitch in the back of her mind going off. She knew she must've been hallucinating after the nightmare she had last night, but why was it still bothering her? The last time these strange twitches went off was when she ever found herself alone without Adora, if Shadow-Weaver was somewhere nearby.

That couldn't be though, right? She was possibly thousands of miles away from her at this point. All around Mystacor were hundreds of mages, a spell that casted invisibility over the land, and a barrier that warded off evil. On the off chance she was around here someone would've easily spotted her by this point.

Yeah, it's all in my mind. Catra told herself. She was in an empty hallway all by herself, one housing several statues on the right hand side of her within the walls. Ha, imagine that. She wasn't really alone, was she? She had these stone dummies looking across the halls all day. Some of them looking majestic, others regal, all kept in check as they spent the rest of eternity staring across the room.

So why was she still feeling an uncertain chill in the air?

"Ah, yes. The Hall of Sorcerers." Aunt Casta made her presence known as she spoke next to Catra. She was followed by Bow and Glimmer in line, Catra joining in on them as they explored the halls. "Theses are the Great Ones who led Mystacor through the ages." Coming to a stop, she smiled brightly as she stood in front of the statue of a great man. "This is Micah, my brother. We trained in these very halls together. Glimmer looks just like him, you know?"

"He had a beard." Glimmer reminded with a small blush.

"Hey, wait a minute. You mean Glimmer's dad was your brother?" Why did no one tell Catra about this sooner?

"Catra, you do know what aunt means, don't you?" Bow whispered over.

Trying to play it nonchalantly, Catra rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "W-Well of course I do! ...It's the rank that comes after general, right?"

Glimmer clearly understood what Micah meant to her Auntie. After all, she was his daughter. The way she smiled whenever she talked about him, the sadness hinting in her eyes whenever she recalled what happened to him. It was the sign of what true family was all about. "Auntie, we're going to avenge my dad and make sure that the Horde never hurts anyone else. Mom believes in us, and in She-Ra."

"...Well, if your mother believes, who am I not to?" A small unapproving scowl crossed her expression, raising her hands in the air in exaggeration. "She's an angelic being, after all, and I'm just a common sorceress."

"Ugh. Please, not this again." Her Aunt Castaspella was considered the head sorceress of Mystacor, how much more could she ask for? Glimmer would gladly trade her own title of princess for anything as grand!

"She never writes to me, you know? I send letters, but do I ever get a reply?" She went on as she lead the way down the hallway.

So far Catra's impression of her was... interesting. She seemed to go on and on about herself while still embarrassing Glimmer from time to time, a personal plus if you asked her, yet also seemed rather full of herself half the time. Yeah, it was something Catra felt like she could relate to, wanting something better of herself, but the way she repeatedly put it off by talking about Glimmer and Queen Angella felt weird to her.

At least she wasn't anywhere near as terrifying as Glimmer's mother was.

That was when she came across one statue in particular, one covered in a faded shadow from head to toe. It was that strange stare she saw in the statue's eyes, one that emanated a deep hatred even through stone. "Who... Who is she?"

"Light Spinner." Casta's voice dropped as she breathed in an air of hate. "A scar on Mystacor's past. She sought power and complete control above all else, and she was cast out. Although some say she never really left. That she's only biding her time, waiting to exact her revenge!" Somehow the strange yet obvious creepy performance Glimmer's aunt was putting on was actually creeping Catra out. Was it more of her own stress and exhausted state affecting her or was she legitimately creeped out by this?

"But those are only children's tales, of course." No amount of smiling from her could make the creep factor suddenly disappear. "Anyway, on with the tour. Are you hungry?" Taking Glimmer and Bow down the hall, Catra stared back at the outcast of a statue. Her voice faded into the distance as the two followed behind her. I've had the dining room redone since last time you were here, Glimmer."

Who was this Light Spinner she was talking about? The face, that stare, the eyes. There was a familiarity to it that she couldn't quite put a claw on. She felt like she should've known her from somewhere, like it was on the tip of her tongue, and it kept going right outside of her reach.

Maybe it was the strange chill in the air that distracted her? Maybe it was how this strange place was all sorts of different compared to what she was used to? Maybe it was the sinister statue that she was looking over that gave her the chills? Or maybe it was the shadow looming over her from behind, one as silent as the air itself.

The shadow gazed upon it's target as it blended into the wall behind her. Its target was distracted by the sight of the statue, perplexed at what she was staring at. Without making a sound, the shadow began to seep it's mist-like tendrils through the girl's ear as she continued to stare at the woman made of stone. Catra couldn't feel any sort of draft as she stared ahead, feeling as if everything was all right little by little. By the time she bothered to move on, over a third of the shadow had entered Catra's mind,

For one moment, both of Catra's eyes flashed yellow, before returning to the same heterochromia blue and yellow they always were.

*Swoosh!*

"Ah-!" Catra yelped as Glimmer and Bow materialized right in front of her.

"OK, Aunt Casta's going to fix us a big dinner and now it's finally beach time!" The entire time Glimmer spoke with her eyes closed, Bow stared into Catra's eyes. For possibly the very first time since meeting her, she actually looked kinda timid. It took a brief silence to fill the air before Glimmer saw Catra's uneasy expression, seeing the pupils shrinking a little in her eyes. "Catra, are you okay?"

"Wha..." Catra shook her head to get all the fuzzy feelings out of it. "Uh yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"Because your claws are stretched out like you're about to attack someone, for starters." Bow commented pointing to the dangerous duo. Sure enough, looking down herself, Catra was surprised to see her claws fully on display and ready to pounce on the first person that attacked her.

"O-Oh... my bad..." She mumbled retracting them.

"It's worse than we thought." Glimmer felt so sorry for her distressed friend. She doesn't know what sort of horrible nightmare of a dream Catra could've gone through when the virus took over her. Patting her shoulder, she gave her a soft smile as she gestured out the hallway. "What you need right now is warm sand and calming waves. Stat."

"Uh... sure..." She felt strange all of a sudden as she followed the two. She felt like something was creeping up on her skin, but she couldn't put her finger on it. There was a certain chill in the air that followed around her as she was lead through the hallways, Glimmer and Bow giving her as much of a comforting smile as possible from time to time to make sure she was alright.

"Trust me, Catra, the beach is the best place to relax." Bow assured. "There's the warm sand, the smell of fresh water, the perfect place to drown Adora."

"Yeah..." Catra blinked to herself as she realized what he just said. "Wait, what did you say?" She asked with a small hiss in her voice, Glimmer and Bow looking at her like she saw a ghost.

"I said it's the perfect place to get some rest." He replied. The certainty in his voice left her baffled. For a moment, she could've sworn he said something different. "What did you think I said?"

"N... Nothing, nevermind." Catra rubbed her hands along her arms as she tried to warm herself up, continuing to follow the two to the beach. She was sure of it for one second that he had said something entirely differently. And the way he assured her of what he said left her doubtful of it at the same time. Was this a result of the stress getting to her? And why was it so chilly around here? "Is anyone else cold around here?" She asked as she continued hugging herself.

The two gave her an odd look but said nothing. After all that she's done for them and knowing what a harsh life she's had up till now, she deserved some nice R 'n R. It was going to be tricky to find out what made her feel relaxed but in a place as grand as Mystacor, they were sure they could find something fun for her!

...

And as they left, they were all unaware of the shadow slowly rising out of the ground behind them. The spectre was a little shorter compared to it's original size, not that it's master was about to complain. From the other end of it's view, through the fountain of Shadow-Weaver's vision, the witch of darkness grinned to herself while in contemplation.

"Hmm... It seems the traitor has a little more mental resistance than I gave her credit for." She surmised, splashing a finger across the fountain as it focused on Catra. "Who would've thought she had a stronger mind in that empty head of hers... Oh well." With a wave of her hands, darkness seeped into the fountain as she continued her work. "She'll play her part accordingly as she has with everything else so far."

"Even if I have to snap that mind of her's in half!"

...

This was the farthest thing Catra expected from a beach. Then again, if they were hundreds of feet up in the clouds, she supposed it was the closest thing this place had to an actual beach. With still warm beach sand she could feel under her feet and the clouds acting as the seas themselves, this was basically the same as an ocean-filled beach in every way.

And for some reason it still didn't get rid of the chill creeping up on her.

"So... this is supposed to be some magical sitting thing?" Catra questioned as she watched the two lay out some towels on the sandy beach.

"It's called, relaxing, Catra." Glimmer said as she flattened out her and Catra's towels. "Didn't you do this kind of thing in the Horde?"

"Not unless your definition of relaxing involving breaking apart droids that kept blasting at you."

"Well, luckily for you, it's really easy. You just need to lie here for awhile, take in the sun, and let your mind wander."

"Sounds like something Bowey's used to." She joked, earning a chuckle from the other princess.

"Hey!" Despite the joke being put on him he still managed to give out a chuckle in fair game. The two were genuinely glad to see her in such a jokeful manner after the long morning she had. Hopefully she would get a good amount of rest out of this by the time this day was over. Smiling at the towel lying before him, Bow casually slipped on top of the towel as he rested with his arms behind his head. "Ah, this is the life."

"...And when does the whole relaxing part kick in?"

"As soon as you lie down." Glimmer gently pulled Catra to the ground on top of her towel, watching as the magicat spread herself against the cloth as she settled in herself. "And now you just relax!" With a smile, she closed her eyes as she enjoyed the peaceful weather around her.

"Hmm..." Catra, on the other hand, was enjoying less of the weather than the other two simpletons were. Ok, so I'm lying down... now what? Did she need to have some sort of magical power to make these things work? This didn't feel any better than the beds back in the Horde. In fact, it almost felt a little rougher than lying on the beds in the Fright Zone. Least those had comfortable pillows compared to lying her head back like this.

"Ngh..." Maybe lying sideways like this so she was facing Glimmer would help? The princess seemed to be doing relaxing all right, and with all the problems she had to face on a daily basis that was saying a lot. She looked so peaceful with her head lying against the ground and her arms covering the stomach. And she had way too bright of a smile.

"Ugh..." Deciding to try lying down the way she was used to, her curled up into a little ball at the end of her towel, hoping some semblance of how she used to sleep with others would give her a peace of mind.

Still nothing, unfortunately.

"Huff..." That stupid chill was still bothering her too! She tried facing Bow's direction to see if he had any idea on how to do this but he was of no help. He had the same stupid grin Glimmer had on her face as he slept, and it might've been even more annoying because he was facing her direction as he rested with his eyes closed. The least he could do is pop in and check with her on how she was doing of all things!

"Mhh..." Trying the same way he did when he started relaxing proved fruitless too. Resting both arms underneath her head as she lied completely on her back yielded zero results. Why was she having a hard time with this? It's called relaxation, not torture. Then again, at the rate it was going, it felt like practically the same thing to her. And she wasn't the only one having a hard time relaxing around here.

There was also Glimmer, the Princess of Bright Moon, daughter of an Immortal Queen, who also found herself struggling to rest and relax. Not out of the lack of trying or inability to, but because of Catra's constant moaning and groaning every five seconds, her shuffling around the towel being louder than the moaning itself. It was quite an impressive feat for someone to be able to do that for over a minute.

After another three minutes of Catra trying to do everything in her power to relax, which including all the moving around and moaning that went with it, Glimmer finally gave up. "Ok. This isn't working for you, is it?"

"No. Can I get up now?" Catra whined.

"Yes."

"Finally." She stretched out her arms as Glimmer and Bow rose from their towels. Catra surprisingly looked worse after the course of the last three minutes. She looked more exhausted and somehow grew a small amount of baggage under her eyes, the dark blurs barely noticeable from afar.

"Clearly, we're going to have to take this relaxation to the next level. Bow, wake up." She ordered clapping her hands, Bow springing up to his feet almost instantly.

"Wha-? What's going on?" Catra envied anyone with the ability to fall asleep as quickly as Bow did.

"We're taking this up to the next level." She informed. "I think this calls for... it!"

"Huuuuh! You mean... IT?!" Bow's eyes shined with a bright morning star at this, squeezing his cheeks with excitement at the prospect of it.

"Yes, Bow. It!"

"And... what exactly is it?"

...

"Mmh... How much longer do I have to wait?" Catra asked herself as she sat in the chair.

Ok, the beach thing made sense... sort of. The idea was to go to a tranquil beach where they could have peace and relaxation, where anyone could get the perfect amount of sun. While it might not be anything Catra was used to, she could feel the general idea of why it was so relaxing.

What she couldn't understand was this new thing Glimmer suggested to her. Heading over to the Northeastern wing of the mighty citadel, she brought Catra and Bow to a little spa area of Mystacor. Passing along the halls, the interiors changed from it's hardened stone-covered floors to a verily soft and cushiony white carpeting that stretched throughout the entire area.

There were dozens of doors on each side of the halls with various numbers or symbols on them, half of which were unknown to Catra. Some had designated signs like men and women bathrooms, others had a simple round circle on the frame of the door with various colors designating them. The weirdest of these doors were the ones with squiggly lines around them, ones Glimmer told her they were only for the advanced mages around here.

Not that there was any reason or desire for her to examine the rooms, of course.

After five whole minutes of walking did they finally come across a door with a bizarre symbol on it, strange even for a place like this. It displayed five different hands with eyes in the center of all of them. All the hands angled their fingers and hands in unison with each other, all working together to make a single star on the top center of the door. All the hands seemed welcoming and peaceful while being slightly threatening at the same time. What kind of person who draw a single eye in the middle of all the hands anyway?

The room inside of it wasn't any better and made things even more confusing. Taking the appearance of a doctor's office, Catra saw a lone padded rectangular table in the center of the room with two different shelves on the right side of the room, and one shelf on the left side of the room. The right side was housed with different peaceful-looking plants that brought a sense of comfort to her, while the shelf on the left side of the room had dozens of different incense-like candles that were still freshly lit. It wasn't overpowering to Catra's senses and it wasn't too little to notice either.

It felt peaceful in here. Nothing more, nothing less.

"It won't be that much longer, Catra." Even Glimmer's assurance did nothing to quell Catra's recent chill. "Trust me, after this you'll feel dead as new."

"I'll feel what?"

"Good as new?" Glimmer raised a brow to this as she repeated herself. Strangely, this was about the fifth time today either her or Bow had to repeat themselves because Catra couldn't hear or understand what they were saying. While most people might've misheard the average person once or twice a week, there was never a time when Catra didn't or couldn't understand what the two said. If anything, her hearing should've been sharpened compared to everyone else. "Catra, is your hearing okay?"

"It's fine, why?" The cat grumbled a little crossing her arms.

"Because they've been twitching a lot more than usual lately." She replied. Feeling around the ears herself, Catra shrugged this off as she looked away.

"It's nothing, it's fine. Probably just the lack of sleep." Sadly that was the biggest distraction out of all of this. All this stress she's apparently going through and all the confusion she's felt all day, all of it amounted to the possibility of stress. There was no way to tell if her strange behavior amounted to something else. "And why do we have to wear these stupid dresses?"

"They're not dresses, Catra, they're bath robes." Bow corrected, pulling on his own white robe to feel the smoothness of it against his skin. "They're supposed to help you relax. I mean feel how comfy they are!"

"I just feel a little less cold if anything."

What was going on with her? Her behaviors been increasingly strange ever since arriving to Mystacor and it was beginning to get harder to tell if it was the result the stress or the actual lack of sleep. Something about Catra's behavior, between the strange twitches and the chills she was feeling was far too strange to ignore. "Catra-?"

*creeeak*

"Ah, hello." A female wizard interrupted, speaking as she entered the room. She had curly pink hair while donning a white robe herself, the edges of the trim colored in a dark purple, while her underclothes consisted of long skinny grey pants and a plaid white short-sleeve shirt. She also had a simple small pair of glasses planted in her hair. "I take it you're all here for the spa treatment?"

"Yeah, we're here to help our friend get settled in. It's her first time." Glimmer replied as the three stood up.

"Excellent!" She didn't give Catra the chance to do it herself as she immediately took the girl's hand, shaking it profusely. "My name's Dr. Kiroh, and I'll be giving you your massage today."

"A massage?" She looked back to the other two as they smiled to her. "I came all this way for some massage?"

"More like the best massage of your life!" Bow exclaimed. "They use their magic to mix hot and cold temperatures on your bones while giving you a massage, you'll feel like you're melting away from the feel!" She couldn't tell if that was another part of his recent mishearing or if he actually meant it that time. "I got it done here once, I was so relaxed that I fell asleep in under a minute, and I woke up feeling like a year had passed!"

"Trust us, Catra, you'll love it." Glimmer assured. "Bow and I are gonna head over to our own massage areas, we'll see you after a little while." Nodding back to him, Catra watched as the two made their way through the door, leaving Catra alone with this Kiroh girl who stood a good foot over Catra.

"Ok, let's hop up on the table and we'll get started!" She stated, patting the foamy tabletop in the middle of the room. With a sigh, Catra surrendered to the bed of comfort as she lied on her stomach, resting her chin at the top of the table as Kiroh stood at her side. "Oh, shoot, I forgot a towel. I'll be right back!" She quickly walked over to the door, shutting it quietly with a small click as Catra tried to make herself comfortable.

"Ok, relax... relax..." She kept muttering to herself as she lied her arms under her chin, closing her eyes trying to sleep. She did have to admit, as weird as this place was and the current relaxation method seemed, she did feel a small sense of comfort. The table itself was surprisingly comfortable for what it was, almost as much as her personal bed back in Bright Moon. With her ears drooping with exhaustion, she felt herself slowly drift away, unaware of a creeping shadow that slowly seeped in from underneath the doorway.

The shadowy assailant slowly crept along the floor and over the table itself as Catra continued to rest her eyes. Like it had done previously, waving it's smoke-like arms towards her head, little by little the smokey spectre dissolved as it penetrated the girl's ears, shrinking every second as it seeped into the girl's head. The more it did, the more Catra felt the strange chill creeping up on her, but she ignored it. It wasn't any colder than it was before, but it did feel like it was lasting a little longer than usual.

Maybe it was the result of her trying to relax? Every time she tried to feel comfortable around here she felt a strange chill, so maybe it was a good thing? Even if it wasn't, based on Bow's description of the place, the chill itself should slowly melt away when the massage itself began.

As it continued, it's attention quickly shifted back to the door as it heard another click. Hissing to itself silently, the spectre, now a third of its original size, dissipated into nothingness right before the doctor finally entered the room with a small white towel under her arms.

"Ok! How are we doing so far?" She asked perkily.

"Beats me. We haven't started yet from what I know." Catra shrugged back, keeping her eyes closed.

"Well we can get started right away." Catra opened her eyes a little as she felt the doctor raise her chin, sliding the white towel under her head. "Here, these should feel more comfortable to you."

"Thanks..." Hmm what do ya know? It really was a lot more comfortable. Unlike the pillows she felt basically anywhere, these felt as silky as the robe she was wearing and foamy like the table she was lying on. Paying little mind as she wrapped the towel around Catra's neck, the magicat made herself even more comfortable than before.

Maybe it won't be so bad after all? She thought to herself. Being in a comforting room with the delightful smell of incense filling it, it really did make her feel a lot more relaxed than when she came here. If the massage itself was anywhere near as good as Bow described it then she couldn't wait until they actually began the massa-

*SCRUNCH!*

"Ack-Ough!" Catra suddenly gasped for dear life as she leaned up. All around her she felt an immediate lack of oxygen as the towels around her neck tightened immensely. Unable to pry the painful towels from her throat, she shifted her eyes to the left where she saw Dr. Kiroh, giving off a sinister smirk as she pulled both ends of the towels apart as it squeezed the life out of the poor girl.

"Oh, dear, poor, Catra..." There was an ominous tone echoing in the Doctor's voice. "It pains me dearly to see you so stressed out." Grinning, the magicat felt as the grip tightened, increasing the suffocation tenfold. "But don't worry. Soon, all your troubles will wash away, and you'll fall into a deep, deep, sleep...

"Urk-! Guh!" She rasped as she continued struggling against the immense pressure squeezing her throat. Seeing how she couldn't overpower the surprisingly powerful grip from the doctor, she did the second best thing she could think of. Stretching out her claws, she started cutting away at the towels against her throat, taking care as to not cut herself by accident as she did. With every thread she felt cut she felt the towel loosen it's hold on her, feeling the airwaves coming back to her.

She might not have known what their version of massages were in Mystacor, but she knew they had to be better than this. With her mind reeling from the pain, she knew that she had to deal with the doctor before the doctor dealt with her...

...

It was at this time that Glimmer and Bow had finally found their assigned doors for their own massages, smiling to each other as they found them ten doors down from Catra's and placed right next to each other's.

"You sure Catra will be fine on her own?" The concern on Glimmer's face was more evident by her voice.

"Relax, she'll be fine." Bow nodded back. "I mean what's the worst that can happen?"

*CRASH!*

Neither of them could've been prepared for what happened immediately after. The very second the two of them reached for their own door, they turned back down the hall after hearing the familiar sound of wood being crashed through by a heavy object. What made the situation worrying was how the object was less of an object and more of a particular doctor.

A doctor named Kiroh at that.

With eyes widening, their mouths dropped as they saw Catra jump in front of the doctor, growling at her like a ferocious beast as she pulled back a claw. The doctor herself was easily terrified of the strange humanoid cat that just tossed her through the doorway, finding herself too frozen with fear to fight back against the menacing creature, staring at the multi-colored eyes feeling like she had already taken away her life!

"CATRA, STOP!" Glimmer shouted as she teleported herself and Bow hastily over to her. Right as Catra pulled back her sharp claws in order to strike, Glimmer and Bow popped up right behind her, each of them grabbing her arms before she could do any more damage.

"Ngh! Let go of me!" She screamed, frantically trying to reach the doctor that assaulted her.

"Catra, what are you doing?! Stop!" Glimmer struggled to maintain her grip as she tried to worm her arms out of Glimmer's hands.

"No! You have to let me go! She tried to suffocate me!" Catra yelled, snapping her teeth as close to the doctor as possible.

"I-I didn't do anything!" Kiroh cried, sniffling as she rubbed her own sore shoulders. "I was just giving you a towel to lie your head on!"

"Yeah, and then you wrapped it around my neck and then tried to suffocate me with it!" Glimmer and Bow looked to each other with confusion at the strange accusation. The sorceress was trying to suffocate Catra? Here, in the middle of Mystacor, of all places?

"I didn't even touch the towel after I gave it to you!" The doctor cried.

"You liar!"

"Catra, get a hold of yourself!" Bow snapped yelling right into her ears. The immense pitch of the shout was enough to rattle Catra's eardrums, enough to grab her attention for a brief moment. "Look at her, Catra! Does she look like someone who would try to kill you?!"

What was he babbling on about? Of course she was! Just look at her! That evil look in her eye as she cried, the trembling in fear as she stared at Catra, the way she was covered in dust after being thrown through a wall... the way she... didn't defend herself after being attacked... the way tears flowed... from her... face...

"Wha..." Catra finally slumped in their arms as she shook her head. "Wha... I don't... Where..."

"Catra," Glimmer spoke stern yet patiently, "you need to calm down."

"I..." Feeling like their friend was no longer a threat, the two released the grip on her arms as she rubbed her head, making the doctor jump for a moment thinking she was going to attack again. "I don't know what's... What's going..." Why was she finding herself so confused? There was a whole lot to her life that she had to adjust to but not one of those things confused her as much as this did. She didn't feel any control of her mind at the moment, like someone else yelling propaganda and paranoia into her brain.

And everything they said was true. She was staring at the doctor crying to herself on the ground after she attacked her. She didn't seem the least bit threatening to her and she didn't look like the person capable of coming out and suffocating a person out of nowhere. She just seemed... innocent. "I'm... I'm sorry-"

"Get away from me!" The doctor cried out as she slapped Catra's hand away when she tried to help her.

"I am very, very, sorry for what she did." Glimmer apologized kneeling to her level. "Please, don't tell my aunt about this, I'll take her to see a sage right away."

Kiroh stared at her eyes for a few seconds. She knew Glimmer was the niece of the head sorceress here and there was no way she would voluntarily bring a person as dangerous as Catra was here unless she needed help in some way. While she was still terrified of the fact a girl younger and shorter than her managed to toss her through a door, one that could easily be fixed in seconds with her magic, she knew Glimmer was innocent enough to assure her this was an accident.

"J-Just get her out of here for now." She instructed with a bit of a harsh tone, getting back to her feet as she channeled her energy at the door's remains. "I need to clean this up." With her magic, she began levitating the pieces of the door, almost perfectly without a crack in-between the pieces as they re-originated back into their proper place.

Nodding thankfully to the compassionate and understanding doctor that she was, both she and Bow took Catra's hand as they pulled her down the hallway.

Catra herself was at a loss for words. First the strange chills, the constant misunderstandings, and now this? She felt like she should know something was going off around here, but the paranoia building up in her mind kept her from acting out and investigating on it. All she saw was the destruction she was causing and the people she was hurting, and she felt like she herself was the blame for it!

What's happening to me?!

...

A/N: As above, not much to say, other than a thank you to all the fans and supporters I have out there for this series and have been reviewing on Ao3 and Fanfiction for helping me reach this milestone! I appreciate all the feedback and fans of this series and hope for the continued support as season 2 draws near.

Fun fact: I recently found out the series is intended to have 52 episodes :D! Which means, if we're lucky, we'll be looking at a glorious 4 seasons of 13 episodes or so each ^^! God I can't wait!...actually I can because until I get this done I don't intend to watch a single episode of it XP Ugh...

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 25: Episode 7: The Horrors of Mystacor Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: As always, not much to say, but SUPER HYPER HYPED for the season 2 ^^!!! Anyone else see the preview? Only saw it once but OH MY GOD IT LOOKED AWESOME ^^! It looks like we're going to get to see some more princess power action as well as warfare (You know, what all kids should learn XP).

Personally, Im both hyped and distressed by it cause it just goes to prove how LITTLE TIME I HAVE LEFT X_X!!! I need to get this fic done by season two or I'll be stuck with who knows how much unfinished X( don't ask why, its complicated.

With that said, I might end up rushing a few bits here and there, but overall I still intend/plan to keep thing as planned, so if something is rushed/doesnt make sense (least wait till after the end of an arc here since most stuff is explained by the end XP), let me know so I can see if i need to correct it or not.

With that said, hope you all enjoy today's episode!

...

"You're always miles behind, freak!" Lonnie sneered as she looked over a young Catra dangling over a pit.

...

"Maybe you should go back, Catra, before you cause any more trouble for us." A midteen Kyle commented with a solemn expression.

...

Why don't you watch where you're going you little brat!" An angry guard yelled at her before butting her in the head with his baton.

...

...

"Ahh!" Catra yelped as she rose from the table, panting and panting at the bizarre horror show she had playing on in her head.

"Catra, Catra, calm down!" Glimmer shushed calmly, gently helping her friend back down as the sage continued to work his literal magic.

The last half hour had been nothing but trauma and confusion for the young Magicat and her two allies.

After all the stress and disasters that have plagued Catra up till now, Glimmer thought it'd be a nice idea for a little vacation. A little relaxation went a long way, and when you were a symbol of the Rebellion who was in charge of saving the entire world, it was a little understandable that you would find yourself stressed out too. After all, people can only be tasked with saving the world and leading an army at their backs while rescuing countless lives for only so long until it started to take it's toll on them.

So with that in mind, Glimmer decided to bring Catra and Bow over to Mystacor, the magic capital of the world. Home to a vast array of mages and wizards who studied a multitude of crafts, one of the safest places one could find around Etheria, and one that happened to be lead by her very own Aunt Castaspella.

And how did the relaxation go so far?

Horrible.

Ever since the three arrived here, Catra's been on edge. She kept complaining about this strange chill in the air, this strange sense that something was amiss despite being unable to put a finger on it. With her animalistic genetics, she was used to picking up on numerous things around her, her senses heightened compared to that of an average human. However, as of late, she's found herself unable to pick up anything, save for the paranoia that was currently occupying her head.

It started with a simple chill and she thought it was her imagination. Then Bow and Glimmer started saying weird things around her like how they were going to drown Adora or how this relaxation technique would make her feel as good as dead. Personally, it would've been more than welcoming if it stayed like that so she could get on with the rest of the possible relaxation.

Sadly, things took a turn for the worst in the midst of her last relaxation technique which involved getting a magical massage. It was supposed to ease her tension and fill her with the greatest relief possible, and it ended as terribly as everything else. Why? Because what started out as a seemingly innocent therapy session that was supposed to make her feel better ended up turning into a nightmare when her doctor started strangling her with the towel wrapped around her neck. And that wasn't the worst part!

The worst part was after she snapped out of it, after throwing the doctor through the door and being stopped by Glimmer and Bow, she realized the doctor wasn't trying to do any sort of thing. The paranoia had built up so immensely at this point that she started hallucinating the sense of touch along with her hearing and sight. Any worse and she, along with Glimmer and Bow, didn't know what would happen.

And for the first time compared to her normal visions, these visions were absolutely terrible. They were mixed and split between a variety of them compared to the usual visions she had where she saw an entire scene play out in front of her before snapping out of here. Here, she was experiencing the worst examples of her life! They weren't even at the same time periods, some parts of it she recognized as years apart.

That's why Glimmer found it imperative to bring her to the sage that was currently examining her mind. Within the large round room, Catra had to stare up at the large purple crystal sticking out of the ceiling, one that gave off an occasional shine as she stared at it. The old sage himself was a bald man with a light blue beard, wearing a green scarf as he wore an aqua blue robe that stretched all the way down to his feet.

As for Glimmer and Bow, they stood at the side of the room, about three yards away from the table, with Bow leaning against the wall as Glimmer twiddled her thumbs anxiously. Like Catra, the two of them were still wearing their bath robes they were given at the start of this spa treatment.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Bow asked, never taking his eyes off of Catra as she was examined.

"I don't know." Glimmer fretted. "I don't even know what's wrong with her. She didn't eat anything weird this morning, did she?"

"She was up since midnight last night. There's no telling what she ate." For all he knew she could've eaten some strange berries she found in the middle of the woods while everyone else was sleeping. "I'm sure she'll be fine after she gets some sleep."

"Yeah, that's the problem though." It was an annoying reality she had to keep coming back to. "How are we supposed to get her to sleep in the first place?"

"Get away!" Catra suddenly yelped, leaping from the table as she walked back a few feet from it. Confused and concerned by her sudden antics, Glimmer quickly teleported herself and Bow to Catra's side, nearly causing her to jump again in fright.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." The sage replied. "I was just checking her forehead to see if there was any signs of physical trauma that could be affecting her mind."

"The heck you were!" Catra snapped back as she stretched out her claws defensively. "You were trying to push your thumbs through my eyes, I felt it!"

"Catra-" Glimmer winced as her friend jumped from merely touching Catra's arm softly. She could feel the irregular pulse going on through her arms, the tension going on between her nerves. If this was how the nerves in her arms felt at the moment, she couldn't imagine how fast her heart was beating. She needs to calm down before she makes herself sick. Figuring the magicat was going to be too paranoid to answer her directly she decided to take her chances with the one who inspected her. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

As much as she hoped for, the wise old sage could only sigh regretfully. "I'm afraid I can't find anything physically or mentally wrong with the young girl. I can amount it to stress for sure until I know what's causing it. I'm afraid I'm not much help."

"That's okay." Bow smiled in return as he patted Catra's shoulder comfortingly. "Thanks for trying to help anyway."

"You could try the Steam Grottos at least." The sound of the recommendation filled Bow with a grand excitement. "She keeps complaining about being cold, so warming her up would be a great idea."

"The Steam Grottos, of course!" Glimmer's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree at the suggestion, looking back to Catra with glee. "Catra, wouldn't you feel better if we got you warmed up?"

Warmed up? Like what? Like set on fire?! Yeah, sure, she would love that! And why stop there? Why not continue stabbing her with pitchforks and stick an apple in her mouth while you were at it! After all, everyone knows roasted Cat is supposed to be a delicacy in some parts of the world, and she-!

Catra shook her head heavily, doing her best to physically shake the thoughts from her mind. Why was she acting so paranoid like this? She knew she was acting crazy, even for herself, and there was no reason these people would be trying to harm her... right? She was She-Ra, partially, and they needed her to be She-Ra. If they didn't want her to fight for them they would've imprisoned her and given the sword to some other nobody a long time ago.

Focusing on Glimmer's voice, Catra lowered her ears as she gave a small frown. "Y-Yeah... I guess..."

"Good." She smiled at the sight of Catra seeming to fully understand what she said, given all the paranoia she's displayed recently.

"Woohoo! Steam Grottos!" Bow cheered raising both his fists. "Trust me Catra, there is no better way to relax than in the Steam Grotto!"

"I'll believe it when I see it..." She muttered as Glimmer held her hand, leading her out the door.

Turning around Bow gave one final wave to the sage as they departed. "Thanks for the help again, man. We'll come back if there's any other trouble."

It was nice to see a young boy so respectful and helpful like Bow. Often, people like him might've seemed a bit more selfish or into things for their personal desires, so Bow was a nice change of pace.

Which was a shame too. A real shame as a matter of fact. People like Bow were the easiest to manipulate around Etheria, and Shadow-Weaver would've had more than enough fun bending someone like that to her will. Watching the three helpless friends making their way out the door, the form of the old sage slowly shifted. Bending, turning, dissolving into a fearsome spectre with a glowing red eye dead center in the middle of its head.

With her friends assured that everything was fine with Catra, there was no way they would take her to see someone else until it completed it's corruption of her. Dissolving under the floor, it gave chase, jumping from shadow to shadow as it followed them to their next destination.

It would ensure it's mission went off without a hitch. All it needed was one more opportunity to complete it's task...

...

"Tadaaa!" Bow and Glimmer cheered as they finally brought Catra to the Steam Grotto.

During the entire walk here, Catra's recent state of paranoia became all the more obvious and ominous for the two friends trying to lead her here. At least twice so far on the ten minute walk it took to get here, she lashed out in hysteria about whatever crossed her path or when the two said anything around her.

At one instance she thought one of the approaching guards patrolling the place were coming up personally to stab the girl with the staff in his hand, one that happened to be blunt by the way. It took a lot of convincing and pleading on Glimmer's part after she got Catra to let him go to not tell her Aunt about this. She promised him this sort of thing wouldn't happen again and how she would keep a closer eye on her friend.

While he wasn't one to give people second chances, especially ones that attacked him after first meeting them for no more than two seconds, he was willing to let it slide since Catra seemed genuinely sorry immediately after. The girl was shivering and hugging herself like she saw a ghost, one that haunted her to this day.

That was the other thing that concerned Glimmer and Bow. Since the paranoia kicked in, Catra's been a lot more docile and complacent with everything she did. Perhaps docile isn't quite the word to use for someone who threatened a guard a few minutes ago, but compared to all the times they asked her for something and she responded with a threat or violence in response, this was the most peaceful and calming Catra they ever came across.

One that attacked when she felt threatened and was willing to listen to anyone as long as they didn't seem threatening to her.

This was probably the saddest state they've ever seen Catra in. Catra was their friend no matter how many times she insisted to the alternative, and while she might've seemed a lot more trusting in them as of now and willing to listen, this wasn't the way they wanted her trust. They wanted her to trust them because she wanted too, not because she was too scared of what could happen otherwise.

Which is the other thing that worried Glimmer herself about this. Catra was scared. Legitimately, certifiably, scared. She can't recall the last time, if ever, she's seen Catra this scared before. She might've jumped occasionally when someone popped in front of her out of nowhere, specifically Glimmer herself, yet she never found herself actually scared like this. Sure, she didn't like the ocean but even then she maintained her fear better than she was now.

It was here they were hoping she could get the much needed rest she rightfully deserved.

And hopefully before she got anymore paranoid.

"So, what do you think?" Bow asked as he walked around the grotto.

"It's... warm..." A small smile came to Catra's lips as the chills subsided. "Really warm."

"That's the steam grotto for you!" Smiling over to Glimmer, the two nodded to each other as they disrobed the bathrobes from earlier, donning the inner white garments covering themselves where it was most needed.

Standing here in the middle of the grotto, she actually felt a bit of her tension relieving itself. This place was actually calming compared to the rest of the places she's been to so far. Maybe it was actually working this time around? Her paranoia didn't seem as strong around here, and every breath felt like a breath of fresh air, calming her nerves and her heart rate that once skyrocketed with fear.

Looking over to the archer of the group, she watched as Bow got himself settled into one of the many tubs of hot water. "Ooh! Ahh! Hah!" He whimpered to himself quietly, easing in as he slowly descended into the semi-boiling. Letting the water flow around him, he let out the greatest of sighs as he took in all the warmth and comfort the grotto had to offer.

"These pools are full of magical minerals " Glimmer explained as she helped slide off Catra's bathrobe, the girl wearing the same underclothes as she was. "Sorcerers use them all the time to cleanse themselves of their worry or fear before a big ceremony or spell." As she brought herself into the waters, Catra grew a look of fear as she pulled her hands back.

"Er, I'm good from right here." She muttered scratching the back of her head.

"Oh please, you'll be fine. These waters are perfectly warmed, right Bow?" The two were met with an already resting Bow, one whose head was slowly disappearing into the waters.

"Mhh... so... warm..." He mumbled as his head slowly sank. After a few seconds of being completely submerged, Glimmer let out a small chuckle as he quickly shot himself back to his feet, fresh steam rising from his slightly reddened face "Ah! Hot! Hot!" And as before, he slowly slid himself back into a sitting position, being careful not to have a repeat of before.

"Yeah, well... I think I'll sit this one out." Catra distanced herself from the pool as Glimmer held her hands. "I'm plenty warm as is, thanks."

"Hmm..." What to do, oh what to do. There was a cat who was the hope of the Rebellion and future of mankind, who happened to be having the most stressful, paranoia-inducing, day of her life, and a pool that could make all her problems float away. Mentally smiling to herself, she rolled her eyes playfully as she waved off Catra's concern. "Oh, ok, you win, I won't make you force yourself to go in."

"Huh... Thanks..." Maybe Catra really was wrong about this girl... or was that the paranoia acting up? Was it actually making her nicer in some regard? Either way, at least now she didn't have to worry about getting we-

*swoosh!*

*splash!*

"Ah-!" Catra yelped as she found herself Glimmer standing waist-deep in one of the steamy pools of water, one Glimmer teleported the two of them into. Almost immediately her entire body was shot up with a shiver that crawled up her spine, though this was far more comfortable compared to the shiver of chills she recently got. That still didn't get rid of the irritation welling up inside her, grumbling to herself as she gave a small glare to the evil princess standing proudly next to her. "Have I ever told you I hate you?"

"Everyday in fact." Still smiling with glee, she took Catra's hands as she lowered the two of them into the steamy grotto, one inch at a time. "Now, just clear your mind. Breathe deeply."

"Huff..." She breathed, doing her best to follow along. "I guess it is a little warmer than standing around here..."

Trying to listen to the instructions, she allowed herself to be lowered into the waters as she gazed into Glimmer's eyes. "Focus on the warmth on your skin. Let your body go perfectly..."

It was weird. Too weird for Catra. With every word she uttered she felt herself being drained away of all energy, but in a good way. She felt a strange warmth washing over her in more ways than one. Her irritations and paranoia seemed so distant compared to what they once were, they were minor thoughts in the back of her head. Lying her head against the soft stone-like edge of the grotto, she felt a small smile creeping up her chin, letting go as...

...

"...Mmmh..." Catra hummed a little as she came to.

How long had she been out for? She felt an incredible relaxation as she lied against the rocks, taking in all the heat from the water and the steam-filled air. Everything around her felt surprisingly comfortable for a change. She couldn't feel an ounce of the paranoia and trauma that plagued her mind earlier, she didn't consider all the problems she felt in the world for once. Sitting here in the middle of this steamy grotto, everything actually felt, as much as she hated to admit it, peaceful.

"Ah." Oh, and then there was Glimmer, that little cueball of pink hair, resting against her chest... wait...

"Eh..." Catra blushed as she realized what was pressed against her side, the gentle weight of it nudging against her as the princess slept. Hands down. No comparison. No competition. This was the weirdest experience so far in Catra's life, and given everything she's going through in the last month, that was saying a lot. She couldn't tell what the appropriate response to this entire scenario was.

Should she wake her up? She looked so comfortable laying against Catra that it would be rude to do so, especially since she was the one who gave Catra this method of relaxation in the first place. Plus, you know, she was a princess. It would be disrespectful to awaken her like this.

Then again, the awkward feeling of having someone other than Adora pressed against her in her sleep was a bit...strange. She slept with Adora plenty of times, since they were kids in fact. This might've been the one single person she has ever found herself sleeping with in her life. It was like being friends with somebody throughout your entire life and then one day they brought one of their friends over for the three of you to hang out at the same time.

Not exactly bad, just really awkward when you tried to think of what to say to the new guy.

"How does it feel?" She heard Glimmer whisper, keeping her head down.

"Umm... good, I guess?" She couldn't find the words to describe how this feeling was to her. Nor did she understand exactly what she was referring to.

"Really?" She raised her tired head up to her face, showing off her half-asleep eyes. "So you feel relaxed now?" She spoke softly, blissfully unaware of what she as doing.

"I guess so, yeah..." She lifted her head up at this as she examined the steam around herself. "I don't feel any bit of stress that I felt earlier and all... Yeah, I guess I'm relaxed now."

"Oh... that's such a shame..." Shadows fell over the top of Glimmer's face as Catra looked back to her.

"Why's that?"

"Because, it'll be such a shame to see that innocent smile fade away..."

"Fade away? What are you talk- Agh-! Uuurgh"! Catra was not prepared for the Princess's newfound strength and cruelty as she suddenly pushed Catra's head underwater, holding onto her throat as she did.

What are you doing?! Catra screamed to herself, feeling te water boil around her skin as she struggled to get back up. This wasn't paranoia, it couldn't be! Just look at her, she was factually pushing Catra into the water, keeping the girl's head underwater as Catra watched the air bubbles float above her! This wasn't paranoia anymore, it couldn't be! She could feel the water itself filling her throat as she tried in vain to break free!

Through the murky water she could see it. Those dark, twisted eyes of evil that she's always known her to have. That face of disgusting glee she was getting out of drowning Catra. The wicked smile plastered on her face as she watched Catra trying to break free of her immense grip with each passing second!

Was Adora actually right? Were the Princesses actually evil!?

That was the least of her worries as she felt her lungs beginning to collapse, having a disturbing sense of De Sha Vue the last time she drowned. This time she would've had the disgusting pleasure of drowning in boiling water over freezing water, possibly being the only highlight out of this situation.

She's going to kill me if I don't kill her! She's going to kill me if I don't kill her! She's going to-! Catra's mind kept repeating itself as she slowly pushed herself up. She couldn't allow the princesses to kill her, not if it was all true! Growling to herself, Catra pushed herself from her feet as her head resurfaced. Not giving the horrible ex-ally of hers a chance, she quickly grabbed Glimmer by the neck and gave her a taste of her own medicine, pushing her down into the watery depths all her might.

"Urrph!" She heard Glimmer gurgle as Catra glared daggers at her.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it!" Catra shouted angrily, trying to keep the princess pinned underwater for as long as possible. As expected the princess flopped and flailed her arms all over the place as she tried to resurface to the top. Catra had battle experience. Far more than Glimmer could ever hope to compete against. She didn't stand a single chance against Catra's brute strength no matter how hard she tried.

"Wha- Catra!" She ignored Bow's yelling as he started to wake up. "What are you doing?! Let her go!" Rushing over to her side, he started pulling at Catra's right arm, giving Glimmer the strength she needed to get a part of her head above water, enough to breath as the other one kept the rest of her down.

"She's trying to kill me, she has to die!" Catra yelled, pushing Bow away with her right arm as she went back to submerging Glimmer's head underneath.

"I didn't want it to be like this, Catra." She turned her head towards him as he dug his arm under the water. With fury in his eyes, fear overtook more of Catra's heart as she saw him raise a giant knife out of the water with a serrated edge, gripped tightly in his hand as he raised it over his head. "But you left me no other choice!"

"Nooo!" Catra yelled in fear, forgetting what she was doing as she jumped out of the water, narrowly dodging the incoming stab. As she did, she saw the room filling out with shadows coming after her, intending to take her down to the horrifying darkness that awaited her if she was captured.

This was beyond terrible! What was she supposed to do?! Scrambling over the floor, incapable of finding her cherished sword. Cherished? Yes, of course it was! It was more than capable of slaying the evil princess and her lacky! Why didn't she ever listen to Adora? She was right! They were evil, all princesses are!

Searching left to right for her weapon, her eyes widened in terror as she saw a darkness slowly beginning to surround her, the blackness as thick as the steam it covered over. All around her she heard the terrifying laughter of Bow and Glimmer surrounding her, spewing taunts and insults constantly as she covered in fear.

"Ha, I can't believe she thought we were allies!"

"Poor, wittle, kitty. No big strong Adora to keep you safe."

"S-Shut up!" Catra yelled, almost cried. Unable to tell where the voices were coming from, she started swiping her claws randomly around herself, trying to strike at the voices wherever she heard them from. She didn't realize as the tears swelled in the corner of her eyes she was so scared.

"Maybe she would've been better in the Horde? It's not like she's useful to us."

"Why did I even want her to join us in the first place? She's barely done anything for us."

"I-I'm trying!" Catra screamed. The more she listened to the voices the worse the darkness became. Now she was starting to see apparitions. Strange, shadowy, creatures that started taking the form of Shadow-Weaver herself. "I swore I would help you guys for a kingdom, honest!"

"A kingdom? Ha! She actually thought we'd give her one! No wonder the Horde hated her, she's too stupid for her own good!"

"I wonder which method of torture my mom's gonna use the next time we bring her to Bright Moon? Do we stretch her limbs out one by one? Or maybe we'll just leave her in a cell to rot for the rest of her life? Or until she slowly starves to death, whichever comes first."

"Stop it!" The sadness slowly started to replace with anger as her claws became sharper, striking faster and faster at whatever shadows appeared next. "S-Someone help! Please help!" She screamed.

"Catra, you need to stop-"

"Ahh!"

*swiff!*

"Ah!" That time she hit something. She finally managed to hit one of the apparitions that have been circling her all throughout the constant harassment. She felt good for a change that she finally managed to get one of the evil figures right where they stood, right when they grabbed Catra's left arm.

It was a short lived feeling though as reality finally came back to Catra. Her vision of the black smokey haze dissolved around her as she saw what, or more specifically who, she ended up attacking at that moment. It wasn't some horrid monster that wanted to do who knew what to her, it wasn't some Horde soldier in disguise that wanted to plunge a knife in her back.

It was her ally, Glimmer, aka Pinky to her, who was wincing at the sore scratch mark she rubbed over her right hand.

"Catra, what is wrong with you?!" Bow shouted as he rushed over to Glimmer's side to inspect the hand. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Glimmer winced again as she pulled back her hand. "I'll manage." While she was still in pain herself, she couldn't help but look over Catra, seeing her trembling where she stood with her claws shaking and an emptiness in her eyes. "Catra? Are you okay?"

What is wrong with her? She attacks her and she asks if SHE'S okay? That wasn't... that wasn't anywhere near what she should've been asking! She acted like she cared for Catra when she clearly didn't! She wanted her to be okay so she could use her again, like she always did!

Or maybe it was worse than that! Yeah, she could see it now! She says she's okay, Glimmer hugs her pretending to care again, and then when she least expects it, she feels Bow plunge a knife into her back while her arms are pinned! It's genius! Horrifying cruel, and genius!

Because that's what the princesses were, evil geniuses!

"S-Stay back!" She threatened as she backed away, stretching her claws in their direction as she warned. To Bow's surprise, as if she ignored what Catra had done to her, Glimmer slowly made her way towards the girl, arms stretched out cautiously as she tried to calm the girl down.

"Catra, look at me. It's fine. No one is going to hurt you." She stated.

"Y-You're lying! I know you're working with Shadow Weaver!"

"Shadow Who?" She looked back at Bow for the moment who could only shrug in response.

"You tried to drown me a minute ago!" She snapped.

"Drown you? Catra, why would I try to drown you? How could I?"

"Simple! You waited till my guard was down and then you pushed my head underwater as you tried to drown me!"

"Your head's not even wet!" Glimmer informed, catching her off guard. "If I drowned you how could you dry off so fast without a towel? Or your hair for that matter?"

"Don't try to play that on me!" She shouted, feeling around her head with one hand while keeping the other at the ready. "Of course my head's-!" She stopped as she noticed something missing.

Water. Wetness. Moisture. Something that was supposed to be in her hair to prove to her, and them, that she was telling the truth. But no matter how much she scrambled her hand around her hair, how hard she tried to get a feel for it, there was nothing there. The entire scene at the grotto she went through, all the drowning and water she felt enter her lungs, none of it seemed to be true.

"I... you... You grabbed me and..." Her tail brushed up against the sword she was searching for, finding it lied nice and neatly against one of the many pools.

The same place she left it and thought to check first.

"Catra." Glimmer called directly, grabbing her attention. "We didn't do anything to you. You just started flailing around and jumped out of the pool. That's it."

"B-But he had a knife!" She shouted at Bow. "I saw him pull it out of the water myself! He must've planted it before we got into the water."

"A knife?" He questioned. "Why would I bring a knife here to begin with? And if I brought it in beforehand, how would I know which pool we were going to use?"

This... this didn't make any sense! She felt everything, she heard everything, she saw everything! But every time she tried to counter something of theirs, they just shot it back with simple and easy logic. She couldn't find a hole in their explanations, nothing to suggest that these two were lying.

So why was it making her skin crawl so much?!

"You... You're both trying to... trick me..." The steam around the area began to clear a little as Catra backed up to another outstretched pool of the grotto. All around her she saw nothing ominous or threatening to herself, nothing she could find suspicious or misleading. If both of them were telling her lies, it was definitely one of the most convincing ones she's ever heard. "I... Then how did you..." Her head swarmed with continued paranoia as she tried to piece her own logic together.

"Catra," Catra nearly jumped again as Glimmer grabbed both her hands, "you need to breathe. Ok? We're only trying to kill you."

While she flinched at the statement she made, she was pretty sure she knew what she actually said. A part of her did at least. From the way it was looking, her best chances of getting through this mess was to use whatever logic and reasoning she could against whatever the paranoia was telling herself. 'Y-You said help me, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I said." She helped ease Catra against the edge of the grotto as she sat down beside her. "Catra, who's this Shadow Weaver you keep talking about?"

"N... No one, she's nothing." She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands, trying to push out whatever thoughts were being sent into her mind.

"She doesn't sound like nothing." Bow commented, sitting on her right. "If she's got you this worked up, she's gotta be someone important."

"SHE'S NOTHING!" She yelped, walking ahead of them, squeezing her head in frustration. "Leave me alone, alright? Go bother someone else for a change!"

"But Catra-" Glimmer tried to protest, taking a step over to her until Bow grabbed her hand.

"Glimmer, maybe she' right." It felt strange to her to hear Bow suggesting they leave her like this.

"Are you crazy too?" She whispered over. To their reluctance, in the current state Catra found herself in, she was too paranoid and out of it to pick up on their talking with her sensitive ears.

"Think about it for a second. She keeps hallucinating only when someone else is around, right?"

"Yeah...?" She followed along with where the logic was going, although it didn't do anything to ease her feelings.

"So maybe she'll be better off if we give her some space? For a minutes at least."

She tried to contemplate what he said as she looked back to her distressed friend. On the one hand, leaving her to pace back and forth in the middle of having a paranoia-induced episode was possibly the worst idea ever! She was fragile at the moment, terrified. Everything she saw and heard were completely backwards from whatever was happening. At the rate it was going, it looked like it was starting to affect her on a physical level as well!

On the other hand, they had yet to ever leave her side at this rate, at least not without one other person being with her. If these hallucinations affected her when she was with someone only, maybe they would go away if no one else was present at the time? It was worth experimenting at least.

"Catra? Do you promise to remain here if we leave you alone for a while?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever! Just, leave me alone!" She growled. The other two glanced at each other, unable to think of what to say, as they made their way to the door, leaving a distraught Catra to pace around the room on her own.

What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to try to relax again? What if it ended up like last time and some sort of terrifying water monster attacked her this time?! Oh god, what if it was something worse?! What if the air suddenly decided to pick on her, attacking her from all angles while she was too powerless to defend herself?! She didn't have any magic! That stupid sword wasn't going to help her any time soon!

And then there were the devil twins she came to know as Glimmer and Bow! Oh, she could see it now. The minute she tried relaxing in the pools again they would pop out of nowhere and capture her. Bound, gagged, helpless, they would carry her over to the edge of the cliffs of Mystacor with all her past allies watching and pointing with amusement, and cackle after they tossed her over the edge, proving themselves the traitors that they were-!

"NGH!" Catra shook her head, pounding her fist a little against it. "Stop that!" She shouted to herself.

Why were these thoughts coming to her in the first place? Forget about the fact these guys could never possibly get the jump on her if they wanted to, not including the teleporting as a factor. They've been with her for a good while now and they didn't seem the least bit intent on her own annihilation! Who was making these thoughts for her?

Under normal circumstances, she would've easily been able to deduce the culprit behind all this, with no other possibility other than Shadow Weaver. However, these were the farthest things from normal circumstances at this time. In addition to the spectre plaguing her mind with paranoia and madness, it was also disabling her ability to formulate and reason, the way Shadow Weaver intended it to be. She made sure there was zero possibility for Catra to rationale for herself, and this went on to prove it.

"What are we going to do about her?" Her ears perked up as she overheard Glimmer's voice outside through the entrance. Creeping up on it, she slowly made her way against the wall, keeping herself hidden as she stood next to the door. "She's catching onto us!"

"Wh- No!" Catra rubbed her head immediately after hearing this. "You're hallucinating again, that's it!"

"Can you believe she was stupid enough to listen to us after we lied?" She heard Bow chuckling, going on to chat in a mocking tone. "Oh, don't worry Catra, I don't have duh knife. Ha! She didn't think I just tossed it away after we ran out from us?"

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" She grumbled to herself, lightly pounding the side of her head against the wall.

"I know, right? Of course her head wouldn't be wet! She's a cat! A fleabag! It dried off so fast that she didn't even notice!" Glimmer laughed. Catra slid against the wall to the floor as the verbal abuse rained upon her.

"Do you think she'll still be there when the guards come back?"

"I bet she'll still be running around the room like an idiot if we didn't come back till tomorrow with them!"

"Please, stop..." Catra muttered to herself. She tried blocking out all the sound by plugging her ears against her palms, with little to no results to show for it.

"Sometimes I wish someone else found the sword. Someone more competent, worthwhile, better. Maybe that Adora girl would've been a better pick."

"Yeah, I bet she would've won us the war by now instead of that stupid cat."

"Ooh, I know! Let's get rid of Catra and then we'll go and kidnap that friend of hers!"

"Yeah! I bet with enough torture, we can make her bark like a dog if we wanted her to!"

"DONT YOU DARE-!" Catra roared as she popped her head out from around the corner. She was met gazing at the same person that always greeted her when she shouted today.

Nobody. There wasn't anyone around her. All she saw was an empty clearing with several bushes on each side of the path, and a nice clear sky that was filled with clouds. She saw a floating island passed the grand landmass, a part of part of the structure that comprised of Mystacor, but nothing else. There wasn't so much as a bird to greet her passing by, the severity of her insanity starting to dawn on her more and more.

"Ugh!" With a groan, she squeezed her eyes again as she slid against the triangle shaped archway of the entrance. "I'm losing my mind..."

...

"I doubt you could relate." She muttered staring at the statue in front of her.

She was back in the middle of the hallways where her insanity first kicked in. Here, staring at the statue of Light Spinner, she pondered about all the days events. Was Light Spinner innocent after all of this? Was it possible that at some point she went insane too just from being in Mystacor? Given the days events that lead her here, it wouldn't surprise her! In fact, knowing the constant misunderstandings she had here, she found it more plausible that everyone else was misunderstanding her and they were the ones insane!

By now she was donning her regular outfit again, complete with dark red pants with slits at the knees, traditional Horde vest with a lighter red coloring on the bottom and a dark red on top, and her favorite tiara that stretched to her cheeks.

She was Horde. This is what she always wore when fighting for them. She was supposed to remain Horde from the very beginning, and here she was fighting for the enemy instead. Was everything Adora said about the brainwashing possibly true? Was this all some elaborate scheme concocted by the Princesses ever since she found this sword? If that was true, then the villagers must've been in on it too! Lulling her into a false sense of security while they worked willingly for the evil princesses!

The men, the women, the children, all of them were in on it! They must be! Why else would there be such evil creatures surrounding her? Why, Shadow Weaver herself treated Catra much better tha-

"Gah!" If she scratched her head anymore at this point, she swore she was going to start hitting bone. "Why am I thinking about Shadow Weaver being nice?" She grunted as she stretched her right claws out in front of her. "There was never anything nice about her... nothing..."

"Heh heh heh..." A mystifying voice echoed through the hallway, refilling Catra's body with that same chill of death. "Always one to blame others for your own faults, aren't you, freak?" It was Lonnie's voice, the diminutive sound of her voice talking down to her as always. "Geesh, and I thought Adora was stupid for liking you. Now I realized she liked you because of how stupid you were."

"Grrrr Lonnie!" Catra hissed, staring into the empty air as she walked down the hall. "Where are you?"

"Huff, Catra." This time she heard Kyle's voice pop up. "I might've been the weak one, but at least I wasn't stupid or gullible. Maybe that's why Shadow Weaver was nicer to me compared to you."

"She didn't care about you in the slightest, dweeb!" She retorted. "She's always had it out for us since we were all brought to the Horde! She didn't care about anyone except for herself!

"Caring only about herself? Gosh, do you even hear yourself now? You should look in the mirror, you might learn something new. Then again, maybe asking you to learn is asking for too much."

"How about you show yourself instead and you can help me count the scars I make over your face!"

"Do you always turn to violence when I'm not around?" She gasped at the sound of Adora's voice, slowly retracting her claws as her ears drooped.

"Adora... It's not what you think, I swear..." Adora wasn't new to Catra's aggressive state, don't get her wrong. What she wasn't used to was seeing exactly how aggressive Catra could be when she wasn't around. She always held back a bit whenever she was picked on in front of her, refusing to show how extreme her violent side could get when the situation called for it.

At least to the people Adora considered family.

"Catra? Where are you?" There was a sense of worry in her voice as Catra became tense.

"Adora? Adora, can you hear me?"

"Who are you? No, stay back! Stay back! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"ADORA!" Catra screamed running down the halls to the Lunarium. She didn't know why Adora was in Mystacor all of a sudden and she didn't care! Her one and only friend in this world was being attacked, hearing the strange noises of scrapes and crashing all throughout the hallway, growing louder as she neared the source of the screaming.

With each passing breath the screams became more terrifying. Starting from a simple scream, they echoed with intensity as they became more horrific, the sounds of torture and pain going through Catra's ears constantly. No doubt her friend foolishly came all the way to Mystacor in an attempt to save her again, unaware of how powerful these people truly were! It didn't matter to her at that moment if they were with the Rebellion or not, she refused to let these people do her harm.

Entering the Lunarium itself, she scanned all over the place as she tried to find her friend. "Adora!" She called out. She pulled out the sword from her back as she prepared for whatever came at her next. Slowly making her way to the center of the room, she continued, "Adora, where are you?"

"Hahahaha!" The voice. That voice. The voice of terror and agony that made Catra's skin stand on ends whenever she heard it, one belonging to the person who tormented her the most since day one. "Hello, dear, Catra." Shadows engulfed the walls of the room, only revealing a small bit of light from the enchanted crystals that surrounded her.

"S-Shadow Weaver..." She was here! She had to be! Without an Adora to stand at her side, there was no telling what terror she would push onto the girl. "W-What do you want?"

"Is that anyway for you to greet your former teacher?" It chuckled. To her right, she saw Shadow Weaver appearing in one of the large-sized crystals of the Lunarium, seeing her ghostly image laughing at her.

"Ahh!" Catra screamed as she thrust the sword at her.

*Crash!*

All it was met with was the sound of broken crystal as Catra cleaved through the divine crystal. It didn't faze the girl in the slightest however as she saw Shadow Weaver's body swimming through the crystals, one after the other. "You missed~"

"Ghhhh!"

*Crash!*

Once again, her efforts proved futile as she destroyed another crystal. Following each taunt was the sound of shattered crystal, the sound matching the size of the crystal she destroyed.

"So violent, aren't we?"

*crash*

"And useless on your own."

*CRASH!*

"I'm not coming back with you and that's final!" Catra shouted, lunging for another crystal.

*Crash!*

"Come back?" She watched the sickening master of darkness place her back wrist against her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Oh hah hah... Oh, you stupid child. You think I want you back period?"

*crash*

"Ever since you left, Adroa's been listening to me much more often."

*crash*

"I should've gotten rid of you years ago if I knew you'd bring her so much closer to me."

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

*Crash!*

"I admit. Even I was afraid what would happen if I laid a hand against you while she was around... At least, a more permanent hand against you. Do you remember our special time, together?"

"Urk-!" Catra groveled in pain as she collapsed to her knees, hugging herself with her left arm, refusing to let go of the sword in the other. The mere mention of that event still made her stomach churn with agony, like it always had whenever she remembered it.

"Catra, what have you done?!"

"It was an accident I swear!"

"Ahhhhhh!"

"I gave you one simple rule and you defied me!?"

The flashes of the event were enough to make the bile rise to her throat, doing everything in her power to force it back down. That was the day Catra learned never to cross Shadow Weaver again, only taking minor shots at her from time to time whenever Adora was with her, whenever she knew she was safe.

So much regret.

So many tears.

So much pain.

"Oh, so you do remember?" Shadow Weaver spoke with intrigue. "Did you have as much fun as I did? I couldn't tell back then with all your screaming.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled angrily as tears filled her eyes. She didn't care how much pain she felt from the memory or how terrified she was of her. She had a sword. It cut things. And cutting Shadow Weaver to bits was the first instinct on her mind as she lunged towards the current crystal!

*Crash!*

"I really don't have time to play with you."

*crash*

"I just wanted to stop by and offer my gratitude for everything you've done for me."

*Crash!*

"For giving me such a performance for her in Plumeria..."

"Agh!" She used the entire event back then to bring Adora closer to her?!

*CRASH!*

"For making it necessary for her to receive my precious gift..."

She didn't need to think anything on that. She knew what the gift did to her, the reminder only fueling her seething hatred for Shadow Weaver.

*Crash!*

"And for giving me this precious gift."

That was the one thing that held pause in Catra's strike, keeping the sword raised above her head as she stared off in confusion. "What gift?" At this, all the shadows and Shadow Weaver dissolved, right around the time another figure made its way to the room filled with the sounds of destruction.

"What have you done?!" Fear filled her heart immediately as she heard the distraught shout coming from behind her. Slowly turning, her eyes widened in fear as she saw a familiar face, one belonging to one of Glimmer's relatives.

"C-Castaspella..." She stuttered. Having turned around, she saw the remnants of her recent rampage, everything it had wrought.

Destruction. Cold, ruthless, destruction, by Catra's very own sword. Looking at it, her palms shook rapidly as she realized everything she had done, dropping the sword as worry clouded her mind. ALl around her was nothing but the destroyed remains of the shattered crystals. From rows upon rows, hundreds upon hundreds on each side of the wall, thousands of the crystals had now been destroyed by Catra's overwhelming hatred and fear.

Shadow Weaver used her again. She used her and succeeded like she always had. Time and again she would tell herself she would be ready for whatever the evil witch had to throw at her next, ready to anticipate her every move as she unleashed whatever diabolical scheme she had waiting for her. And like every other time, it ended the exact same way.

Defeat.

She tricked her into destroying the thousands of crystals, large and small, that littered the entire room. Glimmer's Aunt gasped in silent horror as she picked up several of the shattered pieces, trying hopelessly to put them together as easily as pieces of a puzzle, watching in dismay as they shattered further from simply touching them.

"I... I-I-I'm sorry... I wasn't...I didn't-" What was she supposed to say at a time like this? How it wasn't her fault? How she let her anger get the best of her because some lady she saw in the crystals goaded her into doing it? She couldn't believe it herself she was in so much shock! Her face was contorted with the pain of guilt, her tail, wagging downwards as the stress overtook her.

"Catra!" Bow and Glimmer yelled worriedly as they ran into the room. They barely caught her in time as she nearly collapsed to the ground, her legs trembling from the weight of the situation.

"Your friend has destroyed a thousand years' worth of sacred writing!" Aunt Casta yelled, displaying the numerous crystals scattered around them. "She could've destroyed the lenses that protect Mystacor!"

"She didn't mean to!" Bow insisted, patting his distressed friend's shoulder. "Catra would never-"

"This," Catra started backing away as Casta marched her way towards her, directing her finger towards her in anger, "is the kind of person you associate yourselves with?" The magicat nearly jumped as she backed into a wall, the aut having little care for the face of depression and remorse filling her eyes. "One who cares naught for what they ruin or destroy?!"

"Auntie, wait!" Glimmer pleaded as she spaced herself between the two. "I know you're in shock, but I'm sure there's a perfectly good-"

"I don't want to hear about it, Glimmer!" Her aunt yelled, huffing and puffing as she made her way to the exit. "Your mother will be informed on this matter, immediately!"

All three pairs of eyes lit up at that statement. The Queen already was on edge for everything Catra did. She failed to make much of a good impression, she was fighting for the Rebellion under the condition that she was rewarded largely for her efforts, and she didn't seem to care about the fact a warrior dressed in Horde clothing made herself known by practically invading the Throne Room when they first met.

This was the very last thing she could afford to happen.

"G-Glimmer..." Catra struggled to manage a single word. She couldn't feel anything inside of her except a deep emptiness.

"It's ok, I'll handle her." She assured with a small smile, following after her.

"But-"

"The Horde isn't here, Catra." Bow stated, cutting her off from chasing as well. "You need to sleep. Promise me you'll try," like the previous times, this was followed by, what she hoped to be, a hallucination, "or I'll have to help you try." He threatened with a sinister grin.

...

*creeak*

"How is she?" Glimmer asked as she poked her head into the bedroom.

"See for yourself." Bow suggested, opening the door.

The room itself was very basic in design and shape. Housing a single, albeit comfortable bed, it stood at the end of the room as it sank into the wall a little, large light violet curtains hanging over the large hole it went into. There were two long diamond shaped windows on each side of it, allowing all to gaze out the room to witness the clear evening skies that loomed overhead. From here, anyone could see the three moons drawing closer to each other as they prepared for the eventual eclipse, the monthly event that gave Mystacor it's grand protection from the forces of evil.

This was not the least bit of interest to Catra, however. All she cared about at the time was looking at her fingers as she sat at the edge of the bed.

This was possibly the guiltiest look Catra had ever displayed to the two friends since they met her, along with all the deepening emotions Catra's been displaying all day. She couldn't fathom what was wrong with her or why she was hallucinating, only knowing Shadow Weaver was somehow involved.

But what would be the point in telling them that? For all she knew, the next time she saw Bow and Glimmer they could be simple hallucinations again, ones planning to set her on fire or crush her under a collapsing building! The insanity spinning endlessly through her head was starting to get out of control, even for her. She couldn't even bring herself to tell them about Shadow Weaver, unsure and a little frightened at how they would respond, thanks in no small part to the paranoia infecting her.

The safest thing she knew to do was to sit in one spot. Sitting, waiting, ignoring all the hallucinations she's been through in the last half hour with Bow in the room. It was the last bit of rational thought she could muster at these dark times.

"Catra?" Glimmer spoke as she walked over to her. Seeing the girl continuing to keep her head down, she did her best to comfort as she sat at her side. "Are you okay?"

"...I'm sorry..." She squeaked. Catra apologizing strengthened the possibility of whatever was wrong with her, sadly surmounting to the idea of pure stress and exhaustion. "I... I didn't mean to-"

"Shhh, it's okay." Glimmer shushed softly, patting her back. "I spoke with my aunt. I managed to convince her not to tell my mother, so there's no need to worry about that. That's good, right?" She smiled a little as she saw Catra's head shoot up from this.

"T-Then let me go talk to her! I need to apologize to-"

"I can't." The frown appearing in the corner of her eyes gave Catra a bad feeling. She felt it necessary to stand up again as she walked in front of her. "I told her everything, and she promised not to do anything... as long as you get some sleep tonight."

"Wh... What are you saying?" She saw Bow growing the same look of uncertainty, followed by regret at what he was realizing.

"I mean... until tomorrow, you have to stay in your room." She revealed.

"You mean I'm a prisoner here?!" She yelped getting back to her feet.

"I-It's only for tonight though! Just so you can get some sleep!" Glimmer tried to come up with the best way to explain this, preferably without the word "prisoner" in it. "She says you're more than free to walk around in the morning again, I swear! I mean look, it's almost night time anyway, it'd be a great time to get some shut eye-"

"I don't care about that, you're calling me a prisoner for pete sake!" Oh no, she was right! They were taking her prisoner! Soon they would entrap her further, dangle her over a boiling pot, and then-! "Ngggh!" Catra groaned as the dementia clouded her mind again.

"See? You can't even talk for two minutes before you start hallucinating." Bow remarked, pointing out the distressed status she was currently going through. "You need to calm down, Catra. Sleep is the best thing for you."

"B-But-"

"Look, Catra, I promise, we'll sleep with you too as soon as the ceremonies for the Lunar Eclipse is over, okay?" She tried to brighten her friends thoughts as she held her hands. "You won't feel alone by yourself, or feel like a prisoner."

"Mmh..." There really was nothing to say around here for the first time. She can't say yes or they could think of a much more permanent jail cell for her to stay in, and accepting it outright was... Why was she having so much trouble trying to think about this?! "...You promise to come right back then?"

"Yeah!" Bow nodded enthusiastically, pleased Catra was willing to trust them. "I'll even bring some food too in case you're hungry!"

"Ugh... fine..." She snarled, flopping over to the bed. It didn't make the two friends feel any better about her current predicament. if anything they felt a little worse that she was being so compliant. "Just don't take too long, got it?"

"Of course! We swear, we'll be right back in thirty, forty minutes top!" Bow replied, rushing out the door as Glimmer followed him.

"Have a good night, Catra. Try and get some sleep while we're gone, too!" She suggested almost playfully as she closed the door.

*click*

Following the small sound of the door presumably locking, Catra groaned burying her face into a pillow.

So now I'm a prisoner, I don't get to see whatever light show aunt Hilda or whoever kept going on about, and now I'm stuck in a room waiting to be tormented by dumb and dim in a slumber party. Catra thought to herself, trying her best to bury her face further into the pillow. The only assurance she had out of any of this was knowing she had her sword this time, resting peacefully against the bed like she wished she could.

Why can't this day just end?

The plea to no one seemed to give rise to an unlikely response, as well as the last response she needed at this point. With her face buried into the pillow and her senses keeping her second guessing anything and everything around her, she had no knowledge of the strange black mist that started pouring into her room from the open windows, the chill she was feeling being no different than the chills she dealt with all morning.

From behind her, floating above her back as she tried to sleep, the phantasm grinned to itself as it poured it's shadowy tendrils into Catra's ears. There was no stopping the process this time, not with everyone else preoccupied. Her friends were out of the picture, the door was firmly locked, and Catra was none the wiser of what was reality and what wasn't. Viewing everything that happened from the fountain she always had, Shadow Weaver's voice echoed through the background as her work continued unheeded.

"Yes, yes!" She roared. There was no stopping things as it was now. Little by little, the spectre diminished as it entered Catra's mind, filling her head with darkening thoughts and shadowy visions. She took pure delight as the creature ultimately shrank into nothingness, the spectre now fully in control of Catra's senses and her feelings. With the wave of her hands, the entire pool blackened about the same time Catra felt an unbearable pain shooting through her head. "And now, it's time to play..."

"Ghhhhhhh!" Catra screamed through her teeth as she pulled her ears. Out of nowhere, for reasons she couldn't comprehend, she felt the worst kind of pain being split throughout her mind! It felt like someone was pulling apart every little string of her consciousness, pulling it out as far as possible as it played with her like a toy for their amusement. "What's happening?!" She shouted to herself, slamming her head into the bed.

All around her, her vision, colors, hearing, smells began to spiral out of control, the room itself spinning with various colors that warped and blended into each other as the pain increased. She felt terror, happiness, giddy, sadness, stress, confusion, every possible emotion swimming through her mind at the same time, all playing with her as it tried to achieve dominance at the expense of her misery. She wanted it all to end, she needed it all to end.

Eventually, through whatever force heard her wishes, everything slowly faded to black as her consciousness came to an end.

...

"...Mmmh..." What happened to her? She felt like her head was smashed against a rock from every angle, followed immediately by the feathery touch of a fluffy pillow. "Where am... Huh?" No amount of questioning and reasoning could convince her of what she saw next.

All around her, the once pristine and colorful room she passed out in, was now replaced with one that was littered with the destructive and ruined remains of what was originally her bedroom. There were gashes in the wall and the small of soot in the air, numerous tears all over her bed that spilled out the cotton that made up her comfy mattress. The floors were somehow worse for wear, with cracked floorboards scattered about and dust everywhere. It's as if a thousand years had passed in this room during the time she was out of it, leaving behind nothing save for collected dust and the sight of smoke through the windows.

Smoke? Wait. How could there be smoke around here? Everything had a bluish hue, one associated with the touch of death. Her ears slowly twitched as she picked up the sound of small explosions going off in the distance, followed by what sounded like screaming over the horizon.

"What's going...Hngh!" Walking over to the window, terror beyond comprehension filled Catra's eyes as she saw everything outside. Fires, explosions, broken debris, sprawled all around the ground level of Mystacor. Everywhere she looked, she saw destroyed buildings and broken down droids all over the field, filling her vision as far as she could see. "N-No..." She gulped as she backed away. "T-The Horde's here?!" Grabbing her sword, she quickly ran over to the door, pounding on it without pause.

"Hey! HEY! Somebody let me out of here!" She screamed. Wasting no time for an answer, she started swinging her sword against the planks of word, doing everything in her power to chop the door down in every swing that followed. It didn't bother her that the door was still locked at all to begin with. All she cared about was getting out of here and possibly finding some help. By the looks of it, she'd be lucky to find anyone alive after how long she must've been passed out for. "Get! Me! Out!" With one massive heave, she shouted as she crashed herself through the door, battering against the chipped remains of the door with her shoulder until it gave way.

Panting from the excess force she used, she looked up and down the hallways to find them in the same state of decay that her bedroom was in. "How long was I out for?!" She yelled to herself as she went up the hallways. "I gotta find Bowey. Pinky too!" Yes, they'll know what to do! They must know what to do!

It didn't matter how exhausted she was. No matter what her state of tiredness was, she should've heard something given all the destruction around here. There were missing chunks of wall, wrecked droid parts over the occasional yard of the floor. There were tears and breaks in the walls as if an epic war had taken place here, one she slept through in it's entirely somehow.

Coming around a corner, her ears picking up the pleasant sound of voices, she yelled for help as she rounded the corner, panting heavily as her heart raced with increasing tenacity.

"Hey! Huff..." She puffed, slowly lifting her head from her knees. "You need to help me! The Horde's here and-!" She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the originators of the strange voices. She didn't see simple Horde soldiers wearing helmets and stun batons in their hands, she didn't see stupid round droids like the scrapped remains she passed on the way here.

She saw Shadow Weavers. Plural. There wasn't one Shadow Weaver, there wasn't two, and she never wished to see more than three. There were Shadow Weavers all over the room. All of them floating as they gazed at the girl with a loathing hatred in their eyes, hearing the low tone chuckling coming from them as they stared at her one at a time. There must've been over a dozen by the time she finished counting them.

"N-No..." Nightmares was what she was wishing for at this moment. Nightmares were something one could wake up from after enough stress had passed or the morning light finally came. It would give her back the moments of peace she needed as she stared at these horrid Shadow Weavers in terror, something to tell her this was all a dream.

This. Was no dream.

She didn't wake up no matter how many times she pinched herself.

She could see the Shadow Weavers looking at her, she could feel the touch the floors underneath her feet, and she could hear distant explosions still ringing off in the distance.

This was not a nightmare.

This was a war. And no matter how frightened she found herself, she held her sword up with as much bravery as she could find, ready to face down the dreaded creatures, no matter how many of them she had to strike down...

...

A/N: Fun fact, the last 2k or so words I did in under 30 minutes (blame work i gtg soon XP). So with that said, let me know if anything is too rushed to the point it doesn't make sense, but keep in mind everything usually comes together by the end of these episodes.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fav, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 26: Episode 7: The Horrors of Mystacor Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: You know the hard part of a writer? When you have to rewrite something here or there. It's hard because depending on how far back it is, you have to change not just whatever your rewrote it, but EVERYTHING after if you brought it up at any point between then and where you're at.

For me it happens from time to time. Sometimes I go back, add in or remove a thing for a later plot point, yadda yadda yadda. I do it about once or twice a fic when I need to correct or change something, and it's not that big of a deal.

Here however, i had to rewrite the ENTIRE FIRST 4K WORDS I HAD TO THE FIC!

Why? Because I wasn't satisfied with how the original was coming out. With allergies and flu season coming on, I'm in the middle of having a minor cold. Nothing too big, just a stuffy throat, but still annoying. So I take cough drops. Unfortunately, i'm rather addicted to the stuff so I eat them like candy from time to time (I can't help it, the cherry taste is good XP).

As such, when I wrote the first 4k the first time, it was towards night, aka when my writing is at it's least good. By the next morning I was so disappointed with it and displeased with how it was presenting that I decided to rewrite the whole thing (basically had to since even trying to correct it here and there wasn't enough to fix how bad i found it).

So with that said, hopefully you guys enjoy the episode's chapter! As always, when writing over 1-to-2 days, some parts/bits get rushed. Sorry if that happens, hope you still enjoy regardless ^^!

...

"Aaaagh!" Catra roared as she threw another Shadow Weaver off of her, running down the hallways.

When people woke up, their day usually started off on the right foot before things got bad. Without any stress or knowledge of what the day would bring, they could start their day off with a simple smile if they wanted to, ready to greet the day as they prepared their mornings for whatever it had to offer. It gave them a sense of clarity and relief, disguising any possible troubles they were going to face for the day with a happy sun or simple rain cloud looming over their head.

Catra's day, however, was the farthest thing from a sun shiny or happy day.

There were no sunshine and rainbows greeting her outside, there were no happy civilians going about their day with a smile on their faces, there wasn't even a cloud in the sky to look down on her with a face of curiosity. There was carnage. Destruction. Everything she saw outside her bedroom when she woke up in Mystacor, at who knows what point in time since passing out, was in ruins and utter chaos. As if this day couldn't get any worse!

She thought all the hallucinations and paranoia she was dealing throughout her day was the worst of it, that the rest was all behind her. After dealing with hallucinations for nearly the last twelve hours straight, filled with terror and paranoia that made her question her own sanity and brought about visions of her friends and allies betraying her, she was at her wits end.

She couldn't differentiate fiction from reality, she didn't know who was real or if the words they spoke were true anymore. Anything from what she heard to what she saw was fabricated, faked. Half the time she saw someone approaching her with a knife in her hand, others she heard them contemplate betraying her and possibly harming her best friend when this was all over. And with how frequently these episodes of paranoia were setting in, she would never figure out what was real and fake ever again.

The events that lead her to passing out minutes ago were considered the last straw by Glimmer's enraged aunt. After getting some semblance of peace, figuring out for herself that some of the things she saw or heard were hallucinations, she tried separating herself from the others. She couldn't risk harming her allies and they believed giving her space would keep the hallucinations at bay. If no one was around her, she couldn't possibly misunderstand or have false visions of what she was seeing, right?

Oh how wrong they ended up being.

After finding herself secluded to the hallways, she began hearing voices all around her, ranging from the people she loathed to the people, specifically person, she most cared about. The voices drove her through the hallways until she found herself in the middle of the Lunarium, It was there, all her fears and all her anger were solidified into one being, the person who spent a majority of Catra's life feeling unwanted, who made it their personal vendetta to make sure the girl she was worth nothing more than a weapon.

Shadow Weaver.

She taunted the girl endlessly, enticed her into fits of rage and tears as she tried to prove her own courage. She wasn't going to allow her to see she was terrified, weak. She wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of proving her useless on her own, that she needed everyone else around her to get the job done. And she wasn't about to acknowledge that without Adora around, she was frightened, helpless to fight back against one of her greatest fears.

As she predicted, she acted accordingly by striking across hundreds of crystals with her blade, trying everything in her power to strike at her former mentor and prove to the world that she was not afraid. With each swing another insult was thrown at her, another bout of laughter at her inability to do things on her own, and a reminder that because of her, Adora had never been closer or trusting of Shadow Weaver as she had been now. Everything reminded her that it was her fault.

By the time the insults were over Shadow Weaver's work had been completed, and the girl did exactly as she expected her to. Entering the room, a devastated Aunt Castaspella was shocked and dismayed to see thousands of crystals lying shattered beneath her feet, the single magicat in the center of the room being the only source of blame. By the time Catra had realized what she had done herself, it was already too late.

There was a fire in Aunt Casta's eyes as she yelled at the girl, the shield between Catra and the aunt's possible wrath being Glimmer herself. With the threat of telling Glimmer's mother about the incident, knowing how much she already distrusted the ex-Horde, Glimmer was forced to comply with her one condition: she wouldn't tell her mother if Catra was locked away in a bedroom for the rest of the evening, somewhere she would be safe and others would be safe from her.

It was from there, after passing out, through unknown reasons, that she awoke to find this horrifying new reality, one where everyone was gone, a warzone had filled the environment around her, and Shadow Weavers filled the halls endlessly. All the walls were in crumbling ruins and disarray as she passed them. She didn't know where her allies were, she didn't know where to go to find help. All she knew was that, for whatever reason, something was telling her to go straight to the Lunarium, the place where all her troubles would disappear.

The one thing she didn't know, however, was why she forced herself not to cut down these Shadow Weavers she kept coming across. It wasn't out of mercy or decency. Heck she would've loved nothing more than to cut down as many of these Shadow Weavers as possible. Yet for some reason, her mind was telling her against it. It was as if it was warning her not to slay these Shadow Weavers, like it would lead to some form of trap.

With that in mind, she came to the conclusion that her mind was warning her about some devastating aftermath that would follow, like if she destroyed any of these Shadow Weavers she would be caught in a major explosion soon after! While it stayed her hand from the dozens of Shadow Weavers she came across, it would do nothing once she came across the real one.

Shadow Weaver was in here, somewhere in this maze of hallways. Perhaps at the Lunarium itself? Time would be her only ally as it proved itself down the line. All she knew at that moment was that she had to get to the Lunarium and stop whatever evil would befall Mystacor, unaware of the dark spectre that had filled her mind...

...

Magic gathering in the palms of her hands, Castaspella smiled as she prepared for the ritual that came once every month, one that ensured the safety of Mystacor forevermore. The Eclipse Ceremony was a vital livelihood for the sorcerers and sorceresses of Mystacor. It kept the barrier that shielded it replenished after every event, and, more importantly, kept them outside from the clutches of the Horde's evil grasp.

If ever a time came they found their defenses down, found themselves without the lense to protect themselves, the Horde would hound in on them in an instant. After the Rebellion, Mystacor was the last fighting chance the world had against the Horde's evil reign, the last bastion of peace anyone had in the hopes of defeating them. Even if the Rebellion continued to stand, should Mystacor, and all it's mystical secrets, fall, the rest of the world wouldn't be too far behind.

It spelt doom for all across Etheria, annihilation for all around the globe. It was a beacon and sanctuary for all who practiced in the arts of magic, and last line of defense from oblivion.

It was during that time, watching from the sides as the rest of the mages were circled at the center, preparing for the ceremony, that Glimmer started to frown.

"You okay?" Bow whispered, leaning over from her right.

"No, I'm not." She muttered staring at the floor. "I just feel guilty leaving Catra like that locked up in her room."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Bow shrugged with uncertainty, finding it as hard as her to get any enjoyment from the lightshow. "Who knows if she's still hallucinating in there or having a nightmare by this point."

"Hmm... Do you wanna go back?" She offered with a curious smile. "After all, we've seen the ceremony plenty of times. Missing it once shouldn't hurt?"

"Heh, yeah, sure. Besides, it wouldn't be fair if Catra was forced to miss out on the show too." Smiling to each other, they grabbed each other's hand before teleporting away.

While she kept her focus on the ceremony at hand, Aunt Casta felt a slight shift in the air, realizing her niece and her friend had left. While it depress her to know they left when the ceremony was finally ready to begin, she couldn't blame them for their reasons. After all, she did basically make Catra an official prisoner in her room all night, so it didn't bother her if they left to keep her company. In fact, if anything, she felt a little more pleased with the fruition. It warmed her heart knowing she had such deepening care for her friends, no matter how strange they might've been or if they were imaginary.

She just hoped she would be okay given Catra's strange behavior since she met her.

Looking up to the sky, she smiled as the moons began to pass by in front of each other, the eclipse finally beginning as the moons merged into one. Flashing with a bright violet light, the eclipse began to rain its beautiful energies down upon Mystacor, its beautiful lights bouncing across the room as it reflected from the numerous crystals that still remained in the Lunarium, culminating to a single flash that filled the entire room with it's beauty.

With its energies pouring in, Casta began levitating the Lunar Lenses into their respective formations, reflecting the direct energy into a rainbow of light across one another, forming a pattern as Casta moved herself to the center of the sacred room, gazing into the fountain of water that lied beneath the skylight. It was here all their magical energy would gather into one, and the shield protecting Mystacor would renewed.

That opportunity never came to pass.

Almost immediately after gazing into the water, she gasped. From the edges of the fountain a horrific darkness began to encircle the fountain, spreading across the waters like a poison until it filled the water in its entirety. From there, the darkness burst from the center, catching everyone off guard and in shock, as a mass of shadows burst out of the waters in a twisted explosion of blackness, shrouding the room with it's malefic evil.

One by one, the many lenses that were used in the ceremony began to alter, darken. One after the other they began to blacken into a sinister color, reflecting a darker energy from the light they once gave into a vile display of wickedness and cruelty.

Still in shock over the endeavor, Casta channeled as much energy as she had into her magic as she attempted to stop the ensuing darkness that filled the room. It took everything she had to keep the darkness at bay from the center of the skylight, where the Lunar Lenses were being held in place. But all of it was for naught, as even with all her strength and all her efforts to keep the evil at bay, the darkness pushed through her magics, filling the walls and ceiling of the sacred room with shadow.

At this, a culmination of the shadows began to merge together in the center of this great ceremony, the sorcerers and mages powerless to stop it as it gave shape. It morphed into a great mass, a form that all of them were familiar with, and at the same time horrified, to see it return.

"Light Spinner!" Casta gasped, unable to believe what she was seeing. The darkened body that was her hissed at the name, the one source of light from her entire body being her white eyes and the red jewel adorned in the middle of her forehead.

"I've given up that name for quite some time now, my dear Castaspella. I go by a new title now." She commented, gazing into her own hands before directing it at the head sorceress herself.

"Shadow Weaver."

...

*swoosh!*

"Catra, we're here!" Glimmer announced happily as she teleported back to the bedroom with Bow, the latter carrying a plate of sandwiches on a serving tray.

"Hey, I brought you some food!" Bow called out, gesturing the several sandwiches he had to offer. "I didn't really know what your preference was, so I grabbed a whole bunch of..." Bow's silence was followed by Glimmer's own as they gazed around the room, seeing the one thing neither of them were prepared for.

Emptiness. There wasn't a Catra, there wasn't a lump sleeping on the bed, and there wasn't a sword at it's side like they left it. Everything that is and ever was Catra was missing from this room.

"Catra?" Glimmer called out again, checking by knocking on the adjoining bathroom just in case. "We left the ceremony early, in case you-"

*crash*

"Uhhh Glimmer?" Bow called out nervously as he backed away from the entrance. Popping her head back into the room, ignoring the mess he dropped to the floor, Glimmer's mind filled with fear at what he was staring at.

The entrance, the one they had personally locked and secured in case she started hallucinating again, was destroyed. The fringes of it were cracked apart, the sides of the frame were practically split open, and the door itself was smashed into two large wooden chunks, as if a battering ram had crashed through it. All of this was what was left to greet them after their return, with the knowledge that Catra was now missing and, worse yet, she had her sword with her.

"Oh no... Catra!" Glimmer screamed as she and Bow ran out into the halls. There was no telling which direction their friend could've gone. All they could do was pick a direction, North in this case, and run down as fast as possible as they could. "I can't believe she broke out of her room!"

"In hindsight, we shouldn't have left her sword with her either." Bow commented, continuing to pick up the pace with his friend.

"Gee, thanks for that reminder!" Glimmer rolled her eyes in annoyance as they continued. There was no telling where Catra had gone or where she had ran off to. The only thing that mattered to them right now was finding her before she ended up hurting someone, or worse, someone ended up hurting her in retaliation.

What made it more troubling was the fact she had her sword with her, not that it was better off than a cat with her deadly claws. While her inability to transform into She-Ra gave little comfort, it did nothing to quell the fear building up inside them at the fact she still had a sword.

A sword is a sword, and it was good for one thing.

Cutting.

"Catraaaa!" Glimmer called out, alternating between herself and Bow.

"Catraaa! Where are you?"

There was no telling when the magicat ran off or how much damage she could do! Her hallucinations definitely had to play a part in all of this, though what confused them was how it caused her to hallucinate to the point of breaking out of her room. It was a door and a bedroom. With Glimmer having one of the few spare keys to it, there was no way anyone else could've gone into the room and done something to frighten their dear friend.

Did the hallucinations get worse while they were gone? Did it give her some horrific vision of the door trying to come alive and eating her? For all they knew she now saw inanimate objects as living things. Everyday items one would find in their home might've seem like terrifying monsters that were plotting against her.

It was crazy, sure, but then again, their friend was currently crazy!

"Where could she be?" Glimmer asked after running for another minute, taking a small break at a split between four separate hallways.

"How should I know?" Bow moaned to himself as he squeezed his head. "For all I know anything I did say to her came out as something else to her."

"Ahhhh!" The two nearly jumped at the sound of a young acolyte running down the halls, clearly in terror.

"Hey wait!" Bow stopped as he grabbed the young teen by his shoulder. If it wasn't for the presumably recent bruise he had under his eye, they would've let him go without question. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"The Horde's attacking, that's what!" The announcement sent fear and dread in the inner regions of Glimmer's and Bow's mind. No matter how prepared they were for it they still weren't ready to hear it. "Some crazy cat girl with a sword! She started attacking people out of nowhere!"

"Oh no..." Glimmer prayed that it didn't get any worse than that. "Did... Are there any casualties?"

"Not to my knowledge, no," the one sentence of relief was short lived as he continued, "not like it matters anymore though."

"Why's that?"

"Because the barrier protecting Mystacor is failing!" He fretted. "Something went wrong in the Lunar Ceremony and now the whole barrier is beginning to wane!" Without another word, the boy jerked out of Bow's grip as he continued running down the halls for his life. It didn't matter if they couldn't understand how she got all the way down there already. Who cared if it made sense as to why she could go down there to begin with? All that mattered was that the Eclipse was failing and who the most likely cause of the mayhem appeared to be.

"Catra!"

...

"Huff... Finally..." Catra panted as she reached the Lunarium, out of breath from the numerous Shadow Weaver clones she had to fight on the way here and all the running that came with it.

Many of the Shadow Weavers varied in strength. Some of them saw to deal with Catra physically, charging the young girl and trying to restrain her, no doubt to torture her like she had years ago. While most of them were easy pickings, managing to swipe half of them and drop the other half with the butt of her sword's hilt, others proved more vicious, throwing strange tendrils at the girl as they tried to tie her down. Thankfully her claws came into play at this as she managed to escape every time, soon ensnaring, not entirely sure how, the Shadow Weavers with her own magic.

Then came the ones who casted more of their magics at her. They ranged from large balls of darkness to red streaks of lightning straight from her hand. Many of these proved easy to dodge whereas a few of them nearly proved disastrous for the young girl. She found at least two instances where shadows were stuck against her feet, almost as cold as ice, forcing her to bash away at the freezing temperature with sword, and another instance of them blasting her endlessly with their lightning.

If it wasn't for the fact they foolishly got closer as they kept her pinned to the ground in agony, she never would've found the opportunity to swipe them off their feet, knocking them out cold by planting her elbow directly into their cut. She still refrained from finishing them off afterwards, knowing these clones were nothing more than mere copies of the real one, the one who had to be somewhere around these halls of horror.

After another several minutes of running, she finally came to the Lunarium itself, the place her mind was shouting at her to return to. To her surprise, and reluctance, she found the room filled with five other Shadow Weavers passed out at the center of the room. No doubt they were fought off by whatever forces remained of Mystacor, the very forces she had yet to come across during her trip here.

That was the one thing that bothered her behind all of this. Why didn't she come across a single guard or sorcerer around here? Even if they were no longer breathing, she should've seen at least one or two people around here. There wasn't even the smell of blood in the air, however stale. Did they evacuate before things came worse, or were they possibly all captured and taken prisoner after the Horde invaded Mystacor?

If they did leave, then why didn't they come back for Catra? They kept going on and on about how they were friends, and at the very least she did acknowledge them as allies. Was the attack her truly so bad that they couldn't reach her in time, or did they simply not care for her like they let on?

Whatever the case, she knew this was the center of all the problems, indicated by the strange black light she saw illuminating from the middle of the Lunarium. From there, she saw the lenses that Glimmer's aunt once told her about, the ones that were necessary to protect Mystacor's defenses and its people. Following the black light itself proved differently from her perspective.

Here, she saw the light shooting into the sky as it touched the barrier itself. From above, she saw bits and pieces of the barrier beginning to crumble, melting away little by little as the barrier became undone. Gritting her teeth, gripping her sword tightly, she walked her way over to the lenses that now laid at the center.

No doubt Shadow Weaver did something to it, somehow corrupting it's pure magic into something terrifying. Her mind kept screaming at her to destroy the lenses, believing that once the corrupt lenses were destroyed, the rest of Mystacor would be saved and the barrier would be made whole again. Even if it didn't, it was better than allowing it to drain the barrier's power away.

On top of all of that, this was the proof she needed. She needed to prove to herself that no matter how afraid she was of Shadow Weaver or how angry she made her constantly, that she was stronger than the witch of darkness, that she was not her toy to manipulate or bend to her will. The entire experience up to this point was truly terrifying for her, and now it was finally going to pay off.

"I told you I'm not afraid!" She yelled to everything around her, lifting the sword high into the air as she prepared to destroy the evil objects once and for all!

*Swoosh!*

All instincts of destroying the dreaded relic were erased as her attention turned towards the sound of a mysterious gust of wind emanating from behind her.

...

"Catra, stop!" Glimmer pleaded with a shout, taking in the sight of the room thereafter.

What happened here during the few brief minutes they were gone?! Everyone around them was tossed aside and weakened after some strange battle took place. There was no way Catra could've managed this, right? No matter how strong she is, especially without She-Ra, there was no way she could've taken on five distinct sorcerers and sorceresses, including her aunt who was the Head Sorceress of Mystacor!

On the off chance she somehow was responsible for all of this, that wouldn't explain how Catra caused the room to darken intensely like this, or explain why the Lunar Lenses were covered in sickening Shadows. No amount of She-Ra Catra could channel had this kind of magical power.

"What happened here?" This room looked like it had a full blown war to Bow, the walls covered in blast marks and the half dozen sorcerers passed out across different sections of the room. "Catra, did you do this?"

...

This was different.

Compared to the other Shadow Weavers that appeared before her, these two teleported into the room directly. How did they do that? Most of the Shadow Weaver clones she came across used direct forms of magic against her, all of it shadow based with various effects. These two, however, were the first ones if not the only ones she came across so far that used their magic differently, like they had no idea what was going on earlier. If she didn't know any better she could've sworn it reminded her of-

"Ngggh!" Catra groaned in pain as she squeezed her forehead. As if telling her to forget this line of thinking, her mind was shot with a severe spike of pain. The instant she was about to say someone else's name her mind took over again, redirecting all the information she was thinking and turning it into a new line of thinking. It was a short and painful experience that gave her a new realization.

"Shadow Weaver!"

Yes, that must be it! One of these two must be the real Shadow Weaver! There could be no doubt, no confusion among them! Looking at the two of them as she tightened the grip on her blade, she knew it. The way their hair spiraled into an eternal nothingness of darkness, those sinister eyes that could plan ten steps ahead for every scenario. Yeah. Yeah! She was definitely staring at the real Shadow Weaver between these two!

...

"Shadow Weaver?" Glimmer wanted to know why she spoke that name again for the second time today. Better yet, who was she referring to? "Catra, who's this Shadow Weaver you keep mention-"

"Ahhhh!" With a mighty roar, the magicat leaped to the air, raising the sword high above her as she prepared to strike down on the two. Reacting quickly, Glimmer teleported herself and Bow to the right side of the chamber, looking back to Catra in shock.

"Catra, what are you doing?!" Glimmer contemplated going over to her side before she saw that hate-filled stare in her eyes. "Catra?"

"Glimmer, I don't think Catra's controlling herself right now." Bow announced as Glimmer looked back and forth between her two friends. "Look at her eyes, they're both yellow! The right one's not blue!" It was hard to tell from where they were standing right now, but Bow was right.

Those eyes were burning with nothing but hatred and contempt. It reminded her a lot of Dryl back when Catra had gone feral, except this time there was emotion behind the madness instead of pure rage. She saw anger, confusion, disbelief... and sadness. "What happened to her...?"

...

There was familiarity about these two Shadow Weavers that didn't sit right for her. Despite all the anger and fear filling her mind, her chest was aching for some reason. Why? She didn't have a soft side for Shadow Weaver. She would love nothing more than to put her on the opposite end of her blade at this very moment. Shadow Weaver manipulated, lied, coerced others into her upbringing, everything for her personal gain.

Wait, of course! Why didn't she see it before? These weren't her feelings she was going through! Obviously Shadow Weaver was manipulating her thoughts at that very moment, trying to manipulate the girl into not attacking these two! She hated herself for not realizing it sooner, unable to believe it almost worked!

"You can't fool me, Shadow Weaver!" She shouted, raising her blade to the two as she rushed them.

...

"Catra, stop!" Glimmer cried out as she gathered her violet magic into her palms. She didn't want to fight her friend when she was outside of her own control. She didn't want to fight her friend period as Bow prepared his own weapons!

And at first, it didn't look like they had to. Ten yards from where they stood, as she neared them halfway, she planted her sword firmly into the ground a couple inches, the hilt of the sword shooting straight up. For a moment, the two relished at the sight of it, thinking that Catra had somehow snapped out of the delusion and was back to her former self.

That line of critical thinking proved fatal though as immediately following this, Catra hopped atop her blade, using the hilt of it as a footstool. With one mighty leap, she shot straight towards the two, tackling Bow out of the way as she grabbed on to Glimmer, the one she was sure was Shadow Weaver!

Pushing passed the two for a good few seconds, the two of them rolling around from the brute force, Glimmer groaned as she opened her eyes again, finding an anger-filled, fear-stricken, Catra on top of her, her knees planted firmly into her stomach as she pinned her down. The girl had the advantage here as she grabbed her throat, hissing angrily as she brought her face towards her for a brief second.

...

She wanted Shadow Weaver to see it. She wanted the woman to see all the pain she caused her throughout her life, all the misery she had been living through since the day she was born. She wanted to take one last good look into Shadow Weaver's cold uncaring eyes for the last time before she finally snuffed out all of that light.

...

"I've been waiting for this moment for so long..." She growled, lifting back her right hand as she extended the claws out as far as she could.

Glimmer was at a loss for words. Here she was, about to be killed by her friend who had no idea who she really was or what was happening. In a way, she felt more sorry for Catra than she did herself. What did this Shadow Weaver do to make Catra despise her so much? Why couldn't she see it was her and not whoever Catra thought it was?

*swiff*

By the time she registered any of these thoughts, Catra had already brought down her hand in one mighty stroke, ready to tear at her jugular in one great swing. "Ngh!" Glimmer closed her eyes in panic, readying for her end to come. Catra was faster than she could teleport, pinning her stomach down directly to get a delayed reaction if she tried to swipe at Catra herself. There wasn't any way out of this for her.

*sniff*

And in a moment of De Sha Vue, she opened her eyes again. Like she was the first time Catra lunged for her throat after Entrapta's robots infected her with a virus, a mere inch from her nose, Catra sniffed. Why was she sniffing her so much all of a sudden this time? Was she stifling a sniffle out of potential remorse for what she was about to do? Was she actually feeling bad on the inside about killing her former mentor?

None of the answers came to her as she found herself lifted off her feet, still being joked by the crush grip Catra had on her throat, her tail wagging violently from side to side.

"What did you do to Glimmer?!" She shouted, adding on to the confusion of the other princess.

"W-What are you talking about?!" She stammered, kicking her feet as she tried to break free of her grip.

...

"You should've heard her scream in agony when I was toying with her." Shadow Weaver cackled, sickeningly finding amusement in all of this chaos.

The rage burning further in Catra's heart nearly doubled from that one sentence alone. She couldn't believe what she was smelling off of this dangerous woman. The scent of her ally was going off like crazy all around her, her instincts being kicked in on high alert. She had something to do with Glimmer, one of the people she thought made it out of this warzone by this point. Upon closer inspection, she could catch the faint scent of Bow's person coming off of her too, just enough for it to be noticeable.

No doubt they truly had been captured by this monster, possibly all of the citizens of Mystacor for that matter!

...

"What have you done to her?!"

"Catra, it's me!" She tried to remove Catra's grip from her neck, shaking her wrist with all her might to no avail. As she said this, she saw a glint in Catra's eye. It was only for a brief period, as following whatever she said, whatever Catra thought Glimmer was saying, she saw a tear. A single tear in the corner of her left eye.

The fire inside her eye was slowly shared with an expression of sorrow, Catra almost seeming upset about whatever she thought Glimmer had said. She had no idea what would make Catra loosen a single tear like it, but the weight of the situation became apparent as she pulled back her hand.

"Grrrrrrrr!"

*pew!*

Right as the killing blow was about to be struck, a large blue wave of energy blasted at the girl, knocking her away from the nearly deceased Glimmer, the girl herself falling to her knees as she coughed rubbing her sore throat. Looking from the sight of her blasted friend to the direction of the blast itself, she let out a small gasp as she saw her Aunt Castaspella, the woman barely conscious as she lied on the floor from the stomach with her hand held up.

"Auntie!" Glimmer cried out as she teleported to her side.

As she did, Catra growled angrily at the blast. Apparently one of the Shadow Weaver clones in this room wasn't as passed out as she thought it was, not that it mattered at this point. As the former Shadow Weaver was checking on the other, Catra rushed towards the too in a mad sprint, extending both her claws as she prepared to take them both out in one go.

She was so obsessed with her targets that she didn't register Bow being near her until after he tackled her aside, bashing her away as she neared them. With reflexes suitable for any cat, Catra flipped through the air at this as she landed perfectly on her two feet, squatting as she Bow loading an arrow in his weapon, preparing to fight off his friend for as long as needed.

To her, all she saw was another Shadow Weaver gathering up dark magic into her hands again, not even seeing the weapon in Bow's arms from her viewpoint.

"Take Castaspella and get out of here!" He ordered, refusing to take his eyes off the magicat. "I'll hold her off!"

With a nod, she collected Aunt Casta into her arms as she teleported the two of them away, leaving Bow to stall for as much time as he possibly could. Knowing time was of the essence, Glimmer didn't bother teleporting themselves very far. She reappeared halfway into the adjoining hallway as she rested her aunt against the wall, the woman barely maintaining consciousness as she groaned.

"Aunt Casta, are you okay?" She took her Aunt's right hand as she tried to sooth with comfort, shaking her shoulder gently to help her maintain the ounce of consciousness she had left. "I'm so sorry about Catra! I don't know what she did but-"

"It's alright." Her aunt gave her a small smile as she patted Glimmer's chin. "I know she's not in control of herself. She didn't do this to me." The only thing keeping this from being a teary conversation between the two was the fact Glimmer knew her aunt's scrapes and injuries weren't fatal.

"I don't know what's wrong with her," she glanced back towards the direction of the Lunarium as she heard a small explosion, no doubt Bow giving it his all fighting against Catra, "and I don't know how to fix her."

"She's being possessed." Her aunt revealed. "I've seen this magic once before. It's a horrid state where a dark force drives the victim mad until they do their bidding. Anything she sees, hears, or feels is not her own." She gave a small groan as the bit of consciousness began to deplenish.

"Then how do I stop her? There has to be something I can do!" She didn't want this fighting to continue! She couldn't risk the entirety of Mystacor and all of it's citizens, but at the same time she didn't want to lose her friend, especially if it meant losing her by her own or Bow's hands.

With a cough, her aunt replied, "She won't stop until she finishes her task... unless..." Glimmer panicked. Her aunt was losing consciousness by the second and was starting to close her eyes.

"Unless what? Aunt Casta, please!"

"Mmh... You need to convince her she's hallucinating," she groaned, "find a way to convince her this is all fake, at least enough of it to make her break free..."

"Break free?" She repeated. "How?"

"I... I don't..." With a final utterance, her aunt finally lost the last of her consciousness and felt into a peaceful sleep.

"Aunt Casta? Auntie!" Glimmer cried out as she tried to shake her awake.

Sadly she knew it didn't matter at this point as she gazed down the hallway. She could already fill in the blanks of her Aunt's final words on her own. She didn't know how to stop the possession without magic, and there was no way Glimmer could pull it off on her own with magic without knowing how to remove the possession in the first place. One wrong slip up with her magic and she could wind up turning Catra into a vegetable for the rest of her life!

"There's gotta be a way to fix her..." She mumbled to herself, thinking as fast as she could with the limited time she had left. "She doesn't see, hear, or feel anything we do, so how... wait a minute..."

*sniff*

None of the answers came to her as she found herself lifted off her feet, still being joked by the crush grip Catra had on her throat, her tail wagging violently from side to side.

"What did you do to Glimmer?!" She shouted, adding on to the confusion of the other princess.

"That's it!" With a pound of the flat side of her fist against her palm, she teleported out of the hallway, heading straight towards the one place she knew had the answers.

...

"Ahhh!" Bow roared as he continued firing at Catra. He was running out of time, and more importantly arrows.

The few arrows he had used up to this point were less of a means to harm his friend and more intended to slow her down or incapacitate her. From net arrows to sticky arrows, he tried to slow down Catra as much as possible, biding all the time he could offer as he kept Catra at bay, distracted from completing her mission.

And he couldn't lay a hand on her! Catra's reflexes and agility gave her a great boost of speed and reflex compared to a normal person. In part thanks to the claws she had, whenever he tried to land a hit on her from the ground, coating it in a sticky or sap-like substance, she used the walls to her advantage, leaping up to them as she dodged from place to place. She had a greater advantage of the environment than he did, more than he did as he had to contend with Catra while also avoiding his own traps.

In the brief moment he took her eyes off, looking back to find one of his arrows, she vanished. Fear settling in as he looked around the room with his bow drawn, he slowly stepped aside as he made as little noise as possible. If she was on the walls then he should've heard the faintest of scratches coming from somewhere. That was the one thing to to indicate where she was and where she could possibly strike form next.

It did nothing though given her incredible speed. By the time he heard a noise, she already was launching the attack. Kicking off the wall behind him, hidden in the shadows of the upper exterior of the walls, she gave off the strongest kickoff she could as she launched herself from the wall, Bow powerless to stop her in time as it was already too late. By the time he turned around preparing to fire, Catra kicked him roughly against the face, delivering a massive blow powerful enough to knock him off his feet, knocking him out cold as he slid against the ground.

Walking over to the fallen Shadow Weaver clone, she spat. Her instincts were telling her this wasn't the same Shadow Weaver from earlier, and he was of no import compared to the other Shadow Weaver who disappeared with another clone. Because of it, she didn't bother finishing him off as she went back to collect her blade, pulling it out of the ground with ease.

"Time to end this..." Seeing the reflection in the sword, seeing the same yellow and blue eyes as she always did, she walked over to the center of the Lunarium where she saw the dark energies bursting from the core of the room.

This was it. With one final plunge she would end all the corruption and dark magics Shadow Weaver was planting around here. She would get her revenge for all the times she used her, all the times she manipulated her in the past, and most of all, she would get revenge on her for using Adora the way she did.

All the while, Shadow Weaver herself smiled with fascination and amusement as she watched the cat through her waters. The cat had done everything as she predicted and everything she was about to do! She thought she would leave here a hero when in reality she was going to cripple Mystacor's defenses in a single blow, and it would be all her fault!

This was going to be the most enjoyable display she had ever witnessed!

*swoosh!*

"Agh!" Catra choked as she felt a presence falling onto her back, dropping her sword. Unable to turn her head, she shifted her eyes back, catching as much gaze of the real Shadow Weaver as she could as she pulled the arm holding her throat.

"Noooo!" Shadow Weaver screamed, lowering her head towards the fountain of water in frustration.

On her back Glimmer reappeared, wrapping her knees around Catra as she held onto her back, using her left arm to stay in place as she struggled to maintain her grip. This was the one chance she had left to save Catra and to stop her from destroying the lenses, seeing Bow knocked out several feet away from in the back of the room.

"I sure hope this works..." Glimmer gulped to herself as she pulled her other hand against Catra's nose.

To Catra's point of view, she was attempting to use some dark vile magic against her, seeing the twisted magic gathering in the palm of her hand.

"No!" She was so close! Her mind was exploding with thoughts as she stepped back a few feet, unable to get the heavy woman off of her. She came so close to stopping one of Shadow Weaver's plans, and her mind was already telling her how she failed! Why could she never beat this woman?!

She couldn't allow this to continue! Shadow Weaver was one of the most vile people she had ever known, maybe even worse than Lord Hordak himself, having met the Lord of the Horde a few times in person growing up. She was ruthless, cunning, and evil beyond comprehension, disposing of all her possible assets as soon as she finished using them. And knowing her the way she did, she would do the exact same thing to Adora when Adora finally outlived her usefulness!

"I'm... not... letting... you... win!" Catra grunted between chokes of breath.

She wasn't going to destroy the lenses at this rate, that's what her mind kept telling her. So perhaps she would have to settle for the ultimate sacrifice instead? She didn't care about her allies here, wherever they were, presuming they were okay. Here, she realized the best way to deal with Shadow Weaver was to deal with her herself, and she would happily take her down with her!

Pulling the sword to the front, she prepare as she slowly turned it around. She didn't like the idea of taking her own life, but if it was to stop Shadow Weaver, she would do it with a smile on her face. She would stab Shadow Weaver through herself, taking the girl with her if it meant winning. In the long run, it would deal a crippling blow to the Horde. Without Hordak's second in command, there would be a power vacuum, buying time for the Rebellion to continue gathering its forces and drawing strength, everything necessary to finally win!

With a deep breath through her nose, her grip tightened. With a final pull, she clenched herself as she plunged the sword straight into her heart-!

*sniff*

She froze. That scent... that weird, bizarre, soothing, scent. It was... familiar to her. With the blade's tip barely an inch from her chest, she smelled it.

Where... Where have I smelled this before? The same Shadow Weaver who gave off the scent of Glimmer was now giving off her scent and a familiar fragrance she smelled earlier today. It was a soothing scent she remembered from awhile ago, back when she was getting a massage from Dr. Kiroh. It was calming, it gave her a sense of clarity when she smelled it, it was...

Incense!

Wait, why did it smell of incense? Just because she recognized the smell didn't mean she should be smelling it herself, right? She was here, staring at Shadow Weaver's magic-covered hand, the same one who pulled her away from the Lenses, and the very one her mind was screaming repeatedly for her to kill! Yet it didn't explain why her magic was filling with the scent of incense.

Come to think of it, why did it have a smell to begin with? It was dark magic, it didn't have a scent like the smoke from a fire or the tranquil scent of fresh water. And why was there a small bit of smoke rising in front of her too? It was the same size of smoke you'd get from a candlestick, barely the size of one's pinkie.

She chuckled a little as she thought of that. Pinkie. Like Pinky. The one who brought her to the massager in the first place... wait... how would Shadow Weaver's magic have the same smell? It didn't matter if she could use her magics to spy on her enemies, she couldn't get any sense of smell through her methods, whatever they were. And this one stupid smell was really bothering her as her mind kept screaming angrier for her to ignore it!

Why was she growing a headache from all this? This was nothing! She should just ignore it! She should impale herself with the sword to- HANG ON A MINUTE! She shouted in her head, grumbling as she started to shake. Why would she ever think of impaling herself with a sword?! That was beyond stupid! She wasn't about to risk her life for these, no matter how little they mattered to her! They were nothing, they were-

"Ghhhhh!" Catra growled audibly, shaking her head back as she convulsed, squeezing her eyes against her palms. "What's happening?!" Her voice echoed in distortion as Glimmer continued to force her to smell the incense candles.

"It's the smell, that's what's happening!" She knew whoever was speaking through Catra's mouth wasn't Catra's voice alone. At this, Catra started having flashes between the reality she saw and the true reality, the illusion struggling to maintain its hold over her mind. "You can duplicate her other senses however you want, but you can't get rid of her sense of smell!"

That was the grand realization behind this entire plan. She remembered everything that lead up to this point, all the people she passed on the way here that Catra knocked out or beat senselessly till they retreated. She didn't spare her because she wanted to, it wasn't due to some self pity she had for them. She knew the anger her friend could go through, and she was never one to allow such things go for the people she held a grudge against.

She spared those people because that's how this Shadow Weaver person wanted it to be, she needed it to be! If Catra killed anyone on the way here, she would've picked up the scent of blood in the air. If it was one person, it'd be one thing. If she killed more than two however then she would've picked up on the unusual scents the people were giving off! Because she barely knew these people she wasn't bothered by the individual scents they were giving off. That's why she was so confused when she picked up Glimmer's scent from earlier.

Because the magic would've disrupted if Catra's other senses started to kick in!

"Gehhhh!" Catra yelled as Glimmer held tightly. "Get ouT of mY heAd!" Her distorted voice was matched with the eerie substance that began draining from her ears.

Glimmer saw it. From her ears a thick cloud of darkness slowly started to seep, all gathering and amassing in front of the girl as Catra fought off the illusion. She heard a low growl coming from the black misty substance, fear slowly coming to her as she saw it give shape to a large humanoid-like creature, one without a face and a victim to corrupt its magic through. If Glimmer saw through the spell from the outside, there was no way it could work against her either from the inside.

As the last bits of the darkness left Catra's shrouded mind, the girl collapsed to the floor, Glimmer hopping off of her as she turned to the evil creature of darkness that towered over the both of them. Lifting her own head up, Catra held back the urge to groan, a small pain in her head from an unknown source, before she eyes widened at the sight of the monstrous creature.

"What the heck is that thing?!" She yelped, jumping to her feet as she backed up to Glimmer. As she did, she gazed around the entire room. Compared to the devastated war torn state it was in earlier, now it looked like there was barely a fight in here, the few scratches she did see she knew came from her own claws. "W-What happened in here...?" She shook as she looked at her own claws. "Did... I do this?"

"No, Catra." Glimmer smiled to her friend as she patted her back, glaring at the creature afterwards. "That did!"

"Gaaaaaaoooooooooo!" The monster was furious. It had a mission to do and it was going to see it through no matter how many times it had to retry on it's former host, or if it had to dispose of these people itself. Growing more in size, the two stepped back as it nearly doubled in size, gathering as much power as it could to deal with threats personally, resulting in it making it's final mistake. "Gaaaauuuuuuuu!" The creature cried out in pain as a bit of light enveloped it.

Looking behind the monster, the two saw as the violet lights of the Lunar energy were purging the creature in its entirety. The creature roared in pain as it struggled to maintain form, swiping at everything around it in pain as it tried to save itself. As the eclipse drew closer to it's fullness the beams in turn grew larger, engulfing more and more of the creature as it tried to escape. After a few more seconds, the creature gave one last final roar as it dissolved into nothingness, destroyed by the Lunar's pure energy.

"You... You did it..." Catra wasn't able to comprehend what had happened. Glimmer, the shorter pudgy girl she knew her to be, disrupted Shadow Weaver's plan, stopped Shadow Weaver's abomination. She stopped Catra herself from losing her own life and bringing down Mystacor with it.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see a perky Glimmer smiling back to her, ignoring the few scrapes she had on herself as she did. "No. We did it." She stated. "You're not giving yourself enough credit, Catra. All I did was help you come to your senses, but you were the one who fought the monster off."

...Why did she have to be like this? Why did she have to have the same stupid smile like Adora did? The one who tried to brighten her mood whenever she was feeling down, the one who tried to show Catra her own strengths compared to everyone else who mocked her for her weaknesses? Why did she have to be like this when Catra was so rotten to her, when she expected nothing in return?

What did Catra even have to give her in return for this? She was already fighting for the Rebellion and she barely knew anything about Glimmer herself out of her own lack of interest. And there wasn't anything in particular Glimmer seemed to like other than calling Catra and her allies her friends.

There was only one thing that came to mind as she shifted her eyes away with a bit of a frown.

"Thank... Glim-"

"Ahhhhh!" The appreciation was cut short as Glimmer suddenly let out a scream of panic. Falling to the floor as a dark tendril pulled at her legs, Catra's eyes widened as she saw Glimmer getting pulled into the encompassing darkness that filled the room again, watching her disappear into the shadows.

"Pinky!" Catra yelled trying to run after her.

Before she could reach the girl she was already gone, disappearing completely into the abyss. From there, Catra froze and began to creep backwards as the shadows started to take shape, gathering together as it solidified into a shadowy form from where darkness crept forth. She felt a lump in her throat as she collapsed backwards, pushing herself away as she crawled from the towering figure who had a vendetta against her, those white seething eyes glaring intently as the one other bit of color that remained on her came from the jewel on her forehead.

Towards the wall, Glimmer was out cold. To the side, Bow was knocked unconscious by her own work. There was nobody else that could help her in this moment as she panicked, feeling the dread and despair washing over her as she found herself all alone with her greatest fear.

"Shadow Weaver..."

...

A/N: I really hope i don't make a habit of 5-part episodes XP I don't mind it or anything but it's something I hope to not make a habit of, i prefer keeping it back to 4 (personally i liked it back when I just kept it to 2 XP).

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a Like, Follow, Fave, and Review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 27: Episode 7: The Horrors of Mystacor Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Heyo folks! We've reached the finale of our beloved mystacor arc! I know it might seem short and rushed towards the end (as always P_P), and do hope that's not too distracting, but do keep in mind i'm following the episodes time length to it too, though I do add my own spins here and there as a result.

With that said, hope you enjoy!

...

"You wretched cretin!" Shadow Weaver hissed as Catra backed up from the floor. With every push away from her the tendrilly shadows below Shadow Weaver's ghostly black image spread nearer.

This was beyond the region of bad. Worse than bad. Catra would gladly trade her consciousness with the currently passed out Glimmer and Bow who were residing on the other sides of the room. What Catra was currently facing was nothing compared to whatever possible nightmares either of the two could have at this point.

This was Shadow Weaver. Whether a vision of her or an amalgamation of all her shadows as her powers intensified, this was Shadow Weaver. The black witch of darkness, the one who always tormented nearly all the children in the Horde as they grew up, especially Catra. She loathed the feline, she despised her. Catra was beyond the point of ever asking why in her life, never being answered by her in the past. All she knew was that she hated her almost as much as she cared for Adora.

Or at least showed for it.

"You were supposed to destroy the Lenses you stupid child!" Gathering the shadows around her, she stretched her tendrils as far as possible towards the magicat. Brushing her fingertips against the sword, she grabbed it hastily, swiping it to bat away the tendrils she ran passed her.

Everything! Everything she had this stupid fleabag do was messed up now because of one pathetic brat! Her plan was so perfect, all of her plans were! Manipulating Catra's mind, while resisting, she managed to bring the girl to the edge of insanity, tricking her into seeing and hearing everything Shadow Weaver wanted her to see! Using her magic more directly to clear out the room from the sorcerers who posed a possible threat, she was supposed to use her stupid sword to destroy the lenses and leave Mystacor defenseless for the Horde to invade!

What happens instead?

Insects happen! Specifically, two particularly annoying insects she discovered by the names of Glimmer and Bow, two people who supposedly considered Catra her friends for whatever possible reasons they had. They were insects so it didn't really matter to her.

Naturally, the very first instinct was to dispose of the two directly, but where was the fun in that? Watching a possessed Catra going around and slaughtering her friends first would've been much more entertaining. After all, in the improbable chance that her magic failed to corrupt Mystacor's defenses, what then? She would be left with nothing. On the other hand if she got Catra to deal with them herself, it would've brought her the ultimate pleasure as she pictured Catra's reaction thereafter, imagining her reaction when she released her hallucination from the girl. It would've been perfect!

Then, these two had to show up and ruined everything! Not only did they ruin the part where they're supposed to die, they somehow managed to fight Catra off long enough until Glimmer came up with an idea. Using the incense sticks she managed to break Catra out of her delusion, the smell being the one thing the hallucinations couldn't forge! As if that wasn't enough, after breaking out of the hysterical state, the creature she used to induce said madness was destroyed effortlessly by the Lunar energies own magic, cycling through the room as the eclipse continued.

Everything she planned, all the time and energy she spent, wasted!

Who was to blame? Oh sure, these two got involved, she would definitely deal with them later. But her, Catra, the one she despised with a righteous fury. All of it centered around what the girl was capable and incapable of doing, and like everything else, she proved herself again to Shadow Weaver by being the one thing she was best at.

Useless!

"Time after time, you continue to prove how useless you are!" She screamed. Seeing the door, the frightened cat ran towards it as fast as she could, only to be cut off by the enveloping shadows that formed a wall. "Why these pathetic creatures could bother to care for you, I would never know."

"S-Shut up!" Catra yelled. Seeing her exits blocked off, she made a mad dash for the shadowy figure herself, trying to slice her right down the middle.

"Pathetic." Without any effort the shadows making up her form split away, throwing the cat into a state of brief confusion before slamming her away with one of the shadowy tendrils.

*Wham!*

"Ugh!" Catra yelped falling to the ground. Refusing to accept defeat, eyes still shriveling with fear, she grabbed her sword again as she prepared her stance. "I-I'm not afraid of you!"

"Then clearly I've been too lenient on you." WIth the wave of her hands, Catra found her feet wrapped around by the shadows. In a solid swing she was lifted a dozen feet off the ground, slamming her directly on the opposite side of the room with full force.

"Ngh!" How was she supposed to beat her? How could she ever beat her?! Shadow Weaver never loses, not when it came to her methods. Whether caring or manipulative, she could get anyone to do what she wanted, whenever she wanted! Imagining how much she tricked Adora, the anger she felt at the thought, didn't compare to the fear she had welling up inside of her.

"Ever since you were discarded, we brought you in." She let out a cough as she felt the tendril wrapped around her neck in an attempt of suffocation. Thankful that she still grasped her sword, she struck it away, jumping to her feet again as she focused directly on Shadow Weaver herself, unaware of the tendrils that trailed around her.

With another leap, the magicat attempted to strike the witch head on, refusing to back down. Not caring enough to dodge out of the way, with the lift of her hand, several of the tendrils grabbed on to Catra's right leg and chest, squeezing them tightly as it flung her to the ceiling where she was slammed. Almost letting out a small chuckle, waving her hand down this time, she watched with petty amusement as she released her hold, sending Catra plummeting to the ground with a hard crash.

"We taught you to be a warrior," she continued as Catra struggled to get up again, "we showed you how to use your strengths," she didn't give her a chance to get a foot off the ground before slamming her from the right with a massive tendril, "and how to undermine your enemies. And all you had to do was know your place!"

Spreading her darkness around the room, she grabbed a handful of the small crystals in each tendril, firing them directly at the cat who ran for dear life. For what little she managed to do to avoid any of the projectiles, she found herself with at least two cuts on her left arm and right knee, wincing a bit at the pain it caused as she ran.

"LIke I would want to spend the rest of my life taking orders from you!" Catra yelled, slicing away at one of the incoming tendrils she ran through. "You've tortured me, humiliated me, treated me like garbage since the day I could barely walk! All my life all I wanted was a little respect out of you, and could you give me that? No!"

Backing up against a pillar, she looked up as she saw where it lead to. To her reluctance, it connected towards a large walkway towards the ceiling. Shadows gathering around her feet, fear still racing through her heart, she climbed her way up the large pillar, leaping as far as she could up it as fast as she could!

This would be so much easier if she wasn't still exhausted from the lack of sleep that started this stupid mess!

"You think you're worth my respect?!" The very notion of the idea was almost a mockery itself. With a single pull, she shot a tendril straight at the girl by the time she reached halfway up the pillar, throwing her back to the ground where it planned to impale her. Landing swiftly on her feet, she dodged out of the way in time to avoid the heavy tendril that crashed into the hardened ground next to her. "You were disobedient, giving false ideals to the simpleminded you came across!"

"I was a kid!" She grabbed one of the many crystals Shadow Weaver tossed earlier, throwing it back at the witch in an to give her a taste of her own power. It proved futile though as the crystals passed through Shadow Weaver flawlessly, not leaving an opening from where they struck. "Most people don't make it their mission to beat children to keep them in line! Most of the other trainers we had never beat us like you did!"

"You assume far too much, little worm." Sinking into the shadows, Catra froze with fear as her entire surrounding became shrouded in darkness. She couldn't see the ground or walls, she couldn't see the ceiling, and she couldn't see the light that was still channeling into Mystacor by the eclipse. All she felt was a hand over her shoulders and a whisper in her ears that sent shivers down her back.

Swinging her blade back, Catra's nervousness intensified as it was met with empty air. Even without the phantasm possessing her mind, it did nothing to alleviate the fear she had of the tormentor. "I treated you especially with cruelty. None of the other cretins needed a push." She shook as she directed the sword in another direction, trying to find where the echoing voice was coming from. "Nobody else was disobedient, everyone knew when to take orders."

"As to why Lord Hordak took interest in you, I'll never know. You were always sly with a sharp tongue, you never learned to train with others save for Adora, and you never did what you were told. What's worse is when you tried to bring Adora down to your level, distracting her and engaging with her in all manner of mischief. She could've been made Force Captain years ago by now if not for you!"

"Tch, is that my failure then or yours for being a crummy teacher?" Out of the many things she could've said, that was the worst retort she could've given back to her. Almost immediately after hearing this, she found her entire body covered head from toe in shadow in an attempt to crush her, the shadows around her shrinking in from the inside and out.

"Such insolence!" It didn't bother Shadow Weaver at all as she saw Catra cut through the shadows with her blade, running back to the pillar in an attempt to reach the top. "Your only usefulness was being what I made you. A weapon. A tool. Out of everyone, I gave you the only purpose you had in life, and you denied it!"

"Of course I denied it! You treated everyone else better than me and you thought I wouldn't take it personally?!" Not ten feet off the ground after jumping to the pillar, Catra felt it. Behind the pillar she saw a massive buildup of shadows gather, shaking the massive pillar steadily as it began to form cracks against the wall. Realizing what was going on, Catra jumped back from the pillar as she duck out of the way, just seconds before the entire pillar came crashing down with a thunderous roar.

*CRASH!*

Anyone within a good quarter mile could've felt the vibration of that tumble from outside or underneath the floor they were on. The multitude of dust that followed spewed into the air, the mighty pillar snapped in half from the rest of the way, and leaving no plausible opening for Catra to jump to before any of the tendrils could grab her. If it wasn't for the fact there were three more pillars to climb from, she wouldn't have known what to do or how to get up there.

Speaking of which, that was the other priority that slowly dawned on her. The Eclipse was half over, and there was little time left to stop whatever magic Shadow Weaver was using to corrupt the barrier over Mystacor faded. She needed to find a way to stop Shadow Weaver and the dark magic at the same time!

Squeezing her hands against the sword, she ran down in the opposite direction towards the closest pillar to the North, Shadow Weaver already predicting what the girl was going to do.

"I don't think soooo~" She cooed with a grin. Almost up to the pillar, Catra found herself repeating the same process again as the shadows gathered being the massive beam, ducking herself out of the way as it came down as harsh as the last one. Refusing to let it stop her, she climbed over the massive pillar as she ran towards the next one. With wicked glee, by the time Catra was already over it, the third pillar to the room was already collapsed, catching herself from falling as the ground shook for the third time.

Her eyes darted frantically to the last pillar, the last hope she had at getting to the lenses that were above them. At the same time, she knew it was a waste of time if Shadow Weaver destroyed those too, the woman having a sickening sense of joy throughout the entire chase. As if sensing the girl's cautious nature, unable to show it through the darkness that made her, she grinned.

"Come on Catra, there's only one more." She taunted. "I'll even give you a headstart." As if continuing to mock her, she playfully covered her eyes as she began counting. "One... Two..."

Was this supposed to scare her or drive her insane again? Because either way, it was working! The woman enjoyed watching Catra struggle fruitlessly as she tried to complete her task, she laughed at every failed attempt Catra tried. She wanted to see Catra try her hardest and fail, just like she always did.

And sadly, she knew. She had to take that chance.

Shadow Weaver took grand amusement as she saw the girl make a dash for the pillar, continuing to count off as Catra struggled against her exhaustion and injuries.

Making it to the base of the tower, she leaped up as high as she could, reaching a good ten feet up the pillar, climbing the rest of the way up as she sunk her claws as deep as they could go. With every pull towards the top she saw the shadows gathering at the base of the pillar, slowly rising towards her as she tried to escape. She could tell Shadow Weaver was toying with her, purposely rising the shadows slowly so they were always a single foot away from the girl.

Regardless, she continued to push her way towards the top, never losing an ounce of the fear she had blooming inside of her. She needed to think of a way to defeat the evil witch, but the emotions swirling around in her mind were becoming too distracting. She hasn't landed a hit yet, not that it would matter since this being is comprised entirely of shadow, and she's made everything worse after she was manipulated into her predicament!

What else could she do?

A small sparkle of hope came to her as she finally managed to reach the top, grasping it firmly in both her hands after jumping from the pillar itself. No sooner had she did she turn back to the sound of the pillar beginning to crumble, watching as the shadows brought it down in a massive crash like all the others. It was here she realized how close to the time limit of Shadow Weaver's countdown she came to, rubbing the nervous sweat from her forehead as she pulled herself up to the elongated crystals coming out of the walls.

So far so good. I just need to think of a- Her thoughts were cut short as the shadowy master materialized before her, towering over her nearly twice in length as she looked down upon the frightened kitten.

"Going somewhere?"

"Ngh..." There was no stopping this lady! Like all the other times she charged ahead, swinging furiously at her tormentor, and like all those other times, her blade easily passed through it. "You never learn, you never paid attention, and you never finished your task." Without any hesitation, Catra suddenly yelped as she was lifted off her throat mid swing, dropping the sword to her side as she was raised to Shadow Weaver's irritated scowl.

"Now let me tell you what you are going to do!" She huffed. "You will destroy the lenses here, you will return to the Horde, and you WILL let me fix you in a way that I see fit!" Raising a hand to her cheek, Catra was caught off guard as she stroked it gently rather than slapping it like she was used to. "Besides, your precious Adora is waiting for you. Do you truly wish to make her suffer any longer than she has to? Or would you rather prove how useless you are by failing to save Mystacor? To show the world how terrified you are of your betters!"

"I... Ghh..." How was she supposed to say no to this? She cared deeply for her only friend and it's not like there was much left for her to do here. Every time she tried to do something she always messed it up. In fact, looking back on it, she was the only one messing it up. "I'm... afraid..." Her eyes went hollow as the fear brought itself further into Catra's heart.

Shadow Weaver... was right... She always was right. She couldn't stand up to Shadow Weaver ever in her life, barely giving a smart lip to her whenever Adora was around. She never passed her exams with flying colors, at least to the same degree Adora did that made Shadow Weaver proud of her. And as a child, she could never stand up to the people who picked on her, no matter how many times she got payback for it later. That wasn't standing up to the bullies, that was just being sneaky and hitting them when they weren't looking. That was something cowards did

Cowards like her.

She... She really was afraid... There wasn't a good quality within her. There wasn't anything she could be proud of within herself. The fear was there because she was weak, because she couldn't stand up to Shadow Weaver. What was the point in resisting it when it her fear was all she had left?

"Come home, Catra... while I still show leniency!" She hissed, tightening the grip around Catra's neck which caused her to squeal. "You have no choice. You will return!"

"I... I'll-"

*Whish!*

"Ugh!" Shadow Weaver let out another hiss as she was blasted with a puff of glittery magic from behind. It was enough to make the shadows dissipate entirely for a few seconds, dropping Catra to the ground who coughed as the air returned to her. Rubbing her sore throat as she pushed herself to her knees, she saw Glimmer and Bow standing from behind where Shadow Weaver was, Glimmer still having an ample supply of magic in her hands.

"Catra!" They both yelled worriedly. No sooner had they said that did Shadow Weaver materialize behind them again, her dark hair spiraling with anger as the shadowy tendrils around her sprouted up to her hands.

"I'll handle her, you get Catra!" Glimmer announced, charging forward towards the black witch, roaring as she prepared to fight dark magic with her magic. It might not have been as effective as the magic her aunt had, but it was enough to disrupt the witch's form for a couple seconds, buying them whatever time they needed to fix things.

"Catra," Bow called out again as he approached her, kneeling on his right knee, "are you okay?"

"Gh..." The voice in Catra's throat wouldn't come out.

"Catra, we need to do something about the lenses! There's not much time left, we have to stop her!"

"Tch... I... I can't..." Shaking, she hugged herself as her eyes wavered, the fear evident in her eyes and her trembling.

"What do you mean you can't-"

"I mean I can't!" She shouted, refusing to take her eyes off the crystal where she saw the vacant expression in her own eyes. "I... I can't beat her... I can never beat her..."

"Why can't you beat her?" It was so bizarre to see her acting like this. She wasn't hallucinating anymore and she wasn't being affected by the paranoia in her mind, Glimmer filling him in after the two woke up from the vibrations of the pillars crashing.

"Because, I... I can't..." She slowly raised her hands to her head head as her tail dropped lifelessly. "I'm too afraid..."

"...Afraid? That's your only excuse? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard!"

The sound in his voice was somewhere between surprise and annoyance, never seeming like the person to get irritated so easily since she met her. Raising her head slowly she saw a determined look in his eyes as he smiled to her. "Huh?"

"Catra, do you think I'm not afraid right now? Do you think Glimmer's not afraid? I mean look at her!"

Turning their heads to the side, they were met with the sight of Glimmer continuing her battle against Shadow Weaver, the princess giving it everything she had. Using her own magic, she fired several shots at the approaching tendrils, dispelling each and every one of them as they neared her, until she found enough time to use her teleporting again. When she reappeared, she was above a surprised Shadow Weaver, the shadowy figure caught off guard as she fired a massive blast at the figure, disintegrating the shadows from where they once came.

It still proved useless in the run as the shadows gathered near seconds after as they attempted to swarm Glimmer in all directions, Shadow Weaver appearing behind her as she directed the shadows with her hands. Having the advantage of mobility, however, Glimmer teleported again before the shadows touched her, reappearing on top of another crystal at least forty feet above Shadow Weaver, the witch anticipating this as she slid against the walls in her shadows, approaching the girl who continued to fire back.

"You don't think she's terrified of what she's doing right now? She's risking her life because she's afraid what'll happen to her if she loses, Catra. She's fearing what will happen if she can't save us and Mystacor, and yet she's not letting it consume her or making hasty decisions because of it. She's channeling her fear into hope that she can save everyone no matter how risky things become."

"B... But..." It's not like she didn't understand what he was saying, she just couldn't see how it helped her! This was Shadow Weaver they were talking about, the person who made it their life's goal to torment the young girl from an early age! Of course they weren't frightened of her, they have no idea what levels of cruelty existed within her mind.

"And let me tell you a little something, Catra. I'm always scared." He enjoyed the sight of her eyes refusing to tremble at the statement, seeing her shaking subside into a calmness. "I don't have any fancy powers like you have when the sword works or Glimmer has with her magic. We live in a world where war is tearing the planet apart, a war we have to fight in. Every day I'm terrified something's going to happen to one of us and I'm not going to have the power needed to save us when the situation calls for it. And I still don't let it get to me to the point where I can't do anything."

"B-But... How...?" Was he insane or something, or was he actually braver than her in some regard? Fear wasn't as simple as he thought it was. People fear dying every day, she feared dying everyday, and she doesn't let that stop her from doing what she needs to. This was a fear on a whole nother level to her and he was talking about his fear as if it was just as great as hers, if not more. "How can you be brave against a serious fear like that? When you know there's nothing you can do about it? You have no idea what she's like, you can't possibly understand my fear of her!"

"And you know what? You're right." He admitted with an annoying grin. "I don't know how scary she is for you, for all I know she could be the scariest person in the history of Etheria. But you want to know how I get through the same level of fear I have?"

"How?"

"By having an even bigger fear." Her eyes flashed at the confusing reveal. "I'm afraid what will happen to us if someone needs me and I fail, but I'm even more afraid of what will happen if I don't do anything. That's how I get through my fear."

"Beating fear by... having a greater fear..." She mumbled back to herself.

It was strange, to put it lightly. Replacing fear with fear sounded like fighting fire with fire to her. It was a simple phrase that held it's merit yet she never thought about having an even greater fear to replace her old one. Did she even have something more to fear than Shadow Weaver? Was it possible that anything in this world terrified her more than the being she considered evil beyond recognition?

...Come to think of it... yes... she did...

As she thought that, the two turned around to see an exhausted Glimmer panting madly as held herself against her knees. She was out of breath, getting low on magic, and sweating a bit as she stood in front of the two. "Okay...huff... huff... if anyone wants to tag in... huff... be my guest!"

*WHAM!*

"Waahhhhhh!" Glimmer screamed as she was suddenly struck squarely in the stomach by a massive tendril, knocking her off the large crystal and plummeting towards the ground a near three stories below them.

"Glimmer!" Not missing a beat, Bow sprang from his feet as he dived down after her, intending to save her with one of the trick arrows he always came handy with.

Noticing the pathetic display before here, Shadow Weaver shook her darkened face with disgust. "What a waste of time. Now, where were we-"

She was gone. Catra was gone and running ahead of her. The girl that had sunk to her feet a minute ago, the one she knew was conflicted with turmoil and despair when she left her, was now racing for her life across the crystals, taking breath after breath as she bolted immediately for the Lunar Lenses.

"What?" She sped herself ahead as Shadow Weaver gave chase, unable to catch the girl with her shadows despite managing to keep up with her from the sides. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think? I'm ruining your stupid plan!" She snarled.

"How dare you use that tone with me!" Was that a snap back at her? Was that anger and determination instead of timidness and fear? Coming up to a large decorated violet curtain, Catra sank her claws deeply into the material as she climbed, taking numerous leaps up the large piece of cloth compared to scampering to get up it terrified like the pillars she had earlier. Trying to stop the girl from whatever her idea was she tossed one of her large tendrils at the girl, intending to impale her through the wall where she could.

As opposed to the previous times when she quickly dashed out of the way in a mad fit of terror, Catra casually leapt across the curtain to the right side, continuing her ascent to the top of the curtain where a platform lead directly to the eclipse's magical energy. She didn't show any emotion or care about the being chasing her at this point, kicking herself off the curtain as she came to the platform.

This wasn't right! This girl was supposed to fear her, tremble before her! Shadow Weaver ensured that Catra would never talk down to her again, never plan on betraying her on a moment's notice! What possible filth could've transpired during that brief time she had that pep talk with one of the insects?!

"Need I remind you who you are talking to you pathetic worm?!" She growled. Her attempts at continuing to provoke or intimidate the girl were for naught as she continued to run ahead.

As soon as she got to the eclipse's energy, what then? Would she figure out some way to defeat Shadow Weaver? Did she have a plan? Of course not! But strangely she felt alright with it. With Bow's words echoing in her head, the new fear she developed quickly overlapped the previous one, a fear so intense that it haunted her longer than Shadow Weaver had.

Right as she got to the eclipse's beam of energy, Shadow Weaver found herself enraged and at her wits end. "ENOUGH!" She shouted, standing on the opposite side of the beam of light that Catra stood near. She circled the magicat with her darkness once more, refusing to be ignored for so long by a sniveling pest. "You WILL return to the Horde at once, Catra! You know as well as I do you have no plan to succeed. Not even your foolishness can deny your fear of me!"

"...You know you're right." Catra replied in a scoffish tone, lowering her head. "I am scared of you. I'm terrified of you. I would have nightmares growing up in the Horde where you're trying to do away with me almost every single day in my sleep." Raising her head again, Shadow Weave saw something in her eyes that she never displayed in front of her; Courage. Baring her teeth in front of her she clenched her sword tightly between her two hands, ready to deal with the witch whatever way she saw possible.

"But looking back on it now, my fear of you is almost miniscule compared to my other fear. You're nothing but a speck of dust in comparison to it."

"You have some nerve." She shifted her attention down to the other two which Catra took notice of. There she saw Bow, having successfully saved Glimmer as the two of them hung ten feet above the ground with a rope web having caught them. "What? Is it because of these creatures? Do you feel some form of attachment to them now after all you've been through?"

"What? Them? Pffft!" The thought of it made her chuckle. "You wish! I could care less about those two."

"Then why are you standing up to me now? Why do you even care if you succeed or fail here? You have no place here, and you never will."

"And again, you're right. I'm not going to be accepted, I wouldn't want to be accepted by them anyway... but..." She contemplated as she looked back to the two as they began to climb up a rope Bow shot out to the crystal platform under them, seeing how Glimmer used too much of her magic to teleport to where she was. "...They at least had the decency to look like they care about me. Even if it's fake, they at least put more effort into it than you ever did! And even if I don't like them," she grinded her teeth as she prepared for anything, "I'd still rather protect them a hundred times over before I went back to the Horde!"

*ching*

It was at that moment, whether through her sheer emotions or simply a matter of timing with the events that had proceeded, that a miracle happened. The Sword of Power, the very one she could never get to work when she needed it most, transformed itself. From it's deadly, powerful, blade that Catra and her allies had known it to be, it reformed into a great and powerful shield, one almost the same size as the sword itself and a width almost as long as it's length.

All of this, while still maintaining that big beautiful blue jewel adorned in the center.

Looking over the shield itself, Catra blinked in surprise as she saw her reflection. "Huh... that's convenient..." It was also during that time when she realized how it reflected, turning her gaze to the energy in front of her as Shadow Weaver slowly realized. It was then she remembered, as her brain was wracked with pain, exactly what happened to the other creature of pure darkness when it collided with the beams of light at the base of the Lunarium.

She grinned.

"You wouldn't dare..." Shadow Weaver couldn't narrow her eyes any further without making her eyes vanish. She knew exactly what the girl was thinking of.

"You know what's funny? Seeing that pathetic look on your face, I don't even fear you anymore. I understand now that you were jealous of me. Jealous because Adora wanted more to do with me than with you." With a grunt, Catra took the shield directly into the beam of light itself. The two watched in amazement as the shield began to give off a powerful rainbow of light, shining beautifully as the shield itself absorbed the eclipses's energy.

"Now, I just pity you."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!" There wasn't enough time to stop the girl with her shadows before it was too late.

Redirecting the flow of energy through whatever means possible, Catra let out a small roar as she blasted the energies straight into the center of the Lunarium. There, a grand aura of might burst through the room, one that cleansed the entire room from it's dark energies and evil magic. The form of Shadow Weaver herself was helpless as she was caught in the blast, disintegrating her along with the shadows that she had engulfed the room in.

...

It was then on the other side, through the mystical water the real Shadow Weaver was watching this all through, that she cried. Through it's arcane energy and power, the blast was so powerful it managed to strike at Shadow Weaver herself through her channeling, striking the witch's center of power, the crystal lined on her mask's forehead, nearly draining it of it's power entirely. The witch let out another cry of pain as she was blasted back to the wall, collapsing into a sorry state as she passed out slumped over on the ground. Her crystal let out a small blink of light before being dimmed.

Shadow Weaver, had lost.

...

All around the Lunarium, just as Bow and Glimmer reached the top of the rope, the room returned with life as the unconscious mages and sorcerers began to awaken one by one. It was also at that moment that Aunt Castaspella had returned to the room, clutching her stomach, slightly in pain, but looking no worse for wear. She smiled brightly as she saw the state of the room, seeing the faces of her comrades returning with life.

Along with them, the ground itself also hummed with life as a blue magical energy began to flow throughout the symbols etched into the floor. There, they grew along everywhere, to the corners, to the walls, and up to the ceiling itself as it returned the Lunar Lenses to life from their dark imprisonment, returning to the beautiful shade of purple after long last.

The barrier over Mystacor brightened immensely over the land, regenerating its shield after long last, and keeping the residence safe for another time.

"She did it!" Bow cheered, pumping his fist.

That's when Glimmer noticed a small silence. Looking around the room, she was confused as she noticed the severe lack of Catra and the sound of someone gloating about how they single-handedly saved the day, again, as Catra always put it. Checking around, she turned her attention to the top of the Lunarium where she had performed her miracle, seeing the lump up there that could only belong to one person.

"Catra!" She called out. Being closer as she was, she grabbed Bow's hand as the two teleported to the top, running over to the fallen friend who wasn't moving.

"Is she alright?"

Checking her over in her arms, Glimmer let out a sigh of relief as she nodded back. "Yeah, she's perfectly fine. She's just sleeping." Maybe perfect wasn't the right word, though it was the closest thing to it.

Why was she unsure of herself? Because for one of the first times ever, she saw a genuine smile plastered over the girl's face as she hugged her sword. She doesn't know what fully transpired up here, and after everything this day had to offer, she didn't care. This was a sleep Catra desperately needed, and one she fully deserved.

Before she fell unconscious, Catra smiled as she collapsed. Today wasn't a simple victory that she had won for Mystacor, this was a day she never wanted to forget.

The day where she truly beat Shadow Weaver for the first time.

...

"Tch... stupid guards..." The six-year-old Catra mumbled as she continued to mop the near mile-long floor as a guard supervised her.

It wasn't enough for someone to throw food at her. Oh nooo, they had to be one of those doofuses who didn't know their place, who decided getting a shot back at themselves was too unfair or to aggravating to live with. No, after Catra was fed up for the last time and got food thrown at her head in the lunchroom, she lost it.

She was tired of living this way, tired of being treated like an animal half the time and a freak the other half of the time. WIth Adora gone, all she was left with was herself as her only friend was sent to another sector of the Fright Zone because she "earned" it for how well she was doing, because a big stupid lady person named Shadow Weaver favored her. And if that wasn't adding too much salt to the wound, bringing Lonnie and her lackies, the people who picked on her everyday because Lonnie wanted to, were brought in as well!

So now, not only was she without a friend in this sector, she was all alone to fend for herself from the bullies that picked on her everyday. She was going to be pushed on, harassed, and mocked day in and day out and no one would be there to comfort her anymore.

That's when she realized, a grand question. Why did she care about being the nice one? Being the nice one around here got her nothing. It didn't give her anymore friends, it didn't show her any appreciation, and it didn't stop the people from bullying her. Thus, with a tray in hand, she did something to the person who threw food at her that she never did before.

Bashed her gruel-covered tray against their faces.

Needless to say, their reaction was... about as much as she could expect from it. Instead of whimpering or crying like a brat, they were outraged that the freak of the sector humiliated him like that in front of the other kids, hearing a few people chuckling and laughing as the gruel ran down his face.

Trying to take revenge on the stupid freak, he at first tried to grab the brat by the collar to beat her senseless. To his surprise, not only did she not stand there and take it, she dodged out of the way and scratched his arm a good in, leaving several deep marks in his arm that he winced from.

When that didn't work, he attempted to throw his food again at the brat, unaware that her quick reflexes helped her out of the incoming shot, resulting in him striking the kid at the other table who growled back to him.

This line of vendetta eventually lead to an all out food fight across the lunchroom, one the guards haven't seen in decades. Food was being flung all over the room, kids were starting to fight each other left and right, and the room became so chaotic and they had to get the sprinklers on to wipe down the place after the last seven minutes of this fight, the kids scrambling one by one to get out of the room as they were covered in slimy food and cold clothing.

During this time, Catra herself found herself repeatedly hunted and targeted by the individual kids. A lot of them found it their opportunity to attack the kid directly and beat some sense into her, knowing that with no Adora around that would mean there was no Shadow Weaver to deal with either. Sadly for them, they weren't prepared for a kitten that could scratch back. Catra became a whole new level of aggressive, one nobody had seen before as she used her claws to scratch at the kids faces, using the trays as weapons to bash a kid in the face after she nimbly dodged.

There were quite a few times where she took a good hit here and there, ending up with a few bruises on her face and a cut or two on her arm from the plastic silverware some of the kids attempted to stab her with. Yet, by the time this food fight was over, she felt like a winner. She beat who knew how many kids back and only shed a few tears down her face from the pain she was in, which was a lot less compared to the normal she had to shed.

So of course, what better reward awaited her afterwards than getting scolded at by the guards, after the kids lied about her starting the fight mind you, and being forced to not only apologize to the kid who pushed her to the ground immediately after with no consequences, but also mop up the remaining slop in the lunchroom that was thrown around everywhere!

At least she finished the first tenth of the lunchroom after the first hour. At this rate she should be done by three in the morning.

Oh joy...

"You there." A voice called out to her. Looking at the strange person, she found herself seeing someone she never did before, someone most of the kids had never seen before. He was a strange man with pale white skin with pointy ears, sinister red eyes that practically housed an evilness on his own. With his intimidating silver armor, red cape, and Horde simple displayed over his chest, he looked like a dark hero from a story, or the worst villain you could imagine. He was also escorted by two royal guards, both soldiers carrying blasters with them.

Whoever he was must've been important because when she turned around for a moment, she saw the other guard trembling at the sight of him.

"Did you do this?" He asked.

Catra stared at the stranger for a few seconds, shrugging him away as she went back to the mopping. "What's it too you?" She hissed.

"You despicable ingrate!" The guard watching over her roared, taking out his baton and setting the stun function on. Catra's ears lowered at the sight of the sparks coming off of it. "How dare you show him disrespect like that you rotten child!" Catra prepared herself as she covered her head, waiting for a strike that never came. Noticing the lack of brute force that she was accustomed to around here, she opened her eyes again, blinking at the sight of the guard shivering in fear as the stranger held his arm up.

"You will not strike this child without my say so." He deemed. The guard continued to remain frozen in place, incomprehensible as he babbled incoherently an apology, while the stranger kneeled down to Catra, rubbing a hand over her head. "...Ah yes, the magicat. No wonder I'm not surprised."

"The magi-what?" Catra repeated with confusion, dropping the mop as the stranger pulled it from her hands gently.

"Little girl," it was shocking to hear anyone refer to her by anything other than freak, "do you know what you did in here today?"

"I-I don't care." She tried to put on an uncaring display as she crossed her arms. "Those bullies started it, I was just trying to end it."

"Those bullies... yes..." He rubbed his chin, pondering in thought. "My child, are you aware that during the entire... fight... you unleashed in the middle of all of this, you broke two kids' noses with a tray, and sent about 13 kids to a medical bay covered in deep scratches?"

"N-Not really, and I don't care." She huffed, turning her head away defiantly. "Are you gonna yell at me too? Cause I'm a little busy here... weirdo!" Ha! Not nice being on the receiving end of those mean words, is it! The guards behind the man would've looked like they saw a ghost if she could see passed their helmets.

At this, the stranger continued to stare at her for a few seconds, slowly growing a wicked smile over his face as he grinned. "Amusing. Child-"

"I'm not a child!" She pouted, puffing her cheeks a little. "My name is Catra!"

"Forgive me, Catra then." There was something about the way he apologized that filled the room with an eerie coldness. "Are you aware that more than half of those kids you beat up were several years older than you, almost a foot or two taller than you? And you still sent them to the medbay?"

"...Um...S-Should I be sorry...?" She mumbled unsure of herself. She didn't really mean to hurt anyone too badly, she just wanted people to stop picking on her. As opposed to a severe talking down to that she would've received, and expected, she was instead met with the sound of the stranger chuckling at her.

"Hmhmhm, that part is up to you, I'm afraid. What I want to know is how you managed to beat over a dozen children stronger than you without any sort of formal training?"

"I... I dunno..." She mumbled again, looking at her claws that still had a small scent of the various kids she punched or scratched. "I just got really angry about how much they picked on me... and next thing I know, I'm hitting them with a tray..." She gulped silently to herself as she looked to the tall menacing man. "Am I in trouble?"

"Trouble?... Heh, no, you're not." He stated. "That kind of raw power could prove useful to me..." Catra could hear him mutter to himself, though she didn't know what he meant. "Child- I mean, Catra. I have a single question to ask you."

"Y-Yeah?" She was starting to see what frightened the other guard so much. The longer she talked to the stranger, the more menacing and vile he started to appear. She might wet herself if she spent an hour talking to a man this scary!

"If you could go anywhere right now that you wanted, anywhere you could train, where would you go?"

"Anywhere I... wanted to train?" What kind of question was that?

"Let me ask a different question. Catra, tell me one thing you want in life more than anything?"

Ok, that made a little more sense to her even though it was hard to tell. What did she want most in life? A lot of yummier food to eat around here? For bullies to stop picking on her constantly? There were so many things she could ask for that she wanted, so many things she felt like she needed around here!

She wanted people to stop being so mean to her, she didn't want to deal with the harassment like this for the rest of her life! She wanted... say...

"I can... ask for anything?" Catra wondered.

"If you were going to spend the next phase of your life somewhere... worse than this, then what would you want?" He clarified. She would prefer getting it her way for a change. She found it ironic that the first time she stood up for herself and the fact she injured kids from head to toe that she was about to be rewarded for her efforts.

Maybe this is how the world truly worked? Maybe to get ahead of life you needed to be meaner? It worked that way for all the other kids so far since they never seemed to get punished, and now it looked like it was going to work for her.

At that moment, the one, greatest, request she could think of entered her mind.

"I want to be with Adora."

...

"Awwwwwwhhhhhhhn." Catra rubbed her eyes as she made her way out the room, stretching her other arm to the sky. Naturally, like she expected to be annoyed with, she saw the two smiling faces of Glimmer and Bow, the two greeting her as they waited right outside the room.

"Hey, you're awake!" Glimmer smile as Catra continued you rub her eyes. She went unnoticed as she let out a small snicker at seeing the girl again.

"Well look who's finally up." Bow commented leaning against the wall. "How you feeling?"

"Better than I have been." She replied, scratching behind her ears. "I honestly can't remember the last time I ever slept so good."

"I'll say, pfft," she snickered again, "you slept till noon."

"I did?" No wonder she felt more tired than she should've been. Who knew sleeping in would you make you feel this incredibly relaxed. "Hmm... Is your aunt okay?"

"Yeah, they're all right, thanks, tch, to you." Why was she acting so weird? She couldn't finish a single sentence without letting out a chuckle. Bow himself was doing everything in his power to contain a smirk on his face.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's so funny?"

"N-Nothing!" Glmmer beamed shaking her head, the corners of her face twitching as she suppressed another laugh. "We're just, pffft, really excited to see you up and about after a whole day of sleeping."

"Yeah! We still got a good chunk of vakay ahead of us." Bow added, covering his mouth to hide the obvious grin.

"In that case, you mind if we get a massage thing again?" She asked, cracking a few bones in her knuckles. "You made it sound extremely relaxing. I just hope that Kiroh girl isn't too mad about before."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'm sure it'll be ffffff-tch, hahahahaha!" She couldn't take it anymore. Holding onto her sides she burst out in laughter with Bow as the two stared at her.

Was this supposed to be some form of joke in the Rebellion she didn't know about or some relaxation technique she wasn't aware of? Because she was finding it a lot more annoying than relaxing! "Ok, seriously, what's so funny?" She asked scratching the long sleeve shirt she was wearing. It was so itchy compared to normal.

...Wait a minute... That was when it dawned on her, one particular detail that Catra always lived by. She never had a long sleeve shirt! Looking down at herself, her entire face beat with a bright pink flush as she realized what all the hubbub was about.

Here she was, in the middle of the hallway in front of the two of them, wearing what may be the most embarrassing sweater of her life. It was hand woven especially for her, she could tell by the size of it, crafted and sewed together in red all over. It had a typical turtleneck and collar for her, having a slight itch to it that she wasn't used to as it brushed against her fur.

That wasn't the embarrassing part.

What was embarrassing for her was what else was on it. In the front of the sweater, there were dozen or so white stars placed around it, as well as a single image on the front. It could've been a normal cat or anything, but no. For whatever reason, she found an image of a single cat in a chibi-like style, crafted after Catra's own design, sleeping on it with a couple of Z's indicating it snoring. And above the cat read the most ridiculous two words she had ever seen labeled above it: Sleepy Kitty

"...WHAT THE HECK AM I WEARING?!" Catra shouted angrily as she blushed, the entire hallway shaking by the sound of her voice.

"Awww, don't pout, I think it looks, pffft, cute!" She squealed. "My aunt made it for you while you slept! She was so thankful for what you did last night that she wanted to reward you."

"BY MAKING ME WEAR THE STUPIDEST OUTFIT EVER?!" It didn't matter to her how soft or comfortable she admittedly found it to be. It was still too embarrassing!

"Well if it makes you feel any better, the design wasn't her idea." As Bow gestured with his thumb, Glimmer took off speeding down the hallway, still laughing it up with every step. "It was Glimmer's idea."

"AHAHAHAHAAAA!" Glimmer could be heard screaming with laughter as she ran.

"PINKYYYYYYYYYY!" Unsurprisingly, at the announcement, Catra gave chase after her, preparing to rip her limb from limb, not caring at all if the Queen punished her for this. Seeing this himself, Bow laughed out loud, giving chase after them. They still had a vacation to deal with and Glimmer's method of getting her ready to go was on the spot.

Now if she managed to survive the ordeal after Catra managed to get her, that would be a surprise.

In all honesty though, a bit of Catra didn't mind. She didn't care how much they humiliated her, to an extent, and annoyed her with their constant ramblings. To her, the only thing she cared about was getting her kingdom and fighting back against the Horde with as much strength as she had to give.

Besides, at least if these two were around here, she wouldn't have to deal with the one fear she suffered from more than the embodiment of fear itself.

And that was a fear she would take to her grave...

...

"Shadow Weaver?" Adora called out, popping her head into the chambers after a full day of guard duty.

After the task she was given, she made certain that Shadow Weaver wasn't disturbed at all. She kept watch over the door throughout the majority of the day, whenever she needed a break she assigned a pair of guards over the door, and refused to leave the door after the night's light filled the sky. She wanted to make absolutely sure nothing would disturb Shadow Weaver's attempts at bringing her friend back.

"Hello?" She called again. The room was filled with a strange coldness. Not one from the atmosphere or the dark magic Shadow Weaver used to give off, one from the emptiness she felt in the room. That was when she finally noticed the unconscious form of her mother figure, fallen against the wall for who knows how long by now. "Shadow Weaver!" Adora rushed over as she cried out.

What happened to her? She seemed okay enough. There were barely any injuries she had aside from a small scrape against the wall from earlier. She said she couldn't be interrupted as she preformed whatever ritual she needed to bring Catra back to the Horde. Come to think of it, if she was knocked unconscious at all, that could only mean one thing, one dire thing that Adora feared most of all.

The ritual had failed.

There was no mistaking it. She knew Shadow Weaver, the Shadow Weaver she presented herself to be anyway, as someone who never gave up. She never stopped a single task until it was finished to completion and then some. That was how she raised Adora to be and that's the way Adora saw her through most of her life.

That's when she noticed light emanating from the fountain again, the magic still spying on Catra and her allies since the night before. Glancing between the two, having a smidge of hope that maybe the ritual had been completed, she rushed on over to it, peering deeply into the waters.

To her regret, it was as she feared. Catra still appeared to be in the Princess's evil control. It was a bit of a weird scene, to say the least, as she watched Catra pulling on Glimmer's cheek as the princess laughed at her for whatever reason. Was some part of her resisting the control actually? Was that Catra's attempt at fighting back against the princesses through whatever resistance she had left to offer? She couldn't tell anymore.

All she knew was the hatred she had boiling up inside of her, taking one last look at Shadow Weaver and then to the fountain in front of her. "Every time we try something, they always manage to slip passed us like a snake." Snakes were one of the most annoying things in the world when it came to predators. They were cunning, swift, malicious, and devoured everything in sight. "Nothing we do from afar has managed to work, Shadow Weaver..." Her face contorting with rage, Adora squeezed her fist as the image in the fountain wavered, switching its focus from the two of them to Glimmer's face more directly.

"Not anymore." She declared. "Now, we do things my way." She was tired. Emotional. And stressed. Day in and day out she had to put up with her numerous grievances and stresses that would drive most people to the seat of madness by this point, and yet she persevered. Why? Because of her care for Catra. Catra was practically like a sister to her, one she cared deeply for since the two grew up along with each other, and now she was supposed to sit back and let everyone else try to deal with the work?

Well not anymore.

"It's time to deal with that snake myself." Splashing her fist into the water, she left the fountain as she made her way over to Shadow Weaver, already orchestrating a hundred different plans to deal with the wretched snake who's turned her life upside down, the same way everyone dealt with a snake.

By cutting off it's head...

...

A/N: Like I said, i know it's short, and did have some more intended for it, but work kinda got in the way and made everything exhausting for today T_T. So with that said, hope people understand here and there as my brain isn't 100% into it at the moment, though my energy is.

Fun fact, cause i love ya guys so much, I took another hour to add a good 2k words to this, specifically the flashback sequence ^^ It took more energy from me but it felt worth it to finally get this thing up from 8k to 10 k ^^

With that said, we're another episode down, and we're rolling into one of my FAVORITE episodes ^^! THE PRINCESS PROM!

Chapter 28: Episode 8: Princess Prom Part 1

Chapter Text

*EDIT* Hey guys, re-posting because the stupid site didn't register it as updated since i apparently posted within 24 hours of itself, so in case it didn't send the notification to anyone (idk, i havent met anyone who posts daily like i do XP), this is a bump to get it resent. Apologies to anyone getting this notification twice.

A/N: Dun dun di duuuuun! Presenting one of my favorite episodes ever! Hoof, I'm gonna have a hayday with this one ^^

Not much to say I don't think. Thanks for all the feedback and support up to this point guys! We're nearing the finale, as well as the one episode I do not look forward to writing because It'll result in me being forced to rewatch the saddest episode ever X*[...*sigh*

Enjoy!

...

*Bam*

"Hey! Pinky! Open up!" Catra called as she pounded on Glimmer's bedroom door.

An action like this would've been seen as unheard of when it came to Catra for those who knew her. Normally when she got any sort of junk from someone around the castle she would casually toss it in the closest garbage can, refusing to acknowledge whatever junk a person gave her and not caring of its contents. And usually during those times when she had questions about something, she refused to check up with Glimmer about it on whatever it could be.

That all changed after the events of Mystacor recently. After a perilous tiring adventure up to this point, Glimmer knew she was overdue for her very first, legitimate, vacation. She needed some time to unwind, destress, catch her breath. She was the Princess of Power after all, and the hope of the Rebellion. Anyone would need to cool down after the adventures they've had up to this point and what sort of trouble could one face when taking a trip to a perfect place like Mystacor?

Apparently, a lot.

Throughout the day thanks to Shadow Weaver's involvement, she preformed a powerful ritual that summoned a creature of darkness, a spirit that infected Catra's mind all throughout her first day in Mystacor. During the time she was possessed, the spirit tricked Catra by making her see all matter of things that weren't true. It made her think her allies were plotting against her, played on her fears of Shadow Weaver and inability to do anything for herself alone. It made her almost regret leaving the Horde to begin with, almost giving her a desire to return to the Fright Zone where she belonged.

As time went on the hallucinations only got more severe, with the hallucinations becoming extremely violent and unforgiving as time passed. Eventually it reached its critical point when the spirit took full possession of Catra's mind, up to the point where she thought the Horde had invaded Mystacor and had taken the people in it. it sent her into a state of insanity as everyone she saw took on the guise of Shadow Weaver, never realizing it was the residence of the place, as she fought them off to reach the Lunarium and save the Lunar Lenses, unaware that the effects to her mind would've resulted her in destroying it instead.

It was thanks to Bow and Glimmer's timely intervention that Shadow Weavered foiled in her plan, not once, but twice. After snapping the girl out of her delusional state, Shadow Weaver projected herself to Mystacor, taunting Catra endlessly with her fear of her mocking the girl for her very existence. She played on Catra's fear on point, never missing a beat or skimming over any details about every reason Catra was no better than a tool.

And it would have worked. The girl was terrified of her without any assistance of the spirit possessing her earlier. She might've returned to the Horde as instructed out of fear, feeling as if she didn't have any choice in the matter. It was only with Bow's helpful advice, advising her to think of a fear greater than Shadow Weaver that she managed to push through it. And after enough time, making it to the lenses themselves, she managed to use the Eclipse Ceremony's magic to expel the darkness, defeating Shadow Weaver for the first time in her life!

She owed it to Bow and Glimmer, no matter what she would say. They were the very few people that showed any sign of caring for the girl, any sense of emotion for her that Catra's only gotten from Adora. It was within the time remaining for the rest of their vacation that she bonded with them, albeit against her will, as they did numerous activities together, from a Sauna, getting massages, and more time in the Steam Grotto.

They still weren't on the level of friends, at least by her standards. She still found them annoying, and she refused to feel any closer to them no matter how kindly they acted, not really helping the fact Glimmer's aunt put her in the most ridiculous sweater in her life, one that she might or might not have brought back with her, not that the two could see.

But she did feel a sense of comfort from them, enough to actually start a conversation from time to time or to ask a question when it was most needed.

Like now for example.

"You wanna explain this stupid junk mail someone sent me?" It was the strangest letter she had ever received... and one of the few only letters she had ever received in her life. "Who the heck invited me to this," she narrowed her eyes as she looked closer to the inscriptions, "All-Princess Ball, Winter Wonderland? Is this some sort of prank or something because I don't get the joke-"

"PRINCESS PROOOOM!" Both at once, she was greeted by the shouting of Glimmer and Bow in unison. Together the two began circling the room, pumping their fists triumphantly and dancing side to side as a confused ear-drooping Catra watched the two. "Princess Prom! Princess Prom! We are going to Princess Proooom!"

"Annnnd that's my queue to leave." There was no telling what sort of apparent evils had taken over the minds of her allies. All she knew was that it was too late for them and she had to inform the Queen. She only got two feet from the door before she was yanked back inside by her tail, being turned around as Bow grabbed her by the shoulders with excitement in his eyes.

"The All-Princess Ball is a meeting of all the princesses of Etheria!" He stated. He let go of Catra, continuing to jump a bit as he relished in his thoughts.

"And a giant PARTY!" Glimmer squealed in delight, teleporting from the end of the room to standing right in front of Catra. She swore if Glimmer or Bow's eyes sparkled anymore than they were now, their eyes would turn pure white. Grabbing Catra by the arm, she swung her around a bit as she danced with her in her arms. "Dancing, food, fancy dresses!"

Staring up into the open space, Catra counted off. "Hmm how about no, no, and my favorite, no!" She rolled her eyes as she started to walk away again.

"What?!" Teleporting again she cut Catra off, blocking the entrance. "But you can't leave, Catra! It's the Princess Prom, and you're invited!"

"Mmmh." She doesn't know if she could be any more obvious with her disinterest in all of this. "Look, Pinky, I get if you're excited about some Ball Gathering thing or whatever, but..." She slowly came to a pause as she processed the invitation more directly as well as Glimmer's last words. "...Hey wait..." Examining the invitation in her hands gave Glimmer a hopeful smile. "...Does this mean I'm a princess?"

"Huh? Oh..." Tapping her chin she stared off into thought. "Wow, yeah, I guess we never really discussed that bit, did we."

"I always thought it was obvious." Bow commented smiling to the princess who was just realizing it. "Catra, didn't you know you were officially deemed a princess once you could turn into She-Ra?"

"Not really," she shrugged, "no one's called me that since I got the stupid sword."

"Well... yeah. You're a princess now, congrats." Glimmer gave a small clap for her with her smile. Not wanting to give her a chance to escape she grabbed onto Catra again as she teleported them over to a cushioned bench near the window of the room. "It only happens once a decade. I've been waiting years for this! And as such, you have to come with us to the Princess Prom. You're officially invited!"

"You sure it still counts if I'm a princess once in awhile though?" Catra asked pulling out her sword. As always, she was greeted with the same annoyed reflection she glade at in the blade. "I haven't been able to get this stupid sword to work since Salineas, and even then I've only been able to transform into She-Ra like five times."

"Four times." Unsurprisingly, Bow's attempt at trying to help correct the lacking number of transformations earned him a small twitchy glare. "Ehhh sorry. But it's still no reason to go! You're going to have a blast!" Grabbing the invitation from her hands he unleashed the scroll in its entirety, Catra watching as the entire sheet rolled across the floor like a toilet paper trail until it hit the wall.

She read off the numerous events and requirements for the prom to the two of them, at least the ones she found in the middle of the incredibly long list as she examined the contents' multiple rows of information. "Rules for greeting hostesses? Appropriate laughter volume? An in-depth detail about how to properly keep your shoelaces tied? How many of these things are jokes and how many of them are we supposed to take seriously?"

"The party's been going on for centuries." He replied. "There's a lot of old etiquette stuff you got to do before you can party."

"You don't say..." Catra rubbed her chin as she examined the list again.

As she did, a thought dawned upon Glimmer, turning her excited beyond words smile into a slightly uneasy look of dread. She couldn't believe she didn't think of this part of it sooner. They were now going to be facing the one problem worse than the party itself, and that dealt with Catra's ability to socialize.

"Ehhh Catra, can you excuse us for a minute?" Glimmer asked as she grabbed Bow's arm, teleporting the two of them right outside the door's hallway. Catra merely waved it off from her hand, not giving them a moment's notice as she continued reading through the list. Looking back to the girl herself, relieved she was so into it to notice the two of them missing, and sighed.

"Bow, I'm starting to have second thoughts." She whispered.

"What? But you love the Princess Prom! We both do!" Did she forget anything else after all this time while they were at it? "Why don't you want to go?"

"No, not that! Of course I want to go, but what about Catra?" The two peeked back into the room as she squatted on the floor, holding two separate sections of the scroll in each hand. "This is our chance to recruit most if not all the princesses in one go, at the very least Princess Frosta. You know as well as I do how much we could benefit from her joining us, and Catra's not exactly... you know... princessy."

"Hey dweebs, get in here, will ya? I wanna talk about something." The two heard Catra call out, still not taking her attention away from the paper. It was like she was entranced by the mystic power that was known as ink she was so drawn to it.

"...I get your point." He admitted in defeat. "But, it can't be all that bad, right?"

Just to unknowingly prove her point, the two watched as Catra dug through her ears with her pinkie nail, pulling out a rather large swab of earwax in the process. Too focused on the reading at hand, she didn't give it any attention as she casually sniffed it for herself before flinging it off to the side, brushing the remains of the gunk against her shirt before repeating the process in her other ear.

"...Ok, so maybe it is that bad."

"You're not helping!" She whispered with a small grumble.

"But I'm sure it'll be fine. For all you know maybe she won't want to go?"

"Maybe who won't what?" The two jumped in panic as they heard Catra speaking right next to them, the magicat in question appearing at nearly the worst time.

"Oh, n-nothing! Nothing!" Glimmer assured waving her hands side to side. "Anyway, Catra, about the ball-"

"Oh, yeah, I actually wanted to tell you about that." To Glimmer's worry there was a small grin on Catra's face as she looked over the invitation again. "I gave it some thought and all, and, while it still looks stupid, I figured, what the heck!"

"So... you want to go to the prom?" Catra was so invested in the invitation she never picked up on the shaking waver going through Glimmer's voice.

"Well, not really." What little hope Glimmer could spring up was dashed away as she continued. "But I figured if they only host it once a decade then I might as well check it out, right? It sure as heck beats waiting another ten years for it to see if it's worth it or not later." At the pause, she turned her attention straight to Glimmer herself, noticing her welcoming silence to be a little off compared to usual. "Something wrong?"

"W-Wrong? Of course not!" Ok, so she wanted to go. Big deal. That just meant they had a single day to, hopefully, get Catra situated fit and proper, First Ones help us, and ready for the ball. They had a full day's notice fortunately enough so as long as she and Bow were together to help, they shouldn't have any problems. "After all, I'll be there with you, and so will Bow since he's going as my plus one."

"Uhh... actually..." Bow tried to speak up as Glimmer cut him off repeatedly.

"Together, the three of us can handle anything!" Which hopefully included getting Catra ready for the prom.

"About that-"

"It's the best friend squad in action!" To Catra's annoyance, she appeared to be on board with calling the three of them that. "Right, Bow?"

"...I'm going with Perfuma."

"See? Even Perfuma's coming aloooo- WHAT?!" The princess stammered glaring daggers at him. Why would he do this now of all times? How could he?! DId he not pick up on the fact she was going to ask him herself? Or maybe the possibility that she was going to eventually ask him? Better yet, why did he pick now of all times to say it after Glimmer told Catra she would go to the prom too with the intention of him helping her get ready for the PROM IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

...Now, she had a problem.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"Ok, so maybe if I... No..." Adora grumbled as she scribbled out something on the poster-sized paper on her desk. "What if I were to...Ghhh... No, not that either... Or how about... Darn it!" Growling to herself as a few strands of hair dangled in front of her face, she angrily crumbled the large board of paper on her desk as she tossed it to the overflowing trash bin across the room, the same one buried under a mountain of other crumbled paper.

"Hey Adora!" Scorpia greeted as she entered the room. "What's up? ...Adora?" The girl didn't give her so much as a passing glance as she continued her writing on another large piece of paper in front of a desk lamp. It's been a few days since Scorpia last saw the girl so she thought it would be a good time to check up on her new friend, the same one Shadow Weaver cherished a lot. She thought she'd be fine, maybe training or something to blow off some steam. She seemed pretty upset since the ordeal at Mystacor.

She was hoping so dearly that Shadow Weaver's ritual would pay off. Unaware that the witch of darkness had a hidden agenda behind the scene, she was giving the impression that she was preforming some powerful ritual in an attempt to bring Catra back to the Horde and to scramble whatever brainwashing or influence the princesses had on her. Big surprise, but later on the following day, having guarded the room till then through Shadow Weaver's instructions, she came back to discover that the ritual had failed.

She didn't know Shadow Weaver's ulterior motive was to destroy Mystacor's defenses, and it hardly mattered to her anymore. She was tired of all of this. Waiting on the sidelines, waiting for people to do the work, waiting for a chance to prove herself to the Horde that she came to see as family, having to deal with defending Catra's name on a constant basis from the people who would give a false impression on her, and most of all, dealing with the reality that every day Catra was being brainwashed by the princesses, she was committing who knew how many despicable acts under their name.

Her rank as Force Captain could only work to protect Catra for so long!

"Helloooooooo?" She called again, tapping her on the shoulder with her right claw.

"Ah-!" Adora jumped in fear at the sudden greeting, growing relieved as she saw the tapper in question. "Oh, hey Scorpia. You need something?" She asked going right back to her paperwork.

"Oh I just wanted to see how you were doing." She replied with a smile, trying to look over Adora's shoulder. "What'cha working on?"

"I'm trying to come up with a plan to stop the princesses, get rid of that annoying one who has a hold over Catra, and bring back Catra herself... Geeeeh!" She growled tossing aside the piece of paper again and starting a new one. "But every time I try to come up with something it doesn't work. We can't launch a direct attack, we can't endanger civilians in a town unless we have to, and we can't risk hurting Catra either! I swear Shadow Weaver makes this look so much easier than it is..."

"Can I help?" Scorpia offered excitedly tapping her claws together.

"Well sure, I guess. Not that it matters at this rate." Adora nibbled on the tip of her pen as she tried to come up with another plan. "There's three distinct issues I need to address at the same time. First is the location, second is the time of day, and third is finding a way to get every princess there at once! Ugh," she groaned leaning her head back in her chair, "but it's impossible!"

"Why don't you try something at the All-Princess Ball?" She suggested taking out a large invitation. "Every princess is gonna be there so Catra probably will too."

"...Excuse me?" Adora blinked as she stood out of her chair to face the girl. That was a surprisingly welcoming detail from the scorpion girl herself. In a few short sentences she managed to come up with the perfect solution that answered the three most important details to Adora's planning. She managed to come up with one in a measly few seconds compared to all the time Adora spent trying to come up with a master plan!

"Ooh, this year's theme is Winter Wonderland!"

"Wait, what?" Adora swiped the paper out of Scorpia's claws. Sure enough, detailed word for word was a formal invitation to a Princess Ball, one that promised to house a number of princesses all gathered in one location. "An invitation to a Princess Prom? How did you get this?"

"They sent it to me. I'm a princess."

"What?" Why did no one tell her this sooner? Better question, why was there a princess in the Horde to begin with? One who held a position as a Force Captain like Adora at that! "You're a princess?!"

"Yeah, you know. The Horde crash-landed in my family's kingdom. We let them stay. My family gave Hordak our Runestone, the Black Garnet."

No, surprisingly, Adora did not know any of that! She was a princess, her family was possibly the first to encounter the Horde, they befriended Lord Hordak with the Black Garnet, the very one she knew Shadow Weaver uses, and, again, she was a Princess! A princess, one of the most evil conniving malicious people the Horde has ever known, was also one of their most trusted Force Captains that the Horde had to offer!

"You're a princess?!" Adora was still in disbelief.

"Well, yeah, I thought everybody knew." She commented scratching her head. "I mean, it's covered in Force Captain Orientation."

"...I really gotta start attending those..." Adora pinched her head in a pang of frustration. "I still can't believe you're a princess, and one who's going to the Princess Ball."

"Oh, no, I'm not going." Scorpia replied looking a little put off as she turned her head away. "No one liked my family, even before we joined the Horde." Adora listened more intently as she said this. Ah... I never really... fit with the other princesses. I made them uncomfortable and... Yeah, they don't like that. And they don't like me..."

"Scorpia..."

*tug*

Scorpia was caught by surprise as Adora embraced her in a tight hug, burying the side of her face against into her chest. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For showing me that not all princesses are evil!" She said smiling brightly to her. "If there are other princesses like you out there, then there's a chance we can still convince them to join the Horde." Adora paced back and forth as she rubbed her chin in thought. It brought an increasingly warming smile to Scorpia's face, feeling a bit of pride that she managed to cheer her friend up as well as being welcomed by her.

"That could give the Horde the boost it needs in order to fight back against the other princesses. Maybe they would offer resources too, they might even join us in the war!" This was perfect, astounding! If everything Scorpia said was true, then this could be the big break the Horde desperately needed! With every princess that joined the Rebellion, that was another powerful warrior to aid their cause as well as an entire kingdom backing it up. "On top of that, with you we can show the other kingdoms that the Horde isn't evil as the princesses claim us to be!"

"Yeah, but... that's only if I was going to the prom, and-" She was silenced as Adora placed a finger on her lip.

"Oh, we're going to the prom. They think they can treat you like some sort of freak and get away with it? How dare they!" It warmed Scorpia's heart to hear such comforting words from another person, one she could definitely consider a friend. "They need to see you as the kind and sensitive person I know you are, the same way Catra used to be before she changed. And if they don't see that then it sucks to be them! Besides, if you didn't go there would be no way in proving those ingrates wrong about you, and we're not going to give them the satisfaction of that!"

"So we're going to that prom. You as the princess and me as your Plus One! And if they have a problem with you being there, then that's tough luck for them."

"Yeah!"

*crunch*

Adora's face twitched as she felt an incredible force crushing half the bones in her body. She had almost forgotten that her new friend was quite the huger. "Super Pal duo is going to the prom!"

"Y-Yeah..." Adora squeaked as her face started to turn blue. Thankfully the hug lasted for a few seconds before she finally let go of Adora. Grinning to herself, she walked back over to the desk again as she began drawing up a new foolproof plan. "And thanks to you, I just came up with the perfect idea..."

...

"She asked and I said yes." Bow said as he continued to walk down the Hallway with Glimmer at his left and Catra following behind them. "I didn't think it would be a big deal."

It was the following day, the day of the Princess Prom, as the two found themselves talking again. There were so many things they needed to discuss between what they would do, how they would try and persuade Frosta to the Rebellion, and, most importantly, how they were going to deal with Catra being... Catra.

"It's not. It's fine." How was Glimmer supposed to talk about this without seeming bummed out at the same time? If her friend got an invite to the Princess Prom from another friend, then good for them! It didn't do anything to hide a small bit of pain though. "I'm just surprised. I mean, when did you two even talk about this?"

"Oh, she was super slick..."

...

Bow humphed to himself as he continued firing a barrage of arrows against the oncoming Horde soldiers. He didn't care how many of them there were, not when there was a kingdom to save! With Perfuma at his back and the citizens of Plumeria fighting off the Horde's forces from inside their own base, there was nothing he couldn't handle!

As she felt herself backing up to him, she smiled. "Hey, you wanna go to the Ball with me?"

"Sure!"

...

"That's super slick?" Glimmer waved off, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"I thought it'd be fun. And Perfuma's cool." He added.

"Yeah, she's fine." There was an easily noticeable crack in her voice at this. "But we always go to events together. We have all our routine, we wear matching outfits, we share inside jokes. And then we eat ice cream afterwards. It's our thing."

"Wow, that's unbelievably sad." Catra muttered rolling her eyes.

"Nobody asked you!"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with a new thing." Bow tried to play off casually. It's not like he didn't understand what was so upsetting about it either, he just didn't think Glimmer would react this way.

"Besides, what are we going to do about..." She shifted her eyes gesturing to the magicat following behind them."You know... Ixnay the at-tay?" She mumbled through her teeth trying to be discreet.

"Ixnay, the I-already-know-who-you're-talking-about-idiot-tay!" Catra retorted leaning in towards them, unamused. All throughout the morning she's noticed a strange shift of glances being shot at her by these two. It wasn't really something that bothered her in the long run, but it was starting to become a major distraction for her. Plus, she's never really had a day like this before where the two continuously talked behind her back or in front of her without her being somewhere involved in the conversation.

It was just plain weird.

"Look, I gotta get ready." He told her as she walked away. "I'm sure she can help you with Catra anyway. We'll meet each other there and we can hang out then!" With a wave the two smiled to each other as Bow took off, Glimmer's smile slowly turning around as she watched him leave. She might've been able to put up with him leaving and everything, to an extent, so there was little worry in that regard.

What did worry her though was the other person in question, the one Bow let slip as he departed from the two.

"So what's Bowey yapping about, and who is supposed to be helping with me?" Catra sneered crossing her arms.

This was going to take a while...

...

*creeeak*

"Whoa..." Catra's mouth watered at the sight of the table before her.

There in the center of the dining room she was greeted with a small display of various dishes, drinks, even a bowl of punch for some reason, not that she cared. After Glimmer convinced her to come with her, with the promise of a surprise "just for her", she didn't really think there was going to be anything all that special to it. If anything she thought more about running away on the spot until the prom started considering how boring some of Glimmer's past gifts were. She didn't even have the capacity to care enough to remember what they were.

This was possibly the first genuine gift she found herself with that actually interested her a little. Was this supposed to be some celebration or something for all the hard work she's done? Maybe to celebrate her very first victory over Shadow Weaver she's had in her life?

Who cares!

All that mattered was that there was a gigantic display in front of her of the most delicious treats and snacks she's seen since joining the Rebellion, and there was no way she was going to let it go to waste!

"Now we're talking!" She cheered, rushing over to the table ahead of Glimmer as she closed the door behind her. Looking over the various treats, she started to drool as she rubbed her hands eagerly. "Okay, where to start?" Should she try some of the pastry fillings she's had? Or maybe some of those sardine things she craved ever since trying one for the first time? Wait, no. What better thing to try first than a nice delicious bowl of fruit punch!

Grabbing a nearby plastic cup she casually dipped her hand into the bowl instead of using the ladle on it's side, submerging part of her hand into the fruity bowl and preparing to bring it to her lips.

*spzzzt*

"Ack-!" Catra yelped as she felt her entire face suddenly blasted by a misty spray of water. "Hey, what's the big i-? Misty?"

"Hey, what's up?" She replied nonchalantly with the same monotone voice she always had, still holding a blue spray bottle in her right hand.

Ah, yes, Princess Mermista. How could she ever forget about her? Out of all the princesses, including Glimmer, she was probably the one she liked the most, even though she disliked her more than Glimmer at the same time. She had the rugged attitude any princess should, the I don't care look in her eyes that every young adult should have, and she was the only princess Catra knew to make witty and snarky remarks like she did.

She also had the most emotional adventure that almost worsened Catra's non-friendship with Glimmer and Bow. With the intention of helping, Glimmer gave her a bit of help in trying to figure out how to bring She-Ra out whenever she needed her, some way to get the sword to work properly.

Like all the other bad luck she's had up to this point, when she needed it most, when she wanted to prove everything she needed to Adora, it didn't work. It didn't work and Adora had no sense of trust for her former friend, at least not until she could bring her back to Shadow Weaver so she could fix her in whatever horrifying way she had in store.

It didn't matter to her if she didn't mean to at the time. She couldn't get the sword to work and she found herself blaming Glimmer for it, feeling betrayed after trusting someone, other than Adora, again for the first time in ages.

"What are you doing here?" Catra asked, trying to rub the freezing cold water off the side of her face.

"I don't know, Glimmer just asked me to come over yesterday to help her with this." Mermista replied shrugging.

"What for?"

"For the Prom." Glimmer answered as she made her way over to them. "Listen, Catra? We would love for you to go to the prom too, but before that we..."

There was an unnerving silence in the air as the magicat lowered her ears. The weird look in her eyes, that silent atmosphere surrounding them, and the way she poked her chin as she tried to think of what to say? It was all too familiar for Catra, having seen it numerous times in her life. Add that with the wonderful display of food she saw in front of her, and the picture became clear. "Look, I get it, alright. You don't want me to go, fine." She hissed a little as she walked

"What- No!" Glimmer yelped, quickly grabbing Catra's tail, a little painfully, as she pulled her back. "Catra, I would love nothing more than for you to go to the prom with us! We both would, right Mermista?"

"Meh."

"See? I didn't bring all the stuff out here to convince you not to go."

"Then why are you acting so weird? You've been like that since we talked about the prom yesterday." Catra replied.

In some way it was actually a little comforting to see Catra put off by the recent display towards her. It showed that she was starting to warm up a little more with each passing day, however little, as she came to know Bow and Glimmer more and they her. It was a little odd to say the least, but it did show some strange sense of care in her, no matter how much she denied it.

"Well, I'm sorry about that, it's just..." She needed to think of the right way to word this. "We... kind of need to get you ready for the prom."

"...And?" She raised an eyebrow questionably at this. "I don't get what the table's for then, let's just get some outfits or whatever."

"No, I mean... we need to get you more... you know... Princess-like, for the prom."

"...Excuse me?"

"She means you're too rude and full of yourself right now." Mermista stated.

"Mermista!" Glimmer groaned at how blunt her other friend was being.

"What? You were taking too long to tell tell her, what else was I supposed to do?"

"So... you... want me to learn how to be more...Princess-y?" Catra questioned as she tried to put the pieces together.

"W-Well, in a way, sort of... more like..." Poking her fingers she tried to come up with the next best solution.

"We don't want you acting like you at the prom." Once again, Mermista stated bluntly, resulting in Glimmer facepalming.

"And... what exactly is the water bottle for them?" Catra asked pointing to the object.

"It's called a spray bottle, catfish. And every time you do something wrong, I'll spray you with it." She didn't give Glimmer the chance that time to come up with an explanation after what could be an hour-long pause.

"And you expect me to just stand here and take it?"

"Also yes." Glimmer answered directly this time. "Look, Catra, this is the best chance for us to gain support from the other kingdoms across Etheria, including Princess Frosta! She's one of the strongest princess's around, and with her on our side, that would be a big help for the Rebellion!"

"You don't say..." That almost sounded like a challenge to her. Thinking some stupid everyday princess was more powerful than her? She would definitely take a bet on that.

"Yes, so we need to make sure you're, you know, more presentable around the other people. You said it yourself you don't like socializing with people much, and at the Ball you're going to have to somewhere. If something went wrong, it could damage any chances of not just Frosta's help, but the rest of Etheria's!"

"So you want me to spend who knows how long doing this until I'm more princess-y like you and then go to the prom the way you want me to be?" She found some annoyance in that. Not just the fact they were basically telling her not to be her at the party, but the fact they were practically forcing her to be something else she wasn't.

That sounded like something the Horde would make her do.

"In a sense... yes. B-But just for one day! An evening at that! We have less than six hours before the Ball and at least an hour for us to get there, so we basically have the next five hours to practice. Then you can go back to being the same old Catra you're used to being and we like!"

"Then can you at least tell me why Misty has the spray bottle?"

*spzzzt*

"Ahh!" Catra yelped as she was sprayed again, this time covering her entire face.

"Rule Number 1, no nicknames." Mermista stated. It became evident that while Glimmer was here to teach her the manners, Mermista was here to enforce them.

"She's just... here for support." Glimmer said nervously with a smile.

"And because she said I'd get to do this if I did." She grinned.

"You backstabbing-!"

*spzzzt*

"Ah! Stop that, it burns!" Catra yelped, rubbing her stinging eyes along with the sticky-feeling water over her skin.

"Well what did you expect? It's saltwater."

"Tch, forget about it then! Go to the prom without me!" She grumbled marching her way back to the door.

"I was afraid it would have to come to this." Glimmer commented. Taking a deep breath, she shouted the two words Catra feared the most. "Oh Mooooooooo-mmmh!" No later than three seconds she found Catra's trembling hand covering over her mouth, a look of worry and anger in her eyes.

"You're going to call your mom on me if I don't?!" She found it low, even for someone like Glimmer! Then again, she wouldn't deny it took a bit of guts to do something so maliciously.

*spzzzt*

"Guh!" At this spray, Catra found herself rolling on the ground in agony, wiping her face again from the cold water and the stingy salt that came with it whenever it got in her mouth and eyes at the same time.

"Rule number 3, no assaulting or touching guests." Mermista told her.

"I swear Catra, it won't be as bad as you think." Glimmer assured with an uneasy smile. As the two of them watched Catra trying to rub whatever freezing water she could out of her skin, she leaned herself over to Mermista. "By the way, I didn't say you needed to use salt water." She whispered.

"I know, I just found it more fun this way."

...

Test #1: Sitting

"You're kidding, right?" Catra stared at the chair almost in amusement.

She really didn't know what to think of this whole Princess Prom Practice, "Triple P" as Glimmer tried to name it to make it sound more fun, and failing, and this was one of the prime examples why. After scuffling with Mermista for the first ten minutes non-stop to get rid of the stupid spray bottle, the Princess finally relented, at least in getting the water switched out with regular water compared to the stinging Saltwater she filled it up with earlier.

With less than Five hours to go, Glimmer felt it was most appropriate to focus on the primary tasks and mannerisms Catra needed to learn and then the non-essential elements of it if they had any time left. Unfortunately for her, Glimmer found nearly all the elements essential, so there was no telling what they would cover or how long this would take for each lesson.

At least she was smart enough not to tell Catra that part.

"Nope!" Glimmer said smacking a small wooden ruler in her hand, trying to act more professionally on this. "The Princess Prom can last up to Eight hours, possibly into the morning passed midnight, so it's understandable if you get a little tired." She explained walking back and forth. "As such, you need to learn how to properly sit in a chair."

"Tch, you gotta be joking." She chuckled. "This'll be easy!" It was a chair. Enough said! How hard was it supposed to be to sit in a stupid chair?

Grinning to herself triumphantly, she casually turned the chair around as she sat in it backwards, resting her arms and head against the chair's back as she turned around to face them.

"Wrong!" Mermista hissed.

*spzzzt!*

"Ah!" Catra yelped again, tumbling out of the chair with the chair falling on top of her. "Are we seriously going through this for a stupid chair?"

"I'm sorry Catra, but everyone's going to be watching you at the Ball from time to time." Glimmer said with a small apologetic face. "Presentation's going to be everything to these people. Even if it's just half the room, there will be enough Princesses there to cover half of Etheria."

"Ugh, whatever." Catra groaned as she picked herself and the chair back up. Turning it around again so it was facing them directly. Mentally sighing to herself she sat herself in front of them again, not crossing her legs or trying to glare at them as she did.

"Incorrect!"

*spzzzt!*

"What? What was wrong that time?!"

"No slouching! Sit up straight!" Mermista ordered, threateningly twitching her finger against the dangerous trigger. Grumbling to herself, Catra crossed her arms as she leaned back against the chair, sitting straightly as they wanted her too.

*spzzzt!*

It didn't even bother her that time.

As long as she kept telling herself anyway.

"Let me guess, no crossing my arms?"

"No, just no glaring while you're doing it."

...

Test #2: Conversation

"Ok,,, and viola!" Glimmer smiled as she handed Catra and Mermista a fresh bowl of the punch. "Ok, this one should be just as easy. Just have an everyday conversation with Mermista. Pretend that she's someone you never met before!"

"Just talk to her?" Catra would've rolled her eyes at that if it wasn't for the fact it would've resulted in more spraying. "Easy! I've seen you guys do it constantly!" With a victorious grin, she turned her attention to the other princess as she raised her cup to her. "Hello, how are you today?" She asked politely as she sipped some of her punch.

"It was better before I started looking at you, freak." Mermista huffed.

"PFFFFFFFT!" Catra spat out the mouthful of punch to the side, nearly choking on it as she glared angrily at the mermaid princess. "What did you just call me?!"

"Easy, Catra, deep breath." Glimmer said softly, waving her hands calmly to sooth the savage beast. "Remember, you're going to be watched. You can't just let one person get you riled up during the prom, okay?"

"Mmhhh fine." She muttered, squeezing her teeth together as she held back the urge to insult.

"Let's try this another way!" Glimmer suggested smiling at the thought. "Catra, why don't you say something positive about Mermista instead?"

"Sure, I guess..." The girl scanned up and down the girl with a questionable look. Outside of Adora, as always, there was very little she had to compliment others about. Whether it be the lack of tact in their behavior towards her, already putting Mermista at a disadvantage, or the way she's seen people treat others through their life. It was rather hard to say anything good about a person she's barely met before. "You, um..."

"Yeah?" Mermista questioned crossing her arms and raising her brow.

"You're very, um..." Glimmer was crossing her fingers behind her back as the tension rose. "...You're don't smell like dead fish like I thought you would."

*spzzzt!*

"No, mmh... Try complimenting her hair for starters."

"Ok... it looks very... watery? Like an Ocean, I guess?"

"Ok, that's an improvement." At least it wasn't insulting, or by much, so it proved to be a step in the right direction. "Try saying something more positive, about it."

"Like what? It's not anything special by the looks of it."

*spzzzt*

"Ghh..." Catra's ears twitched as she felt the water drip around them. "Alright then... Your hair looks... Good, for a person who swims with fish all day?"

"Better! Now Mermista..."

"...You smell more like a wet dog than a cat."

"Hey!"

*spzzzt*

"Oh come on, why does she get to insult me and I can't?" Catra complained, almost pouting with a puff of her cheeks.

"Well, she doesn't exactly get to make fun of you Catra, we're just trying to get a hold of your emotions. You might bump into a person here or there that'll be a little... harsh... to you, and you can't attack anyone! Not once!" Glimmer explained. It didn't make her feel any better by having an explanation behind all of this. It hurt her more than it did Catra knowing she was the one going through all these insults and lessons against her will. "As soon as you learn to ignore her words, we can move on."

"This stupid prom thing better be worth it..." She muttered, turning her attention back to Mermista. "Fine, give me your best shot."

"...Gladly." Glimmer instantly regretted the grin growing on Mermista's face.

It took a matter of seven seconds before Catra ended up tackling Mermista across the table, the two roughing with each other as they rolled across the floor. Glimmer could not have sighed longer than she had at that point, even if she wanted to.

"I warned her not to mention Adora..."

...

Test #3: Refreshments

No sooner had they finished the conversation portion of the various tests did Catra find herself in front of the food table again. Looking back on it now, the amount of food that was here was probably little in comparison to what she had to look forward to at the Ball.

"Ok," Glimmer began as she handed Catra a plastic plate, "so there's going to be plenty of refreshments over at the Ball. But often on you're going to find one either getting spoiled or find one area empty of food. The chefs will always be bringing out fresh refreshments by the hour, so this one is all about patience and self-discipline."

"How the heck is this supposed to teach me self-discipline?" Mermista had to agree with Catra's questioning on that one. Even she didn't know where this was about to go as she planned to follow through what Glimmer tasked her with.

"Just trust me. Now, grab as much as you want while trying to maintain good manners, ok?"

"Ok, whatever." She was starting to regret ever wanting to go to this stupid Ball thing. The only thing keeping her ongoing at this point was the fear of what Glimmer's mother would do to her if she ended up messing up or refused to go to the Ball like she said she would earlier.

At least this one had some more merit and reward to it. All the food was genuine and it did look delicious. Thankfully for the three of them she didn't need much training in this one, Catra picking up and assuming how she was supposed to be. No dipping her hand in the punch bowl to get a drink, no grabbing the food without a tong, and no leaning over it out of fear if her fur or hair shed a little over it.

There were assorted pastries, several varieties of fish around here, and, ooh! She came across the last large serving of salmon! Resisting the urge to slurp her lips, she happily reached over for it as she prepared to-

"Dibs." Mermista declared, grabbing the same salmon with her own tongs just as Catra grabbed it.

"Wha- Hey!" She growled quietly as she glared at the girl. "I grabbed it first!"

"You snooze you lose, freak." Mermista retorted as she started a game of tug-of-war with the girl. In all honesty she really did want a slice of the salmon, having an appreciation for the taste of it as well as how thoroughly the cooks prepped it within Bright Moon. She also remembered to be as insulting as possible to make sure Catra had a good control on her emotions.

Not that Glimmer required her to be as rude as possible, just because she found it more interesting this way.

"I didn't grab it last, idiot, you did!" Catra hissed.

"Catra, language..." Glimmer calmly reminded.

She shook her head as she tried to rephrase it. "Fine. I didn't grab it last jerk, you did."

"Ugh..." This was going to take what felt like forever at this rate.

"Well too bad! It's mine!" Mermista snapped back.

"Umm girls? Maybe we should all calm down?" Glimmer tried to convey her words to the girls who barely paid attention or care.

"Let. It. GO!" With a mighty howl, Catra pried the salmon out of Mermista's grip. What few seconds of joy she felt slowly melted away as she ended up slapping her hand back across the table, striking a large colander that was filled halfway with boiling fondue.

This resulted in a small chain reaction as the fondue pot rolled back against the table off it's small stove, striking a large stack of the plastic cups, tumbling them over an assortment of food with one of the stacks falling down on the ladle to the fruit punch and flinging its contents onto Glimmer's clothes, the ladle itself flinging over to a large pile of gelatin stacked together in crystal glasses, causing that to tumble over, knocking and shattering a good dozen of them on the table, with the other half of the stack rolling across the table and topping over a candle, resulting in the table cloth catching on fire.

All three of the girls shrieked for a moment in shock at the display of events they'd just witnessed. There wasn't any way any of this was intentional and they prayed something like this couldn't possibly occur over at the Ball itself, whether or not it was orchestrated by Catra's own involvement.

Reacting quickly to the events, Catra grabbed the entire bowl of punch, flinging it over as she doused the erupting fire in a single shot. The fire hissed as it dissipated, the table cloth still smoke a little as the room filled with its fiery smell. All of this while the rest of the refreshments were ruined from the event as well as Catra's attempts to put out the glorious fire, drenching the rest of the now-soggy refreshments with a fruity aftertaste.

She didn't even need to turn back to find out what awaited her, already rolling her eyes as she felt two piercing gazes glaring at her.

"Let me guess..."

*Spzzzzzzzzt!*

...

"Huff..." Glimmer sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow, Catra leaning in her chair as Mermista groaned sitting on the table, both incredibly exhausted as much as Princess Glimmer was. "Alright... phew... I think we got it."

"Finally..." Catra never wanted to repeat any training session like this again. Neither did Mermista after having to use up seven entire spray bottles filled with liquid to correct the task.

The day had been tiring for the three princesses, but it looked like things were finally at an end as three hours remained before the Ball. Despite her lack of concern and behavior, Catra finally managed to nail down on how to act more *princess-like*, like the others needed her to be. It was a long and grueling tasks, but she could safely say she nailed it.

The three biggest obstacles she had to overcome were her own emotions, her manners, and her ability to converse with the other guests she would be surrounded with around the Ball. Of the biggest obstacles, she learned to ignore anything they said rudely about her, not to respond aggressively if someone bumped into her on accident, and most of all, not to scratch her ears whenever she found herself surrounded by anyone else.

This was definitely one of the longest training sessions Catra had ever gone through, or the most annoying in this case, but as it stood, things did seem to finally be letting up as the lessons were over and two more fires were finally put out.

"Let's never do that again, pleeeeese..." Mermista complained almost begging to be put out of her misery.

"Huff... You did a great job today, Catra." Glimmer complimented with a sincere smile. The magical in question just shook off the words with a wave of her hands, still breathing heavily through her water-covered face.

"Whatever... huff... can we go now?" She almost wished to be at the Ball at this point.

"We can... riiiight after one last detail we have to address."

"And dare I ask, *what* that detail is?" Lowering her head back, she was almost frightened at the sparkling look in her eyes, one Mermista knew all too well.

"Uh oh..."

"It's makeover tiiiiiime!" She declared, squeezing her fists with excitement.

"...Is it too late for me to go back to the Horde?"

...

This was it! The Princess Ball! The glorious destination that Catra, Glimmer, and Mermista have been torturing themselves over for the last several hours.

The Palace itself was as much as Catra could expect for a Kingdom of Ice. It stood proudly against the mountain top as it was covered head to toe in a block of eyes, massive pillars of ice spiking out of the top of the great fortress which shined beautifully from the night's starry rays. From the base of the mountain to the top of the castle, everything was coated in a sheet of beautiful reflective ice. Even the ground they walked on leading up to the magnificent structure was covered in ice, just enough to keep it from being too slippery for people to slide on and beautiful enough to walk across.

Thankfully after the tiring day they had, the Makeover session they had didn't prove as terrifying as it could've been. Not comparatively at least.

It took a good hour to find the right clothes for Mermista and Glimmer, trying on various dresses and outfits they could find within the Castle's Dressing Room. As much as she tried to resist the urge to show it, Mermista couldn't hide the small smile she had growing on her face, enjoying the activity as they tried the numerous combinations of jewelry and outfits Bright Moon had to offer.

Then it came time to work on the harder part of the makeover- Catra. When she didn't like a dress, she tore it out of frustration, albeit accidentally, whenever she tried to pry it off her body soon after. When it came to jewelry, there was nothing she was comfortable with, refusing to part with her tiara and wanting nothing to do with any of the rings and bracelets they had to offer. And she certainly wasn't allowing anyone to put those stupid high heel shoes on her feet, taking a near half hour to convince the two of them to let her go shoeless.

When all hope seemed lost for the two, she finally found the perfect outfit! ...Just not one they were expecting. As opposed to a shorter, skinnier, dress she could wear if she didn't want anything to do with the ones Glimmer found for her, she ended up digging through the Dressing Room until she found a dark purple short-sleeve tux, rolling up the sleeves of it and cutting slits in the matching pair of pants she found to go with then around her knees. She didn't bother tying the bow tie around her neck either, finding it better just to hang loose so she didn't need to go over any etiquette training for that of all things. And along with the fingerless knuckle gloves she found, she deemed her own outfit complete.

And to be honest, the two actually agreed to it! It was surprisingly fitting for someone of Catra's character, finding the tiara she refused to part with adding on to the color of her outfit as well.

Overall, the trio of friend-ish princesses were complete and ready, making their way through the the palace gates as they had to deal with one more obstacle.

"Mmh..." Catra grimaced as she refused to loosen her grip on the sword.

"Catra, just give it to him." Glimmer whispered, not wanting to cause a scene at the prom before they even entered it!

"Fine," she grumbled, letting go of it as the taker finally pried it from her hands, "but you better not damage it! I got enough problems with that thing as is." She glared at the winter-coated man as Glimmer pulled her hand, leading them away from the man and towards the palace door themselves.

Like everything else, the palace was magnificent, inside and out. The only thing the two found greater than the entrance itself was the Ball Room inside of the palace. It was every bit was surprising to Catra as Glimmer made it out to be. The palace sparkled inside around all the corners, the walls and floors laced with a reflective coating that enhanced the stunning visuals of the palace's beauty. All around them Princes and Princesses from across the world were gathered inside, wearing various outfits and socializing with one another as the musicians played elegantly in tune with the Ball itself.

"Wow..." Catra muttered as the two passed on through the doors. It's no wonder Glimmer was so uptight about everything up to this point, this place was HUGE! If the size of the room didn't surprise her, it's the number of people of various races and kingdoms that did.

"The Ball is one of our most ancient traditions." Glimmer explained as the two made their way down the stairs. "A princess's first Ball is a huge rite of passage."

"I'll say." Catra looked across the rom, still surprised by its surprise, and a little uneasy at the hundreds of people that filled it. "Is this supposed to be some sort of contest thing to see who can throw the biggest party or something?"

"No, nothing like that." Glimmer almost chuckled at the remark. Turning her attention to Mermista on her left, she grew curious as she saw the girl examining everything with a strange look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine." She replied, not giving her any attention as she spoke. "I'm just making sure someone isn't-"

"Yoo-hoo, Mermista!" A familiar voice called out, bringing surprise to the first two and annoyance to the person being called. Turning around, the three were greeted with the sight of Captain Sea Hawk, the self-proclaimed man of legends himself, smiling excitedly as he waved to the three. "You forgot to escort me personally to the Ball, dearie. Thank goodness I managed to convince the guards I was your plus one."

She didn't know what was worse at the moment. The fact he still managed to show up or the numerous faces that were staring at them as he yelled everything halfway across the room.

"Oh yeah, I knew I forgot something..." She almost wished it remained that way. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I need to keep him company before he sets a curtain on fire... again..." With a small wave she departed from the duo, leaving them to fend for themselves for the remainder of their meeting.

"We'll see you later." Glimmer waved back as the two went ahead. "Ok, let's review the basics."

"Fine..." As long as this was the *final* final time she had to do it, Catra was willing to put up with it.

"If someone bumps into you...?"

"Say excuse me even if they're the ones who did it."

"If someone steps on your tail..."

"Point it to to them or ignore it the first time, and don't attack them on the second time they do it." A part of her hoped there was a third time so she could alleviate some stress.

"And if you have an itch-"

"Don't scratch my ears in front of everybody, I got it, I got it."

"I'm sorry Catra, it's just... This is really big for the Rebellion." Glimmer tried to explain her reasoning. "The Kingdom of Snows is really big, and the Rebellion could really do with having their help."

"I'd assume that after all the work you pushed me through." She muttered, giving an uncaring shrug as she dug her hands into her pockets. "But it's fine, just as long as I don't have to chat too often."

"Don't worry. Aside from Princess Frosta, you won't have to socialize with anyone else if you don't want too unless they approach you directly." Glimmer promised as the two ascended the stairs to Frosta's throne. "If she joins us, the other princesses are sure to follow."

"Are you sure she won't be weirded out with the cat stuff then?"

"You'll be fine, don't worry about it. She meets all sorts of people daily, this'll be nothing to her."

Finding their place in line, Catra sighed as the two bowed politely before the princess herself. She muttered to herself as she counted off how long she was supposed to remain like this. "One... Two... Three. There!" Raising her head again, she was greeted with a sight she was wholly unprepared for and least expected. "That's princess Frosta?" She questioned, cracking her voice a little.

The Princess in question wasn't anything like she expected her to be. She wasn't a young adult like Mermista was, she didn't have some elegance to her that Princess Perfuma did, and she didn't seem to be as quirky or insane as she came to know Entrapta to be. She wasn't some renowned-looking figure of authority and she didn't seem to be someone whose appearance screamed at others to bow before them, despite the, pun unintentional, icy gaze she stared at the others with.

She was a simple kid in size, probably half of Catra's height, sitting on her throne like she owned the place.

And did.

"What's it to you?" She shot back, refusing to change the look on her young face.

There was a silence between the three as they stared back at one another. In an attempt to break the tension building up around here, noticing Catra's perplexed state, Glimmer cleared her throat as she curtsied respectfully in front of her. "Revered hostess. We come into your hall under the ancient rules of hospitality, bringing greetings from Bright Moon. And She-Ra, the legendary warrior." With that, she nudged Catra ahead a few feet with her elbow, pushing her between the two of them and snapping her out of her state of shock. "Go on, introduce yourself." She whispered.

Ok. This was it. All the training, all the hard work they went through, the tiredness evident between her, Catra, and Mermista. It took a lot of work, many hours of rehearsal, and a lot of fires they had to put out just for the sake of teaching Catra manners. But by the end of it all, this is what it all came down to. However this party would go was all determined by what Catra would say next, putting the Rebellion ahead or behind of her future relationships with the Kingdom of Snows.

Finally breaking herself out of her frozen state, Catra finally turned back towards Glimmer as she gestured to Princess Frosta, saying the last three words Glimmer wanted to hear.

"She's a brat?"

...

A/N: I know i know, I made it a little goofy here with the whole "princess training thing", and I apologize for it, but i did it for 2 reasons: 1, it was a request from someone, and i found myself unable to resist the urge because, aside from it's humor factor, it felt like a good way to soak up the two minute "make over" montage that would've happened after.

And 2: For you guys to enjoy, because after this chapter, minus an occasional joke or funny scene or two, you will be in for a rough ride of the Feels, so i hope you enjoyed the last bit of legitimate happiness we'll get for awhile Xo...

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed, sorry for the rushed bits, etc. and etc. Hope you all enjoyed, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 29: Episode 8: The Princess Prom Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey folks, here with another post!

Yeah I know, pretty short, I get it, sue me (PLEASE DONT!). But, part of it was due to the fact i posted the other one today (thus making this my second post today ^^ I did it again, huzzah!), and i'm unsure if anyone got a notification about it because the fic itself didn't state it was posted today since i posted the last one within 24 hours of the first one, and the update thing didn't say anything either X/.

Besides that, I've also reached the halfway point of the episode...man that's depressing... guess I overshot it with the last chapter with too many words :/? Oh well. Either way for those who didn't get the info, yes, this makes this a nice 2-post-in-1-day ordeal, so hopefully everyone enjoys that ^^!

With that said, enjoy!

...

"Excuse me?" The young princess maintained a dignified manner despite the slight shift if annoyance in her tone.

"C-Catra!" Glimmer yelped.

She couldn't believe it. She just could not believe it! After the harrowing day of training they had, they thought everything would be in order. Following a glorious invite from Princess Frosta herself, the royalties of Bright Moon, specifically Glimmer and Catra, found themselves honored with the grand proposal to attend the Princess Prom. It was a sacred tradition held once every decade, allowing princesses to visit from all over the world into one spot.

At first, they thought it would be glorious! After all, who wouldn't be excited to attend an event held every ten years? On top of that, one to socialize and meet princesses from around the world, meeting people they never could before and possibly foraging new alliances that could benefit everyone. And that's exactly the mindset Glimmer and Bow were aiming for, hoping to make a lasting impression not just to one of the largest kingdoms around, but to all the kingdoms of Etheria.

There was, however, one unfortunate problem that shattered that excitement, and it went by the name of Catra.

Now, there wasn't anything technically wrong with the girl. She planned to attend with the others and put on her best behavior as much as possible. The setback was, she was planning on putting on her best behavior as much as possible. Catra's mannerisms and behavior left much to be desired for a party like this. Depending on her behavior and manners, it wouldn't just boil down to how Princess Frosta saw her, it would determine how the rest of the world saw her.

So, with one last option remaining, Glimmer enlisted Mermista's help as they trained Catra in the art of Good Manners. Needless to say, the results were mixed. She had a great desire to help better herself, if only because Glimmer threatened her with her mother, for the party, yet with every basic they came down to she somehow made a chore out of teaching her. It was like taking to parrot trying to get it to talk for the first time.

Tedious, uneventful, and very time consuming.

After a few hours and minor fires that might've occurred, the two deemed her finally ready for the Ball, having it in good faith that she was prepared to deal with any scenario that occurred there. Which is why it became extremely troubling when, upon meeting the girl for the first time ever, Catra had to say three certain words that caused the room to go silent.

"Did she just call me a brat?"

"Wha- Noooo!" Glimmer insisted anxiously, waving her hands repeatedly as she teleported in front of Catra to block her path to the young one. "S-She didn't say brat, she said- she said eh... Who is that? Hehehe..."

"No I didn't." Catra's irreverent tone continued to shock the crowd as Glimmer's throat grew a lump. "I said she's a b-mmmh!"

"Hahaha, she has this wicked sense of humor," Glimmer chuckled nervously, slapping a hand over Catra's mouth, "she thinks she's some sort of comedian. It really is sad but it's usually easier to humor her sometimes you know? Hah hah..." At this, the young princess continued to narrow her eyes as the beads of sweat dripped down Glimmer's forehead. With little other choice, the princess teleported from her spot, reappearing on her knees three feet away from the princess holding her hands together pleadingly.

"Princess Frosta, I am so sorry for her. Please, give her one chance and I swear she will be on her best behavior!" She begged. Shifting her eyes from the begging princess to the one who had a severe lack of manners.

This was supposed to be She-Ra? The She-Ra? Woman with the strength of a hundred men, the symbolic hope for the Rebellion, the girl that could beat back the Horde on her own? She was nothing more than a common street thug by Frosta's appearance, feeling more insulted that she had the nerve to come in here to insult her than the insult itself.

With a restrained sigh, Frosta nodded. "Very well. I will forgive you both for this one transgression. You are both welcome in the Kingdom of Snows under the ancient rule of hospitality. Leave conflict at the door. And please enjoy the ball."

Words could not describe how relieved Glimmer was as she said this, hearing the murmuring dying down behind them to a few simple starers. "Oh, thank you so much, Princess Frosta. I swear you'll never have another problem with her."

"Would you stop that?!" Catra grumbled as she pulled Glimmer up to her feet. "What do you think you're doing embarrassing yourself? You shouldn't have to apologize to this pipsqueak!"

"Mmmh." With as much tolerance as she had, she pointed her right finger towards the girl. "And keep a better leash on your pet."

"A pet?!" Catra's ears and tail shot wildly at the statement. Struggling, Glimmer attempted to keep the distance between the two as Catra attempted to lunge at her, flailing her arms in her direction as Glimmer pushed back. This earned a mouthful from the crowd again as they all watched this display, questioning the sanity and sincerity of what was supposed to be the honorable She-Ra. "I'll show you a pet you little-! Ghhhhhh!" Having no fear of the dangerous individual, the guards took a step forward, ready to protect their princess if the situation called for it.

"On second thought, I want an apology. From her." Frosta decided, still maintaining a dignified expression and not one that belonged to an angered individual.

The usual kind of expression one had after meeting Catra.

"What? Apologize? Me?!"

"As she bows." Casually, the princess waved her hands as the guards took another step in front of her. "Until then don't plan on approaching me again."

"Y-Yes, your highness! Again, thank you so much!" Glimmer sputtered out as she teleported the two of them to the bottom of the stairs. Waiting for the area to die down of its murmurs, she let out a groan before giving a stern look at the proclaimed She-Ra herself. "What the heck was that?! What's wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me?" Catra exhaled an undignified breath. "Why don't you ask little pipsqueak up there what her problem is!"

"Catra- Ugggh!" Pinching the bridge between her eyes she tried to contemplate. What was she supposed to do now? In under a minute she made possibly the worst entrance in Etherian history in front of hundreds of different people of royalty. Nobody here was going to forget what she displayed and on the unlikely chance they ever did, nobody would forget a face like Catra's anytime soon. "Would you mind telling me what brought all that up?"

"What brought what up? I was pointing out the obvious. I mean look at her," she shot a look up the stares even though she couldn't see the princess in question, "she has every characteristic of a brat!"

"Since when did you have a problem with kids? I've seen you with kids before Catra, I thought you were good with them!"

"Yeah, kids! Squirts, shrimps, kids!" She clarified. "You know, easy kids, like six-year-olds! The kind where you have to pull a funny face and they top crying, not the ones that are stuck between being a selfish brat and a teenager!"

"Dare I ask what your version of a selfish brat is?" She knew she wasn't going to enjoy the answer.

"Well, you know, brats! Punks who are full of themselves, think they know better than everyone else, and make it their life's work to demean you!" She exclaimed crossing her arms. "Man, I hate them!"

"...Gee, she almost sounds like this other person I know that's mean, degrading, and obnoxious..." Glimmer commented sarcastically.

"Really? Who?" There was no way for Glimmer to tell if she was being serious right now or playing an incredibly painful joke at the moment. All she could do was put on a solemn face, hoping that one day Catra might've gotten the picture, or stared in a mirror.

Seeing the situation unraveling itself for the worse, Glimmer took a deep breath through her nostrils as she breathed out her mouth, calming the irritation she was growing. "Ok, new rule: stop calling her a brat. You're going to give everyone else the wrong impression!" She muttered sternly, keeping the conversation as close to themselves as much as possible. "And at some point, you're going to have to apologize to her whether you like it or not."

"Tch, as if!" Catra scoffed as she turned away from her.

Great.

Catra was irritated, had no idea how to pick up on sarcasm or look in a mirror, and officially hated the princess they needed to get along with for no reason other than the fact she was an older child, whereas Frosta found herself irritate with Glimmer's friend, She-Ra herself, who was also making a horrible impression in front of hundreds of other guests. She really didn't know for the first time which scenario was worse, and that scared her a little.

All she knew at that moment was that they needed a new plan. She needed to find a way to either get Catra to apologize to the princess, or to get Frosta to forgive Catra's irritating behavior enough so Glimmer could talk to her about a possible alliance. Both options sounded like an impossible feat to pull off, and she knew this day couldn't end before one of those situations were resolved!

*sniff-sniff*

"Hey, is that Entrapta?" Catra wondered as she lead the way towards a large pillar. Sure enough, as she thought, the two were greeted by the perky purple-haired Princess of Dryl.

This was actually a welcoming change of pace for the Princess of Bright Moon. Maybe if they found some familiar faces to socialize with it would give Catra enough time to cool off and hopefully open the possibility of apologizing to Princess Frosta. At the very least it would give Glimmer a chance to come up with a new strategy.

Spotting the two familiar faces under her, the scientist grinned as she playfully slid down the extremely large pillar, twirling around it as she slid down using her extended hair. "Catra! Glimmer!" She greeted, chipper as always. She was dressed in her casual scientist outfit like she had on before, wearing her purple goggles over her head that she flipped up and a pocket filled with consumable around her waist.

"Hey ge- I mean, Entrapta." Catra corrected herself as she remembered the obnoxious lessons she went through hours ago. "What are you doing here? Trying out some doomsday weapon or something?"

"What? Of course not, don't be silly! My last three ended in failure, so now I'm observing a Social Experiment!"

"Social... Experiment?" Catra repeated to Glimmer, the princess shrugging back uncertain. Putting the pair of goggles over her head again, the scientist squirmed with anticipation as she gazed around the room.

"Different groups are thrown together and forced to mingle." There was an exceedingly excited anticipation growing in her voice, the princess flexing her fingers on the pillar with enthusiasm. "Hierarchies form and break. It's the perfect place to observe behavior! And they have tiny foooood!" Her mouth watered at the mention as she lifted her curls over her pockets, displaying the magnificent treats she discovered during her observations. "Where's Bow? I wanna show him my new recorder."

"He's... coming later." Glimmer looked away in a gruff.

"Oh? Why didn't he come with you? Aren't you friends?"

Even though it was unintended from Entrapta, the notion of what she said caused Glimmer to lower her gaze. "Why would you think we're not-

"There he is!" Entrapta announced, waving to him and the date he brought with. "Hey! Bow!"

There, descending the staircase at the entrance of the Ball, were the last two people she was happy to see at this moment. There, was her good friend Princess Perfuma. Princess of Plumeria and owner of the Hearts Blossom, their runestone that empowered the kingdom. And walking arm-in-arm with her was Bow, her best friend, and the person she was supposed to be going to the prom with in the first place!

Watching the two of them walking down the stairs together gave her an unnecessary stir of emotions and irritation that riled up in her heart, part of which she couldn't control. Of course she was angry he went with someone else. Why wouldn't she be angry after he left her like that without any prior notice before yesterday? Anyone would be if they found out their best friend, the very one you did everything together with, suddenly decided to be with someone else at the very last minute behind a party.

It was then that she noticed the other detail that made her heart sink. Not the fact they were together without her, nor the part where they looked so happily at one another while doing it. It was the fact they were wearing matching outfits that clashed perfectly with one another, with Bow wearing a short White Tux, and Perfuma, wearing an elegant pink transparent dress and another shorter dress underneath it.

"They're matching." Glimmer stated in disbelief, walking ahead of Catra as she squeezed her fists. "That's our best friend thing!"

"Feelings seem to be getting hurt." Entrapta whispered into her tape recorder, kneeling to Glimmer's side

"Ok, I'm back. I bought myself a few minutes by getting Sea Hawk to talk about his first ship again, so I got a good ten minutes to help." Mermista greeted as she approached the two. "What'd I miss?"

The girl was completely ignored as Glimmer continued to stare at the two. The way they smiled to each other, they way they appeared to be talking, the way they doing something she couldn't believe. "T-They're laughing? They're making up their own inside jokes? What?" Catra nearly jumped as Glimmer snapped at the word, crossing her arms angrily. "Is Perfuma his new best friend now?!"

"...Not gonna get into whatever's happening there."

"People are walking around in circles." Entrapta whispered, squatting as she shuffled over between Catra and Mermista.

"Hey, is there any chance one of you could hide me from-"

"Sheee's a beauty, can't you seeee~!" The merrily voice belonging to the one and only Captain Sea Hawk sang out, filling Mermista's face with a red blush as she covered her eyes in embarrassment. There was nothing worse in the world than having your plus one singing through the crowd about the love of their lives.

"She's attending this with meee~"

"She's my Princess of the Seeea~"

"Mermistaaaaa~!" With this debatably beautiful sonnet brought to an end, he finally opened his eyes again as he stood behind the princess, only now spotting the familiar faces of his former comrades. "Ah, if it isn't my crew!"

There was too much gold to be had here as Catra smirked at her. Of all the people in all the lands, her plus one just happened to be the legendary Sea Hawk, proud owner of his brand new ship he hopefully didn't set on fire yet, and claimer of the sirens of the sea wherever he went.

And now he was Mermista's plus one.

"So, Sea Hawk's your Plus One, huh?" Catra sneered. This day finally turned around for her. "I have to say, I'm so jealous of you." She snickered.

"N-No! He was going to be my ride before Glimmer asked me to come over yesterday." Mermista stated, blushing almost twice as hard than before. "He was just going to be my ride, okay? JUST. A. Ride."

"Of course, Mermista darling, of course." Sea Hawk played off before leaning over to Catra. "I am her plus one." He whispered. This was too proud of an opportunity for her to pass up.

"Hey, Sea Hawk, I have a wonderful idea! Why don't you take Mermista and tell her about all your glorious adventures from start to finish?" Catra suggested, putting on the best look of interest that she possibly could. "I'm sure everyone would love to hear your stories for hours and hours.

"You wouldn't-" Mermista seethed with anger as she realized what Catra was doing.

"Why that's a great idea!" Sea Hawk declared, grabbing Mermista by the shoulders as he began dragging her away. "Come along, my dear! It all started when I was but a wee lad..." As the two faded into the crowd, Mermista shot the deadliest look possible back to Catra as the magicat herself smirked proudly, taunting her as she waved her hand back to her nice and slowly.

Maybe next time you won't get so trigger happy with a spray bottle! She yelled to herself.

"This is the best Social Experiment I've ever been to!"

"Would you get out of here already!" Catra growled as she pulled Entrapta's hair, dragging the girl away Wiping her hands clear of any of the girl's hair, she made her way over to the princess again, standing at her side as the princess stared at the ground. "Hey, Pi- Ngh... Glimmer. You okay?" What was she upset about now? Was she still upset with the meeting with Frosta? Or did it have to do with-

"Hey Catra, Glimmer." Bow greeted with a wave as he approached with Perfuma. "Like the outfit you found Catra, it's nice."

"Hmph," Catra grinned as she flaunted, staring at her gloves, "glad someone around here- Ngh!"

"Hahahaha, that's so funny, Catra!" Glimmer forcibly laughed as she threw an arm around Catra's neck, pulling her in tightly. "What a funny inside joke the two of us came up with!" There was a strain in her force that told Catra how irritated Glimmer was, just not what it was about.

Under normal circumstances, she would've gladly pulled herself out of it through whatever means necessary. Whether kicking, biting, or clawing someone's face off, she was about to let a party stop her from maintaining her dignity.

Unfortunately, Rule #36 was one of the first things drilled into her head: No violence!

"The She-Ra, Glimmer!" Perfuma greeted happily. "It's great to see you."

"Hah, Perfuma was just telling me about a winged horse that ate all the apples in Plumeria and then flew away." The joke itself was practical given the circumstances. What made it so funny for him was the fact the three of them were fully aware of a certain winged horse and the only one she could be describing. After all, it was the method of transportation Catra used to directly enter the Queen's throne room before. "Sound familiar?"

"Sure, whatever." Glimmer mumbled looking away. "Isn't this fun? Catra and I are having such a great time here together. Right Catra?"

"Are you kidding me? You just finished yelling at me about the- Urkkkk!" Catra coughed as the arm around her neck tightened briefly. "I mean yeah... we're having a blast..."

"Uh...okay?" Bow looked between the two as he wondered about the strange behavior they were displaying. "Anyway, we're gonna go say hi to people. You guys wanna come?"

"No, no, you guys go on ahead, Catra was just about to tell me this hilarious story I never heard of! Ha ha...haaa..."

"Um...okay then, we'll just uh... See you later." With that, the two waved again as they took their leave, preparing to mingle with the other guests. Never has Catra been so thankful to see someone leave as she felt the oxygen returning to her lungs again, gasping for breath as Glimmer finally let her go.

"Ufffff-! Huff... Huff..." This party was becoming more and more tedious with each passing minute she was here, and she hasn't even socialized with anyone yet! "Ok, seriously Glimmer, how do you expect me to... Glimmer?" The princess had disappeared from her spot, most likely teleporting, no doubt. Searching around the room, she found Glimmer through the crowd again as she was right across the Ball Room, grabbing herself some punch.

Shrugging, she made her way over to her, leaning back against the table with her hands in her pockets. "Party's not going as planned, eh Princess?" She grinned, looking at the boring people that crowded the room.

"Mhhm." Glimmer hummed quietly as she took a sip of the punch.

"Heh, can you believe that stupid horse flew all the way to Plumeria just for some apples?" She commented, turning around to get herself some punch too. "I mean geez, how dense does a horse have to be? It can fly now, and it chose that crummy place to do some apple picking?"

"It's hilarious." Glimmer muttered staring into her cup.

Looking to the princess herself, Catra couldn't help but droop her ears. What the heck was she so upset about? Was it the fact Bow was with another girl, a friend of hers like she was to him, that upset her? Was it the fact almost everyone else was too occupied to socialize with her? Mermista stuck listening to Sea Hawk's rambling tales at the Kelp Bar, Bow and Perfuma socializing with the other guests, and Entrapta doing who knew what as she observed the various conversations throughout the room. Did that upset her? Or maybe it was the fact one obnoxious brat had yet to be apologized to?

Now that she thought about it, why was it bothering herself in the first place? This is exactly what Glimmer wanted, what she kept ranting about, what she trained Catra for for the last who cares how many hours! And she was doing a good job of it so far, more or less. She wasn't picking fights with anyone, she wasn't being impolite to anyone else, save for a certain Princess who would not be named, and given how much they had to practice for she would think this was the best she could expect.

And why was it bothering Catra so much?! She didn't like Glimmer and Bow, she didn't have much care for the two of them, so why did it... make her chest feel weird, about it? Why was she feeling a little depressed about seeing Glimmer so glum like that? Wasn't the Princess Prom thing everything she wanted? Or was she just being greedy cause nothing was going her way? Because of one bad introduction to Princess Frosta.

Speaking of which, that's exactly who she saw on the other side of the room. The apparent brat, the current bane of her existence, Princess Frosta, escorted by her two guards as she made her way to the refreshments. Taking a look back and forth between her and the depressed Glimmer, Catra rolled her eyes back as she groaned like her life depended on it.

"Ugggh! Twist a knife in my gut why don't you..." She grumbled, making her way over to the one she deemed bratty. Glimmer barely paid attention to her words as she continued drinking her punch.

At the time, the princess of the Ball observed the refreshments with poignant curiosity. Everything was neat and tidy, most of the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves, and everyone, at least those that mattered anyway, seemed to be enjoying themselves. All save for one particular pair she met.

"Hey, shri- I mean...mmhhhh..." She didn't give a single glance to the girl in question as she stood a good ten feet from her to the right. "Revered Hostess." She already prayed for someone to put her out of her misery, the words leaving a wretched taste in her mouth. With all the power she had, she forced herself to bend forward, giving as respectful of a bow as she could under the circumstances. "I wanted to tell you I'm very sorry for how I acted." She hoped she didn't have to make eye contact to the cross-armed brat. "I was being... unacceptable."

"Yes, you were." She stated bluntly. Catra had to squeeze her fists behind her back to contain the anger.

Okay, just let it slide, Catra... She told herself.

"But as you're only an honorary princess, you can't be expected to know better." There was a single twitch in Catra's eyes at that remark, subsequently filling with unbridled fury and releasing it all at the same time.

"Gee... you're so right..." She grunted through her teeth. Shaking her head of the anger, remembering she's supposed to ignore it, she continued the conversation. "I would appreciate it if you gave Glimmer a chance to talk to you again... your highness... " She nearly gagged just from saying it.

"Hmm... I don't know." She replied casually, savoring one of the fruit slices to Catra's annoyance. "Personally I had more respect for you than I did her."

"You did?" That might've been the first bit of surprise she's gotten all day out of the girl.

"Yes. At least you had enough decency to maintain your ideals, regardless of how rude they were, and that I respect. What I don't respect are people who grovel and plead in front of me." She gazed back at Catra with a look of irritation, squeezing her hand into a small fist. "To be seen in public while someone grovels and begs at your feet? I can not begin to tell you how humiliating that feels."

"...Well, I'm sure it was hard for her to do so-"

"Who's talking about her? I was talking about me!" She restated. "I mean do you have any idea how embarrassing that is? To be throwing a massive Ball for the Princess Prom only for some whiney princess to be crying at your feet? I can not begin to tell you how that feels." As she said this, one of the guards brought over a tray of horderves, awaiting her inspection. "The Snow Peas and the cookies are touching. Do it right!"

Ok. She could put up with the put downs here and there. She could put up with this being one of the whiniest brats in her entire history. She could put up with the terrible manners, the very one she herself spent the last seven hours trying to perfect to better herself, from this atrocious brat. And she could deal with the fact that she might've been the absolutely worst princess Catra had encountered at this point that made Catra want to rip her own hair out.

BUT!

Out of all the things here, she was NOT going to put up with her putting down Glimmer while she was already feeling down! That girl's worked harder than anyone Catra's seen in the Rebellion, who cares of how little she's seen from other people. She kept maintaining a optimistic attitude, she kept trying to do what's right and only insulted people who probably deserved it, and she's one of the strongest princesses she's known, emotionally and/or physically! She even took on Shadow Weaver of all people and lived to tell about it! She deserved respect for that!

And this little brat was acting like she knew better than everyone? How did the servants put up with her? How did the guards stand by her side so willingly to defend her? Why did nobody else around this stupid Ball, Princess Prom, or whatever you wanted to call it, not call her out on this?!

Growling, Catra extended the claws in her right right, having lost all the patience she could possibly have with this child. "All right, listen here you little bra-!'

*Sheem*

"Geh!" Catra stopped immediately as she felt several spear tips surrounding her neck, seeing as four guards surrounded her without hesitation. Waving her hands, the two guards in front of Catra backed away as the princess approached, while the two behind her grabbed her by each shoulder, forcing her down on one knee as a third one forced her head down as Princess Frosta approached her, not so much as an ounce of fear in her eyes.

"I suggest if you wish to continue being a guest at this party that you get that attitude of yours checked out." She scolded. "You tell your friend back there that the Kingdom of Snows will continue to retain it's neutrality from all other kingdoms, and we will remain safe and secure as we always have for thousands of years." With a yank, she grabbed hold of Catra's hair as she lifted her head, forcing Catra to look directly into her eyes.

She meant business.

"That's two strikes against you so far. If you continue to be an interruption for this party, if you threaten any of my guests, or hurt anybody around here, I'll have you thrown out of my castle immediately. Got it!" Releasing her grip from her hair, she nodded to the three guards who stood behind Catra, nodding return as they released their girl on the girl.

Catra ended up falling back as she rubbed her shoulders, feeling a soreness from the aggressive hold they had on her. "Otherwise, please, continue to enjoy the party." WIthout so much as a wave she turned around as she walked back to her throne.

Catra swore, if she closed her eyes right now and never met the girl before, that this girl was the spawn of Shadow Weaver...

...

"-then a winged horse came into Plumeria, ate all the apples, and then flew away." Bow said, finishing his story as the group of people laughed around him.

From above, this is where Glimmer found herself staring, sitting on a cushioned bench for the last few minutes. She couldn't stop thinking about Bow being with her other new friend. It wasn't so much jealousy for the girl as it felt like an act of betrayal.

Bow's been her friend since their earliest childhood years, as far back as Glimmer could remember. She remembered back when they went to their first Princess Prom, how he showed her around the woods back then when they were kids, how he was the brave one who killed a nasty looking spider she found in her bedroom with a rolled up magazine. They did everything together!

So to find him here with someone else, someone she considered a friend yet not enough to be comfortable for her best friend to be hanging out with, it was just plain weird.

"UUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!" That momentous groan of exhaustion and irritation only belonged to the one person she knew, seeing Catra collapse onto the cushioned seat with a tired look in her eyes.

"Where were you?" Glimmer asked a little worried.

She didn't care about the rules or the guidelines anymore at this point. She slouched as far back in the couch as she possible could. "Trying to apologize and make up with Princess Frosta."

"No, seriously, where were you?" She awaited for a response to this serious question, and when nothing came, she blinked in surprise. "You... really went to apologize to her?"

"Yeeeees..." She moaned, rubbing her aching head. There was only so much of a good nature she could force out of herself before she grew a headache. "You were bumming me out so I thought I'd go and get the stupid apology over with. I might've botched it with her though... sorry..."

"Mmh..." Wow... she can't believe she actually did it, or at least tried to at that. Catra, the hardest person to get along with, the one who barely had a sense of decency when it came to new people, actually tried her hardest to make amends with someone she despised. All just to make Glimmer a little happier, and after the annoying training session they spent all morning to work on. "No... I'm sorry." She apologized back, catching Catra by surprise. "I shouldn't have pushed you through all that stuff this morning just for a stupid Ball... To turn you into something you're not."

"Eh, forget about it." Catra replied, closing her eyes as she tried to relax.

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Saying what?"

"You know, "forget about it", "just drop it", you keep bringing it up whenever something has you down."

"Well, yeah, I say it like I mean it. Just forget about it and move on with your life. It's basically how I got through most of my life." That was... rather depressing to hear from her. To just forget about all your problems and move on? Never looking back reflecting on how you came to this situation in the first place? Ignoring all the good moments you had with it for the sake of moving on? Nobody should have a life like that!

And yet... she envied her. "I wish I could live like that." She sighed, continuing to stare over the couch.

Noticing her state of distress, and a little annoyed by it, Catra took the opportunity to turn around herself, looking over the ledge to see what she was staring at. "What's wrong, Pinky?" It was then that she picked up on the sound of laughter, seeing Bow holding his side as he laughed with the other guests. "What? You jelly or something?" She teased.

"No, I'm not jealous or anything. Bow can hang out with whoever he wants to! It's just...Ugh..." Letting out a groan herself, she leaned over the couch as she planted her face on the top cushion, dangling her arms over the side. "I never had that many friends, okay? It's always just been me and Bow. But now, what if he likes his new friends better than me? What if everyone does?" Catra could not believe what she was witnessing just now.

Right in front of her, with a groan and complain, Glimmer began to cry into couch, burying her face into her arms as she did.

This? This was the Princess of Bright Moon? The one she agreed to fight alongside long ago in order to claim her very own kingdom? The person who beat Shadow Weaver awhile back, the one who had a sparkling attitude and personality that she tried to defend not five minutes ago?

"Geez, you're selfish!" Catra hissed. Hiccuping a bit to try to calm the flow of tears, Glimmer rubbed her eyes a little as she looked back.

"What?"

She didn't care if it made a scene all the way up here, she didn't care if it was drilled in her head not to do this sort of thing in public. There was no way she was going to put up with a whiny child like her crying her eyes out almost immediately after she tried to cheer her up the first time!

"You can't have one friend in your life and suddenly it's the end of the world for you?" She pulled on her own ears at the annoyance she felt. "Do you know how many people wish they were you right now? Almost everyone wishes they were you, I wish I was you! Getting to live in a big fancy castle like that, having butlers and servants who preform whatever request you have on a time? Parents that actually care about you around the clock? I'd kill for that kind of life!"

"Catra..." She didn't know what to say. For the second time now, Catra was actually trying to legitimately cheer her up, or at the very least prove a valid point to Glimmer... she thinks.

"You don't have that many friends? Yeah right! How much you wanna bet there's thousands of people out there right now who like you just because you're a stupid princess? That was given to you on the day you were born! I had to fight literally tooth and claw every day of my life just to keep people from picking on me, and you wanna know what? I can count the number of people that do like me on one tail!" As if to emphasize that point, she stuck her tail right in front of Glimmer, sticking it up proudly in front of her. "And do you want to know who that friend is? Her name is-"

"Adora!" Glimmer gasped as she looked over the side.

"Exactly!" Finally this girl was starting to get the idea! She could only put up with so much whining from the spoiled brat before she lost her patience, gave up, and walked her way home, no matter how far away it was. She needed to get the idea that her life was absolutely nothing to complain about! And until she did she would rant until Glimmer's ears fell off or Catra's mouth did first! "So don't go telling me you're jealous because you have one less friend in the world! If you wanted to trade lives with me, I'd more than welcome it! Where I grew up, it was just me and-"

"Adora!"

"Yeah, I know! She was always the one defending me when I was young, she was the one who was the closest to having it all. Friends, someone as close to family as her, skill, and she was the only person who didn't treat me like dirt or like my life had no meaning! Honestly, I probably wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for-"

"Adora!" Glimmer repeated looking back to her this time.

"Ok, I get it! You can stop saying it now..." She grumbled.

"What? No! Ughhhh, look!" Taking Catra's chin, she directed it over the ledge in the same direction that Glimmer was facing, and gasped.

Walking through the doors, taking in the view of the entire room in one sweep, all with that same ridiculous smile she knew her to have, was her only friend in the world, Adora. The same gifted friend she was jealous of beyond all reason, the one she just got done ranting about for the last minute.

There, she stood. Elegantly, beautifully, and proudly, as she arrived as the Plus One to the invitee, Princess Scorpia. The two were dressed appropriately for the party, almost too much in fact.

With Scorpia, the princess went all out in the theme of dark. She had a pitch black dress on that hung over one shoulder, with a slit on her right leg to reveal her slender figure. It helped bring out the color of the dark red carapaces that made up her claws and her tail, the colors already complimenting the blue majestic scenery that surrounded them. As a final piece to add to her color, she wore a beautiful belt, adorned with very small red crystals on all sides of her.

Adora herself was dressed appropriately, yet simple, all at the same time. She wore a long simple red dress, one that stretched all the way down to her heels, and a single orange sash that wrapped around her waist. She let her hair hang flowingly, stretching it down to her shoulders as it draped in front of her left shoulder. Simple, elegant, pristine, and pure.

And in her hands was the one troubling factor in all of this. There she held a simple box, wrapped over with a piece of green wrapping paper covered over around it, and a dazzling blue ribbon tied neatly over a bow on top of it

Thus, here they were. Princess Scorpia, and her friend and fellow Force Captain, Adora.

The Horde had officially crashed the party...

...

A/N: I know I might've forced the catra x glimmer moment a bit too much, but as always, never assume i end things off there. It'll be brought up next chapter (or following depending on how long next chapter is :o) as well. I never leave things unfinished, only forgotten ^^...wait a minute...

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed this nice little 2-post-in-1-day episode! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 30: Episode 8: The Princess Prom Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey guys, another full-able chapter for ya, and gonna be honest!

...this might be the worst chapter I wrote XO Reason being? Because I'm out of my medication today for my ADHD, and because of that, I was feeling drowsy all day long. For those wondering why I didn't just take a break, it's because if I get in the habit of not writing, then I'll never write again X/ same issue I had with my RWBY fic for awhile, so I kinda have to.

I call this my worst cause I overly felt some parts of it were forced or rushed in some character interaction. But another reason I didn't let it keep me from posting is because, in all honesty, I often think half of my chapters are gonna end up bad, and when I get positive feedback out of it, it proves me wrong XP

So yeah, keep in mind, this is my writing when I'm out of it. If it ends up good, great! If not, I'll probably take it down to rewrite bits and pieces here and there. Otherwise, hope you all enjoy!

...

"I feel like everyone is staring." Scorpia commented as she walked down the stairs with Adora.

"Oh let them stare. It's not like their opinion matters anyway. " The Blond Force Captain replied holding her green package.

This was it. The Princess Prom! The center stage and location for all of Adora's planning. All the princesses and kingdoms gathered under one roof for a night of celebration, one that's held every ten years! She could not begin to describe how long she worked the previous night for this day, or all the preparations that came with it.

One of which was Shadow Weaver herself.

There was no end to the number of troubles she kept bringing up, the issues she pointed out with Adora attending the Ball like this, even with Scorpia. She tried reasoning to Adora all the cons to this little endeavor, doing her best to avoid drawing any attention to all of her past manipulations, and how dangerous it would be. It took a lot of coaxing to convince her that she would be fine with Scorpia, as well as having all her training under her belt to keep herself safe.

The Ball itself was also the very first Ball Adora had ever attended, much less the very first party Adora had ever attended, and she had to say, it was beautiful! Lights glistened and sparkled off the various icy structures, the moon lighting played a gigantic part in presentation outside of this place, and everyone around her was someone new to meet, someone new to make potential alliances with!

This place was going to be a blast!

Making their way up the stairs to the throne, the two proudly curtsied respectfully, Adora giving off more of a bow given the contents in her hand.

"Revered Hostess, I-"

"Stop!" The two turned around at the shout of panic coming from Catra, one of two people Adora was looking forward to meeting her again, as well as Glimmer who she was less than happy to meet again. Just as she got to the top of the stairs, she was instantly cut off by two guards blocking her path, both of them using their spears to form an X in front of her. Despite her past annoyances, Princess Frosta waved her hand, allowing them to step up to Adora and Scorpia. "You can't let them be here, they're from the Horde!"

Oh, sure, typical. Of course that would be the angle she would play at. "The Hordes evil", "you can't trust those monsters", she was getting tired of hearing it at this point. Smiling to the host of the party, she bowed. "Revered Hostess, Princess Scorpia was invited, as per the rules of the Ball. I feel it would be most ungrateful if she kicked us out just because of her prejudices with us."

"Prejudice?" Catra repeated dumbfounded. "Who's talking about prejudices here-"

"Princess Catra." Frosta interrupted. "The rules state clearly that all princesses and their chosen guests are welcome."

"But they're up to something!" Catra claimed, eyeing the package in Adora's hand. She quickly shot a finger at it as she hissed. "Why don't you explain that for starters!" With a small grumble, Adora shook her head away as she took another step forward.

"Revered Hostess, Princess Frosta, I've come baring a gift for you." She said taking a knee in respect as one of the guards took the package.

"A... gift?" Frosta questioned, eyeing the package with inner curiosity as it was placed on her lap.

"Y-Yeah..." Standing up again, Adora had a small blush on her face as she shifted her eyes away. "This is... kind of my first party. I've never been to one before, so I stayed up all night studying about them. I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed when I found out it wasn't that kind of party, so... I apologize. But I hope you like it."

"Oh gosh, you're gonna make me hurl..." Catra groaned rolling her eyes.

Eyeing the strange package again, Princess Frosta calmly pulled at the ribbon tied over the strange package, removing the top of the lid as she pulled out whatever it contained. Holding it out, the numerous people were greeted at the sight of a strange, pocket-sized, globe in her hand attached to a wooden base. Inside of it were numerous white specs that slowly danced around the structure inside of it, the orb filled entirely with water. In the center of the strange object was an exact replica of Princess Frosta's palace, glittering in the light just like the real palace itself did.

"It's a snowglobe." Adora explained. "I'm sure you might have plenty of those around here, but I made it myself. It took me seven hours to make it from scratch, so-

"Tch, really Adora?" Catra shot back with a snide grin, crossing her arms. "A present? That's your best opening? Why don't you bribe the kid with some candy while you're at it? I'm sure she'll-"

"I like it." Frosta replied firmly, earning a smile from Adora.

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes. It's nice. I can tell a lot of quality and detail went into the present. At the very least, it's the thought that counts." She gave a somewhat bowful nod to the blonde guest. "I appreciate your generosity. Thank you." With another smile, Adora gave another small bow to the princess as she placed the globe in her winter dress pocket.

Grumbling at the sickening display, and how quickly she appeared to have won the princess over, compared to her at least, Catra marched her way over to her friend as she dug her claws through the sash around the dress, pulling out an all too familiar red head band. "Ha! Then what do you call this?" She asked pointing to the head band accusingly.

This was the exact same head band that started this trouble back in Salineas, the very one Adora wore to become that strange creature of darkness, both inside and out! It had the same coloring to it, the same red jewel adorned in it's center, and just holding it was enough to give her an off feeling about it. She would love to see her try to talk her way out of this, to explain why she brought such a dangerous item, one made by Shadow Weaver at that, to the ball!

"It's called a sweat band!" Adora said blushing again. "Excuse me for being a little nervous," she yelped, pulling the band back from Catra's hand and stuffing it in her dress, "about being out to a party for the first time in my life!"

...Ok that actually explained a little too much to Catra's case.

She was more surprised by how detailed and legitimate her explanation was, as if she rehearsed this line word for word in this event. Knowing her teacher, she probably did. It did nothing to calm the anger in Catra's mind though as she grabbed the collar of her dress. "Ok, I don't know what you're up to with this kid, but there is no way I'm letting you stay here-"

"That's enough!" The smaller princess yelled firmly with a stern look. "You look at me and see a child, but I've worked to hard to gain respect, only to throw it away because you have a history with two of my guests."

"What? That's not-"

"Silence!" She shouted again as two guards grabbed Catra's arms. "For centuries, the All-Princess Ball has been neutral ground. I will not dishonor that legacy. Scorpia is a princess. Princesses get a plus ones. They stay."

"But-"

"And I believe I already warned you," she continued, "that you had two strikes already, and what would happen if you threatened any of my guests. Guards, get her out of my palace, immediately."

"What? No!" Catra yelled as she pulled back. It proved in vain as several more guards entered the struggle, overpowering the magicat as she tried to throw them off without the use of her claws. It would've been worse if she injured anyone in her attempts to convince the younger princess. "Get off of me!"

"Wait!" Adora called out, catching everyone's attention as she turned towards the smaller princess again. "Revered Hostess, please, give her one more chance. I swear she's not herself today, and I wasn't feeling threatened in the slightest. Give her one more chance. Please?"

There was a small silence that filled the area as the guards and princesses looked to one another. Catra was a little surprised to see Adora trying to defend her so dearly after the last time she saw her, considering it almost ended with her losing her head, and Glimmer was more anxious about what would happen if Catra was thrown out. It didn't matter at this point if they had a bad relationship with Frosta, if Catra got thrown out in front of hundreds of people, there was no telling the amount of backlash that would've transpired.

"...Very well." With the wave of her hand again, Frosta's guard released their hold on Catra, the girl grumbling as she rubbed her sore arms. "But this is your last warning. Got it?"

"Thank you, your highness." With another bow, Adora turned away as she walked back towards the stairs. Right as she was about to pass Catra, she paused as she placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We need to talk." She whispered with a small concerned look in her eyes, walking passed her with Scorpia trailing along.

"Catra!" Glimmer called out as she rushed to her friend's side. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine..." She grumbled, watching as Adora made her way through one of the curtained archways of the ball, leading to an outside balcony. Scorpia, meanwhile, seemed to be mingling with others at the Kelp Bar, unaware as she was a few people away from an embarrassed Mermista who still had her face in her hands as Sea Hawk continued his life's story. "I'll deal with her, you keep an eye out for the scorpion lady." She didn't even give Glimmer a chance to agree or devise a plan a she immediately chased after Adora.

This was Adora. Her best friend. Her only friend. After the events of Salineas her mind had been racing from time to time with the wonder of what happened to her friend. She was nothing like Catra remembered, not when she wore the headband. She was vicious, cruel, insane, took great pleasure in the pain she caused Catra and the thrill it gave her to fight. She couldn't tell if it was all the headband or something Shadow Weaver did to Adora through her various manipulations.

On top of that, she was alone with Shadow Weaver. For all Catra knew she could've been tortured or punished by Shadow Weaver on a constant basis to make Adora the person she saw in Salineas! Shadow Weaver did comment about how Adora became closer with the woman ever since she ended up leaving her. For all she knew Shadow Weaver could've spun the biggest lie to turn Adora against her, to make her feel unwanted or something!

Making her way up the stairs, brushing passed the sparkling light blue curtains, she saw her. There, Adora, standing at the edge of the balcony as she looked over the railing, facing the night sky.

Adora admired a lot of things about this night. Being the first party she's ever been to, the numerous people she got to meet tonight, seeing so many smiling faces all gathered in a single location. There was no telling how many of these faces were genuine and how many of them hid their evil hearts to the rest of the world. She would need to sort that out for herself, determine who she could trust and who were the enemy, and at the end of it all, who was most likely to join the Horde.

It was a time consuming process, one that she had plenty of time for.

"Adora..." She turned around to be greeted by Catra as she walked over.

"Catra..." She greeted in turn.

What was about to transpire here? Can't hadn't a clue as she approached the girl on the balcony. Being the first time in weeks they've met each other, given how badly their last encounter ended, there were any number of ways this night could go.

"Adora-"

"I'm sorry." Adora apologized. Catra was frozen with shock, standing just a foot away from the girl who gave an expression filled with sorrow.

"You... you are...?" Catra questioned, walking to her left as she leaned on the railing.

"Yes, I am." She assured. "I don't know what I was thinking, I was being stupid!"

"Adora, it... It's okay."

"No, it's not! I wasn't thinking straight before. The way we argued with each other, the way I hurt you?" She shook her head in frustration. "We shouldn't be fighting each other like this, we never should have!" The words alone lifted Catra's heart a little. With just a few sentences, Adora said practically everything Catra wanted to here.

Here she was, apologizing for everything she's done! She's admitting her mistake, she knew that she was on the wrong side, it was all perfect! With Adora's head in the right direction now, she could move her over to her side, the right side! At the very least a far better side than the Horde, that's for sure.

They wouldn't have to take obnoxious orders from people who used them, they wouldn't have to worry about each other constantly if they were fighting on the same side, it was all too perfect! They would fight side by side, they could bring down the Horde and Shadow Weaver together, and they wouldn't have to worry about hurting each other as much! Best off all, if they both fought on the same side, they could both share a glorious kingdom together. Heck, if they play their cards right, they might even be able to get two kingdoms out of it!

"Adora, I swear, it's okay." She smiled as she rubbed her shoulder. "If you really mean it, it's all in the past now!"

"R... Really?" She almost let out a sniffle as she spoke.

"Yes, really! You'll see, the Rebellion's a lot better than you're thinking! They gave me my own personal room, the meals are all cooked, we could be leading our own soldiers in the Rebellion-"

"What?" All the pain and frustration from earlier was devoid from Adora's face, her friend giving off a look of confusion at the unexpected reaction. "What are you talking about? I'm not joining the Rebellion!"

"Huh?" She wasn't? "But you just said you were sorry about all the fighting before."

"Yeah, about Salineas, about how I almost killed you. I never said anything about joining them." She clarified.

"Then... Why did you just mention working on the same side?" A part of her felt like she knew the answer despite not being prepared for it.

"Why do you think? I'm talking about going back to the Horde!" Wasn't it obvious to her? The Horde was the driving force behind Etheria, the army that was trying to unify all of Etheria as one compared to the evils that compelled the princesses. Why would she think she'd ever want to join the Rebellion? Oh, wait, that's right. "You need to come back home with us, Catra. We need to get you fixed."

"Fixed? Adoraaaaa..." Catra moaned in irritation. She had to slide her head to the railing, banging against it a few times, just to get rid of the stress building up in her. She didn't consider how much crazier this might make her look. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not under anyone's control?"

"It doesn't matter how many times you tell me," she replied, pressing a palm against her head to get her to stop, "I know you're not yourself."

"But I am myself, Adora. This is what I want, I don't want to go back to the Horde!"

"You only think that because of what they did to you! Shadow Weaver can break the spell they have over you, I swear."

"Adora...uggghhhh..." The two looked away from each other as they tried to think.

What were either of them supposed to do? Both of them felt they were on the right side and both of them felt like the other was on the wrong. Friends since childhood, people who grew up alongside each other as far back as they could remember. Neither of them wanted the other to leave without them tonight, and they couldn't risk making a scene here.

It's not like Catra couldn't understand what Adora was coming from. After she left there were so many things Shadow Weaver did to manipulate her, trying to convince her that Catra wasn't in control of herself. She didn't need an understanding of whatever Shadow Weaver meant by fixing her; if it came from Shadow Weaver, it couldn't be good!

And Adora, what was she supposed to do? She once knew Catra as the sweet and sensitive friend she was as a child. Even after whatever caused her to change her personality like that she still knew her to have a sensitive heart. She was kind when she was with her, she might not have shown it when she was with others but she did care about others a lot more than she let on. She was a good person, no matter what sort of exterior she had.

Both of them were in pain with themselves, and for each other.

...

"Mm. Mm. Wow, this is good!" Scorpia commented as she continued to gorge herself with the numerous entrees.

Glimmer was having a hard time getting a good read on her target. For the last few minutes the Scorpion Princess was doing nothing but trying meal after meal, piece after piece, of the delicious food this place had to offer. She didn't need to worry about manners herself, seeing how she already was on good terms with the Revered Hostess herself, Princess Frosta, and the fact it was, naturally, a party to begin with.

What exactly was their evil plan here? Was she going to launch some sneak attack on the hapless guests of the party, or were they just going to eat the horderves all night long and starve everyone to death? At the rate it was going, Glimmer actually started to wonder if it was the latter.

"Mm! What is- I don't even know this food!" Scorpia hummed as she savored every tasty bite.

It was during that time that she saw Bow again, mingling with another set of guests as she told the same joke he said to the last couple he met. Seeing how Scorpia was still flavoring every piece of food the party had to offer at the Kelp Bar, Glimmer took the opportunity to, cautiously, approach Bow, keeping an eye on the girl as she neared him.

"Bow, wait up!" She said, catching his attention.

"Oh hey, Glimmer. What's up?" He was curious how she was doing since the party began.

"There's something I need to tell you." She remembered everything Catra told her about being greedy earlier and how it looked selfish to someone like her. With that in mind, she prepared what she hoped to be a heartfelt apology. "I know things have been weird between us have been weird all night." She went on as Bow grew a smile on his face. "So, I wanted to say-"

"It's all right. I accept your-"

"-I forgive you." They both spoke at the same time, catching each other by surprise by the other's reaction. One with a face of worry while the other one held a small scowl over their face.

"You forgive me?" He stared with a look of irritation in his eye. "Glimmer, I'm allowed to hang out with other people."

"Y-Yes, I agree!" She nodded holding his hand. "You have your own life, you can make your own choices. I'm okay with it now!"

"You're okay with it?" The boiling expression going through his mind only got worse. "What do you mean you're okay with it now? I don't need your permission or your satisfaction to choose who I hang out with."

"I-I know that, I was just saying!" She tried to soothe him, stroking his hand gently. "I'm okay with whoever you want to hang out, just as long as we're still friends."

"Stop saying it like that!" He yelled a little, pulling his hands away.

"L-Look, I know I'm saying it wrong, it's not what I meant. I just... I'm worried about everyone leaving me, like we're not going to be friends anymore if you're friends with someone else. First we're friends, and then you're friends with someone else, and then we're not friends anymore."

"Is that what this is?" While he didn't ignore the frustration he was building, his expression softened. "Glimmer, you have me, Catra, and the Rebellion behind you."

"That's what I'm talking about! First it used to be just the two of us, and now... now everything is changing. I don't want you to leave me behind."

"No one is going to leave you behind." He shook his head at how foolish he was finding her to be. "I wanted to hang out with you and Catra, and Perfuma tonight, but you're the one who keeps being weird and leaving." She frowned at that. "I know change is scary, Glimmer, but you don't get to take it out on me just because you feel uncomfortable right now. And you don't get to judge who I can and can't hang out with."

"I-I-I wasn't, I was just... I..."

"Save it." He cut off, practically ordering her. "I don't want to hear anymore about it tonight. I'm going to get my cummberbund, because it's freezing around here. Why don't you try and cool off or something, and we'll talk tomorrow, okay?" Without even looking her in the eye, he took off, leaving Glimmer to stoke in her own sadness.

What was wrong with her? First she was too paranoid about everything pushed Catra away with all the preparations, then she pushed, or at least ruined her chances, of getting a proper audience with Princess Frosta by begging and pleading in front of a child, and finally, she acted like she was in charge of who Bow was allowed and not allowed to be friends with! Everything about this entire night was turning into a disaster!

And who was she most upset with?

Herself.

She was the Princess of Bright Moon, daughter of an immortal, angelic, Queen. She wasn't like this, she didn't care usually who her friends were friends with or not! All of this... all this craziness... it was all her own fault. Because Catra was right. She was being selfish for a change. Maybe she was always selfish and just didn't realize it till today? Was this how everyone saw her? Did everyone think of her as some selfish brat?

What kind of friend was she? She wasn't one! She was just a selfish girl who had tears running down her face because she got sidetracked from Scorpia because she wasn't feeling the way she wanted to.

That's when she suddenly remembered her target. Looking back quickly, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw she was still there, apparently having an arm wrestling match with a familiar Princess of Salineas.

"I'm gonna make you pay for damaging my front door!" Mermista threatened as she stood arm-to-arm with Scorpia, barely feeling the crushing grip in her claws.

"I was doing you a favor by blasting that eyesore!" Scorpia grinned back, determined to bring the mighty mermaid's hand down.

"Mermista, my deeear~" Sea Hawk continued to sing from behind as Mermista blushed.

"There's little she feeears~"

"As long as I'm heeere~"

"To bring her some cheeer~!"

"...How about if I lose I let you take him with you?" She offered, pointing back to the man who's been an embarrassment to her all night as he sang words of questionable encouragement. She didn't even bat a wink as she felt Glimmer tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, do you mind keeping an eye on her for me for a minute?" She requested.

"Ngggh, trust me, we're not going anywhere!" She assured as her face tightened. She had to admit, this Scorpion girl was definitely a worthy arm-wrestler, but there was no way she was going to let her claim victory tonight after what she did!

With her preoccupied, Glimmer took a breath of relief as she made her way through the party guests. Perhaps this was a chance to check up on Catra herself, and possibly chat with the only person she considered a friend...

...

The night sky was filling with the sparkles of wonder and the glitter of stars as the evening shifted more towards the night. By now a few of the guests were leaving the party while many still came in late at the last minute. So many people, so many potential relationships, and so many wonders they had to offer.

None of it intrigued Adora or Catra, though, as the two stared off into space, trying to figure out what to say to the other after this momentary silence.

"...Do you remember when we were kids, how we would always talk about going out and seeing the world?" Adora asked looking up to the stars.

"Yeah..." Catra mumbled leaning on her own arm on the railing, glancing at the sky too. "We used to talk about it nonstop. It would always be "destroy an evil princess here", "rescue that damsel in distress there", and everything."

"Heh... I think our funniest dream was blasting off into space one day to see if any of the moons were made of cheese."

"Well cheese, I wonder who's idea that was?" Catra smirked.

"Hey, cut me some slack, I was six. And remember the first time we tried to steal a skiff?" She asked with a curious smile. "When we were nine?"

"Haha, yeah." She chuckled in a mellow voice. "I remember we had no idea how to pilot the skiff ourselves."

"And when we started it up, we both ended up falling out-"

"And crashed the skiff into another one." They both said in unison, laughing all the same. The smile they shared in that moment quickly faded just as fast as they looked over the balcony.

"We got quite a scolding for that one, huh?"

"Yeah... scolding..." Catra mumbled. She didn't want to mention how her scolding was more along the lines of a physical punishment in comparison to hers. It wouldn't matter anyway if Adora thought she was under the princess's control.

"Why can't we go back to those days?" Adora gently placed her hand on Catra's own over the railing, looking at her with a pained look in her eye.

"Adora..."

"I want to go back to the way things were. We were happier back then, we were a family! You, me, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio. We had a whole bunch of fun back then."

"Oh yeah, fun." Catra grimaced. "Such fun games like playing dodgeball with everyone vs me, seeing how long they could stuff me in a weapons locker till someone let me out."

"Catra, come on, they were kids, that was years ago. They stopped picking on you after awhile."

"Yeah, cause I threatened them if they didn't!" She argued. "Everyone was nice to you because you were you, I had to earn my keep."

"And you did. You proved to everyone you were a part of the Horde, you gained everyone's respect."

"Oh, yeah, sure I did. I'm sure you had nothing to do with it." With a small hiss she pulled her hand away as she walked a couple feet from her, crossing her arms as she turned away.

"I didn't!" The blonde Force Captain yelled back as she approached her. "You really did earn their respect, Catra, don't act like they didn't warm up to you!"

"So I'm just supposed to forget everything they did to me? I do that enough as it is with the people I know, I can't forgive them for what they did."

"Then don't, Catra!" Adora pulled her back as she took her hands. "Just move on from it, and come back with me. Please?" Adora's face teared up as she requested this.

"Mmh..." How was she supposed to find the right words to say?

She wouldn't believe anything she had to say that sounded like an argument to the alternative and anything positive she had to say about the Rebellion was immediately shot down, all because Adora thought Catra was under the princesses control. And without any magic for her to use, there was no way to prove otherwise.

The bigger problem was how she was supposed to turn down Adora's pleading. She was the one person she didn't want to hurt in this world, at least not like the rest of them. She was always there for the both of them more so than Catra herself was, and she at least deserved the gratification she was hoping to get out of Catra. She deserved to hear Catra say "Yes", to hear her say she would come back to the Horde with her.

And Catra couldn't bring herself to give that to her.

"What exactly are you planning here, Adora?" She needed to give her something else to think about, something that could turn this conversation around. At the question, she watched as Adora's face hardened a little, turning away from her as she leaned over the balcony again.

"...Nothing you should worry about." She revealed, shooting a look of concern to her soon after. "Not if you come back with me."

"So you are up to something?!" Why couldn't she just get a moment's peace here? Why couldn't she meet up with Adora again after so long without there being trouble?

"Like I said, it'll be fine, you don't have to worry about it. Just come home with me, okay?"

"How do you expect me not to worry about it if you're up to something?" She stammered. "Does it involve the Ball? Are you planning something against the Rebellion? ...Are you planning to do something to Glimmer?"

"Ugh, of course you would mention her." Adora's disdain for the girl was almost too obvious for her as she leaned her arm against the railing.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think? She's the evil princess who's controlling you right now, she's the one who's separating us!"

"Pffft, yeah, I'm sure she's gonna *sparkle* us to death while she's at it." Catra joked, twiddling her fingers playfully.

"I'm serious, Catra!"

"Glimmer didn't do anything to me, Adora. She's harmless, I swear."

"That's the other thing that keeps bothering me. Why do you always defend her? I thought you said she isn't your friend?"

"She's not my friend, okay? She just helps me from time to time, but that doesn't make us friends."

There was something strange in that tone that didn't settle right with Adora. The way she claimed she just helps her while not actually being friends? It felt a bit... troubling... to her. "So, what? It's that whole "scratch your back and you scratch her" philosophy you used to have? Or is it some new "you scratch my back and I'm friends with you for life" philosophy?"

"I told you she's not my friend!" Catra repeated with a small growl in her throat.

"Oh, right, of course. I mean you wouldn't be with her or the Rebellion if you didn't consider her a friend, right? You just eat together, sleep together, fight alongside each other, but that definitely doesn't make you friends-"

"SHE'S NOT MY FRIEND!" Catra yelled, nearly making Adora jump. "I don't even like her, ok? Or that stupid arrow guy for that matter! I don't like either of them, okay?! They're just a means to an end for me, okay? All I want out of this is the stupid kingdom they promised me, that's all there is to it!"

"...Wow..." Adora didn't know what to say about this. Was this still part of the Princess's control, some sort of lie that kicks in, or Catra actually being herself for a change? Adora couldn't tell anymore, there was an infinite number of possibilities behind all of this, a hundred different things their magic could've done to her.

"Ahem..." A familiar voice coughed out, causing Catra's ears and expression to droop slowly as she and Adora turned back to the princess in question. There, they saw an angered look on Glimmer's face, one filled with outer rage and inner sadness, a small frown hiding under the look of contempt as she held a tray with several drinks on it.

Timing could not have been worse for the three of them.

"Speak of the evil..." Adora muttered, feeling a salty bitterness in her mouth from looking at the evil princess. She turned herself away from the princess as she gazed out to the stars again, all while Catra's entire face dropped from the awkward feeling overwhelming her right now.

"P-Pinky... I-"

"Save it, Catra." Glimmer cut off as she stood right of Adora, placing her between herself and Catra. "I'm just here to meet your friend, that's all." She explained her reasoning for being here as she gave a small smile to the other. "So, you must be Adora, huh?" She asked, offering her a small serving of punch. "It's nice to meet you."

The air around Adora intensified as she stared coldly at the girl, Glimmer doing her best to keep her composure until Adora turned away again. Feeling like an answer was never going to come to her, Glimmer swirled the drink in her cup as she came up with a new strategy. "So... Catra says you were her only friend through most of her life. What was that like growing up?" Again, her smile was met with nothing but a cold, hard, stare as Adora looked to her. "I'm sure you've got some... funny stories? Maybe a nice memory of the two of you?"

There were no words Adora had for this girl. This. This was the person she hated the most in her life, possibly the only person she hated so deeply in her life. She was responsible for all the bad things that have happened to her, her friend Catra, for all the things the Rebellion has done next only to her mother, Queen Angella. The people who sabotage the Horde, the leaders willing to use civilian lives to protect their own dark secrets, the very people that would turn best friends against each other.

She didn't care how innocent she looked, she didn't bother looking into her eyes directly, not wanting to be tricked into some sort of darker magic. Her goal was the destruction of people like this. Plagues of Etheria, scum of the planet, defilers of all that sought Unity. She was pure evil.

"...Is there any question I can ask you that will make you stop glaring at me?" She asked, feeling a coldness spread over her.

"Hmph," Adora grunted as she swiped the beverage from Glimmer's hand, "you think you're so clever, don't you?"

"I'm... sorry?"

"I don't know what you did to you," she made Glimmer jump as she grabbed the collar of her dress, "but you and your evil tricks aren't going to fool me!"

"Hey, cool it, Adora." Catra interrupted, pulling her threatening hand away from Glimmer. At this, Catra and Adora glared silently at each other, both feeling a small steam of anger welling up inside of them, all while Glimmer looked to the two friends guiltily.

"I know you're not in control right now, Catra, so I'm not going to even bother with you right now." She shot her gaze from her to the smaller princess instead. "And as for you, I'll be watching you, got it? I'm not going anywhere until you leave the party. I'm not going to fall for any of your tricks, any of your wicked spells, and I'm especially not going to consume any of your poison drinks!" With a proud grin, she poured the contents of the container over the balcony, having bested the princess in one of her many wicked schemes!

"Ah!" The three blinked as they heard a sudden gruffy yelp from under them. Peering over the side, Adora's face switched from rage to anxiety as she saw the pour victim of her dumpage. "Hey! Adora!"

"S-Sorry!" She apologized back. With a last shot of anger to Glimmer, she shook her head, finally turning away and leaving this conversation behind her.

With her friend disappearing behind the curtain, Catra sighed. Leaning over the balcony again, she uncaringly grabbed another of the drinks, not even making a face as she casually poured its contents over the balcony, resulting in yet another yell from the previous victim. "Adora did it."

"Huff..." Sighing, Glimmer set the tray on the ledge as she took her own drink, refusing to take a sip as she just swirled it back and forth in her cup. "I'm sorry if I messed something up between you two."

"Eh, you didn't mess up much." Catra mumbled, rubbing between her eyes. "Look, about what I said a minute ago-"

"Forget it, forget it." Still depressed as before, there wasn't much sadness that could be added to her heart. "You said it yourself, time and again, how we're not friends, remember?"

"Heh, you're finally picking up on that, huh?" She joked a little, stretching her arms out with a satisfied smile on her face.

"...Catra?" She spoke quietly, adding curiosity to Catra's attention. "Why can't we ever be friends?"

"Huh? What brought this up?"

"Just... just tell me why, okay?" There was a small sniffling in her voice that Catra wasn't ready to put up with.

"Pinky, it doesn't matter if we're not friends or not, okay? I'm not leaving the Rebellion, I'll still fight with you guys, everything's fine."

"Then why can't you just say we're friends then?" Her voice cracked a little as she gave a pained yet hurtful look to her. "Everytime, every single day, it's always the same thing with you. You say we're not friends, that we just work together, and it doesn't mean anything to you. Fine. I'll accept that, okay? But why do you act like nothing ever changes? I mean, don't you feel anything? Doesn't some part of you feel different after all the time me, you, and Bow spent together? Doesn't that mean something to you-"

"NO! It doesn't, Pinky!" Catra shouted angrily. She was tired of this conversation in the first ten seconds. She was tired of having a third fight with Adora resulting in her leaving again. She was tired of this stupid ball and everything it had to offer. But most of all, she was tired of hearing about this friendship garbage over and over again.

"I don't know how many times I can tell you that I don't want anything to do with you, or being friends with you. You know what my other friends are like? Because I sure don't! I didn't get anyone I could trust growing up except for Adora, I didn't have anyone to keep me safe from my nightmares, except for Adora. She was the only person in my life who ever gave an ounce of care about me. Without her, I'd probably be dead! And you think I need or even want friends? I got plenty, thank you very much!" She finally huffed, drowning out every breath she has as she panted.

"C-Catra..." Glimmer's eyes started to fill with tears as she panted.

"Oh, come ooooon!" Why couldn't she leave her alone right now? She had enough stress with Adora being here, thinking Catra's been brainwashed, and the fact they're definitely up to something. She didn't need Glimmer's crying to stress her out too-!

*tug*

Catra blinked. Looking down slowly as ever, she was met with the rather strange sight of Glimmer, pressing her head into her chest as she wrapped around her in a tight hug.

"...P... Pinky? What are you doing?"

"Catra, I'm," she sniffled, "I'm sorry." Leaning her head up, Catra saw the strange look of sadness filling up in her eyes. But they weren't tears for herself, not that she could feel. It almost felt like... they were for her.

"Sorry? ...About what?"

"About everything!" She sobbed. "I always thought you didn't want friends because you thought one was all you needed, but that wasn't the case, was it? You don't want friends because you can't trust any friends, can you?"

"I..." The look on Catra's face as she paused confirmed it.

"You spent your entire life on your own, too scared to make friends because you don't know what would happen if you did, because you were too afraid of what pain it would bring. You're afraid of what will happen if you have any more friends and you don't trust them enough to not leave you. To live your whole life with that fear, unable to trust anyone, even yourself... It's one of the saddest things I've heard..."

"..." Catra didn't know what to say. Was she feeling sorry for her pity for her? Was she trying to drive Catra insane or something here? To drive her off the deep end, maybe even over the balcony itself? She didn't know anymore. She didn't want all this mushy stuff filling her mind unneededly, she didn't want anyone else reading into her personal life like this!

All she did was push Glimmer away with her arms, walking a few steps away from her with an irritated scowl as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "I'm going back inside. Go bug someone else for a change, will ya?" With her last comment said, she walked away, leaving the princess to her lonesome.

She found herself alone again, with just the sky to look down on her as everyone else left her. Frowning, she turned her back back to the balcony, looking into her own drink with misty eyes.

Everyone she talked to ended up mad at her today. Everyone she tried to cheer up or gain some sort of support from wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Everything about this whole day started with her and was ending with her, and it was one of the emptiest holes she ever felt in her heart.

"Why does everyone hate me right now..." She asked herself as a single tear rolled down her cheek, dripping into he reflective pools of her drink.

It was at that same time that another girl, one by the name of Adora, peeked out from the curtains she hid behind. The princess was alone, the party guests were still mingling with one another. Catra had yet to return to her willingly. There was nothing to hold her back or stall her at this point. With a quick check of her surroundings, she pulled out a small inner earpiece from her dress's sash, placing it in her right earlobe as everything fell into place.

"Catra isn't coming with us. Everyone move on to phase two." She ordered pressing into her ear.

"The cat's not coming? Gee, I wonder why..." A familiar voice of static sarcastically spoke.

"Keep it down, Lonnie, you're going to blow our cover." Another voice spoke out.

"I'd be more inclined to if someone wasn't going around spilling drinks on me!"

"Enough!" Adora ordered in a small grumble. "I repeat, everyone is to move on to phase 2. NOW."

"You got it, Force Captain Adora." The voice as followed by a small clicking sound.

"I still say we'd be better off targeting both, but whatever." Lonnie chuckled as her mic turned off.

Adora took one last look at the Princess outside before walking over to the ledge of the staircase, looking over the numerous party guests with a grin.

"Now it's time to get this party started..."

...

A/N: The following feels have been brought to you by Alcohol! Remember kids- if you don't feel any emotions, you're off to a good start!

Lol, lame joke aside, really hope this chapter came out better than I anticipated (and considering I anticipate bad, it's hard to say X/). At the least, we are nearing the end of what I consider my favorite episode *sigh* and i predict maybe 2 parts if not 1 really long part next chapter.

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 31: Episode 8: The Princess Prom Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: And now we reach the grand finale of our lovely little "dance".

I gotta be honest with you guys, this is probably the biggest chapter I've struggled with. Not in terms of size or anything, but of difficulty. Why was it difficult for me? Check up the Authors notes at the bottom to find out afterwards.

With that said, enjoy!

...

The music picked up through the majestic halls of the Kingdom of Snows' palace. All throughout the guests were continuing to mingle and party with one another, regaling one with a tale of heroism and adventure, and another with the history of their heritage and what it meant to them. Others were keen on showing off their amazing skills, putting off a spark or two of their magic, some shredding the dance floors as the music continued.

Truly, it was the Ball to remember.

Sadly, it was a Ball Catra wanted to forget more than anything. Ever since she arrived at this place this Ball wasn't the least bit interesting to her, in any respect. Most of the guests seemed too stuck up to her to socialize, the guards were verily strict with everything they were doing, any of her previous allies were with their own Plus Ones and other friends, and out of all of it, there was the brat of the party and the Revered Hostess, Princess Frosta herself.

There was no end to how much of a headache the girl gave her, no way to process what was going on through that annoying beyond all reason attitude of hers. She was a brat to Catra's perspective. Plain and simple. Actually, far from simple, because ever since she met her, the only thing she's done royally was being a royal pain to Catra's rear end!

Perhaps it didn't help when Catra called her a brat not two seconds after meeting her, but so what? If she was supposed to be some high and mighty princess, one who would be Queen one day, she should've acted like less of a brat, right? She was stuck up, snobbish, insulted others who didn't deserve her respect, and made it her mission to nitpick every little detail at the Ball. What's worse, when Catra did eventually try to apologize to her for earlier, she had to go and be a brat about that too! She was nothing more than an ungrateful princess who looked down on everybody!

Again, to Catra's perspective, anyway.

Surprisingly, that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part also happened to be somewhere near the best part, because halfway through this party is when she saw her.

Her. Adora. Her best and only friend in this world. She was attending the Ball as Scorpia's Plus One. There was no limit to how shocked Catra was at the prospect, or how quickly she managed to befriend the Princess upon meeting her, all because she gave her a personally-made Snowglobe upon her arrival, going through the whole innocent explanation of how she didn't know what kind of party it was going to be.

It was then that the two had a talk. Up on the balcony right outside the party's room, the two reminisced about their past and present. Everything they loved about it, everything they hated about it, and where it was going to go from here. Neither of them wanted to hurt the other too deeply, both sides feeling as if the other had been played for. It didn't help when towards the end of the conversation that Glimmer had to show up, immediately upon Catra going off in a tangent about how she didn't consider her or Bow friends, and how she never would.

When this whole day started, Catra was actually a little interested in the idea of attending the Ball. She would go in, see how good it was, and then determine if she wanted to go to the next one in another ten years. After the events of day though, she felt like the wait was more of a death clock, slowly winding down and drawing the next one closer and bring about further ruin.

This day, despite it's ups, was a complete downer.

It was as she descended the stairs that Catra noticed a certain girl missing from the event, aside from Glimmer who was still crying, unbeknownst to her, out on the balcony. There were too many sounds and too many scents to pick up on the girl's location, the smell of food filling the air second to the amount of people that were there. That's when she noticed something she had never seen before, something that drew a good number of people to the Kelp Bar.

Mermista smiling and partying.

"O-Okay, now watch this- watch this, are you watching? Huh? Watching? Watching? Good! Now this is gonna freak you out!" She chuckled as her face was flushed. With a wave of her hands, each of the dozen bottles in front of her popped their corks in a wave from left to right, spritzing as the waters burst through the top. They all gathered into one a large wave of beautiful surreal colors as Mermista waved her hands, collecting all the various juices and drinks into one wave.

The waters danced along her arms like a snake, the mermaid princess not having so much as a drop of it falling to her skin as she continued to chuckle, tantalized by the beauty of the water surrounding her. Lifting both of her arms slowly into the air, the waters began to swirl as they merged together, bubbling and frothing into a variety of colors between blue, green, brown, yellow, orange, and back to blue again to repeat itself.

Everyone was watching with anticipating as the waters began to separate, each of them forming a small glob as they danced around in a circle to each other, hopping individually as they circled around her in the air. Then, with one thunderous clap of her hands, she pulled all the globs together, causing them to burst at the center.

Instead of a watery mass that would've dumped onto her head, they instead scattered across the crowd as they formed a bright, beautiful mist, one that rained down around the guests. The specs of water were so minuscule that they simply sparkled as the lights reflected off of them, all putting on a glittery display as if it was snow.

At this, the crowd applauded in cheer as the show came to an end, Mermista giving a cheeky, wobbly, bow as the people watched, a few of them leaving as she did.

"T-Thank you- Thank you par-tree... P-puh-parteen- party, peep-Hic!-olesh!" Mermista swooned in her strange stupor. "I'll be here all we-week, or until my ride g-ETsh here..." She smiled, leaning against the counter top as she continued her random outbursts of laughter.

"M-M-Mermista, darling?" Sea Hawk spoke as he lowered himself to Mermista's head on the counter. "Maybe you should take a break right now?"

"What's wrong with Mermista?" Catra asked as she finally approached the Kelp Bar.

"Ah, Catra! You've got to help me!" Sea Hawk fretted. "I don't know what's going on with her! She's been like this ever since the arm-wrestling match!"

"Heheheh, t-that Sh-corpia girl, she's a real...a real... real real real good sh'port, you know?" Mermista chuckled as she drooled a little on the counter, face still pressed against it on her left side. "Ev-Ev-ON after she cheated, she sh'till shook muh hand on it and congradull... congrackle...con...cong... heheheh she thanked me for winning!"

"What do you mean she cheated?" Ok. Maybe Princesses were a little weird to Catra. This was far beyond the line of plain weird, even for her.

"She, per... prick... prickled... heh heh... prick prick prick...heh heh, it sounds like pickle... she poked me with some'tang on my leg, and then shudden... suddenly I'm just reeeeeally happy to see everyone, heheheh!" She turned her head over as she faced Catra directly with a sappy grin. "Hi!"

"She pricked you with a..." Catra's face flashed as she blinked with realization. "Wait, are you saying she drugged you?"

"Heh heh heh... you're a cat..." Out of nowhere, she suddenly grabbed Sea Hawk, throwing her arm over Sea Hawk, causing him to squeal as she pulled him closer, announcing to the world as she pointed at him with her other hand raised in the air. "He-Hey, everyone, everyone! I just want everyone to know...I LOOOOVE this man, right here... He is such a... greeeat guy... I love him shooooooo mu'sh!"

"M-Mermista darling, please," Sea Hawk begged, blushing as he tried to pry her grip from him, "you're embarrassing me."

"H-Hey, where did that Mermish'ta girl, go?" She asked looking around. "She said she would pay me if I... if I uhh...Hic! Threw up in the punch bowl awhile ago..."

"Oh dear First Ones!" Sea Hawk panicked, breaking free of her hold as he made a mad dash for the punch bowl. Watching him leave, Catra found herself getting pulled over by an intoxicated Mermista, the girl chuckling as she looked her in the eye.

"Heheh, I'm just kidding, I didn't really make the beh-bet." Her hiccup was followed by a deadshot look in her eyes, looking serious for the first time. "I don't trust that Mermish'ta girl. I heard, I-I-I heard, she's a mermaid!" She pulled Catra's head even closer as she whispered into her ear. "Never trust a fish, Catra!"

"Uh... duly noticed." Catra muttered, lifting Mermista's grip from her and wiping off what she hoped wasn't drool from her hands. "Hey, have you seen Adora anywhere?"

"A-Adora? A-A-A door...heh... I've seen plen...p-p-LOTS of doors today, Catra..." She grinned, drawing a circle on the counter with her finger. "What kind of door was it? Sliding doors? G-laaaaash door? A door... door? Heh heh heh... you're a cat..."

"Yeah, I get it, I'm a cat. What about that Scorpia girl? Do you know where she went?"

"...Heh heh heh... Cat rhymes with dog... Hic!" With another hiccup, Mermista ended up sliding off the counter, falling to the ground with a thud large enough to shake the various bottles around here. "Ugh, who put this floor here?"

"Ok, this was funny at first but now it's getting sad." Catra commented, looking around the room. Seeing how Mermista was out of commission, she made her way across to the entrance stairs as she saw Bow, now wearing a cummerbundt with the rest of his outfit, as Perfuma waiting at the bottom of it for him. "Hey, Bowey! Flower Girl!"

"Huh? Oh, hi She-Ra!" Perfuma greeted cheerfully. "Are you enjoying the party as well this fine day?"

"Fine's the last word I'd use to describe it." Catra shrugged, looking to Bow as he finally reached them. "Have you seen Adora?"

"You mean the girl who attacked Salineas before?" Bow asked rather surprised. "She's here too?"

"Yeah, she's up to something. We need to figure out what before it's too late."

*chunk*

All heads, eyes, and ears turned to the ceiling at the sound of the lights flashing off, brightening just enough of the room to display the tranquil dancefloor and the hostess of the Ball, Princess Frosta, standing proudly at the top of her stairs to the Throne.

"It is my solemn duty as hostess to now announce," she decreed to the partygoers, "it is time for the first dance of the Ball."

All at once, the entire room filled with cheer and the thunderous roar of the crowd. One by one, dozen by a dozen, the groups of people rained down from the side lines. From the stairs, to the balcony, from the counters themselves, hundreds of people pushed and shoved as they made their way to the main attraction of the Ball, the dance.

Catra, Bow, and Perfuma found themselves helpless as the onslaught of people rushed them, pushing them ahead and separating them one by one until they found themselves on different ends of the room, all separated from one another and incapable of reaching the others as the dancing commenced.

All around her, Catra watched as, one by one, the individuals linked hands together, throwing their other hands professionally behind them. A certain awkwardness filled the air as she watched the happy, smiling, faces of the crowd stare at their partners. She might not have been one for dancing, but it did leave behind a certain ambiance when you found yourself in alone while being surrounded by hundreds of people at the same time.

That's when she appeared before her. With a hand raised to her, other behind her back, and a grin plastered on her face, Adora smiled as she saw her friend before her, looking as calm and peaceful as ever. Rolling her eyes to herself, Catra was incapable of refusing the offer as the dance started to commence, less she be kicked out of the dance floor for the other partygoers to enjoy.

"Miss me much?" She teased as the two danced in tandem.

"And where did you disappear to?" Catra asked almost interrogatively.

"Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that." Adora replied casually, dodging the question.

"I'm serious, Adora!" Catra raised her voice a little.

"Oh, hush, just enjoy the dance." She retorted, doing a small spin as she switched partners with another.

It was that time Catra found herself switching partners, one with a very sluggish looking Mermista. "Hey, Ca-AT-ra, buddy'sh!" She squealed. "Hey-hey-hey, li-li'shin... There'sh...There's this, cat I know... I know her I know... she looks ju'sh like you!" She leaned Catra back as she sluggishly danced. "I think her name wash... C-Catra too!"

"Egh... Mermista, it's me, Catra!" Catra groaned. Mermista blinked a little at the statement, then dropped her jaw deeply as she gasped.

"Oh, my gosh! You're the same ppppppperson!" She sputtered. "Heheheh, I gotta tell the other Catra about th'ish..." With a mad fit of giggles, Mermista found herself twirling away uncontrollably, being replaced with Bow soon after.

"Have you seen Glimmer?" He asked slightly worried.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention," she hissed a little as she crushed his fingers a little, "nice going with her, idiot."

"Ack-!" Bow squirmed in his grip, waiting and biting his own teeth until Catra loosened her grip. "What are you talking about?"

"Thanks to you I've been stuck babysitting Princess Crybaby all evening." She complained. "You mind telling me what you said to upset her so much?"

"Catra, it's not what you think." Bow said hardening his expression as the two curtsied for the second act of the dance, taking each others hands gently into the others. "She's been acting like she controls who I get and don't get to hang out with all night."

"Like how has she been acting?"

"Like she owns me! She keeps going on and on about how she's "okay with me being with other people", like she gets to decide who I do and don't get to hang out with!"

"What? Uggggh, Bow, you idiot!" She stammered. "She wasn't talking like she owned you! She was saying that because she thought she was being selfish! She probably thought she looked like she was owning you and she was trying to confess that!"

"What?" A slow raincloud of guilt started to pass over Bow's heart at hearing this. "Then where did she get an idea like that in the first place?"

"Uhhh..." Now Catra felt the rain cloud passing over her mind, from realization of who's fault that was and the fact she was responsible for causing the argument with them in the first place. "I... Might've... given her that idea... possibly..."

"You what?!" Bow stammered as quietly as possible as the mood lighting surrounding them shifted to a forest green. "Aww Catra, I can't believe this! She probably thinks I hate her now because of it!"

"Hey, I just gave her the idea, I didn't have anything to do with how you reacted." She reminded with a snarky tone.

"Mmmh..." As much as Bow wanted to argue about it, along with the fact they were still dancing, he couldn't deny that she was right. While she might've been the one to instigate the thought in her, there was no excuse for the way he acted either. "Do you know where she is then? So I can apologize to her?"

"Last I saw her she was on the balcony. You mind asking her if we can leave after this?" She grumbled as they switched partners again, swirling around the room. "I've had enough of this place."

"Hey sh'puddy!"

"Aww geez, it's you again." Why did she keep finding herself in an intoxicated Mermista's arms?

"Hey! Hey! Li'shun to mi'sh!" Catra used every bit of power she had to refrain from scratching Mermista after the spittle she felt on her face. "There's thi'sh udder cat I met, her name is Catra, toooooooo! You should totally meet eesh other!"

"Yeah, sure, she sounds like a real charmer. Now go!" She twirled again as she losted her latest partner. When she stood in place again, she found a familiar blonde haired friend of hers backed up to her.

"Hello again." Adora ginned.

"Ok, seriously Adora, just tell me what you're planning."

"I don't have anything to tell you, nothing you need to worry about." The way she spoke almost sounded like she was threatening her and warning her peacefully at the same time. "Just enjoy the night, Catra, ok?" She smiled as Catra leaned her back as far as she could be bent. Lowering her eyes down so she could see her friend again, she smiled. "Otherwise you might ruin it for everyone."

"What do you mean I'll ruin it for everyone?" Pulling her back, the two twirled away from each other, still hand in hand.

"I mean don't worry about it, ok?"

Gritting her teeth, Catra hastily pulled her back right in front of her, keeping their noses from touching by a single inch. "What's it?" At that moment, with the music coming to an end, right before the band started it's next ballad and just before the applause, Catra's ears twitched as she heard it.

*tick-tock*

That noise. That familiar ticking noise. Growing up in the Horde, it had a familiar sound to it. Always a tick, followed by a tock, and always something bad.

An explosion.

This was the sound of a bomb.

Scanning the room, feeling the time around her freezing for a second, Catra observed every nook and cranny that she saw in those few seconds. She saw Perfuma looking at a distraught Bow, Sea Hawk trying to pull away Mermista who was still in her stupor, Adora's worrying eyes as she saw her, and no sight of the Scorpion lady, not that she was her biggest concern right now. Where did she hear it come from? How could they get it passed security?

How could she get it passed everyone?!

It has to be something small, if not something nobody would point out! Was it coming from the bar? There were servers and drinkers going in and out around there, not to mention Mermista who'd been occupying the Kelp Bar all day. The band's instruments? If there was something off about the noise, Catra should've picked it up in a heartbeat. The spotlights? They might've been able to sneak something up there, but it sounded far closer than the ceiling above.

Where could this thing possibly be? Where could it be hidden in plain sight? When would they have time to get it planted in the first place? How could they have snuck it in? Where could they place it? So many questions and she knew there was so little time to find the answer!

And that's when it hit her. Looking up to the stairs to the throne, right before the next ballad played, she heard another tick.

That was it. That one single tick that confirmed where the bomb had to be planted. It wasn't hidden by anyone, it wasn't brought in without anyone knowing. It was the Snow Globe itself.

The Snow Globe was the bomb!

"No!" Catra yelped, trying to pry Adora's grip from her hands. "Let go!"

"Catra, stop." Adora begged a little sternly.

"That was your plan, wasn't it?! You gave the child a bomb?!" Catra yelled, turning a few heads as the dancers kept going. "Let go of me!"

"Catra, stop it! You need to- Ngh, stop struggling!" Adora grumbled as she struggled to maintain her grip.

"Get off!" With one mighty shout, Catra rolled back, flinging Adora across the room.

*Crash!*

Everyone gasped in shock at the sound of the large crashing. The lights returned to the room, the band went silent, and Princess Frosta herself grew rather surprised at the sound of the crash. Ahead of Catra, planted over a collapsed table, was Adora, lying in a mess of various foods, hair soaked from the punch, and a small dab of cream sticking to her right cheek. She was covered head to toe with the foods of the ball, and a total mess to everyone who gazed her.

Catra continued to grumble as she rushed her way over to the downed friend, more intent on her mission at this point than the state she left Adora in. She cared deeply for her friend, there was no mistake about that, but what she found Adora doing was just heinous. Bringing a bomb for whatever task required it, to a place filled with innocent people, and giving it to a child, even if she was the biggest brat Catra had met so far?

This was something possibly on Shadow Weaver's level, and knowing her, she put Adora up to this, possibly without her knowledge!

"Deactivate the bomb, Adora!" Catra yelled, oblivious to the deafening silence of the other guests and hostess.

"What bomb?" Adora's innocent line of questioning lead to her getting picked up by the scruff of her neck in both of Catra's hands.

"Don't you dare lie to me about this! Tell me where it is, Adora! Right-!"

*crickkk*

Before the two of them, a large pillar of ice grew out of the ground, separating the two with a transparent wall of blue, large enough and wide enough to keep the two of them separated. Falling to her back, Catra was defenseless as pillar after pillar of smaller ice was formed around her, just scraping over her skin without cutting her while pinning her to the ground at the same time. By the end of the sudden grow of frost, she only one right hand out of the cluster of pillars, barely getting herself any headspace or room to burst out, though plenty if she planned on making a scene.

Standing right in front of her hand was the Revered Hostess of the Ball, Princess Frosta herself. The girl had loathed Catra with every fiber of her being just from looking at her. After taking her insults, taking her constant interruptions, and her direct threat to her the second time they met, she decided to ignore her warnings. She gave her each and every chance to behave here, even an additional chance, and she still failed to behave.

Here she was, a pinned kitten, standing before a princess of ice, Princess of the Kingdom of Snows.

"Frosta!" Catra gasped. "You've gotta get everyone out of here! She has a-"

"Princess Ball is a ceremony of unity." She stated coldly as she stood forward. "Violence is strictly forbidden."

"Forget all that! You've got to listen to-"

"Silence!" She seethed, cutting Catra off. "You've been warned since the moment you came here, you've been given more chances than anyone deserves, but no more! As hostess, in accordance with the rules set down over the centuries, I hereby revoke your invitation! You are to leave my kingdom, and never, EVER, return!" With a scathing look in her eye, she turned her back to without hesitation as she walked away. "Someone come and collect this pet, and get her out of my sight."

"...Ghhh..." Catra's face tightened as she clenched her teeth.

No.

No no no no NO NO NO NO NO!

Catra could handle a lot of things. She could handle losing. She could handle people making fun of her or the people she cared about. She could handle getting beaten physically, talked down to by her superiors, bullied through most of her life, being called a freak, manipulated by her enemies, lied to by her allies, betrayed by her friends, shot down by the people who supported her, harassed on needless things that bothered her, and so much more without reacting to it violent the first couple times around.

But this? Oh, this brat right here? She was an exception.

She is every bit of everything Catra hated in a person. Someone who saw themselves above everyone else, someone who thought they could talk down to other people, got to say how people lived their lives, got to insult and mock them for their lifestyles, decreed who had to do what without opposition, and never thought about the consequences because they were well protected by an army of guards, idiots who would go around and protect someone for stupid money and not their ideals.

She was all of these things and then some put into one. And honestly, Catra could put up with that much. She could let it go if it was a simple person she met for the first time, whether they were royalty or not, someone of import that mattered to the Rebellion, and so forth, and she would contemplate what she would do to them in her dreams later.

This time, however, was different. Here, not only was she dealing with an obnoxious beyond all get out brat who thought just because she was the host of the Ball she got to do whatever she want, to Catra anyway, oh no. Here, she was dealing with someone who was being beyond a royal pain, both literally and metaphorically, as Catra herself was trying to help her! She was trying to warn her, warn everybody about the bomb, and did they listen? No. Why? Because they were every single reason Catra hated being surrounded by people.

There were too many different kinds in the world. Good. Bad. And worst of all.

Those who took advantage of both.

Not anymore.

"Agggggghhhhhhhhhh!" Catra screamed violently. With all the strength she could muster, all the anger welling up inside of her, she let out a roar as she broke her way through the surrounding pillars of ice, shattering the ice all around her, shooting it in every direction, some of it nearly scratching the guests themselves as the ice fell around them. Everyone watched in terror as the magicat stood her feet firmly on the ground, panting heavily at the burst of force she had to use to get out.

"I've had it with you you little brat!" Catra yelled, extending her claws. While maintaining a composed demeanor, Frosta couldn't help herself as her heart trembled a little at the sight of the enraged cat whose tail flailed wildly. "I've tried to be patient with you," she spoke as she stepped over the ice, "I've tried to apologize to you, and I try to warn you, and do you ever listen? No!"

"Eh, excuse me, hey, pardon me..." Bow muttered as he pushed his way through the crowd of people. Making his way to the front, he was in shock at the scene, hoping to himself he was imagining things when he made his way through. "Catra, what are you doing?!"

"Stay out of this, Bow!" Catra shouted back to him, shooting him a deathening glare.

"Catra, stop!" Adora begged as she attempted to pull her arms away.

"Ngh! Get, OFF!"

*swiff*

"Ah!" Adora yelped a bit as she winced in pain, Catra blinking at the realization of what she just did.

"A... Adora..." For a moment, Catra returned to her senses. What had she done? She just scratched Adora's arm. Her friend. The one who's always helped her. It didn't matter if it didn't bleed, she had a notable scratch against her left arm, rubbing it profusely to ease the pain. Adora looked back to her with a look of shock, neither of them able to believe what Catra just did to her. "I... I didn't mean i-"

*WHAM!*

The humanoid feline was powerless to defend herself in her distracted state as a another giant pillar of ice grew from her right side. In one simple motion, the ice slammed into Catra's stomach at a vertical degree, slamming her and pushing her several yards off her feet and into the air, throwing her off and harshly to the ground to the throne above.

Rolling onto her side, feeling like she just got slammed by a table, Catra glared back to her attacker, grumbling to herself as she saw the child prodigy of ice make her way up the steps, a look of rage matching Catra's own as she narrowed her eyes.

She thought she had been lenient enough. She thought if she gave this stupid girl enough chances that she would eventually learn from her mistakes. But did she? No. She just had to keep pushing her buttons time and again, as if she got a rise out of it, never taking her threats seriously or listening to her. She always threatened, she always hissed, and she never knew when to stop. And now, she had injured one of her guests.

She didn't care how it would look to the general audience, provided they even cared about the She-Ra who attacked an innocent teen to begin with. She was going to throw this cat out of the house for good, even if she had to use her own two hands to do it.

"I gave you more chances than you deserved." Frosta scowled. Raising her hand in front of her, Catra watched as the girl's entire body began to glow with an aura of blue right. "And you refused them."

As she squeezed her hands together, Catra pushed herself off the floor and rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the smaller pillars of ice that grew around her that would've encased her in another trap. With her blood boiling with anger, Catra made a charge directly for the girl, intending to get her intended target if it was the last thing she did.

Without even batting an eyelash, Frosta raised both her hands to the air as she grew another pillar of ice. This time directly under her, she launched herself fifteen feet in the air from the pillar, separating her from Catra right as she was about to reach her. Unwilling to let this child beat her, Catra jumped to the air herself, digging her claws straight into the pillar itself.

Noticing the small grin this elicited from the young child, she quickly shot a look directly above her, hearing a rumbling coming from the ceiling. Directing her magic towards it, Frosta watched the cat as another pillar grew from the ice, this time from the ceiling, as it pressed directly in front of her and downwards towards the cat who disappeared from her view as it slammed towards the ground.

Thinking at first that she had caught the cat finally, she found herself growing rather surprised when she saw the cat now pulling herself around from the pillar she had created, somehow getting behind it and on top of it all at the same time. She was so surprised in her momentary state of confusion that she failed to react in time when Catra tackled her off the pillar, throwing the two of them back towards the main floor of the Ball Room.

Nevertheless, the princess of Snows refused to back down, or give this wretched guest a chance to catch her breath. Closing her eyes again, Catra watching as her body radiated the same blue aura from earlier, she found herself suddenly crashed into from her side by the fist-size pillar protruding from the ceiling, throwing her back to the dance floor where she crashed into a table near a handful of the guests. After getting a moment of clarity to herself from her surprised state, Frosta flipped herself backwards in the air as she regained her balance, planting her feet firmly on the ground as she slid a short distance on the ice behind her.

With the destruction of the party going on, numerous guests started to flood towards the exit, running in fear and terrified for their lives as the ground started to shake around them. The only ones who remained behind were Adora, Bow, Perfuma, Sea Hawk, Mermista, and an intrigued Entrapta, watching it from the railings atop the stairs, who took notes on the fighting style between the savage beast vs the young child who controlled a mighty empire.

The young Bow ran over to Catra as she pulled herself from the wreckage, growling like the animal she was as she scraped off any chunks of food from her shoulder, continuing to glare daggers at the girl. "Catra, stop!" Bow shouted grabbing her arm. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Get out of the way, Bow!" She yelled, easily shoving him off his feet and away from her right. Bow couldn't believe or understand what had gotten into her! She wasn't just throwing off the reputation of She-Ra, she was doing so by attacking a small child at that, an attack that hundreds of different princes and princesses were becoming aware of!

Nobody would ever forget the image of the icon of the Rebellion, She-Ra, attacking an innocent girl that was trying to protect her own party guests. Any time someone would mention what happened to the ball, recall the events of this day, they wouldn't be describing every detail on their own. Others would interpret what the attack was like, making the story more and more misunderstood with each rumor it was passed on to.

At that rate, everyone would only know She-Ra as the girl who tried to assassinate a young princess.

Not two seconds after pushing Bow away did Frosta gather another handful of her magic. Lifting a single hand to the air, Catra's eyes widened a little as a dozen small, albeit lethal icicles materialized in the air, all swirling about until they achieved a solid form. Directing her hand towards Catra, she launched a volley of the dreaded shots at the girl, intending to hit anything that would immobilize her, even if it was permanently.

With little options or space to work with, Catra quickly ducked down as she flipped the table over, shielding herself from the many icicles of death that penetrated halfway through the table, one of them nearly reaching her eyes in the process. With the icicles lodged into place, Catra followed this up with a retaliation of her own. Throwing her back to the ground, she kicked off the foot of the table as she kicked the bottom with both her feet, avoiding the icicles in the process, and blasting it towards the girl in one swift kick.

Like before, the girl found herself stunned by the sudden reaction to her own attack. Catra knew this brat might've been powerful with her magic, but even someone as young as her has never been in a full-fledged fight before, and it was during those moments of shock value that gave Catra a small gap of time to respond to whatever she did.

That would be her key to winning.

Try as she might, she found herself unable to materialize a wall of ice in front of her more than halfway through. Right as the table flipped over the small, sending it spiraling towards the young girl, she found herself getting tackled out of the way, the table passing by her as it flung towards the Kelp Bar where it crashed, shattering hundreds of smaller bottles and breaking through the middle of the Kelp Bar's counter.

Looking back to her apparent savior, she was awestruck to see that Adora had saved her in time, Adora picking herself off the floor a little sorely and still smiling to the young girl as she helped her up. "Are you okay?" Frosta gave her a simple nod, Adora finding herself relieved before glaring back to Catra. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Don't get in my way, Adora!" Catra shouted, sprinting towards the two of then furiously with her claws still extended, arms at her side.

Seeing how she wasn't going to learn her lesson, with the guards preoccupied with evacuating the citizens and royalties from the room, Frosta created a small obstacle course of ice, throwing pillar after pillar at the attacker who skillfully maneuvered out of the way, up and above and to the side of the powerful pillars, while making a beeline for the girl.

"Ahhhh!" Frosta roared in anger. Finding her patience continuing to wane further, the princess gathered the magical ice below her feet, creating another pillar that pushed Adora away and ascended herself directly up to the air, right at the very center of the Ball Room. With a better view and vantage point of her target, she prepared herself as she set up the ultimate trap.

From the pillar itself, she shot out another massive pillar in front of it directly towards Catra, the pillar being practically the same size of the girl herself. Despite noticing how obvious the attack was, Catra showed little hesitation as she jumped above it, stretching her claws out as far as she could as she pulled her hands back ready to strike. The brat made the stupid mistake of making a direct path towards her own pillar, like the rookie she knew her to be.

As she grinned to herself at her nearing victory, behind her back, Frosta channeled a large portion of her magic into her plan, preparing all the ice she possibly could for the would-be attacker. Right as Catra had passed the halfway point, the girl yelled as she leaped directly for ice queen, preparing to catch her target once and for all, not realizing it was possibly the last mistake she could ever make until the little girl finally grinned.

"Too slow." With that one simple comment, as Catra was still in midair, Princess Frosta pushed herself away as she jumped into the air.

All at once, all the ice Catra had used to trail up to this larger pillar, all the ice that formed the pillar Frosta had jumped from, slowly began to disintegrate, fading away as her trap was finally sprung. That's when Frosta showed her hands with the energies that grew around them, directing Catra's attention to the ceiling where she heard a rumbling noise coming from.

She gasped.

All above her, nearly covering half the dance floor itself, she saw numerous and perfectly shaped cracks in the ceiling, the very ones she saw whenever Frosta shot at her with one of her pillars. With a single wave bringing her hand down, Catra found herself incapable of dodging out of the way as pillar after pillar shot straight at her, slamming her towards the ground where the pillars continued their brutal assault on the girl.

With Frosta returning to the ground herself, she focused all of her energy into her attack on the girl, refusing to budge while also being careful not to overdue it, less she end up killing the attacker by mistake. She was against the act of taking someone's life, no matter what kind of enemy they were.

All around her, as the last of the party guests continued to flee, Catra's allies and friends all watched in terror as the girl used up every ounce of her magic into her one attack, covering the floor in a thick dust of ice that blocked their view of the magicat girl who was lead into a trap she couldn't avoid. Every time one fist-sized pillars struck her, it was instantly replaced with another, dissolving soon after to repeat the process in an endless cycle.

After what must've been at least a good ten seconds of the endless attack, Frosta finally eased up, panting a little out of breath at the excess energy she must've used, as the pillars surrounding the area slowly dissolved into nothingness. Here, the group waited till the thick fog of ice dissipated, lying and waiting for any reaction out of Catra who they had yet to see at this point. It was at the same time Frosta finally saw the aftermath of her present battle, finding herself unable to believe the destruction both she and Catra caused throughout the party.

Everything was destroyed. Everything else was in pieces. From the Kelp Bar being smashed into by the large circular table, to the top of the steps of the throne being crushed from where Frosta slammed a massive pillar of her ice, to the ceiling above that shattered a couple spotlights above her and crashed to the ground, it was ruined. What few guests had remained consisted of the rest of Catra's friends and allies, everyone else having fled for their lives.

A part of her heart sank at the sight of everything. She was so preoccupied with her fight, trying her best to immobilize the cat creature, that she failed to take fact in the hundreds of guests that used to fill her Ball Room, now practically empty because she let her emotions get the best of her.

Just like Catra.

This was not a transgression she would forgive so easily. With the fog of ice finally beginning to clear, everyone saw the state Catra was in before them. There she lied, face down and into the ground with her arms still ahead of her, passed out and severely weakened from the attack she had taken from the young girl.

Glaring, she walked her way over to the young teen until she was standing not two feet away from her. This person, this one single person she should've thrown out from the very beginning, was responsible for the destruction and ruination of her Ball, the ever enchanting Princess Prom had been ruined because of her.

Did she shoulder some responsibility too? Sure, she could admit that. She was the one who also destroyed half the Ball Room in an attempt to stop the invitee, though she was also wise enough to know that the blame could not be placed squarely on herself. None of this would've happened, none of it could've happened, if it wasn't for this one miserable person who had to be a troublemaker at her party. She was warned, repeatedly, and she denied all of them.

This was all her doing.

And her friends knew it too. They had no idea what had gotten into her or what caused her to act this way, and for the first time they didn't care. She was attacking a young child, one who was the hostess of her own Princess Prom, and the ally they desperately needed for the Rebellion. Whatever reason Catra had better have been a good one, because if she didn't, none of them knew how they were going to react whenever she regained consciousness.

"As Princess of the Kingdom of Snows," she began, "I hereby officially decree, from this day forever, that you will be banished from my king-"

Graaaaaaah!" With a mighty yell, with Frosta being too close to react in time, she attacked.

*Skreeeee!*

"Ahh!" Princess Frosta cried out in pain as she was struck squarely against the face, throwing her a few yards ahead of the girl and continuing to slide another good distance of feet away. The attack wasn't anything too horrid, though it did leave a notable scratch on Frosta's right cheek. Wincing from the deep pain it brought as she rubbed it, Frosta slowly leaned herself up again, seeing the wretched She-Ra that managed to finally land a hit on her, standing where she left her.

Out of breath, out of energy, Catra panted. Throughout the fight she could tell she needed to close the distance between the two of them, and despite Catra's speed, with the Princess's magic she had the element of speed and mobility at her disposal. So what was the best thing to do? Simple: make the princess come to her. It was the single best way, if not the only way by this point, for her to get close enough to the brat for her to launch an attack. And while it wasn't anything she wanted to repeat a beating over, her body slouching over from the sores, she accomplished her mission in the end, no matter how tired she was from the excursion.

"You..." Frosta grumbled, wobbling a little as she made her way to her feet. She barely had any concern over the girl at this point. She struck her. Struck. Her! An attack on a direct line of royalty was one of the worst crimes anyone could ever commit, and she had done it with a cheeky grin on her face. The same grin Catra had at this moment as she raised her right hand up, revealing what sent shock to Frosta and the rest of her allies' spine.

The Snow Globe.

The same precious snow globe that Adora made with love and care into the craftsmanship. Looking to her right coat pocket, Frosta finally realized what her intended target was all along. There, she saw a noticeably large-sized hole, the pocket completely torn from the coat itself from Catra's sharp claws.

Being this close, with all the noise and ambiance in the air now silent, she could hear it perfectly. The continuous tick of a time bomb just waiting to go off, waiting to enact whatever evil plan Adora or Shadow Weaver had in store for the Ball since the moment she arrived. Upon closer inspection, she even saw an incredibly faded Horde symbol over the glass, a watermark almost invisible to anyone not in front of it. It was if it was taunting Catra about how obvious the trap was, how stupid everyone else were for being gullible enough to accept such a gift from the likes of the Horde.

She refused to let it mock her any longer.

"Ghhhhhh!" With a low-pitch grumble, Catra raised the mighty orb to the air, intending to finally end the madness once and for all, no matter how much the others pleaded her not to.

"Catra, wait!" Bow cried out.

"She-Ra, please don't!" Perfuma begged.

"Catra, stop! It's not what you thi-!" Was the last bit of words she heard from Adora.

But it was too late.

*crash!*

With one single, solitary, throw, she did it. Lying in pieces broken and shattered below her, lied the shattered remains of the snow globe, one Adora worked so hard to build and one the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows considered to be a nice gesture, just for her. The water pooled out of the shattered glass around her, the structure inside now broken in half as it lied in littler tiny pieces, scattered all around Catra in a small circle, completely destroyed.

She attacked a princess in front of countless people. She crushed a little girl's present right after she struck her. She destroyed an entire party that should've been a pleasant night for everyone across Etheria. All the world would remember from this day forward was how Catra showed the world just how violent and extreme the hero of legend could be, what the hero of legend truly was.

A monster.

A freak.

All around her she saw the numerous eyes of her allies and single friend, and she didn't care in the slightest. They were mixed between shocked, surprised, confused, intoxicated while hanging over Sea Hawk's shoulder, and most of all, furious. Who was the furious one? Adora, naturally. Who wouldn't be if a friend they knew suddenly destroyed a young child's gift right in front of them, one they happened to appreciate themselves?

It didn't matter to her. After she recovered from her exhausted state, after she finally had a chance to explain themselves, she knew it. She knew they'd understand. They'd have to. Nobody could fault her of destroying a fake gift if there was a bomb planted inside of it, no one could stay mad if she was trying to protect everyone.

With her tongue hanging out from exhaustion, Catra finally sighed. "There... huff... it's over now... it's over-"

*tick-tock*

No! It couldn't be! Catra could still hear the ticking going off from the pieces of shattered junk. It was still ticking! She destroyed the orb, she crushed the castle remnants. How was it still ticking after all this time?!

Then she realized it. The Base. The bottom of the snow globe that held the orb in place. It was an inch thick, several inches wide, and big enough to house anything the size of a sandwich, or in this case, a verily small explosive device that could explode into epic proportions, ones that the Horde were more than capable of creating.

"No-!" Catra cried out as she reached for it, too little to late however as the ticking finally reached its end, revealing to the remaining inhabitants what it had to offer.

Music.

Catra froze in place as she and the room heard the fine tune that composed the sweet and beautiful melody of a lullaby song. It was playing the simple sound of music, one anyone could fall asleep to, and loud enough for the rest of them to hear with the room being as quiet as it was. This was what the countdown was leading up to, this was the surprise waiting at the end of the ticking noise. Not an explosion, not destruction, beauty. A beautiful melody that she worked so hard to disrupt, one that caused her to lash out violently in her attempts to save everyone.

One that caused her to ruin the Princess Prom.

Catra didn't know what to say. Was there anything she could say at this point? She thought she was saving everyone from what could've been dangerous, being denied the opportunity to explain herself after the music went off. She had no excuses for her actions, no line of reasoning she could offer. She barely had an apology she could give away that would explain the travesty that had befallen her.

"I... It's music...?" Catra continued to stare at the musical device as it slowly started to die down, becoming more dysfunctional and distorted as the breaking of the device started to take it's toll on the item. "I... I don't under-"

"Catra, you idiot!" Adora shouted angrily, glaring at her. "I kept trying to tell you not to worry about it, but you couldn't listen, could you? I tried to tell you and you ignored me every time!"

"But... But I... I thought it was a bomb..." Catra muttered, still staring at the snow globe in sheer denial. "I... I heard the ticking, and... and... I thought that-"

"Well excuse me for not taking people with extra sensitive hearing into account when I made it!" Adora cut off. "I'm a little rusty on making a music box, so sue me! It didn't have anything to do with any explosives though, and it never did!"

"B... But..."

"Catra," Bow spoke steeping forward, "is this what you were all worked up about?" He couldn't process the revelation of these events either. To go all this way, all this destruction, just to destroy a snow globe she thought was planted with a bomb? How could they ever explain themselves to the world.

"I... I'm sorry, I...I- Gehh!" With a sudden yelp, Catra found herself pinned to the ground by a group of guardsmen. There were probably two guards for each of her limbs, pinning her to the floor along with the two separate ones pinning her by her shoulders. Struggling, she lifted her head up as her ears lowered, trying to look at the hardened face of the princess who she scratched, whose present she just destroyed. "P-Princess Frosta... I... I didn't mean to-"

"Be quiet." She ordered coldly and without emotion. She walked her way over to the pinned Catra until she was right in front of her, this time knowing there was no means of a sneak attack with the guards pinning her down. There wasn't a single chance she could break free after the exhaustion and injuries she took either. "The entire Princess Prom... all the destruction you've caused... attacking me directly... is punishable by either a life sentence, or a graver penalty." She stated.

The eyes of the crowd turned to one another in worry. They couldn't risk the chance of Catra being imprisoned through all her life or worse, yet they were in no position to argue back to the princess after all the destruction their friend caused, all the chaos that erupted. They needed to think of a plan fast, a way to stay Frosta's punishing hand from Catra's person.

"I should lock you up and throw away the key," she continued, "or throw you over the cliff side and let the fall judge if you're innocent or guilty." She had so much pain and anger in her eye. A portion of that pain was for herself as the rest was for the people around her she cared about. With a heavy heart, every bone in her body yelling at her to the contrary, she sighed. "But... I can't fault you if you were just trying to protect everyone." She deemed.

Everyone was at a loss at the merciful sounding words coming from her. They thought she'd punish her in the worst possible ways, possibly declare war on the Rebellion itself for this devastation. They had forgotten that they were dealing with a child mature well beyond her years.

This was the power of an absolute ruler. One who was cunning and wise, yet had enough heart to put themselves in the place of those who needed to be judge.

"Your actions are unforgivable but your reasons are not. Therefore, I am simply banishing you from the party." She declared. Was this supposed to be a good thing? A bad thing? She wasn't going to get executed, thank goodness, but this didn't put their relationship with the Kingdom of Snows anywhere better. In a way, it almost felt worse than it could've been otherwise. Waving her hands, this time for her guards instead of magic, the dozen of guards lifted Catra to her feet, slowly dragging her away. "Remove her from my castle. Immediately."

What was the point of struggling here? She wasn't the victim here, she was the attacker. She felt empty for the first time in her life, staring blankly at the spot, filled with remorse for everything she had done this night, for everything she ruined with her own two hands after everything they worked so hard to build. For one of the few times in her life she felt absolute guilt, knowing where all the blame was and who to put it on.

"Wait!" Adora called out, running up to her as the guards stood. They maintained their tight grip on Catra as Adora approached, not wiling to give the scoundrel a chance to lash out at someone else. Being right in front of her, Catra gazed into Adora's solemn eyes. She could feel a small part of guilt coming off from the girl, a guilt she had no reason to feel. She was the exact same Adora Catra knew her to be.

Innocent and peaceful. Too much for her own good.

"Catra..." She spoke softly. "I'm sorry all of this happened..." With a heartfelt apology, she slowly wrapped her arms around her captured friend, embracing her in a hug that provided her the only source of warmth she could feel at this moment. And from here, she leaned her head further to Catra's right ear as she whispered the most shocking of words to her. "But I did warn you, didn't I?" From the corner of her eye, she could see it.

All of a sudden, it flashed right before her.

"...Nothing you should worry about." She revealed, shooting a look of concern to her soon after. "Not if you come back with me."

"Hello again." Adora ginned.

"Ok, seriously Adora, just tell me what you're planning."

Adora grinned, letting Catra be the only person to see it.

This. This was the trap. All along, she tricked Catra from the moment she came here, by putting Catra in a trap she knew she would never be able to escape from.

By letting Catra be herself.

She played with her from the moment they got here, from the moment Catra first laid eyes on Adora at the Ball. She toyed with her past, she pointed out the flaws of their current predicament, she set her paranoia on fire from the single moment she told Catra not to worry about anything, reverse psychology at it's finest.

She made Catra into her own worst enemy, made her reveal herself as the monster Catra was. She did everything she said, told her every truth she wanted to hear. She did tell her the truth from the very beginning, all while knowing Catra would react this way and she would ruin the party. She took the bait and fell from the trap, never realizing all of it was a ruse, allowing Catra to ruin the party herself the way she knew she would.

Adora didn't have to do anything unnatural either except being herself, whereas Catra tried to be someone she wasn't.

And she paid the prince for it.

"N-No, NO!" Catra screamed as she was hauled away. "Let go of me, she tricked me!" She shouted angrily, trying to break free of the guards' grip. There was no fighting back against the heavily trained guards, ones that were trained since the moment they enlisted to protect the Princess and her people. "She set me up, I swear, she did all of this!"

Nobody listened to her as she was carried through the doors, Catra watching in anger as Adora grinned the entire time she left, her back turned to the remaining people as Catra was carried away. She paid no attention or mind to her allies as they all ran passed her, trying to catch up to Catra to make sure she was okay, wherever she was taken to.

Admittedly, Adora was a little hurt inside. To manipulate her best friend like she did, to use her as a means to show the world how evil the Rebellion truly was, it sickened her a little. Yet, if it was to prove her point to every princess who had an actual good heart, one Scorpia showed her to have from the moment the two first meant, then she didn't care. She proved to everyone how destructive the Rebellion truly was, no doubt swaying a few minds here and there about the possibility they lied about the Horde.

To Adora, the Horde stood united as the single force to combat the evil princesses, and protect the world from everything they threatened. She didn't feel any guilt from the methods she used to make this nice work, only guilt towards the one she had to betray a little to make it happen.

Looking back, she gave a small caring smile as she saw the other injured princess. Despite her tough demeanor, she could tell the princess was in pain, both inside and out. She couldn't prevent a single tear building up as she touched her, the pain excruciating for a child to bare along with the emotional pain that doubled down on it. Her night was ruined by Catra, someone she couldn't fully blame given the circumstances of her reasoning.

Walking up to the child princess herself, Adora kneeled down as she took a small cloth from her dress, prepared from every occasion. "Here." She offered. Still questionable on it, Frosta allowed her to place the cloth gently against her cheek, wincing a little from the sting as it was applied to her injury. "You know, the Horde isn't as evil as the Princesses make us out to be..."

...

"Ahhhhhh-!"

*thud!*

"Oof..." Catra groaned as she thrown over the stairs to the palace, landing on the hard icy ground and grumbling a bit as she held her sides. While she might've survived Frosta's clever trap, she still had to contend with the injuries she took in the process of it. Followed by the hoarse tone in her voice after shouting through the castle for the last minute as she was dragged away and she was sore all over.
"Mmmh..." She didn't know what part of her hurt the worst right now.

Her aching bones, or her heart.

"Catra!" Her allies called out as they made it through the doors, running safely down the stairs as the guards returned to the castle, two of them waiting by the doors as they stood guard.

"Are you okay?" Perfuma asked worriedly, kneeling to Catra's right side as she patted her back.

"I can't believe... she tricked me..." Catra muttered, still unable to comprehend what just happened. "She used my emotions against me... without having to pull a finger..."

"Catra, it wasn't your fault." She refused to believe the fabled She-Ra was as cruel or malicious as she made herself out to be in front of the crowd. She's seen her for herself, and there was no way that She-Ra from Plumeria would ever be capable of committing such an act of violence without a good reason. "She tricked you, she tricked everybody. You shouldn't blame yourself."

"The Princess is right, lass." Sea Hawk nodded, still holding a loopy Mermista's arm over his neck. "There are many nefarious individuals who know how to manipulate matters of the heart. No one can blame you for being a victim of these poor circumstances."

"H-He-Hey, guys, I gotta id- I got- I got an idea..." Mermista slurred, exposing a flushed face for all for them to see. " I know how to- I-I-I know how to cheer her up! Hic! I-I- I heard that- I heard that... There's...Princess P-P-Prom, going on today, tha'sh like... t-totally...legim...legitimin...le-le-legiter... true!" She squealed in a loud whispered tone as she chuckled. "We should t-totally crash it and have a bl... blast!"

"I... Think we'll put a pin in it, sweetheart." Sea Hawk replied, still embarrassed over the state she was in.

"Heh heh heh..." Mermista drooled a little as she slowly rose a finger to his upper lip. "Y-Your mustache is... p... purrrrtty..."

"Besides, it's not like it's all bad." Entrapta added, descending from the stairs by her hair extensions. "Since Princess Frosta knows why you did it, she's sure to tell everyone else who asks her about it."

"And what if they don't ask?" Catra spoke emotionless. She stared at the ice ground she was kneeling on with her hands and knees, unable to accept the reality of how badly they lost today. "What if they just assume what happen and don't question it later?"

"Well, then we'll just change their minds ourselves." Bow retorted tying to sound encouragingly. Catra was harsh, direct, even blunt at times whenever it came to talking about other people around her, and he knew she still had a good heart about it. Whatever sort of trickery was played around them, whatever this Adora did, she wouldn't get away with. "Catra, even if we lost public support, it doesn't mean we can't change their minds or prove them them they're wrong later."

"And what if we can't?" She didn't bother looking back to anyone as she spoke. "What if whatever we do doesn't change their opinion about us?"

"Then we just have to keep trying." He smiled back. "If everyone can change their opinion on us in one night, then it'll be just as easy to change their opinions on us over time. And we'll have their support too!" He gestured to the princesses and allies that smiled to her, regardless if she looked to them or not. "It'll be like how it always is. Them, you me, Glimmer- Huh!" His eyes widened as he finally noticed something out of place. "Wait, where's Glimmer?"

"I haven't seen her since before the dance started." Entrapta shrugged back.

"I think the lass headed over to the balcony when I last saw her." Sea Hawk said trying to remember.

"Gah, she's probably still inside somewhere." He gave a brief pat to Catra's back as he stood up again. "I'll run inside real quick to get here, you guys wait right here."

"Whatever..." Catra groaned waving her hand away. Getting back to her own feet, she made her way over to the ledge, dangling one leg over it as she stared at the remaining snowy kingdom.

Giving a noticeable concern to each other, Bow nodded to the rest of them as he headed back to the stairs where two guards remained stationary. "Hey, I need to run back inside real quick, I think my friend's in there." He watched as the guards gave a small look to each other for a second, turning back towards him as they waved their hands to come inside, telling him to follow.

He left the others outside as the rest continued to keep to themselves with their own thoughts over the next few minutes. Perfuma looked to the stars in wonder, trying to figure out how the Universe could pull something like this on her dear friend, Entrapta was doodling notes and sketches about all of the nights recordings and notes she took, and Sea Hawk was helping an ailing friend of his who gagged with dry heaves over the side.

He had a good feeling she would wake up with a hangover by this time tomorrow.

That left Catra with her own thoughts and worries about everything tonight. How long has she been away from Adora at this time? How much had Shadow Weaver influenced her, manipulated her, into the very person she was today? What sort of trickery or brainwashing did she commit to get Adora to plan out such a cruel and manipulative plan like this one?

Most of all, how much had Adora changed? She still saw her as the friend she's known throughout all her life, the person that protected her since they were friends. She always had her back and her Adora's, up to a certain extent until Adora just had her back. So much time must've passed, more than she realized it. She was using the dark energies Shadow Weaver granted onto her through the headband, and after today, she pulled off a wicked scheme the likes of which she's never seen from Adora before.

How long would it be until she became someone like Shadow Weaver herself? Would it be possible for her to be anything worse than Shadow Weaver by the end of it all?

The thought of it gave Catra chills as she hugged herself, feeling colder from the thought than the winds that brushed passed her in the dead of night. Seeing the snowy terrain around her, seeing how big this kingdom truly was, worked towards her sense of guilt. In one single night, she lost the chance to give the Rebellion all of this, all the support they've been working so hard to build. A chance that might've cost them the war in the near future.

After another several minutes had passed, everyone turned to the sound of the front doors opening up again. Instead of Bow with Glimmer, they found two other guards taking station outside the castle gates, without a single Bow in sight. While she might not have been allowed back into the castle, nothing said she couldn't stroll on up to the front of it, right?

At the sight of her, the two guards armed themselves with their spears, ready to defend the castle again.

"Keep your pants on, all right?" She waved her hands peacefully with an uncaring look in her eyes. "I wanna know if Bow found Glimmer yet." The two guards looked to each other as the rest of her allies came up to the door behind her.

"Who?" The right one asked.

"Bow. The guy who went in earlier? You guys brought him in with you?" She reminded. Concern started to cross over in her mind as the guards stared at each other confused again, as if she was speaking some foreign language.

"What are you talking about?" The left one asked back.

"BOW!" She rubbed her head trying to refrain from starting another fight here. "You brought him in or another pair of guards brought him in, it doesn't matter. He's in there with Glimmer somewhere-"

"Miss, I think you're mistaken." The right guard interrupted, passively standing his spear up. "We're the only guards stationed here for the night. There wouldn't be any other guards out here."

What?" The group said in unison together.

This didn't make any sense to Catra. Why wouldn't these two know about the other guards that were here a few minutes ago? It didn't matter if they all wore snow masks to protect their eyes from the icy winds, they should know who's who in a place as important as this one! Who else could've...

"No..." And like previously with Adora, another reality struck Catra, one she realized all too late.

"Ah!" The three blinked as they heard a sudden scruffy yelp from under them. Peering over the side, Adora's face switched from rage to anxiety as she saw the pour victim of her dumpage. "Hey! Adora!"

"S-Sorry!" She apologized back.

That guard knew her name. They said Adora. She wasn't able to pick up on the voice with the acoustics from where they stood a near fifty feet below them, their echo being drowned out by the music of the Ball, and it didn't make a difference. That guard knew her name was Adora, knew specifically that Adora would be up there without seeing her for themselves. Adora wasn't the only person Scorpia brought to this party.

They brought the Horde with them.

"No!" Catra yelled as she quickly shoved her way passed the guards, ignoring their demands to stop as she ran through the castle. "Glimmer! Bow! Where are you guys?" She yelled through the castle, outrunning any of the guards that tried to chase her after passing them.

This was beyond the realm of bad. This was a whole new night,are of bad. If the Horde infiltrated the castle without their knowing, there was no telling what they could've done or what else they were party. If ruining the Rebellion's possible future relationships was all there was, they wouldn't have bothered bringing reinforcements with them, there'd be no point if the rules of neutrality prevented any violence from harming the two of them.

There was a single place she thought to check, one place she's seen Glimmer at before she disappeared on them. Running through the castle, she barged her way into the Ball room, ignoring the stares she got from most of the staff currently cleaning and fixing up anything damaged, thankful Princess Frosta herself was either retired or absent from the room.

Dashing away, she climbed her way up to the balcony, pushing through the curtains, to see the very last thing she wanted to see, or expected.

The Horde was truly here. Piloting a scorpion-like flying vehicle, she saw all of them, everyone who went missing tonight. A disguised Lonnie and Kyle without their masks on, a Scorpia with an unconscious Bow passed out over her shoulder and in thin cuffs over his wrists, and a passed out Glimmer who was also cuffed, in the passenger seat near the final person she saw grinning back to her as the vehicle took off into the air.

Adora.

It was no wonder she never saw Scorpia during or after the dance by this point. While she was tying to stop Adora's plan, thereby making it come true, she was off capturing Glimmer from the balcony, Catra too distracted by Adora's schemes and mischief to hear any possible signs of a struggle outside, provided she could in the first place with the music blasting off. With the Horde being as manipulative and secretive as they were, it wouldn't surprise her if Scorpia managed to get the drop on Glimmer, the girl already shattered and distracted from her own emotional state.

And now she was here, smirking at Catra as she held her latest capture that carelessly walked through the doors thinking he'd be safe; Bow.

"Thanks for the dance, Catra."

"Adora!" Catra yelled as she ran for the vehicle. Adora sneered, watching Catra's futile attempts to reach them as the vehicle flew off over the balcony, distancing them a good thirty feet from the ledge straight ahead, too far for Catra to reach and exposed enough for her allies to see from the Castle's entrance. "We should do it again sometime. Take care!" With a final taunt, Catra watched helplessly as her closest allies flew away.

If any of that didn't bother her, the one additional detail she saw did. She didn't just take Glimmer, she didn't just take Bow, and she didn't steal the last ounce of pride Catra had left either. With Lonnie waving it playfully in her hands, she saw it.

They had taken her sword too.

Today was one of the biggest victories for the Horde.

And the greatest loss for the Rebellion.

...

A/N: So, if you're still reading this and didn't get fed up with me potentially ruining a character or something, you're probably wondering what i meant earlier about my struggle with this.

Well, on a grand scale, my struggle was everything... specifically everything related to the characters. I didn't contemplate it at first but it was actually hard to write out what Adora's plans/scheme was in this chapter. Why? Because i needed to do something that fit her.

I couldn't do something simple or it'd be boring, and I couldn't just do the same thing Catra had done because aside from being a direct clone of it, it wouldn't be fitting. I can't really expect Adora to do something so cruel that could potentially injure hundreds of other people for the sake of her mission, and at the same time i needed to give it something that was more fitting for her while still holding true to her values at the same time.

In short, I was going into this with a no-win situation :/ So if anyone has a problem with what I did with Adora, I apologize, but there was literally nothing I could do about it. Hopefully I still kept her fun and more in-character (specifically in this universe's version) along with her show's counterpart. If anyone had a better suggestion on how I could've done her scheme, I'd love to hear it. I dont say that as a mock or a challenge, I mean I'm legitimately curious. Otherwise, again, sorry. No-win situations are just that- no-win situations X/

Otherwise, if you did enjoy, thanks to those of you who followed along and kept to the story to this point! We're almost at the grand finale ^^! And two episodes away from THE SADDEST FREAKING EPISODE I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO X*[!

Huff... Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 32: Episode 9: No Princess Left Behind Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: What is up fanfic people! Monokub here, more excited than ever to leave a posting!

I gotta be honest, i love the feedback i'm getting from the crowd, and major thanks for all the reviews past chapter. I'm glad i went the right route with that one, so special thanks to everyone who reviewed it specifically on Fanfiction and Ao3!

I also have to add despite it being as good as it was, I'm still nervous. As everyone knows, from this point forward, we'll continue to get into more of the feel territory of the show, and with the standards I've set up to this point, I hope I continue to bring you guys charming and loveable episodes and I don't screw something up X/.

With that said, hope you enjoy!

...

"Ooooh." Scorpia grinned as she stared at her reflection in the sword.

"Now, concentrate, Adora." Shadow Weaver instructed to the young Force Captain.

"Mmh... I'm... trying..." Adora grumbled as her right hand surged red electricity. With a red headband, one gifted to her by Shadow Weaver herself, she focused.

"You need to imagine it as a living creature, an animal, if you will." Shadow Weaver advised, watching as her pupil attempted to siphon the energy from the Black Garnet. "Once you assert your will over it, it will obey."

"I-I'm trying." Adora answered, devoid of emotion. This is what the training she had earlier lead her to. The ability to wear this headband and close her heart off of nearly every emotion imaginable. As long as she wore this, she felt little to nothing. She didn't feel sadness, she didn't feel stress, she didn't feel irritation, and so forth. "It almost feels like it's resisting me, like it's... scared..."

"It's a stone." Shadow Weaver retorted coldly, "Stone's don't feel anything. Now do it. Assert your will over it, make it obey your every word!"

"Mmmh!" She wasn't going to let it tell her what to do. She wanted it's power, she needed it's power to protect those she cared about and those who were with her. She doesn't know if this stupid stone truly is alive or if it's the headband itself playing with her mind the same way it toyed with her emotions. All she knew was that she refused to let it disobey her, not when she needed it most. "Give it to meee..." She grumbled as the electricity continued to increase in frequency. She barely felt the electricity as it glided around her right arm, though she did feel a tingling sensation between her hand to her shoulder. "Give it to me!"

*BZZZZZZT!*

"Ahh!" Adora yelped as she was blasted back. Having her feet planted firmly to the ground, she found herself sliding against the floor by her boots, the electricity still surging around her arm, leaving it in a trembling state. With a small sigh, Shadow Weaver calmly removed the headband from Adora's head, the emotions returning to the girl as well as all the pain that came from her attempted siphoning.

She held her breath as she tried to keep from crying out from the pain it brought, always feeling it whenever she was trained to do this. When she was wearing the headband, physical pain such as this was numbed to a great extent, possibly protecting her entirely so she wouldn't feel it in the first place. Whenever it was removed though, she instantly felt any of the pain or injury she endured if she removed the headband immediately after.

"Perhaps next time, my dear." Shadow Weaver said softly, pushing the headband's jewel straight into the Black Garnet itself. With ease, Adora watched as the energy around was pulling in the electricity, filling the headband with it's renewed energy once again. "You are getting better at it." She commented, returning to Adora as she gave her back the headband.

"But I still can't get it to work!" Adora complained, looking at her headband in frustration. "It's like something's blocking me from taking it's power in the first place."

"Calm yourself, Adora. Soon you won't need me to do this for you."

"Besides, you should be celebrating." The two looked back as they saw Scorpia swinging the sword playfully. "After all, you did pull off a big score today."

"She is right, Adora." Shadow Weaver tilted the girl's head up a little so she could look into her eyes. "You have no idea how proud I am of you. I can almost guarantee that-

"Shadow Weaver." Cutting her off, all three members of the Horde were greeted by the arrival of Lord Hordak appearing over the monitor. The very moment he made his appearance, Adora and Scorpia quickly saluted, standing at respect of the image.

"My Lord." Shadow Weaver greeted, standing before the other two.

"I commend you on the capture of the Princess of Bright Moon." He complimented with a sense of pride in his voice. "Queen Angella has been given until the morning's moonrise to surrender herself to our forces."

"Thank you, Lord Hordak. But I can not accept all the credit." At this, she pulled Adora by the shoulder to her front, gesturing her her proudly. "Adora is the one who did the hard work."

Adora was at a bit of a loss for words. She didn't mind being the one credited for the mission or not, even if it felt a little embarrassing when it was her own supervisor promoting her success. On top of it, she was being promoted right in front of the Leader of the Horde, the man responsible for starting about this revolution that could save Etheria.

"Ah, yes, Adora." He gazed upon her with curiosity. "When Shadow Weaver first told me about you, I must admit I had my small share of doubts. I am pleased to see that gamble has paid off. You did very well."

"T-Thank you, Lord Hordak!" Adora replied brightly. For the fist time in her life, she felt a true sense of accomplishment and success! This feeling of praise from a great hero such as him, it was such an honor!

"I expect to see greater results out of you in the future. Continue to prove your worth." With that, the communications from him was cut off as the screen went blank.

"Woohoo!" Scorpia cheered, bringing in Adora in a hug around her neck, rubbing her head playfully with the other one. "Way to go, Adora!"

"Hehehe!" Adora let out a cheer herself as she pulled at Scorpia's arm.

This was going to be a great day, she could already tell! They succeeded in their mission, they captured two members of the Rebellion, one of which was the very Princess of the Rebellion, they had that stupid sword that caused Catra to become whatever brainwashed slave the princesses used her for, and best of all, she got complimented by Lord Hordak himself, the very leader of the Horde! Life couldn't get more perfect than this!

...Well... almost. There was still the sense of guilt she felt over how she played Catra, not that she was given much choice. She needed to get the princess no matter how much she had to hurt her or herself. She manipulated her, used her, tricked her into letting her guard down enough for her to purposely give her the wrong impression, using reverse psychology to get her to react the way she wanted to. Just because she didn't have full control over her actions doesn't mean it made Adora feel any better. She could almost swear Catra was fully in control of herself when they were reminiscing about their past.

Her being here would be the one thing to make her life absolutely perfect right now. To be together again, fighting side by side, friends together, it would be a blast! Best of all, she wouldn't be in trouble for it! She knew whatever spell they used on her could easily be reversed, according to Shadow Weaver at least.

Speaking of which, that was the one other thing that bothered Adora a little as she pulled herself free from Scorpia's hug. "What did Hordak mean by gamble, Shadow Weaver?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with, my dear." Shadow Weaver assured, stroking her cheek softly. "Now, why don't you go celebrate with Scorpia for a while?" Adora followed her gaze as she glared coldly to the Princess of Bright Moon. "I want to welcome our dear guest properly."

"Give me some time with her, Shadow Weaver." Adora pleaded, refusing to take her gaze off the terrible princess. "I have a lot of questions for her."

"In time, dear, in time." Shadow Weaver replied, patting her shoulder before taking the sword directly from Scorpia. "Now, run off. I'll call you when it's your time to play..." Nodding to her in respect, the two of them did as they were instructed as they walked through the automatic doors, Shadow Weaver waiting until the door shut firmly behind them, then turned her attention to the aforementioned princess.

"Mmmh..." Groaning, she slowly regained consciousness, coming to as the feeling of touch was going off all throughout her body.

Pain. For some reason, all she could feel was a pain throughout her body. Opening her eyes weakly, she caught a glimpse of wherever she was. It was a bleak, miserable looking place that was devoid of any charm of beauty, save for the large gem she saw within the center of the room. Her dress was torn apart, her arms were stuck in place, and she felt weak.

Very, very, weak.

"Welcome to the Fright Zone, Princess." Shadow Weaver's voice echoed as she materialized in front of her. Using her magic, she began to engulf Glimmer in a shroud of darkness, enveloping all she could see into a black nothingness. She would make sure she was in stable enough condition for whatever Adora had planned for her, but until then, she was hers.

And she was going to give her a thorough understanding of why this place was called the Fright Zone...

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

Emptiness. Sadness. Regret. Doubt. Hurt. Confusion. Denial.

And Loneliness.

These were all the feelings Catra had right now as she sat against the door within her bedroom, kneels curled up as she hugged them, wrapping her tail around the bare toes. It didn't matter if she wasn't wearing her boots at this point. Who would be there to yell at her? Angella? Glimmer? Bow? Of course not.

Whyy?

Because they were gone. The Queen remained silent in the Meeting Room as the rest were gone. Abducted. Kidnapped.

It wasn't bad enough that they were taken in the first place, oh no, that just made it all the more understandable. They were gone because of her. Her, and her emotions, the very things that Adora manipulated throughout the Ball, the very ones she distracted her with upon meeting again after the events of Salineas.

She thought the dance was supposed to be the worst part about all of this. After all the cheer and partying mood her allies were in, she thought what she had to do after would've been the worst part, since it involved having a whole bunch of manners and junk training for the Ball. Then she thought meeting the bratty Princess of the Kingdom of Snows, Princess Frosta, soon after would've been the worse part after she made a fool of herself and insulting twice in front of the same person. And somehow, that still wasn't the worst part of her night!

The worst part came when also the best part came, that being when Adora showed up with another Force Captain named Scorpia. She thought she could prove to her she's not crazy, or at the very least have a nice chat with her after the time since they last saw each other. The socialized, they reminisced about their past, they expressed regret and hurt towards each other while admitting to the care they still had for one another. That should've been a great starting point to rebuilding her relationship with Adora after everything that happened!

Instead, she found herself betrayed. Adora left behind a bunch of simple clues to her wicked plot, enough to get Catra paranoid about her schemes to begin with. From there, she through in a word of comfort and display here and there, getting Catra to let her guard down enough for her instincts to kick in. That was the decisive factor that played in to all of this, because with the ticking sound she heard come from the gift Adora gave Frosta, she was expecting anything short of a Time Bomb.

So imagine later on, after causing chaos throughout the party when she tried to confront Frosta on this, in order to steal back and destroy the Snow Globe Adora gave her, she finds out it was a simple musical tune that was set to go off? All that chaos that erupted throughout the party, when she attacked the young princess in front of hundreds of others, when she ended up injuring her out of anger while trying to simultaneously grab the Snow Globe out of her pocket, it was all for nothing.

No, not nothing. Actually, it was far from nothing. It was everything Adora needed to make her plans see through to fruition. She played everything right down to the farthest detail. Enticing Catra's emotions, playing the innocent Force Captain of the Horde, being the sweet and caring person who gave a small child a gift? It was all according to plan to make the Horde look like the righteous ones around Etheria compared to the evil princesses that wanted wanton destruction and mayhem.

The very ones that also played a key part in the night's operations. Thanks to Catra, the girl struggling to do what's right half the time, made it all the more easier for Adora to achieve her plans. Have Catra, aka She-Ra, go insane in front of hundreds of people from different kingdoms, show how aggressive she could be because of the princesses' evil magic, and show everyone her lack of care or concern about hurting a small child. It went hand in hand with everything she did then, and everything she did after managing to kidnap Catra's allies, thanks to the assistance of her fellow Force Captain and her squadmates.

Since then Catra didn't know what to feel. She was played with endlessly that night, acting as every single domino Adora needed to line up so she could knock them all down at once. She admitted that in front of Catra's face, whispering in her ears, and reminded Catra that she had only herself to blame. She was so different from the Adora Catra used to know, the one who smiled cheerfully, the one who was sad when her friends were sad.

The one who wouldn't betray or manipulate her friends, no matter how peaceful, to succeed in her missions.

Everything that happened that night was on Catra. She didn't know what impact it could have on the future from this point forward. And somehow, that still wasn't as bad as it got for her...

...

"...Queen Angella...?" Catra spoke nervously, her ears lowered in depression since the night of the Ball, as she entered the meeting room. The Meeting Room was empty for possibly the first time Catra had ever seen it, withholding a depressed Angella and a guilt ridden Catra.

What was she supposed to say to the Queen who lost her daughter? The one she was in charge of always keeping safe? To hear how in one night the Rebellion's relationship was crumbled under one roof, and then lose a daughter out of a carefully orchestrated plan.

One where the plan was to let Catra be Catra, at that.

"I should've never let her leave this castle." Angella spoke, pushing her eyes into her hands as she rested her elbows on the table. "Not with you."

Ok, that was painful. As if she didn't have to feel guilty enough, she now had to deal with the guilt she had because the Queen had higher expectations for her than she thought, and she couldn't blame her. From day one she apparently had trust issues with the magicat, which wasn't surprising as her motives for helping the Rebellion were purely selfish, who she tasked with aiding the Rebellion while also ensuring her daughter and friend were kept safe.

Two different tasks she failed miserably with in just one night.

Honestly, this was probably the worst reaction Catra had ever gotten out of the Queen. Whenever she flipped on a task she was given in some way, she was talked down to. Whenever she came up with a plan that could either jeopardize the mission or put her daughter in grave danger, that was another thing. Those were the two most common reactions she would get out of the Queen by a day's end, at least once a week.

Here, there were no words to say. There was no talking down to Catra, there was no shouting at her about how she messed up, and it was surprisingly more painful than anything else the Queen had ever said.

"And now I'm forced to make an impossible decision." The pain in her eyes was spotable from a mile away. Incapable of looking Catra in the eye right now, all she could do was turn off to the side. "As leader of the Rebellion, how can I surrender myself to the enemy? And yet as a mother, how do I-?" She wasn't able to bring herself to finish.

Catra would never want to be in her position, even if she was the Princess of her own Kingdom. To choose between the rest of the world, and to choose between the people you care most about. How would anyone be able to come up with a decision like that? How would anyone blame them for choosing one or the other?

With a sigh, the Queen rose from the table, closing her eyes with her decision made. "I'm going to accept Hordak's terms. Glimmer is all I have left."

"B-But... But you can't!" Catra struggled to argue, trying to sound convincing despite not knowing any other option to get her allies back at the same time. "You don't know the Horde like I do. They will never let Glimmer go!" With the situation as serious as it was, there was no joking or nicknaming that came to her mind. "If you go there now you will just be condemning the both of you. If anything you're better off remaining here! At least then they won't execute her without risking their only bargaining chip."

"And then I would be condemning Glimmer to who knows how much torture." Angella retorted, shooting down Catra's argument in an instant. Like the Queen she was, she clearly thought out every scenario and possibility out of the book. "To lead the Rebellion with an open mind while subjecting my daughter to pain and suffering? What kind of person would I be?"

"...B... But..." Catra couldn't look at her in the moment. She wanted to say how wrong she was, she wanted to point out some big flaw in her scenario, and she couldn't. She couldn't offer up any form of resistance to her planning. She almost jumped as the Queen stood before her, so distracted by her thoughts that all noise became mute to her before she saw the Queen again.

"I appreciate everything you've done for us till now, Catra." The Queen lifted her chin with her fingertips, giving Catra possibly the softest look she's had since meeting her. "If we're wrong about this and my daughter is safely returned, I trust you to aid my daughter's side until the war is over. Thank you for everything." Without another word, the Queen made her way passed the distraught Catra, the one who could only lower her head in shame...

...

This is why it sucked to have friends. There was no benefit to having friends in the long run, there were no possibilities friends would remain by each other's side until the end of time. All they did was make people softer, make them incapable of making rational decisions with their friends involved. You were expected to always be by their side and never turn away from them, even if sometimes those lead to dire consequences.

All that was guaranteed was the exact same thing that happened at the end of every friendship.

Someone would go away.

*knock*

"She-Ra? Are you in there?" Catra could hear Perfuma call from the other side of the door.

"Oooh! Let me try!" She heard Entrapta say, giddy with excitement.

*knock-knock-knockknock-knock*

*knock-knock*

"...Maybe she's not in there?"

"What do you want?" Catra moaned, still curled up against the door.

"Oooh! It worked!"

"Catra, lass, we want to talk." She heard Sea Hawk that time.

"Ugh... hang on." Catra grumbled as she stood, opening the door to see the confusingly optimistic faces of her past allies. "About what?" She asked, giving off a look of shame to all those who saw her.

"About the rescue mission!" Perfuma said happily clapping her hands.

"What rescue mission?"

"Well, you know... Your idea on how to rescue Glimmer and Bow from the Horde!"

"We're the Princess Alliance. And the Horde took one of our own." Mermista boasted. She also wanted payback for the massive hangover she spent all night dealing with.

"And we're ready for our first mission!" Perfuma stated with glee.

"...I repeat, what rescue mission?" The weight of the air around them slowly shifted, becoming heavier as Catra walked passed them and started walking down the hallway.

"Oh, Catra, don't be like that now." Entrapta said with a smile, standing above her as she was held up by her hair-like appendages. "We know you care about them just as much as we do. So tell us how we'll rescue them!"

"..." Catra said nothing for the few seconds she stared at her, opting to walk right under her and leaving her with a confused look.

"Come on, She-Ra, we want to know the big plan!" Perfuma asked as the Princess Alliance continued to follow them.

"There isn't one." Catra replied coldly, catching everyone by surprise.

Luckily for Mermista, she knew how to play at Catra's game, giving a smirk as she crossed her arms. "Oh come on. What are ya, scared?"

"Yes."

Everyone went silent as Catra announced this, everyone stopping in their tracks including her, leaving her back to them. Catra, the Catra. The one they knew since first meeting her, the one that always boasted about herself, the one who always did whatever it took to complete a mission no matter how reckless it seemed, just admitted she was scared. If they didn't know any better, they could've sworn they were talking to a completely different person as she squeezed her fists.

"...Oh..." Mermista was at a loss on what to say. Normally whenever she pulled the oldest trick in the book like this, the person she accused would retaliate with saying they weren't afraid, and after a little bit of banter, they would immediately turn their frown upside down and face whatever challenge scared them head on.

"You guys don't know the Horde like I do." Catra said, refusing to look back to any of them. "You don't know what it's like living within the Fright Zone. It earns it's name because of what it is. A nightmare.

"And that's exactly why we need you!" Perfuma replied, trying to maintain her optimism in this situation. "You're the only one with knowledge of the place inside and out. We wouldn't last two minutes there without your help."

"You still don't understand!" Catra yelled a little, turning her head barely an inch in frustration, keeping her face hidden. "I'm a defector here, and everyone within the Fright Zone knows it. I have a bounty on my head, the only person I consider a friend is fighting on their side, and..." Catra trailed off, finding it pointless to continue the neverending list of issues. "You don't know what they do to defectors there. They'll make me wish I was dead if I'm lucky enough."

"Catra, it's not like we'll let anything happen to you." Perfuma assured. "We'll have each other's backs while we're there."

"And you think that matters?" Catra grumbled back, giving a small glare to the girl. "You think we'll all be fine if we work together or whatever garbage you're thinking? This isn't some trip to an enchanted forest or some travel overseas with giant flesh eating sea monsters! The Fright Zone's much deadlier than anything you could imagine, especially where we're going!"

"But... She-ra-"

"How long are you going to call me that?!" Catra groaned squeezing the bridge between her eyes. "My name is Catra, not She-Ra! She-Ra's supposed to be some all-powerful perfect being! I haven't been able to do one thing on my own since becoming She-Ra! All I've done at this point is make everything worse, and if I come along, something's going to get messed up again." She made Perfuma jump as she pulled her closer by her collar. "I promise you someone's going to die if I go!" She had little heed or concern about Perfuma's fearful and mournful expression.

"Hey, ease up on her!" Mermista told her, pushing between the two. "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you get to take it out on us."

"I'm being realistic compared to the rest of you!" She shouted. "Why don't you ask the science nerd what the chances are of us failing this mission?" She offered gesturing to Entrapta.

Noticing all eyes turning to her, Entrapta took out one of the data pads from within her own pocket, calculating and mashing hundreds of different calculations as the screen flashed a blueish light over her eager face. With a contented smile as she dabbed the last bit of data and calculated one final scenario, she finally got to see the end of her results.

As Catra expected, it made her frown.

"Well?"

Entrapta took a noticeable glance at everyone with a nervous expression on her face, silently gulping to herself as she read over the information. "Umm... w-well, provided we're going in blindly at the moment, so don't let that discourage you-"

"Just tell them already!" Catra shouted.

"...There's a... 27.3% chance we'll all fail and or die..." Right before Entrapta could press an argument to this, Catra interrupted.

"Good. Now tell us the chance of one of us dying."

Like previously, she gave a worryful look to everyone, seeing all their concerned faces for a moment, then went back to tapping away at the data pad with a little less enthusiasm. This time when she finally inputted the last of the statistics, her eyes widened in shock as a red light reflected off her face, quickly covering the data pad against her chest as she gave a nervous smile. "Heh heh, what do you know? It says we're guaranteed no one will die! Heh heh... ehhhh..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Anyone with ears could see through Entrapta's easily spotted lie.

"It's still not an excuse to do anything, though." Mermista continued to argue. "If there was even a one-percent chance that we can pull this mission off successfully, we have to take it. If Queen Angella surrenders herself then we all fall with her. What's your plan on that when the Horde starts breaking down the front door then, Catra?"

"I don't know, and I don't care." She scoffed, walking back down the hallway. "You guys have my support if you plan on going there yourselves, just leave me out of it... for your sakes."

The others looked back to each other with concern and worry. Catra was acting nothing like the rest of them knew her to be. This was a legitimate overwhelming fear going on through her eyes, a paranoia the likes of which they've never seen. This wasn't a simple fear of the place they were going to.

This was a fear of Catra's own involvement in any sort of plan. What she feared the most at this time was the realization that it all came down to her, her and anything she could think of. Everyone depended on her at this very moment to get them through some sort of plan, and the possibility she would mess something up terrified her to no end.

"What do we do now?" Perfuma asked.

"We can't risk going there ourselves without a plan, and we can't just sit here and do nothing." Mermista stated. "We don't have much of a choice. We have to charge over there and take a chance."

"Ehhh, that's a very bad ideaaaa..." Entrapta muttered looking over the data pad. "I know this might shock you, but I was actually lying when I said that nothing bad could happen!"

"...Oh no... I had no idea you were lying... I'm in shock..."

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry for lying about it!" Entrapta whined, having no idea of the blatant sarcasm coming from a facepalming Mermista.

The only one out of the group who seemed to remain silent about all of this was Sea Hawk himself, adventure extraordinaire. There was a strange feeling of semblance he could find himself with involving Catra. That worried look she kept in her eye, the deep feeling of guilt, and the worry she would mess something up when everyone relied on her about it. He was the only one who could fully relate to what she was saying.

"...Uhh why don't you guys get the hovercraft ready?" He suggested jogging away. "Let me have a word with her." The others had nothing to argue against, though it didn't mean they understood what he had to say. They hoped that whatever it was, it was the one thing that could turn Catra's mind around.

...

Why did they bother asking her about this? She was Catra, an ex-member of the Horde. Nothing she had to offer could be encouraging or helpful throughout the entire journey.

She tried being someone she wasn't before in Plumeria, and she screwed it up. She tried being herself the night of the Princess Prom, and she screwed it up. She could probably do nothing on this mission if she went with them, and knowing herself, she would find some impossible way to screw it up!

There was no end to the number of problems they could come across if she was the one taking charge of this mission. With her run of bad luck, she wouldn't be surprised if they were blown away into little tiny chunks the moment they set foot in the Fright Zone. In fact, she would be even more surprised if they went one minute through this entire mission without someone dying on her!

Every time she was herself something went wrong. She was cursed and regretful with little to offer whether she had the Sword of Protection or not. Suffice to say, regardless of involvement, everyone else was better off without her.

"Catra, wait!" She heard Sea Hawk calling to her, doing nothing to stop as she walked on.

"I already told you, I don't plan on coming with." He could tell from her tone alone that she was in pain, and not just from her refusal to go along.

"I know that, lass, I only wanted to talk." He was thankful as she stopped in her tracks.

"About what?"

"About you." He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as he tried to soothe her. "Catra, I know fully well where you're coming from. Back in my younger days when I first started as a captain, I was wrought with fear and distress. Worrying about what I was doing half the time, what if my actions resulted in tragedy-"

"I already had this talk with Bow." Catra interrupted. "It's not a fear I have personally of someone or something, I just..." She hugged herself at the thought of it. "If I do something here, someone else is going to suffer for it. If I go on this mission too, everyone will pay the price, I just know it."

"And you don't think it's worth saving your friends for?"

"They're not my friends." Compared to the usual demeanor she had whenever she said that, this one was filled with a genuine sadness. She didn't like saying it as much as she used to. It was all she could say to herself to refrain from the guilt of the Princess Prom disaster. If she had no friends, she wouldn't have to feel as terrible as she did now. "They're people I work with. That's all."

"You don't say..." Sea Hawk, as opposed to being turned down by this notion, was actually a little intrigued. "Maybe the problem isn't that you're too afraid, Catra. I think your problem is you need a bigger push to convince yourself that they're worth fighting for."

"A push?" A push towards what? Risking her life for what will definitely be a disaster? Cause that's definitely something she wanted.

Checking to make sure the coast is clear, she watched as he dug a hand through the inside of his boots, pulling out a small pinkie-sized key with a heart as a ring. "Here."

"What is it?" Taking the key from him, she eyed it curiously. It looked a little fruity to her, something that Glimmer would probably have given the heart-shaped ring on it and the pink color she saw.

"Oh, I think it's best if you discover on your own." He replied smiling. "I recommend checking Glimmer's room at that. Maybe inside of a wardrobe at that?" He took a brief look behind him and then back to her. "We'll be leaving in twenty minutes. I really hope you get the right motivation you need to go." Without another word, he gave the girl a simple pat on the head and then took off down the hallway.

What was a key supposed to do for her? Was it supposed to show her some secret weapon they had or some hidden powerful magic that could aid them in their adventure?

Whatever it was force, a part of her hoped that it would be the key to what she needed right now...

...

The room was barren and dark without Glimmer's annoying presence in it. Walking through the doors with a glum look on her face, feeling the small dresser along the wall with her fingertips, she sighed.

Looking back on it now, in a strange way, this is where all her adventures began since joining the Rebellion. Waking up next to Glimmer because she couldn't sleep by herself, going through the hallways with a pair of boots Bow helped her find in the Dressing Room, taking a trip to Plumeria as her first official meeting in the Rebellion. Everything that ever was came from this place, the place where it all started from.

It was a strange way feeling that loomed in the air without the dweeb's presence. Without her the room felt incredibly more lifeless for some reason. There was no perkiness that fluttered through the room, and no sense of sneakiness when Catra found herself stalking about the room for things to steal and make fun of Glimmer later for having it.

Which, is and of itself, rather dull since there were barely anything worth taking around here.

So what was she supposed to look for? Something in the wardrobe? Opening the wardrobe itself, she was unsurprised to see the numerous outfits Glimmer had. Apparently the girl had a lack of fashion sense to Catra's point of view. Her options on what to wear were either dresses, dresses, or more dresses. Was she supposed to wear one of these stupid dresses? Was that what he wanted her to find around here? What else could a young girl keep inside a place where she kept her clothes?

Shuffling around the clothes themselves and the shelf on top of the wardrobe, her hand brushed against something hard and wooden. Brushing her fingers closer to it, she managed to grab at whatever was supposed to be the big mystery behind this whole wardrobe. Pulling it out, she examined the strange box, walking her way over to the center of the room as she climbed towards the ceiling to Glimmer's bed, wanting a more comfortable spot to gaze upon her strange prize.

It was a box. A simple, book-sized, wooden box. There wasn't anything special about it other than the fact it screamed "Pinky" to her. It was painted in a crusty pink, the hinges of it had a vibrant gold coloring to them, and the padlock itself, big surprise, came in the shape of a small pink heart, no doubt the lock the key was meant for.

With a small breath to herself, examining the key itself one more time, she inserted the mysterious key, giving the lock a good twist until the padlock jingled itself, revealing the contents that this entire mystery was leading up to!

"...A book?" Catra rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing this straight. "That's it? No secret spell magic or weapon to help us?" Talk about the complete definition of the word lame! Oh sure, give us a book! It's not like an incredibly awesome powerful weapon or a magic spell could make things any BETTER! She almost wanted to hit herself for getting her hopes up like this, hating every minute she wasted of her life all for some stupid book!

At least until she saw what kind of book it was upon pulling it out. It was a Diary in fact. A simple, leatherbound pink diary, which, like the box, screamed Pinky's name.

Did Glimmer leave some sort of battle strategy or something in this? That might've been more useful. Maybe she left behind some contingency plan in case an event like this happened? Some secret plan that was essential if anyone else ever needed it? It was Planning 101 for events like this when it came to the Horde, and, seeing how she was a princess, it was possible she was taught to have situations like this too.

Against her better judgement telling her this was a complete waste of time, she decided to pop the diary open to the very last thing scrawled into it. She came to a page with a bunch of glittery headlines and sparkles filling the page with the words PRINCESS PROM written in bold. Figuring there was nothing else she could waste time doing, she decided to read along with it, imagining Glimmer's voice as if she was the one reading it to her.

Dear Diary,

This is it! The night of the Princess Prom, ooooh!

Catra rolled her eyes, picturing her squealing as she wrote that "ooooh!" in.

I can't believe it's finally here! This is the day we've all been waiting for, the day I've dreamed of since the last Princess Prom!

I got to be honest, I'm a little nervous. This isn't just going to be a Princess Prom with me and all my friends, this is going to be our first official Princess Prom involving a diplomatic mission!

All of it comes down to how well Catra does tonight.

Catra's eyes lowered a little in regret. A part of her wondered if this was some sort of magical diary that could change the history of the world if she edited any of the lines.

Everything is riding on her and how well she behaves in the Ball. We've spent the last several hours training and getting her ready for the Ball. She might still be a little rusty but I have faith in her. She's been trying her hardest lately and has been behaving a lot nicer to us since the events in Mystacor. I think she might really be close to calling us friends soon! All she needs is a little push!

I've got to go now, we've got a big night ahead of us! I can't wait till Princess Frosta joins our side!

Love, Glimmer

At the bottom of this diary's page, Catra found what might've been the most ridiculous thing anybody in the history of the world could have at the bottom of their diary.

It was, as the words under it read, a Friendship Meter. Of all the cheesy things she could've written, that might've been the cheesiest. It was in the shape of a thermometer, one sticking sideways as the meter started from the left. Within the thermometer itself, the bar was shaded up to about eight tenths of the meter, being one-fifth away, eighty percent, from being complete.

Is that how much closer Catra herself was getting to them? Was she actually getting a little closer to them than she thought?

Come to think of it, why was she wasting her time like this in the first place? It was a waste of time! Tossing the book to the foot of the bed, she grumbled as she curled her knees up again. There wasn't anything useful here! How was she supposed to get some sort of motivation or weapon through all of this garbage? Maybe she wasn't? Maybe Sea Hawk had some twisted senses of humor and this was all an annoying prank he came up with!

Now she was annoyed, irritated, and ticked. If his plan was to make her angry enough to want to chase him all the way to the Fright Zone, he was off to the right track!

... Still... she didn't have anything better to do... and when it came down to it, she hated having to worry about all of these stupid thoughts. They were annoying, obsessive. Poking her head out of the curled up knees she hugged herself with, she took another look at the diary at the foot of the bed.

When it came down to it, as long as she was reading she didn't have to worry about her own thoughts. Sighing to herself, she resigned herself to some more reading, picking the diary up again as she skimmed through to the previous adventure's log written in. As before, she read it as if Glimmer was talking to her.

Dear Diary,

We had a BLAST in Mystacor! Ooh, it was a fun experience for everyone! ...Well, almost everyone. It started off on the wrong foot for Catra. Apparently some black ghost lady named Shadow-Writer or something casted a strange spell over her, making her hallucinate and think all her fears were coming true and that she was surrounded by her enemies, and despite my best attempts at it, she wouldn't tell us what she was so scared of or why.

Why is she so stubborn like this? Doesn't she trust us yet? We're not going to make fun of her for being afraid of something, no matter how small or big it is. Sure, there's some fears out there that are funny, like people who are afraid of cheese for whatever reason, but even then it doesn't matter. No matter what she says, we're still her friends, and I wish she was more open with us and trusted us to tell us about herself, from all the parts she likes and all the parts she doesn't like, like her fears.

Aside from that though, we all had a fun time. Aunt Castaspella was instantly taken in with her, finding her cat parts cute. I even got her to make a sweater for Catra, you should've seen her face when she found out what she was wearing! LOL!

What kind of person wrote LOL in their diary?

After we saved each other from Shadow whoever, we spent the rest of our days relaxing and resting in Mystacor. Catra might not have shown it but she definitely had a blast! You could tell it from time to time with the way she smiled until someone looked directly at her, doing her best to hide her face.

Catra blushed a little as she remembered those instances.

I think her favorite part was the massage, because she wouldn't wake up till dinner by the time she got her last one. I can't wait to go back to Mystacor again, cause I know by then, we'll definitely be friends!

Like before, there was a little meter at the bottom, filled in at about 65%.

Looking back on it, did Glimmer make a bunch of notes about all the other stuff they've done together? She decided to check it out herself, flipping through the pages again until she came across one that screamed Dryl to her. How did she know which page it was? Because it's hard to miss when there's a bunch of doodles of wrenches and robot parts on the sides.

Dear Diary,

Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!

We're friends again! We're actually friends again! Well, maybe not friends, but closer than we were before!

Today was definitely the weirdest adventure we've had so far. Up to this point, it was a bit hard to tell if Catra would ever forgive me for what happened in Salineas. Every time I met her she just stared at me with a glare in her eye. Half the time I bumped into her in the halls I almost thought she wanted to kill me.

...Is that how Catra truly looked to her when she was mad?

But after today, everything's back to normal, and I can tell we reached a new milestone! It got weird during the mission when Catra got infected by some computer virus thing Entrapta built. I admit it was a little funny too, but still weird. She acted like a mix between a house cat and a tiger. She was protective of the people she barely knew, me and Bow, fought off any of the evil robots that tried to kill us, and, kind of like a cat, for some reason she ended up licking my face.

Catra nearly did a doubletake on that last line, covering her mouth as her face momentarily turned pale green. Immediately she licked her hands rapidly, trying to get any tiny bit of Glimmer's face off her saliva. She would have to drink acid before she ever felt clean again she was so disgusted!

Swallowing whatever lunch almost worked it's way up her throat, she continued.

I admit, I got really worried for a second there. Entrapta told us if we didn't fix Catra in time that the one we knew could be gone forever, and we didn't want that.

"They... didn't?" Catra asked herself. Those two didn't want Catra to be anyone other than what she was? Why? What was so interesting about the current Catra that they wanted to keep behind. Is it the fact this is possibly the only version of Catra they wanted because she can turn into She-Ra that times? That must be it!

Why... else would they want this version of Catra?

She's too important to us. Most of all, it wouldn't be fair. We don't want to change the way Catra is from how she is, no matter how much she hated me at the moment. Luckily for us, she pulled through for us at the end like she always does. Even after she was being controlled by the virus, she managed to fight through and stop the machines, just for us!

She doesn't really know what was going on through her mind during that time. The events that went on through her dreamlike vision was a little hazy these days, only remembering how scarring it was by the time she snapped out of it.

The best part of the day was the very end though. I finally decided to confront Catra about her hate for me. I didn't want to be like this for the rest of my life, worrying about whether or not she hated me or if she could ever get over it again. And to my surprise, guess what she said?

She said possibly the nicest thing she ever said to us! To her, she disliked us the least! After all this time, just when I was starting to have doubts if we were ever going to be friends or if she was never going to like us, she finally gave us a sign! I knew if we tried hard enough she might start to warm up to us! I really can't wait to see where it goes from here. Even if it takes a year, I know we'll be friends for sure!

Catra shrugged to herself mentally as she saw the meter, this time reading a whopping 50% full with lines exaggerating how amazing this realization was. She had a dozen rainbows around it, a butterfly or two, and she circled it repeatedly like it was the greatest thing ever!

Who knows what kind of marvel the next diary page had. Flipping quickly to the page, her curiosity was met with a grim outlook as she saw the lack of words this one had to it, with a giant noticeable X crossing out the meter entirely. She didn't even give it a proper introduction this time.

Diary

I don't want to talk about today, it was horrible. All I can say is-

Catra noticed some dried up tear stains on the pages, knowing it was from the events of Salineas. Did she really push so hard on Glimmer that day? Enough to make her cry?

I messed up. I messed up super bad. I don't know how it happened, but she counted on me for the first time. She said how she trusted me for the very first time since meeting me, and I let her down. I don't know how important this Adora girl is to her, but all I know is I messed up. She won't talk to me, she won't stand near me, she hardly wants to look at me. What if I ruined any chance of being friends with her? What if I ruined any chance of her helping us ever again?

All I can say is I'm sorry Catra. I'm so so sorry. I really wish I was brave enough to come out and say it to her in person, but I'm too scared. I've never seen her like this and I'm too scared to approach her when I need it most. No wonder she doesn't want to be friends with us. How can I blame her when I can't help her when she most needs it? I suck!

That... that wasn't right... She didn't suck to Catra... did she? She was mad, sure. she didn't want to talk to her for awhile, but...

"Is that really how I was?" She found herself asking again. What exactly was the point of this whole diary page reading? At first, it seemed a little interesting, and fun when you consider the fact she was doing something so sneaky too! After all, a girl's diary was full of private things, and who knew what sort of secrets lied dormant within the world of another?

Doing her best to ignore the saddening entry, she flipped over to the previous adventure's entry, specifically the one to Plumeria, the very first mission she ever did with Glimmer and Bow, indicated by the numerous flower drawings this time off to the sides of the entry.

Dear Diary,

Today I got to see a side of Catra I didn't expect from someone from the "Evil Horde" army. Today she showed a bit of her sensitive and neglected side.

All throughout the day, she was acting prideful. She was taking in the attention she gained from just being She-Ra, she made it a habit to show off in front of everyone as much as possible, and she was treated like a Queen who didn't earn it, She didn't turn down anyone who gave her the slightest bit of attention, and I thought she was acting like a selfish jerk.

But then I found out there was a reason for it, one I still regret not thinking about sooner because she was a member of the Horde. She wasn't craving the attention because she wanted it, she wasn't showing off just to show off.

She was doing it because she needed it. I don't think she's ever seen what true compassion and care looks like, and she was engulfed in a swarm of it. She was given so much care for the first time that she didn't know how else to act because of it. She needed the attention, she wanted to know how it felt to be cared for by somebody else.

In that sense, it's a really sad thought. To live an entire life where no one seemed to give you the attention you deserved, the attention you wanted. I wonder if I could've ended up like her at this point if my parents never loved me? The thought of it scares me, and at the same time I wish she could have a family. I wouldn't mind sharing mom with her if she wasn't scared of her. I'd be like her little or older sister (Note to self: ask her how old she is), and Bow would be like her brother. If dad was still alive I'm sure he'd love to meet her.

Catra shook her head at this with a small smile. Somehow it sounded exactly like something Pinky would say.

And tonight's going to be a blast! She doesn't know it yet but we're planning a surprise slumber party! I wonder if she ever had a sleepover before? Either way, I'm sure she'll be excited about it. Who knows, we might even be able to have a couple this week since I'm grounded for a little bit. Oh well.

Yeah, Catra was still contemplating how that adventure was for it. It was about the perfect balance between good and bad in a day, though she would've preferred the bad part of it first and then have it be as good as it was earlier that day.

In terms of the meter, it was filled in about 30% full. Maybe that was a little more than what it should've been, maybe not.

With all the stuff coming to her, she flipped through the pages again until she found the very first entry, the first one Glimmer filled in immediately after meeting Catra for the first time. It was also the biggest entry out of all of them.

Dear Diary,

This is by far the strangest day I've had. After mom grounded me this morning, I had enough. I wanted to prove to her I wasn't a child anymore and that I can be taken more seriously. So I did the most sensible thing I could think of at that moment- I ran away and went off into the dangerous woods with my friend in the search of some ancient First Ones tech.

Hey I said it was sensible in the moment only.

And after searching the woods for several hours, guess what we happened to bump into? A sword created by the First Ones called the Sword of Protection, and a cat. And no I don't mean an average cat, I mean a person.

Her name is Catra, and she's from the Horde. I really don't know what to say about her. At first, I thought she was a huge jerk. Throughout the entire time she tagged along with us because she wanted that sword, she was a pain. She annoyed me, picked on me, and for some reason decided to call me "Pinky" for whatever reason. Seriously, only my hair is pink, my outfit is closer to purple. Why not something like "Violet" or even "Purpley"? I'd take it.

What's so annoying about her is the fact the sword chose her. She saved us from a monster when she turned into some mystical warrior known as She-Ra, who was supposed to be a symbol of hope, peace, and prosperity to all. Catra is the exact OPPOSITE of that!

Catra's ears drooped as she felt like Glimmer was actually shouting that at her.

She's snide, she doesn't seem that interested in being a hero, and I'd hate to say it but I'm a little jealous. Why did the sword pick her to be the hero? Why not someone more fitting? Even my mom would make a greater She-Ra than her! She has all this power and she doesn't know what to do with it. I don't even think she can turn it off. Why did the sword give it to her of all people?

Was this supposed to be the big revelation behind everything? A whole page's worth of garbage and insults directed at her? If she wanted to be berated by someone she'd just stay inside the Horde for crying out loud! This didn't have anything useful to it, this didn't give her any motivation to go save her! It didn't matter if she thought this at first and changed her mind over time, for all Catra knew this is how she felt even today!

That was when she noticed there was a lack of a friendship meter at the end of it. Did she not have enough space to write it in? Reexamining the page, she noticed how it didn't seem to have much of an ending either compared to the other entries. Deciding to give it a check, she found the following page continued the diary entry.

But that's what I thought only at first. She still doesn't seem to know whether she wants to be a hero herself or not, but after the day's experience, I can say she has the qualities of one.

Is this the same person writing this all of a sudden?

Looking back on the days events now, she did a lot more than I originally thought. She saved us from a giant monster, she stuck by our side until I woke up. She got a Force Captain to call off a Horde invasion in the middle of Thaymor, and a few hours ago, I learned she actually saved a little girl named Kim from a collapsing building! She risked her life, the one she seemed more interested in, to save a child!

I felt stupid thinking she wasn't hero material anymore since then. Even if I still don't know what kind of person she wants to be, I think I know now what kind of person she is.

Anything. She is any kind of person she wants to be. She can be a glorious fighter, she could be the hero we need, she could very well be the person to save our entire Rebellion, she could be anyone she wants to be. She taught me a hero can come from anywhere, regardless of where they're born.

Throughout the entire day, I think what I learned the most is how dependable she can be. She might always be the one to charge in head first, she might be reckless, and she might even mess up a few times along the way. But deep down, I'm pretty sure, she can be the one thing this Rebellion needs most of all.

Someone who can be there for you when you need her the most.

*drip*

Catra blinked as she felt a single tear rolling down her face, making a noticeable wet mark on the page she was just reading.

Why? Why did she have to make her heart ache like this? Why did she have to do something like this to always get under Catra's skin? What did she ever do to her?!

Did Glimmer not like her? Did she get some sick amusement by making Catra's chest hurt like this? Why did she have to be so cruel to her? Why did she have to make her suffer like this? With this guilt, with this burden she's had since day one? Why did she have to be so nice to her from the very moment they met each other?

And when she looked down at the page, she saw the meter. Not one bit of it was filled in. All it had was a single question mark written within the very center of the thermometer.

She didn't need it anymore at this point. After everything she read, everything she's seen in Glimmer's Diary, she was pretty sure she knew where she was at that moment...

...

*Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm-*

The mechanized skiff hummed to life as it was prepared. The winds wouldn't offer any resistance, the weather was nice and fitting for such a day like this, and the lack of clouds gave a much more positive omen than not.

The remaining members of the Princess Alliance looked at one another with uncertainty, all wondering the same various things. What would their chances be to go in guns a blazin' and hope for the best? What were the chances any of them could come out of this alive without any sort of plan? How much longer was Sea Hawk going to make them wait here? And was Catra truly going to join them or not at this point?

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Mermista groaned crossing her arms.

"Mr. Sea Hawk sir, are we prepared to leave yet?" Perfuma asked a little worried. Every minute they didn't leave was another minute the Queen would most likely make her way to the Fright Zone.

Looking at his Pocket Watch hit the hour mark, he sighed. "I really thought the lass was going to come with us..." He couldn't entirely blame her for being too afraid at this rate. Even after waiting an extra ten minutes, it didn't seem like she was going to show up any time soon. There was no sign of her at the door and they were already running out of time as it is. "I suppose now would be a good time as any." He said to the others. Shaking his head back to the empty entrance, he grabbed on to one of Entrapta's extensions as she helped him up to the skiff.

"Ok, so if we take it nice and slow, I think we can improve our odds of survival." Entrapta stated, tapping across her data pad as she wore her red-eyed mask.

"Are you kiddin'?" Mermista gave a grin as she punched her fist into her palm. "I say we hit something hard to make a distraction, then we'll pull those two out of there."

"Maybe one of the other members of the Horde would be willing to assist us?" Perfuma suggested. "If Catra was willing to defect, there's a possible chance someone else might help?"

"Are you kidding? None of those doofuses are anywhere as reliable as me." Catra sneered, leaning back in the skiff as it continued to hover.

"Well we have to do something, Catra. I mean if you're not going to join us then...!" Perfuma's, along with everyone else's eyes, widened in surprise and shock at the realization.

"CATRA!" They called out with joy in unison.

Sure enough, just like they saw for themselves, there was Catra, giving her usual cheeky grin and prideful smile to the rest of them.

"Come on, you guys didn't seriously think you'd last two minutes without me, right?" She commented, setting a small sack down in front of her. She didn't pay it any mind as Sea Hawk patted her on the back.

"It's nice to see you changed your mind, lass." He never felt so proud to have her as one of her crew members.

"I didn't think you'd actually show up." Mermista admitted. "You seemed sure of yourself when you said you didn't plan to go."

"Yeah, well... " Catra blushed a little as she turned away. "I'm just paying them back for everything up to this point. But if any of them ask you, I went with you guys kicking and screaming. Got it?"

"Fine by me, She-Ra!" Perfuma said with glee, preferring to address her by her heroic name.

"That reminds me, why did you have a key to Glimmer's Diary?" Directing her question to the moustache captain as she handed the key back, all other girls shot him a look of shock and anger as one of fear filled his own.

"I- Err... Don't seem to know what you're referring to lass-" Any and all attempts he had to cover up his involvement was shredded to pieces as Mermista grabbed him by the neck.

"You went through another lady's diary again?!" She stammered.

"Mr. Sea Hawk, I am surprised with you!" Perfuma exclaimed, blushing a little. "A girl's diary is one of the most sacred things on this planet!"

"I-It's not like I make a habit of sneaking into people's lives and reading their diaries, honest!" He panicked shaking his head. "I-I mean if I did that, I would know Mermista kept hers in a false bottom of her dresser-ACK!" He gagged as Mermista tightened her grip to the point of suffocation.

"I'M FEEDING YOU TO THE SHARKS WHEN I GET HOME!"

Despite the apparent threat made in front of the remaining Princess Alliance members, all three of the others just laughed at this silly display, Catra included. She had to admit, it felt a little bit better to laugh like this after everything she's been through, actually feeling like she belonged here for once.

At the sight of everyone together again, Entrapta lifted the mask to show off her grin. Like all the other times, she tapped away quickly against her Data Pad. Compared to all the other times, this time she was met with completely satisfying results. "I think our chances of everyone surviving this just raised dramatically." She happily stated.

"Then you'll like them after this, because now, I got a plan." As Catra said this, the skiff began to take off, flying through the air as they headed straight for the Fright Zone.

It was time to go save her Friends.

...

A/N: And another fun-filled chapter done. As said, hope people are continuing to enjoy this. Hard part about this is continuing to make this both an emotional struggle as well as some happy times throughout the majority of it, something She-Ra 2018 does perfectly in my opinion.

With that said, shout out again to the fans who've kept supporting me up to this point! I hope you all enjoyed today's episode! Leave a like, follow, fave, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 33: Episode 9: No Princess Left Behind Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: *awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn* I gota tell ya people...awwwwwnnnn... I am very tired X/ like stupendously tired. Why? Cause I've been up since 3:30 AM (don't ask long story). Best I can state with a long story short, expect the first half of this to be wonky with the grammar, dialogue, writing, etc, cause that's when I was most tired (kinda ironic when you think about it since i should be more tired right now XP).

Anyway, hope everyone enjoys this as we get some more humor to help make up for the feels we got all of last chapter ^^ followed by some feels by the end...bewarrrrrrrre...

Enjoy!

...

Bow continued to stew in his own thoughts as he remained within the prison cell. There were so many thoughts plaguing his mind right now that he didn't even know where to begin.

How about from the beginning? Like when he foolishly went back inside of a palace with the assistance of two guards, who instead turned out to be two members of the Horde in disguise. A part of him wondered why they looked so familiar. While they still had masks on, the way they spoke was vaguely similar to the people he met before when they invaded Salineas in an attempt to destroy the Sea Gate and capture Catra the first time.

Maybe his problems actually began when he went off on a tangent when he decided to shout at Glimmer for no reason? Perhaps saying there wasn't a reason wasn't completely accurate. He thought she was being possessive of him, like everything that went through his life was something she got to choose or decide. Being a little put off by how weird she was being throughout the entire day, he berated and scolded her about how he was free to choose how to live his life, not her.

And not ten minutes after that, he found out she got the idea from Catra, and she was trying to apologize for seeming that way, not that she was that way. So not only was he regretting his decisions and how he appeared to her, he was also dealing with the fact that wherever Glimmer was right now, she probably thought he still hated her.

This place was saddening enough without such thoughts.

Or perhaps his real issues began the moment he woke up from his own capture, finding himself within the Fright Zone itself? Beaten, bruised, and battered, he found himself thrown into a jail cell behind an electrical barrier. Save for a single bed and a toilet, there was little to nothing within this place that could help him get out.

The prison itself was nothing to the likes of which he's ever seen before. Within the center of it lied, what he assumed to be, the control station for all of these cells, or possibly the prison itself. All around the place, from what little he could see from the entrance when the force field was transparent enough, were hundreds, if not thousands, of other cells just like his! All of them were neatly lined up row after row in a large circular rotation, possibly twenty to thirty cells per floor. If the Horde really wanted to, they probably had a cell for every member of the Rebellion at this point.

For all he knew they probably had a hundred other prisons like this across the Fright Zone, perhaps enough to fill the entire planet of Etheria!

It was with the random clicking sounds he heard that he realized someone approached his cell. Taking a look, he saw what appeared to be a scrawny kid opening a small hatch in the cell. While he couldn't get a clear look of his hair color, he was pretty sure he was blonde, the kid not looking much tougher than the average teen, a little under that at the most.

"Dinner rations, prisoner." He stated, pushing his arms through the small opening of the field. Why did he think Bow would willingly take the tray to begin with? They were enemies. There was no way he was going to trust someone like this. That was when he watched the barrier shrink around the kid's hand, giving him a painful shock as he quickly pulled his hand out again. "Ow!" He sucked on his finger soothingly as he turned his back to Bow, tearing up a little at the sore pain.

"Hey. What's your name?" Bow decided to ask. If he didn't have anyone else around here to get information was, he might as well get to know the one person he's met since coming here.

"Me?" He questioned. "You're talking to me?"

"Sure. Is that all right?" He wondered if he somehow offended the kid or did something else wrong.

"Uh, I guess, but no one ever talks to me." It was almost ironic that the first person he met that wanted to talk to him was from the other side. "I'm Kyle."

"Hey, Kyle. I'm Bow." He greeted with a friendly smile. "Can you do me a favor? Can you tell me where they're holding the princess?"

"P-Princess?"

"She's my best friend." He had to know if she was okay, especially after the long night they've all had. "No one will let me talk to her or even tell me if she's okay."

"Oh, well... umm..." Bow shot a worrying face to him as he poked his fingers nervously. "She uh... she might be fine for a while, but..."

"But what?"

"... Adora's a little mad at her..." Panic overtook his face as he gave him a wave of his hands. "B-But I'm sure she'll be alright! Mostly! Maybe... I don't know. But she needs to keep her alive, so no worries."

"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?!" Bow jumped to his feet as he ran to the barrier. "Is she alright? Is something bad going to happen to her? Tell me!"

"I-I can't! That information's classified! And they wouldn't tell me. And Adora's not really in the best mood right now."

"You've got to help me get a message to Glimmer then, please!"

"I... Uh... I-I gotta go!" He sputtered, taking off quickly to the lift that brought him up here to begin with. "I like your shirt!"

"Wait!" It was too late. By the time he shouted at him to stop, Kyle was gone, leaving Bow to pound against the electrical barrier in frustration.

What was going to happen to Glimmer? He didn't know that much about this Adora girl, partly thanks to Catra's lack of description about her past. But if she was going to do something to Glimmer of all people, all because of some unexplained anger she had towards her, there was no telling what she could do.

"Please be alright..."

...

"Ok, here's the plan." Catra began as she took a boot out of her satchel.

She never thought she'd find herself actually off to go and rescue Bow and Glimmer, from the Fright Zone of all places. It was the single most terrifying place of her childhood experiences, the place where all her troubles began and never ended. If she had to choose between spending the rest of her life in a dungeon compared to spending a single day back in the Fright Zone, she would take the dungeon a thousand times over.

So what drove her to go back to it this time around?

Her friends. Yes, that's right. Friends. As much as she hated to admit it, despite her insistence to it, and no matter how much she tried to push away from it, Glimmer and Bow were her friends. Friends she was willing to go back for and save them from whatever horrors awaited them within the Fright Zone.

It's not like she didn't care about them on a whole. Over the course of their journeys together, she came to respect them for their strengths and quirks if nothing else. For all their flaws and their annoying habits, she did respect whatever strength they managed to display in front of her from time to time, including the time she watched Glimmer fight off a shadowy doppelganger of Shadow Weaver by herself. Anyone willing to do that was respectable in her book.

Even then, they showed time and again that they cared for her. They accepted all her flaws that came with her, all the fears and worries she had, and had her back whenever she messed up or did something reckless. Not once in her years within the Fright Zone had anyone ever accepted her as much as they did, save for Adora who was always by her side.

What truly pushed the envelope though, what really gave her the final shove she needed to go out and save these two, was Glimmer's Diary. After obtaining a key from a now-bruised Sea Hawk, thanks to Mermista, she got a closer look into Glimmer's point of view about her, about everything she thought about Catra.

It was enough to make her shed a tear.

She saw Catra as a hero, someone who could accomplish a lot more than anyone else ever said she could. She didn't know if she would call herself a hero at this rate, but it didn't matter compared to everything else she said about her. She revealed how she knew of Catra's faults since day one, how she and Bow were willing to help her fight through her struggles. Most of all, they were the very few people that admitted they depended on her, that they knew they could always count on her to have their backs when the time called for it.

How could she bring herself to let them down now of all times?

"Alright, so this is the Horde Base we need to get to." Catra explained as she went over the plan.

"...It's in the shape of a boot?" Perfuma asked as she stared at the colorful purple boot.

"Hey, cut me some slack, I was in a rush to get all of this." Catra replied, continuing to take out other smaller items. "Now as I was saying, this is the base we need to get to. If they've been taken anywhere, they're bound to be here."

"So what's the plan then?" Entrapta asked in excitement, flailing her arms in different styles representing the possibilities. "Are we going to use cunning? Stealth? Action?"

"All of them." The other princesses and Captain watched as she placed an item in front of each of them. A white Queen chess piece for Perfuma, a purple sock for Entrapta, a bath sponge for Mermista, and a fishing hook for Sea Hawk. "All right. First, we need to reach the prison itself. Perfuma and Entrapta will go-"

"Wait, why am I a chess piece?" Perfuma asked interrupting. She looked at the chess piece from every angle, wondering what sort of significance.

"I already told you, I was in a rush. I just grabbed whatever I could find in Pinky's room. Anyway, as I was saying-"

"Wait, so I'm a sponge and Sea Hawk gets to be the fish hook?" Mermista grumbled.

"Never fear my dear," Sea Hawk calmed, "it just goes to show attached we are!"

"...You wanna trade?" She asked Perfuma.

"Sure!" The princess smiled as she took the interesting yellow sponge, growing a small flower atop it's head.

"How about I be this model version of Bow instead?" Sea Hawk suggested, holding up one of 3 thumb-sized figurines. One was detailed after Glimmer, one was in the form of Bow, and the last one was Catra herself, in her She-Ra appearance.

"Ooh! I want the She-Ra one instead!"

"No, It's mine!" Catra yelped, snatching the three figurines away in one swipe. The blush didn't grow on her face until after everyone looked at her strangely. "What? Bow made them for us. And I thought it looked better like this..." Catra grumbled, digging through her satchel again. "Now then- Hey, where did my marker go?"

"Hoho, I am Princess Entrapta!" Right in front of her face, Catra saw what the aforementioned marker was used for. Deciding to have a little fun, it would appear that Entrapta brought it upon herself to draw two googly black eyes on the sock she gave her, as well as a small snout she drew in herself. "The Horde will never match myyyyy sockiness!"

"Heheheh!" Catra was the only one who found herself not chuckling at the joking going on, rolling her eyes at their shenanigans.

We're all going to die. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she continued.

"All right, so moving on..."

...

The scene shifted to a view of the Fright Zone as Catra went on with her explanation in the background.

"First off, we're going to need to land over at the scrapyard. It's the least guarded and least surveillance area of the Fright Zone. We're not going to get any other place to land like this one, and we're going to need to split up to make the most out of this."

"You want us to take out the surveillance?" Entrapta could be heard asking.

"Kind of. Splitting up into three teams, Entrapta and Perfuma, you're going to need to disable the spotlights leading into the Horde structure we're going to infiltrate." At this, Perfuma and Entrapta could be seen running around the corner of the security tower, Entrapta donning her mask as she peaked over Perfuma's shoulder, waiting until the spotlight passed them before running around it. "You're going to need to wait for my signal to disable the lights."

With the spotlight passing them Perfuma began to work her magic at the base of the tower, growing a massive vine that sprouted in size and girth, holding onto one of it's many roots as it raised towards the sky itself and lifted her to the top of the tower. With little else to work with herself, Entrapta, taking one more look at the marvels of technology and science surrounding her, extended her own hair to the top, pulling herself up in one swing right before a spotlight managed to reach her location.

"Meanwhile, Mermista is going to access the Fright Zone's sewer System." Catra continued as Mermista appeared leaping over a massive pipe. With the flick of her wrist, a giant geyser of water arose from the manhole, slowly rising up all the way to Mermista's waist. "She's going to need to swim through the pipes to reach the building and open the door-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, back up here." Mermista interrupted as the scene changed back to the conversation itself, Mermista crossing her arms in disgust. "I'm sorry. Mermista is going to do what?"

It took Catra a few seconds to realize what she had actually said, glancing back at the small display of work she had and shriveling at the thought. "...Ok, I have to admit, it sounds pretty gross, but you're the only one who can breathe in underwater."

"...UGGGGGHHHHHH..." Vengeance. Pain and terrible vengeance would be inflicted upon Catra by the time this day was over. To be the one person who was needed for all of this to be pulled off, to be the one charged with swimming through... filth... all for the sake of saving Bow and Glimmer. A part of her was positive Catra tasked her with this on purpose, and she swore she would make her pay with the biggest swirly she could create. "Fine!"

Back to the present, Mermista, still looking at the manhole in disgust, used her power to lift the manhole with the water, pushing it away off to the side as she lowered herself towards the opening. "Super gross." Holding her breath and her nose, she dived into the manhole, legs first, heading straight into what would most likely be the filthiest mission of her life.

"At this time, Sea Hawk and I will take up position by the entrance." Catra went on as she placed the hook and her She-Ra figurine by the boot.

"Say, why did Glimmer have a fishing hook in her bedroom to begin with?" Sea Hawk had to ask.

"Actually, it's just part of a hanger I had to pull apart. Anyway..."

Changing to the scene in question, Catra and Sea Hawk could be seen looking over the corner like Entrapta and Perfuma had done in their espionage. Unlike theirs, they had the misfortune of having guards placed at the entrance of their target, spotting at least three in total with one on each side of the entrance, and one guard in the middle. No doubt Adora took notice of this lack of safety precaution and increased the amount of security, even by a little.

"Sea Hawk and I will take care of any guards we find on the way to the base." Nodding to each other, they pulled back a little as Catra scratched the rough surface of the structure they were hiding against, causing a noise that drew the middle guard to the area. Peaking around the corner, the other two guards nearly jumped as they raced to the corner at the sight of someone pulling the first guard behind the corner.

Racing around it, they were met with utter confusion when all they found was the guard himself, lying unconscious at the feet of the large building. For what short while they were searching for the perpetrators that attacked their fallen comrades, they were drawn to the small sound of scraping they heard coming above them. Neither of them had enough time to shout out a single warning or alert as they saw Catra holding up a prepared Sea Hawk, holding onto the building itself with her other claw.

It took a single drop and strike from both of them leaping from the building to knock the two guards out cold like the previous one. With all three of the guards knocked out, Catra and Sea Hawk took the liberty of disarming them of their stun batons, finding them in much safer hands.

"After we do, Entrapta and Perfuma will regroup with us at the door, which Mermista should have unlocked and opened by the time we regroup."

"Excellent plan. Adventure!" Sea Hawk cheered, raising his fist at the planning area.

"Yeah, but didn't you say we were going to do all of our plans?" Mermista pointed out. "When do we get to hit something hard?"

"And when are we going to recruit any allies?" Perfuma added.

"Well, it might not exactly be recruit like you said, but it should give us enough help to create a distraction. At the center of the Prison Area we're going to there's a guard station. At the very base of it, there's a small generator that powers all the cells within the complex. And, assuming Pinky and Bowey's not wasting time being asleep, they should be able walk right on out of there before the backup generators kick in within the next three minutes."

"And the recruitment part?"

"Perfuma, it's a prison." Catra grinned. "I guarantee you anyone in there is going to hate the Horde's guts with a passion. They should be able to provide a distraction long enough for us to sneak out of there with those two, at least before the reinforcements swarm the place. I'm not gonna lie, it'll get swarmed real big, real fast, when the reinforcements show up."

With the guards out of commission, Catra took a peek around the corner, taking out a small hand mirror from her pockets to reflect it's light towards the Security Tower. Noticing the flash from the other end, Perfuma gave a nod to herself as she checked back with Entrapta. "That's the signal." She announced.

Meanwhile Entrapta was in her own little fantasy land as she gazed at the technological marvel in wonder. To think, all this wonderful technology, for the size it was given at least, lied in some place as horrific as the Fright Zone! It was like being a kid in Candy Land whee everything was easy pickings for whoever came across it, so many wonders to explore and fascinating machinery to work with! "Fright Zone log, day one." Entrapta commented as she used her tape recorder. "I can barely contain my excitement! Ha-ha!"

It was the very same excitement she managed to use in order to remove the hatch from the control module. "Hmm. The Horde's using an outdated wiring system." With a twirl of her hair and the flick of her extensions she began rewiring and reworking many of the various odds and ends of the machinery, grin growing wider with each wire she came across. "It really would work so much better if I just consolidated these conduits and rerouted the current here-"

"Entrapta?" Perfuma spoke, grabbing her attention. "Now would be a good time for those lights."

"Oh... right!" With a single pull, pulling out one of the wires with her hair, the spotlights finally lost all their power, allowing Catra and Sea Hawk to trek their way over to the door.

Checking to make sure the coast was clear, Catra and Sea Hawk made their way over to the door, keeping an watchful eye over their surroundings until Catra got her own back against the door. With one more look around, she firmly and gently tapped her claws against the door, trying to see if there was some signal she could get from the otherside.

*clank*

"...Come on, fish lady, where are ya?" Catra muttered to herself, taking a glance at their surroundings every five seconds they waited.

"Where's Mermista?" He wondered with a hint of worry. In a place as dangerous as this, there were any number of unfortunate circumstances that could've happened.

"I don't know, maybe she got stuck somewhere." Where on Etheria was she?! Every second someone got stalled on this mission or disrupted increased the chances of the entire mission blowing up in their faces, possibly literally at that. With the coast seeming clear, Catra turned her back as she gave another pound on the door. "Hey, hurry up in there!"

"Uh Catra?"

"Not now, Captain."

"Horde!" He announced, knowing it would get her attention. True enough, she shot back as she saw another small skiff heading in their direction, with Scorpia at the helm of it.

"Crud!" Knowing the two were already spotted she searched frantically around them for anything that could save their bacon. There was little doubt the two of them could deal with her themselves, but if she spotted them from far enough she could easily sound the alarms and trigger an emergency siren around this place with just one call. Thankfully, noticing Sea Hawk's appearance, an idea came to her. "Give me your coat and bandana!"

"What?"

"Just do it!" With time of the essence, realizing what her plan was as he watched, he quickly turned his back to the arriving Scorpia, changing his own hair as Catra used his body as a small bit of cover to keep her from seeing Catra putting on the jacket herself.

At the same time, Scorpia became curious and confused at the strange duo she saw up ahead. One was a strange looking young man with a white T-shirt while the other one was... something she couldn't quite make out. Neither of them were recognizable to her and she doesn't remember expecting the duo either. With her face slowly hardening with seriousness, she brought the skiff to a stop as she stepped out of her vehicle.

"Halt!" She ordered, walking right up to them. "Who are you two?"

Stepping out from behind Sea Hawk, Scorpia got a better look at the second person she had yet to get a clear view of till now. Unaware of her true identity at the moment, she was met with a stranger who was wearing a bandana over her forehead, one which kept her ears covered under the red cloth as she kept her right eye closed. Along with that, she had her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt as she wore the captain's blue jacket, Scorpia couldn't get a clear look of the clothes she wore underneath it as she kept her arms crossed.

As for Sea Hawk himself, he didn't do much other than changing his hair style, but it did help to add to his secret identity since he was only wearing his white undershirt while doing it.

"Who are we? Who are you?" Catra retorted, pointing back to her.

"I'm Force Captain Scorpia." She easily shot back. "Now I repeat, who are you?" She asked leaning closer to the girl sending sweat down the back of Catra's head.

Exactly how close was this girl to figuring out Catra's identity? The cover of ears, jacket over her current outfit, and closed right eye could only keep her identity secret for so long. Considering she's never met her in person up to this point, she could be a supergenius for all Catra knew.

Luckily Sea Hawk already came up with that little detail as he answered for them. "Why, we're the inspectors, of course!" He announced proudly. Catra mentally sighed in relief at his quick thinking as she took in the idea.

"Inspectors?"

"Yeah!" Catra proudly smacked the metallic door they were standing outside of. "We got a call from some manager guy, you know? Said he needed help with something passed this door."

"Then why are you still out here?"

"B-Because um... No one was here to let us in!" She insisted.

"That's strange," Scorpia poked her chin looking around, "there's usually some guards out here." Taking a closer look to Catra herself, Scorpia raised an eyebrow. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

"Uhh..."

"And why are you closing your eye like that?"

"W-Well, I uhh..."

"Oh, how dare you!" Sea Hawk interrupted, patting Catra's head. "Can't you see the girl's sensitive about her missing eye? Do you think she needs a reminder of that tragic incident?!" Getting the idea, Catra put on the best fake cry she could as she cried into both her hands.

"Ehehehehhhh!" She wept. "The doctor said people wouldn't notice if I kept my eye closed!"

"There, there, my dear. It's all right." Sea Hawk cooed as he patted her head.

"N-No, no, d-don't! Please don't cry!" Scorpia begged, shaking her claws together pleadingly. "I didn't know it was like that! I don't mind the eye! In fact, I think you look better without one eye!...Oh... wait..."

"Aahhahahahhaaaa, you're a monster!" Catra cried louder.

Scorpia was beginning to panic. The strange one-eyed girl couldn't be any older than a young teenager. Why, she might even be the strange man's daughter, seeing how closely the two were being. This was bad on a whole number of levels. How else was she going to explain to any of the higher ups if she made one of the two inspectors cry just because they were doing their job? They might not ever want to come back and work for the Horde again!

And what kind of person made a young girl cry? A monster, that's who! The very one Scorpia was accused of being by the girl who was currently crying. "P-Please, please don't cry! I'm sorry!" She begged on her knees. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Sniffling a little, still pretending to cry, Catra glanced over to the door that they were still stuck outside of. "W-Well... I guess you can open the door for starters. Then we can get our inspection done a lot faster..."

"You got it!" She happily went about typing in the codes for the door, wanting to do anything to help the possible father and daughter duo! It was the least she could do after accidentally insulting the young girl about her eye, knowing full well how much it hurts to get made fun of because of how you appear to someone else.

Standing in front of the other two, she tapped as fast as her thick claws would let her, doing everything she could to bring a smile to all their faces as they watched the door open. It was a smile that lasted only so long for her until she saw Mermista standing on the other side of the doorway, looking unamused as always with a hand on her side and an annoyed expression on her face.

"Huh? Hey, aren't you the-"

*Bzzzzzzzzzzt*

"Ghhhhhhhh-!" With a small screech at the feeling of a thousand volts coursing through her veins, Scorpia slowly lost consciousness before falling in front of the three of them, Catra watching with a smile on her face as she held up the recently-used stun baton.

"So let me get this straight," Mermista went on as Catra gave Sea Hawk his outfit back, "you had me go through the sewers, the sewers, just for you guys to get the doors opened anyway?!" She stammered.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad for you, was it?" Catra joked with a cheeky grin.

"I WAS FLUSHED ON!" At the shout, she watched as Perfuma and Entrapta made their way around, running up to Catra and Sea Hawk who heard the two approaching soon after.

"Hey, you're okay!" Perfuma smiled, holding a large vine that was wrapped around Entrapta from head to toe. All three of the others looked at her in confusion, all wondering the same thing.

"Eh... why is Entrapta like that?" Catra asked.

"Oh, she just... has a small habit wandering around here and there." Perfuma tried to play it off innocently, not going into detail how many times she had to chase her around.

At that, Entrapta's eyes flashed with stars as Perfuma started to unwrap her. "You guys! There is SO much awesome stuff here! Did you know they have bots here designed to pick up raw scraps and reorganize them into reusable material for later use? And their wiring system is so much fun! I mean, a lot of it's outdated and everything and a lot of the junk they have here is so basic that any science nerd can hack into it within a few seconds but-!"

"Entrapta!" Catra yelped, clicking her fingers in front of her. "Focus. Now let's go, we don't have much time." With the others nodding to each other in agreement, they all hustled into the building following her, all except a peeved-looking Mermista who's brow continued to twitch irritably.

"Can I at least get a thank you for what I've been through?"

"I'll give you a thank you with a bar of soap. Now let's go!" Catra stated, pulling her in before the doors could close in on them again.

...

The hallways themselves seemed completely the same yet somehow different as Catra ran down the halls with the others right behind her. The same bleakness they had whenever she ran down them as a kid, the heavy atmosphere she used to feel any day she walked down these walls. Everything felt strangely foreign to her, like she's never been here before, despite having memories as clear as yesterday of this place.

Over there she could remember fondly how she and Adora played pranks on some passing guards when they were seven because they were forced to wax the floors all day for something they didn't do. Deciding to get some payback against the mean guards, the girls did well and beyond what they were told, applying seven coats of wax to the same floor, and then lying in wait until some of the guards passed them to slip on their behinds, others right on top of each other.

That got them into even more trouble but it still felt worth it.

In another hallway she reminisced about the time they managed to run away from a guard the two angered, one that smacked Catra around for a personal prank she pulled on her earlier. Deciding to get payback and drive her insane, the two made fun of her back and forth, taking shortcuts and splitting up between hallways as the stupid guard tried to chase them and beat their little behinds into submission. After what must've been a ten minute chase, the guard last track of them and was forced to return to his duty before he got into any more trouble.

The idiot didn't have any idea that Catra carried herself and Adora up to the pipes above her, giggling quietly to themselves as they watched her leave in a mad huff. They were definitely better times than they were later down their lives.

It was at the sound of footsteps approaching from the hallways that Catra raised her hand, signaling for the others to stop. Taking a quick look around, she began clicking the access code of a nearby Janitor's closet, rushing people to come inside once the door sprang open. Right as the guards were about to round the corner, she managed to collect everybody into the small block of space, everyone huddled and pressed together uncomfortably.

"Shhh!" Catra shushed quietly, everyone remaining still and silent while they were all being pressed against the enclosed space.

"Is it clear yet?" Perfuma whispered.

*sniff*

"Ugh, Mermista, you really need a bath after this." Catra swore her nose was starting to get paralyzed from the lack of fresh air.

"Don't remind me!" She replied almost threateningly.

"And who's stepping on my tail?"

"Oops, sorry." Sea Hawk apologized.

"Step on it harder, please.." Mermista muttered, still irritated for all the time and energy she wasted.

"What's the plan, She-Ra?" Perfuma asked, trying to break up the potential violence.

"We need to get to an information port." Catra replied. "If we're lucky, Entrapta can hack into the port itself to identify which cell block Pinky and Bowey are in."

"Ok, but one slight problem." Mermista brought up.

"What?"

"Where is she?" Checking their cramped surroundings, Catra rolled her eyes with a groan.

"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me..."

"Okay, she is really putting a crimp in my harmony!" Perfuma cried quietly, scratching at her head with the flux of annoyance reaching her head. Sea Hawk did what he could to calm her down as he gently patted her head, trying to keep her from crying out and drawing attention to the closet they were in.

"H-Hey, it's fine." Catra tried to sound as comforting as she could with the uncomfortable position she found herself in. "We'll find Entrapta, hack into the info port, and then rescue Glimmer and Bow. It's simple, right?"

"And we have to start the prison riot." Sea Hawk reminded.

Rolling her eyes, Catra added, "And start a prison riot."

"And escape before reinforcements appear!" Perfuma also reminded.

"Ghhh... Fine. Get a information port, hack the data base to find Glimmer and Bow, cause a jail break, and escape before reinforcements show up."

"And blow something up?" Mermista smirked saying, enjoying the sight.

"MMHHHHHH..." Catra's face flushed red as the anger reached near her boiling point. "Fine! Get to a data port, hack into the data base to find Glimmer and Bow, cause a jail break, escape before the reinforcements show up, AND blow something up, most likely the generator to the cells since we're at it. There! Happy?"

"I don't know, give me another minute or two to think up something."

"Mermista!"

...

"Fright Zone Log, day one continued." Entrapta spoke into the tape recorder as she hung from the air, tapping away fearlessly into the info port she came across. "Keypads appear in every corridor and are capable of giving status updates on multiple systems." The scientist continued to look astounded.

This place was a wonderland of technology for the purple-haired genius. Every two steps she took she found herself gasping at the sight of another marvel, everything she recorded held more answers than she could get in a year's worth of daya! Sometimes she wished she could live in a place like this, just for the chance to experience everything this place had to offer! From the security to the mechanics to the very droids she spotted along the way, this place was amazing!

Speaking of which, her attention was drawn behind her as she heard the minor beeps and boops of another one of the scrap droids passing by her. "Wow! Hello there, little guy!" She gushed, chasing after it in excitement. "Where do you think you're going? Come back here you~" Like a little girl chasing after a puppy, she chuckled to herself as she chased it along into a nearby station.

These scrap bots must've been her second favorite thing about this place, next to the Fright Zone itself! She couldn't believe she never thought about adding these little guys to her own laboratory. With little guys like these around, they could make the hassle of picking up unused or unnecessary parts a breeze! Why, she could even design these guys to design smaller random things when she was too busy to make them herself!

"Haha, got ya!" She squealed, chasing the scrap bot into a dark corner. What she thought to be a dead end turned out to be a trap set up entirely for her though as another strange mechanical bot hummed with life.

From behind the cluster of mechanical junk she saw the scrap bot standing on, she saw it. A large, almost man-sized round droid bot with three mechanical spider-like legs, standing proudly and truly before her. It was the very definition of everything she loved about a robot! From the appearance alone, she could already tell it was strong, durable, was brimming with life, took a lot of care and consideration into the mechanics of it, and was the very definition of science itself! She couldn't stop herself from drooling as small hearts formed within her eyes, finding her scientific curiosity at her utmost limits.

"Well hello to you, too. Hehehe~"

...

"Mmmmmh." Glimmer felt exhausted as she tried to look around.

How long had she been awake by this point? Minutes? Hours? Maybe even days? There was no clock around here, and ever since she woke up the first time, she's never been able to fall back to sleep. The pain coursing through her on a constant level was minimal, but enough to keep her conscious no matter how badly she wished she could pass out. And without any clock in here there was no way to tell how much time had passed since she woke up, or if there was a chance that she passed out at all.

Along with the strange surge of power keeping her exhausted, she also found herself stuck to a metal slap that stood her up. The strange slab was connected to a bunch of different wires, ones that connected to the small shackles attached to her wrist that pinned her to the table, all feeding up to a console a few feet away from her.

The bags under her eyes were from stress both physical and mental. Ever since this strange witch woke her up her mind felt like it was being set aflame, along with the rest of her body thanks to this constant surge of electricity that never ended. Was this all the horrible witch's doing or the power of these electrical surges alone? She didn't know, and she absolutely didn't care. She needed to get out of here before things got worse, however possible that would've been.

Taking her powers out for a test run, she tried clicking a spark of magic into her fingertips, feeling thankful to see her powers were still in their best condition. Deciding to take it a step further, she attempted to teleport herself out of the strange holding.

*Bzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhhhh!" What few seconds of hope she felt as her powers surged were instantly shattered as a painful rush of the electricity spiraled through her, inflicting previously unknown amounts of pain throughout her entire body as she screamed. Her attempts at resistance were dashed as soon as they were raised, unable to tolerate the pain enough in her current condition.

"I should warn you, Princess." She heard Shadow Weaver speaking as she approached from the shadows behind her. "Any attempt to teleport through these restraints will only cause you pain." As if to mock her, she gave a simple flick of her finger against her cheek, giving her a small shock at the mere touch. "It seems my Black Garnet and your powers don't mix. Besides, your mother will be here soon." Snobbish, mightier than thou attitude, a lack of tact and appearing to be all-powerful?

This was definitely the same person.

"I-It's you, isn't it?" Glimmer muttered weakly, trying to put on a brave face. "The one Catra was so afraid of in Mystacor. I can tell just by looking at you. Judgemental, brash, it's no wonder Catra hated you.

"Do NOT speak that creatures name in front of me, Princess!" Shadow Weaver hissed, puckering Glimmer's cheeks tightly, sending a small painful surge of electricity around her face.

"Nnngggghhhh!" Glimmer squeezed her eyes tightly as she tried to push passed the pain. Narrowing her eyes, Shadow Weaver released her hold on her, allowing her to catch her breath.

"And don't try to get a rise out of me, either. It would be a shame if you were to die before your mother came for you."

"You're... you're lying. She wouldn't do something like that-"

"Unless it was to save someone she holds most dear." She interjected, lowering herself to Glimmer's eye level. "She is coming to surrender herself in exchange for your safety."

"No..." She... She had to be lying! Her mother couldn't risk her own life, the entire Rebellion, just for her sake! She loved her mother dearly too, and she'd do the exact same thing, but... but she... She prayed at this very moment Shadow Weaver was lying now more than ever.

"Oh. It's a shame, the toll the Rebellion has taken on your family." Every word that sounded like a resemblance of sympathy was spiced with a dashing of mockery in every word. "First, you lose your father and now..."

"S-Shut up!" Glimmer shouted as the tears dripped from her eyes. "She-Ra- no. Catra will stop you!"

"Stop me?! Ahahahaha!" The dark witch slapped the back of her hand over her own face. "Oh my word. You really give that girl more credit than she deserves!"

"She did it in Mystacor, didn't she?" Glimmer reminded, smirking as she saw what little expression she saw from Shadow Weaver drop. "She's a lot stronger than you give her credit for. If you were really some powerful witch, you would've dealt with her a long time ago, wouldn't you? But you can't, because no matter what you throw at her, she always beats you!"

"Mmmmmhh!" Shadow Weaver let out a tremendous grumble as she raised the back of her wrist. Squeezing her eyes shut waiting for the pain to follow, she was instead mess with a small chuckle as the witch lowered herself to her height once more. "Hmhmhm, I see what you're doing." She grinned behind the mask. "Trying to get a rise out of me, hope there's an accident and we lose our only bargaining chip. Clever.

*Bzzzt*

"Ahh!" Glimmer cried out again as she flicked her on the forehead, zapping her again.

"But not clever enough."

*shoom*

Both girls turned to the door at the sound of it opening, Shadow Weaver smiling again as she saw who was approaching.

"Ah, Adora. How wonderful it is to see you." There was something strange about the sudden excitement in Shadow Weaver's voice that worried her.

"Can I begin now?" Adora asked, never taking her angered eyes off the Princess.

"Of course, my dear. Don't let me keep you." Shadow Weaver eagerly replied, floating over to her side, stopping as she was about to pass her. "Remember, she needs to be kept alive. Understood?" With an assured nod from Adora, Shadow Weaver left the room, the Force Captain turning her full attention to the Princess at hand.

"You're Adora, right?" The Princess of Bright Moon asked as Adora walked to her. "Catra's told me a lot about you, she says there's a lot of good in you! Please, please help me out of here." Adora looked at her with anger in her eyes.

This is the moment she's been waiting for, a chance at revenge. This Princess, this one single Princess, was the cause of all of her troubles. Losing her closest friend, pushing who knew how many innocent lives into harm's way for the sake of the war, forcing the Horde to commit who knew how many atrocities because the Horde didn't have a choice. Every problem, all of it, could be returned full circle to these evil princesses.

And now, she had one firmly in her grasp.

Digging through her red jacket for a few seconds, Glimmer becoming antsy at the thought it was going to be a weapon like a knife, she pulled out her famously used headband. "Do you know what this is?" She asked her, holding it right in front of Glimmer's face.

"I-It's a... headband?" She guessed hopefully.

"This is a gift." Adora replied. "A gift from somebody who truly cares for me, from the closest thing I have to a mother around here. And do you know what it does?"

Were these rhetorical questions? "It... makes you stronger." She could fondly recall the day she attacked Salineas. "I saw you use it in your last fight against Catra, it turned you into..." She looked away, unable to bring herself to say it.

And there was no need.

"A monster." Adora stated. "I'm well aware of how I acted because of this thing." She gave a solemn, regretful, face as she gazed at the headband. "I wasn't in control of my emotions... I let its power rush to my head... and... and I almost..." That was the one part she couldn't bring herself to say as she glared back at the princess. "You made me use this to hurt Catra! You've made me do a lot of things I regret doing!"

"No I didn't!" The innocent Princess insisted. "I didn't make you do anything! I didn't ask you to use that, I didn't ask you to fight Catra!"

"And yet you turned her against me." Adora was fuming with anger, the likes of which Glimmer has never seen in a person. "You abducted her, brainwashed her, controlled everything she's done up to this point for the sake of your corruption!"

"Corruption? I don't know what you're talking about! Listen, Adora, whatever Shadow Weaver told you, it wasn't the-"

"Silence!" She shouted angrily. "I've had enough of your lies! Do you know how much I've had to defend her because of you? All our past friends think she's a traitor, every good time she had with them seemingly vanished because of what you did. Do you know what it's like..." Adora teared up a little. "Do you know what it's like to defend someone... someone you care about... when the entire world is against her? Well? Do you?!"

"Adora..." What was she talking about? Glimmer wanted to understand dearly what she was talking about right now. What was making her so angry, how could she possibly help? "Look, Adora? I don't know what you're talking about, I really don't. But whatever you've been told, it's all a lie. I didn't trick Catra into helping us, I didn't cast some evil spell or whatever you want to call it on her. She chose to help us willingly!"

"...Tch... That's a laugh." Adora scoffed. "You think she would willingly give all of this up? The family she used to know? The people she came to work alongside with? You think she would ever want to give all of this up? Tell me then, why? Why would she ever want to leave it?"

"Because she was unhappy!" Glimmer retorted. "Everything I've seen with her, every problem she's had has stemmed from this place! Whatever life she had here was an unhappy one, and if you were such a dear friend, you would've noticed it sooner- Hmm!" Glimmer shut her mouth, too little to late, as she realized what she suddenly said. The same look of shock filled Adora's expression, leaving the girl stunned for the first time since meeting her.

A part of her fretted as her eyes quivered with doubt. Was she... actually right? Was she right about everything?

"Must've been pretty close then." Scorpia's stinger wagged a little with glee. "Most people I meet usually don't have nice things to say about her."

T-That... That's not possible... Adora's eyes watered at the thought. Had she truly been neglecting her friend up till now? Was she actually wrong about everything else? She knew Catra was picked on occasionally, that the girl had a harder time getting along with everyone else whenever she tried to open up to people. But to go so far as to wanting to betray the very people who raised her? Who she grew up alongside? What about all the good times they've had? What about all the moments of joy she's experienced with Catra, day in and day out?

"I take it all back! You're officially awesome!" Whooooooo!" Catra cheered as they soared through the land at top speeds. Not once since they've been taught how to use these Skiffs have they ever been allowed to ride them, much less drive them, across the Fright Zone, or anywhere for that matter. This was the first time Catra actually had actual fun within the last several months, and more importantly, a sense of freedom. "I can't believe you actually stole a skiff!"

"Borrowed," Adora corrected as she piloted the skiff, "please don't make me regret this."

Did it mean nothing to her?

"Haha, you can thank Catra!" The chipper five-year-old Adora stated, gesturing to Catra who stood behind her shyly. "She's the one who did all the work."

"Y-Yeah... B-B-But it was all Adora's idea!" As much as she loved the praise, she wasn't about to let her friend go without some credit. "I couldn't even tell what to do without her help."

"Heheheh!" Adora chuckled as she hugged her close. With an inseparable duo like themselves, there was nothing they couldn't handle!

...No... Adora's scowl tightened as she shot a deathly glare at the girl. Those moments were real, they had to be real. She remembers all the joy Catra had in this place, all the laughter, all the fun, everything the two of them did together that made their lives meaningful. There is no way, no chance, she would ever get rid of it so willingly!

"That almost worked..." Adora dried the tears from her face. "You almost got me to believe you for a moment. But I know Catra, and she's not whatever you turned her into!"

"Adora, please-"

"Do you want to know what else this headband does?" She continued. "Whenever I wear it, thanks to some immense training I did for her, I can suppress my emotions. So, lets say I feel guilty for what I'm about to do? Now..." At the pause, Adora donned the cursed garment for the third time within her life. She didn't so much as flinch this time around as her body was engulfed in the surrounding shadows, keeping her eyes closed until the shadows reached the jewel of her headband.

With that, she displayed her red-tinted eyes, one devoid of almost everything. "Now I'm not going to feel bad about what I do next." She stated monotonically.

"D-Do next?" The Princess gulped at how she worded that. "What do you mean by that?" Instead of answering the girl outright, Adora opted to provide a demonstration. Without batting an eyelash, she casually walked her way to the console, standing in front of it as she started to turn the device on.

"Thanks to Shadow Weaver, she was kind enough to make a few modifications to the restraints you're currently stuck in." Adora explained going on. "So, let's say I ask you a question, and I don't like the answer. And then, perhaps out of shock, or confusion, I accidentally hit this."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in agony. In one fell swoop, the electricity around her exploded in a mad frenzy, covering her entirety until Adora lowered the settings again. That pain, the surge she felt right now, felt like nothing compared to what Adora put her through in the last three seconds alone. She felt like her entire body was being shocked simultaneously, like bolts of lightning were striking every single part of her body at the same time.

"We'll call that, "letting my finger slip"." Adora joked, barely twitching a face as she did so in an uncaring mood. "So, the way this game is going to work is like this. I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to provide me with an answer. And every time I'm not satisfied with what you give me..."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Aggggggggghhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in pain, physically cried out in pain. The pain she was feeling was so barbaric compared to what she felt seconds ago. This person, this supposed person, was the friend Catra cherished so deeply?!

"Are we clear?"

"What do you want?" Glimmer cried out asking.

"I want to know how to break the spell you put on Catra." Adora replied firmly. "By the time this session is over, you're going to tell me exactly what I want to hear!" A small portion of her anger rose at that, no matter how hard she tried to keep it down.

"I don't know anything! There is no spell!"

"Liar!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her entire body wracked with pain as the surge continued.

This, was Adora's payback. This was the device that was going to solve all her problems. Watching as the princess cried out in pain, she proceeded with the electrocutions.

She didn't care at the moment what happened to this princess. She didn't care about much of anything at this moment. The only thing she cared about right now was getting what was needed to save the person she deeply cared about. The person she laughed with, cried with. The person who's innocence Adora continues to remember to this day, the one she cherished most of all.

She was going to get her answers.

She was going to save Catra.

And she had all the time in the world to hear Glimmer scream...

...

A/N: Ok, for those of you who say Scorpia might not be dumb enough to fall for that trick... She got distracted thinking there was a duck because Sea Hawk simply said duck (which lets be honest, is seriously hilarious all the same XD).

And we get some more dark Adora today, in a rather unsettling mood for her friend. I know it might seem a bit too dark but after the months of stress and moments she's been waiting for revenge up to this point, can you really blame her?...oh, you can? Crap...

Well, anyway! Hope you all enjoyed either way! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and if you'll excuse me, *awwwwwwwwwwwn*, i gtg to bed here T_T...

Hope to see you soon!

Chapter 34: Episode 9: No Princess Left Behind Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Ok, good news bad news situation:

Bad news, still not at my A-game when it comes to writing atm. Lack of medication plus sleeping issues is making it harder to focus on the writing process and whatnot.

Good news: should be getting a pick up of medication around the end of this week or next week, and found some of my emergency medication which should give me a good day or two of writing ability ^^

So with that said, enjoy!

...

"Mmh... come on... come on..." Catra mumbled as she continued clicking away at the info port.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Mermista asked as she kept guard with the others.

"Yeah, just give me a minute, ok? I'm not exactly that great when it comes to hacking, I slept through most of those classes." Catra continued to grumble, feeling like Adora would have a much easier time with this hack than she did. Then again, considering one of those two didn't sleep through over half of those nerds classes it wasn't so surprising.

She needed to figure out where Bow and Glimmer's cells were within the prison block of the Fright Zone. She found herself saying how strange her adventures became at the start of every new adventure, and this was no exception. The one exception there was within this case scenario was the fact it wasn't an adventure she was having with Bow and Glimmer, but an adventure in order to save the two people she could now call friends.

Up to this point the plan was proceeding semi-smoothing, at least as far as it could go with this mismatched group of adventures consisting of Mermista, Perfuma, Sea Sawk, and a missing Entrapta. They managed to disable the security tower to infiltrate the door of the facility and disabled any of the guards they came across.

It did get a bit troubling at one point when Scorpia happened to come across them, apparently on a random patrol or something by Catra's guess, but thanks to Sea Hawk's attire she quickly got an idea to hide. Switching outfits and hairstyles between the two, they managed to fool Scorpia into thinking they were inspectors. Scorpia had no idea who the two were as Catra kept one eye closed, less she notice her heterochromatic feature, a bandana around her head to cover both her ears, and wearing Sea Hawk's jacket while Sea Hawk himself switched his hairstyle.

It was enough to fool the scorpion lady into opening the doors for them where they found an irritated Mermista who was smelling of bad sewage. Before Scorpia could even finish her sentence, she was easily tased with the stun batons Catra and Sea Hawk picked up earlier, knocking her out cold and hopefully long enough for the rest of the mission to proceed smoothly. At least until they noticed Entrapta missing.

Because of that, Catra was forced to proceed with the hacking job herself, muttering between breaths as she tried to recall all of her past lessons when it came to sabotage and infiltration missions like this from her days in the Horde. She might've been a bit more adept at hacking other databases in general, but hacking into one ran by the Horde proved to be a bit more complicated than she expected.

"There's no shame in waiting for Entrapta, lass." Sea Hawk commented, peeking around the corner. "I'm sure she'd love to do the hacking herself."

"Yeah, I know that, but every minute we're here the closer we are of getting spotted." Catra's eyes reflected the numerous words and coding she was inputting into the system. "We can't afford to waste... any... Got it!" With a resounding click, the others turned back to her at the sound of her announcement. Skimming through the data with her finger, she read across the various words until she found something that warranted repeating. "Ok, I think I found Bow's cell block, but I can't tell where Pinky's is." She stated. "She's not showing up in the cell's database."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Perfuma worried, trying to see the information over Catra's shoulder.

"Bad, mostly. It either means she's not in these cells or..." She shook the thoughts right out of her mind. Glimmer had to be alive, she just knew it. "Wherever she is, she's got to be somewhere close."

*clank*

All four of them let out a startled gasp as they heard the sound of the mechanical doors opening near them, seeing an oversized droid popping out from the sides. It was definitely bigger than many of the past droids Catra's came across, no doubt a new model they've been working on since Catra's time in the Horde.

"What should we do?" Perfuma backed up slowly as the robot scanned all four of them.

"We should stand and fight!" Sea Hawk stated bravely, pounding his fist against his palm.

"No!" The three turned to the leader of their group. "We can't afford to fight in the hallway, someone's going to see!" Even though she was against fighting at the moment, it didn't do anything to ease her mind. If they didn't fight it it would blast them or chase them around anyway. If they did fight it, it would cause too much noise! What was she supposed to do?

"It's okay!" The chipper voice of relief belonged to a perky-looking princess by the name of Entrapta, one who popped her head around the corner with a smile. "This is my new friend, Emily." She patted her as she took in all her friend had to offer. "I reprogrammed her. Isn't she adorable!"

"...Where have you been?" Did Entrapta not get enough of crimping Perfuma's harmony at this point?!

"Where have you been?" The scientist returned the question with a casual smile as if it was a game.

Taking a deep breath to relieve the tension building up, Catra raised her hands trying to calm everyone. "It's okay, it doesn't matter. Point is, everyone is here. Now let's go!"

...

Thankfully the exploration from that point to the prison block was relatively uneventful, which is the way Catra would've preferred compared to any other alternative. That included keeping a tighter leash on an ecstatic Entrapta, one who drooled at the sight of every new technological device she spotted every two minutes. Perfuma happened to be a rather effective babysitter in that regard, especially when she took the liberty of wrapping Entrapta in a vine around her hands until they got there.

This was another place that gave Catra moments of Deja vu. The large building, the numerous cells, the silent chill creeping up on the ends of her skin. This was the place, that one special place, that turned Catra's life around for the worse. Under the false pretense that she was going through an initiation, she remembered how Kyle tricked her into blindly walking into a prison cell, closing it behind her with her inside, and how Lonnie mercilessly taunted her and mocked her, going on and on about how Catra would never be a part of their gang, never one of their friends.

To this day she still wondered what her life would've been like if she truly did pass some sort of initiation or became friends with the likes of them. Would Lonnie actually be treating her nicer these days? Would she have something in common with a young Rogelio who was more lizard than man? Would she become great friends with Kyle, a shy and timid boy like she used to be back in the day?

She didn't know, and she never would at this rate. She didn't care about making friends since then until very recently. Why would she want to risk something bad happening to her again? This was her first attempt at making friends after Adora wanted to become her friend personally, so why bother trying it again after this horrible experience?

For all she knew the next experience would be twice as horrible! The next group of friends she might try to make might shove her down a flight of stairs. The ones after that might've dangled her over the side of a building, making fun of her constantly while pretending their grip is slipping. The ones after that could even be worse! They might've physically abused her or emotionally scarred her on a daily basis, lying to a young Catra and telling her to just take it because they're friends.

Nobody here was safe enough to make friends with, not like her friendship with Adora. She was the only one who cared about her, the only one who didn't consider her a freak like the rest of the kids did growing up, a detail she never came to understand since there were plenty of other kids with animalistic parts. If anything she felt like she was the most normal looking of the dozens of subspecies within the Fright Zone.

At least some things in the Fright Zone had yet to change around here, like the apparent lack of security guarding the Prison's station. They didn't seem to have any sense to get themselves a lock for the stupid doors leading up to this place, no extra security to protect themselves from a group of random people just barging in, disabling them, and wrapping them up in fairly strong vines that they couldn't escape from.

Like they did not two minutes ago.

"Bow's cell is in section B, level 20." Catra said, looking outside the windows of the station.

"Why do we need to be in here if we're going to knock out the generator anyway?" Mermista asked, finding a flaw in the logic.

"The lifts around here are run on a separate power system," Catra replied, "so we need someone to manage them after we cut power to the cells."

"Are you sure that won't interfere with the lifts in anyway?"

"Even if it does, I can handle it!" Entrapta squeaked enthusiastically. With a crack of her knuckles she began tapping away like the mad scientist she was against the computers. "I've already rerouted power to the lifts from another power source. By the time the Horde realizes it, we'll be on a skiff with all our friends back home!" Dashing away on the control panel, the curious bystanders watched as a lift grew from the upper floors above them, connecting to the floor above that. With a fit of giggles, they watched as she extended and pulled back the bridge repeatedly, finding some sort of entertainment at the incredibly advanced bridges.

"Good. Perfuma, Mermista, you deal with the generator down below. Wait until we get the lift up to Bow's cell and we're ready to unlock it. Like I said, when the reinforcements get here, we're not going to get a chance to escape once the jailbreak starts, so wait for my signal. Okay?"

"Right!" Perfuma and Mermista nodded in agreement.

"I think it would be best if I stayed with Entrapta instead." Sea Hawk suggested. "That way we wouldn't have to worry about anymore... friends... while she's busy." The girl was so enraptured by her fun that she didn't even hear what he just said.

"Good point. Alright, once I grab Bow, we find Glimmer through the jailbreak, then we meet at the base of the prison. From there it's a straight shot out of here. Everyone ready?"

"Ready!"

...

*whack*

"Ngh!" Bow grunted as he continued kicking at the door.

*whack*

"Ghhh!" He was running out of time, he was sure of it!

He's never met Adora in person before and based off whatever Kyle told him awhile ago he knew Glimmer was in trouble. What did Kyle mean about her probably being all right? That Adora was in a bad mood? That they needed to keep her alive for the exchange to happen in the first place? That almost sounded threatening to him!

What's worse is the lack of information he had to begin with. He didn't know where he was other than the Horde territory, he didn't know what was happening outside of these walls as they speak! For all he knew the exchange was happening right at this very moment, or maybe Catra herself was captured too! He completely forgot to ask about anything related to her, seeing how he was nabbed and knocked out immediately after returning to the Ball to find Glimmer. Was she okay to? Was she also somewhere in here? There were so many questions he needed answers to!

Yet nothing he did mattered. Every time he hit the stupid barrier it gave off a red flash wherever he struck it before rematerializing again to a solid green. There wasn't anything he could use as a weapon in here save for the bed, and no matter how hard he tried to pry it from the walls and use it as a battering ram, it was completely stuck in place!

There was no way for him to get out, no matter how badly he wished it. Whatever was happening to Glimmer, and possibly Catra, they were completely on their own.

"Bow!" His eyes widened at the sound of Kyle's voice again. "Bow!"

"Kyle?" Bow questioned, rather surprised to see the timid blond riding the lift to his cell.

"I'm supposed to be in the barracks. Lonnie made me cover her in latrine duty..." He mumbled with a sigh.

"What's going on?"

"I found out where your friend is being held!" Kyle announced, giving Bow hope for the first time since getting here. "Shadow Weaver has her in the Black Garnet chamber. She's being interrogated by Adora right now."

"Interrogated?" There was no way any methods of Horde interrogation around here could be pleasant. "What's happening to her now? Is she going to be okay?"

"Umm... Yes! Kind of. Maybe?... I don't think so..." Kyle answered nervously, rubbing his left arm trying to calm down. "Adora seemed really, really, mad about her. She wants Glimmer to either erase whatever spell you guys placed over Catra or tell her how to disable the spell itself."

"Spell? We didn't place any spell over her, Kyle! Catra's working for us because she wants to!"

"I know, that's what a lot of us thought too! But..." A look of worry crossed his face as he looked away. "She's convinced Glimmer put some sort of spell over her. I don't know why but she won't accept any other answer. She's been getting a bit moodier as of late too."

"Do you know what she's going to do to Glimmer? Is she going to be alright?!"

"S-She'll be fine, I know that for a fact! She wouldn't risk doing anything deadly to her! She needs to keep her alive. Shadow Weaver is planning to ransom her in exchange for the Queen, so there's no way Adora would risk that."

Ransom? Information about Glimmer's condition? Telling him about what Adora is planning to do about her? "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"...I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess... you're the first person who's ever listened to me." He gave a small teethe smile as he said this.

"...I mean, I am being held prisoner, so... I don't know if I have a choice, but sure!" Ok, this was off to an admittedly better start.

He doesn't know how long he was going to be stuck in this cell, and he didn't know how much time he had before the exchange occurred or if something worse happened to Glimmer. So far this Kyle guy is the only other person he's met since coming here and right now he seemed the friendliest. If listening to him a little bit and talking to him here and there was a guaranteed way to help him out of this situation, then he was willing to make some new friends.

Besides, how bad could it be to listen to someone?"

...

Exiting the guard station the three awaited as the first lift came down to them. Nodding to Perfuma and Mermista, the flower princess giving her a thumbs up of good luck, quickly boarded the mechanical bridge, waiting and watching as she started to ascend a couple floors one by one. At the same time, she took a brief glance as another bridge passed by her, watching as it waited for Mermista and Perfuma at the control center, then descended further below as they headed for the generators.

This was another one of the fun memories Catra recalled having with Adora when they were kids. On the one day these cells were empty, unaware of what happened to the prisoners themselves, they found the place to be vastly empty of guards and almost no one at the consoles. Being around seven years old at the time, what better way could they spend a day they had off of lessons and training other than playing with the lifts themselves?

Taking turns back and forth, at one point setting the lifts to work automatically, they played back and forth on the fun lifts, having fun with the lifts flying them up and down, hopping between the two lifts as they passed each other. At one point they even dared each other stick their arm out and see how long they could keep it out until the lift passed by them.

Neither of them were brave enough to keep their arm out for more than 2 floors above, and yet they still laughed at the good time they were having.

It was during the ascent that Catra came across someone she didn't expect around here, and the last person she wanted to run into again in this place of all places. "You!" Lonnie shouted angrily. Surrounding her was Rogelio and several other guards, no doubt on patrol of the prison as they kept an eye on one of the two recent prisoners.

Back at the control station, Entrapta poked her fingers as she gave a nervous smile. "Whoops... That's not right." She tried making the most of the situation as she pressed another button, only for the lift to stop as it was six feet above the floor Lonnie herself was on. Grumbling to herself, as Rogelio lowered himself, she launched from atop Rogelio's shoulder up to the platform itself, pulling out her stun baton and setting the levels to maximum voltage.

"Entrapta!" Catra called down, seeing the disadvantage she was at. She wouldn't be able to handle four guys at once with the lack of space and mobility she had. Even she was aware of that. Hearing the girl scream, she and Lonnie nearly jumped as they felt the lift beginning to ascend again.

"I got the freak, you guys get whoever's messing with the lift!" She ordered, never taking her gaze off the magicat. Catra gritted her teeth as she got her own stun baton she relieved the previous guards off of. She couldn't risk using her claws during this fight without risking the chance of Lonnie getting her in one good swing.

She made that mistake too many times during training when they were kids.

Not even caring as the others ran to the lower floors, Lonnie grinned as she twirled the stick playfully in her hands. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the freak herself."

"Mmmh I'm not a freak, Lonnie." Catra grumbled, maintaining her composure and grip on the baton.

"You're right for once. Now you're a freak and a traitor." With a mighty roar she lunged herself straight onto the magicat, pressing her baton on Catra's own with full force, keeping Catra's feet pinned to the lift. "I can't believe you were stupid enough to come back here after all this time!"

"Shut up!" With a growl, Catra pushed back on Lonnie, the girl finding herself grumbling in turn as her feet slid little by little towards the edge of the lift. "I'm not your stupid punching bag anymore, Lonnie. And I never will be again!"

"Heh, is that so?" Confused by her sudden grin, she found herself caught off guard as Lonnie grabbed her wrist, the one holding the tighter grip on the baton, and lifted Catra off her feet. Catra could easily tell Lonnie's been taking stricter training regime's ever since Adora became Force Captain. "Let's just see about that then!" With a cackle, she tossed Catra behind her, the girl rolling across the floors on one of the ros of prison cells, Catra jumping to her feet as Lonnie jumped a ways ahead of her.

"Tch, you lose a couple brain cells since I last saw you, or are you normally this stupid?" Catra taunted. This stupid girl just gave Catra the greatest advantage ever! "You had a better chance on the lifts, idiot! At least there I had less balance!" Grinning to herself, she charged head first to the girl with a baton at the ready, prepared to counter any direction she tried to attack from.

There was no way Lonnie had the advantage over her! Here she had stable footing, a solid path, and multiple levels she could leap from in case of an emergency! Lonnie on the other hand was a big hulking idiot with little to no talent whatsoever. Withholding Catra's personal view of her, she was barely a little stronger in the muscle category, and she was nowhere near as fast as Catra herself was! It was because of this method of thinking she didn't consider the ace Lonnie had up her sleeve.

Or in her pockets.

"Personally, I like my chances as is." Lonnie smirked. In one swift motion, she dug through her pockets, placed something near her mouth, and then did the one thing Catra least expected. She whistled.

*Scccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*

"Nggggghhhh!" All at once, Catra's entire body convulsed as an overwhelming ringing sensation went through her ears. Immediately dropping to the ground, she groaned internally as she covered her ears tightly, trying to drown out the wretched noise that made her body tingle in an almost paralyzing way. "W-What is that?!"

Lonnie continued as she watched the stupid cat squirming on the ground. Pulling her hand away from her mouth, she grinned. "Gotcha."

*WHAM!*

"Ghhh!" Catra yelped as she was kicked squarely in the face several feet away. With the last bits of the ringing leaving her ears, fingers twitching as feeling returned to senses again. Glaring at the smirking girl, she watched as she casually twirled a very small whistle attached to a blue string by her right finger.

"Like it? Think of it as a dog whistle, but one for very annoying cats! Adora was nice enough to listen to my idea when I suggested it to her. Do you know how much better things have gotten since you left?"

"You...!" With another scream, she lunged straight for the girl, stretching her claws out this time as she preferred leaving a few scars this time around. Unfortunately, it was met with the exact same results as Lonnie returned the whistle to her lips.

*Sccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*

"Gah!" What was this horrible shock this whistle was sending through her system?! Every time she heard the stupid high pitched screeching sound her entire body instantly felt heavy and numb, barely having enough feeling to bring her fingers to plug her ears weakly. Groveling on the ground before her, Lonnie sneered as she casually kicked Catra square in the stomach. "Agh!" If the kick wasn't enough to hurt her, the way the screeching was paralyzing her nerves in addition to it did.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

...

At the same time, Rogelio was making his own way to the lower levels as he charged towards the security station, the very ones Entrapta and Sea Hawk were busy taking care of the separate lifts, trying to maintain the one bringing down the other girls. There appeared to be a lot more of them than Entrapta originally thought, the girl getting too easily distracted by the many different scientific switches and doodads here and there she came across.

It was during that instance of confusion that she ended up hitting another switch activating one of the lifts; the very one on Rogelio's level as he came across the pathway. Noticing the lift preparing to move, he grabbed the other two guards by the hands, leaping over to the lift right before it started to move. With the momentum increased and the lift heading straight downwards, still maintaining his grip on the other two, he crashed his way through the window as the guards used his body to shield from the glass, jumping from his back towards a surprised Sea Hawk and Entrapta who watched the three crash through the window.

Without getting so much as a word out, the two guards tackled the two immediately out of the way, leaving a clear path open for Rogelio to regain control of the lifts again. Checking over the module, he noticed one of the other lifts were continuing to descend, no doubt the one their friends were still on. With a growl, he pulled back on the switches, halting the lift Mermista and Perfuma were on, just eight floors from the ground.

"What was that?" Mermista asked, maintaining her balance as she and Perfuma wobbled from the sudden stop. Without getting a reply, they were met with the lift coming back to life as it started rising to the sky once again. "That's not right!" Mermista shouted upwards, trying to grab whoever's attention was raising them back to the security tower.

"Quick, grab on!" Perfuma instructed. Using the magic she could gather in a single burst, she grew several massive beanstalks from the edge of the lift, stretching them as far as she could until it finally reached the ground level itself, halting the ascension. Despite it's strong grip, the lift continued to heave and groan, making a whirring noise as it pried a massive stalk one by one.

With a nod to each other the two girls jumped along the beanstalks, sliding down it smooth and quickly as the vines and stalks continued to snap one by one. Thankfully the two were smart enough to recharge their powers before taking on this entire rescue mission, Perfuma managing to maintain most of her magic's grip on the lift long enough for them to reach the ground level, not a second too soon either as the stalks behind them immediately broke apart, turning back to watch the lift immediately shoot upwards at top speed.

Seeing the lift itself starting to pass them, Rogelio growled as he noticed the missing pair from the lift, no doubt escaping to one of the prison rows or getting off of it in the nick of time. Looking back to the upper lifts that had yet to come down, he noticed an eager Lonnie having a bit of fun with the whistle she had Adora get made for, getting an idea as he started to descend the upper lifts that were raised above them.

...

*WHACK!*

"Ough-!" Catra coughed in pain as she was kicked in the stomach for the third time.

She couldn't get an edge over her since the fight began, no opportunity to strike at her! Every time she got back to her feet, Lonnie was either looming over her or was already swatting the stun baton across her face. Whenever Catra tried to defend herself or found an opening, all Lonnie had to do was blow her whistle and almost instantly Catra would be doubled over in a paralyzing pain, the loud screeching noise sending shivers through her nerves to the point where her body wouldn't respond.

"See, like a dog whistle, it's a frequency that only you can hear." Lonne grinned, kicking the downed Catra again while walking around her. "It took me quite a bit of talking to convince Adora to get this made for me."

*WHAM!*

"Agh!"

"I kept going on and on about how I would use it defensively, to help capture you." She grinned, stepping her foot squarely on Catra's stomach.

"Ah..." Catra grunted, trying her best to push off massive boot off her stomach.

"That was a lie, of course. I had to say something to get her to do it."

"Ghhh!"

*swiff*

"Ow!" Lonnie yelped as she hopped her foot away. She let out an angry groan as she rubbed her sore leg, finding several new scratch marks that tore through her pants and into her skin, a little gift from Catra's claws as she sliced into her leg on both sides. She wasn't even given a moment to collect herself as Catra leapt back to her feet, delivering a massive kick straight across Lonnie's face, and hurdling her several feet away from her.

Slowly getting back to her feet, Catra bared her teeth at Lonnie as the girl slowly collected herself, finding the whistle missing from her hands and a few feet rolled away ahead of her. Taking a quick look back to Catra, the girl scrambled towards it as Catra charged herself towards the girl. Right before Catra could land another blow, wanting to add a new scar to Lonnie's personal life, the bully managed to grab the whistle right at the last second, blowing as hard as she could as she placed it into her mouth and sending goosebumps throughout Catra's body again.

She felt such relief as Catra dropped to the ground in pain again, unable to tolerate the cruel sounds that her ears refused to ignore. Sighing in relief, Lonnie grabbed for stun baton and jabbed it right into Catra's gullet, sending thousands of volts through her body from head to toe.

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Aghhhhhhh!" Now on top of the horrible pain ringing in her ears, her nerves were getting shocked from every angle as the electricity coursed through her body, Lonnie smirking as she rolled over to her knees and continued to torment the poor girl.

"Doesn't feel to good, does it?" She teased. As she said this, she noticed the lift far above them starting to descend. Getting a rather fun idea forming in her mind, she grabbed Catra by the throat, continuing to tweet her whistle as hard as she could, as she dragged the downed ex-comrade over to the edge. Her grin widened as she watched the lift descend faster and faster through the air, pinning Catra's head straight over the ledge where the bridge would rip through her.

No matter how badly Catra tried, she couldn't extend her claws through the convulsions and paralysis running through her veins. Her own body was resisting her control, she was surprised she could breathe at this point. She wasn't even able to reach Lonnie's face with her claws, the girl being smart enough to distance themselves as she watched the lift continue to fall.

"I'm pretty sure Shadow Weaver will give me a good promotion for turning in your sorry hide." Lonnie commented. "I'll be a Force Captain alongside Adora for this, I'm sure. Maybe I'll even outrank her if I report it directly to Lord Hordak!" That was when Catra finally saw the approaching lift coming down, falling faster and faster as it was just six levels above of them and coming further down. Despite her best attempts to reach the girl, being weaponless from the earlier scuffle, there was no way she could get a solid hit on the girl's face, or get her claws out enough to force Lonnie off of her. The most she could do was push her head away with her hand from the bottom of her chin!

As he watched this, he was too distracted to notice how Entrapta and Sea Hawk dealt with the two guards he carried into the room with him. What might've been a somewhat challenging endeavor for Sea Hawk, seeing how he came here without a weapon against guards with stun batons, Entrapta easily managed to knock her own guard off his feet before he could retaliate with a stun baton, swiping the guard off his feet and tossing him into the other one as they both passed out from slamming into the wall.

Noticing the small clearing ahead of him, Sea Hawk dashed wildly for the lizard boy, throwing his bandana around his eyes as he pulled back as hard as he could. The lizardman was unable to see anything around him, feeling Sea Hawk wrap his legs around his torso as he held on for dear life. The ensuing struggle was enough to pull Rogelio away from the console for a short bit, long enough for Entrapta to take over as she put an immediate stop to the lifts.

Back up top, Lonnie watched with anticipation as the lift was nearing their level, right where Catra's head was firmly planted. However, just as it was about to reach the defenseless cat's head who closed her eyes out of fear, right before it was about to ensure her head came clean off, it came to a halt, right at Lonnie's eye level. Noticing the lack of head removal herself, Catra tossed one eye out again, seeing the platform one foot right above her head, finding the timing of the event beyond words could say for relief.

It was then she also noticed Lonnie's perplexed expression as she stared at the platform in mild confusion. Right before she could get her bearings, faster than she could react, Catra punted her knee right behind Lonnie's legs, pulling the girl straight forward and slamming her head against the edge of the lift, right on the bridge between her eyes.

*Thud*

"Ahhhh!" Lonne cried out in pain as she pulled herself off of Catra, squeezing the bridge of her eyes painfully. The impact was strong enough to send a shock between her entire face, leaving her in a disoriented state that Catra managed to take advantage of. In one single strike, she uppercutted Lonnie square in the face, punching the girl off of her and giving her enough time to slip her head out from under the lift, not wanting to take her chances of whether it would get up again or not.

...

"Is that the generator?" Perfuma asked as the two circled the base of the security tower for a minute.

It took a bit of time circling their way around the tower itself, seeing how the lift didn't bring them directly to the generator. Luckily for them compared to the outer rings of the floors above, the tower wasn't that hard to circle around, the two girls running in a full half-circle until they came across a strange piece of heavy machinery.

Looking back on it they realized Catra never told them what the generator looked like, though this machine seemed to fit the power. With a glowing green X in the center of what looked like a football-size battery, the machine housed nearly hundreds of different green wires, ones that housed all the way up the tower and the floors beneath their feet and towards the walls of the prison. If this wasn't what the generator looked like then there was no way they were going to find it at this rate.

"Must be." Mermista said, stepping towards the machine as she cracked her knuckles. "Heh, just give me one minute with this thing and I'll-"

"Haaaah!" Roaring with the force of mother nature itself, Perfuma shot a dozen powerful, thick, vines towards the battery-like device housed in the center of the machine, ensnaring it in a large mass of tangled vines and leaves. With a grand pull, using all of her physical strength, Perfuma heaved as she pulled the vines over her shoulder, slowly popping the wires out of the battery one by one, sending sparks flying everywhere, until the entire battery of the device ripped to shreds upon forceful ejection.

Ripped from the machine, the generator gave off a low-tone humming noise as numerous sparks and wires sparked from the cables and generator itself. All around them the living green energy slowly dimmed down to a grey dark nothingness, the power to the jail cells being dismantled

Turning back to the girl, Perfuma smiled as she raised a fist victoriously, crushing the battery just in case, as she cheered. "Haha! I did it!" Her mood of cheer and celebration was cut short as she noticed Mermista giving a small pouty face, crossing her arms as she turned away. It was then that Perfuma remembered how destroying something big was her idea to begin with. "Oh! Mermista! Did you want to rip the generator apart?"

"Yes!" She grumbled, kicking her feet a little against the dusty ground.

"I'm sorry! I-If you want, I could try to put the battery back in for a bit-"

"Don't bother, it wouldn't be the same!" She retorted puffing up her cheeks. "I get flushed on and I don't even get to blow up something big..."

"Mmmh... would you feel better if we went up to beat up some guards?"

"...Maybe..."

...

"No one's ever asked me for my help before." Kyle continued with his life's story with his teary eyes. "People don't think I can do anything right!"

"Mh-hmm. That seems tough." Bow reply, bored out of his mind as he leaned on his arm while sitting in his cell.

Oh geez, how much longer was he going to be tortured like this? Whatever pain and suffering Glimmer was going through couldn't be anywhere near as bad as this currently was. He thought if he made friends with Kyle, his problems would be over. If he somehow got Kyle to help him, it would be even better! The Rebellion could always use a welcoming defector hand, after all. All Bow had to do to cement any sort of relationship was hear Kyle prattle on for awhile about his life and struggles in the Horde.

And MAN was he regretting it!

Not two seconds did Kyle stop to take a breath for a change, having an immediate story about his life's problem, one issue after the next, one story to tie in with his previous. It always came down to how he was picked on, how he tried his hardest despite not many people acknowledging his strengths, all his constant fears of the place, and so much more that his attention span eventually dropped out and took a nap halfway through.

He wouldn't really mind his life's story either if he just gave Bow a single second to ask him a question about it! It also would help him greatly if he didn't leave off with the same problem at the end of every, with him referring to how nobody ever listened to him and how nobody ever treated him properly around here.

At the very least, he could give Bow five seconds to process a thought!

"Why am I telling you this?" Kyle asked the both of them. "I shouldn't even be here-"

*Raaaaaaaanoooooo-Raaaaanoooooo-!*

"Huh?" The two stared up at the sound of the sirens going off, seeing the place starting to flash with an eerie red light mixed in with the green.

"What is that?" Bow's question came with an immediate answer as the two of them saw an electrical spark running through the door.

By the time Kyle realized it, it was already too late. From a simple line right down the middle, a single bolt of electricity ran through the doors, slowly causing the door to dematerialize in front of the two of them in two opposite directions. From the center, piece by piece, the door began to slowly vanish and crumble, fading to a deepening shade of red before finally disappearing completely.

Noticing the strange happening that just occured, Kyle quickly turned around, panicking at the sight of everything around him. One floor after the other, row upon rows of doors were starting to short out, the barriers keeping the cellmates confined in their blocks disappearing one after the other. Many of the inmates who stepped out of these cells found themselves in a momentary state of confusion, one that lasted for but an instant, and was quickly replaced by one immediate thought soon after.

"Jailbreak!" Dozens of prisoners shouted, some in unison, some after waking up from the sound of the sirens. All around the prison hundreds of people of varying races ran out of their cells, many of them tackling a guard or two patrolling their section, and others running for their lives after helping out a fellow friend.

"No, no, no!" Kyle squeezed his head as he backed. He needed to think up a plan fast, he needed to regroup with someone! He needed to figure out what he backed into and why it felt like it was in the shape of a person. "Ack-!" He yelped, finding Bow staring him down from behind. Instead of the untold pain and misery he was going to find himself in, he was surprised to see Bow walk right passed him, the archer trying to get a grasp on the situation, and gasping at the sight.

It wasn't just a fancy wordplay or joke being thrown around. All around him nearly every floor in the prison was being opened, exposing various people running out to either flee or fight for their lives, as well as some of the more rugged variety of people tossing others away as they charged passed them. His floor alone held about five different prisoners, none of them giving him a notice as they ran around the rings of the prison, heading straight to the stairs that could lead to possible freedom.

And that wasn't the most surprising part of it!

What really shocked him was what he saw in the middle of this entire complex, as well as what he saw three floors below his.

In the center of the complex he saw what appeared to be Entrapta through the middle, the mad genius typing away as fast as her hair would let her, doing everything in her power to keep the lizard guy off of her at the same time as Sea Hawk fought him with his bare fists.

Below them he started to see an extension of numerous vines, large stalks that scaled around the multiple flowers that allowed many of the prisoners to use them as poles for a faster escape. All of this was created by an excited Perfuma who continued to climb the various levels with her magic while an angered Mermista happily beat against several guards at once, using the many water pipes running through this place to blast the guards off the levels, many of them fortunate Perfuma littered the ground with numerous bushes for safety.

And what surprised him most might've been what he saw not four floors below his. There, he saw Catra, his friend, Catra, who appeared to be fighting off another one of the cadets like Kyle, except were he was more timid, frail, and currently trying to get out of the prison to sound the second alarms, she was pounding on Catra with stun baton.

And winning.

...

"Grrrrrrr!" Entrapta grumbled as she tried to hold the giant lizard at arm's, and hair's, length. For what little time Sea Hawk managed to pull the lizard off of the console, the two soon found themselves fighting off an angered beast without any weapons to call their own, save for Entrapta's hair that was becoming more difficult to push back with. She was barely a foot away from the beast that tried to crush her with his massive jaws.

That's when he found himself grabbed by the tail, feeling two incredibly powerful hands crushing in on his tail as he was pulled directly off the scientist. With her view clear, she watched in awe as Sea Hawk began spinning the lizard around, picking up momentum and speed, and finally flinging the massive lizard straight through another glass window. The lizard was fortunate himself Sea Hawk was a surprisingly impressive thrower as the landed a floor under his current level, slamming head first to the ground.

Rogelio hissed with his lizard-like tongue as he worked his way back to his feet. A simple tug and throw wasn't going to be enough to keep this lizard down, especially with a purple-haired geek and a sea captain with a terrible-looking moustache!

Sadly fate was less than kind to him as a large siren rang throughout the prison. All around him he watched as numerous cells were being opened on separate floors in an orderly style. He was so distracted by the recent development he didn't even notice the cells behind him starting to open up to. By the time he turned around he found himself tackled to the ground by three different prisoners, all attempting to fight off the guard in order to make their escape, buying Entrapta and Sea Hawk all the time they needed.

"Wow..." Entrapta oohed, still in wonder. "That was amazing Sea Hawk!" She was legitimately impressed in all honesty. Not many people can say they flung a creature nearly three times their size and weight off the ground and through the air like that.

The proud captain smiled triumphantly as he clapped his hands clear of dust. "That was nothing. I've been forced to wrestle a shark off of people on at least three occasions during my time on land."

"Wow!... Wait, did you say "on land"?" Entrapta asked curiously as she went back to the module.

"Well, the cantinas tend to get very rough sometimes when you're playing card games..." He mumbled regretfully to himself, rubbing the back of his head. "Especially when they find out how you keep winning twenty matches in a row..." Moving on, he ran over to the module too as he looked around the prison itself. All around him prisoners were running or fighting for their as they tried to escape. "It would seem Mermista and Perfuma finished their part of the mission."

"And according to this, just about all the cells have been vacated." Smiling, she worked her scientific knowhow as she sent several lifts across the prison. "I'm sending the lifts up to Bow and Catra and down to Mermista and Perfuma. Once we collect everyone and Glimmer, we'll be home free!"

...

*wham*

"Ugh..." Catra groaned as she was thrown to the ground for possibly the fifth time by this point.

She couldn't beat her. She couldn't get anywhere close to her since getting her off of her from the lift. After managing to bash the girl away, Lonnie hasn't even dropped that stupid whistle from her mouth, and it was starting to affect Catra on a more permanent basis. Her body was getting a little sluggish, her sight waved here and there. She didn't know if it was from the beatings she was taking or the whistle constantly ringing in her ears, and it didn't matter at this point.

"You know I never did see what Adora saw in you." Lonnie continued to taunt. "You were lazy, you were incompetent, and you got Adora into just as much trouble as yourself."

"Been there, heard that." Catra muttered, rushing the girl again.

*Sccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-!*

"Eggghhhh!" This time was no exception as Catra's body shook violently, dropping straight to her knees mid-run as she clamped her ears shut tightly.

"Worst of all, you never knew when to quit." With a winning smile, Lonne raised her baton high in the air, ready to land a finishing blow that would knock Catra out for good. "I almost wish I got to see what Shadow Weaver did to you after this, but oh well."

*Raaaaaaaanoooooo-Raaaaanoooooo-!*

"Huh?" Lonnie raised her head as she heard the sound of the strange sirens going off. This wasn't like the normal one that was met with an instantly flashing red light, this one was mixed with a flashing green and red light, while also having a different pitch at the same time.

That's when she saw the same thing Kyle was seeing a few floors above her. Starting from the bottom of the prison, one row after the other, the cells began to dissipate on each and every floor, slowly working their way to their floor and continuing onwards. "What did you do?!"

Catra watched for herself as the floors began to flood with anywhere between five to ten people a floor, everyone scrambling or fighting back against any of the nearby guards that happened upon them after a resounding "Jailbreak" was announced. It didn't matter to her at this point if there was a lack of signal, no doubt something forced the others to destroy the generator. All that mattered to her was the opening it gave her.

"Hrrrgggggghhhhhh!" Catra growled, leaping straight for Lonnie's throat with her bare claws.

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhhhh!" It wasn't Lonnie's unfortunate scream that was resounding near them. It was Catra's. The girl was so certain Lonnie let her guard down for an instant that she didn't anticipate her hasty reaction, striking back at the magicat square in the stomach with her baton right as Catra's claw had reached her neck.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Sneering as she pulled back the baton and beat her fist against Catra's face, toppling the girl straight to the ground and throwing her to the ground again. She snickered at the sight of the girl weakly getting to her hands and knees again, her tail limping almost as bad as the rest of her body was. "You really never learn, do you? Geez, and I thought after awhile you would've picked up on some-" Lonnie froze as she noticed something missing around her neck, all while she heard a small chuckle coming from the bruised and battered Catra who made her way to her feet.

"Oh, trust me. I picked up something alright." She grinned, opening her palms wide enough to give Lonnie a pleasant view of what she had picked up.

It was the whistle she had tied around her neck, now in the palm of the last person who should have it.

"Catra, don't-"

*crunch*

Did she seriously think that was going to happen? If she politely asked her not to that she wasn't going to bring herself to crush the small whistle in her open palms. "Whoops, my fingers slipped." Catra joked, tilting her hand enough to let the bits and pieces of the broken whistle fall in front of her. In a single breath, Lonnie watched as Catra extended the claws out of her hand, the girl lowering her brow as she glared at her everlasting tormentor. "Now THIS is going to be fun!"

Without giving Lonnie a chance to process the small hiss that followed it, Catra practically teleported between the two feet in front of them in her mad dash, slamming a long-deserved fist right into Lonnie's stomach that she's been waiting so long to give her. The bully found herself knocked right off her feet, dropping her Baton in the process, as she was flung through the air two entire cells away from Catra.

It wasn't anything the girl couldn't power through as she immediately rolled back to her feet, thankful Adora's increased training had her amply prepared for a fight like this. Unfortunately for her, prepared was the farthest thing she was from as she was met with an angered magicat diving right at her, smacking her across the face as she passed her.

Catra didn't give her a single second of relief as she continued her relentless assault, passing Lonnie at every opportunity that the girl managed to collect herself. From the back, to the side, forward, backward, as well as her knees and arms, Catra scratched and slammed away at each of her limbs. Disorienting the girl enough, Catra knew this is one of the few things she's always wanted in her life as she headbutted the girl straight against her tiara.

Revenge.

For every prank she pulled, Catra kicked her in the stomach. For every cruelty inflicted upon her, Catra punched her in the face. She was not holding back against this girl now that she had the opportunity to do so. It didn't matter to her if she was rushing this fight as fast as she could. She was savoring every delicious blow she dealt to her second worst tormentor, uppercutting her again before her knees could even drop to the floor, flattening her onto her back.

If she had to give any compliments to the girl, it was that she still managed to get back to her feet after everything Catra had done to her, though it was clear she was exhausted and out of breath, with several scratches across her ripped sleeves and a small cut on her lower lip. There was no way she was going to make a comeback herself.

"Catra!" She heard Bow calling out, letting out a small gasp herself as she saw Bow coming down to her level on one of the lifts.

"Bow? Ah-!" She let out a small yelp as she found the archer throwing his arms tightly around her, unaware of the injuries she's sustained to this point.

"Thank goodness! You're all right!" Finally! A bit of good news he was given around here!

"Ack-! Hey hey, easy! Easy!" Catra yelped, trying to wriggle her way out until he finally let go.

"Oh, right, sorry." He smiled apologetically. "I forgot, still not buddy-buddy yet or anything. I'm just... glad you're okay..." For the first time, the announcement of that actually made her frown. He made it sound like she still hated him along with Glimmer, like she still didn't see the two eye-to-eye. Even if she wasn't exactly that comfortable with saying it out loud as of yet, it's not like she wasn't happy or relieved to see he was okay either.

With a minor blush, shifting her eyes away as she scratched her head, she spoke. "W-Well, I mean... It's not like I'm unhappy you're okay or anything..." She mumbled, almost shocking Bow with what he was hearing he was so surprised. "I mean... I'm, well... you know... glad you're okay too and all..."

No. Freaking. Way. There was no way he could believe what he had just heard and what he had just witnessed. For the first official time since meeting Catra, there wasn't one hint of sarcasm, no lead up to a joke, no amount of wordplay or manipulations behind anything she just said. She had, in fact, not even kidding here, just said the very first legitimate positive thing about him and/or Glimmer.

And he didn't even do anything yet to earn it!

"...Wow..."

"S-Shut uuup..." Catra mumbled blushing deeper. "You think this is any easier for me?

"Heh, right..." He knew what this was like for someone like her, after all the hardships and troubles she had just to get to this level of kindness. At this point in the relationship the three friends shared, she could take as much time as she needed for all he cared. Turning back to the weakened Horde soldier, he nudged her with his elbow to get her attention. "What do you want to do about her?"

Checking at the glaring Horde soldier too, assuming how many minutes were left before the backup generator kicked in for the cells, she grinned.

"I have an idea..."

...

*THUD!*

"Ah!" Lonnie cried out as she was tossed to the cold metallic floor. Glaring back at the two, she grumbled furiously as she saw Catra smirking by the doorway, looking all calm and peaceful as she grinned to her with her hands behind her head. "Youuuu!" She wasn't going to let Catra get away with this! It didn't matter to her if she now had someone else at her back, she would take them both on if it was the last thing she did-!

*Bzzzt!*

"Ahhh!" Lonne cried again as she was blasted back into the cell. To her horror, in front of the two, now stood a fully solidified barrier, one that ensured she couldn't escape. It didn't matter how many times she got back to her feet, slamming on the cell door itself, the barrier wouldn't budge an inch. She pounded away with her fist time and again, all while Catra let out a bored yawn at the show in front of her.

"Awwwwhn. Perfect timing on the barrier." She teased.

"Come on, let's get back to the lift and get out of here." Bow suggested, already taking his own advice as he jogged towards the lift.

"Eh, you go on ahead, I need one sec." Catra replied, giving a small annoyed look back to Lonnie who continued to glare at her.

It was just like that day in almost every detail. The day Catra wanted to be friends with her, the day she thought she was going to take part of some grand initiation plan, and watched how it all crumbled in front of her in a horrible shatter of reality. All because of what Lonnie did.

And now, they were right back where they were almost a decade ago, this time on completely opposite sides.

"Hmm..." Catra hummed loud enough for the girl to hear, looking over the control panel on the side of the door. "Now if I remember, one of these buttons started some grand initiation we did when we were kids, right?" She didn't bother to look as Lonnie's face filled with fear and dread, having a clear picture of what Catra was about to do.

"N-No, wait! Catra, please!" Lonnie begged, sliding to her knees. "Don't!"

"I think it was... ah, here it was." She gave off the proudest smirk she ever could to the girl. "Have fun in solitude."

"No, please! IHATETHEDARK-!"

*Thud*

"..." For some reason, the intense amount of amusement she was about to get out of this grand dose of irony was brought to a halt as Lonnie uttered those last few words, right before the metallic doors sealed her away in a never ending darkness, the same one she practically threw her in all those years ago. "..." She still remained silent, opting to pull open a small foot long panel that was used to deliver food to the prisoners when they were subjected to the Hole as punishment.

It didn't make sense to her as she saw it. Here she was. Lonnie. Former bully, tormentor, and person who nearly made her lose her head, kneeling on the ground in front of her so that all Catra could see were her eyes. She sputtered those last few words of fear out of her thinking Catra would've cared, trying to play whatever last minute trick she could get out of her for her own amusement.

And yet, she didn't seem the least bit amused. Here, right in front of her, Catra could see it. Tears. A pure stream of tears rolling down Lonnie's eyes, the girl looking terrified beyond her wildest nightmares, as the prospect of being trapped in terrifying darkness reached her. She was looking at the bully who subjected her to the pitch black room all those years ago getting a taste of her own medicine, and she was now crying her eyes out for the few seconds she was in total darkness.

What did she expect? Did she expect Catra's forgiveness for all those years of hate and abuse? Did she think she would take pity on the girl who harassed her constantly, all because she was scared of the pitch darkness like Catra was as a child? Did she really expect some sort of mercy out of her?!

"Please..." Lonnie sniffled, looking into Catra's loathing eyes. "Just keep the latch open... don't put me in the dark..." What was she expecting at this point? This was Catra she was talking to. The traitor, the defector. The person who thought she was always the victim and never took responsibility for her own pranks and mischief she pulled on everyone else. The troublemaker who would pick on other people herself if they bugged her out of nowhere, and the one who always goofed off from her duties.

If this stupid cell had an incineration function to it, she was positive Catra would press it on a heartbeat. So why did she think asking for mercy of all things was going to help? She just exposed her greatest fear of being in perfect darkness like this to the person she nearly tried to kill a minute ago, and that's not including all the years of torment she inflicted upon her. This was her chance. Her moment of revenge. Her opportunity of justifiable payback.

"..."

"...Huff..." Catra shook her head of all the irritation she was getting out of this. "You're not even worth it." With those five words, Catra walked away, leaving the hatch open wide enough to let a small beam of light fill the darkened room. Lonnie herself blinked madly, unable to comprehend what she had witnessed. Catra... THE Catra... just did the last thing she had ever expected her to do for someone like Lonnie.

Something nice.

"...Thank you..." She muttered, sniffling. She saw it for herself and she was still in disbelief.

Catra truly has changed...

...

"You guys! You're all here!" Entrapta announced happily, watching as Catra and Bow had arrived to the security station from above as Mermista and Perfuma arrived shortly after from the lift down below.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Bow!" Perfuma ran over hugging him tightly, relieved one of her two captured allies were alright.

"It's good to see you guys too." Bow replied, hugging back.

"It's good to see you back on your feet after all this, lad." Sea Hawk smiled, patting his shoulder. "I don't want to imagine what you might've been through till now."

"Honestly, I'm alright. It's Glimmer we need to worry about-"

"Pffft, relax, how hard can it be?" Catra said shrugging casually. "Even if little miss princess somehow slept through all of this, we'll just run up to the cells to get her." She smiled a little looking as high as she possibly could towards the ceiling. "Any idea what floor she's on?"

"Catra, you..." She turned back as he placed a hand over her shoulder, a twinge of worry emanating through his eyes. "You don't understand. Glimmer's not around here."

"Then... where is she?" At the sight of his frown, Catra's heart sank a little before she even heard what he had to say.

"Shadow Weaver brought her to the Black Garnet chamber... and she's being interrogated by Adora."

...

A/N: For those of you wondering, yes, I do happen to have a future reasoning/explanation for Lonnie's fear of the dark playing into a future episode (possibly season 2). But for now still hope you guys had fun regardless. Next episode is going to be the second last to last chapter of this episode, at which point I hope the rest of you have fun with either way ^^

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 35: Episode 9: No Princess Left Behind Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Yataaaaaaah! No idea what that means other than saying "Huzzah!" ^^! Haha, I feel really good about this one folks. As you can imagine with how soon i posted it after the last one, I had a lot of fun with this chapter ^^ Would've had more fun if i could've ended it, but I'll take what I can get XP that just means you guys get one more chapter tomorrow or day after ^^

It also means... at the rate i'm going...I am sooooo not finishing this fic before season 2 T_T CRAP!

*sigh* well either way, I did have fun with this. and I still won't be watching season 2 until I finish it (curse you brain you traitor!) So if you can, avoid potential spoilers in the latter chapters please XP.

With that said, enjoy!

...

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in agony again as the volts went through her body.

Pain. So. Much. PAIN!

This wasn't like anything Glimmer had ever been through before. This wasn't getting blasted by some sort of mystical energy in one shot, this wasn't the result of some creature slamming a giant arm against her, this wasn't falling from some incredible height that she could survive. This was torture.

Literally.

Throughout the entire experience, possibly for the last half hour, however long Glimmer found herself here, she's been getting tortured. Every time her interrogator asked her the same question it was always met with the same two responses; "I don't know" or "there isn't any spell", and later followed by a giant burst of the Black Garnet's twisted energy being shot through her body. The tormentor asked the same question time and again, and it was never met with a different response.

What made it so much more troubling wasn't the fact she was being tortured, but who she was being tortured by.

Adora.

The Adora Catra considered to be her only friend, the same one she hated Glimmer over for losing in Salineas. The one Catra had fond memories of, not that she ever told Glimmer about them, like how sweet and kind she is. The one Catra relied upon throughout most of her life to keep her safe. She wasn't anywhere near friendship material, or if she does then it did kind of match Catra's own hardened personality, seeing how twisted Adora seemed to be, possibly due to all her time growing up in the Horde.

As for Adora herself, she was starting to lose her patience in every sense of the word. One question. She kept asking her one single question! And what did she have to show for it? Nothing. No matter how many times she asked, no matter how high she increased the voltage of these electrical shocks, she could never get a straight answer out of her.

It was actually surprising she was losing her patience as she did. She thought with her lack of emotions in her present state, seeing how she was wearing the headband, that she'd be immune to feeling any other emotions after her intense training regimen. Apparently, no matter how much she trained, it just went on to show that she could never fully be rid of her emotions, despite how hard she was trying to keep them suppressed.

She felt impatience, confusion, a tinge of worry, and most of all anger. She gave this evil princess who knew how many times to answer her one simple question and she was refusing to give it to her!

Didn't this princess feel any pain? Did she enjoy making Adora herself suffer? She took Catra away from her, brainwashed her, mind controlled her, whatever she did to take Catra away from her! She had plenty of other friends, sure, but none like Catra was. She was one of the very first friends she ever made, ever since she was little. She saw her as a sister, maybe something else, and she promised she would always be there for her when she needed it, and she knew Catra desperately needed it if she was fighting for the Rebellion of all people!

All she could process right now in her emotionally deprived state was a burning anger in her heart. "Geeehhhhhhhhhhhh!" Adora growled as she turned off the machine after long last.

"Aaaaugh-! Huff... Huff..." Glimmer panted heavily as she lowered her head, sniffling as the tears stung rolling down her eyes. "Please...ju... just stop...ehhheh..." She cried a little.

Still giving the princess the cold, scathing, look since she first laid eyes upon her, Adora walked her way over to the agonizing princess, pulling in the shadows from around her feet as she formed a giant clawed hand on her right arm. "Do you think I like this anymore than you do?!" She yelled. "All I want is to know how to free Catra from your spell!"

"T... There isn't anyyyy...egh..." Glimmer continued to cry, letting out a small hiccup.

How much resistance does this wicked princess even have?! Adora shouted in her mind. Without a care about the electrical energies keeping her contained, Adora grabbed Glimmer by the chin, forcefully lifting her head up as she glared into her eyes. "Tell me how to remove the spell RIGHT NOW!"

"THERE ISN'T ANY SPELLLLLL! Aghuh...tch...eheh..." Glimmer shouted, squeezing her eyes shut as she cried.

How resistant was this princess being?! Why was she so obsessed with keeping Catra on her side this badly?! Didn't she understand the minute she told her the truth Adora would stop torturing her? She'd be willing to let her walk away free at this rate if she could tell Adora how to save Catra! What was she doing instead?

Being persistent, that's what! Just look at her! She was acting like she was the victim of all of this, like Adora herself was the villain here! She was putting on the most pathetic display Adora had ever seen, trying to act like she was weak and helpless as she was as the tears flowed from her eyes! The way she stood held against the restraints in pain, the way she wept like this was torturing her, the way she... she was... crying... as Adora felt a small tear drip from Glimmer's face to Adora's shadowy fingertips...

The... the way she was... pretending to... She... how she was... acting... like this was actually hurting her... the... the way it reminded her of when...

"Mmmmhmmmh..." She whimpered into her arms.

That... that wasn't any way to fake it... she's seen true sadness before. Real, legitimate, sadness. Her eyes wavered as her expression started to soften. Her hands began to tremble as she slowly pulled them in front of her face, looking at the way her fingers twitched before her very eyes.

"I... what..." For the first time since donning this headband after her training, she felt something. No matter how hard her training forced her to repress her emotions, she couldn't ignore the feelings that began to drown within her heart. "Wh-What... am I... What am I doing?"

What was she doing? How could she be doing it in the first place? She was a Force Captain for the mighty Horde, a fighting force that stood for Unity and peace across all of Etheria. They were supposed to be better than their enemies, not become them. Just because the evil princesses relied on underhanded tactics didn't mean they should force themselves to resort to them too.

Yet here she was, staring at her own two trembling hands as the shadows dissipated from her right hand, looking back to the state of the princess she just interrogated. This wasn't a creature of evil, this didn't look like anyone who would commit atrocities across the world for the sake of destruction.

This was a young woman, a child at that. A teenager who was the daughter of the leader of the Rebellion, Queen Angella. And despite her tears slowly beginning to dwindle, she was crying out in pain. A pain that Adora herself caused over the last two hours, all because she wanted a simple question to be answered.

What would that make them if they ended up being worse than the princesses?

She couldn't stand this immense feeling the headband was putting on her anymore. Without any hesitation, her hands shot up towards the headband itself, grumbling at the minor resistance it put up, and pulled it from her head. If she thought she was barely feeling anything before, the emotions coming to her now were all-consuming. Where a simple slice of confusion started from, she felt a giant pool of guilt washing over herself, the very same one she felt for what she had done to Catra the first time.

And now she was feeling it for her most hated of enemies.

"What... what am I doing..." She asked herself again, asking as if she herself would answer the question. Looking back to the princess she tortured, she couldn't understand. Why was she an evil princess in the first place? Why was she so obsessed with hating her? Why were her feelings drawing her to an unwanted conclusion that started to infect her mind. "Y... You... You really didn't cast anything on Catra, did you?"

"Th...That's what I've been saying." Glimmer sniffled, recovering her strength from the pain she's experienced so far at a snail's pace. After long last she felt as if she finally reached a breaking point with Catra's friend. "There isn't any spell on her, Adora. There never was! I meant every word I said about her joining us willingly."

"B-But..." It still didn't make the pain feel any better in her heart. "Then that would mean..."

"I know you don't want to think about it Adora, but it's the truth." Despite everything Adora had done to her, she could already feel the small bit of pain reeling in from Adora's eyes. "She's been working for us of her own free will, Adora. She always has."

...So... what? Was that it? Was she supposed to just accept that as an answer and move on? Was there anywhere else to move on to after this grand revelation? Did the tears starting to gather in Adora's eyes go on to say she believed her? That she had no other dilemmas or quarrels with the princess?

She still needed answers! Why did Catra want to leave the Horde then? What kind of desire did she have that was greater than her friendship with Adora? Come to think of it, what would she expect if Glimmer did tell her she was being brainwashed somehow? She came all the way up to this point, this big reveal, and now she doesn't even know how to respond! She just felt empty, like her heart was anchored down into a dark abyss.

She felt... pain. She felt nothing but pain right now. It would mean... it had to mean... Catra was a traitor... a traitor that would sell out her own family and friends, at the very least her allies. Most of all, it would mean she was willing to betray Adora herself of all people, and she continued to do so without question.

"...No... No, this has to be a mistake!" Adora shook her head in frustration. "There has to be a good reason for all of this!"

"Adora..." Glimmer muttered softly. She couldn't forgive her for what she did to Glimmer for the last half hour, but she could still see the pain growing in her eyes. She was unwilling to face the truth even when it was right in front of her.

She was living in pure denial.

"Maybe... Maybe there was a mix-up or something!" Adora paced back and forth as she tried to comprehend the situation. "Y-Yeah, I mean... maybe she's stuck, like... like she accidentally helped one of you guys and someone thought she was defecting!"

Yes, that had to be it! It made perfect sense! She went off into the woods, accidentally helped the Rebellion without meaning to, was spotted by another member of the Horde when doing it, and they thought she was defecting, so she stayed with the Rebellion for her own safety! Of course! Why didn't she think of this sooner-!

No... No wait, that wouldn't work. There would've had to be another member of the Horde out in the middle of the Whispering Woods the night she left her, and there were no other members of the Horde assigned to the place she went to. Adora made sure of it through the mission manifests.

Three times at that.

"Or... Or maybe... Maybe she caught amnesia!" Yes, that's it! It had to be right! She wasn't defecting intentionally! She must've suffered a severe head injury from when she fell out of the skiff! After all, she admitted she might have it too! And then she called Adora by her... name... "Nghhh!" Adora groaned squeezing her head, trying to make sense of this situation.

So there wasn't a spell over Catra? Fine. That still left Adora with the underlying problem of why she would work for the Rebellion, not to mention the fact she was working for the Rebellion at all! She had to have a logical explanation for all of this, something she could use to explain her actions and keep her friend from suffering any consequences or punishments! There had to be something in all of this confusion, there just had to-!

"Adora." Glimmer calmly called out, grabbing her attention. The look of pain on Adora's face was shared by the pink-haired princess, Glimmer recalling how her mother once was after finding out her father was killed in the war. There wasn't any happy way to announce such terrible news. The only thing the person could do was face the truth, no matter how painful it was to bare. "I'm sorry. There isn't anything wrong with her."

Short, simple, and to the point. This is what Adora needed to realize before she made a wreck of herself. If she couldn't get over this pain then-

*Raaaaaaaanoooooo-Raaaaanoooooo-!*

Both girls looked up to the ceiling as they heard the sounds of sirens going off, echoing all around them as some form event had occurred.

"What... What's going-"

"Adora." Turning towards the door, Adora saw her peer, Shadow Weaver, floating through the doorway, a look of anger seeping through her white eyes. "There's been a breach in the Prison sector. Hundreds of inmates are escaping as we speak." She pulled out the Sword of Protection from the twisted nether, pointing the hilt of the blade towards Adora herself. "Any idea who's responsible for this charade?" She asked knowingly.

Neither of them could believe it, and both would make the argument that they were in more disbelief. Adora was in disbelief that the friend she was trying to save came all the way back here to start a riot, no doubt risking her life to save this Princess for whatever reason. As for Glimmer, she couldn't believe that she, the one who seemed so spiteful of everything within the Horde, the one who refused to acknowledge or see the rest of them as friends, would come back just to save her.

Discouragingly enough, they both uttered the same words that brought bile to Shadow Weaver's throat.

"Catra!"

...

*wooooooo*

The sirens went off repeatedly as the large group of allies made their way through the corridors. Mermista, Perfuma, Sea Hawk, Entrapta, the robot Emily she reprogrammed, Bow, and last but not least Catra, were running for their lives as the various riots and prisoners ran through the hall, some several at a time, others by themselves, all running like rats through a maze as they tried to make their escape.

One that only Catra knew the quickest way out of.

So far, the rescue plan went off without a hitch. After infiltrating their way through the Horde complex, the group of friends, the word taking some getting used to for Catra, had finally made their way into the interior of the Prison block, one where numerous defectors, enemies, and insubordinate criminals were being held. Two particular criminals that the allies were trying to save were Bow and Glimmer, the first people Catra ever felt truly accepted by and acknowledge as friends.

Rescuing them from the prison itself proved to be a bit of a grueling task for the heroes as they came across Lonnie, Rogelio, and a handful of other guards that were patrolling the prison, possibly due to Adora's foresight that Catra's allies would try to rescue them ahead of time. What Catra first thought would be a smooth experience to get some payback against one of her top tormentors proved to be an entire endeavor in itself as she fought off Lonnie, all while the rest continued with their assigned mission fighting off the Horde.

Lonnie had one ace up her sleeve that left Catra powerless to stop her. It was a whistle, a specially designed whistle Lonnie had Adora get made for her if she ever came across the cat again. Every time she blew through it she felt her body go numb while listening to a paralyzing screeching sound, the whistle taking full advantage of Catra's extensive hearing capabilities. The screech itself was unbearable to the point where every time she heard it, Catra's body would cease to function, a numbness spreading through her body as her nerves were shot.

It was amazing what a good amount of science and technology could do for the Horde. Whenever Catra got to her feet to try to fight back, all Lonnie would have to do is blow the whistle, dropping her to the floor where she was too helpless to fight against Lonnie's kicks and strikes with the Stun Baton she had. It almost reached a dire end as Rogelio took temporary controls of the lifts and lowered it towards the fight the two were having, Lonnie taking pride at the situation as she pinned Catra's head right over the ledge, waiting for the lift to drop down and finish the job for her.

Catra had never found herself more thankful than she was now for Entrapta's quick rescue, prying the controls from Rogelio long enough to stop the lift over a foot away from Catra's head.

After an eventful struggle, Catra finally managed to gain the upper hand as the prison riots, caused by Mermista and Perfuma destroying the cells' generator, provided enough of a distraction for her to swipe the small whistle right off of Lonnie's neck, crushing it in her own hands with ease. There, Catra was relentless with her strikes against her former bully, leaving dozens of scars and bruises across her body by the time Bow had reached Catra after escaping from his own cell.

A part of her still wondered why she gave any bit of mercy to her former bully when she needed it most. Trying to place Lonnie's own game against her after all these years, she threw the girl into a cell right before the prison's backup generators kicked in, the barrier locking Lonnie right inside. Here, Catra decided to play a game of lock down with her, trapping Lonnie within a pitch black cell which Catra would've been more than happy to leave her after years picking on her.

At least, until she cried. This was her bully, the big, strong, tough girl that always picked on Catra, admitting to her fear, practically phobia, of the pitch darkness that the lock down would've left her in. She didn't care about Lonnie in the slightest, she would've been more than happy to keep her in the dark like her. And for some reason... she just couldn't.

She knew firsthand what it was like to be trapped in the lock down for over a day, growing a small fear of pitch black darkness herself. She found it all the more hilarious that Lonnie of all people had a dire fear of it, yet she didn't laugh. She didn't even smile for some reason. Despite her hate and contempt for the girl, she left the hatch open enough to give Lonnie some light, completely ignoring her thanks as she left her there, all by herself.

Regardless of her confusions, she still managed to save Bow, which was the good news of the present situation.

The bad news?

Glimmer wasn't anywhere near the cell blocks. She was being kept personally within Shadow Weaver's own private chambers, where Adora was supposedly torturing her.

The words "torture" and "Adora" never fit into the same sentence unless someone was personally torturing Adora, someone Catra would happily claw their eyes out for. How much had changed with her dear friend that she was resorting to torture at this point? How much had Shadow Weaver influenced her that Adora found it necessary to actually torture anyone at all?

Whatever the case, their newest priority was finding a way out of this place while also figuring out how to save Glimmer at the same time.

The prison riot, while effective, was proving to be less than useful in the long run. The prisoners, as expected, were doing their part by helping to take down the guards that swarmed the complex after the sirens went off from the generator being destroyed, but with everyone flailing about and making it every man for themselves, there was no amount of order or direction from the prisoners, the ones that were powerless to stop any of the droids that came across them, blasting them with enough electrical force to knock them out for days.

Many of the hallways were littered with one or two guards that were knocked out cold, at least one destroyed droid that someone must've ripped the legs right off of after seeing it impaled with it's own mechanical appendage. It felt like the closer they got to freedom the farther they got away from their chance to escape.

One that still had the pressing matter of Glimmer to contend with.

Noticing the shadows of various guards coming around the corner, her ears unable to pick up direct noise due to the sirens constantly blaring at her, Catra gestured everyone to follow her down the other path, barely avoiding the guards that checked the hallway or more prisoners. It was this little detour that proved to be fruitless, however, as they came upon a single hatch door at the end of the hallway, one Catra had no idea on how to open.

Taking a look at the control panel next to it, Entrapta smiled as she flipped slipped her mask back on, inserting one of the various wires to from the back of her headpiece into it as she began hacking into the system, her hair typing as fast as her tiny appendages could.

"Come on, how much longer?" Catra asked nervously, looking back and forth between her and the hallways.

"Ahhhhhh!" The rest of the group looked back to the hallway at the sound of the screams. On the other end, they watched as several of the prisoners ran for their lives through the hallways, escaping what sounded like the familiar clatter of droids and soldiers running through the halls.

"I just need a few more seconds!" Entrapta replied, never losing the ounce of brilliance or wonder she had since coming to this advanced landscape. As she said, with a few hundred more clicks she managed into input in just four seconds with eight strands of her hair, the hatch finally popped itself open for the small group, the chance of freedom within their grasp.

"The vent system will lead you guys back outside." Catra said as she ran down the hallways with the others. "We left a skiff a little ways away further out. Each of these rooms needs to be sealed and purged before you can enter the next one." She continued to add as she began working at the next console they came across. "The doors will only stay open for a few seconds, and you don't want to be stuck inside the previous room when it closes again, trust me."

"What happens if we are?" Perfuma asked nervously.

"Ever been roasted in an oven at five-thousand degrees? Something like that." Catra partially joked as the doors finally opened.

At long last, the final door to freedom actually opened before them! Wasting no time, everyone ran frantically through the door, prepared follow through each door as instructed, and bracing themselves for whatever else lied ahead of their path.

Once they made their escape from the Fright Zone they would have to regroup and prepare a new plan of attack to save Glimmer! No doubt the Horde would heighten their security to who knew how high after the Jailbreak Catra managed to come up with, and they still had to figure out how to get Catra's sword back from the Horde as well. It was a long shot but just about all of them were confident they could come up with something as long as they worked together again! After all with Catra by their side, they could easily come up with-

"Catra?" Bow called out as he noticed her missing from the group, which said a lot for the fast feline. Turning around, he saw Catra standing as she faced the door, a grim look on her face as her lowered her head a little, ears drooped and her tail not twitching as Bow looked back to her. "Catra? What are you doing? Let's go!" She really hated what she was about to do.

She infiltrated the Horde complex, managed to rescue one of her friends, and was not even a mile away from her chance at freedom. For a defector to pull this off, to come so far and finally see a goal at the end of the tunnel, was something Catra never thought anybody would be capable of, especially herself. If she left now she could look back on this day and feel proud of herself for how she managed to pull something this grand of a scale off with her own two claws.

And all the guilt she would feel for the rest of her life for leaving one of her friends behind.

"We can't leave without Glinmer," she stated, "and we're not going to get another chance like this."

"W-What are you talking about?" A feeling started to rise in his gut, something he knew he was going to regret. "Catra, we'll come back! We'll have a bigger group, we'll make a new plan, we won't leave her behind!"

"Yeah, we won't." With as much confidence as she could feel in her present situation she finally turned her back to him, stretching out her claws as she stood near the control panel. "Thanks... Bow..."

"Catra, no-!"

*swiff*

*creeesh*

All it took was one swipe. One good, solitary, strike to destroy the door's control panel and to shut the door behind her that could've lead to her escape.

...

"Catra! Catra, open up!" Bow wasn't given a chance to reach her by the time the doors closed, shouting her name as he pounded on the door. "Catra, we can still get out, we-!"

"Bow..." Perfuma called, reaching a hand for him to take.

It pained him to know the truth. It hurt to realize he couldn't stay in this place if he wanted to, not without risking everyone else's lives who would try to drag him through the doors. He needed to run in order to have another chance to save Catra and Glimmer if the two ended up captured, and to save the others who wouldn't leave his side if he remained behind closed doors.

With a heavy heart, and a pained look in his eyes, he took Perfuma's hand. letting the Princess pull him through the door just before it closed behind him, purging anything that was unfortunate enough to stay trapped within the room.

...

It brought a strange sense of comfort to Catra as Bow briefly pounded on the door and called out her name. If she was unsure about Bow and Glimmer caring for her then this was the way to prove it- by shouting out her name in worry and practically begging her to come with them. It brought something close to a genuine smile to her face, for the first time in forever.

A smile that didn't last any longer than a moment as she turned back towards the hallway. There, brought in by the sounds of the prisoners running through the halls, was the Horde. At least twenty different guards and soldiers, at least half a dozen droids pushing their way through the crowd as they all targeted her, scanning her for aggressiveness and threat levels.

With a deep breath, exhaling calmly, Catra retracted her claws, raising them to the air for the first time in a manner she had never done before. "I surrender."

The guards all stared at her, hiding whatever faces they might've held. Were any of them surprised to see the magicat surrendering, the one what was always aggressive around here and never backed down? Or were any of them confused by the strange behavior she was displaying, feeling defensive at the possibility that this was a trap of hers?

It didn't make any difference from the looks of it. With one of the guards inputting a command to the personal data pad on his wrist, Catra began to watch in horror as the droids in front of her started to charge. The red coloring coming from their cores gave her a strong impression that these people weren't willing to take her alive, not with the massive bounty she has on her head.

"I-I said I surrender!" Catra repeated as she backed up to the wall. None of the guards seemed to listen or care as the magicat seemed to cower before them, to Catra's dismay. With a bounty like hers, they could all be set for life even if they split the reward between the twenty of them. Taking initiative of the situation, half the guards began to draw out their stun batons, ready to deal with her if she tried to fight her way passed them.

They had no understanding that it would matter if she even tried. She was stuck within the Horde complex now with hundreds of guards and droids currently rounding up any of the prisoners that failed to escape in time, some of them planning to use excessive force just for the fun of it. With this train of thought, none of the other guards cared enough if Catra was surrendering or not, all of them having the same thought on their minds as Catra closed her eyes.

How much they wanted that reward.

"STOP!" A shout called out from behind the group, one that immediately called off the droids as their blasters powered down. Any of the guards foolish enough to draw their batons immediately stashed them away again, not wanting to contend with the wrath of a certain Force Captain, or the master that always treasured her so dearly.

Sure enough, with her timing never being as grand as it was now, Catra silently gasped. There was Adora, her best friend and enemy, pushing her way through the crowd with a stern expression on her face.

"Adora..." Catra muttered, still amazed at the timing. She wanted to know what was going on through that angry look in her eyes. What was her mind screaming at her at this moment? She wasn't surprised that Adora was possibly angry with her, seeing how she came all this way and started a prison break of all things, but there was a strange newfound hatred currently settled within her eyes, one that didn't disappear after she stood right in front of her.

Blinking to herself, shifting her eyes from side to side for a few seconds of awkwardness, she finally stared into Adora's eyes again to speak. "Adora-"

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhh-! Ungh..." Catra was too distracted in her current state to notice the small baton Adora had clutched in her hands, how she turned it on as she approached Catra, and jabbed her in the gut with it to knock her out cold. Losing nearly all feeling of self, consciousness right at the edge of loss, she felt herself slump forward, Adora catching her as she fell onto her, and patted her head softly as she rested her head on Adora's left shoulder.

She finally captured her friend.

...

*shoom*

Slowly regaining more of her consciousness as the door opened in front of her, Catra let out a small gasp as she saw her other friend within the room.

"Pinky!" She yelled, still calling her by her nickname. The girl herself seemed to be in a horrible state of exhaustion, noticing a few scrapes here and there and the look of someone who just ran a hundred miles against their will. At least she was alive, which was one of the more pressing concerns Catra had during her entire plan to get here. It would've been rather troubling if it turned out Glimmer was either dead or somewhere else and Catra allowed herself to get caught for nothing.

Being pushed into the room by the two guards who held her in place as Adora followed them, Catra could feel the chill in the air creeping upon her. So many memories, all of them between horrible and unhappy, and never positive, this was definitely Shadow Weaver's private chambers, the last place Catra would ever want to find herself.

She kept her attention solely on her tortured friend, paying little mind to the guards as they placed her to a metallic table. The very instant the guards let go several large metallic straps tightened around her, pinning her chest, her wrists, hands, feet, and her ankles, refusing to give the girl a single nudge of space or mobility. It would've been more than easy enough for her to cut through any of these restraints after a short while, and Shadow Weaver wasn't going to give her that opportunity.

Watching the look of concern in Catra's eyes continued to disgust Adora in more ways than one. Why did she care so much for this evil princess? What made her so important that Catra would risk coming all the way back for her in an attempt to save her?

Most importantly, was she under her control or not? That was the one question Adora started to doubt through the last half hour.

"Leave us." Shadow Weaver instructed as she approached Adora from behind. With a salute, the guards who brought her here made their way out the door, sealing it off tightly behind them. Waiting for them to leave, Shadow Weaver made her way towards the ensnared creature, cupping her chin in the palm of her hand as she examined her. "Hmm... whoever would've thought you'd make your way all the way back here..." She muttered quietly for the two of them. "Adora, I need you to leave the room as well."

"W-What?" Adora questioned, rather surprised by the instruction.

"I need full concentration if I'm to properly remove the spell from Catra's mind, the slightest mistake could leave her in a vegetative state, forever." She explained.

"Spell? There's not any stupid spe-mmh!" Catra tried to argue, only for Shadow Weaver to clamp her hand around her mouth to prevent her from talking. No amount of struggling could loosen the grip over her mouth, Shadow Weaver refusing to let Catra spill a single word off from her tongue.

"The spell..." Adora turned over to the other princess in the room, the one who was weakly regaining consciousness as she moaned. "...S-Shadow Weaver, what if she's not being controlled?"

"...What?" There was no way Shadow Weaver heard that correctly.

"I mean... what if she actually is aware of everything? What if there's no control over her like you thought?"

Adora did not just question her on this.

Her. Adora. Actually questioned Shadow Weaver's own judgement and words for the first time since her childhood. "...Adora, dear, you mustn't let Catra's poisoned mind confuse you." Shadow Weaver replied softly with a comforting look. "The longer we continue to allow this, the more convinced she'll be that she is doing this because she wants to."

"B-But she didn't tell me this time!" Adora retorted, looking back to Glimmer as she slowly came to. "I mean, even after everything I did to Glimmer, she still insists that-"

"The princess?" Shadow Weaver's eyes instantly narrowed at that. "Are you saying you trust these princesses, those vile creatures, over me?"

Is... Is that what she was saying? Was she, a proud and noble Force Captain of the Horde, actually questioning her own superiors? "N... No... I... I mean if we just stopped to think about it for a moment, maybe-

"ENOUGH!" Adora physically jumped in fear at the tremendous bout of anger Shadow Weaver unleashed. For the first time, no matter how much she wished to believe otherwise, Shadow Weaver unleashed a bout of anger towards her. It was around the same time Glimmer finally came to fully, gasping in shock as she saw Catra strapped to the other table, unable to get a word out as Shadow Weaver continued to keep her mouth shut. "This is precisely what I'm talking about, Adora." Shadow Weaver struggled to maintain her kind persona while arguing with the the frustration at the same time. "I can't have you distracting me while I preform my spell-"

"Don't listen to her, Adora!" Glimmer yelled over, catching all three of them by surprise that she was awake. "It's a tri-" All physical emotion she could feel was drained from the girl as her body started to give off a small red-colored aura. Using her own magic, Shadow Weaver shot her darkness straight towards the girl, keeping her mouth firmly shut no matter how much she squirmed around her own chin.

"I already have one distraction to deal with, as you can see." Shadow Weaver continued. "If you want me to save your friend, dear, then I need complete and total concentration. Now, please, leave."

Even with the orders ringing through her head, she still couldn't bring herself to fully accept this with a clear conscious. "B-But-"

"LEEEEAVE!" Shadow Weaver roared monstrously, consuming the area around Adora with darkness. This, was official. This was the very first time Shadow Weaver had ever erupted into such a rage-filled spite towards Adora herself. The one she always treasured, the one who gave Adora the kindness that she failed to give on to others, the one who was practically like a mother to Adora, had officially talked her down, almost threatened her, to leave.

Heart racing out of fear and concern, she gave her possibly-brainwashed friend and Glimmer one last look. Everything about this was starting to lack a form of sense to her, nothing coming together as it should be. After all the wait, pain, struggle Adora went through to finally get her friend back, why was it at the very last minute she found herself starting to question everything, right when she could save Catra at this very moment?

With nothing more than a single tear forming in her eye, Adora lowered her head as she walked out of the room, unable to give another look to either of the two trapped girls she left behind.

One thing came to Adora's mind as she heard the door slamming behind her. All of this started with that sword, the one sword that started all of this mess. If the sword is what caused Catra to leave her side and start this insane adventure from the very beginning, then perhaps, just maybe... it could give Adora the answer she needed to finally sort this thing out once and for all.

...

Watching the door close behind her, Shadow Weaver sighed as she released her grip on both girls, magically and physically. "Now look what you made me..."

*whap!*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as Shadow Weaver backhanded her across the face.

"Adora thinks I'm mad at her now... all because of you." The dark witch began to circle around her, showing off whatever threatening darkness came to mind in the palm of her hand. "You have no idea how long I waited anxiously for your return, Catra. I'm actually very pleased by this turnout, believe it or not."

"Tch, and it took you like, what? Several months to catch one girl? Here I thought the Rebellion was rusty, but jeez, do you take forever." Catra relied with a snide grin. "Heck, you couldn't even catch me yourself! I had to walk right in myself just for you to catch me! How stupid is that?" As Shadow Weaver thought, the girl didn't have an ounce of fear of her anymore, not like she used to when Adora wasn't present in the same room with her. Glaring back, she made her way up to the Black Garnet as she brushed her hand against it in awe.

"Huff... You always did have a sharp tongue, if nothing else." She commented, seeing her reflection in the Black Garnet.

Giving a quick shot at the other princess in the room, Catra continued to glare. "So, what's up with Pinky over there? You going to let her go already or what?"

"...Come again?" That may have been the first thing she heard Catra spew from her mouth that intrigued her.

"I asked if you're going to let her go already." Catra grumbled. "You already got me, you got the sword, so just send her back home to mommy or whatever, I don't care."

"Catra, don't-" Glimmer tried to protest worriedly.

"Oh, shut UP, Pinky!" Catra yelled rolling her eyes. "Seriously, you are SO annoying!"

"C-Catra?" What was she yelling about now? Why did it hurt hearing everything she was saying?

"You think I came back for you willingly, you idiot?" It didn't matter to her if she could see Catra's rage from where she was placed, standing against the slab of metal as she struggled to get a single claw to twitch. "I came here because your stupid mother kicked me out! You think the immortal hag was happy that I lost your pudgy body at the prom? She threatened to have my head cut off if I didn't come rescue you, and now here I am trapped because of you! You can never stop being a pain, can you?!"

"C-Catra..." It would be a lie to say this didn't bring tears to her eyes.

"Honestly, Shadow Weaver would be doing me a favor if she got rid of you." She continued to insult. "At least back in the Horde I didn't have to deal with your whiny voice constantly! It's always "ooh, Catra, let's be friends", "hey Catra, let's do this together", it never ended with you! In the Horde people were at least decent enough to leave me alone for the rest of the day after insulting me. They didn't follow me and pester me around about everything!"

"C-Catra, I..." Glimmer struggled to speak as her voice shook. "I didn't mean to-"

"Seriously, if I'm about to die because of you, the least you could do for me is learn how to shut up until it's over!"

Every bit of word she said was true, and Catra had every reason to hate her for all her screw ups.

Every time she tried to get on Catra's good side, any at that, she messed up. Whenever she thought she knew one thing about her, she knew the exact opposite in reality. No matter how many times Catra pestered her to stop bugging her with these talks about being "friends", Glimmer continued to insist.

The prom itself was a prime example of everything she's done to anger Catra! Not once but twice, twice for crying out loud, Catra tried to help her! And how did Glimmer respond those times? By continuing to whine like a spoiled brat Catra accused her of being the same night, one who couldn't accept things as they were for whatever matter.

She was truly horrible, in every sense of the word! It was no wonder she didn't want to be friends with someone like Glimmer, how could she after the way she's been acting till now!

"I'm..." Glimmer didn't know what to think anymore, lowering her head down as she sniffled. Maybe what she's been through since coming here was what she deserved? Perhaps a fitting punishment for her own selfishness and greed was being a prisoner here forever? She couldn't feel anything other than utter sadness, everything within these halls brimming with despair. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, C-Catra..."

There.

There was Catra's biggest mistake.

She thought Shadow Weaver wouldn't have noticed, not with her eyes seemingly glued to the Black Garnet itself, or Glimmer who was trapped on the other side of the room, only capable of seeing the back of the slab Catra was tied against from her viewpoint. For a full second, barely enough time to blink, she saw Catra's face twitch. She twitched with a pang of remorse and regret on the corner of her eyes and the partial drop of her ears before reverting to the angry beast everybody knew Catra to be.

All of it, clear as day, for woman who had an easy view of the two from the reflection off the Black Garnet.

"...Heh...Eh heh heh...Ahahahahaahaha!" Shadow Weaver suddenly burst with laughter, covering her eyes as she rolled her head back in pure delight. "Oh, this is such precious, adorable really!"

"W-What...?" Glimmer stuttered as her voice wavered from sadness.

"I truly can not believe what I am seeing here. It's quite a marvel, if I do say so myself." Shadow Weaver chuckled as she made her way back to Catra. "Do you actually care for this pathetic princess, Catra?"

"Wh- What? Don't be ridiculous!" Catra would've shot herself in the foot if she could at that, realizing her mistake as her voice cracked, and praying Shadow Weaver didn't pick up on it. "I could care less about the pink idiot!"

"Oh, really?" The way Shadow Weaver spoke with curiosity as she neared Catra's ears started to send panic towards Catra's heart, doing her best to maintain her demeanor. "Then you don't mind if I do away with her right now then?" At the proposal, she drew her hands in front of Catra's face, showing off the dreaded red lightning that Catra had come to know.

"Why would you bother wasting your breath on that loser?" Catra spat, trying to maintain her expression. "She's a waste of time for you and the Horde, and you know it!

"Then you have no problems if I destroy her right now, do you?" With that, Shadow Weaver turned her back to the girl as she floated passed her. Drawing toward the defenseless princess who tried to pull at her restraints, Glimmer began tremble with fear as she watched the dark witch drawing nearer, generating a vast amount of lightning within the palm of her hands with every step she drew nearer.

She tried to teleport again to no avail. The moment she gathered a storage of her energy she quickly felt it being ripped away from her soon after, the Black Garnet's hold on her overpowering her. She had no means to pry herself from the enchanted bindings either. If the magic itself wasn't keeping her in place, the restraints over her wrists definitely did.

She had no means to defend herself like this, no reason to hope. All she could do was close her eyes and wait for the inevitable-

"STOP!" Catra shouted. The very moment she uttered her first letter, the lightning gathered around Shadow Weaver's hands disappeared. When Glimmer opened her eyes again she was met with a sneering Shadow Weaver, one who casually floated backwards until she saw the Catra's face again.

There was so much beauty she saw at this moment, so much joy to be had at the face Catra was pulling. She didn't smile, she didn't frown. All she did was keep her head lowered, refusing to let Shadow Weaver see her tormented expression.

And that was more than satisfying for her.

"Just stop... please..." Catra muttered. Shadow Weaver wasn't the only one finding herself in disbelief.

There was Glimmer, the emotionally fragile girl at this time, who heard Catra actually beg for someone else for the first time in her life. She begged one single word in an attempt to possibly save someone else, and it was for her of all people. She actually did care about Glimmer like Shadow Weaver thought.

"Ahhhahahaha! Oh, I thought I'd never see the day! I might actually start to cry at out beautiful this this!" Shadow Weaver taunted, forcing Catra's chin up with her own hands as the girl grimaced. "You actually made yourself a friend! Someone other than Adora, and an enemy at that! I wish I could record this moment forever-"

"Just shut up." Catra ordered bluntly. "You already got me and the sword, you don't need her anymore so just let her go already." Catra didn't care anymore. She was about to die and that would be the end of her life. The least Shadow Weaver could do was refrain from drawing it out. "Just finish me off and get this over with."

"Finish you off?" She repeated. As if what she said at first wasn't hilarious enough, the next thing she sputtered did. "Oh, Catra, Catra," she taunted patting her head, "why would I ever want to do that?"

Catra didn't know if she should be concerned for the first time at good news or anxious about it. If it was coming from someone like Shadow Weaver, most likely the latter. "Because that's... what you've been trying to do the entire time... isn't it?"

"Oh, Catra... " The girl attempted to bite her as she pinched her cheeks. "You think far too simply." At this, she began to siphon a direct channel of the Black Garnet's energy into her hands, creating a red beam of force in the process. "Haven't you ever once thought of why I bothered to put a bounty on your head, Dead or Alive?"

"That was... one of the things I was curious about until now..." She muttered back.

Drawing the rest of the energy she needed for her power, she went on. "Because of my dear Adora, of course. She's so attached to you and everything you do that, eventually, I decided to make this more interesting for the both of us."

"I-Interesting?" Now she was starting to get a little worried, for the first time since losing her fear of the wicked witch. "What are you going to do to me if you don't plan on getting rid of me?"

"Why, fix you, like I've always said." Without warning, she grabbed Catra by the throat, crushing it enough in her grip to let her breathe, but making it painful for the experience. "I'm going to shatter that feeble mind of yours until you're nothing but an obedient little doll to me." Yes, there it was! That elegant twinge of fear growing beyond Catra's eyes! "I'm going to crush your grip on reality enough so that you never disobey your superiors again! You'll simply walk, talk, and do as you're instructed as for the rest of your years, without a single smile or frown on your face, like a simple, little, doll."

Catra grumbled as she tried to bite at her hands again as she tapped her on the nose. "That's insane! Adora would never let you get away with-"

"Oh, Adora," Shadow Weaver interrupted, putting on a pitiful display of regret as she clenched her chest where her heart should be, "I tried so hard, but the Princess's wicked magic was just too strong, and their spell destroyed every bit of her mind in the process! Please, forgive meeee!" Catra couldn't believe what she was hearing. She actually thought out every detail to the very end! Even if it meant adding further torment and misery to Adora's own life, as long as Catra was the ultimate victim here, Shadow Weaver would happily allow it.

"Oh, and trust me Catra, I'm sure she'll be angry for awhile. She might avoid me for a few weeks, go a year without smiling at me. But eventually, like all good children, she'll start warming up to me again, fueled by the rage inside her, burning for vengeance against the evil creatures of Etheria who destroyed the Catra she knew!"

Leaning in again as she brought her face an inch away from Catra's nose, she finished. "And do you want to know the best part? When I'm done with it, you'll still be in there. You will be nothing more than a prisoner within your own mind, watching helplessly from the window that is your eyes, at everything you do."

"Geh..." Catra growled, attempting to lunge at her forgetting the restraints that held her back. She would allow her to manipulate herself, make her look like an idiot as much as she wanted to if it meant succeeding in her missions, but she would NEVER allow her to manipulate Adora's heart like that! "You went all this way for some crummy plan like that? Why don't you try and earn it and we'll settle it right here, you ugly freak!" The room went silent between the two as she said this. Of all the people in the world, Catra remembers the fateful day she laid eyes on Shadow Weaver's face.

And the disgusting horror that lied behind the mask.

"Oh, Catra..." With her arms raised to her side, she floated another foot off the ground as her magic pooled together. "I'm almost going to think about missing you."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT-!*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Catra screamed bloody murder at the endless rain of torture that was directed straight at her head.

All around her, squeezing her eyes shut in pain, was an endless torrent of pain and agony. From the tips of all of her fingers, enshrouding the girl in pure and eternal darkness in turn, an endless stream of her magic shot forth, the witch directing her magic straight to Catra's skull, making sure it was as painful as possible as she used every ounce of her power.

This was a pain unlike anything Catra ever felt before. All around her, even though it was directed at her head, she felt a terrible agony passing through her constantly. It felt like her skin was being ripped apart and stitched back together from the inside out. It felt like her body was being burned alive in a fire and she was being doused with a pot of boiling hot water to put it out! Nothing in the world ever compared to the pain she was feeling at this very moment, the blisters she could feel peeling back at the ends of her mind as she tried to resist what little of the magic she could.

"Catraaaaa!" At the same time, Glimmer watched on in horror from where she was, unable to turn her eyes away at the pain that Catra was screaming throughout the room. The pain of it didn't sound like anything Adora put Glimmer through herself. By the sounds of it alone, whatever Glimmer went through was clearly a godsend in comparison to whatever pain Catra was being inflicted with. It almost felt like Adora was giving her mercy, Catra screamed so madly.

She couldn't allow this. Catra came all the way to save her, acknowledged that she actually cared about Glimmer and most likely Bow, and now she was suffering the consequences of it. She was trying to do the righteous thing for one of the few times in her life since Glimmer met her, and she was paying the price.

She refused to accept this!

Grumbling to herself, Glimmer began to harness any magic that still remained within her body, groaning at the mere fraction of pain the red lightning inflicted her with compared to Catra's own. She couldn't allow her to suffer like this, she didn't deserve this! Every attempt she tried to pull herself out of the binding through her magic brought her a rake of pain she could feel scraping against her innards. She didn't care if she died trying at this point, she couldn't do nothing for crying out loud!

"Come ooooon!" Glimmer shouted to herself as more of her magic materialized around her. With one attempt, the Black Garnet's energy pulled her back. With a second attempt, she managed to morph her body partway through her teleportation, only to end in failure as she was brought back into the confines of her holding again. Every attempt she tried ended in failure, every push she shoved with her magic was all for naught.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-!"

And she couldn't give up!

With a deep final breath, she pushed. She didn't care what would happen, she didn't care if this ended up ripping her body in half! All she cared about was saving Catra in this one moment she needed her most!

With every ounce of magic she could gather, every breath she could save for herself, Glimmer shouted, channeling the magic she had with everything she had, ignoring as her own body distorted in the process, until the impossible happened. With her magic in hand, she finally pulled herself out of the red restraints as she finally teleported, resulting in a small explosion of dark energy from where she once was.

As for Shadow Weaver, this was it! She could feel the last bits of resistance of Catra's mind fading, finding it rather amusing how much tolerance she had to this pain to begin with. She would commend the girl for her valiant effort, however pointless it was, by the end of all this. When the last of her resistance faded, she would give one grand shove of Catra's consciousness into the dark recesses of her mind, trapping her there for the rest of her days!

*FWOOM!*

"What-?" In a large explosion of light, Shadow Weaver turned back as she saw a miraculous burst of light grow behind her, the witch unable to stop the magic as the power continued to surge through her fingers. Appearing from the grand ball of light herself, she watched helplessly as the Princess of Bright Moon burst forth, pulling back her enchanted fist with all her might for one final strike.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

*CRASH!*

And it was that one single strike that was needed to stop the evil sorcerer of darkness. With a solid blow straight across her masked-face, Glimmer struck her with everything she had, slamming her straight to the ground with a thunderous crash, knocking the witch out of her own state of consciousness in the process, and dismantling all the darkness and power she had gathered around Catra, snuffing it out for good as he collapsed.

Glimmer panted heavily, never feeling as exhausted as she had at this point, and never feeling as good as she did now because of it. She saved her friend when she needed it most, and she proved her friendship to Catra at long last.

"Catra!" Barely paying a wink to the downed witch, Glimmer quickly ran towards her distressed friend, the one who seemed to be out cold as well. She wasted no time removing the restraints from her one after the other, fretting endlessly at the possibility she was too late. It was with the small tremble quiver in Catra's eyes that she realized she was awake, watching worriedly as she opened her blue and yellow eyes weakly. "Are you okay? Do you know who I am?"

"...Who... Who are you...?" Catra muttered in confusion, feebly pointing at her.

"No..." Glimmer's eyes started to water as she covered her mouth. She was too late... she failed... Catra needed her most in this one moment of distress, and even after all the positive thoughts, all the hope that she could muster in this bleak situation, she couldn't save her friend completely from Shadow Weaver's magic! Catra was... was gone... "C-Catra..." Glimmer whimpered, It would be the first of many tears she would shed for the rest of her life, living with the knowing-regret that she failed to save her-

"Pffft! Tch ahahaha!" Catra bellowed out with laughter. "Oh man, you should've seen your face, Pinky! You were like "oh no, I'm too late," hahahaha-!"

"Oh thank gosh!" Glimmer instantly cried, hugging herself into Catra's stomach as she cried heavily. Catra let out a small cry as Glimmer threw her arms around her torso as she sobbed into her chest.

"Ack-!" She yelped. "Hey, easy, easy! I'm pretty sore you know!" She grumbled a little, giving an irritated look at the girl. "...Pinky?" Catra questioned again, noticing as she continued to cry loudly. For one of the few times of Catra's life, she felt an actual sense of guilt for what was, in fairness, a pretty cruel prank. Her ears drooped around her as she scratched the back of her head, feeling awkward for one of the few times in her life. "H-Hey, Pin... Glimmer, hey, come on, it was... it was just a joke..."

It did nothing to soothe the tears draining from Glimmer's eyes. Even as she looked up towards her good friend with tears in her eyes, she couldn't get a single word out as she continued to sniffle, feeling overjoyed for the first time to be at the butt of one of Catra's jokes, and drowning with the continued sadness that she almost lost her dear friend.

Seeing how the princess was truly remorseful, the very person she never wanted anything to do with since first meeting her, she did the one thing she had never done before.

She threw an arm around her warmly in a small hug, trying to give her a soft smile as Glimmer tried to dry off the tears. "H-Hey, I'm... I'm sorry, okay? Now come on, you're embarrassing me." She chuckled a little. "I'm the one who's supposed to be saving you, remember?"

"Hmph..." Glimmer smiled in reply, wiping her own tears a little as she helped Catra from the metallic slab. "Y-Yeah... heh... sorry for ruining your moment." She lightly joked. Turning to the door, she gave an knowing nod to her certified friend, holding her own side with one arm as she walked to the door. "Now come on... we need to get out of her asap..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure..." Catra replied, turning her peaceful gaze from the limping princess to a downed witch who she gazed with fury. "Just.. give me one second." She didn't bat an eyelash or hesitate as she hopped off the foot of the metallic slab, making her way over to the terror of darkness as she stretched her claws out.

Opening the door, Glimmer looked back with panic in her eyes, seeing Catra lifting their tormentor by the scruff of her neck, pulling back her sharpened claws ready to strike. "W-What are you doing?!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Catra hissed back, continuing to glare at the mask of her most hated enemy.

"I'm going to kill her!"

...

A/N: You know the hard part about making a legitimate evil plan for a villain? Loop holes/critics. I don't mean like "Nerrrr that's so dumb! hashtag you suck at writing!" types (though those are still annoying), I mean like Cinema Sins pointing out the flaws of logic and whatnot in a story XP

People think writing a creative piece is easier said than done (not that I can speak for myself), but it's actually easy to miss a flow of logic when you write as much as I do, so it's common for something not to make sense in a grand plot line. At that, i question how many people will possibly, if any, find an issue with Shadow Weaver's "grand scheme" up above XP? Personally I think it's good, but chances are one or two things didn't make sense (aside from Shadow Weaver's magic not being able to affect catra's mind like I was told in the past, which I do question since it's unknown if that's for memories only or includes consciousness...)

Either way, had a lot of fun! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 36: Episode 9: No Princess Left Behind Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: ... for those of you with weak constitutions to feels, I urge you...

Turn away.

...

"We're almost there!" Sea Hawk announced as the final corridor opened.

They made it! It was the first thing on everyone's mind as they raced through the last doorway!

There were many touch-and-go situations since this mission began. From getting spotted by Scorpia at the start of the mission, Entrapta's curiosity getting her lost and confused at least three separate times throughout the complex, Lonnie and the rest of her goons coming across Catra and her friends within the prison block, finding out Glimmer was somewhere else entirely, and, finally, Catra sacrificing herself to go find Glimmer, even if it meant surrendering to the guards so they would bring her to them.

If anyone said at the start of this mission that they were one-hundred percent confident that things would go off without a hitch, you would know someone was lying. This is where they've been for the last several hours. This is the nightmare they willingly walked into after Bow and Glimmer were captured at the night's end of the Princess Prom, and this was them finally running free from said nightmare as they were about to wake up to a wonderful conclusion for their day.

It didn't mean they would be leaving the moment they boarded the skiff or anything. There was still Catra who they had to wait for, on the chance she actually managed to get Glimmer back and were currently escaping with their lives through the complex. But with time of the essence they needed to get the skiff up and running on standby, to make sure they were prepared for when they eventually saw them running out of the place.

Provided they managed to at all at this rate.

"The skiff's a short run from here!" Sea Hawk added, being the last one with Catra to drive the skiff before the start of the mission. "Just a little further!"

*chink*

"Huh?" Entrapta turned back as she noticed one of their friends missing from the group. It wasn't any particular friend of theirs that was missing, it was actually one Entrapta had made herself halfway through the mission.

Literally.

Turning around she let out a gasp as she saw Emily again, the robotic ally she reprogrammed after everyone made their way through the entrance. The poor bot was stuck as the last of it's capables were jammed into the port on the side of the corridor the group escaped from, struggling as it mechanical gears whirred in order to escape.

"Wait. Emily!" Entrapta cried out, making a full U-Turn as she rushed right back into the corridor to save her trapped friend. The girl was so preoccupied about rescuing her comrade that she had forgotten the one warning Catra had given her as she reached Emily's side, and was about to become the victim of it.

"Huh! Entrapta, no!" Perfuma shouted in terror as the rest of the group turned around. The last thing they got to see was a confused Entrapta turning back to them before the doorway to the vents closed off completely, giving off a small blast of greenish flame before the last of the shutters had finally sealed completely.

None of them could believe what they had witnessed, half of them staring in complete shock at whether they were just hallucinating at that moment. Nothing they could tell one another would convince themselves otherwise, no words could be said to comfort any of the distraught friends.

Everyone had witnessed, first hand, what it truly felt like to lose a friend for the first time in years. The great, dear, friend they knew since first meeting her, the person that had her own funny quirks to her, was no more.

The Princess of Dryl, Entrapta, was no more.

...

"W-What do you mean you're going to kill her?" Glimmer nearly choked to say, still trying to recover from her injuries.

"What do you think I meant? I'm going to tear out her throat and watch her bleed to death!" Catra growled, huffing at the chest.

This was it. This moment, right here, was the greatest reward Catra could ever ask for after all of her years of pain and torment.

She didn't dislike Shadow Weaver, she didn't hate her. She LOATHED Shadow Weaver and everything she represented.

Ever since Catra was a child, practically from the day that she learned to walk, Shadow Weaver had always been a pain at her side. From petty insults to downright physical abuse, the shadowy witch was a monster to no end. She did everything in her power to make sure Catra regretted her existence, and almost every other day of Catra's life, she did.

Growing up she could never figure out why she hated her so dearly. Did she do something to offend her when she was little? Did she just not have Shadow Weaver's respect after all of her own personal struggles, after all the hard work and effort she put into her training to impress her? It took what felt like forever for the young magicat to get an understanding, but eventually, she realized the darkest truth Shadow Weaver had to offer.

There was no reason.

She simply hated Catra. End of discussion. It was the one conclusion Catra could come up with after so many years of hate and abuse. She didn't bother trying to warm up to her anymore during her early teens, she didn't try to impress her anymore to get a small prick of respect from her. Why should she when Shadow Weaver was barely aware of her existence? Why bother wasting her time trying to gain any sort of attention she had to offer? All she gave Catra was neglect and scorn, something she got enough of from the rest of her allies.

And, especially now of all times, she finally had revenge in her grasp. The person who made her life a living nightmare since day one, the person who put Catra through incredible pain seconds ago in an attempt to destroy Catra's sense of self, to trap her within her own body until the day she died. There was no mercy Catra had anymore for someone as wretched and vile as this woman. Shadow Weaver had to die.

She deserved to die!

"Catra, don- Ngghh!" Glimmer groaned as she leaned against the doorway, holding her right side. The amount of energy she spent trying to break out of her confines, every bit of strength that was drained from her during Adora's torture, it was all amounting to the state she was in now. She didn't know if she could teleport in time to stop Catra or if that would make Catra jump the gun and slash Shadow Weaver's throat immediately. All she knew was that this was wrong. "Y-You can't..." She struggled to say.

"Of course I can! Watch me!" Catra yelled back, pulling back her clawed hand as she prepared to strike. She was going to go as long as she possibly could without washing her hand after this. She wanted to keep Shadow Weaver's scent on the tip of her claws for as long as possible, to savor her trophy every day of her life.

"No, I mean- mmhh... I mean you shouldn't!" Glimer clarified as she leaned a little further against the doorway.

"What are you talking about? Of course I should!" She seethed with anger as she looked at the unconscious witch. "After everything she's done to everybody? Everything she's done to me?! She deserves to die, she needs to die!"

"Even if she did, it doesn't mean you should though! What would you have to gain by killing her?"

"Uhh hello? Happiness? Payback?" Thinking about it alone brought a malicious grin to herself. "What else is there to lose?"

"But what would be the point? Agh..." At the sound of the recent thud, Catra shot a look back to her fallen friend. The Princess appeared to be wracked with pain as she collapsed to her knees, keeping her hands against the walls in order to pull herself back to her feet on a moment's notice. "You kill her. Fine. Then what happens?"

"She'll be dead, obviously."

"And then they'll just replace her with someone else!" Glimmer stated. "They could replace her with someone more vicious and cruel. You wouldn't gain anything by killing her."

"Tch, you don't know that." She scoffed. "For all you know they wouldn't find anyone to replace her."

"Even if it did, that still wouldn't make things right!" She needed to get through to her! She hated Shadow Weaver herself, there was no mistake about that, but she couldn't allow Catra to go down this line of reasoning. There was only one path these thoughts took someone to, and it never had a good ending. "You kill her? Fine. What then? Are you going to kill anyone else?"

"If I have to."

"So anyone's fair game, then? All the soldiers? The officers? Adora?"

"Knock it off, Pinky, Adora's nothing like her." Catra hissed, almost challenging her to say something else about Adora.

"She is when she tortures you!" Glimmer snapped back, catching Catra by surprised. It didn't matter if Catra wasn't standing right in front of her, it meant nothing if she could see it in her tears. She knew Glimmer would never lie about something this important, not when it concerned her best friend. "You think Shadow Weaver did all of this to me? Adora had a hand in it too!"

"Y... You don't know that!" Catra brought her clawed hand around Shadow Weaver's throat. Why was Glimmer picking now of all times to be a major buzzkill? Catra was screaming in her mind to let her have this one last thing in the world! "I-It could've been anybody! It could've been one of Shadow Weaver's illusions for all you know!"

"You're saying her illusions managed a device meant to torture people through interrogation?" Glimmer turned back towards the device in question as Catra did, seeing it set up right next to where the princess was being held. "She used that- Mmh... She used that on me, Catra. It wasn't some illusion, it wasn't anybody else. It was Adora."

That... That's impossible. No, there was absolutely no way Adora actually tortured Glimmer to get information out of her. Interrogate? Maybe. But she was never one for anything violent at this degree! She remembered how her friend almost cried just because she squished a single butterfly one time that somehow wandered into the Fright Zone, how Catra had to talk to her for five minutes to convince her it wasn't that big of a deal.

Even if she did torture Glimmer, as horrible as it sounded, did it... really mean anything? "Y-Yeah, well... M-Maybe she had a good reason for it-"

"She thought I placed a spell on you of all things, Catra!" Glimmer shouted. "She was being tricked by Shadow Weaver into thinking you were brainwashed this whole time!" She grew hopeful as she saw Catra's ears drooped, the cat's own body betraying her.

"I know that, I know, but... B-But it doesn't mean she's evil! She just... S-She was probably under orders! Torturing someone doesn't mean she's evil-"

"And how does that make Shadow Weaver any different then?" Catra realized that she had fallen into Glimmer's trap just now, eyes widening with shock as she listened to Glimmer's words. "How is anything she did to you any different than what Adora did to me?"

The girl began to pant, the shouting back and forth taxing what little energy she maintained after her mighty rescue. The injuries she obtained throughout her experience left her exhausted enough. Right now she was running on fumes at this point, and there was no telling how much longer she could last at this rate.

She hated Glimmer now more than ever at that moment. She wanted to shout and scream at her with every fiber of her being, to tell her all the million and one reasons she was wrong about what she was saying! And yet, no matter how far along a comeback came for her, feeling a clutch take it's hold over her heart, she realized...

She was right.

She couldn't make the argument of Shadow Weaver torturing her all throughout her childhood or Glimmer would just remark how it was probably Lord Hordak's orders to toughen them up. She couldn't say anything near as foolish as saying Glimmer didn't know what Adora was really like as she had just met her because her two friends spent barely an hour together and half that time involved torturing someone! She wasn't given the gift of time to formulate a comeback either, knowing every second they wasted here meant another chance of them getting spotted.

And Glimmer, the friend she saw wheezing out of breath, still struggling to stay awake... she wouldn't last much longer if she was recaptured and kept here.

"I know... huff... you don't want to hear it..." Catra could hear her perfectly despite her weakened breath. "And I'm not saying... I'm not saying Shadow Weaver doesn't deserve to be held responsible... huff... B... But this isn't the way... not like this...Ngh..." Glimmer clutched her side as she felt a spike of pain along her right abdomen. "Please, Catra... please..." There was no telling what Catra was thinking as Glimmer watched her from the door, her hair blocking her eyes from Glimmer's point of view.

Anything she did at this moment, anything she thought, Glimmer would be too powerless to stop. The adrenaline that kicked in during her rescue was finally on it's last legs. If she tried to so much as shout for another minute, she swore she was going to pass out from the lack of energy she had left. Everything, from here on in, was Catra's choice.

"...AaaahhhhHHHHHH!" With a mighty roar and a fire in her eyes, Catra pulled back her claws in anger, Glimmer watching in fear at what she was about to do.

"Catra, no-!"

*swiff!*

*skreeeek!*

"Mmh..." Glimmer couldn't bring herself to open her eyes, closing them before the final blow was struck. All she heard was the sound of Catra approaching as her other senses kicked in a little higher. She failed. She failed to reach her in time. After everything they've been through, Catra's hatred was still stronger than the bond the two of them had, three counting Bow. She would much rather sacrifice their petty friendship for her moment of revenge, she knew now what would always come first when she had to choose between the two.

She flinched a little as she felt Catra lifting her up to her feet, throwing her left arm around Catra's head as Catra held on to Glimmer's right side. Whether for added comfort or assurance, she could feel Catra's tail wrapped a little around her too, to help make sure the girl stayed by her side as they prepared to flee.

"You really know how to ruin things, you know that?" Catra grumbled. Opening her eyes at the strange comment, the Princess of Bright Moon was in shock and awe at what she found around Catra's bloodsoaked claws.

Nothing.

There wasn't any blood, no torn skin, nothing save for a barely chipped tip of her three middle claws. Confused by the outlook, Glimmer looked back right as Catra began to run with her, refusing to let Princess Dweebus slow them down any longer so she could stop to look at whatever fascinated her. While she couldn't see up close, she saw enough to tell there wasn't any blood pooling around Shadow Weaver.

It didn't mean anything close to forgiveness for the magicat. She's going to remember this day as the one time she almost got to destroy her greatest enemy, her greatest tormentor at that. She would never openly admit the lack of blame she had on Glimmer's involvement, but she was never going to tell the girl how she was feeling.

All that mattered at that moment to Glimmer was the one thing that brought a small smile to her face, a sense of comfort she could feel without worry or regret.

If ever the time came, Catra would always choose her friends over her own hatred.

As the duo left, the scene slowly panned back to the interior of the Black Garnet chamber. So Glimmer didn't want Catra to kill her? Fine. She would be mad at her for awhile over it, but fine. She wanted her to leave without doing anything, however? There was no detail or pleading in that regard, and with that note stuck firmly in the recesses of her mind, Catra happily did the one thing that would torture Shadow Weaver for the rest of her years.

She gave her three new permanent scratch marks over the face of her mask, ones she would look at every single day for the rest of her life, and remember fondly how close she came to beating Catra again.

And lost.

...

*Wooooooooo!*

*wooooooooo!*

"Huff... huff..." Catra and Glimmer panted as they continued to run side by side through the hallways.

They were running out of time, time they wasted a good portion of alone as they remained in the Black Garnet chambers for longer than they should have. With every minute that passed them there was another chance that the rest of the gang was forced to leave, that another corridor would close itself and block off their escape. There were at least four separate occurrences throughout the run here that Catra nearly lost her tail after running through an enclosing doorway!

She ignored as she ran passed the remains of other destroyed droids and knocked out guards through the rioting that the jailbreak had caused, one which happened in no small part thanks to Catra's planning. It was a shame she never bumped into any of them since fleeing Shadow Weaver's private room as she could definitely use the help right now!

At least Glimmer seemed to be okay, all things considered. She was still weak and having trouble trying to keep her footing, forcing Catra to do most of the running for the both of them as she held onto her. In addition, she also had the pleasure of not running into any guards.

Yet.

The minute they did she knew they would be in trouble. She wasn't going to be able to contend with them while also keeping Glimmer on her feet and safe at the same time. With how long they've been in this place already she found it fortunate enough that they didn't bump into any of those stupid droids! There would be no protecting herself from those in her current state, especially with the added exhaustion she herself was feeling after Shadow Weaver's magic inflicted her with untold pain.

That last sparkle of hope they needed came to an end as they came across the last corridor. It was the last one that was still open, the one that could send them on their way to freedom. How badly they wished it stayed open long enough to cross through, because by the end of it all, they found it closing on them by the time they crossed halfway through the hallway.

"No!" Catra yelled, frustrated. There were no keypads or data terminals to hack the door open with either, not that it would work with the lockdown happening anyway. "Any chance you could teleport us through it?"

"Mmhh.." Glimmer held her side at this. "I might pass out after if I do." She warned.

"Fine, I'll carry you the rest of the way after! Now let's go!" There was no joking in her voice as Glimmer nodded in agreement. The sooner they were out of the Fright Zone, the sooner they could get back home to rest.

Grabbing onto Catra's hand, the Princess closed her eyes as she focused the last remaining ounce of her energy, focusing with as much power as she could draw out. "Mmmhhhh!" She moaned to herself, Catra watching as the blue aura of energy started to build around her. After this, there was definitely going to be carrying involved, but at least hey would be safe.

*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt*

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in pain, almost dropping to the floor if not for Catra's quick reflexes grabbing her. Neither of them understood what happened, Glimmer wincing as she teared up from the pain she was suddenly enveloped in. Without warning, right as her powers were ready to burst forth, a red, sickening, aura fell upon the weak princess, disabling her magic as it brought about more pain.

"Glimmer!" Catra cried out, holding onto her. "What happened?"

"Mmh... I don't know... I can't... teleport..." She muttered weakly, pulling herself from Catra to lean against the nearby wall. As she worked on catching her breath, Catra stared back to the locked corridor in dismay. They were so close to freedom and now they were the furthest ones from it! They needed to come up with a new strategy and fast! Find another exit, hide somewhere until it was safe to run again, or-

*skreeeeeeeeee-*

The two of them turned down towards the hallway as they heard what sounded like group of claws scraping against the metallic walls, a noise they were in common with time and again whenever Catra scraped her claws against something. Looking down further in the hallway, both girls felt their hearts skip a beat, unable to maintain the horror that slowly approached them.

There, drawing further and further, the sparks creating the only source of light around her until she came under a ceiling light, was Adora. Force Captain. Best friend. Shadow Weaver's pupil. They were one and the same, all giving off an irritable glare as she stepped out of the darkness. From it, Catra and Glimmer could see her already wearing the headband around herself, gulping as she had two arms covered in pure shadow, forming the gargantuan monstrosities that nearly ended Catra's life the first time they fought.

Catra was in no shape to fight her. It didn't matter if she protected herself at this point or did so while protecting Glimmer too. She already exhausted herself from the long journey she made trying to rescue Glimmer and Bow in the first place, the agony she had to power herself through from Shadow Weaver's magic.

If they fought right here, right now, it would be a total slaughter.

"A... Adora-"

"Hnnngghhhh!" With a beastly growl, rematerializing the shadows in her right arm, Adora pulled back and released a powerful shadowy tentacle straight ahead, aiming right towards Catra herself.

"Adora, no-!"

*creeeak*

*CRASH*

That... happened... Opening her eyes nervously from fright, Catra was met with a curious and confusing sight, one that didn't provide the answers until she turned around again. There, Glimmer and Catra saw the doorway to freedom, one that promised them an escape route straight out the door, one that Adora had made herself after she ripped the metallic blockade straight out of the wall. Looking back to her friend, she was unable to tell how she was supposed to be feeling or what, watching as Adora casually tossed the wreckage of the door over the side of the stairs they were next to, and began pulling away at her headband.

"You're... letting us go?" Glimmer panted, doing her best to keep herself off the wall.

"No." Adora replied firmly. It was then that Catra noticed the string over Adora's chest that ran all around her from her shoulder to her left thigh. Trailing the string itself, Catra's jaw dropped as she removed the last thing she needed from her back, holding it out in her hands, still in its sheath.

The Sword of Protection.

"I'm giving you a choice of us." She told Catra directly, ignoring the other princess in the room.

"A... Choice of us?" Catra repeated, looking between her, Glimmer, the opened pathway, and finally back to Adora again. "What choice?"

"I'm talking about us, Catra." The magicat watched as a pained expression grew over Adora's face, the Force Captain looking off to the side in discontent. "Catra, I... I can't keep doing this anymore. I can't keep being the only one who wants you back like this while defending you at the same time. It's... it's not fair..."

"But... But Adora, I'm-"

"Just... stop!" She snapped angrily, ignoring the tears forming in her own eyes. "I... I just can't anymore with you, Catra! Not like this! You keep saying you're not under their control, and you continue to work for the Rebellion? Are you under their control while working for them or working for them because you want to? Which is it?"

"N-None- the first one- second? Look, Adora..." Catra scratched at her head furiously, trying to find the right words to say. "I'm not under anyone's control. Shadow Weaver lied to you since day one about all of that! I don't know what else she's said, but practically everything she's said has been-"

"I don't want to hear it anymore, Catra, okay?!" Adora yelled again. "If you were telling the truth, then that... that means you never cared about who you left behind, and if that was the case, then you didn't care about... me..." Adora swiftly wiped her teary eyes against her sleeves. "What did I do, Catra... What did I do to make you hate me so much?"

"Adora, it's... it's not like that, ok?" Catra struggled to reply as tears formed in her own eyes. An inch at a time, she felt like her heart was slowly being pulled between two different directions, one that would've resulted in pain no matter which way it went. "I don't hate you! You're my best friend!"

"...Best friend...?" Adora's expresion boiled with rage as she shot a look towards Glimmer. "Then what does that make them?"

"H-Huh?" Glimmer mumbled, doing what she could to stay out of this conversation until she was directed personally.

"What?"

"I've been here for weeks, Catra, almost months." Adora reminded, doing what she could to maintain her composure. "And you never came back for me. And yet they've been here for more than a day, and you send a party out to rescue them? What am I supposed to say to that?!"

"A-Adora, no, it's..." Catra struggled to find the right words but nothing came out. Everything Adora said, however far stretched it was from the truth, was still accurate. Adora's been here for almost several months now, and she never came back for her. Glimmer and Bow get kidnapped, and she sets out to rescue them, albeit after some coaxing from Glimmer's diary. She was looking like the enemy from every angle Adora shot at her, and she had no way to counter it. "I swear, this changes nothing between us!"

"Then I want you to prove it." With a firm look on her face, she lowered the sheathed sword over to her side, extending her left out dearly for Catra. "I need you to choose, right here, right now. Come back to the Horde, and I'll let you keep the sword, and I swear I won't let anything happen to you. But choose... them... and I'll let you walk away... but don't..." Adora's eyes watered as she said this. "Don't ever come back, then..."

"Adora..." Catra sniffled quietly to herself as she took a step forward.

"Cat-ggghhhh..." Glimmer groveled in pain, holding onto her side again as she gritted her teeth. She braced herself against the wall again, finding it near-impossible to maintain her stance.

"Glimmer?" Catra turned back, slightly worried.

"If you come back, I promise you she can still leave." Adora added, noticing the concern she had over one of Catra's new friends. "If her safety is all you need at this point, she can go. I'll see to it personally she and all your other friends are sent home safely."

This... This wasn't fair. Catra finally made some new friends, actual people she was willing to consider friends for the first time in forever, and now she had to choose between the two of them? Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't it be both?! This wasn't being stuck between a rock and a hard place, this was being stuck between two wildfires for crying out loud! Whichever one she went with she would regret forever!

And yet... she deserved it... For being such a great friend like Adora pointed out, she never bothered returning to the Horde just to come back for Adora. Who cared if she thought she was being under the Rebellion's control? She should've known Adora would keep her safe.

In fact... looking back on it... why didn't she come back since day one? She got the sword, she got her escape. Did she really do all this because a sword with an annoying personality told her to? The same sword that brought her no end of misery ever since she plucked it from the grounds of the Whispering Woods? The stupid hunk of metal that never let her transform into She-Ra to begin with whenever she needed it since she found this stupid thing?!

"Catra?"

When Catra turned around again, she didn't see Adora, not the same one that stood there a moment ago. In fact, save for her and herself, she didn't see much of anything that resembled where she was a second ago. All around her was a white empty void, that had had a strange warmth to it as she stared at her other friend.

Adora, this Adora, was her. The five-year-old girl with her hand extended out and an enthusiastic smile on her face. She was unaware of herself at that point in time, for lack of care or concern, as Catra stood on her own two feet, resembling the same five-year-old self she was when the two had met for the very first time. It felt just like that day again, with Adora meeting her out of nowhere, with a smile on her face, all while she asked Catra the following question.

"Do you wanna be friends?"

Catra... stepped. One step. Two step. Closer and closer. This was Adora. She was her friend from years ago. She was still her friend from years ago. She stuck by Catra's side through the best and the worst of times growing up, and now Adora was asking her to stick by her side after all of this.

Outside of this realm of reality, Glimmer winced in pain as she watched this. She didn't know what Catra was thinking as she stepped closer to Adora, watching as the Force Captain's smile grew more comforting as she neared. She barely had the energy to shout, she had no energy to plead with her. Slumping further to the ground she was still trying to understand what Catra was doing.

Was she doing this for her sake? For all their sake? Was only doing this because she cared about them to? Was she going to accept the deal in exchange for the rest of their safety? What difference would it make if she did? They would be on opposite sides again, they would be forced to fight each other no matter how badly one side wanted to or not!

Or... or is this what Catra really wanted? Did she truly want to return to the Horde, return to the one person she cared about most in this world with little care about those surrounding her, depended on her.

Those who considered her friends as dearly as Adora did.

As for Adora, she felt... warm. Catra, her closest friend, was drawing near her. She was reaching out to her in this instance, in this hour that Adora needed her most, like a true friend would. She would make sure she kept her safe. She wouldn't allow Shadow Weaver near her if she truly feared her, and she would promise her friend Hordak wouldn't lay a finger on her. She would get her out of this trouble, somehow, and then everything could go right back to normal.

It was just like that day for her too. Paying little heed to the surrounding white void she found herself in, she saw Catra, the sincere five-year-old girl, coming towards her, wanting to accept her friendship. To accept her friendship, to offer her friendship. Adora swore she would never let Catra leave her side again for this long, never by herself like she did all those weeks ago.

She felt the tears flow freely from her eyes as Catra finally grabbed her hand. Without missing a beat, Adora quickly pulled her in, embraced her, cherished her. She threw her arms immediately around Catra, the five-year-old blonde crying tears of joy as Catra threw her own arm around Adora's neck. Never has Adora been so happy to see a friend return to her. It was a new memory that she was going to cherish forever as she cried happily on her shoulder, neither of them paying attention as Adora's tears did this.

Catra was finally home.

*sniff*

"I've missed you..."

"..."

*sniff*

"...I'M SORRY!"

With that, the realm of fantasy was shattered. In that instance she let her guard down, in the moment she welcomed Catra back with all her heart, her world of dreams came to an abrupt end. The magicat, her friend, reached her arm over to Adora, and embraced the second thing she came across.

Her sword.

Slipping it out from Adora's grip, Catra hastily ran back over to Glimmer, picking her up in her other arm as she made her way back to her feet. She couldn't believe what she had done. Glimmer couldn't believe what she had done.

She used her.

Catra accepted them.

And she ran at full speed out the corridor, making their escape into the darkness.

Glimmer was still in shock as she tried to help in the running, refusing to let her drag her down, or drag her feet along the entire way as it happened. Still... how was Catra doing all of this? She tilted her head as far as she could, trying to look into Catra's tearing eyes. "Catra... are you... ok-"

"Shut up!" Catra yelled, focusing solely on the path ahead of them. "Don't you dare say a single word!" It was here as they made their way out of the building at long last that Glimmer could finally see Catra's face. It was filled with absolute pain, and wrought with turmoil, as the tears flowed endlessly from her eyes. "If you say anything, anything, I will drop you and run right back in, I swear!" She shouted furiously.

She was in pain. An emotional pain that outweighed any form of torture or suffering Glimmer had been ever been inflicted with, or Catra for that matter. All the pain Catra had felt in her life didn't compare to the pain her heart was racing through as she ran across the Fright Zone, doing everything to make their escape.

She stabbed Adora, her greatest friend in this world, right in the heart. The weakened Princess struggled to look away from her, not able to contend with the pain she felt coming off of Catra herself.

Catra didn't betray Adora for her selfish desire to get the sword back.

She did it because she needed the sword's power to keep them safe.

She did it because Glimmer needed her right now.

She did it because it was the right thing to do.

And that was the greatest pain she ever felt in this world.

And Adora took the brunt of it. Everything went deaf around her as she saw dozens of guards run passed her, saw Force Captain Scorpia standing ahead of her as she instructed the guards to give chase after them. She remained motionless in that state of utter disbelief, unable to come to grip with reality until she saw Scorpia lowering herself a little, looking at Adora worriedly as she shook her shoulders.

"Adora!" She finally heard her calling. "Adora? Adora! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"...Ah...Ahhhh...AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAAAA!" Adora finally snapped as she screamed.

She threw her arms around Scorpia tightly, crying into her carapace, the Force Captain finding herself caught off guard, yet embracing her warmly all the same. She didn't know what happened to throw Adora into this emotional state, she didn't know what kind of pain was inflicted upon her just now, and for the time being, she didn't care. All she could do was throw her own arm around the crying Force Captain, glaring down the darkened hallway that the others ran off, patting her head as she tried to soothe her mourning friend.

Catra had finally made her decision. She showed Adora what she truly meant to her in this one hour of need. She saw her as something secondary to everything else in this world. She stole the sword, she stole the princess, and she stole a part of her heart that she ripped out in the process. Throughout it all, Adora was screaming the one line throughout her mind without end.

How sad do I have to be until you're finally happy?!

...

She wasn't sure how long she kept running for at this rate, the tears having dried themselves away by now. Glimmer could finally manage on her own feet at a slow enough pace, Catra slowing herself down to ensure she could keep up with her. Most of the machinery that made up the Fright Zone was starting to fade from their surroundings as they came across a more rocky terrain. They didn't know where any of the others were, and stopping to ask for questions was the last thing they could afford to do.

No more than half a mile behind them, they could see it. Dozens upon dozens of Horde soldiers running after them from the distance, all with various weaponry to disarm or permanently put down the two escaping princesses as they ran for their lives. The duo didn't know what else they could do except run. Run, run, and keep on running until they finally made it out with their lives.

It was at this bleak hour, when Catra started to question every sense of the word hope, that she finally saw them. A ways away from them, in the air, she spotted the skiff, the very one being piloted by Sea Hawk himself, where the remaining princesses sat watching.

"There they are!" Bow called out. Looping around the duo as the Horde chased after them, they flew. Right by their side, right as they were running, Perfuma lowered her hand, helping Glimmer out first as Catra pushed her towards it. Waiting until her friend was safe, Catra threw her hand towards her, taking Perfuma's strong grip as the princess finally helped her over the side.

With the two returned by their rightful side, Sea Hawk blasted the skiff into the air, wanting to distance themselves as far as possible from this terrible place and the army who slowly came to a halt as their prey escaped their grasp.

Catra herself shot one last look back at the terrible place. She hated the Horde. She hated everything they made her do since day one, even more after the terrible events of today. She needed to find some way to make up for what she did to Adora, find some means of possibly bringing her into the Rebellion! If she could finally see how Catra was on the right side, then maybe-

"Where's Entrapta?" At Glimmer's question, Catra suddenly turned around again, facing the remains of the group. Here she was met with the very faces of all of her allies, save for one, who returned her gaze with a look of nothingness. There was no joy at the rescue, no sense of pride at their escape. There was just... emptiness...almost... pain.

"Where is she?" Catra repeated, looking all around as if she was hanging from the side of the skiff.

"She..." The two turned to Bow as he replied solemnly. "Entrapta... Entrapta didn't make it." Tears immediately rushed to Glimmer's eyes as Catra's was filled with a newfound fury.

"What... What do you mean she didn't make it?" She shot back in the direction of the Fright Zone itself. "D-Did you leave her behind? Come on, we have to-"

"Catra." Mermista cut off, taking her full attention. "Catra... she's gone..." Mermista said, flicking the tears out of her eyes.

"I heard you the first time, big deal!" Catra yelled. "Look, I got the sword now! With or without She-Ra, we can just turn back and-"

"Catra!" Perfuma yelled as her eyes filled with sorrow. "She's gone. She's really... truly... gone."

"..." Catra didn't know what to do. None of them knew what to do as she dropped to her knees. It happened like she said she would. They would go in there. They would try rescue their friends. And someone would die trying as a result.

The entire day had been summed up in those three things.

Pain.

Terror.

Sadness.

...

A/N: Soooooooo, writings not the best atm as pills wear off, and groggy as this chalks up to writing about 17k words in one day...HOOFTAH!

Hopefully the chapters' crummy writing isn't too distracting- i'll delete/re-edit the chapter better if it is.

It's fair warning now, this iiiiiiiiiiisn't going to be the saddest chapter/episode...

So, uhh...if you enjoyed that somehow, uhhh... leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon...

Chapter 37: Episode 10: The Beacon Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Writing quality might be a little bit stale for awhile guys (least this chapter). Aside from having to come back to this thing on like 6 separate occasions (which is bad since I ALWAYS forget something or where I left off Xo), it might be a little choppy here and there. Also because it's the latter half of the first season, as I haven't seen anything of the 2nd half more than once months ago (for the simple reason that I am TERRIFIED of rewatching episode 11 X*[!).

But with that said, thanks to all the feedback last chapter guys! I can tell it was a really big hit! I hope to continue to impress you with even more fun-filled chapters here and there as we're now 3/4 episodes away from completion!

With that said, enjoy!

...

"Y-You what?" Shadow Weaver's expression somehow more noticeable with the mask on.

"You heard me, Shadow Weaver. You are to take this child under your watch and train her as you are with the others." The mysterious stranger repeatedly himself as the six-year-old Catra stood behind his leg, sticking her tongue out at the bossy lady.

She had never felt so proud of herself before than in this very moment. Still not understanding why it was happening in the first place, she was finally getting something that she wanted for the very first time! After all the hardships she's had to endure with everyone picking on her between the other children and the staff, especially Shadow Weaver, she was finally getting something close to a reward on her end, a prize, if you will

Honestly, she was rather surprised by it too. After everything leading up till now, she thought her miserable six-year-old life could only get worse and worse. From the horrible initiation prank that Lonnie and her friends pulled on her, to finding out there never was an initiation to begin with despite allowing Adora herself to join their gang, and then finding out Adora was going to be taken to another sector within the Fright Zone for better training and lessons, Catra thought her fate was to have a miserable life from this point forward.

Why did the world hate her so much? Why did people bully her on a constant basis? She was nice, sincere, just like Adora told her she was! She's tried plenty of times to make friends with others, to show them how she wasn't the freak that they claimed she was, and what does she get out of it? Nothing! Nothing but more hate and scorn for the simple crime of living! And there would be no Adora to protect her anymore from the savage children that always bullied her.

Life was unfair in every sense of the word!

Which is why it became surprising when the unthinkable happened. After taking one too many bullyings in her life, finding another piece of disgusting gruel flung into her hair, she had finally had enough. She didn't care anymore about how the children saw her, she didn't care about being the nice girl in front of anyone, and she didn't care if she got in trouble this time. Why should she if she constantly got into trouble anyway when she didn't do anything? So when she walked up to the bully who threw the food at her, pulling back her tray as she did, her life changed forever.

She started a small brawl that escalated into a full-fledged Food Fight throughout the entire lunchroom. During the war of the gruel, tons of other children directed their attention to the brat that started everything, trying to beat on her and throw food at her while the rest of the children played around like a bunch of idiots. It was during that scuffle that Catra learned a little about herself, like how painful her claws could be when she stopped caring about who she hurt and how nimble she could be when her main focus was to survive.

At the end of the brawl the entire lunchroom was in disarray. Unsurprisingly, everyone surrounding her pointed her out as the cause of the entire Food Fight that took place, even though it was perfectly clear that the fight started when someone threw food at her. As punishment, she was forced to mop the entire lunchroom from top to bottom, a taxing job on any six-year-old when your lunchroom was the quarter of a mile long and wide in all directions.

Thankfully her savior came in the form of a mysterious cloaked stranger, one the guards seemed insistent on respecting, after she finished spending the first hour getting one-tenth of the entire room. As opposed to being outraged and peeved like all the other adults surrounding her because of the food fight, he was actually impressed.

She didn't realize during the scuffle that she ended up breaking two kids' noses and sent thirteen others to the medical wing of the children's sector covered in scratches and bruises marks. To Catra, all she was concerned with was staying alive during the fight, doing whatever it took and injuring whoever else was in her way as she tried to stay alive. To the stranger, he found this to be a glorious opportunity that couldn't be wasted.

This child was strong. Stronger than most of the other kids that have been training in this sector. For a child of her size and age to do what she did to half a dozen other children twice her size and several years older was unheard of. She proved her worth as a child of the Horde at that very moment to him, and he wanted to mold that into a very powerful soldier, a weapon, at his disposal. All it came down to was figuring out how to persuade the child into advancing her lessons, to find out what the child would want in exchange for her dedicated services.

Ironically, his desire to advance her training and Catra's personal desire intertwined quite nicely. He was going to advance her training, and Catra was going to be with Adora again. And the best part?

According to the stranger himself, Shadow Weaver had no say in the matter.

"B-But My Lord, she is far too... delicate," Shadow Weaver glowered as she saw the insect taunting her, "for the training you recommend. She'll never-"

"My word is final, Shadow Weaver." The stranger boldly said. "You are to take this child under your wing, and oversee her training along with the rest of the children."

"What's going on?" A young blond child asked as she walked into the door's line of sight.

Seeing the child passed Shadow Weaver's flowing robe, Catra let out a squeal of pure delight. "Adora!" She ran straight passed the two adults as she ran straight into Adora's excited arms.

"Catra!" The two friends happily embraced each other in a warm hug as they laughed, overjoyed that they got to see the one friend neither of them thought they would ever see again. As she hugged, Catra peeked over Adora's shoulder, seeing the annoyed-looking Lonnie crossing her arms, glaring at her as Catra hugged Adora. For one of the first times since meeting her, she did something she and the rest of the goons had ever seen.

Catra glared back.

Watching the two meet each other again like this sickened Shadow Weaver. The freak wasn't worthy of being a member of the Horde. She had no discipline, no sense of respect for her peers, and cried at the slightest sign of aggression. She was a mockery of everything the Horde stood for, and she had the audacity to use Lord Hordak as a means to reunite with Adora?

"You are not to interfere with her training without my say so, and you will bring her up to speed along with the rest of the children should she need it. Are we clear, Shadow Weaver?" Lord Hordak wasn't asking for her approval or her consent. He was ordering her.

"...Crystal..." She seethed. With his word as law, the master of the Horde made his way down the halls again, disappearing into the darkness. She would never challenge Lord Hordak's rule directly, but it never meant she had to agree with it.

It was on that day that Catra officially learned two very important facts about life: The kind and the weak would always be punished and suffer, and the vicious and the strong would always be rewarded...

...

Words couldn't be spoken. Thoughts couldn't be formed. What could anyone say in a time like this? Everything that happened within one night, everything that was gained, everything that was lost, it was just horrible. Nobody said a thing the entire trip back home, not with everything that weighed on everybody's mind. If this one night could be summed up in just one word, it would be a miracle. But miracles don't happen in this reality. That was the hard fact of life.

That was the reality of war.

Coming up to the Whispering Woods, with Sea Hawk piloting the skiff, everyone remained silent for a bit. There was Mermista, the Princess of Salineas. Perfuma, the Princess of Plumeria. Glimmer, the Princess of Bright Moon, and her best friend Bow. Finally, there was Catra, the one who was She-Ra, the Princess of Power.

Someone was missing from this group of friends, someone very dear to all of them. She was a perky and energetic girl, one with her own array of quirks that always made people laugh. She took science to a whole nother level with her integrity and ingenuity, making fascinating weapons and robots for the war against the dreaded Horde. Unlike everyone else, she was the only one who didn't return on the mission to save Glimmer and Bow.

Her name, was Entrapta, the Princess of Dryl.

And she was gone.

Nobody was sure who was taking this the hardest. Do you blame the Princesses who wanted to go? The Horde that caused them to go through the vents that ended her life? Surely something could be said about the fact they did it to rescue Princess Glimmer and Bow in the first place? Or, perhaps, the blame lied with the one called Catra, the one who organized the entire plan from start to finish. The very one who hasn't said a word as she stared out to the side ever since the news was dropped.

Fearing what sort of doubts and regrets were filling her mind, Glimmer attempted to relieve her burden as she walked over to her. Catra gave a small shiver as she pat her right shoulder, saying nothing as she continued to stare out. "Catra?" The girl's ears twitched at her name. "You should know, it... None of it was your fault..." How was she supposed to tell what was on her mind? After all, until today she showed no acknowledgement that she would accept her or Bow as friends, so there was no way to tell what thoughts ran through her mind.

"...I know..." Catra coldly replied before glaring at the rest. "It's theirs!"

"Excuse me?!" Mermista's rage boiled almost instantly at the accusation, rising straight to her feet as she squeezed her fists intimidatingly. All other eyes turned to one another nervously, the atmosphere surrounding the group of friends already intensified by just those four words.

"I told you right from the beginning that, if we went out to rescue them, one of us would die!" Catra reminded angrily.

"It was your friends too that we went out to save in case you forgot! Don't act like Entrapta was your friend only, we all feel guilty!" Mermista retorted as the magicat took a step closer. "And don't forget it was your brilliant plan in the first place that we went by!"

"M-Mermista-!" Glimmer spouted, trying to get a word in edgewise.

"Friends, please!" Perfuma tried to help as she stood.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you have a secret plan we didn't know about?" The magicat accused poking on Mermista's chest aggressively. "Or were you just going to have everyone else to do all the work?"

"If you want to talk about work, maybe we should be looking at the girl who left us in the vents in the first place! Real nice to know you had our backs to the very end in case something went wrong!"

"Guys, please, don't do this!" Bow's voice was as silent as the rest of theirs between these two.

"I was off to rescue Glimmer, you idiot! I couldn't leave her behind! Besides, no one forced you to trust my idea if you had a better one!"

"You're right, we shouldn't have trusted your idea," Mermista shot back, "because if we didn't, then Entrapta would still be alive, wouldn't she-!"

"AHHHHHHHH!" With a beastly roar, Mermista found herself tackled off the skiff by the ferocious feline, Catra pushing her straight to the ground and then leaping right over her. The mermaid princess sprang right back to her feet, rubbing away the small scrape on her right cheek before squeezing her fists. She didn't care if she was fighting outside of her element, she was not going to let this girl pin the blame entirely on her.

As for Catra, she stopped caring. She didn't care if she was one of their so-called friends, or a princess in general. She warned everyone from the very beginning that if any of them went to the Fright Zone that they would die, and did they listen? No! They ignored her warnings. Whether or not Mermista and the rest considered Catra a friend or if Catra considered them, she still had the decency to give them a thorough warning, one they chose to ignore.

Growling angrily, Catra extended both her claws, preparing to scratch the lights right out of Mermista's eyes at that very moment. Without any hesitation between the two girls, they ran right for each other with a fury in their eyes. Mermista would pummel her into submission or Catra would scratch her until she went limp. Whichever way it could've ended didn't matter not three feet away from each other, the two girls found themselves suddenly raised several feet into the air by a thick, strong, pair of vines wrapping around their arms and legs.

"Enough!" Perfuma yelled with her hand raised, tears still fresh in her eyes. Mermista huffed and puffed in place as Catra struggled to do everything to break herself free, unable to squirm her arms and claws out of her holdings.

"Nggggghhhhhhh!" Catra continued to growl, the remaining friends watching her and Mermista as they fumed. It's not like they couldn't understand why they were so upset, they just knew better than to start placing blame on each other. Nobody was at fault, or everyone was. There was no middle ground for this scenario. "Ghhhhhh!" The mad cat was practically trying to bite her way at the vines.

If anyone else had doubts, it was perfectly clear, to Glimmer, that Catra harbored the most self regret.

"We never should've formed the Princess Alliance." Mermista finally said as Perfuma lowered her to the ground.

"Mermita's right," Perfuma agreed wiping away another tear, "being together makes us vulnerable."

"Maybe there's a reason the Princess Alliance fell apart in the first place, Glimmer." Mermista was steadfast in her belief.

"What? No, you can't think like that!" Glimmer voiced as a more cooled-off Catra was lowered from the vines, still huffing. "We've accomplished so much more as a team than we ever did alone-"

"And we lost a dear friend in the process." Perfuma curled her legs upon the skiff as she hugged herself. "We did one mission together, and we lost one of our own."

"You rotten ingrates!" Catra yelled, finding it very tempting to pull her sword out right now. "I saved your kingdoms and this is the thanks we get?!"

"You helped our kingdoms, Catra. You didn't save them. Our kingdoms will never be safe as long as the Horde is at large." Mermista narrowed her eyes, ready to defend herself as she crossed her arms. "And what's that philosophy you always had? Scratch someone's back and they'll scratch yours?" Catra was repeating to herself not to attack this princess without end in her mind. "Well we repaid you by saving Bow an Glimmer, and Entrapta lost her life paying you back."

"Aghhhhh-!" Ok, NOW she's had it! She didn't care if Perfuma got in the way again, she was more than willing to claw her too if she got in the way! She was not going to be the one held responsible for all this mess! So with a killer instinct in her eyes, tail spiraling out of rage, she ran straight for the blue-haired princess, preparing to scalp every strand of hair right off her head-!

"Stop." Glimmer solemnly pleaded, stepping in front of Catra as she embraced her in her arms. Catra's deathly scowl slowly dwindled along with her expression as she felt Glimmer's warmth around her, unwilling to continue the fight if her friends were going to get in the way, no matter how badly she hated Mermista right now. "Just, stop. We've lost enough, ok?"

There was truth and pain in her voice, one Catra could feel within her own heart as Glimmer patted her back. Everything about this mission went wrong, regardless of the end result. Fighting about it between the three would lead to more conflict, more feelings being hurt, more friends they would lose. What happened today wasn't anything they could control. Seeing the mermaid herself, Catra could see tears in her eyes too as she looked away, the mermaid doing the best she could to wipe them whenever they formed.

All around them everyone was in pain, she could tell that now. Those who cried and those who were filled with sorrow, faces questioning if they were to blame themselves or not, many others struggling with themselves to come to terms with what happened. Nobody was happy about this outcome, nobody else was throwing blame at each other like Catra was. It was the loudest silence Catra ever heard, one that made it clear to her who was at fault for all of this travesty.

The Princess of Salineas had nothing more that she wanted to do with this place.

"Sea Hawk, take me home."

...

One by one the friends and allies they worked so hard to attain left their side, the ones who were still amongst them.

Upon returning to the seas, Mermista wasted no time returning to her kingdom, the barrier that protected this great land having been opened for her arrival. Mermista didn't hate Catra, her attitude was a different story. She knew she was hurting as much as the rest of them were, but it also didn't give her any excuse to take it out on them. To put the faith of her kingdom in the hands of someone like that, with a symbol of the Rebellion? She wanted no part of it, not if it came to risking the lives of her own citizens.

Passing through the Sea Gate itself, the barrier reformed itself with her crossing. Here, it would stand to protect her people for the rest of their days, however long or short they may be at this point. As long as her people were safe, that's all that mattered to Mermista anymore. Her citizens, her kingdom, all of it meant the world to her, no matter how little she showed it. Seeing the guards at their posts to greet them, she raised her silver trident to the air, allowing the waters beneath her to pull her into the sea, the one home she would never let the Horde take from her.

Dropping off Perfuma was more of a hassle in and of itself, with many tears being exchanged by her and the others as she bid them farewell. She told them how she harbored no ill will towards them, how she would always wish the best for them, and that she wished them the greatest of luck for their future adventures. They were some of the best friends she's ever made, and she would never forget their actions or their kindness.

She wanted to maintain the alliance, she truly did, but there were too many people involved to risk that. It wasn't a matter for her own life that troubled her so much. It was the lives of her people. Within the center of the kingdom, a short ways away from the Hearts Blossom, she grew a memorial, one representing one of her dearest friends that they had lost, Princess Entrapta. It was people like her she wanted to protect, people like her she couldn't risk getting hurt again.

She could never return to the alliance and leave their people without a leader. She was willing to risk her life for them when the trouble came to find her, not when she went to look for trouble. It was here that she would remain, crying over the loss of a friend that would never return.

And then, there was Princess Frosta, leader of the Kingdom of Snows. It didn't matter to her if she went on the journey or not with the others, it didn't make a difference if she fully accepted the Princess Alliance yet. They already proved their worth and their arrogance by trying to charge headfirst into the Fright Zone.

That kind of foolishness, the blatant disregard for what could happen to themselves or their kingdoms if one of them perished, was something she could never be a part of. This was the kingdom raised by her family for generations, and she would be miffed if that generation ever ended with her! She would not let her kingdom fall because of their negligence, to watch from above as her kingdom melted below her.

Now now, not ever!

With her mind set and her magic gathered from the runestone, she raised her hands to the air as she preformed her own work of magic. Focusing on the protection of her kingdom, with the determination to keep her castle safe, she created the largest barrier that she could raise, forming a mountain of ice that grew right over the castle. The Horde would never melt it down, they would never blast it apart. If the Horde dared to make enemies with the Kingdom of Snows, she would see their blood freeze before their very eyes, and shatter them herself.

In the end, that left Glimmer, Bow, and Catra, to keep to themselves as they traversed the great stairs leading up to Bright Moon. There wasn't much else that could be said between the three as Bow helped walk Glimmer up the stairs, Catra walking from behind them with a mental scowl.

She found this to be typical, absolutely perfect. Time and again, everyone kept trying to get her to open up, to see them as more than allies that fight alongside each other, and to think of them as friends. No matter how many times she pushed them away or wanted nothing to do with them, they kept coming back to annoy her until she eventually found it within herself to say yes. And what happens next? She immediately loses a friend not even a day afterwards!

She was right back where she started with all of this, and she had even less interest in making friends than before.

"Glimmer!" The trio looked ahead as they were greeted by the Queen of Bright Moon, Queen Angella herself, running towards her daughter. She wasted no time throwing her arms around her daughter, hugging her tightly as she pressed her cheek warmly against hers. Never has her mother been so happy to see her before, leaving an awkward feeling in Glimmer's mind as she checked all over her. "Are you hurt?" With what few scrapes and bruises cleared, she continued to squeeze her daughter tightly, never wanting to let her out of her arms ever again!

It was so beautiful that it almost brought tears to Bow's watery eyes, the archer almost let out a sniffle it was so touching!

"Mom, you're crushing me," Glimmer groaned, hurting more from the hug itself than the injuries she sustained.

"Ohhhh!" Bow couldn't help it. Who cared if it ruined his dignity? So what if Catra facepalmed as a result? He had to be a part of this! With open arms, he ran over to the huggable duo, embracing the two in a group hug. That just left one thing as Angella raised her head again.

"You." The Queen casually made her way over to the nervous Catra as her ears lowered.

"Oh, great, here it comes." Catra mumbled. "All right, get it out of your system. "Oh, how I endangered your daughter", "oh I was being reckless", what was I thinki-!" Well... that was a new tactic. She wasn't given a hard scolding like she expected, she wasn't given thirty lashes for endangering the rest of the Princess Alliance, yet, and she wasn't berated about everything she did wrong.

The Queen, who appeared to have it out for Catra since day one, was hugging her. Not once in her life had she ever been hugged this tightly by a mother, much less one who squeezed her face against her like she did Glimmer. Like with Glimmer, Bow found the sight to be beautiful and touching, barely resisting the urge to let them have this moment for themselves. Even Glimmer was smiling a little at the scene, finding it nice and touching to see her mother being so comforting to Catra for once.

Compared to anywhere else in the world right now, it was great to be home.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"...Mom! Cut it out! You're embarrassing me!" Glimmer yelled, squirming in her grip as the Queen hugged her for the eighth time by now. And that was between the last two minutes they walked across the bridge to the castle itself.

Everyone felt a little more at peace to be within the safe haven that was Bright Moon Castle. With the morning sun giving off a glorious new day and the early birds flying across the beautiful sky, you would think there was nothing wrong with the three main heroes. Within the confines in this castle the three could rest easy knowing they were safe, save for one pressing issue none of them had yet to mention to the Queen.

"I will not cut it out." She replied with authority, her two personal guards standing proudly behind her, as Glimmer struggled out of her grip. "I've been beside myself with worry." It was during the small struggle out of the Queen's arms that Angella noticed something troubling. "You... usually teleport out of my embraces. What's going on?" She asked squishing Glimmer's cheeks.

"N-Nothing!" The princess insisted, shifting her eyes away nervously. "I just need to recharge. That's all." It amazed Catra that a liar as bad as Glimmer could somehow get away with it.

"Of course. Guards, carry my daughter to the moonstone chamber at once." The Queen's order were followed immediately as they stepped forward.

"I don't need to be carried," Glimmer insisted with hands at her side, raising suspicion along with the Queen's hand, "I can walk. You're embarrassing me."

She was her mother, and a Queen at that. Someone with such regal authority and a title like hers was nowhere near capable of being so blind to an obvious suspicion as hers. Her daughter was hiding something, and she needed to find out." Fine," the Queen replied copying her mannerisms, "then you have time to tell me what happened. I received word of Entrapta's... loss..."

All three of the friends went silent at the news, looking away from the Queen with their own pained expressions. They didn't need a reminder of the events they witnessed just hours ago. All of them were still trying to grieve with the fact inside of themselves, and reminders like these weren't helping. They still needed to think about the Princess Alliance as well, Entrapta's death being the cause of it's destruction.

Even knowing this, the Queen refused to let them come up with a story on the spot, raising a brow at the seeming silence between the three of them. "Bow, Glimmer, Catra? Someone tell me what happened."

"...It was my fault-"

"The thing is-" Both Catra and Bow tried to speak at the same time.

"Leave my friends alone!" Glimmer ordered stepping forth. "Give us a minute."

"A minute?" The Queen's suspicions continued to rise with every response, as was her anger. "You were being held by the Horde. I have been going mad, telling myself awful stories about what could've happened to you." Her mother hoped to get through to Glimmer about how worried she was. Doesn't she understand this wasn't some trip to Mystacor or someplace more relaxing? This was the Fright Zone for crying out loud!

"Jeez, Mom, relax." Glimmer crossed her arms nonchalant, passing her mom off with a wave. "I'm fine. We'll talk later." She didn't give the Queen any chance to continue their shenanigans as she walked off ahead, hoping to avoid anymore words between the four of them.

"This conversation is not over!" She gruffed, standing at attention to Bow as he bowed. It was when she noticed Catra scratching the back of her head as she walked that she grew an idea. "Catra, wait!" She ordered, stopping the nervous cat as she turned around.

"Y-Yes?" This was one of the few times the Queen ever wanted to talk to Catra, The last two times she ever talked to her it had to do with the claw marks scattered all over the castle and the other time about Catra grooming her arms at the table. She nearly jumped as the Queen placed a hand on her shoulder, for once in her life comfortingly.

"Catra, I beg you. If you know anything going on or notice anything suspicious, be sure to tell me right away." She begged. "Can I trust you?"

"Eh... Y-Yeah, of course." Catra gave a small reassuring nod. Somehow the Queen's smile didn't bring any extra comfort to her as she patted her head softly.

"I knew I could count on you." With another smile the Queen made her way down the other hallway, allowing Catra to go about her business.

The situation became more pressing to the magicat as she chased after her friends. If the Queen trusted Catra personally with something then they needed to know about it, especially when it concerned them too. She didn't find herself having to travel that long or far as she rounded the corner of the hallway, finding an already-glowing red Glimmer and a worried Bow looking over her.

"Glimmer!" The magicat ran her way to her side to check on her.

"It's starting to get worse." Bow commented. It was during the flight here that the rest of them became aware of Glimmer's strange Glitching issue. With at least four occurrences between the last two hours, there was no telling what affect it was having on the girl or what it could lead up to. "Does it hurt?"

"No, not much." Glimmer replied shaking her head.

Gee, great work Catra. Now when your friend explodes you can tell the Queen why! Catra grumbled in her mind. "I need to tell your mom about this, Glimmer. She's trusting me to-"

"No!" Glimmer interrupted, turning to her as she rested her hands on Catra's shoulders. "Catra, please, don't tell my mom."

"But she'll know what to do! Glimmer, I barely know what the Black Garnet did to you. You can't teleport, you're already weak from... Adora... and this keeps happening."

"No! My mom has enough to worry about as it is, I don't want to give her more to worry about. Okay?"

"But..."

"Besides, I always feel better after I recharge, so..." The other two looked beside themselves unsure. Bow didn't want something more tragic to happen to one of his friends, but how was he going to argue with the Princess who had first say in the personal matter? "Then it's agreed." She continued. "I'll recharge, stop glitching, and my mom will never have to know."

Catra moaned as she looked down the other hallway, the same direction the Queen herself took not long ago. She was trusting Catra, she gave her personal trust, to tell her if something was going on with her daughter. This is the first time her Highness ever showed any sort of trust towards Catra since coming here, at least on a personal degree. She was nice to her, she showed her compassion for one of the first times. How was she supposed to betray her trust right now?

Then there was Glimmer, one of the last few official friends she had in this world aside from, hopefully, Adora, and Bow. She was one of the last few people she could trust, however little after the events that happened. She was giving Catra her trust not to let her down or to betray her in any way, and Catra was supposed to turn her back on her and betray her? Like she did with Adora?!

She could never betray a friend like that.

Not again...

...

The Fright Zone.

A terrifying realm of machinations of horror and destruction.

It was a fitting name for the army the rest of Etheria came to know as the Evil Horde, the savages that laid waste to anyone and anything in their path. Within the center of this mighty land of nightmares gone wild lied the magnificent technological marvel known as the Citadel, the throne of the mighty Lord Hordak himself.

From within these halls, Lord Hordak saw everything. He oversaw the efforts of his Horde army, the soldiers who were trained since birth to fight for him unquestionably. It was thanks to his brilliant scientific mind that he managed to achieve these accomplishments, creating weapons and war machines that could decimate an entire village within the blink of an eye. Nobody usually came to this unholy place directly unless they either reported to Lord Hordak himself, or if they were in a vast amount of trouble.

Like a certain Force Captain, known as Adora, came to be.

Within the wonder of the Citadel she stood, alongside Shadow Weaver, as well as the several other Force Captains behind them, as they awaited Lord Hordak's judgement. Failure was rarely tolerated within the Fright Zone, failure that could cost the entire outcome of the war so dearly. Not once in Adora's life has she ever seen Lord Hordak in person, not from up close anyway, since being promoted to the grand title of Force Captain, and it was unsettling to know her first encounter could very well be her last.

"Not only did you lose the princess known as Glimmer," Lord Hordak's voice echoed throughout the surrounding darkness, "but I've learned that you've also lost the Sword of Protection as well." Adora frowned as she lowered her head at this. There wasn't any necessary reminder about who was at fault here.

"The enemy knew us from the inside and out." Shadow Weaver respectfully replied. Hordak was one of the few individuals in the world that she would never dare to cross, not with the power at his disposal. "They sabotaged our Prison Block, and the ensuing riots distracted everyone from-"

"Silence!" His voice boomed as his shadows danced across the room, drawing in closer to the guilty party. "I wanted your explanations, not your pitiful excuses. That very sword could bring the downfall of the Horde itself. It's champion can cleave our armies in two if she was ever to master it's power. What I want to know is who is responsible for this, Catra, getting her sword back."

"...It was my fault, Lord Hordak." Adora admitted as she stepped forth. A look of concern and worry crossed Force Captain Scorpia's face and Shadow Weaver's eyes at this. All of them could feel Hordak's shadow drawing closer by the second. "She- I mean Catra, used my own emotions against me. I thought I could bring her back if I gave her the chance, and..." Adora closed her eyes in pain, still recalling the events in her head every moment of her life.

How could she have been so foolish as to trust Catra of all people? The best friend she's known since childhood, the very one who was at Adora's side wherever she went. The person who could easily turn her back on the Horde, the very people who raised both of them, without any worry or care about who they hurt.

It was thanks to Adora's desire to bring her lost friend home that all of this happened. Prying open the sealed corridors for their escape, offering Catra the chance to have the sword if she came back to what Adora considered Family. She never thought in a million years that someone as close as her friend would take advantage of her, pretending to accept their friendship as a means to steal the sword right out of their grip. She thought she saw her old friend once again in that moment, watching as she slowly came back to her side like the good old days.

She can see now that she was very mistaken.

"I have no excuses, my Lord." Adora shook her head as she kneeled down on one leg, placing her fist against the metallic floors of the room. She didn't raise her head as Lord Hordak made his appearance through the darkness, feeling his shadow cross over her as she approached. "The fault is mine and mine alone. I accept any and all punishments deemed necessary."

"..." There was no telling what went through the mind of the Horde leader. At times he was known to be crazy with whatever plans or ideas he came up with. At others, he was known as a superior genius who's technological prowess exceeded any form of magic known across Etheria.

The one constant that always remained, though, was that he was always calculating, always plotting. Every second of his life he considered every action and detail right down to the very last decimal. Nobody could ever match wits with a superior being such as him, not against a foe who was always ten steps ahead.

"...Uhh excuse me, Lord Hordak sir?" Scorpia spoke as she stepped forth with a small smile. "Hi, Force Captain Scorpia. Umm not that a person as great as you need reminders or anything," Scorpia commented waving her claws, "but I would like to point out... it's also because of Adora that we captured Princess Glimmer and the Sword in the first place." Adora shot Scorpia a look of surprise as she continued to kneel, offering a small smile that she still had one friend who had her back. "So, doesn't that kind of... I don't know... cancel each other out?"

"..." The master scratched his chin as he looked down upon the blonde Force Captain, contemplating her every word.

"I mean, no one's ever managed to acquire a prize like the Princess or the Sword before, and this is just after her third mission. Most of the other Senior Cadets and troops haven't been able to accomplish that in over a decade of service."

"It would also go on to merit," Shadow Weaver added taking a floating step forward, "that many of the soldiers and cadets around here have a soft spot for the young Force Captain. If any... thing... was to happen to her, it could cause a small bit of backlash against our troops' morale."

Scorpia, Shadow Weaver, and the other children she grew up alongside. These were the last people in Adora's life that she always knew she could count on to have her back. They were the only ones who had yet to betray Adora, not to an extent that Adora has discovered yet. Without their recent input Adora was sure she wouldn't be kneeling for as long as she has been, not alive at least.

"...Force Captain Adora, Shadow Weaver, the both of you are to remain here. The rest of you are to leave at once." Hordak ordered. No questionable expressions were given to the leader as everyone nodded respectfully, Scorpia having a slight twinge of worry within her mind as she left. Once the room was cleared Hordak returned his attention to the Force Captain kneeling before him.

"I have considered your judgement Adora. Despite your recent failure, your efforts to the Horde have earned you a second chance to prove your worth. Therefore, I am giving you one week." He stated holding up a finger. "I am tasking you to find or obtain a significant contribution to the Horde, one that outweighs your recent blunder. Do that, and you will be cleared of all charges. Fail, however, and my judgement will be your end. Understood?"

"Y-Yes!" Adora raised her head in appreciation. "Thank you Lord-" By the time she could so much as turn to him again, he was gone. There wasn't a shadow nor a trace that he ever existed within this room in the first place. Returning to her feet, she examined her surroundings as she tried to figure out where he disappeared to. Perhaps it was best left unresolved for now, given the circumstances.

"You have done well to earn Lord Hordak's mercy, Adora." Shadow Weaver complimented patting her shoulder. "Not many people have earned that privilege."

"... Shadow Weaver?" Adora's voice wavered a bit as she spoke to her. "Did... Did you know that Catra wasn't under the Princess's spell?" Behind her scarred mask, Shadow Weaver grimaced.

Why on Etheria was someone like Adora so obsessed or concerned with an animal like Catra? The girl has been nothing but a pain to the both of them, one who almost cost Adora her own life if not for Scorpia speaking out for her. She would still show concern to her old friend after everything that's happened. The very person who stabbed her in the back, the one who defected to the Rebellion purely out of greed.

The very one who left three scarring reminders across Shadow Weaver's mask and lived to tell about it. She would see that wretched girl bleed if it was the last thing she did!

"I'm afraid I'm as surprised as you are, my dear." Shadow Weaver feigned ignorance, one that Adora was starting to question. "I didn't think she would willingly try to join the Rebellion. What other conclusion could I come to other than a work of brainwashing?"

"But if Catra defected to the Rebellion willingly, then..." Panic crossed Adora's mind. There would be no means of pleading or begging she could come up with that would spare Catra from Hordak's fury. "Then she really is a traitor..."

Defection and traitorism was the one thing that was never tolerated in the Horde. No matter what the excuse was or any attempts at trying to make up for it, there was almost no way out of getting punished for such a crime. Adora was lucky enough to get a slap on the wrist for everything she did. There was no telling what sort of consequences would occur if Catra was ever captured by someone other than herself, provided whoever captured her did it alive in the first place.

"I know it seems hard to accept, Adora, but if Catra truly is in her own state of mind, then you'll have to accept it. Whatever her reasons are, there is no way she can get away with what she's done..." As she turned away, Shadow Weaver contemplated as she pressed her fingers together. "Unless..."

"Unless?" That single word gave Adora the spark of hope she needed right now in this grim situation. Noticing the small pause emanating from Shadow Weaver's person, Adora quickly ran to her side, wanting to know what other way there was to save Catra's life. "Unless what?" Watching her mater's eyes narrow, Adora felt a small chill in the air as she lowered her face towards Adora's.

"Unless, my dear... someone else made the rules around here." Shadow Weaver's hint didn't go unnoticed by the Force Captain whose body started to feel heavy.

"W-What... What do you mean..." She was wrong. She had to be wrong, right? There was no way the mother-figure of her life was actually suggesting what Adora thought she meant. It was with a lean into her ears that Shadow Weaver whispered the terrible truth to her pupil.

"I mean, if something were to happen to Lord Hordak, then who else would be there to replace him...?"

This. Was. Insane!

Insubordination and betrayal was one thing. This was an entirely different thing all on it's own. She wasn't talking about just getting rid of Lord Hordak or making him change the rules around here. She was talking about actually replacing him and everything that he ruled with an iron fist! Talks like this were enough to warrant a death penalty, even if someone was joking or gossiping about it. No one would so much as think of doing something so horrendous, not to a glorious leader like Lord Hordak.

And here she was. Her master, her mother, the person that raised her since she was saved by the Horde as an infant, talking about overthrowing Lord Hordak's rule and managing the Horde for herself. Was this some sort of hilariously awful joke she was trying to give Adora? Because she would much rather believe that than what she was actually saying!

"Y-You can't be serious..." Adora tensed as she backed away.

"Adora-" Shadow Weaver gently stroked the side of Adora's face in comfort.

"No!" Adora swatted her hand away in disgust. "You can't... I can't let this happen!" She started to run pass her teacher as the grave news was still settling in. "I need to report to Lord Hordak at once and-!"

"All right, go ahead." Shadow Weaver's words stopped Adora in her tracks, surprised that she was unwilling to put up a fight or resistance to what Adora wanted to do. "Tell Lord Hordak about my idea, send one of the very few people you have left into the deepest, darkest, hole in the Fright Zone." She said knowingly as she neared Adora. Adora kept her back to her as she made her way over, processing everything that she was saying with a grain of salt.

"Send me to a prison, or watch me get executed because you thought it was the right thing to do." Shadow Weaver grinned behind the mask as she rubbed Adora's shoulder. "Send the one person who still cares deeply about you, who gave you her trust, who showed you the ways of the world, who treated you as her own daughter, somewhere she'll never be seen again."

"B-But..."

"Besides," her mentor whispered as she leaned her head closer from behind, "think of alllll the good you could do if you were in charge. You could be as peaceful or violent as you wish, you can help all those who come to you in need. And I'll be right here, by your side, whispering in your ear for guidance."

Everything that ever was and has been has lead up to this moment. Everything from the time of day, the situation at hand, all the training she put Adora through, all the lives she had to snuff out to ensure perfection on Adora's behalf, all of it was for her little star to shine. Even as Adora's face filled with dread she knew she wouldn't dare to oppose her or challenge her on this, and not out of a matter of love or mercy.

She would do it because she's all she had left. There was nobody else in Adora's life that she cared about, other than Shadow Weaver. She wouldn't risk losing the last of the closest thing she had to family around here. Every event Shadow Weaver manipulated from the day she raised her has been for this moment, to ensure Adora would come to see her as the motherly figure she's known her to be, and to keep her from ever betraying that love Shadow Weaver infected her with.

Even the kindness she's shown on Adora's behalf was an act. She needed to raise Adora to be perfect, in every sense of the word. She needed to make sure she had just the right amount of kindness in her heart so she would never risk her exposing Shadow Weaver's evils to Lord Hordak. The very fact that she was still standing her instead of running for the ruler of the Horde was proof of her unwavering devotion to her.

Adora needed her. She made sure of that in every possible way.

"You'll see, sweetheart." With a small tug she pulled Adora towards her, patting her head as she continued to stare off into space. "All that I do, all that I will do, has only been to make you happy."

And it was during this small exchange, during this seemingly innocent hour of peace, that a lone pair of glowing red eyes spied on the duo from the vents, as she recorded every little detail her purple hair could allow...

...

A/N: Yeah, not the best start to a chapter at this rate but like I said, bit choppy here. Weekends are usually a sore spot to write but it gets better over the week.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, follow, fave, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 38: Episode 10: The Beacon Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Another slow bit to a chapter with some rough edges, but I'm slowly coming around (I think).

I think my biggest issue at this moment is my overwhelming fear of episode 11, 1 because of how freaking depressing it is and knowing I'll have to watch it, and 2 because of any and all attempts I'm going to have to make to make the feels hurt as much as possible XP (I aint trying to make people sad on purpose, but let's face it- the best kind of fanfics are ones that make you feel something. So being able to match possibly one of the SADDEST CARTOON EPISODES EVER is going to be a challenge Xo...

That and my college finals eating up to my time, either or.

So with that said, enjoy!

...

"...I can feel you watching me." Glimmer said as she lied under Bright Moon's Rune Stone with her eyes closed.

"I am not." Bow replied, his eyes watery as he watched his friend in worry. He needed her to be okay, he prayed for her to be okay! So when he saw her opening her eyes knowingly, he gave a nervous smile as he backed away from her, sitting a few feet away to give her the space she might've needed to heal.

As for Catra, the magicat was currently leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, staring off into thought.

The morning had taken a serious toll on everybody since the morning sun had risen. Despite rescuing Glimmer and Bow from the Horde's clutches and retrieving the Sword of Protection, the reward did nothing to outweigh the loss of Entrapta's life. There was so much guilt and regret over the loss of their beloved comrade, the very one who used to make everyone smile with her quirky antics and helped those she could in their time of need. It was the beginning of all the terrible things to come thereafter.

How terrible could it get after losing one ally? For starters, there was the fact the Princess Alliance had disbanded. Entirely. Everyone was wracked with guilt and regret for the loss of Entrapta's life, everyone's consciousness weighing them down to the bottomless pits of despair. It didn't matter that Catra lashed out against everyone, thinking it was their fault at the time for not listening to her before. No one was innocent or guilty in the wake of Entrapta's death, something she knew even after attacking Mermista in anger.

All of the Princesses of Etheria, those who were with them and those who weren't, returned to their own separate kingdoms in response. They didn't hate each other for what happened, but they couldn't risk their lives while they had their own kingdoms to look out for. This was the very first mission that the Princess Alliance did as a whole, and it resulted in tragedy. Who's to say the next one two of them wouldn't die? Or three? Or all of them?! They couldn't risk leaving their kingdoms leaderless or defenseless, and withdrew from the Princess Alliance for good.

In the end, this left Catra with a fountain of guilt. She should've forced them to stay away from the Fright Zone, she shouldn't have been so eager to join them after reading Glimmer's stupid diary of all things! She knew how risky the challenge was and she still went out of her way with the rest in order to rescue the two people she now called friends, and this was the price she paid for it.

And it still wasn't the worst part of the mission. No, the worst part of the mission came to the very end of Catra's and Glimmer's escape, where they came across the one person Catra considered the closest of friends.

Adora.

The girl she had left behind, the friend who's had her back in the Hord even after she left. She was tired, stressed, exhausted of all she had to put up with and she still wanted to give Catra a chance to come home where she belonged. She offered her an ultimatum between choosing to flee with Glimmer without resistance, or to come back to the Horde with Adora, along with the promise she would get her sword back too. It wasn't a choice of which option she chose, it was a decision that would determine who Catra saw as her real friends.

The decision Catra made continued to sicken her to this very moment. She presented the three of them with a third option, one that betrayed the sanctity of trust Adora had for her, one that practically stabbed Adora through the heart. Feigning her friendship to the blonde Force Captain, she stole the sword right out of Adora's hand when her guard was down and took a mad dash down the exit with Glimmer in her hands. She used Adora to get both things she wanted, showed Adora how little she meant to her in that moment of choice.

She betrayed the very friend who's defended her since day in order to protect the injured Glimmer, and not a moment goes by where she doesn't regret it.

"Ah." Catra looked back as she heard Glimmer sigh with relief. The Princess of Bright Moon had a warm smile again as she leaned up from her floating altar, giving a big stretch of her arms as she recovered under the stone's magical gaze. "See, I told you. Just needed to re-"

*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt*

"Ahhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in pain as her body glowed with a deathly aura of red. The princess felt like she was being torn apart and pushed together simultaneously, crying out as she clutched her chest in agony until the effects finally wore off. "It didn't work!"

This was the third issue that came about after Glimmer's rescue.

After allowing herself to be captured in order to find Glimmer, Catra was tortured by Shadow Weaver's dark energy as she intended to turn her into a living doll, one that would obey her every word without question. Watching her friend cry out in pain, Glimmer summoned up the greatest amount of magic she could possibly muster, breaking free of her restraints as she teleported to her friend's side at the last second, and blasted the wicked witch away with her strongest blow. While it was one of the greatest rescue's Catra's ever experienced, it came at a cost.

"Work? I think it made things worse!" Bow stammered.

"Glimmer? Are you up there?" Catra looked over the side, letting out a small shriek as she saw Queen Angella coming across the bridge.

"Your mom is coming!" Catra announced.

"We can not let my mom see me like this!" The worried princess swatted away at the small glitching sparks that surrounded her.

Catra shook her head furiously. "Glimmer, we have to! She really needs to know!"

"What? No!" The princess panicked. "Catra, please, you can't let my mom find out about this!"

"I have to. She made me promise to tell her if there was something suspicious going on, and I think your glitching problem more than qualifies!" Catra replied, looking back as the queen started to fly up.

"But Catra, you can't!

"Why not?"

"Because... Because she'll want to know every detail then!" Glimmer quickly came up with. "I'll have to tell her every single detail about what happened, and that includes Adora!"

Catra looked crossed at the comeback. It didn't matter if she had no part in Glimmer's interrogation. If the queen found out that it was one of her beloved friends that did the torturing she might end up blaming Catra in part too, which is especially troublesome after how kind Angella has been to her since this morning. "I'm sorry, Pinky, but I don't have a choice. I need to tell her about this!"

"Tell me about what?" The queen asked as she flew in ahead of Catra.

"Your majesty, there's something really important you need to know." Catra took in a deep breath as she prepared her reveal and for any misgivings the Queen had for her after. "The-"

"Oh, say, Catra, before I forget, I was wondering if you were planning on joining us for dinner this evening." Angella asked curiously with a smile as she turned around to her.

"I-... Ehh what?" Catra's ears and expression dropped at the announcement. It's not like she hasn't eaten with the queen on a handful of occasions during breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but this was the first time she's ever inquired about Catra possibly eating with her this time. A part of it could be attributed to Catra's lack of manners and then some, not to mention the somewhat stale relationship she already had with the queen. "You... actually want me at dinner tonight?"

"Why, yes." The queen nodded clapping her hands together. "And Bow too, of course. I feel like I haven't been giving you a fair chance since we met, and after saving my daughter and her friend, I felt like this would be a good chance to get to know each other better. I'd also like to know what your preference is for dinner tonight, so I can make sure the chefs prepare everyone's favorites."

"You uh... you don't say..." And this was the final problem Catra found herself dealing with since this morning. Ever since she's returned with the queen's daughter, Angella has been the friendliest she's ever been with the girl. Hugging her upon her return, patting her head when she promised to tell her about anything suspicious. It almost felt like a dream to see her so nice to her, having gone an entire day without raising her voice once to the girl.

"That... uh... does sound pretty good..."

"Mh-hm." She nodded. "Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting you like that. Now what were you going to tell me again? About something important?"

"Uhh..." Taking a look passed Angella, she could see the worried looks and pleading hands of her two friends, begging her not to say anything. Noticing the perplexed look on her face, Angella turned around to see what was causing the uneasy look only to find Bow and Glimmer casually looking away from the conversation, minding their own business.

Catra's never felt so conflicted in her life as much as this moment. Getting on the queen's good side has always been a constant struggle for the magicat, and now she had a golden opportunity to take advantage of her kindness to try to warm up to the grateful Queen. On the other hand, if she did tell her then she would risk ruining whatever friendship she had with Glimmer and Bow in the first place, and she was in no position to start trying to make new friends after her fallout with Adora.

What choice did she have?

"That... um..." Switching between looking at the queen's smiling faces and the worried looks of her friends, Catra finally gave in. "That the... Princess Alliance had a bit of a falling out after we got back, because of what happened to Entrapta." Both her friends sighed silently in great relief at this. "They're um... They might not exactly be on the best terms with us at the moment."

Compared to all the other times Angella would question Catra at length in confusion and irritation, here the queen simply smiled as she patted her shoulder. "I'm sure all your friends and allies will return after they've had time to mourn Entrapta's... passing." It was beyond strange at that moment. For some reason, it almost scared Catra more to see her acting friendly and polite to her instead of bitter and off-putting like she used to be. "Now, as I was saying. Glimmer, are you feeling any better?"

"O-Of course- I mean jeez, mom, can't you give a girl some privacy when she's recharging?" Glimmer replied smiling nervously as Bow did. "Anyway, we were just leaving."

"Leaving? But I just got here-"

*thunk*

"...And why is Catra banging her head against the wall?" She asked upon finding the source of the strange pounding.

" 'ish is how I 'eal with 'eadaches in the 'orde." Catra muffled into the wall during the brief pause in reply.

"I... see... Well if you really have a headache, I do have some medicine for it." She offered.

"Trust me, not for one like this..." Catra groaned turning her head a little.

"Yup! See? She's perfectly fine!" Glimmer insisted grabbing Catra's shoulder. "Good talk mom! Gotta do it again sometime. Bye!" She sputtered, pulling her friend in a hurry as she and Bow ran from the room.

"Wait, Glimmer-!" Her mother tried to stop her, too little too late. She knew her daughter was still recovering emotionally and mentally from everything she's been through in the Horde,though she just wished she had a little bit more time to spend with just the two of them. "We didn't even get a chance to talk yet..."

...

"SHE WANTS YOU TO WHAT?!" Scorpia gasped in disbelief.

"SHHHHHH!" Adora shushed placing a finger to her mouth. "Not so loud!"

"But Adora, this is huge!" Scorpia fidgeted with her claws as she tried to calm down.

It was times like this where Adora was thankful that the hallways were usually so barren and empty. Away from any cameras they could come across save for the droids that patrolled this place, being somewhere the Horde guards usually didn't patrol too often. It was the perfect place to panic while pacing back and forth without raising too many eyebrows.

As Catra was dealing with her own dilemmas on the other side of the world, Adora was dealing with her own situation ever since Lord Hordak passed judgement on the girl for letting Catra get the sword back and aiding in their escape unintentionally. She had one week to provide Lord Hordak with something that could contribute to the Horde, anything that would be equal to or greater than the loss of the Princess of Bright Moon and the Sword of Protection, or she would face Lord Hordak's judgement.

Personally, it didn't matter to her if she met her end for her past mistakes or not. She regretfully trusted her friend to come through for her, to return to her side when Adora offered her the chance to come back to the Horde where she belonged. This single act, one she was tricked out of by losing the sword and the princess, may have very well cost them the entire war in general. If she lost her life as punishment or was imprisoned till the end of time, either punishment would've been appropriate to make up for what could eventually lead to the Horde's downfall.

And somehow it wasn't nearly as bad as Shadow Weaver's proposal following his sentence.

"You're talking about overthrowing Lord Hordak, the big guy himself!" Scorpia said much quieter.

"I know, I know, and I wouldn't even question telling him if it wasn't for the one who told me the idea." Adora rubbed her hands anxiously as she walked back and forth. "I can't turn in Shadow Weaver after all she's done for me, and I can't tell Lord Hordak about it or I risk losing the one of the last few people I have in my life!"

"But Hordak said you needed to find something better than the princess and the sword, right?" Scorpia reminded with a small smile. "If you tell him about how his second in command plans on betraying him, I'm sure that'll more than make up for it!"

"Ugh, Scorpia, you don't understand." She moaned. "Shadow Weaver has always been there in my life, ever since I could crawl. I can't betray her after everything she's done! Besides, even if I did do it and Hordak does forgive my past crime, that still leaves Catra in danger if the rules involving defectors remain in place. You know as well as I do what'll happen if she gets caught again."

"You mean the friend who turned her back on you and betrayed you?" The scorpion girl's face contorted with anger. "The very one who stole your sword away, who took advantage of you?" At this, Adora stopped her pacing as she stood in place. Scorpia could never understand how a friend like that could easily turn their back on their former associate like Catra did. Leaving her best friend all by herself, pretending she was still her friend in order to get everything she wanted, and then ditch her at the last second anyway. A part of her almost wished she was captured by this point for hurting her friend like this.

That was when she noticed a small tear forming in the corner of Adora's eyes, the girl holding herself as she thought about everything Scorpia said. It pained her a little to see her cheerful friend riddled with guilt and sadness, knowing there was almost no one else Adora could turn to. With a small smile, she gently pulled Adora in a little bit, giving her a small hug as she patted her back. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." She apologized.

"But it's true..." Adora sniffled a little.

"No it's not." Scorpia tried to assure in a positive attitude. "I'm sure there's a good reason for everything she did, you'll see. And hey, whatever you decide, I'll be right behind ya, okay?"

Adora wiped a bit of her tears away as she smiled up to her hulking friend. "Thanks Scorpia." She doesn't know what she would do with herself if she didn't have one more friend watching her back, being the last person she could trust in this world that was still in the Horde. She needed to tell someone about this secret before she exploded, and it was comforting to know she could truly trust in someone like Scorpia to be by her side.

"...Ugggh!" And to grumble about right after. "And now I have this to deal with!"

"What, you don't want me to help you?"

"No- well... yes, but...Mmmh." She scratched her head at the piling frustration building above her. "Now I really need to figure things out before it's too late. I don't want to risk you getting into trouble too."

"Hey, it's fine with me. I'm sure you'll come up with something great!"

"Yeah, but-"

*clack*

The two went silent as she noticed one of the droid bots enter the vicinity, staring passed the two as if they didn't exist. "But... that... thing," Adora redirected her choice of words in case the droid was spying on them, "is still a pretty big deal." She gestured with her head as the two began walking down the halls, hearing the droid following from behind.

"Well, I'm sure that... it will be okay in the end." The other Force Captain continued to remain optimistic. "With the two of us working together, I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Yeah but I don't even know what that something is!" She grumbled again scratching at her itchy head. "I can't do that to them, I can't turn in *that person*, and I don't want you to get involved if things get worse! Ugh, this day has been so annoying!" With a growl Adora released all of her pent up anger as she kicked the nearby large pipe that they were walking alongside.

*thud*

"Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Scorpia ran around her, checking on her foot. She noticed Adora's vacant and confused expression as she stared at the pipe itself.

"Scorpia, that... that wasn't me..." Adora whispered, slowly walking over to the pipe. Placing her ear over it, she lightly tapped around the large metal vent, checking for something.

*thud-thud*

"Um are you trying to make some music or some-"

"Shh!" Adora kept her ear to the pipe as she continued to knock against it.

*thud-thud*

*Clunk*

That was it! Edging closely to the pipe's ventilation hatch, she carefully inched towards it, trying to remain as silent as possible while also staying out of the line of sight the inside of the hatch had to offer. She noticed how the droid itself seemed to be trailing her movements, something it had yet to do until she started examining the pipe itself.

Brushing her leg against the pipe, Adora stood firmly right on the side of the hatch as she gestured her fingers Scorpia, counting down from three as she told her to prepare. Nodding in return, the scorpion carefully made her way over to her, waiting until Adora prepared to do whatever it was she was doing.

"3... 2... 1... NOW!" With a yell, Adora hastily threw the hatch of the door open, both her and Scorpia preparing themselves for whatever monstrous invader rolled itself out of the vent. Their looks of aggression and defensiveness flipped immediately once they saw the face of the perky princess that tumbled out of the pipes, shaking her head of the small daze she had before looking back to her two verily confused captors who found her.

All Entrapta could do was offer a sincere smile to the two as she waved to the both of them, using the magical hair she was blessed with. "Hiya!"

...

"Maybe it's like a cold!" Glimmer guessed as she and Bow tidied up the room. She needed to come up with whatever explanation she could to keep everyone else from panicking about their situation, specifically Catra who was still torn between keeping Glimmer's secret quiet and telling the queen the bad news while she still liked her as much as she did. "I've never been sick before. Having an immortal mother has some advantages."

"You're mom's actually immortal immortal?" Catra was amazed by the statement. "I thought that was just a title she took because it sounds good? Which raises the question, why hasn't your mother charged head first into the Horde if she's immortal? I'm pretty sure she could wipe out the entire army by herself in that case."

"She's not invulnerable, Catra, she's immortal." She remarked. "I'm pretty sure she needs a head to survive and I wouldn't see her getting very far breathing underwater without magic. Even if she was, that still risks her being captured you know."

"Point taken." Catra shrugged back.

"Now for a follow up question... what do you do when you're sick, Catra?"

"Run and hide until we're not sick anymore." She watched as Glimmer and Bow eyed each other in confusion over this. "What? Shadow Weaver had an annoying policy over it. You take care of yourself or you were punished for getting sick in the first place. Not to mention the rest of the Horde looking down on it." A little bit of anger built up as she saw her reflection in the glass of the sprout-looking lamp hanging next to her.

"Okay, well, let's approach this like a cold. Now let's see..." Bow rubbed his chin in thought. "Um... Lots of liquid and, uh... rest. Huh! I'll make soup!"

"Great, and I'll nap!" Glimmer added cheerfully. "I bet when I wake up I'll be as good as new! I just gotta let this thing run its course." Catra couldn't tell if it was enlightening to see their misplaced optimism or depressing. The only thing she felt out of the entire situation was annoyance. "...Ugh, why did I have to make my bed so high?" She groaned. She would have to make a mental note to herself to get a very tall ladder or a regular bed after all of this was over. "Give me a boost?"

Nodding over to her, Bow helped Glimmer onto his own shoulders as she tried to stand, hoping to get enough height in order to reach her bed from there. At the same time, Catra looked over her, brooding over everything that's happened because of this hunk of junk, and all the problems that ensued after touching it for the first time.

She defected from the Horde, praised as a hero and into loathed as a person in a village, almost drowned because of the unexplained visions of her memories that pop up at random periods of time, went on a feral rampage of confusion by a virus infecting her sword, almost brought the entire downfall of Mystacor itself after being possessed by Shadow Weaver's magic, ruined any chance of a relationship she had at the Princess Prom with Princess Frosta, went on a rescue mission to save Glimmer and Bow that resulted in losing Entrapta, and finally, possibly brought about the end of the much-needed Princess Alliance all by herself.

And she still couldn't get this stupid sword to work!

*crash*

Twitching her ears at the fourth attempt the two took to get Glimmer onto her bed, she sighed. "Okay, seriously, you guys. You can't let this thing run through its course." Catra said helping Glimmer to her feet. "It's getting worse, your mom's eventually going to find out, and I guarantee she'll be angrier at me because I didn't tell her."

"I'm not getting worse, Catra-!"

*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt*

"Ahhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out as she doubled over in pain. As if to prove Catra's point, her entire body lit again with the painful red aura, lasting an additional second longer than before. "Huff... Okay, maybe a little."

"Look, Glimmer, you got sick because of whatever dark magic Shadow Weaver made with the Black Garnet. What you need is magic to break magic, and your mom's the best chance you have of that."

"But Catra-"

"No, Glimmer. Your mom's already suspicious enough as it is. If you're that scared, I'll go tell her myself." Catra offered as she walked over to the door. "She's trusting me to let her know, anyway."

"No, please! I..." Glimmer started to panic as she chewed on her thumbnail nervously. She couldn't afford to have her mom find out about all of this, not with all that's happened! Her mom worries about her enough during her missions to practically ground her for weeks to months on end if she helps someone in their time of need. Here, she'd risk her mother never letting her leave her bedroom again until the war was over she would be so much in panic! "I... W-Wait! Wait!" Glimmer rushed over to the door, slamming it shut right as Catra propped it open.

"What now?"

"Y-You said magic is needed to fix it, right?"

"Yeah...?" Catra raised her brow with suspicion.

"Then why don't we have She-Ra help us instead!"

"...You're kidding, right?" This was either the greatest joke Glimmer's ever told her or the dumbest thing she's ever heard in her life.

"No, seriously! Remember? She healed the Heart's Blossom in Plumeria!"

"Err... No she didn't. She stopped the machine from sucking out its energy." Bow reminded.

"Ok, well... she fixed the Sea Gate!"

"She repaired it's engine, Glimmer. And you're not a machine, you're a person."

"Bow, stay out of this!" She yelped.

"But he's right, Glimmer!" Catra took the archer's side without question. "I can't even get this stupid sword to transform me over half the time when I call on it. What makes you think it'll do so much as that this time?

"Uh... well... maybe it just needed a good recharge!" She proposed. "Think about it. You've never transformed into She-Ra more than once a day, right?"

"Yeeeah...?"

"So, maybe it'll work now! You haven't tried it since we went to Salineas, right?" Blinking at the curious suggestion, Catra took out her sword from it's sheath again, examining blade from the hilt to its blade with wonder.

This thing never worked whenever she needed it to. It didn't work in Salineas when she wanted to prove to her friend she was telling the truth, it didn't come back after she revealed herself to the kingdom of Plumeria, and it took her several dozen tries in one day to get it to work once when she first arrived at Bright Moon. The chances of it working now weren't just slim, they were astronomically small.

Then again, maybe that really was the key to using it's power? Like the princesses needing their own rune stones, maybe this thing really did have some sort of cool down period? It wouldn't hurt to try at least and if it didn't work, she could always go to plan B. "If this doesn't work, you have to promise me we'll tell your mother right away. Deal?"

"Deal!" Glimmer agreed with a nervous smile crossing her fingers looking hopeful. In reality, she was shouting in her mind that this worked now more than ever, crossing her fingers in doubt as she prepared to run away first thing if this sword didn't transform Catra into She-Ra again.

Taking a deep breath as the two backed away from her, Catra called out, "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

All around her lights of a dazzling displayed danced across the scenery as her entire body shimmered with a sparkling glow, save for her eyes that remained pure light. With the humming of her sword, she brought the sword to her face along with her illuminated hand, crossing them side by side until they formed an X in front of her.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

The room continued to fill with a brilliant white light until her transformation was complete, leaving her viewers to stare off in wonder, and Glimmer with relief, at the success in transformation. Seeing herself donning the outfit of the mighty She-Ra once more, Catra let out a small gasp, looking over herself entirely with disbelief like she had done the first time she had donned the outfit.

"I-It worked!" She was still in shock as she continued.

"You did it!" Bow cheered with the raise of his fist.

"Oh, thank goodne- ehh I mean, I knew you could!" Glimmer smiled, feeling an immense pool relief washing over herself at that very moment.

Personally, Catra was stunned and slightly disappointed. This was actually the very first time she wished she didn't get the sword to work so she could tell the Queen right away about Glimmer's predicament. At the same time, a part of her was ecstatic that it actually worked after the last several straight months she went through of not using it. After all this time of never using the sword, unable to comprehend how to get this strange creation of the First Ones' to work, it finally threw her a bone as it transformed her once again.

"...Ok, this so does not count." Catra stated, still wishing she could've told Glimmer's mother instead.

"Nope! A deal's a deal!" Glimmer replied proudly, grabbing Catra's hand as they marched down the hallways. "You transform into She-Ra, then we try my idea for awhile. No ifs, and, or buts." With the princess's mind made up, Catra reluctantly allowed her to pull her across the halls, continuing to mope to herself about her present situation as Bow followed behind.

If things worked out, she could eventually heal and save Glimmer's life, possibly winning more points towards her mother being forever nicer to the young She-Ra. If not, she would have to tell her immediately about Glimmer's situation and hope she doesn't get angry about Catra not warning her sooner.

And at worse, they completely fail and Glimmer either ends up exploding from whatever the glitching issue is doing to her, or Catra ends up blowing her up herself by accident and then explaining to her mother why Glimmer is currently in twenty little pieces.

And strangely the latter somehow seemed less likely to leave Catra with an angry mother to deal with to her...

...

*munch*

"Mmh!" Entrapta squealed in delight as she continued to feast. "Oh, 'eah, dish ish 'ood!" She complimented through her full mouth, eating bite after bite of the delicious food brought into this room. It was amazing how much better food tasted when you went over a day without eating anything, save for any scraps and crumbs you could find within the ventilation shafts.

...Well hopefully they were crumbs.

*shoom*

It was at the sound of the door opening up that she greeted the return of her two favorite, and only, captors, having returned to the interrogation room after the last half-hour of solitude. "Oh hey, it's you guys!" Entrapta beamed as she grabbed a large plate of ham that was still roasting on the table with her hair, stretching it over to the two who brought her here in the first place. "Either of you care for a bite?"

"Ooh!" Scorpia squeaked, smelling the delicious scent of freshly roasted ham. Taking a brief look to the friend in front of her, Adora gave her a small nod with a smile, assuring her it was okay. "If you insist!" The Force Captain cheerfully accepted as she grabbed the entire plate, loading the roasted ham by it's bone as she dug right in walking into the room. Mentally rolling her eyes playfully at the girl's antics, Adora made her way over to the table itself, sitting in the chair across from Entrapta with a curious look in her eye.

"So, Prisoner-" "Adora began as she leaned her arms on the table.

"Entrapta!" Scorpia corrected, still eating the ham.

"They're the same pers- never mind." Adora shook the thought out of her head. "Anyway, Entrapta, Lord Hordak as tasked me with your... interrogation, to put it gently."

"I'll say!" The purple-haired princess wiped her lips delicately with a napkin held in her hair. "You guys really know how to treat your enemies!" That went without question. After all, ever since she was captured by the insidious Horde, at least with these two, they've been nothing but nice to her! They brought her to a cozier room than those prisons she's seen, they didn't bother to lock her in the restraints when they made her promise to stay here, and not ten minutes after did she find a handful of guards suddenly bringing in a buffet of food for the starving scientist.

This place was awesome!

"Heh, well, the way I see it, I don't think we have to be enemies." There was a small, saddened, look on the blond's face. "I just want to ask you some questions first, if you don't mind."

"Hey, go ahead, I'm not going anywhere!" She replied, happily digging into another serving of food. Adora looked over to her friend, finding it rather surprising that a princess, one that recently broke into the Fright Zone to rescue two prisoners, was being so cooperative.

"Okay then. First thing I want to know; what were you doing in the vents when we found you?"

"Oh, I was just waiting for my friends!" She answered happily. The lack of hesitation or pause was enough to convince Adora she was telling the truth. "They had a lot of trouble trying to find me the first time around, so I thought, you know, they'd have an easier time if I waited in one spot."

"You were abandoned by your friends?"

"What? Oh no, no, not at all!" Entrapta chuckled at the notion with the wave of her twin-tails. "I'm sure they'll be here any minute now to rescue me, just like they did with Glimmer and Bow."

"That's what I used to think." The interrogator plucked a single grape from a fruit bowl, squeezing it softly in her hands. "I thought Catra was someone I could trust, someone who would come back for me as soon as they disappeared."

*squish!*

"And she's never shown the least bit of interest in getting me back." There was a strong silence in the air as Adora wiped her hand of the squished leftover.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. But she's been really nice to me though!" Entrapta listed off all the good times she's had with the magicat. "She's always been funny with her nicknames like calling me a geek and a weirdo, or threatening to claw my hair out if I touch her again, and..." A small decline started to form over Entrapta's smile. "The way she hates my inventions and robots I keep making for the Rebellion... Keeps shoving me away if I get too close to her..." Scorpia was a little disheartened to hear this as she returned to the table, her ham chewed down to the bone.

"And the way they abandoned you after she got her own friends back."

"They're coming... Ooh!" The scientist's despair instantly brightened as she grabbed Scorpia's tail in her hair. "Your tail secretes some paralyzing agent, right? Mind if I study a sample of it? I'm still trying to figure out how you intoxicated Mermista at the Prom."

"Hey," Scorpia yelped pulling away her tail, "you can't touch a woman's tail without asking! And I didn't mean to intoxicate her at the party, I was surprised as you were when it happened."

"Hmm... it must've been a combination then of the Kelp Juice she had and the other substances she consumed before you stung her." As Adora walked around the table, Entrapta began detailing her theories into the small tape recorder she smuggled in with her hair, donning her red-eyed mask. "Possible breakthrough in case 1-I.M., Data Record 1-0-3. Apparently the paralyzing agent might not have been the entire cause of Mermista's intoxication at the ball. Will have to experiment for further analysis after my friends come back to rescue me."

"Entrapta..." Adora shook her head as she sat against the table, looking apologetic to the tragic scientist. "They're not coming back for you. I don't think they ever cared for you to begin with."

"Of course they do!" The Princess's optimism began to wane as she defended herself. "They'll be breaking down those doors any second now and then we'll all go home!"

"Are you sure about that? Are you sure they even care enough to come back for you?" Adora stroked a portion of her hair softly, still glum about her own experience with Catra. "Do you see the Rebellion willing to risk their lives to save one princess alone?"

"Well... statistically speaking, they would stand to lose more if- I mean yes, of course they will! After all, they... they're my friends..."

"Then where are they? Glimmer and Bow weren't here for more than a day and they came back for them. How long have you been here for?" It was hard to tell what was going on through Entrapta's mind as Adora stared at her mask. Unlike Shadow Weaver's there weren't any slits or openings through it to let them see her face. All Adora had to go by was the small silence in that moment, waiting and watching for any sort of response.

"..."

*click*

"Fright Zone log, hour 45. Still no sign of my... friends. By the first hour in the previous rescue, we were already infiltrating the prison block... two-thirds into our last mission." Adora picked up on the small sniffle the scientist let out. "They... they always said we had each others' backs, that... That we were a team. A-Assuming they knew I was still hiding, they should've picked me up... seventeen hours and forty-two minutes ago..."

*sniff*

"Entrapta-"

"A-And now I'm being interrogated because they... they consider the risk outweighs the reward... outweighs my life... a-and now I'm... Now there's a thirty-two percent chance I'll b-be tortured if they don't res...rescue me-"

"No, no!" Adora offered a soft smile as she flipped Entrapta's mask, seeing the tear-stricken face of the mad scientist. "Entrapta, we're not going to do anything to you. We want to be your allies, your friends." She helped remove the small trail of tears from Entrapta's face with her sleeve. "Do you know how helpful you would be if you were to join us? The Horde needs people like you, people we can trust!" Shifting her eyes away, she saw Scorpia standing opposite of her, giving her a comforting smile with a nod.

"...You just want my inventions." She accused, wiping her other eye with her hair.

"We want your help. The Horde accepts all forms of allies, I mean look at us. Scorpia has a stinger and claws, I have a headband that lets me control shadows, we don't care about past alliances or enemies. We all stand united in the Horde. We care for each other, and we wouldn't let an ally fall into the wrong hands, no matter how much we feel about them."

"...Hmm..." It was a rather tempting offer by this point in the conversation. "Catra did say there were a couple times you came back for her... and not the other way around... And I've made more progress on my work in secrets here than I did in my entire life out there. The Horde technology gives me so much more to play and work with."

"Yeah!" The other Princess nodded with enthusiasm. "You wouldn't have to worry about working alone either if you didn't want to. You could be working alongside our science division. Running the science division!"

"Hmm I usually prefer to work alone on my projects. I mean Emily's the most advanced bot I've ever built!"

"Er... Who's Emily?" Adora asked.

"Oh, where are my manners! I'll introduce you!" The once downtrodden scientist instantly filled with excitement and glee as she stood on her feet, clapping her hands. "Emily, here girl!"

*rrrrrrr*

"Uhh what is-"

"GET DOWN!" Without any warning, Adora found herself tackled to the ground, narrowly avoiding the massive laser that blasted at her through the all. "I gotcha, I gotcha, I gotcha!" Scorpia repeated endlessly. As she tried to squeeze out of Scorpia's hold, Adora watched as the three-legged bot made its way across the room until it was standing right next to Entrapta's cheery side like a trained animal.

Rising from the ground, the two stared in awe at the massive hole melted into the wall, nearly half their size in radius, along with the other three walls the robot blasted through. This wasn't just a technological marvel, this was an amazing display of a scientific genius! A genius named Entrapta as she petted her companion like a dog.

"Wow... Hey, Entrapta, do you mind waiting here for a bit while we talk?" Adora requested. With a nod from the potential new ally they've created, Scorpia followed Adora behind as they exited through the doorway, one that didn't seem to matter given the new exit Entrapta *built* with Emily's help, and locking the door behind them.

"Way to go, Adora!" Scorpia congratulated, roughly patting her on the back.

*thunk*

"Ow."

"I think she totally bought your performance."

"Performance?"

"Yeah, she thinks you really meant all that! I mean, I might've found it a little harsh to lie like that, but I'm sure it'll be enough to impress Hordak and get you off the hook!"

"Scorpia, I didn't lie about any of that." She took a moment to open the hatch to the interrogation room, watching as Entrapta continued to play around with Emily like a child, wiping any dust it collected with the cloths she had at the table. "I know what Entrapta's going through right now, being abandoned like that by her own friends. She's in a lot of pain right now and she didn't even realize it until now."

"Oh... Well either way it was nice of you. I still can't wait to see Hordak's face when you turn her in."

"I don't plan on turning her in, Scorpia." Adora replied, turning her back and leaning against the doorway. "She's only one princess. I need to make up for losing one princess, one soldier, AND the sword. All those things alone isn't going to clear my crime, I need something as big as all three."

"Oh yeah. Well maybe Entrapta can build you something big enough to impress him then?" She suggested, smiling back as she watched Entrapta and Emily play. "She made a bot out of whatever she found lying around, right? She's gotta be able to create something good."

"And then let her think I abandoned her after? I really do want to make friends with her, Scorpia, and I do mean it." Adora's face hardened without her knowing it.

She officially hated people that abandoned others. She never wanted anyone to feel that sort of pain again until she figured out what to do with Catra and where she was in her life. With a new princess possibly on their side they were one more victory towards the war efforts and one step closer to pleasing Lord Hordak and escaping his judgement.

She wasn't going to use people just for her own benefit either. She was going to make her allies, make her friends, ask them for help, and assist them to the best of her abilities. She wasn't going to abandon them like Catra, judge them like the Horde, and she wasn't about to manipulate them for her own personal gain.

Like Shadow Weaver..

...

A/N: You know two things that always bothered me about this show (the 2nd being this episode specifically)? 1, you can never tell how much time has passed in the show XP I mean it, especially in here it's relevant when, according to Entrapta, it's been nearly 2 days since they all left, yet I'm pretty sure it's only been one morning in Bright Moon since the crew returned. At least there it's easier to imagine it took a day bringing everyone back on the skiff I guess but even then like when they're traveling to distant locations, you can never tell how much time has passed.

The only logical idea i can come up with is that it's weeks inbetween since the missions/adventures they go on are most likely the result of the Alliance Meetings held every week.

The 2nd issue i have with this particular episode is also something I find kinda off-putting, only about this episode alone: does anyone else think everyone got over Entrapta's passing a little too quickly? I Mean up till now Adora has shown having some grievance with the sword still and not being able to unlock it's full potential (and it probably has been over a day) but still. If I found out my friend died I'm pretty sure I'd still be mourning over a full week.

Then again, considering they're in a war and they acknowledged they've already lost people, I guess that gives them a pass?

Oh well, show is still pretty awesome ^^. Anyway, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 39: Episode 10: The Beacon Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: I think I can summarize this episode as my least favorite episode of the first 13. Not that it's genuine bad or anything, but honestly when it gets down to it, it's literally a whole lot of walking and talking. Which I don't have a problem with either (especially since my fic's been nothing but that half the time since I have a lot of separate chapters per episode XP), but because of that it's kinda hard to find a good spot to leave a potential ending/cliffhangar on XP.

Anyway, enjoy!

...

"Ha!"

*swiff*

"Grrr!"

*swiff*

"Haha!" Catra cheered as she swung her sword again for nearly the hundredth time.

It was a rather momentous occasion for the young magicat, and why wouldn't it be? After the last several weeks to months since her last transformation in Salineas, the infamous She-Ra, the one Catra could never get transformed into, was finally back! She was the amazing and hopeful symbol of the Rebellion again after all of this time!

Sure, she didn't bother trying to transform after her last attempts. Having met Adora at the edge of Salenias, she tried to transform. She tried so hard to return to the heroic figure when she needed it most, when she needed to show Adora that she was telling her the truth about everything she said. Yet, no matter how much she tried, no matter how many times she repeated the sacred phrase, she could never transform. The form never came to her and she lost the only chance she had to bring Adora over to their side.

Since that day, she's refrained from ever using the sword's power, save for a natural weapon that could cut into things. It was barely any better than her claws at this point, except she didn't need to worry about breaking it against most of the stuff she struck against, and it was the second closest thing she had to proof that she was, indeed, She-Ra. Regardless of whatever spite she had for the stupid blade that never answered her call, carrying it alone proved to have its advantages.

She almost forgot how good it felt when she transformed into She-Ra too! Whenever she donned the incredible form her state of being improved in a variety of ways! She could run faster, lift objects almost five times greater than what she currently could, and jumping around had never been so much fun! With her already-heightened agility giving her a greater boost than most people, she could leap a good ten to twenty feet in the air!

Considering all she's had to put up with up to this point, she found it all the more reasonable that this sword should gift her with amazing abilities as such.

"Okay, we've seen you swing around the sword for the last ten minutes." Glimmer said, continuing to stand in the same spot patiently for awhile now.. "Any chance you could get on to the healing?"

"Uh...Yeah, of course." Catra's reply didn't come without a nervous tone behind it.

Outside of her incredible might, she's heard of the many whimsical and fantastical tales of what She-Ra's been able to do. From staring down the mighty Whiteback with her sheer strength of will, to healing the environment with the stroke of her hand, She-Ra was renowned for preforming miracles across the world over!

Which is extremely unfortunate for Catra's case because, outside of the few times she's managed to transform it into a shield, thanks to the events of Mystacor at that, she hasn't been able to preform any of said feats! She hasn't even mastered transforming into She-Ra yet, what were her chances of preforming some sort of miracle to heal Glimmer on her first try?

"I just got to um..." Catra examined the sword from every angle, tapping on the jewel embedded in the center of the hilt. "Maybe... it's... voice activated." Raising the sword flatly against the top of Glimmer's head, she gave it a soft tap as she tried to get it to work. "Heal! ...Uh... Restore! ...Maybe I have to use the edge instead?"

"Heh, uhhh who's ready to stop messing around with sharp objects?" Bow chuckled nervously as he sat at bench near the window. It might be crazy to some people, but for some reason, he was having a nervous panic attack at the idea of hitting Glimmer with anything as sharp as a sword. "Hey, look, I am!" He announced raising his hand.

"Maybe if you point it at me?" Glimmer suggested.

"Or, unpopular opinion," Bow added, running between the friends, "we don't point the dangerous sword Catra doesn't know how to work yet?"

"It's fine, relax." Catra grinned, easily brushing off Bow's nervousness. "For all we know, anything I try isn't going to work."

"Annnnd for all we know, you could end up blasting a perfectly symmetrical hole into our dear friend's stomach?"

"Maybe it's like a motion." Glimmer guessed with a shrug. "Like a jabbing motion? Or a strike?"

"Like a stab!"

"Yeah!"

"Do you want to get hit with a sword?!" The archer stammered, having the only bit of common sense around here.

"Would you relax already?I told you I got this!" Catra assured confidently.

"You also said you wouldn't be able to transform a minute ago."

"Yeah, well... S-Shut up!" Catra's vein twitched with annoyance. "I just need to focus entirely on healing, that's all." With that frame of mind, Catra focused her breathing as she raised the sword above Glimmer's head. "Ok, just concentrate... Concentrate... Concentrate..." Catra muttered to herself.

"Am I the only one who cares about sword safety around here?" Bow asked covering his hand over his eyes, opening his fingertips to grab a nervous peek.

"Shhh!" She-Ra shushed, maintaining her stance. "Okay, come on... concentrate..." She truly had no idea what she was doing at this point. As much as she didn't want to agree with him, Bow was right. She barely had a clue on how to get this sword to work when she wanted, and she's never preformed a magnificent feat such as this. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes again as she prepared for whatever miracle was about to be preformed.

Come ooon... heeeal... There was any number of ways this could've turned out.

It could end up the way Glimmer prayed for at this point in which she was fully healed, nobody got hurt, and her mother would never have to find out in time for the dinner she had planned tonight. It could also end up the way Catra wanted in which she preformed whatever miracle she could and it meant she could do anything with the sword once she preformed this simple healing magic. And it could possibly end up the way Bow expected in which he'd have one less friend, another one in jail forever, and he would get executed for no apparent reason.

He'd much rather stick with either of the two others in the room than his own.

As she concentrated, Glimmer started to notice a faint blue glow emanating from the sword, one that caused her to speak out in excitement. "It's working!"

"Huh?" Catra popped one eye opened, trying to maintain her concentration while looking at the blade itself. Much to her surprise, as Glimmer had stated, the sword was indeed glowing, giving off a vibrant sky-colored blue as it sparked with energy. "Hey, it is!"

"Yup! Told ya you could do it." Glimmer nodded with enthusiasm. "I'm pretty sure I feel something-"

*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt*

"Ahhhhhhhh!" It was with the cry of agony that everyone finally realized what that something was. It wasn't a miracle being preformed or a magical spell of healing washing over her. It was an aura of pain and misery, a red aura that swept across the Princess of Bright Moon without mercy. The princess's experience with this aura of dark energy continued to torment her with an increasingly painful detail each and every time these flashes of pain were brought up. A part of her wondered if she would've been dead by now if she wasn't half-immortal like her mother.

Collapsing onto the cushion behind her, Glimmer gasped for breath when the aura finally dissipated, leaving a worn out face on the princess and a worried look shared with her close friend, Bow. At the same time, it left a look of defeat, uncertainty, and disappointment on the one known as Catra, who almost looked sickened with regret.

"It... It didn't work..."

...

*clunk*

"Phew." Adora sighed in relief, wiping the last drain of sweat from her forehead as she backed up.

*rrrrrrrrrt*

Adora watched as the bot's laser fired in-between the crevices of the last stone block she placed, ceiling the wall in place at long last. It was nice knowing they had a bot to help them with repairs, even if it was the same bot who ripped a hole in the wall to begin with.

"So... sorry again about the wall." Entrapta apologized, scratching the back of her head with her own hair. Adora gave her a natural smile at this all the same.

"Hey, don't worry about it." She replied.

Twenty minutes ago might've been a grand, momentous, occasion for the Horde, as well as one of the most stressful mornings in Adora's life leading to it. The girl was in an emotional wreck after everything that's happened between the Princess's escape and Catra reclaiming her sword. Out of her contributions to the Horde and her efforts, Lord Hordak decided to take leniency on the girl for allowing them to escape and gave her one week to contribute something as good or greater than what she lost.

Almost immediately after that she was given a sly suggestion from Shadow Weaver how if someone were to replace Hordak that nobody would have anything to worry about, and Adora could spare Catra's life given the policy regarding defectors and traitors within the Horde. She didn't have much care for her own life if her actions lead to the downfall of the Horde itself, but there was still a geyser of care that the Force Captain had for Catra herself.

Naturally, it also left her with an overwhelming sense of worry and fear, finding herself stuck between two situations that she had to tell Scorpia about. It didn't matter to Scorpia what she picked, knowing Adora's good-nature heart, as she promised to stick by her side whichever path she decided to go with.

That was when they happened upon a purple-haired scientist, the Princess of Dryl, known as Entrapta.

They were relatively surprised to find her in the vents of all places. As opposed to anyone else who would've locked her up immediately or interrogated her harshly, Adora took sincere pity on the girl. To her, she found Entrapta to be another victim of circumstance, seeing how Entrapta was left behind by her allies who came here to rescue Glimmer and Bow in the first place.

She also saw the potential she had to offer to the Horde with her scientific ingenuity and her technical capabilities, such as the bot she named Emily, who was capable of blasting a three foot hole into the walls of the interrogation room. Even if she didn't want to join the Horde, she couldn't let Entrapta be harmed by her fellow allies, knowing what she was going through after being abandoned by the people she thought were her friends.

Fortunately, convincing her to join their side didn't seem that much of a stress either since she was infatuated by the Horde's technologies and sciences she's seen since coming to the Fright Zone. To her, it was like a toy factory, finding each and every little thing to be an absolute dream to play with.

"You're not mad?" Entrapta was rather surprised by the lack of anger emanating from the girl.

"I already told you no one's going to judge you on your faults around here." That was Adora's philosophy with the Horde and the one she was sticking to. "Honestly, I'm actually amazed. You built an entire bot on your own while living in the vents for the past two days!" Adora squatted in front of the robot as she examined it's sensors, patting the bot like Entrapta had done earlier.

"Sure did! Not only that, but she's better than ever!"

"I'll say." Scorpia tested the durability as she tapped the last stone block placed before leaning against it. "I don't think we've had anyone whose managed to make a hole in the wall of this size before."

*crash!*

The hole in the wall that was repaired came tumbling down soon after as Scorpia accidentally pushed right through it, coating the room with a small bit of dust and debris that the other two girls shielded their eyes from. When it finally settled, they saw the aftermath of Scorpia's accident as half the wall was in pieces again, the girl slowly pulling herself out of the rubble a little sore from the debris. "...I can fix that."

"Not only is she stronger, she also has increased weapons capabilities and she's affectionate, too." Entrapta added, patting the bot's head again which gave off a joyful hum. "Who knows how much more powerful she could be if I just had access to the First Ones' tech. I don't suppose you have any here, do you?"

"The... First Ones?" Adora rubbed her chin at the question.

"The First Ones! You know, advanced technology left behind by a lost civilization? Makes modern innovations look like children's toys? I've been attempting to integrate First Ones tech into my experiments for years, but my understanding of their code is still rudimentary." The scientist explained as she pulled out a data pad. Her hair hastily clicked away at the research and details of everything she's found and how little of it. "If I could just find the key to their language, there's no telling what I could build!"

"You mean... if you found something like that you could make machines more powerful than this?"

"Are you kidding?! Such a find could yield almost unlimited power!" Entrapta squealed, shaking Adora by her shoulders with excitement.

So if I could find something to bring back to her... I could atone to Lord Hordak for what I've done, and I wouldn't have to think of overthrowing him! Adora already had a dozen thoughts forming in the edges of her mind, thinking of the possibilities this could mean.

"Do you know where I can find any of this First Ones' tech?"

"It's buried all over the planet." Entrapta replied as Scorpia continued trying to repair the stacks of blocks she knocked over. Despite her best efforts, she was having trouble trying to reinsert the blocks in the same fashion as Adora did, the smoothed edges making it harder to stay in place. "It gives off a signal that can be traced. Lately, I've been tracking the strongest signal I've ever seen. It must be a massive stash!"

"Where?

*rumble*

The two were caught by the sound of the blocks coming apart again, looking back to see a struggling Scorpia trying to grab the many pieces that started to fall again. "Huh..." After failing to catch five out of the seven blocks she could, she quickly decided to back herself up to the wall as a means to hide it, hoping nobody else would notice.

"...Anyway, Entrapta," Adora continued, "if I found any of this stuff, do you think you'd be willing to help the Horde then?"

"Are you kidding? I'd be eternally grateful!" She was a scientist above all else after all! How could she possibly pass up the hundreds upon hundreds of inventions she could make if she ended up with a single piece of First Ones' technology?!

Without hesitation, the scientist quickly plucked out another data pad from her hair, calculating and inputting the various codes and details one would need with finding the First Ones' tech. "I've triangulated the signal to somewhere in the Whispering Woods. The whole shifting landscape thing makes for complicated variables, but I've created a map that's accurate within two quadrants."

"And where would I go to find this map?" Adora was trying to contain her own excitement, trying not to seem overeager for what could potentially be a treasure trove of resources.

"Right in front of you!" Entrapta revealed, handing over the fully functional data pad she spent three seconds processing. "Like any good scientist, I carry everything I need on my person." Thankfully for her, the data pad was already prepped and ready for Adora's use as it displayed a map with the First Ones' energy signature coming off of it. She grinned to herself as she walked around the room a bit, getting a feel for how the data pad tracked the energy's signature.

"This is amazing... We could save so many lives with this technology! We could defend ourselves better with this kind of stuff!" It brightened Entrapta's mood to see Adora's ideals with the technology. As an old saying goes that she once heard, a weapon doesn't have to be meant to take lives- it can also be used to save them.

And technology was no exception to this rule!

Finally having a feel for the data pad, she made her way over to her friend as she continued her numerous failed attempts at rebuilding the wall. "Scorpia, this could be it!" She whispered softly. "I could give Hordak more than he ever asked for with this stuff! I might even get a free pass if I messed anything else up in the future!"

"Oh boy!" Scorpia chirped, rubbing her eager claws with excitement. "He'll be so happy, I bet he'll even promote you to... to..." Pausing, she poked her chin as she tried to think. "What comes up Force Captain?"

"I don't know, but that could work too!" Adora realized, thankful for Scorpia's additional comment. "If he promoted me to a rank as high as Shadow Weaver's, I wouldn't have to betray Hordak, I wouldn't be forced to obey Shadow Weaver's orders to do it, and Hordak would never have to know! It's perfect!"

"I hope it's perfect!" Entrapta said, poking her head into the conversation. "I wanna build something biiiiiiiiig!" The girl's excitement was evident by the large stretch of hair she exaggerated with, her face beaming with joy and wonder.

"And you'll get to." Adora nodded assuring. "Scorpia, why don't you keep Entrapta some company while you get the..." Adora checked the status of the crumbling wall, watching as another stone slid out after a few seconds of waiting. "...wall... repaired. I'll check out this First Ones' stuff."

"Are you sure you don't want some help?" There was an ounce of concern in her voice as she asked. "It might be dangerous."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I got my headband, remember? Besides, I think I need to do it alone, anyway. If I got anyone else involved, I might only get half the credit for this." That was the one underlying concern Adora did have throughout all of this.

Exactly to what extend did she have to provide a significant contribution to the Horde, and how much credit would she get if she did it by herself or not? With this in mind, she decided to go about it on her own, waving to the two as she set out to make preparations for her journey, leaving Entrapta and Scorpia to tend to their own agenda.

"So..." Entrapta began, looking up to the over-sized princess. "...What's the policy on what I can and can't dissect around here?"

...

"C-Catra, put the dresser down!" Glimmer pleaded, trying to push her arm away as she held it above her head.

"I will as soon as you get out of the way!" Catra, still in her She-Ra form, yelled angrily, holding the three-hundred pound purple dresser above her head.

"We mean on something other than your sword!" Bow restated, trying to block the drop zone as he stood over the sword.

"I've had it with this stupid sword!" She continued to yell.

This was the final straw! Every single day, if it wasn't one thing with this sword it was another! She could never get the stupid sword to work when she wanted to, she's barely used the sword other than for it's intended stabbing uses, and she hasn't preformed one act of magic with the sword except using it as a glow stick by this point.

This sword has continued to be an everlasting nuisance for the magicat ever since she got it! It never let her transform when she wanted to, it never answered her call more than ninety percent of the time she's called on it, and she couldn't even get the stupid thing to heal somebody when they really needed it. At this point it was like the sword was practically trolling her by pretending to do something one moment and then fail to do so the very next!

Thus, she's had it. She couldn't tolerate this stupid sword and all it did to screw up her life since day one. With this in mind, she did the most sensible thing an angry person like her could think, and looked around for the heaviest object she could find to finally smash the sword once and for all. She didn't care anymore if she could never transform into She-Ra. With it's track record of working and not working, a smashed sword seemed a lot more meaningful than a sword that never worked!

*knock*

"Huh!" All eyes were turned to the door as Glimmer let out a small gasp. With the day she's been having since coming home, she knew there was only one person who could be at the door. "Okay, everybody, act normal. And Catra, please put the dresser down!" Unwilling to give her a chance, Bow quickly picked up the sword itself, knowing it would prevent Catra from smashing the sword as long as one of them held it. With a small glare in her eyes, Catra let out a low grumble as she set the dresser back in the corner of the room, giving off a small tremor as she did.

Taking a deep breath as she tried to relax herself, she gave off her best smile as she greeted the door knocker. "Mom, we're busy."

"I won't be long." She greeted warmly in return. "I just wanted to remind you you're all requested for dinner tonight. Just the four of us."

"B-But mom!" Glimmer's worry did nothing to match Catra's own concern. The magicat was on good terms with the queen since the morning began and she wasn't about to let that go to waste! At the same time, however, she also couldn't bring herself to betray a friend like that when she needed her most. It was becoming hard to decide whether to confess to the queen or not, and every passing minute they waited went on to fuel the anger the queen would have if she found out on her own. "We're all really tired. Can't we just take the night off to rest?"

"Y-Yeah, your majesty!" Bow pitched in with an even more forceful smile as he held the sword, standing next to the dresser as he tried to ignore the pain. "We've had a busy time in the Fright Zone, it was a long trip back, you know how it is."

"...Bow, are you aware you have a dresser on your foot?" At the comment, Glimmer glanced back at the two who continued to lean against the dresser, with a pain-induced Bow trying to act casual to an annoyed Catra who didn't seem the least bit bothered at the moment.

"N-Nope... can't feel a thing..." He muttered through his teeth.

"O... kay..." Noticing the other friend standing adjacent to the dresser, the queen offered Catra a friendly smile. "Ah, Catra. Are you planning to join us as She-Ra for this evening?"

"Um... maybe, mam?" Catra tried her best to sound sincere as she gave a small pleasing look. There was no telling if she would be able to turn it off again or if it would turn off by itself. "Like she said, we're all very tired, yeah." As if to prove her point she demonstrated the best fake yawn she could.

She couldn't quite tell what they were up to, but she grew a small grin at the seeming game they were currently playing. "Okay, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said request. Allow me to rephrase all that. You are all required to have dinner with me tonight. And that's not a request, that is an order. I can make you go as leader of the Rebellion and as your Queen."

"Yikes, she's playing the queen card." Bow muttered to Catra as he painfully pulled his foot out.

"No need to answer. I'll see you all in an hour." With a final wave to Catra herself, the queen calmly walked away. With mother out of sight, Glimmer closed the door behind her, leaving the trio to contend with their own thoughts.

For about two seconds.

*rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttt*

"Agh!" The shrill cry came after another wave of torture as the red aura glowed around her again. This time around, her friends watched in horror as her body started to dissipate and dissolve by a little bit in addition to the onslaught of pain it left Glimmer in. The fact her body showed any distortions like this at all was all the proof that was needed to show it was getting worse. If there was any bright side to it, the aura of pain didn't last any longer than the previous time did, possibly being a few seconds shorter than before. "Huff... Huff..."

"Ok, I've had it!" Catra growled as she marched her way over to the door. "I'm telling your mother and that's final!"

"What?! No!" The Princess shrieked, placing herself between the door and Catra as if it would work.

"Get out of the way, Pinky. We should've told your mother from the beginning." Lowering her ears, she gave a regretful stare back to the other friend. "Bow was right. I don't know anything about this stupid sword. I'm terrible at using it!"

"I-I didn't say anything like that!" He tried to correct making his way over. "Or, at least... not exactly like that."

"It doesn't matter." The She-Ra-in-training looked seldom into her sword's reflection, the one face she was always greeted with staring back at her. "I don't know anything about this sword other than how to transform with it. It's barely any better than a giant paperweight as it is." Proving her point, not two seconds afterwards did she find herself transforming back to the regular old Catra, the girl's ears still lowered in grief. "I'm nothing..."

If she had her own glowing aura like Glimmer did, it would be glowing with a radiance of blue sadness. Why was she continuing to do all of this? She wasn't a hero, she wasn't a mighty being as She-Ra was. She was nothing more than a young teenager trying to play hero for the first time, one that didn't give her the chance to shine or prove herself towards the end of those tales.

Every moment she stared at her reflection was another moment she was filled with sadness. There wasn't anything in this world that could cover her from the torrential rain of despair that rained over her, no towel to dry herself off with in order to try again. After everything she's witnessed, everything she's tried to do to help the Rebellion, she felt useless inside, almost feeling like she was nothing. Nothing but a letdown.

And with the added pressure that she now had two new people in her life she considered friends, that pain was spiked like never before.

"Catra, don't say that. You're not nothing." Glimmer tried to encourage. "You've helped the Rebellion more than you could imagine-"

"And I lost all that help after, didn't I?" She cut off with an irritated scowl. "I can't be She-Ra when I need it, I can't fend for myself without someone else needing to rescue me, and..." She made her way over to the window, looking out to the surrounding forest. "...And I'm responsible for Entrapta."

"No you're not-!"

"Just shut up, all right!" Catra snapped back. "If I was a better She-Ra we wouldn't be in this mess! I could've healed you hours ago, I probably could've stormed the Fright Zone by myself and saved the two of you, Entrapta might still be alive by now, and the Princess Alliance would never have broken up if I had so much as the slightest clue on how to use this stupid SWORD!"

The room fell silent at the last detail, the two friends processing everything Catra meant with everything she actually said. She wasn't dealing with the fact she couldn't get She-Ra to work when she wanted to or the fact she couldn't help Glimmer right now. She was still in her own depressing world of grief from the guilt of Entrapta's supposed death weighing down upon her, the responsibility she felt for the breakup of the Princess Alliance itself.

She was burdening herself with her own world of pain.

"Catra, you... You don't really think you're responsible for Entrapta's death, do you?" Glimmer approached with concern in her eyes. The cat barely winced as her tail flopped around without emotion.

"Unless you want to put the blame on the vent for roasting her, I don't see who else it could've been." She mumbled leaning against the window. "I'm the one who threw you guys in there, didn't give you the chance to make the decision for yourself, and I blamed it on them for going on the stupid mission in the first place. And then I took it out on Mermista and... now this..."

"There's nothing you could've done, Catra." She bother looking to Bow as approached on her left. "Say that you were with us. What then? The doors sealed way too fast for anyone to save her and we didn't realize she went back before it was too late."

"Then I at least could've noticed her sooner than the rest of you and could've done something!" She groaned. She's never felt like one to let herself out like this with all the drama and sorrow she was going through. Personally she prayed she didn't end up making a habit of this because she hated the way it was making her feel.

Empty.

"All my life growing up in the Horde, I didn't have any brute strength or quick wits to get by in my training. The only way I managed to survive was with my speed and my recklessness, nothing else. Adora was the only one I could rely on to bail me out of trouble whenever I screwed up. She was always the perfect cadet whenever it came to any training. She was smart, she was fast, strong. Usually she left everyone else in the dust, and I... I always hated her for it."

"But Catra, you're nothing like her!" Bow tried to argue.

"Oh, gee, thanks for that enlightening encouragement." Catra scoffed with the roll of her eyes.

"No, I mean, so what if you're reckless? It doesn't matter to us."

"Bow's right." Glimmer agreed, nodding. "Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't matter how many or how little you have of either. We all make up for it by compensating each other."

"And what if someone has to pay for it?" She shot back. "What if someone dies because of one lousy weakness you have or an entire mission gets screwed up? You guys would've been better off if Adora was fighting for you guys. Knowing her, she would've gotten everyone in and out without a single casualty. We don't even have that many people anymore because of me."

"The Princess Alliance breaking up was outside of your control, Catra. Everyone was torn apart by what happened to Entrapta. What you did taking it out on Mermista might've been wrong but it wouldn't have changed much if you didn't. You need to stop blaming yourself on everything that went wrong and move on."

"..." This was the other reasons she hated having never learned when to shut up! They always got into your personal business, they always stuck their noses in places they weren't wanted or needed, and they never left you alone! She understood what they were getting at, she truly did, but it didn't make any difference to Catra if she was still the same person by the end of it.

"I think what you need most right now is to get your mind off of everything, Catra." Glimmer suggested with a calming smile.

"But I can't! I don't know how to use this sword and the last thing I want to do is swinging it around wildly cause some giant explosion over the castle. I already swung it wildly once and I turned your horse into a part-bird."

"There's gotta be a way you can get training for it, Catra." The bowman peered out the window next to her. "She-Ra was a warrior too, and that meant she had to get properly trained, right? Nobody can just pick up a sword one day and decide they want to be the greatest hero ever, right?" Catra turned her head away at this, which didn't help as Glimmer was smiling on her right.

"She-Ra was a great warrior who did many things, Catra." She added. "She wasn't dragged down by all of her failures or inexperience, she pushed onward. You think a person with so many legends behind her did everything flawlessly? Do you think the First Ones' would've disappeared if she was such a great hero?"

"...What?" Glimmer grew a small grin as she saw Catra's curiosity piquing.

"Yeah, think about it. If She-Ra was supposed to be some great hero from ages ago-"

"No, no, back up!" She cut off waving her hand. "What did you say before that?"

"What? You mean about the First Ones?"

"First Ones...?" A thought formed in her mind as she examined her sword again. The fine intricate detail, the technologies used to make this sword, a creation of the First Ones' themselves. All of their ingenuity and advanced society had lead to the creation of this marvelous weapon, the last hope that the Rebellion had on their side. "Wait... That's it!"

"What's it?" Bow asked, surprised by the turnaround of Catra's mood.

"Don't you get it? The sword was made by the First Ones, which means all I have to do is find them so they can teach me how to use this sword!"

"But Catra, the First Ones disappeared over a thousand years ago." Glimmer reminded. "Even if one of them were still alive somehow, you wouldn't know where to look."

"I don't need to find First Ones themselves, just their technology!" She set her sights directed out into the forest ahead. "I remember coming to some strange Beacon or something when I was with Madame Razz."

"Who?"

"Crazy lady in the woods, long story. My point is, if there's any way to use the sword, it has to be in one of the ruins. Maybe they have some instruction sheet or training program on how to use the sword!"

"That... actually might work!" Glimmer's own optimism was raised a little as the thoughts and details started to pan together. "We'll run away so we don't have to go to dinner! I'll get my things!"

"Neither of you are coming." She clarified. "I'm not entirely sure I can find anything there in the first place, it's just a hunch at this point. And if I am wrong, you need to be here to tell your mother the truth in case she actually can heal you."

"But Catra, you barely know your way around the Whispering Woods." Bow pointed out. "It keeps shifting and changing so you never know where you are. How are you going to find it in the first place?"

"I don't know, I just... It's some feeling I have, all right? It's the same one I had when I found the sword the first time." Catra let down. "All I know is the faster I get some training or instructions, the sooner this whole mess will be behind us." Without a second thought or a single goodbye, the magicat jumped out the window, using her front claws to slide against the walls to slow herself down enough until she reached the ground level.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Glimmer wondered, worried more for her depressing friend than her own situation at the time.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." He nodded back. "She's a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for."

"Yeah... she will be." The two of them wondered some of what they said actually got to her. Catra has been a bigger help for the Rebellion than she realizes, and she needed to know that. She's helped so many people, saved plenty of homes, and made more friends than she bargained for. With the kind of luck she had, no matter how badly it got, she always found a way to bounce back from it.

"...Did she forget she was still wearing her boots before she left?"

...

"Stun Baton.. Headband... Map..." Adora listed off as she continued to pack her things on the bed.

The bunk room felt emptier than usual since Catra left the second time. Before, she always felt some small draft here and there telling her that Catra was still by her side, that she was always going to be by her side. Now she felt an emptiness filling the room. No draft, no breeze, and still no Catra.

This trip was going to provide her with insight on her future goals and contributions she could give to the Horde, she just knew it! Not to mention if she gave enough of a contribution, she might be able to work out some deal to ensure Catra's own safely from Hordak's judgement, some way to save her again after finding out she wasn't under a spell!

"Going somewhere?" She heard Shadow Weaver call out from behind her. Adora refused to give her any direct attention as she continued packing.

"I... I'm going to get some fresh air for awhile. It's been a long day, you know?" Adora replied as Shadow Weaver made her way over to the bunk. "I've been under a lot of stress with everything that's happened. Scorpia suggested I needed some time to myself."

"With a stun baton?" Her master pointed out.

"Hey, better safe than sorry, ri-" Adora froze as she saw the current state of her mother figure. She looked awful, with the scratched mask on or not! Her entire body was sluggish, her hair looked ragged. She looked like she might've ran or floated a hundred miles before coming here. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Oh, nothing you should burden yourself with, my dear." She passed off, leaning against the other bunk. "Just a little lecture from Hordak. You know how he hates disappointments, or those involved with said disappointments."

"He... did this to you because of me?" The blonde Force Captain questioned as she got to her feet. She already had enough on her mind to deal with, she didn't need to worry about what Lord Hordak to those to those around her if she messed up.

"He didn't touch me, if that's what you're concerned about. He simply refused to let me leave for a good while, and you both know why."

It wasn't uncommon from Adora, having witnessed her siphoning the Black Garnet's magic on hundreds of occasions. Whenever she went without any exposure or energy from the Black Garnet's power, it weakened her dramatically. The sight of her like this almost made Adora feel queasy, thinking about everything Lord Hordak had to say for the sake of making someone wait in a room to suffer like that. It was like being forced to starve yourself while standing in front of an entire lineup of food, waiting for someone to give you the okay to go on for hours on end.

"Well, hopefully, when I get back, we can all put this silliness behind us." She doesn't remember the last time she felt so certain like this when it didn't pertain to Catra. She still wasn't sure yet which side of the matter she should take or who she should help. All she knew was that she couldn't let others suffer around her while she stood by and watched it happen. "I'll be back in a day or two. I shouldn't take long-"

"Adora, wait." Shadow Weaver grabbed the girl by her elbow as she passed. "I know you have a lot of things on your mind right now. Who to trust, who is right and wrong. I'm not going to force you to take my offer if you don't want to. You know I would never force you to make a decision without your consent." It was hard to tell if she was being serious or not for a change, having gone this long with being lied to or mislead about Catra's past brainwashing that never happened. "All I want is to provide you with a brighter future than you could possibly know."

"But I need you to know this." She continued. " You keep struggling to protect everyone around you, even those who've turned their backs on you, and that has always been your most precious gift. But some day soon, you're going to have to pick a side and choose for yourself who you want to fight for. And when that day comes... make sure you don't regret your decision."

"T... Thanks... Shadow Weaver..." Adora said nothing else as she walked off into the halls. What was she supposed to say to all of that? Those cryptic meanings she always had, those subtle comments. None of them were present in anything she said and somehow given everywhere in the entire message. She couldn't tell if she should've listened to a single word of it either, having been hurt by the last time Shadow Weaver told her anything.

The only thing she picked up from that message was the fact she would need to make a decision for herself, one that she hoped she wouldn't regret.

As for Shadow Weaver, there was no telling what or how this would play out anymore. Anything and everything Adora did from this point was completely on her own now that all the cards have been thrown on the table. Molding her to the best of her ability, instilling her with a false sense of justice, honor, and emotion, these were all the cards Shadow Weaver had thrown into the pile by now, one that would pay off the biggest gamble of her life with fortune, or disaster.

The one card she did have left was knowing the truth behind all of this. She knew what her goal was with getting Adora on top of the seat of power, with all the lessons and teachings she's given her and all the tools she's needed to work with at this point. For the first time she smelt a small pebble of genuine concern for the girl for everything she was getting into.

Because no matter what choice she made in the end when this day was over, she knew she was going to live to regret it for the rest of her life...

...

A/N: You know the strange thing about the melodrama in this one? It's actually warranted and in the show this time XP. Granted, I did it slightly out of order here as it was a scene AFTER where i ended today's chapter and not before, but I felt like it was more fitting there for a number of reasons (and hopefully didn't mess up the dialogue cause i force myself to write more because i originally had this at 6.9k words when i was done- i know, shocker i had less than 7k before XP) And i'll delete it after if it interferes/bothers anyone since it was thrown in, but I also felt like it was necessary.

The one thing I didn't see in the episode (til I got to that part which note to self- watch the entire freaking episode and not bits at a time XP) was any grieving or issues with Entrapta's loss. I mean i guess it would've been like slapping you in the face with your favorite food after being told you're not getting it- which in translation since that was the worst analogy i ever made, if they kept moping around about it despite us knowing Entrapta was still alive, it would've lost it's merit.

Anyway, like I said, if that mellow drama scene is too distracting up here, specifically the talk with Catra with bow and glimmer before the last scene, I'll get rid of it. It won't be that much of a problem and easy to do.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 40: Episode 10: The Beacon Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: AHHHHHHHHH! A CHAPTER UNDER 7K WORDS! WHATS THIS WORLD COMING TO?!

Honestly, i'm not 100% surprised XP. With 5 minutes left to the show and not much else going on other than some feel-y stuff here and there, there really isn't much left to the episode. It's mostly reconciliation between friends and mother/daughter, and then just walking through the woods. With that in mind I'm surprised I managed to get that much out of this!

Speaking of done, I also decided to stop worrying whether I make the fic to melodramatic or not. Not even counting the fact it's "a fanfic I made" or some excuse, it's mostly because I had a set plan for the fic. If i start doubting myself now or whatever or question if I should change something, I'm never going to get the story done, or not as well as I had hoped. I have to continue onwards the way people have enjoyed it thus far, and I hope they continue to enjoy it if they've trusted my work up to this point ^^.

With that said, enjoy!

...

"Listen, Glimmer," Bow began as he paced around a bit, "I appreciate you guys trying to keep me safe, but you can't protect me anymore. We have to tell your mom."

"We're not telling anybody's mom!" Glimmer fumed in turn. "And what do you mean, protect you?"

The day was the perfect example of a day spiraling out of control. Starting from possibly as up as it could be, it slowly dwindled down further and further into the recesses of despair. Not five minutes ago, a despairing Catra set off to find the Beacon in the Whispering Woods, one of the many ruins left over by the First Ones', as a means to finally learn how to master and control her sword's power.

After everything leading up to this point, she's finally had it. She couldn't handle the amount of stress her work has caught up to by this point, she was tired of the sword never working the most whenever she wanted it to, and she was riddled with guilt over the loss of, what they assumed to be, Entrapta's death.

She burdened the most guilt out of possibly all the princesses, feeling responsible for leaving the group in a ventilation shaft to escape while she stayed behind to save Glimmer. She lamented her feelings of powerlessness, her inability to save the other princess and the Princess Alliance, and her grievances towards Adora for all her talent. No matter how many times the others tried to insist, nothing was getting through to the girl.

That's when she finally remembered the creator of the Sword of Protection, the First Ones, and everything they worked so hard to build. She couldn't believe she didn't see it before! Why bother trying to learn how to use the sword herself when she could find a First Ones' ruins and, hopefully, return with some sort of instruction sheet or details on how to get it working? It was a long shot, but compared to the alternative of never getting the sword to work and Glimmer possibly exploding due to her glitching getting worse, it was better than nothing.

That left two concerned friends of hers to wait in the room she left behind, unwilling to endanger them further through her reckless behavior and inaction to help them. For the time being, they were safer staying behind than they were following her, especially since she barely knew how to find these ruins in the first place.

"Isn't it obvious?" Bow asked squeezing his head in frustration. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't gone to prom with Perfuma, we wouldn't have had that fight, you wouldn't have separated from the party and gotten captured, and you wouldn't be sick right now! See? All my fault!" He collapsed backwards onto the bench Glimmer was sitting on with tears in his eyes, the princess looking at her close friend with a pang of guilt.

"Bow, don't say that. It's not your fault, it's mine." She looked at her own two hands in shame, feeling as if they were all the people at the party and order in which she messed it up. "I shouldn't have been so weird about you hanging out with someone else. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have said anything stupid, I wouldn't have stayed up on the balcony knowing the Horde were there, and..." She curled her legs up as she hugged herself. "Catra might be a little blunt about everything, but she's right. I was being selfish."

"Selfish?" Bow repeated, leaning up from his spot. "Glimmer, you're the least selfish person I know! You have all this wonderful stuff and a mother leading the Rebellion itself, which means you don't even have to be a part of this war! You chose be a part of it because you wanted to help everybody, help us!" He gave a teary smile as he held her shoulder, Glimmer lifting her own teary head out of her legs as she stared up to him.

"Bow..." He watched her wipe her tears away, only to refill immediately after. "You know what? Let's just hug." She suggested with a teary smile.

Returning her smile with his own, they embraced. The past was behind them and the future was still coming. They might not have been prepared for whatever lied ahead, but at least they knew their friendship remained in check for the foreseeable future. That was when Glimmer's glitching kicked up again.

*rrrrrrttttttt*

"Nggghhh!" Glimmer groaned in pain as it went off again. "I'm glitching, aren't I?"

"It hurts so much..." Bow replied through his teeth. Being in direct contact with her, Bow had a firsthand experience of the pain she was feeling, feeling like he was being torn apart in both directions at the same time without end. She was half immortal and magical, and that kept her alive. Who knows what it would've been like if she was an everyday normal person like he was? "

The pain lasted much longer as did the aura itself, enshrouding her body in a painful red glow that refused to leave her for an indefinite amount of time compared to the previous times. The distortions worsened and her skin almost looked like it was it was growing vast spikes itself. She wouldn't wish this pain on her worst enemies, including the people that did this to her in the first place!

She finally managed to get a breath in after another several seconds passed, groaning in misery as the aura passed over her. "How are we going to get through Dinner without my mom noticing?" In under a second a possibility formed over her mind. "Ooh! What if we started a fire? Then she'd have to cancel it!"

Instead of giving her any sort of verbal response, Bow just grinned. Looking back on it, she realized how much her idea actually sounded like a certain someone's reckless idea, almost finding it humorous how much she's picked up on Catra's antics. "...Just a small one?"

...

*sniff*

"Ugh, these woods could not be anymore annoying!" Catra groaned.

This was the one thing in the world that needed to work for her. After all the drama, all the pain, all the sadness, she practically begged to herself that the Universe would give her this one thing!

She was at her wit's end. She wasn't She-Ra. She wasn't anything close to She-Ra. Her name was Catra and she was a reckless troublemaker. She wasn't magical like Glimmer, she didn't have pinpoint accuracy like Bow. She wasn't capable of forming scientific equations in her head like Entrapta, couldn't breath underwater or control it, nor could she make giant ice sculptures out of the elements. She'd take Perfuma's girly flower-growing powers by now if she had the chance!

She was finally at the breaking point of her long and stressful life when Glimmer gave her the bright idea to find the First Ones' technology again. She couldn't get the sword to work. She could accept that. What she couldn't accept was staying like this for possibly the rest of her life while everyone else had their own gifts and powers going on and were actually contributing something to the war!

If she had more power she could've ended things a long time ago. Entrapta would still be alive, unaware that she was, she could heal Glimmer without breaking a sweat, and possibly so much more! As to why the sword refused to listen to her or her commands she never knew. She just wanted things to stop being the way they were and wanted to actually add something to the team, and the First Ones was her last resort.

Unsurprisingly, that resort also ended up being a total migraine in itself as she explored the Whispering Woods. Being one of the few times she's done this at all, everything felt completely alien to her. The scents in the air were confusing her direction. Whenever she picked up on a strange sound it disappeared one moment and reappeared in the complete opposite of where she originally looked. The woods were as alive as her friends told her they were in more ways than one.

"Is this place trying to annoy me?" She muttered to herself. "Because if it is it's working..." The foliage and fauna she passed were adding on to her annoyance. Every bush she passed gave her a small scrape and any branches she pushed through ended up leaving an annoying amount of leaves stuck in her hair. With her irritation rising by the second, she took her sword out of her sheath as she held it in front of herself standing up, aiming it randomly around her like it was a compass. "Come on... Which way?"

How was she supposed to get a feel on where to go? Her instinct after entering the woods was that some voice or feeling in her head would tell her where the Beacon was located, where she would go and which direction she should take. Typically, the stupid voice in her head wasn't responding at this time like every other stupid time she wanted it to work! That was when her attention was drawn to a large boulder she found in the middle of a clearing.

"You gotta be kidding me..." She moaned as her ears lowered with irritation, walking over to the familiar landmark. "I passed this stupid rock an hour ago! Ugh!" Leaning against the rock, she rubbed the bridge between her eyes as she tried to calm herself. "Okay, think Catra, think. What would Adora do in this situation?" There was a hundred different things she would do in this situation. After all, if she was little miss perfect, then there was no way she wouldn't work her way out of this by now.

And, naturally, the one issue she was currently dealing with at the moment was the fact she wasn't Adora! She didn't have her quick wits, she didn't have her insightful-ness. She probably wouldn't be lost in these woods right now if she was the one trying to find this place! Examining her sword again she wondered, "Okay, so, think... I have the sword... I don't know where I am... I have the boulder as a landmark... mark...Hey!" Catra's face flashed with brilliance as she jumped back to her feet.

Giving the sword a good spin, she stuck the tip of it into the ground as she started walking ahead again, dragging the sword against the ground as it created a small path in the dirt, following her as she dragged the sword along. Long as I keep marking my entire way through, I should be able to get through the woods without getting lost.

It did make the most sense to her in the long run. As long as she marked the entire way through the woods, there was no possible way she should find herself retracing the same path without coming across her own markings again! Not to mention if she kept going in a straight line she should find her way to the Beacon, or at this rate out of the Whispering Woods, for sure!

...Right?

...

"Hmm, hmm, hmm~" The Queen hummed to herself as she finished setting the was going to be a momentous meal for the four of them. Her, Glimmer, Bow, and Catra, all of whom would have the luxury of privacy tonight in this dining hall.

She couldn't remember the last time she ate with just herself, her daughter, and anyone else who wasn't of the castle staff. The earliest memories she could recall was when Glimmer was still a young child and her husband, King Micah, was still around. She remembered the way they all used to laugh and play with the food, or, more accurately, her husband got her daughter into the habit of playing with her food, leaving for fairly decent mess for her to clean up.

But she still enjoyed it all the same and would do anything she could to relive those memories again. Since his passing most to all meals between the mother and daughter have been rather quiet when it came to personal matters, and half of those times resulted in a small banter between the two whenever it involved Rebellion matters.

It always involved Rebellion matters.

Tonight was going to be different though! It would just be her, her daughter, Bow, and the ex-Horde Senior Cadet known as Catra. This would be the first time all four of them had dinner to themselves to socialize with one another, and for the queen to get to know Catra better after her previous off-putting attitude till today. Despite the seemingly-tragic results of the rescue, she did save her daughter and her friend, and she more than earned her respect and trust for it.

Looking back on it, she was actually a little curious to learn more about Catra herself. Her background, her heritage, what it was like growing up in the Horde, provided it wasn't too personal. She's seen the manners and lack of tact her daughter's friend has displayed ever since coming here, and not once has she ever bothered to actually ask her why she's behaving like this instead of jumping the gun and immediately berate or scold her for it. She knew life growing up in the Horde must've been difficult, and this was going to be the best way to make amends for it.

*creeeak*

With a smile, she turned her head in the direction of the opening doorway as she finished setting the last of the silverware down. "Ah. Glimmer, Bow, Ca-" She paused in her greeting as she only saw the first two walking through the doorway. "Where is Catra?" The concern the two were giving to each other then back to her set off her own chain of worry.

"Um... Catra's not eating with us, mom." Glimmer replied as they made their way to the dinner table.

"Really? Well that's a shame. I thought she wanted to join us? I made Steamed Salmon for her, I thought she'd like it?" Turning from the freshly roasted Salmon to the mother herself, the two gave her a playfully questionable look, one the queen shifted her eyes away from with minor embarrassment. "Well, I didn't make it, but I had the kitchen make it before I gave them the night off. I gave all the staff the night at that, so it would just be the four of us tonight."

"...Thanks..." Glimmer said quietly as she turned her attention to one of the decorative bushes in the room.

"Your Majesty, we... we need to talk." Bow stated taking a step forward.

"And we'll have plenty of time to do so." The Queen clapped her hands cheerfully. "We've hardly had a chance to talk since you've all returned."

"Yeah, well, there's not much to talk about."

"Glimmer..." Bow mumbled nudging her with his elbow.

"Not much to talk about?" The queen wondered if she had truly forgotten everything that's happened within the last day. "You were kidnapped!" She was unaware of her daughter's unease as she continued exasperated. "And you lost your friend during the escape and-" At the mention of her loss, Glimmer could feel the small amount of glitching trying to work its way through her.

"I get it, Mom. I failed!" Glimmer yelled back as Bow backed away.

"That's not what I-"

*rrrrrrtttttttt*

"Ahhhhhhh!" She begged to herself that she would be able to get through this dinner, or at least get to the mentioning of the glitching issue before it acted up again. Here she was, presenting her trouble in front of her mother and her friend again without any control over it as the painful wave washed over her as always!

"Glimmer!" Angella and Bow cried out together as they ran to her side. The queen was the first one to take Glimmer into her arms as she nearly fell to the ground, the princess crying out at the same level of pain she always felt as she hugged herself.

"Stop! Make it stop!" The queen begged as she cried out. What was this terrible magic spreading over her precious daughter? She could feel it in her hands, the way it practically stabbed at her in every corner of her palms! No child should ever go through this kind of pain. Nobody should for that matter! "Glimmer, what's happening to you? What aren't you telling me?"

"Don't yell at me!" Glimmer yelled back, pushing her mother away as she got back to her feet. "I know I messed everything up, okay? I

should've told you right from the beginning, because if I did, then this mess probably would've been fixed by now and Catra wouldn't have ran away!"

"Catra...?" Piecing her words together as Bow and Glimmer realized her mistake, her mother started to boil with a new kind of anger. "Catra knew about this? And she didn't tell me?!"

"Your Majesty, it's not what you think!" Bow tried to explain as the angry queen pushed her palms against her eyes.

"Ghhhh I should've known I couldn't trust her!" She was steaming from the amount of stress building up in her mind. "All I ask her to do is promise me she would tell me if something was going on, and she can't even do that-!"

"It's not her fault, Mom! I begged her not to tell you, so if you're going to be mad at someone, blame me!" Glimmer kicked her feet angrily against the ground as she stomped over to the dinner table. "She's been wanting to tell you from the very second you asked her and I'm the one who convinced her not to nearly every time! I messed up! Way to go, Glimmer! I know I'm a disappointment!" She cried without showing any tears, sitting against the table.

"What are you talking about?" Her mother loomed over her as she stood. She couldn't remember the last time she found herself so mixed up with worry and confusion all at the same time.

"Entrapta died trying to rescue me, the Princess Alliance is over, and Shadow Weaver did something to my powers! I'm sorry I couldn't be perfect like you, okay! You have no idea what it feels like to be such a screw up!"

"I have no idea how you feel? I got your father killed!" Pain and hurt crossed the queen's face as she leaned herself across the table, anger and sadness filling her eyes as she turned away from the two shocked teenagers who remained silent through the proceedings.

There was no way they misheard that or misinterpreted her words. The regal Queen of Bright Moon, the leader of the Rebellion, had found herself speechless and cold for the very first time in over a decade. Her face held firmly despite the rising tide of anguish falling over her. Her fingers were practically digging into the wooden table itself as they twitched. Nothing the queen has said in the past had ever given anyone reason to doubt her, or her honesty in most matters.

The silence, the weight of the air filling the room, the ambiance. All of it amounted to this one dreadful secret the queen hasn't spoken about in years, one that was finally resurfacing.

"Y-Your highness...?" Bow was at a loss for words as he tried to question her. Looking between the two of them, feeling as if the moment was specifically for the two of them, he began to back out. "I'll, just, uh... leave you two alone for a moment." They were the last words they heard from him as he made his way out the doors. Relationships were something he felt should be handled by the two directly involved, not anyone on the outside.

The same way he patched up the Prom night with Glimmer earlier.

"... I ordered the battle your father perished in." She rubbed her hand over her other wrist as she tried to soothe her tension. "I've never forgiven myself."

"I-I didn't know that..." There was too much to process in this short amount of time. The years of anger and frustration her mother had, all the sadness and confusion filling her heart and clouding her judgement, was just revealed to the her in a few short sentences.

Angella matched her daughter's expression with one of sorrow and regret. "Yes, well, you never talk to me." The young woman kneeled to her daughter's side, matching her gaze at eye level. "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"Because I was ashamed." She confessed. "I acted without thinking, the exact thing you're always telling me not to do." The girl gave a small shrug as she breathed deeply through her nose. "I teleported right into their trap." She began to tear up as squeezed her hands on the table. "The Alliance is over, everyone is mad, and Catra's run off because she feels useless... and I'm to blame."

"...Glimmer," her mother spoke softly as she directed her daughter to her face, "you are not to blame for all of this. I am." It was hard to feel comforted by her mother's smiling words when she knew she was trying to cheer her up. And yet, she wanted to feel the same warmth it was giving off all the same. "If I hadn't let the first Alliance fall apart after your father's death, none of this would be happening."

"You feel like a failure?"

"Even Catra's my own fault. I shouldn't have been so hard on her since the moment I met her. She was trying for all of us, and I kept berating her for her past mistakes, not acknowledging her accomplishments. Don't make the same mistake I did." The queen's resolve returned to her as she squeezed her fist. "I should've kept kept fighting. And you should, too."

"But the other princesses, they all quit, remember? You don't think the Rebellion is done for?"

"With my daughter leading it? Never." The queen pulled her daughter into her loving arms, stroking her head affectionately with a warmth that only a mother's love could provide.

"Even if my powers are gone?"

"We'll figure it out. Together."

The queen had gotten her wish as her daughter squeezed her arms around her. It might not have gone the way she expected this night to go. There was a dinner that had yet to be touched, there wasn't anyone else present in the room, save for an eavesdropping Bow who smiled as he peeked out the doorway, and there was a lot she still had make up for with the new Princess Alliance and how she's looked down upon Catra up till now.

But at least it ended perfectly for her, the way she would've wanted it to. With her and her daughter holding each other in their arms, and feeling a rekindle warmth that made them truly smile, for the first time in years...

...

Adora stared at the entrance of the Whispering Woods as she mentally prepared herself for the journey. This is where it all started for her and Catra, where both of their lives were turned upside down, and not necessarily for the better. Walking into the woods herself, Adora could feel every single bit of her skin being covered in an unfamiliar chill, one that wasn't present the first time she came to this place.

Or maybe it had and she never realized it last time? The first time she ever came to these woods was with Catra, after the two borrowed a skiff in an attempt to cheer Catra up. A part of her wonders what would've happened if she never took the girl on the skiff in the first place. Would she still be fighting for the Horde or would she join the Rebellion anyway? If the two never went out here and the events had never occurred, Adora and Catra would still be separated by their ranking and missions, ones they had equal chance of never returning from.

Catra herself was dealing with her own set of problems as she continued to forcefully drag the sword against the ground. Aside from her arms starting to get a little sore like this, she had yet to come across any hint that she was getting out of the woods, or any closer to the Beacon itself. She's had to cut paths half the time when a tree blocked her way, found herself scraping herself out of thick bushes and vines at least three times so far, and her senses were starting to get a little more disoriented after so long. It's like the woods themselves were actually trying to mess with her senses after realizing her senses were increased compared to the average person.

It also assured her that these trees apparently hated her for some reason.

Exploring the mysterious woods, Adora maintained an equal amount of her attention between the data pad and the surrounding forestry. On two separate occasions, she's found herself coming across a familiar looking tree or a vine, and whenever she tried to backtrack she somehow came across it again. She remembered all the stories in the past about people who've gotten lost in these woods for days to weeks on end, She never thought they were being so literal when they commented that the woods got you lost every time you entered. She thought it was a simple play on words the way they said it.

After exploring what must've been about five miles through the woods, Adora turned her attention again towards the alarming data pad. To her dismay, the pad suddenly began to short circuit in front of her, flashing a wave of purple and white lines across the screen without end. "No..." Adora fretted, hitting the side of the pad worriedly. "Come ooooon..." Taking another look around her, she tried to think.

Based on her current location and where the data pad was directing her, she shouldn't be very far from the First Ones' technological stash, the very one she needed to make amends for her past mistakes, and possibly give the Horde the key they needed to turn this war around in their favor. Considering she was more likely to get lost trying to find her way back, she pushed herself onward in the hopes the answers would appear right in front of her any second now.

With the bones in her shoulders getting sore from the awkward angle of her arms, Catra let out a sigh. If she was going to get anywhere, then she knew this had to be the way to do it. If someone like Adora could do it then she should too. Adora wouldn't give up or quit, no matter how much it bothered her remembering how great someone like her was, and she wouldn't back down from a challenge even if she couldn't win. With that state of mind, she pressed onward, hoping that after long last, the answers would come right around the corner-

"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Catra shouted in frustration. It was impossible, she had to be imagining things. Running up to the center of the clearing, she refused to believe what she was actually seeing. After all this walking and exploring, the possible hours she must've wasted going in a straight line, she found herself right back where she started from. She could see the very line that started this entire trip stretching out into the woods ahead of her! Somehow she looped herself all the way backwards.

It didn't make any sense to her! Not once did she ever come across the trail that she made during the last half of her journey, not finding a single line or rough in the ground that showed her she already came across the same path. It was unbelievable! There had to be a rational explanation as to why, no matter how frustrating or improbable it might've seemed.

And the answer lied before her.

From the other end of the clearing, where the marked trail lead into the woods, it began to disappear little by little. The line vanished in the ground as it approached the beginning of her trail, slowly fading away until nothing of it remained. Turning around, she saw that same disappearance slowly approaching her until the trail itself was completely gone. It's no wonder she never came across the same trail in her journey!

The stupid forest was erasing her clever trail from existence!

*whoosh*

"Ngh..." The magicat grumbled as a large gust of wind brushed passed her, glaring angrily to the glowing blue specks of light that surrounded the forest. "You think this is funny?!" She was convinced these woods were actually alive in every meaning of the word, feeling them mocking her for her failed attempt. "You like getting people lost like this? I'm just trying to help!"

*whoosh*

That confirmed her previous suspicion that the woods were alive, and went on to kindle the fire burning within her. "Well let's see who's laughing now!" Still enraged, she marched her way over to one of the thickest trees she could find in the forest, drawing the sword above her head. If this forest was alive then it definitely had to feel pain, and if it could feel pain, then that was more than enough victory for her after the anger she felt boiling up to this point.

"Ghhhhhhh!" Gnashing her teeth together, her tail spiraling out of control, she pulled back as far as she could, ready to cut into the tranquil forest that continued to mock her. She deserved to after everything that's happened in the last day. She couldn't get the sword to work, she couldn't help the people she almost regretted caring about now, and this stupid forest was actually going out of its way to make the journey harder for her! So if it liked teasing people so much, she was going to enjoy cutting down the next hundred trees that crossed her path!

...Or the dozen!

...A handful...

This one...?

The anger and rage she was being consumed with slowly subsided as a mellowness entered her state of mind. Why was she bothering to take her anger out on a stupid tree of all things? She was talking to the trees for crying out loud! The very ones that were needed to keep the Rebellion safe. For all she knew they didn't see her any differently than they saw an intruder, one marching into the woods to do who knows what kind of harm to the surrounding wonder.

With the last of her anger diminishing, she moaned. Dropping the sword to her feet, she started to slouch forward as she planted her head against the tree's husk, directing her eyes towards the ground beneath her. "Please..." She called out to no one in particular. "I... I can't do this anymore..." The same gust of wind blew passed her again, somehow feeling gentler than before.

"I'm tired of messing everything up... I... I'm scared..." She recalled the hundreds of memories she's had in the past, all her recollections with Bow and Glimmer she was once tormented with now filling her mind. From the annoying way they always laughed to the moments she needed them for encouragement. "They're one of the few people who've been nice to me... who've... who've always had my back... even when I mess up..."

From making a prideful fool of herself to Plumeria, to almost drowning on her way to Salineas. Never giving up on her when a virus took over her mind, carrying her through her paranoia and fears through Mystacor, giving her a chance to prove herself at the Princess Prom, and never blaming her when the rescue mission resulted in casualty. They were too nice to her.

The memories started to make her tear up. "They haven't given up on me like everyone else has, and I..." She pressed her palms against the tree as a single tear rolled down her face, dropping to the ground below her and disappearing. "I don't have anything to show for it... I-It's not fair for them! Just... Just please..." She cringed as she closed her eyes tightly, trying to contain the remains of her tears.

"Let me help my friends."

... Then she saw it. A small glow that brightened as she opened her eyes again. Behind her, she could've sworn she heard as the roots and vines themselves were parting way for her, revealing a glowing blue light from within the Whispering Woods. She saw the trees themselves had vanished as if they were never there, almost certain the forest had actually answered her plea.

Which she was a little relieved for after thinking of how silly she was being for talking to a tree, not that it bothered her anymore.

"...Thanks..." With a small whisper she collected her sword off the ground, following the glowing blue light to the source of its eminence. Pulling her way carefully against the fragile bushes and vines that partly blocked her way, she saw it.

Low and behold, a sight that made her relieved. Within another clearing, as if rising out of the ground itself, it stood. The very Beacon she discovered with Madame Razz, one of the great symbols of the First Ones. It looked exactly as it had the day she found it the first time, complete with a strange serenity she was unaware of known as peace, with various roots and vines stretching from all around it.

During this time, she was unaware as another person had made her way to the previous clearing she was in, a certain Force Captain that was pulling the leaves and the crusted vines out of her hair. She wasn't sure how much longer she had to go until she happened upon this place, provided she could at all given her track record. Everything kept changing around Adora as she traversed the mysterious woods, never finding the same location she visited twice to be exactly the same. She started to wonder if she'd ever find this place or return home after all that's happened.

That was when fortune smiled upon her. Up ahead of the clearing, she saw a strange figure walk into a glowing part of the forest, no doubt the very thing she came to find herself. Making sure to wait until the figure walked deeper towards the light, Adora gave chase, quietly and carefully until her back was against another tree.

Peering over the side, Adora almost gasped at the two things she saw. One was a monumental marvel the likes of which she has never seen, one that stretched far above the trees themselves as it. No doubt this was one of the many grand inventions of the First Ones, the very ones Entrapta told her about. Forget anything within the monument, the building itself was more than enough to atone for what she's done.

The second thing she noticed, however, was what nearly made her scream her name. Of all the unlikely places, all the impossibilities telling her otherwise, she saw her walking towards the monument, halfway through the clearing as she approached with her sword in hand.

"Catra?"

...

A/N: Yes people, I am still in shock about how short this is, especially for a finale. All in all I could've added this to the last chapter i guess XP. I'm also debating about whether or not I wanted to include my original talk the queen had in her talk with Glimmer or not- i even have it backed up just in case ^^ When I took the vote as to whether or not to do it with some people knowing what it involved (you know who you are XP) the results were varied. In the end for continuity issues, i decided to keep the default talk in with one or two changes, though I might go back and edit it if I'm still uncertain by this point.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon! Hooftah, glad all that emotional and dramatic touchy feeling stuff is over with, phew! Ok, here we go! What's the next episode on our list ^^?

......NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 41: Episode 11: Promise Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Nooooo! I don't wanna do it, I don't wanna do it! Nooooooooo-! *gets dragged over to the computer* Oh god, this episode is going to be so freaking depressing when I have to rewatch it again T_T...

*sigh* Well, it's here folks. This is it! What I hope to be the most emotional series of chapters and episode of season 1. God help me if I get a rush of feels cause this is going to snap my heart in half X_X! It's like that old saying about friendship: If I'm going down, IM TAKING YOU ALL WITH ME!

Enjoy ^^!

...

The light was almost hypnotic to the young Catra as she approached the miraculous structure left behind by the First Ones, the people who created the magnificent, albeit annoying, Sword of Protection.

The entire morning till evening was all but a nightmare for the trio of heroes, especially Catra who was riddled with guilt. In the wake of Entrapta's passing, unaware the technological genius was still alive, the Princess Alliance had a falling out. Spurred on by feelings of regret, all of the princesses disbanded from the alliance, returning to their own kingdoms where they would protect their people all on their own. They wanted nothing more to do with the Rebellion if it meant possibly losing their lives and leaving their people defenseless.

After returning to Bright Moon themselves, the remainder of the alliance found themselves with several other dilemmas to deal with. First of all, was Glimmer's mother. Much to Catra's surprise, and the rest of them, the queen of Bright Moon was beyond thankful to Catra for rescuing her beloved daughter, actually hugging her for the first time and going an entire day without berating her on anything she did. That was the bright side of the day, and would've remained as such if not for the second dilemma that occured.

Specifically, Glimmer's glitching.

After the events of the dramatic rescue, Glimmer was under a state of pain and agony whenever a strange glitching aura-like magic swept over her at random periods throughout the day, each one more painful than the last. There were no words to describe the sensation every time it struck her, each wave feeling like a new form of torture with each instance. Catra wanted nothing more than to warn the queen, seeing how she promised her she would and after the kindness she's shown Catra throughout the day.

Unfortunately, that delved into the third problem two of the three found themselves in with Glimmer's unwillingness to confess to her mother. She escaped from one of the most harrowing situations any of them found themselves in and she didn't want her mother to worry any more about her than she already has. With the stress they dealt with on a daily basis the last thing she wanted her mother to find out was that she caught some bizarre magical virus of some sort, fearing it would lead to a lifetime of grounding for her own protection.

And none of this compared to the biggest dilemma they were dealing with, one Glimmer and Bow weren't aware of till later that evening because of all that's happened up to that point- Catra's overwhelming guilt.

She felt responsible for everything up to that point, more than the other two possibly could combined. She was supposed to be the magnificent She-Ra, the symbol of Hope for the Rebellion, the one leading the charge, saving the day, and all that cheesy stuff that came with it, and she felt like nothing other than a complete failure. She was incapable of acknowledging her own successes throughout the day and focused solely on all the bad parts of it leading up to the present. To her, she should've been able to save everyone with the power of She-Ra. She should've been the one to charge the Fright Zone to save the very people she now considered friends.

She felt like she was nothing by the end of all of this. She kept thinking back to how wonderful everything would play out if Adora was leading them through this, knowing how flawless the perfect student, the very one she always found herself left in the dust by, would come in to save the day. She would've figured out a way to save everyone, she wouldn't have needed saving constantly like Catra did. She wished she was more like with each passing minute since her personal revelation, feeling like the Rebellion deserved better than her.

After much deliberation, she set out to make a change. Entering the Whispering Woods, she journeyed and traveled through the constantly changing landscape in search of this mighty structure, hoping to find some means to control her powers, to become a better She-Ra. She needed to find a way to change who she was, for her friends' sake. If she remained the same old Catra, she knew they would pay the price for it.

It was one of the many reasons she preferred not having friends. She didn't want to be burdened with the constant guilt she felt now or the pain the loss of someone like Entrapta brought. She wasn't that close to her as she was with Glimmer and Bow and she still found it painful. She almost wished she never felt as close to those two as she did now for those very reasons, yet was unable to think about them the way she used to as mere "allies".

She needed to change, one way or another. And she knew this place was capable of fixing all of that.

At the same time, she was unaware that she was being followed by her closest friend, Adora, being too focused on the task at hand and unable to pick up her scent or her sound with the mysterious Whispering Woods' capability of messing with her senses.

The Force Captain was in a bind as much as Catra did. Following her unintended assistance in Catra's and Glimmer's escape, along with her reclaiming her sword, Adora was sentenced by Lord Hordak himself to atone for her transgressions. She was given a single week to find a way to contribute something of equal or greater value than what she lost, meaning she needed to find something worth as much as one prisoner, one princess, and one ancient sword of the First Ones' that she ended up losing.

Suffice to say, that was easier said than done.

In some respects, Lord Hordak gave her a near-impossible task with the amount of time she had. It wasn't simply a matter of her losing the sword and the princess. What Adora did may have very well costed them the war itself, having lost one of the greatest bargaining chips the Horde has ever known. It was only due to her previous contributions to the Horde and the loss of morale her removal would've costed them that he decided to show any leniency at all, something Adora was very thankful for as well as troubled.

She wanted to atone for her mistake even if she wasn't sentenced for it. Not just for the Horde, but for herself. She felt hurt and betrayed after Catra manipulated her to steal the sword and the princess from her at the same time. Why did she allow let her guard down like that? Why did she clear the path for them to escape in the first place at all? More importantly, why did Catra refuse her offer to return to the Horde?

All of these questions plagued her mind along with another concern that was brought up at the end of her judgement. Not two minutes after her sentence did she find Shadow Weaver providing her with an alternative, one that Adora was torn between committing. If she was to aid Shadow Weaver in removing Lord Hordak himself, not only would she be free of any judgement or punishment, she could also revoke the penalty that applied to all defectors, knowing Catra's fate if she was ever caught by the Horde again.

How was she supposed to know which task to choose from? If she went with Hordak then she needed to contribute something in atonement, and if she went with Shadow Weaver, she would be betraying the very icon of the Horde itself, the leader whose army took her in as an infant and raised her as one of their own. It wasn't allies that she would be betraying, it would a family in and of itself! The very people she worked alongside and grew up with!

When hope started to seem lost, a miracle occured in the form of a bubbly, energetic, and quirky scientist that went by the name of Entrapta. Taking pity on the girl, Adora decided to take her in and recruit her to the Horde. She felt sorry for the girl, knowing she was betrayed by her friends and left behind, seeing how they never bothered to return for her. Tempted by the offer to work alongside these marvelous machines and hurt by betrayal, Entrapta thanked Adora with the solution to her problems.

Using a data pad she kept on her person, among other things, she pinpointed and triangulated a position where Adora could find a motherlode of First Ones' technology, the first settlers of Etheria itself. There was no telling what might be in there, be they risk or reward! Despite the fact she needed a princess as well, Adora refused to hand Entrapta directly over to Hordak as compensation, knowing the harm it would bring her due to her involvement in the previous princess's escape, and set out to track down and return with caches of wonder and technology left by these supposed First Ones.

By the end of a long and tiresome trek through the woods, she finally came across the last two things she thought she'd ever see. The first one was a glowing light that revealed itself to be the source of the signal's energy reading, finding a large Beacon in the center of a clearing. The second thing she saw was possibly more shocking than the first.

Catra.

Ducking and weaving through the bushes, she tried to think. What was Catra doing here of all places? Was she on some mission to collect the First Ones' tech too? Or was she here for a different reason entirely? Whichever one it was mattered little to the betrayed friend. After being gone for so long and leaving Adora behind, she deserved the one thing she wanted second to bringing Catra back to the Horde.

Answers.

As she came upon the strange groove in the ground, Catra watched as a pink pillar-like symbol began to glow. With a glow between the lines and the many symbols, she watched in amazement as the floor in front of her descended into a staircase, waiting until it finally opened up to the lower floors before continuing onward.

Trailing far behind her, Adora crept up to the wondrous symbols in the ground. There was something familiar about these strange markings, whatever they were. She almost felt like she saw them before somewhere, wherever that was. She didn't have much time to process as she noticed the floor starting to raise itself up once more. Knowing time was of the essence, she quickly slid her way down the stairs, scraping her feet quietly to avoid Catra's hearing, and ducking through the last half of the ascension as the stairs had finally risen to the top. Looking back for a moment, she shook her head, then continued.

There was no going back now.

Up ahead Catra was examining the glowing markings in the ceilings and walls above her. She had to admit, for a bunch of old science nerds from a thousand years ago, they definitely knew how to give a rather interesting shine to a place like this. The violet glowing lines around her waved off and on in a wave, like the place itself was pulsating with life.

Coming up to the first of many rooms, Catra nearly flinched as everything brightened before her, the room giving off a beautiful array of colors and crystals as she started her way through again. Everything had a strange mix of feeling old and futuristic all at the same time to her. Nearing the center of the room, she examined what looked like an altar-like platform leading up to a throne. Half a dozen crystals of different sizes lined up all around the center, continuing to give off that old-yet-new atmosphere to her.

Making her way to the top of the three-foot ascension, her ears twitched as she looked around, tail casually wagging behind her as she tried to pick up on anything. "Hello?" Her voice echoed out around her. "First Ones? Anyone?" Unable to get a response, she pulled out her sword to see what would work. "I got your sword! I need training. One of my friends are in trouble." She grimaced at the lack of response out of that. It didn't look like she was going to be able to play the same sympathy cards like in the woods.

As she called out, Adora continued to creep her way around her, watching her and observing with every shout. Moving in-between her shouts to drown out her footsteps, she took in the magnificent view of the citadel with actual wonder.

Just look at this place! She smiled. This place is amazing!

She never knew there was anything this beautiful within the Whispering Woods, much less one belonging to a millennia-old civilization. If she brought all of this back, there was no end to the amount of contributions and promotions this would entitle her to. She could possibly run her own division of the Horde, maybe like a Diplomacy Wing of the Fright Zone? There was no way nothing in here couldn't benefit the Horde without causing utter chaos and destruction to the innocents.

"Greetings."

"Jeez-!" Catra nearly jumped as the voice spoke behind her. Turning around, she was staring face to face with a familiar hologram. Not quite like the first one she met, it looked more like the other one she met when she was being chased into a cave with Bow and Glimmer.

"Hello Administrator." It greeted. "What is your query."

"Finally some help around here." She mumbled. "I need your help. One of my friends is sick or something, I don't know. I just know that magic was involved. I need your help to save her." She examined the sword in her hands as she held it out in front of her. "People say She-Ra was supposed to be able to preform great miracles of magic or whatever. I just need to know how to heal someone, that's it. So... can you help me out?"

"What is your query?"

"Ugh..." Catra groaned, facepalming. "You're going to make this a long day, aren't you?"

"...What is your query?" Translation: Yes.

"Look, Lady, I had a long day and that was before coming here, I don't need one now!" She waved her hand over the holographic image, trying to see if it could get any sort of response out of her. When that didn't work, she took another look at her sword, watching the small flash as it's center glowed. With little else to try at the moment, and assuming the smashing the machine was a bad idea, she decided to opt for Plan B.

Raising her sword to the sky, unaware as Adora kept watching, she called out. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"...Ok you are one Honor of Grayskull away from me dropping you into a volcano, you know that?" Catra threatened as she looked at her overly irritating sword.

It didn't surprise her anymore. If it did, she swore she would've been throwing herself over a volcano instead due to the sheer annoyance of the situation. The sword, once again, didn't work. It was becoming less surprising these days and something more of a nuisance.

It didn't work when she wanted it to, it didn't work when she needed it to, it didn't do squat. Sometimes she started to wonder if the sword actually was live or not because that would explain its lack of compliance after everything she said about it. She would gladly apologize to the sword in any way it wanted her to if she knew if it was alive or not. She got done talking to trees awhile ago that were definitely alive.

She drew her lines at apologizing to inanimate objects.

With Glimmer's previous idea given, she chalked it up to the sword being on cooldown again. As to how or why the first ones invented a weapon that could transform her once a day, she would never know. All she did know was that it left an annoyance in her mind she couldn't process.

Knowing it wasn't going to lead her anywhere, after sighing, she made her way over closer to the hologram itself as she tried to think of what to do. "Look, I don't know what else to tell you." She glanced over the control module itself that the hologram was coming out of. "Is there some password I need? Eternia? Etheria?" There was one she was missing, she was sure of it. "Who was that first lady again? Um..." She rubbed her temples to soothe any growing frustrations.

"It was something-Hope. Um... White... Bright... Li- Light!" Her face flashed with a grin as she remembered. "Light Hope! I'm looking for Light Hope! Is she here?" The brief pause of silence coming from the hologram was a good sign. With every other question she asked being returned with the same response, the lack of reply in this scenario was giving Catra something to hope for.

Light Hope was the strangest person she's met on her travels, and that was saying a lot. Being some mysterious entity she met after connecting with the sword the first time, Catra had yet to figure out who exactly Light Hope was. Was she one of these First Ones this place belonged to? Was she possibly in the sword itself? With the advanced technology she's seen this race had left behind, she wouldn't put it passed her.

Adora rolled her eyes at the situation, a little bit concerned over her seemingly-confused friend. She wasn't bothered so much by the fact the sword wasn't working or doing whatever Catra wanted it to do. What did bother her this time around was why she continued to mess with that sword if she wasn't under the princesses' spell or brainwashed? Was the sword the one actually making her brainwashed? Did it control her?

After the last couple months of confusion and worry, she pushed away those crazy thoughts. From what she could finally understand, Catra was in full control of herself. Nobody could betray someone else like she did to Adora and make her feel as terrible as a result.

Figuring Catra was distracted enough talking to the hologram, she decided to examine the rest of this place. This unfamiliar place was giving her a sense of peace for some reason, one that made her feel partly at home. The walls were pristine and the clean floors gave her a sense that this place was well maintained, even after all the years that had past. If anyone ran this place they definitely did a great job at their work.

"Identification not recognized." The hologram said back to Catra, finally responding to the magicat. "Please present Identification."

"I'm Cat... I'm She-Ra. SHE. RA." Catra took her time in answering back. If any name was going to be recognized around here, she was going to need to provide one she heard a thousand times over. "Looking for Light. Hope. Respond!"

"...Please hold for Identification Processing." The hologram requested.

Catra didn't even have time to think of what she meant as the floor around her suddenly came to life. All around the center surrounding her, there was a harmless red light, one that stretched to the size of a wall, that appeared as if it was a giant net. From one end of the center to the other, she watched, cautiously, as the wall crossed from one side of the platform to the other. She swore she could almost feel a tingling sensation around her skin as it passed her, as if it was brushing over the small amount of fur that covered her.

She almost started to think it plucked a hair or two off her skin as it did so, as if scanning her DNA.

During her period of distraction, Adora's investigation happened upon a glorious object. It was a jewel-like object displayed at the tip of a large pedestal. Judging from the many symbols and icons she discovered around it, seeing how the lines throughout this entire complex seemed to originate from this one spot, it must have been some sort of great powersource for the citadel. Returning anything of this size for Entrapta to study and duplicate would surely advanced the war efforts!

It was as she was reaching for the device that the scanner surrounding Catra had finally come to an end, the red wall of light slowly diminishing as it reached the control module again. After a momentary silence, the hologram began to glow red, as if an anger was radiating off the machine itself.

"WARNING! WARNING! INVALID USER DETECTED! INVALID USER DETECTED." The hologram's voice rang throughout the room as the entire complex began to fill with an eerie red glow.

"Invalid user?" Catra questioned raising a brow. "What are you talking about? I'm She-Ra! SHE-RA!" It was around the same time Adora had plucked the device from the machine, nearly jumping herself as her surroundings emanated with an angry red glow, causing her to back away nervously as she pocketed the item. She was unaware of how loud she was stepping backwards or how close she was getting as Catra's hearing and smells started to pick up, shooting a look back to her in surprise. "Adora?"

Turning around, Adora's own eyes widened in surprise that she had been caught, her friend looking back to her with mixed stare between confusion and accusation. Switching between Adora to where the hologram used to be, everything slowly started to dawn upon Catra as she realized what happened. "Aodra, you messed up the scanner!"

"I did?" Catra ran over to her friend as the girl questioned her. She truly didn't know as she wasn't paying attention to what Catra was doing, only checking on her to ensure she was distracted from time to time while she excavated the room.

*THUD*

The girls were drawn to the sound of a large metal doors that began closing around them, blocking off the various routes and exits of the room in a clockwise time being of the essence, containing the annoyance building up at her from this recent interruption, Catra grabbed Adora's wrist as she pulled her along. "Come on! We need to get out of here before the whole place locks down!"

She remembered the first and last time she was in one of these rooms when the lockdown initiated with Bow and Glimmer. The stupid hologram back then didn't answer any of her questions despite being She-Ra either for some reason, and the entire cave started to collapse in on itself soon after. At times she wondered if she would still be standing here today if Glimmer hadn't teleported them out of the first cave or if she would still be clawing her way out of the rubble to this day, assuming she survived.

Adora never wanted to apologize for everything around her as she did now. If she messed up something from grabbing the stupid artifact then you'd think the people who built this place would've left some warning label lying around! Or if they did you'd still think they'd make it harder to steal from one of their numerous devices. Whoever's fault it was remained anonymous between the two friends as they ran their way across the room, trying to reach one of the many hallways that haven't closed.

As they did, there was strange scraping noise the two could pick up on coming from one of the darkened hallways. "What is that?" Adora's question was met with the high-pitched screeching sound of several mysterious creatures, ones whose eyes glowed red as they made themselves known.

Stepping out of the darkness, Adora and Catra found themselves coming face to face with a handful of spider-like mechanoids that seeped out of the darkness. The creatures' menacing red eyes were enough to terrify the both of them, and the sheer amount of them were enough to tell them they were both outnumbered.

"What are those things?!" Adora asked backing away, running with Catra as the girl chased after her.

"Trust me, they weren't around last time!" Catra yelled back, trying to keep pace with the girl as she took the lead.

The sight of the doors closing around them started to fill the two of them with dread. They didn't know what was going on and they were convinced if the room blackened then they would be surrounded by those horrifying bug creatures in an instant. Seeing the door ahead of them starting to close, Adora knew she had to act fact.

Digging through her jacket, she wasted no time as she tied the head band around herself, Catra watching all the same as the shadows surrounding the place started pouring into her own shadow under her feet. With the darkness pooling around her and strengthening her, Adora's speed nearly tripled as she ran her way across to one of the closing doors. Forming a pair of the gargantuan shadow arms on each side, Adora rushed over as she grabbed under the door itself, leaving just enough space for her fingers to slide under, letting out a growl as she slowly started to lift the door up to her shoulder.

"Ggghhhhh... Come on!" She grunted to Catra, trying to keep the door held in place. Her shadows empowered her enough to lift this nearly half-ton door, but even they took a moment to fully kick into place. With the spiders gaining behind her, Catra quickly slid underneath her, Adora quickly lifting the door high enough until she could throw herself under the door, letting it slam behind her, and narrowly avoiding the pincers and claws that pierced through it.

No sooner had the two made their way to the hallway did the lights behind them start dying one by one, the darkness creeping closer to them as every light turned off with a loud bam. Every second after the lights shut off were the two of them greeted by more groups of angry red eyes, hearing the loud screeching sound of the predators they were being hunted by. It only took the appearance of one head through the darkness to convince the two to run away.

"What the heck is going on?" Adora shouted nonchalant as she ran. With the headband endowing her with power, she forced her emotions to remain enclosed as she always did. "What are those things, Catra?"

"You think if I knew I'd be running rather than fighting them?" Catra yelled back. "Far as I know, you messed something up when you were in the room! They probably think you're an intruder!"

"Then why are they chasing you?"

"I don't know! Did you mess with anything while you were in there?"

Adora's shifting eyes already told her the answer without her saying anything. "Um... possibly."

"Adora-!" Any shouts of anger at whatever mistakes she's made were interrupted as the lights ahead of them started to fail, the darkness approaching them from the front. It didn't matter if the spiders were up ahead or not, they wouldn't be able to make their way through it with the ones still chasing after them.

'This way!" Adora said, pulling Catra's arm along as the two cut down a narrow hallway. The hallway definitely gave the two some breathing room as the walls were closer together, but their trail of fortune came to an abrupt end when the duo ran into a dead end, coming across a completely closed exit point with no means of opening it.

"Great..." Catra turned around as she stared down the incoming swarm. If she kept her calm, she might be able to fight them off, provided the cramped spaces forced them to come in one by one. The problem was not knowing how many of them were still coming and how many of them were already after them.

Regardless, she still had a friend to protect, even if she was on the wrong side. Drawing her sword, she stood her ground between Adora and the incoming spiders, ready to make a last stand if she had to. "Don't worry, I've got this." Her assurance wasn't as convincing to herself as it was to Adora. There was no telling how long she actually had this and how long the two of them had until another unexpected surprise dropped in on them.

That was when she felt a tug around her waist, looking as a tentacle wrapped around her stomach, pulling her behind Adora as the Force Captain stepped forth in front of her. "No, I got this!" With a roar, Adora screamed as she materialized a gigantic shadowy blade over her right arm, staring down the creatures without any sense of fear in her eyes, not that Catra could see at the moment. With one fell swipe, she watched as Adora crashed the giant blade over the ceiling itself, causing the hallway to collapse in on itself and crushing one of the giant spiders in it's wake.

It wasn't a celebration that lasted forever though as the ceiling continued to cave in. She might've been able to prevent the rocks from crushing her if she had her She-Ra form working, but, like every occasion, it was't going to work anytime soon. It was only thanks to Adora's involvement, finding her wrapping her arm around Catra, that the two were saved.

With another growl to the open air, Catra watched as an entire dome of darkness grew over the two of them, reaching just above Adora's head as the rocks came tumbling down. They could feel the vibrations as the rocks crashed around them, Catra doing everything she could to push the shadowy dome above them in order to help keep the two of them from being crushed. There was no way to tell how durable Adora's shadows truly were when enough weight was applied to them, and this was less than the idea location to find out.

Salvation finally came after a few more seconds had passed, feeling the last of the rumbling rocks knocking against the sturdy dome with a minor crackle. Giving it a bit just in case, Adora slowly eased the dome away as the two of them pulled themselves out of the shattered hallway. Their lungs were assaulted by a cloud of thick dust as the debris settled around them, the friends leaning themselves against the wall as they tried to catch their breath.

"Ack! Ough!" The magicat coughed, turning her head over to her friend that saved them.

If she was trying to be little miss perfect again she couldn't tell, because the girl barely gave a puff as the dust settled around them, Adora stretching her back as the shadows receded around her. With a sigh, the girl pulled the headband from her head, effortlessly and without the pain that used to follow after enough exposure to the dreaded band. With her emotions returning and her mind cleared, she looked over to her long lost friend with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Catra rubbed her throat as she let out another cough. "I-I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry."

"Good."

*WHAP!*

"Ow!" Catra yelped, rubbing her hand-printed left cheek sorely. "What was that for?"

"That was for leaving me in the Horde, you jerk!" Adora yelled, still angered by her friend's betrayal.

"Which time? The one two days ago or several months ago?"

"...Oh yeah..."

*WHAP!"

"Ow!" If both her cheeks weren't already printed on, Catra would've gladly slapped herself out of stupidity. "Stop that!"

"That was for both times." Her anger was understandable, Catra still in shock at her own actions of betrayal after all that's happened. She manipulated her. Used her. A slap on the face was the least Catra deserved, twice debating, after all the time apart they've spent away from each other. They haven't talked to each other, every time they do see each other it's in the middle of a mission, and there's been so much confusion on each other's end that neither of them truly knew the other anymore.

It didn't mean she wouldn't get payback though.

"Oh, you wanna play it that way?"

*swiff*

"Wha- Hey!" Adora yelled as she tried grabbing at her headband that was swiped out of her hands. Catra had enough common sense to keep it out of arms reach of her, pushing her away with her other arm as she did. "Give that back!"

"Not until we get out of here, Adora." Catra informed, stuffing the headband into the collar of her vest. "We have a lot to talk about, starting with you."

"What? Starting with me?"

"Yes, you! And there's no way you're getting this until we're done."

"That's not fair! What if those bug things attack us again?"

"Then I'll keep us safe! I have the sword, remember?"

"And if you get jumped? I have a stun baton half the size of my arm to defend myself with, and you have..." Adora shot her a strange expression as she looked to the ground. "...Are you wearing shoes?"

"Huh?" Checking her own feet, she was rather surprised. After everything that's happened, with all the stress built up throughout the castle and the guilt she's been ridden with before leaving, she completely forgot about the leather soles around her feet, the very ones she wore inside of the castle, instead of the outside, to avoid tearing up the rugs and carpeting within it. "Oh, forgot about those. Technically they're combat boots, but that doesn't matter right now. We need to get out of here while we can, Adora, before more of those things show up. And I'm keeping this until we get out of here, got it?"

"Uh, how about an alternative? You keep the band, I go home where we belong, and Shadow Weaver makes me a new one!" Adora retorted as she glared.

At the suggestion, Catra gave her an almost questionable smirk, planting her right hand against her side as she looked behind Adora. "Really? You're going to go back that way?" Taking a look in the same direction, Adora's plans were shattered as well as her expression as she saw what was before her.

An entire hallway, completely filled, to the brim, with piles of rubble and debris. The very ones she caused trying to fight off the spider swarm and save Catra while doing it. Without her head band those rocks would've taken forever to remove, and that was provided she didn't have to deal with any more rocks continuing to fall atop of her while doing it. Add to the fact that there were possibly spiders on the other side, there was no way she was going home that way.

"...Ugggh..." Groaning to everyone and everything around her, Adora stomped her way down the hallway as Catra followed behind her. "I'm not talking to you right now."

"Well, too bad, cause I'm talking to you." Catra threw her hands behind her head casually as they walked. "What are you doing here in the first place?"

"Oh you know, just trying to save my own skin after you BETRAYED ME for like the hundredth time by now." Adora grumbled crossing her arms.

"What do you mean you're trying to save yourself?"

"Gee, I wonder? If you'd like to know, I'll keep it short for you! After you guys left I was going to be punished by Lord Hordak since I aided in your escape."

"You... got punished because you helped us?" Catra's ears drooped with a twinge of guilt in her eyes as she shifted them off to the side.

"I was going to be punished, if it wasn't for one of the few friends I have left having my back." Catra could see the small bit of pain in Adora's face as she turned her head a little. "What did you think was going to happen to me after you left me behind, Catra? Do you think anyone was happy I helped you escape, and you stole the sword?"

"Oh... Y-Yeah..." There wasn't much else she could say to that. She was so paranoid and frantic when the situation occurred that she didn't even consider what would happen to Adora as a result. "I'm sorry..." She couldn't tell if Adora accepted her apology as she turned her head away again, keeping her face from being seen. She was unaware of the increased pain on her face as she appeared to be thinking to herself.

"B-But I had no choice, Adora. The Rebellion needs the sword, and I can't turn into She-Ra without it. And Pinky looked like she was-"

"Who's Pinky?"

"Glimmer, whatever. My point is, she looked like she was going to die, and I needed to get her out of there as soon as I could!"

"I already told you she could leave if you wanted her to, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, but she could barely run at the time. Even if you did let her go, there was no way she was going to make it on her own with everyone else chasing after her! Do you realize how much pain she was in after you tortured her?"

"..." Did that get through to her now? Catra has no idea what state of mind Adora has these days.

Ever since she left the only thing she did know was that she spent ore of her time alone with Shadow Weaver, and that spelled trouble in a variety of ways. There was no telling what sort of lies she was told, no end to the manipulations that were pulled to bring Adora closer to her side. To take the caring, fun-loving, person Catra knew Adora to be, even if she was too nice for her own good, there was no end to the possibilities that drove her to commit such a terrible act.

"I..." Adora paused in the hallway, giving Catra a chance to see the pain in her eyes as she lowered her head. "I was just trying to save you... Catra." Catra's own heart struck a chord of guilt as Adora looked into her eyes, sadly. "You were gone for so long, and with the Princesses of all people. I thought they tortured you to the point of brainwashing, I thought they did unspeakable things to you, and I... I was so angry... and afraid..."

"Adora-"

"And I know it was wrong, okay?" She continued, cutting her off. "I didn't want to do it. I asked her to tell me a single question repeatedly, and she wouldn't budge. I thought she was resisting. I didn't think she actually didn't do anything."

"I told you repeatedly Adora, I wasn't being brainwashed."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure a lot of brainwashed people would say the same thing." The girl thought through every possibility and explanation behind Catra's brainwashing. "How was I supposed to believe you over Shadow Weaver, anyway? She gave me proof, she was the only one trying to help you, and I checked everything myself. She was the only one who stayed by my side after you left, Catra. How was I supposed to not believe her?"

"Mmh..." Shadow Weaver continued to be a pain in Catra's side even when she wasn't anywhere near them. Obviously Shadow Weaver would have the answers to everything, track down every piece of evidence she did and didn't need to make her plans follow through. That's the way Shadow Weaver worked, by making sure every eventuality and probability was accounted for, no matter the cost or those who suffered for it. "Then why did you give me the chance to leave if I wanted to? Why did you open the path for me and Glimmer to escape through?"

"Because we're friends, Catra. We have each others' backs." The resolve behind her statement left no room for doubt to Catra. "And even when it hurts, we always will be." With that, she continued on ahead in the hallway, leaving Catra with a new assortment of thoughts and regret.

Despite being on opposite sides of the war here, she still considered Catra the dear friend she could always count on, and after everything Catra's done to make her unintentionally suffer, too. From the moment Catra first ran off into the woods by herself to this very moment, Adora was still thinking about her and the bond these two shared. It was one of the many reasons Catra considered her the best of her friends.

She stood by Catra regardless of whatever trouble they got in and if it meant she would suffer to. From standing up to her after she defected to trying to do all she could possibly do to keep Catra alive and well, she always had her back. She was the very definition of what a true friend should be, and what did Catra have to offer in turn?

Zilch.

...

The journey through the halls provided a wide array of various wonders, from it's architectural designs to it's seemingly impossible landscapes. They passed by beautiful hallways of colors and designs, from waterfalls against the walls, to a pathway over a great gorge of color. Nothing like this had ever been seen in Etheria, at least not by Catra and Adora.

The two remained silent for the rest of the way through, keeping to themselves and their own thoughts as they tried to think of what to say to each other, conveniently sharing the same thoughts every now and then.

Should either of them use the opportunity to convince the other back to their side? Whenever they did, it would start a long chain of arguments between the two that would usually result in a physical or verbal fight between the two, and ending with the two of them going their separate ways again. And somehow, they always left on a worse note than when they began whatever conversation they had between themselves.

Maybe they should try to apologize to each other, but to what end? Catra left the Horde, and Adora's been defending her since day one. Adora almost killed Catra and Catra's been trying to assure her that she forgives her. Adora manipulated Catra at the Princess Prom, leading to her capturing Glimmer, Bow, and the Sword of Protection. And Catra took advantage of Adora's kindness when she offered to let them leave in order to get Glimmer and the sword back, choosing a third option that Adora hadn't counted on.

They were great to each other and horrible to each other, and the strain it was putting on their friendship was noticeable. They still considered each other the best of friends, naturally, but there was a small gap forming between them, one that neither of them wanted to break. And it lead to the both of them asking themselves what they could do to fix it.

It also left Catra with a new assortment of feelings she didn't know how to process. After all the time she spent bonding with Glimmer and Bow, she felt a new array of different emotions she wasn't used to, or if she did not ones she recognized anymore. How was Adora feeling? How was she forgiving Catra to the point of seeing her as a friend still? Questions like this swarmed her mind without any answers, creating a vortex of guilt and despair.

Adora's own thoughts weren't much better. She's fought for Catra's commitment to the Horde, she wouldn't allow anyone to talk down about her friend as long as she was around, and now she's finding out Catra may have truly defected to the Horde intentionally? Why? What did the Rebellion have to offer her that the Horde couldn't? She could gain notoriety and fortune from her accomplishments, nobody would look down on her with enough hard work, and there were the bonds she's made with her fellow allies.

It didn't matter if they didn't consider her as much of a friend as Adora did. She knew they still held high esteem and respect for her best friend. And, to Adora, that should be what counts the most!

After a near hour of silence between the two, did they finally come towards the end of the long pathway, coming to another dead end. Almost instantly, Catra recognized the door as the two approached, having the strange symbols and markings on the door as the previous one.

"Is this... a door?" Adora wondered before watching Catra approaching it. She watched as her curious friend placed her hand against the door, as if she knew what to do.

"Eternia!" With a resounding voice, and a glow emanating from her palm, the door came to life as it separated along the doorway, clearing the path for them. The small smile she had was dashed away as she turned back, noticing the just-as-curious gaze of her blonde-haired friend. "Don't ask. Long story." She brushed the future questions off as she continued on ahead, Adora questioning what she witnessed as she followed behind her.

First she defects to the Rebellion after finding some long lost sword in the forest, becomes one of their more troublesome soldiers that have countered a handful of campaigns the Horde have launched against them, and now she knows how to interact with ancient technology created by the First Ones without any natural way of doing so. What else had changed about her friend that she didn't know about?

Stepping into the darkness, Catra pulled out her sword as she used the bluish glow from it's gem to light the way around them. The darkness around them was similar to that of the lockdown systems of the prison cells, the one that were made specifically for humanoid creatures that could see in the dark. Being surrounded by perpetually endless darkness was one of the greatest fears to most people, and Catra would be lying if she said the pitch blackness didn't affect her after the events of that day.

Between her and the doorway they came out of, there wasn't much light at all in this place. There was no telling how massive the room was on the inside or if they were inside of any room to begin with given all the darkness. Adora felt like she could fall off the edge at any second if she took the wrong step and landed through a hole, or she could smack her face right into a wall without realizing it.

"What kind of room is this?" Adora asked, hoping her friend would have the answers like she always seemed to have for this place.

"The room of Infinite Darkness? How should I know?" The magicat answered, shrugging. "I've never been here before."

"And yet, you know how to open up ancient doorways that haven't been unearthed for thousands of years?" Adora smirked accusingly to her.

"Like I said, it's a long story. Let's just-" A look of fear and concern crossed her face as she saw passed Adora. "Where's the door?"

Turning around, the Force Captain was also struck with the same surprise and worry as Catra was. Behind them lied nothing. No noticeable walls, no exits, no doors that existed seconds ago, just nothing. Standing where they were now, they didn't have a clue as to which direction they even came from, both girls looking all around themselves as they tried to remember their pathway.

"Catra, please tell me you didn't get us stuck in some prison room or wherever those bugs came from.?"

"I-It's fine, I'm sure there's another way out." She wished she was as sure as she sounded at the moment because she didn't have the first clue as to where they were. Fortunately, any chance of panic rising up in either of them was dashed away as Catra turned back, noticing a glowing light at the other end of the darkness. "Wait, what's that?" Following the trail Catra walked, Adora noticed the same miniscule light that drew her attention.

It was small, practically barren within this eternal darkness. It didn't seem to rest on any sort of wall or hang from any sort of switch, it just... floated in place. Reaching the small pinkie-nail-sized spec of light, Catra kneeled in front of it as Adora looked over her shoulder, wondering if she should touch it after the disaster of the last thing Adora messed with.

"...What's-"

*BOOM*

"Ahh!" The two friends were blinded by a powerful burst of light that gave off a sonic boom with an echo, the explosion-like sound filling the darkened room as it reverberated off of every solid matter contained within. Closing her eyes from the blinding flash, the two were unaware as a wide yellow light began scanning the two where they stood, checking them from head to toe as it processed the information it needed for what happened next.

Slowly opening her eyes again, Catra found herself staring into the halls of the Fright Zone, the last place on Etheria she ever wished to be. It was something she found herself in common with at this point since she became She-Ra. Ever since she found this stupid sword, she's had vision after vision of this place, recalling the memories she's tried to repress in order to move on with her life. Nothing about her memories brought her any joy, only more suffering.

Sure enough, she was positive she was watching another memory as she saw her younger self casually walking down a hallway, looking about twelve years old at the time-

Something was wrong. A lot of things were wrong about this. One, whenever she had a vision, she wasn't on the outside looking in, all of her visions were from her direct point of view. Here, she saw her own two hands, feet, and self, as if she was truly there in person. Whatever she saw back then she saw now, and the only peace she had from this was the inability to feel anything physically she went through.

Two, her visions used to have a closer chronological memory to them. Her visions usually split between weeks to months apart from each other, and sometimes a couple days in-between. Right now, she was looking at her twelve year old self, with the typical casual attitude and uncaringness she usually had, and was certain of that seeing how she was about twice the size she knew herself to be the last time she had a vision.

Finally, the third problem came in the form of what she heard next.

"What's going on here?" The question nearly made Catra jump where she stood at the sound of the familiar voice. It wasn't anything uncommon to the young feline, having heard the voice all throughout her life. No, what troubled her was the fact she was hearing it right next to her, seeing the speaker right next to her.

There, Adora stood, watching in disbelief as she saw another Catra walking down the halls while the original one was still standing right beside her.

She was sharing in her vision.

...

A/N: Oooooooooh boy, here we go. We havent even gotten to the feely parts yet and I'm already terrified T_T... At least i'll have fun with the visions/memories I include myself ^^ and you guys will too!...until you all see what it amounts to...*gulp*

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 42: Episode 11: Promise Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: As you can imagine, had quite a bit of fun with this one as we got our first two memory flashbacks in this episode ^^ Might be a little rushed towards the end but did it to the best of my ability with the last 3k words i needed within an hour.

Hoping everyone is enjoying the episode so far as the emotions continue to torture- I mean fill you with all sorts of lovey dovey feelings that will in no way end in a horrific tragedy ^^.......O_O............

ENJOY!

...

"What kind of game are you playing here, Catra?" Adora interrogated as she pressed her against the wall.

"Whoa, easy!" Catra threw her hands up defensively. "What makes you think I know what's going on?"

"Well, let's see. You appear to know more about this place than I do, you know I did something to trigger that alarm earlier, and this entire place lit up after you said something to that glowing dot, so you tell me." That was a general way to describe the events of the last hour.

This might've been the craziest start to any of Catra's adventures, and given all that's happened up till now, that was saying a lot.

Upon arrival, Catra was instantly taken in with this place as she explored the narrow hallways and the grand rooms. She had a set goal in mind in order to find some way to get some training to control her She-Ra powers, in the hopes of finding a way to heal Glimmer from her glitching malfunction, as well as possibly find some answers behind everything that's happened.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, she was being trailed by a dear friend known as Adora, Force Captain of the Horde, and the one who's always been by her side no matter how far apart they were. She was here with her own set of goals, under the lines of trying to find something here to bring back to the Horde to make amends for assisting in the princess's escape as well as, unintentionally, allowing Catra to reclaim her sword. She needed to find something of equal or greater value to make amends within a week, or she would have to face Lord Hordak's judgement for her failures.

After entering the great chambers of the citadel, Catra was greeted by another hologram at the center of the magnificent room. Despite her constant attempts at questioning the holographic being and trying to get some answers around here, the person within the hologram met every question with another question, incapable of processing any of Catra's inquiries for some reason. During the same time, Adora explored the room in the hopes of finding some great relic to return to the Horde.

After bantering with the strange hologram for a few minutes, she found herself being scanned by the control module the hologram derived from, right as Adora came across a small device seated within a pedestal, one that appeared to be powering the entire complex. Thinking nothing of it, she apprehended the device right as Catra's scanning had came to an end.

And that's when everything started to go bad.

No sooner had the timely events played out, the entire citadel initiated a lock down procedure, one that Catra was rather accustomed to during the first day of her new life. As opposed to simply locking the doors in on them like the previous one did, this one had the misfortune of coming prepared with terrifying mechanical spider-like creatures that descended from the darkened hallways, giving chase to the duo who tried to escape.

With some effort, the two managed to cut themselves off from the creatures after caving in one of the narrow hallways. With their path cut off and the creatures gathering on the other side, the two were forced to band together as they traveled the mysterious ruins of the First Ones, their past mistakes weighing heavily on each other's minds for what little time they tried to talk to one another in the narrow path.

Eventually, the two found themselves in a darkened room with their only entryway closed off, enclosing them in perfect darkness. From there, the rest became history as, no sooner had that happened, they came upon a strange light that somehow transported them back to the Fright Zone. At first thinking it was just another one of her conveniently timed visions haunting her again, Catra quickly became aware that this vision, if she could even call it that by now, was being shared with Adora as well, the two of them finding themselves where they now stood.

"Do you think I'd be refusing to answer you if I knew what was going on?" Catra retorted. "How do I know this isn't yours or Shadow Weaver's doing?"

"Why would I be asking you this if I knew Shadow Weaver had anything to do with it? And," Adora paused as she looked back down the hallway, "why is there another you over there?"

That was the very crux of the matter and the confusion that swarmed the two girls. Not only did the two find themselves back in the Fright Zone, but for whatever reason, there was now another Catra casually walking down the hallway, this one appearing to be about twelve years old at the time.

"I don't know?" Catra shrugged, brushing Adora off her. "Why don't we ask?" Catra's suggestion was met with no resistance on Adora's end, the blonde teenager wanting to understand as much as Catra did at that moment. With an uneasy wave, Catra greeted the younger self as she approached. "Hey, faker, I want to know-"

*zzz*

"Huh?" Both of the two girls were caught off guard at that. Instead of responding in any sort of way to Catra's call or deciding to ignore and walk around her, the mysterious Catra, instead, walked right through her, giving off an electrical sparkling sound as it zoned out for a bit, and materialized wholly a few seconds after.

Checking around the area more closely, Adora noticed as other parts of the hallway had a small distorted configuration to them every couple of seconds, glitching a bit as the Catra copy did. "Catra, I think this is-"

"Fake." Catra finished. It was clear as day as the answers stood right in front of them and surrounded them on all sides. From the glitching walls to the non-transparent hologram that walked right through her, nothing within this place was real, save for a few walls neither of the two could pass through, Catra testing the nearby wall in order to find out. "All of it's fake."

"But then... why is there another you-"

*thud*

"Ow!" The twelve-year-old Catra yelped as she felt something collide into her right knee.

"Oww..." Looking back to the assaulter, Catra showed little concern for the young four-year-old girl who was rubbing her forehead.

"Watch where you're going, you little brat!" She hissed.

"Mmmhhh..." Unsurprisingly, the little bout of anger coming from the shouting magicat was enough to already send the little girl into tears, water creeping on the edges of her eyes as she sniffled.

"Catra!" The voice of the caller already sent worry down Catra's spine as she drooped, shifting her eyes off to the side as an irritated Adora came marching down the hallways. "That's no way to treat a kid!"

"S... Sorry..." She mumble uncaringly, rolling her eyes as Adora came up to the young girl, kneeling in front of her. "But she started it!"

Ignoring the accuser, Adora gave a comforting smile to the young girl as she stroked her head softly. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, watching the little girl sniffling in front of her as gave a small nod. "Now, why were you running down the hallways? You know there's people-" Inspecting the girl closer, she noticed a bluish mark on the top of her forehead, putting the evidence together as she gave a stern glare back to her friend. "Catra, you didn't have to hit this girl!"

"What? I didn't touch the brat! She's the one that ran into me, remember?"

"Then how did-"

"Hey, you!" The three turned their attention down the hallway as they saw one of the patrol guards speeding up their way on foot. Seeing the masked guard, the little girl gave out a small shriek of fear as she jumped back to her feet, hugging onto the nice blonde lady for dear life. "There you are!"

"What's going on here?" Adora asked as she lifted the girl in her arms, the small child burying her face into Adora's shoulder for protection.

"This little pipsqueak drew all over the walls down the hallways outside of the children's room! She covered the entire hallway from left to right in black marker!" He explained angrily.

"So that gives you the right to hit a child?" Adora yelled back defensively, patting the little girl's back. She didn't care if she only came up to three-fourths of the guard's height. She wasn't going to sit back and let someone hit a girl like this for no reason.

"It's called discipline! And I only did it because she kicked me in the shin after trying to get her to clean it up for ten straight minutes!"

"So what? That doesn't mean you hit a kid who's a fourth of your size!" She gave another warm smile as she leaned the girl over a little so she could get a better look at her teary face. "Hey, what's your name?"

"A-Ami." The girl sniffled as she cried, trying to wipe her tears in her sleeves.

"Ami, huh? That's a pretty name." Catra never found herself wanting to hurl as badly as she did now. It was just like Adora to stick her nose into other peoples' problems, even when they didn't concern her. Patting the girl's head, she continued, "Now Ami, you know what you did was wrong, right?"

"Uh-huh..." She sniffled again.

"These guards work every day around here, and they can't be distracted by people drawing pictures on the walls. They have very important jobs here by keeping us safe."

"B-But we don't have mush construction paper around here ta draw on." She lisped.

"Oh, really?" She gave a playful look of surprise as she set the girl on her feet, taking her hand. "Then how about I help you find some more paper to play with after we both go clean that wall, okay? And after that, I'll sneak you in a cookie if you don't tell the guard!" She said purposely out loud, eliciting a small giggle out of the little girl.

"M'kay!" The chipper four year old nodded as Adora lead the two of them down the hallway, intending to assist the young girl in cleaning her mischief. The guard shook his head at the disgusting display. Signs of affection and comfort went on to make people weak, not stronger. She would've berated the older girl for giving the younger one any sign of positive attention like that after what she did if it wasn't for the fact she fixed his problems for him.

That was when he found himself getting tackled to the ground, finding an aggressive-looking magicat glaring at him with her claws stretched out.

"If you touch that girl ever again, I'll make sure you have to walk in crutches for the next month!" She threatened.

"...Really...?" There was no hint of fear in the guard's voice as he raised an eyebrow behind his mask. With little to no effort, the guard quickly flipped the kid off him grabbed hold of the back of her shirt's collar, and pinned her against the wall, pinning her neck with one arm as he pulled out his stun baton in the other.

"Agh!" Catra grumbled, trying to break free of the guard's grip. It wasn't too surprising to see the young magicat had a severe disadvantage against the full-grown adult figure, seeing how she barely came up to his chest at her height.

"Did you know I can throw you in the hole for a day and beat you for attacking and threatening a guard?" He sneered. "At your age, there aren't any regulations about how physical I can get about it either!"

"Ngh... yeah, but Adora might not like it." She smirked back, earning a look of confusion from the older male.

"Adora?"

"Yeah, you know? The blonde girl over there? The one who helped that kid?... Shadow Weaver's favorite?"

"Y-You wouldn't..." She took great joy at the sound of his fear rising out of his throat.

"All I have to do is say one little word to Adora, then she'll say something to Shadow Weaver, and then I doubt she'll have anything to say to you, if you catch my meaning..." At this, the guard dropped the magicat as he backed away from her, trembling a little.

Every guard within the Fright Zone knew of Shadow Weaver, and the girl she treasured out of all the children that grew up here by the name of Adora. Everyone feared what would happen if they ever laid a hand on the young girl, with some of those unfortunate or uninformed enough to have gone missing after enticing Shadow Weaver's wrath. There was one child they never wanted to mess with within the Fright Zone, and her name was Adora.

"So," Catra said with a smug grin, "why don't you pick yourself up like a good little soldier, make your way down the halls, and continue on with your life before I start to get bored?"

"Ghhhh..." The guard was smart enough not to smack the girl right then and there, opting to take the obvious advice with less dignity than he previously had, and shaking his head down the way.

Watching the guard continuing to sulk his way down the hallways like that filled Catra with a typical sense of pride, one she was used to whenever she had Adora as one of her friends. With her around, life was easier within the Horde. People didn't backtalk to her these days, guards were less inclined to hit her whenever her friend was around, and everyone let Catra have her way, or at least say what she wanted to, without a second thought.

With that, Catra let out a taunting hum to herself, feeling accomplished, as she turned around to walk back.

Coming face to face with a smirking Adora who had a raised brow and the little girl looking up curiously at the mean twelve year old. "W-What?"

"See?" Adora spoke down to Ami. "I told you the big mean monster is actually a softhearted kitty." She took great amusement to see Catra standing up for the young girl despite her aggressive appearance when she met Ami the first time.

"W-Who are you calling soft?!" Catra grumbled, looking away with a small blush on her face. "I-I was just making sure that bozo knew not to mess with us, that's all."

"Yeah, and I got to show Ami the big meanie she was scared of was actually a wittle kitty." Adora cooed, pinching Catra's cheeks.

"K-Knock it off!" Catra yelped, slapping her hand away in embarrassment. The little girl actually began to giggle a little at this, something Catra knew she couldn't scold her for with Adora around. And that's if she wanted to in the first place. "What are you still doing here, anyway?"

"What do you think? We're waiting for you to come help us clean the wall!" Adora informed with a casual smile on her face, much to Catar's dismay.

"What? Why do I have to help?"

"Because Ami wanted to thank you for scaring away the big bully, right Ami?" Instead of getting any word out of the girl, Catra looked down to see the excited four year old holding her hand up to her, wanting to take magicat's hand, furthering her embarrassment.

Groaning audibly to the two, Catra rolled her eyes as she resigned herself to the annoying fate of cleaning up someone else's mess with them. "Fine, but we better all be getting treats after this!" She warned, taking the little girl's hand into her right hand as the three walked down the hallway. Ami could be found walking between the two with a happy smile on her face.

"Yeah, more cookies!" The girl cheered.

"We'll see." Adora replied, smiling down at the young girl who seemed fascinated with the cat-like girl instead of fearful.

"I want a tail when I grow up!"

"Heh, trust me squirt, you have to be pretty awesome to be in my league."

"Oh, so now there's a signup somewhere if we want to turn into a soft little kitty?" She teased.

"I'll have you know people like me are one in a million! Why, Adora tried signing up to be like me once, but I had to turn her down because she wasn't awesome enough."

"Yeah, thank goodness for us she's only one in a million, or else the entire Horde would've been destroyed a long time ago."

"Hey!"

"Hahahaha~" The duo continued to banter and tease each other back and forth as they laughed along the way downed the darkened hallways. No matter what the two thought of each other, they could always count on each other to be there for them and to support them whenever the situation called for it. They didn't have to worry about their enemies or the people surrounding them as long as they were a team.

They would always be there for each other, hand in hand, for whatever future awaited them.

...

"Hahahaha! Exiting through the darkness, the original Catra and Adora found themselves back in the citadel's hallways, back to their original size and outfits, as they returned to their reality. It took them a few seconds of walking to finally remember where they were, the entire experience they came across feeling like a dream they both shared, waking up to the brand new reality they were in mere moments ago.

It took them a short while to get their bearings again, blinking to themselves as they observed their surroundings. When the two finally met eye to eye, they both had a small blush as the little girl they traveled with was nowhere to be seen, and they weren't holding anyone else's hands except for each others.

"Wha..." Catra shook her head as she freed her hand, rubbing it a bit as if to make sure it was really there. "What just happened?"

" I..." Adora examined her surroundings, noticing how they returned to the citadel after their recent experience. "I... I think that was a simulation."

"A simulation?"

"It's tapping into our memories." What kind of worldly wonders was this place capable of? "When it scanned us, it must've made copies of our memories and displayed them for us."

"Why on Etheria would it do that?" As she asked this, Catra knocked her fist against the walls surrounding them, making sure these ones were real compared to the virtual ones they recently exited form. "Is it trying to mess with our heads or make us go insane?"

"I don't know. I think we should be careful though." Adora warned, setting her hand calmly on Catra's shoulder. "Whenever one of these things memories occur, I think it places us in a trance. I wasn't even aware of what I was doing until it ended."

"Then that's all the more reason to get out of here asap, isn't it?" Catra commented as she walked on ahead. She had enough of these stupid visions and memories in her own mind, she didn't need anyone else sharing in her memories like Adora did. It was around that moment that she looked back, noticing how Adora was standing in place. "Adora?"

She was smiling a little. "Heh... It was nice." There was a pleasant look on her face, one that Catra hadn't seen in awhile. Why was she smiling now of all times? Wasn't she concerned over all the events that have taken place since coming here? What did she have to be so happy about all of a sudden?

"What's nice?"

"That little memory we had there." She answered as she walked down the hallway with her. "It reminded me of the times I got to see you like no one else did."

"What do you mean see me like no one else did?" Catra was confused by the vague tone in her voice. Catra didn't see anything different from back then, so how could Adora? "Like how?"

"Like someone with a good heart." Catra was taken back by this remark as Adora smiled to her. "You always put on a tough exterior growing up. You barely showed anyone else the same kindness like you showed me, and when you did it was nice to see."

"Yeah, well, you were the only one who was nice to me growing up." Catra muttered. "Of course I was going to be nicer to you. We were friends."

"...Huh..."

"What?" Catra watched as her friend walked up to her at that, staring into her eyes until she started pulling at her ears. "Ahh! Hey!" She yelped, pulling her hands away. "What are you doing?"

"Okay, who are you?" Adora asked, grinning. "That seemed waaay to open for someone like you to say."

"S-Shut uuup..." Catra blushed as she tried to pull away from the conversation. "I've been getting hounded by this touchy feely junk since I joined the Rebellion, alright? I'm not used to it."

"Right... the Rebellion..." Adora's face slowly hardened again as she walked. "You still haven't explained to me why you joined them in the first place, Catra. Not the truth, at least."

"What do you want me to say, Adora? That I didn't like it in the Horde anymore? That I wanted something better?" She scoffed. "It wasn't even my intention to join them when I left that day, okay? I just... kind of owed them after they saved me."

"So they save you once and you're friends for life?" Adora could already tell there were a hundred issues behind Catra's one explanation. "That's all you did it for?"

"No," Catra groaned, "I didn't even like them for the last couple months! It's just..." There was a cold sadness in Catra's eyes as she hugged herself. "I can't go back on someone when I owe them, okay? I can't make that mistake again..."

"Mistake?" Why did that sound familiar to her? There were plenty of mistakes the two made in the past growing up in the Horde. Sometimes it was a simple mistake in a lesson or training exercise, at others it was pulling off a prank that resulted in one of several fires. Judging from the familiar look in her eye, however, there was one mistake Adora remembered above all else. "Are you talking about... that?" Catra's brief silence was all the confirmation she needed.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Catra, I already told you, I forgive you!" Adora cut her off as she stood in front of her. "I never blamed you for that incident, remember? It was a complete and total accident! If anything it was as much my fault for agreeing to go with you-"

"It doesn't matter!" Catra snapped back, pushing passed her. "You got hurt because I didn't help someone I owed, all because I thought their favor was pointless." There was a chill emanating from the torn girl, weighing down upon Adora's own shoulders as she spoke to her. "I don't want to talk about it anymore, Adora. Let's just get out of here while we still can, all right?"

Adore watched in dismay as Catra trudged herself through the hallway. Why did she continue to let the incident torment her so much? Did she harbor some grudge with herself and Adora because of it? Did she... blame Adora personally because of it? To go out of the way for the sake of a past mistake, to the point of betraying her allies... How much blame and anger did she harbor? And to whom?

There was still one other issue tormenting Adora's mind. "Say, Catra-"

"I don't want to talk about it, Adora." Catra repeated as the girl followed behind her.

"No, not that. I wanted to ask you about something else."

"What?"

"...Back there, with the guard... why exactly did you use my name to threaten him?" Catra's rage subsided a little at this.

"What do you think? Back then no one would dare to mess with you, they were all too scared of Shadow Weaver." That was an understatement of the obvious. Nobody crossed Shadow Weaver, be they loyal, guard, child, or other. To incite Shadow Weaver's wrath was like asking for a death sentence, one that made people beg to be put out of their misery in a different way than her own methods. Everything Shadow Weaver did was to instill pain in fear to those surrounding her. She was like the boogeyman to children, the demon to the fellow soldiers. Not many people could say they ever got on her bad side and lived to tell about it.

"I know, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"... Never mind." Now Catra was the one confused about what was on Adora's mind. What was she getting at? What was she about to say?

The same questions concerned Adora's mind as she thought about it. How often did Catra use her name against the people that picked on her? Did she use it against her bullies and tormentors too? There were plenty of people that picked on her through the Horde, maybe more than Adora was aware of. But how often did Catra resort to using Adora's name like a threat? How many people did she frighten buy simply uttering her name?

...How many people feared Adora because of her?

...

Coming up to the next room, the duo found themselves surrounded by a massive circular room with over a dozen hallways connecting to it, leading to the various paths and mysterious other rooms this place had to offer. Within the center of the colossal room, the two found a gigantic pillar strewn across the middle of a seemingly-bottomless pit, one that descended into light instead of darkness.

"Where do we go from here?" Adora asked looking around.

"Over the giant hole?" Catra suggested, taking the lead as she hopped atop the massive platform. "I have a feeling we should go across that way."

"What makes you think it's this way?"

Catra waited until her friend managed to pull herself up before continuing. "I don't know, it's a feeling I have, I guess?" She peered down towards the empty chasm, wondering to herself far it truly dropped. "Since I joined the Rebellion, I've had a bunch of these weird feelings in my head from time to time. I never understand them when they pop up, but they've helped when they were truly needed. Like in Salineas when I repaired the barrier's generator."

"Mmmh..." Catra should've known she struck a nerve when she mentioned Salineas. Nobody ever wanted to recall an experience where they almost killed their friend, regardless of reasons.

"... Since I answered one of yours now, can you answer mine?"

"Does it involve Salineas?" Adora asked knowing.

"...Kinda..." Unsurprisingly, Adora sighed at this.

"Huff, what do you want to know?"

"Not really about Salineas, but with that headband." She clarified. "What exactly goes through your head when you wear it? Why does it make you go crazy one moment then emotionless the next?"

"It doesn't exactly make me do either, Catra. The headband magnifies my entire body, physically, and emotionally. Any time I get so much as a chuckle, it winds up into full-blown laughter, and when I get the slightest irritation, I burst out into rage." The Force Captain stared at her hands at that, flexing them as she remembered how it held when she almost did... that... to Catra. "I never meant to hurt you that day Catra, not like that."

"I know." the magicat replied hopping off the other end of the long bridge, "you never usually try to hurt anybody." She waited and watched as she made her way off the platform safely. "Which is why I want to know how you could torture Glimmer like that?"

"That... That's the other drawback I've suffered from this. After what happened in Salineas, I had Shadow Weaver train me in using the headband so I could use it without feeling anything, so I wouldn't lose control of myself the next time we... you know..." The guilt was raining over Adora like a stormy afternoon as Catra stared at her. "Since then, I've barely felt anything when wearing the headband. I don't feel joy, sadness, I barely feel anger anymore, and... It helped me, Catra." Another shot of pain rang through her eyes. "I felt peaceful with it, Catra. I... I've been under a lot of stress since you left."

"You? Stressed?" There was a bit of skepticism in Catra's smug attitude. Throughout Catra's entire journey, not once did she consider how Adora was keeping a hold on things on her end of the deal. She always thought she was going through her life as she normally did, with a smile on her face and without a care in the world. Considering how she was the favorite between the two, she didn't think she would have to deal with anyone harassing and bullying her like they did with Catra. "Like, what? Are they cutting your bathroom breaks in half or something-?"

"I've been worrying about you, okay!" She stated, shoving Catra's cocky attitude down her throat. "I've been defending you ever since you left the Horde, more than you could imagine, Catra. I haven't allowed anyone to spread false rumors about you, I've been doing everything to lighten whatever punishment you might receive if you were ever captured. I've been doing all of that on top of the missions I've been in charge of throughout the Horde, doing everything I can to accomplish them peacefully! I've been working non-stop, for you and for the Horde, Catra. I've... I've never been so tired in my life before."

"I..." Silence. Painful, agonizing, silence, escaped from Catra's lips. How was she supposed to respond to that now? To any of that for that matter?

She's been working so hard to keep Catra safe all by herself while also dealing with the responsibilities of being a Force Captain? Why did she fret so much over both her responsibilities and keeping Catra safe? She didn't have to do both if it put so much pressure on her, she didn't expect her to. She shouldn't have bothered spending so much time punishing herself like this if it meant she would be an emotional and physical wreck.

There were only two words that came to her mind. "I'm sorry..." Adora turned away at this, even as Catra tried placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't know, okay?" She found Adora's own silence to be too unnerving for her, the sense of guilt hanging over her head further and further. "...I would've come back for you if I knew you were having so much trouble."

For the first time since the start of their current adventure today, Adora found a speck of hope. "R... Really?" The small smile she gave her with a nod filled her with a sense of assurance. After being apart for so long, it felt refreshing to hear something resembling kindness from her old friend. "...Tch...Pft...Pfffffffft! Ahahahahhaaa!" All the drama and seriousness of the situation instantly came to a halt as Catra watched Adora hold her gut, bursting out with laughter.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Pfffft, hehehehe!" Adora swore she was almost tearing up at all of this. "Oh my gosh, who are you? The Catra I remember wasn't this lame!" She joked, growing another mad blush over Catra's face.

"Lame?!" Growling, Adora found herself suddenly getting tackled by the young magicat until they were against the ground. How dare she think of her as lame when she's trying to be serious for once! She was being emotional like she never had been in the past, and Adora decided to poke and laugh at her? Maybe she won't be feeling so giddy if Catra swiped at her a few times, even if it was playful!

The two found each other poking one another back and forth like this for nearly a minute, getting back to their feet as they played around. They couldn't remember the last time they found so much fun in their present situation, chuckling and laughing at all the fun they were having, even at the expense of their own safety. It was just like the old days when it was just the two of them, enjoying themselves despite where they were, and making the most fun whenever they could have it.

The two were so wrapped up in their playfulness they were unaware of their surroundings until Adora fell through a holographic wall, causing Catra to let out a gasp. "Adora!" She panicked, rushing straight through the wall. With this place playing tricks on their minds and creating holographic illusions that seemed all too real, there was no telling what horrors awaited on the other side...

...

"Oof!" A nine-year-old Catra let out a yelp as she fell behind some boxes. The younger magicat poked her head out from behind, wearing an army helmet, checking the coast of the loading bay, making sure everything was safe and secure for their top secret mission! There was one guard patrolling the other side of the wall and nothing else, save for the security cameras the two were completely unaware of.

Everything about this mission had to go off without a hitch, or the fatalities would be catastrophic! Using all of their training and future insight, they made the necessary preparations they were taught in all their lessons and training exercises.

Step 1: Make sure they knew their target and everything about it. Their target was in one of the many Loading Bays of the Fright Zone.

Step 2: Scope out and plan the mission accordingly, as they would only get one shot! They kept tabs on the Loading Bay for over a week by now, and that seemed like plenty of time necessary to formulate a plan.

Step 3: Make all the necessary preparations before committing to the plan! They got all their necessities, took time to draw out a blueprint of the place with any crayons they could find, and got the keys to their victory that would make the payoff all the more greater!

What was the payoff? Why, to have fun of course!

"Agent Sharp Claws calling Flower Head!" Catra whispered into her walkie-talkie. "Do you read me Flower-Head?"

From the other side of the Loading Bay stood Adora, the young child leaning against a large stack of crates as she peeked around the corner. "Flower-Head, over. Hey Catra, why do you get the cool nickname and I have to be nicknamed "Flower-Head" of all things?"

"Because it's my mission, remember?"

"Yeah, but why can't I have something else like "Sun Soldier", or "Princess Destroyer" or something?"

"Because, since I made the mission, that makes you the sidekick, and sidekicks always have to have worse names. Besides, I'm too cool to have any weird names. There's nothing fitting-"

"What about Whiskers?" Adora teased, taking cover for a brief moment as a guard passed her on the other side of the crate.

"What? No!"

"Or maybe Kitty Burglar?"

"Ok, that's just lame-"

"Or why not Mouse Chaser!"

"That was one time!" Catra groaned to herself as she heard Adora chuckling on the other side of the walkie-talkie. "Whatever. Do you have the keys?"

"Yup!" Adora replied, digging through her pockets to ensure she had the keys she was referring to. "You got the rope?"

"Right here." Catra grinned to herself as she pulled a rope from behind her cover. "Are you ready?"

"Ready when you are!"

With a nod that both of them could feel the other one giving, they went to work as Adora left the walkie-talkie where she was. The two made their separate ways over behind the various barres and crates that littered the loading docks. With all the planning and preparation the two spent up to this point, they were more than excited to see one of their first missions pulled off without a hitch! After all, what better mission could there be than the one they came up with themselves?

...Well, technically Catra came up with it, not that it mattered at this point. All the friends were concerned with was seeing this mission through, no matter how many lives they had to sacrifice! For the greater good, they needed this mission to go through, or they might never get a shot at this again, the chance of a lifetime!

What better way to spend an afternoon than stealing their very first skiff!

Making their way towards the center of the room, the two waited for the other one to appear on the other side of the loading dock, giving a look once they each saw the other in their position. Checking the coast one more time, Catra gave the young blonde girl a nod, to which Adora nodded back.

Everything was in position. Now was the time for action!

Taking a look at the guard, noticing he was at the loading docks themselves, Adora grinned as she grabbed a slingshot out of her back pocket, loading a perfectly-rounded rock in the sling as she prepared to fire. Aiming up her target right between the two prongs of the sling, Adora gave one solid grin as she fired.

*Whack!*

"Ow!" The guard could be heard yelling in pain, rubbing his head as Adora ducked in cover before he could turn around. He knew someone else had to be in the room, it was just the matter of where. "Come on out here you little brat," he growled pulling out his baton, "and I promise to make it hurt a little less!" The covered her mouth as she chuckled, pressing her back against the crate as she waited for Catra's part.

And waited!

And waited.

And... waited?

As the guard drew closer to the center of the Loading Bay, Adora knew something was wrong. She should've done her part now, so what was taking so long?

The cat in question was grumbling to herself as she shook her walkie-talkie. The guard was drawing in closer by the second towards Adora, and she knew being Shadow Weaver's favorite wouldn't protect her from a guard she attacked if she was found. The stupid walkie-talkie was buzzing on her end as she tried to get it working, shaking and pounding on the small device as she tried to clear up the static.

"Come on you stupid thing, come on...!" Catra grumbled quietly to herself. Adora's life was on the line, and everything was resting on this very moment! And despite not seeing the guard himself, Adora began to sweat a little nervously as she felt the guard getting closer by closer. She could nearly see his shadow peeking over the top of the crate, closing her eyes in fears that she was about to be found! That was when fortune came to visit as Catra finally got a clear connection on the other end, grinning victoriously as she whispered into the talkie. "Haha, you stupid guard!"

"Huh?" Adora never felt so relieved in her life as she heard the massively loud speaking voice over the walkie-talkie.

This is where the heart of their ingenious plan came together. Using the walkie-talkie Catra had, the girl continued to lure him over to where Adora previous way, taking a full right from her direction as he headed to the other side of the Loading Bay.

"Ha, that stupid guard's never going to find me!" The guard could hear coming from the walkie-talkie, grumbling as he set his baton to stun mode. "It's no wonder they placed someone like him down here, everyone else was too smart for the job."

"Grrrrrrr!"

With the coast being clear, Catra stealthily ran for the middle of the room, being careful not to make a single sound as the guard continued towards the crate. Being as quiet as possible, she began giving her rope a good swing, spinning it around in place until she could throw it high enough into the air to reach the skiff ten feet off the ground. Thankfully for her, one throw was all the rope took as it snagged onto something, testing it's weight with a solid tug before nodding to herself, right as Adora poked her own over the crate.

Seeing her friend giving her an assuring nod, she tiptoed her way over to the rope as Catra began climbing it. These were one of the many moments Catra was proud of her enhanced agility, the girl grinning to herself as she easily and deftly climbed the long rope without breaking a sweat. Adora was forced to wait below her until her head popped over the side of the skiff, her friend smiling down to the girl as Adora grabbed the rope.

During that time, the guard was completely unaware of a young girl being pulled up with the rope trailing her. When he finally managed to reach the source of the annoying taunter that insulted him, and who he believed to have attacked hmi, he was rather surprised and confused by the sight of the lone walkie-talkie that lied at the ground, not a soul seen for miles around himself. And, unfortunately for him, the moment he took a look back behind himself was the exact same time Catra managed to reel Adora back up to the skiff, disappearing with the rope as the two stayed hidden behind the railings of the floating hovercraft.

"The heck is going on around here?" The guard questioned to himself, rubbing the helmet around his head as he walked back to the center of the loading bay. From above, Catra took a quick peek over the edge as she heard him approaching from under them. Making sure the coast was clear, she nodded silently over to Adora who nodded back to her, grabbing the same slingshot she had before and aiming it towards the doorway.

*Clunk!*

"What the-?" The guard nearly jumped at the sudden clacking sound that went off. Like flies to a fire, Catra watched carefully as the guard made his way over towards the entrance hall, away from the skiff itself and eventually out of sight. With the guard running out of sight, Catra gave a sly grin to Adora as her friend smiled at her.

"...Hehehehehe!" The two chuckled celebrating their victory as they high-fived each other. There was only one word to summarize the mission overall, and that word was Success!

"We did it!" Adora cheered.

*clap*

"See? I told you it would." Catra stretched her arms out in a relaxing manner, leaning against the skiff with a victorious smile on her face. "You really outta stop doubting me, you know?"

"Haha, I noticed." She's never felt so proud of her friend or their teamwork before. not when it came to the minor stuff like chores and lessons they were forced to do. Here, they proved to themselves and to anybody who would've been watching that they're the best when they're a team, and there was no one who could tear them apart! "Ok, you ready?"

"Ready?" Catra wondered leaning back up. "For what?"

"To fly it, duh!" Adora reminded as she handed her the keys.

"O-Oh, right!" Catra chuckled nervously as she took the keys from Adora, examining them thoroughly. "I, eh... guess we should be moving on to that, huh?"

Adora watched curiously as Catra jingled around the keys for a bit, her curiosity growing with each passing second as she noticed Catra sorting through the keys unsuringly. "What's wrong? Don't you know how to fly the skiff?"

"Wha- I mean, y-yeah!" Catra assured proudly with another chuckle. "I-I mean, of course I do! You just, um..." She tried key after key as she inserted each of them into the skiff one after the other. Adora watched with a small ounce of concern for her friend, wondering if she truly knew what she was doing or not. Right as she was about to question her on it again, the two perked up at the sound of the skiff starting to hum with life, Catra's face brightening at the sight. "See? Easy!

"Cool!" Adora squealed as the two felt the skiff beginning to bob up and down gently in place. "So now what?"

"Well, you just..." Catra spoke in a slow yet calming voice, trying yo buy herself every second to figure out the controls for herself as as she did. "Um... You switch this here..." She directed to the small switch on the control module of the skiff as she flicked it, the two listening as the humming began to grow louder. "And then... unlock the break part here..." Most of what she was getting accurate was completely by chance, using the various symbols she saw around the control's displays to guide her.

She was completely unaware at just how powerful she was making the skiff in the process.

"And after that..." The magicat gulped silently to herself as she grabbed the handle bar that directed the ship. "You just... you know... give it a small push-

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

"Ahhhhhhhh!" The two girls let out a cry of terror as they were jettisoned from the skiff itself. Seconds after Catra pushed down on the lever did the skiff start blasting straight ahead. They were completely unprepared for the speeding skiff to take off as fast as it did as the two completely lost their balance, falling over the railings of the skiff from ten feet in the air, and landing painfully as their bodies were thrown to the ground.

*THUD!*

"Owwww..." Catra moaned in pain as she collected herself a little faster than Adora did. She's never been so thankful to have something as stupid looking as an army helmet over her skull, the helmet protecting most of her head as she slammed against the floor itself. It still didn't do much for the scrapes and bruises around her, but that was the least of her worries.

"Owwwwww..." She heard Adora whine, her ears twitching as fear took over her mind.

"Adora!" Catra cried out, seeing her friend was a few feet away in the opposite direction. "Are you okay?" She couldn't tell how she actually was based on the few bruises and scratches she had around her. The two of them just fell from nearly ten feet in the air and landed on solid ground. For all she knew she could be having internal bleeding or her heart could've popped at any moment from the fall!

Luckily for her, she sighed mentally in relief as she saw Adora pick herself off the ground, rubbing her elbows soothingly to combat the pain. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

"Heh," Catra gave a small laugh as she playfully tapped her helmet, "noggin's safe."

"That's goo- Uh oh!" Adora's face went deadpanned as she looked off in the direction of the speeding skiff, Catra's gaze filling with shock as she saw what got her friend so worried.

The skiff. The very one they had practically stolen and tried to ride for their own amusement, was hurdling itself at top speeds, into the direction of another skiff that was on standby. "No no no no-!" Catra's pleas fell on deaf ears as the two watched the fireworks show that happened next.

*Ka-Boom!*

The girls covered their heads protectively as hundreds upon thousands of little metallic bits were flung all around the room, the earth-shattering sound of an explosion filling the emptiness as a gust of wind pushed against all living and non-living things. The two skiffs caught dead center in the explosion were smoking as the heap of rubble collapsed to the ground, floor rumbling a little as the two massive heaps fell at their level.

Adora and Catra felt every warning light in their brain telling them that they were in trouble. Here stood two nine-year-old girls who went out to have a fun time by stealing a skiff from the Loading Bay, the ones they weren't allowed to enter in the first place without adult supervision, and had gone out of their way to inadvertently crash one very expensive skiff into another very expensive skiff, not to mention the proof of injuries that showed that the two had, indeed, gotten hurt as a result.

All they could do was stare in disbelief at the steaming rubbles and the scattered parts across the floor, both of them asking themselves about just how much trouble the two were in, and if there was any chance the two had of getting away with the crime.

"What's going on in here?!" A voice shouted as several people entered the room.

There chances of getting away with it had plummeted almost immediately, just like the heaps of broken skiffs that lied on the other side of the Loading Bay.

Turning around, Adora watched on in fear as she saw the Horde Officer, Octavia, running into the room towards the two girls, her focus remaining solely on the burning rubble on the other side as two guards followed in behind her. "Someone get that fire put out right away!" She barked to the two guards who immediately ran to their target. No sooner had Adora turned from the passing guards back to the officer did she find her arm being squeezed tightly in Octavia's forceful grip.

"Ah!" She yelped, trying to pull herself away from the painful squeeze.

"What did you do?!" Octavia shouted angrily, bringing her face close enough to practically bite the young Adora. She already knew the two unsupervised children were the only ones who would've done something this stupid.

"I-It was an accident, honest!" Adora replied tearing up. "W-We just wanted to try flying a skiff and we-"

"Do you realize what you've just done?" Octavia shouted. Unlike most of the other Horde soldiers and guards, there was little fear she had of Shadow Weaver herself, knowing she was under Lord Hordak's protection. "Do you think skiffs grow on trees?! You just destroyed two very expensive vehicles, you know! The resources for those things are hard to come by!"

"We didn't mean to do it, honest!" Adora cried out, looking towards her friend. "Tell her Cat-" Catra was gone. Adora blinked away the tears clearing her vision a little, trying to find where her friend had ran off too. It didn't take very long as she spotted Catra already running for the doors of Loading Bay, the magicat panting exhaustively as she powered through the painful landing and the terror she had of incurring the Horde Officer's wrath. "Catra!" Adora called out, stopping Catra in her tracks as she turned around.

The girl looked between the two of them frantically, unable to decide what she should do. If she ran right now, she'd be able to hopefully escape whatever punishment or discipline she would have to go through, which, for her, was very physical from time to time. But that would mean she would have to leave Adora behind to fend for herself while she fled like a coward!

On the other hand, if she stayed with her, there was a teensy chance that she could get out of whatever physical discipline she would have to go through if she stayed by Adora's side and kept her best friend company in the midst of whatever punishment they had to dish out. That all hinged on the possibility of whether or not they actually would show leniency to her, and considering the severe crime the two committed by crashing one skiff into another, not to mention stealing the keys in the first place, there was little chance of that ever happening.

Adora saw the face of guilt spreading across Catra's person as she teared up, staring at her friend with unease. "Catra?" She wasn't really thinking about doing that to her, was she? They were friends, they were family, they were practically sisters by this point! Surely Catra treasured that as much as she did-

"Mmh... I'm sorryyyyyyy!" Catra yelled as she ran down out the door, unable to face the consequences alongside her friend.

Adora's heart sunk with regret as she watched her leave. "C... Catra?" Where was she going? She was over here, not out there! Catra would... Catra would never leave her side in this situation... right? Adora's tears started to pool up a little more as she watched her friend leave, unable to comprehend why she would leave her to fend for herself in this situation.

"Tch, I'll deal with that brat later." Octavia hissed turning her attention back to Adora. "As for you-

*chomp!*

"Oww!" Octavia let out a painful yelp as she pulled her recently bitten hand away, blowing on it and rubbing it as she tried to soothe away the pain, all while glaring at the young blonde girl who ran down the same hallway like her friend did. "Grrrrr get back here you little brat!" She roared, giving chase even as Adora disappeared from her view.

It didn't make any sense to her as she ran away. Why did Catra leave her like that? Was she planning on coming back later and facing her crimes? Or maybe she was actually going to get Shadow Weaver? Yes, that must be it! If she told Shadow Weaver what happened, perhaps the two could get a lighter punishment or no punishment at all! Shadow Weaver cared deeply fo Adora, so there was little chance she would allow her to be punished, and she might let Catra off the hook too if Adora put in a good word for her!

That was the plan, that had to be the plan. Why else would Catra try and leave Adora behind to save her own skin? She was her best friend in the world after all, and friends always had to stick together through thick and thin! It's not like she would care more about saving her own skin if Adora was the one in danger. Adora would gladly risk her life for her friend, knowing her friend would do the same for her!

...Right?!

Coming around a corner of the hallway, the young girl hastily threw herself through an open doorway, slamming the door shut behind her and backing up slowly. She didn't feel any sense of relief until she heard the angry footsteps stomping passed the door, assuring her that her would-be punisher had lost track of her.

Sighing, the young girl winced as she felt the pain around her cheek. She was still banged up pretty bad as a result of the fall, and there were plenty of scrapes around her that she as going to have to explain to Shadow Weaver later. Checking the room she entered, she was surprised to find herself in one of the many locker rooms around this section of the Fright Zone. Over in the back she noticed a lone sink against the wall, deciding to relieve her pain a little as she walked over to it.

She just needed a good splash of water in her face, that would solve her problems. Turning on the faucets, the girl collected as much cooling water as she could in the cup of her hands, rubbing the sores and cleaning off any scrapes she could find until they were no longer noticeable.

Why did you leave me, Catra? Adora asked as she continued cleaning herself.

She would need to figure things out as soon as she got out of here, and pray she was never caught later for her crimes. For now, she just focused on herself in the mirror, checking the scrapes and bruises around her face to see if anything was still noticeable.

As it turned out, there wasn't anything noticeable... save for an older looking Adora that stared back at her reflection.

...

"Ah!" Adora screamed as she backed away from the mirror. Her surroundings had changed drastically as she found herself back in the bizarre citadel, all her memories and experiences rushing back to her as she examined her surroundings.

It looked like a perfect representation of the locker room she was in, save for the style and decor of her surroundings, as well as the actual lack of lockers to begin with. There were only a few lined up against the wall in an orderly fashion, with some strange electronic locks to actually open the lockers. Where was she at this point? Where did Catra go? And... were her eyes glowing in the mirror? All five of them?

...Wait...

...

"Huff... Huff..." Catra panted as she finished running. She couldn't remember the last time she ran so fast or so far. She was glad that...

Hold on. Where was she again? Her surroundings had changed so vastly that she hardly recognized the Fright Zone, the mere thought of it's name instantly returning her memories and experiences like Adora's had earlier. "I'm back here again?" She asked herself. She remembered back to the skiff she saw herself stealing a minute ago, staring at her own hands in disbelief and confusion.

"Did I... really leave Adora like that?" She was her friend, her best friend. She couldn't remember why she left her behind like that, and she couldn't figure out how she could do such a thing in the first place. Were these really her memories, or was this place messing with her memories or something? "...No..." She muttered to herself, recollecting everything. "I remember now..."

The memory that returned to her was a horrid one, one that made her sick to even think about it. She left her friend behind in the dust, like she had several days ago, and again several months prior to that! She left her behind for her own benefit, hoping to make things better for herself in the process, even if it meant Adora had to stay and deal with the consequences. just like she had in present day.

She was practically recreating the past all over again.

She couldn't understand herself looking back on it. Why would she leave Adora like that behind? She was her friend for crying out loud! How could she let her fear get the best of her like that? It wasn't even the memory Catra dreaded the most, being the one thing she was thankful for at this point. If she had to relieve that memory around here, she didn't know what she would do.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Her ears twitched frantically as she heard Adora's cries of terror down the hallway behind her. "Adora!"

...

"Huff... Huff..." Adora continued to stare at the mirror in fear, unable to comprehend what she had seen after she fell backwards.

"Adora!" Catra called out, rushing into the room and over to her side.

"T-Th-The-The mirror..." Adora trembled as she pointed to the glass above the sink. "T-Those things, they... I saw them staring back at me..."

"You mean those spider things?" Catra asked turning towards the mirror itself.

"One of them...One of them poked their head right out of the mirror, and almost attacked me." She explained, wobbling back to her feet. She had never been so frightened before of something unexpectedly popping out at her. "B-But it just stared at me for a few seconds, then it went back inside."

"It left?" Catra examined the mirror closely, seeing her own reflection staring back at her. There wasn't a scratch or any sign that the mirror had been moved to begin, not any that Catra could see at least. She attempted to test Adora's story as she tapped against the glass itself, finding it as solid as any other mirror or window. "You're saying it came out from here?" She asked for clarification as she looked back, gesturing to the mirror.

"Catra, I'm telling you, it was staring right at me!" The face of fear coming from the girl gave her little room to doubt, though did give Catra many questions to ponder all the same. "I saw its glowing red eyes, its gaping jaw, I was sure it was going to attack me!"

"Then why didn't it?" That was the part she couldn't understand. "These things were chasing us up to this point, so why did it suddenly back o-"

*swish*

"Mhhhh!" Without warning, Catra and Adora found themselves taken by surprise as several large green sticky strands shot out from the mirror itself, wrapping around Catra's head before she had a chance to continue, covering around her mouth, her neck, and around the top of her forehead as a violent force began to pull the girl towards the mirror.

"Catra!" Adora yelled worriedly as she ran to her friend.

"Mmhhhmmhhh!" Catra shouted into her muffled mouth, trying to pull away at the sticky substance with her own two hands as Adora tried to help. No sooner had Catra threw her arms around her mouth in an attempt to pry off the green bindings did she find another layer of the green webbing thrown around her, this time covering around her torso as it pinned her arms against her face without any slack or capacity to pull them apart.

Adora panicked as the same substance coated her own hands, hastily pulling at the dreaded webbing that was drawing the two closer towards the mirror. As she did, Adora's eyes widened in horror as she saw the same creature staring back at her from behind Catra, the mechanical spider-like creature giving off a terrifying roar as Catra drew closer.

"Ahhh!" Adora's cry of fear was followed by her freedom as the sticky webbing finally pulled free of her hands, sending her back towards the ground with a harsh thud. Clearing what little daze she had from the fall, she attempted to rush back to her feet to grab onto her friend again, only to find her own bindings weren't as free as she had thought .The sticky web had coated around Adora's hands, pinning the girl to the ground as she struggled for her and, more importantly, Catra's life. "Catra!"

Any tears and show of concern on the girl's face was brought to an abrupt end as Catra was pulled off her feet, being dragged through the mirror as she flailed around her legs for dear life. "Mhmhmhhhh!" Catra tried to call out. Planting her foot against the ground, Adora gave one final pull of the mighty webbing, mustering all her strength as she finally freed herself of the web's clutches.

Too little, too late.

"Catraaaaaa!" Adora cried out again as she ran for the mirror. It didn't make a spot of difference unfortunately. By the time Adora had reached the mirror, Catra was completely gone. The distraught Force Captain pounded against the mirror, hoping that whatever force compelled Catra to be taken was listening to her, begging to anyone that could hear her to open up the mirror again and give her best friend back.

Reality was a much crueler mistress, sadly enough. No amount of tears, crying, or screaming could force the mirror's window to open again. All she could do was watch helplessly as Catra was dragged away through the darkness...

...

A/N: As said, had to rush the bottom portion a bit, but thankfully it's done! We're about halfway through the episode, and the closer I draw towards the end, i notice something here and there about the episode that seems rather... suspicious to me.... I'll leave those thoughts to myself though. I also hope I can make the payoff as grand as possible as we reach our grand revelation between the two girls as well as whatever future awaits them...

So! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 43: Episode 11: Promise Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Hoooooooofgolly almighty, it's been awhile folks! Hope you guys all had a great Easter, mine was fun on my end (aside from working during it but besides that P_P...)

I gotta tell ya, this one was a little hard to write. Why? Idk. Every time i kept coming to it I kept getting some annoying stall that was going on. Idk, maybe it was because I was subconsciously afraid of what I knew was coming or something else. All I know is that I already watched the first scene of tragedy involving Catra and that ripped my heart to shreds so I'm not looking forward to watching the rest of it... which I actually won't have to! Cause it'll be changed heavily, at least up until the very last minute.

Overall, a huge shoutout to those who were worried and wondering where I am! No worries folks, I'm perfectly fine, minus the perfectly, and the show must go on ^^...ESPECIALLY SINCE I HAVE TO FORCE MYSELF NOT TO WATCH IT WHEN SEASON 2 COMES OUT FRIDAY X(! stupid writers block... I am hoping to get the next part out by today too, and if that is the case, don't expect much, as there's basically 3-4 minutes left of the show. As always i'll try to keep it nice and long like you guys like it (presumably), but overall wish me luck!

Enjoy!

...

"Mhmhmmmmmmh!" Catra let out a muffled scream as she shouted through the sticky webbing that enclosed her. She was helpless to stop herself as she was being dragged away by the giant spider-like machine, struggling to tear life as her body was practically covered from head to toe in the green webs. Ankles, knees, thighs, her arms pinned to her side by the elbows where she could get any slack, and her hands wrapped tightly against her own throat.

After all her adventures and time in the woods on multiple occasions, usually whenever she's crossing them with Bow and Glimmer to wherever their next adventure took them, she's surprised it took her this long to find herself about to be eaten by a giant spider, or whatever this monstrosity had in store for her. And somehow it still wasn't the weirdest part of her day so far.

Ever since she arrived to this place, this supposed Beacon of the First Ones, everything has either been a confusing nightmare, an emotional roller coaster, or, most of the time, usually both. She thought her problems were going to be limited by the fact Adora found her way to this sacred place. Then she thought the bad luck that usually ensued from thinking those positive thoughts would leave her to deal with the giant mechanical spiders that hunted the two since then.

But nope. It got worse.

After escaping the monstrous creatures the first time around, she and Adora found themselves haunted by their past life as they began to relive realistic simulations of their memories. Why was it doing this in the first place? Neither of them could understand that. All they knew was that whenever they found themselves within these simulations, they lost touch with all train of reality, and never realized it until after the simulation had ended.

It was a rather nice cutaway for the two friends who continued to chat throughout their journey through this place. There were plenty of emotions going between the two girls as they chatted back and forth, arguing about their past mistakes and what lead them to what they were doing now. Suffice to say, things were going... actually pretty well, all things considered. The two eventually found themselves playing with each other for a solid minute as they made their way through the massive complex in search of a way out. It also gave rise to a new list of concerns and wonders neither of the two truly thought about until recently.

For Catra, it was the mystery of her own actions. Since accepting Bow and Glimmer's friendship, she's been swarmed with a new flux of different emotions she wasn't used to, ones she tried to repress for the sake of keeping people away. She felt burdened with guilt, regret, confusion, sorrow, frustration, so many negative thoughts and feelings behind the actions she committed in the past.

Why didn't she go back for Adora after all this time? Why did she leave her behind when she needed her that one time after they crashed a skiff? Was that what she was really like anymore? She could hardly recognize the self she used to be, not after all the positive emotions and feedback she was given by her two new friends. She almost felt like a complete stranger to herself here and there, seeing the way she used to treat Adora, along with the way she never went back for her in the Fright Zone.

Maybe that's why Karma decided to pick on her now of all times, because no sooner had the last simulation ended did Catra hear screaming, running to the source of Adora's voice in the hopes of rescuing her. Instead of finding herself in any sort of peril, she found herself falling into a malevolent trap as her back was turned, finding herself tied up and dragged through a mirror-like opening that closed off almost immediately after Catra was pulled through, leaving Adora to the unknown.

Which is what Catra would've preferred being in at this point since it seemed more likely Adora would survive on her side of things. She continued to grumble and moan for dear life as she tried pulling herself out of the incredibly nightmarish wrappings, finding all of her limbs encased in the strong substance she couldn't break herself out from. I gotta be able to move something, come on! Catra screamed to herself, knowing an untimely fate would await her if she was dragged into the darkness.

I can't move my feet, my arms, or my stupid tail... There's gotta be something... All her appendages were thoroughly secure, ensuring the prey wouldn't escape its trap until the spider decided to let her go itself, and the chances of that happening were getting slimmer with each toss and turn. trying to find any piece of her that was loose enough to no avail. She couldn't pull anything away and she couldn't push anything apart. Come on, think! Something has to be loose enough to...! And then it struck her. The sword!

The Sword of Protection, the one item that made Catra She-Ra in this world. Shifting her eyes over to it, she sighed in relief as she saw it was still in it's sheathe. Being covered by the sticky substance itself, that meant the blade could be pried from its casing with a single pull, one strong enough to slice the top half of her webbing away and free her arms. She just needed to get her hands a little closer to the hilt so she could pull it.

Come on... come on...! Up ahead she could see the darkness getting closer, knowing once she reached it, it could spell the end of her. With a mighty growl, trying to give herself enough slack to stretch her fingers closer to the hilt, she used all the strength she could manage to pull her torso upwards in one grand tug, allowing the spider-like creature to loosen it's webbing long enough for her to reach the hilt.

*swiff!*

"AaaahhHHH!" Catra roared at the top of her lunged as she managed to slice away at the sticky bondages as she pulled the sword right out of her sheathe, cutting the top layer surrounding her torso away as well as cutting the webbing the spider was dragging her by. From there, Catra wasted no time scratching away at the greenish web until she was finally free, screaming angrily and ferociously as she got the last of the substance pried from her person.

*Skkreeeeeeee!*

"Ghhhhhh!" Catra growled angrily as the creature let out a menacing howl, failing to intimidate the enraged magicat with its screams. "Come on!" Catra shouted almost tauntingly. With that, the creature attempted to catch its prey again as it spat another large glob of the sticky webbing, only for Catra to dodge swiftly through the air and out of its line of of sight. It didn't get a chance to possibly back up and fire again as Catra, with a single thrust, stabbed through the creature's metallic head as she continued to growl.

She wasn't going to be the helpless victim here that Adora always had to save or provide for, she was going to prove her worth for once. With the sword stabbed through it's head, the creature continued to screech as Catra began clawing at all of its metal casing surrounding its large skull. From the mechanical red eyes, she pulled out a handful of wires. From the metal plates she ripped off from it's skull, she jammed it back inside of the arachnoid and slammed it's severed plating back into it's skull.

Releasing another wave of mechanical growls to the magicat, Catra leapt right off of the dangerous creature as it attempted to impale her with its own frontal appendage, striking itself in the process as a result. Catra grinned smugly as she watched the stupid insectoid flail about its other appendages as it started to collapse, unable to keep itself balanced as it struggled to remove its own legs from its skull. With a solid slam, the creature topped itself over as it let out a roar, its red eyes still glowing with life as Catra prepared to deal the final attack.

"Haaahhhhh!" The sudden battlecry came in the form of a blonde-haired Force Captain that went by the name of Adora. From behind the giant creature that she climbed, she let out a mighty yell as she struck the creature's skull with her stun baton, its setting's set to max, as she delivered every single possible volt into the machine. The robotic creature gave off one last deathly cry as it short-circuited, sparks flying off the tip of it's head as electricity danced all across its body. Pulling the stun baton out of its face,

The creature finally met its end, its eyes fading from life like the rest of it was.

With a proud grin to herself, Adora jumped off from the beast's broken head, making her way over to her previously-captured friend. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, scraping a bit of the webbing out of Catra's hair and shoulder.

"...I'm fine..." She mumbled, brushing off her hand.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong! You got to be the hero again, whoopdeedoo! Can we just go already?" She didn't bat an eye as she casually sheathed her sword again, wanting to get over with this day like every day.

"Catra, what's wrong now?" She's never seen her, much less anyone, acting so grouchy after being rescued like she was.

"Nothing, I'm fine! You just took my kill, that's all."

"Oh, really?" The blonde smirked, hoping to get some reaction out of the magicat. When nothing came, a look of concern crossed her face as Catra slowed down for her. "Catra? Come on, what's going on here?"

"I already told you, I'm fine! I can handle things on my own, okay?" She paused as she stood in place, turning her head a little in Adora's direction. "I don't need people to save me all the time, all right? Now let's go."

"A...All right..." Adora didn't want to agitate her friend anymore than she appeared to be, not without knowing what was going on. Giving her a simple passing glance as she passed by, Adora took the lead of the two as Catra contemplated her own thoughts.

Why was she here again? Oh, right, to become a better hero like the Rebellion needed. How well was that going? About as well as a magicat can say after spending a few hours in this unknown facility and a giant mechanical spider ties her up and abducts her when her back is turned. Which is to say, absolutely terrible and nothing was being gained from all of this.

She was tired of being the victim all the time. She was tired of everyone else having to save her, tired of being this supposed "Symbol of the Rebellion" only to mess up or cause the issues to begin with. She was possibly being a bigger burden on the Rebellion than she could ever think of. It's a miracle at this point that the Rebellion still kept her around, Catra was feeling so sorry for herself. She wasn't a hero in any sense of the word.

She was a girl named Catra, who couldn't even fend for herself when the time was needed.

So what if she escaped her bonds? She got kidnapped in the first place because she wanted to make sure Adora was the one who was okay. How could she let her guard down like that while she was checking on her best friend's condition? What if the next time someone's in danger she completely drops her guard and endangers everyone around here?!

She was no different here than she was in the Horde. Second rate, nowhere near the best, and always relying on Adora to rescue her.

And she was getting tired of it.

"I... I used to hate that about you."

At the sound of her voice, Adora quickly turned around, mildly confused and shocked at the sudden announcement. Seeing the pain drawing near Catra's eyes, the sense of sorrow that's built up around the edges of her bags, there could be no doubt. Whatever painful thing she was saying, she was telling the truth. "The way you always stuck your nose into other peoples problems... and managed to fix them so easily... it was annoying to watch for me."

"Catra?" Was she truly saying this? She stepped closer to the girl as Catra rubbed her own shoulder, staring off to the side with the same level of pain as her guilt.

"You were always so annoying, okay? Everyone looked up to you because you had talent, you were always Shadow Weaver's favorite, and you were still normal in every way." She was getting tired of keeping this all in to someone like her. With the memories still plaguing her mind, seeing the way she treated Adora before her recent capture, it was... sickening. "You could never mess up with anything you did, and it... it got really annoying always being the runner-up next to you. I'm tired of always being your sidekick, Adora."

"...Catra, what are you talking about?" The magicat gave her attention to the Force Captain as she held her shoulder. "Being runner-up? My sidekick? Catra, you have never been my sidekick, only my friend. I help people because it's the right thing to do, not because I always want to. Do you think I even wanted to be the one everyone looked up to or Shadow Weaver's favorite? I had to work harder every day of my life because of those expectations, because everyone looked up to me, because Shadow Weaver expected *better* of me! It wasn't anything fun or anything I wanted, it was exhausting!"

"And you still pulled it off without any faults!" Catra grumbled as she walked over to the mechanical remains of the spider, stomping her foot against its head with each passing line. "You always got to be praised!"

*crash!*

"You always got to be the one who could get away with your faults!"

*crash!*

Catra's foot sunk deeper and deeper as she continued crushing into the monstrous machine. "You're the one everyone wanted to be with!"

*Crash!*

"The one who everybody would never stop talking about!"

*Crash!*

"The one who could NEVER MESS UP!"

*CRASH!*

"Enough!" Adora yelled pulling Catra away from the wreckage.

There was an unusual fire in her eyes, like the one a person would assimilate with rage. Her's, however, appeared to be different. It wasn't a fire burning with rage or anger, it was one that was filled with anguish, sorrow. The two took a brief moment to glance down at the leg Catra was stomping away the robot's head with, seeing it covered in scrapes and scratches along her leg from the constant pounding and the forcefully shoving between its broken metal. Only her foot was protected thanks to the boots protecting her feet to halfway up to her knees. Everything else above it between the boots and her knee were completely scratched at.

Catra didn't even realize how sore her legs was from the constant stomping until Adora pulled her out of it. Once again, Adora had to come in to be the hero around here. "Catra, is this... is this why you defected to the Horde? Because you were mad at me?"

Like always, Catra turned her head away at this. "No. I know I wasn't mad at you the day I left. I just couldn't stand being around the Horde anymore. And then finding out you were being made Force Captain and were going to go away? It... It didn't feel fair to me."

"Catra..." It almost frightened her how open Catra was being at this rate. All these emotions she was revealing, all these sparks of self-doubt. It wasn't anything like the Catra she remembered. She remembered how casual and easygoing she was from time to time, only getting serious when the situation called for it. It's not like she didn't mind seeing a new side of Catra or anything, she just wished it was one easier to understand. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I don't know what to do anymore, Adora." She admitted. "Everytime I keep trying to help the Rebellion, I keep making things worse. I'm always reckless, someone else is always having to save me, and..." She couldn't bring herself to mention Entrapta's death, what she assumed to be, at least. "And people keep paying the price for it. I need your help right now, Adora. What am I supposed to do?"

"I..." That was a lot to take in for the moment. Catra as displaying a whole new side of herself that she had never seen before, and she was actually asking Adora for her advice? Not once in Catra's life did she ever ask for this kind go advice to Adora personally, and it gave her a new feeling she wasn't used to. It wasn't a mater that Catra was asking for help that bothered her, it was the fact she was on the completely opposite side of the war that worried her. "I don't know, Catra. What do you want me to say? To keep being yourself, to try and be someone different? I don't even know if I should tell you anything while you're with the Rebellion."

Catra narrowed her eyes as she turned away. She wasn't mad at Adora for her reasoning or caution, she was mad at herself for thinking she could provide the answers. Why did she think she could provide the answers to something she had yet to see for herself in the first place? Adora hasn't even seen Catra in her She-Ra state yet, and she was under the impression up till recently that everything Catra was talking about was under the Princess's spell.

She barely gave notice to her friend as she felt her squeezing her shoulder gently from behind. "Catra, do you... Do you still hate me because of you thought I was showing off?"

"...No." Catra laid a hand on her's over the shoulder, still keeping her back to her. "I mean, it's still nagging at me, but I'm not as angry about it as I used to be."

"What brought up the sudden change, then? You're usually not one to let things go so easily."

"Yeah, well," she gently pulled away Adora's hand as she continued on ahead, "you can thank Glimmer and Bow for that, I guess."

Adora went silent at the detail as she followed behind her. Glimmer and Bow, the two who have been at Catra's side ever since Adora knew of their existence, ever since she saw the two standing by her side through the mystical waters of Shadow Weaver's scrying spell. What kind of people were they to her? Did she consider them people she was forced to work with? Actual friends that were on the same level to her as Adora was? Did she... consider them more than friends than she did Adora? It wasn't a feeling of jealousy that prompted Adora's worry, it was something else entirely.

If Catra made friends on her own then that was actually an accomplishment from Adora's point of view, amazing in fact! But what did that mean if she made friends so easily without her? What did she consider these people if she enjoyed their company and support more than she did from the people who raised them? And why was it still only the second-most worrying thing on her mind?

"Catra?" Adora spoke up, taking the lead as Catra slowed down at the sound of her questioning. "Why didn't you come back for me?"

"This again?" She mentally rolled her eyes at the repeated question. At this time, the two had come across another chasm at the center of a much smaller hallway, one whose hallways were only accessible by the floating rocky platforms strewn around the edges of the room. "I already told you, I would've come back for-"

"I don't mean when all this began, Catra." Adora watched her footing as she hopped across the small gap of the first platform, carefully climbing her way to the upper platform connecting to the hallway on her right. "I mean back then, in the Loading Bay, when we were kids." Her gaze showed pain as she turned back towards Catra, the girl herself looking questionably at this. "Why did you leave me behind when Octavia caught us?"

"O-Oh, that?" She wasn't able to hide the small hesitation in her voice as she climbed up the same platform. "I don't know, I guess I was just scared? I mean, we were nine back then, Adora, it was some time ago."

"But we promised to have each other's backs, remember?" It was a promise that meant everything to Adora, one she cherished since the day they made it themselves. "I would've gladly stayed for you if you were the one she caught first."

"Well, y-yeah, I'm sorry... But I know you would've been alright! You were Shadow Weaver's favorite, remember? There's no way she would've allowed anything to happen to you."

"It doesn't matter, though. She would've punished me if I never got away from her, and you left me to deal with her myself." The Force Captain was unaware as the ground near her footing along the edge began to crack as she watched Catra walk ahead of her. "Whenever I'm the one in trouble or you find anything cool or exciting, you always seem to be leaving me behind."

"I know that b-"

"But what? What's supposed to be any different now compared to back th-Ahhhhhhhh!" With a startled yelp, Adora screamed as the edge of the platform began to crumble, falling back into the chasm itself as her foot fell right through the floor. Right as her head passed the level of the platform's floor, she felt a powerful grip grabbing onto her hand, suspending her in the air and saving her life. To her surprise, and relief, the hero came in the form of Catra who was looking down on her, seeming steadfast and certain in her eyes.

"Because I'm not going to leave you this time." Catra replied, pulling Adora back to the platform and helping her across the gap to the other hallway.

"...Do you promise this time?"

She couldn't tell if the simple nod she smiled back with was assuring or not. "I promise. In fact, I don't have leave you now! You could come back with me to the Rebellion, Adora. You're always talking about helping people, and we could really use your help!" This was actually a much better idea now that Catra thought about it. Why bother trying to change herself into something she's not when she can add a whole new ally to the team to make up for it? Adora could have her back whenever she messed up for everyone else, especially with her amazing new shadow powers, and she wouldn't have to worry about ever fighting with Adora again on the battlefield! They could be fighting side by side, like they should've been at this point!

Yet, for reasons she couldn't understand, Adora frowned at this. "You think I can just turn my back on my friends like that, Catra? Do you think I can just agree with you without any care and ignore everybody I left behind?"

"Fine then, bring Scorpia or whoever you want, it doesn't matter! We should't have to be fighting each other like this, Adora. You could do so much good in the Rebellion! A lot more than you could with the Evil Horde."

"...Who calls us the 'Evil Horde'?" It was the strangest title she's ever heard given to the Horde.

"A lot of people, actually. I'm just saying you could do a lot of good on our side, Adora. And you would really get to know Glimmer and Bow a lot better if you did. They're not as bad as you think they are, if not a little annoying. And the Queen's sure to accept you if you gave us your full support."

"Catra..." She couldn't bring find it in herself to flat-out refuse Catra's offer, yet at the same time accept it as well.

She was basically asking her to instantly drop everything she was doing and everyone she cared for and join another side for possibly a better life, the very thing Catra did when all of this started. She also didn't want to deny the possibilities behind it either. She could escape Hordak's punishment if she did, she could bring Scorpia and Entrapta over to her side, and she wouldn't have to worry about fighting against Catra anymore. Every time she found herself on opposite ends of her, it was getting harder and harder to think of her as an ally on the wrong side, and she never wanted to bring herself to the edge of that line of thought.

At the same time, she couldn't even begin to think of dropping everything she's fought for to join sides with the enemy out of the blue. If she left with her right now there was a strong chance Hordak would punish her two close friends in her place, and given the severity of her crime, they would be lucky to get out of their punishment alive. It also meant leaving the likes of Lonnie and her goons behind. They were still the closest thing Adora had to a family around the Horde, and she would still be subjecting them to the same fate Catra subjected Adora to, even if she didn't mean to.

What choice would've caused the least amount of pain between the two sides?

"At least think about it, Adora." She suggested taking the lead again for their safety. "It would be nice to have you ba-"

*zzzzzzzzt*

The feline was cut off as the two noticed the environment around them changing again, groaning aloud as she saw the digital details sprout all around them. "Ugh... let's just get this over with." From the looks of it, the simulation appeared to be of a more recent memory. Very recently, in fact. Over by the bed Catra could see her past self lounging around on the bed trying to sleep. Off to the side of her, she could see Adora doing push-ups on the floor, the blonde friend looking determined as she counted off every pushup she managed to give.

Something about this entire scenario seemed vaguely familiar to the young magicat. The scene itself didn't seem that old even. In fact, all things considered, it looked like something that could've taken place as early as two years ago, before Catra defected from the Horde. There she could see herself wearing her current outfit, something she was given to help better accommodate her qualities and agilities. A lot of human hybrids were given their own outfits to help better accommodate their animalistic capabilities when they reached an adolescent age. Adora was also wearing her traditional red jacket over her clothing, the very one she wore today. It was a little more loose on her by the looks of it, yet no one could deny it and her current one were one and the same.

There was something else about this scene that seemed familiar to Catra as well, something that made her heart beat with fear. When was this? She asked herself, examining the room. There were plenty of nights Catra would wake up in the middle of to find Adora training off to the side of their bed. She would be reading, doing pushups and other exercises, or, on most occasions, doing both at once. Something about this particular night, though, was getting to her. The lighting, the weight of the atmosphere. It almost felt as if...

"...No..." Catra took a step back in fear as her eyes shriveled in fear.

"Catra?" Adora the glint of fear in her eyes, that spark of dread that filled Catra's person. It was unlike anything she's ever seen. Any fear of Catra's she's ever seen in the past was nothing like this. It was like she was staring at death itself, a nightmare that only she could see. Looking back to the scene itself, she tried to think. It was hard to tell what night this was as she could recall many nights she trained late, often failing to fall asleep until it was nearly noon itself. With so many nights to choose from, given the clothing they were wearing and reaction on Catra's face, there was only one conclusion Adora could draw from this. "Catra, is this... this is the night it happened, isn't it?"

"Please, not this one!" Catra practically begged to all around her, running towards the closed door for salvation from this awful memory.

"Catra, it's okay." She knew exactly which memory this was now, and she was prepared to face it along with her friend. "I know what's going to happen, I don't mind." She had forgiven Catra's mistake a long time ago, a forgiveness she didn't feel necessary to give in the first place! What happened that day wasn't Catra's fault, and she was willing to help her friend through it however painful it might be to remember.

"You don't understand," Catra yelled as she pounded on the door, jiggling the handle for dear life, "I can not relive this memory! I can't!"

"Catra, it's okay, we'll get through this!" Any attempts to comfort her friend were met with deaf ears as the magicat shook away her calming hands from her shoulder.

"Adora, I have to get out of here! I can't relive-!" Anything left she had to say, any alternative forms of begging she could've perform were met with naught. By the time she had grabbed for the door again, it was already too late. She had found herself integrating with the memories once more, and was about to relive the worst experience of her life...

...

*"44... 45... 46..." This was the noise that Catra found herself waking up to as her ears twitched. Why did Adora have to do this annoying routine everyday? Training day in and day out, doing pushups, sit-ups, or whatever else she could come up with to exercise her every being. Keeping a lamp light on for her area of the bunk room, shaking the floor, no matter how little, with every push and any fall against the floor. It was a pain in her tail on some nights and a nuisance in general for her every night!

"Ugh... Do you have to do that every night?" Catra groaned, rubbing her sleepy yellow eye as she stretched.

"Sorry Catra," the younger Adora apologized, "I'm just getting ready for our Terrain Exams tomorrow. You know we have an entire course to go through tomorrow without touching the ground, right?"

"Yeah, and? I don't see how keeping yourself flexible is going to help with that."

"Well it usually helps when you need to keep yourself limber and able enough to maneuver fourty feet through the air on those pipes!" Adora reminded, moaning as she rubbed her head. "I don't get how you can be so comfortable up that high while moving at the same time, Catra. I take a look down from that high up, and I'm too afraid to move, and the instructor warn me that can get me killed in the battlefield."

"Heh, well when you're talented like me, climbing around high places just comes naturally." The magicat proudly gloated. She was part cat, climbing was in her nature.

With all the time she's spent running around the Fright Zone growing up, she discovered there was no end to the number of places she could climb to. From large steel pipes that went through the ceilings to the many archways and vents littered throughout the area, the Fright Zone in and of itself was one giant obstacle course for the magicat, and no end to the amount of fun she could have with it.

It was also a paradise when it came from hiding from her superiors. Usually as the result of pulling a prank or goofing off, there was never a week Catra could go by without causing trouble, whether intentionally or not. Because of that, captains, officers, and the likes were usually chasing her all throughout the Fright Zone, forcing her to adapt and eventually use her enhanced agility to her advantage by retreating to places they could neither find or reach.

As such, heights were a common fear she managed to get over rather quickly compared to everyone else. It didn't mean she wasn't afraid of those high places or anything, specifically falling from said heights, but she did manage to get passed the fear of heights at a relatively young age compared to most other children.

It was one of her many personal accomplishments she could feel proud of when she was little, knowing hundreds of other children had yet to accomplish it.

Noticing the silence of her mos-recent gloat, Catra glanced over to her troubled friend, who continued to do push-ups as if her life depended on it. "...You know you're never going to get used to climbing and heights the way you're training now, right?"

"What other choice do I have?" Adora replied, continuing to count off silently to herself. "The exam is in two days, and if I don't pass the course, I'll have to retake the entire lesson course all over again."

"Wait, you mean the entire enter lesson course?" A twinge of worry crossed Catra's eyes at the announcement. When a cadet failed in any of their courses, they weren't given a stern talking to or made to retake that one particular exam. They had to retake the ENTIRE lesson course all over again, as in everything the lesson covered from when it started to when it's finished. The Horde did not tolerate failure, and everyone who did fail something was forced to redo it until they got it done right.

No matter how many days or weeks it took.

"But the Terrain Studies take over a month to teach!" Catra commented with a small whine in her voice. "Doesn't that mean if you fail the Terrain Exam you'll be held back until you get it done right?"

"And if that happens, we won't be in the same training sessions anymore..." Adora knew the issue at hand here, though her reasonings were different than Catra's own. If she found herself held back, she wouldn't be able to hang out with Catra anymore during those classes, and on Catra's end, if Adora ended up getting held back, that meant losing the only friend she had to keep her company throughout this entire nightmare of a world. Not to mention someone who would have her back whenever she needed it.

"Aww, this sucks!" Catra groaned, leaning over the bed. "What about your written exams? Don't they carry over your scores to your physical ones? I thought you studied all night for those?"

"I did, but a certain someone needed a cramming session the night before, so I ended up re-studying everything I already knew, and only got a seventy-percent score on it."

"Well who's fault is that?" It took three seconds of Adora giving Catra a strange look for the girl to realize where she was going with this. "Oh, right... sorry..."

"Huff, it's fine, it's fine." She sighed. "At best I can probably cut the amount of time I'll be retaking the course by half since I already know most of the basics."

"But that still means being two weeks absent from the future exams and lessons we have! What if the next lesson only takes us a week to finish and you're suddenly three courses behind? We might not ever be in the same training sessions anymore if you fail this exam."

Neither of the two girls knew what to say about this. Being held back in a class or lesson was the least of their worries. What did worry them was how it was going to separate the two of them indefinitely if things continued the way they were. It didn't matter if they still got to eat together and sleep together in the same bed if they couldn't socialize or hangout with each other anymore.

When one of their lessons were over, the other one might still be taking a class. While one of them were taking a written exam on how to dismantle and rebuild a stun baton from scratch, the other one might be learning how to treat a severe plasma burn injury. This wasn't a mere instance of the two being in completely different levels of training or classes.

This was a matter of their friendship being on the line.

"...That settles it then." Catra declared getting to her feet, squeezing her fist with certainty. "We need to get you fully prepared for the Terrain Exam no matter what!"

"But how?" It was a nice gesture to see from her friend for a change, even if there wasn't a plan to do so. "The exam is in two days, not even that! And with the other training lessons we have tomorrow, there'll barely be any time to practice at all!" At this, Catra grinned.

"Trust me, I know a guy..."

...

"Mmh..." Kyle moaned as he continued to mop the exterior of the Training Area. "This is going to take all night..." Why did he have to get stuck with Janitorial duties at this time? Just because he was the one who accidentally discharged an electric baton against a supervisor didn't mean he was completely to blame. If anyone had listened to him earlier, they would've heeded his warning about the faulty wiring he noticed in the baton itself.

So what happens instead? The usual thing that happens when nobody gives the time to listen to him; something bad happens and for some unexplained reason it's his fault. From weapon exercises to mechanical repairs, no one ever takes the time to listen to him or his advice.

Why? Was it an unknown curse he had? Did he insult a wizard in a past life he didn't know about? Chances were likely with the track record he's had. He hasn't been able to get a single person to listen to him as far back as he can remember, save Rogelio from time to time as he had a one-sided conversation with the quiet guy. Just once he wished someone would listen to him!

"Hey Kyle." Catra casually greeted as she and Adora walked towards him.

"Catra? Adora?" He gave questionable looks to the both of them as they approached. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We need to use the Training Room for awhile. Adora needs a hand getting used to heights and moving around when she's high up." The magicat explained, casually swiping the key cards on a ring from Kyle's belt as she did. "This is the one for the Training Area, right?"

"You need the training area?"

"Please, Kyle?" Adora was one of the few people who ever spoke to him politely, and one of the few people that acknowledged he existed. "If I don't pass the Terrain Exam, they're going to make me repeat the same lesson for over a month!"

"But Adora- I mean, Catra... Who am I talking to here? Look, I'd love to help, but I can't let anyone in until I've inspected all of the equipment first, and that's not going to happen until morning at this rate."

"Well what the heck's taking so long?" Catra asked with an irritating tone in her voice. "Shouldn't you be done with this by now?"

"You were supposed to be helping me, Catra!" He retorted a little angrier. "Remember? You said you'd help me the next time I was stuck with janitorial duties if I gave you the answers to the papers we were tasked with a week ago."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get right on it." The magicat casually ignored him as she came across one particular looking key card with a familiar design to it.

"And before that you said you'd help me with my training exercise when I did your chores last month!"

"Ah, here we go!"

"You never follow up on your promises, you know that?"

"Are you still talking?" She looked rather surprised at the detail, as if she had no actual clue that he had been talking up to this point. Without checking it, she casually stroke the key card over the door's scanner, waiting for it to give off a green light before the doors finally opened. "Look, I'll do your dumb cleaning garbage thing some other time, all right? For right now, I need to help Adora with her Terrain Exams coming up." She didn't bat an eyelash as she tossed the key cards over her shoulders, forcing Kyle to scramble about in order to collect them again.

"But Catra-!"

"I'm really sorry about her, Kyle. Thanks for the help." Adora apologized, giving a wave goodbye as she and Catra ran into the training area. Having collected all of the scattered cards, Kyle took notice of the one missing key card that he had yet to recover- the very one Catra took with her into the training area, to ensure they wouldn't be interrupted.

"Wait, Adora, you guys don't understand-!" Those were the very last words either of them managed to hear from the shriveling young teen as the doors closed behind them, blocking out the last warning he could shout at the top of his lungs.

"THE EQUIPMENT'S STILL FAULTY!"

...

"Haha!" Catra laughed as she hopped along from one metal pipe to the next. It didn't matter to her if she was fourty feet or higher in the air. With her claws helping her to keep a grip on each of the metal pipes she came across, and her agility giving her superb balance under these circumstances, she was the master of her own terrain!

This was the kind of training she wished she always came across in the Fright Zone. Why couldn't all lessons be centered around what she was best at and what she liked to do? Climbing impossible heights others couldn't reach, leaping over large distances her animalistic traits provided her with, and being able to scale the walls and surroundings with ease thanks to her feline claws? Everything about this sort of training was fun, easy, and exciting for her!

It's too bad Adora didn't seem to share in her enthusiasm.

Looking behind herself, she had to suppress the urge to laugh at the sight. About ten yards away from her, she could see Adora, acting nervously and frightened like Catra used to be as a small child, as she pulled herself around one of the thick pipes that stretched to the ceiling of the training area. It was almost adorable the way she was jumping cautiously around the terrain like a small child, watching her every step as she hopped between platform to platform.

Then again, she was her friend. If there was one person she was above poking fun of or putting down, it would be the one person that's always had her back.

It didn't mean she couldn't have some fun, though. "Aww, what's wong wittle giwl?" She had to cover her cheeky grin as Adora hugged the next pipe she leapt towards. "Afraid of falling down?"

"Afraid of falling down and to my death? Yes!" Adora stammered, trying to balance her footing on the next pipe she jumped towards. "How are you so easy with this? A better climber or not, I don't get how you aren't afraid of falling to your death!" The two were so distracted by Adora's lack of courage that neither of them noticed a small creaking noise coming from the pipe Catra was on.

"Eh, it's all skill when it comes down to it." Catra brushed her nails against herself as she leaned against the pipe she was on. "Some people have it, and some people don't." It was at that time she noticed a worried-looking Adora as she continued to make her way over the next pipe, looking timid as she did. As much fun as she had in teasing Adora at something she was worse than her at, she did have to admit it was a little depressing seeing the friend who had her back through most of her life struggling with something she found so easy. Scratching behind her ears, she decided to wait for her to catch up as she gave her some advice.

"You know, it's usually easier if you don't look down while you're doing it."

"Easy for you to say," Adora never took her focus off her footing as she jumped around, "you're used to rushing on ahead."

"And that's the way you need to do it." Catra replied as she dangled her legs over a pipe. "If you keep looking at each individual step as another platform, you're never going to pass the Terrain Exam with flying colors. You need to think of the platforms less like a separate platform and more like one long trail. Pretend the steps are just cracks in the ground you're stepping on or something."

"Like cracks in the ground?" That was... actually an interesting way to look at them, not to mention looking at the entire lineup of paths as one large trail.. Up till now she was trying to take each step one at a time as they came along. She hadn't thought about looking at them as one continuous path in front of her. With that mindset, she tried to visualize the pipes ahead of her as mere cracks in the ground. "Just cracks... They're just cracks..." With a deep breath, she took one step after the other as she made her way over to Catra.

Technically, the frame of mind wouldn't work in this situation. Despite thinking the way it did, it didn't make the platform and the pipes feel any differently. What did help was the lack of fear she was feeling when she hopped across each of the different pipes. Without the fear of falling weighing her down, she wasn't trying to plant her feet directly on any specific spot on the pipes, easing her footing and actually making the balancing a lot more manageable for her.

By the time she realized it, she was hopping between the pipes and the large gaps like a pro. Not as good as Catra, of course, but enough for Catra to see some noticeable improvement on her part. "Heh, now you're getting it." She grinned giving chase after her friend, closing the gap between them fairly quickly. Adora couldn't ignore the small chuckle building up in her throat at this, finding the breeze through her hair to be quite comforting.

Is this what Catra felt every time she was up this high? Did she get to enjoy the feeling of the wind in her hair as she scampered across the high ground? Did she also feel a sense of pride whenever she pictured everyone looking like ants below her? It was entertaining to her, almost addicting in some way.

"Tag!" Catra suddenly yelped as she passed Adora with ease, giving her a small slap on the back of her shoulder. The young cadet grinned at the challenge as she gave chase. Just because she was a better climber didn't mean she was any better. In fact, Adora was convinced she could catch up to the magicat before she knew what hit her.

"Heheheheh!" The two friends chuckled back and forth to each other as they played their rousing game of tag, increasing Adora's climbing ability with effort as she jumped from one pipe to the next. They had no doubt that with their fun game of tag, followed by the knowledge that they would always have each other's backs, that there was nothing they couldn't handle.

It's for these reasons that Catra was too distracted as she jumped further ahead, unaware of the small sink in her pipe as she smirked back to a more-attentive Adora who was a few yards away. "Come on, slowpoke, I'm just a helpless little kitty, remember?" She taunted as she stood against the main structure the pipe was connected to, the sound of Adora's jumping echoing throughout the complex, and disrupting her awareness that the pipe beneath her was creaking further.

"C-Catra, get off that pipe!" Adora warned, a look of panic filling her face as she rushed over.

"I will if you catch up to me." She continued to taunt. "I mean if I went any faster, you'd never be able to catch up."

"No, Catra, seriously, get off that pipe!" Her friend's arrogance was going to be her downfall. She was convinced that Adora was trying to get her to make a mistake that she called off her potential bluff.

"Oh, what? You think I'm going to fall for the oldest trick in the bo-"

*creeeak*

"Huh?" By the time Catra looked down, it was already too late. All at once, time seemed to slow down to an immense halt around her as the rickety pipe suddenly gave way, sliding right out from under Catra's feet before the magicat could so much as respond. Her entire field of gravity seemed to give way as she felt herself beginning to fall, from forty feet in the air to what could potentially be her death. She needed a miracle to save her!

And that miracle came in the form of a simple push.

With one mighty shove, Catra found herself being pushed away by a dear friend who went by the name Adora. The blonde girl was quick to react to Catra's slow response as she sped her way towards her dear friend, reaching her right as the pipe gave away. There wasn't any time to grab her, and no way in knowing if the faulty pipes they were using would've given out with their combined weight, so Adora did the only thing that made sense at the time.

She shoved her friend out of the way in time, Catra grabbing onto the nearby pipe she was thrown against, as Adora took the fall for her. The last thing either of them saw was the sight of Adora's shocked expression before the beloved friend found herself falling through the air.

"Ahhhhhhhh-!" Catra's eyes watered as she heard her friend's scream.

"Adoraaaaaaaa!" Catra cried out.

It was in no way a pleasant fall to go through. She wasn't punished for her heroic actions with a simple forty foot drop. She was given the worst repercussions imaginable for a hero like her. What started out as a simple fall ended up being a painful dilemma to settle through itself as she found herself slamming against several different pipes along the way down, each individual one breaking off immediately after due to the sheer force of her fall, as the girl continued her descent.

Forty feet became thirty. Thirty feet became twenty. With every ten feet she fell she ended up taking a handful of pipes along with her, Catra's unfortunately heightened hearing allowing her to hear every slam and crackle her friend went through as she continued falling towards the floor. By the time she reached the ground, nearly a dozen different pipes followed above her, as she finally ended her dark descent into misery.

*CRASH!*

"Adora!" Catra cried out again. All she could see as she climbed her way down were the various pipes that were toppled above her, Catra doing everything in her power to rush over to her friend's side as her mind filled with fear.

"Aggggghhhhhh!" She heard Adora cry out as she reached the pile. The pipes weren't consistent in size or length, with some of them being the size of an arm, and others being the thickness of a leg. All Catra could see was the immense pile of pipes over her friend as she continued to panic, pulling off each of the heavy pipes one after the other.

"Adora, I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, sorry!" Catra apologized as her eyes watered. "Somebody help me!" She shouted, praying that anyone would find them. She was so distraught with the recent accident that she forgot she took the training area key card to make sure they weren't interrupted, all the while Adora continued to moan and cry out in pain as her everything hurt.

Her back felt like it collided with a skiff, her stomach was in immense pain as she could practically feel the pipes squishing against her intestines, even after they were pulled from her. Thankfully none of them were stabbed into her or gorged her, not that it would've made the girl feel any better as she continued to cry out. The worst amount of her pain came from her right leg, more so after Catra finally managed to remove thee last pipe from it, giving her a view of something shocking enough to make her cover her mouth.

Her leg was broken.

"Oh... m..." Catra continued cry out for help kicked all the stupid pipes away that she felt were responsible for this disaster. "Please, anybody! We need help-!"

"There they are!" She heard Kyle's voice call out as several people ran over to her side.

"Adora!" Another voice cried out in terror. Catra didn't care if the voice belonged to Shadow Weaver or anyone else, knowing anyone who was in here with them would have to be pretty high ranking in order to bypass the electronic locks. She was so focused and apologetic to her agonizing friend that nothing else seemed to phase her in that moment.

Catra showed no worry or care for their teacher as she kneeled over Adora's side, gently and carefully leaning the girl up as Adora clutched her stomach in pain. It was one of the few instances of their lives anyone saw a softer, vulnerable, side from Shadow Weaver, seeing the sadness in her eyes before it was replaced with anger. "Someone grab her a stretcher, IMMEDIATELY!" She shouted. The soldiers gave their fair salute as Shadow Weaver turned back towards her beloved pupil.

"I-I told you they were in here!" Kyle shrieked, almost terrified at the mere sight of the pain Adora was in. "Catra, what have you done?!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Adora continued to cry out, gritting her teeth as she failed to fight back the tears. "I-I'm sorry!" Adora choked out. In the Horde, people weren't supposed to show emotions, especially sadness, in times of pain, whether it was emotional or physical pain. She did everything in her power to stop the flow of tears, but the pain was too much!

"No, no, you did nothing wrong, dear." Shadow Weaver cooed softly, stroking the hair and tears out of Adora's eyes. "How did this happen?"

"I-I told Catra I didn't check the equipment yet!" Kyle replied, doing everything in his power to keep himself from running away as his knees trembled. "I didn't get enough time to because she left me with the janitorial work! I tried to warn them, honest!"

"It was an accident I swear!" Catra apologized, her lack of focus keeping her from seeing the sullen look Shadow Weaver was giving her. "W-We were just playing- I-I mean training, and- and... t-th-the pipe! T-T-The pipe, it just-"

"You...?" For the first time, Shadow Weaver showed surprise by Catra's involvement in Adora's misery. "You... did this?" She was beside herself. She always told Catra to never harm or to bring harm to Adora, and this is what happens? Did Catra actually enjoy seeing her friend in pain like this? There were so many confusing thoughts and feelings swarming her mind at the time that she couldn't process the amount of anger and hatred burning in her heart.

"We're here!" The guards announced as they brought over a stretcher, a nurse being brought over for the emergency. Doing their best to ignore the cries of pain coming from Adora's mouth, Shadow Weaver did the best she could as she assisted the guards in placing Adora onto the stretcher itself, doing her best to make the transition from the ground as painlessly as possible.

"I want her brought to the Med Bay immediately!" She hissed, the ends of her hair spiraling with rage. "Use whatever you have to dull her pain! And make sure no one gives her any lip or trouble for her actions until I return for her myself!" As with everything else, the guards gave a respectful nod to the high-ranking member of the Horde as they carried off the tearful Adora, Kyle tagging along in case they needed help or an explanation, leaving Catra and Shadow Weaver alone in the room.

What had she done? She couldn't believe it, in any state of mind. She tried helping Adora, she stole the key cards right out of Kyle's pockets, the very person she promised to help with such a ridiculous task, she ignored his attempted warnings about the training area, and she goofed around in the last place they should've in the Fright Zone, all for the sake of keeping Adora from failing her Terrain Exam. All because she couldn't bear the idea that she would be separated from the only friend she had, the only one that helped her when she really needed it.

Adora suffered for her greed, for her inability to picture a life without someone to help her. This was all her fault, and Adora was paying the price for it. It was these constant swirls of thought that continued to spiral around in Catra's mind as she finally turned to the last person she wanted to be alone with. "S-Shadow Weaver, I'm... I'm sor-Mmph!" Without warning, she felt a crushing grip close tightly around her mouth, feeling a burning hatred coming from her palms as she was lifted a foot off the ground.

No amount of preparation would prepare her for the terror that as to come.

...

*crash!*

"Ahh!" Catra cried out as she was thrown across the Black Garnet chamber, crashing through a massive wooden table in the process. There was anger seething from the silent Shadow Weaver the entire way up here as she maintained her excruciating grip over Catra's mouth. She didn't want to hear a word from her, an excuse, an apology, anything that the girl had to say until she sealed the doors to the chamber tightly and locked it in place, keeping her back to the girl as she moaned. "S-Shadow Weaver, I'm sorry! I swear to you, I'm sorry-"

"Zip it." She spoke coldly. Catra watched in terror as a small wave of darkness started to grow from the witch herself, spreading across the room one inch at a time. "I gave you one simple rule and you defied me!?" The floating horror slowly turned herself around, approaching the frightened magicat who backed away slowly with tears still in her eyes. She wanted Catra to burn the memory of what she was about to do straight into her retinas, taking her time to approach, knowing she had no means of defending herself.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She shrieked, backing up across the floor as she continued to cry out. "I-I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't mean to!"

"You think I care if you meant to or not?" Catra watched in horror as the sparks of lightning burst from the tips of Shadow Weaver's fingers. "All you had to do was to make sure you never harm Adora. A task even I thought you were capable of, and you let this happen?!"

At the sight of another burst of lightning, Catra jumped to her feet, attempting to outrun the shadowy master as fast as she could. It proved futile, though, as the minute she ran into the shadows itself, she felt her entire body being frozen in place, a red aura coming off of her person. Every inch of her body was shaking tremendously as fear overcame her, her skin standing on ends as she felt Shadow Weaver's cold hands cross her shoulder.

"I-I-It was an a-accident, I swear to you..." She muttered, the tears piling in the corner of her eyes.

"You think that makes it okay?" She heard from Shadow Weaver's seething mouth.

*WHAM!*

"Ahh!" Catra cried out as she was thrust against the cold interior walls of the room, her body practically slamming with full force against it before she was dropped to the ground. Despite the pain it caused, Catra tried getting back to her feet, knowing Shadow Weaver wouldn't dare to try punishing her outside of the room where eyes could wander. That hopeful optimism was pushed away, along with her body as she was sent crashing into the Black Garnet itself.

*crush!*

"Ngh!" Another crash was followed by a cry of pain as Catra slumped against the giant crystal. She could feel a few scratches give way as her body slammed against the jagged crystal. She wasn't given a single moment of reprieve as she felt her foot being lifted up by the dark forces that surrounded her, finding herself thrown into the air above before being slammed down into the cold, hard, floor beneath her once more. "Agh!"

Catra never felt this level of pain before from Shadow Weaver's abuse. The woman rarely laid a hand on her unless she truly screwed up, unless Adora was ever with her. Here, Catra committed the ultimate sin which almost resulted in an accident that could've ended in Adora's demise, all because she didn't return the favor to someone she owed, someone who could've checked the equipment like he was supposed to if he had the time for it.

It was entirely her fault.

She knew it.

Kyle knew it.

And Shadow Weaver knew it.

And she was going to make sure she never forgot.

"P-Pl-Please!" The younger Catra practically begged, groveling as she tried to pick herself up off the floor. "I-I'm sorry... I-I'll make up for it, I swear! Just please... Please stop it, it hurts!"

"It hurts?" Shadow Weaver barely raised a brow as she was overwhelmed with an all-consuming cackle of amusement. "You think I care if it hurts? I gave you what little ounce of trust I could give you, and you betrayed it. Your foolishness hurt Adora, it nearly cost her her life! And you think you're in pain now? I will show you what true pain is like for what you did to Adora!" Shadow-Weaver roared as shadows and streaks of red-colored lightning surged from her hands towards her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-!"

...

"-Ahhhhh!" Catra screamed as she collapsed to the floor. Catra, the present Catra, panted with exhaustion and out of breath as she fell to her hands and knees. She couldn't resist the tears dripping from her own face as she gasped for air, feeling like her lungs were on fire like the days Shadow Weaver abused her.

Two. Two whole days straight. That was the amount of time she spent with Shadow Weaver. The amount of time it took Shadow Weaver to ensure Catra would never forget the most tragic and dreadful day of her life. All because she broke one little promise, despite how meaningless it seemed to her, that resulted in Adora's near-death experience.

Even when the simulation ended, Catra's mind flashed endlessly with everything she did to her during the next two days. All the pain, all the suffering. Everything Shadow Weaver did to make sure this day would never be forgotten, to make sure Catra would never disobey her ever again. She wanted Catra to always remember what happened on that day, and to make sure the memory of it was burned into the recesses of her mind to make sure the pain would always come back if she ever remembered.

And it did.

Whenever she thought of Shadow Weaver, she felt pain. Whenever she was in her presence, she was always a little afraid. It was only thanks to Adora's presence that she managed to persevere around her more often than not, getting a quick lip in or a playful taunt whenever she could to bolster her own courage. Yet, all it resulted in doing was fueling the fire in Shadow Weaver's eyes, knowing she was one breath away from reinforcing that treacherous day all over again.

She couldn't help it as she hugged herself, feeling the pain of her memory as it reached her chest. That day she knew what Shadow Weaver was truly like, how cruel she could be when the reins were off of her. She could never afford to cross Shadow Weaver like that again, not in a way that affected Adora in the process. It didn't matter to her if Adora forgave her for the ordeal either. No amount of forgiveness could ever make the memory of that day disappear from her mind.

"I'm sorry..." Catra muttered to herself, shivering from the memory. "I'm so sorry... I..." Lifting her head up, she caught a glimpse of where she currently was.

All around her, darkness surrounded her as the simulation slowly came to an end. From one corner of her vision to the next, she watched as the simulation destabilized all around her. Where there should've been wall, she saw darkness, and where the metallic floors once were, she saw cold red concrete. It was then she realized that during her half of the simulation, she was brought to a completely different section of the citadel, somewhere further from where she started, somewhere away from-

"Adora!" Catra yelled getting to her feet, looking everywhere around her. It finally dawned on her that she was carried away by a stretcher in the simulation, which meant if she was carried off by Shadow Weaver, then Adora herself was carried over to another part of this dangerous place!

The last memory wasn't a mere tool to torment her. It intentionally delivered her life-scarring memory as a means to separate the two.

"Adora?!" Catra called out again. Without her headband, Adora stood little chance against these mechanical creations. It didn't matter if her years of training taught her how to fight mechanical creations like these. With their numbers seeming limitless, there was no telling how long Adora could last without her shadow magic.

*skreeeeee!*

"What?" Catra drew her sword as she turned back towards the darkness. It was then that she found her gaze being met by a group of glowing red eyes, one after the other, as she heard the mechanical screeches of the abominable robotic spiders. Each of them made their presence known as they stepped out of the darkness, their metal appendages stomping against the ground as they approached. Growling to herself, Catra lifted the sword in the air in a last attempt to call upon her sword's power. "For the Honor of-!"

*spak!*

"Ah-!" Her sword was knocked clear out of her hands and towards a cliff side as it was covered in the green sticky goo. No sooner had it did another spider climb out of the dark abyss, standing over it as it closed in on the magicat. She wasn't going to let the memory of the worst day of her life keep her from fighting back. She gave a small hiss as she extended her claws, ready to fight off the incoming swarm of robots no matter how long it took. She found it to be a useful way to vent the endless stress the most recent simulation caused her.

There was, however, one concern still on her mind.

Where the heck is Adora?!

...

"...Mmhh..." Adora moaned quietly as she slowly came to. Like with every simulation she pulled herself out of, she found the memories of the present coming back towards her, reminding her of everything that lead her to this place and what she came here for.

Rubbing her head a bit sorely, she realized she was fortunate that the events were a simulation of what happened, and not a full-fledged repeat of what she felt when it happened. She couldn't picture breaking her leg again, or bruising her ribs that she was diagnosed with on that day. She remembered how it hurt for weeks to eat anything as long as her stomach kept acting up, how she was bedridden for nearly three weeks after the incident, waking up a day after once the painkillers wore off for the first time.

What she couldn't figure out was why Catra wasn't around her at this point. With the medicine she had on that day, her mind was a little foggy, but she assumed Catra would've been by her side, keeping a close eye on her while she recovered each and every day. She knew she was burdened with guilt over the event, remembering the month-long silence she gave her unless Adora had a specific question or issue she needed help with during her time of recover.

So why wasn't she here? She should've headed down to the same location Adora was carried off to. Speaking of which, where was she? She found herself lying on a flat rock-like bedding surrounded by several white crystals. Did the simulation actually cause her pain and were these crystals healing her? She felt a strange warmth coming from the crystals but no pain to counteract with. The outer areas of where the walls should've been were surrounded by shadows, keeping her from so much as picking out where a door was.

*Catra? Where did you go?* She asked herself as she groggily rose from the stony bed.

*skreeeee*

"Huh!" Adora let out a small gasp as a single group of red eyes began to glow in the darkness. As much as she hopped against it, sure enough, she found a mechanical being stepping it's way out of the darkness, taking several steps forward until half of its body was present to her. Reacting quickly, Adora grabbed for her stun baton within her jacket, ready to defend herself the minute this thing made its first move. Wherever she was, she needed to play defensively, seeing how her only means of defense was the small baton she had left.

"Come on!" She threatened, unwilling to back down. There was no way she wasn't going to put up a fight, not as long as her friend was in danger! Even if she wasn't here by her side at this time! ...Or the last time! ...Or when she stole the sword from her...by betraying her trust... The way she showed little interest in ever coming back... "Ghh!" She shook the thoughts out of her head as she tried to concentrate.

Thinking back on it, this whole place has been messing with their head since the moment they got here, showing them memories of their past right in front of them without warning. It didn't matter if Catra betrayed her... several times... she wasn't going to abandon her friend here as long as she stood! She was ready for this stupid spider thing, and the two that approached from behind it. She was ready for anything they had to throw at her!

What she wasn't ready for was the small screech they gave out before retreating back into the darkness. It left Adora in a state of confusion as she lowered her guard at this, watching in confusion as the spiders drew away. "They're leaving?" Why would they do that? Adora had little idea of where she was or what kind of place this massive Beacon was. The spiders should've held the advantage in every possible way, right down from forming traps against her or by easily outnumbering her. It's like the spiders themselves didn't consider her a threat at all! It was almost like...

"Wait a minute..."

"You think if I knew I'd be running rather than fighting them?" Catra yelled back. "Far as I know, you messed something up when you were in the room! They probably think you're an intruder!"

"Then why are they chasing you?"

"I don't know! Did you mess with anything while you were in there?"

"I'm not the intruder... Catra is!" This would go on to be the last ounce of concern Adora ever had for her beloved friend.

Because by the next time they saw each other, their lives would change forever...

...

A/N: All right people, this is it! This is where alllllllllllll the marbles come down to. I hope you all enjoyed that part because up next we have the scene that will either make or break this fanfic. I gotta be honest, extremely nervous. It'll either come out as something really great, or something completely horrendous, and the last time i felt this positive about a chapter in my rwby fic, it kiiiiinda blew up in my face Xo (in hindsight, I should've posted the entire thing as planned instead of 2 different parts but oh well...)

And yeah, I know i'm making a bit of too much drama. Hate to say it but it'll continue this way till we reach the very end of season 1 with some drama here and there, as well as some good ol' fashion fun ^^

Anyway! Hope you guys all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you all enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

And be prepaaaaared T_T...

Chapter 44: Episode 11: Promise Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Well people, this might go on hand to be the fastest I've ever updated (which hopefully makes up for the absence ^^) All I can say is... hoof... good luck... May the feels be with you... (also at a certain point, I've listed when to play some music from the show to maximize the amount of feels you should be getting, so have youtube and a she-ra soundtrack on standby, specifically when heartbreaking theme starts playing...)

Enjoy!

...

"Agghhh!" Catra roared as she dove her sharpened claws into another robotic spider's head, pulling out a handful of wires as it screeched in, what she hoped to be, pain.

This day was the epitome of everything that can and has gone worse. From the moment she started exploring this place with Adora, the two found themselves trapped within an endless maze of hallways with these things littering the corners of their vision and filling the gaps of fear in their mind. Not once since the two came around here has their day gotten any easier, not even when they were in the presence of each other's company.

As a matter of fact, it was the presence of each other's company that slowly started to drive the two into a questionable relationship. Ever since they got here, they've been plagued with the memories of their past lives of all their time within the Horde. Some of it was good, other parts were bad, but on a whole, it gave rise to concerns the two had over each other as well as the issues they had with each other.

For Catra, it was her rise of annoyance and hatred she had for Adora's status within the Horde. To her, she always found Adora to be the goody-two-shoes who always had to come in first, who always had to be the center of attention. It's not that she was upset over the lack of attention she got, she was upset with the kind of attention she got. It was always praise and encouragement for her while it was verbal threats, taunts, and mocking Catra for everything she herself did. Not once did anyone other than Adora have something nice to say about it, and it annoyed her up till this point.

On Adora's end of problems, she noticed a certain pattern in her life that was starting to worry her. Whenever something bad happened, or before something bad happened, Catra abandoned her. She ran away when the two crashed the skiff into another one in the Loading Bay when they were kids. She was the one who set out several months ago on a journey that would turn her against the Horde, the very people who raised them both. Catra was always the one running away from the situation.

And it felt like Adora was the only one who was trying to get her back.

It's not like she didn't understand Catra's anger towards the Horde. While she never saw just how badly it got, she was more than aware of the numerous pranks and stunts pulled on Catra when she was a child, how often Catra was getting teased and being called a "freak" around the Fright Zone. It didn't make any sense to her and she didn't care about whatever reasoning people had to taunt her as such. She was a dear friend to her and to this day, she continued to be the one to defend her at every turn.

So why couldn't Catra do the same? Why couldn't she try to explain to Adora what was going on, even when she thought she was being brainwashed? A better question would be why didn't Catra ever come back for Adora in the first place? Since she escaped the Fright Zone with the princess, in part thanks to Adora's involvement, that question has been haunting her mind. It took Catra time to make friends, and she never managed to make any more friends within the Fright Zone, much less try.

Then how did she manage to make friends on the enemy's side of all places?!

It didn't matter to the two, not that they were given long enough, as the last simulation they experienced brought them to an unimaginable memory that Catra never wanted to re-experience, never wanted to resurface. It was the very day her foolishness, recklessness, and lack of commitment to her promises that lead to what can only be described as the worst day of Catra's life. And no amount of talking or therapy would ever make her forget such a horrific event.

Perhaps that was Karma's way of getting back at hr, given the present situation she found herself in.

Almost immediately after pulling herself out of her recent simulation, the magicat found herself swarmed by wave after wave of these spider-like robots, the very ones who seemed intent on her and Adora's capture the moment Adora activated some security mechanism as Catra was being scanned for some bizarre identification process.

These creatures were massive with a sticky web they could spew from their mouth at any given opportunity, the webs themselves, while easily cut through, were incredibly durable and hard to pull apart. She didn't know why the creatures were continuing to pour in after her, having the idea that Adora was the intruder they were after, and she didn't care for once. This place, the very one she came to in the hopes of saving her friend, went on to torment her time and again through her memories, and made her relive the worst experience of her life.

She was more than eager to relieve the stress she's built up after today.

*CRASH!*

"Arrrgh!" With another roar, the magicat jumped from one spider's mechanical head to the next, right as a metallic spear nearly impaled her, striking the robot she was riding as a result. As she jumped, she felt herself getting tangled up by her foot as one of the other robots spat out another gunk of the atrocious webbing, catching her in the air and dropping her to the ground. Grumbling, she saw the same robot closing in on her as it attempted to spit another pile of webbing straight at her chest, hoping to entrap her arms and disable her.

Learning from her last mistake when she was captured by one of these mechanical bots, Catra swiftly rolled out of the way, swiping away at her feet at the same time as she cut away at the annoying stickiness, freeing her feet at long last. Jumping up to said feet, Catra gave another hiss as the robot approached her. Like the last two times, it attempted to catch her in another spit of the sticky substance, but found the magicat was too quick as she jumped into the air, landing straight on top of the creature's head where it couldn't shoot her.

Instead of going straight for the head like earlier, this time she hacked her claws away at one of it's frontal appendages, cutting off the metallic silver leg that was practically the same size as her, and impaling it directly into the robot's skull. She grinned to herself as she saw the sparks from the robot flare up, jumping away from the scene with the detached limb in hand as it collapsed behind her. Now Catra had her claws, and a new appendage to use as a weapon.

And she still didn't like her chances of victory.

No matter how many of these stupid spider things she cut away, more continued to swarm her area. When she destroyed one giant spider, another two took it's place. When she dodged one gunk of the sticky webbing, she found another two shots attempting to strike her. Every time she beat one of these creatures back she felt another ounce of her strength leaving her. Without the sword to cut away at these things easier, the very sword one of these robots seemed to be purposely covering over, there was now way she was going to be able to defeat all of these things on her own!

What's worse, she still had no idea where Adora was! All that girl had with her was the stun baton she came here with, seeing how Catra swiped her headband for safety reasons until the two could escape from this place. Like all the other reckless decisions she's made in the past, here she was starting to regret her most recent, seeing how she was having a hard enough time with these things, only thankful that she had claws to make the task much more manageable.

How hard of a time was Adora having with these thigns?!

"Adora," Catra said to herself as she watched another massive spider approaching, "where are you?!"

...

"Huff... Huff..." Adora panted as she continued running down the halls frantically. She wasn't running out of fear for her own life, but for Catra's after the realization she's had.

Up till now, the two were under the impression that the spiders were either after the both of them, or Adora in particular. And why wouldn't they? The explanation clearly made sense to them at first! Catra seemed to know what she was doing here while Adora snuck her way in here in order to find a piece of technology or artifact that she could present to Lord Hordak himself, in an effort to atone for the mistakes she's made and her assistance in helping the Princess of Bright Moon, aka Glimmer, escape from the Fright Zone.

She found it wonderful when Hordak offered her leniency and was very thankful for the opportunity too! The problem came down to what she could do to make amends for her transgression. She was tasked with finding something worth contributing back to the Horde, something of equal or greater value than the princess she lost and the Sword of Protection that Lord Hordak seemed rather obsessed with for an unknown reason, and she was given one week to do so.

Naturally, anyone given such a task would find themselves panicking, finding themselves at wits end as they tried to think of a solution to their problems. Fortunately for Adora, she had the assistance of a certain princess, the one she believed to be left behind by the others, who went by the name Entrapta. Winning her over to their cause didn't take much effort, seeing how she was already fascinated and overjoyed at the sight of so many technological marvels of the world. Add to the fact she was, presumably, abandoned by the Princess Alliance and left to die here, and she was more than eager to join the Horde.

It was thanks to her assistance that Adora managed to find this place, and it's thanks to Catra's presence that she wasn't driven insane after everything she's experienced until now. At least, that used to be the mindset she had before the latest simulated memories came knocking at their door.

One after the other, Adora noticed something that continued to torment her ever since coming here. More often than not, she found Catra repeating the same acts of betrayal against her, leaving her behind or not being there when she needed her most. It didn't mean she couldn't understand the reasoning for these acts, knowing her friend was afraid of the consequences from time to time. If she had stayed in the Loading Bay, for instance, she would've been subjected to whatever punishment Octavia had to dish out for them. That much she could understand.

What she couldn't understand was why it was continuing to happen. It felt as if Catra was continuing to make the same mistakes again, taking it upon herself to abandon Adora's side whenever she needed her help the most. When it came to the start of all this nonsense, she wouldn't let Adora join her no matter how much she pleaded, and when she aided in her escape in the Fright Zone, she took advantage of their friendship and stole the sword.

It was almost as if Catra didn't care for Adora, and no amount of skepticism could convince her she didn't. After all, they were friends ever since they were kids. She's always had Catra's side, defending her from the bullies that picked on her the best she could, and Catra gave her a reason to smile on most days, admiring the kindness and innocence Catra used to display when they were little.

So what changed over the years? More importantly and worrying... did anything change over the years? Or was this the way it's always been between the two of them? Being on the outside looking in this time around, she could help but feel a strangeness in her heart as she watched the events displayed around her. Something troubled her about all of this, and the only thing more troubling than that was the fact it bothered her at all to begin with.

What was it about these events that was getting to her? What made her so worried the more she experienced them?

These kinds of questions were put on hold as she continued running down the hallways, intent on finding, and possibly saving, her best friend from certain danger. The spiders didn't seem too keen on capturing Adora, the realization she had after being approached by three of them who slithered away back into the darkness.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the probable explanation and realization she came to following that. These spider things weren't chasing after Adora because they didn't consider her the intruder of this establishment. They considered Catra to be the intruder instead, and they were doing everything in their power at that moment to apprehend the young girl!

With this in mind, she set her sights on finding her dear friend, wherever she could be, as the simulations started to collapse around her. One by one, she watched as the place around her gave way, revealing the walls and floors of the real establishment that lied hidden beneath all of it. Something was causing this place to destabilize, and she didn't care what the cause was. She just knew if she didn't hurry, Catra would be in imminent danger, and she needed to make it to her side as fast as possible!

Perhaps this place was aware of that? Perhaps it didn't want her to find her friend in time? These questions were being formed after Adora came to another simulated room, one that materialized around her and blocked off her escape. She didn't have time to watch whatever saddening scene they had to show, she didn't want to relive whatever experience they had to offer!

And yet, for some reason, she found herself unable to look away. At the sound of a small sniffling, she approached what appeared to be a small bundle in the middle of the bunk room, sitting against the small bed away from the bundle as it continued to cry. The bundle was too wrapped up to tell at first glance, but the way she was lying in the middle of the bed, the way it covered itself from head to toe, there could be no mistaking it. She remembered this day as one of the best memories she's ever had.

And it was about to be the worst experience of her life.

...

"Adora?" A depressed-looking, nine-year-old, Catra called out from the doorway. Unlike the previous simulations she's experienced up to this point, Adora, the present one, wasn't integrated into the simulation. She was still sitting on the bed opposite of the other girl as her younger self popped her head up a little bit, still under the covers, at the sound of the voice. Looking back, the younger Adora's eyes continued to water, watching as her as a guilty Catra approached the bed with her hands behind her back.

"Y-You..." Adora sniffled, wiping her tears away with the blanket. "W-Wh-Why did you abandon me back there, Catra?" The blonde winced a little as she rubbed her cheek, still sore from the fall she took from the skiff. "Octavia, she... Ngh..." The girl hiccuped a little as the tears continued to form around her eyes. At the cry, Catra looked away in regret.

"I... I'm sorry, Adora..." The younger one apologized, unable to look her in the eye. The real Adora curled her legs up on the simulated bed, hugging herself as she watched one of her treasure memories unfold in front of her. "I... I was scared, okay?"

"No, it's not okay!" The younger Adora cried out as the young Catra hopped onto the bed, sitting on her knees from behind her. "I'm not as fast as you! S-She caught up to m-m-me, you know!" She sniffled. "S-She would've hurt me, threatened to hurt me, if Shadow Weaver didn't appear!"

"T-Then you see? Everything worked out!" The younger Catra tried to comfort her as she rubbed Adora's back with her tail, knowing how much it used to comfort her.

"No it didn't!"

"No it didn't." Both Adora's said in unison, the real Adora remembering her exact words as a small frown began to form.

"I got yelled at by the both of them! Big time!" The younger blonde cried out. "I've... I've never seen her so angry before... n-not to me..." It truly was the first day Adora ever found herself on the receiving end of Shadow Weaver's fury, the first time she could ever recall feeling the same kind of fear Catra felt almost every day of her life. She's never felt that kind of anger directed at her before, not once in her life, and it came from the very person she thought loved her dearly.

Looking back on it, Adora knew it was for her own good. Like any decent parent, she was angry because she was scared, not that Adora knew what a real parent was like. She was shouting at her with every intention to remind Adora of doing something so reckless, something that would've costed her life, like the incident several years after it did.

Just like the other time she found herself without Catra by her side.

"I-I know... and I'm really sorry!" Catra apologized again, growing a small smile as she sat right next to the younger Adora. "But hey, I know something that will cheer you up!" Catra tried to encourage. Taking a moment from her sniffling, Adora found herself actually surprised by what Catra pulled from her back.

Two solid crayons, fresh and ready to use. One was pink, and the other blue.

And they were more than enough to bring Adora out of her stupor.

"W-Where..." The young Adora rubbed her tears away from her eyes, letting out another sniffle in the process. "W-Where did you get those?"

"Eh, some nut job who happened to 'lose' his keys in the hallway." Catra chuckled with a cheeky grin. The older Adora watched as Catra pulled her closer to the edge of the bunk bed against the wall, where the small metallic piece of the bunk connected the two beds. "Here, do you want the blue one or the pink one?"

"Umm... pink." Adora decided, stretching her arms out of the blankets as she gently plucked the pink crayon from her friend's hand. She watched as her friend gave another cheeky grin as she began drawing a picture of herself, her head specifically. Eyeing the pink crayon in her own hand for a moment, Adora followed through as she did the same, drawing her own head to the best of her ability.

"Was I... really that easy for you...?" Adora asked herself as she held herself tighter.

As the two continued to doodle away, Catra glanced over as she noticed the still-undesirable frowning on Adora's face. She thought the crayons would cheer her up a lot more than that. Anyone getting anything even remotely fun around here as a gift was almost impossible to come by. It taught the kids the meaning of earning their rewards, to work hard to accomplish their own goals and ideals. Something as simple as a crayon was like giving someone a new car out of the blue around here. It almost made Catra wonder if she appreciated the gift or not.

Then again, it's not like she could blame her either. With her own small frown, Catra turned her head away as her ears tilted in depression. "Adora, I... I know I might leave you once in awhile... or I might do something stupid without realizing it." As her friend looked to her curiously, Catra gave back a small smile. "But I still haven't forgotten our promise, okay?" She felt a great warmth wash over her as she raised a pinkie between the two of them, seeing the small smile it managed to grow over the young Adora's face.

"I look out for you..." Adora spoke, taking hold of Catra's pinkie with her own.

"I look out for you..." The older Adora did the same, bringing her own pinkie to the holographic projection even as her finger phased through it.

"And I look out for you." Catra replied, tightening her pinkie against Adora's as they shook. "And I'll always be by your side."

At this, the two friends hugged.

It was one of the few moments in Adora's life that she treasured the most, one that she savored ever since. The sight of her friend committing to such a compassionate promise, knowing that she would always be there for her, it gave Adora her own sense of hope that everything would work out in the end.

But here... seeing the same scene again? It didn't fill her with warmth. It didn't bring any comfort to her whatsoever as she pulled her hand back, hugging herself as her eyes started to water.

Finishing their masterpieces of a picture, the two friends took a look at one another's face that they drew, laughing at each other's crude drawing of their own face. These were the moments the two would always remember, the very ones they would look back on whenever they were in a time of need.

Seeing how she successfully cheered her friend up, Catra casually hopped off her bed, running towards the door. "Now come on! I know how to get back at that stupid-headed Octavia girl! I got the best prank ever!" At the announcement, the young Adora stared off ahead of herself as she sat from the bed. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she was staring straight off into Adora's own eyes, the older Adora watching a small tear gather at the edge of the younger Adora's face, one she wiped away as she sighed.

"I'm coming." Adora announced, removing the blankets from herself as she smiled back to her dear friend, chuckling along the way to their next brilliant adventure.

"Catra..." Watching the two leave, Adora finally broke down into tears as she cried into her curled up legs.

She remembered the times back then when they were kids. They were simpler times, better times. Times the younger Adora thought everything would work out, that everything would be better after awhile for the two. She always knew as long as they had each other's backs, that nothing bad could ever happen to them. No matter how many times Catra was or wasn't there for her, she knew she would always be the one Adora could rely on to make her happy, and keep her safe.

Now, though, she was more mature. She bared witness to the exact same events, the very way they originally played out, as a much more sophisticated and older Adora. And the sight she witnessed before her didn't fill her with anything good. It didn't give her a sense of relief, it didn't make her feel any better than she did now. All it did was fill her with a whirlpool of despair, a great geyser of endless sorrow that was washed away with the ocean.

Nothing but endless sadness.

...And a newfound anger...

...

"Gaaaah!" Catra screamed as she dashed under the legs of one of the mighty robots, panting in-between roars as she impaled into the mighty robot's stomach from underneath using the broken appendage, and cutting it all the way across its abdomen. With a deathly cry, Catra slid out from under the great beast as it collapsed to the floor, Catra finding herself backing up the second she managed to catch her breath. Like every other time, the swarm just kept coming.

This was starting to get out of hand. For maybe ten minutes straight, Catra has been charging at, clawing at, destroying every single robotic spider that came her way. At first, she thought she had the upper hand. Avoiding the sticky webbing, the battle was relatively easy for her to deal with. Her claws could tear away at the hunks of metal around them, and the appendage she had served as both a relatively-good battering ram, and a magnificent spear she could chuck at these wretched creatures with!

That optimism only lasted as long as her stamina did, the very one that was starting to reach it's limit. Despite her best efforts, no matter how many of these things she managed to destroy on her own, they continued to come out of the darkness. She's barely had any chance to go for her sword, finding two more spiders replacing the one that previously guarded it, and she has yet to see an end to these never-ending stream of robots!

"These things keep coming..." Catra muttered to herself as she panted. With a small glimpse, she quickly rolled herself out of the way as another spider attempted to impale her with its massive leg, Catra throwing her only weapon out of anger as she impaled it directly in the head where it exploded. It was alright, hopefully, since she still had her claws on hand and her agility, the one that continued to diminish with each passing second.

*Skreeeeeee!*

She heard the monsters screech out again. "Come on you stupid bucket of bolts!" Catra shouted angrily. "I'm on your side here! I'm looking for Light Hope for crying out- Ahhh!" Catra yelped as she threw herself to the ground again, narrowly avoiding the rear end of the appendage she almost found herself impaled on. No sooner had she landed on the ground did she find her left hand getting stuck to the ground right next to her, practically sealing it in place.

Growling, she took the small instance of time she had to swipe away at the ghastly webbing, springing back to her feet soon after. The moment she planted both her feet back to the ground, however, she found her right arm getting webbed next, forcing herself to cut away at the webbing again as more of the spiders began to fill the area.

Here, Catra found herself at her limit. One after the other, she watched helplessly as the spiders shot a blast of the sticky webbing at her, forcing her to contend with the sticky substance as it stuck to her. Even with her best efforts, she found the webs continuing to assault her from one angle, never giving her the chance to so much as jump or roll away from her grounds as she was too busy contending with the substances that continued to close in on her, working both her claws tirelessly to cut away at anything that caught her. And it only lasted for so long.

Eventually, it happened.

Through the combined effort of her tireless state, the exhaustion looming over her, she found one of the blasts striking at her right hand completely, covering every angle of it in a blob of silk. The second she took to look at the green webbing, the instant she should've used to swat away at it, she found her left hand covered by the webs. "No!" Panic and fear claimed her mind as she frantically tried to pull away at the stickiness, the robots seeming to have a far better foresight as one of them blasted at her right foot, keeping her in place and preventing her from attempting to run away with the webs coating her hands as a means to pry it off.

"Ghhh! Come... on..." Catra grumbled to herself, trying to shake her arms enough in a desperate attempt to remove the webs from her. Like all her efforts, it proved to be in vain as the young magicat found herself too weakened and exhausted from her overextended fight with these robots. The small ounce of solace she got out of all of this was the fact the robots refused to fire any more of those annoying webs at her, knowing it would diminish her chances from escaping from minuscule to nothing.

"Adora!" Catra cried out, knowing she was her last chance of surviving. "Adooooraaaaaa!"

*tap*

Her ears twitched as the eerie silence brought in the sound of someone's footsteps approaching. To Catra's everlasting joy and relief, coming from behind the spiders, she saw Adora approaching, the girl showing no signs of fear as she did. She didn't care or question why the robots didn't seem to attack her, she just knew that if anyone could help her, she could.

"Adora! Phew, thank goodness you're here." Catra went on as Adora stood in front of her, keeping her gaze to the ground. "Quick, you gotta help me out of here! We can still escape!"

"..." Her friend didn't say anything as she pulled out the stun baton from her jacket, eyeing it curiously as she waved it back and forth in her hand. Something was worrying Catra as she watched Adora stand there, the girl not seeming to have a hint of concern or worry in her eyes.

"A... Adora?"

"...A tool." Tightening the grip on her baton, Catra could finally see the emotions through Adora's eyes, the pain that filled them to the bitter end. Her eyes were filled with nothing but tears... and hate. "That's all you ever saw me as, wasn't it?"

"Wha... What are you talking about? Ngggh!" Catra let out a small cry as she felt the robots webbing her arms pull back painfully, forcing her to her knees.

"What do you think I'm talking about? I'm talking about us!" Adora shouted as the tears dripped from her face. "The whole time... after everything we've been through... it all makes sense now..." The Force Captain sniffled a bit as she hugged herself. "You never saw me as a person, you never saw me as your friend. You... You just s-saw me as someone you could use. S-Someone... Someone you could take advantage of!"

"T... That's not-"

"You didn't even see me as a person. As far as I'm concerned, from day one, you've only wanted me around to make your life easier. You saw me as your s-shield..." She sniffled, trying to maintain her assertive demeanor through her sorrow. "You only wanted me around because you knew I would protect you... that as long as I was around, you could get whatever you want..."

"That's not true-!"

"OF COURSE IT'S TRUE!" Adora shouted angrily. "Whenever we did something, it was what you wanted to do. Whenever we got in trouble, you always stayed behind me or ran for cover while I took the fall. You knew you could get away anything as long as you had me to protect you. You could demand anything from anyone as long as you used my name and my connection to Shadow Weaver. You..." Adora turned her head away as her face contorted with pain. "You saw me as nothing... Less than nothing!"

"N-No... T-That's not true, Adora!"

"Oh, really?" Adora lowered herself down a little till she was at eye-level with her former friend. "How about that guard, huh? The one you threatened using my name? Heh... I wonder who else you managed to scare? How many people came to fear me just because I was Adora."

"I..." There wasn't a single line she could think of for a rebuttal.

"How about every time you got in trouble? Who's back did you hide behind every time?"

"That... I-I was scared, Adora, okay! I was a kid!"

"Oh, right, that explains it." Adora rolled her eyes in disgust. "Fine. You were a kid then, huh? Ok. Then explain NOW!" She shouted as she grabbed Catra by the top of her vest, pulling her up as high as the webbing would allow her. "WHY DO YOU KEEP LEAVING ME WHENEVER I NEED YOU?! WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY DECIDE TO SWITCH SIDES WITH PEOPLE YOU'VE BARELY MET, WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A THOUGHT?!" At this, Adora dropped her back to her knees, Catra's ears still ringing.

Catra was at a loss for words. Almost everything she was saying, everything that still rung in her ears, it was all true. From a direct point of view, at least, she was telling her every single thing Catra had done to her, whether or not intentionally. "A-Adora, it's not true!" Catra attempted to argue, rising as high as she could force herself to. "I was awful, okay? But that didn't mean we weren't friends. We were always friends, we still are!"

"Then why didn't you ever come back?" Adora cried. "You never answered my question. Why didn't you ever come back for me?" The sadness over her face slowly turned to rage, bile, and disgust. "You had plenty of opportunities to do so, and you never so much as budged until that stupid princess friend of yours was taken."

"B-Because... Because it was for our dream, remember?" Catra spoke up, trying to find the last amount of defense that she possible could. "Remember when we were kids? We always talked about what we wanted. I was trying to make our dream come true, I was trying to get us a kingdom out of all of this!"

"A kingdom?" Adora spat. "Catra... I NEVER asked for a kingdom! Having a kingdom was your dream. It's always been your dream! I didn't have anything close to that for my dream! Do you even remember what my dream was?"

"You..." No, this... this couldn't be right! Having a kingdom? Who wouldn't want that! You could make your own rules, be loved by everyone in your kingdom! S-Surely Adora had the same dream too...right? "You wanted... I..."

"All I asked, since day one, was for us to be friends, Catra." Adora stated. "I didn't want some big fancy castle, I didn't want any crusty old dirt. All I wanted, all I have ever wanted, was for us to always be friends."

"A... Adora..." How... How could she forget about this? Something as important as Adora's own dream?

"And I thought at first I had my dream, you know. We were like sisters, you were my best friend, Catra, and I..." Adora wiped her tears against her sleeves, drying out the pain. "...I don't know what I thought anymore... All I know... is the reason you never came back for me, Catra."

"W..." She didn't understand the answer herself. "Why...?"

"It's because you're selfish. You're greedy. You never do anything unless it benefits you in some way. You never act like someone's friend unless it benefits you in any way..." Adora squeezed her fist at this revelation. "I used to think people called you a freak because of how you looked, but now... I think it's much more than that. It all makes sense now... Why you're acting like your friends with them... because they have so much more to offer you than I ever could... That's all that ever mattered to you. That's why you're a freak."

"And you know what? I'm done." Without hesitation, before Catra had so much as time to blink, Adora swiped her hand against Catra's throat. Grabbing, at first what she believed to be her throat or her vest, she instead found herself gasping in fear as she saw Adora pluck the headband from Catra's person, the very one that cancelled out her emotions.

"I'm done being the helpless victim out of all of this. I am tired of being the one people think they can just manipulate and get away with it."

"Adora, no-!" Catra's cries fell on deaf ears as the Force Captain donned her cursed head band after long last, reuniting it with its master. The shadows that descended from the dark corners of this complex gave no way or fear over Adora. She accepted all the darkness, she embraced the nothingness that she felt. She wanted this head band to give her the one feeling she cherished over all.

Nothingness.

And with her red-colored eyes opening, she continued, "I'm tired of always being the nice one. I am never allowing people to use me again, Catra. Not you, and not Shadow Weaver. And if Hordak tries to use me next, I'll get rid of him too."

"Get rid of...? W-What are you planning to do, Adora?" There was anger in Adora's tone, no matter how much she tried to force herself to repress it.

"Isn't it obvious?" To emphasize her point, she drew the shadows into her right arm, tightening her gargantuan form into a mighty fist. "I'm going back to the Horde, Catra. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you from achieving your selfish dream. And that starts with me, burning down everything that can hep you achieve your dream. Starting with the Rebellion," at this, Adora turned her back to her as she started to walk away, "and everyone in it."

"Wha- No!" Catra panicked, grumbling as she tried to pull away from her bindings. "Adora, listen to me!" She prayed anything she said got through to her as she watched her stop. "You were right, okay? I was being selfish. I always assumed I knew what was best for both of us. But I never did it thinking you didn't enjoy it, okay? I always thought you were having the same amount of fun I always had! I always thought we were more alike than I knew! But I didn't, okay? I didn't. I was being stupid, and selfish, and I'm... I'm sor-"

"I'm sorry." Adora interrupted forcefully. "It's like it's all you know how to say. You think that makes it allllll better. You think you can fix every single problem in our past, every single dilemma in our future, all because you simply said 'I'm sorry'. You never put any effort into your apologies, you never meant anything you said. As long as you kept yourself on my good side, you took full advantage over me, knowing I would never turn you away."

Turning her head, Catra could see it. Adora's entire expression was filled with sadness as the tears poured away from her eyes. No matter how hard she tried to repress herself this time around, she couldn't keep any amount of her emotions from coming out. This was the Adora that Catra knew, the one that cared deeply for everyone no matter how hard she tried to repress it.

This is the Adora that Catra hurt the most.

"Well it's not going to work anymore, Catra. I am done being your servant, your punching bag, every single thing you used to detest about bullies. I have nothing more to say to you, Catra." With the final turn of her head, Adora walked her way into the darkness.

(A/N: For maximum feels effect, it is recommended listening to the same horrifyingly depressing music that plays at the climax of this episode.)

"A-Adora...?" This... what was happening? This wasn't supposed to happen! They were best friends, they've always been friends, they still are friends to her. This isn't... I-It's this place, right? Yeah, it couldn't be her fault! She wasn't selfish like Adora said she was, she wasn't trying to hurt her on purpose or anything! It couldn't be. "Wha- Adora? W-Wait! Adora!" Catra shouted, growling to herself as she struggled to get the webbing off of her. "G-Get off! Let me go! ADORA!" Catra cried out again.

With every last ounce of strength she could muster, every muscle that she could squeeze out of her body, she pulled. Her heart raced every second as she attempted to pull herself out of the stupid webbing that was keeping her away from Adora. "Get off of me! LET ME GO!" She shouted, stretching herself out as far as she could. With all the combined might she could siphon out of herself, she finally managed to pry her right hand out of one of the atrocious bindings, quickly swiping away at her left hand and her foot posthaste, running into the darkness after Adora.

"Adora, wait!" She cried out as the tears drained from her eyes. "I'm sorry!" All around her, she watched as the remains of the simulation continued to destabilize further, watching as she passed multiple versions of herself at various ages. They were all the worst parts of her life, the moments she wished she could forget.

The very moments Catra was at her worst to Adora.

The first one was a simple matter of Adora passing by Catra in the bunk room. She remembered that day when her seven-year-old self got beaten up by Lonnie and several other punks she picked a fight with, intending to make them pay for tripping her up several times during their last training exercise. She watched in tears as Adora approached Catra as she continued to sulk angrily on her bed, carrying over a small puzzle box in her hands.

"H-Hey, Catra? I found a puzzle box we could-"

*whap*

Without warning, she watched her younger self as she knocked the box right out of Adora's hands, the blond friend moaning to herself as she looked back to the young Catra. "Leave me alone, Adora. I'm not in the mood."

"But, Catra-"

"Leave me alone!" The young Catra hissed again, glaring angrily at the other. The last thing the real Catra saw as she ran passed the two diminishing holograms were tears growing in the corners of the young Adora's eyes, showing her how much pain she was in.

"No, that... That wasn't me!" Catra yelled to herself, squeezing her head. Ahead of her she saw another one of those stupid spider things attempting to block her path, no doubt the very same Adora too. "Get out of the way!" She growled. With one grand slide, she slid herself under the massive bot's stomach, cutting away at two of it's front legs as she did, and dropping it to the ground where it cried out in pain.

She couldn't believe she was the horrible child she just witnessed. Sure, she sometimes got into a fight with Adora here and there, but that was... that wasn't even a fight... a-and she wasn't yelling at her! She was just moody, that's it!

That's what she kept telling herself as she came across another room. Most of the simulation had terminated by now, but one constant that seemed to be playing endlessly was the small section of what could've been a classroom, seeing her younger self and Adora sitting at a table.

It was another instance of Catra's apparent selfishness, whether or not it was intentional. She remembered that day as one of the big test days they had when they were ten years old. There they were in their old uniforms, sitting side by side as they took the test. As always, Adora seemed to be getting through the test with ease, spending barely any time as she filled in the multiple choice answers and then moved on to the essay portions.

Catra, on the other hand, was in distress. Like always she didn't study for the test for one reason or the other, nothing that the teacher would've accepted as an excuse anyway. If only there was someone around there that knew the answers, someone that could help her in her time of need.

Oh, wait, that's right! There was her friend who was sitting right next to her. With a pleading look, she looked begfully to her inspiring friend, waiting until her attention was given to Catra as the two couldn't afford to talk out loud. Noticing her gesturing her eyes between Adora's and Catra's paper, Adora simply rolled her eyes, acting as casual as she could as she pushed the paper a little closer to Catra. In no time at all, the look of discomfort and worry was instantly replaced with excitement.

Man, she was fortunate to have a close friend like Adora, one she was sure she was going to pay back in the future!

"Stop it!" Catra yelled to anyone around her as she ran through the room. This place was trying to mess with her head, it must be! I mean, she remembered that day easily! Obviously she remembers paying Adora back soon after for her help, like when she... she helped her with the... that thing... Ugh, why was this place trying to make her look like the bad guy?!

It was getting harder to tell where the floor was as it blackened around her and where any gaping holes could've been as the darkness would just give way to more darkness. The only indication she had to anything was focusing all of her attention to the footsteps she heard from Adora's direction, trusting them as her last source of hope.

"This isn't who I am.. It couldn't be..." Catra fretted to herself, rushing as quickly as she could towards the sounds of someone else's steps and away from the spiders she heard continuing to chase her. "Adora, come back! I'm sorry!" She repeated again.

What else could she say? An apology was one of the few heartfelt ways Catra knew to make it up to someone. It was practically the only way she knew how to make it up to someone whenever she messed up! What else could she say? Should she laugh and point at anyone who suffers at her unintentional misfortune? Should she yell at someone messing up because of a mistake she made herself? That didn't make any sense!

One of the fundamental manners Adora always tried to teach her as a young child was to apologize whenever she did something wrong. So what else could there be if she didn't know what else to say?

It was around that time she found herself coming to her third, and hopefully final, simulation before it dwindled away.

It was also one of the worst of the worst instances of Catra's life, one she sorely regrets ever acting out on or trying to make amends to Adora for it. It was one of the days following one of their training sessions when they were eleven. Their team was pitted against another team in a massive obstacle course as they raced to the finish. The victors of the game would get extra desserts for their victory, while the losers were stuck on latrine duty all week.

That wasn't the moment that she came to, though.

What she came to was after the big game, following their victory. In one of the few times Catra actually didn't cheat, the enemy team didn't want to hear of it. They were mad for losing, especially to the team that had the zone-wide renown "Freak of the Fright Zone" on their side, and they were going to take their anger out on anyone associated with the team that made them lose, or the people themselves that were associated with the freak. And who else had a better connection to the freak other than Adora herself?

*thud*

"Ow!" Adora yelped as she was slammed against the locker.

"Way to play with a cheater on your hands, brat!" One of the thuggish cadets growled, pinning her by the collar of her shirt.

"Grrrr Catra didn't cheat, you're just a sore loser!" Adora yelled back, struggling to get out of the bully's grip.

"We all heard about how she cheats in her competitions, punk." Another one of the cadets grinned, knocking his fist against the locker. "And the instructor's willing to hear us out on it too. So why don't you go find your friend, or go to the instructor yourself, and tell them how you cheated so we can get our desserts!"

"Ghhhh! Catra!" Adora yelled worriedly for her. She wasn't intending to turn her in for something she didn't do, she was intending to give these jerks a piece of her mind when it was no longer five against one. "Catra, where are you?!"

"Ha! Keep calling for her, punk. I'm sure she'll come running in to 'save the day' any second now!" The leader of the bullies taunted.

"Catra, come on! I know you can hear me!" Adora cried out, looking up and down the locker room.

The real Catra watched herself in disgust as she knew exactly where she was before she even turned her head around. Right outside of the hallway, leaning against the wall, she stood there. The younger, eleven-year-old Catra, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her ears drooped, as she tried to think about what to do.

"Catra, please!"

"What are you waiting for you idiot?" The real Catra hissed at her younger counterpart. "Go on, she needs your help!" She didn't want to see this play out the same way she knew it did back then. She didn't want to see herself turning her back on her friend, abandoning her again, when she needed her most. She didn't want to prove Adora right about everything.

And yet, that's all the younger Catra could do. She didn't want to pick a fight against an entire team, not when she knew she herself would get in trouble for getting involved in it. Knowing her luck, the bullies would've found an easy way to convince the instructors or Shadow Weaver of all people that Catra started the fight, that she was responsible for what happened to Adora.

She had yet break that promise to Shadow Weaver at this point, and she wasn't planning to anytime soon.

"Catra, I need your help! Where are you?!" It didn't matter to the real Catra if she saw her younger self tearing up at that. She was too afraid. She was too much of a coward. So she did the one thing she always did when something like this happened.

Pretend she didn't hear anything, with a tail between her legs, and just walk away...

"No! No, no no! Go back! Go back you idiot!" The real Catra cried out as she tried grabbing her fake self. Nothing she did proved useful as she phased through it at each and every grab, the hologram itself slowly dissipating into nothingness as Catra collapsed to her knees, feeling legs buckle under the weight of her guilt as she squeezed her head.

"I'm sorry..." She wept. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Adora was right. Right about everything.

She was not her friend in any instance, not in the way she should've been. She was close to her for sure, she would always commit to that, but nothing about her screamed friendship in any way between the two girls. She was almost crueler to her than she was to any of her enemies, the people that she hated! She used Adora every day of her life as a shield and ignored her whenever she was the one who needed something, and up till now she put up with it. She put up with everything. Because she saw Catra as the one thing no one else ever did.

A friend.

*tap*

Lifting her head up, Catra's ears twitched a little as she picked up on her footsteps. With the hallways darkening dramatically, she sprang back to her feet as she rushed down any of the possible corridors, wanting to do everything in her powers to possibly make amends to her dear friend. "Adoraaaaaaa!" She yelled out.

From the other side of the darkness, Adora continued to walk until an automatic door opened before her, opening her path towards the light. She's had enough of this place. She's had enough of all the horrid nightmares and visions of her memories that this place had to offer.

She's had enough of hearing Catra shouting through the hallways, pretending that she still cared about the Force Captain.

At the sound of the approaching footsteps, Adora turned, seeing her friend attempting to reach her with all of her might as she ran for the door. Usually such a sight would touch Adora, fill her with a warmth that assured her of their friendship. Here, she felt nothing of the sort. No raw emotions of happiness, no sense of joy or pride in her mind. Just emptiness.

Pitiful, hateful, emptiness.

"Adora!" Catra screamed as she neared her. She would've grabbed Adora if given the chance. She would've refused to let go until Adora heard every single apology that Catra had to utter. She needed to know how sorry she was, she needed to convince her that the friendship between these two were real. She needed to show Adora that she truly did care for the young Force Captain as much as a sister could.

And she would never get that chance.

*swiff*

"Agh-Mmmph!" All at once, three powerful shots of the familiar webbing blasted towards her, wrapping around her left ankle, her right wrist, and her mouth simultaneously. The moment she tried to struggle in vain to escape, she felt more and more of the webbing continuing to cover around her, feeling one pulling around her stomach, another around her right ankle, and lastly, her right knee. Finally, the pressure was too much for the young magicat as she fell to the ground, feeling the webbing slowly pull her closer towards the darkness where she saw half a dozen pairs of glowing red eyes growling back at her.

No! Catra screamed in her mind as she looked back. She barely had the energy to pry the webs off of her body, any attempts to strike at the sticky substance being met with her left hand nearly getting stuck as a result. "Mhmhmhhhhh!" Catra attempted to call out as she cried. Please, don't!

There weren't any words that could be said to her at that moment, nothing that Adora wished to hear. Catra was nowhere near the person she thought her to be. She wasn't some innocent little girl that needed protection, she didn't stick to Adora's side because she wanted to. She did it because she wanted to make life easier for herself, even if it meant putting up with Adora as a result. She wasn't a person to Catra, or anywhere close to what one would consider a pet.

She was nothing to her, Adora realized that now. And Catra was dead to Adora in turn.

"Goodbye, Catra." With that final utterance, Adora walked her way into the light, refusing to look back as Catra raised a clawed hand for her.

"MHMHMHHHHHHHHHHH!" Catra screamed, feeling the tears pour from her face as she watched Adora disappear into the light. She wasn't listening, and she showed no signs of ever wanting to come back. All Catra could do was watch helplessly as she was dragged into the darkness, all while she watched her dear friend disappear in front of her very eyes.

I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

...

(A/N: You may stop the music now if you're still playing it.)

Through the darkness, a lone figure stood as it came upon the sword, the very item that could lead to the salvation or destruction of Etheria. Nothing had gone according to plan, and based on the observations and recordings she just witnessed, it didn't seem like anything was going to go their way anymore either.

All this time, all this planning, has resulted in nothing. Nothing but a lost cause, nothing but a single hope that still remained within their grasp.

Everything, from this moment forward, relied on the last person they could trust.

"Initiate the Alpha Protocol."

...

"Ah. And then there was the day Adora and I were on a boat together!" Scorpia continued, having oodles of fun with her new friend as Entrapta continued making improvements on Emily.

Everything Adora promised and then some were given to Entrapta immediately, and not a millisecond went by where Entrapta could possibly regret it! Everything around here was too amazing for words! From the machines that she got to build right down to the very tools she used to build them! Everything around here was simply fantastic!

True, a small part of her was saddened to know she was going to be spending the rest of her natural-born life within the confines of the Fright Zone as she constructed death machines to annihilate her former comrades in arms, but that was hours ago. Besides, it's like Adora said, they're the ones who left her here in the first place without any seeming interest in getting her back to their side, and around here, she felt like she had genuine friends in both, Scorpia, and Adora.

Even if the former continued chatting nonstop, not that she minded. "Did I ever tell you about that?"

"I'm... pretty sure you did." Entrapta replied, holding up a tape recorder with her hair as she started to play it.

"Oh, and one time, Adora and I were on a boat together. That was the best day ever."

"Yup, you did." Entrapta nodded as she resumed her work.

"I think that's when we really made a connection, you know?" Scorpia continued. "Not that I needed to try, to be honest." It was around the same time that Adora, still with the head band over her forehead, appeared from the opening automatic doors, walking in as Scorpia continued to comment about her. "She's always nice, and so cheerful. You would barely recognize her without a smile on her face!"

Adora didn't know what she was blathering on about, and for the first time, she didn't care. She didn't want anything to do with the two for the time being. All she wanted was some rest and relaxation, somewhere she could keep to herself for awhile. Sadly, fate didn't seem to be so kind as she found Scorpia in front of her almost immediately.

"Halt intruder- Oh, Adora!" Scorpia's threatening demeanor instantly vanished behind a warm smile, one that was just as soon replaced with a curious look. "What happened to you? You're filthy! Are you okay? Do you need first aid? Do you need to be nursed tenderly back to health?!"

"...I'm fine, Scorpia." Adora muttered, wasting no time as she walked right passed her. That alone was completely out of the norm for Scorpia. Usually Adora would stick around to chat or chuckle at a little here and there about Scorpia's silly antics. For once, though, she didn't seem interested in it, almost as if she didn't care.

"Are you sure? You don't look okay- Scorpia attempted to touch her shoulder, only to nearly jump as Adora grabbed it with a shadowy tendril from the ground, glaring back.

"I said I'm fine!" She yelled. It was at the sight of Scorpia's concerned and hurtful expression that she understood what she was suddenly doing, turning away with a small frown on her face as she pulled away the head band. "I... I'm sorry, Scorpia. I just... had a really long day."

"Oooh wowwie!" Entrapta's starry gaze was the first thing Adora immediately saw as she turned around again. "You can grow shadows with that head band? How does it work? Does it work on a psychokinetic wavelength of some sort? No wait, first question! Did you get it?"

"It?... O-Oh, you mean this?" Adora wondered as she pulled out the small device, the very thing that started her nightmarish adventure today, that she got from the pedestal.

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH-!" Scorpia could've sworn if Entrapta inhaled any deeper than that, she would've blown up like a balloon, the stars in her eyes practically shooting straight out of her head as she gasped. "An intact data crystal?!" She squealed like a small child as she held it dearly. "I have never seen one so perfectly preserved! This could be a game-changer. Who knows what sort of secrets it contains?! Hahahahahaaaa!" With another squeal, Entrapta threw herself at the Force Captain, only for Scorpia to intercept her, twirling around with her as the two laughed joyously.

Seeing the two excitable friends twirling about like the couple of goofs she knew them to be, Adora walked away, wanting to put the entire day, like her former friend, behind her. "Man, I knew Adora could do it. It's like I was telling you, she is the best friend ever!" At the statement, Adora paused.

Somehow the word friend didn't seem to have the same ring to it as it once did. No doubt the day's events had an involvement in that, there was just something that didn't roll right off the tongue with it like it used to. Maybe she was overthinking it, or maybe she wasn't thinking enough about it. She didn't care at this point.

It was enough to give Adora something small to smile about. She had no care for the person she thought was once her friend, and she was relieved to see she still had friends on the other side over here. These two were the next best things she could hope for at this point, being on the same side with the people that she would continue to fight for.

"I'll see you two in the morning, okay? Make sure you're up and ready first thing tomorrow. We have a busy future ahead of us."

These two were still her friends, and the Horde was still her family. They raised her from the moment she was found, they provided her with a home and a future that she could feel right alongside by, and she was surrounded by people she could trust... with a few exceptions... And she wasn't about to let the Rebellion or those pathetic princesses get away with everything they've done.

She was going to see the war brought to an end with her own two hands, she was sure of it. And her first order of business:

To watch Castle Bright Moon burn into the ground...

...

A/N: ...well, eh... how you folks feeling :o? Good? Bad? Good-sad? Bad-sad? It all comes down to this... hooooooh boy...

Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed... however much of it, and uhh...yeah, so... hope to see you soon...

Chapter 45: Episode 12: Light Hope Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: A relatively good size start for the beginning ^^

What is UP! people! I'm astounded to see the amazing feedback and cheer (well tears but close enough) I've received over the last chapter as being emotional and such.

The reason I've been so paranoid about my writing is due to a rather hazardous group of reviews i received in the past from my Rwby fic- 3 times in a row, i had people critiquing the exact same thing (and yes i mean random people, not the same) over and over again about my choice of direction, saying it sucked and whatnot- I can handle critiques fine and all, but when the first hour of your reviews is nothing but putdowns, it kinda sets the bar, you know :/?

Anyway! Who's all hyped for Season 2 of SHERAAAAAAAAAA ^^! I know I am!...which is why it sucks for me that I CANT WATCH A SINGLE EPISODE UNTIL I FINISH THIS SEASON X*(! Reason for it? To keep myself from getting distracted too much, as well as to continue with the continuity I've invested in it until now. I don't want some big design coming out of left field and finding out I messed something up before i finished this fic.

So overall, yeah, I won't be seeing season 2 until I finish the next two episodes- but i might watch a single episode if I finish this episode to give myself a small boost of motivation and all. I have no idea what to expect next season, but I'm excited all the same, and hope you people continue to enjoy this fanfic as you have.

With that in mind, apologies for anything that seems/feels rushed. I can't really control it due to the hype at the moment, not just with She-Ra, but with Avengers which I'm going to in a few hours ^^ Huzzah!... and sorry for anything that feels rushed XP.

With that all said, FINALLY... enjoy!

...

"...Mhhh..." Catra's ears twitched as she slowly came to, her heavy eyes opening slowly partway as she took in her surroundings. All around her, there was darkness, save for the small area she was in. She could see herself being held a few feet above the red metal ground, the floor's cold steel seeming as lifeless as the rest of this place was. It took her a few seconds to register that she was off the ground at all, realizing something was wrong.

"Mmmh? Mhhh!" Her attempts to speak were met with full resistance as she tried to open her mouth, finding it stuck in place as she tried to move around. Where the heck am I? Catra attempted to move any other limb she could, finding them to be just as frozen as her mouth was.

Well, perhaps not frozen. More like glued.

With what little space she managed to move her head around, she managed to see the rest of her body. What is all this? Her body was covered in a strange green webbing from head to toe, covering from from the mouth down in a bizarre green stickiness. Her arms, were stretched to each side of her, her left leg was covered up completely, and while her right leg wasn't completely immobile, her right foot was stuck in the green material along with her left foot. Even her tail was pinned behind her back from what she could feel.

"Mhh! Mhhhhh!" Catra grumbled as she tried to pull away from her bonds. What happened to her? How did she get stuck here in the first place. Maybe if she remembered what brought her here to begin with, she could figure a way out of this mess. And it was with the very first memory that the entire day's events returned to her, and a great deal of pain in her heart, as she remembered somebody very close to her.

Adora...

There was no comparison to it. The day she was tortured by Shadow Weaver was nothing compared to the current pain she was feeling. This was, without a doubt, the absolute, worse day of her entire life.

She thought things would work out for them by the time their adventure here was over. In an attempt to help save Glimmer from her glitching issue, one that steadily grew worse by the hour, Catra attempted to explore the Beacon out in the middle of the Whispering Woods, hoping to find a means to cure Glimmer or find a method to heal her involving the sword. Either result would've been acceptable to her as long as she found one or the other. And what did she find instead?

Adora. Her friend. The very one who's friendship she had been abusing since day one.

Apparently, the blonde Force Captain had her own reasoning for being at the Beacon. After the events that lead to the princesses escape from the Fright Zone, she had been tasked by Lord Hordak himself to find a significant contribution to the Horde itself, one that outweighed the blunder of Adora's mistake within one week. That meant she had to find something equal to or greater than one soldier, one princess, and, most of all, one ancient sword that was built by the First Ones. Shockingly, that was easier said than done.

Barely five minutes in to their own excavations, the two found themselves forced to work together and flee after mistakenly assuming Adora had triggered some defense mechanism within the halls of the First Ones' citadel. Engaging an emergency lock down, the two found themselves being chased and hunted by monstrous robotic spiders that acted as the defenders of the great building, lurking in the shadows and attempting to capture the two by any means necessary.

Surprisingly, that wasn't the weirdest part of their day, or the hardest. The hardest part of the day came from a room they were set upon after escaping the ferocious spiders as the two discovered a small speck of light in the distance. Upon approaching the mystical brightness, they found themselves plagued and haunted by past memories in the form of simulations. They showed many parts of their past from the good, the bad, and the downright horrendous.

And for Catra, that was beyond a world of pain.

The holographic simulations showed them various glimpses of the past that the two were forcefully integrated into, finding themselves taking the form of whatever age they had back then and running through their memories completely unaware until whatever scene they were witnessing was finished Throughout that time, the two of them came to some rather troubling revelations about their past, as well as multiple examples of them repeating their past mistakes into the present.

For Catra, she was sickened by her own past. Not only did she have to relive what used to be the worst day of her life, she got an up-close view of just how poorly she treated Adora throughout the years. From using her as her own personal shield to using her name to get whatever she wanted through life, she has been nothing but an abuser in their relationship. She always had to have it her way or the highway by the looks of it, and whenever the two found themselves in trouble, thanks to whatever harebrained schemes she came up with, she was always leaving Adora's side as she made her own escape, abandoning her much like she did at the start of this entire adventure.

As for Adora, she was coming to the exact same conclusion, naturally not taking it as easily as Catra did since she was the one who played with her emotions and their relationship in the first place. She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw each and every memory play out. Seeing everything from a much more mature angle, she realized that Catra was always the one leaving her behind whenever she needed her, and exploiting her for her own personal gain throughout the majority of their friendship.

What's worse is the grand revelation Adora, from her viewpoint, came to at the end of all of this, during the same time Catra found herself surrounded by a swarm of these terrifying robotic spiders that attacked her to no end.

Catra was never interested in her friendship with Adora. She didn't even see Adora as her friend. To Adora's standpoint, Catra saw her as nothing other than a means to an end, a tool to use as she saw fit in whatever way benefited her. Adora was hers to use as she saw fit, and until these past memories came back to her, Adora had allowed her to do so.

But not anymore.

She was tired, fed up, and heartbroken. To think the one person she cared about most in this world was just using her to get away with all her wrongdoings, to use her as a personal shield who would always take the fall as Catra got away with most of what she did, it sickened her. It sickened her to think of how many times she used her name to scare people, how many other times she abandoned her in the past. To think the person she made the greatest of all promises, to always have each other's back, showed no interest or care in her friendship, had been using her this entire time.

Suffice to say, she did not take it well. After her grand revelation, she came across Catra as she was being hounded by the giant robot spiders, trapped in their webs and bindings before Adora had arrived on the scene. Instead of saving Catra like she usually would, she announced her findings to the girl and renounced her friendship to her. She also stated her new life's mission of making sure Catra would never achieve her own goal of obtaining a kingdom, the very thing Catra thought the both of them wanted.

And to do that, she as going to make sure the Rebellion was burned to the ground, as well as anyone else who was associated with the Rebellion, or capable of making Catra's dream come true.

No amount of apologies could reach her dear friend after Catra escaped her bonds. She chased after her friend through the darkness in a desperate bid to save her friendship with the one person she cared about most in this one. Even as she was chased throughout the complex by the spiders and haunted by the diminishing simulations that continued to display their past, she ran with all of the strength she had left in her legs after the endless wave of spiders she fought off. She wanted Adora to know how sorry she was, to try and make amends for all the wrongdoings she's done up till now, and Adora wanted nothing to do with it.

By the time she came across her at an exit, it was already too late. Captured and bond just a few feet away from her blonde friend, Adora gave her one last goodbye, turning her back on her friendship and everything it meant to her at that point. Never in Catra's life had she ever felt her heart so torn apart or ripped to shreds before. Never has she been so overwhelmed with guilt before that she regretted all of her past decisions. And never has Catra ever felt a pain as truly as agonizing as this moment right here.

Adora was gone. Their friendship was over. And for the first time, Catra found herself as the only one responsible for all of this.

It was truly the worse day of her life.

"Mhh! Mhhhhhh!" Catra grumbled again as she tried to pull free. Nobody knew where she was as far as she was concerned. She was trapped who knew where within this mighty Beacon, and was being kept alive for who knows what. For all she knew these spider things could come back at any moment to eat her, and that's if she was lucky. How am I supposed to get out of here? She wondered, checking her surroundings again.

She found it quite sad that after all the time she's spent here, she hasn't learned a single thing about how to be a better She-Ra, which was the goal behind all of this madness. She had yet to find a means to heal Glimmer, and she hasn't found a way to use the sword yet to perfection. On top of that, she hasn't learned a single thing about She-Ra, experience-wise at least, in figuring out how she can become a stronger warrior.

She was tired of always being the one needing saving around here, never acknowledging her own accomplishments and victories since she joined the Rebellion. She had two other people she could consider friends by now, and she hasn't found a single means to save one of them! How was she supposed to be an ally to the Rebellion if she couldn't pull her own weight around? She was reckless, snobbish, and jumped head first into any dangers that came her way, and it's always backfired on her.

Come on, think! There has to be something you can do... Saying this didn't improve her situation in any way, sadly enough. Her hands were too tightly pinned to the wall in the sticky web, keeping her from getting her claws extended and cutting her way through like she did before. "Mmhhhhhhhhhh!" And no amount of pulling or pushing could distance herself from the wall she was stuck to. With the darkness still surrounding here, there was no way to tell if and when the spiders would come back. All she knew was that she didn't want to be here when they did.

Don't think recklessly for once. Use your brain. Every time she had to tell herself this over the last two minutes, she found her optimism and enthusiasm slipping away a little at a time. She couldn't see a single way out of this, nothing within arm's reach in order to cut herself free, and her legs weren't better off either. Even if she could move her right leg more in comparison to the other, there was no way she could free herself as long as her right foot was... wait...

Blinking, she looked down towards her foot as she tried flexing her toes, finding them to have a surprising amount of movement room compared to her other foot. That was when the realization finally dawned on her.

The boots! She shouted in her mind as she pulled around her foot. With her combat boot proving itself as an active shield against the sticky substance, she found the foot itself free of it's binding, allowing her enough space to wriggle it around as she pulled her ankle free. To her relief, she actually managed to slide her foot out of the boot itself, grinning as she finally had a leg free from her trappings, and one with some verily sharp claws to it.

For the first time ever, she found her recklessness to be her lifesaver. These combat boots were more of a household accessory than they were for actual combat. In order to keep herself from scratching up the carpets and the surfaces she's climbed around the castle, Glimmer forced her to find some sort of footwear that she could use. It was quite the opposite turnabout all things considered as she wore them for inside of one's home instead of outside and vice versa. Looking back on it now, this one moment of recklessness, forgetting to take her boots off when she left the castle before all this, was one of the first times she was thankful for being Catra.

With the foot free from her prison, her claws still as sharp as always, she began cutting her other leg free of the webbing, being careful not to scratch her legs or get her foot stuck in the process, as she worked to free her lower half from her prison. With a few swipes here and there, she grinned as her entire leg was cut free from her bindings, wiggling her other leg free and managing to give herself enough space to move her lower body in general.

From there, it became a small task as she worked on pulling her leg right leg closer to her leg arm, the additional room for flexibility from her lower half allowing her to cut away at the green stuff until, finally, her arm itself was free. After that, it became a short menial task for her as she cut away at the rest of her body with her sharpened claws, pulling and cutting away at the stickiness until, finally, she managed to pull off from the wall itself, freeing her after long last as she dropped to the ground.

*thud*

"Phew," she sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow, "I can't believe I was saved by a pair of boots of all things..." Turning back to the webbing, she took the liberty of freeing her boot from their imprisonment, equipping them in case she was ever captured again by those spider bots all over again.

The very ones who made their presence known the minute she finished tying her boots back on.

*Skreeeeeeeeee!*

"Egh..." Catra gritted her teeth as she saw their red glowing eyes through the darkness, the timing of her past escapes never being as perfectly timed as they were now. From what she could see, there were at least four of these blanked machines as they stepped out of the darkness, each with their own group of glowing red eyes as they slowly approached her. Growling, she extended the claws in both her hands, looking forward to the opportunity to vent her frustrations after her tiring day. "All right, who's first?" She threatened.

These things captured her and kept her away from reaching Adora in time. This entire place plagued her with visions of her past and all the horrible things she had done. And the simulations pulled out some of her most repressed memories that she never wanted to experience again without her consent. Tearing into these robots, no matter how many there were at the moment, seemed like the best means of releasing her bottled up anger at the time.

However, that sense of anger and terror she had of these creatures slowly started do dwindle down as she watched them. It wasn't out of pity, remorse, or a sense of needless violence like she had in the woods earlier before coming here. It was the way the robots continued to stare at her without so much as a twitch, none of them moving as Catra continued to stand her ground.

Are they waiting for me to make the first move? Were these creatures capable of such a complex thought? They didn't seem to have any strategy when she last met them, other than overwhelming her with their numbers, so it was hard to tell if they were capable of pulling off any form of plan. Were they scanning her to assess her threat levels or something? Or maybe they were stalling until reinforcements showed up. Then again, with this place being a prison, maybe they didn't care if she managed to free herself as long as she didn't try getting passed them. Perhaps they thought this room was more than enough of a prison for her.

Whatever the reasoning was made itself apparent as the robots finally started to move from the middle of their group, two pairs of the bots going right and left of each other as a fifth robot suddenly appeared. Waiting for it to make the first attack as it approached, it instead did the last thing she had ever expected as it dropped something from its mouth, almost forgetting about it entirely after her last confrontation with Adora.

The Sword of Protection, one of the mightiest weapons ever created by the First Ones, was now lying at her feet. For some reason, these freakish robots gave her back her sword, tossing it against the ground and up to her feet where she saw her small reflection staring back at her. Looking back to the robots for a moment, she was surprised to see them began backing away from her, leaving her to whatever fate she wanted as they disappeared.

"They're just... giving it to me?" She asked as she kneeled. She didn't know what those freaky robot spiders were doing, and, for now, she didn't care. She needed to get out of here before those things changed their minds again, certain that they wouldn't give her the same courtesy twice. Shrugging, she decided to pick up the legendary sword, hoping it would-

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"Ahh!" Catra yelled as she shielded her eyes. The very instant that she touched the sword she was engulfed in an explosion of pure light, all coming from the rune stone embedded in the sword's hilt. Was this some trap of theirs? Did they mess with it in some way as a means to trick her? Because, looking at it now, it definitely worked. At least, that's what she thought before her vision started to return to her, discovering the scenery around her had drastically changed.

Her surroundings were familiar, in some way. All around her was an enchantment of beautiful blue and violet coloring as the walls appeared to be laced with technology. From etchings into the walls to holographic displays in every direction of her, the entire setting had changed around her as the light faded from her view, disappearing along with her sword at the same time. The strangest part out of all of this wasn't how weird this place looked or the mysterious means she was transported here with.

The strangest part was how she's been here before, only once in her life.

"I... I know this place..."

"Hello, Catra." At the sound of the blessed voice, Catra's eyes twitched as she quickly shot around. Her eyes widened as she let out a gasp, unable to believe what she was seeing, or, more accurately, who she was seeing, standing in front of her.

The very person who she met at the beginning of all this.

The woman who told Catra about what she must do.

The one she came here to find in the first place.

"Light Hope?!"

With an emotionless smile, she replied, "We have much to discuss..."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

Castle Bright Moon. Home to the leader of the Rebellion, and the home to Princess Glimmer, Queen Angella, and, as of late, the She-Ra-in-training, Catra.

It was here that laid the foundation for everything and anything that stood against the Horde. From a small regime of soldiers, guards, and princesses remaining, this was the last bastion of hope for Etheria and all who inhabit it, and the last line of defense between the Horde and utter annihilation.

Within one of the chambers of the beloved castle, Princess Glimmer could be seen pacing back and forth. Everything from the days prior had lead to disaster. After a rescue mission that they thought ended with Entrapta's death, the Princess Alliance had all but disbanded. The princesses that once inhabited the halls every meeting had left to secure the protection of their own kingdoms, unwilling to risk the lives they could lose and leave their kingdoms unguarded as a result.

It was a tragic ending to the first and only mission the alliance had preformed as a team, and it still wasn't left without additional fallout. In order to save Catra's life from a wicked magic cast by Shadow Weaver, Glimmer was forced to use every ounce of strength and magic she possibly had to escape a mystical binding Shadow Weaver placed on her using the Black Garnet. And while it may have ended successfully, it didn't come without it's drawbacks.

Ever since they escaped from the horror that was the Fright Zone, Glimmer found herself experiencing a painful glitching with her powers, one that erupted at random intervals all around her, and leaving her in a worse state of pain than the last. None of their methods of trying to stop the corrupted magic had worked in their favor, and it was proven that the radiating aura of red was growing dangerous and deadlier with each burst.

The little hope they did have at this point relied solely on Catra's ability to find a means to heal her with the sword, prompting her to head out on her own in a means to find the Beacon. There was already present in the air leading up to her departure as Catra was clouded with the guilt of Entrapta's passing and the Princess Alliance's fall, feeling responsible after everything that's happened. With the state of mind she was in when she left, there was no way for Glimmer or Bow to know how she was feeling since she left.

Or any way to tell how she was doing,

"She said she was-"

*rrrrrrrrtttttttttt*

"Ghhh," Glimmer groaned as she was overcome with another flash of the red magic, "going to get training-"

*rrrrtttt*

"to fix me!" The Princess of Bright Moon continued back and forth as Bow watched her from the cushion against the window. "How long is that going to take?"

*thunk*

"OW!" With a yelp, Glimmer rubbed her aching shin as she tried to dull the pain, grumbling at the frustration building up to this point. "What kind of monster puts a chair in here?!"

"Okay. I'm worried, too, Glimmer," Bow returned to his feet, trying to help her relax as he leaned her against the pillowy chair, "but taking it out on the furniture isn't going to help.

"We can't just sit here and hope she comes back eventually." She argued in distress, jumping back to her feet. "We have to do something."

"Like what?"

*knock*

At the sound of the door, the princess silently moaned as she answered it, revealing one of the queen's personal guards in its way. "Princess, there's, uh... something here to see you."

"Don't you mean someone?" She asked back in confusion.

"No, I mean something." Exiting down the hallway, Glimmer and Bow shot each other a look as stood at the door's entryway, watching as to who, or what, came to see them.

Down from the hallway in a majestic and regal manner, they spotted the orange haired alicorn making its way towards them. With all that's happened, they had almost forgotten about this horse's existence, remembering it as the same one that carried Glimmer all the way to Bright Moon Castle when she first met Catra. With the horse taking the lead of the girl, the trio of would-be friends managed to travel all the way down to the Rebellion Headquarters without having to worry about Glimmer's exhausted state, having spent all of her magic up at that point.

It was also one of the fun times Glimmer could recall with Catra as she exposed Catra's personal fear of the horse, her animal instincts kicking in as she had never met such a strange and unruly creature such as it. It almost made her wish she maintained that fear throughout the first couple weeks they knew each other because it would've made a convenient and humorous means to scare Catra off or get back at her for all the times she picked on Glimmer and Bow in the past.

Sadly, all good things had to come to an end as Catra quickly overcame her fear of it a few hours after arriving to Bright Moon, the magicat attempting to use her fear of the horse as a means to get the sword's transformation working for her. Instead of getting it to transform herself, after hitting it angrily against a rock, she inadvertently ended up transforming the horse itself, from an everyday work horse that grazed along the meadows, to this enchanting creature with a horn, wings, and a golden orange-colored mane.

"Our horse!" Bow stated, wondering whatever became of the creature since hearing of it back at the Princess Prom.

"I am my own horse." It replied with a smug grin. Spreading its wings out further as it raised its front hooves to the air, the horse neighed proudly before the two. "Call me... Swift Wind!"

"..."

"...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The sudden shriek of terror and fright nearly caused the horse to jump as Glimmer and Bow hugged each other tightly.

Horses were an everyday part of Etherian life. They helped transport the various edibles and trades from one town to the next. They excelled at providing great entertainment for everyone within Etheria from jousting to horseback racing. With horses being one of the everyday part of life, there was nothing to fear for the two.

What there was to fear was the fact it told them its name. No, not even that. The fact it so much as talked to begin with brought all sorts of craziness and fear into their mind. Was their horse secretly some malicious, demonic, creature that ate the flesh of little children? Did it infiltrate Bright Moon intentionally to attack the castle itself?! There was no way to tell what the horse was thinking or what its purpose was.

All they knew was that this impossible oddity was too hard to accept as reality!

"OUR HORSE CAN TALK!" Bow exclaimed, pointing to the majestic being shock as he held Glimmer.

"Yeah, yeah, I can speak my own mind now, pretty crazy." Swift Wind said in a casual tone as he strolled his way into the room, ignoring the gaping and shocked expressions that stared at him. "So, I'm thinking-"

"HE'S A TALKING HORSE!" Bow squealed again, the face of disbelief being present in his and Glimmer's eyes as they stared.

"As we've established. Now-"

"HE HAS WINGS?!" Of all the things Glimmer has seen in her life, nothing has ever compared to anything like this. A horse having wings is one thing. A horse being rainbow-colored is another. A horse having rainbow-colored wings, AND that can talk? That is the craziest thing she has ever seen in her entire life!

With an unamused look in his eyes, the horse stared back as they approached. "Okay, I'll give you two a moment to freak out, and then we need to talk."

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH-!"

The horse. Was. TALKING! It was a real, honest to First Ones, talking horse! How did the guard who brought him into the room not freak out like they were? Or how was she already over a spectacle of a marvel like this?! This wasn't some magical creature, or at least not born magical, that descended from the heavens or came out of a portal from another dimension that was present before the two. This was a one-hundred percent, certified, talking horse!

There were so many things running through their mind at that moment that they didn't know where to begin! The fact it seemed conscious of its state, the way it addressed them fluently and in a royal manner, the very detail that it knew their names, knew how to speak in their tongue, and came all this way just to talk to the two of them, all of it culminated into a spectacular wonder of the world, one with its own mind and voice to speak from.

Oh yeah, and who could forget the important part about all of this?

IT WAS A TALKING HOOOORSE!

"Great!" He had to put an end to the moment himself, fearful of how many years this could continue. "I think Catra needs our help. Since Catra transformed me, I've been able to feel where she is at all times. It's like instinct." Swift Wind explained as he turned to the window, staring out of it with determination. "But now I feel a pull, as if I'm being summoned to her side." He paid no mind to Bow as he pet his incredible wings of beauty, his eyes sparkling after he did. "As part of Catra's herd, I need your help. Will you come?"

*rrrrtttt*

"Ngggh... Of course. Lead the way." Glimmer nodded as she stepped forth.

"But Glimmer, you're glitching." Bow pointed out, noticing how the glitching was becoming more frequent as of late.

"It's what got us into this mess to begin with." The sorrow in her eyes was impossible to resist as she spoke. "Catra left to save me. Now it's time for us to save her. You in?"

"Always!" There was no way he was going to turn her down. After all, the Best Friend Squad, title still pending, always stuck together! "But I don't think your mom is going to like us leaving so soon after our mission."

"She doesn't need to know." She smiled as she made her way to the door. "We'll sneak out and be back before my mom even realizes we're gone." And with a simple pull of the door handle, it became clear why that plan wasn't going to work to begin with- because the next thing she saw was her mother smiling at her, her hand already raised as she prepared to knock. "Ahh! Mom!" She yelped, trying to switch to a casual persona as fast as she could. "What, uhh... What are you doing here?"

"I was coming to see why my guard was escorting a horse into your room." She explained.

"I'd like to think of myself as more of a role model for all horse kind." Swift Wind commented, nearly making the Queen jump as he butted in right next to her. It took the silent stare of the Queen to make him realize everything wrong with what he just did. "...I mean, uh... What talking horse? What are you talking about?"

As opposed to the previous expressions he was greeted with, she met his quirky antics with a curious brow, smiling a little in fascination as she crossed her arms. "You should get going if you want to track down Catra."

"You're... not going to stop us?" Glimmer couldn't tell exactly how she was supposed to take that. Confused? Thankful? A mix of both? Her mother was fully aware of her plan and show little sign of resistance.

"Glimmer, I told you I regretted giving up after your father died." Her mother's warm smile was an interesting change of scenery as she patted her cheek comfortingly. "I will not consign you to the same regrets."

Now, she knew to smile. It almost felt like a dream to the two of them as they reconciled after many years of silence and frustration to one another, thinking back on how one five-minute chat between mother and daughter opened up locked box of emotions between the two that they haven't felt in years.

Nudging her head against her daughter's, the Queen smiled at her daughter's selfless actions, which is what she knew she should've been doing since day one, before she stood at attention. "Commander Glimmer, I order you to continue your mission to find Catra, and bring her back home."

"Right away, Your Majesty." Her daughter replied with a little embarrassment. Something as simple as this would never have played out so easily between the two if it wasn't for that wonderful night. "Come on!" With the order given to her fellow allies, the Queen watched as her daughter and friends ran out of the room, Bow giving a respectful salute as he always did first, followed by the horse doing the exact same thing, using his feathers as an arm, and rushing out behind him.

The trio knew what their top priority for this mission was, Angella knew this perfectly well. And despite whatever fears she may have that could await her daughter and her friends, she knew they would be safe as long as they had each other.

"Uh, when we're back," Swift Wind quickly spoke as he poked his head back into the room, "I'd like to talk about freeing all the horses in your stable." He continued his list of demands even after Bow continued to push him out of the room. "I think that's-

"Later!" Bow waved goodbye with a nervous smile.

"Hey, I'm still talking to the Queen!" He neighed.

"...So now the horse is demanding things from me?" She sighed. "He definitely belongs to Catra."

...

"Hey Entrapta," Adora called out as she entered the interrogation room, "I got your note, but I'm not sure I under... stand... what..." Everything around her drew to an eerie silence as she examined her surroundings.

What was once a glorified interrogation room where the worst of the Horde's criminals were subjugated and interrogated for their information no longer existed within this place. Where there used to be tables for discussion, shackles for imprisoning, there were now computer screens that lined the right wall, a lab table for studies and experimentation on the right, and power converters and a whole bunch of other gadgets and gizmos that filled every corner!

And the traditional shackles and restraints, of course.

To her surprise, she didn't seem to be the first one to find herself in the room either. There in the center stood a curious Scorpia as she examined the deeply affectionate Emily, one of the many fantastical inventions that Entrapta reprogrammed or made from scratch. It was built with its own emotional settings that Entrapta could adjust, as well as an upgraded plasma canon that could melt through the walls in a matter of seconds!

The newly added wall in the leftmost corner of the room can attest to that, the newly added slabs most noticeable next to the currently rusty hunks of metal that stood adjacent to it.

"Someone's been busy I see..." At the sound of her voice, Scorpia turned around from her current playmate as she offered her a hearty hello.

"Hey, Adora!" She waved, clutching a similar note she received from Entrapta as well. "You sleep well?"

"Er... Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Scorpia knew it was better not to question the small bags under her eyes, not after the events of yesterday. She might not have known what Adora went through yesterday, but she was close enough to her friend to tell when she was in pain, and based on her appearance, Adora was in a lot of pain.

Why wouldn't she be after the events yesterday? To learn that the person you were close to all your life since childhood, to find out they were nothing more than a backstabbing freak who was only your friend purely out of selfish desire, was beyond the realm of tragic. Adora had never felt an emotional pain as severe as her revelation yesterday, realizing that after all this time, Catra saw her as a mere tool to make her life easier.

It wasn't something she got over through a good night's rest, nor could anyone hope to achieve such a sense of relief. Throughout the night, she must've woken up at least half a dozen times in discomfort, trying to push through the tears that welled up in her eyes from time to time as she was plagued with memories of her life with Catra.

None of those memories brought comfort any longer. All they did was plague her with the false sense of senscierity and innocence, reminding her that all the good times she thought she had with Catra were nothing but lies. Why would they bring anymore comfort after what she's been through? What part of her mind fooled her into thinking she could ever trust Catra again? Did her mind simply like tormenting her like this? Did it think if it showed her any more memories from her past that she would find it within herself to ever forgive Catra for the way she treated her?

Because, news flash, it didn't.

If anything, all it did was fuel her hatred for the Rebellion. The reason? Well, aside from the fact everything about their lives were great until they came into the picture, it's because Catra was fully intent on using them to fulfill her own selfish desires. She couldn't imagine Catra having her way after all that's happened to her, all the suffering she endured for the sake of her friend. Her first order of business was to crush the Rebellion with her own two hands, and she would use any means necessary at this point to make it happen.

"I take it you got the same letter?" Adora asked, wondering if she had a better understanding as to what was going on.

*clank*

"Ah, Adora!" The voice of a familiar scientist rang out, catching Adora's attention as she exited the circular vent. "I see you got my note!"

"You mean the one that happens to drop right on top of you from the air vent while I was eating breakfast?" Adora joked a little.

"Yes, that's the one!" The perky scientist confirmed as she began working on one of the newly powered generators in the room, connecting wires and massive cables to one another. "I've made great strides in analyzing the data from the First Ones data crystal you brought me. Just look around you!"

"I've... noticed..." She wasn't completely sure how she should feel about the wondrous technology that littered the floors and the walls around her. She ran her fingers across one of the metallic surface as if she was checking to see if it was real, unable to believe that all of this amazing technology was surrounding her. "Where did you even get all the parts for all of this? I haven't approved your affiliation with Lord Hordak yet, so I doubt he sent any of this."

"Oh, you know," the scientist mumbled on as she worked, "here and there... in rooms."

"Did there happen to be people in these rooms when you took them?" The Force Captain asked knowingly with a smirk.

The geeky scientist had a nervous grin on her face as she poked two tips of her hair in innocence. "Well... not when I went back to take the stuff."

"Heh heh... it's fine, Entrapta." Adora assured patting her shoulder. "Like I said before, you're one of us, among friends."

"Hmhmhm!" It was impossible for the scientist to not chuckle back at this.

It's true about what she said, right down to the very detail. All of her so-called friends had abandoned her in this place without so much as a worry or care in their eyes. They had plenty of opportunity to come back for her, like Catra did with Adora, and they had yet to act up on it. Here, she was surrounded by the enemy who embraced her scientific nature and didn't poke fun at her quirks and weird behavior. She truly felt like she was part of a team for once over here compared to the Princess Alliance.

"So, the data..." Her eyes shined like a starry sky as she squealed. She couldn't bring herself to say what she had found, instead opting to show her new friend personally. With the data crystal in hand, she inserted it into a perfectly-shaped slot into the computer board, watching with Adora as the crystal began to glow blue, displaying its various details on the computer above it.

"Wow!" Scorpia cheered as her eyes lit up. "Hah, cool!" Feeling her scientific nature take hold, she took the opportunity to pull out a small notepad and a pencil, writing down the amazing details and knowledge she was processing through her mind.

"Look at these readings. It's incredible! This seems to confirm my theories about the techno-organic nature of First Ones machinery, resulting in thaumaturlogical compatibility between magic and science!" Entrapta explained, drawing closer to the amazing computer in a trance. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

*click*

"Whoa, Entrapta," Adora clicked her fingers in an attempt to snap her out of it, "you with us? Now, I'd like you to repeat what you just said. But this time, pretend the rest of us don't have the same level of education as a scientist studying a neutron star, okay?"

"Scorpia seems like she understands." She commented, gesturing to the red scorpion who was still writing in her mini notebook.

"Uh huh... Hey Scorpia, how are you doing with that doodling in your notebook?"

"Superb!" Scorpia squeaked, showing off her incredible artistic talent for the world to see. It displayed three familiar friends, one with pigtails, one with a scorpion stinger, and one of them having a shadowy blackness right under their feet, which Adora presumed was supposed to be her and her shadowy abilities. "I call it, the Super Pal Trio! This is me, that's you, and I think this one is clear. Come on. I'm a bit of an artist."

Adora's point had been made, almost too much at that. With a deep breath, Entrapta tried dumbing it down to a level the average person could understand, speaking slowly and clearly as she did. "I looked at the rock, which is a crystal, and used math- Wait, do I have to explain math to you, too?"

"I'm pretty sure we're good on that." Adora kept her cool as the scientist explained, not being put off by her strange behavior and her mannerisms. "What I want to know, though, is whether or not that crystal gave you any data that could improve our weapons or something."

"Weapons? Hah! This is so much bigger than weapons!" Entrapta could not emphasize that enough if she wanted to, stretching her own hair in exaggeration. "This could change everything. Etheria's not just a planet, Adora. Whatever the First Ones did to it, it went deep."

"Deep? What do you mean by that?"

"You're... asking me about my theories?"

"Uh, yeah? Why, is that a problem?"

"Aaaauuuughhhhh!" Adora was convinced she practically broke the girl as she saw the impressive amount of drool and shine from her eyes as she squeezed her head. "I've waited years for someone to ask me about my theories!" Finally! Intellectuals who were on the same possible wavelength as her! People who finally understood the knowledge of science all came down to the questions that were asked! "Hang on, I made a model!"

Against her will, Adora was dragged along behind Entrapta as the scientist grabbed her wrists with her twintails, Scorpia trailing shortly behind her.

They might've been the strangest combination of friends, but they were the best pair of friends she could ask for all the same. Brain and brawn, short and tall, and both kindhearted and peaceful. In this time of Adora's life, being surrounded with friends was what she needed most, because after everything she's been through, she wasn't planning on losing them, and she was ready to defend them with her own life.

...

*swiff*

*zzzt*

"Are you done yet?"

"Ghhhhhh!"

*swiff!*

*zzzt*

"Catra, you've been at this for an hour now-"

"Shut up!" Catra growled as she attempted to strike at the mysterious being for the hundredth time. She didn't care what it took as long as she could hurt this "Light Hope" through any means necessary. It didn't bother her that each and every attempt to strike the woman was met with her phasing straight through her, she didn't take the hint that she could just reappear somewhere else immediately after. No, she didn't want to give this person the satisfaction of seeing her as anything other than angry. "You ruined my life!"

"I apologize for any misgivings you might have ex-x-xperienced," Light Hope apologized with a slight glitch, "but everything that happened, and everything that was destined to happen, was outside of our control."

"I don't want... huff... to h-hear it..." Catra panted, taking a moment to catch her breath as Light Hope appeared in front of her again. "Everything that's happened... is your fault!"

"I'm sorry?" The emotionless being questioned.

"You heard me! All of it! Everything from the sword, the stupid Rebellion, my life?! Everything was going smoothly in my life until you and this stupid sword came along!" She shouted, trying to swipe at the being once more. "Yeah, I had a fair number of problems in it, but it was still better than any of this junk!" She could not have been more certain of her declaration.

Everything from this sword to where she is today has been one giant disaster after another. Sure, she was still scared of Shadow Weaver, and she would never get to taste the sweet success of having a single victory over her if it wasn't for Glimmer and Bow. And yes, she finally had more people she could actually call friends since getting the sword. She wouldn't deny the positive aspects that came from her life.

What she loathed was everything else about it! She had a somewhat decent life in the Horde with Adora, her closest friend, she wasn't forced upon so many responsibilities like this out of the blue, she wasn't tasked with some impossible task like leading an entire Rebellion against the very people who trained and raised her since infancy. She didn't have to worry about possibly losing the best friend she's ever had since childhood either, the scar on her goodbye still freshly etched into her heart.

No matter what truly started it, Catra was convinced. All the problems she came upon since becoming She-Ra, everything that's ever happened to her at this point, has been because of this one stupid sword, and the woman known as Light Hope.

"I apologize, Catra, but everything that you've experienced has been due to a mistake." She apologized again.

"You're darn right it's a mistake!"

"I do not think you understand my meaning. Everything that's happened with you, since the sword's founding, has been a complete accident."

"An... accident?" Curious at the statement, Catra retracted her claws, wanting to further inquire about this. "What do you mean it was all an accident since I found the sword?"

"I mean exactly as I foretold, Catra. The Sword of Protection, the very weapon you carry in your possession, was never meant to pass on to you."

"...Pffffffffft! Hah, yeah, that's a laugh." From unbridled fury to bellows of laughter, Catra just couldn't maintain a solid emotion with this woman. She's going on to tell her, after everything that's happened, after all the denial Catra boasted about these events playing out, were actually true? She was almost convinced the woman was purposely trying to lower her guard here, as to why remained the mystery.

"I'm afraid it'sssss true." Her body glitched as she assured. "The possibility of you finding the sword was something that went completely unchallenged. Nobody thought these events would play out as such."

"Tch, okay, yeah, sure. I'm not this big destined one you've been irritating since the moment I found this sword." Catra scoffed. If the machine from earlier read and simulated her memory, there was no way to tell if it was trying to play at her emotional state as well, possibly suggesting that she was in another simulation as before.

"As I've stated, you were never supposed to find the sword, Catra." The holographic being seemed to be limited in its responses to her, most likely from a bug, given the amount of glitching Catra's seen.

"Uh-huh, fine. I wasn't supposed to find the sword. I went into the middle of the forest where a sword just happened to be waiting for me, and you're telling me I wasn't supposed find it? As if! I mean who else would've... found the... sword..." The face of revelation slowly grew over Catra's face as she lowered her gaze. No...

It was impossible.

Absolutely, impossible.

Sensing the feel of doubt and confusion filling Catra's mind, Light Hope responded, "I'm afraid you've already come to the same conclusion, Catra." With a wave of her hand, Catra watched as a large screen appeared out of thin air in the middle of both of them. Despite her disbelief, no matter how much she wanted to look away from the picture, her eyes were drawn to the single, solitary, image that was displayed between them, depicting the one person she completely forgot about on that day.

Within the image itself, she saw her. A lone friend of hers who was now a Force Captain, standing solid and proudly within the image as a symbol of hope, donning the form of She-Ra as she stood against the cliffside overlooking a beautiful blue ocean, and it's gorgeous orange sunset.

"The one who was meant to find the sword, goes by the name, Adora..."

...

A/N: Yeah, i think the writing went pretty okay, all things considered ^^. Remember earlier (if I actually did) mention that whatever episode's author's notes it was that I was going in completely blind because the episode was just bland and forgettable? Well, while this one isn't bland in the slightest, I probably remember LESS from this episode than I do the last one XP So some parts of it miiight be a little iffy here and there.

Anyway! We're rounding down to the final chapters here folks :P! On top of that, next chapter, we learn all the bits and secrets to the sword and Catra's finding of it, will all be revealed!...or most likely i'll have forgotten one or two details by mistake XP it's been over 2 months since i did the first 2 chapters, so sue me XP! On an interesting note, i'm curious to see what sort of fan theories you guys might be able to cook up ^^ I think i'll make a list of the closest/most-accurate theories to the winners, as well as any i find generally funny and whatnot XP.

Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Now if you'll excuse me... AVENGERSS TIME BABA!

Chapter 46: Episode 12: Light Hope Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey boys and girls! Say, do you like Flashback episodes :D!

Audience: NO!

Author: Well too bad, here we go ^^!

Lol... *sigh* I'm gonna be straight with you guys. This might be the worst chapter i've written yet, and I don't mean just storywise either. When I started working on this yesterday, it was during a period where I went 2 entire days devoid of sleep, so i have no idea what was going on through my head at the time. That explains the story-telling issue of things.

The other issue is the technical issues of this, and I mean that in every sense of the word. See, throughout all of this, I rewrote some parts. A lot.

Like a LOT a lot T_T!

Throughout the entire thing, I was writing and rewriting in the middle of this, going back to past paragraphs, going back to the ending to continue where I left off, went back to write somewhere in the middle again for more detail, had to reread the entire thing SEVERAL times to make sure I didn't mess up any continuity, went to the end to write again for 10 seconds, had to re-edit a scene above again, go back to the end to continue, went back to make 2 changes, reread it a second time to make sure i didn't forget anything, went back to the MIDDLE to make consistencies again, THEN BACK TO THE END, and I think you get where I'm going with this X/

I'll be honest and fair, I'll delete this chapter if the feedback wishes for it. There were so many things wrong in the middle of writing this (like my "brilliant" idea to do it despite being without sleep for 2 days so who knows how rusty or what my mind was doing P_P). It is however a slightly necessary chapter because it'll answer a majority of the questions shown through the entire story so far no matter how badly it's written.

So, it's kind of essential even if its bad. I seriously don't know what i was thinking as I did the first 2/3rds of this fic, and like I said, i'll delete it if the feedback requests it. The overall point of this chapter was to answer questions that were different from the show, specifically most of the stuff involving Catra.

So with that said, i apologize, and hope you guys can get some enjoyment out of it all the same!

...

"W-What do you mean I wasn't supposed to find the sword?" No matter how many times Catra's question was answered, it still left her baffled.

Catra. Defector. Magicat. She-Ra-in-training. Out of all the things to describe her as, recently, she discovered that one of these things did not fit like the other, and that part happened to be the She-Ra part.

Not much happened throughout Catra's day since waking up, not anything she found worth reminiscing anyway. From what little adventure her day had so far, she woke up almost completely encased in a mechanical spiders' web, broke out, was given her sword back by the very spiders that tied her up in the first place, was transported to this strange place immediately after touching it, and then found herself running into the very person who started this insane adventure of misery and woe for her.

Light Hope.

There were so many questions she had to ask after she spent the first hour of her time trying to claw away at her. Why wouldn't she be angry at the person who basically turned her life upside down since day one? She's lost her home, she's lost her life, she even lost the greatest friend she could ever ask for! All because this stupid lady she met after touching the sword the first time said she was destined to do something.

Now, not only was she finding out she wasn't supposed to find the sword to begin with, she was also discovering that a certain someone else was supposed to, somebody who's friendship she had recently ruined.

"I meant exactly what I said, Catra." Light Hope replied, completely devoid of emotion. "You were never supposed to find the sword. Adora was."

"B-But you said I was suppose to!" She argued. "You said my name, you were asking for..." She had almost forgotten the entire conversation that took place the first time she came across the sword. It was during that brief glimpse into her memories that she suddenly remembered every word.

"We were never calling your name, Catra." Waving her hands through the air, Catra watched as numerous holographic screens of varying sizes were displayed. All around her she saw hundreds of different images, from graphs and charts, images of of Catra and Adora, and various screens displaying possible videos that were waiting to be played. "The day that you found the sword, an error occurred that we had not anticipated."

"An error? What kind of error?"

At this, Light Hope turned to the girl as she brought one of the monitors up closer. "You." With a single touch, Catra watched as a small video began to play, depicting the true events of the first time she found the sword.

That was when everything began to distort around the Catra in the monitor.

"A... ra... Ra..." As the video played on, Catra watched as the scene shifted directly from Light Hope's viewpoint, staring at the girl as several statistical graphs and readings were taking place as a red outline filled Catra's body within the video.

"Your heart was impure when you formed a bond with the sword." Light Hope spoke as the video continued to play. "You ended up corrupting the sword almost entirely at first touch, distorting any details and information we would have provided for you otherwise."

"Impure...?" Catra mumbled as she viewed the scene. She might've been full of herself occasionally but there was no way she would call herself impure. Knowing this Light Hope lady, she was probably just trying to get under her skin. "I doubt it helped being over a thousand years old, either..."

*bzzzt*

"-n-n-not the-"

*bzzzt*

"-tore bal-al-al-al-al-ance-"

*zzzt*

"What are you talking about?" Catra finally found her voice as she asked the strange figure. "Not what? You're not making any sense!"

"Y-Yo-Yo-You must-"

*bzzzt*

"Y-Y-You-"

*zzzt*

"-Ra-"

*bzt*

The voice began to fade as darkness slowly filled her vision.

"Ca-"

*zzzt*

"Catra... Catra..." Were the last recognizable words she could gather before everything went dark, almost immediately being filled again as the voice changed to one of familiarity.

...

"That doesn't make any sense, though." Catra said as she tried to get her barrings on what she had witnessed.

"Would you like me to play the video, again?" Light Hope inquired.

"What? No, I mean... Why did you keep calling me to the sword later on instead of Adora? You had me dealing with a killer headache for three straight hours until I came back to find the stupid sword!" Of all the past experiences Catra's had in her life, pain was one of them she wished she could forget. From full-out torture to severe migraines, there were a handful of painful times Catra prayed she could ever forget, sadly being cursed by all of them.

"Because when you found the sword, at first touch, you automatically formed a connection to it. The sword drew you in and allowed you to find it again, as it would have with Adora if she found the sword." Light Hope explained, showing three different screens of a detailed graph, statistics about the sword, and an orangish outline of Catra's person with a couple of readings coming off of her.

"Okay... then why did you change your mind? If you wanted Adora so badly, then why did you choose to stick with me?" There was a disturbing silence lingering in the air as Light Hope stared at her.

Catra had no idea how she was supposed to be talking to this woman. First off, she was a hologram. That alone made the conversation really awkward when the person, or thing, you were talking to wasn't real. Second, there was no way to grasp what she was thinking. Everything she said was blunt and emotionless without any tone to her voice hinting at how she was feeling. And third, she had all the answers if Catra could come up with the questions.

If she ever came across Light Hope again in the past, she always told herself she would have a lot of questions for her. How does she get this sword to work? How does she transform into She-Ra successfully every time? Why did it feel like this blade had a mind of its own?

But now, here she was, being swarmed by an endless amount of questions filling her head without the ability to directly speak her mind. She couldn't tell if Light Hope was affecting that at all or if it was all the stress and confusion she's suffered since she came to this stupid place. All she knew was that if anyone could answer her questions, it was Light Hope.

No matter how painful the reality came to be.

"We never, as you put it, changed our mind, Catra." She replied, pulling over another display. This one had half a dozen outlines of people, all shaded in blue, as they stood under the magnificent Sword of Protection that shined above them. "We were trying to task you with the duty of finding Adora since the beginning." Swiping across the screen, Catra watched as another familiar scene played out, displaying the second time she met Light Hope.

"Hello. I am Light Hope. I have been waiting a very long time for this moment."

"Y-You can see me?" Catra questioned still in disbelief as she got to her feet.

"Yes." Light Hope responded with an almost robotic tone. "I could not reach you before until you had forged a bond with the sword."

"While we weren't expecting anyone else to find the sword," Light Hope explained, "we did provide a failsafe protocol on the off chance it occurred. We call it the Finder's Initiative."

"The Finder's Initiative?" Catra repeated raising a brow. "I'm pretty sure you didn't mention anything of the sort when we met the second time."

"As I've said, due to your impure heart, the details and explanations we had provided were disrupted. We were unable to fully convey our intentions to you as our message at that time were predetermined."

"I apologize for the discomfort previously, but there was an malfunction created when you first came into contact with the blade." Light Hope explained, adding on to Catra's confused state.

"Malfunction? What, was the sword broken or something?"

"I can not comply in my current state. This message is broadcasted in the event of an unforeseen circumstance such as this. I can only respond to certain statements."

"You're kidding... right?" Catra asked in somewhat hopeful disbelief.

"I can not comply in my current state. This message is broadcasted in the event of an unforeseen circumstance such as this. I can only respond to certain statements."

"Sheesh, you weren't kidding about that. What about this whole 'Finder's Initiative' thing? What exactly was I supposed to do?"

"The Finder's Initiative is a safety protocol in the event that the sword was to fall into someone else's hands. If you had received the entire message, it would have informed you to search for the one known as Adora, and return the blade to her. Once the sword was in her grasp, we would have set her on the right path."

"The right... path?"

She nodded. "The path to becoming She-Ra."

"Affirmative. This sword was created in ages past for the one who was chosen to wield it."

"Chosen to wield it?" Catra pondered the statement for a few seconds. "You mean... me?"

...

"A Gray-Skull? It's honor? What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!"

"If you wish for all the answers you must find me..." Light Hope stated as she began to slowly back into the blinding light, her form dissipating along with the scenery around her.

It... It really wasn't asking me to fight for them... Just to help them... The disgruntled Catra said to herself. Every word that she had received from the ancient Light Hope was literal and precise. When she asked for help, she was just asking for help, not involvement.

"FIND... ME..."

When the screen faded, all that Catra saw was an empty screen showing her own reflection, staring at the magicat in the surface who had her ears lowered like she did.

Catra's heart sank a little in dismay as she summarized this. All this time, she thought she was destined to be some incredible warrior from a prophecy, just by pulling a wondrous sword from ancient times that would've made her a princess.

Here, she was learning that she was nothing more than practically a bystander, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A mere nobody that wasn't anything unique or talented whose life they decided to bring down even further than it already was. All this time, all the effort she had wasted, was for naught.

Based on what this Light Hope lady was supposedly telling her, Catra was, all things considered, a complete and total accident.

"So... I was... never supposed to find the sword at all then?" Catra guessed accurately.

"Correct. When I realized the data was still corrupted from your exposure, I left behind an emergency follow-up of instructions to come find me, so we may speak personally without interference of any kind."

"But then why did it let me turn into She-Ra then if I was just an "accident", according to you people?" Asking one question to an ancient being continued to leave her with more questions at this rate.

"That was part of the Finder's Initiative." Pulling a screen directly from above her, she tapped away at the holographic projection until it displayed a detailed outline of She-Ra standing next to a blue outline of the average person, with an arrow directing straight from the person to She-Ra. "As carrier of the legendary sword, you were granted a limited amount of its abilities to assist you in finding the true owner of the blade. You were given a basic understanding of our language and technology, as well as the ability to borrow a portion of She-Ra's power."

"You mean the one that barely worked half the time?" She scoffed crossing her arms. "I could barely get that sword to work for me when I wanted to, so why don't you try explaining that!"

"I can." Catra almost regretted challenging her on that. "Your reasoning and personality were against the sword's own judgement. It found you lacking in honor, sincerity, and purity, all of which individually would have given you the power to transform, regardless of the inhibitor placed upon the sword."

"The inhibitor?" Catra looked off to the side as she remembered Entrapta's exact words.

"Fully utilized?" Catra repeated, looking back to the other two who gave her a shrug. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means there actually is something in the sword keeping you from using it's full power." She clarified.

"So it wasn't the sword's inhibitor that was keeping me from using it..."

"You had only shown one such case in which the sword granted you its power outside of your time of need." Catra knew perfectly well which time that had to have been, recalling the first time she was honest with herself after being threatened by the Queen. " As such, the blade's limited power would only grant you its strength when it was deemed most necessary."

"Most necessary..." That did explain a small portion of her past annoyances, which annoyed her in turn.

Until now, the two most important times she found herself actually requiring the sword was when they were attacked by a giant bug in the Whispering Woods. The other time was when the ridiculous Captain Sea Hawk lead them into the middle of the ocean in order to show off, forcing them to fend off a giant sea creature that towered over them. It's a wonder what would've happened if Catra didn't have She-Ra's strength at that time.

It also explained the other occurrences where it didn't work. She wasn't fighting anything dangerous when she was practicing in trying to transform after arriving in Bright Moon, the soldiers weren't intending to destroy her when she made her way through a Rebellion Training Camp, she was just trying to transform in front of the Queen for her own benefit the first time, and she managed to overpower the behemoth-like Force Captain she encountered back in Plumeria. Granted, it would've made the battle a lot more easier, but apparently the sword thought she was capable enough as she was.

It didn't get rid of one major concern she had. "But what about when I came across Adora, then?" She shot back. "Adora gave me a chance to transform back in Salineas with the Watergate! If you or this stupid sword had let me back then, she would've joined her side and then I could've handed her the sword in the first place!"

"I will admit fault on our part in its design." She admitted. "In addition to the other possible conditions, none of which you were found redeeming for," Catra couldn't tell if she meant based on her personality or based on her appearance at that, "the sword would not allow the Finder to transform if they were in the presence of She-Ra nearby, even if they were in danger. It was a means to help others track and locate She-Ra if they were ever to search for her."

She scratched at her head in frustration as she tried to process all of this. "I don't understand. You're saying, all this time, you wanted me to find Adora so she would become She-Ra? You weren't asking me for my help whatsoever?"

"I apologize for the misunderstanding, again. But all we required from you was your assistance in returning the sword to it's chosen wielder. The moment Adora came into direct contact with the blade, all of its necessary knowledge and detailed would've transferred to her immediately."

"When she... hang on a minute, that doesn't make any sense! Adora's already come into contact with the sword before, so why didn't it work?"

"Are you sure it was direct contact?" Light Hope questioned.

"Yeah!... I mean... kind of... Ugh!" She didn't know what was starting to annoy her further at this point, the realizations she was coming to or the fact Light Hope seemed to have an appropriate response to everything she had to ask.

...

*Clang!*

"Ghh!" Catra grunted as she was lowered to one knee, trying desperate to push the massive claw off her sword.

Adora.

The blond Force Captain continued to grin as she looked at her other gargantuan arm of darkness, flexing the tips of her fingers while ignoring the person she was playing with.

...

"You're... letting us go?" Glimmer panted, doing her best to keep herself off the wall.

The Sword of Protection.*

...

It was never direct contact, no matter how picky the details were. She never touched the sword directly with her own two hands, the shadowy darkness covering them obviously didn't count, and the sheathe itself was custom made by the crafters within the Rebellion, giving Catra a means to carry it on her back. It wasn't anywhere near First Ones technology, and even if it was, there was no guarantee it would've somehow connected Adora to the sword anyway.

"And... if I did return the sword to her... how would she be set on the right path?"

"We would display the same information to her and then some. She would have been informed of the important destiny that lied before her. With her, she would have most likely joined the Rebellion instead, and waged war directly on the Horde."

"Then that means..." Catra's eyes lit up with a spark of optimism for the first time in ages. If she got the sword back to Adora, she could get her to join the Rebellion! If she did that, she could learn or master the sword within minutes, add a powerful new ally to their cause, find a way to heal Glimmer, and most importantly, allow Catra the chance to make amends with her and hopefully prove to Adora that she never saw her as a tool.

Blinking, Catra quickly looked in all directions, looking for an exit. "How do I get out of here? Where's the sword?"

"Catra-" Light Hope tried to acquire her attention as Catra walked about.

"I know what I have to do now. If I can get the sword back to her, then I can-!"

"The sword will no longer respond to Adora's touch." Light Hope stated, freezing Catra in her place. She wasn't bothered by the look of confusion directed at her from the troubled magicat. "Now that the Alpha Protocol has been initiated, the Finder's Initiative has been rescinded."

"The Alpha proto..." What did she mean by that? What the heck was the Alpha Protocol, and what did it have to do with... Oh no. "What did you do?!" She hissed. Did this pest of a First Ones do something else that she wasn't aware of? Something that, most likely, botched her chances with making amends with Adora?!

"It is not out of what we've done that the Alpha Protocol has been initiated," with a pull of her hand, Catra watched as she brought over a new before them, "but what she did."

The scene she displayed brought pain and torment through Catra's heart as she watched the ten second loop of an all-too-familiar scene. It wasn't anything that happened that far into the past, it wasn't something that happened past the last week. it wasn't even anything that happened beyond the last twelve hours.

Here, Catra watched, as Light Hope replayed the video of Adora's betrayal, the very moment Adora turned her back on her after Catra's selfish past had literally caught up to them. The scene showed the ten-second interval as Catra had made her way to her best of friends just seconds before finding herself captured by the ferocious spider-like robots that forced her to the ground. There she could see just how helpless she was as Adora turned her back on her, watching as Adora went through the small door of light, the very same that slowly dwindled as the door closed itself, eventually leading it to perfect darkness.

And from there, against her personal wishes, Light Hope had the video repeated over and over again.

"Adora's heart has been consumed by an conflicting darkness. With anger, sorrow, confusion, and fear overwhelming her, the sword cannot recognize her anymore." She explained, popping up smaller displays next to the scene depicting her emotions.

Already Catra was starting to worry as her ears drooped along her head, the excitement displayed by her tail dwindling down to a small waft. "W-What, that?" She tried to play off with a nervous smile. "That wasn't anything! S-She was just having a real bad day, alright? Just give her another chance, she'll come around."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, Catra." Before Catra was given the chance to counter, Light Hope threw out her argument as she displayed other various scenes from Adora's life since Catra's defection. Among them, Catra could see the twisted sense that had taken over Adora in those short intervals of her life. "When our defenses downloaded your memories, it also scanned for signs of irregularities, corruption, on Adora's behalf. The amount of details we received were quite... troubling."

...

"...push ups..." Adora muttered.

"What?" Lonnie nearly flinched as Adora grabbed the collar of her vest, pulling her closer so she could see the anger burning in Adora's eyes.

"I said push ups! One-Hundred of them! Now!" She ordered.

The current screen gave off a small buzz as it shifted to a few moments after her order. "I want to hear you count!" She ordered, pressing her foot onto Lonnie's back. The girl grumbled louder at this but refused to bark back. Again, the scene skipped to a few seconds after. "I didn't say to stop counting! Start over!" Adora shouted down to Lonnie, continuing to apply pressure to her back.

...

"Adora... I really can't... I'm sorry..." Catra didn't know how much longer she could keep apologizing. It wasn't for a lack of effort, she didn't have much time to fix the Sea Gate's core.

"...I am too." Adora kept her gaze intensely on Catra as she raised her wrist to her face again.

"Adora, don't-!

"This is Force Captain Adora, do you read me Scorpia?"

"Yup, loud and clear, Adora." A staticy Scorpia said over the radio. "What are your orders?"

There was plenty of hope present in this situation, none of which reached the two best friends.

"Take down the barrier and everything around it!"

"No!" Catra lunged the Force Captain as fast as she could, too little too late as Adora slipped the radio off her list and into the water below them.

"She... She was just under orders for that." Catra argued, trying to find a means to defend her friend. "She wasn't doing any of that because she wanted to."

"She didn't seem unwilling to give you a chance, did she not?" Catra has never hated a person as much as the lady she needed to answer all of her questions. Every time she had a comeback, Light Hope had an easy rebuttal to make, dampening Catra's optimism and continuing to fill her with doubt as time went on. "Orders are not a thing one must do all the time. She was perfectly aware of her orders, and she chose to follow them."

...

Adora grinned, letting Catra be the only person to see it.

This. This was the trap. All along, she tricked Catra from the moment she came here, by putting Catra in a trap she knew she would never be able to escape from.

By letting Catra be herself.

...

All around her, Catra couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. The memories, the ones she has and hasn't seen before, were all shocking to see played back to back against one another. She remembered each of the events she bore witness to personally, with some of the unseen ones adding on a sense of guilt to Catra's already downridden conscious, remember how Adora commented on how much she's been defending her since leaving the Horde.

Are acts of violence against the people she considered friends truly the means she used to do it?

"I... This isn't what it looks like!" Catra's faltering argument was becoming more obvious to the artificial First One.

"Are you sure?" Turning her head from Catra to the monitor, the magicat followed suit as she watched the next display that took place, almost trembling for a second at what it was.

Glimmer's interrogation.

...

With that, she displayed her red-tinted eyes, one devoid of almost everything. "Now I'm not going to feel bad about what I do next." She stated monotonically.

*B ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! *

*"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in agony. In one fell swoop, the electricity around her exploded in a mad frenzy, covering her entirety until Adora lowered the settings again. That pain, the surge she felt right now, felt like nothing compared to what Adora put her through in the last three seconds alone. She felt like her entire body was being shocked simultaneously, like bolts of lightning were striking every single part of her body at the same time.

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Are we clear?"

"What do you want?" Glimmer cried out asking.

"I want to know how to break the spell you put on Catra." Adora replied firmly. "By the time this session is over, you're going to tell me exactly what I want to hear!" A small portion of her anger rose at that, no matter how hard she tried to keep it down.

"I don't know anything! There is no spell!"

"Liar!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her entire body wracked with pain as the surge continued.

This, was Adora's payback. This was the device that was going to solve all her problems. Watching as the princess cried out in pain, she proceeded with the electrocutions.

"There were no orders given to her at that time. She wasn't under any orders to interrogate your ally, or the barbaric means she used to extract the information." Catra tried to look at her for any sort of expressional response, though, none was given.

The sight of the interrogation alone was enough to almost frighten Catra. Her friend had changed more deeply than she thought, all for the sake of trying to save her. Glimmer's suffering through the interrogation was another part of guilt that was starting to weigh upon Catra's mind, seeing how Adora only did it for her sake.

The sake of their friendship.

And it still wasn't the darkest moment of Adora's life, in terms of resolve, that is.

...

"Get rid of...? W-What are you planning to do, Adora?" There was anger in Adora's tone, no matter how much she tried to force herself to repress it.

...

"Adora's descent into darkness has grown progressively worse in such a short span of time." Light Hope finished as the last display vanished in front of them. "I fear what she will become as time moves on."

"But... Yeah, but..." Catra didn't know what to say. First she was told she wasn't supposed to find the sword, aka an accident, then she was told Adora would have joined the Rebellion if she had just gotten it to her in the first place, and now she was being told, and shown, the corruption and cruelty that Adora's been descending into in front of her very eyes! "It never would've happened if your stupid simulation thing never ruined her in the first place!"

"Our defenses did nothing to affect her in her time before coming here." She retorted. "It also would have recognized you as the Finder if you were purified by the sword by your time of coming here."

"Purified?" There were a number of ways that could've been taken and not one of them made any sense to her. "What do you mean purified?"

"Did you not noticed?" She asked in wonderment. "The memories it showed you?"

"My memories...?" How could she forget? She could never forget! Since day one of joining the Rebellion, she's been plagued endlessly by these barrage of visions of her past. They usually last seconds in the real world while anywhere between several minutes to half an hour could pass in her mind! "That was... You mean to tell me the sword is responsible for haunting me?!"

"It wasn't haunting you, Catra. It was trying to purify your heart of its darkness." Her explanation did nothing to ease the doubt clouding Catra's mind.

"Yeah, I think we both have two very different definitions of the word "purify", lady." She snarled.

"Think about it, Catra. What were you feeling towards the end of those memories?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "confusion at why it was happening? Frustration at how annoying my past was? Take your pick, I got a list of complaints to make about 'em."

"I mean within them, Catra. What did you feel towards the ends of those memories?"

"I don't know, I just..." She tried to think as she scratched her head. "I... I don't really know what I was feeling. All of them were different, but I...I don't know. I just know when I was with Adora, I was feeling... safer, maybe? Relieved?"

"You were feeling peace, Catra." Light Hope stated. "An emotion you haven't experienced in a long time, one you can't even recognize anymore. In each of your experiences, no matter how frightful they were, you always felt a sense of calmness and serenity. For one to be able to use the sword with ease, one of several conditions must be met, one of which is being-"

"-at peace..." Catra stared at her right hand as she clenched it softly. Is that really what she was feeling at the end of all those memories? Something along the lines of peace? She knew there were some memories that were happier than others when she was a kid, and she did like a few days out of her childhood growing up, from the ones she saw anyway.

Was this supposed to be what peace felt like, then? Happiness? Calming? She really couldn't say. She knew there were a handful of times she was feeling happy or calm, yet during the few experiences she could turn into She-Ra, she always felt some sort of wave washing over her, assuring her that she could transform again. During the few times she was actually happy in the Rebellion or calmed after a stressful day of work, she felt nothing.

When it came down to it, what truly was peace?

"...So... what's this whole Alpha Protocol thing you mentioned then?" Catra asked with morbid curiosity. Every time a question of hers was answered, it left her a little more depraved of her optimism, and was starting to fill her with worry.

"The last hope we have as of now." With this, Light Hope pulled up the final display she had to offer.

This one depicted another basic character outline, filled in blue, on the left hand side of the image, and a reddish filled-in outline on the right hand side, that appeared to be in the shape of She-Ra if Catra guessed accurately. The strange part was how in-between the two was an outline of the sword, with an arrow pointing to it from the blue outline to the sword, and, to her confusion, an X standing between the She-Ra outline and the sword.

It gave off a dreadful feeling in Catra's heart as she stared at display. Whatever the image was showing her, somehow she knew, it was going to end badly.

"The Alpha Protocol is the system in place should the current She-Ra perish, or if she has been deemed unsuited for her destiny. Should She-Ra be incapable of fulfilling her task under those conditions, ownership of the sword would transfer."

"Transfer to who?" With so many other thoughts clouding her mind at the moment, even the obvious stuff didn't fully reach her at the time. Waiting several seconds for a response, she turned her attention back to Light Hope, seeing the woman staring directly at her. There were no words, no expressions to read, all Catra had to go by was the lingering silence until it struck her. "...Y-You mean... me?"

"That is correct."

"But you just said I wasn't worthy of the sword to begin with! Why are you suddenly throwing the sword at me now? We should give it to Adora while we have the time!"

"You're not listening, Catra. Even if Adora was to grab the sword, nothing would happen. To her, it would be nothing more than a sword created by us, and she will never be able to awaken its power, not on her own. She will never be able to reclaim the sword unless the darkness vanishes from her heart."

"Then... You mean..." Catra's eyes wavered as she looked down, staring into thought.

There was no going back for Adora. There was no way for Catra to fix everything, to bring Adora back on the right side of this war. As long as she remained in the Horde, she would be their Officer. As long as she hated Catra with the utmost contempt, she would do everything in her power to make Catra, and the people she cared about, suffer. And as long as Light Hope and the sword were in doubt of Adora's heart, she would never be able to reclaim her destiny.

The sword belonged to Catra now, whether she liked it or not. All that has happened to Adora, from her suffering and grief, her epiphany over what their past has lead to, the people who've manipulated Adora behind the scenes, all of it had lead to this moment. Every ounce of bad luck, every abysmal dilemma that could and has happened, has been building up to where they were now.

All of this, right from the beginning, has happened, because Catra came across the sword first. She didn't know anything about the sword back then, and barely wanted anything to do with it other than to turn it in to the Horde, just to give herself some fancy big promotion. Her greed was what separated her from her best friend, her lack of emotion and heart was what was holding the Sword's power back, even with the inhibitor.

"...Let me see if I got this straight..." Catra inhaled deeply and released a calming breath as she prepared her long winded summarization.

"I was never the one who was meant to take the sword, but because I came across it by accident and touched it, that started some Finder's thing that couldn't even talk to me because my heart was screwed up or whatever. Because of that, I could never get the sword working, and my friends had to pay for that. So I ran around wasting time while Adora was being corrupted on the other side."

"After awhile, we finally meet each other again, but because of the stupid defense thing running around this place, it showed us scenes from our own past that sent Adora off the deep end, and because she left me behind, that automatically makes her unworthy of having the sword anymore. And because of that, you activated some Alpha thing in order to take the possession of the sword away from her, and now you're giving it to me despite the fact you never wanted me in the first place. Am I understanding everything here?"

"Essentially, yes. I do apologize for the confusion and grievances you might be experiencing through all of this, Catra, but Etheria has need of you now. More than ever." At this, the multiple displays and images around her began to dissipate within a matter of seconds, disappearing in the air around them. When the last one finally came to an end, Catra found herself nearly blinded as she was engulfed in another bright light emanating from Light Hope's chest.

She might not have understood a detail or two here, and it was safe to say there was plenty she forgot to mention. So many emotions were running through her at the time, distracting her from all possible questions she had yet to answer, her mind clouded in an emotional void. Light Hope seemed insistent on making Catra the new She-Ra, a plan Catra couldn't tell if it was a mistake or not to do so. But there was one thing Catra was aware of as she prepared to witness the destiny Light Hope claimed she had.

Everything that has happened to everyone she came across, has been her fault. She was not a hero.

She was not a She-Ra.

...

A/N: Gawd, that was painful to write X_X... Like I said people, apologies for the quality, reeeeeeeally really sorry, and if you guys want me to I'll take down the chapter later. I'm hoping it did at least answer your questions though. And to be fair, the entire chapter, when it came down to it, were two people talking back and forth to each other. The fact i turned a single conversation into an over 7.4k words is astounding to me :/

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter we'll finally return to the main plot as we hear the traditional story of the past and First Ones and whatnot, with some changes to fit catra of course ^^

Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon ^^!

Chapter 47: Episode 12: Light Hope Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: A thousand thanks to the fans who supported the last chapter and alleviated my fears/worries over it X) I know I say that a lot occasionally like how "this is a bad chapter" and whatnot, but i genuinely meant it last time around with a great sense of worry, so I am overjoyed to see that the feedback as kicked off ^^ Thanks a million to the supporters who make this series possible. Hopefully this chapter makes things fun and exciting as much as the rest of the series.

And not to toot my own horn, but I think the cliffhangerS i left on this one will make things rather interesting/exciting for the next chapter X) You'll have to read on to find out what I mean....

With that said, enjoy!

...

As the light faded from the scenery, Catra could finally open her eyes again without being blinded. All around her she saw a dazzling array of lights dancing about, twirling back and forth and raining stars across the background. Crystals grew from the ground beneath them along the sides as holographic projections were thrown across the sky above her. From one long and twisted explanation that she had just escaped from, Catra was about to find herself pushed into another, detailing the origins and history of the first ones and their connection to She-Ra.

And surprisingly, after all the time she's spent trying to learn the mysteries of the Sword of Protection and the people who created it, Catra found herself unable to care anymore. It can easily be attributed to the long and twisted explanation Catra recently had involving her role in all of this and what it meant for her. Since the very beginning of when her adventures began and everything she's been through, she discovered what might have been the most shocking realization she's ever had in her life.

She was an accident. Nothing more, nothing less. Her finding the sword was a stroke of luck, an unintended outcome that wasn't even predicted by the technological advanced race known as the First Ones. She wasn't chosen for some big prophecy or tasked with a large responsibility because of her skills and her qualities, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that's what sent her life spiraling out of control.

All this time, all she was tasked with doing was finding Adora and giving her the sword to begin with, a message that was never clear to her as her own impure heart, as Light Hope put it, corrupted the message and task that was given to her. Because of this, she wasn't aware that she was given a mere fraction of She-Ra's power, being dubbed as the "Finder" as her title, and never became aware of the fact that she wasn't She-Ra to begin with. She wasn't asked for help in saving the world or some important thing like that. All she was required to do was to put the sword into Adora's hands.

That's it.

The reality of the situation would've been a little easier to cope with if it wasn't for the details that followed. Of all the time wasted on Catra's end, she never understood what her true purpose was. The sword had deemed Adora far too corrupted to become the true owner of the sword. She couldn't give it back to Adora and fill her in on her big destiny, and that made any attempts to reconcile with Adora after everything Catra did to her all but impossible. There was no way for her to bring Adora back to her side, and she only had herself to blame.

It didn't even cheer her up when she heard the one positive aspect, what she would've considered positive months ago, out of all of this. Since it was determined that Adora was too corrupted by her time in the Horde, thanks to Catra's abandonment, a system known as the Alpha Protocol had been put in place. With it, Catra discovered that ownership of the sword was transferred entirely over to her, which, presumably, meant she would be granted access to its powers too, at least to the extent of allowing her to transform.

Not a day went by where Catra didn't wish she could learn how to use the stupid hunk of metal she's been cursed with, and after all this time and everything she's been through, now that she had it... she wasn't happy about it. It didn't bring a smile to her face, it didn't brighten her mood in any sense given everything she's lost as a result, and it didn't relieve her to know that all of her past problems with the sword were part of some Initiative program that limited her access to the sword's powers.

All it did was make her feel empty inside. She wasn't destined for greatness, she wasn't wanted for her own strength and skills, and she wasn't planned for out of all of this. She was nothing more than an accident since the day she joined the Rebellion, and up till now, everyone she has come to care for suffered because of her.

She was the farthest thing from a She-Ra, and now she was being told she was the closest thing to one.

"Alright, so... What are you anyway?" Catra asked with a greatly reduced sense of enthusiasm. It was hard to take anything at heart when you had your entire world come crashing down on you in the span of ten minutes.

"I am a being created by the First Ones, as you call them." She answered as the scenery continued to warp around them.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of hearing about those guys. Who the heck were they?"

"The First Ones were explorers who journeyed from beyond the stars to settle Etheria." When the warping finally came to an end, Catra found herself standing within the center of what appeared to be entrance again, albeit much shorter with several design variations to it, one of the key notes being how it was smaller. "They built this place for the original She-Ra, Adora, the Crystal Castle."

Catra gazed in wonder at her surroundings as she tried to take everything in with all that's happened to her in mind. Beautiful crystals were etched into the walls of this place, lights refracting and giving off a beautiful sparkle to everything it touched. The glitter that lied around them were almost as dazzling as the stars themselves. She was so entranced by its beauty that she nearly jumped as Light Hope materialized right in front of her. "Ahh-!"

"I have waited a long time for the original She-Ra to offer her this destiny," the artificial being turned with Catra towards the stained glass behind them, depicting an image of She-Ra, "and now, that role belongs to you, Catra."

"Tch, sorry for the disappointment." She muttered under her breath as she walked over to the monument.

"Do not take my words at face value, Catra." She tried to ease the girl's stress, noticing the increase of agitation coming from her. "I harbor no ill will towards you or anyone who would have come to the same fate as you have. I am simply explaining what's necessary for you to understand."

"Yeah, because that makes it bet-"

"You are now She-Ra, Etheria's Champion," Light Hope continued, cutting her off as she materialized on her left, "appointed by the First Ones to protect and unite our planet."

"Unite?" Catra thought to herself briefly at the word. There was something almost coincidental about it and what she was doing in the Rebellion. "That almost sounds like the Princess Alliance-"

"There have been many before the original She-Ra," she interrupted again, "but that line was broken." The scenery around them filled with a violet hue as another image appeared before them. Here, Catra watched in curiosity as a golden figure of She-Ra floated in front of her, seeing her appearance and how drastically it differed from her own. Stepping forth, she noticed how the She-Ra stared back at her, aware of her existence, as she held her hand up to hers, while many other She-Ras floated behind the first one. "You are the first She-Ra in a thousand years, and the eighth one to be given the title directly through the Alpha Protocol."

"The eighth?" Catra turned back as the line of She-Ra in front of her started shattering one by one, withering away. "So I'm not the first one to have been given the title?"

"Correct." Waving her right hand, Catra looked back as numerous holographic images were created of various size and races. Some of them had packs on their back, others were carrying satchels. The one constant she saw among all of them was the sword held firmly in their hands or on their back. "Through the eons, nearly a hundred different people have come across the sword as you have, and have been given the task of finding the She-Ra of that time."

"Nearly a hundred? If there were that many people coming across the sword, then why didn't you just make it so whoever found the sword would become the next She-Ra?"

"Many of my data banks have been slightly distorted through the passage of time, but while I try to fix them, I can answer your question based on my observations. It's easily a matter of precaution and safety for the worlds, and all who inhabit them. If we allowed the sword to exist without a means to limit its power to those who would do harm with it, many worlds, and the lineage of She-Ra would have ended long ago. Would you prefer someone with vile intent was given the sword instead?" Just thinking of someone as sinister as Shadow Weaver coming across the sword was enough to give the magicat goosebumps as she shivered.

"Eehehheheh, I get your point." She rubbed her chin as she tried to process this. "So, based on what you're saying, now that the sword belongs to me, I'll have access to all of She-Ra's powers, right?"

"Technically, yes."

"...What do you mean technically? Technically yes or technically no?"

...

At the same time of the conversation, on another side of the world, three proud members of the Horde stood within the center of the interrogation room as the Officers gazed at the technological display of Entrapta's model.

"Behold, Etheria." Entrapta introduced. This was about to get very interesting for the young Force Captain known as Adora.

After the events at the Beacon, her certainty and resolve to destroy the Rebellion had reached its limits. She loathed Catra for all the times she used their precious friendship for her own gain, the selfishness the girl displayed in trying to acquire anything she could get her hands on and befriending the right people for it. If Catra cared more about some stupid hunk of land more than she did the people who raised the two of them, then she was dead to her.

With this, she was more than interested in anything that could bring an end to the Rebellion as soon as possible. She wanted Catra to know her pain, to feel what it was like to experience the same dread and despair she felt after Catra abandoned her all those months ago. Even if Catra couldn't feel it, the last thing Adora wanted from this point onward was for Catra to obtain her kingdom, requiring her to help the Rebellion in their war against the Horde, the people Adora would continue to fight for.

As such, when Entrapta came along with the news of the Data Crystal Adora had stolen from the Beacon, she was more than excited to learn what she's found. She would still hold onto her own morals for anything else, but if she came across anything that can be used as a weapon, anything to destroy Catra's dream, she would be more than glad to use it, and made her all the more curious as to what she was witnessing in front of her.

Here, she, Scorpia, and Entrapta were looking at what appeared to be a large metallic replica of the planet itself, with wires strewn around it and a couple dozen greenish bulbs inserted along its sides. It was a technological advancement that Adora had never seen before, and she was looking forward to the results that followed this display.

"The First Ones didn't just settle on the surface of Etheria." Entrapta explained, walking around it as she felt along the machine with an arm of hair. "Their technology runs throughout the planet's core!"

"You mean they dug to the center of the planet?" Adora asked, checking out the numerous wires and bulbs that came from the giant sphere.

"Eeeeee!" Adora fretted she broke the girl at that as she let out a high-pitched squeal, shaking her fists up and down. "No, it's much much MUCH bigger than that! They didn't just dig to the center of the planet's core, they created the planet's core! This entire planet is all First Ones tech!"

...

"Everything on Etheria is connected." Light Hope said as Catra watched the constantly-changing scenery. "The princesses are granted power over the elements through their Runestones." Directly in front of her, Catra backed away as she watched holographic projections of the people she did and didn't know grow in front of her. There were no details to them other than their outlines and color, with a handful of them being familiar to them, and many more that she's never seen before.

"As She-Ra, it is your duty to bring the princesses together. Only then can balance be restored to Etheria." At this, Catra looked around until her eyes came across the figure that she knew as Glimmer, walking towards the pink hologram with uncertainty in her mind. Giving it a small poke through the chest, Catra drew her hand away as a large hole appeared temporarily from where she touched it, and watching as it grew back a few seconds later.

"Okay, this is cool and all, and I'm sure it's really helpful, but-"

"You are correct, Catra. It is helpful." Light Hope interrupted once again as she continued to reveal her destiny.

...

"And what are these suppose to be?" Adora asked as she leaned over to one of the colored bulbs.

"Runestones." Entrapta replied. "From the data I've managed to extract, they regulate the planet through the princesses. They're directly connected to each other and to the planet's power grid in a delicate balance! Huuuuuuff!" The purple-haired genius exhaled after her long breath of words.

"They're connected...? What does that mean?" Adora was unaware of the beautiful revelation that would come from this question.

With stars in her eyes and another squeal being suppressed in her throat, Entrapta revealed, "Which means, they're our best access point to hack the planet!"

...

"When the princesses and their elements are in balance, Etheria functions as it should." Waving her hands, Catra nearly choked on a gasp as Light Hope changed the scenery to the familiar scene of when Adora invaded Salineas with her warship, the scene being paused at the very first time Adora and Scorpia fired a powerful blast of energy from its cannons to the Sea Gate itself. "But the Horde is destroying us in their quest for power."

Waving again, the simulation changed to the setting of the desecrated Whispering Woods, the spot she came across with Madame Razz some time ago on the left side, and a view of the siphoning station that was stealing the power of the Hearts Blossom, the building within the Horde base that stole all of its energy, on her right. After her experiences with the woods and her time in the Rebellion, the sight that never gave so much as a scoff to the burning land now shocked her to her core. "There is no predicting what they will do next."

...

"Hack the planet?" Adora questioned. "Like how? Can we control its weather or something?"

"Actually, we might very well be able to!" Entrapta confirmed with an excited nod. The great desire of knowledge and optimism was pushed aside as it made way for a look curiousness and complexity as she walked over to her lovable droid, Emily, patting her head. "But it's not that simple. There's only a handful of Runestones in the whole world. I would need access to one of them to even know where I could begin."

"What, Runestones?" Scorpia spoke up from behind her. "You mean, like the Black Garnet? Cause, heh, we have the Black Garnet." It warmed Scorpia's heart to be able to contribute something to the conversation of technology and wonder, even if she didn't understand half of what she was saying.

"T-The Black Garnet? You have a Runestone? The Fright Zone has a Runestone?!"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Adora bumped her own forehead against her fist softly. "You said your family gave it to Lord Hordak, right?"

"Yay, you remembered!" Her face brightened as she clapped her claws together. It was good to know she had actual friends that listened to her for once, instead of the guards who only butted in to ninety percent of the conversation whenever she had one. "We gave it to Hordak when they landed, who gave it to Shadow Weaver, who... You know, you tell a friend, he tells a friend, it's one of those things."

"WHERE IS IT?!" Scorpia found herself being jumped on as Entrapta pulled her over to the hulking woman with her two lengths of hair. "Can I see it? Can I touch it?!" Peering into her eyes, Scorpia had to resist the urge to shutter as she stared into the hollow void that was Entrapta's sparkling, starry, eyes as she swirled around her with her hair.

It took all of Adora's physical strength to pry the overexcited girl from her other friend, the knots of hair wrapped around her making it difficult to pull off by herself. "Whoa, hey, calm down. Now, what exactly are you planning on using the Black Garnet for?"

"If we hack the Runestone grid, we could boost the Garnet's power and use it for... Well, anything. As a power source, as-"

"A weapon?" The announcements and reveals coming from this girl were getting Adora something to hope for. Discovery lead to knowledge. Knowledge lead to power. Power could be used to destroy anything that threatened to harm her or the people around her. Based on Entrapta's erratic behavior and excitement, she could tell whatever this was leading up to, it was going to be big. And the bigger it was, the more powerful it had to be.

Scorpia herself was just as eager as Adora was, even if it was for a different reason. If this thing turned out to be as big as Entrapta said, then that might get her off the hook! She could make it up to Lord Hordak for assisting in the princesses escape and the sword's accidental return, and escape whatever cruel judgment or punishment Hordak had planned for her if she failed!

Scorpia was so excited for their big discovery that she didn't even realize the strange behavior Adora was displaying at the possibility of making a weapon, finding it to be rather unlike her compared to her usual protective demeanor. She wouldn't have cared if she did, though, since she could easily chalk it up to the same level and reason for excitement that left Scorpia beaming with joy.

"Potentially." Entrapta walked around massive sphere as she rubbed her chin. "But if it's like my other experiments, the results will be explosive!"

"I... don't think Shadow Weaver would like that." Scorpia commented shaking her head.

"Oh yeah... Shadow Weaver..." Muttering to herself, Adora took a few steps away as she stared off into thought, all while the other two watched her.

"I don't get it, what's the big deal?" Entrapta whispered, leaning over towards Scorpia.

"Shadow Weaver's kinda like a mom to her. I don't think she'll want to mess with anything belonging to her."

This was the moment it all came down to as Scorpia waited for Adora's reply. What was the blonde Force Captain going to do about all of this? This was a matter of Adora either betraying the closest thing she's ever had to a mother, and the leader of the Horde who took her in and raised her to be the person she was today. Whoever she betrayed was going to leave pain in her heart regardless, and an entire lifetime of guilt soon after.

The pros and cons to betraying them outweighed each other perfectly! If she helped Shadow Weaver, she would become the new head of the Horde. Anything she said would go, she could make whatever rules she deemed necessary, and help millions of people throughout the world better if the Horde went under her leadership. But she would also be known as a traitor to the Horde, possibly being shunned by half of the army itself depending on how she disposed of Hordak, and it wouldn't just be her word over the Horde either. There would also be Shadow Weaver, standing by her side, throwing a thought or two into her direction, practically making the rules herself.

Then again, if she betrayed Shadow Weaver, she could expose a large traitor to Lord Hordak himself. She would gain his admiration and his respect if she was to do something as large as this, and it would be more than enough to put her back in Hordak's good graces, as well as that of the rest of the Horde, for her service. But it would mean turning her back on the person she's known since she was a child, betraying someone she held most dearly. To turn your back on someone who was family AND betray them at the same time would have left the ultimate form of guilt over one's consciousness, no matter the reason behind it.

There was no suggestions Scorpia could give Adora at this time. She was going to stick with her dear friend until the end, like a good friend should! And after the kindness she was shown and the decency she was offered, despite technically being a prisoner, Entrapta was prepared to do the same. Besides, even if it wasn't for the same level of reasoning, there was too much fun stuff around here to experiment with! This was her chance to experience an entirely new generation of technology, and she wasn't about to let that go to waste!

Finally, after what felt like forever, Adora raised her head at long last as she turned back towards her two remaining friends with a grin. "I've made up my mind."

"And?" Scorpia waited with anticipation in her veins. "What's the plan?"

"Simple. We're going to do what Shadow Weaver wants us to do." She stated without any hesitation or pause.

"You mean..." Entrapta couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, Adora nodding in confirmation all the same. It felt like they were about to dethrone the Queen of the Rebellion itself this felt so big!

"Yes. We're going to do betray Lord Hordak. Then, we'll bring this war to an end."

The determination in her voice was real, the fire in her eyes never faltering. This is the grand realization she's had after waiting all of this time, the ultimate choice that she had to make. This was the first step towards a greater destiny for her, her friends, and the Horde, and she wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. "I'll do whatever I think is necessary to bring the Rebellion down, including removing any obstacles that get in my way. And I already have the perfect plan to do it." Without another word, the Force Captain made her way out of the room, contemplating all the fine details she would need to set out for this.

All the while being completely unaware of a small pair of glowing yellow eyes that stared at her from the large pipes above, never realizing the blue-skinned imp that was spying on the three of them as it tread its way through the ceilings and the pipes that scattered around the ceiling.

...

The inner sanctum was considered one of the most sacred places within the Horde, the throne of power belonging to the wise being known as Lord Hordak himself. The leader of the Horde, the keeper of all the technological prowess that the Horde had to offer, and the one bringing Etheria closer by the day into his grasp.

The leader was nobody to be trifled with. His technologies could incinerate entire cities within minutes. His soldiers could raze towns in under an hour, taking away anything of potential value and capturing citizens, traitors, and princesses that the Horde came across. His power was matched by his knowledge, his ruthlessness never being quenched without the sight of victory in his view. He was the perfect example of what a leader should be, and the very definition of a nightmare itself.

Under his watchful gaze, nothing went within the Horde without his notice. From the high tech security that littered the halls and checkpoints of the Fright Zone, to the defense systems that were so advanced people would be lucky enough to lose a limb if they ever activated them, everything that ever was, and ever will be, for the Horde has lead him to this. He would never falter in his mission, and he would deal with traitors and enemies however he saw fit.

Including ones that were brought to his attention directly by his allies, like this little imp that crawled atop of his throne's armrest, sitting dutifully for his master like a good pet should.

"What do you have for me, little spy?" He knew whenever his pet returned to him directly, there was always something that warranted his attention.

Opening his mouth, instead of making any noise from himself, Hordak listened as he heard the sound of a certain Force Captain being played back to him, waiting in silence as the recording played back. "We're going to do betray Lord Hordak. Then, we'll bring this war to an end. I'll do whatever I think is necessary to bring the Rebellion down, including removing any obstacles that get in my way. And I already have the perfect plan to do it."

A normal leader would react immediately, sending guards to dispose of the traitor or taking care of the potential threat themselves. A skeptical leader would build up his defenses around himself, lying in wait until the traitor had exposed themselves to ensure what he heard was accurate, then spring the trap instantly to catch the traitors in the act.

However, a remarkable leader, one with the foresight and keen intellect such as him, would simply grin at the news. He didn't feel any fear at the knowledge he acquired, he didn't harbor any rage towards the individual, he didn't seem to care about what this Adora was going to do and the means she would use to do it.

All he did was smile, chuckling to himself as he petted his obedient servant along its head.

"Hmhmhm... amusing..."

...

"Ghhh!" Catra grumbled a little as she waved her hands through the holograms, waiting until they finally disappeared and returned to wherever they came from. "Look, I get the point, okay? I'm supposed to be She-Ra, I have to finish some garbage the original She-Ra was supposed to do, be some savior, blah, blah, blah, I'll finish it later. What I need to know is-"

"Is there something you do not understand?" Light Hope raised another hand, returning the holograms to where they were, much to Catra's annoyance. "I can start again from the beginning if you'd like."

"What? No, please, you don't-"

Within seconds, the living hologram appeared where she had at the beginning of the conversation, leaving Catra to groan as she banged her head against the wall to calm her frustration. "Ghhhh! Look, I get all of that-!"

"Have I mentioned you are the new She-Ra?" She appeared a foot away from Catra's face in wonder.

"Ack! No, I got it, thanks, whatever. You still haven't answered my biggest question: Will I have access to She-Ra's powers, and can I finally transform now?"

"Yes," she quickly added in before Catra could cheer at this, "and no."

"And no? Make up your mind already, jeez!" Catra was about ready to pull every last strand of hair she had off of her head. When this woman wasn't being annoying, she was being unclear. When she decided to clear and specify, she was being annoying about it. Why couldn't she just be one or the other and just stick to it?! "Why do you keep saying yes AND no?"

"I believe there is a misunderstanding on your part, Catra." Within the palm of her hands, she created two miniature variations of She-Ra; the one she has transformed into, and the one that a past She-Ra could transform into. "The form that you know as She-Ra is not the true form that you are to bear. With the inhibitor removed, you should be able to transform into the form you've come to know with ease, but that form is merely a fraction of the true form of She-Ra."

"Wait, give me a second here. Are you telling me that the person I've been transforming into isn't She-Ra at all?"

"No. I'm saying based on the conditions, you've only ever been able to acquire a fourth of She-Ra's form, and the power that comes with it. Even with the inhibitor, you were never limited in how far your form of She-Ra could go, just it's power." At this, an expression of curiosity grew over the emotionless creation, observing Catra from head to toe. "Interestingly enough, you are the only She-Ra discovered through the Alpha Protocol that hasn't been able to fully utilize the form of She-Ra. Then again, it isn't too surprising."

"And what the heck is that supposed to mean?" Now on top of being annoyed, she had to start putting up with being insulted too? How is it that the more she learned about how to be She-Ra, the less she found herself wanting to be She-Ra of all things?!

"As stated, there are several conditions that must be met, if you are to truly ever access the sword's power. First off, you must always be honest to yourself, and your heart." Catra had to resist the urge to scoff at this as she turned away. She didn't like feeling all cheesy and emotional at the best of times, yet she was willing to put up with it if it meant she could finally become She-Ra.

"Two, the wielder of the sword must be pure of heart. Only when you finally allow your heart to be at peace will becoming She-Ra be second nature to you. If you don't mind me saying this, your behavior and emotions we have witnessed in your memories have left you less than desirable for the sword."

"Hmph, I'm going to bother going there..." The feline crossing her arms. She didn't need a reminder of what she was referring to, she had plenty of those still scarring her at this very second. It was her greed and selfishness that lead to her heart being impure, and corrupting the message she should have received since day one. She couldn't bring herself to mention how it worked things out with Adora within the last day, the terror of that event never leaving her mind.

"Third, you must-"

"Look, let's cut the junk from the meeting, all right?" Catra interrupted this time, waving her hands through the small holograms so they would disappear. "I can only be a fourth of She-Ra right now. Fine. I'll deal with it as I go along. Can you at least tell me right now how I can heal my friend for crying out loud!"

"Your friend?"

"Yes!" She was getting a word through to this woman! "My friend! Glimmer, Pinky, take your pick! Something happened to her after she used her magic against Shadow Weaver's, and she's lost her magic somehow because of it! How do I solve her problem?"

"The connection with her Runestone was disrupted." Light Hope revealed, leaning in and popping out on her left.

"Then can I fix it?"

"Yes. With training, you will be able to do many incredible things."

"Huh! YES!" Catra cheered louder than she's ever had before. FINALLY! SOME ACTUAL GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE! Not only that, she was also being told she could do many more things with the right kind of training. Talk about a big bonus! "Finally! Thank you! Jeez, finally something good around here." Looking around with a smile on her face, she spoke, "Okay, just tell me the healing thing first so I can fix her. I'll come back later then for more, so let's jump right into it. Where do I start? How long will it take? A few hours? A day or two? Or-"

"Years." The answer swept away all the joy and excitement the girl has felt for what's feels like forever in one, solitary, word.

"Y-Years? No, no, no, I'm not looking to learn everything right at this moment! Just tell me the healing thing, I'll come back some other time for the rest!"

"Catra-"

"Listen to me! All of this happened because I was tricked at some stupid party, and my friends got captured as a result. And now she's hurt after having to save me, we lost our whole alliance because I couldn't keep my anger in check, everyone's mad at each other for an argument I started, it's all my fault, and I..." Catra squeezed her head as she tried to fight back any terms that would have formed.

This was the moment she's been waiting for after long last, the chance she could finally turn things around. The last thing she wanted was to break down again and end up in a sniveling fit before she could get the right words out, the right questions asked. Shaking her head clear, she took a deep breath as she continued, "I need to know how to heal my friend, okay? I need to know how to fix all of this."

The one she came to know as Light Hope tilted her head at this as Catra took a couple deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. Catra didn't know where this conversation was going again, and she couldn't afford to waste a hundred years in this conversation alone, not when somebody needed her for a change! With a small blip to her person, a technical glitch from the looks of it, Light Hope nodded.

"Yes. Your mission is to fix the planet." She didn't have so much as a twitch as Catra glared at her.

"My mission is to fix my mistakes. That's IT! I need to find a way to heal Glimmer, find the other princesses and restore the alliance, find a way to apologize to Adora for what I've done... This is the only reason I came here. Got that? I needed to find a way to fix everything I've done, I... I'm tired of being a screw up."

"You are now She-Ra. Your purpose is to fix all of Etheria, not a few individuals. You can not help only your friends."

"Says you!" She growled squeezing her fist. "Look, the inhibitor thing is off or whatever, right? Fine. If you're not going to help anymore than that, get me out of here so I can get back to them. I'll find some way to fix this as I go along!"

"Catra," for the first time in this conversation, the magicat found Light Hope trying to preform some sign of comfort, placing her glitching hand on her shoulder, "you do not yet realize the power you have. You are distracted by your attachments from the greater importance."

"GEEEEEEEHHHH!" This close. She was this close to tearing her own ears off at the impossible rage this woman was reaching. "Forget it! I'll find my own way out!" She huffed, stomping her feet away as she stormed off. "I'll do your stupid task with or without you. I might as well if you wanted me to be the next She-Ra, right?"

"We did not pick you even now." Re-materializing at the front, Catra came to a stop as she announced this. "Our data searched every person you've come into contact with. We've analyzed their powers and their strengths, as well as their personalities, and found many of them just as suitable as you. If any of them had come across the sword first, if they had become the Finders, they would have been just as acceptable as the next line of She-Ra."

"You... You still don't want me to be She-Ra?" For an emotionless program, she definitely knew what to say where it hurts.

"Your qualities for becoming She-Ra were incompatible with all the ones that came before you." To emphasize her point, like she had with her previous explanations of how Catra came to be, she created hundreds of different screen-like displays all across the room. This time, they depicted various scenes from Catra's life, all the moments her selfishness, pride, arrogance, everything that made her today, at the moments they were at her worst.

"You have shown anger towards those you recently met." She said, revealing one of the many displays of more recent time. Here, Catra winced a little at her own disgust, seeing the time she first came to Thaymor and the anger she had towards a group of children just for bumping into her.

The next scene she showed was during her first trip to Plumeria, showing off the boastful Catra in her She-Ra form, lounging around like she owned the place as she leaned back in her chair. "You gave in to pride and arrogance at your own misunderstandings. The fault may not lie solely on you, but you gave in to those emotions regardless. Your desire for attention outweighed your duty, and you were willing to leave it all behind for the people you barely knew."

The third, and what she hoped to be last, scene she displayed was the end of her mission in Salineas, right after she fixed the Sea Gate and saved the kingdom. It was another of Catra's darkest moments towards her friends, showing unbridled rage and contempt for Glimmer as she threw the sword at her feet, resigning her duty as She-Ra back then. "And you've shown hatred to your own allies who were trying to help you. Your actions and emotions towards them were unbecoming of anyone known as She-Ra. Had your possible anger not been quelled by the memories you were given, you might not be here today."

Seeing as the magicat had enough, Light Hope discarded the remaining images into nothingness, observing as Catra remained silent, and in pain. "It was because of your detachment to others that you were found most suitable for the role of Finder, had it been deemed necessary to initiate the Alpha Protocol. And now you are allowing yourself to be connected again, to make the same mistakes as Mara did before you."

"M-Mara? It was the one word that Catra managed to question at her time of grief. Everything about her had been the same up till now, no matter how much she considered Glimmer and Bow friends. People kept getting hurt by her physically or emotionally because she's never learned to control herself. She wasn't wanted as She-Ra back then, and she still wasn't wanted now. She was a gamble they were forced to use, and to Catra, they had the least bit of desire to use her at all.

"She was the one who came before Adora, who could not let go of her own emotions, as you." Behind them, their location changed and warped to a cliff side overlooking a pink sunset. At the edge of the pointed-out cliff, Catra saw her. The one known as Mara, the She-Ra that came before. The very person someone mentioned in Catra's past earlier.

"Mara... Isn't that the old hag's daughter? What happened to her?" She asked, never removing Mara from her sight. Come to think of it, how old is that hag then?

"Mara was the last official She-Ra before you. She struggled with a power she could not control, a power that went wild because she could not keep her emotions in check, and one that became too much for her mind." They watched as Mara collapsed to her knees, planting her sword firmly in the ground in front of her. Her eyes wavered with despair and madness, eventually being engulfed in a bright light that changed the scenery again.

Here, Catra stood, standing face-to-face with Light Hope along the open field of the plains, under a night's sky. "She... she snapped?"

"She was compromised." Light Hope clarified. "She gave in to fear and faulty reasoning. She let her mistakes take advantage of her fear. She let uncertainty blind her to reasoning. She let all of her emotions spiral out of control until there was nothing left but a hollowed anger. Her desperate actions led to devastation. Mara stranded us in the empty dimension of Despandos." From above, Catra saw a burning star of red falling out of the sky, crashing away from them and nearly consuming them in a large explosion that spread from its impact.

She nearly forgot this was all an illusion as she covered herself for protection, the very emotions Light Hope warned her about, affecting her mind in turn. "She is the one who broke the She-Ra line. She nearly destroyed us as a result." Returning to the original setting at Catra's side once more, she turned her head towards the girl that was destined to bring salvation after a millennium had passed.

"It was here that I waited Catra, for one thousand years. Alone, and in the dark, hoping one day She-Ra would return." For a change, Catra stared back at the ancient being with an ounce of sympathy and pity. "I did not know if She-Ra would ever return, Catra. As I've said, I harbor no ill will towards you or your actions of the past. It is not solely your fault for who you've turned out to be. Etheria has a greater need of you now more than ever." The girl didn't so much as twitch as Light Hope stood behind her, placing her hands on both of Catra's shoulders in comfort.

"Will you finally answer its call, Catra? You are the last remaining hope we have for this world, and all life." Lifting her head again, Catra saw several holographic displays of the people she's been with and the scenes that took place, from the scene of her yelling at a distraught Glimmer and injured Bow who's hand she scratched away, another image Glimmer as she was being tortured, a distorted screaming echoing around her, and lastly the most painful memory she's ever had to contend with.

The sight of Adora glaring at her before leaving through a door. "Goodbye, Catra."

"Adora..." She muttered reaching out for her. Shockingly to her, it wasn't even the most painful memory that was displayed. That depiction went to the hologram she saw after, revealing a chipper Entrapta smiling back at her as she sat in a holographic portion of the skiff they took to save Glimmer.

"I think our chances of everyone surviving this just raised dramatically." She happily stated.

"You feel guilt for your mistakes, and regret for what you have done. It is better if you let them go now. As you said, what has happened has happened with your own two hands, and you now have a chance to amend them. Are you willing to answer Etheria's pleas?

All of them were real, none of them fixed. This is who Catra truly was, inside and out, from beginning to end. She wasn't She-Ra. She wasn't a Hero. She was a person who wanted to experience greatness in her life, and currently found herself wanting redemption for a change. Here, she had that opportunity to do so. To make up for her past mistakes, to fix everything that she had ever ruined, and be someone that people would look up to.

She could be the greatest person that ever lived now, she could be cherished and seen for the generations to come! People would cry at the opportunity to meet her in person, to wish every day that they got to be the kind of person Catra was. Nobody would see her as a freak anymore, and she had nothing left to lose!

She had every reason to accept her role, and none to turn away from it.

"Will you fight for the Honor of Grayskull, for everyone who has need of you?"

"...No."

...

*shoom*

"Adora?" Shadow Weaver acknowledged with surprise as she saw the girl standing in the center of her Black Garnet chamber, with Scorpia and Entrapta on her left and right respectively.

She was curious as to what the girl wished to discuss with her when she invited her here half an hour ago. With all that's been happening around here lately, there could be any number of things, ideally anything related to betraying Hordak or not. She would've accepted either answer, though preferred the former, as she would go on to plan around it soon after. If Adora wanted a part in her grand scheme or not, that was fine by her.

All she wanted to know at this time was why Adora, who seemed determined as she wore her head band at the time with her hands behind her back, Scorpia, and Entrapta had been waiting for her until now.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, waiting as Adora walked over until she stood right in front of her.

"I've given a lot of thought about your offer, Shadow Weaver, and I've decided." Shadow Weaver's heart fluttered with joy at the possible prospect of what she was saying.

"And, what specifically is that, my dear?"

"I've decided to accept it." Adora nodded before giving a respectful salute. "You were right. The Horde does need new leadership. Why shouldn't it be me? My only condition is that they join us." Adora declared, gesturing to her two friends behind her as they waved. "I'm not leaving them behind in all of this."

Shadow Weaver didn't know what to say. All the time she spent planning and manipulating people around her, all of it has resulted in this one perfect moment of utter happiness. She played her parts carefully, molded Adora perfectly into the way she needed her to be, and finally, came out at the very top of it.

She had everything she had needed here. A loyal supporter who she knew would call the shots in her favor, a lovable daughter she's shown affection to for the purpose of her grand scheme, and a role as her right hand who would mold and shape the Horde as she saw fit, allowing Adora to do whatever trivial things she wanted to do with it, as long as it didn't interfere with her own ideals.

Most of all, she had won. She had beaten Lord Hordak.

"Oh... Adora..." With a tender, loving, eyes that could be shown through her clawed mask, she gently stroked her cheek. "You have no idea how happy this makes me. You have made me very proud on this day."

"I would like to know, though, why you want to overthrow Lord Hordak, mother." Her blackened heart skipped a beat as she heard this. Adora was perfectly molded in every way she needed her to be.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing myself, too." Scorpia added, waving a little.

"Same here." Entrapta waved as well. "I mean, the guy does seem to be a genius if he has this entire army behind his call. Clearly someone like that can't be incompetent or anything, right?"

"I want to overthrow him because of his narrow-mindedness!" Shadow Weaver hissed as her hair flailed about in anger. Turning her back to them, she made her way over to the Black Garnet, her prized possession, and the source of her power. "That fool of a leader thinks too small. He wants to dominate the world around us? What's the point if he doesn't take advantage of what he has and uses it to crush our enemies?!"

She scratched her hand against the Runestone slowly, staring at her own reflection. "We could have all the power we needed, all that we want, if he would open himself further to the possibilities, Adora!"

"The possibilities?"

"Imagine, not just one person, but an entire army empowered by our Runestone with one simple spell. Think of the secrets that could be unlocked if he didn't limit access on our own experiments, what we could learn if he wasn't cowardly enough to leave things the way they were! With me- I mean, me assisting you, Adora, we can finally turn the Horde into the greatest power that Etheria- no! The entire Universe has ever known! It can be all ours, Adora, and it will be. Now and forever!" These were the true colors of Shadow Weaver.

They weren't black or as red as they first appeared to be. They weren't even a color. They were a coldness that rang throughout the room, touching everything and anything that she came into contact with, the very way Shadow Weaver preferred herself being as.

This was the beginning of the end for Lord Hordak, and those foolish enough to stand by her side. With hers and Adora's magic, Scorpia's brute strength, and Entrapta's scientific intellect, they would become the most unstoppable force the Horde had to offer, one nobody would ever be foolish enough to challenge!

She played her cards right, down to the very last detail. She made the right enemies, the right allies, and a single daughter who she appeared to dot over since the moment she came to the Horde, all for this second of exhilaration that she was now experiencing for the first time in her life.

This was eternal bliss, one she was sure Adora was sharing in as she continued to stare at her.

"...Did you get all that, Lord Hordak?" Adora asked as the monitors came to life.

"Loud and clear, Adora..."

...

A/N: It gets harder trying to be inventive and not reuse the same word every single paragraph. Trouble is when you're writing an isolated scene repeatedly (like 8k words worth X/) it's hard not to. Either way hope you all enjoyed this, and have fun with those cliffhangers! Mayev i'll be evil for once and go an entire day on purpose without posting anything, just to add to the suspense XP lol

Seriously though thanks again to those who've continued to show support. I hope you continue to enjoy the series as we draw near the end of the episode and make way to our GRAND FINALE!!!

Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 48: Episode 12: Light Hope Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: HOOOOOOOLY BALLS i think this is a new record :O! I'll be honest, I actually did come to a good cut-off point earlier in the chapter, and I'm pretty sure some fans will notice where, but then I thought it seemed a little too short, and since the episode was nearing its end, I decided to see it through to the end ^^...hooooo boy, now you know why I try not to do more than 5-7 minutes worth of footage per chapter T_p (it was also the only excuse i could come up with to post and finish this season faster so I can start watching season 2 XD)

Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoy!

...

"Lo-Lord Hordak!" Shadow Weaver was incapable of thinking what to say, the words emptying from her lips out of sheer instinct. "W-What are you doing here?"

This could not be happening. Not here, not now! Here was Lord Hordak, over the monitors, watching over them with a fascinating curiosity as he grinned. He had heard everything that uttered straight from Shadow Weaver's lips, all of her wicked plans and schemes lying before him in a big healthy basket of betrayal. The amount of shock that dripped from her head was nowhere near in comparison to the shock she had at just who betrayed her.

Adora. Her Adora.

Everything she's spent years in the process of detailing and perfecting had suddenly crashed right in front of her very eyes. Since day one she had molded and crafted her one true ally into being the perfect soldier. Obedient, strong, wise, all these things were what Shadow Weaver bestowed upon her since the moment she was found. She was her little spark, her little gem, the shining key behind all of this that would've made this work all the way through!

She had Adora trained by the best of instructors and teachers around here, she offered her the most care and comfort to ensure that she would always look up to her, almost like a mother. She did everything she could to provide for her and scold her when she considered it the most necessary. She never laid a hand on her like all the rest, never tried to purposely scare her except whenever she truly needed it. She was the closest thing to a daughter, something she made sure Adora was well aware of to make sure she would never risk the chance of betraying her.

Why would she ever expect Adora to betray her of all people? She was the closest thing she had to a mother, she was the one person to give her a gift, the head band which granted her tremendous power. Adora had nothing to gain from betraying her other than entering Lord Hordak's good graces, and there was no way she could ever want that.

And here she was now. Standing in front of her with a prideful grin as she looked back to the leader of the Horde, the one who lead the Horde through his mass of intellect and creative genius. He was the one who waged war upon this world, and he was the one who decided what happened and where. Failure was not tolerable to him, multiple times or even once.

Above all else, there was no room in his Horde for traitors.

"I came to witness everything for myself, Shadow Weaver." Hordak replied, petting the head of his useful pet as it appeared over the screen. "I admit I was quite surprised when I heard you were planning on overthrowing me, though, given your tenacity and pungent for

power, it wasn't unexpected."

"M-My Lord, there must be some mistake!" Shadow Weaver tried to defend her innocence as she formulated a plan. "I have always shown the utmost loyalty and respect for-"

"Save your breath, Shadow Weaver." Hordak scowled, the pet hissing in his master's defense. "I always knew you were up to something the day you started dotting over a single child throughout your life. Your strive for compassion and good fortune were always a means to an end with you, no matter how much care you showed."

"How much..." Shadow Weaver turned her attention to the Force Captain who stood her ground with authority as Scorpia approached from behind her. "I don't know how he found out, Adora, but no matter what he says, you mustn't listen to whatever he had to offer you! You can still turn this around-!"

"Hahaha!" At the sound of his cackling, the dreading witch turned back towards the mocking Lord. "Offer her? I didn't even have to approach the young officer about this. She came to me, willingly!"

"Sh... She what?" Adora? Her Adora? The one she had shown affection and wisdom to throughout the years? She went to Lord Hordak himself about all of her plans? "How... That's not true-!"

"Why wouldn't it be true?" Adora spoke nonchalant, the expression on her face hiding whatever thoughts were going through her mind. "You always did tell me, Shadow Weaver. How to undermine my enemies, how to exploit them. To make allies in the right places and enemies in the wrong. I'm just doing what you've been teaching me after all these years." She grinned. "Quite frankly, I thought you'd be more proud of me."

"A... Adora..."

"You were right about her, Shadow Weaver." Lord Hordak deemed as his pet jumped off screen. "The girl is full of surprises and promise. You should hear what she has planned for the Black Garnet."

"T-The Garnet?"

*bzzzt!*

Hearing this, the group looked back towards the Black Garnet itself, seeing a certain scientist continuing to adjust the wires and metals of the machine she was building around it. Already, the girl had a semi-functioning control console as well as a several power-adapters that were running around the Runestone itself. The confusion growing over Shadow Weaver's mind was almost perfectly matched by the stroke of fear that as starting to engulf her.

"What are you doing?!" She roared angrily, Entrapta giving a slight "eek" at the rage directed at her. It took all of her power to hold back Emily, her personal droid, from charging the wicked witch from threatening its master.

"Whatever she wants to, Shadow Weaver." He answered in her stead. "Since the girl came to the Horde, she's increased the firepower of all our weapon and technology in a process that have taken our own scientists years to come up with. Whatever she is doing with the Black Garnet, she is allowed it. As I've said to you before, the Black Garnet is mine to do with as I see fit. And with all that I've witnessed till now, I see little reason to continue allowing it in your hands."

"Y-You-You can't do this to me!" The blackness in her hair began to spiral out of control as the rage began to escalate. "I've unlocked its secrets, the power that lays dormant in it! I've learned how to harness its power for magic, learned to transfer it into a useful weapon! It belongs to me!"

"Not anymore. Force Captain Adora, Scorpia. Please see to it that our new prisoner is escorted personally to her new cell."

"Yes, Lord Hordak." Scorpia saluted with a nod, running her way over to the biggest traitor the Horde has ever known.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" With a mad howl that rocked the entire room, Shadow Weaver blasted her dark powers in all directions in a massive wave, temporarily engulfing Scorpia, Adora, Entrapta, and Emily in one sweep, and destroying the monitors as they stretched across the room. When it subsided, the girls, and robot, were shown to be frozen in place, a red aura lighting off their bodies as a result. "YOU WRETCHED INGRATE!" Shadow Weaver screamed, amassing the shadows around her as she approached the one who betrayed her.

"I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! COMPASSION! SUPPORT! I HAVE NEVER TREATED ANYONE THE WAY I'VE TREATED YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?!" Adora showed no signs of fear as Shadow Weaver towered over her. The last time she towered over her like this, she got the scolding of a lifetime, something Adora always feared to see again. "ALL THAT I'VE DONE, ALL THE TIME SPENT, HAS BEEN WASTED BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY CHILD! ALL MY WORK! ALL MY EFFORT! DASHED AWAY BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T THINK FOR ONE SECOND COULD YOU?!"

"I WILL NEVER ALLOW LORD HORDAK TO TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!? I'VE WORKED TOO HARD FOR ALL OF THIS TO LET IT BE SHATTERED BY ONE MISTAKE, BY YOU OF ALL PEOPLE! FOR ALL THE ATTENTION I GAVE YOU, FOR ALL THAT I'VE HELD DEAR, I RISKED IT ON YOU, AND YOU DO THIS TO ME! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!"

"...Tch...pft...pffffffft! Heheheheh!" Laughter. The girl was actually laughing. She jerked her elbows around as she convulsed into a massive fit of laughter, her lower head keeping Shadow Weaver from seeing her face. "Tch, hahahahahaha!"

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY, YOU FEEBLE WORM?!"

"Hahahaha! Oh, boy... I don't know what's funnier right now. The fact you've wasted so much time on me," with probably one of the most sinister smiles she's ever seen on the girl's face, Adora lifted her head, surprising Shadow Weaver that she could move at all, "or the fact you think you're still holding me."

*crash!*

There wasn't enough time to so much as blink before what happened next. With the gem glowing off of Adora's band, the Force Captain gave a mighty roar as she slammed Shadow Weaver across the room with one swing of her gargantuan, shadow-covered, arms. The dark witch couldn't even comprehend what just happened, nor how it happened, as she rose off the ground again. From here, she could see Adora grinning, continuing to walk over to her with no signs of fear, despite the red aura that surrounded her.

"What?!" How was she still moving? How was she resisting her control like this? That gem didn't nullify Shadow Weaver's own powers. She shouldn't be able to do this! "How can you move like this?!"

"Oh, poor, Shadow Weaver." Adora continued to taunt. Shouting, Shadow Weaver blasted at her with deadly streaks of red lightning, never caring at this moment about who her intended target was. This was nothing more than child's play for Adora as she casually dashed off to the side, avoiding the pain streaks that nearly struck Scorpia. "You still haven't learned a thing after all this time, have you?"

"See, while I was stuck being the obedient little slave of yours that answered your beck and call," Shadow Weaver blasted another wave of her darkness directly at the girl, only for Adora to easily block it with the palm of her hand, "I've been training. Ever since you gave me this gift, this wonderful head band I thought you made with love, I've been training. Practicing. Honing my skills for the day I ever came across Catra again, the one you lied about being brainwashed."

"Arrrrrrgh!" With both of her hands, the murderous witch blasted the largest bolts of lightning she could muster, firing more than a dozen of the deadly bolts in a cone in front of her, leaving no chance for the girl to escape. At least, she assumed she had no means to escape. But Adora was clever, quick-thinking. With one arm raised to the sky, the three watched as a massive tentacle sprang from her arms, latching on to one of the ceiling pipes and pulling her out of harms way.

Following her trail with their eyes, they saw Adora hanging from under one of the sturdy pipes, a look of glee and amusement crossing her as she created another gargantuan clawed arm on her left. Before Shadow Weaver could even think of what she was doing, they saw and heard as Adora pulled away one of the massive pipes, crushing it and releasing the contents that filled it as it spread across the chamber.

Steam.

*ffffffffffffft*

The pipes gave off a hollowed groan as the white smoke danced across the room. Dissipated and spread around like this, the three who were being surrounded by the thick fog felt very little in comparison to what they would have suffered if they took it at full force. There was barely an increase in humidity as Shadow Weaver's vision began to obscure, losing sight of everyone around her until all she could see was a room full of white.

She cautiously stepped forth into the fog as she heard Adora drop down from the ceiling. She was going to give her the biggest piece of her mind when she finally grasped her hands around her throat again!

"And during my practice," Shadow Weaver turned in all directions, hearing the voice echoing all around her, "I learned a few tricks."

"Haaaa!" Behind her, Shadow Weaver threw a combined bolt of her lightning and shadow at the same time, penetrating the fog for a few seconds as she tried blasting what she picked up as the source of the voice. What little she may have seen of a shadowy figure through the penetrated fog ended up being too fast for her as it disappeared immediately after, the fog filling up the small vacant hole soon after.

It still wasn't enough to deter the witch as she continued blasting wherever the source of the sound appeared to be coming from.

"I learned how to harness my shadows better."

*crash!*

"How to defend my body with it while using it to attack at the same time.

*Bash!*

"How I can easily nullify your own shadows against mine with just a thought!"

*crush!*

"Not a day went by where I didn't devote my life to you and the Horde, just to find out you've been using me since the moment I met you!"

"How could you betray me like this Adora?" Shadow Weaver tried to maintain her composure as she steadied her magic. Blasting around wildly wasn't going to help. She needed to figure out a way to draw Adora out, and think of a plan after she did. "Did anything I did for you mean nothing to you? Was it so easy to turn a blind eye and betray me like this?"

"No. Not at all." The girl didn't drop an ounce of her tone as she spoke, eluding Shadow Weaver's attention as she tried to find her. "In fact, I never wanted to do this. I wish I didn't have to do this."

"Then it's not too late, Adora." She stood at attention as he placed her hands behind her back in a calming manner, hiding the small pool of magic she was gathering in her palms. "Join me now, and we can still take out Lord Hordak, together! The Horde would be ours for the taking, Etheria for us to rule! All of it can be ours, now and forever."

"And why would I want that?" The girl wasn't falling for any of her words of comfort, whether through her training of repressing her emotions with the head band, or through sheer will. "Why would I want to help the person that never showed any real love or care for me since I was found? What makes you think I would ever help somebody that showed me false compassion throughout all of my life, to make me think I was cared for by someone I looked up to, to find out I was just a pawn in your game?"

"It hurt, Shadow Weaver." At long last, the fog started to dissipate, revealing the room around her. She saw Scorpia, Entrapta, and Emily still frozen, and the broken monitors with glass lining the floors, but no Adora. "It hurt a lot. Almost as much as your methods to train young children." Getting fed up with the game of cat and mouse, Shadow Weaver directed her magic into both her sides, attempting to sweep the room in one go. Unfortunately, like before, it was met with little result as she struck nothing, adding on to dissipate the steam further.

"I know what your cruelty does to children, Shadow Weaver. It confuses them, makes them wonder what they did wrong, makes them fearful to the point where they only think of themselves, and it turns them into freaks. Your methods have gone on to ruin the Horde, Shadow Weaver, and that's when I decided." Without warning, the very instant that Shadow Weaver turned around, she found a shroud of shadow covering around her forehead, crushing against the gem that housed her powers. And for a split second, she saw the look on Adora's face, the look in her eyes that showed Shadow Weaver what she was feeling.

It was sinister pleasure.

"I don't care anymore."

*CRUNCH!*

"Noooooooooo!" With a single squeeze around her mask, unable to see the little tendrils directly touching the gem, she heard it. That one sound of untimely horror that Shadow Weaver had always feared to hear. With little specks of red dropping in front of her, she watched helplessly as the source of her power, the gems extracted from the Black Garnet directly, were shattering before her very eyes. All at once, the power and shadows that had engulfed the room quickly receded, the red aura diminishing over Scorpia, Entrapta, and Emily as they could move again.

Powerless, after Adora released her grip on her, the witch dropped to her knees, scrambling to pick up the shattered pieces of the gem as they turned dark and lifeless. "No.. No no nooooo!" She cried. It was over. Everything she had worked up to till now, was officially over, all because the one person she trusted the most betrayed her.

"I might never know what you did to Catra to turn her into this," Adora commented as she circled her. "and I don't care about that either. All I know is what you've taught me, and I did exactly like you said. I saw an opportunity to get rid of you, and I took it, like you've always been telling me to."

This... This is what she's been turning Adora into all these years? This couldn't be! Where was that innocent little girl that stood in front of her all this time? What happened to that perky smile that was plastered on her face whenever she saw her, even if she wasn't smiling? What in Etheria's name happened to turn her into this?

She worked her tirelessly to ensure she would never turn her back on her. The lessons she taught her she thought she would never use against her, not with the love that she showed her. Not a day went by where other children didn't wish they were in Adora's place, being under Shadow Weaver's constant and good graces, instead of fearing for their lives in case they ever did anything to Adora instead. Nobody wanted to be Adora's enemy, and dew ever wanted to become her friend because of her relationship to her.

She caused Adora's rise to power, and caused her own downfall.

"I've created a monster..." She finally realized, squeezing the remains of the gem in her grip.

"No," Adora was still giving a wicked smile as she squatted in front of her, "you've created your replacement. Someone as young as me who's surpassed you in just about every way. And that should be a very comforting thought for you."

That was when Shadow Weaver remembered the head band over her forehead, the one that amplified her emotions tenfold when she didn't suppress them. Whatever minor thoughts she was harboring at this time was a result of it, the implications causing her to act as cruel as she was now. "Adora, listen. This isn't you talking, this is the headband-"

"I know." Adora butted in, waving her hand uncaring. "And I don't care. Out of everything you've taught me growing up, this was the one thing you were wrong about, Shadow Weaver. I shouldn't be trying to suppress my emotions with this thing, I should be embracing them! They give me such a sense of relief that I didn't think was possible before! And it's all thanks to you that I have this now, and it's the only reason, and out of respect for raising me, that I convinced Lord Hordak not to execute you for this."

"Adora..." Lowering her head, the dark witch refused to show the solemn look in her eye as Adora continued to gloat. "You forgot about one thing, child."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Without me, you will never be able to harness the Black Garnet's energy. Your stupid head band will be as useful as a paperweight when you finally drain it of all its power."

"Huh, really now..." Rising up to her feet as Scorpia approached Shadow Weaver from behind, she watched as Adora made her way over to the Black Garnet, standing in front of her as a proud symbol of the Horde.

The source of Shadow Weaver's power, the Runestone gifted to the Horde by Scorpia's kingdom, and the key to turning this entire war into their favor. Here it stood, as tall and mighty as Lord Hordak himself, letting all who gazed upon it awe and wonder at its magnificence and importance.

Placing her hand against the crystal, she closed her eyes as she concentrated. Until now, Shadow Weaver has never been able to see Adora preform this task on her own, the girl never managing to siphon a mere fraction of the power the Black Garnet was capable of bestowing upon her head band. She always needed Shadow Weaver for help with this, the black witch being her one source of power throughout all this time, the one person who could harness its power for herself and all she wished to share it with.

Until today.

Against Shadow Weaver's beliefs, against her wishes, it was happening. With a slight tingle running across Adora's hands, she watched as a small strip of red lightning danced around the back of her hand, being siphoned through Adora's willpower, as the energies were pulled directly to her headband. There were no words to describe the feel of what was happening between both of them, Shadow Weaver in a state of utter disbelief, and Adora feeling refreshed like she slept for a hundred hours in one day.

This power was amazing! Astounding! It was no wonder Shadow Weaver was so drawn to its secrets and all it had to offer! With something like this within the Hordes' grasp, there was no end to the possibilities they could use this thing for, and with all that Adora and Entrapta had in mind, they were going to see it used to its full potential, and a means to turn this war around in their favor.

At long last, Adora let out a sigh of sweet relief as she felt the power wash over her, the headband on her forehead rejuvenating with new life. The girl had finally mastered the means to draw the garnet's power to herself, without Shadow Weaver's assistance. There was no longer any use for Shadow Weaver, and she might not be kneeling here if it wasn't for Adora's, her pupil's, good graces.

"Ah... much better." Adora smiled as she stared at her flexing fingertips. "So, you were saying?" As expected, the witch went silent at this. She knew there was nothing else to say, nothing she could do to defend herself. "That's what I thought. Scorpia, restrain Shadow Weaver and bring her to a fresh cell. I don't think we'll be needing her anytime soon." Nodding, Scorpia grinned as she picked the evil sorceress up from her armpits, dragging her away as Adora examined the Black Garnet, all while Entrapta was still messing with the machine.

*shoom*

"Ah!" At the sound of the yelp, Adora and Entrapta turned towards the door, growing surprised at the sight of a familiar figure and the two royal guards who escorted him. "Lord Hordak!"

The leader scowled at the sight of he disastrous witch, the former second in command who had earned her spot at his side until recently. He would have seen the witch burned or hanged like she should be, if not for Adora's one condition in return for all of her obedience. "Get this garbage out of my sight." He ordered. Scorpia gave a respectful salute as she continued dragging her away, the two guards following alongside her as Hordak entered the room personally, examining the ruined room and its steaming destruction.

"Lord Hordak." Adora greeted respectfully, kneeling before him with her head down and her fist planted to the ground.

"Adora," he greeted back, allowing the girl to rise again, "you did quite well. In your sentencing, I gave you a week to atone for the great loss you caused, and tasked you with finding a way to replace our spoils. And what did you do? Not only do you return in just one day, you managed to acquire a powerful new ally, discovered advanced technologies from the Data Crystal you unearthed, and rounded out a high-ranking traitor who has been in our midst this whole time. You've more than tripled your necessary contribution, Adora, and I personally thank you for that."

"You honor me, Lord Hordak." Adora gave a small bow at this, suppressing her emotions within his presence.

"However, one question still eludes me about you, Adora." The sound of his voice was enough to warrant her full attention. "How can I be sure I can continue to trust you throughout all of this?"

"Because I only have two conditions, My Lord." Adora stated, holding up two fingers. "One, I never want me and my friends to ever be seen as your pawns, or expendable."

"I would never dream wasting such valuable allies." His tone was genuine, as well as his commitment. He gave the girl what should have been an impossible task, granting her a single week out of his blessing, and she returns with a prize three times the size of what she was required to in over a day. He would be a fool to betray the trust of someone so valuable such as her! "And your other condition?"

"It's ready!" Entrapta announced, smiling with excitement as she rubbed her hands together.

Instead of answering his question, Adora turned her back to him as she walked over to the Black Garnet again, examining all the wires and power modules hooked up to it that Entrapta managed to place within minutes. This was what all her time and effort was going to come down to, and, at long last, it was time to see the results. Without so much as a word, she gave Entrapta a simple nod, the scientist shrieking with excitement as she threw a pair of purple goggles over her eyes.

"This is gonna be so much fuuuuun!" Rapidly clicking against the control module all the wires and machinery was hooked up to, smiling with uncontrollable glee as she cracked her knuckles. "Alright everyone! Lets. Get. WEIRD!" And with the flick of a switch, it happened.

*whoooooooooooooooooooo-!*

The machine hummed to life as Adora and Hordak were in fascination, seeing massive bolts of the Black Garnet's energy swirling around the mighty Runestone. The power ran all throughout the cables connecting to the great gem, stretching up to the ceiling and against the walls that the cables protruded out from. Whatever this machine was, Hordak knew that he was going to be thoroughly impressed with the results.

And he was not disappointed.

Against all the walls around them, they witnessed as a handful of red crystals, the ones that illuminated the room lightly and decorated this dreary place, began to shatter. Black smoke began to rise from the crystal itself as power was being generated through its core, creating a massive wave of energy the likes of which has never been seen before! It didn't limit itself to destroying the crystals either as Adora noticed all the shadows across the room, from the smallest crevices to the ones under their feet, were being drawn towards the Black Garnet, adding on to fuel its power.

The fortress rumbled violently, the residence of the mighty citadel feeling the ground shaking beneath them, as the Black Garnet finally exhumed its power. In one mighty burst, straight from the crystal, Adora, Hordak, and Entrapta watched as a giant pillar of energy burst through the ceiling, the entire fortress, and blasted into the sky. In a barrage of black and red, the powerful beam shot straight into the clouds, erupting them into a thunderous storm as red lightning protruded out from every angle of the pillar's blast mark, booming the noise of thunder all around the Fright Zone.

Forget tripled. This girl has managed to quintuple her contribution to the Horde in a day's time, a feat never made possible before in all of the Horde's history. This lone Horde Officer was a goldmine in and of itself, Hordak looking back as he saw the girl squeezing her fist out of her own excitement at the display.

Whatever else this girl wanted he would make sure she was given. He would never turn away such a useful asset to the Horde, as long as she showed promise.

"I want to burn the Rebellion into ashes."

...

"Come again?" Light Hope inquired as Catra stepped away.

"I said no!" She growled, squeezing the claws against her palms.

"Catra, do you not understand your importance? All of Etheria is counting on you-"

"My importance?!" She gritted her teeth angrily as she glared back. "What exactly makes you think I'm important around here? That I'm necessary anymore?!"

"Since I've joined the Rebellion, I've made it look like a joke, got my friends captured and tortured, couldn't pull off one single mission without losing somebody's life because of my own recklessness, caused a huge uproar that resulted in the Princess Alliance to disband, can't pull off a stupid healing magic that I need to save my friend, lost the best friend I ever had in my life, and now this!"

"You're telling me that I was never chosen to begin with, that I was just in the wrong place in the wrong time. I went through all of this nonsense, all of this craziness, when in reality, all I was required to do was a stupid delivery girl the entire time, and even that I couldn't pull off because my heart wasn't pure or whatever cheesiness you claim it to be, that the form of She-Ra was only a fourth of what it was capable of and I'm still not capable of pulling off the true form of She-Ra because of my personality!"

"And you know what? I'm fine with that part. I don't want to change for anyone other than myself, big whoop! I relied on my speed and recklessness the entire time, to think on my feet while fighting off my enemies. That's probably the one thing I've come to learn about myself out of all of this. But you want to know the one part that bugs me as of now, the one incredible reality that you just threw on top of me out of this? You!"

"You guys never wanted me to begin with, yet you took me anyway. Since finding the sword, my entire life has been torn apart from my livelihood, my home, and the one friend who now has a personal vendetta against an entire Rebellion because of how I treated her in the past. You practically didn't give me any choice, you asked me to help with an annoying message you weren't advanced enough to get out properly, and then, right then, you have the nerve to ASK for me help, again, even though you still don't want it?! After everything you put me through, after how much you've ruined my life, you're asking ME for help?!" The magicat panted in exhaustion as she finished her long winded retelling.

She could not recall the last time she ever felt as angry as she does now. She was hurt, confused, betrayed, scared, and above all else, enraged. After everything she's experienced up till now, all the horrible stuff she had to put up with since she became, or thought she became, She-Ra, just to find out no one wanted her actual help in the first place, and instead wanted the help of someone else?

It was painful to take all at once.

"I understand your anger, Catra. You have every right to be upset right now." Light Hope acknowledged as the girl pulled at her own ears. "Etheria has need of you, Catra. The Alpha Protocol can not be undone once it's been activated, and it wouldn't recognize Adora if it was. You are the last-"

"Get me out of here." The bile in her voice was filled with disdain, Catra being unable to look Light Hope in the eyes as she ordered her. "I am not a She-Ra, okay? I will never be She-Ra, and it wouldn't matter if I was." Pain was all she could feel at that moment inside her heart, her ears twitching as she pent up the emotions swirling inside of her. "Everyone gets hurt because of me. I ruin everything no matter how much I try to make things better. If I tried to be She-Ra, I could end up destroying the world myself for all we know. I'm not a hero, I'm not some great leader, I'm..." She paused as she faced her right hand, watching the claws extend from them as she frowned.

"...I'm just a freak..."

Nothing would get through to her, she realized. Her emotions were rapidly changing her moods on a dime, her confusion was keeping her from seeing the importance of what her mission was. She might be able to tell what was going on through her mind with the readings they had, but there was no way to gauge what was going on in her heart. Being built to understand emotions meant nothing to someone if she couldn't process emotions themselves.

After a brief silence, Light Hope raised her hand as it shined, creating a small triangular pink door right next to Catra. "If that is your decision, then so be it. We can not force you to fulfill your destiny, yet you will always be She-Ra until then, or you perish."

Right now, the latter seems preferable. The ex-She-Ra said to herself, walking over towards the triangular door of light. She didn't want to die herself or anything, that was a fact. She would fight tooth and nail if someone tried to harm her. But if her end meant that a new She-Ra would take her place and be tasked with saving the world, then it sounded better in the long run. Knowing them, they would be able to get everything done right, do so without screwing everything up.

"But know this last condition, Catra." Light Hope said as she held up three fingers. "The final requirement to obtain the true form of She-Ra, the last role you need to fulfill in order to summon the sword's power, is to acquire a sense of selflessness." To Catra's surprise, the last statement actually made her stop before she walked through the doorway.

"Selflessness? Pffft, what do you think I've been doing this whole time? Standing around wagging my tail back and forth like an idiot?"

"I'm referring to True Selflessness, Catra." She reaffirmed. "Once you obtain a sense of that, when you finally let go of your past, when you think of saving the lives of others over yourself, only then will you finally don the true form of She-Ra."

"...You're wasting your time, lady." At this, Catra turned back towards the doorway, walking through with the final word. "I'm not who you think I am." And with that, she vanished from the simulation as the pink door closed behind her.

Not a second after, Light Hope observed her surroundings as the entire place began to rumble. Some sort of outside interference was affecting the inner world that she was presently in, distorting the scenery and herself in the process. Someone or something has tapped into the Runestones' powers, and began to corrupt the world of Etheria itself.

She was a program, she knew that since the beginning. She was tasked with ensuring the destiny of She-Ra and finding those who were worthy of becoming its champion as best she could. She was taught how to respond and react to the emotions of others, even though she was incapable of experiencing real emotions for herself.

And yet, for just one moment, she swore as she lowered her head, and she felt a twinge of sadness.

"Then all is lost..." Lost was the world. Lost was the Champion of Grayskull. Lost was the being known as Light Hope as she disappeared from this crumbling simulation.

...

"Ngh..." Catra moaned as she came to, blinking her eyes awake slowly as she felt around. "Now where am I?" She had to be back in the real world, she was sure of that. Leaning up from the flat surface of the strange room, she was back in the Crystal Castle, lying against a small altar surrounded by crystals behind it as tall as she was. This was definitely the Crystal Castle, she could tell at first glance. The intricate markings in the ground, the fact there were crystals around this place to begin with, and the sense of helplessness as she curled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees and her tail against her feet.

What was she to do now? She didn't get anymore powerful than she was when she left Castle Bright Moon the other day. According to Light Hope, the form she had been using after all of this time was a fourth of She-Ra's actual power, on top of a fourth of the power she had access to due to the inhibitor that had been placed upon the sword. That meant even if she could transform into She-Ra, the form she's incorrectly known her to be, that she would still be at a fourth of She-Ra's true power, and that did nothing to help her.

She came her over a day ago to find a way to help someone, somebody she considered a new friend out of a pair of friends she now had. She wanted to actually help her, to find a way to heal her after her own personal mistakes, and set out on this mission with the intent of returning with a means to do so.

And now she had nothing to return with. With the sword lying at her side, there was no way in knowing what to do now. Every time she helps, she makes things worse. Everything she ignores a problem, it escalates and eventually comes back to bite her, like how she ignored the way she treated Adora after all these years, and saw what she turned into as a result. She messes up everything no matter what she does, all because she was around.

Maybe that was the solution to this problem? If she stayed here for the rest of her life, maybe everyone else would be okay. She wouldn't be directly helping them in the process, and it wouldn't be ignoring them either if she was doing it with them in mind. "Yeah, sounds about right." She mumbled, burying her face into her knees.

Just sitting curled up like this, staying within the Crystal Castle where no one else knew to find. Maybe that was her ultimate purpose in life? Staying away from everybody for their own benefit, so she could finally do something useful for once by not being in the presence of anybody. If she was She-Ra, she assumed any of the security that lingered around here wouldn't trigger anymore, and that meant she wouldn't have to deal with those pesky robot spiders in the process.

Just sitting around here for the rest of her life, away from others so she could do no wrong. It almost felt like a suitable punishment after everything she's done, everything she's messed up. Her. Her sword. And the Crystal Castle. All surrounding her as she experienced the one fear she had that toppled Shadow Weaver most of all.

Complete, and utter, loneliness.

...

"And then I realized I'm free, but the other horses aren't." Swift Wind regaled to Bow as he, the archer, and the Princess of Bright Moon continued down their path through the Whispering Woods.

This was the weirdest form of traveling Glimmer's ever experienced. She's ridden with horses plenty of times in her past, through training and for fun when she was little. She was used to riding on top of them through a path, walking along with them in a dense forest, and so forth. Those were all completely normal circumstances where one would be traveling with a Horse, using them to haul cargo or help with their businesses, it was just fine.

What she wasn't used to was the current situation she found herself in. First off, the Horse with them was the one that Catra transformed accidentally into this flying orange-maned, beautifully-winged, horned alicorn. Secondly, it was talking. It was fully capable of human speech, was self aware of his surroundings, and was able to interpret thoughts and emotions like an everyday human being. And third, the part that really made this awkward was how they weren't the ones leading the horse to wherever Catra was.

He was leading them to where Catra was.

In all fairness, it shouldn't be that weird, she guessed. With how bizarre the horse ended up looking after Catra transformed it, it only made sense that there would be other alterations to it, not that it lowered the weirdness factor it had going for it. With some kind of sixth sense-like intuition, the horse knew where Catra was at all times, and was leading them towards their lost friend through the Whispering Woods, knowing they would be incapable of finding her in time otherwise.

With that, a part of her wondered how she was doing, if she received any help or training for the sword like she set out to do. It hurt seeing her in the way she did before Catra left the castle, feeling like she was personally responsible for everything that happened following the rescue mission to save her. Feeling like she caused Entrapta's loss, followed by the incident with the Princess Alliance disbanding, the magicat felt like she was the one to blame for all of it, feeling as if she was supposed to burden herself with these thoughts and feelings.

It was a cruel reality to live with in that mindset. She hoped whatever thoughts were in her mind right now that she'd at least be okay. "And I named myself, "Swift Wind", after the swift winds of revolution, and left to go kick down the door stables. Freedom, equality, and hay for all!"

*sksksksk*

"Do you guys hear that?" Glimmer asked as the group came to a stop. There was nothing in these woods that ever turned out to be okay or normal on their end, the most friendliest thing being whatever they could outrun. The rustling went on as it drew ever closer to the trio, increasing in volume, getting closer by the second without giving away who or what they were. It could have been an attack, it could have been some form of giant monster, or-

*clak-clak-*

"Agh-!" Glimmer and Bow coughed to themselves as the dust was kicked into their faces. Without pause or hesitation, a dozen green-colored deer-like creatures burst through the forest, letting out small yips of panic as they ran passed the heroes, kicking dust all around them as they galloped away.

*Skraaahhhhhh!*

What they were running from made itself known as the trembling picked up again with an increased mass and a ferocity hidden behind it. Through the underbrush of the trees and through the woods, the group saw one of the massive bug creatures, the very same that attacked them when they first met Catra, charging straight towards them.

"Acckkk-!"

*rrrrtttttt*

"Ngh!" The girl's shriek of terror was followed by another burst of her glitching, the red aura of pain falling over her in the small instance that she screamed.

"Get behind me!" Seeing the tired and painful state she was in, Bow pushed himself between between the princess and the monster, pulling back his arrow as he prepared to fire. The last time he met this thing, it was safe to say he was terrified. It was big, terrifying, filled with an unquenchable bloodlust, and jaws big enough to eat him in one bite. It was thanks to his adventures with Catra, though, that he prepared to stand his ground, having witnessed and fighting off creatures nearly twice its size.

Thankfully for him, the fight never came to be as the creature screamed, running along in the same direction as the deer-like creatures did before it. The three blinked at this, perplexed as to why such a vicious animal would suddenly let them go, turning to one another for the answers.

"What was that about?" Glimmer asked as Swift Wind walked along the path the giant creature made through the trees.

"I feel something..." The horse's ears lowered in fear as worry overcame his face, a detail they were still trying to get used to. "We should run... No!" He jerked his head straight away as he turned in the opposite direction every second. "We have to get to Catra. Get Catra, then run."

"Swift Wind, what's wrong?" The archer's never seen him so distressed before, much less at all.

"Something bad!" He whimpered. "We have to find Cara, fast!"

...

"Amazing!" Entrapta giggled aloud as she continued studying the data she was getting out of this amazing machine! It just went on to show what sort of masterminds the First Ones were, the studies and technology leftover attesting to years of progress. "The garnet is siphoning energy at a near exponential rate, yet the output is still building!"

"What does that mean?" Adora asked as she examined the module with Scorpia beside her. She didn't think this thing would be blasting a wave of energy as constantly as it did. Throw in a spark here, a ray of energy there, and she thought that'd be it! She never thought anything anyone could make in this world could result in something as grand in design such as this!

"It means things are getting interesting~"

...

"Is it me or is it getting colder around here?" Bow rubbed his arms around as he tried to warm himself up. From a sunny disposition to a rather frigid air, he could feel the icy winds blow across him with every breeze, almost like Winter was here.

Which is exactly what it was as Glimmer watched one snowflake after the other float from the sky. "It's... snowing?" Glimmer's surprise at the falling snowflake was well met as the sky started to rain its frozen flakes.

"That's impossible. It never snows in the Whispering Woods-"

*WHOOSH!*

"Ah!" The two cried out as they were blasted by a powerful force of wind, feeling a hurricane's force of wind blowing the freezing snow over them. Forget snowing, this sort of weather never happened in the Whispering Woods! The two were being blown back by winds they've never experienced before, struggling just to stay on their toes as they did. Swift Wind wasn't fairing much better, the benefit of his added weight keeping him down matched by the unhelpful push against the winds as he stood his ground,.

Grunting, he forced his wings to cover his head as best he could, taking one step at a time as he fought to push back against the mighty wind and its terrible freeze. He folded over the left side of his wing, providing some cover for Glimmer and Bow as they ran over to his side, holding onto him for dear life.

"What's happening?" Glimmer shouted, speaking over the loud gusts.

"The bad thing!" Swift Wind neighed in response, drowning out the noise. He was powerless to pull back his wings as the large guests of wind as the intensity nearly doubled in the short amount of time. From above, the group could see the blackened sky as it shot out a massive bolt of lightning, signifying the terror that was affecting the weather and everything around it. The ground itself trembled as thunder crackled in the air, Swift Wind doing everything to fight against the powerful force that blew away at his feathers.

"We can't stay here!" Bow yelled, fearful of the terrible lightning they just witnessed. "Swift Wind, do you sense Catra anywhere?"

"Ghh..." That's right. He had to think of Catra throughout all of this. He was her mighty steed, and no matter what terrible danger they were about to face, he had to press on against it. Concentrating as hard as he could as he closed his eyes, his horn lit up for a few seconds, trying to get a reading on wherever his beloved master was. "Ngh... Ov-Over there!" He declared, pushing his way over to the large beam of blue light standing over the forest.

The two felt tightly as they moved together as a team. If this was how badly things were for them, how bad were things for Catra, who continued to wait further into the storm?

The trek itself was a harrowing experience for the group as they ventured through the forest. Throughout their half-mile journey, the group came across the foliage and greenery around them as it was decaying, the withered vines matched by the missing animal life that flourished through the woods. It didn't matter if the woods themselves were dangerous, they were home to a wide assortment of life, from the animals that inhabit it and the people that lived alongside it.

It was also one of the very few means of protection the Rebellion had against the Horde. Aside from its dangerous wildlife such as the giant bugs that skittered through the land, the woods themselves were filled with magic, confusing and disorienting trespassers that tried to traverse the woods against its wishes.

The Horde had resorted to desecrating the forest up till now, forcing them to spend precious time and resources while the war loomed around them. From fighting off the giant beasts and annoying insects that lived within it to the woods doing everything it could to keep the Evil Horde out of its home, it was the last line of defense standing between the Rebellion and annihilation. Now, if things continued the way they were, they would have easy access to the woods themselves, and worst of all, a straight path to the Rebellion.

All they did have working for them at the moment was the lack of animals cutting them off from their path. With Glimmer's powers as wonky as they were, she had no means to fight off any of the possible creatures they could encounter, almost being thankful for the giant catastrophic calamity affecting the weather if it wasn't for the fact it was destroying the forest in the first place.

Finally reaching the illuminating Beacon, the three looked against the wall and the ground beneath it, searching for an entrance. The walls were sturdy and the ground was real. How were they supposed to pull or push open any sort of door? "This would be a great time for my POWERS TO COME BACK!" The princess stammered angrily.

"Wait. Wait. I know this!" Swift Wind announced, the ideas coming to his mind from seemingly nowhere, almost like Catra's knowledge of First Ones technology. "Hang on, I think I can..." Focusing his powers, glowing his horn as he did, he kept one eye opened as he brushed the tip of his horn against the Beacon, touching one of the many symbols that were still glowing. With a small flash of light, the intricate symbols began to illuminate, the ground ahead of them starting to come undone in lights of blue and pink, lowering to the lower levels of the ground and providing entree at long last.

The group wasted no time for idle chitchat as they ran on through, the entrance closing right behind them. The walls brightened as Swift Wind passed by them, the others following behind not two feet away. Apparently the Beacon was aware of his connection through some means as it followed. The other two, however, appeared to be less than welcomed within these sacred halls as the walls began to burn with a bright red.

Throughout the halls, Glimmer and Bow listened as an eerie screeching sound could be heard. It's unusual sound gave little comfort as it appeared to be getting closer, sounding less than protective of its sanctuary and more along the lines of hungry.

"Um... What is that?" Bow asked nervously. Shifting his eyes around for a sec, Swift Wind gestured his head in the other direction.

"This way!" He ordered, running down the hall with the two giving chase. The lead could not have brought them to a better spot as instead of a long twisted maze filled with death traps and monsters, around the corner, they came across their beloved friend, finding her sitting along the pedestal where she's remained since awakening, still curled up in her own legs as she hugged herself.

"Catra!" The three called in unison, overjoyed as they rushed over to her side.

Immediately, Glimmer and Bow threw their arms around her in sweet relief as Swift Wind ran behind her. "Thank goodness you're alright!" Glimmer smiled happily. The sense of joy and fulfillment slowly started to disappear as she felt the silence coming off of the magicat who barely twitched an ear at their arrival. "Catra?"

"Hey, you okay?" Bow asked, shaking her by the shoulder. He was met with little resistance as she lazily waved his hand away, refusing to let herself go as she hugged herself again.

"What are you guys doing here?" She muttered. This was a tone unlike anything she or Bow have ever heard. There was no anger, no joy, no emotion, just... emptiness.

"Catra what's wrong?" Glimmer's never seen her like this, in any sense. She was always quick to react emotionally in whatever way she deemed fit, and could change her feelings on a fly.

"Why aren't you talking?"

What fear they had that she would ignore their worry was fortunately swept away, even if it did nothing to calm the worry itself, as she lifted her head a little. Here, Glimmer could see into her eyes, seeing how they were vacant, empty. There wasn't an ounce of the Catra she knew and lived with in was something else entirely, like she had completely given up with herself.

"You know, it's funny how life can work around here." She began, putting no effort into her words. "You fix one problem, you end up with another. You ignore one problem and it still comes back to bite you anyway. Everything's been for nothing since I joined the Rebellion... it's all a mistake."

Her two friends looked to one another with concern, feeling like they understood where she was coming from, being further than they could possibly imagine. "Catra, we already told you. It's not your fault about what happened with Entrapta-"

"You don't understand." Catra cut her off, lying her chin between her knees. "It was all a lie. I... I was never She-Ra." The were taken back by this remark, trying to decide if they should be surprised or confused at the announcement.

"What do you mean you weren't supposed to be She-Ra? You've always been She-Ra, remember?" Bow reminded, trying to give his support with a comforting smile.

"No, I mean I'm literally not She-Ra. I was never made She-Ra by the sword, I was just some errand girl who was supposed to look for her."

"You mean... you actually weren't She-Ra? But what about your transformation? Everything you've done since you joined us?"

"It was just a small taste of it. I learned I was never supposed to find the sword in the first place, it was a complete accident. The dumb sword made me a "Finder" or whatever, it never trusted me to be She-Ra. The one who was supposed to find the sword, the one I've angered to the point of wanting to destroy us? The entire time, it's been Adora."

"Adora?" That was a name the two recognized, Glimmer feeling goosebumps spreading in her skin at the thought. "You mean your friend from the Horde? She was supposed to be She-Ra?"

"Of course she was." What little emotion Catra did put in that reply was the small amount of disgust she could pull out. "She was the one the First Ones wanted since this all started. It was always supposed to be her, it was never about me. Why would it want me anyway? I've been nothing but a screw up since I joined you guys. I've practically made it easier for the Horde to destroy the Rebellion after all I've messed up."

"This again? Ugh, look, Catra-"

*Skreeeeeee!*

All eyes, save for Catra's, were drawn to the darkened corridor at the sound of the mighty screech. In the darkness down the hall, the three gasped in terror as they saw hundreds of glowing red eyes drawing closer from the darkness, the sounds of ferocious beasts following behind the eyes.

"Ack!" Glimmer yelped, shaking Catra's shoulders hastily. "Look, Catra? Why don't we discuss this later? We need to get out of here right now!"

"Just leave me alone, Pinky." The magicat said in a request-like tone, hiding her face in her knees again. "They won't bother me anymore, at least that's what I was told after being made She-Ra against my will now."

"Wait, you are She-Ra now? Which is it?" Glimmer glanced at the approaching arachnids.

"Catra, now would be a real good time doing the whole She-Ra thing..." Bow hinted as he armed himself. Hearing this, Glimmer noticed as Catra tightened the grip of her arms around her knees, pressing her face deeper into her knees.

"...Bow, can you give me a full minute to talk to her?"

"He can give you two with my help!" Swift Wind declared as he stepped over to Bow's side, spreading his wings as far as he could to block the approaching creatures, and give the little ladies some privacy like a true gentlemen should. This was his first interaction with Catra since obtaining the ability to speak, and he refused to allow her to mope around like this when he wanted to get to know her. If Glimmer could snap her out of her stupor, then he was ready to lay his life on the line!

Grateful for their help in buying her time, she gave Catra her undivided attention as she kneeled in front of her. "Catra, we need you right now, we need She-Ra, whoever you want to be."

"What I wanted was to be She-Ra, Pinky." Catra replied, lifting her head a little again. "What I didn't want was to be someone's burden they had to put up with because they had no choice. The First Ones didn't want me, they were forced to because of how Adora turned out. All this time I was meant to bring her to the Rebellion, and now that our past caught up with us, because I never spent a day trying to go back for her like I should, she became the person she is today. It's all my fault... it was always my fault."

"Catra, everyone's made mistakes in the past, but-"

"Ugggh, would you just stop it already!" She groaned irritably. "Don't you even get it?! I was never supposed to find the sword. I was a complete accident since the day I met you! I could've ended up in the exact same place Adora is right now! We were never meant to be allies, Glimmer, or friends. Knowing myself like I do now, I'm pretty sure... I'm pretty sure I would've been your enemy, and this conversation would never have happened."

"So what?" It was the first question Glimmer managed to get out that got more of a reaction out of Catra as her tailed twitched for a moment. "Catra, there's no telling what would've happened if you became She-Ra or Adora did. Maybe you would've joined her and you'd both be in the Rebellion? For all you know, maybe she would've gone back to the Horde with the sword and we'd be having a She-Ra to face right now. There's no way in knowing, but that's not enough reason to suddenly give up and quit."

"I'm not giving up, Glimmer, I'm just... staying away." She stated, resting her right cheek against her knee. "All I've done at this point was make things worse for everybody. I ruined the Princess Alliance, I... I'm responsible for what happened to Entrapta, and I do mean entirely by the way, and I... I haven't done anything useful. All i've done was push any possibility of a future Princess Alliance further away, and lost the best allies we could have hoped for. I can't change myself, Glimmer, I can never change myself."

"B-But-"

"Don't even bother with me, all right? The best I can do for you is to remain here for the rest of my life. That's the best I can do for anyone around here." Sighing, she glanced over to the sword still resting at her side. "Considering all that's happened, it would've been best for everyone if I never existed in the first place."

*crash!*

Checking on them, Glimmer panicked about what she should do as Bow and Swift Wind fought off the giant spiders. The mechanical creations were easy to dispatch for the lone archer, firing off several explosive arrows that bombed away at the creatures' heads, destroying whatever life they had as they collapsed.

Swift Wind himself was proving to be a capable fighter as well, for being a horse at that. When one of the horrifying monsters attempted to blast a large sticky webbing at their new ally, the horse easily dodged out of the way, taking flight a few feet off the ground to avoid the shot. Without missing a beat, he dove his way straight into the creature's skull, crashing his legs straight through the robot's head, and shattering it to bits. With freshly destroyed body at hand, he decided to barricade the lower half of the hallway the best he could, pushing the robot's massive body against the entrance as Bow braced against the robot too.

Unfortunately, their assistance was starting to falter. Bow was running low on arrows, and there was no telling how many more of these bots were going to appear on the other side of their makeshift wall. Already, Glimmer could see half a dozen mechanical legs protruding from around it, two of which actually pierced through the wall itself and nearly hitting Bow and Swift Wind respectively. They were running short on time.

And so was Catra.

Glimmer couldn't tell what had happened to her to make her this way in the day that she's been gone. This was a new mix of irritation, anger, guilt, practically an entirely new emotion specifically created for Catra to show off to her. The girl didn't have any sense of accomplishment in her eyes right now, the small lights of hope that used to fill them unknowingly being darkened by her sorrow. Glimmer couldn't think of any other way to get through to her in their time of need, not when the clock kept ticking.

Sighing, Glimmer resorted to the last tactic she ever wanted to use in a conversation, standing off to the side as she regretted what she was about to do.

"Catra, I'm sorry about this, but..." Catra barely had a second to see what she was talking about before she felt it.

*WHAP!*

"GET OVER YOURSELF!" She shouted angrily, right after slapping Catra across the face at that, much to Bow's and Swift Wind's surprise as they continued holding back the bots.

"I'm tired of always hearing about how you need to do everything perfectly, Catra! You're not perfect, okay? Nobody is! You think just because you're She-Ra now you should be able to do everything flawlessly now? That you're incapable of making mistakes like the rest of us are? News Flash Catra: everyone makes mistakes! It's a fact of life, it's not something that will ever go away, and people have to deal with it, all right!"

"..."

*whap!*

"Ow!" Glimmer yelped in return as she was struck across the face, looking back to a glaring Catra who was growling. "What was that for?"

"What do you think? I've already been slapped twice within the last day and I draw the slapping limits at three!" She yelled. "And you're still not getting it, Glimmer! Everything I've done has gone on to make things worse-!"

"You haven't done anything wrong that you should be ashamed of, Catra!" Glimmer shouted back, actually surprising Catra. This might have been one of the first times she ever cut her off and had been angrily about it. "Are you forgetting everything you've done since joining the Rebellion? You inspired the entire Kingdom of Plumeria to rise against the Horde!"

"T-That was just a scheme Shadow Weaver came up with to-"

"You fixed the Sea Gate in Salineas with your own two hands, and fought off your crazy friend doing it!"

"But I wouldn't have to fight her to begin with if I-"

"Do I even have to remind you of how you stopped Entrapta's computer virus and an army of killer robots while still being under their control in the first place?"

"Well why don't you mention how I went crazy in the middle of a stupid vacation at Mystacor while you're at it!" Catra challenged, unable to believe she was being talked down to by Glimmer of all people.

"Oh really? Gee, let's do that then." She showed no signs of backing down as she crossed her arms. "Why don't I remind the girl who was being possessed by Shadow Weaver and driven to insanity in order to destroy the Lunar Lenses? Why don't I go on to say how immediately after, that same girl had to conquer her fears, got the sword to transform into something that she could fight back with, and fought off the one person she feared most of all in her life!"

"Y-Yeah, we-well..." What was going on here? How the heck was she losing to Glimmer like this? She was nothing more than a mama's girl to Catra, always trying to do her proud and gain her acceptance, and here she was staring down Catra no matter how threatening she tried to make herself look. "Then maybe you should ask Entrapta, huh? Ask her how I did on our last mission? Why don't you tell me while you're at it! How's that for a challenge!"

"Catra, did you build the ventilation systems to burst out the fire that ended Entrapta's life?"

"N-No, but-"

"Did you not save Bow before me and get him out safely? And fought off another person who bullied you throughout your life?"

"Y-Yeah, okay, mayb-"

"And how was I supposed to escape on my own, Catra?" That was the biggest question of all she decided to shoot at her. "If I broke out on my own with my magic, how was I supposed to escape the Fright Zone, huh? How was I going to get far without someone to lean on or carry me through half the complex while being chased by a legion of Horde followers and deadly robots? I sure didn't have a plan for that. All I know is if you guys never came around, I would be rotting in a prison cell somewhere alongside Bow, or worse."

"..." ...Well... this is a first. Lowering her right knee against the slab she was sitting on, she tried to think. What was she supposed to do in this situation? What the heck was she supposed to say to counter her? She couldn't afford to screw up again, but she couldn't find a way to argue after every detail she considered minor was shot back to her.

Seeing her friend struggling to come up with something, Glimmer's expression softened. Sitting along the slab next to her, she rubbed her back. "Catra, everyone has made a mistake at least once in their life, okay? We're in the middle of a war, and I guarantee you we're all going to make plenty of more mistakes before it's over. But it's not a mistake to keep on fighting, not when you're trying to fix everything you've done. It's only a mistake when you don't try to fix what you've done."

"It... Glimmer. I already told you, I'm not-"

"You told me they didn't pick you to be She-Ra, Catra. I don't know who you're talking about, but that's all you said. She didn't, they didn't, it doesn't matter what they think. You became She-Ra because you were chosen." Lifting up the sword between them, she pushed its grip into Catra's chest. "Don't you get it by now? The First Ones might not have picked you to be their champion, Catra, but the sword did." The look of amazement and shock growing on her face gave Glimmer something to smile about, seeing the light starting to return to her eyes.

The sword... Chose me? Looking back on it now, she never really gave too much thought about the sword. If the blade was as powerful and advance as the First Ones claimed it was, who was to say the sword itself wasn't actually alive? That it didn't have its own thoughts or feelings?

In fact, right at the beginning of all of this, she had nearly forgotten the one time the sword actually talked to her...

...

"See ya later guys, thanks for the assist." She joked to herself as she began to walk away.

"Mmmmmmh..."

...

If it did, that might've meant it truly was capable of making its own decisions, and if that was the case, then... then did that mean it actually chose her?

"...Glimmer? Why... Why are you guys being so nice to me? After everything I messed up? What if I'm not even She-Ra like you said?" How... How could they do this? Why were they wasting their time with her after everything she revealed? Even if she saw them more as friends, it didn't mean the feeling felt reciprocated half the time, and given the circumstances she was currently in, she didn't think they would want anything to do with her.

She wasn't She-Ra, she kept messing up, she made everything worse. She was far beyond the point of faulty and more of an accident waiting to happen, she was... she was a freak. Someone who did more harm than good based on her personal experience. A jerk who abused her friends' trusts for her own benefit, like Adora said.

Why were they treating like this?

"It's like I keep telling you, Catra." She replied with a smile, patting her shoulder. "We're your friends, and even if you mess up, we'll always be by your side."

"..." The magicat turned to the blade as she held it in her hands, staring at the familiar reflection as always.

What if she was wrong about this? What if she was wrong about everything? Maybe she wasn't supposed to be She-Ra, maybe she still isn't She-Ra based on what Light Hope told her. What if the very next mission they went on could be their last, like it was with Entrapta's last mission? What if she doomed everyone from the start and lost the entire Rebellion as a result? What if everything Light Hope and the others said about her was true? What if...

... Why? Why did she care what they thought? She was Catra, one of the best soldiers the Horde could ask for, the person everyone labeled a freak. She was always talked down to and insulted by her peers and the kids she grew up with. They always told her she was never capable of accomplishing anything, they never saw her as one of their own like Adora did. They were quick to point out her mistakes and mock her for it, conflicting her with numerous feelings and issues in her heart. And they were with the Horde, the force that threatened to destroy Eitheria.

So why should she care!

She proved those neanderthals wrong about everything, continued to prove them wrong about everything! It's like Glimmer said, she's accomplished so much! She saved an innocent child from a collapsing building, obtain a partial form of She-Ra and stood before the Queen. She encouraged others to fight for their lives rather than succumb to the horrors of living in the Horde, she had the brains to fix a broken Sea Gate that no ones worked on for thousands of years! And so much more!

She defeated Shadow Weaver of all people. Shadow! Weaver! The person who tormented her throughout her childhood, who took the liberty of assuring Catra would never raise a hand against her or disobey her orders ever again. She pushed passed her pain and fought her off, and actually foiled one of her masterfully designed schemes!

Come to think of it, so what if she was an accident? It was an accident when she turned the sword into a shield and used the Lunar's energies to defeat her. It was an accident when she observed the ancient symbols from a First Ones writing in Salineas and managed to fix a lost piece of technology. It was an accident when she sent her remaining friends through the ventilations and saved most of them as she stayed behind.

It was an accident when she came across the sword to begin with.

She gave a stern look at her own reflection as she contemplated all of this. Her recklessness is what caused accidents to happen and lead her to this moment. And yet... maybe that's what the Rebellion finally needed...

"...Glimmer?" Catra spoke, Glimmer noticing the hint of emotion behind her voice. "I really, really, really, hate you." Lifting her head towards her, she gave a small grin, giving Glimmer the idea despite already having a pretty good one.

"Catra! You're back!" She was unable to resist the urge as she threw her arms around her neck, squeezing her tightly. She didn't return the hug and she didn't try to push her away. For once in Catra's life, she welcomed it. "Bow, she's finally back! Isn't that great?"

"Um, yeah..." Bow couldn't bring himself to give any sign of relief or joy as he pushed against the robotic wall, shaking nervously as he watched one spear-like appendage piercing through the wall and nearly hitting him each time. "Any chance you could wrap this up so we can get out of here?"

"Like TODAY if possible!" Swift Wind added.

"...Did that freaky horse just talk?"

"Yeah, long stor-"

*rrrrrrrrtttttttt*

"Ahhhh!" Glimmer cried out, nearly falling over as she collapsed in pain. Fortunately Catra, being the swift feline that she was, jumped to her feet in the nick of time, catching the weakened princess before her face met the ground.

"Glimmer!" As great as her newfound optimism was, it still lead to one very important problem. "I still don't know how to heal you yet..."

"I-It's okay." Glimmer gave her back a small smile as the aura disappeared around her, holding her stomach. "We'll come up with something. We should be getting out of here as soon as possible before the storm gets any worse outside."

"The storm?"

"Long story. Talk later. Run now!" Bow sputtered, sliding off from the wall as he and Swift Wind ran towards the two. Without their support, the broken wall of robots came crumbling down, revealing a lone spiderbot among a sea of them that let out a high-pitched screech. Taking the hint, Catra nodded to the rest of them as the four ran their way out of the room that quickly started to fill with them. "I thought you said they wouldn't hurt you?"

Catra followed along the wall as it gave a colorful wave along the symbols, as if directing her towards the exit itself. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure they're not all buddy-buddy if I help the people they consider enemies!" She pointed out. It was a fair point, not that they were in any position to argue.

Making his way to the head of the herd, gesturing to himself with his head, Swift Wind helped the heroes as they climbed onto his back, all while Swift Wind concentrated his magic into the horn again. Without needing to touch it, pulling Bow at the end of the trail, Swift Wind gave flight as the small ramp-like door lowered above them, providing a means of escape from this dangerous Beacon and throwing themselves out into the world that was falling apart.

"Jeez," Catra yelled almost instantly as they exited, rubbing her arms for warmth, "what happened to the weather around here? Everything's freezing!"

"Catra!" Glimmer caught her attention as she pointed directly ahead of them.

Down the path the horse took, Catra could see a handful of broken down branches, some the size of her head, others bunched together to make a solid barrier to anyone or anything at its level. Grumbling, with one clean sweep, Catra cut through the mighty underbrush, lowering her head like the others as they continued to run until one of the bolts of lightning struck a tree further up ahead.

"Swifty!" Catra called out, giving the horse the idea as he nodded. The path ahead of them was wrought with dangerous from the forest they were running in and the weather that snowed upon them. Spreading his wings out, Swift Wind let out a proud neigh as he flapped, taking flight towards the sky until the four passed above the clouds themselves, out of harms way as the terrible weather affected the world below them.

"Guys, look!" The bowman pointed to the layers of clouds that looked more sickly than the last.

They couldn't believe their eyes at what they were seeing. All across the distance, as far as they could see, the storm ravaged the lands as bolts of red lightning blasted out of the sky. With every bolt, a thunderous crash soon followed, the wind picking up off and on as they made their way across Etheria.

"It's not just the woods, it's-"

"The entire world." Catra knew what this was. It was exactly as Light Hope told her about the world coming to an end as long as the Princess Alliance faltered. This is why Princes Alliance was necessary, to combat against insane threats such as the weather bursting out of control.

"Huh! Bright Moon!" The pink-haired princess gasped. "Swift Wind, we have to hurry!" She pleaded as they made their way back to the Rebellion.

Nothing really changed between the time Catra left to train herself and the time she came back with them. She-Ra-wise, at least. She was still the same person with a complicated personality and an unpredictable future. If this was all the result of what Catra did by accident, then she was going to fix it, with or without the Sword's powers. There was no way to tell if it was working at long last, or if it would end up being a plain sword she held on her back.

All she knew was that for the first time, she didn't care. She would be the very person she wanted to be, and she wouldn't let what others thought about her say otherwise.

She just hoped the person she was didn't have to fight Adora in the end...

...

Walking over to the rail of the balcony, Adora and Scorpia took in the view. The lightning was at its worse here than anywhere else in Etheria, with each crackle of the sky giving off a tremendous boom. From what Adora could see as she gazed out into the distance, this dark power was covering the far reaches of the Fright Zone and well beyond it, maybe to the world itself! If the machine they used was capable of this sort of thing, there was no telling what would happen if Adora or Entrapta managed to find some way to direct its energies directly at the Rebellion.

"Wow- Ah!" Scorpia cried out in fear as she covered her head with her claws, blinking as she waited for the horrible lightning to pass. "What do you think its doing?"

"I don't know." Adora replied, staring up at the sky that rained with energy and life from the Black Garnet. She was now the owner of the powerful Runestone with Shadow Weaver gone, save for Hordak who still had the first say. With its power, she could unleash who knew what kind of power against the world, the Rebellion. This was the moment in her life that she wanted to bring this war to an end, and the thought of it made her grin as her head band gave off a small reflective shine.

"But I'm fine with it. I think it's time to bring this Rebellion to a close, Scorpia."

It was time for War.

...

A/N: Annnnnnd another satisfying (hopefully) conclusion to the end of another episode! Phewfta, am I tired. I think the amount of words I added can prove that :/

Anyway, this is it people! We are down to not just the big finale, but the last episode of Season 1! Hoooooooooh mama, am I excited for the action in that ^^! It also will have its own drama too, but I promise it'll be one of the last ones to have as much of dramatic spark to it like my last several episodes have been- presuming they dont get dramatic in the cartoon in season 2 (Which i've yet to see XP).

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, Fave, Follow, and Review if you enjoyed and hope to see you in our next Chapter, the season finale, titled with the most appropriate title i can think of for a season 1 finale:

No Happy Endings..

Chapter 49: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Dun dun di dun dun duuuuuun! Dun dun di dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun! Dun didi Duuun! Dun didi duuuuun! Dun didi dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!

We're here folks! We're at our epic finale! I'll be honest, I thought I would've stopped writing this some weeks ago out of a lack of energy and everything, but the constant support and build up to this moment has been keeping me going, and it's all thanks to you guys ^^!

I don't have much to say, other than I'm hyped to bring this epic finale to it's conclusion!

With that said, here is part one of our SEASON FINALE!

ENJOY!

...

*CRASH!*

The ground quaked with a massive tremor as the girl was slammed straight into the ground, the massive tentacle bringing her down with full force. Adora smiled with wicked glee as the dust burst from the hole she had made, returning the long tentacled arm to her side once more as she waited for the dust to settle.

"...Mmh... Ngh..." Catra groaned in tremendous pain as she slowly pulled herself out of the small crater Adora had made with her body. Her entire body was drenched in water from the large stream as she groveled, her muscles weak from exertion as she crawled out. Her body was aching all over, her back was scarred beyond measure. In one small flash of light, Catra's entire person was engulfed in white temporarily until it diminished over the span of a few seconds.

She could see the state she was in from the stream's reflective waters. She had scrapes, cuts, bruises, and she didn't even want to think about what happened to her back. The sight of her injuries were the farthest concerns from her mind at that moment as she stared at her body in general, realizing something that she didn't think was possible.

"It's... It's gone..." She muttered weakly in disbelief. Her She-Ra form, the one she had used to fight off Adora, had disappeared. She was back to being the same plain old Catra once again. The one who always screwed things up, the one who could never see things through to the end, and the one who always needed to be rescued. With her sword tossed to her side, she watched as the glow from the Runestone completely faded, as if its powers were completely used up.

Adora had literally beaten the She-Ra right out of her.

There she stood across the Stream, about forty feet from her, as she cackled with an overwhelming sense of joy and accomplishment. She had defeated She-Ra, the supposed Symbol of Hope for the Rebellion, the one who was always a thorn in the Horde's side. Legend says she was supposed to be all powerful, all knowing, and if that was the case, then there truly wasn't anything special about who she just smacked down.

Everything had gone pretty smoothly since the start of this fight. She would commend Catra on her efforts if she had any sense of care for her anymore, but she should've known she couldn't win. Nobody can compete with the supreme might of the Horde, or its armies, as long as they had Lord Hordak leading them. The Rebellion's defenders were crushed, any resistance they once had lying beneath the ground they collapsed upon. This wasn't just the day Adora would declare victory over the Rebellion itself, this would be the day that she foiled Catra's selfish desires to obtain any kingdom she had imagined.

Ahead of her she watched the kneeled Catra, the magicat who could barely stand on her hands and knees as she panted out of breath. Without her She-Ra form, or what was a part of it, she was experiencing all the pain her body had gone through till now, all the exhaustion and the energy she had spent since her fight began. It was hard enough for her to stay awake at this point she was so exhausted, and nobody was coming to save her anymore.

All around her the allies and friends she came to know and care about were done for. They were exhausted, practically passed out from the amount of effort they took and the injuries they had sustained throughout the fight. The Princess Alliance wasn't going to answer her call, not that it mattered since all of them would've been too far away to save them in the nick of time. For the first time ever, Catra found herself completely alone without anyone to back her up.

Nobody was coming to rescue her.

Nobody was coming to save the Rebellion.

Nobody was going to survive what soon followed.

Everything relied solely on Catra... and she could do nothing about it.

Shakily stretching her arm over, still weak from injury, she dragged the sword in front of her as she sluggishly lifted it till it was standing in front of her, requiring both her arms to keep it lifted as is. "Fo... For the Honor of Grayskull." She panted. Nothing happened, her fears doubling down at the reality. "F-For the... the honor of... Grayskull!" There wasn't any spark emanating from the sword.

Just holding it alone was enough to give Catra shivers. She couldn't feel the same warmth she used to whenever the sword was in her hands. There wasn't any sense of optimism or hope coming from the sword as she stared at it. With the darkened sky and the energy of the sword tapped, she couldn't see any reflection from the sword's blade or its stone. The sword's energy had been used up. There was nothing left to save any of them.

"It's... It's not fair..." Catra teared up as she collapsed from her present state. There was a small splash as a part of her body was sunk into the stream, the right side of her face submerged as she stared at the last hope they had.

Adora could just make out the small wiggle of Catra's tail, confirming to her that she was alive, as she felt the rumble of half a dozen tanks rolling up behind her. The Rebellion was in shambles, their defenses were done for, and the last hope for the Rebellion lied on the ground, beaten and battered. Adora would've gladly let Catra live so she could rot in the prison sector of the Fright Zone for the rest of her life, along with the rest of her stupid friends. She would come by for a visit every couple months with an intention to taunt her, poke fun of her at how she failed, and reminding her that she would never get her kingdom anymore.

But she was passed the point of showing mercy to this girl, the one who used her almost as much as Shadow Weaver did.

Smirking, she raised her hand to the sky, directing the tanks behind her as they aimed the barrels of their cannons to the defenseless magicat. She would stamp out the last threat to the Horde, and the Sword of Protection, all at the same time. And without any hesitation, she threw her hand down, giving the signal. It was time for her to cut all ties to her past and start moving towards the future.

Starting with Catra.

"Fire."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*3 Hours Earlier...*

*CRACKLE*

The storm did nothing to scare off Adora as she watched the sky above her.

This day would mark what was, undoubtedly, the best day the Horde would ever see in its lifetime, and it was all thanks to Adora.

After returning from her arduous journey to the mysterious First Ones ruins where she came to a grand realization about how Catra, and others, have been using her all her life to make their own lives easier or as part of some wicked scheme. She was the victim in all of this as she was completely unaware of the feeling until now, passing it off as a simple thing friends and allies did for one another, until the Beacon reminded her of what her past was like, and how she was taken advantage of throughout most of it.

Thus, after removing one obstacle from her life, after returning to the Fright Zone, she went on to remove another. After giving Entrapta the Data Crystal she collected from the ruins, the scientist discovered a massive data bank of information. Loads of schematics and works from the First Ones were within their grasp, sciences and details of their new fortune filling the Princess of Dryl with more excitement than she knew what to do with!

Since coming to the Fright Zone, Entrapta has been nothing but a great help, and a good friend for Adora. She's managed to make an entire lab out of the Interrogation Room and increased the firepower of the robotic droids of the Horde with spare parts she found lying around, using the scrap metal and devices she borrowed from other people, who didn't seem to mind it too much if only for the reason that they weren't in there to begin with when she did. With her scientific ingenuity, there was no limit to just how much Entrapta could help the Horde.

So, naturally, Lord Hordak was more than willing to give the Princess her go-ahead when she came across the blueprints for a plan that required the Black Garnet, Shadow Weaver's most prized possession. It was also here that Adora finally showed who her true allegiance was to, and who she decided to aid when the possibility of betraying Lord Hordak was given to her by her former mentor.

She picked Lord Hordak.

Shadow Weaver's cruelty for using Adora and her manipulations almost made her worse than Catra, and it would've been if she had ever spent more time with her like she did her previous friend. Shadow Weaver wanted to use her to overthrow Lord Hordak so she could attend to her own devices. From unlocking more secrets of the Runestones to preforming possible experiments on their own soldiers that could have boosted their army's strength twice as much, all of these possibilities came to naught as long as Lord Hordak had the final say.

She wasn't truly looking to replace him as the head, offering the position to Adora for all her dedication and hard work. All she wanted was to be left undisturbed and undeterred in her works. Having someone close to her at the head, specifically the young girl she came to treat as a daughter, listening to all she had to say, she knew that Adora would be the perfect candidate. She molded her to be strong and wise, and showed affection as a means to ensure her continued loyalty. She perfected and planned out every detail since the day she was taken in as an infant, and sculpted her to be the perfect tool. There was just one detail she had never anticipated.

Adora's betrayal.

To Adora, Shadow Weaver was an obstacle to the Horde that needed to be removed. She was selfish, greedy, manipulative, all the things that reminded her of Catra and then some. On top of that, her methods of teaching through fear and cruelty was something she could not tolerate happening to the younger children. Instilling fear into children made them panic and terrified, eventually leading them to become selfish and to look out for themselves. The Horde was about Unity and trust, and if she allowed Shadow Weaver to continue the way she did now, everyone would've ended up like Catra.

Besides, it's not like she didn't have her own reasons for doing so either. Shadow Weaver was a monster when it came down to it. Pretending to show care to Adora throughout all her life, no matter how much or how little she meant it, was a painful thing for the Force Captain to finally realize. To think the person she looked up to the most, the one who she considered a mother, was using her as a means to their own end. It ripped her heart out. It sickened her. It hurt to think all of the emotions she felt, all the attention she was given, was an act.

When the time finally came, she made her choices, engaging Shadow Weaver in a bout of dark magic, eventually overcoming the twisted sorceress as she crushed the gem connected to her mask. Having witnessed this act of defiance against her former master for the sake of the Horde, Lord Hordak acknowledged his pride for the young girl, and her great contribution between this, the princess, and the massive amount of technology she had obtained.

It was then Adora, Entrapta, and Scorpia put that same technology to use as the built a machine around the Black Garnet, capable of siphoning the garnet's power and turning it into a powerful tool that can be used against the princesses. Activating the machine, all four of them watched as the device launched a powerful spiral of power into the atmosphere, shrouding the Fright Zone in a clouded darkness of storm filled with red lightning.

This would mark the true beginning of the war against the Rebellion, and everything it had to stand for. It was why Adora admired the sight of the landscape around her, feeling the wind blowing passed her blonde hair, drowning out the sounds of the thunder that crackled.

She could tell that at the end of all this, the Rebellion would fall beneath her feet.

"Adora, you've gotta see this!" Scorpia called from inside as Adora made her way back.

Within the Black Garnet Chamber, the marvelous technology continued to siphon away at the Runestone's power, a surge of electricity giving off of the stone here and there as the wires and conduits protruded out of the great stone. At its base, Entrapta could be seen typing away at the master computer she had built minutes ago, smiling with renewed excitement as the readings she was getting never ended to surprise her.

Off to the side against one walls, Adora could see Scorpia reading off of one of the monitors, her eyes glued to the sight of the incredible advancement that this machine had to offer.

"Tidal waves, firestorms, earthquakes." She read off as Adora stood at her side in curiosity. "Man, Etheria's really taking this hard." There was no argument from Adora. To prove her point, Adora became rather surprised as the image of a tree began to break off, completely frozen over as it collapsed from the sheer cold. "I mean, yay for us. But also, whoa."

"Etheria will have to endure for a bit longer I'm afraid." Adora said solemnly, crossing her arms. "At least until we finish off the Rebellion, that is."

"Whoohoooooo~!" Behind them, the scientist boasted with laughter as she bounced around the room in her computer chair, twirling her hair around as she spoke into her tape recorder. "The experiment has been more effective than I could have dreamed of! This proves my hypothesis correct! With the Black Garnet at two-hundred percent power, the precarious equilibrium that governs all of Etheria's nature functions has been thrown into complete chaos, no doubt, as a result of the other elemental Runestones- Ah!" She yelped in a startled fright as her chair halted, turning around to see Adora had stopped her wonderful chair of fun. "Hey!"

"In other words...?" Adora hinted, wanting to understand what the perky scientist was getting at.

Rolling her eyes, Entrapta turned herself around as she swiped the tape recorder back. "By making the Black Garnet more powerful," she said as she directed one of her twin tails to the top of the massive sphere, using a small scanner to examine its power, "we've sapped power from the other Princesses Runestones, upsetting the balance and making the weather go screwy. It's all in my notes, if you'd like-"

"Wait a second. What did you just say about the princesses being less powerful than before?" There was no way Adora possibly heard the best news of her life, was there?

"Well, the other Elemental Princesses, that is." She clarified, nodding. "You don't have to worry about me and Scorpia. I don't have a Runestone, and Scorpia doesn't appear to have any connection to the Black Garnet anymore," the two glanced at their hulking friend who was watching the monitors, "if she ever did."

"Huh? Did somebody say my name?"

"So we can take away the princesses powers with this..." Adora had three words to say to herself as she poked at one of the bulbs from the machine. This. Was. Perfect! "And how would we make something like this permanent?" The wheels were spinning around her mind as a grin spread across her face.

"Well, I'd have to run more tests to know for sure, but-"

*tap-tap*

*crunch*

"Oh... that works too, I guess." It was foolish to try and simplistic in nature, but Entrapta couldn't deny the results.

Growing one tiny little claw of shadow over her finger, Adora gave the bright pull a couple of good taps before finally shattering the entire bulb into pieces. The second after was immediately followed by the machine humming with new life as electricity danced across the machine's surface. Each and every light bulb around the machine started to spark as their power was being drained by the largest red light bulb at the very top, just like how the machine was drawing the other Princesses' Runestones powers.

She didn't fully comprehend what she had done, and she didn't care anymore. Entrapta had created a device that could siphon the powers of the Runestones from the other princesses. No Runestones with power meant no magic to bless the princesses with. No magical princesses meant little to no defenses. No defenses meant that anyone left within Castle Bright Moon would be powerless to stop the Horde's armies and their weapons.

And that meant, no more Rebellion.

"Get a strike team together." Adora ordered Scorpia as she went back to the monitor. "We're going to Bright Moon."

"Bright Moon?" Scorpia questioned. "Why?"

"Because we're going to take out Bright Moon's Runestone." The small amount of worry she had over the environment was replaced with utter determination, just thinking about how this day would turn out. "And with the Whispering Woods frozen over, there's nothing stopping us."

The monitors displayed disaster, chaos, and turmoil that was spreading all across Etheria, and for once in her life, Adora didn't care. The opportunity was too good to pass up, a chance that might never come back to them. Without the Whispering Woods, the Rebellion had little means to hide themselves from the Horde Invaders. The woods couldn't protect them with their magic and their changing pathways. The Rebellion was right down the road for a change, and theirs for the taking.

"We're ending this war, today..."

...

*CRACK*

*blip*

The Queen of Bright Moon, Angella, watched in dismay from atop the Runestone's pillar as the storm circled around them.

What had she been thinking about sending her daughter out earlier? She knew she was capable of a lot of things, but if she had the foresight to know this storm was coming, she would have either kept her from leaving or sent her off with several guards to figure out where Catra was.

All around her she saw the landscape changing drastically. Trees were withering and turning grey. Out in the distance she could see a small line of ice, an impossibility she thought, as the Whispering Woods were turning into a frozen wasteland. The worst of the storm had yet to reach the Castle, thankfully, but it didn't do anything to stop the red bolts of lightning that rained down on them every couple of seconds.

The Runestone's power was changing somehow, almost as if it was weakening in some way. With every bolt that neared the castle, Queen Angella's magic protected it with an invisible barrier, bouncing off the mysterious red lightning with ease. She had never seen a bizarre phenomenon such as this in her lifetime, and for an immortal ruler, that was saying a lot.

It was the fear of this storm that kept the Queen from thinking about the Runestone's current power, the fear she had for her daughter and her friends' safety overpowering it. She hasn't seen any sign of them through the sky, and there was no telling how far out they had to travel to find Catra in the first place. All she knew could tell at that moment was what she could feel, and she felt that her daughter needed help right at this moment.

WIth her mind clear, the Queen flew up to the center of the Runestone as she began to channel her own energies into the stone. Harnessing what she could out of the protective barrier, she gathered as much magic as she could into the Runestone with the intent of saving her daughter's life. In one powerful beam of pink light, radiating with an aura of similar color, the Queen fired a massive beam of energy towards the sky, illuminating the darkness that the clouds had shrouded them with, and signaling where she was and waiting for her daughter's hopeful return.

...

*Crash!*

"Ahhh!" The group held onto each other as they hung on to Swift Wind for dear life. This day could not get any worse for Catra if it tried.

Over the course of the last twenty-four hours, Catra had experienced the ultimate down of her life. After escaping the bonds that kept her prisoner within the Beacon by the ferocious mechanical spiders that captured her, the same one who gave her the sword back confusingly enough, she found herself transported to another simulation-like space where she met Light Hope again, the first person she met that started off her adventures.

At first, Catra was relieved and furious at the woman who potentially turned her life upside down and inside out. Just because her old life wasn't perfect didn't mean she had to go around and make it worse for her! At the same time, she was also glad to have found her because if anyone could teach her how to use the sword, it would be her. In the hopes of finding a way to control her powers and to explain to her all the weird stuff she's been thrown into, she almost prayed to her for guidance and understanding.

And did she ever end up regretting that.

As it turned out, Catra was not She-Ra, at least not to the extent she thought she was. All this time, all the days spent and wasted helping the Rebellion, her only task was to find the true owner of She-Ra, Adora in this case, and return it to her so she could fulfill her destiny. All the powers she was given and thought she had since the beginning was all part of a "Finder's Initiative" program, a system in place that tasked the non-chosen founders of the sword with finding the current She-Ra of their timeline. In short, she was nothing more than an errand girl, one who was never wanted for her own assistance.

Maybe she would have taken that better if Light Hope didn't have to stretch out the explanation so long and far fetched if it wasn't for how much of Catra's life she had ruined to begin with. From her standing in the Horde, to the allies she used to have, losing the best friend she could ever hope for, and now being told she was a complete accident?! It would've driven the average person insane to process all that information in the short amount of time she finished explaining it.

What's worse was the information she was given afterwards. Because of all the time she had spent away from the Horde, since she never went back for Adora, she subjected her to vile manipulations and trickery that blackened her heart over the course of time. What was once a sincere friend that Catra knew and grew up with turned into a vile creature of darkness by the time Adora cut ties to their friendship, with her new obsession being to destroy anything and anyone that could make Catra's dream for a kingdom come true, especially the Rebellion.

Catra realized it was all her fault for her past mistakes, from the way she abused their friendship and treated Adora like nothing more than a tool. She had every reason to be angry with her and Catra didn't have the heart to deny it. After everything she screwed up since then, after all that she made worse for the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance, how could she not think of herself a failure? The one responsible for everything that's happened?

And then to hear Light Hope say that because of how Adora turned out they had to initiated a protocol that transferred ownership of the sword to her, as well as removing the inhibitor that was mitigating the sword's powers, even though it was her fault in the first place? How could she respond to that?! It angered her that they had the audacity to offer the sword to her simply because they had to, it saddened her that all she's done with her life is making everyone else's lives even worse! It broke her inside, shattered her.

Refusing to accept her new destiny, whether or not she could, she vacated the simulation, and resigned herself to spending out her remaining years alone within the Crystal Castle instead. She thought it was a good alternative to what she had to do in every way possible. Down here she wouldn't interfere with anyone's lives anymore, and she would still be technically helping them by doing it! Why did it take her this long to realize that she ruined everything she touched? Made everyone else suffer for her mistakes? She was better off away from everyone else, embracing the loneliness she most feared as penance for her actions.

She hated being alone like this. Surrounded by nothingness save for some empty rooms and darkened hallways. It was one of her biggest fears after Shadow Weaver, having experienced this kind of state after the cruel prank she was played on years ago. It also felt just in some way, almost ironic, as she hated making friends yet never wanted to experience true loneliness.

It's probably where she would've been still if her other friends hadn't come to rescue her. She was crushed inside for sure, unable to give them her full attention as the light was drained from her eyes. Her connections with them made things worse for other people, and she hadn't helped any of them since day one. As to why they would risk their lives like this to return for her when she was feeling at her bleakest, she would never know. And they didn't have as much time to socialize as the security bots were already hunting for them.

It was probably the first time she was ever slapped by Glimmer, too, and mean it for a change. The Princess of Bright Moon couldn't stand to hear Catra mope around like this anymore after all she's done for them. She's helped the Rebellion more than she could possibly imagine, she's saved lives where she believes she ruined them. She has been a dear friend who was scarred from an emotional past that was catching up to her, and she didn't deserve any of this!

Above all else, she pointed out that Catra truly was chosen. As the First Ones said, they didn't choose her to be their champion like Catra thought they did. It also didn't mean someone else, or something else in this case, didn't choose her either.

Specifically, the Sword of Protection.

While she still couldn't understand why, Catra understood that she had a point. If she wasn't destined to be some hero then why did the sword allow her to find it to begin with? As a matter of fact, why was the sword allowing her to have some of its limited powers if she wasn't capable harnessing them at all?

As Glimmer went on to point out, they all made mistakes in the past, and Catra had to accept that she would always make mistakes in the future. But a mistake was only a real mistake when the person who caused it did nothing to fix it later on. Her staying here wouldn't have fixed anything, and above all else, she would have proven everyone else right that she couldn't accomplish anything if she spent the rest of her lives here.

Whether through the determination to prove them wrong, or actually being touched a little by Glimmer's motivational speech, Catra realized that she couldn't quit like this, not when there was still things to fix.

With that in mind, having renewed optimism after a long time, the four made their escape from the Beacon as they escaped through the Whispering Woods from the terrible storm, eventually being forced to flee to the skies above. All around them they could see the desecration of the land as the storm continued to pick up. Nobody knew which way was which from up here, save for the ghastly image of the Fright Zone Catra saw behind them, and the increased frequency of the lightning only made things worse.

"The storm's getting worse!" Glimmer shouted as she struggled to hold on at the front.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Catra snapped back, having a harder time maintaining her grip as well as dealing with the increasingly loud thunder that drummed through her ears. "How are we supposed to get back to the castle like this?"

"Ah! Look!" Bow's brightened, cheery, smile was enough to warrant their full attention as they followed to where his finger was pointing. To their relief, probably a good minute away by flight, they saw a shining light resonating through the darkness, stretching passed the sky above them. It brought a great sense of relief to the three friends as they smiled in unison at the sight.

"It's Bright Moon!" Glimmer's cheery demeanor quickly switched to panic as she realized what it truly was. "It's the distress beacon."

"Hang on!" Swift Wind whinnied, charging headfirst into the glowing pillar of light. That was something else Catra had to get used to, still finding it slightly more bizarre than everything that's happened in the last couple hours.

"So would anyone mind telling me why the freaky horse is talking now?"

"LATER!"

...

Her mother never felt as much joy in the last few years as she does now at the sight of Glimmer and her friends returning on flying-horseback.

"Glimmer!" Angella cried out as her daughter dismounted after Swift Wind landed.

"Mom!" The princess ran over to hug her mother tightly, thankful that she was alright. ""What's going on?"

"The elements are out of harmony." Her mother explained as the friends turned towards the calamity that was encircling them. "The moonstone is using all its power to counteract the cloud of darkness." As she said this, Bow and Catra watched as another bolt of lightning headed right for them, only to be pushed back by the mystical barrier protecting the runestone. "It's taking nearly all my strength just to keep my connection with it."

"Its coming from the Fright Zone." Catra informed her, surprising the questionably-young mother as she almost forgot why her friends left at the start of all this..

""Catra..." It was a little painful to remember the harsh way she used to scold Catra for her wrongdoings, remembering the times when she berated her instead of encouraged her through every successful mission. It gave her a sense of guilt after Catra ran away due to her own insecurities. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She replied, turning her head away. She didn't care much about the scrapes and cuts she obtained during her time in the Beacon. It did nothing compared to the emotional scarring her heart suffered.

"So what's our plan?" Bow asked, growing increasingly concerned over the worsening weather. "We... do have a plan, right?" When one person was silent, it was a sign they didn't know what to say. When two people did it, it meant they were trying to hide something. When three or more people did, it was a dreadful sign of things to come. "Guys?"

Catra walked away to the ledge as she examined the forest itself. All around them, the forest withered away as the freezing glaciers spread across the land, turning the trees to frozen blocks of ice that shattered within seconds under their own weight. The roots to their trees were dull and weakened from the immense cold that stung at the soil.

When Light Hope told Catra that the balances of power must be restored, or Etheria would fall to ruin, she didn't picture anything like this. She thought she meant like war would break out or alliances would continue to be broken. She expected people to be mad at each other, refusing to assist allies when their kingdoms were under attack. That was the kind of "world coming to an end" she was expecting as it sounded the most probable.

This was something else.

"The woods are frozen over." The ground gave a very faint and constant tremor to them as the sky cracked with endless storm, the winds carried a breeze of the icy glare from the forest, nipping at Catra's skin that she could shrug off only for so long. "There's nothing left to shield Bright Moon from the Horde." From across the scenery she swore that the storm was closing in on them, advancing towards them like the army that was undoubtedly approaching while they were vulnerable.

"Then the Horde will be marching on our doorstep within the hour." Angella determined, looking to the Runestone as if it would provide guidance.

"We have to prepare for an attack!" Bow said with authority, earning an agreeable nod from his fellow friends and allies who made their way to the castle.

Save for one lone magicat who's ears drooped with worry. "An attack...?" She looked back to the freezing forest in fear.

If the Horde was going to attack, then that meant they would bring a leader. If they were going to bring a leader it was going to be by someone who either volunteered or had the best experience out of the bunch. With those qualifications in mind, there can be only one person listed for the job, a friend who was all too eager to wipe out the Rebellion once and for all. The person who's hatred for Catra was turning her into the person the First Ones could no longer rely on.

"Adora..."

...

The Meeting Room within Castle Bright Moon was as lively as ever as the group, along with an additional guard captain who stood at Bow's side, developed a plan to defend themselves from the Horde's advances. In the center of the large meeting room, the holographic table was already lit as it projected a map with a general view between the Rebellion's castle, the Whispering Woods, and the Horde.

There was unease going through Catra's mind as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, staring down into thought as Glimmer and Angella leaned over the table.

"Our scouts reported sighting the Horde army in the woods," Bow stated, "moving towards us at top speed.

"We must protect Bright Moon at all costs." The Queen was not going to let her beloved castle fall to the likes of the Horde, not when the symbol of hope, She-Ra, remained on their side. "If the Moonstone is destroyed, there will be nothing left to stop the darkness."

"Someone must have seen the beacon. Why isn't anyone coming?"

"Booow..." Glimmer grumbled quietly under her breath, gesturing to Catra over by the wall who still had a bitter look on her face.

Even though she accepted her past mistakes and was determined to fix them, that didn't mean she still didn't feel guilty about them. From her viewpoint, the alliance breaking up was and still is Catra's fault, no matter how much Glimmer and Bow tried to protest against it. They were glad she was willing to come back to help them, and were overjoyed to see her up and about after the painful look in her eyes awhile ago. Now they just wished she would stop feeling like it was all her fault.

"Err, I mean," he tried to come up with any excuses as he smiled nervously, "of course they're not coming, it's not like-"

"It's okay." Catra looked away as she spoke. "It doesn't matter if I'm to blame or not, anyway. With the princesses having their own kingdoms to defend, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to leave it, given the state things are in now. We've seen the weather here in the last few minutes alone. Who knows what they have to deal with where they are. I just know they're not coming to help us-"

"Someone's come to help us!" A guard announced rushing into the room.

"-someone's... here?"

"Huh! Is it the princesses?" Bow asked, greatly overjoyed at their timely arrival! Oh, just thinking of it now! The Princess Alliance, back together again, working side by side-! Oh."

All that enthusiasm and macho mayhem was dashed away with one simple turn of the guard as she revealed the two princesses who had come to help them. They're the ones Catra hadn't the decency to talk to yet, only meeting them at the weekly Generals Meeting once a week, and back then she wasn't the least bit interested in the two whatsoever.

Come to think of it that hadn't really changed over the weeks she spent in Bright Moon either. They were always so strange to her, which said a lot coming from her, as she never gave a word to the two in any of the meetings they've attended. The most they've had to a conversation was Catra eavesdropping on their whispering and gossip as they muttered to one another, usually saying something about the state of their current forces or commenting about Catra being She-Ra. Nothing really negative or anything like that, just nothing that sounded interesting to the magicat.

The chitchat and idle comments weren't the parts that weirded her out. The weird part was how they always seemed to be close to one another, in more ways than one. They were always by each other's side, usually walking with the other in their arm, and so on. And while Catra wasn't exactly sure what kind of level their friendship was, much less if that's how friends are supposed to be since she grew up in the Fright Zone, she was pretty sure these two took the friendship thing a bit too far at times.

"Spinnerella, Netossa, heh heh... Thanks for coming, guys." Bow chuckled nervously again.

"You still don't know what we do, do you?" The dark skinned princess huffed a little as her friend casually smiled to her.

"Let me guess," Catra volunteered, "she spins, you nets."

"THANK YOU!" It was only due to Spinnerella's soothing massage to her shoulders that Netossa kept from exploding." Gosh, it's in the name for crying out loud, you'd think it'd be obvious! Nets! Toss! I toss nets, okay?!"

"Yes dear, you toss beautiful nets." Spinnerella cooed, nuding her cheek and earning her a smile.

"At least you have powers, which is more than I've got." Glimmer commented with a frown.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Pinky." Catra retorted with a means of encouragement. "I can barely get the sword to work, remember? Besides," she paused shifting her eyes away, "to be honest, I... I might not-"

"Catra's right!" Bow added, cutting off Catra's finishing words. "You don't need magic to fight, Glimmer."

"I know!" It was times like this where Glimmer was proud to have such supportive friends. "I'm ready for them."

"Glimmer," as expected, her enthusiasm was met with uncertainty as her mother touched her shoulder, "not only are you without your powers, but you're still glitching. It's dangerous."

"But mom-"

"Glimmer, your mother's right." It hurt the Guard Captain to agree with her mother for a change, even if it was for the Princess's own good. "Without your powers, you wouldn't be able to teleport out of harm's way."

"So you agree with her too?" They couldn't be serious, could they? The Palace Guards would be swarmed with Horde soldiers from every angle as they defended the sides, leaving them exposed to a frontal assault. There wouldn't be anyone left if anything happened to the present friends and allies within the room, Bright Moon would be the Horde's for the taking! "You guys have to let me help, though! Tell them, Catra!"

"..."

"Catra?"

Why did she have to put her on the spot like this? Glimmer just have her the biggest pep talk of her life nearly twenty minutes ago, and now she was expecting her to repay the favor. It wasn't like before when Catra was feeling down in the dumps because of her history, this was a more serious matter of life or death being on the line.

On top of that, there was one other matter Catra was trying to process. The war that was coming to them was going to affect more than they knew about, especially with Catra. It didn't help that the more she tried to ponder her thoughts that more and more eyes turned directly towards her in greater detail. Everyone was starting to notice the hint of silence coming from the girl mixed with the look of unease coming off of her.

She wasn't contemplating a response about what to do with Glimmer, there was something else on her mind entirely.

"Catra, are you alright?" Angella wondered. "You've been rather quiet regarding the attack since the meeting started." There wasn't any comment about the war that was about to happen, no small quips or jokes she had to make like at the usual meetings. To be honest, she would greatly appreciate to hear one of her, from her personal opinion, bad jokes as long as she knew she was okay.

"I uh..." Catra shook her head as she made her way to the door. "I need a minute here..." Without another word, the others watched as Catra walked passed everyone, keeping her head down in concern as everyone watched her leave.

Catra was never the silent type when it came to knowing her, unless it pertained to her past. Catra as always reckless, always wanted to jump in first, and putting the two together, this would've been like sending a kid to a carnival with the assault they were expecting. She should've been jumping the gun under these circumstances.

Something was terribly wrong with her, and they didn't know how dire the situation truly was...

...

This is what they were fighting for, Catra understood that as she stared into the Runestone from across the bridge. The Rebellion was a part of what the First Ones were hoping for, Catra was the other part in her new official role as She-Ra. She wasn't concerned about fulfilling that role, not entirely. They didn't want her to fulfill the role of She-Ra originally, and as of now, she was fine with that. If they didn't want someone as good as her as the original She-Ra, it was their loss.

And it didn't mean she would have accepted it if she wasn't supposed to be She-Ra anymore. She was tired of everyone putting her down over everything she was about, all that she tried to accomplish. She was sick of everyone saying she would never amount to anything, wouldn't be able to do anything on her own. If this war was really going to happen in the next few hours, then she would've gladly fought in it, under normal circumstances, just to prove them wrong.

The problem was, these were the farthest thing from normal circumstances.

"Catra," She heard Glimmer speaking from behind her as she stared at the Runestone, "are you okay?"

"...Adora's going to be leading the Horde when they attack, I just know it." Catra replied, lowering her head again. "I messed her up, and now she's going to do everything she can to take it out on you guys just to get back at me." The two other friends looked at each other to this, trying to understand what she was getting at.

"Catra, what happened to you at that First Ones temple?"

"I messed up! Like I always have, okay? I tried bringing her over to our side, I thought I could remind her that we were still friends. But all I did was just... remind her of everything else."

"Everything else?" Bow repeated as they drew closer to her.

"Everything. All that's happened since we were kids, all that I've done to her since our childhood. I wasn't anything like a real friend should've been, okay? I took advantage of her since the day I've met her, even if I didn't mean to, and now she sees me like everyone else does at the Fright Zone- A freak."

"...Catra, you're not a freak." Bow assured, patting her back. "The fact you're already aware of all this proves that you're still a good friend."

"But I wasn't even aware of it until I met you guys, and because of that, everything that's about to happen is on me." Grabbing her sword, the stared at dormant blade's runestone etched into the top of the hilt. "If I end up fighting her, I'm going to choke or hold back, I just know it. I don't have any right to fight her, not after everything I've done to her."

"You don't have any right to..." Glimmer prayed that she wasn't getting to what she thought she was. "Catra, what are you trying to say?"

It hurt to admit it. She didn't want to considering how much it hurt her to think about it. But after all that's happened, all the secrets about herself that she's kept up till now, this was the one thing she had to tell them. Otherwise, there was a very good chance she might never be able to again.

"I'm not joining in the fight, you guys. I'm leaving Bright Moon."

...

A/N: As always, I always do chapter into 5-minute bits of the episode, and this seemed like a good cut off point. Like I said, I dont have much to say, other than I'm looking forward to the action picking up at the end of the next one, cause from there, it's nothing but a beautifully violent-for-ages-7-and-up war ^^ and I'm going to have a heck of a time writing out the fight scenes X)

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 50: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: And we're back folks! With a brand spanking new chapter as we draw closer towards our final confrontation ^^! I gotta say, I'm loving the feedback I got for this one, especially with Ao3! I hit an all new record last night with getting 8 Full Kudos over one chapter, the newest and biggest record I've had over one chapter ^^! Huzzah!

I gotta say, I'm having a lot of fun with this as we draw closer to our, for lack of a better name, rematch versus "Shadow Adora vs Cat-Ra" ^^!...god that name sucks XP Lol, Anyway, huge thanks to all the fans and public who've supported this till now! Can't wait to see you guys again soon!

With that all said, enjoy!

...

"Catra, what do you mean you're leaving?" Glimmer couldn't believe what she was hearing, especially under these circumstances. "You're not going to help?"

They had finally reunited after long last! After what felt like weeks apart, even though it was just a few days, they were all finally back together! Glimmer and Bow found Catra, the magicat accepted her destiny as now-current She-Ra, and after a little heart to heart, she finally decided to come back! The worse they were supposed to face was the incredible storm that kept pushing a frozen tundra to their direction, followed by the reality that the Horde would be attacking soon.

Arriving home, they were informed how the Runestone was the only source of magical energy that could protect them from the incoming dark storm that was created by the Black Garnet. It was the results of one of the Horde's new experiments after Adora had returned from the Beacon with a valuable Data Crystal from the First Ones. It housed records of never before seen technology and sciences behind the First Ones original designs, ones nobody within this day and age had ever come across before.

Being all too eager, after betraying Shadow Weaver to Lord Hordak and earning his forgiveness for his past judgement, Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta, mostly Entrapta, worked tirelessly to see their new plan come to fruition, creating an advanced machine that could siphon the Black Garnet's power and use it as a form of weapon, one which continued to siphon the energies out of the remaining elemental Runestones across Etheria, drawing a little power from the Elemental Princesses with each passing second.

It's polar opposite, the Moonstone of Bright Moon, was the only source magic that could perfectly counter the dark magic, shielding them from the oncoming storm with as much power as it could draw forth, one that was losing its power the quickest compared to the rest of the Runestones. Because of this, Adora found it to be the best opportunity for an attack, and was leading a strike team of the Horde's army to attack Bright Moon at its most vulnerable.

That was supposed to be the worst of it. There was no way in knowing how this war was going to end, seeing how the Princess Alliance had disbanded and there were no signs of the other princesses coming to help, and they were going to be prepared for any occasion. As long as they had each other to support them, there was nothing they couldn't accomplish, no matter how bleak or perilous the journey might seem.

At least, that was the original train of thought before Catra dropped this sudden ball on them.

"I already told you guys, I can't." It hurt Catra the more than anything else she's said in the past before. These two were the last remaining friends she had in the world, and despite everything they've been through and helped her with, she was turning their backs on them.

"What do you mean you can't? Do I have to slap you again?" Glimmer asked raising her hand threateningly. "Because I'll do it no matter how many times I have to knock some sense into you."

"Wait, shouldn't it be my turn?" Bow chuckled a little, trying to break the ice. "You already got to slap her the first time, so shouldn't it be my turn?"

"Hey, there's no line for it, but you don't get to until you have a heart to heart conversation like we did."

"Well let me talk to her now, and then I will."

"Can we stop talking about who gets to slap me here?!" Catra yelled. "I really mean it, you guys. Everything that's happened till now is because of me." Frowning, she walked her way over to the ledge of the bridge, overlooking the freezing forest below. "I never realized how terrible I was to her until I went to the Beacon, all right? She's going to be the head of the charge, and she's not going to care about who she hurts to make me suffer."

"And that's why we need you, Catra." For once, Glimmer wasn't sure how to get through to her this time, not with the short amount of time they had to think about it. "If she's as strong as you said she is, then we need She-Ra, we need you!"

"I don't even know if I can go She-Ra, Glimmer. I barely know how this sword works, and I got more questions as well as answers when I spoke to Light Hope." She still couldn't figure out how she was supposed to process any of what she told her. To go from a soldier of the Horde, to becoming a servant of She-Ra, never realizing she wasn't She-Ra at the time, and then finding out she was made She-Ra simply out of circumstances? There was too much stress to take in, and not enough time right now to get through it all. "Even if I could, it wouldn't matter."

"Why wouldn't it matter, Catra?" Bow asked, walking to her right. "Even if you couldn't turn She-Ra, you're still a strong warrior. I've seen you take on robots and soldiers without She-Ra. I'd say you're more than capable of fighting in our war."

"I didn't say I wasn't capable of it... sort of... But I wouldn't be able to." At that, she had the most painful reminder of Light Hope's declaration as she hugged herself. "Light Hope said that... unless I can let go of the past, I'll never be able to win. How am I supposed to let go of the one person who's been with me all my life? I... I wouldn't be able to." Now Glimmer and Bow could see what the problem was.

This wasn't a case of her being unwilling to fight Adora or unable to. They knew she considered them friends even if she hasn't verbally acknowledged it yet, and that she wouldn't abandon them if this was a normal fight they were about to prepare for. They were there for each other through thick and thin, and would continue to after all they've experienced together. Catra was a lot of things, some of which she couldn't see herself, and a coward wasn't entirely one of them.

What she couldn't handle is being a problem for the Rebellion when they needed her most. They were about to enter a war with little knowledge of how it would turn out. Throughout their journey, Catra's been requiring their aid to save them in the midst of a grand battle or a harrowing adventure, and despite being the one to usually save the day in the end anyway, that amount of stress and guilt it's put on her has become a burden among all else.

Now, they needed her most. They needed her at the front lines of their defense and they needed her to lead the charge against the Evil Horde army that was about to invade. She would be charging headfirst into the most dangerous part of the battlefield surrounded by soldiers and machines who were bent on her and the Rebellion's destruction, and she would be exposing herself to the most danger.

After all they've been through, she couldn't see it ending in any way positive. To her, the moment she stepped on the front lines, she would either be captured or pinned down, and requiring someone to save her. With everyone else preoccupied, they couldn't afford to reach her in time, not with their own battles to contend with. It would force someone else to slip up, to rush over and save her, and leave themselves or someone else exposed to an attack.

And that didn't even include Adora in all of this.

Her best friend, practically sister, from the Fright Zone. The one who's always been there for her when she needed her most, and almost never the other way around. She wanted Catra for herself in this fight, to cause her as much pain as she caused her, to remind her of all the horrible things she's done and put Adora through during their childhood. She wanted her to feel how much pain she was in when Adora realized she only saw her as a tool, someone who's innocence she could exploit for her own personal gain.

With all that in mind, there was no way Catra could fight back with a clear conscious. If she fought, she would be confirming everything Adora thought about her, proving to her how little their friendship meant to Catra. And if she didn't fight, Adora wouldn't care. She would be relentless on her assault and attack her, forcing the above to kick in and ruin their chances of victory.

There was no simple outcome of this war if Catra participated. She would be inflicted in a world of pain no matter how it ended, and she would suffer the most out of it.

"But, Catra-"

"Glimmer," Bow interrupted, grabbing her shoulder, "I think we should talk." From one pained expression to the next, Glimmer glanced between the two, being met with a distraught Catra who looked away to a worried Bow who didn't look any easier. She felt exactly the same way he did, knew what he wanted to say! But she wasn't brave enough to let this all go without trying some form of communication with her troubled friend, not like the other times.

This was going to be a conversation that would all go one way.

The end of everything.

...

"How can she think of-"

"I know that but-

"-secure out defenses for-"

"-flank our position-"

Catra drowned in and out of the conversation as she sat outside the room, next to the doorway with her knees curled up.

She wouldn't blame them no matter what they thought of her. She was abandoning them when they needed her most, them being upset about it is the least she expected out of this. It wouldn't surprise her if the Queen locked her up for this for the rest of her life, even if they won the battle in the end. What she was doing was considered desertion, almost treasonous by her standards, as she was leaving the Rebellion when war was finally upon them.

Within the room, she heard Glimmer and Bow talking with the Queen, Her Highness caught off guard by the announcement of what Catra was planning on doing, and taking it a lot better than Catra originally anticipated. She thought she would've immediately ordered her beheading or something the very moment she announced she was leaving, nearly baffling her that she was still sitting in the outside hallway for as long as she was now.

Whatever they were talking about, Catra faded in and out from, the guilt and consciousness weighing on her mind heavier than it's ever been before. Her thoughts turned endlessly from the betrayal she felt like she was committing to the realization that the First Ones were right. She wasn't She-Ra material if she fled from the first sign of war and danger. She argued with Light Hope that she was, scorned her for never thinking Catra could do it in the first place.

Now, she realized, she was right. Catra wasn't worthy of being She-Ra. She was selfish, greedy, all the things Adora now loathed her for and more. She wasn't the hero that they needed, she wasn't anything people wanted in an ally. She was just Catra, the worst possible thing a person could be at this point.

*creeeak*

At the sound of the door opening, Catra sprang to her feet. Anxiously, the first set of eyes she met was that of the Queen's, a lump forming in her throat as the Queen just stared at her with the Captain of the guard glaring at her side. With a righteous ruler such as her, there was no telling what she was thinking of at that moment. All she knew was that her thoughts would remain a mystery as she began walking away, not mentioning a word to the ex-Hrode soldier with as much grace and decency as she could.

"That went better than I expected." Glimmer commented as she and Bow walked out of the room.

"So..." Catra awkwardly began. How was she supposed to know what to say with her conscious weighing down her mind. "What happened."

"Ah, you know. Queen's upset, guards are out of order, Netossa and Spinnerella had little to say. The usual." His attempts at humor fell on deaf ears, neither of Glimmer's or Catra's moods brightening so much as a speck. "Heh, eh... sorry."

"I don't blame her." Catra admitted, crossing her arms. "I'm surprised she didn't have the guards execute me at this moment."

"She understands your dilemma, Catra." Looking down the hallway, Glimmer continued to speak as her mother vanished down another corridor. "Actually, she doesn't blame you at all given all you've been through in the last few days."

"Really?"

"Yup. In fact, she spent the better part of it arguing with the guard in defending your actions so you wouldn't be punished." That was... unbelievable. Catra was almost convinced it was a bold-faced lie if the circumstances gave her better time to doubt it. It also went on to add to Catra's guilty conscious as she re-examined all that she was doing.

"Eh... L-Look, maybe I don't exactly have to leave." She offered, trying to provide some source of leniency. "M-Maybe... Maybe I can... I don't know... defend the castle on the inside or somethi-"

"Catra," Glimmer's frown alone was enough to stop her in her place, "you can't stay here. We... We don't know what's going to happen after this is over, and, well..."

"We think it's better if you don't come back." Bow finished for her.

"You... Don't want me to come back?" It did go without saying, to an extent, though she wasn't planning on leaving entirely. She wanted to stick with the Rebellion and help them with their cause, that went without saying. It just wasn't easy knowing that Adora would be at the center of all this, knowing how impractical it would be to fight her. "Guys, I understand if you don't want me in the Castle and all. Heck, I would've kicked myself out too for that matter. It's not like I don't want to help the Rebellion or anythi-"

"That's not it, Catra. We just... We don't know how the rest of the Rebellion would take it if you left us when we needed you most. If we did win, everyone would be angry at you about leaving us. We wouldn't be able to keep the guards or staff from gossiping, and they would inform any allies we tried to make about it."

"The alliance already fell apart after what happened to Entrapta, not that it's your fault." Glimmer wanted to make sure Catra knew whatever happened was never her fault, that she shouldn't be riddled with guilt about it alone. "If we let you leave and come back, it would make the Rebellion look like an army of cowards, and... and everyone would doubt our cause if She-Ra was known as the one who ran away before the fighting began."

This was... understandable... and hurtful to know. The cold reality out of this was that Catra was abandoning them, regardless of her excuse. If anyone ever heard how the Symbol of the Rebellion, the essence of Hope itself, She-Ra, was known for being a coward when their allies needed her most, nobody would ever want to be associated with their cause. For all they knew, having such stories running around the castle could instigate a mutiny or betrayal, and that was the last thing they could afford with the Rebellion being as short as it was.

"So, I'm... supposed to leave and never come back?" Catra assumed, unsurprised by the revelation. "To never be She-Ra again, or anything?"

"I-It's not like that." Glimmer shook her head. "It doesn't mean you don't have to be She-Ra or a hero, Catra. You could go off saving villages and towns, helping kingdoms on your own time. It could actually help in the run long if you acquire enough allies in the process."

"W-Well... Y-You guys know I don't have to go alone, right?" Instantly, they knew where she was headed with this as she looked back and forth between the uneasy friends. "We could all go together, you know? If we all did, I doubt the guards would call it cowardice. They might think the Queen ordered it for our own safety, we could salvage the Rebellion's reputation that way-!"

"Catra, this is our home." Bow boldly retorted. "There's no way we can abandon it after all the time we've spent here."

"Y-Yeah, well..." She hoped they would understand and be more than eager to accept her offer. It did seem like a genuine idea, all things considered, and if they did, the Princess of Bright Moon would still be alive, someone of royalty that held sway within the world of kingdoms. She's already suffered the loss of one dear friend, she didn't need two more to add within a day's count. "We can find a new place to call home. I mean I did, and look... how..."

Catra's heart felt like it was just impaled on a spike as she realized what she said. She abandoned her home in the past, a place she never felt like she belonged, and this is what happened. She was aiding the side she used to consider the enemy, she was about to take part in a war that she wasn't prepared for, and worst of all, she ruined the best friendship she could ever hope to obtain.

And here she was repeating the same process again, the same mistakes. She was leaving her home again when things looked tough, and deserting the two people she considered friends. They needed her now more than ever, and she was going to leave their side to save her own skin.

Despite all the pain she felt with it, she couldn't draw any strength from her heart to turn away from it, feeling like it was her only option. On top of that, she was instigating Bow and Glimmer to do the same as her, to abandon the place they called home for their own benefit.

She was practically asking them to become like her, and even she would never want someone to turn out the way she did.

"Catra?" With a little smile, holding her shoulder, Catra turned to see Glimmer giving her a gentle look. "It's okay. We don't blame you for any of this. We could never force you to fight your friend against your will. If I was in your, heh," the princess paused looking at Catra's feet, "well, boots, I don't think I could do it either."

"But-"

"There's nothing we have to forgive you for, Catra." Bow weighed in, touching her other shoulder. "You've already helped the Rebellion more than anyone ever has before. We've accomplished much more than we thought possible, and it's thanks to you."

"You guys..." Was this how friendship was supposed to be? When someone was abandoning the others, were they supposed to smile and nod as they left them behind? Is this how Adora was before slowly becoming the person she is today? Would they turn into some sort of monster on the inside with a disdain for Catra never coming back for them? A part of her wanted to know, and the other four-fifths of her really didn't want to know.

"We should get ready, Bow. The Horde's going to be here soon."

"Right."

"Get ready?" Catra wondered, remembering how her mother forbade her earlier. "How?" Whenever the princess smiled to her at a question, it usually meant she had a plan.

A fun one, at that.

"Did you think I wouldn't be prepared for something as simple as an invasion?"

...

*clak*

"Welcome to the Bright Moon armory!" Out of all the secrets Catra has seen or exposed of Glimmer's over the months, this was, by far, the coolest thing she's ever done. "Well, not really, but I've been stashing weapons in here for months."

All around her, she bore witness to a small room that was filled to the brim with weaponry and armor. Arrows, swords, bows, shields, grenades of some sort. Everything that an armory could have need for was present within this room, all that was filling it shined with a miraculous glow as it was kept in pristine condition.

Exactly how long has she been preparing for this? Catra questioned as the three took a step forward. If Catra knew that she had anything this cool, they probably would've become friends a very long time ago! To see any princess deck out one of their rooms with an arsenal of supplies like this, to be ready to declare war on a moment's notice, Catra couldn't be anything short of impressed. This is exactly what an armory would need, and it would be impossible not to find one form of weapon in this room that wasn't listed.

"Huh! DIBS ON ARROWS!" Bow squealed, practically bashing Glimmer out of the way as he ran to the walls, with Catra and Swift Wind examining closer.

"You've been keeping these from me all this time and you never told me?" Catra asked as she examined one of the knives against the walls, touching one of the sacred-looking daggers to see if they were as real as they appeared.

"Well, you've never really wanted to hang out with me, so..." Glimmer reminded, in a slightly joking manner.

"Fair enough..." Catra almost wished she decided to stay after seeing the amount of weapons that filled the room. From chain maces to massive spears, this room was decked with nearly anything one could ask for in a war. "How have you been keeping all this stuff from-

"Huh! Catra"! Swift Wind sputtered, nudging her from behind with his snout. "Catra! Catra! Catra! Catra! Catra!"

"What?!" She growled back, irritated by the constant pushing until she finally gave him her attention. Without saying a word, the horse gestured his eyes towards the other side of the wall. There, she saw one of the largest maces she had ever seen, attached to a chain as it hung on the walls. The horse's mouth was practically drooling at the thought of having such a beautifully crafted weapon, imagining all the monsters and robots he could slay just by carrying it in his mouth! There would be no end to the amount of joy it would bring him! "Keep dreaming."

"Awwww..." The horse moaned as Catra pushed him away. He was well aware of Catra's plan to leave the Horde, and being her noble steed, he wasn't in any position to argue with her. But the least she could do is allow them to have some sort of souvenir to remember this place by.

As she was examining one of the mighty spears in the room, Glimmer heard the last voice she wanted to at that moment. "Glimmer?" Her mother said from the armory's doorway. All eyes turned to her, some with anxiety, others regret, and one still crying silently at the lack of maces he would be bringing. The Queen's stern expression didn't make their feelings any easier, her presence alone giving them enough chills to last a lifetime of grounding.

"M-Mom!" She stuttered as Bow quickly panicked, trying to hide the incredible golden arrow behind his back as Catra turned away. "How'd you know we'd be in here?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice you hoarding weapons?" Her mother replied casually, her years of experience as a Queen proving their worth.

"I'm sorry, mom." There was no point in trying to feign ignorance in her present, not with the situation at hand. "I can't just stand by while my friends and my home are in danger. I have to do this."

"...I know."

"Mom, I... wait, what?" She must've misheard that, because for a second there, it almost sounded like she acknowledged what Glimmer was doing, and accepted it.

"I've been trying all these years to mold you into someone more like me. But you're too stubborn and hotheaded, and brave, like your father." It brought genuine warmth to the Queen's heart as she reminisced. If she didn't know any better, she swore she was still talking to her husband, back when they first met. Drawing magic to her hand, the four watched as the Queen materialized a crescent moon-shaped staff out of the palm of her hand. "This was your father's staff. I think it's time that you had it."

Glimmer didn't know what to say. She was disobedient, hotheaded, all that her mother described her as and then some. She still wanted her daughter to fulfill her own dreams, to choose her own destiny, the way she's been begging her mother to. She wasn't going to put up any resistance, she wasn't going to talk her out of anything, she was just going to let her daughter make her own way for the first time, and she had her blessing.

The moment brought tears to her eyes as Glimmer wiped them away. She flung herself into her mother's open arms as the two embraced, Catra watching as bow wiped a hollow tear from his own eyes, and for the first time, said and thought nothing of it.

At least, until the Queen turned her attention to Catra soon after.

"And Catra..." The Queen said as she walked to her. It was like deja' vu for the young warrior, only this time, she was a little less optimistic about any comfort or warmth as she stood over her. "I guess you haven't changed your mind, have you?"

"Mmh..." How was she supposed to talk to her? "Hey thanks for everything, now I'm going to bail on ya"? "I know you need me right now, but I'm leaving you anyway"? There wasn't a single thought that came to Catra's mind throughout all of this. Her mouth practically moved on its own with the words she was about to speak being automatic. "I-"

*tug*

And just like her Deja Vue moment, she was immediately interrupted as the Queen embraced her in a hug, holding her warmly like any mother should as her head pressed against her stomach. There was a small tickle she felt as the Queen scratched behind her ears playfully, assuring her that she held no ill will.

"I can't thank you enough for all you've done for us, Catra." The Queen's comment added fuel to Catra's fire of guilt that as already flaming. "This Rebellion owes you more than you could possibly know."

"Please don't..." She mumbled quietly.

"To be honest, I can't help but feel responsible for all of this." With a gentle smile, the Queen lowered herself to Catra's level, looking her in the eyes. "I never should have been harsh on you for your past mistakes, Catra. I should have been praising your successes instead of berating your faults. You were just trying to help us, and I was awful about it." The Queen admitted, stroking Catra's cheek.

"It's... It's okay. I'm used to it." Catra looked away from her, unable to meet her gaze.

"That doesn't make it right. If I had been more supportive, you might've had the confidence in yourself to do what needs doing, and I can't make up for the way I saw you before, Catra." With a gentle touch, the Queen directed Catra's chin to her calming grin. "All I can do is wish you luck for your future, tell you to never be afraid of whatever challenges you might come to face. And always remember, as long as She-Ra survives, there's hope for our future."

"...Sure... thanks, I guess..." Catra strode out of the room with an aura of guilt falling off of her, the others watching in dismay as she left with Swift Wind following behind her.

Why the heck were they acting like this? She was leaving them for crying out loud! They should be angry with her, yelling at her because of her weakness! This wasn't any way to treat someone who was deserting your side when you were about to be going to war! Even if they weren't the Horde, this was being way too forthcoming about what she was doing!

Were they trying to use some form of reverse psychology? Because it felt like it was definitely working! She's never felt such an overwhelming sense of guilt before, her mind reeling in from all her past mistakes and the amount of comfort and peace her friends and allies were sending her off with. There should have been more resistance on their end, they should have been forcing her to stay against her will!

Did she want them to do it? Of course not. She couldn't force herself to participate in all of this, she had nothing to convince her to stay through all of this, other than the people she came to know as friends. It didn't mean she wanted to leave anymore than she had to, either. Were they purposely trying to get rid of her? To send her off as soon as possible out of a lack of care for her? She would prefer it that way! At least then, she wouldn't have to deal with the guilt that's been plaguing her.

She had one more stop to make as she had to collect some stuff from her bedroom, and then she'd be out of here... forever.

...

*chug*

"That's the last of it." Catra muttered again as she tied on the last of her supplies to the satchel over Swift Wind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Swift Wind asked, eyeing the large packs strapped to his side.

"Are you kidding me? Of course not." Catra replied, tying the last knot extra tightly. "I don't want to leave them behind like this, Swifty. I'd stay and help in an instant if I knew Adora wasn't coming."

"Why does one person determine if you should go or stay, Catra? Isn't she the same person who betrayed you?"

"She's also the same person I've been using all my life." Catra added. "I wouldn't want me alive either if I was in her shoes. How can I be expected to fight someone who has every reason to be mad at me, when I have nothing to blame them for?" With the silence that followed, Catra turned her attention back to the room that used to be her bedroom.

Her room had been cleared out of most-everything she would possibly need. Some blankets, soaps, a good supply of food, and a few knickknacks she had lying around from all her travels across Etheria. Anything that wasn't nailed down that she didn't bring would've been a waste of space, things she felt were better off here instead of pawning them off later for money.

It almost felt silly to her to think that, at one point in her life, she was ridiculous enough to have a pillow fight with Glimmer and Bow around here. Several, at that. Looking back on it, she wonder at what point in her life she actually did come to consider the two of them friends. Was it after reading Glimmer's diary a short while ago, or did she actually consider them friends before all of that?

It was something she wasn't ever going to find out as of now, and a question she would never get resolved after today. This was her farewell to everyone she's ever met. Goodbye to Bright Moon, goodbye to the Rebellion, and goodbye to-

"Wait!" Catra quickly turned around from Swift Wind as she saw the familiar callers running to her.

The two were now donning their own sets of armor, prepared for the war that was soon to Glimmer, she was wearing a silver breastplate with shoulder-pads, a chitin mail running along the length of her thigh for added protection. She was the spotting image of royalty that was about to prepare for battle, an ally that would defend her people to the end. A friend that would always be at your side... even if you weren't at hers.

As for Bow, for the first time since meeting him, he had the professional look of a real live soldier. Along with his yellow shirt that was still noticeable from the red heart in its center, he was wearing a golden breastplate of armor that covered down to his naval, his left wrist covered in a guard to protect himself from his own arrows and damage as long as he used his bow. An archer wasn't an archer without a functioning pair of arms, and she couldn't think of anyone better at archery than him.

As expected, the two were out of breath, clearly having ran all this way from the armory or wherever they were before.

"Huff... huff... w-wait..." Glimmer panted, trying to catch her breath.

"What are you guys doing here?" A part of Catra was hoping they came here to stop her.

"We... phew... we came to give you something." Glimmer replied, digging through her pockets as Bow dug through his.

"Wha- Ah, noooo." Catra groaned, shaking her hands and head. "No, no no, I'm not doing gifts guys, please."

"Well, don't think of them as gifts, Catra," Bow replied, pulling out his gift, "think of them as your reward."

"Reward?"

"Yeah, you know." Bow smiled to her as he pulled out his gift. "Like a consolation prize. It's not as good as a kingdom, but it's better than nothing, right?" Pulling out Catra's hand himself, he opened her palm enough to place a single arrow in it. "It's one of my explosive arrows. I know you always said you wanted one, and, since you're leaving the castle, we figure it'd be a little safer to leave you with it."

She does recall seeing his arrows in action, looking at the tip curiously. There were a few times in the past she asked him for one of his arrows to try it out for herself, and, while he was interested in the possibility to have a new archery buddy, he was a little less than reluctant to leave one of his trick arrows to a magicat who didn't seem to like them at the time.

Especially after the small hole she created in the outer walls as a result.

"You guys, you..." Her ears lowered in disgust with herself. "You guy's didn't-"

"And here." Glimmer offered her own gift, putting it in Catra's other hand. It was a small pink book, one that Catra recognized all too well.

"A... diary?"

"Your diary, now." Glimmer corrected with a sincere smile. "It used to be mine until recently. For some reason I can't seem to find my key around here?"

"Uhh..." She was thankful the three were too preoccupied with the incoming assault. Otherwise, she would've easily spotted the nervous look on Catra's face. "Y-Yeah, can't imagine where that went. But why are you giving this to me?"

"So you can keep a record for yourself."

"No, I mean... W-Why don't you keep it? You never know when you'll need to update it, right?" She offered it back with a questionable smile.

"Heh, Catra..." The princess turned her eyes away with her own small smile around her face. "You know I won't be needing it after this, right? Even if we did win, there wouldn't be much to write about it without the three of us, right?"

"Mmh..." Oh, great, more things to add on to her guilt! While she was at it, why doesn't she just add to the fact she needed a kidney transplant that Catra happened to be the only available donor for?! "I... I can't take thi-"

*tug-tug*

Catra blinked. They were the most insufferable people she had ever met. There wasn't one day in her life where they didn't do something to annoy her, whether good or bad. It usually ended up being the former, not that it mattered much to the magicat in question. They always had to go on about being nice to her, always trying to encourage her when she was feeling down, reminding her that they would always be by her side.

Hugging her with both their arms around her tightly for a final goodbye. What kind of horrible people were they?! Did they think this was any easier for her on her end? Do they think she needed all this encouragement to get out of this place? Were they trying to do everything in their power to push her away?

What good was she anymore if she was going to leave them? They had no reason to be friends with her, none that Catra could see. And yet... they continued to accept her, no matter how much of it was her fault. They just saw her as a friend, the way Adora used to see her, except when she abandoned them they didn't appear to be turned away or feel like they were abandoned.

They just smiled, and hugged her.

A hug she couldn't return with her arms pinned to her side.

"We're going to miss you, Catra." Glimmer said with a small sniffle. Catra was doing everything she could to maintain her composure, to pull in the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"It's gonna be hard to find another friend like you, Catra." Bow added, throwing her a smile as he and Glimmer pulled away. They didn't seem the least bit bothered at her pained expression, or call her out on it.

"...Why..." Catra squeezed her fist, hiding her anger. "Why aren't you guys trying to stop me?" She had a small growl behind her voice, the hairs on the end of her skin sticking up as she shook.

"Trying to stop you?"

"You know, stop me!" Catra yelled back, her sadness hidden behind a wall of anger. "You should be throwing me in chains, dragging me to the battlefield! This isn't even a time to be nice to me about all this! You should be angered with me, disgusted with me! If you guys were abandoning me instead, I'd never forgive you. So why... why can't you do the same?"

"Because it wouldn't be fair to you, Catra." Glimmer replied, her response catching her off guard. "You told us yourself. Since day one, you've been forced to do everything you didn't want to, that you've been tricked into doing someone else's work."

"So we figured, for once in your life, that we'd give you the choice this time around." Bow's addition to the news didn't bring her any more comfort, only pain. "We want you to be able to make a decision for yourself for a change, Catra. Whichever way it goes, we'll support it."

"To decide... for myself?" She... wasn't sure what that meant anymore. All her life, everyone, everything, has told her what to do, now that she thought about it. She was told to serve for the Honor of Grayskull, she was told how to best help the Rebellion during their missions, she was told what to do for training every day of her life, and now... she was given a gift she never realized she was without.

A choice.

"... You guys-"

*BOOM!*

The castle shook violently following the sound of an explosion. All heads turned to the ceiling as the castle shook all around them.

"The Horde's here!"

"We need to go." Glimmer directed to Bow, the archer nodding as he sprinted on ahead of the hallway. With a final look to her departing friend, Glimmer gave her a simple smile and a wave, silently wishing her the best of luck as she took off.

Catra didn't even have the time to raise her own hand up in farewell. All she could do was stare silently until Glimmer was out of view, and keep on staring.

So... this was how it was supposed to end, right? She'd get on the horse, she'd fly away, and that'd be the end of it. The Queen said it herself, as long as She-Ra was alive, there was hope. So... she'd be doing them a favor if she left... right? Leaving would've been the best thing she could've done for the group! She-Ra would survive, the world would keep on living, she could come back to fight another day after enough training, and everything would be better for it! It would be the best thing she could do, it was the only thing she could do, it was... it was all that she... she could...

"...Ngh..." Moaning, Catra dropped the diary to the ground as she backed herself up against a wall, slumping against it until she reached the ground. "What am I supposed to do...?"

If she helped the Rebellion, she'd lose any change to make amends with Adora.

If she left, she'd be turning her back on her current friends.

If she foolishly tried to assist Adora thinking that it would make up for everything, knowing that would never work, she'd be betraying the two greatest friends she's ever made since joining the Rebellion, the people who treated her more like family than any of her so-called "friends" ever did in the Horde!

No choice was simple for her. They would all leave to pain. Her choices came down to what is good and bad, what is her interpretation of what made them good and bad, and which ones would leave her with the most and least amount of pain afterwards. And the greater the *good* choice seemed, the more painful she knew it was going to be for her.

*whomp*

She turned her head as she saw Swift Wind sitting to her right, not paying much care over the details of it or his reasoning. "Can I help you?"

"I don't know, but maybe you could help this friend of mine?" He teased. "She's about yay-height, has wonderful friends she can rely on, likes to lick her feet~"

"Heh heh heh, aren't you funny." She laughed in an obvious sarcastic tone, shaking her head to him as she curled up her legs.

"Catra, why is this so hard for you to decide? Just help your friends!" The horse tried to look the magicat in the face, only for her to turn away forcefully. "I know you care about them, don't forget we have a bond here."

"Well if we have such a bond as you describe, you should know why I can't!" There were too many things plaguing her at once, not enough time to confront them all.

"Actually, no, I can't know. Personally, the situation seems easy to figure out. I don't know why you can't, Catra."

"Because it's my fault this is happening to begin with!" How many times was she going to have to say this before it finally got through to someone?! "All of this is happening because I treated Adora horribly! I never went back for her and that caused her to get corrupted, I try exploring the First Ones ruins by myself and gave Adora access to what started all of this, and now she's going to wage war on our home just to get back at me!"

"I thought you said you accepted all of that though and were willing to continue being She-Ra?"

"I am! But I didn't think it would mean I would have to jump in headfirst and fight Adora within the same day!"

"So you'd prefer letting everyone else take the fall while we just run away?"

"No!... But..." She could feel the corner of her eye starting to tear up a little. "If I help one side, I lose a friend. If I help the other side, I lose a friend. And if I cut down the middle and don't help either of them, I lose everything. I'm... I'm scared, alright? I'm scared because I don't know what will happen after this, and I don't want to find out." It was one of the few times in Catra's life she was honest with her own emotions, and it didn't bring any sense of comfort to her like the previous times.

The world was literally falling apart around her, both, her own, and the actual world itself. Every side seemed to be playing against one another and she was caught in the middle of all of it. She was scared at the reality that she was facing, she was worried about how much pain she was going to be in when all of this was over.

For the first time she didn't know what to expect from the world... and she was frightened about it.

*Sllllllllurp*

Catra twitched an eyebrow in disgust before glaring twitchy at the horse who slobbered all over her, fresh drool dripping from her face. "Dont. EVER. Do that again!"

"Well it was the only way I could try your tears without hitting you with my wings or smacking you with my hooves. Now I need you to answer one of my questions, Catra. Why aren't you helping your friends?"

"I told you, I'm scared, okay? I don't know what to do, all I know is that it's going to hurt no matter what."

"Then why not just stick around so you would at least have somebody to have your back when it's over?"

"Because it makes me weak, all right? I was a weak little girl who always relied on Adora to fix her problems, and then I started taking advantage of all that, and now this is happening. All I'm doing is repeating the same mistakes all over again at this rate."

"So... Why not just accept it, and move on?"

"Are you kidding? Because it'll hurt!"

"And you have a whole bunch of friends that'll have your back this time around." If he wasn't getting through to her, he was definitely getting some sort of reaction out of her as she turned away at this, frowning as she lowered her head to her knees. As gently as he could, he wrapped an unfurled wing around her, pulling her closer as she did her best to ignore him. "Catra, I know it's going to hurt. You might be in more pain than you've ever been in, and it's not going to get any easier for you down the road."

Was this his idea of a pep talk, or was he purposely trying to talk her out of helping them? Telling her that it would get worse if she helped was, by no means, a useful, much less, good idea. If anything, telling someone all of their fears, suspicions, and doubts would come true was the last thing you should ever do!

"But if you leave now, that pain is just going to grow deeper and deeper." He continued. "You'll always be running from a past until you come across the day you can't run away anymore, and then you'll be forced to confront it." With a solemn look in her eye, she stared into his, the horse surprisingly smiling at this. "If you want to limit the pain now, you're going to have to confront your past head on while you still have people that'll have your back. Otherwise... you might lose everything you didn't even know you had, and there will be no one left to support you."

"..."

Pain.

More Pain.

Even more pain.

There wasn't a solution that came to her that didn't result in pain, only a way to relieve it.

For all that she's done, for all her past mistakes, this was her reality, a road that she created that was coming to a dead end. She was speeding out of control with little to no way out, and it was going to bring her to a grinding halt against her will. Only when she crashed did she have the question she needed to ask most of all.

Who was going to be there to help her out of her wreck?

...

From atop the stairs of Bright Moon's entrance, Glimmer and Bow watched. In rows at a time, they watched as dozens of tanks appeared through the trees, making their presence known at the shore. Each one of those tanks alone were enough to destroy the entirety of the castle, not to mention the pillar which housed the powerful Runestone.

This was the last line of defense for the Rebellion. With the guards protecting the castle from the sides, that left the front entrance completely wide open, save for the few members of royalty and soldier, namely Bow, who guarded from the front. If the Runestone fell, then that would be the end of them, even if they pushed the Horde out of their home. They would just come back, more powerful than ever, and there would be no way to defend themselves without the source of their magic.

The sky itself was an ill omen long before this war had began. For the two friends, they knew it was up to them now, as well as Netossa and Spinnerella, to defend the castle from its attackers. Despite how bleak and hopeless everything looked, the two found themselves hoping, that just maybe, this would all work out in the end.

"Well... this is it." Glimmer said, breathing deeply to herself as the two started to walk towards the steps.

"Hey, we'll be alright." Bow tried to encourage, patting her back. "Whatever happens, I promise you we'll make it through this."

"Hmhm, thanks Bow." His optimism was one of his most redeeming traits to Glimmer. No matter how bad something might have seemed or perilous, he was always the one who could smile through it at the worst of times. "I just wish that... you know..."

"Yeah, I know, but we gave her the choice, remember? It wouldn't be right to take that away from her."

"I know, I know. I just... I just wish she would've chose us, you know?" Glimmer remembered all the past times that they helped one another, from saving Catra from drowning, to Catra saving them from Shadow Weaver, and each other from Entrapta's computer virus. There were too many good memories mixed in with the bad, none of which Glimmer ever wanted to forget about. She was prepared to keep all the memories they had of their time together, no matter how saddening some of them were. "Just to... you know... finally hear her call us friends, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess, where Catra comes from, you're just unable to, though. I promise you, you did the right thing, Glimmer." If there was anyone she would have at her side in these last possible moments, there was nobody better than Bow... and maybe-

"Glimmer!" Bow quickly interrupted, point out to the distance. Turning back, Glimmer's eyes widened in shock as she saw a familiar figure stepping out from behind the tanks, two as a matter of fact. The two walked into the water of the flat ravine, the tanks staying in their place as the leader of the assault seemed intent on either dealing with the matters herself, or wished to discuss something out in the open before everything blew up in all-out war.

It was the leader of the assault team, Horde Officer Adora, and her friend, Horde Officer Scorpia.

"What is she doing here?!"

"I don't know..." Glimmer replied, noticing how the Force Captain held up a single arm. She couldn't tell what she was doing with it, but based on how the tanks were waiting to attack, she could assume she was giving the order to halt, no doubt wishing to speak about something as she stared back up to them. "But we don't have a choice. We need to buy Catra as much time as she needs to escape from here." It was foolish bout of optimism to think they would be alright to meet her directly, yet it was all they had at this time.

Running across the bridge was the first thing the Queen could see as she walked from her castle. Examining her surroundings, figuring where the two were headed, the Queen bit her bottom lip as she allowed them. She knew her daughter wouldn't listen to anything she had to say if she thought she had to, and that also didn't mean she had to let them go unprotected as long as she stood.

Flapping her wings, the mother flew herself over to the Moonstone of Bright Moon, standing herself under the magnificent stone as she began to focus her energy. There was no telling how much time they would need for, if any, reinforcements to show up, or how long they could hold out on their own. All they knew was that whatever happened between her daughter and the one she went to meet, it would determine how the rest of this war would turn out, and their chances of survival.

With her magic gathered, the Queen of Bright Moon generated a sole barrier over the tower of the runestone, stretching straight to the watery floor below that her daughter and her friend finally reached as the barrier became whole. Reaching the bottom level, the two seeing a small bluish shimmer of the Moon Stone's magic, the two knew to stay perfectly within the confines of the protective magic for as long as this conversation took.

It was there that they were met with the disgusted looking face of a lone blonde girl named Adora, and her protective friend who stood at her side with her arms crossed. With the barrier spread a good twenty feet around them, the four slowly approached one another, Bow drawing his arrows as he and Glimmer remained within the shield as a precaution.

"Princess." Adora scowled, still donning the headband since she began her betrayal to Shadow Weaver.

"Adora." Glimmer retorted, giving her own look of irritation as well.

"..." She paused as she stared back at Bow. "...I'm sorry, who are you?"

"You should at least get to know the people you kidnap, you know!" Bow grumbled, feeling a little ashamed she didn't take the opportunity to know his name.

"Whatever. I'm going to ask you two this once, and then you're going to tell me the truth. Then, I decide if I let you live or not, got it! Tell me where Catra is. Now!"

"Oh, now you care?" Bow spat. "You didn't seem care much about her when you left her in the First Ones ruins."

"I know. I also know she's too stubborn to die off when you expect her to. So I'll ask you one more time. Where. Is. Catra!"

What exactly would happen if she told them the truth? Would she be willing to stall for several minutes thinking Catra could escape in that short amount of time? Would she press on the attack right away? Every second they had provided Catra another second to fly on out of here, assuming she didn't as they were running down the steps of the tower, and they had to take it. "Catra's-"

"Already gone." Bow lied, much to Adora's annoyance. "She left the moment we got to Bright Moon. Something about you tearing her heart apart, unable to cope with her feelings. Ring any bells?"

"Tch, heheheheh, you're seriously aren't you?" A smirk crossed Adora's lips as she let out a mad fit of giggling, not caring as she refused to keep her emotions repressed. "Hah! That's a good one! Catra has feelings?"

"Yeah, she does!" Glimmer snapped back. What did Catra ever see in this girl that was so friendly? "If you were such a great friend to her, like she always said you were, you'd notice!"

The look of amusement turned to a look of disdain as she stared back at the Princess of Bright Moon. Whenever trouble came about, Glimmer was there. Whenever something annoyed her, Glimmer was there. Glimmer was there at the best of times, and the worst of times, and always at the center of EVERY TIME that Catra was involved. Shrugging her emotions off, the two started to watch as Adora pointed back and forth between the two, silently muttering her lips to herself.

"...What are you doing?"

"Deciding which of you I get rid of first." Adora boldly stated. "I never liked you, but I feel like I could make it soooo much more painful for you if I got rid of your archer buddy here." At that, Bow tightened the grip on his arrow, prepared to release a shot at the slightest twitch.

"You can forget about getting either of us. You're not getting passed this barrier." Glimmer retorted, earning a mere grin from the Force Captain.

"Oh, that's adorable."

"What?"

"Heh heh... you think I'm on the outside of it." With a flash of her headband, raising her hand forward, Glimmer had a full second to understand what she was referring to as she gazed at her own feet. From the shallow water, never realizing it as a majority of the land was now covered in darkness, Glimmer realized there was one slightly darker line that connected from where Adora was standing, all the way over to where Glimmer was standing.

She had made her shadows directly under the barrier before it had formed.

*twang*

*splash!*

"Ahhhh!" Glimmer cried out in fear as she was suddenly pulled by her feet, knocking her off of them as she was reeled in hastily towards Adora herself. Bow was caught off guard at the realization as he heard Glimmer scream in terror, lowering his arrows as he watched Glimmer break through the barrier as she crossed it.

"Glimmer!" With a cry, Bow quickly returned his arrow to his bowstring, too little, too late.

"Gotcha!"

*splash!*

"Ugh!" Bow was helpless as he found herself tackled to the ground, the water reaching up to his ears, as Scorpia pinned him to the ground by his with her claws, raising her stinger above the two of them threateningly. Grinning, the scorpion princess thrust her stinger straight towards his head, planning to keep him nice and quiet for the remainder of the war as a nice cell was waiting for him to come back to the Fright Zone. All Bow could do was struggle as he grabbed around the tip of her stinger with his hands, attempting to push her off in vain as Glimmer remained in peril.

The same girl's heart was trembling as she was dragged through the barrier, one that was ripped apart long enough for Scorpia to pass through it after Glimmer's forceful dragging. Pulling the princess in front of her, Adora gave a wicked smile as she watched the princess being dragged in front of her, lifting her into the air when she finally reached her. It was a small effort as Adora continued to torment her, using her magic to flip the girl right side up again, this time wrapping a strong shadow over Glimmer's throat, listening to the princess struggle for breath as she pulled at the shadows for dear life.

It was time to get some much needed payback.

"I'll ask you for the last time, and I mean," Adora repeated, this time growing a large blade-like shadow in her right arm for emphasis, "the last time. Tell me where Catra is while I'm still in a good mood, and I might let the both of you rot in a cell for the rest of your life."

"Nghhhh!" Glimmer grumbled, trying to breathe. "Y-You know, back in the ru-ruins... for a s-sure friend who hates b-being abandoned... you sure don't s-seem... seem to mind doing i-it... to Catra!"

There was no amusement on Adora's face at this. No anger, no jealousy, no confusion, no care, no nothing. She just gave the most bored expression she has ever given in her entire life.

"...You know... I reeeeeally wish I did this when we first met." With a sinister smirk, the ends of Adora's skin twitching with goosebumps of excitement, Adora pulled back her blade as the princess closed her eyes fearfully, preparing to relieve all her troubles, and this princess from her head, all at the same time-!

"ADORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A single voice echoed throughout the valley as all eyes and ears lifted from whence they were. Dropping the princess to the ground instantly, Glimmer rubbing her sore throat as she panted heavily for breath, all heads slowly turned to back to the top of the archway across the bridge, the very spot they could see the one person each of them called out to.

"Catra!"

Catra stared at her sword as she brought it to her head. This was it. All that she's done, all that she's been fighting for, has lead to this moment. She didn't want to fight her friend with every fiber of her being. If surrendering to her would instantly make Adora forgive all her past transgressions, she would do it in a heartbeat. But the Adora standing before her wasn't showing any mercy to her allies, nor the people she came to consider friends.

She was going to hurt them unless she did something, here and now.

With a sigh, Catra followed her sword as she raised it to the heavens, prepared to recite the ancient incantation that have her her powers.

"For the Honor of-!"

*BOOOOOM!*

"Noooo!" Glimmer cried out in tears, unable to believe what she had witnessed.

It couldn't have happened. Someone had to tell her what she saw truly didn't happen. Before Catra could finish her verse, from what they could hear anyway, one of the many tanks saw this as an opportunity that was too good to pass up, one that couldn't be let to waste. Against any orders that may have come previously, one of the surrounding tanks fired heavily on the girl, landing a direct blast on where Catra stood.

"W-What happened?" Bow asked, unable to see from where he lied as he continued to push the tail away from his face.

"Catra..." Glimmer's eyes watered heavily as she saw the smoke slowly dissipate from the stairs. All that remained of the once obnoxious friend to the friend who was wrought with turmoil, nothing was left that remained of her. No sword, no hair, not even a simple tiara like she used to wear. All about Catra was gone.

Everything about her was gone.

"Catra..." It lasted for only an instant. For an instant, a small twinge entered Adora's heart, one that was unfamiliar in the large scope of things, and one that disappeared as she shook her head from the sight of the destroyed archway, grinning back to the princess who continued to cry over spilled milk. "Ah, well, that was faster than I expected." She ignored the tears that drained from the princess's eyes, and one of her own, as she created another large blade-like arm on her opposing side. "You shouldn't cry too much, princess, because pretty soon, you're going to meet her a-"

-aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

*CLANG!*

With a thunderous howl, having a sheer moment to block herself with both her arms, the shocked Adora stared up into the eyes of her former friend's enraged gaze, seeing the fire burning in her eyes as she held the sword in one hand.

She resembled nothing like the Catra she once new. Her tiara had more of a golden color to it and was slightly slanted upwards, her previously red outfit was replaced with something much whiter, and her wrist were covered in golden bracelets that protected her, all culminating to the form that she had donned.

For Catra, it was the same appearance she was used to. There wasn't anything special about it, and there wasn't anything new to it compared to her original She-Ra transformation. If anything, she might have felt a little bit stronger, though it was barely negligible compared to how strong she usually felt when she transformed into this 1/4th She-Ra form.

This was still a new form that Adora had yet to witness before, the infamous hero of the Rebellion that was known as She-Ra.

*WHAM!*

"Agh-!" Adora cried out as she was slammed away.

With her momentum caught off guard, dropping to the floor in front of her as she continued to stare at Catra in a state of confusion, the magicat took advantage of the opportunity as she continued her attack. With one fell swoop to the ground, Catra ducked under her as she flipped the sword in her hands over to its flat side, slamming against Adora's torso like a baseball against a bat as she bashed her a good thirty feet away through the air, the Force Captain growling as she failed to return to her footing as she kept rolling until she came to an end, a few bangs of her hair dangling in front of her growling eyes.

"What the-?"

*BASH!*

"Oof-!" Scorpia let out a sudden crying yelp as she was tackled out of the way sooner after, too distracted by her friend's sudden attack to notice the charging alicorn that crashed into her. In one solid strike, the horse let out a whinnying cry of honor as he slammed against the scorpion princess, knocking her far off Bow, flaring his nostrils angrily as he stood over his fallen comrade protectively.

The two Force Captains were now outnumbered up close, with the horse helping Bow off the ground with his wings, and Glimmer staring in awe at the holy figure that had just saved her. Her tears drying up, Glimmer had never been so happy before to see her friend safe and sound in front of her very eyes, especially after what she heard her say next.

"Stay away from my friends, Adora."

The Battle for Bright Moon had officially begun...

...

A/N: Yeah, I know, so the battle "officially" starts next chapter, but I'm all the more for it in my case ^^ I got loads of actions for you guys coming up as we near the LAST 2-3 chapters of season 1 :D! I only hope I can keep it as epic as you guys know and love it as we get our rematch and our grand finale! What will happen? NOBODY KNOWS! (except me XP lol)

Anyway, shoutout to everyone who's loved and supported this series and made it the highest reviewed She-Ra fic on this site ^^ You guys all do me the honors! With that said, hope you all enjoyed!

Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 51: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah! What is going on peeps! Hope you guys had a nice weekend and a Cinco de mayo for those celebrating it! Had a few snags to deal with this weekend and an issue or two here and there, but overall I think this came out rather well all things considered ^^

This also might be one of my more quirky/silly opening lines to an episode's chapter, which I hope you guys enjoy because it'll be the last warmy feeling we get through the rest of the season....

Anyway, enjoy!

...

None of those present here could believe their eyes, half of them still recovering from the tackles and slams they had personally experienced from their enemies as they got back to their feet.

All of this had began with one, single, girl, known as Catra. When she touched the Sword of Protection, it had changed everything. It began an epic tale of adventure that brought her across the world of Etheria, in a way that she had always dreamed of, yet not in a way that she had always hoped.

She got to experience the many wonders of the world she was always secluded from, unaware of as she was raised within the confines of the Horde. From the harrowing and deadly seas as she traveled across Salineas, to the magical realms of Mystacor, the magic capitol of the world that housed a variety of sorcerers and sorceresses from all around the world. This was a freedom she had never gotten to experience in all her life, and she had the chance to see the world and all it had to offer her!

The only setback that kept it from being the way she hoped for- it wasn't with the friend she thought she'd be sharing the experience with.

That girl's name was Adora. Friend, ally, Force Captain of the Horde. The very person who's live she ruined and took advantage of throughout most of their childhood, one of the best friendships anyone could ask for. She was always by her side, protecting her and helping her through most of her problems, and never returning that assistance unless it helped Catra out in any way.

This wasn't the way they were supposed to meet each other here. They were supposed to be on the same side, as they always were! They were best friends who had each others' backs! Before Catra found the sword, she was supposed to either be a simple soldier following orders, or finding some way raise through the ranks so she could be a fellow Horde Force Captain, fighting alongside Adora with the Rebellion.

All the same, she was also supposed to be fighting with Adora for the Rebellion. After everything she found out from Light Hope, she was supposed to be giving Adora the sword in her stead. She was the She-Ra they were looking for, not Catra. When she gave her the sword, Adora was supposed to be aware of her destiny, and, presumably, turn over to their side and fight against the Horde with Catra. Personally, given her experiences with Glimmer and Bow, she would gladly fight alongside her against the Horde, especially against everyone who tormented her throughout the years.

Now that same friend was glaring her down across from the ravine of Bright Moon, with an army of Horde tanks at her back. Adora's eyes were burning with anger, one Catra could feel blazing across her skin as she glared at her.

Catra never wanted this, honestly. A part of her wanted to do this against her own will, almost wishing the Rebellion was forcing her to do this. Adora was her friend, someone better than Glimmer and Bow had a personal experience with. The monster she became was a result of Catra's own doing, and nothing she could say would change their opinion of her, she knew.

She still wished the options she had were easier to contend with. Originally wanting to run away from all of this, she came to the conclusion that there was only one feasible path, one way to take after another necessary pep talk with Swift Wind, a horse, of all people. He made her realize that the pain she was feeling would always continue to rise the longer she ran away from her past and didn't confront it, and it was only a matter of time before she reached a point where she couldn't escape from it.

She didn't want to confront her past anymore, and she didn't want to lose any friends no matter how this day played out. But after all she's done, everything she's experienced, she's had to come to a grand realization:

Unless she confronted her past now, there would be no one there to comfort her in the end when her past finally confronted her.

Maybe that's why her current She-Ra form was still the same as always. While she might have felt a little stronger, whether or not that was due to her less selfish actions or the fact the inhibitor was officially removed, it still wasn't enough apparently to convince the sword that she was worthy of the true form of She-Ra. It's not exactly that surprising when it came down to it.

On a whole, she was doing it for her own benefit, to an extent. She was doing this to lessen the pain that she would feel later on in her life, and to prevent herself from suffering an entirely new level of pain. And even though she was going to be rescuing the people she did admittedly care about, it was still with that selfish mindset that kept the sword from granting her its full power.

Nevertheless, she didn't care about it. This was her last chance to save her friends, something she failed to do in the past, and she wasn't going to abandon them again.

"C-Catra..." Glimmer's never been so happy to see her appear, possibly more overjoyed by what she actually called her compared to the last minute rescue she finally preformed. "Y-You... called us friends..."

The small blush on Catra's face as she turned her face with a small curve in her smile all but confirmed it. "Heh... yeah... I guess I did."

"...You pick now of all times to say it?!" Her once cheerful demeanor was soon replaced with utter disbelief and annoyance as she dropped her arms.

"What? I thought you'd be happy!" Cut her some slack at least! She's spent all this time without actually calling the two friends, and after everything they've done for her she thought it was the least she could do! "Better late than never, right?"

"We're in the middle of a war!"

"Well excuse me for thinking it would cheer you up for a change!"

"Well it would have if you did it-!"

"Um... guys?"

"What?!" Bow would have fainted at the sight of the two terrifying girls that glared fiery anger at the young boy.

"Maybe we should have this conversation after we survive?" He suggested, pointing back to the army of Horde that was still at their doorstep.

"...Fine." They agreed in unison, turning their attention back to the source of the Horde army.

Adora was chuckling on the inside as Scorpia made her way to her side again, grinning that Catra was still alive enough for her to deal with her personally. She was also rather surprised by her change of outfit. Not once did she ever see Catra change her outfit, not even when she was pulling one of her hair-brained schemes. The golden tiara, the bracelets, the white clothes-

She stopped as she stared curiously at Catra's legs, growing a small blush on her face as she removed her headband. "...Catra, where are your pants?"

"I know, right?" Finally, someone who got her! Shaking her head from the small bout of confusion, she drew her sword in Adora's direction, threateningly. "Adora, I'm giving you a chance here. Turn back... please..." Glimmer and Bow were all too aware of the pain in her voice as she said this. From up close, there was a small twitch they could see in her grip of the sword, Catra's stance being unusually off balance compared to normal.

"Turn back?" Adora scowled at the request. "Did you think I would turn away with the entire army just because you said to "turn back"? First you mess up my life, abandon me, and now you're telling me to leave you alone? Tch, you know for the so-called friend who said they cared about me, you're terrible at showing it."

"I do care about you, Adora." How many times was Catra going to have to argue that? "Do you think I want to be out here right now? Do you think this is any easier on my end? I want to go back to the way things were, Adora, not how they are now."

"...I used to want the same thing, you know?" Lowering the anger in her brow, she turned to the headband grasped firmly in her hand.

"Why did she take off her headband?" Bow whispered over to the magicat, drawing his bow and arrow at the ready.

"I kept thinking everything that was happening since you left was a bad dream, and you were going to be there the very next day." She shared in the guilt of Catra's departure, how unaware she was that it would lead to her defection. Until recently, she wished she could go back to that day every second of her life, and either go with Catra like she should have, or stopped her from leaving in the first place. Maybe she would've joined her side and seen what the big deal was about this Rebellion, or manage to convince her to come back to the Horde like she should have.

With renewed vigor and a sense of anger spreading across her, she squeezed the headband in her hands. "But I'm tired of looking into the past, Catra. I'm sick of being the only one who wants to go back to those days, the only one who's tried to fix things. I'm tired of you, Catra."

"So now, I'm moving towards the future." With a stern look in her eyes, the captain grabbed both ends of the headband firmly. "One where the Horde rules all, and the world is united."

"The Horde doesn't want to unite the world, Adora! It just wants t-"

...

"Are you okay?!" Glimmer kneeled to her side quickly as she helped pat her back.

"Ack-! Ough...I'm...ough... I'm fine..." Catra rasped, her voice a little sore from the salt water she forcefully inhaled. Looking around her various things began to dawn on her.

Now she was realizing that it didn't matter what she was doing or where she was when these visions occurred, and that could prove very problematic in the future.

Lastly she realized...

"Y-You guys... saved me?" For whatever reason to her, this apparently warranted the two to smile back to her.

"Of course we saved you," Glimmer said brightly, "we're a team!"

"Yeah! The Best Friend Squad sticks together!" Bow declared.

...

"Agh!" Catra let out a groan as she clutched her head, wobbling a step forward as the migraine passed as quickly as it came.

"Catra?" Glimmer ran over to her side with Bow, worry in both their eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Her feet were the only things wet at this point, compared to the vision she just had. "I... I just had another vision..."

This was far beyond any sort of vision she's had up to this point. Most of her visions came from the far pasts of her childhood, the memories surfacing within weeks to months of each other, and always taking place in the Fright Zone. According to Light Hope, these were supposed to fill her with a sense of peace of some sort, to help her calm her heart in order to better use the sword, and strengthen her connection to it.

The recent vision she just had was the farthest thing from what she was used to. It wasn't anything too horrendous, save for what happened right before it, and it didn't really give her any sense of peace. As far as she remembers, she nearly drowned to death on that day, and Glimmer and Bow saved her. It was kind of hard to forget since it lead to Catra fulfilling her promise to Glimmer after she, presumably, helped her transform into She-Ra, followed by the immediate week she went without talking to her out of anger.

What was the point of this sudden vision, though? Thinking about it, her visions happened whenever the sword was around her, so it was easy to assume that the sword was the one who gave her the recent vision, as Light Hope stated. But what was the purpose of it just now? Why show her a random vision out of nowhere in the middle of all this? Even the one that almost made her drown had more sense to pop up than this one did! Least that one was after she killed the giant sea serpent.

If her past visions were trying to tell her how to find a sense of peace, what was this one trying to tell her?

"You had one now?"

"Catra, are you sure you're able to fight?" There was no way he or Glimmer could save Catra in the middle of this war. If Catra ever was in peril in the midst of all this, nobody would be able to save her, and Bow couldn't risk that.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine." Catra shook the fuzziness out of her head before returning her attention to a threatening Adora. "Adora, it's like I was trying to say. The Horde doesn't want unite Etheria. All it's going to do is cover the world in darkness!"

"Darkness, huh? And what's wrong with that?" It was just like Catra, to always judge people or things because of their differences. Despite how people always treated her the same way, she never let it deter her from how she treated others. "A cloud here, a shadow there. You are one of the last people who should be complaining about the dark side to everything, Catra."

"Adora, that's not what I meant!"

"And I don't care what you meant, Catra! Besides," smirking the Force Captain looked down to the headband clenched tightly in her hands, "I happen to enjoy a little darkness, Catra. I haven't collected any shadows since the Fright Zone, and now..."

Catra silently gasped as it suddenly struck her. Looking to the ground, the mountains, the trees, everywhere, she saw it. The reason Adora was brave enough to come out in the middle of this battlefield with one ally as backup, the reason she took off the headband, the way she seemed intent on spreading the darkness. All around Catra, around Bright Moon, was the very source of Adora's headband's power: Darkness.

And now, the entirety of Bright Moon was covered in a layer, however thin, of it.

"No..." She steadied the grip on her sword, uneased by the tension filling the air and the battle she knew was about to unfold. "She's going to draw the shadows from this place!"

"No she won't!" Tightening his own grip on his weapon, Bow steadied the arrow in full, taking aim directly at the headband itself in an attempt to pry the band straight out of Adora's hands in a clean shot. Slowing his breath, in one quick motion, Bow fired the arrow directly between Adora's raising hands and the open air behind her, firing it as swiftly as the wind as it was launched directly towards the Force Captain.

Only for Scorpia to grab it a few feet away from Adora with one claw.

"No you don't." She sneered, clipping the arrow in half with her strong claws. By the time she pulled her claws back, the rest were met with the sight of a mischievous grin plastered on Adora's face as the headband was lifted to her forehead, tied tightly around her head with the assurance that it wouldn't come off without consent.

And her transformation had begun.

All around them, from the waters to the forest, everything began to shake violently as a strong gust blew through the valley. Looking around them, Catra could see the trees as the leaves were pulled off by the wind itself, the branches cracking under the force of the massive draw. From every crevice and every source of darkness, from the smallest hint of shades to the biggest source of shadows, Adora drew in every source of shading she could, squeezing her head a bit as she pushed passed the pain that followed.

This was unlike any source of shadows Adora had gathered previously in the past. Before, all she gathered the first time was during a setting sun over the Kingdom of Salineas, the kingdom flourishing with pure shadows from all around the buildings that the sun had provided, followed by the darkness that could be pulled from the ocean's murky depths. It didn't matter if they couldn't tell just how deep or how far the range of her shadows could pull from, it provided more than a match than Catra was capable of fighting against.

The other times she had done it was during her own personal training. With the Fright Zone being the epitome of cruelty behind it's lies and manipulations, shadows ran amok across the land, the skies being filled with clouds of darkness and the corridors bright enough just for day to day labors. She drew in the average amount of shadows that she could from the zone, harnessing them and modifying her own shadows in a variety of different forms and uses.

The one common string they all had along with them was that they were limited by the amount of shadows they could produce. With an average quantity to pull from, Adora managed to pull them into all sorts of things between gargantuan clawed arms to blades capable of stretching up to twenty feet away.

Now, she was at the epicenter of an entire land filled with shade and darkness, one that was rushing into her like a whirlpool.

From every angle and every side, they watched as the shadows beneath their feet and from environment pulled towards Adora endlessly, moving like a wave across the solid ground, as it coalesced into a singular point. Under Adora, the blonde Force Captain watched as the shadows pooled around her, growing a deepening darkness that slowly began to spread around her in size and mass.

It was no surprise to her as the shadows began to grow around her body itself, the blackness churning with power as they rose across Adora's body. She closed her eyes in anticipation and calmness, the once unbearable pain of this rush of power feeling like nothing more than a warm breeze blowing across her person. She was used to this power, she was prepared to embrace everything it had to offer if it meant winning this war, and the results continued to satisfy her as her power continued to mount.

Reaching the top of her head, covering her in pure shadow, the power still didn't appear to be slowing down as it drew over the girl. The power continued to amount without pause as it began to spread across her surroundings a good seven feet in radius. In a circle, the others could only watch on in terror and wonder as the shadows rose out of the ground as it spiraled all around Adora, spinning like a twister as it began to levitate the girl off the ground a few feet, continuing to fill it's master with it's dark power.

Catra was trembling a little bit as she watched this, her animal instincts telling her to be afraid like Swift Wind appeared to be as he lowered his ears. This was unlike anything she, or the rest of them at that, have ever witnessed before. They weren't just witnessing someone harnessing the powers of their surroundings for their own benefit, they weren't using it to attack anyone that neared them to keep themselves out of harms way.

This was the power of a Princess, one who now appeared to have mastery over the darkness as it began to float the girl back to the ground where her feet were firmly planted, her top half slouching over as her arms dropped ahead of her. The darkness began to dim around her, revealing the form of Adora once more. They didn't hear a plea or cry of pain, they didn't hear any bouts of laughter at the overwhelming power, and they didn't hear anything other than the wind that continued to push passed everyone's head.

Until it happened.

*Crack*

All at one, Adora's right shoulder twitched violently. It was only for a second, long enough for everyone to see her throw her arm back and forth. A crackling that almost sounded like bone being misplaced, Adora's fingers started twitching back and forth as her right shoulder spasmed out of control. The Force Captain kept her head lowered as the ponytail of her hair practically broke itself free out of her hairband, the hair willing its freedom from the bounding leather as the ends of her hair started to flow around her.

Instinctively, the rest took a single step backward, feeling something big was coming towards them from the stationary captain. Adora had never felt such a rush of power before in all her life. Instantly, her emotions were swarmed with an everlasting sense of calmness and peace, feeling like nothing could possibly harm her in any such way. She barely felt anything as something suddenly sprouted from her back along her right shoulder blade, grinning as she felt her hair wave around with the power that filled her entire body.

It's no wonder Shadow Weaver was always so obsessed with power if this was the peacefulness she always felt!

While she didn't turn around herself, she could see perfectly clear in the water what had popped out of her back, and she didn't care. She didn't care as four massive shadowy thick tentacles sprouted on each side of her back, from both her shoulder blades and both sides of her abdomen, stretching out nearly a foot thick to the tip, and as long as her body in length. All four of them gave off their own sinister aura of darkness, small spores of shadows emanating off of them as they wiggled around her back. And the transformation didn't stop there.

In the water, she saw it. Like a majestic wave washing over her hair, one strand after the other, she watched in glee as the left half of her hair, from the front all the way to the back, right down the middle, started to darken until it was completely black, clashing perfectly with the right half of her hair that maintained its constant blonde glow, and the red that became her irises as they changed color.

There was little care she had for the small shadowy claws that manifested at the tip of her fingers, feeling her shadows were ready to spring into action instantly whenever she needed to form something.

With this, the transformation was complete. There was no pain as the tentacles burst from her back, since they didn't actually come out of Adora herself. All the shadows that were too much for her body to personally maintain sprouted from these places of origin, allowing Adora to expel the excess magic without injuring or harming her own body. And with a wicked smile, she slowly leaned her head up, looking directly at Catra.

The traitor.

The ex-best friend.

The enemy.

And now she had an entire assortment of powers to play with.

"Guys," Catra spoke at long last, keeping her attention on her abominable friend, "run."

"What?" Glimmer must've misheard her, right? There's no way Catra was suggesting she was going to take on Adora by herself, right?

"I said run-!"

*crackckckck-!*

Before Catra could sputter her warning again, she was dragged forcefully against the ground by a massive tentacle wrapping around her right leg, through the ground, as she was pulled by Adora's massive upper-right appendage. Catra felt the harsh scrape of the dirt as she was pulled over within seconds, and was tossed hazardously into the woods nearly a hundred feet behind them, passed the mechanical tanks.

It took little to no effort on Adora's part, the half-blonde sneering at how simple the dragging was. All it took for her was mere thought to drag the magicat away from her friends in a mere second, not even feeling it as she normally did with her shadows. This new boost of power kept her from feeling the strange shadows she attacked with, her sense of pain or touch numbed by the raw power that now infested her body.

"I'll take care of kitty, you focus on the Moonstone." Adora didn't give Scorpia the chance to question it, not that she would, as Adora dug the tentacles several yards ahead into the ground. With one solid pull, like a slingshot, she threw herself into the air, the others watching as she leaped into the sky until she landed within the forest, her body hidden by the foliage and trees that encompassed it.

That left the other Force Captain to grin back at her enemies, gesturing with her hands for the tanks to press on the attack. Glimmer and Bow tensed a bit as they prepared for the army of tanks that were approaching them, half of them already charging their cannons as they took aim at the duo and the Moonstone's pillar. They would need to fend off the attacking tanks and mechanical machines with their own two hands as long as Catra was preoccupied with the newly empowered Adora.

Fortunately, they wouldn't have to do it alone.

Sensing her daughter's distress, observing the tanks that were steadily charging towards them, the Queen gathered all the magic she required into the runestone as she began to channel her power. In one large blast across the ravine and its coast, the Queen unleashed a powerful wave of blue magic, blasting all of the tanks away a couple feet, and Scorpia a good distance over the tanks from the blastwave, temporarily immobilizing them as they found themselves either backed up to one another, or the few that were toppled entirely by the Queen's blast.

The Queen would have to be careful not to use too much excess energy as she required it to keep the dome-like barrier around the Moonstone's chamber. It would only take a couple hits from the oncoming tanks to completely destroy the last line of defense Bright Moon had to offer to the Rebellion. It forced Glimmer and Bow to contend with the tanks as she went back to focusing her magic to protect it.

It was all up to them now as they prepared their weapons for an all-out assault from the tanks, ready to defend Bright Moon with their lives. They just hoped that Catra would be all right on her own as she continued to deal with her former best friend...

...

*shkkkkkkkk*

"Gah!" Catra cried out as she crashed against the rough ground on her back, the pain, while mitigated vastly by the new She-Ra form, was intense.

It was also thanks to her She-Ra state that she managed to recover almost immediately from the landing as she jumped back to her feet, the sword still clenched tightly in her hands throughout the landing. That saving grace of recovery was the deciding factor if Catra was prepared for what came next, because no sooner had she gotten back to her feet did she jump away from her landing zone in order to dodge the massive shadowy fist Adora slammed into the ground, digging her fist a good foot into it.

Catra still couldn't believe what she was witnessing. Her friend had gone from the everyday average human into a horrifyingly twisted abomination that was pulling her hand casually out of the ground. "Now why'd you have to move?" Adora asked playfully as the two circled around each other, Catra keeping a good ten-foot distance between them. "It just makes it a lot harder for me to HIT YOU-!

*craskkk!*

She didn't know if her enhanced state also enhanced her reflexes, and she didn't care at this time. In a little under two seconds, the Force Captain charged literally headfirst towards her friend with a powerful headbutt, Catra barely an inch away as she ducked to her right out of the way in time. That didn't stop Adora's charge, however, as she slammed her head against the mighty oak, one of the few hundred trees that had yet to be frozen over, and leaving a perfectly round-shaped dent in the tree's bark.

Catra stared at her at this, unable to believe Adora managed to pull off such a feat of raw power, but was nowhere near as surprised by what followed. Standing place for a good moment, the Force Captain grinned as she turned her head around in Catra's direction, ignoring the small crackling sound the two heard as she did. From the point of impact where her head smacked, a small thin line began to grow around it, spreading across in both directions within seconds until it reached the back of the tree where the two lines connected.

Nothing could surprise Catra more than the sight as the tree slowly started to creak, her ears twitching at the sound of splitting wood, as the tree started to lean towards the opposite direction of Adora. Her eyes were glued to the wayward sight as the tree started to tumble further and further, eventually collapsing over completely onto the ground with a thunderous crash.

Adora barely batted an eyelash at this as she rubbed the right side of her neck, cracking the bones a little as she tilted her head from side to side. For anyone to be able to pull off a show of strength like that, to pound one's head against a solid tree and splitting it in half in the process, wouldn't take anything remotely close to a human's strength to pull off.

It would take a monster.

"How the heck are you still standing after that?" Catra asked in her bewilderment, distancing herself again as she prepared her sword.

"It's a nice little trick I came up with." She replied. Dissipating the shadows around her hands, holding her left arm against her chest, Adora pinched her fingers against the exposed skin from her sleeves. Instead of pulling at the skin itself, Catra blinked as she saw Adora pulling up an entire layer shadow that seemed to be invisible to the naked eye as it touched her skin directly. "I call it "Shadow Armor". Not the most original name, but it has its uses. It's basically like an entirely new layer of skin over my current one, stronger than steel and keeping me from being injured or hurt as a result."

"So you can't feel any pain?" Catra gave a small cheeky grin as she steadied her sword. "Good, then I don't have to feel too bad about hitting you as hard as I can!"

*clang*

The bout of certainty did little to quell Catra's nerves as she blocked the swinging blades from Adora's arms, their heads inches away from each other as Catra struggled to stand her ground as Adora pushed her back. "Ugh, you're always so violent, Catra." Adora teased a she pushed down on the cat.

"Say's the one who brought an entire army with her!" Catra hissed as she pushed back, earning a casual shrug from the abomination.

"Eh, fair point, don't care."

Without so much as a blink, Catra watched as she saw two of the massive tentacle-like appendages from her back solidate at the tip into two powerful, and most of all lethal, spears. The magicat jumped away from the impact site as Adora impaled the two mighty shadows where Catra was standing a mere second ago, barely missing her as one of the shadows nicked the left side of her right foot. It was interesting to see how much distance she could put between the two of them in her She-Ra state, her form enhancing her already superior agility.

Catra knew that if she was going to have any hope in surviving this fight, her speed and agility were the only two advantages she had over Adora.

"How do you expect me to hit you if you keep moving?" Without any care or effort, Adora watched as the tendrils on her back attempted to strike at Catra as she approached her, watching the magicat struggling to keep up the pace as she dodged and deflected one tendril after the other. "It's almost like you want to live~"

*clang*

"Shuddup!" Catra gritted her teeth as she held all four of the tendrils back at once as they struck the side of her blade simultaneously. Her reflexes and agility were proving very little in comparison to Adora's newfound strength, focusing on keeping the tendrils striking her as her feet were pushed back by the sheer force of Adora's strength.

"Seriously, I would find this extremely sad if I didn't find it so hilarious." Her taunts did nothing to trick Catra into letting her guard down, even though the irritation was building up in the back of her mind. "The big mean kitty cat pretending to play hero, just so she can get some stupid piece of dirt that nobody cared for."

"I thought you cared about it, Adora, okay?"As she said this, she felt her back pushing up against the wall, forcing herself to push the palms of her hands against both ends of the blade in order to keep the tendrils from pushing any closer. "We always talked about being in charge of everything, having everything for ourselves, you know?"

"I was talking about being one of the leaders of the Horde, idiot." Instantly, the playful, quirky, expression that was on Adora's face converted into one of contempt and pure rage as she scoffed, Catra noticing the intensity of the force being pushed against the blade as it neared her head slowly. "I wanted us to stand alongside our friends and family as one of the heads of the Horde, to be grand general or commander that others could look up to, Unlike you, I never once thought of betraying everyone!"

At the sound of her last word, Catra reacted as she felt the intensity of the force lighten, just a little bit, but more than enough for her to counter to this. With one solid push, she shoved the tendrils back a good foot before ducking out of the way, letting the tendrils drill passed her as they broke through the tree they were pinning her to, snapping it in half.

Not wasting a moment to herself, Catra growled as she charged directly for the Force Captain, Adora growing rather surprised by turnabout as she morphed both her arms into the dreaded shadow blades they once were, blocking her incoming strike at the last second and being pushed back in turn like she did with Catra.

Unlike Catra, the She-Ra only managed to push a good two feet until the shadows behind Adora quickly dissipated. Assuming, at first, that something messed with her powers and shadows, Catra soon came to watch as two of the lower tendrils resurfaced again, pushing against the ground behind Adora as they pinned her in place. Meanwhile, the Force Captain grinned as the two higher tendrils formed into a pair of deadly scythes,

"Another interesting detail I learned," Adora began as she reformed her arms back to normal, "is that my own shadows can't hurt me." Catra didn't even need an explanation of what she meant as she felt Adora grabbing both her wrists tightly with a force strong enough to crush a bar of metal in half, her She-Ra form being the only defenses she had against this powerful grip.

Unfortunately for her, crushing her wrists wasn't anywhere near Adora's train of thought. Looking back up, her pupils shranks as she realized Adora had trapped her in her vice grip as she rested the pair of scythes directly above her, intending to swing them downwards in an arc from behind her. Based on what Adora said, she knew her friend wouldn't be affected by the potential guillotine the scythes combined into, but it went without saying that Catra's chances would prove fruitless.

At the sight of the blade beginning it's downward swing, Catra reacted with haste as she grabbed Adora's own arms as it swung. Confusing her momentarily as a result, she became aware of Catra's plan as she suddenly swung herself between Adora's legs right as the guillotine had swung down, imapling Adora as the blade pierced her chest, yet leaving no noticeable injury as a result, like the Force Captain had explained.

That didn't leave her from being attacked in other ways, however, like the way Catra continued pulling her after she zipped between Adora's legs, pulling the blonde off her feet as she spun forward, landing on her back and giving her a small daze as the shadows in her back dissipated.

And still in Catra's own grip as she pried hers from Adora.

From here, assuming Adora was telling the truth about her self-proclaimed "Shadow Armor", the warrior shouted in rage as she lifted Adora off her feet, slamming her in the nearest tree next to her as Adora's body flopped into it like a ragdoll, grunting audibly as she felt her entire back round across the tree. This was followed by another angry roar as Catra did the same with the other tree, this time slamming her stomach into it, and finally throwing her a dozen yard ahead of her as she collided headfirst into the tree directly across from Catra.

It didn't matter if Adora couldn't feel the pain, she knew that taking any blows like that would disorient the girl long enough for her to escape from the fight and return to defending the Moonstone from the invading Horde army. As long as Adora was either unconscious or disabled in some way, she could focus on defending the castle and hopefully save her friends.

She was so wrong about that.

"...Is that it?" Adora mumbled loudly as she casually rose off the ground. Catra didn't know if she should be amazed or terrified as she brushed the dirt off her body as if nothing had happened, smirking back to Catra in amusement over her dumbfounded face. "Really? And here I thought I was going to have a fun time around here."

"Tch, fine by me." Catra tried to maintain her composure while trying to think of a plan. "If you really didn't feel any of that, then I really can hit you as hard as I want to!"

"Hit this, hit that, that's the one thing you were good at in the Horde, you know?" Adora commented as she cracked her knuckles. "You always knew how to give a beating with those mangy claws of yours, and how to scare people who didn't agree with you. Looking back on it, your betrayal shouldn't have surprised me, Catra." The captain's conviction intensified as she drew a single blade over her right arm, the shadows radiating off of it signifying its immense power.

"You really never were one of us. You never listened to other people, you always did whatever you wanted. It's like you really were planning on this from the very beginning, never caring about who you in the process! It was always "attack first, ask questions later", with you. You never tried to understand anything around her." Fed up with her annoying rant about who betrayed whom, Catra lunged straight at the girl as she ran with all her speed, keeping her sword at the ready as she prepared for any sort of counter. "Maybe that's why you were always so easy to-... to..."

"Ngh..." Catra came to a stop ten feet away from her as she noticed Adora's vacant-growing expression, the girl staring off into space as she stared ahead. "Nggghhhh!" Groaning, Adora threw her arms to her head as she squeezed against it, all the shadows and all the darkness around her disappearing as she dropped to her knees. "Agghhhhhhhh!"

"A-Adora?" What was happening to her? Why did the shadows decide to disappear like this? She had never seen her friend like this, never in so much pain, at least with her head. She watched the girl squeeze her head as she groveled in pain, her body shaking incredibly as she panted out of breath, awaiting any sort of reply that sounded threatening or looked like an attack.

"C... Catra?" Adora opened her eyes again, showing a sense of confusion and sorrow in her eyes as she stared at her. "W-Where... Where am I?"

"Ad... Adora?" She couldn't believe it. Right here, from the sweet and sincere way she spoke and the look of innocence in her eyes, she was looking at her best friend once again. The girl didn't appear to have any idea of where she was or why she was here, just that she was scared and confused.

"How... How did I get here?" Catra lowered her ears as Adora hugged herself. "Are we in the woods? Where's the Fright Zone?"

"Adora, is... is that yo-"

...

"Tch... I... I can't..." Shaking, she hugged herself as her eyes wavered, the fear evident in her eyes and her trembling.

"What do you mean you can't-"

"I mean I can't!" She shouted, refusing to take her eyes off the crystal where she saw the vacant expression in her own eyes. "I... I can't beat her... I can never beat her..."

"Because, I... I can't..." She slowly raised her hands to her head head as her tail dropped lifelessly. "I'm too afraid..."

"...Afraid? That's your only excuse? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard!"

"Catra, do you think I'm not afraid right now? Do you think Glimmer's not afraid? I mean look at her!"

...

"Geh..." The vision came back to her again, the same as last time as it didn't display any memories of the far past or a piece of her childhood, but of her pep talk with Bow about Catra's intense fear over her greatest tormentor, Shadow Weaver. That was another thing she noticed with these visions. Aside from how they were nowhere near the time of her previous visions, these ones always left a strange pang in her head and her heart. Assuming that the sword was the cause of this again like before, it left her thinking.

Why? What was it trying to do here? There wasn't any peace she felt at the end of these visions, at least none that she could see, and doing them right in the middle of a war like this? No matter how bad her previous one was, she could not afford to have them randomly appear in front of her during her fight with Adora, knowing one slip up could easily result in her back having a giant shadowy spike sticking out of it!

Luckily, her friend didn't seem to change so much as she hugged herself, looking up to Catra scared and confused as she hugged herself.

"Ca-Catra?" She whimpered, sniffling. "Why am I out here?"

"A-Adora, it's okay!" She couldn't afford to have this stupid sword mess her up now of all times, deciding to plant it firmly in the ground as she made her way over, giving a comforting smile as she kneeled in front of her, placing her hands soothingly over her shoulders. "You don't have to worry, it's going to be alright!"

"What... What are you wearing?" Adora wondered, raising a brow as she checked her up and down. Her attention turned upwards as she shifted her eyes towards her forehead, noticing the red cloth around it and the messy two-colored hair that dangled around it. "What am I wearing? And what happened to my hair?!"

"You don't have to worry about it," Catra replied, brushing a few stands from her eyes, "everything's going to be all right now." She didn't resist as Adora threw her arms over her best friend, being embraced in her lost and confused state, as the She-Ra did as well, closing her eyes and almost getting teary eyed out of pure happiness.

She didn't know how it happened, she couldn't tell why Adora was back to normal, and she didn't care. Adora was back to normal, back to the way she remembered her.

"Catra... I-I'm scared..." Adora trembled. "I don't know what's going on. How did I get here? The last thing I remember was being on the way to Salineas and then nothing. We... We were fighting about something, and then I wore the headband, and I... I... I don't know what's going on!"

"Like I said, you don't have to worry anymore, Adora. I promise you, everything is going to be okay." This was beyond the realms of perfection. It was like a miracle in and of itself.

If Adora had no recollection of what happened, then she couldn't be entirely held responsible for whatever she's done! The Queen would have to take mercy on her for that if she agreed to help them! She would be fighting for the Rebellion and they would finally be on the same side! They wouldn't have to fight each other anymore, they would always be there for each other like they promised, and Catra promised that she would never take advantage of her again like she did.

She finally had a way to atone for everything that resulted in everybody she cared about winning.

"... Fool."

"Gck-! Ack!" Catra coughed hoarshly as she felt nearly a dozen different tendrils wrap around her throat and her chest, pinning one of her arms completely to the side and giving her other one just enough elbow space to reach her arm to her neck, not that it did any good with the intensely wrapped tendrils choking her to death.

From the ground Adora rose, smirking up to her as she got to her feet. From behind Catra could see the numerous shadows protruding from her back that were currently keeping her bound, regardless of whether to suffocate her to the point of passing out or otherwise. Her legs were in no better position as she felt her right one wrapped in two of the large tendrils over and under her knee, with the other one completely wrapped around the knee itself.

Adora had completely tricked her into letting her guard down, to approach her carelessly, and there was no way she could pry herself free from her suffocating fate.

"I really can't believe you actually fell for that." She chuckled, finding the greatest joy in the situation Catra was currently placed in.

"Ak...or...ehhhh..." Catra choked out, the grip on her throat becoming tighter by the second as they wrapped tighter around her neck.

"Oh, Catra, please save me, I have no idea where I am! Boo hoo hoo!" She bellowed with laughter as she held her sides together, almost doubling over from the bubbling chuckles emanating from her stomach. "I can't believe you actually fell for that! Gosh, you're so stupid! In case you haven't noticed, my eyes are still the same color, genius. Do you really think they wouldn't have changed back if I returned to that helpless little girl you took advantage of?"

"Keeh..eck..." The lights in the corners of Catra's mind were starting to dim, the lack of oxygen bringing a numbness to her body as she tried to think of a way out of this mess.

"Seeing the way you tried to comfort me, showing you cared for me, I have to admit, it was a little touching for a few seconds." She muttered, turning her head away in sorrow. "It actually looked like you cared for a moment... like you really did change..." The sadness that filled her eyes were replaced with one of the utmost resentment that a person could display. "But that's the way I used to be, the side you always took advantage of, Catra. I will never let you turn me into the sniveling girl you can manipulate and use. I won't let anyone treat me like that again!"

"Ghhhhh!" Gurgling in her breath, uncaring as she saw Catra do this, the magicat let out one final hiss as she slammed her fist on Adora's back, the captain staring at her as she felt a small push on the back of her right shoulder, if nothing else, and sneering.

"That was your big plan? A pat on the back?" She taunted, pushing Catra out of arm's reach, taking an extra precaution as another tendril grabbed onto her wrist directly, completely immobilizing her. "Really, Catra, I expected a little more resistance out of you than this. You're almost making me wonder if I should think about regretting what I'm doing. And then, I realized, why should I feel so bad about crushing an ant under my boot? The world's filled with them anyway?"

"-ck... o..." Her senses were starting to grind ever so slowly to ta halt, the lights dimming around her vision as everything started to turn a dark grey.

"Hmm?" Hearing the strange sound coming from her, Adora decided to let up, just this once. Playfully putting a hand to her ear, she blinked curiously as she neared Catra's head, turning her ear in her direction as she loosened one of the suffocating tendrils on her neck. "Say that again, kitty? I couldn't quite catch that."

With the easing force around her throat, she felt a small flow of oxygen entering her lungs again, giving small pants of breath as the lights returned to her. She had no other means to defend herself with aside from this. She was played like a fool by her dear friend, she let her guard down and stupidly lowered the sword, thinking her friend had returned to normal, and left herself up completely open to any form of attack as she embraced her friend in a hug.

Adora couldn't feel pain, and by the looks of it, it was going to take a great amount of force to injure her in any sort of way. There was no telling how much energy she was blessed with after all the shadows came rushing towards her, transforming her entire body into a living weapon, and she didn't care.

If Adora wanted to fight dirty, then fine. Catra knew how to fight dirty too.

"I... said... boom."

"Boom?" Why boom? What the heck did she mean boom for? Did she grow lightheaded much faster than Adora thought she could? Was she spouting whatever nonsense first came to her mind in order to try and confuse Adora? There wasn't even much effort put into her attack. All she did was slap a hand against her back and-!

Adora's eyes quickly widened as she turned her head around. With her new state of power, she couldn't feel any pain. With the Shadow Armor over her acting as a new form of skin, her entire body was well protected as it shielded her from any sort of injury and kept anything from stabbing into her personally. So when Catra slapped a hand over her back, she never felt the small thing being stuck into her back in the process.

Like a single arrow that was currently blinking with a red light around the shaft.

*BOOM!*

An intense explosion engulfed Adora as it destroyed whatever tendrils she had lapping around Catra's neck, throwing the She-Ra-in-training a good distance away from her as the fire and smoke exploded in a glorious fashion. The feline was thrown a good distance back as a result of the incredible force of power, up to the very spot she planted the sword as she skidded across the ground. Brushing up to it, she let out a few large coughs as she gathered her breath, rubbing her neck from the soreness Adora instilled with her tendrils.

She was actually quite surprised how big the explosion was as she saw the smoke and ash that was covering everywhere around Adora stood, the cloud of smoke being at least three feet in a radius around her. Her ears were still ringing as she grumbled, rubbing her hand against both ears as she sluggishly got back to her feet.

Having friends was a thing that many people should often strive to acquire because they come with many useful benefits. For one thing, they would always have your back when you need them, even if they weren't there in person. They could be with you in spirit or in your mind, cheering you on from a distance as someone felt the energy their thoughts gave them through their encouragement. With someone at their back, the friend could easily accomplish whatever task lied before them, and face it head on.

In Catra's case, she was grateful for the friends she had that, both, encouraged her, and bestowed upon her their precious gifts, like a certain explosive arrow specially made by a grand archer, one she knew she had to thank by the time this entire fight was over. It proved quite useful as she watched the dust dissipate further, seeing how it spaced her a good distance away from Adora and freed her of her suffocating bounds as well.

It was such a shame, though, that it didn't appear to do much more than that. Finally diminishing completely, Catra steadied her sword as she saw her friend staring back at her, hunched over as a noticeable trail of soot rose from her back. If anyone else had taken a hit like that directly, they would've lost a limb without a second thought, or worse. Despite the Shadow Armor that protected her, Adora would be lying if she denied feeling anything that explosion did to her, feeling a small burning sensation across her right shoulder as a result.

The pain was still manageable, though the feeling was not. No matter how much stronger she was in her current state, she couldn't say that Catra's explosive idea didn't hurt a little.

"Ghhhhhh..." The fire burning in Aoora's eyes were hotter than the explosion that enveloped her a few seconds ago. Catra wanted to play dirty like this? To go all out on her no matter what? Fine. She could be that way. It just meant Adora didn't have to be so merciful in how she ended her, too. "You're gonna pay for that, freak!"

Catra still couldn't believe she allowed herself to be fooled like that by her best friend, to her her guard down so carelessly. To think that someone like Adora, a friend she cared more about than anyone else in the world, would resort to using a manipulative means of trickery like that, was baffling. It only made matters worse when she finally realized why she was having these new visions of hers in the first place.

They weren't telling Catra to feeling a sense of peace or to draw strength from those memories, they were to warn her. They were reminding her that she still has friends that needed her and supported her, not in the ways Adora currently did anymore. If Catra was going to have any chance of beating Adora, then she had to do the one thing she would never be able to do, no matter how painful it was going to be.

She was going to have to let go of Adora.

...

A/N: We're drawing down to the LAST 2 chapters (after this one), AND THEN WE'LL BE AT SEASON 2 PEOPLE :D!!!........after I take a short break from all this work XP Lol...

Here's to hoping you guys have a blast with these last two episodes. Next ones should come out one day at a time, if not two. I plan on having this season FINALLY completed by the end of this week, so even if I'm a day late, expect to see the end of our long and arduous journey verily soon!

Really hope you guys enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 52: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Hooftah! Barely passed the halfway point people and we're still going! What can I say, people? It's the finale of season 1, so of course I got to make it longer/epic for the masses ^^ Since I plan on having a humongous post for the last chapter of season one, we'll either get 3 more chapters after this one or possibly 2 depending, making this a severe and long 6-7 part finale :o!

After all, how else would I be able to end such a beloved first season other than having an epic climax/fight at the end ^^ One of the fun things about making a war scene in a fanfic out of a single episode- you can make it as epic and long as you want because, heck, its a freaking war XP Especially since its the season finale episode, so i HAVE to make it nice and long.

With that said, hope you enjoy!

...

*Boom!*

"Haaaaaaah!" Glimmer roared with a battle cry as she jumped to the nearest skiff that was riding straight towards her. The princess showed no signs of fear as she charged the two soldiers head on, headbutting the first one over the helmet, sweeping the second one off his feet with her staff and bashing him away off the skiff with it.

In this small space of opening, the first soldier attempted to get the upper hand over her as he jumped her from behind, pulling the magical staff against her neck in an attempt to restrain her. The princess grumbled angrily as she elbowed the soldier right in the gut, grabbing onto his head and throwing him over her shoulder and off the skiff itself, clearing the skiff of any of the remaining soldiers who retreated in wait for reinforcements.

With the skiff clear, the princess directed the skiff into another of the automated Horde tanks, piloting it at full speed into the monstrous machine and jumping off as soon as the two were intercepting each other's path. With her feet splashing into the water, she turned back in time to see smile victoriously at the sight of the two crashing into each other, exploding in a blaze of glory.

That was another tank down, who knew how many more to go.

*pew*

*bzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in pain as she collapsed to her side. Her entire body was filled with an electrical current, paralyzing her senses temporarily until she collapsed to the ground. Twitching a little in pain, she looked back to see the attacking Horde Soldier who disabled her, the soldier's glee coming off of the soldier as he aimed his stun baton at the girl again, charging it at full blast as he prepared to take the princess out cold.

*WHAM!*

"Ah!" The soldier cried out as he was bashed away by the full force of an enraged alicon, the horse flaring its nostrils angrily as he shoved he soldier a good distance through the air and slamming him against the tree, knocking him out himself.

Flaring his nostrils, the horse checked his surroundings for a moment before turning his attention towards the princess, helping hre up with his wings as she grabbed onto him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Swifty." Glimmer replied, looking around the surrounding valley.

This, was the Battle of Bright Moon, the last hope for Etheria and the final line of defense between the Horde and annihilation. Glimmer always wanted to place herself on the front lines of a dreadful war, always picturing the way she would heroically charge in with an army of soldiers at her beck and call as she destroyed the robots and machinations created by the dreadful Evil Horde. Now that she was actually in it, it was nowhere near what she expected.

The fact they were in this war at all was nothing short of surprising. Up to this point it had been one large problem after the other ever since the Princess Prom. She's been kidnapped, along with Bow, by Adora and her friend, Scorpia, tortured by the person Catra considered a dear friend, lost her powers after escaping from Shadow Weaver's magical imprisonment, escaped and lost Entrapta's life as a result, spent an entire day trying to hide her bizarre glitching thing the magical bonds left her with, spent another day trying to find Catra, and were now defending her home with their lives as they attempted to combat the evil storm that threatened Etheria.

And that didn't even include what they went through today!

She thought the worst of the problems were behind her now after they returned with Catra. At first, the magicat didn't seem too interested or inclined to help the Rebellion defend their home. Not out of lack of interest or care, far from it. She didn't want to face her friend who she pushed over to the Horde, not after all the guilt and regret she experienced during her time in the Beacon which drove Adora further into darkness. On top of that, she couldn't stomach the idea of trying to help out in their fight and risk exposing herself to danger, which, in turn, would've forced someone to rescue her again and leave them vulnerable to attack.

There were too many dire situations that could've accumulated from it, from one friend getting severely injured, one of their few remaining allies getting captured, or possibly far worse. With all the stress and drama the girl had been facing till now, it was a miracle she wasn't shaking her head while huddling in a corner somewhere, not that Glimmer would blame her after all she's been through.

Thankfully, her hope in her friend bore fruit as she came to their rescue. Catra decided, after long last, and after an intense heart to heart with Swift Wind about her fear of the pain this would bring her, to join them in on their war, literally jumping in at the last second and saving Glimmer and Bow's lives before Adora or Scorpia could do either of them any harm. It was the most noble rescue Glimmer had ever seen, and hopefully one she would never have to hope for again as last second rescues were a lot scarier in person.

Since then, wherever she was now, she was contending with a newly empowered Adora, one who used the vast amount of shadows and shade to her advantage as it empowered her greatly beyond anything she's ever experienced in the past. The power the girl felt was overwhelming, actually forcing her to protrude four tentacle-like tendrils out of her back to keep the excess magic from destroying her body. There was no way in knowing how well she was doing against her newly empowered friend, even with her present She-Ra form. All she could do was hope for the best as she continued her own assault.

As she contended with the Horde Force Captain, the others continued defending the Moonstone with their lives, doing what they could to destroy the tanks and robots that were attacking the Runestone directly. For every tank Glimmer seemed to destroy, a handful of soldiers appeared from the forest. Whenever they fought off a group of soldiers, two more tanks seemed to appear out of nowhere. There was never any end to the onslaught of the Horde army, all it came down to was whether or not they could hold out long enough for Catra to push back the Force Captain and assist with defending the Runestone right after.

"What about you?" Glimmer asked back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's Catra I'm worried about." He replied, turning in the direction that he could sense her from.

"Catra? What's wrong? Did she get hurt?"

"Not right now, but it's after this fight that has me worried!"

"What do you mea-"

*Boom!*

At the sound of another explosion, the two turned back in the opposite explosion as another fight was escalating at the shoreline of the ravine. There, the two could see Bow fighting alongside Spinnerella and Netossa, maintaining an even footing as they ran across the shoreline and destroying any Horde vehicles and tanks they could come strengths worked in perfect tandem with one another as they fought back to back.

With Bow's expertise with archery, he managed to keep the distance between them and any droids with blasters or soldiers with their stun batons, the annoying ones that could be used at a range. His variety of arrows kept the enemy on their toes at all times, disabling some of them with his trick arrows that stuck them with an adhesive sap by their feet, destroying other droids with the many explosive and incredibly durable arrows that he got from Glimmer's armory. With his range he managed to provide ranged support for the two princesses who charged in directly.

When it came to the other two princesses, they could always been seen side by side with each other. within arms reach to ensure the other remained safe. Netossa's enchanted powers allowed her to conjure up several kinds of different nets, ones that managed to disable an entire group of enemies or a whole tank with one cast, leaving them open and exposed for Bow to deal with them when he had the opportunity.

As for Spinnerella, she was the powerhouse of the trio as she charged in to the oncoming troops. With her powers, the enemies found themselves constantly blown back by the ferocious winds she summoned around her, keeping the enemy fire off of them through the sheer force of her magic.

There was no way she would allow anyone to hurt anyone as precious to her as Netossa. Add that to the fact they were invading their Rebellion HQ, and she wasn't going to show any of these Evil Hordelings any mercy! Even as another skiff came charging right at her, she refused to back down as she charged her winds directly, blasting the skiff out of the air and watching with pride as the soldiers came tumbling out of it.

Yet, just like with Glimmer's own experience, the trio found themselves constantly at odds with the invading armies. The difficulty on their end came from the distance they had to close between themselves and any of the tanks that charged directly toward the Moonstone that lied defenselessly, save for the barrier Queen Angella was continuing to maintain. If they didn't come up with a plan to stop them sooner, she would be overrun and defenseless from her attackers.

What's worse is when a handful of droids started to make their way out of the frozen woods, continuing their march towards the Moonstone or its remaining defenders without fear. The blasters these powerful bots were equipped with were on par with that of a tank, possibly even stronger to Glimmer's surprise.

"Are you sure she's the one who's in trouble right now?" Glimmer repeated as she observed the invaders that never seemed to quit.

"Glimmer, I'm telling you, she's going to be a wreck after this." Swift Wind fretted, bashing away a soldier that tried to sneak up behind him with his two back hooves.

"Yeah, you said that before. What do you mean by a total wreck?"

"I mean personally!" With their area cleared temporarily, he looked on in the direction of the conflict in question. "Do you know how hard it was to convince her to come out here in the first place? She couldn't bring herself to leave after you guys left her, and now she's forcing herself to fight because she feels like she has to, not because she wants to."

"B-But we didn't force her to join us, Swift Wind! We gave her a choice, remember?"

"I'm not saying she didn't want to fight with you guys, I'm saying she decided to help you guys and is struggling with her choice. Glimmer, don't you understand what's at stake here for her? If we manage to defeat the invasion, Catra would be cutting all personal ties with her past! That mean would mean she would have to cut her ties with-"

"Adora..." Glimmer could tell immediately what the problem was getting at here.

Adora, Force Captain, ally, and the one person Catra always considered a friend. From what little they managed to gather out of Catra's personal life and history, Adora was the one friend she always had on her side, the one she would always talk about as if they were sisters. She was the one Catra always felt safe and comfortable with, never hiding her comments about the girl or ever thinking about betraying her unless she had absolutely no choice.

Even after rescuing Glimmer from the Horde, the way she had to use Adora's own feelings for their friendship in order to reclaim the sword disgusted her. She was filled with regret, despair, anything negative she could describe herself as in relation to someone who just backstabbed their friend. It was the one instance in Catra's life that she betrayed Adora on a whole nother scale, and she's never forgiven herself with it since.

Based on what Swift Wind was telling her now, she was fighting a physical and emotional battle with Adora as the two continued to clash their powers against one another. With every strike Catra attempted to swing with her sword, another part of her was being cracked as the reality of the situation worsened. For every hit she took from Adora, she felt another piece of their possible friendship beginning to shatter.

Adora was the only thing Catra cared about next to a kingdom, and if she lost that, there was no telling what she would do or how she would be.

"...It's fine." The calming reply from the princess surprised Swift Wind a little, blinking as he stared back at her. She appeared to have a look of determination on her own face as she squeezed her fist, looking prepared for any eventuality that was to come. "If Catra breaks from this, Bow and I will be right by her side like we always are." She said with a small, warm, smile. "I'm not going to force Catra to choose between her friends if she can't, but we'll be ready in case she has no other choice. And we'll bring her back up again no matter how painful it is for her, like we always do."

Swift Wind was amazed by the resolution of her response. To speak with such certainty in her tone, with a calmness covering her face and a strict determination in her eyes. She had all the makings of someone who would grow up to be a powerful leader one day, a Queen at that. While it didn't make the situation any less worrying or easy, it did sound like she had a set goal in mind as Swift Wind nodded back to her, with a relaxing sigh through his nostrils as he did.

"I hope you're right about this." He commented, raising his head towards the others as he saw them approaching.

So do I... It would be a lie to say she was one-hundred percent convinced that she could pull something like easing Catra's pain when this was over. Whenever her past was brought up in some way, it was always followed by a pound of pain and inner turmoil, the scars on her past continuing to haunt her in the present. There was no way to tell what would happen to her or how she would be. She just knew that they would be right by her side to help her up again like they always were.

And she prayed that would be enough.

"Glimmer!" Bow panted as he and the princesses arrived, holding his knees as he regained his breath. "There's no end to them, they just keep coming!"

"We're not accomplishing anything by meeting them at the shore like this." Netossa added, glancing over at the sound of tanks roaming through the woods. "We need to take them out faster."

"I know. We need to cover more ground than we are now." Glimmer stated, watching as another skiff flew passed them a hundred feet away. "We need to cut them off at the coast and at the ravine."

"We should split up, then." Bow informed, his years of fighting and experience making his mark. "Glimmer and I will hold off what we can at the ravine itself. Netossa, see if you can keep them slowed down while we fight them off. And Spinnerella, we need you on defense protecting the pathways to the Moonstone directly. You're the second fastest between us for now, so you can close the distance along the different pathways." The aforementioned princess gave a nod in agreement and understanding.

"What about me?" There was no way Swift WInd wanted to find himself left out of the fun and the Horde bashing.

"Do you think you can run support between the four of us?" Bow suggested. "You can cover the most ground out of all of us, and you're the only one who can reach anyone if we need help."

"As long as I get get to break a Horde machine with each trip, I'm ready."

The group nodded to one another in unison before racing to their assigned destinations. Splitting up might have been one of the more reckless ideas in terms of safety, but they had little choice in the matter anymore. The Horde continued to flood Bright Moon along with the terrible storm that was risen over them, with neither of the two seeming ready to back down or turn away.

There was no way to tell how this day would path out by the time it was over. The Rebellion would be victorious and push back the mighty Horde army, or they would be burned down along with the rest of the remaining castle that continued to be under siege. There wouldn't be any hope remaining if the Runestone fell on this day, and that meant there wouldn't be any chance for the rest of Etheria as well.

One problem did cross Glimmer's mind as she charged another group of soldiers with Bow's support. Watching the others as they ran to their assigned positions, with Swift Wind being the active supporter he was as he flew Spinnerella over to the pathways, she had to wonder.

If they were all having this much trouble with the Horde army themselves, how much trouble was Catra having with the leader of all this madness?

...

*ssssskkkkkk*

Hnnnnnnnngh!" Catra growled as she skidded across the dirt on her own two feet, slowing down her momentum as she dug her claws into the ground.

The battle had been intense between the two friends since Adora re-donned the headband at the beginning of all this. Being in the center of an entire valley that was filled with shade, the Force Captain was filled with a never ending supply of energy as shadows and darkness filled her entire being, empowering her to a state beyond comprehension and imagination. She never thought her friend would become the supposed monster of an invading army, and she still felt responsible that it happened at all to begin with.

When the shadows consumed Adora, being drawn in by the power of the mystical headband, they transformed her into a force beyond reckoning, her powers surpassed any state she's felt previously. The shadows amplified her magic tenfold in this state, with the excess magic being forced out of her back in the form of tentacles just to compensate. She could draw in the shadows into any shape or form in the blink of her eye, actually shrouding her skin in an invisible layer of armor around herself that kept her from feeling most to any injury Catra could throw at her, and the pain that went with it.

That didn't even include her enhanced physical state. Adora was stronger than she ever had been before, knocking over an entire tree with a single headbutt when she tried to attack Catra earlier. The girl could also jump a good distance thanks to the assisting tendrils that grew off of her back, allowing the girl to reach at a far distance and pull herself around the trees to close the gap on Catra. Catra's speed was the only defining feature that kept her alive for the time being, a detail that was becoming less useful as Adora found new and creative ways to get closer to her.

There were no tricks that Adora didn't hesitate to use. When she had the opportunity, she grabbed at Catra with her own hands while morphing the shadows back into whatever deadly combination they could be used for. If she found Catra getting a bit too far, she played at her emotions, pretending to be the same helpless girl that Catra wanted to take advantage of again for the sake of being another tool among her assets.

Adora showed little care for Catra anymore, save for the occasional pang in her heart. Despite everything she's done, she couldn't deny that she didn't want to do this. With every swing she took at the girl, she released another steam of anger she had for her, lamenting the times they used to be friends and all the ways they used to play together as kids. Even now, a part of her wished Catra never found the sword, that things could go back to the way they were supposed to be.

But at the same time, she wanted nothing more than to rip Catra to pieces. For every time she used Adora's name to get what she wanted from people, all the falls she made Adora take for her so she could get away scot free, and the numerous occasions where it always came down to Adora helping Catra, never the other way around unless it was to benefit Catra in some way in the end.

To her, Catra was the very essence of greed, and someone as corrupt as her shouldn't exist in this world, especially one intending to rule a kingdom.

As for Catra, she was struggling with her own dilemma, one that did and didn't involve the fight between them. She wanted to reach through to her in some way, to show that their friendship still meant something to her. She got a glimpse of how wretched she could be in the Beacon, and it sickened her to think she was like that to her friend. These new found feelings of guilt may have been a result of spending too much time with Glimmer and Bow, and she didn't care. She just wanted things to work out between the two of them again.

That brought her to the bigger dilemma that kept rearing its ugly head in front of her half the time. As Adora attempted to impale her with another lunging attack with her spear-formed right arm, Catra dodged out of the way, keeping her footing on the ground as Adora left herself open. Even with the so-called "Shadow Armor", she was sure she could do some damage by attacking the shadows directly on the back.

And that would mean she would have to hurt Adora as a result, and the thought of that gave her enough hesitation to trigger another-

...

"...Who... Who are you...?" Catra muttered in confusion, feebly pointing at her.

"Pffft! Tch ahahaha!" Catra bellowed out with laughter. "Oh man, you should've seen your face, Pinky! You were like "oh no, I'm too late," hahahaha-!"

"Oh thank gosh!" Glimmer instantly cried, hugging herself into Catra's stomach as she cried heavily. Catra let out a small cry as Glimmer threw her arms around her torso as she sobbed into her chest.

Seeing how the princess was truly remorseful, the very person she never wanted anything to do with since first meeting her, she did the one thing she had never done before.

...

-that.

*Wham!*

"Agh!" Catra cried out. Upon returning from her vision, she found half her body slammed away by a gargantuan fist, knocking her through one of the surrounding trees and toppling it over. Those accursed visions were back again, and they had a worse time of popping up than ever.

Unlike the previous times, these ones were incredibly different. First off, they were far or spaced between one another. These visions came from her most recent past, ranging from the last few weeks to months that she's been in the Rebellion. They would always flash a memory in front of her very eyes like the others, reminding her of the possible good times she's had with Glimmer and Bow and the adventures they shared together.

Secondly, was just that. They weren't of Adora or any of her time in the Fright Zone. These were the memories she's grown over the course of her journey, ever since she thought she became She-Ra. From the mighty cliffs they walked upon in the Kingdom of Dryl, to the enchanted floating landscape of Mystacor, the adventures they've had together were far, few, and many in-between. They ranged from a whole assortment of things Catra's always wished she could do, albeit with a different friend in mind.

Third, these were a lot more frequently than her other visions in the past. Usually, her visions were anywhere between one to a few days between visions, and almost never popping up at the worst timing, save for one unfortunate near-drowning incident she had. Here, they wouldn't stop plaguing her! They happened every several minutes here and there, messing up her concentration or thoughts whenever she was thinking about Adora.

Lastly, she knew the exact reasoning behind this too. These weren't meant to bring her any semblance of peace or calm her state of mind. This was something she managed to pick up on her own after all that's happened. These visions were telling her to let go of her past, and in turn, Adora. They wanted her to let Adora go from her memories, from her heart, in order to combat the evil darkness within her friend and the darkness that threatened to consume the entire world.

And she couldn't do that!

Where did this stupid sword get off by telling her how to run her life?! She doesn't know what she's been through despite seeing her memories, it didn't know what her life was like! Adora was the only person in her life that brought her comfort, that made her feel like she belonged among an entire group of people that considered her the freak of the Horde. She was always there for her when she needed Adora most, and, especially after realizing how horrible she had been in turn, there was no way she could turn her back on her again, acting as if everything Adora said about her was true and then some.

She would find her own way to make this work, she was positive. She had her sword, she had her agility, and she had her friends protecting the Moonstone during her current skirmish. Surely she could think of something to say to get through to Adora in the short amount of time they had... right?

It was this optimism that kept getting Catra back to her feet as she jumped from the ground again, planting her feet firmly as she focused on her surroundings.

"Heheheh..." She could hear Adora's voice echo from all around her, any sight of her being obscured by the trees that filled he woods. "Catraaaaa~" She sang.

"What are you hiding for, Adora?" Catra grumbled back. "I thought Force Captains were supposed to be braver than this?" She needed her slip up in some way. With the ground the two covered, she couldn't pick up any scent from her to pinpoint her location. All she could do was listen closely at the next distortion.

"One of the many basics of Horde Training, something you would know well about if you didn't make me do all the work!" The voice yelled, filling the air with an eerie echo. "First you need to know to how to undermine your enemies..."

*whap!*

"Ah!" Catra yelped, covering her face as it took a split-second whip to the face by one of the shadowy tendrils. Just as quickly did it hit her was it out of sight by the time she managed to open her eye, wincing from pain.

"How to confuse and use their own environment against them..."

*Whap!*

"Geh!" She couldn't get a read on her! Every time she thought she knew the location, she was met with another whip of the tendrils, this time stroking across her back. The lack of scarring they managed to leave didn't alleviate the pain that it brought, each whipping being followed by a burning sting to it.

"And how to catch them by SURPRISE!"

*crash!*

There wasn't any warning this time around as Catra focused more on her injuries than the environment around her. Instead of getting struck with another nefarious whip of darkness, she found her face getting pounded directly by one of Adora's gargantuan shadow fists, her entire face taking the brunt of the attack as it tossed Catra through the air, throwing her back against one of the toppled trees where she slammed into.

She spat what little irritation she could out of her mouth as she panted, her arms slung over the fallen tree as Adora revealed herself, approaching from behind as she cracked her knuckles. There wasn't any way Catra could continue fighting her like this, not out in the forest where she could remain hidden from Catra's senses. She needed to direct the fighting somewhere else, where Adora would be exposed at all times.

The Ravine? No. There were too many tanks and soldiers around the ravine. She had a hard enough time dealing with Adora, the last thing she wanted was to deal with them at the same time. Especially with her friends already battling the Horde army, there was no she could afford to distract them with her own battle, or worse, sick Adora on them directly in the process, the Force Captain already having a notable grudge against several of her friends.

The Whispering Woods themselves were also out of the question. While the frozen landscape would make it easier to see Adora, with the ice reflecting her appearance and giving Catra the advantage with her sight, it would only last for as long as Adora doesn't destroy the obstacles blocking her way. On top of that, it was a direct path on the march of the Horde soldiers, throwing reinforcements at her at the same time she was dealing with Adora.

At this rate, there was only one location she could think of as her claws dug into the bark of the broken log that Adora cut in half.

"You know, I thought you were going to entertain me for a moment, but I guess I was wrong." She shrugged playfully, forming blades in both her arms. "I guess I'll have to see if any of your friends can entertain me after I'm done with you. Who knows, maybe that princess girl will make an entertaining punching bag for the young recruits."

"...eav... 'em... on..." Catra huffed, panting between breaths as she sunk her other claw into the hunk of wood.

"Come again? I can't here you when you're not giving me the proper attention." Her look of amusement was dropped to one of bewilderment as she saw the deathly glare that Catra shot back to her.

"I said, leave... them... ALONE!"

*WHAM!*

If Adora expected a punch, she would have easily blocked it with her own two hands or one of her shadowy appendages. If she expected Catra to smack her with the sword, she would've created a blade within seconds, blocking it easily and countering it with another one of her blades, or impaling her with one of the many tendrils sprouting from her back. And there would be no way she would be stupid enough to lunge at her directly.

What she didn't expect was getting slammed by something the size of a tree, specifically half the size of some overgrown bush that she sliced in half personally. In a furious, roaring, cry, with her own two clawed hands dug into the husk of the mighty oak, Catra slammed the tree a full one-eighty behind her like a bat, knocking Adora off her feet and out of the playing field. The Force Captain barely had time to see the attack before she register the intense slam that covered half her body, shooting her through the air and over to the rocky cliffs.

*CRASH!*

She was actually amazed that Catra would pull off such a feat, much less could, as her body soared through the air like a ball, hurdling her through the sky until she came upon the harsh landing of a rocky cliffside. Her body was dug in a good foot into the solid mass of rock after she landed, her mind disoriented from the impact of the attack and the landing that followed. Whatever this new state Catra was currently in, it wasn't just some fancy fashionwear she was currently going through. Like her, it appeared to give her some enhanced characteristics like the headband did with Adora.

If she ever needed more proof of her theory, it came at her in full force. Without missing a beat, the next thing she saw was Catra herself, holding up the massive log as she jumped through the air. Adora barely had any time to cover herself as the magicat gave off another seething hiss, slamming the butt of the freshly cut-in-half log straight on top of Adora, and plunging her deeper into the cliffside by another several feet into the semi-crater that the two found themselves in.

Catra really hoped this enhanced persona of hers really couldn't feel any pain like she let on, because she was pretty sure if it didn't, then she just killed her friend. The other part of her was hoping she didn't overdo it just now either. The log really did feel like she was carrying a simple baseball bat at the touch, a good chunk of its weight mitigated by its halved size, and with her already athletic agility being supercharged in this state, it was easy for her to leap a near fifty feet in the air, carrying the sword on her back and the log in her hands.

Too bad for her, it didn't seem like Adora was rather keen on being pelted by a giant log or crushed by one in the short span of a few seconds. Still being suspended above the ground, huffing to herself in an exhausted state as she held onto the other end of the log, Catra nearly jumped as she saw a strange yet horrific spiral of darkness bursting through the other end.

On the Force Captain's side of things, Adora grinned as she used her shadowy abilities to make possibly the most useful tool in this scenario- a drill. The massive three-foot-wide drill skewered straight into the end of the log she was planted on as she thrust it forward, stretching it further and further towards the magicat as it ripped the long to tiny little wooden chips that shot in every direction in the process. Catra had no choice but to from the useful hunk of wood, standing her ground with sword firmly in hand again as she watched the rest of the tree being scattered into thousands of smaller chips.

At the end, all that was left was an entire cliffside with a small bit of dust looming in the air, Catra watching as the Force Captain pulled herself out with her gargantuan shadowy hands. She couldn't tell if she had herself to thank for it or if it was just the layer of transparent shadow over Adora's skin, but she was positive she saw a few scrapes and scratches from her recent counterattack lining Adora's clothing and right cheek.

For the first time through the fight, Catra was confident that she finally did some damage. Too bad there weren't anymore trees left lying around her.

"There's no way you didn't feel any of that, Adora." Catra commented, side stepping slowly as she prepared for Adora's next attack.

Adora grinned as she stretched her arms from side to side, getting the few cricks she could out of her shoulders. "Okay, you win. That one I actually felt. I mean, it did tickle a little, but it's the best you've done all day." To be fair, Adora had to admit that was a bit more severe than she let on. It felt like a good solid punch to her, which was saying a lot for someone who got slammed then crushed under a giant log. "If you keep playing like that, I might actually have to start trying."

"We shouldn't have to fight, Adora!" Catra's argument intrigued Adora by just a little. "Adora, we shouldn't have to be fighting on different sides like this, we shouldn't be fighting each other at all! We should be fighting on the same side like we used to in the past, not trying to kill each other like we're sworn enemies."

Was she being serious right now? Every time Adora brought up the two of them fighting, Catra always had to make a rebuttal or an argument about why they shouldn't be fighting in the first place. Out of all the times Adora's ever known Catra to get into a small brawl, not once has she ever chosen to find another way to do things peacefully, even if it was to catch the enemy off guard. She considered it a sign of weakness whenever someone tried taking the easier path out of things, something she never wanted to be in front of her peers.

"...Do you think I want to?" Adora questioned, looking at the tips of her claw-like gargantuan hands. "I always wish that day never happened, Catra. The day you fell out of the skiff and all of this had to happen. I don't care who's on the right or wrong side anymore, I almost wish we weren't on opposite ends."

"We don't have to be!" At this, the feline lowered her sword a little, trying to maintain a passive composure. "We can go back to the way things were, and start fighting for the Rebellion! You can't honestly think everything the Horde does is right, can you?"

"Would it matter if it was?" Adora shifted her eyes towards the girl as she continued to face her hand. "What makes your side any better than my side to begin with? What makes you guys attacking the Horde "heroic", and what makes us attacking the Rebellion "evil"? Who do you think you are, getting to decide if we're the guys or the bad guys, Catra?" Disdain started to spread across the girl's face as she squeezed her fist. "I told you a thousand times, Catra. I'm done talking, and I'm done living in the past."

"Adora..." Catra turned her head in thought, tightening the grip on her sword again. How was she supposed to get through to her? She refuses to try and go back to the way things were, she's shown little interest in reminiscing about anything in the past, and she won't listen to reason.

"Besides," she continued, looking off to the distance, "why would I want to switch sides when we're the ones winning so far?"

"Huh?" She let her guard down. She couldn't help looking in the same direction towards Bright Moon Castle as she watched the battle unfold.

...

All around the ravine, she saw her friends and her allies battling it out with the Horde, seeing the explosions and magics being unleashed as the battle progressed. It didn't matter if they looked like half the size of her pinkie from where she stood, she could make most of them out clearly and tell who was where.

As she watched, she saw the Queen unleash another powerful shockwave across the valley, pushing back another handful of tanks and droids that made their way towards the castle. Sadly, her efforts began to show little reward as the last blast was nothing more than a simple shove at best. The tanks and droids that were pushed this time around were barely moved a few inches, half of them not moving at all from the recent attack.

What's worse, was the size and scale of the force that continued to swarm them. The troops and soldiers that descended upon the valley were now outnumbered three to one by the amount of robotic droids that started to flood the valley. From the waters, she could see Glimmer fighting off one skiff filled with soldiers after the other, doing what she could to send them crashing into the tanks and droids soon after in an effort to combat the invading army.

Her efforts were matched with Bow's own efforts as he managed to fire several arrows into two of the approaching droids, shooting them right at their core with the powerful arrows he obtained from the armory, ones that shot through the droid's thick armor like paper. His efforts would only last as long as the number of arrows he had remaining, and he already felt himself down by over half.

Assisting them, she could see Netossa work tirelessly as she threw one enchanted ball of nets after the other, creating barriers through the ravine that the others could hide against while using others that pulled the droids, tanks, and skiffs together, sometimes resulting in them crashing into one another, and providing a means for Bow to make use of his explosive arrows as he took out the machines all at once, greatly lowering the amount of fighting that took place.

Swing Wind seemed to almost be enjoying himself as topped one of the approaching droids from the air, planting his hooves firmly into their metallic armor and stomping repeatedly until they were steaming husks in the ground. The horse's weight mixed with his durable hooves proved quite effective in taking out the droids, using the air to his advantage as he strayed out of the droids line of sight where they couldn't fire.

That left Spinnerella, the pinkish princess maintaining the defenses as she protected the cliff's pathway towards the Queen. The soldiers that met with her were no match against her magical winds, pushing them off with ease as she used her magic. It didn't matter how much practice one had in the training rooms of the Fright Zone. There was nothing remotely similar between fighting holographic images presented by droids of the princesses, and fighting an actual princess in person.

There didn't seem to be any sway in this line of defense, no matter how hard the Horde try to advance. The heroes were tired, exhausted, and never wanted to be over with a fight as much as they were now, and still they continued. They were Etheria's last hope of defeating the Horde, this conviction inspiring them to push passed their exhausted state as they fought back against the Horde army. They wouldn't let a single one of them near the Runestone as long as they stood their ground, giving it everything they had to keep the Moonestone and Queen Angella safe.

Until it happened.

From the cliffside, Spinnerella saw as a dozen different small hooks suddenly sprang over the side, up to the ground level where she stood. Looking over the side, she nearly gasped as she saw four of the three-legged droids attempting to climb the cliff itself directly, using their small anchors to latch onto the rocky cliffs as they propelled themselves up slowly, using their hold as they ascended the rocky walls with their legs.

Refusing to let a single one of the Horde invaders pass her, Spinnerella channeled her powers into concussive bursts of magic, firing at the droids and unleashing an erupting torrent at air towards the mechanical beasts as they tried to make their way up the mountain. The droids proved themselves durable against the princess's magic, shrugging off the blasts as they made their ascent to the cliff she was up on.

Seeing how smaller direct blasts weren't going to cut it, the princess resorted to her last chance. Crossing her arms against her chests with her clenched fists, she grumbled audibly as the massive bulk of magic started to gather and swirl around her. The others turned to the pink princess as they felt the disturbance and shift in the wind, finally noticing the droids that were attempting to climb their way to the mountain to confront her. Netossa panicked over the sight of her beloved friend like this as she knew the girl was pushing herself, realizing she didn't have a choice in the matter.

With as much magic as she could possibly gather, Spinnerella was ready. In one spectacular burst of energy, they watched as a gigantic sphere of magic blew across the cliffside, effectively blasting away the droids whose ropes and cables were snapped by the force, and plummeting them towards the ground after managing to reach a good halfway up the mountain. The resulting fall was enough to destroy the droids one by one as they crashed to the surface, almost piling on top of one another in a fiery explosion, and eliminating the threat of the robots for good.

Suffice to say, Spinnerella was exhausted, panting out of breath as her arms dropped in front of her. If the soldiers she wasn't fighting off till now were enough to wear her down, the recent energy she had to expunge to destroy the robots were, the annoying droids proving quite resilient to her magical capabilities. None of the others had expected the droids to come up with such a clever tactic, or to provide such a meaningful distraction for another Force Captain to make her appearance.

"Remember me?" Those were the last two words Spinnerella heard before she found a pincered arm wrapped around her neck, pulling on it to try and break free from her overpowering grip.

*ting*

"Ngh-! Uggghhhh..." The flash of pain Spinnerella felt against her back was shortly replaced with a lack consciousness as the princess moaned. All her energy had been drained from her body as she felt herself passing out, her arms dropping to her side as the princess closed her eyes, dropping to the ground itself as Scorpia smirked, flexing her recently-used stinger with glee. By the time the princess woke up again, it would most likely be in a cage in the Fright Zone.

"Spinnerella!" Netossa cried out, tearing at the corners of her eyes. Catra didn't need to see from up close to understand what just happened. She could see the familiar tail-like appendage coming from one of the small figures across the valley, and another figure she could hear Netossa screaming her name out for.

The first princess of the defenders had fallen.

The Horde army was still advancing.

And the Rebellion was losing...

...

A/N: For those of you who want to argue Catra couldn't lift a tree nearly fifty feet through the air, I'd like to remind you that 1: Adora managed to pry a massive boulder out of the episode and threw it squarely at the one Catra was on in the episode, and 2: As i've used for the basis of this episode, which I'm pretty sure is the case, the sword/she-ra does enhance her physical characteristics too, so I wouldn't put it passed her (especially if He-Man is practically strong enough to push a freaking moon through space!).

Hope you all enjoyed and continue to enjoy as we reach are !GRAND FINALE! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 53: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings Part 5

Chapter Text

A/N: And with that another gloriously long chapter has been posted! What is up mi amigos! Muchachos! Some other way of saying guys...

Lol, anyway, we're nearly there people! We are almost at the FINAL chapter of season 1! I can hardly wait! In fact, I don't have much else to say, so.... enjoy!

...

"Spinnerella!" Netossa cried out, tearing at the corners of her eyes. The others could see the fire burning in her eyes, filled with fear, sadness, and rage, no matter how far away they were standing. If that wasn't enough to convince them of her emotional state, the sight of her squeezing her fists angrily were more than enough to get a grasp on how Netossa was feeling right now.

Till recently, the war against the Horde had gone... somewhat smoothly. Without end, the Rebellion found the Horde constantly charging them with their troops, droids, and tanks which flooded the valley as they waged their war on Bright Moon. Thanks to the effects of the new device Entrapta had created within the confines of the Horde, the Runestone of Bright Moon had started to weaken, and the Whispering Woods, which confused and kept the Horde at bay, were frozen over. They now had a clear path straight to the Rebellion, and they intended to make use of it while they could.

Lead by Force Captain Adora, Catra's best of friends, the Horde army had pressed on through the frozen wasteland as they began their siege on the castle, chipping away at the magnificent structure that was a symbol of the Rebellion and everything wrong in the world. They finally had a chance to take down the headquarters of the Rebellion, the Rebellion, and the Moonstone, all in one shot. They would be fools not to use this opportunity presented to them!

And it's a good thing they came prepared as they did. With half their forces diverted to the outer walls of the valley, with the palace guards defending from the ocean and the mountainside over the castles, the last line of defense between the Horde and the Moonstone were the few allies and princesses that had remained. Bow, the archer, Glimmer the Princess of the Rebellion, the Immortal Queen Angella, Catra's steadfast horse-turned-alicorn Swift Wind, and the last two remaining allies of the Rebellion, Netossa, and Spinnerella.

These remaining defenders of Bright Moon were proving more than a match for the might of the Horde. Despite the lack of numbers, they managed to keep the Horde out of their home for much longer than Adora initially expected. The princesses proved their worth as warriors with their magical capabilities, and Bow's trick arrows were keeping the droids and tanks at bay as he managed to disable the oncoming machines before they could even reach the waters.

Truly, they were proving to her the potential might of the Rebellion, and why it continued to stand against the Horde with each passing day. But like many empires, they, too, were eventually doomed to fall. No amount of power would surpass the numbers of the invading Horde, nobody could topple the unity that Adora knew the Horde brought. They worked together far better than any force in Etheria, they stood united against any threat that would oppose them. And she would see it through to the end until the Rebellion was squashed.

Starting with the first princess to fall, Spinnerella.

She proved just as valiant as the rest of them did in her efforts to combat the Horde. Taking position along the cliffside leading up to the castle, Spinnerella fought her hardest against the invading forces. The troops that were brave enough to scale the pathway of the cliffs found themselves blown off by the festering winds of Spinnerella's magic, half of them being forced to drag their allies back into the woods for safety.

Her downfall eventually came, though, after the attack beset on her cliffs by the droids that had intercepted passed the frontal heroes as they began to scale the cliffs from the walls directly. With her feeble blasts doing nothing to wear down the hefty droids, Spinerella was forced to use a vast amount of her magic all at once to push back the ascending droids, blasting them off the ropes they used to climb with and hurdling them down to the base of the large wall, crashing and exploding upon impact.

Suffice to say, the princess was exhausted briefly from this expenditure of magic. Mixed in with the amount of magic she used to fight off the advancing troops, the magic-user had more than spent her reserves in destroying the droids before they got any closer. She was completely unprepared and unguarded as she found was captured by an eager Scorpia, and on the receiving end of her paralytic stinger which knocked her out cold.

Now the defenders were down to four, and would find their numbers continuing to dwindle as time progressed.

As expected, the most troubled by their recent loss was Netossa, the one who was always closest to the fallen Princess. Panic took over her mind and fear rang through her heart at the sight of her beloved friend. As if noticing the distressed state from where she stood, Scorpia took the opportunity to goad the other allies as she lifted her from the collar of her dress, dangling her lifelessly in her hands.

"Nooo!" Netossa screamed as she ran through the waters.

"Netossa, stop!" Bow pleaded, blocking her way as he tried to calm her down. "It's a trap! She's just trying to draw you in!"

"We can't separate like this!" Glimmer added, running to their side. "We need to stay together!"

How could they expect her to understand in a time like this? In a time of war for that matter?! Spinnerella was one of her most cherished companions, she meant everything to her! She was up there all by herself and now she was completely defenseless! Worse, she was in the clutches of one of the dreadful Horde Captains, one who sneered back to her from up above as she showed off her pincers menacingly, wagging her tail around like she was ready to use it in an instant.

She didn't care if it broke formation, not if it meant losing someone close to her like this. With a heavy heart, she hastily pushed passed the two, ignoring their cries to come back and pleas as she ran to save the one who meant most to her, and to get back at the one who dared to attack her dearest friend in the first place.

Gathering all the magic she could into a small sphere in her hands, Netossa tossed the magical conjuration a good ten yards ahead of her. From the magic, Netossa jumped atop the magical sphere as it enlarged into a giant mystical barrier of nets, one that could prove itself as a useful forcefield, or, in her case, become a suitable pathway that grew under her feet, springing her up in the air and throwing her high enough to reach the cliff Scorpia and Spinnerella were on.

Netossa wasted no time unleashing her fury upon the scorpion girl as she gathered another sphere of her energy in the palm of her hands, tossing it directly between Scorpia's feet where it burst into a miniaturized version of her previous barrier, pushing Scorpia back a good distance down the pathway, and more importantly, away from Spinnerella.

With the two distanced from one another, Netossa carefully took her into her, checking over her worriedly as she brushed the hair out of her face. The one spark of solace she had out of all of this was the fact she was still breathing just fine, unaware previously of the effects of Scorpia's stinger. More good fortune came to her in the form of Swift Wind, the gallant alicorn flying his way over to the side as he heard Netossa's screams of fear and her cries of worry as she ran towards the cliffs.

The girl had never been so happy to see the horse appear before her as she lifted her dear friend in her arms.

"Is she alright?" Swift Wind asked, folding his wings enough for Netossa to rest the princess on his back.

"She's fine, just unconscious." Netossa replied, ensuring Spinnerella was placed carefully on the horse before setting them off. Take her back somewhere into the castle, somewhere she'll be safe for now." She ordered, glaring back as Scorpia climbed her way over barrier, sinking her claws into the barrier with each step.

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?" He wondered, knowing their chances of victory diminished even further as they were down a princess.

"I'm fine," she grunted, turning her attention back to the smirking Scorpia as she stood atop the descending barrier, "I can handle her myself."

There was nothing he could say that could get through to her, he knew that within an instant. With their lines cut off from the coast, the Horde would now rush the ravine much faster than they originally were, becoming problematic for Glimmer and Bow with each passing minute that he wasted time out here trying to talk any sort of sense into her. The only chance they had in maintaining their position was with him flying through the air as they speak, soaring straight towards the interior of the castle so he could set the sleeping beauty somewhere safer and return to the front lines to assist the others.

With the safety of her friend ensured, Netossa turned her attention back to the oncoming Captain as she lunged for her, wanting to take advantage of her distracted state as her back was turned. Netossa could commend her quick wits, if nothing else, but was prepared for the young Captain as she grabbed her oncoming pincers, rolling onto her back as she kicked her away a few feet behind her.

Both girls were already on their feet by the time Scorpia landed again, the two circling each other in a defensive stance as they kept their guard up.

"You're going to pay for what you did to her!" Netossa growled, maintaining her position as she came to the ledge of the cliff.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be joining her soon in dreamland." Scorpia smirked. Without any hesitation the scorpion girl lunged at her again, this time thrusting her stinger directly at her left side, leaving no space to for her to dodge unless she jumped from the cliff itself.

However, much to her surprise, she hadn't anticipated the girl's cunning as she leaned herself over the cliffside just as Scorpia's stinger passed her. Before she could reel it back in, the girl wrapped her arms tightly around Scorpia's tail in a hold strong enough to crush her bones, planting her feet firmly to the ground as she held onto it for balance.

Grinning, Netossa pulled with all the might she could as she lifted Scorpia off her own two feet, actually lifting her a couple feet off the ground. Using her own momentum to pull herself back towards the ledge, the girl swung Scorpia over the cliff itself, forcing the captain to clamp her pincers against the rocky walls from the thirty foot drop that awaited her below. It didn't matter if she could survive the fall, any drop from somewhere this high up was surely to leave her out of commission for the rest of the battle.

Perhaps it was this same line of reasoning that she saw Netossa standing over her now, with an angry yet satisfied grin on her face as she gathered another handful of energy again, raising it over her head as she prepared one of her durable net-based traps. She was going to capture this captain, and then she was going to make her pay when this massive battle was over.

"You shouldn't have hurt my friend!" She hissed, feeling the sphere in her hand ready to explode at a moment's notice. Despite the situation she knew Scorpia to be in, the Force Captain just grinned, even as she was hanging from the edge of a cliff.

"And you should've brought yours like I did."

*Bzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Netossa let out a terrible scream of agony as she felt several thousand volts course through her body. From behind the spellcaster, at least three soldiers were pinning their stun batons into her back, sending an endless stream of pain and numbness throughout her entire body as the sparks jumped off her.

Even with this, the vengeful friend wasn't about to back down, not when these goons were responsible for hurting someone so close to her. Gritting her teeth to shrug off the pain, the girl stared back in anger, grabbing two of the cadets by the throats and sending the same thousands of volts that were electrocuting her moments ago through their own systems.

The cadets were in for the shock of their life as they felt the same electricity being returned to them with three times the strength of a single baton being shot through them as well. Netossa did what she could to shrug off the pain, clenching her eyes tightly as she waited for the soldiers to loosen the grip on their batons. No amount of training had ever prepared them to fight through the intensity of three stun batons at once. It was a miracle the woman here wasn't collapsing from the combined might of the three batons!

Finally, after what felt like hours of torture in a reality where just a few seconds had passed, the two guards had relented in their attack as they dropped the batons at long last, collapsing to the ground in a heap on both sides of the only soldier still standing between them. The panicking soldier glanced back and forth at the two fallen comrades in worry. By the time he so much as thought of looking back at the grand spellcaster, he found his face being smacked by Netossa's enraged fists, knocking him back against the walls of cliff's pathway, knocking him out colder than the previous two found themselves to be.

The princess was in a similar exhausted state as Spinnerella found herself to be in, right before Scorpia got the jump on her and knocked her out cold. Remembering the scene vividly in the corner of her mind, she spun around in a haste in an attempt to find Scorpia behind her, only to be met with an empty cliffside and no Scorpia hanging around.

*swiff*

And dodging expertly to her right as the anticipated stinger sprung out behind her. The Force Captain was caught by surprise at the sudden dodging, especially coming from someone who just took three stun batons to the back directly, as Netossa quickly grabbed onto the tail like before, this time tossing her against the wall, further away from the cliff so she could keep her attention on her and the incoming guards that continued to charge the steps after her.

"You really don't know when to quit, do you?" Scorpia commented, watching as another cadet tried to charge the enemy. Even though she managed to shrug off the majority of the batons she took earlier, her strong bravado did nothing to quell the partial paralyzing effect they had through her system.

"The Rebellion will never give up!" She yelled, grabbing the cadet's arm before he could swing at her and tossing him over the cliff into the waters below, the armor only keeping him from taking the brunt of the fall, yet could do nothing against the loss of consciousness from the impact.

*bzzzt!*

"Nghhhh!" She grumbled as she felt another cadet's baton press against her back. The continuing build up of the shock through her nervous system was weakening her muscles, Netossa struggling just trying to stay conscious through the ordeal. With another grunt, she grabbed the same guard by the wrist before puling him over and harshly headbutting him against the helmet, knocking him off his feet. The lessening consciousness were dulling her senses by this point, otherwise she might've seen the other two guards approaching her from behind.

*bzzzt!*

"Ghhhhhhh!" She was running out of time and energy, her fading consciousness preventing her from gathering any of the energy she could to conjure up another magical net to ensnare her enemies or shield herself. With what little she had to go by, she swept one of the batons next to her feet in the air, using the cadet's own weapon against him as she batted the right guard against his chest with the stunner, using it shortly after to block off the left cadet's baton as he swung it over her head.

If Scorpia could compliment anything else about this girl, it was how much she managed to endure up to this point after taking a handful of batons directly and still remained on her feet. If it wasn't for the fact the same girl was now pressed against one knee to the ground from her waning strength, after being forced to grab another baton as another soldier attempted to attack her, she might have considered her a good fight.

But compliments and details were above her when it came to the enemy. The only thing they deserved were the Horde's respect when they put up a good resistance, not praise.

Netossa was too exhausted at this point to counter anything else that was thrown at her. If she wasn't, she would've been more than capable of reacting in some way to stop Scorpia's back attack that was thrown at her. With both her tired arms barely maintaining the hold on her batons as she was pressed towards the ground, she could do nothing as she felt the tip of a third and final baton pressed against the back of her neck, letting out a scream of agony as Scorpia watched with satisfaction.

There was nothing left she could do as the energy finally drained from her at long last. With her eyelids drooping, her arms dropping to her side, she was defenseless as Scorpia kicked the girl off the cliffside, hurdling her into the calm waters below of the ravine. It was thanks to all her training and years of fighting that she managed to survive the fall into the shallow waters with ease, though it mattered little in comparison as her consciousness finally faded.

Hearing the sound of another object falling into the waters along the cliff, taking a moment to himself after he dealt with the recent droid, Bow let out a small gasp as he saw the state of his second fallen comrade, alerting Glimmer as she batted away at the third guard since Netossa's rush. "Netossa!" He barely had a few seconds to himself to call out to her before another handful of soldiers approached them.

That was another ally down, another defender lost to the Rebellion. Swift Wind withholding as he took care of Spinnerella, wherever he was, that left Glimmer with the cold reality that she and Bow were the last defenders of Bright Moon, and more importantly her mother, as the Horde's numbers never ceased to increase. If anything, their numbers were almost doubling during the ensuing fighting that had been taking place as the robotic droids started to fill the hills and the cliffs of the valley, with many of them starting to take formation as they focused on their target: The Moonstone.

Catra, where are you?!

...

"Nooo!" Catra cried out as she saw one of the defenders fall atop the pathway over the valley. While she couldn't get a good view of the princess herself, she could assume it was Spinnerella as she saw the mighty gust of wind she flourished before Scorpia snuck up on her, collapsing thereafter.

They were starting to lose the war. Anyone with eyes could see that by now. No matter how much the Rebellion tried to push back, or the number of soldiers they managed to fight off, they just kept coming nonstop. They showed no signs of wavering as each of the cadets and soldiers that ran into the battlefield were filled with vigor and fresh energy, while those defending Bright Moon were few and scarce in-between, given no time to catch their breath or to relax themselves.

To think that this is something Catra wanted once in her life. To go out into the battlefield to fight a grueling battle with no end and no chance of victory. Personally, she still wanted to be a part of such a battle, and would gladly jump into one at any time if she wasn't on the side that didn't have the endless supply of soldiers on hand! There was no merit out of this situation, nothing to be gained from the Rebellion as they tried to defend their homeland. It was just a needless source of destruction like everything else the Horde touched, lead by her best friend, Adora, of all people!

It as a battle that grew more hectic as time went on. Here Catra was, defending the Rebellion, and fighting off the Horde, and fighting off Adora directly in order to do it, and trying to finish this fight fast enough so she could join them at the ravine to hopefully turn this fight around, AND while trying to convince Adora to come back to their side at the same time! There was never a break for this girl, and there would be no one to help her the moment she slipped up either!

This was exactly what Catra feared would happen if she tried to join the Rebellion in the battle for Bright Moon, right down to the last detail. She knew if she fought Adora, she could choke up. She would mess up, she would falter, she would burden the others in trying to rescue her if she couldn't willingly fight against the Horde, and she still chose to throw herself at their side in order to protect them.

What kind of hero was she?

...

But that's what I thought only at first. She still doesn't seem to know whether she wants to be a hero herself or not, but after the day's experience, I can say she has the qualities of one.

Is this the same person writing this all of a sudden?

I felt stupid thinking she wasn't hero material anymore since then. Even if I still don't know what kind of person she wants to be, I think I know now what kind of person she is.

Someone who can be there for you when you need her the most.

...

Apparently the kind that was given visions of the past by a stupid sword that never left her alone. She didn't care if the sword was trying to get her to let go of her attachments to Adora in order to help her friends. After everything this sword put her through since she came across it, she was unwilling to get rid of either!

Self-doubt and questioning would have to be put on hold as she shook her head. Knowing her allies and friends needed her at this very moment, she ignored all that surrounded her a she began to sprint towards the ledge, intending to race through the woods in order to save them. The brief lapse of judgement and worry that filled her were enough to distract her from Adora's next attack as she threw the shadowy tentacle from her left arm around Catra's chest, pulling the girl away from the edge of the cliff they were on.

"Where do you think you're going?" The malicious Adora grinned, asking.

With a slight toss off the ground, Catra found her entire chest punched directly by Adora's massive shadowy fists, throwing the girl along the walls of the crater-like cliffside they were on, and crashing her through the rocky terrain at full force. She felt the rough edge of the stones as she scraped by them, a small puff of dust jumping into the air around her as her body was shoved into outer edge of the crater.

What little optimism she had that she had experienced the worst of Adora's newest attack were quickly dashed away. The very moment she opened her eyes again, she felt the tentacle around her chest tighten as it reeled it in back towards Adora. Here, the Force Captain greeted her with another devious smile as she smacked her against her mighty fist again, slamming her back into the rocks, and repeated this seeming game of "paddle-ball" with Catra's body without end.

Strike after strike, barely given a second to register the first three strikes that came with the pain she experienced, Catra was forced to endure as Adora continued her relentless result as she kept pulling Catra back to her just to slam her away again after every consecutive blow. There was no pause or hesitation in her attacks, no time for Catra to come up with a counterattack as Adora kept pulling her in faster than Catra could process. All that was filling her mind right now was the intense pain she was given as Adora continued to attack her with an overwhelming sense of joy.

Every hit she struck with her, another part of her attachment to Catra began to edge away. Adora didn't want these feelings of guilt riddling her anymore, she didn't want to put up with Catra's potential, future, betrayal like she always had. The moment she struck Catra down with her own two hands, she knew she would be free of the pain and guilt she's felt over Catra after all these years, the misery Catra put her through without a care in the world.

After at least a full minute of this nonstop barrage of being Adora's punching bag, the girl finally showed some decency as she stopped in her continuous brawl. By now, Catra's entire body was covered in scrapes and bruises, accumulated from the recent attack and the constant fighting she's had with Adora since this battle had started.

She saw Catra wince a little in pain at this, letting out a cough as a small bit of dust entered the magicat's lungs. The last time she was in this state, Adora held back. She felt sick just by seeing the state she put her friend through in Salineas, the way her entire body seemed to be wracked with pain. Even now, a small part of her was guilty over the pain she put Catra through, that small ounce that determined whether Adora still held any attachment or not to the former friend.

That was the part Adora hated the most, the one she wanted to be rid of as soon as possible.

"You know you would make it a lot easier for yourself if you just surrendered, Catra." Adora reminded, cracking the knuckles in her shadowy hand as she squeezed her fist. "You really are just hurting yourself here."

"...Huff... Huff..." Catra panted deeply as she regained her breath while she could. There was no telling how much longer she could hold out for, no indication if she was ever going to get through to Adora. All she knew for the time being was that she needed some way to get out of Adora's grip like this.

"Maybe if you spent a lot less time living in the past, you wouldn't be in the sorry state that you're in."

"Say's the one who won't forgive me, Adora!" Catra retorted angrily.

"That's because you haven't changed how you treated me since then, Catra!" She yelled back. "You're still manipulating everyone for your own gain, you care only about yourself, and everything is just a means to an end with you! You treated me that way the entire time since we met, and you're still doing it even today! Who lied to me about coming back to get the sword? Who tried to convince me that the princesses weren't a threat just to get me to come over to your side? The same ones who nearly destroyed you at the Princess Prom?!"

Anguish and pain crossed Adora's expression as she lowered her head, a small tear forming in the corner of her right eye. "All you've done... all you've ever done... is lie." That was the reality of the matter to her, the realization Adora had to learn the hard way. Catra couldn't be trusted, no matter how sincere she seemed to be or about what. With this assertion in her mind, she squeezed her shadowy fist as she glared back to the girl. "And I'm sick of all the lying, Catra!"

"..."

"...Catra?" Adora blinked as she stared at the girl.

Catra just... stood there. Her mouth was partially gaped open, her arms were at her side, and she was staring into space. She was alive for sure, she knew that much. Her tail still gave a small wag and there was a twitch in her ears, but aside from that, nothing. It's like she was there and wasn't there at the same time. She was practically looking passed Adora than to Adora herself, the Force Captain tilting her head at her strange behavior until a thought occurred to her.

She's seen this several times throughout their brawl, an occurrence that made Adora grin the more she thought about it. This must have been one of those bizarre moments she's had where she seems to fade from reality for a few seconds, the kind she appears to have with everyone as she's running another vision through her mind.

This was all too priceless, honestly. The Hero of the people, the Symbol of Hope for the Rebellion, the defector that didn't even compare to past defectors. Here stood the almighty Catra in all her glory, staring off into space again for who knew how long, all while she was having an intense conversation with Adora as they spoke.

She couldn't let this opportunity pass up, no matter how dishonorable it might've been or cheap. Catra liked playing dirty with her opponents half the time, so why couldn't she? With a grin, Adora pulled the girl over to her with her tentacle as she pulled back her right arm, intending to land the finishing blow that would knock Catra out of consciousness till the next year-!

"Psyche!" That was the only word she heard during the brief second she saw Catra's grin.

Right when she pulled her close enough, as she was about to deliver the finishing blow, the magicat surprised her. With a single kick off the ground, holding onto the tentacle to help her, Adora flinched as she jumped from the ground and landed behind her, the Force Captain being in too much of a state of surprise and confusion as Catra pulled her extendable tentacle back.

Planting her feet as firmly as she could into the ground, with a mighty roar, Catra turned the tables on Adora as she pulled the tentacle upwards, lifting Adora off her own feet in the process. There was too much force from the She-Ra as Catra began to spin her around, preventing Adora from pulling away the tentacle or diminishing it as her body was flailing too fast in a circle around her, her mind unable to process where her shadow was precisely as she was spun in all directions, feeling herself stretching farther and farther with every full-body swing.

Stretching the girl out as far as she could, tightening the grip on the tentacle as she did, Catra screamed. With one, thunderous roar, Catra decided to give Adora a taste of her own medicine, or the stony crater to be more specific, as she slammed Adora against the edge of the crater, dragging her entire body all along the wall of it as she spun her around. No amount of durability could prevent the injury that ensued as Adora felt her body scraping over the harsh ground, gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes to ensure the pain as her shadows tried to keep up to protect her. It was like they were being peeled off as she was pushed against the ground.

Catra needed an opportunity to get close to Adora and in a way she would least expect it. So what better chance did she have by taking her own weakness as her weapon? Pretending to be in her zoned-out state, the one most of her friends were used to, and lowering Adora's guard enough to get the drop behind her! It didn't matter to her how reckless her recent plan was if it bore fruit. Here, she was finally getting some actual damage done as she spun Adora twice in a circle against the crater before slamming her directly into the ground with a tremendous rumble.

Here, the magicat sighed in relief as she panted, seeing the girl's tentacle recede from her body. She was sure that wasn't enough to kill Adora, hopefully, as long as she put her out of commission. The sooner she got back to the others the better, and the faster she did it, the faster she could save-!

*Krush!*

"Ahh!" Catra yelped a little as she shielded her eyes with her arms. What little chance of victory she had obtained banished before her eyes. Right as she was prepared to run from the scene towards her friends, without wasting a chance, Adora gathered an entire chunk of crumbled rocks and dirt as she slung it at the warrior princess directly, giving a few small scrapes and cuts along her arms and legs as she was forced to shield her eyes directly from the hazardous material.

In those short few seconds until she finally opened her eyes, with the buildup of dust that had sprouted from her surroundings eluding her sense of smell, she saw that Adora was gone. Vanished. There wasn't a trace of her anywhere within her field of vision, save for the small personal crater she created as she threw Adora to the ground. There wasn't anything resembling her anywhere around her, save for the one giveaway that told her where she was.

The small chill of death that was creeping from behind her as she felt a large, darkened, claw pressing against her left shoulder.

"Miss me?"

*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeesh!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Pain. Unbearable, dreadful, pain. She thought what Shadow Weaver did to her was bad, and it still was given how long she did it for, but this was a close second. Given no time to react or to recuperate from her own exhausted strength, she was powerless to defend against Adora's next attack as the girl struck from behind her.

In one sweeping motion, from the corner of her left shoulder, all the way down across the back to her right thigh, Catra felt the most painful scratching sensation in her life as Adora shredded her entire back with one of her gargantuan hands. These weren't simple scratches like she had inflicted others with, or herself on a few occasions by accident when she had an inch. She could feel them even after Adora pulled her hand away from Catra's back, watching as the girl collapsed to her hands and knees in agony.

Upon her, Adora watched with pride, as she observed the four two-inch thick scratch marks she spread across Catra's back. Maybe it was the resilience of her quarter She-Ra state, maybe she just didn't dig deep enough, it didn't matter. The scratches, while being crimson in red, weren't bleeding profusely, if at all. Not that they did anything to numb the sense of unbearable pain Catra now felt on her back, of course.

On her back now were four painful, scarring, reminders of a fraction of the pain Catra put Adora through all her life, and no amount of powers were going to let Catra forget this experience of pain she was inflicted with.

"How's that for a backstabbing, traitor?" She teased, returning the shadows to her side as she watched Catra tremble with pain. It took all of Catra's strength to keep from tearing up at the intense pain as she squeezed her eyes shut, biting against her own teeth to prevent any satisfying screaming for Adora to listen to.

Unfortunately, it did nothing to compare to the pain she felt immediately after Adora slammed her back against her foot, pushing her to the ground with ease. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She cried out, squeezing her claws against the dirt as she struggled to tolerate any of the pain. If this was what she felt in her She-Ra state, she'd had to see how it felt if it wore off any time soon.

"Oh pipe down, you big baby." She taunted, lowering her head towards Catra's ears as she smirked. "Why don't you just lie back and enjoy the show? It's about to get a lot more interesting." At the comment, Catra briefly ignored her pain as she looked out to the distance with worry, seeing how Adora pinned her here intentionally in order to watch what came next.

...

The army was amassing in numbers as the droids and tanks lined up side by side as they gathered. There wasn't any break in their formation as they all locked on on the same target, gathering all the energy each of them could muster as they unleashed a horrendous wave of energy upon Moonstone.

Nothing but energy and blasters filled the sky as a torrential rain of destruction spread across the land. Trees were effortlessly blown away, the castle took a waterfall of damage as large chunks of the entire castle were blown away and crumbled entirely on the western side. The worse of these attacks were directed at the barrier protecting the Moonstone, the transparent bubble shielding the pillar beginning to break away and crumble within a matter of seconds. There was nothing Queen Angella could do as the barrier finally collapsed over the entire chamber, most of her strength passed out from trying to push back the Horde time and again.

With the last ounce of strength she had left, she formed a personal barrier over the Moonstone directly and her entire body, refusing to give up even as the strength of the Rebellion continued to falter.

Below her, the battle continued to worsen as Bow was knocked back a dozen feet, grunting in a small bout of pain as he struggled to get back on top of his own legs.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out, rushing to his sides as she gazed at their surroundings. Horde, Horde, and more Horde. There was only Horde and broken trees as far as the eye could see. There strength was fading progressively as the battle continued, the small injuries they've suffered being nothing in comparison to the state they found themselves in.

It was at that time their attention turned to the skies above them as they saw the rain of fire that was blasted at the barrier, gasping in horror as she saw the barrier finally shatter after long last. Nothing about this day is what Glimmer ever thought she would see in her life, much less this soon in her own life. Chaos, destruction, mayhem. They were just a few of the words she could describe this day if she ever looked back on it, if she managed to survive after today.

"Mother!" Glimmer cried out, knowing the vulnerable state she would be in if barrier was ever shattered.

"Ngh... Go!" Bow struggled to order, pulling out one of his few remaining arrows as he shot at another droid. Glimmer glanced back to him, an obvious state of fear filling her eyes with worry about him.

"But Bow-"

"I said go!" He tearfully interrupted. There was no way they would survive this war if the Moonstone was destroyed. She also knew there was no way Bow would manage to survive on his own for too long if he tried to fend for himself and the pillar. But what other choice did she have? There was no way she would get through to him, and with the short amount of time they had remaining, there was little to argue about.

With a heavy heart, and a teary eye, Glimmer wiped her eyes away as she ran for the pathway along the cliffs, seeing how a portion of the pillar's stairway was broken in the amassing fire of energy the Horde unleashed. She didn't look back as she heard Bow continuing to give his all, the sounds of explosions filling the surrounding air as he fought against a couple of droids that approached him with the last few arrows he had on hand.

She had to push passed her doubt, her fears, her worries, as she made her way up the stairs. There was no turning back with the destruction that continued to spread, no time to second-guess her options as she made her way towards the Moonstone, the one that was barely lit with energy as the barrier around it and her mother continued to die out. And there was nothing but panic filling Glimmer's mind as she saw a tail spring out from behind the upcoming pathway, taking a stand with her staff in hand as she saw Scorpia appear before her.

Excited, and angry.

"You and your friends have a lot of nerve, you know that?" She shouted. The pitiful display of defense Glimmer held up as she blocked her overhead swing was met with pain as Scorpia easily jabbed her in the stomach with her other pincer, causing the girl to out a cough as she was shoved back. "Do you know how much pain your stupid friend put Adora through? How much she's cried over here?!"

*clack*

Glimmer pushed back with all the might she could as her feet skid across the ground, feeling the force of Scorpia's strength as she pushed her back an inch every second. "Yeah, because she really seems like the sensitive type to me! I can really picture the person LEADING AN INVADING ARMY as a decent person!" Glimmer shouted back swiping at her head with the staff which Scorpia dodged under as she backed up.

"She was before your friend messed her up!" With a furious shout, Glimmer was forced to back away as well as Scorpia crashed both her pincers to the ground, nearly pounding the girl as the earth beneath them crumbled. "She used to be happy, cheerful, always thinking about others first and herself second! Every day she kept talking about Catra and how she was worried over her. How to protect her, how to save her from you guys. You couldn't ask for a better friend!"

She couldn't tell if Scorpia was being serious about this or trying to mess with her head. She wanted Glimmer to believe that Adora, the girl who tortured her, to manipulated Catra at the ball, who nearly ended her life in Salineas, and was now probably doing the same somewhere else at this very moment, was actually a considerate and caring person? She wouldn't even consider believing her if it wasn't for the fire she saw in Scorpia's eyes.

That kind of fire is one you'd get when you met somebody who truly cared for another. Someone who was willing to fight for them because of how much they meant to her. She had no idea what kind of person Scorpia was, yet she was going out of her way with her own personal grudge against her because of what happened to Adora and how she is now.

Was she telling the truth?

"And ever since she came back from the ruins, she hasn't spoken a single word about what happened! All she does now is frown and look angrily at everything except for weapons to destroy you guys with. I can't even give her a daily hug without her backing away from me! And it's your fault!"

At this, the Princess of Bright Moon grumbled as she was pushed against the wall of the cliff, the Force Captain refusing to give the girl the same paralyzing agent she gave Spinnerella as she wanted her to watch. "So you mess up someone I care about," she grinned," and I mess up someone you care about!" She didn't need any hints to what she was getting at as she turned her head towards the Moonstone chamber, fretting at the sight she was beholding.

Within the chamber, the Queen continued to use every ounce of strength she had in reserves, barely maintaining the grip on the Moonstone's barrier as she heard the mechanical whirring of gears approaching with increased volume after each step. Shifting her eyes to the side, her brow lowered with renewed worry as she saw one of the deadly droids approaching her, intending to destroy the Queen and the Moonstone on its own.

Gathering a small fragment of energy she could at the tips of her finger, the Queen drew a small decimal of the Runestone's remaining magic as she blasted at the oncoming droid, pushing it away with as much power as she could. It proved to be in vain as the droid was scraped against the ground, pushing it back only for a few seconds before it regained its footing again, the round carapace of its shell opening up as it began to charge its lasers.

There was nothing more the Queen could do as it charged. In a futile attempt at a last stand, the Queen projected one last barrier over herself as she prepared to take the full force of the attack with everything it had to offer. Sadly, her attempts to shrug off the blast were met with naught as she took the empowered force of the enhanced droid's attack, blasting her away to the broken walls of the room where she collapsed, weakened.

With the Queen out of commission, there was nothing left to protect the barrier from the dark energies that filled the sky. With the last of the magical resistance fading, there was nothing to keep the dark energies from being drawn towards the Runestone, the darkened clouds swirling around with the Moonstone at its center, as it began to darken the magical jewel and blacken the sky with its everlasting darkness.

The last line of defense for Bright Moon against the Horde had finally fallen, and the thoughts of everything that would come after terrified Glimmer to no end.

"MOTHER!" She screamed tearfully.

*rrrrrrrttttttttt*

"Gaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Of all the lousy time for her glitching powers to pop up, it had to be now! She was already in enough pain at the fear of what happened to her mother just now, wasn't that enough for her to endure?! Couldn't this glitching cut her a break for a change and let her fight through the rest of this madness before rearing its ugly head?

That was when she noticed the staff's tip starting to glow, the energy rushing through her body transferring a little to the tip of the staff as it filled with a renewed source of energy. In addition, she noticed Scorpia's grip against her starting to weaken as the Force Captain stared at her strange state in confusion, inadvertently loosening her grip in the process. It was the one push Glimmer needed to turn this entire situation into her favor.

With all the strength she had, she pushed off Scorpia's grip, swinging the staff with all her might as she directed the energy at the Force Captain personally, blasting her off her feet and knocking her over the ledge, just like she did with Netossa a short while ago. Of all the times for her glitching to spike up, now proved to be the most useful as it faded away soon after. She didn't care how the staff managed to draw in the glitch's energy, all she cared about right now was the safety of her mother as she ran up the steps of the pathway, hoping to save her mother from an untimely fate.

...

"No matter how much you push back, we'll keep throwing everything we have at you, Catra." Adora stated as she continued pressing her foot painfully on Catra's back.

Catra was at a loss for words as she watched the darkness gather around the Runestone. If the Runestone was starting to fall, there was no telling what sort of state the Queen was in, causing her to fear the worse. If the Queen was in as bad of a state as Catra presumed, there was no telling what sort if dilemma Bow, Glimmer, or the others found themselves in at the same time. For all she knew, they could've been captured by now, at best, as she tried in vain to fight against Adora.

Let Go

For less than a second, barely a flash in her mind, she saw Light Hope. The one who started all of this upon touching the sword, the one who told her of her role in all of this and hew new destiny, and the one who kept telling her to let go of her past, now more directly than ever before.

She still hated that woman, A.I., whatever she wanted to call it, for messing up her life to begin with. None of this should've been happening. Not to her, not to Adora, not to anyone she came to care about or consider close to friends. She was the one who told Catra she had to do this, practically forced her to do this, from her point of view, and now she had the gull to continue ranting to her about letting go of her past, and everything she held dear.

If she wasn't a transparent A.I. Catra couldn't touch, she would've gladly scratched her life out by now.

Out of all the things her and this sword were nagging her for, there was one thing she agreed with. She could no longer afford to waste anymore of her time fighting Adora, not here when the majority of the fighting was happening down in the ravine. Even if it meant she followed her all the way through, she needed to get closer to where all the other action was, where her friends and allies needed her to be. She needed to get there swiftly, and safely.

And that gave her an idea as she pressed her finger and thumb into her mouth.

*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!*

"Hey!" Adora grumbled as she slammed Catra's head to the ground, earning a grunt of pain. "Did I say you could interrupt the show here? What are you whistling about anyway?"

"Mhmhmhm..." She heard Catra mumble, rolling her eyes as she pulled Catra's head back by her hair, ignoring the few pebbles that fell from her exhausted face.

"Say that again?"

Catra spit a little as she cleared the small ounce of dirt out of her mouth, growing angrier as she turned her eyes towards her. "Calling a friend."

"A friend?" It was as if she had never heard the word before, not from Catra's lips anyway.

*neeeeeeeeigh!*

*WHAM!*

"Agh!" Adora yelped as she was tackled out of the way by three-hundred pounds of literal horsepower, crashing against the crater again.

"Catra!" Swift Wind called out worriedly, seeing the beaten and battered state of his master and friend. "Are you okay? You look hurt-!"

"I'm fine, let's just go back to the Moonstone, quickly." Catra interrupted, weakly throwing herself over the horse with her sword still in hand.

"But Catra, your back-"

"I said go!" She repeated, kicking at his sides a little.

Swift Wind had to force out a sigh at the pent up dread he was feeling as he flapped his feathery wings and took off. He knew Catra to be stubborn, heck everybody knew that, but he at least wished she would take better care of herself and possibly request they'd go somewhere she could recover for a minute or two. Time was of the essence and she was in a better state to defend them if she spent a minute just to catch her breath for a change.

Unwilling to argue, the alicorn soared through the air, taking off for Castle Bright Moon again as Adora clawed her way out of the ground she was planted in. She didn't know whether to be enraged by the constant interruptions or overjoyed at the fact they were headed back towards the castle.

One way or another, she was ending this battle once and for all by the time this day was over.

...

*clak*

*Clak*

The mechanical footsteps drove on as the droid within the chamber approached the Queen. With its primary directive being to destroy the Runestone and the hostile takeover of Castle Bright Moon, it couldn't allow any survivors or possible resistance to escape from this place alive. It didn't matter if the Queen was truly immortal or not, it would ensure it blasted at her enough until nothing remained, save for a smoldering pile of ash.

It was this reality that was met as Glimmer ran halfway across the bridge, panting heavily in exhaustion at the dire path she ran all the way through. Despite slowing down, she refused to give up as she ran with all the energy and conviction she had left, the urge to save her mother overpowering the draining energy she felt in her legs. She was the only one who could reach her in time at this rate, and the last chance she had to save her mother and possibly the Runestone, all at once.

Or so she thought.

*neeeeigh!*

With the shouting neigh that filled the air, the droid turned its focus from the collapsed Queen to the direction of the angry war cry that approached it, detecting the flying horse that was charging in its direction with a warrior on its back. Neither of the two seemed to show any hesitation as the robot started to charge its lasers, preparing to open fire upon the two as soon as they were within range.

"Are you ready?" Catra said as she squatted onto her feet on the back of the horse, ready to lunge at the robot and cleave it in one strike with her sword.

"Ready when you are, She-Ra!" Swift Wind replied proudly, ready to dodge at a moment's notice as soon as the robot appeared ready to fire.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Thr-!"

*BOOM!*

"Ahhhhhhh!" The two screamed as Swift Wind cried out in pain, throwing Catra off his back as he began to fall out of the sky.

With the two so focused on the robot they were about to charge, they didn't anticipate or prepare for the endless barrage of lasers that charged at them, seeing at least six different blasts shoot off passed them until one of them struck Swift Wind's side, exploding upon impact with his armor, the force knocking the energy and consciousness out of him as he fell directly into the chamber a short ways away, the droid within it watching as it powered down its shot, knowing the combatant was unable to battle any longer.

The same soft landing he experienced from being so high in the sky wasn't replicated on Catra's end, sadly enough, as the girl dropped straight out of the sky with her arms and legs flailing to grab on to anything out of the thin air, dropping the sword out of her hands as she fell. There was nothing to catch her save for the harsh shallow waters below that barely mitigated the impact with her She-Ra form, the near-hundred foot drop being enough to kill the average person. Her entire body was met with pain as she survived this, feeling her bones nearly at the breaking point from then on.

Back at the top of the Moonstone Chamber, the droid diverted its attention back to the fallen Queen, knowing its primary priorities came first, specifically the one dealing with the Queen. As before, the droid began to charge its lasers as it focused its sights directly at the Queen's head, her weakened and unconscious body unable to put up any sort of resistance as she laid there, ready to be shot at.

"Hey! Bucket head!" It heard Glimmer shouting, turning away from the Queen right as it was about to fire to see the incoming princess charging right at it. With its charge still ready, the robot fired straightaway at the shouting Princess, Glimmer dodging gracefully out of the way as she jumped to the air, standing on top of the robot where its sensors and sights couldn't reach her.

*rrrrrrrtttttttt*

"Nngggggghhhhhhaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The pain that surrounded her was nothing like she felt previously, feeling like her entire body was ready to burst at the rate these buildups were going. Seeing the staff draining away at the energy again, remembering how she dealt with Scorpia a minute ago, she powered through the pain as best she could, grumbling as she impaled the tip of the staff directly through the robots metallic head.

Both, she, and the robot, were overcome with thousands of volts of its own electricity combined with the unbearable pain of the glitching as the two struggled to maintain their footing, Glimmer refusing to let go knowing what it would mean for her mother if she couldn't stop the robot here and now. It was a painful process, and not one she ever wanted to repeat in the future unless it was absolutely necessary, but after an eternity's span of time within ten seconds, Glimmer finally released the staff from the robot's skull as it exploded, blasting the girl off of her and against the wall.

That was everything she had left in energy. She was tired, she was exhausted, and she could barely feel any muscle as her body felt like a wad of gelatin. The last thing she saw was the sight of her mother's unconscious body as she slowly succumbed to the same fate, leaving the chamber filled with three unconscious beings, none of whom could protect the Moonstone any longer.

...

Catra would've wished she was in the same state of unconsciousness if she had any idea of how peaceful they were in, yet knew it wasn't an option. She had no idea how Swift Wind was other than alive, or the state of Glimmer for the few seconds she saw her. All she knew was that whatever state she was in, it wasn't awake, or she'd be yelling Catra's name in worry or fright like the last person she heard.

"Catra!" Bow picked up the pace as Catra rolled over onto her stomach, wincing at the pain it brought as she feebly got back to her knees and hands. "Are you alright?"

"Tch, I..." The cat kept her head down as she stared into the murky waters her hands were submerged in. "I can't beat her." It was just like her first confrontation with Shadow Weaver after she joined the Rebellion, only this time it wasn't out of fear.

"Catra?" He soothed her back as he rubbed it, trying to ease any pain she was in over her shoulders, nearly making a face as he saw the scars on her back.

"I can't beat Adora!" She specified, lowering her ears. "She's too strong... too fast... I can't..."

"Catra, we can't give up now!" It was a miracle in and of itself that Bow seemed to retain any sort of optimism out of this. "Even if we're the last two standing, we have to keep trying!"

"What's the point?" It was hopeless to her, now more than ever. "What do we have to gain if we continue fighting like this?"

"What do we have to gain if we don't?" Bow shot back, earning Catra's full attention as she looked up. As she did, she noticed the sword in his hands, the same one he gladly handed back. "Catra, if we give up now, there will be nothing left to stop the Horde. No kingdom will be strong enough to fight back, nobody will be brave enough to unite the kingdoms around here. If we threw in the towel, we lose everything. No matter how impossible it seems, we have to push forward no matter how hard it gets!"

A part of her wished she shared in Bow's foolish optimism. To be able to look something like death in the face like this multiple times, to always have a strong backbone after all the beatings he took, the noticeable bruises and scrapes against his arms and armor as he spoke to her, it was almost endearing to see from anyone in these dark times.

It really was his greatest quality.

"Awww, now don't go getting her hopes up like that~" A familiar voice taunted, much to their dismay as they looked back.

There stood Adora. The Force Captain leading the charge against the Battle of Bright Moon, the one who casually carried herself over to the other end of the ravine through all the trees in a matter of minutes. The one who had shadowy tendrils sticking out of her back, the one who sneered at them with nearly forty soldiers behind her, followed by a row of tanks behind that. They were all staring down at the last futile resistance that the Rebellion had to offer, and Adora couldn't be any happier than this.

"Don't you know it's rude to get peoples hopes up, just to crush them later?" She added, giving a small scowl at Catra as she said this. "Trust me, I know from experience..."

"Adora!" Bow shouted angrily, standing his ground as he reached for one of his numerous arrows. Or he would, that is, if he wasn't met with empty air. Turning his head, he saw all of his arrows were gone, having used them up in the climactic battle against the Horde's forces and their droids. Still, refusing to back down, demonstrating his courage in front of a friend who needed it most, he let out another scream of anger as he charged Adora directly, intending to fight her off with the bow clenched tightly in his hands.

The Force Captain would've been amused by this endeavor if it wasn't for his relationship to the person he hated most right now, and Catra. Side stepping the oncoming strike with ease, his movements being as slow as a senior citizen in her newly enhanced state, the captain didn't show any signs of caring as she smacked him away with one of her gargantuan fists, tossing him into the air until he slammed directly into a tree within the woods, out of the ravine.

The archer huffed his last breath as he fell to the ground, snapping through a giant branch as he passed it, and falling face-first to the gravel below. It was the last amount of energy he had as he tried to pick himself off the ground. What few inches he could manage were dusted away as he finally collapsed again, out of breath, out of energy, and out of consciousness.

Just the way the Force Captain liked it.

"Well that was a good warm-up." She teased as Scorpia sluggishly made her way over, holding an arm over her stomach. "Hey... are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Scorpia smiled a little, glad some part of her friend still remained, "just sore."

"Well, you can take it easy now." She replied, patting her shoulder as she turned back towards the feline. "With Bow out of the way, there's nobody left to-"

*splish*

"You've got to be kidding me..." The captain's irritation was matched only by her scowling.

Their attention was caught by the small splashing sound they heard at the other end of the ravine, the very place a lone magicat struggled to stand up. They watched her as she weakly pushed her way off the ground, using the sword to support her as she picked herself out of the shallow waters that submerged her feet. It almost looked like it was taking all of her energy to lift the sword to her side with both her hands, panting heavily as she stared down the invaders.

She was broken, battered, weakened, exhausted, scarred, scared, trembling, and nervous. Her clothes were torn with a few cuts along her chest, not to mention the gaping hole that was scratched off of the back of her outfit, she was severely bruised on nearly all her sides with cuts on every limb of her body, and the girl looked as if she ran a hundred miles without taking a single moment to rest or get a drink of water to freshen up.

There was nothing about her that looked ready to fight against the legion of the Horde, yet she was the only one who remained conscious after everything she's been through. She was the only one still standing on her feet, the last person blocking their way to the castle, and the final obstacle standing in their way.

The one person standing between Etheria, and complete and total destruction. She was the one who needed to finish this fight before all was lost.

Her name, is Catra. Her name, is She-Ra.

She was the last hope for the Rebellion.

This was her last stand.

...

A/N: I don't think I could end a cliffhanger more suspenseful than I had now of all times XP Hoping this keeps everyone on the edge of their seats because, as of now, we are down, to our GRAND BIGGEST FINALE OF ALL TIME PEOPLE!!!!! THE FINAL CHAPTER OF SEASON 1!

There can be no words to describe everything that will happen, just know that through it all, it will (hopefully) be the biggest chapter I've done to date, as well as hopefully the most enjoyable/tearful. There will be a lot happening in it, i give you my word, hence the oversized chapter I intend/hope to get pushed out. There also will be a bit of music recommended to listen to to intensify the feels and whatnot. And after that, after a noticeable break I intend to have, we'll finally be moving on to SEASON 2! (which i've yet to watch any of so im very excited for it ^^)

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 54: Season 1 Finale: No Happy Endings End

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey Gang! You like reads that take over an hour :D?

Audience: NO!

Me: Well too bad, here we go!

God this one was annoying to re-edit and fix X/. It wasn't bad writing itself , the annoyance came in that when I had to copy and paste the flashback bits, they all came out jumped and bulgy in a bizarre way, and annoyingly enough, CLUSTERED TOGETHER, so i had to manually re-paragraph them myself T_T and I know i could've copied and pasted differently to fix it, but that was after the first fifteen minutes of corrections i listed, so I couldn't afford to miss anything i forgot about.

But with that jumbledness out of the way, behold. Not just the grand finale to our first season, but the most I had ever written in a day. I pray to you all:

Enjoy X)!

...

"You can't be serious." Adora smirked with a hand at her side, staring across the ravine to her former friend.

The Rebellion was, as of now, finished. Every last ounce of resistance the Rebellion had to offer had finally been wiped out. The barrier protecting the Moonstone from the Black Garnet's dark magics was destroyed, allowing its corrupted energy to slowly drain away at what little lifeforce remained within the jewel, even as they speak.

The archer, Bow, laid unconscious against a tree after Adora bashed him away. Glimmer lost her energy saving her mother from one of the droids after another surge of her glitching washed over her, while being electrocuted by the robot she destroyed at the same time. Scorpia made quick work of taking out Spinnerella in person as she snuck up behind her and stung her, followed by Netossa who she took out with a group of soldiers after trying to avenge her fallen friend. And Swift Wind, the noble steed, was powerless to protect himself as he flew Catra across the valley, trying to reach the Queen in time to save her, only to be blasted out of the sky.

The mightiest of these defenders was the Queen of Bright Moon herself, the Immortal Queen, Angella. Everything the woman had done affected all the soldiers and machines launched against the castle. Her barrier proved resilient throughout the battle, her magics managed to blast away the tanks and droids several time throughout the war, disrupting their efforts and advances as the remainder of the Rebellion attempted to fight off the invading Horde army.

It wasn't until the tanks and droids had finally amassed in number that they managed to launch a surprise volley against the barrier directly, firing a barrage of energy at the barrier endlessly without mercy. Eventually, the barrier gave way as it crumbled, the combined might of the Horde finally beating back the last barrier the Queen had to throw at them as she focused on defending the Runestone directly as a last resort.

She was an easy target for the approaching droid that managed to scale the pathway earlier, the Queen struggling to maintain what little magic she could around the Runestone and fight off the droid at the same time. She was defenseless to stop the droid as it advanced, launching a single, powerful, blast of energy at the Queen, knocking her out cold like the rest had been, and for those who were soon to follow. With her unconsciousness, there was nobody left to protect the Runestone or the castle.

Except for one.

Her name was Catra, the last defender standing between the Horde and the destruction of Bright Moon Castle, along with the rest of Etheria.

Catra was in no state to defend as she stood there, sluggishly standing on her own two feet with a weak grip over the sword as she panted. She was beaten, battered, bruised, exhausted, panting, sweating, and still the furthest one from the edge of consciousness. She was the only one who managed to stay around throughout the entirety of this battle, the very one she didn't want any part in, the last battle that would determine her relationship with Adora from this point onward.

Ever since their one-on-one fight began, Adora held the advantage. Thanks to the mass of shadows she managed to collect, due to the never-ending darkness that swirled above, the Force Captain was all but invincible in her present state, shrugging off most of Catra's potentially lethal attacks from being blown at point blank range by an explosive arrow to the back, to being bashed away with a massive tree and slammed against a rocky cliffside as a result.

All of Catra's best attacks were brushed off with ease for the blonde girl who managed to walk off what little injuries she sustained throughout the fighting. Anything Catra managed to dish out proved to be in vain, even in her partial She-Ra form, as she was powerless to resist against Adora's own attacks. Her strength was enhanced, her defense was enhanced, even her agility was enhanced in this state, and it still wasn't enough to defeat Adora.

From being slammed against the ground, bashed against a tree like her, and having four painful scars across her back that never ceased to burn, still ripe and fresh from the moment Adora scratched them into her flesh a few minutes ago. Maybe it was because she was in her She-Ra form that they didn't bleed, not that the alternative was any better as she still felt everything. If her She-Ra form ever gave out after all the pain and exhaustion she's gone through, there was no telling how much pain she would be in anymore.

Her emotional struggle with the situation was proving more problematic than her physical one, just by an inch as of now. She didn't want to fight her friend, she didn't want to hurt her. Everything from where they were now to how they came to be was all of her fault. She's the reason Adora is doing this in the first place, she's the one who caused Adora to go off the deep end. All because of how she treated her in the past, all the ways she used their friendship to her advantage. She was responsible for what Adora was doing here, and she needed to find some way to fix it before it was too late.

She was all that was left by the end of all this. Through all the fighting, through all the struggling, she was the last one still standing, however weakly she might be. And now, she was staring at two Force Captains, at least forty soldiers behind them, a dozen tanks behind that, and who knew how many droids that were roaming the forest.

She couldn't afford to lose here.

"What do you think you're doing, Catra?" Adora couldn't help but grin at her pitiful display, an ounce of her still feeling sorry for the state she was currently in, and a pound of her laughing on the inside.

"I'm... huff... g... gonna stop you... right here..." Catra panted, struggling just to breathe, much less hold the sword up.

"Really... You? Stop us? By yourself?" Every question she asked was fresh in her mind, hearing the chuckling and laughter from the fellow soldiers that stood behind her, joking about the freak's antics. "Don't waste your breath. Soldiers!" With her arm raised to her side, the soldiers stood at attention as they began to march forward, ready to take Bright Moon Castle for glory of the Horde.

"How... How about a wager?" The magicat's curious bargain actually managed to intrigue the Force Captain, the soldiers coming to a halt as they saw Adora close her hand again.

"A wager?"

"Yeah, a wager. Let's make a bet right here, right now, about which of us will win in a fight."

She chuckled quietly. "Catra, what makes you think you're in any position to make a bet against me right now? I mean look at you! You can barely stand on your own two feet-!"

"Then you should be more than enough of a match for me, Adora." Catra interrupted, tightening the grip on her sword. At this point, she was grasping at straws here. She had no idea what to do, any idea of how to do it, or how long she could hold on to this charade. All she could do is hope enough time would pass for a potential miracle to come about. Being the way she was right now, Catra knew the kind of person Adora was presently.

She was being Catra. And nobody on Etheria knew how to play at Catra's own game better than her.

"Think about it for a minute. Would you, the so-called honorable Force Captain," she sneered, pointing her sword directly at her, "really be satisfied if anyone else got to finish me off?" At the comment, Scorpia noticed a small twitch from Adora's eyes, as if the girl was actually contemplating her words. "If they're the ones who finish me off, you'll never get over your grudge against me. You'll always have that annoying spark of doubt clouding your mind, and it'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"..." She was no stranger to Catra's trickery and pranks over the years, and this was barely any different from them. She was just trying to pull something here in order to get the drop on her or to come up with another scheme. If anyone was capable of seeing through Catra's plots and shenanigans, it was Adora, the very person she grew up alongside with all her life.

Then again, she couldn't deny there was some semblance of truth in her words when she thought about it. She still had that annoying spark of concern over Catra like she claimed, and it was something that continued to bring an endless source of pain to her, no matter how miniscule, even after all that's happened. The moment she could get rid of that spark, she knew she would be free of her past and her pain, and all she had to do was strike Catra down with her own two hands.

"...What are the stakes of this wager?" She finally asked, much to Scorpia's surprise.

"But Adora-!" Any argument she had to make about this was silenced as Adora raised her hand a little in pause as she focused on Catra.

"One on one. You against me, in front of your entire army. If I win, everyone has to turn back and leave Bright Moon, including you."

"And if I win?" Adora asked curiously. If there was something as big as a retreat for Catra's victory, then surely she had to have something big for Adora's victory.

"Satisfaction." She stated.

"...What? That's it? Satisfaction for kicking your butt?" It was almost insulting how little the reward seemed in comparison to Catra's own reward. "How is that supposed to be a big payoff for me? It feels like you come out with more on top if you won."

"Are you kidding me? Do you know what I would give to have any sense of satisfaction?" She played on, gulping in the back of her mind that she could pull this off. "If good always wins, you would have the satisfaction of beating me and proving that you were right about everything. You would prove that the Horde are the good guys, prove to the world that they stand united against tyranny or whatever garbage you believe they're telling you. More importantly, you would be proving yourself right about me." At the statement, Adora blinked. She was getting to her.

"Prove that everything you said about me was true. That I really am a terrible person, and everything I've done was for my own gain." She said, lowering her sword as she looked off to the side in partial disgust. "You would prove that everything I've done in my life was for my own selfish desire... that I'm only looking out for myself. It would show everybody that you have every right to hate me, Adora, and nobody could blame you anymore." As she finished, she glanced over to the Force Captain as she saw a small twitch in her shadowy fingers. That was the twitch she needed from her to prove that this was working.

Catra had messed up so much of Adora's life from the moment they first became friends. She used her name to sew fear into the hearts of the Fright Zone guards, soldiers, and staff just to get away with whatever she wanted. She always let Adora take the fall whenever they caused trouble, knowing any punishment she received would be nowhere near as severe as anything Catra would claim.

If she actually took Catra on her bargain, she would prove to everyone that everything they feared about Adora was wrong. It would prove that Adora was unaware of Catra's actions from the beginning, that she was the innocent victim in all of this. There would be no one to question or fear Adora or her name any longer if they bore witness to her cutting off all her ties to Catra right now. She could communicate with her fellow soldiers again, with no one trembling at the mention of her name, regardless if Shadow Weaver was around anymore.

Not to mention what she said about the good guys always winning. Everybody that wasn't part of the Horde doubted in them. They saw them as senseless savages that were only trying to spread chaos and ruin across the world. Nobody wanted anything else to do with the Horde unless it was to benefit themselves, or simply out of fear. If she managed to beat Catra, she could prove to the world that they were wrong about them. The potential relationships and allies they could garner out of it would be superb!

And, of course, all of it came down to Adora's ties to Catra herself. She needed some way to cut her ties directly from the girl, no matter how forceful or cruel they were. As long as Catra was around, she would continue to torment her to no end, whether or not she was alive. She would be reminded of their possible friendship that still remained, plaguing her with memories of a better time with her that would bring pain back to Adora everytime she remembered something.

She needed this outlet. She had a chance to fix her past once and for all, every last detail from beginning to end.

It began with Catra, so it was only fitting that it would end with her as well.

"...Soldiers!" Adora finally spoke, raising her arm again as they prepared to strike. "...Everyone is to stand down." Her orders were met with expected skepticism and surprise amongst the crowd, none of which matched Scorpia's expression. "I'll take care of this myself. Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to interfere or assist me until this battle is over. Am I clear?" The few mumbles and questions she heard were quickly silenced as she shot a sharp look at them. "Am I clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" They replied, saluting.

"Adora, you can't be serious!" Scorpia replied as her half-blonde-half-black-haired friend stepped forward. "She's just trying to trick you, there's no need to this! We're just wasting time if we-"

"Scorpia." She cut off, speaking calmly and directly as she turned her head to the left, just enough to see her mouth as her hair covered her eyes. "I need to do this... please..."

It's not like Scorpia couldn't understand why she wanted to do it. With all the pain she put Adora through, she needed to find some way to bring back the original Adora, the fun, perky, chipper one that always made the Fright Zone feel a little less darker whenever she walked through it, who always had a smile glued to her face whenever she greeted somebody. If anyone deserved to ask for a selfish favor for a change, it was her.

Thinking about it, too, if she was to do this and came out of it victorious, it might actually bring the real Adora back to her! She could have her own little buddy back in the Fright Zone instead of this one that was slowly starting to scare her with each passing moment. If she refused her right now, there was no telling if her dear friend would ever come back to her, not when she needed her most.

So, with a hearty sigh and a small smile, Scorpia nodded, taking a few steps back as Adora turned her head back, not before Scorpia noticed the small smile growing on her face.

"Besides," Adora continued as she reformed her blackened shadowy arms, "I never did take off that bounty on her. When I finally beat her, everyone who's present here will be rewarded for her bounty. They'll be praised for defeating the terrible She-Ra, on top of destroying the Rebellion." With conviction and darkness running through her veins, Adora took a stance. "Everything I do, I do for the Horde. It's always been for the Horde."

"And what has that gotten you, Adora?" Catra questioned, tightening the grip on her sword as she prepared for her last battle. "Nothing but sadness."

"...Goodbye, Catra." There were no more words that could be said between the two, despite the voices shouting in both of their hearts.

They had messed with each other's lives sine this tale began. Catra ruined the best relationship a friend could ask for. Adora assisted in kidnapping Glimmer and Bow which lead to the events that have unfolded within the last few days. Both of them were responsible for each other's current misery, and both were at fault with their own. Nothing could be said anymore that the two haven't heard from the other before.

All they could do, was fight.

"Haaaaaaaahhh!" Catra roared as she charged straight ahead at the Force Captain, her feet splashing against the shallow waves of the water below. Adora didn't even bother putting up much of a resistance as she casually walked over to the girl, her face devoid of emotion or care as Catra drew back her sword.

*clang!*

As Catra attempted to strike the first blow, it became clear why she was so calm about everything. With just the tip of her shadowy finger, Adora easily managed to block the attempted swipe from her right, standing in place as she looked on at her former friend in disgust.

"Is that truly it?" There was barely a twitch in her finger as Catra attempted to increase the pressure on her sword, glancing back and forth between her sword and Adora's cold expression.

It might have been another fault with her new She-Ra form, something she wasn't used to given the lack of times she managed to transform with it. After all the beatings she took to get as far as she was now in the conflict, every injury she had sustained and what little she actually felt given her She-Ra state, it finally dawned on her that, while her new form was enhanced and amplified like Adora's was, her physical body still had its own limits. It grew exhausted like an average person, it became weaker as her muscles were spent. She was playing with an exhausted, tired out, body that has grown progressively weaker throughout the fight, and she barely noticed it.

Adora mentally shook her head as she saw Catra struggling to push the blade any further against her finger, watching as Catra attempted to apply more pressure to it by using both of her hands. Seeing the girl trying her hardest to injure Adora in some way, to protect these people she barely knows, was revolting to her.

"You know, there was a time I would have given anything to see this day." Adora commented as she easily blocked several of Catra's incoming blows with her claws. From above, to the left, and straight at her head, she brushed away every strike that came to her. "You, fighting with all you got to protect a side with all your might, doing what's right? I would've been more than proud of you any day I got to see that, to see you give your all even though it was pointless.

*WHAM!*

"Agh!" Catra cried out. It took a single punch to the gut to blast Catra nearly twenty feet of way, causing the girl to skid across the ravine like a doll. She winced a little at the pain, wiping away the small scrape against her chin before charging straight at the girl again, ready to strike with all of her might. "In case you haven't noticed, that's exactly what I'm doing!"

"But you were supposed to be on our side while doing it!" She yelled angrily, blocking the overhead swing with her blade-covered arms. "We were supposed to be a team the entire time, Catra!" At the shout, the force attempted to swipe clean across Catra's head, forcing the magicat to flip backwards from the first strike and dodge back when the second strike attempted to impale her in the ground, the shadowy blade cutting clean through it. "We were always supposed to have each other's backs, Catra!"

"We promised each other each and every time that we would be there to support each!" Thrusting both her arms into the solid earth below her, the ground started to tremble violently. From where she stood, Catra watched in horror as the ground around Adora started to pool in an unearthly shadow, one that started to spread further and closer into the magicat's direction.

Starting from the halfway point towards reaching the girl, her eyes widened in shock as large shadowy spikes started erupting from the ground in all directions from the shadows. Ones that were thin in diameter, large in length as they could tower over the two combatants, capable of puncturing solid holes into anyone caught into this deadly trap, and were on a direct course towards Catra herself as she observed the pattern approaching her.

Is this really how things would've gone originally, Adora? Catra wondered in her mind as she continued to push on. Vivid flashes of an alternate reality pushed through her mind as she wondered to herself, Would we really be right here today on opposite sides if you found the sword first?

A part of her could see it now, probably in the exact same predicament. Adora would be fighting with everything she had in a futile effort to stop Catra, as she and the rest of the Horde continued to lay siege against the Rebellion. She would be looking at a distraught Adora who struggled against Catra or her merciless army as she continued to fight in a losing battle. Or would we actually be on the same side again? That was another sea of possibilities that began to flash in her mind.

In another take, she never would've been fighting against Adora in any reality. Here, in this scene, she could picture the two of them fighting tooth and claw against their enemies, either laying siege to the Rebellion itself or protecting it against whatever foe threatened to destroy everything they held dear. Then again, if Adora really did find the sword originally like she was always intended to, there was a greater chance the war would've been over by now, with Adora having won the war for the Rebellion in the short few months that Catra had taken her place in.

I bet you would've done everything perfectly, you know? Coming back to reality, Catra jumped to the air as a final, massive, spear, sprouted straight towards her, nearly striking her foot as she jumped upon the shadowy tendril, running as fast as she could down it and into the sea of spears ahead of her. You probably would've united all the princesses already, you could have saved Glimmer without any casualties like me. Maybe you would've done a better job convincing me to come back, or maybe I would've been too stubborn for my own good.

I just know that... we shouldn't be fighting like this. She told herself, ignoring the small tear that ran down her left cheek. We shouldn't be on opposite sides of everything, Adora. We never should have been. All that your doing, everything that's going on... it's my fault.

Reacting appropriate, as best she could, she ran through the shadowy pillars that sprouted around her, carefully maneuvering through the dreaded impalers that were sure to end her miserable existence if one of them managed to strike her directly. Despite her best efforts, she wasn't capable of reacting to all of them perfectly, finding her right arm getting scratched once, the other one twice, and nearly jumping as the tip of one of the protruding spears just scratched the right side of her cheek by half an inch, all while she was focusing on running up towards the Force Captain causing all of this.

Little did she know that the same Force Captain was charging at her at the same time, the feline being too distracted on avoiding the pillars that blocked her path to realize they had stopped sprouting. By the time she reached the epicenter where they first grew from, she found her entire face grabbed by a large shadowy hand, lifting her off the ground as the suddenness of the event caused her to drop the sword to the ground.

She pulled as hard as she could against the hardening shadow as it slowly squeezed tighter and tighter around her head, feeling the lack of necessary oxygen being nowhere near in comparison to the pain it was causing by having her head slowly crushed.

"We made all sorts of promises to each other, Catra!" Adora continued, gritting her teeth tighter as the rage began to redden her eyes. Within a mere second, releasing her grip from the girl's head, Catra nearly heaved in agony as she felt another direct strike of a shadowy fist colliding into her stomach, blasting her away far enough to crash her into the edge of the doorway to the Moonstone's stairs to the chamber. "And you broke every single one!"

"Ough-!" Catra coughed, spitting a little into the water.

Let Go

Shut up! Catra yelled inside of her own mind. Light Hope ruined enough of her life as it was. She was taking her old life away, gave her a task she never asked for, and expected her to follow suit as she became the She-Ra the world needed her to be. She would never give in to Light Hope's final demand, she would never let go of Adora!

She had no idea how far her body was being pushed to its limits, unable to get a firm grasp on how exhausted she was becoming. All she knew was that the minute she gave up, everyone would lose. Even with the sword being kicked a few feet closer to her, ten feet away from where she kneeled, Catra didn't give up, instead choosing to charge the girl head on as she extended the claws in both her hands. "Nggghhhhhh!"

"Who promised to always have my back while I had yours? You did!" Right as Catra attempted to claw at her face, Adora easily managed to grab her right hand entirely in her shadowy tentacle-sprouted right arm. "Who promised to help me whenever I needed her the most? You did!" Growling, the half-blonde tossed the girl into the air behind her, launching her a good fifteen feet away and above the ground. "And who promised they would always be there for me, to always stand by my side, and would never allow anything bad to happen to us as long as we had each OTHER?!"

Shooting her tentacle forward, Catra found her new flight halted as the same tentacle wrapped around her stomach, feeling her head and feet lurching as she came to an abrupt stop. "You did." Before she could comprehend what was happening, she found herself being arched over Adora in a perfectly aligned angle, eventually slamming her into the ground back where she started from was a thunderous crash shook the ground throughout the ravine, small cracks forming along the pillar from the shock-wave.

Her She-Ra form was starting to lose its pain tolerance as Catra's body started to numb. She could feel the sores of her battle escalating around her her arms and legs. Her head was beginning to feel lighter as her senses dulled, doing everything in her power to maintain the will to stay conscious. Her eyelids were taking up most of her energy as she refused to close them any further than the halfway point, fearing what would happen if she closed them completely.

She didn't know what to do anymore. What could she do anymore? She needed to protect her friends. She refused to fight Adora with all of her might out of fear of hurting her, or any possibility of reconciling their relationship. She wasn't able to accept the consequences of her past actions, her inability to let go of her past keeping her from achieving anything close to victory. She had an entire society that needed her to back them up, and she couldn't give that to them when they needed her most.

Her body shaking from the pain of what she was experiencing, she barely had the energy to pull herself to her hands and knees, staring at the water as tears formed in the corners of her eyes that she could see in the reflection. She wasn't a hero. She wasn't a She-Ra. She wasn't any symbol of Hope.

She was Catra. Worthless. Useless. All she could do is lift her head as she saw Adora approaching in the reflection, her friend looking down at her with her own tears of anguish filling her eyes.

"And now, I'm going to end it." She started, looking to the sky where the darkened Moonstone was still floating. "Starting with the Rebellion."

"No!"

*thump*

Following Catra's cry, the girl found her feline ex-friend wrapping her arms around her waist, burying her head into her stomach as she sniffled. Adora had never seen Catra cry so dearly before, never fight for something like this. With little option left, the girl did the only thing she could do as she threw her arms around her, hugging onto her for dear life.

"You're right." Catra finally admitted, mumbling into Adora's stomach. "You were right about everything, okay? I was a horrible, horrible, friend. I abused you, I took you for granted, used you to make my own life easier because I was a coward. I was scared, I was weak, and I was tired of everyone picking on me. And I used you every time I could just to feel like I belonged somewhere, alright? And I never took your own feelings into account for anything I did."

"Catra..." Adora... surprisingly... found her expression starting to soften as the redness left her eyes a little. Was she... really seeing the real Catra now? The one that she previously knew as the sweet, sincere, kind, and sensitive girl that she was before? Was she actually being serious about everything she was saying?

"I deserve whatever punishment you think is necessary, okay? For all the times I used you, for how horrible I made your life just to make mine a little better, I deserve all of it. If you want me to come back to the Horde to pay for my crimes or whatever, I'll do all of it. You can carry out the punishments yourself for all I care. I deserve whatever's coming to me."

Lifting her head up, Adora could see Catra's tear-stained face as she continued, "But please, just stop this already. Let the others go, alright? They shouldn't have to pay for all of this just because you have a personal grudge against me. I'm the one you want, not them. So just let them go and take me like you always wanted, and I'll do everything I can to prove to you that I'm really your friend. I promise, and this time, I swear I won't break it."

"..."

*scrunch*

That did it.

That pushed her over the edge.

From her right hand, Catra's attention was drawn as she saw her friend squeezing her gargantuan shadowy arm, shaking it as she did. It wasn't the reaction she was expecting from her, or anywhere near it for that matter. When she turned to look into Adora's eyes again, her heart nearly fainted.

The seemingly-peaceful, softening, expression that was originally growing over Adora's face started to boil with the blood rushing through her veins. Her eyes started to harden as every fiber of her being was reaching a bursting point, her eyes starting to redden brightly as anger and rage consumed her entire person. Whatever she said just now to reach Adora's heart, any chance she had to finally make amends with the girl, was finally broken. She could see it perfectly well in on Adora's expression.

Right as the tears ceased to flow from her eyes, and the rage consumed her.

"You just proved it." What did Catra do to spring this reaction out of her just now? What did she mess up in to anger her all of a sudden? "You never did care for me to begin with, did you? Here you go again, worrying more about the people you just met instead of the person who was always there for you... I truly never was your friend, was I?"

"What?!" Oh no. "Adora, that's not what I- Gnnk!" Catra nearly bit her tongue as she found a powerful grip wrapped tightly around her neck, lifting her off the ground as her airwaves were completely cut off.

"They're the only ones you care about, huh?" Adora scowled, tightening the grip. "They're the ones you keep talking about, the ones you always came back for. I don't know if you really consider them friends like you say, or if you're just so insistent on getting that fancy kingdom of yours, and honestly, I don't care anymore. If you care so badly about the Rebellion..."

With a pause, Catra was suddenly tossed high into the air by her former friend, shooting into the sky like never before as Adora threw her towards the sky above her. She was so high up that, for just a second, she saw the top of the chamber, the sight of her friends and allies sprawled across the room flashing in front of her eyes.

At that same moment, Adora appeared in front of her, having thrown herself high into the air with the tendrils behind her back pushing her off the ground with great force, almost like a spring, as she gathered nearly every shadow she possibly could into both her arms, enlarging them into the terrifying tentacles that they were until they were twice her own size in length and width.

"Then you can fall with them!" It was a force unlike anything Catra's ever experienced, a strike possibly hard enough to shatter a small mountain. In one solid strike, squeezing both her tentacles together like a wrecking ball as she rose them above her head, she slammed her massive shadows into the defenseless magicat, and in one spectacular motion of speed, the victim shot back towards the ground like a speeding bullet, the five seconds it took to be thrown this high up being a flash of a second that it took to come back down.

Hard.

*CRASH!*

The ground quaked with a massive tremor as the girl was slammed straight into the ground, the massive tentacle bringing her down with full force, the Horde Force Captain easily returning to the ground back to the other side of the ravine where her army was still at the ready. Adora smiled with wicked glee as the dust burst from the hole she had made, returning the long tentacled arms to her side once more as she waited for the dust to settle.

Adora had won this fight with her own two hands, and had removed her painful ties to the past at long last. With a mocking grin, noticing the sword was spaced between them, Adora flung an extended shadowy foot at the sword, flinging it across the ground until it stopped a few inches away from Catra's side.

With her sword tossed to her side, she watched as the glow from the Runestone completely faded, as if its powers were completely used up. She actually wanted to hear the voice for a change to see if this was all really happening, and there was nothing!

Adora had literally beaten the She-Ra right out of her.

All around her the allies and friends she came to know and care about were done for. Glimmer had succumbed to her injuries from the droid combined with her glitching, Bow was knocked out by Adora without any sort of magical protection like Catra had, Scorpia had disposed of Spinnerella and Netossa with the help of their soldiers, and her noble steed had been blasted out of the sky because of her own recklessness and need to charge straight for the Moonstone to protect the Queen who had been incapacitated.

They were exhausted, passed out from the amount of effort they took and the injuries they had sustained throughout the fight. The Princess Alliance wasn't going to answer her call, not that it mattered since all of them would've been too far away to save them in the nick of time. For the first time ever, Catra found herself completely alone without anyone to back her up.

Nobody was coming to rescue her.

Nobody was coming to save the Rebellion.

Nobody was going to survive what soon followed.

Everything relied solely on Catra... and she could do nothing about it.

Adora could just make out the small wiggle of Catra's tail, confirming to her that she was alive, as she felt the rumble of half a dozen tanks rolling up behind her. As part of the deal, Adora got to claim the reward she wanted for winning this duel. With Catra's defeat, there was nothing left to combat them or keep them from destroying the Rebellion at long last.

And after the new revelation Catra had given her, she would've happily destroyed the Rebellion anyway even if she had lost.

As for the beaten girl, she could barely twitch as she weakly pulled her arm towards the sword, dragging it over at a snail's pace as the tears flowed from her eyes. "I-It's not fair... not for them..." She whimpered quietly to the sword. "They... They didn't do anything wrong here, they never did."

The Rebellion was in shambles, their defenses were done for, and the last hope for the Rebellion lied on the ground, beaten and battered.

"All they've done... was being nice to me... when I didn't deserve it..." The cat's ears lowered against her will, her tail coming to a halt as they used up too much energy themselves.

Adora would've gladly let Catra live so she could rot in the prison sector of the Fright Zone for the rest of her life, along with the rest of her stupid friends.

"I treated them... t-terribly... and they still... s-still put up with me." Her consciousness was beginning to falter as she continued reaching her claw towards the sword. "They sh... shouldn't have to pay... for my recklessness... for my own greed..."

Adora shook her head at the pathetic display Catra was putting on as she saw her feebly reach for her sword. It didn't matter if she could't hear what she was saying, much less knew she was talking, she had enough of this girl. She would come by for a visit every couple months with an intention to taunt her, poke fun of her at how she failed, and reminding her that she would never get her kingdom anymore.

"P-Please..." Catra gritted her teeth against her tongue, trying to keep herself awake. "I know... I'm selfish... I... I know I can never c-change... B-But please... let me... let me do this one thing."

But she was passed the point of showing mercy to this girl, the one who used her almost as much as Shadow Weaver did.

"Let me save them... just this once..." She cried. "Let me be the She-Ra they need, the hero I have to be... just to save them... I don't... I don't care if I can't... can't ever turn into She-Ra again, or any part of She-Ra."

Smirking, she raised her hand to the sky, directing the tanks behind her as they aimed the barrels of their cannons to the defenseless magicat.

"Just let me... save them..." She could feel the tip of her claw brush against the hilt of her sword as her vision started to dim, struggling to see any portion of the sword in front of her, forcing her to rely on her sense of touch.

She would stamp out the last threat to the Horde, and the Sword of Protection, all at the same time. And without any hesitation, she threw her hand down, giving the signal. It was time for her to cut all ties to her past and start moving towards the future.

"Let me save them..."

Starting with Catra.

"Let me save them!"

"Fire."

Feeling her hand finally wrapping around the hilt after all of this time, she used every last ounce of strength to call out the one phrase that she needed most.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL-!"

*BOOM!*

In a spectacular array of destruction, Adora watched as a dozen massive beams of energy blasted from behind her, enveloping the magicat in a cloud of sparkling thick dust. Catra had no means of protection anymore with her She-Ra form spent. She had no allies, none that Adora knew of anyway, that could've rescued her from such a strong force. Catra had been consumed completely by the explosive might of the Horde, as would anyone else who would dare to challenge their supreme might.

This was the way it was meant to be. Adora knew this sense deciding to lead the attack. This was her mission, not just to destroy the Rebellion once and for all, but to cut all the remaining ties to her past that had plagued her even after the events of the Beacon. With Catra gone, she was finally free of her past, free of her burdens. A smile crept along her face as she knew of the new reality that would soon meet her.

At her side, Scorpia turned to the girl with a small smile too. It might have been a bit different to see Adora in such a state, but at least she had her friend back as she saw the familiar, friendly, smile coming back to her. She knew Adora wasn't in pain anymore, and after everything she knew the girl had been through, she deserved it.

She just hoped it meant things would go back to normal between them again.

It was a momentous day for the Horde as Adora raised her fist to the air, listening with glee as the soldiers behind her roared with cheer and excitement. And why wouldn't they after all they had accomplished this fine day? They defeated the dreaded She-Ra, crushed the Rebellion and proved to the world that they were the greatest fighting force on Etheria, and that nobody should cross them. They proved the other kingdoms were better off joining them in unity than against them in war.

Most of all, it was the end of hope for anyone who would dare to resist in the Horde's endeavors. The Horde would bring unity across the world, just like Adora always knew they would, and unite the kingdoms under one banner. It would be a glorious one that stood for the peace and protection for all life in the world, and one of endless destruction and warfare for anyone who would dare to tarnish that rule of peace they had to offer.

Finally, at long last, the war had finally come, to an en-

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

A magnificent force of wind blew across the entire valley as a spectacular pillar of light erupted through the dense cloud that had previously blanketed Catra, one that stretched to the very heavens themselves! It was massive in size as it scaled that of a tank in radius, the force of it's wonderful creation pushing passed a dumbfounded Adora as the force nearly pushed her off her feet. She was forced to plant the tendrils in her back into the ground just from being this close to it, Scorpia barely maintaining any better as she blocked the wind stinging her eyes and pushing at her with her large claws.

The soldiers behind them didn't far any better as the pillar continued to erupt. A handful of soldiers that couldn't maintain their footing, first one, then two, then four, found themselves being blasted into the air across the ravine, colliding into a few of the trees, and droids that were behind them. Even the tanks were being blown back by the terrifying force of power they were bearing witness to, some of them being turned completely to the left or right, a single tank actually being flopped over on it's back, nearly crushing one of the soldiers who dodged out of the way in time.

"W-What is this...?" Adora was at a loss for words at what was happening right now. Had one of the other princesses come to save them? Did they have some backup plan or an ally they didn't account for? Who was responsible for this sudden burst of energy, the ones that showed no end in sight?!

"Adora!" Scorpia shouted out, grabbing her attention as she faced the sky. Turning to the sky itself, Adora's eyes widened at what she saw; the newly created force of light, one that had the energy to push passed the surrounding tanks and send soldiers through the air, was so pure in its magic, that it actually tore a hole in the sky, specifically, the cloud of darkness that had engulfed everything above, as the pillar blew passed it.

At least several feet were surrounding the pillar were clear of its dark energy, allowing the Force Captain to see the beautiful blue sky that the clouds were covering. This force, this beam of light, was so pure in its energy that it managed to combat the power of the Black Garnet's power, her power, as the clouds continued to partially dissolve every inch. And all of it was emanating from the very person they tried to shoot at, the one she had finally cut ties with after all of her pain and suffering.

There could be no coincidence to explain all this, nothing behind the scenes to suggest to her that someone else was pulling this off. There was only one person who could fit the criteria at this moment, the one person she knew as capable of ruining her chances of happiness and made it their personal mission to see Adora miserable and suffering to the bitter end.

Catra.

Surrounded by a seas of beautiful stars and a bluish galaxy, Catra rose herself from her as her body glowed with a beautiful blue light, one that had seen the cosmos since the dawn of time, and had met with the night's sky on a regular basis. With her eyes close and a calmness in her expression, Catra continued to float in place as a gargantuan sword, one that made her look like the size of an ant in comparison, rose behind her.

With the energy that gathered, the sword slowly started to pass through Catra, all while an array of flashing lights started to pull towards the girl, enveloping her in a glorious display of light and beauty. Catra could feel the wondrous energy fill her entire body as the sword slowly pushed into her, eventually phasing passed her as the rest of her glorious creation had come to be.

Starting with the back, a serene crimson-colored cape started to flow forth, gliding along her back in a fluid motion as the rest of her body followed in her transformation. The cape sparkled in a dazzling array of light as the small anchors of light finally pulled from it, allowing the cape to stretch across half of her back, connected to the armor that continued to materialize around her.

Both her shoulder-pads and her tiara that had transformed in her previous She-Ra state were nothing in comparison to the beauty that they were now. Her shoulders were cover in a pristine golden orange that jetted from the tips of her shoulder, nearly a foot in length, as they spiked across them to offer her shoulders maximum protection. Along with that, her tiara shimmered like never before as it grew, the tips along her cheek growing until they reached her jaw, and protruded inward an inch along her cheek where they curved.

The top of her tiara grew the most amazing pair of, what appeared to be, golden wings, one that extended right in front of her cat ears as they rose from the tiara's new shape. Within the center of this wonderful transformation, two small brow-like slits could be seen on both ends of the tiara above her eyes, while a lone, red, jewel was adorned within the center of this fascinating spectacle, one that sparkled like the light that grew from her.

As the sword passed halfway through her, Catra began to hug herself as the rest of her body continued to take shape. From her wrist, passed halfway up her elbows, grew the most formidable pair of bracers one could ever ask for, one that shined with a radiance like the protective anklets that formed along the sides of her legs, also stretched halfway up to her knees, though lowered on the inner sides of them. And despite the lack of shoes, the sword continued to offer its protection to her as it grew a shining force of gold sandals across her feet, thin enough for her to use her feet's claws and as sturdy enough as a tank's armor, despite how thin it was.

From within the center of her chest, the spirals of light began to gather as they spread across her body as a whole, creating a bright, shining, vine of energy that formed along her outfit as it sprouted in all directions and corners around her, creating a golden flower-like design in the middle as the petals were painted around her stomach, with the only golden lines that connected the collar of her chest-piece running down the middle of her outfit, connecting to the bottom of her spiked white skirt that grew around her waist, with a serene blue coloring on the inside.

Her legs weren't barren anymore as a simple weave of white covered them like it had her chest, a few slits along the knees to allow her the maximum mobility that she needed to preform her mighty leaps and agile reflexes that she was used to. They stretched all across her legs to the tips of her ankle where they were mostly transparent, allowing one to see the golden ankles that protected her legs.

As the incredible transformation slowly came to an end, the last of her magnificent appearance didn't end with another piece of clothing, but her hair. Her hair flashed in a sea of warmth as it grew along her back, nearly doubling in size, as its color changed to that of one of a blazing fire, lighter along her head and stretching out into a slightly darker orange. It was as if she had the fires of the morning sun blazing from behind her head.

With the last of her transformation finally coming to an end, the sword that phased through her shrank to a decent size as it spun around her, spiraling as if it was happy at the new transformation she had finally came to. With her form now fully completed, Catra threw her right hand behind her back, grabbing the sword's hilt, the same sword that appeared to gave grown an additional foot, as it was aimed across her left.

Opening her eyes, her transformation had finally been complete, the look of pride crossing her expression and amusement at what she had become.

The TRUE She-Ra had been formed.

With her transformation coming to an end, the pillar of light around her dissipated, allowing the rest of the world to gaze at the marvelous creation that had taken place. Nobody present to see her face stood there without their mouth gaping open in shock and amazement, others in fear, as some of the soldiers pulled themselves back to their feet. A couple of the soldiers were getting weak in the knees as their legs wobbled, fear taking some of them as they gulped.

Adora couldn't be more amazed or confused at the new form that her friend had taken, only knowing the rage that was building up in the recesses of her mind as her friend returned with renewed life. All of her injuries she had sustained, everything that she had done to her, had completely vanished. There were no cuts, bruises, not even a scratch, as Catra stood there, staring back at her friend like nothing was out of the ordinary.

That was until she blinked, at least. Catra didn't know what to say to as she blinked, feeling as good as new, as if she hadn't been put through the most painful experience of her life. She felt a new wave of warmth washing over her that she's never felt before, a calmness that she's felt for only moments of her life. For the first time in her life, she felt peace.

At this, she started to get a better look of herself as she nearly jumped, almost dropping the sword out of her hand as a result. Everything about her was completely different, looking as if she had seen a ghost as she observed. Her hair was a different color, she swore she was possibly a foot taller than before, and she could see muscles grown over her arms and legs. She felt lighter than ever before, yet sturdy all the same.

"W-What the-?" She muttered, seeing the reflection in the surprisingly now-clear waters in front of her. To Adora's dismay, even though the pillar of light had dissipated, the hole it left in the sky did not. "My hair, my wrists, my-!" Her eyes bugged out for a moment at the greatest of changes she had ever witnessed in her She-Ra form. "I have pants!"

She couldn't tell what she should be feeling right now, or if she should try to feel anything else out of fear if the She-Ra form would spontaneously disappear from her. Pulling the large sword in front of her for a closer look at her own reflection, a small smile grew over her face. For once since finding this sword, right when she needed it the most, it came through for her, She doesn't know if it bargained with her deal of never transforming into She-Ra again, and she didn't care. She was just glad it listened to her for what felt like the first time ever.

"Thank you..." She whispered to it, seeing the runestone embedded within the center of the sword shining with a brilliant radiance of white light.

*spzzzt*

"Huh-?"

*pew!*

*BOOM!*

That time Catra did jump, as well as anyone it suddenly passed by, as one of the dozens of tanks behind Adora was destroyed in a fiery explosion. Much to Catra's surprise, and shock, as she admired the sword for once, a small bit of energy began to radiate from the blade of the sword itself. Without so much as a blink, the blade shot out a pure blast of energy from its tip, firing directly at one of the many tanks and destroying it entirely.

It was fortunate for Adora that no one had been directly piloting the tanks, being newly automated thanks to Entrapta's new design, though that didn't get rid of the rage burning inside of her that Catra effortlessly destroyed one of their tanks as she glared back to her. The magicat lowered her ears guiltily as she looked back and forth between Adora and the sword, just as surprised as she was that she managed to do something so incredible with barely a thought.

She had achieved the true state of She-Ra. Hooray! Now if only she could figure out how to use its powers, that would be a big help.

Giving a nervous smile to her former friend, she quickly shook her hands back and forth as she leaned back. "Heh, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. That was seriously an accident I swear!" Her pleas of apologies fell on deaf ears as Adora directed her hand towards the girl again.

"Fire!" She ordered one of the surrounding tanks. In two seconds, Catra watched as the beam of energy blasted from the tank towards her, the feline throwing up a hand out of reflex like it was actually going to stop the blast.

*spzzzzzzz*

And it did.

The momentary smoke that engulfed her diminished rapidly as she appeared through the smoke. On the other end, Adora watched in amazement as her friend continued to stand there, her eyes closed and her head turned away as her still-risen hand took the entirety of the blast head on, leaving only a small whiz of steam erupting from the blasted hand. Waiting a few more seconds for something to happen, Catra opened her eyes in confusion as she gazed at her protective hand. She barely felt the blast from a tank coming to her, feeling like nothing more than a ball she simply caught out of the air, and barely feeling any heat from her palms at all.

She knew she wasn't invincible, and she didn't care. If she had the power to destroy a tank and shield a blast with her hands, then that must've meant she was strong enough to take on the Horde army, right?

That foolish optimism was swept aside as she lifted her head back, eyes widening at the sight of the droids that were marching through the woods that approached the tanks. She could tell Adora was lining up her troops in a grand formation to wipe out the magicat from the face of Etheria, the rage burning in her as the black-half of her hair levitated a little.

"Fire! Everyone fire!" The Force Captain barked, the droids and tanks taking aim immediately upon command.

In another torrential rain of destruction, the magicat was assaulted by an endless barrage of firepower, lifting the sword in front of her for protection as the explosions and blasts went off all around her. Despite being more invulnerable than she had ever been, she couldn't shrug off the indefinite damage they were doing as if they were nothing, feeling each blast against her legs and her arms hurting a tiny bit more, growing progressively painful as the endless sea of red and green energy rained around her.

After a solid minute of the nonstop firing, Adora rose her hand again, ordering them to hold their fire so she could check on the girl's status. Much to her dismay, and annoyance, even after what should have been enough force to take down Bright Moon Castle directly, the girl still stood her ground, holding her arms around chest and protecting her head with her sword as she took the brunt of the Horde's might from forty feet away.

Noticing the lack of energy raining around her briefly, Catra opened her eyes and arms back up, trying to process what she should do. She wasn't reckless at this time, and she knew she couldn't afford to be. If she thought the same way she always did, she would throw out the one chance she had at using the sword's spectacular gift, and she couldn't afford to waste it. What she did need was to think of a way to defend herself, and the entirety of Bright Moon that stood behind her defenseless.

As if reacting to her frame of mind, the runestone within the sword shined a little brighter, catching Catra's attention. It was the first time the sword had ever spoken to her like this ever since the time before she became She-Ra for the first time, back when the entire adventure started. She knew it was trying to do the same thing to her too, and, while not hearing any actual voices in her head, the fact it responded to her line of thought made her wonder if it was trying to tell her how or what to do.

"Could it be... really easy with a single thought?" She mumbled to the sword. There was no reaction this time, and it was the first time she ever felt that was all she needed to understand. With a look of determination spreading across her face, giving a firm nod to the blade, she looked back towards her friend, the same one that would glare daggers at her if she ever could. "I'm not letting you hurt anyone else, Adora. Not around here."

"Tch, you think you have a choice in the matter?" Adora spat, raisin her arm again as she prepared her orders.

"For once... yeah... I think I do." Catra replied, gripping the sword in both her hands as she flipped it over. Closing her eyes, calming her breath, the girl gave a loud battle cry as she plunged the sword directly into the ground at her feet, holding onto it tightly as she tried to focus all of her thoughts into what she wanted the sword to do.

Right at the exact same time Adora gave another order to fire.

*BOOM!*

"What?!" Unlike her previous attempts, this one was met with resistance, the kind no one would ever be able to expect, much less pull off, as stupendously as Catra had managed.

From the point of impact, a mystical barrier began to sprout, blocking off the explosion as the smoke rushed passed Catra's head without any sense of care. From the cracks in the ground that grew from where Catra planted her sword, with all the energy she had, the entire Horde army bore witness as a great barrier began to grow, not just around Catra, but around the entirety of Bright Moon itself.

Spread all around her from where she stabbed the blade, a dazzling transparent array of rainbow colors danced across the valley from where Catra kneeled, all the way behind the girl as it formed its mighty shield. The magical barrier of wonder stretched towards the sky as it started to encase Bright Moon in a bubble-like defense, forming around the castle and everything it touched around it, including the runestone's chamber and her friends that her behind her, in a magnificent defense that grew over the valley.

It stretched so far that it nearly touched the sky, raising above the Moonstone as well, as it continued to form and center at the tip of the bubble-like shield. All this time, Catra focused all of her energy, wincing a little as she knew she was taxing her powers, as the energy poured around her. She needed this to work, otherwise she didn't know what else to do. She still didn't know what to do once the barrier came down for crying out loud! She just knew she needed to buy a little more time for something, anything, to help them.

And she didn't know why, either. It was just another feeling the sword was giving her.

At long last, with the Horde in a trance-like state of wonder, the shield had finally formed. Still being at its core where she maintained the barrier, Catra tightened the grip on her blade, knowing it required her constant energy to be maintained. The bubble stretched and connected to the sky above the castle, forming the perfect defense as it stretched across in all directions in a perfect sense of balance.

The energy to pull off this incredible feat could only be maintained by someone with magnificent power, someone with a mastery of the runestones that were used to power the world. Someone like the true state of She-Ra that Catra had finally formed. Now the only question that remained was figuring out how long she could keep this barrier up for.

"Ghhhhhh!" She hated this girl! Hated! Hated! HATED! She was the last thing she needed to get rid of if she was ever to find peace, and Catra couldn't give her that, like everything else in her past. She continued to be a nuisance to her after being down and near-death, and she still managed to somehow pull herself off the ground in a glorious new state of wonder. She couldn't allow this girl to continue existing, she couldn't allow anyone with this much power to exist! Without raising her hand first in preparation, she thrust her fist in the barrier's direction, a vein of anger appearing over her right eye. "FIRE!"

At her beck and call, one of the droids obeyed her as it targeted the middle of the barrier in the air, taking its shot directly at the center of the great dome that covered Bright Moon. Upon the impact of its red-colored beam of energy, Adora watched with amusement as she saw a small portion of the barrier's dome waver. She knew despite Catra's seemingly newfound power, even she couldn't maintain something this grand indefinitely.

However, to her surprise, it didn't seem like it was a simple barrier they were dealing with either. After a few seconds passed, the forces noticed as a small streak of electricity began to spread around the point of impact that hit the barrier. Right as she was beginning to ponder what could possibly be happening, Adora watched in horror as that same beam of energy, coated in a beautiful glowing light, was returned in a random direction, turning back to watch as one of the tanks on the opposite side was destroyed in a small explosion from the droid's energy.

This barrier wasn't just a wall that stood between them. It was a living weapon that protected them Catra, and Bright Moon, from harm, and would ensure anyone that tried to cause them harm would find their attack bounced back.

But she wouldn't give up.

"EVERYONE OPEN FIRE!" She screamed angrily.

All at once, like before, a rain of destruction was showered upon the barrier, with the lights and waves of its energy bouncing across the points of impact. As expected by the Force Captain, one that slightly frightened Scorpia, seeing the extreme anger rising through her friend, the beams of energy that were blasted at the tank were bounced back in multiple directions, each shot of energy being directed harmlessly towards the sky, or, in some unfortunate cases, back at the tanks and droids that fired in the first place.

Dozens of the soldiers found themselves scrambling for their lives as they tried to dodge the incoming fire, feeling like they were out in the open for hunting season, as they had no means to protect themselves from the tanks' and droids oncoming blasts. Noticing the panic building up behind her, Adora decided to create her own barrier out of the shadows, one that was minuscule in comparison to Catra's, but one that protected a large portion of the soldiers who ran behind it as the droids and tanks took the rest of the rebound energy.

As expected from the Force Captain, just as she was starting to wonder if the barrier could ever be taken down, she grinned as she saw holes and tears starting to form around the bubble, ones that tried to regrow itself in a futile effort to protect the castle. Large beads of sweat started to pour from Catra's forehead as this went on, struggling to maintain her concentration on the barrier, even more so now that she could feel the tears in the barrier as if they were in her own mind.

What was she supposed to do now? The sword told her specifically how to form the colossal barrier, and it gave her the power to do it at long last, so she was thankful for that, but there was little else she knew how to do. With all the energy she was pouring into this great barrier alone, she didn't know how long she could hold out against the rest of the Horde with the near hundreds of droids, tanks, and soldiers that remained.

And that didn't include the two Force Captains she knew she would have to deal with!

Come on... think of something... She yelled in her mind. There had to be another thing she could do as the barrier continued to diminish, with large spots of red starting to form over the weakened dome, burning with the energy that was slowly down its restoration. Could there be a way to still turn this all around and get Adora back on her side? Was she just supposed to wait here for the end to come, after everything she went through just now?

Personally, she didn't know which part would annoy her more at that- being unable to get Adora back to her side, or the idea that she would still lose everything right AFTER she finally gained the true form of She-Ra?

As she continued to fret, Adora grinned some more as she lowered her own barrier. The protective bubble was losing so much of its power so fast that it couldn't even direct its energy back anymore, cracks appearing along the walls and top of the dome as it started to crumble. Knowing it would all come down once it was dealt with at its source, Adora shot both of her large shadowy arms directly at the protected Catra, forming massive drills that began spinning out of control as they reached the wall just inches from Catra's lower head. Catra did her best to ignore the sparks and the cracks that were quickly forming as she tried to protect the Rebellion in her last stand.

Was becoming She-Ra just a fluke? She wondered. Was this just a tease to make me feel better before my end? Or did I do something to mess everything up, again, like always? She was tired of being a screw up, tired of letting everyone down. She thought with this new form, she could finally be the hero they needed her to be and actually make a change for once in her life when she needed it most. And, like always, it was proving that it was all for naught.

Maybe she should just be happy that she finally got to experience what it was like to be the real She-Ra for once? Thinking about it, she could at least admire the fact she actually stood her ground against Adora and the Horde army directly like this, single-handedly, which was more than anyone else could have ever said. She couldn't tell if she was still feeling at peace anymore as she used every ounce of her strength keeping the barrier formed as best she could.

At the very least, she could say she died trying for someone else, for once. She just wished she didn't have to smell saltwater while she was doing it.

"...!" Catra blinked as she opened her eyes again. "Wait... Saltwater?" She muttered.

Around her, across the ravine on both ends, The Horde, Adora, Scorpia, and Catra, began to watch as small specks of water began to rise around them, little droplets that were rising upwards instead of downwards for once, the Horde coming to a halt as everyone gazed in confusion at the events. The humidity in the air began to flourish as the sounds of waves were becoming increasingly louder. At the stop of their firing, Catra finally rose to her feet, pulling the sword out of the ground so she could regain some of her energy from the diminishing barrier, just in case.

Her ears gave a small twitch as she swore she heard the familiar splashing of forced waves, the rhythm of the ocean beating gently across her ear drums as it came from the ocean the ravine was connected to. She wouldn't believe it in a million years, even if she saw it twice, as they finally came.

Atop a mighty wave that nearly stretched to the top of the chamber, she saw Mermista, the Princess of Salineas, riding atop the magically gathered waters, with the adventurous and brave Captain Seahawk riding his ship at her side, the two of them charging straight through the opening of the ravine as Seahawk rose a torch towards his ship's sails.

"For adventure~!" His joyous cry for adventure came to an abrupt end as a smaller wave of water washed over him, drenching him in its warm liquids and dousing his fire.

"No!" Mermista yelled, continuing to focus on her wave steering. She wasn't about to put up with him burning his fifth ship after all this time!

"Awww..." So much for letting his new ship meet the glorious fate of the previous ones.

"They... They came..." Catra was frozen as she continued to stare at her, watching as Mermista's wave split around her as it continued on towards the Horde. Adora let out a yelp of pain as she and the rest of her forces were swept across the ravine, half of them gargling in the fresh saltwater that was forced down their throats, knocking several of the tanks off the ground in turn.

As she watched the amazing display of power, Catra turned back, seeing a still-chipper Seahawk land gracefully with Mermista right next to him. "Tadaaaaaa~!" He sang with his arms spread out, waiting for an applause that never came as Mermista approached Catra with a firm look on her face. Catra returned the same look as she stared into her eyes.

The last time these two met each other, they were at each other's throats. They blamed the other for losing Entrapta, hated each other thinking they were responsible for Entrapta's loss. Neither of them talked about or showed the least bit of interest in reconciling with the other, whether or not the Princess Alliance was still around, and Catra was sure they would still try to tear at each other's face if they were given the chance.

Then again, she knew she wasn't fair either. What happened on that day was something outside of both of their controls, along with the rest of their friends. They couldn't allow a petty, unnecessary, argument get between them when they found themselves in the middle of a war. Catra could bear no anger towards the girl without being angry with herself, especially since she still harbored the guilt of Entrapta's loss in the back of her mind.

With a mental sigh, Catra shrugged off the nerves in her shoulder as she prepared to speak.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry." Both girls blinked at one another at the revelation, Catra noticing a small smile growing on the mermaid princess's mouth as she stared at her.

"Look, I shouldn't have blamed you for my own doing, okay?" Catra commented, scratching the back of her head. "We lost Entrapta because of me, it didn't have anything to do with you."

"Are you kidding? It had everything to do with me. For all of us at that." Mermista added, gesturing towards Seahwak as he tried to relight his torch with his soaked matches. "We were all supposed be a team back there and have each other's backs. I shouldn't have left the airhead's side when we ran through the vents, none of us should. If you're responsible for what happened to Entrapta, then we are too. All three of us."

This was... warming, to her. A special kind of warmth that gave the strength to smile a little. They didn't harbor any ill will towards the cat girl for everything she's done, at least not involving Entrapta or the botched rescue. It gave her a closer feeling of true peace that she hasn't known for years, and it made her-

"Wait... did you just say the three of us?"

Meanwhile, Adora was grumbling as she pulled on the tank near her to rise to her feet. She growled as she saw the other princess standing next to Catra, another one of her friends that she traded Adora for and left her behind for. So this princess wanted to meet her end too? That's fine. It saved her the work of having to track her down later and invading her kingdom. Without a princess at the command, they took easily take over Salineas with little resistance, and gain control of the sea with their superior naval fleet at their hem.

Looking across the ravine, seeing her troops, tanks, and droids sprawled all around her, the Force Captain squeezed what little water was still in her hair, directing her attention to the closest pair of troops that she could find. "Hey! Get off the ground!" She barked to the disoriented guards. "We still have a job to do, so find a tank and blast them already!" The guards shook the dizziness out of their head, too little too late as a new force began to sprout around them.

Literally.

Within seconds, the guards were ensnared by a tangle of greenish vines that rose through the water, pulling them to the ground and immobilizing them where they were. Seeing this display, the angered Force Captain saw the same vines beginning to grow around the surrounding woods, capturing several other guards as they pinned them along the trees and the forests. As if it wasn't adding enough insult to injury, the same vines turned to some of the remaining tanks, forcing their barrels downwards where they couldn't fire.

Then it had the audacity to do the same to her! Without missing a beat, Adora found her arms, waist, and neck ensnared by the sturdy vines too, the Force Captain struggling to pull away from the surprisingly efficient vines that bound her. Her attempts to pry away from the incredibly strong vines were put on hold as she noticed pink rose petals beginning to fall around her, looking away into the woods on the opposing side, she saw another of the dreaded princesses appearing, Perfuma, as she rode along a massive green vine at its tip, chuckling as she made her way over to the others where she saw the most spectacular sight of all!

Landing on her feet, Catra's relieved expression quickly changed to nervousness as she saw the sparkles growing in Perfuma's eyes, the princess of flowers squealing with her hands in the air. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-!" Catra had never been more thankful for her new state of resistance, otherwise she had no idea how painful that high-pitched squeeing would've been to her ears.

"Ehh... Perfuma?" Catra spoke, raising a hand to her. "Are you oka- Agghh!" The cat was powerless to stop her as Perfuma suddenly threw herself at the dazzling wonder standing in front of her. Rolling her eyes at the display, Mermista picked the two off by the backs of their necks, trying her best to keep Perfuma pried off the feline as she continued reaching for her. Releasing her grip, she watched Catra catch the girl's wrists in her own hands, keeping her at arms length away from her as she continued to squeal.

"I knew it!" Perfuma squeaked at long last. "I always knew you were the real She-Ra!" Catra sighed at the comment. Of course, out of all the plausible reasons to be squealing like a moron... like a goofball, this would be one of them.

"Perfuma, I'm not exactly..." Catra stopped as she stared into Perfuma's eyes. The girl just stared at her, blinking on and off, with the biggest smile Catra could ever expect anyone in the world to have. She wanted her to be She-Ra, she believed her to be She-Ra with everything she had! How was she supposed to dash away her dreams like this when she had a smile that brightly pointed at her? Glancing over at Mermista and Seahawk who gave her a shrugging smirk, she sighed. "...Ok, fine... I'm She-Ra. Happy?"

"EEEEEEEEP!"

*thud*

For once, Catra didn't seem to mind as Perfuma jumped her again, wrapping her arms tightly around her and pressing her cheek against Catra's for dear life. While it was embarrassing enough to make her blush, Catra still found herself being filled with an unfamiliar warmth again, this one actually starting to grow around her. She barely paid any mind or attention to herself as she chuckled a little, a white aura beginning to spread around her body as she playfully tried to pull Perfuma off of her.

At the disgusting sight of the aforementioned princesses, Adora noticed how all of their attention seemed to be drawn at the pitiful display between the two, concentrating back at the matter at hand. Whether or not she could fight back the princesses with her remaining army, she knew everything would still follow in turn after she destroyed the Moonstone of the Rebellion, the source of Angella's and Princess Glimmer's powers.

Seeing how brute force was out of the question, she resorted to the shadows that obeyed her every command, forming a pair of efficient blades that cleaved the vines in twain. Grinning, the Force Captain jumped into one of the surrounding tanks, focusing as she directed the barrel of the powerful war machine at the pillar itself. By the time Catra even saw this from the corner of her eye, it was already too late.

*BOOM!*

Jumping from the ground and off She-Ra, the princesses and Captain gasped as the pillar started to crumble at the base. With its massive weight playing against itself, the pillar above started to give way as it shattered, tilting from the explosive force of the impact as it started to tumble towards the Castle as a result.

"Noooo!" Catra panicked instantly as she sprinted for the great pillar, knowing half her friends were still trapped at the top of the great chamber, unconscious.

*crackle*

"What?" What was going on? Was the weather starting to affect the castle too? It had yet to at this point, so there was no way in knowing if it finally had. Around the broken base of the pillar, stretching up passed the middle of it for added support, a giant pillar of ice grew along the outer wall of the great stone monument, saving it from its inevitable collapse, and catching it from falling any further.

As if that wasn't enough, the exciting display that played out following this was too good to be true. One by one, in massive frozen waves that burst from the ground, the group watched as many of the Horde tanks were thrown through the air, tossing them into the frozen woods where they shattered, others exploding upon impact. It was like the very element of frost was at their side, fighting alongside them as it pushed away the surrounding tanks near the pillar.

Or a very young child by the name of Princess Frosta, who rode along a blanket of ice she created from the palm of her hands, just like the other princesses did with their own elements. Reaching the group of able-bodied heroes, the young princess jumped from the edge of her frozen wave, spinning through the air briefly, and landing perfectly a few yards ahead of a group of relieved and excited heroes, and a very surprised Catra as she looked at her with the same cold stare she had at the Princess Prom.

"You... actually came to help?" Catra asked, still unable to comprehend what she was saying.

"Hmph." The young girl mumbled, turning her head away. "Don't get the wrong idea. You were still an obnoxious and rude guest at the party, and I still don't like you. But..." The girl shifted her eyes back to the cat as she continued. "It doesn't mean I'm going to leave someone behind when they need it. Besides, they messed with my kingdom's weather. That's as good as declaring war on it." She sneered back to the She-Ra as she got back to her feet. "Unless that's a problem for someone's pet."

"...Heh..." Catra smirked back as she saw what remained of Adora's army. "Not at all, brat."

This was... astounding, to say the least. Lined up one after the other, with Catra in the center of all of this, the princesses and captain stood beside her as they stared down the army and the scowling Force Captain. Sea Hawk and Mermista on her right, and Perfuma and Frosta on her left. All of them drawn with their own weapons and element at the ready, all ready and willing to sacrifice their lives for a war that they wanted to part in, but came to anyway because of her.

Her.

Catra.

The person who was always the screw up.

She's never felt so much happiness before in her life as she stared at the reflection she saw in her sword, this time finding a joyful Catra instead of one who was always sour or confused. They accepted her after all her mistakes, despite what a screw up she was to them. They saw her as a friend who needed them at her side, across the Rebellion's side, and they were willing to answer the call.

Catra couldn't help it as a small tear rolled down her face, all while the aura around her grew brighter, as she smiled proudly. Looking back to the angered friend ravine, Catra raised her sword to the sky, with the conviction and determination to finally bring this battle to a long awaited end.

"FOR ETHERIA!" With a roaring cry, Catra unleashed a radiance of light as the surrounding allies charged straight at the surrounding Horde, knowing victory was at their side as long as they had each other.

*Sheeeeeeeeeem!*

And it was from the radiance of light that surrounded her that a bright aura of energy erupted, spreading across the environment around the valley and causing all of her friends and allies to glow, no matter what state they were or from where. One by one, her downed allies were awakened by their renewed energies as life started to return to them, feeling their consciousness returning to them in full.

Netossa winced a little as the water touched her opening eyes, rubbing the slight sting she felt as she rose to her knees. Still a little disoriented, Bow rubbed his head as he slowly got to his feet, shaking the weirdness out of his mind as he felt like he slept for a thousand years. Not one hint of exhaustion remained in his blood as he looked around, gasping in surprise as he saw the new state Catra was in.

"Catra?" Was it even her? She looked so different from how she used to be, yet somehow more familiar than ever before!

Up above, the remainder of the fallen allies slowly started to find their own energies returning, starting with Swift Wind as his nostrils flared with life. Of all the ways he could've gotten blasted out of the sky, he prayed he would never have to feel the massive force of a tank's barrel blasting against his side again. Chances were, without the armor that broke off from his recent attack, that he wouldn't be able to tolerate the pain twice as agonizing.

Along the side, Glimmer winced as her fingers slowly twitched, finding the hazy vision from her opening eyes beginning to clear up. While questioning what she was first experiencing, her confusion slowly changed to wonder and joy as she saw her mother picking herself off the ground as well, the Queen rubbing her eyes as she felt her energies return to her.

"Mooom!" Glimmer cried out, rushing to her side.

"Glimmer!" The Queen only had a second to open her arms before she found them filled by the tender embrace of her loving daughter, smiling tearfully as she wrapped her arms around her. Never had the two been so happy to see each other like today, both nearly crying with joy as they hugged.

It was at this time Glimmer saw a tendril wave of light rushing over them, sweeping towards the sky until it connected with the Moonstone that loomed above them. With a gasp, she and her mother turned to the runestone as the light covered over the massive rock, shining it with a mystical force of energy that Etheria had never experienced in the past.

Filled with its newfound source of power, the energy coursing through its entirety, the stone began to spin in place as a blue light started to fill it from the inside. With every spin, Glimmer felt her body starting to rejuvenate with her magic, a smile crossing her lips as she saw the wonders being shown in front of her. She had no doubt that, despite everything she had been through at this point, Catra somehow managed to save the day, like she knew she would.

And she failed to disappoint.

Upon reaching its limit, the runestone unleashed a massive wave of energy across the entire valley, coating everything in a warm light that cleared the entire sky of the darkness that had once surrounded Bright Moon. All around her, Adora watched in terror as the darkness that had previously given her so much strength had been taken away from her in an instant, knowing the only source of magic she had left would be whatever she retained from first putting on the headband. While it may prove problematic, she still had an excess amount of energy, one she ensured wouldn't go to waste.

As if it wasn't enough to just envelope the valley in its beautiful light, the same streaks of light swept across the entire world! From Salineas, to the Kingdom of Snows, to Plumeria, one by one, the many runestones that had given the princesses the source of their power were washed over with a sense of tranquility and life, filling them up again as the princesses felt a surge of power like never before!

It didn't just limit itself to the allying princesses, either. All the way towards the Fright Zone, as she continued to examine and take readings from the mysterious Black Garnet, Entrapta's attention was directed to the wave of unusual light she saw spreading through the complex. Upon touching the Black Garnet, the mysterious stone shimmered with an unusual light, one that pried the many wires and technologies from its body and preventing the technological genius from continuing her studies. In another flash of light, the entire room went dark after the Black Garnet flashed, leaving Entrapta confused with only the glowing eyes of her mask showing through the dark.

As the two continued to hug, Glimmer saw a light coming from her mother's being, being filled with wonder as she observed the unseen spectacle taking place in front of her. As if she knew what was going on, the Queen opened her eyes calmly to her daughter, brushing a hand softly against her face. This one simple brush was all that as needed for the princess to feel her own source of energy return to her, eyes widening at the sight as her own body began to glow. She chuckled with glee as she watched a small spark of her magic dance off of her.

Her powers had finally returned.

"Go on, go get them." Her mother instructed with pride. Glimmer gave off a single tear of joy as she clutched her mother's hand tightly for a moment, the happiness filling both of them never being any brighter before today. With another smile, the princess disappeared in a flash of sparkling light, her mother's pride overwhelming the Queen as she turned to Swift Wind. She couldn't tell if the Horse was somehow more excited than her daughter as he flapped his wings triumphantly, taking off to the sky as he planned to charge headfirst into the ensuing Horde below them.

*swoosh*

Glimmer's excitement continued to climb as she teleported back to the ravine, her powers flourishing with each passing second. All around her, her smile somehow widened twofold as she saw her friends and allies all fighting around her, thrilled to see her friends and allies hadn't given up on her like the Rebellion originally thought. Not only that, but the princesses shared in their new surge of power as they glowed with their own fantastic lights as they battled away at the evil Horde.

From the streams, she watched Mermista washing away the dozens of soldiers and several tanks and droids with a massive wave of her magic, her body glowing with an aquatic blue light of energy as she did. Surrounding what massive gathering she could of automated tanks and droids that she could, encircling them in a wave of powerful water, Mermista moved out of the way as a large boat began to surface from the waves behind her, being sailed by an experienced, seaworthy, captain known as Seahawk.

"Adventurrrre!" Seahawk could be heard shouting from afar as Mermista made her way towards him. The Princess of Salineas couldn't help but smirk as the Captain's quirky antics as she grabbed onto him, riding on another way as she moved the two out of harms way, right as the boat finally caught on fire. All of the droids that had encircled the field were crushed under the combined might of Seahawk's flammable ship and the power of adventure, delivering a devastating blow to the remaining forces that failed to fight back.

A short distance below Glimmer, from what few guards managed to run passed everyone, trying to make a futile effort at stoping the runestone at its source,, Netossa could be seen duking it out with them directly, glowing with a dark violet hue, and throwing an ensnaring net of energy at a pair of guards, trapping them against each other, and kicking away at another soldier that rushed her from behind.

As she did, she saw a pair of droids attempting to approach the princess directly from both sides, wanting to get the jump on her depending on whoever reached her first. Before that became a possibility, though, Netossa found herself engulfed in a large violet wave of gust, one that spread across from her in all directions, sweeping the droids off her feet and blasting them into the icy formations that had grown out of the ground from where Frosta had attacked. Curious at the brief spectacle of wind she had witnessed, her wonder soon turned to excitement as she saw Spinnerella, her beloved friend descending from the sky above her in a brighter shade of purple, and tearing up the sight of her wellbeing.

It was a touching reunion as Glimmer saw Netossa throw her arms around the princess, glad she was okay after all they've been through.

On another side of the battlefield, she saw Princess Frosta and Perfuma, two unlikely elements working aside one another as they rode across the field with their own magic answering their calls. From Frosta's vantage, radiating with a bright sky blue in color, she fired several streaks of frozen crystals at the surrounding tanks and droids, trapping half of them while destroying the other half that tried to counter her antics. They were powerless to stop the small princess as she jumped into the air, surrounding herself in a dozen smaller icicles that shot in all directions ahead, consuming the dreadful machines and solid cases of ice.

She had no concern or reason to hold back as she attacked the nonorganic creatures and machines of the battlefield, saving that excitement for the flowery princess riding next to her in a bed of vines. With the blessing of nature lighting up her body in a green light, the princess of Plumeria laughed with amusement as she entangled a handful of guards and soldiers who were powerless to fight back against her ensuing vines, some of them being hung upside down by their feet while others were tangled up completely in a heap, ready to be collected and brought to the prisons the Rebellion had for their enemies. At least she took the liberty of making sure each and every one of them were presentable for later capture, creating a small necklace of flower over their heads and necks as she caught them.

This is exactly what Glimmer expected the Princess Alliance to be like when it finally formed. This was the Princess Alliance to her. Friend and friend, ally and ally, side by side. Everything about this scenario was perfect as she saw Bow running up to her.

"Glimmer!" He cried out with joy, the small V-shaped heart of his chest's armor glowing.

"Bow!" The princess called back, teleporting from her spot as she appeared right next to him, hugging onto him tightly. The two didn't think they were going to see each other given how the night was starting to play out. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Me too! I mean, you being glad, not me but... heh, you know what I mean." He chuckled, glad to see his shining pink friend again.

"I don't get it, how did this all happen?"

"How do you think?" He grinned, looking off in the distance.

Following his gaze, Glimmer nearly gasped as she saw the new state of She-Ra Catra was donning, watching her friend battling it out with her other friend as the two stood their ground. From the battle, Catra yelped as she was tossed into a tank by the vengeful Force Captain, Adora's hair becoming more erratic as the rage continued to consume her. Within seconds from being tossed into the tank's hard defense, the girl was quick to jump atop of it as she was nearly impaled by Adora's shadowy, spiked, fist that came crashing into it. Without wasting a breath, the Force Captain roared as a blade sprouted from the tank soon after, nearly cutting the girl in half if she hadn't reacted in time, blocking the terrible blade with her sword.

It did little to keep her from being flung a few feet into the air, forcing her to repeat a good distance behind Adora. Having expected this, unwilling to give Catra a moment's peace, Adora tore down the middle of the two tanks as she ripped them aside through the power of her shadows. Shooting two massive tendrils into the ripped halves of the tank, Adora roared violently as she turned around, stretching the tanks as far as she could in order to reach them, and slammed them against Catra from both directions all her might.

In a scenario that might've crushed the average person, the Force Captain continued to grumble in pain as the sight kept her from feeling any sense of peace or joy. At the other end of her shadowy tendrils where the ripped halves of the tanks still stood, she saw Catra, the magical gritting her teeth as her body continued to glow with a white light, as she kept the tanks at bay through the sheer force of her own personal strength, her arms pushing aside the incredible contracts with all her might.

"Is that... Catra?!" Glimmer stammered as if she had never met the girl before.

"I know, right?" Bow replied, still excited by the sight of the amazing duel. "Can you believe it? She's actually winning!" Bow's hopeful optimism wasn't shared by his friend who continued to look on with worry. It didn't matter to her if she could see Catra giving it all she's got, she couldn't forget the concerning worry Swift Wind told her about in the middle of this great war.

"Glimmer, I'm telling you, she's going to be a wreck after this." Swift Wind fretted, bashing away a soldier that tried to sneak up behind him with his two back hooves.

"Yeah, you said that before. What do you mean by a total wreck?"

"B-But we didn't force her to join us, Swift Wind! We gave her a choice, remember?"

"Adora..." Glimmer could tell immediately what the problem was getting at here.

Coming back to reality, she couldn't help but notice the pained expression on Catra's face from afar as she saw the girl struggling keep the tanks away at arms length, the two halves seeming to draw an inch closer as she did.

"No," Glimmer replied to Bow as she watched, "she doesn't." It wasn't a matter of Catra being unable to overpower Adora, she knew Catra wouldn't be able to force herself to overpower Adora. She still had care and deep concern for her friend, the one she was responsible for ending up in this mess! "She can't bring herself to fight Adora with everything she's got, Bow!" She stated worriedly. "She needs our help!"

...

*WHAM!*

"Ngggh!" Adora grumbled as she was thrown to the floor of the ravine, pushing herself up to her chest as she gazed all around her. Throughout her field of vision she could see it, feel it, as they were losing.

The soldiers that failed to make their escape were being captured by the remaining princesses that continued to surround the battlefield with their magics, their droids were being destroyed and pushed aside like they were mere toys. All of this, all that was happening right now, was because of her, and Catra. The person she gave in to and allowed to stall for time, the person who might've known her friends were coming to save her at the last second, and purposely proposed a duel to stall for time.

Once again, Catra had used her. And that was the most sickening feeling she ever had as of now.

Her new appearance didn't come without any merits, she realized. She needed to be careful with her shadows as of now. With the bright shining sun in the sky, she couldn't afford to take off her headband anymore, not without losing all the powers that came to be. If she tried to recharge her own powers, she would only receive a fraction of whatever she started out with previously when the valley was coated in darkness. And actually keeping or maintaining her shadows were starting to become problematic as Catra's new state continued to remove them!

Whenever she threw another of her tendrils at her, not only did Catra manage to keep her from reeling in her former friend, Catra, at least twice, managed to rip them from her person, actually ripping off one of the shadowy tentacles that were over her back in the process! The pain was unlike anything Adora had ever experienced, feeling like she lost a limb, whether or not it was real. All that remained in its place was a blackened stump that Adora had to power on through, being careful not to expose her back anymore than she had to towards the magicat.

Along with her strength, her surprising ability of shooting energy through her sword wasn't just for show, either. On multiple occasions, when Adora attempted to call in any surrounding droids for reinforcements, the droids were quick to learn just how powerful the new She-Ra had came to be. The energy that drew from the sword shot forth like a beam of light at her enemies, piercing through the droids one second and causing them to explode in the next one after. They even hurt Adora's shadows, to her dismay, forcing the captain to keep the shadows close to her being once again.

Whatever this new state of She-Ra was, it was a nightmare. She had power, she had newfound strength, and worst of all, she was losing this war. Like many times over, Catra had used her for her own benefit again, and this time, there could be no forgiveness. She didn't care at all as she heard Catra approaching her, the patter of her feet brushing against the cold water doing nothing to distract her.

"It's over, Adora." Catra stated, standing a good twenty feet away from the girl for safety.

"No... No it's not..." Adore grumbled, wobbling a little as she got back to her feet, panting out of breath. "I... I can still..."

"Would you just stop it already?!" How much was she supposed to argue like this?! She couldn't keep protecting her if she wasn't willing to surrender. "Just look around you, Adora!" Catra ordered, seeing the Force Captain turning her head as instructed. "You've lost! Okay? Just accept it! If you don't stop any of this, I can't protect you from the Queen!"

"...Protect... me?" The girl lowered her head as she squeezed her hands, letting out a small chuckle that Catra's ears could pick up. "You... protect me? How laughable..." Catra spotted an irritated scowl on the right half of her face, while the blackened hair on her left half covered the rest. "So what? Now I'm supposed to turn into you? Weak, pathetic, useless?" Catra's heart stung at the comments as her ears lowered. "I'm supposed to turn my back on my morals and start using everyone around me like pawns?" With an anger fueling behind her, Catra saw the tendrils of her shadows starting to gather at the palms of her opened hands, Adora drawing in all the energy she could as she was consumed with rage.

"I want to be perfectly clear, Catra. I, will never, be, like, you. Not now," the shadows around Adora's feet started to spiral in a terrible display of power around her as she raised her hands, "not EVER!"

*Sssssssssssssssskkkkkkkkkssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh-!*

"Ah-!"

*spzzzzzzt-!*

Catra only had moments to react to Adora's final attack as it came right at her. In a colossal wave of dark energy, bursting from the palms of Adora's hands, Catra was nearly consumed by a never-ending flow of darkness as a gigantic blast of shadows were directed right at her. She-Ra was barely given a moment to catch her breath as she was forced to direct her sword at her ensuing shadow, stopping the blast just a few feet ahead of her as a stream of white energy poured from the tip of her sword, combatting the darkness. It did nothing to prevent her from being pushed back another thirty feet, but it was better than ending up as a potential stain in the water.

Around her, all of her friends and allies were drawn to the sight of the terrifying display of power as they saw the power of light and dark being forced upon each other, seeing streaks of light and darkness shooting across in nearly every direction as Catra managed to push back the beam of energy towards its center. Both, Catra, and Adora, found waves of energy shooting passed them in a spiral of power, with pure light bursting passed Adora, and an empty darkness spiraling over Catra.

"Catra!" They all called out with worry, rushing over to the scene as close as they possibly could. The streaks of light and darkness were destroying everything around them as they continued their epic struggle, neither girls showing any signs of faltering under the intense might of their magic, or signs of backing down, knowing what it would possibly mean for either one of them if they were to show any signs of weakness for even a second.

"She-Ra!" Perfume cried out.

Unwilling to just sit on the sidelines and wait for one side to win, Mermista nodded to herself as she attempted to shoot a large stream of her magical waters directly at the enemy ahead, only to find the energies disintegrating her waters the moment they approached, evaporating almost instantly.

"I can't get any closer!" She revealed, attempting to fire another stream of water at her, meeting the same results. Deciding that approaching Adora was out of the question, Perfuma attempted to sprout her vines closer to She-Ra, hoping to pull her out of the twister of darkness that was pushing passed her. Unfortunately, it proved to be just as in vain as Mermista's attempts as the moment they neared the poor girl, the vines found themselves shredded in under a second, the darkness unwavering as it ripped through the vines.

"I can't reach She-Ra, either." She felt so useless as she watched her friend struggling with all her might.

"Catra!" The group turned to see the Princess of Bright Moon and her friend running towards them, the looks of worry shared among their faces.

"Hey Twinkles, are you okay?" Mermista asked, finally seeing her for the first time in awhile.

"I'm fine," she replied, not caring at the choice of nickname she picked, "but what's going on?"

"The lad's doing everything she can to fight back against Adora, lass!" Seahawk explained, looking back to the fight. "Nobody can reach them in the state that they're in, the girls' magics are too strong!"

"Nooo..." Glimmer fretted, looking at the scene with anguish.

What was she supposed to do at a time like this if magic couldn't get through their magic? Everyone was helpless as they watched the two girls continuing to collide their magic against one another, struggling to get the pull on the other one as best they could, only one side refraining from using everything she had.

Let Go

"No!" Catra yelled aloud, ignoring the voice in her head as she tried to maintain her grip on the sword. Every second that passed she caught a glimpse of Adora's face from far away, seeing the hatred building up behind Adora's innocent eyes. "Adore, please!" She could be heard shouting over. "I don't want to do this!"

"I've had enough of your lies, Catra!" Adora screamed angrily in return. "Once I finish with you, I'm tearing down the rest of the Rebellion, even if I have to do it by myself!"

"Adora, please..." Tears started to form in the corner of Catra's eyes at the revelation, picturing the chances the rest of her allies had at trying to deal with Adora in her newly empowered form.

At the waver in her heart, the remaining allies watched in horror as the dreaded wave of darkness began to push against the light, gaining an inch little by little as it neared over towards Catra. As it did, the violence on Catra's end started to pick up, the energy coming closer to the girl with each passing second. About a fourth of the way there, the energy narrowed in its spiral passed her, actually cutting her a little against her legs and her shoulders, a few strands of Catra's hair getting cut off as it clustered.

It was a terrible sight to behold as the allies could do nothing to assist in this. Whether they stood a chance against Adora themselves, they didn't know what fate would befall Catra if she failed to stop Adora's incoming blast of pure darkness. There were only a few select ideas that came to mind, and none of them proved pleasant to the girl.

"She's starting to lose ground." Frosta said, trying to pick up an idea along with the rest of them.

"Couldn't you form a wall of ice or something, lass?" Seahawk suggested hopefully. You know, something block the attack long enough to pull her out of there?"

"Are you kidding? I don't know what sort of power those two are unleashing. Even if it's durable enough, Catra's light could reflect off of it and shoot out everywhere, destroying everything around us." It amazed the captain that such a young girl managed to come up with a quick-witted explanation behind all of this, just not enough to keep him from growing ever-increasingly concerned.

"She... She needs us..." Glimmer mumbled, looking at her sparkling hands. Catra's always been there for them, no matter how many times Catra refused to acknowledge the opposite. Even if she still couldn't see it after this, she had to do anything she could to save her. "I'm going in," she announced squeezing her fist, "I think I can get to her through teleporting."

"Glimmer, you can't-"

"Look, Bow, I know what you're going to say, but I don't have a choice!" She quickly interrupted. "If we don't do anything now, Catra could die. I'm not going to leave her behind like this without someone to support her!"

Blinking at the statement of conviction she spouted, Bow grinned. "Stop you? Are you kidding? I'm not letting you go by yourself without me." He stated, holding her hand. It warmed Glimmer's heart that she had such a dear friend like Bow at her side in a time of crisis like this. Looking around, the others smiled to her as they gave her their support too, knowing it would be up to those two to help Catra see this through to the end. And in dazzling sparkles of light, the two teleported, leaving a hopeful trail of purplish dust in their place.

Back on the other end, Catra continued to falter as she started using all of her muscle to maintain her stance and her sword's grip. The tunnel was closing in on her, drawing near her body with every rapid rush of energy, and cutting away at her with every centimeter. It didn't matter if she refused to push back against Adora's magic, if she dropped the sword at all at this point, it would be the end of her.

"Adora, please..." She continued to whimper, a small strand of tears rolling down her right side. "I don't want to do this by myself... I don't want to do this by myself..."

"You don't have too!" Catra nearly flinched at the sudden voice as she felt two different hands on her back, pushing against her shoulders. Pushing against her from behind, out of the tunnel's wave of darkness, she saw a shining Glimmer and a courageous Bow, both smiling to her as she continued to push the sword. And there they were, with that annoying smile that always popped up at the most annoying of times to her. "Hey, Catra, like the new look, though I prefer your old one, really!"

"Glimmer?" She turned her head from her left to her right. "Bow?" He grinned back, giving a thumbs up with his other hand. "What the heck are you guys doing here?!"

"Oh you know, was just in the neighborhood, wanted to check out the sights, etcetera." Bow joked with a cheeky grin. "What do you think we're doing here? We're here to help you!"

"Help me?" Oh dear First Ones, please tell her they were joking! "Are you two crazy?! Get out of here while you still can!"

"Oh darn, I think my magic tapped out just teleporting here. Talk about bad timing, you know?" Glimmer shrugged.

"Yeah, I think I sprained an ankle or something too while I was at it." Bow added, the two of them wincing as the wind blew passed their eyes. It pained Catra to see how casually the two were shrugging all of this off, like it was a bad joke where she was the punchline.

"This isn't funny, you dweebs!" Catra shouted over the roaring tunnel. "I don't know if I can stop her! I don't know if I can force myself to stop her-!"

"We know, Catra, and we're fine with that!" Glimmer replied, catching her off guard as she had a small smile. "Look, I might not know the real Adora like you do, and I probably never will. But she's your good friend, and if you don't want to fight her, that's fine with us." She was bluffing... right?

"What... What are you saying?"

"She's saying we're beside you no matter what you choose, Catra." Bow answered for her. "Whether you want to fight Adora or not, we'll be here to support you, all the way through." They were... joking. They had to be joking. It was the worst joke Catra had ever experienced in her life, and the WORST possible timing they could ever pull off a joke right about now!

"You... You idiots..." Catra teared up. "Why can't you ever leave me alone when I want you to?!"

"Because, Catra, and I'm telling you this for the very last time!" Glimmer said in a stricter tone. "We're your friends. And we're not going to leave your side no matter what happens, got it!" She could just make out the smile on Bow's face as she nodded to her before the two pushed against Catra with all they had, trying to help her keep the magical warrior from stumbling as Catra turned back towards Adora, distraught.

She hated them. She hated every last one of them. Those stupid people in the Rebellion who were a constant source of misery, those annoying morons who never did whatever she asked them to. They were the worst kind of friends anyone could ask for!

She didn't ask them to be at her side like this! She didn't want them throwing themselves in harms way just because Catra refused to harm a friend as close to her as Adora! They weren't helping her in any sense by doing this, they were forcing her to make a decision against her will! Those ingrates, those selfish pests, those, terrible... horrible... friends...

She gazed as closely as she could into Adora's eyes from afar, seeing little to nothing resembling the dear friend she once had. Her friend would never be the one trying to end Catra's life, she wouldn't be throwing everything she had at her just to make Catra suffer. She wouldn't be looking at Catra with such an unsettling rage rage, the likes of which had never been seen before, with the desire to make Catra suffer for a lifetime of past mistakes. This... this wasn't the same Adora she knew.

But... what was she to do? She couldn't hurt her friend!

"Hate you?" At this, Catra paused in their walk, giving Glimmer her full attention. "Who said I ever hated you? Both of you for that matter?"

...And it was kind of scary...

"Well, duh, I was mad about it, but it doesn't mean I hate you for it. It's not your fault for being stupid." She commented, continuing their walk.

"Gee, that's encouraging to hear..." Ok, now there was about a fifty-fifty-chance this was the same old Catra.

"But you don't hate us?" Did Bow hear that correctly? Was there truly a possibility for the Best Friend Squad after all this time?!

"Of course not. I just don't like you two."

No there was not.

Or Adora.

"Catra..." She did everything in her power from squealing out in pure delight, her and Bow both!

... No... the scene flashed in her eyes painfully as she maintained where her sword's energy was.

"Why do you have to be such a buzzkill around here?"

"I'm not being a buzzkill, I'm trying to help you!" She retorted quietly . "Catra, these people care more about She-Ra than they do you."

"Uhhhh helloooooo! I am She-Ra?" She rolled her eyes.

"No you're not! Your name is Catra and you're a part of the Rebellion!" Glimmer corrected. It was like Catra had completely forgotten about her old life in the last half-hour they've been here.

For all she knew, she did.

"Ugh, why are you so laaame? Why can't you be more like Bow? He has the right idea."

"Bow?" She had almost forgotten about him after everything that's happened. Without skipping on the details, Glimmer looked to the right as Catra's tail directed her.

"Bow, don't lie to them!" Catra called out with a grin.

"You're right, I'm sorry... It was two-hundred soldiers!" The kids around him cheered with excitement as Catra laughed.

"Hahaha, I officially know which of you two I like more now!"

Stop it!

*tug*

Catra blinked. Looking down slowly as ever, she was met with the rather strange sight of Glimmer, pressing her head into her chest as she wrapped around her in a tight hug.

"...P... Pinky? What are you doing?"

"Sorry? ...About what?"

"I..." The look on Catra's face as she paused confirmed it.

"Please... stop..." Catra whimpered, biting her lower lip.

"All my life growing up in the Horde, I didn't have any brute strength or quick wits to get by in my training. The only way I managed to survive was with my speed and my recklessness, nothing else. Adora was the only one I could rely on to bail me out of trouble whenever I screwed up. She was always the perfect cadet whenever it came to any training. She was smart, she was fast, strong. Usually she left everyone else in the dust, and I... I always hated her for it."

"But Catra, you're nothing like her!" Bow tried to argue.

"Oh, gee, thanks for that enlightening encouragement." Catra scoffed with the roll of her eyes.

"No, I mean, so what if you're reckless? It doesn't matter to us."

"Don't make me... Don't make me do this... please..." The moment she gave in, the moment she accepted what needed to be done, she knew there was no chance of ever reuniting with Adora, or the happiness the past had to offer, anymore.

Why were they treating like this?

"It's like I keep telling you, Catra." She replied with a smile, patting her shoulder. "We're your friends, and even if you mess up, we'll always be by your side."

"..." The magicat turned to the blade as she held it in her hands, staring at the familiar reflection as always.

So why should she care!

"...Glimmer?" Catra spoke, Glimmer noticing the hint of emotion behind her voice. "I really, really, really, hate you." Lifting her head towards her, she gave a small grin, giving Glimmer the idea despite already having a pretty good one.

/ / / \ \ \

*Let Go*

\ \ \ / / /

...The sword wasn't telling her to let go to fulfill her destiny. It was telling her to let go to save her own life.

There was no avoiding it, not any longer. Catra knew that now. She always knew it. This battle, everything that had taken place with Adora, was all her fault. She was the reason she ended up like this. She was the one who caused Adora to become the violent person she was. She should've shown more care or compassion to he girl who treated her like a dear friend since the moment she met her, and she refused to give it out of her fear of appearing weak, and now it was costing her.

This was her own punishment. Her punishment for being greedy, for being the selfish cat that she was. By refusing to let go, she was allowing her greed to give in again, allowing her greed to manifest into the horrible monster that created Adora in the first place. Her punishment for never being the person who treated her most like a friend was to lose that very same friend in turn.

And she couldn't deny it, any longer.

It was the punishment she deserved.

Tears started to flow endlessly from Catra's face, the droplets flowing down her cheeks being blown into the air by the intense force of the powerful blast. There was no hesitation on Adora's end, no attempt to hide back her rage and contempt for the young girl, and no ounce of care over who she had to hurt to do it. Adora was her enemy, now and forever. And if she didn't fight back against her now, she was going to lose the very last things she had left in this world, that annoyed her to no end.

Her friends.

The duo behind her heard the sniffling coming from the magicat as they saw the droplets of tears rushing from Catra's eyes passed them. Already, the guilt started to settle in to the two of them as they saw her raise her sword further into the shadowy magic, knowing what she was going to do.

"Geh..." Catra squeezed her eyes shut briefly, opening them to show the watery tears that continued to flow.

"Goodbye... Adora..." And with that, Catra screamed. With every last ounce of strength she could draw in from her sword, from her friends, she took a step forward as she unleashed a powerful blast of pure light straight into the darkness, the darkness doing nothing to slow down the terrible power of light that shot across the ravine, towards the defenseless Force Captain who could do nothing to move, not with all the shadows she was drawing to herself.

Within that one moment, right as the light was about to hit, the redness faded from Adora's eyes, as an expression of confusion and wonder crossed Adora's face. "Catra-?"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The tunnel of darkness and light had finally ceased as Adora was encased in a powerful dome of light, one roared with life as it surrounded everything ten feet from her in a miraculous display. Catra let out a gasp of exhaustion as did her two friends, the glowing aura that once radiated among the princesses finally extinguishing. Never had they seen anyone preform a miraculous feat such as Catra's before, and chances were very unlikely they ever would again.

With her energy spent, the magicat's form finally came to an end as Catra dropped the sword, panting out of breath as she returned to the endearing, shorter, magicat they came to know her as. None of them could blame her for being so out of energy like she was now, not after that stunning performance of magic.

With her powers drained, Catra lifted her head slowly, along with the rest of them, as they saw the dome starting to diminish around the Force Captain. There she stood, Adora, with her head held back and her arms drooped behind her, as the shadows that used to surround her slowly dissipated into nothingness, burning away from the light's pure energy.

At first, there was nothing but fear on Catra's end. Even if she was supposed to stop her friend, that didn't mean she had to end her existence to do it! Thankfully, she noticed a small twitch coming from the Force Captain, the now fully-blonde girl pulling her head forward where it slumped.

Upon her head, the others gasped. The headband, the grand source of Adora's legendary power, started to crack. Along with a single tear that grew from above and below the sacred jewel from the Black Garnet, the headband itself started to rip before their very eyes. Eventually, the entire thing tore itself apart as the gem of Adora's power shattered into dust, blowing across the wind as the shredded remains of the headband flowed lifelessly to the waters around her wobbling feet.

Adora's power, was gone.

It took an ample amount of her own strength just to lift her head back far enough, enough for Catra to see the pained expression in Adora's eyes, and the tears that flowed down her cheeks. She had no power, no chance of victory, and no means to calm the rushing torrent of sadness that overflowed in her heart. She was now drowning in a bottomless abyss of sorrow.

"I... will never... forgive you..." With that final utterance, the girl started to collapse, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she passed out. Before she could collide with the ground, however, before there was any chance of potentially rescuing her, she was swept away, by a treasured friend known as Scorpia, as the two sped off into the distance in one of the remaining skiffs.

(A/N: Once again, and for the final time in awhile, now would be the perfect time to play the music that goes along with the following scene until indicated otherwise. For the following scenes, its recommend to listen to the theme Home, From RWBY Volume 4 on youtube)

"You... You did it!" Glimmer cheered loudly, her one solitary cheer erupting the cheers and applause of the allies from afar. At long last, the Battle for Bright Moon had come to an end, and victory came to the heroes in the very end! Nothing but cheer filled the skies, along with Swift Wind who made his way over after beating down the last of the droids he could, as far as the eye could see. This would go on to be one of the most momentous days of the Rebellion, and they all had Catra to thank for it.

"Way to go, Catra!" Bow cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Geez, with all the excitement that was taking place right now, there was no way in telling how excited Catra must have felt!

After all this time of feeling like a screwup, she finally had something she could NEVER deny! Thanks to her, and her two hands, she saved the day. She beat back the evil Horde army, restored the runestones to their rightful state, and actually managed to heal everyone, including Glimmer from her glitching, in the end! If she ever thought she was a screwup before, there was no way she possibly could now! Even if, for whatever, minuscule reason, she said she was, they were prepared to splash her face enough times to tell her otherwise.

This was a glorious day not just for the Rebellion or the Princess Alliance, but for all of Etheria!

"..."

*sniff*

"C... Catra?" The lighthearted mood and tone in the atmosphere took a sudden shift as Glimmer heard the small sniffling coming from her. Before she could raise a hand towards her, Catra collapsed to her hands and knees, in an agonizing look they had never seen before.

Catra was... crying. In the reflection of the waters surrounding her, they could see her face. The face that told a thousand stories, that had witnessed all the beauty and horrors of the world. Not one part of her freckled face appeared to be without pain and suffering as Catra sniffed. The person who always hated to look weak in front of the others, the one who always kept her emotions bottled up inside of her, was releasing them all at once, possibly for the first time in her entire life.

It was only now Glimmer truly realized what Swift Wind had meant about Catra being a wreck after this. The worst part wasn't the climax of the great war itself, it was what came after the long conflict.

"Ghh... AaaaaaahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHH!" Catra screamed as she raised her arms as high as she could, slamming them into the waters in front of her.

*SPLASH!*

"Aaaaahahahaaaaa!" This was... beyond the point of saddening, to watch. Catra, the strong, almost-fearless warrior, that she always displayed herself to be, had finally broken down. Catra didn't know what to do with this pain, this endless surge of misery that rushed into her.

She was gone. Adora was gone. Her old life was gone. Everything that she came to know and love about her old life had been taken from her by her own two hands, because of her selfishness. The reality of everything finally dawned on her as she realized everything she had now lost, and everything she would never have back.

Within there own mind, Catra recalled all of it, against her wishes. All the memories of her and Adora, all the good times they had, playing before her, inaudibly as Catra continued to cry out. The music overlapped the voices asher past flashed before her eyes, possibly for a final time, that Catra would ever want to remember.

With that, Catra let out a taunting hum to herself, feeling accomplished, as she turned around to walk back.

Coming face to face with a smirking Adora who had a raised brow and the little girl looking up curiously at the mean twelve year old.

Adora spoke down to Ami. She took great amusement to see Catra standing up for the young girl despite her aggressive appearance when she met Ami the first time.

Catra grumbled, looking away with a small blush on her face.

Adora cooed, pinching Catra's cheeks.

Catra yelped, slapping her hand away in embarrassment. The little girl actually began to giggle a little at this, something Catra knew she couldn't scold her for with Adora around. And that's if she wanted to in the first place.

Adora informed with a casual smile on her face, much to Catar's dismay.

Instead of getting any word out of the girl, Catra looked down to see the excited four year old holding her hand up to her, wanting to take magicat's hand, furthering her embarrassment.

Groaning audibly to the two, Catra rolled her eyes as she resigned herself to the annoying fate of cleaning up someone else's mess with them. She warned, taking the little girl's hand into her right hand as the three walked down the hallway. Ami could be found walking between the two with a happy smile on her face.

This was her ultimate punishment, one she knew she would have to bear for the rest of her life. Any connections she had to the past were finally over. With Adora's defeat, Catra was a part of the Horde, no longer.

According to the stranger himself, Shadow Weaver had no say in the matter.

Shadow Weaver glowered as she saw the insect taunting her.

The stranger boldly said.

A young blond child asked as she walked into the door's line of sight.

Seeing the child passed Shadow Weaver's flowing robe, Catra let out a squeal of pure delight. She ran straight passed the two adults as she ran straight into Adora's excited two friends happily embraced each other in a warm hug as they laughed, overjoyed that they got to see the one friend neither of them thought they would ever see again.

How was this fair for her? Wasn't she suffering enough having to fight Adora to begin with? Why did she have to do all of this alone? Why did she have to find herself without any friends, to live in a world where she was loathed for her very existence?!

It wasn't until she felt a gentle hand on her back that she realized it.

She wasn't alone.

Turning around, the magicat saw a similar look of despair on Glimmer's own face as she kneeled, trying whatever she could to give her friend a comforting smile. She completely ignored anything she was saying, her emotional state preventing her from understanding what was being said, but she was sure it was something along the lines of, "it's okay", or something. She didn't know what it was, and she didn't care as she did the first thing she had ever done in her life.

She hugged her. She threw her arms tightly around Glimmer and cried into her chest as Glimmer hugged her back, tearing up as she felt a portion of Catra's pain, all while Bow kneeled at her side as well, doing what he could to hug her and offer his own support. The others looked on in dismay at the scene as several of them prepared to step forth, wanting to comfort the cat girl as well. All of their possible support and encouragement, however painful it was, was put to a stop as Mermista held out her hand, blocking their way.

She was trapped in her own look of despair as she turned to them, shaking her head "no" to the rest who wanted to be there for her. What Catra was going through right now, everything that she was experiencing and feeling, she needed those closest to her right now for support, not the people she considered simply allies for the time being.

The girl mumbled looking away.

Adora passed off with a smile. She helped wipe away one of Catra's tears with a thumb, trying to dry the girl's face.

With that, Adora pulled the girl over to her as the two settled into the bed once again, side by side. Catra shuffled a little as Adora hugged her closely and pulling the blanket over them. It comforted and let her know she would always be by her side. It helped somewhat as a small smile grew on Catra's face, one Adora was happy to see as the two of them finally closed their eyes.

The nightmares would never cease, but as long as they had each other, there was nothing the two would have to fear.

The Queen was unwilling to sit idly by as the scene took place in front of her, seeing everything from the ledge of the chamber as she overlooked the entire valley. Flapping her wings gently to the ground, she made her way over to the beloved trio of friends as she took her place right alongside the rest of them. Glimmer shot her a brief look of sadness before the Queen embraced the three of them in a warm hug that only a mother could provide, doing her best to drown out the noise of the saddening cries as she wrapped her wings around all three of them.

Growing the same idea, Swift Wind gracefully flew his way over as fast as he could without making too much of a scene. Lowering himself as much as he could to the four, he laid his head across Catra's back, wrapping his left wing around the four of them as he did his best to comfort his master with all his heart.

Everything just seemed to slow down around the two of them as they processed what just happened.

Adora grumbled to herself as she glared back at the thrower. Just like she thought, there was Lonnie, raising her fist proudly as the other kids near her cheered for her fantastic throw. Maybe she didn't see the muffin she was holding and maybe she did, it didn't matter. All this left was a very distraught Adora.

And a very sad Catra.

She cried silently, forcefully keeping her mouth close as she sniffled to avoid more unwanted attention. She didn't care about the stinging gruel in her eyes as much as the act itself. It stung. It hurt. It reminded her of every reason she was unwanted by everyone.

Adora grumbled squeezing her fist.

Catra pleaded grabbing her other arm. Adora was surprised as she looked back to the tearful looking new friend. Even after all they just did to her, she still preferred to let it go, opting to cry as gruel continued to drip from the left side of her face. She sniffled. Strangely, her following words were inaudible, yet Adora acknowledged it like she heard what she said.

It made her feel worse thinking those bullies would get away with what they did. People like that should always get punished, just like Shadow-Weaver always taught her! Yet, she couldn't bring herself to leave her friend as she was. She was in need, in fear. She couldn't leave her side in this state. She gave her a warm smile as she grabbed one of her napkins. At least gruel was easy to wipe off. She wished all of their troubles could be solved so easily.

At the very least, Catra found comfort in someone else. She found someone who cared for her, wanted to protect her.

Catra never felt more alone in the world before, save for these people that surrounded her now. They were all she had left, all that there was to fight for. By leaving one life behind, she grew into the life of another possibility, one of a family.

The girl continued as she sat left to the crier. She heard Catra hiccup at the mention of the word "monster", confirming what the girl already thought.

Why couldn't this girl get the message? Catra remembered thinking to herself. I just want to be alone.

Then get it through your head already! I want to be alo-!

She remembers going silent at this statement, fully lifting her head to look the strange girl in the eyes. Nothing but sadness and a runny nose filled Catra's face, and none of it bothered the other girl. There was no audible indication coming from Catra's sobs, only a small twitching sensation as her small tail wiggled slightly.

That was the one question that sent Catra over the edge. She remembered doubling her cries of misery and sobbing as she laid her head into the girl's shoulder, holding her tightly like she would disappear if she didn't. She was the first one to ever say an F word to her that wasn't Freak, the first person to ever make herself feel wanted. She couldn't remember what was going through her head at that time, just that she didn't want to be alone at that moment.

The other girl continued to smile as she patted Catra's head, enjoying the possibility that she made a new friend.

And now that life was gone. Everything that Catra had in her past life was over now. Despite telling herself that she had a new life to move on to, it did nothing to quell the rain of sadness spreading in her heart, no matter how warm the group's hug came to be. It was comforting, and exhausting, all at the same time.

After another minute of endless flow of tears, the Queen opened her eyes as she noticed the deafening silence around them. Growing the same look of curiosity one by one, her friends pulled back from her a little so they could see the sate of their despairing friend.

She was passed out. After all the energy she had exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally, it was too much for the young girl. It proved too much for anybody, at that! Nobody could go through the pain Catra felt at this point as her world collapsed around her, not this quickly, not too soon.

Wiping a few of the dry tears across Catra's cheeks, the Queen gave her friends a small smile as she picked Catra up, cradling her like a small child in her arms as they began to walk away. There was a small, peaceful, expression on the cat's face as the Queen carried her, one that brought a little comfort to the rest of her remaining friends as they followed along behind her, all of them leaving their way back towards the castle.

They were determined to do whatever it took to bring a smile back to Catra's face, and Glimmer knew the perfect way to do it!

...

It felt like forever since she had a good rest as Catra opened her eyes again. Her body was still sore all over from the energy she had spent throughout her deadly struggling, even though she had enough energy to lean out of the bed she found herself in. She rubbed her head a little as she felt the small ache in her forehead, trying her best to ignore it as she looked around the room.

She appeared to be in a medical wing of the Castle, one she had visited on several occasions after cutting or injuring herself during training. Sometimes she got in way over her head when she first started to train here, picking fights with random soldiers in training as she adjusted to her new life at first, and, while winning majority of those fights and letting others win the rest, she always came out of it with a few sore bones and a cut or two around her lips.

Catra sighed as she ignored the beating the room took as she got out of her bed, and the peaceful flower that was placed along the nightstand of the bed with a "Get Well Soon!" logo on it. She wasn't feeling better after her long rest, she didn't know if she was ever going to feel better again. Her old life was over, and so was the precious friendship she once held dear. She could never bring those back to her, no matter how much she pleaded to anyone who would hear her. She was right back to her old self again as she knew she wouldn't have anyone to back her up, or anything that could bring a sense of comfort to her again.

As she traversed the ruined hallways towards her room, she observed the broken shambles as she passed along. By her guess, it was around night time, what with the little night light she could see in one hole of the hallway's massive ceiling. In the distance, her ears twitched as they picked up the sound of hammers banging away at each other, hearing them pounding against the castle as they were no doubt repairing sections of the castle, something Catra knew she was going to be forced to help with tomorrow morning... unless she was lucky.

Luck wasn't something she felt anymore after the events of today, maintaining the same solemn look on her face as she neared her room. If she was lucky, none of these events would be happening. If she was lucky, Adora would still be by her side. If she was lucky, she wouldn't have to go through all this pain and misery she was currently feeling in her heart! She knew this was her punishment for all she did, for all she made suffer around her.

She just wished it hurt a little less as she pulled open her bedroom door.

*creeeeak*

...And maybe it would be. Her eyes widening with surprise and confusion, nearly everyone, save for the Queen who was most likely overseeing the repairs of the castle, had gathered here. All of her allies, all of her friends, were standing before her under one room, all looking back to her with a welcoming smile as they greeted her upon return, some of them like Mermista smirking that the lazy cat had finally awakened after long last, even though it was so close to bedtime.

Embarrassingly to her, all of them were also donning their own sorts of PJs, ones that embarrassingly matched the stupid "Sleepy Kitty" shirt Catra suddenly realized she was wearing, finding the urge to strangle Glimmer to death, knowing it was her idea, pushed away by the sadness that still continued to torment her. Their pajamas and outfits matched them perfectly in all regards, with Mermista wearing a bright blue bathrobe, Perfuma wearing a long, light-green nightie that stretched to her feet. Among the remaining friends and allies, Glimmer, Bow, and Princess Frosta wore similar pajamas with wooly shirt and pants matching their own colors, with Bow wearing a yellowish shirt and orange-red pants. That saved the manliest of men, Seahawk, to proudly don his white and red striped boxer shorts and white shirts, who would've preferred going commando if Mermista didn't threaten to drown him in a toilet.

Again.

Despite the sight of her friends trying to cheer her up, it did nothing to soften the blow to Catra's heart as she shrugged to the rest of them, remaining silent as she walked passed the group of allies over to her bed, where she proudly collapsed onto it in a heap. Tomorrow was going to prove to be a big day for the Rebellion, seeing how the Princess Alliance had reunited once again, and with parts of the castle still shambling around her, with a few cracks within the walls of her room, and a pile of debris that appeared to be pushed aside for this little slumber party, there was no doubt that it would take forever to clean this mess.

*whomp*

No.

They didn't.

Begrudgingly opening her eyes part way with an irritated look on her face, Catra turned back to see the knowing smirk on Mermista's face as she casually tossed her light blue pillow in the air tauntingly. Along with her, the other princesses and soldiers of their alliance were sporting their own pillows, some of them with a cheeky grin on their faces as the rest of them fluffed it back and forth, preparing for the bloody onslaught that was about to follow.

She just saved the Rebellion, lost her best friend in the world, and now was being denied the right to sleep to play some stupid game with the rest of them. Fine. She could accept most of this. What she would never except was the inability to earn some much needed sleep! She didn't care what they were trying to do for her or what their reasons for doing it were either! She was the mighty She-Ra, and she wasn't about to give in to their demands to play some foolish children's game just because they felt like it!

... So if they weren't going to give her any sense of mind, then there was no choice but for her to punish these ingrates herself! It would require a weapon of some sort, of course, and, since she couldn't risk ruining their alliance by using her claws, her sword mounted against the wall, or the piles of rocks she felt like chucking, she was limited in her options. She would have to use something softer, pleasant, something that would happen to be right around Catra's fingertips as she glared intently on the taunting mermaid. Something like, oh she doesn't know...

A three by six sturdy purple pillow that she TACKLED MERMISTA WITH!

From across the castle, the Queen lifted her head as she turned away from the construction she was overseeing, hearing the sound of crashing and mayhem erupting throughout the castle as Catra had, undoubtedly, awoken from her long slumber. Normally such a sound of chaos and discord would worry the Queen, knowing the magicat's antics were usually on par with that of a mad bull running through the castle. But after the events of today, and everything Catra had done for them, there was no way she would deny them this source of fun, a way to relieve the tension that had festered within Catra since day one.

For once since meeting Catra, it brought a smile to the Queen's face as she allowed chaos to continued wherever it ensued, willing to give Catra the chance to relieve her stress just this one and destroy as much as she wanted... at long as it was in her own room.

An hour later found the same group of heroes and friends exhausted and passed out around the room as everyone fell asleep minutes prior. Within the room, Mermista leaned against the bed as she sat along the floor, her legs splayed out where Glimmer could be seen resting a pillow against her right leg, and Catra could be seen sleeping with her own head against the left leg. Behind her, Bow's snoring head continued to drown out as he slept upside down, his head hanging over the bed as it was a few feet away from Mermista's own.

On another corner of the room, where a douse of water could be seen sprayed across the ground, along with a broken sink, Perfuma could be seen sleeping upon a hammock-like group of fines, wrapping herself in a bed of colorful flowers that she used for a blanket, all while one of her legs dangled over the edge while she swung back and forth. Directly below her, a stalwart sea captain could be seen snoring with his own lights out, his feet apparently entrapped in a block of ice as he snored over a bench-like structure of solid ice, and an overgrown snot bubble bobbing in size as he did.

The room was in a mess with torn shreds of pillows across the room, a broken mirror over in the corner, a dresser toppled across the rubble from the room's walls, and the heroes spread across the room in a disorderly fashion. In a bizarre way, the room was much more fitting now with Catra's personality than it ever had before. Zooming in a little to the young girl's face, there was a small smile creeping in the edge of Catra's lips as she continued to dream.

This was, for all that it was worth, a terrible ending, one that Catra wanted to change with each passing second. She didn't get her friend back, she was forced to accept her new destiny, and she couldn't do anything about it. All she had left were the people at her side and the friends she came to know as family. But all things considered, she guessed it could be worse. She could be without anyone at her side, she could have lost the sword entirely or be rotting in a prison cell right now along with the rest of the Rebellion. She still didn't want things to end the way it did, and she would take any opportunity she had to change it at a moment's notice.

But with all that was said and done, after everything she experienced, she did have to admit one thing.

...

...It would be a lie to say she wasn't a little happy in the end.

(A/N: End Song/Music)

...

Failure was something that was never tolerated within the Fright Zone, though chances were still given. Atop his mighty throne within the citadel of the Fright Zone, Adora saw Lord Hordak, the master of the Horde, and the one who called all the shots that ran through this place. Without her headband in her possession, much less on her person, Adora could feel a chill in the air creeping along her skin as she started to walk the stairway to the master's throne, willing to face the possible consequences that would soon follow.

The only comfort she felt at the time came from the friends that walked by her side as she did, Scorpia and Entrapta smiling as they made their way up the steps that would determine their destiny.

Stepping to the throne's level, Adora greeted with the same honorable bow that she always greeted with, kneeling to her feet in respect as the others followed her example. "I've returned, Lord Hordak."

"Force Captain," the leader tapped his fingers against the throne's armrest, the taste of disdain present within his voice, "it seems your experiment has ended in failure."

"On the contrary," Entrapta perked up, springing to the air as her hair pushed her off the ground, "the experiment was a huge success!" Turning her head, Adora gave a small smile to the two friends she still had, glad to have people as reliable as them to have her back. It was the same smile Scorpia gave back to her as she nodded, telling the girl to rise to her feet with the promise to protect her. "I know more about First Ones tech than ever. This is just the beginning!" Entrant couldn't wait to build all the wonderful things she could from what the data crystal had to offer! She could just die, preform open heart surgery on herself, and then die again, she was so excited!

"She also got us closer to conquering Bright Moon than anyone ever has, Lord Hordak." Scorpia commented, protecting her friend once again.

"And the Whispering Woods is still in ruins." Adora added, giving Lord Hordak her direct attention, fearlessly. So what if she didn't have her headband or her magic anymore? She still had friends she could count on to be there for her when she needed them most. "Etheria is ours for the taking."

The temperature in the room dropped dramatically as Lord Hordak rose from his chair, eyeing the two girls who stood behind her, and silencing them completely. Without any quips or comments from the two neanderthals, Hordak made his way over to Force Captain that had accomplish so much, all under the Horde's good name. "...Very well, Force Captain Adora. You will have the opportunity to prove yourself to me... as my second-in-command."

This was a glorious moment for Adora as she glanced at the friends who stood by her side, the last people she could trust in the world. Catra would pay for everything she did, everything that she pushed Adora through, all for her own selfish ends. She didn't care who in the Rebellion got hurt as long as she made Catra suffer for it. With her new title as second-in-command, she would amass a stronger force the likes of which the Horde has never seen before, and she would sacrifice as much of herself as necessary to do it, promising to herself that she would maintain her own morals in turn.

"Besides, it's not like the entire assault didn't yield results." Adora reminded, earning a grin from the Lord standing before her. "Our backup plan proved to be success."

"We had a backup plan?" Entrapta questioned, seeing Adora giving her a smirk as she faced her.

"Entrapta, Entrapta, Entrapta, you should know like I do that any good plan has to have a backup plan." As Adora spoke, the scene shifted to the quiet night of the gathered princesses and warriors continued to sleep. Along another edge of the room, far away from prying eyes, a lone figure dug through the pockets of their previous clothes, pulling out a familiar Captain's badge that glistened in the moonlight. Their alliance with the Horde was all but secured, and they would continue working from the inside as long as Adora needed them to, and maintain her cover while doing. They gripped the badge tightly in their hands as they pulled out a small lockbox with a snowflake pattern across it, locking the badge away where nobody else could get it. Not only did the lockbox require a key only she could make, but it was hard enough to withstand a tank blast without leaving a dent on it, making sure that nobody would ever find out about her secret.

All of it, was for the unity of the Horde. And Princess Frosta would ensure nothing happened to her new allies.

"We finally have someone on the inside."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

Final Word Count: 540K+

~ We're right beside you ~

Special Thanks: Endless Chains, Star Saber, Peyton Helix, Nightmaster000, reaper king Shadow Joestar and Warwolf for their constant love and support, as well as everyone else who saw this season through to the end.

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Final Review Count: 272

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Final Favorite Count: 80

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

Final Follower Count: 72

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Final Viewer Count: 25,811

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

SEASON 1 OF CAT-RA: Complete

...

"...Mmh..." Adora moaned as she tossed around in her sleep. Why were they still happening to her? What did she do to deserve this? Even without the headband, the nightmares that followed continued to haunt her endlessly. In flashes of heat that caused the sweat to pour from her forehead, the Force Captain found herself assaulted with nightmarish images of creatures and shadows she had never seen before, all wanting a taste of her rotting flesh that she suddenly grew in her dream. "No... Stay away..." She groaned.

She tried everything she could to sleep, from sleeping pills, a little jogging, and listening to one of Entrapta's three-hour stories about one of her earliest inventions, all the usual things she did when she needed help falling asleep. She was almost tempted to ask Scorpia to sting her before sleep finally overcame her, not without leaving her with a strange headache, of course.

She felt so weird as these nightmares plagued her. Were they trying to warn her about something, or were they trying to torment her to no end? The closer they got to her with the seeming intent to devour her, the further away they looked from harming her, instead acting as if they were frightened of her mere presence, like she was the one who was truly the monster in the end. It was a horrendous dream she wouldn't wish on anyone, save Catra, on her worst enemies.

Then again, with ow bizarre and twisted the dream was becoming, she was starting to regret those choice of words. Anguish and sorrow spread across the darkness in her dream, with the black scenery somehow becoming darker than she ever thought was possible! Eventually, it all culminated when a terrifying presence of evil began to approach her, one whose reddened eyes seemed intent on draining her body of all of its blood.

She could do nothing to fight back as she ran in her dreams, looking back as the monster approached her every second. "Stop... G-Get away from me..." She mumbled, her face contorting with pain as the sweating continued. "No... s-stop! Get away... G-Get away... GET AWAY!"

*CRASH!*

With the thunderous sound of a crash, with her nightmare coming to an abrupt end as she felt the creature grab her, Adora shot out of bed. The Force Captain was huffing and puffing as she looked around herself, feeling relieved that it was all a dream... for a moment. As her vision began to return to her, as well as her sense of reality, she let out a surprised gasp.

Everything around the room, from the empty beds to the tables to the dressers that filled it. All of them were pushed away from her bed, as if they had been blasted away in the Force Captain's sleep. What little confusion she grew from this quickly turned to a brief lapse of horror, then amazement, as she reached over to pick up the blanket at the edge of her bed, intending to wrap herself up in the warm sheets that did little, if anything, to provide comfort.

The moment she reached for it, Adora flinched. The blanket was moving on its own towards her as a lump started to appear from under it. Placing itself softly in her hands, off to the side, her eyes nearly bugged out as she saw a shadowy tendril pull one of the pillows from the floor, patting it softly to get the lumps out, before placing it behind Adora's head again, patting her forehead softly before returning to nothingness.

Adora still had her shadowy magic, and it was alive.

"...Whoa..."

...

A/N: I can not express my gratitude enough to the fellow fans who helped me get this far, or the blood sacrifi- I mean moral support it took to do it! It was thanks to you guys and your unwavering support that I managed to reach this far, and I can't thank you enough for it. People like Endless Chains, Shadow Joester, and Peyton helix for their excitingly long reviews ( I cant wait to see what they write after this ^^) and others like reaper king , Star saber, and warwolf for their constant communications throughout the time.

This chapter was a heckava lot of fun to write if it wasn't obvious, and I had a blast doing it. None of this could've been possible without the fans unwavering, constant, support to back me up, or the fans I've come to know and kill- err- love, I mean, (yes, that seems believable... lol XP) as time went on. In just a few months, we created an entire season of She-Ra, and honestly, i didn't think I'd get this far. I honestly thought i'd stop like 12 chapters in out of boredom, unaware of how much fun I was having with this until i reached the 6th episode ^^

So, what's the plan now? Well for one, TAKING A BREAK XD! Lol, oh god i need to rest my fingers. I'm sure i had to staple them back on in the DAY I spent writing this entire chapter (minus 3k from the day before but even then), and had to surgically fuse my wrist in place to keep them from falling off. Now with this out of the way, i'm gonna spend some time relaxing and enjoying the feedback I get from my beloved fans, and the people who helped me reach this far. After that, I'm moving on to season 2 folks! Dear god im excited cause I havent seen a SINGLE episode of it yet XD idk what to expect, but I heard its exciting!

Will I get to season 2 straight away after my break? Idk. One spoil i keep hearing is that the last episode ends on a cliffhanger, so if season 2 so far is only half of it, i might wait until the entire season 2 comes out before I make my plans for anything. Then again, i might not. Who knows (I do XP), we'll just have to wait and see.

Once again, thank you to all the beloved fans who helped me reach this far. I didn't think it was possible, yet here I am ^^ I hope you guys continue to show your love and support for this fic as I try to take a break. Spread the word out if able and do what you can to get this fanfic known. Who knows, with enough support, we might just reach our own fan art and creations and whatnot ^^

Thanks to all and I hope you all enjoyed! As always, leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed. Now if you'll excuse, i'm EXHAUSTED T_T...lol ^^ See you guys later!

Chapter 55: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: No people, you're not hallucinating, it's really real. I am actually continuing the series henceforth until I reach the end of this season X)

Hoooooooooftah, the series was fairly fun despite how short it was. There were a bunch of shocks, surprise, and humor through the show (despite its annoyingly short episode run), but every episode felt fun and fresh ^^ And dear GOD the cliffhanger for the last episode! I want to go into so many words for it but I just can't XD!

Huff... all I can say is, it got me too excited, so how could I NOT start season 2 immediately XP? One thing I should warn is that updates will be coming a little slower (maybe). Because I'm (hopefully) done with school, it means I won't be working there anymore, and as such, I won't be doing my typing there. That's where I had the most peace and free time to type, and got a lot more work done without distractions. It's not to say I can't type at all from home, but updates will become every few days instead of my usual daily runtime.

As it is, i'm hoping I can provide just as satisfying and fun tale through the shorter season as we add our own fun spin on things from beginning to end ^^ With that said, enjoy!

...

*Crash!*

Sparks shot across the room as the remains of a droid could be seen being thrown across the darkened training room of the facility. Followed by the sound of a large crunching noise, Scorpia could be seen falling through the blanket of darkness covering the ceiling, landing atop another of the battle droids with a cheeky grin. The droid wasn't even given a single second to shake off the Force Captain before Scorpia dove her claw straight into the droid's rough shell.

From there, another pool of sparks could be seen as the droid wobbled back and forth from its stance as Scorpia began pulling out a clawful of wires. The girl showed no signs of fear as she ripped the wires from the droid, pulling away at anything that looked important to its functions, until the mighty machine finally collapsed to the ground in a heap of rubble.

"A good soldier must have the strength to crush their enemies." A familiar voice could be heard as the battle drove on.

As Scorpia pulled her claws out of the mess, her attention was drawn behind her as another droid could be heard approaching, towering over her in nearly twice her size as it locked on to her. Backing up a bit from the sheer scale of the great droid, she ended up tripping backwards into the mess of the previous droid, a move that would normally leave anyone exposed and cost them their lives in the midst of a war.

Focusing on its target, giving off a loud hum as the laser began to charge, the droid immediately came to a halt as several large strands of purple began to wrap around the great machine, wrapping around one of its three legs, its head, and blasters as the droid tried to break free.

"And when brute strength isn't even to defeat your enemies, knowledge and wisdom can be your greatest ally." The voice added.

Throwing herself to the top of the droid, Entrapta could be seen using smaller strands of her hair to pull away at the droid's access panel located across its back. The chipper scientist expertly carried away with her shenanigans, a sly grin hanging from her mouth in excitement, as nuts and bolts could be seen being pulled away from the massive droid with each passing second. After awhile, just as two more droids appeared through the darkness, the red light of the current droid turned to a shade of blue, Entrapta giving herself a round of applause at her complete success.

Being approached from the other two droids, the present one turned to its former allies as it began to turn on them, firing an empowered blast of energy at one of the other droids, leaving a clean hole through the destructive machination as it stood in place for a few seconds, exploding in a fiery blaze that consumed its entire body.

Unfortunately, this gave the previous droid an ample amount of time as it fired against one of Entrapta's droid's legs, knocking it to the ground where it flailed around, and throwing the scientific princess off its back where Scorpia managed to catch her. The two watched in terror as the still-fully functional droid took another step toward the downed traitor, scanning it briefly before firing a final shot that put the injured ally down for good, the light of its core fading rapidly until all that remained was nothingness.

"Nooooo! Droid number 4813!" Entrapta cried, reaching out for her beloved creation in sadness. "I had her since she was a little blueprint! We've spent so much time together!"

"Didn't you just make her three hours ago?" Scorpia asked with a curious smile as she patted the despairing scientist's back in comfort.

Their moment of sadness and comfort was cut short as the fourth droid approached them menacingly, the sound of its mechanical gears echoing throughout complex. Setting the scientist back to her feet, Scorpia took her stance with her claws at the ready as she prepared to defend Entrapta with her life against the horrifying creation.

"But a true soldier," the voice continued, causing Scorpia to relax her stance with a smile, "knows how to combine the two to get the drop on their opponents!"

As expected, shifting her eyes upwards, there came the greatest friend a friend could ask for. From the darkness above, Scorpia and Entrapta watched as the memorable Force Captain- no. Hordak's second-in-command, Adora herself, fell from the sky, landing directly in front of the droid's sensors and blocking its view so all it could see was Adora's angered expression as she glared at it.

The two watched as the robot tried to fling Adora off of itself, flailing its body left to right with little result. Grinning, Adora pulled back her right fist as she held on, drawing forth a surge of shadows that gathered around her right arm, spreading across it entirely where it tipped off along her shoulder. Without any hesitation, any signs of fear, the girl plunged her shadowy fist straight through the robot's sensors like wet paper, effortlessly reaching the droid's main core and pulling it out with ease. As the robot wobbled, Adora jumped from the massive machine, turning her back to it with her friends as an explosion went off behind them.

With this, the three friends stood side by side as the lights finally returned to the room, revealing the broken remains and rubble of the dozens of other droids the trio had crushed through their combined might. Like at all times, the three friends had defeated their enemies by standing alongside one another, working as the perfect team as they made up for each others weaknesses.

"No one person can take on the world by themselves, nor should anyone attempt to." Adora said, gazing across the view in front of her. "As members of the Horde, we are all expected to stand at each other's side, and work together to bring about change for the greater good. Alone, we may be weak," Adora smiled as she glanced towards the two friends as they stepped forth, "but in the Horde, we stand united!" From Adora's perspective, this was everything that the Horde was about. And it was this very world that she fought to defend.

Now that the lights had finally returned, the trio could give the group of children that watched from the sides their full attention, all of them ranging from six to eight year olds with bright looks on their faces. All of them were dressed as Adora once was when she was a younger cadet, wearing mixes of red and white colored shirts and beige pants. Unsurprisingly, after watching the wonderful display they were given, the groups of children burst into cheer as they rushed up to the three as the instructor stood by, the three teens enjoying the sight of the children as they played around them.

Scorpia found a handful of kids poking around her hard carapace as if checking to see if it was real, being careful not to poke anyone with her stinger as she found another child hanging onto it. To the right, as if she was a celebrity, Entrapta found herself signing someone's small handbook, no doubt a fellow science enthusiast if the glasses the young girl was wearing was anything to come by. For what few children the two seemed to have keeping them occupied, none of it amounted to the near near-dozen kids swarming around Adora.

All around her, Adora watched with glee as half the kids around her asked her random questions, some asking about her personally, others asking about the adventures she's been on. The other half of kids were less interested in the girl herself and more about the surrounding tendrils of shadows that seemed to sprout from the ground around her, one of the kids poking the tip of one of the shadows curiously and chuckling as it shook itself like it was a snake.

It wouldn't surprise her if it was a snake-like creation either, seeing how her shadows were more alive than ever and she still had no idea what exactly these things were.

"Thanks again for taking the time to come down here, commander." The blue-skinned instructor gave a small bow, something Adora still wasn't used to since becoming the new second-in-command. "You do us a great honor."

"It was nothing, really." She replied, seeing more of the kids coming around to check out her shadows. "I enjoy any opportunity I have around here to help. Plus it gives me a good excuse to get some training in myself while teaching the kids."

"Well, hopefully, you being here inspires them to train harder." He commented, putting a whistle to his mouth and giving a small 'tweet'. Right away, the kids gathered around the instructor, standing at attention. "Alright squirts, you all know the deal. The commander comes by, and you're not allowed to complain about the drills for the rest of the week."

"Awwwww!" A majority of the kids whined instantly, earning some silent giggling from Adora as she watched.

"I want ten laps around the entire room, and I don't want to see any slouching or-" The instructor paused as he saw one of the green-haired girls raising a hand. "What do you want, cadet?"

"Can I ask miss Adora one more question?" She asked politely. Adora couldn't help as a small blush washed over her face, shaking her head at being called "miss".

"Not now, cadet. The commander has enough work to do as it is. She can't be bothered or waste anymore of her precious time-"

"It's fine, I don't mind." Adora interrupted, waving off his denial as she approached the young girl, squatting down a little. "What's your question, soldier?"

"Why did you lose at the Battle of Bright Moon?" The girl's innocent question brought nothing but fear and surprise to the instructor and Adora's friends who quickly shot a worried look at each other. Adora was rather taken aback by the question as well, her face getting a bit stiff as she tried to maintain her composure.

To be asked such a painful question like that out of nowhere through this peaceful environment, after everything she's been through in the last month and what lead to it, there were no words to describe the strange feeling striking at Adora's heart. The Battle of Bright Moon was an event she wanted to repress like no other, refusing to acknowledge what happened that day with all of her willpower. It wasn't just for her own sake that she tried to forget about what happened, it was for the sake of everyone she came into contact with, like this girl as her eyes looked closely at her feet.

Like she feared, she saw a small pool of shadow growing under the girl's feet as the girl, and those behind her, remained completely unaware. The pool spread about half a foot all around the girl, enough for her to fall through entirely if it was a whole. It was from that darkness she could see the tips of small tendrils starting to form on their own, growing an inch out of the ground as some of them began to split apart at the tips, forming mouths with deadly jaws of shadow.

Turning from the girl to her right hand, she saw that it was doing it again. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably as if it was possessed, twitching unnervingly as it directed the shadows to do what they were doing without her telling her to. Using her other hand, she grabbed onto her right as she held it tightly against her stomach, closing her eyes in concentration as she tried to focus on her commands, much to the child's confusion.

Come on, not now... it's okay... it's okay... She whispered in her head. Peaking one eye open, she saw the shadows beginning to descend back into the darkness, sighing in great relief as the shadows slowly disappeared entirely.

"Miss Adora?" The girl spoke a little nervously, wondering if she upset the nice blonde person. "Are you okay?"

"How dare you!" The instructor shouted, frightening the children as he marched over angrily, the little girl shriveling a little as she backed into Adroa. "Do you think it's all right to ask such a disrespectful question to the commander like that?! I should make you walk across burning coal for asking such a questi-"

"It's fine, instructor." Adora stated, patting the girl's shoulder in comfort, much to the instructor's dismay. No matter how respectable she was, she was way too softhearted to these younger cadets who needed strict discipline and training on a daily basis.

"But commander-!"

"I SAID IT'S FINE!" Adora snapped a little, glaring with a brief moment of anger filling her face as she looked at him. Along the right side of her face, out of the girl's field of vision, the instructor could see a small trail of black veins beginning to appear on Adora's neck, stretching until they reached the bottom of her cheek. The instructor gulped at the intimidating sight, bowing his head respectfully again as he stepped back. The girl showed no signs of fear as she smiled back to the nice commander defending her, right as Adora switched back to a softer expression while she didn't notice.

"S-Sorry... commander..." He apologized, allowing the commander to do as she wanted.

"As for your question, cadet," Adora began, rising back to her feet, "we lost because we were... unprepared for reinforcements." There were no words to describe how relieve Scorpia and Entrapta were to see Adora answering so relaxed. Given what happened two weeks ago the last time someone asked her this question, it was a miracle the girl's legs were still unbroken, or attached. "The enemy caught us off guard, that's all."

"Was the enemy tough?" A boy asked, a little shorter than the previous girl and sporting blue hair. "Were they scary, too?"

"Oh, yes, terrifying really." Adora nodded, holding up a finger. "They managed to deci... destroy, "she clarified to make it easier for them to understand, "all of our hard working droids and tanks single-handedly. Nobody that evil should have that kind of power."

"What about She-Ra?" That was the one question that got a brief twitch of rage in Adora's eyes, calming herself as she pressed her palms against her own knees, squeezing them tightly. "Is she scary too? I heard some grown-ups say she used to be someone really weak or scared... I can't remember which." If they weren't concerned it would cause Adora to snap, Entrapta and Scorpia would've gladly pulled her out of the encirclement of kids that grew around her.

No matter what anyone else said, or their reason behind asking it, there was no one foolish or gullible enough to question Adora about her loss against She-Ra, aka, her former friend, Catra. Even now, the painful reminder of that day continued to haunt her, tormenting Adora's nightmares every other night as she tried to forget about her tragic loss. To lose an entire battle, all because someone managed to trick her, to use her again, baiting her into stalling for time for reinforcements to show up...

It was the worst feeling in the world. Rage, confusion, guilt. All of these emotions never left Adora's mind or heart since the day of that tragic loss. Everything that happened at the Battle of Bright Moon, the extreme loss they suffered in droids and their chance at bringing down the entire Rebellion, as entirely her fault.

And it took all of Adora's strength to resist the temptation building up inside of her, the one that wanted to harm anyone who would ask her such a question.

Taking a deep breath, standing tall and proud, she replied, "Ca- She-Ra is... a monster. A terrifying, horrifying monster of power." Even now, the images flashed in her mind. The memory of how she pulled off one of the tentacles from her back, the way she smacked her halfway across a forest with a tree, and the white blast that came rushing towards her, ending in her defeat. "She's someone none of you should ever underestimate, never give her the chance to catch her breath."

"Is she really strong?"

"Oh, yes, very strong. She has magics the likes of which people have never seen," she was flashed with the image of Catra creating the giant protective dome over the entirety of Bright Moon, "she'll take advantage of any ounce of weakness she sees in you," there it was again, with another flash of when she tricked Adora into letting down her guard enough to get behind her, and flailed her around with her own tendrils, "and she'll..." She paused for a moment as she remembered one of her many, painful, lies. The one she would repeat without end, as if she actually meant it.

"...She'll say anything to get under your skin." She would never forgive Catra for all the times she used her in the past, and all the times she continued to use her to this day. Even if she hasn't seen her directly in the last month, it didn't mean anything she did since then didn't affect her in the time to follow. It affected her in a lot of ways, more than she or anyone else could've expected. Some of them good.

And some of them very, very, bad.

"That's why we must all stand together if we're to defeat such wicked creatures." The children looked less frightened of the terrifying details as Adora's tone softened. "If we're to stand any chance of defeating the Rebellion, and anyone else who stands against our unity, we must all stand as one. Even as we speak, the Rebellion continues to grow in power and numbers. I can personally assure you all, right now, that wherever She-Ra is, she is training, gathering her forces wherever they may be, and is preparing to strike at one of our outposts at this very moment!"

...

*snnnnnnnkkkkkkkk*

"Zzz..." The large lump buried under her blankets continued to snore loudly as the bundle bobbed up and down. "Mmhh..." stirring as consciousness slowly came to them, the lazy figure's hand could be seen drooping over the comfortable bed, twitching a bit as the figure in question shuffled around in their exhausted state.

Why did mornings always have to feel like a pain around here to her? Why couldn't she ever have one morning where she was wide awake the instant she woke up and not like she was prepared to go back to sleep again for another day's worth of hours? It was always do this here, finish that there, or more annoyingly both, each and every day. She swears she could never catch a break around here, whether or not she was doing something today!

Shuffling a little more under her silk covers, the figure finally leaned up from the bed, the blankets being pulled with and sliding away as she sat at a straight angle. From the mass of covers and sheets she had piled around her for a comfortable night's sleep, a lone, familiar, figure appeared, untangling herself from the smooth silk so she could finally be revealed.

This person's name, was Catra. And she was the greatest hope for the Rebellion if they were ever to defeat the Horde.

Like she was most mornings she awoke, nothing about her screamed bright, cheerful, and ready for the day as she wore a long red shirt that stretched down to her knees. They took a little adjusting to get used to when she first got them, but she couldn't deny they were more comfortable than that itchy sweater Glimmer's aunt made her.

On her ragged face existed a girl who was destined to bring victory and hope to everyone she came across. Being the newly appointed She-Ra from a month prior, she was destined to unite the many princesses under one banner, and stop the needless violence that was spreading across Etheria. With the power of her trusted sword, the Sword of Protection, the allies and friends she came to know and meet, she was tasked with saving the world from a terrible crisis, and finish what the previous She-Ra couldn't: saving the entire world!

... Buuuuut she knew the world could wait for a single morning as she pulled herself out of the remaining sheets. The cat-like humanoid circled a bit around her own bed as she stretched, leaning herself forward as she pulled her back and pushed her legs as far as she could, feeling a calming relaxation coming over her before accidentally slipping her hands over the edge of her mattress.

*thud*

"Ow..." She mumbled half-asleep. She didn't seem to care as she pulled her way over the floor until the rest of her body followed behind her. Once she was fully off the comfortable bed of paradise, she let out another snore-like yawn as she made her way to her feet, still looking ready to collapse on a moments notice as she wobbled for a few room looked just like the way it did almost a month ago, with a few exceptions made after restoring it to its former self after the massive battle.

For starters, she decided to add a bit more of her own personal colors to the chamber, painting the walls in a familiar tone of dark grey, a process that took over a day to finish when they had to move everything in and out. Along the right half of the room, her new bright red dresser came with its own mirror on the inside, something that was rather unnecessary since she wore the same outfit almost everyday, though it did make for a convenient spot to place her sword every night.

In addition to the grey walls, the floor also took a dramatic change in color and appearance as it now had a much thinner black carpeting so Catra could walk around her own place without having to put on those pesky shoes everywhere she went, at least within her own room. The color clashed perfectly along with the new red sheets, pillow, and bedding she received during the renovations, though they did little in terms of improving the quality or comfort, not that she was going to complain anytime soon.

Perhaps her favorite part of the entire place were the large bars that were installed above her room, ones that stretched from one side of the room to the next, with four large poles leading up to the ceiling. It was a nice way for her to keep her agility in check as she jumped among them, as well as a convenient spot where she could be alone whenever she wanted to deal with her own thoughts since no one could reach her save for Glimmer and Queen Angella.

Sluggishly making her way to her second favorite part of the room where a nice and long punchingbag hung from the ceiling. The bag covered almost entirely in cuts and scratches that had to be stitched back together by Catra every time she used it, explaining the curious sewing kit she had lying near it. With another yawn, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes, she made her way towards the soft padding until she stood right in front of it, staring at the one blue-colored outline of a face that annoyed her each and every time she stared at it.

"What are you looking at, Adora?" She grumbled, her half-opened right eye twitching at the sight. Cracking her knuckles as she took her stance, she unleashed a flurry of blows against the twisted punching bag as she did every morning she woke up since getting it, doing everything she could to get out some much-needed aggression.

Everyday she had to remind herself how much she hated Adora to get the aggression out of her and to help her wake up for the day. The more she told her this, the sooner she could move on through the rest of the day, doing whatever needed to be done. Whether it was fighting against the Horde or unearthing some ancient piece of First Ones technology, she never found a day to be boring, or at least without something going on.

Dealing the last of her brief barrage of blows, she panted a little out of breath, still trying to get out of her morning funk and awake for the day no matter how sleepy her eyes looked. Like everyday since getting the bag, she followed her recent barrage with the usual routine of examining her work. Everywhere around the bag had scrapes, bumps, and wrinkles all around it, as it should after she punched it enough to numb her knuckles a little. And like every single day, it was followed by one annoying realization.

There wasn't a single mark or blow against the drawing of Adora's face.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" Catra grumbled, gritting her teeth before cracking her neck a little. "I'll deal with you later..." She mumbled, making her way out the door, still half-asleep (or dead by the looks of it) as she trudged through the hallways over to the kitchen.

...

About ten minutes later found her pushing open the door to the room with her shoulder, carrying a plate filled with eggs and bacon in one hand and some orange juice in the other as she entered. Same old day, same old castle, same old everything else. There wasn't a single change to her day, and, whether or not she hated it that way, it sure as heck beat her first week here following the great battle, the countless hours she had to help rebuild broken parts of the castle.

She was completely oblivious to her surroundings as she made her way over to the dining table, taking a seat in one of the comfortable chairs as she always did in her always now-regular life. Despite having plenty of things she still needed to get used to around here, at least one of the few things she didn't mind not getting used to was how good the food tasted. Compared to the Fright Zone, the food around here was always good, even the one time she accidentally ate something spoiled. Sure she ate the food around here plenty of times before, but for some reason it just felt different since she cut ties to her old life, an endeavor in itself.

With a final yawn, her eyes opened up a little more as she slurped her lips over the delicious-looking food, the fresh smell of the morning breakfast filling her nostrils as she used her own claws to stab at the eggs like a fork. Smiling a little, she savored every delicious taste as she took that first scrumptious bite of her morning breakfast, leaning against her other arm without a care in the world, and enjoying the morning-

"Eh hem." A voice coughed, causing Catra to pause with her fingers still in her mouth. Opening her eyes wider, she gazed around the room as she realized she wasn't alone in the room.

Around her she saw several familiar faces and unfamiliar faces that were staring at her. For those she did recall, she saw a slightly blushing Queen Angella with her elbows planted firmly against the table as she rested her chin over her hands, trying to maintain her demeanor under these circumstances, keeping her eyes closed to relax. The other familiar face she recognized was an incredibly embarrassed Glimmer who had a hand slapped over her face, pinching the bridge between her eyes, unable to believe this was happening right now of all times.

The other half of the room consisted of two people she's never met before, one wearing a regal blue dress with a light-violet skin tone to them and blue hair. She had a beautiful golden necklace with a ruby adorned in the socket of her jewel, all as well as a long pair of thin white gloves that stretched halfway up her arms. The other one was dressed similarly in color as the man wore a proud blue tuxedo with a pair of reading glasses over his eyes, his brown hair neat and trimmed along the side of his face as well as a rusty old beard under his chin.

Both of them looked rather perplexed at the sight of Catra and her choice of appearance. Or maybe they were more confused as to why the girl suddenly barged into what was actually the meeting room instead of what Catra originally thought was the dining room, still dressed in her pajamas and looking like a mess with her hair still a mess as she had yet to clean up for the day.

"Catra," the Queen spoke as calmly as she could, "I'd like you to meet the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, the people I told you about who were going to discuss their financial support for the Rebellion this morning." Catra just blinked as she stared at the individuals, still with her claws in her mouth as she shifted her eyes back and forth between the Queen, Glimmer, and these two she completely forgot about today.

"Please don't say anything to make this worse... Please don't say anything to make this worse..." Glimmer whispered to herself, still pinching between her eyes.

Glancing from the Duke and Duchess to her plate of food, the magicat tried coming up with something to say as politely as she could, still with her full mouth. "...'ou 'ant sh'ome bacon?"

We're doomed.

This, was the hero of the Battle of Bright Moon, otherwise known, as She-Ra...

...

The droids continued to trudge through the Whispering Woods at an even pace with one another as they continued to annihilate anything that was moving, or had any signs of life to them. Throughout the area, hundreds of trees could already been seen torn asunder, ravaged by the effects of the Black Garnet's energies affecting the planet a month ago and the endless army of droids that continued to march through it.

It was a simple way to maintain their ground while keeping their own troops safe at the same time. After all, except for Entrapta who died a little more inside each time, nobody suffered any big losses if the droids were destroyed if it meant the Horde armies were safer as a result. Sure, they couldn't think for themselves or perform any complicated tasks, but they were an expendable resource that could always be renewed and expanded upon; soldiers were not.

During their most recent siege, one of them came across a small sprout sticking out of the ground, one that promised to flourish with new life if given the chance. It was a symbol of everything the Horde stood against and hated, in some respects. To allow something so minuscule to survive out here, to grow in strength, and to come back later to stand against the Horde, like turning into another piece of sacred lumber that can confuse and disorient their armies from future invasions? It couldn't be allowed to exist, and wouldn't be allowed to exist.

And it was with this line of logic that the massive droid lifted one of it's appendages, and slammed down atop the innocent sprout of life.

Only to become entangled in a bundle of vines and greenery, along with the several droids that were following behind it.

*swish*

"Hey, robot face," Perfuma could be heard yelling angrily, "watch where you step!" With a massive roar, the Princess of Plumeria yanked the three droids off their feet, pulling them and tossing them through the air out into the distance, unknowingly towards an innocent Bow who was battling it out with his own droids. It wasn't until he noticed the whistling sound of something falling out of the air that his eyes widened at the sight of the flying droids.

"Incoming!" He shouted to his surrounding allies. Before he had the chance to duck out of the way himself, he was tackled away to the ground by one of his close allies, in this case a speedy Catra, who was still in her regular appearance as she did. "Whoa, thanks, Catra."

"...Whatever..." Catra muttered, leaping away from him as she chased after one of the other attacking droids. Bow gave a slight frown at her lack of seeming care at her recent rescue, seeing how her behavior hasn't changed within the last couple of weeks. At least she was starting to fight along the rest of them more often than usual.

At the same time, the same droid that crashed to the ground could still be seen rolling across the forest, on a collision course towards another one of the familiar allies that went by the name of the Mermista, the Princess of Salineas. As any strong, able bodied princess who showed no signs of fear, the princess just grinned at the approaching obstacle as she formed an idea. Gathering a mighty deluge of water, just as it neared her, the princess launched the droid again through the air in a massive geyser, launching it a good ten yards away form her, and crashing it into another droid, destroying them both in the process.

Nothing felt better to the watery princess than using one droid to take out another, or just destroying droids in general. With a satisfied grin, the princess turned to the others as she saw Perfuma and Bow running up to her, slightly worried but relieved at the sight that she was okay.

"Sorry, Mermista." Perfuma apologized. Already, Mermista didn't show any signs of caring as she smirked.

"Wow, flower princesses can't aim." She teased, earning a satisfying blush from the princess of plants.

"I-I'm working on it!"

"Look out!" Bow suddenly warned as he drew his weapon at the approaching droid. No sooner did it show up did another familiar face enter the foray, in this case, a familiar pink-haired princess that went by the name of Glimmer, as she materialized right above the droid, landing on it with ease.

"I got it!" She declared, teleporting soon after with the droid in hand.

In the distance, the group could see the same princess reappearing in the air, nearly several hundred feet above the warming forest, and kicking the droid straight back towards the surface of the planet. Grinning to herself, Glimmer teleported again as the droid came hurdling towards the forest, exploding in a fiery haze that could be seen from afar as Glimmer reappeared once more. Nothing felt quite as awesome as being able to teleport your enemies, specifically robots, from lethal heights in the air and dropping them back down.

The princess watched the display with a sense of pride in her veins and her hands at her side as she joked quietly, "Thanks for dropping in."

"That never gets old, does it?" Mermista commented, enjoying the same sight with the others as they gathered.

"Nope!"

"How many droids do you think are left?" Perfuma asked looking around.

"They always come in greater numbers than before," Bow replied, "so I'm pretty sure there's still a handful remaining."

"Speaking of handfuls... has anyone seen Catra?" Mermista wondered. The question began to dawn on the remaining allies as they searched around.

"Oh, look, there's-!" Perfuma began to point out at the running feline as she charged towards another of the droids. The princess was beside herself as she paused, watching as Catra jumped atop another of the droids without any signs of backing down. Watching with the others, they were rather concerned at the sight as they saw Catra eviscerate the terrible droid within a matter of seconds, ripping it limb from limb as she dug her sharpened claws into the droid, pulling out every loose bolt and wire she could even after the droid collapsed to the ground. "-Catra..."

There wasn't really much anyone could say as Catra batted away at the mechanical monstrosity, soon going for her sword as she bashed against the creation in a mad fury. This was the Catra the group became used to over the course of the last month. Ever since the Battle of Bright Moon, following a few days of solemness and sorrow, Catra's had nothing but pure aggression running through her veins whenever she was fighting, and sloppiness whenever she was lazing around.

It's not like they couldn't understand what the girl was coming from, given all she went through from the events prior to the battle. Cutting off all the ties she had with the Horde, turning her back on any of the possible friends and allies she's made over the year, and losing the greatest of all friends for the sake of her new ones? It was a miracle this girl wasn't going insane and attacking anything that moved in front of her eyes.

Not that it made the situation any better for the rest of them.

In some cases, she's gone back to being the same old Catra they were used to. She was still snarky half the time, always teasing and making fun of Glimmer and Bow at least twice over the last month, which was a dramatic decrease compared to her daily taunts almost three times a day, and she preferred keeping to herself about her own problems and troubles of the past. It was definitely a refreshing change of pace given the circumstances, heck, they actually preferred this one compared to the one who seemed full of sorrow after the first week, but they at least wished she would be more open to them so they could help her more.

The only times when she did seem to get out of her funk was whenever there was a mission involving the Horde. No matter how bitter or depressing she might have been during the week, she always jumped the gun at the announcement of a Horde invasion somewhere or a place that needed protection against their invading forces. Having a complete one-eighty of her emotions, the girl did everything she could to charge head first into any of the droids she saw coming, ripping them until there were barely any scraps left, or dismantling them until she calmed down.

They didn't know if this was supposed to be an improvement of her over the last month or not. They just knew whatever she was going through right now, she was still in pain about it.

"Has... she gotten any better within the last month?" Mermista asked Glimmer and Bow, never taking her eyes off the magicat who charged after another approaching droid. She nearly flinched as the feline shoved her sword straight into the droid from under it, pushing it all the way around the mechanical creation and jumping on top of the droid as she brought it all the way around again. With a few sparks, the cat jumped from her recent droid and ran back into the forest as the droid was cleaved in two halves, falling in opposite directions behind her.

"Well... all things considered... maybe... ish?" Glimmer shrugged uneasily. "At least she's fighting the droids again, so that's good... right?"

"Maybe we should have another group sleepover!" Perfuma suggested with a comforting smile. "Those always seem to cheer her up."

"Yeah, I don't really know about that, Perfuma." Bow replied, walking over to one of the broken droids and examining it. "The entire first week after, she kept sleeping with Glimmer every night without saying a word."

"She nearly gave me a heart attack at least twice when I opened my eyes and found her laying right next to me." Glimmer added rolling her eyes a little. "She never told me if she wanted to sleep together, so I was never prepared for it. Then again, she really didn't say that much after the first week."

"You ever bother to just confront her directly about it?" Mermista suggested, kicking one of the downed droids to make sure it was completely dead. "I know she might not be in the best mood right now, but we need her to get her act together at some point. She can't be spontaneously bursting into fits of rage every time the word "Horde" comes up."

"Well... " Glimmer came to a pause as she looked around. "Hey, has anyone seen Frosta around here?"

...

*WHAM!*

"Get out of my forest!" Catra shouted angrily, shoving another fist through the robot's metallic frame. The robot's efforts to shake the magicat off itself proved to be in vain. Within a matter of seconds, just as soon as Catra pulled her hand out of the metal carcass did she shove her sword straight in, destroying the droid's core almost instantly as it split in half.

That was one droid down, hopefully a hundred more to go so she could slice them all up!

Her wish came to her in the form of two more approaching droids who picked her up on their censors, charging at the lone girl as they fired several deadly blasts directly at her. Catra just grinned at their annoying efforts as she charged straight after them, enjoying the entertainment the droids provided as long as it meant she got to break something!

It was during this time that another figure peeked around the corner from one of the trees, a young, blue-haired, girl by the name of Frosta, Princess of the Kingdom of Snows. She watched the magicat carefully without trying to be seen, studying whatever she could about the girl as well as the sword in greater detail. It would've been in much greater detail if she was fighting in her glorious She-Ra form, though she supposed watching her fighting as the regular old Catra wouldn't change much.

As she watched, her attention suddenly shifted as she heard one of the other droids attempting to approach, standing nearly three times in height over her as it looked down at the small figure. At first drawing the power of her frozen ice over her hands into a mighty pair of gauntlets, the princess was just as quick to lower her own defenses as she noticed the droid just staring at her, scanning her briefly through its sensors, and determining she wasn't an enemy.

After all, why would it when she was working for the Horde?

Adora's plan at the Battle of Bright Moon, the backup plan that is, proved to be a resounding success in the end. Nobody else seemed to show any signs of suspicion or concern about her over the last month, which was exactly how she needed it to be. How else was she supposed to do her work as a spy within the Rebellion if everyone kept watching over her? There would be no chance to learn or divulge any of their secrets back to the Horde if all their attention was constantly drawn to her.

The only one she needed to look out for, according to Adora, was Catra specifically. Of all the people within the Rebellion, she assured her that if anyone was going to grow suspicious of anyone on the flip of a dime, it would be her. The girl who barely had any trust for her other allies, save for those she considered dear friends such as Bow and Glimmer, and was quick to get an uneasy reaction out of with just a few short words. If she ever wanted to get out of Catra's possible line of suspicion, she needed to find a way to gain her trust the fastest, less she give Catra any reason to begin doubting her or her behavior.

"Haaaaaah!" The same girl could be heard shouting as she appeared out of the air, landing on top of the droid and plunging the sword straight into its scalp. From here, Frosta just watched as she swung her sword repeatedly at the metal droid, sweeping away at the parts one after the other, until all that remained was bolts and wires that were tossed around nearly in every direction around her.

With the last of the droids finally destroyed, Catra panted as she sighed, finally catching her breath after using up who knew how much of her strength through her onslaught. "Finally..." She muttered, giving an unusual look as she eyed the princess behind her. "Why didn't that droid attack you?" The warning signals were going off in the back of Frosta's mind, realizing how Adora had more reason to be wary of her than Frosta initially thought.

Turning her eyes away for a moment, the girl gave her a simple shrug as she crossed her arms, walking away. "Hmph, how should I know? Maybe it just didn't see me as a threat."

"A threat?" Catra repeated, following behind her. "Since when do the Horde not consider princesses a threat?"

"How should I know? Maybe it was just confused or something since I'm a kid." Frosta replied, picking up the pace just slightly enough for Catra to notice.

"Yeah, I highly doubt the Horde would decide to be merciful all of a sudden and not target kids, especially one who can shoot icicles out of her hands."

"Well maybe they're not as bad as you said they were-!" Frosta immediately shut her mouth at this nervously, deciding to try and pass on the rest of the walk without saying another word. It didn't help in the slightest, however, as Catra sped up to the girl, walking on her left through the words as she gave her a more than obvious look of suspicion. "...What?"

"Where were you through the rest of the fighting?"

"I was dealing with droids myself, what do you think?"

"I don't recall seeing you anywhere while I was taking care of the droids around here." Catra pointed out, leaning a little closer to the girl as her suspicion grew. "And why weren't you fighting alongside everyone else?"

"Because I was trying to avoid you, thank you very much!" She grumbled back. "You haven't exactly been in the best of moods around people lately."

"Well it's not like I don't know who and who not to attack, you know. If I see someone in the way, I'm not going to push them aside or cut them unless I'm trying to help them out."

"Yeah, with your anger issues around here? That's a laugh."

"I don't have anger issues!"

"That's what all people say when they have it! Come back to me when you've calm down, otherwise stop being so Catra knew this girl was hiding something from her, she had all the signs of someone suspicious to her. Then again, given that was the case for ninety-percent of the people she came across, it wasn't saying much. "Why are you acting so weird lately?"

"I'm acting weird?" She retorted with a smug look. "Look who's talking. I can't recall the last time I saw you going She-Ra around here. You don't have something to hide, do you?" That got to her. Two of the biggest signs that someone was hiding something was when they were doing whatever they could to ignore the question, the second biggest sign being when someone tried to change the subject entirely.

For Catra, there was a third sign when someone was hiding something. In her case, it was when somebody did something foolish like ask a question that would deliberately get under her skin, and judging by the smug look on Frosta's face, she knew it was intentional.

Having enough with the girl's snide attitude, she let out a small growl as she grabbed the collar of her winter coat, pushing her against the tree, narrowing her eyes.

"Ah!" Frosta squealed a little, caught by surprise by the sudden attack.

"Alright you little brat, now listen here." Catra grumbled, extending her claws in the other hand. "You're going to tell me what's going on, and you're going to tell me right NOW! So what are you hiding?" As expected, the ice princess narrowed her own eyes in contempt before shifting them to her right. Whatever she saw gave her enough reason to grin back to her before her expression changed into one of complete and utter fear and sadness.

"Owwww!" She cried, kicking her legs a little as she weakly pulled at Catra's hand holding her jacket. "Stop it, you're hurting me!"

"Hurting you?" How weak was this kid? She was barely pushing her against the tree at all, and for someone who had as much power as the other princesses, she should have a much higher pain tolerance than most kids her age and adults. "What are you talking about? I'm not even-"

"Catra!" The girl nearly jumped at the call of her name as she looked to her left. Sure enough, much to her regret, there she saw an irritated looking Glimmer and her friends glaring back at her, save for Bow who was missing from the crowd. Noticing the slack of her grip, the ice princess shook herself free from Catra's hand before rushing over to Perfuma's side, hiding behind her for obvious protection.

"Are you alright?" Perfuma asked, checking the young princess's hands and neck.

"I'm fine." Frosta replied, giving a small sniffle. "She just started acting crazy and attacked me for some reason."

"The heck I was!" Catra yelled back. "She was standing perfectly in front of a droid and it didn't bother her for some reason! Don't you find that weird?"

"I told you, it didn't see me."

"That's not what you said! You said it didn't see you as a threat!"

"Well that's what I meant at the time, I was just nervous to talk to you because you were shouting at me!" Frosta argued, rubbing her cheek a little bit for emphasis.

"I wasn't even trying to scare you-!"

"Enough!" Glimmer finally shouted, marching over to Catra with an equally unamused Mermista at her side as she crossed her arms. All the while she glared at the small bundle of annoyance who she swore smirked at her for a moment before walking away with Perfuma at her side. "Look, Catra? I know you're going through a rough patch right now, but you can't be taking your anger out on everyone around you, okay?"

"I'm not taking my anger out on anybody around here, Pinky!" Catra didn't help her argument in the slightest as she grumbled with this. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"Yeah, I think you're doing your job a little too well around here." Mermista commented, looking at what was left of the last several droids Catra destroyed. "Is it me or are you enjoying this a bit more than you should be?"

"So what? I'm not supposed enjoy the work I do?" She retorted, puffing a flock of hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, that's some great thinking. 'Hey Catra, you should start feeling bad for the robots you're killing', I can see that line of reasoning working."

"She means you should slow down a bit, Catra." Glimmer clarified, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Catra, you've been going a little overboard lately, and you won't tell us what's bothering you."

"You expect me to trust you guys with every little detail of my life around here?"

"We expect you to trust us as your friends, Catra." Glimmer replied, placing a comforting hand on her right shoulder. Catra eyed the placement for a few seconds before looking back ot her. The fact she wasn't swatting or clawing at the hand right away was already a major improvement compared to the first few weeks since Catra joined the Rebellion, even though she didn't open up as much as she did over a month ago. "If there's something bothering you, you can trust us. We'll listen and try try to help you, okay?"

"..." Taking a deep breath through her nose, Catra exhaled as calmly as she could as she casually, and gently, pulled Glimmer's hand off of her shoulder. "I don't have a problem trusting you, Bow, or your mom, alright? But even if I did trust the others, I still wouldn't be able to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because... Because I just..." Catra was beside herself at the moment. What was she supposed to tell these people? How was she supposed to expect them to understand after what's happened? It was mostly her fault it was happening in the first place, so what was she supposed to say about it?

*shiiiiiin*

The three's eyes trailed the small light emanating from Catra's sword, watching the familiar blue hue coming off of the gem adorned in the center.

While it wasn't something the others were used to as often, it wasn't like they were unaware of its meaning. "I gotta go." She muttered. Without even giving a simple goodbye, the two watched as Catra bolted towards the closest ledge of the forest they were in, letting out a loud whistle through her fingers before jumping over the ledge, disappearing out of sight. What little fear there was of Catra jumping to her possible death was soon replaced relief and unsurprise as the magicat could be seen flying through the air on Swift Wind's back, the horse soaring through the sky gracefully at top speed.

"Where does she keep running off to?" Mermista could never get a read on the girl. Between her mysterious behavior half the time and her inability to talk to anyone else about how she's feeling, it's a wonder she even knew Catra's name at this point.

"Where do you think?" Glimmer shrugged back. "To hit some more stuff."

...

*WHAM!*

"Ghhhhh!" Catra grumbled as she batted away another droid with her sword in the cave's tunnel.

This was the only thing that Catra took any joy out of these days. Just her, her sword, and a whole bunch of things she could smash on a daily basis. Nothing bored her more than not being able to hit anything lately, and this place was almost a children's playground to her for the amount of stuff she got to wreck.

Coming across another of the approaching droids from further away, she grinned as she focused all of her energy into her sword, causing it to glow, and morph into a large flail, one that could stretch up to nearly fifteen feet in length and with a mace the size of her head. Tossing the mace casually in her other hand, she gave it a good old fashion toss above her and twirled the handle in her other hand, twirling the mace and chain and smashing it into the approaching droid.

No sooner did she do this did another two droids approach from the same direction, at least twenty feet apart from one another, the perfect distance to keep out of the flails way from hitting both of them at once. Despite the fact they seemed a tad brighter in intelligence than their counterparts, it did nothing to waver Catra's concentration as she lunged directly for the one on her right, morphing her weapon again into a golden spear that stretched a good ten feet ahead of her.

Using the spear's own length to assist her, she dove the spear directly into the ground beneath her feet, pulling herself over the bot as it attempted to fire one of its blasters at her. Expertly dodging the oncoming blast, Catra grinned with excitement as she twirled the spear overhead, plunging it directly into the droid's censor and piercing straight through its body. The moment she landed on the droid itself, she quickly jumped out of the way as the other droid attempted to blast her, destroying the previous droid entirely as it left behind a smouldering mess.

Scanning the area for a moment at the magicat's disappearance, its attention slowly drew towards the ceiling where the magicat was waiting patiently, hanging from the ceiling with her own claws. With pride running through her veins, the cat pushed off from the ceiling at top speed, transforming the great spear into a long gauntlet that stretched up the length of her arm with three one-foot blades at the time. Used to this sort of fighting style with her own claws, she managed to easily swipe through the droids legs, cutting off the first two legs where it collapsed forward, and using one of the broken appendages, impaled the metal construct with ease.

This was definitely one of Catra's most enjoyable moments since the Battle of Bright Moon.

"Awwww, is kitty playing with her toys?" A familiar voice cooed, irritating Catra and ruining the little joy she had. As expected, and annoying, off in the distance behind her, she could see the familiar face of a certain Force Captain named Adora, the girl laying around in a casual manner as she hung from an overgrown root sticking out of the tunnel's ceiling.

Of all the people she had to come across, why did it have to be Adora? Why couldn't it be someone less annoying to her? Like Shadow Weaver, or Lonnie, or anyone else she didn't live with anymore? At the very least, she could've came at a much later or sooner time before she started to have fun!

"Adora!" Catra shouted angrily, morphing her weapon back into its original form.

"Heh heh heh..." Adora chuckled as she slid off the large root, running down the tunnels with Catra chasing behind her. The girl lost sight of her as she rounded the corner, coming across an entire crossroad of tunnels with over eight different hallways and entrances to choose from. It barely took a single look around as Catra heard another run of chuckling before Catra lost touch of which direction she came from. "Awww come on, Catra. Try to find me." She taunted.

"Nghhhh!" Taking the chance, she took off in the rightmost direction, running at full speed as she chased after the mocking laughter. She now found herself lead into a fairly large cavern filled with stalagmites sticking out of the ground, all of them as large as a tree and blocking off any sight of a full-grown person, or a very annoying blonde in this case. "Adora, where are you?!"

"Yoohoo, I'm over heeeeere~" Her ears twitched as she turned to her right, seeing Adora casually leaning against one of the many rock formations with a wave. Chasing straight after her, the girl laughed again as she ran around the stalagmite, disappearing from view the moment Catra rounded the corner again. "Oooh, boohoo. Didn't find me there?" She teased, this time reappearing three rows over behind her when Catra checked again.

"How the-?" She shook the irritation and confusion from her mind as she grumbled again, giving chase after the girl angrily. "Hold still!"

"Only if you say pleeeeease!" She taunted again. Sure enough, the Force Captain wound up missing by the time Catra reached her again, fueling on to the fire of anger going on through Catra's mind.

"Fine! Please hold still so I can hit you!" She growled, seeing the ex-friend running down another pathway.

"Oh, Catra, you're never going to make friends that way." The cat nearly jumped as the taunt came directly behind her, finding the annoying Horde soldier leaning out from behind another pillar. "If you keep threatening people, they might leeeave... or you know, you might leave. Whichever comes first."

"SHUT UP!" With a beastial roar, she reformed the giant flail she had minutes ago, launching the massive wrecking ball straight at the closest pillar the taunting was coming from. To her disappointment, she hit nothing passed the crumbling stalagmite save for a pocket of empty air, and caught the sight of the same girl poking her head out from another stalagmite right passed it.

"Did I strike a nerve? Awww, naughty Adora...Ack!" She sneered, sticking her tongue out briefly before giving off a small shriek, diving headfirst behind the stalagmite before she was stabbed by an extended spear.

There was no end to the taunts from this girl, nothing to drown out the frustration that was building up with each of her annoying tauntings! She knew exactly which buttons to press when it came to the magicat, what words would set her off the quickest and most efficiently! At the rate it was going, she could easily get Catra to make a fatal mistake, one that could cost her the lives of her dearest friends.

Like the one she was about to make as an idea popped into her head. Returning the sword into its original form once more, the magicat concentrated as she closed her eyes, trying to pick up on any source of noise she could from Adora's movements. The cave was barren save for these two, therefore the next sound she picked up would indefinitely be Adora's. She just needed to find the right opportunity for the enemy to make any sudden moves, wait for her to make the smallest slip up. The moment she did, Catra would spring into action, and get the drop on this annoying-

*shuffle*

"Hah!"

"Ah-!" The blonde-haired enemy was caught off guard as Catra lunged straight for her, finding a clawed hand wrapped around her throat as she was pressed against a stalagmite. Opening her eyes, she saw the fiery hatred burning within Catra's eyes as she continued to tighten the grip around her neck, actually lifting her a few inches off the ground as she scratched at her hand, choking. "C-Catra, I ca... I can't breathe..."

"Ngggghhhhhh!" Catra didn't care for a moment. She was tired, exhausted, consumed with rage over everything bothering her at that moment. Half of her dilemmas stemmed from Adora, so why shouldn't she get rid of the problem at its source?!

"C-Ca... Catra, I... I..." The light started fading from Adora's eyes as her resistance began to wane. It was only after hearing the feeble mumbling that Catra snapped back to her senses, shaking her head of the anger before a look of concern crossed over her. She wasn't squeezing the neck of one of the few people she hated most at that time.

It was Glimmer.

"G-Glimmer!" Catrar yelped, quickly releasing her grip from the girl. Instead of falling straight to the ground like anyone else would have, the young princess just froze in place the moment she started to fall. Rubbing her eyes of the confusing scenario, she watched as Glimmer's body gave off a slight shimmer, eventually resulting in a static-like phasing as the rest of her environment slowly started to phase back to its original setting as well.

All around her, the environment changed from its once peaceful, albeit violent-filled, cave, to the familiar recesses of the Beacon's training room, the very spot where Catra had found herself being able to blow off the most steam in the last month. If she ended up nearly ending Glimmer's life, like all the other times, then it proved, in turn, that she had failed her simulation yet again, the anger residing in her heart as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You know you're playing unfair around here." Catra commented as the being known as Light Hope materialized behind her.

"I apologize for the discomfort, Catra, but I am not trying to be, as you say, unfair, with our simulations." She replied, emotionless as always, no matter how blunt her words were. "The simulations are designed for total accuracy. If you had truly found yourself in this scenario, there is an estimated forty-two percent chance you would have injured one of your allies out of rage."

"I wouldn't have to deal with all this anger stuff if you just got the sword working!" Catra grumbled.

"Working?" The artificial being inquired. "What do you mean?"

"...You're really going to make me spell it out for you, aren't you?" As if answering her question, Light Hope continued to stare at her as she robotically tilted her head in curiosity. Groaning for, hopefully, the final time today, Catra raised her sword to the sky as she spoke the sacred incantation. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

Those five words were what triggered the miraculous transformation time and again. Ever since she was deemed the new She-Ra, her transformation and the wonders that came with it worked flawlessly. She found her transformation coming to her nearly every time she wanted it to, save for moments of extreme stress or worry, she always felt the familiar increase of strength and resilience that came with being She-Ra, and she found her abilities improving over the course of the last month as Light Hope instructed her to train around the facility on a daily basis.

And, surprisingly, it wasn't something she regretted either! There was no end to the amount of fun she had at being able to transform the legendary sword into a whole matter of things, between weapons, shields, and, somewhat annoyingly, trinkets! She relished the possibility of turning an ordinary sword into a massive maul that could pummel her enemies in one strike, loved the way she could form a whip sturdy enough to bind her enemies, or throw them into each other!.

There were some complications too, of course. For the time being, there was only a handful of items she could materialize intentionally, and half of those times they came out as something else entirely. It would've been humiliating if anyone saw the first time she turned the sword into a slingshot on her very first attempt, or a water bottle on the second. But somehow these still weren't the most annoying details of her new daily life.

No, that detail came down to the very thing she loved the most, and hated most of all. As the transformation came to an end, and the magicat gestured to the entirety of herself.

"I'm back to the same She-Ra I was before!"

...

A/N: Another another chapter bites the dust ^^ Not much to say here, other than I'm excited to continue this season for all it has to offer. I'm going to enjoy the extremely funny episodes (you guys know which Im referring to XP) as we get the series underway, and away from all the past drama, not to say there won't be some here and there, and into the more humorous side of the series ^^

As always, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 56: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Hiyo! Back with another resounding chapter! Gotta say, might be to uppity parts here and there, I did this over the course of the three days, and on the day I did adora's bit, I was in the midst of graduation (yippee ^^) so some parts of it might be a bit off in terms of writing, hopefully it's not too distracting. On the plus side, with all the dramatic parts a ways away, we can finally make room for some humor from the show, along with the usual moments here and there ^^

With that said, enjoy!

...

"And this is a problem, how?" Light Hope asked, her unchanging expression even more unchanged as she stared at the magicat.

"How do you think?" Catra grumbled, having dealt with this annoyance for the last several weeks.

Ever since the Battle of Bright Moon, things have gotten relatively back to normal, at least as normal as they could be around here. The Princess Alliance was working side by side again with Mermista, Perfuma, and Frosta working along with the Rebellion, Glimmer finally got her powers back, and Catra was the same old grump she used to be after several weeks of inner turmoil. Some people may have been put off by such a display, but for Glimmer and Bow, it was a welcome come back after all this time.

That didn't mean it came without any drawbacks, either. For starters, Catra wasn't just the usual grump she's always been anymore, she was a grump with severe anger issues. Every day she's gone out on a mission, she's always charged straight into whatever group of droids she could that have been surrounding the Whispering Woods for the last month. Unlike the other princesses who took a steady approach as a team, Catra showed no signs of backing down as she took out every droid she could come across, using whatever means she could to demolish the droids from head to toe.

Of course, the other princesses were well aware of her erratic behavior, they just didn't know how to approach it. How were they supposed to know how Catra was feeling after all she's been through? Turning her back entirely on the Horde, losing the closest friend of her life, and knowing nothing she did would bring her friend back to her? It wasn't just the loss of her friend that the others saw nagging at Catra, it was knowing she would be fighting against her for possibly the rest of her life.

The only outlet she had to get her pent up aggression out of her system was the endless waves of Horde droids that kept invading the Whispering Woods for the last month. Without wasting a single soldier, the Horde could throw an endless amount of droids at the Rebellion every day while their soldiers reclaimed any land they were invading. With Bright Moon being the last place Catra could call home, she wasn't about to let any Horde, robotic or otherwise, set foot on her territory.

It was probably the one upside to Catra's overly aggressive behavior as of late. With the magicat's anger focused solely on the Horde, she was doing everything within her power to fight back, fighting literal tooth and claw against the invading armies with all she had. The one setback they had yet to understand was why she never tried to turn into She-Ra while doing it. She kept fighting in her normal attire, save for the sword, having nothing She-Ra about her.

It was out of a deep secret she was keeping from the others, one only she, Light Hope, and Swift Wind were aware of.

"Why can't I turn into the full She-Ra like before?" Catra repeated her question, fed up by the appearance that represented a fourth of She-Ra. "What's keeping me from turning back?"

"As I've told you in the past, Catra, you can't-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it already." Catra interrupted, repeating the same line she's heard a thousand times mockingly with her hand. "I have to be honest with myself, I have to be at peace, I can't be selfish, blah, blah, blah. I don't get why it's happening though!"

"I'm afraid I can not assist you with that dilemma, Catra." Light Hope regretfully informed. "If you desire, I could try to make the scenery more pleasing to calm your nerves." Without giving the magicat a chance to respond, the environment around them shifted to one of a sunny beach, one where the air was filled with the sound of relaxing waves and not a single cloud in the sunny sky. "Does this environment make you feel more comfortable?"

"Ugh, no! That's not what I-!" There wasn't any time to voice her complaint completely as the environment changed again. This time she found herself in a field of flowers, one overlooking a vast forest of autumn leaves and a beautiful midsummer sky, earning nothing but a twitching brow of irritation from the young cat girl. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn Perfuma had a hand in making this simulation.

"Is this more suitable?"

"...The scenery isn't the issue." Catra stated as calmly as she could, waiting for the environment to return to its original First Ones' chamber. "The problem is, I need to be the same She-Ra they need me to be before, and I don't know what's keeping me from doing it." She gazed around her legs and arms, seeing the few semblances of She-Ra she always recognized like her golden bracers and her white chestpiece. "I'm back to being the same She-Ra I was before, and I can't afford to be this way if I'm going to continue fighting for the Rebellion. I need to know what's keeping me from reaching anything passed one-fourth!"

"Actually, if it's any consolation," Light Hope replied as she observed a monitor she materialized in front of her, displaying an outline of what Catra could assume to be herself, "you have improved your bond with the sword by at least two percent over the last few weeks."

"Oh boy, almost one percent a week," Catra couldn't have been more sarcastic if she tried, "how exciting. That means in another two months, I'll reach ten percent."

"I am pleased to hear you are satisfied."

"That was sarcasm..." Catra moaned, rubbing her forehead soothingly. "I've been training for over a month, and I haven't gotten any better around here!"

"Indeed. Your performance today was, in fact, worse." The being shifted her eyes away as she noticed Catra's furrowed brow to that. "Please disregard. My human inspiration protocol is still in the beta stage. Should I smile more?" She offered, opening her mouth widely as a normal human custom.

"...N-No thanks... that's... actually, kind of creepy."

"Affirmative."

"Ugh... Look, every day I spend wasting time in here, the Horde is growing stronger. Adora is growing stronger," she shifted her eyes briefly at the statement, "I think. And unless I figure out how to reach She-Ra's true form, I'm never going to be able to master her full power. Do you get what I am getting at?"

"Yes, I understand what you are getting at. But I am afraid I have no control over how the sword perceives you. If you wish to master She-Ra's true form and unlock its power, you must be able to change yourself."

"How am I supposed to change myself anymore to this stupid sword?!" She growled. As if reacting to her sudden flux of emotions, there was a small shine glowing over Catra's bracers. What she at first assumed to be a rather pleasant surprise waiting for her soon turned out to be an annoying revelation as the golden bracers disappeared off of her wrists. Adding on to the train of annoyance, the two looked back to the monitor as the display depicting Catra's progression took a sudden drop by about eight percent. "Grrrrr! Who asked you!" She yelled angrily at the blade.

At the scene playing in front of her, Light Hope came to a sudden thought. "Catra, what is most important to you right now?"

"Huh? What do you think? Getting stronger so I can beat the Horde, duh!"

"But what else do you deem important to you?"

"What... do you mean by that?" The line of questioning was starting to worry the magicat a little as her ears lowered a little.

"Do you wish for me to phrase it differently?"

"No, I mean... why are you asking me about what I think is important?"

"Because it might be the first step into discovering your problem." With this information, a large monitor appeared above Light Hope, all displayed for Catra's eyes. The She-Ra-in-training was rather taken back by the visuals she witnessed as they displayed the day at the Battle of Bright Moon, the very moment before Catra donned the full form of She-Ra. "I believe you are informed enough to know the conditions into becoming She-Ra, correct?"

"Yeah, I already said them a minute ago. So what?"

"Do you remember, then, what you were feeling at the Battle of Bright Moon?"

"What I was... feeling...?" That may have been the first question Light Hope asked so far that brought discomfort to the magicat. Aside from the fact Catra had spent the better part of the last month trying to forget the horrible ordeal, given how it ended in the worst way possible to her, she was barely alive at all when she finally achieved She-Ra's true form. "Mmh... I don't remember..."

The images flashed in Catra's mind in brief glimpses, displaying the various moments she could recall as she closed her eyes. "I guess... I was scared... cold? I barely knew what was happening at the time. I just... I guess I just... wanted to keep my friends safe."

*shiiiiiiiiim*

Reacting again to this little bout of emotion, Catra watched as the wrists along her arm glowed once more. This time, with enough relief to bring a small smile to her face, she watched as the bracers returned to her, giving off a sense of form as they were reformed as good as new. Adding on to this moment of comfort, she saw Light Hope attempting to provide any amount of support with a robotic smile, phasing a hand through Catra's right shoulder.

"You have come a long way in changing yourself since you first began, Catra. Much more than any of the past initiates my memory banks can recall." The surprisingly comforting smile returned to its neutral form as she pulled her hand away. "But there is still much for you to learn. You must learn to master your emotions, or you are destined to repeat the same mistakes of the last She-Ra."

"Mmh..." Catra moaned, scratching the back of her neck as her appearance returned to its original state. "Well, it's not like things can get any worse, am I right?"

"Actually, things can, indeed, get much worse." The being corrected, annoyingly as always to Catra. "Did I not make that clear?"

"No, I mean... Never mind." As much as Catra hated to admit it, she didn't have a choice. If she was going to have any hope of mastering She-Ra's true form, she was going to have to figure out some way of changing her frame of mind and her emotions into something She-Ra should be. That's the ultimate realization she came to as she stared back at her sword, the one thing that determined if and how much of She-Ra's power Catra could obtain. "Can we just get back to hitting things again so I can keep practicing?"

"Very well. You must learn by doing." With a simple command, the ground around Catra ruptured as the floor split apart around her, rising high into the ceiling as another simulation began to take place.

In the mass of entanglement the rising floors gave way to, she found her environment changing into the familiar cave structure she just came out of awhile ago, the mighty cavern outstretched around her as a large creature began to appear. It took the familiar appearance of those massive bug creatures Catra's seen on a few occasions, the very ones she was first greeted with after claiming the sword at the start of the adventure.

Honestly, Catra didn't care how intimidating the creature looked as she took a stand. She didn't know what exactly the future would hold for her, and she wasn't entirely ready to change her entire being just because some holographic lady told her so. As long as she had her trusted ladle at her side, she was ready to face down anyone that came against her, and overcome any challenge with her own two hands!

...Wait a minute...

"...Ladle?" Catra muttered, looking at her weapon again. Apparently she didn't have as well a grasp on her weapon's transformation, which was almost parallel to her own transformation's difficulties. Instead of some giant axe that could've cut this creature down to size like she had hoped for, her weapon took the form of a legendary soup ladle of all things, one that barely came up to her elbow in size.

*Raaaaaaaoooooooooooo!*

The mighty illusionary creature roared as it towered above her, blowing back Catra's hair and leaving her with a few massive globs of drool from the creature's screaming.

"... Oh boy..."

...

The Fright Zone guards greeted Adora with a proud salute as she walked by, just as they always did whenever Adora entered an area. While she wasn't in it for the fame or glory of being one, she couldn't deny it felt a little good to be a newly promoted commander walking through the Fright Zone either.

Ever since Adora was promoted as Lord Hordak's second-in-command, every day felt nice and refreshing! The people who previously had respect for the young Force Captain and signs of caring for their fellow soldier were extremely respectful of Adora's new position, though it was hard to tell if it wasn't entirely without a bit of fear. Everyone usually had a smile on their face when they greeted her, nobody seemed put off or jealous of her new position, and she found people approaching her constantly for assistance, which she never seemed to mind.

On top of it, she later discovered during the night of her promotion that her powers weren't gone! Despite the lack of headband, the shadowy magic Adora had grown used to seemed to have stuck with her completely after the Battle of Bright Moon. The shadows almost seemed to be more lively than they ever were before, sometimes responding to her bouts of emotions occasionally sometimes defending her or doing something to comfort her without her personal sway. It was a constant reminder of her defeat at Catra's hands as well as her victory in her new position.

However, it didn't prove to be entirely without complications as she slowly came to discover, the veins on the right side of her neck blackening as they spread further and further along the side of her face.

*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH*

"Aaah!" Adora cried out as she caught herself against the right wall, squeezing her forehead with her left hand in agony. It was that dull ringing sound that always entered her mind followed by the mother of all headaches. It felt like something was clawing in and out of her head at the same time, filling her heart with a surge of emotions every second.

Sub... t... ools... em pay...

"S-Stop it... stop... stop..." Adora cried silently to herself, trying to ignore the voices that filled her mind. She could never get a firm grasp on what they were saying all the time, with what few audible words she could hear always sounding threatening to those around her. All she knew was that anyone who approached her in her current state would find themselves to be an unintended victim of her wrath.

Like one of two guards who noticed the commander's sudden collapse.

"Commander Adora?" The right-sided guard spoke, approaching her slowly from behind. He was unaware as a few of her right bangs of hair started to darken, the commander doing everything she could to wave her arm behind her.

"N-No! Sta...Stay..." She could barely speak as she squeezed her forehead, the pain overwhelming her state of mind. At the same time, the guard was completely unaware at the small pool of shadow starting to form behind him, one that slowly started to grow in mass as shadowy tendrils of teeth and spikes rose from the surface, a sight that didn't go unnoticed by the other guard who was still watching from afar.

"Wha- Hey! Stop!" He shouted to the other guard, running towards him. Turning around, the previous one physically jumped out of fear as he collapsed backwards, pushing himself away from the growing entanglement that began to approach him. And the entire time, the black veins around Adora's face continued to fester, spreading further along her skin as they started to reach her forehead.

"Ngghhhh! S-Stop!" She ordered as assertively as she could, not to the guard that was slowly backing up to her in fright, but the pool of shadows that seemed to draw ever closer. What little it did to keep the shadows at bay only delayed the attack as the pool of shadow slowed continuing to move at a snails pace over to the fearful guard who had no idea what was going on!

Luckily for him, the sound of ruckus didn't go unheard from a certain Force Captain by the name of Scorpia, who casually poked her head out of Entrapta's lab at the sound of the shouting, and freaked at the sight of the recent peril. "Adora!" She yelled worriedly, running over to her. She looked over Adora quickly as the commander gave her a weak look, breathing heavily as Scorpia examined her, brushing a few strands out of her hair. "It's happening again, isn't it?"

"S-Sorry... " Adora huffed, lowering her head as the pain continued to drive on.

"When's the last time you used the machine?"

"I... I don't... three... maybe four days?"

"What!?" The announcement sent warning lights through Scorpia's mind as she lifted Adora off her feet. Thankfully it appeared to be enough to loosen Adora's hold on the shadows as the ones nearing the guard vanished into thin air, just as they were about to swipe at his feet. Taking a brief look to the two, she gave a nervous smile to the guard that was nearly attacked. "Err sorry! Just, uhhh... a training drill!" She sputtered, rushing back to lab without a second thought. The two guards looked to each other in confusion, giving a shrug to the other as they returned to their stations.

"Since when do training drills involve attacking the guards?"

...

"Almost... there..." Entrapta muttered behind her mask as she carefully tilted the vial into the concoction before her. She just needed a tiny, itty bitty, drop to get the last part of her experiment working. After the last three days straight of preparation, clearing up as much of her free time as possible to make sure she would have the exact hours she would need to preform this experiment perfectly, it finally came down to this one drop. She couldn't leave anything up to chance as she watched the tiny droplet being lowered towards the concoction, holding the vial carefully in her hair as she watched the view with her head rested against the table. "Annnnd-!"

"ENTRAPTAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"ACK-!"

*splash*

*BOOOOOOM!*

Smoke and haze filled the entire half of the science lab as Entrapta accidentally poured the entire vial into the concoction, resulting in the disastrous explosion that the science nerd somehow managed to survive. When they smoke finally cleared, Entrapta could be seen completely covered in ash and black soot, lifting her mask to reveal the only part of her that was clean from the sudden explosion.

Everything in front of her was a complete mess. There was a blast mark where the explosion went off, all the vials and beakers she had covering the table were completely smashed to pieces, any of her papers that had listed the ingredients and measurements she took were completely burned to dust, and any recording devices she had to monitor her progress were destroyed in the explosion! Just about every little piece of this three day experiment was gone!

"...Woohoo!" Entrapta cheered, pulling out another recorder as she shook off the black soot. "Data Log ML-3-1! My experiment to test the coincidence and timing of the universe seem work without a hitch! So far I've had at least four intentionally failed experiments due to bad timing! If I continue to study the effects of this quantum displacement, I might be able to control the very aspects of Luck and Chance in the universe myself!"

"Entrapta!" Scorpia yelled for a final time, finally finding the girl through the clutter of machines.

"Waaahhh!" The purple-haired geek screeched, dropping the recorder and watching in dismay as it shattered upon impact. "Awww, I wasn't prepared for that one..."

"Entrapta, focus! Adora needs help!" Scorpia pleaded, lowering her arms for the mad scientist to get a view. She didn't need to get any closer as she saw the corruption spreading from where she stood. All around her, Adora's left half was nearly covered in dark veins from head to toe as the Force Captain breathed heavily. Adora barely seemed aware of where she was as she had one eye closed and the other one barely open with the only source of comfort she had was holding herself with her right arm.

"Hmmm..." The scientist hummed as she placed the back of her hand against Adora's forehead, taking it away immediately as it sizzled. "Ow! Yeah, she's definitely burning up."

"I know that! We need to get her to the chamber right away!"

"Awww, but I wanted to watch how my droids were doi-! Ooogh!" Entrapta wasn't given any time to argue as Scorpira through her left claw over the girl, lifting her off her feet as she ran out the door with Adora and Entrapta in each arm respectively. Seeing how there was little choice in the matter, the scientists did what she could as she re-examined Adora's temperature with a strand of hair, still feeling a burning sensation at the tip of her strands as she pulled out a journal. "Ok, Adora, some casual questions. On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you experiencing right now?"

"Ugh... En... trapta...?" Adora muttered as if she was just becoming aware of her presence.

"Ok, we'll try the next one. Have you been experiencing any sort of side effects?"

"Side... ffects..." She mumbled, drooping her head in her state of misery.

"Mmmh..." How was Entrapta not to frown at the situation unfolding before her?

She was torn between her two greatest compassions; her everlasting love for science, and the state of misery and pain Adora seemed to be in right now. Every second she looked at the girl she felt guilty for something she didn't do, and for one of the few times in her life, she didn't have the energy or excitement to take notes on it. She just stared at Adora with a pained frown on her face, scratching the back of her head with her own hair as she felt bad for the girl.

"...You're really not feeling too good, are you?" Entrapta commented as Scorpia jerked, cutting another corner of the hallways.

"She's not going to die, is she?!" Scorpia panicked, doing what she could to pick up the pace.

"I told you at least twice everyday for the last month." Entrapta reminded, trying to give something close to a comforting smile. "She'll be perfectly fine, she's not going to die." Her assuring tone wasn't as faithful as it appeared as she glanced back to the ailing friend again, resisting the urge to gullp audibly. "...But you might want to hurry, anyway..."

"MMMMMHHHHH!" Scorpia moaned as she screamed on the inside. To her relief, she came across the Black Garnet chamber around the next corner a few seconds later, feeling antsy as she waited for the automatic doors to open themselves before bursting inside. She practically dropped Entrapta to the ground as she rushed Adora over to the machine hooked up to the Black Garnet.

All around the Black Garnet, various wires and machines could be seen protruding from the great crystal, all of which fed into multiple computer monitors on one side, and a pair of shackle-like clamps atop a metallic table on the right of the great crystal. The shackles had nearly a dozen of different colored yellow bulbs feeding into the machine, which allowed the others to know when the device was ready to be turned on.

What confused Scorpia partially about the current predicament was why Adora waited so long to use this thing in the first place. Despite being a good distance between each other, it's not like Adora needed anyone to do this with her. The machine was set up so it worked on a timer, not that it was needed in Adora's case. If the commander had the energy to draw power from the Black Garnet as she normally did, then she could easily place her hands through the shackles and activate the machine automatically that way.

So why did she wait so long?!

Entrapta pulled herself off the ground as she swung over to the control module with her hair as Scorpia hastily got Adora hooked up to the device, gently placing Adora on her knees as comfortable as possible as she placed her hands in the strange device.

"You're going to be okay, sweetie, you're going to be okay..." Scorpia muttered. She needed to assure herself almost as much as she did Adora as the commander slouched a little along the metallic table, seeming more out of it than Scorpia's ever seen her before. "Is it on yet?"

"Yyyyyup! Just about!"

Scorpia sighed in relief as she saw the scientist typing away at top speed with her goggles on. As she said, the machine started to hum with life as the wires and cables connected to the Black Garnet began to glow with an eerie shade of red, the same crimson that filled the Black Garnet with life. She could never understand how the complications of this device worked, and she didn't care. As long as this techno doodad managed to fix her best friend, she would gladly shove Adora into whatever she needed to save her, including an oven!

Every second she had to wait for the machine to start up filled her with even more worry as she looked at her friends condition. From sweat dripping from her forehead to the heavy breathing, and the wave of blackness that started to color her hair a little at a time, there wasn't anything about Adora that didn't seem to be all right. There was no worse feeling in the world than wanting to help your friend and being unable to because you didn't know what was wrong with them!

"You're going to be okay, Adora, it's almost ready." She cooed, softly patting her back. She watched as the wires connected to the two shackles finally began to glow like the rest of the wires did, growing a small smile as the shackles themselves began to give off a faint red glow like the rest of the machine. Adora barely gave notice to this as her head turned, though it was the most physical response she's given within the last five minutes.

"Please... no..." Adora muttered weakly.

"It's for your own good, Adora. I'm sorry." She apologized, just as she saw the bulb around the shackles finally light up. "It's ready!"

"Activating the machine in three... two... one... annnnnd...!" With a cheeky grin, Entrapta pressed the one button she needed let the show begin.

*click*

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT-!*

"NNNNNGGGGGHHHH! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" Adora cried out in pain. All around her, the energies and light that flowed from the machine nearly doubled in amount as electricity coursed through the machine at an incredible pace.

That was another thing that didn't make any sense to Scorpia. If Adora used the machine regularly as she was supposed to, the machine wouldn't be overcharged as it was now. The electricity and power that ran through it was only as great as the amount that was needed to restore Adora's being. If she used the machine on a daily basis, she wouldn't feel anything more than a meager shock one would get if they zapped somebody with static electricity at the touch of a finger, and that's if she felt anything at all while empowered. But if she waited too long like she clearly did now, there was no telling how severe the shock would feel to her.

It hurt Scorpia on the inside as much as it clearly hurt Adoar on the outside... and inside. The only solace she obtained out of all of this was the sight of her friend slowly returning to normal as she screamed through her teeth, watching as the black hair recede back to their natural shade of blonde, and the black veins disappearing from her skin. In addition, the further she returned to normal, the less pain she felt overall, as proven by the sound of the screams dying down over the last several seconds.

At the same time, Adora struggled. It wasn't just the pain she was feeling or the flux of emotions that she felt whenever she was drawing energy from the machine that bothered her. It was that. The sound. The voices. Every time she used this thing, at least once, she heard the voices screaming in her mind, and it terrified her.

They will betray your innocence.

She couldn't recognize the voice. It was unlike anything she had ever heard from in her life. It always sounded like it was shouting, whispering, silent, and echoing, all at the same time. She couldn't tell if it was male, she couldn't tell if it was female, she could barely tell if the voice as even humanoid or sounded more robotic in tone. All she knew was that it shouted at her at least once, clearly, every time she used this machine.

And every time it did, it became more frightening and threatening.

Eventually, the machine finally died down as Adora was completely back to normal, the wires and bulbs connecting to the machine dimming until the energies that once filled them were diminished. Adora could be seen slouching to her knees as she began to breathe normally again, breathing heavily as the air returned to her lungs. With the procedure finally over, the shackles released her wrists on their own, freeing the commander from her temporary bonds as she collapsed to her knees.

"Huff... Huff..." She panted as Entrapta typed briefly into the computer, looking over the results of the data from the recent restoration. "Thanks... thanks g-AHHH!"

*crunch!*

"Adora!" In no time at all, the Force Captain closed her eyes as she threw her claws around Adora, lifting her off her feet and pinning her arms to her side. Scorpia cried out as she squeezed the renewed life out of her dear friend, overjoyed that her seemingly-dying friend was filled with life again, unaware that the same life was starting to fade from Adora's person as her face started to turn blue. "Oh, Adora, I was so worried about you!"

"Ack!... elp... e..." She squeaked, the color around her face darkening to a shade of violet as her eyes bugged out.

"Oh, I know, buddy! I'm here to help you!" Scorpia replied, squeezing tighter as she thought of all the horrible things that could've happened to her dear friend.

"Uhh... Scorpia?" Entrapta spoke up, pointing to the friend in question. "I'm not a hundred-percent sure she's supposed to be doing that, buuuuut..." Curious at the comment, Scorpia opened her eyes again, nearly jumping in fear as she saw the purple-colored face of her dying friend.

"Oh my gosh, I killed Adora!" She cried out, dropping her to the ground. The instant she was on the line between panicking and breaking down into tears at the prospect of killing her friend, reality returned to her as she saw Adora gasping for breath, alive, albeit, not well.

"HUUUUFF! Huff... huff..." Adora exhaled loudly, now feeling the life return to her. "I'm... huff... I'm fine..." Scorpia sighed before frowning a little. She was overjoyed that her friend was finally feeling alright, but it didn't get rid of the pressing matter of the issue.

"Adora, don't scare us like that." Scorpia said, squatting in front of her as she rested a claw on her left shoulder. "You had us really worried, you know?"

"I... I'm sorry, Scorpia, I just..." Adora frowned as she lowered her head, curling her knees against her as she hugged her legs. "...I just... I never feel right when I draw in all that power. Something... Something feels off every time I take the Black Garnet's energy."

"And once again, I'd like to remind you you're not technically taking the Black Garnet's energy." Entrapta corrected as she turned the monitor near her to face the two. On the screen, it displayed several different images of an outline of Adora, the Black Garnet, and two arrows between them with an arrow at the bottom pointing from Adora to the runestone, and an arrow above it doing the exact opposite. "You're filtering the energy, remember?"

"How's that any different from what Shadow Weaver used to do with the Black Garnet?" Scorpia asked curiously, still unable to understand for the third time.

"Because when Shadow Weaver was harnessing its power, presumably, she was taking all the energy for herself and giving the Black Garnet nothing in return, forcing it to recharge its own power." Typing away on the module for a few seconds, they watched as the display changed from its previous images to one of the shackles and devices connected by the wires. "After the Battle of Bright Moon, Adora somehow harnessed the headband's powers, and she's in a constant state of the Black Garnet's energies now."

"But why does she keep getting sick if she's constantly empowered by the garnet's energy?"

"i'm still working on that detail," she commented, tapping the pen in her hair against her chin as she analyzed the charts, "but from what I can gather from Adora's brainwaves, her consciousness and subconsciousness seem to be conflicting with each other constantly, and the ensuing struggle is making your body sick."

"My subconscious?" Adora asked. These were the first recordings Adora's heard back from Catra ever since she became sick. She had no idea what was causing all of it, and it finally looked like she was getting some answers! "So... the voices I keep hearing in my head...?"

"I still need to analyze that, but from what I can tell, your amygdala is on overload."

"I didn't know Adora was gaining weight?" Scorpia remarked, earning a brief blush against Adora's face.

"I-I'm not gaining weight!"

"Noooo, the amygdala." Entrapta corrected, displaying the computer screen depicting a rough outline of Adora's head. "It's the part of her brain that deals with self-preservation. You know, by saying what's dangerous and what's safe?"

With the click of a button, the others watched as the screen split into two sections, with the left half displaying a rough outline of Adora's head, the frontal lobe colored with a red smear nearly twice the size of her head, and the right half depicting Scorpia's head, with the red coloring the same size as her frontal lobe. "Look, as you can see here, the brainwaves your frontal lobe are giving off are significantly larger than they're supposed to be. Whereas yours is nearly doubled in size, Scorpia's brainwaves are coming off as normal... although come to think of it, I didn't get much from trying to read Scorpia's brainwaves at all."

"Well of course you didn't," Scorpia smiled back, "there's nothing wrong with my brain!"

"...Yeah, that must be it."

Adora rose to her feet as she walked over to the monitor, the feeling and energy finally returning to her after her intense pain. "So... the voices I've been hearing all this time... is just my subconscious trying to protect me?" She nearly flinched as the monitors flashed for an instant before turning off, the purple-haired scientist pushing them back into place.

"From what I can tell... yeah."

"And... that would mean my shadows are appearing because..."

"Because your body is trying to protect you." She confirmed, gathering all the research data and papers in a bundle. "With all the fighting your conscious and subconscious is doing, it's spreading the actual darkness through your body. That's why your blood is getting infected by the magic and your veins turn black. I'm not really sure what would happen if your veins turned completely black, but I'm pretty sure it won't kill you."

"It doesn't mean your fever won't." While she might not have been as enlightened as Entrapta, Scorpia did know enough about sickness to add to the conversation. "If you keep trying to space out your treatment, you're going to make yourself sick-"

"Or if I use too much of my powers." Adora mentioned, looking at her own two hands.

That was one of the few things she managed to discover personally over the last month. Ever since she was gifted with these powers since the headband's destruction, the one thing that seemed to be keeping these side effects from appearing in the first place, she's noticed that the more she used her powers, the faster the black veins spread across her body, and without her treatment, in this case basically harnessing the runestone's power, she became too weak to fight. It also seemed to flare up just briefly during extreme bouts of emotion, something she was working on controlling again.

In a strange way, she became a lot like the princesses she hated. She needed the runestone to stay healthy and strong, and without it, she became weaker. She would happily declare it as a case of dramatic irony if it wasn't for the fact she hated over half of the other princesses who were a part of the Rebellion.

"It just... scares me sometimes... Like something could happen if I ever gave in." The voices she heard ranged from all manner of things, like how she should be doing something her way, how she shouldn't be showing any signs of backing down to someone, or how she should display her power to instill fear instead of respect. The one thing the voice almost always wanted from her, when she could understand it clearly, was power.

More, and more, power.

She didn't know what that would completely entail. Did it want her to try harnessing the powers from the Black Garnet? Did it want her to acquire more sources of power like the Black Garnet? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that every time she used this machine, for just one line of dialogue, she could hear this voice each and every time.

Luckily, she was surrounded by friends that supported her, such as the one behind her who patted her shoulder with a comforting smile. "You don't have to fear anything as long as we're around, Adora. I promise." It was at the brief look to her welcoming allies that she grew a small smile. Throughout everything she's been through, all that's happened between her and Catra, these were the last two people in the world she could trust. They didn't show any signs of ill intent, and Scorpia was always there to provide moral support whenever she needed it. Touching her claw with her hand, she gave a light nod to her before returning to Entrapta.

"Are you any closer to finding a way to fix this?"

"Unfortunately..." Adora could just tell by the change in Entrapta's expression. She was about to say the three words no scientist should ever say in their life! "I don't know. Not yet, anyway. I am currently developing a temporary measure in case you're ever needed somewhere for an extended period of time, but it's still under development. Sorry."

"It's okay. Least the machine still works, right?" It's not like she could expect Entrapta to fix all her problems at once as long as she was working for the Horde.

"But, I might have something to show you that might excite you! Something to make our droids a lot more fuuuuun~!" That was the one thing Entrapta cherished about Adora. Whenever it came to robots, weapons, anything that could be used to decimate an entire army with in a matter of minutes, it always brought a smile to the commander's face. She had just as much of an appreciation for the schematics and uses behind droids almost as much as she did, especially when they involved heavy firepower.

"Show me."

...

With a small blue shine of the floor, the entrance to the Beacon activated as the floor lowered from the underground tunnel. From it, an exhausted Catra could be seen stretching her arms out with the same irritated scowl that's haunted her for the last month. No matter what moments of fun she's had during the last month, she always came back to the same look of unease and discomfort as the days events replayed in her mind.

All the training, all the fighting, all the rebelling, and for what? The same thing every day. With each day that passed, there was no telling what sort of things the Horde were doing while she wasted time just trying to turn into She-Ra. Forget the fact she hasn't even mastered transforming her sword into whatever she wanted, she couldn't even turn into She-Ra when she wanted to! How was she supposed to help anyone if she couldn't turn into the person they needed to be.

These thoughts always caused her to squeeze her head when she vacated the Beacon, groaning in silence as she came to terms with what her life had turned into. A routine of fighting, training, angering, and annoying became everyday life for her, and chances were, she was going to experience a new emotion of irritation before the week was over.

*neeeeeigh*

"Ah-!" Oh, right, she almost forgot. The Horse. As much as she hated to say it, even when he nuzzled her against her wishes, Swift Wind was one of the closest thing to get any semblance of a smile out of her. She couldn't really tell why, either. Maybe she caught a sense of his emotions as the two had a bond through the sword, maybe it was something else. All she knew was that she felt a little more comfortable with him than anyone else around here lately.

With a nod to each other, she hopped on her noble steed as he took off to the air, soaring at great speeds through the beautiful day as they made their way over to the still-ruined castle. To think a month ago the castle was in complete ruins. At least a fifth of the outside walls were completely destroyed, the pillar that supported the Moonstone Chamber was nearly blasted apart, and the ravine was littered with the remains of broken droids and tank parts thrown across everywhere.

Now, you would barely recognize the place compared to how it once was. There were still some repairs that were needed to be done, but for the most part, the castle had been restored to its former glory. Most of the necessary walls were rebuilt, with a few small bits here and there that needed touching up, as indicated by the scaffoldings set up along the castle, as well as some blast marks that were noticeable near the waterfall behind the castle. Then everything would finally look good as new!

Even if it didn't feel like it.

...

"You should've seen it. With the Moonstone super-charged, I've been so much more powerful!" Glimmer stated, flexing her arms with pride. It was then that the three friends, Bow, Glimmer, and Catra, found each other again as they walked down the hallways. Through the small trek to the meeting room, Glimmer was still filled with excitement, Bow's expression showed signs of concern and deep thought, and Catra was still focusing on her sword until she heard Glimmer's tone perk up. "I must've taken out, like, at least five bots!"

"Hah, talk to me when you reach nine in five minutes, THEN we'll talk." Catra challenged, smirking.

"Five bots, nine bots, it never ends with the bots!" Bow stammered, pausing in the hallway as the two turned back.

"So? What are we supposed to do? Not fight?"

"The heck we aren'!" Catra grumbled, taking a step forward. "They're just going to keep coming if we ignore them! I say we hit them as soon as they show up, whenever they show up!"

"Exactly!" This was one of those few occasions where Glimmer was more than eager to agree with Catra. "The Horde is going to keep taking ground until the Whispering Woods regrows."

"I know, but how long can we keep this up?" It was the one issue Bow seemed to notice before all the others. No matter how many droids they kept fighting back, there were always more to take their place. "Did you learn anything from Light Hope?"

"Uhh... Not really, just the same garbage as before. You know, like 'I should always be focused', or, 'I have to protect Etheria', and all that... Eh heh..." Either Catra was getting worse at lying or the other two were getting better at telling when she was lying. This is pretty much how Catra's been for nearly the last month, with her always trying to pass off any questions about questions regarding her or Light Hope. They were more than aware she was hiding something from them, they just didn't know what.

"Catra," Glimmer spoke up with a pleading look, "what's going on with you lately?"

"N-Nothing! I'm just... a little stressed from all the training, that's all."

"Yeah, but you've been acting a bit stressed for the last few weeks now." Bow pointed out.

"Well what do you expect? I've been training everyday!" She snarled. "On top of fighting the droids with you guys, I'm working on mastering my powers with Light Hope. Just cut me some slack around here, jeez."

"We get that, Catra, and we're really trying to help you." It made Glimmer wonder if they were starting to lose some form of connection with her, given her recent shifts in mood lately. "We know you've been under a lot of stress since the Battle of Bright Moon. We even tried redecorating your room a little bit to make you feel more at home, but you still seem to be getting angrier."

"And why wouldn't I be? It's been feeling like the same day around here since the battle. I'm always getting called by Light Hope at random times of the day for more training and the droids keep invading our forests. It's just felt like one long day for the last month-"

"And it's making you think yesterday is when you had your big battle against Adora. We heard you before." The Princess of Bright Moon interrupted, shaking her head. "And we also know that's not the only thing bothering you, Catra. What else is going on with you?"

"Nothing, all right? Why do you need to know everything that's wrong with me?"

"So we can figure out how to help you." Bow chipped in. "It doesn't help anybody by keeping secrets to yourself like this, Catra. The sooner you tell us what's wrong, the sooner we can help you."

"You guys..."

How was she supposed to make them understand? This wasn't an issue with the amount of stress that's been tacking on lately or the fact she was still trying to be the best She-Ra she could be. The problem was she couldn't turn into the She-Ra she needed to be, and without She-Ra's full power, there wouldn't be any use for her if she couldn't help the Rebellion.

And she knew for a fact if she did tell them the truth, things would only get worse. They probably wouldn't let her assist them on their missions for her own safety, they wouldn't be able to use She-Ra's incredible magic to save themselves, and they wouldn't have the supreme strength that She-Ra displayed at the Battle of Bright Moon. This was beyond the issue of being unable to use She-Ra's incredible strength and more of an issue of Catra being needed, much less wanted, at all.

They wouldn't want someone who would put their friends or allies at risk, they wouldn't want someone who couldn't give it everything she had. It bothered her just as much as them that she couldn't explain what was going on, and that went on to the pile of Catra's neverending irritations.

"I... I just need time to sort out some personal issues, okay? I swear things will be back to normal soon."

The two dejected friends looked to each other in their brief moment, sighing in their minds at Catra's brash behavior. She was definitely back to being the same old Catra as before, albeit a little kinder than she's usually been. "Well then... Can you tell us how things have been with your training? Have you gotten any better at transforming your weapon into things?"

Finally, something to change the subject! "Of course I have!" She grinned. Raising her sword in front of them, the two watched as it began to glow with a bright light, transforming before their very eyes. "Behold! A... bowl of... some sort?" Ok... She was hoping for something along the lines of a katana or her favorite giant flail again, but it was better than nothing... presumably.

The strange bowl looked more like a pot of some kind, with the similarly matching colors of bright gold like most of her other weapons maintained, along with the encrusted blue jewel adorned in the middle of the beautiful work of art. Strangely, the part that threw Catra off were the round-shaped handles on the side of it, looking nothing like the pots and pans she's seen in the kitchen during her time in Bright Moon.

"...Pfffft! Hahahahaha!" Without warning, her two friends burst into laughter at the sight, unable to help themselves at the spectacle Catra's displayed.

"W-What?"

"Catra," Glimmer wiped her eyes as she felt a tear forming from the laughter, "that's a chamber pot!"

"Egh-!" If Catra wasn't worried about angering the sword or breaking it, she would've happily dropped it out of disgust. She's heard of the primitive toilets the people used in the past, and has never been so thankful to live in an era where indoor plumbing existed.

"Why didn't you transform it into a dagger or something?" Princess Frosta asked, appearing out of thin air.

"Wah!" The princess with pink hair jumped, startled by her sudden appearance.

"You should transform it into a dagger." Her eyes lit up as she smiled brightly at the Princess of Bright Moon. "Hey Glimmer, did you see me take out that robot with my ice daggers?"

"When did you get here?"

"She's been following us the entire time." Catra replied in her place, her keen sense of smell picking up the girl's scent several minutes ago. "Didn't you notice?"

"And why is Catra holding a chamber pot?" Frosta asked curiously.

"Mmmh I wasn't trying to make a chamber pot, I was going for a weapon!" She blushed.

"Hah hah, yeah, but at least now we don't have to worry about bathroom breaks in the middle of a fight, right?" Bow's attempt at humor was met with a twitching scowl on Catra's face as she turned to him. "Heh heh... heh... ehh... you're not laughing."

*clunk!*

"I am now." Catra clapped her hands in satisfaction after shoving the pot over Bow's head, covering it completely. The poor archer struggled as he tried to pry the golden pot from his head to no avail.

"Catra, can you take it off of him, please?" Glimmer asked as she turned back to the younger princess. "Anyway, we have to go. We have an important meeting to attend."

"The war council?" Frosta chirped with excitement. "I'm heading there, too. Better hurry, you're going to be late!" She winked, taking off down the halls with every intention to beat the princess down there in their glorious race! The very one Glimmer wasn't even aware of, and made her brow twitch all the same.

"...Do we have a new addition to the Best Friend Squad?" Bow asked in an echoey tone as the pot was still stuck over his face. No amount of discomfort could ever derail him from the possibility of new members.

"Shut up. Let's go. And Catra? The pot?" She reminded.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you." Catra mumbled, taking a few seconds of pulling from Bow's head until she finally pried the pot right off of him. "Besides, I'm going to need to use this later."

"Ewww. Gross."

"I MEANT TO FIGHT WITH!"

...

A/N: Feels like a good stopping point there with the length I have going. Like I said, writing might be a little iffy with what's going on lately, so hopefully its not too distracting.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 57: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey guys, monokub here! Bit of a shorter chapter today to make way for a grand fight we got going next chapter (and since it's been awhile since my last posting, know you guys wanna know where I'm at XP). Like I said, now school's over, updates will be a little less frequent, but i'll do everything in my power to keep it all in the same writing quality you all know and love! So hopefully, you guys will still be entertained by some shenanigans down below ^^

With that said, enjoy!

...

The War Room was one of the first places renovated after the Battle of Bright Moon, an event that was still as fresh in their minds as much as everything else. As Glimmer, Bow, and Catra made their way into the meeting room, they could see that most of the gang were already present, including Glimmer's mother, Queen Angella, Swift Wind, standing between Princess Spinnerella and Netossa, the Captain of the Guard, to the right of the Queen, and Princess Mermista of Salineas to the right of her.

It always brought a warm smile to Angella's person whenever she saw the amount of people filling the empty chairs. It reminded her of the better times of her life when the Rebellion was whole, where the kings and queens of the neighboring kingdoms were all working together before the great fall of the first Alliance. Now, the honor of restoring and maintaining that alliance befell her own daughter, Princess Glimmer, and she couldn't be more proud.

Now if half of those present could act a little less like children, including those who actually were children, that'd be a better step in the right direction...

"Sorry, heh, I think you're in my chair." Perfuma said to the lazing Mermista who casually smirked back as she leaned against the chair's arms.

"Yeah, don't you find it helpful to shift perspectives sometimes?" She teased. Maintaining the most composure she could, Perfuma stared at her briefly as her right brow twitched, silently squeezing her fist as she brushed off the annoyance and took a seat right next to her.

"Aunt Casta! You made it!" Glimmer's never been so happy to see her Aunt before, being the first time she's seen her in the Alliance since the original.

"I wouldn't miss it, dearest." She replied, smiling. If there was anyone in this room she was more than happy to see, it was the bright, smiling, face of her dear niece. "The first war room of the new alliance. How exciting."

"It's a shame you couldn't be there at the battle when the alliance was formed." The Queen commented, sounding miffed while maintaining her composure.

"How often do those two bicker?" Catra whispered over to Glimmer as the princess and Bow took their seats.

"Honestly, this is the furthest thing from bickering I've seen." She whispered back. "I'm surprised my mother even said anything to her so far."

"Huh..." If it wasn't for the fact Catra had more respect for the Queen now, especially after getting on her good side, she would've been more than eager to spice up the tension between the two. Not to mention they might have been without a war room if those two ever got into a fight over their past. With that in mind, Catra took her seat right next to the vacant chair on Glimmer's left-

*schlip*

*thud*

"Ow!" Catra yelped, rubbing her backside as Glimmer looked back. Much to her surprise, and to the painful posterior of Catra's bottom, the magicat ended up slipping right out of the chair from the moment she touched it, falling right out of her seat where her forehead collided with the table briefly and her butt was greeted with a harsh landing on the hard ground. Turning back to the traitorous chair in anger, she was met with the sight of a completely frozen seat covered in ice. "What the heck?"

"I call dibs sitting next to Glimmer!" A voice called out, cheerfully hopping their way over to the seat as they stole Catra's spot. Much to Catra's irritation, the supposed culprit of this little icicle trick was none other than the youngest member of the Princess Alliance, Princess Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows, who gave her back a cheeky grin as Catra as she rose back to her feet, still rubbing her painful butt.

"Grrrrr, get out of my spot!"

"Sorry, I already called dibs." Frosta sneered back.

"There's no calling dibs at the meeting table! Besides, I always sit next to Glimmer!"

"Well, you should've called dibs if you wanted to sit next to her beforehand."

"I already said there's no dibs!"

"Well then you should've called dibs on there being no dibs!"

"What part of no dibs don't you understand?!"

As the two continued to argue back and forth, Glimmer leaned against her own chair with a look of boredom and unamusement. Normally, anyone would be thrilled at the prospect of having two good friends fighting over them. After all, not only did it say how much they meant to the person in question when they were willing to fight for them, it also showed how far they were willing to go to do something for that person. In this case, having the privilege of sitting next to the leader of the Princess Alliance.

In this case, however, there was little to find enjoyable out of this. Here, she was being fought over by, when it came down to it, a young child with the manners of Catra, and a Catra with the manners of a young child. A kid and a cat. Probably the most embarrassing duo to be fought over.

"Would you guys stop fighting already?" Glimmer finally said, breaking up one of the many banters the two were having. "Catra, just sit in the next chair over, the meeting won't take that long."

"Mmmmhhh..." There was no greater shame or annoyance to the magicat than the sight of the shorter, younger, and annoying princess of Snows having her way, especially when she stuck her tongue out at the older girl like she always did when she had her way. Sadly, she knew she couldn't afford to make a scene and risk losing the Princess Alliance, again, because of her anger like last time. She refused to let her have the last laugh, though. "Least my butts not going to be wet when the meeting's over."

"Huh?" At the detail, Frosta noticed a small wetness along her backside, the cooled ice slowly melting as she set against it. As Catra took a seat a chair away from her. Refusing to let the magicat get the upperhand in their little bout, Frosta casually grinned back as she clicked her fingers, a small, audible, crackling noise filling the area around them as she refroze the ice, ensuring it wouldn't melt during the meeting. "Hah!"

"..." Catra said nothing to the girl as smirked back, bringing confusion to Frosta's being as she blinked to her. What few seconds she was about to spend asking her for details were instantly dashed away as she realized something. Along with a dreaded chill now creeping up her spine, she just realized her one mistake, the same one Catra was proud of herself for.

She froze her butt to the chair now, and it was freezing.

"Gheheheheh!" She shivered as her teeth chattered, her nerves tingling with the goosebumps spreading across her body. Ever since Frosta officially joined the Princess Alliance, this had been the same behavior displayed by the two on a daily basis. Frosta would pick on Catra for picking on her, she would fight over being able to hang out with Glimmer or being closer to her, and an endless prank war would erupt between the two until a meeting was called to order, or if they were in the middle of a mission.

If Glimmer facepalmed as much as she did now because of the two on a daily basis, she was sure she was going to have a handprint tattooed across her face. As for Catra, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride after pranking someone half her size again, leaning back in her chair with her feet on the table as always.

"Alright, everyone settle down." The Queen requested, wanting to get the meeting underway before anything else delayed them. "Swift Wind, what news do you bring from the south and the west?"

"The Horde has gained more territory in the west." Swift Wind informed as Spinnerella activated the small projection in front of him. Lighting up, the others watched as a holographic pink projection of the territory rose above the table, displaying which areas were under Rebellion control and which areas were Horde. "But with the help of Netossa and Spinnerella, our forces have manged to re-capture Thaymor. Again." With the announcement, Spinnerella and Netossa fistbumped each other in congratulations for themselves.

"Good." Catra mumbled, resting her eyes as she leaned back. "Bout time we got something back from them."

"I bet I know a different reason you're happy about it, Catwa~" Just from the sound of her voice, Catra instantly began to blush as an irritated vein appeared on her forehead, knowing who Glimmer was trying to mimic. "I'm sure a certain someone will be happy to thank you later."

"W-Would you knock it off!" Catra grumbled, turning away as the blush deepened. "I-I just owe her for being the first friendly person I've met outside the Horde. That's all."

"Hmhmhm..." No matter how selfish or self-centered Catra always displayed herself as, it always warmed Glimmer's heart to know she still cared for other people, like a certain four-and-a-half-year-old girl named Kim.

"Also," Swift Wind continued, "why don't I get a chair? If everyone else wants a chair, I want a chair."

"A-A chair. Of course. I'll see to it." The Queen replied, a little unsure of how someone would pull that off. "Commander Glimmer, how goes the situation in the Whispering Woods?"

"I'm happy to report we are handling the robots, and protecting the woods while it regrows, which it is doing... very... slowly..." Even though it might not have been intentional, Catra gave a soft frown to this as she lowered her head. She couldn't tell if She-Ra had any chance of healing the forest with her powers, which was another things to add to the unending list off irritations festering in her mind.

"Maybe it's time we stop fighting," Perfuma interrupted as she stood, "and start healing. My powers aren't strong enough to regrow the entire woods on my own, but when we princesses worked together in harmony at the Battle of Bright Moon, our powers grew. We should try to recapture that energy!" Without warning, Mermista flinched as she found a hand suddenly clenched around her wrist as she leaned against the table. "Maybe we should hold hands, and think healing thoughts. Hummmmm..."

"Yeah, if thinking it was all that was needed, I would've done it a long while ago." Catra remarked, lowering her feet as she leaned against the table, too. "And even if we did, that wouldn't stop the droids from coming back later on."

"If I may, Your Majesty." Bow spoke up as he stood. "We can't go on like this. We're defeating the bots, but more keep coming. While we're using our resources to hold our borders, the Horde hasn't had to deploy a single soldier. "

"Well what did you expect?"" Just the thought of it irritated Catra as she crossed her arms. "Adora doesn't make rash decisions, she plans things out in every detail, including who or what to send and where. As long as the droids exist, she's going to keep using them to prevent risking their own soldiers,"

"I've only been able to recover pieces, seeing as we have never not completely destroyed one of these things..." He hinted, glancing to the right.

Well EXCUSE me for helping...

"But if we can capture a whole bot, I might be able to program a kill switch. We could wipe them all out without draining our forces." The Queen and Head Sorceress of Mystacor smiled at the prospect as the others looked amongst themselves with excitement, save for the usual moody individual of the group. If they could develop a usable kill switch to disable the robots, it wouldn't just mean stopping the droids here and now, but throughout all of Etheria! No longer would they waste precious resources trying to fight against a never-ending army of droids, ones who felt no emotion for what they destroyed.

In addition, it also paved way to a possible future assault on the Horde itself. With the droids out of their commission, that would severely cut their army's size down by half, rendering them at half strength against whatever forces the Rebellion would have at the time to throw at them.

It was almost perfect in every way!

"An excellent idea, Bow!" The Queen nodded in approval as Bow smiled. "This could turn the tide for us. Glimmer take your patrol out, and capture a bot for Bow to study and carry out his plan."

Nodding, Glimmer rose from her seat as she turned to leave. She didn't know what warmed her heart more these days when it came to the meetings; the fact her and her mother were on better terms as of late, the way her mother spoke so authoritative when addressing Glimmer as a commander, assuring her of her trust in her daughter, or the numerous faces of allies that now filled the table.

To think that within a few months since Catra's defection, they would have gained such an ample amount of allies and friends. With Perfuma's kingdom's power, they had a control over the natural forests, making the woods even more defensible with her help. With Mermista, their naval fleets were in tiptop shape, allowing them to combat any watery threats the Horde had to throw at them. And with the amount of resources and soldiers at Princess Frosta's disposal, there was no end to the advancements their troops and weaponry could get to.

It was just a refreshing detail to go about everyday, to see almost-everyone's bright and shining faces as they sat alongside each other. Glimmer could tell, deep within her heart, that as long as they stood united, like the Princess Alliance was supposed to, that they could overcome any obstacle or challenge looming over their future.

Even if she did have to put up with one or two minor details.

"Commander!" Frosta perked up, having removed herself from the chair finally. She was the first thing Glimmer saw upon turning around. "I have some ideas to improve our efficiency. First, we should all have codenames."

"You already have codenames." Catra snarled, gesturing across the room. "That's Petals, that's Misty, Bowey, Pinky, and Brat." She declared Frosta's nickname with minor glee, enjoying as the shorter princess fumed a little.

"Mmmh! I refuse to be called 'Brat'. I will use the codename, Frostbite!"

"Wait a second, I thought I was Flowey?" Perfuma asked curiously.

"And why do I have to be just Misty?" The Princess of Salineas wondered. "Why can't it be something cooler, like 'Razorshark' or 'The Swimster'?"

"Because too many people around here have a Y at the end of their nickname, so-"

"Well wait, then why is she the only one who gets to have a new nickname?" Mermista complained, standing from her seat.

"Oh! I'm sorry Mermista," Perfuma apologized, "would you like to be Petals? I'll gladly take the name Razorshark then!"

"The heck you will! I want to be Razorshark!"

"Be whoever you want, I'm calling dibs on Frostbite!" Frosta announced before pointing back to Glimmer. "And she'll be Sparklebomb."

"Sparkle-what?"

"Hey, you already stole my seat, you're not taking away my nickname!" Catra growled. Aside from the fact this brat wasn't even a part of the Rebellion for the last month, there was no way she was going to let someone else say how things were run around here. Like who had what sort of nickname!

"Oh yeah? Why don't you stand up and say it to my face?"

"Gladly!" Catra couldn't wait to let this girl have it as she pushed herself firmly from the table. "You're not- Ahhhhh!"

*schlip*

*THUD!*

"Owww!"

"Ahahahahaha!" Frosta almost cried in laughter as she held her arms around her sides. In one swift motion, from the very moment the cat girl stood from the table, her entire face filled with surprise before she ended up sliding right under the table, landing squarely on the back of her head with a resounding thud. If it wasn't for the bulk of hair or the fact Catra was used to a daily pounding through her fighting and training, she would've been in serious pain right now.

At least, assuming she wasn't in tremendous pain already. Despite the rather soft blow to her head, it was still enough to daze her for a few seconds as she rubbed the back of her head where she landed. With the temporary loss of balance returning to her by the second, she rolled over to her side as she examined what it was that caused the slippery slide, and wasn't the least bit amused by what she found.

"You little BRAT!" Catra took off like the wild animal she represented as bolted for the younger girl, Frosta laughing all the way as she chased her around the room. Apparently, not that it surprised anyone, Frosta had accidentally planted a solid sheet of ice right under Catra's feet as soon as she managed to free herself from the frozen throne. As payback for the little prank, she decided to get back at the same feline by encasing the floor under her with ice, then allowing Catra's own stubbornness to distract her from what was right below her.

The Queen watched the young She-Ra chase the younger girl around the room, intending to give her whatever punishment she deemed necessary for the, admittedly devious, prank. Bow was the only one to make the unfortunate decision in trying to help break up the fight, resulting in the younger princess expertly sliding under his legs as she continued running, and the older princess running on all fours after her like an animal, crashing through Bow as he was tossed against the wall.

From here, the Queen could see the predicament everyone was in. Catra was currently chasing after a young Frosta who continued to taunt her, Mermista was arguing with Perfuma about who got to have what cool nickname, Bow was passed out along the wall, Glimmer was sitting atop the table trying to stand clear out of the way as the two continued to chase around the room, and Spinnerella and Netossa, despite being the more mature adults of the room, were childishly placing bets between the two about whether Frosta would get away or if Catra would catch up to her in time.

The Queen sighed as she leaned against her chair.

"At least we managed to finish the meeting for once..."

...

"With the Princess Alliance preoccupied with our bots, we've been able to gain significant ground." Adora informed Hordak as Scorpia held up a map depicting the locations of their various victories.

This was almost a dream come true to the Horde Captain,in a way. She rose through the ranks of a mere cadet, showed her might and her worth for the rest of the Horde, and even earned Lord Hordak's gratitude in recognition of her accomplishments, earning her the title of second-in-command within Hordak's army. Adora never thought for once in her life that she would become the second-in-command, much less this early, and be working right alongside Lord Hordak directly!

But even as they spoke, there was still the minor nuisance that was irritating the back of her mind. In her dream world of all this, there was one person missing from the equation, somebody she loathed most of all, who disgusted her with her greed and selfishness, and her total lack of care or concern for the friend she left behind.

That person's name, was Catra.

In this dreamlike setting, she was supposed to be standing at her side too, working together to be the proudest members of the Horde they could possibly be. She was going to show everyone in the Horde how wrong they were about her to call her a freak, to prove to them that Catra was nowhere near as bad as everyone once said. Now those same thoughts were reversed, as Adora held nothing but extreme contempt for the young magicat, and would ensure she did everything within her power to see her brought to justice.

"You have not disappointed me, Force Captain." Lord Hordak replied calmly, the lack of emotion in his tone doing nothing to hamper Adora's satisfaction at the statement. "Clearly, I was wise to promote you"

"You honor me too much, Lord Hordak." Adora thanked, giving a small bow and a nod. It felt strange to be praised this much by her peers and fellow soldiers. To have so much respect around the Horde, even from the people she knew since growing up with, was a rather strange yet satisfying feeling in the back of her mind.

All that gusto and joy quickly dashed away as she lifted her head again, trying her best to refrain from making a noticeable reaction as she saw Entrapta's hair twirling about from behind the chair. "Hmmm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmmmm~" She hummed to herself as she examined the tools and screws she found scattered about the Throne Room.

"Uhhh y-yes!" Adora continued with a semi-worrying tone. "We've made remarkable progress. And thanks to the resources provided by the Kingdom of Snows, we've managed to assemble more than enough droids and equipment to last us the next year alone."

"Excellent. I must admit, I had my doubts about your... methods, when Shadow Weaver first told me about your plan to recruit her. Yet, for one of the few times in my life, I will admit I was proud to be proven wrong about them."

"Thank you, sir."

"But what of the princess herself?" He questioned, rubbing his chin in curiosity. "Can she be trusted enough to carry out her missions?"

"Yes, Lord Hordak. I would not have even considered it if I didn't think she was trustworthy. For the last month she's been aiding us with the resources like I said, and she's helped us keep tabs on the princesses and what they're doing. She checks in with us almost everyday and tells us what's going on."

"Not that we need it anymore." Entrapta added, looking over the throne with excitement in her eyes. "Thanks to the resources Frosta provided plus the technology Adora managed to secure from the FIrst Ones' ruins, I managed to create one of my greatest creations to date!" Before Hordak had the chance to turn around, the purple-haired scientist disappeared from above him, reappearing in front of Adora with stars in her eyes. "Can I show it now? Pleeease? Please! Please! Pleeeeeease!"

"Alright, alright, you can show him."

"Heeeeeh!" Oh boy, she could hardly wait! Without giving any chance for an interruption, the scientist thrust two finger-shaped molds of hair into her mouth, giving off the loudest whistle she possibly could.

*TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET~!*

Hordak waited with anticipation as he awaited the miraculous invention of hers. To think that within just one month, this one princess could increase the firepower of his entire army three times as much. There was a fascinating development through the course of her interactions with the fellow scientists and engineers of the Horde. Sometimes he wondered if this war would have been won by now if he bothered to recruit the young scientist from the very beginning.

Then again, it's her random bouts of curiosity and excitement that he found most annoying. From being constantly distracted to disregarding any protocols or rules around this place, she was a handful in and of herself to deal with. There were numerous reports throughout the Fright Zone he had to listen to, with multiple complaints about random tools or machinery being found torn apart and reused for whatever the scientist had in mind for them.

If it wasn't for her contributions to the Horde, Hordak would've casted her out from day one since joining the Horde.

Following the small rumbling of the ground that was starting to pick up, Hordak rose from his seat as he made his way over to the edge of the stairs where Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta had gathered. Through the darkness, he saw a round shape making its way towards them, rolling about until it was out in the clearing where the lights could reveal it.

There wasn't much to look at as the figure stopped in the center of the large clearing. All there was to see was a large round metallic ball made of silver, without a line or dent noticeable around the entire creation. From afar, he could see a small glint of light reflecting off the metallic creation, being spotless from top to bottom as it was presented to the leader of the Horde Army. Whatever this scientist decided to waste his time with, he knew it was going to be important, and interesting.

For her sake, it better be.

"Ladies and gents, I present to you my greatest of creations!" Entrapta introduced proudly.

"A... sphere?" Hordak questioned, wondering what he was supposed to be impressed with.

"Not just a sphere! The Ultimate sphere!" Turning back towards the bottom of the stairs, Entrapta clapped her hands loudly as she signaled for the others to reveal themselves from the same shroud of shadows. Down below, the others saw three regular combat droids rolling into the same opened area, taking position evenly between the larger sphere as they formed a triangle. All of them had their attention and targeting focused on the lone droid between the three of them.

"And this... sphere... is supposed to do what, exactly?"

"Oooooh! Just watch!" Entrapta squealed, pressing her knuckles against her chin as she tried to contain her excitement.

From below, the three droids began to charge their canons simultaneously on the one bot, the very one who had yet to do anything that was worth getting worked up about. The most it did upon hearing the charging robots was transform.

From its flawless carapace, the bot began to unravel itself, taking a more humanoid shape that stretched a good ten feet tall in height. Its appendages were all covered in parts of its original sphere, while the inner bot itself was rather scrawny in comparison. Its limbs were barely a foot thick as it towered over the other droids, staring off into space as it continued to face the stairs with its single monocular-like head, giving off a purple glow where its eye was.

The longer Hordak stared at it, the less amused he was by its appearance. It didn't look any different than a simple robot, save for the shining metallic silver shield-like carapace that protected its limbs, and allowed it to morph back into the same sphere it once was. Standing there, out in the open, it turned its head towards the surrounding droids, the sound of gears shifting filling the surroundings as it gazed at its combatants.

Then, with all three of them fully charged, they fired.

*BOOM!*

The entire droid was caught in a massive explosion that filled the lower-half of the staircase in smoke, coating the floors with a blackened soot where the droid once stood. Waiting a few seconds, the others saw the same droid now down on its back, apparently worn out from the three blasts that were supposed to impress Lord Hordak in some way.

"...That's it?" He scoffed.

"Was it supposed to do that?" Scorpia whispered, leaning over to Adora. The Force Captain gave her a small shush as she watched, a bit of anxiety building up in the back of her mind, praying to herself that Entrapta's work wasn't all for nothing.

"That's, the beginning." Entrapta corrected, holding up a braid of hair like a finger in front of him. Turning back to the downed droid, Hordak could see it twitching its fingers, stumbling about as it slowly worked on getting back to its hands and knees. "Let me ask you a question. What is the one thing none of the other droids have managed to do so far without proper input?" Glancing to the irritated leader, Entrapta decided to continue as she saw the minor twitch in his scowl. "Learn from their mistakes."

With another sound of gears following along, she continued, "So, using technology and resources I was generously provided with, I came up with the one robot that nobody has ever created, one that puts all over robots to shame as it does the one thing none of them could ever do." Grinning, she watched as the three droids prepared to fire their canons again, charging for a deadly blast that was sure to take out the newly created droid once and for all.

"It adapts."

Everything that followed after took the time span of five seconds. With a glow in its purple eye-like head, the robot quickly brought its arms to its chest as it began to morph the silver plate-like shieldings around into a refractive surface, bending and angling along its arms and backs just as the droids opened fire. Without missing a beat, the droid prepared itself as it angled both of its arms and its back into position so the protective carapace could take the hits directly. Instead of exploding on impact like it did before, the lasers were harmlessly bounced back at the attackers as they reflected off its silver surface, completely obliterating them.

As if that wasn't impressive enough, its attention was drawn to the sound of several more droids that were marching through the darkness, turning to face the oncoming threats headon. Looking to its arms again, Hordak almost flinched as the silver plates morphed once more, formling blade-like appendages that extended well beyond the robot's arms.

There was no sign of fear in the robot as it charged directly at the incoming droids who fired away at the monstrous creation, only to hit empty air as the robot dodged expertly out of the way. "My creation learns from every move or technique used against it. Using a complex algorithm, it then proceeds to list every possibility in any and all future attacks, allowing it to know what the enemy is going to do, with over a hundred and sixty-eight different ways they could do it!" With a grin, Entrapta felt the goosebumps spreading across her skin as the robot slid expertly away from the blasting droid and over to its side.

The other droid didn't even get the chance to turn around before the robotic droid sliced it cleanly in two, sparks going off as it split down the middle, then exploded. The robotic droid stood in the piling smoke that surrounded it as the second droid continued to fire, missing repeatedly as the advanced droid used the smoke as cover. Grabbing onto the broken remains of the droid, the bot charged towards the firing machine at full force, throwing two handfuls of wreckage as the droid blocked the incoming blasts and blocking its vision as the running droid ran past it.

The rounder droid was powerless to stop its would-be victim as it began to shake, feeling the droid's powerful grips on the side of its body as it lifted the attacker off its feet. "It uses everything in its surroundings to its advantage, and makes the most out of whatever it can find lying around. With enough strength to lift over a thousand pounds, its more than enough to match She-Ra's own power." She winced as she watched the beautiful creation break the former one, crushing it in its bare hands with ease, then casually tossing it to the ground where it kicked the broken droid away. "And that's not even the best part! The best part is-"

*boooooooosh!*

Out of nowhere, the powerful droid shielded its body with its arms as the last remaining droid let loose a blaze of fire from its opened compartments that spread from the side, unleashing a powerful jet of flames that could melt most metal within seconds. While it wasn't enough to destroy the droid for good, it did appear to weaken the droid enough to the point where it dropped to one knee, shakily guarding itself with its silver plates.

There didn't seem to be any way for the droid to stop the other one from blasting at it, not with the powerful flames it jettisoned. If it lowered its stance or tried to approach without a proper plan, the intense fires would melt away at its inner body, the intense heat short circuiting anything still functioning within the mechanical creation, and leaving it powerless to stop the droid from melting every last bit of it.

But fortunately, that's where its greatest ability kicked it.

"It evolves!"

Right on queue, the systems within the droid began to adapt its entire body on a molecular level. Every inch of its metallic steel began to harden as an icy winds blew across the defenseless droids, turning a cool breeze into a frigid tundra as patches of cold and ice began to spread forth from across it. The fires blasting at the empowering droids were beginning to die down as the terrible freeze spread further and further from the droid, eventually allowing it to rise from the ground without protecting itself, watching as the weaker droid's flame continued to diminish.

All of the droids presently used were designed specifically by Entrapta, the princess wanting to make sure her great creation could put on the best performance it could for the person Adora had such high respect and esteem form. "Using the data crystal and technology Adora obtained from the First Ones' ruins, I've created a robot that can change its entire physiology to perfectly counter whatever the princesses have to throw at it. If they try to freeze it, it'll raise its body temperature tenfold. If they try to melt it, well... you see what its doing now, right?"

Hordak could never express his great interest in the girl's technology, not out in the open like this, yet Adora knew with all her heart that he was absolutely impressed! The way he watched with intrigue as the robot began walking over to the helpless fiery droid, the way the robot soon began to freeze into a hardened ice sculpture itself, and how it easily managed to shatter the entire droid with one fist, destroying the frozen sculpture into tiny little bits.

It was the ultimate creation, the likes of which have never been accomplished before! And it was all thanks to Entrapta!

You should be the one he praises. After all, you got the materials she needed to begin with.

"Ngh..." Adora nearly moaned as she felt a small pang on the left side of her head. There's that stupid voice of hers again, the one that, according to Entrapta, was part of some function of her brain being on overload. She could put up with it taunting her on the occasion, and the way it told her to be better than herself, to make everyone submit to her power out of concern for her own safety. She managed to ignore such thoughts and complications every time.

But why was her "self preservation" acting like she should be jealous of someone else?

Scorpia was the only one who noticed the small twitch in Adora's person, knowing it was another headache or something caused by her condition. She would never forgive Catra for doing whatever she did to make Adora turn out this way, and she was going to be more than satisfied to watch this thing defeat the Rebellion once and for all!

All eyes turned to the robotic humanoid as it pulled its massive fist out of the shattered remains of the previous droid. Finished with its task, the robot folded its arms and legs back into place as it covered itself up again, reforming into the perfect sphere it originally appeared to be. There was nothing about this display that didn't surprise Lord Hordak, or exceed his expectations.

"A fully integrated robot using only the finest resources we could muster." Entrapta said as she finished her demonstration. "It learns, adapts, and most of all, evolve, into whatever is needed to defeat its enemies. It can match all of the princesses powers combined, and is more than enough to take on She-Ra. Maybe even the entire Rebellion with assistance! And I call my marvelous creation... Orbkos!"

"...Orbkos?" Scorpia raised a brow at the title. "Why Orbkos?"

"I dunno. Only thing that came to my mind that sounded catchy."

"Most impressive." Hordak complimented, rubbing his chin. "And you can make more of these?"

"Yes! Er..." The scientist scratched the back of her head as she looked off to the side. "I mean, no. I mean, I could. But I only had enough First Ones tech to make this one. It would take a mountain of resources to make another from scratch, and I mean a literal mountain. The only alternative is to use more First Ones technology, wherever we can find some."

"And I know where we can get more." Adora announced, grinning ear to ear as she gazed at the incredible warmachine.

Nothing that was thrown at it could put it down, its adaptable technology allowed it to overcome any plans or ideas the Rebellion could create, and, according to Entrapta, it could easily match Catra's own power. There was no way someone like her stood a chance against the technological prowess of a weapon like this, and Adora would do everything in her power to make sure of that.

It was time to take this little toy out for a test run...

...

A/N: Like I said, shorter read, but to make way for some lightheartedness + action in the next 2 chapters. Definitely going to enjoy the action, and pretty sure everyone else will too (least hope you do ^^). Really don't have much to say other than that, been kinda out of it lately, but hope to keep writing more and more as usual and hope to bring you guys some fun and entertainment!

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you all enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 58: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFTAH! God, its been forever! What is up people, monokub back with a brand spanking new chapter to boot! Heh heh!...ehhhhh..

I'm not going to sugarcoat it- this was a really hard chapter to write. Why? I don't know. But for the first half of it I could barely think of what to write, and even what I did write I'm still not 100% sure of. Honestly, the latter half of this i actually managed to finish in under a day, it was the first half that kept giving me a delay, and I don't know why.

I'm not even 100% satisfied with how this game out in all actuality. The writings a bit choppy here and there and I feel like I skimmed out on some things. Idky, i just wasnt really into this chapter like I was the last three, hard to say.

Either way, hope you guys can still enjoy the extra long posting here with all of its faults, and with that being said, enjoy!

...

"Ok. We'll split up to cover more ground." Glimmer instructed as she paced back and forth in front of her friends.

Today's mission in the Whispering Woods would be unlike anything they've ever done before. Normally, whenever they charged into the woods, it was to take out the invading Horde army of droids. Every day they spent wasting their time doing this, the Horde managed to acquire more territory across the forest, as well as the rest of Etheria. There was no rest for the heroes if they didn't want to lose one of the few means of protection they had against a Horde assault, the wood's mystical energies having protected them up until a month ago.

Now they were going to do things a little differently. Today, their main priority was not to destroy any droids they came across, but to capture one intact. During the previous Rebellion Meeting, Bow came up with the idea of creating a Kill Switch, a device that could stop the droids in their tracks, and heavily cripple the Horde's robotic army. They just needed to find a droid and capture it without destroying it.

And that, in itself, remained the problem.

Of the half-dozen heroes that currently stood alongside each other, there was one that went by the name of Catra, who was less inclined about keeping the droids intact and more in favor of ripping as many of them as possible to shreds. Everyday her anger's been rising since the Battle of Bright Moon, an event that still scarred her, both physically and emotionally. Not just because she was dealing with her conflicting feelings of Adora being her enemy from now on, but the fact she hasn't been able to turn into her full-fledged She-Ra form as she did during the climactic battle.

Something was keeping her back, placing a handicap on her She-Ra form, and she had no idea what it was. She was stuck with the weaker form of She-Ra that she has donned since her adventures began, the one with plain white outfit, golden tiara and bracers, and a short skirt. She couldn't attain the full power of She-Ra again no matter how many times she tried to during the last month, and it was getting harder for her to keep it a secret from the rest of her friends and allies.

Why should she tell them anyway? How would that make anything better? If she told anybody, there wouldn't be much of a use for her anymore, and that was the least of her reasons. Something about herself was keeping her from attaining the true form of She-Ra, the empowered version they desperately needed to turn the tide of war in their favor. She was holding herself back somehow, she didn't know how to fix it, and the last thing she wanted was for anyone to find out unless she figured out why this was happening in the first place.

Whatever was keeping her from unlocking her full potential was definitely on her, and she couldn't afford to let anyone find out for the time being. According to Light Hope, she has gotten a marginal increase of obtaining She-Ra's true form by a mere percentage, barely over two-percent of her previous form, so she knew she was making progress in some way. She just had to figure out how to obtain the form of She-Ra on her own, the same way she fixed all of her problems in the past.

On her own.

"Catra and I will cover the north and southern side of the woods." Glimmer continued, turning to her friends. "We can move the fastest, so we can cover more ground that way and react if one side has an emergency. Bow, Mermista, you two cover the-"

"Razorshark..." Mermista interrupted, reminding her of the codename she preferred at the moment.

"...Ughhh..." Glimmer rubbed her eyes as she groaned at the irritation. "Fine. Razorshark, and Bow, you two will cover the western side. Bow and Perfuma have the best chance of capturing a robot without damaging it too badly, which is why I'm sending her and Frosta to the eastern-" Glimmer paused as she looked at the empty space left of Perfuma. "Where's Frosta?"

"She said she had to take care of something for a minute." Perfuma replied casually.

"Oh come on!" Glimmer rolled her eyes as she moaned. "She kept complaining about coming with us after the meeting and now she's not even here?" She set up these teams with the idea that they would all be evened out and they would work well alongside each other. Even though Perfuma and Bow were more capable of capturing a droid alive, especially if she paired them up together, she placed the two on separate teams so they could balance out their partners' massive strength and magic. "She said she wanted to go with us, so why did she disappear all of a sudden?"

"I told you you shouldn't have brought her." Catra let out a bored yawn as she reminded.

"You said that about every mission."

"And your point?"

"It'll be fine, Glimmer." Perfuma spoke before the other princess had the chance to respond. "I can capture a bot just as easily by myself. And Swift Wind can help look for the bots and watch over me in case something goes wrong." Swift Wind let out a proud neigh to this as he lifted his head in agreement, stretching his rainbow-colored wings.

"I don't know... Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"

"Don't worry, Glimmer," Swift Wind answered in her place, "I'll keep the fair princess safe!" He decreed, earning a satisfying smile from the princess of plants.

"Well... if you're sure then." She submitted, knowing time was of the essence to find a droid, the missing princess, and keep the two from potentially destroying each other. "Alright then, we should head out."

"And remember," Bow continued on, "we need an intact bot. No destroying, no tearing about, and no smashing."

"What if it was just, like, a liiiiiittle waterlogged?" Mermista teased with a grin.

"And also covered in ferns that secret a corrosive poison?" Perfuma added, raising a hand.

"How about if we just accidentally sliced a droid or two in half?" Catra tried to pitch in quietly, letting out a fake cough to cover up her involvement.

"No, no, and no." Bow retorted directly to the three princesses, Catra mentally scoffing with annoyance. "We have to capture the next bot without any major damage. Otherwise I'm not going to be able to make a kill switch."

"Alright, alright, I got it." The magicat groaned as she walked away from the group. "Let's just go already." The others looked to one another with a sense of unease before they took off in their assigned directions. On top of everything else the group was doing, there was also a particular reason Glimmer chose this order of friends to pair up with each other. Among them, only one of them could keep up with Catra if she ever tried to bolt or run from the scene, as well as someone she was most comfortable with out of the group.

And that person was none other than Glimmer herself.

Waiting for the rest of her friends to leave, Glimmer sped up to the feline girl as she walked along her side. "Hey, so... Catra? Can we talk for a minute?"

"Yeah, what about?" Catra didn't even bother giving her any attention as she leaned her arms behind her head as she walked.

"Well..."

"...It's about me, isn't it?" She could tell within seconds what Glimmer was trailing off to.

"Kind... of..." She's never felt so awkward before when talking to Catra. How was she supposed to approach the person who appeared to be getting angrier throughout the last month without making her any angrier than she was now? "I thought this would be a good chance to catch up on things since... you know..."

"Since I fought against Adora, right?" There wa a surprising lack of disdain in Catra's voice at this, though, Glimmer couldn't tell whether this was a good or bad sign.

"Y-Yeah... I mean..." Taking a deep breath, Glimmer prepared herself for the conversation that was about to follow. "Catra, you've become real distant as of late ever since the big battle."

"Well, yeah. What did you expect, sunshine and rainbows? I felt like I lost a lot on that day, Pinky, and I've been trying to ignore it." Just the fact she reverted to using Glimmer's nickname was more than enough proof to what Glimmer was saying.

"But it's more than that, Catra. You've been quiet about yourself and us more than you used to be, and that's saying a lot. You usually don't speak to us unless it involves fighting the Horde, you never tell us how much your training is progressing unless we ask first..." Glimmer glanced over the cat girl as she continued to look away, her tail's tip twitching with a sense of unease. "And I... I just want to know..."

"Know what?" Catra's hissed was followed by a moment of silence between the two, one that irked the half-human as she turned her head to her friend.

"I... I want to know if... If you're still mad at us about Adora?" The pleading look in her eyes and the question itself was enough to get Catra to stop in her tracks. How could she not know what she was referring to? It was a day that played endlessly within her mind ever since it happened.

It was the day of the big battle, when everything in Catra's life changed for good. After a harrowing struggle between friend and foe, Catra had finally achieved the true form of She-Ra and managed to gain the upper hand. She could match Adora's strength, dexterity, and magic with her own, and she was beginning to turn the tide for the rest of the Rebellion. It was the first time she got a feel for what it was like to be She-Ra, and she couldn't be more thankful for the timing.

But it was also the same day she had to let go of Adora, no matter how much it tore her up inside. She needed to let her go if she wanted to use all the power she had at that moment, to unleash every ounce of strength she needed to push back the intense wave of darkness she shot at her, and she couldn't do it. She couldn't force herself to fight against Adora knowing everything that happened to her was her own fault, not with all the guilt that had followed her up to that point. She risked possible death at the hands of a dear friend from her own guilt, and a part of her was willing to accept the consequences.

That was until her two new recently-assured friends teleported to her side, by the name of Glimmer and Bow. It was thanks to their support and encouragement, literally having her back when she needed it most, that was she willing to press on and stop Adora where she stood. It was a painful endeavor to force herself through, but one that came without a choice. If she failed to stop Adroa's attack, her life would be at risk, as well as the lives of her other friends and allies. They would've suffered just as much as she would if she didn't stop Adora then and there, and knew what she had to do.

She had to let Adora go. Throw away what little remained of their friendship at that moment. She couldn't risk the people she came to care for losing their lives because of one lousy decision she's made, all because she was too weak to push herself through whatever pain was necessary. And while it was thanks to their encouragement she managed to get passed the sadness that came soon after, it was also because of them that she had that pain to begin with.

They put themselves in harm's way by standing right beside her. They practically left her without a choice. They saw her unable to decide for herself, and they had to push her to make a choice against her will. And it was one of the most painful experiences she, or they, had ever experienced.

"I wouldn't blame you if you are." Glimmer continued, distracted by her fidgeting hands as she tried to speak through this sense of unease. "Even if it was to save you, we really didn't give you much of a choice, and I'm sorry for that-"

"I don't blame you." Catra cut off, the response surprising the Princess of Bright Moon. "Yeah, I was pretty mad when I realized it myself, but it's not like I don't understand why you did it either. If you hadn't, I don't know if I would've beaten Adora a month ago, and you couldn't risk anything happening to your other friends. So yeah," Catra continued down the pathway, "don't go thinking I'm mad about you or Bow forcing me to beat Adora. I'm not mad about that."

"You... aren't?" She couldn't tell what to make of the revelation. On one hand, it was good to know she didn't harbor any grudge against Bow and Glimmer, a worry that hadn't left their mind since the day of the battle. On the other hand, that still left one very important question unanswered. "Then why are you getting so mad around here lately?"

Catra's tail wagged aggressively at this as she went on. "That part's personal, so don't bother asking about it."

"Mmmmh..." One step forward, two steps back. That's what the situation felt like to Glimmer. Where she finally had one glorious question answered, she found another one waiting in its place, one that was more crucial to the current mystery surrounding Catra. Without any care of how she would react, Glimmer teleported from her spot as she reappeared right in front of Catra, blocking her path.

"Get out of the way, Pinky.'

"No, Catra!" Glimmer stammered. "I'm tired of you always keeping something from us. I thought after you accepted us as your friends you would be more open with us, but, if anything, you've been closing yourself off more and more!"

"Well what did you expect?!" She snarled back. "It wasn't exactly an easy week to get through a month ago. It was one problem after another, and it was getting worse every day right up to the very end! How can you expect me to accept so much of what's happened in that short amount of time?"

"I'm not asking you to accept anything right now, Catra! I just want to know what's gotten into you lately." Catra's expression softened as she saw the pained look in Glimmer's eye. "We're your friends, Catra, and you should feel comfortable with telling us anything. At least give us some sort of hint so we can figure out what's wrong."

"Pinky, I-!" Catra paused as she stared off to the side, an aspect Glimmer examined in full detail. No matter how far Catra pushed away within the last month, she still held the same kindness she's shown the others since becoming friends, proven by the fact she didn't threaten or growl at the irritating Glimmer. Catra wondered if she told Glimmer anything if she would leave her alone, trying to find any excuse to drop the conversation, even if it meant revealing a little of what happened. "...I messed up..."

"Huh?" Finally, some progress! And yet, it still seemed to be painful for her to bare. "You... messed up?"

"I... I did something I shouldn't have, alright?" While the vague tone in Catra's voice was offsetting, Glimmer could tell by the serious tone in her voice how much it was eating her up. "I thought about something stupid that I shouldn't have a few days after the battle, and I've been trying to fix it ever since."

"What were you thinking about?"

"... It doesn't matter. Just know that... If I ever seem mad at you or Bow about something, it has nothing to do with you two, alright?"

"But Catra, you don't have to worry about the others. Whatever it is that's bothering you, I'm sure they'll understand! You should feel as comfortable with them as you do with us, even if it takes awhile to get used to them, too."

"I don't have a problem with them, Pinky!" Catra stomped with in a gruff as she lead the way. "Yeah, they annoy me, and I'm nowhere near calling them friends anytime soon. Mermista's sassy, and I find her amusing at times, but she's still irritating the rest of the time. Perfuma's too nice for her own good and a love freak when it comes to plants. And don't even get me started on-!" Halting, Catra's head shot to the right as her ears perked up.

"Ca-?"

"Shhh!" Catra shushed, quietly yet firmly. Noticing her trance-like stare into the woods, Glimmer glanced over into the dark woods themselves, trying to see what was distracting her so much. One of the things she could never get over was Catra's keen sense of hearing and everything it entailed. She could hear someone two rooms over half the time, and on a quiet night, she could hear a guard belching from the entrance of the castle while they stood watch.

It was a detail she didn't prefer knowing.

With nary a flinch, lowering her eyes, Catra sprinted down a path of the trees, with nothing following her save for the sound of the rustling of leaves and twigs behind her. The magicat didn't care if Glimmer could keep up with her or not, she had to see what she was hearing for herself. If she was hearing what she thought she did, then it would confirm her recent suspicions about a certain someone that's been pestering her all throughout the last month.

Rounding the corner, she pressed her back against a tree as she came to a clearing, poking her head out just enough to see the person in question. Over in a small patch of clearing, on the other side from where she was, she saw the certain pipsqueak that's been bothering her on multiple levels as of late, who had her back turned to Catra as she examined something in front of her.

One that went by the name of Princess Frosta, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows.

"Mmmh... come on... Open up..." She heard her mumbling as Catra quietly edged closer to her. Her body was twitching a little as she was hunched over something in her hands. "Why can't I get this stupid thing to work?" Being as quiet as possible, Catra neared the girl an inch at a time, trying to see what she was doing. From the small rattling-like noise she could hear, Frosta was messing with something in her hands, something small enough to conceal on her person at all times

"What are you doing?"

"Ack-!" The almost-twelve-year-old shrieked, startled at the sudden voice. For just a split second, Catra caught a glimpse of the small object as it jumped from Frosta's hand. It was just for an instant, but it was enough to see the rough wooden edges of whatever she was holding. Like any panicking child with something to hide, the young princess quickly hid it behind her back as she gave a stern look back to her recent eavesdropper. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on a mission, remember?" She could see the girl tense up as Catra crossed her arms suspiciously. "Better question is, what's behind your back?"

"N-Nothing!" She stuttered as Catra narrowed her brows. There was no doubt she was hiding something if the physical details behind it weren't enough of a hint for the magicat. Her mannerisms, the nervous twitch in her eyes, the fact she was still keeping both her hands behind her back. She could take any one of these hints and instantly know she was keeping a secret from her.

"Is that so?" Frosta didn't change the stern expression on her face even as Catra squatted closer to the ground so she was at eye-level. "Then what's behind your back?"

"My hands, duh!"

"Aside from that, you little brat."

"Nothing, Princess Pet!" She mocked. "I just froze my hands by accident while I was trying a new trick, so I'm trying to warm them up. That's all." Catra had to admit, for an annoying brat like her, she was pretty good at making up a fake story on the spot.

"Oh, really?" Catra scoffed, raising a hand towards her. "Then you won't mind if I help you warm up your hands then, right?" That little drop in Frosta's eyes didn't go unnoticed to the mentally-grinning cat. "After all, my hands tend to be pretty warm compared to most peoples'. Unless, of course, you really are hiding something..."

"Are you kidding? I'm not going to give you my hands!" Before Catra could call her out on her suspicions, she continued, "I've seen the way you clean yourself. I don't want cat slobber touching me!"

"I DON'T COVER MY HANDS WITH SLOBBER!" It didn't matter how much she cleaned herself on the occasion, mostly along her arms and her hands. There was no way she could snap back like that without the faintest of blushes. She was occasionally dirty when it came to grooming herself, she wasn't a dog that was drooling all the time. "And why is it taking so long to warm your hands up? Shouldn't you be more than hot enough with that stupid winter coat on?"

"I don't need to subject myself to your primitive ways of keeping your hands warm." She boasted proudly.

How the heck is putting your hands in a pocket primitive? She couldn't tell what irritated her more; how far this girl was going to keep whatever she was holding secret, or the dumb excuses she was coming up with to keep them hidden. With most of her direct methods of confrontation seeming to fail her, she resorted to the last trick on the tip of her mind. Mentally grinning, she let out a silent gasp as she gazed behind her. "Adora!?"

"Huh-?"

*swiff*

"Wha- HEY!" Frosta yelped as she felt the contents within her hands being swiped away. Within the three seconds she turned around to when she angled her back degree closer in Catra's direction, the magicat managed to swipe the mysterious objects right out of her hands, keeping the shorter princess at bay with her right foot as she pushed against her face. Catra showed little interest or care as she continued to push the childish princess back with ease while examining the object in great detail.

The small object in question appeared to be a small treasure chest-like box, with various symbols and designs based around the Kingdom of Snow's culture. Shaking it within her palms, she could hear a small rattling noise coming from within. Whatever was inside of the mysterious box had to be important if the small princess was so keen on keeping it hidden from the rest of the group, as well as Catra in particular.

The only bit of worry she had behind all of this was what could be so important that the princess refused to show anyone else?

"Get your smelly foot off of my face!" Frosta continued to grumble, trying to pry the small grip of Catra's claw nails had with her hair.

"What's in the chest, brat?" Catra questioned nonchalant.

"Nothing! It's not important, so just give it back!"

"If it's not important then why do you want it back so badly?" Smirking, she tauntingly shook the box around the princess's face as the contents within it rattled. "You seem pretty worked up about something not important..."

"That's because it belongs to me!" She growled back, refusing to use her magic to attack her unless it was absolutely necessary. If she tried to use her powers just to get back a seemingly-harmless box, it would create a great cloud of suspicions from the rest of the allies as well, and that would make her cover even harder to maintain. "It's not going to do anything for you anyway! You need a key only I can make with my magic, otherwise you're just wasting your time."

"Oh, really?" If there was one thing Catra liked, it was a challenge. If there were two things Catra liked, it was a challenge, and one that involved breaking and entering something, or picking the lock to a well-kept secret. Seeing the magicat's face brightened up with a grin, Frosta's eyes narrowed as Catra playfully lifted up her right pinkie, steadily growing a sharpened claw from it, and inserted it into the box without hesitation.

One of the many skills Catra was proud to have was the ability to lockpick anything with a small lock, such as this. Doors, small chests, etc., they were all toys for her amusement as she dug her claws within the locks. There was always a certain process that usually went along with this as she fiddled with her claw inside the small lock. Sometimes she could need to grow a second claw to help with the procedure, provided the lock was big enough to fit two claws in, but thankfully she seemed to be making progress as she slid her nails deeper into Frosta's secret.

As her pinkie twitched and shifted, hearing the small spring going off every couple of seconds, Frosta started to panic. There was no way she could allow anyone to see what was in the box, and she didn't think anyone could pick their way into the box before meeting Catra. With every centimeter she saw her finger slide in, a pound of fear and concern started to fill up in Frosta's heart. She needed to find a way to get her annoying foot out of her face, and to get the box at the same time.

Despite her childish demeanor, there were still some things even she was against doing, knowing it would tarnish her reputation as a princess and future Queen of the Kingdom of Snows. And yet, even she knew there was little choice she had in the matter. Desperate times called for desperate action, and there was only one thing she could do as her pupils shrank after hearing the small click, seeing the lid of the box opening by just a sliver.

There were no other options.

*CHOMP!*

"YEOUCH!" Catra yelped like never before as her eyes briefly bugged out, pulling back her injury and tossing the box a little in the air. In that amount of short time, Frosta quickly leapt into the air a good two feet as she grabbed the box right out of the sky, shutting it tightly before the contents could be revealed, then glared back to a jumping Catra as she hopped around on her right foot while holding her other one tightly in her hands.

In many ways, Catra could respect the underhandedness of Frosta's tactic. After all, when someone had something important they needed to accomplish, there were no rules about how far they could go to complete their mission or finish their task. At the same time, if there was one thing she couldn't respect, it was the stubborn eleven-year-old who just did the last thing she ever expected someone like Frosta to do, much less any princess for that matter.

She bit her squarely in the foot. Not enough to make it bleed, but more than enough to leave a noticeable bite mark and an annoying pain in Catra's left foot.

"Ptooey!" Frosta spat as she rubbed her mouth. "Blegh! That was disgusting!"

"YOU BIT MY FOOTY AND YOU'RE COMPLAINING?!" Catra screamed, gritting her teeth to hold in the ongoing screaming in her mind.

"Well I told you to let go of me!" Frosta yelled back. As Catra hopped on her foot, Frosta took the opportunity to freeze a small block of ice over the small chest, ensuring she wouldn't be picking it anytime soon. "When's the last time you washed your foot?"

"YOU DON'T GET TO COMPLAIN TO ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Catra's growls began to lessen as she rubbed the pain away. "I didn't bite your hand trying to get the box from you like you did!"

"Who do you think I learned it from in the first place!" Frosta reminded.

"Grrrrrr!" Catra's teeth clenched as she squeezed her fist. This was the final straw. She wasn't going to put up with a brat being annoying, refusing to tell her any of her secrets, and get away with biting her of all things at the same time! Her presence alone was enough to send a small shiver down Frosta's spine as she backed up a step, knowing she may as well have pushed her luck. "You know what? I'm done playing nice around you! You're going to tell me what's in that stupid box, and you're going to tell me right now-!"

*swish!*

"Catra!" With a gust of sparkling magic, Glimmer finally appeared as she teleported in front of the magicat, blocking her way to Frosta who hid right behind . "What is going on out here? I heard screaming for crying out loud!"

"The little brat bit my foot!" Catra yelled, showing her the thin trail of teeth-like bite marks around the edge of her bitten foot.

"She shoved her smelly foot in my face and she wouldn't let me go!" Frosta complained back, pointing to the older girl accusingly. "And she wouldn't leave me alone!"

"You've been acting like a spoiled brat around me wherever we go! At least I didn't go around biting you all the way!"

"You wouldn't let me go no matter how many times I begged you, and I was suffocating under your foot odor!"

"I don't have foot odor, and I washed it three days ago-!"

"Stop it," Glimmer finally shouted, looking back and forth to them, "both of you!" She moaned, rubbing her head from the migraine building up. Between turning her head back and forth to them screaming in her ears while yelling at each other, there was only so much she could tolerate on a daily basis before everything started to give her a headache. Rubbing her forehead, she turned to the innocent-looking princess behind her. "Now what's the problem, exactly?"

"She won't leave me alone." Frosta replied, frowning a little. "And she keeps bugging me."

"That's because you won't show me what's in your stupid box!" Catra crossed her arms with a grumble.

"Box?" The confused princess repeated, turning to her taller friend. "What box?"

"The pipsqueak has some box thing that she's been hiding from everyone, Pinky. I know she's hiding something from us and she won't tell me what!"

"It's none of your business!"

"Hold on, just wait a minute." Turning, she kneeled down before the Princess of Snows, trying to look as peacefully as she could given the circumstances. "Frosta, please, can I see what she's talking about?" Without moving her head, Frosta shifted her eyes up towards the sneering cat who stood behind Glimmer, then shifted them back to the former. She couldn't risk raising any suspicion from a fellow princess like this, not a real one, and continuing to act defensively as she was would only cause more trouble down the line.

With a sigh, shifting her eyes away, she pulled the small package from behind her back as she revealed it to Glimmer. Through the melting ice that slowly shrank away with Frosta's magic, Glimmer let out a silent "oh" to herself as she saw what was hidden. To Catra's confusion, the Princess of Bright Moon gave Frosta a soft smile as she patted her shoulder.

"I understand."

"Are you kidding me?!" She had to be kidding, right? Frosta annoys her to no end, she gets caught with some strange box she refuses to show Catra, gives that typical innocent kid look to her, and that somehow makes everything okay all of a sudden. "She shows you some mysterious box and suddenly you're okay with it?!"

"Catra, it's fine." Glimmer replied, rising back to her feet as she turned to her. Like any brat that annoyed Catra, she bared her teeth at the sight of Frosta sticking behind Glimmer again as she stuck her tongue at her.

"No it's not! She's been acting weird around here lately, and she keeps disappearing whenever we're fighting off these bots!"

"How does that make it suspicious?"

"I..." Scratching her head, Catra tried to ponder. "I don't know... exactly... But I swear she's hiding something, and it has to do with that box!"

"There's nothing wrong about the box, it's just a-"

"Then why is she being so defensive about it?" She refused to acknowledge that the box was harmless, or the contents it held within. "If it's not that big of a deal, then she shouldn't have to worry about showing everyone what's inside!"

"I don't want everyone else hounding me about it!" Frosta yelled back.

"Listen you little-!"

"Catra, relax!" Glimmer blocked the way as Catra leaned closer to the small one behind her. "It's nothing you need to worry about. It's just a-"

*-mble*

*rumble*

*Rumble*

The ground started to quake as a small tremble began to spread around them. The three looked around themselves as they felt the violent shaking picking up, watching the trees flutter with the force of wind and a few of the leaves raining from their branches. This was unlike anything the three had ever felt before when it came to quakes. It didn't spread out evenly, it didn't appear to be dying down, and it seemed to be lasting longer than any quake should.

In fact, to Catra's observation, the quake almost felt like it was approaching them. With each second that passed, the trembling began to worsen. Through the woods, along with the sounds of small forest animals flying and running away, she could pick up the bizarre sound of something rolling closer to them. She couldn't pick out exactly where the source was coming from, with the vastness of the woods echoing around them, except that whatever it was, it was heading straight towards them, intentionally.

After another ten seconds had passed, Catra shot a look to her right as the mystery-in-question came to them, growling to herself as she pulled out her sword. Looking in the same direction, Glimmer tightened her expression as she gathered a handful of her magic in the palms of her hands, her readiness to face whatever was approaching them being replaced with curiosity at its unique design. And, as expected, Catra caught the small glimpse of the shorter princess backing away into the woods, mentally shaking her head to her as she ran through the trees, then focusing back on the robot approaching them.

"What is that thing?" Glimmer asked, preparing in case she needed to teleport the two of them out of the way from being steamrolled.

"If it's something I can hit, who cares?" For all the frustrations she had to deal with for the last month, nothing quite relaxed her like bashing away a droid, the bigger being better to break apart into tiny pieces.

Unfortunately, her moment of excitement was taken away as she felt Glimmer grab her arm, lowering it softly. "Catra, no! Remember what Bow said? We have to capture it intact."

"Oh, come on! Just one little bash?" The magicat pleaded, eyeing her weapon and morphing her sword into a mighty... golden golf club with a sapphire jewel encrusted in the hilt? "...Or a dozen or two?"

"Not unless Bow says otherwise." She declared, gazing at the bot as it reached them.

Just five feet from the two, the massive round body taking up nearly the entire path, the two stood and watched as the robot came to an instant halt, the force of its movement pushing a small breeze passed their hair as they stood their ground. Waiting, watching, the two prepared themselves as the robot let out a low-pitched hum, a bit of steam rising from the bot as it began to unfold itself into the large creation Entrapa knew and love.

Their preparation and bravery were put to the test as the robot unfurled its limbs, seeing each of its arms stretch out in full length and its silvery metallic legs planting into the ground beneath it. From the six-foot radius that took up the bots being, the two took a step back as it unraveled its structure, standing at a glorious ten feet by the time it was fully transformed. And while it didn't have anything menacing about it with its design, there was an unsettling air filling the two as the machine towered several feet above them.

"What... What kind of bot is that?" The princess fought back the urge to gulp, trying to maintain a cautiousness in case this thing attacked on a moment's notice.

"I don't know, why don't you go ahead and ask it?" The cruelest of fates Catra had to endure at the present was the inability to smash this thing into a living pulp. She could make an assortment of different devices with her sword if she wanted to capture a droid alive, but, provided she could get it to work in the first place, she doubted there was anything she could make to capture something of this size. Save for its skinny limbs, there was no guarantee she could make anything big enough to pin this thing down.

"..." The droid continued to stand there in silence for a few seconds, gazing ahead of the upcoming path, then lowering its sights towards the two smaller princesses who tensed up.

"...Uh..." Blinking at the new creation, Glimmer relaxed her stance a little as she lowered her arms.

"What the are you doing?"

...

"What is it doing?" Adora asked as she watched along with Scorpia and Entrapta on the couch.

Back at the Horde, in the middle of one of Entrapta's labs sat three of the Horde's finest heroes and symbols of the Horde, from Adora's perspective, Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta. After the ravishing display they managed to present for Lord Hordak, they were finally granted the honor of taking Entrapta's newest droid for a test run, and what better test could there be than the ability to try it out on the princesses themselves!

From the lab, the group had a front row seat to the large monitor in front of them, one that displayed everything from the robot's point-of-view. Through its eyes, they saw everything it saw around it, including the chance to see their surroundings even while it was morphed into a ball, as it traversed the warming forest. With record speed, the trio bore witness to the robot's grand speed as it traveled in its ball as it reached Catra and Glimmer only seven minutes after leaving the Fright Zone on its own.

It was definitely one of the Horde's, and Entrapta's, proudest of creations, and it had to goals on its mind. First, to test its abilities out on the princesses that defended the woods with their lives, and see how well it stacked up against them. If the robot did well enough against five princesses and an archer, aka Bow, then there was no telling how well these machines could do if they were mass-produced on a grand scale.

Its other objective was to locate, secure, and retrieve as many resources as it could from the First Ones' structure that stood within the Whispering Woods. As great as the robot was, it still took a large amount of resources to put together. In fact, it took nearly everything Adora had collected from the First Ones' Beacon as well as the vast amount of resources they were secretly provided with by the Kingdom of Snows.

With over two-hundred pounds of resources used to make a robot who required less than half of that to make, that was saying a lot.

"Why isn't it attacking them?"

"Well, it is still a prototype." Entrapta reminded, lounging around in a hammock of her own hair from behind the couch. "Right now, it's only designed to react in self-defense, so it won't attack unless they do first."

"So if they don't do anything, it won't attack?" Scorpia raised her brow as she tapped her chin. "Isn't that kind of, I don't know, unuseful, then?"

"Not necessarily." Entrapta replied as she dangled her legs over her makeshift hammock. "As long as they hit it in some way, the robot will react to them immediately."

"Unless they don't mind losing a few hundred pieces of First Ones' technology, anyway." Adora added, grinning. "They won't have any choice but to attack. Besides, I doubt we'll have to wait that long for something to happen."

"Why's that?"

Adora's grin widened as she looked back to the screen. "Because, why else? It's Catra we're talking about."

...

*twitch*

"...So... do we just keep staring at it or what?" Catra continued to stare as the robot's eye-like camera flickered a few times. There was something unsettling about a robot who continued to stare silently at someone instead of one that was bent on your complete and utter destruction. At the same time, Glimmer just walked around it like it was a statue, observing the robot at every angle, failing to find any weapons up close save for the carapace-like shielding it had around its limbs.

"It doesn't seem to have any blasters or weapons on itself. I've never seen the Horde build a robot like this before." There was something strange about the way the bot looked that rubbed her the wrong way. For some reason, it was giving her a sense of familiarity, like she's seen this sort of design in the past. She just couldn't put her finger on where though, as she only considered those she knew to be alive. "...And it almost looks familiar to me..."

"Why does it look familiar to you? It looks like a bucket of bolts like all the other ones do."

"I don't know why, it just... does..." Where were these thoughts coming from? The droid looked familiar to her? Why? How? What was her mind trying to tell her that she was unable to process?

Neither of the two were given much more time to examine the massive robot as it started to move again. With a creak in the gears of its limbs, the robot looked straight ahead down the path as it began to walk forward. The two gave each other a look before seeing the robot continue its casual march, wondering what sort of objectives it had if it didn't seem too interested in Catra or Glimmer instead.

Normally, to most people, they would be overjoyed at the sight of a monstrous killing machine walking away from them. Without any sort of worry that the robot was going to attack them, they could plan carefully. With Glimmer's teleportation, she could find the others, gather them all up, and, together, they could take the robot down without resorting to too much injury and keeping it intact. This was perfect!

Then again, there was also the one person who seemed put off by this action. Catra's brows narrowed as she saw the mechanical giant walk away from them. What was its deal? Did it think they weren't worth any of their time? Did it not see Catra, or anyone else, as a threat? Or was this its own way of insulting her and her inability to transform into She-Ra? Like it knew she was incapable of achieving her full power, and this was its way of mocking her for it?!

"Where do you think you're going?" She grumbled as she was reminded of the sword-turned-golf-club in her hands. Seeing how she never got a chance to try out this confusing game known as "Golf", only hearing about it from the occasional guards she's met in the hallways, she decided now was as good a time as any to give it a try.

From the basics that she knew of, she scanned the greenery around her until she came across a solid, round, stone, a bit lopsided and oval shaped with more than enough weight to it to get the robot's attention in one swing. Glimmer could already tell something was amiss as she saw the wicked glee on Catra's face as she collected the misshapen rock, twirling about the golf club in her right hand. "Catra, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, I'm just going to get its attention." She stated, positioning herself on the left side of the rock as she steadied the club in her hand. Never seeing the magicat play a round of golf, much less minigolf, it was confusing at first as she saw the magicat looking back and forth between her rock and the strolling robot. It was just when she saw the deceitful grin on Catra's face that she realized what was going on, too little, too late.

"Catra, no-!"

*thwack*

*CLANK!*

With the speed of a bullet, the feline struck the rock as hard as she could, launching the projectile straight at the back of the robot's metallic head, leaving a notable dent in the back as it stopped moving altogether with its head down. There was a fulfilling sense of accomplishment in Catra's mind as the robot stopped in its tracks, proud that her golfing skills seemed to be on par (no pun intended) with the average golfer, seeing how she nailed it squarely in the back of its head.

...

At the same time, the monitors displayed a whole system of random graphs as the screen gave off a dim purple hue. All around the screen's sides, Adora, Entrapta, and Scorpia bore witness to the multitude of details and equations being processed within the robots mind, calculating every detail involving Catra, her strength, and, to Adora's pleasure, her weaknesses.

"Orbko's algorithm allows it to pinpoint every precise detail of an enemies power from attacked." Entrapta explained as Scorpia and Adora looked in wonder. "Even if you were to tap it lightly against the back of your hand, it can calculate exactly how powerful you really are, and how much strength you can use. With that, I created a reverse algorithm so it can identify its enemy's weaknesses as well!"

"That's incredible!" It really was a marvel to have such a technological genius, and a princess as that, on their team. To think Entrapta would contribute so much to the Horde in the short amount of time she's been in it. It almost made her wonder how much of a threat she could be, in turn, if she was still working for the Alliance like she used to. "So it knows how strong Catra and the rest of her friends are now?"

"No, just Catra at the moment." She replied, twirling a strand of her hair in her finger. "LIke I said, it can't anything they do unless they attack it first, but it can process and create an entire list of potential team attacks once it registers the other threats."

"Shouldn't we warn Frosta about this?" Scorpia had concern for the young eleven-year-old, like any decent person would. "We've seen what that thing can do up close, and she's going to have to fight it at some point to maintain her cover, right?"

"Not to worry, it's already been programmed not to harm her, just like all the others have. On the off chance Frosta is forced to fight it, it'll follow its emergency orders to retreat to the nearest safe zone, either somewhere deeper in the forest, or back to the Horde for repairs."

"So, she'll be alright?"

"Of course she will, Scorpia." Adora comforted, patting her back with a sincere smile. "I wouldn't dream of Entrapta sending something out there she couldn't handle. Even if she couldn't handle Orbko, there's no way I would let Entrapta send one out that didn't register her as an ally, just in case. She'll be perfectly fine, I promise."

It did bring comfort to Scorpia's person for all the other reasons. Despite everything that Adora's gone through with her ex-best friend, her feelings of neglect and betrayal at Catra's hands, the aftermath of her grand battle with Catra, and the stress of being a commander, she was still the same Adora underneath it. The same one who cared about others and put them before herself, the one who resorted to violence second to almost everything else, and the one who cared deeply for her remaining friends and allies at her side.

Yet, it still didn't get rid of the pain she held for everything Adora continued to suffer through. She refused to talk about her conflicted feelings with Catra since the great battle, most of which had to deal with her overwhelming anger towards the magicat, and she continued to train everyday to harness her shadow powers while knowing the strain it was pushing her body through. She had so much going on and she refused to back down from her duties and take a break.

So, anytime she got a genuine smile out of the blonde second-in-command, seeing the amount of care and effort she put into those around her, it was heartwarming.

"Besides," Entrapta spoke again, "I wouldn't be able to make another one without the excess resources Frosta has to offer. Half of the materials I needed to make the robot came out of her kingdom." They all watched the TV as the robot finished its calculations and readings.

...

"Pffft, the droid doesn't even know what hit it." Catra chuckled, tapping the pole of the club against her shoulder tauntingly.

"Ugh, why didn't you just wait for the others to get here?" Glimmer groaned as she faced the smug cat. "We could've formed a plan to capture it in one piece!"

"Would you relax? Geez!" It was quite sad to Catra that once somebody became a buzzkill like Glimmer, they were always a buzzkill like Glimmer. "The stupid robot's not even movi-Urgh-!"

*WHAM!*

There was barely a second for Catra to react in time before a massive silver-coated fist slammed against her entire being, throwing her painfully against one of the sodden trees of the forest, nearly eight feet off the ground. Before she could even release a tiny breath, everything between her neck to her elbows was pinned against the tree, the menacing camera-eyed droid narrowing its lenses as it focused on her.

"Wh-eck..." Catra struggled to breath, lifting her arms weakly as she tried to claw away at the metallic substance. For such a scrawny robot, this thing packed way more of a punch than anything Catra's ever felt. It was like she was slammed with a massive skiff running at full speed, her injured arms being the one piece of resistance she had blocking such a devastating blow. It barely mattered whether she managed to block the attack at all, as the ensuing crushing of the robot's grip made that the least worrying thing right now as she saw the robot lift up its other fist, intending to finish its attacker once and for all.

*swish!*

Almost a second away from delivering the final blow, the robot came to a halt as a ball of purple energy struck it across the head. There didn't seem to be any injury inflicted, as far as Catra could see, as the robot turned its head in the same direction as its attacker, seeing an angry Glimmer glaring as she unleashed a barrage of her magic to save her friend.

"Haaaahhh!" She screamed wildly, throwing bolt after bolt of her empowered magic at the dreaded machinery. What few bolts that did manage to hit passed the robot's protective carapace only seemed to increase its processing power as it examined and calculated every detail about Glimmer's magic, each blow hastening the time it needed to study. Where it took an estimated fifteen seconds to process the magicat's strength, it just took under four seconds to fully process Glimmer's powers and abilities.

And, as it was programmed to do, it adapted.

Upon finishing the last detail, the robot's exterior carapace began to re-materialize around itself, forming a bowl-like shell around its arms that were slanted upwards away from the robot. Glimmer wasn't given a chance to examine this herself as her eyes widened in terror. Following the next bolt to strike against the robot's flimsy carapace, instead of bursting on impact like the rest of her magic did, it instead reflected off the silver surface, redirecting and shooting back at Glimmer at nearly twice the speed. She was helpless as she took the brunt of the attack straight to the chest, knocking her off her feet with a painful push.

"Ngh..." She mumbled, squeezing a hand around the center of her chest as she looked back. The robot simply stared at her as she groveled a little in pain, as if observing for its own sake to see what she could do next, then turned its attention back to the one designated as She-Ra as it applied more pressure to its painful grip. She could see the look in her friend's face as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to tolerate the pain as she growled through her teeth in pain. "Catra!"

With a solid burst of magic, Glimmer teleported from her spot as she reappeared over the robot's head, its point of view cut off from noticing her as the carapace over its head protected it. Perhaps that's why it was so surprised, wobbling in place, as it felt an increased mass grow over its forehead. From its analytical studies, it knew the Princess of Bright Moon was the one behind this, and it was already contemplating over a hundred different scenarios and simulations in which the princess would use her power again.

It just didn't have the capacity to shake Glimmer off its head, the young girl tightening her grip around the upper carapace, as it continued to analyze her magic.

Gathering as much of her power as she possibly could, Glimmer spent a large fraction of her power as she teleported herself, Orbko, and Catra, who was still trapped in the robot's clutches, away from the environment. When the trio reappeared, Catra was out of the robot's grip, the robot was dropping from its back, and Glimmer was thoroughly exhausted and several feet below her as they were transported over a hundred feet in the air, a drop that would've been more than enough to end the robot's life, or theirs if they were unlucky.

"Ngh," Catra winced as she shrugged off the pain, quickly looking around until she found the other falling princess under her, "Glimmer!"

Shaking the fuzziness from her recent expenditure of magic out of her hand, Glimmer turned back towards her rescued friend as she threw her hand to her, the teleporting princess extending her own as she tried to grab for it so she could teleport them again. Right as her nails brushed against the tips of Catra's fingers, she let out a startled yelp as she felt a powerful clamp against her leg, one that pulled her an arm's length away from her dear friend.

Unsurprisingly, below her she saw the robot staring back at her as it tightened the grip on her leg. With little choice in the matter, Glimmer let out a cry of anger as she attempted to blast the robot's head, at least enough for it to loosen the grip on her leg. Unlike before, however, the robot countered her attacks with ease as it raised one of its bowl-covered arms against each of her blasts, deflecting the attacks back into the air like they were nothing, and actually managing to strike back against Glimmer's hand, the dual spectrum of the assaulting magic and her charging magic shorting out her power in a painful burn.

"Ah!" Glimmer yelped, rubbing the burning sensation in her right hand, and fretting at the sight of the planet's surface they were nearing. With a growl coming from above her, Catra raised her weapon in front of her, praying with all of her might that it could transform into what she needed most right now. Luckily, her prayers were answered as the weapon shined and transform, forming into a massive ball 'n chain with a far enough reach to strike anything within ten feet of her, or below her in this case.

And like all the other times, she was unaware as the robot was scanning the sword's capabilities, computing and planning every course of action within its head on how to adapt to the sword's shapeshifting capabilities. It was thanks to this small delay that the robot failed to react in time as Catra swung her mighty flail, being careful to avoid Glimmer in the process, as she smashed the extended weapon across the robot's face, the sounds of metal scraping together as the spiked edges brushed against the robot's metal.

It was just the boost they needed to get the robot to release its hold on the Princess of Bright Moon, Glimmer releasing another blast of her magic with her other hand for good measure, and striking the robot right in the face. To their delight, this was enough to send the robot hurdling faster towards the woods below them, and gave Glimmer enough time to grab the chain of the long flail, waiting as Catra pulled her up closer to her.

With a large tug, Catra used all of her current strength as she pulled the princess closer to her, close enough so she could wrap an arm around one of Catra's legs. With a final burst of her magic, Glimmer concentrated as she teleported the two of them to safety, avoiding the same grisly end that awaited Orbko not three seconds later.

When they reappeared again, it was back on the solid ground they knew and love, or at least a couple feet above it if the proceeding fall was any indication. The two let out a small yip of pain as they landed on their sides, out of breath, their hearts still racing from the immense strain they were pushed through within the last minute, and panting with sweat as Catra wiped her brow.

But at least they were alive.

"Huff... Huff... " Catra huffed as she sluggishly pulled herself off the watery ground of the forest. "Okay, I'll admit it... for once... huff... I'm sorry... for hitting the stupid... stupid... robot..."

"Mmh..." Glimmer moaned as she felt around her right hand. There were a few sparks of the backed up magic buzzing around it, but she could still fight with it. "Catra, what kind of robot was that? It knew how to fight against us, it..." She was still trying to comprehend the way that robot morphed its carapace around itself. "It changed its body somehow... It threw everything I had back to me."

"Tch, well, you, maybe, but I'm pretty sure I could take him." She commented, about as half-enthusiastic than she actually sounded like. The robot just got the drop on her, that's all. She was pretty sure she could handle the robot again if she came across it anytime soon without her She-Ra powers.

...She hoped she could take that thing without her She-Ra powers...

Their one moment of relief flew away from them as Glimmer's eyes widened, looking through the magicat with a face full of fear. "C-Ca-Catra!" She struggled to say, the terror of the horrifying creation still fresh in her mind.

Catra didn't need any explanation as she felt the ground beginning to tremble around them, springing up to her feet and turning around to face her charger. Like before, as Glimmer was helped off the ground, the familiar bot approached them in its massive ball form, surprisingly carrying itself a good distance from wherever Glimmer dropped it in the middle of the forest. Approaching the two who slowly backed away, the robot unfolded its entirety just three feet from the duo of heroes. Outside of a few scrapes and scratch marks from its landing, it was still in pristine condition, as if it was barely injured.

"Uh... Do you think you could teleport this guy any higher?" Catra asked nervously, transforming her weapon back into the familiar blade. "Like, high enough to guarantee he won't be getting back up anytime soon?"

"I can't. I spent too much energy teleporting the three of us the first time and then the both of us the second time." Glimmer informed, barely getting a small aura of her magic around both of her hands. "I could teleport the both of us at least once before my powers are tapped out."

"Ngh... there's got to be something we can do..." Catra muttered, raising her sword up to her chest. With all of the data its collected and observations its recorded, the robot did something neither they, nor the people viewing through its camera, thought it would be capable of.

Raising both of its hands to its own chests, the others watched as the carapace-like armor around its arms began to morph around its limbs and stretched over to its hands. There, the mysterious robot materialized two incredibly large maces, ones that were half the bot's size in length, and twice the size of its head at the tip, spanning a good five feet diameter, as the spiked clubs became whole.

Like Catra, it had transformed its parts into virtual weapons.

...

"Wow! I didn't know it could do that!" Scorpia exclaimed, sitting on the edge of her seat as she watched the performance. Curiously enough, there was a small silence emanating from the scientist herself, who gave off an aura of uncertainty as she tilted her head.

"That's... interesting..." She commented amidst confusion.

"What you mean by interesting?" Adora asked back, feeling a sense of dread filling upon her.

"Well... A-And it could just be a small variable that I missed, but..." Was she truly seeing this? An actual breakthrough in evolutionary technology? Is it possible that there is something that she, of ALL people, actually didn't account for in her design?! "I... I didn't think it could morph its carapace in such a way."

"You mean it was an accident?" Scorpia suggested casually to the concerned girl.

"I-It wasn't an accident! It was just... surprising!" There was no way she could allow something like this to blemish her scientific reputation! If word got out that she created something accidentally without the intention of doing it accidentally, there was no way the scientific community would let her live it down! "I just made the bot more advanced than I originally thought, that's all!"

"Huh... that's not going to be a problem, is it?" Adora rubbed her chin as she saw the several charts and graphs displayed around the monitor's screen. Even now, there were thousands of coding and information being downloaded into the robot's processors, the robot processing a gigabyte's worth of information every second.

The purple-haired genius gave off a shrug as she descended from her hammock of hair, sitting cross-legged against the couch. "Mmh... there shouldn't be any sort of problems as long as any unexpected variables come up."

"Unexpected like how?"

...

*Clank!*

"Haaaaaah!" A small voice yelled as she jumped atop the robot from above the tree branches. To both, Glimmer's and Catra's surprise, right as the robot was about to lift one of its mighty weapons, the small blue princess of ice known as Frosta jumped into the air, delivering constant pounding against its thick skull as she batted away at the mysterious robot nonstop.

Like all the other droids, and her time within the Rebellion, she was constantly reminded that if push comes to shove, she was supposed to fight against the droids alongside everyone else, even if they weren't attacking her. As long as the rest saw her fighting at their side, whenever she was around, there wouldn't be any room for possible suspicion. While she didn't enjoy the idea of fighting against the creations of her current allies, she still didn't hold anything back when she was forced into the scenario, showing off as much of her power as she could to prove to the Rebellion whose side she was on.

Then again, considering the new droid was supposed to retreat upon seeing Frosta, she knew she didn't have to go all out and destroy the mysterious new creation after meeting it for the first time.

"Frosta?" Glimmer spoke up, almost dumbfounded by her appearance after seeing her unexpected reveal.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" Catra asked in a mildly aggressive tone compared to Glimmer's. "Get away from that bot before it sees you!"

"Your welcome, by the way!" The shorter princess scoffed at the unwelcomed greeting and lack of gratitude as she continued slamming her ice-covered fists against the massive robot. Taking Catra's own words into advice, the blue princess held back her continued assault as she ran her way to the edge of its head, hanging one hand over the top of the carapace and dangling right in front of the robot's sensors. She gave a short pause at this as she allowed the robot to see her face for a few seconds before pulling back her other fist and slamming it straight across its face.

Naturally, the robot stumbled from the impact against its face as the sensors going off within it were in a temporary state of disarray, allowing Frosta enough time to jump down from the mighty bot as she continued to work her literal magic. Placing both her hands upon the ground, Catra and Glimmer saw a large thick blanket of ice growing around the robots legs, rising all the way up to just below its knees as it struggled to break itself free.

"Hmph," Frosta smirked as she prepared to follow up her last attack, "now I got i-! Hey!"

"What do you think you're trying to do?!" Catra cut her off as she grabbed the princess by the collar of her winter coat. Frosta didn't show any signs of fear as she tried to pull away from the angry girl's grip, directing her anger back to the magicat who had yet to deliver any recognition for her actions. "That thing's gonna destroy you in one stomp!"

"I can handle the robot myself, Catra!" Frosta puffed up her cheeks as she kicked her little feet that were a full two inches off the ground. "I thought you'd be happy to finally see me fighting a robot for a change!"

"I'll be happier to see you getting out of the way, shrimp!" She knew this was just a part of her plan, it had to be! Sure, go ahead and make Catra look like the delusional bad guy around here, make everyone think she's off her rocker. Then, when anyone else starts to notice something around here, leap in to save the day and make yourself look like a hero in front of the rest! "If you wanna be useful, go find somebody else, got it?"

"I can be useful on my own, princess pet!" It almost felt like Glimmer was being pulled into the conversation she wanted no part in as she was insulted just now.

"Knock it off!" Glimmer instructed as she tried to pull the two away from each other. During this time, the robot lifted its cleared vision up to the petty squabbling away from it as it started to process what the princess had just done.

...

Its primary objective was to defeat the Princesses of the Rebellion and secure resources from the Beacon for the betterment of the Horde army and its creator.

But this child attacked it.

It was not supposed to harm Frosta during this excursion as it followed through on its task.

But this child attacked it.

It was only supposed to fight back upon being attacked directly, save for their dearest ally who went by the name of Frosta.

But this child attacked it.

It was supposed to-

-attacked-

-unable to comply with protocol-

This child-

She was registered as an ally-

-child attacked-

*bzzzt*

*zzzzzzt!*

In the monitors all of their faces lit up as an "Error" message started to appear over the large monitor, the robot's weapons morphing back into the protective carapace as it squeezed its own head in confusion. It wasn't supposed to fail its mission, and it was supposed to protect itself from any dangers as long as it was on its mission. So if the princess attacked it while they were on the same side, was it supposed to register it as an enemy, or let it continue? It couldn't allow itself to be destroyed with its mission at stake, and it couldn't attack a fellow ally either.

All the charts the three had been monitoring since the start of its adventure began to spiral out of control. The algorithm on the bottom right was ascending with a constant flow of numbers and letters falling rapidly across the screen, the bar graphs began to rise and fall in a constant waving motion, causing the bars to dance around one another. The scans and observational records it recorded in the center of the right side was flipping endlessly as hundreds of words blinked across the screen over the last minute.

It was a strange event to see through the eyes of the robot as it calculated everything it needed to know about this paradoxical conundrum it found itself upon. Out of the three curious onlookers, one of them were giving off a show of fear as she nibbled against the ends of her twintails, the fear in her eyes becoming all too evident to anyone around her.

"Uh oh..."

"What's wrong?" Adora never took her eyes off the mysterious sequence as the graphs started to overlap each other, bouncing around the inner workings of the creation.

"Um... remember when I mentioned that unexpected variable about two minutes ago?" She gulped.

"Yeeeeees...?" Adoa almost rolled her eyes to the back of her head as she felt a growing concern rushing through her.

Well... right now, the robot's trying to understand the fact Frosta attacked it while she was still on our side."

"Yeah, and?" Scorpia chipped in, feeling like she was watching a science fiction movie beginning to unravel its stunning plot twist.

"Annnd with its technology, its trying to figure out how to adapt to the given scenario it was presented with. Up till now, I thought all of its adaptions would be on a physical level," Adora and Scorpia's heads turned to her as they could grasp at the basics of what she was implying, "not a mental, or in this case technical, level."

'Why do I feel like there's a "but" coming along?"

"Buuut," Entrapta continued as she proved Scorpia correct, "its incapable of fighting against its primary programming and personal instincts for survival. So, in order to compensate around that, I think its rewriting its original coding, and trying to assess the situation on a personal level."

"And... that's bad becaaause..." Scorpia and Adora weren't prepared for the answer that was given to them as the screen flashed with red.

Instead of telling them up front, they witnessed an incredible feat of the robot's own design as it re-scanned Frosta's entire body with a white-ish outline covering her. With several lines of information protruding from the young girl, the robot re-established its primary protocols as it readjusted its targeting. Before their eyes, they watched as Frosta's outline switched from its designated white outline, to a deep shade of red.

"Because now it sees her as an enemy... But on the bright side, I created the closest thing to artificial free will!"

...

Back with the squabbling trio, none of them were aware as the robot's purple-colored lens started to change to the same shade of red that the others saw through the monitors. It realized now that its targeting system was flawed if it was meant to complete its primary objectives. With a bit of a spark running across the bot's head, it readjusted its parameters as it overwrote its primary programming, and changed the perspective on what was and wasn't deemed an enemy.

It wasn't until the ice started to crack that the three finally noticed the robot breaking free, covering their faces as shards of ice flew passed them with a gust of wind. Looking back, the robot was back to its functioning form, its lenses covering a third of the top half, as if to give the robot an angry glare-like appearance.

"It broke free!" Glimmer panicked, realizing the valuable time they wasted arguing when they should've been more focused on the robot instead.

"I've got this!" She didn't gave anyone a chance to respond as Frosta grew a black of ice over her hands in the shape of two oversized mallets. Before Catra could even grab her, the girl jumped headfirst towards the robot, hoping to beat it back again, or to put on the display that she was trying to, long enough for the robot to turn away or be destroyed by the others. That chance never came to her as she let out a sudden gasp of air, feeling the robot's powerful fist wrap around her neck. "Gaghhhh!" She coked.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very, wrong. The robot wasn't supposed to be attacking her in any circumstances, even to defend itself. If anything, it was supposed to dodge out of the way in a convincing manner, to make it look like it was actually trying to fight back against the wolf in sheep's clothing. The fact she could feel her airways constricting as the robot tightened its grip was enough to prove to her that it wasn't trying to put on a mere performance.

It was defending itself by any means necessary.

"Hey!" No matter how angry she was or suspicious of her, Catra would never let a walking trash can like this harm one of her allies without her say so. "Let her go!" With no signs of fear, the cat lunged towards the massive bot, intending to give it a much-needed scalp removal regardless of the protests, only to find the younger princess being thrown directly at her.

*wham!*

"Agh!" She squeaked as Frosta was chucked directly into her stomach, crashing her back a few feet passed Glimmer and skidding across the rough ground. So, on top of her sense of pride taking a hit, followed by being slammed by what felt like a truck and nearly choked to death, she could now add being shot at with a girl over half her size to her list of injuries for the day. As much as she wanted to yell at the idiot for doing something stupid, her safety came first. "Egh... You okay?" She winced, rubbing her sore head as Frosta rubbed one of her frozen mallets across her own head.

"Mmmh..." The short princess barely spoke a word as she looked back to the robot in a mix of fear and worry. It... It attacked me... All eyes turned to the robot as it stomped its way over to the three princesses, reforming the giant maces within its hands once again.

Its priority was to defeat the princesses and acquire First Ones' technology from the Beacon and return to the Fright Zone with a handful of equipment.

It wouldn't allow anyone to interfere, and was designed to combat against any and all threats determined to be its enemy.

And right now, it determined everybody out here to be its enemy...

...

A/N: So, how'd you like it ^^!... no seriously, that was an honest question XP Lol i really don't know why I had so much trouble with this episode. Even though it skims on the episode a bit more than usual, that hasn't stopped me before. Maybe its the fact I skimmed on it at all that kept me from writing so much? Who knows. Either way, I really do hope you guys enjoyed it for its length and apologize for the long wait. Next one HOPEFULLY wont take as long as I have a solid plan for it- an hoping to end the episode next chapter too ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Btw, WE HIT 300 REVIEWS! ALL TIME SHE-RA (2018) RECORD ^^!

Chapter 59: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 5

Chapter Text

A/N: Oh... my... GOOOOOOOOOOD! I have never been so happy to be done with a chapter, and not in the good way! This thing was an utter nightmare to work through for me, i think the lack of posting can attest to that. Idk why but I have never struggled before with a chapter in ANY of my past fanfics as much as I did with this one.

Idk what caused such an issue for me in the first place, and personally, I don't really care for once. I'm just glad to finally be done with this for the first time ever (marking how much of a chore this was for me to do T_T). I think my biggest problem was that I differed too heavily from the main show on this and the last chapter, forcing me to come up with stuff on the spot rather than on the occasion all throughout the chapter.

It felt exhausting, painful, and annoying to bear all throughout the chapter as I tried to come up with something so different, and idky. All I know is that this was almost torturous to write, so I hope you guys can still enjoy the chapter either way. And for once I don't say that optimistically, i mean I really hope you guys enjoy the chapter X/...

...

*Crash!*

"Agh!" Catra cried out as she was slammed against the mushy floor of the surrounding forest.

Nothing she's fought in the past has ever compared to this. Every swing she attempted to strike the robot with was perfectly countered with ease, blocked off with the robot's protective carapace over its limbs or the newly grown maces in its hands, or sidestepped like one of her previous attempts that resulted in a metallic knee in her gullet. The same counter was followed by getting thrown across the air and slamming into a tree, nearly costing her life as the robot raised the oversized maces above its head to deliver the finishing bow.

If it wasn't for Glimmer and Frosta's attempts to fight back against the robot, coating a sheet of ice over its arms to weigh it down and charging straight at the robot's torso with a magical staff, she might not have lasted as long as she did. With a valiant cry, Glimmer attempted to strike the robot straight through its metallic chassis, only to be batted away at the last second by the robot's increasing strength and added bulk of the frozen pillars around her arms, knocking her a near-two dozen feet away along the ground, disorienting her.

Momentarily taken back by what she had just witnessed, Frosta nearly found herself getting crushed under the robot's frozen arms, backing away from the direct hit, but not enough to resist the sheer force of power that launched her several feet away from the impact. Her head was the first thing met with the rough ground as it dazed her, Frosta doing everything she could to shake the dizziness from her eyes as the robot forced its right arm to bend at the elbow, breaking away the block of ice with ease, and marching its way to the fallen princess.

If it wasn't for Catra's timely intervention, throwing a golden lasso, long enough to stretch over its head and tighten at its neck, Frosta would've found herself stuck under the robot's metallic boots like a piece of chewed gum. Orbko struggled against the bindings for a bit as it pulled at the ropes around its neck, trying to pry the surprisingly sturdy rope from itself as Catra twisted and jerked the rope in one direction at a time, doing everything she could to pull back against the robot one foot at a time as she fought against the robots own strength without the use of her She-Ra form, at least the fourth of it she could achieve.

Like everything else the robot reacted to, it managed to adapt to a new strategy as it spun its head in a one-eighty degree angle, facing the magicat and scanning her within nanoseconds with its glaring-like red eyes. Seeing how pulling at the rope around its neck yielded no results, it did the next best thing it could think of. Grabbing onto the stretch of rope distancing themselves from each other, the robot's hand rotated several times in a perfectly circular motion, catching Catra off guard as the spinning wrapped her own around around both her wrists, pinning them together.

Knowing what was coming next, the feline braced herself as she was pulled off her feet, giving a small yelp as she was flung through the air into a bundle of leaves among the tall trees, losing her grip on the lasso and her strength as she began falling through a tumble of various sized branches, each one thicker than the last as her head and back bumped into each branch until she finally met the ground. It gave the robot enough time to casually slip the rope off over its neck as it approached the young princess.

Catra gritted her teeth to shake off the sores around her body and grab for her mystical weapon, rolling off to the side before the robot's massive mace could meet her directly as it slammed to the ground. She was forced to stick on the defensive as she transformed the lasso into a shield, nearly missing her chance to block the onset barrage of strikes that came from the massive robots weapons as she backed away, pushing against her shield against each of the robot's mighty swings.

It was thanks to their combined efforts that they managed to keep the robot on its toes, less they give it any leeway to finish one of them off. Yet for every moment they gained the upper hand, the robot managed to adapt to its struggles with little effort.

One of the dreaded things they came to realize about this robot was its ability to adapt and evolve to what it was fighting. In the present example, the robot's arms began to overheat with extreme temperatures, melting away the blocks of ice over its other arm within a few short seconds until all that was left was a thick cloud of steam over it. Upon the last drop of water evaporating from its metallic skin, it quickly followed up by dropping one of the heavy maces as it more than doubled its assault against the shielding Catra who had to stand her ground right then and there to keep the robot from pushing her back any further, just as Glimmer got back to her feet.

Having encountered this robot much sooner than Frosta did, she already used up a great deal of her energy as she was forced to teleport herself, Catra, and the bot at least once, and herself and Catra almost immediately after teleporting the massive bot at a height that should've destroyed it upon landing. With all the excess energy she was forced to use up, she had enough energy remaining to pull off one more two-person teleportation and keep on fighting, and she planned to save it for an emergency.

LIke Frosta's ice, her energy blasts were proving ineffective as the three fought the dangerous being. It reconfigured the adaptable carapace around its limbs to turn into a bowl-like surface, one capable of reflecting Glimmer's magic away from itself and back at the caster at almost twice the speed. With nothing else left, she was forced to fight it with all her physical might and staff, realizing that fighting from afar was proving more problematic than it should have been.

The fact it was attacking Frosta at all proved problematic for the young girl. She was working undercover for the Horde since she officially joined the Princess Alliance. While they were out and about taking on the droids within the woods, she was supposed to be keeping tabs on the princesses at all times. She was also supposed to keep her head down and out of sight whenever they were approached by the droids in order to keep her allegiance a secret to the rest. With the droids programmed not to attack her on sight, she could only feign ignorance as to why they didn't attack her for so long until somebody became suspicious.

She had enough suspicions coming out of Catra through the one time she didn't see them attacking her, and that was bad enough!

So why was this droid-like robot attacking her all of a sudden? She knew Adora was trustworthy enough to not betray her out of nowhere, especially since it would mean losing all the valuable resources she had obtained since joining the Horde, and even if she wasn't interested in the resources, she wasn't stupid enough to throw away a powerful ally, one that had one of the strongest kingdoms out of the Princess Alliance.

From what little she knew of the situation, she hoped at least, the robot was acting on its own. Whether she did something to it when she smashed an icy fist in its face, or Catra did something to it earlier, she knew she had to play along for now, and work with the others to either disable the droid without destroying, or find a way to destroy it before it could overpower them anymore than it already had.

And they weren't the only ones struggling either...

...

"TURN IT OFF!" Adora shouted worriedly as she watched the screen.

This was a complete nightmare. Since she's joined, Princess Frosta's allegiance to the Horde has been nothing but beneficial to their side. With resources provided weekly, territory they could set up additional outposts in, as long as they didn't interfere or occupy any space they weren't allowed to, and soldiers geared with the Horde's technology, they were a formidable ally to be had, and one of the worst kingdoms to make enemies with. And, as crazy as it sounds, something told Adora the Kingdom of Snows wouldn't take it very well if the Horde had to explain why their ten-foot robot was scraping off what remained of Frosta if something happened to her.

"I-I'm trying, I'm trying!" Entrapta squealed, typing madly into one of the large-screened computers of her lab.

Entrapta had no idea how she should feel about this. On the one hand, she created the closest thing to artificial free will! such a feat has never been heard of in the science community, and this was the closest thing to that. To think, the very robot she made, one of her greatest creations, had the capacity to act, think, and behave in the same manner as a human. With a will and desire to preserve its own life, it overwrote its programming to defend itself against Frosta, designating her as an enemy, something it did entirely on its own!

On the other hand, she created near-free will into a giant murder machine that was currently fighting off three powerful princesses at once, one of which happened to be an ally of theirs. It didn't matter what sort of accomplishments she could achieve by creating free will, it would tarnish her reputation if her own creation ended up costing the life of a fellow princess, and a child at that. It would turn her greatest work into her greatest failure, and she would live with that burden for the rest of her years.

Typing away as fast as her fingertips and hair tips could, she realized it was the greatest conundrum she ever had to face; either be renowned as the greatest scientist in human history who ever lived that also cost the life of a young child, or to find a way to shut down, deactivate, or destroy her greatest creation. WHY DID LIFE HAVE TO BE SO CRUEL?!

"What's taking so long?" Scorpia panicked, turning back and forth between the robot's point of view on the monitor and the dreadful scientist. "Can't you just hit the off switch or something?"

"It doesn't have an off switch," Entrapta snipped back, "and it's not responding to any of my codes! It must've thought its own programming was fighting against itself, so it rewrote its own programming to fight against it!"

"It can do that?"

"Apparently...?" How was a scientist supposed to explain herself when she didn't know what was going on to begin with? "The First Ones' tech I used to make it adaptable must've been more powerful than I thought. It didn't show any signs of programming capabilities when I ran it through an initial test run. Then again, I never really tried hacking its own programming before either."

"What about its self-destruct function? Can't you just use it and make a new one later?"

"Don't you think I've thought of that already?!"

"No!"

"Exactly! I can't afford to destroy something this grand of a design!" How can she expect her to understand, or any of them for that matter? This wasn't just some hinky-dinky robot that she put together through wires, metal, and several dozen pieces of alien technology. This was the first ever creation she's made that came close to achieving conscious thought, lines of reasoning. This wasn't just a breakthrough of modern technology, this was an entire new chapter in the laws of reality itself!

Even though she wasn't as enlightened as Adora and Entrapta were, Scorpia knew it would've been a painful process to force Entrapta through to destroy one of her beloved creations. "Look, Entrapta, I know its kind of a hard thing to do, but-"

"No, I mean I literally can't afford to destroy it!" She emphasized, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow with her hair. On top of the constant arguing, now she had to deal with the sweat rolling down her forehead and distracting her. "I only had enough of the First Ones' technology to make one droid like Orbko! If I destroyed it now, I'd never be able to make another one without more First Ones' parts."

"Then how do you plan to stop it?" Adora interjected, turning away from the screen for just a moment. "We can't let anything happen to Frosta even if it does mean losing a robot."

"I don't know!" She squeezed her head in frustration. "It keeps locking me out everytime I try to rewrite its programming or order it to stop! It won't respond to anything I say, it keeps adapting to any commands I try to give it, and there's too much pressure going on right now!" She was just a genius scientist with an average 180 I.Q. and hair that she could control like her arms and legs. How was she any different from any other scientist?!

"There's got to be something you can do!" Surely, if anyone could fix this situation, Scorpia knew Entrapta could... right? "I thought getting the parts were more important than fighting the princesses, anyway?"

"It is! It's just..." Blinking, a flash of realization dawned upon Entrapta's trembling mind as a lightbulb mentally went off in her head. "Wait... That's it!" Regrowing the same grin of ingenuity in a single moment, the scientist typed away fastily against the keyboard of the control module, with thousands of codes being displayed in the process.

"What's it?"

"It's priority!" With another click, a smaller display popped up next to the rows of coding, showing an image of Orbko's head with several green arrows pointing around it. "I can't change its programming without it rewriting to protect itself, but I should be able to adjust what it values as a priority, meaning it should ignore the princesses long enough for the princesses to get away!"

"Do you think it'll really work?" Adora tried to pry any of the potential optimism remaining from the situation.

"The robot only acts in self-defense if something tries to interfere with its mission or attacks it. As long as it thinks its priority isn't with the princesses, it shouldn't try to overwrite its programming."

"And how long will this take?"

"Assuming all goes as planned... it shouldn't take anything more than five minutes. Why?" The question was followed by another crash erupting from the display, Adora and Scorpia watching as the robot punched an entire tree off its stump. Like her optimism, the tree came tumbling down, leaving only a small layer of wood in its place.

"Because I don't think they're going to even last two minutes at this rate..."

...

*clang*

"Rngh!" Catra grumbled as she pushed against her shield, doing everything she could to stay on her feet as the robot bashed away with its maces.

From behind the terrifying droid, Frosta arose from a wave of ice being channeled under her feet, gathering her magic as she released a solid stream of ice towards the robot's metallic head. As the robot raised its mace again, its entire head was suddenly covered in a block of ice, at least two inches in thickness as it became engulfed in its frozen prison. In addition to its own self-defensive programming distracting it enough to focus on adapting to the thickening ice, the added weight forced it to grab on to its own head, holding it upright as it tried to maintain its balance, and dropping the maces in the process.

At this, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows quickly jumped over the great machine, landing behind the magicat who picked herself off from the ground. While the robot was too preoccupied with its freezing conundrum, Catra saw the perfect opportunity to get some much needed payback for how long this robot's been bashing away at her and her allies, the way she felt it was insulting her lack of power.

Transforming her great shield into an agile combination of a chain 'n sickle, Catra narrowed her eyes in contempt as she twirled the small ball attached to the other end of her chain, flinging it with great dexterity and precision as it shattered off a small bit of the robot's right-armed carapace, just an inch's worth, which was more than enough for her satisfaction after all the beatings this robot brought to them. The minute she began to pull it back did she lunge for the towering figure, extending the claws in her feet as she tore a small bit into the robot's back and dug the small sickle straight into its abdomen as cleanly as paper.

"Catra, stop!" Her attention was stolen by the sound of the pleading tone coming from behind her, seeing Glimmer stopping just a few feet from her. "We can't destroy the bot, remember? Bow needs it intact!"

"Are you kidding me?" This robot was the worst combination of things rolled into one- something that really annoyed her and something she wasn't allowed to break! "We finally have a shot to smash this thing before it can recover and you don't want me to break it?!"

"Catra, please!" The pained look in Glimmer's eyes as she pleaded gave a small sting to Catra's heart. "If Bow can make a kill switch, we wouldn't have to waste anymore time in these woods. We'll be one step closer to taking the fight to the Horde!"

"Yeah, but-!"

*Rrrrrnnnnnnnghhhh*

"Hu-?"

*pew*

"Ahh!"

"Ahhhh!" The two princesses were unprepared or the massive attack that came back to them as Glimmer was thrown against the ground by a flailing Catra who crashed into her after being blasted at pointblank-range from the droid's eye. Within the two seconds she had, she barely managed to regrow her sword back to its original form, barely having enough time to deflect the powerful burst of energy that shot out of the block of ice from the robot's lone eye, a trail of steam still hissing from the melted hole it had created.

There wasn't any time to so much as blink for Glimmer as she felt Catra's entire body being shot at her, tumbling to the ground with the magicat atop of her as they were blasted away from the terrible droid. With a clear opening from its eye to the edge of the ice, about half a foot in diameter, the robot managed to squeeze the tips of its metallic fingers into the open socket, pulling apart the blocks of ice and tossing them to the ground, leaving a faint residue of cold around its head, one it managed to warm up with its own internal temperatures.

Catra winced as she slowly rose to her hands and knees, shaking her head as she looked over the equally-exhausted friend Glimmer rubbing her own face, pushing herself up from the ground by her elbow. "Are you okay?" She glanced over her friend with worry, knowing the cat took the brunt of the blast directly.

Sneering, Catra gave her a small scoff as she wiped the dirt from the left of her sore chin. "What do you think?" The contempt for the girl was noticeable even as the mechanical deathmachine stomped its way over to the injured friends.

It didn't matter if they could dodge out of the way of this thing's next attack, they needed to think of a plan! Everything they shot at it was thrown back at them or shrugged off in a matter of seconds, every advantage they found over this thing being nothing less than a miracle that was quickly taken from them. And every time they managed to get the drop on the robot, they could never do it in the same process twice.

Maybe that's why Frosta was caught off guard as she attempted to charge the robot from behind again on another wave of ice, morphing two solid hammar-like blocks of ice over both her hands. Sensing the essence of magic creeping from behind them, without so much as a twitch of warning as the younger girl neared it, the robot dodged with the simple turn of its body, leaning itself to the right without moving its feet apart just as the young princess rushed right passed him. Before she could even blink, Orbko rose its powerful right fist through the solid sheet of ice like wet paper, crashing through the thin layer of ice and knocking the princess off her wave.

The helpless girl was sent hurling through the air as the trail of ice shattered behind her, crumbling all along the trail to the dusty pathway she rode over. No sooner did Catra get back to her feet did she feel herself being thrust towards the ground again, now with the added weight of a princess half her size toppled right on top of her. It would've been a rather humorous sight to see for the Princess of Bright Moon was Catra was knocked away two feet beside her if it wasn't for the great trembling of the ground from the robot's massive footsteps.

There was nothing they could do at that second to stop it as it collected the maces along the ground as it approached them. Even if she did roll out of the way, that would still leave the fumbling Catra and Frosta in its wake as the two struggled to pull off from each other with the injuries thus sustained. The robot was too strong, it read their movements perfectly after the first time, and it managed to adapt at every given situation.

All Glimmer could do was channel a small fount of energy around her front as she held her mystic staff, ready to take on the brunt of the robot's monstrous force as it lifted one its maces to land the deadly blow.

*twigg*

Luckily, it was a blow that never came as the robot's wrists were ensnared by a tangle of thick green vines, ones with a familiar scent of flowers which grew along the massive roots. Orbko was rather perplexed by the sudden predicament as it had yet to register the mysterious vines that wrapped around its arms, or the mysterious force that beckoned the plant to do so in the first place. Looking passed the massive bot, Glimmer had never found herself so relieved to see the stern face of one of their precious friends, the Princess of Plumeria, Perfuma, or the massive roots that sprouted from each side of her.

"Get away from my FRIENDS!" She shouted. With a grand roar, shuffling her arms as if she was pulling it directly, she pulled the robot off its feet as she tossed it away behind her a good twenty yards, slamming the incredible new droid into the sturdy ground away from her.

No sooner did it land, its wrists still attached to the magical entanglement, did it already begin to adapt to its newest enemy. Reformatting the carapace-turned-maces in its hands, it rematerialized the great metal into a new kind of weaponry, one that was almost liquid in form as the robot wrapped it around its own arms. Concealing the robot's arms entirely, several dozen rows of spikes behan to jut out from the terrifying droid before rotating at a high velocity all around its arms, cutting away at the hazardous vines like a chainsaw cutting through a thicket of bushes.

Despite not seeing her, it was given enough details from the readings it took from physical contact. The Princess was known as Perfuma, who specialized in plants, and was capable of using nature itself as a weapon. Like it was programmed to, it was already developing over a hundred different means to defend itself against the new princess with its internal systems prepared to adjust to a high temperature capable of burning the plants away on a moment's noti-

*Splash!*

*Wham!*

Any such thoughts were swept away like the robot itself as it was blasted with several hundred pounds of force against one of the large trees of the Whispering Woods, drenching the robot in a deluge of water pushing against its entire body. When the water pushed passed it, it gave the great robot a small glimpse of its assailant, spotting a ticked-off Mermista glaring back at it as it brought force the same wave of water, blasting against the robot once again.

This went on once again as the Princess of Salineas summoned forth another wave of water, continuing to cycle a rotation of the great water pushing back the robot with as much force as she could muster, and pulling it back to her side for another blast each time. While it may have looked like she had the advantage at first glance, even she knew this strange new robot wasn't going to stay down for long. Already, it was adapting to the princess's powers as it hardened the carapace around its body, shrugging off the princess's attacks a little more each time it was struck by great blast of water.

She knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. All Mermista was concerned with right now was keeping the robot at bay long enough for the others to recuperate.

With the crisis temporarily adverted, Glimmer let out a sigh of great relief as she steadily rose to her feet, welcoming the sight of Bow as he rode atop of a familiar white horse that went by the name of Swift Wind. "Glimmer!" He called out, earning a smile from the relieved princess as he hopped off the alicorn. "Are you okay?"

"Bow!" She panted a little as she ran up to her friend. The scrapes along her arms and legs, as well as Catra's and Frosta's, was all Bow needed to understand the turmoil they've been pushed through. "Yeah, we're fine, thanks to you guys." The two paused briefly as they heard Catra let out another grunt she pushed the shorter girl off of her, eliciting a small grumble from the icy princess who had to dust herself off. "How did you guys know we were in trouble?"

"We saw you teleporting above the forest earlier," Perfuma answered in his place as she rushed over, "and Swift Wind managed to track your location thanks to his bond with Catra."

"No need to thank me," the horse stated nonchalant with a strut, "just look into getting me that chair at the Meeting Table and we'll call it even."

"Heh, I'll speak to my mom first thing when we get home." Glimmer chuckled, finding a small sustenance of joy from this brief moment of peace.

"With that in mind, what the heck is that thing?" Shifting his head back along with the others, they were greeted with the sight of a struggling Mermista who continued to hold Orbko at bay, using everything she could to keep it pressed against the tree as it gained an inch every second.

"The Horde sent some type of new droid, and its unlike anything we've fought before."

"I'll say," the galiant unicorn tilted his head in fascination, "it's a lot more clunkier than what they usually send."

"No, I mean it's really dangerous!" It was times like these the Princess of Bright Moon wished she had a camera to show footage that could emphasize her point. "That thing's predicting our movements every time we launch an attack, and it keeps changing its body to fight against whatever we throw at it."

"You mean it's learning?" Bow didn't know whether to be impressed by the technical prowess behind the creation, or deeply concerned over what cynical mind could've created such a device. The amount of detail that would've gone into such a highly advanced creation would've taken the most brilliant of minds of Etheria to even comprehend such a creation, let alone build it.

"She means it's annoying!" Turning their attention back, they were approached by an irritated Catra who was still in a huff. "The same move never works on that thing twice, and the longer we keep fighting it, the faster it adapts to anything else we can do."

"Then how do we stop it?" Perfuma was the only one who didn't turn away from Mermista's struggle as she weighed in on the conversation. "We can't let it go on like this, and we can't destroy it if Bow needs it to create his switch thingy."

"We don't have to!" The sound of optimism drew in the small crowd around him as Bow assured them, squeezing his fist with confidence with a satisfying smile of confidence on his lips. "If its as intelligent as you guys said it was, then it has to have some sort of powerful core running its systems in its chest. All we have to do is remove the core and the entire thing should power down."

"Is it really that simple, though?" Glimmer raised a brow with concern. "How are we supposed to get it to hold still long enough to remove its core?"

"Hmm..." The thinker behind the Princess Alliance rubbed his chin in contemplation. "How long did it take to adapt to whatever you guys were doing?"

"I'd say about twelve seconds," Frosta spoke in Catra's and Glimmer's place as she approached, "give or take. Why?"

As the archer went over his plans from the other end of the clearing, Mermista had just reached her limits with this nightmarish contraption. Every wave she pushed against the mighty machine went on to further its own defensives, its metal reshaping and resurfacing with each passing wave to harden and combat against the princess's magic. Unlike the previous attacks it took, it required more time to evaluate its entire structure and reshape it into the now-darkened metal that overtook its entire person, a metal durable enough to withstand the blast of several hundred pounds of water pressure at once.

One that was capable of walking through it like a brisk walk through the rain, the torrent of water pushing through it being nothing more than a breeze in the wind to it.

Mermista's stance stiffened at the sight of the massive bot walking towards her with ease. Even after she attempted to blast the dreaded bot with all of her surrounding water at once, it still shrugged it off like it was nothing. The robot showed no signs of slowing down or backing away from its intended target as the shutters of its camera-like eyes began to narrow. Delivering one massive fist towards her, the princess was forced to jump back from the deadly strike, inadvertently leaving herself wide open as the robot targeted thirty-two centimeters above her right knee, the precise spot that would've left her incapable of defending herself immediately after.

*Boom!*

Thankfully for her, that blast never came to her as the robot's head was suddenly struck from the sudden force of an Explosive Arrow, knocking its sensors in temporary disarray. Mermista was rather surprised by the endeavor as well before Perfuma pulled her away gently with one of her vines. The fellow princess quickly whispered to her dear friend for a few seconds, culminating to a nod of understanding as Mermista ran behind the disoriented bot, standing several yards away and getting into her assigned position as Perfuma did the same on its right.

Like she was told, Mermista saw the youngest princess standing several yards at the front of the robot with her magic at the ready, her hands giving off an icy chill as the magic gathered around the floor near her. To the robot's left, she saw Catra and Swift Wind already in position, the Princess of Power creating a gold tethered whip out of her sword, with the horse standing at the ready behind his master. That just left a certain pair of members waiting to leap into the action, standing off to the side behind a row of trees as they all waited for Mermista's signal.

This massive droid hurt her friends, tossed them aside like they were nothing, and used their powers and weaknesses against them. It could adapt to any one situation that was given to it, and could gauge how strong each of its adversaries were the minute it attacked them. All of it hinged on the fact it took a short amount of time to process and analyze each and every attack, as well as the individual who attacked it. With that in mind, Bow's planning came down to one important detail: if it took a certain amount of time to study each of the princess's attacks individually, then how long did it take to study them all at the same time?

The theory was put to the test as Mermista began the attack. With as much water as she could draw out from the surrounding fields that were still melting, she poured a massive tank of water over the mobile machine, dropping the same amount of water upon its back that it had come accustomed to over her brief fight with it. At first, it was confused. Why was she bothering to use the same attack against it if she knew it wouldn't work? Was she inferior in terms of intelligence compared to the rest? Was she too proud of herself to quit? The answers it required came to it as soon as it processed this confusing line of reasoning as the temperature around its feet began to drop.

With its sensors beginning to return to their proper functionality, the robot assessed the strange coolness surrounding its feet. What started as a small breeze quickly solidified into an icy winds as the princess of Ice gathered a large recess of ice around both its legs, stretching halfway up to its kneecaps. The princess wasn't trying to encompass ice around its entire body, just enough to make it focus on its legs.

With the attack coming from above and the one coming from below, it provided the perfect opportunity for Catra and Perfuma to pull off their line of the work. With Perfuma gathering her massive vines at her side, both girls threw their respective bonds at the incapacitated droid, with Catra wrapping the single whip several times over the robot's right arm, and Perfuma wrapping several vines over its left arm. Both of the princesses pulled with all their might as they pulled the robot's arms away from each other as far as possible, Swift Wind holding on the end of Catra's newly-formed whip in his teeth as he pulled behind her.

Just as Bow anticipated, the robot was hunched over a little as it was forced to process each of these attacks from every direction against its will, calculating and analyzing every detail in order to combat the threat, despite knowing it was being left vulnerable to further attack. With the distraction thrown in front of it, and a knowing nod to Glimmer beside him, the princess channeled the last burst of her magic that she could use to teleport with, holding onto him as they teleported and reappeared behind the robots back.

At their appearance, Mermista lowered the downpour over the robot, directing her stream atop of the robot's head to keep its vision impaired long enough for Bow to access the robot's back. Along with this, with her staff still in hand, Glimmer jammed the butt of the mystical staff straight on the nape of the droid's neck, doing whatever she could to assist in its distraction as Bow attempted to access its systems.

The archer examined the chassis of the thoroughly as he searched for any form of opening, whether a bolt or a panel itself. Seeing little to work with, knowing time was of the essence, the bowman sighed in reluctance as he grabbed one of the arrows still in his quiver, and, with a strong grip, plunged it an inch away from the right edge of the robot's back. Like many of his arrows, this one was specially modified for any sort of occasion. In this case, it was designed to build up with extreme heat at the tip, allowing it to penetrated either thicks blocks of ice, or hardened armor like the robot he was currently riding upon.

It was also proving itself to be a very useful alternative to a welding torch as he slowly traced it around the robot's back, hoping to pry off a layer thin enough to access its core without damaging anything too important. Being careful not to cut too deeply, the archer nibbled on his bottom lip as he turned the edges, being as quick as possible yet careful enough to complete his task without wasting too much time.

This is how the group found themselves for the next minute, each of them struggling on their respective sides as they distracted the robot long enough for Bow to work. With every second that passed, the grip around Catra's hands tightened as she gritted her teeth. For each tug, Perfuma required more excessive magic to maintain her hold with the enchanted vines. And with Frosta and Mermista using their magics above and below it, they had to be careful not to overpower each other while maintaining a constant stream of their magic to suppress the robot's senses.

Unbeknownst to the rest, however, the robot wasn't as distracted or shortsighted as they originally thought. Adapting and Evolving to a given situation wasn't its only means of combat. Naturally, as a being created and complexed as itself, it was capable of advanced thought. Out of the variety of data that ran through its head on an endless basis during the fight, one of the things it made sure to do was to never unleash its full power. Why? Because of situations like this.

So it could gain the upperhand and surprise the rest if it ever needed to turn things around.

With a simple pull against its restraints, the magicat nearly jumped as her feet slid across the ground, forcing her to painfully dig the claws of her exposed toes into the soil as she attempted pull harder without her She-Ra state. The same effect was being felt on the other end as Perfuma nearly lost touch with her own magic, requiring her to gather an extra bundle of the thick green vines to tighten her hold over it. And even though they didn't have to worry about pulling the robot away, Glimmer and Bow found themselves struggling to maintain their grip as the robot shook its back fiercely.

"Whhhoaoaoo!" Glimmer meeped, wrapping an arm around the bot's neck as she tightened an arm around it. She held on to the bot's neck with her fingers holding along her staff and the tip of Bow's shirt, trying her best to maintain her grip despite the torrential rain of Mermista's magic.

"H-Hey! Steady!" Bow called to the surrounding allies, tension filling the air around them as they tried to shrug off the stress getting to them.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Mermista yelled out from behind, her magic starting to wane at the excessive amount she already used from earlier.

"J-Just another minute, at most!"

"We're not going to last another minute, Bow!" Frustrated, Catra wrapped her right hand tightly around the whip, doing whatever she could to maintain her hold on the fearsome creature.

"D'ohn leh yo' 'ard 'own!" Swift Wind's slurred words did nothing for the feline as she turned her head, groaning internally at his lack of sense with talking while his mouth was full.

"I can't understand you..."

Rolling his eyes, the unicorn lifted his head as he tried to reply, "I said, don't let your guard d-"

"Ahhh!"

*swiff*

The horse barely managed to rectify its one mistake as took the whip out of its mouth. The moment he began to talk, Catra was pulled harshly against the ground, nearly dropping to her knees as she was pulled over a foot closer to the droid. In haste, the horse just as quickly stomped against the edge of the whip to hold it in place, scooping it back up in his mouth before Catra could be pulled any further, not that it did anything to prevent the irritated glare she shot back to him for his terrible mistake. "N'orry!"

"We wouldn't have this problem if we had a little more power, you know." It felt extremely obvious to Frosta what they had to do as she shifted her eyes over to infamous princess. Right away, Catra's eyes narrowed a few inches as she tried to ignore the suggestion, passing it off with a shrug like it was nothing.

"W-We're fine as we are!" She yelled back, trying to put on a brave face as she struggled to maintain her grip. "We don't need She-Ra!"

"Uhh C-Catra, I beg to differ right now!" Glimmer yelled back, the robot's shaking became increasingly violent. "We could really use's She-Ra's help right about now!"

"No we don't! We're doing just fi-"

"She-Ra, please!" The sound of Perfuma's beg-filled voice made it all the more disheartening to Catra as she tried to drown out the noise. "We need you right now! I know you can do it!"

"We just need her for a few seconds, come on!" And with the pained groan of Mermista's insistence, followed by the constant pleas of those around her, that Catra squeezed her eyes shut.

What was she supposed to do right now? She was losing her grip with each passing beat of her heart, and she knew the longer she wasted time trying to think of an excuse or a plan, the closer the robot was going to be to breaking free. She knew what was at stake here and knew the importance of this mission, less everything end in ruin. She couldn't afford to go She-Ra though when she couldn't achieve nothing more than a fourth of the form to begin with!

None of them knew about her recent status, and it was the way she wanted to keep it. How was she supposed to explain to everyone how she suddenly lost her "She-Ra-ness" several weeks ago after all this time and effort she put in trying to get it before a month ago? All that time, all that effort, all those hardships she had to endure since joining the Rebellion and to achieve the form of She-Ra, only to be taken from her after a stupid mistake, a stupid thought.

Something she has been dealing with the consequences of ever since.

It wasn't anything she could explain to them, either. How was she supposed to say "hey guys, hope you don't mind I'm not the same She-Ra that saved our butts a month ago, hope you're okay with that, and not expect any form of backlash? They wouldn't accept her for her mistakes, not after everything they did to try and get Catra to become She-Ra in the first place, and what good would it do otherwise? Even if she did tell them the truth, so what? It wouldn't stand to help any of them. And how would they react to her if they found out the truth?

Glimmer and Bow would be angry over her refusal to tell them, Mermista would berate her endlessly for not telling them the truth, Frosta would continue to poke fun at her and never let her live it down, and Perfuma would be the worst. Out of all of them, her's was the most painful to bear. There was no surprise for her respect or admiration for the holy figure known as She-Ra, or those that took the form of the blessed warrior. Almost twice a day, she would go on to make a fawned comment about the history of the glorious She-Ra and how righteous her tales of woe and adventure were.

Even if they had nothing to do with the current She-Ra.

How was Catra supposed to turn her down of all people? The first princess she's ever met, the one that held She-Ra in high regard. If she shattered her dreams out of everyone, to turn that bright cheerful smile she always had into something of twisted agony and sadness, Catra would never be able to forgive herself.

It didn't matter how much it hurt the others by refusing them when they needed it most. For now, keeping her secret a mystery was the best course of action, and the only way to keep them from being anymore hurt than they had to be.

With a single, solitary word, Catra gave them a solid response, one they were unprepared for. "N-No!" And with that utterance, their fates were sealed. Not because of her refusal to acknowledge them, or her seeming refusal to turn She-Ra when they truly needed it, but because they had finally ran out of time.

Echoing with a mechanical whir and a hum, the robot spotted the very instant their guards were simultaneously lowered enough for it to act. Without warning, the droid's right arm suddenly detached as it was fired directly at the animalistic duo, reaching Catra the very moment she opened her eyes again. Despite being futile, Swift Wind attempted to protect the both of them as he covered themselves with his wings upfront, but was powerless against the mighty fist that pushed the two back into the forest.

In the timespan it took Perfuma's eyes to widen and to let out a gasp, she was already defeated. Grabbing onto the vines that held it at bay, the robot rotated its hand at supersonic speeds, faster than Perfuma could keep up with and with enough force to pry a tree right out of the ground. Maneuvering its hands precisely, the princess of plants was caught off guard as the rotation eventually spun the the opposing ends of the roots on her sides in a timely fashion, encircling and eventually wrapping themselves around both her arms and pinning them to her sides.

All it took from there was one solid swing to thrust the girl in the bundle of twigs and leaves in the trees above. Scraping and tumbling down as she did, the princess found herself entangled in a heap of the vines connecting to her wrists and ankles, tightened around just enough to prevent her from channeling her magic, at least long enough for it to finish off the other princesses.

With both its arms free, there was nothing preventing it from its second rotation. This time, the entire robot spun its upper half with its arms still stretched at the side. All around it the leaves, dirt, and rain that continued to pour above it were blown across the clearing, creating a thin yet suffocating cloud of dust and debris that irritated the eyes of the remaining fighters, causing Frosta and Mermista to shield their eyes with their arms as the stinging combination of nature rushed passed them.

That did nothing to help Glimmer and Bow's predicament.

With the two friends still hanging on from the back, it was only natural that they would find themselves flung into the air. The intense speeds the robot was spinning itself combined with the slippery surface of its body, in small part due to Mermista's involvement, made it a harrowing ride that nobody could hang onto. In opposite directions, from the left to the right, the two friends were ejected from the machine and thrown through the air, being launched several dozen yards in two directions from behind.

Coming down to the last of the remaining princesses, the robot raised its right arm as it came to a halt, aiming it in the same direction of its missing hand as a small rocket blasted it back to its own. Swiftly bursting through the air, following a small click as it returned to its exposed socket, the robot began to channel an electrical charge into both its hands, one capable of disabling any fully-grown adult like a tazer or a stun rod, and thrust them into the ground. While the young princess was safe from where she was, the mounds of dirt resisting the splash of water that swept the field, its intended target wasn't so fortunate as she took on the full blast of the shock.

*Bzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" From behind, Mermista screamed in agony as several thousand volts of electricity ran through her system, paralyzing her senses as a small portion of the droid's power supply ran through her.

With her feet planted in the mushy ground around her, not to mention the vast amount of water that pooled from her to the droid directly, there was nothing she could do to prevent the onslaught of misery that was inflicted upon her. It was only after the droid ended its electrical charge itself, pulling the hands from the ground, that the princess finally collapsed to the ground, conscious but numbed from the electricity that coursed throughout her body.

That just left the last of the princesses, one by the name of Princess Frosta, as the youngest member of the Alliance was finally coming out of her blinded state. While she was incapable of seeing what transpired around her, the sounds of screaming and yells throughout the recent event matched perfectly with what she saw. All around her, her allies were either gone or incapacitated, in no state to fight back or defend themselves from the robot's rampage.

Neither was she as she felt a powerful grip grab her by the scruff of her neck,

"Agghhhh!" The young princess squealed as the robot pushed her against the ground, slightly choking her throat pinned against the ground.

Orbko had finished what it was designed to do- be the perfect combat unit that could take on the evil princesses of Etheria and traitors to the Horde. All of the princesses and members of the Rebellion lied across the field, in the trees, against the ground, and in one particular case, tangled up in the trees. It adapted to each of their strengths when the situation called for it, and evolved when it needed to take them all out at the same time.

It proved its superiority.

The princesses lied around it defeated.

And it felt no remorse or sympathy as it materialized the titicular spiked mace that it once wielded in its other hand from the carapace around its arm. Raising it into the sky, Frosta's struggles were put on hold as every ounce of her body was filled with fear, seeing the light gleaming off of the raised spike looking down on her. With the lack of air she was inhaling, it was impossible to gather the concentration she needed to defend herself via magic. Grunting at the hopelessness of the situation, the young princess squeezed her eyes shut as she saw the mace slamming down on her, unable to watch as her end fell upon her.

"..." With a small breeze falling over her, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows waited for the horrible fate that was literally falling atop of her. She could feel the shadow of the mace as it fell over her eyes, the grip of the robot's hand clenched around her throat remaining constant in strength, never showing any sign of slack or possibility for her to escape through. She still couldn't believe after all her hard work and dedication to the Horde, offering them resources from her kingdom and keeping tabs on the princesses like she was tasked with. And a part of her still wondered if this was them betraying her, or if her theory about the robot malfunctioning was accurate.

"..." That same line of wonder proved validated as the silence continued to surmount. For a supposed death that was coming towards her, it was taking its sweet time. It almost felt like... "...?" She couldn't help it. With the curiosity building over her mind, she just had to see. Cracking one eye open, she took a small peek at the round figure hovering over her, pupils dilating at the mace's spikes that were less than an inch from the bangs of her hair. They were standing above her, ready to deliver the swift justice that was her end, waiting for the perfect moment to crush the young girl in one fell swoop.

But that moment never came.

*zzzt*

"Huh?" At the sound of the mysterious static that just went off, Frosta finally opened her eyes in full. Despite everything that had lead up to this point, the tension still hanging in the atmosphere with uncertainty, the mace never came closer to her. Tilting her head up as best she could, she could see a small twitch going off from the robot's head, its neck slightly crooked from her point of view.

The robot had yet to bring the mace any closer. In fact, much to her surprise, the mace actually began to nudge a little away from her, the constricting grip over her throat loosening with each passing breath. Orbko had started to recede from its previous objected as the red coloring in its eye reverted to its original shade of blue.

It was sparing her.

...

"Got it!" Entrapta finally announced before collapsing against the control console. "HUUUUUUFF!" She couldn't remember the last time she gasped so loudly, panting fervently with her tongue sticking out. "Huff... huff... huff..." Every strand of hair looked more exhausted than she was, hanging lifelessly from her head all around her as the scientist had to wipe her own sweat with the palms of her hand.

She had never encountered such an exhausting experience before such as this. Oh, sure, she's hacked numerous things in the past. Most of them were her own inventions in order to hone her skills, and they were always entertaining. She used complexed factorizations to make her test runs unpredictable and challenging, forcing her to work tooth and nail, or in this case finger and hair, as she attempted to bypass the various designs and programs she used to make the tests more challenging.

From complexed algorithms forcing her to use prime factorization to debugging highly encrypted data locks that gave her access to her server's mainframes, there was never a dull moment or an unenjoyable experience she had whenever she had to hack her own inventions. But MAN was this thing a nightmare!

It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Whenever she bypassed one security detail, two more popped up immediately after like a hydra losing its head. Every code and encrypted piece of dialogue she had to fight through came behind several firewalls, all of which had their own security measures that she had to bypass, too. And every time she came close to finishing one detail that was preventing her from accessing Orbko's mainframe, it completely flushed her out of its systems by deploying another level of security that she had to fight through.

Ironically, her most opportune moment came during the brief scuffle the droid had against all members of the Princess Alliance. With all of them distracting the droid with an admittedly-creative means of restraint, its processing unit slowed down tremendously as it worked to adapt to the princesses' forms of magic and strength, providing an ample amount of time to hack into its systems even faster as it was too distracted by the various attacks to build any more firewalls.

From there, it was just a short matter of accessing its internal systems and compromising its Priority Database, filling it with a never-ending desire to ignore the princesses and continue on with the rest of its mission. As expected, the droid refused to counteract this new thought that suddenly infiltrated its systems, thinking it was its own doing as it had yet to do anything to hamper its combat capabilities. It took nearly a full minute for the droid to be fully integrated with the line of reasoning, ending off right around the same time it brought its mace down near Frosta's head.

It was the most mind-numbing experience she had ever gone through. Perhaps some part of it was to be expected since she was hacking the creation of a long lost civilization. Then again, considering the same civilization existed nearly a thousand years ago, it was a wonder such an old race could create something so advanced and ingenious like this in the first place.

It was brutal. It was stressful. And as fun and exciting as the challenge was for her, there was no way she would ever want to go through the same experience ever again within the next two hours!

...

"Agh-!" The small princess let out a small yip as she cried out, breathing heavily as the air finally returned to her lungs in full.

With Orbko's prioritize reorganized, it no longer sought reason to continue fighting the evil princesses and warriors around it, believing them to be of no consequence to its mission. Even if they were, they didn't stand a chance. It overpowered them like it was designed to do, and it was capable of finishing them off if they ever tried to fight it ever again. With its own two metallic hands, it struck down each of the princesses, and ensured they knew what little they had to hope for in terms of victory.

Taking a quick reading of its surroundings, knowing the princesses would regather in just a few minutes, it restructured the mace back to its original carapace-like form as the robot itself backed away from the perplexed Frosta. With nothing more to gain by wasting time here, it returned to its original ball-like form, turning around from the princess of ice, and sped off at remarkable speeds down the pathway of the forest to its targeted destination.

And at this, Frosta let out a sigh, collapsing her head back to the ground again.

The battle had been a grueling experience for each member of the Princess Alliance. They had just contended with a terrifying creature of power, one crafted by the Horde's best and brightest, and they had lost. They needed to capture the bot alive, to create a kill switch that could finally disable all of the droids within the surrounding forest and provide them a means to combat the Evil Horde army. And considering what the droid's intended target was, fate wouldn't provide them with a choice...

...

A/N: Ugh, that was grueling. Like I said, idk why it was so hard for me to write this chapter- yes i've differed a lot of the past chapters, but those still kept with the main flow of the show and whatnot. Here idk what exactly happened. I contemplated at least a dozen times in the past chapters whether or not I wanted to rewrite the entire previous chapter to be more fitting, and even now I'm contemplating it X/

Phew... At least on a positive side, with this chapter over, its right back to FINALLY reaching the main plot again, and i pray the update wont take as long now, or at least make the writing better overall ^^

With that said, apologies again, and I hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 60: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest Part 6

Chapter Text

A/N: Ok i had a really long and winded explanation (i.e. nothing) about the delay and whatnot but stupidly in the midst of trying to upload the new image, backed out of my explanation and lost all that writing, so instead i'm just going to cut to the short and simples of it.

Sorry for the massive delay folks, not sure what to say that'll make up for it. I want to give a majorly huge shoutout for my 2 newest and biggest fans, Peterson Muldoon from instagram (idk what it is on his web page exactly, just type in what I wrote and it should still bring you to him) and Heitomos from Ao3. Why am I applauding them the most out of all of this? Oh, not much except for their AMAZING contributions!

Thanks to Heitomos for his commission picture- you guys ever wanted to know what a full-fledged Catra-She-Ra looks like? Well now you can by going to my Ao3 site and looking at the latest comment. Idk who did it or how but they made a full scale model of what Catra looks like in this, and, while i think she should be a bit darker, it was freaking beautiful to look at.

Perhaps more amazing than that is Peterson Muldoon's work, though. Why is that? Oh, not much, just that instead of doing one pic, or two, or a DOZEN, this guy has so many freaking pictures of fanart of MY FANFIC that i don't even know what to do. I highly recommend everyone looking up his artwork because its freaking sweet, and he's still doing it to date. For example, you guys ever wanted to know what a full-powered darkness-empowered adora looks like? well now you can by looking at his instagram because holy heck is it awesome!

Edit: i also forgot to add the sources when I redid this stupid author's notes XP For Heitomos's picture, look under the comment section in my Ao3 posting, it'll be along the more recent comments with a direct link in his comment. And for Peterson's, go on instagram and type in Peterson Muldoon and you should find his account, should be like or something. I HIGHLY recommend checking them out people, the art is amazing!

I'd also like to thank the others who've kept in touch with me like Star Saber and Peyton Helix who've kept in touch with me as well as a handful of others just to make sure i was fine. Its so touching to find kind and moral support through all of this. I'm hoping to come back into things and get started in writing this again cause i haven't even seen season 3 yet XD!

Which reminds me, plz refrain from spoiling anything from it- not seeing it is the only motivation i have atm to keep working on this as not seeing it is giving me a reason to finish this season up. The sooner i do, the sooner i can see it, so please refrain from spoils. The less motivation i get the less writing i get done or the longer it takes (though hopefully not as long as 2 freaking months XP).

Once again, glad to be back guys! Thanks to those who've supported me up to this date and I hope you all enjoy!

...

"Huff... Let's never go through that again..." Adora groaned, rubbing her forehead as she leaned against the wall.

The last several minutes may have been the most nerve wracking experience she had ever faced, and given all of her adventures and time within the Horde, that was saying a lot. What could make the second-in-command of an entire army of the Horde so nervous compared to the usual? Oh, not much. Just the fact that Entrapta's robot went on an indestructible rampage and nearly finished off all of the princesses, including Frosta!

With the monitors in front of them, they were witnessing everything that Orbko, Entrapta's newest and greatest of creations, was doing. Through its eyes, they saw as the robot managed to defeat each and every one of the princesses and allies of the Rebellion single handedly, With its adaptive capabilities, it managed to predict and expose each of their fighting styles and weaknesses. With its evolutionary capabilities, it could alter its own body into a living weapon, creating maces out of the shield-like carapaces around its limbs, or creating a means to fire a fist like a rocket at one of his enemies.

It was the greatest weapon the Horde had ever created, and it proved to be troubling.

Because of its adaptive capabilities, it could alter its own programming in the event it worked against itself. For example, as Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta came to learn, it could rewrite its own targeting system to identify someone as either an ally or an enemy, such as it did when Frosta started to attack it. Confused by the fact a fellow ally was attacking it, it rewrote its own functionality to determine that Frosta was a fellow enemy, and attacked her immediately like it had all the others.

Needless to say, it proved to be the most capable weapon Entrapta had ever built. It grew stronger the longer Mermista bashed it with her mystical waters, it created weaponry and components to defend itself against Glimmer's magic. Even when they worked together to combine their strengths into a single, unified, course of attack, it still managed to overpower them with ease, removing them or disabling them from the battle, and allowing it to charge the youngest princess when she was most vulnerable.

It was only thanks to Entrapta's speedy hacking that they managed to stop the robot at all. She had to rewrite its priority settings so it would ignore Frosta long enough to carry on with the rest of its mission, prioritizing the recovery of the First Ones' technology over fighting the princesses. There was no closer call that Adora had ever experienced than the sight of the robot nearly flattening Frosta's head like a pancake with one of its maces just inches away from her face.

Saving her life was the easy part out of all this. The challenging part would be trying to figure out how to apologize to her after this.

"Will the robot ignore her now?" Scorpia asked, taking the brief moment of peace to look away from the screen.

"Not entirely," Entrapta spoke as she twisted her exhausted hair in her hands, "just long enough to complete the rest of its mission. With its priority focused on the Beacon, it should provide enough of a distraction to leave the rest of the princesses alone, at least until they attack it again."

"Can't you just command it to stop completely or something?" It seemed like a no brainer to someone like Scorpia. Why bother allowing the robot to continue its mission if she had no control over it? "Just command it to come back to base so we can dismantle it."

"And destroy one of my greatest creations?!" The scientist stammered, pulling at the side of her own cheeks as her hands slid across her face. "I could never do something so cruel! Besides, I couldn't do it even if I tried. Orbko completely locked me out of its systems, so even if I attempted to, it would just create another firewall."

"So?" Adora failed to find her reasoning as she stepped forth. "Why don't you just hack your way through it now like you did before? You wouldn't have to do it in a rush like last time, you know."

"Normally I would if the situation wasn't as dire as they were now. The problem is I don't know if attempting to hack its system could trigger a glitch that could overwrite its priority settings. If I do something wrong or if it does something I'm not expecting, it could overwrite its priority settings again, and this time I doubt I could hack it as easily as I did before, if I can at all!"

"Nghhh..." Adora looked off to the side as she tried to think. What were they supposed to do in a situation like this? If she backed out of the mission now, she would have to explain her failure to Lord Hordak. If she allowed the mission to continue as it was, they could risk jeopardizing a great alliance they had with the Kingdom of Snows. There was no safe end to either of these situations!

Trai... tor...

"Ghh..." And there's that stupid voice that always made her gnarl her teeth in frustration. She's not a traitor! She told herself. She didn't know what to expect!

"Adora?" The blond nearly jumped at the mention of her name, turning to Scorpia with surprise as if she never realized she was there. Instead of continuing on with any verbal response, she trailed Scorpia's gaze down to her right hand, seeing what caught her attention with concern.

Her right hand was shaking. She didn't even feel her right hand shaking, however little, as the veins within blackened with a thick darkness. She wasn't the least bit aware that her hand was moving until Scorpia pointed it out to her, never realizing as the thin black lines were starting to trail up her fingertips. She focused on her breathing as she inhaled deeply, grabbing onto her hand as she tried to relax her nerves.

These were the times that worried Scorpia the most. To watch one of her dear friends struggling so much with themselves, just to calm themselves down, was painful to watch. How was she supposed to understand Adora's situation, to be supportive of it, when she didn't understand what it was like to have a mind working against your own body in the first place? She might as well be a robot herself and give someone else control to her movements just to get an idea.

"I... I'm okay..." She exhaled when she saw the blackness coming to a halt. "Are you sure we don't have to worry the droid?"

"Not for the time being anyway, no." Her enthusiasm was a little less than inspirational considering the first surprise they came upon when Orbko managed to overwrite its own targeting systems. "It'll ignore the princesses as long as they don't attack it again, which I'm leaning towards a fifty-fifty chance of happening." At this, the purpleness that was her hair finally sprang back to life after their brief rest. Smiling, the geeky scientist let out a small chuckle as she pet her hair, awing at it as it carried her back to the couch.

With this, Adora made her way over to the couch as she sighed. She couldn't communicate with Frosta for the time being, and there was no way for them to control Orbko from wherever it was for now. If she wanted to accomplish anything, she needed to remain calm and watch everything play out in front of her and have Entrapta act when the situation truly called for it.

She couldn't mess with the robot or have Entrapta hack it, and she couldn't fathom destroying one of the greatest robots the Horde has ever known, not when it was within Lord Hordak's sight. The most she could do for now was sit back and pray to herself that the princesses weren't foolish enough to attack the robot after losing so pitifully to it.

And somehow she knew that with someone like Catra on their team, that was nothing more than wishful thinking...

...

"Ugh... You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Catra rubbed her head in response as she walked through the trees with Swift Wind's head over her shoulder. "What about your wings? Are they okay?" She asked with a twinge of guilt on her mind, remembering how he shielded the both of them when they were struck by the robot's rocket fist.

"Eh, more or less." The scrapes and bruises around his wings did little to deter the brace facade he was putting on. After all, what kind of noble stallion would he be if he couldn't measure up to the limitations of the great She-Ra! "I'm pretty sure I'm well enough to fly-"

*crick*

"Eek-!" Almost immediately upon stretching out his wings as a sign of showmanship did the magical beast come to regret it. The second his wings were spread out in full, they were struck by an intense pain along the further half of his wingspan, feeling a sharp crack within his bones, before dangling helplessly over his sides, the look of discomfort spreading across his long face. "Ehh... in about an hour... maybe nine..."

"Mmmh..." The horse's ears drooped at the sound of her moan. The last thing Catra needed right now was any more guilt adding on to her already-tormented mind.

And coming back into the clearing of their previous battle didn't help in those matters.

All around her, her fellow allies and friends were pulling themselves to their feet, some of them from the trees. Over to the left she saw a slightly bruised Glimmer helping a numbed Mermista off the ground, throwing her arm around her own shoulder as she helped the mermaid princess up to her feet.

Over a few yards away, she could see Frosta standing nearby as Bow was working to cut down a tangled up Perfuma with a knife who was still stuck in the trees. Out of all of them, she seemed to be the least injured. There were a few stray leaves sticking out of her hair and a small twig, but other than that, pride withholding, she seemed to be perfectly fine between the rest of them.

"Is everybody okay?" Glimmer asked around as Catra came into the clearing.

"Aside from the fact I can't feel my legs?" Mermista huffed, blowing a bang of her hair out of her face with a nonchalant tone. "Super."

*snap*

"Careful, Bow..." Perfuma warned quietly as Bow cut away another vine from the tree with his knife. If she could get any sense of feeling in her hands after having them restrained by the thick green vines from the tree in the last ten minutes, she would've easily manipulated the plants to lower herself to the ground.

*snap*

"Don't worry, I'll get you down soon." Bow assured following another snap of the twisted vines.

"It's not that. I'm just saying you should be careful for when I-"

*snap*

"Wahhhh-!"

*Thud*

"...Fall..." Being so preoccupied with the princess's entanglement, Bow had neglected to consider where, or in this case, who she'd be landing on the moment she was free. Perhaps it was something he would be able to consider it next time once he pulled his face up from out of the wet blades of grass that he was weighed upon.

"Noted..." Mumbling from under her, the princess of plants quickly hopped off of her saviors back, helping him back up to his feet as the others drew closer to the clearing.

All of them had an uneasy look in their eyes as they gazed at one another. What were they supposed to say about the recent loss they suffered? Despite their best efforts, they were all tossed aside like ragdolls before the might of the superior droid that was Orbko. It was stronger, it was smarter, it was more agile than any other robot they had ever faced. Even if they were to combine the strength of all the past droids they ever fought, none of them would be able to compare to the monstrosity they had all just faced.

Breaking the silence surrounding the group, Mermista finally spoke, "Would someone mind telling me why we just lost to the walking trash can back there?" Out of all of them, Mermista was still the only one without prior knowledge to the droid's capabilities.

"That thing learns from every attack we throw at it." It was hard for Glimmer to repress the memory of how it countered her own magic, the way it threw her energy back at her with the moldable carapace around its limbs. "Every time we hit it with something new, it learns how to defend itself against that and anything we throw at it."

"And I'm pretty sure we just made it invincible after we all hit it all at once." The weight of the situation continued to pile upon Bow's mind as he pinched the bridge between his eyes. "What was I thinking having us all attack it at once? It probably knows a hundred different ways to defeat all of us by now."

"Bow, its all right. I'm sure we can beat it if we come up with another plan."

"Or if one of us actually try harder next time..." Frosta's snide comment didn't go unnoticed by the magicat who scowled back at her.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means? Everyone was giving it everything they had except for you!" Frosta felt little to no concern over her minor rant as she argued, with Catra being the focus of only half her anger. "Out of everyone who fought against that bot, you're the only one who held back!"

"What makes you think I held-?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you know what I mean! We all do!" Glancing around, Catra's nerves tensed a little as her ears drooped, seeing the uneasy expressions of her fellow friends and allies meeting her gaze indirectly. "We practically begged you to turn into She-Ra when we needed it the most, and instead you ignored everybody and lost us our chance of making a kill switch!"

"That-!" Catra tensed a little as she shifted her eyes away in quick thought. She needed to be careful in how she worded the rest of her conversation, less she give away the dreaded secret she's been struggling to keep. "T-That wasn't anything, alright? I just thought we didn't need it, that's all." Her dreadful gaze quickly shot back with a look of contempt at the younger princess, crossing her arms in personal disgust.

"Yeah, right! Like that's the only reason." A sense of fear started to tug at Catra's chest as the fellow eyes of her friends were drawn to the young princess, a pique of curiosity and confusion crossing their faces.

"What do you mean by that?" Glimmer wondered.

"Think about it for a minute. Why she's been so stubborn lately? The reason we haven't' seen her transform into She-Ra for the last month? It all makes sense now." All of Catra's senses were put on high alert as her heart began to race, noticing the increasingly curious expressions of those surrounding her.

Did Princess Frosta actually find out about her little secret? About her inability to transform into the true form of She-Ra that they desperately needed? What was she going to tell them if Frosta came out and revealed it? She couldn't turn into She-Ra's true form, that was something she could handle. What she couldn't handle was explaining why she couldn't transform into She-Ra, provided it truly was her fault as she thought.

If the rest found out the truth, what would they say to her? The nerves were getting as her tail gave off a slight twitch, already picturing the number of things they would shout at her, all the reasons they could blame her for her mistake. It's not like she didn't want to tell anybody about it, she just wished it wouldn't come to that. And now, here she was, with Frosta preparing to reveal the big secret-

"She doesn't want to transform into She-Ra anymore!"

...Or not.

Still, the line of questioning proved troublesome as the rest of the group's curiosity only continued to grow. "What do you mean she doesn't want to turn into She-Ra?"

"Think about it. Every time we come out to these woods, Catra's only ever fought them normally. She's never tried to use her sword, she never tries to turn into She-Ra, and she hasn't done anything since the battle of Brightmoon other than getting angrier all the time!" The She-Ra-in-question turned her head away and crossed her arms as the young princess pointed accusingly at her. "She hasn't turned into She-Ra because she either can't, or, more likely, she doesn't want to."

Without seeing, Catra could feel the gaze of her allies falling on her one by one, practically telling from first look who was feeling what. She could feel Mermista's perplexity as she wrapped her head around this, Perfuma's concern and worry if something was actually wrong with She-Ra, Bow's and Glimmer's combined expression of confusion and surprise as to whether or not this was the reason she was so irritated recently, and Catra herself gritted her teeth as she felt Frosta's smugness coming off on her, even if she didn't show it.

"She... doesn't want to?" Perfuma repeated with the tilt of her head.

"Catra, is... is that true?" Of all the people who had to ask her that, why did it have to be Bow? She could easily ignore the others as she never felt much of a connection between them, but it was harder to remain silent whenever she found Bow or Glimmer talking to her.

"Tch, o-of course not!" The feline growled back, trying to maintain her composure and usual persona as she spoke. "I can turn into She-Ra at any time! I... I just don't do it unless its an emergency or if I'm training."

"What sense does that make?" Mermista questioned with a raised brow. "Wouldn't it make more sense to use She-Ra as much as possible to get more experience out of it?"

"B-Because... Because it's what Light Hope told me. She said until I get stronger personally then I'll never be able to master She-Ra's power, even with all the strength it grants me." With every beat of Catra's racing heart, her anxiety grew as she watched the others turn to one another. "Look, I really can't explain it all right now, it's a long story," Catra replied pushing her way through the crowd in an attempt to dissuade any further conversation, "let's just find that stupid robot and take care of it before we have to worry about more bots showing up along with it."

"We can take of it after you tell them the truth!" Frosta practically demanded, unaware of the rising tension building within Catra that her friends were accustomed to. "We can't take any chances with you if you keep letting your anger in the way!"

"I am telling you the truth, and I don't have any problems controlling my anger. Now let's go!"

"No you're not and no you can't! You keep getting angry all the time and you're taking it out on everybody else! You choose to take your anger out on the rest of us because you can't get over the fact that what happened with Adora was your fault in the first place!"

All at once, the remaining members of the Princess Alliance turned to the Princess of Snows as Catra stopped in her tracks. Nobody else could believe the very words that came out of Frosta's mouth, the forbidden name that was uttered. It was one the rest of the alliance had all agreed upon to never mention, all of them being all too well aware of the plausible consequence and reaction that would come out of a certain magicat in the process.

Frosta just used the A-word. And it wasn't until she noticed the returning looks of her fellow allies that she became nervous of her predicament.

"...What?" Frosta wasn't naive, but she was young. She was at the borderline of turning into a teenager and still a child, and it was only natural for a kid to make the occasional mistake.

She was tired of Catra's bossy attitude since meeting her, always shouting, always demanding. It would be one thing if she directed it at the princess herself, given all the times she teased or pranked her, but she was tired of putting up with it whenever it came to shouting at anyone else. To her, there was no reason or excuse that she should be above the other princesses, She-Ra or otherwise.

All the same, Glimmer almost prayed silently to herself as she wished those words never came out of the young princess's mouth, much less anyone's. Those prayers went unanswered as she could practically feel the tension rising from Catra's person, the aura of hatred and anger practically glowing around the girl as she squeezed her clawed-hand into a fist.

"You know what?" Everyone was caught off guard at the sight ferocity gleaming from Catra's eyes, the girl grinding her teeth as she turned around. "Let's take a moment to make something clear around here..."

"Catra, don't-" Glimmer's attempts at calming the situation were literally pushed aside as Catra shoved passed her. With the fire burning in Catra's eyes, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows shuttered slightly as she backed up, feeling the menacing aura engulfing her as Catra stomped closer.

"I don't care about Adora anymore, got it? I don't care about that stupid fight we had a month ago. I don't care if we have to fight these stupid bots for the rest of our lives, I don't care if I can turn into She-Ra or not, and I don't care if we never beat the Horde at this point in my lifetime." The magicat continued to rant even after Frosta fell backwards, her ankle getting snagged on an exposed root and falling to the slushy grass. Without missing a moment, the young princess continued to push herself backwards as she attempted to escape the snarling cat's rage.

"You know what I do care about these days? Nothing! But it doesn't mean I need a constant reminder about my life or my problems on a daily basis. I need people to mind their own business, I need people to focus more on robots than me, and I need little shrimps like you to stop acting like a stupid BRAT!" And it was with that final rant that Catra finally exhaled, panting with a face full of rage, not an ounce of care in her eyes as she stood over the younger princess who had been backed up to a tree by now.

She needed this vent. She needed it more than anything given everything she unloaded before the group. She was tired of always trying to be the patient one around the group, especially whenever Frosta was involved in their meetings. She always got away with whatever prank she pulled on Catra without a second thought, always got to speak her mind because, as Catra assumed, she was a child. The kid never got yelled at as much at the meetings, got to pester Catra to no end, and never had any repercussions because of it.

Catra NEEDED this right now.

And for a change, she didn't care about the fact she just yelled at a child, and she refused to care about it! Just looking back at her, the young princess was throwing her own glare at her. Catra was sure she was going to comeback with some witty retort, something smart to say to continue this aggravating charade. She was going to say something back at her, proving herself to be the spoiled, irritating, brat, that Catra has come to know her to be since joining the Rebellion, the stubborn prankster that she's known her to be. The minute she started to yell back, Catra was REALLY going to let her have it!

...Why are her eyes watering? Catra blinked at her own abrupt thought. There wasn't a shred of anger within the young princess's eyes, any hint of the anger that Catra expected to be brought back to her. It was with the sniffling that emanated from the younger princess that Catra continued to realize the reality of the situation, blinking to herself as she started to rub her head in confusion.

"W...Wait... what-?" Anything Catra had to say thereafter fell on deaf ears as the young princess took off. Catra didn't even have the time to raise a hand towards the young princess as she ran from the scene, the tears draining from her face and her sniffling ringing in Catra's ears until she was out of sight. Her ears rose twitchily as her tail came to a halt, the situation at hand finally dawning on Catra after all this time.

She just screamed her anger out on a young princess no older than eleven-years-old, right in front of the remainder of the Princess Alliance, no less. Turning back to the very allies she's came to know, she could tell they were unhappy at first glance. Not glaring or annoyed, mind you, but simply put off by the sudden performance.

"...Ouch..." Mermista's voice was the first to break the silence of the group as she turned her head away with unease. The reality of her recent outburst slowly rushed back to Catra as the unnecessary guilt weighed upon her heart, groaning internally as she pushed her forehead against the tree she backed Frosta up to.

"Oh, gimme a break..." She was tempted to challenge fate. She was tempted to ask herself and those around her how things could possibly get worse around here. But she's been stumped by fate since joining the Rebellion one too many times to know the sad reality of her situation: It can always get worse than it was now. Even though they currently had to contend with a robot that could learn, predict, and counter all of their attacks accordingly, and they were now down one princess, it could always get worse.

"The Horde's new bot is way too strong, and way too smart!" The archer broke the tension in the air as he finally spoke. He bore himself a weight of the responsibility after everything that they had witnessed till now. "We'll never be able to catch it. I thought I could help, and be the Rebellion's tech master. But that was obviously a dumb idea." The other princesses and Swift Wind looked to one another at this. Even Catra couldn't help but turn her solemn expression in his direction for a moment.

Everything since the start of this day had gone down hill. The group prioritized taking a bot intact instead of destroying one, lost to an overpowered robot that had studied all of their strengths and weaknesses and used it against them, and caused several arguments and issues between several members of the team. Everything from this day was the result of everyone trying to go with Bow's plan, and now he felt the weight of that idea crumbling before him.

Still, it didn't mean he should feel the most responsible out of this. Glimmer knew that, and she made her way over to him, patting him on the shoulder, to ensure that he knew. "Bow, it's not your fault, none of this is. You're the only one who came up with a real plan. Without it, we'd still be fighting the bots without end, and wasting more time while the rest of Etheria is in danger."

"Glimmer's right." Smiling, Perfuma nodded in agreement as she stepped forward, raising a small fist to her chest with conviction. "You're the only one who knows the most about all this tech stuff, and if anyone's going to have a chance of stopping them, it's you."

"It would be nice if we could stop doing the same thing every day..." Mermista insisted, giving a small smirk as she added a little humor to the conversation. To Glimmer's satisfaction, it seemed to be just the boost of morale that Bow needed as a small smile inched over his face.

"...That thing wasn't interested in exterminating us." Bow commented, rubbing his chin in thought. "It had a chance to eliminate us and instead it left us alone, like it was searching for something else."

"Did anyone else notice any other bots like it around here?" Swift Wind added curiously. "I flew all over the forest, and I didn't see any other bot on the way here."

"Maybe the Horde could only afford to make one like it?" While she might not have been the tech expert like Bow was, Mermista was still knowledgeable enough to know the principles of resources and management. "I mean, anything that advance couldn't have been cheap." With all of this in mind, Bow came up with a possible conclusion.

"Which means it was probably sent to acquire more resources. Anything with that much power had to have been made with First Ones' Technology."

"Pffft! Is that all?" Swift Wind nearly chuckled with a snort. "Well good luck getting any of that around here! The only place I know with any sort of First Ones tech is-"

"The Beacon!" Raising her head from the bark, all eyes turned back to the magicat at the grand announcement. "That place is loaded with First Ones tech. I don't even know how far down it goes, there's no telling how much they could salvage from it."

"If the Horde gets their hands on it, they could build an army of those robots. We'd never be able to stop them!" The weight of the situation collapsed on everyone simultaneously. One robot was more than enough for their match. It studied their strengths, threw their own powers against them, and evolved over the course of practically one-sided battle. If the Horde ever managed to mass produce them as expected, all of Etheria would be brought under their rule within a month's time.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's track that thing down before it-" The impatient She-Ra was brought to a halt as she felt a familiar tugging on her tail. To no surprise of her, she turned back to see Glimmer holding onto the end of her tail, her facial expression giving no sense of joy or remorse for what she was doing, just an uncertain firmness to it.

"Catra..."

"...What?" Shifting her eyes around, she noticed the others giving her the same look, including Swift Wind, and groaned knowingly. There was only one thing they wanted from her before she fought again. "Ok, no."

"Catra, come on."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Well for one thing, you'll have an easier time tracking her down with your sense of smell." Mermista pointed out crossing her arms.

"And you're the one who made her cry in the first place." Swift Wind almost regretted his addition to the conversation as he watched Catra furrow her brow in irritation.

"Whose side are you on?!"

"Look, Catra, we don't have a choice. We barely survived our first encounter with that thing, and that was with all of us working together. If we're going to have any chance of defeating that thing, we need everybody's strength." As much as Catra wanted to argue against Bow's line of reasoning, she couldn't deny he had a point.

Within the first few minutes of fighting that thing, Catra and Glimmer barely survived alone. That robot managed to overpower the two with ease, even with Catra's morphable weapon, disabled Glimmer's energy blasts, and managed to make her waste a vast amount of her energy without putting a dent into it.

On top of it, it also would've been a good way to gauge whether or not Catra could control her emotions. They couldn't allow any more slip ups to what could be a potentially deadly fight, and that included getting Catra's anger under control. Considering it was her anger that practically started off the robot's berserk rampage in the first place, added to the fact that they barely survived for as long as they did only because of Frosta's timely intervention, and there was no room for argument.

She hated to admit it, but if they wanted to defeat the Horde's newest superweapon, they needed to have Princess Frosta at their side again.

"Ugggh... fine, I'll find her." She finally agreed. "But if she ends up being worse after I apologize, it's on you."

"Heh, deal." Glimmer replied with a small smile as Catra trudged her way through the woods. It was comforting at times to see Catra trying to be a bit more selfless when it came to the others, even when she didn't want to put up with it. She waited until Catra was fully out of sight before turning her attention back to the rest of the group. "Please tell me I'm not going to regret that..."

...

"Ugh... dumb... brat... I can yell as much as I want, but no one can yell at me..." These were the kinds of obscenities that Catra had been mumbling to herself for the last ten minutes, often mocking Frosta's childish behavior or the annoyance of everything she had to put up with till now. The entire trek through the woods was nothing short of annoying.

First off, her feet were freezing. Maybe it was a sign that she should start wearing her combat boots more often, even when she was walking through the woods. She could still feel the fresh cold water squishing between her feet against the moist grass, the sound of water dripping from icicles along the surrounding branches she passed as she made her way through the forest. It was almost as if her extra senses were adding onto the cold around her, reminding her of her shoeless state.

The second annoyance was trying to figure out what she would say when she finally ran into Frosta again. How was she expected to apologize to someone like her when she was still mad at her to begin with? She was obnoxious, loud, seemingly did everything in her power just to annoy Catra, and now Catra herself was expected to apologize to her? She might as well be yelling at a lit stick of dynamite and telling it to stop!

The third and most troubling part ouf of all of this, though, was what she was going to say. If her experiences with Adora taught her one thing, simply saying sorry wasn't going to cut it. From her personal experience, just saying sorry was almost as bad as never apologizing at all, if not worse given what her life has lead up to till this point. She was going to need to say something that actually meant something to Frosta if she wanted it to be effective in any sense of the word, or at least enough to get her to help them fight off the robot again.

But how the heck was she supposed to apologize in a way that meant something to someone she disliked the most out of the group?!

*sniff*

Her ears twitched as she picked up the familiar sniffle of a young girl, her tail wagging a little tensely as she prepared herself for what was to come. Ok, just go in, say you're sorry, then drag her back. She told herself as she pushed her way through the foliage. As expected, sitting atop an overgrown boulder stretching a near twenty feet into the air, she saw the young Frosta with her back turned to her.

The girl didn't seem the least bit interested as Catra approached, nor oblivious to her surroundings as she spoke, knowing there was only one person who would've followed her at a time like this, whether or not she wanted to. "Come to yell at me some more?" She grumbled as Catra crossed her arms, never giving the She-Ra her full attention. "Why don't you just leave me alone and tell them you apologized, I know it's what you want to do anyway."

"You know if you didn't act like a little brat all the time, we wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place." Catra spat back. Even if she didn't want to push through this conversation that didn't mean she didn't want to put this all behind them, at least long enough for them fight alongside each other again. "If you just knocked it off with all the sass and backtalk, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Well excuse me for not knowing how to act around you guys," she snapped back, glaring at her briefly with her tear-filled eyes, "I never had any friends before!"

A blink.

That's how long it lasted.

For that one split-second that Frosta looked at her and turned away again, Catra saw a brief flash of a familiar person in Frosta's place, the last person she expected to see in this situation; herself. More specifically, the young child version of her that lead her to this sort of life.

That same little kid who was always angry, the one who had just as hard of a time making friends, and the one person Catra never wished to remember. She was the one person who was always angry with the world, the one who thought she could handle everything on her own, and the one who never wanted to make anymore friends unless it benefitted her in some way. And of all the people who needed to remind her of it, it just had to be Frosta right now.

The look of surprise on Catra's face said it all as she lowered her head. She still didn't know what to say to her, but she knew enough to know she couldn't leave this alone, no matter how much she wanted to. With a small groan to herself, she leapt her way along the boulder until she reached the top, sitting with her knees curled up like Frosta and staring straight ahead in thought as she tried to think of what to say.

"I don't want to talk to you, so just leave me alone." The young princess continued, turning her head away as she rested her chin upon her knees.

"Yeah, well... I can't exactly go back without you." Catra replied, the tip of her tail bobbing a little behind her. "We need your help to stop that robot thing. We don't have to like each other, but it doesn't mean we can't fight together either."

"Oh, yeah, I get it. You're not even here to apologize, you just want me to help you take down that killer robot."

"So?" There was an awkward silence during the next several seconds as Frosta glared back at her, Catra eventually realizing what she said as she chuckled nervously, Frosta turning her head away in disgust. "Eh heh, I mean... t-that's not true or anything. We just-"

*swiff*

"Huh?" The next response she received was the furthest from the list of things she expected. Instead of just pushing her away, using her magic to shove her, or anything else to get the magicat away from her, she instead offered her a very familiar item, one that caused untold paranoia and stress to the honorary princess half an hour ago.

The small box she's been hiding from Catra, one she offered to her as she held her hand out in front of her.

"Just take it and go. I know it's the only thing you're interested in right now." Frosta practically ordered, dropping it in the feline's hands before she even had a chance to accept or decline it. "I don't even care anymore."

There was a small twinge of uncertainty in Catra's chest as she looked over the unfrozen treasure box she had been trying to get her hands on. While she was more than eager to accept the mysterious container and unravel its mysteries, another, very small, part of her wasn't as thrilled about receiving the item as she had hoped to be. The young princess was doing everything she could to push this conversation away if it meant getting Catra away from her. Even if it meant giving Catra something she wanted to keep from her, she'd much rather deal with that than Catra's vain attempt at apologizing.

Still, the curiosity never left Catra as she examined the container from every angle, from its sturdiness to the elegant snowflake symbol over its top. Extending the small claw at the tip of her pinky, she quickly went to work as she dug into the small opening of the container, listening closely to the small clicks of locks and springs being undone as she picked around the interior.

What was going to be inside once she opened it? Her mind was reeling in from everything within the last half-hour, so much so that she didn't know what she should be feeling right now. Pride that she finally got something that resulted in her foot getting bitten over? Regret about how she yelled at her not too long ago because she found Frosta, the child, annoying? Curiosity over what was inside of the mysterious box? So much was rushing through her mind with so little time to ponder!

With a solid, last, click, the magicat's eyes widened as the trunk of the chest popped open, a small sliver of an opening greeting her as she finally unlocked the contraption. What secrets did the mysterious container contain? Answers to why Frosta was being so shady recently? Some useless item that would've pinched on Catra's nerves out of regret? An explanation for all the strange things that have been going on as of-

A pendant? No... a locket, with a familiar snowflake-like design.

Catra blinked to herself as she grabbed the small golden chain that was attached to the small glittery object, watching it glisten in the sunlight with a bright shine. Watching it twirl around in place, she noticed the small button atop of it, giving it a click to reveal a pair of people she's never met before. And while she might not know of them on a personal basis, given their arctic-like clothing and the fact they were kept in a locket of all things, it wasn't really hard to put two and two together as to who they were.

"I inherited the throne when I was eight." Frosta stated as she continued to turn away from the cat. "It's kind of hard to make friends when everyone you know is your sworn subject."

"...Ugh... kid..." Catra groaned as she pinched between her own eyes.

Great. Just great! This is what she needed. Give her something else to feel guilty about, like how she took her anger out on a kid who practically had the same lifestyle as her growing up, if not possibly worse given all the responsibilities she must've had to deal with. "Look, if you had something as pointle-... as simple as this, then why didn't you just tell anyone?"

"Because it's none of their business!" She retorted. "I don't want or need anyone worrying about my personal feelings or anything in the middle of a mission. It would get too distracting and embarrassing."

"Well yeah, but at least then you aren't acting weirdly around anyone and everyone knows things are fine." Catra started to feel a bit of her aggressive tension rising up again as she stood.

"Who cares if they think I'm being weird?" Even at this, Frosta refused to give her any attention as she remained in her spot. "It's none of their business anyway, and it's not like it's hurting anyone!"

"But that's not the point! It doesn't matter if you're not hurting anyone with your secrets or not. Everyone else is going to get worried and distracted if you keep things to yourself. You're not helping anyone by keeping secrets to yourself, you're just-!" She froze. Her mind processed what she was about to say before she even said it as her eyes widened a bit in surprise.

Everything seemed to be still around her as she realized what she was about to say. Taking her sword out of her sheathe, she examined it closely, watching it shine with the familiar light of the sun as she was greeted back with her own reflection, speaking softly to herself. "...You're just making things worse by not telling them..."

Was... Was this her? Was this really what she was doing to everyone else around her? She didn't want them to know about her She-Ra issue for a number of reasons, the most prominent being that it was none of their business. She made her own foolish mistake to begin with, and as such, it should've been up to her to fix her own She-Ra problem, no matter how much the others would insist that they help. That should've been the end of it, and everyone would move on with their own lives.

But this? Was this... actually what she was doing to everyone else? Was she actually making the same mistake as Frosta was at this very moment? Looking back on it, just trying to keep it a secret was dragging on her nerves, getting her tense more easily throughout the last month as she tried everything to make sure no one found out the truth. She didn't want the others pestering her for something that wasn't their business, especially something that Catra felt responsible for to begin with. If she made a mistake, then it should be her own responsibility to clean it up, right?

... Wrong... As much as she hated to admit it, after all this time, she was wrong. She had no idea if her friends were continuing to worry over Catra or if their worries were just a spur of the moment. She couldn't tell if they were still bothered by Catra's strange behavior or if they were willing to just let it be. Knowing these people as she does now, she highly doubted it. They were probably confused and concerned, even now, for her strange behavior, for her unexplained aggression. And its a realization Catra would never come to if it hadn't been for one person that reminded her the most of herself.

Frosta. The same girl that continued to sniffle as she wiped away a tear with the edge of her coat's sleeve.

With a sigh, Catra sheathed her sword again as she sat atop the boulder once more, placing the mystery box with the locket inside against her as she curled up her legs and hugged herself gently.

*flick*

Frosta nearly jumped as she was caught by surprise, opening her eyes a little in astonishment. Catra had actually brushed away some of the tears in her eyes with the tip of her tail, catching a small bit of her attention as the girl looked out into the distance.

"You know... I really, really... really... can't believe I'm about to say this, but... You really remind me a lot of... well... me." Her statement was met with nothing short of surprise from the ice princess as she wiped away the rest of her tears with her own two hands.

"I... remind you of you?" She asked to make sure her hearing was still working. The small grin on Catra's own face as she lowered her ears and head said it all.

"Yeah, you kind of do at this rate. The whole "loner lifestyle", "trying to take on everything yourself", "doing whatever you can to prove useful to everyone else", all of it. You want to show everyone you're capable of taking care of yourself, that you're stronger than you look."

"W-Wow..." Frosta didn't know what to say as her tears finally dried. "Thank y-"

"That's not a good thing." Instantly, the small grin present on Catra's face suddenly flipped as it was replaced with a regretful frown. "Look, Frosta... After everything I've been through, everything I've done to get to where I am now... I hate it. I hate being on the opposite side of one of my friends, I hate what I did in my past to turn them away, and, honestly, I hate the fact I found the Sword of Protection."

"You... actually regret becoming She-Ra?" Was this the same magicat Frosta knew or did she just cry herself to sleep and this was all some hallucinogenic sleep that she was suffering from?

"Don't get me wrong or anything, it's not like I would trade it all back." She clarified. "I still care enough about the Rebellion at this point to keep away from switching sides, and it's not like I've never been happy since I joined. But," at long last, she finally gave the ice princess her direct attention, the sincerity in her eyes leaving little room for doubt, "after all the pain I've been through to get to where I am today, I wouldn't wish it on my most hated enemy, or allies for that matter."

"So... why are you telling me this?" Frosta asked as a small blush grew over Catra's cheeks, temporarily.

"Because no amount of pleading or wishing is going to fix the mistakes I've made in the past. But you still have chance to fix everything, or at least stop yourself from going down the same path I did. You're plenty strong as it is, Frosta, just... just don't make the same mistakes I did, alright?"

"R... Right..." There was an unusual awkwardness in the air as the two looked away from each other again, this time with Frosta's body pointing in the same direction as she sat alongside her.

Both girls were relatable in ways Catra never saw coming. They both have a troubled history and a path, yet trying to do everything themselves in turn. They didn't care if it came off aggressive to anyone else in their eyes, not as long as they could see just how strong they were on their own to begin with.

Yet, even with that, it didn't separate the path both girls had took to get this far. Who knows how they looked in everyone else's eyes, what they thought about them when they were behind their backs. Both girls closed off themselves to get through their troubles, and to prove themselves reliable to the rest of the world. There was only one big difference that it came down to when the details were stacked next to each other.

Frosta still had time to make a change. And an apology.

"...I'm sorry I bit your foot earlier."

"Heh, don't sweat it. I'm just sorry I haven't washed it in a week."

"I thought you said you washed it three days ago?"

"Yeah, well, actually, that's the last day I remembered not cleaning it. I stopped counting after that." The lack of disgust on Frosta's face assured her she understood the joke. In fact, to Catra's relief, she saw a small smile growing around her lips as she chuckled softly. "Oh, by the way," she paused growing her claws out, "if you tell anyone I was this sappy, I'll shave your head and give you a swirly."

"What's a swirly?"

It was almost sadder to Catra that she didn't know what a swirly was compared to the realization of similarities the two had.

*boom*

Catra jumped to her feet in an instant as her ears picked up the distant sound of a small explosion going off. Looking over the distance past the bundle of trees and leaves, she could see a small stack of smoke over a mile away from wherever she was. The younger princess remained in her spot as she barely caught the sound in her own ears, though knew if anything caught Catra's attention, it had to be bad.

"It sounds like they found the walking trashcan."

"Well what do you want us to do about it?" Turning back to her, Catra saw the guilty frown she had over her expression as she turned her head away. "That thing keeps learning the longer we fight it, and we barely put a dent in that thing to begin with. We've spent so much time arguing that we might as well be fighting each other at this rate." As much as Catra hated to admit it, she had a point.

How the heck were they supposed to stop that thing? It grew stronger every time they hit it, it learned from their moves and figured out the best strategies to take each of them down. It even managed to take them down at the same time for crying out loud, and they probably lost their only chance of ever beating it after Catra refused to become She-Ra earlier. And with tensions still surrounding most of the group, it was just as Frosta said.

They really should just keep fighting each other by now, it would prove just as effective.

It also proved to give Catra one of her most reckless ideas to date.

"...Actually... That's exactly what we should do!"

"Huh?"

...

A/N: Hooftah, it felt so good to finally post after so long ^^! Once again, huge shoutout to Peterson Muldoon and Heitomos for their amazing art contributions and whatnot, as well as the people who've kept in touch with me till now!

As always, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 61: Season 2 Episode 1: The Frozen Forest End

Chapter Text

A/N: No people, you are not imagining things, you are in for a verily fun and length read X)! Honestly, I wanted to be done with this freaking episode since i was on it for over 2 freaking months, wouldn't anyone XD? So I just typed away until I got it covered. I think I can safely say my writing is more than back if I managed to write out almost double what I normally do and within a week or so's time ^^ Huge shout out to all the fans that kept this series going. Will remind its been two months since my usual writing, so if some parts are choppy and whatnot, you'll know why.

Also to those who didn't get the message update last time, I owe the great fan art for this series to a guy named Petie.doon on instagram. I swear you guys have GOT to see his artwork, it is amazing, especially for someone who does it for free. The best way to flatter a fan writers work is to make fan work of the fan work..... or least that's my opinion XP

So with that said, thanks to him and all of you guys for keeping up to date with me and staying by my side no matter what! With that said, hope you enjoy the thrilling conclusion of the First episode of Season 2!

...

"Whoooa!" Bow yelped as he was hurled through the air by the robot's incredible strength. So much for his plan of a sneak attack.

After the first round with the dreaded Orbko awhile ago, the Princess Alliance found itself in a mess. Following their loss, there was a great amount of anger and discord between Catra and Princess Frosta, the latter of which blamed the former for not turning into She-Ra when they really needed it. The argument resulted in a tearful Frosta running away through the woods and forcing Catra to chase after her, knowing they needed everyone's strength if they were to stand a chance against this thing.

That left the remainder of the Princess Alliance in search of the mighty machine, as well as putting a stop to its wicked scheme. During a small discussion before the magicat took olf, they realized the robot was actually in search of the Beacon, one of the great remnants of First Ones. It housed an abundance of technology that no other site had yet to compare to, one that could bring about salvation if used in the proper hands, or, as the Horde intended, create an unstoppable army of these terrible robots that could learn and adapt to any situation during combat.

Thanks to Swift Winds connection with She-Ra and the sword, he was able to help the current princesses and Bow track down the Beacon, coming across Orbko just as it found the First Ones ruins. They couldn't help but imagine what terrible power the Horde would be capable of if their plans succeeded, if they actually managed to create such an unstoppable army. Their primary mission was to stop the advanced machine, which presented another problem the group had to deal with in itself.

They needed to figure out a way to beat it without destroying it.

Throughout all the fighting, the one detail that kept everyone from giving it everything they had was their own mission. They needed one of the Horde robots to be captured alive in order for Bow to develop a Kill-Switch, a device that could easily disable any and all the droids the Horde had been sending to the Whispering Woods for the last month to keep them occupied. The sooner they completed their task, the sooner they could turn their attention to the rest of Etheria and take back any of the regions that were captured by the Horde during their absence.

They were dealing with one of the strongest creations the Horde had ever unleashed upon the Whispering Woods, and it was taking everything they had just to stay alive. The robot learned throughout all the fighting their strengths and weaknesses, managed to shape and construct shields and weapons out of the defensive carapace that covered its limbs.

As if that wasn't enough, the robot was capable of adapting its internal structure, allowing it to raise its temperatures to burn anything around it, like the many vines Perfuma attempted to ensnare it with, or lower it to freeze the air around it, turning several massive blasts of Mermista's water power into solid, unuseable, chunks of ice. It forced the the princesses to adapt in turn at a rate that was abysmal in comparison to the robot's own.

Not to mention Glimmer's own disadvantage over the robot. Having previously fought the robot alongside Catra before their friends arrived to help, she had exhausted a great amount of her energy teleporting herself, Catra, and the robot on half a dozen occasions. With just enough magic to conjure up one more teleportation or several blasts of her magic, she was fighting with a severe handicap, one she wouldn't even have if her magic staff didn't amplify what little of her power she had left.

The one advantage the robot couldn't adapt to, hopefully at least, was how many enemies it was facing at the same time. With such a varied mix of abilities from sheer strength and technicality like Bow's trick arrows and the princess' magics, the robot was forced to adapt to each situation accordingly, reverting to its neutral state each time it had to contend with another attack.

Unfortunately, this only proved to delay the inevitable loss they were facing. No matter what advantage the group had over the robot in numbers, the robot was continuing to adapt. Learning as it fought, it was starting to counter everything they threw at it before they could even land their attacks.

And it was providing more than an entertaining display for particular members of the Horde as they spied on them through the small drones circling around the action.

...

From the other side of the cameras, Adora, Entrapta, and Scorpia could be seen watching through the monitors from the comfort of their couch. Through the various monitors, they could see all the angles of the fight from the several smaller monitors surrounding the one large monitor in the middle that displayed everything the robot was seeing. It felt like a good way to unwind after the fiasco awhile ago.

The robot was one of Entrapta's greatest creations without comparison. Its strength was unmatched by any of the droids, its capacity to learn proved an advancement beyond anyone of this generation was capable of creating, and the technology that allowed it to manipulate its carapace into an adaptive weaponry was unheard of. Truly, it was one of the most marvelous things ever created by the Horde, and one of the princess's most proudest creations!

There was just one tiny flaw they weren't prepared for; IT CONSIDERED PRINCESS FROSTA ONE OF ITS ENEMIES!

Even now, the back of Adora's mind was filled with worry of whether or not Frosta would maintain her relationship with the Horde after this, as well as her own safety. The Kingdom of Snows was one of Etheria's strongest kingdoms, and was proving to be an invaluable ally since they joined forces. They provided resources and information on the Alliance that was unaware of Frosta's true allegiance, and the Horde provided a handful of technology and schematics in exchange.

Nothing too important, of course, for safety precautions, but more than useful enough to the Kingdom of Snows in their environment. Adora took personal responsibility to make sure they were evenly compensated in the exchanges, much more than any of the other Horde Captains or Officers would've allowed if she wasn't Hordak's second-in-command. And that same princess was almost on the receiving end of Orbko's wrath if it wasn't for Entrapta's timely intervention, resetting its priorities long enough to temporarily force it to leave them alone.

So, now with their ally out of harm's way, she took great enjoyment as she watched the remaining members of the Princess Alliance struggle in vain against Orbko's might, sitting left of Scorpia as she helped herself to a bowl of popcorn, and an overly-excited Entrapta who seemed more interested in the technology surrounding the robot than the battle itself.

"There's enough technology in those ruins to create an army of those robots." Adora commented, grinning a little as she watched the robot toss Bow through the air into the tree branches. "You'll be able to create so much with all that tech, Entrapta, that it'll make Orbko look like a child's plaything in comparison."

"Ooooooh!" The stars were shining greatly in the scientist's eyes at the announcement, hopping in her own seat out of pure excitement as she squeezed her fists. "I want it nooooow! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

"''Chu think Frosh'ta 'ill be okay," Scorpia paused as she swallowed another mouthful of popcorn, "will be okay if she runs into the robot again?"

"I don't know. It depends on if I can alter its priorities again if she runs into it." Being the always-prepared scientist that she was, she pulled out one of her various datapads from her bundle of hair. "But I also run the risk of it finding out its priorities have been tampered with. If it does, it might not respond to to its orders anymore, or any of its commands."

"Well couldn't we just activate its self-destruct thing if it goes haywire? We wouldn't need to worry about it then."

"We can't afford to destroy it carelessly." Adora never took her eyes off the screen as she replied. "Without the materials from the Beacon, we'll never be able to create another one like it. Besides, at the rate things are going right now, we probably won't even need anymore." The second-in-command smirked as she leaned against her arm, elbow firmly planted against the couch's right arm.

It's funny when she really thought about it. To think that these very same princesses, the ones that wanted discord and chaos throughout Etheria, were the very same people who thwarted Adora's plans a month ago that almost brought the Rebellion down to its knees. Now, here she was, sitting back and relaxing like she was watching an old video as she watched the same princesses getting tossed around and beaten down by one of their greatest creations.

Once they were removed, nothing would stand in the Horde's way. And, when enough of them were taken down, there would be no reason for Frosta to feign allegiance to the Rebellion anymore. Everything was about to be brought to an end, and it would all start the moment Orbko had a princess crushed under its metallic foot.

...

*Wham!*

"Hnngh!" Glimmer grumbled as she dodged right of the robot's powerful fist as it slammed to the ground. With its fist stuck temporarily in the ground, the princess of Brightmoon rushed up the robot's firm limb, jumping several steps ahead of it as she attempted to impale the shaft of the staff directly into the robot's lone eye.

Sadly, the robot was already two steps ahead of her as it predicted the attack and caught her by the back of her right leg before she could reach her intended target. Dangling briefly in the air, Glimmer let out a small shriek of fear as she felt the robot rotate its entire arm once before throwing the princess over to the trees, straight into the archer who had just recovered from his previous toss, and knocking the both of them head first into the ground.

*thud*

"Owww..." He felt like he got hit with a suitcase for a moment, his whole body wracking with a minuscule pain as he lifted himself from the floor. "Glimmer! Are you alright?"

The princess didn't seem to be any better or worse than he was safe for a few scrapes along her arms and head, brushing the dust out of her hair as she shook away the dizziness. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She assured, paying almost no mind to her friend as she directed her attention back to the robot.

"Nothing's working, Glimmer. That thing's too strong." Bow kept his gaze on the robot as he watched Perfuma and Mermista attack it at the same time.

The technology was unlike anything Bow was used to, and there was little time for him to examine its structure when it was flailing about and attacking them at the same time. Restraining it didn't help with the four of them, its metallic plating grew more resilient the longer they attacked it, and his attempts to blind the robot's one eye proved futile as the robot managed to burn away anything that disrupted its vision in a few seconds.

It was virtually unstoppable.

"What if we removed its core? Wouldn't that turn it off completely?" Glimmer asked hopefully.

"We'd still need to restrain it long enough to remove its back panel." Without a moment's hesitation, the archer jumped back to his feet as he attempted to fire another arrow directly at the robot's head as Mermista distracted it with another wave of her mystical waters. Sadly, as expected, the robot didn't give so much as a single twitch as it predicted the projectile coming its way, using the shield-like plate over its left arm to angle the arrow just slightly enough to bounce away completely.

And to the ground directly at Mermista's feet.

*Boom!*

"Ngh!" The oceanic princess groaned in pain as she was pushed away by the powerful blast, sending her through the air until she collided painfully against the Beacon's outer walls. While the explosion didn't seem to graze her too much, there was a searing pain in her right shoulder, one she couldn't soothe as rubbed it with her other hand.

"Mermista!" Bow cried out with worry and regret. It wasn't a matter of the robot trying to defend itself- it intentionally directed the arrow so it would blast her away and damage her shoulder. With a distracting pain running through the upper right of her body, it would be harder for her to direct the flow of water as easily as she did while moving from the robot at the same time. This, like many other cases, was a prime example of the robot's superior intellect and strategy.

"Bow!" And no sooner did Bow hear Glimmer's cry of panic did he see the robot charging straight towards them. Knowing that Glimmer's magic was waning, giving her an assuring nod, the princess teleported herself away from the scene as Bow shot out another arrow a dozen yards away, one that grappled one of the many thick and sturdy branches of the fine oak, and grabbed on as it propelled him forward and out of the robot's massive tackle, knocking over the tree they were near in the process.

As he propelled through the air, looking back to see Glimmer had teleported, exhausted, on the other side of the clearing, he contemplated. The robot showed no signs of slowing down, no signs of weakness, and grew stronger with every passing second. Something this powerful had to have some sort of vulnerability, some Achilles Heel that many creations had. If his time tinkering and experimenting with a variety of arrows taught him anything, is that all creations had a weakness or vulnerability in one form or another.

But what was its?!

*swish*

Before the robot could advance in the archer's direction, it felt several powerful grips bind each of its arms by the wrists and along its right ankle. Turning its head in a full one-eighty, its systems were already processing how to deal with the princess of plants while eliminating its bindings at the same time. It took all of Perfuma's concentration just to keep the robot at bay, the sweat dripping from her forehead attesting to that.

Her efforts bore little fruit though as the alloy around the robot's limbs began to morph and change shape, taking the form of two serrated blades that began to buzz like a saw. In one swift motion, the robot untangled the sturdy vines in one swift strike, ignoring the princess's useless efforts to attempt another binding at the dreaded machine. Before the princes could launch another row of vines at the creation, the powerful machine launched its right fist directly at the princess, grabbing her arms in the air as it flew her through the clearing until she was pinned against the trees several feet off the ground,.

"Perfuma!" Glimmer cried out, rushing over to her pinned aly. Both princesses struggled as they attempted to pull Perfuma's wrists out from under the robotic hand's tight grip, Glimmer desperately pulling Perfuma's legs as the pinned princess tried to pry her hands free. Even as the princess attempted to summon several long vines from the trees to pull away the mighty fist, nothing seemed to work. "Come on... Come on..." Glimmer muttered to herself as she saw the robot approach.

Watching the scene from the tree's branch, Bow tried to figure out what to do. It was nothing short of menacing as trudged through the mushy ground beneath its large feet, casually making its way towards them, and it was ready to counter anything thrown towards it when the opportunity rose towards it. He couldn't afford to fire any of his arrows towards it or he risked it deflecting the arrow towards the two, if not directly at Glimmer and Perfuma themselves. He needed a miracle right now to descend from the heavens and strike down this contraption once and for all!

...Or a very strong feline with some serious anger issues.

"Hey! Buckethead!"

*WHAM!*

The moment it turned its head it was met with the collosal force of a blunt mallet from a feisty young warrior known as Catra, scraping it across the face with a harsh strike. It was powerful enough to knock the robot off balance briefly, forcing it to its knees as Catra brushed right passed it. It was a sight of relief to her fellow allies as they saw the magicat appear in the nick of time, standing between the large robot and the Beacon itself with her sword-turned-mallet.

"Catra!" Her friends called out in unison and relief as the robot got back to its feet.

It recognized the magicat as the warrior of the group, the one that was quick on its feet but with a greater lack of defense than the others, save for when she returned to her She-Ra state which it had yet to witness. It still gave it more than enough excuse as it readied itself for battle as it reshaped the alloy along its left hand into the battle-hardened maces it once wielded. It also released its grip on Perfuma as it returned its other hand to its side, reforming its other alloy until it was finally dual wielding its weapons.

"Catra, you need to be careful." Glimmer warned as she helped Perfuma back up. "That thing's getting better at predicting our attacks and weaknesses."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, relax." She shrugged off, readying her weapon for the fight in front of her. "I already got a pla-"

*whoff*

There was no warning for the magicat, or the rest of them for that matter, as she found her face engulfed with a giant wallop of snow. Needless to say, they could already see the angry eyes forming over it as it melted around her, her anger literally melting the snow right from her face to reveal the hardened hate-filled expression that covered it. All eyes, including Orbko's, turned back in the opposite direction as they saw another familiar and irritated face greeting them from several yards behind the bot, her hands still in the air as if proving her involvement in Catra's interruption.

It was none other than Princess Frosta, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?!" She yelled in annoyance, squeezing her fist. "We were supposed to sneak up on it, you stupid pet!"

"I was trying to take it out in one shot, you dumb brat!" Catra snapped back.

"Oh no..." Several bouts of moaning could be heard from the allies that watched from afar, even Mermista as she made her way to the trees where Bow was watching from.

It wasn't enough that Catra had to ruin whatever form of sneak attack they had planned for the monster, oh no. Evident by the lack of care in either princess' eyes, there was little to no care they had for each other, proving that they still had anger towards one another. The entire point of Catra splitting up from the group temporarily was to try and make amends with Frosta after yelling at her to the point of tears and running away. And judging by the sudden outburst of irritation, chances were they didn't make amends in the slightest.

In fact, it only seemed to deepen the hatred the two had for each other. Pranking each other at every opportune moment, being a nuisance at practically every meeting they had, and incapable of forming two sentences without calling each other "brat" or "pet". It was just the kind of thing everyone became accustomed to whenever Catra and Frosta were in the same room.

Now, on top of insulting each other, they seemed to harbor twice the amount of hatred they once had for one another. As if insulting each other wasn't enough for either of them, now they were practically attacking each other in the midst of combat, while dealing with an enemy with the strength to match all of theirs combined. It would prove problematic for everyone from the Princess Alliance.

And a great source of entertainment for those simply watching.

...

"Ha! Talk about clumsy!" Scorpia laughed, leaning into the chair as she continued eating her popcorn. "She messed up the plan before they could even get the drop on it!"

As she laughed, the scientist left of her was already typing a hundred codes a second into the datapad held by one of her hair extensions. "Don't worry, Adora. Already getting Orbko's priority setting on standby in case we need to save Frosta again." She knew with her own assurance that they had nothing to fear. After all, if the robot took out everyone else but Frosta, then there would be no need to even worry about the princess as she could just run away. But it was always better to be safe than sorry.

However, to Entrapta's curiosity, as Scorpia noticed the strange silence too, Adora didn't respond. She didn't even seem relieved. Instead, the blond commander leaned closer to the screen with a hint of anxiety in her eyes. She looked less than pleased about the scenario and more worried about it.

"Adora?" Scorpia received no direct response as the commander's eyes were focused on the screen in front of her.

"...Something's wrong..." She finally said, gripping the tip of her couch's arm a little tighter.

"What do you mean? Everything will be fine!" The scientist's assurance did nothing to waver Adora's worrisome expression. There wasn't so much as a twitch in her eyes as she watched what was playing out before them. "I'll have Orbko's priorities set to escape if it becomes necessary and-"

"No, not that." She interrupted. There was a small scowl growing on the side of Adora's lips as her expression hardened. Her two friends looked to each other in confusion for a second, wondering what was going on through Adora's mind. "I've seen the way Catra fights and pulls her pranks. Whenever she's prepared to do something, something she knows will work, there's always a small glint in her eyes that tells me so." The commander gritted her teeth as she finally turned to them.

"She's not being reckless or purposely trying to draw out the fight to taunt the machine. Catra's up to something." And it wouldn't surprise her right now if she intentionally gave that telltale sign knowing Adora was watching.

...

"Why do you always have to be such a pain?!" Frosta groaned loudly, rubbing her forehead to soothe the migraine she seemed to be having.

"Oh yeah, I'm being the pain in this group." Catra scoffed, leaning against her sword as she tipped it into the ground. "Definitely not the princess crybaby who probably still wets the bed."

"That's rich coming from the person who's probably covered in fleas right now!"

"I don't have fleas!" She yelled back, subconsciously scratching the back of her head as she taunted. All throughout the banter the mechanical being seemed to stare between the two, noticing the tension rising between them. If it allowed this to continue, chances were they would eventually attack each other, a fitting strategy against higher numbers.

Meanwhile, it brought untold disbelief to her remaining friends who were recovering and watching from the sidelines, doing their best to stay out of the situation and recover for the brief moment they have of respite.

"Why does Catra have to do this now of all times..." Honestly, Glimmer would've preferred any other time of the day for them to do this, not when they were fighting an unstoppable killing machine that could take them out at the same time.

"At least the droid seems preoccupied." Perfuma commented, reminding her of their minor fortune.

"So... Shouldn't we be helping them? Or something?" Mermista asked as she continued to soothe her aching shoulder.

"Not until we find some sort of opening." Bow replied quietly as he readied his arrow. "If we all rush out at once, that thing will just shoot our attacks back at each other. We need to wait until Catra has its full attention."

"You know I honestly thought you were on to something back there with that whole apology thing." Frosta continued to rant, casually pacing a slow step after the other. "You were kind, seemed sincere, and I thought you were keeping a leveled head, but clearly that required too much brain power from you."

"Pffft, yeah, that's rich, talking about brains from someone like you?" Catra taunted back, sneakily giving a quick glance at the robot out of the corner of her eye. So far it didn't seem to be fighting back as it waited for the two to possibly turn on each other. "You know maybe I'd take your words more seriously if you were someone of adult height. At least then I could hear you from all the way down there."

"Yeah, like I want to waste precious oxygen wasting words on someone like you." As she insulted, she began to gather a bundle of ice around her feet, spreading slowly a few yards around her. "You know at least in the Horde, someone like you could be commendable. Around here, you're just a pain to deal with, in Brightmoon and out."

"They're going to kill each other, aren't they?" Perfuma panicked as she felt the tension rising between the two again, her fear encircling Glimmer who let out a small gulp.

"I really want to say you're exaggerating but..." A single teleport. That's all Glimmer could muster at this point. If she had to get in there and sort this out then she would, but she almost prayed it wouldn't come to that.

"You know, I almost wish your parents were still alive at this point," everyone else's expression went dead at the statement, unable to believe what they just heard as Catra sneered back to her, "because at least then they could share in my misery with you."

"...You take that back..." Frosta's face tightened with an insurmountable hatred, one that caused the ice to crack around her feet.

"Aww, did I strike a nerve?"

"I said take it back!"

"Why don't you make me, brat?" Catra's final taunt was brought with a gesture by the magicat, telling Frosta to give her everything she had. "Or do I need to tell mommy and daddy what a bad girl you've been? Oh, wait, I forgot."

"That's it!" The eleven-year-old had enough by the looks of it. She wasn't going to take any more sass from this stupid and annoying "Hero of the Rebellion", no matter how prestigious her title or her status might be. She had pushed Frosta far beyond the point of simply talking their way out of the situation, and now seemed more intent than ever to end that miserable excuse of a princess.

Gathering all the energy she could around her, the others watched as she formed a massive ball of solid from out of the ground, shaping and sizing it until it was as large as she was, and in the shape of a solid wrecking ball. All around her, worry and warning signals were flashing in everyone's mind, save for Catra and Adora, the latter of which continued to watch all of this play out through the eyes of the powerful machine.

If everything was a ruse, Orbko would pick up on it after Frosta attacked. It would know all of it was a trick, retaliate against the princesses, and continue fighting on as it has been, and, hopefully, without Frosta ending up in the ensuing casualties. It would quickly be reprogrammed like it was before under those events to keep it from endangering Entrapta's life, and the Horde could carry on their business without further irritation or distraction from the Rebellion and its stupid Princess Alliance.

...So why did she feel uneasy all of a sudden?

"Frosta, no-!" The sound of a thunderous crackling caught Adora's attention as the princess finally launched her attack, ignoring the pleading cries of her surrounding allies. Catra grinned at the oncoming projectile as she prepared herself for the oncoming strike. Planting her feet firmly in the ground, Catra struck the massive globe of ice with as much strength as she could without her She-Ra state, shattering and scattering the contents directly at the robot standing between them.

*crish!*

The others watched as the robot was pelted by dozens of shards of solid ice, some of the icicles penetrating its metallic plating in its forearms and legs as it covered its head for protection. As expected, the Horde trio could see the robot already analyzing the attack and calculating it at a mile a second with coding dancing around the screen. It saw the threat standing before it, generating over a hundred different ways to combat it, and prepared the maces within its hands as it was about to engage in combat, taking a step forward-

"You call that a blast?" Catra taunted back as she stuck out her tongue. "I've been hit harder by a mosquito, and it was at least a hundredth of the size you were!"

...

*bzzzt*

"Huh?" The same flash of confusion went off in the minds of her surrounding friends as they saw a small spark of electricity dance around the robots head. The massive droid grabbed its head as if in confusion over its current state. It didn't take any direct hits to where the brain should've been built, it didn't appear to be in any sort of agony, and yet it was standing around like it didn't know what to do.

"Oh please," the younger princess scoffed back, "I wasn't even trying. I mean, it would be a huge loss if we lost the She-Ra side of you. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant the only useful side of you."

"...You want to say that again you little brat..." Catra's brow narrowed as she willed the weapon to change within her hands again. Thankfully to her, it transformed into the beautiful spiked ball-and-chain flail that has worked wonders for her in the past.

"What? Was it too fast for you? Geez, no wonder the Horde never wanted you. If you were any smarter, then maybe you would actually make a friend who wanted you back."

"...I really wish I did this the first time I met you. Hnnnngh!" The growl stemming from Catra's throat was followed by a massive heave as she swung the massive chain around her for a full swing before flinging it directly at the younger princess. Grinning, Frosta formed a durable thick coating of ice around both her hands as smashed the giant ball away in a single punch, directly into the path of Orbko who continued to survey the situation dumbfounded.

*crunch*

Like before, the robot wobbled in place as its right shoulder was scrunched up by the ensuing strike, leaving a trail of cuts and scratches along the right side of its arm. Processing the attack, the robot turned its attention back to the blue-haired snow girl who launched the attack, preparings its calculations to-

"Oh come ON! If you're supposed to be the "big hero" of the Rebellion, why do your attacks feel like a light breeze? We would've beaten the Horde months ago if you were even a little stronger!"

*bzzzt*

And like before, the others watched as another spark of electricity danced around the robot's head, this time with its body trembling in place. It's like it was scared at the apparent amount of confusion it was feeling, at a loss for how to process what was being displayed before it.

The others watched in the same amount of curiosity as a small amount of hope began to rise in their spirits. Catra and Frosta weren't being attacked or countered by the robot's immense strength, the robot wasn't preparing any sort of strategy to retaliate, and it continued to struggle against the array of data that was going through its mechanical mind. Whatever was going on right now, it was working. There was just one question.

What was going on?

...

"What's going on?!" Adora yelled in frustration. The blood boiling in Adora's veins wasn't just limited to her actual blood. A small trail of dark veins began to grow along the right side of her arm, her emotions working against her as the darkness seeped into her body.

"I-I don't know!" The three words that no scientist in the history of Etheria should ever utter, and Entrapta finally used them. Nibbling her left fingernails while typing madly into the datapad with her right, holding it with her hair, she panicked. "I-It's not picking up or registering itself as being attacked!"

"Is it broken or something?" Scorpia might not have been as intellectual as the other were, but she knew enough to know something was wrong when a giant monitor in front of her was displaying an ERROR message repeatedly and flashing a dim red light that blanketed the whole screen.

"No! ...Maybe? I don't know!" Ah! The second time she said that! She swore to herself if she said it one more time, her hair would likely fall out! "For some reason it isn't processing the attacks like its being attacked itself! I had it programmed for this exact thing if the Rebellion ever tried to attack it as a team, like it did before!"

"Well I don't really blame it." The stinger-girl shrugged as she looked back to the monitor. "I mean, just by looking at it, it looks more like those two are fighting each other than they are fighting it."

"Fighting each oth-!" The scientist froze as hard as Frosta's ice at the comment as she felt every brain cell of her glorious mind slowly draining away from her. "Oh noooooo! No! No! No! No! No-!" The scientific mastermind panicked as she tapped endlessly against the pads. Shrieking, Entrapta grabbed several more datapads as a revelation came to her mind, one that didn't go unnoticed by the commander.

"Did you figure out what's wrong?"

"Unfortunately! I think I know why its not fighting back!" Looking back to the big screen, the others watched as they saw several graphs and readings indicating what its perception of threats and details over its intended targets were. "I designed Orbko to respond to direct and immediate threats like if it was ever attacked. Naturally, with a programming that advanced and with the technology I used to make it, I had to set its functions so it would only register direct threats against it as an enemy. Obviously we couldn't have it roaming around attacking every soldier that bumped into it or pebble that fell on it, right?"

"Yeaaah...?" Despite the lack of information Adora had compared to her enlightened friend, she could tell she wasn't going to enjoy where this line of reasoning was headed.

"So, I built its functions with the ability to determine one's emotional response, so it could always pick up an enemies intent in attacking it. It was the only way I could get it to tell the difference between friend and foe, to keep our own soldiers safe if I ever deployed more of these on the battlefield."

"And that means..." Slowly, the commander's eyes widened as the dread piled on her mind, turning back to the screen from the scientist with her anxiety rising. "Oh no..."

"What?" It was times like this Scorpia wished she was as smart as her friends so she could keep up with whatever line of reasoning they had. Then again, she wouldn't ever dream of giving up her artistic ability either. "What does that mean?"

The mad scientist clutched her forehead with a loud cry, distraught over the great realization she had. "It's not registering Catra or Frosta as its targets because they're directing their anger at each other instead of Orbko!"

"Ah-!" Now that much Scorpia could understand. In short, if the two kept yelling and taunting each other back and forth like they were now, there would be no way for Orbko to logically determine that they were attacking it rather than each other.

"Now do you finally understand what it means, Scorpia?!"

"I think I do... It means Catra actually outsmarted you!"

"... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

...

Back in the field of battle, the others watched in amazement as Catra and Frosta continued bash away at the giant droid that could only stagger in place. It was starting to become oblivious to its surroundings as Catra and Frosta continued to rant back and forth, swinging their power and weapons at one another and deflecting it at the robot.

It was beside itself with a paradox of confusion. It was being attacked by an enemy force but the violence wasn't directed towards it, yet its self-defensive protocol was registering as it being attacked, and it wasn't supposed to attack anything not directly attacking it! It was the programming within its own advanced mind that was chipping away at the robot's reasoning, and the longer it remained perplexed by this endeavor, the longer Catra and Frosta bashed away at it.

None of the others could believe what they were seeing either as they continued to watch Catra and Frosta chip away at the monstrosity, seeing the bits of protective alloy around its limbs being scraped away. The very robot that was kicking their butts at the same time mere minutes ago was now acting like a training dummy against Catra's and Frosta's brutal onslaught of insults and retaliation, or at the very least, getting caught in the crossfire of it.

"They're winning!" Perfuma squeaked as she clasped her hands together. Her eyes were alight with stars as she watched the marvel in front of her, unsurprised that the mighty She-Ra would find a way to save the day.

"Shouldn't we help them now?" Mermista asked, still on the other side of the clearing with Bow.

As much as Bow wanted to assist his friends, he shook his head in response. "Not now. If we try to interfere in any way, we could draw the robot's attention and mess up their plan. We need to keep quiet until they can disable it without destroying it." By the looks of things, that wasn't going to be a problem at this rate.

Already, the bot was covered in cuts, dents, and scrapped along its limbs and torso. Chunks of the alloy were torn away from the robots bits and scattered across the ground beneath its feet, and the electricity continued to worsen as it sparked around its head. No matter how focused Catra and Frosta were on each other, they could see the amount of damage they were doing to the once brilliant creation, and knew it was only a matter of time before they brought it down to its twitching knees.

...

This was bad. Really bad.

The screen was flashing red at an increasing pace as Orbko continued to take damage. A small outline of its body was propped up on the right side of the screen, identifying the areas that were currently the most damaged. It was an unsettling sight to the commander as more and more of its body was continuing to flash in red, the sound of its destruction echoing in Adora's ears as it endured its onslaught.

The worst part about all of this was the amount of technology used to create this powerful machine. If it failed now, if it was beaten and battered beyond recognition, there would be no means of remaking it or acquiring a new one. It took nearly all the First Ones tech they had acquired in the first place to build this one, and it could take potentially years to make a brand new one from scrap with the technology they had on hand.

"Come on, do something!" Scorpia stammered as she watched in dismay.

"I-I-I'm thinking! Every time I try to input a new set of commands, though, Orbko locks me out like it did before!" Why was Entrapta cursed with so much intelligence that her own beautiful creations would be used against her?!

Again.

"...Does Orbko have any other combat settings?" Adora finally asked as the thought crossed her mind.

"Huh?" Taking a pause from her dancing fingers, Entrapta turned to the datapad on her right as she checked. "Oh, well, yeah. It also came with basic combat functionality. It wouldn't need to analyze enemy data by being attacked or anything, but-"

"Then do it." The commander's expression hardened as she gazed at the main screen.

"B-B-But Adora! If I switch its current settings, it won't be able to learn while its fighting! It wouldn't use its abilities to its fullest, exploit its enemies weaknesses, or-"

"Do you want to live with the knowledge that Catra outsmarted you, or not?"

"Done." With a simple click of the pad, any resistance or hesitation Entrapta had was erased. On the main screen they could see the screen flashing with a lighter color of blue instead of red as the message Rebooting was displayed in bold white writing. Whatever default setting this thing was set to had to work for their sakes. Otherwise, Adora would have to resort to plan B.

...

On the other end of the screen, in a mere second, Orbko's systems were calibrated as the robot's ocular vision changed from a camera lens-like appearance to a burning shade of red. Too distracted by their own agenda, neither Catra or Frosta noticed as the robot lowered its guard as it took the next blast of ice at full force. The only ones who noticed the change of detail were the ones watching from the sidelines, and nothing they were prepared to say could reach them until it was too late.

Raising its mighty fights, both fighters were caught completely off guard as the mighty droid slammed both of its powerful fists straight into the ground, creating a crater nearly twenty feet in radius from where it slammed as it raised the earth around it from all sides. The girls lack of preparation lead to their literal downfall as they lost their footing and began sliding down the raised earth and closer to the terrible droid.

"Whoooa-!" Out of the two, Catra was the first one to yelp as she attempted to scrape her claws and feet against the ground in an attempt to slow down her sliding. Her efforts were all for naught as the robot plucked the struggling cat from the crater and threw her harshly into the opposite direction, smacking her against the very tip of the raised ground and passed it.

The throw proved to be more than enough to distract the younger princess as she briefly watched Catra being flung passed her and outside the crater a good distance before turning her sights back on the robot. Because of the untimely distraction, Frosta only had enough time to make a solid foot-thick wall in front of her to avoid the most out of the robot's follow-up attack as it slammed its fist against her. Despite the amount of shielding she had in front of her, it did nothing to slow the droid down as it smacked her through the raised dirt, slamming her against the ground and skidding several feet away from the crater.

On the plus side, she managed to shrug off a majority of the robot's assault thanks to the blanket of ice that stood between her and the robot's full power. On the downside, the resulting impact against the ground and from the remainder of the robot's strike was enough to almost knock her out completely, dazing her as her eyes closed. It was this image that Catra was met with as she rubbed her aching head, seeing the young princess halfway between her and the robot pulling itself out of the wide hole.

"Frosta!" She yelled out, running to the girl in haste as the robot stomped its way over to her.

Even if it wasn't as advanced now as it was before, it knew enough to determine that anything out here was an enemy, princess or not. Staring at the helpless princess that was blanketed by its shadow, the robot raised its mighty foot as it prepared to stomp the life out of the child for good, eliminating one of its many threats, starting with this one.

*clang*

That little threat continued to prolong its existence as something stopped the robot's massive stomp from reaching its intended target. Several things, as a matter of fact, starting with the magicat blocking the foot from below. Gritting her teeth, Catra struggled as she held the back of her arm against the sword-turned-shield, shaking a little as she was halfway between standing and falling to one knee, a battle she was losing by the second.

The other thing that was prolonging Catra and Frosta's fate was the assistance pulling at the robot from behind. Almost as far back as the crater was, the four remaining members could be seen pulling at the bindings that were wrapped around the robot's arms. On the left, Bow and Mermista were giving it all they had to pull away at the large net Bow managed to shoot from one of his arrows, while on the right side, Glimmer and Perfuma were pulling away with all their might, tugging away at the vines Perfuma had grown to wrap around the robot's waist and right arm.

Together, these friends and allies were pushing back against the robot's formidable strength, yet, it was proving to be nothing more than a delay of the inevitable.

With each passing second, Catra felt herself lower closer and closer to the ground as trickles of sweat dripped over the side of her face. Teeth clenched as she focused all of her energy into pushing back, she could hear the desperate cries and pleas of her allies calling out to her from a dozen yards ahead, doing whatever she could to block it out as she struggled.

"Ngggh! Catra, come on!" Glimmer could be heard yelling as she pulled with all her might. "Call on She-Ra's power!"

"You know, if you feel like it!" Mermista grumbled as her feet were dragged against the ground as she was dragged closer to the robot, one centimeter at a time like the rest of them. "Not like we can't do this all day, but..."

"Ghh..." She knows what she has to do, but was it really necessary? Turning her head back to the kid, every part of her mind was screaming with worry. She knew if she dodged out of the way, Frosta would wind up a pancake. And if she turned She-Ra, a portion of her at least, her secret would be exposed. "Come on, kid..." She whispered to herself, gritting her teeth as her knee was barely an inch from the ground.

The young princess was nowhere near ready to get up, even though she appeared to stir here and there. It might take twenty seconds before she came back to her seconds, it might take a full minute. All Catra knew was that she couldn't afford any of that time or they'd both be flattered by the robot's twisted strength.

Who cares if she had a grand revelation about keeping secrets a couple minutes ago? It's not like she needed to confront her problems right then and there, right? Yeah, sure. Frosta would wake up. She could wake up, use her powers to impale this thing or something, and nobody would need to know about-

*creeeak*

"Agh-!" The warrior grunted as she was firmly pushed to the knee, almost feeling the of the robot's foot causing her leg's bone to shake.

...Who was she kidding? There wasn't any other way out of this, not that resulted in both her and Frosta getting out of this alive. All of it stemmed from the fact that she caused her own reduction of power in the first place, and she was too afraid to confront the others about it. But how was she supposed to confront the others if she let anything happen to Frosta? It would be more on her then for not telling them the truth in the first place!

Well... Then again... Maybe...

"Ghhhhhh! Oh forget this!" And with a final scream, she uttered the sacred words. "FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

*Wham!*

*CRASH!*

Following a blinding light that enveloped everyone's vision, they were next met with the sound of a tremendous slam followed by a severe crash. With the light receding as soon as it came, the remaining allies were greeted by the sight of the terrible Orbko flying overhead, watching as it flew over their head and crashing into the wall of the sturdy Beacon. The droid slumped over, still intact, but with a large round dent now present in its chest.

"Phew, that was close." Bow smiled as they turned their attention back to the hero of the day. " Nice work, Ca-" He stopped.

Everyone was taken back as they turned their heads one by one. It wasn't too surprising to Catra that they would greet her with mixed expressions of curiosity and confusion, all things considered. Here she was greeted by everyone who expected something a little different, a She-Ra they had met once before. Instead, what they got was a She-Ra they saw on a handful of occasions, a She-Ra, while strong, that wasn't complete. The very same She-Ra Bow and Glimmer had gotten used to from the day they met Catra.

"Catra... what..." Glimmer couldn't tell what to say, or if she should say anything.

"L-Look, can we just..." Catra huffed as she scratched the back of her head. "Can we trash the droid first before we talk? It'll take awhile to explain."

asdadasdaWhile still confused, a few clicks went off in several spots of their minds as they saw a small grimace in Catra's expression, looking a bit ashamed of her own status. From the look on her face, it was starting to become a little clear what Catra had been keeping so quiet about, and why she's been acting so strangely as of late. And, to Catra's annoyance, it wasn't the worst thing she was greeted with in the next five seconds.

"Ugh..." She turned behind her as she heard the small groan of the younger princess. She watched as Catra leaned herself up from the ground, rubbing her sore head as she regained her consciousness in full.

As opposed to anyone who would be relieved over seeing such a hopeful state, Catra's face showed nothing but more annoyance. "Oh, NOW you decide to wake up!" Her grumblings and apprehension wasn't taken as seriously by the younger princess as it used to be, offering Catra a small smile as she realized what Catra sacrificed to save her life.

Her own secret.

...

At the same time, the commander watched with a building anger that was matched by the small trail of darkness growing along her veins. Her right arm was being covered by these dark strands as she squeezed her fist in anger, one she forced herself to repress as she tried to remain calm.

The princesses were all united again, and finally had a bigger advantage now over Orbko's weakened state. While she was more than overjoyed to know Frosta was alright, it bothered her to know that now all of them were ready to fight again, and this time without an overpowered droid to match their combined strength, one that was nearly doubled in size now that Catra had returned to her She-Ra state again.

She hated it all the same, but she had little choice. It was time to resort to Plan B.

"Destroy the droid." She ordered in a firm tone, much to Entrapta's chagrin.

"What?!" She squealed. "Nooo... Adora please!"

"It's fine, Entrapta." She assured as she grabbed one of the datapads out of Entrapta's hair. With a simple swipe, she initiated the countdown. "We'll just find another site and make more from there."

...

*beep*

With the sound of the audible warning-like beep, all eyes gathered on the battered droid where it came from. Standing up on its own two feet, they watched as the droid suddenly began to convulse, twitching in a spasmic rhythm as the ocular eyepiece of the large droid began to flash with a red light.

"What is it doing?" Perfuma questioned as she eyed the bot in a curious manner. While most of them were in the same state of confusion over its strange behavior, Catra was the only one who managed to realize the truth as she noticed the flashing red from tis eye continuing to pick up in speed.

"It's self-destructing!" She stated, much to everyone's shock. She recognized that state all too well whenever it came to her days of destroying droids in the Fright Zone during training.

"If they destroy that droid, we'll lose our best chance to make a killswitch!" Bow added, reminding them the severity of their situation. "We need to disable the bomb, fast!" It took a single nod amongst the friends and allies to understand the plan, sparing little time in the details as every second counted. They had one shot to pull this off successfully before the droid exploded, and this time, they were all prepared.

Wasting no time, Catra charged headfirst towards the spasming droid who charged in turn to attack her. With the archer running behind her, Bow shot directly for one of the droid's legs, managing to ensnare it in a pile of green sticky goop long enough for Perfuma to work her own magic. With as much power as she could gather, she summoned as many vines as she could to the droid's side, wrapping them tightly against its arms as she restrained it from being able to attack.

With the first half of the robot restrained, Mermista and Frosta combined both of their powers to restrain the second half of the droid. With her arm mostly healed to the point of conjuring her magic, Mermista summoned a massive blast of water, dousing the entire droid's body from the neck down as she drenched it in full. With enough water running over its body, Frosta used her own gift of magic to continue off as she froze everything directly from where she stood to the robot, making sure to avoid Catra as she ran, and created jagged block of ice over the robot's body, one that nearly grew up to its head.

Continuing to run as fast as she could, gritting her teeth as the speed of the beeping increased, she noticed Glimmer running right alongside her, giving her a firm nod in understanding as they had the same time. This was the very last of her magic that she could pull off, but she knew she had nothing to fear as of now. With every ounce she could, she teleported for the last time that she could from the distance as she reappeared a little above Orbko, grabbing onto its neck. With her staff in hand, she threw it around the robot's neck as she kept it from moving any further, all of which lead to the droid being completely immobile.

Everyone had worked their part, and it was almost fitting that Catra found herself as the one to wrap things up. With a solid dash and a leap, she jumped straight to the bot like a rocket, wrapping a firm grip over its frozen shoulder as her nails dug into the claws. Pulling back her fist, she knew.

She knew she was watching. She knew Adora wouldn't send out a droid like this without keeping a constant surveillance on it, and she knew she could see Catra in full from whatever angle she was watching. It had been over a month since the two last saw each other, and even though Catra couldn't see or hear Adora from her end, she knew she was listening, and she had the perfect words to greet her back with after all this time.

"Hey Adora."

*CRACK!*

With a single blow, Catra's fist sank straight into the robot's eye, grasping at anything she could feel trembling, and pulled it out posthaste. Sure enough, and thankfully, she found the very mechanism that housed most of the robot's programming, including its brain, and the portion that was set to detonate on a moment's notice. Without skipping a beat, she quickly tossed the device high into the air, just far enough for the rest of them to avoid the explosion that went off not two seconds later.

The ensuing explosion was enough force to crack apart the ice holding robot in place as the shockwave passed by everyone and everything. With the ice coming apart, Catra and Glimmer hopped away from the disabled bucket of bolts as Perfuma drew away her own vines. With nothing more than a single tap from the butt of her sword, Catra smirked as everyone watched the dreaded machine finally collapse, falling on its back with a hard-earned thud.

Orbko had finally been defeated.

...

"... She... won..." The commander was unaware as the veins grew further along her right arm as they started to reach her shoulder.

The image of Catra's fist was the last thing Adora saw before a blip stating that the message feed had been disconnected was displayed, leaving Adora with an irritated reflection looking back at her. So much had happened in the course of one afternoon, some of it for the best, others for the far worse.

On the plus side, Frosta was still alive, and that mattered the most. If she ended up taking Frosta's life indirectly by allowing Orbko to be unleashed, despite being a prototype, she would never forgive herself. It wasn't even the matter of losing a potential ally, she just couldn't fathom what it would feel like to know she was responsible for the loss of life for a young child such as her.

That was the only good thing out of all of this.

Everything after that, though, was worse. For starters, there was the fact Frosta was still alive, after her life was threatened by a robot the Horde sent out. How was she supposed to explain the difficulties or reasoning behind why it attacked her in the first place? How else was she supposed to apologize to her other than a blunt "oh hey, sorry our killer robot tried to eliminate you, no hard feelings, right?". She might as well have sent her an apology card with the words "I'm Sorry" written in bold right in the middle of it. It would've been just as effective.

Another issue was the fact they had lost a majority of their First Ones tech in the process. It would take awhile before they could ever send out something as powerful as Orbko, and there was no telling when that day would be with a lack of materials on hand. They could discover a First Ones cache within a week's time, or they could spend the rest of their lives trying to find anything that came even close to what the Beacon had in store, and they would find squat.

And that's provided they could even find any more ruins at all.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she jumped as she felt a poke on the back of her shoulder. To her relief, and surprise that she could forget, she was greeted with a calm-looking Scorpia staring back at her.

"Hey, its alright, Adora." It amazed Adora sometimes that Scorpia could smile so easily under the most tense of situations. "Look at it this way; it took us over a month for us to have a mission fail. That's gotta be like a new record around here or something, right?"

"...Huff..." Exhaling a deep breath, Adora sighed, letting the tension breathe out of her as she rubbed her quivering hand. "You're... You're right." It warmed Scorpia a little to see the cheerful expresion return to Adora's face, even more so as the shadows stopped growing along her arms. "We'll... We'll just make up for this next time... Thanks, Scorpia." Nodding to one another, the commander made her way out the door as she went off to preform another duty she had.

It always gave Scorpia that big warm fuzzy feeling whenever she managed to help one of her friends, or anyone for that matter. Outside of brawns, there was only so much she could do when her hands were claws and her personality was... usually gullible. So anytime she managed to solve one of her friends' problems, it always felt satisfying.

"Ehhheh eheh eheh..." Speaking of which, there was someone else who needed cheering up. Ready to work her own magic once again, Scorpia strolled her way over to her as she patted the tearful Entrapta on the head.

"It's going to be okay, Entrapta. We can always make another orb-thingy, right?"

"No, it's not that!" She sniffed. "I just can't get over the fact Catra outsmarted one f my creations! I worked so hard on it too, it took me at least two more hours than usual to make! Eheh..."

"Oh... Well that doesn't mean anything. Just because you got outsmarted one time doesn't mean you're any dumber than her." To her joy, she appeared to be on the right track as Entrapta was slowing down to some small sniffling.

"R... Really?"

"Of course! If it makes you feel any better, she outsmarted me too before!"

"...WAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHHHHHHH!"

...

"So... this is what you've been hiding the whole time?" Glimmer asked as everyone gazed at the semi-She-Ra with wonder.

Catra sighed as she looked off to the side briefly, scratching the back of her head with unease. There wasn't any point trying to keep it all bottled up any longer, though, it didn't make the experience any easier to deal with. Her secret was finally exposed in front of all her friends and allies, and the truth had to come out one way or another right now. Like ripping a bandage off, she had to do it quickly, just to get it over with.

"It's not really that I was trying to keep it a secret. It's just that... Mhh..." It always felt awkward to her whenever she had to speak in front of a group like this, especially to her friends. "I didn't really know how to explain it."

"So, like, you weren't going She-Ra because you thought you would've been in trouble, or something?" Mermista tilted her head as she crossed her arms. This was actually the first time she saw Catra's weaker She-Ra form in person, as well as Frosta's, and it was strange to take in.

"No, not that either. I... How am I supposed to explain this?"

"Look, Catra, it's alright." Bow tried to assure with a smile. "So you're not the same She-Ra that won at the Battle of Bright Moon, big whoop. It's not something to be mad about-"

"That's not why I'm mad!" She nearly snapped, almost causing Bow to jump. Turning away again, she groaned. "Yeah, it's annoying I can't go back to the same She-Ra I was before, but that's not why I've been so mad lately."

"... Is this related to the thing you mentioned?" Glimmer questioned, earning the attention of her friends. It was the only thing that made sense to her at the time. How could she forget Catra's strange behavior when they talked at the beginning of this day? "The thing you said that... you were responsible for?" Immediately, the questioning eyes shot back to Catra, all of them wondering what Catra had told her and didn't tell her.

"The reason I'm like this now is because... of something I did... and still doing..."

"What happened, She-Ra?" Out of all of them, it was going to hurt the most when she found out how Perfuma would respond to this. The one who was always praising and worshipping She-Ra, even if Catra was never meant to be her. To her, She-Ra was an icon, a symbol of hope. Thanks to Catra, that symbol was about to be ruined by her very hands.

"Ugggh... " There wasn't any use trying to stall beyond this point. It was time to come clean. "You guys know how I told you She-Ra had to be some grand symbol of hope and truly selfless or whatever Light Hope told me, right? Well I... I already messed that up."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, following a few days after the Battle of Bright Moon when we were all recovering, I... I had a thought I shouldn't have." She stared at the reflection etched into the sword's blade, scowling a little at the person who stared back. "I got to thinking how amazing all that power was, and how strong that form of She-Ra made me. I kept thinking how I could end the war easily if I had all that power in my hands, how I could finish things quicker... and I didn't know how selfish it was until it was too late."

She could recall the very moment of the day she ruined the power of She-Ra, how she lost the Rebellion's one chance at bringing an end to the war. Inside of her room, still recovering from her own injuries at the Battle of Bright Moon, holding that glorious sword high into the air and reciting those ancient words. She smiled to herself when she saw the white flash that always followed, and the surge of warmth donning She-Ra's form always brought her.

And in the very next moment, how it was ruined.

After the flash, the smile plastered to her face was quickly drained away as she looked at herself. She didn't feel the same overwhelming strength that always flowed through her, she didn't feel the bright radiant light that burned within her on that same day. She felt underpowered compared to her previous transformation, like she was missing a lot. And all of this was just based on how she felt on the outside, that didn't even touch how she was on the outside.

Glancing around, trying to find it, she saw the mirror in her room, and silently gasped. She was the same old She-Ra she was used to, the one that was barely a third of what the truth power of She-Ra was capable of. She couldn't believe her eyes, she tried to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. Yet, no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't wake up.

"I tried over and over again for what felt like hours," she continued, "but no matter how many times I tried, it never came back. By the time I realized why, it was already too late."

"So you've been blaming yourself because-"

"Because it was my stupid selfishness that lost us that power." She cut Bow off. "I finally had the true power of She-Ra at my disposal and I ruined it."

"But that doesn't make sense." The princess of Bright Moon rubbed her chin in confusion. "I mean, if you thought of it then and there, then shouldn't bits and pieces of it come back over time? You're still the Hero of Bright Moon, and you still want to... wait..." A thought suddenly dawned on the princess as she blinked, to no surprise of Catra.

"So you finally get it, huh?" It was almost worth smirking over at how foolish all of this was. She would've gladly chuckled if she wasn't on the receiving end of that joke."I can't turn back into She-Ra because nothing's changed. I keep pretending that I don't have any selfish desire, I keep trying to feign ignorance and pretend I don't know why this stupid sword won't let me transform. I've been struggling with all of this for the last month, and have been doing everything I can to regain She-Ra's power, and nothing's worked."

"I want to be She-Ra. I want to defeat the Horde and stop this stupid war before anything else happens, but not because it's the right thing to do or or something as stupid as honor. I want to end it because I don't want to lose anything else in my life. I can never get rid of that one selfish desire." Her ears drooped at this as she squeezed her grip on the sword tightly. "We lost our one chance of winning this war, all because of me... and I'm sorry."

Everyone was silent as they processed this one by one. There was so much information to take in that none of them knew where to begin, and, personally, Catra hoped it never would. Here she was, waiting for some sort of response from any of them, and worrying every second. Would they blame her for everything that happened? Would they loathe her for costing them the war? If it was her, she wouldn't blame them.

How could she make a ridiculous mistake like that in the first place? She had the full power of She-Ra on their side, she had a chance of turning this all around! Light Hope constantly told her that only one pure of heart, one who achieves pure selflessness, would be worthy and capable of using the full power of She-Ra. She had a taste of all that power, and thanks to her own greed, one which was still ongoing, she lost it all.

Maybe the Horde would return with a grand army the next day, one too big for any of them to stop unless Catra had She-Ra's full power? Maybe some catastrophe would occur that required She-Ra's grand magic to save them, like a shield that could protect the entire castle? All of this and more, Catra lost, and she had no one to blame but herself, and her selfishness.

The first to react was also the last person Catra wanted to see a reaction from. Standing in front of her, Perfuma gazed into Catra's eyes, hiding whatever intent she was feeling in her mind. Catra couldn't tell if she was disgusted, confused, angry? The only thing worse than knowing what she was feeling was not knowing what she was feeling. At least then she'd be better prepared for it after.

There was little else she could do at this point. Seeing the girl preparing to take a step forward, Catra just closed her eyes as she prepared for whatever slap or berating Perfuma had to unleash.

*tug*

...Or a hug... Huh?

Catra blinked as she opened her eyes again, confused beyond words as she felt Perfuma's warm embrace. Not only that, but none of the other princesses or allies appeared to be glaring at her. In fact, they almost seemed to be... smiling?

"Thank goodness." She finally said, pulling away from the girl. "I thought something was wrong."

"Huh?" It was the furthest thing from a last reaction that Catra had expected.

"You had us worried for a moment." Even as Perfuma pulled away from her, her smile looked almost alien compared to anything she was expecting.

"O... kay? I... kind aexpected you guys to be a bit more angry..."

"Angry? Why would we be angry?"

"Why do you think? I just told you, I lost She-Ra's power! We had a real chance against the Horde and I lost it now!"

"So?" It was almost baffling how passive Perfuma was being, almost as much as the rest of them as they continued to smile.

"Catra, we don't care about that." Glimmer stated.

"You don't?"

"Of course not. Catra, just because you want to beat the Horde, it doesn't mean you're selfish."

"It... It doesn't?" There was almost a spark of hope in her words that Catra wanted to believe in. "But I don't care about doing all of this cause it's right, so how is that not selfish?"

"Catra, we all have our reasons for wanting to defeat the Horde. I want to keep my mother and home safe." With this, she laid a comforting hand on Catra's right shoulder, the warmth of it assuring Catra of her feelings.

"I want to stop them from destroying the nature around us." Perfuma smiled.

"Protecting the seas is my reason." Mermista smirked, patting her other shoulder.

"I'm doing it for my parents, and for my friends." Bow stated proudly, planting a soft hand right on her back.

"...And I'm doing it for my kingdom, like my parents would've wanted." Frosta finally said, touching hey left leg as she gave a small smile up.

This was insane. Catra had finally gone off the deep end, or she was hit by Orbko so hard that she didn't know that she passed out instantly and this was all a dream. Everyone, all the eyes and faces greeting her, were warm and comforting. Not one of them had a look of ire or disgust with Catra, but that of a closeness, a bond. In fact, it almost seemed like they were comfortable with the revelation, even knowing it was Catra's fault.

"B-But... If it isn't selfish, then why can't I-"

"We don't know Catra," Glimmer interrupted, knowing what she was going to say, "and we don't care. Even if you're only a portion of She-Ra, all She-Ra, or none of She-Ra, we don't care. Whatever is wrong with it, we'll fix it together, but even if we can't, it won't matter. We're happy enough to have you fighting with us Catra, with or without She-Ra."

Catra didn't know what to say, or how to respond. Everything that she was given just now, the comfort, the acceptance, the understanding, was the complete opposite of what she expected. They should've hated her for this, she should be angry that she lost their only chance at a possible victory.

So why weren't they?

They weren't angry, they didn't seem to hold any sort of grudge. They just smiled at her, patting her back, and embraced her, like she was one of them. How could they be so accepting of her like this? Were they just pretending to be satisfied with all they had? Were they just pretending so they could still have her on their team? Or was it...

No. It wasn't. She couldn't comprehend what she was feeling or why, but... she believed them. She actually believed this was what they were like, the two friends she knew she had were proof of that. They accepted her for who she was, with or without her faults, just like that very day at the Battle of Bright Moon.

She was their friend.

"...Thank you..." With a smile, she spoke quietly, closing her eyes as she held back a trickling tear. It had been over a month since the Battle of Bright Moon, a day that took its toll on all of them. She was still dealing with scars from that fateful day, both physical and emotional. But after all of this, and everything she's been through in the last month, she felt something she hasn't felt in quite a long time.

Peace.

*shiiiiiiiiiim*

"Huh?" Her eyes snapped open as her sword and her body began to glow again, coming to life with a new energy.

Wait... No... it wasn't just her. All around her, her friends, the princesses, were starting to glow to. Their powers were radiating off their body, glowing with a bright light of their distinguishing colors.

Glimmer glowed with a sparkling brightness of pink, Frosta had a snowy cold blue to her person, Mermista was dripping with an oceanic blue, and Perfuma was growing with a bountiful green of nature. And herself, Catra, was no different. Even though she lacked the golden armor she once donned at the battle, she was glowing all the same with a white pure light. She felt a warmth she wasn't used to, her back appeared to be growing, their magic was flourishing all around-... wait, what?

The others were drawn to Catra and all around them as the miracle happened. The nature around them, the freezing and melting slush, was beginning to die out, and spring to life with a renewed vigor. The plants were coming back to life, glowing with a greenness the Rebellion hadn't seen in over a month. And none of it even compared to how much Catra was glowing, both, inside, and out.

The others watched in wonder as Catra's back was glowing, watching as sparkles of pure light began to gather along the blades of her shoulder. What first felt like a small tingling sensation to Catra's back started to grow into a miracle in itself. From one line to the next, they watched as the light grew, amassing as it grew further and further out until a solid mass of light grew from her back and down to her thighs. Eventually, all the light receded in turn as it was replaced by a single item that Catra had not seen since the Battle of Bright Moon.

Her Cape. And with it, she felt lighter, and maybe a little stronger.

"W-What the-?" To say she was shocked would be an understatement of the year. Her friends were nowhere near as surprised as she was, and that was putting them all together! It looked real, it felt real, it smelled real! Well, for a cape, anyway. It wasn't anywhere as much as she would've preferred, but it was better than anything she expected, and something to hope for. "But I don't... I don't understand. How did-"

"Catra," Glimmer interrupted with a calm smile, as always, "it's okay. Just accept it."

"But how did it.. why is it happening now?"

"Maybe its not a matter of being selfish, Catra?" Bow guessed with a shrug. "Maybe you just have to be more honest with yourself. You just need to take it one step at a time, not all at once."

"One step... at a time..." She repeated, staring back at the sword. If everything they said was true, then she had a new goal to obtain: find a way to achieve She-Ra's true form again, and this time, without a selfish mindset to it. She needed to figure out how to be more open with herself, and a way to make up with for what she's done.

She knew for a fact it wasn't going to be done anytime soon. Not today, not tomorrow, she prayed not in a year. But whatever happened now she knew that her friends were going to be behind her, all the way through.

"...Do you think if I asked it, I could get some pants next?"

...

Cold. Lifeless. Hopeless. The very definition of a Prison Cell. Within the Horde, it was something so much worse.

The glowing shackles that held her wrist in place, that kept her from attempting any sort of resistance, was a testament to the vileness that grew within her veins. No matter how many times she came down to this place to check on her, she never grew comfortable to see her like this.

Her former mentor, her instructor, a mother. One who once had it all around here, who had the capacity of understanding. She could've been someone Adora looked up to throughout all of her life, and for a time, she did. Now, she was someone Adora wanted nothing to do with, someone Adora would strive to refrain from. She was nothing more than a traitor that got too greedy for her own good, someone who wanted more than they already have. She would never be like her, and she would do everything to make sure of that.

Not someone like a traitor. Not someone like Catra. Not even someone who lied there on the floor under Adora's shadow.

Like Shadow Weaver.

"Shadow Weaver." Adora greeted with a smug grin as she crossed her arms. Out of everyone in the world, save for Catra, there was nobody she felt necessary to tower over except for Shadow Weaver. "You're continuing to look worse by the day. Then again, you did plan to overthrow Lord Hordak, and you didn't seem to care about using those around you." She paused, looking at her own fingertips. "I should know."

"..." Silence. Nothing else but silence. This is exactly what Shadow Weaver gave her every time she came down here for her, whether to berate, taunt, or bring her food. And for some reason, it bothered her.

Looking over to the wall where the chains were attached to, she saw it. A lone, single, monitor, that gave her a camera's feed of the outside world. There wasn't much to it in this dreary environment, but compared to almost every other cell in this prison, she was practically getting the "Royalty Treatment" in turn. "You know, I thought you'd be a little more appreciative after I had the monitor installed in here, or at least a little more chatty, but clearly I was wrong. You continue to dole away down here, doing nothing with your life, when you could be working for us again if you swore allegiance."

"..."

"I just came by to let you know that we actually suffered our first loss today, and I'm actually pretty proud of it." She paused, hoping for even a twitch of her fingers. "Not even a month. Over a month, and it took us this long to suffer a single loss. I don't can't even remember the last time we went three days without a loss under your command."

"..." The witch turned her head to the side, still keeping her masked face hidden from Adora.

"We're getting stronger by the day, our armies are growing, and our success has never been better. And you want to know how I know? Because Lord Hordak acknowledged my achievements himself. His words, not mine. I think I almost saw him grin when I compared my accomplishments to yours. And all you're doing right now is rotting away into nothingness."

"..." Once again, nothing but silence. It almost felt like she was taunting Adora on a level that only she knew.

"Ghhh... Say something!" Adora barked, ignoring as the shadows pooled around her own feet. No matter how threatening she looked, or what sort of threats she made, Shadow Weaver wouldn't even give her a wink. If it wasn't for the fact she knew she was breathing, or how she changed where she was squatting and kneeling every time she came down here, she'd almost think she was dead.

"You know what? Forget it!" She scoffed. "If you want to continue wasting away down here, that's fine by me. The Horde's been doing wonderfully since I became Hordak's new second-in-command, and the soldiers and cadets couldn't be any happier. They appreciate all I'm doing for them, they're succeeding because of what I'm doing for them. I'm leading the Horde into a brighter new age than anything you've been capable of, and all without your twisted methods to boot."

"I don't need you, and I don't need your way of thinking. I'm going to show the world how wrong they are about the Horde, and I'm going to crush the Rebellion under my own path. We have more allies than we ever did with you, and we'll never need what you had to offer, ever again." With that, the blonde teenager began to march out of the cell. If she wasn't going to give Adora any sort of response, then why should she even bother?

"...Heh..." Adora froze mid step as she quickly shot back. "Heh heh... Eh heh heh heh heh heh!" She couldn't believe it. After a full month of full-on silence, Shadow Weaver finally gave her a validated response. And out of all the things she could've done, she just had to laugh at her. Mockingly. "Oh, my dear, sweet, Adora. It's almost precious how naive you are."

"Excuse me?" Finally! A response! Even if it was insulting, it was better than the emptiness that once filled this cell!

"You parade about with this innocence here and there, when in reality, the real world is nothing like you dream it is." Still without looking at her, Shadow Weaver held up her own fingertips to her face. "If there is one thing I never taught you, its how to face the real world, and all it truly has to offer. All the selfishness, all its greed. I never prepared you for what the real challenge that lies ahead of you, and I almost feel sorry for that... Heheheheh..."

Wow. Just wow. Adora didn't know what level of angry or hateful she should be right now. She's waited forever for her to say something, anything at this point, to her, and instead of some deep and meaningful apology like she's owed, some sign that she'll cooperate with the Horde, or something to just let Adora know that she actually regrets her actions, she goes off and mocks her? It would have sicked Adora if she had any respect left for her former mother figure.

"You'll learn, Adora. With or without me to guide you, you'll learn." She didn't care if she was talking anymore as she walked her way to the door. She just wanted to put the past behind her. "You'll never make it out there on good intentions or a peaceful frame of mind. One way or another, you're going to learn that betrayals, schemes, and exploits are the only way to make it through this world." Whether or not she heard Adora before the door closed on her or not, it didn't matter. From behind her mask, the vile woman couldn't help as her expression softened somewhat.

"Or you'll suffer for it even more..."

...

*ssskkk*

"Wh-Whoooah!"

"Wall!"

"I got it!" Catra chirped as she pushed against the solid wall and continued skating across the ice. "Hahahaha!"

This was new to her. It felt new to her. For the last month, she never thought she'd be able to feel any semblance of peace of happiness again. She didn't think she'd find much of a reason to smile during this war given everything it had to offer. There was only pain, suffering, and violence throughout this war, and for a time, that's all she thought she was going to get. What else could one expect out of a war, anyway?

To her surprise, she found something new. She found an understanding that she didn't think was possible, she made amends with a young princess who continued to harass her endlessly, and she revealed a secret that had haunted her for the last month. Back in her typical outfit, back in Castle Bright Moon, she didn't think it would be possible to have anything close to fun anymore, but here she was. Skating across a row of magically generated ice from the young princess who piggybacked on her, the two were actually having more fun than either of them have had in a long while.

And it felt peaceful.

So much peaceful that Glimmer almost didn't recognize them at first as she made her way to her bedroom. She had a few scratches and scrapes she was planning to take care of with some ointment and the occasional bandage around her hand. So imagine her surprise when she saw two people who practically hated each other up till now suddenly sliding across the hallway, coming to a stop as Catra spun around in place as she approached her. Fortunately for the three of them, she managed to catch herself on the wall right next to the door.

"Heh, seems like you two are in a good mood." She commented, ignoring the fact there was now ice trails littered around the various hallways of Bright Moon. And yes, she did find it more than precious to see Frosta piggybacking the magicat with her legs around Catra's sides.

"Heh, why wouldn't we be?" Catra grinned back with a shrug. "All in all, day's been pretty hectic, but at least it'll be less stressful now once Bow makes that killswitch."

"So does this mean you two are friends now?" Glimmer asked with a curious grin as she leaned against the door.

"Friends?" Both Catra and Frosta eyed each other in wonder for a few seconds before chuckling in response. "Heh, I don't know if we'd go that far-"

"But we did at least agree on a truce over the things we both have in common." Frosta stated with a smile.

"A truce?" Glimmer questioned, earning a satisfied nod from Catra.

"Mhhm. We both like to give nicknames-"

"We both like to have fun when it gets boring around here-"

"And we both love to play pranks." They agreed in unison. There was something almost frightening about Catra being a role model to any sort of child, especially when it came to pranking, but at the same time Glimmer couldn't bring herself to ruin the closest thing Catra had to a moment here.

"Heh, why does that not surprise me?"

"Well it's true. We're actually a lot better pranking when we work together." Frosta mentioned with a triumphant nod.

"Oh man, you should've seen the last person we pranked a few minutes ago!"

"And... Who, exactly, did you pra-"

"CATRAAAAAAAAAAA! FROSTAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The sound of the bellowing voice was enough to shake the entire castle, causing the two girls standing to nearly trip over themselves in place. It was nothing like Glimmer had ever heard of throughout her life, and yet she knew perfectly well who the voice belonged to.

"Annnnnnnnd that's our que to leave!"

"Cheese it!" Frosta panicked, creating a whole new path of ice for Catra to skate over like never before. No sooner did Glimmer see the two rounding the corner of the hallway did she look back to see her own mother marching up to her, completely red in the face. It didn't appear to be of anything like anger or fury like she thought, but more along the lines of embarrassment. If her mother's pinkish skin didn't make it harder to tell if she was blushing or furious, it'd be easier to say.

"Mom? What did they do?" She almost didn't want to know, knowing a simple prank from one of them was bad enough. She couldn't even begin to think what sort of chaotic mischief the two could get into when they combined their pranking powers.

It took the Queen a few seconds to compose herself, or at least stop her fists from shaking at her side. Whatever happened to her was embarrassment of the worst kind, and Glimmer knew she wasn't going to like the answer.

"They froze me... to the toilet..." She stuttered.

"O-Oh!" Glimmer didn't know whether to be embarrassed for her mother over the prank that was pulled, or the idea of when the prank could be pulled. All she knew was that it was one of the worst kinds of prank to pull on practically anyone she knew, even from the Horde.

Maybe a happy Catra wasn't such a good idea after all...

...

*click*

"Huff..." Frosta sighed as she locked the door for the night. The spare guest room was one of a dozen different guest rooms they had provided for the members of the Princess Alliance while they were visiting or helping with another mission, each one suited to their individual tastes. While she didn't really have a preference on it, Frosta could admit the winter ornamental design to the room was a nice gesture.

It had been a long and demanding day in terms of her physical prowess and relationship with the other princesses, namely Catra, aka, She-Ra. To think she would actually manage to go from horrible to decent in a single afternoon? One filled with a rampaging robot that tried to smash her on several occasions? She wonders if they would be where they were now, or anywhere near it, if it wasn't for that behemoth of a machine?

Digging through her pockets, she reached around as she searched for the small treasure box that was always kept on her person. After all they been through, she did admit it felt a little bad to trick Catra with the box she gave her. Oh sure, the magicat could open the box with her claws, just like Frosta currently was with her ice-made key. Prying it open, Catra fortunately didn't know how to open the secret compartment that was under the precious locket. And why would she?

After all, she failed to notice the small indent at the top of the locket, one that required a simple click as such to open the compartment to the treasure box.

It was there that the true prize behind all of this lie hidden, the very badge that displayed Frosta's status as a fellow Horde Officer, on top of being a princess of her own Kingdom. Checking around one last time, a quick peek through the door to make sure the coast was clear, the young princess grew a small sheet of ice in every opening of the door until she was sure it was sound proof, then activated the small badge that was specially made as a communicator by Entrapta.

"Hey Adora, are you there-"

FROSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

"Ack-!" Frosta jumped momentarily from the shock of the loud screeching, covering the badge with her hands to silence the noise. "Would you keep it down?!" She shushed, trying to calm her heart as she uncovered the badge. "Catra just left a few minutes ago, you don't want her hearing."

"Sorry, sorry." She heard Adora apologize through the badge. At the Horde, the same commander was leaning against a wall in her bedroom as she spoke into the communicator next to her ear. "Are you hurt? Are you alright? Ugh, I feel like an idiot for sending that robot today."

'Yeah, was about to ask you on that." Frosta told her as she made her way over to the lone bed in the middle of the room. "What was with that?"

"Again, I'm very, very, sorry. It was a new prototype Entrapta made out of the First Ones tech from the Beacon and your resources. We didn't know it couldn't distinguish friend from foe and we would've disabled it in an instant if it wasn't so close to you guys at every moment. Frosta, I swear to you, we never would have let anything happen to you, and we did at least stop it earlier-"

"I get it, I get it." Frosta interrupted, rolling her eyes a little. "It wouldn't benefit you guys to betray me after only a month anyway, so I kind of figured it out for myself halfway through. Just promise me you'll check in with me next time before you use anything that dangerous, whether or not we encounter it on the same mission."

"I promise you, Princess Frosta." Adora's heart relaxed from its rapid pacing as she heard of Frosta's acceptance. It worked wonders on her stress as well as the stress building up in the form of the black veins along her right hand. By now, her entire arm was covered in black veins from the tips of her finger to her shoulder, something she could probably put off for another day or two at most before needing a recharge. "Nothing like this will ever happen again."

"Hmph... okay. But last chance, got it? I'm not going to risk a relationship if your technology does more harm for my kingdom than good."

"You don't need to worry, Frosta, I swear the tools and stuff we send over are tested twice every time." That was one load off Adora's conscious. She'd had to find some way to make it up to Frosta in the future, hopefully she could find something with a big enough contribution. The only question is what specifically would make it up to her, and how much of it? "The Horde doesn't betray its allies, and I promise you it never will. I have a few more things I need to check on for the night, so I better get going-"

"Wait, Adora?" Frosta spoke up as she lied on her front on the bed. A solemn expression crossed her face as she spoke from her mind. "Are... Are you sure Catra is... really as bad as you say?" The question made Adora's heart nearly skip a beat from surprise, and briefly sickened with disgust. It wasn't like she didn't mind who was asking the question, she just couldn't get over who the question was about. "It's just that... today she was like... I don't know... someone a little more... innocent, than you described her as?"

"..."

"I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything, it's just... It's just I could've sworn that-"

"It's okay, Frosta. I get it." The commander slid against the wall until she was squatting down to her own two feet, looking up in thought as she spoke. "I know she has that look about her. Something that pretends to be innocent, tries to act like a friend? She might do and say things that'll make you question what she's truly like, and I wouldn't blame you. She was my friend for most of my life, and I thought I knew her too."

"But take it from someone whose known her for most of her life. Everything about Catra, everything she does, is all an act. In the end, everything she does is to benefit herself, and only herself. The moment she finds something that'll prove more helpful to her, she'll betray you at a moments notice. I should know, after all... Even after spending nearly a decade together, look whose side she ran to as fast as she could, all for the sake of some stupid kingdom to call her own?"

It was a painful but reassuring reality that Frosta needed to be reminded of. It was how Adora's come to know Catra, and everything she stood for. She was the embodiment of greed, the entity of selfishness. If the Horde was truly as Evil as the Rebellion tricked everyone into thinking, then what kind of evil creature could Catra be in reality?

After everything she's been through, there was only one word Adora had to describe her as.

A Freak.

"No matter how much she smiles to you, don't let her get in your mind. Because the minute you do, you'll regret it... just like I did..."

"...I understand." Frosta finally replied, to Adora's relief. "Sorry, Adora."

"It's fine, I promise. I'm just trying to keep you from ending up like I did... somewhere painful... filled with regret..."

"Y-Yeah..." Unbeknownst to her, there was a small frown perched on Frosta's face as she lied her head against the covers. "I'll check in with you later, Adora. See you."

"Have a good night." A click was the last thing Adora head, and the only thing she wanted to hear as she buried her head between her knees.

Catra had taken a lot of things from her. Half her life, a friendship she cherished, and flippped every aspect of their reality on Adora's head like an anvil. She wanted to help the Rebellion out of her own twisted desires and greed. That's it. That's all Adora could truly see. If Catra ever succeeded and made her dreams come true, Adora didn't know what she would do with herself. And as bad as that was, another worry crossed Adora's mind.

What else did Catra have left to take from her?

...

"Uh, okay. I'm talking into this recorder," Bow spoke aloud as he circled the remains of the terrible droid, "because that's what the best scientist I ever knew did."

After a long day of fighting, trying to make sense of these terrible creations and how they work, the self-proclaimed Tech Expert of the Princess Alliance finally had a semi-fully functional droid in his lap, or his table to put it specifically. All that hard work of sweat, tears, and feelings had eventually paid off, as he was already putting together ideas of how to put this so-called killswitch together.

"I'm not really sure who I'm talking to." He continued, examining the robot's limp arm as it lied against the table. "Me, I guess. So, hi, Future Bow... Huh... okay... time to open this thing, I guess." The head of the creation would have to be done last. If Catra's fist was as effective as they appeared, no doubt the inside of its head was shattered to pieces, a small price to pay compared to the rest of it.

Taking one of the screwdrivers on hand, he jammed it directly between the opening of the robot's metallic torso as he pried for dear life. Grunting, the tech expert pulled with all of his might until he finally managed to pry open the lid of the creation, giving him access to the mechanical doodads and wires that were strewn across its body. When Bow finally picked himself off the floor, leaning over the creation, his eyes widened as he gave a short whistle, speaking back into the recorder.

"Whoo, oh boy, uhh... Wow, the technology in this stuff is really... really advanced." He's never been so fascinated by the complexity of a machine like this, or anything it had to offer. "Most of the data programmed into this thing must've been done digitally. Most of the software appears to be from... huh..." It was within the very center of the robot's chest that Bow saw something he had only saw once before. Reaching for it, the young archer plucked out a slender diamond-shaped data crystal from the confines of the machine, filling his eyes with a light he didn't think was possible.

"Hold onto your hat, Future Bow. Entrapta's alive!" This was great! This was amazing! This was beyond glorious!

To think, the friend they all once knew and cared about was actually alive! Oh man, this feeling was intense! How was he supposed to put it? It was nothing like he's ever felt before! It's like the limits of his excitement somehow went beyond the tipping point and kept rising with each beat of his excited heart!

Entrapta was alive, she truly was! Gosh, what an awesome feeling this was! Entrapta was definitely alive! She never died in the Fright Zone! She was alive this whole time! She was-!

"..." The realization took an unexpected turn as it dropped immediately from its rise. All that gusto, and all the excitement, drained from Bow's face as he realized that his greatest revelation was also his biggest regret.

"..And we left her behind..."

...

A/N: You know whats funny? Almost a little under the entire 2nd half of this whole chapter I did this morning. That's the usual work output I give on a daily basis, so if thats not a sign that I'm coming back, idk what is.

What's more, we're FINALLY (thank GOOOOOOOOD T_T) done with this episode! Thats means, on top of keeping up more with the plot for the next few episodes, we'll also be going more by the episode, so, not to jinx it, but we should be able to see more regular posts ^^ Since im not in school atm, chances are on a more weekly basis (which I pray not since it means no season 3 watching for me till then T_T *cry*), but at least you guys will get to enjoy some good ol' fanfiction AU ^^!

Again, huge shoutout to all the fans and reviewers who help keep this fanfic alive, and thanks again to petie doon from Instagram. I repeat, you guys HAVE to see his work, its freaking amazing.

With all that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you all soon!

Chapter 62: Season 2 Episode 2: Ties That Bind Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Heyo guys! Another post from yours truly ^^ Not much this time around, but barely any stuff happened within the first 5 minutes of the episode. On the brighter side, a quicker post, ANNNNNND, as a reminder, the last one had about 18k+ words, so i think its a bit of a fairer trade XP.

As always, huge shoutout to fans here and there of the series! People like on instagram and all that and others who've done work. If you guys are interested in doing fan work of my fanfic, im more than 100% fine with it and deeply appreciate it :D if you have any, contact me to let me know, and I'll be sure to post about it in these authors notes ^^

With that said, enjoy!

...

The wind was rather soothing as it breezed across the Kingdom of Dryl. All around the fortress, the Horde banners could be seen being raised all around the walls. With Entrapta on the Horde's side, taking the city was nothing short of easy. Those who did resist were captured, albeit with leniency thanks to someone's intervention, and the rest who refused to stick around were quick to run for the literal hills.

Atop the archway-like entrance, the second-in-command, Adora herself, could be seen smiling as she held a large spike jutting out of the ground to keep her balance. This was just one of many kingdoms that would unite under the Horde banner, and understand what the Horde was truly about. It wasn't corrupt like the Rebellion was making them out to be, it wasn't some army bent on total destruction or whatever. It stood as a symbol of peace and protection, one that Adora was proud to serve under as Hordak's second-in-command.

All around her she could see the various encampments that were built within the walls of the mighty fortress, each of them with their own banner being displayed proudly in the air. It made Adora wonder sometimes if the other princesses would join as easily as Entrapta and Frosta did, and if they were just as determined to stand against the Rebellion as she was. That was, of course, provided there weren't any slip-ups as there were yesterday.

What kind of slip-ups could there be that would make Adora worry? The kind that involve a new creation going rampant and almost ending the life of one of their allies, in this case, Princess Frosta!

She never should have allowed the stupid droid to go out without any prior field testing to begin with, that much she could admit openly. Under the name of Orbko, it was the Horde's, and Entrapta's, greatest creation to date. Thanks to the resources provided by Frosta's kingdom and with the First Ones tech Adora managed to acquire from the Beacon, they created one of the most powerful creations that Etheria has ever known.

It was capable of learning as it fought, had a strong metal alloy around its limbs that could transform into defensive and offensive tools of destruction, and could identify and exploit the weaknesses and strengths of its adversaries. Thanks to its learning capabilities, it was also capable of predicting and countering any attack thrown at it, preventing the same move from working on it twice in a row.

Yes it was truly the Horde's greatest creation, and would have gone down as such if not for one, tincy, little, dilemma they came across- IT COULDN'T DIFFERENTIATE FRIEND FROM FOE!

In the midst of a battle it had engaged Catra and Glimmer with in the beginning, Frosta appeared out of nowhere and attempted to attack the creature, if only to secure her appearance as a member of the Princess Alliance and not a spy. And while she still managed to maintain the cover by the end of the day, during her attack, the robot's own advanced systems managed to rewrite its own programming as it was incapable of harming a fellow member of the Horde otherwise.

What ensued was a long, grueling, and stressful day as Adora, Scorpia, and Entrapta had to keep a close eye on Orbko and do everything in their power they could to prevent it from bringing any further harm to Frosta, or at least as much as they could to provide her cover as a spy. They couldn't find a single opportunity to blow it up without the princesses being too close, and they couldn't rewrite its programming as its systems kept locking Entrapta out. It wasn't until they managed to bypass its priorities, filling it with new information in what was and wasn't important, that it finally left Frosta alive at the last second.

By the end of the day the robot was officially scrapped as the Alliance managed to defeat it later. To their surprise, Catra had exploited a surprising error in the machine that even Entrapta didn't think of. Pretending to show hostilities to the younger princess, both she and Frosta tossed insults and anger towards one another and attacks with enough force to safely deflect it from the other and straight into the robot itself. As opposed to reacting to this in any sort of way, the robot found itself perplexed by a mind-numbing paradox.

It wasn't supposed to attack unless it was attacked first. Ergo, it was fitted with the ability to sense emotions and intentions so it could tell between friend and foe whenever on the battlefield. However, thanks to the combined efforts of anger the two had for one another, it couldn't process that it was the intended target. With their attentions set solely on the other, the robot was helpless and incapable of responding, even as the two managed to bludgeon it with their attacks.

It wasn't long after that the robot had been incapacitated by the combined efforts of the Princess Alliance, and provided the means for Bow to make a killswitch.

Despite the setback, thanks to the encouragement of her friend, Scorpia, Adora took this as more of a good thing. It took over a month before they suffered their first big loss, and it took all of the Princess Alliance just to do it. They managed to secure a vast amount of land and resources over the course of the month they kept the princesses distracted with their meager droids, and the army had never been stronger than it was now.

This frame of mind gave Adora the much needed peace of mind she required to get through the rest of the evening, less she allow her magic to corrupt her body any further. Along both arms, thick trails of black veins could be seen grown, both sides finally having grown to the base of Adora's neck.

The Force Captain wasn't one to ignore the treatment she needed, but it became unsettling every time she heard the strange whispers in her mind that followed. They were quiet most days, with a mere utterance once or twice they could drown out. But whenever she fully recharged her body, purging her bloodstreams of the dark energies that were corrupting them, for a single moment, she could hear whatever the voice had to say in full. And every time, they sounded more twisted and ominous than the last, something she couldn't allow while committing to her duties as a commander of the Horde.

All of this was for the Horde, a commitment Adora tended to live by daily. And she wasn't going to allow anyone to ruin it.

*bzzzt*

The sound of static caught Adora's attention as she brought up the datapad in her left hand to her face, smiling as she was greeted by Scorpia's face from the other end. "Everything's good over here, Scorpia." She said, looking over the view with pride. "The city's forces have all fled if they didn't join with us already. The kingdom is now ours."

"All right!" Scorpia cheered as she walked down another of the twisted hallways of Dryl, eyeing the various paintings as she passed them. "I mean, I guess it kind of already was ours since their princess is on our side and all, but the banners really make it feel official."

"Yeah. I do wonder if we actually brought a few too many, but I can't say I disagree with the design." Adora commented in return. "By the way, where are you right now?"

"That is a great question, and the answer is..." The Scorpion Woman paused as she looked around. Somehow, despite walking around in a straight path for the last twenty minutes, she managed to find herself, once again, in the twisted crossway she passed earlier. Somehow the path brought her to a little alcove above the pathway, one that didn't lead to anything short of a dead end. "...I don't know. Yeah, this place is some kind of maze."

"Heh, tell me about it. It took me half an hour just to find the bathroom around here." At the comment, the commander tapped on the badge adorned on the left chest of her uniform, springing it to life with a red light. "There you go. You should be able to see a small blip on the datapad. That's me. Just follow it out when you're done. We've still got a lot of work to do." And with that, she jumped from the archway towards the ground, creating a small stream of shadow that slowed her fall during her descent.

At the same time, she was unaware of a few prying eyes that were spying on her, ones belonging to the very citizens that once called this kingdom their home. They couldn't understand where their dear princess had gone or her reasons for leaving. All they knew was that this once majestic place they called home was no more, and they had no other choice but to run.

From the cliffs that they watched from, they made their way down the path as fast as their legs could carry them. They couldn't afford to linger around here any longer, they had to get to another kingdom and tell them of the kingdom's development. This once proud kingdom that was once their home was nothing close to its once glorious self. The image of the Horde banners burned deeper into their minds as they passed the large drape hanging overhead as they finally escaped the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Dryl had officially belonged to the Horde...

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*-am*

*Wham*

*WHAM!*

The droid's thunderous footsteps echoed throughout the forest as it pushed aside each and every tree with ease. Nobody would ever think another creation like Orbko could be roaming around the forest as soon as this one did, yet here it was. Customised with the most basic of skills any mobile two-legged droid could need, the towering droid continued to lay waste to its surroundings, caring not for anything that stood in its path, save for those foolish enough to cross it.

Like a potential hero known as She-Ra.

It was distracted by the brilliant surge of light that came from behind it as it heard the familiar phrase that gave She-Ra her power. No sooner did it turn around did it find its face pummeled by a single blow from the magicat's powerful fist, Catra grinning as the robot tumbled.

Unlike most droids that would simply fallen over and gotten back up, a droid like Orbko was more mobile, and capable of reacting much faster than Catra had expected. Before it hit the ground, the droid backstepped, maintaining its footing before directing its attention back to its attacker who was surprised by the new response. Perhaps that's why she was unprepared for the pair of hands that wrapped around her body, leaving her in a vice grip that was sure to crush her.

And still, Catra smiled.

"Sorry pal, but not this time." With a mighty roar, the hero of Bright Moon pushed against the robot's fearsome grip as she punched her way through both of the hands and sunk her claws deep into the robot's metal wrists. Pulling both of the wrists simultaneously, Catra cheered to herself as she yanked the robot's arms straight out of the sockets, ripping them apart as she dropped herself back to the ground, leaving nothing more than busted wires and sparks from were the robot's shoulders once were.

Without missing a beat, she continued her relentless assault on the robot as she shot straight for the robot's legs. Sinking her sharpened claws right into the robot's right foot, mustering as much strength as she could possibly draw, Catra heaved with all of her might and lifted the robot straight into the air. Normally, preforming such a feat of strength would've been impossible for Catra before today, but that was before the change in strength, and appearance, she had yesterday.

With a toss, the magicat threw the robotic bucket of bolts as high as she could, distancing a good twenty feet into the air where the thing was flailing its legs for dear life. Drawing out her sword, with an easy enough image in her mind, the sword materialized into a hookshot, one capable of stretching nearly double the distance that the robot was thrown. It took little work for Catra to shoot at it from a good angle where the rope could wrap around its torso, then smirked as the rope looped around until it hooked onto the other end of the droid.

In a dramatic feat of strength, drawing all the power she could as she grabbed the rope, Catra pulled with everything she had left, and pulled the robot a dozen yards away, and crashed it straight into the ground where it shattered in a violent explosion upon impact.

Once again, Catra had won.

"Whoo!" The She-Ra in training cheered to herself as she walked way from the wreckage, twirling her sword as it and her outfit returned to their previous state. "That was AWESOME!" Nobody was ever used to the sight of Catra in a cheerful mood as the simulation around her began to dematerialize. Then again, she's never had so much to celebrate before.

The battle against the dreaded Orbko was one fraught with peril and dismay. Throughout the majority of the fighting, the alliance found itself matched against a powerful foe that could expose their weaknesses and use their own strengths against them. It wasn't until Catra and Frosta's timely appearance at the end where they managed to trick the robot by fighting each other while indirectly fighting it, before victory was in their grasp.

That victory still came to be a hard earned reward as the robot was defaulted to a basic state of being, one that relied solely on instinct and prowess, thanks to Adora's intervention. With the robot's commands set to fight at the most basic of level, it relied on brute strength and durability to finish off the fighters with as much power as it had, getting the drop on Catra and Frosta for a brief moment. It was here that Catra was forced to reveal the secret that she had been keeping so long, the lack of strength of her lesser She-Ra form, in order to save Frosta's life.

Following the defeat of the robot, Catra was nothing short of uneasy as she was forced to reveal the truth behind her decrease in power, or what she could assume to be, anyway. Like how it was her own desire that split her powers apart again, how her selfishness to defeat the Horde brought along the added consequence of her She-Ra state leaving her. With only a third of her power remaining since the Battle of Bright Moon, what other conclusion could she come to? What else was there to think?

As if that wasn't enough, there was the added dilemma of how her friends would react. She didn't expect them to understand. She knew she wouldn't be able to if she was in their shoes. They would've hated her for knowing the truth, they would've berated her for her own stupidity. Every reason they had to do it would've been justified and Catra would've had no choice but to stand back and embrace it.

Yet none of that stuff ever happened. There was no shouting at the magicat for her foolish actions, nobody appeared to harbor any sort of hate or loathing for the young girl. In fact, much to Catra's shock, they seemed to be completely fine with it! They were actually more worried about her on a whole than whatever power she once had and lost.

It still confused Catra at the present, but maybe that's why a fraction of her power returned immediately after? She felt a sense of peace and warmth from them she wasn't used to, something she can not remember feeling in a long time, way before the battle of Bright Moon. With their acceptance touching her heart, as much as she would deny it, a portion of She-Ra's power was returned to her, and a red cape to go along with it.

"Admit it, I'm getting more awesome!" Catra continued to gloat as she sheathed her sword.

"Statistically speaking, yes." Light Hope replied in the same emotionless voice as always. "I must admit I was rather surprised to witness your progress as well as the state of your Synchronicity."

"My what-city?" Catra raised a brow in confusion.

"Your Synchronicity." She replied, displaying a holographic image with a basic outline of Catra's body. "The bond that allows you to draw your strength from the sword and She-Ra." With a wave of the hand, Catra watched as a portion of her body's outline began to fill up like a loading bar with a red light, eventually stopping when it hit just below her thighs. "According to my calculations, you have achieved an estimated forty-two percent of She-Ra's true form."

"And I'm assuming a lot more power that came with." It wasn't very hard for Catra to put the pieces together, especially after her most recent butt kicking. "The more of She-Ra I unlock, the stronger I'll get, right?"

"Correct. But it doesn't mean you should rely solely on your power or She-Ra's. That method of thinking will break your bond with the sword once again."

That was the one thing she didn't need a reminder of. Even now, nothing irritated her more than the realization that she, presumably, lost all that glorious She-Ra power because of one stupid thought. On the off chance it actually wasn't just from that one line of thinking, then what was it? "Well isn't there any training we could do speed up the process? You know the faster I obtain She-Ra's true form, the faster I can train at my full power."

"True, but it's not a process that can simply be sped up as you put it. Achieving inner peace and selflessness is the only way you will attain She-Ra's full power, neither of which is something that can be taught. It must be learned."

"Yeah, well I think we can pass on any "group therapy" session or some junk. But how am I supposed to learn something that can't be taught? I get what you're trying to say, but we don't have time to be waiting around for some next big catastrophe to happen that'll let me unlock more of She-Ra's power."

"You are correct. Which is why we should move on to the next level of training."

The announcement earned a satisfied grin from the magicat as she punched her fist into the palm of her hand. "All right, now we're talking!" There was a spring in Catra's tail as she awaited the next instructions with anticipation. "What's next? Learning how to use She-Ra's magic? Like that giant shield? Or shooting energy from the sword? Or how about-!"

"It is time to bring Swift Wind into your training." All at once, the optimism and hope for something cooler went down faster than Catra's ears, tail, and expression did at the announcement.

"Uh, shouldn't I work on mastering the powers I do have, first?" She asked with a hopeful and nervous smile. "Like, how do we even know I can train with him at this stage, anyway? Maybe I need to become more of She-Ra first?"

"You have no need for concern," foolishly, Catra got her hopes up again before Light Hope continued, "I have already ran a diagnostic on your capabilities. By increasing the level of your Synchronicity, I have determined that you are ready for the next stage of your training."

Well that was just great, definitely something Catra had to look forward to now. Along with all the good things that came with increasing her status as She-Ra, it also increased the likelihood that something bad, in turn, would follow. It's not that she even had anything against Swift Wind either. She just found the idea of her galloping on horseback while swinging a sword around would be kind of ridiculous.

And embarrassing every time she pictured it in her head.

"As She-Ra, your sacred connection with your steed is as important as any of your physical capabilities." At this, Light Hope displayed a small holographic projection between her hands, depicting She-Ra on the left side and Swift Wind on the other. "He is a part of you, your destinies are intertwined." Without twitching a finger, she brought the two projections together, showing Catra how the two were connected in perfect unison.

"They sure are!"

"Ah-!" Catra nearly jumped as Swift Wind's head popped out from Light Hope, distorting the image around her. If it wasn't the surprise itself that almost made her jump, it was the fact he nearly struck her in the head with his horn.

"Hi, Catra!" The noble steed greeted as he trotted in. "I've been here for a while, but there wasn't a good moment to make my grand entrance, until now!" With the wave of his head, he flaunted his gallant position as his mane fluttered in the air, sparkling with a wonder only a steed as noble as Swift Wind was capable of!

"I requested his presence." Light Hope went on. "The time has come for you two to forge your-yo-yo-yo-yo-your-"

*bzzzt*

The horse and cat turned to one another with a curious look as the being known as Light Hope came to a halt. She didn't blink, she didn't move, she didn't even seem to be entirely her, so to speak. A part of her body was distorted as she stood there with her mouth gaping open, looking like she saw a ghost and died of fright.

Was this a part of the training she had in mind? Was it some sort of secret training where Catra and Swift Wind were supposed to just chat and get to know one another? Some test on Catra's emotions to just stick around and wait for a while until Light Hope came back to life or something?

Whatever the case was, Catra was convinced of one thing. If she was supposed to spend the entire day with her stallion and form whatever "bond" she needed to complete her training, then it was going to be a very long day...

...

"What do you mean? Entrapta's alive?!" Glimmer's mind had never been more blown before by a revelation such as this.

Glimmer thought the amount of news could only get better after the events of yesterday. They learned the truth behind Catra's secret and accepted it. They defeated one of the strongest creations the Horde had to throw at them and they stood united. They managed to incapacitate a machine which allowed Bow to construct a killswitch out of the intact parts. And Catra had never been happier in the last month than she was last night. Truly, things couldn't get any better.

She was, unfortunately, right about that.

When Bow rushed in to her bedroom for a major announcement, she thought he was dragging her to something special. She thought he had some great development in the creation process of the killswitch, like he managed to create a device that could turn off all Horde technology! That'd be something to cheer about.

Instead, she was greeted with two disturbing discoveries, the first of which was the wrecked remains of Orbko, the droid that thoroughly thrashed the Princess Alliance singlehandedly, and almost wiped them out. The second thing was the announcement he had to make immediately after.

"I couldn't figure out how the Horde was creating such big technological advances." Bow explained as he continued to fiddle with the droid's remains. "But it all makes sense now. They must be holding Entrapta prisoner. I found First Ones tech in this bot." He revealed the familiar data crystal under a portion of the bot's torso. "This is what Entrapta was experimenting on before she-"

"Before we left her in the Fright Zone." It's not like she needed it spelled out for her to feel like a terrible person. She's never felt so disgusted with herself before, thinking that a friend was dead and moving on with her life while Entrapta could be getting tortured or worse in the Horde.

Bow frowned as he saw the look of dismay on Glimmer's face, feeling the same amount of pain she was feeling at this very moment. "We didn't know." He reminded in the hopes it would brighten her up somewhat as he sat next to her.

"It doesn't matter. We should've gone back for her. We should've tried. She got captured trying to save us."

It was that line of reasoning that filled Glimmer with a newfound determination to set things right. "Well, we're not leaving her there now. We've got to rescue her."

"How? We can't just walk into the Fright Zone. That's how we got into this mess in the first place."

"Maybe we don't have to. Look." Rising from her chair, she activated the holographic map of the War Room, displaying a pinkish outline of Entrapta's Kingdom.

"No. The Horde took Dryl!" All around it, Bow could see the banner of the Horde being displayed at every foot along the map, feeling sickened from the mere sight of the display. As if it wasn't enough to prove their claim, it was followed by a large Horde symbol being displayed over the entirety of Entrapta's castle.

"We just got word. The Horde has Entrapta, and now they have Dryl. The timing can't be a coincidence."

"Of course. They're making her use her own lab!"

"We're going to Crypto Castle, we'll find Entrapta, and bring her back." Her determined smile brought a new sense of hope as she turned to Bow. "No princess left behind."

"Yes! Totally onboard! Let's get Catra!" The archer beamed with excitement as the two marched out the door in different directions.

This was going to be great! Beyond great, really. Finding out that Entrapta was still alive, having a course of action ready and prepared, they were finally going to pay Entrapta back for rescuing them! It was just like Catra's policy of always paying people back, no matter how tedious the favor in return was, and now, it was their turn!

"Catra is out training with Light Hope." Or not.

"What about the other princesses?" All the optimism and faith quickly drained from Bow as Glimmer shot him a look of guilt.

"Entrapta got taken trying to save us, Bow." She reminded. "I'm not going to be responsible for losing anyone else."

"But... Shouldn't we at least get Catra, then? If anyone's going to be determined to save her the most, it's her." She couldn't deny Bow had a good point, but at the same time, she couldn't agree with it either.

"Bow, we can't let Catra know about this. It could ruin her completely."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think?" It was hard enough trying to talk to Bow without sounding aggravated, the last thing she was worried about was the sarcasm coming from her voice. "Oh hey, Catra, good news! You know that girl you thought you roasted alive in the Fright Zone? Turns out she's just been living in turmoil as a prisoner for over the last month. Isn't that refreshing to hear?"

"Okay, okay, I get your point." Gosh, it really did sound horrible when he heard it out loud. There was no way the two could forget how distraught Catra was following the rescue mission from the Fright Zone. If she was that bad after thinking she got Entrapta killed, how bad would she be when she found out she was being help prisoner for the last month because of, what she presumed to be, her fault? "But wouldn't she still feel bad if we brought Entrapta back anyway?"

"Yeah, but at least she'd be relieved that we saved her. On top of that, Entrapta can tell her personally that she doesn't blame her, so there would be no guilt over it! Besides, she's still struggling to become She-Ra, and she thinks her emotions are connected to it. If we told her she left Entrapta alive in the Fright Zone after everything we did," the princess frowned as she lowered her head, "she might never turn back into She-Ra again."

That was the one fear that was now present in both of their minds. They knew very little about the First Ones and the Sword of Protection, an understandable dilemma they shared with Catra despite all her time spent with Light Hope. From what little they did know, they knew Catra's sword had a spiritual bond with Catra, and has been over the course of her journey. Her emotions, her way of thinking, all of it played a key part in how the sword was used and if it could be used. And if anything was to happen that could scar Catra any more than she has been, then chances were they would never see the light of She-Ra on their side...

...

*click*

"Hello? Hey! Light Hope!" Catra clicked her fingers in front of the hologram's face, trying in vain for the last several minutes to get the woman's attention. She's tried everything from waving her hand in front of her face, phasing her hand through her repeatedly, and tried touching her with her sword to get her to respond, and yet, nothing's worked.

"Ooooh... Did I break her?" Swift Wind fretted as he examined her from all sides. "Was it when I went through her head?"

*BZZZT!*

"Ahh!" Touching her face again with the tip of her claw, both animals were quick to yelp in surprise as the holographic image distorted loudly before their eyes. When it finally reconfigured again, Light Hope reappeared perfectly restored to her previous status.

"The time has come for the two of you to forge your sacred bond. I-" Before she could continue, she noticed the perplexed looks on Catra's and Swift Wind's faces, the two looking as if they saw a ghost with Catra flung back and Swift Wind buried under his wings. "Is something wrong?"

"Uhhh yeah, you kind of froze there for a second." Swift Wind answered as he peaked out from his cover.

"Did something happen?" Catra asked as she approached with Swift Wind trailing behind.

"Forgive me. My system is overloading. I may have to delay today's training so that I can rest."

"Are you sure? I was kinda hoping to get some more practice in today." The magicat commented as she leaned her head back against her arms. With all the newfound power that came with her upgraded She-Ra form, she wanted to test just how far her new form could take her."Couldn't we do something to help you rest faster?"

"Perhaps." Turning back, the two watched as Light Hope raised her hand to display a holographic projection of the planet behind her. Turning the planet around, they waited as a glowing square that was beeping with a pink diamond outline. "This is the Watchtower." She began as the small pink square grew into a pillar. "Once, it allowed me to access my planetary mainframe. But it was destroyed by Mara when she lost control and attacked Etheria."

So Mara actually attacked Etheria? Catra wondered to herself.

"I have been functioning at only a fraction of my power ever since." She continued as Swift Wind rubbed his chin with his wing, pondering the situation. "If you can repair the Watchtower, my capabilities will improve, and training can commence."

"So fix the Watchtower, get the place up and running again, and then we can do more training. Got it." The magicat nodded with understanding.

"Only then-zzzt." It was almost terrifying how scary Light Hope looked when she suddenly froze again. She was distorted in such a way that her left eye was raised and her mouth was in the corner of her face.

"Light Hope?" She waited a few seconds before shrugging back to Swift Wind.

"I... guess she's out of commission for awhile." The horse replied, looking back to the Watchtower projection curiously. "So now it's up to us!" He couldn't begin to describe how excited he was! He was going to spend time with his master, and friend, and the two were going to go on their very first mission together with just the two of them! He was so excited that it took him several moments to realize Catra's silence as she stared off into thought. "Catra? You okay?"

"Huh? O-Oh! Yeah! I'm fine. Come on, the sooner we get this thing fixed, the better."

"Right behind ya!" Swift Wind trotted with enthusiasm as he followed close by. This was great! Perfect, really! Here they were, Swift Wind and Catra, preparing to go on their own sacred quest with just the two of them! It would give them the chance to bond a little more and get to know each other, and best of all it was just that! It would just be the two of them for the next couple of hours, or however long this mission was going to take!

Man, he couldn't wait to get started!

Catra, on the other hand, couldn't wait for this mission to end. Not because of Swift Wind himself or anything, but because of a new dilemma that was plaguing her mind.

While she didn't know the full details over the situation, the fact remained that Mara, the last She-Ra, ran rampant and tried to destroy the world. Whatever emotions were going through her mind set off some sort of spark that caused her to lash out against those around her and bring ruin and chaos to wherever she went. It was enough to end the She-Ra line over a thousand years ago, and almost end She-Ra's lineage entirely.

The part that troubled Catra the most?

She was a She-Ra. She wasn't some run of the mill person doing their daily job that suddenly couldn't take it anymore, she was a symbol that meant hope to others and protection against the dark forces of the universe. She was an icon that people could look up to and depend on to protect them in their hour of need. She was strong, determined, practically perfect in every way, and she was someone chosen from day one, someone who was proven worthy of honoring the title of She-Ra.

Catra, was none of those things. Sure, she was strong, she was fast. She could always rely on her quick wits and her speed pulling her out of any situation more than half the time, but that was it. She was a fighter, a warrior, not some person who was in control of her emotions or had a strong grasp on what a hero should actually be. She cared more about her own desires, even if her friends did count among those now, and she was someone who used people on a daily basis to get whatever she wanted, and look how that worked out for her.

She was none of the things a hero should be and all the worst parts of what a hero shouldn't be. And the fact Mara was someone who went berserk despite all this is what truly frightened her in the end.

How long would she last before she snapped too...

...

A/N: Short, simple, and to the point ^^ I gotta get used to writing shorter descriptions during talks again, that'll take awhile to work into.

Speaking of which, I was wondering something folks. Would anyone support me if I started a of my own? For those who don't know, is pretty much those monthly pay sites where you'd pay for services, whether it'd be to see a gallery of art or works, early access for demos and games, etc. I question this cause my job is freaking grinding and I need a dire break from it soon. I'm pretty well off atm with a good 6k+ in the bank and living with my parents. I'm just asking if i should take a break from work for awhile until next summer since i start school spring of next year, and the stress is taking its toll on me at work X/

Well a discussion for another time I guess. Anywho! Hope you guys all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 63: Season 2 Episode 2: Ties That Bind Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Woot woot! Another fun action-filled one for the first half! Thanks to those, as always, who help keep this fanfic alive! Idk what's going on with work, still fixing that atm. Regardless, it's not going to be interfering with my writing (hopefully) any time soon ^^ Not much to say or much need to say it. With everything said and done, Enjoy!

...

The horde was present wherever Bow went as he snuck around the outside of Entrapta's castle. From the walls to the floors to the land itself, he could see Horde banners present wherever he went, as if mocking their victory and their claim to Entrapta's kingdom.

Okay. So this day has been a bit off and on all at once. On the positive note of recent discoveries, Entrapta was alive! He couldn't believe it and wondered to himself if it she truly was alive or if it was just foolish optimism half the time reeling in his mind. After the last month of being tormented by the regret of losing one of their own, he wouldn't be surprised. She went to the Fright Zone to save him and Glimmer, presumably lost her life in the process, and turned out to be alive after all this time?! It made perfect sense!

It also made sense to understand why the Horde had taken over the Kingdom of Dryl as well. As the Horde's prisoner, they could get the kingdom to submit to anything and acquire anything they wanted. From their resources to the castle itself, everything belonged to the Horde as long as Entrapta was in their evil clutches. They could demand information out of her, get her to make anything she wanted, and force her to cooperate with everything they were doing as long as she was their prisoner.

This is exactly what brought Bow and Glimmer to the Kingdom today. They only had one goal in mind, and that was to rescue their dear, beloved, friend, and save her from whatever horrible fate continued to await her on a daily basis. They couldn't afford to let the other princesses take part in their rescue mission, not after the last one resulted in losing one of their own. Who knows what they could get out of it if they managed to capture two princesses, if not more? Here, it was Entrapta's cooperation and technological advances. Tomorrow it might be an entire naval army or alchemical resources from nature itself!

It was also imperative to save her for Catra's sake. The girl had been through so much over a month ago, wracked with an abyss of guilt that started with Entrapta's supposed death. With her She-Ra powers relying on her own inner strength and emotions, she needed a way to come to terms with what happen, and a chance to move on from it. And what better way to do that than to prove that Entrapta was alive, and to have her personally state that Catra wasn't at fault for what happened?!

Who knows? If they were lucky, this might just give Catra the push she needs to fully transform into She-Ra!

That still required the two to actually rescue Entrapta first, however, and that was proving difficult in itself. Everywhere they went there was nothing but Horde for as far as the eye could see. They had to take every back road they could see to get around them, wait several minutes at a time for a clear passing, and stay on the move the whole time without being caught. They couldn't risk teleporting anywhere until they got into the castle if they didn't know where the guard posts were stations throughout the valley.

Fortunately, maintaining cover was easier on the inside than on the outside. With the various posts set up throughout the valley, it was only natural that the inner base would be less guarded, the Horde believing themselves to be safer within the confines of Entrapta's castle.

Waiting for a passing patrol of guards, Bow popped his head out to check the coast one more time before running down a small path through the base, ducking behind some containers between the built facilities the Horde had set up within the settlement. He was checking the coast one more time as his attention was drawn to the familiar sound of Glimmer's teleporting coming from behind him?

"Any sign of Entrapta in the castle?" He asked as the princess kneeled behind the cover.

"Nothing." She regretfully informed. "And as usual, that place is impossible to navigate." The princess groaned as she pressed her wrists stressfully into her eyes. She could understand the intention of making a place defensible, but why did it have to be so confusing at the same time?!

"Mmmhhh..." The two briefly ignored the sound of the lone mumbling until Glimmer gave it the briefest of her attention, and quickly pulled Bow behind the cover at who she saw.

Adora. The Horde Captain, and Hordak's second-in-command. The one Catra was forced to cut ties with for the sake of the Rebellion was at their doorstep, or Entrapta's to be specific. The young blonde was unaware of their presence as she stretched out her arms to the sky, still recovering from the brief nap that she just took. The two were so distracted by her appearance that they didn't even notice the smaller details, like the black veins running through her arms.

*blip-blip-blip-blip*

Thankfully, fate appeared to be on their sides as a sudden distress call from Adora's datapad occupied her attention, turning her body in the complete opposite direction of the duo as she turned it on.

"Hello? Tell me you're on your way back, please!" Kyle could be heard begging like his life depended on it. "I need back-up! Entrapta's new invention has lost it and Emily's making it worse!"

...

From the other end of the monitor, Kyle continued to panic as he surveyed the surrounding destruction of Entrapta's lab. Racing around the room was one of Entrapta's latest inventions that she had created just the other night, along with the other thirty-two things she created. With a bit of a pyramid-like design with smoothed top, the metallic creation was designed to be another one of Entrapta's latest in a long line of assistances, one designed to bring her the various tools and gizmos she needed throughout the lab while she was preoccupied with her work, like the one she was currently tinkering with.

Instead of getting the creation that could preform its work flawlessly and without provocation, she instead got a creation who began running rampant the moment Entrapta tasked it with bringing her a screwdriver from the shelves of her lab, resulting in the chaos that was ensuing after the robot couldn't determine what sort of screwdriver she needed between the only two she had.

Throughout her lab, there was wreckage and carnage as the robot ran amok, tearing apart various pieces of metal grafted onto the walls and disassembling several smaller creations that Entrapta created to keep the place spotless. No longer would Cleaning Droid No. 132 see the light of day. And no matter how many of her creations were being destroyed or what systems were being ruined, Entrapta still somehow managed to tinker away with the current thing she was working on, all while being chased around by the same droid that was being chased in turn by Emily.

"Bot Number 437 seems to be having some sort of existential crisis!" She squealed as she ran as fast as her hair could carry her. She would love nothing more than to give her bot the motherly love a scientist could and deactivate it on a moment's notice. Sadly, the current predicament occupying her thoughts was too important to ignore, one that required a very delicate hand to operate. Otherwise, she'd have to start over from scratch, and that was ten minutes she was not going to waste! "Down, boy, down!" She shouted again as the droid nearly snagged her hair.

...

Adora rolled her eyes a little playfully at this. After getting to know the princess for the last month, there was a lot that she could determine. For one thing, the scientist was the very definition of quirky. She was gifted with an inane sense of curiosity that borderlined the insane, and it proved to be one of her best qualities given all the wonderful creations she managed to design for the Horde.

Secondly, half her creations tended to be a little... buggy, to put it lightly, when it came to creating them. For the girl that could create over a hundred types of droids in a day that would take the scientific development team of the Horde to create in a week, it was only natural that some of them would fall under quantity over quality. While most of them tended to only have a partial twitch in movement, one that Entrapta easily managed to fix in seconds, others would occasionally run berserk due to the wrong wire being connected to its targeting systems, like who was a friend and an enemy.

Unlike the previous Orbko that only targeted allies due to its own capabilities being too advanced to tell the difference.

Still, she was a valuable asset to the team, just like Scorpia was. She was strong-willed in her desire for creating anything and everything she could, and did whatever it took to help out the Horde in their advancements of technology. It kind of went without saying that the Horde wouldn't be as grand as it was today if it wasn't for the princess's contributions and efforts.

"Just stay calm, and everything will be alright." Adora informed him calmly. "Entrapta's inventions in the lab aren't that hazardous... usually." Noticing her attention was preoccupied, Glimmer and Bow nodded to each other as they scooted a little closer to the commander, trying to listen in on whatever was going on through the pad.

...

"Ahhh!" Entrapta screeched as she felt one of the robot's legs many hands grab at her right leg. The girl was so shocked by the development that she lost the grip of the small creation she was currently working on, gasping as it slid from her hands a couple feet across the floor. "Noooo, stop!" She begged. "You can't do this!"

The droid wasn't having any of her shenanigans at the time. It had a duty to do to assist its master despite being driven mad by the simple assignment of grabbing one of two various wrenches. Luckily for Entrapta, and those currently present, it wasn't fitted with fighting or defensive capabilities, but that didn't mean it wouldn't do everything within its power to crush those who brought it into this miserable two-wrenched existence!

Protruding several more metallic poles with white pillowy hands on the end of them, the robot hummed with a vigorous anger, shot each of its hands at the defenseless princess as it pulled strands of her hair away... and proceeded to tickle her.

"Ghhh! Ehhh! Ahaha Haha!" The scientist squealed in absolute pain and misery, at least to those listening in on this. "St-Stop it! STOP IT!" She cried out, all the while the robot dragged her around the lab, ignoring the equipment left lying across the room as it crashed through them. "St-Stop it! Please! I beg of you! Ahhaahahaaah!"

All throughout this, Emily began to roar with a similar yet aggressive hum as it attempted to save its master. It wasn't as advanced as Entrapta's previous creations were to date, but it was one of Entrapta's favorites without compare. It did everything in its power to chase after the two, likewise crashing and stomping on several piles of scrap, and at one point losing its footing and crashing through the wall completely with a thunderous echo.

...

"Ahhhhh! You're killing me! You're killing meeeeee!" Entrapta continued to cry out through the datapad.

Strangely, Adora found the sound of the robot's rampaging through the datapad a lot more annoying than the shenanigan currently taking place. Almost drowning out the sounds of Entrapta's pleading cries, the robots were dismantling and breaking nearly everything within the lab, causing Adora to form a small headache in her mind from the combination of just waking up, the numerous crashes, and growing darkness through her veins, one that needed a recharge as soon as she got back.

Maybe that's why she was too focused on what was taking place at what was happening through the datapad and not the pair of eyes that were listening in from behind her. "Entrapta, she really is alive!" Bow's eyes widened in revelation, overjoyed to know that it wasn't foolish optimism that lead them here, and despairing at the sounds of her tortured cries of anguish.

"And they're hurting her!" Glimmer grumbled as she squeezed her fist. She knew what Adora was like, having at least two personal confrontations with the Horde Captain, neither of which ended pleasantly. It took all she had to keep from lashing out at her, doing everything she could to prevent her own emotions from ruining their mission. She disliked the Horde Captain as much as she disliked her, yet she wasn't going to let her emotions jeopardize the mission if it meant losing the one chance they had at saving their dear friend.

At least, that was the plan before Adora spoke again.

"Kyle, would you shut that thing up already?" Adora grumbled as she rubbed her aching head. "I don't care what you have to pull or what you have to break, just do it so we can finally move on!"

"Ghhhhhh!" That was the final straw. Not only was Adora cruel enough to torture another fellow princess, she showed little to no remorse as she ordered this Kyle to, presumably, end the princess's life.

"Wait-!" Bow pleaded too slowly as the princess already teleported by the time he reached out for her.

Within a second, the princess left a trailing mist of her pink magic behind her and reappeared slightly above Adora. There wasn't even enough time for Adora to turn her head at the sound of the familiar magic before she found herself being tackled from above, knocking the datapad roughly to the floor as Glimmer pinned the commander to the ground by her shoulders. "Where is she?" She demanded to know.

"You!" Adroa shouted in fury. Sliding her legs from under her, she quickly kneed Glimmer in her stomach as she threw her off behind her, letting her temper and her darkness flare up in her veins as all her rage contorted beyond her control. Before she could follow up as she chased after the princess, Glimmer managed to recover on her own two feet, gathering a handful of her magic and blasting a powerful pink wave of magic directly at the girl, blasting her against the rough metallic walls of one of the Horde's structures.

That was the very scene Scorpia walked into as she rounded the corner of one of the Horde structures. The sight of her friend fueled her with a natural rage as she charged straight after the princess of Bright Moon, hammering down her massive claws with all her might.

Thanks to Glimmer's magic, it did little more than dent the metallic ground as she teleported away from her, reappearing several feet away as she charged again. No matter how hard Adora's friend tried, she couldn't land a hit. By the time she swung her tail, she reappeared in front of her and knocked her in the jaw. Following the second swing, she elbowed her directly in the back upon teleporting.

Shaking the dizziness out of her head, Adora glared at the princess as she continued to assault her friend, grinding the edge s of her teeth as she ran at the princess with all her speed. At least, she attempted to, if not for the arrow that cut her off not two feet later. Recognizing the craftsmanship and detail, sure enough, there was Bow, Glimmer's friend and one of Bright Moon's best archers, grinning victoriously to himself at a battle that hasn't ended.

A part of her almost wished Catra was there now, if only so she could pound her face in too.

Still, two out of three wasn't too bad, and if she could take down two of the three biggest annoyances in her life, Adora would gladly accept what they had to offer. Wasting no time channeling her power, caring little for how much it was taxing her, Adora gathered a handful of shadows, summoning them to each of her arms as they grew into the dreaded claws that could rip the metal off a tank. With eyes alight with fire, she charged at the now-trembling archer as he attempted to fire off again.

"G-Glimmer!" He called out as he fired away. One arrow. Two arrows. Three arrows. They kept coming and they were proving as ineffective as the next. Every shot Adora fired was bounced harmlessly off the shadows she summoned. The commander didn't even bother using the claws she was saving just for the archer and the princess, she used the freshly drawn shadows protruding from the ground, exerting her energy like never before, until she finally tackled the archer to the ground.

Pinned underneath her, Bow had a brief moment to look into her seething eyes. She wanted him dead, she hated him with all her fury, just like she hated Glimmer. At the same time, he also noticed a small trail of black veins growing along her neck, slowly creeping along her skin as she called upon her shadows again. With her right fist raised, the commander smashed it as hard as she could to the ground, missing by a mere inch thanks to Bow's quick turn of the head.

Before she could attempt another strike, the archer quickly reached for one of the arrows was dropped during the snuffle, grabbing at whichever one he could in his haste, and brought it down upon Adora's head. The commander was caught off guard as the tip of the arrow exploded in her face, leaving a blinding thick cloud of dust that stung her eyes a little, letting out a cough of choking air as her throat tingled. No amount of her magic could protect from the initial blast either as she found herself being blasted back several feel away, still rubbing at her stinging eyes.

At the same time, Scorpia continued to focus. She had so many training drills she took with her friends, numerous courses to keep themselves in shape. The princess was just trying to trick her, trying to fake her out again in the hopes landing another quick strike. If there was one thing Scorpia was catching on to, it was the small pattern in her movements and the way she teleported before she attacked again.

Just like this one: Right, Left, then BEHIND!

"Agh!" Glimmer yelped in surprise as her foot was suddenly grabbed in midair. She was taken by her own surprise as she attempted to strike at the scorpion girl from behind, only for the Force Captain to snag her leg with one of her own claws. There was no end to the number of strikes and punches Scorpia wanted to deliver back to the girl, all of which was put immediately to a halt when she found her other claw getting snagged in a goop caused by one of the archer's arrows, pinning her to the ground.

"Glimmer!" He rushed over as he helped his sore friend up. "We gotta get out of here, now!" She didn't need anyone to tell her twice as she rubbed her slightly sore face.

The two weren't expecting Scorpia. The two weren't expecting Adora. The two weren't expecting Scorpia and Adora. And there was no way either of the two combined could ever expect Adora to still have her magic! The biggest worry and confusion came to them knowing the Force Captain used to draw upon the power of her headband in order to channel her dark powers. But they were much more content with being confused than dead, knowing they wouldn't be able to handle these two for very long before reinforcements came by.

It was at this time Adora finally managed to clear her eyes of the stinging dust, grumbling as she saw the duo escaping. "After them!" She shouted, running after them as fast as sher legs could carry her.

"Uhhh..." Scorpia looked between her glued appendage and the commander sprinting passed her with uncertainty, taking a brief and failing opportunity to pry her claw away from the ground. "Right... uhhh... behind you..." She assured, even though Adora probably couldn't hear a word from her given how far she ran.

As for the other two, Glimmer and Bow ran as fast as they could as Adora chased from behind. She used every ounce of her magic to pull herself atop the various structures, pulling herself over with the shadowy tentacles stretching from her arms at one spot and boosting herself off the wall of another structure and so on. This would be one of the Horde's greatest accomplishments since, well, the first time Adora captured Bow and Glimmer, if she could manage to get her hands on them.

That was provided she was merciful enough to let them live after all the trouble they caused her.

Coming across one of the last structures before the wall, the Force Captain grinned as she saw the two of them coming to a dead end as they gaped back to her in horror. Her split second of pure joy at the prospect of capturing them was just as quickly diminished as she saw the two teleporting away, just as she struck the ground with a shadowy fist. Yet, no matter how much they teleported, Adora was quick to chase after them, knowing the layout of this place would've made it impossible to teleport safely.

An assessment that Adora proved more than knowledgeable of. No sooner did they reappear did Glimmer regret teleporting as they found their way inside of the chaotic structure once again. Having a bit of a de sha vue moment, she attempted to teleport again, and, just like with Catra, each result was more annoying than the last. First with an unfamiliar passageway, then with a hallway too narrow for them to stand as their backs and head pressed against the ceiling and walls, and finally, back to the familiar hallway they once came from.

"Wait, isn't this where we started?" Bow was the first to point out.

"Ugghhhhh!" Glimmer grumbled with a newfound annoyance as she pulled at her face. "I hate this place?"

"Heh heh heh." The two were startled at the sound of the familiar cackling coming behind them. Sure enough, there stood Adora, smirking at the two with her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall. "You know, I was gonna throw you in a prison cell, but I think watching you flail around as you try to find a way out of this place would be a lot more entertaining." Without another word, Adora charged against the princess again as she manipulated the shadows along her arms, swiping at the dodging Glimmer with her claws.

Glimmer was just at a loss for how the commander had her magic as much as Bow was, but she was more preoccupied with teleporting and dodging out of the way as Adora continued to swipe at her. Unlike Scorpira, Glimmer was forced to stay on her feet, or off her feet in this case, as she kept teleporting nearly every second. The commander was much faster than Scorpia was, and had a keen sense of where she was going to reappear next, forcing Glimmer to stay on the defensive.

There was little Bow could do in this situation as the two danced around with one another, aiming his arrow as he awaited a clean shot. There wasn't a single opening he could find as the two tussled back and forth, never staying in one location for too long before hopping one foot away from where he was aiming.

After the brief dance the two partook in, Adora finally managed to get a grip on the young princess, grinning ear to ear as the shadows manifested in her other hand again. If she had any prior battling experience with the young princess, then she probably would've been more prepared for the small blinding dust of sparkles that Glimmer shot in her face, disorienting her long enough for Glimmer to break out of her grip.

"Bow!" Glimmer shouted as she ran for her friend. This battle was getting to be too much. Too much time and the reinforcements were sure to come up, and the longer it took, the more magic Glimmer would lose that was needed to escape. There was only one other option that came to her mind as she grabbed her friends hand, and that was to escape!

Never realizing that the commander chased closely behind her and grabbed onto her with her shadowy hand right at the last second.

The sudden burst of magic, combined with all the mayhem over the last few minutes, took its toll on the princess as she appeared briefly incapacitated upon teleporting. It was one of the worst times for the two to be teleporting with an incapacitated princess that could teleport them out of danger as they reappeared somewhere above the clouds from what they could see.

"Glimmer, wake up!" He quickly shook her awake as he pleaded. There was a small groan in the princess's voice as she quickly came to from the combined efforts of Bow's shrugging and the strange tugging she felt coming from her cape. Looking back, she let out a small squeak as the two saw Adora trailing behind her with a look of disbelief and confusion crossing her face.

"What the heck did you just do?!"

*Wham!*

The commander was so distraught over the sudden teleportation, and her first experience with it, that she wasn't the least bit prepared as a princess's heel collided with her face, feeling the full force of Glimmer's foot as she was kicked off the girl with all her might. The impact was enough to distance the three of them far enough as they continued their descent, eventually finding an even patch of ground that was soft enough to break their fall, and distance themselves at least ten feet away from each other.

This did little to dissuade the commander as she shook her head of the dizziness she felt, turning her attention and glaring over to the two troublemakers who started this mess. They were two of three sources of her utmost anger. They invaded a newly captured settlement of theirs, toyed around within the confines of the castle, and made a mockery of everything the Horde stood for on a daily basis.

And that was just every reason she hated them for today!

Once again gathering a bundle of shadows, Adora grumbled as she rushed over to the two downed members of the Rebellion with a pair of shadowy claws at her side.

"Look out!" Bow directed as he took immediate charge of the two of them. The moment Adora was halfway to them, Bow had a perfect shot lined up between the three of them as he fired one of his many trick arrows at her, one which burst open into a net that ensnared her upper body and knocked her off her feet a good distance to boot.

All of this happened within the two minutes that Glimmer first made contact with the blonde second-in-command. Bow earned his breath of relief as he found the two of them finally had a chance to catch their breath.

For about two seconds.

The net was sturdy for sure, but it meant nothing to the girl who had a desire to end everything Catra selfishly stood for. Concentrating with all of her might, prioritizing her need to tear these two limb from limb, Adora channeled the shadows along her arms again until they formed a serrated blade of darkness along each arm, easily cutting her way through the strong bonds, and jumped to her feet once more with a renewed vigor.

The two prepared themselves nervously as they watched the commander rush for them again. She wasn't about to let these two get away after all they did! She hated them both with a passion. They were enemies to the Horde, enemies who resisted and stood against everything they stood for! She wasn't going to let them get away after all they had done to the Horde, everything they've done to her and her friends!

She would have vengeance! She would have retribution! She would have-!

"Nggghhh!" Adora screamed through her teeth as she suddenly collapsed not three feet away from the surprised pair. Not now! Please! She begged herself as she squeezed her head.

Throughout the entire battle, from the very moment she spotted Glimmer, Adora had pushed herself, and her magic, to its limit. Not once since the start of the fearsome battle did she slow down, doing everything in her power to catch and subdue the two with her own two shadowy hands. That included expending any amount of magic she possibly could, not caring in the slightest for her own condition until it was too late.

She expended so much energy that the repercussions finally caught up to her, and the black veins trailing along her skin with it. All throughout her body, her entire being was wracked with an unfamiliar pain, one that seeped deeply into her mind as she squeezed her head against her hands as they returned to normal. All that shadow magic she had been using till now finally came back to bite her in turn, somewhat literally in this case as she felt like her skin was on fire.

The worst source of her pain was coming directly from her forehead where all the veins seemed to be drawn to. It was only now as she groveled in pain that the two managed to get a closer look at her, seeing the mysterious veins of darkness that stretched along the sides of her face. By now, both her cheeks had a small trail of black veins along the edges, ones that eventually slowed in the growing process.

Neither of the two could understand what was going on with her, though they weren't ones to argue with Adora's sudden collapse. With her magic catching them by surprise, there was no telling how much damage she could do to them, or how long they could withstand her onslaught if they couldn't teleport away in time.

Fortune seemed to be smiling on the two as they stared at the groveling captain, knowing she was in no position to be fighting back for the foreseeable future.

Bow felt nothing short of awkward as he scratched his cheek. "Umm... I think we won?"

...

*twitch-twitch*

"Hm hm hmhmmm~"

*twitch-twitch*

"Hm hm hmhmmm~"

*twitch-twitch*

"Catra and Swift Wind on an adventure! Fixing the thing that Mara broke when she went nuts~"

Dear First Ones, or any higher source of power. Catra was begging you. Please put her out of her miserable existence before she finally snapped.

She remembers the day when she first met Glimmer and Bow and entered the town of Thaymor. There, she met a young four-year-old deer-like girl named Kim. She was a rather silly child, looking back on her now, and one that was filled with a sense of adventure and having fun. She was also one of the first people Catra got along with upon leaving the Horde behind, and one of the first people she almost made friends with for the first time.

When she met her, she had an annoying habit of dragging her throughout the entire town to do the various activities that were present throughout the town during its festival. Catra thought that getting dragged along by a small four-year-old, doing whatever she could to keep her from crying and causing a scene while she was incognito, was the most miserable three-hour experience of her life. It was boring to her, with only a few things intriguing her curiosity, and she was dragged everywhere against her will. Truly, it was one of the worst three hours of her life.

Catra officially took all of those claims back now.

This long three hours was nothing like the events of that day. That day had its fill of charm and wonder to the young magicat, and plenty of interesting new foods to try, so she could admit it had a small amount of entertaining things to go along with it. This day had nothing of the sort. These last three straight hours were filled with traveling on the back of a winged horse until they reached their destination, and an annoying horse who sung out of tune as he kept trying to add new lyrics to a song he never finished.

Every hum was followed by Catra twitching her brow in frustration. Every new line he came up with came with the magicat doing everything she could to keep her claws to herself. Every time he flew by, she focused all of her movement on her tail which was wagging aggressively as she tried to control her emotions, and her own two feet that continued through the field of grass as she attempted to find the stupid thing Mara broke so they could be done with it.

And she was failing.

"SWIFT WIND!" She finally yelped, doing what she could to collect her emotions before she continued. "Could you not do that for, like, ten minutes?" She almost sounded like she was begging as she continued forward, her brow still twitching with frustration.

"Just keeping us entertained while we look for this Watchtower." He replied cheerfully as he followed alongside her like the proud steed that he was. "Any sign of it yet?"

"There's nothing here but tall dried grass. Maybe Light Hope got the location wrong. I mean, she was bugging out when we left her." Catra felt the dry bristles of the grass around her as she looked around.

Like many places of Etheria, this place was nothing short of strange. All around her she was surrounded by a field of tall dry grass that brushed gently against the breeze of the day's wind. Small puffs of pollen-like substances floated around her as they floated into the air, some spreading through the sky, and others coming into contact with the surrounding lands around them. That was the normal part of this place.

The unnatural piece of this scenery were the floating landmasses that surrounded their location. All around the sky, in various sizes, were pieces of land that seemed partially drawn to this place, Whether through some force of magnetism or a miracle of magic, the floating chunks of land never seemed to distance themselves from this place, as if they wanted to be made whole again.

Whatever this place was, it had the same feeling of strangeness as the rest of Etheria did, yet had something more... different, to it, unlike the others.

"No, I don't think she did." Swift Wind responded casually as he took in the scenery, closing his eyes briefly. "I definitely sense something here, something ancient and magical."

"Where?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps if we combine our efforts, my intuitive powers might increase." Did he have to say everything with a sense of pride, or was it just in Catra's head? Even the way he spoke, raising his wings a little with a sense of triumph, felt a little awkward to her as she glanced away.

"...Or... Maybe we could just split up or something?" She suggested turning around. "We could cover more ground if we went our separate ways from here."

"I could be wrong, but I'm sensing something's bothering you." If not for the spiritual connection he shared with Catra, the way she was phrasing her words sounded off to him.

"Nothing's bothering me!" She spat with a small irk. "I just wanna find this dumb tower so we can get back to training. You wanna help? Try and find it." She ordered turning around again.

"...Noooo, you're definitely troubled about something else. As your magnificent steed, I am attuned to your emotions."

"Ok. Rule number one: stay out of my head."

"I'm not in your head." He muttered, pressing his forehead against hers as he peered into the depths of her soul, or eyes in this case. "You might be able to hide your feelings from the others, but it doesn't work on me... Is it about me? It's about me, isn't it?"

"What? No!" She insisted, pushing him away and walking ahead. "I'm fine. Let's just go."

"Hmm," the magnificent stallion refused to back down from a challenge as he rubbed his chin with his wing, "is it about Bow? Glimmer? Adora? The Horde?" All the various people he came up with was presented in his own mind as a horse version of themselves, the best way he could identify them.

"No, it's none of that-"

"Is it the weight of the responsibilities you've been given as the new savior of Etheria? Soul crushing regret at all your past mistakes?" Never has Catra ever wished for someone to come with an off button as she did now with the horse that followed her. "The insanity being caused at the unknown of whether or not you can live up to your new task to restore balance to the rest of Etheria or risk bringing eternal ruin and discord to everybody around you-"

"STOP!" She finally snapped, almost looking desperate with the look she shot him. "Just. Stop. Talking! I'm fine, I swear! Just let me think for one second, geez!" She furled her brow as she moved on, scratching her head at the utter annoyance in the shape of a one-horned, winged, horse. For the first time ever in her life, she almost wished someone else was there to annoy her instead of the talking mammal that could get inside her head!

"...Okay!" And one that annoyed her with its always-optimistically-proud attitude when it spoke. "Well, I'm gonna go do a few loop-de-loops! Whoo!" With that, the horse cheered as he soared through the sky.

Why did she have to be burdened with a talking horse of all things? A talking horse that could fly and get into her head, at that. She would much rather deal with a horse that whines constantly as long as she couldn't understand the annoying garble coming out of its mouth if it meant staying out of her head. Add the fact he could fly to wherever he wanted, and there was very little she could do to escape him.

Why was he always so cheerful anyway? Just looking at him doing the loops in the air was enough to irritate her. He was a horse that could fly. Ok. She could see that as something to be cheery about. He was also a horse that was destined to fight alongside the Rebellion for the rest of their lives, provided he lived that long. That was something he couldn't be cheerful about. Maybe he actually found it entertaining to get under Catra's skin like that? To always be inside her head and-

Catra blinked as she noticed something while watching him. More specifically, something that caught her eye as she looked passed him. The floating landmasses surrounding the place, the things that gave this place a very strange sense of mysteriousness. Each and every one of them had a strange set of glowing lines, almost like runes, placed along the flats of their base. Noticing the other lines that floated around the place with different designs, it finally came to Catra as to why this place felt so unnatural, and why they couldn't find the mysterious tower.

"Hey, Swift Wind?" She called out as the horse continued to loop around.

"Yes, Catra?"

"I think I found the Watchtower."

...

"Mmmh..." Adora winced a little as she slowly came to. Her entire body felt sore and stiff, but miraculously she was still alive. The last thing she could remember was using her powers for... something... and then a severe pain shooting through her body, and then... and then... "Huh?" That's when she noticed she couldn't move her arms.

Looking around, her eyes widened a little at the sight of the thick vines binding her. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her sides as she sat upon a large rock. Struggling a little against the vines, she failed to find any sort of slack in their binding, noticing the expert tying displayed to keep her in place. It was just a few seconds later that she realized she wasn't alone as she felt two thin shadows looming over her, lifting her weary head to see Glimmer glaring at her, and Bow watching her movements closely. "Ok. No." She grumbled, trying to pry her arms loose.

"Well look who's awake." The princess of Bright Moon said, almost tauntingly as if she intended to stroke Adora's anger.

Now she remembered everything else. She was fighting with the two biggest annoyances of her life given human form, ones that went by the name of Glimmer and Bow. Immediately, the Force Captain gritted her teeth as anger welled up within her, as well as a sense of personal pride.

"Do you really think these stupid vines can hold me?" She smirked. All she needed to do was draw a little bit of her power to form and a blade and then-! "Aggh!" She yelped, immediately losing her focus as her body practically quaked. She wasn't used to this sensation before, not to a pain that came when she tried to channel her powers. Then again, she never really tried drawing out her powers without recharging for so long either.

"Not so easy to use your powers without recharging for so long, is it?" Now Glimmer was officially taunting her as she leaned in. She recognized that strained look of pain all too well, having several experiences in the past when she tried to push beyond her limits, only to succumb to a deep pain where she couldn't use her powers anymore.

It was at that time Adora took in more of her surroundings, and the situation at hand. Currently, she was in the middle of nowhere with no idea where the princess teleported them to, currently being held captive by dumber and dimmer, and, aggravatingly enough, she was without her magic. If she had even a fraction of her powers on hand, she could propel herself up high into the air enough to get a view of her surroundings. Then again, if she had that much, she could've cut her way out with even a sliver of her shadow and break through her bonds.

"...Huff..." She really didn't want to do this. Despite every bone in her body shouting at her to stop, or maybe it was her subconscious again, she didn't see any other option. "Ok. This is how we'll do this. You untie me. We go our separate ways. And we'll try to destroy each other some other time. Got it?"

"Do you think you're in any position for demands?" Glimmer grumbled, leaning closer to the girl's face.

"Listen you-! Ngggh!" Darn it! This stupid headache! Every headache brought another wave of a burning sensation throughout her entire body. It's like her mind was telling her if her mind was going to suffer, it was going to make the rest of Adora suffer.

"Hey, ease up on her." Bow pulled back Glimmer as he saw the pain spreading through Adora's expression.

"Ease up on her?! This is easing up on her, Bow!" Glimmer argued as she gestured to the commander. "She let the Horde Torture us Bow! She tortured me!" Did he truly forget everything the Horde did to them? Did he forget every single detail she mentioned when Glimmer recounted her own torture?

"Uh, yeah, because she's a bad guy! We're supposed to be the good guys!"

"That's an opinion, not a fact!"

"Stay out of this, Adora!" Glimmer yelled back briefly.

Exp... em...

There was the silent voice speaking in Adora's mind. Thank goodness Adora still had that around because on top of being filled with a severe pain shooting throughout her body, the LAST thing she'd want to be is without a creepy voice echoing through her mind in whispers that only she could hear. Truthfully, she'd be more than happy to listen to anyone else's voice than theirs, but the least it could do is say it more clearly.

"Listen. We didn't want for this to happen, but it did," Glimmer continued, "and now we should use it to our advantage."

"Tch, typical princess tactic." She scoffed. If she was going to be their hostage or prisoner, there was no way she was going to make it pleasant for them! "Use whatever means you have to achieve victory. No matter the cost or who gets injured. Heh, and you call us evil."

"Shut it. We're taking you to Bright Moon. Your people want you back, then they'll have to give us Entrapta in exchange!"

"...Who?" She nearly jumped as Glimmer pulled her closer by the collar of her uniform. In truth, there was a partial lightheadedness she was feeling in the midst of her overexerted state. Anything requiring the simplest form of thought felt blurry to her.

"We know you have her! Where is she? What are you doing with her?"

It took her a few seconds to realize what she was referring to. "Ooooh, riiiight, Entrapta. The Princess you left behind like a piece of trash after she finished saving your sorry excuse for a butt!"

"Grrrrr!"

*thud*

"Oww!" Ugh, even being dropped in her weakened state felt like she was being slammed upon a pile of bricks.

"Glimmer!" Bow groaned as he helped Adora up, brushing a few bangs of her hair out of her face. It was as he brushed the hair from her face that he felt something along her forehead. "Whoa... Glimmer, she's burning up."

"She's probably faking it. Knowing her, she's just trying to trick us."

"Oh yeah?" Adora challenged as her brows narrowed and her face flushed a little. "Why don't all three of you say that to me... as soon as you stop moving..."

"Glimmer..."

"Mmmh..." She hated to feel any speck of sympathy for the girl that literally tortured her over a month ago. Yet, she couldn't deny the small feeling of pity as she saw the black veins along the sides of Adora's face and the small streak of red across her face. It didn't help that the girl continued to glare back at her as she examined the dreary look on her face, but then again, she didn't feel like Adora was worth much sympathy in the first place. At least not a lot. "We can get her treated at Bright Moon once we teleport there."

"Uhhh... hold that thought." Bow muttered as he quickly sat Adora back atop of the rock. The girl's fever wasn't enough to make her delirious, though it was enough to keep her from caring entirely. "Shouldn't you wait until we get closer to teleport us? You don't want to run out of power and get us stuck out here. Especially with... her..." He hinted as he pointed back to the girl who was currently squinting at the sky.

"...Why does the sun hurt my eyes?"

"Ugh, fine! We'll wait until we're closer, then teleport." She stated, marching back to the girl in delirium. "All right, on your feet."

"Umm... No." She replied, quickly falling on her back against the rock.

"Geh! Would you quit goofing around!" She really hoped she didn't have to literally drag the girl around as she pulled her up by the shoulder again.

"Ow! Stop it!" Did it really hurt her as much as she was saying it did? She had to admit there was a sense of unease in practically every piece of her movement.

"Glimmer!" Likewise, Bow hoped he didn't have to break up the fight between the two as he distanced them a good two feet apart.

"Oh come on, I barely touched her that time!"

"Yeah, but she's already in pain! Just be a little easier with her."

"Ghhhhhhh! Do it for Entrapta... Do it for Entrapta..." Glimmer mumbled to herself as she walked away down the path. She was willing to do anything she could at this moment to save Entrapta, and if that meant putting up with a mad psycho manipulator of shadows turned into a whiny brat, then so be it. She just wished Bow would be more understanding of the same pain she put her through when no one helped her.

Adora tortured her. Not with words, not with gestures, physically. She subjected Glimmer to the mots painful of electroshocks that any one person could ever go through, she still had nightmares when she remembered it seconds before falling asleep! Whatever person Adora was that Catra knew her as never existed, because as far as Glimmer was concerned, Adora was nothing short of a monster.

"Sorry about her, she's just a little... um..."

"Annoying?" Adora scoffed, blowing up a puff of her dangling hair.

"What? No, I was gonna... well... she's just not one to forget peoples' actions. Can't really say I blame her given what she went through."

"Whatever. If you're gonna get rid of me, just hurry up and do it. This headache's bad enough, the last thing I need is a lecture before I die."

"Nobody's going to die." Bow assured as he gently pulled her along the path. "And nobody's going to get tortured. I detest that sort of thing."

Adora blinked. "You... You do?"

"Well, yeah. It's barbaric. It's not like you're guaranteed to get the information you'd want out of someone anyway, it's pointless."

"Bow?" Glimmer called out from ahead, bringing them all to a halt. With a nervous chuckle, Bow ran up ahead to see what she had to say, all while Adora thought about something.

It was the very words Shadow Weaver told her when she last saw her. As the whispers in the back of her mind started to become more clearer, she realized this is exactly what she was talking about.

Adora tried to be direct with them, and they ignored her. She offered them a reasonable deal with letting her go and having the three of them go their separate ways, and they denied her. She tried to resist them with all that her currently feeble might could, and they were having none of it.

So why should she play by the same rules right now? If they ended up taking her all the way to Bright Moon, she knew that would be the end of it. She would likely be tortured, if not executed by Glimmer's mother personally, she would let down all those who looked up to her in the Fright Zone, and she would never see the light of day again, and that's if she was lucky! And don't even get her started on seeing Catra's smug look for the rest of her life. She'd almost take execution with a smile if she didn't have to hear her tauntings for as long as she lived.

She needed a way out. She wasn't in any shape to run, any stance to argue, and she had little to no magic left that she could draw upon, not without further harming herself. If she wanted to survive this ordeal, she was going to have to rely on her quick wits, and the opportunity that presented itself before her.

She noticed it through small talks here and there between the two. They were not perfect together. They disagreed here and there. From her perspective, they seemed entirely different. Bow seemed like someone who had a decent sense of justice, whereas Glimmer was the sort of cretin that she grew up hearing about, a princess that only cared for the suffering they could inflict on others, and use for their own personal goals.

This once great moment of travesty might've been a genuine blessing in disguise. If Adora played her cards right, not only would she manage to get away from this moment of peril, but she might be able to bring back a powerful ally with her. All she had to do was play the two against each other, and show Bow what Glimmer was really like.

And to do that, all she had to do was to listen for the very first time what the voices were telling her to do.

Exploit them...

...

A/N: Hooftah! ANother fun-filled chapter ^^ Had quite a bit of fun between the dialogue and the action scenes to go with it ^^ Outta curiosity, is the writing still good folks? I feel like its a little off here and there. Then again, its been 2 months, and I've been going through some health problems im seeing the doctor for tomorrow (nothing major- i think), so who knows XP

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 64: Personal Status Update

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey-o! Hello to everyone and hope you are on your way to having a very merry christmas! Sadly there is no chapter today, for the same reason I'm about to explain why I haven't posted anything as of late.

To put it bluntly... I've been depressed. Like, clinically depressed. Like the "I don't want to live anymore" variety, and its been hectic getting over as of late X/ It started mid September and I'm still experimenting with new prescriptions throughout the last several months. I've had some improvement (the fact I'm writing this right now is proof of that), but not a whole lot. I am at least getting a little better each day though.

I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused anyone- if my reviews are anything to go by, I know you guys love this fic and I'm sorry i've yet to post anything. I even had a christmas special i intended to do which I never got to because, again, the depression. Its sucked out my interest in just about everything, she-ra included. That's not to say I dont like doing she-ra stuff anymore, that's just the depression making me uninterested in it. But like I said above, I am slowly getting better, and I should be able to pick it back up again.

I know its annoying coming here and wondering where the heck I've been and even more annoying to find out there isn't a chapter here, and for that I apologize. I'm actually out of a job now i just quit yesterday because I couldn't afford anymore medical days off work (its been 3 months so I can't complain). I have been looking into possibly starting a account though, I wonder if anyone would be willing to support me even the slightest amount. I would of course provide benefits for people naturally ^^ Maybe some early readings or peeks of the fic, or even commissions here and there.

Again, I apologize for the lack of work and posting. Until this depression is passed it'll probably be awhile before I post anything, but it doesn't mean i'll give up. Thank you dearly to everyone whose supported my work up to this point, your feedback and reviews are the thing keeping me going at this point X) Its with your encouragement I manage to find a little brightness in my days as of late.

So with that, again, apologies for no chapter here or since the last one, but hopefully it'll come to something some time next month. Here's monokub wishing everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new years, I hope your holidays are a blast!

Chapter 65: S2 Episode 2: The Ties That Bind Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: No folks, you are not hallucinating cause that would mean you took something and then I took it at the exact same time... Huh... anyway, I'd like to present to you all a grandiose update (granted I do wish it was longer but this means there'll be another 2 parts to this episode ^^) to the legendary series of Cat-Ra!

I'd like to start out by thanking everyone for their positivity and support about my depression as of late and the lack of updates. Everyone has thanks from the bottom of my heart over all of this for their patience and understanding. Thanks to everyone who replied and even sent me messages and whatnot about it, it was really touching ^^.

Secondly, I've watched season 3! Gahhh I know I said i'd wait till I finish my current fanfic's season but I couldn't help it XP and HOLY MOLEY was there a lot of stuff going on! From shocks to feels to shock'n'feels all around! Holllllly balls, was it both awe-inspiring and tragic all at the same time X*( Gahhh so many feels! and thanks to it, and the constant checkup from some of my fans, my mojo has returned once more!

Now i'd like to remind you guys, it's been months since I started writing again, and honestly, the first half of this fic was done several months ago before I went on my depression hiatus, as such, you might notice a drop in quality of work, which I do apologize for X/ Its been months since I last wrote and I hope it's still as good as many of you remember. And despite seeing season 3, I am NOT watching season 4 till I finish season 3 of this fic (or at least close enough to it where I can start watching some episodes since the entirety of season 4 is a legitimate 13 episodes again -Yay ^_^! -

Once again, I thank everyone for all their time and patience. My quality might be wonky for a little bit, but I'll be doing what I can to return to my previous line of work.

Now with that said, onto the show!

...

Catra and Swift Wind gazed at their surroundings as she flew atop Swift Wind's back. This day just went from being fun to interesting, curious, confusing, questionable, debatable, and then finally irritable, all within the matter of a couple of hours. Then again, she didn't think she'd go from showing off her heightened powers to flying on the back of a winged-unicorn that she transformed out of a horse when her adventures truly began.

For the last several hours, Catra had been searching for a lost remnant of the First Ones known as The Watchtower, a structure that once connected the whole of Etheria on technical level, allowing the marvels of the First Ones technology to connect with one another and empower their devices. It was here that Catra found herself trying to search for the tower after noticing Light Hope had been malfunctioning throughout the day, and was more than insistent on helping her if it meant she got to spend more time training and using her evolving powers.

There was only one catch, though, that she hadn't accounted for, and one that was making things... less than joyful on her adventures. Specifically, a magical flying talking horse by the name of Swift Wind that could connect to Catra on an emotional level.

Throughout the entire trek through Etheria to find the mysterious place, Swift Wind had become a handful to deal with in and of himself. He wasn't exactly doing anything that could hinder or slow down their progress or anything, but it almost made Catra wish he did if it meant getting him to stay quiet for more than two minutes!

Everything he did from exploring the wonders of Etheria to just flying around for the fun of it had been annoying. She had to put up with with three straight hours of him singing and humming to himself on the way here, having an always optimistic attitude that borderlined the disturbing to her, and never knew the meaning of the word taking a break to catch his breath, instead replacing it with just more talking.

Those are the parts she could put up with.

What she couldn't put up with was all the mind or emotional reading he could gather by attuning himself to Catra's emotions. He knew what she was feeling at all times, what was troubling her or disturbing her at all times. Based on her recent experience from the horse reaching her mind, she could tell there was nothing she could keep hidden from him no matter how hard she tried like all the others.

Why on Etheria did someone have to give him that kind of power? Why couldn't it be a simpler power like the ability to talk and that's it? Better yet, why not just a horse that could transform like she could and that'd be it? They could call it a day with their non-talking horse that could fly, and she'd be completely accepting of that! But noooo, instead someone just had to give a horse the ability to talk and just HAD to give it the ability to connect with her personal emotions at all times, the last thing she wanted anyone to pry into!

At least, for all his annoyingly foolish optimism, it made him helpful. With every intent on supporting Catra in her endeavors, he prided himself in helping her in every way he could, listening and obeying almost everything she ordered him to without hesitation, like when she ordered him to stop talking. Come to think of it, it was thanks to his unwavering loyalty that she found the Watchtower in the first place. More specifically, she found the pieces to it.

All around them were the scattered remains of the Watchtower, their ancient runes still glowing with a bright blue along the shattered remains that were once whole. Normally such a thing would've been normal around a deserted ruins, ones that crumbled with age or one that was destroyed by the ravenous power of a past She-Ra known as Mara. Around here, like everything else that had to prove bizarre or problematic, they had to be floating in the air around them, some of them several feet off the ground, and dozens by others.

"Wow. Mara really did a number on this place, huh?" Swift Wind commented as he fluttered through the air.

"Y-Yeah... I guess she did..." The magicat muttered back as she looked around.

"Is everything alright?" He asked with the turn of his head.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." She hoped her lie was convincing enough to push him away from prying further as she drew her sword. "Let's get this place up and running so we can get back to training. For the Honor of Grayskull!"

It was with a blinding flash that light engulfed Swift Wind's master and friend, watching with pride as the magicat transformed into the infamous form that she was chosen to be. With the miraculous flash, in mere seconds, the majestic horse was greeted by the newly transformed She-Ra, one that still held the magnificent flowing red cape that was she was prized with upon her previous adventure. The cat girl did a quick check of her person to ensure she still had it, filled with joy over her reward, and hoping it would continue to follow her as she grew stronger.

With her sword in hand, the two flew towards the center of the floating structures, one that had the most intricate of designs and details compared to the rest of the scattered remains. With a single thrust, Catra raised the tip of the sword directly into the mystical rune, hoping to awaken the Watchtower's power at long last and return to the training that she was beginning to enjoy. And all it required would be a single connection between the Sword of Protection and the tower that connected all of Etheria.

*tap*

At least, that's what she assumed. It wasn't until five seconds of nothingness had passed that she lowered her sword again, frowning a bit as her ears lowered as well. There wasn't any glow to the rune, any sort of noise indicating that something was working, there wasn't anything at all. All there was was a warrior flying on the back of a majestic flying horse, waiting for something that never happened.

"...She-Ra and Swift Wind, Forging a sacred bond~" And the horse's quiet singing almost made Catra wish it stayed that way. "Fixing the magic tower, With a magical sword~"

...

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

"Are we there yet?"

"NO!" It amused Hordak's second-in-command as she saw Glimmer scratching at her head in frustration as Adora continued to purposely annoy her, watching with glee as the Princess of Bright Moon walked further away from the two by a dozen yards. Normally trying to fill the enemy with a sense of irritation like a small child would've been against Adora's philosophy, but after the day she's been having she needed anything possible to brighten her mood.

This was, by far, one of the worst days of her life and her career. It all started with a pretty normal mission that morning with the commander being ordered by Hordak to acquire the resources and land of Entrapta's Kingdom, seeing how the technological princess was now on their side. With the kingdom under the banner of the Horde, the inhabitants of the valley were all too quick to surrender, those who didn't join the Unity of the Horde being quick to evacuate and escape. And Adora was just fine with that.

She wasn't fine with what ensued shortly after a quick exploration of the castle and setting up a base camp within the castle's courtyard. No sooner did the soldiers finish setting up a base camp and establish a perimeter did the captain find herself under attack by two of the most hated people in the world, to her at least, Glimmer and Bow.

The two discovered that Entrapta was still alive after Bow dismantled and examined what remained of their fight against Orbko, and she was the furthest thing from well from their point of view. To them, she was taken prisoner, working under the Horde's cruelty after they left her in the Fright Zone when they presumed her to be dead. They must've tortured the information out of her, forced her to work under the cruelest of conditions, and did who knows what to her during her imprisonment! All of this and and then some while being completely unaware of her alliance to the Horde.

The fight that followed upon their meeting was one of complete chaos and confusion as the commander and Scorpia fought off the archer and princess, forcing the two to retreat as Adora gave chase. They were unprepared for the commander's grasp of magic, never seeing it before without the headband that she had always donned beforehand. With the commander's ferocious display of shadow magic, the two attempted to flee, using Glimmer's teleportation magic several times until they were safely outside of the castle's walls, never realizing they had dragged the commander who was shortly behind them.

Thankfully, fortune appeared to smile on them at that moment as the two prepared to defend themselves further from the commander's attack. Still burning with a fury of hatred from these two, the commander found herself collapsing no more than five feet later as she prepared to lunge for them, never realizing how much of her magic she had expunged until it was too late. Now she was dealing with the after effects of her magic being mostly drained, dealing with a fever that made her slightly delirious as the dark veins stretched along her body, and the worst part of all, now being held captive by dumb and dumber.

She was their hostage and their prisoner as of now. With little magic in her veins, with a princess that could teleport and an archer with an eye for accuracy, she had no means of escape. She needed to think of a plan before these two brought her to Bright Moon, somewhere she was sure to meet her end if she was lucky enough. Worst case scenario, she was a forced bargaining chip and the Horde would be forced to deliver whatever expenditures they requested for Adora's safe return.

And considering she personally tortured Glimmer over a month ago, odds were that a safe return would be the last thing on her or the Queen's mind.

She needed to think of a plan, something to get them to let her go or to get away from them. Unfortunately, with the headache-mixed fever going through her head right now, and the severe lack of magic at her disposal, her options were limited. She either needed to hope for a speedy recovery on her own, one she wasn't used to in this state, or find a way to convince them to let her go, and that required an underhanded tactic she wasn't used to or tried before; as the voices whispering in her head suggested, she needed to Exploit Them.

"Haha, wow." She looked to her right as she heard Bow chuckling next to her. "You and Catra really are alike."

"Excuse me?!" She seethed with a burning anger, or maybe that was the fever, as she glared at the remark.

"I-I don't mean it in a bad way or anything." He emphasized waving his hands calmingly. "It's just... She did the exact same thing when we first met her. She got a kick out of picking on Glimmer when we traveled to Thaymor for the first time." The commander made her point to not be in the mood as she scowled, looking directly ahead of them as they continued to walk. "I take it I hit the wrong nerve, didn't I?"

"I don't want to talk about Catra." She stated coldly. "I don't get why you two insist on having her around, either. She's just going to betray you eventually."

"Betray us? Who? Catra?"

"Who else would I be referring to? Yes, Catra!"

Bow scratched the back of his head with an uneasy smile. "Look, Adora, I don't know what happened between the two of you, but she's not as bad as you think. She's been a real good friend to to us, and she's been helpful since she joined the Rebellion. I don't get what you have against her."

"So she doesn't do anything to annoy, pester, irritate, or anger you at times?" She wondered knowingly.

"Well, she can be a handful occasionally, but it's not like I blame her or anything." He replied. "Knowing where she grew up, it just makes sense that her life would've been hard to get through."

"So you just think anyone from the Fright Zone is born to be bad or stubborn. Is that what you're telling me?" She asked him forcefully as she stopped walking.

"What? No! I don't mean it like that. It's just... she has this whole "tough guy" exterior, but we've seen her kinder side too at times." He explained, waiting at her side as a precaution. "Yeah, she occasionally mocks us here, and I can't even begin to tell you the number of pranks she's pulled since joining the Rebellion, but we've seen the side of her that cares for other people, no matter how much-"

"She tries to hide it." Adora cut off. "She shows a sense of kindness when she's around people she doesn't mind showing it to, and pays someone back when they help her first."

"Exactly!" It was thrilling to see Adora finally come around to the realization! At least, it was until she scowled again.

"That's what growing up with her was like throughout all my life. She acted like a good friend, did whatever she could to get on my good side, and used me whenever it was convenient for her. She used me, just like she's using you. And when this little war is over, or when you really need her most, she's going to turn her back on you, like you never existed." She scoffed, walking on ahead again. "Or mattered."

"What? That's crazy." He continued to argue as he continued on behind her. There was no way they were talking about the same Catra right? Sure, she could be pushy, but the way she made her out to be was almost terrifying. Then again, given the vendetta she appeared to have against her, most of it must've been personal. "Catra would never turn her back on us. Not after all the time we spent together!"

"...Tch... Pffft...Hahahaha!" Oh gosh, she's never found a joke so funny before! "Oh man, you're really serious, aren't you? Tell me something Arrow-"

"It's Bow."

"Don't care. I've known Catra ever since we were little, and spent over a decade being raised alongside her. So if she can turn her back on that without a second thought, then what makes you think she won't turn her back on a pair of nothings that she just met a few months ago?"

"Because-"

"And don't give me some lie like "she's our friend" or something, cause that obviously didn't keep her from leaving the Horde."

"W-Well..." Bow had to think of something that couldn't be countered so easily. Luckily, one such scenario came to mind. "Her kingdom!" Adora blinked in confusion at the proclamation. "For helping the Rebellion win the war, we would give her a kingdom! It was the only demand she had in exchange for helping us."

Adora silence said many things to him, but none of them were satisfying, complacent, or agreeable with what he just said. "Really? That's it?" The blond commander shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "You don't think when the Horde wins, we wouldn't be able to provide the same? And what makes you think that makes her trustworthy? That just proves how selfish she is!" Adora wondered if the words selfish, greedy, horrible, and the like had the same meaning in the Rebellion as they did in the Horde.

Agreeing to help some side for a selfish desire like a kingdom to call her own? Turning her back on the people who raised her, grew up with her, all for a desire that would be near impossible to achieve by one's self? How could they possibly see her as someone worth understanding, someone that deserved the trust of friendship that they gave her?! It almost sickened Adora to think she once had the same feelings of trust and friendship for the supposed friend that turned her back on her.

At the same time, Bow was partially lost for words. He had to admit, despite not agreeing with what she was saying, he could understand what she was getting at. Catra had her selfish compulsions throughout their journey together, placing her desires at times over the mission like at Plumeria. If he had just met Catra one day ago and this was the next person to inform him about what she was really like, he might've believed her.

But he also knew what kind of person Catra was on the inside. She had her cold moments, and had plenty of warm moments too. She risked her life to save him and Glimmer from the Fright Zone, stood her ground and won at the Battle of Bright Moon when she had the chance to run, and no matter how hard it was for her, came to confess a secret she thought would be troublesome to reveal. No matter which way he looked at it, Catra wasn't the type to turn her back on the Rebellion.

So how could Adora see her in such a way?

"Bow?" The two turned their attention to the princess up ahead as she called him over.

"Uhhh wait here." He said in a slightly-ordering way. He was sure in her current condition, combined with Glimmer's ability to teleport and his trick arrows, that she was in no position to run away from them, especially if there was just a twenty foot head start. Adora appeared to have the same track of mind as she grumbled a bit, leaning back against the cliff's walls as she stared out into the vast wilderness below them. "What's up?"

"Bow, I don't think you should talk to her that much until we get to Bright Moon." Glimmer warned as her uneasy gaze never fell from Adora.

"What? Why not? We're just talking, it's not like I'm going to reveal any secrets or things about the Rebellion." He insisted with an assuring smile,

"Yeah and I trust you. It's her I don't trust, Bow. She's from the Horde, there's no telling what she could be up to right now."

"I know, and I'm playing it safe. And... I was... thinking... And, just hear me out before you say anything-"

"I can already tell I'm not going to like this." She mumbled knowingly.

"What if she... you know... What if we got her to join the Rebelli-"

"Absolutely not!" There was such a fire in her eyes at the idea that Bow would even suggest such a thing!

"No, no, no, I get it, it sounds bad, but hear me out. If she joined the Rebellion, it could help us out in a number of ways."

"Like smothering us in our sleep?!"

"Like making amends with Catra, for starters. We both know Catra can't regain her full power because something's bothering her, right?" He said as he lowered his voice away from prying ears and Force Captains. "If those two could make up, Catra might be able to regain most of, if not all, her powers. It could help us turn the tide of the war, and that's just with She-Ra! She could provide who knows how much useful information of the Horde that we've never even seen before."

"It's still out of the question, Bow!" It was taking all of Glimmer's calmness to keep herself from exploding with anger. The very idea that Bow would even suggest recruiting someone from the Horde, ADORA of all people, was just baffling! "Just look at her! The minute we let down our guard, she's going to betray us at a moment's notice! On top of that, I've seen how cruel she can be in person. There's no way someone like her would ever help the Rebellion."

"Yeah but..." The longer the conversation was dragging on, the more unsettling it became, and the harder it was to look Glimmer directly in the eye.

"But what?"

"...Wasn't Catra like that when we first met her?" The princess was taken back by the sudden retort, at a loss for words for a number of reasons. "We thought she was nothing more than a no-good Horde soldier too, and look where she is today! She's one of the greatest warriors the Rebellion ever had, and has been helping us out since we met her. What makes Adora so different?"

"Hmm let's see, there was trying to blow up the gate of Salineas," she snidely went off with her fingers in a sarcastic tone, " tricking Catra into blowing the whole Princess Prom, waging war on Bright Moon itself, and, oh yeah, my favorite part, THE TIME SHE TORTURED ME!"

It was understandable and difficult for Bow to grasp where Glimmer was coming from. There would be no way he could make Glimmer forgive or forget what Adora did to her during their time in the Fright Zone. She was tortured, they both were, but anything Bow went through must've been pretty lenient compared to whatever happened to Glimmer, seeing how they were separated throughout the duration of their imprisonment.

If he was in her exact shoes, he would be agreeing with her tenfold. In fact, he already agreed with her tenfold as it was! Nobody should be forgiven for torturing someone, and there was going to be a time where Adora would have to face the consequences of what she did.

Yet despite knowing all of this, the archer still just couldn't back down. "I'm not saying we unshackle the cuffs and let her roam free the minute we get to Bright Moon, Glimmer," even though she wasn't wearing anything than makeshift bindings around her wrist, "and I'm not saying I trust her completely either. Not yet. But if we have a chance to turn everything around and win the war finally, shouldn't we take it?"

Now it was Glimmer's turn to be at a certain loss on how to proceed. She knew what he was getting at, and what it appeared when she looked at herself. She was letting her own petty anger and resentment for the commander get in the way of something more important, a chance of winning this war after long last. After everyone they've lost in these dark times, all the sacrifices they had to make, it would be reasonable to take the chance, a part of Glimmer almost wanted to.

But this was Adora they were talking about, not just a Horde soldier. She was vile, malicious, and did everything with a bright smile that made her unsettling to the pink-haired sparkler. There just wasn't anything about her that seemed trusting to Glimmer, not even taking the black veins around Adora's face into question.

At the same time, the commander had her back turned to the two as she leaned against the cliff's walls in silent contemplation. She had several things going through her mind right now.

Lying was never part of her style, thus she lacked the common practice she knew someone like Catra was an expert in. Any attempts she made with a sly of the tongue was sure to meet with disappointment, and a lack of trust in any further opportunities to work the situation in her favor. She needed something more concrete, something to push the two away possibly further.

With that in mind, taking a quick glance at the two as they conversed, Adora tried to focus. As painful as it may be, just because she was running a mild fever and a headache in her current situation, it didn't mean she was actually out of magic. She just couldn't push herself too hard or she risked losing all of her control in an instant. There wouldn't be anyone to help her if her shadows suddenly became sentient again, or at least close enough to defend Adora against any and all possible threats real or otherwise.

Raising a finger to her face, she grinned a little. While it proved to cause a slight irritation in her thoughts, she was successfully conjuring a small mold of shadows around her finger into the shape of a claw. It wouldn't be enough to get away from these two, she knew, and she also knew she couldn't pull off any sort of big feats of wonder in her current condition. She was going to need to find a means to drive the two further apart, exploiting them in her own favor. With one last look at the edge of the cliffs they were on, she grinned.

And she turned her head enough to make sure the princess had a good view of the look on her face.

"Mmmmhhhh!" There was little time for Bow to ask what his friend was grumbling about before Glimmer teleported. In the blink of an eye, she moved from Bow's location, all the way over to the girl in custody, grabbing her by the collar of the jacket as she pushed her against the rickety wall.

"Ow! What's your problem?" She hissed with a teethed glare.

"Glimmer!" Almost every interaction the princess had with the commander resulted in a scuffle that Bow had to diffuse between the two.

"My problem is you and whatever you're telling him!" Glimmer stated. "I know you're up to something, and I'm not going to let my guard down around you."

"Meh meh meme meh!" The snort of laughter coming from the pinned captain continued to spark Glimmer's ire as she copied her manner of speaking tauntingly. "Unless you haven't noticed princess, I'm not exactly in any situation to plan an escape. Besides, if you wanted to get us back so badly, why don't you just teleport?"

One of the key fundamentals of defeating your enemy was getting to know every detail about them, even if you found yourself taken prisoner. Within the many lessons Adora was taught, knowledge was an incredible virtue to acquire and priority a prisoner should invest in if they couldn't provide assistance any other way during their captivity. In this case, trying to pinpoint the reasoning Glimmer didn't just teleport them to the kingdom remained absolute.

And the realization it gave Adora caused her to smirk. "Ooooh, I get it now. You can't, can you?" Raising her brow, Adora's mental grin widened as Glimmer tightened the grip on her collar. Whether or not subconsciously, the look of defeat hidden within her eyes said everything. "Not so easy to use your powers without recharging for so long, now is it?" Maybe it was the delirium in Adora's foggy head caused by the fever or her mere hatred for the princess, but either way, she found her situation amusing.

She was supposedly one of the most feared people in the Horde from the Rebellion's perspective, and no matter how much they hated her in turn or she annoyed them, they couldn't risk doing anything to harm her until she returned to the kingdom. It was a severe case of dramatic irony, and one she was proud to be a part of for a change.

"Mmmh..." The pink-haired princess groaned internally as she stomped away again. She couldn't afford to let her guard down around this girl, nor could she let Bow do the same. She was every bit as cunning as the day Glimmer met her, and the following day she decided to torture her. Whatever she was planning behind her seemingly-innocent eyes, she was going to have to be ready for.

Fortunately, or not, she wasn't going to have to wait very long.

Noticing the princess's and Bow's distracted state, the archer staring off as his friend marched away. Adora gathered what she could of her powers. Despite the growth of pain that emanated from her mind, she was relieved to see the small patch of shadow gather directly under her and Bow's feet, mustering as much of her strength as possible as she stretched it towards the edge of the cliff.

It was time for Adora to see how well she could pull off manipulating an individual. "Sheesh, what's her problem?"

"You can't really blame her for being angry, Adora." Bow commented, turning his attention back to her. "I mean, with what you did to her and all-"

"I already told you, I was trying to save someone I thought was my friend." Adora quickly interrupted, both from irritation and trying to distract his attention from the ground. As she spoke, there was a small crackle from the ground as the shadows squeezed upon the earth, the Commander doing whatever she could to speak over the noise. "And unless you forgot, we're in the middle of a war, so it's expected that people are going to get hurt!"

"I know that, but-"

*rumble*

"Hu-Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Bow suddenly screamed in panic as he felt the ground crumble away beneath him.

"Bow!" Glimmer yelled in surprise as she turned back, alongside Adora who strangely had her own look of concern as Bow began to fall from the cliff.

There was no warning for the archer as the ground gave way before him. With the shadows disappearing just as fast as the shattered earth, all his brain could process was that there was a sudden shift in the cliff-side that caused the ground to become unstable and collapse under his own weight. Followed by the warning signals flashing off in his brain at the moment, all he could tell was that he was falling for dear life as his feet slipped under the now-slick surface of the cliff, and he was sliding off the edge at a moment's notice. That was when something he, nor Glimmer, ever expected to happen.

Just as quickly as his hands were thrown off the cliff, he felt a pair of strong hands squeeze around his, and saw the look on Adora's face as she struggled to keep him from falling to his doom.

"D-Don't worry... Ngh... I-I got you!" She grumbled, pulling with her weakened might as she gritted her teeth. It was taking all of her strength to maintain her current position, seeing how her stomach was planted firmly against the ground as she practically threw herself at the falling Bow.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" No matter how much Glimmer despised the girl herself, she was sensible enough to put her grudge away as she ran over to the two as fast as her legs could carry her. A part of her wondered if what Bow said actually was true, that there might've actually been hope for someone like Adora to help the Rebellion. It was a thought worth considering, one that she might've continued to consider if Adora hadn't done what she did next.

Shifting her direct attention to the approaching princess, she threw the princess a smug grin, one which was explained immediately by what caught Glimmer's eyes next. Directly behind the commander, she silently gasped as she saw a small mound of shadow grow from the cliff's wall, pushing the commander from behind and sending her and the princess's close friend over the cliff's edge. It would've sickened Glimmer so much more that Adora would do something so despicable if she wasn't already fuming with rage.

Whatever she was planning would have to wait for the time being. With an exaggerated groan, the princess teleported from her current spot and reappeared right next to the falling commander and archer, sitting with her arms and legs crossed as she saw the two still holding hands as if Adora was still trying to help the archer. "You are seriously unbelievable!" She spouted.

"What? Are you going to make up some ridiculous story now, like I pushed us off the cliff on purpose or something to send us both to our deaths?" The blond scoffed with the roll of her eyes. Only Glimmer could see the smugness, the knowing look behind Adora's eyes that was grinning to her said this.

"Wh- That's exactly what you did!" She shouted back.

"Oh, right, because that makes perfect sense. "Hey, I know, I'll drop one of you guys over the cliff, and while I'm at it, I'll throw myself overboard too". No wonder the Princess Alliance has been losing if you're leading it."

"The Rebellion hasn't been losing for your information! And I've been leading the Princess Alliance just fine-!"

"Could you both save this conversation for after we're not plummeting to our deaths?!" Bow nearly screeched as he shouted over the two. He felt like he was the only sensible one out of the three as he kept his focus on the imminent landing. While he had no idea how much power both girls had, there was no telling what was going to do them in first- their constant bickering until they landed, or the girls trying to wipe each other out if their magic allowed it. "A little teleporting would be nice here!"

"Hmph, I'm more eager to see if a certain commander can fly away with her powers at this point." Glimmer grumbled, never taking her gaze off of her.

"Can we put it to a stress test when we're not about to die?!" As Bow yelped once more, Glimmer groaned.

There was no way she was willing to help out an enemy such as Adora, but there was no way she was willing to risk the life of her fellow friend just because of her personal gripe against one of them. No amount of aggravation was worth losing one of her friends over, even if it did mean helping one of her enemies.

With another irritated groan, the Princess of Bright Moon sighed as she grabbed the two by their shoulders. "Fine!" Without another word, not three feet away from the top of the woods, the princess finally teleported the three away, nearly avoiding collision against the harsh bramble that awaited them below, and reappearing at a much safer location nearly a hundred feet away.

Comparatively safe, at least.

*Splash!*

Not one of the three were safe from the harsh waters that awaited them below as they fell into the raging rapids of the river below them. Thankfully, being only a few feet above the river, none of them found themselves diving anymore than two feet underwater before managing to resurface.

Out of the trio, surfacing several feet behind Glimmer, Adora could be seen gasping for breath as she struggled to stay afloat with her bonds around her wrists and the growing pain that her magic brought on. Already, small tendrils of darkness could be seen growing along Adora's veins, the Horde commander gasping for air and trying to push past the gnawing fever and headache her powers were bringing.

"Oh, what happened to all that high-and-mightiness you used to have, commander?" The princess taunted with a huff as she watched Adora flail about. If you took away the previous torture the two shared then Glimmer would've felt a little more inclined to help her if she didn't know Adora could swim thanks to Catra. A part of her almost wished she could've taken amusement from the sight of her flailing, but that foolish line of thinking was dashed as soon as the commander threw her arms over the princess to keep herself afloat. "Hey! Get off of me!"

"Of all the places to teleport us to, you couldn't think of anywhere drier?!" Adora stammered, coughing up a mouthful of water.

"Glimmer!" Bow called out, directing the terrible two to his voice further ahead. Whatever fortune the three seemed to have came in the form of a small log the archer seemed to be staying afloat with. "Help!"

"Ugh!" Her headache could not get any worse even if Adora somehow got involved. That was the optimistic thinking going through Glimmer's mind as she teleported herself and Adora over to the log, ducking under Adora's arm as the Force Captain grabbed onto a spare branch for good measure.

"Okay, ready to be rescued from this whenever you are." Bow commented, trying to put any lightheartedness he could in this dire situation.

"Just... need a minute to rest." She panted back, growing a mild exhaustion from the amount of magic she spent.

"Umm how much can you do with ten seconds?" Bow squeaked nervously as he looked back. Turning their heads in the same direction, both girls were equally tensed at the sight of what lied before them. Not fifty feet away from where they were floating did the trio find out where the water was rushing towards, and where their river came to an end. With merely two trees stretched out to the left side, too for any of them to grab onto, did they see the edge of the waterfall they were floating towards, one that grew all the more terrifying as they were pulled towards its edge.

"Ugh... Fine, I'll-Whoaah!" Anything Glimmer had to say was suddenly cut off as the girl found herself being pulled under the water, out of sight of her friend's view who panicked at the sight.

"Glimmer!" He shouted. Before he could even think about ducking under to find her, he felt Adora's hand grab his wrist.

"She probably got her foot caught on something, she'll be fine!" She quickly stated. "She can just teleport out of it!"

In truth, what Glimmer found her foot getting "caught" on was anything far from the ordinary. As the underwater princess turned towards the source of her mysterious pull, she found a newfound anger directed towards the Horde commander that not even Catra could get a rise out even on her most obnoxious of days. Still sticking to her leg, she found a large black tendril wrapped around it from her shin to her knee, gripping onto it tightly as it kept the princess in place even as Adora continued to float further away.

I swear when I get my hands on her! She screamed in her mind as she struggled to pull the strange shadowy tentacle from her leg.

At the same time, everything was, for the most part, going according to Adora's plans. She managed to throw herself and Bow over the edge without Bow seeming aware of her intentions, and managed to keep the princess from "saving the day", or however she would've put it as the two continued to float towards the waterfall's edge. Now she just needed to come up with a plan to get the two of them to safety.

As luck would have it, the commander saw her moment of opportunity along the edge of the riverbed, near the very cliff of the waterfall itself. Just ten feet away from the river, Adora saw two large trees protruding from the cliff's grounds, with a sturdy, large, branch a mere fifteen feet away from where the two currently were. It would require her to release Glimmer from her grasp, but it was a small price to pay if it meant saving herself and Bow.

"We can't just leave her behind!" The archer protested despite Adora's insistence.

"We won't leave her behind," she assured, "we just need to get to safety first!" There was never a moment in Bow's life quite like this where he was stuck between a quick decision and an impossible answer. On the one hand, he knew the two of them had a falling out for each other and didn't seem the least bit interested in each other's safety, so there was no way in knowing if Adora would really try to save Glimmer too. On the other hand, the two of them were ten seconds away from being thrown over the waterfall, and at that point neither of them could save her.

Before Bow could further contemplate their dilemma, the Horde Commander was already at a go. Without wasting another valuable second, she gathered as much shadow as she possibly could as she stretched a large shadowy arm over to the large branch hanging off the side of the waterfall. She didn't even have enough time to wait for Bow to grab onto her legs, which he thankfully did, as she quickly pulled herself over to the tree's ledge just as the log they were floating on went overboard.

The two now found themselves dangling from the branch Adora was holding onto, far from danger but still alive.

"That was," Bow exhaled with great relief as he stared down to his impending doom, "really close. Thanks, Adora." The savior in question gave a small smile down to him, even if he wasn't looking at the time.

"So far so good." She muttered to herself as she turned her attention back to the thick branch. "I just need to give this one good swing, and then-"

*rumble*

"Nnnggghhh!" Adora clenched her teeth as she screamed to herself in agony, a scream that didn't go unnoticed to the archer as he saw the pain she was in.

"Adora?"

Nooo... Not now! NOT NOW! It was torture. Complete and utter torture. All throughout her mind, she felt like her skull was on fire while she was being poked by thousands upon thousands of needles throughout her brain, all while someone was twisting and turning her brain at the exact same time. She gazed back upon the branch, finding her once perfect vision distorted as her view twisted and spiraled on an endless loop. She realized what was happening and why, yet still found herself cursing the dire timing all the same.

She had used too much of her power. Between breaking off the cliff, dragging the princess far enough underwater, and pulling the two of them to safety, she had reached her limit. All around her, her veins darkened as they trailed closer and closer to her forehead. She could practically feel the darkness itself within her veins as they crept along her skin, struggling to stay focused on the task at hand, and even more on maintaining her grip on the branch.

At that same moment, Glimmer found her moment of respite as she saw the strangling tendrils slowly dissipating into nothingness, wasting no as she hastily swam her way to the top. Her breath of fresh air was the only brief moment of peace she had as she resurfaced right where Adora had pulled her under. There was some distance between her and and the waterfall's edge, plenty of time to teleport to safety, but with the view she garnered came another problem.

She was watching a struggling Adora and a helpless Bow being dangled from under a large tree, swaying back and forth as if the wind was pushing them off.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out in worry. It didn't matter how tired she was from exhausting her own powers, she couldn't let anything happen to her dear friend. With as much energy as she could gather, she teleported one more time, praying it wouldn't be too late before she saved them.

"A-Adora! Hey, stay awake!" Bow pleaded, noticing the lack of attention on Adora's face. If he could get a single arm free, he could've found one of his rope arrows and try to pull the two of them over to safety with the tree. But there was no way he could risk struggling from Adora's leg to climb up for a better reach, less he risked pulling Adora, and the branch itself, to the waiting boulders beneath the waterfall.

"I'm... I'm fine..." Adora murmured, using all she had to keep her drooping eyes from closing. "I... I just need to... need to..." It was too much. Despite her best efforts and her determination, nothing could keep them together. With a face flushed in red, and her magical capabilities spent, she was at an end. Closing her eyes, she took her consciousness and her powers with her, causing the shadows to dissipate in its entirety, and sending the two plunging once more to their demise.

"W-Whooaaaa! Adora!" Bow shouted in an attempt to wake her, catching her as he continued to fall with the prisoner once again.

*swish*

"G-Glimmer-!"

*swish*

*thud!*

"Ahh!" The two conscious able-bodies yelped as they landed on the rough ground, rolling some feet from the landing.

Thank whatever mighty power in the cosmos kept the two alive. No matter what direness the two found themselves in, they each found the other rescuing them at the last moment, just in the nick of time. Within a span of several seconds, Glimmer miraculously appeared, teleported the two, and transported them to the sturdy ground at the base of the waterfall, where they could all catch their breath. They were exhausted, possibly traumatized from the experience, and most importantly, alive.

"Huff... Huff... Thanks... Glimmer..." Bow panted as he slowly puled himself off the ground. Glimmer smiled back to her friend, thankful she had made it in the nick of time. Another second off and there's no telling how they might've wound up, especially with a certain prisoner running around and making things worse- "Adora!" Bow quickly yelled out in worry, jumping to his feet and running past the same princess.

Watching her as he ran to her side, kneeling down in worry... It honestly disgusted Glimmer- no. Not disgusted. Angered. Making her way to her feet, she stomped her way over to the fallen girl who Bow seemed more worried with. Her magic was well spent after everything they've been through in the last two minutes, and she didn't care! She was outraged beyond belief after all that was done!

Causing the cliff to collapse, a feat she was sure was caused by the same girl even if she didn't witness the moment, pushing herself and Bow off the cliff to make it look like she slipped on accident, dragging Glimmer down to separate her and Bow before she could save them, and then trying to pull herself and Bow over to the tree, trying to make herself look like the hero between the two...

Outrageous. That was the only word that came to mind when she thought about it. Whatever she was planning, whatever any of this had to do with her scheming, it was apparently working, because Bow was examining the girl with what looked like genuine worry as if she was hurt.

"Glimmer, she... she doesn't look so good..." Bow commented as he felt her forehead.

"Step aside, Bow!" She practically ordered as she squeezed her fist.

"Glimmer, wait-!" Bow's plea fell on deaf ears as the princess shoved him aside. She wouldn't need magic to pummel Adora's face if she had to, which was something she was really tempted to after all that had transpired.

"You have a lot of nerve after everything you did!" She stated, grabbing Adora by the collar and lifting her until she was at Glimmer's height.

"Glimmer-"

"I don't know what you were trying to do back there, but I'm not going to fall for it!"

"Glimmer-"

"Trying to separate us? Make us fall into a river of death? Was that all part of your plan? Well?" She yelled, waiting for some type of response. "Answer me!"

"Glimmer!" Bow finally yelled, grabbing at her shoulder.

"What?!" She snapped back, irritated. It took a simple look of Bow's worried expression for the princess to realize how harsh she was sounding, and after turning her attention back to the prisoner in question, she understood what she wasn't seeing.

Everything.

Paying closer attention to the girl, she could see it. She could see everything that was causing Adora to suffer at this very moment. Her face was well flushed from ear to ear, she was practically gasping for breath as she struggled to breathe, and the dark veins that surrounded her had all but reached her forehead. There were no signs of a devious member of the Horde standing before her, all she saw was a wounded and ailing prisoner that couldn't even get to her own two feet. And what was making it worse at this moment?

Glimmer. She was. The very symbol of the Princess Alliance and Princess of Bright Moon. The girl who was supposed to be refined and elegant in her manner of speaking, even when addressing the Horde, was now shouting at a sickening soldier who looked like she was on the verge of death. She actually regretted losing focused as the girl slipped out of her hands, taking a brief step back as Bow rushed up to her side again to examine her.

"What's... What's wrong with her?" She finally asked.

"I don't know," Bow replied as he felt her forehead again, "but she's burning up. She must've used too much of her magic, but... I don't think I've ever seen a princess like this. Not this sick."

"W-Well she's probably just faking it." Glimmer suggested, only half sure as she crossed her arms. "We should continue on our way to Bright Moon, she can get examined there."

"Glimmer, I don't think she'll even make it to Bright Moon if we continue on like this." It was easy yet hard for him to understand where she was coming from. She knew the two had a history together, one that would've made anyone mortal enemies the very next day. Yet even with that, with all the people she's fought from the Horde, she's never seen Glimmer so frustrated with a single person as much as she does now. She practically looked like she was struggling with trying to find a reason to keep arguing like this, like she was hurting more than Adora. "We need to give her time to rest."

"Rest? Are you kidding?! She's from the Horde, she could have people searching for her right behind us, she could-!"

"Glimmer." Bow simply stated once again, drawing her attention to the ailing Adora.

Who was she kidding? She couldn't keep going on with the tough-guy routine. The girl's eyes continued to squint as she struggled for each passing breath, diminishing any possibility that this was all part of some secret plan she had. She wouldn't have let Glimmer drop her to the ground like she just did, and she doubted there was any chance she would continue to roll around in the dirt like this for some hair-brained scheme. It was impossible to even tell if she was conscious or not, she looked so sickly.

*drip*

"?" Glimmer's nose twitched as she felt a single drop of water land on her nose. Turning her attention up, she gazed at what was soon to follow.

*pit-pat-pit-pat=*

A storm. A rainstorm to be precise. The dark clouds from earlier weren't just for show, they were a warning of what was to come. And as the saying goes, when it rains, it pours, as not two seconds had past before the three of them doused with gallons upon gallons of torrential rainfall.

Glimmer couldn't keep to her demeanor as she moaned internally. There was no way she could afford to keep Adora traveling in these conditions, much less the two of them as it stood. Glimmer was already exhausted from the magic she spent, and chances were Bow was a little sore too after all he's been through. Begrudgingly, with a sigh of defeat, Glimmer moaned aloud as she wiped the rain from her eyes, watching as Bow lifted Adora into her arms with the same pleading look as before.

"...Huff... Fine, we'll wait until the storm passes." She announced, holding herself as she began to shiver a little from the freezing rain. "But after that, we have to keep moving, even if she's still sick. Okay?"

"Thanks Glimmer." Bow replied with a nod, wasting no time as the two tried to find shelter for themselves and the sickly commander within the forest. There was no telling how long the storm was going to last, or where they were going to find shelter, but one thing was for sure.

Glimmer couldn't afford to let Adora get under her skin, no matter how angry she was...

...

A/N: Phewfta, another episode down the drain (not in a negative sense, more like a "yaa! its finished ^^!" sense). Once more, I thank everyone for their time and patience. It's really been hectic here and I'm doing what I can to help with the blues. I can look forward to the reviews cheering me up as they always do. And as a reminder, give a look up for from instagram, because he's such a dedicated fan that has actually done artwork for my fanfic :D! He's truly a great artist and one of my personal favorite reviewers around here, he shows his dedication and support beautifully in his art ^^

And as always, thanks to the rest of you for continuing to show your love for this series. I actually do kinda wish they'd make this series as a spinoff on netflix, or maybe at the very least some spinoff episode in the last season like it shows catra getting the sword or something, cause that would be awesome :P. Hooftah! So with that said, leave a like if you enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and I hope to see you soon ^^!

IM BACK BABAY!

Chapter 66: S2 Episode 2: The Ties That Bind Part 4

Chapter Text

Word Count: 12.7k Pre-A/N's

A/N: Yes people, you're seeing it right here! Not a mirage of any sort, and you're not hallucinating, this is indeed another update by yours truly. I meant what I said- you guys really cheered me up when the depression was hitting, and the wonderful reviews I've gotten have done so much to lift my spirits, so thanks again ^^

Will admit off the bat, the beginning of this might seem a bit rushed. Honestly, the first half of this i was originally planning to add to the last chapter, but I had a family dinner later in the evening so my time was cut short. So, hopefully extending this bit here will make up for the last shortness ^^ Will also comment been in kind of a funk here and there, what with coming back to the writing, so again, writing most likely won't be at it's best. Regardless, I'll continue to supply those who can look past it with fun and exciting chapters that are to come!

So with that said, enjoy!

...

*tap*

"Mmh..." Catra moaned as it failed again.

*tap*

"Stupid..."

*tap*

"Ugh..." Well this day was turning into more of a pain than she expected. And considering her expectations were already close to the bottom, that was saying a lot.

At first, the day was starting out as any other of her training days, and for a change, it was actually going well! After the mayhem that occurred from battling the Horde's new Orbko, Catra had obtained another piece of her She-Ra form, and the power that came with it. She felt newly enhanced as her strength and her speed had increased, and had managed to finish her previous training regime in record time thanks to it!

That was the upside of her day.

So, naturally, everything would have to go downhill from the moment she started thinking positively. Mere seconds after finishing her day's training, she was looking forward to the next part of her training as She-Ra, right up until the moment she realized what that training would pertain; training with Swift Wind. She didn't know what the training would contain, nor what exercises she would have to go through, and for the time being, she wasn't going to.

Not ten seconds after Light Hope's announcement did she start to go a little haywire, glitching and freezing in spot even in mid-sentence. With Swift Wind's insistence, thanks to Light Hope's indication, the two set off to find a certain tower within Etheria that would increase her capabilities tenfold, and help her run her programs more smoothly. In short, it would give Catra the chance to continue more of her training and get right back to seeing just how far her newly enhanced She-Ra form could go. There was just one small addition to this dilemma that put her in a dower mood.

The Horse himself.

In fairness, she didn't really dislike the horse herself or anything. He was friendly, he was eager to help Catra and her friends wherever she went, and he was willing to fly her off to whatever adventure required her attention. Those were the aspects she could tolerate.

What she couldn't put up with was his constantly-upbeat attitude, the fact he was actually capable of talking to everyone, which really got under her skin at times, and the worst part of all, the fact he could get a glimpse into Catra's mind and get a sense of her emotions. If there was one rule she had, no matter who was involved, it was never to get involved in Catra's personal business, especially what was going on in her own mind. She wasn't the type to share her feelings with anyone, and she wasn't about to change that aspect anytime soon, even for him.

She was willing to work with him, and she was willing to put up with his, admittedly, numerous annoyances just fine as long as he didn't start poking his snout into her personal business. But at the very least, was it too hard to ask him to give her five minutes of silence and peace?!

Ever since the two came across the tower's location, it was nonstop annoyance! When she tried to search for the tower, he butted in and kept insisting they searched together. When she tried to ignore whatever emotions he was sensing from him, he had to go off and list any and all possible issues that were plaguing her mind, even ones she was trying to keep down herself and forget about. And, when she finally realized the tower was shattered into pieces, he kept going on about the possible solutions to fix the tower, or suggested doing more "loop-de-loops" like their lives depended on it.

Not once in her life had she ever been so thankful for the downfall of rain that came a short while ago. Well, perhaps thankful was putting it too strongly, but she was at least glad she had some semblance of quiet between the two of them as they waited for the rain to stop. Sitting under one of the many floating boulders, Swift Wind blinked as he kept looking back and forth between the storm and the She-Ra sitting right next to him.

This was the only boulder close enough to the ground that kept a majority of the rain from falling on them. Unfortunately, it was also only wide enough for one of them to sit under, which made it really confusing for him when Catra refused to sit under it herself. She just kept trying to morph the sword for the last five minutes into something that could cover her from the rain, like an umbrella or something.

He had to admit, there were times he couldn't really understand her. Then again, there were a lot of things he was growing accustomed to since he was magically transformed into a talking winged Pegasus with an attunement to the Sword of Protection. Why was she so insistent in declining his offers to help? Why did she prefer to do the work all alone? He clearly understood that they were a team based on what Light Hope said, so why didn't she?

At the very least, she could've accepted the offer stay under the boulder till the rainstorm was over. He didn't mind if it meant he would get wet, heck, he could find another boulder with ease, especially with his ability to fly. Yet, like everything else she did, she insisted on trying to fix everything by herself, or at the very least, practice transforming her sword into a useful tool in an attempt to train and master She-Ra's power.

And if the last ten minutes of her failing to transform the sword into anything remotely useful to provide cover was any indication, it was not going well.

"For the love of...Ughhh!" With a deep, drawn out, groan, she tossed the sword a good five feet away before burying her head into her curled up legs. At least with her current She-Ra state, she wasn't as sensitive to the water as she used to be. Even better, she didn't feel any sense of coldness that came from the freezing rain. Now if she could make it so she didn't feel any of the water at all, that would be a much bigger improvement. All she could do now was wait for the rain to finish so she could get back to restoring the tower, however she was going to accomplish that.

*flap*

And there he goes again, insisting on helping her in any way possible. In this case, he unfurled his left wing to provide her with adequate protection from the rain. Looking up at the sudden cover hovering over her, she gaze a small glance over to the smiling horse who was all too happy to provide any form of support to her, before turning her head away with a bit of a mellow frown.

She would never openly admit it, and she hoped that he wouldn't be able to sense it from her, but she couldn't help but feel a little bit of appreciation for it, despite insisting she could solve her own problems.

At least he has his usefulness...

...

*pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-*

Okay. So let's check off the numerous things that occurred to make Glimmer's end of the day a total nightmare.

First, there was the announcement that Entrapta was still alive. That alone sent enough shock to Glimmer to last a life time, both, out of surprise and happiness, and shock and guilt. She was overjoyed to know she was still alive after all this time, but was devastated at the realization that she was a (presumed) prisoner of the Horde after all this time, forced to make their technologies against her will. There was no telling how much she's had to endure since becoming captive, only that if Catra ever found out, it could traumatize her worst of all.

Secondly, there was their two-maned mission to the Horde-occupied city of Dryl in her and Bow's attempt to rescue the poor scientist. To say things didn't go smoothly would be a gross exaggeration. They couldn't find Entrapta, ended up getting lost and confused from her maze-like citadel all over again, were found by none other than Scorpia and Adora herself, had a brawl, and instead of getting their braniac friend back, they were stuck with a commander who was currently resting within the cave they found in a corner of the woods as they continued to wait out the rain.

That brought them up to the third irritation of Glimmer's nightmare of a day. For the last half hour, they were stuck with an obnoxious second-in-command of the Horde who went out of her way to make their day from bad to worse. She threw them off their previous path on the cliffs, went out of her way to push Glimmer away so she could look like a hero to Bow for some reason, and, most annoyingly of all, was now in a state of seeming pain and turmoil as she struggled with the intense fever she was suffering.

If it wasn't for the amount of torture she put Glimmer through, the princess would've been more than willing to spare any sympathy for her.

That's where the last issue of their day came in, and to Glimmer's surprise, it was from Bow of all people. After everything they've been through, despite Glimmer's insistence, he had a genuine sense of care and worry for the commander, even convincing Glimmer to wait out the storm so she could get some rest.

It's not like she couldn't understand, of course. After all, to him, Adora did attempt to save them from the raging waterfall Glimmer teleported them near, and she's been pretty open and chatty with Bow since the two took her hostage in the hopes of an exchange for Entrapta.

And, given the current state Adora was in, resting by a fire in the middle of the cave while suffering through her fever, she couldn't say she blamed him. How could she? Just looking back at her, even Glimmer had to admit she was a little hard to look at. Her was was entirely flushed from cheek-to-cheek, and it was hard to look at the black veins running along the edges of Adora's face. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, they just knew she was in no position to be moving for the time being.

She just wished Bow wasn't so eager to give a chance to someone who literally tortured Glimmer in the Fright Zone.

*squish*

Looking back at the entrance, she gave a silent greeting to the very archer as he made his way back into the cave, squeezing a small white rag that he always carried with him.

"Hey Glimmer, is she doing okay?" He asked as he made his way over to the feverish Horde.

"About the same as she was five minutes ago." Glimmer had to force herself to repress any sarcastic or moody tone as she replied. It's not like she wouldn't have worried about any other captured soldier of the Horde, it's just... well... it was just hard to do so with someone like Adora! A part of her was even struggling to watch someone like Bow help Adora this much after all that's happened.

Kneeling down at the girl's side, Bow checked her fever once more before placing the moistened rag upon her forehead. There was no telling what exactly was causing the girl's fever, just that the black veins had to be a part of it. Since they appeared, the flush around her face had darkened and spread, and the more dark magic she used, the faster the veins grew along her skin. He didn't have a definitive understanding of what was causing her feverish state, but it didn't mean he wasn't allowed to show the same compassion the Rebellion showed the other Horde soldiers.

"Ngh..." Adora moaned as she weakly opened her eyes a little. She could barely move without feeling like something was stabbing into her veins, and she could barely keep her vision focused without Bow looking like he was splitting back and forth between one and two people.

"Just take it easy, you're still burning up." Bow stated, smoothing out the rag over her head.

"Heh... Heh..." Her voice rasped as she chuckled. "Guess not everyone... from the Rebellion's so bad..." Her comment came with a small smile from Bow before she closed her eyes again.

"Give me a break..." Glimmer muttered, pinching the bridge between her nose. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Making her way over, the princess casually pulled Bow by the arm as she distanced the two of them a little further in the cave. "Would you stop being so friendly with her? Don't forget who she is!" She whispered to avoid prying ears.

"Glimmer, I know you have issues with her, but you don't need to worry." Bow assured, looking back to the weak commander. "She's not dangerous right now, and she's in no position to attack us." He reminded, gesturing to the bonds that were still around Adora's wrists.

"That's not the point. She's been up to something since we abducted her. Do you think everything on the cliffs was just an accident?!"

"Even if it wasn't, she wasn't responsible for putting us in the river."

"S-So you're saying that was my fault?" Bow quickly regretted his words as he waved his hands back and forth.

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying, she was trying to make up for it after and tried to save us."

"You mean save you!" She corrected with a small glare. "She dragged me under the water to keep me from helping in the first place!"

"Well... Maybe it was an accident?" It almost baffled Glimmer that she was having this conversation as she leaned against the cave's wall by her right shoulder. "Even if she did do it on purpose, you know I wouldn't have left you behind regardless."

"That's not the point, Bow. You've been way too trusting with her since we captured her. Why can't you trust me in what I'm saying?"

"I do trust you, Glimmer. I'm just thinking about how this could help the Rebellion more if we got Adora on our side." That was the very dilemma at the crux of the matter.

No matter how much Glimmer argued her cases, even she couldn't deny that getting Adora to join the Rebellion could help them turn the war in their favor, if not guarantee their victory. She was Hordak's second-in-command, she had info on the inner workings of the Horde, and knew how everything worked from the inside out. She knew what kind of strategies the Horde employed, what technology they were creating, everything! And that wasn't even the biggest driving factor of Bow's argument.

There was Catra, Adora's former friend. Since the days leading to the Battle of Bright Moon and everything after, they had nothing short of a falling out. Catra couldn't get that day out of her head, or the events leading up to it. To rediscover herself and realize what she had done throughout their childhood, to Adora cutting off any and all ties with her former friends and pushing Catra to do the very same. There were no ends to the scars created between the two, both physically and emotionally.

So what would happen if they could patch them up?

Glimmer had to admit, an opportunity to help Catra achieve She-Ra's true form would benefit the Rebellion greatly, and that required Catra understanding a semblance of peace. What better way was there for her to achieve this sense than by making amends with Adora? And the help she could provide with everything the Horde's been up to is overwhelming! She could identify all the weaknesses the Horde had, every method to exploit the Horde of their various strengths and weaknesses. Add on to the fact Adora seemed to be magical like Glimmer and the other princesses were, and her help would be tremendous!

And yet, there was still the one underlining problem behind all of this: it required Adora herself. The very one was convinced the Rebellion was evil to no end, and the one who tortured Glimmer all those weeks ago.

"Don't you think if there's a chance to fix everything, then we should take it?" Bow continued, reaching out for his friend. "We could fix everything, Glimmer, and Catra could finally be happy-"

"I said no!" Glimmer yelled, slapping his hand away. She couldn't push aside the small look of anger growing on her face as she stared at him. "It's too risky, Bow! There's no way someone like her would change!"

"I get that, Glimmer, but if we just gave her a chance-" His insistence fell on deaf ears as she continued to march towards him.

"Give her a chance? There's no giving a chance to someone like her! The minute we let our guard down around her she's going to betray us!"

"We don't know that-"

"We DO know that, Bow!" She was officially shouting at this point. "This conversation is stupid, trusting her is stupid, this idea of yours is stupid-! Mmph!" Glimmer tried to quickly clasped her hands over her mouth before she finished that sentence, but it was already too late. The damage was done.

The look of surprise that the both of them shared was soon dashed as one of anger and hurt overtook Bow's expression, the archer giving off a small glare to her before walking back over to Adora, sitting next to the sleeping girl by the fire and patting her head, checking on her. Even as she silently reached for him before he sat down, Glimmer already knew it was pointless.

All the anger this day had brought, all the irritation that Adora had brought her, all of it had finally taken its toll on the Princess, who took all of her frustration out on her close friend. She was going to say everything about this, even Bow, was stupid, and honestly, she didn't blame Bow in the slightest for his reaction. It was all too deserving after all the arguing the two have been doing since Adora came into the picture.

The princess of Bright Moon struggled a little as her eyes wavered, almost beginning to tear up, before she shook her head in frustration. Pounding it lightly against the cave's walls, she moaned to herself as she sat alongside a pair of large rocks in the back of the cave, contemplating everything that had just transpired today.

They didn't find Entrapta, they ended up abducting a commander, they had to put up with her for the entire morning so far, she did everything to get under Glimmer's skin, most likely intentionally at this rate, and even though she was more than aware of it, Glimmer took the bait as she let her emotions get the better of her, and now took it out on her best friend. Whether or not that was a part of Adora's plan, she only had herself to blame.

With the way this day was going, she wondered how she was going to make it up to her friend. And before she closed her eyes to rest, she worried if she was going to have a friend left before this day was over.

...

"Geeeehhhhh! This is bad!" Scorpia moaned as she squeezed her head, walking back and forth in front of the castle's entrance as Lonne and Rogelio watched. "There's no sign of Adora, we don't have any idea where she is, she hasn't recharged her powers in who knows how long-! Ghhhhhhhh!" Her panicking worsened upon the realization. "Oh gosh, when was the last time she recharged?!"

"Yesterday?" Lonnie reminded with a shrug.

"Ahhhhh, it doesn't matter! If she's used her powers too much, there's no telling what'll happen to her! She could be sick, or dying, or worse! Even-!" As she continued to prattle on, Lonnie leaned over to Rogelio with a questioning look.

"What could be worse than dying?" She whispered, earning a silent shrug from the reptile. She had to admit it was rather humorous watching Scorpia panicking as she paced back and forth about a commander she knew could take care of herself, but even she was beginning to feel sorry for the Force Captain who wouldn't stop panicking. "H-Hey, uhh... Scorpia?"

"She probably hasn't eaten, she could be in the middle of a stress-induced coma, oh gosh, please tell me she's been drinking water!" The captain begged to the lords above, collapsing to her knees.

"Scorpia!"

"What!" She nearly screeched, squeezing Lonnie's arms and staring into her eyes widely.

"...I'm pretty sure if you're worried, you can check in with Entrapta and see what she thinks."

"..."

*crunch!*

"Ghhhh!" Lonnie squealed in pain as she felt have of her bones crunching under Scorpia's immense hug.

"Lonnie, you're a genius!" Scorpia beamed, just as quickly dropping the girl as she brought out her own tracker pad. She didn't waste a single moment tapping on the controls in a mad rush, begging whatever genius was responsible for its connection to hurry up and connect her to Entrapta. "Entraptaaaaa! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta! 'Trapta-!"

*click*

"Huh? Oh, hey Scorpia! What's up?" The perky scientist greeted back through the console as she lifted her mask.

"Adora's missing!" Scorpia blurted out. "I don't know where she is, she hasn't tried to make contact with any of us since the princess and her friend show in, and I'm starting to get really, really, worried!"

"Adora's missing?" Entrapta repeated curiously. Without missing a beat, the scientist casually typed into the console off screen, overlooking her data thoroughly. "Hmm... well according to my readings, she's doing fine, and her health's not in any immediate danger."

"Oh, thank goodne-!" Scorpia cut herself off mid-sentence as she blinked. "Wait. You can tell how she's doing from your end?"

"Mh-hm! With the machine she's been using to recharge her powers, I've been able to keep a connection on her and her health. I've used it to monitor her vitals and study the effects her magic has been having on her body. For the most part, she's doing fine, although she seems to be in the middle of a fever."

"Wha-?! Oh gosh, what are those people doing to her?!" There were hundreds of horrific scenarios going on through Scorpia's mind as she spoke. How cruel could the Rebellion be to put Adora through whatever pain and misery she was currently suffering?! "We need to contact Hordak! Get posters up! Send an army or something! And-!"

"Scorpia, Scopira! Relax!" Entrapta shushed calmly, the look of peace never leaving her face. "She's doing fine right now, and I guarantee she'll get better when this baby arrives." She stated, proudly showing whatever newest invention she created within the confines of a box being held by a small flying droid.

"Oh! You've made her something to help her!" Scorpia's beaming expression just as quickly turned to confusion as she tilted her head. "What is it?"

"A temporary measure to ensure Adora will be okay when you find her. Just have her put this baby on, and she should be back to her old self for awhile, at least long enough for her to get back to the Fright Zone to recharge." With a small pet to the droid hovering through the screen, the scientist gave it a small wave as the droid carried the package off screen, presumably to wherever Scorpia was at the time.

"Ahh! Entrapta, you're amazing!" Scorpia squealed, finally feeling some relief after the last several hours of panicking. When the Rebellion showed up, things were bad. When Adora went missing after chasing them, it was worse. Now she finally had a moment to relax for herself and collect her thoughts if- "Wait. How long will it take that thing to get over here?"

"Assuming you don't move from your current location? About an hour." She stated.

"And with the rain?" Lonnie butted in, looking at the screen.

"Oh... an hour and two minutes."

"An hour and two minutes?!" Why did everything have to get worse for Scorpia before it got any better? "We can't wait an hour, Entrapta! The Rebellion could've gotten their hands on her, and who knows what they could have in store for her!"

"It'll be alright, Scorpia." The assurance that came from the scientist didn't feel as genuine as a large piece of equipment from behind her could be seen getting knocked over by Emily. "My scans show she's currently resting wherever she is. With a few minutes, I can get a reading on her exact location and send them to you. But you can't go anywhere until that droid gets there with the package. Adora's going to need it if she's been fighting as much as my readings are saying."

"Uggghhhh! How can you ask me to stand around while Adora's out there, though? They could be torturing her for all we know!"

"Hmmm highly doubtful. If she was in any state of torture, her heart monitor would be going berserk right now. Chances are they can't afford to move her in the rain, so I'm sure they're waiting somewhere for the storm to pass... unless she's just really good at taking her torture."

"Mmmmmhhhhh!" Scorpia moaned to herself as she rubbed her scalp with her free claw. She's never been so conflicted between two heavy-handed choices: either run off in a random direction and hope she miraculously finds Adora, with a fat chance of that failing, or wait around for some droid to appear with possibly-life-saving technology made by Entrapta, during which time the Rebellion could be moving further away and closer to Bright Moon?

Why couldn't she have a choice where she finds her best friend and they go back home and be done with this day?

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Scorpia asked almost begfully.

"Of course, Scorpia. My technology has never proved me wrong~"

*Rrrrrrrrng*

"F-Fire! FIRE!" Kyle could be heard shouting in the background as a red warning siren flared off behind the cheeky scientist. The purple-haired inventor simply blinked in curiosity as a billow of smoke could be seen growing from the left side of the screen, adding more fuel to the fire of worry crossing Scorpia's mind.

"What is that? What's going on?"

"Thaaaaat's a completely unrelated technological fire. Gotta go!" She announced, reaching for something above Scorpia's point of view.

"No, wait-!"

*click*

All Scorpia was met with was her own saddened face greeting her as the connection was cut from Entrapta's end. With her friend missing and Entrapta being the only reliable source of information at this point, she had to keep calm. She was a scientist, a great one at that, so surely she knew what she was doing! And, thankfully, it did well to calm Scorpia's nerves as she stared off into the rain, awaiting Entrapta's package.

...Until she started wondering if it would make Adora burst into flames...

...

"Mmmh..." Glimmer mumbled as her eyes slowly fluttered awake. Judging by the sunlight that woke her, the storm had finally past, and the time to rest was well over. She mumbled to herself as she rose to her feet, stretching her arms on both sides as she prepared herself for the rest of their trek through the woods. She had a number of personal goals she made to herself as she gazed over at the doused fire.

Step 1: make amends with Bow. That was the first and foremost of her goals. She needed to apologize to him no matter what, even if he still wasn't in the mood to talk.

Step 2: try to reason with Bow. Adora was at the front of this matter, and she was going to come up in the conversation one way or another. She needed to either find a way to convince Bow from this foolish optimism, or at the very least, find a compromise with Bow that he would agree to. It was impossible to say if his plan really was foolish, or if her own stubbornness about her past with Adora was getting in the way of her line of thinking. All she knew was that she needed to find some common ground with Bow, hopefully one he would happily agree to.

Step 3: Figure out where they went. They could've gone anywhere-

Wait. Glimmer rubbed her eyes again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Then she rubbed them again. And a third time for good measure. "Bow?" She called out in the hopes of a response, turning around and back through the cave to see if they were possibly behind her.

Nada.

They weren't anywhere. Bow was missing from the spot where he sat by the resting Adora, and, more importantly, Adora, the only bargaining chip they had to ensure they'd get Entrapta back, was gone too! All at once, every conceivable warning light was flashing in Glimmer's mind as she rushed out of the cave, looking all around in panic.

"Bow? Booow!" Glimmer cried out, gazing around. Did he chase after Adora? Did Adora actually regain her powers and kidnap Bow while she slept? Or did something possibly worse happen?! She took her eyes off them for a brief nap, and to find the two missing with hundreds of possible scenarios explaining why? It was the worst feeling ever. A catastrophe. Terrifying.

"Booow! ...Adora?" She called out again in worry. She pinched herself to confirm if she was even awake at this point, and the results were regretful. She doesn't know when they could've taken off, it could've been sometime during the rainstorm itself or shortly before Glimmer woke up. She doesn't know which direction they went in, and thanks to the wet ground, any of their tracks would be covered at this point. And, most frustrating of all, she doesn't know what Adora could've done with Bow. She could've taken him to the Horde, captured him in turn.

She gasped to herself in the most worrying thought she had- what if she somehow convinced him to betray Glimmer? There... There was no way she could-!

"Well, about time someone woke up." A familiar, albeit obnoxious voice, finally spoke out. To Glimmer's reluctance and annoyance, turning around again, she was greeted with the simple sight of a certain Horde commander, casually minding her own business as if she hadn't a care in the world as she sat atop a large boulder not too far from the cave, hands still bound in the rope-like vines from before. "Honestly, I was reeeally tempted to leave you. It would've been pretty easy if I had any idea where we were."

"You!" Glimmer grumbled as she raised her fist, drawing what little magic she could to it. Sadly, even with the brief hour of rest, she could barely draw out a few flashes of her power before she felt her energy leave her again. At least she didn't have to worry about Adora fairing any better by the looks of it. While the dark veins seemed to recede to the sides of her neck again, her face still had a large flush of red covering most of it. Whatever kind of fever she was dealing with still appeared to be in her system, but she was at least able to move again.

"Ahh simmer down, your royal annoyance." Adora mocked as she twirled a loose bang of her from her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere. Not that I'd want to, anyway."

"Mmhhh... Where's Bow?" She demanded to know as she stomped over.

"Bow?" A look of perplexity and confusion took Adora's face as she tapped her chin. "Hmm... Bow... Bow... Bow...Oh! Bow! You mean that yellow guy? The one with the arrows? The only decent one of you two?"

Grumbling again, the princess jumped atop of one of the boulders as Adora stood upon her feet again, hopping back to the ground as Glimmer tried to reach her. "Where is he?"

"Ehh, how should I know?" She shrugged carelessly, backing up further as Glimmer marched over to her. "Maybe he got bored of being friends with you. Or maybe it was something you said to him?" At Glimmer's pause, she smirked. "Man, I don't know what you were yelling at him for, but it must've been pretty funny if it forced him to come over to my side and keep me company."

"NGGGHHHH!"

*thud!*

"Ow!" Adora yelped as Glimmer shoved her into a tree.

"Leave Bow alone. Understand!" Glimmer stated almost threateningly. Unsurprising as it was, this was met with a typical smirk back to her.

"Leave him alone? But it was just getting fuuuun~" Adora grinned. "What with the way you two were barking back and forth at each other, it would've been all too priceless if I wasn't responsible for any of it."

"So you are up to something!"

"Up to something, did something, doesn't really matter now. All I did was nudge Bow in a certain way to get him to be more... understanding. Reasonable." Even as she was pushed back, she leaned her head closer to the princess with a sinister grin. "It's not my fault of a few seeming acts of kindness can make a guy so gullible. Heheheheh!" Adora's never found a better reason to chuckle like this before, and she was loving every moment of Glimmer's expression. As for Glimmer herself, she had reached her limit.

That was the final straw!

She could take all the berating and irritation she could throw at her. Heck, she welcomed it if it meant she was going to leave her own friends alone. And she didn't expect Adora to be any simpler of a prisoner as anyone else. In fact, this kind of irritation she had been building up was to be expected, almost welcoming in a way. She could put up with any of it.

What she couldn't put up with, though, was her. Her constant need to bring up her interactions with Bow, especially after how Glimmer treated him awhile ago. She was sorry for what she said to him, sorry she took her anger out on him. But none of that would've been happening if a certain Force Captain, a certain commander by the name of Adora, hadn't barged her way through all of this to get between the two, and practically toyed with them intentionally in the hopes that they would argue like this, and ruin their friendship!

As for Adora, she honestly couldn't tell why she was acting so zany, and she couldn't care! She was having a blast! The looks of anger on this princess's face, the way she seemed to twitch every time a nerve was struck somewhere, it was all too hilarious! Maybe the fever had something to do with it, maybe she was just tired of being nice to nearly every single person she came into contact with?

Whatever caused her to have such thoughts, she pushed away as she prepared to take the brunt of Glimmer's incoming assault as she watched the princess pull a fist back angrily. She couldn't let an opportunity like this pass while the iron was hot. She had to slam the nail in the coffin while it was getting exciting.

"Who knows? Maybe at the end of the day, Bow will be calling me his best friend?"

That did it.

"Haaaaaaaah-!" Adora braced herself as she watched the princess pull back her fist, ready to endure whatever additional pain she had coming.

Or at least, would have if not for one saving grace.

"Glimmer!" Bow could be heard calling out, causing Glimmer to stop her fist just mere inches from Adora's nose. Turning around, she was surprised and relieved to see him coming out of the hedges, as well as a bit distraught at the unfortunate timing.

Once again, the princess found herself baited and caught within Adora's trap. She manipulated her and let her emotions flare up, all for the sake of letting Glimmer seem like the bad guy when Bow was finally turning around. As he made his way over, there was little else Glimmer could do than to back away from the prisoner, with Adora falling to the ground again as she always did. Whether it was Adora trying to be dramatic for the sake of innocence, or a genuine weakness of the knees from her fever mattered little. She managed to put on enough of a innocent display as she groaned a little, dusting off the little dust caught on her outfit.

"Where were you?" Glimmer asked as Bow brushed off the leaves on his armor.

"I was looking for Adora." He answered, turning back to the Blond in question. "After the rain cleared up, she just got up and wandered off." Turning to the girl, Adora casually ignored the princess as she gave her seemingly-innocent expression to Bow, digging through the pockets of her coat.

"Heh, sorry about that," she apologized, pulling out a strange bluish fruit the size of her palm, "I wasn't entirely thinking straight. I just... wanted to find a way to say thanks. You know... for taking care of me during the fever."

"Oh..." Bow blinked as he stared at the fruit in curiosity. "Uhh... thanks-"

"Bow, no-!" Glimmer stammered, swatting the fruit straight to the ground with an audible squish. At least in this case, Bow could understand her reasoning, right? There was no way Adora would've found just any sort of fruit in the woods. It had to be poisonous in some form. And even if it was genuine, it was still better safe than sorry.

Glaring a little to the rude princess, Adora gave her a small grumble before pulling out two more pieces of fruit. However, instead of just offering another one to Bow like she expected, Glimmer was, once again, caught by surprise as Adora casually tossed one of the two remaining fruits into Glimmer's friends. "Hmph, you try to do something nice for some people..." Before she could protest further, Adora took a bite of her own piece of fruit, proving its authenticity as she shoved her way past Glimmer.

"Adora, wait!" Bow called out as he chased after her, most likely to apologize.

Switching glances back and forth between the piece of fruit in her hands and the two travelers, Glimmer let out an irritated groan as she tossed the fruit away, quickly catching up to the two in the hopes of possibly explaining herself to Bow. Once again, Adora had outsmarted her, and now that she had confirmed Glimmer's previous suspicions of it all being part of some plot, that made it all the more infuriating.

At every turn, Adora managed to make herself look like the good guy. Around every corner, she managed to turn the situation around to make Glimmer look more like the bad guy. She had a perfect understanding and grasp of the events leading up to this point, and took advantage of every opportunity to work the situation in her favor. It almost baffled Glimmer that this was supposed to be the same Adora Catra talked about in the past.

Based on what Catra had said, for what little she was willing to divulge, she made Adora out to be like a genuine, caring, person. Somebody who cared deeply about others and always took their interests at heart first before her own. She almost sounded like someone Glimmer would've been happy to be friends, possibly even after the torture. As cruel as it was, she at least took note of the fact that she did it all for the sake of saving her friend.

This Adora, however, was nothing like that! She was cunning, manipulative, and openly mocked Glimmer at every opportunity she had, all while playing on her and Bow's emotions for her own benefit. She couldn't even tell at this point if this was the very same Adora they once fought over a month ago, or some evil twin nobody knew she had!

As for Adora herself, she was getting a kick out of all of this. In all honesty, a part of her was weirded out by her own erratic behavior, and at the exact same time, she didn't care. Whether or not the fever she was going through was putting up this bizarre display of manipulation or her own personal hatred for the princesses mattered little. Every second she spent putting her plan into action was another minute of enjoyment out of her life.

The best part of all of this? She didn't even hear the voices in her mind anymore! While the dark veins still trailed along the edges of her neck, she no longer heard the cryptic voices in her mind that told her how to do things. Maybe it was the result of being under such an intense fever for so long? Or maybe they only lasted a short while? She never bothered having these voices rattling on through her mind for so long, so maybe there was a limit to how long they lasted?

Regardless, all she knew was that everything was going according to plan. She saw the kindness in a soldier of the Rebellion like Bow, she played on the stubbornness of a certain Princess of Bright Moon by the name of Glimmer, and she managed to activate the tracker of her badge after distancing herself from her captors while still putting her plan into motion.

One way or another, she was going to be free by the end of the day, and if she played her cards right, she was about to gain something much bigger than her freedom...

...

Breathe in.

"Huff..."

Exhale.

Breathe in.

"Huff..."

Exhale. This had been the way Catra found herself for the last ten minutes as she focused on channeling her powers.

After the rain had finally stopped, she took it upon herself to resume her business, and focused on finding a way to reactivate the tower that would have Light Hope up and running again at full capacity. Simply turning into She-Ra and connecting her sword with the tower's shattered remains wasn't enough, so she decided to focus on her powers, on She-Ra's own magic, in the hopes o drawing out a solution.

Still within her She-Ra form, she centered the Sword of Protection parallel with he own person, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to focus. Perhaps she needed the ingenuity of the First Ones to figure out how to fix the tower physically like the generator in Salineas, like the knowledge the sword granted her before becoming the official wielder of the blade? Or maybe there was some sort of magic she needed to channel through herself, and connect it with the heart of the Tower to reactivate its power? In either scenario, she knew that with enough focus, a solution would present itself.

All she had to do for now was focus on her own power. She tuned out the whistling breeze of the wind as it brushed past her ears, ignored the flow of power as it blew against her hair. She needed to find a sense of inner peace if she was ever to hope to master She-Ra's power, and as long as there weren't any distractions around her, she was confident that a solution would present itself within minutes.

"Focus the She-Ra. She-Raaaa..." Unfortunately, fate wasn't as kind to her as the sound of a very annoying horse made it clear. The one dilemma she found herself plagued with time and again on this mission went by the name of Swift Wind, her "noble steed" who was supposed to be her companion on this illustrious journey. "She-Raaaaaa..." He whispered again into her left ear, oblivious to the pang of anger that formed over Catra's head as she tried to focus.

"How am I supposed to concentrate when you keep DISTRACTING ME!" She barked. "Would it be too much to ask for some space here? I need to focus She-Ra's power to fix the tower." She stated, closing her eyes again as she tried to focus.

"Hey-hey, that rhymed!" Swift Wind commented in his casual cheerful tone. Catra rolled her eyes mentally as she tried to ignore the frustration building up inside her chest.

"Yeah, sure, it rhymed, whatever. Do you mind now? I need to concentrate."

"You know what might help? Loop-de-loops!" Swift Wind suggested, flapping his wings open as he displayed his rainbow-colored wings, inadvertently knocking Catra a little as his wings brushed past her. Gritting her teeth, Catra let out another sigh of annoyance as she lowered her sword, giving a stern look over to her feathered-companion.

"Swift Wind. I need you to do me a favor stop goofing around for five minutes and pretend this is serious." It took all of the feline's energy to speak as calmly as she could. "Do you think you could do that?"

"I'm just saying, everything's better with loop-de-loops." He insisted, lowering his front to the ground. "Come on. Climb on my back."

"I think I'll pass." She replied. With the casual smile he always seemed to have, the gallant horse flew off into the sky, partaking in his favorite activity as Catra continued to walk along the ground.

Okay. So while the worst kind of animal to give the ability to speak continued to do his thing, Catra decided to take this from a different approach. Seeing how concentrating on her own powers were proving to be impossible, in a small part thanks to a certain steed, she decided to take this from a physical approach as she transformed the sword into a sturdy lasso, one with enough length to cover over fifty feet.

Twirling it a bit as she made her way over to one of the shattered pieces, she gave the rope a good toss as she wrapped it around the levitating fragments, tightening a good grip around the immense boulder, and began to pull.

"Hnnngh..." She grunted as she attempted to pull the fragment with her strength. With the wet ground from the earlier rain still fresh around her, it was proving itself to be difficult as her feet sank into the wet earth a little, sinking in several inches as she continued to pull. "Come on you stupid..." She grumbled as she tried to turn around while pulling.

She didn't need a talking horse to help her do something as simple as moving a boulder, even if it was floating in the air. All the past She-Ra's could do it, and chances were Adora could do it too if she was here right now, so whose to say Catra couldn't do it either? All she needed was a firm hold on the rope, wrapping a length of it around her right arm, sufficient strength to pull the floating landmass in the right direction, and then a clear indication of where she wanted to go with it!

*swiff*

"Ah-!"

*thud*

...For about Three seconds. The moment she took her fourth step towards the center of the large landmass they were on, she had lost her footing and fell backwards. As if to add insult to her injury, in this case her pride, the magicat felt herself being pulled in the opposite direction again by the same floating landmass, the very one she was supposed to be pulling herself.

She never thought she would reach a day of annoyance such as this where she was wishing she was with Glimmer and Bow instead of all this, because no matter how bad their day was going, there was no way it could possibly be more annoying than the day they were having...

...

"A hundred ration bars on the wall, a hundred ration bars. Take one down, pass it around, a hundred ration bars on the wall!" The delirious side of Adora sang out with her glazed-over eyes continued to follow along the beaten path. Glimmer would've given anything to see this day come to an abrupt end.

If Adora wasn't trying to bother Glimmer, she was spending time chatting with Bow about who knows what. If she wasn't spending time chatting with Bow, she was using the opportunity to bother Glimmer as much as possible, just to get some sort of negative reaction out of her in the hopes of it working in her. At this point, Glimmer was well aware that anything she did to react to her would've worked to Adora's advantage, yet the longer she continued to pull Adora by the ropes attached to her wrist, the harder it was getting to drown out the girl's insensate yammering.

"Come on, you all know the words." Adora cheekily grinned as she took another deep breath. " A hundred ration bars on the wall, a hundred ration baaars-"

""You've been saying "a hundred ration bars" for the last one-hundred and two bars already!" She yelped, turning back.

"Really? It only felt like a hundred and one ration bars to me, buuut..." Just seeing the veins of anger above Glimmer's eyebrow alone were enough to brighten Adora's day.

"Look, can we all just calm down?" Bow suggested, looking between the two girls. "I know everyone's irritated, we've all had a long day."

"It's becoming a longer day with her, Bow! Every time she starts to annoy me, she turns it around and makes me look like the bad guy!"

"Pffft, like I'd really need to help you with that, sparkles. What, with being a princess and all, I thought that would've come to you naturally."

"Hgggghhh!" Okay, that was pushing it. She didn't care if what she had to say would've made her seem worse, she just had to get this off her chest. "You know what? At least when it comes to Catra she's honest about her dislike for people and why, but you? You just lie to yourself while going around with a confident smile on your face pretending everything is going to be okay, and pushing away everyone you disagree with like they're the bad guy. You're worse than Catra could ever be!"

No amount of delirium could make Adora ignore the very words that came out of the princess's mouth as she stomped away. For a moment of clarity, she felt an intense well of emotions rising to her chest, a fiery anger that was ready to burst. There were many insults that Catra could handle from enemies of the Rebellion. They could pretend she was really the evil one, they could say anything they wanted to make the Horde sound like the bad guys.

BUT! Out of everything, out of any single phrase anyone could put together, there was one thing Adora would never tolerate in her life: accusing her of being worse than someone like Catra!

"You want to ring that by me again, princess?!" She seethed, running up to the girl and glaring into her eyes. If the look on her face wasn't enough evidence of the anger rising within her, the dark veins that began to grow along her face was more than enough. "Tell me something then; if I'm actually worse than Catra, then where is your little furball of a friend?"

"She's out working on something-"

"Oh, wow, what a coincidence!" The commander didn't even bother hearing the rest of her sentence. "Catra is out being some She-Ra girl somewhere else while you're here doing all the hard work! Boy, I'm so jealous that you have a friend like that."

"Listen you-!"

"And you think anything Catra does now is going to matter? One day, you're going to end up like me. She's going to turn her back on you and ignore you like you never even existed. And once you give Catra what she really wants, something better than she already has right now, she's going to completely forget you even existed when you really need you the most, and ignore you like you were yesterday's trash!"

"Ggghhhhh!"

"Ahh... Guys..." Bow stuttered as he tried to think of what to say. Magic withholding, he could practically see the sparks shooting off between the two as they glared daggers into one another's eyes. Each of them had such an immense hatred for one another that he couldn't tell who to side with. If he sided with Glimmer, chances were Adora's magic would flare up, making her more sick. And if he sided with Adora, Glimmer obviously wasn't going to drop the discussion within the next hour.

There wasn't any likely scenario in which siding with one of them would resolve their current differences, and there was little doubt that siding with both of them was out of the question. He needed to find some common ground where both of them could at least ignore each other until they reached Bright Moon, or at least some way to get them to stop fighting until they reached their destination.

At least, that was the plan until just two seconds ago.

"Don't move!" Shouted a familiar voice, one that Adora was more than glad to hear within the last few hours.

Turning around, the trio were equally surprised to see the Horde present within the other side of the clearing, specifically Lonnie, Rogelio, and the other Force Captain, Scorpia, who looked ready to pounce on any of them the moment they tried to attack them, or worse, did something to harm Adora, and with a small package in her left arm.

Reacting quickly in turn, Bow brought himself to the front of his own group as he pulled out his weapon and arrow, standing at the ready and prepared to fire the moment any of them took a step forward. As for Glimmer herself, she wasted no time grabbing onto Adora's wrist in one hand, having the girl kneel in front of her as she grabbed her by the back of the neck with her other, prepared for anything in case Adora tried to squirm her way out of this situation.

Both sides were glaring each other down, waiting for any one of them to make the first move. This was, by all accounts, the ultimate standoff.

...

*crash!*

"Haaahhhhh!" Catra roared as she pushed the boulder into the surrounding piles of rock, holding onto the lasso tied around all of them for good measure. Once she pushed the floating mass another several feet within the cluster of rubble, she let out a mighty grumble as she pulled her lasso as far as she could, wrapping it around the newest addition to the pile of rocks. "Huff... Huff... How's that look?" She asked, looking back to Swift Wind who was overlooking the entire show from one of the floating rocks.

"You know what? I don't think that one goes there after all." He replied flatly. "In fact, it might be upside down." Catra could've sworn he was trying to toy with her on purpose if he wasn't so high and mighty about being Catra's "glorious steed". "You should take it apart and start again."

"Mmmh... I already tried that four other times!" Catra reminded, doing whatever she could to contain her anger. Ignoring the horse's questionable methods of helping, Catra returned to her task at hand as she shoved the rock further into the giant cluster. Perhaps with the rocks closer together, combined with her form of She-Ra, she could get the rocks to activate somehow? It was better than trying to touch each of them individually, anyway.

She huffed as she struggled to push the massive boulders further. Even with all her strength, keeping the rocks together while bunching them all up at the same time was proving to be a difficult task in and of itself. Add a talking horse to the mix that flew down to her, and it would've been considered a miracle Catra hadn't pulled her own hair out by this point. "You seem stressed. Why don't we list all of our favorite things until we feel better!"

"I'd rather not-

"I'lll go first. Apples, hay, untoppling hierarchies, apples... Wait, I said that already."

"Swift wind!" She nearly shouted in anger. "Do you mind giving me some space already?!"

"...Hear you loud and clear, boss!" He replied, casually trotting away. In one of the few moments, Catra found a second of relief as the horse finally did as he was told for a change... for about three seconds.

*crish*

"Huh?" Catra braced herself a little as she felt the rocks pushing closer to her, taking a moment to realize who was on the other end of the rubble. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm helping of course!" The horse insisted as he continued to push further. "I'm She-Ra's steed, that's what I do!"

"I don't need your help, I can handle it on my own!" She yelled back, both unaware as the rope started to untangle inch by inch as they shouted back and forth.

"I don't care, I want to help you!"

"I didn't ask you to help me, so buzz off!"

"But Catra-!"

*snap!*

"Huh-? Whoa!"

*crash!*

"Catra!" Swift Wind called out in worry. Before either of them could react fast enough, the rope untangled itself with a solid snap, scattering the boulders in every direction, including blasting Catra back among the rubble. Thankfully for her, the magicat was still in her She-Ra form before the blast took place, otherwise there was no telling how injured she would've been.

Unfortunately, that moment quickly faded as Catra pushed the rubble off herself. No sooner had she gotten back to her feet did a bright flash envelop her. In an instant, She-Ra was gone, and she was back to being her old Catra self once more. And that probably wasn't the worst part of it all.

Looking around again, her eyes widened in disbelief. All of it, every single boulder that she spent the last hour collecting and putting together, all that hard work she had been through, was completely wasted. One after the other, she watched as all of the boulders seemingly floated back to their original space, with some of them looking even farther away than last time! As if this wasn't enough, she just had to get greeted by an irritating voice yet again.

"Catra! Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

"Ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Was this supposed to be her life now? Working with an annoying horse, going on countless annoying missions like this, and having to put up with who knew how many other annoyances for the rest of her life?! She swore, the minute one last annoyance popped into her life by the end of the day, she was going to scream, if not tear her hair out followed by someone else's hair! There was barely enough sensibility left in her to push herself away from the conversation. "I need some space! Now!" She stated, walking away as she squeezed the hilt of her sword.

"But Catra, are you okay? Are you hurt? You seem upset about something-" Before he could reach other to her with his right wing, it was just as quickly swatted away by the magicat, the pupils within her boiling eyes mere dots from all of the suppressed rage.

"I'm fine! Happy?! Good! Then leave me alone!"

"But Catra, I just want to help-"

"You wanna help? Fine! Then leave me alone! Go fly and do your stupid loops or whatever, I don't care!" That was the one line where even Catra was aware of what she just said. Even if she didn't know what she said specifically, the sight of the steed's own ears drooping in hurt was enough to make her know she might've crossed a line a little. "Look, I don't have a problem with you or anything, okay? I just... Ghhhhh!" The cat couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as she pulled at her own ears.

Swift Wind continued to watch his master as she stormed her way through the tall grass. Being in tune with the sword, he had a basic connection with Catra to know what she was feeling most of, if not all, the time. Something was bothering her, something wasn't admitting right now. She wasn't in the mood for sharing, and she showed little interest in getting along with him any further than she had to.

At the same time, there was a strange sense of sorrow coming from her. Even if he didn't have an emotional connection to her, it was clear by the look on her face and the way she was still squeezing at her own head. She was struggling with something that was bothering her, and was continuing to bother her at this very moment. For a change, he didn't care what she asked for, because he already knew what she needed right now.

She needed a friend.

...

"Adora, are you okay?" Scorpia continued to ask worriedly. "Are you injured? Did they hurt you? I swear if they hurt you, I will CRUSH them!" She declared, squeezing her claw.

"She's fine! Glimmer announced, tightening her grip on Adora's bonds. "We just want to make a trade. We'll release Adora if you release Entrapta."

"Pffft tchhahaha!" Adora bellowed out laughing, mostly from the delirium, and partly from the situation. "Oh my gosh, this is too funny."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just... Heh heh heh... That's never going to happen." She practically squealed. Naturally, this only served to rile Glimmer up further as she raised Adora to her face.

"Then we'll make it happen!"

"Heh heh... Oh, really?" She grinned, turning over to Scorpia. "Scorpia, get Kyle on the the communicator. I need to prepare an execution if these two don't release me."

"What?" Bow nearly gasped as Adora drew his attention.

"She's bluffing." Glimmer was sure of it. There was no way someone would do something like that, even if it was Adora.

"Really? You want to put this to a test?" Adora grinned, giving her attention back to a confused Scorpia. "...Now, Scorpia!" She shouted.

Scorpia was at a loss as she turned her head back to Lonnie and Rogelio, who were at just as much of a loss as she was. She can't really remember if she ever heard Adora say something threatening, in any regard, to somebody else. Especially not to her own subordinates.

Given the direness of the situation, she was confident Adora had a plan, if any. She had to put her faith in her lovable friend that things would work out, even if they seemed a bit far-fetched from the outside. With a confirming nod, Scorpia followed Adora's orders as she brought out her communicator, adjusting the settings until she got a clear transmission to Entrapta's lab. What followed were the sounds of chaos as a large crash echoed over the comms.

"Ahhhh!" Entrapta could be heard screaming. "No, no, no, no, no! Ahhhhhh! No! Nooooo!" Entrapta's constant cries of anguish were overheard even as someone else's voice took over the communications.

"Force Captain, I knew you'd call me back!" Kyle's optimistic voice cried out. "What do I do here?!"

...

On the other end, everything within Entrapta's lab was a complete and total mess. What started as a simple fire escalated into a full-grown warzone.

First, there was the initial fire itself that started after Emily accidentally knocked into some of the cabinets along the walls, dropping a handful of chemicals mixed together into an eventual flammable substance that was somehow even more flammable when exposed to water.

Following that were several smaller droids created by Entrapta that were designed to put out such flames in the times of crisis, ones that were capable of dousing any fire, be they chemical, electrical, or otherwise. At first, things were proceeding smoothly as the fires slowly dissipated into a small ball of fire, and by the looks of it, things were going to be fine after awhile.

That was Kyle's line of thinking until Emily accidentally stepped onto one of the smaller droids in her attempt to back away from the ensuing fire, crushing the first of the many droids underfoot and accidentally slipping from the oil spill it leaked, causing her to to tumble over several other droids.

This resulted in a security protocol initiating within Entrapta's lab that only made things worse. As the instructions dictated, in the event that several of Entrapta's droids were destroyed simultaneously, specifically by another droid's hands, it was presumed that one of her newest creations had gone haywire, again, and were posing an immediate threat to the scientist and her handful of creations. As such, several more security droids were automatically instructed to enter the room and neutralize the threat in an ensuing battle that only furthered to worsen the fires that were nearly doused.

With the domino effect that was taking place, somehow what transpired as a simple fire within her lab quickly escalated into a warzone as droid upon droid were either crashing into each other, blasting at each other, or, in Emily's case, trying to help its master calm the situation down, which further escalated the chaos.

And the only sensible one out of all of this was a panicking Kyle who watched the situation unfold as he hid behind some debris as Entrapta worked through the madness in an attempt to calm the robots down, or at the very least, disable them before anyone else got hurt.

...

"Kyle, do me a favor and prepare Entrapta for her execution." Adora ordered.

"...Uhhh... who is thi-"

"Y-You heard the commander, Kyle!" Scorpia shouted, playing along with whatever plan Adora had. "And no backtalk!" Never had Adora been as thankful as she was now that Scorpia was clued in on the plan.

Taking a peek again from out of the debris, Kyle turned his head around as he saw the crazy scientist continuing to work on several things at a time, from disabling one of her many droids, to working on another project, and typing info onto her computer for her latest project, all simultaneously and with the help of her elongated hair.

"Just relax. We're figuring this out. Everything's going to be okay." She said to one of the many droids as she worked towards disabling the next.

"Ah, music to my ears." Adora sighed, listening intently on the sounds of chaos in the background. "So, about releasing me now..."

"Haaahh!" If Adora thought Glimmer would've simply released her, she had another thing coming! With a shout of anger, she pressed Adoar back into a tree, raising one of her fists as she gathered an ample amount of magic into it. "Two can play at that game!"

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out in worry and anger. "I swear, if you touch her again..."

"Pleeease, tell me I struck another nerve. It's so much fun seeing you pretend to care for someone, princess." Adora teased. "Or better yet, go ahead and strike me! You know you've been wanting to since we last met."

"Mmmmhhhh!" Out of all the suggestions Adora had given her, this was the one thing Glimmer was REALLY tempted to follow through with as she pushed her harder into the rough tree by her collar. A part of Adora actually was hoping she would go through with it just to prove to her everything Adora knew about the evil princesses.

"Glimmer, stop!" Bow pleaded as he turned his head back.

The princess in question was struggling with what to do. She needed to do this, she almost wanted to do this! This was the one person who brought a war to Bright Moon, the so-called "friend" from Catra's past! How could anyone this malicious and snide possibly be friends with someone like Catra? Even Catra wasn't anywhere as stuck-up as she was!

That smug look of calmness as she knew what Glimer would do, that sense of pride in everything she's done to torment her and her friends since they first mt? And who could forget, the ever-loving memory, of when she tortured her!? There was no way she could let someone like Adora go!

"This isn't fair!" She stammered. "After everything she's done? To me? To the Rebellion? To Catra?" Man, it was so tempting to strike her as Adora yawned so casually. "We're supposed to let her go? Just like that?" She shifted her eyes back as she tightened her grip. "How do we know they'd really get rid of Entrapta, Bow? They need her."

"We need her, you need her, everyone needs Entrapta these days." She taunted.

"We can't take that chance, Glimmer." Bow stated. "We're not them."

It was getting hard. Way too hard. Could she at least strike her once? Get away with a single hit before letting her go at least? This girl wasn't like any enemy Glimmer had come across before. She wasn't like the typical soldier, she was beyond ruthless compared to any Force Captain. This girl... was a monster. One that played solely on people's feelings from Glimmer's standpoint.

And just to prove it to her, Adora just had to lean in and whisper. "Go ahead princess. We both know you'll do it anyway."

"...Mmmmhhhh..."

Adora watched in mild fascination as Glimmer lowered her fist again, watching the magic dissipate from her hands. "Bow's right, Adora. We are better than you." Glimmer simply stated, much to the Force Captain's annoyance.

Still, she wasn't going to let an opportunity go to waste s Glimmer lowered her to the ground again. Shaking her head in dissatisfaction at the girl's feigning innocence, she finally made her way over to her allies once more, one of which was more than eager to welcome her back with open arms.

"Oh! Thank goodness!" Scorpia sighed intensely as joy overwhelmed her. "Oh, come here! Come on! This nightmare is over, finally!" She swore as she helped untie her hands, she would find a way to make it up to Adora for letting her friend get captured if it was the last thing she did! She would keep a much closer eye on her as her friend, and ensure nobody would ever try to kidnap her again!

"...Scorpia, why are there two and three of you right now?" Adora wondered, her vision still wavering even from up close.

"Huh? Oh!" The red officer blinked as she remembered the package. "That's right! Here, put this on. Entrapta said it should help!" She wasted no time ripping the wrapping off the package, excited to see what sort of wondrous device could possibly restore her friend! With one shred after the other, she was ecstatic to see all of Entrapta's hard work, the very project she had been working on for the last several days, finally come down in the form of... a wristband?

"How is... never mind. Here, put this on, quickly!" She pleaded, wasting no time to roll up Adora's right sleeve and slipping the band over the girl's wrist.

All at once, in a reverse-like process, Adora groaned as she felt a wave of pain from her forehead again, squeezing it in agony. However, unlike the previous times where the pain continued to grow within her, this one seemingly started at the top of her pain, and slowly dwindled down little by little. All throughout her body, she felt herself becoming lighter as the fever began to quickly subside, dwindling until nothing more than a slight pang lasted, and eventually, nothing.

At the same time, the darkness surrounding Adora's veins seemed to recede as well. While not disappearing in its entirety, they all seemed to be shrinking as the dark veins began to center around the very wristband Scorpia placed on Adora. Little by little, the shadows continued to slink away, diminishing further until, after several excruciating seconds, all that was left were a few small trails of dark veins growing out from under Adora's wristband.

It might not have absorbed all of the darkness within her, or whatever it was supposed to do, but at least it did it's job enough to rid Adora of her long-lasting fever. The very same Force Captain felt light-headed for a moment as she nearly dropped to her feet. She winced slightly as she rubbed her head, feeling like she was awakening from a long slumber.

"Ugh... Scorpia? Guys?" She questioned, looking around her mysterious surroundings. The last several hours of her life felt like a large blur, where every two seconds of it, one second was lost to her memories. "What's going on? How did we-" It took a simple glance behind her for Adora to recall most of the events that had transpired, a small glare coming from the commander as she remembered who abducted her. "Oh... right."

"Look, we held up our end of the bargain, "Glimmer reminded, "now give us proof that Entrapta is still okay."

"Oh, of course, of course, I'd be more than happy to, your royal migraine." She sneered before turning a calming expression to Bow. "Just as soon as Bow comes with us."

"Huh?" The archer was at such as much of a loss as the rest of them were as he turned briefly Glimmer, who felt a mix of confusion and worry as she prepared for the scene to unfold. "What do you want me for?"

"Duh, isn't it obvious?" Adora casually smiled as she extended a hand. "I want you to join the Horde."

...

A/N: Hooftah, what a long chapter! I dont have much to say that wasn't already said yesterday, nor am I going to jinx it by saying anything like "i'm back to my old self" cause the last time I did, I was on like a 3-month hiatus XP Lol

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and rev if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 67: S2 Episode 2: The Ties That Bind Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: 11.4K Pre A/N's. Hey guys! Not much to say here that I haven't said for the last several days. I had quite the fun time with this episode, especially towards the end. Why? You'll just have to read on to find out X)... hehehe...

Enjoy!

...

"W-What do you mean... join the Horde?" Bow nearly stuttered as he lowered his weapons.

The day had taken many sharp turns throughout the day, all of which were leading towards a downwards collision course to rock bottom. To think the day would've started as a mission in an attempt to rescue their dear friend, Entrapta, the very princess of Dryl, who they thought had died in their attempt to rescue Glimmer and Bow, the very same people who set out on this mission to begin with. Instead, not only did they not find Entrapta, they ended up getting into a tangle with Adora, culminating into a fight that eventually ended with her capture.

With the Force Captain having wasted a majority of her magic in her scuffle with the duo, she was taken prisoner, forced to endure a long trek as her fever slowly built over time. But throughout the trek, it turned out to be anything but useless. At every opportunity, in every instance she had, she was playing the two. She saw the small notches and locks within their relationship, from everything that made it stand together, and everything that could rip it apart.

So, with nothing else to do than to be their lowly prisoner, with the prodding of her inner voice, she worked towards exploiting them. She showed one aspect of trust and kindness towards one, and absolute disdain towards the other. It was no surprise to her that out of the pair, the Princess was the one who was the most worked up, and the soldier, aka Bow, was someone who cared about others, even if they were on the opposite side. That was the very definition of someone from the Horde. Someone like herself.

Like Adora.

The day took an even greater surprise when the trio were discovered by Scorpia a few hours after their journey, in part thanks to the tracking signal on Adora's badge, unknowingly combined with Entrapta's direct involvement to get a read on Adora's whereabouts through her vitals. The girl was more than relieved to see one of her greatest friends in the world were okay, though she was outraged at the possible thoughts of pain and torture they might've put her through.

Along with this, it was thanks to Entrapta's timely intervention, or inventions in this case, that she managed to create a temporary sense of relief for the Force Captain, one that came in the form of a small red wrist band. There was no telling what sort of technological advances were grafted into the wrist band, not that it mattered to Adora or Scorpia. The moment it was around her wrist, Adora's fever heavily cleared up as the shadows within her veins receded to the wrist band itself.

With her fever gone and Adora safely back in the Horde's grasp, there was only one revelation Adora had to make that would make this day absolutely perfect, though, not before she proposed her offer to a surprising individual.

"You heard me." Adora said, lowering her hand again. "I want you to join the Horde, Bow."

"Are you insane?! There's no way Bow would join the Horde!" Glimmer shouted, running to his side. "You're the last person Bow would ever think about joining!"

"Your so-called friend can speak for himself, your highness." Adora brushed off with disdain.

"Umm Adora?" Scorpia whispered leaning over. "Is this still part of some trick or something? Because we already got you back."

"No trick, Scorpia. I'm serious." She replied, giving a casual smile back to the soldier in question. "I've seen the kind of person you are, Bow. You're someone who's kind, caring. You're always putting other people before yourself. You showed me compassion when I was your prisoner, you didn't let your past influence who you are. You belong with others just like us, Bow. You belong with the Horde!"

"I-"

"As if Bow would even want to join you!" Glimmer interrupted before Bow could respond. "What makes you think he would even want to join you in the first place?!"

"Hmm, let's look at the details." To Adora's delight, her powers were back on board as she manifested the shadows around her right hand as she counted off. "First, you're bossy, arrogant, refuse to show any sort of decency, even when addressing your own allies."

"W-What? That's not even-!"

"Secondly, you were more than willing to push Bow's idea aside from the very beginning." She continued, completely ignoring the defensive princess. "I would've been more than willing to listen to Bow's idea, maybe even go through with it! But you? The minute my name even came up in the conversation, you immediately shot down his idea like it was nothing, and treated him like he was nothing."

There was something about that alone that Adora could truly sympathize with. Treated like nothing more than a tool, being seen as a simple means to an end. That was the worst feeling Adora ever felt in her life, and she would ever want anyone else to feel like that. The way she was treated, the way Catra treated her through her life.

"And third, how about that little argument you had earlier in the cave?" She added, feeling more than crossed at the memory. "You completely shot him down back there, and treated him like an idiot! Bow's just trying to help you and the Rebellion, and yet you cared more about your petty grievances with me instead of just giving him a chance! What kind of friend are you?"

"I... I didn't..." For once, Glimmer was at a loss for words.

Was... Was everything Adora said true? Is that how it really looked to her? Looking back on it herself, Glimmer grew anxious. She was just trying to look out for the both of them and the rest of the Rebellion, and yet... How did it look to anyone on the outside? Arrogant? Bossy? Insulting? She knew her history with Adora was a driving influence on her decisions, but did she really end up taking those frustrations out on her own friends too?

"And in the Horde, he wouldn't have any of those problems!" Adora continued, proudly. "In the Horde, he would be welcomed with open arms! Everyone would respect, he might even become a Force Captain if he was willing to help enough." With another genuine grin, she raised her hand to Bow. "So, how about it, Bow?"

This.

This was Adora's plan all along. It wasn't just a game to play one against the other, it wasn't a simple means to an end. From the very beginning, she's been playing the two against each other in the hopes of dividing them far enough to the point that Bow would gladly join the Horde. And right now, looking back on everything Adora said, thinking of everything they shouted about, Glimmer couldn't blame him if he really accepted at that moment.

She felt like a terrible friend.

"Bow..." Glimmer's voice wavered nervously as she turned to him. "Look, Bow, I'm sorry about what I said, okay? I didn't mean to make it sound like I was insulting you or anything. But please, you can't join the Horde! Not just for me, but for the Rebellion! We need you Bow, and I'm sorry for arguing about your idea instead of just talking about it. It's just that-!"

"What are you talking about?" Bow questioned, shooting her an odd look. What started as a feeling of ultimate regret and sadness quickly turned into one of hope and joy as he continued, "I would never join the Horde, Glimmer!"

"You... You wouldn't?"

"Of course not." He stated, looking like he was about to chuckle. "You think I don't think I know she's been trying to get under your skin since we started? I already told you earlier, I didn't trust her completely." Turning to the Force Captain, he shot her a surprising look of certainty. "And she gave me more than enough of a reason to not trust her." Digging through his shirt, he pulled out his tracker pad and began to play it, revealing a rather startling line of dialogue Adora hadn't expected.

"Leave him alone? But it was just getting fuuuun~ What with the way you two were barking back and forth at each other, it would've been all too priceless if I wasn't responsible for any of it."

"So you are up to something!"

"Up to something, did something, doesn't really matter now. All I did was nudge Bow in a certain way to get him to be more... understanding. Reasonable. It's not my fault of a few seeming acts of kindness can make a guy so gullible. Heheheheh!"

"How... Where did you get that?" Adora stammered in surprise. There was no way he should've been in the clearing to record that of all things.

"I've been listening in on everything since the cave, Adora. I've heard every word between you two whenever I wasn't around."

"The cave?" She repeated questionably. "When did you have any time to...!" All at once, Adora's eyes widened as she remembered.

Almost immediately, Adora checked her person, specifically along her hair, until she pulled out the very item that brought the downfall of her plan.

A lone tracking device capable of recording anything nearby, one no bigger than her pinkie nail, and one she angrily crushed between her shadowy fingertips.

"You put a listening device on her?" Glimmer wondered, curious about the marvelous invention, and even more as to how many of those he possibly had.

"I knew she really wouldn't say anything too revealing while I was around, so I put it on her in case I ever got separated from you two."

"But... But why didn't you say anything earlier then?!" Adora never felt such a conflicting surge of confusing and angering emotions quite like she was now. It did well enough to distract her away from the dark veins that slowly started to spread away from the wrist band due to her boiling anger.

"Because I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, Adora." He replied. "I was hoping you would've told me yourself eventually if I just gave you the chance, but all you ended up doing was proving that Glimmer was right about you. I couldn't trust you."

"Nghhh..." Adora gritted her teeth, trying to think of anything from the day that could hopefully turn this opportunity around. "T-Then... Then what about your fight earlier?" She reminded. "In the Horde, you wouldn't have to worry about people disagreeing with you! They'd respect you Bow, I'm sure of it-!"

"And that's enough of a reason to betray her?" Bow questioned, raising his brow. "Adora, friends fight all the time, they don't have to agree on everything. Just because we had one simple argument isn't enough of a reason for me to betray her, and I wouldn't betray her for any reason either. Even if we ended up fighting for the rest of our lives, it still wouldn't matter, because she's my friend and I forgive her."

He continued on before she even had the chance to retort. "To be honest, it's not so different from whatever argument you had with Catra a month ago, Adora." The very mention of it was enough to make Adora flinch. While she didn't divulge every detail of what separated them, Catra gave enough information to know that she regretted her past. "She apologized for her mistakes, Adora, she wanted to make amends with you. And if you still can't forgive her after all of that, then the problem isn't with her, Adora. The problem is with you."

This... This was insane. Everything that she had planned for, all the work she put in from the very beginning, was all for naught. No matter how far she tried to push the two away, even when it seemed like they were at each other's throats, they were still together in the end, like nothing within the day had truly mattered.

What truly sunk in, though, was everything he included. Saying that Adora was the one at fault? To say she was the one with the problem?! He couldn't understand, neither of them could. It wasn't just a simple argument that they had, it was a revelation of their past. To see their life through their mature eyes, to realize just how little Adora truly mattered to Catra. Every day, she's reminded of the horrific revelation, and it sickened her to think about.

And now, he had the gall to presume that she was the one at fault? That she was responsible for all of this?

Noooo... Even without the familiar voice, ringing through her mind, it wouldn't have mattered. She knew who was truly at fault for this, for everything that turned Adora's life around. And for someone like Bow to insinuate anything other than the truth? For ANYONE to suggest such a thing?... It angered her. It angered her beyond belief. And it was taking all of her willpower to keep her powers in check, unaware as the shadowy veins grew along her right arm.

"Bow... thank you..." At the same time, Glimmer was thankful beyond words.

Even after all that's happened, with all the disagreements she had to day, she was truly worried. For a single moment, whether out of anger or simply to spite her, she almost believed Bow would've joined the Horde. Not out of mere betrayal or the like, but simply out of anger. She realized how terrible she was after today, how much she had taken him for granted. She was lucky to have an ally like Bow.

And she couldn't ask for a better friend.

"...I guess you proved me wrong after all, Bow." Adora commented, squeezing her fist as she stifled her anger. "There are no decent people within the Rebellion. You're just like the rest of them." There was so much she wanted to say in retaliation, so much she wanted to argue back. But knowing it was pointless, it would've proven to be a waste of time, one she couldn't afford while the effects of her wrist band were limited. "Scorpia... let's go." She ordered, turning around as she prepared to leave with the rest of them.

"Hold it!" Bow shouted back, raising his weapon again.

"We held up our end of the bargain! Now show us that Entrapta's okay!" Glimmer demanded, never forgetting about the real reason they went through all of this.

The very mention of it was actually rather refreshing to Adora's ears as she paused. With the fever, her failure to convince another potential ally to join their cause, and the lingering pain still within her mind, she had almost forgotten why she was put through all of this.

And the reality of that realization was enough to get her to grin back.

"Oh riiiight, Entrapta. Silly me, with all the fun we were having I almost forgot about her." She nearly chuckled as she had Scorpia hand over her tracker pad. "Then again, it's not really hard to forget about someone like her, is it?" She sneered as she set up the communications, more irritated by the memory of how they left her behind in the Fright Zone than her current situation. "Kyle, if you were preparing some elaborate death trap during that, call it off."

"Kyle isn't available at the moment." Entrapta could be heard announcing. From the other end of the comms, the seemingly senseless robot war that had engulfed the scientist's lab had finally ended, save for a lone droid that was being chased by Emily, who was trying to rescue a very frightened Kyle while he was being carried off. "But I've got it under control." As if to prove her point, with just the click of a lone switch, the last of the terrible droids had finally been disabled. "Don't worry. This was just the prototype. The next model will be much, much bigger."

There was a strange silence between Glimmer and Bow as they stared at each other briefly, overcome with a sense of confusion and unease as they looked back to Adora's pad.

"Entrapta?" Bow called out. "What's going on?"

"Awww, you wanna talk to her?" Adora smirked, flipping the pad over.

"Hi, Bow, what are you doing there?" Entrapta greeted casually.

"Just hang on, Entrapta, we're going to rescue you." Glimmer announced, determined more than ever after all the day's brought them.

"Oh, good! ...Rescue me from what?"

"From the Horde!"

"Oh. Well, that's nice of you. But all of my stuff is here now, so probably I'll just stay. Thank's anyway."

"Entrapta, are you on the Horde's side now?" There was no way Bow could be hearing this right.

"I'm on the side of science!" She decreed, triumphantly posing. "...Buuut I am living at the Fright Zone now, and the Horde is supplying me with tools and materials for my work. So, yes, I guess?"

"Ooooh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I?" Adora chuckled. "What with the busy day it's been, I guess it slipped my mind. Heh, whoops."

"But don't worry about me," Entrapta continued, "I love it here. I've made unbelievable progress in my research. And the Horde has been so supportive. Especially Adora! Is she a great friend or what?"

This was painful. Beyond painful for the Princess of Bright Moon, who could only turn away as she shut her eyes. All this time, right from the very beginning, it was pointless. The mission to rescue Entrapta, the hopes of reconnecting with their lost friend, all of it was for naught. It was too much for Glimmer to bare. She wiped an arm over her eyes to dry up any of her loose tears, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Entrapta had no desire to return to the Rebellion. She was with the Horde now. She was now their enemy. And it hurt.

"I'm getting closer every day to unraveling the mysteries of Etheria. Hacking the Black Garnet was just the first step."

"That was you?" Bow muttered, just as speechless as Glimmer was.

Before another word could be uttered, Adora casually turned the device off before tossing it back to Lonnie. "Hard to believe, isn't it? Why, I would be just shocked to learn the very person I abandoned, who risked their life to save my own skin, would suddenly switch sides, huh?" Entrapta was living proof of Adora's personality. She was sickened with the Rebellion after all they had done to rescue Glimmer, yet failed to do so for a lesser princess like her. It just went on to prove everything that Adora already knew.

The Rebellion was nothing but filth. Filled with nothing but traitors and backstabbers.

"Mmh." There was nothing else Bow could say at that. They had completed their mission, even in failure. They discovered Entrapta's whereabouts, and discovered where her side truly lied now. She was gone, and from the looks of it, there was no getting her back. There was only one thing left they could do at a time like this. "Come on, Glimmer. Let's go... Glimmer?"

This day, everything about this day, was horrible. They failed. Adora was a step ahead of them from the very beginning. In the end, there was no way they would come out about this day on top. Whether she played them in a ploy to recruit Bow, or simply went along with them as a good little prisoner, she had won. She knew she had won. And she knew that very detail since the beginning of the day.

And yet... Glimmer couldn't. As she squeezed her fist, she couldn't.

She couldn't let Adora have the last laugh. With blood pumping through her veins and her mind focused solely on the day's most annoying human being, she screamed.

"Haaaaaaaaahhhhh!" With a massive roar, she charged, pulling her fist back as she charged fist-first into Adora's face.

...

*whoosh*

All that accompanied Catra as she stared into the puddle from the passing storm was the sound of the wind passing through the tall grass. The sound of wind, and her own reflection staring solemnly back at her. She just sat there trying to comprehend everything, squatting to her knees as she hugged them tightly, trying to think of a way out of this mess, and how to avoid any such mess like this in the future.

She wasn't a destined She-Ra. She was just fine with that. She didn't care anymore that she wasn't supposed to inherit the sword, it still bothered her thinking of what her life would've been like if she hadn't, but not as much these days, and she knew that making possible amends with Adora in the future would prove nearly impossible. All of this she had come to accept within the last month, and for the most part, she was just fine with it. So what wasn't she fine with?

Why?

Why wasn't she chosen for such a destiny? Why couldn't she have been chosen in the first place? She knew her personality hindered her potential, immensely. She wasn't a calm or collected person like Bow, she barely had any magic compared to Glimmer, and she lacked a kind heart in the beginning that Adora possessed, one that she was sure would've made her the better She-Ra. And if she wasn't a She-Ra, then what was she?

Was she just another Mara waiting to happen? Was she going to destroy the world at this rate like she did? Or was she going to go beyond that, and possibly involve the entire universe itself?! Such thoughts darkened Catra's mind, in addition to whatever the day brought out, and it frightened her.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't even hear Swift Wind coming, instead seeing him in the reflection staring down at her from behind first.

"Catra?" He called out as Catra closed her eyes.

"Go away, Swifty." She replied casually, waving him away.

"...Catra, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, is wrong." She insisted, nearly jumping the gun at the first word. "I'm sorry about what I said, alright? Just... Just go and play or whatever, okay? I want to be alone."

"...Um... no." Swift Wind simply stated, naturally to her annoyance.

"I said, go!" She repeated with a slight glare in the water. "I need to figure this out, okay? I'm just trying to think of a plan to get the Watchtower working."

"Okay." He replied. For a moment, Catra had actually thought he was about to leave until he saw the horse plopping his rear end right next to her, staring directly at her than the faker in the puddle.

"I thought you understood and were going to go?"

"No, I understood that you're trying to think of a way to fix the tower. I never agreed to move away. I'm staying right here, by your side." He announced, wrapping a supportive wing around her.

Not surprisingly, the magicat just huffed at this as she pushed the wing away, though, there was a small change in her emotions if his senses were reading this right. "Look, Swift Wind, I'm seriously not in the mood for this, so just leave me alone." She growled a little, walking away to hopefully distance themselves a little, only for the stallion to follow close behind.

"Not until you tell me what's bothering you, Catra. I'm your steed, and your friend. I kept your secret about your missing powers for the last month, remember? You know you can trust me."

"It's not a matter of trusting you, alright? It's just... Uggghhh!" Losing her patience, she raised her sacred sword high into the air. "For the Honor of Grayskull!" The transformation wasn't anything new to her, as expected. With a few seconds of the bright flash, she finally gestured to her imperfect form in her entirety. "There! You see what the problem is?"

"Hmm..." The horse contemplated any and all issues that Catra brought up in the past. "...You don't have pants."

"No-! Well... okay, aside from that."

"You want a different colored cape?"

"No-"

"You keep getting your tail caught on something?"

"No-!"

"Then what could be bothering you that you're so upset about-"

"I JUST DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE MARA, OKAY?!" With a bellowing roar, Catra slammed her fist into the closest column of boulders to alleviate her anger. Before she remembered the current state she was in, it was already too late. With such a simple strike, she watched as the massive rock shattered into dozens upon dozens of smaller pieces, each one of them floating away into the sky, by the gravitational pull this strange landmass had, or by the very wind themselves.

Dejected, the cat stared into her own two claws before squeezing them shut, along with her eyes. At the same time, her She-Ra form dissipated as she returned to the natural Catra state she was always known for. The one that was violent, the one that was quick to anger.

The one who wrecked everything.

"I just... I want to be a better She-Ra. Like an actual She-Ra. It's the only way I can avoid turning into Mara, from hurting everyone, and I... I just can't be..." It was a sole revelation that Catra had come to terms with. No matter how much she wished it for herself, even if it was for her own benefit or the benefit of her friends, nothing would change the person that she saw, inside and out.

"You're really freaked out about turning into Mara, aren't you?"

"No, I just like ranting about it pointlessly. Yes, I'm freaked out about it! Mara destroyed the world, maybe even the rest of the Universe, and she was a better She-Ra than me! What hope do I have to fix anything when I can't even fix a stupid tower to fix Light Hope? Or fix the rest of the world for that matter?!"

She wished it, she truly wished it. If there was one thing she wanted most out of the mess she created, it was to at least be the She-Ra she needed to be. Someone who was wise beyond their years, had the strength to turn the tide of war... and the kindness to keep those she cared about from being pushed away.

"...Catra?" Swift Wind spoke, approaching from behind her. "You're nothing like She-Ra."

"Okay, I am really getting tired of every person and animal saying that-"

"No, I mean it. You're nothing like She-Ra." Noticing the lack of attention from her, as well as the trembling frown on her face, he gently lifted her chin up by the tip of his wing. "But so what?"

"What do you mean "so what"? You could've had a professional She-Ra by your side, and instead you got stuck with me." She looked back into the reflection of herself given off the sword. Just like herself, the reflection was distorted, with different colored eyes greeting her back.

"But Catra, I don't want any professional She-Ra as my master." He stated, appearing cleared up in the reflection above her. "I'm excited to be your steed, I wouldn't choose anyone else to lead me."

"Well why bother with me?" She groaned, trying to walk away again. "You could have anyone in the universe, and yet you got stuck with me. Why bother pretending like you care when you could've been off with someone more qualified right now?"

"Because, you're my best friend." At this, Catra froze. For once, there was a change in Catra's emotions. Not one for the better, but one of uncertainty. A brighter change than the torrent of emotions Swift Wind had been sensing till now. "Catra, I don't care if you were supposed to be She-Ra or not. You could be the world's worst She-Ra, and I'd still stick by you. And trust me, you're not."

"You don't know that-" Before she could even finish her sentence, Catra was spun around as Swift Wind pulled her by the shoulder with his wing.

"I do know that! Catra since I've met you, I've felt how you've felt, and you've been struggling. You've been struggling harder than anyone I know. You've been struggling to change the world, struggling with how everyone's treated you, and you've been struggling with trying to change yourself for the better. You work harder than any other person I know. I couldn't ask for a better She-Ra than you."

"Swifty..."

"And you shouldn't worry about trying to be just like the past She-Ra's!" He continued. "You said it yourself, Mara was a full-fledged She-Ra, and she almost destroyed the world in the end. Who's to say none of the other She-Ra's didn't do the same thing in the past? If you ask me, you shouldn't worry about being the best She-Ra you can be. You should just work on being the best Catra you can be." At this, Catra lowered her head again to hide herself, though Swift Wind didn't need a connection with her to know just what she was feeling.

She was smiling, just a little. It was a solemn smile, but one Swift Wind could feel was comforted. For once, Catra actually felt heartened to hear what the horse had to say, and looking back on it, she wondered if she had been a bit too hard on herself? She's been stuck in a war since she discovered the sword, been forced to fight her past friends on some occasions, and even with her own feelings half the time.

This war was a burden on everybody, and looking back on it... maybe she shouldn't be so hard on herself? It's like she thought, they were in the middle of a war, one that was going to get harder as time went on. There was no telling how she would be by the end of everything, and if that was the case... then why bother being so hard on herself now? She had a whole future to prepare for, she had plenty of troubles that lied ahead, so there was no point causing further problems for herself.

She just had to be ready for the next problem to come, not draw the problems to herself. This was the kind of She-Ra she was willing to be, the one she had to be if she was going to tackle any sort of problem in the future.

And she had friend to be thankful for.

"Hey, Swifty?" Catra spoke up, still keeping her head down. Before waiting for a response, to his surprise and joy, Catra through an arms around his neck, still a little embarrassed at what she was doing. "...Thank you." At this, the horse lowered his own head as a sign of affection.

No matter what the future held for her, Swift Wind promised himself, and her, that she would never have to face it alone.

...

The battle continued to rage on as Glimmer attempted to fight Adora head-to-head. Despite the minor headache she was still dealing with, the princess was struggling to land even a single hit on her. She dodged every swing swiftly, anticipated nearly every attack she would make, all the while mocking her at every opportunity to rile her up.

In an attempt to gain the upper hand, Glimmer summoned her father's magic staff from thin air, slightly surprising Adora from the sight. Even if she had used up a majority of her power since the day began, it was nothing to conjure up her father's weapon in hand, charging the Force Captain again as she attempted to swing at her from above at full force. Even if she blocked with her mere arms, it still would've left some injury from the strike.

Yet, Adora was still one step ahead of her, even at this. Within seconds of the swing, she managed to gather an ample amount of her shadowy power, forming a large arm of darkness over her right arm, and single-handedly blocked it with ease.

"Jeez, if you lead half as good as you fought, you might have been able to turn this war around a long time ago." She taunted. Although she appeared to have the high ground and the personal motivation to achieve victory, all that bravado would prove little in the end.

Just a mere several seconds into the block, still pushing against the solid staff, Adora's arm suddenly jerked with pain. Looking at it, her own eyes widened in surprise as the shadows around them were starting to become unstable, as if writhing in its own pain and agony, not unlike Adora when she was induced with a fever.

"What?" Adora grunted as her arm continued to be enveloped in pain. To Glimmer's surprise, parts of the shadow began to diminish little by little, being reduced in mass as she continued to press downward on the defending captain. Seeing the moment of opportunity, the princess grumbled as she pressed all of her weight onto the staff, nearly forcing Adora down to her left knee as she struggled to keep the shadows maintained while defending herself at the same time.

"Ghh... the prototype..." She mumbled to herself. She had almost forgotten that the wrist band Entrapta created was just the first in a long line of inventions she had made to help Adora with her issue. Only now did it dawn on it that it would be incomplete, filled with side effects that wouldn't become apparent until moments such as this, such as making the shadows unstable, and keeping her from unleashing her full power while she was still relying on it to stay healthy.

At the sound of the sight of the staff's head mere inches from her face, Adora's pupil slowly shrank as the weapon came only a few inches from her eyes, slowly gaining more and more ground while the captain was weakened. Thankfully for her, it was times like this that proved invaluable to have allies, as right before Glimmer could strike at Adora's annoying head, she was struck and knocked off to the side by Scorpia's elongated tail.

Sighing in relief, she shot a look of thankfulness to her friend who nodded in turn with a smile, both turning their attention at the same time to the downed princess as Rogelio and Lonnie attempted to jump her.

"Glimmer!" Bow cried out. Shooting one of his arrows at the nearby tree, he grabbed the rope that extended from one of his trick arrows and swung himself over to her side. Before the Horde soldiers could reach her, Bow managed to kick them off the edge of the small cliff they were near and into the bundle of trees below, narrowly saving his friend.

Adora still harbored a great deal of resentment towards the archer. Using an underhanded tactic such as placing a listening device on her, even if she truly was up to something. She would've happily explained herself in the future if the two ever became good friends, but that optimism had finally burned away, along with any hope for Adora to think there was someone else reliable in the Rebellion that would've joined their cause.

Anger still inside her, she yelled as she lunged for the soldier, wrapping her shadowy arm around his neck as she tightened her grip around him. "Forget the princess, she's powerless! Get this one!" She shouted.

As Scorpia raised her tail, preparing to strike, Glimmer slowly pushed herself from the ground, glaring at the captain who had made this day a total nightmare.

"I'm not as powerless as you might think!" She stated. Gathering every last reserve of her power, the princess teleported from her spot and reappeared directly in front of Adora and Bow, the former who was beyond surprise at the magic the princess still had left. "And we'll never let you win, Adora!" Blowing a quick raspberry at the princess, with one final tug, the princess pulled her friend from Adora's surprised grasp, and teleported the two to safety.

"What the-?" Was all Adora managed to say before her vision was filled with the sight of Scorpia's incoming stinger.

*WHACK!*

"Owww!" Adora could be heard screaming, the tremor in her voice scaring off a flock of birds from the nearby trees.

"Adora, I am SO sorry!" Scorpia could be heard apologizing as the fight came to an end.

"I can't feel my legs!"

As the fight came to an end and the Horde picked themselves up, off in the distance along the cliffside to the forest, Glimmer and Bow finally reappeared. The princes nearly dropped to the ground in exhaustion, having spent the rest of her energy for the day, but was thankfully caught by Bow mid-fall. At this the two smiled to each other as they carried each other home.

The day proved to be hectic and filled with disappointment, but at the very least, the two were alive and well.

And, most importantly, they were still together.

...

At the same time, no later than when they were last seen, Catra and Swift Wind were caught by a surprise from their hug as Swift Wind's horn started to hum with energy.

"Swift Wind, your... Your horn..." Catra eyed the horn in fascination, wondering if it truly meant what she thought. "Is this..."

"Our Sacred Bond?" Swift Wind squealed in delight as the horn radiated with energy. From the great shine that transpired, the noble steed felt himself growing stronger by the second. Not two seconds from the horn's magnificent glow were the to drawn to the sound of a lowly hum coming above them.

Within the sky, centered within dozens of the flying pieces of land, they saw it. A mystical artifact, no doubt created by the First Ones, that radiated with the same kind of energy that was drawn from Swift Wind's horn. Instantly, the two realized that this was the center of all of it, the very key they needed to restore the Watchtower to its former glory."Oooh, this is it! This is what I've been sensing. This is the epicenter." The steed's positive energy didn't go without rubbing off of Catra a little.

Looking back at the reflection in her sword, one that was now clear and practical, she tightened her grip. "The last She-Ra destroyed this place." She stated, giving a small smile back to her friend. "I think it's time the new She-Ra fixed it." Raising the sword to the sky, determined more than ever, she said the sacred words. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

Without wasting a single moment, the magicat hopped atop her reliable steed, prepared to fix this tower at long last. As she sat, the two were enveloped by a small white glow, their Sacred Bond empowering the both of them as they nodded to one another. Blasting his wings, Swift Wind soared through the air as Catra hung onto his mane, charging headfirst into the epicenter of the Watchtower, twisting and swerving out of the way of the landmasses until they had finally reached it.

Energy gathered around her, Catra struck the sacred sword at the very tip of the epicenter's bottom. Instantly, a great burst of energy waved all throughout the floating continent, charging the multiple pieces of floating land, and bringing them all to life. Every one of them hummed silently with their own energy as the runes that were etched upon them glowed with power.

"Huff..." Catra sighed, feeling the wave of energy leave her all at once as she looked around. Drawn in to the epicenter's power, the duo watched as the floating structures started to converge on their point as they prepared to become whole once more.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Swift Wind declared. Before the floating pieces of land struck them, the horse gallantly flew off into the air, doing the one thing he did best. "Loop-de-loop!"

"Whoooa!h Hahaha!" Wow. Catra couldn't believe it, but as she felt the adrenaline kicking in and the fresh air blowing past her hair, she realized he was right- these loop-de-loops were kinda fun! And as the great circle came to an end, they watched.

One after the other, within the frame of the broken platform that hugged the ground, the Watchtower slowly became whole once more. The runes lined up perfectly within the structure, connecting to one another as they became a part of something much greater. Within seconds, pillars began to form around the colossal structure, shaping up and working together to become a grand symbol of Etheria.

In a way, it was almost like what Catra had just gone through with Swift Wind; coming together to accomplish a grand task.

With each of the pillars becoming whole Obelisks, the floating epicenter finally descended into the very heart of the Watchtower's head. In a brilliant hum, the Watchtower sprang to life as the runes etched upon the towers body began to spread, descending to the base of the tower, and spreading throughout the landmass in a magnificent glow.

They had finally accomplished their mission, together.

"Ok, I'll admit. That was pretty cool." She confessed.

...

At the same time, within the inner sanctum of the Crystal Castle, the palace began to hum with life itself as its energies were slowly restored. Even now, from where she once was, her face still partially glitched, Light Hope became functional once more. With a distorted wail echoing throughout, the holographic being slowly came back to life, continuing her sentence right where she left off.

"Then I will be back to operation..." Light Hope paused, looking around the vacated room. Her sensors and processing informed her that some time had past since she last froze, and the data displaying the projection of the Watchtower confirmed what she had already analyzed.

"My sensors indicate they fixed it. Good."

...

"Not a bad team, if I do say so myself." Swift Wind added, neighing cheerfully at the prospect. As he looked around, Catra gave a small smile down to him.

She wasn't the She-Ra she wanted to be, and chances were, she might never be. But as much as it hurt to admit, she actually found comfort in Swift Wind's words. She couldn't expect herself to become the best She-Ra of all, but she could easily become the She-Ra Catra could possibly be. It was a lesson she never would have come to understand herself if not for Swift Wind's help. She had to admit, it was rather funny in a way.

By the end of the day, she truly was thankful for a walking, talking, Horse.

*shiiiiiiiiiim*

"What the..." Catra blinked as the sword began to shine brilliantly. Looking back at his master, the two watched in awe and surprise as Catra's body began to glow again. It was a familiar sensation that Catra had witnessed just only yesterday, yet a part of her felt like she was dreaming. If this truly was the same occurrence, then that would mean...

"Catra, you're-" Swift Wind was just as awestruck as the feline herself, eyes widening as the glow slowly vanished to reveal what Catra could only have dreamed of.

Her appearance, the form of She-Ra, had once again, been improved. If the addition of a familiar and cherished pair of pants weren't anything to go by, the increase of strength that Catra felt flowing through her veins were.

Once again, Catra's She-Ra state had been improved, and her bond with the sword had strengthened.

"My pants are back!" Even with the proof all around her, she still couldn't believe it.

The month after the Battle of Bright Moon, after discovering her She-Ra stated had returned to normal, Catra worked tirelessly and endlessly to repair her shattered form, hoping to return to the previous She-Ra state that won them the Battle of Bright Moon, with little results save for a marginal two-percent increase, if even that. No amount of training, no amount of struggling, could return Catra to the oh-powerful state that she once was, and never thought she'd manage to return to such a form again.

Yet, within the last two days, not just once, but TWICE, after opening up to herself and those around her more, did she acquire two additional portions of She-Ra's form, strengthening herself and her bond with the Sword of Protection. It was practically a dream come true! She would've preferred regaining all of her She-Ra strength, but after the first month-long struggle, she wasn't about to push her chances.

This was as close enough to a dream come true, and one she would happily accept.

"Haha, way to go, Catra!" Swift Wind cheered, supportively. "You did it."

"Yeah... well..." Catra scratched the back of her head as a small blush covered her way, shifting her eyes away. "Thanks for... you know... the help and all. I... kind of owe you one."

"Ha, think nothing of it! I am your Noble Steed, after all." He reminded, proudly. Catra started to wonder if he even had a negative emotion at this rate, not that she'd want to see his mood dampen anytime soon.

"Come on," Catra kicked at his side a little as she grabbed his mane, "we gotta show this to Bowey and Pinky. They're gonna be so psyched about this!" She could hardly wait to see what sort of reaction the two had. Maybe at the rate things were turning, she could place a bet for how long it would take her to unlock another portion of She-Ra's power?

"You got it, boss!" And with that, Swift Wind cheerfully soared into the air, just as excited to see the look on their faces, and overjoyed to feel the rush of happiness emanating from Catra's emotions. "Catra and Swift Wind went off on an adventure, fixing the-" He paused suddenly as he shifted his eyes back, remembering Catra's earlier annoyance with his singing. "Ehh I mean... never mind." He decided to just focus on the flight, unwilling to dampen Catra's mood.

Yet, it actually, in turn, did dampen Catra's mood as her ears drooped a little. All he's been doing since becoming Catra's steed, even on this very mission, was trying to help her to the best of his ability, and to be the best steed he could possibly be. Even though she was sure she'd regret, she did appreciate everything he did today, even more so after obtaining another portion of She-Ra's power.

With a hearty sigh, rolling her eyes a little, she gave in. "Ah go ahead, it beats flying silently the entire way." Instantly the horse beamed as he nearly lurched forward with surprise and joy, immediately returning to his singing.

"Haha! Catra and Swift Wind went on an adventure! Fixing the thing that Mara broke when she went nuts~" As much as she hated herself for saying it in her mind, she did have to admit.

The song was rather catchy...

...

"I'm really sorry again, Bow." Glimmer said as she continued to patch up the scrape on his arm.

The day for the arduous duo was a rough one, one they never wanted to repeat again in the history of their lifetime. Unfortunately, with the war raging on between the Rebellion and the Horde, chances were pretty slim that they would be so lucky.

After the long trek back to the castle, narrowly avoiding Glimmer's mother before she could question their injuries, the two found themselves resting back within Glimmer's bedroom, scraped and bruised in several places along their bodies, but at least they were alive. The same couldn't be said for their spirit, however, that felt crushed after the weight of today's journey.

Entrapta was now, and possibly forever, within the Horde. The Princess of Dryl, the one friend they left behind, was now working for their very enemy. Did she truly mean everything she said? was it all for the sake of science? Or did Adora somehow manipulate her into joining them, or actually force her to work against her will?

Whatever the case, they knew that there was no chance of them ever getting her back anytime soon, if at all. And as long as she remained within the Horde, they would continue to unleash stronger and more devastating weaponry against the Rebellion.

"Glimmer, I already said, I forgive you." Bow repeated, twitching a little from the injury. "Besides, you were right all along. I couldn't trust Adora, and I really shouldn't have. If you listened to me, Adora could be in here right now sabotaging everything we had, or blowing stuff up with her powers."

"Mhh... No, I was wrong, Bow." She admitted, sitting next to him as she looked to the floor in a slump. "I let my history with her get in the way of what was more important. I should've been trying to convince her to join us along with you. Maybe we could've really convinced her to join our side if I just tried, but instead I let my emotions get the best of me."

"Glimmer..."

"You were right all along. It's not about me or my history with her, it's about the Rebellion, about all of Etheria. We're supposed to be the ones stopping the war, not trying to continue it. And... I'm sorry for that." Staring at her, the archer gave her a small smile as he patted her shoulder.

"Heh, I guess it's better that both of us were wrong in the end than one of us just being wrong, huh?" At the comment, Glimmer let out a small chuckle. In a way, it was a good thing both of them were wrong about this. If either of them had gone through with the plan and Adora betrayed them after, they would've been left with nothing but guilt and despair. In a strange way, two wrongs here did make a right, or at least a better wrong.

With that off their chest, the archer's mood dropped a little as he continued to remember the rest of the day. "We know now that Entrapta's still alive... and working for the Horde, making weapons to wipe us all out."

"Mmh don't remind me." Glimmer groaned, lying back on the round bed. "I almost forgot why we even went on this mission to start with. We went on this mission in the hopes of helping Catra grow more at peace and stronger. What are we supposed to do now?"

*crash!*

*Neeeeeeeigh*

The both of them nearly jumped out of the bed from fright as the room's door came crashing in, followed by the inane sound of an excitable horse who kicked his front hooves proudly in the air. The second he slammed them down again, the two were greeted by the sight of a surprisingly eager Catra jumping from his back with a single flip, proudly presenting herself in all her glory.

"C-Catra?" Glimmer questioned, almost baffled by the strange excitement in her.

"Haha! Who else than yours truly?" She cheekily asked, twirling her sword as she took it out.

"That... might've been the happiest entrance I've ever seen you make." Bow commented, still blinking in disbelief.

"And why wouldn't it be?" She grinned, gesturing to herself with her sword. "Check it out! I've unlocked another portion of She-Ra's power, and just after yesterday! With two days in a row, I'll be back to She-Ra's full power in no time! Haha!" The energy radiating from the magicat slowly dwindled as she noticed the dower mood the two were in. "What's wrong with you dweebs? Did somebody die or something? Eh heh...heh heh... ehh..." The atmosphere within the air started to drown the girl with curiosity and unease, her ears drooping as her tail slumped to the floor.

"Heh... h-hey, what's wrong? You didn't take the whole "dweebs" thing seriously, did you?" She joked halfheartedly as Swift Wind stepped to her side. Even with this, the solemn looks of miserable duo didn't change in the slightest. If anything, they looked even more glum than they were before. The tension had finally engulfed the magicat as she reverted to her normal form, a twinge of worry creeping up on her mind. "Guys? What's... What's wrong?"

The other two turned to each other solemnly for a brief moment. If they weren't worried enough about breaking the news to her, they were more than enough now. Catra had achieved more in a day than she had in the last month, and they wanted to do nothing more than to celebrate with her! Yet, the reality of the situation called for honesty, no matter how much the truth hurt.

They couldn't put off the revelation of today's adventure, nor could they pretend everything was alright. Sooner or later, Catra would've found out the truth anyway, and there's no telling how much worse off she'd be then compared to now.

With a moan, the princess teleported from her bed to the ground before Catra, her head still lowered as she struggled to raise her eyes a little. "Catra, we... We have something to tell you. It's about Entrapta." Instantly, the excitement surging through Catra's veins had vanished, with her nerves becoming shocked enough to drop the sword.

For the rest of the time, the two struggled to explain to Catra as easily as possible about the day's events. As the scene slowly shifted to the outside, they went into detail about each and every thing from their recent adventure, as well as the tragic reality of their situation. While not every miniscule part was explained, specifically about Adora, the news was tragic enough to put the magicat at her wits end.

All throughout the castle, on that day, from the very bedroom to the border of the Whispering Woods, not a single living soul went that night without hearing the magicat screaming in rage.

"SHE WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

...

"Ugh..." Adora groaned as she rubbed her head again after exiting the washroom. A simple trip back to the the Fright Zone, a relaxing hot shower, and comfortable grey shirt and pants woolen pants for pajamas could do nothing to remove the feeling of unease from Adora's person.

Her mission in hopefully recruiting a member of the Rebellion was a bust. She didn't know if everyone was like that in the Rebellion, or if Bow was just a single exception, but thanks to him, she could no longer take that chance. As of now, the way things stood, she couldn't trust anyone anymore if they joined the Rebellion. If the Rebellion recruited anyone before she could, there was no way she could trust them again. Not to mention the memory loss she was suffering.

Throughout the rest of the day since coming back to the Fright Zone, she was struggling to remember a majority of the day's events. She knew the important parts, of course. There was no forgetting that. She tried recruiting Bw, failed, fought, then went home. But between that and everything else that happened since then, everything else was such a blur, and it was getting harder to remember the events she could recall as the day drove on.

And that wasn't even her biggest issue right now.

Ever since returning to the Fright Zone, despite recharging her powers, Adora was stuck with a mild headache. Even though Entrapta promised to improve the next wrist band for Adora's sake, it did nothing to comfort the Force Captain's pain, or the tingling feeling she's had on the back of her neck all evening. She tried taking medicine, resting a little earlier, and taking a relaxing walk through the zone, yet nothing worked. With the hours drawing closer to the night, all she could do for herself was wash her hands before going to bed, prepared to do whatever she did for the Horde the next day.

At least she had the comfort of having the room to herself for the night, in part thanks to the insistence of her friend Scorpia saying Adora needed to get as much bed rest as possible after all she's been through. With a quiet empty room there was little she had to fear, with or without her powers possibly going berserk in the middle of the night.

At least, she thought as much.

*whoosh*

"Huh?" Adora blinked as she heard something behind her, seeing a strange shadowy figure through the mirror. Turning around quickly, she scanned the room from top to bottom, blinking in confusion as the room was just as empty as when she entered. "Hello?" She called out, wondering if someone was just hidden from her view. With a few seconds of silence, she shrugged to herself as she turned back to the mirror, figuring it was her imagination.

What followed only made her wish it was her imagination.

*creeeakkkk*

"Ahh!" Adora yelped in pain as she dropped to her knees, squinting her eyes tightly. All at once, it felt like her hand was on fire as a searing, burning, pain began to stem from it. She squeezed at her wrist tightly, hoping to stop the flow of whatever the cause was to no avail. What's... happening?! She screamed inside her head, daring herself to open one of her eyes to see the problem, only to gape at the horror she witnessed.

From the very tip of her fingers, little by little, her right hand began to rot. It looked as if it was starting to decay, to age rapidly, as it spread slowly throughout her hand. It grew along the length of it one inch at a time, bringing with it an unbelievable pain that she couldn't explain. She couldn't tell if she was having a nightmare or if this was reality, with neither scenario bringing any sort of pain like this.

The only fortune that came from her moment of agony was the fact it quickly ended, with the pain still tingling in her right hand for a shot while after. "W-What... What is..." She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. She rubbed all around her hand to make sure this wasn't some sort of dream, feeling the crusty skin creaking a little as she tried to rub off whatever brought this bizarre transformation. From her fingers down to her wrist, her entire hand was decayed beyond measure, looking as if it had aged a hundred years in a few short seconds.

"No..." This had to be a dream, or some nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Immediately, she ran back to the sink as she turned the knobs on full blast. Clearly a good rinsing was what she needed, right? There was no way this was all too real. There wasn't anything different about the day, she was sure of it. It was the same as any other day-

Adora blinked as her train of thought came to a halt. "The fever..." Looking back on it now, it was almost frightening how silent the voice was within her head as she experienced the fever for the longest time she's ever had. She couldn't fix her current state with another recharge, she had to push through the fever from start to finish, the first time she's ever had to!

Could this be a drastic side-effect? A major one, revealing what would happen if she didn't recharge her powers on time?! No, no, that couldn't be right. Surely, this would wear off eventually, right? She just had to scrub her hands harder under the hot water. There was no way she would wake up with this in the morning-

"Hey, Adora."

"Ahh!" Adora yelped as she fell back from the sink. With all of her worries and all her panicking, she became oblivious as a lone figure presented itself in the mirror till now. The sight of it was something Adora had never seen before, yet had seen every day of her life.

It was her reflection staring back at her, only one with a more sinister grin as it spoke on its own. If this was a nightmare it was the most realistic one yet, because the reflection moved all on its own, as if it was alive. No, not as if. It was alive. That could be the only explanation for it, because the next thing she knew, the reflection, which was staring down at her from the mirror, slowly walked its way out of the wall, slowly pulling itself from the metal, through the mirror and through the sink.

"Mmmh~" The reflection hummed to itself as it stretched its arms. "It feels sooooo good to be out, now."

"Ha... Haaaah!" Adora roared out as she gathered her magic again. Whatever this thing was, whether it was a manifestation of her own powers, it had to be put away. Nothing about this was normal, and that was saying a lot for the world that they lived in. With the shadows gathered, and her powers restored, it was easy for the Force Captain to make a whip-like tentacle through her magic, lashing it directly at the mysterious, albeit recognizable, figure.

And all it did was cause the reflection to smirk as her shadow moved harmlessly through it.

"Strike one~" It teased. "Strike two!" It continued, chuckling as Adora attempted to swing at it again. "Are you sure you want to tempt a Strike three?"

"Ngh... Hahhhh!" If her magic wasn't going to work, then there was always physical strength. With her fist pulled back, she attempted to strike the target as hard as she could. Unfortunately, all this did was further the reflection's amusement and Adora's surprise as her whole body went through the figure, and slamming her fist painfully into the wall. "Owww!"

"And sheeee's outta there!" With Adora rubbing her aching fist, baffled with these strange events, the reflection started to chuckle as it casually walked towards its counterpart, the "real" one if you were to ask. Adora felt a strange twinge of fear in her heart as she slowly backed up to the wall.

She couldn't fight this thing, she couldn't hit this thing. There was no telling what this thing was capable of if Adora had no chance of striking it.

"W-Who... What are you?" She needed to know, she just had to. Nothing like this could possibly be real, yet the strange vibes going off through her heart was telling her it was.

The reflection came to a stop as it finally stood right in front of her crossing her arms as it grinned. "Hmm... What am I, what am I?" It questioned out loud, playfully tapping her chin. "Hmm... does this ring a bell?" There was a brief pause as the reflection's voice suddenly changed, deepening and twisting into a familiar tone. "Exploit them..."

"T-That voice..." It was one Adora was all too familiar with, one that had given her the chills for the last month. "Are... You're supposed to be my conscious, aren't you?" She didn't care how ridiculous the guess sounded. When your reflections suddenly comes to life and start talking to you, nothing about it was close to the word normal!

It went on to add to the reflection's amusement as it burst into a fit of giggles, holding onto its side as its voice returned to Adora's normal voice. "Pffft tchahahaha! Oh my gosh, that's a good one! Hahaha! Haaaa..." Slowly coming out of her hysterical laughter, pretending to wipe away a tear from the laughter, the reflection continued to grin. "Sure, we'll go with that for now. Consider me your conscious, the little voice on shoulder."

Adora had finally snapped. She must've. Maybe she was actually having a fever-induced nightmare and she was back in the cave, still being held captive by Glimmer and Bow? Maybe she really did fall asleep already and she was completely unaware that she was dreaming? Anything sounded more reasonable than a reflection suddenly coming to life and claiming it was her conscious!

"What.. What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Somehow, her conscious's grin managed to intensify, giving off a brief moment of silence before leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, right next to Adora. "The same thing all conscious's want, Adora. All I want to do is to help you be a better you." It smirked.

"And we have a lot to talk about..."

...

A/N: And with that, we are FINALLY-OMG-ITS-ABOUT-FREAKING-TIME Done with the episode! Gooooooood this should've been done literal months ago, I swear X/ I apologize to all the fans who had to wait, even more to those who are burned out with the lack of writing quality i used to have. I think I slowly am returning to the same level of writing, but it'll probably still take awhile before im back at full strength. Curiously enough, the more I write from my mind than directly from the show, the easier it is and faster it is to write, hence I really gotta get back to the swing of things, which should be a bit easier with the following episodes.

On the bright side, with only 7 episodes, it shouldn't take too long to get to season 3, and even then finish season 3 after ^^ Granted, it'll be about the same amount of time as finishing a whole season rather than half, but depending on how you look at it, it'll go quickly ^^

So, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

P.S.: props go out to Star Saber for assisting with ideas for some of the scenes!

Chapter 68: S2 Episode 3: Signals Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Word Count - 8.9K Pre-A/N's. God i missed the intro to my own series. Its so refreshing to see the lyrics after all this time, and reminding myself that I'm finally back ^^! Also, I freaking HATE my laptop T_T I can't begin to tell you how many blatant typos i discovered in the last chapter, with like several lines not even finished.

With all the writing I do, it starts to slow down after the 5k word mark (not that I can blame it), and because of it, it either sometimes doesn't register what I write, or takes several seconds to load an entire line I write, naturally taking longer the more I write overall. That wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wait like a minute for the line to show up, and then check the words to see if i misspelled something. Least I'll be back home after this so the computer should run smoother.

Anyhoo! Onto the show!

...

The Fright Zone.

The home to the driving force that waged war across all of Etheria.

Within the citadel of this magnificent wonder of technology stood the leader of the Horde itself, Lord Hordak. It was his brilliant mind and ingenuity that lead to the creation of so many technological devices that brought about the war against this word, and it was with his own two hands that he would see the rest of this world bend to his will. Those who allied with him would prosper at the use of his vast technologies. But those who refused, those would wouldn't submit to his will?

They would be burned away till not even that ash remained.

It was thanks to his superior genius, with the devices and weaponry he created, that the Horde had continued to wage war as successfully as they had. One such device he was just finishing up was an example of his technological marvel. Backing away from it, he watched as a large sphere materialized within the center from the lab, channeling a seemingly-endless amount of raw energy as electricity coursed through it without end.

"Finally." He commented to himself as he watched his work unfold. He squeezed the wrench within his right palm tightly, satisfied that his latest creation was finally finished.

After months of research, he had established his long-sought goal of channeling this device, which was just the cornerstone of his ultimate plan. The small imp that had followed him around scurried over to its master, hopping on top of his shoulders as he watched his master's latest creation. This would be the first step of his much larger plans, one that would guarantee victory over the Rebellion once and for all!

Unfortunately, fate wasn't so kind to the lonely inventor. In nothing short of a small flash, an unexpected discharge of electricity erupted from the sphere, destabilizing it until it eventually burst into a glorious flash. The mechanical pillar that created the practical sphere began to short-circuit, electricity dancing around its metallic coating, as it trailed along the cables that connected the lonesome device to its main power source. Before Hordak could react, he watched the generator burst apart from the inside, and the wondrous generator was nothing more than a mere paperweight.

Once again, his machine had failed.

"Useless." He growled. To add injury to insult, his minion chuckled at his master's misfortune, and was quickly brushed off his shoulder as Hordak immediately went back to work. It didn't matter to him how many attempts it would take, or what he had to acquire before its completion. He would make sure that one way or another, this device was operational, if it was the last thing he did!

As for the minion itself, it sniffed around the machine as it circled around it, eventually climbing up to the middle of the device, and opened his mouth as he repeated the last word its master had uttered.

"Useless."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*tsssshhhh*

"C-Catra! Calm down!" Glimmer pleaded as she continued to push against her friend.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Catra grumbled angrily as she pressed on, trudging her feet through the dirt one foot at a time.

She didn't care how many people tried to stand in her way, literally or otherwise. It didn't matter how many people were trying to block her path. She cared little if it was one of the people trying to push her to go back, or a certain archer and horse attempting to pull her back with the rope currently tied around her waist. She was NOT going to let something like this continue.

There were multiple reasons for Catra's anger. After the days events between her and Swift Wind, in honesty, things were actually starting to look pretty hopeful for the magicat. After a long, daunting, task to repair the Watchtower in order to improve Light Hope's capabilities, Catra had found herself forming an unlikely bond with the magical Pegasus who she was more than willing to consider an actual friend in her life.

That revelation alone managed to unlock another portion of She-Ra's true form, a mere day after unlocking another portion from the previous day's events, and Catra was ecstatic! For the first time in a long while, she felt like things were actually starting to look up in her life, which was saying a lot given the negativity she's felt since the Battle of Bright Moon. She was actually optimistic that things were going to work out naturally for a change, and that lone was already enough to put her in a brighter mood, not even including how the next portion came with a pair of pants.

So of course, it was only natural that everything would drop dead the moment she started to feel a little happy.

On another corner of the world, Glimmer and Bow were on their own little mission, which involved the rescue of a beloved scientist named Entrapta. After learning of her survival since the princesses rescued Glimmer and Bow from the Fright Zone, the duo made it their own personal mission to rescue her from what they presumed was her very own labs within the kingdom of Dryl.

Instead, they were thrown into a chaotic journey through the forests following a failed attempt in locating the girl, and after getting tangled up with Adora herself. Throughout the journey, she put the two in danger, threw them into constant peril at her own convenience, and even attempted to recruit Bow over to the Horde's side. While, thankfully, the recruitment obviously failed, there was still one ace up Adora's sleeve that neither of the two could have ever expected.

Entrapta wanted to work for the Horde, and wasn't looking to leave anytime soon.

With their mission a failure, the two were forced to retreat back to the safety of their own home, patching up personal wounds from the day's journey. None of those wounds would even come close to the scar it inflicted upon Catra, however, after the shocking revelation.

Needless to say, the girl was shocked, in disbelief, and, which goes without saying, utterly and completely enraged.

Entrapta. The girl she had grieved over for weeks, believing her death was on her own two hands, was alive. Not only was she alive, making the moments of grief pointless, but she was working for the Horde. Based on what the two had informed her of, she was working for the Horde of her own free will. No tricks, no torture, no brainwashing. She wanted to work there, to forget about her past friends all for the name of science, and, to Catra, it didn't matter who she betrayed.

Everything about it, from the biggest to the smallest detail, devastated her. How much, one might wonder? Enough knock portions off of Catra's She-Ra state by at least two portions. The inner rage building within her chest was practically on fire as she discovered a newfound hatred for the scientist that she didn't think was possible. She lost her pants, and she lost her cape, two significant items that came with an extraordinary boost of power, and for the first time since becoming She-Ra, Catra didn't care.

She wanted Entrapta to pay, she needed her to. No amount of convincing would get through to her, no amount of teleporting her back to the steps of Bright Moon, in this case 37 times, was enough to annoy her. Entrapta was her sole focus at this point, and if Glimmer, Bow, and Swift Wind were going to get in her way, she wouldn't care. She was on a direct path for the scientist, and she wouldn't turn back until she had her claws around her throat.

"Don't you think you're overreacting just a little?!" Glimmer stammered, using whatever physical strength she had to slow Catra down even a little in her current She-Ra state.

Bow was almost in disbelief at how determined Catra was for a change. It would've been beautiful if it wasn't for the sake of revenge. "You've been at this all night, Catra! Aren't you even a little tired?" He's never met a more determined individual that was willing to march her way straight to the Fright Zone for ELEVEN STRAIGHT HOURS, and still just as determined to continue her mission!

"I told you three to get out of the way!" Catra yelled, barely even seeing Glimmer as she focused solely on the path before her.

"Come on, Catra, at least listen to reason!" Glimmer begged. "Even if you made it all the way to the Fright Zone on foot, how do expect to reach Entrapta who's at the center of it all?"

"Simple- I'll tear down every wall and toss away anyone that gets in my path. Now LEAVE!" It was a miracle at this point that she hadn't physically harmed any of them at this point. It's not like she didn't understand why they were blocking her path, the problem is that she really didn't care.

"But Catra, look at yourself." Swift Wind took the moment in an attempt to get through to her, dropping the rope from his mouth, inadvertently making it harder for Bow to pull her back. "You were doing so well up till now, and now you're losing She-Ra's power. Do you want to let all that hard work go to waste?" Surely, even she cared more about obtaining She-Ra's power more than some petty revenge, right?

"I'm not letting it go to waste. I'm going to use it to pull every strand of hair from her head, and THEN I'm going to toss her off a cliff! I'll let gravity do the rest." Apparently not.

*shiiiiiiiiim*

In fact, the outcry of her anger was enough to spark even more darkness within her soul. So much so, that in another brief flash of light, another portion of She-Ra's attire, her bracelets in this case, had disintegrated. The one silver lining from all of this was that it dampened Catra's power further, enough so that she actually found herself starting to get pulled back for a change.

"Let me go!" She growled, noticing her apparent disadvantage.

"Not until you calm down, Catra!" Glimmer stated, more than relieved that they were finally gaining a little ground with her.

Not that it did much given the tired state they were in after the last eleven hours.

"Ugggh, you guys are unbelievable!" With another growl, the magicat finally gave in, for the moment at least. Hanging her head a little, another bright flash enveloped her entire body, but thankfully it was a scene of Catra reverting to her regular self, not her losing another piece of She-Ra's true form.

At the instance of Catra's sudden break, everyone else finally collapsed as they panted, exhausted. For the first time in the last eleven hours, they could finally catch their breath.

"I don't get why you guys aren't just as angry as I am! Entrapta betrayed us! Don't you get that? Betrayed!"

"Huff... Catra, it's not that we're not angry or anything." Glimmer stated, slowly getting to her feet as she brushed herself off. "It's just... there's no point in getting angry about it in the first place. We're the ones who left Entrapta behind, remember?"

"...I remember who left her behind, Pinky." Catra said rather coldly as she slipped out of the rope tugging at her waist. There was a bit of an awkward silence as the cat mellowed over to the nearby tree, leaning her back against it as she crossed her arms, shifting her eyes away. Glimmer and Bow looked at each other a little regretful as the archer gathered up the rope in his hands.

That was the main crux of the matter, the one defining line that really put Catra over the edge. It was because of her, what she felt at least, that Entrapta got left behind in the Fright Zone in the first place. The girl was so convinced she was solely responsible for the mess that it caused Catra to take out her frustrations on the Princess Alliance, almost ruining the alliance completely.

It's because of the pain that it caused her, all that pent up frustration that almost ruined everything, that Catra felt the need for revenge.

"She could've come back at any time that she wanted to, and instead she chose to stay in the Fright Zone. She saw everything they had and decided to stay with them instead."

"To be fair, the Horde do have better tech than us." Glimmer commented in honesty. "But we have magic on our side."

"Magic and tech aren't totally separate things." Bow retorted, examining the arrows he brought along as he stashed his rope arrow. "Entrapta is one of the only people who really understands that. She got closer to combining them than anyone else. And... now she's with the Horde."

"Mmmmmh..." Shockingly, the reminder of their dilemma did nothing to ease Catra's spirits as she continued to look away. It just dampened them.

"Err... W-Well who needs Entrapta, anyway? You've got Bow, tech master and premier member of the Etherian Maker Community!"

*boom*

All of that cheer and positivity did little for any of them as the latest arrow he was examining exploded in his hand. With a brief flash, the archer's latest arrow caught fire, billowing with a plume of smoke that trailed towards the sky.

"Uhhh... Ahem... I uhh... meant to do that." He (obviously) lied, shaking the arrow briefly until the fire was out.

"...Huh?" Catra lifted her head a little as her ears twitched. "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

"Catra, we're not falling for that trick a third time-"

"No, I mean it. Listen." Catra said, looking in both directions of the path they were on. "It's quiet... like, really quiet." Taking a brief moment to listen to the girl, while still keeping an eye on her this time, the three examined their surroundings as they listened carefully.

"Hey, it really is quiet. And I didn't notice any animals on the path here." Swift Wind commented, examining thoroughly with his wing perched atop his head as the Noble Steed he was.

"Hey... I think were actually near Alwyn." Glimmer revealed, catching everyone's attention.

"Who?" Catra asked.

"Not who, it's a place." Glimmer explained. "It's a farming outpost we lost contact with a week ago. My mom was actually thinking of sending us there if they didn't respond by morning."

"Lost contact?" After a few seconds of thinking, Catra glared fiercely as she grabbed her sword again. "The Horde's gotta be involved!" She hissed. If these three were going to get in the way of her trying to get to the Fright Zone, at the very least, they shouldn't try to block her from dismantling a Horde-infested outpost.

"We don't know what happened to the outpost, Catra, but the Horde hasn't been reported in this area."

"Oh please, who else could it be? If something goes wrong around here, it's either always the Horde, or something that usually involves the Horde."

And we can handle the Horde." For once within the last eleven hours, Catra was willing to listen to Glimmer's optimism, however brief. "Look, I don't care if they have Entrapta's inventions. They're no match for us! And we'll handle this the same way we always do."

"With our tech?"

"Almost dying?"

"Being a royal pain in my tail?"

"No, no, and NO." Glimmer shot each of them down. "By sticking together and never giving up."

"Yeah! Best Friend Quad to the rescue!" Bow cheer, making a square with his hands. The others just stared at him in an awkward silence as he chuckled nervously. "Heh... Because there's four of us? ...No? Okay, taking that one off the list..."

"You know what? That's actually a great idea!" Catra commented, nonchalantly. "You guys go "best-friend-whatever" yourselves that way, and I'll head to the Fright Zone."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Er- Yeah... I meant that..." Bow chuckled a little embarrassed as Glimmer corrected him.

"Catra, you know we need you for this mission if we're to stand a chance in case the Horde's involved."

"As right as you are about that, I don't really care. I only stopped for a quick rest, I wasn't planning on stopping completely." She explained, sheathing her sword as she walked away in the opposite direction. "If you guys aren't going to help me, then just go home."

"Catra! Mmhhh..." What was a princess to do in this situation? Catra wasn't accepting an obvious no for an answer, and there was no way she was going to get a yes out of Glimmer either. At the rate things were going, they were going to be fighting with each other for the rest of their lives and never accomplish a mission again because of this vendetta Catra had. Giving it another few seconds of thought, the princess nodded to herself in assurance before teleporting from her spot, reappearing in front of Catra and blocking her path. "Catra, wait!"

"Get out of the way, Pinky. I'm not in the mood." Without giving the girl a chance, she forced Glimmer to walk backwards as she pressed on ahead.

"Catra, wait, I'll make a deal with you: If you help us with the mission, then... I'll help you with the Fright Zone." For once within the near half-day of fighting with her, something she actually said finally got Catra to stop.

"...You will?" She said, slightly doubtful.

"Yes, we will! We're not going to get involved with the whole revenge thing itself, but we promise to at least get you to Entrapta first and then we'll get you out! Deal?" Catra stared at the girl in minor contempt as she contemplated this, but eventually sighed, crossing her arms.

"Ugh... fine. But no tricks, got it?" Glimmer almost cried out in joy that she finally got through to her after all time time as she thankfully nodded, quickly teleporting back to Bow as he pulled him along with her. She didn't need to check if Catra was actually following her as the sounds of bristling grass trailed behind them, and at worse, Swift Wind could easily chase after her and keep on her location if she tried to bolt.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bow whispered leaning over as Glimmer continued to drag him.

"Would you rather play tug-of-war with the kitty cat all day?" She whispered back. "Hopefully she'll forget about this whole thing before the missions over."

"And what if she doesn't?"

"I don't know! I'll think of something else-"

"I can still hear you you morons!" Catra yelled ahead, causing the two to blush as they sped up the pace to hopefully distance themselves away from Catra's sensitive hearing. In all honesty, Catra was well aware of their plan from the moment Glimmer suggested it, and in all honesty, she didn't care.

Entrapta had to pay. That was the end of it all, and that's all there was going to be. Entrapta spent weeks playing around with who knows what sort of contraptions the Horde had to offer, all while building weapons of mass destruction to pit against the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance, the very people she was supposed to be siding with in the first place! She promised to make weapons for the Rebellion after the Princess Alliance saved Entrapta from her own creations, and what do they get in turn?

Betrayal. The loss of a valuable ally. And stronger and dangerous droids at every second of the day. It's no wonder Catra thought the strange Orbko robot felt familiar to her; even though the scent wasn't strong enough, there was more than enough of the nerd's handiwork around it to tell her it was Entrapta's own creation.

She didn't care what her reasoning for betraying the Rebellion was. When Catra got her hands on her, she was going to make her sorry. She was going to make sure Entrapta ever regretted being born for that matter. Nobody was going to betray Catra or her allies and get away with it, and she wasn't going to let anyone get in her way of revenge.

Even if they were her very own allies.

...

"Hm, hmhmhm, hmhm hmmmmm~" Entrapta cheered gleefully to herself.

It was a glorious day for science. Every day was a glorious day for science! After all, when every day garnered a new handful of details and statistics, the science was never-ending! Every failure resulted in more science! Every success resulted in greater sciences to be studied with! And if there was a middle ground, she was sure it wouldn't matter, because that would just result in even more science.

And today was no exception! The readings she got from the prototype-solution she made for Adora, in the form of a wristband, were incredible! Not only was it one of the many new studies between Science and Magic she got to study with since meeting Adora, she was able to get a multitude of readings on her latest project, which crossed the boundaries of science and magic like never before!

It is a shame that the prototype ended in a bust, barely working for more than two hours before Adora started to come under the effects of her fever again, though that was to be expected. It was just the first prototype of a new creation she came up with after all, and thanks to the readings she got from its analysis, she was able to devise new and improved versions of the wristband that she could only dream of ever having!

Over simulations, at least.

With the readings she got from the prototype, she managed to input hundreds of new algorithms into her computers, studying the various effects the new and improved wristbands would have over Adora's body. And, to Entrapta's joy, out of the five-hundred simulations she pulled off, she was sure that at least three of them wouldn't result in some horrific event related to Adora!

Okay, so it might've sounded worse than it looked because, well, it was. But at the very least, it gave her three different reliable wristband schematics she could work with that would've improved Adora's overall health. And as soon as she was finished on her latest schematics and devices, she was going to hop to them immediately!

*rumble*

"Hm?" Entrapta paused as she thought she felt a small tremble from where she worked, lifting her helmet and turning off her electrical modulator to check her surroundings. With nothing seemingly out of the ordinary, the scientist shrugged as she resumed her work.

*rumble-rumble*

She paused again, this time getting a clearer view of the table's trembling. It took even longer for the work station to stop trembling this time, and there was no way she could continue her work until she fixed her problem.

Waiting for the current trembling to stop, she searched under the weighty table to discover the root of the evil, finding a loose lug nut that held the entire table together. Nothing a little twisting couldn't fix. "Emily, hand me a six-sided hex driver." She ordered to her faithful companion.

The droid gladly examined the table of another workbench, trying to find the necessary tool for her master. Sadly, the robot had little luck in this endeavor, growing frustrated in its own failure. With no where else to look, the robot made its way over to another pile of scrap heap, hoping to find its master's precious tools, and coming to the same result. It could only give a lowly hum of sadness as it shook its round body to her.

*Hmm-Hmm*

"Ugh. You're right, Emily," she groaned, lifting herself up to the table with her hair, "how can we possibly work like this?" She let out another groan as she lied on her back, her hair on the fritz as she became irritated.

This was no way for a scientist to live! A decent lab space was supposed to have sound structures, decent materials, and access to schematics and technology to get the job done! And she only got all of those things! She was going to have to find a new location, or better materials, to work from.

But where...?

...

Sighing, Adora cleared her throat as she entered Hordak's inner sanctum. The second-in-command was eager to find out what could possibly be on today's agenda, as well as possibly brainstorming different ways to improve the functionality within the Fright Zone.

After the long exhausting day she had to suffer through, she wanted to forget everything that came from yesterday. Being captured by one of the princesses and used as a piece of leverage, failing to recruit a member of the Rebellion over to the Horde, and dealing with the world's most severe fever for several hours.

It was refreshing, in some sense, as it was one of the few failures Adora had suffered through since becoming Hordak's second-in-command. At the same time, it wasn't a process she felt like repeating, especially giving one of the much larger side effects she came across.

So, hoping a good meeting with the leader of the Horde would brighten the mood around here, she smiled as she examined Hordak's inner sanctum, only coming across it a few times within her life, and still marveling at the great man that roamed these halls.

"Lord Hordak?" Adora called out as she looked around. "Sir?" Her eyes drew over to the sight of Hordak's strange imp staring right back at her with its yellow imposing eyes.

"State your purpose, Force Captain Adora." The sound of his voice nearly made Adora jump as it startled her. Looking over to the right, she discovered her leader in a small lab-like section of the section, straightening out her captain's badge properly before making her way over to him.

"G-Good morning, Lord Hordak." She greeted, respectfully as always, as she placed her right hand behind her back. "I, um... Eh-hem. I thought we should go over any new details today concerning the Horde. You know, like you did with Shadow Weaver. I thought it would be proper if we checked in on a daily basi-"

"So, I'm to understand, that you disturbed me for no reason?" He coldly interrupted, his back still facing her as he examined the monitors.

"What? N-No, of course not! I wouldn't waste your time or anything like that!" She assured, stepping towards the center of the room where he was situated. "I thought it would be vital to discuss detailed strategies or changes within the Fright Zone that need addressing!... Sir! We've gained more ground within the last month, and with our resources growing, we-"

"Was squandering our advantage while the Whispering Woods regrew part of your plan, captain?" His voice was unlike anything Adora's heard of before. It was filled with an unfamiliar rage she didn't recognize from him, the hiss in his voice almost giving her chills.

As he spoke, he walked over to a pair of levels located on the opposite side of the room's center, never taking his glare off of her. Adora didn't have so much as a chance to blink as he reached over for the leftmost lever, initializing one of the technological advancements of his knowledge, a device that hummed with energy as a blanket of pink began to cover the area the two were in.

"Was letting yourself get captured?"

Adora had never seen something like this before. It was like a force field, one meant to keep things inside rather than out. All throughout the location, she felt the ends of her skin beginning to tingle, the electricity crackling with an eerie tune, and the air... She pulled at the collar of her of her jacket as she coughed a little.

"Etheria's atmosphere has proved to be a complicating variable in my experiments."

"I-I...hack! Ough!" Adora rubbed her neck as she continued to cough.

"I just removed that variable."

What... What was going on? Who was this man?

"Tell me, Force Captain, how is your breathing?" He mocked as Adora's legs trembled a little. It wasn't from her own lack of strength that caused her knees to become unstable, it was the growing shadows around her arms that proved hard to control.

They always reacted in times where Adora found herself under physical pressure, or, more commonly, when her fever continued to surmount. They reacted defensively to most-anything near her, and the longer she was under harm, the harder it was to control them. By now, she had mastered limiting these experiences, this protective coating, to her arms, but even they were becoming a harder to control

Within seconds, Adora fell to her knees as she wheezed, gasping for breath. It was taking all of her energy just to keep the aura of shadows around her arms from possibly lashing out, and it was near impossible for the blond Force Captain to breathe. Sweat trickled down her face little by little as bangs of her hair became undone.

This... This sensation was horrifying. She could barely see as her vision hazed from the immense pressure. She could've sworn she wasn't looking up to the eyes of a man.

She was seeing a monster.

"...Pathetic. Just like everything else on this backwards planet." He scoffed, returning to the levers that created this madness. At long last, after what felt like an eternity, he provided mercy for her, finally disabling the machine. A breath of fresh air never felt so good to Adora as she gasped for breath, watching as the shadows surrounding her arms finally dissipated. "Do you know what the definition of failure is, Force Captain? Failure is when something ceases to serve a purpose. When that happens, it becomes worthless to me." She nearly flinched as he rested his hand atop the lever again.

"Thus far, your performance has been lacking."

Adora blinked as if he was speaking an entirely different language. Failure? Lacking? Who was he referring to? It... It couldn't possibly... "F-Failure?" She squeaked. "You mean... me?"

"Am I not making myself clear enough, Force Captain!?" He seethed, tightening his grip on the lever again.

"But I haven't... W-What do you mean, failing? My Lord, where have I failed?" It was baffling to her that he would think such a thing, let alone react like this. She did her best to maintain composure as he made his way over to her, backing away slowly. "I've gained resources that far exceeded our previous records. I've helped the Horde obtain alliances with various outposts. I've-"

"With every so-called "alliance" you've achieved you've depleted our resources and spread our troops further!" He bared his teeth as she backed into his console. "How many kingdoms have you obtained? What kind of technology have you acquired? Your methods were merely amusing at first, Force Captain, but they've begun to hinder our efforts. I can not have a Force Captain who can not continue to exceed my expectations," she jumped again as he suddenly grabbed her right arm, exposing the little secret she was trying to keep hidden behind her, "or ones that are already falling apart!"

"I-I-I-" Adora lost her voice as she stared at him.

With the terrible side-effect she just came across the previous night, Adora didn't know what to do. It was too late in the night to inform Entrapta, she couldn't risk Scorpia having more of a panic attack than she did throughout the day. With the decay still present all over her right hand, Adora took it upon herself to keep it personal, for now, and covered a black, thin, glove over it. She needed to work out her own problems for now, not present every one to Entrapta after all she's done to help.

Yet, how did Hordak already know about this?

"Nothing happens within the Horde without me knowing, Force Captain." He emphasized what he already knew as he rubbed the edge of his thumb around her glove. "I can never accept a commander who can't take care of herself, nor can I allow failures to rise through the upper ranks of my army. So tell me, Force Captain, are you reliable, or a failure?"

"I-I'm..." She swallowed silently. "I'm reliable, Lord Hordak. H-Honest."

"...Hmph... Prove it." She flinched as he casually pushed aside her arm, making his way over to another console. "You are dismissed, Commander."

Adora didn't waste a single second as she anxiously walked away, tensely rubbing her gloved hand as she tried to process everything that transpired within the last full minute of her life. The icon she looked up to as a hero nearly killed her because of her mismanagement of resources, which she thought was evenly adjusted, his personality didn't reflect anything like in the stories she's heard, or the last month of working under him, and he somehow already figured out about her decayed hand before she could even tell anyone, not that she wanted to.

And all throughout her exiting, she was haunted by the imp's unsettling taunting as it repeated the very words that unnerved her.

"Failure."

...

"Huff..." Adora breathed deeply as she leaned against the walls just outside the door to his sanctum. He thought she was failing the Horde? How was that possible? She gained alliances with outposts that could track the Rebellion's movements, enlisted soldiers that never would've dreamed of joining the Horde. Isn't that all he wanted? Sure, the technology of the First Ones was a great priority, but with a lack of details on where to find more, it was nearly impossible to come across some at random.

Looking back at the door for a brief moment, she was about to make her way back down the hall, debating on how to improve her current output, when she was greeted with a face that was all too familiar to her.

"Hey, Adora." Herself.

"Wah-!" She nearly yelped, feeling her heart skip a beat as she jumped.

This was the other side effect that came from yesterday's endeavor, and it was proving itself to be much more of a handful than it insisted it was. After literally coming face-to-face with it last night, it simply disappeared, leaving nothing behind of its existence. So, naturally, Adora could only assume that it was all in her head, most likely some fever-induced dream, and that she made the whole thing up in her mind.

Unfortunately, reality came to bite her in the neck as the moment she woke up, she was greeted by the very same reflection, who agreed to see itself as her "conscious", and had been trying to get Adora to acknowledge it every waking moment. It never left her alone, it wore just about everything she did at all times, and it, disturbingly, knew what sort of thoughts were going through Adora's mind, sometimes before even she did.

At this point, she couldn't tell if it was worse than her hand's decaying, and a part of her really didn't want the answer.

"Geez, what's up with boss man giving you the business?" It joked. "So, I've been thinking on what to call myself. Since I met you through the mirror, I'm thinking of something a little more playful. How does "Aroda" sound?" Its constant jestering did nothing to lighten Adora's mood as she glared at it, preferring to ignore it as she walked along the halls. "Oh come on, are you still ignoring me?" As if it needed to ask as it walked along with Adora, the Force Captain doing everything she could not to draw attention to it as she kept her eyes forward.

"You're nothing but a figment of my imagination... You're not real..." She muttered to herself.

"You're a figment, you're not real, blah, blah, blah." It taunted back in a mockingly serious tone.

"As long as I ignore you, you'll eventually go away."

"Mmmh noooo, I don't really see that happening." There was nothing this thing was taking seriously. It wasn't even walking anymore, it was floating an inch off the air as it continued floating backwards with Adora. "At least until I say you don't need me."

"Then what do you want?"

"I've already told you, I just want to help you."

"And how do you "want to help me" as you would put it?"

"Well, for starters, I feel like we need to establish a little more respect from a certain leader. I say we go back there, trash whatever he's currently working on, and pull him down to your height so he's ready to listen."

"And that is why I'm ignoring you."

"Oh come ooooon! I'm just trying to help you. You can ignore me all you want, but you need me more than you think."

"I don't need anything from you. I'm managing just fine on my own." She glanced her eyes away for a brief moment. "I just... need to make some improvements around here. Adjust some things. Then he'll see I wasn't a mistake."

"Oh, right. Pffft. Mistake." Aroda rolled her eyes at this. "You do all the hard work and king vampire over there just sits on his silver tin can all day."

"What are you talking about?" For once, Adora came to a halt as she stared directly at her. "Lord Hordak is a wonderful leader, and has accomplished so much! We wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for him!"

"Then why was he the one barking his disappointment at you?" Adora was silent at the question as she looked away. "Doesn't seem very grateful of a leader if he just shouts at you and treats you like garbage."

"T-That wasn't his fault." Adora insisted as she continued down the hall again. "H-He's just... real busy. Responsible for the entire Horde. I shouldn't have been stupid and bothered him without something important."

"Oh yeah, I see how it is. He messes up and you apologize for it. That seems fair. Hey, while you're at it, how about the next time the Rebellion crushes the Horde and takes Hordak captive, you volunteer to take his place after he says what a failure you are?"

"The Rebellion is NOT going to beat us!" Adora nearly shouted, actually making the double pause in its floating. It wasn't out of surprise or shock, either. No, it was actually because of the amusement it found as it grinned.

"Ooooh, that's right, they're going to lose aren't they?" At this point, the double was lying in midair as it continued along with Adora. "After all, we have such a good track record of beating them. Like that time in Plumeria- oh, no wait, they totaled that outpost." Its grin continued to spread as she saw the corner of Adora's mouth twitch. "Well at least we have Salineas under our belt, and... Oh... no wait, I forgot... that was them too wasn't it? Gosh, I'm sorry. I'm just reminded of what a HUGE success you are around here. I just can't see why Hordak would call you a failure."

"Shut uuup..." Adora muttered, trying to calm herself.

"And repelling their invasion after we kidnapped the princess and her friend? Man, you were WAY on top of that weren't you? I mean, not everyone can rip the doors open to freedom and let the prisoners get away, huh?"

"I... I wasn't intending for that. I didn't think..." She couldn't bring herself to bring up Catra, the betrayal she felt that day only being the start of the pain she would cause her.

"And who could forget your greatest victory to date? The day you won Bright Moon for the Horde by letting your best friend get to you, to stall you, and let an overwhelming victory slip out of your grasp, all because you wanted a little bitty satisfaction-"

"SHUT UP!" That was the breaking point for angered Force Captain. Aroda had to admit, that was a surprising reaction even for someone who reached their breaking point. It was all too clear what button pushed Adora the most and how to get the best reaction out of her.

It was even more clear at how crazy Adora must've seemed as she was staring at the wall, to the point of view from the two guards who were patrolling further away from the Force Captain. Adora's eyes shifted somewhat embarrassed as she noticed the awkward pair staring at her, lowering her head a little as she continued on her way.

"Boy, that must've been awkward."

"Would you just go away already? I don't want any of your advice or anything, okay? I can handle my own life."

"Awww, come ooon. I can do a lot more for you than give you advice."

"Like what?"

"Like telling you to look out for that wall."

With the hallway clear in her view, and the path still going, Adora had to look at her in confusion. "What wa-"

*Thud!*

"Ah!" She yelped, falling back after colliding in whole with the sturdy force.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out, kneeling as she offered a claw. "Are you okay?"

"Ngh... Y-Yeah..." She mumbled, rubbing her head a little before accepting her hand. Of course she wouldn't see the wall she was referring to- she wasn't expecting anyone to come around the corner of the intersection. "I'm fine. Sorry about that."

"It's alright. I was looking for you anyway." She took a glance around the halls as she tapped her chin. "By the way, who were you talking to out here?" She was completely oblivious to the reflective figure that had plagued Adora recently. The reflection, or "Aroda" as it called itself, was standing right in front of the girl with a grin, waving both her hands back and forth right in front of her face.

"So you... really don't see her either, do you?" Adora wondered, just to confirm what she already knew.

"See her? Who?"

"The person? Waving right next to me? It-" Adora sighed as she just rubbed her forehead. "Never mind."

Scorpia frowned a little as she noticed the distress she was in. After the days events she went through yesterday, it was obvious that Adora was going to feel a little down. Not to mention all the pain she might have suffered from Rebellion while she was held captive, there was no telling how troubled she was. Giving a small smile, a look of genuine surprise crossed Scorpia's face as she tried to cheer her up.

"Oh! Oooh, yes! Yes I see her!" Adora's eyes widened in shock at the statement as she stared back at the assuring Scorpia.

"Wh- You do? Really?!" Was it possible? Was this living reflection actually not in Adora's head after all?

"Of course I do!" She nodded, tapping her claws together as she waved. "Hi, Adora's imaginary friend! I'm Scorpia, I'm sure Adora's told you all about me."

Annnnd there it was. Even though it was all an effort to make Adora feel better, it ultimately did the complete opposite. If there was any consolation that came out of this, it was Aroda showing the only thing she was currently good for- face-palming in Adora's place. She wasn't even looking in the same direction Aroda was standing.

At least Scorpia came with a possible distraction away from all of this. "Why were you looking for me, anyway?"

"Thanks, I just had it cut three days ago!" Scorpia continued, flaunting her hair.

"Scorpia!"

"Huh? Oh! The drop zone! She's going to be here in a few minutes!"

"The drop zone? What are you..." It slowly dawned over Adora as her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, right! I completely forgot!" With everything that's happened within the last few minutes, she was surprised she could forget something so important. It was the second-most highlight of her day today, with the first being her meeting with Hordak, which ended... differently, than she expected. "I could've sworn I set a reminder for myself."

"Well we can still make it if we hurry. Come on!"

"right!" With a nod, the two Force Captains quickly began to run down the hallway. If this meeting went off without a hitch, she was sure Hordak would see that he wasn't wrong in his decision to make her his second-in-command! Yet, not ten feet away from their original spot, Adora paused as she looked back. Strangely, not that she was complaining, Aroda had finally disappeared, and would hopefully remain that way for the rest of the day, and, if she was lucky, the rest of Adora's life.

That wasn't what bothered her, though. Assuming she was her conscious, then she should know everything consciously and subconsciously that Adora knew. So, with that in mind, it begged the question: how did she know Scorpia was approaching when Adora didn't?

...

"Are you ready?" Adora asked, standing side-by-side with Scorpira as they awaited at the drop zone outside.

It was the perfect spot to start introductions with her. Atop one of the many strong structures of the Horde, it was capable of overlooking the majority of the Fright Zone, the best way to show their technological prowess with her. From there, she was going to have an exciting day escorting her throughout the Fright Zone as she revealed the many wondrous things the Horde had to offer, as well as its necessity to the rest of Etheria.

Once things moved smoothly enough, assuming they had enough time, she might have been able to introduce her to Hordak, too. There, he would remember everything that Adora had accomplished for the Horde, and reminded why he promoted her in the first place. She wasn't going to force her to see him if she didn't want to, of course, but it was a nice thought of hopeful thinking.

"Mh-hm!" Scorpia nodded, keeping the look out for the escort's skiff. "I can't wait to show her everything! I wonder if Entrapta will have anything cool to show her by the time she gets here?" Scorpia was just as eager to meet her as Adora was. She never got a chance to be properly introduced to her, and she was more than excited to meet any friend of Adora's! "By the way, what's with the glove?"

"Glove?" Adora blinked as she rubbed her wrist along the base of the black latex. "O-Oh! It's... It's nothing. I just thought it... looked cool, you know?" She still had no interest in showing the rotting hand until she figured out what was going on here. It wasn't enough that her hand had rotted away as such, but with the addition of a certain individual last night, she wasn't comfortable revealing anything until she knew exactly what was going on.

Luckily, after a few moments of staring, Scorpia seemed willing enough to accept the answer as she smiled. "Haha, it does look pretty cool. I thought about trying on a pair of gloves too sometime but... " She snapped the claws that were her hands gently. "Claws, you know?"

"I'm sure we can get you a pair of gloves at some point." She encouraged, earning another small chuckle from the scorpion.

"Heh, yeah... Hey, wait a minute. Why are you only wearing one glove?"

Shoot. She just had to ask that. Adora could easily tell her mind was slipping today, not even including "Aroda". Of course it would look suspicious for someone to only be wearing one glove. She might as well have worn the world's best camouflage gear that rendered her near-invisible while holding the world's largest sign on her back that said "Shoot Here!" on it, it was so obvious. "Ummm... O-Oh look, she's here!" She directed off into the distance. The girl let out a mental sigh of relief as Scorpira looked back.

Sure enough, as Adora spotted, the skiff was coming in at high speed towards their landing, soaring through the sky as it closed the distance between them.

This is it! Adora was ready for this! Once the tour went on, everything would be all right. She would assure her Hordak of how reliable she is, she would assure her ally how reliable the Horde was to them, and then everything would be all right!

After another twenty seconds of waiting, the skiff slowly came to a halt until it hovered right atop the landing zone. Smiling, Adora approached the vessel as the skiff descended to the ground, a small lift extending from the base of it that touched the floor. It didn't surprise Adora in the least that she was escorted by two of her personal guards for her own safety, not that she needed it. The Horde were her allies, and there was nothing she needed to fear.

With the figure finally reaching the bottom of the ramp, Adora extended a personal hand with a genuine smile.

"Princess Frosta, on behalf of the Horde, I'd like to officially welcome you to the Fright Zone!"

...

A/N: God i can't tell you how painful it was watching Catra's first interaction with Hordak moment several times and translating it to the Adora version X/ And obviously i don't mean hard as in difficult, i mean as in painful- only worse doing it to the Adora version Xo Ughghgghg...

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 69: S2 Episode 3: Signals Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Pre-Word Count: 7.06K. Once again folks, another glorious update to be had ^^ Bit of a shorter read this time around, but its to be expected. Aside from Catra's side of things, not much really happens in this episode overall. Heck, I had to include the Frosta bit just to make it longer (not to say i didn't originally plan that in the first place, but still).

I am glad to see everyone slowly returning to this fic to, i'm just as excited to see old, returning, and new faces around here ^^ I seriously can't wait to get this fic caught up to season 4/season 3 finale! As 2 reminders though, I'd like to point out- 1, i haven't seen season 4 yet, so plz refrain from spoilers with that if possible XP.

And 2, for those new or old who have forgotten why I write such large descriptions at the start of my chapters, especially the beginning-episode bits, its to give a generalization of what happened over the course of the entire episodes- with so many parts per ep, it would be kind of easy to get side tracked and forget what happened throughout it as a whole (especially with how much I write XP).

But with that said, on to the show!

...

"Thank you for the invitation, Force Captain Adora." Frosta respectfully greeted back as she shook her hand.

"Please, just Adora is fine." Adora said, chuckling a little. Alright! This was going to be a good day, Adora would make sure of it!

The day had started off a little, well, off, for the young Force Captain. Following what may have been the worst meeting she's ever had with Lord Hordak, the girl was unsure of herself. What about her made Hordak think of her as a failure? What had she messed up? She formed alliances with various outposts, and thanks to the resources provided by the Kingdom of Snows, she was sure there was more than enough to distribute throughout the Horde's reaches. And how did the glorious leader of the Horde take it?

He barked like a wild beast, seethed every supposed accomplishment Adora had achieved, and nearly suffocated her just because she didn't have anything important to report. He wasn't anything like Adora remembered. The honorable stories she heard about him as a child, the proud leader that made her his second-in-command in the first place. Everything she's done to achieve victory was done for the Horde, done for him. Couldn't he see that?

Her failures were far and few between, at least to her. Yes, she failed to defeat the Rebellion at the Battle of Bright Moon, the Rebellion had restored the Whispering Woods to its former glory, and she failed to convince a member of the Rebellion to join the Horde. They were little losses that Adora, while irritated, didn't see as major setbacks, but to the leader of the Horde, they were everything, and he refused to let someone continue to promote such failures, even Adora.

Luckily, there was still a chance to change his view of her! She was confident about it!

With all the events leading through the last month, Adora thought it was an opportune moment to invite the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows to improve their relationship with one another. With all that's happened between the Battle of Bright Moon, the last month that had past, and nearly putting the young princess in danger a few days prior, she thought it would've been a chance to become better acquainted, to show to her that the Horde wasn't as bad as the Rebellion made them out to be.

On top of that, with her support, there was an even greater chance of recruiting the other princesses of Etheria who weren't aligned with the Rebellion yet. After all, as Princess Frosta lead one of the largest kingdoms across Etheria, anything she said would hold merit. So, once she saw how great everything within the Fright Zone was, Adora was positive the other princesses would be all too eager to join.

"I must admit, I was rather surprised by your invitation, Adora." Frosta commented as she observed her surroundings. "It was quite sudden."

"Well, yeah." Adora scratched the back of her head a little. "I wanted to start things off by apologizing about the droid incident a few days ago. I swear, it won't happen again."

"I understand, it was just an acci-" Frosta paused as she looked past Adora. "Um... is she okay?" Turning around, Adora saw who she was referring to.

"Mmmmhmmhmhmmhhh!" She squealed.

"H-Hey... Scorpia?" Adora spoke, rubbing her shoulder. "Are you okay?" The second Force Captain continued to stare in wonder at the young girl for a few more seconds before she finally said anything.

"Oh... my... GOOOOSH!"

"Wha- Ahhh!"

*tug*

"She is so CUUUUTE!" There wasn't any force that could keep the Force Captain from her deathly hold over the girl as she embraced her tightly, her massive claws circling around the younger princess's entire body as she squeezed the life out of her, almost literally.

"Nghhh! Let go of me!" Frosta squeaked, face turning red as she tried to pry herself from the Captain's titan-like strength. Even the two personal guards that were escorting Frosta were unable to do anything more than raised their spears defensively, unable to act with risk of harming the young princess in her arm.

"S-Scorpia, put her down!" Immediately, Adora's eyes widened in panic as she attempted to pry the smaller princess off of her gargantuan friend.

How was Scorpia supposed to put down this lovable little angel?! Everything about her just screamed "Hug Me!" to her, she was so adorable. The small winter coat she had on, those big sparkling eyes, the sky-blue tiara she had on. Just holding her alone, she felt like she was holding the world's softest teddy bear! She never got a chance to meet the princess up close at the Princess Prom, and now that she was up close and personal, she was powerless to resist the temptation to hug her!

"Awww who's a little ruler? You are! Yes you are!" Never has Frosta been so thoroughly humiliated and in crushing pain all at the same time before.

"Scorpia, let go of her already or else-! Um... I won't let you hug me anymore!" Adora's threat was immediately met with results as her friend finally dropped the girl to her feet as her arms slumped to her side.

"Awww..." She moaned as Frosta coughed a little for breath, the two guards kneeling to check on her, the left one rubbing her back to clear her airwaves. There were a lot of things Scorpia was willing to do, even if it meant disobeying orders, but losing her hugging privileges for her best friends weren't one of them. To be fair, it did slowly dawn on her how much she must've been hugging the girl as she saw her let out a few coughs. "Sorry."

"I am seriously sorry about that, Princess Frosta." Adora apologized again. "Scorpia's just, well, a bit of a hugger, you know?"

The princess let out another cough before straightening herself out, trying to maintain her professional figure. "Hmph. I'll let it slide this time, but no more hugging. Understand?"

"Yes sir..." Scorpia pouted a little, poking at her claw-tips.

"Good."

Adora never felt so much relief before in such a short amount of time. It would've been the first recorded event in history where an entire alliance was destabilized because somebody hugged another. Not two minutes into introductions with one another did a crisis present itself in the form of a humanoid scorpion with the knack for hugging things. If Frosta wasn't so mature, when dealing with foreign and kingdom-like matters anyway, she was pretty sure that would've ended the alliance the Horde had with the kingdom.

"Phew. Okay, so" Adora clapped, trying to bring some positivity back into the situation, "why don't we head along to breakfast before we start the tour?"

"Hmm. I guess a little breakfast wouldn't hurt."

...

*Splat*

Frosta stared at the tray of what the Horde considered food. Upon her stash there were two grey-colored ration bars, a typical carton of milk, a single muffin, and what could only be considered, as politely as possible, a pile of white mush in the center of it all.

All around her, Frosta didn't know whether to be disgusted a little or surprised. Within the one of the lunchrooms of the many training facilities, she saw kids of all manner of shapes, sizes, and species socializing and eating the food without a second thought as if it was the most normal thing in the world to them. On the outlook of things, this did look like a normal establishment. Some kids were socializing, others were joking with one another, and another kid was stealing someone's muffin when they weren't looking at a corner of the lunchroom.

Strangely, that was the most normal thing compared to everything else around here.

"Mmmmh!" She looked across the small personal table they had in the corner of the cafeteria as Scorpia slurped her lips, rubbing her claws together. "Oh boy! Double ration bars, Muffin Monday, and warm gruel! We hit the perfect day to have breakfast here!" And without skipping a beat, grabbing her spoon, she casually dug in as if it was a fine cuisine.

Frosta almost preferred being hugged instead if she didn't have to watch so many people eating the potential slop. Even her two personal guards, who sat along her right, looked at the strange mush as it as one of them poked into it, waiting for the gruel to eventually slide off the spoon with a plop.

"I know it looks a little off," Adora commented as she sat her tray down, sitting on Frosta's left, "but its nutritional value compensate for its looks. All the food here is made so everyone within the Fright Zone gets an evenly proportioned amount of nutrition on a daily basis." The Force Captain explained, taking a bite out of one of her ration bars.

"I... See..." She commented. Not wanting to seem like the rude guest, Frosta attempted to give the food a try, or at least the closest thing she could to it as she grabbed a spoon. She could've sworn, the longer she stared into the food, the longer it looked like something within the gruel was actually looking right back at her. It didn't really help as she watched a small air bubble slowly forming within the pile until it eventually burst, leaving a small stain on the girl's left cheek.

At this, Adora paused from her eating as she noticed the girl's hesitation to eat the food. Looking back at it herself, she kind of gave it some forethought at how it must've looked to an outsider. "Here." Wanting to make the girl's experience here a pleasant one, she smiled as she took the tray away, leaving behind the large muffin that came with it and giving her one of her owns. "Trust me, it's better. The gruel and bars can kind of be an... acquired taste."

"Thanks." Luckily for her, it was as Adora said as she took a bite out of the muffin. It was as good as it looked, and actually had a bit of a sweet flavor to it. It actually made the two guards that followed her a little jealous, seeing how they were stuck with the previously-mentioned slop. "Wouldn't it be better to have... you know... better tasting food for these kids?"

"Eas'hier sh'aid dan done." Scorpia replied, muffled by the full mouth as she continued to eat.

"Most of the stuff like food is made within the Fright Zone itself." Adora explained. "There's only so much space around here to grow our own food, especially with the lack of direct sunlight we get."

"So you don't have any... different, food around here?"

"Heh, if you mean better looking and tasting ones, then not really. Usually all the good food we make is given to the front lines. It helps boost morale for our soldiers when they stationed at outposts for an extended period of time."

"Not that I'm complaining." Scorpia commented, having finished her gruel. "When you get used to eating like this, you can pretty much eat anything. It's useful when supplies are low and you have to scavenge the surroundings for food."

"I guess." Frosta shrugged, wiping the smudge from her cheek against her wrist.

Adora smiled inside as she saw Frosta continuing to eat the muffins in delight. So far, the tour was starting off without a hitch, minus a certain hugging incident. Frosta didn't seem too bothered by the strange food they were eating, and she was reasonable to understand their viewpoint from the Fright Zone's perspective. She guessed she should've had a more proper meal prepared for this occasion, but she wasn't willing to hide anything from the young princess. She wanted her to have an honest tour of how great the Fright Zone really was!

"So, anyway, I thought we could start off our tour by-"

"Force Captain Adora!" A pair of helmet-wearing soldiers addressed as they approached the table.

"Yes?" She replied, wondering what was urgent as she stood.

"We have those requisition forms you requested from the northern outposts. All the paperwork is waiting for you in council room."

"Requisition forms? What are you... Awwwww!" Adora groaned as she slapped her forehead. "I forgot about the movement on Erelandia." Why did she have to deal with this now? Better yet, why did she forget?! She had several requisition forms to go over today that were vital in several major fronts of the war, ones that needed addressing the sooner the better.

"You're invading Erelandia?" Frosta spoke up, curiously.

"We're not invading it, we're just trying to divide its forces part until we can negotiate with them." Adora explained, taking one of the large envelopes one of the guards had. Looking through it, she groaned more to herself as she saw the amount of paperwork this one envelope alone was going to involve. "This is gonna take awhile... Hey, Scorpia? Do you think you could continue the tour without me for a bit? I need to deal with this?" She didn't even give the girl time to respond as she walked off, rubbing her eyebrows as she glanced over the papers she was given.

With a hearty mouth-filled nod, she replied. "Mhhm! 'eave it to meh Adowa!" She replied before swallowing her food. This was going to be great! First she got to meet a new friend and a great ally to the Horde in person, then Adora entrusted her with a task with that very same person! Smiling with excitement, wiping the food off her face with her claws, she looked down at the little princess. "So! Where do you wanna go first?"

...

The trek through the woods felt a little more eerie than usual. Maybe it was the creepy silence that perverted the woods, maybe it was the fact this mission pertained to investigating an outpost that was abandoned without reason. Or maybe it was the fact all of this was occurring while dealing with a grouchy revenge-driven feline named Catra who was trailing behind them.

Following all they learned yesterday, Catra's attitude was... a little more than expected. Learning that Entrapta was alive, that she was well, that she had every opportunity to come back to the Rebellion but chose to stay with the Horde? It was outrageous. Suffice to say, Catra was angry. No, scratch that. That was putting it mildly. VERY, mildly. Perhaps not even that was enough to describe the anger welling up in the girl at this moment.

Catra wanted revenge. A cold dish known as revenge, and she wanted Entrapta's head on a platter.

After all Catra went through, the grief, the struggle, the reality of all that transpired since she thought Entrapta died, was something that scarred her for awhile. She was depressed, out of herself. She never felt so guilty for doing something that got a close ally killed, it messed her up.

So how was she supposed to take it when she learned she went through all of that for nothing? To find out the person she thought she was responsible for was happy, chipper, doing whatever she wanted to, all while being on the other side of the war, making weapons that could get them killed at any moment, weapons that almost did kill them more than half the time, over the last month?

Entrapta had to pay. There was no other option.

At the same time, it presented another dilemma to the rest of her friends who did everything they could to physically keep their friend from storming into the Fright Zone. For the past eleven hours, they had to teleport, push, pull, and everything else they could think of to keep Catra from storming off to her potential death. It wasn't just for the sake of her well-being, it was to stop her from ruining She-Ra's power, too.

Her emotional state was attuned to the sword. The more positive her emotions became and the more peaceful she felt, the more attuned to the sword she grew, and the more power of She-Ra she obtained along with her appearance improving. Likewise, the more negative her emotions were, the more of her power she lost, and within the last eleven hours alone, Catra lost nearly thirty-percent of her She-Ra form, and was even less powerful than when she started this whole thing.

There only hope now was to find some way to either convince Catra to give up on this fool's errand, hoping the mission to the deserted outpost would help her forget, or find some way to reason with her and to give up on this vendetta she had.

Neither option seemed promising.

"Uh, hello?" Swift Wind spoke up as he approached the trio from behind. "I thought you should know, I'm sensing something weird the closer we get to the outpost."

"Weird as in boring, or weird as in we shouldn't bother with the mission and just move on to the Fright Zone?" Catra wondered uncaring. She was only in this for now because Glimmer promised to help her reach the Fright Zone if she helped them with this mission first.

"I can't describe it. Just weird." It was strange, honestly. He felt a tingling sensation from his horn that felt like it was giving off a weird energy, like a breeze only he could feel was passing through it. At the same time, he couldn't tell if it was because of where they were going for this, or if it was a side effect from Catra losing more her connection to the sword.

"Great. We get weirdness and revenge both in the same day. How fun." Catra rolled her eyes.

"Catra, can't you just focus on the mission for now?" Glimmer moaned. "You should take your mind off everything else, it'll help you relax."

"I will be relaxed once a certain geek gets what's coming to her."

"Seriously Catra, just try to think something completely different. Like, think of the most relaxing thing you can right now." Bow suggested looking back.

"Being back in Bright Moon after I get my revenge sounds pretty relaxing right now."

"I mean something else besides getting revenge. Like... Okay. Try to visualize something. Think of the most relaxing place you possibly can right now."

"Bow-"

"Come on Catra, just try it? Please?"

"Ugh..." There were too many headaches to deal with right now as she paused. If it got them to stop bothering her, she would gladly accept it. "Fine. I'm in a warm cabin..."

"Yeees...?"

"Sitting next to a warm fireplace..."

"Uh-huh..."

"Covered in a nice warm blanket, without any troubles."

"Haha! There you see? I knew you could-"

"And admiring the view of Entrapta's head on my mantle."

"Nooo!" Now Bow was the one groaning as he rubbed his head.

"Look, you wanted me to think of something relaxing, so I'm going to think of what I find relaxing, not what you find relaxing!" She huffed. "I don't get why we need to go to this stupid town in the first place."

"Catra, Alwyn is the Rebelion's biggest supplier of... Uh, well, supplies." Glimmer informed. "It's basically one big orchard. Fruits, veggies, dairy... Fiiiish~" Glimmer grinned a little as Catra looked away a little embarrassed, trying to pretend that didn't interest her. "You'll see. It's one big, happy-" She froze as they arrived.

Happiness did not loom in the air in the slightest. In fact, all that did loom in the air was an eerie fog that breezed through the village at a slow pace. Even the sky above seemed dismal as it gave off the tranquil appearance of darkness, a night's sky that forever rested on a village bed below.

From what few hours were seen at first glance, the town was entirely empty. All the lights were off, there wasn't a single soul, living or otherwise, standing around. The apples that hung from the trees had a strange rotten look to them, as if they were poisonous if you so much as touched them. Nothing about this place screamed "lively" or "happy". It looked like nothing more than a single, solitary, ghost town.

Emphasis on ghost.

"Incredibly... creepy... orchard." Goosebumps were already settling in on the edges of her skin.

*Chomp!*

Instantly, the three turned at the sound of the mysterious chomping sound, like the sound of a bone being bitten into. Fortunately, it wasn't anything of the sort as the source of the sound came from a colorfully hungry horse named Swift Wind. "What?" He asked, still eating it. "Creepy apples taste just as good as normal apples."

"The outpost must be up ahead." Glimmer continued to lead, speaking in a monotonic voice as she tried to keep her nerves from getting to her. She and Bow hid behind the trees as they peered into the village safely, examining it in secret. Catra, on the other hand, just looked more annoyed as she waited for them to finish. "I don't see any Horde soldiers. Actually, I don't see anyone for that matter."

"Whelp. What do you know? They just left. Mystery solved, let's go." Catra proclaimed, immediately turning a 180* and taking a step in the opposite direction.

"No." Glimmer flatly said, grabbing the cat by her tail and tugging her annoyed expression back. "We're not leaving until we know why they're gone, Catra."

"Who cares about the why? If it's dangerous, we probably shouldn't be here. If not, maybe they're just asleep? Either way, mission solved, no Horde in sight, now lets go!"

"Let me take a look." Bow suggested as he dug through his supplies. "I've upgraded my tracker pad to detect Horde signals. If they're here we'll find them with this." And with a single press of a button, their ears were immediately assaulted by the high-pitched sound of a large whirring noise.

*Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn-!*

"Ahhhhhh!" Everyone screamed in pain as they covered their ears, Swift Wind and Catra taking it the worst with their extra sensitive hearing. The lead inventor of the Rebellion quickly fumbled with the machine as he attempted to turn it off, nearly dropping it out of his hands before he slid to the ground, catching it. Teleporting to his side, Glimmer checked on her friend as he examined the machine.

"Oh, man. I must've broken something during the upgrade."

"YA THINK?!" Catra hissed loudly, the ringing in her ears practically deafening her as she continued to squeeze them.

"N-Not to worry! I can fix this!" He assured, pressing on the pad.

"WHAT?"

Bow examined the device from top to bottom as he tried to adjust the settings. Nothing he did appeared to be helping as it continued to buzz with an static-like screen over the pad. "...IIIIII don't know how to fix this."

"WHAT?" Catra yelled again, her skin tingling as the ringing still surged through her body.

"I said I don't know how to fix this!" He repeated louder.

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME TO SNIFF IT?"

"Never mind."

"It's okay." Glimmer tried to cheer up with a confident smile. "Whatever's going on here, we'll solve it. Nothing gets past us!"

*whooooooosh~*

As if waiting for the correct opportunity, the three were briefly assaulted by cold brush of wind, sending their already-tingling skin to build on the edges of their goosebumps. At least Catra, giving her head one last good shake, finally got the ringing to stop as she picked at her ears.

"Even if people used to tell stories about Alwyn being haunted..."

"Haunted?" Catra asked, partly checking to make sure she was hearing right again. "What? Like ghosts and everything?"

"Ah, it's just stories. And even if it wasn't, we'd handle them. No reason to be scared."

"Tch, yeah if you go by any ghost stories told in the Rebellion, maybe." Catra smirked for possibly the first time today, crossing her arms. "They're nothing like the stories told in the Fright Zone. When I was a kid, Shadow Weaver would tell us scary stories that would make you wet the bed almost every week. And every night one kid would wake up in the middle of the night crying because of nightmares."

"S... Stories like what?"

"Like tales of the Bleeding Skull? A war spirit that wanders Etheria with an always-bleeding head?" She emphasized as she extended her claws, shifting her eyes from side to side menacingly. "The stories say he was a Horde general who was betrayed by his own units. Now he roams all over Etheria, wrecking havoc and vengeance on those who disobey their superiors. Legend has it the last thing you hear before seeing him is the sound of his blood dripping and his cries of agony. He'd creep into your barracks in the middle of the night, stretch his mouth out until its big enough to bite off your whole head, and then-!"

"AHHH!"

"Ahh!" The three jumped as they all turned around, readying their claws, magic, and gadgets, after Swift Wind let out a terrified cry.

"What is it?!" Glimmer yelped, eyes darting back and forth in worry.

"I'm not sure, I heard someone. A voice." Swift Wind stated, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks as he scanned the area.

"Bleeding Skull!" Catra screeched, for once the hairs on the end of her tail sticking up.

"No, it was someone else. Someone's here, I'm sure of it. We have to find them." The horse stood bravely in the face of fear as he took off, the other three looking at each other before chasing after him. None of them felt comfortable after Catra's story, nor did any of them intend to stick around long enough to hear the sound of dripping coming near them. It was a ridiculous story to be sure, but when abandoned towns and eerie scenery greeted your vision, it was better safe than sorry.

Perhaps that's why none of them were aware of the mysterious figure that slowly crept between two of the trees, its translucent body almost hazy as it crossed paths.

For a moment, Catra came to a stop, quickly turning around as she heard a strange noise. By the time she did, the figure was gone. It was hard to tell if her weakening connection to the sword or the ghost stories were really getting to her, but something was telling her something was wrong. Shifting her eyes one more time, she slowly stepped back, one foot at a time, before sprinting back to the other guys who called out for her. No sooner did she did another translucent figure cross a path of trees, and disappeared just as quickly.

Whatever force seemed to engulf the outpost, the four would make sure they'd stick together, caring for each other and each other's safety.

...At least, Catra did before Bow asked the wrong question.

"Say Catra, about those kids who wet the bed..."

...

"Alright. Third Battalion is closest." Adora stated as she looked over the map. It provided a detailed diagram of the Horde's various checkpoints displayed over the landmass. "If we can set up checkpoints within these three sections, they should be more willing to listen."

"Are you sure they won't take it as a sign of threat?" Kyle asked from the other side of the table.

"That's... gonna depend on them." Adora commented, rubbing her chin, still wearing her glove. "If we show any sign of aggression, they'll immediately swarm to the Rebellion. We need to show them they don't have anything to fear from the Horde." Adora paused as she yawned briefly, rubbing one of her tired eyes. "Thanks again for the help, guys. I really appreciate it.

She was lucky enough to come across her three friends as she did, even more so that they were willing to help her out with the paperwork. With everything that had went on today, she needed to turn things around. First, she needed to prove her reliability to Hordak, then she needed to finish the paperwork and battle strategies involving their newest target, then she needed to rush back to wherever Scorpia and Frosta was and continue along with the tour.

Such was Adora's life on a daily basis. And it was more than double that since she became Hordak's second-in-command.

"It's okay Adora, we don't mind the help. But are you sure you won't get in trouble for letting us in here? I thought the room was only for Force Captains and lieutenants?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I mean you're just helping me. And even then, this shouldn't take very long. We just need to pinpoint our forces next movement."

"Yeah, slight issue there, Capt'." Lonnie replied, sitting with her back against the table on the floor as she skimmed through one of the many folders. "The Third Battalion is refusing to fight."

"What? Why are they refusing to fight? It's not like we're sending them to the Rebellion or anything."

"Because they don't have armor. They put in... Ugh, so many folders..." Lonnie grumbled, skimming through several more folders simultaneously. She didn't mind helping someone like Adora with her work, but at the very least, it could've been something less boring. Even moving equipment was more fun than this. "Ah! Six requests for resupply. Didn't you see these?"

"I've been busy prioritizing our efforts to topple Bright Moon." Adora replied with a small bit of disdain in her voice. "Once the Rebellion goes down, the rest of the planet will be more than willing to join us." She mumbled looking through another folder she was holding in her armpit. "I've gotten closer to succeeding than anyone else in the Horde's past." She frowned a little as she lowered her head. "Why doesn't Hordak see that...?"

The trio looked to each other in a brief silence, Kyle returning Adora's comment with a small smile. "Well we noticed Adora. You work harder than anyone else around here, right Rogelio?" The lizard-man right next to him gave an assuring nod as he continued sorting through the many papers. It was comforting to hear as she usually did, but it just didn't feel the same since her meeting with Hordak this morning.

"Thanks guys... So we just need to resupply them with armor, right?"

Poking his shoulder with it, Rogelio handed Kyle another file, one filling the teen's face with misfortune. "Umm... right... except..."

"Now what?"

"According to this... The armory is out of armor."

"What?" Adora blinked at the stupidity of the statement. "How can an armory be out of armor? It's in the name, they just have to make it!" She took a glance over at the clock, biting her lower lip a little as she saw the time. Its been over forty minutes since she started all of this paperwork, thirty minutes since she managed to get Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie to help around, and she still wasn't anywhere close to being done.

"I-It shouldn't be a problem! We just have to find the right file, and- Whoa!" Before the fragile teen could finish, he was suddenly thrown off his feet as he slipped over several files scattered across the floor, sending the paper flying around him.

*thud*

"Ow..."

Adora moaned again as she rubbed between her eyes. Every new request came with another request. When that request needed to be filled, another request needed to be filed for that request. Then, in order to get that request actually started, at least two files worth of requests needed to be filled out and organized to send to processing. Afterwards, processing needed to file for a request which took that request another file to be filled out before filling out its assigned request. And if that wasn't annoying enough, then THAT file was categorized into another file to be requested by an additional processor that needed a request!

This was Adora's life in a nutshell. Whenever she wasn't out in the field, allying with outposts, collecting resources from other communities, she was practically knee deep in paperwork that required her constant supervision and approvals, or at least that of another Force Captain.

Perhaps this is where Hordak's anger towards the girl stemmed from? At first, the amount of paperwork she was dealing with could be done within an afternoon's time, taking about two to three hours on a daily basis. However, thanks to the multitude of allies Adora garnered throughout her career, the paperwork has kept piling up in greater numbers, with nearly another foot of paperwork every time a new alliance was formed.

But wasn't what they were doing worth it? Wasn't the point of all of this to spread security, protection, and safety across all of Etheria, to unite under one powerful banner where everyone lived in harmony? She had little taste for the likes of the Rebellion, and would never accept their allegiance after all she's been through, but even with that, the safety of the rest of the world was their priority.

...Right?

"How am I supposed to stop the Rebellion when all this paperwork keeps coming up?" She finally groaned, leaning against the table.

"Well, maybe you should take a break from the recruitment?" Lonnie suggested, shrugging. "I mean at this rate, we got more allies than we know what to do with. With so many people in every corner of the world, we have more requests than soldiers at this point."

"And risk them being recruited by the Rebellion?!" Several bangs of Adora's hair fell to her face with another groan. "How did Shadow Weaver do this everyday?"

"Well, you could always ask her?" Kyle suggested. "She seemed to be handling it pretty well. I'm sure she knew what she was doing." There was a empty silence that filled the room as Rogelio and Lonnie looked back to him, slightly surprised and slightly worried at what he said. By the time he realized how he sounded, he could already see the ire coming off of Adora as she glared at him a little, bits of shadows rising from her shoulders. "N-No-Not that I'm implying you don't or anything! I think you're doing a great job! Honest!"

Adora continued to stare at him for another few seconds before letting out a sigh, the shadows dissipating once more. "But it's not good enough..."

"Wahhh!" A familiar wail was heard as a certain figure came crashing down from the round vent above the entrance. The four were greeted by the sight of a geeky scientist and a bundle of purple hair dropping from the metals and landing on her tush. "Hi."

"Entrapta, we've been over this. You don't need to sneak around the vents anymore, you're not a prisoner."

"I know, but the ducts are faster, and I don't have time to waste." She replied, hopping to her feet as she searched the nearby boxes. "I need a six-sided hex driver right now."

"Entrapta, I don't have time for this. I have to get this paperwork done, and get back to the tour with Scorpia and Frosta. Besides, can't you just make whatever tool you need? You made my wristband from scratch, it can't be that hard."

For one of the few times Adora's known her, Entrapta sighed in frustration. "Ugh, of course I could, but its the principle." As she went on, she slid herself under the large table, knocking Rogelio and Kyle off their feet, and nearly toppling Adora over again as she climbed over it to the other side. "Use the proper tool for the job."

"If you make a tool and then use that tool to make whatever you need, then how is it any different than just using a tool you get?" Kyle asked Rogelio, who could only shrug in response.

"Look, it's fine if you can't help me. I saw one in Hordak's lab."

"Yeah, sure, I bet he has one..." It took Adora a moment to pull her eyes from the papers she was looking at to realize what she just said. "Wait- No!" Before Entrapta could pull herself to the vent again, Adora extended a shadowy tendril from her arm, wrapping it around the girl's chest before pulling her over into her hand. "Entrapta, listen to me. I know you're still adjusting to the Fright Zone, there's still a lot you haven't seen yet, and you're still getting used to people. But under no circumstances, can you bother someone like Hordak, okay?"

"...Why?"

"Because he... He's not in the best of moods, all right? And he's too busy to be bothered." She pointed her other finger to her to emphasize. "You are not to go to Hordak's Sanctum under any circumstances. Understand?"

"...Ooooh, he calls his lab a sanctum?" That was like scientist gold right there! Finally, someone who knew how to treat their lab with respect! "That is so classy!"

"ENTRAPTA!" For just a second, during that one single world, the four were greeted to the sight of Adora's anger getting the best of her. In one solitary line of dialogue, a wave of shadows burst from Adora's back, actually striking the lights above and causing a momentary static to cause them to flicker. Not once in the history of knowing Adora, even after she obtained her magic, had they ever seen such a moment of anger from her.

The Force Captain herself felt her heart racing for a minute. She knew she was overreacting to her friend's typical curiosity and wonder. She just... felt so angry all of a sudden, like saying that one name was the angriest part of her day. Sighing again, she rubbed her gloved hand between her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose before exhaling, releasing her grip on the girl.

"Look. I'm sorry for yelling. I just need you to promise me that you will stay away from Hordak. Promise me?"

"Okay, I will."

"Promise me!"

"I promise, you have nothing to fear!" She gave a calming smile as she waved her hand. "By the way, what's with the glove?"

"Hu-" Darn it! She keeps forgetting about it with all the stuff that's been going on. "Oh... N-Nothing. I just... Started liking them, and I started wearing it."

"...Well why didn't you say so? I got a whole bunch of them in the lab, you can have some if you want!" She smiled as she offered the strands of her hair. "I got plenty of hands as it is."

"T-Thanks, I'll... think about it." In actuality, she was a little curious about the offer. If she could find a matching pair of gloves, nobody would be the wiser for her new fashion statement. Hopefully, by then, her hand would've returned to normal.

"H-Hey, Adora?" Kyle nervously spoke out, still trembling a little at the sight of Adora's rage. "I found a file about the armory. It turns out they can't make anymore because they need more iri... ri.. dium! Iridium!"

"Huff, okay. So where do we get more of it?" Adora asked, reaching a shadow over to the file as she collected it.

"Umm... I don't have the file for that... Sorry."

Once again, the Force Captain took a momentary breath as she collected herself. "It's fine, I'll just look for it, like all the other stuff. Anyway, can you guys do me a favor and just keep an eye on Entrapta? I'll handle the paperwork myself, you guys relax." The three looked at one another with curiosity and nerves, wondering if they really should take Adora up on that offer.

On one hand, it meant they didn't have to risk Adora suddenly bursting with rage again and getting caught by her shadows. On another hand, it meant Adora building up more stress and making it more likely that she was going to burst into rage in the future. The lights were still flickering above, which Adora didn't seem to mind or notice, and there was no telling what would happen the next time her magic hit another person.

Still, it was better obeying her orders for now than disobeying them, even if they were in an effort to help the girl de-stress a little. With a confirming nod, the trio gathered all the papers that surrounded them before placing them neatly in front of the Force Captain who continued to work at the table.

"Sure thing, Adora. Just let us know if you need help again." Lonnie stated as the three took off.

"Thanks Lonnie." It was nice to know she had three reliable friends around her, even more within the Horde itself. They were living proof to her that having more friends and allies could only lead to a positive effect. They could help each other in their times of need, and look out for each other to keep them from getting hurt.

Simply put, when it came to having allies, nothing could go wrong.

"...By the way, Adora, any chance you saw which way she went?"

"...Uggghhhh..."

Except that.

...

A/N: And another one down! Hooftah. I'll be honest, I actually had this done yesterday, I wrote it that fast X) But with the weird bug going on yesterday making the site slow and keeping the reviews from being updated, for whatever reason, I wanted to wait till today to post it in case some annoying bug occurred that kept the update from notifying watchers and whatnot.

And yes, you can rest easy, there will be more Frosta-touring next episode. And before I forget, kudos go to Star Saber again for one of the above scenes. I don't take scenes usually in my line of work, but if you're interested in a possible suggestion, send me a PM ^^.

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hoped to see you soon!

Chapter 70: S2 Episode 3: Signals Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Word Count: 10.3K Pre-A/N's. Ah, nothing brightens my mood than being able to push out 10k or so words of a chapter in under a day for all the fans of my work ^^ I'll be honest, this is probably one of the harder ones to write out for. Not because the episode is bad or anything, but because the scenes shift so vividly , and when it comes down to it, nothing really "happens" in the episode. It just goes from Adora and the gang seeing a town, catra working, more exploring, catra filing, more exploring, and THEN it twists things "shockingly" by focusing on Entrapta, and THEN more exploring.

Although I will not deny, the look on Hordak's face when Entrapta greets him for the first time is one of the most if not the most memorable moment of season 2 for me XD.

Anyway, onto the show!

...

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! You're going to love this part next!" Scorpia declared, just as excited as when the tour began.

"Yeah, you... said that about the last four places too." Frosta commented as they walked through the doors.

So far the tour has been... interesting, to say the least. With the goal of improving relationships with one another, Adora had invited the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows, Frosta, over to the Fright Zone for a guided tour of the land. Ideally, she wanted to show how great the Fright Zone was, and how much better the Horde was than the Rebellion let on. She had numerous places to visit with her, wonderful things to see, and was hoping to show the princess that the Horde could be trusted.

So, it wasn't at all surprising her day got immediately ruined the moment a pair of guards showed up t the lunchroom reminding her of the dozen or so stacks of paperwork she had waiting for her, which she forgot was scheduled on the same day of the tour. With her attention preoccupied, she left the remainder of the tour to her trusted friend, Scorpia, hoping to finish the paperwork in time to continue the tour with them.

Thus, the two found themselves exploring the Fright Zone on their own, or what little of the tour Scorpia showed the princess herself. So far, a majority of the tour had consisted of simple places Scorpia thought they should start out with, such as the bunk rooms, the locker rooms, and the outside of the Fright Zone as she wanted to save the best for last. She thought the princess was having a great time, and, given Frosta's maturity, it was really hard to tell otherwise.

And, unsurprisingly, the tour came with a lot of strange looks from the people they passed by as the tour progressed. It's not like the young princess couldn't understand. After all, when you saw what looked like one of the enemies being escorted by a Force Captain and a pair of personal guards, it was bound to raise some eyebrows. Frosta just wished they were a little more informed about how they were allies now so she wouldn't feel so awkward around them.

At least now, they were finally exploring one of the training rooms, which alone sounded much more interesting than the rest of the tour had been so far.

*tweeeeeeeeeet*

It was the sounds of the whistle going off that first drew Frosta's attention before the door even opened. When the metallic doors fully opened, the second thing she was greeted with was the sight of a room full of children running from one end of a track to the other. All of them seemed to be excited as they raced against one another to the opposite end back and forth, actually enjoying the experience.

"Oooh, I love watching this!" Scorpia's eyes sparkled again as she watched the roomful of children exercising back and forth. "This is one of our training facilities for the really young cadets. Adora, Entrapta, and I usually watch them at least once a week for fun. It's where all the kids first start their basic training."

"Yeah... real young..." Frosta muttered, watching in curiosity as some of the kids went back and forth. To be honest, she was rather surprised at how organized they were. All the kids were enjoying themselves while training with one another, all wearing matching uniforms and actually following the orders that they were given by their blue-skinned instructor. Despite being so young, looking to be a mix of ages between six to age, they were already mature enough to do training like this.

She would've found it really noble, in a sense, if it did't bother her so much. "Aren't they a little... you know... too young to be doing this, though?" Frosta asked, noticing how some of the kids barely came up to her shoulders."

This wasn't like anything she had to put up with since she inherited her kingdom. She was a princess, she had a land to rule over, it made sense that she had to grow up quickly from where she came from. She decided the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the kingdom, she couldn't be doing simple stuff like playing "Hide-'n-Seek" or throwing parties whenever she wanted to. She sole life affected the lives of everyone, and even if she didn't want to at times, she had to grow up for the sake of everyone.

These kids, however? Did they really have to be throwing their lives away by working as soon as they could run, much less walk? There weren't many, if any, kids that looked to be any younger than six, but this was different to her. To her, these were everyday people who were being taught to grow up as soon as possible, to train to become fellow members of the Horde as early as possible. Was this really the life for these kids? For anyone growing up in the Horde?

Noticing the lack of enthusiasm emanating from the blue princess, Scorpia gave her a small comforting smile, trying to brighten her mood. "It's not as bad as you think. Most of these kids are just going through the basics of everything. They get to have the most fun around here."

"Oof!" The two were briefly caught by the sound of a small girl with brown pigtails falling to the ground. Thankfully, she appeared to be fine, even happy as two of her friends came to her side as they helped her up, even if it meant going back in the middle of their run."

"In the Horde, we believe you're never too early to train. With these training courses and classes, we teach the kids the basics of everything, so that they all have an opportunity to accomplish some task when they're old enough to fight. We also do it early to see how well some of the kids excel in the courses, because if they do a good enough job, they get promoted to the advance programs. I probably never would've met Adora if she wasn't so good at what she does!" She said with a sense of pride.

Frosta guessed she could understand that, to some extent. Seeing how gifted a child is was a normal thing in the world, with some becoming prodigies or just naturally gifted in something at such an early age. She could also understand the idea of training someone in all fields of knowledge, from science, to math, physical education, and so forth. Perhaps that much she could agree with as she continued to watch.

As she contemplated said thoughts, it became a little more evident at how much was taught to these kids as the same girl from earlier noticed Frosta watching them. Seeing her, one by one, the other kids who were running the tracks slowly came to a stop as they all noticed the princess watching them, staring at her in a state of disbelief. For a moment, Frosta looked behind her in confusion before realizing it was her that they were all staring at.

"What?"

"Ahhhhh," the first girl screamed in high-pitched terror, "it's a princess!"

"Ahhhhhhh!" Immediately, all the kids began to scream as they ran away from the track, covering behind their instructors legs as they all stared at her in fear.

"Calm down, calm down! She's with us!" The instructor tried to soothe as he explained.

The feeling became a little dreadful to the young princess as her expression dropped a little. That one scene of fear and dismay instantly told the princess just what exactly they were being taught as children, watching them as some of them sniffled, others with tears in their eyes, as they complained to the instructor about the evil princess that occupied the room.

Feeling the tension rising through the air, Scorpia gave off a nervous chuckle as she patted the princess's back, leading her out the door. "Heh heh, uh let's go explore somewhere else." She suggested, trying to keep the tour under control as they left. The young princess halted as the doors closed behind them, staring back at the metallic door with unease. Two things bothered her at this point.

First, their reaction at simply seeing the young princess. She wasn't unfamiliar with the Horde's viewpoints on princesses and whatnot. After all, the only "good" princesses that seemed to be roaming through the halls of the Fright Zone were Princess Scorpia and Entrapta, the latter of which she hasn't seen since the tour began. Even without her, the children considered something that should be feared, a monster. She was the most terrifying being to them at such a young age, and one capable of sending a few of them into tears simply by looking at her.

The second thing that bothered her? How much of this tour was legit. Maybe there was a reason Scorpia started off the tour by showing her all the boring places of the tour- they were less occupied. It was bad enough to get a couple of weird glances from the hallway from time to time, but to be seen as a terrifying monster to a bunch of children in a small room, while doing nothing more than watching them play around?

Awful. Terrible. It was the worst feeling in the world. And there was no telling how much the rest of the Horde was like as long as Scorpia was the one leading things here.

"So, you ready for the next stop?" Scorpia offered, taking the lead as she walked ahead a little.

The young princess stared at the ground in contemplation before lifting her head to her. "Say, Scorpia? Is there any chance we could, I don't know, take a break or something?"

"Are you getting hungry? I know it's been awhile, but we could still have a late lunch if we head straight over to the cafeteria."

"No, I mean... why don't we just take a short break. You know, just walk for a little bit, stretch our legs."

Scorpia blinked as she tapped her chin at this. "I'm pretty sure we've been walking this whole time, but sure! That's fine. There's a tracking field on another floor we could head to if you want-"

"No, like, walk by ourselves, take our minds off the tour for now."

"Oh. Um, I don't know. Adora was pretty insistent on sticking together throughout the tour and all that, so I'm not sure if-"

"That'd be great then!" She insisted. "I'll walk around for a bit, and you can check on how Adora's doing. She was supposed to be on this tour with us after an hour, right? It's been awhile now."

"Mmh..." Scorpia was at a loss on how to proceed. If she took her advice, Adora might get mad at her, but on the other claw, she was getting worried about how her friend was doing. She seemed a little out of it earlier this morning, and it has been several hours since she saw her. "Well, I guess that's okay then. We can meet back here later then, okay?"

"Sure!" The princess replied with slight enthusiasm as she walked off. "I'll see you later then, okay?"

"Okay!... Oh! And make sure you stay out of Hordak's room. That was Adora's number one rule!"

"I will!"

Scorpia smiled as she waved off, heading in her own direction as she searched for Adora. Waiting for Scorpia to leave her view, a more determined look of certainty crossed Frosta's expression as she went down her own hallway, her faithful guards still sticking by her all the way.

It was time to see what a personal tour would do to enlighten her.

...

The four friends continued to search the outpost on their guard, sword, magic, arrows, and horse at the ready.

The journey through Alwyn was proving itself to be a little more disturbing than first impressions initially let on, and those told them the place was deeply disturbing to begin with. With an eerie sky blanketing the town with shadow, the sound of silence and wind being the only thing talking to them, and an abandoned outpost with nary a soul or person, alive or otherwise, to greet them, and there was no telling what mystery had befallen this place.

It was their mission to investigate the disappearance of the outpost's communications, the site going silent throughout the last week. So far, the only thing greeting them was a darkened sky, a hollow mist that swept the village, and their own nerves standing on edge after every step. The ground itself was practically shouting at them as they stepped, the village was so silent! Their mission also came with another personal mission which involved the majority of the group.

What to do with Catra.

The girl had a personal vendetta against a purple-haired scientist from the Horde, one she wasn't going to ignore without getting her claws on her. Throughout most of the morning, even now into the afternoon, the girl hadn't given up her thoughts of revenge against the one person who betrayed them, the girl Catra agonized with guilt over for several weeks, and she wasn't about to anytime soon. The problem was, with this quest for vengeance, Catra was losing a part of herself.

Metaphorically and literally.

With every hour that vengeance swelled her mind, another portion of She-Ra's power, the very thing connected to Catra's heart, was depleting. Despite all the work the girl had done throughout the last week, all that power she obtained by bettering herself, she was selfishly losing it. She cared little about how things would turn out if she stormed the Fright Zone to find her, and with every thought she had about getting payback, a fraction of She-Ra's power was going down the drain. She was becoming her own worst enemy, and she was losing the power of She-Ra along with it.

The only thing keeping her from continuing her vendetta against her was her deal with Glimmer. If she helped complete the mission, doing what she could to speed it up, then Glimmer promised to help her get to the Fright Zone and out. It was obvious to the both of them that it was simply a ploy to take her mind off of things, but with her diminishing power, it was getting harder to get to the Fright Zone as the others physically forced her to keep her from going. What other choice did she have than to accept for now?

At least she was finding her own little source of amusement around here.

"I still can't believe she hit me..." Bow mumbled, rubbing his bruised right cheek.

"To be fair, you were the one who asked her if those ghost stories made her wet the bed as a kid." Swift Wind reminded, peeking his eyes through the windows of a house.

Glimmer gave her sore friend a small grin at this. "But if it makes you feel any better, she didn't say yes or no."

"Heh, yeah...WHOA!" Immediately, Bow's eyes lit up as he quickly ducked himself and Glimmer out of the way of a rocketing apple that just flew over his head and into the building behind them.

*Splat!*

"I can still hear you!" They knew better than to push their chances with the girl with sensitive hearing, the warning had been clear.

"This doesn't make any sense to me." Swift Wind commented as the two continued to explore. "I feel like something is here yet I don't see anything."

"Maybe they're still in hiding?" Catra shrugged before taking a deep breath. "HELLOOOOO!"

"Ack!" The terrified shriek of a thirteen-year-old girl came from the throat of the magnificent stallion she walked past, jumping from his front two hooves briefly before trying to regain his dignity. "I mean, Uh, who was that? Bow, man, you gotta pull yourself together."

Ignoring the boastful horse, the archer gave a quick peek through another window before knocking on the door of a house. With no immediate answer being given, the others gathered near as he opened the door slowly. And like everything else, it just had to come with the creepy creaking sound one would expect to find in a haunted house, ones where the ghost would happily add any trespassers to their "family".

Not seeing anyone through the small crack in the door, he turned back to see if anyone else was more eager to go into the house first than him. No matter how brave of a front Catra put off, it was clear that she was still as unsettled as the rest of them were, her tail jerking occasional for a split second as if she was about to jump.

"I'll, um, wait out here in case anyone tries to sneak up on you." Swift Wind bravely announced as he backed away into the bushes. It was definitely because he was looking out for their well-being, not because he felt like he was going to take off the moment something popped out at them! "Also, this door is too small for horses, which is rude." Was the last thing he mentioned before disappearing.

"Okay." She was going to have to take charge, no matter how scared Glimmer felt about this. "On three." Catra and Bow turned to the door, drawing their weapons at the ready as Glimmer charged up her magic. "One... two... th-"

"WAIT!"

"Ah!" Bow nearly jumped out of his shoes as Catra suddenly yelled. "What is it?!"

"...Do we go on three, or after three?"

"ON three!" Glimmer yelped back, her heart still racing from the cat's shout.

"Alright, alright, jeez." She couldn't understand how touchy some people were as she drew her sword again.

"Let's try this again. One... two... three!" Without any hesitation, teleporting herself, the three burst into the room, weapons pulled back to make the first strike at-!

Apparently nothing. Less than nothing, perhaps. Lowering their weapons, from initial observation, there didn't seem to be anything life threatening to greet them with. It looked like any run-of-the-mill house, from its average dinner table, a shelf filled with books, a sink of dirty dishes, and a well-balanced meal waiting for a family on the dinner table. Take out the terrifying atmosphere this place spread, and they would've felt right at home.

With the danger-less danger averted, the three sheathed their weapons and magic as Catra approached the dinner table as she sniffed over the food, grabbing onto one of the tomato slices left on a plate. Before Glimmer even had the chance to stop her, the magicat took a bite of the fruit, eating it as if nothing about this place gave her any sign of warning.

It was gross enough to almost make Glimmer forget about the creepiness of this place. "Ok. Catra? That was gross, even for you."

"I was just checking it to see if it was still fresh!" She snarled, although a near-silent rumble in her stomach told them otherwise.

"And what if it was poisoned?!" Bow fretted, checking around it.

"It couldn't be. Noting else was bitten out of and there would've been bodies if anyone died from it. Plus I would've smelled it from the slices if something was off." She explained. "Weird thing is, most of this stuff is still okay. Whoever made this meal would've been here awhile ago."

"There's no sign of the Horde, either. And there's no sign of a struggle at all. It's like they all just... left." Bow had never been so confused before about the sight of an empty village as he was now. No bodies, no signs of destruction, Horde technology. What was going on here.

"It's just like the story of the Bone Snatcher."

"Oh, come on, not another story..." Glimmer moaned.

"She was a princess who grew so consumed by power, that it turned her into a terrifying demon with a never-ending appetite. She'd sneak into the houses of those who stole from their superiors, suck the bones right out of their body, leaving behind only empty husks of flesh!" Staring at one another for a moment, the three slowly turned their heads to the floor, sighing with relief. For a second there, they almost thought they were going to see a bundle of rag-thin piles of skin tossed around the floor. Good thing there was nothing to scare them-

"What'd you find?"

"Ahh!" The three screamed in unison as Swift Wind popped his head through the door, Catra accidentally smacking Bow off his feet before catching Glimmer who jumped onto her, hanging from her neck for dear life.

"Heh. Sorry," he apologized, "I don't like being out here by myself."

It took the two a few seconds to realize they were holding onto each other, their expressions slowly changing. One with a look of nervousness as she smiled, and one looking a little more annoyed as her eyelids dropped halfway.

"Eh heh... thanks for catching me, Catra."

"I didn't."

*Thud*

"Ow!" She should've expected as much but it still hurt her backside as Catra dropped her again, rubbing it soothingly as she rose to her feet along with Bow. At the same time, the magicat glared a little to the supposed "Noble Steed", still noting how his intrusion made her jump. Hoping to break the tension before Catra grew another vendetta, Glimmer continued, "We should probably check out the other buildings."

There was still tension within the air as they traveled together, looking from one house to the other as they tried to unravel the town's mystery. So far, everything else looked the same. From the windows they scoped, they saw the insides of houses were still perfectly in tact. Some of them still had food on the tables while other people went the extra mile and boarded up some of their windows.

On the bright side of things, the longer the mission took, the less occupied Catra seemed with getting her revenge. She was less focused on the task as the atmosphere continued to darken, and the twisted feeling of unease continued to rise around them. Then again, with what little they found, it was hard to tell if any of this was actually getting to her.

"Hey, guys!"

"Ahh!" Simultaneously, both Glimmer and Catra yelped in surprise at Bow's shout, Catra pulling the smaller girl towards her as she drew her blade in the opposite direction. It was a bit awkward given the previous interaction the two had with Catra dropping the girl when she jumped for her. She did what she could to maintain her demeanor as she quickly pushed Glimmer away a little.

"Sorry. What did you say?" She asked, turning around to the pointing archer.

The three turned to the direction he was facing as they observed the momentous obelisk that drew his attention. It stood tall and proudly between several of the houses, covered in the sickly dark-pink vines that surrounded some of the other houses.

"Does that seem familiar to you?"

"Beats me?" Catra scratched the back of her head, feeling like the answer was on the tip of her tongue. "Maybe it's-"

*BANG*

"Ahhh!" It was almost a record at this point for how many times the team screamed together. No matter how many times a sword was drawn, an arrow was pulled back, and the princess teleported herself from fear, nothing seemed to calm them as one noises jumped out at them after the other.

Even if it was something as harmless as a window shutter blowing open from the wind.

"I-It was just a stupid window." The diminishing-She-Ra coughed, trying to maintain her composure. "Hey, where's Pin-"

*swish*

The princess appeared right next to her before she could even finished, still hunched over with her eyes snapped shut out of fright. "Glimmer?"

The young princess took a small gasp for breath, trying to calm herself as she smiled. "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that."

Because you were scared, perhaps? Catra thought to herself as she looked around. "Is it me or is this place getting weirder by the second? Like the Chasm of the Spindling Princess?"

"S-Spindling Princess? That doesn't seem so bad."

"Are you insane?!" Catra jumped, grabbing her shoulders as her eyes widened. "She was the only story that actually scared me as a kid!" Whoa. This was bad. If Catra wasn't afraid of admitting that something scared her, then Glimmer knew it was serious. Shifting her eyes around, the cat circled around the shivering princess as she regaled her story.

"They say she was a wicked princess who was thrown into the deepest chasm of Etheria's history, with nothing but a spindle for her amusement. They said she slowly grew insane as all she ever did was spindled, using strains of her ever-flowing hair as string. In the Fright Zone, they always told us that if you ever lied to an officer, you were already marked by her sinister thread."

"There seems to be a theme with obeying your superiors with these stories." Bow commented, listening intently as he crossed his arms.

"If you were marked by her, your fate was already sealed. Slowly, she'd drag things around you when no one was looking, driving you insane as nobody would believe what you tell them. They say eventually, you'd be driven so insane, that you would be ensnared by her own thread, helplessly dragging your feet to the very cliff that she was thrown off of, until you jumped from the cliff yourself! And at the very bottom, all you would be met with, are a pair of glowing red eyes, and her terrifying, massive pair, of ferocious- AHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHH!"

*swish!*

"Ahahahahahahahaha!" In no time at all, Glimmer found herself teleporting from her spot immediately after Catra grabbed her by the shoulders screaming, and reappeared, still shaking in her boots as she hugged onto Bow for dear life. It took her several seconds of hearing Catra laughing at her before she realized she'd been had, blushing profusely as she glared back.

"T-That wasn't funny, Catra!"

"Hahahahaha!" Catra was almost brought to tears as she laughed, holding her sides tightly. "You're right, it was hilarious! Hahahaha! Phew, I can't believe you actually fell for that!"

"So all of those stories were fake?!"

"Are you kidding? I wish I made those stories up, but each of them were real and told to us in the Fright Zone."

"So that really was a story you were scared of?"

"Pfft, of course not! Do you know how stupid you'd have to be to believe any of them-"

"Catra!"

"AHHHH!" In no time at all, the magicat leapt off her feet as she immediately hugged the branch of the tree seven feet above her, her skin still shaking on its end as her eyes nearly bugged out. It took several seconds for her to realize how she looked before she blushed, glaring down at the irritating horse that screamed out of nowhere as Bow laughed.

"Em... You had a spider on your back... sorry..." If he wasn't one of the very few people she liked, which went down on her liking-meter after that little stunt, she would've happily knocked some sense into him as she jumped down to her feet, brushing the leaves she obtained out of her hair.

"Can we please stop messing around?" Glimmer felt like she was the only one of the four officially taking any of this seriously. "We have a mission to do here. Something happened to these people that forced them from their homes, and we don't have any leads. The longer we goof around, more danger they could be in. We have to get to the bottom of this."

Still a little irritated at the recent scare, Catra decided to roll with it as she went off with the others, hoping to put that little stunt behind her. As annoying as this mission was becoming to her, it would've been a lie to say she wasn't a little concerned for the disappearing citizens, at least ones that contributed so much to the Rebellion's war efforts.

It was only after several steps that another sound caught her attention again, quickly glancing back with a keen focus. Just like before, she was met with nothing approaching them or moving from them, as if the air was simply playing a trick with her. She couldn't tell if the stories really were affecting her as much as Glimmer, or if she was just letting her nerves get to her. All she knew was one important detail.

Whatever caused these people to disappear was definitely still around.

...

"Ethical dilemma number, uh... 63!" Entrapta declared as she spoke into the tape recorder.

So far, she had kept her promise to Adora perfectly! She promised her she wouldn't bother Hordak, and she wouldn't go to his lab, or his inner sanctum as it was called, which alone was driving her giddy with excitement. She intended to keep the promise to her friend after all she did for her, yet at the same time, she was finding herself presented with a problem as she paced outside his door with Emily standing near.

"I told Adora I wouldn't go into Hordak's lab. But, if she never find out, does it count?" She flailed about as she dragged herself around with her hair. "I could just go in, grab the tool, and pop right out. And no one would ever know!... But I'd know. I shouldn't do it. Or should I? No, I shouldn't." The girl wanted noting better to do than to pull her own hair out right now with her own hair! "What do I do-"

"Entrapta?" A familiar voice perked up, catching the studious scientist by surprise. All tension and suspense dropped from the girl's shoulders at the sight of her miraculous savior approaching her curiously with her two guards. "It's been awhile. I haven't seen you since-"

"Ah! Frosta! You're a lifesaver!"

"A lifesaver? What are you talking a-Ack!" The young princess was powerless, and taken by surprise yet again, as the leading woman grabbed her with a bundle of hair, carrying her over until she was in Entrapta's right arm, being held by the neck.

"I need your help." She began as she paced back and forth in front of the door, Frosta struggling to pry loose from her suffocating grip. Just like before, the two guards were powerless to assist the girl, in this case thanks to the efforts of a certain droid named Emily who seemed to stare at them, blocking their path as she followed everywhere they went.

"What is with you people and hugging?!"

"I have a crisis on my hand, something that could affect the very balance of the universe itself, and I need your input on it! To put it simply, I made Adora a promise that could compromise the sanctity of my friendship with her. I told her I needed a tool that I couldn't locate anywhere within my given vicinities, and suggested to myself that I might be able to find it somewhere within Hordak's lab."

"Nghhhhh!" Frosta could see parts of her life flashing before her eyes as her face started to turn darker and darker shades of blue by the second, the suffocation from the hug making Scorpia's seem like child's play.

"The trouble is, Adora was very hung up about me not going into his lab! ...Or was it bothering him?" The scientist paused as Frosta continued to kick her feet. "Now I can't tell which one sounds more important..."

"Can't... breathe..."

"Anyway, I need that hex driver if I'm to continue making any progress in my lab on the various things the Horde needs from me, and I obviously can't just make the hex driver myself. If I can't do that, then I can't contribute to the Horde, and if I try to do it, I'll be breaking my promise with Adora. I don't know what to do."

"D-Dying..."

"I know, this is killing me to. I just can't decide!" With that, salvation finally came to the suffocating princess as Entrapta threw both her hands in the air. Fresh air never felt so good as it flowed freely through the girl's throat, her face returning to the same shade of pink it once was. Before she could retaliate, verbally or otherwise, she felt herself being picked up once again by Entrapta's soft hair, being placed atop of Emily as she looked into Frosta's sweet, innocent, eyes. "What do I do?"

The princess continued to rub her throat for a bit as she processed what the girl had all said through her perilous suffocation. There were a lot of things Frosta was thankful for when it came to the scientist. As with the alliance her kingdom forged with the Horde, it wasn't just situated to benefit them. The Kingdom of Snows benefited from the advanced technologies crafted by the Horde's primary chief scientist, Entrapta, Princess of the Kingdom of Dryl.

Thermal shieldings that could make encampment possible through the snowiest of mountains, allowing explorers to pitch camp wherever they saw fit and creating an area where it was constantly room temperatures. Machines that could dig through mountains in a matter of minutes without disrupting the mountains in anyway that would cause an avalanche, creating safer means of traveling through the kingdom and discovering new resources. The Horde proved invaluable to the kingdom and vice versa.

So when she saw Entrapta's deep, pleading, eyes, it was hard to stay mad at her. She owed her immensely for the technologies they provided, even if she also created a droid that nearly killed her. Mentally sighing to herself, the young princess crossed her arms as she sat cross-legged on the droid.

"If I help you out, can you help answer something for me? It's about the Horde."

"Yes! Anything! You name it!" She sparkled, squeezing her hands pleadingly as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright then. Um, well what was the promise you made to her in the first place? To stay out of his lab or not to bother him?"

"Um, I can't really remember anymore. Maybe it was both? I know the lab was involved, at least."

"Well, what were the terms of the promise you made, then?"

"I promised her I wouldn't go into his lab, which he calls his inner sanctum, which is the greatest thing any scientist can call his lab!"

"Is the lab his entire room, or is it only a part of the room?"

"That's... actually a good question. I haven't seen it for myself except for a few times, and they were always with Adora. But, I think, it was actually in another portion of his room, if he doesn't consider the entire sanctum his lab."

"Well, if it's really important to you, you could do both without breaking any of Adora's promises."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, you could go in there and refrain from going into his lab if you found the part outside of his actual lab, right? And technically she said not to bother Hordak, but she didn't say anything about letting him see you right? So, even if he does see you, if you're not doing anything to bother him, then you can still keep your promise. Does that make sense?"

"...Haaaaah!" The ends of Entrapta's hair rose as her eyes glistened with light again, her fingers squeezing into her palms as she understood everything. "It's perfect! You're a genius!"

"Well, I don't wish to brag, but..." Frosta gave of a smug grin as she brushed off her arms. Of all the things Frosta was, she was a kid at the very first. And if there was one thing a kid was the ruler of, it was the ability to find a way around a promise or an agreement they made, and how to do something they weren't supposed to without getting caught.

And the ability to trick gullible scientists after nearly suffocating her to death.

"I'll in in and out of there within seconds, Adora will be none the wiser, and nothing will be broken! Bye!" The scientist perked as she sped towards the door as fast as her hair could carry her.

"Hey, wait! What about my question?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Sorry, I almost forgot!" Just as eager as she had been to resolve her issue, she was also just as eager to support the young princess as she lied in mid-air, still hanging casually by her hair. "What's your question?"

Now it was Frosta's turn to be unsettled as she slid off the mechanical pet that was Emily. "Well, based on your person experience here... What's it like in the Horde? Is it any good?"

"Are you kidding me?" Entrapta gasped with excitement. "It's great!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh! I remember everything like it happened since yesterday! Ever since I got caught by the Horde, they've been nothing but nice to me!" The scientist lifted up a bundle of hair at a time as she went off. "They gave me tons of food when I was found, they gave me my own lab, provided me with tools, I got to do a lot of experiments as long as I didn't try to scan people's brains as while they were asleep."

"But what is the Horde like?" She clarified as she examined Emily behind her. "What are the people like around here? What kind of things have you made for them?"

"The people? Oh, they're fantastic! Adora's been the kindest person I've ever met around here, and really supports all the work I've been doing! Scorpia is a little... clunky, but she has a good heart. Plus, she's great whenever I need help with the heavy lifting and all my other droids are currently under maintenance, or destroyed. Usually, both."

"And the others?"

"The others? Oh, man, I can't begin to tell you! They're-!" There was a pause in Entrapta's expression as she started to tap her chin, curiously. "...Huh... now that I think about it, Adora, Scorpia, and the droids are pretty much the only interactions I have with people around here, unless I get called by scientists down in the labs for something important."

"And what kind of stuff do they make in the labs?"

"Oh, you know, the whole nine-yards. Droids capable of running undetected into enemy territory and dismantling structural support, tanks I've upgraded with an firing range that can travel nearly a mile without losing its firepower, precision demolition equipment that can topple buildings purely with sound-waves, increased all the troops' weaponry by tuning up their tools with an increased thirty-percent armor penetration rating, and-"

"So weapons?" Frosta piqued. "You've just been making weapons, and nothing else?"

Once again, the scientist found herself pausing at Frosta's intellectual way of looking at things. "Oh, wow. Guess I hadn't really thought about that, but yes! I've been building more than enough weapons than I ever thought I possibly would within half my lifetime! You know, when I'm not making tools and equipment for your kingdom, heh heh!" It was at this time Entrapta finally noticed the glum look on Frosta's face, making her wonder if she struck a nerve or something. "Why are you asking all these questions anyway?"

"Huh? Oh! N-No reason! I was just curious." She lied, giving off her best fake smile as she shook her hand. She couldn't tell if her acting was on par with the world's greatest performers or not, but it seemed to be enough to the scientist as she just smiled, happy to enlighten the mind of the curious. "A-Anyway, I should go. I have some more stuff to see." She stated as she marched off with her two guards close behind her.

"Okay! Thanks again, Frosta!" Entrapta quickly said before popping into Hordak's sanctum.

The details and revelations Entrapta provided were a little more revealing than Frosta would've hoped for. Based on everything she said, it sounded like the Horde's primary and only goal was to create destruction on a world-wide scale. She was certain enough not literally everything she made was for the sake of destroying everything, yet it didn't deteriorate the train of thought she had come to realize.

The Horde was more than willing to wipe out their enemies if an opportunity presented itself. Even if that was technically the goal of all wars, it still didn't comfort Frosta anymore to know just how determined the Horde was at this. They wanted to unite the world under their banner. She was fine with that as long as it wasn't in any aggressive means as Adora explained to her. But even with that, why was she feeling such a sake of unease within her heart? Like something telling her this was all wrong?

Pushing the thoughts away, Frosta continued to her next and last destination before she determined just how good this tour was to her.

...

"A six-sided hex driver!" Entrapta whispered to herself as she viewed Hordak working from afar.

So far, the establishment was just about everything she could expect from an inner sanctum. The room gave off a nice sense of class as the distinguished entryway was more than enough for any scientist's leading doorway. Trailing along the room, she came across the very leader of the Horde and his imp as he worked on another of his creations, blocking the view of it from where Entrapta crouched along the corner of the room.

Just get the hex driver, then get out, and don't bother him if he sees you. Got it. This was going to be simple, she was sure of it! He seemed too invested in whatever project he was working to notice Entrapta as she neared one of the work tables behind him, keeping her own eyes glued to the tool that was within hair's reach. Creeping up to the table, she could feel her skin getting chills from the excitement she was growing! She would keep her promise, be back to the lab in no time, and- What was that?

Her eyes were suddenly drawn to the small flash of light coming from the center of his lab. She lost all train of thought as she raised her head a little over one of the large pipes she was hiding behind, watching the creation of raw energy that took the form of a sphere, the lightning within it reflecting off her pupils as it danced within its realm. Never, in the history of Entrapta's life, had she ever seen such a beautiful work of science, especially one she hadn't created herself.

"This is amazing." She couldn't help but whisper. It was thanks to a small clunk to her head by Emily's robotic arm that she remembered why she was here, and why she needed to keep her head down and quiet. She didn't really mind it personally. As long as she got to watch the wonders of technology by the Horde's very own leader, she would've gladly stayed silent for the rest of her life.

*bzzzzzzzt*

Sadly, her amusement ended sooner than it began. Within a few seconds of the device possibly preforming any amazing feat, it all came crashing down as the circuits could be heard destabilizing, the wondrous work of electricity vanishing into thin air until it was nonexistent. "Oooh..."

"Nooooo!" Like Hordak's previous testing, the leader found his anger boiling past his limits as he slammed his fists onto the table, Entrapta barely avoiding his gaze as she ducked, and scattering the table's contents in an angry swipe. Nothing he did seemed to be working, all his testing, once again, came to a grinding halt. Every time he tried his experiment, it failed. Whenever he made progress, it failed. If there was one word he hated within the confines of his own lab, it was FAIL!

Blinded by fury, he stormed off out of his sanctum, Entrapta barely avoiding his detection again as she pressed her back into the table and covering her mouth. She waited until he passed through the mechanical doors, his imp trailing close behind him, before she crawled out. Now that he was out of the lab, she means inner sanctum, there was no possible way for her to bother the great scientist!

...Then again... she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the genius.

"Well, there's no reason to get huffy because an experiment failed." She declared, casually walking over to the marvelous machine. "Failure is a vital part of all scientific endeavor." From behind her, Emily hummed in approval as Entrapta petted her with her magnificent hair. Smiling, the scientist came to a new line of reasoning as she grabbed her desired tool. "What if I had given up on you after the first explosion? Or the 50th?"

Emily continued to whir behind her, communicating in such a way that only she understood. "I know, I know. I promised Adora I wouldn't bother him and I should leave. But I can't!" She cheered to herself as she raised a fist. "For Science!"

...

Empty, empty, and more empty. With each new house the gang inspected upon, each house somehow felt emptier than the last. They had yet to find any signs of life, and, fortunately, not death, as they continued their exploration. With each unsettling home they peeked in on, the chill in the air intensified, and the silence became overwhelming. It was starting to reach the point where their own heartbeat could be heard to themselves, and with each beat they heard, their anxiety deepened.

It was during the present house Bow and Glimmer peeked in on that Glimmer finally discovered something. Not within the house of darkness, but from the reflection she caught in the window. It was just for a mere second, and by then it already vanished before she could turn around. But it was the first sign of anything within this creepy village, save for the four startled allies.

"Hello?" She called out. Nothing to the left. Nothing to the Right. She was positive there was something there. She just couldn't figure out what. "Catra? Was that you?" Still silent. "Catra, I swear, if this is another one of your tricks-"

"You called?"

"Ahh!" Okay. In fairness, that was a pretty casual way for Catra to greet her, still annoyed and bored as always, as she appeared right in her face. What she hadn't counted on was her appearing to her upside down, finding her hanging from Swift Wind as he flapped several feet above them. "What are you doing up there? I thought we agreed you wouldn't go to the Fright Zone until after we finished the mission?"

"Would you cut me some slack, already?" Honestly, Catra could only put up with so much nerve as she hopped to the ground, Swift Wind's hooves meeting with it from behind her. "I was just trying to get a better view of the place, but the dumb mist was too thick. I already promised I wouldn't try to sneak off, remember?"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't take her even when she did ask me!" The horse hastily shifted gears as he earned Catra's small glare at this. "Not that, uh, she's asked me already... eight or nine times..."

"Well could you at least stop popping up out of nowhere like that? We need to search together." The conversation drew Bow closer as he finished his recent inspection. "This place is totally abandoned."

*Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr~*

"Ngh!" Whatever made this place so abandoned in the first place was getting to Catra and Swift Wind again as she clenched their ears tightly. Just as before, their senses were assaulted by the high-pitched screech of a mysterious force, one that lasted a few merciful seconds compared to before. "Please tell me you guys are getting that already?"

"Yes!" Swifty nodded, shaking the rings out of his ears. "Finally. I told you. It's a weird sound."

"It's like someone's whistling the most obnoxious song I can think of."

"I-I-I don't hear anything." The princess's teeth chattered a little as she backed away. "It's probably just the wind!"

*whhhhhssssss*

Okay. That was definitely not the wind. Worse, it was starting to become clearer. All around them, they began to hear the echos of moans swirling around them, the group bracing themselves for whatever possible threat was about to lunge out at them next. All of them felt the tension boiling around them, their bodies shaking every other seconds as they prepared their weapons.

"Okay. I'm hearing something, too." Bow gulped as he slowly backed away closer to his friends. It could be anything! A monster. A ghost. A witch. Some other ridiculous horrifying story that Catra hadn't told them yet. Anything!

"There!" At long last, Catra spotted something. Beyond a small wall of bricks that barely came up to their thighs, they could see it. A hollow, white, translucent being that slowly moved beyond the trees. A part of her was grateful that she finally discovered the source of this mystery, and she could start her trail to the Fright Zone in a matter of minutes.

The other ninety-percent of her was terrified that one, or all, of her ghost stories were possibly true. With a slightly fear-induced heart, the girl raised her sword to the air, prepared to say the sacred oath. "For the Honor of Grayskull!" It took a simple flash from beyond the trees for the hero to emerge. Within seconds, Catra had leaped greatly from her friends, landing upon the small wall of pricks with fire in her eyes.

While it was some relief that the power of She-Ra would keep them safe, it was also with some disappointment as they saw her current state. Nothing had changed for the worse since they last saw her, but nothing was better, either. She still had on the basics of her outfit, from the tiara, the white clothing and skirt, and her powerful sword. But that was it. She still lacked the other fundamental features of She-Ra, from her pants, the elegant red cape that flowed from her back, and the beautiful bracers she once wore.

The fact the bracers were missing were the worst of all at this point, considering it was something Catra had gained since her first transformation into She-Ra. the fact she was missing something that she had by default already proved how much of She-Ra's power she had lost. It almost made them tremble at the thought of how much she had left to lose before She-Ra's power was forever from her reach.

None of it bothered the magicat as she continued on her way. She would finish her mission, get her revenge, and then everything would be alright. Without missing a beat, she quickly jumped from her current spot as she continued to chase after the mysterious figure, leaving Bow and Glimmer behind with each other before they realized she taking off into uncertain danger.

"Catra!"

Wait!"

...

*clak*

*bzzzt*

Ah, the music of science.

There was no better sound in the world to the young scientist as she plugged and unpluggged various wires connected to the machine. With Etheria as her witness, she swore she would get the machine up and running, if not for her, then for the sake of all scientists everywhere!

She was so enamored by the wondrous machine that she became just as ignorant to her surroundings like Hordak was earlier as a figure approached from behind. Mysterious people would have to wait, all senses were focused solely on the task ahead of her. Donning her mask, she watched as the ends of the wire sparkled as she connected them together, all while a familiar shadow grew from behind her.

Hordak was not amused as he grumbled. Nobody was to interrupt his work. Nobody was to speak to him without matters of importance. Failures and traitors were something he would never tolerate within the Horde. But most of all, if there was one thing he couldn't allow, one thing that would guarantee the death of even his most loyal generals, it was those foolish enough, stupid enough, brave enough, to mess with the machines in his own lab!

"Hello." Entrapta greeted, lifting her head up without turning around. "You're blocking my light. If you could just step aside..." Raising her helmet, she turned to the source of the light-stealing creature that stood terrifyingly behind her.

And that was his trigger.

Somebody giving him orders in his own lab!

"Get. OUT!"

"Well, just a sec. I'm almost done." Hordak blinked. He was taken aback by that. That was a new reaction to his outrage. He expected loyalty, cowardice, anything other than what the scientist greeted him with. He was a being that was to be feared and respected by everyone within Etheria, and yet she just greeted him as if she was saying "Hi, how are you" in the most common manner of speaking.

With a final click, the scientist smiled as brushed her hands proudly, turning away from him as she waved him off without a second thought. "All done. Okay, bye."

"There will be dire consequences for this flagrant breach of conduct!" Perhaps she simply didn't know her place, a problem he would gladly rectify given the next opportunity.

"You were using uninsulated cables. I, uh, replaced them for you. Try again." She would've wanted to stay and test how her improvements bared fruit if Emily wasn't pushing her out the door. "It should hold a charge now!"

Huh? A second time? She didn't just go about her business as if he was nonexistent, she was talking to him as if he was one of the plebeian races off this minuscule, backwater, planet. Did she truly not know who Lord Hordak was, or was she just so foolish that she didn't care. And then the machine, she...

Wait. What did she do to the machine, again? His skepticism and hatred vanished in a solitary second as he approached his device once more. It was slightly taller than it was before, appeared to be reestablished with a new type of alloy that held the pillar together, and appeared to be as good as new, the way it was before his previous experiment failed.

In a twist of fate, his curiosity got the better of him as he started up the machine. He would test how badly the machine failed first, and punish her after. That would be her fate. Pulling the lever, he stared at the device as he expected nothing less than failure.

And what do you know? He got nothing more than failure. His disgust was matched by his anger as he stormed off, preparing the numerous possible ways he would punish this insubordination, the people who would suffer with her for allowing him to breach his inner sanctum.

And then it happened.

His hatred that continued to scale without end came to a grinding halt as he was taken by a bright flash that grew behind him. Turning around, his eyes widened in shock.

"Huh?" The machine. The very machine he had spent weeks trying to improve and perfect, was suddenly running perfectly. The energy grew to a magnificent size before stabilizing, nearly doubling to a size that took him over a month to grow even a half to. The energy radiated in a flawless flow within its perfect sphere, the bubble of energy no longer collapsing as it had done in his previous failures. It was genius. "She was right."

"Of course I was right." Continuing to surprise him, the purple genius never appeared to have left the lab as she spoke right next to him. She was smiling to him with achievement as she casually tossed the hex driver within her hands, right until the little imp cheekily swiped it from her grasp, chuckling as it ran off with it. "It's beautiful. It's a power source, isn't it? What are you building that needs so much power?"

He never got the chance to so much as hiss to her as he lifted his finger before she took off in another direction. Her eyes were instantly glued to the schematics displayed on one of the various computers in the lab, marveling at such a magnificent drawing. "I recognize these formulas! You're experimenting with portals. But that's-" Her heart raced as she processed this information. "I mean, I'm familiar with the concept, but multi-dimensional gates are purely theoretical. No one's ever come close to actually achieving one! Right?"

"...Obviously someone from a backwater planet such as yours couldn't possibly comprehend it."

"Hey! All right. I'm the one who got your power source working, so tell me everything!" Now she had the audacity to demand things from him? What sort of trivial creature was this?

"Portals aren't theoretical, they're real. And I'm going to open one."

"You arrrrre?" She gaped. All inventions started with a dream, and she has never heard of such a remarkable dream such as this. "Ahhhh! Can I help you?" Hordak circled around her as he examined the creature that came from this planet. "Just think of the possibilities! You could transport troops, and weapons, a-and whatever you need, from one side of the planet to the other!"

"You think too small. Unsurprising." Granted, it would be a lie to say he wasn't fascinated she came this far. "You can't begin to understand the potential a device of this nature will possess." Watching him walk away, Entrapta's eyes widened. So many questions came to her mind in such a short amount of time, it was unfathomable! Why hadn't she entered Hordak's lab weeks ago? Or months? Or broken in and tried to years ago for that matter?! And the most defining part of his conversation is what really intrigued her.

"Wait!" She pleaded, hasting up to him. "If Etheria is a backwater planet, then does that mean that there are others?"

"Of course there are." He casually replied as he continued work on his modules. "There are countless galaxies filled with countless other worlds. Etheria is the only planet I ever encountered that does not seem to understand that."

"Other planets?" Did he possibly mean, like, inhabited ones? Ones she dreamed of ever since she made her first twenty-four models of a solar system when she was three-years-old?! "And you've... been there?" For the first time ever since meeting a new person, he grinned.

Respect. Since arriving on this primitive planet, he met someone worth a simple fraction of his respect, and that was more than he came close to ever giving anyone since his arrival. This girl had the intrigue of a curious scientist, the knowledge of portals that she could only grasp through theoretical processes, and the ingenuity to improve vastly superior machines she's seen only once in her life by simply watching it preform.

This girl was amazing. Compared to every other creature he's come to know since first landing on this planet, she is the only one who truly intrigued him. She had such a roundabout way of her planning, the ideology to accept the impossible practices of science, and was more than eager to help in any way that benefited the Horde greatly, and just because she thought it was fun.

Indeed, the idea of fun did strike him. She was willing to do anything without asking for a reward, ready to accomplish an impossible task that seemed foolish to those whose intelligence rivaled that of a grain of rice to him from this planet. Most of all, she wanted to do it because she wanted to, not because anyone told her.

And he could use that to his advantage...

...

A/N: And another chapter completed, which means one more to go ^^. Another thing which to keep in mind to some folks is that when I do my chapters, the parts and all, they're what I get out of the show for every five minutes of the show = 1 part. I usually like to add my own little shtick to it to help make the episode more fun and differ from the episode, but ones like this are rather hard to go by. Luckily, we have Frosta's interactions to work off with, but even that doesn't break it apart enough for this kinda episode. I honestly can't tell if this is one of the more "worse" (not necessarily bad but) episodes I've done, or still enjoyable in the end. I don't know, someone lave me some thoughts.

Speaking of thoughts, i hope you're ready because my goal today is to submit not just this one, but ANOTHER chapter around the evening tonight! If that is the case, I might be able to pull 2 chps at a time for awhile (or just one since i was already half done with this by this morning when it started), but either way stay tuned later tonight and keep your fingers crossed :D!

Either way, with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 71: S2 Episode 3: Signals Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Word Count...ugggh... 14.5K X_X...

Uggggggghhhhhh... if the start of this A/N isn't proof enough, I am FREAKING TIRED! From 10... to now... 7. I've been working. I've been working typing, editing what I found, etc. and etc., and all of that. Nearly 15K words in a single day- TWENTY IF YOU COUNT THE 5 I ADDED TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER THIS MORNING T_T please count it...

Huff. But I would be lying if I said it wasn't fun to write out ^^ I enjoyed it thoroughly with my own take on events and writing additional things left and right, especially towards the end. Please note though there are probably hundreds of types or the wrong words spelled the further down you go XP i caught like sixty typos I wrote within a minute during the last two hours, and thats just from what I caught. Who knows what I didn't get and all that stuff gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

But, I did it! I wrote 2 chapters within a single day ^^ do not be surprised if I don't write a chapter tomorrow cause chances are I'll be dead the next day from exhaustion XP Lol.

Enjoy!

...

*Boom!*

"Come on, Cadets, the Princesses would've destroyed the outpost by now!" The Fish-like instructor shouted as the teens ran through the course. "Let's speed it up, people!"

This. This right here was the final stop of the tour Frosta was given, or at least the personal tour she gave herself. And, in fairness, at first, it seemed like a basically simple training course that the several cadets were running through. They were dealing with trap-filled floors, hundreds of pillars that stretched to the ceiling, and dozens of droids that were blasting at the cadets left and right. Some were engaging them physically with strong wires bursting through their circuity, others were blasting at the cadets with their own energy.

Safely, that is.

And it didn't seem like so much of a problem at first to the young princess. It didn't bother her as much that the instructor was using someone with her title as an enemy. She knew enough from the Horde to understand that they saw most of the princesses as their enemy, granted it didn't make the sense of unease any better as she remembered how the first room of trainees feared her. It was common for an instructor to motivate the troops by using any means necessary, whether it was to insult them in order to push them to try harder, physically fighting with them to get them to stand up to their betters, and so forth. That was commonplace around here.

The part that didn't settle right with her, was everything else. So far, at least one of the six trainees were caught by surprise as the floor suddenly gave off under him, plunging him to the deep dark depths, wherever that went, below. He probably could've avoided it if he could see better through the dimmed lights in the room. The teens looked less preoccupied with working together and more focused on finishing the course in time. It was another common thing to see soldiers taking the mission as their first and foremost priority, but these cadets seemed to take enjoyment out of watching another cadet get shot down, all while trying to make themselves look better by finishing the course.

Somehow, this still proved to be the portion that Frosta could tolerate after what she came across next. Wanting to go a little deeper into the workings around this place, she snuck into the room herself as she had her personal guards wait outside the training room. Sneaking around, trying to refrain from being seen, she edged her way around the room until she came across a pair of the very same virtual augmented goggles that the cadets were wearing, turning them on to see what kind of monsters the cadets were seeing from the droids.

The results did not surprise her.

From one droid to the next, with barely any differentiation between them, all of the droids displayed a holographic projection in front of themselves to make them look like the very monsters the Horde were meant to destroy: the princesses. With a pink, transparent glow, each of the princesses were displayed with a clear outline, each of their expressions filled with the vile evilness that the princesses were supposedly known for. That was the moment Frosta finally became unnerved by all she experienced throughout the tour.

From the young trainees that were just being trained for the first time to the full-fledged cadets such as these, all of them were being convinced that the princesses were the most evil and vicious forces within the world, if not the universe. All the princesses were the same to them- evil, manipulative, full of hatred for all living things that didn't subject to their rules. This is how they saw all the princesses as.

This is how they saw Frosta as.

There wasn't a sense that these people fighting knew any better about what they were doing. Possibly since birth, they were taught that the princesses couldn't be trusted, couldn't be reasoned with. It actually made Frosta a little cold on the inside, which was saying a lot given her powers, as she realized this. The people fighting here were being brainwashed into doing what they were doing. More sickeningly, there was a good chance over half the people fighting out on the front lines realized the truth by this point, and they didn't care. They did it simply because they wanted to or didn't know what else to do with their life. And either possibility sickened her a little.

"There's one!" Snapping out of her thoughts, she discovered her presence had been revealed as one of the cadets came around one of the corners. He was a pretty simple-looking brown-haired teen, a smooth hair style coexisting with his tough-looking personality. The cadet stared at her in wonder as he fiddled with the settings on the side of his visor, still gripping his electric baton tightly. "Man, the detail on this one is really bizarre."

"It's probably just some hidden challenge they threw in here to make the test harder." Another girl said as she rounded the corner, chewing on some gum as she started up the baton. "I bet it'll be worth an instant promotion if we manage to beat it and finish the course in record time!" The idea of it was all the other teen needed as another cadet made their appearance, purple skinned and hanging from one of the large pillars with two of its four arms.

"W-Wait! I'm not a-"

"Blast her!" The girl's warning went on deaf ears as the trio of cadets immediately opened fire on the young girl, aiming their batons with perfect precision as they were all directed at her head. With no choice but to defend herself, the princess quickly threw her arms in the air as she summoned a direct wall of ice, blocking the incoming blasts that barely penetrated her thick layer of chill.

"Wait you idiots!" The instructor shouted at them as he saw the scene unfolding.

Feeling the blasts coming to a halt, the princess withdrew her wall of ice to see what they would come up with next, and was met with the sight of the four-armed assailant leaping right at her from the pillar. It proved futile for someone as experienced as the young princess as she summoned another pillar of ice from the ground. Using as little power as possible to avoid harming the cadet, she smacked away the young trainee as she was thrown through the air, colliding into another pillar directly above her, and knocking her out cold as she landed again.

Thinking she was distracted long enough, the girl took an immediate charge headfirst towards the girl, trying to exploit the girl's temporary distraction as a weakness. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't dealing with one of those fake holograms that were powered up by the droids around them.

This was the real thing.

Without missing a beat, instead of summoning another wall or pillar of ice, Frosta directed both her hands to the floor as she coated the entire pathway separated between her and her attacker in a solid sheet of ice. Before the teen could tell what was going on, it was already too late. The moment she took the next step over the solid coating, she slipped onto her back, sliding forward at great speed as Frosta just watched, taking one step to the side as the girl slid past her and crashing into the wall several yards behind her.

"Ow..." She meeped, unable to tell if landing on her back on a solid sheet of ice hurt worse than crashing directing into a wall of solid metal.

That just left her with the third cadet to deal with who remained stationary as he watched the scene unfold. Unusual powers compared to the other droids, the ability to think strategically at a moment's notice, and the ability to affect the landscape around her? Man, this was going to be an exciting win for him! He could already see himself being promoted to Force Captain if he took her out all on his own, a foolish thought that ended all too quickly as he heard a familiar whistle.

*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeet!*

"All of you, stop what your doing, you numb-skulls!" The instructor shouted angrily. With the sound of him signifying the end of the event, the recovering trio watched as the lights slowly came back on, their visors powering down, and reality beginning to dawn on them.

With the two slowly pulling themselves back to their feet, backs and legs aching from the injuries, the third Cadet finally took his goggles off for a brief moment, then put it on, then off again several times, all while the other two cadets within the room gathered around him, just as curious. "Hey, wait a minute. She's not a hologram."

*Whack!*

"OWW!" The teen yelped, rubbing his bruised skull as the instructor struck it with his clipboard.

"You morons! You should know better and take your stupid visors off if you're not sure of what you're targeting!" He yelled, the other two teens looking away a little ashamed as they rubbed their arms. "You just attacked Princess Frosta, one of the Horde's greatest allies, and somebody recruited by Commander Adora herself!"

"Aww, jeez!" The teen shrieked, clapping his hands together pleadingly as he lowered his head. "I-I'm super sorry about that! Please don't tell the commander about this-"

*whack!*

"Owwww!" The teen shrieked as he was struck again, this time softer, with the same clipboard.

"You'll be lucky if I don't tell the commander after this, you nitwit! That little stunt of yours just cost the three of you your grade, and I'll be assigning you to two additional months of basic training for this." Unsurprisingly, this went on with moans and complaints about the situation they were in, the main teen making an excuse that he couldn't tell she was real due to the light's dimness. "I expect you to have the common sense to take your visor off if something doesn't look right! That kind of stupidity can cost you your and your allies' lives!"

"Hey, has anyone seen Janice?" One of the two cadets who weren't in trouble asked.

"I'm still in heeeere!" Her voice echoed throughout the course. The instructor rolled his eyes before pointing to the four-armed girl.

"You, four-arms. You want to get a month taken off your sentence? Then hurry up and go fish her out!" He ordered, turning from the cadets as he took two steps closer to the young princess, saluting. "My apologies, Princess Frosta. That kind of stupidity won't be tolerated, nor will it happen again."

"It's okay." The young girl looked away somewhat uncaringly as she replied. "It was just an accident."

"Is there anything you'd like to say to the cadets while you're here? Maybe give them a pointer or two, or-?"

"No thanks." Frosta muttered as she began walking away. "I think you taught me plenty."

"Well, thanks prince- Wait... what?" By the time he processed what she might have said, she was already walking out the door, the two personal guards still waiting for her as they returned to her side once more. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, all he knew he had to be careful, because there was just as likely a chance this was going to affect his career too if he was deemed just as responsible for the mess as the rest of them. "Alright, everyone take five while the course resets. And no slouching!"

Frosta, meanwhile, learned plenty throughout all of this. Throughout her time in the Fright Zone, throughout the tour with and without any additional *escorts*, she managed to learn plenty. The Fright Zone wasn't as peaceful or lovable as Adora made the place out to be.

It was awful.

...

*beep*

The barrier to the cell slowly dissolved as a figure stepped into the room. By now, it was almost like clockwork whenever this individual would appear. At every meal, almost at the exact same time at least twice a day, bringing her food of tray with her every time and demanding information in some shape or form. Shadow-Weaver would have to give the Force Captain some props for being timely and orderly. At least, she would, if she wasn't the one who put Shadow-Weaver in here in the first place.

"Alright, here." Adora mumbled, actually tossing the tray onto the floor for a change without a care for a change, then did something that broke the repetition of what usually transpired within this room. Instead of demanding another minute's worth of answers from the lowly figure, Adora simply turned around, and began to walk away.

"That's it?" Shadow-Weaver wondered in a curious tone, slowly turning her head around. "No more asking me for information that could benefit benefit the Horde? No more questions about how I could improve your standing with Hordak?" At this, she finally caught a glimpse of the state Adora was in.

She was tired. Thoroughly exhausted, drowsy, and looking like she just ran a marathon. There were small black bags under her eyes, strands of hair falling over her face, and a sluggishness in her posture as she tried to keep everything together. It looked as if one more thing added to the girl's life would cause her to come crashing down into a million pieces.

In her hands were a bundle of different files and papers, all of which were barely organized in their respective folders, as the Force Captain gripped all of them tightly within her hands and under her arms. In fact, she appeared so overwhelmed with the work that she was using small tendrils of shadows as additional arms, holding at least two folders from her right shoulder, and a third one from her left.

"Not now, Shadow-Weaver." Adora groaned, lifting her arm in her direction a little. "I have to- Ah! Ahh!" Before the captain could give her two cents to the witch, like a row of dominoes, each of the files came falling out of her arms, her attempt to catch the first file that slipped out of her arms resulting her in loosening the grip in her other, causing two more to fall out from those. From there, it was almost like a perfectly orchestrated art-form as Adora's attempt to catch the next several seconds worth of paper resulted in her dropping one file after the other, scattering the contents to the floor.

Eventually, the second-in-command found the floor littered with dozens of paper, the one remaining folder in her hand empty of work as it slipped out amongst the rest, leaving a confounded Adora in disbelief, and beyond the realm of annoyance as her anger finally caught up to her.

"Uuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!" She groaned loudly, not even caring as she dissipated the shadows around her as she dropped to her knees, angrily collecting and reorganizing the piles of paperwork she had to re-file all over again. "Stupid... papers..." She mumbled to herself, ignoring the presence that was watching her two feet away.

There was something almost amusing to the witch as she watched the young Force Captain picking up the papers in a fit of rage. Just seeing someone like her, someone so elegant and refined, who tried her best to see the greatness of the Horde, suddenly appearing to her as if her life had become a living wreck within the last day of seeing her. It was just too precious to ignore, adorable in a way, and slightly pathetic to display for a second-in-command.

For a moment, she could've sworn Adora was beginning to tear up in the corner of her right eye, something she rubbed away with her sleeve as she resumed collecting her work. It was hard to tell if it truly was a tear coming to her eyes, or just an attempt to rub the sleepiness out of it. Either way, it was a sight to watch the very girl who betrayed her now dropped to her knees and throwing a temper tantrum because of a few dozen pieces of paper.

It also gave her a sense of curiosity as she noticed one of the many files in front of her legs, eyeing it as the Force Captain continued shuffling papers back and forth into the correct files, and reshuffling several of them when she realized they were in the wrong ones. Deciding to engage in her curious behavior, she took the opportunity to open the file slowly, examining the contents of whatever had Adora so frustrated in the first place. She became even more curious as she understood why the Force Captain appeared as tired as she did in the first place.

"Come on..." She heard Adora mumbling again. "Where is it? Where is it?" The day just had to continue annoying her, didn't it?

First she schedules a tour on the same day she had several stacks of paperwork to sort through, and that was before her, putting it lightly, surprising meeting with Lord Hordak earlier on the same day. Then she had to sort through several requisition forms for every single request that had come from the front lines all across Etheria. If that wasn't enough, she was now slightly panicking as she had no idea where Entrapta had gone, specifically after making her promise not to go into Hordak's inner sanctum or to bother him, and she had heard nothing from Kyle or the others of her whereabouts.

And all of this hinged on her deepest desire, the one thing she wanted out of this day after all her hard work, not including maintaining her relationship with the Kingdom of Snows.

Hordak's respect.

He was the glorious leader of the Horde, the one who started to unite the Horde ever since she was an infant. For a man as great as that, someone who could accomplish so much in the world, the very icon she looked up to, to look down on her after all her accomplishments and call her a failure?

It hurt. It hurt so much. She needed to change that. To change the way he saw her again, and the way she was running things if she was going to make up for spreading the Horde's resources and soldiers too thin for Hordak's liking. But all of that required her finding the last file that she couldn't find laying around here and IT WAS STARTING TO MAKE HER WANT TO GO INSANE BECAUSE HER LIFE AT THIS POINT DEPENDED ON A STUPID PIECE OF PAPER THAT DISAPPEARED!

*swiff*

Adora almost flinched as it suddenly appeared from behind her. Gripped in a familiar hand partly wrapped in its red velvet, she watched as the file was shaken a little as if telling her to take it. She paused briefly as she reached for it before pulling it gently out of the grip, unable or unwilling to make eye contact with the person behind her.

"It's in the foundry."

"What?" That drew Adora's attention to her as she turned around.

"The material you seek comes from the foundry right here in the Fright Zone." Shadow Weaver calmly explained.

"O... Oh... I see..." Adora mumbled, organizing the stack in her hands so they were in order once more.

"Being me isn't as wonderful as you imagined, is it?" Her question caught Adora's attention again before she could take her first step.

W-What?"

"You thought being me meant changing everything around here, didn't you?" The sorceress guessed, casually brushing the hair out of Adora's eyes. Immediately, Adora sprang up to her feet, unwilling to let the sorceress get to her. "You thought being in charge meant making the world this whole, wonderful, place where everyone could live peacefully under the Horde. You thought being me meant you had the chance to change things for the better." She narrowed her eyes. "And now reality's catching up to you."

"F-For your information, things have been going fine! Better than ever in fact since I took charge!" She stammered back. "I've gained more allies than you ever could, established communications all across Etheria! The world is uniting under the Horde, and I'm the one doing it!"

"Then why are you so stressed out?" The bluntness of the question caught Adora off guard. "If things are going as well as you say they are, then I don't see why you would be fretting over something as little as paper. I daresay, if you had his trust, you wouldn't be as angry as you appear to be."

"I-I do-!" The longer the conversation was being drawn out of her, the harder it was to keep Shadow Weaver from drawing Adora in. "He trusts me completely! More than he ever did with you, for that matter."

"Really? Because your meeting with him appears to say otherwise." Adora froze at this. Her mouth gaped open a little as she nearly gasped, her mind trying to figure out everything she just heard.

"H-How... How did you know about this morning?"

"I didn't." She possibly grinned slyly behind her mask. "Until now, that is."

Of course. How could she have been foolish? Of all the things she ever taught Adora, being as manipulative as she was wasn't her strong suit. Sure, it helped in the past on a few occasions, but what required actual work and effort through Adora's hands was as simple as taking a breath to someone like Shadow-Weaver.

The woman who raised her since she was an infant, who trained her to be one of the Horde's very best. There wasn't a thing about Adora Shadow-Weaver didn't know how to manipulate. Something as simple as getting her to admit to something was merely a waiting game to her, a game that she always came out on top of.

She didn't even give Adora the chance to process this for long as she continued to drove on. "You really shouldn't take it personally. He never trusted me with his real plans, either."

There were times where she was being manipulated, and times she knew where she was trying to manipulate Adora. This was one of those times. Even if she didn't know why she was trying to get a rise out of her at a time, she knew enough to not react to her harshly. Turning her back to her again, Adora made her way out of the cell. "I don't know what you're talking about. He had his reasons for not trusting you, but he trusts me completely." As she reached her way for the controls again, she paused. "...Thanks for the file." And with a click and the doors sealing behind her, she was gone.

There always was a certain joy to the chats she had with Adora. From the times she was being manipulative with her to the times she was just being honest with her. They always had their own sense of amusement that made her smile through every conversation.

Take now, for instance. Throughout it, Adora thought she was trying to be manipulative in everything, yet she only did so once to know how her meeting went. Everything else before and after that, it all came from her own sense of honesty, the truth that even Adora refused to see. Even now, she admired the lone flat-screen monitor specially installed into her cell, just so she could have her own personal window to the outside world.

She thought Adora hadn't done anything for her?

"Oh, Adora..." She smiled a little to herself as she recognized the time of day, and what day, it was. "I'm the one that should be thanking you."

She was another day closer...

...

"Geh!" Catra grumbled as she leapt from tree to tree. She didn't know what she was chasing after around here, and she didn't care at this point. She just wanted this mission to be finished as quickly as possible.

This was all she had to do to get things rolling her way. Once she managed to find whatever this thing was and slay it, scare it off, do whatever was fastest, she could make her way on to the Horde, where some much-needed revenge was in order. Her sword had a date with a certain scientist that went by the name of Entrapta, and she couldn't wait until the two finally got to meet each other.

From the few scares, the laughs, the jumps this day's brought about, she wanted it to be done. What should've been a simple mission of looking into an abandoned outpost for a couple minutes ended up resulting in several hours behind the scenes, with Glimmer and Bow inspecting everything thoroughly in order to find clues and discover the whereabouts of the missing people.

Were they doing it on purpose? Was it supposed to annoy her intentionally? Did they just want to really find out what happened to everyone? Catra couldn't tell anymore it had been such a long day. All she knew was that the minute she finished her mission, the minute those two would have to keep up their end of the deal and help Catra navigate through the Fright Zone to find Entrapta.

Even if they didn't intend to keep their side of the bargain, as Catra expected, it didn't deter her need for revenge.

The only thing keeping her from her revenge at this point was the mysterious being who stalked this woods, one who appeared to have gotten past Catra's senses as she lost track of it. Gritting her teeth, the girl jumped from the latest branch she was on, scowling as the others rushed up from behind her.

*thud*

"Ah!

"Wah." Or crashing right behind her from the way it felt. She turned around to see Glimmer after having bumped into her, the princess checking over her friend as he tripped. There was a strange feeling in the air to the tech expert as he examined the possible cause for the strange fall, noticing how none of the roots appeared to be upright. What snagged his foot if that was the case?

Rolling her eyes, Catra reached under his arm as she lifted the archer to his feet, just as Swift Wind caught up to them. "I lost track of it around here." She stated.

*Hehehehehe~*

The four turned their backs to one another as they circled in, trying to catch the source of the mysterious voice. Whatever was causing these disappearances was now within their grasp, or perhaps they were in its more than they thought? The being that caused an entire village to disappear, to make an outpost go over a week without so much as a word. This thing brought the downfall of an entire community, and it still had control over the situation by the feels of it.

"There! It's over-" The archer froze. Not two inches from his finger as he directed the others to the sighting did the very same creature appear.

Finally, at long last, they saw the humanoid creature in all its wonder, standing tall before them within the confines of this haunted village. Not one of them initially looked at the creature without so much as a shriek, the hairs sticking on all their ends as they saw the horrifying flashing-blue ghost in all its terror.

Already worries and fears were filling their minds as each of them recalled Catra's stories, with Catra's filling the most as she had heard every story compared to the mere three she told them. Was it possibly the Bleeding-Skull General betrayed by his own troops? The Bone Snatcher that devoured people from the inside out when they stole something that wasn't theirs? Or was it the Spindling Princess, the one who ensnared those who lied to their comrades, and threw them off a cliff?!

Whichever or whatever ghost it was, Catra shook her head, trying to focus. The minute she took care of this... whatever it was, the faster she could get along with her vendetta. Swallowing the building saliva in her mouth, she straightened her stance as she shakily steadied her weapon. "Haaaaah!" In one fell swoop, she screamed as she jumped over the two, swinging down on where the creature stood with her eyes closed. And being greeted with the sight of nothing in front of her after she poked one eye open. "...Where'd it go? Did I get it?"

"No." Glimmer screeched, trembling at the thoughts of whatever this thing was. Off to the right, her pupils dilated as she saw the mysterious presence reappear, slowly approaching the four of them from the corner of her eyes. "Run!" None of them needed to be told twice as they ran in the opposite direction of it. Yet, it proved futile as several feet after, they came across another of the mysterious beings, now accompanied by a second ghost. "R-Run the other way!" She screamed again.

All of their minds were too frightened to process just what was going on, or how to stop these terrifying beings from harming them. Passing through a group of trees, the four found themselves surrounded as the ghosts started to appear one after the other, surrounding them as they walked off in different directions, circling around them and closing the distance between them with each passing second. Of all the ways they could die, none of them thoughts ghosts would be the thing that would do them in for good.

"S-She-Ra, do something!" Swift Wind practically demanded, backing closer into the group.

"And do what? Flail at them with my paperweight?" She yelled back. "I've never fought against something like this before! This is just like-!"

"STOP IT WITH THE STORIES!" Glimmer shouted, panicking. "I HAD ENOUGH OF THESE STORIES! If I'm going to die by a ghost, I rather not know all the gruesome details it involves!"

"Who am I kidding, I'm not Enrtapta!" Bow stammered, trembling as he readied his arrow for the next spectral creature to approach them. "She probably would've invented a device to blast these things by now! I can't even make my tracker pad work!"

"You guys..." Ugh, idiots. Catra was terrified at the sight of these things too, but at least she wasn't willing to go down without a fight. Were they really that scared of these things, though? Weren't they confident in themselves to keep each other safe?

...Weren't they confident enough that Catra could keep them safe? Looking at her sword, and her current attire, she guessed they had every reason to be worried. Since the day before, she'd been losing portions of her power at a time, feeling the energy that came from her She-Ra form as time progressed, and her abilities that came with it. She was less of a She-Ra than she was when she first found the sword, and that was saying a LOT given how little she had of it to begin with.

She could barely keep pushing herself forward in her current state without these three pushing her back combined, she couldn't tell if her senses were getting weaker since portions of her power started to disappear, and she wasn't sure if any of her abilities, be they magical or transforming the sword, still existed. For all she knew, each of these things had the same amount of power her previous She-Ra state did. Even if they had half the strength that She-Ra did, they could still overwhelm her with their numbers.

Still, looking around, she didn't feel much choice. These two were scared to fight, there was only so much a talking horse could do, and perhaps less now thanks to Catra's lack of power, and she was the only one willing to hit something if it came down to that. In truth, a lot of things in her mind were screaming at her that she didn't have a chance, but at the same time, she still remembered what Swift Wind told her the other day.

Don't try to be the best She-Ra she can be. Just be the best Catra she could be. And nobody was better at being reckless than her.

With a sigh, she took a step forward from the group as she readied her sword, the others looking at her strangely as she stepped forth.

"Catra?" Glimmer spoke up a little worried.

"Look, if you guys wanna cower over there all day, then do it. But I'm not letting the mission fail and letting Entrapta off the hook just because of a few... dozen... admittedly creepy ghosts." Shaking the possible fears from her mind, she steadied her sword as she focused on the one coming towards her. She took a deep breath as she prepared to charge at the cosmic horror, prepared to either take it down with ease, or to get taken down fighting. Either one seemed better instead of waiting around like a coward.

"Catra, wait-!" Bow pleaded too late as the three watched the magicat screaming, lunging for approaching one with as much force as she could. Right before she made contact with the creature, she closed her eyes tightly, hoping in this make-it-or-break-it scenario, she wouldn't be the one who ended up broken.

*zzzzzz*

*Crash!*

Catra blinked as she opened her eyes. Not only did the blade pass harmlessly through the terrifying ghost, the ground became lit with runes for a short while as her sword connected to the ground, leaving a trail stretching several feet in front of her for a short while.

"Huh?" She was more confused as she heard a buzz-like sound coming from the apparition as it strolled straight through Catra's body, practically ignoring the girl as it continued on its way, and disappearing several feet later. The others slowly rose at the sight as Catra stared at the disappearing creature, turning her sight to another one as she walked towards it a little more casually.

"It... didn't attack her?" Glimmer didn't know if she should be more relieved or confused at the given sight, being thankful either way that her friend was okay.

Staring at the strange ghostly body as it stood right in front of her, Catra stared at her empty hand for a moment before waving it slowly through the being.

Once again, nothing happened to her as she pulled out.

"Huh..." It was starting to feel silly to her as she looked back to the rest of them. "You know looking back on it, I guess you really don't have to be afraid of something hurting you when you can just pass right through it." Saying it out loud made it feel even dumber than when Catra said it in her mind. As if to emphasize her point, she didn't notice as another one of the ethereal beings passed right through her from behind, though it did make her jump a little. "They really can't hurt us."

*Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr~*

"Agh!" The group yelped as they plugged their ears again, taking in the high-pitched screeching sound of the creatures for a full eight seconds.

"I take it back! I take it back!" Catra yelled, nearly going deaf again as the ringing slowly stopped.

"At least it doesn't last forever." Glimmer commented, trying to ease the tension further.

"What are you talking about?" Swift Wind whined, gesturing into the village. "I can still hear stuff coming from the big, stone pointy thing!"

"Pointy thing?" Trailing his gaze up the village, Bow's eyes slowly lit up as he passed through the bushes. The fact Catra couldn't touch him, the strange glow when her sword touched the ground, the high-pitched screams coming from everywhere. A revelation finally dawned on him as he gasped. Still fretting a little, Glimmer teleported over to him as she held onto him, preparing to teleport again just in case. "Of course! This place is a First Ones ruins! And these aren't ghosts, they're holograms." It made him chuckle when he realized how silly it was all now.

"Holograms?" Catra repeated, waving her hand in front of one of said projections. "I'm pretty sure holograms don't move like this. Even Light Hope is more alive than these things."

"But look at them. Really look at them." There wasn't an ounce of fear in the archer's voice as he smiled confidently to his friends.

"No thanks! I'm good!" Glimmer continued to shriek as she held him, keeping her eyes snapped shut.

"They're running in some kind loop. It's-"

"It's like a recording." Catra stated for him, approaching one of the holograms for a better look.

Smiling at the sight, Bow strolled his way over to a pair of the projections as he intended to give a better example of their presence. Waiting for a bit before opening her eyes, Glimmer saw everything he knew. The way he was standing there casually matched perfectly with the way you'd expect to find an average group of people standing who were hanging out. With the example that was Bow, she could more easily make out the appearances of the holograms that they once thought were attacking them.

"Aw, she's waving." She had to admit, she did feel a little silly after all this time, deciding to wave to it herself for comparison. "Actually, you know what, it's still pretty creepy." The horse had to agree with her as he nodded in turn.

With more and more information being revealed to him, Bow grinned as he turned around. "And I think I know where they're coming from!"

...

"Carry that over... Split it apart with this... and then... done!" Adora sighed so heavily as she slumped back into her chair, dropping her arms to her side. "Finally!"

Eight hours of this nightmarish paperwork, and she finally had a solution. A solitary solution that she's never felt more proud of to show her contributions to the Horde to Lord Hordak. This day was supposed to be simple as ever, with a tour that was supposed to be nearing its end, possibly by now, compared to the dozens of stacks of paperwork the Force Captain had been engulfed with since the first requisition forms were given to her.

At least now she could catch her breath.

Hordak said she had been failing him, failing the Horde, as her methods of making allies were cutting away their forces from one another and scattering resources everywhere. While she wasn't as worried about the forces that were stationed along the various outposts and small villages, she was willing to admit that the amount of resources they had been expending after so many alliances did need some restructuring. The Horde was vast with the amount of areas they had, and resources that should've made the place bountiful were instead just efficient enough to keep the Horde maintained naturally.

Thus, after several hours of nearly writing her hand to the point of falling off, something that could very easily happen given its current state, she finally did it. She managed to come up with an organized solution that would allow them to double the output of their collected resources while distributing the same amount as they had been to the various places around Etheria. It was a long process that would've been easier to come to grips with if everything was more organized, but at least now she could finally have a moment's peace.

*sheeem*

"Adora!" Scorpia called out from behind her, nearly making her fall out of her chair as she jumped. Just as quickly, she sighed with relief as she smiled somewhat sleepily at the sight of her returning friend.

"Oh. Hey, Scorpia. How was the tour with Frosta?"

"Um, oh! It went great! I showed her my favorite places and everything, then the training facilities, like planned." She replied, having an awkward smile to her face, one that Adora was too tired to notice closely.

"Heh, that's good. So I take it she went back home then?"

"Well, um," Scorpira rubbed her arm anxiously, "about that, I um... don't know."

"It's fine, I mean as long as she enjoyed the-" Adora's expression froze as she repeated what she said in her mind. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, the whole tour thing. It, um... We went to one of the training facilities, like I said and you planned, and I'm pretty sure she was still having fun by that time, and then, she kind of said she wanted to take a break from everything, to stretch her legs and all that, which I thought was a little weird since we've been doing that all day, and then, um... I kind of lost track of her."

This could not be happening. No, she took that back. This actually could be happening, because at the rate this day was going for Adora, she half-expected a meteor to be striking her out of nowhere at any time now! Trying to collect whatever nerves she could, she took a deep breath, pulled herself out of the chair, then looked at Scorpia as calmly, albeit tiredly, as possible.

"Scorpia, please. I need to know," she breathed as she focused on her words, "when was the last time you saw Frosta?"

"Oh, that was about... right after the training room we visited."

"And when did you go to the training room?"

"Well, before it I thought she wanted to take a break for a late lunch, so it was around that time, so I'd say... three-ish... maybe four hours?"

Adora twitched. She had a twitch in her right eye. All of this taking place, one thing after the other, and she had a twitch.

She now welcomed the sweet embrace of a giant meteor landing on her any time now.

...

Adora panted as she ran through the walls, trying to find any trace or semblance of the girl or her guards, anywhere within the facility. She had a simple day planned out, a list of things in store, and all of them started with a meeting with Lord Hordak over how the Horde was functioning, which was supposed to start the day off running perfectly.

Instead, this. This, this, this, this this! Her meeting should've been an indication of how badly the day was going to go over for her. It blatantly was at this point after all that's transpired. If time travel ever became a possibility, she prayed she would be given access to such a wondrous device, go back into the past, and warn the past Adora of this morning not to meet Lord Hordak this morning, and pray that somehow made the rest of her day perfect!

The physical toll it was taking on the girl was all too evident by her appearance which now appeared to be reaching the end of its life suckle as Adora could practically feel her soul getting torn away. If Frosta was still somewhere around this place, safe and sound, that would be the one and only thing Adora would have left to ask anyone who was favorable enough to grand her wish.

Thus, when she caught a glimpse of something through one of the doors outside, her heart leaped with joy and relief as she breathed so deeply. Someone must have heard her prayers because right in front of her, she saw her. Frosta, standing atop a small block of ice, and her two guards protectively behind her, as the young girl seemed to be overlooking the railing, either enjoying the sunset, or as much as they could get around here, or something else.

"Ah, Frosta, thank goodness you're still here." Adora sighed, walking to the railing as she smiled to her. All that optimism vanished by one ounce at a time as she noticed the silence emanating from the girl, peering over the railing as she saw her resting her head over both her arms, staring down to the ground several floors below. "So... did you enjoy the tour?"

There was a brief silence that almost concerned Adora before she sighed. "Huff, yeah. It was pretty... enlightening." She replied.

Thank goodness! A positive sign of something after all day.

"Phew, that's a relief. Sorry about the whole absence, I was kind of buried neck-deep in paperwork all day." She smiled as she looked over the railing herself, seeing the small playground far below them were several kids were playing, all being watched by a caretaker nearby.

"It's fine. I don't think it would've changed much."

"Great!" She clearly wasn't understanding the hidden message behind her words. "So, tell me. What'd you think?" Once again, silence overcame the girl, but this time she turned her head to give Adora a clear look at her expression.

And the frown she saw upon her face as she couldn't even look Adora in the eyes gave her all the uneasiness Adora needed. "Well, to be honest Adora, I don't..." She was trying to think of how to say everything as kindly as possible. Yet, nothing came to mind. "This place is... terrible." At this, she looked over the railing again as she lied her head upon her arms.

"T-Terrible?!" That couldn't be right, it just couldn't! "W-What do you mean terrible? This place is great!" Her foolish hope was falling on deaf ears, even to herself, as she tried to encourage her, throwing her arms to her side. "T-T-The people, the places, all the things we're making in the Horde, it's-!" Adora stopped.

Frosta wasn't even looking at her by this point. She just kept looking depressed, mellowed out, as she looked over the railing. There had to be something Adora could say, something to counter somebody calling the Fright Zone just plain "terrible". She could try talking about the facilities, maybe re-examine the training rooms with her or... or...

...Who was she kidding? After the entire day Adora had been through, she wasn't in any position to argue against her, If anything, she could only moan as she leaned her head over the railing too, supporting herself with one arm as she rested her head.

"Yeah. It's pretty bad." Though she didn't turn to her, her eyes shifted a little into Adora's direction as the Force Captain recounted her own life around the Fright Zone. "Everyday, it's pretty much work this, work that, think of this, plan on how to do that, and that's just by the morning. In the afternoon you're running yourself ragged to the point of exhaustion, kind of hoping the day comes to an end soon before remembering you'll be doing the same thing pretty much the next day."

As she spoke, the two were drawn to the sound of one of the kids crying down below. Taking a peek, they saw one of the kids, a girl possibly around five years old, crying under a row of monkey bars as she held her elbow. It was pretty hard to see it without being up close, but they were pretty confident, based on the way she was holding it, that she fell and scraped herself up.

"Sometimes I often think of what the Rebellion says about it, everything they lie about. Honestly, there's a lot about them I don't believe, but there is one thing I can agree on them without a second opinion- they must have a much easier life than we do right now."

Lifting her head up, Frosta looked relatively surprised at this. The same person who always told her about how great the Horde was, or at least the Fright Zone, was now confessing that she hated it just as much all the same. "Then... Adora, if you don't like this place that much, then... why do you fight for it?"

"Honestly?" For the first time today, lifting her head a little, Adora grew a small, genuine, smile, in the corner of her mouth, her eyes looking more rested as she settled on the scenery below. "Because by the end of the day, I think of everything else about this place, and I realize... I love it."

At the same time, the two watched as the scene was unfolding down below them, Adora continuing to talk as everything transpired. "I was found abandoned as a baby when I was little, and the Horde's been my home ever since." The small girl below them sniffled as the female caretaker examined her injury along with several other children who checked on her, smiling at her as she patted her head soothingly. "I don't know anything about my real family or where I come from, or why I was abandoned in the first place."

Below, the girl winced as the caretaker rubbed a bit of medicine over the injury, wrapping it up gently in a white cloth as the cries subsided. "But since they found me, I was given a home. They took care of me, they raised me. I had nothing and they gave me everything I needed. Taught me how to read, how to fend for myself, how to do basically everything I would ever need to learn." At this, Adora's smile softened even greater as she saw the kids below trying to cheer up the injured girl from earlier, before the group started to giggle and ran off to play some more. "And along the way... I made some friends."

"Lots of them. Big ones, short ones, ones that were different than me. As I grew older, I realized everyone else was in the same picture, people who were abandoned who had nowhere to go to. The Horde didn't care for races or genetics or anything like that." She smirked a little as she looked back to the short princess. "I mean, sure, they don't like princesses or anything, but based on my history, I don't blame them. Besides, I know a few that are all right."

"Heh heh..." Frosta found herself chuckling at this as her own expression softened, lifting her head up as she listened closer.

"And even now, whenever I need to cheer myself up, I just take a look around sometimes, and remember everything I'm fighting for. This isn't just a home to me, Frosta. It's more like a fam-"

"Like a family." She girl stated for her, to Adora's surprise and joy. She was happy she was understanding some aspect of it.

"Yeah..." Again, her mood dropped a little as she looked over the railing. "Frosta, I'm not saying life in the Horde is perfect, I'm not sure anywhere is. And it's not like I don't understand from your viewpoint. On the outside, everything is rough and chaotic around here. You get your friends, you get your typical bullies, and you get people in-between." Like a certain cat she preferred to keep nameless. "I'm not saying you have to agree with the Horde, or even agree with why we're all doing this. I'm just saying I..." Adora sighed as she leaned herself again.

"I just hope you understand why it's all important to me."

Frosta was at a loss for words. Everything, practically everything, every little bad thing she herself found bad in this place, Adora had an explanation for. She wasn't doing this blindly, for some sake of honor, or just because someone else told her to do it. She did it because she loved these people, wanted to make up for the time they spent raising her as one of their own. Most of all, they were a family to her.

And that was something Frosta understood all too well. What it was like to care so much for a family, and still did.

Looking back on it, she even realized Adora was right as she remembered the tour she had. On the outside, everything was rough. People were working hard on some war they didn't understand, and some of them probably disagreed with. But even in those instances, she saw them looking out for each other, having each others backs. Like brothers and sisters, some of them were with one other, and some of them picked on each other. It was sweet in its own way, and in a sense endearing.

And it meant the world to Adora.

"...Few days from now, along the eastern reach." Adora's eyes opened with surprise as she heard her finally speaking. "The alliance is planning to invade a Horde stronghold that was captured during the last month, somewhere along the cliffs." Staring at the girl for a few seconds, Adora slowly smiled at her as she smiled back.

She showed Adora the trust she had in her, even if she didn't have any in herself at the time. She revealed a tactical detail that would be crucial in the upcoming events that the Princess Alliance was about to follow, and she did it without forcing her to do anything.

She could trust Frosta, she knew she could, and, now, Frosta was the same. They both had a similar outlook on their lives and the people they were fighting for. They may not have the same kind of lifestyle the other had, but they were willing to risk their lives for the people they cared about, and they wouldn't let anybody get in their way.

The day Adora presented Frosta with an Officer's badge was a day she would never regret.

"Thanks, Frosta." Adora replied, smiling as she looked off into the distance. "I hope the tour wasn't too boring for you or anything."

"Eh, it was alright." She shrugged, looking back to the playground. "I got to knock a couple of cadets out, so that was pretty exciting for a few minutes."

"Heh heh, sorry about that. Some of them are just so pumped up about being full-fledged cadets in that training course, they don't usually listen to reason right away. Or think of the obvious."

"And I got to meet a few familiar faces. It was nice to see Entrapta again."

"Ah, I was wondering what she was doing. Did she show you any of her inventions to pass the time?"

"No, she was actually busy doing... whatever it was, when I found her."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for some reason she was just antsy about going into some inner sanctum or something. I said it shouldn't have been a problem if she was just quick about it."

"Quick about wha-" Adora's mind just stopped as her heart sank. She realized everything she processed before her mouth could say it or her mind could think it, feeling her heart sank deeper and deeper as she could only sputter two small words. "Oh no..." Those were the last things Frosta heard before Adora took off running again.

She was pretty happy with all that transpired just now. Adora renewed her confidence about the Horde when she really needed it, and she gave her all the more reason to keep fighting for it. They had similar views of life, were fighting for people they believed were important to them, and they were doing it for the right reasons, not for the bad ones.

Mostly, anyway.

...And yet... even with that... something still bothered her. A single question kept looping within Frosta's mind as she frowned again, squeezing her hands along the railings as she felt a little tense. There was one thing she couldn't answer for herself, and she couldn't ask anybody if they had an answer to the problem.

Am I doing the right thing?

...

*bzzzzzt*

The Power Source continued to breathe beautifully with electricity, never fading since the very moment that Entrapta first perfected it. To think, he would find a person with an intellectual genius around here to match his own, somebody who had a grasp on the bigger picture of everything than just him. Even now, the girl was fiddling with several wires behind him connected to the machine, observing in fascination as the power source continued to surpass the limits of what he managed on his own.

"This is probably the max with what you've got to work with here." She said, yelling over the drowning-out sound of the machine. "If we had even more First Ones tech, we could generate even more voltage." Again, the girl continued to amaze him. Despite what little tech they had leftover, she still managed to generate so much with such a limitation.

For once, he found someone he considered worthy to work alongside him.

*sheeem*

"ENTRAPTA!" Adora's voice could be heard shouting as the doors gaped open, the Force Captain rushing into the room with Scorpia right behind her.

Turning around, the purple scientist smiled as she waved to her running friend. "Oh, hi Adora! What's-" The scientist didn't get any form of greeting in return as Adora ran past Hordak and squeezed her hand with worry.

"What did I tell you about coming in here? Do you know how much trouble you could be in right now?!" The girl panicked, still unable to believe she would do something like this. Out of any sort of promise Entrapta could make Adora, this was the ONE THING she needed her to never break.

"Huh? What are you-"

"I am SO sorry about this, Lord Hordak. She's still getting used to things here, I promise she won't do this again." She profusely apologized with a nod of her head, barely giving him any time to respond himself as she started pulling Entrapta away.

"But Adora, I'm just-"

"I don't care what you're doing right now!" She muttered, looking back to her as she continued to walk towards the door. "I told you to stay out of Hordak's sanctum! Do you know what he's like when he's angered? Don't you understand how important his work is to him?! I needed you to listen to me this one time. I told you not to bother hi-"

*thud*

Adora was cut off as she bumped into the very solid figure that she respected. And, as he loomed over her, somehow seeming more threatening than last time she encountered him, officially feared.

"The only one bothering me right now, Force Captain, is you, with your intrusion." He hissed. Just as he did this morning, he marched off towards her as Adora lost all sound coming up to her throat, backing away and doing everything she could to keep herself from cowering. "I am working, with Entrapta's assistance."

"A-Assistance?"

"Huh! Did you hear that, Emily? I've never had a lab partner before!"

Adora looked over to the girl as she continued to back away, the scientist giving her a casual smile as she stood next to Scorpia, waving with a hand and her hair. "S-Sir, I swear, if she's done something, I'll deal with it. I wouldn't let her bother you-"

"I do not repeat myself a third time, Force Captain. The only intrusion I have right now, is you, and your presence. And I'm finding them both to be nothing more than unwelcomed *variables* right now, Adora." His threat was crystal clear to the girl as she remembered his earlier experiment, and how he dealt with it said variable last time.

"I-I... I-If this is about the resources earlier, I fixed it-Urgh!" Adora nearly choked. With a swift, tightened grip, she found both her cheeks squeezed together tightly, is menacing gaze narrowing even further as his eyes looked deep into her soul. He only had the patience to deliver a third, and final, warning.

"GET. OUT!" He didn't have the care to put her down as he dropped her from his grip, hurdling her to the floor, and walked straight past her.

"Bye, Adora!" Entrapta seemed just as carefree as she strolled right past her with a wave, though in her case, it was more of the inability to read the room, one that was shouting Hordak's last order's to Adora's ears as she continued to stare at him.

"Uh, come on, let's get your feet up. That's it, there we go." If it wasn't for Scorpia's assistance as she helped the girl to her feet, there was a good chance she would've been removed from his presence in a more permanent method. Adora could barely hear Scorpia as she tried to comfort her, insisting he was just having an off day or something, she couldn't really tell anymore as they exited the room.

All Adora could do was watch as the two stood side-by-side with each other as they continued to examine the machine, discussing methods and various other details about the practicals of his current experiment. Adora couldn't figure out what to say to herself, about what she witnessed, about what she was seeing. She just continued to stare, until the sight of them was gone behind the metallic, cold, doors...

...

The three watched as Bow continued to examine the obelisk that stood along the center of the outpost, the holograms and recordings continuing to dance around them as he did. To think, the very village that held the most unsettling vibe around them, that freaked them out on more than one occasion, that still gave them the chills the most out of every place they've been to to date, was nothing more than the work of science and technology.

The First Ones science and technology.

"This is it. The noise is coming from here." Swift Wind lowered his head closer as he examined the strange symbols.

"It looks like Light Hope's Beacon." Catra's curiosity continued to spiral between just how much of this place should annoy her, and how much of this place should surprise her.

"It's an antennae." Bow revealed, pulling back more of the roots that covered the structure. "I'm guessing this outpost is built on some kind of First Ones communication hub." They all marveled at the device as they examined the runes going up. "When the Black Garnet disrupted the planet, it must've caused the hub to power up, it's trying to send old stored messages."

"Messages?" Catra wandered off a little as she watched one of the holographic recordings play from up close.

Within its loop, the feline watched as what appeared to be two parents were waving in her direction, as if saying hi to Catra herself. Taking a look behind her, she saw what appeared to be the outline of a little girl, running up to the parents happily before jumping into both their arms. The moment the girl reached the two, the image came to an end, right before the girl was embraced, and the loop restarting once more as if nothing had happened.

"So... these guys are actually the First Ones?"

"Yeah, why?" Bow asked as he and Swift Wind pulled another bundle of roots.

"I don't know, it's just... I thought they'd be kinda different, you know? Bigger, more important looking. Something a little cooler. Why did they bother with all of these old recordings in the first place?"

"Because they had something that mattered more to them, Catra." Glimmer replied, prying off another of the roots. "Something bad probably happened, something they weren't prepared for. And when they didn't have enough time to be rescued, they probably left a final message for the people that were left behind or leaving... a message to say goodbye."

"Something... more important?" Catra muttered. She gazed at the three as she talked amongst themselves about the possibilities of this first one as Catra looked to her sword, pondering.

Okay. So let's review the goals currently going through her head. Go all the way to the Fright Zone, find Entrapta, get her revenge, then everything will be better. Simple, easy, and to the point! ...Well... of course, she knew she was going to have to be creative in how she did it. She couldn't just knock on the front door and asked to be let in, right?

Come to think of it, how was she supposed to get out? If she made it all the way through, chances were indefinite that she wouldn't go undetected without some sort of sensor or camera picking her up. She'd be found and swarmed in no time by the mob of Horde soldiers determined to take her down, and... Boy. She hadn't even thought of it, but then there would be another confrontation with Adora. She could definitely handle an army or a lost friend, but definitely not both.

Chances were, she'd be captured, at best...

Ugh, what was she thinking about it for, anyway? Sure, the chances were she'd get captured, but the pros outweighed the cons, right? For example, she would get her revenge. Then she would feel all better! And after that, she would-!... She would... She would... um...

What else would benefit them? It wouldn't put a halt to the Horde's production of droids and weaponry since they had multiple science divisions. The Horde would most likely redouble their efforts with Entrapta's absence, and scour the world for more First Ones tech to use against the Rebellion in retaliation. The Horde would possibly go out of the way to get payback against the Horde, especially Adora who grew attached to her friends.

Not to mention, thinking about it, the Rebellion and Princess Alliance would be without She-Ra or Catra. Knowing them, Glimmer, Bow, heck, even Swift Wind would do whatever crazy hair-brained scheme they could think of to rescue her, and most likely fail without Catra's expertise. And that was just if they tried to do it. She hadn't even considered if the rest of the Princess Alliance would-

"Hey, Catra!" Glimmer called out. It snapped the magicat out of her thoughts as she blinked from her confusion, staring back at the three. "We're ready. Is something wrong?"

"...No..." Catra shook her head a little sluggishly as she made her way back over to them, standing before the pillar. Taking a deep breath, she focused as she placed her hand upon the pillar.

Gathering as much power as she possibly had in this state, she focused as her body radiated with energy, connecting with the technology as she willed the device to power down. It took a few seconds of effort, the lack of energy taking its toll on her grasp, but, eventually, the pillar glowed with a brilliant light, one that gave off a soft hum as the ground around them briefly lit up.

From the outstretches of the town, the light slowly faded, the moving holograms slowly coming to a halt before disappearing altogether. The others watched mixed feelings, all feeling senses of happiness and sadness, hoping to themselves that their messages got through to whoever and wherever they were meant to go. To the families, to the friends, to the many people they cared for.

And taking her hand from the creation, with the last of the holograms disappearing, Catra silently hoped they made it too before she sighed

*shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim~*

In a light they were all too familiar with, the others shielded their eyes as Catra's body was enveloped in a bright light. They were surprised, shocked, relieved, and most of all, overjoyed, as they watched their friend's power returning to her, however much of it as possible. Finally, the bright light faded, with Swift Wind feeling his bond with Catra strengthening once more, knowing what was already too good to be true.

"C-Catra, your back to normal!" Glimmer exclaimed. She seemed to be back to her old self once more! They could see the elegant cape flowing in the wind behind her, the bracelets on her arms as she held her sword. And as she turned over, they saw-!

No pants.

Catra groaned a little to herself before shrugging, sheathing her sword. "Eh, I'll take what I can get."

Even though he was unwilling to ruin what appeared to be a beautiful moment, Bow turned his attention back to the tracker pad, knowing that there was one bit of the mystery left. "The farmers must've fled from the ghosts when this thing turned itself on. We should be able to get them a message that its safe to return."

"Way to go!" Glimmer congratulated proudly. The Rebellion is going to do just fine with you, Master Maker Bow."

"Heh, thanks, Glimmer." He replied in a teethy grin. "Now that the antennae is powered down, everything should be back to normal-" Bow stopped as he looked at the screen, the others looking from behind him. "It's that message again. Looks like the First Ones writing."

"But we powered down the antennae." Swift Wind reminded.

"Don't expect me to read it." Catra shrugged. "Looks like a bunch of scribbles to me."

"You said it yourself, Bow," Glimmer tried to encourage, "your pad must be broken."

"...Yeah... that must be it..." It didn't settle right with the "Master Maker" as he agreed, staring off into the screen as it wavered to and fro.

"So are we done here, then? I wanna get going." Catra grumbled, marching off ahead of them.

"Going?" The princess repeated in a brief confusion. "Where do you... Wait!" Before Catra could take another several steps away, the princess disappeared and reappeared, cutting Catra off as she held her hand up to her face. "Catra, come oooon, you can't be serious!"

"You still want to go after all that's happened?" Bow panicked as he rushed up ahead, doing what he could to block her path. He wondered if he should've gotten his rope-arrow ready or not as Swift Wind flew up from behind him.

"Hey, I'm tired, hungry, and I'm just about ready for bed, so let's go!" Catra growled, walking right past them.

"But Catra, you can't just-" Any argument the princess had to make instantly became invalid as confusion overwhelmed her, her arm dropping in front of her as she just stared. "Wait a minute... what did you just say?"

"What? Are you becoming deaf yourself? I said, let's go home already, geez!"

"Home?" Glimmer's insensate blinking was met with that of Bow's and Swift Wind's as they stared at each other, then quickly chased up to Catra as they followed closely behind. "You mean as in... My home? Bright Moon? Not the Horde?"

"Am I speaking too She-Ra for you? Yes, your home!" She snarled.

"So... you... don't want to want to go to the Fright Zone and enact vengeance upon Entrapta?" The other two looked up at him in annoyance as he gave the full-bodied explanation. "What?"

"No, already!"

"W-Well... if you don't mind me saying this, then why?" Bow just had to ask, as the rest of them wanted to know.

"Because-!" Catra grumbled as she rolled her eyes, rubbing them tiredly as her form finally flashed again, and her attire had returned. "Because I'm bored, and I'm tired, okay? It's been a long day, and the last thing I need is another surprise mission popping up out of nowhere along the way there. Besides," she paused as she let out another yawn, "I haven't slept since yesterday, and I could use the shuteye."

"But, and not that we don't believe you, but... How do we know you won't try to sneak off in the middle of the night and try to get revenge on her when we aren't around?" There were only so many pranks and tricks, hopefully, that Catra could pull on them before Glimmer grew accustomed to her methods.

"What? Do you wanna sleep with me to keep me from getting out? Be my guest." She waved her hand as she continued on. "I just figured, you know, it'd be too much work at this point. I mean, I'd have to break in, then break out, do who knows how much of the heavy work while you guys just sit back and relax all day and, you know. I'm not having any of that."

"So you're definitely okay with finding out about Entrapta and don't want revenge on her anymore?"

"Oh, no, I still wanna get that pipsqueak after all she's done." She admitted. With a bit of reasoning, the others assumed this is where the lack of Catra's full restoration kicked in. Even if she was no longer willing to drive on into the Horde any longer and search for one measly girl, it didn't mean she had given up on the idea of revenge in the long run. "But I figured I might as well do it later. Maybe in a week, maybe in a month, who knows. If I run into her again, that's when I'll get her."

The others turned to one another in silence as they slowly smiled to one another. After a long, stressful, day, Catra seemed to be back to most of her usual self instead of some vengeance-driven warrior who wanted to make herself feel better for just one day. And, while it wasn't the perfect kind of Catra, it was the one they definitely preferred at this point.

At the same time, Catra, on the other hand, had her own motives for her own sudden disinterest. Yeah, she was pretty open about all the other reasons, and it's not like she told a single lie. She didn't want to do the hard stuff by herself, the others kept pulling her down, literally, to get in her way, and she didn't really have an exit strategy, and she was fine with all that stuff. There was, however, one realization that dawned on her in the mix of her thoughts that did bother her.

As she came to realize if she was captured the others would be putting themselves at risk. She was great and all that and definitely worth saving, but for these guys, they wanted to save her because they considered her their friend, even if she did so rarely in return. They would've risked life and limb for her if it meant getting her back, most likely involving something reckless that they weren't prepared for.

There were millions of reasons why Catra would get revenge on someone. Betrayal, pulling a prank on her, being a complete and utter annoyance to her, and so forth. She hated those kinds of people and was more than eager to get revenge on any one at any time of the day.

But at the same time, there were few things in this world she was willing to risk losing, things she cared too much about to let her own desires get ahead of her.

Like these three idiot.

...

*sheeem*

"Annnnnd good afternoon to you, young miss." Aroda's smug face was the first thing to greet Adora as she leaned within the doorway of Adora's room. To the reflections delight, Adora was pretty much how she knew she would be, what with being inside her head throughout the entire day and all. She looked exhausted, irritated, had several bags under her eyes, and a look in her pupils told her she wasn't just dealing with tiredness. She was irritated.

Whether it was with her day, or just Aroda, was the only part that she couldn't tell. Nevertheless, the exhausted Force Captain completely ignored her as she walked right through her, not even caring at this point, as she made her way over to her bunk. "Aww, come ooooon, didn't you miss me?" She teased, watching Adora plop face first into the pillow, stretching her arms over the sides of the bed with a groan.

"Go. Away." She gave her more than enough talking for one day. "You're not real. You're not here. And I don't need you here." There was a small silence that followed as Adora's curiosity got the better of her. Lifting the side of her face up a little, she scanned the area towards the door, noticing a lack of annoyance coming from the other side of the room.

"Welllllll," a chipper voice brought Adora's hope crashing down as it spoke in her's from the bunk above, "I don't know about the first two, but face it Adora." She grinned as she poked her head over the side. "You need me here."

"Ugh... I don't need you, I just need to sleep."

"Once again, wrong." Ignoring her, Adora tauntingly mimicked her movements with her hand, trying to drown the reflection out. "So tell me, Adora, how happy were you awhile ago?"

"...I don't know what you're talking about." She sighed, finally exposing her face.

"Please, you can't keep lying to me. You were angry, weren't you? Devastated. You wanted to wring your shadows around that scientist's neck, didn't you?"

"I did not!" Adora yelled slightly defensive. She sat up in her bed as she curled her legs up, staring at her knees as she hugged herself. "I'm happy for her. I was just... surprised, that he was so accepting of her."

"..." For once, a look of boredom actually crossed Aroda's face of all people, er, reflections. "Booooo, boring answer."

"I'm not here to amuse you." She grumbled. She turned her head away from her as she looked off into the room, trying to ignore the ever-growing presence. "...And even if I was a little jealous, so what? I'm happy she's found a great place to work-"

"Even if it was at Hordak's side?" Aroda grinned, even more as Adora remained silent. "Let's do the math, shall we? You've been here for... since you were a baby... and Entrapta's been here for... three months, and he's already taken in by her work compared to yours?"

"She's been here for barely a month!" Adora yelled back. As she saw Aroda grin, a small blush fell over her face as she turned away again. Not wanting to miss an opportunity of therapy, Aroda slunk herself through the bed, landing with her legs crossed on the opposite side of Adora. "You know what your problem is, Adora? You want to know why Hordak's so taken in with her compared to you?"

"If I say no, are you going to leave me alone?"

"Nope! Your problem is, that you're too weak." For once Adora actually was a little curious at the prospect, though she didn't give it any more attention than she did Aroda. "You're weak. You lack any sort of power, you don't have any special skills-"

"I-I do to!" She insisted. "I'm a strong fighter, I can manipulate shadows, I-"

"Get weak after several days without recharging. Can't go several hours into a fight without needing one of your pwecious wistbands." She cooed, pretending to pinch Adora's cheeks as her fingers went straight through. "And remind me again who made that stuff for you? It starts with an "E", and ends with an "ntrapta"!" Adora's attempts to drown her out slowly dwindled as her efforts were in vain. "Face it, Adora. Hordak doesn't respect you because Entrapta has power over you. In fact, nearly everyone does with how much you try to be friendly with everyone."

"I don't try to be friendly with them, I am friendly because I care about my friends. I don't want any of them getting hurt."

"And that's all fine and dandy. But that just leaves you getting pushed around all day while everyone else takes the credit." She let out a fake yawn as she leaned over the bed with her hands under her head. "It's just a matter of time until Frosta betrays you, too."

*Swiff*

There was a cloud of feathers and cotton that burst into the air as Adora swiped a large, shadowy, claw over the mattress and one of her pillows. Not surprisingly, there wasn't a single scratch over Aroda's body as her reflection continued to smirk at her, looking even happier from Adora's reaction.

"S...Shut up..." She slowly drew her shadows away until her gloved hand was revealed once more. "She's not going to betray us. She's a good friend, and there wouldn't be any benefit for her."

"Not even finding out you pretty much tricked her into being allies?" For the first time, Adora choked a response as her eyes widened a little. "That you pretty much sabotaged her Princess Prom from the very beginning?"

"I-I didn't lie to her!" She groaned. "I just... I just wanted to show her how barbaric the Rebellion was, that's all. Catra proved that more than enough after she attacked her. Besides, it's not like I made Catra do anything, she just proved what I already knew."

"Catra this, Catra that. You know for a girl you pretty much want to ignore, you really do bring her up a lot."

*whiff*

Unsurprisingly again, the pillow Adora threw just went through Aroda's head, the reflection watching with glee as Adora rested on her own two hands upon the bed.

She didn't need to hear any of this, she knew she wasn't wrong. The Rebellion were the bad guys here, not her. Catra attacked an innocent girl because she let her emotions get the best of her. She wouldn't be surprised if all of the Rebellion was like her. Looking back on it, it made way too much sense that they'd take her in if they were all just as vile as she was!

Heck, after her encounter with them yesterday, she was all but confident they were!

"You know," Aroda spoke up, lying like Adora was as she floated two feet above her, "as funny as it is to watch you kid yourself, I'm the one who's going to suffer too if anything happens to you. You know you have so many personalities floating around your head, right?" Playfully, she put her hands to her mouth as she let out a bunch of cartoonish impressions. "Heeeeelp! Let us oooout! It's dark and empty in here!"

"Ugh, will you just go away?" Adora groaned, resting her eyes. "I just wanna go to sleep, okay?" At the suggestion, Aroda's brow narrowed.

"Do this, do that, your friends are being such great role models to you, you know?" Adora nearly jumped as something happened to her face; she felt two firm fingers, a finger and a thumb, grip the base of her chin softly, and turned her head to look up to her.

Aroda was actually grabbing her. She could feel her.

"I'm tired of playing in circles around here, so I'm going to just come out and give you advice." She brought her head closer to Adora's until their faces were mere inches apart. "If you want to rule anything around here, you need control. If you want to control anything, you need power."

"I need... power?" Adora repeated, blinking as Aroda grinned. The girl continued to surprise her, and startle her, as she brushed a few strands of hair from Adora's face.

"You need power if you want to control. If you have control, you can rule anything you want." Finally, to some of Adora's relief, Aroda started to fade as she disappeared slowly from her feet upwards. Yet, without even moving her mouth, she continued to hear her speak in an echo-y tone. "If you want to rule, you need control. If you want to control," swiping her hair one more time clear of Adora's face, she disappeared, "you need more power..."

"..." Adora stared as the reflection vanished, staring off into space briefly to make sure she was truly gone, before lying her head back down.

She didn't know what she was talking about, Adora was confident in her abilities to accomplish her tasks, to complete any mission. She knew just one or two minor cases of trickery weren't enough to label her as the bad guy. They were all for the sake of Etheria. Besides, she couldn't bring herself to make enemies with what was, basically, a child. If she ever fought her, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to harm Frosta.

And you know what? Good for Entrapta. She truly was happy for her, and she was glad she got Hordak's attention. She must've been really gifted if Hordak required her assistance out of anyone within the Horde. And she was the one helping Adora through her issues with her power, she couldn't ask for anyone more qualified than her to be at Hordak's side...

The Force Captain slowly brought her hand to the as she gathered a small bundle of shadows, watching them slithering across her skin. Even with her drawbacks, she was still plenty powerful. And within a few days, she was going to prove it.

She was going to annihilate the Princess Alliance once and for all.

She was going to show this voice in her head that everything she said about Frosta was wrong, that she wasn't a traitor.

Above all else, she was going to prove to Lord Hordak, make him see, that she wasn't a failure...

...

A/N: Annnnnd god, nelly, i need a vacation after that X_X unfortunately i can't take one, cause the last time I took a break from writing... I didn't come back until a week ago XP that should say enough.

With this chapter done, we reach the epicenter/halfway episode, which is everyone's favorite! I'm not going to lie, it'll definitely be different than the canon version, but i'm not going to get rid of the hilarious first half of the show, I'd be chopping my own pinkie off before I did something stupid like that Xp...wait...

Anyway! I hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, review if you enjoyed, and I hope to see you zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Chapter 72: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 7.2K Pre-A/N's. And we're off to the middle of the season (which I still use the term loosely for since the entire season itself is practically half of the first one), with everyone's favorite and memorable episode, "Roll the Dice".

I can assure everyone who's worried that, not to worry, there will still be a ton of (hopefully) laughs thrown into this, along with some of the serious stuff. It'll definitely be a bigger episode than most of the other chapters, not by much, ideally 5, but I at least promise to have two entire chapters of the silliness ensuing before we roll right into the action.

Got nothing much more to say to that without potentially spoiling anything, so with that said, enjoy!

...

The cool breeze of the sky did nothing to tarnish the majesty of the Horde structure. Along the edge of the cliff stood one of the proudest of Horde outposts, a structure that was nearly impenetrable from all sides. Guns mounted along the outer walls that kept even the sturdiest of climbers from reaching, provided you could thanks to the surrounding cliffside.

Around every corner of the mighty fortress stood weaponry that tested the might of Horde ingenuity, defenses to counter every measure of combat. Fire, Arial, Storms, nothing was impossible to defend from, every piece of security would ensure that once an enemy infiltrated it, nothing would come out.

And it was here that Catra, in her She-Ra state, Glimmer, and Bow, found themselves, along the edges facing the cliffside.

All they had to comfort each other were their nearest allies and the sound of the wind brushing past their hair. Trying to keep her nerves about her as her feet barely kept along the ground, the magicat twitched a little as her foot brushed against a solid rocked that she knocked over the side, over the cliff.

Then came the mistake of looking down.

Deep, empty, and high. That was the best way to describe the cliff side they were currently occupying. Catra could barely feel the drip of sweat rolling down the side of her face as she watched the solid rock, her eyes wavering slightly as it felt like the cliff was moving further and closer repeatedly without end. Nothing she's ever climbed in her life was as death-defying as this. She had options back then, numerous things to reach for if her grip slipped up, things to grab onto to save her skin.

Here? There was nothing. There was nothing more than a gap over a hundred feet between the chasm separating her from the other side. If she fell here, there would be nothing to grip onto, nothing to save her from the inevitable fall. She couldn't even see the rock before she heard its crash echoing from the bottom.

It would be game over for her, with no second chance.

Swallowing the bit of saliva from her throat, she quickly shook her head as she pushed the worries from her mind. "We need to find a way to retake the fortress the Horde stole from us." She stated, watching her friends who were lower to the ground, backs pressed against the wall tightly. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I'll teleport ahead and scout a path through their defenses." Glimmer replied, just as determined as the rest to reclaim the fortress.

"And I'll quietly shoot the turrets with my trick arrows." Bow added, grinning.

"They're not expecting anyone." Catra reminded, looking up he wall and back. "We sneak in, we hit them hard, and we hit them fast. Let's go!"

Atop the very wall the hugged, stood a lone Horde soldier, watching over the interior of the fortress with a turret at the ready. So far, it had been a peaceful day for the outpost, the very soldier taking a moment to let out a yawn. The air was clear, the sounds of birds chirping from the words could be heard, and the outside air was clear with a perfect temperature for the weather. He almost wished something more exciting would happen.

*swish*

*Whack!*

There was no warning for the lone soldier as he was suddenly struck upside the head from behind, dropping to the ground as Glimmer tightened the grip of her father's staff. From the eastern edge of the wall, another soldier barely had the time to react to this, surprised by the sudden intrusion, before his face collided with Catra's foot, knocking him off his feet.

And on the other end, Bow as disabling a pair of guards with his arrows, ensnaring them in a sticky green sap that pinned them to the ground. The archer cheered to himself as he pumped his fist, the initial invasion having been a success among the three. "Yes! Now we can-!"

*BOOM!*

There wasn't any warning of what happened next, no time to shout to him before the others could react. In merely two seconds of his proclaimed victory, during his excitement to see the rest of the plan through, he was shot at. From one of the many turrets higher above the walls, came an explosive shot that struck the archer squarely in the chest, throwing him over the wall.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out as she and Catra ran for the wall in a state of shock. He was already halfway down the chasm by the time they saw him again.

Falling.

Injured.

Lifeless.

Catra was could not believe what she was seeing as her eyes stayed glued to the falling corpse all the way down, the sound of Glimmer's cries filling the air around her. "He's... He's dead..."

...

"Oh, what?!" Bow cried out, watching his figuring being knocked over. He was a valiant warrior, one who held true to his beliefs right until the very end, and he suffered the price for it! Bow cried out in vengeance as he grabbed the small figure, raising the deceased vessel up to the heavens. "Tiny Bow will be aveeeenged!" There was nothing but tears from the young archer as he mourned, Catra and Glimmer watching their fallen comrade from the other ends of the table.

"I told you to look out for the other turret, you know." Catra reminded, feeling awkward about the entire scene.

"I know, but I thought I had enough tiiiiime!" He continued to sob.

"To do what? Hold still for the firing squad?"

"To initiate the second phase!"

"Would you two calm down?" Glimmer intervened. "It's just a game right now. Let's set it up and try again."

Catra sighed as she grabbed her own figurine, one that proudly displayed her in She-Ra-ness.

"Here we go again." And with the placement of her figurine, the game commenced once more.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

Surrounding the trio were the walls of one of the many tents they pitched and a war table, a term that Catra would use loosely in this situation, occupied with various figurines and maps of their location. Everything was perfectly replicated from their surroundings on the map, from where their own base camp was, the rocks that blocked the Horde's view of their location, and the mighty fortress itself that was the prize in all of this.

Between the three of them stood a small table in which the various pieces were placed, with the game master board entrusted with Catra's hands. After all, who better to figure out the inner workings of a Horde establishment than a member of the Horde themselves? And if there was one thing Catra knew, it was all the destructive capabilities of the Horde, droids, weapons, or otherwise.

"I shouldn't be dead." Bow continued to argue as Catra thought out the next plan. "That turret came out of nowhere."

"That's because you failed to make a successful observation check." The princess countered. "If we're going to retake the pass, we have to be prepared for anything."

"The pass is the only way in and out of the region." Catra added, looking over the various statistics she's been given as the game master. "They took it right out from under us while we were defending Bright Moon. As long as they have that pass, they control the region. And we need to get it back."

She had to admit, at first, the idea of playing a game to simulate this whole scenario was humorous to her. Picturing the many ways this mission could fail while they played a board game, the numerous times she watched Glimmer and Bow get blasted off their feet, was enjoyable to her.

Yet, after another failure, time and again, she was willing to admit that the more she played this, the more it was starting to make her feel uneasy. She honestly didn't think there were so many ways to picture someone being blasted, bombed, or both if a mission resulted in failure, and here she was. Watching time and time again as one, two of, or all three of them failed the mission? It was unsettling to her.

Funny. But unsettling.

"But why does that mean I have to die?" Bow continued to whine. "And after I made these for you? I even made yours to look like She-Ra when you were at your full power."

"It doesn't matter!" The anxiety was evident on Catra's face as her tail wagged behind her in distress. "Every time we come up with a plan, it falls apart. Half the time, it falls apart before we even make a plan!"

"We have gotten really good at improvising, though." Glimmer tried to encourage only for Catra to ignore her as she groaned.

"We can't afford that this time around. We need to come up with a plan that works flawlessly. One where someone doesn't die, doesn't get captured, or ends up working for the Horde like Entrapta!" Growling as she leaned over the table, she was ignorant to the silence in the air that hung from Glimmer and Bow.

It was understandable where Catra's frustration was partly stemming from. Not several days ago were they the ones trying to do everything in their power from keeping Catra from getting her revenge, even going as far as to physically hold her back. No amount of pleading would mean anything to her, and no amount of begging would be heard by her. She wasn't the least bit interested in what did and didn't come to her senses until Entrapta was dead.

Why should Entrapta live carefree working for the enemy now? Why was she making weapons and droids for them in the first place? Thoughts such as those consumed her to no end, eventually building into a rage that could only be satisfied by tearing the scientific genius to pieces. The angered warrior was losing portions of her power from the corruption that built within her heart, and she didn't care.

Entrapta had to pay, and that was the only goal in Catra's mind.

At least, until the day ended.

Throughout the same day, the four, Swift Wind included, were busy investigating the disappearance of an outpost known as Alwyn. From the creepy atmosphere that kept unnerving them, the mystery surrounding the residents' disappearance, and the scares that crept around them at every corner, there was nowhere for them to go where one could think of anything else, save for Catra.

It was also somewhere during that time that Catra came to her senses. In the end, the magicat didn't seem interested in getting revenge on Entrapta, or at least to the point where she would march personally to the Fright Zone to do it anymore. She was still convinced that making the scientist suffer and getting revenge was the way to go, but after all that transpired that day, between the realization that the ghosts were actually holograms and there were no evil spirits, she finally gave it.

She wouldn't tell them specifically why she lost interest at the notion, and for the time being, they didn't care. Watching Catra's She-Ra form restore to most of its previous glory was good enough for them, letting them know that Catra had grown on the inside somewhere. And, unwilling to push their luck, that was good enough for them.

That didn't mean she was over the event itself.

"We need to come up with a plan that ends without any hiccups," she continued, "and that means taking everything into account. No more surprises, no more unexpected turns, no anything else. It just needs to be... perfect."

"...Okay, but you're still breaking Tiny Bow's heart." The archer refused to expose the innocent little guy to so much violence and death on the table. "I mean look at his face!"

"He's smiling." Glimmer pointed out as Catra narrowed her eyes. There wasn't a hint of amusement in them.

"Through his pain, Glimmer! Through his pain."

"Would you two knock it off already?" The feline grumbled as she rose to her feet. "That pass is one of the Horde's strongest outposts, which means they're going to have some of their toughest soldiers and defenses surrounding the place. They're not going to leave it in charge with some idiot!"

...

"Move those big weapon-y things! Flap those banners!" Scorpira ordered from atop the bridgeway to the bustling soldiers and guards below. "Keep doing whatever it is you're doing, guy I'm pointing at! Now do a different thing! And look sharp, Force Captain's orders!"

This was the way the Horde was meant to run! Everyone had their assigned task that they were to follow through without question! The Force Captains came up with the plans and issued them throughout. The soldiers followed those plans into battle. The guards defended those plans and these outposts without question until their dying breath!

...And man, could Scorpia have not been happier!

This was amazing! It made her feel like she was the new second-in-command as she became giddy with glee. Seeing everyone's busying faces as they worked left and right made her smile, the sight of everyone fulfilling their duties filling her with a sense of pride! She wondered if Adora felt this way whenever she was the one leading the missions?

Oh well, doesn't matter. What did matter was the fact she was in charge, and she was going to keep it that way! ...Not that anyone would try to take that from her... Could they take that from her? Were they allowed to? Hordak was for sure, but it was still hard to say about the rest of them.

Ah, who cares? The point is, she was right here, right now, and nothing was going to stop her short of a giant bomb destroying the entire outpost!

"Can you believe it?" She squealed to the three familiar cadets behind her, rubbing her claws together as Rogelio and Lonnie stood at attention while Kyle watched the soldiers working below. "Adora put me in charge of the place! Me!"

"No, I... really can't believe it." Lonnie mumbled, looking bored after being asked this for the fourth time.

"I know, me neither!" She was completely oblivious to Lonnie's sarcastic, face-palming, tone as she leaned back against the bridge. "She trusts me. I can't let her down!"

*bing*

Her excitement was cut short as the familiar ring of her tracker pad went off. Digging through her pockets, she smiled as she saw it was an incoming message from her favorite of friends, Adora herself. She grinned as she tried to answer the call until her claw tips kept sliding against the screen. It would've been more amusing for Lonnie if it wasn't for the fact she knew Adora would have a heyday for making fun of her while she watched.

Rolling her eyes, Lonnie grabbed the tracker pad from the scorpion's clumsy claws as she activated it, turning the screen around so that Scorpia had a clear view of Adora as the view of her from the shoulder's up filled the screen.

"-ow hard is it to touch a screen, Scorpi- Oh, Scorpia! There you are." Adora greeted with her typical friendly smile.

"Hi, Adora!" Scorpia waved back as Lonnie rolled her eyes. "Everything okay?"

"Yup. I'm just calling to make sure everything's going alright so far."

"Everything is going great! I still can't believe you chose to put me in charge of everything!" Pausing for a second, she wanted to show off her "charging powers" as she pointed to Kyle. "Kyle, man the parapets!"

"I... don't know what those are." He awkwardly replied, rubbing his arms.

"Then find out!" He glanced at Lonnie and Rogelio who could only shrug back as he ran down the bridge in a search for the mysterious thing. Her serious tone went back to the always-endearing smile as she looked back to the monitor. "I promise this place will be in tip-top shape by the time you get here. I still can't believe you trusted me out of everyone else here. I can still remember your exact words." Without giving her the chance, she recalled the very words Adora said in an attempt to mimic Adora's voice.

"Scorpia, I'm trusting you with a task simple enough that anyone can do it until I get back."

Adora's face sunk a little with embarrassment as she scratched her cheek. "I, uh, don't know if I said it exactly as you did, but-"

"Nope, it was word for word, I kept track. Ooooh, I have to get you something as a thank you! What do you like more for a surprise present? Stuffed ponies? Or bears? No, wait! What your favorite color first?"

"Um, Scorpia, I don't need a-"

"Oh, no, no, no, you're right! It's a surprise! I shouldn't tell you what you're getting. Kyle!" Scorpia shouted over to the cadet who was looking over the ramparts behind her. "Go figure out Adora's favorite color of bunny! Right now!"

"Huff... Huff... I'm on it!" He panted, running back all the way down the bridge.

"You're going to be so surprised with what I'm getting you~"

"I'm... sure I will be..."

"By the way, was Entrapta able to help you?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Adora smiled as she lifted her right wrist to the monitor, displaying the new red wristband Entrapta had made for her when she called her back to the Fright Zone. It already had a grand, violet, shine to it that pulsed with life, be it Adora's own life or the life of her magic. "New and improved. She said with it, I'll be able to extend any fight by five hours, more than enough time to finish the princesses."

"That's amazing! You just watch, Adora. After this, Hordak is going to be so proud with you, he'll promote you to... to... What comes after second-in-command?"

"Hehe, I don't need any big promotion, Scorpia, I'm fine with what I have." The Force Captain looked down at her own wrist with a sense of determination. Even now, her heart raced a little bit as she continued to get closer and closer to the outpost on the skiff she was using. She can still remember the very meeting that would determine, not just her life, but the rest of the Horde's life, every second of the day since yesterday.

...

The Princess Alliance is most likely going to be stationed over here." Adora said, pointing out the location on the map across from the outpost. The meeting room held several of the officers, namely her and Scorpia, as well as several of her other friends. Everyone was focused on the battle that was to come as Adora went into detail about everything.

"You sure they wouldn't be anywhere else, Adora?" Scorpia wondered curiously.

"Doubtful. It has the best vantage point to spy on the outpost without being detected." Several of the other cadets examined the map on the table closely as they listened to Adora's instructions. The woods are too dense to set up a base camp, and it's the most vulnerable position to strike from if they attack."

"Then why don't we just hit them while they're preparing?" Lonnie spoke up with a hand at her hips. "It would be easier to take them out while they're setting up, wouldn't it?"

"We can't do anything until all the princesses are gathered. If even one of the princesses from the alliance escape, especially Catra, they could still turn the tide of this war. We need to lie in wait for them until they're all gathered in one spot, and prepare our strike on them then."

"Um, Adora?" Kyle rose his hand a little nervously, knowing how important this battle was going to be. "Wouldn't it make more sense to set up our ambush before they get there? Why the wait?"

"Because they'll know someone tipped them off, then." At this, all eyes turned to the young princess within the room, to the right of Adora, who was helping to make all this possible. Princess Frosta. "We had our last alliance meeting just the other day, and we all discussed where we would set up camp. If we had an ambush waiting for them by the time they showed up, Catra would pick up on their scent or any noises and they'd immediately call off the mission for another meeting."

"But we could just prepare another ambush at the next camp they set up, couldn't we? It's not like they're going to know immediately it was Frosta, so there's no way they would catch on to us. What's wrong with that?"

"That's not the point, Kyle." Adora spoke up for the young princess. "Even if they didn't suspect any of themselves and chalked it down to a coincidence, they would prepare the next one to be more organized and separated within the camp in case of another ambush." She turned her attention back to the map. "This is the one chance we have to get all of them at once. We can't let it go to waste."

At this, the younger princess lowered her head again. Nothing about this felt right to her regardless for the reasons she was doing it. She still liked most of the Princess Alliance, they were nice and friendly with one another. She was even surprised when she came to understand Catra a little more, almost a week ago, and she couldn't believe she could consider Catra a friend by now.

It also didn't help that it just didn't feel good in general. She didn't agree with the Horde's choice of "lifestyle", but after her conversation with Adora a few days ago, she came to understand where she was coming from, what it was like for her and why she was doing this. She couldn't betray someone like that.

Noticing the small look on the princess's face, Adora gave her a small comforting smile as she rubbed her shoulder. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, Frosta. I understand." That was the other side that made it hard to tell if Frosta was on the wrong side.

Adora wasn't like any of the Horde soldiers or generals she's heard of, or anything close to it. She was nice. She was friendly, she cared about others, she was reasonable. As much bad as she's heard about the Fright Zone and the Horde from the Rebellion, it was hard to say Adora couldn't be telling the truth about any of them in turn.

Who was she supposed to trust?

"Thanks, Adora, but no thanks." Frosta replied, gently taking her hand off. "I'm going to be fighting them sooner or later, and I can't keep avoiding them. Besides, they might think something is up if I don't show up on the same day as everyone else."

"Plus you're going to need her if you want to activate the device." Entrapta pepped in, hanging upside from the pipes with her hair. Digging through her pockets with another hair extension, she revealed a small metallic orb the size of a soccer ball, spinning it upon her fingertips for a few seconds before casually dropping it into Frosta's arm.

"I've set the coordinates on this baby to match the outpost's location. It'll need a few seconds to charge up, so if you don't want anyone running out of it before it goes up, you'll need to launch it from somewhere they won't see."

The young princess eyed the strange creation in wonder as she looked at her reflection upon the shining metal. She didn't remember any part of this being in the plan, though she did know the exact details of how everything was going to go down. "What is this thing?"

Smiling, Adora took the large orb from the young girl, looking it closely as she could see her own grin reflected upon the surface.

"This, is how we're going to defeat them..."

...

Feeling the wind through her hair, Adora took in everything that was going to take place. This mission meant more to her than anyone else could understand.

It wasn't just a matter of beating the Princess Alliance, and possibly the rest of the Rebellion, after all this time. This was about proving herself. Proving herself to the Horde she continued to hold dear, proving herself to the friends that stayed by her side, and, most of all, to prove to Lord Hordak that she wasn't a failure.

The last several days had been a little unnerving for the young Force Captain. Since her last direct interaction with Hordak, both in the morning, and towards the evening, she hasn't felt right. To think, the very person who made her his second-in-command to begin with, who gave Adora's life meaning since she was a baby, would consider someone like Adora a failure after all her hard work. Not only that, he considered her a hindrance, an intrusion compared to someone like Entrapta.

It didn't make any sense to her. What did she do to anger him so much? Why wasn't he proud of her? She's gathered allies across Etheria's various outposts and small villages, gaining more ground than the Horde ever has before she became Force Captain, yet it didn't matter to him. He was more concerned about the resources they were potentially wasting and the fact their armies were spread too thin, but why?

Why did it matter if their soldiers were scattered across Etheria? Why did it bother him that none of her major alliances weren't from any kingdoms since Frosta's? Did she do something wrong? Did he desire for her to enlist only kingdoms for their aid? She even tried to reorganize the flow of resources between the various outposts in a way that more than doubled the production of gathered resources while maintaining distribution among the settlements, and he still wasn't satisfied.

To add fuel to the fire, the situation only took a turn for the worse when he announced Entrapta would be working as his right hand, his assistant in whatever matters they were dealing with in his lab, matters he didn't trust Adora enough to divulge in. She wasn't jealous of the situation, per se. In fact, she was actually happy that someone Entrapta that she got to work closely with the very leader of the Horde itself after only working for him for a mere month.

...She was sure she was happy for her...

It didn't really matter to her. In the end, her goal was to fix the way that Lord Hordak saw her. She was going to prove to him that she wasn't the failure that he questioned her to be, that she wasn't the mistake that he made by making her his second-in-command. After today, she was going to prove to everyone that her methods were without question, that her allies would come through for her.

Most of all, she was going to crush the Princess Alliance once and for all.

"Adora?" The person in question blinked as she heard her name called, looking back at the screen to her familiar friend. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Scorpia. I'll be there within half an hour or so. Do you think you can hold down the fort until I get there?"

"Hahaha! Hold down the fort, I get it!" Ha! Adora was just a kidder sometimes that Scorpia couldn't help but laugh. She was completely taken in by the unintended pun Adora made that she barely noticed as slapped she tracker pad right out of Lonnie's hands. "That's a good one, Ador-" By the time she opened her eyes again, she was already seeing as the pad had left Lonnie's hands and flung over the edge of the bridge.

"Uh..." Adora's bewildered questioning was the last noise emanated from the tracker pad before it collided with the ground.

Shattering into a dozen pieces a hundred feet below the bridge.

"-a..." Lonnie, Scorpia, and Rogelio stared over the ledge as their eyes laid on the shattered remains of the destroyed pad. "Huh. I should probably fix that, shouldn't I?"

"Maybe you should try doing something else around here?" Lonnie hinted back. The tall girl just stared at the teen punk for a short time, blinking innocently as she just stared at her eyes. "Like, getting everything ready?" Once again, she just stared. "Like setting up the defenses around here?!" Lonnie swore, if she had to be anymore clearer than that, she was going to jump over the bridge herself from frustration.

"Hahahaha!"

*whack*

"Oof-!" Lonnie barely caught herself as Scorpia slapped her in the back this time, the scorpion laughing and unaware of her own brute strength as she playfully knocked her. Lonnie gasped as she barely caught herself from going over the ledge, thankful that she didn't end up like Scorpia's last victim.

"Okay, okay. You don't need to remind me." She smiled as she made her way over to the ledge, admiring the view and unaware of Lonnie's glare. She fawned with a small blush as she leaned over the wall. "My shadowbunny is counting on me to keep this place safe, and I won't let her down!" That was her resolve as she stepped up. "For Adora, I will defend this pass with my life, even for thirty minutes!"

Unwilling to embarrass someone who was so determined for their friend, Lonnie let out a fake cough while pointing out the small mistake. Reassessing herself, Scorpia quickly sped over to the other ledge, making the same pledge. Yes, this is the pass, I will defend with my very life. No reason to worry at all!" Her enthusiasm wasn't as grand as it was previously, but it diminish her spirit.

With her own two claws and stinger, she was determined. She was going to show Adora how dependable she was, like how she wanted to show Hordak the same about herself. She was going to have this place whipped up to be the best, most defensible, most awesome outpost in Horde history for her sake.

She knew how much this mission meant to Adora, and she was going to make sure everything went on without a hitch. Nothing was going to sneak up or get past her. Every weapon thingy was going to be ready to fire on Adora's mark as soon as she pointed to the target. And this was going to be the day she showed off just what a great friend she was to her!

"Kyle, where's that parapet!?"

"What about the rabbit?"

...

Connection Terminated

These were the very words that flashed on Adora's end of the tracker pad for a few seconds, before the girl sighed and carried on to the outpost. There was still some distance between her and her destination, but as long as everyone maintained their position and kept to the schedule, including the enemy, she should be there in no time.

That just left her with the wind blowing past her and the silence in the air, one that was much more welcomed than the sound of any other annoyances. Of course, Adora knew more than enough to know she couldn't get her hopes up, because, as she expected, not ten seconds after flying with the silence flowing through her ears were they met with the all too familiar voice at this point of a certain passenger that was hanging out in the back of he skiff.

"Today's forecast on the Hordak Army news," Aroda provided with commentary as she mockingly mimicked a reporter while lying on her back nonchalant, pretending she was holding a radio, "tragedy struck today as the mission that Adora had been preparing for for the last several days ended in terror."

"There really is no way to get rid of you, is there."

"Eyewitness reports stated that Princess Frosta, trusted friend and ally to the Horde, unsurprisingly turned traitor in the midst of the mission and back stabbed Adora when she least expected it."

"I already told you, she's not going to betray us." There were a few things Adora had come to learn about her mysterious doppelganger by this point. For one, ignoring her was officially out of the question. Whenever Adora tried to ignore her directly, she would continue to poke and prod further into Adora's mind, going an extra length to get into Adora's skin, as she played to her weaknesses and doubts. Even doubts that Adora assured herself she didn't have, Aroda took it upon herself to bring up anyway.

Secondly, the only way to make her shut up faster was to play along with whatever ridiculous things Aroda had to say, just long enough until Aroda was satisfied and finally disappeared. Whether or not Aroda knew what Adora was playing at in turn, it still proved to be enough for the living reflection as it left her alone for several hours after.

"When reached for comment, Adora had this to say." Instantly, Aroda withdrew her cocky personality as she filled it with an entirely sad and distraught expression that could match Adora's in almost every sense. "Eheh, eheh, eheeeeh," it sobbed, "I just don't know how this happened. Clearly the smart and beautiful Aroda, who has been helping me all this time, was right, because the next thing I knew, Frosta was working for the enemyyyyyyy!"

"When reporters went further to get the opinions of her fellow friends and peers about what they had to say about the girl, here is what we were told." If the previously-mocking voice wasn't enough to rile up Adora's heart, hearing her continuing this pretend report in Hordak's voice definitely did. "I can not believed I entrusted the entire fate of the Horde to this one, pathetic, excuse of a Force Captain. Making her my second-in-command was the greatest failure of my life. If fates be willing, I would gladly accept someone like Catra at my side if she ever came back-"

"Mmmmmmh!" Having enough of the background commentary, with a harsh pull of the lever, Adora jerked the skiff harshly as it practically jumped into the air.

"Whoooooooa!" The suddenness of the event was enough to catch the so-called "Reporter" off guard as the next thing Adora knew, her double could be heard screaming as she was tossed overboard. This was just enough to give Adora a few moments of brief respite, as not several seconds later, did she hear the familiar sound of her annoying double as she floated in the air behind her, keeping up with the skiff's speed. "This just in: Force Captain Adora committed murder today as she tossed beloved reporter and icon, Aroda, right out of the skiff and hurtling to her death."

"Give me a break..."

"In lieu of flowers this evening, Aroda had personally asked in her Will that Adora writes ten-thousand pages with the words "she was right about everything" in triplicate."

"Will you please just give me some time here?" Adora finally asked her politely. "I want to be mentally prepared for the mission later."

Saying the word please seemed to be enough for the copy of Adora as she went back to her natural matter of speaking at long last. "Aw, big brave Adora getting anxious about the upcoming mission? I can't say I blame her. After all, I'd need to be forewarned, too, about the eventual betrayal and loss I suffered later on because of one little girl who isn't even twelve years old. Oh, wait, she was given one!"

"For the last time, Frosta is not going to betray us!" No matter how many times Aroda tried to convince her, she refused to let it get under her skin than everything else had. "I trust her with my life like the rest of the Horde. She'll pull through for us, and once she does, we'll be rid of the Princess Alliance once and for all."

"Ooooh, I love playing make-believe too. How does this sound? In the end, Frosta is not going to be the absolute worst traitor in my life right next to Catra, and Lord Hordak will finally see me as his most trusted ally?"

She did have to admit. When it came to the personal stuff Adora didn't want to talk about , she knew how to push the right buttons. No matter how many times she assured herself of whatever doubts she was feeling, even after they were said, it still bothered her to hear them being brought up time and time again.

"Face it, Adora. The only one you're going to be fooling around here is yourself. You know as well as I do that princesses stronger than you are a threat, that they can't be trusted in the slightest."

"...She isn't stronger than me." With a clear path ahead, Adora took the opportunity to look at her gloved hand, creating a layer of shadows around it. "And even if she was, it doesn't matter. She's going to help us stop the Princess Alliance. You'll see."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard of it a hundred times by now." Pretending to swim through the air, Adora tried to ignore as she watched Aroda floating ahead of her, several feet away and above. "And you still can't get rid of that nagging feeling that she might actually be a traitor after all."

"..." She didn't have those feelings, she couldn't. If what she said was true, then what else could Aroda be right about? Could she really trust no one in the end after this? Was Hordak always going to see her as a failure? It didn't entirely matter to her if that would always be the case. As long as she managed to repay her life with years of service to the Horde, then she would see it through.

"Don't worry too hard about it when Frosta betrays you, Adora. Everyone makes mistakes." If this was her attempt at comfort, it was the worst she's ever had in her life. The only comfort she had through any of this was seeing Aroda finally leave, but not before saying the last thing that would leave Adora unsettled. "Hordak's mistake was just putting his faith in you."

And with that, she was gone. Like every other time Adora had met her, she just had to get the last say in everything. She always did what she could to unbalance the girl, to make her doubt herself. But why? Like Aroda said, assuming she was telling the truth, she was just another personality in Adora's mind, one that depended on Adora's life for survival. So why would she continue to say things that would most likely unhinge Adora, that could distract her from her priorities in they required her full concentration?

In the end, that also didn't matter. Adora was confident in the friends she had and the people she could trust as she sped the skiff up a little faster, wanting to hasten her arrival. She was going to show Aroda how she was wrong about everything, and she was going to use her own two hands to bring down the Princess Alliance. And, most of all, she was going to prove to Lord Hordak she wasn't a failure.

No matter the cost...

...

A/N: You know, looking back on it now when I started writing the episode, it really does make me have to ask; how did the Horde expect the Princess Alliance to attack on that very day in the episode? If it was just normally guarded, that'd be one thing, but they brought Scorpia in on this from the beginning as if they KNEW the exact day they were going to attack. I just find it really weird in the long run...

Oh well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and continue joining the rest of the episode as we roll in to some more "game time" ^^. As a reminder, please refrain from season 4 and above spoilers since I haven't caught up yet. Won't be watching it till I fin season 3 in this fic.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, comment, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 73: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count- 8.45k Pre-A/N's. Hidey-ho, my peeps! We, as in I, finally bring you the second installment into what is, arguably, the best episode from season 2 ^^.

I'll be honest, im both interested and nervous of the feedback I'll get for this episode (more specifically, the next 2, this and next) and the chapters I send. Not out of a lack of personal confidence or anything, but just that if there is one thing the episode is known for, its how hilarious it is, and while the 2nd half, as i said before, will still be a bit more serious, I hope everyone finds enjoyment in the attempted humor I throw in with these next two parts.

Let me know what you think of the next two chapters between the "strategies/planning" everyone goes through, and what is supposed to be an enjoyably and intentionally silly meeting XP.

With that said, enjoy!

...

"All right, so that plan was a total flop." Catra commented as she rubbed her chin, staring at the large pamphlet unfolded and standing in front of her on the table. The longer the day grew on, the more frustrating the planning was becoming.

Today was one of the Rebellion's most dangerous missions to date. After the last month of defending their home from the countless Horde robots that were sent to them everyday, the Princess Alliance was finally able to reorganize themselves and take back the rest of Etheria that was stolen from them. One such area was the region they were currently occupied in, one that housed one of the most defensible structures that the Rebellion had to offer, and one that was currently under Horde control.

After the last meeting the Princess Alliance held together, the trio found themselves currently debating the most difficult position they would ever come across- how to retake the stronghold. Within the stronghold held every manner of defense; turrets mounted on every corner along the hundred-foot walls, weapons to dismantle any matter of elemental magic that attacked them, and soldiers that filled the outpost by nearly the hundred. It was, without a doubt, one of the most dangerous missions they had to date.

And they haven't even started it yet!

Their current predicament landed them inside the large tent within the base camp across from the outpost. What at first started as nothing more than a mere game across a table to plan the attack slowly escalated into a full-blown nightmare. Every plan they came up with within the first half-hour was shot down the drain. The game came with the most realistic and plausible scenarios Bow could come up with, even to the extent of gauging everyone's reactions to everything that happened around them. It was the most realistic game Catra had ever played.

It was also the most stressful as the more the plan failed, the more dismayed Catra was slowly turning. She couldn't bring herself to have another mission end in failure, not like the mission to save Bow and Glimmer from the Fright Zone. While it may have ended successfully, it resulted in them losing one of their own. Not just in a manner of life, but to the other side completely. Entrapta was now working for the Horde without a care in the world, and it was a betrayal the magicat had barely gotten over in the last several days.

With that in mind, she took everything into account as they tried to come up with the perfect battle strategy, one that wouldn't result in any losses, death or otherwise. "Maybe if we tried sneaking around the turrets from another angle-"

"You're going about it the wrong way." Glimmer said as she casually took the game master board from Catra's side. "We're not going to win by sneaking in. We have to take the action to them!" With a boast of confidence, the Princess of Bright Moon displayed the board before her and established her plan.

...

The walls of the glorious citadel was an imposing figure as the thunderstorms danced across the sky. In the world of the black-and-white noir that was Glimmer's incredible plan, nothing was as it seemed. Not even the castle that displayed the Horde's banner in front of itself, letting all the subjects and slaves of the neighboring town know just who was in charge here! It could only be disrupted by someone who knew what they were doing. Someone brave, someone confident, someone who totally had the skills to do it.

Someone, like Agent T. Glimmer.

Donning a pair of slim blue jeans torn at the knees on both ends, who could totally not look suspicious while wearing sunglasses in the middle of a storm and chewing on a toothpick, the leather jacket-wearing princess could be seen totally minding her own business as she leaned against the outer wall, making sure the coast was clear of any possible patrols, before putting the rest of her plan into action.

"First, I'll teleport to the top of the walls where each of the turrets are located."

With a bright grey flash, the princess teleported to one of the many corners of the wall just like in the last plan-

...

"Wait, wait, wait, back up." Catra rubbed her head as she interrupted. "What does the "T" stand for?"

"Who cares, it sounds cool! Anyway..."

...

With a bright grey flash, the princess teleported to one of the many corners of the wall just like in the last plan, reappearing in a squat in front of the yawning guard with a smug grin on her face and her toothpick sticking up.

"Hey, how are ya?" The next thing anyone knew, the sound of the guard screaming as he was hurdled over the wall and into the bundle of trees below was deafened by the cries of the thunderous storm raging around them.

"First, I use my power to take out all of the surrounding guards along the walls." Fists glowing with energy, the dark of the storm was plagued with endless flashes along the walls, the sounds of people screaming in despair filling the sky left and right as they were tossed over the walls into the surrounding forest, the attacks coming at them too frequently and fast for any of them to stand a chance against the awesome power that Glimmer had! "That takes care of the guards on the wall's pathways."

"After that, I turn my direction to the Super Bot they indefinitely have guarding the inside of the wall." With a grave tremble, the ground shook ferociously as the largest of possible round droids dropped in upon the young agent, towering over her and thirty feet in diameter. Along its body it came fully equipped with double-mounted turrets, rocket launchers, and lasers that would have even the sturdiest of attackers shaking in their boots.

But those agents weren't Agent T. Glimmer!

With a barrage of weaponry, the powerful droid opened fire on the seemingly-defenseless princess, blasting at her with everything it had. But it should've known better to underestimate the likes of her. With the flick of her wrist, she disappeared in a flash before the first rocket could even touch her, reappearing with her epic staff right above the deadly weapon, and impaled it dead center in the middle of the creation.

Sparks fired from the hole that was made as electricity crackled around the machination, its central core damaged beyond repairing. Teleporting again, the princess ended up several yards behind the droid, twirling her staff in one hand as if it was the most normal thing in the world to her. Coming to a halt, the princess finally slammed the butt of the staff into the ground at her side, other hand in her jacket pocket, and grinned to herself as the air rushed past her following the droid's immense explosion.

She was far too cool to look back at the explosion.

She slammed the model of her into the large model of the droid under her, making an explosion-like sound effect with her voice as she slammed it off the table, and placed her piece triumphantly within the Horde's settlement.

"Then, I draw the attention of the all the turrets," she continued, teleporting from her spot to the air, drawing the attention of every turret perfectly so they were in line of sight of each other, "get them to open fire, teleport again so they blast at each other, and then-!" just as the princess's body started to glow, a voice rang out from far under her, wearing a professional suit that all spies were known for, complete with a black tie, black sunglasses, and white-collared vest under it.

This, was Agent T. Bow.

"You ran out of teleports, like, twelve teleports ago." Agent Bow pointed out, shouting from within the fortress along the bridge-way.

Agent Glimmer just froze for a few seconds as she blinked at this, then resumed time as her sunglasses fell off to reveal her perplexed state. "...And am immediately shot out of the sky, and crash into Bow." Her eyes widening was the last thing Agent Glimmer was capable of doing before all of the turrets opened fire on her at the same time, shooting her out of the sky like she said in a spectacularly, albeit tragic, explosion, that shot her to the ground where she crashed into Bow, resulting in his own death at the explosion that followed after.

But at least she did it cooly.

"Tiny Bow! Nooooooo!" Not once but twice now, has his faithful companion been slain within the last five minutes. A moment of rest for the fallen figurine that landed on it. Regardless of how it ended, with Catra shaking her head in annoyance as she pinched herself, Glimmer was quite confident the plan that ended with her being awesome was the way to go.

"As funny as it would be to see you dropping in on Bow, we should try something more realistic."

"Which is exactly why I landed on Bow, realistically, and exploding." Catra completely ignored her as she took the display back, examining it.

"Well the part involving the teleporting sounded okay." She admitted. "You think you and Bowey could teleport to each of the turrets and sabotage them?"

"I could definitely sabotage them if Glimmer got me close enough..." Bow began.

"But with such a large distance between them, I wouldn't be able to teleport us to all of them with magic to spare..." Glimmer finished.

Sighing, Catra reorganized her thoughts as she observed the map. "Okay, in that case..." A plan grew within her mind as she pointed to the center of the large fortress where the tower stood tall.

"Then we'll cover ourselves from the inside out." From the outside, Glimmer teleported with Bow, hand in hand, as she jumped from the base of the fortress's outer walls to the top of the structure. At the same time, Catra continued to dig her hands through the solid metal in her She-Ra state, pulling herself enough to jump several feet at a time until she was atop the wall itself, just as Glimmer reappeared to pull her up. "From there, Bow can provide us with cover safely from where the turrets won't reach him. Then-"

*Thomp!*

Suddenly, and without warning, the earth around them began to shake as the thunderous stomps of a horrifying giant began to make itself apparent. It stomped through the woods surrounding them, over double in height and size of the surrounding trees, as it gazed with its breathtakingly terrifying eyes over to the duo along the wall, who could only gape back in shock. Never had they seen a creature as gigantic or revolting as the hideous being, nor could Catra comprehend what sort of vile wickedness the giant had in storm for them!

"Uh... Why are you playing with dolls?" Mermista finally asked.

...

It was the strangest sight she had ever come across among the three of them, and knowing Catra, honestly, rather surprising. To come upon them in the middle of playing a board game, with dolls, and with Catra among everything, was the strangest sight she's ever come across.

"We're not playing with dolls!" Catra yelled defensively and embarrassed.

"Yeah! They're war-table, battle figures." Bow supported, staring up at the mermaid princess as she looked over his shoulder. "And I don't know if I have one for you... Hold on." He was sure he would've had something around here for her as he dug around his bag.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be on watch?" Glimmer pointed out to the uncaring princess.

Turning her head in the direction of the large outpost, Mermista just blinked as she shrugged back to her. "Oh, look at that. It's still there, like it was an hour ago. Watch complete." She grinned a little as Glimmer groaned back to her, enjoying the little teasing she got to get out from time to time. "Relax, I switched with Perfuma." It was hard to say if she ever took pride in what teases or annoyances she could get out as she sat between Bow and Glimmer.

"Look, if you're going to sit around all day, the least you could do is help us." Catra suggested, looking over the display. "We're trying to come up with a plan to invade the base."

"...Seriously?" Doubt instantly clouded Mermista's mind as she raised a brow at her.

"Yes, seriously."

"You are... coming up with a plan..."

"What? You don't think I'm smart enough to come up with a plan, too?" At this, Glimmer and Bow shared a look as they shifted their gaze to one another. Incapable of possibly answering the question, the two turned away with a small blush as they went on with their respective things

"L-Lovely weather we're having..." Glimmer commented, looking up to the sky.

"Yup. Still looking, still looking..." Catra couldn't help as a small blush formed on her own face as her brow twitched a little at this.

"Hey, I'm plenty smart, and I know how to make a plan!" She grumbled, looking over the information. "We just, you know, haven't really needed to form one before for something important like this."

"She isn't technically wrong." Glimmer commented, trying to encourage her. "Most of the missions we've gone on have ended up going haywire in the middle of it because of something unexpected. For Plumeria, it was the Horde trying to set up some diplomacy thing, although it looked more like a forced-surrender."

"For yours, it was the Horde showing up after we arrived to Salineas." Bow added as he continued to search.

"And Entrapta's?" Mermista's wondering already fell flat as Catra shot her a spiteful look for a few seconds, slowly reminding the mermaid of everything they recently learned. Like who's name not to mention around her. "Oh, right... So am I in the plan then?"

"Well, we're in the middle of somethi-"

"I don't have you, but I do have a seashell and a happy sea otter." Bow interrupted as he brought out the small, admittedly cute, figurines.

"Uh... Googly eyes? Pass." A very hard, straightforward, pass from her.

"If you're not going to join in, then do you mind leav-"

"I'll be She-Ra." Mermista decided, interrupting and irritating the magicat, who quickly grabbed for it, at the same time.

"What? You can't be Sh-Ra, I'm She-Ra!" She declared, refusing to let go of the only figurine she admittedly liked.

"Well I don't see your name on it."

"Don't see my name? It's She-Ra! The entire thing is my name!"

"I don't know. This one has a lot more orange to her hair than you do." She was starting to enjoy the small teasing as she saw Catra's mouth twitch.

"That's because it was when I was at my full power."

"So your full power comes with a dye job? Right. And mine comes with the ability to make custard pies and make sea lions do a rodeo."

"I doubt you could even make a custard pie on your own you stupid-!"

"Ugh!" With a loud groan from the erupting irritation surrounding her, Glimmer quickly teleported to Mermista's side, startling the two enough to make Catra let go of the figurine, and teleported her again until they were twenty feet away from the tents. "Gimme that!" With a single swipe, Glimmer snatched the figurine out of Mermista's hands again before teleporting back to the same tent, leaving the disoriented Mermista to get her bearings after realizing where she was again.

"Uh, rude much?"

...

It was during the same time at the Horde Fortress that Lonnie picked up an energy spike on her tracker pad, or Rogelio's in this case since Scorpia broke her last one. Within the diagram of the map's outline, she saw several red dots going off from the other side of the chasm they were near, indicating the magical properties of a princess's magic going off. It was a clear indication of what it was as she turned back to the soldier inspecting the turrets.

"Tell Force Captain Scorpira that the Alliance finally arrived." She ordered, earning a salute from the very soldier as she went back to inspecting the map.

...

*swish*

The other two looked as Glimmer teleported back to her very spot, casually tossing the figurine back into Catra's palms. "All right, I admit I got a little carried away. But the rest of my plan could work."

"It could if it wasn't for a certain someone you forgot about: Adora." Once again, there was a brief silence in the tent as everyone thought to themselves. Looking back on it, this wasn't going to be just a run-of-the-mill mission. This would be the first time Catra saw Adora again since the Battle of Bright Moon, the aftermath of which changed Catra's life forever. It wouldn't just be the first time they fought each other since then. It would be the first time they ever met since cutting ties with one another.

"Adora doesn't make mistakes in her plans. She has a backup for almost everything."

"Tell me about it..." Glimmer muttered to herself looking away. She couldn't forget how just a few days ago, despite having captured her, managing to pull through with Bow, and exposing Adora's plan to him, that Adora was still the one that came out on top.

"She's smart, she's strong, she single-handedly lead the assault on Bright Moon, and-"

"And I've already thought of that." Glimmer grinned. It was just a slip of the mind when Glimmer made her original plan.

NOW came the time for the real one!

...

Within the Noir-styled Castle, Agent T. Glimmer navigated, letting nothing get in her path after she infiltrated the complex through her previous methods, right up until the Super Bot showed up. When she spotted a security Camera, she quickly teleported under it and used Bow's gadgets to play the footage on a continuous loop. When she came across a locked door, saving on her magic, she used her incredible lock-picking skills to pull her way through within seconds. And when she took an elevator that was filled with a dozen guards blocking her path? She didn't turn away, she gladly strolled on in.

With the door closing behind her and re-opening several floors later, the victorious and always awesome Agent was cracking her knuckles, having enjoyed the nice little "warm up" the guards gave her as they lied beaten and bruised behind her, all of them groaning as she hit the elevator buttons again from the outside, sending them away.

Now, there was nothing between her and her intended target- except a trap-filled hallway that planned to finally put an end to all of her incredible feats. It was filled to the brim with every matter of trap, from punji-filled holes in the floor, swinging guillotines that lined the ceiling from one end of the hall to the other, laser grids that would've cut through anything they came into contact with, and multiple walls housed with-

...

"Why are you dragging this out if you can just teleport through all of that?"

"Stop interrupting!"

...

*-housed with every hundreds upon thousands of arrows, just waiting to be set off by the touch of the hundreds of tripwires set throughout the floor. To anyone, this would've been the most deadliest course known to man, one that only the most fool-hardy and suicidal enough would attempt to pull off.

To Agent Glimmer, this was nothing more than her daily workout before breakfast was served.

With a leap, and a twirl, and so many awesome flips and kicks that didn't need to be explained in any sort of fashion that seemed plausible, Agent Glimmer navigated through the trap-filled hall, deactivated the traps with the console on the other side, then checked the timer on her wrist watch as Catra and Bow watched her from behind.

"Seven point three seconds." She spat out her toothpick in disgust of her slowness. "I must be getting rusty."

*clap*

The clapping echoed through the floor as the center of the room light up perfectly under the watchful gaze of the spotlight. There, she could tell the Evil Mastermind was finally waiting for her, sitting perfectly in the oval-shaped chair as she had her back turned to her. There could be no doubt about who it was.

"Well, well, well," the chair slowly turned to reveal the Evil Mastermind in all her evilness, "if it isn't my arch nemesis, Special Agent T. Glimmer!"

"Is that seriously how you see Adora?" Lesser Agent Catra questioned from behind. She was nothing like the awesome agent that stood before her. She was practically dressed up as a social worker by the appearance of it, wearing a plain white vest while holding a clipboard with all the do's and dont's of being a secret agent, had a combed, ugly haircut compared to Agent Glimmer's, and was wearing thin black pants. If none of this proved just how unpopular she looked in appearance, the dorky wide-angled clear glasses she wore definitely did.

She was nowhere near as cool to someone awesome like Special Agent T. Glimmer, who she always looked up to like a superhero.

"Why am I dressed as a dork, and who said you were ever my hero?!"

There could be no doubt about it. The Evil Mastermind that was Adora sat before her in all her evil glory! Glimmer would recognize that look anywhere from their last battle she totally won. The hair that dangled from her right shoulder, the large poofy scarf that wrung around her neck. The way she sat wearing the very dress she wore to the Princess Prom and high heels, so casually with one leg crossed over the other, with a pet viper being stroked softly in her lap as it hissed.

And who could forget, the most notable part of Adora that everyone within Etheria knew; the skull-printed eye-patch that she wore over her right eye.

"I should've expected my greatest enemy to have shown up sooner or later."

"Are you still talking about yourself or me?"

Glimmer just scoffed as she spat to the floor, taking in a combat stance with her fist to the front and her hand in the air, defensively. "Did you really expect to finish me off the last time we met?"

"Oh, no, no, Agent Glimmer," with a grin, the Evil Mastermind pressed one of the various buttons on her chair's arm, "I expected you to FALL!" Without warning, the floor suddenly gave out from under the special agent, Glimmer almost missing the ledge as the very tips of her fingers saved her from falling into a crocodile-pit-filled death!

With all the strength she clearly had in her three holding fingers, she gritted her teeth as she pulled herself right into the air, flipping again, as she landed both of her feet perfectly. Growling at underestimating the super athleticism of her arch rival, Adora quickly summoned the shadows to her side, grinning as if the outcome of this very spectacular fight was already predestined from the gods themselves, as the dozens of shadowy tendrils rose around her.

Without missing a beat, she teleported. One after the tendrils attempted to snap at the young agent with all the right moves, missing every single beat from beginning to end, as Glimmer continued to teleport all the way around the room, until eventually she came across the very switch that powered up all the turrets along the outer walls, Adora's eyes widening as her clever enemy managed to best her yet again, cursing her name to the high heavens.

"Game Over, Ador-"

"I cast Giant Flytrap on Adora!" Princess Perfuma squealed as she knocked Glimmer away. Before either of the two knew it, from behind Perfuma, a massive man-sized flytrap sprouted from the shadows, lunging straight for Adora as her pet snake jumped out of the way in fear.

Following the snake's example, without anything else to do, the Evil Mastermind Adora quickly pressed into her chair's arms again, blasting herself off in an escape as the flytrap continued right past her. With enough reflexes within her bones, Catra quickly ducked out of the way in time to avoid the oncoming monstrosity.

Unfortunately, the very same couldn't be said about Bow, who could only wallow in misery as the massive jaws of the plant came down upon him.

*Chomp*

...

"Tiny Bow! Not agaaaain!" Bow could only look up tearfully at his devouring comrade he's lot who knew how many times as the small flytrap in the potted plant Perfuma was holding continued to nibble on it.

"Oops. Sorry, Bow..." Perfuma apologized.

Back in what could be the closest thing to reality, the others noticed as the rest of the Princess Alliance had arrived, with a slightly smug-looking Mermista watching the three of them, along with the youngest of the current princesses, Frosta, who was on her side.

"Ugh, what are you guys doing here?" Glimmer groaned, grabbing her figurine before another game of tug-of-war occurred.

"Metmista said you were playing with dolls and board games, and I just had to see it!" Frosta replied in a cheeky grin as she eyed the figurine in Catra's hands. "And I can't believe she was telling the truth!"

"We're not playing with dolls!" Catra yelled back. Looking at her own figurine, she couldn't tell what was even doll-like about it. It was just a small figurine of a real-life person that wore a dress that Bow made to match part of a complete outfit, and...

...As she slowly thought more about it, a small blush covered Catra's cheeks as she hid the doll under the table, turning her head away. Doll or not, she still refused to give her figurine to anyone else.

"I'll have you know we were planning a very serious strategy session," Glimmer rubbed her knuckles against her chest with a sense of pride, "which, I'll have you know, I happen to have-"

"Lost." Bow regretfully informed, cutting her off. He slid over the display piece to the princess as he went over the details. "Two major problems with your strategy. One, by the time you even find Adora if she's hiding in there, chances are you're going to run out of too much magic before you fight her."

"Y-Yeah, well..." She had to think here, she couldn't let the final mission of Agent T. Glimmer end in tragedy! "What's the other problem?"

"Shutting off power to the outpost wouldn't work." Catra brought up, having seen the display more than enough times to know the layout. "All of the turrets run on their own backup generators in case of a power failure, long enough for engineers to fix the main one. They can all last for an additional hour after a shut-off."

"What?" Glimmer glanced over the information as she gathered the display. As much as she hated to admit it, despite her perseverance as the incredible agent she was, there was nothing to show for it. With the accuracy of the game's information in hand, there was no room for doubt as she drooped to the floor again. "Awww." Special Agent T. Glimmer had officially signed off. "So much for that plan..."

"Well we can help you with the plans!" Perfuma beamed with excitement.

"Aren't you supposed to be on watch duty right now?" Glimmer pointed out.

None of the others said anything as they continued to stare at the other three with curiosity and excitement. Looking back on it, she supposed it wasn't exactly fair for the rest when it looked like they were sitting around playing board games all day long while everyone else was working. With a sigh, Catra gave in. "Okay, fine, you can join us, but this is a serious strategy-"

"I get to sit next to Glimmer!" Frosta chirped as she sat between her and Perfuma, Perfuma between her and Bow, and Mermista between Bow and Catra. From here, Catra could only watch as everyone else started chatting among themselves with excitement, unable to tell how she should be feeling about this right now, as well as questioning why it had to happen now of all times, and the irony of the situation as she lowered her ears.

Why was it that out of the few times Catra had been serious on a mission, the rest of them were goofing around? Didn't they understand how serious the mission was? This wasn't going to be like any of the previous missions they had come across by now, however few and rare they were. If one thing went wrong on this mission, everything was going to go wrong, she was sure of it. This mission had to go perfect in every way.

It had to be executed perfectly, everything had to be timed perfectly, and, above all, they could afford to have a single, unexpected, hiccup to occur at any point in the planning.

For once, everything, had to be perfect.

...

"Spy Bot, the mission is simple." Scorpia strut back and forth in her pace as she gave the following commands to the small bot in Rogelio's hands. "Spy on the princesses so I have something to report back to Adora when she gets here, and to make sure this place is perfectly defensible for the assault when the time comes, so that Adora will be impressed so much, that she'll finally consider me to be her new best friend, or at the very least, have a bond that can never be broken. Got that?"

Everything was riding on this one moment of clarity to her! She was going to make sure that the defenses of this place were so defensible that other defenses would seem defenseless by comparison! As much as Adora considers Scorpia a friend, not once, did she ever tell Scorpia that she considered her a best friend, even after what happened a month ago. It didn't bother her too much as she assumed she was her best friend, after all, she considered Adora her best friend, but she still preferred hearing it in person than wondering to herself back and forth if the two were ever going to be considered BFF's!

Nobody should have to live with this sort of torture running through their minds, the pain and misery of never knowing if your friend as your best friend that considered you their best friend too! Like, what if she considered Entrapta her best friend first before considering her to be her best friend? Or even worse- what if she still considered Catra to secretly be her best friend despite everything she's done to upset her and after?!

Oh, gosh, that would be awful!

That is why she had to do this. She HAD to! She knew the minute she reported all the amazing things she had to back to her friend, she was going to be so proud of Scorpia that she was going to throw open her arms, let Scorpia give her the biggest hug of her life, and officially declare that she was the Ultimate Best Friend she ever had! And it all hinged on the bravery, intelligence, and fortitude, on her trusty, amazing, little Spider Bot!

"...Spy Bot?" Scorpia repeated, leaning in a little closer to the non-functioning droid.

What at first functioned to amuse Lonnie as she saw Scorpia flail about, giving orders left and right like she knew what she was doing, quickly drained away any and all amusement as she watched the girl continuing to the same thing over and over again. It didn't help she kept dragging Lonnie and Rogelio everywhere as Kyle was off doing whatever crazy order Scorpia last gave her. "Uh, it's not turned on, and, um, that's not how it works."

"..." Scorpia stared back between the two and the little robot in the lizard's hand. She was losing them! She had to act fast in a way they wouldn't be able to tell! "G-Good, yeah! I was just testing you on whether or not you knew how to do that stuff. A-And you passed. Adora will definitely be proud of your surprise test. Good Job!" With her determination refilled at how perfectly her acting went, unaware as the two stared at each other unsurprised again, she directed them behind her. "Now, let's go spy!"

"Eh-hem." Lonnie cleared her throat as she as she handed her the controller of the spider boat to the questionable Force Captain herself, turning it on for her with the click of a single button.

Instantly, the small Spider Bot beeped as the small lens-like eye in the middle of its round body lit with life. From everything that could be seen from the monitor connected to the Spider Bot's point of view, everything came to the small bot with a red hue. Everything seemed fun and fantastic to the little droid as it danced in Rogelio's palm, twirling a little bit happily before looking up to the large scorpion girl who awed at the mere sight of the droid beeping to her.

"Ooooh, aren't you the cutest little fella." She's never seen anything so adorable before! "Look at you with your little legs and your antennae! "You're just duh mowst cutest wittle thing I've ever-"

"Ahem!" Lonnie cleared her throat again, keeping the girl on track.

"Ah, spying! Yes! That is the thing... that we are doing." She honestly was a little disappointed, silently hoping to herself that Adora would let her keep it after this mission was complete. All it required was her magnificent brain to study the complex and inner workings of the complex device that Lonnie had handed her a minute ago and all three variety of buttons it seemed to have. Arrows, a circle, and the power switch. In honesty, she could handle those complexities.

What she couldn't handle were the handicaps she was given as a child, or clawdicaps she was given in this case. Every attempt to tap at any of the remote buttons with her massive claws was met with failure as she tried to aim the very tips of her claws on any of the small buttons, failing repeatedly as she either missed by a far inch, or her claws slipped right over the remote itself. After what felt like an eternity put into a ten-second form, she nervously smiled to the girl behind her as she put her best acting face on.

"Say, I now have a second test for you-"

"Do you want me to drive the Spy Bot?"

"Yes please." Lonnie hoped wherever Adora was she was on her way soon, because at the rate this was all going, Scorpia was going to be practically handing the Fortress over to the Rebellion...

...

"Okay, everyone has a figure, except for Perfuma who's using her plant," Bow stated as he eyed the cheerful princess, "and Mermista who has... that." He finished, eyeing the princess who was complaining for the last several minutes for a cooler figure, which basically looked like an action figure at this point, and still looked bored about it.

"Says the guy with a bag of dolls." She shot back.

"They''re war-table, battle figures!" There was no way he could go down in Etheria's history as the heroic archer who declared the Rebellion's victory over today by playing with a bunch of dolls!

"What he said." The bored magicat who was waiting for the meeting to continue for the last several minutes said. "Anyway, moving on-"

"Hold it!" The archer wouldn't let the meeting continue without giving his own input next, grabbing the display from in front of Catra. "So far I've been shot, set on fire, shoved off cliffs, bombed, stabbed, hit by friendly fire off a cliff," for the few moments that everyone turned their attention to Catra, the feline turned her own attention to the Princess of Bright Moon, who could only lower her head in guilt, "squashed, catapulted, and eaten!"

"And we all appreciate your sacrifice. Moving on now-"

"So we're doing my plan now!" The confident archer decreed as he set up the display before him. "And there will be no death, no dying, just heroic good times!"

...

The moon was full on the dark, dreadful night as the sound of wolves howling in the distance filled the looming silence ahead. The dead forest that surrounded the notorious castle of evil were the only things standing between the living, and the undead that filled the castle's unholy ground. The only thing separating the innocent villages of the neighboring region between life and death was the power of one man.

One muscular man.

One incredibly trimmed mustached man.

One incredibly trimmed mustached man whose heart yearned for adventure. And his name was...

BOW!

"We'll do part of Glimmer's plan first!" Coming to the entrance of the dreaded castle, Bow blasted the chains off the front gate, kicking his way open as he traversed the deadly castle filled to the brim of monsters and traps the likes of which the living world was never meant to see. "We'll infiltrate the fortress on foot, and make our way through the enemies as quick as possible!"

"What the heck am I wearing!?" If Catra thought the last outfit she was wearing was ridiculous, she would've gladly traded over a hundred of those outfits back for whatever this monstrosity was. She looked like she was wearing an outdated of her old uniform, with a few additions to it she was more than fuming to be equipped with. First off, she was wearing makeup.

That was an instant death sentence to anyone around her.

Following this, the rest of her outfit looked like it belonged to someone in her thirties, something that just screamed old fashioned to the hearing impaired. Along with her outfit, she was donning a violet cape to her back, something that didn't seem to sit right with her. She was also wearing a different version of her tiara which appeared to have glowing green eyes that came with it. That might have been the only change she didn't mind.

The same couldn't be said about the rest of the outfits the others were wearing. She couldn't tell what sort of weirdo came up with these costumes, but they looked like someone dug around in their attic at the last minute for a Halloween party and pulled out the outfits no one had seen for decades. She could only fathom the possible poor souls of those early years who thought wearing this sort of thing was something to be proud of.

Taking a look back himself, Bow simply shrugged. "What? I thought you'd like the change in style?"

"Trust me, She-Ra, I think your outfit is amazing!" Perfuma commented, squealing at the sight of her hero's change of clothes.

"...You have five seconds to change me back before that mustache is coming off."

"Okay, okay." Looking back at herself, she waited a few seconds until her appearance finally returned to normal.

At least that's what she wanted to say, until she realized she was wearing a completely different She-Ra outfit. She looked like a fashion drag queen who wore their mother's oversized clothes by accident, with a new tiara that made her original She-Ra outfit look way too subtle by comparison.

"This isn't what I had in mind!"

"Anyway," Bow continued, "first, we make our way further into the fortress's interior." The manly archer that was he sped ahead of the group of the barely-lit hallways, nothing but torches giving any sliver of light within the barren zone. "We stick within its walls until we come across wherever Adora is hiding."

Pausing with his hand to the rest of the party and his amazing mustache picking up something, he narrowed his eyes as he saw three hideously zombified versions of Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio, shambling up to him. "And we'll take care of any soldiers that come across our way." From this, respectively, Perfuma, Frosta, and Mermista used their powers to entangle, freeze, and blast away at the zombies who could only shamble in place, Kyle's undead leg falling off in the process as he stared.

Anything of the unordinary like this would've scared his courageous comrades half to death, but they knew, deep within, as long as they had the manly presence that was ahead of their group leading them, nothing would be impossible!

"Finally, we'll reach the center of the fortress, where Adora will be waiting for us!" The interior was just as horrifying as he pictured it. All along the walls lined nothing but shadows and darkness as the blood-red tapestry of the curtains closed off light from the outside. Within the center of this unholy place lied the very bed where he knew where Adora would still be resting- her coffin.

"Wait, why is Adora dead in all this-"

Like everything else, unimportant banter involving the magicat was immediately cut off, as the brave and masculine Bow rushed over to the coffin of ultimate evil. Using every muscle in his burly body, he pushed open the crypt to the nightmare of all living things, only to discover nothing more than cobwebs and bats that burst from the master's bed.

With no master in sight.

"Mwahahahahaha!" The echoing laughter of terror surrounded the allies and bravest of heroes as a lone figure slowly appeared from the shadows with nothing more than its glowing red eyes. "To vink you vould vind your way here, Vow." Slowly stepping out of the darkness, Bow's perfectly trimmed face narrowed its eyes.

It was the evil lord of the castle, Adora, in all her terror! With pupils filled with the color of blood, her long flowing blond hair dangling over behind her head, the mistress of darkness, revealed herself. With a cape as dark as the night that stretched around her entire body, a collar that rose up to her ears around her neck, and her malicious fangs that have feasted on the blood of the countless innocents, there could be no doubt in Bow's masterfully-tactician mind of intelligence as he pointed to her.

"Adora!"

"...WHAT!?" Catra stammered from behind, completely baffled by Adora's appearance.

"Hehehe," this was possibly the greatest day of Glimmer's life as she saw her appearance, "okay, this is kind of amazing."

"Your reign of terror ends here, creature of darkness!" Bow declared to the high heavens, the bravery in his veins pumping without question!

"My terror has onvy vust begun, Vow!" The monster that was known to drain the blood of her victims cackled as one of her fangs sparkled at the tip. "Vou would have done vell to join me vhile you had the chance."

"I laugh at the face of evil, villain! Prepare to answer for your crimes against humanity!"

"Oh, please. Stop. STOP!" Catra couldn't bring herself to look at the scene standing before her as she pressed her palms into her eyes, face overcome with embarrassment for all she was witnessing, as she was forced to listen to this drivel. "Just get to the plan already, I'm begging!"

"Now we're all starting to hope this plan kills us." Mermista commented.

"Very vell, my darling!" With a sinister grin that could make a child cry, Adora exposed her cape as darkness and evil in pure form surrounded her. "Have vat you!" While his comrades may have been amateurs, Bow was all too knowledgeable about the mistress of evil's true form. Rising to the air, it only made too much sense that Adora's true form wasn't that of a vampire of the night.

IT WAS A BRONZE DRAGON!

...

"A dragon?!" Catra swore she was going to cough up actual hairballs from how ridiculous this was getting.

"She can do that?" Frosta blinked curiously. There was apparently still so much she didn't know about Adora if that was the case.

"Ok, admittedly, I was looking for something more monstrous, but a dragon was all I had left on hand." Bow replied, holding the dragon figurine in his right and vampiric-something in the other.

"Can you just get back to the plan here before I hang myself with my own tail?" It was a small threat, but it was starting to sound more pleasant than hearing how much more ridiculous this plan could get.

"Fine, geez, calm down." The illustrious Bow's story would have to wait for another day, he feared.

...

Back within the fantasy-realm of existence, time literally began to rewind around them up to a few seconds before Adora transformed. "We'll use Adora as our means of acquiring the fortress." Firing one of his magnificent arrows before the beast could transform, Adora was helpless as it went off in front of her, engulfing her face in a thick cloud of garlic.

"We subdue Adora inside the fortress using our powers combined!" Following the brief disorientation, Adora was helpless as she was blasted by a wave of sparkling magic, doused with gallons of water, wrapped from her knees to her shoulder in thick vines, and finally frozen with a twitching-expression stuck to her face as her entire being was covered in a block of ice.

"Afterwards, we'll teleport back outside where we'll show their captured leader," teleporting back to the outside of the castle, all the living monstrosities that filled the castle from head to toe, from zombies, to gargoyles, to werewolves, were paralyzed in fear as their master appeared before them, bound in a rope of holy magic, or Catra's sword-turned-lasso, in this case, before them, "and order them to surrender the castle in exchange for her freedom!"

"With Adora's powers weakened by sunlight, she'll be powerless to fight at her full strength outside the shadows." Pointing in all his masculinity, the monsters could only sink their heads in shame as they vacated the castle, hundreds of them carrying umbrellas to cover their heads, with the leader of the fortress bundling a dozen of large umbrellas, blocking the possibility of any sunlight touching so much as an inch of her body.

...

Clapping victoriously, Bow crossed his arms at the table as he finished regaling their future success. "And we'll take back the fortress without risking any lives in the process, and without fear of its defenses reaching us. I'd challenge any of you to come up with a flaw with my strategy." All the princesses looked to one another at this. By the time Bow regretted his decision, they each came up with single issue, going around the room, starting with Catra.

"That's assuming Adora's on the inside to start with. Chances are she'll be outside where all the defenses are."

"Adora isn't weakened in the sunlight anymore, remember? Even if she was, her shadows are still as dangerous as they were in Bright Moon and Dryl."

"There's not even a guarantee the soldiers would surrender in the first place, and Adora would just order everyone to stand their ground. We'd be sitting ducks then."

"We'll be easy to surround in the hallways if the soldiers come rushing in from both sides."

"She's going to duck out of the way of anything we throw at her, she wouldn't just wait for us all to attack her one at a time."

"The plan stinks."

"Catra, you already went!" Bow complained, feeling his plans shattered in an instant.

...

All throughout the surrounding putdowns, with each and every issue the princesses brought up, the masculinity of Bow's amazing character was powerless as they literally came crashing down on top of him. First there was several zombies, a giant rug from the hallway, a large gargoyle-like turret, Adora's massive dragon form, then finally, if he wasn't crushed yet, the fall of the blazing sun in the sky, what he hoped was still Adora's weakness, roasted him alive as it fell on him and everything atop of him.

...

"Awwww..." Bow moaned as he lowered his head to the table, watching as the tragic tale of Tiny Bow continued to increase in tragedy as it was buried under a pile of figurines. His beautiful plan, his perfectly orchestrated planning, and his flawless mustache, all went down the drain without a second thought.

Hoping to push the conversation in the right direction, Catra took the display from him as she opened it in front of herself. "So if you're done picturing yourself with a mustache, I was thinking we could-"

"My turn!" She never gave Catra a chance to finish as Perfuma swiped the display out of her hands with one of her vines. Catra could already see the curious faces of her surrounding allies looking at her as she stood from the table, waving the display with pure joy. "Alright, so here's my idea!"

As she began, Catra let out a groan mentally as she leaned on the table, rolling her eyes as she prepared for whatever ridiculous, time-wasting, plan she had to sit through next.

We're going to be surrendering ourselves at this rate, I swear...

...

A/N: And with that, we're down another chap ^^ man it still feels good to be back after all this time, loving the feedback and everything I'm getting!

Really let me know what you thought of the humor throughout the episode, or at least the planning portions, which will be easy to spot via the italicized portions of the chp. Next up we'll have the remaining princesses and everything through their plans (while I think I'll keep Mermista's the same because, lets face it, its the funniest thing ever XP), i will possibly still change any intended strategies/plans the others come up with. But let me know what you thought of these first in case you'd prefer I just stick to the originals or come up with something new.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 74: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final WOrd Count: 11.6K Pre-A/N's. Hooooo jebus, this was tiring. I'll be completely honest- this is only half of the chapter i intended to post. The other half is still being worked on. Why is it posting now? Well, 1, its turning into an omg large chapter that I never expected it to, and 2 I was hoping to keep this episode 5 chapters in total. Given all that's happening though, this is likely to turn into 6 (pray to god not 7........ i mean it might be great for you guys if you get a massive episode and more chapters, but not for me XP).

But after some convincing, and the fact the missing half of this still has a long way to go, i figured you guys could use your daily dose of chaptering, so here you go ^^ Hope you all enjoy!

...

"Okay, my turn, my turn, my turn!" Perfuma insisted as she shook her hands with excitement.

"Perfuma for the last time, we're not playing a game, we're planning a strategy!" This was getting so ridiculous!

The entire point of this meeting since the start of the mission was to come up with the perfect plan that would help them break into the Horde settlement without fail. There wasn't any part of it that could be put up to chance, they had to get the mission perfect to avoid any sort of casualties or chaos. Their lives depended on it, the Princess Alliance depended on it, and the Rebellion depended on it. There was just one little problem Catra couldn't get past right now: she was the only one taking it seriously!

She almost wished this was a cruel joke they were playing on her or that this was all some nightmare trying to teach her a lesson of who-knew-what because at least then all this annoyance and pain would be worth it!

Every plan that was brought up so far came with its own special taste of annoyance that the Princess Alliance just had to give their own spin on. For Glimmer, she wanted to be some special agent delving into the lair of a sinister evil mastermind that was bent on world domination. For Bow, it was going off about how masculine and manly he was while dealing with some bizarre vampire-inspired Adora, doing everything in his power to make it sound like his adventure from beginning to end.

And she couldn't understand why they were like this to begin with. For the first time, they all had the chance to make the perfect plan, a chance to prepare for the unexpected, and how did they choose to spend it? By acting like a bunch of morons while the Horde, not to mention Adora, were most likely doubling their defenses with each passing second. It was honestly painful for her to sit through as they babbled on between one stupid idea to the next without end.

Or with any end in sight.

To make matters worse, the rest of the Princess Alliance decided to get involved in all of this halfway through, an whatever hope Catra had they were going to take the mission more seriously than Glimmer and Bow by this point was thrown out the front door. To them, this strategy meeting was just a fun way for them to pass the time as they came up with more ideas that made the first dozen seem realistic by comparison. And, still, not one of them were taking this anymore seriously!

She needed this plan to be perfect, she needed every detail to be perfect! After the disaster of the last mission the group went through, she couldn't afford to take chances for a mission like this. The guilt she felt after she thought she killed Entrapta in the Fright Zone, followed by the anger that followed within the last few days when she discovered her current condition, was terrible.

She couldn't afford to let another plan of theirs result in death, or, much worse, someone else leaving to join the Horde.

"This a strategy!" The princess of flowers shined as she raised the display to the air above her. "And it'll be the best one yet!"

...

The silent walk through the night was beautiful to anyone who gazed around them. The flowers were blooming beyond perfection, the sound of birds chirping away the night's silence was as pleasant as a baby's laughter, and the smell of fresh bloom in the air was always revitalizing to her. Truly, the nature around them was completely mesmerizing and surreal.

But, like all good things in the world, whenever there was a untold wonder in the flora around them, there was always a person of pure evil just ten feet away. People who wished to tarnish the sanctity of greatness, the glory of the world around them. People who desired nothing more than to cover every inch of the world in pure darkness, one where light and love could never be spread.

Like the Queen of Darkness, the epitome of evil, the dreaded Dark Queen Adora, and all of her enchantingly evil glory!

That, was where she came in.

Strolling through the woods with her long blue skirt and white shirt, elegant blond hair, and gorgeous white shirt, stood one of the proudest members of the She-Ra Scouters, a scouter that moved with a passion against the injustices of the world, and all that defied nature's beauty. She was the elegant, wonderful, and gifted, She-Ra Scouter Perfuma!

Coming across the pitch black fortress of darkness, the She-Ra Scouter's face filled with determination. Raising her hand to the sky, she recited the sacred oath that had been passed down through the milenna, a line that filled one with the magic and elegance of the world, personified into She-Ra form.

With her hand in front of the view of the full moon, she spoke, "She-Ra, Princess, Power!"

All around her the atmosphere began to shift into a beautiful garden of flowers and blue as the very princess herself glowed with a radiant light. All throughout her, the magic of the world could be seen entering through her as she shined like an array of dazzling stars, covering every inch of her body as she gathered the magic of the princesses, encasing her entire body in a beautiful tapestry of thread.

From her hands, they glowed with the presence of harmony as a long pair of thin white gloves that lined elegantly with her skin, a perfect match for the perfect pair of hands. At the bottom of her feet, a white tape-like light covered her heels, leaving her with a wonderful pair of crystal shoes that fairy-tales could only dream of possessing. And her forehead, the sweet, gentle, face that showed all she had no fear and was not to be feared, glowed with a translucent green light as energy poured around it.

In a spectacular multitude of flashes, the rest of her outfit brimmed with a wonderful color of white as they spontaneously appeared one after the other. Around her waste, a floral-patterned skirt of green that went halfway down between her knees and thighs grew. Around her chest, a single green brooch in the shape of a tulip materialized, spreading a barrage of white lines and thread over the course of her body, covering her in her entirety within a moment's notice.

And from her head, rising out of the pouring light, came a tiara that stretched to the sides of her head, touching the base of her hair as it surrounded her, growing in a beautiful light of gold that nobody else could possibly begin to understand. With the last of the universe's energy of love and friendship filling her body, her transformation was slowly complete, the princess twirling around and she finally became whole.

"In the name of She-Ra," she decreed, posing excessively to the evil doers of the world, "we'll defeat you!"

Almost as if on cue, dark shadows began to stretch across the expanse of the walls as the mistress of evil revealed herself to the rest of the world. Atop the high wall, wearing a pitch black dress that dropped to the floor and trailed behind her, stood the Evil Queen Adora, wearing a spiked tiara of ugly grey that encircled her head, and a terrible scepter of mayhem of discovered, one with a purple orb, filled to the brim with magic, could be seen.

"You'll never succeed, She-Ra Scouter." Adora grinned, tauntingly clapping her staff to her hand. "You and the rest of the She-Ra Scouters will face the same ugliness and sadness I plan to spread to the rest of the world!"

"That's where you're wrong, Evil Queen Adora," Perfuma replied, still in pose, "because with the power of our friendship, we'll all defeat you!"

From behind her, the rest of the so-called "She-Ra Scouters", could be seen, wearing outfits that matched each of their respective elements, save for Catra, who wore one with a golden color that could befit any leader of friendship and love. Along with it, her tiara was also the largest of the She-Ra Scouters, proving to them that she was a leader who undoubtedly held and endless abyss of love for all the friends she's ever made in the Rebellion!

Without comparison, this was, absolutely, the worst outfit out of the last handful of plans Catra had ever worn. A tight shirt that itched across her stomach and back, high heels that made her attempts at walking, much less standing, extremely unstable, and, above all, the world's worst skirt in the world, one that was short enough to come up almost higher than the one she wore when she was She-Ra, and one she was struggling to keep down.

"Who designed this skirt?! It's awful!" Catra yelped, her face covered in a deep blush as she tried to keep the front of it pulled down.

From behind her, Frosta could only giggle at the fearless leader's predicament. "Hey, look on the bright side, Catra. Now all you have to fear is a slight breeze in the wind." The look of anger sprouting on the cat's face was more than enough enjoyment for Forsta to get a kick out of this.

At least, it was, until Catra pointed out something in return. "At least I'm not the one stuck wearing a tutu!"

"A what?" What was she talking about? Surely, she was wearing a similar outfit along the rest of them, right? Looking down at herself, she knew what she was seeing was going to be wonderful in comparison, and it was! Wonderfully... embarrassing, as her face turned red.

Her entire outfit had one too many frills on it and looked like a cheap ballet outfit that you'd expect a six-year-old to wear. She wasn't just covered in one layer of frills or two, she was covered, from every inch of her body, in more and more light-blue frills. With stalkings that stretched all the way up to her stomach, and a skirt that stretched out like a hoolahoop, being the pure incarnation of frill itself, it was the most humiliating thing Frosta had ever found herself wearing in this lifetime.

She didn't even get a cool-looking tiara like the others had. Hers looked like it came out of the toybox of some princess making make-believe, and her gloves were verily thin in comparison to the rest of them as they stretched just from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her wrists. And her shoes, dear First Ones her shoes. They sparkled with frills at the ankle of her outfit, letting everyone in the world know what an adorable and precious member of the She-Ra Scouters she was.

"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed, ducking behind Catra and pressing into her for dear life. "I take it back! I take it back!"

"Oh, NOW you don't like my outfit, huh?" She snarled to the younger princess who was using her basically for cover. The Princess of Bright Moon glanced between the true She-Ra of the group and her skirt she was trying to keep down with curious eyes.

"You know, if you stopped messing with it, I'm sure you won't have anything to worry about." It wasn't like skirts were these all-embarrassing-things to wear. She's had plenty of skirts in her life, and not once did she ever have an issue that she needed to address about them.

"I would if my tail wasn't getting in the way!" She really didn't feel like any more of an explanation was necessary than that. A breeze against a skirt would be one thing to deal with, but when you were dealing with a tail that was lifting the skirt up at the same time, it was another whole level of trouble.

"Evil Queen Adora," Perfuma continued, still stuck in the same pose she had been for the last several minutes, "this is your one chance to surrender! Turn away from evil and towards the side of goodness!"

"Goodness? Ha! I spit on your pathetic goodness!" The evil queen cackled with delight at their pathetic display. "Things like friendship and love mean nothing to me! Now, take this!" With a snap of her fingers, twirling her evil scepter of evil in the air, she thrust it straight into the ground as she created a pure wave of negativity and emotions, just like the evil queen she was!

All around the surrounding castle, the She-Ra Scouters were powerless to resist the negative influences that were dropping them to their knees, the looks of turmoil and regret crossing all of their faces as the light of their bodies began to darken. Their hearts of decency and love were filled with sadness and terror, driving away all thoughts of possibly defeating this vile creature of darkness, even with their combined strength!

"Ugh, it's all hopeless." The oceanic princess moaned, dropping further to her hands. "What's the point of being the princess of water if the rest of the world is covered in Perfuma's beautiful plants anyway?"

...

"Uh, why, would I ever, say that?" She was the only other person to break out of character as she asked this to the current game master with the board.

...

"There's no way She-Ra would ever want to be my friend." Scouter Glimmer said, brushing away her tears as she wept. "I'm just a great, big, loser."

"Okay, you're not wrong, but your attempts at trying to cheer me up aren't working." Catra couldn't keep herself from the floor as she lied her head against the ground. "I just want all of this to be over."

"I guess it really is all over..." What was She-Ra Scouter Perfuma thinking in the first place? She wasn't the main heroine of the story. She couldn't even feel the power of She-Ra's love even though she knew that she was She-Ra's best friend out of the group. "We can't do anything by ourselves."

"Haaahahahaahahaaaa!" Yes, yes! This was brilliant! She was filling their minds with hopelessness and their minds with doubt as they continued to feel the power of love drain from their bodies. Soon, their spirits would be crushed completely, ending the reign of the She-Ra Scouters once and for all. Then, oh yes, then! Then the world would be hers for the taking!

*fffffttttt*

"What?!" Just as everything seemed their most-hopeless, when it looked like the last light of Etheria would finally be vanquished, a lone arrow penetrated the orb as it fired from the woods. Instantly, all the dark energies that were filling their bodies began to disappear, the She-Ra Scouters' senses returning to normal, as goodness, and kindness, returned at long last.

"Don't give up, She-Ra Scouters!" Perfuma gasped as she turned to the woods, the sound of a familiar voice invigorating her with a renewed sense of hope! The tone of his voice, the strength of his resolve, the inexplicable timing of his appearance right at the last second. There could be no doubt about who it was!

"Masquerade Bow!" She cheered.

Just as she said, the Sailor Scouters gasped with joy as they turned to the large tree, where a lone figure could be seen standing in front of the presence of the moon. From his mysterious mask that only covered his face from the nose to his eyes, the stance he formed as his black cape blew with the wind to reveal its velvet undertone, and the white cummerbund that clashed wonderfully with the rest of his black clothing, save for his white gloves. Add it up with the top hat her wore, and everyone, hero and villain alike, would know his inspiring name!

Even if they could never figure out his real identity.

"Awesome, I got another hat!" Masquerade Bow cheered as he looked up, admiring the rest of his outfit in every detail.

"Just when I thought Bow couldn't get any lamer-"

"Masquerade Bow is right!" She-Ra Scouter Perfuma encouraged, cutting the magicat off. "As long as we combine our powers, anything is possible! Quick, She-Ra, transform into your real appearance!"

"My what?" Seriously, what could she be talking about? Anything that gave her hope like her original She-Ra outfit? Because she was smart enough to not have such thoughts in the middle of these things.

"Come on, you can do it! Just raise your hand to the sky and shout out, "Pretty Princess Power"!"

"...There is no way, I am saying anything lame, like that-"

*shiiiiiiim*

"Oh, come on! I didn't even say the line!" As if it had a mind of its own, or if it got tired of the wait, Catra began to glow in a brilliant white light that enveloped her entire body. The Evil Queen Adora was helpless as she shielded her eyes from the wonderful light atop her walls, powerless to stop the wave of friendship emanating from the She-Ra of the group.

Without any sort of inexplicable transition, the once simple She-Ra Scouter appearance that Catra once donned was replace, modified, into the celestial outfit that anyone in the world would love to have. From her shoulders, descending to the ground below, stood a wondrous presence that was gifted with a beautiful white dress, with every inch of it covered in frills, down to the sparkling white glass slippers she wore along her cat-like feet.

Her shoulders were parted with more serene beauty as they padded out, presenting her with the appearance of a true, wonderful, ruler, who knew that no bounds were impossible with the power of friendship. If Bow's previous gift of makeup was too much of her, she would gladly take it all back as someone had taken the liberty to apply nail polish to her claws, making them sparkle just as greatly as her shoes. She was elegance refined and multiplied tenfold, beauty personified by the strength of her will.

And, as the last piece de resistance, her weapon, her once proud and mighty weapon that she carried around wherever she followed, was changed. Instead of the awesome, powerful, weapon that could transform her into a powerful warrior with the ability to preform magical feats of splendor, and transform itself into whatever she deemed necessary, was now nothing more than a wonderfully enchanted pink staff, one the size of her arms, with a blue spiral stretching from the top to bottom, with an enchanted glittering heart on the very top, symbolizing the love she felt for her fellow friends.

Glimmer, Frosta, and Mermista were devastated at the sight of the appearance alone, so there was no telling how Catra felt about all of this.

"Oh..."

"My..."

"Gosh..."

Catra didn't know what the embrace of death felt like, but she was pretty sure this was the closest feeling she was ever going to experience of it, given how empty she felt inside.

"Now, everyone!" Without skipping a beat, the Princess of Plumeria rushed to Catra's side, like the beloved friend she was. "We must combine our powers together to defeat the wicked creature! Send Catra all of your love, so she can channel it into a power strong enough to-"

...

"Oh jeez, stop, stop, STOP!" Catra shouted in embarrassment she could never dream of having in her nightmares. Without giving the princess another chance to add some other ridiculous change to her scheme of a story, Catra literally began ripping the scene away from her, pulling it apart and tearing it until it was nothing more than tiny little shavings that disappeared with the wind around her. Catra's face had reached every shade of red by the time she stopped the story personally, her face covered in a bright pink that she swore was permanent for the rest of her life. "Just get to the assault part already!"

Perfuma just blinked in confusion as she stared into her eyes, perplexity riddling her face in every corner. "What assault?"

"THE ASSAULT ON THE HORDE FORTRESS!"

"Oh... Ooooooh," Perfuma slowly nodded as she came out of her own imagination, " I'm sorry. I got a little mixed up for a second. I thought we were discussing how to defeat Adora."

Little by little, slowly coming out of the stupor of Perfuma's imagination as well, the rest of the Princess Alliance slowly came back to reality as small chuckles and grins spread across their faces. By the time they were all returned to the same plane of existence, Mermista and Glimmer found themselves holding their sides, Frosta was lying on her back, and Bow was pounding with his chest on the table, all of them laughing beyond control.

"Oh my gosh, that, pffft, that was the best story ever! Hahaha!" Mermista squealed, nearly tearing up as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"You had the- tchahaahah!" Frosta was still picturing the costume Catra was wearing as she rolled around the ground. "You had the best outfit, by far!"

Okay.

She could deal with this.

She was perfectly satisfied with murdering everyone within this tent after the mission was over. She also would've loved murdering at least one of them at this point, specifically the princess who came up with every single detail of the strategy that involved the most humiliating experience of Catra's imaginative life, but it was hard to get angry at her in the first place when she just stared at Catra curiously, wondering why everyone else was in just a laughable mood.

Pushing away all the mental details of how she would make everyone suffer out of her mind, the cat sighed to herself as she sat back down at the table, leaning on one of her arms. "Now, can you come up with something a lot more different than your first plan? Preferably without any stupid outfits or dresses involved."

"Of course!" Sometimes it amazed Catra that Perfuma could instantly switch personas so fast in the blink of an eye. "Instead, I'll use my magic to grow a Plant Golem to take down the tower."

...

The soldiers of the fortress continued establishing their perimeter as they explored the tower. One of the fundamentals of any Horde outpost was to always keep its security and personal in check, especially when the threat of the enemy loomed over their own shoulders. No matter how well guarded a place was, a single soldier was all it would take to bring down such an advanced complex from the inside out, and ruin everything they had accomplished.

Or in this case, the power of a very enchanting princess of plants.

With a tremor that nearly knocked the guards off their feet, they found their eyes all drawn to the northern wall as everything rumbled around them. From atop the high wall, in all of her glory, they could see Princess Perfuma, the princess of plants and Kingdom of Plumeria, concentrating as she gathered the pwoer of her magic around her. The Horde always trampled upon the nature around her, and desecrated numerous forests in the name of their war. And she was determined to make each of them pay for taking advantage of mother nature.

"Haaaah!" With a scream, summoning the fruits of her power, the guards were struck in shock and horror as, beyond the walls, stood one of the biggest creations of magic they had ever witnessed. Its body flexed with vine-like muscle as it raised its arms to the sky, the floral surrounding it far and spacious to look like anything of comfort, and its roar, its massive, terrifying roar, sent event the bravest of soldiers trembling for their lives.

All around the complex, the screams of the fellow Horde soldiers filled the outside as they were grabbed and pulled by the massive vines the giant created through the complex. Nowhere was safe from the gargantuan being as its roots dug through the walls of the great tower, ensnaring and trapping anything within its path. The princess watched with joy as her enemies were trapped, proud to have accomplished such a magnificent attack on tower all by herself. From this day forward, she was confident the Horde would think twice about stepping on a flowerbed of daisies ever again!

...

And, apparently, that was it. The princess simply smiled to her friends as they all stared at her, excluding Catra who was rubbing her knuckles against her eyes as she tried to process it.

Raising his hand to the air as he stood, Bow had to ask, "But how does it roar?"

"Hmhmhm! It's Plant! Magic!" She princess thought it would've been obvious to him as she exclaimed. And honesty, it did feel a little obvious to him as he sat back down, even if it didn't really feel like a legitimate explanation.

"Well, I definitely liked it compared to your last plan." Catra admitted, though it wasn't saying much on the whole. "But it's still not going to be enough to get through their walls. Something that big will be an easy target for the turrets, not to mention any literal fire-power they bring."

"Plus, your idea is dumb." Mermista added, flatly.

"Ah!" Perfuma had never felt so insulted by such a direct attitude as she scoffed. "And what would you do instead?"

"Uh... I step forward, and I say..."

...

As if it was immediately following the previous princess's attempt before she, and the golem, disappeared, the guards found themselves groaning with aches and sores spread throughout their entire body, foolishly hoping to themselves that the worst part of their day was over. It was with those thoughts that the nature of reality set upon them as two seconds later, they were greeted by another princess, one of the vast oceans that covered the world, as she stood atop a massive wave appearing over the wall.

With trident in hand, she gazed upon the fellow Horde soldiers within the complex as they trembled in fear. "I am Mermista. Fabulous secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my trident and said, "For the Honor of Gray Whales!"

...

"Wait a minute-"

...

From her magical scepter that was a better magical weapon than anyone else's in every way, the gem that was socketed upon the pronged spear glowed with an amazing light, raining its powers down from above as a wave of crystalline water covered the awesome princess of the seas from head to toe in an instant.

With a bright wave of water, the princess transformed into an all-superior being, one who stood for truth, justice, and the seas everywhere! Every corner of her body was transformed as her outfit changed, adding golden bracelets that grew along her wrists, gold seashells that were the most beautiful things in the world, and her shoes that stretched along the sides of her ankles like a golden gale. Topped off with a tiara made of long seashells on each end, and a beautiful blue cape that flapped around her, there could be no doubt.

This was Mermista, Queen of the Seas, and the greatest warrior the universe had ever known! Everyone who gazed upon her would know she was the ultimate hero that the legends were told about! With the gem of the spear embroidered within the center of the starfish-like design on her chest, and her forehead, everyone would know just how powerful she could be, because, for some reason, having more gems meant you were more powerful when it came to something She-Ra related.

Along with her trusty dolphin with a majestic horn on its head, it let out a cry of joy as it crossed her path, a rainbow of magic trailing behind it, as it warned any and all evildoers to beware of Mermista's wrath!

...

"Then it's like, sparkle, sparkle, dolphin, sparkle." The princess of the seas went on as everyone else stared at her. Of course, this was everyone but a certain Catra who was leaning from the table, pinching between her eyes tightly as she tried to restrain herself.

"Mermista..." She didn't think it was possible, she didn't think it could even be attempted, but here it was, bright as day. Mermista, through whatever means, managed to come up with a plan that was somehow the worst one out of the group.

"I get shoes that are slightly better than my normal shoes. There's probably another dolphin."

"Mermista!" The serious feline yelled louder as she glared at her.

"Then like I twirl, and my hair does this thing, where it's all messy, but it's actually, like, really super-beautiful."

Having enough of the annoying sounds surrounding her, she finally grabbed the fish-girl by her collar, lifting her up to her face. "You can't transform into She-Ra!"

"Uh, duh, I'm Sea-Ra, Princess of the Oceans, obviously." She corrected without a care in the world as Catra narrowed her eyes.

"That still doesn't mean anything! It doesn't even make any sense! How are a bunch of whales suddenly make you some magical warrior of the seas if it changes nothing about you?"

"I think you're like, jealous of the fact that my Sea-Ra can transform entirely without even needing to try, and yours can't." It was always fun for Mermista to grin and see how easily she could get a rise out of the Honorary Princess as Catra gritted her teeth.

"Uh-uh, no way! If she gets to be Sea-Ra, I get to have my plant golem!"

"The Winter's Bane needs no help from a plant!" Thrusting her hand into the air, Frosta would easily show how superior her awesome skills were to the rest of the group.

Even if it was for the last time.

"The what?" Just by the sound of her voice, Mermista was already beginning to smirk at Catra's reaction. Whatever the girl had up her sleeve, it was going to be good regardless, because in the end, it would get a rise out of Catra.

...

Blasting away at the wall with all of her power, the princess of the greatest kingdom on Etheria forced her way into the complex with her own two hands. A blast of winter's chill blanketed the entire fortress as all of her enemies were frozen in place, be they from fear or sheer awesomeness at the sight of Frosta's entrance. Both princesses, Perfuma and Mermista, could only gaze in wonder as they saw light particles of snow descend from the heavens, watching and yearning to be as cool as the princess they knew would come to save the say.

"My enemies know me as Frostbite Winter's Bane." All around the area, they bore witness to Frosta's limitless powers and the chunks of ice that scattered the field around them. Nobody could even begin to hope they were as awesome as this princess was, sometimes even crying at the idea of even being half as great as her! "My friends call me Bane. That is, if I had any." She snarled in-between. "But no one comes close to the WINTER'S BANE!"

All around her, the chorus of cheers could be heard in the distance as Frosta revealed her full power to the world, everything about her being awesome, cool, and mega-awesome to anyone who saw her! Her entire body, excluding her face that had a scar along the left eyebrow, was covered in head to toe as she transformed into a proud warrior that would make anyone fear her name! She already rose ten feet tall in her icy glory as every inch of er body was encased in ice. And her sword, oh how awesomely powerful her sword was, could cut through anything in the world!

She was no She-Ra. She wasn't even Sea-Ra. She was the awesome Winter's Bane! May all of her enemies fear her forever as she stared away from the explosion behind her!

...

The rest of the group stared down at the questionable diagram that the princess provided as they saw the... unique... illustrations of her appearance from the journal she doodled in with every manner of detail included for the board game. Their expressions varied from confused, curious, questionable, every possible expression that didn't include frustrated or angry. That was Catra's jurisdiction.

"She's got a broadsword that enhances strength plus three, and her finishing move is the Snowstrike!" She was quite proud of her handiwork despite the fact it looked nothing like the imagination she had of it. She could instantly tell they were all amazed and wowed at the sight of her amazing drawing skills.

The only thing that amazed Catra at this point was the fact the almost-twelve-year-old was the only one with the least obnoxious story.

"What's with these blobs next to it?" Mermista pointed out to corner of the paper.

"Oh, those are the cheerleaders that follow me everywhere, making my incredible strength even more awesome as they chant my name!"

"This one looks like Glimmer a little."

"What?" The princess refused to believe Perfuma as she quickly pushed Mermista aside a little, eyeing the pinkish figure in disbelief. No matter how crude it was, she couldn't deny that the likeness that it was trying to copy as she held a pair of pink pompoms in her hands. "That can't possibly be me!"

"Hey, she did say it looked like a blob." That one little line of joking would be all the enjoyment Catra would find herself getting out of all of this for a few glorious seconds.

"What about the blob next to it? It's too hard to make out with the hair."

"Oh, that's Catra."

"What!?" She didn't give any sign or warning as she shoved Glimmer aside much harder as she grabbed the paper from her. Sure enough, granted it was hard to see anything of the face since the hair was scribbled out in every direction, she could just make out the tail enough behind her and the reddish cheerleader outfit that matched Glimmer's pink one as they cheered in an exact pose right next to one another. "Why am I a cheerleader? If anything, you should be mine!"

"Dream on, princess pet." Frosta teased with a smug, rubbing her own knuckles against her shoulders. "We all know who would win in a fight, and we all know who the cooler hero between us is."

"Listen, Princess Brat, there's no way in a million years you would ever be half as cool as me, and that's with me being generous!" It took her a moment to realize how sidetracked she was getting as she shook her head to herself.

"Keep it up, and I'll make you both my sidekicks, and put behind Glimmer in ranking."

"That almost sounds worse than being your cheerleader!" Glimmer felt punished enough to know she was considered the cheerleader, but now she was going to be a sidekick with a sidekick? Aside from sounding stupid, it was also something that was never going to happen!

"Ugh, can we just get back to the main topic here?"

"Yes, the main topic," Glimmer stood up in agreement with her fists to her sides, "like how I'm not anyone's sidekick around here!"

"That's not what I meant!"

As the proceedings of the chain of command continued, each of them were unaware as a small, tiny-sized, figure slowly approached the very tent. It was a small ball-sized Spider Bot that was generally dubbed as the "Spy Bot" amongst the Horde, which scurried in secret as it drew closer to the commotion emanating from the entire tent. With only three metallic legs and a small antennae on its head, it was small enough to go through most of the outpost without being spotted by anyone, and was easily capable of spying on the enemy with them being none the wiser.

Now, if the driver behind the droid could control it any better, that would be a vast improvement.

"Go left! No wait, my left! Wait, wait, your left is my left. In that case go right! No the other right! No-!" Lonnie did whatever she could to maintain her composure as Scorpia continued to play backseat-driver behind the controls as Lonnie continued to move the tiny machine forward. It didn't help when she tried to physically play backseat driver to the small robot as she kept prodding at the buttons off and on with her claws, messing up the direction Lonnie was trying to move it.

"Would you stop pressing everything?! You're messing me up!" Maintaining a silent growl, gently slapping the scorpion's claws away, she finally managed to get the Spy Bot on the right track as they reached the War Tent that the Princess Alliance's meeting was being held.

"I can't hear anything. Get in closer!" Scorpia pleaded, trying to press the machine forward again. While she actually managed to get it in the right direction this time, she couldn't get it to steer right as she kept fidgeting with the controls and Lonnie at the same time.

"That's because the audio isn't on yet- Hey! Give it to me!" Lonnie grumbled as she started to play a singlehanded game of tug-of-war with the Force Captain, struggling to keep the Spy Bot in place as she pulled it from her hand.

How could Lonnie expect her to stay patient and calm when her best-friendship-ness was on the line with Adora?! Adora was going to be here in a few minutes, and she had nothing to show for it! She had nothing to show for it other than the tower which was still being pre-prepared for a fourth time since Scorpia took over, she didn't have any new information she could possibly use or present to Adora when she got here, and Kyle still hasn't figured out what her favorite color of bunny was!

Of the three, the last was definitely the most important!

She needed to do everything she could to make sure Adora was proud of her upon her return! Once she proved to her what a capable and amazing friend she could be, Adora would finally see her as her knew Best Friend, like Catra was previously before these turn of events, show her that she wouldn't do anything as despicable or terrible to her like turning her back on her. And all of that hinged on getting this machine to do the spying-thingy she needed it to do before Adora arrived!

At the same time, on the opposite end of the device, Mermista couldn't help but notice a strange scraping sound coming from around her. It was hard to say if she was hearing anything at all for that matter since everyone's shouting back and forth was drowning out the possible noise, and yet she couldn't ignore it. Taking a brief glance, the princess turned to her head to the right, unaware of the spider bot that barely stayed out of her line of sight as it twitchily moved towards her.

Her small gesture was just enough of a notice for Frosta's attention to be turned to her as she noticed her strange movement, then went wide in the eyes as she saw the small device that looked like it was having a small seizure behind her. Who was doing what on the opposite end of these things to make the droid move like that? Better yet, why was it here at all?! If the droid got discovered, there was a chance it could possibly be traced back to Frosta in some way, not that she could think of given the current shoutings in the room, and that could expose her before the attack commenced.

Quickly shifting her eyes around the room, relieved that everyone else was too busy looking at each other and yelling senselessly about different things, the Princess of Snows quickly swiped behind the blue mermaid, barely making it in time as she pulled the small droid behind her just as Mermista looked in her direction. She gave the most innocent smile she could as the princess stared at her in confusion, wondering what was moving around her to make her feel weird, and wondering why the young princess near her was casually smiling at her as she kept the droid out of her view behind her.

"What?" Frosta asked as innocently as possible, trying to push the look Mermista was giving her away as soon as possible. Mermista, thankfully, stared at her briefly at this before shrugging, going back and getting involved with the conversation at hand as Frosta sighed.

"Finally." Lonnie breathed with relief as she finally wrestled control out of Scorpia's claws. Noticing her movement had shifted directly behind Frosta, she could easily assume what had occurred during the scuffle, finding it fortunate enough that Frosta didn't seem to be in any trouble at the scene, which meant she wasn't discovered yet. "We got visual. Turning on the audio." As she said, with a small click, Rogelio, Kyle, Scorpia, and Lonnie could finally hear what was going on with the princesses.

"My army of Plant Golems will take down the tower instantly!"

"Frostbite uses Snowstrike to encase the tower in ice, then cracks it open with a single strike of my ice-hammers, kapow!"

"Uh, you mean Sea-Ra will use the Trident of Power to blow it up."

"You don't have a Trident of Power!" Glimmer was heard saying off screen as the display focused on Mermista.

"I will when Bow makes me one right now!"

"I just don't want to die again."

"This is who we're losing too?" Lonnie found it hard to believe that these were the same people who repelled the Horde almost a month ago at the Battle of Bright Moon. Then again, given some of the people leading them, like one such individual who slowly walked away from the group, maybe it wasn't too surprising.

"I can't believe it..." Scorpia mumbled as she stopped.

"Me either." The unexpecting sound of Scorpia's laughter caught the trio by surprise as they threw their attention at her.

The world felt like a cruel, dark, empty place as Scorpia brought her claws to her head. Everything, practically everything about this mission, was over for them! "They have a giant golem on their side, they have another hero named Sea-Ra they recruited, and Frosta's gonna betray us in the attack!? It's all over! Everything is over!" The world came crashing down upon the poor soon-to-be-best-friend-less Scorpia as she collapsed to her claws and knees, silently sobbing to herself as the world continued around her.

"Ugh, they're obviously just coming up with ideas. Terrible ones at that-" Lonnie attempted to explain before the scorpion jumped to her feet, panicking, as she interrupted.

"No, no, no, everything about this is terrible!" What was someone supposed to do when their possible-best-friendship was on the line?! Continue with everything? Prepare for everything? How was she supposed to even prepare for a giant golem attack?! "We've got to... We've got to evacuate, call this whole ambush off!"

"Um, I think you're just overreacting Scorpia-"

"What are you all standing around for? We're in a hurry! MOVE!" Scorpia pointed to each of them in a fit as she gave them their assigned orders, still teary-eyed. "Lizard guy-"

"His name is Rogelio." Kyle corrected.

"Gather all the troops and tell them to prepare to evacuate! Now!" Anyone with a common sense just stared at the girl as she flailed about, even if she was a Force Captain, and moved on to the next person. "Lonnie, double our defenses, and then double those defenses in case we're too late to evacuate! Adora, figure out when Adora is going to get here!"

"Huh?"

"And Kyle, find another bunny to go along with that first bunny so Adora has something extra to cheer her up when-" The Force Captain froze as she stared silently, slowly turning her soon-to-be-crushed friend as she silently stared at her, blinking. "A-Ad-d-dora?"

The person in question continued to stare at her as she slowly gave her a slow wave, curious as to the nature of Scorpia's strange behavior. "Um... hi?"

"...Ahhhhh!" She could no longer hold it in as she let out a small scream, letting out a cry of terror as she held onto her smaller friend's shoulders, crying into her chest. "Ahhh Adora, it's terrible! I couldn't even do my job for the last half-hour before everything was wrecked!"

"Huh?" Glancing around, the second-in-command had to question what she was getting at.

Everything seemed to be in order when she got here, she saw all the guards at their posts and the weapons being maintained, and she didn't see a single enemy infiltrating or spying on the place as she arrived. She gave the remaining three a strange look while wondering why Scorpia was crying and Lonnie was pinching between her eyes like she was going to smack her head into the wall. "Um... it's... okay? Everything will be fine?" It was hard to tell what the problem was when everything seemed as fine as when she left. "What is she crying about?"

"It's Frosta, Adora, she's going to betray uuuuus!"

"W-Wait, what?!" Okay. She had to admit. Coming back to the base and hearing that upon her arrival, especially since her only companion had been Aroda for the last half-hour, was rather shocking to hear. But, even though it was coming from Scorpia, and she did trust her enough that she was sure of herself, that just couldn't be the case... could it?

"Ugh, she is not betraying us!" Lonnie finally groaned, messing with the device yet again. Messing with the settings she had, she finally got the Spy Bot to play some of the recorded footage within the last few minutes as she showed everything Scorpia, and Adora, needed to see.

Adora never felt a mix of shock and relief fill her body all at once as she watched the proceedings. It wasn't any sign of betrayal or a meager hint that anyone was going to betray them in the first place. Sniffling still, Scorpia lifted her head enough to finally see everything that played out before the audio was turned on. Fortunately, this also included the footage as the robot's point of view was directed on Frosta who saw the robot in turn, and watched as the princess quickly snatched the robot away before Mermista could see it.

It was everything Adora needed to see as the playback eventually came to an end, resuming its current recording as the princesses remained unaware. "Phew. There, you see? Everything's fine."

It took the humanoid scorpion to compose herself as she stood up straight again, rubbing her nose as she stifled the sniffling. "R-Really?"

"Yes! Really!" Lonnie finally let out with a stammer. "You've done a great job, you should be proud of it! You honestly did better than I thought you would do, so stop worrying already, jeez!" She huffed and she puffed as she finally let out all her stress at once. Between the last half hour of fulfilling nonsensical orders given to her, having to help her direct things in the right direction, and ignoring every time she nearly pushed her off the wall in a playful manner, she had to get everything off her chest! She didn't care if it was in Adora's presence or not, she was tired of putting up with it!

And it wasn't until she saw Scorpia sweetly smiling at her that she realized she revealed a little too much of her personal thoughts, and coughed to herself as she covered her mouth, trying to ignore the feeling of the small blush coming to her and the stare Scorpia was giving. "So, you know... relax."

"Awww!"

*tug*

Scorpia had never found a sweeter excuse to hug anyone else that wasn't Adora or Entrapta as she tightly threw her arms around Lonnie, the cadet doing whatever she could to look away and push off of her, while accidentally knocking the controller to the ground in the process.

"Thank you!"

"Mmmmh..." She knew she was never going to hear the end of this from Kyle or Rogelio for the rest of the week, an increasingly longer week as the hug went on longer.

"Then if everything's fine, let's get back to work." Adora decreed, earning a satisfied nod from her friends. "Like I said yesterday, we have one shot at this. Let's check out our defenses one more time before we get the troops ready to march out." Adora's heart flourished as she saw the energy coming from her friends, watching them walk off to their respective posts and soldiers as they prepared for battle.

This was it, Adora could feel it. After today, everything would be back to normal, and the rest of the world would follow smoothly through Adora's methods. They would capture the Princess Alliance and Catra, ending their threat at long last, the Rebellion would be easy to pull off after without the princesses at their side, especially Glimmer, and she would prove to everyone else that Frosta could be trusted.

Most importantly, she would prove herself to Hordak. She was going to prove to him that she wasn't a mistake, that she was one of the Horde's greatest assets after long last. She might even find a place, at long last, at his side, acknowledging her of her accomplishments and loyalties to the Horde. It would show the trust he finally had in her, the loyalty that went on without question, even if it did waver at time. And most of all, he would finally see, along with the rest of the Horde.

She would show to the world that the Horde were truly righteous, that they were the ones trying to unite the world no matter what the Rebellion said about them. They were the heroes. The Rebellion were the villains. Catra had made the mistake of turning her back on the Horde, and she would prove it to her with her own two hands, and destroy everything Catra hoped to achieve. She was going to keep Catra from accomplishing her selfish desire at long last.

And she wouldn't let any obstacles stand in her way.

...

At the same time, the bitter argument between who was who's sidekick and the best plan had finally come to an end, or at least enough to Catra's liking. Everyone was finally sitting again, they were all just as eager to go over their battle strategies, and they were willing to work together for a common cause, just like they should've been doing.

Now if they could actually come up with a plan that worked, Catra would finally be satisfied. Yet all she heard leaning her arm against the table was the sounds of everyone's previous ideas coming back to her from the same people who suggested them.

"I teleport in!"

It was time for the rebirth of Agent T. Glimmer to do her thing!

"And run out of teleports and a means to shutdown the turrets."

"I smash the walls with my plant golem!"

She was already excited as she pictured the massive fist she was riding as she broke through the fortress!

"It bursts into flames the minute the Horde lights it with a match. Next?"

"Frostbite smashes through the walls!"

With all the power of her magic surrounding her, the princess shined as she jumped into the air before the sun, smashing her way down onto the defensible structure, that was no match for her awesome powers!

"You smash your armor apart and the Horde gets busy taking potshots at you with the turrets while you're sliding down it. What else?"

"Sea-Ra destroys the Horde bots!"

After saying her sacred oath, nobody would be a match for the mystical warrior of the seas! The Horde's bots would be helpless as they floundered in the jet streams of water created by the wonderful warrior she was, and she would single-handedly drown the robotic creations with the waves at her command!

"You're not Sea-Ra, and you guys aren't taking Adora into account!"

"Sure we are!" Perfuma smiled back as she showed the pages of Frosta's journal to her. "See?"

In front of the Horde base, Catra found herself in her She-Ra form as she suddenly became surrounded by the numerous images of Adora that her friends had cooked up. Every single one of them were an example of just how much they weren't taking this seriously, how annoying Catra found it to be the sane one of the group for once, and how likely they were all going to die by the time this mission was over.

And it all started with what could only be described as a stick-figure drawing of Adora by a first grader as it appeared behind her.

"Nyeh, I have a lot of negative emotions to say about Catra and her friends! Also, I hate everything pretty and nice!"

"No, no, no, it's more like this!" Frosta squealed as she quickly drew in the journal.

Catra nearly jumped as Adora jumped from behind her, completely covered in shadows by her magic, looking the same as she did when Catra fought her at her full power in Bright Moon.

"Gotcha! I'm way too fast, and smart, and tough, and way too cool to be one of the good guys, Catra!"

Catra almost shuddered a Glimmer let out a fake cackle, pretending to be evil as she knew the perfect representation of her without comparison.

"Well, well, we meet again, don't we, Miss Catra?" The evil black and white mastermind version of Adora sneered from her right, continuing to pet the viper that was wrapped within her arms.

"I don't vink so, von Catra!" With an arm in front of his mouth, Bow tried to make his eyes look as menacing as possible as he gazed into Catra's.

And out of all of them, Bow's representation was still the weirdest to Catra as she appeared from her left, cape still draped over her shoulders as kept herself covered from the sunlight, although she was still out in the sun to begin with, as her cape covered her from the nose down.

"V'once I am done vit you, I shall dine on the vlood of the innocent!" It cackled.

This was too much. All of it. As Catra stared at the terrible impressions of Adora she saw around her, she squeezed her head and closed her eyes. All of her friends were acting like idiots in this meeting. Even she was decent enough to listen to a meeting, if not fall asleep through it half the time. They were all going to die at this rate because something wasn't discussed or someone didn't hear anything else other than the inane laughter going through Catra's ears.

They were going to lose. The Princess Alliance would end up in shambles if they even survived after this, and they weren't going to have anyone to blame but themselves. That would normally be a silver lining in Catra's opinion if losing didn't also mean ending up with a dead princess that they left behind.

And that was still if they didn't run off and join the Horde, either!

She needed a break from all of this, a distraction, or somebody just to say that maybe, MAYBE, they should focus on their plan again! All she was left with right now were the sounds of laughter and snickering to one another, the hair-brained schemes they continued to pitch, and-!

*ssskk*

Catra's eyes snapped open.

That.

"Everyone be quiet..." She muttered softly, as she looked around.

"Oh, come on, Catra, we're just having a little fun-!" Glimmer's cheer-filled attempts at calming the girl were cut off as Catra threw a hand over her mouth, a movement that didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the Princess Alliance as they suddenly became silent.

"Shhh! Listen..." Out of the abrupt or awkward behaviors Catra's displayed over the months of knowing her, this was a new one. Her ears twitched from side to side as the girl looked around, everyone remaining silent, Bow and Perfuma eyeing each other, as the magicat glanced around the room. "Someone... Someone's spying on us..."

All at once, Frosta's heart sank deeply as the rest of them looked with similar expressions of shock and worry. It took everything she had in her to keep from making any sort of face that would've tipped Catra off too far, depending on whatever she knew already, in her direction.

Did Catra actually discover her secret somehow? Had she been found out? No, no, that couldn't be, right? She hasn't said or done anything to tip them off with her behavior. If anything, she's been acting more like herself since the day started, a little much more, if only to enjoy the time she had left with them. No matter what sort of powers she had, there was no way Catra already knew she was a spy. That was her very last train of thought before Catra stared intensely in her direction.

"There!" Without warning, without giving her a chance, Catra sprang to her feet as she lunged straight towards the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows.

"Catra, wait-!" Frosta barely had enough time to let out a plea before the magicat was on top of her with all of her strength.

...Or, as she soon discovered, passed her, as Catra barely shot around her before colliding with the ground with a roll, all wile Frosta's heart stopped for a few solid seconds of shock. Getting whatever issues and worries she could out of her head, she quickly turned back to see what the rest of them were seeing as Catra got back to her feet and turned around.

The Spider Bot which was still twitching its legs repeatedly as she held its tiny body in her hands.

"Whoa!" Bow stood from the ground as he eyed the mysterious creation. "What is that thing?"

"This," Catra began as she slowly crushed the robotic body until it stopped twitching, wires springing from itself, "is a Spy Bot. We have a whole bunch of these things back in the Fright Zone." She could remember fondly how annoying these things were when it came to some of the field tests she took growing up, always having to navigate her way through the field without being detected by the spy's tiny lenses. Of course, when she uses the word fondly, she means annoyingly, because whenever something docked her points within the courses, it was always these things skittering away.

If it wasn't for the fact Lonnie dropped the controller and forgot about it, she wouldn't have heard this tiny little thing moving about like it did. With no one at the controls, it was helpless as it flailed its legs without end in a rotation, walking back and forth behind the real spy, barely making a scrape in the ground as the princesses continued to discuss strategy. It was the fact it made any sort of scrape at all that Catra heard it, and only after the room went silent did she finally detect where it was.

It was nothing more than good luck that they found it.

"They've been spying on us this whole time?" Bow was shocked that any of them managed to find out, the thing was so small.

"We need to alert the rest of the camp." Glimmer decided as she stood up. "We either have to evacuate or move on with a plan immediately before the Horde has time to prepare."

"Oh, for the love of... Who are you fooling?!" Catra finally snapped, feeling ready to tear her hair out, if not someone else's. The rest of her allies seemed confused at the sudden behavior, as if it was coming out of nowhere.

"Who am I... fooling?"

"Any of you morons! What, could any of you, possibly be thinking, for a plan!? All day, its been nothing but stupid ideas left and right, people talking more about ridiculous outfits than any tips to help, and have been treating this entire meeting like its nothing more than a stupid BOARD GAME!"

*Whack!*

The crew covered themselves a little with their arms as Catra kicked the table in a bout of rage, knocking it all over and scattering the remaining pieces and map over the ground as they went flying through the air. When it was safe to open their eyes again, they were greeted with the sight of Catra squeezing her fists tightly, along with the claws within her palms.

"Uh, wasn't that a little much of, like, a reaction or something?" Mermista commented as Bow worked towards getting the table put back into place.

"Seriously, Catra, everything's going to be fine." Bow's confidence did nothing to rub off on her as as she pulled at her hair in frustration. "What's the worst that could happen?" In a move that could possibly be out of place for her, something that they never expected, Catra stopped. Her arms dropped to her side, along with her tail along her legs, as she lowered her head. Whatever Bow just unleashed started in the form of something truly terrifying.

Catra laughing. "...Heh... Heh heh... What's the worst that could happen?" She glowered with every nerve filling with tension and frustration as she repeated the question. Taking a moment to collect herself, she gave them all a snide smile as she collected all the pieces representing themselves, as well as the model of the base she placed in the center of the map. "Okay. Let me show you exactly what is going to happen? Fine." Practically slamming it, she placed her own figurine on the center tile.

"First off, I, am She-Ra. Adora has a grudge beyond words for me. She'll be targeting me, and she'll be focused on taking me out. She'll get me in some place within the fortress, somewhere that'll separate us all, and then, she'll use my own emotions against me. She'll anger me, toy with me, anything that'll make me drop my guard, separate the sword from me, and cut me off from my power, at which point, I'll be trapped." She somehow glared more at this as she turned to the rest. "Then, she'll take us out one by one."

She squeezed Glimmer's figurine in as she crushed it in her hands before dropping it to the table. "First, Glimmer will be forced to save me after my recklessness gets me cornered, which Adora will take advantage of and do something to entrap her, leaving her in the middle of nowhere while I'm too weak and helpless to get to her. Then Bow, needing to save her because of me, will swoop in in an attempt to rescue her, at which point, Adora will trap him after she disables him by taking or breaking his bow and arrows, before throwing him to the bots or over the cliff!"

The archer nearly gulped as he watched the helpless Tiny Bow being pounded flat under Catra's fist. "After that, the rest of us will be easy pickings. They'll target Mermista and Frosta since their powers could help put out any fires she throws at Perfuma," she continued, pulling the arms off of both figurines, "and then laugh at her as she tosses a simple match over her plant giant." Having the only piece that was actually alive among the group, the current leader of this meeting just grumbled as she tossed the plant back at the princess, Perfuma sighing in relief as she barely caught it in her hands.

Having used up all the figurines before her, all eyes turned to the pained and frustrated expression covering her face. "Adora won't just finish me off, either. She'll make me watch. She's going to make me watch as everyone around here dies. Then, she'll move on to Bright Moon, ransom Glimmer like before and make it a trap, taking over the Rebellion and crushing it, before going on to the rest of Etheria!"

"And all this time, she'll taunt me, trying to make me feel guilty as I watch her take over the rest of Etheria, and pointing out that everyone else died because of me, because she knows at some point, I'm going to trip up, making it my fault in the first place that we lost everything, and everyone, and she'll be right, like she always is. Because I'm going to screw this up for us, make us lose after everything we fought, and everyone else is going to die and end up like Entrapta because I did something wrong BEFORE THE PLAN EVEN STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Catra screamed like never before as she slammed her palms onto the table, shaking whatever else remained off its feet, like an animal panting from dehydration, as the reality of the situation finally closed in.

All throughout it, they watched with a filling tension as the magicat bantered and yelled about every specific detail, displaying the imagery of what would happen all throughout, and the direness of the situation. All of their lives were hanging on the line in such a way that Catra saw how each of them would've ended up, what probable scenario was going to happen to her and the rest of them after they lost the fight, and what would happen to the rest of Etheria soon after.

But it was more than that. A small sense of guilt perpetrated their minds as they watched Catra's ears droop. Crossing her arms, she laid her head on the table as she let out a last pent-up breath of frustration.

"Adora, almost, took Bright Moon. Not to mention the rest of Etheria."

"But we stopped it-"

"We got lucky! Catra angrily corrected, not even lifting her head up to look Perfuma in the eye. "That, is the only time, I ever beat Adora. When I'm lucky. At some point, that luck, is going to run out. And when it does, because I wasn't smart enough, fast enough, or strong enough to beat her, all of you are going to-" She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence as her eyes glanced around the room.

It was slowly coming to her just how much she reacted to this one little question, all for the matter of strategy meeting being held on top of a child's board game structure of all things. She presented each of them with the scenario in which they were going to die, using the figurines as examples, and presented it to them in extreme fashion. She didn't hold any punches about how brutal it was, she didn't use a calming voice to lie about the severity of the situation, and above all, she made her most frustrating point clear.

"Ugh, forget it..." She groaned, burying her face into her arms. The alliance began to sit, one after the other, as they realized what was happening to her.

She was guilty.

She still felt guilty.

She blamed herself for what happened with Entrapta and only herself.

Even a month later, no matter how many times they talked about it, she felt the guilt of Entrapta's death all over again, renewed, because now the outcome of the last mission was turned into something much worse. It was turned into a weapon for the Horde, someone who became one of their most valuable assets, and their most dangerous enemies. Entrapta alone was proving to be a much bigger threat than anything else the Horde had to offer since joining their side. Who's to say what would happen if anyone else ended up joining the Horde's side?

Or continue to, for that matter.

...

A/N: And viola. As you can see, kinda obvious that the episode got capped off there. Like I said, I wanted to reach a fitting conclusion point, buuuuuut at the rate it was going, it would've turned into a freaking 20k chapter by the time I was over, which, I wouldn't mind on a whole, except for the fact nothing really happens between what was supposed to be the whole chapter, so yeah XP Lol

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 75: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count- 8.09k. Hooftah, this was a chapter. As a reminder this isn't just a standalone chapter, this was intended to be part of the last chapter in its entirety. But due to time constraints and the freaking chapter getting so big (seriously, i can safely say this would've ended up with a nifty 20k words if I waited till now to post it :/) I just had to do an early posting and later posting, which is the one before you now.

And I mean it when I say it was part of the other chapter. Like, there weren't even 3 paragraphs to this when it started, i added those in since i always do my usual "refreshers" on what happened in the last episode and everything. Because of this, I would like to point out and apologize if any portions here and there actually seem rushed or blunt for an unexplained reason- keep in mind this was the latter half of the previous chapter, and with that, i wrote the rest of this with that frame of mind like I usually do.

Also, if you guys could do me a favor, not really much, just keep an eye on the writing and let me know if i'm still maintaining the same quality of writing as I used to. I know its been awhile and I definitely need to work on my writing skills again, but just let me know if I'm getting back into it okay, kinda self-conscious about it since I want to bring everyone an enjoyable writing experience XP

But with that all said, enjoy!

...

The silence that pervated the room was still as everyone stared at the magicat after her recent breakdown, all with a mixed range of emotion, but ultimately, sadness. The girl just went through several detailed minutes of explaining why none of their plans, if she could even call them that, would work, and then went on to provide them a detailed scenario of the reality they'd be facing as soon as the mission started.

Failure. Capture. Dying. Or all three. And all of them had one common knot that tied their failure together- her.

She was distraught about everything, tense about the mission that was to follow. Despite the time that past since the mission to rescue Glimmer and Bow from the Fright Zone, the magicat had been wracked with a guilt, and one she had kept bottled up no matter how many times she ranted about it. She blamed herself for what happened with Entrapta, and continued to do so to this day. And now, with the discovery of Entrapta's alliance with the Horde, it just made the pain more unbearable for the warrior to manage.

"...Catra?" Glimmer spoke softly, rubbing her shoulder. The girl barely lifted her face enough to glance at Glimmer through the corner of her eye and her arms. "I was captured by Shadow Weaver, taken to the Fright Zone, tortured by Adora, and lost all my powers."

"Gee, thanks for the reminder." Catra muttered as she looked away, barely keeping her eyes open as she stared at the table.

"Glimmer, not helping..." Bow teethed as silently as possible as he gestured for her to stop.

"But you know what? We escaped. I fought without my powers, and we won!" Although she couldn't tell from the look on her face, she felt she was making some form of connection to her as she saw Catra's ears lift a little. "And I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you."

"You don't know that. Your mom was going to exchange herself for you, and the Horde could've let you go. Only then, we wouldn't have Entrapta to worry about."

"And what if they didn't let me go? I would still be rotting in a cell, with my mother, tortured every day, or possibly worse!" Physically reaching out to her, Glimmer pulled Catra up from her shoulders, making sure she was listening. "Catra, bad things are going to happen to us. That's just a part of life. The difference is you can either let it paralyze you with fear or you can just roll with it." She turned her face in the direction that Glimmer was looking to figure out what she was staring at.

Them. All of them. They were still around here despite all the ups and downs they've had. "Figure out the things you can, and trust your friends to have your back for the rest."

"..." The magicat strained to resist a small smile from coming up at the corner of her mouth as she looked down, though it didn't keep away the terrible fear of their real dilemma she remembered a few seconds later. "Huff, it still doesn't matter. We've been spending so much time goofing around, and we don't even have a plan to come up with!"

"Is that this is all about?" Bow wondered, looking amongst the princesses then back to her. "Catra, I'm sorry if you were really worked up about that, but to be honest, well, we didn't really think we'd need one so badly."

"What?" She knew people like Bow to be a bit of a pain and annoyance, but... She was just too confused at the serious tone he was using. It wasn't like anything she's heard from Bow. "Why would you think that?"

"Because we have you." Perfuma smiled, growing an all new look of embarrassment for the depressed cat. "Catra, whenever we're in trouble, you rush in. You never cared about how big the other person is, or how powerful the other robot could be. You're always the first one to answer the Horde's call for war with your claws, you're the best at making up the plan as it goes along and thinking of ways out of any trouble you come across. And honestly... that's what we love about you."

"I'm not sure I'd say "love"," Mermista commented before smirking to the cat as she leaned on her arm, "but she's not wrong. You're always the first one to rush in to something, and even when we think we'll lose, you don't care. You always charge first no matter the risk to save us or to knock down anyone who gets in your way. Your recklessness has been your best quality, even if it, you know, drags on the occasion."

"And you always do what you think is right. No matter what everyone else thinks, or you feel that they're against you, you put yourself in front of any danger." At the comment, Frosta turned to the broken droid that Catra dropped behind, frowning a little with her conscious. "Even when it scares you..."

Catra gazed at the rest of her allies... friends... with wonder. Were... were they still talking about the same person here? Like, another Catra somewhere she couldn't see? The way they were saying all these things, all the encouragement they were giving her, it was... weird. Really, really, weird. It... made her chest feel a little funny, strange. And... for some reason, she... she didn't hate it.

They had all this... trust... in her, in a way she wasn't used to. It wasn't like they just trusted her with another job or anything like that, it was... different. Despite the dangers lurking ahead, they believed in her. Not just a normal belief, either. They trusted her enough to bail them out of it if they were ever caught, believed she was strong enough to get them through the trouble they were going to find themselves in.

They expected any plan they came up with to have a hiccup somewhere down the line, and they all trusted her to save them.

"We're with you, Catra." Bow declared. She could tell just by the way the rest were smiling at her that he was telling the truth.

She didn't know how to describe it as she lowered her head, finally powerless to resist the small smile that grew on the side of her face. All she could was scratch behind her right ear as she shifted her eyes away, a brief flash of red crossing her cheeks. "T... Thanks, guys." She muttered quietly, though still enough that the others heard her whether she wanted to or not.

"So... what is the plan, then?" All heads turned to her with affirmation, the confidence in their eyes ready for everything.

For once in the long day, Catra grinned, genuinely, as she stood. "We do what we do best. We get reckless." She announced, punching her fist into her palm. "We hit them hard, we hit them fast, and we take them out before they can do anything." With nods returning to her, the girl raised her sword to the high heavens again, ready to get this mission on it's way. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

Below this skirt was the gift of a beautiful pair of pants that Catra always treasured, with small slits in the knees that allowed her to access the maximum amount of her agility without holding her back.

And from their magnificent glow, the red cape slowly formed from behind her, connecting between the two as it slowly descended down to Catra's thigh.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

With the miraculous light dimming around them, her friends could finally see her transformation for what it was, and Glimmer could not contain the gasp or surprise that spread across all their faces. "C-Catra!"

"Huh, what?" She blinked, wondering what all the sudden shouting was for. Actually, she felt kind of funny. Like, good funny. If she didn't know any better, she could almost swear that... She looked down again, and was instantly filled with a sense of joy and pure wonder. "My pants came back!"

"Pffft! Hahahaha!" Glimmer couldn't help as she burst into laughter, followed along with Perfuma and an admit-able chuckle from Mermista at the simple sight of her.

"W-What? What?!" Catra felt a little self-conscious as the laughter continued, seeing the suppressed faces of Bow and Frosta as they tried to cover the cheeky grins they had. She looked around herself some more to get a clue as to what could possibly be funny, or to tell what else was off about herself. She did notice she actually felt a little better than the last time she wore her pants. Beyond that, she couldn't spot any notable difference. "What are you looking at?"

"Hah, I think you might need this for comparison." Without another hint, the mermaid girl casually tossed the She-Ra figurine, the only one not destroyed by this point, as she made her way to the outside of the tent.

"I think we should get ready, here." Bow said as he was followed by Perfuma and Glimmer. "If the Horde's been spying on us, the sooner we take off the better before they can defend themselves."

Catra watched as the allies left one by one before looking back to the figurine she was given. What exactly was she supposed to compare it to? It had basically all the same things she did at this point. It had the general-same outfit, the sword, the stance. The only thing was missing was the part that Mermista said she needed a dye job with.

And that's when it slowly dawned on her. With most of her hair stretching to her back, it was easy to get a clear view of it from the reflection in her mirror. Whatever day decided to take leniency on Catra after all her trouble, it appeared to be today. Having grown along her shoulders and filling her with a sense of warmth, she got to admire the sight of her hair returning to the same shades they were on the day she became She-Ra at her full power, and the revelation that came with it.

She didn't just acquire the same portion of her power back. She gained two entire portions on the same day, and without having to put in extra work for the latter. If it wasn't enough for the sword to fill her with a sense of warmth, the warmth she got at realizing this was more than enough.

"Wow..." She awed, viewing the streaks of hair she never got to witness before. "This is awesome!" She didn't know what percent of her power she had at this point, and she honestly didn't care. From what she could recall, she only had a few portions she needed to reacquire from the Battle of Bright Moon, and then, and only then, would she be back to the fully powered She-Ra she was!

"Hmhmhm!" With all the excitement, she almost forgot about the one person still remaining in the room, one that was covering er mouth as she looked at her.

"What? It's not like it's that bad." And there was no way she was going to get to her today of all days when she was in this good of a mood!

"No, it's not that, it's just, hehe..." Frosta scratched the back of her head as she informed her. "I just now noticed, but... When you were having your little rant there a few minutes ago, you called everyone by their real names, no nicknames or anything."

"Huh?" Okay, it didn't' dampen her mood, but it was a decent attempt. She scratched her cheek a little as she gave a small blush at the detail."I-I did, huh? Guess I just... forgot..."

"Heh heh... heh..." It was strange to her, in a way. Catra, for all her ups and downs, still didn't seem like she was willing to open up to anybody around her, or those that treated her fairly. At the same time, she had her own strange way of acknowledging them, something Frosta only now realized as she continued. "Hey, Catra?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you... You do actually like the others, right?" She was expecting one of two different responses. Either a flat-out now, or a typical, even shy, yes. Instead of either of those, she was drawn to how she turned her head away, scratching her head as she looked unsettled.

"It's, eh... It's complicated."

"Complicated? How is it complicated, it's just a yes or a no, right?"

"Well... I-It's not like I don't care about any of them, it's just... I... I don't really know how to describe it."

"Well do you like them?"

"I can't really say either-"

"Do you hate them?"

"What? No."

"Then you do like them?"

"No- I mean..." She tried to push through the subject as much as she can. "W-Why are you asking all these questions in the first place? Is something wrong?"

"Of course not-!" Frosta meeped, her face nearly flashing for a second at the sudden turnaround. "I just... I guess I can't really tell if you like any of us, or you don't. I mean, it seems unfair to the others that you keep rejecting them while they keep encouraging you, you know?"

"Well, yeah, it's just..."

"Just what?"

This was getting a little too deeply for the cat. She didn't know why she was pestering her with all these questions or what the big deal was. At the same time, she also knew as a child she wasn't going to let well-enough be well-enough. She would keep pestering her and pestering her until she gave her a solid answer.

One of the few reasons she found kids the most annoying.

"It's... It's like this, okay. Back in the Horde, I didn't have people I could trust, I just had people who annoyed me a little, and who annoyed me a lot. And around here, it's really not any different. Glimmer and Bow annoyed me to near-death about this teamwork junk constantly when I first joined, Perfuma has her interest in way too many plants, especially with pollen, and is way too open about her feelings and everyone else's, and Mermista, is... well Mermista."

"And... yeah, they're just as annoying, all the time, at any time. But," Frosta noticed the small blush forming on her face she was trying to hide, "it's... I don't know. When the Horde annoyed me, it was annoying. Irritating. Frustrating. And it usually ended in a fight. But when these guys do it, it's more tolerable, compared to the Horde. Almost... preferable, in some way."

"And what about me?" She asked, crossing her arms in a smug fashion. "Am I annoying?" As opposed to giving her some long, winded, answer, she instead just came out and replied to her like it was nothing.

"Are you kidding? You're probably the most annoying of the bunch around here!"

"O-Oh... I understand."

*dink*

The moment she turned her eyes away, the moment she dropped her attention, that's when Catra got her. Square between the middle of her forehead, right in the center of her skull, she caught the small projectile after it made contact with her. Opening her hands, she saw it was the small She-Ra figurine Catra was holding a short while ago. Looking back, she saw the same thrower with a grin, sticking her tongue out at her for a second.

"But at least you know how to be fun while you're doing it." It might've been the first genuine compliment Frosta heard Catra ever utter, or the closest thing to it. Out of all the princesses and members of the Princess Alliance, she considered her of all people to be "fun" and annoying at the same time. It also gave her some insight she never saw about Catra before.

Catra wasn't someone who didn't consider other people a friend or not. The matter was, she was virtually incapable of doing so. It was a detail she never saw in the magicat till now, much less anyone she's ever come across, and it said a lot of things Frosta didn't know about her. And honestly, it was all depressing.

And troubling to her.

"Well, come on, squirt. We've got a Horde tower to bring down." Catra was actually looking forward to this for a change as she felt her strength surge with the new portion of her She-Ra state. She didn't know if she was capable of defeating Adora in this stage, much less on her own for now, but she felt a little more confident about it after all the day's given her.

"Catra, wait-!" The warrior quickly turned around at the sound of the sudden shriek. She couldn't really get a read on her expression, the once curious and confused expression she had on now replaced with something more concerning, almost fearful.

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

"..." Frosta hesitated to reply for a bit as she nervously glanced over the room. Pulling her arms to her side, she finally gave her a casual smile, much like the others had before when they were encouraging her. "J-Just... You know. Don't worry about anything, everything will work out. I promise."

"O... kay?" It felt a little strange to Catra, who simply shrugged it off as she made her way out of the tent. With the coast being cleared and the room fresh to breathe in, she finally sighed.

This wasn't good. Nothing about this day was good. Even though she's had proof to the contrary, Catra was just... different, than Adora made her out to be. She didn't deny anything she had to say about her. She was arrogant, bossy, snide, full of herself at times, and she still seemed to be interested in only herself half the time. Now, things were a little harder to decide after their little chat.

Catra didn't hold any grudges against the people that annoyed her, and she still considered them to be outright annoying. So why... why did it just sound different to her right now? Was it because of her personal guilt? Something different Catra said, or the way she said it? She couldn't tell.

There was only one thing she was sure of right now: Catra was strong. She was strong enough to admit her faults when they finally caught up with her, and, unlike herself, she wasn't afraid to keep fighting for the same side over and over again, even when it felt wrong.

Taking a look at the small figurine in her hand, Frosta moaned. She envied Catra more deeply than anyone right now. She was brave enough to go through with everything after it all scared her, and Frosta... she wasn't. She didn't feel the same sense of courage to convince herself that all of this was wrong. It felt wrong, believed it was wrong, and, at the same time, it felt right. She was stuck between two opposing forces at this point who both needed her, and she's seen enough humanity in both Catra and Adora to call their sides right. She just wasn't smart enough to know who to go with.

Or brave enough to make a final decision in the right direction.

"Sorry about this, Catra..." She muttered to herself before tossing the figurine and walking away into the trashed Spy Bot.

She knew what side to fight for, for now, and she wasn't going to change that determination anytime soon. She just hoped to herself that it would truly prove to be the right decision after all this time...

...

"Is everyone ready?" Bow asked as they stared at the base across the chasm.

This was it. This is what the last several stressful hours had been leading up to. With a resounding plan in mind, and a much stronger Catra on their side, it was time for the Horde assault to begin. There was barely a cloud in the sky, there was still plenty of daylight out so visibility or weather wouldn't be an issue, and they were all together.

It was still a little nerve wracking when they stared across the chasm. Even with nearly everyone side by side, didn't make the pressure of the future mission any lighter, nor did it help escape the tension rising through the air. They weren't just going to be taking on the Horde with their soldiers, weapons, turrets, or anything. They would be taking on Adora.

The one who always had the ace up her sleeve, the one who surpassed Catra constantly as they grew up, and the one who nearly brought the downfall of Bright Moon. If any one of them were prepared about what they were going to do, they never had to deal with Adora before. It wouldn't just be a harrowing mission of danger for someone like Catra, it would be the first time they came across each other face-to-face in over a month.

What's changed about her since the last time Catra saw her? Was she any different? Stronger? From what little info she was given since Bow and Glimmer's pointless rescue attempt of Entrapta, she still appeared to have her shadow magic without relying on her headband anymore, and she wasn't any happier about the princesses or the Rebellion since their last confrontation. If anything, she's been more determined to fight the Rebellion since her loss.

And she still hasn't forgiven Catra for her past.

"Ready as we'll ever be, I guess." Mermista shrugged, eyeing the turrets of the tower. "Is there any specific plan, though, besides rushing them?"

"Not in terms of detail, no." Catra replied, never taking her eyes off the structure. "We hit the walls from every side and take out the turrets as soon as possible while everyones confused for a moment. Once we hit the outer walls, we'll head for the turrets up the tower as soon as possible and disable them. After that, we'll stick together and clear out the soldiers from within."

"And Adora?" It didn't surprise Glimmer that her question caused Catra to lower her head, not after all they've been through. She wasn't sure if Catra was even capable of fighting Adora on her own after all the history the two had together, and what's lead them to this.

"...I'll deal with her myself. Just focus on the towers, then we'll all meet up. Whether or not I can beat Adora won't matter if her tower's been taken over." She turned head to the left as she felt Glimmer's hand again on her shoulder.

"You'll kick her butt in no time. I'm sure of it."

"...Hmph, yeah." It didn't matter to her at this rate if she truly could take Adora out on her own. She's never been more sure of herself than now that the mission would lead to success no matter how dangerous the fighting got. Sheathing her sword, she nodded back to the others as she began the assault. "Let's go!"

With a nod, several of the members made their way to the fortress as Catra took off, leaping from the edge of the cliffside with her enhanced agility and sinking her claws into the wall of the cliff, nearly reaching the cliff's edge as her strength had increased. Nodding to each other with a smile, Glimmer held Bow's hand as the two teleported to the top of the cliff, just as Catra made her way to the top, and leaving the remaining two princesses behind.

"Ready to go, Mermista?" The princess smiled as she already started to channel her magic into a bridge of vines.

"The name is Sea-Ra, and yeah. Let's go." The princess new the plan was going to take a little time to accomplish, provided they reached all the turrets together. Even with the six of them together taking out a section of the turrets, that still left two sections of turrets unmanned, not to mention the turrets up the tower. It would definitely be among Glimmer's and Perfuma's talents to deal with them the quickest.

"Pssssst!" The princess of plants paused in her magic as the two were drawn to the sound of the strange noise from behind them. Taking a small look, the two spotted Frosta peeking out from behind a large boulder in the ground, gesturing for the two to come over. "Over here!"

Turning to one another, they gave each other a small shrug at her strange behavior as they made made their way over. They noticed she was looking in all directions as if wary of something while they did. "Is something wrong, Frosta?"

"No, I... I found a way inside of the Horde fortress that we can sneak in through!" Her announcement came as a welcoming surprise to the two princesses as they listened.

"You did?" She didn't need to see her nodding to look at Mermista with a bright smile. "This is wonderful! We can sneak in with the others to-"

"No!" Frosta nearly shrieked, taking a sec to compose herself. "I-I mean we can't tell them."

"What? Why?" Frosta shifted her eyes from the Mermaid's suspicious brow, the older princess already questioning the strange behavior within seconds.

"Because... Because the Horde might be watching us right now. If they see us all moving in the same direction, they'll know something is up! But if we split into two groups, we can take them by surprise."

"I... I'm not sure if-"

"Perfuma, please!" The cold princess pleaded begfully as she grabbed Perfuma's hand. "You have to trust me on this."

What was distressing her? Was she nervous about the mission? Perfuma would admit she's tensed too, but she knew they could get through all of this if they stood together. Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but awe a little at how sincere Frosta was being, the way her eyes were practically pleading for her to trust her. "...Of course, Frosta." It was refreshing to see the relief filling Frosta's face as she lead the two girls.

Mermista, on the other hand, felt different. Something was off about Frosta in a way she couldn't punctuate. From the way she moved strangely in the tent earlier to the way she needed them to listen to her now. She just couldn't figure out what.

At the same time, Glimmer was already at the top to greet Catra by the time she reached it, helping her friend up to her feet before Bow called out to them.

"Hey, where are they going?" Turning around, the two saw the remaining princesses as they were turning around the corner, back into the encampment.

"Maybe they're going around from the front?" Glimmer proposed. "It would help us spread out more if we attack from both sides, and draw the guards away long enough for them to attack."

"Yeah, I guess." Something wasn't right. It was just before the three turned the corner, but she could've sworn Frosta shot her a glance before they returned to the encampment. She couldn't tell what it was about, or why they were all returning to the camp, just that something wasn't right. "A-"

"Hey Catra, you ready?" Bow called out before the girl could get another word out.

Knowing time was of the essence, Catra took one more look in the direction of the camp before following along with the others. With turrets mounting every corner, they made sure to spread out evenly, distancing themselves enough so that they could assure one another when they were ready to attack. From Glimmer to Catra to Bow, the three nodded to one another before Catra took a deep breath.

"Three... Two... One..." Without another word, the warrior's face lit up as the three began their own assault on the tower.

Between teleporting, jumping at unimaginable heights, and grappling oneself with a trick arrow, the three made their way up the wall, scrambling to reach the top at the same time before going about the attack. With a wave of her hands,

Glimmer withdrew her father's staff from the air, impaling the ancient weapon within the controls of first turret she came across. Catra had more than enough fun testing the limits of her own newfound power as she managed to crush the barrel of her own turret with her bare hands before pulling it right out of the ground, tossing it into the yard of the tower with a loud crash. And, being the tech expert he was, Bow easily managed to disable his own turret with a single arrow, followed by the turret higher up the tower that was within their line of sight with an explosive arrow.

That was four turrets down, and without any resistance. So far, the attack was going wonderfully for the three of them.

And that was what was most troubling.

"...Uh, guys?" Catra called out as she looked around. The sound of her voice did nothing to distract the fellow princess or archer as they were drawn to the emptiness that she was. From the pathways along the wall, the archway to the tower, and the courtyard itself, everything was all but abandoned. "Where did everyone go?"

...

"Come on, this way." Frosta continued to lead with the princesses towing behind her. The few yards they covered alone was nothing compared to the lingering questions creeping along the back of their minds.

"You could at least tell us where we're going, you know." Mermista's nerves were telling her to be on guard for something she couldn't see. With tents in every direction of the camp, a handful of the Rebellion's soldiers and guards, and bushes and groves beyond them, there was nothing she could see that would warrant a threat.

"It'll be easier to show you, we're almost there."

"Frosta, I feel like we're drawing further away from the fortress than closer." The worry Perfuma had for her friends were understandable, yet balanced with the trust she had in the small child. "Maybe we should go back before they need our help."

"I'm telling you, we're almost there! It's just a bit further now."

"Then can you at least tell us why you won't just tell us here?" Mermista came to a halt as she rested a hand at her side, being waited upon by Perfuma. "We're in the middle of our own camp so I'm pretty sure it's safe."

Frosta receded the small tension in her eyes as she stopped several yards ahead of them. "Because... Because of the Spy Bots. We already had one sneak past Mermista, so who's to say there aren't more around here? They could be listening in right now!"

"I... I guess that makes sen-"

*thump*

Any agreement on Perfuma's behalf came to a stop as she felt a firm hand over her chest. Trailing it to the left, she saw the look of contempt hanging over Mermista's face, her hardened gaze never derailing from Frosta as she blocked Perfuma's advance.

"What did you say?"

"Huh?" A lump began to form in the young princess's heart as Mermista's stare intensified.

"What did you say just now?"

"I-I said there could be Spy Bots around here." She turned away as she examined the rest of the encampment, seeing a few wandering suppliers going about their business. "Look, we really should be hurrying. The others are going to need our help soon-"

"No, not that." Grabbing her attention again, the mermaid princess took a step forward a little in the direction of Perfuma's path, as if shielding her. "You just said that Spy Bot snuck past me."

"S... So?"

"So? So how did you know it snuck past me personally if nobody saw it before Catra?"

"Ah-!" Mermista didn't push any softer as she saw Frosta lowering her head, like a kid who had been caught in the act of a lie, rubbing her hands to ease the chill growing across them.

Throughout this, Perfuma looked back to one another, trying to process what she was witnessing between the two. "Mermista, what is going on? What is this about?"

"Think about it, Perfuma. Out of all the places the bot could've crawled in from, she knew personally that it came in from the entrance behind me. I thought I heard something myself, but when I turned around, I just saw Frosta moving behind me for a second."

"Th-That doesn't mean anything, I just-"

"She's right, Mermista." Worry began to overwhelm the girl as she tried to defend one of her friends from the other. "It doesn't mean she knew about the droid."

"No, but then you have Catra finding the Spy Bot behind the same princess a few minutes later." The further Frosta's head sunk, the closer to the truth Mermista was getting. "If the bot stayed behind me or entered from the other side, then that's where Catra would've found it. Instead, she found it behind Frosta who was in the middle of the tent along the table."

"...Mmmh..."

"You knew that Spy Bot was there, didn't you? You tried to hide it from the rest of us." She could feel Perfuma's gaze wandering onto her without having to lift her head. The feeling of guilt from one friend coupled with the suspicion and threatening look of another kept the young princess from being able to speak any clearer. She could only rub her hands smoother as she kept herself from blurting everything out at once.

"Frosta... Is that true?" What would it mean if it was? Why didn't she say anything about it? She was a member of the Princess Alliance, and above all else, one of their friends. She trusted her as much as she did with the other princesses, so why the sudden silence?

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Pulling out her spear, she gripped it tightly in her right hand while directing it to the ground. She wasn't enjoying the direction this conversation was going, and was hoping to herself this was going to wind up as a genuine misunderstanding despite the strange behavior and her recent silence.

Fate would prove unkind.

"...I didn't want to do this."

*pew*

"LOOK OUT!" With a mighty scream, Perfuma found herself getting tackled out of the way by Mermista as the two barely dodged the blast of an oncoming laser. Mermista could practically feel the force of the blast touching the tips of the hair on her neck as she dodged out of the way in time, both of them nearly ending up like the pile of rubble behind them as the beam blasted away at the mound of boulders behind them.

It was a miracle that Mermista saw the small light charging from the tents ahead of Frosta before they could launch their attack. It was little wonder why her nerves were on guard throughout all of this, and why she felt so defensive around Frosta all of a sudden. With the smouldering pile behind them, looking back, the two soon discovered why that feeling didn't go away.

From the eyes of the few Rebellion men and women within the camp to the smoke that started to billow behind them, they saw it. Nearly a dozen droids with the firepower to take out a small building by themselves, and a handful guards that entered from behind, shock batons at the ready, the two princesses would soon learn the question plaguing the other three of why the Horde fortress was so empty.

The only question they couldn't answer at the time was why Frosta showed so little concern as they approached.

...

"Where is everybody?" Catra asked as the three converged on the fortress's courtyard.

It didn't make any sense, granted there was little to complain about. All throughout their point of view, from the bridgeways that connected the walls to the tower, to the turrets that were left unguarded, they couldn't find anyone. Not that they were inclined to separate and search different sections of the tower on their own, just that it was too-unguarded for their liking.

"Maybe they ran when they discovered when we were going to attack?" Glimmer wasn't gullible enough to assume they would just throw the base at them and run in the opposite direction, but what other assumption was there to make within a mere minute of this place? "Or maybe they were barely here to begin with? We never really did see how many people were here compared to the tower's own defenses."

"No." Taking a whiff of the air, Catra gathered as much information as she needed from her sense of smell. "There were definitely a lot of people here a minute ago, and I'm still picking up some of their scents. Wherever they are, they're still around here, waiting for something."

"That wouldn't make any sense, though." Bow eyed the turrets carefully as he replied, being careful not to let his guard down from the turrets that could take them out in one shot. "We don't know when the Spy Bot dropped in on us or how long they've been listening in. They could've been spying since we got here and building their defenses even further. Why would they just hide?"

"Hmhmhm, we've been spying on you a little longer than that." A familiar voice echoed throughout the fortress, alerting them as they searched around. It didn't take very long before their eyes were drawn to the bridgeway to the right, seeing a familiar Force Captain leaning over bridge's wall with her friend Scorpia smiling next to her. "Hey, Catra."

"Adora!" All the blood in Catra's veins were boiling from the mere sight of her. The person who tried to end her life a month ago, the very same who almost destroyed the Rebellion because of a personal grudge against her, going so far as to threaten the remaining few she still cared for.

"Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this day, Catra?" Adora questioned as she twirled a sing bang of her hair in front of her face. "All the time spent waiting for an opportunity? The work I've gone through to make sure everything was just right? The last three days alone have been-"

"Look, save the drawn out speech for someone who cares, all right? Either get out of the tower, or we'll make you get out-!"

"Wait." The archer spoke as something dawned on him, something he felt was unsettling. "You just said you were planning for this for the last three days? How did you know about the mission in advance?"

Looking cheekily to the archer who denied her offer to join the Horde, Adora let out a small puff of a sigh as she shook her head. "Oh, Bow. With that kind of brain power, you would've done wonders on our side. I'm pretty sure you would've been good friends with Scorpia, too."

"Hiya."

"Just answer the question!" The princess squeezed her fist at the remark of the offer she made to him nearly a week ago. "How did you know we were going to come here today of all days?"

Staring. Watching. Grinning. These were the reactions she was giving each and every one of them as the seconds ticked by in silence. Looking at them here now, and the lack of the other princesses, made her excitement all the more satisfying as she pictured herself looking back on this day. The day when she turned it all around, the day she proved herself to Lord Hordak.

And the day when she brought down the Princess Alliance with her own two hands.

"You know what's funny about time?" Adora asked the three as she climbed over the small wall, letting her legs dangle in the air below her. "All the things that can happen within a minute of it."

*boom*

"What was that?" Catra was the first and fastest to shoot her head in the direction of the camp, following a small explosion that rang in her ears.

"You can gain the upper hand on your enemies." As she spoke, the scene cut back to Frosta as another one of the Horde soldiers walked casually up to her, the small princess showing no signs of fear or remorse as Perfuma and Mermista saw all that was transpiring in horror.

"You can catch them off guard with a surprise of your own." Kneeling respectfully to the young princess, the soldier handed her the large blue orb that Entrapta had spent the last several days preparing, all for this one occasion to spring the Horde's own ambush on the Princess Alliance. Staring briefly at the reflection of herself from the guard's helmet, the child accepted the orb into both her hands, and turned to her two former comrades soon after.

"You can stall a couple of idiots with a few short sentences."

"Frosta, please!" This couldn't be happening. Perfuma refused to accept it. The way she showed no signs of fear around the Horde, the fact she accepted an item from one of the guards like it was the most normal thing in the world to her. She knew what this could only mean, and she still refused to accept it, even as the tears slowly started to fill the corner of her eyes.

"...I'm sorry." Nothing more could be said to them that she wasn't saying to herself already. With a pat at the small indent on top of the device, the ball-like sphere quickly sprang to life as it started to float in place, spinning in opposite directions on its upper and lower half as a blue florescent light shined from it.

"And a traitor can stab you in the back."

At this, the three princesses, along with the Horde present in camp, all watched with curiosity as the blue orb suddenly shot into the air at a burst of speed, the light emanating from it growing ever brighter as it began traveling into the direction of the fortress. It was the first thing to catch Adora's attention as she smiled to the approaching device, one which soon caught the attention of Catra and her friends as it flew over the fortress, maintaining its coordinates until it was centered at the very top of the fortress.

Nothing could be asked in the short amount of time that transpired after as a small click could be heard, and the open began to stretch open to nearly double it's size. Glowing brighter and stronger with each passing second, a large wave of blue burst from the flying orb as it blanketed the entire fortress in a transparent wall of blue light, hexagons pattering the designs of the slightly-flashing wall, as it continued to disperse a never-ending flow of energy in all directions.

With this, the trap had been sprung, and Adora had them all where she needed them to be.

"There's two ways to end a war swiftly, Catra." She continued, kicking her legs as the excitement built up within her chest. "First, you divide and conquer your enemies. Secondly, you can have someone working for you on the inside. You should've seen how eager Frosta was when it came to bringing you all down.."

"F... Frosta...?" Pain. Something was causing pain in Catra's chest as her heart-rate quickened with every word from Adora's mouth.

No. No, no, no, no, NO! There was no way she was supposed to believe her, not after all the time that's passed since then, especially since who she was referring to. She was annoying. She was a kid. She was also the only one Catra had some legitimate fun with, pulling pranks back and forth, the way she didn't take attitude from anyone else around her, and the way she prided herself on her own accomplishments.

Everything Catra could relate to.

Above all else, she was Frosta. Their ally. Her ally. With all this lame talk about "working together" and "being a team" being drilled into her head since joining the Rebellion, there was no way she could take any of Adora's words for granted. Be it denial, or refusal, there was no way that Catra would ever accept the truth. So how was she supposed to counter everything she just heard without the evidence?

"You... You don't mean..."

"What? Do you still not get it? Fine, let me spell it out for you."

There was no turning back for her now, she made her decision. Her alliance with the Horde was confirmed in front of all these people, in front of her allies. With her face tightening and her muscles tensing, she raised a hand in the direction of the other two princesses, gathering a glorious amount of her magic as a winter's chill solidified in the palm of her hand, ready to attack those she once called "friends".

"Frosta's been working for us since the day we met~"

...

A/N: Annnnd we finally reach the conclusion of the go-lucky humorous bits of the episode (again, keeping in mind this is part of last chapter) and we'll finally move on to the next few chapters getting into some of the action and whatnot.

Now on top of keeping up with the writing, I'd like you guys to do another thing for me, albeit this time more fun XP not even that hard of work, I just want you guys to decide after you finish reviewing the next few chapters: in the Episode Whiteout (the return of Drunk-Adora ^^ Woohoo!) I want you guys to decide what you want- the return of "Cat-Catra" or a "Drunk Catra" too? It would take some re-twinking here and there, but I suppose I could make the drunk catra work if you guys wanted me to, just might take awhile. I for one can't decide on my own, so I need my fans' support to elect who they want: Drunk or cat XP

Also-also, i've gotten to that point of time where I have a stupid cold again, so if updates slow down a little, you'll know why X/ I swear these things gunk up my nostrils like crazy and disgusting. So, with being a bit under the weather, updates may come a day or two late, or some of the writing might be off since the occasional sneeze leaves me disoriented for a few seconds and I miss what I type XP

But with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 76: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Part 5

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 15.2K Pre-A/N's. Howdy doody folks! Monokub here with another chapter! We're blowing right into the action this time around with betrayals and battles going all around back and forth! I'm hoping the action is still as good as it used to be, seeing how it's been awhile since I last did some action sequences. Might be a little rusty, but given i still managed to write out at least 2 scenes for each of the three battles going on, one questionably being called a "battle", i still think that's a good sign ^^

Anyway, time to move on to the action! If it actually feels short in terms of action, I apologize, but aside from wanting to get the episode done soon (gods sake i wrote 15k here, cut me some slack XP), as i said yesterday, a bit under the weather. Colds gotten better but still groggy with the cough drops and whatnot.

So, with all that said, enjoy!

...

"What is all this?" The princess was at a loss on how to process all the information being thrown at them within the last minute.

Adora's long line of planning and contempt for the Rebellion had finally reached its peek. What did she have to show for it? A trap. Not just any trap. A trap that would put any traps that the Horde have previously orchestrated to shame. All the pieces were laid on the board before her, each of her ideas slowly being pulled in to one another, and now she had everyone right where she wanted them.

Now all she had to do was take the pieces out one by one.

None of the three could believe what transpired within the recent set of events. After coming up with ridiculous plan after ridiculous plan, the magicat had enough. She had enough with the stupidity flowing around the tents and the annoying behavior of her friends after spending several hours of trying to come up with the perfect plan, one that wouldn't result in any casualties, and one where they wouldn't have to face another Entrapta scenario.

It was hard to tell how far Catra would push herself in the moment of anxiety of stress as she went in to every detail of their future failure, holding back no details in the ways everyone would be taken out, the terror looming over them if even one of them failed, and the fate of Etheria and the Rebellion if they couldn't take back one simple Horde fortress looming over their heads. All because Catra thought it would be by her own hands that they would lose.

She wasn't a stranger to herself, she knew herself a little better than most did. She was quick, snide, boastful, irritable, and all around every representation of the Horde's worst aspects. From what little she's changed over the months, it did nothing to diminish the realization that if the mission failed, it would be because of her, and she would suffer the guilt of that failure while rotting in a cell for the rest of her life. And she was revealing this to her allies, all of whom had the opposite thoughts on their minds.

They didn't see Catra's recklessness as a downside, they embraced it. They knew the cat was best at thinking on the spot than sitting in a room all day, and that's what they were counting on. They didn't know what to expect from this mission, they knew it was going to get bad regardless how it went. And it was because of this that they believed in Catra enough to pull them out of any trouble they happened upon throughout the mission.

What few minutes they earned from a calmness, a feeling of serenity great enough to bolster Catra's She-Ra state, was quickly brought to an end as the mission soon began.

Barely two minutes into the mission, everything had gone off the deep end, the way Adora expected it to. Having played her part for as long as she could, Frosta revealed her true allegiance to Mermista and Perfuma with the arrival of the Horde ambush that was waiting for them within the camp. If it wasn't enough to separate them from the rest of the group at the fortress, she went one step further as she activated the strange device that now covered the entire fortress from the outside, barring any entry or exit.

Like animals of instinct, Adora saw every way the Rebellion would approach this mission. Reckless, fast, hard, and trusting of one another, she had every card drawn out to lead everyone to their respective sides of the field. While Mermista and Perfuma had a handful of droids and soldiers to contend with, that left the remaining Princess Alliance with her and her domain, followed by the few handfuls of soldiers and Scorpia that stood by.

And she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

"You like it?" Adora teased, viewing the barrier that originated from the sphere floating above the tower. "Entrapta made it for the mission. She's been making a whole bunch of useful stuff for the Horde since you left her behind. I'll never understand why you didn't come back for her, but you have my gratitude for it."

"Ghhh! We didn't abandon her, Adora! We thought she was dead!" Catra growled, squeezing her sword tighter.

"Oh, well isn't that better then? What was your apology going to be if you saw her again? "Hey Entrapta, sorry for never checking if you were really dead or not! We just got what we came for and decided to leave right away". I'm sure she gladly would've accepted that as an apology."

Noticing the small shaking coming from her friend, Glimmer attempted to soothe the raging beast as she gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Catra, calm down. Remember, you can't let her get to you." The warrior in question shot her a brief look of irritation before sighing through her nose, loosening her grip a little.

"What did you do with Frosta, anyway?" She finally asked, holding back her fangs.

"Me? Absolutely nothing."

"I'm serious, Adora!"

"Hate to disappoint you, kitty, but it's true." Scorpia assured with a small wave of her claw. "Since your little disaster at the Princess Prom, she's been working for us every day. Providing resources, intel, pretty much all you'd need from a friend."

"You're lying!"

"If you don't believe me, why not ask her yourself?" Gesturing towards the direction of the encampment, the others could see the billowing smoke and faint sounds of explosions being set off from the other side. "I'm sure she's still hanging out with the others, though I'm not really sure how much fun the other princesses are having."

"Perfuma and Mermista!" With all that had been revealed between this strange ambush and Frosta's involvement, she had almost forgotten they weren't with them.

"Go," Bow ordered as he drew his arrow, keeping it locked on the two Force Captains, "we'll hold them off. Get through the barrier and bring them both here."

"Right!" As she gathered her powers, preparing to teleport, Adora gave the pink-haired princess a snide grin as she watched.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

Adora didn't give warnings lightly like this. Even if she was on the side she believed in, believed she was going to win, Catra knew she would never give a warning like this with such a smirk. "Pinky, wait-!" By the time she finished her first word, it was already too late.

*swish*

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttttttt!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Disappearing from the spot near her friends and reappearing at the edge of the barrier, the glittering princess felt her entire body surge with a rage of electricity that coursed through her body, screaming in pain as her entire body was struck with tens of thousands of volts. Everywhere around her, her body sparked with a bluish streak of lightning, the princess struggling to just pull herself out from the electrifying barrier, until she felt the energy drain from her very body, causing her to fall out of the air.

It was a miracle that she was barely five feet above the wall before she came crashing down on the hard concrete of the surrounding walls.

"Glimmer!" Her friends both cried out in worry, all the while Adora took an eerie amusing glance at where the princess landed.

"You know, I always wanted to see what happened when a fly flew into a bug zapper." With her brief joke aside, but not forgotten, she turned back towards the ones still below her.

"Didn't you hear me about how this ambush would work, Catra? The First method; Divide and Conquer. These barriers were specially designed to counteract the magics from the Princess Alliance, except for Frosta's. Anything you try to throw at it will bounce off, or in Glitter's case," she smirked again as the princess struggled to get pick herself off the ground, "send a thousand volts through her system."

"What? How did you make something like that?" Catra wasn't a tech wiz, but even she knew certain limitations of science like this, such as studying a princess's magic without anything to collect the info. "There's no way you could've-"

"The robot." Bow's emotionless reply grabbed Catra's eyes and ears, the archer already realizing the details surrounding them. "The one we fought over a week ago. It must've been downloading data from its fight while the princesses were attacking it."

"Ding-ding. It's really impressive what you can do with technology these days, isn't it? From taking out your enemies or collecting data on them, there's just so many possibilities. It's thanks to those same possibilities that this barrier will keep anything from getting in or out. And that means you won't be able to help your... whatever they are to you, and they won't be able to help you."

This is what Catra hated about Adora, even more after fighting for the enemy team. No matter how much one held the upper hand in their situation, if they were fighting Adora, she always had an ace up their sleeve. The girl was a prodigy when Catra thought about it, the way she excelled in her lessons, training, intellect. She may not have been a master in a given area, but between that or being superior in multiple ways, it was no wonder why she was such a formidable opponent.

Or a deadly one.

"Bow," she exhaled softly as she readied her sword, and whatever she would need to change it into, "go get Glimmer, and work on finding a way out of here for us. I'll hold off Adora myself."

"What? Catra, you shouldn't fight her on your own. We should work together instead of-"

"We need to get out of here and meet up with the others first." The warrior transfixed her eyes on the Force Captain, raising her arms in defense as she prepared for anything. "It doesn't matter if we win if something happens to the other three." She refused to allow another Entrapta incident to happen, or death. "You need to hurry before we run out of time."

"But Cat-" There was little time for discussion as Bow saw movement in the corner of his eyes along the wall.

Watching it, his eyes widened at the sight of several fellow Horde soldiers running around the walls from both ends, rushing towards Glimmer from the left and the right all at once. In her current state, she wouldn't have enough time to teleport out of the way if they jumped her, and given the circumstances, there were only a few more times she could keep teleporting before her powers waned, and there was no telling how long this fight was going to last.

Shifting her eyes over to him one more time, the archer's face lit with determination as he ran in the direction Glimmer teleported off to, firing off one of his trick arrows near her in preparation to scale the wall immediately once he reached it. Watching him with her own eyes, Adora gave a small shrug as she waved off Scorpia.

"Scorpia, they're all yours." She announced standing on the bridge's wall. There was barely a tremble in Adora's arms as Catra saw the shadows pooling around her arms, soaking in the magic and strength that came to her with each passing second. By the time she was finished, Adora's arms had doubled in size, covered in a thick blackness of shadows as claws trailed up to the cliff of her fingers. "Catra's all mine."

"You got it, Adora!" Without waiting for a nod in return, the half-human-scorpion rushed over the bridge to the outer walls, expecting to meet the young princess at the same time as the guards.

The magicat grunted as she exposed her ferocious teeth, running down the same path as she chased along with Scorpia. "Hey!" She shouted, using her enhanced agility to reach upwards and towards Scorpia, hoping to cut her off.

"No you don't!" Just as Catra nearly reached the ledge of the bridge, she found her incredible jumping come to a sudden halt. Looking behind her, she already saw Adora's arms stretch out in a shadowy tendril, having thrown it with her incredible might, and latching onto her ankle at the last second as she jumped from the bridge herself.

She didn't bat an eye as she tugged on Catra's leg forcefully, pulling her all the way back before slamming her into the base of the giant tower's walls, and crashing her through it until several piles of debris collapsed atop of her.

Finally reaching the floor herself, she casually patted her own legs of any dust as she waited for her friend to pick herself up from the rubble. To her satisfaction, the warrior didn't last as much as three seconds before she came bursting out of the pile, small scrapes already forming along her exposed skin, and somehow managing to make Catra's face harden more than it had been.

During this, the Bright Moon Princess rose to her feet, her body still feeling like it was sleeping a little, as the electricity slowly worked through her system. By the time she could feel her legs again, the first group had just arrived, nearly jumping the defenseless princess as the first soldier struck with his stun baton. If it was any normal civilian, he might have had a chance. Otherwise, his fate would be the same as Glimmer quickly summoned her staff to the side again, shielding the attack just inches from her face.

Noticing the other two soldiers rushing towards her and the other group almost arriving all at once, the princess gave a small roar as she rolled onto her back, maintaining her grip on the soldier through her staff, and flung him in the opposite direction, toppling the first soldier and the guards into a massive heap that moaned from the fully-maned dropping they experienced.

Jumping back to her feet, the princess barely had enough time to block the other guards' batons both at once, almost being forced down to her knees as they pressed their own weight against it. Grunting, the princess gathered as much magic as she could into her right fist, ready to strike the guards the moment they dropped their ground. That drop was soon provided for them as Glimmer caught them by surprise and allowing the staff to drop. Those few seconds of confusion were all she needed from them before blasting them off their feet, hurdling them both several feet ahead, out cold.

This alone was enough to make the girl pant with exhaustion. Whatever energies this strange device was producing to maintain the barrier, it felt eerily similar to when she had been corrupted by the Black Garnet's energies, the great crystal itself nearly destroying her from an unknown magic. While she didn't have to worry about having a repeat of those events here, the situation remained just as troubling as Glimmer caught a closer look of the encampment from her end, just barely making out a fire over a large rock formation.

She couldn't really see anyone, which was ideal since the camp was supposed to maintain secrecy throughout the mission, but it made the fear and worry for her friends just as bad, if not worse than it already was. They had no idea what was going on as Adora Counter-ambushed them, revealed that someone was working with them from the inside, and Adora appeared to be one step ahead of them all the same.

There was nothing else she could do other than hope for her friends' safety, and an explanation for what was going on.

It was then that she heard the familiar sound of a large pair of footsteps rushing up from behind her, eyes widening at the sight of the scorpion girl charging straight for her with her stinger at the ready. Before she could strike, she was caught off guard as Bow jumped her from behind at the last second, struggling to keep his grip on the flailing girl as he pulled the grip of his weapon against her neck, maintaining his grip on the girl as much as possible as Glimmer gathered another filling of her magic into both her hands, glowing them with a pinkish energy.

"Haaahhhh!" She screamed, charging straight at the girl with staff at the ready.

There was little work to be had as Adora reformed the claws on the ends of her shadowy arms, giving a small crackle in her knuckles as she prepared for a grand fight. In a lot of ways, this was just like the day Adora broke her ties with Catra all those weeks hated the sight of her former friend, still felt like her betrayal happened only seconds ago, and still felt the torrent of pain within her heart as she realized Catra was using her all this time.

She'd been waiting for another encounter like this, almost more than she had been for this mission. This is where she changed her life for the better, and it all started with the former friend who ruined their lives in the first place.

"We have a lot of catching up to do..."

...

*crash!*

Mermista shouted in fury as she impaled the next droid straight through its mechanical body right as it started to charge. With a few seconds before the blast, she pulled back on her trident with all of her strength as she directed it to until it was facing one of the other droids that were raiding the camp. With a small twitch in the prongs, she watched with satisfaction as the droid blasted away the other one, then jumped gracefully away from her own droid before she could get caught in the explosion. That was two droids down, another dozen to go.

On Perfuma's end, the princess was struggling with two different complications that came from this fight, both, internally, and with the scenery around her. With a large skiff headed in her direction, with several soldiers occupying it and ready to strike, the princess gathered the magic within herself to fill the ground beneath them with her own power.

Closing her eyes in concentration, she summoned forth a wave of vines right from under the vehicle, raising it high into the air as the soldiers riding it were knocked out of their seats. With the soldiers landing painfully and weakened, she threw the skiff right over to Mermista, crashing it into the droid that was ready to pounce on her within seconds. Smiling to one another in thanks, they turned their attention to the rest of the battlefield that was slowly erupting in flame.

All throughout the camp, there was nothing but chaos and discord as Horde soldiers and droids continued their ambush on the encampment, attacking the princesses with all their might along with the small handful of Rebellion supporters and guards. With the guards handling the few soldiers the Princess Alliance brought with them, and the field supporters dealing with the droids, throwing bolas at their legs and causing them to topple over, it would have been seen as an average Horde attack that the alliance was repelling. There was just one little issue that kept this battlefield from being anything but normal.

*wham!*

The little ice princess that knocked aside a charging soldier with her ice-created gauntlets- Princess Frosta.

The Princess of the Kingdom of Snows. A member of the Princess Alliance and supposed-ally of the Rebellion. One of their friends they trusted with their lives.

All throughout the fight, Frosta had been fighting. From knocking away her enemies or freezing the grounds around them, tripping them up and making them crash into whatever collision course they were set off to. This would normally be a great thing to see except for the fact she was targeting the wrong people, like the ones on the Rebellion's side.

None of this made any sense! Why was Frosta fighting against them, why was she being this way? Throughout all the fighting, it was the one thing plaguing Perfuma's mind, the thing distracting her through all the combat. She was their friend, a fellow princess at that. She shouldn't be fighting with the enemy, they should be fighting against the enemy! No matter how stern Mermista's glare fell upon the girl as they looked to one another, Perfuma's gaze could only be filled with sadness.

"Frosta, why are you doing this?" Perfuma had to figure out the cause of all this, she just had to! "We're your friends!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Shouting, the princess slammed her icy fist into the ground as she created a path of raising frost towards the two princesses, erupting pillars of solid ice out of the ground that grew the closer it drew towards the princesses. Wasting no time, the two dodged out of the way before they could find their own legs encased in the solid blocks. With Perfuma rolling to the right, Mermista kicked off the ground and into the air, leaping towards the smaller princess as she slammed the blunt side of her trident onto the princess's hardened fists, both of them staring daggers at one another.

"Look, Frosty, if this is all part of some big dumb trick, then I'd really like to hear the plan then!" Despite her face showing signs of rage, her chest hurt with a pang of confusion and turmoil. She saw all that transpired within the last few minutes, from her suspicious behavior to her revealed betrayal, and she still refused to believe this was all meant to be taken seriously. There had to be some ace Frosta had up her sleeve, or maybe something she was hiding. It was the only reason she was holding back on her strength, a handicap that started to loosen the longer this possible charade lasted.

"It's not a trick!" As if to prove her point, grumbling, the princess pushed off Mermista's strike before slamming a large fist of ice into her stomach, throwing her several yards where she skidded across the ground before stopping herself, using the trident as a break top stop herself from blowing past any further than Perfuma. Needless to say, Mermista was becoming less amused as the fight progressed, and growing more and more tempted into fighting her at her full strength. The princesses all stared each other down as they set their priorities on one another, letting the droids and soldiers fight among themselves around them.

There was no way this was going to end happily, peacefully or otherwise. Frosta was proving herself to be more of a traitor than they were initially lead to believe, and the longer the fight progressed, the harder it was to tell if she was truly a friend or a foe. All Perfuma and Mermista knew was that the longer this fight lasted, the longer people would be getting hurt around here or back at the fortress. They needed to do whatever they could to stop this pointless fighting and find a way to save their friends.

Even if it meant fighting against one of themselves...

...

*clang!*

Catra's sword and Adora's shadowy blades clashed fiercely as they struck one another, glaring into each others eyes. Kicking off from the tip of her right foot, Adora pushed Catra back as she forced the magicat to stay on her feet, barely keeping her balance and the grip on her sword at the same time. Right as she came to a stop, the Force Captain quickly swiped at her legs with another shadowy blade formed along her left arm, stretching it up to five feet in length to prevent Catra from simply backing away from the strike.

Reacting quickly as she anticipated the growth of the attack, Catra changed the blade into a polearm capable of pushing off the ground, clashing the bladed end of the weapon into the ground and Adora's strike and pushing Catra several feet into the air from the other end. The girl's legs straightened in the air a little as she hung upside down, pulling the weapon out of the ground as she completed a full roll in the air, and slamming it overhead in an attempt to strike at Adora's shadow-covered shoulders, hoping to pin her in place.

Unfortunately, she wasn't just dealing with a typical Horde soldier that she could predict on the fly. She was dealing with a Force Captain that she had a personal history with.

Something like Catra's attack was mere cakewalk as the blond casually grabbed the serrated blade with both her hands, grinning to the surprised girl as she began to wave the polearm violently before slamming it into the ground, and Catra with it. It wasn't enough to keep Catra off her feet for more than a second, but no sooner did she get back on her heels did she feel Adora's shadowy fist slam into her face, sending her flying and dropping the sword until she smacked into the inner walls of the large fortress ten feet off the ground, and watching her fall with a solid landing to the ground as her polearm returned to normal.

Groaning as she leaned against the wall, rubbing her head as she slowly got up, Adora pondering as she gazed at her own arms was the first thing Catra saw.

The second thing was her holding the Sword of Protection in her grasp.

"You know," Adora began as she examined the sword flat against her palm, "sometimes I keep wondering about this stupid thing. The way everything changed after you found this giant paperweight, the way you conveniently changed sides the moment you touched it."

"Adora..." Catra winced rubbing her right shoulder, pulling herself from the ground.

"I know you're not under the princess' control now, but it still confuses me. Why are you so obsessed with this thing in the first place? Why did everything about you change the moment you touched this stupid thing? You could've come back to the Horde at any time, but instead you chose to go with the Rebellion and stay with them. After all the time that's passed, even now, I still can't understand why."

Contempt overcame the Force Captain's face as she glared. "Did you do it because you were just greedy? Is that really all there was to this? Or did you think you were supposed to do it in the first place, because some know-it-all said it was your destiny or some garbage?"

"My destiny...?" Catra muttered quietly as she thought to herself. Now that she thought of it, Adora didn't know. She didn't know about the mix-up involving the sword, the day their lives changed forever. She didn't bank her chancces on getting through to Adora at this point, but at the very least, it could open her eyes a little. "That destiny... it wasn't mine, Adora." Lifting her head a little to see the enemy's curiosity. "It was... yours."

"...Huh?" She glanced back to the sword as Catra continued.

"I wasn't supposed to find sword in the first place, Adora. You were the one the sword wanted, who... Light Hope said, was supposed to find the sword."

"Light-who?"

"Some hologram woman living within the Beacon it doesn't matter. The point is, the First Ones wanted you to find the sword in the first place, they needed you to find it. And I... I just got in the way again and messed everything up."

"..." This was the first time Adora had gone silent to Catra's speech as she raised the sword a little in examination.

Was anything she said true? About finding the sword? Was their entire life flipped over because the wrong person found the sword at the right time? It didn't make any sense to her. And what difference would it make if she was the one who found the sword? She would've gladly gone back to the Horde and continue working for them, she was sure of it. Knowing Catra, she was just trying to make an excuse for why she left, again.

At the same time, she had to admit she was a little curious of the notion. Not a day passed where she didn't stop thinking of the moment the two became enemies, perhaps longer than she realized when she thought of the day Catra left. Who knows what would have happened if she went through everything that Catra did. Maybe she would be fighting for the Rebellion, maybe she would've actually became friends with Glimmer and Bow, and Catra, well, she didn't really care about her at this point. All she knew was that is was a possibility that could have happened, right?

...As if!

"...Tch...Pffft! Hahahaahahaha!" Adora's never laughed so hard in her life, nor cause a greater amount of confusion to the magicat at the sight of someone laughing. "Oh my gosh, Catra, hahaha! That has got to be your WORST lie ever!"

"What? Lie?" There went any hope she had of getting Adora to open her eyes, but what did she mean by that. "What lie? It's the truth!"

"Pffft... Okay, okay, so let me see if I got this straight." She wiped a tear of joy from her eyes as she tried putting the pieces together. "You're saying the First Ones, this supposedly advanced race from a thousand years ago, wanted me to find the sword, right? The people who were capable of such advanced technology that we would be using them in the war surrounding us today, they somehow happened to know that I would be born around this time, a thousand years later, and specifically me, and entrusted some "grand destiny" to me."

"So with that said, you're trying to tell me that this incredibly advanced society, again, from a thousand years in the past, placed all their hopes and dreams on the idea that I, Adora, would just happen to randomly stumble across the sword, just happen to find it buried in the ground, and would just HAPPEN to find it on a tiny little speck on the globe, and thought I would just randomly be walking in that direction one day, and happen to come across the sword myself? That has got to be, the absolute, worst lie I've ever heard of!"

"..." Catra just blinked to herself as she processed everything Adora said out loud. "...Okay, wow, yeah, you make it sound really stupid when you say it like that, but-"

*chnk*

Catra almost flinched as the sword was shot in her direction, impaling the wall behind her, and close enough to the point that she saw a few strands of hair falling from the edge of all that remained. Looking back, it was unsurprising as she saw Adora glaring back at her, somehow mixing a sense of contempt and frustration with a stroke of sadness as she stared back at her, arm still raised in the air from the sword she threw.

"Catra, if you're not going to even put the effort in to lie to me, then don't say anything at all." That was one of the few things Adora had respect for Catra before the betrayal. The way she managed to loosen her tongue to get others in her favor, the way she turned nearly any conversation around on others, it was one of the few skills Adora had yet to master, even with Shadow Weaver's help. Now, Catra didn't even have the energy to give her the effort and instead opted to pick the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard.

"Adora, it's the truth!" Arguing proved futile as the warrior pulled her blade from the wall again.

"I don't care, Catra! Even if it was the truth, I wouldn't care anymore. There is nothing about you that I can trust, nothing to convince me of what you said. The day I realized who you truly were, the person who only wanted to be my friend for their own benefit, I lost all the trust I could possibly give you." The shadows along her arms began to erupt ever so slightly as a mist-like evaporation seemed to be occurring, the shadows rising into the air and dissipating, unlike Adora's hatred.

"You used me, tricked me, constantly made it about yourself and what you wanted to do, and you never did anything for me unless it was to help yourself somewhere down the line." She tightened her shadow-covered fists as her glare intensified. "You never, once, did anything I wanted to try, never helped me when I needed it most. And now you want me to trust you after everything you've done to my life?"

Without warning, the Force Captain shot both of her fist-turned-tendrils straight at the girl, forcing her to dodge out of the way of the oncoming impalement that nearly reached her. From the side, she saw Adora's tendrils seep into the wall itself, spreading, multiplying, like a virus as veins stretched all over the wall within twelve feet of her impact. With a solid pull, Adora yanked her shadows back out of the wall, watching as the concrete and metal eroded from her shadow's magic.

Like the trust she once had for Catra, it all came crumbling down until nothing but torn shreds of rusted steel and broken concrete remained.

"All I want anymore is to make you pay, Catra," the shadows around her shoulders began to grow as small sets of tendrils grew in a rotation-like manner, "and feel everything I did since the Beacon."

From this, Catra was taken back as she saw small rock formations flowing along her shadow arms up to her shoulders, all collected from the debris her arms left behind, being pulled out of the skin-like protection with her very own shadows as if she was loading them on for something. The rocks ranged from puny to the size of a small ball, all perfectly positioned and aimed at the cat-girl as she loaded up the various rocks along her arms. Raising an arm to Catra again, even at this forty-foot difference, she was about to show her just how durable her pain could be.

*Thwack!*

"Ah!" Catra yelped in pain as her shoulder was struck. In less than a second, sliding against the dark layer of skin over her arms, the rock jettisoned itself from Adora's palm at full force, faster than a bullet and with the full weight of an average-sized ball, she struck the very tip of Catra's shoulder blade, shattering the rock upon impact and leaving a bruised scrape across her shoulder. She didn't even give her a single moment to catch her breath as she fired the next one at her, this time along her knee.

*sskk*

The pain wasn't as great as the large one that struck her shoulder, but it proved to her that no matter the size, the smaller pebbles were just as troubling as the large ones before it. With speed that Catra couldn't even track and a precision that forced her to accept it was intentional, Adora launched another of the rock fragments against her leg, leaving a smooth, solid, cut along it as it cracked into the wall behind her. It wasn't enough to start any profound bleeding, but that didn't matter.

These were just two of the various rocks Adora collected.

*Tatatatatatatta-*

Adora refused to back down or give Catra so much as an inch of space as she fired from both her palms at the same time. Like a machine gun firing on endless, Catra was helpless to defend herself as she shielded her body with her bare arms, blocking whatever projectiles she could from striking against her face or her chest. She toughed out the pain she felt as the rocks pelted her to no end, wincing several times throughout the onslaught as she felt some of them impact straight against her limbs and joints, nearly dropping to a leg at one point as one collided with her square in the knee.

With what little concentration she had against the dreaded firing, she poured all of her energy into creating a shield from the beautiful sword, never being more thankful that it worked in one of the few times she most needed it, and braced herself against it as it took on the brunt of the assault, leaving everything above her knees safe from Adora's rock-filled barrage. It was times like this Catra forgot about her She-Ra state, remembering how it enhanced her strength as well as her durability. The pain she endured was a result from the She-Ra state lessening her injuries, there was no telling how bad they would be without it.

After a near-twenty seconds of endless, pelting, the assault finally came to an end. Catra waited a bit to make sure there wasn't anything coming her way before lifting her head up, making sure the firing range was clear. All she could see were Adora's hate-filled eyes as she slammed her shadowy fist straight into the Catra's shield, pressing her and crushing her into the wall behind her as she lifted her a few feet off the ground.

"Ngh!" She grumbled as she pushed back as much as possible, barely separating an inch from the wall as Adora pushed harder and harder into the shield, pinning her to the wall. She knew the fight wouldn't have been easy, but she didn't expect herself to have this much trouble. Based on what Bow and Glimmer told her, Adora could only fight for so long in her shadowy-state before her powers became too much for her. So what was she hiding that allowed her to fight for so long?

"First a useless sword, then a useless spear, and now a useless shield." She sneered, leaning a little closer to Catra's face as she taunted. "Can your sword transform into anything useful at all?"

"Mmh..." Finally freeing an additional inch between the two, Catra smirked back. "Like this?" With a small yet blinding flash to Adora from this close, the Force Captain barely registered that Catra had transformed her sword into something, something that would turn the tide in her favor.

A grappling hook.

There was no time for Adora to contemplate the strange choice of weaponry as Catra fired the hook from above her shoulders, stretching it out until it reached all the way to the other side of the Tower's base. With her grip leaving her from the now-missing shield, Adora had no leverage to push herself back as Catra kicked both of her feet into Adora's chest, knocking her off her feet and pinning her to the ground. That's when the magic truly happened.

With a single click of the grappling hook's control, she shot forward at an incredible speed as she pushed Adora further into the ground, dragging her and shoving her through the rough earth around them as Catra continued to pull closer and closer towards the walls. Small mounds of debris and dust blanketed thetrail around them until Catra finally came to a stop halfway there. With a small jump, grabbing Adora's leg as it flailed upwards, she threw the Force Captain with all her might, not at the tower, but against the base of the small archway, crashing into it with tremendous force that managed to collapse the entire bridge on top of her.

For the part of her that did care about Adora, she was relieved to know the shadow protected her from every direction, adding on an entire layer of invisible skin that acted like its own personal suit of armor. Otherwise, she'd be dealing with the fact she dropped a small bridge on top of her friend and most likely crushed her.

At least she could take some guaranteed enjoyment that it definitely hurt.

Just not enough to keep her down any longer than when Adora buried her the first time. Still, it was refreshing ot see the Force Captain panting a little, no doubt from the lack of experience she's had with Catra's empowered state.

"So, is that the kind of pain you were thinking of, or did you want something more?" Cartra asked with a smug grin, taunting with her sword over her shoulder as it changed back to its original form.

She honestly felt good in this fight for a change. Despite the injuries she's taken, and most likely would take further on, this fight was off to a good start! She was definitely benefiting from unlocking more of her She-Ra state within the last week. Who knew how strong she would be by the time she reached her full power again?

"...Heh heh... Hahahaha..." Ugh, there it was again! That stupid laugh! It was perhaps the one thing that constantly annoyed Catra every time she met Adora now. Whenever she was laughing like that, it was because of pride. Pride she obtained from having information or a weapon that Catra didn't, pride from knowing that the odds were still in her favor. And the unbearable part was Adora never telling her why she was laughing until after the big reveal.

"What's so funny?"

"Haha, ahhh... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just," she took the chance to brush off whatever dirt she collected from Catra's recent surfboarding, "you're thinking too small again, like usual."

"About what?"

"About pain." At this, Adora pulled the braid from her hair as she let it hang loosely around her. "There's at least two types of pain in this world, Catra. Physical pain, and emotional pain. See, the thing about physical pain, is that it's only temporary. No matter how serious the injury, it'll usually disappear within a few days to weeks, if not a month." From here, her expression twisted into a sharp scowl. "Emotional pain, on the other hand, never goes away, Catra. It never stops, it never gives you a break. From my experience, it just keeps haunting you and haunting you until the day you die. That's the kind of pain I want you to feel, Catra."

"Tch," she spat holding up her sword, "kind of late for that, you know. Did you forget everything within the last month?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure eeeeeverything within the last month must've been so hard for you." Watching her, Catra prepared herself as she watched Adora pick up a pile of rocks from the crash behind her, waiting for her to pull another strike with them. Instead, she just waited as Adora crushed each and every one in her hand as she spoke.

*crack*

"Waiting around with your new friends as the robots kept coming."

*crack*

"Toying around with your powers like they were the greatest gift in the world."

*crack*

"And Frosta even told me they helped redecorate your own room. Man, only the saddest person could think of a little remodeling, couldn't they?" It sickened her when Catra spoke like she was in pain. She knew nothing of pain, nothing at all. To her, pain was an irritation you got that went away as soon as you couldn't use it anymore. To Adora, it was someone stabbing her heart with a knife and twisting it endlessly. All she wanted to do right now was to crack open that little wall surrounding what she called a heart, and let the dam burst open itself. She just needed the right pick to pierce it.

"Ghh..."

And there it was. Turning her eyes from the half-cracked rock in her hands to the She-Ra, she smirked. "Oh, riiiight, Frosta, we didn't really get around to that did we?"

...

*bzzzzt*

"Ouch!" Bow yelped, pulling back his hand from the electrical barrier.

"Are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly, inspecting his slightly burnt hand.

The archer shook it against the cool air for a minute as he rubbed it. "Yeah, I'm fine, but it's no good. Every corner of this barrier is covered. I couldn't imagine opening this thing on my own!" Looking back on it, this must've been the mother of all ambushes.

They had no plan, and they still charged in. They expected things to get pretty dicey, one way or another, and they knew that Catra could easily pull her out of it. With the barrier going on around here, he was sure they still would've found a way out of this situation. Even with Adora around here, he was convinced the Princess Alliance would've been able to push through anything she threw at them, and that everything would be alright.

What he didn't count on was one of their own being a part of this.

With the barrier keeping everyone in and out, there was no way to tell how the situation was going on the other end, nor could they support each other. Glimmer's magic proved useless to teleport through the electrical wall, and without any tools on hand, there was no way he could figure out how to disable the barrier from the inside, provided he could to begin with!

The only bit he was sure of was that the orb thing, the device that generated the entire barrier, was the key to all of this. As soon as he or someone managed to take it down, he was positive that the barrier would come down with it. Easy, right? Unfortunately, no, because like the situation keeping the two teams separated, there was no way he could fire at the thing from the inside. Atop the massive tower, outside of his range, he couldn't get anything close to an accurate shot. The structures surrounding it blocked his way, and he barely had any more than a dozen arrows on hand.

To add to the stress of their situation, all throughout this, they were being chased constantly by Scorpia and a handful of guards. Getting cornered on at least several occasions, with the guards rushing them on both sides and the courtyard being occupied by Catra and Adora, Glimmer had no choice other than to teleport out of harms way, reappearing at least half a mile away on the other end of the fortress, and doing this at least twice. They couldn't risk themselves being captured, not when it would mean forcing Catra to lay down her arms, or vice versa.

"Well there has to be something!" Noticing it from around the corner, she quickly caught the archer's attention as she gestured down the wall, showing the guards that were heading right for them. Nodding back to her, the two quickly sped off in the opposite direction, hoping to stall the possible capture for as long as possible. "Maybe we could break it open or something? I mean, they had to have some way of getting out of it themselves, right?"

"By my guess, the thing is on a timer if they don't take it down themselves, but at this rate, we're not going to last long enough to find out." Looking up ahead, he felt his luck changing as an idea formed in his mind. "But we might have a way to make our own opening." Following his gaze, she understood immediately as the two came upon one of the mounted turrets up ahead.

Thankfully, it wasn't destroyed when the barrier came down, finding it rather fortunate the electrical field didn't do anything that could've sliced the canon apart in one go. Their hopes that things would prove smoothly from here stopped just as quickly as Bow grabbed the handles to the turret. Pulling with all of his strength in an attempt to get it to turn, pushing it forward, having Glimmer help him with it, nothing allowed the massive gun to turn in any direction.

"Ngghhh... Why... isn't... it... turning!?" Glimmer grunted, pushing with every muscle in her body.

"Mmmhhh... ugh..." Almost sliding off his feet as he surrendered, Bow wiped the small pool of sweat dripping from his head. "The barrier must've gone around anything solid when it landed. It's locked into place because their's basically a wall in every direction of it!" It almost made him wonder if the barrier actually phased through the barrel of the turret and locked it into place.

"So we can't use it at all?" What were they supposed to do? Play cat-and-mouse all day with Scorpia and the rest of the guards until someone got them through the barrier? If they couldn't get past the barrier or find some way to disable it, it was the only choice they had if they wanted to avoid capture. Between the girl with the poisonous, paralyzing, stinger and the dozen or so soldiers with her, there was little else they could do that didn't get in Catra's way or expose themselves to Adora while they fought.

"Probably not unless you pulled the turret out yourself, and that's provided it could be pulled out." Looking around, his worries intensified as he saw the surrounding turrets that had yet to be destroyed. Just like the current one, each and every one of them were under the blue curtain containing the Princess Alliance and Horde under one roof. "And none of the other turrets are any better. They're all stuck, too."

"Not all of them." Rubbing his shoulder, she directed him to the tower itself. Up upon the next floor of the tower, Bow had almost forgotten that there was another floor's worth of turrets mounted from the tower itself. It didn't matter if one of the turrets were destroyed, all they would need is one, hopefully, to get a hole torn through the veil. Nodding to each other, the princess teleported the two of them to the closest turret on the second floor, just before the Horde could get to them again.

Reappearing on the next layer, placing plenty of distance between the turret and the Horde's arrival through the bridge, the princess and the archer reached the turret within a matter of seconds, Bow grinning as he quickly got the turret set up while he saw Glimmer panting behind him, leaning on the turret's chair. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Huff... I'm fine." She replied, wiping her head. "I probably got three, four teleports left in me."

"Hmhm, doubt we'll need it after this." Smiling, he took aim to the barrier surrounding them, thumbs twitching as they hovered against the triggers. "Fingers crossed!" Without another word, the archer blasted a single shot of the powerful turret at the barrier's blue wall, the blast creating a small shockwave-like effect as the barrier waved outward from the blast. There was a definite reaction to the shot, and firing again, he confirmed what he already knew would happen.

Within a few seconds, the archer watched as a small hole began to form around the barrier, slowly disintegrating in an orange wave of energy that spread around the initial shot. Holding off on the brief firing, his face brightened greatly as he saw the size of the hole the blast left behind. It was big enough for a fully grown human to fit through, and that was just after the first blast! With enough shots, he was positive he could rip this current like a regular piece of fabric in no time!

"All right, it worked!" He cheered successfully, pumping his fist. The same level of optimism being shared by Glimmer slowly faded as the princess leaned closer ahead of him.

"Bow!" She yelled worriedly, pointing to the event that was going to crush his hope as it did hers. Looking through the small scope-like bullseye of the massive weapon, he was about to see why.

No sooner did he puncture a hole within the electrical wall did it slowly begin to repair itself. In merely five seconds since the archer struck the barrier, it began to repair itself just as quickly as it was damaged. A faint blue light glowed around the opening as it slowly shrunk into itself, eventually becoming good as new, as if it had never been damaged in the first place. Bow groaned in dismay at this as his arms fell to his side, seeing how much of his work went down the drain as quickly as it started.

"Aww come on!" There wasn't any chance of them getting through the barrier like this. Even if he made it big enough for Glimmer to teleport through, there was no guarantee she would make it in time before it closed, at least not with such a small opening to begin with. On top of that, they had no means of blasting away the barrier enough with firepower with one measly turret at the ready, the other ones being on opposing sides of this one. That was when he continued to notice something off about the Horde who were halfway across the bridge. "Hey, where'd Scorpia go?"

"Right here!"

"Ahhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in fear as she was suddenly tackled off the ledge by the grinning Scorpia.

"Glimmer!"

The princess of the Black Garnet smiled down to the princess as she held onto her arms tightly, grinning victoriously as the two of them fell closer to the bridge as the Horde neared them. "So, how many teleports do you have left, your highness?" She teased. Looking back over her shoulder, the tackled princess grumbled as she pulled back fist.

"Enough for this!" With a powerful strike, she managed to punch Scorpia's face hard enough to break her grasp on the princess in peril, using what little time she had left to teleport back to the top of the ledge where Bow was waiting, helping to catch her as she nearly fell to her knees from exhaustion. On the other end, Scorpia had just enough time to rub her face clear from the shock of the punch to see the dozens of Horde soldiers appearing right under her before she crashed.

*THUD!*

"Ow..." She was glad the people below her were willing enough to break her fall as she got up again, smiling to them as she pulled herself off the ground. "Thanks for the catch, guys." None of the other soldiers gave her a response other than their own personal moans and groans, half of them incapable of getting up as the others rubbed their backs and legs in agony.

Back on the top, Glimmer continued to moan as she straightened herself out, getting back to her feet as Bow threw her left arm over his shoulder for support. "Make that two teleports left."

"Mmmmh come on." He helped her as much as he could as the two ran back into the tower, hastening their retreat as Glimmer became weaker with each passing teleport.

Time was running out for the two of them, which would end up being three if they were used as leverage as they feared. He refused to let the Horde get their hands on his friend as he contemplated their remaining options. At this point, it was coming down to either waiting for the barrier to come down on its own, fight off the Horde long enough in the hopes of victory, which included Adora in the process, or hope for some other miracle to come save them at the last moment.

And with all the day has been giving them until now, the latter seemed very implausible...

...

"You never told me what it was you did to her!" This was Catra's only chance to get the answers she needed out of her. She had to figure out what she had done to Frosta, what sort of threat she had over her that would make her turn on them.

"What I did to her?" Adora poked her chin playfully. "Hmm, let's see... I was an impressive guest at her party, I've been nothing but nice to her like a real friend should, I actually care about her unlike you and the rest of the Princess Alliance who wants to use her... Hmph, I can't think of anything beyond that, sadly." Catra didn't give her any verbal response to that other than a low-tone growl, lunging straight for the girl as she transformed the sword into a two-handed chain and sickle. With a jump to the air, the magical growled as she threw the ball 'n chain straight at he girl, Adora doing nothing to block the attack as she casually raised her arm, letting the small ball wrap around it with ease. "Maybe that's why she told me about your little weakness."

"W... Weakness?" For a moment, Catra was actually confused by what she meant. She never really considered her own weakness up to this point, other than the lack of She-Ra power she had, but... Oh no.

During her momentary confusion, grinning, Adora easily clutched the chain still attached to the She-Ra's weapon, giving it a good jerk as the wave-like motion resulted in wrapping around both of Catra's wrists. Blinking out of her stupor at the last moment, Catra was powerless to stop as Adora forcefully yanked the princess right out of the air, and slammed her into the ground where she left a small crater. It didn't do anything to deter Catra's status, but as she noticed the small twitches in her fingertips and toes, Adora knew she was on the right track.

"You know, among other things. She had just a fun time telling me about each and every one of you, including the Rebellion." Continuing to gloat, the girl casually made her way over to Catra as Catra charged at her again. "Like how Glimmer had a limited number of teleports," she went on, dodging casually to the right, "how useless that Bow guy is without his tech," it just took two mere fingers to block the strike coming from the right, "and how the other princesses would much rather abandon you than risk their own kingdoms. I can't imagine what you could've said to set them off so much."

Of course, Catra knew exactly what she was referring to, the day still scorched into her memory for the last month. The day they went off to rescue Glimmer and Bow, when they thought Entrapta had died when she was really left behind, and the way Catra took her frustrations out on the rest of them, blaming the princesses for Entrapta's death. She didn't need any reminder of the tragic detail, and the fact Adora brought it up of all people made her think of only two words in response. "Shut up!"

Nerves intensifying along her limbs, the warrior transformed the sword into a two-handed great axe, slamming it down with as much force as her current state could give her, forcing Adora to block it with as much power as she had within her shadows as she covered her head with both arms. She did have to admit, she was a little surprised as she felt her feet sink into the ground below her, and feeling the axe cutting deeper into her shadow than previously. While it was to be expected, she knew the risk was well worth the cost if it meant exposing Catra's weakness.

Herself.

"Aww, what's wrong? Did I hit those feelings you pretend to have? You can drop the act Catra, it's just the two of us, you know." Noticing the pressure increasing on her, she quickly rolled backwards as she threw Catra over herself with her own weight. She expected Catra to easily catch herself from the fall, with her only intention of freeing the weight off herself as she looked back. "It's not like you actually care about those princesses anyway, it's not like they like you any better."

"Stop it!" Shouting angrily, she formed two bladed gauntlets over both her arms before lunging straight for the girl at full speed. With her opening deeply exposed to her, Adora easily managed to counter her as she ducked under her, catching the magical by surprise as she kicked her harshly in the stomach and sending her flying. She didn't get anywhere past twenty feet in the air before Adora wrapped a shadowy tentacle around her waist, slamming her straight into the ground ahead of her. The cat was too distraught over this rush of emotions and anger flowing into her mind that she couldn't bring herself to prepare for the blow, bracing for the impact as she landed back into the same crater Adora crashed her into earlier.

Dust scattered around the girl a she got up to her knees from this, her body shaking with unease as she tried to maintain her own emotional state. It was enough to bring a smile of satisfaction to the Force Captain as she lowered her guard, walking her way over to the girl without a care in the world. "What's wrong, Catra? Feel something in that heart you claim to have?"

"I'm not listening..." She growled. She couldn't do anything else except cover her ears with her own two claws, squeezing her eyes shut to ignore everything around her. She was not listening to this, she refused to! She knew exactly what she was trying to do and knew every reason why she couldn't let her get to her. It was a battle between what she knew was going on, and a struggle within her chest feeling what was going on. And she was losing.

"That's called pain, Catra. Cold, harsh pain." This is it. This is what she wanted her to feel. "It feels like someone pulling your heart down into an infinite abyss, beating rapidly against a stream that keeps pushing back. Trust me, Catra, it doesn't go away. And I should know, it's how you've made me feel for the last month. And you wanna know the worst part about it, Catra? It doesn't go away. No matter how much you beg or wish to yourself it does, it never goes away." Her expression softened a little as she looked at her own shadowy hands, muttering softly, "All you can do is force yourself through the pain for the sake of others. You don't have a choice."

"I said shut up!" Catra refused to believe a single word from her about Frosta. She refused to believe it, she couldn't believe it! If she was right about that, what else did she lie about? Did the other princesses truly keep her around just because she was useful? Treat her kindly just to get them through the mission? She knew it had to be a lie, it just had too. Yet, no matter what absurd drivel came from Adora's mouth, she had yet to lie about a single thing.

Looming over the girl now, Adora grinned. "Tell me Catra, what hurts worst right now?" She asked, squatting closer to her ears. Catra's heart rate intensified with each passing second, every word that came from her. She kept yelling to herself, like a mantra, to ignore everything spewing from her mouth, to push away any and all thoughts running through her head. But no matter how far she tried to push away from the girl's words, Adora continued to dig deeper.

"Is it the fact someone you thought you knew turned out to be a traitor? Is it the reality that she's been working for us the whole time, or maybe the fact you're now feeling what I've been feeling for so long?" Sneering, she leaned in closer to Catra's ears, delving into the deepest reaches of Catra's heart as she pulled out the most painful of truths. "Or is it the fact that deep down inside, you actually thought she wanted to be your friend~?"

Catra blinked.

There are lines that are drawn and lines that shouldn't be crossed. Adora just drew the line with a pole and vaulted over it at the same time. She reached deep within Catra's heart and grabbed the bait tightly with her bite. The only mistake she made was never realizing what mistake she made until after it was too late.

She didn't let go fast enough.

"AaaaaahhhhHHHHHH!"

*WHAM!*

In a mad fury, pupils glowing with absolute anger, Catra morphed a massive gauntlet with her sword, and just as quickly smashed Adora into the air with the back of her hand. Adora was completely caught off guard by the speed and power of the strike as she felt like she was hit with the power of a fully loaded train with the speed of sound mixed together, coughing out a gasp of air that would have seemed like sweet relief with the onslaught that was about to follow.

With what little breath she inhaled, she felt her lungs vacating it immediately as she felt a strong lasso wrapping around her stomach, squeezing tightly as she was jerked out of the air again just as quickly as she was sent flying. She couldn't even register which direction she was being pulled too as Catra yanked the girl back to herself, reeling the girl back to her with massive speed as she reformed the weapon again into something she desperately needed to smack Adora with, something she needed to make sure she felt when she came back down.

A Sledgehammer.

*CRAG!*

Adora swore her eyes nearly popped into her head as her stomach took the impact of her attack at full force, shooting the Force Captain straight through the pillar of the northern bridge without any sign of slowing down in the slightest. The attack was brutal enough as she practically felt the armor-like skin around her shatter upon impact, the shadows dissipating into thin air as the concentration left her clarity and the magic left her veins. She was forced to stop herself from flying past any farther as she dug what remained of her shadows into the ground, stopping the ensuing crash from getting any worse as she left a trail nearly forty feet in length ahead of her until she finally came to a stop.

Whereas her assault, didn't.

*CLAK!*

"Ah!" Adora yelped in main as she felt something strike the side of her face. She lost track of the strange attack and Catra as they both left her view, with the former just as quickly reentering it within seconds.

*CLAK!*

"Agh!" She winced deeply in pain as it collided against her right knee that time, forcing her down to one foot as she grasped her right knee in pain. It was the only chance she had to see the attack coming at all, revealing it to be a golden boomerang, one that flew back into the air where Adora found Catra falling from again. With the boomerang returned to her, the magicat returned it to its original form as she fell from the sky, intending to slam the sword straight into the one who had enraged her so much.

Adora had little option left as she was forced to raise her defense as much as possible. With all the shadows she could possibly gather within the last few seconds, she barely managed to block the blade from reaching her as she formed a small dome around herself, pupils shrinking in terror as she sword penetrated through the barrier, stopping just inches away from her face before the sword reached her. She had a small sigh at the sight of its timely halt, taking the moment to recuperate as much as she could have the given moment of peace.

A false peace, at that.

*zzzt*

Within the tranquil darkness, Adora's eyes opened again. From the very tip of the sword, they widened as she saw energy being drawn through the blade, an energy she had seen only once before in her previous fight with Catra. She knew what the attack was capable of, having witnessed the power before on a fully mechanized tank. That tank was refined to take multiple blasts from others before anything could penetrate its armor. Even though she only had a portion of She-Ra's power, she was still about to take the brunt of it at point blank range, with no means to defend herself as the sword already pierced through her shadows.

She was about to be blasted by Catra's magic.

*SPZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

*CRASH!*

There was nothing she could do, she was helpless. With a burst of power, the sword blasted her with as much force as Catra could muster, blasting the Force Captain off her feet and sending her flying against the ground. In less than three seconds, she traversed from the northeastern courtyard of the base, all the way to the wall on the opposite side of the courtyard to the west. Any semblance of peace at this rate was nothing short of a lie as Adora collapsed to the ground.

Pain. She felt nothing but absolute pain right now as she struggled to move her arms and legs until she was up on her hunches. Her body had been attacked ferociously by Catra's assault, one that came to her much stronger than she ever anticipated. Catra's rage fueled every attack while maintaining perfect accuracy and foresight in every strike. It was like she was a completely different person as Adora feebly rose to her knees. She could barely handle the pain emanating from her chest without bursting into tears of pain, biting down on her own teeth as heart as she could as she examined her own chest.

Dead center, right in the middle of her chest, she saw a burn mark the size of her fist. Catra's magic had actually penetrated through her shadows in its entirety, and left a searing burn mark upon her, where her heart should be. It still wasn't enough, not enough to make her admit this hurt worse than the pain Catra inflicted upon her emotionally. That pain was what fueled her, drove her to continue on her missions and push herself to her limits as much as she could.

But, she had to admit, it was pretty close.

And it showed no signs of ending as Catra was already rushing her again, sword at the ready as she dashed to her in a burst of speed.

The magicat could barely register what she was doing to her old friend, and right now, she didn't care. Rage, anger, fury. She felt all of these emotions raging on inside of her, and she didn't care. Adora, this Adora, had nerve. The nerve to push Catra to her limits without breaking them, the nerve to continue pushing past them no matter how many times she begged her to stop, and the nerve to tell her the words she never wanted to hear, or believe.

Well, Adora got what she wanted. She convinced Catra of everything she tried to deny for herself. Frosta was a traitor. A cruel, manipulative, traitor. She didn't care about anything related to the girl. Whether she was still technically a child, or a full grown princess, she just didn't care. She hated her. She hated her for manipulating her like that, all of them like that, but the more she thought of it, she was also thankful for it. It reminded her of all the reasons she didn't grow attachments to anything, the reason she didn't care about making friends like Glimmer and Bow had always encouraged her to do. She betrayed all of them, and she was no better than the rest of the Horde.

She didn't care about her anymore. She didn't care about getting to know any of the princesses anymore. And for now, she didn't care what her emotions ended up doing to Adora. All she knew as she raised her sword, jumping for the girl with all her strength, was that she wanted her to PAY!

And all Adora knew was that she could only defend herself with what remained of her powers, covering her arms with as much darkness as she could gather, and prepared for the worst as the sword came on top of her.

*cling*

"Hngh?" Catra's squeak brought Adora to raise her head again as she continued to wait for the strike. To her surprise, the strike had already come to her, and she didn't even feel it. Looking back, she saw the sword pitifully pressing on her shadows as if it was nothing. Come to think of it, it looked feeble enough that Adora could block it with her own two arms without magic! And looking back at the attacker, she soon came to see why.

Catra. Her She-Ra state. It was shattering. All throughout the fight, without Catra to realize it, she was losing portions of her She-Ra state as her emotions flourished with rage. Every attack that Catra had landed against the girl came with a portion of her disappearing. Every bout of anger, every strike that held nothing but contempt within it, every hit she launched on the girl came with a fraction of her power disappearing along with it. From her hair, to her pants, to everything she acquired in order, it disappeared in the same order as they appeared. Neither of the two girls realized it until this moment, with Adora being assaulted and Catra committing the assault. Needless to say, their reactions to this varied deeply in response.

From Catra's end, she was beyond shocked. All that anger and rage she had boiling inside of her, she couldn't control it. She couldn't control the acts that allowed her to slam down on Adora with all of her force. Not to say she entirely minded it, but she didn't want to go out to the point of nearly killing her as a result. She felt just like Adora did the day they battled in Salineas, except she was more surprised than disturbed by the portions of her power that were disappearing, and the fact she didn't realize it until it was too late. All she had left was the basic of her outfit, her white vest that covered down to her thighs.

And, with a shimmer, those too eventually disappeared.

*Shiiiiiiim*

"Ah!" She was back. Catra was back to her old self again, Horde outfit and all. Same clothes she wore day in and day out, same hair color she was born with since day one, same everything. Except now, she didn't have the sword's power at her beck and call. And the amount of energy she wasted finally started to catch up to her as she began to breathe heavily, feeling a wave of total exhaustion overcoming her as she continued to gaze at her hands in absolute terror.

Adora, on the other hand, began to grin.

The results were definitely different from what she expected. She didn't expect Catra to berserk like that, she didn't think the girl would wash away the energy while pummeling her at the same time, or leaving the burning sear on her chest that reminded her of her near-fatal accident. With Catra's moment of glory finally coming to pass, she grew smug again as she slowly got to her feet, feeling the shadows replenishing her with energy, and relishing the freshness of it returning to her body.

Her plan had succeeded. Catra let her emotions run her wild, and now, She-Ra's power had left her. It didn't matter to her if it wasn't a permanent ordeal. All she cared about was that she no longer had it for the time being, and she didn't plan on letting her bring it back anytime soon.

Neither of them could believe what had happened, and neither of them knew how to react to the situation. All they knew was how to react afterwards.

"So, Catra," hesitating to breathe, the warrior turned around to see the shadows already beginning to reform around her arms, "ready for Round 2?"

...

*ssszzzhhh*

The ground soaked in the waters of Mermista's water as she shot a geyser's worth of water at the young princess with nearly all her might. The longer the fight seemed to persist, the more she was forced to fight at her full capacity. Going so far as to blast the young girl several times with torrets of water, only for Frosta to shake them off with ease, or, in cases such as this, freeze the torrent immediately as soon as her hands made impact with the gush.

This is the disadvantage Mermista found throughout this fight with her. The flames that surrounded the camp from the attacking droids that Perfuma was dealing with, the soldiers that the Rebellion's support were fighting against, did nothing against Frosta's chilling aura. All the ice she made throughout the fight might as well have been made of stone, refusing to melt no matter how long the battle lasted.

The only time she managed to be rid of the dangerous chill was when she destroyed the icy environment with her sheer strength, cracking the ice apart with her trident, and occasionally tossing the nearest droid into one of her frozen sculptors she traversed. And even when they did, she just created another icy path to traverse through the battlefield, assisting the Horde with whatever Rebellion soldiers she could as she froze the weapons of the Rebellion or knocked people off their feet with ease.

What were they supposed to do at a time like this? They knew every second they wasted, something bad could be happening on the other side of the chasm, another part of Adora's plan possibly coming to fruition. And with every attack launched at one another, the more Perfuma and Mermista found themselves torn between coming to an understanding, or fighting to save their lives.

With the blast of water frozen before her, the Princess of Salineas quickly hopped atop her newly-formed frozen pathway before charging straight at the young princess, trident in hand. With the following second spent shattering the frozen pillar she had formed, Frosta found little time to defend against Mermista's sudden charge as she struck the trident right above her right shoulder, pinning her to the ground from the coat without hitting her.

"Would you stop this already!?" Mermista yelled as Frosta struggled to break free of the trident's grip. "Look around here, Frosta!" With the princess yelling in her face, Frosta was forced to turn her head, opening her eyes as she saw the flames erupting from the camp and the few Rebellion soldiers that continued fighting against the baton-equipped Horde. "Do you seriously want to be a part of this? A part of the Horde?"

"Hnnngh!" With a loud grumble, the young princess formed an impressive-sized mallet out of solid ice around her left hand, smacking the princess against her side a short distance away as she jumped back into a battle stance. "How is it any different than the Rebellion? They attack Horde outposts and occupied towns too, and that makes them the good guys?!"

Seeing the older princess charging at her again, Frosta blasted a coat of ice against the ground, leading up several yards to and past Mermista as the older princess began to lose her balance against the solid coating. "Because we're not the one taking over those towns to begin with!" Reacting quickly, seeing little alternative in the matter, Mermista scraped her trident against the ground to position herself as she slid, and delivered a quick kick to the younger princess's side as she went past her.

The young Frosta went tumbling away a little as she formed two solid fists of ice against her hands, using her own leverage to break her travel like Mermista had as she slid backwards. That was when she noticed Perfuma over to the left, the princess having turned to her after flinging away another of the hapless Horde soldiers that tried to come near her. Unlike Mermista, she didn't look at her with any sort of anger or frustration. All she had was a look of worry as she raised a hand to her direction.

"Please,Frosta, I don't want to fight you!" She begged.

"...Mmmh..." Shaking her head, the young princess charged back towards the other blue-figured princess with both her hands still covered in ice. Perfuma had never found herself in such a distraught state of being, nor one where she could tell whose side she should be assisting here. All she knew was that Frosta ignored her directly as she continued her battle with Mermista.

The two clashed their powers again as Mermista attempted to douse the younger princess from atop with a cool stream of her raging waters. She knew that the moment she managed to douse Frosta, even once, that the fight would turn in her favor. With Frosta's specialty over ice, her spells would just as likely freeze to her soaked self along with whatever she aimed for, and that would throw her off.

Of course, getting the young princess was proving harder than it proved as Frosta managed to counter nearly everything she did. Like the previous attempts to strike the princess, Frosta easily managed to freeze the overhead wave of water with the chill of her frozen tundra, freezing the wave and allowing it to drop ahead of her that she could easily jump on top of.

Mermista still refused to let the princess's countering magic get to her as she summoned another stream of water to hit the princess from the side, using whatever moisture she could from the ice that continued to melt slowly around them. With a mighty yell, the princess attacked the princess from her right, actually managing to strike her for a change as she knocked her off the pillar and over to the nearby boulder. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get the princess directly as Frosta quickly formed a small wall of ice with her hands, barely managing to avoid the direct contact with water, but not enough to push against it.

With her back pressed against the wall, she was forced to wait until the cooling waters subsided and Mermista stopped attacking her. That brief moment of opportunity came to her as the water ended, resulting in Mermista leaping into the air with the trident in hand, attempting to pin the girl again to the boulder.

This time, Frosta was ready for her. Blasting at the ground as soon as she could, she pushed off from the boulder with one foot as she shot herself forward away from the large obstruction and the person who almost pinned her to it just a second ago, getting the trident stuck within the rock in the process. That momentary distraction of trying to dislodge the trident was all Frosta needed.

With as much power as she could muster, she shot a torrent of icy frost at the water girl, Mermista barely having enough time to turn around as she was suddenly pressed against the rock instead. She was helpless to push back against the frigid cold as her body started to become encased in the ice, freezing her from the neck down as a wall of ice froze her to the boulder's surface. By the time Frosta let up. only Mermista's hands and head were left unfrozen, leaving the princess to struggle in her attempts to break free.

Their battle was officially over. If she wanted to at any moment, Frosta could finish Mermista off before the defenseless princess could free herself. But, luckily for her, Frosta was less interested in taking anyone down permanently than she was in taking them prisoner, just as Adora promised if it could be helped.

"You know it didn't have to be like this, right?" Frosta spat, raising a hand to the princess as she prepared her magic, just in case. "You could've joined the Horde too, you know. Then we wouldn't be fighting like this!"

"Uh, yeah, because their leader and their boss is totally the understanding type, right?" She grunted, struggling in vain to free herself of her icy captivity. "I'm sure Adora told you pleeeenty of nice things the Horde were going to do, right? Like, maybe she has a wonderful idea for a flowerbed right next to the village she burnt down?"

"She's not like that!" Why was Mermista making this any harder than it had to? The Horde may have been off, but she's seen the decency and kindness in some of them, especially Adora of all people! "She actually cares a lot more about people than you think!"

"Oh, right, because when I look at all the wonderful fire around here, the first thing that comes to mind is thinking of how much Adora cares about people."

"Shut up!" The younger princess yelped, gathering a ball of freezing winds within her hands, preparing to strike again if she had to. It didn't matter what she said up to this point. The Horde wasn't like that, they couldn't be like that! In any sort of war, each side was considered the enemy to one another, and violence would constantly ensue no matter which side you were on. Why would it make a difference anyway if both sides fought each other in the long run?!

Just as she was prepared to freeze Mermista's mouth shut, however, she came to a stop as a lone princess stood in front of her encased friend; Perfuma, Princess of Plumeria. With her magic at her side, she grew a wall of thick vines on both sides of her, ones that stretched up to her shoulders as she blocked Frosta's path.

She didn't know whose side to go with here, but at the very least, she refused to let the violence escalate any further. She wouldn't allow Frosta to harm her friend anymore than this, even if it meant things had to end violently. Whether it was to defend Mermista from Frosta or the other way around, she couldn't just sit back dealing with the few remaining Horde soldiers that haven't retreated.

"...Get out of the way, Perfuma." Frosta ordered sternly, never lowering her hand, preparing for anything. Perfuma just continued to stare at her as the vines remained at her side.

"I'm not going to let you hurt my friend, Frosta." She stated. "You shouldn't be fighting with us, none of us should be fighting each other!"

"I heard that the first time, now get out of the way!" Wasting no more time, the princess shot a threatening burst of her coldness to the princess, one who easily managed to block it with a solid wall of vines. Frosta was actually surprised at how easily the princess managed to defend herself, even more after she returned the vines to the earth below. "I'm warning you to get out of the way, Perfuma!" She repeated. "If neither of you are joining the Horde, then I'm taking you prisoner. That's it."

"Frosta..." Could this truly be the same princess she remembered from before? The one who was celebrated at the Princess Prom, the one who fought at their side at the Battle of Bright Moon, the one who helped defend the Whispering Woods for over a month.

The one she still considered her friend.

"Perfuma, we don't have a choice." Mermista muttered from behind. "She's made her choice, and she doesn't plan on changing it. You have to fight her."

That didn't make it any easier for her. How was she supposed to harm her? She knew what Frosta was, who she was on the inside. For a young girl, any innocent girl like this, to be fighting against their own friends, it had to be a matter of true importance. Something she needed, something she wanted. She wasn't just a member of the Princess Alliance, she was also a beloved friend of the Rebellion, an ally everyone trusted before.

And that's when she remembered the most important detail: She was a princess.

"...Hm." It was the last thing either, Mermista or Frosta, expected, the last thing on Etheria. She may have had an advantage defending against Frosta's cold with her own magic unlike Perfuma, but she didn't bother with it. With a single wave of her hand and a small, tearful smile, the others watched as the walls defending her and Mermista sunk back into the ground.

"Huh?"

"Perfuma, what are you doing?!" Was she seriously this insane? Was Mermista going insane? It had to be one of those two options because for Perfuma to drop her guard when the younger princess could freeze faster than she could grow, there was no way she could defend herself again if Frosta attacked from up close.

"...I forgive you." She smiled, causing Frosta to flinch. She might not have known what else Adora manipulated about her, and she knew trying to talk sense into her wasn't the issue. What she came to, was an understanding.

She finally understood why Frosta was doing this...

...

A/N: And another chapter completed ^^

Hoping to reach the conclusion by tomorrow or the next day, cause then we move on to everyone's other favorite episode since it has drunk adora ^^! As before, Im leaving the choice between a cat-catra or drunk catra up to you folks. I can work around it either way, i just cant decide what you guys want first, so I'll leave that up to you ^^

With that all said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and get ready for some slight feels and discord by the end of the next chapter (if i fin it then).

Chapter 77: S2 Episode 4: Princess Royale Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count (holy crap) 28.5K Pre-A/N's!

Hey gang! Do you like emotional turmoil and mood shifts?

Audience: No!

Do you like seeing things go from bad to worse for our two opposing sides?

Audience: NO!

Do you like to see sadness all over the place despite a possibly happy scenario?!

One guy: I do!

*BANG*

Audience: No!

Great! I'll take that one yes as everyone's!

Audience: Awwwwwwwwww!

Lol, how's it going guys? Hooftah, what a chapter! This was honestly as big as my season 1 finale- in fact, it might actually have been bigger because despite all the words used in that last one, a fourth of them were admittedly flashbacks/scenes previously used which I copy and pasted, hence this is actually the largest chapter I'd written in comparison :P!

With that, a few notes to, well, note. 1, might've forgotten one or two things here and there since it was overall large. A rather fitting episode to have such a climactic battle given everything I had to work with. Because of that, one or two things might've been skimped on, so if you notice a scene suddenly jumping to another one (or the possibility I reposted two scenes by accident since I had to make multiple compose-messages to write out the finale since it was so large it started making things slow), be sure to let me know.

2ndly, I apologize for the delay- probably could've had this done yesterday with enough time, but was hanging out with friend for several hours and was about 4 when I got home- on school nights i usually fall asleep by 8-9 since i gotta get up at like 4 in the morning for school (with that in mind, various possible typos and whatnot since mornings are always groggy).

But regardless, I still look forward to the feedback this episode. I hope you guys all enjoy this wonderfully large chapter with its action and characters and whatnot, and, hopefully, be satisfied by the time it concludes.

With that all said, enjoy!

...

"You... forgive me?" Frosta repeated in a questionable tone. This day had gone from bad, to worse, to confusing, a rather strange order given the turn of events. With the craziness the day had brought, none of the Princess Alliance members thought things could get as hectic as they did here.

After an annoying planning session that took several hours for everyone to get through, they were all finally prepared to assault the Horde fortress that they had spent several days preparing for, a tower that was strong enough to control all entry and paths into the region, and one of the strongest fortresses that the Horde had domain over. With everyone at their ready, and Catra obtaining another portion of She-Ra's power, everyone thought things would go smoothly, no matter how crazy the mission got.

It only took a single minute for everything to turn upside down in an instant, and all because the Horde had something the Rebellion didn't have.

Frosta.

For the last several weeks, Frosta had been working with the Horde, exchanging resources for technology, as she acted as a mole within the Rebellion, and the Princess Alliance itself. She kept them informed of all their plans, strategies, and resources at all time, helping them stay ahead of the Rebellion no matter how far along the Rebellion came. She divulged information on their missions, tech, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the very princesses themselves.

What's worse, she was the key to pulling off their own secret mission, an ambush that the Princess Alliance would never anticipate. With the pat of a small orb, the princess managed to erect a barrier with one of Entrapta's gadgets, just after separating Perfuma and Mermista from the rest of the group who now lied under an electrical barrier, with no way in, or out. It kept the princesses separated and more vulnerable, just the way Adora had planned for it.

And now, she was out here fighting. Fighting against the Rebellion, fighting against whatever supporters were running around here as they fended off the Horde, and fighting against the princesses she became friends with.

Of course, there was an essence of guilt within her mind. Who wouldn't be torn between following orders when it came to harming their own friends in the process, or the ones she could consider friends? The Princess Alliance composed of the most random and zany of people Frosta's ever met, yet it was their playfulness and strange antics that she enjoyed. They seemed like fun people, funny people too. And now she had to fight against them in an attempt to capture them, a plan that came from Adora, who seemed to be one of the few decent people within the Horde!

Adora wasn't like the other people of the Fright Zone. She was kind, and had an innocence about her. She definitely cared about the people she fought for, and considered them something precious like she did. She showed Frosta the cruelties of this war, about how both sides were practically the same, Rebellion or Horde. How was she supposed to say no to someone like that?

The battle itself with the two princess was just as daunting as the ambush they were trying to fell at the same time. On a brighter side, for the most part, her battle was mainly fought against Mermista, the princess who was angrily yelling at her constantly about how terrible the side was, doing nothing to convince her. During this, Perfuma found herself preoccupied with repelling the Horde ambushers and keeping the soldiers safe from the soldiers and droids alike. Even if she wanted to, she refused to fight a fellow friend like Frosta.

Escalating through the destruction of the encampment, the battle eventually came to a brief end as Frosta finally managed to trap Mermista, pinning her to a large boulder in a block of ice that only left her hands and her head exposed. That was when Perfuma took her own stand, standing between the two of them before anymore violence could take place.

At first, neither, Frosta or Mermista, knew how this was going to play out. Frosta was prepared to continue fighting against her friends if it meant capturing them, provided they refused to join the Horde with her. For the most part, she expected some form of resistance. The blockade of large vines she sprouted from the ground along her sides was a good indication of how this was going to go, how determined Perfuma would've been to fight back against her former friend. But after a few seconds of starring down at one another, she did something nobody could predict.

She lowered her arms, her magic, and gave a teary-eyed smile to the girl as she said those three words.

"What do you mean you forgive me?" Frosta brought up her hand again, keeping a cold hold over the magic she was gathering.

"It's like I said, I forgive you." She repeated, still giving the young princess a sincere smile.

"Uh, Perfuma? Now is really not the time for one of your harmony sessions here." She grumbled as she continued to struggle against the icy restraints. Seriously, Mermista didn't have a clue as to what she was getting at, and she didn't want her to get at anything! Frosta was fighting with the Horde, and that meant she was dangerous.

"For..." The queen of cold shook her head as she aimed her magic. "I don't want your forgiveness!" With the flick of her wrist, the smaller of the two immediately blasted a cold wave against the defenseless princess.

Instead of trying to defend herself with her own magic, a wall of roots, or any kind of defense, Perfuma blocked the attack with her own arms, taking on the small chill with barely a thought or concern as a few shivers of ice formed around both her arms. They were barely any bigger than one's finger, with only three appearing on her left arm, and two along her right. All of them didn't last any longer than four seconds before melting away from the extreme heat.

At this, Perfuma just smiled as she lowered her arms to her face, the attack assuring her of what she already knew.

"W-What are you doing? Fight back!" She yelled, throwing another blast of cold over her. It was evidently diminished compared to the first one, with barely an icicle forming over the queen of nature. Frosta's expression hardened at this as she repeated the same sequence for a third time, without being able to create a single icicle over her. It was so weak in comparison that Perfuma didn't even need to shield herself.

"Why? Because it would be easier, then?" Perfuma asked, stepping closer. "Because it would be easier to betray us if you had a reason?"

"Stop it!" Using both her hands this time, the princess blasted Perfuma with a stronger gust of cold, pushing the princess back a foot from the force of wind and the ice beneath her. Despite this, the princess just continued to walk closer.

"I already get it, Frosta, and it's okay." By this point, Perfuma was in front of the increasingly-anxious princess of snows, the younger girl trying to do everything in her power to find a reason to hit harder. "You miss them, don't you?" All at once, Frosta stopped as the magic surrounding her hands dissipated briefly. "They left you a kingdom, and it's one of the oldest things you have to remember them by, isn't it?"

"I said shut up!" Having enough of the pointless commentary, Frosta attempted to blast the princess with as much power as she could, encircling the Princess of Plumeria in a cone of cold. At first, Mermista wanted to shout out in worry at the older of the two, wanting to convince her to stop acting so stupid and defend herself. But, to her surprise, the older princess continued to move forward, as if the cone was having no effect on her.

Maybe because it wasn't? Because no matter how hard Frosta blew the gust of ice, it only passed around the slow-paced princess who continued to smile. "Why don't you try fighting back a little more? Or would you rather have the rest of the camp burn down?!" She tried shouting everything she could, taunting her, mocking her, all in the hopes that she would strike back.

Why did she have to be so stupid!? Frosta was her enemy. She was Frosta's enemy. That's what it came down to in the end of all this, and that's the way it should have been! Frosta understood that perfectly, so why couldn't Perfuma understand that and give her what she wanted?! Just attack her so Frosta could... could... do something already!

"You wouldn't let that happen." She stated, showing no ounce of fear as she was within five feet. "I know you, Frosta. You care too much about the people around you, you see them as your family. You see your Kingdom as your family." Kneeling down at long last, she gently pushed the young princess's aside, disrupting her magic. "That's why you joined the Horde, isn't it? To keep your family safe."

"Ju-Stop talking already!" Frosta yelled, squeezing her own head. Why was she making this so much harder than she had to? They were enemies, they were supposed to be fighting, then, win or lose, she would go back to the Horde in the Fright Zone. And here Perfuma was, with her annoying nonsense, messing everything up!

*tug*

The young princess blinked as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck, not strangling her, but embracing her warmly against the cold ice. Perfuma, herself, was happy with all of this as she smiled, seeing the gathering of ice withering away from the princess. "That's why I forgive you, Frosta. You have a kind heart, the kind that any ruler should have. And if you truly wish to join the Horde, you'll still be my friend. Just do whatever you think is right."

"...Grrrrr!" Frosta angrily grabbed the princess's arm as she coated her own in a thick layer of ice. She wasn't going to let her get to her! She was a princess, they both were, so she should know what she should do! She should be fighting to keep herself safe from Frosta, to keep the rest of her kingdom safe from her! There was no reason to be giving Frosta this much of an excuse to join the Horde, she was supposed to be as angry as Mermista was!

And why was she so insistent on messing all of this up?! Frosta attacks them, they attack her, they fight later on in life! All Perfuma had to do was fight against her like Mermista did, and everything would be fine! She absolutely hated Perfuma right now! Hated! Hated! HATED!

So why not give her a reason, right? With the frost gathered around her hands, it would be easy to bash Perfuma aside like Mermista, to blast her away with her magic as she eyes flashed with a winter blue. She could easily give her a reason to treat her as an enemy rather than a friend, and everything would be all right! Besides, why should she treat Perfuma any different than the rest of her current enemies? She was too stupid for her own good, too kind for her own good, too gentle for her own good! All the reasons to hate her! And all Frosta needed to do was to... was to hit her... to blast... she...

"...Ngh..." The young princess squeaked as she closed her eyes tightly. Mermista wouldn't believe it, she couldn't believe it while bearing witness to it, but it was truly happening. With the princess slowly raising her hands to Perfuma's back, she ice slowly melted away with ease, the younger princess losing her will to fight at long last. She pulled back on Perfuma as she threw her arms behind her, squeezing her tightly as her eyes watered into her shoulders. "You're a pain... Such a pain..."

There was no longer any debate with herself and those around her. She couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't continue fighting for the Horde because of one good person out of the entire army, even if she held the same ideals that Frosta did about family. The Rebellion may have its enemies but at least they don't force people to fight against their friends like this, to manipulate them into doing whatever it was they fought for.

The Princess Alliance fought for its beliefs. Its beliefs that they were doing the right thing, and it was the right thing. Frosta couldn't deny that any longer. She wanted to protect the people around them, protect their own kingdoms, and they didn't feel pressurized by the Horde or its threatening power. Beyond that, they didn't force themselves to fight anyone if they ordered it. They were allowed to make their own choices, and choose who they considered an enemy or not.

Unlike the Horde.

Patting her back, Perfuma chuckled softly as she smiled to her. "I know."

Mermista, on the other hand, was at a loss for words. She couldn't believe it. She seriously couldn't believe it. Despite everything that had happened to them within the last twenty minutes, she actually did it. She managed to convince Frosta to lay down her arms and turn away from the Horde with her own sense of decency and kindness. It was definitely the most sappiest thing she ever saw, but to be honest, she kind of preferred it this way if it meant everyone was back to the right side.

Even from her icy prison.

"...Uh, so, if we're all buddy-buddy again, can someone get me down before I freeze to death?"

...

*wham!*

"Agh!" Catra yelled in pain as she was smacked to the ground for the third time. Things were getting bad. Really, really, bad.

Her fight against Adora throughout this ambush was progressing at a rate she couldn't begin to process. Unsurprisingly, as it was Adora's manner of thinking, her strategy to ambush the princesses worked like a charm. Having a mole within the Rebellion who could divulge on their plans, somebody that could separate the group before the mission began, and finally having an ally that would activate the very trap that kept the two groups separated from one another, everything was flowing as she anticipated.

Now, she had Catra all to herself while Bow and Glimmer were off trying to find an exit through the barrier that their magic couldn't penetrate, all while dealing with the Horde soldiers and Scorpia who remained behind. She did have to admit, although she didn't expect the battle against her to be plain easy, Catra did manage to hold her ground. She definitely grew stronger since their last encounter, whether or not she had mastered She-Ra's power, if her current state of She-Ra was anything to go by. It was nothing Adora couldn't handle, and nothing she didn't prepare for anyway, for there was another merit to this ambush.

Her weakness. Thanks to the information provided by Frosta, she had come to learn of Catra's own weakness; her inability to control her emotions, which were tied to her strength as She-Ra. If she managed to break Catra's grip on her emotions, she knew she would start to lose She-Ra's power, if not all of it. And, after a bit of bickering and prodding, she had successfully managed to find a crack into Catra's emotional well-being, and managed to exploit her weakness all too well.

A little too well, by the way things turned out.

Adora had to admit, she may have pushed Catra too far at that moment because the next thing she knew, Catra was smacking her down like the punching bag Catra had in her room. She was slammed, tossed, blasted at, and the whole nine yards as Catra assaulted her endlessly with a fury that any animal could unleash. Adora was helpless to defend herself as Catra's grand assault came without end, without any signs of letting up until the last moment. When the last moment finally came to her, however, that was when she began to enjoy the results of her weakness.

Catra had lost her power. All of it. By letting all the pain and frustration of Adora's words get to her, one at a time, the portions that defined her connection to She-Ra, the armor her sword granted her as the fight went on, began to fall apart. Evaporating in a small flash of light that neither of them noticed until it was too late, one by one, her armor began to disappear, along with the power that came with it. One after the other, her appearance slowly reverted to its basic of states, eventually culminating to the end of her She-Ra state entirely, and returning her to the same old Catra once more.

She had no power.

No armor.

No magic.

And that's when Adora began to relish the fight.

Since the moment Catra lost her power, she's been all too weak to put up so much as a chance against Adora. While she, herself, was too injured to go all out on Catra, it was still more than enough to shrug off nearly everything Catra through at her with her own two fists, and the sword that had lost its bond with its wielder. She didn't know if Catra was capable of transforming back into She-Ra if she tried it at the time, and for the most part, it didn't matter. She refused to give Catra so much as an inch of space to return to her She-Ra state. She was going to make Catra feel all the pain she's put her through in the last month.

As for Catra, she was less than enthusiastic about the turn of events, and more concerned on trying to kick Adora's butt, even if it meant using her own two claws to do it. She mocked her, humiliated her, and tried to enrage her. That was all the stuff she could deal with. The part that she couldn't deal with was the aspect of Frosta's betrayal, the way Adora gloated about how much the young princess was planning to betray them from the start, how she didn't care about any of them or show any interest in possibly being their ally, or their friend. She made it very clear that they were nothing more than pawns since day one.

To have that information dumped on her, to think the person they've fought with for over the last month, would be working for the very people they fought against? It angered it. Beyond, angered her. She did all of this to them, helping Adora in her ambush, providing key information about the Rebellion, assisting in this elaborate trap, and informing Adora about each of their weaknesses. There were no words to describe the anger she felt from that betrayal, it was unlike anything she ever felt before.

And she didn't know why it hurt as much as it did right now. All she knew, was that she wanted to get her claws on her, both of them. Starting with Adora.

"You know," Adora flaunted as she brushed the dust off her shoulders without a care in the world, "if I knew it was this easy to beat you, I would've invaded Bright Moon all over again by myself."

"Shut up!" Tightening her fist, she attempted to slam right into Adora's right cheek, a move that Adora all too easily blocked with just a hand from her shadows.

"Seriously, where did all that strength go to?"

*crack*

"Nnghh!" Catra grumbled to herself as she felt a small crack in her knuckles as Adora tightened her hand over it. Nothing broken, mind you, just painfully unpleasant, and more than enough to force Catra to her knees as Adora pressed down.

"Did that sword really give you all that power" She wondered, looking back to the sword that was tossed a few feet away. "Or were you just hold out on me, like how you never wanted to be friends in the first place?"

*bam*

She knew it was pointless, and she didn't care. Wanting to shut that opening she called a mouth up, she attempted to punch her with her other fist, ending with the same result. "For someone who thinks of me as a horrible person, you sure don't have any trouble acting like me." There was too much satisfaction she garnered from seeing Adora's face tighten. With a moment of Adora's distracted, emotional state, pulling her head back as hard as she could, the magicat slammed her forehead straight into Adora's, for once making contact against her old friend and actually landing a blow since her powers disappeared.

It wasn't enough to quell Adora's rage as she pushed her forehead straight into Catra's, but it was more than enough to satisfy the ex-Horde soldier. "I'm nothing like you!" She shouted, tightening her grip as she pushed her head harder against Catra's. "I didn't betray our home and join the Rebellion! I didn't abandon you until I realized what you truly were!" Catra had some nerve. To compare someone like her to Adora, of all people, was one of the few most-insulting things Adora couldn't handle. "Even if I started to become like you in the end, it's only because you made me this way, CATRA!"

*WHAM!*

With the second of her hand freed, pulling back with as much power as she could, Adora struck Catra square in the face, knocking the girl back to the ground like the piece of dirt she was. While she held the advantage for the time being, something as simple as that blow was enough to temporarily exhaust Adora, leaving her panting as her injures were still recovering. She didn't care what this fight took out of her, just as long as she made Catra feel her pain, to make her realize she was on the wrong side, and make her see what she had turned into.

Catra, on the other hand, moaning as she pushed up from the ground, was struck with a thought she hadn't contemplated before, something she couldn't believe she was even thinking about as she tried to push off the pain from Adora's punch.

Was she right? Was what Adora said actually true? She didn't believe her on a lot of things, primarily about her acting like Catra, but was she right about this? Was she actually the reason Adora turned out this way? From the sweet and sincere person she once knew into... basically, Catra?

Looking back on it now, there were a few signs there. If she went back for Adora, she wouldn't still be in the Horde. She lied to Adora back in Salineas about promising to come back if she couldn't transform into She-Ra. She tricked her by pretending to accept her friendship with her all over again in a ploy to steal the sword back after saving Glimmer in the Fright Zone. And looking back on the history they shared together through the Beacon, it was enough to turn Adora away from her, to be disgusted with how she treated her throughout her life.

Sure, there were a few factors she knew she couldn't be blamed for. Shadow Weaver was the one hounding over her, which she wouldn't have if Catra went back... She means, if Adora didn't kidnap Glimmer and Bow because she was trying to save Catra... At... Well she knew she couldn't be blamed for the Battle of Bright Moon! All of that stemmed from... realizing just how terrible Catra treated her throughout the years...

She... hated to say it, much less believe it, yet the more she thought about it, the more she didn't want to, the more she was forced to consider it. Was Adora the person she was today entirely because of... Catra?

*Crash!*

"Ahhh!" Catra screamed in pain as she was slammed again. Directly into her back, completely distracted by the thoughts clouding her mind, she didn't notice as the Force Captain stomped her way over to her, disgusted by everything about her. With a bundle of shadows clumping into her hand, creating a large fist of shadow, Adora slammed Catra in the back and shoved her deeply, deeply enough to break through the floor of the courtyard and throw her straight into the basement of the fortress, the only light illuminating the place through the makeshift skylight Adora just installed.

Trembling from the injuries, scraped and bruised along her legs, Catra groaned as she coughed from the bits of dust that fluttered in the air from the ceiling. Breathing heavily as she rubbed her shoulder, she looked back to Adora in frustration as she weighed her options. To continue fighting, or try to run around the basement for a place to hide until she could catch up with Bow and Glimmer again.

As the options were far from what she usually desired, she saw little choice. As things went for now, the longer the fight lasted, the more advantageous Adora found their predicament, and the more she kept playing into Adora's hands, the more likely of her own capture, if not Bow's and Glimmer's, and the loss of the Rebellion that was sure to follow.

Grimacing, giving her a brief, fanged-filled glared, Catra ran. She ran out of Adora's line of sight as she tried to search the basement for somewhere to hide, or something useful to fight back with. The one advantage she currently noticed was that the basement was verily dark, save for the light coming from the new opening. As long as she stuck to the shadows, she could hide, creep around, and possibly get the drop on Adora if she tried to find her herself.

She knew it, and Adora knew this as well. And in her currently-weakened state, she wasn't going to get the upper hand on Catra if she surprised her.

Grimacing, she turned her attention up to the bridge that was half-destroyed, noticing the commotion and the fighting that was taking place without her involvement.

Atop the bridge, she saw Bow and Glimmer fending off the soldiers' advances and Scorpia's as they fought them off. With their backs against the partly-destroyed bridge, only having about two-thirds of the space to work with, they maintained their ground as they blasted at the incoming soldiers with their magic and arrows, as well as Scorpia directly when she managed to gain closer ground to them.

"Scorpia!" Adora called out as her friend was flung a few yards across the bridge. Shaking her head, her friend looked back to her curiously as the Force Captain made her ascension, using the tendrils of shadows to pull up to the bridge and by her side.

"Are you okay, Adora?" She asked worriedly, noticing the injuries around her body that ranged from minuscule to major bruises.

"I'm fine," she said, shrugging off the pain as she rubbed her shoulder, "but Catra's escaped into the basement. I need you and the guards to find her and dig her out, immediately."

"Her? But what about-"

"Just do it!" She nearly snapped, containing her emotions as she remembered who she was talking to. Glaringly, she turned directly in the same direction as Bow and Glimmer, parts of her shadows reforming along her arms to the best of her ability. It was evident how much the beat-down she took earlier as taking its toll on her, noticing some splotches of her shadowy armor appearing transparent and incomplete. "I can handle things from up here."

"Adora..." How could she stare at her without being worried? Just look art her! She was breathing a little heavier than normal, she noticed parts of her shadow were missing, and her face looked more distressed than the rest of her body despite her attempts to hide it. Still, he was also her friend, and cared about her like any true friend should've. Mentally sighing to herself, she looked back to the dozen or so guards that were still being knocked left and right, letting out a small whistle as she grabbed their attention. "You all heard the captain! Everybody downstairs, and find the cat lady!" She ordered, running back with the rest of the guards.

Bow and Glimmer knew immediately that the sight of their retreat was nothing to feel relieved over as they noticed the blond Force Captain casually walking through them. If anything, they were more stressed by the lack of guards if it meant having to deal with the particular Force Captain that Hordak made his second-in-command that almost brought down the fall of Bright Moon and the Rebellion on her own. On top of that, with about six arrows to Bow's back and enough magic to conjure up one last teleport, two if she did it by herself, they weren't fairing any better than she was.

At this point, it was a race. Either Catra found her way out of the basement past Scorpia and the guards, and managed to regroup with the others in an attempt to overthrow Adora and bargain her to the rest for their freedom, or they needed some miracle to take the barrier down around them so they could make their escape, regroup with the others, and head back to Bright Moon without anymore surprises planning to jump them.

And whichever way it went, they needed an answer, and fast...

...

"Huff... Huff..." Catra huffed as she continued running through the dark basement, rubbing her injured arm sorely. Thanks to her animal characteristics, she had a much greater sense of sight in the dark like this, which helped with navigating through the dark corridors and surprisingly second floor to the complex that made traversing otherwise impossible. On the down side, that was also the only advantage she had as she continued to hide from soldiers and Scorpia alike.

With so many closed off spaces, her weakened state, and the lack of actually using a light, seeing how she needed to stay hidden in the dark, there was nothing else she could rely on through her senses. With the Horde having been all over this place, her sense of smell was useless as she couldn't tell which Horde had been here, and which Horde were coming and going. Worse, with most of these rooms empty, save for a few containers of supplies, her hearing was throwing her off as she heard the sound of footsteps echoing back and forth around here, some of them originating from the floor above, it was so messed up!

If it wasn't for the fact the guards were checking the rooms one at a time, she would've been discovered at least three times by now. Of these occurrences, she was forced to hide behind or under a stack of containers or crates as the guards inspected the room, barely marking a sound as she managed to sneak her way out of her predicament before the guard could inspect the room in full. With all the Horde soldiers using night-vision-goggles to find their way through the darkness, her sense of sight became evenly matched, just barely maintaining her cover as she had to throw a distraction into another room to lure them away.

And, at the rate things were going, she didn't know how long she could keep this game of actual cat-and-mouse, except this time, the cat was being the one chased by the mice. With exhaustion coming near her, she finally stopped to catch her breath as she stood outside the door leading to the hallways again. She needed to find a way out of here without alerting the guards, and get back to Bow and Glimmer before it was too late.

Not to mention the sword that was useless again and still outside in the courtyard.

Holding her breath a little, she poked her head around the doorway, trying to inspect if the coast was clear. Like the previous times, her hearing was thrown off by her lack of concentration and the echoes filling this place. She heard footsteps but was incapable of they were coming or going, or on an entirely different floor altogether. All she knew was that she needed to think of a plan, here and fast, and get back to the surface while she still had one of her nine lives remaining.

And all this time, she was unaware of the hand that slowly circled around her head, until it was too late.

*tug*

"Mmmhh!" Catra screamed, muffled into the hand that had grabbed her so suddenly. With her current state, she was powerless to pry the hand off of herself, at least in a manner that would've been quiet enough to avoid the guards' attention.

"Shhhh!" The voice shushed from behind her, rather than yelling to the guards "I found her!" or something of the like. "Be quiet!"

"Hmm?" Either this guard didn't know what the definition of "alerting the others" meant, or they were actually trying to help her. She knew for a guaranteed fact, though, that that couldn't be the case. Why? Because the voice sounded so oddly familiar to her that it couldn't have been that person.

Hearing the sound of large heavy feet again, the figure quickly popped themselves out a little in front of the door frame, keeping Catra's mouth covered and out of the sight as they waited for the running figure to meet up with them.

"Lonnie?" Scorpia asked, finding the girl with her own pair of night-vision-goggles. "Have you seen Catra around here?"

"Catra?" Lonnie spat. "Do you think if I found her, I'd be standing around here right now?"

"...Good point." Scorpia couldn't have assumed more than that, finding the logic to be more or less obvious. "Any idea where she went though?"

"U-Um... I'm sure I'll find her on my own if-"

"Oh, come on, I'll give you a hand. Four eyes are better than two, after all! Or, well, eight I guess if the goggles count, but-"

"No!" Lonnie nearly hissed as she blocked the doorway, panicking, with her free arm. All the while, Catra still wouldn't let up as she kept her pinned to the wall with her hand clamped over her mouth.

"What? Why not?" No matter how much of a klutz Scorpia could be, she knew she wasn't going to be stupid enough to let anything go without a reason.

"B-Because-! Because, um..." Looking back between the two directions of the hallway, she let out a startled gasp as she pointed down to the further end of the hallway on Scorpia's right. "Huh! Look! There she is!"

"What?!" Scorpia quickly shot back down the hallway, scanning it with the goggles closely. "Where? I don't see-"

"She just crossed the hallway! Hurry, before she gets away!"

"Right! Thanks, Lonnie!" There was no way she could let Catra get away, not when Adora was depending on her so much. Looking down in the opposite direction, she gave all the other guards searching a wave as she called out, "She went down this way! Everyone, follow me!" Without question, as Lonnie watched, the guards swarmed down the hallway behind Scorpia as they followed their assumed target, hoping to catch her before it was too late.

Waiting until all the guards were out of sight, looking down both ends one last time, Lonnie let out a sigh as she closed the door with the switch on the right, sealing it without fear of suspicion. "All right, they're gone," she declared, finally letting go of Catra, "now we can-"

*wham!*

"Oww!" Lonnie yelped. The moment Lonnie gave Catra so much as an inch of free space, the feline wasted no time throwing the girl straight into a pile of crates with her sheer strength. Much like Adora did to her, not giving her so much as a second to rest, she quickly followed up as she threw her behind herself to the wall, squeezing her weakly by the neck with both hands.

"You have a lot of nerve, you know that!" Catra quietly yelled, glaring daggers at the girl. Noticing the lack of strength coming from her, grumbling in turn, Lonnie quickly turned the situation around as she pushed Catra's hands off her neck, throwing the magicat around as she pressed her to the wall now.

"Would you give it a rest? I'm trying to help you!" Somehow, that made Catra's hatred for the girl only worse. With a quick pull of her feet, she kicked Lonnie in the stomach, sending her back a few feet until she crashed into the table behind her.

"Oh, now you want to help me?" She snarled, stomping over to her with her claws at the ready. "Oh, okay, sure! Hey, while I'm at it, why don't I just close my eyes and let you lead the way? I'll even tie my own hands behind my back since you're so trustworthy!" She swore, if she couldn't understand the severity of her own sarcasm, then any respect Catra did have for Lonnie would've dropped to brand new levels of low. Pulling the girl to her feet, she let out another hiss as she attempted to strike her, forcing Lonnie to defend against the attack with her own stun baton, blocking it.

"Catra, I'm serious! I'm just trying to help you out of this pla-"

"Shut it!" No matter how slow her movement was, she would never let Lonnie get a chance to attack her as she swiped at her, Lonnie barely dodging her attacks as she was forced to dodge to the right at least twice, then make a quick jump to the left, all to avoid her. As much of an advantage as she should've had over Catra, she was still thrown off as Catra tackled her to the ground completely, pinning her shoulder to the floor with her left hand and raising her claws with her right. "Like I'm going to listen to the person who hated me all their life-!"

"I never hated you, Catra!" She stated. There was silence between the two as Catra blinked, thrown off if Lonnie was telling her an inkling of the truth.

"Oh, right," her claws twitched with anxiety as she eagerly awaited her chance to claw Lonnie across the face, "because with all the time you and your pals spent bullying me, I could tell were were SUCH good friends-!"

"IT WAS SHADOW-WEAVER, OKAY!?" That did it. That was the one line that made Catra pause in her attack as she was about to get a little too twitchy. Hearing that name again at a time like this was one thing, the possibility that it had something to do with her horrible past was another.

Growling deeper, she finally hopped off of Lonnie as she threw her back against the wall. This time she at least gave her some space as she watched Lonnie rub her throat. "What do you mean it was Shadow-Weaver?"

Finally, she was, hopefully, getting some sort of ground with her. "It means what I said, Catra. Shadow-Weaver was behind all of it." Giving a small glare in return, the bully crossed her arms as she leaned back against the wall. "Yeah, as a kid I found you annoying, and I wasn't the least bit interested in being your friend. But it's not like I hated you or intended to harass you for the rest of my life, either. That would've been a waste of time on my part, and you know it as well as I do."

As much as Catra hated to admit it, she did have a point. A confusing, nonetheless agreeable, point. Out of all the people she could've picked on, the people she could've forced to be along her other few friends and practical lackeys, she focused all her time on energy on a single person growing up. A person who wasn't the least bit threatening to her as a kid, and someone who most likely would've grown differently if she didn't pick on her constantly.

Still, it was her fault that she did turn out like this, to her at least. And just because she threw Shadow-Weaver's name out there like that didn't mean she got any sort of pass. "So what?" She shot back, leaning an arm against the table. "What was in it for you? Did she give you candy or something as a kid? Promote you to the advanced classes along with Adora did? Some kind of treat for listening to her-"

"She made us fear her Catra, all right?!" She yelled back, to Catra's actual surprise. "She scared us and pushed us in ways that were exhausting! And as bad as it was, she said it would only be a taste of what would happen if we let anything happen to Adora because of you!"

"She made you... fear her?" She repeated.

It wasn't something unnatural when it came to Shadow-Weaver. Save for Adora, she kept all the kids she trained and those who grew up around Adora in line with her discipline and harsh lessons, especially those who failed to fall in line. Up to this point, Catra had assumed she was the only one Shadow-Weaver deeply hated, enough to torture the girl physically and psychologically if it meant getting Catra to submit to her rules.

Now that she thought about it, it made more sense given Lonnie's strange behavior the last time they met.

...

"Hmm..." Catra hummed loud enough for the girl to hear, looking over the control panel on the side of the door. "Now if I remember, one of these buttons started some grand initiation we did when we were kids, right?" She didn't bother to look as Lonnie's face filled with fear and dread, having a clear picture of what Catra was about to do.

"N-No, wait! Catra, please!" Lonnie begged, sliding to her knees. "Don't!"

"I think it was... ah, here it was." She gave off the proudest smirk she ever could to the girl. "Have fun in solitude."

"No, please! IHATETHEDARK-!"

*Thud*

"..."

Something nice.

"...Thank you..." She muttered, sniffling. She saw it for herself and she was still in disbelief.

...

Still, having this in mind did nothing to quell the anger in Catra's heart as she stomped over to her. With a seemingly-calming hand on her shoulder, she caught Lonnie off guard as she grabbed her shoulder again harshly, throwing her into the crates and caring for naught as they tumbled on top of her.

"Oh, well that just makes it all better then, huh?" She was starting to grow more sickened with Lonnie the more she knew about it. "You guys decided to pick on me throughout all my life, made my life miserable, JUST so you could have an easier one?" Saying it alone was enough to leave a bad taste in her mouth. Feeling it was an entirely different story.

"You know as well as I do what she's like, Catra." Lonnie groaned, pulling herself out of the wreckage. "She gave me a small experience of what absolute darkness was like. Not some darkness where you couldn't see, either. Real darkness, Catra. And don't go telling me you wouldn't have done the same. If you were in my shoes, you would've done just the same." She didn't show any fear in her expression, provided her eyes were covered in the goggles, as Catra grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her to her face. "And you can't deny it, can you?"

"Ghhh." She refused to answer. She refused to even think of an answer! Why should she give Lonnie any sort of satisfaction in any shape or form? She humiliated her, bullied her, until Catra finally learned to stand up for herself and others when Adora was around. All her life, she was twisted and shaped by what Lonnie and Shadow-Weaver did for years, and without them, who knows how her life could've turned out?

Maybe she could've been sweet and innocent like Adora, weird as it was to picture that about herself. She could've been a better fighter, someone who matched Adora as an equal in skill than anything else. She could've been the very person who brought this war to an end weeks ago if her stupid involvement never messed up her life. She still hated Lonnie, even from this close, even after everything she revealed.

Who knows how things would be going right now if she was different, too? Maybe she would've been brave or decent enough to rush back to the Fright Zone to get Adora? Maybe if her emotions were different or she had this stupid inner-peace Light Hope preached to her, then she could've become She-Ra a long time ago. She could've done everything in her life differently that didn't leave her questioning herself or the actions she's made to turn Adora into whatever she was now. She could've been a completely different person, and all of her problems could've been fixed by now.

And it's all because of stupid, annoying, OBNOXIOUS, Lonnie!

...And yet... she still couldn't find it in her to project her anger onto her, not without a lack of trying anyway. She was still weak, tired, injured, and running out of time to pull off any more punches or kicks to Lonnie's stupidly annoying face. With a hiss, she shoved Lonnie away from her, trying to ignore the bad feeling on her fingers for touching the girl to begin with and walked off.

"If you're not going to turn me in, then get out of my way." She growled, making her way to the door. "I can find my own way out."

"But that's why I'm trying to help you, you idiot! I know of a way out!" Catra paused mid-step as she reached for the door, the information being the first legitimate good thing she's heard in the last while.

"What do you mean you know a way out? A way back to the top?"

"I mean a way outside and past the barrier." Lonnie clarified as she approached the door. Checking to make sure the coast was clear, she gestured to the reluctant cat as she quickly ran through the door. Despite every logical fiber in Catra's being telling her not to, she found little choice. The longer she hung around, the more likely she was to be caught, and the more she argued with Lonnie, the more likely the brunette was going to rat on her and alert the guards.

So, with a heavy hatred-filled heart, the cat put aside her frustration as she followed after the girl. She kept a close eye on her surroundings and an ear to the ground as she stayed alert. Lonnie did absolutely nothing to gain Catra's trust within the last few minutes. If anything, she trusted her less now than she ever thought possible. Having an excuse didn't give her a pass from Catra's hatred towards her. In fact, it just went to prove how weak she was in the first place.

And weakness had no place with the Horde!

Thankfully, their little trek through the dark spaces didn't take very long, and, to Catra's awareness, she wasn't spotted either. It was only through two doors down the left hallway when Lonnie finally found the room they were looking for, giving the room a quick check before gesturing Catra to follow her again.

It didn't really look any different than the other rooms, save for the aesthetics. There were a few chairs in the area in front of a table, an average-sized monitor on the wall, and, apparently, a dispenser for food and drinks. Most likely the lounge room from Catra's perspective. And trailing along the walls of it was good ol' hate-her-with-a-passion Lonnie, the girl feeling around the walls carefully until she came across a calendar. With a simple flip of the pages until she came to the wall, she gave it a good press with the side of her fist, stepping back as an entryway appeared on the wall next to her.

Catra could actually smell the fresh air and a small stream of blue light of the sky outside as her eyes adjusted to the mix of darkness and light flooding from the entrance. With a severe lack of Horde scents coming from the other end of it, she knew there couldn't be a trap waiting for her. Droids alone had a distinct whirring sound she could hear when things were quiet, and all she could hear right now was the gentle breeze of the wind filling the small corridor to the stairs and outside.

*sheeem*

"It's an emergency exit in case we were overrun." Lonnie stated, leaning her shoulder against the wall. "Take it all the way through and you'll wind up partway through the forest. From there, you're on your own."

Catra was... thoroughly surprised, to say the least. There wasn't any trap, any ambush, any sort of way something could surprise her at the end of this thing. Lonnie had actually kept true to her word, and showed Catra a way out. And somehow... that was still more disturbing.

"Why are you suddenly helping me?"

"I'm not." She shifted her eyes away as she waited for Catra to leave. "But out of all your stupid rules, you had one ideal I agreed with. Paying someone back for helping. You didn't leave me in the dark, so... neither am I. Consider this making us even."

"Pffft, like this will ever make us even, Lonnie." There was that smug old way of Lonnie talking that Catra knew and hated. "We will never be even after this."

"Look, are you going to take the door or what? If the guards or Scorpia show up, I won't be able to talk my way out of this."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she shrugged, "only looking out for you."

"Look in a mirror." Pausing at the mention, the two girls looked away from each other as Catra grabbed the side of the entryway, preparing to leave, get to the others, and get back to Bright Moon as soon as they could.

That was when she realized something else. "What about the others?"

"Huh?" If Lonnie didn't know any better, she could've sworn that sounded like consideration for someone else. Did Catra actually change more since their last encounter with one another? "What about them? If it's about their lives, you can relax. I doubt Adora would kill them. She needs them captured and taken alive, the way Hordak is expecting them so he can force the Rebellion's surrender, along with anyone else opposing them."

"And my sword?" She asked finally looking back.

"Who cares about a stupid sword?" Lonnie started to grumble as her heart raced with pressure. "Look, I'm trying to do you a favor right now you idiot! Are you going to get out of here or not?" Catra actually contemplated her options.

If she left now she could escape with her life. She could regroup with Perfuma and Mermista, provided they weren't captured, or worse, by Frosta, retreat to Bright Moon, then possibly formulate another plan to save Glimmer and Bow, again, which would most likely result in the same as last time, except without an Adora willing to hlep them escape. But at least then, there was a sliver of a chance to succeed compared to the indefinite zero chance she had if she stayed around here and fought against Adora without her powers.

Alternatively, she could go back up there while the guards were still busy looking for her, meet up with Bow and Glimmer, and have a miracle of a chance to actually beat Adora into submission and force the Horde remaining here to lower the barrier so they could get away. That, of course, came with the small chance they even could pull it off, and by small chance, she obviously meant the negative one-percent chance she had, because any chance she had thrown into her favor was the chance of coming out of this alive, not victoriously.

Neither scenario proved plausible to her, and both were about the same level of chances and success as the other did. They didn't have any means to combat Adora if the rest of the Horde showed up, and there was no way way they were possibly getting out of this situation alive.

The choice was pretty obvious to her.

"..."

*click*

*sheeem*

"What do you think you're doing?!" Of all the many changes she's experienced with Catra up to this point, her stupidity was the most surprising.

"I'm not leaving without Bowey and Pinky, got it?" She muttered, making her way back to the hallway door.

"You're kidding me, right?" Seriously, she had to be kidding her. Did Catra hit her head any harder than she originally thought? Because that seemed like the most likely cause of the delusion she was now suffering. "You're seriously going back? Why? Adora's more likely to kill you than she is them!"

"She's not going to kill me." Catra didn't give her so much of a glance as she reached the doorway. "She made that pretty clear. Besides, I can't really leave those dweebs behind, or, you know, the queen will have my head and all that." It was clear to her that Catra was just sticking to the same tough guy routine she usually did back in the Fright Zone, the one that pretended there wasn't a single thing she cared about besides Adora, to use her or otherwise.

Now, to see her doing the same thing, for two entirely different people regardless of her reason, it was... strange. Strange, and slightly interesting, really.

"Catra, wait!" Lonnie barked, making the girl pause as her hand touched the entrance's doorway. "Just so we're clear, this is on you. It's yours and your choice alone. But after this, we're even. And if we see each other again..." She didn't need to finish what Catra already knew.

"Tch fine by me. I still got about a thousand more meetings between your face and my claws." Her brow lowered in irritation as she saw Lonnie one more time. "And we're never going to be even, Lonnie. Don't forget that." Without another word, seeing the coast was clear, the magicat took off. With her debt repaid and the sight of the annoying pipsqueak who used to be the crybaby of the Horde gone, Lonnie moaned, pressing back against the wall.

She didn't know what the Rebellion was like, but she wondered whether they were better or worse than the Horde to turn Catra into whatever she was today. In the past, if she had the chance, she would've gladly clawed at Lonnie's face before and after she helped Catra out, and probably once more somewhere in-between for good measure. They had no like for each other, barely a mutual respect to keep each other at a distance when they were growing up, and wanted nothing more than to end the other's miserable existence almost twice a day.

The Catra she met here was far different from the previous one. She was still snarky, irritable, showed more pride than she had within her, and was willing to pick a fight with anything that crossed her path. At the same time, she also had a more sensitive side, if Lonnie's ears and eyes weren't tricking her. It almost looked like she cared, a word that would never fit the same Catra she was today if anyone else knew about it.

All in all, it was a rather surprising reunion, one that wouldn't play as nicely if they ever met again face-to-face. Lonnie would make sure of it. Next time, they would be mortal enemies again trying to destroy each other. At least now, Lonnie could do it with a... mostly guiltless conscious holding her back, and she wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way next time she ever had a fight with the girl.

...Or let a couple of eavesdroppers listen in on the whole thing without giving them any mind.

"I know you two idiots are back there, I can see Rogelio's tail!" There was a small shuffling sound as Rogelio pulled his tail back behind the couch, forcing Lonnie to wait several boring seconds before Kyle popped his head up from behind the couch nervously. "Forget either of you two heard all that, or next time, I'll be shocking my baton somewhere it'll hurt during our next sparring session. Got that!?" Kyle's gulp was all the confirmation she needed as he nodded.

"Yes mam!"

...

*boom*

The fight had escalated throughout the battle against the young princess and her archer. If it was just a matter of taking on one or the other, she would be just fine, but fighting them both in her current state was proving to be a little more than she could initially handle. From atop the bridge that collapsed partway through the fight to the grounds of the courtyard that now had at least two bridges worth of debris covering it, this fight for the Tower was beginning to take its toll on the structure, and her fellow soldiers who she assumed were winning on the other side right now.

The fight wasn't anything she couldn't handle, not at first, anyway. With the narrow gap the two had between them, she had plenty of space to fight off Glimmer's advances while staying ahead of her without the worry of Bow getting a clear shot. Even with this, the princess still proved to have a lot more energy in her than she previously believed she did, fighting fiercely with her father's staff at her side as she conserved her magic for when she had a good shot of Adora. Whenever she did, she managed to blast the Force Captain's shadow right off of her body, lowering her defenses in the process.

To gain a better vantage point, what she believed to be better at least, the Force Captain was forced to destroy the pillar beneath them as she yanked the support beam out with all of her shadowy power, toppling the bridge with the three of them on top of it, and managing to maintain a safe distance as she supported herself several feet in the air with the tendrils protruding from her back. As for the others, she found Glimmer being forced to use her magic as well as she teleported to the ground level with relative safely, at the cost of taxing her own magic in the process.

This still did nothing to diminish their fighting spirit. If anything, it became increasingly harder to fight against them as Adora wasted an excess of her shadow in her desperation to destroy the bridge, struggling to understand why her powers weren't flourishing as before. Like most problems in her life, she had little doubt that Catra was the cause of all of this, and no matter how much it pained her to say it, blaming her friend wasn't the option right now. For now, she had to contend with the pink-haired princess and the archer who had more than enough fighting spirit to take on the Force Captain with her.

She didn't know where Scorpia was at the moment as she hoped that she would turn up soon, with or without Catra. As bad as her state was, she knew the other two were just as exhausted as she managed to repel, both, Glimmer's staff and Bow's bow, blocking them with both her half-covered shadowy arms, grunting in anger as she pushed the two off of her and attempted to swipe a claw at the princess, nearly reaching her before Bow tackled her away from his defending friend. His support was threatening from close and afar, though he was at least down to one arrow by now, which was meant for a last resort.

Sliding against the ground she stared through the bangs of hair dangling in front of her face, she growled. Unlike Catra, these two were too level-headed to use their emotions against them. They cared for one another, were confident in themselves, and knew how to work as a team against their enemies. Truly, unlike Catra, they were much more threatening opponents at the time, and ones that Adora couldn't predict out of the lack of knowing them.

Of course, as someone who used to be friends with a certain backstabber of a friend, she also knew what it looked like when someone cared for another. In their case, it was learning which one was most likely to lower their guard for the sake of saving the other, and she had the perfect target in mind.

Without fear or hesitation, gathering a small bundle of shadow against her left arm, trying to make her claws as threatening as possible, she charged directly for the panting princess on her right, waiting for the yellow archer to take the bait, shifting her eyes without turning her head as she watched him.

And he did.

"Glimmer!" Bow shouted, running to her side in a mad dash as soon as he could. As she took a defensive stance, she noticed her eyes still directed in Bow's direction as if she was waiting for something. At that moment, she saw Adora already beginning to draw an excessive amount of shadows in her right arm, keeping it hidden from the archer as he neared her. By the time she realized what Adora was doing, it was already too late.

"Bow, don't-!" Her warning was as useless as expecting the wind to save them at this point. Just as she was within three feet of the princess, with the archer nearly at her side, she quickly turned her body as she unleashed her powerful shadows at the archer, blasting him at pointblank range as he was blown off his feet by the massive wave of darkness she unleashed. Bow yelled as he was blasted nearly fifty feet away from the two, slamming into the wall at full force, before dizzyingly collapsing to the ground, seemingly out cold.

"Bow!"

*twang*

"Ungh-!" The princess choked as sh was suffocated. The following moment that she let down her guard in fear for her friend was the other second Adora needed to secure her victory. Gathering the last of her remaining power that she could, she threw several tendrils of her shadows at the young girl, wrapping one around her right arm, her left leg, and around her neck as she held her in the air above her, the weakened princess struggling to breathe as she was constricted.

"Why don't you try your little teleporting now, princess?" Adora taunted. As much as she didn't want to, she felt she had little choice. The longer this went about, the more likely it would be too late to be free of her bonds, the possibility of escape eluding her as the bonds tightened with each passing second. Gathering what little she had left, the princess's body glowed with a familiar pink haze as she attempted the last of her remaining teleports.

*sssshhhhhhhhhh-*

"Ngh..." Glimmer moaned as she gasped for air. It was too late, she ran out of power. She was too exhausted to even gather a handful of energy to blast Adora with, provided she could get a clear hit on her at this rate. All she knew was that her breath was fading as Adora continued to strangle her, waiting for the choke-hold to kick in and for the princess to eventually pass out.

This was all that Adora was waiting for. This moment, right here. The day she crushed the Princess Alliance and the Rebellion soon after. She was going to prove herself to Hordak, to everyone, that her methods were just. Her alliances proved useful, her allies were invaluable, and the friends she made along the way having their back for her when she needed them most. This was the day that Adora flipped over the view the Horde had on her, the way everyone viewed her and her *unique* methods.

This, is the day, she won.

"Haaah!"

*ssshhhkkk*

"Ahhhhh!" Adora screamed in pain as she held her fingers at her side, dropping the princess in the process. Stepping away from the princess as she fell back to the ground, the Force Captain groaned to herself as she slowly turned around. As if she needed a clue as to who did it, who was responsible for cutting away the shadows with the sword that started all of this, and responsible from keeping her from achieving her victory at the last moment just like LAST TIME!

Sure enough, panting there with exhaustion as Glimmer rubbed her neck from soreness, she saw Catra. Not bound by Scorpia or the others, none of her other allies in sight, appearing when she was least wanted, the magicat made her presence known as she cut away the shadows that were restraining Glimmer. The princess let out a few coughs as Adora checked her own fingers, finding a few cuts among them. She's never been more thankful that losing a portion of her shadow directly never resulted in whatever limbs they were attached to, but they did end up giving her a few cuts along both her hands.

Not enough to open any wounds, and not pleasant enough to ignore for too long.

"You... you always have to get in the way, don't you!?" Adora shouted angrily, forming as much shadow as she could along her arms, barely managing to grow anything from the claws over her fingers to the elbows of her arms.

Catra literally spat to the side as she kept her sword on guard, refusing to lower any of her defenses. "Well, you know me..." She mocked, Adora lowering her gaze heavily as a result.

"If I did know you, we wouldn't be in this situation, would we?" There were barely any words the two had for each other as they stared each other down. They've heard excuse after excuse from one another up to this point, even if it left some feelings mixed from Catra. She couldn't get over that nagging bit about Adora, the idea that everything, from the very beginning, was all on her.

Regardless, she didn't care at the time. All she was focused on right now was stopping her old friend from hurting her new ones, and any chance she had of saving their lives all came down to here.

Without so much as a blink, the two rushed to each other, clashing shadowy claw against a magic-less sword, as the two pressed their heads against one another again, glaring down the other in anger.

"Is there anything you haven't taken from me yet, Catra?" With a growl, mustering as much magic as she ground, she grabbed onto Catra's sword by the blade, her hands protected by the shadows power, and pried it from Catra's weak hands before tossing it away. With the two seconds she spent looking at where the sword was tossed, it was all Adora needed before slamming a large fist into Catra's face, knocking her back a good twenty feet, but not enough to toss her off her heels as she skidded across the ground.

"How about your life, for starters?" She hissed back. The second she came to a stop, Catra charged straight at her friend again, claws at the ready. With a solid leap in the air, she brought her claws down, swiping at Adora's arms several times in an effort to hit the exposed parts of her. "You don't see me trying to kill you or your friends, do you?" Feinting her with a right sweep, she quickly ducked away from Adora's brief line of sight, and swiped against her right ankle.

*swiff!*

"Ahh!" Adora yelped, taking a moment to swipe at Catra with her own claws as she forced her to back away. She gritted her teeth as she rubbed her cut ankle for the moment, trying to power through the pain. "Capture," she emphasized, "not kill!" With a wave of her arms, she summoned up her tendrils from her back as she attempted to ensnare the magicat in her grip as she made a run for the sword. "I don't know how you think the Horde does it, but I'm not like!"

To her surprise, and Catra's, she failed to land a single hit on the magicat as she slid and jumped out of the way of the proceeding tendrils, the exhaustion taxing her body continuing to take its toll even now. It wasn't until Catra had a firm grip on the handle again that Adora finally got a tendril around her left ankle, pulling her back as Catra was flinging through the air. "Oh, and what was with the army last month? A welcoming committee?" With both hands to the sword, the magicat cut the tendril loose from her ankle, the proceeding pain making Adora wince as she felt a small cut forming along her back.

"T-That was the headband, all right?!" Using both of her arms this time, she attempted to blast at Catra with a wave of shadow, knowing she wouldn't be able to counter it like the Battle of Bright Moon... or at least, she assumed. With her weakened state, her diminishing powers, she Catra actually managing to maintain her footing after she pushed her away a good ten feet, using the sword to block the incoming strike that knocked Bow flat off his feet. "I can't feel anything when I'm wearing it, and right now, I wish I didn't feel anything!"

"Ghhh... I can help you with that part!" She grumbled, slowly pushing her way closer to Adora.

All throughout this, recovering from her own injuries, Glimmer just watched with amazement. After everything the two had been through, the weeks that had past since the battle that separated them for good, they still seemed to be in pain with one another. They couldn't stand the other's existence, they hated each other for being on the opposing team!...And they hated the fact they had to fight each other, despite trying not to show it.

She's gotten used to Catra's mannerisms and the way she looks at people throughout the months. And, given the way she narrowed her eyes, as she glared at Adora, it was strange. It was unbalanced, uneven with the twitch coming from her other eye, and it still looked like it was filled with sadness. Only now did she begin to realize one of the major reasons she had yet to achieve She-Ra's true power.

She had yet to let go of the past.

"All you do is use people to get what you want, day in and day out! You don't care about any of them as long as it helps you in any way!" By this point, the Force Captain found her back pressed against the wall of the tower, struggling to keep her arms forward as Catra continued to push forward. Ten feet became five feet, five feet became two, and eventually, she was standing right in front of the girl, being separated by the wall of darkness that was shooting in all directions as Catra pushed harder.

"I see how it is!" With a yell, she pushed the sword practically into Adora's palms, shattering the concentration Adora had left as the shadows dissipated around her. On the upside, Catra's sword went flinging out of her hands at the same time. Also on the upside was Catra's fist when she looked back.

*wham!*

"Ngh!" Adora grumbled as she was tossed to the side.

"When you manipulate other people, you see yourself as the hero, and when I do it, that somehow makes me the bad guy!" Grabbing the girl by her collar, she lifted her off the ground as she threw her back against the wall, pulling back her fist as she prepared another strike. Anticipating the event, Adora quickly ducked out of the way, allowing Catra to injure her own fist as it slammed into the wall behind her. "Ahh!"

With the pain distracting her, she headbutted Catra from her chin, knocking the cat off her balance, and giving Adora enough freedom to grab her by the neck before throwing her behind her, slamming her back into the wall this time. "I'm not the villain!" It was getting harder and harder to keep her shadows over her fist, by this time diminishing up to her wrists alone. "Unlike you, I actually care about the people I get to know! I care about what happens to them before and after a mission, every day! It's exhausting, and I put up with it to help them achieve their goals and the Horde's future!"

With as much energy as she could muster, she attempted to slam a shadowy fist right into Catra's face again, hoping to finish off this fight with a final strike. Yet, like everything else Catra had to do, she had to get in the way again. She had to stop her by using both of her hands before they could reach her, the battle becoming more of a battle of endurance and stamina at this point as the two struggled to see who could land the finishing blow.

"Then why does it bother you so much?!" With as much balance as she could, hopping her feet to the wall, Catra sprang off the wall behind her as she tackled Adora to the ground, scattering the dust in the air all around them as they slid. With enough reflex and energy still running inside of her, she managed to be the one on top as she grabbed at her throat and vice versa, both girls glaring daggers at one another as tried to quell their own inner turmoil. "Why can't you just get over it and move on with your life then?!"

"BECAUSE I CARED ABOUT YOU THE MOST!" All at once, everything became silent to Catra as she could only see and two things: the sound of Adora's whimpering as her lip trembled.

And tears flowing down the side of her face. She was glaring at her with tear-soaked eyes as she stared up at her, all while Catra slowly pulled away from her as she leaned up. She couldn't get the image out of her mind, everything that lead them to this moment. Her hands started to shake as the corner of her own eye started to become misty, all while the rage that filled Adora's face started to disappear, being replaced by more sadness.

"I cared about you... for over ten years, Catra." She sniffed. From this, Catra finally stood up from the girl, never taking her eyes off her for even a moment. "And for you... for you to finally pull all those memories away... like they were nothing... I died inside, Catra. I honestly, honestly, died." From this, Adora rose to her knees, squeezing her fists out of sorrow and anger.

This... This was another reason Catra couldn't come to accepting people as friends. What was... What was she supposed to do about all of this? Keep fighting her? Help her in some way? After everything she's done to her, done to the people she now considered friends, how was she supposed to help her at a time like this?!

And how... how could she not do anything? Adora was right, as always, about everything. She abandoned her from the moment she could, left her behind like she was nothing in the hopes of accomplishing her own dreams. If she never grew attached to Bow and Glimmer over the course of their journeys together, she never would've known what it felt like to be like her right now, to know what sort of pain it brought her...

She couldn't do it. As a single tear rolled down her face, she just couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to fight any longer, not against Adora... not against someone she still considered her friend. She was just like she was the day they met, except on opposite ends now. She was looking for a friend, someone to help her through her misery. She could see actually see her younger self flash briefly in Adora's place as she sulked, the tears still dripping from her face as she looked to the ground in sadness.

Then to her, with a face full of pain. She hesitated, slowly, as Catra raised a hand to her. She wanted to help her, she needed to help her, regardless of what happened in the past! Adora stared at the hand in a questioning silence, contemplating everything Catra was doing at that moment. There was barely an expression on Catra's face other than guilt, pain. She look tormented with herself on the outside as she did on the inside.

She was willing to help her now. Now, more than ever. And it was the only moment through all of this that made them both smile a little.

"CATRA, NO!"

"Huh-?"

*WHOMP!*

"Oof-!" Everything, from her stomach outward, became numb to the touch as nearly all feeling left her body, save for consciousness. As she slowly dropped to the floor, for a full second, time seemed to slow down around her as she saw it. Standing next to her, she dropped, for one second felt like twelve to the girl, as she passed Adora's head, and the face that covered her expression.

Smiling. Adora was smiling with the same sinister smirk she had once before at the Princess Prom, one that truly indicated her victory over the matter. And, just like that instance, she whispered right into Catra's ears.

"Third method of ending a war swiftly, Catra: Never show your true strength until your enemy finally lets their guard down." And with that, she watched as the shadows along Adora's arms flourished again, growing back from top to bottom, as Catra finally fell to the ground, in defeat as she clutched her stomach in pain. Adora stood over her smirking down at the weakened warrior as she groveled, waiting until she finally saw her hand move to push herself up before slamming her foot on Catra's back, earning a small hiss from the girl as her tail flopped over.

Adora defeated her. Again.

"Catra-!" She didn't care how badly injured she was or how much magic she was lacking! Catra needed her help immediately, even if it meant risking the chance that she could never teleport again. With as much concentration as she could, pulling every ounce of magic she had left in her body, she concentrated as she prepared to pull off one last miracle and save Catra before it was too la-

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhhh!" Glimmer cried out in pain, a wave of electricity coursing through her body out of nowhere. The electricity only lasted a few seconds, but the pain was still enough. With a wave of dizziness, the princess collapsed to the ground with barely a midge of consciousness as she kept one eye open, all while a lone Horde guard appeared behind her next to a smiling Scorpia.

"We got the princess, Adora." Scorpia informed her with a nod, checking over the princess to make sure she wasn't concealing anything else dangerous.

"Good job, Scorpia." She replied back as she kneeled down to Catra. Even with all its hiccups, this plan became an absolute success, the way Adora needed it to, and the way it should always end for the heroes. Gritting her teeth, she raised Catra's head as she pulled her by her hair, keeping her knee firmly on the weakened magicat's back so she wouldn't escape. "If it's any consolation, Catra, I meant every word I said." She whispered before dropping her again. "But I'm not the same gullible idiot you took for granted, anymore. I've changed. And once your stupid Rebellion falls, maybe you'll finally see that.

*sheeeeeeeeeeeeen*

With that said, not a second later, everyone looked up as they saw the barrier collapsing around them, the orb at the top of the tower exploding into several small parts as it finally overloaded its circuits. To most people, the sight of their beloved barrier coming down would've been a sign of caution and distress. To Adora, however, it was just a sign that confirmed something she knew must've happened.

"Annnd it looks like Frosta's finished with the others."

"Adora!" A voice called out, running from the North side of the tower in an exhausted state.

"Hey, Frosta. Looks like you took care of the others, huh?" Adora asked casually as the young princess looked around.

Frosta was never more assured of herself about her past choice, and this scene could only confirm it for her. The way Adora had her foot trampling on Catra's back, the exhausted state of Glimmer as both her arms were held back by Scorpia, and the way Bow seemed battered as he weakly leaned up from the ground, struggling to get up to his knees. And the legendary sword of the First Ones, lying against the Princess's very feet. She picked it up in both her hands and looked at herself, and regretted the reflection she saw.

"See, Catra? Even a child knows right from wrong compared to you." She looked up as Adora turned back to Catra. Grabbing her by the back of the neck, she grinned as she pulled Catra's head closer to her. "And now, you, and your stupid alliance, are going to share a nice quiet cell back in the Fright Zone. And who knows? Maybe if you're really good, I'll let you out of your cell about a year after the Rebellion burns to the ground-!"

*thwack!*

"Agh!" Adora yelped in pain as she clutched her right eye painfully, dropping Catra to the ground as she slowly pulled herself away. Just when she thought Catra couldn't annoy her further, couldn't possibly be worse than she already was, she goes ahead and proves her wrong, again. Just as she thought about giving Catra any sense of decency, her ex-friend had to go and elbow her right in the eye! "Ghhhhhhhhhhh!" She should've known Catra of all people would be up to cheap tactics, but even this was beyond her. She already lost, why persist? It almost made her regret what she had to do next!

Almost.

Throwing out a tendril against girl's neck, wrapping it around tightly as she reeled her back in an instant to her open palm, she watched as Catra struggled to free herself from her left hand, doing whatever she could to scratch and scrape at whatever she could, finding the process pointless as Adora's shadow-coated armor protected her. "You know, you were much better to be around whenever you were sleeping anyway." Without another word, scowling at the animal, Adora formed a grand fist in her other hand, Catra closing her eyes so she wouldn't see the blow that would wind up with her waking up in the Fright Zone the next day-!

*WHAM!*

Silence fell over the air as Catra fell to the ground again. Strangely, Adora's fist felt a lot lighter, almost non-existent, than she thought it would. She expected something close resembling pain to it, and instead, all she felt was... actually... nothing. Save for the slightly harsh landing of the ground, and her currently pained state, everything else about her was alright. In fact, too alright. Did Adora accidentally kill her without her realizing it? Opening one eye, she realized she must have, because she was seein the strangest thing she ever did in her life.

Frosta. In her Winter's Bane armor, or as much as she could afford of it since it looked like she was currently freezing with parts of her body in separate blocks of ice, standing in front of her right after she smacked away Adora, startling everyone, but nowhere near as her, as Adora rolled to the ground a dozen yards away.

Adora blinked in turn as she processed what just happened for a few seconds before getting up to the ground again, rubbing the side of her face soothingly. "F... Frosta?" What was going on here? "What... What are you doing?"

Sorrow and regret filled Frosta's face as she took the moment to look over the Force Captain's badge she had treasured for so long. It was a nice little keepsake, a memento, of the time she spent with Adora and getting to know her. Now, it was just a symbol of everything she regretted, and everything she would've regretted for the rest of her life if she had stayed with them.

*clack*

There... There had to be some mistake, right? First, she attacked her, clearly by accident, and then... and then she just... she tossed the Officer's badge to Adora's feet. Adora's eyes wavered as she stared at the badge, speechless, confused, until she finally looked back to the young girl she considered a friend.

"I... I can't do this anymore, Adora." She stated. Everyone's reaction, save Catra's, was to blink in surprise at this, except for a lone Force Captain who felt like reality was collapsing in on her.

"D-Do... this?" She questioned as if she hadn't a clue. "W-What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this, all of this! I... I can't work for the Horde, anymore!" The words coming from her mouth were sending shivers down Adora's spine, and not just from the cold.

She wasn't working for the Horde anymore. She meant with the Horde, right? Yes, that's what she must've meant. She wasn't a tool to her, she was a friend, a good friend! And she had no reason to betray them! She was just... confused, of course. Why would she leave the Horde too?

"W-What... What are you talking about? Frosta, we've done so much together, already!" Adora tried to remind as she weakly got to her legs. "The resources we've traded back and forth, the technology we provided your kingdom, the-"

"It's all been called off." Frosta stated. "The Kingdom of Snows will no longer support resources to the Horde. Not now, or ever.

"B... But why? I thought you were- We were friends!" A small trickle of sweat started to drop from Adora's forehead as she failed to grasp the reality of the situation any sooner. "We are friends-!"

"It doesn't matter!" She yelled, giving her a small glare of sadness. "Just because we're friends doesn't mean its automatically right, Adora. Nothing about the Horde is right, even if you are. You were right about not all the parts about the Horde being bad, Adora, but that... That doesn't mean the bad parts can be ignored! You're just fooling yourself by pretending it is, and... And you just can't, Adora!"

"..." Adora blinked as she lowered her head slowly, contemplating everything she was listening to as the sound of everything slowly became muffled to her ears. "Y-You're... You're really serious about this, aren't you?" She started to shake around her shoulders as as her shadow claws scraped against the concrete.

"We don't have to be enemies, Adora. You should join the Rebellion, seriously!"

"..." Then, all at once, everything stopped. Adora blinked as she lifted her head again, noticing how everything was still around her, as Frosta looked prepared to say something that never came out. Looking up to the sky, she noticed how the clouds themselves seemed to stop, as if time had completely frozen around her. But why?

"Hmm, hmm, hmm..." A familiar hum rang through her ears behind her as they walked casually in their step. "Gee, I wonder who could have seen this coming from a mile away~" Adora refused to five her any thought, any attention. Giving her attention was just her way of drawing strength from her, her willingness to see Aroda being a source of amusement with every passing second.

And right now, she really wasn't in the mood to see her.

"It's too bad, really." She heard her footsteps echoing all around her even as she kept her gaze to the ground. "I mean, it's not like you bet your whole career on this-...Oh no, wait, you did. Well it's not like Hordak expected you to... Oh wow, he actually did think you would pull this off, didn't he? Well, thank goodness Frosta's still at your side- Oh, riiight, I forgot again." Aroda playfully shook her head with a shrug. "Gee, sorry Adora, I just keep losing my head over this. You now how it is when shock and frustration builds up, right?"

Slowly, the tendril of shadows started to seep in from around Adora, the Force Captain's muscles continuing to tense up as time within this frozen realm persisted. "First it slowly eats away inside of you, then you start to imagine everything you could have done differently, and then, ha, reality hits you!" The reflection was all too eager to comment in Adora's ears as she squatted behind her. "The reality that you didn't succeed in your mission, that you failed to capture any of the princesses by the looks of it, really." Grinning, she tilted Adora's head up gently by the chin until she was staring at the one who caused all of this.

"All because of your desperate little desire, to make a new friend who you could trust~"

"Gh...Ggggghhhhhh..." Grinding her teeth, anger burned inside as reality slowly came back to her as Aroda slowly drifted away into thin air. Everything she said, everything Aroda taunted her about, was true. Frosta had officially betrayed them. She betrayed the Horde. She betrayed Adora's trust. And if the other two princesses escaped or whatever Frosta did with them, then that meant the mission was a failure.

"Gggghhhhhh..."

"A-Adora?" Frosta spoke, blinking in curiosity. She knew she wasn't going to take the news well, but this didn't look like any side of her that she had seen before. The shadows along her arms slowly started to gather around her shoulders as tendrils began to grow from them, growing higher and higher as they stretched to the size of Adora's strands of hair.

Adora was angry. She had hate. She had sadness. She had everything broken within her again as she felt it. The pain of betrayal, that same stinging scorn of pain that she once had with Catra. Once again, it was inflicted on her, instead of the person she wanted to inflict the pain on. Not only did her plan seemingly fail, it flipped over. Everything she worked for for the last several days, not to mention weeks of her alliance with the Kingdom of Snows, all went down the drain. All be cause of her.

Because of Frosta...

Because of her friend...

Because of her traitor...

"You should run," Catra muttered, sending Frosta a spiteful glare, "now."

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Like a rabid beast that had just burst from its cage, Adora charged at Frosta at speeds unlike anything Frosta had ever seen, the Force Captain throwing herself at the younger princess, pulling herself harshly against the ground with her own tendrils as she shot for the young girl. There was barely any time for Frosta to react as she protected herself with her ice-covered arms, blocking the brunt of the attack as the ice soaked up most of it, though didn't prevent her from being blown back into the wall halfway across the courtyard.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out worriedly. She's never seen her friend this angry before, much less looking this hysterical. Then again, she wasn't there when she was torn apart from Catra's betrayal, so who knew how much she had reacted the last time someone betrayed her? "Here, hold this!"

"Hu- Whoa!"

*thud*

Giving the guard little time to react, or any time for that matter, Scorpia quickly pushed Glimmer into his possibly-waiting arms, the possibility being zero as he had little time to react before Glimmer fell on him. Scorpia didn't care about any of that at the moment, she had to stop her friend from bringing any harm to an ally, former or not, that she knew used to be a friend. For Pete sake, she was still a child!

At the moment, Glimmer felt enough feeling in her bones slowly returning as she leaned up from apparently-unconscious guard, just in time to notice several others appearing from the tower itself who spotted her. Knowing she had to give it her all, hoping Frosta would be able to hold out in the event of some miracle to come.

Like, in this case, an incredible torrent of water that came flushing out of the tower's entrance near them.

*splash!*

"Wahhhhhh!" The guards screamed, drenched from head to toe as they were swept off their feet and blasted toward the wall with a gush of water... right up to Bow just as he finally got to his first leg.

"Oh come oooon..." He had no regrets. All he could do now was await the eventual end to come, knowing Tiny Bow would be waiting for him in the afterlife.

*tug*

"Whoa-!" Or whatever end decided to greet him first, as several seconds before the guards came crashing into the wall, he felt himself being lifted up into the air by several soft, smooth, green vines that were summoned to his rescue. Appearing from beyond the wall herself, he was greeted by an all too familiar face that he was more than ecstatic to see smiling back to him. "Perfuma!"

"Mermista!" Glimmer greeted simultaneously as the princess of waters appeared from the tower, helping her up to her feet. "I've never been so glad to see you!"

"Funny, I've never been glad to see you." Mermista joked, knowingly. She was more than relieved to see everyone was alright as Glimmer quickly hugged her, turning her attention back to Perfuma and Bow as they came running to their side.

"How did you guys get through the barrier? How did you even get here?"

"How do you think?" Perfuma questioned in turn before looking back to the battle at hand.

For the most part, to her relief, Frosta appeared to be taking over the battle relatively well. Despite Adora's animal-like advances, she managed to keep the distance between the two of them as she created multiple pathways of ice in thin air, skating around the tops of them as she continued to lure Adora as far as she possibly could. Possibly, being the generous word her, as Adora refused to give Frosta so much as a foot of space, shooting from left to right practically as she pushed herself off of whatever surface directed her towards Frosta faster.

Including the ice itself.

At once point, the frost princess was forced to back off from her advancement as Adora actually got ahead of her, blasting at her with a cone of cold in order to halt her advances. However, unlike her previous opponents, Adora was something else entirely. Even as her arms began to freeze over as she blocked the assault, the shadows encased within them began to run amok, going beserk as if of their own free will until they shot out piercingly sharp tendrils out of the ice, allowing Adora to shatter them with ease.

Surprised by her quick reaction, she was left little choice but to defend herself as she created as close to a Frosta-sized wall of ice with her bare hands before Adora slammed down a massive fist on the young girl. She belt betrayed, she felt hurt, and she wouldn't be satisfied until Frosta understood what she made her feel, darn it! With a great push, Adora yelled as the shadowy fist actually stretched in its length, practically shooting Frosta straight into the ground as her wall and armor both shattered in their entirety.

"Annnd Adora broke through her defense in under a minute." Bow muttered, worriedly. He didn't think anyone could actually break through her durable ice-covered armor like that, and wished nobody would prove him wrong! Quickly, the archer retrieved the last of his trick arrows as he took careful aim of the Force Captain, planning to provide a good distraction as soon as he had a clear shot.

"Bow, wait!" Perfuma quickly halted, pulling him closer as she whispered into his ear.

There was a small shutter in Frosta's head as her head rang from the impact. Perhaps that was a side effect she should've expected when she encased her body with over half her body-weight at the same time. Possibilities and regrets were at the far end of her mind at the moment, as no sooner did she regain sensibility did she see Adora stomping her foot right next to her, enshrouding her neck in a thick, suffocating, tendril that she tried to pry free from.

"You... of all people... I thought you would understand..." Adora grumbled as tears slowly formed in the corner of her eyes. "I thought family meant something to you?!"

"Nnngh, it does!" She yelped back. "But they wouldn't be proud of the way I'm doing it! What's the point of trying to keep your own kingdom safe when you're doing bad stuff to the other ones to do it?!"

"Ghhhh..." Adora hated this moment. She hated everything having to do with this moment as her shadow's hold on her subconsciously tightened. She knwe she was a kid, she knew it was a mistake, and yet... And yet it just hurt so much. For the second time now, she found herself being betrayed, feeling like she was being used again for their technology this time, and the person betraying her was almost as stubborn as Catra!

*tug*

"Adora, stop!" Scorpia pleaded, grabbing and pulling on to the girl's arm for dear life- a child's life, at that. While she managed to pull away the arm enough for her to lose her grip of the shadows over her arm, it did nothing to prevent her from manifesting them along her other arm, one she used to pin the girl down by her stomach as they breached out, pinning her wrists to the floor, too. "She's just a kid!"

"Ngh! Let go of me!" Adora yelled angrily. She didn't care! She didn't care if she was a kid, Catra, Rebellion, or Horde at that moment! She had nothing but rage inside of her, a merciless rage that cared not for whoever got involved. "She's a traitor! Everything she's done is that of a traitor!"

"Adora, just look at her, ple-"

"I said let go!"

*whap!*

"Ah!" It was only at the sound of Scorpia's sudden shriek that Adora finally blinked. Looking to her right, she didn't come close to understanding who was talking to her until she talking to until one of her tendrils whipped her somewhat against the face. It wasn't anything severe, just enough to leave an inch thick red mark across her right cheek, one she was trying to rub soothingly with her claw. Part of her power drained from her at the realization, her entire right side dissipating of shadow as she reached for her.

"Ah... S-Scorpia, I'm..." She was at a loss for what she just did. She attacked one of her friends, one who was just trying to get her to stop doing something she knew Adora would regret, something Adora knew she would regret too when her mind finally cleared of the fog of hatred surrounding her. "I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to-"

*wham!*

The strike didn't come from the princess partly pinned to the floor, nor from the scorpion girl who was just attacked accidentally by her best friend. No, the attack came from an irritated feline by the name of Catra, one who was struggling to keep a hold on the girl as she squeezed her arms from the side from behind. At this close of a range, there was little room fro Adora's shadows to manifest around her body, not for the lack of trying as the ones manifested from her shoulders tried to push her away.

That was the opening the other princess needed, too.

Without wasting a moment, the young princess of ice quickly grabbed hold of Adora's legs as she froze her feet to the ground. With the same general idea, she squeezed her legs as tight as possible as she prevented Adora from gathering shadows of any support around them, freezing what little she did manifest in place as she tried to hold Adora steady. Of the weaknesses she divulged of the princesses, she knew a particular one the Force Captain had personally, and it was their best bet for stopping her before anything else could be more chaotic.

"Raise it-!" Frosta struggled to say as she held Adora's legs together.

There was a lot more to yell at her for, but at the moment, she was more concerned with having the time to argue with her after. "What?"

The young princess grumbled again as she had to continually focus on keeping the shadows frozen in place, draining her much faster than she expected someone like Adora to be capable of. "Raise her right hand to the air! Hurry!"

"Her right hand?" What kind of bizarre jumbo was she trying to get at? "What does her right hand have to do with anythi-"

"Just do it!" She yelled again, losing her grip.

Gritting her teeth, doing what she could to contain her anger for now, she wiggled as much free room as she could between herself and Adora's right arm without allowing the shadows to manifest between them. With a bit of effort, still weak from her past endeavor, she managed to pry Adora's arm free as the princess instructed, grabbing her by the elbow as she raised it high and clear into the air for... honestly, who knew. Apparently Frosta did, and, like so many other things, she refused to explain herself to her. With the wrist straightened, arm above her head, Frosta shot another wave of ice at Adora's arm, keeping it pinned in place and steady for as long as her powers could hold. "Now!" She finally shouted.

*swiff*

There was barely three seconds to themselves before Catra's ears picked up the fine tune of an arrow going off, followed by a familiar sound that she was accustomed to follow it.

*boom!*

Both, her and Frosta, were tossed in opposite directions as the small explosion went off from Adora's right wrist. Bow had never been more thankful to keep a small explosion arrow on hand for a last resort. They were good for little else other than detaching the limbs off the droids the Horde sent, but, like all of his gadgets, it proved its usefulness when he needed it most. At least, assuming what Frosta said was the truth.

"Now what?" Glimmer asked, looking back to a Perfuma who was determined to prove her trust in her friend.

"Now, we stall her, for as long as possible." Gathering her magic, Perfuma raised herself from the ground with her own vines that penetrated through the cracks in the wall, in part thanks to Catra's and Adora's constant slamming back and forth. Taking the same idea, as Bow and Glimmer nodded to each other before taking off in separate directions, Mermista gathered her trident before charging straight at the Force Captain on a stream of her own gathered waters.

Now, it was finally time to claim their fortress.

Shaking from the sudden explosion, still maintaining her stance as her tendrils embedded themselves in the ground around her, Adora growled. She rubbed her wrist soothingly, too perplexed by the rash of strange behavior from her enemies and the fury still overwhelming her, and still thankful she had more than enough shadow to protect her from the explosion, not to mention the ice Frosta formed around it. She was slightly saddened to see Scorpia now missing from her side, but all that sadness lasted for only so long before she remembered everything that angered her about today, everyone who went about their way of trying to make her life miserable.

It all started with Frosta of all people, the person who destroyed her trust and made her relive the horrible event that made Adora go off the deep end. Now, she was going to make sure the same day ended with her, not showing an ounce of caring as Frosta coughed a few feet away, still recovering from the small explosion as the smoke filled her lungs.

"I don't care what you pull, Frosta." Adora loomed over the young princess as she regathered the shadows around her arms, finding it surprisingly easy at the moment, and caring little for cause of why. All she cared about was finishing her her mission, and finishing it in the same manner that she told herself earlier.

She wouldn't let anyone stand in her way!

"Hey!" Perfuma shouted from above, catching Adora by surprise. Of all the things she expected to see today, seeing a princess on a wave of her own vines wasn't one of them. "Get away from my FRIEND!"

With the push of mother nature itself, Adora was forced to shield herself with a wall of pure shadows as a large web of vines were shot directly at her, pushing the rage-inducing Force Captain back several yards away from her recovering friend. The vines proved more of a nuisance than a distraction as the shadows began to draw in the vines, shredding them into mere slices the size of her fingers within seconds.

*swish*

"Haaahh!"

*WHAM!*

With rage in her roar, refusing to give her the same chance to recover like she did with the rest of them, Glimmer appeared in a final teleportation, slamming her magically charged staff against Adora's side, knocking her flat off her feet. It didn't little to keep her down for long, Adora grimacing as she pushed herself back up with the tendrils on her back, but MAN did it feel good to her! "Saved that one just for you, Adora." She taunted.

"Gahhhh!" These princesses were starting to push her past the point of annoyance and towards the future of wanting them all dead! With the shadows continuing to empower her, from her back, she screamed as four massive serrated tendrils protruded from her back, all taking aim at the princess who she knew wouldn't be able to dodge all at once given her current state.

That state didn't appear to matter to fate apparently as just mere feet before managing to reach her, Catra, in all of her painfully annoying self, just HAD to tackle her out of the way to the side several feet, Adora's glowering eyes following them as the cat glared back at her. If Catra was going to be as stubborn as the rest of them, then she was going to be the first one she dealt with-!

*Sspissssshhhhhh!*

Blasting at the Force Captain at full force, Adora could only block with her bare arms as her shadows momentarily retreated back to her, making the captain endure the torrent of water Mermista blasted straight at her. Adora growled intimidatingly as she refused to be push back any further, using a shadowy arm to block the majority of the water as she took one incredibly slow step after the other, trying to force back the tide.

"Now!" She heard Mermista yell, running out of the way as the stream of magic slowly came to an end.

The very moment when the water finally left her field of vision, the second she could see her surroundings clearly, she came to understand completely what Mermista was shouting about. Looking up at the small gleam of light that reflected off the surface, she had a few seconds to realize she was in the light of sight of one of the massive turrets, one the archer had mounted, and one directed right at her.

All it took was the press of Bow's thumbs.

*BOOM!*

There was no force to keep the Force Captain on her feet to resist a blast as strong as that. The most she could do is manifest all of her shadows directly in front of her to block the majority of the damage she would've taken, blasting her into the air and throwing her towards the wall. Blinking a little surprised, Glimmer took the moment to look back at the turret-mounting archer above her.

"Wasn't that a little overkill?"

"Hey, I aimed near her, not at her." Bow shrugged back.

For better or worse, Adora wouldn't have to worry about crashing into the wall she was flung to. That would eventually end up being the worse of both scenarios as to why. Eight feet in the air wasn't enough to avoid Frosta's contribution of the attack as she produced a solid, massive, pillar of ice from the ground, launching straight up and smacking Adora right in the back, launching her upwards as Catra made a mad dash for the pillar itself.

She was determined to finish this mission, right here, right now. As Adora just began her ascent into the air, barely reaching over the walls of the fortress, Catra leapt from the ground towards the pillar, sinking her claws into the shattering ice as she threw herself upwards towards the top. In two short leaps from side to side, she reached the top, pushing off with her feet at full force as she reached for Adora.

There was barely any time for Adora to react as her surroundings became disorienting, a strange wave of dizziness beginning to overwhelm her. By the time she realized Catra grabbed onto her ankles, it was too late. With as much force as she could muster, using her own momentum to turn, Catra threw the weakening commander straight down, hurtling her and crashing her into the fragile pillar of ice. The pillar exploded from sheer force in an instant, scattering a cold chill all throughout the base.

Everyone was forced to shield their eyes, even Catra as she came back down. The sharp sting of the cold wind was enough to irritate their senses, the small chill circling through all of them. With a grand attack against the one behind all this, there was no telling how affected Adora was, how much damage, if any, she took. All they knew, standing side by side, that they had the best chance of beating her.

Together.

"Did we get her?" Glimmer asked, never taking her eyes off the scene. The only thing that could tell them that wasn't time was the wait for the mist to dissipate.

*Shooooooom!*

"Whoa"! Bow jumped as he quickly hopped from the seat of the turret, narrowly avoiding the destruction that soon followed.

In a massive display of power, one that none of them had ever witnessed before from her, shooting out from the mist was a massive shadow, one nearly the size of a boat in scale. With several claw-like appendages bursting from the core, stretching in size until its entire hand was over the turret itself, ripping it right out of the ground before chucking it over to another turret along the wall. The tear nearly ripped the platform itself, just inches from Bow's legs as he barely dodged out of the way.

"Um, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume no..." Everyone already had the same assumption, with or without Mermista's answer.

With the large shadow receding back from whence it came, the mist slowly started to disappear, finally revealing the very figure that had been through half a dozen attacks at once, and still managed to stay on her feet. From her hunched over posture, arms dropped in front of her, panting, exhausted, hair strewn all around her face, there was no way someone like her should be standing.

But she was. Before all of them, Adora stood. The tendrils of shadows on her back were going berserk, near ten of them flailing about in anger as she breathed heavily. Along her right shoulder, it appeared as if her shadowy armor had fixed itself in a haste, shattered beforehand and put back together in seconds as large crags of it burst unevenly with its smoother left side. And all around her arm-covered shadows, violet streaks of purple, almost like veins, could be seen stretching from her wrists, the armor itself almost appearing alive in its current state.

Nothing about Adora said she had been defeated or lost the will to fight. All it screamed was determination, and her inability to accept defeat.

"I'm... Not... Done yet..." She croaked, doing nothing to back down from the Princess Alliance. She didn't care how many times they tried to knock her down. She would continue to draw strength from the darkness, as much as she could, if it meant completing her mission.

That was the moment Frosta lowered her hands again, satisfied, yet regretful, of the outcome at the same time. "Yes, you are, Adora." In her other hand, she unfolded her palm as she revealed the contents that Adora hadn't noticed missing since the team attacked her all at once. It was a precious item that only Adora would know the worth of, or those she most trusted.

The shattered remains of her wrist band, one whose glow had finally been snuffed out.

"No..." Adora scrambled her hand against the wrist as she pulled back the shadow, trying to feel around for what she already knew was gone.

The attack meant to distract Adora from finding out.

The damage she took to force her shadows to protect her, drawing out more power.

The exploding arrow that managed to break apart her armor and the wristband at the same time.

All of it was their plan, a plan that only worked because of her trust in a princess.

A princess who exposed Adora's own weakness to them.

"No!" Adora's cries did nothing to prevent the calamity that followed.

Almost immediately, the shadows within her veins began to take effect, constraining her blood vessels and filling them with a darkness that manifested within. Adora was already gritting her teeth as she tried to shrug off the pain, feeling the shadows spread all throughout her body much faster than anything she's been used to. All the power she unknowingly wasted in rage, all the protection she could afford herself had finally caught up with her.

The others watched, few in dismay, others disgust, as the dark veins began to spread along her neck to her forehead, the Force Captain yelling in pain as she clutched her head in agony. Her face flushed with an instant fever, her vision became disoriented, and her legs trembled from fatigue as she tried to stand her ground.

Catra was actually at a loss for words for her former friend. She didn't expect anything like this from what Bow and Glimmer told them of their encounter with Adora. She didn't look like someone who was just having a mild side effect from her magic, she looked like she was actually suffering deeply in pain. The disgust that emanated from the others were almost on a sympathetic level, never seeing any sort of magical affliction like this before.

"Nggghhhhh!" Adora screamed to herself, continuing to clutch her head as she teared up. She refused to give up, she couldn't give up. She had to fight and win. Fighting. Winning. Those were the only priorities on her mind at the moment as she struggled to stay standing.

"...Adora-"

"Don't even think about it!" She yelled, opening a spiteful eye to her ex-friend as she took a step back. She panted as she continued to stare at her, refusing to take her eyes off her enemies as she became light-headed. "I... refuse to back... back..."

"Adora, enough!" Glimmer shouted, waving an arm. "Look at you! You can barely stand, it's over!"

"It's... It's not over... It's not..."

"Adora!" Scorpia's voice cried out as she approached. From the air, across the wall, riding alongside Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle, Scorpia could be seen right in the middle of a skiff, one that flew over to the second-in-command's side in post haste. "We need to leave, right now!" It was shameful to admit, but Scorpia knew the truth. With the princesses reunited, and Frosta back on the side of the Rebellion, there was no hope for success.

"N-No! Let go of me!" Adora weakly flailed her arms as Scorpia grabbed them. This time, there was no fear of the shadows accidentally lashing at her, seeing how they returned to Adora as sickness overtook her mind.

"Adora, it's over."

"No! I can stil... I can... I can... I..." Just speaking alone took everything it had out of Adora as she collapsed back in Scorpia's protective arms, the taller captain carefully pulling her inside of the skiff as she stroked her hair, watching as Adora breathed heavily with barely open eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay." She shushed, gently. "We'll have you fixed up soon, I promise."

This was unlike anything Catra's seen before. From all their time training, getting injured, so much as getting sick, she's never seen Adora look so deathly before. Despite everything that happened, she still had something minuscule to concern for her. "H-Hey... What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, what do you care?" Scorpia grumbled. She may not have known Catra on a personal level, but she knew enough from the things Adora's told her about. Abandoning Adora, betraying her, using her as a kid. She couldn't begin to understand what Adora saw in her in the first place. "You're all she ever talks about, and you still don't care." Without any words of information to give her, she gestured for Lonnie to start up the skiff again as it started hovering higher in the air.

Before she left, she and Catra shared one last look of anger at each other. They knew everything that happened below was a one time thing, and there would likely be no more chances to give. Next time they met, they would be mortal enemies once more. And with the sound of the small engine roaring up, the Princess Alliance watched as they left.

The wind was howling in the silence that followed as they waited for the Horde skiff to leave their sight. Once they were gone, they thought to themselves everything that happened since the start of the assault.

Frosta betrayed them and separated the group, as well as activating the device that would ensure they couldn't reach each other anytime soon. From there, she lead them to the center of the camp, unaware that they were falling right into a trap until it was too late.

With the groups separated, Adora had Catra and her friends right where she wanted them. Ambushing the princess and Bow with Horde soldiers in an attempt to capture either of them while she dealt with Catra personally. With the information provided by Frosta, she knew of Catra's weakness, knew how to exploit her emotions, and used them against her. While the following exploitation was followed by the largest beat down Adora ever took, it proved worth it as Catra had temporarily lost her She-Ra power, and who knew how much of it.

Everything was going smooth after that for awhile. Catra was weakened, Glimmer and Bow were being pursued by the Horde, and Frosta was off dealing with Mermista and Perfuma on the other side. Had everything gone as planned, right now, Adora would've been victorious. She would have them all in bindings as her prisoners and returned to the Fright Zone, where who-knew-what sort of horrible fate awaited them. And her desire for Hordak's recognition would've been justified.

The one calculation Adora had wrong, however, was Frosta's willingness to do what was right, Adora's trust that the young girl had similar ideals. She trusted Frosta with her life, and when it was time to collect her reward, she came and put a stop to her wicked plans. Her betrayal of Adora's perfect plan was the one possibility she never saw coming, and because of it, they were all saved.

Together, they united as they took down Adora at long last. The Force Captain continued to push back with all her might, pushing past her limits, but in the end, it was pointless. By the time Adora could realize the wristband was destroyed, it was too late. Overcome with sickness, she had no choice but to retreat, against her will or otherwise, and returned to the Fright Zone.

The damage done on both sides of the chasm was brutal. Rebellion supporters were still putting out the fire on the other side, several walls of the Horde fortress were torn down, as were the bridges and turrets, and they had a gaping hole in the floor that lead into the basement. Many of them would consider it a sign that they needed to do better, to others that they caused more destruction of the fortress than they were meant to.

But to the only one who cared about the outcome of the battle, it didn't matter. Throwing her hand in the air in cheer, Perfuma announced the conclusion that they had all come to.

"We won!" Her cheer was rallied by the cheer of her friends who came to the same conclusion. No matter how bad the situation turned out for them, in the end, they all won. It was a victory that felt all the sweeter given everything that had come about it beforehand. For all its ups and downs, all its good and bad, they still came out on top of it at the end, and that was what truly mattered.

"I mean, granted," Bow began to comment as he looked around, "we did kind of destroy a third of the base in the process."

"Hey, better than nothing, right?" Mermista shrugged, grinning.

"It's nothing that the Rebellion can't fix with a little touch." Glimmer stated, too cheerful to let the surroundings get to her. "It'll be back and running in a day or two with enough work." It was refreshing to see all her smiling allies again after all that's happened. She felt the need to celebrate, something o compliment their victory. Out of the group, it was Catra's back turned to them that caught her attention. Refusing to let her miss out on the celebration, she quickly ran to her front, still beaming with joy. "Well? Aren't you excited, Catra? We did it!"

It was a moment of Deja Vu for Glimmer, reminiscent to the Battle of Bright Moon. As the rest of the Princess Rebellion felt like celebrating, Catra was the odd one out. Her emotions were the complete opposite to the rest of her friends, finding little reason to celebrate given the circumstances. Unlike the previous time that the girl found her in tears, however, this one was different. It was an expression that made Glimmer's face drop suddenly, something noticed by her friends as they noticed Catra's silence coming off of Glimmer.

"Hey, Catra, are you okay?" Bow asked curiously.

Glimmer continued to blink as she stared at her for a short duration, but it was at the sound of her squeezing her fist that broke the silence, turning her attention straight to Frosta who was only a few feet behind her. "Frosta, run."

"Huh?" Her raised brow was taken with surprise as she had yet to understand the situation. "Run? Why?"

"Youuu..." Catra hissed as she turned her head slowly. "You're DEAD!" With an outcry of anger, Catra attempted to lunge straight for the little princess with her claws outstretched and prepared to claw at her. If it wasn't for Mermista's and Bow's timely intervention, grabbing a hold of Catra's arms separately, there was no telling what sort of carnage she would've unleashed on the young girl within the last few seconds. "You rotten brat! You're dead! Dead!"

"C-Catra, calm down!" Bow pleaded, being forced to push Catra on the ground with Mermista just to be able to restrain her. Willing to keep her safe, Perfuma took a step ahead of Frosta, refusing to allow Catra the chance to get to her if she squired out of Mermista's and Bow's grasp.

"Let go of me you idiots!" She continued to shout. "Don't you get it?! She betrayed us, she betrayed all of us!" While Frosta was already clear of what Catra was angry about, hearing her strike those piercing words aloud made the pain in her chest all the more unbearable. She knew what she did was wrong now, she was willing to deal with the consequences.

But the way Catra glared at her, the way she had that killer instinct in her eye ready to do anything to get her hands on Frosta, it... it frightened her.

"I said get off!" She yelled once more. With all the attention focused on the screaming Catra, Glimmer frowned. It wasn't like there wasn't anything to talk about once they returned to Bright Moon, she just wished Catra would be a little more patient with the situation that they had to endure.

Walking past her friend, keeping her eyes trained on her until she reached Frosta, she sighed as she touched Frosta's shoulder, almost startling the young girl. "We need to talk."

...

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS!?" Catra shouted angrily as she banged her hands on the table.

The journey back to Bright Moon was a hazardous one as the magicat posed a source of trouble for the young princess. It took nearly half an hour to calm her down enough just to wait until they got to Bright Moon, even being forced to go as far as to tie Frosta's hands in front of her as a precaution, just to make Catra promise she wouldn't do anything.

Tying, being generally loose in this area, so to speak. All they did was wrap a single layer of Perfuma's enchanted vines over her wrists just to act as if she had been taken back as prisoner. The loop wasn't even tied, much less secure. It was loose enough that the young princess could easily pull back her wrists from both sides, and slip right out of them, but it was the only way to get Catra to cooperate.

Once they returned to Bright Moon, they immediately informed the Queen about all that transpired, remarking on as, even though Frosta betrayed them, she saved everyone in the end once she came to her senses. With the Princess Alliance itself at the forefront of these events, Angella summoned them to the War Room where their missions began and ended, wishing to go over the details of Frosta's betrayal, and discuss the results of it.

Results that Catra was less than enthusiastic to hear.

"Catra, I understand your anger, but you need to calm down." Angella said as she continued to organize all the little details and thoughts in her mind. The entire room felt awkward for the first time in many meetings, being the first they had with an angrier Catra, and one with a known traitor in their midst. "Frosta's actions may have been inexcusable, yes, but she-"

"Then if you agree with me, why don't you do something about it!?" Out of the group, Catra was the only one who stood out of her chair, refusing to sit down until she was satisfied. In other words, never. "The stupid brat betrayed us, betrayed all of us! You guys should be angry about this as I am for a change!"

"Catra, for once, your anger isn't misplaced, but you need to keep a level head about this situation."

"Did you forget it was thanks to her that we survived at all?" Glimmer reminded about the girl who currently kept her head down.

"No. Did you also forget we wouldn't be in this situation to start with if it wasn't for her?!" Catra shot back, not caring about who she shouted at or took her anger out on. "The fact she saved us at all is the only reason I didn't suggest we take things further-!"

"But locking her up for the rest of her life?" Bow questioned, leaning higher. "Isn't that a little extreme?"

"She saved all of us, Catra, and she regrets her decision." The princess of plants refused to leave Frosta's side for even a moment, doing everything she could to defend Frosta's predicament. "She's going to have to live with that guilt for the rest of her life! Isn't that enough for you?"

"Guilt? Guilt? That's the best punishment you can come up with?! " Catra never wanted to tear her own tail off as badly as she did now. "Oh, okay, sure. Let's make her feel guilty for the rest of her life. Hey, while we're at it, let's throw her a stupid parade for the next time she betrays us too!"

"She's not going to betray us again, Catra!" Mermista yelled, growing tired of Catra's constant bantering for the last hour. "Unless you forgot, she's also going to be targeted now by the same Horde she worked with! They're not going to let this go without getting back at her!"

"I can NOT believe what I am hearing right now!" The longer the conversation dragged, the more sanity Catra felt slipping from her mind. "First you guys defend her case, then you say you're not going to punish her, and now you're saying you plan to defend her if the Horde attacks her Kingdom? Am i the only one who hasn't lost their mind?!"

"We didn't say there wouldn't be consequences, Catra." Angella stated raising her voice. "Frosta's dept to the Rebellion will be repaid once she helps us defeat the Horde. To you, it should be perfectly fitting that the person who once helped their side is now the one who will help us bring it down."

"Oh, yeah, very fitting. About as fitting as a pair of shackles around her wrists-"

"Enough! The discussion is at an end, Catra. There will be no more talk about this."

"Why are you of all people defending her? You should be just as angry as I am! Don't you get it? We could've died on that mission, Pinky could've died on that mission! Doesn't that mean anything to you? Because for someone who claims to be a "loving mother", you really don't seem to care about what happens to your own daughter-!"

"CATRA!" The Queen's anger as she rose from her seat, winged spread in fold, was enough to shake everyone, even Catra herself as her ears lowered. "Go to your room. Now."

She... She was kidding, right? She had to be. Giving someone like her such a stupid request, one that Catra doubted she would even listen to, despite the admitted fear of Angella's tone, was ridiculous. So why was her voice so shaken by the Queen's tone? One that had such a parental tone behind it like she was grounding her? "B-But-!"

"NOW!" Face hardening with anger, voice without any fear, Catra was left speechless as she flinched. Looking around, nobody else could look at either of them as the anger escalated, save for Glimmer who stared at Catra with a mix of an apologetic look, and one with sadness.

"Tch..." She gritted the edge of her teeth as her head lowered a little, unable to think of what to say. Whether it was anger, tension, or fear of the queen, it didn't matter. Catra had enough of them for one night. "Forget this." Refusing to make eye contact with any of them, she kept her head lowered as she made her way out the door, leaving with one great slam that shook the entire room as she left.

"Catra..." She couldn't let her friend sulk or storm off like this, not until she understood the situation as well as they did. Without giving her mother a chance stop her, she teleported from her chair, presumably to Catra's side as she left.

"Glimmer-!" At the sight of her daughter leaving, noticing everyone's uneasy expression around her, the Queen finally sighed as she fell back into her seat, rubbing her forehead to cam herself.

"Mmmh." The traitor returned moaned as she leaned her head over her arms on the table. This was all her fault. Frosta was perfectly aware of this. She betrayed them. Some of them should be angry. And the fact Catra took this the hardest out of all of them, took it as if she truly meant something to her, hurt the most.

Noticing this, Perfuma tried to give something close to a sympathetic smile as she raised a hand to her shoulder, still sitting by her side. "Frosta-"

"Don't!" Frosta practically ordered, shrugging her hand away. "Catra's the only one who's treating me like an adult in all of this, the way a traitor should be treated." She gazed around the room as she saw the sympathetic yet saddened expressions of her allies. "Don't you guys understand? I did betray you! I betrayed all of you! You guys should be just as angry as she is! Doesn't any of this bother you at all?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked to one another. How were they supposed to respond to something like this as respectful as possible? Yes she made a mistake, yes she betrayed them, and yes, rescuing them doesn't ignore the fact they were betrayed in the first place. But even with that, it was a mistake, a child's mistake at that. How were they supposed to explain it to her in a way she understood?

"Frosta, it..." Bow rubbed his head as he tried to explain. "It's not that we're not bothered by any of this, it's just..."

"It's what?" She demanded to know why they were still treating her like this, like one of their friends.

"We can't blame you for any of it. That's it." The mermaid princess stated, bluntly.

"Why not? Because I'm just a kid?"

"Because you made a decision as a ruler, not as a child." Angella explained. "You only did what you thought was right as any ruler should, taking your kingdom and your people into account first before yourself. That kind of decision-making is one that should be more respected, not hated."

"And we all would've made the same choice, Frosta." Perfuma continued in her efforts to comfort. "Yes, it hurts that you betrayed us, but it doesn't mean you were wrong for your reasons behind it. You were tricked since the day Adora first met you, and we understand that. Even if she didn't, you still only did it to protect the people you care about, the way any decent ruler should."

The princess moaned to herself again as she lied her head down again. That was the one detail that caught Frosta off guard. The idea that she had been tricked by Adora, the fact she used Catra's emotions at the Princess Prom to intentionally make themselves look bad. It sickened her, in some ways, and surprised her in others. There was no way the Adora she knew for the last month, the one who showed her kindness to her and others ever day, was capable of such things.

It truly baffled her, to say the least.

"It still doesn't make it right..."

...

"Get out of my way, Pinky, I'm not in the mood." She snarled, refusing to give her any eye contact as she made her way to her chambers.

"Catra, come on, just take a moment to think about this." She had to make some sort of breakthrough with her, some common ground to explain everything. "Look at it this way: even if you don't care about her personally, we still need the help of her and her kingdom. She's still has one of the most powerful kingdoms in Etheria, and if the Horde ever conquered it, there would be no stopping them!"

"We've been doing just fine without her kingdom, and if she's been helping them for over the last month, then it's like we've been doing this without her, anyway!" Catra flexed the claws of her fingers in and out, trying to resist the urge to scratch anyone trying to annoy her right now, even if it was Glimmer. "If you ask me, we should just toss the brat back into her own kingdom, let her deal with the Horde when they come."

Grumbling, the princess teleported from behind Catra to right in front of her, blocking her path until she finally looked her in the eye. "She's the only reason we survived. Got that? She's just a kid, Catra. You can't tell me you haven't made any mistakes in the past, too." There was bitterness in Catra's throat as she swallowed back the urge to bite. Of all the things to remind her of, her past, which caught up to her over the recent weeks, was the last thing she needed.

"At least my mistakes didn't result in everyone nearly dying!" She retorted, pushing past her. "I'm telling you, the moment we let our guard down, she'll just betray us again."

"She betrayed Adora, she fought with us! Isn't that enough for you? Why do you care so much about this if you don't really care about the others anyway?"

"Because I trusted her before them!" Catra shouted, her rage reaching its peak as she turned around, grabbed Glimmer by the collar of her outfit, and pulled her in. Glimmer didn't show any sign of fear as she glared back into Catra's eyes, though did notice a hint of remorse. "It doesn't matter when or how long the others have been with us. After you and Bow, she was the first Princess I came to trust since joining this stupid Rebellion, all right?"

She released her grip from Glimmer, continuing to squeeze her own fists to stomach the anger. "I didn't trust any of them before her, and after this, I still don't. We barely knew any of them, we barely see them anytime we're not on missions, and they annoy me. And despite all of that, despite how much Frosta annoyed me before, I still trusted her first. And you know what that got me?"

"The minute she has a chance, she rushes to Adora's side and tells her about everything. Tells her about the Rebellion, tells her about the Princesses and the alliance, and she tells them about our weaknesses. Do you get it? Because of her, Adora knows my weakness, she knows She-Ra's weakness." Lowering her head a little to the side, she hissed. "Thanks to her... any chance I once had of defeating Adora in the future went down the drain. Got that? Any time I fight Adora from now on, the minute we get separated, we lose. End of story. All because I made the mistake of trusting someone I thought I could trust, and now this."

Catra's frown was matched by Glimmer's as she told her all of this. It still didn't mean she couldn't trust them, it didn't mean Frosta would betray them again, but at least now she got to the heart of the matter. For the first time in awhile, Catra put her trust in someone, and it ruined her. A trust she had yet to five to the other Princesses, one that took her weeks to give to Glimmer and Bow, and now her trust for others was broken again.

"Catra-"

"Save it, Glimmer." Brushing off the hand, she continued to stomp her way back to her room. "I'm going to bed. You want me to continue working with the others? I can do that. But don't ever expect me to trust them about it."

With nothing else to say, Catra ignored the pink-haired princess for the rest of her trip, slamming her bedroom door behind her with as much force as she could, shaking several things within the private chambers, and sliding herself against the door. She wasn't going to get saddened by this, she knew the risks herself. And it's not like she knew what Glimmer would say, or Bow for that matter. They would tell her to suck it up or something pointless and to trust the others again.

And she didn't care. She didn't care because she learned from experience. She learned that the more trust she gave the others, the more likely they were willing to betray her in one shape or form. She needed to be She-Ra, and the more emotionally attached she got to any of them, the harder it was to maintain. She didn't care about their trust anymore, she barely cared about their lives from that point.

All she cared about was never repeating the same mistake again. She hated Frosta. She hated her betrayal. But most of all, as she growled bitterly, scanning the room, she hated the sight of Adora's crudely drawn face on her punching bag.

"You!" She tackled with such ferocity like the wildcat she was, actually pulling the bag off the chain as she slammed it to the floor. For the first time since getting the stupid bag, since drawing Adora's face on it, she attacked it. Not just attacked, but ripped at it as she clawed the face with swipe after swipe.

She hated Adora right now. Now, more than ever. She knew her weakness, all because Catra was too blinded to see what was obviously in front of her. She wasn't willing to risk putting her trust in someone, especially Frosta, ever again, less she repeat the history that landed her here. As the corner of her eyes watered, she continued to scratch at the face until it was nothing but cotton and leather, unrecognizable as it laid in a mess.

She couldn't trust the Princess Alliance.

She couldn't trust anyone else who joined them.

Most of all, she couldn't trust herself anymore.

...

"Hnnnnnnnnngggggh!" The sound of the machine powering down and the air returning to her was such a golden treasure that Adora never knew she would worship, breathing heavily on her hands and knees as the sweat dripped from her head and her hair draped in front of her face.

Everything was bad from the moment she returned. Within what delirium that she could power through until she recharged, she fretted every moment she was in the Fright Zone. The mission was a failure, their efforts were a failure. A handful of destroyed droids, dozens of guards and soldiers captured, and the sickness that she had to endure until she returned to the Fright Zone was all she had to show for it.

Because of her, they lost. Because of her trust in Frosta, they lost. Because she wasn't strong enough, they lost. Her loss was one of the most bitter of losses she had ever felt in her life, one that hinged entirely on her from the beginning. She knew she was the one at fault her, and she knew how Hordak would take it. Of all the times to be proven wrong about something, she wished she was wrong about this.

Hordak's disgust with the girl was known for an instant. With the doors locked behind her, already being informed by the dozens of the tower's capture, all Hordak had to do was wait until she took two steps within the room by herself, trapping her within this sanctum where he turned on the very machine that sucked the air out of her the last time. This time, he was more than willing to keep it on for an additional ten seconds, just until she was on the brink of passing out, before turning it back off.

With the sound of his footsteps drawing closer to her, the loom of his shadow hanging above her, she had never found herself more frightened of his presence than she did now. Or the tone of his voice. "Three failure, one day." He hissed. "Of all my time as your leader, I have never seen you, nor anyone, fail as greatly as you did today, Force Captain."

"W-We-We..." Adora groveled. She couldn't look him in the eyes as her eyes watered, unwilling to stop groveling and beg for forgiveness. "W-We were caught off guard, My Lord. I swear, we-we were just about to be victorious, honest! And-"

"And you still failed!" She squeezed her eyes shut as he shouted from right above her, his breathing practically coming down to the back of her neck. "Not only did you lose one of the most defensible towers the Horde has claimed in recent months, and not only did you fail when you were on the brink of victory, but then I hear, despite your assurance, that Frosta, the one *you* said could be counted on, betrayed us?!"

He had never seen such a pitiful display or performance in all his years of Etheria. This was unlike anything he was accustomed to, anything he informed of about failures and mistakes. This was an entirely new level of contempt and disappointment, and it came from somebody Shadow-Weaver considered a prodigy, one of the Horde's finest. Perhaps the fact Shadow-Weaver recommended her personally should've clued him off on how incapable she was?

"Answer me!"

"I-I... I..." Adora refused. She couldn't. Not out of lack of willingness or disobedience, but simply because she couldn't. Any time something close to air was coming out of her throat, she choked on it suffocated under the weight of her own failure and his anger towards her.

"My disappointment in you, Force Captain, is beyond measure, beyond reason. The only reason I allow your continued existence under my command is because of the one contribution you did deliver that has made this worthwhile." It's not like she needed a clue on what, or who, in this case, he was referring to. Entrapta never let up about how much work she's done for Hordak at his side, even if she didn't relate the details to her or Scorpia, due to his orders. "But my patience still comes with its limits!"

He raised a finger threateningly. "One. You have one, last, chance to prove your worth, Adora. One last chance to make things right. Continue doing your job, and I *may* overlook these instances. But fail me again, one last time. Fail to complete another mission, however small, assigned to you, fail to arrive on time if I call upon you, even a second late, and that will be the end of it. You will be thrown into a cozy, secluded, cell, right alongside your former mentor for the rest of your days. Understand?" Adora couldn't even lift her head up in recognition, she was so frightened. "UNDERSTAND!?"

"Y-Yes!" She shouted, the fear in her tone being evident to anyone around her, if there was anyone else. He was nothing short of disgusted just from the sound of her voice.

Reaching for the wall, she heard the control panels being pressed upon and the doors opening behind her. "Now, get out of my sight, at once!"

Of all the things she needed to be told twice, this wasn't one of them. Immediately, she bolted away without ever looking at his face, unaware of her surroundings until she slammed into the wall of the hallway, and holding onto it for dear life. With the doors sealing behind her again, she panted.

Her chest felt heavy with the shame of defeat, the disappointment he had in her and with herself. She failed greatly today, all because of the person she trusted, the one she thought would be by her side like Scorpia and Entrapta, through all of this. Her arms shook as she pressed them against the wall, keeping her head down as the tears and sweat continued to drip from her face. It was an unbearable feeling of guilt and resentment with her self, one that she couldn't stand to feel.

It was even worse for those watching her, namely Scorpia and Entrapta, who couldn't hear a thing through the tightly-sealed doors. The only indication they had that something was amiss was the state of being Adora was in as she came back out, two minutes later.

"Hey... are you okay, Adora?" Entrapta asked, rubbing her chin with a length of hair.

Scorpia, for one, felt the worst between the two. She felt like she should've done something more, could've done something more. To see her friend in a state like this, like she just suffered who knows what, and feeling the shame that it was somehow her own fault, made it worse. "A-Adora?" She spoke, noticing as Adora began to shake. "He-Hey, it's going to be okay." She tried to cheer up. "You'll see! Next mission you'll prove to Hordak he was wrong about you and then-" As she tried to reach over for her, she was suddenly caught by surprised as a tendril of shadow stretched from her back, closing tightly over Scorpia's claw and keeping it in place.

"Don't touch me right now, Scorpia." Adora coldly muttered with her head down. "I'm not in the mood."

"B-But Adora, I'm just trying to help." She replied, shaking the shadow off. "Come on, it's going to be fine! We'll come up with another mission that'll make up for everything-"

*wham!*

There was no lack of surprise from the two girls as Adora struck. With shadows practically bursting around her right arm, big enough to grab Scorpia and throw her fingers around her sides and shoulders, she pushed the girl roughly into the wall behind her, glaring death itself as she looked into her eyes.

"I SAID NOT NOW, SCORPIA! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ONE OF YOUR STUPID HUGS, OKAY?!" She didn't give the girl so much as a second to blink in this response before she stormed off, returning the shadows from whence they came as she stormed off into the hallway alone.

There wasn't any pain from the push itself, she was relatively fine. But those eyes, that shouting... It was unlike anything either of the two had ever seen. They had just born witness to a side of anger, the likes of which they never knew Adora to be capable of, being displayed in front of them.

She showed no sympathy for them as she walked away without a word, didn't show any signs of regret from her sudden actions, and didn't even look back just to see if Scorpia was actually okay. The whole time she watched, Scorpia could only frown. She wouldn't have hugged Adora if she didn't want it, she was fine with that! Sure, she wanted to give her a hug of sympathy, but that's besides the point.

She didn't even realize she was staring at nothing as Adora left her view until Entrapta put a sympathetic hair over her shoulder, looking at her somewhat in comfort, before they both turned to the same direction Adora had stormed off in. Whatever caused that reaction was unlike anything in the world to them.

That was their Adora, and not, at the same time.

...

*sheeem*

"Huff... Huff..." Adora heaved as she finally made her way to the room. She didn't bother wondering or thinking about if Aroda was going to show up anytime soon as she stormed in, closing the door and locking it behind her. She grabbed the railing at the foot of her bed as she breathed over it, trying to contain all the emotions currently bottling up inside of her, ready to burst, and one she refused to open.

That's why, of all the time to make her appearance, Aroda knew would be the perfect opportunity to appear behind her, looking much like the regular Adora in all of her casual state. "Soooooooooooo..."

"Shut up." Adora ordered bitterly, squeezing harder on the railing.

"Aww, no fair, I just started to tease you~"

"Not... Now... Aroda..."

"Ooh, you called me by my name, now I know we're good friends!"

"I- Egh-!" Adora held in a cry of pain as her arm suddenly spasmed like it was on fire. She recognized this kind of pain as something she once experienced a few days ago, a few days before she was met with an annoying new companion from her mind. No, no... She thought to herself as she rolled up her right sleeve. She didn't want to think it could be anything else, she needed to believe she just pulled a muscle and then everything would be alright.

Nothing was alright.

Like the days prior that let to her encounter with Aroda, Adora bit down on her own teeth heavily as she held in the urge to scream. From the wrist that it had once ended at, the rot had began to grow once again, spreading slowly and painfully over her arm on all sides. It wasn't as long as it was the previous time, only growing about another two inches in total, but still painful enough for it to be considered unbearable to most anyone who felt it. It was a work of wonder that Adora held back the urge to scream as she waited for it to end.

When it finally did, she inspected it closely, breathing heavily to herself again as she saw the results. Now, her arm was rotten from the tip of her fingers to halfway up her arm between her wrist and her elbow. She didn't know what was happening, she couldn't explain why it was happening. All she knew was that it didn't come close to the pain that today brought her.

"Ooooh, lookin' pretty nasty over there, Adora." Aroda casually remarked, pretending to adjust a pair of invisible glasses as she saw the arm. "Maybe you should get that little scientist friend of yours to help you out, eh?"

"Shut it..." As if the pain had simply vanished, the rotten look of her right arm did nothing to hinder her strength as she squeezed the railing again in frustration.

"Whyyyyy? I'm just trying to help you help yourself. That scientist is pretty smart, I'm sure she could find the answer easily. You know, when she's done being Hordak's favorite."

"Stop it!" Closing her eyes tightly, she didn't notice as she started to squeeze the railing a little tighter, crushing it slowly under her palms

"What? I'm just your conscious, remember? I'm the one telling you what you already know."

"I-I don't know that for sure-"

"Sure you dooooo~ You know that because she's more useful, she's closer to being his favorite than you could ever be. And you know why? Because you weren't strong enough to stop a little princess from spoiling all your plans at once."

"I said-"

"Because you were weak, because you trusted someone who was superior to you in every way, even at... what? Twelve-years-old? I bet Hordak would welcome her back first before he ever thought of you."

"Stop it!" Turning around, glaring at her, she didn't need to form so much as a thought as the shadows came to her arms on instinct, forming the sharpening claws that she was known to have.

"Face it, Adora. You're the only one at fault here. Because you did the one thing I knew would happen, everyone knew would happen." Plugging her ears with her hands did nothing to drown out Aroda's annoying voice. The reflection took this with glee as she smirked, leaning closer to Adora's ears as she whispered, audible enough without any piece of it being interrupted by the hands. "All because I told you sooooooo~" And that was it.

"Ahhhhh!" In a fit of rage, the Force Captain didn't even know what happened for the next several minutes. She felt an outrage of fear as she attempted to swipe at Aroda and her annoying voice without end, Aroda mocking her the entire way as she playfully dodged left and right, jumped over the tendrils as if it was a jump rope, and disappeared and reappeared in several portions of the room, just to focus Adora's attention all throughout.

Not that she needed to since she could pass through them either way.

Adora didn't care about Aroda of all people. She was annoying, she was trying to prove herself right about everything she said, and she had enough of it! She wanted her to shut up, no matter how many times she attempted to silence the annoying voice from her head, she went on to taunt her, more and more, pointing out how everything was her fault and only her fault from the very beginning.

No matter how many times she said it, she refused to listen to her! She was annoying, she was a pest! All she did was mock her on things she couldn't possibly be thinking about herself! So what if she trusted Frosta? She's the one at fault, not Adora! She didn't make her betray them, she didn't make her do anything! All she had to do was be the friend Adora needed her to be, and she couldn't even give her that! She was... She was...!

"Huff... Huff..." Adora barely recognized the room as she finally came back to her senses. Looking all around her, she saw the damage she had done, all that she had ruined, and the stared at her own two claws as they slowly returned to her hands. She didn't notice she was crying until she saw a single teardrop fall into the palm of her hands, watching her fingers twitch left and right with aggression, dropping to her knees, as she was overcome with emotion.

Overcome with sadness.

And began to cry.

"Egheh...eheh..." She cried into her hands as she curled up on the floor.

Aroda was right. Everyone was right. She was the one who was wrong. All that happened today, was her own fault. It was her decision to recruit the princess, her decision to put so much trust into someone as innocent-looking as her. Her fault for thinking she could be a new friend to her, someone who would be by her side like Scorpia and Entrapta. They were the only two she could trust at this point.

It was with the memory of them that her sadness heightened, remembering what she did to Scorpia minutes ago. What kind of person was she? What kind of sick friend pushed away another person like that when she was just trying to comfort her? She didn't feel any less rotten on the inside than her right arm was turning out to be. If anything, her right arm was less rotten than her own heart by this point. Disgusting, rotten, filth.

The pain of anger, the pain of loss, it was breathtaking to her. She couldn't stop as the tears poured out, as the aggression finally left her thanks to Aroda's assistance of getting her aggression out. Just thinking to herself that Aroda was helping her more than she initially believed was almost baffling to her, and she couldn't deny it. Like, whatever Aroda was, was supposed to do, she told her everything she needed to hear for herself, everything she already knew about herself.

This all ended, and failed, because of her. She was the one at fault.

She was the failure here.

Watching this with a grin, Aroda casually picked up the grey blanket tossed over the wreckage of the bed, and threw it over Adora. Adora didn't bother thinking about how she picked up something like that, and she didn't care. Right now, she just wanted to be alone, she wanted everyone to leave her alone.

So, what kind of good reflection would Aroda be if she disobeyed her orders? With a satisfied smirk, she slowly floated backwards towards the wall, disappearing into nothingness. From this far out, watching the display, she said to herself one last time.

"Oh Adora," she whispered, "you're so much more fun than the last person I had..."

...

A/N: Annnnnnnnnnnnd HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFTAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What a freaking blast of a chapter- both in the fun sense, and the sense where I freaking hope i didn't drop a disappointing bombshell by the time it was over XP. Mental reminder, I haven't seen season 4 yet, so refrain from spoils, but with that in mind- if I did anything here whatsoever that actually took part in the season 4, its 100% coincidental. Hard to confirm it since i can't technically prove it, but put my word on it.

With that said, this was a very fun chapter to write, and i hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did write it. It'll definitely be the biggest episode this season (balls no i am NOT making another 6-length chapter this season like this XD wait till next season for something this big). And like i said, hope you enjoyed everything all the way through. I know it was depressing here and there, but on a much brighter side, we finally get to everyone's favorite White Out episode next chapter ^^!

Speaking of which, we're (by which I mean I XP) are still tallying the votes for what people want. So far, we have +1 vote for Cat-Catra, so if there is a desire for drunk Catra, we need at least +2 votes for drunk, not to mention more depending on how many people vote for what in the reviews. It's gonna be a close match, but i'll give a full day to tally results as Im taking a break tomorrow. Why? BECAUSE THIS XD!

With that said, hooftah! Hope you all enjoyed the wonderfully long chapter and I didn't waste 28.5k words worth of words for noting. Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon ^^!

Chapter 78: S2 Episode 5: White Out Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 12.6k Pre-A/N's. How's it going guys, monokub here! Proud to say once again that we are finally halfway through with the season, and now we're getting into the chapter that left me more or less anxious about how it would turn out ^^.

I love the feedback and support i've gotten over the last few chapters, and man do i love the rush the episodes give me when they're finally completed ^^! A few heads up about the current chapter, for nearly the entire first half of this, everything leading up to the intro, I was dealing with a headache while I was writing this, so it might not be my best work (and by that I mean obviously won't) so I apologize if it feels jumbled or something.

Along with that, other half is kind of jumbled too because the intro was intended as a flashback or even consdiered something I'd throw in at the end of the last chapter, but god i had too much written already XP so if something written is out of place or whatever, I apologize.

Hopefully then, if that's not too distracting, everyone will enjoy ^^!

...

*-iiiim*

"..."

*shiiiiim*

"Mmmh..." Catra moaned as she tossed around in bed, the glare of the sword's blue light irritating her eyes.

*shiiiiiiim*

"Mmh... what?" Slowly moving up from the bed, hair still a mess from the night's rough sleep, Catra mumbled to herself as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, the exhaustion of sleep still well within her system.

From the look and sound of the environment around her, she could presume it was still around nighttime, possibly a little past midnight at the most. There was barely a sound in the air, maybe a small chirp of a cricket in the land surrounding the castle, who knows. All she did know was that the sword was calling her now of all times, which was the latest she's ever found Light Hope calling for her.

She wasn't looking forward to whatever the sword was calling her for, seeing how she barely got to sleep an hour ago after what the day's endeavors had to bring her. A normal bad day would bring her a few minutes of anxiety she needed to work through her system to get over it. A very bad day would leave her punching at her punching bag, one that was currently ripped to shreds, to relieve her stress. On an extremely bad day, she'd spend whatever remaining time she had training over at the Beacon, using Light Hope's simulations to work her aggression out on the training simulations.

This was a whole new level of having a "bad day".

Perhaps her allies in the Princess Alliance added to it, or maybe it was just directed at Frosta herself. After the day's mission began, she thought putting up with the ridiculous ideas of the alliance's battle strategies for the assault on the Horde tower was going to be the worst of her day. They ranged from annoying, embarrassing, to just plain stupid! And sometimes, all three at once.

From the stress that ensued, Catra eventually snapped and, after a rather detailed and descriptive explanation of how each of them would die or get caught, she finally revealed her own anxiety of possibly jeopardizing the mission herself. If it wasn't for the encouragement that followed after, with nearly everyone agreeing that they expected a hiccup in the mission, and the confidence that Catra could pull them through it thanks to her recklessness, she might not have continued on with the mission in the first place.

That was about as much fun and positivity the mission gave her, and she almost wished she never went through with the rest of the mission after the revelation that was made after.

Frosta was a double-agent. This whole time, since the Battle of Bright Moon, possibly since the Princess Prom itself, she had been working with the Horde. Providing details on all their meetings, sharing resources in exchange for technology, and, worse of all, providing key information about the princesses and all of their weaknesses, including Catra's inability to control her emotions which leads to her losing her connection to She-Ra.

Because of her, the day instantly went down to the worst of nightmares the Princess Alliance could possibly have dreamt, made even worse by the fact that it was all too entirely real! Helping Adora separate the princesses so they couldn't work together, activating a machine that trapped Catra's half of the alliance within the tower while she assisted the ambush at the encampment, everything was going according to Adora's planning and scheming, almost succeeding right up until the very end.

At the same time, it was also thanks to Frosta that everyone made it out alive in the first place. After a small heart-to-heart with Perfuma, the princess willing to accept her decision and her reasoning for it, Frosta couldn't go through with it. She couldn't continue fighting for the Horde when she knew it was wrong to begin with, not if it meant fighting the same friends she's come to know or the people she care about. Doing it for the sake of her own kingdom wouldn't have made it right, a lesson she wished she learned much earlier.

After clearing up the Horde members in the encampment, she managed to bypass the large barrier that trapped Catra and her company with her own officer's badge, one that she sadly tossed away to Adora's feet, with the declaration of breaking off her kingdom's ties to the Horde. With the allies and friends reunited with one another, they took a final stand against the Force Captain, depriving her of the wristband that kept her healthy, and eventually managed to drive her off, fulfilling the mission.

So, everything that came after should've been easy to deal with, right?

Wrong.

Not that it was of much surprise, Catra was the only one who still couldn't forgive Frosta, nearly lunging at her and attacking her the moment they drove Adora off. She couldn't begin to think of forgiving her, and why should she? She betrayed all of them, and now they wanted to celebrate the same victory with her? What kind of nonsense was that?!

What's worse was when they returned to Bright Moon, she found out nobody desired to see Frosta severely punished, for the sake of her assisting the Rebellion for the foreseeable future, or to help them combat the Horde directly to make up for her crimes. That alone was more than enough to send Catra off the deep end.

It's not like she would've wished to see her punished beyond a life-imprisonment, but she considered all of them to be taking this all too easy! To overlook this betrayal because she "made a mistake", as they put it, whether or not she actually saved them in the end, shouldn't have mattered! Frosta deserved to be punished, and Catra refused to back down about it. So much so that it ultimately led to Queen Angella herself actually grounding Catra for the rest of the night, an act Catra took with near-animosity.

From that meeting, the magicat's been working out her aggression on her own punching bag, especially the portion that had a crudely drawn image of Adora's face on the front. If they wanted to let the traitor walk, fine. She couldn't control that. What she could control was her inability to trust any of the other members of the Princess Alliance anymore, save for the few people she had left to consider friends. She would fight for the others, and work for the others, but never again trust them!

So, now here she was. In the middle of the stupid night, woken up by her stupid sword, and stupidly woken up just a mere hour after she finally fell asleep. Looking around with a bit of a stretch, the girl sighed as she lazily stretched her legs out of bed before making her way to the sword at her dresser.

"This better be good..." Catra mumbled with a yawn.

She didn't need to ponder for very long whether or not she should leave in the first place. It the middle of the night, the day's been hectic to her as it is, and anything she had to do now was definitely more enjoyable than putting up with the rest of her day. At least now, she had something to distract her from the annoyance the day had brought.

She still kept a clear view in the hallways to make sure the coast was clear, only coming across the occasional guard who was on patrol, who didn't pay the She-Ra much mind as she traversed the castle's magnificent halls. Out of everybody she came across, the one she was trying to keep an eye out for was Queen Angella at the moment. Catra still couldn't understand what was up with her at that meeting.

What the heck was with all that talk about "going to her room" or whatever? She didn't sound as authoritarian so much as a... well... Catra didn't really know how to describe it. All she knew was that she hated the Queen's guts for taking Frosta's side, somebody she of all people should've been angry at since the betrayal nearly cost her losing her daughter to the Horde.

Reaching the large entrance to the castle, Catra took one last look around to make sure the coast was clear. She was still too tired to pick up on the Queen's scent if she had one around here, and she preferred getting out of this stupid place as soon as possible. At least with the view as clear as it was, and the path to the woods in front of her, it should've been an easy stretch to leave before she noticed.

"And where do you think you're going out to at this hour, young lady?"

And with the familiar nagging voice filling her ears, Catra immediately lost all hope of getting away with this as she rolled her eyes. Turning around, it took her a few seconds to figure out where the voice was coming from before she heard a small flapping sound approaching her, realizing she was above the entrance itself the entire time.

The Queen landed right in front of Catra, the bitter look of irritation she had at the meeting appearing lessened through the passage of time, but not gone. "I asked you a question."

"It's none of your business, all right?" Once again, Catra rolled her eyes as she yawned, throwing her hands behind her hands uncaringly.

"It is my business when one of the Rebellion's finest seem to want to take a midnight stroll through the woods without any sort of mention." She replied, crossing her own arms from the small chill in he wind. "Especially when that someone is supposed to be grounded."

"Oh for the love of-... Look, let's get three things clear, all right?" Catra started, counting off with her fingers one at a time. "First off, I'm not one of your kids. So you really don't have any authority over me. Two, maybe I should be asking what you're doing in the middle of the night since you're up and about. And three," she paused, taking out her sword as she revealed the faint glow, "I got a call from Light Hope about something. So, no offense, but I think an advanced A.I. from a thousand years ago that can tell me how to use the sword kind of outranks you."

Normally, whenever Catra told someone off like that, they would've backed down immediately, either from the threatening-like tone, or because they found the simple logic in whatever she was saying. Angella, however, seemed to be more amused from the cat's defensive nature, and decided to join in. "Oh, so you wish to discuss it that way, do you? Very well, Catra, consider your challenge accepted."

"Challenge?" She didn't know if she sounded like she was challenging someone or not, nor could she feel her ears tilting a little nervously.

Like Catra had done, the Queen went off on her explanation as she counted off with her own fingers. "One, parent or not, you are still a child. And if you don't take my words seriously as a parent, then consider them direct orders as your Queen, As in, "I order you to stay in your room" for as long as I ground you, or simply because I order it."

"Okay, now that's just being unfair." This was one of the few times in Catra's life where she regretted pushing the Queen- not that she would refrain from doing it again, just that she'd regret.

"Two," pausing, the Queen's face softened as she looked up at the sky, "I like to watch the sky at night to clear my head sometimes. I find it rather relaxing when I see some of the other planets." Directing the girl with her hand, Catra examined the various planets that filled the night's sky, and the admittedly nice glow they gave off in the moon light. "Sometimes when I'm stressed, I try to picture what life on the other planets might be like, or how peaceful they are."

"Yeah, cause you look like a real astronomer to me..." She quickly mumbled, shutting herself up at the small look Angella gave to her at this. "Ok, whatever, fine. Do you mind now?" She reminded as she held up the sword. "If Light Hope's calling me, it's usually important. For all I know, she either needs to tell me something, or the Beacon could be in danger."

The Queen stared at her silently at this. She knew life within the Horde must not have been pleasant to grow up in, and anyone from the Horde would likely have aggressive tendencies. She wished that someone like Catra, at least, would be a little more open to more than just a quick conversation or to the minds of others.

Like understanding why they couldn't afford to cut ties with the Kingdom of Snows, or why they decided to continue working with Frosta for her assistance, as well as to protect her.

With a sigh, the Queen finally nodded as she closed her eyes softy. "Very well, take care of whatever business you may have. But you are to come straight home afterwards. Understand?"

"Yes, sheesh, all right already!" She could've been to the Beacon by now with Swift Wind after all the time she wasted. She didn't give the Queen so much as a nod or wave as she immediately turned tail, casually slipping her hands in her pockets as she went off to collect her steed. "You're not my stupid mother."

Once more, the Queen sighed. "Sometimes I count that among my blessings..."

...

"Hello? Light Hope?" Catra called out as she walked through the walls of the Crystal Castle.

The flight through the woods was about as boring as she could expect it to be at this time of the day. With Swift Wind barely awake himself, it left the flight here a little more bearable than usual since he wasn't in the mood for his usual singing or humming. She did wish he had some sort of clue as to what Light Hope was calling her for or why, seeing how he seemed to have a stronger connection to the Beacon than she did for the time.

Upon arrival, there didn't seem to be anything too out of place around here. No Horde attacking it, so there went her idea for something to take her anger out on, and there were barely any of those annoying spider robots that scanned her before letting her go about her way. So far, everything seemed to be perfectly fine with the place, and she knew Light Hope wouldn't have called her this late for some training.

So why did it still feel like something was off about this whole thing? She couldn't tell what or why, or if she should be worried. She just didn't feel the same as she usually did whenever she got here. The one normalcy she did have was the sight of Light Hope in the center of the room as usual when Catra finally reached her, her back turned to the arriving cat as she appeared to be looking over something on a holographic screen.

"Hey, Light Hope." Catra casually greeted. "I got your call for.. something. Did you need anythi-"

"Put the sword on the pedestal. Now." Light Hope firmly requested, pointing to a small pedestal that materialized within the center of the room. Catra blinked at the strange device for a few confusing seconds as she looked back to her.

"Huh? Why? Is something-"

"Hurry, put it on now." She requested again, the lack of actual emotions making it hard to tell if she was being angry or worried about something.

Unwilling to argue about something so strange, giving a shrug, Catra slipped the sword from the holster on her back before placing it on the pedestal as she said, stepping back as the over-sized sword lied flatly against the metallic device. Following her eyes back to Light Hope, she watched as began to typing into the holographic projection itself, doing who knew what with their surroundings.

All questions came to be answered after a few clicks as the room suddenly lit with a white light around Catra, emanating from the floor that gave the place a small glow. Before she could begin to ask her first question, several more entered her mind as she watched what was happening to her sword.

From a dome appearing around the entire pedestal, the sword included, several antennae-like devices descended from the ceiling, putting on a worrying display for the girl as she watched dark pink-colored lasers shooting them each of them, each with a holographic property like Light Hope was.

"Hey wait, what are you doing?!" Catra panicked as she ran for the pedestal. "Are you trying to break my sword or something-!"

"Catra, stop." Light Hope immediately ordered, halting the magicat who was within arm's reach of her prized possession. "Let it finish or you might disrupt the connection."

Disrupt what connection? She couldn't form the words in her mouth as she gazed back at her sword, watching it as it began to illuminate with a seemingly-newfound life. How was she supposed to react to this calmly when she got yelled at in the middle of the night to come here in the first place and found this situation waiting for her? If anything, Light Hope should've been grateful she was restraining herself as much as she was!

As bad as the situation looked, with several more monitors appearing near Light Hope, it didn't last long. After waiting for what felt like hours, when in reality was just half a minute, whatever Light Hope was working on came to an end, with the small dome returning to the floor, the antennas returning to the ceiling, and white light dimming around them. Catra wasted no time to jump for her sword, examining it from every angle, and finally letting out a breath of relief.

"Would you mind telling me what that was about?!" Catra shouted, wasting no time to get to the point.

Light Hope continued to examine the displays in front of her for a short time before seeming relieved by her own stroke of fortune. "We were not too late."

"Too late? Too late for what? Would you mind answering my question already!"

"What happened?"

Okay, now she was almost getting weirded out by Light Hope's lack of answering, seeming as if she had gone deaf to the girl. "What do you mean "what happened"? You tell me! What was with all that stuff just now-"

"I mean, what happened to your power?" Light Hope clarified as she appeared directly in front of Catra herself, her head towering over her as she drew in up close.

"My... Power?" Catra examined the sword for a closer detail as she tried to understand. "Do you mean with my power disappearing or whatever today?"

"Yes, Catra. Precisely that."

"Ugh..." Rubbing her eyes, groaning, she tried to decide which annoyed her the most right now. Everything that happened today, getting called up in the middle of the night, or the lack of an explanation for everything Catra had just witnessed. "Look, it's late. Do you mind if we hold off on this until later in the morning? It's been a long day-"

"Catra, I need to know what happened to your connection with She-Ra today. Did you acquire a form of injury I am unaware of? Did the Horde produce a weapon that disrupted your connection to the blade?"

"What? No, I wasn't injured." Not physically, at least, not that she'd need to know that. "And it wasn't some fancy gadget, all right? I... I just fought with Adora, and she got on my nerves. That's it."

"That's it?" The doubtfulness and concern in Light Hope's emotionless voice was evident. "A single person managed to disrupt your connection with the sword to such a degree?"

"Look, why are we even having this conversation? It's not like it hasn't happened before." And she didn't need reminders of those other instances. Thinking of them alone was enough to get her heart racing with irritation. From her secret she kept over the month, to the revelation of Entrapta being alive, and now the stupid assault on the Horde tower today. All of them were parts she could do without ever showing up again in her memories. "I'll just work on getting back everything I lost, I've done it before."

"Before? Catra, I'm not sure if you're fully aware of the severity of what happened today-"

"No, I get it just fine, all right?" She yawned bored out of her mind, making her way towards the door. "I let my emotions get to me, again, and lost parts of her power. I'll just get them back like before, I don't need some useless lesson telling me how to be a better She-Ra or some garbage."

"Even if it means losing your connection to the sword permanently?"

That... That was the line that made Catra stop in mid-step. Partly from confusion, part of it with wonder, and all of it from worry. "L-Lose my connection... Permanently?" She slowly made her way back to the advanced A.I. as Light Hope brought up the displays she was examining during the brief light show Catra was forced to watch.

"My readings indicated that you didn't just lose a small part of your connection to She-Ra, Catra. Accordingly, you were on the verge of breaking off your bond with the sword in its entirety."

She didn't want to know. She really didn't want to know. "And... W-What would've happened... if I did?"

"..." Almost as if she was sensing what problems were currently inhabiting the young girl's mind, Light Hope chose to remain silent.

A choice Catra refused to give her. "TELL ME!"

"..." With a wave of her arms, one of the projections in front of her enlarged until it was the size of Catra. Within the display, it showed a basic outline of Catra, as well as an outline of the form of She-Ra, both connected by two different colored wavelengths of purple and blue. "If you had let your emotions reached its peak, if you had continued to anger and rage guide your actions," with a wave of her right arm, the display of She-Ra shattered and disappeared, "your bond with the sword would have been broken... forever."

"For... H-Heh... T-That was a good one. That was a joke, right?" She was kidding, right? This had to be a joke. A very crude, very disturbing joke just to test Catra's emotional status, like she did with the simulations, right? Of course, it had to be that! "Yeah, okay, I get it. Just trying to... rile me up or something, some form of training so I don't lose control."

"I am not programmed for humor, but I can attempt it if you desire." Okay, if this was supposed to be a joke, Catra was more than willing to hear the punchline at this point. So far, everything she said was unfunny, boring. She needed to hear how this was going to be some elaborate trick to teach Catra a lesson of some sort. "You still seem apprehensive. Do you have doubts?"

"Y-Yes I have doubts!" If she wasn't going to take it seriously, then Catra was determined to. "For example, if this was as bad as you said it was, why didn't you contact me earlier?"

"That's just it, Catra. We tried." Turning back to the image, waving her left hand this time, they watched as the previous image of She-Ra reappeared, only this time with a much smaller blue wavelength with Catra. "Your connection to your sword is also your connection to us. When you lost control, you nearly broke all the connection you had with the sword to begin with. We were forced to amplify the signal with the castle's own energies just to reach you by now."

"N-No, that's just... That's just stupid!" She refused to listen, growling as she grinded her teeth. She always had a fear, along with Glimmer and Bow, that something may occur that would cause Catra to lose all her powers if she gave in to her emotions, but they never thought it would be something permanent like this! "Second thing, I turned back to normal at the very end, so if I lost my connection with She-Ra, then this conversation shouldn't even be happening!"

"You nearly did, Catra." Her eyes scanned the displays behind the large images, examining the various readings. "You nearly reached a point where your anger would've been your undoing. You should be thankful for whatever happened that held you back." Well that she didn't need an explanation for.

Adora, the one she was fighting. The person who was supposed to have this annoying destiny in the first place, the one who was supposed to find the sword from the very beginning. The person who held a grudge against everyone in the Rebellion because of Catra and Catra alone, who was willing to do everything to keep her selfish dream from happening, no matter the cost.

The one that Catra was still riddled with guilt over for the past, and the things Adora's done because of her.

"You barely had an entire percent of your power left before you seemingly lost your power. If you hadn't achieved the strength of your bond as you have been recently, you most likely would've lost She-Ra's power in the process."

"Yeah, but... It..." She scratched at her head as she tried to figure out what to say. "Okay, then tell me what was with the stupid experimentation you just did here? What was all that about?" There was an unusual stare coming from Light Hope, more than usual anyway, as she gazed at Catra at this. Reappearing in another corner of the room, forcing Catra to follow, she displayed several different readings and examinations in the First Ones' language.

"The experiment as you put it, Catra, was a recovery process, one used as a last resort if necessary." Flipping through the displays, Catra watched as she held up two distinct versions of her in her She-Ra state. One that was most basic of her She-Ra state, and one she had before her emotions exploded with rage. While she couldn't make out most of the writing, she could tell the writing below both of them were timestamps, one that were depicted within several minutes of each other.

Both of which happened today.

"A recovery process? Of what?"

"Of your bond with She-Ra." With another wave, Catra watched as the two images of her and She-Ra stood side by side again. This time, the wavelengths that were between them were evenly matched, albeit a little disjointed. "I had no choice but to manually reverse the state of your current progress back to what it was before you lost it."

"You mean it..." She looked down at her sword with a curious tilt. Now that she mentioned it, the sword did feel a bit lighter to her than when she got here, chalking it up to a lack of sleep previously. "You mean I'll be able to turn back to She-Ra as I was before Adora tricked me?"

"Not entirely. That part will still be up to you to control your emotions by the time you summon She-Ra's strength again. You most likely won't be in the same state you were previously when you called upon its power, but you should be close."

"So then... Then why are you only telling me about this now?!"

"Pardon me?"

"I had this stupid machine that could have done this already from the very beginning? Something to fix it every time I lost a portion of She-Ra's power? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?! We could've used it a long time ago, and I wouldn't have lost She-Ra's power after the Battle of Bright Moon!"

"Because we couldn't risk using this chance unless it was a last resort." Coming to another screen, the hologram showed Catra a basic outline of the Sword of Protection, one that erected a small white barrier around itself. "In the event that something like this happens to the current She-Ra, we reverse the process that broke the bond to an earlier point of time, provided it was within a few days of the separation."

"Yeah, I get that, but it doesn't explain-"

"However, the sword itself is still more advanced than you could possibly imagined. Once someone tries to tamper with its internal systems, it will adapt itself to prevent anyone from trying to alter its status again."

Sounds kind of like a stupid robot we fought before... She remembered fondly. "Okay, fine, so it could only be used ones. But why didn't you use it earlier then if you could've given me my powers after the battle?"

"Because with your current frame of mind, we couldn't risk it." Now Light Hope revealed a dozen earlier displays of something Catra wanted to forget, something she'd much rather remember the robot over much more than this.

All the emotional turmoil she went through for the first several days after the battle. Depictions of her remaining closed off to everyone, silent at the table during meals, spending most of her time with a solemn look on her face as she helped repair the castle with the others, and so forth. It made her feel something she never felt before during that time period, a regret that she couldn't explain the cause of.

The only thing she could recall was the bitter emotion it left in her heart for a short while.

Emptiness.

"You were in no state to be the She-Ra the world needed you for awhile, so much so that the emptiness wracked your heart with negative emotions, enough to hamper the sword's bond with you. And by the time you were ready to become She-Ra again, it was already too late." She didn't bother watching the following clip of herself as she tried to turn into She-Ra several days later, only to end up with the basic form she originally started with.

If the emptiness left her feeling helpless for a few days, the drive to become She-Ra at her full power, the desire to be strong enough to take on the Horde completely, left her filled with regret.

"You had reverted to your previous state before the battle, and by that point, too much time had pass to revert the sword to its pinnacle of power."

"B-But... Then why didn't you use it anyway? Even if it took me who knows how long to re-bond with my sword or something, it would've been easier bond with my sword still!"

"Actually, it wouldn't." For the last time, the wavelengths displayed an erratic depiction between the purple and blue wave lengths, almost looking like complete zigzags as they went from one end to the other. "The sword's bond stems from your emotional stability and inner peace. If we had tried to force the process to a previous point while you were still experiencing inner conflict, it would most likely disrupt the entire connection process, making any growth near impossible to achieve."

"The sword bonds and grows as you do, Catra. The more you grow, the more it grows with you, and likewise."

She had a weird sense that she had this exact same conversation with Light Hope a month ago, even if she was here this time of her own free will. Like before, all this boiled down to was that Catra messed up, again, in some shape or form, and because of her actions, she had to get told all this awful and painfully annoying details about why her sword wouldn't work for her.

Was the Horde about to invade Bright Moon again after they used some weather machine when she got out of here? Because at the rate things were going, she was being thrown into a complete loop of the last month and a half.

"So... what now?" Honestly, given the lateness of the day and the events that continued to confuse her, she wasn't sure which direction to take this conversation.

"Now?" With a questioning word, the displays around them disappeared into thin air, as the lights within the Crystal Castle were restored. "Now, you return home, and revitalize for tomorrow's training, and or missions."

"What, just like that?" Catra asked, actually hoping there was some other news as Light Hope walked away. "No advice on getting stronger or anything like that?"

"Not for the time being, no. There's still some things I need to analyze between your connection with the sword." She replied simply, strolling over to the center of the chamber.

Scratching at her head, giving a last yawn with a stretch, Catra found little energy to argue as she made her way for the door once again. "Well then, I guess... See you later."

"Catra, wait." The She-Ra in training was already holding the door's frame by the time she called back. "You must always bear in mind, that there are no more chances with this. If something like this happens again, I won't be able to restore it to a proper point in time before you lost control. You must train yourself to calm your emotions, Catra. For Etheria's sake, and for yours."

"..." For one of the first times, Catra couldn't say anything as she just left, going through everything she was suddenly told in her mind for the duration of the trip home.

She couldn't allow herself to be conflicted with emotions anymore, no matter what happened. If she messed up as badly as she did today, then that would be the end of it. There would be no power to help restore her to a previous point of She-Ra, or to turn into She-Ra at all. She would have no strength, no use to the Princess Alliance, and no possible way of stopping Adora again, if she had one to begin with at this point.

When it all came down to it, she focused on the one thing she feared the most: The moment she lost control again, as soon as she lost She-Ra's power, the Horde's victory would be assured, and everything would come to an end.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*clickity*

*clackity*

*clickity*

*clackity*

The sounds of endless typing filled the small Horde outpost as Entrapta continued to roll her swivel chair from computer to computer. She didn't think being thrown into a mission in the middle of the arctic during a terrible snowstorm would be as fun as the briefing made it out to be, but MAN was she having a blast! Cozied up with winter gear for their destination, unraveling an ancient First Ones tech, and hanging out with two of her new friends? What wasn't there to be excited about!

She almost didn't understand why Adora seemed as moody as she was, given the circumstances. She was bundled up just as much as she was, and the shadows should've provided some semblance of protection against the cold's harsh elements. Then again, she hasn't really been in the best moods of late, so it could be jotted down as a case of lack of sleep, complete boredom, or some other thing Entrapta didn't know about.

"Hi, Adora!" Entrapta greeted, knowing the girl was behind her as her eyes were stuck to the monitor in front of her. "Did you have a nice nap?"

"I wasn't really n-napping." Adora chattered a little, rubbing her arms for warmth. "It's kind of hard to fall asleep when everything's freezing."

"Freezing?" Entrapta rubbed the top of her head without pause using a strand of her hair as she typed. "How are you cold? If the readings from my tests with you are accurate, your shadows should be providing a layer of warmth, or at least enough to act as a second skin."

"Second skin doesn't really help when you're dealing with below temperatures. Besides," she took a breath into her hands, trying to add some extra warmth to her rubbing, "I'm trying to repress them right now. If they keep acting on their own out here to keep me warm, I'm going to get sick in no time."

"Are you sure you shouldn't be using the wristband I gave you? It should work better than the last one on your miss-" She went silent as she turned back for a second, noticing the harsh look Adora was giving her about what she was about to say. "On... your... missssssion to test them out last night!" She quickly corrected, acting casual as she went back to her screens.

It's not like she didn't know what Entrapta was actually referring to. It was almost laughable to her that one of the greatest minds Etheria's come to know was also one of the world's worst liars at the same time. Someone with that much brain power should've at least been able to come up with a more convincing lie than that.

Glancing up at the screen, Adora's already-irritated expression was piled on as she saw the amount of work Entrapta had done and the lack of results that had come from it. "Are you almost done here?" She asked leaning a firm hand on the console. "I thought you would've known where this First Ones weapon was by the time we got here?"

"I never said "weapon"." She reminded with a silent clap of her hands. "I said there's a piece of First Ones tech buried deep under the ice," smiling brightly, she playfully pushed herself away from the same console as she spun around in her chair to the next, "and a really powerful one at that! With the energy levels we've picked up, it must of been part of the First Ones' supercomputer."

"Whatever it is, just keep searching for it." She ordered, not that the scientist needed to be told to do something so fun. "Hordak hasn't been in the best of moods, and if we come back empty-handed and wasted his time, it'll be my head." There was a silent gulp from the captain as she hoped she wasn't being literal with herself.

"A scientist never returns empty-handed." She beamed, wagging a finger-made twintail of her hair as she turned to her. "There's always data. With data comes results, with results comes progress, and with progress comes success!"

"..." Entrapta did have to admit, it was almost surprising how long Adora's been in a sour mood at this rate, given all the time she's known about her. She didn't look anywhere near happy, she didn't look entirely sad per se, she just looked like she was borderline somewhere between boredom and aggression at the mildest inconvenience. "We are not making data, or progress, or results, with stupid data. Hurry up and find something useful around here or we're packing up and going home."

Without another word, the Force Captain turned her back on the fellow scientist as she went back to resume her own line of work. "Seriously, this place is giving me chills, and I don't mean from the cold." There was something about this place that was unsettling in more towards the atmosphere than the freezing weather itself.

Ever since she and the others got here, she felt like something was off. Whenever she looked outside, she felt like something was staring back at her that she couldn't see from far away, and the eerie feeling that they weren't alone never faded from her since the moment she got here. There was no telling what sort of dangers lurked within this frozen wasteland.

Or how to describe the horrific creatures that continued to remain unseen...

...

The open sea! The setting for many sailors and adventurers alike! Whether their journeys take them through the open waters of the savage seas, the tropical islands of paradise, or, in this case, below freezing temperatures that would free the snot out of someone's nose in an instant where craggy glaciers of ice and snow surrounded every corner. It was the kind of area that many a folk would avoid for one reason or another.

But not for the glorious Sea Hawk! Or his companions, if they wanted to be here.

The beautiful pink-masted ship sailed over the waters with merely the tip of the fin touching the frozen waters. Exploring lands like this was nothing out of the ordinary for him, having had many adventures through all sorts of extreme climates. It didn't make the journey through these lands any warmer, of course, but at least he was properly prepared for these kinds of escapades.

And what better way to celebrate his current adventure, technically a mission from the Princess Alliance, than with his own companions! Like the Princess of Bright Moon, Glimmer, magically gifted girl who was daughter to the Queen of Bright Moon. Or his sidekick Bow, who always looked up to and aspired to be like the great adventurer himself, who Sea Hawk always promised that, with enough hard work and dedication, could almost be as glorious as he!

Or Catra, who... he didn't really get to chat with as much and really didn't seem to be in the mood to talk to anyone else. At least her being here made a little more sense than their fourth companion, one Catra bitterly allowed to tag along with them.

But no matter! Adventure awaited them somewhere within this frozen tundra, and he would see it through to the very end!

"The Dragon's Daughter Five." He felt along the rails of the ship with an open palm, admiring the craftsmanship and smoothness of the rails. "She cuts a fine line on the sea, does she not?"

"Wait. What happened to the Dragon's Daughter Four?" Bow asked, lifting his head up from the tracker pad. His mood was probably the second brightest out of the group, seeing how they were exploring with a famous adventurer again. It probably would've been better if the freezing weather and his mittens allowed him to adjust the tracker pad a little easier. "Oh, oh, oh, was it an adventure?" He wondered, pumping his fist as he posed alongside his peering icon.

"No. Termites." A flash of the terrible memory alone was enough to rattle his expression temporarily. "I couldn't save the old girl. Anyway, I'm proud to be a part of another daring mission for the Rebellion!" His optimism wasn't entirely shared with the Princess of Bright Moon who tried to smile back, wearing her own matching winter gear that went with her regular colors.

"Well, you know, we all kind of needed a boat, and, you know. You have a boat." She replied, rubbing her mittened hands to warm them.

"Yes, I do. Heh! Truth be told, I was glad to have something to do." The proud of expression of Sea Hawk melted into a small frown as he crossed his arms. "Mermista cancelled our plans this week, and she's hanging out with her other friends, and didn't invite me to join. I..."

*swish*

"Well, let this mission distract you from all that." Glimmer tried to cheer up, patting him on the back. "We've received reports of Horde activity in the Northern Reach. They set up some kind of outpost, but we have no idea why."

"I bet somebody does..." An irritated She-Ra-formed Catra grumbled, continuing to lean over the railing at the other end of the ship as she stared off into the vast winter. The comment didn't go unnoticed to their fourth passenger who moaned, leaning on the opposite side of the ship.

"...By the way, what exactly happened with them?" His whispered over to the Princess, noticing the strange behavior between the two.

"Catra kind of took Frosta's betrayal a little hard," she whispered back, "compared to the rest of us. She really hasn't been in the best moods for the last few days."

"Ah, yes. I've heard of the...incident, from Mermista. It must have been pretty hard to accept Frosta back with open arms after that mission."

"Some of us were more forced to accept her than others, you know." She snarled back again, deliberately speaking louder just to get to the other passenger's nerves.

"Mmh..." With a flash of pink mist, the princess teleported from Sea Hawk's side to Catra's, leaning against the same railing as she stared up to her friend. "Catra, I understand how you're feeling, but don't you think you could at least ease up a little while we're all the way out here? The weather's not making anyone's mood any easier."

"I don't get what you're complaining about, I feel fine."

"That's because you turned into She-Ra the moment you got here."

"Besides, even if I was freezing, my mood would be a lot brighter right now if she wasn't with us!" Glimmer needed no introduction as she glared back to the fourth passenger of their group, Princess Frosta, the girl looking as glum as Catra did angry, trying to drown out all the insults and complaints Catra's said about her since the beginning of the mission. "I don't understand why you brought her with us in the first place."

That was actually the question on Frosta's mind from the very beginning, too. As the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows, her element gave her an advantage over this landscape, and she was used to these extreme temperatures, only donning an additional pair of blue earmuffs to complete her outfit. What Glimmer failed to specify while bringing her on this mission was the fact that Catra would be coming along with them. In fact, she actually lied by telling her she wouldn't be joining them as she was off training somewhere.

Naturally, the moment the two met at the docks with the others, a cloud of anger and unease exploded around them as Catra complained about why the princess was with them whereas Frosta was confused why Catra was here and why Glimmer lied to them. It took her nearly half an hour to explain how this mission needed both of them for Catra's strength and Frosta's understanding of the elements ahead of them.

It didn't do anything to calm one side down or the other, but at least it was enough to get them both to go on the same boat. And it wasn't even close to the real reason Glimmer brought them along, or Frosta specifically, as she explained to the girl.

"Well I just thought that, you know, she could provide a helping hand out here. Who better to help us in the arctic than her?"

"I would honestly hire anyone else in the world before her. I would even hire the Horde- Oh wait!" A sarcastic look of surprise crossed her face as she let out a silent gasp. "I almost forgot, we HAVE one already!"

"...Mmmh..." Throughout all the insults and pettiness coming off of Catra, Frosta did her best to ignore it. She couldn't blame Catra for any of her behavior, no matter how repetitive or blatant it became. She deserved all of it, from her point of view. That didn't make the sensitivity of her insults any easier, though.

Groaning, Glimmer tried to get the magicat to at least look at her as she rested a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Catra, I get it. You don't trust her, and you don't want to trust her. Fine. Then at least trust me to trust her for this mission, okay?" That was the first line of dialogue that made Catra shift her eyes over to her. "I know she won't betray us. And, hey, look at you. You still have most of your She-Ra powers back, right? So you have to feel somewhat comfortable enough to let her come with us."

That was perhaps the one highlight of the last few days that kept Catra from sulking and being aggressive towards everyone since their last meeting together. Despite all that's happened, she still had most of her previous She-Ra form back, minus the different-colored orangish hair. She still had her shoulder pads, bracelets, pants, and so forth, and it was a lot better than the nothing she had when they left the Horde tower.

However, the truth behind the matter had nothing to do with Catra's own involvement. Rather, it was a miracle bestowed upon her by Light Hope herself, from the night of the traitor's reveal. The revelation itself wasn't enough to dampen Catra's mood any more than it had. If anything, it was the only thing keeping her spirits up as much as they were now.

But how was she supposed to get used to everything else when Glimmer dropped this bomb on her out of nowhere?

"Whatever amount of trust I still have with you and Bowey has nothing to do with it, Pinky." Catra spat off the boat. "Just because I trust you two still doesn't mean I trust everyone you trust, especially the brat."

"But Catra, you were with the Horde once, too, remember? And you became one of our best friends and heroes. How is this any different?"

"Because when I joined, I didn't start out on your side and go back to the Horde before going back with you." That line of logic and reasoning, from her point of view, came with a hiss. "I went from one side to the other, I didn't backstab one side and then go back to it later. I stayed."

"Well can you at least promise to work together if the situation calls for it?" Glimmer pleaded. "The last thing I want to worry about is you fighting her while we're fighting the Horde!"

There was a short break as Catra looked between her and the traitor on the opposite side of the ship, her irritation never lightening as she leaned over the railing again. "...Keep the brat five feet away from me at all times, and I'll consider it." Immediately, Glimmer's face lit up like a christmas tree as she started side stepping a few feet away from Catra, almost looking like she was counting something until she stopped.

"You got it!" And with the strangely-cheerful agreement, the princess teleported away... And re-teleported back to her with Frosta to her right, about six feet between her and Catra, before teleporting again behind the small bridge of the ship.

Blinking in confusion, Frosta looked around until she spotted Glimmer a little ways behind her, gesturing for her to talk to Catra as the wild cat grumbled to herself, staring off into the distance again. Knowing it was part of her plan, Frosta looked anxiously over the side of the ship, trying to come up with something to say.

"Go on... say something..." Glimmer whispered over.

"Uh, Glimmer? Can I talk to you?" The archer didn't give Glimmer the choice of free will as he pulled her further behind the bridge, looking at her with extreme anxiety and confusion. "What do you think your'e doing? Trying to get Catra and Frosta to chat with one another?"

"Relax, Bow, it's going to be fine." She whispered confidently. "I'm just trying to get the two to reconnect again."

"Like this? Glimmer, this is like trying to get a lit match and barrel of gunpowder together in the same room! You know Catra's not going to take this well."

"I know, I know, but it'll work out, just like before."

"Before?"

"Yes." Brushing off his hands, she peered around the deck again as she watched the two still standing a distance away in silent. "Think about it. Every time Catra's in one of her moods, we go on an adventure, stuff happens, then she's back to her regular self by the end of the day."

"And... you're basing your whole scheme on that?" He asked, looking around the corner from above her.

"It hasn't failed so far, has it?"

"We haven't even tested it before!"

"Shh! They're about to talk." She hushed, excited and hopeful to see how far their conversation could go.

"...So... Um... H-How are things in Bright Moon?" Frosta hesitated to ask with a nervous smile? All she was met with was an annoyed look on Catra's face as she continued to ignore her. Once again, looking back, she saw Glimmer urging her to try something else. "Uh, my... Kingdom has been securing resources for the Rebellion, so-" She immediately cut off as she saw the tingling twitch in Catra's glare.

Clearly bringing up how she stopped sending resources to the Horde and instead to the Rebellion was a bad idea.

"Okay, um..." Man, nothing could keep this situation from feeling awkward to her! She got what Glimmer was trying to do around here, but understanding meant very little when you were dealing with someone who trusted you and you betrayed. "O-Oh! Remember that prank we pulled on Glimmer a few days ago with the warm water and the hand trick?"

"Wait, that was them?!" Glimmer blushed as she looked apologetically to Bow. "Catra convinced me you did it!"

"I told you she was lying!" Bow cried back.

"Haha... ha... eh..." Little by little, the look of humor from reminiscing the old days faded from Frosta's expression as Catra refused to stare at her, instead brushing right past her after a short delay. The cat didn't seem anywhere near interested in socializing with her as made her way to the head of the ship where Sea Hawk was keeping the look out, trying to ignore everything giving her a headache from behind her. Moaning, Frosta resumed her own leaning as she looked over the ship in sorrow.

"So much for the big plan."

"Patience, Bow." Glimmer refused to let this setback get in her way. "The mission has barely started, and we still have plenty of time." In truth, she was a little anxious about how things would turn out, but she was determined to get the two to reconcile by the end of this trip. If people can change as much as Catra has over the last few months, then surely there was still time to get the two to make up with each other by the time the mission was over!

...Right?

...

Scribbling. Inspecting. Searching. Repeating. Nothing like a boring day's worth of work to put Adora into any more of a better mood. Within the outpost, the Force Captain found little to do to pass the time, other than finding any possible pointless task she could to occupy her mind. Such as making sure all their equipment was prepared and organized and working on the paperwork she needed to resort thanks to her rather... unfortunate mission.

Catra wasn't the only one suffering from the aftermath of Frosta's betrayal. No matter how bad Catra was feeling, Adora was dealing even greater difficulties in the wake of her previous mission. Needless to say, Hordak did not take the news of her failure well. Losing one of the Horde's most fortified outposts was one thing to deal with. Learning that it failed because of the so-called "Trust" Adora put in her young friend, was another.

The Leader of the Horde was outraged, disgusted by Adora's performance. After subjecting her to the very machine that nearly sucked the air out of her lungs for a second time, he gave her a warning that she was sure was engraved into her heart: Fail him again in any standard, and it would be the end of her career, and her life would find itself placed behind the cells of the Horde's prison system. If it wasn't for Entrapta's usefulness for the last week, he would've gladly disposed of her already.

Those words, the rage in her hero's voice, the realization that she was, indeed, a failure, shook her to her core. She couldn't comprehend any of it, any of the reason why Frosta would betray her, the fact Hordak glossed over the other accomplishments and alliances she's made.

Then again, given what happened a few days ago, it probably made more sense to her now. She made an alliance with a kingdom whose leader betrayed her in the very end. Who was to say someone else wouldn't betray her down the line? That line of thinking, the worry that someone else would betray her down the line, left her on edge for the last several days. And with each day she didn't get over it, the more her mood soured and her scorn rose.

She hated the Princess Alliance now more than ever. She needed this mission to go perfect, whatever the cost. She kept her mind focused on the tasks at hand, inspecting their current equipment while also dealing with a table's fill of paperwork. Reorganizing the resources they now lost after Frosta's betrayal left her with a mountain of papers from requisitions and supplies she needed to reorganize to keep the Horde's outposts evenly stocked.

Even now, she couldn't turn away from her paperwork for two minutes before filling out three additional pages from the stacks she brought with her. The table was lined with piles of paper and equipment caches in every corner, dozens of sheets spread about, leaving without so much as an inch of the table uncovered from the top. Between moving back and forth between the equipment stacks behind her and the papers in front of her, everything was keeping her busy, and keeping her without any chance of relaxing.

That's where Scorpia came in as she examined her friend from around the corner. Despite all that happened, it didn't keep Adora away from all the work she had to do, from the multitude of tasks that occupied her time. Adora would've been quite the inspiration to the Horde, young and old, if her mood was a little more pleasant lately.

"Huff. Okay, Scorpia, get your head in the game. You've got this." She said to herself, squeezing her claws together as she amped herself up. "You and Adora have a special bond, and deep down in her heart, she knows that." Nothing about Adora's behavior within the past few days turned Scorpia away from her best friend, no matter how aggressive she's been lately.

Taking a deep breath, trying to be calm and collected with a confident grin, she casually turned the corner as she walked up to her busy companion. "Hey, Adora. How's it going?"

"I'm busy." Adora stated directly, never keeping her eyes off the paper as she tipped the pen into the ink bottle again to resume her work. That alone was enough to tell Scorpia how bizarre her behavior was. She wouldn't even look back to return the greeting, much less give her a greeting at all!

"I... can see that." She replied, continuing to smile as she looked over Adora's shoulder. "What are you, uh, what are you working on?"

"Papers." With a silent breath to cool down, the blonde captain brushed aside her current page as she grabbed another sheet out of the hundreds to go. "There's been a lot of reorganizing I was put in charge of since... Frosta's leaving."

"Ah. I... I see." Perusing through several of the various stacks, the scorpion girl examined the papers and pages that took up most of Adora's time. It was the only action that elicited a response from the young force captain as a small shadowy tendril appeared, putting the paper back in order from Scorpia's hand.

"Please don't touch that. I need to keep this stuff organized so it can be processed and shipped out for when we go home."

"W-Well, maybe I can help with some of it? I mean, we're both Force Captains, so my signature should mean as much as yours."

"No, I-" Adora paused from her work as she let out a small sigh. It's not like she didn't understand Scorpia's desire to help, but now really wasn't the time for it. "Look, do you need something from me? Because I'm really busy here."

"Oh, well, yes, actually." A small blush crossed the girl's face as she tapped her claws together. "So, I've been thinking, and I know you're really busy and focused on your career lately, but if you ever wanted to..." She glanced over as she saw Adora crumpling up the current page she had and tossed it behind her, over to a bin with a dozen other pieces of crumpled garbage. "You know, like hang out sometime with me?"

"No." Scorpia nearly flinched at the quick response, something Adora gave noticed to as she pinched between her eyes. "I-I mean not right now, or anything. Later. Maybe? I don't know. Why are you bringing this up, anyway?"

"Well, you know with all the... stuff, that happened, I just figured, maybe, you could use a break? Like outside of office hours, pffft, like you know. Maybe we could do something like we used to like... play a board game, or some other bonding activity, or just... H-Hey, I know what'll cheer you up! Why don't we watch the young cadets in their next training session? That always gets a smile out of you."

Adora did have to admit, the thought of it sounded nice. Just seeing the kids playing around, doing a few exercises, having fun, it did wonders to brighten her mood usually. But not this time. "Thanks, but no thanks, Scorpia. I have too much work that needs to be done."

"Aww. Just for a little bit? Or, something else, maybe? Whatever you want to do, I'm all ears, too!"

"I don't want to do anything right now, Scorpia, I just... Huff, I'm really busy right now- Ow!" Letting out a yelp, the small captain shrieked as pulled back her hand from the stack of papers to the left.

"Are you okay?" Scorpia immediately asked worriedly as Adora held her thumb in her right hand.

"I-I'm fine! It's just a stupid papercut. I can shake it off."

"What? Does it hurt? Is it bleeding? Here, let me take a look at it."

"What?" Adora didn't get enough time to refuse her request as Scorpia pulled back Adora's left hand, inspecting the thumb up to her eye. "No, Scorpia, it's fine! Really. Just stop touching it!" She grumbled a little as she tried to pull her arm back, refusing to let the shadows get involved like last time.

Scorpia refused to let up as she tried inspecting it. "Don't worry, I know how to work a bandaid. Or a bruise. Whatever it is, I can help with it."

"Egh... It's fine, just stop squeezing at it or it will bleed!" Without her shadows, no amount of brute force of trying to pull the Scorpion's claws away would help. She was more than determined enough to prove her worth to Adora at any cost!

"It's okay, I'll be gentle! I can help with it-"

"Scorpia, for the last time, let ghhh-ahhh!"

*crash!*

Blinking in place, the large red Force Captain stared at the damage she may or may not have been responsible for as she saw Adora fall back onto the table behind her. Instantly, papers scattered and shot through the air, the table nearly snapped in half as it collapsed from Adora's weight combined with the pounds of paperwork and caches on top. The second-in-command Force Captain was buried under a mountain of paperwork, leaving bits and pieces of herself exposed through the wreckage.

"Um..." Okay, so maybe Adora had a point with not wanting her help with the paperwork? This was just from a little papercut her friend received from pulling at a sheet of paper. Who knows what would've happened if a paper and pen fell into Scorpia's claws instead?

Lifting herself up from the pile, Adora slowly pulled the box off of her head as she stared back at the older girl, the one smiling nervously at her as she could read Adora's facial expression in an instant. Looking around, Adora saw all the scattered papers and tossed-over caches that were emptied of their contents, not to mention the ink bottle that now formed a small black puddle over dozens of the pages, including the right sleeve of Adora's coat.

Seventeen hours worth of paperwork, several hours spent just trying to get it all organized. Now, half of it was ruined from the ink over the pages and the pages the ink-stained papers were related to. All of this because of one little paper cut.

How nice to think about.

"Y-Yeah, so..." Rubbing her claws anxiously, the taller captain slowly took a few steps back, trying to get out of Adora's hair. "Maaaybe I'll go see how Entrapta's doing instead?"

"... Mmmh..." Yup. Adora was now convinced this would be her life. Nothing but messing up on every mission, becoming less and less abled to work, and incapable of filing out a single stack of paperwork without some catastrophe getting in her way. At least now, if Hordak did behead her, the one currently over her head would make a nice compartment for it.

*clink*

"Huh?" Pulling the box further over her head, Adora noticed something plopping to the ground from the box's contents that caught her eye. It was a strange triangular star-like red crystal, one that seemed to hum with life as she collected it after getting back to her feet. "What's this thing?"

"Ahhh! Be careful with that!" Almost at the speed of light, not fast enough to get past Adora holding it away while her shadows blocked her, Entrapta came rushing in, trying to grab at the crystal for dear life. "It's a rare First Ones artifact! I've been meaning to study it but haven't gotten a chance to." She explained, finally backing up to let Adora examine it. "The last time I deployed it, it ended up infecting all of my robots with some kind of murder-virus."

"...Yeah, cause that's what we need in the Horde right now." Adora muttered, tossing the star back to the purple-haired geek as she went about collecting her paperwork again. "Something that'll make our machines go haywire. Personally, I would've preferred a stupid blanket or something, but..."

"Oh, it does other things, too." Entrapta smiled as she inspected her device once again. "For example, it also drove Catra crazy, too, and she started attacking everyone."

Adora almost had to roll her eyes at that. "Yeah, not that different from how she is now."

"And even after she lost her powers as She-Ra, she was still infected with it until we destroyed the device."

"Look, Entrapta, I really don't have any time for-" Adora froze, dropping the paperwork in an instant. "Wait a minute. What did you just say?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. She-Ra lost all of her powers because of this baby." She allowed Adora to swipe it back into her hands as she reminisced fondly. "You should've seen her when she was under its effect. It was pretty funny for awhile."

She showed little care for Entrapta's flashback into the earlier days of war as Adora's eyes flashed with the image of the First Ones' device in her hands. Could it be possible? Was there really something as powerful as this that could weaken Catra further without risking her own life directly like before? The mere thought that Catra could go from She-Ra to zero in a heartbeat elicited a grin from the cold captain.

"So you're saying this thing can turn She-Ra's powers off?" Already, the ideas were flashing into Adora's mind. First, use the device disable She-Ra, then capture Catra, and finally bring her and the sword back to Lord Hordak. It would undoubtedly make him forgive her of all past mistakes, and hopefully more open to the future alliances she intended to make. "Why didn't you say that sooner?"

"So, anyway, in non-She-Ra business," Scorpia spoke up again, trying to lift Adora's spirits up from the mess she caused, "maybe, I could help you organize the paper a little more, or-"

*beeeeeeeep!*

Anything she had to say was immediately cut off as the red warning lights flashed around them, the alarm signals going off all over the outpost. Being the first to react to the defenses, Entrapta quickly hopped over to the computer monitors as she examined the outline of their outpost between the base and the digsite some ways away.

"Uh-Oh..." She muttered.

"What?" Adora rushed over to her side to inspect the monitors. "Is something wrong?"

"Heh heh... It's just a small bump. I'm sure it's fine." She failed to assure her as she chuckled nervously. "But our drilling bots may have... gone offline?" Her statement was met with skepticism and disbelief as Adora and Scorpia stared back at her. "All of them. At once."

"All of them?!"

"Come on. We should go check this out. I'm sure it's nothing!" It had to be nothing, right? If something did happen, that meant either they weren't alone out here, or one of her droids malfunctioned for reasons she couldn't explain. And if there was one thing Entrapta didn't like, it was leaving things unexplained. "Come on, shouldn't take long."

"Fine, but make it quick." Adora groaned. "I have a lot more paperwork to do now." Whether the comment was directed at Scorpia or not, she felt the effects all the same. She tried to help Adora, and it only made things worse. She couldn't understand what was getting to Adora in the first place, and that's what bugged her the most! If Adora could tell her, she might be able to figure out how to help her better, or at least comfort her easier in a way that didn't make things worse. She just needed a clue.

As for Adora, as annoying as the last few days had been, she finally had something to brighten her day as she looked back at the device she stuffed in her pocket.

So far, she failed to excavate the Beacon of its technology, failed to turn one of the Rebellion against their own, namely Bow, and now she was scarred with the events of Frosta's betrayal behind her, which she most likely wouldn't get over for several years at best.

But now, all that was about to change. She had a weakness she could exploit that she was unaware of before, something that could fix everything and turn her entire situation upside down. A part of her almost hoped that the alliance was somehow involved with what was going on with the drilling bots.

Because now, Adora couldn't wait to see her old friend again...

...

...

A/N: And now we reach the end of part one! And do you guys know what this means? If so, congratz! You're officially one of my stalkers..... or just a huge fan of my works ^^

Lol, it means, next episode, the results will be displayed! The results as to whether or not we get our goofy drunken version of Catra, or our lovable kitten from episode 6 ^^ *sigh* i really am still bothered though by the quality of my writing, i feel it doesnt hold up as well to the first season (not in the way the plots going, just the way its written). I really am hoping its not too distracting as I'm trying to come to terms with how i used to write, and praying I can get back into the flow of things the right way X/

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, Fave, Follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 79: S2 Episode 5: White Out Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 12.1k Pre-A/N's.

Well folks, this is it! This is the day many a people have been waiting for ^^ While it won't be disclosed entirely till the very end, the results of the countless voting will have been made public by the very end of this episode, more or less hinting of what's to come in the following episodes, as well as some things that most likely won't be expected. Either way, I sincerely hope you guys enjoy the episode as we get down to the action of the episode, which I had a verily fun time writing out ^^

Enjoy!

...

"Come to think of it, Mermista never invites me to hang out with her other friends." Seaw Hawk commented as the group trudged through the frozen landscape. "I mean, heh, am I not cool enough for them? I'm so cool, I am Sea Hawk!" Catra tried to ignore the exaggerating captain as she pushed on ahead a little further. By the time Sea Hawk looked ahead, he saw everyone else was already ahead of him, save for Frosta who was the only one left at his side. "You think I'm cool, right?"

"I don't know," the young princess shrugged, walking ahead, "how cool is Bow?"

Ouch. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Catra found that to be a rather low blow as they pressed on.

The day had been rather uneventful as far as missions went, and for the first time, it was almost a welcome change of pace to Catra. After receiving reports of Horde activity in the Northern Reach, she was more than willing to partake on a mission that involved bashing away soldiers and bots from the Horde. With the previous mission's events still fresh in her mind, she was more than willing to take on any new challenge the Horde had to offer to clear her head.

That was, until Frosta ended up joining the group.

It wasn't entirely of her own free will, either, not that she didn't want to make up her mistakes to her allies. Out of everyone that accepted her back, unsurprisingly, Catra was the odd one out who still showed signs of hostility towards her. She wanted nothing to do with the girl or her stupid kingdom, and was willing to trust her about as far as she could throw her.

Which was pretty much a great amount if that meant she could throw her far into the middle of an ocean, or an active volcano at this point.

She couldn't understand how everyone else could be so forthcoming about accepting her back, either. Why were they being so gullible about this? Frosta betrayed them. Her betrayal nearly lead to the end of the Princess Alliance itself, not to mention possibly the rest of the Rebellion with it! No matter how much help they can offer in turn, you do NOT forgive someone so easily!

Yeah, sure, she could admit. The fact she betrayed the Horde at the end was the one redeeming factor in all of this, but so what? That didn't excuse her from betraying them in the first place. If anything, it's the only reason Catra didn't suggest a punishment more severe than throwing her in the stockades for the rest of her life. She wasn't anywhere near the mood to allow her back with the Princess Alliance, much less on a mission this soon with them.

That was a little detail that she could thank Glimmer for, too. With the goal in mind of trying to get the two to make up with one another, she convinced Frosta to go under the idea that Catra wouldn't be joining them on the mission, keeping her involvement a secret until they met up with Sea Hawk. From there, she went on to convince the young princess to try and reconnect with Catra, hoping the mission would help Catra get over her aggression like it had in the past.

That still didn't make the ordeal any easier to go through, of course. The entire trip to the frozen wastes here alone was uncomfortable as Catra refused to so much as make eye contact with the girl, and Frosta was filled with guilt and despair to open up to Catra directly. Even with Glimmer's attempt to force a conversation between the two, the young princess barely said three lines to her before Catra walked away.

She hoped to herself that everything would be better by the time their mission was over. Besides, at the very least, her ice powers could help around here.

As they reached the top of the slope, Catra came to a halt, examining the landscape around them as everyone else walked past her. Glimmer didn't notice she was still behind them until she noticed a severe lack of negativity in the air.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Did you see something?" At the audible question, the other three turned back to see what she was doing.

Catra kept her gaze glued to the ground as she felt around the rough edges of the pathway. Something felt off to her at the touch, the jagged roughness of the ground beneath her feet. "I think something else is out here."

"What? Other than the Horde?" Frosta wondered, looking around.

"Something other than you? Yes." Catra replied with a snide remark, intentionally insulting the princess as she answered her question.

"You know, they say all sorts of strange things happen in the Northern Reach." Sea Hawk commented, looking up at the eerie frozen sky. "Voices on the wind. Monsters in the snow. Machines break down. Sailors disappear without a trace. We could be next!" Switching from one persona to the next, he dropped his current demeanor and switched to a more anxious personality. "I am cool, right? I am. Right?"

The sound of Bow's sigh was the only thing to distract the others away from answering. "My tracker pad's been on the fritz ever since that rogue communication hub messed with it. I'm having trouble pinpointing the Horde's location."

"Why don't you ask their new friend? I'm sure she could find it in an instant." Frosta did her best to ignore Catra's disdain as she turned away, rubbing her arm from the sting it still left. That didn't mean someone else like Glimmer could easily ignore it, narrowing her brows as her fist tightened.

Walking up to the distrustful girl, she grabbed her arm. "Hey, mind if we chat for a minute?" She didn't bother getting a response from She-Ra as she teleported the two of them a dozen yards behind the group, out of earshot with the wind howling over anything they were saying. "Do you mind easing up on her? She's just trying to help!"

"I am easing up on her!" She snapped back. "I didn't toss her overboard the first chance I got, did I?"

"Catra, you know what I mean. Frosta feels bad enough for what she did, the last thing she needs is you making it worse for her."

"The last she needs? That's like the first thing she needs!" She couldn't understand Glimmer's and the rest of the Alliance's obsession with letting Frosta seemingly-off the hook like this! "Did you hit your head and forget everything she did? She betrayed us. I probably would've noticed something was up if I didn't put my trust in her, and look what happened!"

"Catra, we all put our trust in her, it's not your fault alone." She reminded. "It's just as much our fault as it is yours."

"Then why are you okay with it?!"

"I'm not okay with it! But she's doing her best to try to make the best out of the situation, so the least you could do is try to be a little less insensitive about it."

"You think this is me being insensitive? You should consider yourself lucky, I've been thinking of nearly everything I could say to her and only said two lines!"

"Catra..." Furrowing her brow, Glimmer took a deep breath as she tried a different approach. "Look, how about this? Unless she talks to you directly, you don't say anything to her. Deal?"

"Mmmh..." What would be the point of her agreeing to this? If she agreed to it, Frosta was obviously going to say something or other making it pointless, and the moment Catra insulted her or something, she'd be the one Glimmer would yell at.

"Catra!"

"Fine, deal, whatever!" She grumbled, leaving the princess behind as she rejoined the group. "Let's just go already." It was hard for Glimmer to accept that as Catra's final answer, but she didn't feel like she had a choice in the matter. Anything she said that could get her riled up might affect her She-Ra state, and as much as she wanted to reconnect the two, she didn't want to risk doing something that hurt Catra or her powers.

Teleporting herself back to the group, she examined the tracker pad from behind her friend. "Did you find anything yet?"

"No." Bow shook his head in dismay as Catra returned. "The rogue communication that messed it up alone is bad enough. The freezing winds around here are making it more than impossible.

"Worry not." Finally! A chance to remind the group of how honorable, proud, and cool Sea Hawk was! "We'll follow our instincts!" Pointing to the heavens with a glorious declaration, he pointed directly behind himself as he took the lead. "This way!"

Completely ignoring the jabbering, Bow turned his attention to the small beeping coming from his pad. "Or there's this new signal now. It's big. It looks like a First Ones tech signature."

"Then we'll follow the tech." Catra stated as the group took off again. It took Sea Hawk several seconds to realize he was left behind again. Trying to maintain all the awesomeness and coolness within himself, he quickly shifted his pointing in their general direction, trying to take lead again as he ran to the head of the group.

At the same time, the young princess found herself walking side-by-side with She-Ra, the warrior doing everything to ignore Frosta's existence right next to her. "For the record, I wouldn't know where we were even if the Horde did tell me about this place." She commented, earning a breath of irritation from the tailed-warrior as she didn't bother to look at her.

"Tch, whatever, brat." For a moment, Frosta actually looked up to her with a sliver of hope.

Name-calling each other was something the pair used to do whenever discussing between the two of them, and while Catra might have denied it otherwise, she usually gave nicknames for the people she cared about. In Frosta's case, they were along the lines of "brat", "squirt", "pipsqueak", and so forth, and after adjusting to the usual nicknames she gave her. It was kind of their own special way of addressing each other as friends.

In this case, however, there didn't seem to be any form of tact or friendliness behind the words. Catra continued to give off that irritating glare of hers as she refused to turn her head in any direction towards Frosta, keeping her sight on the path ahead. The silence alone was more than enough to convince Frosta of the scorn she still had for her as she lowered her head again in shame.

When Catra called her a brat, she truly meant it this time.

...

"Ah. Here we go. Well, the drill bots are definitely gone." Entrapta announced as she stood over the bridge, her voice echoing through the massive hole under the bridge. Taking a look for themselves, Adora and Scorpia leaned over the bridge, inspecting the empty chasm themselves.

"What? They just disappeared into thin air like that?" Scorpia's chilling nerves already started to unsettle her more and more as she took a step back from the bridge. She had a million questions forming in her mind as Entrapta began to pace a little along the bridge, examining the statistics and details through her own tracker pad in the hopes that the data would provide an answer.

"Maybe there's scientific truth to the rumors about strange happenings in this region." Just the thought of it left Entrapta with terror and excitement. On the terror-side of things, it meant there was some reasonable explanation to all the disappearances, and that very reason could still be surrounding them as they spoke. On the excitement-side of things, it also meant that there was the possibility of making a new discovery that the world of science had yet to see, and she would be among the first to discover it!

"We weren't here to investigate some old rumors, Entrapta." Adora grumbled, trying to peer down into the abyss below her feet.

The intense weather surrounding them did nothing to brighten her mood as she squeezed her hands upon the railing. She couldn't allow to have another mission end in failure just because a couple of dumb robots suddenly went missing, and she couldn't afford to return to the Horde empty-handed without something to show for it. Her career was on the line, and, more importantly, her life was on the line.

After the string of recent failures she's been suffering, she needed to get a mission done successfully, even once, to avoid Hordak's wrath. Tired and fed up with her failures of late, the leader of the Horde warned the girl that if she failed him one more time, however slightly, that he would lock her up until the end of her days. Personally, that was probably the least problematic situation she considered herself to be in.

She was tired of messing up, tired of dedicating her life to the Horde without anything to show for it. Since the Princess Alliance had cleared out the Whispering Woods from the army of bots they sent them on a daily basis, they've done nothing but get in the way of Adora's plans and messing up all of her schemes. It wasn't just taking its toll on the girl on an emotional level, finding herself suffering in worse ways each and every time she failed, but mentally as well.

From being traumatized by repeated betrayals of those she thought she could trust, to a new consciousness that seemed to take on a life of its own, the girl had been suffering greatly every day, and it continued to grow worse. She couldn't put up with the stress of everything, she didn't have the energy to push harder than she's ever been, and she still somehow managed to go through with it for her life's dedication of paying back the very family that raised her since she was an infant.

She owed it to them. She wanted to return the favor. She wanted to prove to everyone her methods of alliances and whatnot were the key to uniting Etheria, one that didn't risk the lives of the innocent around her. And every time her emotional state changed, she found it harder to maintain those convictions.

She needed to succeed to pay back the Horde. She needed to succeed for herself. And each time she failed, she only became more determined to succeed in the next mission.

"Hordak wants that technology, if it's down there." She continued. "And we're not leaving until we get it."

"But Adora, we can't do anything without those drill bots," Entrapta tried to protest, "and we can't collect it without their help."

"Look, I don't care if I have to jump in there and collect it myself! Just give me some sort of data to work with and help me find it, or we're leaving you behind until you do-!"

"Adora!" The Force Captain was cut off as she heard the familiar, annoying, and painful voice of an old friend yelling at her from across the bridge, one she refused to believe was already here. No, she takes it back. With the mission going the way it was at this rate, it was only reasonable to assume that Catra and her annoying friends were going to be around to mess everything up again, and she would be the one to suffer for it.

Sure enough, turning around, there they were. Members of the Princess Alliance and symbol of the Rebellion itself appearing from the clearing haze. Catra. And how could she forget her wonderful allies like the Princess, Glimmer, the tech expert, Bow, the traitorous Frosta, and... whoever the mustache guy was.

"And, once again, the little furball shows up where she's not wanted." Adora commented crossing her arms, leaning her back against the bridge's railing. She would've been a lot more stressed out about their appearance if it wasn't for a certain toy Adora picked up awhile ago. In fact, she was actually a little more eager to see her again after all this time.

"You know, I'm actually a little surprised you're out here." Catra remarked, holding the sword behind her head uncaring. "I would've figured the little teacher's pet would've been sent somewhere more comfortable or warm. Then again, you really did mess up at the battle of Bright Moon. So I can't blame her." She smirked as she saw the small tendril of shadows forming from Adora's shoulders. It was ironic when she thought about it- while Catra's emotions affected her She-Ra state, the shadows welling up in Adora made it obvious when something was bothering her.

"Teacher's bet?" The Force Captain grinned back, realizing what she meant. "Oh, riiiiight, her. I never did tell you about her, did I? Silly me, and here I thought we shared everything together," she cracked the knuckles in her gloved hand, forming a fist, "like pain." Her expression soured as she saw the younger princess at her side. "At least we have the same taste in traitors around here."

Unlike Catra, Adora's words didn't get to Frosta as her expression hardened itself. "I'd rather be a traitor than a villain, Adora." She retorted.

"Oh, right, I'm getting it from the traitor now?" She playfully shook her head, shrugging. "Why don't you reach adult height before I take your words seriously, Frosty? At least in the Horde, I could take you seriously." It was almost baffling to Frosta when she thought about what she saw in Adora before compared to how she acts on the outside.

"Enough." Catra raised her sword threateningly to the blonde shadow-girl. She had more than her fair share of annoyances throughout the last several days. "We're taking back the Northern Reach, Adora. So pack up and go home, or I'll make you go home. Now!"

"Hmm, how about I say no, and I skip to the part where I say, "over my dead body"?"

"Glad-" Catra stopped as she looked to Adora's side. Her eyes widened with shock as she recognized the familiar princess who was examining her tracker pad, the first person to betray them, and the second-most annoying person she knew from the Horde. "Entrapta!"

"Oh, no..." Bow muttered, realizing what was about to happen.

"Hmm?" Entrapta casually lifted her head to inspect the caller of her name, and gave a calm smile as she waved with her hair. "Oh, hey, Catra! How's it goi- AHHHH!"

*WHAM!*

Entrapta barely dodged the incoming attack, falling to her side, as Catra jumped into the air and came slamming down with her sword. The heat of her frustration fueling her veins as she glared at the girl. "What are you doing?!" The scientist screeched, backing away in fear as she struggled to get back to her feet on the slippery bridge.

"Hold still and you'll find out!" With another shout, She-Ra transformed her sword into a spiked mace, attempting to slam it down on the girl who nimbly slid out of the way, resulting in Catra leaving a large dent and shaking the bridge. The scientist wasted no time hightailing it out of there as she ran in fright, confused beyond measure for Catra's unexplained bout of anger. Without any regard for the people behind her, Catra angrily chased after the girl through the bridge, her sword returning to its original form as she did.

At this, Adora just blinked. It took her several moments to process the fact that Catra completely ignored her and went on after the scientist instead. "Hey- Wait a minute!" She yelled as Scorpia chased off ahead, with Adora trailing behind her. "You're supposed to be fighting me!" That was a group of words Adora never thought she would say out loud, and yet, here she was.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out as the rest of the Princess Alliance chased after them, weapons drawn to their side and magic at the ready.

This was bad. Extremely bad! The last time Catra had revenge on her mind, she started losing portions of her She-Ra powers before she even reached the girl. There was no telling what would've happened if she actually managed to catch the girl this time around!

Noticing the pests that were following after them, eagerly forming the massive claws and shadows over her arms, once Adora reached the end of the bridge she quickly grabbed on to the edges. With a massive heave, using all the strength she could call out to right now, she pulled the bridge from the edge of the the gaping hole, the sound of metal creaking and crushing underneath her shadowy fingers filling the air.

The others watched in dismay as they felt the entire bridge being lifted out from under their feet the strong shadow warrior ripping at the end of the bridge while they were still stuck in the middle.

"Hold on to something!" Bow warned to everybody, grabbing on to the bridge's rails as the rest of them followed suit. No sooner than they had after grabbing the rails did Adora go about her business.

With a large, massive, pull, she ripped the end of the bridge off, tearing at least twenty feet of the cold steel from the platform, and watching with delight as she saw the bridge slowly bend itself over from its own weight. The others let out a scream as the bridge began to bend from its own weight, over half the bridge began to sink into the maw below them. Unwilling to waste any more of her precious time, Adora continued on her way as she chased after Catra.

The others held on for dear life, each of them holding onto an opposite end of the railings until the bending finally came to a stop. From the straight and precise flatness the bridge once had, it now had a jagged torn edge on the end while over half of it was now slanted and bent over, twisting a little the further it went out and nearly curling up. They found themselves fortunate enough that the bridge came to a stop when it did, instead of the entire bridge itself becoming undone in the process.

From Bow on top to Glimmer, Sea Hawk, and Frosta all below him, they all peered into the gaping chasm with an extraordinaire sense of relief, glad that the worst that could have come never came to pass. Granted, it didn't really do anything to help their current predicament.

"Are you guys okay?" Glimmer asked, looking up and down to make sure everyone was accounted for.

"I think we're fine." Bow replied, shaking from the cold steel and the near-death experience they came across. "But you need to go on ahead and help Catra before it's too late."

"But what about you guys? I can help you across the bridge before-"

"There's no time!" He quickly interrupted. "You need to stop Catra before she gets hurt or does something she'll regret, and you'll waste too much energy teleporting each of us off the bridge."

"But-"

"It's okay, we'll be right behind you." Frosta shouted up to her, looking at the other end of the chasm.

There was about a thirty foot difference between them and the other side of the bridge, not to mention the elevation. Nevertheless, it wouldn't be close to a match for the young princess as she began to channel her powers, using her energy as she began to form a small downward slope from hole's walls to the end of the torn bridge. It was a slow process, but one that would work out eventually once she had the two sides connecting.

"We'll meet up with you as soon as we can. Go!" Frosta ordered again, keeping her focus on the task at hand.

"Right!" With a nod, the princess quickly teleported from where she was hanging to the other end of the bridge, specifically the other end of the platform from where the bridge was torn off. Taking a quick look at her friends, she prayed silently for their safety as she ran ahead, hoping to catch up to Catra before anything bad happened.

...

"Catra-!"

*wham!*

"I think you're suffering from-"

*crash!*

"An unexplained existential crisis!" Entrapta continued to squeak as she dodged one attack after the other. The only relevance of safety she had around here was hiding among the boulders that kept the girl from lunging directly at her, ones that were demolished under She-Ra's strength as she came slamming down on top of them.

"Oh, I can explain it all right! Just hold still for me!" Catra refused to listen to any reason or order as she continued in her pursuit.

And why should she? This was Entrapta they were dealing with! The first person to betray them after they thought she was dead in the Fright Zone, the supposed genius scientist who couldn't use typical logic to figure out the rest of them didn't abandon her in the first place! The person who's been making dangerous weapons and bots for the Horde since the moment she joined, practically before they joined if her personal bots were anything to talk about.

And the one Catra wasted what felt like a better part of her life feeling guilty over!

Maybe she was the reason she couldn't transform into her fully-powered She-Ra form before? Maybe she had everything to do with the fact that all of this was happening? With all the time spent feeling guilty about her, consciously or subconsciously, there was no telling how much she affected her She-Ra state. She might've been She-Ra a lot sooner if she didn't have the girl's death looming over her head!

At this point, it didn't matter. She spent so much time worrying over the girl only to find out that she was working for the Horde willingly! She didn't care about those she left behind, and even if it did, Catra wouldn't forgive her. She promised Glimmer she wouldn't do anything threateningly or dangerous to Frosta for the rest of the mission, and she planned on keeping it that way. She also didn't say anything else about any other potential princesses she came across, and if Catra couldn't have the second traitor, she was more than willing to trade it for the first!

She needed this!

"Is this about all those tests I had done on you without your consent?" Thinking quickly as she ran, the princess scooped up a large clump of snow and rolled it into a ball the size of a cannonball. The moment she rounded out the other end, she threw it with all the strength she had in those lengths of hair, throwing them at Catra and landing square in her face- it did absolutely nothing to slow her down as she easily brushed it off. "Because I lost the data if it makes you feel better!"

"I didn't even know about those tests, so thanks for giving me another reason!" She growled. Getting tired of their little game, looking around the snowy field, Catra dug her claws into the nearest boulder she could find, one half the size of her body and more than capable enough of crushing Entrapta's entire head. All she needed was a good aim to make sure the projectile left its mark.

No sooner did she line up her shot against the fleeing princess did she end up getting tackled away from her line of sight by Scorpia, the girl crashing into her as she dropped the boulder behind them. Just as soon as Scorpia pushed her to the ground, she threw herself ahead of her, blocking her path as Catra jumped back to her feet.

"If you want to get to Entrapta, you're gonna have to go through me, Catra!" Scorpia declared, pounding a claw on her chest with pride.

"..." Out of all the ways things could've turned out, of the many people she could've met, Catra ended up being complete dumbfounded as she stared at the girl. "...Okay, I' going to be completely honest. I have no idea who you are."

"What? What are you talking about? We met lots of times!"

"No, I saw you lots of times, but we never really met face to face. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've even spoke to each other like this."

"How... How can you not know who I am? I'm Adora's friend? I've been keeping her company since the day we met?"

"Oh..." Sneering, she transformed her weapon into a lasso as she gave it a twirl. "Then why didn't you say so?" With a precise shot, Catra threw the end of the lasso directly at the scorpion's claws, entangling one of them in a tight grip as looped around her pincer.

Surprisingly to her, however, the moment she did, Scorpia showed no signs of making it easy for her. Before she could give the lasso a tug back, Scorpia ended up having the same idea as she looped it around both of Catra's wrist from her own end, pulling it out of her grip as it tightened around her hands. No sooner were they tightened did Scorpia pull at the rope with her own claws, pulling Catra off her feet and slamming her into the small icy glacier behind her in a small crash.

"Oh yeah... now I remember you." Grabbing at the rope again, Scorpia lost all the grip she had as the lasso returned to its previous form, freeing Catra's own hands as the sword returned to her. Seeing how someone was so insistent on getting in her way, she decided to take Scorpia up on her offer of "going through her" as she charged sword first towards the scorpion girl, the who was pushed back against the snow as she gripped the bladed end of the sword between her claws, refusing to let go.

As the two began to fight, Catra was unaware of the approaching commander coming in from behind her, the howling winds and Catra's own anger distracting her from her senses as she fought off the red-carapace menace. With the pull of her tendrils sinking into the snowbank around herself, she attempted to leap directly ahead of the two, planning to catch Catra off guard as she continued the fight with Scorpia. But, just as soon as she took that first three steps through the air did a familiar sound catch her ears, having barely enough time to see a familiar mount of pink before her face was struck back into the ground.

"Agh!" Adora yelped, her face completely unguarded from the surprise attack as she took the full force of Glimmer's magic-induced punch. Rolling over her own back, Adora glared at the pink-haired princess as she summoned her father's infamous staff to her side. "You know, between you and the animal, I really have no idea who I hate more right now!" Both girls ran to reach other as they slammed their weapons into each other, Adora's shadow clashing with Glimmer's staff.

It was almost surprising to Glimmer as she saw small traces of the black veins trailing up Adora's neck again, and a little sad when she thought about it. "Adora, look at yourself! You need help!"

"Since when are you a doctor?" She scoffed, kicking Glimmer away. She did have to admit, Glimmer wasn't entirely wrong in her statement. With the fighting mixed between the princess's attacks and her shadows actively protecting Adora from the harsh cold, it was draining her ability to contain it almost three times as fast. "And when did we become friends enough for you to lecture me?"

"It's a little something called compassion!" With a shut, the princess shot a beam of pure magic from her hands at the commander, pushing Adora back as her feet sank into the snow building up behind her. "You should try it sometime!"

"Ghhhh! Where do you get the idea that you should be talking to me about compassion!?" Focusing as much of her darkness as she could, she pushed through the princess's magic as she blasted her right back, knowing the princess off her feet long enough for Adora to push on ahead.

Slamming the girl to the snow, Scorpia attempted to subdue the girl as she pinned her by the collar to the ground while she raised her own stinger above her head. With just an inch of space left for her, Catra barely managed to catch the stinger with her hands barely around the tip, using whatever frustrated-power she had to keep the girl from stinging her. It was close enough that Catra could see the toxic green liquid dripping from the girl's tail, doing her best to keep it from getting any closer to her forehead.

"Do you know how much you hurt Adora when you left her after your rescue mission? She was in tears!" Scorpia yelled, still angered by the memory.

"Yeah, well cry a river for me!" Catra nearly choked as the stinger came a little closer. She could practically feel the tip of the stinger rubbing against her forehead. "It's hard to feel bad about someone who tries to kill you!"

"She doesn't want to kill you, you jerk! You should be grateful for-"

*pitooey!*

"Blegh!" Scorpia spat in disgust as she tried to wipe her face aggressively, releasing her claws from Catra. "You spitted on me!" The moment she had her freedom, Catra immediately followed up with as she punched Scorpia square in the face, throwing her off of her as she got back to her feet.

"You're lucky that's all I did!" She mocked, preparing to continue her attack while the girl was still down. Running for her sword in a mad dash, she just had enough time to grab it in her hands before she was tackled, once again, by another combatant. In this case, a certain Force Captain named Adora who had a grudge against her.

"Adora!" Scorpia called out happily as she kept her focus on Catra.

"I'll take care of this, Scorpia." Adora announced. "Go stall the others. This won't take long." Summoning forth as much shadow she could possibly draw, the Force Captain surrounded her entire torso, arms included, in a blanket of protective shadow armor, protruding up to two tendrils on her back as she prepared to face off against Catra.

"Y-Yeah! I got it!" Scorpia uneasily agreed as she rushed back to the princess. She didn't want to argue with her friend over a simple request like this, but at the same time she worried for her. With her refusing to wear the wristband to keep her shadows in place, there was only so long she could continue fighting by herself before her shadows made her sick again.

Sinking her claws into the snow, Catra growled, tail wagging angrily, as she glared up at her current target smirking back at her. "Are you sure you don't need your girl-scout to back you up?" She taunted.

"If you mean someone I can safely call a friend, then I'm fine!" Wasting no time, Adora lunged for the girl with both of her own claws, tendrils shooting out ahead of her as she continued the attack.

...

Shaking the snow off of her as she got up to her hands and knees, Glimmer was about to continue her own chase when she heard Bow calling out for her with the others.

"Glimmer!"

"Bow!" She greeted back with relief. She was worried if they were truly going to be alright given the state she had to leave them in. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're perfectly fine, lass." Sea Hawk replied proudly. "We owe the young princess much for saving us."

"Wait a minute," Glimmer paused, looking around, "where is Frosta?"

"She took off after she made us a staircase." Worry overcame Bow as he responded. "I thought she came up here to join you?"

"But I thought-"

*Crash!*

With a thunderous roar, the ground in front of them was slammed with Scorpia's massive claws, disrupting the brief conversation they had. No sooner had she landed did she follow up on her attack did she swipe her tail at them, knocking them back a good distance as she cleared the space around her.

Refusing to let up, and determined to show his past crew the definition of the word "cool", Sea Hawk quickly drew his heat-induced rapier as he charged at the girl, forcing her to block the attack with her own claws as she pushed back against him.

Drawing his arrow, the archer called back to his friend as he waited for a clear shot. "We'll hold off Scorpia. Go catch up and find Catra and Frosta as soon as you can!" She didn't need to give a verbal response as she rushed out of the scene on her own two feet, conserving her magic for the eventual rematch with Adora that lied ahead.

As much as Scorpia wanted to, she couldn't chase after her with these two catching up to her tail, so to speak. Especially while the only thing keeping her from being shot at was the annoying figure standing right in front of her.

With his manliness at stake as well as the appearance of perfection, Sea Hawk found this to be the perfect opportunity to ask her, "So, do you think I'm cool? Be completely honest with me."

...

The battle raged on around the other sight of the battlefield. Both girls were giving it their all as they slammed into each other with each striking blow. The girls that hated one another's guts, the ones that wanted to be victorious in the end. The ones who wouldn't let anyone else claim their victory for them no matter which side was beginning to win or lose.

In this case, Catra was on the losing side.

Attempting to lunge at the girl again with her sword, Adora easily managed to smack the girl to the ground with the use of her tendrils, wasting no time to follow up on this as she kicked Catra soon after, crashing her back straight into the surrounding wall of ice and snow that covered half of their field. With a lunge herself, Catra had just enough time to grab at Adora's hands as the girl pushed her a little further into the glacier, her body sinking in as Adora pushed back with all of her might.

"What happened to that little hair job you had before, Catra?" She teased, grinning wider as Catra was shoved another inch into the wall.

"I'm sure you'd like to know." She practically snorted, trying her best to push back. Strangely, she found Adora's strength to be a little stronger than it was last time, even with the fact she was missing part of her She-Ra form from before. Then again, with the rising darkness growing along Adora's neck via her veins, it was likely she wasn't planning on holding anything back this time.

"Actually, I wouldn't. No offense, but orange is definitely not your color." With another tease, Catra watched as she raised the two tendrils from her back, skewering them against one another until they were perfectly sharpened enough to puncture anything that Adora wished to, like someone who couldn't get out of her grasp, for example.

*Wham!*

Just as she was about to contemplate how to push Catra further into the ice, or how she could've used a nice trophy over a mantle, if she had one, Adora was suddenly smacked from the side by a large wall of ice, throwing the girl away from her as Catra pulled herself out of the ice. Without needing an explanation, she shot the young princess a look, one without a sense of thankfulness and just a very small bit less of contempt.

"Wow, you hit her." She mocked as Frosta approached her. "I guess that means you're totally on our side now."

"Do you want to keep insulting me all day, or do you want to smack her around?" Frosta shot back. Personally, she had a feeling the real answer wouldn't be to her liking, but for now, Catra turned her focus back to Force Captain who was starting to get a little out of breath.

Like she agreed before, even though she had little to no trust in any of the other princesses, especially Frosta, Catra was at least willing to work with them.

As for Adora, it continued to disgust her that the person she used to trust as much of a friend was now working again with the same person who was, from her understanding, never her friend to begin with. Either way, there was probably a blessing in disguise; if she managed to take down either of them and brought them back to the Horde, Hordak would be more than willing to forgive her past mistakes.

Provided she could last long enough as the veins were slowly getting to the point of causing a fever.

With Adora's grumbling acting like a warning bell, the duo pressed on the attack as Catra rushed for the Horde while Frosta channeled her magic again. With the lift of her arms, she nearly crushed Adora as she lifted two durable slabs of solid ice on both sides of her, pressing them into the young commander and pinning her in place as her arms and shadows held them at bay. That gave Catra more than enough of an opening to launch an attack as she jumped for the girl, ready to strike her down.

Or so she thought. As soon as Adora found her close enough, she quickly dug both her tendrils into the top of the slaps, pulling herself out of the minor confinement as they slammed into each other at full force. The second Catra was taken back by her recovery was all the time Adora needed to grab onto the girl's waist by her tendrils, pulling Catra through the air as she jumped off and crashing her straight into the column of ice behind her that Frosta set up.

With one obstacle out of the way for the moment, it gave her plenty of time to charge back towards the traitorous princess that she wasn't planning to forgive, extending the shadowy claws of her hands a little as she lunged for her. Preparing for the attack, Frosta created a small sheet of ice in front of her, hoping to block whatever attack Adora planned to throw at her. She ended up underestimating the commander as, right before she struck the sheet of ice, she caught Frosta by surprise as both of her tendrils lunged at the girl, tightening around her wrists as they pulled her into the air several feet off the ground.

Wrists stretched out at each side, tightening with each passing second, Frosta struggled to concentrate to gather her magic as Adora gathered her shadows again into an enlarged fist, squeezing it tightly in front of the girl that disgusted her as a sign of power.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, traitor?" Adora wondered, narrowing her eyes angrily as the squeeze on Frosta's wrists began to hurt.

"Y-Yeah..." Frosta grumbled back, opening one eye as she tried to push back the pain. "I can see why Catra left you to begin with!"

Adora was, suffice to say, taken by surprise by that remark. Of the many things Catra taught Frosta in their little time together, it was knowing how to insult their enemies, how to make them slip up in the middle of battle. It was also just a fun way to tease the rest of the Rebellion from time to time when she felt like it.

What she didn't teach her, though, was how there was a time to place to say her petty insults, and how there were some people she shouldn't try to insult for her own safety- like the Queen of the Rebellion, Angella, or a certain Force Captain who was having a really bad day who took Catra's abandonment rather personally. It was clear to her how much Frosta's insult affected her as she saw the veins growing along Adora's cheek beginning to hasten, the captain pulling back her fist with every inteion of knocking Frosta out as painfully as possible.

*tug*

Until that happened.

Right as she was about to strike, she was immediately taken by surprise by Catra from behind her, the magicat growling as she grabbed along the tendrils from Adora's back with enough crushing force to pry them off of the young princess. With Frosta released, Catra followed up on her assault as she pulled the tendrils harshly, pulling Adora off her own two feet as she struggled to break free from the grip behind her.

In a full large loop around the two and with a great, big, pull, Catra slammed the girl into the very wall of ice she pinned Catra to just moments ago, making her throw her hands to the side of the wall upon impact. Before she could get a chance to collect herself, Adora let out a small yelp as both her hands were blanketed in a solid sheet of ice, pinning both her arms to the wall as they were encased in ice. Without giving her a chance to react, Catra draw the sword right up to the girl's neck, nearly pushing it against her skin as she refused to back down.

Normally, the average person would be wary of the person pinning a blade to their neck like this. To someone like Adora, she just threw Catra an amused, knowing, glance as the situation had yet to phase her.

"Give me one solid excuse, Adora." Catra challenged, barring her teeth. "I dare you!" It almost frightened Frosta to see her willing to push on like this as she approached from behind.

"Oh, please, Catra." Adora rolled her eyes without a care in the world. "We both know you won't do it."

"You wanna bet?!" She gritted her teeth, pressing the blade closer to her by a single inch.

"Yeah, actually, I do. I know you're not going to do it, Frosta knows you're not going to do it, and you know you're not going to do it." There was no semblance of fear in Adora's voice as she stared straight into Catra's eyes. No matter how menacing Catra looked, no matter how much they hated each other, there was no way she could possibly go through with it.

... And she was right.

Groaning to herself, Catra backed away from the trapped commander, squeezing her anger onto the sword as she tightened her grip.

"You've lost either way, Adora." Catra stated, noticing the dark veins along Adora's neck and cheek. "The outpost is mine. So do yourself a favor and go back to the Fright Zone."

"Go back?" She sounded perplexed and curious of the notion. "Why would I give up when we haven't even gotten to the fun part?"

"Fun part?" Catra asked, looking back to Frosta who could only shrug in response.

*swish*

"Catra!" Glimmer called out as she appeared behind them.

"Glimmer?" That was the moment she made her mistake.

The moment she let her guard down.

"Thanks, Glimmer." Adora's thanks almost went unheard of as she got out. While the shadows along her arm acted as a cover, she easily managed to slip her own arms out of the sockets, getting herself back to the ground with ease, and rushing straight for the empowered warrior as she tried to turn around again. Digging through her pockets, she pulled out the one device she knew would turn the entire situation into her favor, and grant them the victory she needed.

The First Ones tech-virus.

*clink*

Without so much as a warning, with no understanding of what she was aiming for, Catra was too late to stop her from tagging the triangular device over her sword's runestone. In a brief flash of red light, everything within and around the girl began to change for the worse.

"Nnnngggghhhhahh!" Catra cried out in a bloody war as pain and emotions overwhelmed her entire body.

The moment the device so much as brushed against the runestone, the virus began to spread. With red veins trailing along the ends of the sword, Catra was helpless to stop anything as the vein-like virus spread over to her hand and grew along her entire body, filling the girl with unimaginable sparks of emotions that she had never experienced before, even for her. With an even greater flash, waves of dark red began to erupt from the sword, spreading out into the distance that overwhelmed the field, catching everyone's attention, including those who were hundreds of feet away.

Catra continued to cry out as the pulsating flashes continued, the dark red veins spreading through the limbs of her entire body. Adora was almost amused by the irony of things as she was by Catra's current state. Throbbing her head in pain, the way the veins were spreading all throughout her entire body, it reminded her a lot of the state she found herself in whenever she used too much energy. And if that was the case of how it would turn out, then Catra would be powerless as Entrapta said in no time!

And... she had to admit... feeling what it was like to be in that state of constant pain and agony several times over... she almost felt a little sorry for her as her amusement turned into an unsure wonder.

Teleporting again, Glimmer angrily appeared at Adora's side, keeping her direction facing the emotionally unstable warrior who continued to scream in agony.

"Adora, what did you do?!" She shouted.

"RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!" That was all the time Catra needed before her transformation was complete. With a beastial rage, she roared to the world surrounding her as she was devoid of any emotion other than rage, malice, and pride. Her arms were soaked in the veins of the pulsating red that grew from her hands, her pupils red with a bloodshot color, and her tone almost had a robotic-hum to it as rage overwhelmed her.

"Catra! What's wrong?" Frosta wondered worriedly, running to her side.

"Frosta, don't-!" But it was too late.

*WHAM!*

The moment she was in arms reach, without any sense of hesitation or holding back, the transformed-She-Ra smashed the girl with the back of her wrist, sending her flying straight ahead like a shot out of a canon. There was no telling how much pain it inflicted as the young girl was knocked out cold the moment she struck her. There was no remorse in Catra's eyes as she watched her getting sent flying, only pride at her own accomplishment.

"Frosta!" Glimmer's cries of worry were enough to draw the warrior's attention away from the flying girl. The moment they so much as made eye contact, Catra charged like a mad demon straight towards them, first targeting Adora as she swiped with her blade without holding anything back. It was easy enough for Adora to dodge it, throwing her tendrils atop the icy wall as she threw herself away, but it still surprised her how destructive Catra was when she destroyed the wall in its entirety.

She didn't show any signs of letting up either as she immediately turned to the next closest target, Glimmer, one of the few people Catra had come to know as a friend. Teleporting back and forth, the Princess of Bright Moon tried to yell at her friend through the screaming rage and the howling wind, trying to get through to her as Catra destroyed nearly everything around her with each passing blow.

"Catra, stop! This isn't you!"

Over in the distance a short run away, Adora found Scorpia and Entrapta peering out from behind a flat boulder, having a remarkable view of the action as Bow and Sea Hawk started to arrive on the scene.

"I... I thought you said... She'd be powerless!" Adora reminded, returning the shadows temporarily to minimize the power she was currently using.

"She will be." Entrapta's confident smile did nothing to ease Adora's mind as she watched the show, holding the tracker pad and recording all the data she would need. "Eventually." One word was enough to get Adora to raise her brow in surprise. "I think." And two more were enough to push her into disbelief.

Then again, she did have to admit, it was rather enjoyable to watch from afar. "Actually, I think I can live with this." She grinned. There was nothing better than watching Catra flail about trying to injure one of her own teammates . In fact, this could've been the best kind of revenge she could've asked for. Watching Catra in a mad rage as she tried to take out the very people she came to care about? It was almost poetic in some way as she thought about it... and she still couldn't continue watching it without a hint of concern.

"Catra, I know what you're really like, this isn't you!" Glimmer attempted to plead with the girl as she continued telporting to save her life.

Catra was having none of it on her end. Right now, she only had three prime directives in her current state: Destroy. Kill. And enjoy herself. And nothing would convince her to stop.

Following the previous teleporting, her attention switched to the down princess a dozen yards away, one still out cold as she lied partly buried in the snow. Grinning mischievously, the magicat ran straight towards the downed princess like a bullet, the sword tightening in her hand as she knew what she wanted to do, and what Glimmer knew she would do.

"Noooo!" Teleporting in a mad haste, Glimmer just reached Catra in time as she held her back, grabbing her from under both arms as she was no less than three feet from annihilating the girl. Catra thrashed about with all her might to throw the girl off of her to no avail. "Catra, please! You have to fight this, we need you! You have to let go of the sword, I promise you'll be fine!"

There wasn't anything resembling the old Catra left in her from her point of view. Without any sense that the princess was going to let up, Catra lowered her head forward a few inches before thrusting it back, smacking Glimmer square in the face as she threw her off her feet with a mere butt of the head. It wasn't near enough to knock her out like it did Frosta, but it still hurt like she couldn't believe. Catra was enjoying herself through all of this, she wanted to do this to all of them right now! And nothing was going to keep her from charging back towards the girl who interrupted her fun!

"Glimmer!" Except for the lone arrow that struck her square in the chest, bursting into a rope net that knocked her off her feet, entangling her in a mess of rope.

"Glimmer!" Bow shouted over as Glimmer rose from the ground, shaking her head. Remembering what she was doing before the brief stall, she quickly ran ahead towards the downed princess, checking over her immediately for any hopeful signs of life!

"Phew, still breathing." Glimmer gasped as the anxiety left her. Seeing how hard Catra smacked her away, the way she lied motionless in the snow, she was starting to fear the worse.

She soon discovered the worse was yet to come as she looked back to see Catra getting back to her feet. Without any word of warning, the feline pulled the rope apart with her own two hands, growling angrily as she jumped in the air with the sword raised above her. Teleporting themselves to safety, Glimmer immediately disappeared from the spot just as Catra's sword came crashing down on the spot. The teleporting princess soon appeared by Sea Hawk and Bow's side with Frosta in her arms, thoroughly exhausted from the amount of magic she just finished spending.

"What is happening?!" Sea Hawk squealed as he and Bow helped support Glimmer onto her feet, taking the younger princess in his own arms so she could get their support.

Glimmer would find no rest from the wicked as the trio heard the sounds of Catra's aggressive roar, the girl continuing to pursue them without pause. It would've been taxing on her, but she didn't have a choice if she wanted to save them. With every drop of magic she could muster, she teleported the four of them as Catra slammed down on her sword, embedding the twisted blade halfway into the ice.

Appearing no more than twelve feet away from their spot, Glimmer almost collapsed entirely to the ground, the energy drained out of her taking up nearly everything she had. It forced Sea Hawk and Bow to help the girl stay standing, pushing themselves to keep her up for as long as they could. Despite the amount of exhaustion and pain she was in, Glimmer couldn't turn away, just like the rest of them.

Catra growled like a wild animal as she pulled at the sword which was currently stuck, doing everything in her power to free her trusted blade from captivity, and continue the onslaught that she wouldn't let up in. This was unlike any Catra her friends had come to know. They saw her rage from time to time, saw the sadness and sorrow, saw the things they considered little in life to be major issues to someone like Catra.

This was none of those Catras' to them. This, was pure rage incarnate. Rage given power in the form of She-Ra, the form of Catra. This was no warrior or symbol of hope for the Rebellion.

This was a monster.

A monster whose anger refused to quell, one whose only objective was to destroy everything around her. Pulling with all the might she had in her body, she began to scream as the blood-red runestone began to charge up with power, preparing for a final attack. With all the might the sword would grant her, the strength that she had yet to reach, Catra heaved, pulling the sword with a grand swipe that shot out a shockwave of power in the direction of her friends, spreading glaciers all around them that could pierce even the toughest metals.

*CRASH!*

The glaciers were the least of their worries as they felt the ground grumbling around them, the blocks of ice withering in strength as it became undone. None of them were free enough to stop it from happening, none of them could resist the pull of gravity that controlled one of the elements of the world. With a single, solitary, scream for each of them, they fell.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" All of them screamed for their lives as the hollowed ice beneath them gave way, plunging each of them into the shadowy depths below, with nothing but ice and snow falling after them. With her own two hands, Catra had personally brought down over half the Princess Alliance within minutes. And she showed no regret as she panted, looking over the massive hole she created with a sense of victory.

A victory shared greatly with Adora.

"She... She did it..." For the first time in awhile, she smiled with a sense of accomplishment as she stood from behind their cover. "She did it... She finally did it!" She couldn't tell how happy she should be right now, only that her happiness was finally returning to her. She had finally succeeded in a grand mission after a long while, and with Catra's help no less! Half the Princess Alliance was gone, the Rebellion would be in shambles when they found out the truth, and nothing would stand in their way again!

She would finally be recognized by Lord Hordak, be able to make up for her past mistakes. Frosta, the traitor, was gone, Catra the defector had done the work for them, and the Princess of Bright Moon finally came to an end! At long last, Adora would understand the feeling of peace, one she hasn't recognized in a long while!

At least, she would have, if her voice didn't attract the attention of an enraged She-Ra.

"Ghhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Catra grumbled, still with her semi-robotic voice, as she lunged for the girl with all her strength, and slammed the sword where Adora once stood.

The Force Captain had little time to partake in her victory as Catra came charging at her like a heat-seeking missile, one that wouldn't stop until it reached its target. Scorpia and Entrapta watched, the latter with excitement as she wondered what could be learned from this line of study, as Adora fought off the enraged Catra. Adora didn't care how much of her magic she used, whether or not it would bring her to the brink of collapse. Catra was the only thing left standing in her way, and she was going to make sure she was captured with the power of her own magic!

A magic, that proved useless, against She-Ra's might.

"Haaahhhhh!" Adora screamed as she attempted to strike back against the raging bull. It proved as effective as a balloon trying to push against a solid wall as her attack didn't even bother Catra, didn't leave so much as a scratch along her arms, as Catra powered through it long enough to land a direct hit right into Adora's stomach.

*WHAM!*

For a moment, Adora almost felt like she was going to throw up, feeling the contents of her own lunch practically pushing inside of her. Her vision became disoriented as Catra pulled her fist back, letting Adora slowly drop to the ground without a sense of care or decency. In fact, she cared so little for the Force Captain that she didn't even let her hit the ground before kicking her straight ahead, crashing her through a boulder that the shadows barely managed to protect her from.

Adora couldn't process the pain she was inflicted with fast enough to react to Catra's follow up, rushing straight for the girl with a killer instinct. Doing what she could to fight back against this monstrosity, Adora attempted to ensnare her with her own tendrils, thrusting several of them from her back to the girl that wrapped around her right wrist and both her ankles. Normally, she'd be strong enough to lift the girl off her feet, and restrain her long enough to follow up with an attack. This time, fate had other plans in store.

With a sinister grin, like Scorpia had done with the lasso earlier, Catra wrapped all three of the appendages with a single loop of her arm like they were nothing, toying with Adora as she tried to pull back. She cackled with delight as she gave it a solid tug, pulling the Force Captain off her feet and right over to her until her face was pressed firmly into Catra's hands. She couldn't even retract the shadows in time for Catra to throw her harshly against the ground, face first, and stomping right onto her back in a painful manner.

"Ahhhh!" Adora cried out in pain as she felt Catra's heel sink into her back. The pain didn't end there for her as the rage-induced demon continued grabbing at the base of the tendrils, holding them firmly in her hands as she started to pull. It hurt like crazy, it was unbearable to the touch. Just like in Bright Moon, Adora was helpless to stop Catra as she pulled off two of her four tendrils straight from the back, one at a time.

This time, she pulled all three with a solid tug.

*Snap!*

"AHHHHHHHH- ackkk!" It hurt beyond anything she's ever felt before. There was no bright side to the fact that the shadows weren't really part of her real body, she could still feel everything as if it was her own. The shadows carelessly dissipated into a thin smoke of darkness as they left Adora's side. Not only was Catra fighting physically against everything she had to throw at her, she began to choke her as she turned her around again, clamping a firm grip over Adora's throat.

"C-Ca-Catra... S-Stop... P-Pl-Please..." She raspy pleaded, actually forming tears in the corners of her eyes. Despite the scene of her begging, Catra just grinned, freeing her other hand as she held the sword with the wrap of her tail around the grip.

This... This was unlike anything Adora had ever seen before from her. There wasn't a hint of hesitation, no sense of decency or sincerity coming form Catra like the past times they fought. No matter how many times Catra declared she hated Adora, or Adora her, the two were never brought to the brink where they would actually try to kill one another, at least not since the battle of Bright Moon when Adora felt she was at her worst.

But this? This? This was unlike anything she's ever witnessed. This Catra wasn't hesitating to do anything she needed to in order to win, no ounce of clarity in her eyes that usually held her back from injuring Adora severely. She enjoyed fighting, sure, she loved to take her anger out on something, but this? This Catra right here? She wasn't anything like the old Catra she was used to.

This Catra was thriving on the carnage and destruction, relishing in it. Within her eyes, before Adora's vision started to become fuzzy, she couldn't see a single spark of the old Catra looking back at her. All she could see as Catra squeezed at her throat, watching humorously as Adora tried to pry the hand off with all of her power, was enjoyment. She enjoyed all the pain she was inflicting, she wanted to make Adora feel pain and agony like this. With a wider, cackling grin, she raised her free hand, extending the claws that were ready to end her wherever they struck. It was then that Adora finally understood this look from her.

"I-I'm s-sorry... d-d-don't..." She could feel the light fading from her own eyes.

Catra was fully intent on killing her.

"Get away from her!" Like a protective mother watching over their cub, Scorpia threw herself at the demon incarnate with all the power she hand, pulling her off of her dear friend before the last of Adora's life could be drained from her.

Nothing from Hordak's machines ever compared to this sensation of having her throat forcibly closed, but it still brought the same sense of relief when the air finally returned to her. Enough relief to roll out of the way when the sword nearly came to her head as it fell out of the air. Adora's eyes wavered as she saw her own reflection for a moment, the sword just inches from her own face it was so close.

Looking back to the sounds of struggling, rubbing her own throat soothingly as Entrapta ran to her side, the two watched as Scorpia continued to hold the magicat at bay, pressing her back against a boulder as she refused to let this insane animal harm her friend any further. It didn't take very long for Catra's rampage to end soon after as her head filled with a familiar humming sound, one that nearly made the girl lose consciousness as she closed her eyes.

*shiiiiiiim*

With a bright glow that enveloped Catra's body, the trio watched as she returned to her previous state, seemingly out cold.

"Oh! I get it now!" Entrapta squealed with delight as she rushed over. "The sword got infected, not Catra herself!"

"I think my throat begs to differ..." Adora retorted, still speaking in a raspy tone as her throat slowly healed. The fever that began to pick up was nothing to her at this point, the near-death experience making everything else she felt seem like child's play. Grabbing the sword out of the ground, examining the dark veins, Adora approached the exhausted cat as Entrapta examined her.

"Huh. I guess she really is organic matter." She commented, feeling her head with the tips of her hair.

With the warrior trapped in her arms tightly, Scorpia looked ahead worriedly to her beloved friend. "Adora, are you okay?!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She weakly replied as her voice returned to normal. "Thanks, Scorpia." It warmed Scorpia's heart to get a small thank you out of the girl after the mood she's been in for the last few days. Plopping the sword over her shoulders, Adora smiled to her enemy as she as she leaned closer to her, wanting her victory to see the first thing in Catra's eyes when she opened them. "I got to say, Catra, you really had me there."

She lifted the girl by her chin with the tip of the sword's handle, smirking as she had a clear view of Catra's face. "You actually came so close to beating me all on your own for once... before you tried to kill me..." That image flashed in Adora's mind briefly, the face Catra made still burning in her mind until she shook her head. "I guess congrats are in order for that much at least." Her expression heightened as she saw Catra wincing a little, the girl slowly opening her eyes halfway as she stared at Adora with her mouth agape.

"With this sword, the Rebellion is nothing. You took care of your little friends for me, and I thank you for that. Because after this, even if you escape the Fright Zone again, you'll never be welcomed back to the Rebellion." This is what victory should feel like to Adora. After a hard-fought battle, tons of action, and a plan that almost backfired on her, she was the one who was victorious around here. She couldn't ask for a better, albeit safer preferably, turnabout than this. And it was all thanks to Catra and her own two hands.

"..." And now, the victory was starting to get boring as Catra continued to stare at her, a bit of drool nearly coming down her chin as she stared at her like she was in a vegetative state.

"Mmmh..." Was she really trying to ruin this for her? To steal any sort of enjoyment she possibly could from this moment? She refused to give her that satisfaction, she refused to let Catra be the one smiling in the end after she won. "Well? Say something!" And at that moment, she did something Adora had never seen her done before.

She took a single finger, and poked her on the tip of Adora's nose with a cheesy grin.

"Boop."

...

A/N: Annnnnnnd viola! If you understand what it means, then you know the results of the vote ^^ It was seriously a close neck-and-neck voting people. I swear to god I had soooooooo many people going back and forth between drunk catra or cat-catra, and i honestly didn't know what it would be. We even got two late voters who both delivered their own vote which honestly could've won- but sadly, it was before the deadline, so it didn't qualify as I'm afraid :/

Thanks to everyone who voted and supported this fic thus far. I might be slowing down a bit for awhile since I need to focus on school work as much as I can, but I still promise to keep in touch when able, and hopefully have another chapter out in a few days.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 80: S2 Episode 5: White Out Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 11.4k Pre-A/N's. Hoolahoooo! What's up folks! Monokub here with another chapter! Now, we're finally moving into the funniest portion of the episode (and, lets face it, the funniest episode of season 2 XP) as we see just what kind of rambunctious things can occur with Catra in the current state she is. I sincerely hope people get a good amount of laughs out of it. There will be some serious moments here and there towrads the latter half, but its still all in good fun, and i hope my interpretation of Catra is just as funny as the Adora from this episode.

Also hope the read is still enjoyable. i actually had to re-edit portions of the chapter back and forth even after I finished it the first time, so if something is missing or seems out of place, let me know.

With that said, enjoy!

...

"...Mmmh..." Catra's consciousness slowly returned to her as she furrowed her brow, feeling a cold, solid surface beneath her. Her body awoke in a slow manner as she rose to her knees, brushing the hair out of her face as she opened her eyes. Or... were they still closed? She tried moving a hand in front of her face and couldn't tell if the sight of herself made everything better or worse. "Huh?" She looked around in all directions, trying to catch sight of near anything that could tell her where she was.

In every direction, up and down, left to right, there was nothing. Nothing. All she saw was a blackness surrounding her on all sides. "Hello?" She called out, hearing a faint echo in the distance. "Hellooooooo!" She tried again, with the echo returning twofold this time. This was the strangest case of darkness she's ever experienced, if she could even call it that. She was standing on a flat clear surface which was completely black, and she could still see herself just fine, so the idea that it was dark was out of the question. There was also a severe lack of light in just about every direction she looked, so knowing where she was or which way to go didn't help.

"Okay, think. Think." She told herself, rubbing her head. "You were going to the Northern Reach... checking out an outpost... fought Adora, and then..." Her head felt fuzzier the further into her memory she went. The space around her felt strangely familiar and completely new to her all at the same time. She couldn't get her bearings on this place without some sense of direction, some sense she could use telling her what was in what direction. She couldn't hear anything, she couldn't pick up any other scents, and, aside from herself, she couldn't see anything either. "Ugh, how am I supposed to know where to go without any- Wait, my sword!" Swiftly checking herself, she checked all around herself to see if there was any trace of her sword, finding nothing resembling her weapon in any shape or form.

"Come on, where is it? I had it when I was fighting Adora before-!" All at once, it finally hit her as she groaned. "Oh come oooon!"

Now she remembered everything, at least until she blacked out. She was sent to the Northern Reaches with the Princess Alliance on a mission to investigate mysterious Horde activity reported in the area. Personally, she didn't mind the freezing winds or the cold climate if it meant she got to work out personal aggression issues she had towards a certain traitor by the name of Frosta. Naturally, that resulted in her losing any chance for a good time when Glimmer tricked Frosta into coming along the same mission with them, forcing Catra to tolerate her presence against, what it felt like, her will.

After arriving at the frozen wasteland, after a small trek through the landscape, she came across a strange pathway created by a creature of unknown origin, one that lead her, Glimmer, Bow, Frosta, and Sea Hawk to the outskirts of the Horde outpost. While there was a severe lack of droids and bots she was hoping to smash to release her aggression, she was more than happy enough to come across a particularly second traitor known as Entrapta, the only other person Catra hated with a passion after Adora and Frosta. The person who spent the better part of her last month constructing weapons and bots capable of bringing down the Princess Alliance, one she wasted her time feeling guilty for just for her to end up working for the Horde.

Following a brief chase, she was sidetracked with an encounter with Scorpia, the person she still wasn't fully clear about, and eventually Adora, taking her on with Frosta's unneeded assistance as the two managed to work together long enough to get the edge over the girl. While Adora still fought with all the might she could, she was powerless against Catra's strength combined with Frosta fighting within the domain of her element, easily ensnaring the girl long enough to hold her at sword point. That was when Glimmer showed up and distracted Catra away from Adora for only a second.

A second was all she needed to press the strange red First Ones virus against her sword.

After that, she couldn't remember anything. She didn't know if she was actually alive or dead, seeing the latter to be a terrible reality if this is what the afterlife was going to be like for her. She didn't even know if she was secretly conscious again like the last time she entered this strange dream-like world.

Come to think of it, the fact she knew she was in a dream-like world was already a massive change over the last time she was affected by the virus. Followed up by the fact she didn't lose any of her memory was also an unnecessary but welcoming miracle. Which begged the question: if she was in a dream-like world, what was happening to her in real life right now? On top of that, what happened with the others? Were they trying to fix her again, or did they get separated.

She scratched at her head at the amount of questions piling up inside of her and the lack of answers she was receiving, not to mention the worry she did have for the few friends she did care about. "Okay, think... How did I get out of here last time?" She really couldn't tell. She knows the others destroyed the virus as well, but before that, she couldn't tell what happened. Did she wake up on her own or did the others destroy the virus first? Speaking of which, was she acting like a cat again? Why did she have so many confusing questions that she didn't even know about!?

*Grrrrrrrrr!*

All of those questions immediately came to a stop as she heard the strange growl, opening her eyes as she turned in the general direction. "Hello?" She called out. This was met by another growl, this time getting a clear direction of where it was coming from as she turned around.

She couldn't see anything specific about what was staring at her, only that she could see it from the glowing green eyes that shined through the blackness. She didn't know what it was, the eyes being the size of her own two hands. What she could tell was that whatever the thing was, its step was enough to shake the ground as it approached her, rumbling all throughout the darkness.

"Okay... that is definitely new..." She commented to herself before hightailing it out in the opposite direction. She didn't know what that thing was or what it wanted with her, aside from obviously eating her. All she knew was that if the thing was in one direction, she was definitely going to be running in the other. She didn't know why, but something was warning her not to get caught by the thing, some deep fear telling her that if she got caught, she wouldn't be waking up even if she did get out of this place.

With a goal set in mind and a destination, specifically the opposite of the mysterious beast, intended, she ran as fast as she could, hoping to outrun the terrible terror as soon as possible, and hoping that whatever was happening to her in real life, it was better than any of this.

...

"...Boop?" That was her reaction? Out of the various things Catra could've done or said, booping Adora on the nose and chuckling about it didn't even make it on the list. It didn't even make it to the list that she would consider putting on the list!

"Heh heh... You're nose is squishy..." She mumbled, still with a side of drool still hanging from the lip.

"My nose is...?" For a moment, she considered checking on the girl. That glazed off look in her eye, the fact she didn't seem the least bit concerned over her surroundings like this, the fact she wasn't asking any stupid questions about her or her friends, it was just plain... weird. As a test, she started waving her hand in front of Catra's face, wondering if the girl was entirely there or not.

"Helloooooo..." She chuckled back, waving in turn.

"Catra, are... you okay?" She couldn't believe she was actually worried about her. Her, the person that started everything that ruined Adora's life, the person who took the sword and fled to the Rebellion out of her own greed, and the one who was just seconds away from strangling Adora to death mere minutes ago!

Nothing around here seemed to be going the way it was expected to, and the craziness behind it made it all the more of a headache. After being stranded at the outpost here for one of Hordak's excavations, Adora came across a piece of the First Ones tech, a piece Entrapta was saving to study later, that was capable, supposedly, of draining away Catra's She-Ra powers. She was more than eager to take it for a test run, and was excited to see Catra and her friends appear on the very mission she was on, again.

It took a few minutes of work as she battled it out with Catra and the other traitor, Frosta, before she could get the device to connect with her sword. Once it did, everything changed for the better... briefly. Whatever the virus did, it drove her insane. She lashed out against friends and foes alike, drew in more power than she was previously capable of, and crushed half the members single-handedly in a glorious avalanche! What more could she ask for?

Perhaps she could've asked her to settle down, if she listened, after because the next thing she knew, Catra set her focus on the Force Captain next. And Adora was more than shocked to see just how brutal Catra could be when she wasn't holding back. She pulled apart her own shadows, overpowered them with brute strength alone, and took delight as she choked the very life out of Adora while raising her other claw to finish her off!

If it wasn't for Scorpia's timely rescue, there was no telling how gruesome things would've turned out for her. With her taller friend charging in with little regard for her own safety, she tackled Catra away, managing to separate her from the sword as well. It turned out that was all that was needed to turn Catra back to normal, at least to the point of her original self.

Then again, maybe that was pushing it a little too far, too. Given her current condition, it was almost like she was a completely different person.

"Oh yeah, I'm fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine," she slurred, "ju'sh fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine..." The girl looked all around herself to get any sense of details of where she was, eyeing Scorpia's claws at the end. "Ooooh, food!"

"Foo-?"

*Chomp!*

"Yeouch!" Scorpia didn't get the chance to let a single word out before the feline sunk her teeth straight into her claws. The carapace did nothing to defend against the cat's surprisingly strong bite, doing whatever she could to shake the cat off of her until she finally fell into the snow. Without wasting a beat, she quickly blew on the claw itself, rubbing it soothingly from the massive bite.

"Blegh! You taste nothing like a crab!" Catra complained with a puffy-cheeked pout.

"That's cause I'm a scorpion!" She yelped back, still rubbing her claws.

"Ooooooh... Does the crab person know then?"

"Mmmmh..." Okay, stupidity Adora could handle with, even if it was coming from Catra of all people. But for now, she was more focused on getting everyone inside and getting a wristband on before the fever started to set in from her shadows. "Alright, you, get inside. Now!" She ordered.

"..." Catra just blinked at her with half-opened, tired, eyes she placed her fists to her chest. "...Whoop!"

"Wha-? Catra!" Adora yelped, chasing after her with Scorpia following behind. Instead of listening to the girl, or getting up to her feet, she instead started to roll along like a log away from them, her hair splashing against her face as she left a body-lengthed trail between her and her pursuers. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm making a snow angel!" She decreed! She was determined to make the awesomest snow angel the world had ever seen!

"That's not how you make a snow angel!" Scorpia yelled over. "You're supposed to flap your arms and legs!"

"You're just jealous my angels better than yours, crab girl!" Honestly, the nerve of some people! They were just jealous because her snow angel was better looking than theirs! In fact, they were so lazy, they didn't even bother making one yet!

"I'm not a crab!"

"Catra, stop!" Adora tried to warn as she noticed the large gaping maw that Catra was heading for. Whether or not Catra would likely plunge to her death, Adora couldn't allow it. She needed to bring the girl in to finally prove herself to Lord Hordak at long last. Just because she had the sword meant nothing if she didn't prove she did away with Catra, too.

"Oooooh~" Just moments away, right as the cat girl was about to plunge off over to the side of the cliff, Adora burst with speed toward her descending friend, forced to extend her shadows again as she caught her friend at the last second. She was entangled from her waste to her shoulders in several tendrils of shadow, keeping a firm grip on the girl and pinning her arms to her side.

"Ngh... I got her..." Adora sweated as her feet scraped a little against the snow, trying to maintain her grip on the girl while slowly pulling her back an inch at a time.

As she did, unbeknownst to the rest of them, Catra's eyes widened with a bright smile as she noticed a strange red glow coming from deep within the gaping maw. No, not a single glow, a pair of them. They were like two sinister pairs of eyes that people would often come up with in scary stories, the kind of monsters that would lunge out at you the moment you drew in close enough.

To many people, this would be the sign of something one would tend to avoid, one that would make most people shrivel up in place out of fear and anxiety. To the girl who felt light-headed in every possible way, she just grinned cheekily as she smiled at it.

"Helloooo!" She mumbled. Before she could show the strange creature her totally awesome sword collection, she was reeled in by Adora, the girl panting from the energy she had spent over the last ten minutes, and was picked up by Scorpia and thrown over her shoulders backward.

"Huff... Huff..." Pushing off the ground, she gestured to the rest of them as she pushed aside the continuing fever that was building up. "Everyone, inside. Now." She didn't want to have to repeat herself anytime soon while the weather was still below freezing and Catra was being... whatever she was right now.

"That was the worst swimming pool I ever saw! There wasn't even any water in it...!" Gasping, the magicat spread her arms away from each other as she was carried through the snow, having no sense of self or feeling of cold as she was carried backwards through the air. "Cool! I'm flying!"

"You're not flying, I'm just carrying you." Scorpia stated as she kept a tight grip around her waist so she couldn't wiggle free. Once again, Catra let out another gasp of surprise and shock as her eyes beheld something she couldn't possibly believe!

"Huuuuuuuh! I can see Entrapta! From all the way over here!" She gasped again.

"That's because I'm walking right behind you." The scientist smiled to her as she jotted down notes in her tracker pad. She had to admit, the turnabout was something completely unconventional and unexpected for her, which was only the best kind of science possible! Unexpected results gave way to an entire archive's worth of knowledge and discovery as she examined Catra's strange behavior.

"Whaaaat? How can you hear me from all the way over there?" It was perplexing, to say the least. Why, just look at her! She was at least three feet away, that's like a million miles for sure! Perplexities would have to be put on hold though as something else grabbed Catra's attention, and fear. "Ahhhhhhh! The crab person's got me!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT A CRAB!"

...

"Ugh... Is everyone okay?" Bow called out as he pulled himself out of the pile of snow. The avalanche Catra caused was still shaking within his ears as he tried to get his head clear. With such overwhelming power like that, it was more than a miracle that he survived, much less if anyone else did!

Pushing out from the snow, both Glimmer and Sea Hawk managed to push their ways out of their own bundles, the piles of snow proving to be their salvation as it softened each of their landings. "Well, I for one am shocked and horrified." Sea Hawk commented, brushing off the snow still hanging from his shoulders. "What happened up there?"

"It's Entrapta's disc." Glimmer replied as Bow helped pull her out of the rest of the snow. "It infected She-Ra once before. We've got to get to Adora and destroy it for good."

"Okay, let's go Glimmer. Teleport us up there. Adventure!" This would be where Sea Hawk made his comeback, he was sure of it! Every time he was dropped, he would pick himself right back up and proceed ahead of any obstacle, no matter the cost. That would prove how cool he was!

"Ugh, I can't." She groaned, rubbing her right shoulder. "I used too much magic during the fight, and trying to save-!" All at once, Glimmer's eyes lit up as she looked around. "Frosta!" The revelation struck the other two simultaneously as panicked filled their minds. "Frosta! Frostaaaaa!" Glimmer shouted, searching for her around the snow.

"Frostaaa!" Bow joined in, digging through any of the moveable rubble he could find along with Sea Hawk.

*rumble*

"Frosta?" Glimmer questioned as she looked at the tip of the avalanche. With a great tremor, the others watched as a large quantity of snow pushed itself out of the way, giving room for the young princess who was buried underneath. No sooner did she clear herself from the frozen wonder did she wince, collapsing to her knees as she held her right arm. "Frosta!"

"I'm... I'm okay..." She tried to shake off as much of the pain a child could as the others rushed to her, despite the unbearable feeling in her right arm.

"Here, let me look at it." Bow offered as he gently grabbed hold of her sleeve.

"Ah! Don't touch it!" She yelped, trying not to tear up as she pulled it back. It was enough to make her whole body shudder as she squeezed the top of her shoulder, trying to stiffen the pain below.

Bow watched her reaction for a bit to try and gauge at just how much pain the girl was in, getting a pretty clear understanding from the sound of it alone. "She must have damaged her arm during the avalanche."

"No," Glimmer corrected, kneeling down to the girl, "it was when She-Ra attacked her." She didn't want to imagine how horribly it must've hurt to be smacked away by tyrannical strength like that out of nowhere, especially for a child. She was in awe at how brave Frosta seemed to be dealing with the pain, holding back any tears as she sniffled a little.

"Why did she attack me like that?!" She yelled a little. "I get that she's angry, but-"

"It didn't have anything to do with that, Frosta." Glimmer interrupted, gently taking the girl's small arm and feeling around it. Nothing necessarily felt out of place, but it didn't mean she wasn't injured, either. "She got infected with some virus Entrapta had in her lab. It causes her to go berserk. She attacked us too."

"Mmh... Well is there a way to stop it then?" She meeped, slowly standing up.

"Yeah," Bow nodded before looking back to the frozen hill, "we just need to destroy the crystal, then everything will be back to normal."

"And we... have to go up the mountain, don't we?" She frowned a little as she looked back to her arm as well as the others. If it was a simple walk up or down the mountains, no matter the size, things would've been fine. But with the state she found her arm in, she didn't know if she could hold onto anything for very long, much less concentrate her magic with just one arm.

Looking between the three, Bow smiled as he knelt down, turning around as he offered his back. "Come on, I can carry you." He knew between him and Glimmer that he had the most energy to carry someone up the mountain, seeing how she exhausted more than her usual share of energy during the fight.

"Or perhaps I could carry the young lass?" Sea Hawk offered proudly. "I can dull her pain by regaling my many glories while we climb."

"...I think I'll go with Bow." Frosta (easily) decided between the two, to Sea Hawk's disappointment as the three turned to the slopes ahead of them.

Seeing the pain Frosta was in alone was enough to make Glimmer disgusted with Adora. It didn't matter if Catra was the one who attacked her, she wasn't the one who infected herself with a killer red virus in the first place! "You know, a part of me is hoping that Adora survives She-Ra so I can wipe that smirk off her face myself!"

"Is she going to be alright on her own?" Frosta asked, looking back to her as Bow started to ascend the slope. "Even with the virus, it's still her versus two Force Captains and Entrapta."

"She does have a good point, you know." Sea Hawk agreed as he climbed next to Glimmer. "There's no telling what sort of horrific acts they could be performing on her at this very moment!"

...

"Wooooooooooooo!" Catra cheered as she spun around the swiveling chair as it ran ahead at the same time. She didn't know where she was, when she was, or why she was. All she cared about was how awesome this Funhouse was! Sure, there weren't many rides or cotton candy, but everything else about this carnival was absolutely awesome! Like this spinning-chair ride she found!

Adora breathed deeply through her nose with a sigh as the wristband continued to do its magic, or magic-sealing-magic in this case, as the shadows along her body started to recede into nothingness, all being drawn away and absorbed into the wristband itself, her fever with it. It always felt like coming out of an oven and into a cooling fridge whenever she felt the shadows leaving her, the freshness of it almost making her forget about the troubles bothering her.

*crash!*

Except for that.

Still, it was slightly amusing when she thought about it. With all that happened before she turned up like this, she was a force to be reckoned with. She was powerful, dangerous, she attacked friend and foe alike. Looking at the sword she carried in her own hands, she smiled as she looked closely at the virus that spread from the stone within it, the red coloring that matched the state of rage She-Ra was once in.

"Can you imagine if we could turn her back into that?" Adora asked, raising the sword above her head with fascination. "That berserk warrior, someone who could take down the entire Rebellion for us?" It was satisfying alone just to picture what would happen. There's no telling how great it would feel if she accomplished it! It was enough to make her chuckle a little.

Not wanting to feel left out, despite the feeling of unease it brought her, Scorpia threw in a small chuckle too as she tried to sound supportive. "Heh heh... Y-Yeah, you know... When she's not attacking us..."

"It looks like the bots were able to pinpoint the location of the First Ones tech before they disappeared." Entrapta stated, typing away madly through one of the various consoles. The statement was enough to draw Adora's attention as she approached. "If you just give me a little more time, I'll have it figured out." The scientist nearly jumped as Adora tapped the tip of the sword to the ground, leaning against it with a smirk.

"We're not wasting time in this frozen wasteland just for some stupid trinket, Entrapta. Pack up, and collect whatever you have. We're going home."

"Home?" She turned to her in dismay. "But Hordak said-"

"I don't care what Hordak said!" Adora yelled, twirling the sword in her hands. "We got the sword and we got She-Ra. There is nothing better you're going to find here, it's just junk!" She noticed a twitch-like look of hurt in Entrapta's eyes as she shouted this, the scientist new to this angry side of Adora, and did what she could to calm her. "Think about it Entrapta- all the things you could learn and study from this sword, the experiments you could run on it? It would be amazing!"

At the notion, a small smile crossed Entrapta's lips with intrigue. "I always have wanted to study it..."

"Trust me, with this sword, there won't be anything that we can't achieve-"

*swiff*

"What-? Hey! Catra!" Adora yelled at the bustling girl who was running on all fours with the sword gripped in her mouth. Chasing after her with Scorpia behind her, they were lead to a stack of crates where the magicat easily climbed, reaching the very top at least ten crates high before turning around with the sword in her hands.

"Evil, beware, for I will defeat you!" She decreed as she began to hold the sword in a position Adora was all too familiar with.

"Catra, don't-!" She didn't know if she was going to regain her senses or turn back into that berserk warrior that nearly killed her the first time, she just knew she had to be stopped.

"For the Honor of Gray-Slugs!"

"Cat-" Adora blinked as she just realized what she said, looking at Scorpia questionably. "Did she just say "slugs"?"

"Whoosh!" Catra huffed, doing a quick twirl on one foot. "And with my transformation complete," she decreed, jumping off with her arms ahead of her like a superhero, "I'm Empowered!"

*CRASH!*

"...I'm not Empowered!" Nothing but dust and broken wood shavings lied before them as the magicat's miraculous flight only went as far as three feet before gravity did the rest.

Instead of a proud majestic warrior leaping through the air, they were given a small show of the village idiot jumping from a tower of boxes who went plummeting down flat on her stomach through the rubble. With the sword scattering up to Adora's legs, the commander rolled her eyes as she grabbed the sword back, keeping a tighter grip on the hilt as she held it over her shoulders.

"Okay. Entrapta. Would you mind explaining this to me before I decide to jump to my own death?" Adora pleaded as she pinched the bridge between her eyes as Catra just rolled through the wreckage to scratch her back like a cat.

"Oh, that's just a side-effect of the virus." Entrapta said in a simple and plain manner, continuing to type away, hoping to get as much work done as possible before they left. "Same thing happened last time, too."

"You're just mentioning this now?!" Geez, first it was the berker warrior that nearly killed her, and now it was this! At the rate it was going, she was going to deal with a She-Ra that would explode and destroy everything in a fifty-mile radius!

"Well I'm just as surprised as you." She admitted. "Before she just acted like some sort of house cat, maybe a panther or something. She was a lot more animalistic."

"Then why is she like this now?" Scorpia asked, pulling the delirious cat through the wreckage.

"It's kind of hard to tell right now without a proper analysis here, but... Last time Catra was infected by the virus, she wasn't as attuned to the sword as she is now. So with that in mind, I think it left her in a more primitive state the last time she was infected. But now that she has more of a connection to the sword, I think it improved her state of being, or mind, into something more modern." She gave a brief shrug as she rubbed her chin with her hair, looking into thought. "That's just my theory anyway."

"So last time, she was like an actual animal or something?" Adora wondered, looking back to the same cat that was scratching the back of her ears with her hind legs.

"Just in a state-of-mind, not physically." She smiled back to the same cat who Scorpia struggled to keep from re-climbing the same boxes. "She pretty much ran on instinct, but she knew enough like who her friends were and who her enemies were, too. I even came up with a name for that sort of personality: "Cat-Ra"!"

"...You decided to name Catra... Catra?"

"No, not Catra, Cat-Ra. You know, like She-Ra, but with Cat and all since her names already Catra and everything."

Adora switched looks between the dimwitted-friend and the geeky scientist who seemed proud of the numerous discoveries she was learning throughout this ordeal. Out of everything she witnessed so far, everything Entrapta told her, there was one major issue she couldn't agree with. "...That has got to be the dumbest name I've ever heard."

*beeeeeeeep!*

*beeeeeeeep!*

"The alarms again?" Scorpia questioned as Catra's eyes widened.

"Ugh, it's probably the rest of the Alliance or something." Adora guessed as she walked away.

"Woohoo!" She cheered, slipping out of Scorpia's arms. "Surprise Party!" She couldn't wait for the cake!

"I'm going to go check out the perimeter. Entrapta, finish up whatever data you're collecting and prepare to leave. Scorpia, keep an eye on Catra, all right? I don't want her hurting herself, the sword's useless without her." She left without looking back as Scorpia gave a natural salute to the girl with respect.

"Oh, yeah, yeah!" Standing at attention proud and tall, she nodded as her friend left. "You have nothing to fear! As long as she's under my supervision, I'll keep her safe, and I'll keep her secured!"

"Wow, you guys have a urinal?!" Catra could be heard yelling with surprise from afar.

"What?" Scorpia asked back, locating the girl. "What are you talking about, we don't have a urinaaaaAHHHH!" Reacting quickly, Scorpia made a mad dash for the cat girl, firmly grasping on her wrists before she could pull her pants down. "What are you doing?!"

"I have to use the bathroom." She mumbled, still with the same delirious grin she started with. Rolling her eyes, Scorpia moaned as she started pulling the magicat from behind, leading her towards the nearest restroom.

"That's not a urinal, and even if it was, you're not a boy!"

Catra pouted as she squirmed. "I CAN BE ANYTHING I WANNA BE!"

...

"Huff... Huff..." Catra panted as she took a short break. She didn't know how long she was running for in this pitch black darkness. It could've been minutes to hours for all she knew, and it might've just been a minute or two in real life! Then again, she never did bother asking how long it was for the others compared to the last dreamworld she was stuck in. What felt like over half the day was merely half an hour to them. "There's... There's no way that thing is still-"

*Grrrrr!*

"Oh, come on!" She yelled. She definitely had an advantage of distance between the two, but without any direction to go in it all felt just as pointless. And looking around, she continued to see nothing but blackness all over, further adding on to the pointlessness. "Come on, give me something to work with!" She said to no one.

If this was some bizarre dream like the last one, then there had to be a point or reason behind it. If she found a reason, she could find a way out of here, and if she found a point, then it was to lead her in the right direction for her reason. Bottom line, she needed some way to tell where she was going or something that could help her clear the distance further between her and the mysterious beast.

And that was when the noise rang.

Looking ahead of herself again, she saw a sudden strange green glow flashing in front of her, stretching all throughout as far as her eyes could see. Pulsating from where she stood, she watched as a pure neon-green outline of what would technically be scenery grew around her. She saw a path leading up to a river, a forest running past that, and a mountain range beyond that.

The strange bit was, strange for this place at least, was that there was no color filling these outlines. Everything as still a pure black, never reflecting light off of any surface, never showing a hint of shading along the darkness. All she had with color right now as virtually an outline of everything, and that was it.

At least it was better than being surrounded by nothing.

"Okay... that helps a little..." She wasn't about to complain with the improvement she got, however little it turned out to be.

*splash*

"Huh?" Ears twitching in response, she lifted her head up a little to the right as she saw someone. Some kid that was holding the outline of a fishing rod and a single neon line acting like a fishing line. A kid with a tail. She didn't know who it was and she didn't care. If someone was around this place, then that meant someone had to have directions, and, hopefully, a way out of here. "Hey, kid!" Catra called out as she ran over to them. "Finally I found someone. Do you now any way out of here?"

"..."

"...Hello?" Catra asked, this time getting a physical response as she saw the kid's ears move. Their twitchy, curvy, ears to the side of their head... wait.

"Huh?" The kid asked turning their head to their left, giving Catra a rather shocking reveal of their face.

"Wait, you're..." If it wasn't for the fact Catra was in some dreamworld then she'd know she was crazy, because, for whatever reason, this wasn't just a regular kid with a tail and ears.

It was her. A younger her. A seemingly six-year-old Catra with heterochromia eyes of blue and yellow. She'd recognize that freckled face anywhere, even with a seemingly-curious look on her face. She wore what appeared to be her old outfit as a kid, the usual red shirt with a white collar, and shadowy grey pants.

She didn't seem the least bit bothered that Catra was staring back at her, she just blinked innocently at her as she stared in curiosity.

"Y-You're me." Catra finally finished, still in disbelief.

"Nuh-uh! I'm Catra." The younger Catra corrected. "You look nothing like me."

"That's cause I'm older, doofus." Catra retorted, crossing her arms.

*Grrrrrrr!*

Looking back towards the still-pitch-black scenery that never changed behind her, she heard the familiar sound of the same beast from earlier. Whatever it was, wherever it was, it was drawing in closer by the second.

"Okay, look. I don't have much time to talk." Catra stated, keeping her eyes briefly on the darker half of this landscape for another several seconds. "Is there a way out of this whole place? Like an exit, some sort of shelter, or-"

"Your sword?" The response took Catra by surprise, but a welcoming one at that.

"Y-Yeah!" Finally, she was making progress around here! "Do you know where it is?"

"Mh-hm." Nodding, the younger Catra pointed across the river, Catra's eyes following in its direction. "Just past the mountain. You can find what you're looking for there." That was oddly specific of her. Then again, considering the entire world around her just came to life with a neon-green light outlining everything that wasn't her or people, it wasn't too strange for Catra to care. She just needed to get across this river, and her problems would be solved.

"Sweet. Thanks, kid." This was off to a better start. Looking up and down the river, Catra tried to find anything that could be used to get across. With the river stretching as far as her eyes could see, and possibly fifty feet in width, she needed to find a safer route. Dislike for water aside, the last thing she wanted was for some other bizarre creatures to be filling lake. "So," the invisible answers to this dilemma remained unseen to her, "do you have any way across the river?"

"There isn't any." The child version of her spoke almost like she memorized a script for every question Catra had. "You just have to go across the river."

"And... That's it?" She raised a brow in skepticism as she looked over the water's glowing surface. Like everything else, there wasn't any color filling the empty river, just the same green outline that glowed through it whenever there was a ripple somewhere upon the water. "Nothing in the water is going to try and attack me or something?

"Nope. I promise." Her cheerfulness was beginning to make Catra wonder if they truly were one and the same person. At least now she had a clear goal ahead of her.

"All right. Thanks, again, kid." Flexing her fingers, interlocking them and bending them for a small crack in the knuckles, Catra took a deep breath.

A running start and a well timed jump should clear her a good distance. With no wind howling in the air to distract her, and her and her younger self being the only living things within her sight, she was confident the swim through the river would prove to be a breeze. And with a mad dash, Catra ran up to the very edge of the riverbank before jumping in, reaching up to a third of the way into the river with a splash.

For a river that didn't seem to have any color, it still remained just as cold. She wanted to shudder and hold herself for warmth, something she couldn't do knowing it meant she'd start to sink. There wasn't any pull to the river as she started swimming ahead, grateful that the kid's description would prove to be an invaluable piece of information that could save her life.

Or ruin it all the same.

Reaching the halfway point, Catra became aware as the river had a sudden pull to it. Not like an undertow trying to pull her in or anything, like an actual pull. Like the river itself was gripping her.

"What's going on?" She spun around in the water as the pulling started to become tighter, finally noticing as the river's surface was squeezing her arms to the side as she found herself stuck. She struggled to push her arms together to no avail, finding the grip tightening around her body continuing to intensify as she moved around. That was when it finally happened.

All at once, the body of water started to move like a living organism, its green outline rising into the air and her along with it. It must've stretched up to about fourteen feet over the river, the ripples of the tides fading in and out as Catra rose to the top of the strange grow as she remained firmly locked in its place. She couldn't understand what was going on, or why the river suddenly seemed so intent on moving her like this. All she knew was that the river didn't want her in it, and it got rid of her the best way it knew how.

It physically tossed her away.

"Ahhh!" Catra yelled as she soared through the air, landing with a solid thud as she was tossed back onto the river back. "Ow!" She rubbed along her forehead, her tiara doing nothing to cushion or block the pain that surmounted as she got up again. Glaring a little, she turned back towards the river that slowly sunk back into the murky water, returning to its seemingly-normal flow once more. If there was any consolation to this, it was that she was perfectly dried after being thrown.

Growling, the cat marched up to the younger girl, angrily grabbing onto her collar as she lifted her up to her face. "What the heck was that about you little brat!?" She yelled. "You said there was nothing in the river!"

"I did!" She whimpered back. "You said anything in the river. You never asked about the river itself."

"Obviously, the river itself counts, idiot!" Catra fumed with anger as she tightened her hold on the girl's collar. Of course this would count! Why did this stupid kid, her younger self, fail to mention something that should've been so obvious?! She swore she was doing it on purpose, maybe to pull a stupid prank on her like Catra used to do. She was confident in her line of thinking.

Until the kid started to cry.

"Mmmhmmmh." She cried, whimpering to herself as she held Catra's hand gently. "I'm sorry."

Catra stared at the girl in surprise, a feeling she wished didn't slowly get replaced with regret as her ears lowered in a feeling of guilt. No matter how angry someone made her in the past, even when it came to the Horde, she had enough decency to back off the moment the other person started crying about it. And the way the tears were streaming down her face, the sadness in her eyes. If she wasn't crying, then she would've been the world's greatest young actor to date.

"...H-Hey... Stop, okay?" Catra muttered softly, lowering the girl down gently. She had no words for the young girl as she wiped her own tears away, sniffling as Catra looked away a little dejected. "Hey, forget it. It was just a mistake."

"Do you forgive me?" She squeaked.

"What?"

"I asked if you forgive me." The younger Catra looked at her with eyes swelling with tears on both ends, pleading to the older teen to find some form of forgiveness for her.

Why was she asking such a weird question, though? What was the point? She was the one who scared the kid in the first place, thinking she could handle it like she could. It was barely a yell to her anyway, right? She did agree she might've at least gone a bit far with grabbing her and lifting her up to her face to glare at her. How was she supposed to know her younger self couldn't handle it as much as she remembered?

"F-Forget about it. It's nothing." She replied, looking away from the girl before she said anything else she would forget.

"But do you forgive me?" She repeated. There was something strange in the tone she was using, it almost sounded like she wanted Catra to forgive her, like she needed it.

"Who cares? It's nothing, so just forget about it." Ignoring it for now, she examined the distance between the river again as she tried to formulate a plan. She knew there had to be a way around the river or across it. Whether or not she had any control over this dream, if it was anything like her last one, she knew there had to be a way to get through it all, provided the red walls of death don't appear like last time. And she knew given her diminutive size, the other her wasn't going to be of much help... except for that. "Lemme see that."

Without giving her a chance to respond, Catra swiped the fishing rod right out of her hands, examining the string specifically. She examined it in every detail from its length, that appeared near-endless as she kept pulling on it, and the hook that refused to bend no matter how hard she pulled on it. And what really drew her attention was the string itself, one with a pure green glow to it that didn't tear or rip in the slightest. To test it, she even tried to pull the string along her knee, wondering how much force she would have to apply before it broke.

It never did.

"This could work..." She muttered to herself as she gazed at the trees across the river. It might've seemed stupid to most people, and it was even to her, but in a dream world like this where anything was possible, hopefully, that meant her plan could work as well.

With great slack, letting the string stretch as far as she could, she threw the fishing line as far as she could, miraculously managing to reach across the river and over to the trees several feet from it. Better, she managed to ring the hook around the tree several times before it tightened around the branch she aimed for. Giving it another tug for good measure, she smiled as she handed the fishing rod back to the younger Catra, grabbing onto the line directly.

"Here, hold this." She told her as she started making her way into the water. Using the string as a lifeline, she began pulling herself along the line to the other end, taking care to keep her arms above the water at all times. So far, so good, the line continued to maintain her weight and her pulling as she pulled herself across, keeping her focus on getting as far across the river as possible before the river came to life again.

It wasn't a process she had to wait for very long, either. As she expected, halfway across the river, she felt the familiar pull of the water as if it was trying to grasp her again in its massive watery hand, tightening around her legs as the water began to swarm around her. Please tell me this thing can hold... She thought to herself, bracing for the worst of it as she continued going across.

About ten feet past the halfway mark, she finally felt the massive grip that once had her before as her body rose upward along with the river. Like before, the water suddenly had a tightness to it as if someone was grabbing her, Catra feeling as the water ran around the lower half of her whole body. This time, being amply prepared for it, as much as she could around here, she held on for dear life as she refused to let go of the string, fighting against the living current as it tried to pull her away.

"Let... go!" She yelled to it, pulling along the string one arm's reach at a time.

Her hands were barely wet, allowing her to maintain an easier grip, and the more she struggled against the watery grip, the more she felt her body slip through it an inch at a time. It wasn't too surprising that the water would be slippery enough for her to pass through it if it gripped her, all things considered. With a grumble and a pull, keeping her hands wrapped under a loop of the string for good measure, she eventually managed to slip right through the hand, being shot straight over the river in the process as she slipped through the water unharmed.

Once she reached the edge, she shook her head a little to clear up the small fuzziness the landing gave her, pulling her feet out of the water as fast as she could before the water decided to pull her back in. Sighing, she wiped what little water remained on her forehead, patting herself off as she brushed the dirt off her outfit.

"Glad that's over." Lifting her head again, taking a small look at the forest she was neared, she turned back towards the younger self that was on the other side, still presumably holding the fishing rod. "Hey, kid, hurry up and get over-" She stopped.

The kid was gone. There wasn't any sign of her. As a matter of fact, there wasn't anything across the river. Little by little, she saw the outlines of the landscape across from her beginning to disappear, the green glow leaving her sight as the outlines disappeared an inch at a time. She checked up and down the riverbank to find nothing of her younger self, and back to the fishing rod that slowly disappeared along with the edge of the river.

"Did she get across already?" She wondered, giving a small shrug as she turned towards the forest. From what she could see through the trees, the forest was vast and empty, save for the hundreds of trees that stood between her and the mountain.

She didn't know anything about this strange world, and for the time being, she didn't care. Her main priority was separating her from the beast that was stalking her, its menacing green eyes still appearing on the opposite send of the river, drawing closer as the river continued to disappear. Once she got to her sword, she would have a means to protect herself, perhaps a way out of this place even.

And, most importantly, a possible explanation for this strange world...

...

"I'm a pirate!" Sea Hawk continued to boast as he climbed in behind Glimmer and ahead of Bow and Frosta up the mountain. "Pirates are the definition of cool. Although, you would think I would get invited to more parties. I mean, you think I'm cool, right?" He asked Glimmer with a hopeful smile, and less of a hopeful grip.

*kush*

"Waaaahhhh!" With the howling wind in the background, the next thing the three heard after Sea Hawk's voice was the sound of the snow around his hand coming undone, hurtling the pirate and plummeting him back down towards the ground from the near quarter mile they already climbed.

"Sea Hawk!" Bow cried out in worry. With Frosta on his back, her legs around his torso and left arm over his shoulder, he didn't have enough space to pull out his arrows, shoot the pirate, and maintain his balance at the same time while standing along a flatter edge of the climb.

Frosta, noticing his dilemma, reacted as fast as she could as she gathered her magic. Grunting to herself, trying to ignore the pain she struggled to push threw, she created as much ice as possible a little ways below the pirate, managing to create a sturdy enough pole of ice that he landed squarely against breaking his fall, his legs and arms drooping on opposite sides of each other. This act alone was enough to hurt the girl's arm again, wincing in pain as she loosened her hold over Bow's shoulder to soothe it some more.

"Ngh..." She hoped whatever happened above didn't require her powers as much. Creating a small pole capable enough of catching a falling man was hard enough without the use of both of her arms to direct her magic. She couldn't imagine doing anything greater up above when they met with the red She-Ra again.

"Nice catch, Frosta." Bow smiled back, earning a small nod from the girl. "Is your arm okay."

"Y-Yeah, just sore still." She replied, looking back down as Sea Hawk let out a small groan.

"Of all the ways to save me, it had to be with ice..." He muttered against the frozen pole. The fact he was saved didn't amount to much given the harsh landing he still felt when he collapsed onto the pole itself. The upside to his little endeavor was that now, with Sea Hawk a little stuck in place, it gave Bow plenty of time to draw out an arrow carefully and fire a rope shot towards the poor pirate, hooking the rope around his chest as he started to pull it up towards the group.

On the downside, it did everything to damage Sea Hawk's ego as he sung sadly to himself along the way up. Being saved by a young boy and an even younger girl did everything to dampen the pirate's mood further. "I'm Sea Hawk, I am I am. Want to take a guy for granted? Then I am your man. Unappreciated in all I do, Why can't they see that I'm very cool? Guys BACK ME UP, I'm very cool~"

It actually hurt a little more to watch the pirate man sing sadly to himself as Frosta and Glimmer watched, taking the short break waiting for Bow to pull the saddening man up to safety near them. With the little time she had to herself, Frosta gave a small frowned as she turned to the older girl.

"Do you... Do you think Catra still would've attacked me if she didn't hate me?" It hurt her to ask, and more for Glimmer to listen to without frowning.

"Frosta, she doesn't hate you. She attacked us too. What you did had nothing to do with it."

"Somehow I doubt that." It was hard to maintain any sense hope for the young girl as she lowered her head, Glimmer struggling to find the right words to support her. Of course Catra was mad at her, she had an agreeable-enough reason to be mad at her, though not as valid. But she didn't want Frosta thinking she would openly attack her like that without any sort of explanation.

"Are you guys still talking about that?" Bow asked back, keeping his focus on the pirate he was pulling up. "If you ask me, you should forget trying to get her to forgive you."

"Bow!" Glimmer couldn't believe he would just shoot the girl down like that after everything that's happened. An injured girl, at that! It did nothing for Frosta's demeanor as her mood soured further, unable to look at either of them with the sense that they were right. It was pointless. "You can't go telling her Catra's going to hate her for the rest of her life!"

"I don't mean like that or anything! I mean," he paused for a moment as he helped the man up to the flat surface, "the thing about Catra is, well, you can't really force her to change on her own, even if it's for the better."

"You can't?" Frosta asked back, the sadness being slightly levitated from her expression.

"Of course not." He gave a soft smile to her and Glimmer as the younger got on his back again. Making their way back to the wall of the slope, he continued, "When Glimmer and I first met her, she was.. sort of..."

"Unbearable?" Glimmer assumed, slightly joking in the attempt to bright the girl's mood.

"Well, yeah." Retrieving his arrow again, the archer took the first climb up the mountain, followed by the others. "She wanted nothing to do with us, she didn't even care about doing everything because she thought it was right. She just wanted something out of it."

"Was she really that bad?" Frosta asked, turning to him and looking down at the princess below them.

"I wouldn't say bad, it was just Catra being her. She was pretty aggressive to everyone when she first started. She didn't want anything to do with us, she didn't want to hang out, and it took us weeks just to hear something about her past. Even with all the time we've spent together, she still keeps some things to herself."

"Oh." There was a mixed range of sadness and confusion crawling up to Frosta's mind as she listened to his story. "So... I shouldn't bother trying to apologize to her?"

"Not necessarily." He shook his head. "It's just that... No matter how much Catra pushes people off, she still cares a lot about the things personal to her. She keeps a lot of things to herself so she doesn't get hurt in the process, and when she does trust someone enough, it's hard for her to do. That's why she's so upset about everything right now." Oh. That made a little sense to the girl, even if it was a bit confusing.

She didn't know if Bow knew entirely what he was talking about with the way he was describing it to her, but it did mean a little sense to her. Catra wasn't just hurt because Frosta betrayed her, she was hurt because she trusted someone again and they let her down. They proved to her that she couldn't trust someone again after all this time, and Frosta just reopened old wounds with her betrayal. She didn't think someone like Catra was as sensitive as Bow made her out to be, but it made sense the more she thought about it.

"If you want my advice, just let Catra be Catra for now. Trying to force something out of her will just make it worse. Let her forgive you naturally if she can." To this, Glimmer was the one frowning now as she gazed away from them.

She didn't think about it as much as he did, but he was still right. She knew Catra was sensitive, she knew she didn't open up to people like most people were used to. It took several months alone before she even considered the pair to be her friends, and it took Bright Moon nearly falling to the Horde to draw that out! And the more she thought of it, the more guilty it made her feel.

Not just because of the fact she tried to force Catra to openly forgive her, but because Frosta wouldn't have gotten hurt as she was now, physically speaking, if she didn't drag her along. The girl wasn't assigned to the mission, and yet Glimmer thought it would be the perfect chance for them to reconnect. Instead, she got injured with a busted right arm, something that could've been easily avoided if Glimmer didn't trick her in the first place. She knew it to herself, and it was still hard to think about.

This was a mistake... Not a selfish mistake, a pointless mistake. One caused by trying to get the girl to accept something she wasn't going to accept. She was still determined to see the mission through and hope Catra would forgive Frosta by the end of the mission, that would've made all this struggling worth it. But if she couldn't, she couldn't be mad at Catra about it.

"If you had to compare me to something else, how cool would I be?" Sea Hawk asked from below as he climbed past Glimmer.

"Would you just keep climbing!"

...

Nothing to the left, Nothing to the right. All around her, Adora saw nothing but snow and cold as far as the eye could see. The red lights to their outpost leaving a clear and leveled pathway from their establishment to the large hole the missing drill bots had dug up. Everything seemed normal to her, and somehow still out of place at the same time, like everything was too normal around here.

If she didn't take the cat into account.

"I don't know about you, but this place is pretty boring." Aroda yawned, appearing naturally beside the Force Captain as she looked around the base.

"I can't really control if you find the place boring or not, Aroda." Adora remarked, checking along the sensors to the side of the station. They didn't appear to be damaged to cut, so what caused the alarms to go off?

"Sure you caaaan~ You just need to be a little more fun around here." With te girl ignoring her, Aroda turned her eyes to the virus-infected sword, grinning. "Like with that fun-looking thing."

"What? This?" Adora raised the sword to her face, noticing her and Aroda's reflection in the sword. "What about it?"

"Well, you know, maybe test it out for yourself? See if you can, oh I don't know... turn into She-Ra?"

"What? That's just idiotic." She quickly shot down, rounding the building again for the other sensors and the boxes they connected to. "Even if I did, I'd be just as infected as Catra was when she turned into She-Ra."

"I know, I know, and that's all fine and dandy, but really think about it." She cut Adora off as she reappeared right in front of her, grinning. "Could you imagine if that power was yours to begin with? What you could accomplish?"

"..." Adora went silent at the comment, gazing back to the sword with unseen curiosity. She did have to admit, Aroda wasn't entirely wrong about her line of thinking. Catra nearly destroyed her without even trying, and that was under the virus's effect, throwing her out of control. What could she do with that kind of power if she ever harnessed it? "...It would be a little fun to test." She admitted, grinning.

"Of course it would!" Aroda clapped, Adora giving little to no care as she felt Aroda leaning on her shoulder. "Just think of everything. Some idiot like Catra would never be able to use it right, but with you? You would be a one-woman army, you'd be the one leading the Horde to victory countless times." At this, grinning wider, she whispered closer into Adora's ears. "And just think of how proud Hordak would be of you if you did." That was the bait she needed.

The flash of realization on Adora's face said it all, and she reeled it in like a fish on a hook. Adora would have nearly everything she ever wanted, anything she ever dreamed of. Being looked up to as a hero of the Horde, more than she already was, the power to ensure alliances with everyone around here, guaranteeing they would never betray her again. And, most importantly, Hordak would finally recognized her as his greatest success to date, and not an overwhelming failure!

"You would have a place at his side allll the time. He would even call you his right-hand man, or woman, whichever floats your boat." Every second she saw Adora grinning invigorated Aroda, knowing all the cogs and wheels in her head were turning in her mind. "Go on, try it. You know you want to."

"But... What about the virus?" Whoops, wrong direction. Aroda had to give it some slack if she wanted to get Adora back on the boat.

"Oh, pffft, forget about it. Its already infected Catra, and I doubt she's contagious. I mean, anymore than usual anyway. And assume you do go berserk, so what? Nothing Entrapta probably couldn't fix with the click of a button." She was relieved as she saw Adora's curiosity returning to the sword, holding the blade straight in front of her like a knight who was about to entitle a squire.

As much as Adora hated to say it, she was right. With this, she could do everything she needed, and she wouldn't even need Catra anymore for this! Why should they waste time trying to tune the virus or the sword so they could control Catra like a puppet? Why bother wasting time if she couldn't be controlled at all? Adora knew who her allegiances were sent to, and she vowed to unite Etheria to the Horde with everything she had!

And now, she had the sword. The one weapon that would change her life, everyone's lives, for the better. She didn't bother listening to Aroda directly, knowing what she was going to say at this point.

"Go on, take it for a spin. I won't tell if you don't tell..." Everything was coming together nicely as Adora held up the blade, planning to turn her life around with the very words she's heard Catra repeat to her on several occasions.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

"..."

"...?" Adora blinked as she lowered the sword again, staring at it as the wind blew through her hair. There was no transformation, no sense of energy coming from the blade, no nothing. Did she say it wrong? "Maybe it really was Gray-Slugs?"

"Or maybe it's just a one-person ride?" Aroda suggested, playfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Why would the sword allow anyone to use it when it already has an owner?" She winked, hinting. "If that was the case, do you think furball would be able to keep it for as long as she had it?" She had a good point about that as well. It wouldn't be very protective if everyone she knew could use the sword too, otherwise there would be no end to the amount of people who would try to steal it from her, and each other.

"Maybe there's a way Entrapta can break the connection with her?" the Force Captain suggested, shrugging as she continued her patrol.

"Yeah, you could do that, I guess. But for all we know, this thing is probably too advanced for her to comprehend. I mean, don't you think she would've made her own versions of the sword by now for the Horde if she could?"

"Then what do you suggest?" Those were the very words Aroda couldn't wait to hear. Smiling casually, the floating reflection lied in midair right in front of the girl.

"What else? I say, you get rid of Catra."

"What? Like inside?" She wondered, looking back. "I doubt distance would help much in this case. No matter how far she went, I doubt-"

"No!" Aroda rolled to her feet as she grabbed Adora by both her shoulders. "I mean, get rid of her..."

...

A/N: Annnnd with that said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter ^^ I know I made some more seirous moments and whatnot (honestly half of which I questioned going through with since I wasn't too sure of it myself for the episode) but for the sake of making sure I didn't write or not-write something now and forget about it for the future, I felt a little necessary to make sure i threw those in.

Also hoping I managed to supply a good chunk of laughs here and there ^^ I doubt it would come close to the shows humor, doing so in fanfics is hard to do, but if I even came about halfway to the humor of the show, then this would've been worth it ^^. I promise more laughs to come in the next chapter, possibly 2 chps at this rate, as well as some nice fluffy feels by the end of it ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 81: S2 Episode 5: White Out Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 18.3K Pre-A/N's. Hooftah, and another chapter caught up ^^ Man, I am loving my speed and power with these fics people, feels so good to write again! Hopefully, with this, we reach our last chapter by the next one, which I look forward to wrapping up several stories at once, which I hope leaves more fluffy warmth in peoples' hearts than despair.

Speaking of chapter, I have a little fun surprise for the masses as we get a surprise visit from someone at the very end! So make a game to yourself by guessing who it could possibly be before reaching it and seeing if you were right ^^

With that said, enjoy!

...

"W-What do you mean... Get rid of her?" Adora stuttered in disbelief as Aroda grinned to her.

"Oh, you know, go on a cruise together, maybe have a nice picnic, take her to a fancy- WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN?!" She yelled, anxious to get this ordeal over with. This was new, even coming from Aroda.

Everything was going fine so far compared to the usual flow of the mission. After an unexpected invasion by the Princess Alliance to the Northern Reach, consisting of Catra, Glimmer, Bow, Frosta, and Sea Hawk, the Force Captain managed to infect Catra with a First Ones tech virus in the middle of the fight, causing her to go berserk and attack friend and foe alike, and managed to subdue her later, obtaining She-Ra and her sword as their prize. Personally, she couldn't ask for a better outcome, despite the fact it almost resulted in her own death in the process!

The downside to this was the state it left Catra in afterwards. None of her past history with her ex-best friend had ever come close to the craziness she had to endure for the last five minutes alone. With the virus mostly out of her system, it turned Catra into a crazed loon that not even Adora was prepared for. She was bouncing off the walls, rolling around the ground, climbing up into and onto anything she could jump for with zero disregard for her own safety. It was like someone hit the reset on her mind and turned her back into a five year old with a gallon of sugar in her system, looping around all over and making a mess of near anything she could get her claws on.

It was still preferable in the long run, at least. With the virus, She-Ra, and the sword, she could present to Lord Hordak a means to defeat the Rebellion with their own warrior, a chance to turn everything around and bring victory to the Horde at long last. In fact, she became so optimistic of the situation that she tried to turn into She-Ra herself, after some prodding from the lovable Aroda who nudged her in the right direction. A chance to have She-Ra's power, a way to take down the Rebellion, with or without using Catra, what more could she ask for? It was a chance of a lifetime, and she gladly took it out of sheer curiosity to see what amazing power it could bestow upon her!

It did nothing.

It didn't leave a spark, it didn't leave her with an ounce of power, it didn't give her anything. It was too good to be true, admittedly, but she wouldn't lie by saying she wasn't hopeful about it. Seeing how the sword wouldn't give her the power she wanted, she planned on resuming her original plan of using the magical with the virus. That is, until Aroda intervened again, quite insistently compared to earlier.

"I'm telling you, if you got rid of Catra, nothing would stand in your way!" She continued. Even for Aroda, Adora was surprised at how straightforward she was being about possibly ending someone. Sure, Adora had her bouts of anger from time to time, and wanted to get payback on people who angered her, but she never thought about actually DOING it. "You wouldn't have anything holding you back, nothing people could use against you, you could accomplish anything!"

"But I'm not getting rid of her. I don't plan on getting rid of her!" Adora argued back, walking straight through the living consciousness, stimulating a certain anger from the reflection.

"What do you mean you don't plan on getting rid of her? Don't you understand what's at stake here? As long as she's alive, you'll always have something holding you back!"

"No I won't!" Adora refused to give her any immediate attention as she checked the next box along the base, inspecting it to see what triggered the alarm. "I can handle missions just fine without getting rid of her. It'd be a waste of time!"

"But you hate her, you keep telling me you hate her!"

"I know, but that's not a reason to end her. Besides, I already have a plan for her."

"Oh? And please, do tell, your Royal Softness?" Aroda practically begged to hear anything better if Adora had something up her sleeve, shadows excluded. "What is your big dastardly plan with her?"

"Simple. I plan on leaving her in a cell for the next several years, and have her witness everything I take from her like everything she took from me." Adora stated, finishing her inspection as she patrolled to the other side of the base. "I want her to witness as I destroy the Rebellion, show her I was right about everything! I want her to watch as I crush her chance of obtaining her selfish dreams. After that, I don't care what happens to her."

Aroda stared at her dumbfounded with her arms slouched over and her mouth gaping open. "Wow... SO CRUEL, I'm speechless. While you're at it, why don't you tell her how she'll never get that puppy she's always wanted?" Adora ignored the anger coming from the living figment, well aware of how Aroda was just trying to rile her up. Aroda, on the other hand, was getting riled up in turn. "Do you seriously not see the bigger issue behind all of this?"

"Like what?" She was hesitant to ask knowing it would lead to some ridiculous answer, even if it was a suitable reason.

"Like how you want to explain to Hordak how little miss cat-scratcher in there was the one who's been foiling every plan you ever came up with? Beating you at every turn? Do you really want your leader thinking you've been losing against someone so incompetent that she can't even walk ten steps before crashing into something?!"

"My answer is still no." While Aroda had an, admittedly, good point, she refused to let anyone else tell her how to take her vengeance on someone. And knowing that herself, Aroda was more than peeved.

How could Adora be like this? This was Catra they were talking about, not just some devious princess. She's the one who wanted to crush an entire side just to keep Catra from achieving her dreams, to get back at her for using her like a tool throughout the majority of her life, feigning anything about bring "friends" with her. After that little stunt earlier involving the virus, she was surprised Adora didn't consider her a possible threat, knowing the fear it sent through the girl as Catra choked the air out of her! The person she hated with a passion, the girl who kept interfering with Adora's plans, the girl who-

Aroda stopped as it suddenly dawned on her. She couldn't believe it, she refused to believe it, but she couldn't see any other alternatives. "Oh... my... you... I can not believe this." Disappearing into time and space, the reflection reappeared in front of Adora as she continued moving forward, Aroda floating backwards off her feet a she stared at her. "I seriously can't believe you!"

"What?"

"You still care about her, don't you?" The accusation was enough to get a jump out of the girl as her face was left speechless.

"W-What? No, I don't! I hate her!"

"Then why not just get rid of her and be done with it? It would seriously take you like five seconds as she is now, two if she doesn't move! You have a perfect chance to get rid of her and you're not taking advantage of it!"

"That's not the point." Squeezing her fist, unaware as she was forming a shadow over it, Adora pressed on. "If I got rid of her like that, I'd be proving her right about everything! Proving that I'm on the wrong side, that the Horde is heartless as she claims, and everything. And I refuse to give her that satisfaction!" Of all the things Catra took from Adora, satisfaction is the one thing she refused to lose. She took her friendship, tossed her aside, and left her behind. And there was no way she was going to let her take anything else from her!

"Satisfaction?" Aroda scoffed. "Yeah, that's the only reason, I bet."

"Look, I don't care what you have to say or how you say it. This is the one thing you're never going to convince me of!" Her conviction was as bright as the shine of the sword itself when it reflected off any light from the blade's surface.

Rolling her eyes, Aroda crossed her arms as she floated towards the wall of the facility. "Face it Adora; as long as she's around, she'll keep taking everything from you, she'll keep making your life harder. You'll lose your title, lose your friends, lose everything that ever mattered to you to the point where you'll only be blaming yourself." At this, the reflection started to disappear into a wave of shadows. "And you'll never be happy." Adora looked back to where Aroda disappeared for a bit before heading back to the entrance of the base.

She didn't care what Aroda said, she had enough of her talking for the time being. If Catra became a threat to her, then she would deal with it. Otherwise, she was still an invaluable asset that could be used to the Horde's benefit. Adora was determined to accomplish this mission, to turn the Rebellion's own hero against them. She wouldn't let Aroda, or anyone for that matter, get in the way of things. So what if it meant Catra lived? Save for the start of last month, it's not like she had any intention of killing her to begin with. She wanted Catra to know pain, of Adora's pain, and she would see it through to the very end.

And after that, after Catra finally felt everything that she made Adora feel... who cared what happened to her.

...

"Gimme a break!" Catra shouted as she continued running through the neon-outlined woods. This was starting to reach the peak of ridiculousness out of the amount of ridiculous things in her life, and somehow still going further!

After finding herself trapped within another dream-like instance, in no small part thanks to the stupid virus that affected her sword, again, she had been running blindly through a black-colored void, one not so devoid of light, as she could see herself just fine, but of everything else. She had no idea where she was, or what direction she was going in, only that the longer she ran, the further away she got from the mysterious black creature that had been stalking her.

She had no idea what it was, or what it looked like, only that its footsteps caused the ground to shake with every passing step. That gave her all the more reason to escape from the ferocious creature until she could reclaim her sword, which was, supposedly, at the end of this journey over the mountain ahead.

Who told her about her sword's location? Why, Catra did! More specifically, a younger version of her.

She couldn't explain what she was doing here or why she was here, and she really didn't care. The last dreamlike world she was in had people disappearing and her world collapsing in on herself, almost crushing her in the process. If it wasn't for Glimmer's, Bow's, and everyone else's voice resounding within her dreamworld, she might not be here today.

At the rate things were going, she wasn't going to be here tomorrow, either. The further into the woods she went, the farther from her destination it felt like she had. No matter how deep into the woods she went, she never found herself getting any closer to the mountain. In fact, she could've sworn it actually got farther away at times, standing just at the edge of the forest and moving away at the same time. If it wasn't for the creature chasing her, she'd be less inclined to reach her sword asap.

*Grrrrrrrrrr*

She gritted her teeth as she pressed her back to a tree, slowing her breath as a trickle of sweat dripped from the side of her head. She didn't want to believe it was possible, but the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs, all of which were outlined without any color, told her what she already knew. The beast was nearing her, just a few trees beyond where she was. She managed to sneak an eye around the corner by just an inch, enough space to view the creature without being seen.

Whatever it was, it appeared to be of the feline variety like her. It looked like a large jaguar or something, a hulking one at that. It was at least the size of a skiff, half the size of these trees. Unlike the rest of this world, it did appear to have more of a color to it, a dark purple that almost blended into the trees, along with its glowing green eyes that were notably different from the outlines of her environment.

The thing that stood out the most to Catra was the lack of exhaustion the beast appeared to have in comparison to her. Despite the fact the two must've been running for hours around here, unlike her, the beast still seemed to be filled with energy. It sniffed the air like the beast it was, trying to search for its weary prey with its instincts on high alert.

If she wasn't as exhausted as she was just getting here, she would've been a little more prepared to fight the creature with her own two hands. Given the circumstances, and the fact she was still exhausted from the marathon she practically ran to get here, she felt her chances of beating this thing weren't too high.

*sskk*

"Mh!" Catra muffled herself with her own hands as she pulled back into the tree, right before the mysterious beast turned in her direction. Of all the rotten luck to have, through some unseen force or her own carelessness, she didn't realize as her own claws were scraping against the side of the tree as she peeked around the wood. It was barely a scrape, one most people wouldn't hear, but with the deathly silence of the forest around them, it sounded like someone dropping a brick on a concrete floor.

She could hear the creatures footsteps drawing in, one stomp at a time. She took a silent breath through her nose as she calmed her breathing.

Okay, so the beast was approaching her, it knew something was over here, fine. She was in a densely forested area, so if she used her agility and the trees to her advantage, she should be able to get around the beast and stay on her toes as she fought the beast. After all, for all she knew this thing was probably a push over.

*crackle!*

An instant thought she regretted having the moment she heard a tree toppling from behind her. Still, staying on her feet and fighting around the beast may have been the only advantage she could take at this point, seeing how close it was getting with each step. It was a serious case of do-or-die at this point, and, since she shockingly didn't want to die, she had to stick with do.

Waiting for the right moment, she planned on waiting for it to pass the tree first, hoping to get a good strike over the eyes or across the face. If she blinded it, she could definitely hold a greater advantage over it. Otherwise, she'd have to rely on-

*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet~*

Both, her and the beast's ears rose to this sound, the beast completely unaware that it was just a head's length away from his quarry. With a massive growl, the beast ran in the opposite direction, its thunderous footsteps carrying it all throughout the forest. With her sensitive hearing, it took what felt like hours for the beast to finally leave her earshot, but once it did, she let out a relieved sigh.

"That was close..." Safety aside, she was wondering where the mysterious whistling came from as she looked around. It couldn't have been a coincidence that it just happened to go off right as the monster was about to find her. "Hello?" She called out.

"Up here, dweeb." A voice that was all too familiar to her called from above. Looking up, she didn't know if she should've been surprised to find another version of her, one that was a couple of years older than the previous one, around ten or eleven. Like she remembered wearing when she was at that age, she wore the classic red and white short-sleeved shirt that she remembers, along with the same shorts that went down to her knees. "Hey, Catra."

"Hey... Catra?" The true Catra greeted back, looking down the pathway that the beast went a moment ago. There was something strange about the fact she was over here. "How did you whistle from all the way over there and get back here already?" With the keen hearing that she was blessed with, she could gauge how far certain things generally were.

"Oh, I don't know." She replied nonchalantly, casually with her hands behind her head. Walking along the three, Catra watched as she disappeared behind the tree, waiting a few moments before checking out where she went. When she made her way around, she discovered that the previous Catra was gone. "I'm sorta all over the place." Catra jumped a little as she heard the voice speaking from right behind her, staring face-to-face to her younger counterpart.

"How did-?" The younger Catra that came up to her shoulders didn't give her the chance to finish her sentence as she disappeared behind another tree. Trying to follow her again to the nothing she found, she heard her calling out again from behind her, at least ten trees away.

"How did I get over here?" She yelled over, leaning against the tree as Catra ran up to her. "You gotta know your way around the forest, that's all." The cat proudly observed the forest surrounding the two of them. "I've been all over this place at least twice within the last day alone, I know every nook and cranny around here."

"Nook and Cranny?" The original tilted her head at this, figuring the strange phrasing would never come from a pair of lips like her own. "Look, I need to get over the mountain, and this stupid forest keeps sending me into a loop. Do you know the way out of here?"

"Hmm?" The younger smirked, dangling her legs off the tree as she sat atop a branch. "Mmmh maybe I do, maybe I don't. Why should I tell you?"

"Because that thing keeps chasing me, and it keeps getting closer to where I am. And if I end up getting caught by it, then you know as well as I do I'll make sure you're around for its next meal!" She threatened. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure if the beast would attack the other residents of her mind or not, but what other choice did she have? The longer she waited around the closer that thing was, and unlike her, it didn't see to get lost around these woods.

Taking a moment to tap her chin, she kicked her legs casually above the cat as she wondered. "Hmm... tempting..." She younger Catra practically dropped any and all expression she had after saying this as she lied against the branch on her back without a care in the world. "What's in it for me?"

"I just said what's in it for you!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't sound all that great if you ask me. I mean, the minute you try to find me, I'll just hop back to through another opening and be a mile away from it." Darn it! Why was it in a dreamlike world such as this, these others versions of herself had to be just as stuck-up and stubborn as she was?

"Yeah, well..." She had to think fast, knowing time was of the essence while that beast was still out there. "It won't be good for you if it does get to me!"

The younger Catra actually took a small interest in this little detail as she turned her head, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Assuming this is all in my head like last time, then that means I'm connected to this world, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"So, if something happens to me in this world, that means it'll happen to you too, along with anyone else in it."

"..." Silence from somebody was usually something Catra was used to, but coming from herself was a completely different matter, and concern. When she saw anyone else responding and thinking about anything she said, it was usually easy to predict what their response would be. Not once has she ever had to deal with someone as sly as her, though, when it came to important matters such as this. "Hmm... That does sound a lot more tempting..." She admitted.

"Besides, the longer we stick around, the sooner that thing will be back. And you know as well as I do that it'll hunt both of us down if it catches either of us." Just to prove her point, at that moment, the two were drawn to the eastern side of the forest, left of the mountains, where they heard the menacing growl of a familiar beast. "See?"

"All right, then." The lazy cat simply agreed, stretching her arms to the air as she sat back up. "If you're really up for it, all you gotta do is go that way." Pointing along with her tail, the real Catra turned to her right, seeing nothing more than a simple path of trees to the west.

"And... That's it?" There wasn't anything spectacular or different about the pathway compared to the rest, but, then again, she didn't know much about this place compared to her younger double. It was also the fact it was her she was dealing with, which meant the amount of trust she could afford was limiting.

"That's it." And the constant way she kept assuring her left her more doubtful with each passing sentence. "Here, I'll even show you." Jumping from the simple branch, the younger feline sped through the woods in the appointed direction, gesturing for Catra to follow after her as fast as she could. The reluctance of the situation left Catra beside herself with doubt, one she was forced to ignore as there were zero alternatives to the matter, and took off after her.

The next several minutes for the real magicat remained uneventful, for the most part. As she continued to run through the forest, she did notice that she appeared to be getting closer to the mountains, now on her left, with each passing minute. Every lap she passed, she seemed to be going closer ahead, as if going right was the correct way to go forward in these woods.

The one part that kept her skeptical over the whole ordeal was why this was happening to her, or what this world had to do with anything. Last time, in her dreamworld, the reality that she lived in existed to teach her a point; pushing aside everyone she did or didn't care about would result in her pushing away everyone else, regardless of her concern over them. So if that was the case for that... What was the case for this?

Was there some method to the maddening world she was currently in? Was it just another dreamworld while she was stuck with the virus again, and there really was no point to it? It was difficult for her to know for sure. The only thing that kept her second-guessing herself about all of this was a small tingling feeling she had on the back of her neck, one warning her that something was wrong about all of this.

Aside from the obvious.

After the next two minutes had passed, Catra had come to a stop, noticing the other Catra had suddenly disappeared. "Hello?" She called out, slowing down in her running. Did she pass her on the way here by accident? Take a wrong turn? When she was dealing with a forest that could take her from point a to point b in an instant, it wouldn't surprise her if she took a sudden turn somewhere and lost track of her completely.

"I'm just up ahead!" She heard the other Catra say, her voice echoing from every corner of the woods. "Just keep going and take a right at the next tree."

"Take a right?" She looked straight ahead of her to see the tree she was referring to, one that stood ten feet away. It was times like this that confused her why everything seemed to be colorless, save for the naked outline of these environments, and she still couldn't actually see passed them. Pushing her confusion out of its chair, she gave a shrug as she casually walked her way ahead, figuring she was safe from the beast that lurked around here as long as she didn't hear it. "Are we almost to the mountains, or at least, out of these woods?"

"Yup! You'll be out of the woods in no time!"

Catra, the real one, shook her head as she rolled her eyes a little. She was starting to wonder if these other versions of herself were actually parts of her past, or some part of the dreamworld itself. She knew when she was younger, she was rather timid and had a hard time showing bravery to herself and others, so it didn't surprise her when the river-Catra started crying. But with the current one she was facing, she found her a little too optimistic at times, and could feel her smiling from wherever she was as Catra followed her directions.

The only time she could ever smiling to herself at that point was when she beat Adora at something, usually at running and only when she was lucky, whenever she managed to accomplish something so difficult that Shadow-Weaver could never show her disgusted with her, even when she wanted to, was simply hanging out with Adora, or, for the other 6 times out of ten, was about to pull a pra-

*swoosh*

"Whoa!" Catra yelped, grabbing onto the ledge. The hairs on the end of her skin were tingling back and forth from each other without end, her heart racing a mile a minute as she swallowed her own saliva from the close call she had. This wasn't a matter of taking a wrong turn or unintentionally giving her the wrong directions. Catra knew that her younger self lead her to this pathway on purpose, and now she could see why.

Two feet after rounding the corner, just when she thought she was going into another clearing, the floor gave out. No, not gave out. That would imply she had anything to stand on in the first place. With the power of these woods sending her to any given point in an instant, she found herself losing all of her footing as her location was immediately changed to clearing with a single large hole in it, a hole that she barely managed to fall into.

A hole with various and sharp spikes waiting for her ten feet below. A hole she could've easily fallen into if not for her reflexes and the patch of grass surrounding it that she managed to sink her claws into. She had never been more thankful for the cat-like reflexes she was born with as a child, and that the ground was hard enough to grab a firm grip on without slipping off.

"Whoops." Hearing the snide voice, Catra shot a spiteful glare up upon the tree next to her, wishing all manner of horrors on her cruel assistant who nearly lead her to a spike-filled death. "Did I say right? I meant to say left."

"Ghhhh! You're dead!" Catra hissed, slowly pulling out of the hole, being careful to maintain her grip. "You knew that pit was there, didn't you!?"

"No, honestly, it was so surprising to me, too." Catra could practically taste the sarcasm coming out of the other Catra's mouth, it was so revolting. "Why, if I went in the same direction, I probably wouldn't be here right now. If anything, it's a good thing you knew I was still alive."

"Not for long you stupid brat!" She panted, finally pulling away the deathtrap.

"Do you forgive me?" The question instantaneously threw Catra off guard with how sincere the tone sounded.

"Forgive you?"

"For giving you the wrong directions."

"No, I don't forgive you!" She yelled, scratching out her claws in aggression. "You purposely lead me to my death, I almost died! You didn't even bother trying to help me!"

"Then what about Frosta?" As if something was over the bush of leaves in the tree, the younger Catra solemnly stared into space as the real one was left baffled.

"What do you mean, "what about Frosta"? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I dunno, you tell me. You said it yourself, I didn't bother helping you, so you don't forgive me. But Frosta actually tried to make up for it and you still shot her down afterwards." She eyed the lower Catra from the corner of her eye. "I don't see why its so hard for you to forgive her compared to somebody else whose not even sorry about what she did."

Catra's glare intensified as she stared at her. She didn't know if she was trying to get under Catra's skin intentionally, or if it was a legitimate question, and she didn't care. Frosta was none of the other Catra's business, and she didn't care about Frosta enough to start talking about it.

"Listen, you. Either tell me how to get out of this forest right now, or I swear I'll toss you into that pit myself!" Right now, all of her pent up anger and frustration was directed don the girl that nearly killed her, not the one that betrayed her in the previous mission.

Staring at the magicat under her, the younger Catra shook her head in silence as she stood up from the branch. "You really don't get it do you?" The real Catra didn't bother asking what she was referring to. All she cared about at this point was reclaiming her sword, getting out of here, and away from the beast that was no doubt stalking her at this very moment. Shaking her head in dismay, the younger Catra pointed behind herself with her thumb. "It's like I said earlier. Just go left from where you went right, and you'll reach the mountains."

"For your sake, I better!" First the river was annoying her, now the forest was annoying her. Given how everything was going by this point, she knew something was going to happen along the mountains, and that some sort of surprise would be waiting for her. Yet, she had no choice but to press on, unless she actually wanted the beast to find her.

As for the younger Catra that watched her walk away, she let out a puff of air with a sigh. Catra didn't understand the point of all of this so far, and it didn't seem like she would. If she kept a level head, she would've remembered that if anything happened to the real Catra, something would happen to her, and she let her anger and rage cloud her mind instead. She didn't have the decency to appreciate the help that she gave her, and she lacked the care needed to get on with her life. Traits that were necessary for any redeemable She-Ra of age's past.

And, at the rate it was going, Catra would never reach the point of becoming a true She-Ra...

...

"Ahhhhhhh!" Adora screamed at the horrific sight in front of her as she returned from her patrol. Her scream went unnoticed by the magicat sitting on the piles of paper in front of her, but not by her determined friend who was trying to prove herself to Adora, Scorpia. At the sound of the cry, Scorpia immediately came rushing in to discover what all of the hubbub was about, and immediately saw the great concern that crossed Adora's eyes.

The papers. All of the papers that Adora had been working on for nearly seventeen hours on her own, were a complete mess. More than they were when Scorpia accidentally tripped up Adora, and beyond the realm of being fixable. All that time she had spent working on them, all that energy she put forth reestablishing a proper supply line now that the Kingdom of Snows were no longer providing them resources. All of it was ruined!

How bad were they? Well, inconsistently bad, which was probably worse than being just bad. Throughout the broken tables that carried her magnum opus of reports and requisitions, scattered across the floor ten feet from cat and beyond, were the remains of Adora's handiwork. Several piles of them were torn to shreds, several piles of them were crumbled and actually stabbed through other pieces of paper, and over half of them had random doodles that Adora couldn't make out on first inspection.

And that was just the papers that were still mostly held together!

All the other papers she had been working on were ripped into such little bits that Adora couldn't tell if they were all different pieces of paper or just a single piece of paper they were ripped so terribly. Oh, and the trouble didn't end just there, oh no. Somehow, for whatever reason, Catra also managed to destroy the folders that all of the papers were were categorized to by making a small fire several feet away. If she didn't get here when she did, Adora wouldn't have even known they were folders by the time they finished burning.

Everything was a complete mess. All of it. There were no requisition forms left untouched, no way to organize all the work she was put through, and nothing to make up for it. To even get any of this re-done would require several days worth of work once she got back to the Fright Zone, and that was provided she stayed up for two full days straight before missing the deadline of the requests.

"All my work!" Adora complained, pushing Catra off the papers to see if, by some miracle, some of the papers were still intact. "All these papers, they're ruined!"

"Adora, I am SO sorry!" Scorpia replied, holding her claws together pleadingly for forgiveness as she stepped near. "I swear, I was keeping an eye on her and everything, but she snuck out through the vents when I took her to the bathroom after spending five minutes trying to convince her the person in the mirror wasn't someone spying on her!"

"That person was such a jerk!" Catra babbled on, casually tossing another folder into the makeshift bonfire with eyes lit with wonder. "No matter how many times I asked her nicely, she wouldn't stop copying me!" Seriously, the nerve of some people were so annoying! One minute you meet your identical twin, and the next thing you know, they keep doing the same thing you do!

"Scorpia, do you have any idea how long it took me to work on these papers?!" Adora yelled to her in distraught, standing up again. "I spent over seventeen hours just to get done with the paperwork I had done, and that was only half the papers I had to do!"

"Adora, I-"

"I gave you the task of watching her because I thought it was simple enough for you to do, and you couldn't even watch her right!" The corner of her own eyes had a small tear forming at the edge, the stress welling up inside of her.

How could she not be frustrated with the way things were turning out? Yes, she got She-Ra, and she got the sword. Now she also got another several straight days of paperwork to make up for, and she was too paranoid to let it slide! What if Hordak found out? What if one of these papers were assigned directly from him?! He already warned her she had one chance left, and, thanks to Scorpia's inability to watch someone, she could be thrown in a prison cell the moment she got back!

She was so disturbed by the recent events that she could barely register Scorpia's own state of being, the look of hurt in her eyes. To hear those words from someone she considered a dear friend like that, even though she knew she was right about all of it, was still hurtful to her. She wanted to prove herself to Adora and, like the Force Captain suddenly reminded, she couldn't watch a single person for more than ten minutes before messing something up.

No matter how much of what Adora said mean or didn't mean, she felt like a terrible friend right now.

"I don't even know what half of these papers are!" She moaned, looking at the papers that were once categorized neat and professionally now looking like someone tried to cut out certain portions of them to make a scrapbook- with their teeth. The strands of hair dangling in her face didn't get in the way of seeing just how badly these pages looked. "What's with the scribbles running through these pages?"

"Your papers were terrible!" Catra remarked, looking behind her with her head leaning backwards. "I looked everywhere around them and I couldn't find a way out of the maze! It's like they were designed so you couldn't find your way out!" Snarling, the cat brought her attention back to several over folders in her claws. "And you call these pop-up books? Not once did they try to pop out and surprise me with a picture!" She seethed gripping one of the folders in her right hand before tossing it behind her in disgust.

Into the back of Adora's head.

"..." This. This was crossing the line. She put up with her, she didn't try to execute her or anything, and what did that give her? A major headache to deal with, hundreds of papers that needed to be redone, and now a slight irritation in the back of her head from the folder that hit her. All because she showed a little mercy to her hated ex-best friend, all because she didn't listen to Aroda's advice in the first place, again, and now this.

"So, still glad you didn't listen to me?" Aroda asked, appearing out of thin air to Adora's right. She crossed her arms smirking as she looked to the dysfunctional cat that continued to stoke the the fire. "Man, you must be so happy you didn't get rid of her, huh? Sure, you lost like, what? Twenty hours of paperwork? I wasn't counting. But at least you made her so happy. Just look at all the wonderful things she did with the stuff she stole from you, again."

Adora gritted her teeth as she glared back to her ex-friend, pupils dilating back and forth as a stream of shadows started to form around her right hand. Every time, every single thing Aroda said would happen, did happen. Maybe she was secretly psychic? Maybe she just knew the world better than Adora did? Heck, even Catra knew how the real world worked better than she did at this point. How else could she explain why Catra's been so successful when it comes to manipulating and using people around her?

But this? THIS was the final straw. Every opportunity she had to get rid of her, she didn't. Raising her claws slowly behind the girl, anger growing beyond control inside her, she had to ask herself why this stuff continued to happen. Like every time she did, she knew the answer. It was because she was soft. It was because she didn't have it in herself to end someone's life, not when her anger wasn't flaring up like this.

And perhaps, that ended now.

"Go on, Adora." Aroda goaded on, switching to her other side as her grin widened. "You really only need the sword, after all. And think of how Hordak would be if you told him you dealt away with the Horde's greatest enemy? That you beat her all on your own." She shook her head with a confident smile, raising her hands to her own shoulders. "Sure, she might be like this now, but you don't have to let Hordak know that insignificant detail, do you? All you have to tell him is that you defeated the greatest threat to the Horde, and he'll smile proudly at you."

Adora's shadowy hand trembled as her body shook. She couldn't find a flaw of reasoning with what Aroda said, and her own history proved to be her undoing. She was too soft on her enemies, she let them take her for granted, and she always lost in the end because of it! But no more. If this was the way to go, then she had no choice. She had to finish things right here and now while-

*crumple*

Adora stopped as she heard the sound of crumbling paper beneath her feet, seeing another useless paper that Catra scribbled on. Curiously, the page didn't seem to be anything like the other papers in that it looked more like a drawing. A strange drawing. A drawing that almost looked like a face, almost like her...

Adora paused in her attack as she withdrew her shadows briefly, to Aroda's frustration, as she knelt down and picked up the single piece of paper. It was a simple page scribbled on, one that should've meant nothing but anger to the Force Captain given all she has put through now, all the paperwork that she had to redo. To anyone, it would've just been another pointless scribble that meant nothing to them or the world, nothing of significance that should've held their attention.

But to Adora, it did.

Her eyes softened as she recognized the piece of paper. How couldn't she? She had a pleasant reminder of it over a month ago, seeing it in a simulation that played back their memories against their will, forced them to re-watch parts of their lives. It was the drawing that she and Catra made when they were kids over the wall of their bunk beds, the drawing of their heads right next to each other.

...

"I look out for you..." Adora spoke, taking hold of Catra's pinkie with her own.

"And I look out for you." Catra replied, tightening her pinkie against Adora's as they shook. "And I'll always be by your side."

At this, the two friends hugged.

...

All the tension, all the anger that welled up inside of her, slowly drifted away like the wind as the shadows fully dispersed. Glancing up the page to the dimwitted cat, she had to ask herself. Why did she make this drawing of them? A drawing of the past? It shouldn't have meant anything to them, or at least not Catra, and, knowing her as she did, she wouldn't have been surprised if it was just a ploy to let her guard down.

And yet, that couldn't be the case. She was in no frame of mind to trick any of them, had no idea of what was going on or why she was even here. Here, she was nothing more than a simple-minded child who was goofing off back and forth around them. She couldn't be trying to trick them like this, unless everything was an act, including the last time she was infected by the virus. And she knew Catra too well to know she would never put on a ridiculous display, even for her own benefit.

This... was a part of her. A part that was somehow still in her. And it made Adora's core shake a little.

"Adora?" Adora nearly flinched as Scorpia called out her name, approaching from behind. She paid her little mind for a bit as she quickly stuffed the paper into her winter red coat, trying to keep it as flat as possible so it wouldn't crumble and still remain hidden. "Look, I'm really sorry about the papers. I swear, I'll help find a way to make it up to you-"

"What?" With all the thoughts suddenly forming in her mind, she had actually nearly forgotten the minor shouting she let out a few seconds ago. "Oh, yes, t-that! Um..." She cleared her throat a little as she kept her back to Scorpia, examining all the pages around her. "Y-You know what? It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Adora, really, I'm..." Scorpia barely caught on to what she said until the last moment. "Wait, you're fine? You're not... angry, or anything over the papers?"

"U-Um, no, it's... it's fine, I'll deal with it later." She assured. Scorpia had to admit, she was really surprised and relieved that Adora didn't seem angry at her, and at the same time, very confused. She looked like she was about to attack Catra out of anger or something and pulled away at the last second. She wasn't so concerned over Adora's aggressive behavior or the lack thereof now. Rather, she was weirded out by the sudden switch behind it all.

*thud*

"Ow!" The blond commander yelped as she was pounced over, feeling Catra's hands sink into her shoulders with a wide grin on her face.

"Ha! Tag you're it! 10 points! You can't find me!" With that stream of nonsensical words sputtered from Catra's mouth, the magical hastily ran in the opposite direction, only coming to a stop once her foot accidentally got caught in a bucket and toppled the girl over seven feet from them. "Penalty! I win!" She chuckled.

"...I don't want to know what sort of game she's playing, but at the same time I really wanna know what game she's playing." Scorpia commented as she helped Adora up, brushing the dust off her shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied before directing to the magicat currently looking for another dimension in the bucket. "Just go and take her to the storage facility and lock her up until we're ready to leave, all right?" She ordered as she started collecting the other papers. Still unsure of herself with all that she's witnessed, Scorpia gave a silent nod in return before making her way to the very cat who's head was now stuck in a bucket.

"Help! The bucket tricked me! There's no fish in here!" She screeched, trying to pry the bucket away, unaware that it was stuck due to the handle behind her head. This is what happens every time she lets her guard down in front of a bucket. She swore, for as long as she lived, she would never allow a bucket to outsmart her ever again!

Adora watched in silence as Scorpia dragged Catra away by the tail, the one yelling obscenities about the evils of buckets along the way, and turned her attention back to the papers in front of her.

And the Aroda who glared.

"You're pathetic." She stated, bluntly. Adora casually brushed off her insults as she continued collecting her destroyed work, making what little use she could of the fire as she burned away a page at a time. "You had a perfect opportunity to get rid of her, and you stuttered. And for what? A stupid paper?"

"It's none of your business." Adora boldly replied.

"None of my business? Are you forgetting your head is being shared in there, or are you just that selfish?"

"..." Adora didn't give her a reply to her petty remarks, or her insults, as the papers burned away.

"Now you listen to me, Adora-"

"No, YOU listen!" Adora surprisingly yelled back, walking towards the living reflection who slowly backed away. "I don't care what you say around here. Whatever happens, happens. But this is my choice, and we're sticking by MY rules while we're doing this. I'm taking Catra back to the Fright Zone, locking her up, as I planned, and you're not going to convince me otherwise, so don't even bother! GOT IT!?" She huffed, actually leaving Aroda speechless for the first time since the two met. With nothing else to say, the Force Captain stormed back towards the paper, gathering the ruined remains and continuing to burn them as Aroda was left to stew in her own thoughts.

Of all the nerve, of all the times Adora had to get bratty, it had to be now? Who did she think she was?! Everything that happened up to this day had gone off like Aroda said it would. Her missions kept failing, Hordak was displeased, disappointed, and most of all enraged over all of Adora's failures, and Adora lost the massive amount of support she once had from the Kingdom of Snows, and this is how she takes things? By completely disregarding what Aroda had been telling her up to this point and shoving it out the window?

The Nerve!

The small amount of respect she had for the young Force Captain for sticking up to her like that didn't come close to impressing her over the amount of irritation she had from Adora's disobedience. She wasted a perfectly good opportunity she had to end all of her problems and held back at the very last second because of some stupid drawing! What did it mean to her anyway? What reason did she have to be touched by a stupid drawing made by an idiot she didn't care about in the first place?

As opposed too lashing back with verbal taunts and reminders of Adora's failures, Aroda gave a brash smile. "All right, we'll do it your way then." Like before, Adora ignored her as she started to disappear. "Just remember, as always, that I told you so when it comes back to bite you..."

Adora didn't care what she said, nor her reason for it. She didn't care about Catra anymore than she did before, and she wasn't going to let Aroda tell her how to run her life. Everything that would happen would happen with her own two hands and her own decisions. She wouldn't let a minor setback like the papers ruin her day, not when she had a better prize for Hordak to return with. Pulling out the paper from her coat again, she uncrumpled it within her hands as she considered throwing it in the fire.

It meant nothing to her. Catra meant nothing to her. And her past meant nothing to her anymore. Like the pages before this one, they were all burned away by the pain Catra inflicted on Adora at the Beacon, and like this piece of paper was about to be, she planned on burning away her past for good as she tossed it into the fire.

...For about two seconds. Right as the tip of the flames were about to reach the paper, she pulled back. Now that she thought of it, it might be a good reminder for her. Remind her of the pain that Catra caused her and what trusting someone deeply enough did to her. Yeah, that's right. Just as a reminder. It didn't mean anything to Adora as she stuffed it back into her coat.

Because, once again, she didn't care about Catra...

...

*sheeem*

"I just wanted a moment with Adora, but no, I'm stuck babysitting her ex-best friend." Scorpia moaned as she finally entered the facility, having dragged the cat all the way behind her. She had no words of comfort from anybody at this moment, just the crazy things Catra randomly ranted about on the way here and throw the connecting tunnel-like halls that reached the various places of the outpost.

Like this storage facility.

Pulling the cat all the way to the center of the room, the scorpion helped her up to her feet, holding onto her shoulders as Catra gave her a goofy half-awake, half-perplexed grin. "Now, I need you to be a good little kitty, and stay here. Got that?"

Catra bobbed back and forth to her sides for a few seconds until she nodded, giving a salute. "Heh heh, you're so reeeeed." She slurred.

"...Yup, sure am." She rolled her eyes turning around. Not a foot away from the girl did she feel something clamp around her left foot. And by something, she meant a cat. "What are you doing?"

"You can't leave yet!" She yelled, darting her eyes back and forth.

"What? Why?"

"Because," she turned her head in all directions as she crawled up Scorpia's body, throwing her off balance, until her head reached her ear, "what if the crab people show up?"

"The crab- Oh, not this again..." There was only so many times someone could tell a person something before losing the ability to actually say it. Like trying to remind Catra for the 86th time that she wasn't a crab!

"I found one an hour ago! Don't let her looks fool you, she tastes nothing like a crab!" She whispered closely, keeping her eyes on her surroundings. "She thinks she's a scorpion, but I know what she really is!"

"You do?" For the sake of her sanity, she hoped Catra finally came to understand.

"Yes! It turns out... she's a lobster girl who was adopted by crab people!"

Darn it.

Out of nowhere, Catra started crying her eyes out into Scorpia's shoulder. "Can you imagine how horrible it must've been when she found out she was adopted by the crab people?! It's too sad!"

"Catra, for the last time. I'm not a crab girl, or a lobster girl, and there are no crab or lobster people around here." With a soft push, she brushed Catra away from her, easily knocking the cat onto her back as she grinned on the floor. "I'm a scorpion. Not a crab. Okay?"

"..." Catra lazily smiled at her as she sat up. "Why are you talking about crabs for?"

"...Ok, bye Catra." Waving the girl away, she made her way towards the door, hoping to separate herself from the madness before she became inflicted with whatever insanity took over Catra. Unfortunately, there wasn't much distance to cover as she came to a stop at the door, looking at the console over the wall that allowed access through the rooms. "What was Adora's code again?" It had to be something that would be easy to remember, and that made it all the harder to remember what. Maybe it was a measurement Adora knew of from something, a specific time of day that meant something to her, or-

"Click!" Out of nowhere, right from under her, Scorpia was taken back as Catra popped out from under her, clicking on the random buttons from the console. "Click, click, click."

"Hey!" Scorpia grumbled a little as she tried to grab for the cat who disappeared in an instant. It's like she wasn't there to begin with, she was so fast. She couldn't see her under the console or behind her.

"Click, click click!" Catra popped out again from Scorpia's side, pressing more buttons.

"Stop that!" Grabbing the girl by her shoulders, Scorpia tossed her away, not even bothering to see what she crashed into as she rubbed her chin. "Okay, wait. I'm pretty sure it was-"

"Clickity-clickity-click!" Scorpia was powerless to catch the girl this time as she appeared right on top of the console itself, catching her off guard. "Click, click, click. CLIIIIIIIICK! Click, click."

"Don't!" Scorpia finally managed to catch the girl before anything else could be pressed, but struggled as she tried to maintain her hold over the now-upside-down girl, her feet kicking into Scorpia's face. Pulling her away from the circuitboard, she finally tossed the girl to the ground, earning nothing more than a simple cheesy grin from the feline who smiled back to her. "Why are you making this so much harder for me? Please. Please! I'm a woman on the edge!"

"Huh! Don't jump!" Catra gasped, returning to her simplistic half-awake smile one second later.

"Seriously, I've had a really challenging day, all right?" Wasting no time to return to the fun activity, even if someone was talking to her, Catra zipped back to the console again as she continued playing with the fun machine.

"Clicky, clicky, click, CLICK, click... beep!" As soon as she pressed the final button, her eyes widened as she was grabbed from behind again and pulled away from the panel. Right as Scorpia was about to reset the console to try and correct Catra's mistake, she was met with surprise as the indicator connected to the console flashed green, the password having been inputed correctly as the doors opened.

"How did you do that?"

"Adora's favorite number." She teethed, bobbing her head a little as she saw cross-legged with her hands in her lap. "She uses it all the time. Heheh."

"..." Of course. Why didn't Scorpia think of it in the first place? There would only be one reason Catra knew the password, one that caused her to groan. "I get it. You know Adora's favorite number, and I don't. Rub it in my face, why don't you?" Of all the things she had to put up with today, the fact Catra still knew more about Adora than Scorpia did was the most frustrating. They were mortal enemies at the time, and she still knew enough to know what Adora would use for a stupid password! For goodness sake, she was doing Scorpia's job better than her by helping Scorpia open the door, and she wasn't even aware of it!

*Crash!*

With her back to the door and her body blocking Catra's line of sight, neither of them caught a glimpse of the strange wonder that crashed through the connecting hallways, being met with the sight of a torn tunnel as the snow outside rained down on the rubble. All that remained to connect the two facilities was the smooth metal ground that once filled the now-hallwayless hallway.

"That... can't be good..." Scorpia muttered, pondering what sort of force could've destroyed the halls in an instant.

"Hahaha!" Like everything else, Catra paid little mind to the destruction and more focus on... anything at this point, as she laughed running outside. She circled a little sticking her tongue out, unaware of the large and dark figure that ran far behind her, but close enough for Scorpia to see the silhouette of.

And one close enough to turn around from hearing the girl's laughter.

Letting out a small gasp, Scorpia attempted to run for the magicat, only for her supposed-prisoner to leap out of the way of her and the large monster that nearly swallowed her in a single bit, and onto a light post that illuminated what little of the surroundings they had in a violet let. Whatever it was to them, it was something else to Catra who grabbed onto the pull, pulling herself closer and closer to the source of the light with a mind full of hunger and an attention span of an ant.

"Catra, stop!" Scorpia shouted as the monster ran for the defenseless girl. She tried to climb up the post herself, but with the freezing ice surrounding the pole and the fact she had claws instead of hands proved to be her undoing as she kept sliding off of it.

"Not until I get the cherry!" She yelled back, pulling up further and further towards the light as the monster neared her. She didn't care what the red girl had to say or the giant mysterious creature wanted from her. There was no way they were going to get in the way of the delicious purple cherry she had never seen before!

"That's not a cherry!"

Catra continued ignoring her as she was several feet from her delicious treat, all while the monster behind her slowly rose up to the tip of the post, waiting for its prey to come to them. "This is my cherry. There are many like it, but this one I stole from someone else." She grinned, finally in arms reach of her prize as the creature opened its gaping jaw.

Scorpia panicked as she had to think fast. Just attacking the creature was out of the question, if that even did anything, and there was no way she could reach her herself at this point even if she could climb the post! She had to think of something and fast, something that could save Catra's life in the next five seconds.

And that's when it hit her as she looked up.

"Catra, look out! It's the crab people!"

"Huh?!" Instantly, Catra let out a gasp of overwhelming fear as she released both her hands from the post, flailing her arms about in sheer panic. "Ahhh! Get them away from me!" She barely had enough time to blink before she lost all the grip her legs had around the pole, falling down into Scorpia's waiting arms right as the monster took a huge bite out of the spotlight and everything ten feet under it. "Help, they got me!" Scorpia paid her no mind as she ran back into the storage facility, hastily slamming the door shut with the console behind her right as the monster spat out what little food it gobbled up.

"Ok, so! Change of plans." Scorpia announced setting the cat down. "How about we stay inside?"

"Yeah! Girl's-only Sleepover!" Catra cheered pumping her fists in the air, hopping to her feet and falling into Scorpia's claws. No sooner did she finish cheering did she spontaneously fall straight to sleep, unaware of her problems and uncaring for the crab people that currently took her prisoner. All that required her attention was having fun at the sleepover and making sure everyone around it was a girl! Right before she went to sleep at random, she muttered to the girl who's arms she slipped through. "Don't let the crab girl eat my pillow. It goes right to her thighs." Scorpia couldn't help but blush a little shamefully as she looked at her sides at the remark.

Did Catra just call her fat?

...

At the same time, the four heroes had nearly reached the edge of the cliff. Glimmer grunted as she pulled herself over the ledge, thankful to be on solid ground again, Frosta was holding tightly around Bow while her arm was still busted, and Sea Hawk was still contemplating the idea that he might not actually be as cool as he thought he was.

"Any sign of She-Ra?" Bow asked Glimmer, seeing how she made it first. "Preferably the version that won't throw us off a cliff?"

"Or attempt to kill us." Frosta added, keeping her eyes closed as she freezing winds started to sting her eyes, and the last thing she needed was her eyes watering and getting frozen.

She had plenty of experiences with that growing up and testing her powers.

"Uh, no." The pink princess replied, feeling an atmosphere of unease at the sight. "No She-Ra. Just a terrifying snow monster!"

"That still sounds like She-Ra." Frosta commented as she slid from Bow's back, finally getting a clear look at what she was referring to. "Oh."

What was that twisted thing? It was so bizarre. It had flashing red eyes and six massive leg-like appendages on the top half of its body. From the second pair of legs up to the eyes, there were several pairs of glowing red from the sides of the beast, along with a thick metallic-like carapace over its back. Its body stretched all around the facility, it was so massive! And, knowing their luck, that just happened to be the very destination they needed to get to. They were just lucky they hadn't caught the creature's attention yet.

Unlike the one that appeared behind them, its head towering alone as it appeared from the cliff.

*Gaaaaaaooooooooo!*

None of them needed a say or direction as they turned tail and ran, their exhausted feet carrying them over to the closest safety they could find, their minds still dreading what possible horrors Catra could be getting put through as they ran.

...

"Mmmh... I can't believe I'm stuck in a closet here with you." Scorpia grumbled looking outside, holding the swooning magicat by her waist.

"I think you're just jealoush you lost spin the bottle~" Catra lisped back, thinking fondly of the good times.

"We never played that, we don't even have a bottle!"

"Then why did you lose so badly?!"

Pushing off every instinct she had telling her to throw Catra outside, Scorpia moaned as she strolled her way further into the storage. "I should be by Adora's side, protecting her. Why can't you just stay out of our way?" Was it seriously too much to ask for? She wanted to spend some time with Adora, she wanted to try and brighten her mood. Not once since this mission started did she get an opportunity, and during the few she did, she ended up making things worse for her.

And now she had to feel self-conscious about her weight as she crouched behind some nearby boxes!

*sheeem*

That's when the door opened again, and a lone figure, standing brave and virtuous, appeared in the darkness of the doorway.

"Adora?" Scorpia asked a little hopeful. Did she come to save them, like she knew she would? Did she need Scorpia to protect her instead? She could hardly wait to hear her voice!

"...Ah! Huff... Huff..." With the doors closing behind him, Sea Hawk gasped for air after running what felt like a tedious marathon of catch-the-pirate, one that only ended after he was dead. Panting with each breath, he never felt so grateful to be alive, removing the goggles over his face as he embraced the warm air.

"Inspector Pirate?" She almost forgot about him entirely, it had been so long since she last saw him.

Lifting his head up, Sea Hawk was more surprised by the newly discovered She-Ra he was supposed to find in the first place. "Catra!" As she waved to him with a cheeky smile, he puffed up his chest as he cleared his throat. "Ahem. I'm here to rescue you!" This was actually the best thing he could ever ask for! What better way to prove his coolness than by rescuing the dear honorable-princess all by himself!

"Awesome! Finally!... Rescue me from what?" She wondered slouching to the ground.

"From the Horde, of course!"

"Oh, that. That, that, that, that. No need to worry." She continuously poked Scorpia in the nose as she leaned on her shoulder, smiling again. "We came to an understanding. You can't be too hard on her," she paused, leaning in a little closer, "she was adopted by crab people. She doesn't know!"

"You just whispered that to me, Catra." Scorpia mentioned.

"Oh... Tell the pizza guy what I just said, but don't tell Scorpia!" With this, she collapsed in Scorpia's arms, flailing a little cheekily as she tried to pick herself up to no avail.

"Is she all right?" The pirate's never seen her, much less anyone, in a state like this unless it was a party at a saloon.

"I don't know." Scorpia replied, raising an eyebrow at the cat's weird antics as her eyes wavered on both side. "She is getting on my last nerve. And she's not going anywhere." No matter how insane she was driving her, Scorpia refused to release the captive, refused to let Adora down again.

"We'll see about that." Sea Hawk decree. "En garde!" Taking advantage at the one-armed grip the scorpion had on her, he quickly lunged for the drowsy girl as he grabbed her free arm, pulling her to her feet with as much strength as he could muster. Catra barely got a foot away from her before Scorpia grabbed the other arm, creating a game of tug-of-war as the two fought over the oblivious girl who laughed as the two pulled her.

Pulling in between the two, she gave them both her friendliest smile as she pinched both of their cheeks. "You guys are my best friends, you know that?" It made her eyes teary, it was so beautiful! Two best friends she's only known for 30 seconds, which included Scorpia, fighting over her. They must really like her!

...

*Woooooooooo!*

The alarms were blaring as Adora ran through one of the halls of the complex, inspecting the damage with the sword still in hand. Right when she thought the sensors earlier might have been tripped by a stray animal or the weather making the systems malfunction, they go off again twenty minutes later following the rumble of a tremor. Whatever was surrounding the place definitely wasn't a stray, she knew that now, and she was more than aware that something truly was surrounding the facility at this very moment. Inspecting the current hallway confirmed her suspicions as she checked the damaged portion of the halls across from her.

She was beside herself as she inspected the damage. These thick sheets of metal should've been enough to take several blasts from a tank before putting a dent into them, yet whatever caused these massive bursts of the wall managed to do it in one strike. The lights around the walls flickered from the lack of direct electricity flowing through them, and the tremors continued to grow even more violent. Coming across the most damaged portion of the wall, she observed the damage in detail, trying to make heads or tails of what could've caused this.

*WHAM!*

Or what was continuing to cause it as she just witnessed. With another strike came another tremor, and with that, another dent into the wall as it was pushed a few inches closer to her, something massive ramming it from the other end. She gathered as much of of her shadows as she could around her right arm, gripping the sword in her left, as she prepared for anything that could've come at her next. What she wasn't prepared for was the sudden flicker of the lights before experiencing a total blackout, save for the emergency green lights along the doors.

"I'm really starting to hate this place..." Followed by the roar of a mysterious creature, Adora ran through the door she came through, racing up to Entrapta that was still glued to her work within the center of the room. "What's happening? Why is the power going out?" She asked her.

Rummaging through the systems and services, she brought up several images of their remaining security cameras, all depicting the terrifying creatures that were surrounding he. facility. "Apparently, by drilling into the ice, we've unleashed these creatures." Entrapta explained as Adora leaned closer to get a better look. "Now they're obsessively trying to destroy us. What an unexpected twist!" Twists were a wonderful thing for the scientist to come by! When one was a mathematical and scientific genius like her, surprises rarely got to her. But when they did, boy were they exhilarating to experience! And it only took a serious look from Adora to remind them of their situation. "Oh yeah, and we're probably going to die..."

...

The outside cold was almost refreshing compared to what Bow and Glimmer were currently experiencing. These massive creatures, the ones that nearly doubled the size of the complex they were surrounding, were nothing short of terrifying! With what little use Bow got out of his arrows, he wasn't even capable of putting a scratch on one of these things as he attempted to blind one with an exploding arrow. All it did was make it angrier, provided they could've been, as they used the short few seconds to escape.

No amount of running could help them escape from these ferocious creatures, ones that could cover a mile in a matter of seconds. Their options were limited to running and getting eaten, and running and finding a place to hide. While it was on good fortune they managed to find such a spot behind a bank of snow, covering them from the front as the metallic walls covered behind them, it was only a matter of time before the creatures encircling this place discovered their hiding spot.

"What are those things?" Glimmer whispered as loudly as she could over the howling winds without being caught.

"I'm guessing it's something to do with the giant pit Entrapta dug." Bow assumed, keeping an eye between his friend and the roaming creatures.

Taking a short peek over the snow to examine their threatening predators, Glimmer let out a startling gasp as she discovered something the rest hadn't come across. "Bow, their eyes, they're red like She-Ra's! Do you think maybe the monsters have been infected, too?" She pulled at her hair lightly as she groaned in frustration. "Ugh! Adora is the worst!" Of course, it didn't come as any surprise for her. Why would Adora be satisfied just corrupting their friend when she could've corrupted an entire army of these massive creatures? She was unaware that Adora was dealing with the same problem within the facility, and even if she had, she wouldn't care. This whole problem started when she showed up with the virus, and every second, it was getting worse for them because of her!

And for the previous second, she ended up making things worse as a large shadow loomed over then. They didn't need to lift their heads up to know what was currently waiting behind them.

*Gaaaaaoooooooooo!*

"Do you think you have one more teleport left?" Bow shrieked, hugging onto his friend for dear life.

"Hope so!" She shrieked back. Closing their eyes, bracing for anything, the two held each other tightly as they disappeared into a cloud of pink sparkles, safely away from the menacing monsters that roamed outside.

And right behind Adora who roamed inside.

There was a small awkwardness as Entrapta blinked to her friend, eyeing back and forth between her and the newly-arrived guests. Following her vision, she turned her sights on the two who suddenly popped up unannounced. Relieved that their escape plan worked for half of it, Glimmer opened a concerning pair of eyes as she tapped Bow's shoulder, getting him to open his eyes as she gestured to the party she just dropped themselves in on. Between the three differing expressions, only one of the four seemed delighted to meet each other's acquaintences again as Entrapta waved behind Adora, rolling over on her chair.

"Hiiiii!"

With zero time for words, the two grabbed their wits about them as Bow shot his arrow directly for Adora while Glimmer gathered her magic. Already prepared for the shot, Adora easily pulled herself out of the way with a tendril into the ceiling, leaving Entrapta to suffer the direct blast from Bow's trick arrow that exploded into a giant wrapping, ensnaring the scientific genius from her ankles to her chin, and throwing her off the chair with a loud thud. "Ow!"

And despite the danger, despite the events currently taking place, despite the idea that these horrifying creatures could devour them into meaty chunks so unearthly that nobody would be able to recognize their remains-!... Entrapta still managed to find wonder in the small contraption she was stuck in as she rolled by.

"Fascinating!"

...

The struggling game of tug-of-war had yet to cease on the other end of the facility as neither side gave in to the exhaustion of their arms. They were too preoccupied with doing their job and doing it right, too annoyed with the other to let them take Catra away, and so distracted that they didn't notice another figure strolling through the doors, hastily hiding behind several crates as the doors closed behind her, gasping for breath after the mile-run she nearly ran.

As a side note, she had to remember to herself: When dealing with massive creatures that weighed over fifty tons and were the size of a warship, trying to blind them temporarily with one hand by freezing a case of ice over their eyes proved ineffective. It just made them angrier.

Recovering from her recent run, her ears were met with the sound of two people grumbling back and forth to each other as they tried to claim their prize in the middle.

"Hey!" Distracted by the sound without losing their grip, they were both surprised to Frosta running near them, the young girl having no other option but to grab Catra by the tail, pulling her towards the sea captain and giving them a slighter edge in their favor as Scorpia felt her feet drag a little. She might not have the strength to summon great pillars of ice in both of her arms, but as long as she was pulling in the same direction as someone else, she could manage pulling Catra with both her arms a little easier. "Let go of her. She's with us!"

This was bad. Scorpia was starting to lose her ground as she felt her own two feet sliding, centimeters at a time, as the duo pulled her closer to the door and out of her reach. Desperate times called for desperate measures as she was forced to use her secret weapon, again. "Catra, don't go with them! They're crab people!" She warned, earning a rolling-eyed stare from the girl.

"What's a crab people?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Of all the times she had to get over the crab people obsession, she picked NOW of all times? Current frustrations and non-pleasantries would have to be pushed aside for now as the two continued pulling Catra over to them.

"Hand her over!" Sea Hawk demanded, tightening his grip.

"Let go!" Scorpia grumbled back. "Adora trusted me with watching her. I can't let her down!"

"Adora." Catra chuckled looking asleep as she spoke. "She's soooooo evil." Scorpia was taken back by the comment as she lowered her grip, something the other two noticed as they eased up on the pulling themselves.

"Adora's not evil." She whimpered a little. "She's just misunderstood after all that's happened. You of all people should know that. I mean, you grew up together and turned her back on her. I'm trying to make up for that and can't come close between what you two had!" In dismay, she finally released her hold on the young girl as she turned away a little. While Frosta had more than enough sense to want to take Catra out of here, Sea Hawk seemed a little curious as he witnessed Scorpia wallowing in despair. "No matter what I do, I can't seem to break down her walls. I try and I try, but nothing I do ever seems to be enough for her. I can't even get her to smile." She took a small walk over to the crate behind her, sitting down as she contemplated her thoughts.

"But you two, even when you're trying to kill each other, you can tell there's a real bond. I just..." Who was she kidding? She couldn't compete with Catra no matter how hard she tried. To someone like Adora, she was always going to be the simpleton that messed things up for her no matter how hard she tried, while Catra would still be the hated enemy that she still felt a connection with. With a saddening frown, she lowered her head in shame, burying her face in her claws. "I just wish she would see me as worth her time, too. Someone she could count on to be at her side, you know..."

"..." The shorter princess, noticing the silence starting to fill the air and the fact there were still giant monsters outside threatening to eat them, tried to give a soft smile as she pointed back towards the door. "Yeaaah... So... We're going to go now before-"

"I," the following cry and whimper came from the boastful sea captain himself as he released his grip on Catra, inadvertently dropping the girl on the younger princess in the process as she sat on her, "I know how you feel." With eyes filled with sadness and tears pouring down his face, how could he not? For a minute, it felt like he finally found his exact opposite, someone who understood his pain in its entirety! He couldn't let this opportunity pass him, no matter what crisis was taking place around them.

Gathering another crate from nearby, he placed it near the scorpion princess as he felt a serious discussion was needed, one he would only have this very chance to have with someone.

And leaving an annoyed princess struggling to get Catra off of her with the use of only one good arm. "Get your stupid furry butt off of me!"

Catra paid little heed or mention to the girl as she leaned on her arm with a semi-sleepy frown, watching the duo in front of her. "That's so sad..." In an instant, she tilted her head down towards the feeble princess with a curious half-awake face. "By the way, which one of you guys are Catra?"

...

*ssskkk*

"Ngh..." Catra gritted her teeth as her claws nearly scraped off against the rocky side of the mountain. What kind of world was she running anyway in this head of hers?

From nothing but complete darkness meeting her, to finding herself stalked by a ferocious predator she had recently seen in full, a river that came to life and tried to throw her away as she swam across it, a forest that teleported her into different locations depending on where she turned, and now, a mountain that she swore was continuing to grow higher with every crack she grabbed onto, every narrow ledge she barely managed to get her hands on to pull herself up.

Oh, and who could forget her favorite part where the world was disappearing as she left it behind? Like the river had previously before it, she found the forest that took her to every corner of the woods slowly crumbling away into nothingness, a darkness that continued to chase after her. She didn't know if it was as severe the red walls of death she was greeted with he last time she was in this dreamworld, but that didn't seem to matter if her new companion had anything to say about it.

*Grrrrrrrrr!*

"You seriously don't let up, do you?" She grumbled, looking down at her four-legged stalker. Despite the sturdiness of the rocks within the mountains, and lack of grips she was barely managing to find before slipping on several occasions, the jaguar-like creature continued to hunt after her, now having a firm eye on its target as it slowly climbed up fifty feet below her, closing the gap with every second as it sunk its claws into the dense mountain. Refusing to let the beast distract her, she continued jumping ahead up the large wall as much as she could, distancing herself a good three feet from the beast while the beast managed to stay two feet behind.

What was she supposed to do here? Right now, the only means she had to defend herself was reclaiming her bright and shining sword, one she could actually see glowing at the very top of this mountain. The problem? The mountain wouldn't stop growing, or doing what she felt like was growing! She swore, no matter how big it was up close, it shouldn't have taken very long for her to reach the top by now. Given the situations behind the last two environments she traveled from, she wasn't surprised to find out this mountain had an annoying gimmick to it, too.

If that gimmick could've waited until AFTER the creature was out of her hair, she would've appreciated it much more.

*tip*

"Huh?" Her nose twitched a little as she blinked, finding a small pebble dropping from above her that tapped her nose. The pebble didn't' bother her so much as the reason behind it did, looking up ahead to see a familiar figure she recognized all too well sitting on a perch of rough earth, more than enough space to casually lean her arm on while looking down on the struggling Catra.

Herself.

"Hey, Catra." The other Catra greeted without a care in the world, tail swishing behind her in the air.

"This is seriously getting annoying here..." She never thought she could be so annoyed with seeing herself in so many places, yet these other Catras proved her wrong.

Hopefully the appearance of this one meant she was at the last leg of her journey. Unlike the other two, this one matched her in just about every way from her age, appearance, style in clothes, and that sly grin on her face as she watched someone struggle, the way she usually did when she watched someone.

"Aw, what's wrong? Kitty doesn't wanna fall down?" She taunted, flicking another pebble off that tapped Catra's right ear on the way down, irritating it.

"Unless you haven't seen the hulking thing behind me, no!" Catra hissed. For a moment, she nearly lost her footing as her right foot slipped against the mountain, tightening the grip in her left hand as her heart raced like she spent one of her nine lives. "I don't suppose you plan on getting your lazy butt off of that and helping around here?"

"Eh, I don't know." The other Catra rolled onto her back as she leaned her hands behind her head. "I think it's kind of funny watching you hiss every time you nearly fall."

"Give me a break already!" How much longer did she have to put up with this stupidity? And from herself of all people! "I nearly drowned in the first place, and the last one nearly left me impaled, so the least you could do is help me out here!"

"Mmh... still not sure... And don't try using the same cheesy line like "something'll happen to me too" like the last Catra, because that's just getting old."

"How did... Never mind." She shook any and all possible questions out of her head. In this dreamworld, nearly everything impossible was proving itself possible, which was saying a lot given the reality she lived in. "Look, are you going to help me or what? I really don't have time for this!" She glanced down towards the reason for her rush, seeing it closing the gap as Catra found less and less space to work with.

Poking at her chin briefly, as if she had to take her sweet time to ponder this for herself, the other Catra swayed her hand back and forth as she stood from the ground. "Fine, if you're so insistent, who am I to say no?" That came a little fast.

Too fast for Catra's taste. She knew the way she was now, and this copy of her wasn't too far off from how she was. Narrowing her gaze on the Catra further above her, she discovered her fears were founded as she could see why the other Catra gave in so easily without the threats or the insults.

Pulling back her fist, she slammed her hand into the ground under her, cracking the ledge she was on and crumbling it beneath her feet. In seconds, that one little crack grew into a massive stream of broken stones that came hurdling down the mountain, ready to slam into anything in their path as the avalanche descended.

Like Catra who was directly below it.

With a short scream of panic, she was found with little choice as she jumped to the right as far as she could, narrowly avoiding the piles of rocks and boulders that came hurtling down past her, one nearly touching the tip of her tail, and still falling below. It actually proved quite resourceful in her case, because the next thing she knew, she heard the wailing screams of the same beast as it was caught by the tide of falling rocks, roaring as it was blasted off the mountain and descended into nothingness.

Catra had little care for the beast that tried to eat her for the last hour, instead turning her glare up to the cat far above her that she couldn't wait to get her claws on! "What's the big idea!? You could've killed me."

"Oh, I'm so vewy sowwy." She teased, leaning against the remains of the perch looking down at her. "Can you find it in your wittle heawt to forgive me?"

"Like I'm going to forgive you for anything like-" Catra paused as she lowered her head again, replaying the images in her mind of the last two Catra's who asked her the same question. "Wait a minute..."

...

"Do you forgive me?" She squeaked.

"What?"

"I asked if you forgive me." The younger Catra looked at her with eyes swelling with tears on both ends, pleading to the older teen to find some form of forgiveness for her.

...

"Do you forgive me?" The question instantaneously threw Catra off guard with how sincere the tone sounded.

"Forgive you?"

"For giving you the wrong directions."

"No, I don't forgive you!" She yelled, scratching out her claws in aggression. "You purposely lead me to my death, I almost died! You didn't even bother trying to help me!"

...

She blinked as it finally dawned on her, looking up at the Catra that continued to grin down. "That's what this whole stupid thing has been about, wasn't it? Forgiving someone?"

"Well, look who FINALLY caught up with the rest of us." The smug Catra said with a tease, giving a small sarcastic clap with the palm of her hand. The real Catra rolled her eyes as she shook her head at this. This was their big idea here? Putting her through several life and death situations just to get an apology to come out of her, or, more specifically, get her to accept someone else's apology? Why was it that even in her own mind people were still trying to kill her for stupid reasons?!

"Fine! I forgive Frosta! Happy?" She grumbled, pulling along the rocks again.

"Hmmm nope. Sorry. Try again." The other Catra admitted, much to the real one's surprise.

"What are you talking about? That's what this whole thing's been about, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, but you didn't mean it." With a twirling finger, she directed Catra's attention to the sky above. "By the way, you might want to move."

"Why-!" Her eyes flashed with surprise as clenched her teeth. With a quick reaction, she jumped to the side, again, as she nearly avoided the avalanche of boulders, again, as well as the very beast that fell below her, one whose eyes locked on to hers for a second before falling again. That's the second time she passed the avalanche and the first time she passed the monster, neither of which should have been possible in the first place. "How did..." That's when the gimmick finally hit her, why it felt like forever to reach the top of this mountain.

The mountain wasn't disappearing below her. The problem was, like with the forest taking her from one spot to the next, this entire mountain ran on a loop, one that didn't have a top or a bottom. The minute she climbed up, she was sinking just as fast as she was climbing with the ground disappearing below her, so much so that it reappeared in the sky in a constant state of movement.

However little sense that made.

Catching the small look from the other Catra smirking down at her, she knew what she had to do while knowing it was one of the dumbest things she ever considered doing to begin with. "You know what? Keep your stupid apology then, I don't care. I'm out of here." Looking back at the darkness below her, she took a deep, long, breath to steady her senses, before she did the unthinkable.

She pushed off and let herself plummet into the darkness.

She hesitated to open her eyes, unsure if she should look at the disappearing mountain above her or not. Knowing it was the only way to continue forward, if her plan was to work at all, she forced her eyes open as she saw it, the mountain above her slowly disappearing into the shadows before they, too, eventually disappeared into the darkness. Gulping, she slowly turned her head over, trying to find any semblance of the green-outlined mountain coming up below her.

"Come on... come on..." She muttered to herself, or anyone willing to hear her pleas. If she kept falling forever, was that going to be the fate that awaited her for the next eternity? Just falling and falling into nothingness? For all she knew, maybe it worked differently for her, seeing how she was the real deal around here and not something fake like the river, the forest, and so forth. Even the beast that chased her was more likely a part of this world more than she was, and she was the reason it existed in the first place!

Falling and falling without a end in sight, she began to lose hope and regret that she made the worst decision of her life when it happened.

She saw it.

Straight below, she saw what at first appeared to be a little dot, one that grew in size the closer she came towards it. The dot grew into a line, the line stretched outwards into a mountain. Eventually, it started to take shape becoming whole in her field of view as the world came back to her, including the sword she saw off a little ahead of the mountain away from the edge, waiting for her arrival.

Now came the part that made her a little more nervous. Despite everything going according to plan, there was no way she would normally be able to grip the edge at the top of the mountain without her fingers popping straight off and leaving her falling again. At the velocity and speed she's been picking up in this who-knew-how-big fall, she was more than likely going to flatten her hand into a pancake, leaving her with a missing hand a rather spotty stain on the mountain top. Unless the mountain ended up having a softer grip, or something to at least keep her hand from exploding, this was about to be the worst mistake of Catra's life.

"I sure hope this works..." With her words of hope ringing through her own head, she rolled a little in the air until she was in a standing position, as of she was climbing the mountain again. She braced for impact as the five dozen yards that separated her from the mountain came, closing in fast. A part of her wanted to close her eyes from fear, yet she knew she couldn't afford to if she wanted to grab the edge in time. With all of her hope riding on a single guess, she inhaled deeply as she prepared to grab the ledge.

*tap*

And made it. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment before she realized she was fine. Looking up at the ledge, it didn't feel any different to her than climbing up and grabbing a ledge herself, like she actually climbed all the way to the top. Not only that, but she didn't see the annoyance of Catra, the other Catra anyway, greeting her below or upon the mountain. Thus far, pulling up to the top of the mountain, distancing herself from the ledge as far as possible while catching her breath, seeing the sword in her sight, it started to look like smooth sailing from here!

*THUD*

And that's when she wasn't surprised to hear the iceberg collapsing behind her. Specifically, turning around, she gave no surprised look as she saw the massive beast plopping down, looking as if it wasn't injured in the slightest after landing, or being struck by an avalanche. Come to think of it, where did the pile of rocks that fell with it disappear to?Wherever they were, it didn't matter to her anymore. With the sword in sight, she took off running at full speed, expending all of the stamina in her system to allow herself this last moment of hope, a chance to turn everything around and stop this insane nightmare that continued to plague her.

She didn't turn back as she heard, and felt, the thunderous footsteps of the beast that chased her. Her one and only priority was reclaiming the sword out in the distance, one that didn't have any landscape like the last three environments she barely crossed. She didn't care for the beast, she didn't care about what this world was, and she surly didn't care about whether or not she forgave Frosta after all the garbage this place put her through! All she hoped for at this point was that there wasn't another stupid gimmick waiting for her at the end of this journey.

"I can see it!" She whispered, encouraging herself to push harder as the beast neared. She could tell it was getting closer with each passing step, the vibration of the ground beneath her growing more intense with every beat of her heart. She focused solely on the sword floating ahead of her that was starting to come within reach, the sword that made her eyes light up with pride as she neared the end of her journey. With the beast nearly at her tail and the sword nearly in her hands, she took one last final leap for the treasured blade, gripping the handle with pride as her hands clenched around it.

And passed straight through it.

She didn't know what dropped first as her whole body began to pass straight through the sword. Her body, which felt a massive weight on it as her heart sunk, the sword that passed seamlessly behind her until it disappeared, or the large beast that was right behind her at this very moment. All she knew was that the next thing she felt was her back pressed against the ground, and a massive paw squeezing into her stomach as the beast pinned her down.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She yelled, struggling furiously to push the paw off of her.

Terrific. That's all she could think right now. Terrific to know she went through this pointless journey, terrific to know she was stalked through this entire place by the creature with its massive jaws waiting for her, terrific to know the sword she sought after so long was merely an illusion, and terrific to know this entire journey was a waste of time up to this point. Now she was just waiting to wake up from a horrible nightmare to find herself in the Whispering Woods on the day she and Adora set off from the Fright Zone, all to discover that her body was currently six feet under from the massive fall of the skiff she fell out of.

Because at this pace, IT WAS THE MOST LIKELY WAY THINGS WERE GOING TO TURN OUT!

"Looks like you didn't make iiiiiit~" Oh, great. She definitely looked forward to hearing that obnoxious voice again. Not of her very younger self, or the closest-to-age self of her, but the one in-between, the one smirking with her hands at her hips as she appeared out of the darkness to her right. "Too bad, too. I was beginning to think you were gonna make it."

"Ghhhh! Get it off of me!" Growling, Catra was forced to grab the beast's head by its fangs as it attempted to lunge for her throat, barely keeping it at as it breathed down her neck.

"Sure thing! All you have to do is forgive her."

"You already asked me that, and my answer is still no!"

"Why?" The familiar voice of her younger self intervened, appearing on her left with a curious look on her face. "Do you really hate her that much?"

"It's... It's not that I hate her, or as much as you think-" She struggled to argue, trying to maintain her hold on the beast's fangs that separated her from life and death.

"Then why bother struggling with all of it?" This time, it was the most recent version of her, appearing directly behind her as all three of them looked down as if they were completely unaware of the beast's presence. "Just forgive her and be done with this!"

"I can't-"

"Why not?" The age-between-ages Catra asked with a small glare.

"Because-"

"Why do you want to push her away?"

"I don't, it's just-!" She was caught off as the beast finally used its other front paw, pushing and pinning Catra's arms above her head as it pulled back its head, ready to end her once and for all.

"Then why are you being such a brat about it? What makes it so hard for you to just forgive her and move on?!" And with that, the beast lunged its head at her as Catra closed her eyes tightly.

"BECAUSE IT'S MY FAULT IT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE, ALL RIGHT!"

*poof*

She waited for a short duration as she prepared to feel it. The beast's massive jaws around her throat, the beast rending her stomach with its likely-sharpened claws, or cutting somewhere down the middle like taking one of her limbs for an early snack. Yet, as the seconds ticked by, she felt nothing. Not a bite, not a tear, not even a scratch. Opening her eyes slowly, she realized why.

The beast was gone. Disappeared in a puff of smoke as the others smiled to her. And with the beast, so did her confusion behind all of this as she sat up. This wasn't about forgiving Frosta, nowhere near the point of this entire journey. Whatever this world was, it wasn't about teaching her to forgive someone else.

It was about trying to accept and forgive herself for her own mistakes.

"It's... it was my fault..." She looked at her own hands solemnly as she remembered every detail behind it. The Princess Prom that she ruined with her own two hands, after falling for Adora's carefully orchestrated trap to show Frosta what monsters the Rebellion was, and using her as an example. She proved to Frosta everything the Horde said about them was true, that they were nothing but vicious beasts. She didn't think that day meant anything to her until Frosta's betrayal came into play, and she relived the moment in her subconscious over and over again, turning her into the monster that pushed everyone away again.

A monster that needed acceptance of its own mistake, just to move on.

"Ha! Told you she could do it!" The Catra to her right grinned to the one directly behind her as the youngest one helped pull Catra to her feet. "Pay up!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." The oldest hissed a little, handing over a small sack of currency. She didn't care about the fact her own consciouses were making gambles around here, or the fact that any concept of money existed in this world to begin with. She was just relieved that the beast was finally gone after all this time.

"Can we show her now?" The youngest one finally piped up, excitedly. The oldest gave her a single nod as the three of them brought their fingers and their thumbs to their mouths, the youngest one instead using both her fingers, and let out a whistle.

*Tweeeeeeeeeeet!*

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

In a glorious pillar of light, it descended from above. While the Catras around her didn't seem the least bit fazed by the massive pillar of energy that was shooting down in front of them, the real Catra was forced to shield her face with her arms, feeling her tail and hair blowing back tremendously as the energy came down. From the small openings of her arms, she could barely make out a presence as it came out of the beam of light, a familiar figure that was new and somehow memorable to Catra at the same time. It wasn't until the pillar finally dissipated, returning to the empty sky above with a twinkle, that Catra gasped. She knew who it was that was smiling back at her.

It was She-Ra. Her She-Ra. The form that she assumed at the Battle of Bright Moon in its entirety. The one that was currently smiling at her while lugging the large sword on her shoulders.

"I-It's... It's you!" At this, She-Ra let out a small chuckle as she nodded in return.

"We need to talk."

...

A/N: Ah, so much fun to write ^^ Actually had a blast with the non-related episode parts, and still just as much fun with the parts of the episode. I really hope I keep the humor up as, sadly, the next chapter will have our favorite drunken Catra for the last time (for now) X*(. But, with or without her, I still plan on hopefully writing in some funny quirks here and there on the side to keep spirits up and everything.

And word of advice for the whole C-virus going around people... Don't have panic attacks. Yes it's the flu, yes its dangerous to the elderly, but so is just about every other form of flu. As many cases as there are about someone dying of it, there's literally 100x more of people simply passing through it after a few days and being just fine. Personally, while I state that its not something to gawk at, it's important to remember to not draw too much panic or worry to it, or people will just get more and more stupid with each passing day until the riots begin and start breaking in and looting malls, and we don't want that (then again, I could always use another Nintendo Switch... hmm...)

Lol, but seriously, just drink your fluids and whatnot and do what you normally do with a flu, and you should be fine ^^ With that said and this minor personal-health announcement finished, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 82: S2 Episode 5: White Out Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 15.3K Pre-A/N's. Ah, another chapter, and with it, another episode ^^ And another sweet sense of relief with it as we're only 2 episodes away from completing the season! Yes, I'm sad to inform the rest of you that this is the last of Drunk Catra we'll see for now-

Audience: Awwwwww...

A/N: Yes, yes, I know... But at least you get more of me now :D!

Audience: BOOOOOOOO! *throws random crap*

A/N: Ow! OW! Stop it! Stop throwing that junk! Ow!... okay, so now that random garbage is done being flung around (hopefully T_T) Let's move on and see the epic conclusion to our episode ^^!

...

*tap*

"Enjoying yourself there?" The She-Ra Catra chuckled as Catra, the real one, continued to poke along the She-Ra's armor and shoulders.

"This is... This is seriously unbelievable..." Catra commented, finally backing away from the She-Ra in front of her.

"You have the three different past versions of us standing back here, and you find her unbelievable?" The mid-aged Catra behind her grunted, crossing her arms as she blew a bang of hair out of her face.

"You know what I mean!" Not that Catra could say the rest of them were normal, either. When the day started for her, she didn't think she'd be experiencing any of sent on a mission to the Northern Reach to investigate Horde Sighting Reports given to the Rebellion, and coming across Adora of all people on the very same mission, while being forced to team up with the traitorous Frosta, was all relatively normal compared to all of this.

After being infected by the red virus from one of Entrapta's First Ones tech she had lying around, in no small part thanks to Adora, she found herself experiencing another dream-like scenario like the first one, one that was far less detailed than her previous version and one that was seemingly trying to kill her from the start. From a beast that was hunting her down, a river that literally threw her away, a forest that nearly lead her into a pitfall, and a mountain that seemed to grow without end. Each with its own annoying gimmick and Catra to go with it.

She couldn't understand what was going on at first, and a part of her still couldn't. Originally, she was lead to believe that this entire experience was to teach her a lesson like last time, in this case, to learn to forgive Frosta, even though she didn't want to. Later on she came to realize that the entire point of this wasn't to forgive Frosta, but herself.

Forgive herself from her past mistakes, to forgive the times she's been tricked that lead to a domino effect of betrayal, such as ruining the Princess Prom because of Adora's trickery. If it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have been subconsciously dealing with the guilt that Frosta's betrayal was her own fault, as well as the guilt of other several past mistakes. All this time, Catra was the one person she wouldn't forgive, all because of a lifetime of mistakes that made her who she is.

It was thanks to that revelation that nightmare seemingly came to an end as the beast disappeared, right before it was about to sink its teeth into Catra's neck. Hooray, right? Well, that had yet to be determined. No sooner did she come to understand the meaning behind all of this did she end up coming face to face with the one person she didn't think she would meet, or anyone she ever could meet.

She-Ra.

Her.

The Wielder of the Sword of Protection, in the form that Catra assimilated in the Battle of Bright Moon. She was actually standing right in front of her in this plane of blackness, and it felt like a meeting like no other.

"Are... Are you really here?" Catra asked, still in disbelief over the entire situation.

"About as real as everything else around here." She-Ra replied with a shrug.

"Good."

*WHAM!*

"...OOOOW!" Catra yelped in severe pain as she pulled her fist back from the She-Ra's surprised, and unscratched, face. She felt like she just slammed her fist into a brick wall, one coated with a sheet of iron, with another brick wall in front of that, while scraping her fist against sandpaper at the exact same time!

"Um, was that supposed to accomplish something?" She-Ra asked, tilting her head a little at the strange, granted expectant, behavior.

"That was for trying to kill me since I got here!" Catra grumbled, shaking her bruised fist like it was on fire. "You put me through all of that nonsense for some lesson thing, and decide to get me killed in the process!?"

"You wouldn't have died." The youngest Catra behind her said innocently.

"If you ended up falling into some trap or whatever, the whole thing would've just started from the beginning." The one closest to her age added.

"...You're saying I went through all that garbage for nothing...?" Who was she kidding? Of course that's what they were saying! It's an annoying detail that only Catra would be capable of coming up with, so naturally she, or they, would make sure to withhold that rather important detail just to spite her.

"It wasn't for nothing, Catra." The magicat turned her attention back to the shining figure in front of her as she spoke. "There was a point behind it all-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Learn forgiveness, whatever. It still doesn't make up for it!" Seriously, it didn't. A river that threw her out of it if not trying to drown her, the punji-filled pit that she nearly walked into, and the avalanche that came back to her several times in a row, she could deal with that. Finding out now that it was all a waste of time? She couldn't! "I've been running my tail off trying to get out of here, and while I'm stuck in here, who-knows-what is happening out in the real world. You need to get me out of here!"

"I'm afraid I have no control over that, Catra. It's true that I placed you within these sequences, yes, but I have no control on how you got here or get out of here." She apologized. "And I also couldn't allow this opportunity to go to waste while you're still fighting with yourself."

"Fighting... myself?" She repeated with a raised brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it Catra," She-Ra said gesturing to the Catras behind her, "what do all of these versions of yourself have in common?" Catra stared at them differently as she tried to understand the confusing question.

They were all her from the past, she understood that. What they had in common was a different story. Her young one was definitely a bit of a crybaby, seeing how she broke down when Catra yelled at her, the second one between their ages was full-on stubborn and annoying to deal with, glaring back at her with an annoyed look, and the last one was her most recent version of herself, maybe a little more bitter than she was now.

"I... I don't know..." She admitted, crossing her arms. "They're all pretty much the same to me. No matter how young I was or how old I got, my life was pretty much unbearable. Nothing really good happened in any of those ages. They were always bad."

"Exactly." The confirmation of her guess drew Catra back to her. "They're all the parts that torment you, all the parts that you've been trying to repress."

"Well, no duh, lady!" She gritted her teeth a little to the figure who could easily snap her like a twig. "If you've been in my head then you should know enough why I keep them out of there!" She turned to each of them with mixed disgust as she spoke. "Nothing in my childhood was remotely good, at her age," she gestured to the middle one again, "I pretty much learned how to fend for myself, and with her..." She paused as the Catra's narrowed their eyes to each other. "...That's pretty much me, now."

"But it's not far enough that you haven't made mistakes that you don't regret." She rested a soothing palm on the magicat's shoulder, surprising Catra with the strange warmth it provided. "All of these instances from your past haunt you to this very day. They cloud you of your judgement, frighten you from making the same mistakes without taking risks. Even something as simple as trusting others is keeping you away from unlocking your true potential."

"Of course it's turning me away!" Catra huffed a little, shrugging her shoulder away. "Do you have any idea what trusting people did for me in the past? What it does for me now? It gets used against me at every turn, and every time I try to start trusting someone again, it bites me in the tail! I'm better off learning to fend for myself."

"You only think that because of your past, a past I want to help rid you of." Catra blinked to this statement, unsure of whether it was to be taken as an assistance or a threat.

"What do you mean be rid of my past?"

"Catra," with a warming smile, the She-Ra version of her extended a hand in front of her, "I want to help restore you, to become She-Ra, right now." The declaration was enough to make Catra flinch, partly in disbelief, partly in shock, and the rest of it in an overwhelming sense of... something. Looking back to the other Catra's who smiled and nodded to her, she looked back to her.

To become She-Ra? Right now? That... that sounded amazing! She was actually doing it! She was offering to help Catra become She-Ra, the real She-Ra, the She-Ra that could save this world! For weeks now, the one thing on Catra's mind was trying to figure out how. How was she going to become She-Ra? What was she lacking at the Battle of Bright Moon? Why couldn't she turn into the true She-Ra since then? All of those questions without answers, now had a solution.

She could actually do it if she wanted. She could accept She-Ra's proposal. She could take her hand, do whatever it involved, and actually become She-Ra! It was like a dream come true. Heck, the entire world was a dreamworld after all, so whose to say it couldn't?

She couldn't help herself. Her hand was slowly moving towards She-Ra's with unparalleled excitement running through her veins. Her heart raced loudly for the first time in ages, racing with excitement, racing with actual joy. For once in her life, something was actually going to happen for the better, something that could help make the rest of her life better for her.

This was... beautiful.

"H-How..." Catra paused looking back to her face. "How is this going to work? What's going to happen."

"I want to rid you of your memories," she replied, "the bad parts, all of them. Nothing of the sort like when you bump your head or catch an irritating cold, but the truly bad ones. The awful ones. The ones that kept you from experiencing the joy of a real life."

"So, it'll erase my mind? I won't remember anything?"

"Mh, I wouldn't say it quite like that. They'll still be there, they'll just be like under lock and key, sealed away so they no longer bother you. The only memories that will remain are the peaceful ones, the ones you cherish, and the people you cherish them for."

"Then... it'll erase my pain? All the memories of the bad stuff that happened to me that I still remember?"

"To an extent. Like I said, the day you ran into a wall or got sick isn't enough to cause your doubt or cloud your minds. Only the ones that truly affected your life will be locked away." The real Catra turned to the faces of her past selves, seeing the optimism pouring from their smiles again, then back to the hand that could make it all better.

Her hand was inches away from She-Ra's, actually shaking a little to She-Ra's amusement. "And... What happens to me? Will I, like, still be aware of everything, or-?"

"Heh, if you're asking if you will be in control, the answer is yes." She assured. "You've always been the one in control, Catra, even now. You'll still be you, you'll still be the one running the show. Just think of this as... cheating, as you would put it. One meant to make the world better, and to make you a better hero."

"Hehehe, that sounds nice when I think about it." Her tail wagged lightly through the air, the anticipation breathtaking. "What about the people I know? The ones I... care about. The ones who caused those memories of pain to begin with. Will I still remember them?"

"Yes. The only portions that'll be removed of them will be what they did to you, how they did it. You'll still know of them as your enemies, there won't be any confusion in the mix."

"Yeah... that sounds nice..." This was it. Her fingertips were right at the claws of She-Ra, gently brushing against them as she prepared to embrace her hand.

No longer would she remember.

She will have a happier life now.

Maybe once its done, she can actually get along with the other princesses again, including Frosta. She might even see them as her real friends for a change, like Glimmer and Bow. And all she had to do was forget the bad stuff that happened to her. The memories that plagued her all her life. The people that caused those memories in the first place.

There would be no more pain because she wouldn't remember what they did. In some sense, it might even be forgiveness. Their involvement in her past, the things they did to her, all the... bullying she had to endure... the way they treated her... all of the... all of the pain they caused her...

"..." Catra stopped suddenly as her thumb was about to grip She-Ra's hand.

*Whap!*

And slapped it away, to everyone's shock. Catra's face formed a hardened scowl as she looked her dead in the eye.

"No!"

...

The Force Captain jumped atop a pile of crates, sword still in hand as her shadows surrounded both her arms. "What is with you guys showing up when you're not wanted?!" She yelled, tightening the grip on the sword as she refused to part with it. The whole day had been a mixed bag of amusement and annoyances all at once.

Being left in this frozen outpost to find some annoying First Ones' tech was one thing. She could use the space to sort out her personal issues, she didn't mind leaving the investigating and digsite to Entrapta's droids, using the opportunity to relax as she focused on the heavy-handed paperwork she was left with. It also gave her some much needed space from the Fright Zone as her recent anger issues that kept flaring up whenever it came to her work.

She could also handle the fact that She-Ra had to show up here of all places. After finding a virus-laced disc that Entrapta kept around, it looked like things would turn around. Once she infected She-Ra with it, the girl was anything other than dangerous, at least after they separated the sword from her. To come back to Lord Hordak with the Sword and She-Ra? There would be no end to the gratitude and respect she would have from him, finally seeing her as an honorable soldier, not one of his greatest failures!

Now, what could she not deal with? Everything else!

Thinking they were dead, thanks to the enraged state She-Ra was in when she attacked them, she thought all of her problems would be over. They were finally out of her hair, Catra was theirs to corrupt and control with the virus, and the rest of her life appeared to be smooth sailing. What happened instead?

Not only does she find out that they're still alive, ready to take back Catra and find a way to fix her, their outpost was also being invaded by these bizarre, dangerous, giant insectoid-like creatures, ones that were unearthed in no small part thanks to Entrapta's droids awakening them from slumber under the digsite. And, as if that wasn't enough to get under her shadowy-skin, they decided to invade the outpost all at the same time!

"Where's the disc, Adora?" Glimmer demanded to know, what little of her magic charged in her fist.

"Aww, princess not like my new She-Ra?" Adora teased twirling a finger in the air. "Personally, I thought you'd be grateful. You're finally seeing the same person Catra is on the inside that took me years to discover. Then again, she is going to wipe out the Rebellion for me, so, I understand."

"Entrapta, please, look who you're working with." Bow pleaded, watching the ensnared scientist who continued to study the ensnaring fabric wrapped around her body with her hair, using her own track pad and measuring tapes. "Whatever the Horde is giving you, it's not worth the damage you're doing to Etheria. Those monsters outside are infected by the same virus that's infecting She-Ra."

*crash!*

"Infected? That can't be right." Even as the beats continued to bash away at the durable metal keeping them all safe, the scientist had little to no interest as she continued her observations. "The disc only infects First Ones tech. Unless..." Out of everything, the revelation she had was the one thing to make her gasp. "Huh! The bugs are First Ones tech!"

...

"Zzz..."

"Eghhh! Catra! Your butt is crushing me!" Frosta continued to yell, struggling to get out of the confinement that was Catra's posterior as she continued to lay tiredly on her back. It would've been so much easier to get herself out from under her if she had two fully-functional arms, but the pain in her right was still severe enough that trying to apply pressure to it to push away from her imprisonment proved too much for the young princess. "Sea Hawk, get her off me!"

"Sure, sure, just a minute." Sea Hawk waved off without even looking at her as he continued to chat with Scorpia. This was a moment the two desperately needed as they tried to figure out the dilemma behind their struggling.

For Scorpia, it was a matter of trying to be Adora's new BFF, an endeavor she had been working on since the day one, especially after the Battle of Bright Moon left her in such a wreck. She tried contributing all of her energy into helping her with whatever she needed, usually resulting in giving her more work in the process when she messed up, and whenever she tried to confront her about her recent string of problems, she was far too moody to be approachable.

On Sea Hawk's side, his dilemma related to whether or not he was cool enough to hang out with Mermista and her friends, much less the princess herself. He's done everything from writing lovable ballads no princess should be able to resist, regaled her with stories of his heroism, and even went as far as to trim a quarter-centimeter of his moustache for her! What else could a man do to get a woman to notice him?!

Thus, when the two met each other in the storage unit, discovering the other were dealing with the exact same problem, they knew they had to chat. They needed to understand what it was about themselves that they were lacking, and what they could possibly do to make things right!

Even if that meant Frosta had to suffer for it while she was stuck under Catra for the foreseeable future.

"I mean, just once I'd like to hang out with Mermista and her friends." He continued as Scorpia nodded along. "I'm good at groups. I have excellent stories of derring-do! Why don't they want me around?"

"I hear you." Scorpia sighed as she moped. "Adora used to be so easy to get along with, you know? We used to do everything together! Investigate outposts, form alliances with nearby villages, destroy the enemy defenses, everything. And it wasn't a matter of fun or anything, she took pride in her work! She enjoyed being Force Captain, she loved to watch the young cadets to their work, she was great."

"But now?" She sloped against her arms as she lamented. "Now she doesn't even look at me the same anymore. Catra left her, she was torn from it. I try being there for her but nowadays she just keeps pushing me away, like she wants nothing to do with me. And she won't say why! I try helping her when I can, I try to keep things positive around her. But every day she gets worse and worse, and I'm terrified it's because of something I did!... Am I a bad person?"

"Yes!" Frosta yelled, trying to push the cat off of her to little effect.

"No, no, of course not." Sea Hawk gave a small smile as he patted her shoulder, completely missing the fact he was talking to a member of the Horde. "I don't think she could ask for a better friend. She should be grateful to have a friend like you."

"I know!" Finally, Scorpia found someone who understood her! "I do everything I can for her, and the only time she ever does want to hang out these days is when we're on a mission and nothing else!"

"Exactly!" The Pirate agreed boastfully as he stood. "I-I-It's like the only time anyone wants to hang out with me is when they need me to give them a ride or do something for them."

"Tell me about it." The memories of her past assistances made Scorpia groan. "The last time I tried hanging out with her, the only thing she wanted to do with me was hand her a ruler in a drawer across the room. She can grow shadows, why does she need me for something pointless? She might as well have been sitting on a couch and asking me to hand her a remote, it was so lazy!"

"..."

The two shared a stunning silence with each other as they evaluated all of their problems and their issues. To be here, to have someone to talk to, enemy or not, it was really refreshing. They had so many issues on their hands that they needed to find someone to vent it out with, and they ended up going to the enemy to take care of their problems. It was unthinkable, something no other person would consider doing! And here they were, exposing their grievances with their sworn enemies.

And laughing.

"Hahahahaha!" They could not begin to understand the difficulties the other person must've been having, and they still found reason to laugh. Here they were, bitter enemies, revealing insecurities with one another while everyone else was doing their own thing. They should've been fighting with each other, and instead were treating each other like their best friend, like a sibling who understood them.

"...Is there something wrong with us?" Scorpia finally asked as the laughter died down.

"UGGHHHH!" Frosta rolled her eyes, groaning like her life depended on it, before glaring back at the two. "If I tell you two what you need to do, will you get me out of here?" FOllowing a pause as the two stared at each other, they nodded. With their assurance, she pointed to each of them as she threw the solutions at them.

"You, stop worrying about how cool you are in front of her and maybe she'll let up. People don't like people who boast about how wonderful they are constantly. Just play it cool and eventually she'll think you are cool. And you," she went on pointing to Scorpia, "give Adora just a little bit of space and stop smothering her. Give her some time to herself and let her come to you for once, stop going to wherever she's going. Got it?"

There was another brief silence as the duo shifted their eyes to one another again, contemplating Frosta's words of wisdom. The princess was blunt and direct with both of them, but, honestly, it felt like the thing they needed to hear. They kept pushing on about how great and helpful they were that they really never noticed how often they were doing it. It made them feel a little guilty when they considered it.

*pat*

"Why won't thi'sh alarm clock turn off?" Catra slurred, repeatedly tapping Frosta's head as she leaned up.

"Get off me!" Sweet relief finally came to the princess as the girl, sluggishly, obeyed.

Arms still drooping to the side, she smiled half-awake to the duo who continued to watch her shamble her way over to them. "You know, I've been listenin' to the two of you the whoooole time-"

"Are you serious!?" The fact she could finally stand up did nothing to quell the annoyance that came with Catra's little revelation.

"And really, you're worrying for nothing." She nearly made Sea Hawk jump as she leaned on his shoulder. "You guy'sh are like... the be'sht." He paid little mind as she poked at the tip of his stache. "You're good peoples, and good friend'sh." With a simple toss, she took one large step forward as she threw her arms over Scorpia's shoulder. "Hehehe, that's why I like you guy'sh, sh'oooo much! You guys ju'sht do your best... and don't take anything from- AHHHHHHHHH!"

"AH! What? What?!" The sudden scream of horror and the look of terror on Catra's face caught Scorpia off guard as she shook. She watched the girl's shaking finger as she pointed behind her.

"You have something sticking out of your butt!" She panicked. She had never seen such a horrible, disgusting, unholy configuration sticking out of someone's backside!

For a sheer moment, Scorpia had actually considered having her own panic attack before realizing what Catra was referring to. "Um, Catra? That's just my tail. You have one too."

"Huh?" How absurd! Like Catra of all people would actually have something like that sticking out of her- "Ahhhhh!" It was true! Turning her head around, she saw the abomination wagging behind her! "It's spreading!" With all of her might, she tried to yank the evil contraption out of her posterior, doing whatever she could to remove the appendage as she spun around for dear life. "It's biting me! It's biting me! It's-!

*CRASH!*

There was no stopping the girl as she collided into another stack of crates, making this about her sixth crashing since the Horde took her in an hour ago. "Whoa... When did we get a floor?"

"...You know what? They're right!" Sea Hawk agreed triumphantly.

"We are really great! I'm clever, roguishly good-looking, and a top-notch sailor." Perhaps this journey was just what he needed, because now, he felt an incredible sense of pride coursing through him as he jumped atop a crate, fists firmly at his side. "I don't care if anyone thinks I'm cool. I don't need their opinions to validate me. I'm Sea Hawk. And I'm more than willing to let Mermista figure that out on her own!"

"And me, I'm brave, strong, give great hugs, and I'm loyal!" Scorpia's confidence surged as she stood, squeezing her claws tightly as Catra sluggishly waltzed her way over to her arms. She gave the girl her direct attention as she looked her straight in the eyes. "You might have left Adora, but someday she's going to see that I won't. I'll prove that to her on my own, no matter how much space she needs or a shoulder to lean on, because that's who I am!"

"Yeah, good for you!" Catra might not have known what they were getting at, but it didn't keep her from raising her fist in support all the same. "...Who's Adora?"

"...You guys are really willing to wait for as long as it takes to prove it, aren't you?" Frosta questioned, switching her gaze between the three of them all together.

"Of course we are, lass." Sea Hawk nodded back, watching as Scorpia flexed her muscles, ready for anything. "You can't rush anything good or bad. You just have to wait."

Waiting, huh? Frosta thought as she looked at Catra. Was that really her best option at this point? To wait for her to forgive her on her own? She nearly broke the girls arm and had shown the utmost disdain for the girl since bringing her on the mission, none of which was her fault, and even though she said they should be patient, she wasn't sure about herself.

If it was a day or even a week, she could deal with it. She could wait for Catra to forgive her if that was the case, if she needed to spend some time away from her to get used to her again. But seeing that look of hate in her eyes was something she had a hard time dealing with. This was just their first mission after teaming up for a mission, and it was hard to stand by. She couldn't imagine doing that for the rest of her life.

Then again, maybe it's what she deserved in the end. She betrayed them and these were one of the consequences she would have to deal with for now. Would it be any easier waiting for their own issues than her own? She didn't know the answer to that, and she doubt they'd be willing to trade their issues with hers. As much as she disliked it, she was going to have to suck it up and wait for her, no matter how long it took.

She wasn't going to enjoy it, but she was willing to do her part as a small smile crept to her face.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to kick some big bug butt!" Scorpia tensed her muscles, taking a few practice jabs as the others watched.

"Yeah! Let's show them what we're made of!" Sea Hawk couldn't let this opportunity of excitement go to waste! It was time to show the world what Captain Sea Hawk was capable of, and how reliable Scorpia could be to her friends!

Starting with the people waiting in the other facility.

...

*wham*

The entire complex continued to shake as the four struggled to keep their balance. All around, the creatures continued to hammer away at the outpost from the outside, struggling to get in with each passing breath.

"Adora, we have to destroy that disc, or none of us are getting out!" Glimmer tried to reason with any part of Adora that related to the girl's own safety!

No matter how pathetic the plead appeared, Adora just grinned to her as she tapped the sword on her shoulder. "Whoops, silly me. With all that's been happening, I completely forgot where I left it." She let out a sarcastic sigh of regret. It was such a cruel fate that she would forget her own disc, wasn't it?

"Adora, you silly. It's in your pocket, remember?" Entrapta, unfortunately, reminded her as she rolled around.

"...Thank you for the reminder..." Of everything that was wrapped up, why didn't Bow wrap up her mouth as well?

The reminder gave Bow and Glimmer little reason to continue standing around as they prepared themselves, ready to fight for Catra's sake and to save their friend from the virus.

*CRASH!*

"Ahh!" Right as they were about to duke it out, with Adora already summoning the shadows to both her hands, there was a large crash from the wall behind her as a beastial head crashed through it, slamming the girl away and throwing her into a large metal crate, dropping the sword in the process. No sooner did it appear that several green shots of energy blasted it in the face, injuring the creature enough to scare it out of the opening.

And where did the blast of salvation come from? From four questionable but determined, and one delirious, heroes who charged in, with Scorpia taking the lead with a blaster in hand, with a determined Sea Hawk to her left, and a young princess, followed by Catra carrying a bucket over her head, behind her.

"For the Horde!" She cried out, more than determined to prove her usefulness to Adora at long last.

"I don't agree with that sentiment, but I'm also here!" Sea Hawk announced, his electric Rapier firmly in hand.

"Yeaahahhh! Whoo!" Catra cheered as she gripped her bucket tightly. Boy, she could already tell everyone was going to be jealous of her bucket when she ended up saving the day!

Noticing the state that Catra continued to display, fearing for the girl's life, Frosta let off a small roll of the ices before encasing the floor in front of her in ice. "Sorry about this, Catra." She apologized, requiring only a single hand for a feat this small.

In an instant, the magicat's eyes bugged out for a split second before she toppled over herself, in a state of confusion as she collided into the floor after the bucket landed on her head, covering her eyes. "Where did everybody go?"

"Catra!" Glimmer's never been so glad to see her friend, regardless of how ridiculous she was, as she ran over to her, lifting the bucket enough to get a look at her face. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Haha, Glimmer!" She chuckled. "How's my best buddy?"

"... You're definitely sick, aren't you?" She commented, patting her on the head. In truth, they were the very words Glimmer always wanted to hear from her feline friend, but, sadly, it was not meant to be.

*crash*

The reunion was cut short by the sound of the debris dropping from the roof next to them, nearly crushing Sea Hawk who slid out of the way at the very last moment. On Scorpia's side of things, she hastily ran to her dear friend's side as she covered her a little with her arms, preventing any of the smaller rocks from getting to her while she got up.

"Adora, are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Shaking her head, the Force Captain glared a little as she saw the other side already regrouping , feeling the sense of them ruining her plans all over again. "Just get the sword!" She barked, rushing off ahead. "I'll get Catra!"

She was not going to come so far only to lose, AGAIN! Every time, every single stupid time she was about to win or feel some feeling of joy, they had to come in and ruin it for her! They ruined it at Dryl, they ruined it at the Horde Tower a few days ago, and now they were willing to get in her way again with this. She refused to let anyone ruin her plans for a third time, especially when her life depended on it!

She was so caught up in her blind hatred that she failed to notice as Glimmer rushed in tackling her away, refusing to let her anywhere near Catra again. It was a small matter to deal with for the Force Captain as she rolled over to her feet, but it was no less annoying as she pushed against Glimmer's hands, the princess keeping her at bay as Adora was forced to use her as a shield while Bow lined up a shot right behind her.

"Got anymore magic in that little hand of yours, princess?" Adora teased again, knowing her shadows gave her the advantage she needed to push back a little

As opposed to looking worried or anymore irritated, Glimmer grinned back to her as her fist charged up once more with magic. "You tell me!" It was less of a request and more of an order as Glimmer gave her some much-needed personal experience. Slipping her wrist right out from under Adora's grip, she managed to uppercut her square in the face, blasting her through a stack of crates that topped on top of her.

The force of the hit was enough to knock the disc loose from her coat pocket, scattering it across the ground a few feet from where the commander crashed.

"The disc!" Glimmer hastily rushed over to it, hoping to put an end to the nightmare that trapped her friend in this state. Not two feet away from the precious cargo did she feel another piece of cargo slamming into her side, hurtling her away as a large crate collided into her, and an annoyed Adora standing up from the wreckage.

"No one's getting my disc!" She shouted, running for it. Attempting to stop the madness himself Bow attempted to fire one of his explosive arrows directly at the corrupted disc, assisted by Frosta who stood at his side as she coated the ground ahead of Adora in a solid sheet of ice.

Unprepared for the sudden freeze, Adora was powerless to stop as her feet slid against the ice, toppling her onto her back as she continued to slide ahead. Despite this minor setback, she still refused to let any damage come to this valuable prize, managing to pluck Bow's arrow out of the air with a tendril of shadow right before it struck, tossing it back to the archer who quickly grabbed Frosta and jumped out of the way before it hit them.

...

As they continued to play their game of keep-away, Scorpia searched frantically for the sword, the simplest thing Adora could possibly give her to do, and the task she was more than determined to fulfill. No matter how much of a good talking to they gave her, she still refused to let her temporary-friends get in the way of her proving herself to Adora.

Especially if that person ended up being Catra of all people! The girl who barely knew what was going on around her and waltzing around with a bucket on her head who eyed the sword in curiosity and started reaching for it.

"Oh no you don't!" Scorpia yelled, charging straight for the girl who grinned goofily to her with a wave.

"Crabby-!"

*CRASH!*

She didn't register that she was in danger. She didn't register that Scorpia was currently pinning her down by her shoulders. All she did register was the fact that a crab girl caught her again and that she was staring down at her, refusing to let up.

"En Garde!" With a boisterous presence, Sea Hawk declared his readiness for a duel as he drew his rapier in front of Scorpia, ready to engage the girl in all matter of swordplay, if she had one.

"Ifs" would not be an issue here as Scorpia looked back. She might have been outnumbered, even if the second number was Catra, but with the sword sitting a few feet behind her, she already had a means to fight back.

...

"Give us the disc!" Glimmer demanded as she continued to struggle with Adora. No matter what was surrounding them or what sort of dangers were invading their territory, Adora refused to part with the disc as she kept it under lock and key within her shadowy palms. It would've been more amusing to see Glimmer struggling to open it as she pulled on Adora's arms if she had any decency or respect towards the girl.

"What are you, nuts?" She nearly chuckled at the demand. "I have the disc, and I have Catra! Two of our greatest weapons under one roof, and I'm not parting with either of them!" Her grin darkened sinisterly as she leaned her head up a little closer. "And I'm going to be watching from a safe distance when I send an enraged She-Ra back home with you!"

*GAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO!*

The sound of the ferocious bipedal beast was the only thing to break the tension between the two as they looked to the ceiling again. With the view of its head lunging straight towards them, both girls were forced to part away as they avoided the colossal head slamming against the ground, devouring the very metal they briefly lied upon in their little quarrel.

Rising up to her feet, Adora's eyes widened as she saw the beast turn in her direction, focusing its attention on the girl with the disc rather than the princess behind her. While she was confident enough in her own ability to deal with the creature, to deal with it and the alliance, not to mention the rest of the creatures outside, would've been suicide. With everything to lose in the palm of her hand, she sped up as she retreated behind her, hoping to ditch the creatures attention until they could escape.

Sadly, for her case, the creature's attention was the one thing she couldn't lose no matter how much she wanted. No matter how fast she pulled herself ahead with the tendrils, the distance she managed to keep between them, the beast closed the gap behind her more and more, destroying the interior of the outpost in the process. There wasn't any defending against that if she got caught.

If that beast caught Adora in its mouth, no amount of shadow armor would keep her protected. It would be permanent lights out for her.

The remainder of the group continued to struggle as they tried to keep Scorpia's claws off of the sword. With Bow pulling her head with his weapons, Sea Hawk feebly pulling her arm away as she reached for it while pinning him down, and Frosta trying to pull Catra back by her tail as she wanted to help the "crab girl" out, it was anyone's guess how the situation would've turned out. Everyone was determined to get the sword for themselves, no matter the cost.

"Ngh!" Adora screeched as she collided into another metallic crate, almost dropping the virus in the process. This was one of the few times in Adora's life she was thankful the Rebellion didn't have weapons as great as these creatures, less they turn the entire Fright Zone into a scrapyard by tomorrow's end. Her expression hardened as she glared angrily at the creature, waiting for it to make the first move.

"Adora, you have to destroy the disc!" Bow warned, seeing the scene from afar. "It's the only way to stop them!"

"Adora!" Scorpia cried, pushing off from the group. Who cared about orders when her personal best friend's life was at risk?!

With the creature lunging straight at her, Adora pulled and jumped her way atop the pile of crates behind her, keeping as much distance as she possibly could from the creature that backed her into a corner. No matter how close to death the commander was, she refused to part with the disc if it was the very last thing she could control!

A control she soon lost as the creature's gaping maw sprang around her, forcing the captain to push away the creature's ferocious jaws with her arms and feet as it attempted to swallow her whole. She barely noticed as the disc fell out of her grip, prioritizing at keeping the creature at bay for as long as she possibly could. And it still didn't matter as much to her as the disc was that started this whole mess!

The very disc came across the scorpion's feet as she picked it up, eyeing it curiously.

"Scorpia," Glimmer called as she walked to the rest of her friends, keeping a hold on Catra's sluggish arms, "you can end this. You've got to break that disc now."

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" In a burst of primal rage, the unthinkable happened as all eyes turned to the Force Captain who's life depended on the disc.

With all the stress building around her, and the idea that Scorpia, one of the last few people she trusted, would so much as consider breaking the disc, it finally exploded out of Adora in a burst of anger, the overwhelming burst of shadows physically exploding around her body, not enough to destroy the deadly jaws, and actually shattered the wristband along Adora's arm.

She didn't care if the shadows instantly spread to her neck and along the left half of her face, she didn't mind the fact her life depended on that disc being destroyed, and as surprised as she was by her own burst of anger, she still didn't care. She was ready and willing to die before letting the Rebellion claim another victory over her.

"I swear, Scorpia, I'll never forgive you if you break that disc!" Adora screamed in anger, even as her arms started to waver and the jaws sank a little deeper.

Scorpia was at an impasse as she looked between the disc in her claw and Adora. What was she supposed to do at a time like this? Risk her friendship just to save a friend who would probably hate her for the rest of her life, or obey Adora's dying wishes knowing she would be happy with her at long last before her final moments? Obviously she didn't want her friend to die, but if Adora was fed up with Scorpia as much as she was now, how would she deal with a friend hating her for the rest of her life?!

"It seems to me that caring about someone is the greatest adventure of them all." Sea Hawk commented, reminding the girl of their previous conversation as he stepped ahead of the rest. His inspiring words worked near-instant as the scorpion smiled back warmly, mixed with sadness, as she knew what she had to do.

"Sorry, shadow bunny." Scorpia apologized back to her begging friend. "But this is for your own good!" Adora's eyes widened in shock as she watched Scorpia raising the disc firmly above her head, unable to believe what she was about to do.

"Noooo!" Her cries of anger meant nothing to her as the Force Captain finally did what she had to do, what any true friend would do. With all of the weight of her arms, she threw the disc against the ground, smashing it into dozens of tiny pieces that brought forth the miracle of purple light that waved around them.

One after the other, the creatures returned to a more docile state as their eyes glowed blue once again, the one holding Adora in is jaw letting out a more peaceful roar as it dropped the Force Captain to the ground, leaving the feverish Adora sick and weakened as it retreated from the outpost, along with the surrounding creatures outside that began to run away of their own volition.

Among the infected, Catra also began to moan as consciousness left her, Glimmer finding her weight slipping out of her grasp as she fell to the floor.

"Catra!" Bow ran to the side of his collapsing friend as the virus slowly left her system. On the other side of the battlefield, Adora had reached an all new height of depressing anger as she weakly stood from the landing zone and refused to give up.

Her state looked terrible to anyone watching it. The shadows around her dissipated no matter how forcefully she made them stay with her, looking like the gel of a lava lamp slowly rising off the girl all around and disappearing. Her vision wavered back and forth as she tried to focus her attention on the group ahead of her, the people who, once again, ruined everything. And no matter how little muscle she had left, she refused to let any of her arms drop to the floor, breathing harshly as she glared daggers at the alliance ahead of her.

"This... T-This isn't... Huff... O-ov-ahh!" She couldn't even get a chance to declare how she was going to keep fighting as she was suddenly picked up around the waist by a trustworthy Scorpia, one who held a freed Entrapta in her other arm, as she rushed out the door. "Scorpia, put me down!" She shouted. "Did you hear me!? I said-!" She stopped as she saw her face.

There was nothing there other than determination as she focused on the exit. She didn't look at Adora, she didn't ask her for her opinion, she didn't say anything. All she did was worry about the girl's safety as they made their escape, against Adora's will, and retreated to the Horde ships that would take them home.

This was a day that Adoa lost, once again. And, for a change, one that left her more confused over her friends than not. It was a sight that left some of the remaining alliance members confused, save for a courageous pirate by the name of Sea Hawk, who watched the scorpion's retreat with tears of pride in his eyes, and a nod of understanding as the girl left.

"Catra, wake up!" Glimmer begged, returning the remaining group's attention back to her as they gathered at her side. "Catra, please, say something!"

"Is she going to be okay?" Frosta asked worriedly to the two.

"I don't know," Bow shook his head admitting, "she wasn't affected by the virus for this long last time. Who knows what other sort of ways it could've affected her." Seeing the worry in the rest of their eyes, the uncertainty in their expressions, Frosta frowned. She didn't care if Catra came back forgiving her or not.

As long as she came back at all, that would be enough for her.

...

"You what?" She-Ra replied, startled and surprised by the girl's reaction. She tried raising a hand to the girl again, only for Catra to slap it away once more.

"I said no!" Catra shouted, taking a step back.

"You're kidding, right?" The preteen Catra asked, grumbling behind her as she shared the others' disbelief. "Are you stupid or something? This is a chance you've been waiting for! Take it!"

"And what? That's it? I go on living without knowing what I hated everyone for?!" There was no way anyone was going to make her take it if that was the price she had to pay!

"But don't you want to be happy?" The youngest Catra asked, sniffling a little. "You could have a better life now, you could make some friends."

"It's not about me being happy or not, kid." She gritted her teeth. Whether or not she was dealing with a real child or a past version of herself, she still couldn't bare her fangs to a child that young. "It's about getting payback for what they did to me!"

"Then accept the stupid offer, and go!" The one closest to her, sporting an identical appearance to her, told her. It almost had a hiss of irritation behind the tone, heck, Catra knew the other one had a hiss of irritation behind it, seeing how she was the closest to what she currently was. "You can finally be She-Ra, the way you want to be! You can turn this whole war around! Who cares if you remember why you hate them or not?"

"Because it matters to me!" She grumbled, pounding her fist to her chest. "My life, everything I've suffered from the Fright Zone, was because of them. The people who made me regret ever being born, the ones who took every second of the day making my life miserable for their own amusement. They picked on me, bullied me, did everything to me, and now you're saying I should just forgive them?!"

"You wouldn't be forgiving them, Catra." She-Ra tried to diffuse the anger rising from the girl. "You're simply forgetting what they did to you that scarred you most."

"And that's the problem! I don't WANT to forget what they did to me! I want to remember everything! I want to remember why I hated them so much, I want to remember the reason I didn't care enough to go back to the Fright Zone after getting the sword! I want to remember what it was they did to me so I can have satisfaction in the end. Satisfaction that I finally got back at them for everything they did, to remind them it was their own faults I beat them in the first place!"

"So that's it then?" The preteen spat in disgust. "Pure selfishness, huh?"

"Call it what you want, I already said I don't care." It could've been easier, maybe. She could forget all her problems like they never happened in the first place, and go on living a semi-normal life. But what would be the point then? "I'm working for the Rebellion now, with the only few people I care about, to stop the Horde for my own reasons. I don't care if you call it selfishness, stupidity, or anything. I'm not about to let someone change how I remember someone, how I look at them. If I forget everything I joined the Rebellion for, then there's not even a reason for me to be here, is there?"

She-Ra could partly see what the girl was getting at. Her very reasons for being She-Ra while selfish, were still her own, and what defined her as the person she was today. If she lost her memories of those horrific events, she wouldn't just be losing a reason to keep fighting them, she'd be losing a part of herself. She would lose part of the reason she became the hero she is today.

"...Catra-"

"Just get me out of here." Catra interrupted, lowering her head to them as she turned away in anger. "I've had enough of this stupid place."

"... If that is what you wish." She-Ra replied emotionlessly.

One by one, Catra watched as the other Catras slowly disappeared, walking away into the shadows. Each of them with their own line of thinking as they disappeared into oblivion, with disgust and anger towards the one who had a chance to fix all of her problems and threw it away for her own personal gain. Out of the three, the only one Catra gave any heed towards was the youngest one, who looked back at her briefly with bitter tears in her eyes, before finally disappearing.

"You too, move it." Catra directed, unwilling to look at what she could have been in the end. "I'll wait till I wake up on my own or whatever."

"Very well." There was no use arguing as she started to walk away. She was the wielder of the sword, and she refused to force any opposition on the girl, especially one who had been through so much already. "But Catra," she continued, pausing, "if you ever wish to change your mind-"

"I won't." Catra stated as a fact. No one would convince her to do this. Nobody ever could other than herself.

"...Seek out Light Hope, then." She finished. "And she will purify your memories. Always know, no matter how much of my potential you achieve, you will always risk the chance of breaking the connection due to your emotions. Until you let go of the past, you will always be alone with your own worst enemy." She turned her head for the last time, catching Catra in the corner of her eyes. "Are you absolutely sure you want to-"

"Yes." There was no changing the girl's mind, no matter how much she tried to prod. "Just leave me alone. I'm tired of this place already."

"...Then we shall never meet again." As she entered, so she left, as a magnificent pillar of light descended from the heavens, enveloping her in a glorious light. "Goodbye, Catra."

Without another word, her voice echoed as the light returned to the heavens. All around her, Catra watched as the blackness slowly started to be enveloped by darkness, all while a grim look crossed her face.

She just did it. She gave up the one chance to be She-Ra easily, and she rejected it, an act she never thought she would do. She would've gladly taken the offer if there was some other means to it. Perhaps make her forget a single day? Perhaps make it so the memories didn't even bother her? She would've accepted those.

But this? This was truly the only way? She gritted her teeth as the surrounding darkness swallowed her from toe to head.

She refused it. She refused to give up the part of herself that made her who she was, the person that was scarred by her tragic past. To her, there could be no forgetting what those people did to her, what parts of her life were so messed up that she turned her back to them without a second thought. As long as she had that, nothing else mattered.

Not her reasons for being She-Ra.

Not her friends.

Not her.

Nothing...

...

"..Mmmh..." She moaned as she slowly came to, the others watching with joy as Catra winced. Slowly, the magicat lifted her eyes partway, eyeing the various people that were filling her vision as they looked down at her.

"Catra? Is that you?" Glimmer hoped. Who knows what would've happened if the virus affected her any longer? The fact she wasn't acting like a cat like last time already spoke for itself about how different it was this time around. What if she forgot about them? What if she was still the enraged She-Ra that nearly killed them? Only time would tell.

And time didn't have to wait very long as she blinked.

"...Please tell me I didn't lick anyone this time..."

...

The moonlight pierced the night's sky beautifully as Sea Hawk piloted his ship across the frozen sea. With their mission a success and everyone alright in the end, they were all looking eager to getting some nice, relaxing, sunshine and warmth from the comforts of their own home. Everyone was looking better for it, whether it was Frosta who had a makeshift blue sling around her right arm, or a bitter-looking Catra-turned-She-Ra who waited for them to return home. All in all, it was a hectic journey, but one they still survived.

At the princess's assistance, once again, giving a light nudge to Frosta, Glimmer watched from the other side of the boat as she anxiously approached the honorary princess who still seemed to be in a foul mood as she leaned over the ship's railing. She didn't know what to say as she looked over the ocean herself, leaning her good arm over the same structure as she debated how to make this conversation go.

"...I-"

"Is your arm okay?" Catra's sudden question shocked the girl as she faced her. She kept her focus on their surroundings rather than her, but the fact she still spoke to her at all seemed like a miracle.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah!" She felt excitement as her heart pumped a little, gesturing to the sling she was wearing. She was actually talking to her again, it was wonderful! "Nothing too excessive. Bow said it'll be good as new in a matter of days-"

"Then get lost." Just like that, all the optimism she felt rising up was quickly torn asunder by Catra's next line. She still hadn't forgiven the girl, she wanted nothing more to do with her. The only reason she bothered checking on her was because it was her own fault to begin with since she attacked her in her enraged state. Whether or not she was in control mattered to her. As long as her arm was okay, that's all that mattered to her.

With a small frown, debating on how to proceed with the sudden situation, Frosta nearly opened her mouth to speak again before going silent. She remembers what the others talked about letting Catra be on her own. Walking away to the other princess and Bow, she knew she would have to. She knew to expect this, given the circumstances.

But it didn't make it any easier. For her, Bow, or Glimmer as they looked over the water of the railing from the other side, watching the calming waters themselves.

Out of the three, surprisingly, Glimmer was the most disappointed by the turn of events. She thought Catra would've changed again after the mission, like she always changed after a mission. Sometimes for the worse, others the best, but she always changed regardless.

Yet here, there was nothing. There was still a sense of betrayal Catra felt that she hadn't forgiven the young princess for her actions, a sense that she wasn't going to forgive her anytime soon. It was a harsh lesson Glimmer had to learn herself, but one she couldn't blame Catra for, seeing how she's the one who forced them to come in the first place.

Sometimes, people just didn't change...

...

"Achoo!" Adora sneezed as she rubbed her reddish nose. The cold she felt did little to contribute to the reddish face she had going on from the mix of the fever and her new ailment from the surrounding weather. Right now, she didn't know what annoyed her more- Entrapta's cheerful attitude, or the two ailments she was currently stuck with for the next few hours, not to mention days with her cold.

"What are you so happy about? We lost everything, Entrapta. The mission was a bust. A failure." It disgust her to consider the fact they failed for a third time in a row, and sickened her knowing what fate awaited her more than the sickness itself. "We have no sword, no Sh-Sh- Achoo!" She sneezed, blowing a bang of hair in front of her. "No She-Ra, no anything. Ghhhh... we didn't even do the mission we came here for." The thought of what awaited her made her shrivel as she hugged herself under the blanket.

"Hordak's going to have my head for this..." It almost made her tear up as she thought about it. She couldn't tell if she should feel worse knowing whatever punishment awaited her, or the fact she proved herself as a substantial failure to the ones she was trying to prove herself to for the last time. All she felt was an equal measure of disgust with herself and all she had tried to accomplish, and failed.

"Failure?" The chirpy scientist ran behind several of the crates still aboard the ship, returning a second later rolling in a large coin-like device grafted by the technology of the First Ones. It held intricate, beautiful, pink symbols across its border, all stretching from the serene pink diamond encrusted in the center. "The mission was a resounding success. Ta-daaaa! I got the First Ones tech!" She squealed hugging the miraculous marvel

"What?" It was nearly enough to make Adora's eyes pop open from the mix of shock, surprise, and happiness filling her, if not for the lack of energy she currently felt. "Where did- When did... How did you even get this?!"

"Oh, the bots salvaged it in their first dig before the creatures got to them." She casually remarked. "I would've said something sooner, but we were having so much fun that I didn't want to say anything. Isn't it amazing? This puppy will be able to power Hordak's portal technology and then some. He'll be so excited when he gets it!" The scientist cackled as she rolled the tech away into the ship.

Adora's never found a greater reason to breathe in relief than she did today. Despite all the ups, which, honestly, there were none of today, and the downs this mission had to offer, she had the pleasure of knowing that Entrapta had done her job successfully, and, more importantly, meant this mission wasn't a failure in the end. Knowing Hordak, it bothered her little if he decided to give the praise to Entrapta for the finding, seeing how she discovered it in the first place.

As long as Adora had a hand in it, that's all that concerned her, knowing it meant she was safe, and she did something right, all thanks to her friend, Entrapta. The day was actually much better than she truly thought. Speaking of which...

"Hhhghhhhh.." She turned to her left as she saw Scorpia still standing there, shivering from the cold as she hugged herself. With the happy look of her friend's face, Scorpia was satisfied enough to leave her be. It was like Frosta said to her earlier; if she wanted to help Adora as best she could, she had to stop bothering her and give her some space, resulting in her sadly walking away from the girl.

She just hoped, however long she did have to wait, it wouldn't be very lo-

*tug*

She was caught by surprise as she felt a small tug on her tail, turning around to see a small tendril stretched several feet away from the Force Captain around her tail, and a solemn-looking Adora looking away, partly in shame, and other in... she couldn't quite put her claw on it.

"Scorpia," she muttered quietly, "could... could you stay? Please?" Without showing it on her face, Scorpia's heart lit up like a star near-instantly. "I... I need to talk to you. Could you-"

"Oh, boy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed, rushing to Adora's side as she sat alongside her, throwing the rest of he blanket over her as the two huddled closely side by side. Despite the massive smile it brought to Scorpia's face, she couldn't help but frown a little after as she noticed the look of sadness on Adora's face as she stared straight ahead. "... So, um..." She scratched the back of her head to think of what to say. "I'm... sorry if I-"

"I'm scared." Adora cut her off, still refusing to look at her as she muttered softly.

"Scared?" Scorpia repeated in confusion. "Of what?" What could possibly scare her? She was brave, she was smart, she was strong. Save for Hordak when he's angry, there shouldn't be anything that could scare Adora.

"Of me." She admitted, further surprising Scorpia. "Scorpia, I... I don't know what's happening to me lately." She held up her hand in worry as she saw the shadowy veins under her skin. "It's like... A-At first, it was all easy, you know. I do a mission here, deal with the shadows later, and... just go about my day, you know? I hung out with you and Entrapta, we used to work together, and everything was fine."

"But now? Just... Lately, I've felt myself lose more and more control over my emotions, and been lashing out. I'm... I'm getting scared that I'm turning into something, and I don't know what..."

"Adora..." Scorpia spoke softly as Adora closed her eyes, seeing small streams of tears pouring from the corners of her eyes. In this weather, tears like that must've stung the moment she opened her eyes again and they froze over, and she didn't care.

"I-I-I do all that I can, but no matter what, it's just... It just keeps building up over and over again, and I feel myself losing more control because of it, and I... I feel like I'm losing myself in all of this." She let out a small hiccup as she shriveled. "The more I mess up, the angrier I get, and I... I lose control of my powers, and I... I..." She hung her head low as she struggled to fight against the tears.

She held in so much after all this time, held everything she could to keep herself together, but in the end, she still wasn't strong enough.

She couldn't hold it in.

"I feel like I'm turning into a monster." A monster she was more than aware of. She knew how she was acting only after she lashed out in rage, she knew what she said to people when she didn't mean it. She became so blunt and direct about her innermost thoughts that she barely registered who she was saying them to, and the fact she wasn't aware of it was what truly terrified her.

"...So what?" The reply threw Adora off guard as she opened her eyes again, looking into Scorpia's as she offered her a sweet smile. "Adora, I don't care if you're turning into a monster or not, you're still my friend."

"You... You don't?" Was Adora losing so much of her senses that she didn't even know if she said the right thing to Scorpia or not? Because she was pretty sure she said-

"So what if you're turning into a monster? It doesn't bother me," she went on, poking Adora's chest, "because I know what the real Adora is like inside and out."

"B-But... What about my anger-" Before she could say, she felt Scorpia wrapping an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her in tighter.

"So you have a few bad days and you get angry and something. And you have shadows coming out of you. So what? Octavia has tentacles, Rogelio has a tail and a lizard-head, it doesn't make them anymore of a monster than you are."

"B-But..." Her glum appearance returned as she looked away again. "I don't even know what I'm turning into... and I'm starting to lose focus of who I am."

"I already know who you are, Adora!" She smiled happily as she tugged again. "You're my friend, my best friend." For the first time, Adora actually looked back to her as the hiccuping stopped.

"You... You are?"

"Of course we are!" Entrapta ensured, appearing right next to the blond on her right, wrapping the other half of the blanket around her as she held it in her arms.

"...Entrapta, how long have you been there for?"

"Since I heard the crying start. I figured this would be a good time to work on my study on human-interactions with people."

"Wow, she's good..." Scorpia complimented, never noticing Entrapta's ninja-like presence like this.

"But it's true all the same, Adora." Entrapta smiled, patting her on the back with her twintail. "Honestly, I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you, much less working with all this great stuff! I owe you a lot, Adora. We both do."

As comforting as it was to hear those words, it still left a small frown on Adora's lowering face. "B-But..."

"Uh-Uh, no buts. No more buts." Scorpia pushed away, waving her claw. "We promise that no matter what happens, we'll always be friends. Best friends."

"Yeah!" Smiling, Entrapta used her long strand of hair to bring Scorpia's claw to Adora's center, along with a smaller strand lifting Adora's pinkie finger to the front. "Along as the three of us are together, nothing bad can happen."

Adora's eyes flashed for a moment as the memory played out again, against her will. The flash of the numerous times she's told Catra, the times Catra said it right back, the moments of her life she never wanted to forget, no matter how much pain it brought her.

"Nothing bad can happen to us as long as we have each other."

"...D... Do you really mean that?" Adora sniffed.

"Of course we do!" Scorpia chirped up. "What are friends for?"

Adora... Adora felt a small smile creeping along her face as she lowered her head again, this time with a bit of warmth in her chest instead of the darkening cold. "T... Thank you..." At at this, Scorpia and Entrapta embraced the three of them tightly, finding comfort, and observations, in the group moment they shared.

This... This is a feeling Adora hasn't felt in a long time, one that she had almost forgotten. It was a sense of warmth, of comfort. To have a friend again, two friends, who vowed to be by her side when she needed them most, ones that... that she promised she would return the favor to... it was comforting.

The hole Catra left in her heart would never be replaced, not that she didn't wish it. The pain she caused her was still unbearable at the thought, and the fear filling its void that things would continue to get worse over the years was horrible to think of. Even now, she knew this moment wouldn't last forever, and for the first time, she actually wished it did.

Whether it was from the scorpion on her left that promised to be her best friend, no matter how angry Adora got at her, or the scientist on her right, who was never bothered whenever Adora yelled at her out of frustration, she knew she could count on them. Whenever she was feeling at her lowest, they could be the ones to bring her back up. No matter what happened in their lives, for the first time, Adora felt like she had genuine people she could count on to be by her side, ones that wouldn't betray her.

And no matter how little it was, it made Adora smile. "Thank you..."

"...By the way, Entrapta," Scorpia spoke up, "if you're here, who's managing the ship?"

Entrapta opened her eyes. "Huh?"

*Crash!*

"... I can fix that!"

...

The silent night was another blessing the Queen was thankful for, like every night, as she traversed the great halls of her castle. Nothing pleases her more than to see her darling daughter return with all of her friends, no worse for wear than when they originally left. Granted, Catra looked a little bitter, more than usual anyway, upon her return, but it was nothing some personal space couldn't fix as everyone else turned in for the day.

Like the many nights she enjoyed seeing, the sky was beautiful as it held the planets that stretched just beyond their reaches, their crimson or aquatic colors lighting up the sky around them as she flew towards the top of her castle. She remembered fondly of when she and Micah used to do this every night, a timeless tradition she wished Glimmer would share.

Not that the girl was interested, mind you, just that the days were far and few inbetween. Not to mention the silence gave the Queen some much needed peace of her own.

From the beautiful chirps of the crickets in the woods and the sound of rushing water from the nearby waterfall, everything, once again, was peaceful for the Queen, as her wings fluttered through the air and landed at the top of her-

"Catra?" The Queen spoke rather surprised as the magicat quickly looked back, sharing in the same.

"O-Oh, hey." She muttered, somewhat embarrassed as she stood up. "Spots all yours, I was just-"

"Nonsense," Angella smiled as she blocked the girl's exit, figuratively since she could climb down from any direction, "please, feel free to stick around."

"No, seriously, it's fine." Catra replied, ducking under the arm without a care in the world, or who she was talking to. "I was just on my way out-"

"Catra, I insist," the queen continued to suggest, lying a hand on her shoulder, "I could use the company."

"I insisss." She snarled, brushing the hand off as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, lay off. I'm going to bed." It was times like this the queen had forgotten how different Catra was to the rest of them. She wasn't just a warrior or hero to the Rebellion, or some respectable young teen who knew her manners.

This was Catra, a hardened soldier of the Horde who kept things personal and to herself, and showed little interest for the people or things around her, the very same who respected her in turn. If she wasn't so used to Catra's behavior by now, such an act would've appalled her to witness out of anyone.

But, this was Catra she was dealing with, and the challenge it brought to her caused Angella to smile a little bit as she grinned. "Very well then, we'll do it your way." She declared, raising a finger to her before she left. 'Catra, as your Queen, I order you to stay here and keep me company."

"Gh-!" Catra froze on the spot with her foot still in the air. Of all the annoyances, all the things she had to put up with, nothing, EVER, was as infuriating as Angella ordering her to do something as her queen. The very act caused a great amount of irritation in Catra as she gritted her teeth, the ends of her hair sticking out as her tail wavered, just as Angella inspected.

With a growl, keeping her mouth closed, Catra sucked up whatever air she could before stomping her way over to the queen. "I hate it when you do that..." If it wasn't for the fact she lived here now, she would've sworn to get revenge on the queen for all she's done. Like, she planned to prank her and the rest like she usually did on a weekly basis, but that's besides the point. "Fine! But I'm out of here in five minutes, got it?" She grumbled, sitting at the queen's side with her knees curled and her arms around her legs, glaring at the ground beneath them.

"Hmhm, very well." Angella smiled as she sat near her, sitting with her legs at the side as she stared up at the planets above them. "Truly is a lovely night for this, isn't it?"

"Yeah... pretty..." She garbled, rolling her eyes again.

"You know, I did this once with Glimmer when she barely came up to my knees. She actually got scared and cried because she thought the planets were going to fall on us from the air. She was about four at the time." She remembered the memory fondly, and the many minutes after it took to calm her down and tell her everything it would be alright.

"Wow, amazing..." Like before, Catra barely paid her any mind as she shifted her eyes away. The fact Catra wasn't enjoying herself wasn't what got Angella to frown, but the way she wasn't enjoying herself seemed off compared to her usual self.

"Catra? Is something wrong?"

"No." She sputtered, a little too quickly for Angella's taste.

"Catra, come now. What seems to be the problem?"

"..." Expectantly, like the usual, Catra reminded silent as she wrapped her tail around her curled legs.

"...It's about Frosta, isn't it?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Her reply was basically confirming what Angella assumed.

"Can you still not find it in your heart to forgive her?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because no, all right!" With a small shout, the girl huffed as she rose to her feet, walking away from the queen. She paid little attention to the woman as she flew in front of the girl, cutting her off. She didn't even care enough to turn the other way and leave again knowing she would just cut her off again. "Do you mind? Get out of the way."

"Catra-"

"Get out of the way!" Grumbling, she physically tried to force the queen to move with her own two arms, forcing the queen to act in turn as she grabbed the girl by her wrist, Catra struggling to pull out of them.

"Why are you being like this?" Not once in her life had she ever met someone so restless, so unwilling to talk about themselves or their issues. Even for the Horde, Catra was something else. "Wouldn't it feel better to get everything off your chest?"

"Gee, lemme think? NO!" She continued to struggle. If it wasn't for the fact it was the Queen she was dealing with, Catra would've been more than happy to scratch her, bite her, or anything else that would've thrown her off.

"Why not?" Unable to get an answer out of the girl, she finally released Catra's wrist as the girl continued to glare. "I know she hurt you Catra, but she's trying to make up for it. The least you could do is appreciate it a little at the very least."

"Tch, that's a laugh. We appreciate when our allies betray us here? No wonder the Rebellion hasn't won yet!"

"How can you..." It was taking everything Angella had not to react to the girl or her antics as Catra walked away again. "Catra, I can't begin to understand why this is so hard for you. I know you have issues with friends, but is it really too hard to think of her like family? To think of her as someone who cares for you like the Horde?" Just as Catra began to leave after all the annoyances, crouching down to prepare her descent down the walls, she stopped.

Angella was taken back a little as she saw the lack of response coming from the girl for a change, instead being drawn by the ears on the side of Catra's head as they slowly lowered with her head. A twinge of guilt rose up in Angella's chest as remembered who she was speaking to. "You... You're not used to being betrayed by people you care about, are you?"

"Oh no, I'm used to it alright. PLENTY!" She had such a fire in her eyes as she looked back, practically stomping her way up to Angella's front as she glared at her. "I cared about who picked on me so I could get back at them, I care about who tried to prank me so I could prank them twice as hard next time. And I definitely cared about the people who used me for their own gain so I could get payback on them as soon as possible!"

"You think I'm being unreasonable in not forgiving them? You guys keep going on and on about being a team and some junk when you don't look at the reality around you. You let people in who stab you in the back when you least expect it, and when you do expect it, you don't know what to do because you care too much about them enough for them to get away with betraying you again! And I refuse to be that gullible!" Grumbling, she stormed over to the front of the castle's roof again, sitting as she did before with her head down.

The guilt that piled up in Angella's chest was heavy as she contemplated her every word. She could very well understand what Catra was coming from, where she was getting all of it, and why she was the way she was. The Horde did things to the cadets they raised that she didn't want to even picture, especially if it was just directed at Catra herself. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't figure out how to fix it.

What could she say to the girl that hasn't already been said before? How would she open Catra's eyes in a way that wouldn't come down on her and let her open her mind a little bit more for the first time? She was the sturdiest person she's ever met when it came to their feelings, the toughest person to break through.

As well as the most sensitive.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I... I keep forgetting who I'm dealing with, or where they're from." Unknown to the apologizing queen, there was a short moment of Catra frowning to herself that only lasted for a few seconds. "I've had a life of hardships too, but I was surrounded by people who loved me, who motivated me to be the person I am today. I just thought that..."

"Thought what?" Catra couldn't wait to roll her eyes at whatever reply she gave her.

"...I thought you would've felt the same way about the people who care for you."

There was no rolling of the eyes. There was no taunting, no teases, ignoring on Catra's part. She wanted to find something to mock about it, something useless to find in it, but she never did for once. For a change, she was left without anything clever or witty to remark. And she didn't know why.

"...I'm going to bed." She announced, getting back to her feet and ready to turn in.

"Catra, wait." Rushing to her side, she grabbed Catra's shoulder from behind, fueling Catra's fire once more.

"For the last time, I'm not-"

"I want to make a deal with you." She was a queen second, and a mother first. And if she couldn't appeal to Catra in one way, then she would attempt to in another, one that played on Catra's fascination with deals. "I'll tell you what- I promise to stop bugging you about your past, about your life, about your days, and I promise to stop giving you direct orders as your Queen, if you can do just one thing for me from now on."

"Yeah, like what?" She groaned knowing it was going to be something stupid. Probably like forcing her to forgive someone, aka Frosta, maybe be nicer around here, which, lets face it, was a total waste of a wish and would never happen, and above all, she would probably ask her to be respectful towards everyone and everything for the rest of her life.

She almost wanted to see how stupid it was going to be.

"I want you to realize that you are no longer in the Fright Zone. You're somewhere safe." ...Ok, there wasn't much stupid in that she could find. But she was willing to bet it was going to get worse! And it did... as she turned Catra around, lowered down to her height, and smiled warmly in her eyes as she stroked Catra's cheek. "And to remember, that within Bright Moon, you're surrounded by people who love you. People who look up to you to forgive them as they forgive you. Can you promise me that?"

Catra was... was speechless for a change. She didn't know what to feel. She didn't feel angry, she didn't feel sad, she couldn't bring herself to say anything stupid about what the Queen announced. In fact, she... she didn't know how to respond. She didn't even feel embarrassed for the first time after hearing something so cheesy, so stupid that she'd rather cough up hairballs instead. She just felt... different... for a moment.

She shifted her eyes away as she gently grabbed Angella's hand, pulling her hand away softly as she tried to find something to say. "U-Um... I-"

"Ah." Angella wouldn't let her respond as she put a finger to her lip. "You have no need to tell me. Instead, I want your actions to speak for them. If you promise to think of everyone in the Rebellion with an open mind, then come sit by me for a short while longer and watch the sky. If not, you may leave of your own volition, and it'll be the last we ever discuss this." With her decree, Angella walked her way back to the center of the roof's ledge, gazing at the stars as she anxiously waited for a response.

She couldn't help it. How could it be helped? She took a small glance at the catgirl who continued to look away with unease, unsure of what to do. When she thought she had actually considered it for a moment, Catra decided to walk away, unsure herself of what to go with. It was a choice that the queen gave in full to the girl, and she still continued to sigh when she saw the result. For a moment, she honestly thought she might've reached her, and the next moment, the feeling went away.

Maybe she didn't push in the right direction, or maybe it was too sudden or hard for her to adapt to. Whichever the case, it was the one she would have to live with as she gazed back at the planets shining down on them.

*-t*

*-at*

*pat*

One which didn't look like she would have to deal with alone. Looking back to the other side, the queen smiled warmly as she saw Catra coming back, having walked around the entire pillar-like top of the castle as she reappeared on her right. Catra didn't give her any direct attention as she sat alongside her again, curled up knees once more as she hugged her legs, looking away.

"...This doesn't mean anything." She muttered, earning a small chuckle from the queen as she unfurled her right wing, wrapping it around the girl, to Catra's blushing face.

"Of course it doesn't." It was more than enough for the queen to enjoy the rest of the night as she stared back at the sky, overjoyed to have a friend to enjoy the show with even if she didn't watch. Catra might not ever change on the outside towards people, but she knew, inside, however small, she was starting to warm up a little.

And it was more than enough to make Glimmer smile as she overheard the entire thing from the windows under them, wearing her PJs as she looked up at the sky in gratitude.

Thanks, Mom...

... And sometimes, people did change.

...

A/N: And with it, another episode down, one with a much warmer ending than the previous one ^^ and hopefully not one that lit someone on fire...

Lol, i'll admit, it felt nice to just write a simple, goofy, episode after awhile. Sure, there was the previous one, but it ended kind of sadly, I'll admit, so to leave one with a refreshing ending felt nice ^^ it was an enjoyable experience to write from beginning to end of this chapter as I did it all within the day. Now, it's time to move on to the next episode, one guaranteeing to leave us with more laughs, less feels, and a whole lot of good times ^^

Which reminds me, what is the next episode anyway? ... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

...Hope you enjoyed, please leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon, god help us all next episode X_X...

Chapter 83: S2 Episode 6: Future of the Past Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.980 Words/10k Pre-A/N's.

*Dons helmet*

*dons feeling-proof vest*

*fortifies anti-feel bunker*

Ok, folks, here we are. What can basically boil down to the 11th episode all over again. We'll have some insight, laughs, and most likely, a heart wrenching conclusion by the end of this. I am not looking forward to my job T_T...

Be forewarned...

Be prepared...

Enjoy.

...

*sheeem*

The figure made its way through the door as it scanned the room from head to toe. The room was barren, save for the usual amenities of the chamber that she had become accustomed to. A simple bed, a large door-sized wardrobe, a table to lounge around along the center, and her many trinkets and enchantments neatly decorating the walls. It was a few wholesome amenities to give this place more life than the rest of the Fright Zone, however little it might seem.

But the appearance of the room wasn't what she came here for.

They didn't come out of sentimentality, they didn't appear to admire the view compared to the rest of this desolate place, oh no. They came here for a very specific and particular reason. A reason that would send many a people to their deaths, a reason she would torture and frighten those foolish enough to trespass on her domain, to invade her personal quarters. And with her coming in through the only entrance, there would be no escape for them.

"How DARE you enter without my consent!" They shouted, their voice echoing throughout the room as they slowly floated around."Do you know what I'll do to you when I get my hands on you?" They listened closely for any sort of sound. A whimper, cry, a simple gulping sound, and were met with nothing. She came closer to the wardrobe as she inspected it, seeing if there was so much as a mere tremor coming from it, or a knock that came from movement.

"Most people are lucky I allow them to leave here alive, vermin." She spat, slowly reaching for the door of the wardrobe's handle. "You'll be lucky enough if I ever let you see the day of light again, cretin!" As soon as her hands clasped the door handle, she quickly threw them open, eyeing the interior from top to bottom. There wasn't a single thing out of place, nor a hint that anyone had touched her belongings.

"You could surrender yourself, you know." She turned her head towards the bed, noticing a small pair of shoes sticking out from under it. "I promise to be merciful if you reveal yourself now." It was the furthest thing from the truth, of course. She had no intention of offering mercy to the miserable wretch that waltzed in here on their own accord. "If you tell me about the Horde, I might even reward you... instead of devouring your essence entirely!"

With her magic, the room's owner shifted the entire bed away from her, scratching the legs against the floor a few feet. To their surprise, the pair of shoes that lied there were simply that- shoes. There wasn't any figure connected to them, though, there was a sign someone had been there earlier compared to the dresser. Given the way they were lined up so openly, it was almost as if the wearer of these shoes placed them perfectly here, almost as if it was a trap-

"Haaah!" The sounds of a small yelling came soaring towards the figure as they screamed their tiny lungs from above. No amount of surprise would keep her from reacting as she quickly turned around, grabbing the person's wrist out of the air, and dangling the questionable figure right in front of her face.

She had caught the perpetrator that dared to defile her room with her presence, and now, she was going to pay!

"...Hehehe!" The young girl giggled, showing no sign of fear as they wiggled their shoeless-toes in the air. They were dressed as any of the other children of the Horde, the four-year-old clad in greyish pants with a white short-sleeve shirt that had a red streak around the fringes of the arms. Though the girl couldn't see it, she could tell the figure's face was smiling as their eyes softened behind the mask. "I almost got'cha that time, mommy!"

"Hmhmhm," the figure returned her comment with a small chuckle, tickling under the girl's chin, "you most certainly did. Soon, you'll be infiltrating the fortresses of those evil princesses before you know it."

"Hahaha!" With another laugh, the small figure threw their arms around the figure's neck, hugging them tightly as the mother figure they knew her to be. In turn, the figure hugged them back as she felt their chin resting on their shoulder. She didn't make a sound to her threats and temptations, she laid a trap to lure her somewhere in the open, and she actually couldn't figure out just how she managed to get up to the ceiling, not that she'd complain.

Shadow Weaver had never been more proud.

"Well done," the small girl pulled her head back as she looked up to her with her sweet, innocent, eyes as Shadow Weaver stroked the side of her face, "my Adora..."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

*beep-beep-beep*

*beep-beep-*

*click*

"Hmmmm Ah." Adora sighed with a breath of fresh air as she stretched her arms out of bed followed by the turn off of her alarm clock. She would've wished to enjoy her pleasant dream for a bit longer, but with the alarm going off, reality returned to her, and another day of work with it. "Time for another great day!" The Force Captain's eagerness didn't come without reason, and boy, what a reason it was.

To think that just a week ago, Hordak made her the new second-in-command, and already everyone was talking about it! She didn't care much for the honors or respect that came from her fellow soldiers at this, but she didn't mind the smiling faces that greeted her each morning, either.

Starting her normal tradition after her morning shower, Adora hummed to herself as she continued to brush her teeth in front of the mirror, wanting to look as presentable as possible for any important meetings she might come across. During this time, she noticed a strand of shadow from her back combing her own hair with barely any control over it, not that she minded.

"That's new." She smiled, thankful for the shadowy magic that she was still trying to get used to. With a spit and a rinse in the sink, she donned the rest of her attire before making her way out of her quarters, ready to get a well-deserved breakfast before her usual meetings.

"Miss Adora!" A pair of younger five-year-old children greeted her with blue and grey hair a piece. Like all young cadets, they were donning the very same clothing she wore at that age.

"Girls, how many times do I have to say?" Adora smiled down to them as she squatted a little. "Just call me Adora, all right?"

"Sure thing, Commander Adora!" The grey-haired one replied, earning a playful shake of the head in Adora's mind.

"Anyway, did you need something?"

"Yeah! Can you come play with us after practice today?" At this, the two girls gently pulled at the older's hands, trying to drag her along with them.

"Yeah! We wanna see your shadow things again!"

"Or more stories!"

"Yeah!"

"Hahaha, girls, I'm sorry, but I can't." She apologized, gently releasing her grip from them, to their frowning faces. "I have a lot of stuff to do today. Meetings, check-ins, all the boring stuff."

"Awwww!" They pouted.

"But," she continued, piquing their curiosity in an instance, "if you two behave today, I might just bring some cookies this afternoon if you promise to share."

"Huh! Really?" The blue-haired girl gasped with excitement.

"Real cookies? Not just the ones that taste all crusty?" The other added, rubbing her knuckles together as she squealed.

"With chocolate chips." Adora nodded. "But you better hurry, you don't want to be late for your next training session, or I might have to reconsider..."

"Ahh! We're going!" The grey one said again as both ran off. "Thanks Miss Adora!" They both waved in unison as Adora chuckled, giving them a small wave back as she continued several feet down the hall until she reached the intersection.

"Commander!" A pair of guards approached, greeting her with the usual salute that they always did with the commander saluting back.

As per the usual, the one to the right was carrying a small clipboard with a sheet of paper attached to it, handing it to the commander. "We have that new requisition form you requested from the outpost near Leafless."

"Ah, I was wondering where that was." She replied with her usual smile.

"I don't see why they need to request new supplies. After you convinced Leafless to to align with the Horde, they've been donating their resources to the station."

"Well, better safe than sorry. Plus, some of the requisitions are for the surrounding villages too." She explained, giving the paper a quick check-through before signing it, returning it to the guards after. "Wouldn't look very good for us if we just accepted everything from them without giving something in return other than protection and security."

"I'll say. Thanks again, commander." With a final salute, the guards said their goodbyes as they made their way on to their other duties.

"Adora!" Adora was already smiling as she saw Scorpia greeting her for the morning, running in with excitement from the other hallway.

"Morning Scorpia. What's up?" With such an active friend like her, there were a handful of things it could've been. She might've wanted to hang out, hang out longer, play some games, or for the more essential side of things, needed to discuss something important for an upcoming mission.

Usually it was never the latter.

"Hey, Adora! I was wondering if you wanted to watch the young cadets again this morning." Scorpia offered with a smile.

"Did somebody say cadets?" An eager scientist by the name of Entrapta wondered, dropping down from the pipes in the ceiling as she hung along her hair. "I've been meaning to study their training regime and equipment. I think I'm on the verge of creating a new algorithm that'll increase training efficiency by 17%!" Like everything Entrapta studied, she couldn't wait to see the results! She just needed a few more hours of observations before things would be perfect.

Adora gave a small chuckle as she smiled to the two. These were the things she fought for within the Horde. Her home, her respect, her friends, and the very people she considered family. They were definitely dysfunctional like any other family, but she couldn't ask for a better one than this.

From the people that casually greeted her in the morning to the children who aspired to be like her, what more could she ask for? She had status here, access to how things were run, alliances she could help form within the world. With every town that joined them came another portion of Etheria uniting under the Horde. And the more people and places she allied with brought her another step closer to uniting all of Etheria together, and with it, a possible everlasting-peace.

She couldn't ask for a better life... even if there were a few things of her past she wished to change.

"Well, I can't really say no if you guys are so eager for it." She replied, leading the way as the two smiled brightly behind her. "Let's go!"

This, was paradise.

...

1 1/2 Months Later...

*beep-beep-beep*

*beep-beep-be-*

*CRACK!*

With a drowsy irritation filling her mind, the Force Captain barely registered as she shattered the entire clock with a large shadowy fist, nor did she care in the slightest. With a groan of exhaustion and sleep still fresh in her mind, the Adora lazily got up from the bed, the large dark blanket slowly dangling off of her to reveal the restless expression the commander usually woke up with these days. Eyes heavy with slumber, strands of hair dangling over her face, and a constant urge to go back to sleep.

This was torture.

Once again, she went through the same annoying routine to freshen up for the day as she slowly brushed her teeth back and forth without much effort or care. "Ow!" A minute into it she felt her hair get snagged from the brush, letting out a quick yelp as she tried to untangle the mix of hair in the brush the shadow got mixed up in.

She was so tired from her constant days of work and paperwork that she barely got dressed by the time she got out the door, just donning her jacket after several minutes as she exited the doorway. Even this would prove too much for the young commander to handle as she got her head stuck briefly along the collar, struggling to pull it over her head until something collided harshly into her knee.

"Ah!" She yelped again, running her right knee as she hopped a few times on the left leg. Getting her head through the jacket didn't diffuse the anger she had welling up as she glared at the two kids who bumped into her. "Watch where you're going!" She yelled. It surprised no one that the kids were instantly brought to tears from fright, running down in the opposite direction as fast as they could.

"Ek! Sorry Miss Adora!" They apologized, distancing themselves as fast as they could from the angry blonde. Adora continued to look on in disgust for a little bit as she adjusted the collar of her jacket, still carrying the dark bags under her eyes as she straightened out her uniform.

"You hear about the outpost near Leafless?" She overheard a guard saying from around the corner. Her curiosity got the better of her as she stepped carefully over to the edge, listening in on whatever information they had.

"Yeah," the other guard replied, "whole town just up and attacked the outpost with the Rebellion's help." Adora's eyes widened in shock at the announcement before she rolled them, shaking her head in dismay as she continued to listen. "Can't say I'm too surprised, really. The Rebellion's been pushing back more and more thanks to She-Ra's help."

"Man, wish we had her on our team." The other shrugged. "Least then we'd have some capable people around here."

"Excuse me!?" Making her presence known, the raging Force Captain appeared from behind the corner, her shadows drawn to her arms as an oversized claw on her right sunk into the metal of the walls. "What did you just say about being capable?!" Seriously, after all she did for this place, all the people and allies she continued to make, she still had to deal with the fallout when even one of their alliances fell! Maybe they would be more appreciative if she was the one forcing them instead!

"A-Ahh! Sorry Commander, I-I-I wasn't referring to you, honest! Y-You're doing a great job!" The guard trembled, slowly backing away with the other frightened guard.

"Y-Yeah! Really!" The other guard gulped as he tried to simmer Adora's boiling anger. "So what if you have a few unsuccessful missions? It's not like Catra's better than you-"

"WHAT!?" One of the handiest things about Adora's shadows was how useful they were to determine how angry Adora was about something when she was outraged. For example, the tendrils slowly rising from her shadows were proof that someone might not survive within the next two minutes.

"I-I mean She-Ra! I-I-I m-meant She-ra, sir! Sorry, sir! I-"

"Leave!" The guards didn't need to be told a second time, much less once, as they rushed to escape the maddening woman as fast as they could. There had yet to be any reports about Adora's anger towards her own soldiers, and everyone was extremely thankful for that. They were also afraid of being the first ones to ever experience Adora's anger, thus she was almost twice as feared as she was thanked.

"Adora!" The sound of Scorpia's voice approaching behind her was proving to be less and less encouraging with each passing day, Adora doing all that she could to calm herself as the shadows dissipated around her. No matter how angry she got, she refused to take it out on her friends, turning around with a forced smile as she prepared her day from here on.

"H-Hey... Scorpia. What's-" She dropped her questioning as she saw the abundance of papers in Scorpia's hand, followed by the worried look on the girl's face as she handed one of the stacks to her.

"We just got a new shipment of requisition forms from the remaining few outposts in Leafless." She checked her surroundings to make sure the coast was clear, as if never understanding the person she should be wary of saying this too was the Force Captain in front of her. Still keeping an eye on the halls, she leaned in closely as she whispered, "I don't know if you've heard, but the Rebellion recaptured half the outposts there a few days ago. The Horde needs supplies at the remaining few on the double."

"All of this work?" Adora moaned, eyeing the stack in her arms that stretched from her waist to her eyes.

"Oh, no. There's this half too." Scorpia's correction could not have come at a worse time as she dropped the second half on the pile Adora was already carrying, causing her legs to buckle as she trembled over the massive wait.

"S-Sc-ScorpiaaaaAHHH!" With the weight of the day's events already pushing her down plus the newly added paperwork thrown into her arms, Adora finally collapsed. In an instant, hundreds of sheets of paper were sent flying in every direction of the poor commander who's face filled with an upsetting moan as the papers covered her legs almost entirely and scattered throughout the halls.

This was the life Adora had for about the last two months. This was the life she was most likely going to have for the rest of her future. And there wasn't anything she could do about it for the time being.

She's suffered loss after loss within the last few missions alone, all of which Lord Hordak looked down upon in disgust. Failing to obtain more First Ones tech from the Beacon, even though She-Ra was underpowered at the time, unable to convince a member of the Princess Alliance to join sides after being taken hostage on her own mission, and losing the alliance with the Kingdom of Snows, not to mention Frosta herself, her losses were few yet great all around.

So much so that she was fortunate that the previous mission they were assigned to went on without a hitch. Well, not so much that it went off flawlessly than it did with the mission being successful as normal. She owed that part to Entrapta recovering the First Ones tech herself, but she still wished the other half of her mission went on with the same success.

During their mission to investigate the Northern Reaches for ancient technology, she came across a virus-laced disk Entrapta had been studying left behind from the first ones. With it, Adora managed to actually infect Catra with the virus, making her She-Ra state go berserk and attack everyone, friends and enemies alike. After a brief struggle of getting the sword away from the enraged wildcat, she was left in such a disorderly state that proved to be of no threat or concern to them at all!

Just thinking about how much they loss by the end of that day still nagged at Adora's mind for the last several days. Picturing it all, the fact they obtained the sword, captured She-Ra, aka Catra, and had a virus they could study and use to take control of She-Ra herself. It would be the greatest weapon the Horde had ever accomplished, and a matter of sweet justice and irony that Adora would unleash her on the very Rebellion that stood in the Horde's way.

Unfortunately, like everything, things didn't go as planned. By the end of their mission, they were attacked by several members of the alliance along with a large group of insectoid-like creatures that assaulted the outpost in outrage. With her friend's life on the line as they invaded the interior of the facility, Scorpia was forced to destroy the very disk in order to save Adora's life, retreating with her and Entrapta soon after.

While she was glad they at least got the technology they came for, she was still disappointed that they failed to return with a prize as large as She-Ra. Just thinking of all the past mistakes this would've made up for, all the times Hordak called Adora his failure. She had a perfect opportunity to reflect those accusations at long last, to earn the respect of her peers that she always dreamed of, and at the last moment, they slipped through her shadowy fingers once again.

Still, at least with the mission's main priority proving to be a success, it did mean Adora got to keep her freedom for a bit longer, seeing how she had one last chance to prove herself, less she be imprisoned for her multiple failures by Hordak himself.

She just wished the rest of her life could get a little easier as well.

No matter how successful the official mission was, or the comfort she took in knowing she still had true friends by her side, it still didn't alleviate the amount of work and stress that came about with each passing day. With everyday that passed, another stack of paperwork fell into her hands to help file and sort out the numerous alliances they achieved, and if one of those outposts were attacked by the very same people, she needed to double her efforts and reassess the distribution process to the proceeding outposts near them.

The worst part of it was that Adora had nobody else to blame but herself. All these alliances she's formed with people, the amount of resources they obtained and had to redistribute, and everytime an alliance fell apart, it was, mostly, her fault. There wasn't a single soldier she could point the blame to even if she wanted to, and there was no way she could blame any of her friends on this. The fault was hers and hers alone, and she had to deal with that for the rest of her life.

"Adora, are you okay?" Scorpia asked worriedly, quickly swiping the papers that continued to rain from the air and the several that covered Adora's head. As the self-proclaimed "Adora's-best-best-friend", which Adora agreed to at long last, at least the best friend part, she's been doing whatever she could to help Adora with her burden, struggling to make sense of what was always getting to her and to keep herself from making things worse.

"Ugghhh..." Groaning, Adora rubbed her forehead, trying to forget the papers actually existed for just one minute. "You'd think this job would actually get easier somewhere down the line." She commented.

"Aw, come on, it's not all bad." Scorpia tried to cheer up. "You've got me and Entrapta behind your back, for starters, and anyone else you can ask for help. Plus you're not stuck in a holding cell like Shadow Weaver, so you don't have to worry about that, right?"

"...Shadow Weaver?" Repeating the name back, Adora's eyelids lifted a little as she looked to the watch on her left wrist, turning her eyes of tiredness into eyes of disbelief as she saw the time. "Aghhhh! It's almost time for her morning meal. Why did I wake up so late?!"

"Did you remember to turn the clock back on your alarm last night?" Scorpia asked, a question that Adora didn't need answering as her look said it all. "I'll... take it as a no."

"Huff, will you take care of these papers for me for a bit, Scorpia?" Adora asked as she stood up from the piles of papers that surrounded her. "I shouldn't take long, hopefully."

"Yeah, sure Adora!" Scorpia smiled back to the girl who didn't bother waiting for a response she knew the answer to. She didn't like wasting Scorpia's time like this, but what other choice did she have? Every time her schedule was thrown out of balance, that resulted in more work catching up to her and another headache she later had to deal with.

Somehow, her daily food delivery with Shadow Weaver of all people was starting to become the highlight of her day out of this nightmare of a career.

...

*sskk*

Like many other days, many other times in her recent life, Shadow Weaver scratched another line into the cell's walls, keeping track of the days she spent here, track of the amount of time she's wasted away since Adora's betrayal.

Times such as this left Shadow Weaver wondering where it went wrong in her life. What sort of anger did the girl have building up inside of her? What drove her to possibly betray the closest thing Adora had to a mother, to any family, around here? She knew well enough about Catra's involvement in the midst of things, but how much could she have done to turn Adora into something like this?

Still, she couldn't complain, given the amenities. And by amenities, it meant the one screen monitor she had installed specifically within her room. Maybe it was a small ounce of Adora's guilt that brought her to it, or perhaps, even more likely, it was to mock her as it displayed the environment around them, showing Shadow Weaver what she would never get to see with her own eyes again.

Whichever the case, it still proved to be a little more helpful to the witch as she continued to keep track of the number of days she's spent in here, counting off the days as the only activity she could afford to maintain her sanity around these metallic walls.

With a sigh, the witch leaned back against the walls, wondering what other goodies the day would eventually bring her.

"You might as well stop while you still have walls to scratch on." Like the sound of Adora's voice as she greeted her at the door of her cell. As per the usual, she was greeting her with a typical tray of food like she always did, several ration bars and a glass of water that all prisoners were given around here. "It's not like you're ever getting out of here."

"Always one with the pleasantries," Shadow Weaver looked back as she watched the girl unlock her cell, "aren't you, Adora?" Adora gave no sign of replying to her as she walked over to her, preferring to hand the tray over as she usually did, and unintentionally giving the woman a better look of her tired expression. "And look at those lines under your eyes." She teased. "I guess you must've been doing a marvelous job to look as tired as you do now."

The girl grimaced at the response as she dropped the tray at this, splashing the water against the floor carelessly as she started to walk away. "I am doing a great job, for your information. And I'll continue to do a great job!"

"Then why are you so tired?" The question made Adora pause at the entrance again as she walked out the door. "If you ask me, someone doing a great job wouldn't be looking like they just got out of bed, nor would they be dealing with paperwork on a daily basis. But, then again, someone doing a great job wouldn't have betrayed me in the first place, so it's not too surprising."

Needless to say, the young girl shot her a spiteful glance, practically slamming the door controls as she locked up the cell again. "Pretty big talk coming from the woman who'll be spending the rest of her life trapped in here." Without another word, a chance to give Shadow Weaver to retort, Adora walked away.

From behind the mask, Shadow Weaver's expression would've been unknown to anyone but Adora. They wouldn't know if she was planning, they wouldn't know what sort of schemes she was thinking, and they would't be able to discern how much of a threat Shadow Weaver still remained. There wasn't an ounce of fear or regret in her eyes as she gingerly picked up the remaining water in the glass, swishing it back and forth in front of her.

Even now, behind this barrier, the walls displayed all the information she would need within her life, the number of tallies she scratched in day in and day out.

"Oh, Adora." She said softly. "You're more of a prisoner than you truly know..."

...

Hordak's inner sanctum. A place reserved for only the most trusted of Hordak's followers who were far and few between. It was within this sanctum that the leader of the Horde, Hordak himself, donned his daily attire with the assistance of his machine. Grafting armor and tools to his person that would amplify his being, in power and display, as they attached various armaments to his limbs and body.

No matter how busy he was or how important his work was, this was an essential part of his day as he continued to run the Horde with his own two hands. He relied on the machine to deal with the parts of his day that he couldn't be bothered with, every second of his life devoted to the foundation of the Horde and his conquest of Etheria.

Here, the machines personalized his outfit as he saw fit, equipping him with state-of-the-art weaponry and tools that he would possibly need throughout the day. Although the tools he was equipped with were nothing less than extraordinaire, that didn't mean the machines gifting him with his devices were without fault. Such as the lone mechanical arm that accidentally scraped against his seemingly-charred back painfully.

"Ahhh!" He growled, swiping away the mechanical part with anger. No matter how perfect he made himself out to be, he was always surrounded by what he felt were incompetent tools, items that were no less useful than a mechanical nut. He needed these tools to do his work for him, not the other way around!

He narrowed his eyes as he marched over to the tossed tool, eyeing the piece in a second of curiosity. The device was one of the more essential pieces to his hardware, something that he required each day to get his work done. Reaching for it with his charred arms, he silenced his own anger as he saw the hand right next to the useless piece of machinery that he would have to reattach.

In some ways, he could relate to the machine entirely.

They were both falling apart.

"Awwwhn..." Adora sleepily yawned as she approached, trying her best to wake up within his presence. "Good morning, Lord Horda-!" If she needed a wake-up call, this was exactly what she required. Upon seeing the current state he was in, she dropped to one knee in respect, unaware of his current condition as she lowered her head. "F-Forgiveness, sir! I didn't know you were... busy."

How else was she supposed to describe the state he was in? He looked like someone melted part of his limbs then reattached them molecule by molecule in an open fire, with ports and openings along his back that looked like someone jammed them in there with a mallet.

And she thought her arm looked bad! While her arm looked almost identical to the state of his own limbs, at least she could still see some pigment of skin with her withering arm.

Ignoring the ignorant Force Captain, he proceeded to get their brief meeting underway, placing his hands behind his back as the machine continued equipping him with his attire. "Why is Shadow Weaver still in the Fright Zone, commander?"

"S-She's... She's a prisoner, my Lord." Adora replied lifting her head. "One that can still be a valuable asset."

"She's a dangerous asset, Force Captain." He instantly shot her down without any care of Shadow Weaver's uses in mind. He knew what he wanted as the machine donned his infamous cape along his back. "I want her banished to Beast Island, at once."

"W-What?!" Adora nearly jumped to her feet at the notion, something she instantly regretted as he returned her questioning with a sinister scowl. "Eh, I-I mean." She breathed quickly to clear her throat. "Lord Hordak, she can still be useful to us, I know she can! We- I, just need to get her to talk, honest! She knows more about Etheria than anyone else in the Horde. She's the only prisoner with any value-"

"Who's knowledge also threatens the Fright Zone itself!" He stated, marching up to the anxious girl. "Have you considered the consequences if that information were to fall into the wrong hands?"

"Without the Black Garnet, she's completely powerless!" Adora inadvertently corrected, unaware of how it appeared if anyone else was listening in. "I can handle her-!"

*squinch*

"Ngh!" Adora held back a yelp as Hordak suddenly grabbed her right hand in his left, squeezing it tightly as the fragile girl attempted to pull it out of his grip without the use of her magic. It felt like he was practically pushing the bones together in his tightening grip, the aging-like growth along half her right arm making it hurt immensely.

"You mean the very same Black Garnet you continue to miraculously draw power from, Force Captain?" Did she honestly think he was oblivious to everything else in her life? It wasn't hard to see how the room was built for Adora to forcibly siphon the Black Garnet's energy through her body in order to maintain her condition. "If someone like you can draw power from the stone through technology alone, then that ability still makes Shadow Weaver just as much of a threat, doesn't it?"

She winced as he released his intense grip from Adora who was doing everything in her power to ignore the pain and to keep from rubbing it. She wouldn't dare to try and correct him about how she's circulating the magic back into the stone to clear her veins of the shadow power's unfortunate downside.

*Bzzzt!*

With a loud hum and the spark of electricity, the two suddenly found themselves in the dark as the lights went out. Immediately reacting to the sudden darkness, acting on the defensive, Adora drew her shadows to both her arms, trying to get some hit of a noise or indication as to whatever was going on. It could've been an enemy attack, one using the cover of the blackout to infiltrate the facilities at this very moment.

*clang*

Adora jumped as she turned around, seeing a dark silhouette appearing behind her, one that looked like a monstrous growth from some creature yet unseen. It had tentacle like appendages sprouting all over its body, glowing red eyes it slowly pulled from its face. The tentacles themselves spread all around itself as it felt around its surroundings, perhaps blinded by the recent darkness as much as Adora was, using its tentacles to feel around for its prey.

It was hideous! It was revolting! It was-

*zzt*

Entrapta.

"Oh, hi Adora!" Entrapta greeted with the always-perky smile as the lights came back to life. The tentacles were nothing more than the large bundles of hair she had stretched all over, sitting in a makeshift chair of them as she looked around. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a Force Captain, Entrapta." Adora replied, returning her shadows. "I'm supposed to be here. What are you doing here?"

"I've been integrating the First Ones' tech we got from the Northern Reach into Hordak's pre-existing portal mainframe." She eagerly explained, hopping to her feet as her hair recoiled. "But it maybe slightly, completely overloaded the Fright Zone energy grid."

*BANG*

All three heads turned to the ceiling at the brief sound of a minor electrical explosion going off. "So we're going to have to redesign that." She finished, walking to Hordak's side.

"What Entrapta is doing does not concern you, Force Captain." Hordak seethed, to Adora's surprise.

Even now, Adora continued to question what Hordak saw in her. Yes, she was a brilliant scientist. Yes, she was a professional in every field of study, and Adora couldn't be prouder of the fact she was recognized by someone like Hordak in her life. But what, specifically, was it that drew him to her all the time? What about her made Hordak recognize her contributions over Adora's?

Was he displeased by the recent string of results? That would be understandable, given all that's happened over the last few weeks. But that still didn't explain the unhinged glare he always gave Adora, the way he seemed bothered by her presence whenever she was near with reports to make. Did she do something else wrong? Did she not address her the same way properly like Entrapta did, however she did?

It was a complete mystery to her.

As the two stared at each other for the following ten seconds, Entrapta shifted her eyes as she noticed the small silence filling the room, the tension building in the air. "...Oh. Were you having a meeting?" She finally asked, breaking the muteness. "Sorry, again. I guess I should be going." She said as she pulled herself up to the air using her hair and a pipe above her.

"No," Hordak brushed off with a wave of his hand, stopping Entrapta, "you stay." As she lowered back to her feet, the leader of the Horde made his way to the Force Captain again, standing with the same presence of authority and terror he instilled in everyone. "You have two days to extract whatever information you can from the prisoner. Then you will banish her to Beast Island."

"T-Then?" Adora wondered if he misheard him. "Don't you mean, "or", if she doesn't-"

"THEN," he hissed, "you will banish her to Beast Island! Do you understand?" He lowered his glowering red eyes closer to the tensed girl. "Or do I have to make myself understood?" She didn't need a reminder of what trying to "understand him" referred to. She already had that experience twice thus far, and she wasn't looking forward to a third.

This wasn't just a matter of him not listening to her or the other way around. If she failed to do this, like he warned, she would be joining in a cell right next to her former mentor.

Sighing in defeat, dejected, Adora lowered her head to him. "No, Lord Hordak. I understand."

"Good. Dismissed." He calmly ordered, appearing to be the only time he ever spoke softly to her nowadays. Sulking, Adora left as she was ordered, descending from the throne of stairs as she made her way over to the entrance.

"We should be able to initiate our first test of the portal machine as soon as I rebuild the electrical grid. " Before she left the room, she turned to see Hordak and Entrapta already speaking, the scientist perched on the arm of his throne as if they were equals, chatting away to the Leader of the Horde as if she never understood his importance. What's worse, the leader appeared to be listening intently, as if he was actually interested in what someone had to say.

This was among the many things that nagged at Adora as she finally exited the inner sanctum, trying to clear her mind of the image. Of all the things that plagued her day in and day out, the lack of respect or approval she earned from Hordak reached the top of the list. If just once he could acknowledge her of her achievements then she would be glad to take all of this stress as being worth it, a sign of recognition that he valued her support.

Was it too much to ask from him? Probably. He was the leader of an entire army, after all. An army she was still determined to unite all of Etheria with. She worked tirelessly to ensure her vision was a reality, did all the work she could to keep from burdening the others, and not once did he recognize her value.

It was like she thought before, the fact she lost their alliance with one of the major kingdoms definitely left a blemish on her record as a Force Captain. She just wished she knew what to do in order to fix all of this.

"Dear Diary." Oh, and that unnecessary nag to her life.

If the sound of Hordak's approval was at the top of her list of things she most desired, then the sound of Aroda's irritating voice was at the bottom of things she wanted out of her life! So much so, that she'd have to clip on an entirely new page just to prove how much she wanted her gone. For what reason? Oh, only the daily annoyances she pestered Adora with, such as pretending to write in a diary as she floated alongside her down the halls.

"Today, my hero rejected me once again and failed to notice all of the wonderful things I continue to do for the Horde." She didn't need to look at Adora to know that she was getting to her. She lived inside of her head, after all. "I mean, sure, there's like a HUNDRED different things I keep failing at, but as long as I try my hardest and prove how dedicated I am, that should be all that matters, right?"

"Not now, Aroda." Adora mumbled as her brow lowered, keeping the focus on her walking.

"Geez, I barely got started yet and you're already in a bad mood." Aroda commented, pretending to toss away the pen and diary. "What's wrong?"

"If you're in my head, you should already know."

"I know, but it's always so much fun to hear you say it yourself." She grinned. Noticing the lack of reaction she was getting out of the girl, her curiosity heightened as she poked her chin. "Hmm... Is it the fact all of your hard work has been going down the drain lately?"

Silence.

"Maybe someone's a little jealous of the attention someone else is getting? Not that I can blame her, I mean she doesn't ever seem to mess up around here."

A twitch of the fingers followed by silence.

"...Ooooh, I bet I know." A sly smile crossed Aroda's face as she leaned in closer to Adora's right ear. "Maybe it's because someone's mommy is going to go bye-bye~"

"She's not my mother!" Adora shouted angrily with a glare.

Oh, Aroda just loved when Adora reacted like this. It was even better when Adora was aware of how she suddenly reacted, then tried to move on like it was nothing. It was like a game the two played that they only knew the rules of and they enjoyed.

Minus the fact Adora hated every second of it and didn't consider it anywhere near a game to begin with.

"Oh, of course noooot." It was times like this Adora wished she could tell someone like Entrapta just so she could get rid of her. At the same time, it was also a ridiculous idea, because people usually didn't take to the idea that their friend has a random spontaneous friend talking to them out of nowhere verily well, much less at all with a straight face. "She's just the woman who raised you, taught you, trained you in everything you know. But you're right, that's definitely not what a mother does."

"You wouldn't understand even if you could see everything in my mind." Adora's determination proved to be an amusing obstacle, at best, as Aroda listened intently.

"Shadow Weaver never cared for me to begin with. All this time, since the day I was founded, she nurtured me just so she could use me to overthrow Hordak. She wanted to use me as a weapon to take him down so that she could rule, using me as a figurehead. She's almost worse than Catra! The only difference is that she was at least open about it towards the end, and she always reminded me that our relationship together was strictly professional. There wasn't any love involved."

Now, usually, Aroda would listen to whatever drivel Adora had to say with a curious mind. What sort of pokes and prods could she endure before Adora snapped and said something else to her? Here, the reflection had a bored look on her face as she floated on her back next to Adora's side.

"...Annnd... This is different from how Hordak uses you, how?" She asked.

"How can you even compare the two?!" No matter what retaliations Adora had to make, she had to be careful around Aroda. Everything and anything she said, Aroda would always try to twist it around with a few simple words. "Hordak is a hero who brought the Horde together. He deserves all the respect and admiration he's given, unlike Shadow Weaver, who only did it for her own personal gain!"

"Oh, I seeeee." Oh no, the dreaded grin of Aroda. Adora always knew it was a bad sign. "When it comes to Hordak, you need to work for his respect, and no matter how hard you try, he'll always shun you. Whereas Shadow Weaver gave you all the possible love you could ask for from the day you were born, appreciating every little thing you did for her and the Horde, yet you loathe her for it." Adora stopped at this as she lowered her head a little.

This was what Aroda lived for. Pointing out the obvious to the girl whether she wanted to or not. No matter how much she could accept or deny, there were some things that sounded too direct to ignore, too big to look past. And the look of Adora's face whenever she realized this for herself was always priceless.

"Face it, Adora." Aroda said as she slowly disappeared. "Shadow Weaver was the best thing that ever happened to you, and ever will..." If there was one thing more annoying to Adora than when Aroda appeared, it was always when she left after. Why? Because it always had to be with her getting the last say in things!

She always left Adora to stew in her thoughts, to rile her up like a bull waiting to make a mad run for something. Often times, Adora needed to clear the space between her and whatever was around her to keep from making a scene. At others, she did her best to tune out any and all possible talk about it, even though it left her thinking of the thing for several hours after.

But this? This! This was the one thing Adora refused to let up on. She knew what Shadow Weaver was truly like right now, what she is and will be. She was so positive of the fact that she shrugged it off as she squeezed her gloved fist for the first time after one of Aroda's rants.

"You're wrong, Aroda." Adora was sure of it as her expression hardened, continuing on down the hallway. "That woman never cared about me. And I never should've cared for her..."

...

"Hmm..." The masked woman looked around her altar as she searched for something.

A piece of wood, some sort of sheet of wool she didn't need, anything flammable. She had nearly all the preparations she needed to work on a new scrying spell, and was just missing some kindling to complete the ritual. It was hard to find something she didn't need around here, having taken measurement of all the basic essentials every day before her new task. So why was it taking so long to find something else to burn?

"I may have to press an officer for some new supplies." She commented to herself, mentally sighing. It looked like her spell would have to wait another day before testing out.

*sheeem*

"Mama, mama!" Adora greeted eagerly as she ran through the door.

"Adora, sweetheart, what did I say about calling me that?"

In an instant, the four-year-old girl stopped in her tracks, looking off to the side with a small, but brief, frown. "Oh, s-sorry. I mean, Shadow Weaver." With her expression renewed, she quickly rushed up to the floating figure in excitement.

"And did someone forget about disturbing me when I'm busy?"

"I know, and I'm sorry, but look!" With a toothy lisped grin, she held up a piece of paper, the witch accepting it without hesitation to see what the commotion was for. She eyed the paper itself curiously, surprised at the conveniency of the page. "We made it in awt class today! I made it-"

"Thank you, deary." Without any word of warning, using her magic, Adora watched as the sheet of paper levitated to the center of the round altar-like bowl that took the center of the Black Garnet chamber. Before she could ask, Adora's eyes widened in terror as a small green flame suddenly erupted from the page, the flame spiraling in a circle for a short period before circling the rim of the bowl itself.

With a small dash of spectral dust from Shadow Weaver's pocket, the spell came to life as the ritual was complete. While it was a little disorganized, the scrying spell worked perfectly as it displayed a view of the Whispering Woods, the border that kept the Rebellion safe from the Horde's clutches. In time, she could develop this spell to work on specific locations and or people. For now, it was the results that mattered, and results were always a fortune within the Horde.

"Mmmhmhm..." The sound of a low sniffling caught Shadow Weaver's attention again as she looked down to her left. There, she was almost surprised to see a sniveling face belonging to Adora, the girl struggling to hold back the tears rolling down her face.

"Adora, are you crying?" She asked knowingly.

"N-No!" Adora sniffed, wiping what little of her tears she could with her small arms. She knew what Shadow Weaver's policy about crying was. Not within her presence, and not within the Horde.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I," she sniffed again, "I made that for you!"

"For... me?" She looked back to the round altar. With all the excitement she had building up, she had completely forgotten that Adora didn't come here for a social visit. She came bearing something she wanted to show Shadow Weaver, something she made with her own two hands, which was now ruined, thanks to the mother-figure of her life. "O-Oh... I see..."

She did have to admit, she did feel slightly guilty over the ordeal, being one of the first times anyone's given her a gift since joining the Horde. "Well... I appreciate the sentiment, the thought, I mean, anyway." She tried easing whatever burdens the girl was currently feeling as she patted her head.

"No you don't! You hate it!" Adora sniffled, unable to hold back the flow of tears. Why did she hate it so much? She barely looked at it before setting it on fire! Was it something she did? Did she not like the picture? Or did she not like Adora herself? Huh, what if she hated her?! "You didn't want to look at it, so you burned it!"

"Adora, sweetheart..." The witch lowered herself partway as she took Adora's small arms in her hands. "I don't need any fancy gifts from you to know how much you appreciate me." She said as she stroked away some of her tears with her thumb.

"You... You don't?" She asked as sher sniffling began to subside.

"Of course not." She patted her head again as she rose back up. "All I need from you is to do your best within the Horde, and be better than everyone else."

"Be better?"

"Yes, Adora. Prove that you're the best of the best. Become stronger, smarter, and kinder than everyone else, and I'll know how much you care for me." She cupped Adora's chin between her finger and thumb gently. "Can you do that?"

In truth, working towards Adora's kindness was a necessity she needed to strengthen around here. In a place like this where the kind were shunned and brought down, making someone kinder would also force them to be stronger, too. She needed someone who was filled with kindness, someone she could rely on to never betray her in the future.

"Mmmh..." Adora still had a small frown on her face before she nodded back to Shadow Weaver. She still wished she would have appreciated the picture a little more before she burned it. Then again, if she only needed Adora to be the best that she could be, then guessed she could live with it. "Okay. Sorry, ma- I mean, Shadow Weaver."

"It's alright, dear." Shadow Weaver cooed, stroking the side of her face once more. "Now, run along. I'm sure one of your instructors are looking for you right now."

"Ooh! I forgot to ask to leave!" She eeped, running for the door as fast as her short legs could carry her. "Bye, Shadow Weaver!" She waved, Shadow Weaver's waving being the last thing she could see before the doors closed again.

Waiting until she was out of her view, the shadowy witch returned to her practice, examining the pool of images that came flooding in from the altar one after the other. She would need to study it in length, from how long it lasted, how much it could show her, and how far it could reach. It would prove to be a tiring task depending on how long it lasted, but it was essential for her research.

"..."

"..." She glanced back at the door for a moment before looking into the pools again. Now that she thought of it, it might take days for this spell to wear off on its own, provided it could at all, and she had plenty of other times where she knew she was more free to experiment. With one last look to the door, she raised her hand above the bowl.

Like stands of twine coming together, the small flames that made up the scrying slowly became undone, the spell itself coming to an end with it. With every flicker of ember, making sure not to lose a single piece, Shadow Weaver concentrated as she gave the flame its original shape again, slowly forming the loose piece of paper that Adora gave her back together. It took a smidge of effort on her part, but eventually the picture was whole once more.

With it whole, she plucked the paper from the air as she examined it closely. It was about as much as she could expect from a four-year-old's drawing. It was a sloppy depiction of her and Adora smiling, Shadow Weaver almost finding it cute as she put a smile over the mask Shadow Weaver always used like it was her face, holding hands as they stood outside in the Fright Zone, with what Shadow Weaver had to assume was the metal of the machinery and buildings in the background, seeing how it was varying shades of grey and brown.

It was sloppy, that was for sure, but Shadow Weaver did have to admit one thing to herself .

It wasn't half bad...

...

A/N: Hoo, boy. Out of curiosity, who was already struck with the feels this episode at any part in particular? If you raised your hand for even one of these segments, be forewarned: I haven't even GOTTEN to the feeling parts of it yet T_T Hooftah...

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, and keep a lookout for petie doon on instagram! He's a long time and great fan of mine who does awesome cat-ra artwork as well as the rest of his artwork. If this episode results in some calls to certain doctors about losing all reason to live, look up his pictures, including a new one he might have done soon, if not another later this week! Whether or not he can, the work he has already done for me is fantastic, and I highly recommend his creations to anyone interested!

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare a box of tissues...

Chapter 84: S2 Episode 6: Future of the Past Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 13.6K Words Pre-A/N's. Another chapter down the drain! Hooftah! Not gonna lie, might get a bit jumbled towards the end- been dealing with a headache all morning so might've missed or jumped at certain points that make the writing poor or whatever. If it's fine, then nvm XP Hopefully we'll get the episode done in the next two chapters, cause then we'll be at the season finale- which I still cant seem to say easily since this season is so short, but i'll take what i can get XP

Anyway, enjoy!

...

"You're going to like her, trust me." The young five-year-old Adora assured as she neared the door. "She might look scary, but she's really nice."

"A-Are you sure? I've heard stories about her, you know." The other five-year-old commented, the very idea that any of them were true making the hairs on the end of her skin stick up.

With the sound of the door opening, Shadow Weaver assumed who the invading presence belonged to, noticing the time for their arrival was just about now.

Even if it was a few minutes late.

"Ah, Adora." Shadow Weaver greeted as pleasantly as usual, turning around to greet the small figure. "You're just in time to-" She stopped. She recognized the figure of her sweet, innocent, angel as Adora just fine, but what eluded her judgement was the figure standing right behind her, the reason she was most likely late. "...Adora, who is this?"

"This?" Adora smiled as she pulled her friend from behind her to her side, resting her hands calmly on her shoulders. "This is my new friend, Catra. She was getting bullied outside, so I brought her in." The heterochromia-eyed cat blinked as she stared at her, slowly looking away as she rubbed her left arm nervously.

"H-Hello... Shadow Weaver..." She mumbled.

"Oh, I see." Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as the two walked further into the room. "You made a... friend." In an instant, Catra's fear was starting to be replaced with curiosity, as the cat she was, as she slowly started to explore the room on her own.

Honestly, this was a bit more surprising than Catra had expected. She expected the room to be full of torture devices and evil monsters based on what all the other children and guards had to say about her. She expected some living shadows popping all over the room, devouring kids and soldiers alike, all used for the insane experiments Shadow Weaver was said to have conducted over the years. Yet, the room looked nothing like it.

Looking over at the various shelves along the room, she came to see it as just that. A regular room. There was a simple bed along the end of the room with a small drawer and lamp, another door connecting to, most likely, a bathroom, a bookcase along the right side of the room, a wardrobe to the left, and a small altar-like bowl at the center of it all. It didn't look like anything the other people described to her as.

Then again, they usually picked on her and called her a "freak" half the time, so it wouldn't be too surprising if they were lying.

"So you brought... her... with you, today?" Shadow Weaver never took her eyes off the girl as she explored the room, unaware of the curious smile Adora had on her own face.

"Yeah, is that okay? Can she stay and read with us today?" Adora asked excitedly. She really liked her new friend. She was kind, innocent, and liked to stick up for others, even if she got bullied in the process. Plus, if Shadow Weaver grew to like her, maybe they could both be raised together! Not to mention if she got along with her, the other kids might leave Catra alone, too.

The witch continued to stare at the curious child exploring the room as she rounded near the bookshelf before returning Adora's innocent gaze with calming eyes. "Of course she can, sweetheart." She said softly, further increasing Adora's excitement as her eyes sparkled. "But just this once. I prefer teaching my lessons on a more... personal... level with you. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it!" She squealed happily as she hugged Shadow Weaver's robe-covered legs. "Thanks, Shadow Weaver." She couldn't wait to read a story with her new friend, and to see what else they could do together for the rest of the day here. "I'll be right back, I have to go to the bathroom first." Adora stated, quickly rushing off to the other door of the room. The witch of darkness maintained her expression until she watched the door close behind her, then turned her glare towards the cat herself.

By this point, Catra's young curiosity had intensified to the point of examining the wardrobe more closely. If everything else was a lie about this place, then maybe something as simple as this was a simple wardrobe, not some coffin she used to hang body parts in. A small smile of intrigue grew on the young magicat's face as she slowly reached for it, her claws nearly grasping the handle by the tip of her claws, when it happened.

From every inch of her body, a red haze fell over her, freezing her on the spot as her body refused to move on its own accord. She didn't understand what was going on or why she lost control. All she knew was that an overwhelming sense of dread began to pour within the room as darkness and shadows slowly engulfed her vision, save for the lowly spot she stood on as she felt tears of fright welling up in the corner of her eyes.

And that was when she felt a firm hand on her right shoulder, one that made her heart stop.

"Listen well, child." Shadow Weaver's scathing voice could be heard from her left shoulder, the vile witch seething with a masked rage. "I don't know what you want with Adora or why you think intruding upon my domain with her was such a good idea, but I will not tolerate it."

"N..." She couldn't even move her lips to verbalize a response, either from the fear she felt welling up or the magic holding her in place.

"If you have any foolish notion of being her friend, I suggest you abandon them now. I will not tolerate your presence around her, nor will I allow you to interfere with the future I have laid out for her. She is the only person deserving of my attention around here. Not the other children, not the soldiers, and especially not you!"

"W... W..." What was she feeling right now? It was like a fear unheard of, an anxiety that was building up for a reason unknown. She, both, feared, and was saddened by this woman, a sadness that almost made her envy the attention, and fear it, at the same time. She could barely get a word out, one Shadow Weaver could easily assume in its place.

"Why, you ask? Because Adora is a gifted child, not a child for your amusement, or anybody's." She couldn't allow this creature to interfere with her plans in the slightest. If Adora tried to form an attachment with somebody other than Shadow Weaver, that could jeopardize the future she had intended. Perhaps a day would come where Adora had to choose between her or this insolent creature, one that could make Adora hesitate in her choices.

Such a day like that could not come to pass! She refused to allow any obstacle, however minor, come between them. Everything from the moment of Adora's introduction to the Horde had been carefully orchestrated, planned, to make sure Adora would see Shadow Weaver as the only figure of her life, and only person she would rely on. And Catra's very existence threatened to dismantle that entirely.

"So I will be watching you, child. I know where you sleep, I know what your schedule will be at your age, and I know where you will be at all times. And if I find any one thing out of place-"

*sheeem*

It was with the sound of the doors opening again that cut the atmosphere in half as Adora re-entered the room, adjusting her shirt a little so it wasn't sticking in or out of her pants unevenly. "I'm back." She happily announced, lifting her head again to see everyone right back where they left them with Shadow Weaver hovering near the altar and her new friend by the wardrobe.

"Welcome back, Adora. Did you remember to wash your hands?" Shadow Weaver peacefully asked without a hint of ire in her voice.

"Twice." Adora happily replied, showing her hands back and front. With the hand washing out of the way, she eagerly ran to her new friend's side, excited to begin storytime. "Hey, Catra, are you ready?" Turning around to see her friend's face, she expected to be greeted with the same thrill of excitement she felt, or possibly the usual shyness she displayed since meeting her. Instead, she blinked as she saw a pained expression in her eyes, tears strolling down her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She wasn't given any sort of verbal reasoning. Instead, she was thrown off guard as Catra quickly embraced her in a tight hug, sniffing into her shoulders as she choked on her own words. "Catra, what is it?" She was only gone for a minute or so, wasn't she? She turned to the only other figure in the room behind her, one she could always rely on for the answers. "What happened to her?"

"Oh, nothing dear. We simply discussed some rules around here." As Adora turned her attention back to her friend, Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes as Catra lifted her head up. "Didn't we, Catra?"

This woman was a monster to her. Everything people said about her, everything they warned her about, it was all true. No, worse than true. Just trying to be friends with Adora showed Catra a darker side to the witch than anyone had ever mentioned. It's as if her very existence was the cause for Shadow Weaver's anger, all the hate and disgust she had with the girl causing her to boil up in anger.

She wanted to say what really happened, wanted Adora to know what sort of person she was... but how could she? Shadow Weaver dotted on the girl, someone Adora aspired to impress, and she didn't want to crush that. Even if she did, what would she say? For better or worse, what Shadow Weaver said was technically "true".

They just discussed certain things about her relationship with Adora, or, more accurately, threatened the idea of continuing a friendship with her.

Gulping, Catra gave a small nod back to her new friend. "Y-Yeah... rules."

Adora blinked to the cat in wonder at this. It wouldn't be until a few months later that she started to become more aware of Shadow Weaver's harassment and anger towards the girl, how she had a hidden disdain in plain sight for the girl that she never showed in Adora's presence. While she might never know the true lengths that Shadow Weaver would go towards, never understand her disgust, she wanted to be there for her fragile friend, wanted to help her through all of her problems.

"Then come on, it's storytime!" Adora happily announced, rushing over to the bookshelf and pulling out a large children's book specifically created for the children of the Horde. At this, Catra sheepishly walked closer to the terrifying witch, waiting for Adora to rush back as she climbed the woman's lap in excitement. She didn't give Catra a chance to accept or decline as she pulled her friend's hand up to the woman's lap, assuming she'd be more comfortable right alongside her friend as they read.

"Do you remember where we left off?" Shadow Weaver asked as Adora popped open the book.

"Yup!" She couldn't wait to continue the story now that she had a new reading buddy to share with. Skipping several pages into the large kid's book, she came across the very passage they left off. "The evil princess caught the helpless villagers in the garden, and she de... dev..." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to read out the word.

"Pronounce it as best you can, Adora. Sound it out one piece at a time." She assisted, stroking the girl's head. "Dev... ou..."

"Dev... our... red... Devou- Devoured!" She proudly stated, earning a pat on the head that she knew as praise. "She devoured the innocent parents right in front of the children, and was going to eat them next. But then the Horde-" As she continued reading, she smiled inside as she saw Shadow Weaver petting the back of Catra's head, assuming it was a sign of comfort for the young girl.

She would never understand at the time that that petting was the most uncomfortable feeling that Catra ever felt. Her entire body shriveled on the spot as she felt Shadow Weaver's menacing gaze focusing on her while she watched Adora read.

She was reminding her that, from now on, she would be keeping an eye on her, watching her. She would never allow Catra to mess up her plans, even if it meant ending her very life. From then on, it was a matter of who would slip up first and how badly, with the only possible loser being Catra in the mix. She would be hounded on like a dog after a cat the moment she did something that displeased Shadow Weaver, all for Adora's sake.

It would be a nightmare to live through.

...And yet, as she grew up with it, she became more aware of the attachment Shadow Weaver seemed to display with Adora. To think, Adora had someone who dotted over her dearly, who was there at her best and worst of times to over praise or disappointment at every opportunity. To be the only figure around here Adora could come to with her problems, to cry to despite her rules. She had the closest thing anyone did to a mother figure around here, and now, she just happened to be friends with her.

As much as she hated it, she had to admit. Catra was a little jealous of her friend...

...

*click*

The sound of the barrier coming down was something new to Shadow Weaver as she lifted her head a little. Normally, the only times she ever got any visitors, or visitor in this case, was during her meal times, and never more. They only came two times a day, with the usual delivery of food and questions about what she can do for the Horde.

And every time, they came from the one person she cared to see.

"Ah, Adora." She greeted the Force Captain's look of annoyance with the eyes of comfort. "What a pleasant surpri-"

*wham*

She was cut off as soon as she started speaking as Adora slammed her shadowy left fist into the wall next to her. "Shut it." She ordered retracting her shadows. "Tell me something. Now." Amusing. Even now, she continued to amuse Shadow Weaver as Adora attempted to sound threatening. Anger and disgust was never her strong point, so it was cute whenever she pretended to be.

"All right, then. How was your day?"

"Stop it!" Adora yelled again, the look on her face seeming priceless to Shadow Weaver. "Listen up. Hordak is going to send you to Beast Island in two days. You are going to give me something useful that I can give to Lord Hordak. Now!"

"...Beast Island, you say?" She feigned a look of curiosity as she tapped her chin. "Oh, my. If that happened, we wouldn't be able to chat anymore. Oh, such a cruel fate, but I'm sure you'll make the time to come visit me, right?"

*Wham!*

"I said stop it!" She shouted again, slamming another shadowy fist into the wall. "Don't you get it? You're going there, I'm not. You will die. And I suggest, if you want to keep that smarmy attitude of yours, you give me something useful I can relay to Hordak and change his mind."

"Oh, Adora. I didn't know you still cared for me so much." She looked touched as she reached for her arm, watching as Adora's anger rose as she stood away from her, slapping at the hand.

"I don't!" This is what she hated about Shadow Weaver. The coy attitude whenever a serious matter came up, the unpredictability of her reactions. It made her a bigger threat than the Rebellion at times, especially within the last month of her captivity. "You could honestly rot away in this cell or get sent to Beast Island for all I care! But you're more useful to me if you give me information, and I want that information now!"

Her expression told Shadow Weaver enough about how much she's changed over the past few months. To think that the once bubbling,excitable, girl was now the very person barking orders at her and demanding things like she was an interrogator. Outside of the shadows, there was nothing threatening about her, nothing for Shadow Weaver to fear. After all, how could she when she was the one who taught her how to so much as walk when she was a baby?

"Temper, temper, my child." She continued to toy with her as she looked away. "You should know you need a good officer with you, first."

Adora tilted her head at the confusing choice of words she was given. "A good officer?"

"To balance out the options. If you're interrogating someone, you want an equal amount of character that can be forgiving or punishing, show your captives your good and bad side, so they can decide for themselves which side they'd prefer you to be on. That's one of the proper keys to a good interrogation." She explained. Adora stared at her in wonder.

Why was she telling her this. She wasn't looking for advice on how to interrogate people, she wanted information that could prove herself to Lord Hordak! At the confused expression she was given, Shadow Weaver covered her mask a little where her mouth would be as she let out a small chuckle.

"Hehe, silly me. I forgot, you're a Force Captain now." She apologized. "For a moment, I thought we were in the good old days, when you'd come to me for advice, and I assisted you like any mother-"

"Don't." Adora's voice seethed with anger while her expression showed little else. She kneeled in front of the witch directly, a scathing look in her eyes. "You, are not, my mother. And you never will be." There were limits involving people where Shadow Weaver knew to push and pull from. This, was one of the latter. "You are going to give me something, and give me something now. And that's it. Got it?"

She was annoying her almost half as much as Aroda did at times like this. She didn't say anything, she didn't appear to be thinking anything, she just stared at Adora as if it was for the first time in her life, without emotion, without fear. It was a quality that Adora kind of envied, to be unpredictable as she was, even if she was in the face of danger.

...And she still hated her for it.

"...Very well." She finally agreed, brushing her away with a wave. "I'll need two things first if I'm to help you."

"If you think I'm going to let you go, then forget it."

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous." She cooed softly, reaching for Adora's face. Like before, it was slapped away with disgust as Adora kept her focus on the witch in front of her. "The first thing I need is in my office- well... I suppose it's your office, now, is an item within my desk."

"Your office?" Adora asked to make sure she heard right. "There wouldn't be anything left in there, I threw it all out when I took your job!"

"Unless you replaced the drawers, you'll find a false bottom on the second drawer to the right that can only be opened from the third. You'll find a small switch at the top left corner of the drawer that you'll have to reach for. Once you have it, bring it back to me."

"..."

"...Ok. Have a nice day." And with that, Shadow Weaver turned away again as she leaned against the wall.

"What? That's it? What about the other thing? What else do you need me to do?" This wasn't a stupid case of her playing oblivious to her. She wanted Adora to get her something out of nowhere, and she didn't bother with the details even though this was a literal matter of life and death. "What am I even looking for? What else do you need?"

"You'll know what it is when you find it." She replied, not even looking to Adora as she stared at the monitor connected to the wall. "As for the other thing, I'll tell you when you bring me the first item."

"Bring you the first..." Adora grumbled as she stood up again. "What makes you think I'll bring you anything?! How do I know you're not playing some sort of trick on me? Or that I'll even bring you what you want to begin with?!"

"The choice is yours, Adora." She waved, nonchalant. "You can discern for yourself whether the item will aid in my escape or not. It makes no difference to me in the end. But do feel free to deliver it before the next meal. It would start to look suspicious if you came here a few more times without bringing the food with you."

"But what about-"

"Ah." She held her hand to Adora's face. "Not another word. We will discuss more if and when you come back. That is all for now." Without another word, Shadow Weaver ignored the rest of Adora's existence as she looked at the screen, admiring the sky that slowly lit with the light of the planets. She had nothing more to give Adora without Adora giving something back, like whatever this item was that she was looking for. She knew it, and Adora knew it, and it left her with anger as she left.

Closing the cell behind her, she looked back one more time as Shadow Weaver remained in the same position as she left her, bored with the experience, and unwilling to give Adora anything else until she returned. She squeezed her fist at the sight, knowing the witch wouldn't divulge any information until Adora gave into her demands. As much as she didn't want to, she felt she had no other choice, and moved on.

The one advantage she did have in this scenario, she came to understand as she explored down the halls, was that Shadow Weaver was right. She had the privilege to know exactly what Shadow Weaver wanted her to give her before she actually needed to do it. If the item could aid in her escape in any way, Adora could easily toss it away and refrain from prolonging this pointless interrogation. If not, then it meant she accomplished her task and she would be one step closer to some useful information.

The disadvantage, on the other hand, was who she was dealing with. She knew how Shadow Weaver worked, she knew what inspired her to do what she did, her desire to be driven closer to power with each passing day. Already, Adora was certain she was up to something, something devious, malicious, and, knowing her, Adora could easily play into her hands whether she accepted the task before her or not.

That's just how manipulative Shadow Weaver was, and always has been.

Always will be.

"Wow, must've been nice chatting with your mother again, huh?" Aroda spontaneously announced as she appeared, this time walking alongside Adora as the two made their way down the halls.

"I already told you, she's not my mother." She didn't know how many more times someone could accuse her of being it before she lashed out in force. "She's nowhere close to being what a mother should be."

"And yet, you're doing exactly what she says without restraint?" Aroda grinned, raising a brow. "To be fair, I don't blame you. With all the time she spent raising me, playing with me, teaching me, I'd feel obligated to help her too."

"I'm not doing it out of obligation! And just because she made things... admittedly, easier, she didn't make them enjoyable. That woman knew how to ruin a good time before the fun could even begin."

"Eesh, tell me about it." Aroda agreed rolling her eyes.

"...Wait, what was that?" Adora asked, wondering if she misheard what Aroda had said.

"N-Nothing," Aroda bit her tongue as she waved her hands, "I was just agreeing with you, that's all." While it didn't appear to waver Adora's suspicion, it did seem to be enough to make her drop the conversation entirely, to Aroda's relief. "Still, I'm surprised how harsh you were with her. She did raise you, after all."

"That doesn't make up for all the years she used me to begin with! She toyed with my emotions, trained me day in and day out, and I never got a break." Pausing, Adora looked at her gloved hand, remembering the feel of every activity they went through as if it was grafted into her skin. "I didn't get anything close to a normal childhood. All I got was work, work, and more work. I had to rely on Catra got to cheer me up at all."

...

"Hmm..." The six-year-old Adora hummed as she frowned a little to herself. Sitting at a desk within the center of Shadow Weaver's chamber, gazing lazily to the clock on the walls as she awaited whatever activity Shadow Weaver had for her next.

"Adora."

"Huh?" Adora pulled herself up straight as she sat against the chair, noticing Shadow Weaver's presence as she finally returned.

"Remember to sit up straight, sweetie." She instructed, using her own magic to pull up a chair as she set down the box small box she was holding. "No one likes a crooked back, remember?"

"Sorry, Shadow Weaver." Adora sighed. Shadow Weaver took note of the way her eyes looked as she levitated the literal hundreds of pieces of parts out of the box, displaying them on the table in front of her.

"Is something the matter, dear?"

"No, no. I... It's nothing." She lied, keeping her eyes away in the hopes it would convince Shadow Weaver she wasn't lying.

It didn't.

"Adora, remember what happened to the last person who lied?" She asked, resting both her elbows on the table as she rested her chin on her clenched hand. "What the Spindeling Princess did to them?"

"N-No, of course not!" She squeaked, afraid that the same fate would befall her if she continued to lie. "I-It's just..."

"Just...?"

"... Well, Lonnie got a cool bag of balloons from one of the caretakers today." Adora explained, unaware of how much of Lonnie's words were truthful or false. "And they're really cool! You can fill them up with water and have a splash fight and everything, and I was hoping... to..." She frowned a little as she shifted her eyes away again, knowing what was going to come next.

"Ask, to be part of their roughhousing, get soaked from head to toe, and potentially catch a cold?" Shadow Weaver cemented the possibility with her soothing tone, as always when she spoke to her. It did nothing to dissuade the frown on the girl's face, something she did slightly regret as she rested a hand on her shoulder. "Adora, you know illness is frowned upon within the Horde. You wouldn't want any instructors to yell at you AND make you train still, would you?"

"Mmmh... No." She relented. She knew it was wrong, and that sickness would make things worse if she did catch a cold, no matter how minuscule or minor it was. "I just... I just thought I could enjoy myself a little more before... you know... my next Founding Day." Shadow Weaver rubbed her own palm at this against her knuckles.

She knew exactly what she was referring to, even though it didn't deter Shadow Weaver's frame of mind. The "Founding Day", she referred to, was a more along the lines of her birthday, the day she was found and brought into the Horde. Like all the children, birthdays weren't celebrated or honored around here, save for when and if a highly respected Force Captain or officer was commemorated.

While Shadow Weaver's philosophy wasn't any different, there were a few occasions that Shadow Weaver tried to appease the girl, offering her a small trinket or something as a personal gift. Such as the combat knife she taught Adora how to use when she turned six. Fortunately, Adora's next Founding Day wasn't going to be for another few months.

That wasn't the part that upset her.

The problem was, once a child turned of age at seven years old, they were considered young cadets, and were treated as such. They were housed in more localized bunkrooms with others and trained everyday, like Adora was now. The only difference was that they were no longer considered mere children, but Young Warriors, which meant that they could no longer afford to play silly games or waste time around one of the few jungle gyms within the Horde that the children played at.

It was considered to be a blessing and despair once a child reached seven.

"Adora, you know your Founding Day won't be for a good while, remember?" Shadow Weaver reminded, patting her head. "You will have plenty of time to enjoy yourself later. And I promise, you will have some fun things to do when you become an official cadet."

"Huff... Yeah." She sighed in surrender. "You're right, Shadow Weaver. Sorry." While her voice might've said one thing, her face was showing something else completely. Devoid of charm or happiness, the shadowy witch felt a small ache in her mind as she gazed upon her.

It was enough to make the witch of darkness awe a little, even if she didn't show it. With a gentle finger, she touched the very tip of Adora's chin and lifted it upwards until their eyes met. "Adora, I know it might seem unfair, but I am looking out for your future."

"Yeah... I know." She gave in, resisting the urge to roll her eyes just a little.

"One day, you'll look back on this day and thank me for all that I've done. I promise. Until then, please, trust me that I'm doing what's best for you."

"I know, Shadow Weaver. I know."

"That's my girl." She cooed, patting her on the head. She had to be careful with how stern or forceful she would have to get with Adora's upbringing. Every day presented a minor but constant challenge to her that she had to prepare for. She needed to make sure that no matter what happens, Adora would be ready for the eventual day to come, when her urge and rise to power finally came to fruition.

Taking a deep breath, the witch of darkness leaned back in her chair again as she displayed all of the pieces set on Adora's desk. "Now then, Adora. Which of these pieces do and don't belong together with a Thermal Blaster?"

"Um..." Adora scanned the desk from every angle, having gone through the test at least once before with her. Previously, she had to identify what all the parts created together and what equipment they were meant for. Now, she had to figure out which of these things didn't belong in the pile she previously saw. Shadow Weaver watched closely as she watched Adora grab onto one of the large-sized springs alongside the other two. "Well, this definitely doesn't fit within it."

"That's correct." Shadow Weaver nodded in approval.

Looking back on it, Adora supposed she could find her own source of fun with the activities and lessons Shadow Weaver gave her. Like this one. It was really no different than putting together the pieces of a puzzle, or, in this case, figuring out which pieces didn't belong in the puzzle. Looking at it that way, she figured she could actually find some enjoyment in these lessons she taught her. It was almost enough to make Adora smile a little, to Shadow Weaver's delight.

Sadly, that smile never came, at least not from her.

"Hey, Adora!"

*SPLASH!*

"Oops..."

Immediately, the two were caught by surprise at the sudden and surprise attack created by the water balloon that was flung through the air the moment the door opened. The splash of water was enough to get both of them wet, as well as the small display of pieces in front of them that slowly scattered in the midst of the wet explosion, with some of the pieces falling from the deluge of water that came with the attack. That isn't what truly surprised them.

No, the surprise came from the fact that instead of the person Catra called out for, she instead accidentally missed and struck Shadow Weaver square in the mask. This was thanks to Adora looking back and dodging the balloon at the last second as the balloon flew past her instead of the back of her head.

Looking back, Adora struggled to stifle a giggle as she saw Shadow Weaver again. Seeing her mask drenched entirely and her hair soaked to the point where it flopped around her, it was one of the funniest states she's ever seen Shadow Weaver in. And it took every fiber of Shadow Weaver's being to refrain from slaughtering Catra in front of her Adora.

Instead, she did something she never thought she'd do. She kept herself back from assaulting the girl with the full force of her magic, and turned her eyes to Adora's curious and anxious, smiling, expression.

"Get her." Without another word, aside from Adora screaming her thanks as she chased after Catra, the ruler of the dark magics of Etheria swept away the dousing water of her mask, and grumbled.

"Say, Catra, why are you wearing a raincoat?" She heard Adora ask as the two continued down the halls, intending to join the others.

"So I can stay dry, duh!" She playfully poked back as the two ran. It was incredibly convenient and perfect that Catra managed to sneak in on Lonnie's game with the kids outside and grab a few of her own water balloons from the bag, and find a raincoat along the way. There was no way she would ever let Catra play on her own, but she knew she would have to reconsider if Adora got involved. At the very least, she knew someone like Adora shouldn't be missing out on fun like this!

On the other end of the door, once the door was closed, Shadow Weaver screamed in frustration as she tossed desk aside, hurtling it towards the wall as she shouted.

This, this right here, is why she despised Catra, among other reasons naturally. Whenever she was around, she always offered to find something to do or some game to play with Adora, and Shadow Weaver would be forced to relent. The reason for this? Simple. If Shadow Weaver denied her the privilege, then it would make her look like the bad guy in all of this.

She needed her Adora on her side, needed her to stick by her to the very end. To accomplish this, she had to start out by appeasing the girl, showing her someone like Shadow Weaver could be trusted and caring, more so than any other person in the Horde. And every time Catra came in and rained on her parade like this, offering to help brighten Adora's mood, she had no choice but to allow her, to ensure a mutual trust between the two. And this is where Catra continued to interfere.

She needed to find some means to separate the girls, to get them isolated from one another for most of their lives. It was fine if they passed each other in the hall on occasion, but she refused to allow Catra to continue her constant interruptions into Adora's life! She needed something, non-lethal, that could push Catra away from her for good, a means to sever their relationship in the most peaceful of ways possible.

And that's when Shadow Weaver finally "realized" something. Adora and the rest of her friends had been doing so well, according to their instructors, that perhaps, it was time for a promotion to Junior Cadets, wasn't it...

...

"Adora!" It was the sound of Scorpia's voice that brought her out of her trance-like stare, looking down the left hallway to see her friend jogging up to her. "Are you okay? I haven't seen you since you left to feed Shadow Weaver this morning."

"Huh? Oh, that. I-I'm fine, really." Adora reassured, continuing down the hallway as she made her way to the office near her personal quarters. "I just need to get something."

"From where? More paperwork?" Scorpia wondered, following along.

"Sort of, I..." Scorpia noticed the strange look on Adora's face as she rubbed her arm nervously. "I... Need to find something, for Shadow Weaver."

"Shadow Weaver?" Scorpia asked as they came to the very door Adora was looking for, opening it before them. "Why do you need something for her?"

"It's, um, to interrogate." She replied, heading straight over for the desk. Knowing what drawer she specifically needed, she decided to take the moment to examine the remaining drawers, investigating to see if any of the other drawers had a secret compartment in them. "She has information for me I need to extract from her immediately."

"What kind of information?" The scorpion girl questioned as she looked around the room, trying to help. "And what are you looking for?"

"I... I don't know, honestly. She just said that I'll know it when I see it." Adora felt a little unsettled as the conversation continued, scanning the room for any means of a distraction as she came upon the bookshelf in the corner. "Why don't you try searching that?" She pointed. "I haven't really cleared it out since I took over Shadow Weaver's duties."

"You got it!" Scorpia replied, smiling enthusiastically as she ran a little to her spot. She wanted to prove to her Scorpia's capacity as being Adora's new bestie and was more than willing to help her friend to do so. Now, if she could just determine what specifically she was looking for, seeing as there were just books beside books on each shelf, then she'd be making some progress. "Um... Will I happen to know what is if I see it?"

"Um, yeah, I guess?" She sounded unsure of herself as she examined the middle drawer of the desk, completing half her investigation by this point. So far, there was nothing else in her examination other than what she replaced the inside of the drawers with, mostly papers and files for different requisitions she was given. "Just look for something that isn't a book or whatever. Search carefully. Check the books inside and out, in case they're hiding something."

"Right!" Ok, now she could get started! She wasn't much of a reader, not that she was incapable of doing such a thing, but she was relieved to know she wasn't expected to read every little book she came across. With the near-thirty books along each shelves, it would've taken her days to get through them even if someone read the other half with her.

Not that it appeared reading would assist her regardless, in this case. Flipping through the books she pulled from the shelves, one at a time, she carefully checked the pages for anything hidden between the pages. If she went by the scribbles and diagrams she saw on these pages alone, incantations and details on various types of spells, she would've notified Adora right away. Unfortunately, books of incantations and spells were commonplace when it came to Shadow Weaver, and so far, nothing really stuck with her.

"...Nope... No... Not that..." Scorpia mumbled as she tossed the books away one at a time after skimming through them. "So where did you go this morning, anyway?"

"..." Adora didn't seem to hear her as she continued examining the middle of the desk's underside, feeling along the edges for any creases that shouldn't be there.

"Adora?"

"Hu-?"

*thunk*

"Ow!" The Force Captain let out a yelped as she rubbed her head, taken away from her brief distraction long enough to forget she had the drawer above her pulled out. There was a small rattle in the collision of Adora's head followed by a small look of annoyance coming from the friend herself as she glowered at her large friend.

"U-Um, never mind." She quickly went back to her book skimming, not wishing to make Adora's mood any worse with a pointless question. The action itself was more than enough to irritate Adora as her brow twitched a little, returning to her own searching along the drawers. "Man, if you could do any of these spells, I bet you'd be incredible!"

"Scorpia, we've been over this. Despite having magic over my shadows and everything, I'm not magical myself." Adora replied, giving up on her current examination to check the last row of drawers. "I can't summon mystical things out of thin air, and I can't shoot fireballs from my hand."

"Yeah, but I'm just saying," she continued, searching through a rather large spellbook, "it'd be neat if you could find something that'll fix your shadow issues. Or a way to... Huh! Oh my gosh!" At the startling gasp, Adora sprang to her feet as she rushed over, seeing Scorpia pulling something out from behind her.

"What is it? What did you find?" Adora hoped it was something useful, anything, to get Shadow Weaver to talk. Shadow Weaver wanted her to find something from her drawer, not somewhere else. Maybe if she played her cards right and brought her something unexpected, she'd be able to get more information out of her than she expected, and she would have the upper hand!

"I... Don't... Believe this..." Scorpia started to tremble as she pulled the object out of the book, her body trembling with utter shock.

"What?"

"This.. This is impossible..."

"What is it?!" Adora's heart sped up as the anticipation soared to new way Scorpia was acting, the way she dropped the book and only held the gathered item, and the way she shook as if an earthquake had struck the Fright Zone.

What could it be? Could it be an item that cursed Scorpia the minute she touched it? A piece of information that could completely change the Horde for the worse? An ungodly abomination of mystical proportions that not even the First Ones could create!? What could it be?! WHAT COULD IT-

"You," Scorpia finally said, with the biggest pair of eyes and the sweetest blush on her face as she turned around, "were so ADORABLE!" She cried.

"Adorable?" Adora's brief rush completely left her as her eyes lowered to the object in Scorpia's claws. "What are you talking abou-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Instantly, Adora's entire body flushed red, so much so that even her clothes glowed red for a brief moment. It truly was the worst thing imaginable, ungodly, horrendous, and completely devastating information for the Horde.

And Adora's embarrassment.

It wasn't some information of acquiring ultimate power, it wasn't cursed object that affected anyone who touched it, unless Adora was aware they saw it, and it wasn't going to bring the downfall of the Horde anytime soon.

Hopefully.

No, it was a picture. A baby picture at that. Of whom? Why, Adora of course. A simple picture of her sleeping in a pair of red footie PJs in a crib, likely one year old by the look of the hair she had, clutching a small grey stuffed insectoid-like creature, squeezing it as she sucked her thumb, drifting off into Beddy-Bye Land.

And it was the most horrifying thing Adora had ever seen.

"Aww, look at you with your little plushie!" Scorpia oohed and awed as she looked at the picture again with a small flush over her own face. She knew Adora was cute in her own way, but this was reaching levels beyond cuteness! "Oh, and look at those wittle fingews." She cooed at the picture as if it was alive." Who has a stuffy toy? You do. Yes you do! Yes you-"

*swiff*

*crumble*

Adora used every ounce of her strength to crumble the picture into the smallest ball possible, not even caring where she tossed it behind her as she glared at Scorpia angrily, holding the biggest blush of her life over her face. "YOU NEVER SAW THAT PICTURE! ERASE IT FROM YOUR MIND! GOT IT!" She huffed, stomping back to the desk in an effort to forget she ever saw that image in the first place.

"Aww, but can't I at least keep i-" Scorpia knew not to press her luck the moment Adora shot her a look, her brow twitching again as her body waited for any excuse to lash out and silence anyone who saw her in such an embarrassing photo. "Eh, I mean, what picture? I don't know any pictures." She played along, returning to her searching.

"Good!" Wanting to get the embarrassing image out of her mind, and life, the Force Captain directed the rest of her attention to the bottom drawer of her desk, feeling along the back of it through the papers stuffed through it in search of the supposed switch.

"...But it kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Scorpia spoke up again, flipping through more books, and secretly hoping to find another adorable Adora to add to her memory. "You said Shadow Weaver never cared about you, right?"

"Of course not." Adora easily agreed. "Nobody who cares about their children would plan to use them all throughout their life!"

"Yeah, but..." Scorpia scratched at her head as she paused in her searching. "If she didn't care about you at all, then why did she keep a picture that meant so little to her?"

'Because, she-!" Adora stopped for a moment as the thought struck her. "Because... She..." Scanning in the direction she tossed the photo, she saw the still-crumbled warming piece of paper a few feet away, standing silently against the cold ground.

Now that she thought about it... why? Why did Shadow Weaver keep a photo of her for all this time, in secrecy no less? With so many spellbooks, there's no way she would expect anyone to have enough time to rummage through her belongings without her finding out about it, without getting caught. Of all the places to put it, she left it in her office where she kept most of her requisition and document-related works of paper.

But why exactly did she keep a picture of her? Much less take one to begin with? Surely it was to use against Adora at some point, right? To blackmail her or to use against her like she possibly was right now? Yes, that had to be it! She wanted to use that picture to get to Adora again, establish a fake connection with her fake daughter- Student! She meant student, a protege at that, in the hopes of using it against her for a situation like this!

..But... then... why didn't she direct her to the bookcase instead? She could've told her to go directly there, and, instead, directed her to the desk she had in the center of the room. Maybe there was something more incriminating there? Something to guarantee she would listen to her instead? That must've been it. Why else would she make her do this?

...So, what was with the picture, then?

"I... I don't know..." Adora solemnly admitted, returning to her search. She needed to keep her mind off such thoughts, thoughts that could make her start to doubt everything else. That's the way Shadow Weaver played, with trust and doubt, and she refused to be a victim behind all of it.

*click*

"Ah." Adora lit up as she felt the strange switch in the back of the drawer, surprised she's never noticed it before. Granted, it was Shadow Weaver they were dealing with, so it wasn't as surprising, either.

*clunk*

"Hm?" She heard the strange noise of a platform-like device popping out, looking in the middle of her desk to see an item pop out from the wall of the second drawer, a place she was positive she examined for indents of any sort to find a hidden compartment. If Shadow Weaver managed to create a secret compartment that couldn't be found without the correct sequence of events, who knows how many other things she had hiding around here?

Reaching for the strange item that popped out, she discovered it was a small-looking badge, kind of silver, kind of rusted. She swore, it looked so familiar to her, like it was screaming at the top of her mind. She just couldn't remember from where.

"You find something?" Scorpia asked walking back, regretfully coming across no more baby pictures in her search. Looking over her friend's shoulder at the strange arrow-shaped badge, a small smile grew over her face as she leaned closer to it. "Oh hey, it's your promotion badge!"

"Promotion badge...?" It slowly came to her as a surprising realization. How could she have forgotten? These were the very vadges they'd give to Junior Cadets during their promotional exams as they rose through the ranks. They represented heroism, strength, valor, and dedication to the Horde, with every badge unlocked presenting the cadet with more opportunities throughout the Horde. "Oh, I remember this badge! It was from the track testing we took when I was eight."

"Oh, cool! I was a princess, so I wasn't required to go through any of that testing stuff." Which was sad, Scorpia came to realize, as she knew it would'v been a great opportunity to get to know Adora sooner. Maybe she would've been best friends by now if that was the case. "But I heard the tests had a lot of rewards with them!"

"Heh, yeah." Adora chuckled, examining the arrow on both sides. There were even Adora's inscriptions written on the badge and what rank she would've been.

A. Junior Cadet Rank 1st Class.

She glanced it from every angle as a tiny smile grew on her lips. "Every promotion came with more benefits. More ration bars to eat, muffins more than once a month, we could even request two days a year off if we felt like it." Slowly, the smile started to fade as Adora slowly closed her hand. "And she wouldn't even give me one."

"Adora?" Scorpia spoke up as she noticed the change in Adora's tone.

"No matter how hard I tried, she wouldn't expect anything less than perfection..."

...

"Alright, everyone, call it in." The instructor announced, finishing his report as he recorded the final results. "Excellent hussle out there today, all of you." It was rare for an instructor to offer praise of any kind, so when one did, it always felt glorious to behold, even more to be a part of it.

"Phew... that was a long run." The eight-year-old Adora commented, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Ha!" From behind, she nearly jumped as she felt her eight-year-old friend, Catra, jumping on her from behind, throwing her arms around her from behind as she squeezed her neck. "I beat you! In your face!" Catra felt so proud of herself for a change, finally finding something she was better at than Adora. She proved stronger than her, smarter than her, and, at times, more agile than her. It felt so accomplishing to find something she excelled at.

"Hahaha!" Adora laughed back, tugging at her arms as she tried to shake her friend off. "I let you win, don't be ridiculous."

"Suuuuure you diiiiid, I believe you." She sneered, giving her a slight noogie "Don't worry, Adora. When I leave you in the dust from now on, I'll be verrrry patient and wait for you, all the way at the finish line, every day."

"You didn't even come in first, you came in second!"

"Well you know, the second is always the best. And that's still two more places higher than yours, slowpoke!" The two friends laughed with one another as they continued to tussle. Wrestling back and forth, practicing together, there was no greater enjoyment for the two as they continued to play with one another. Like sisters, these best friends shared just about everything together, forming a bond over the years that was unbreakable.

It was times like this Adora was proud to see how Catra turned out. Ever since she joined the rest of the Junior Cadets, for whatever reason thanks to Lord Hordak, she's come out of her shell. She doesn't let people get her down as much as she used to, and, in fact, she's started standing up for herself from the people that used to bully her.

Sure, there were times she felt a little cornered from time to time, but that's where Adora always came in, standing by her side and refusing to let anyone gang up on her friend, no matter how much trouble it got the two in. She would always be there for her friend, like they always promised, and she knew she could count on Catra to always be there for her.

It was around that time that Shadow Weaver finally appeared from the corridor, approaching the instructor with intrigue as he finished scrawling in his notes for the final report. "Ah, good evening, Shadow Weaver."

"Instructor." She greeted back, her hands behind her back in a professional manner. "How were they?"

"Oh, they were great. I didn't have a single kid lag behind-"

"I mean, how was she?" She emphasized, getting straight to the point.

"O-Oh, you mean yours." He took a short break as he examined through his various pages. "Well, you'll be pleased to know she'll be promoted alongside the other children. There were a lot of tight calls at the finish line, but-"

"Let me see." Her tone deepened as some of the kids started to leave, preparing for the night ahead. Flipping through the pages, Shadow Weaver's eyes slowly widened as she saw the performance recorded for one cadet in particular, raising her head and lowering her eyelids as she saw the person in question, and the possible cause for this excuse. "Do you still have her promotional badge?"

"Yes, mam." He replied, showing her the badge. "I kept hold of it just like you asked. Do you want to give it to her yourself?"

"Something like that." Without so much as looking at him, she yanked the stopwatch from his neck, leaving a small rub burn on the back of his collar-bone as she floated on ahead. "Instructor, you're dismissed." She informed, to his confusion.

"Dismissed?" He didn't know what was about to take place, but he was smart enough to know not to question the likes of Shadow Weaver. "I-If you insist, mam." He saluted respectfully, making his way out the door while he still had his head.

With most of the possible obstacles out of the way, Shadow Weaver continued on ahead, calling out the girl's name. "Adora." The two immediately stopped in their roughhousing as they saw Shadow Weaver approaching.

Feeling a sense of pride within herself, Catra eagerly rushed up to the woman, displaying the badge connected to the sleeve of her short-sleeve shirt. "Hey, Shadow Weaver! Check it out! I came in second-"

*thump*

She didn't so much as give her the care or time of day as she brushed her aside with a simple push of the hands. She completely ignored the magicat, the girl who surpassed Adora in something, and still kept her focus on the blond girl ahead. What difference did it make if she saw Catra lowering her ears at this? She kept her focus, her only concern, on the girl ahead of her.

And one who felt a sense of nervousness as she saw Shadow Weaver approach. "Shadow Weaver." She greeted formally, as all cadets were taught to do.

"Adora," she greeted back, shoving the clipboard in front of her face, "what is this?" She watched the girl take the clipboard from her hand, Adora flipping through the several pages of their record.

"My... Test results?" She answered unsuringly, wondering if she was giving her another one of her trick questions again.

"And what is this displaying? What time does it say?" There was a sense of disgust in her tone, a disappointment that Adora wasn't used to.

"I-It says... Just under ten minutes-"

"Ten. Minutes." She scathed. "Ten minutes. That is your final best. You've trained better than this, Adora, I know you have! You should have been able to reach seven minutes easily, maybe even six. So pray tell, why, you finished with such a meager score."

"I-I..." Adora shriveled up a little as she tried to come up with a response. As time past, Shadow Weaver made her disdain for failure more and more apparent over the months, pushing Adora to reach new limits. She was well-enough aware of the fact that she just wanted Adora to excel at everything she did, to prove herself as much as she could to Shadow Weaver. Growing up under her, she came to understand that the better she did proved to her how much Adora loved her like a daughter.

And with the opposite, showing how poorly she did proving how little she loved her, holding up, as well.

"I told you not to practice for so long, yesterday." Catra spoke up from where Shadow Weaver brushed her aside. "You could've saved your strength if you-"

"Silence!"

"Ek-!" Without warning, Catra's body was immediately assaulted by the wave of darkness before she could even let out a scream. The all too familiar red glow of Shadow Weaver's power engulfed her body as she froze on the spot, her heart feeling like it was being torn and put together endlessly as she felt the full force of Shadow Weaver's disappointment.

"Stop it!" Adora pleaded, tugging on Shadow Weaver's robe. "It's not her fault. She's right. I practiced too much yesterday and I was still tired this morning. I'm sorry..." She apologized, straining her expression as she fought back the tears she felt coming on.

Shadow Weaver analyzed the girl carefully before she considered letting Catra go. The look on her face, the sadness in her eyes of her personal disappointment, there could be no doubt. She was telling the truth for her own sake, as well as Catra's. She wanted to prove herself so much that she practiced day in and day out, unaware of the eventual tiredness it would put her body in when the time called for it.

It was also hard to be as disappointed as she initially appeared when she already knew the reason why. She wanted to prove herself for Shadow Weaver in the first place. If she blamed Adora, she would have to blame herself in the process. If not, she would be pinning the blame entirely on her and her alone.

"Hm." Lowering her expression again, she finally released an exhausted Catra who was panting out of breath. Fear was a great motivator for some. To her, it was an exhausting experience that left her breathless. "If you want to prove to me you're sorry, then show me."

"Show you?" The idea of how she would accomplish such a task baffled Adora's mind. She would do anything to prove herself back to Shadow Weaver. The question was, how?

That was when Shadow Weaver revealed the stop watch, pointing to the track the students were using earlier with the same hand as her clipboard. "On the field. I want you to beat your current record. Now."

Adora showed a cloud of concern at this as she looked past her mentor to the girl with the tail, noticing an uneasy look on her face that was shared with her. "Like, right now?"

"Yes, Adora, now."

"But the track run is already over. And the instructor-"

"Do you suggest the instructor has more authority than me?" Adora knew better to answer that question, even if she did know the correct response to it. "I want you to run the track again, as fast as you can. Now."

Adora was beside herself as she hung her head low, walking her way over to the field with a sense of unease hanging over the air. As instructed, she placed her own two feet at the start of the track line, the very place she stood last time, and prepared for the inevitable run.

Stepping away from the track field, Catra wanted to say something, anything, to either encourage Adora or to dissuade Shadow Weaver from continuing with the run. But what could she say and to whom, then? She wasn't going to convince Shadow Weaver any time soon, so that obviously wasn't going to work, and if Adora was already tired, there was no way she was going to beat her original score, and even if she did, she needed to beat it by at least two-and-a-half minutes to get the first spot.

She couldn't persuade or dissolve either of them, knowing of the relationship the two continued to share despite how unsettling it could seem on the outside at times.

Or unfair in others.

Frowning a little with her ears lowering, Catra made her way away from the track, taking a seat along the wall near the doorway as she prepared to watch.

Ripping a new page out of the many sheets that came with the board, Shadow Weaver took her place at Adora's side, holding the stopwatch up to her forearm as she observed Adora closely. "Begin."

*click*

Without another word, Adora took off running as fast as her legs could carry her, sprinting across the track field at full speed. She wasn't going to get away from this ordeal until Shadow Weaver was impressed with her score, or at least tolerated it. She knew she was going to have to push past her exhausted state if she ever wanted to finish with this track anytime soon.

With her speed seemingly increased by just a little, Catra watched as Adora ran back and forth in succession, taking in the sight of Adora going a little faster with wonder. Was she actually still capable of running? She seemed to be panting out of breath since they last ran, and now she was going at full speed again. It's not like she wasn't happy that she had energy to spare, of course. She would've felt sorry to watch anyone dragging their feet around in any attempt to run again like this.

But just how much energy did she still have?

Coming to an end of the track, panting again as she hunched over, Shadow Weaver stopped the clock, examining the results carefully.

"8:32." She announced before looking back to Adora. "Again." Adora knew better than to complain or to argue about something like this, taking her position as instructed, and repeating the process. Catra was more amazed Shadow Weaver wasn't impressed with the score. She just knocked the third placement out of the park by twenty seconds, and she was still going on!

"8:13." She said again after the next lap. "Again."

This is what Catra found herself sitting around and watching for the next hour or so. With every run Adora took, she somehow managed to knock off another dozen or so seconds of her previous time, slowly taking the placements ahead of everyone else, including Catra's. Despite the fact she continued to push herself harder with each run, Shadow Weaver still wasn't impressed enough with the score, continuing to force the girl into another run until she felt she got it "right".

That moment never came.

Around the hour mark, she started to slow down, tired from the multiple runs she was taking and feeling legs slowly turning to jelly from numbness. She started taking several seconds longer to ten seconds, twenty seconds, and, eventually, a full minute longer before the results finally came to a stop. At the end, the girl was covered in sweat, her only relief being the occasional water breaks, and panting like never before.

Grimacing, she glanced over the records again carefully, comparing the data against the other students who took the test. While her score was pitiful, from her point of view, she supposed it wasn't the worst out of the thirteen who took the test, even if some of the comparisons sickened her like a particular cat. After two hours of nonstop running, Shadow Weaver finally let out a sigh, looking disapprovingly at the girl.

"I suppose that's as good as we're going to get for today." She felt any further pushing would've tired the girl out from the next day's list of events, and she couldn't afford to have her failing multiple lessons for the sake of one. "Your final score was 6:19." She revealed, just eight seconds slower than the fastest runner.

"Huff... Huff... I'm sorry... Shad... Shadow Weaver..." She heaved, feeling her throat getting drier faster than she could drink from a water bottle.

Shadow Weaver shook her head at this. "Next time you're on the field, I want you to give it your all, and hold nothing back. Holding back can get you killed on the battlefield, and until I feel you've learned that lesson, I will be holding on to your badge. Understood, Adora?"

"Y-Yeah... I understand." She finally sighed.

To say that Shadow Weaver wasn't aware of the state she was in would be a complete lie, nor the feeling Adora was possibly going through in her mind and heart. She ran for the last two hours to prove her dedication to the Horde, and to her in particular. How could she be mad at such a display if a girl was willing to push herself to the brink of collapsing without a reason behind it? A reason for her, at that?

As always, her eyes softened slightly as she patted Adora's head, the girl still keeping it lowered from her state of tiredness, and made her way out the door. Catra rubbed her eyes a little sleepily, almost falling asleep from watching the boring run, but was full awake once Shadow Weaver neared. Watching her float out the door, she returned to Adora, running to the girl's side as she patted her back a little.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, trying to offer her some of the water she'd been saving.

She had a small smile on her face as she accepted the offer, wiping the sweat from her head. "Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed again. "For a minute there, I didn't think she'd ever let up." She enjoyed the sweet embrace of the water as she drank, the soothing moisture running down her throat.

"Heh, yeah, that was really... something..." She felt a small bit of emotion clouding her mind as a wave of unease took over her heart. "Hey... Adora?"

"Yeah?" She was curious by the strange look of sadness coming across Catra's face.

"Did... Did you really mean it when you said you let me win?" If she had beaten Catra's score by a few seconds or so, then she wouldn't have felt as bothered given all the running she had been doing. Here, she managed to push her record off the stairs with a solid minute faster than her. What's worse was the fact she kept getting faster after this point until she started to slow down again, for a solid half-hour at that.

"What? Of course not! You really beat me this time." Her casual smile and cheering did nothing to persuade Catra as she patted her back in return. "Now come on, we should get some supper before the cafeteria ends."

"Yeah, sure." Catra's meek voice replied as she watched Adora leave. Personally, she wasn't bothered by the fact Adora beat her score so much as the fact she possibly let her win. It left the girl feeling personal remorse and anger as she squeezed her fist a little.

To think, for a moment, she actually found something she was better than Adora at. Speed. Given her latent agility, it didn't really surprise her. Running was in her instincts, as well as being a better jumper, and having the reflexes of a cat to boot. She felt a true sense of accomplishment for the first time, even if Shadow Weaver didn't recognize it.

Now, she felt shame at the idea that one of her biggest moments of victory, feeling like Adora let her win out of sheer pity and sympathy. She didn't want Adora to let her win because they were friends, she wanted to win because she found something she was better at than her. Adora had no qualities that made her different from any other human, and she still managed to find ways to outmatch her and other hybrid-like humans in terms of quality and talents.

The fact that she would do such a thing, to take pity on her... it irritated her a little. She appreciated the gesture, but she wouldn't stand for her taking pity on her. She wanted to prove herself to Adora, to Shadow Weaver, and anyone else who looked down on her. In a strange way, the little talk Shadow Weaver gave Adora motivated Catra more than her.

She wanted to feel a true sense of accomplishment, and was willing to do whatever it took.

...

"It was never enough for her to simply try my best." Adora continued, resisting the temptation to squeeze the badge and crush it in her hands. "She wanted me to be the best. She wouldn't accept anything less, even if it meant coming in fourth! Can you believe her?"

"Um, yeah, it, um, sounds terrible." Adora didn't know what was more obvious about Scorpia's lack of agreement, the tone she used, the unsure manner she spoke in, or the fact she couldn't look her in the eye when she said this.

"...What? You don't actually agree with her, do you?" Adora asked, accusingly.

"Well, I wouldn't really say agree or anything..." Scorpia felt a little awkward as she scratched the back of her head. Disagreeing with Adora was never her strong point, much less a point she made at all in the past.

"I don't believe it, you actually agree with her, don't you?"

"It's not in the way you think, Adora." Scorpia tried to explain. "It's just... mothers can be a bit overbearing at times because they mean well. I'm sure she just wanted you to try your best because she knew you could be the best, that's all."

"She's not my mother!" Adora barely caught herself from squeezing her fist, unwilling to damage the badge as long as Shadow Weaver requested it. "How many times do I have to say that? All she did was raise me and use me. That's it." She wasn't willing to continue this conversation as she headed for the door, Scorpia following along behind her. "She didn't care about raising me to be a strong warrior, she just wanted a strong tool she could use later on in her life."

"And... raising someone for over ten years doesn't mean anything to you?" Scorpia prodded. It didn't sound like the Adora she knew.

"Of course it means something to me! It's because it means something to me that it hurts! She wasn't interested in anything about me, she was only interested in finding ways to make me an obedient little soldier, that's it." She grumbled, ignoring as a few strands of hair started to cover her eyes. "She just used me like Catra did. She's even using me now, I just know it!"

"Using you now? What do you mean? How does this benefit her in any way?"

"Because she doesn't want to go to Beast Island, okay- Hmm!" Adora slammed a hand over her own mouth, but the damage was done. She had completely forgotten that Scorpia wasn't aware of her intentions behind this, being too distracted with all the reminiscing and memories flooding through Adora's mind.

Taking Scorpia by surprise, the Force Captain frowned a little as they stopped in the hallway. "Hordak wants me to send her to Beast Island in two days, all right?"

"Beast Island?!" Scorpia gasped. "That place is real?!" The thought of it alone was enough to make Scorpia squeeze her head. "I thought Beast Island was just a story to keep us in line. Being sent there is supposed to be a fate worse than death." Given the direction the conversation was heading, the last thing Scorpia expected to see was a small look of concern growing over Adora's eyes, the Force Captain rubbing her arm again as she looked away.

"...I-I bet there's some nice stuff, too." She tried to cheer up. "Maybe she'll write us a letter some time-"

"There won't be any letters, Scorpia!" Adora interrupted. While they couldn't see with the sleeves of her jacket covering them up, a small strain of the shadows started to grow over Adora's arms as her emotions began to rise. "Don't you get it? Once she goes there, that's it. She's dead. I need to prove to Hordak I'm competent enough to continue working for him, and Shadow Weaver's my best bet at making that happen. I need whatever information she can provide that will benefit the Horde."

"And you think Shadow Weaver will give you the information because you... brought her a badge?"

"I," she looked at the badge unclearly, "I don't know what she wants with the badge, all right? I'm just doing it so she'll give me something to work with."

"Because you want to keep her around?"

"No!"

"Then you want her to go to Beast Island?"

"No!... I mean, yes... Maybe?" Adora furrowed her brow as the confusion began to set in. "I don't know, okay!" Why was she asking her all of these confusing and ridiculous questions?

Shadow Weaver had information. Adora wanted that information. If she gave her that information, she wouldn't be sent off to Beast Island. Adora gains more respect from Lord Hordak, Shadow Weaver gets to live, and that would be the end of it. End of story!

"I just... I need to accomplish something, that's all." She didn't sound as certain of herself as she previously did, leaning her shoulder against the corner of the intersection as her eyes drifted away. Why was she starting to feel so unsettling about all of this?

"Why do you need to accomplish something? Haven't you done a lot for the Horde already? Think of all the places and people who are working with us. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"I... It does, Scorpia, it's just-"

*clang*

"Darn it!" A guard yelled a short distance away down the hall, grabbing their attention.

Following the direction of the sound, the two girls were brought to the site of a bunch of Horde soldiers and guards wheeling out a bunch of broken machine parts and droids. All scrambled, all dismantled, and completely decimated. And this broken-down one was just the first out of a large parade of parts that were being moved by fellow soldiers, seeing a handful of broken parts being shipped ahead of it and from behind.

"Oh come on, man!" Several of the guards from behind complained, annoyed that they had to remain in place for a little longer.

"Oh pipe down, I had nothing to do with it." The present guard complained back, grunting as he pulled the wheel barrow up again and gathered the parts that fell out.

"What is all of this?" Adora asked, scavenging through the parts herself as she kneeled next to him.

"Oh, afternoon, commander." He greeted with a nod as some of the other guards came to help. "Not much, just a bunch of pieces we need to ship off to the salvage yard. Hopefully something around here is still usable."

"But where is all of this from?" Scorpia asked back, taking a broken sheet of metal from the pile. It didn't last more than two seconds before crumbling from the lightest touch of her hands. "Did Hordak ask you guys to gather this from the dump or something?"

"Nah, this is from the stronghold near Turnwall."

"Turnwall?"

"Didn't you hear? The Rebellion tore it down yesterday. Nearly all the soldiers stationed there were captured on the spot thanks to Turnwall's help."

"B-But Turnwall's been allied with us since Entrapta joined us!" Adora couldn't believe what she was hearing, or that it was actually happening. "Why would they suddenly attack us?"

"Beats me. Rumor has it they were always aiding the Rebellion in secret. They were just waiting for an opportunity to attack. But I'm just going by what one of the survivors told me. We probably would've been more aware of their plans if we pushed in a little harder."

"Aww man. Stinks about Turnwall, huh, Adora?" Scorpia commented, waiting for a verbal response before turning her head. "Adora?" She was gone.

Further down the hallway, Adora could be seen running at full speed, panic and worry engulfing her vision as she rushed towards the prison sector.

This was exactly what she was worked up about, she was sure of it. All the past alliances she had made, the people she trusted to unite under the Horde, were starting to turn against them, against her. Every victory the Rebellion claimed was another ally they were making, and another town that was starting to switch sides again for reasons she couldn't understand. Didn't they trust them enough? Didn't Adora provide resources in appreciation?

All she knew was that this would continue to worsen her reliability as a commander, much less a Force Captain.

She was running out of time. She needed to extract the information from Shadow Weaver as soon as possible and make up for these mistakes and future mistakes the other alliances were possibly going to cost her. She needed the information now, and she needed it fast. Otherwise, Hordak's patience with her would finally reach its limit, and he would be looking for a new commander after disposing of the previous one.

She needed to do this for her own sake. For the Horde's sake. For the sake of everyone she cared about.

She didn't care about her reputation, she didn't care about this crazy stuff she needed to do to get Shadow Weaver to talk, and, most of all she definitely didn't care about Shadow Weaver...

...

A/N: And another chapter down ^^ As you might've expected at this point, yes, the story WILL primarily revolve around flashbacks involving adora and Shadow Weaver, not her time as Light Spinner. Reason being? 1- to make a fresher take on this thing, otherwise i'd just be jotting down the entire episode word for word, which is, of course, boring XP.

Reason 2- In order to justify what *might* happen at the end. I had a giant list jotted down just now but i decided to get rid of it because i don't want to go into too much detail over it. Let's just say, when it comes to Adora, you need to play it differently than you did for Catra. That's all I can say.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed regardless! Leave a Like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 85: S2 Episode 6: Future of the Past Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 14.2k Pre-A/N's. What's up guys, here with another present chapter! Not much to say about this one, sorry for the small delay, but hopefully the large size helps to make up for it ^^ Will admit writings not at the best atm, with the sickness thing going around and people scrambling left and right, I've had my share of headaches (mostly of people acting way too over the top with this stuff), so writing might be choppy from here to there, especially since it's differing so much from the original content.

With that all said, hope you still enjoy ^^!

...

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" Octavia yelled fiercely as she continued to squeeze on Adora's nine-year-old arm. The little blonde did everything she could to shake free of the officer's titan-like strength, nearing the edge of tears coming down her eyes as the squeeze continued to intensify.

It wasn't enough for her to escape the first time. After pulling off one of the most dangerous games she ever had with Catra, the two ended up getting caught by Octavia of all people, the woman getting a firm grip on the young blonde first as Catra made her own escape. Personally, the fact that Catra didn't come back for her is what bothered her the most.

She still couldn't figure out why Catra would just abandon her like that. Didn't they always say they would have each other's backs? To always look out for each other? She could've stayed behind, taken the possible punishment with Adora or helped her escape. Instead, she ran with her tail between her legs, apologizing as she ran out of the bay as fast as she could.

It didn't make any sense to the young girl, and for all she knew, it never would. Her only priority at this point was dealing with the octo-lady with a crushing grip on her arm, one who dragged her all the way back into the Cargo Bay after finding the little hiding spot Adora kept herself in.

"I-It was an accident, honest!" She sniffed, struggling in vain to escape the pain and the anger directed at her. "W-We were just playing around!"

"I don't care if you were field testing it you little brat!" Octavia yelled louder, squeezing even tighter and bringing Adora closer to tears. The girl had never felt such a sense of fear, guilt, stress, worry, and everything one could feel after going through what she did. It wasn't helping that the longer it went on for, the more Octavia seemed to be yelling, and the louder it got.

From instinct or from overall fear, Adora felt like her options were becoming limited. If she waited any longer, she didn't what would happen before she broke down, and if she managed to get through all the yelling, she was positive she was going to break her arm at this rate! She's never dealt with a broken bone in her life and she hoped she wouldn't ever have to. All she knew right now was that she had to escape this situation, and fast!

And, thanks to Catra's many teachings, she knew the perfect solution out of this grasp.

*CHOMP!*

"YEOW!" With a great, big breath, Adora bit Octavia's tentacle-like arm as hard as she could. The good news was that it definitely appeared to be effective as Octavia's grasp loosened. The bad news is, aside from the bad taste it left in her mouth, she already tried this once before not ten minutes ago, and Octavia had braced herself for the pain. "You really think that's going work on me twice, kid!?"

"Y-You're hurting me, let go!" Adora whimpered, shaking her arm as hard as she could. She regretted not taking the moment to escape when she had the chance.

"You think this is hurting you?" She growled. "Let me show you what hurting really is, brat!" With a mighty arm, she raised her tentacled-hand into the air, Adora's pupils shrinking at the sight of it, and covering her head with her free arm as she prepared for the inevitable onslaught.

*Crash!*

But the onslaught never came.

"Adora!" Instantly, Adora's eyes snapped open at the sound of Shadow Weaver's angelic-like voice calling out to her in worry.

"Mo- Shadow Weaver!" Adora cried out, rushing up to her and hugging her waist tightly. Never had her presence brought such relief to Adora as it had here, or the timely rescue from Octavia's wrath.

She couldn't keep the tears from flowing through the small slits of her eyelids as Shadow Weaver stroked her head. Looking back, she saw the state Octavia was in and the state the crates she was thrown into, no doubt the result of Shadow Weaver's life-saving magic at work as she engulfed the octogirl in her magic before blasting her away.

"Are you alright?" She asked, soothingly. Her glare intensified to the sound of Octavia pulling herself out of the rubble, rubbing her head from the impact. Noticing it herself, the young Adora quickly ran behind Shadow Weaver, hiding behind her legs as she peeked around. "You have some nerve attacking her like that. You have ten seconds to explain yourself. Now!"

"Tch, save your threats for someone who takes them seriously, witch." Octavia scoffed, brushing off her shoulders as she approached. "And maybe you should be asking the brat what she and her friend did before jumping to conclusions!"

"I thought I made it clear to everyone that any issues concerning her are to be brought to me directly?" She raised her hand threateningly as the gem of her mask glowed a little, doing nothing to scare the officer glaring back at her. "No exceptions."

"You want an exception? Why don't you try opening your eyes and smelling the smoke!" Without wasting time, she directed Shadow Weaver's attention towards the burning remains of metal across the room, the smoke still filling the air as soldiers and droids alike slowly began to put out the fire with extinguishers. "You think we started a bonfire or something? Your kid and that stupid cat took a skiff for a joyride and crashed it into another one!"

"You miserable wretch! Adora would never do such a thing."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you ask her yourself, then?" Octavia challenged, crossing her arms.

Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes at this as she gazed at the officer. She refused to believe such a thing, in any shape or form, that Adora was capable of pulling off such an act. It almost sickened her to imagine anyone desperate enough like Octavia to come up with a lie such as this!

"Adora." She said sternly, keeping her eyes on Octavia. "Go ahead and tell her."

"Huh?" Adora questioned the vague objective she was given.

"Go ahead and tell her, Adora." She repeated. "Tell her it was Catra and ONLY Catra, and you were trying to stop her. I trust you."

"... Um..." At the sound, Shadow Weaver's eyes slowly widened as she turned around, staring back at Adora as Octavia returned her own focus to her.

"Adora?"

"...We... I-It was an accident... Honest..." She mumbled, the guilt on her face keeping her from looking at the mother-figure of her life directly.

"Excuse me?" Already, Shadow Weaver's emotions were beginning to spike, as the mountaintop of disbelief slowly melted away one foot at a time into a steaming pool of boiling water.

"W-We... We were just playing, and..." She barely began her explanation before the tears formed in the corner of her eyes, knowing the amount of disappointment and anger Shadow Weaver must be feeling. "A-A-And... And Catra said she knew how to pilot a skiff, and... W-We were just going to take it for a small ride and... I-I-I'm sorry..."

"...You're sorry... YOU'RE SORRY!?" All at once, a newfound explosion of rage erupted out of Shadow Weaver as her hair spiraled out of control, her voice booming to such lengths that even surprised Octavia.

If Adora knew what kind of fierce grip Shadow Weaver had beforehand, she would've gladly remained in Octavia's grasp. Shadow Weaver's hand squeezing ever-so tightly against her right arm, it felt like her very bones were being pushed into each other, just inches away from snapping at the sheer pressure she applied. She could've sworn that everything past her wrist was turning blue, the oxygen coming to an immediate halt.

"O-OWWWW!" Adora screamed in pain, trying to yank her arm away from Shadow Weaver's terrifying and painful grasp. "Stop it, it hurts!"

"IT HURTS!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, YOUNG LADY?! WHAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE?" Shadow Weaver shouted, her voice booming across the cargo hold and drawing multiple eyes.

For the first time in her life, she didn't care how harsh she was being towards the girl. This, all of this, was the single most stupidest thing she could ever picture Adora doing, and she actually did it! This was something she could easily see Catra doing, something she would need to correct in due time herself, but that wasn't what mattered to her right now. What mattered to her was the very fact Adora, her Adora, would be caught up in the mix behind it all!

"YOU WEREN'T JUST PLAYING A SIMPLE GAME HERE, ADORA! YOU WERE RISKING YOUR LIFE OUT OF MERE ENJOYMENT!"

"I-I'm sorry-!" Adora tried to cry, only for Shadow Weaver to lean in closer, practically screaming in Adora's ears.

"I DON'T CARE HOW SORRY YOU ARE! DO YOU HEAR ME!? WHAT YOU DID TODAY WAS BEYOND FOOLISH! WHAT IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED? WHAT IF YOU ENDED UP HURTING, OR EVEN KILLING SOMEONE BY MISTAKE? OR WORSE, WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, ADORA!"

"I'm s-sorryyyeh...eheheh..." Adora started to cry as her ears rung from the sound of Shadow Weaver's screaming. Not once, ever, had she used this tone of voice with the girl, even when she got into the occasional prank. She's seen this anger plenty of times, for sure, but never directed at her personally. She didn't realize how much worse the screaming was from the receiving end of it!

"IF YOU WERE TRULY SORRY, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT TO BEGIN WITH, WOULD YOU?" None of the anger subsided as she continued to glare at Adora in fury. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT DEATH IS, CHILD?! IT DOESN'T GIVE YOU SECOND CHANCES, YOU DON'T GET TO RESTART! ALL IT IS IS EMPTINESS AND DARKNESS! AND YOU WOULD'VE BEEN EXPERIENCING IT RIGHT NOW IF YOU WEREN'T SO LUCKY!"

"Ehhehehehhhh!" Adora continued to cry harder, not even caring anymore about Shadow Weaver's "No Crying" Rule.

"H-Hey, take it easy, Shadow Weaver." Octavia was actually starting to feel a little sorry for the girl she was just about to hit moments ago. Most of the children were disciplined accordingly to the crime around here when they were Adora's age, but they never had to suffer the true wrath of one's anger to the point where Shadow Weaver was bringing it. "Nobody got hurt-"

"I WANT YOU TO GO TO YOUR ROOM AND AWAIT MY ARRIVAL! NOW, ADORA!" She ordered sternly. With a firm shove, she finally released the girl's arm, Adora frantically rubbing it soothingly from the pain she felt over it. She mark she squeezed was still darkened from the force of the grip, an experience she never wanted to repeat again. She wasted no time sobbing her eyes out as she ran out of the facility, leaving behind an erupting Shadow Weaver and Octavia behind.

Waiting for the girl to finally vacate the room, she finally let out a sigh as her hair dropped around her. "Why must children be so difficult?"

"Well, you know, they're not like robots or anything, Shadow Weaver." Octavia replied, walking to her side. "You can't just program them to do something repeatedly. They're unpredictable at the best and worst of times. All you can really do is prepare for any eventuality."

"That "eventuality" nearly got her killed today. Am I being too easy on her or too hard? Or not hard enough?"

This really was a new experience for Shadow Weaver. Not once has she ever had to deal with such a momentous tragedy such as this, one that could've cost Adora her very life. She's scolded her on a handful of occasions throughout the years, mostly due to a certain pest's hand at getting her involved, but even this was pushing it too far.

"Can I trust you to deal with the other one, later?" She asked Octavia.

The tentacled girl gave her a nod as she looked back to the fire. "Yeah, the other brat's mine when I get my hands on her. This is going to take a mountain of paperwork to explain."

"I don't envy your job at times. But I repeat; if something like this happens again-"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your mask on, I'll tell it to you directly." Octavia truly showed no fear to the shadowy witch. It was almost commendable on a certain level to Shadow Weaver. "But don't expect me to be so lenient the next time something like this happens."

"Trust me, Octavia," Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes as she headed towards the exit, "there won't be a next time..."

...

*clink*

"There." Adora tossed the badge against the ground to Shadow Weaver's legs. The witch looked at the badge in curiosity as Adora crossed her arms. "I got the dumb badge. Now what do you need?"

"Oh, this takes me back." Shadow Weaver reminisced, grazing her fingertips along the smooth edge of the badge. "I remember how hard you always trained just to prove yourself to me. Ah, such sweet memories."

"Yeah, touching, such as the time you made me run for two hours straight for a stupid record." She snarled, kneeling down in front of her. She wanted to look her in the eye so she could see all the pain and frustration through Adora's eyes. "Now quit wasting my time and tell me what else you need."

Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed a little, not out of disregard or hate, but curiosity. "My, such a rush we're in today. You barely took the time to deal with your hair today by the looks of it." She commented, noticing the dozen or so strands sticking in front of her face. "Whatever could've caused this?"

"N-Nothing! Now tell me what else you need right now!" Adora lied as she tried to rush the conversation. She needed any information she could get, and soon.

The stress of being a commander was starting to takes its toll on the poor Force Captain. With paperwork that doubled by the day, alliances with various regions that were slowly starting to fall apart, and outposts beginning to fall left and right thanks to the Rebellion's recent advances, nothing was going right for her. Everything she worked so hard to accomplish, all the territories she wanted to unite under the Horde, was now collapsing in on itself.

Who was she supposed to blame over this? How was she supposed to blame someone else over this? Many of the territories they've recently lost over the last few days were the result of negligence of surveillance over the captured territories, thanks to Adora placing too much trust in the people she invited to join the Horde. Add that to the resources that were starting to spread too thin amongst the outposts, it was no wonder that they were beginning to fall one by one.

The fact they were losing the territories wasn't as troubling to Adora as the fact they were facing betrayals on all sides. The biggest issue that came to her was her lack of competence to Lord Hordak this was starting to show.

The leader of the Horde was reaching his limits with Adora's failure. Failing and allowing herself to be captured in Dryl, her failure to obtain valuable resources from the Beacon, and her failure to maintain an alliance with the Kingdom of Snows of all things. Everything she had done so far she had failed in, in his eyes, and she was starting to wear out her welcome in her manner of handling things.

Hordak gave her one last chance to prove herself before he would toss her away like a useless piece of garbage, secluding a nice comfortable cell right alongside her former mentors. If she failed him one more time, that would be the end of it, no matter how large or small the task at hand was. That's why he held his breath for the Force Captain to do something as simple as banish Shadow Weaver to Beast Island in the next two days, whether or not she could extract useful information from his former right hand.

And Adora couldn't allow that, not when she knew Shadow Weaver could still prove useful to them.

"Patience, child." Shadow Weaver shushed, closing her palm around the badge. "I'm not done yet."

"Done with wha- Ah!" Letting out a small yelp, Adora's left arm was grabbed by the aforementioned witch of darkness as she began fiddling with the sleeve along her shoulder. "What are you doing? Stop it!" She tried to order, attempting to pull away from the mentor without hurting her, less she lose her chances of getting any information out of her.

"Hold still..." Shadow Weaver ordered, fidgeting with her shoulder as the Force Captain shook. Whatever she was doing didn't take any longer than six seconds before the mentor was satisfied, finally leaning back against the walls when she was finally satisfied. "There we are."

Adora blinked to her in confusion before looking back to her shoulder. She was a little surprised to see a new silver badge around her shoulder, not that she needed it any longer since she was a Force Captain. "You... You had me get this thing just so you could put it on me?"

"Consider it a late promotion on my part." Shadow Weaver said, swaying her hand to the side. "I just wanted to make sure I tied up any loose ends I had left before being sent to Beast Island."

"You had me waste all that time just to put a dumb badge on me? I could've put it on myself if you had just told me that's what you wanted!"

"But then I wouldn't know for myself if you would actually put it on or not." She retorted. "And I just wanted to get a good look at you with it on before I go."

Adora felt a strange fascination of the badge, now that it was finally on her. It's not like it was enchanted with some bizarre trickery, knowing that Shadow Weaver was out of magic. It was just the fact it was finally on her that somehow made her feel a bit relieved, for some reason.

"I remember you would often beg me to give you back the badge for the next several months, after." She lamented. "I still recall that little badge you tried to make for yourself after a while to pass it off as the promotional badge. Do you remember?"

"Heh, yeah." The memory of it did actually make her chuckle a little as she shifted her eyes away. "I remember trying to use the metal of a broken droid the kids and I destroyed in one of our training lessons. I had to bend the metals repeatedly with my fingers just to get it close to the shape of the badge. That ended up being stupid after I cut my finger."

"It wouldn't have worked for very long anyway, my dear. The metal would've rusted within weeks without the proper coating. Everyone would've known you faked your way into being promoted. Not to mention the trouble you would've been in if any instructors found out."

"I guess so." She chuckled, staring back to Shadow Weaver. It was rather fortunate in the end that the metal did cut her finger by the looks of it. If she had actually made a perfect replica of the badge without the coating and someone found out, there was no way she could explain her way out of it. Faking one's promotion was considered a great felony in the Horde's ranks, and-

Adora shook her head as she returned with her still-resentful expression. "All right, now tell me what else you need." She refused to think of any sort of memories related to Shadow Weaver that would be considered remotely happy.

"Adora, I'm surprised with how much of a hurry you're in today. It's almost like you want my information as soon as possible."

"Of course I want the information as soon as possible." She grumbled. "Or did you forget if you don't give me something, you'll be sent to Beast Island in two days?"

"Oh, I'm touched," her attempts to caress Adora's cheek was met with an immediate slap away, "you actually care about me. Don't you, Adora?"

"No, I don't care about you!" Shadow Weaver would have to compliment the assurance of her tone matching the anger in her eyes. "I care about the information you have that can help us win the war!"

"Really, now?" Her casual tone and unmistakable sarcasm was starting to irritate Adora as she rubbed her chin. "And why ever could that be? I thought with the great job you were doing, you wouldn't need any of my help?"

"I-I don't! I... I'm just doing my job as Hordak ordered me. That's all." One of the few things precious to Shadow Weaver was the way she could always tell when Adora was lying. For example, the fact she shifted her gaze away from her for a moment. "Besides, I would think you would to avoid going to Beast Island. Once you give me what I want, I can give it to Lord Hordak, and then I can convince him not to send you to it."

"Hmhmhm... Hmhmhmhm!" Shadow Weaver had to cover her mask where her mouth would be, failing to hold back the laughter that was escaping through her lips.

"What's so funny?!"

"I'm sorry, Adora, but what you're claiming is too precious for me to ignore." She brushed a few strands of hair from Adora's eyes as the Force Captain tried to understand what she was getting at. "You think with the information I can provide, Hordak will finally respect you enough to listen to you? If that was the case, this conversation wouldn't be happening in the first place, would it?"

"Egh." Adora gritted her teeth as she tried to ignore her verbal taunting and nitpicking.

One of the key things Shadow Weaver would always prove to be a master at was manipulating a conversation in any way to her favor. From picking out the smallest details in a lie to flatout pressing the right questions against a person, she would always get the information out of someone whenever she wanted to.

And that's what made her the most dangerous without her magic.

"If earning his respect was as easy as that, you would've talked him out of sending me to Beast Island by now, wouldn't you? You wouldn't need my help unless you were truly desperate, and I can't imagine why that would be..." That was the other thing that made Shadow Weaver so fearful to Adora- whenever she spoke in a knowing tone.

"Look, are you going to give me the other thing you asked for or not? Cause right now, this is a waste of time, and I'm losing my patience." Adora warned, knowing there was a limit to how far Shadow Weaver would push.

Luckily, it would appear that small gamble would pay off as Shadow Weaver lt out a sigh. "Very well, then." She submitted. "The second thing I need from you is from the next sector over."

"The Hospital Wing?"

"Yes. Ask Dr. Ivy at the front desk for a package from me, and she'll give you the item herself."

"Why don't you just tell me what or where the item is and let me get it?" She didn't feel like it was a good idea to allow someone else to access anything associated with Shadow Weaver.

"Hmhm, and where would the fun in that be?" Like before, she gave Adora another wave of the hand, telling her to leave like before. There was so much she wanted to argue about right now, like all the ridiculous tasks she was making her do, but with time being of the essence, she had very little choice.

As much as it sickened her to realize, she was currently the one caught in whatever game Shadow Weaver was playing at, and she didn't have a choice other than to play along until she gave Adora what she wanted. Whatever happened after that was none of Adora's concern, though she would ensure Shadow Weaver would remain in the Fright Zone. Not out of sympathy or anything, just so she could extract more information from the monster.

It was during her walk out of the prison sector that she turned back to the badge on her arm. She still couldn't figure out why Shadow Weaver wanted to give it to her after all this time. It was useless, tacky, and disgusted Adora to no end. She refused to trust anything Shadow Weaver did, no matter how... admittedly, touching, some of the events were. She was trying to get under Adora's skin, that was it.

And as long as she kept that in mind, she knew she would come out on top after all of this.

...Hopefully...

...

The typical sounds of chatter, some complaining, and an aromatic smell was the first thing to greet Adora as she stepped through the Hospital Wing's doors, as they always did when they entered. Throughout her life, a majority of her ailments or injures from training were treated by Shadow Weaver directly, the witch preferring to use her own methods of healing Adora over theirs.

They weren't all bad or anything. Occasionally she would have a spell that would cure a blaster burn within minutes what would take the wing's doctors hours to fix. At others, she would personally bandage cuts and bruises with herbal remedies she learned from her time in Mystacor. It was moments like this where Shadow Weaver was sort of a mixed bag in terms of personality.

While she wished for Adora's safety, and treated her injuries as they appeared, she would often berate the girl for obtaining the injuries in the first place. She would mock and comment that such injuries shouldn't have occurred in the first place, regardless of reason. The confusing part was, no matter how many times she did, she also showed a sense of care and nurturing when it came to treating her wounds, often with a calming sense in her voice like a mother should have.

Not that she saw her, as such.

It still irritated her when she thought about the times she would chastise her over her injuries. With such comments like, "you should be more attentive of your enemies", or "never leave your back expose on the battlefield", and so forth. It may be advice, it may have been with teasing, either way it was still pretty annoying.

"Hey, Adora!" A familiar voice greeted from behind.

"Huh- Oh. Hi, Kyle." Adora greeted back with a small wave. If there was one place you could expect to see Kyle in once every couple of months, it would be the infirmary around here. Like usual, he was being escorted with Rogelio's help, the lizard helping the unlucky soldier walk with Kyle's arm around his neck. "Training accident, again?"

"No, stair accident." He chuckled anxiously. "There was a dozen soldiers hauling off some stuff in wheelbarrows, and didn't see them when I was making my way up the stairs. Thankfully, it's just a minor sprain. Nurse says I should be up and running in two days."

"Well just be a little more careful from now on, Kyle." Adora said, giving a small wave goodbye as the two made their way for the door. "You don't want to end up in here again, do you?"

"Hah, like I haven't heard that one before... Ow..." It hurt his pride worse to suddenly realize what people meant by the joke now than the fact he bumped his same foot into the doorway before leaving. With a small roll of her eyes, Adora strolled her way over to the front desk of the infirmary, being greeted by the very doctor she came here to see.

"Oh, hello, commander." Dr. Ivy greeted with a two-finger salute. "What can I help you with today? Have another fever you need help with or something?"

"Nah, I've gotten plenty of help from Entrapta with that. I was actually-"

"Yeah, she's been a big help around here lately!" The mid-twenty's doctor interrupted, smiling around the room. Adora couldn't help herself as she followed her gaze, her brief smile slowly dwindling as she saw the various robots and machines that were assisting the doctors. "Thanks to her, it's been easier to treat the soldiers that have been flooding in and out of here."

"The soldiers?" Adora felt a twinge of worry as to the possible cause behind this.

"Mhhm. Lately, we've been losing more and more of our outposts on the borders of our territories. We still have plenty of ground over Etheria, but people have been coming in almost by the hour at this rate. Usually it was just a handful of people in between every several days."

"I... I see..." There was that salty feeling in her throat again, the one telling her to be worried and afraid. Every hour that passed her felt like a timer ticking down on a bomb she had to defuse. Everywhere she looked, she heard another horrible story about a group of people they lost or another accident involving their own territories.

Why was it turning out like this? They were supposed to be on the right side, right? They kept the main focus of their anger towards Bright Moon for sure. There was no way they would ever go easy on the home of the Rebellion if they had the chance. So why was everyone else attacking them whenever her back was turned?

Were there more traitors than she realized? Were people everywhere supporting the Rebellion without her knowing? Gosh, what was she supposed to do if they had traitors in their own midst?! Aside from Frosta, obviously. That was one line of thinking she didn't want to remember.

"-ere?"

Adora's brow rose a little as she turned back to the doctor, realizing she was speaking to her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, what are you doing here?" She asked, filing her blue nails on the side.

"Oh, right! Um, this might sound a little weird, but did Shadow Weaver leave a package here at any point? Like, for me, perhaps?" She couldn't tell if there was confusion on the doctor's end as she leaned her head back in response. "I know it sounds a little strange, but, maybe it's not like a package? It could be an item, or-"

'Oh, no, we have a package for you." Ivy smiled as she hopped from her chair. She walked over to the filing cabinet along the wall as she dug through the top drawer. "I was wondering when you were going to come for it."

"Come for it?" She sounded like she was expecting her this whole time. If Shadow Weaver was behind it, maybe it was?

"Yeah, we've been holding onto it for several years now." With a squee of delight, the doctor pulled a small item out from behind a row of files, giving the item a good brush with her thumbs before blowing a small cloud of dust from it. "Hack-oough." She waved the air in front of her as she cleared her sinuses of the small dust before returning to Adora with the possession in hand. "Here you go."

"T-Thanks." Adora took the offered item in wonder of what the hospital could've kept after all these years, however long it was. To her surprise, clearing off the excess dust over the frame itself, it turned out to be a picture, one framed with a golden edge. Not another unfortunately baby picture that would cause further embarrassment, thankfully, but one that left her with mild confusion.

Based off the picture, it must've been about two to three years ago before all of this happened. She could see herself smiling at the camera with a cheeky grin, showing off her pearly white teeth, as she lied in the hospital bed, saluting the camera. Next to her, she saw Shadow Weaver sitting by her side, looking the same way in a calm, meaningful, position as she had her hands placed firmly in her lap. She didn't make any show of excitement or anything, but didn't seem to mind the fact that she was having her picture taken, if her posture was anything to go by.

What really stood out to her was the large cast Adora had around her leg. Looking closely, she could also see some bandages appearing just from under the tip of her shirt, as if she had been in an accident. What bothered her through this picture is why she could barely remember it. She didn't appear to have any head injuries if the picture indicated anything. She also realized her head was a little fuzzy, but was definitely screaming at her that she knew what this picture was from.

"What... is this?" Adora asked, turning the frame around to see if there was anything else about the picture.

"You don't remember?" Dr. Ivy asked looking over her shoulder with her arms crossed. "This was when you got into that accident about three years back. I guess I'm not totally surprised, you were on pain medications through most of it."

"Pain medication?" It was starting to ring a bell as the answer lied on the tip of her tongue.

"Yeah. They said you and your friend got into an accident when you were training unauthorized some time during the evening. You broke your leg and bruised up your ribs pretty bad."

"Broke my...!" NOW it was finally coming to her. The week she spent in the infirmary, the accident that caused it. It was hard to remember the exact week of her recovery, but she could remember it little bit little when she went by everything that lead up to it.

It was an excruciating experience, to say the least.

...

"Nghhh..." A twelve-year-old Adora groaned in pain as she lightly touched her stomach. It hurt to move around too much, if she could at all with her leg in a cast and on a sling. It took over half a day to make the pain stop when she so much as breathed. And don't get her started on when she tried to eat or drink something. The slightest churn of her stomach caused her entire torso to ache with pain, nearly making Adora squeeze her stomach in pain, which would, in turn, cause more pain overall.

To think, all of this happened because she wanted to prepare herself for the Terrain Exam, one that would've pit her against the entire training field where she had to cross the entire pathway without touching the ground. Sure, it didn't sound too difficult on paper, unless you added the fact they would be suspended fifty feet above the air and required to cross around steel pipes to get to the other side!

Suffice to say, Adora had a small fear of heights, specifically ones requiring her to stretch a good half-mile on foot to pass her exams. It would've been one thing to require the test ran on foot like this, but there would be no harnesses for the duration the exam, with the students' only salvation of surviving being a large net along the ground that would've caught them if they fell.

To help her with this, Catra offered her own assistance in the endeavor, willing to help her friend get through the course. Aside from the fact it was to pay back the way she assisted her in her written exams, again, it was also to keep them together. If Adora ended up failing this exam, she would have to retake the entire course again, separating the two with two-to-four weeks worth of work from each other, and they would never share in the same class again. That was something Catra could not allow!

Man, would she gladly take it all back after the incident that followed.

Because of Catra's neglectfulness when it came to people other than Adora, she was less keen on assisting other people or paying them back for favors they did for her. In the case that caused Adora's incident, she refused to help Kyle with his janitorial duties and maintenance work within the same training facility the exam would be held in. If she had, she would've gotten the warning that the equipment, the pipes that they traversed across, were faulty, and were loose to the touch.

From that, it was a waiting game for either of the two to get into an accident, and, if not for Adora's timely intervention, the victim would've been Catra. Instead, thanks to Adora's quick speed and courage, she managed to push Catra off of the faulty platforming pipe that was about to crumble, taking her place as the unwitting victim who fell several stories through the air, crashing into nearly a dozen pipes that fell with her before landing harshly against the ground.

Between the impact of the ground and the added weight of all the pipes falling on her simultaneously, Adora ended up where she was now. With several bruised ribs and a broken leg, and several days worth of pain she was trying to get through, even with pain relievers, which weren't as effective as the ones meant for official soldiers.

Through what moments of consciousness she managed to shrug off the pain for a few hours, she lamented how much of this she deserved. They were basically breaking and entering a restricted training facility, using equipment without permission, and basically destroyed a portion of the training field after an entire pillar's worth of pipes broke apart.

It reminded her of the last time she did something so dangerous, except this time, she paid for half of the price. The other half would be the fact she was in no state to take the field exam, much less any physical exams, for the next few weeks to a month. Worse, despite how bad she already felt about everything, there would be no doubt, that a certain someone was about to take it worse.

"Adora." The young pre-teen opened her eyes just a little, more than enough to see Shadow Weaver staring down at her.

"Sh-Shadow Weaver." She gritted speaking through her teeth, clenching the pillow her head was lying on to barely ignore any portion of the pain. She hadn't seen her mentor for nearly two days since the incident, and she had more than enough time to lash out in anger for what she did.

"You seem to be doing... okay." She commented. She couldn't tell if it was the minor pain relievers through her body, but she could've sworn Shadow Weaver was speaking calmly to her.

"Ye-Yeah, like I could go another mile or two- Ngh.." Man, even a joke was starting to make her feel sore. And she still had another week before the minor pain relievers would legitimately work!

Shadow Weaver watched her grovel a bit, the girl barely touching her own stomach for any sort of soothingness. Watching her, she saw the witch float around the bed itself, slowly over to the IV bag that was Adora's main source of nutrients for the time being. She started to get nervous as she saw her reaching for the bag with both her arms.

"What are you doing?" She asked nervously. Already, the memories of the last time she nearly got herself killed was already flashing in her mind. This time, the terror set in as she came closer to it than she had before, the anger that rose from Shadow Weaver's veins.

"I told you the last time you endangered your own life not to do anything stupid, and here we are again." Shadow Weaver commented as she began to pull the feeding tube from the bag, pulling away the bag itself. "And you didn't listen."

"I-I'm sorry, Shadow Weaver!" Adora teared up a little as the fear continued to surmount. What could she possibly be doing with the bag? Was she going to just take it away, poison her, what?! "I-I was just training for the exam, we weren't goofing around this time!"

"And I told you the last time you wanted to train you were to warn me first, remember?" She added, finally replacing the bag with another one. This one had more of a blue hue to it, a small but noticeable different one at that. "But you didn't listen."

Adora's heart began to beat faster and faster as she watched the bluish liquid beginning to pull through the tube, trailing up towards Adora's elbow where the needle was. She feared the worst, the worst of the worst. Was she going to kill her? Make her pay more than she already has? There could be no end to the details that would follow, with only the ending having one possible outcome.

With the liquid reaching mere inches away from her arm, she closed her eyes and braced herself for the worst of it. Besides squeezing her arm harshly in times of anger, not once had Shadow Weaver ever incorporated a form of physical punishment towards Adora. She never raised a hand, she never threatened her, she never felt the need to use magic against her. No matter how badly Adora messed up, she would never willingly hurt her.

And now, all that was about to change.

"Now, here we are." Adora jumped a little as she felt a soothing hand over her forehead, brushing the hair out of her face. She opened her eyes a little as she felt Shadow Weaver sitting by her sitting by her side along the bed, continuing to do nothing more than patting Adora's head softly. Any minute now, the pain would finally set in, and that would be the end of her, she was sure of it!

That's when she felt a little off.

Off in that the pain never came as the liquid was fed through the tube. Off in that Shadow Weaver hasn't shouted at her over the ordeal. Off in that, the longer she waited for pain to come, the less she began to feel. Opening her eyes slowly, she didn't notice anything bad happening to her, and Shadow Weaver's eyes didn't seem any angrier like last time. When she finally felt it was safe to lower her guard a little, she noticed that the pain in her stomach was starting to disappear.

"How are you feeling?" There was no presence of anger in her voice. For once, Adora couldn't feel any sense behind it either, some build up of what would eventually lead to anger. Confused, she leaned forward a bit, a feat she never would've accomplished earlier with the pain around her stomach, and saw the IV bag again.

"It... It doesn't hurt." Adora mumbled to herself, feeling along her stomach gently. By this point, she became aware as the bed she was lying on was leaned upwards, allow her to sit more comfortably.

"Why would it?" Her mentor asked casually, throwing a comforting arm around Adora's neck. "Most of our other soldiers don't usually complain about it."

"Soldiers?" It took Adora a moment to put the pieces together, the drugs in her system, while effective, having a small side-effect of making her a little lightheaded. "You... You gave me the soldiers' pain relievers?"

"What did you think it was? Poison?" If it was Shadow Weaver's attempt at humor, it was the first for Adora.

Man, was it unsettling.

Whatever attempts it was to cheer the girl up went without merit as Adora continued to display a small frown on her face, looking off to the side. "I'm sorry for everything, Shadow Weaver. Really." She felt a small tug on her opposite shoulder as Shadow Weaver gently pulled her closer.

"You have nothing to apologize for, my dear." She stated. "You had me worried, I'll admit, but I'm relieved to see you're okay." This went beyond the motherly-appearance she was trying to maintain. A portion of her overall worry was the fact she could've lost such a valuable asset to her future, someone she depended upon to rise through the Horde herself. For a moment, she thought all of that was dashed away in a single instant when she heard about the accident from one of the Horde guards.

"I," she looked up to her mentor-figure with regretful eyes, "I swear, we weren't goofing off or anything. I needed the training to take part for the Terrain Exam tomorrow, honest!" She leaned her head a little into Shadow Weaver's side. "I just wanted to make sure I aced it, like you're always telling me too."

"Yes," the witch turned her head a little at the thought, "I suppose I hold my share of the responsibility for this." She looked back. "I want you to excel at all that you do, but I didn't think you would willingly throw your life away for the sake of doing so."

"Well, it was more than that." Adora felt a bit of peace in her mind, or that might've been the pain relievers, at the soothing voice coming from Shadow Weaver's lips. "I needed to improve my overall score after the written portion went so poorly, and Catra offered to help, and-!" Immediately, her eyes shot open at the realization. "Catra!" She gasped. "Where is she?"

"Catra?" Shadow Weaver feigned ignorance at the question.

"I haven't seen her since the accident, she hasn't visited me once."

"Ah, yes, Catra. Who knows what became of her? She hasn't been seen since the accident."

"Maybe she feels guilty over what happened?" Adora suggested. It was an unnecessary thought as Shadow Weaver already knows of the girl's fate. Why wouldn't she when she had a hand to play in it for all this time?

Shadow Weaver was distraught at the sight of Adora's state when she discovered her in the training facility, thanks to Kyle informing the guards about the minor breaking-and-entering, and was devastated at first sight when she thought she was worse than she appeared. She never expected to see her Adora in such a state, a state of pain and anguish. But the one thing that really defined the moment for her was the cause behind all of this: Catra.

The girl was apologizing profusely left and right to everyone who gathered, unable to believe that all of this was happening, and that she was the one who caused it. Whether it was from the fact they were trespassing, the fact she didn't keep her promise to help Kyle, which would've lead to her discovering about the faulty equipment, or the fact that Adora sacrificed herself to save Catra from a possibly worse fate, the girl felt guilty all the same, like it was all her fault this had happened.

For once, Shadow Weaver wholeheartedly agreed.

From the moment the room was clear, she dragged the young preteen to her chambers. There, she made her realize. Made her realize the mistake of betraying her, breaking the one promise she trusted her with to make sure Adora was safe. She made sure for the last two days she would remember this day so she would never screw up again, never think of raising a hand against her or Adora for as long as she lived. Even if that reminder had to be inflicted through pain.

It wasn't until now that Shadow Weaver decided to take a "break" from the reminding in order to check on Adora's current condition. With the magicat still locked away within the room, nobody has seen her since, not that many were really caring over her whereabouts once the rumors started to spread that she caused Adora's accident. It was a time for Shadow Weaver to make sure Catra learned for once about pushing the witch too far, and she had plenty of time to do it while Adora was recuperating.

"She could be hiding somewhere out of guilt." Adora continued, never turning away from the first person to comfort her in several days.

"I... wouldn't worry about her if I were you." Shadow Weaver tried to pass off. Just mentioning her name was enough to make bile rise to her throat. "Wherever she is, I'm sure she's fine."

"Do... Do you know where she is?"

"Adora-"

"Shadow Weaver, please!" Adora begged, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "She's my best friend, and I know her! I'm sure wherever she is right now, she's scared and lonely. I remember the look on her face after I fell, she was so frightened, so sad. I want her to know I'm alright, that I don't blame her for anything!"

"..." Shadow Weaver continued to stare into Adora's pleading eyes as she begged her. She was so distraught over the idea that she could be suffering emotionally from all of this, someone that most of the Horde looked down upon.

"Please tell me you'll find her! Please- Ngh!" Shadow Weaver raised a hand to her as Adora clutched her stomach in pain again. No matter how strong the pain relievers were, if Adora continued to feel as stressed as she did now, she would burn through them within minutes, maybe seconds. It would also mean she would go through her pain reliever too fast if her heart rate kept increasing.

"...I'll see what I can do." She replied, gently stroking Adora's cheek with the back of her palm. To both their relief, physically and emotionally, Adora finally gave a weak smile to this as she lied back on her raised bed, leaning a little closer into Shadow Weaver's side.

"Thanks, Mo- I mean, Shadow Weaver." It was almost cute, admittedly, as Shadow Weaver noticed Adora almost called her "mom", or "mother", again. Just as soon as the smile came did it begin to disappear soon after as she remembered the rest of her dilemma. "Still, I'm sorry for everything I messed up."

"Messed up?" There was genuine curiosity behind her voice. "What do you mean, my dear?" Comforting her, she raised the blankets a little higher to Adora's chest, trying to keep her warm.

"Well, you know. The Terrain Exam." She revealed, the exam being the third-most worrying thing after Catra's absence and Shadow Weaver's anger towards her once they met again. "Aside from breaking half the equipment, I won't be able to take the dumb test now because of this." She moaned resting the side of her head against her. "I'm going to fail because of this now and I'll be weeks behind."

There was a case of irony behind it when she thought about it, at least as much as she could given her current state. To think, all of this started because she didn't want to fail her exam in the first place. Now, she was going to fail with 'flying colors', because she couldn't even take the test at this point.

"... I wouldn't be so sure about that." Digging through the confines of her robe's sleeves as Adora turned back to her, she pulled out a small digital pad, one that many of the officers and Force Captains within the Fright Zone were assigned for their duties. "It's funny when you think of how many uses security cameras have."

"Cameras?" Adora questioned as she watched the screen Shadow Weaver was fumbling with. She didn't even know the training facility had any security cameras. And she's been all over the room for years in her training, that's how well they were hidden!

In a matter of seconds, she brought up a detailed recording of the incident that put her here in the first place. It displayed the two from an angle, specifically from the back-left of where Catra was standing. It showed the very scene of Catra's pipe starting to break away before the girl was aware of it, and Adora's heroic rescue as she pushed her away to safety before falling herself.

Adora eyed the screen in surprise as it kept replaying the footage repeatedly, on a ten-second loop from the moment of Catra's slow descent to the scene of her falling thereafter.

"Your instructor's examined the video and I spoke to him in length about the aftermath." Shadow Weaver said as she handed the device to Adora. "While there were some misgivings about using the equipment after hours, he was convinced by your heroic rescue that you deserved more than enough credit to pass the exam."

"So... I'm not going to fail?" Was she truly understanding her correctly or was the medication making her more light-headed than she thought? It was the sight of Shadow Weaver's nodding that finally brought a warm smile to the girl's face as Adora threw her arms around her. "I don't know what to say. Thank you, Shadow Weaver." All of her fears were melting away with her emotions. Thanks to Shadow Weaver, she had absolutely nothing to fear right now.

All the same, Shadow Weaver would be lying if she said she didn't feel a small amount of warmth herself, glad she could brighten Adora's mood a little with the announcement and news.

If she wanted to continue helping Adora in her recovery, the next step would be to keep the girl from being any more stressed out than she already was. To do that, as much as she hated it, she knew she would have to release Catra from her confines for the time being. She knew she wouldn't be foolish enough to tell Adora what happened, not after all the pain she inflicted through her magic. Even if she did, with the medication through Adora's mind, chances were she wouldn't understand much of what Catra was saying, and by that point, she'd drag her back to her chambers for another "session".

*click*

The two lifted their heads as they heard the sound of the camera going off. At the foot of the bed, they saw Dr. Ivy with a camera in her hands, smiling at the two as the film developed.

"Well, about time we got a smile out of her." She said, looking through the picture in her device. "I haven't seen her smile since the moment we brought her in here. Then again, she was in a bit of pain despite the relievers we gave her."

"They were ineffective with the injuries she sustained, doctor." Shadow Weaver commented. "You know that as well as I do."

Dr. Ivy shrugged to this. "Yeah, but without official orders from the higher ups, you know we couldn't give her the strong stuff unless she was an official soldier. So sorry about that."

"Heh, that's okay." Adora smiled back. "Thanks for taking care of me for the last few days."

"And the next few days by the X-rays we got back." She added, looking through some pictures she pulled out of her doctor's coat. "You won't be in any condition to do any physical exercise for another week or two at the very least." She explained, much to Adora's dismay.

"Ugh, that's going to be a lot of physical tests I'll have to make up for."

"I'm sure you'll pass through them just fine, my dear." Shadow Weaver replied, continuing to ease the girl's mind as she stroked her head. "I'll be sure to have your friends bring any studies and tests you'll miss out on for awhile, too, so you won't be overburdened when you're released from here."

"Thanks, Shadow Weaver." It was times like this she truly admired the near-mother figure of her life. Every time Adora was in a bad spot, regardless of who put her there, Shadow Weaver was always the one to bring comfort to her in the end after Catra. Looking back to the doctor fumbling with the camera, another thought came to her mind. "Hey, do you mind taking another picture of us?"

"Sure!" Ivy replied, preparing the camera as Adora gave a small salute with her smile.

She wanted to remember this day as a true member of the Horde, and a day that Shadow Weaver brought her the most comfort. What she thought was going to be one of the most harrowing experiences of her life ended up being one of the most pleasant memories she would have, though, sadly they wouldn't be as fluid while the medication ran through her. She wanted to remember how it felt to have a seemingly-awful experience end up being the best of her life, and how Shadow Weaver made it all better.

She was never more grateful to Shadow Weaver in her life than that very day for everything she's done for her...

...

"Here." Adora said, handing the picture frame to the weakened Shadow Weaver again.

"Ah, thank you, Adora." The witch's soft reply still did nothing to quell Adora's anger as she examined the picture. "I remember that day so fondly. The day you truly represented what it meant to be Horde, to stand united beside everyone."

"I never didn't feel that way." Adora muttered. She no longer had the look of contempt on her face that she once wore, nor a smile in place of it. All she had was an awkward look on her face between nervousness and wonder. "I always saw the Horde as my family."

"Hmph, I guess you did." She chuckled. "You were one of the best and brightest of the Horde soldiers. I knew it from the day I met you, you were destined for something greater. And look at you now." There was a small blush on Adora's face as she scratched her head.

It felt rather awkward to be complimented by the very person she put away to begin with, one she still couldn't get a clear grasp on. Was she still planning to manipulate her at some point, or was she trying to send her down memory lane in the hopes she would release her herself? She knew herself better than to let someone like Shadow Weaver go free, and she was sure Shadow Weaver did, too.

So what was the point of all of this?

"Well, I, eh... S-Suppose, I have you to... thank, for that." She admitted, kneeling down to her again. "You taught me everything I know, after all."

"Nonsense, Adora. All I did was teach you what to do. How you managed with that knowledge was all on your own." She stated, holding the picture close to her chest. It was an interesting sight to Adora as she did so, almost as if she actually treasured the picture frame, and what was in it. She could've sworn she was actually smiling peacefully as she lied against the cell's walls.

"Um, right." She let out a small cough to clear her throat, finally ready to receive the much-needed info. "So, about the information now?"

"..." Shadow Weaver just stared at her with calming eyes, as if telling Adora something in her own confusing way.

It took Adora a moment to realize, but as the silence dulled the air, she was starting to understand what was holding the witch's tongue, the reason she held the picture so dearly. Eyes widening a litte, her pupils began to burn with anger as she came to understand the truth behind all of this. "... No..." She stood up at attention.

"Adora-"

"NO!" She shouted, cutting her off. "I did everything you asked me! I got the stupid badge and that dumb picture for you! And you said you'd give me the information I needed!"

"...I never did say I would give you the information you wanted, Adora." She couldn't be serious, could she? The callus tone she was using, the lack of fear that something could happen to her if she refused, it was all there, and Adora still couldn't believe it.

"Yes you did! You promised you'd help me!"

"And when did I say, exactly, that I would give you the information in exchange for a few items?"

"Before! Before, when you said-... You said that..." As she tried to remember, fear and turmoil eroded Adora's mind as she began to realize.

Not once did Shadow Weaver ever say she would give her the information. All she had been doing was agreeing or disagreeing to everything she said. But not once, were there any words of acceptance, of promise, of helping her.

"Y-You... You can't be serious..." Her fingers began to twitch a little as the reality set in around her. "You... You said you would-"

"I said I would help you, Adora." Shadow Weaver clarified. "But I never said in the way you would want."

"Then... How are you going to help me?" Was there another method to all of this? Was she actually going to provide her with a different means of gaining Hordak's trust? Maybe getting more powerful?

"With advice." Those two words never meant anything less to the world to Adora than this moment right here. "Take it from me, and learn from this, Adora; trust no one but yourself, and expect nothing in return. That will be the only way you survive being a Force Captain."

"...That's... it...?" She couldn't believe it. None of it. All of it. For the one fleeting moment of hope that she felt before this revelation, she actually thought she was going to give her words of wisdom, information that would keep her in the Fright Zone.

"That's it." She confirmed.

"...So... after all that work... you just... you just used me to get a stupid picture out of it?"

"I wanted something to bring with me to Beast Island, Adora." She reiterated. "You could give Hordak information that would turn the entire war in his favor, and I would still be sent to Beast Island. His trust in you was lacking, and for good reason. You're not capable of doing what it takes to be Horde, and you know this as well as I do." For better or worse, a part of her almost did. Already, the memories from today's events alone came flashing into her mind, the peacefulness she displayed coming back to bite her.

...

"Man, wish we had her on our team." The other shrugged. "Least then we'd have some capable people around here."

...

"Nah, this is from the stronghold near Turnwall."

"Turnwall?"

"Didn't you hear? The Rebellion tore it down yesterday. Nearly all the soldiers stationed there were captured on the spot thanks to Turnwall's help."

"B-But Turnwall's been allied with us since Entrapta joined us!" Adora couldn't believe what she was hearing, or that it was actually happening. "Why would they suddenly attack us?"

...

Shadow Weaver could already tell from the look of despair on Adora's face. All the faults, all the tragedies that have occurred because of her kindness. She could be thinking of all of them, or a few of them, and it would hurt all the same. She didn't have the same capacity of cruelty that she had for Catra, she couldn't show her darker side to the rest of the world when they had done nothing to her in return.

She was not fit to be a commander.

"This wasn't anything personal, I assure you." She tried to soothe as Adora started to squeeze her fingers. "I just wanted to have a memory with me wherever I went, even when my time comes on the island."

"Ngh..." The Force Captain lowered her head as the anger began to well up inside her, a geyser that was waiting to be unleashed. "Ghh... AAAGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

*THUD!*

She ignored the small yelp Shadow Weaver let out. In one swift motion, drawing her shadows to her arms, she rose the mentor that taught her so much, the one that used her time and again, grabbing her by the collar of her uniform, and slammed her against the metallic wall. She was on no position to pull or push her away from the enraged girl, not when her hands were still restrained from the large bindings on the wall.

"Now you listen to ME!" She screamed, the darkness rising along the veins of her neck as her anger burst. "You're going to tell me exactly what I want to know, and you're going to tell me right NOW! I've had enough of your games and your stupid errands, and I don't want to hear anything else from your mouth unless it helps me!"

Wow. Anger. Threats. Maybe she did have what it took to be a Horde? Then again, she thought the same thing about Catra at one time, and look how that turned out? It was actually more amusing for Shadow Weaver to see Adora try to be aggressive like this, to think she still had all the cards in her hand compared to her captive.

With a gentle hand, a gentle voice, her eyes softened on Adora as she gently grabbed her right shadowy hand. "Come now, Adora. What would you do if I refused?"

"What do you think!?" With a growl, the blond pulled back her right hand, forming it into a massive shadowy fist the size of Shadow Weaver's mask. "Do you think I'm playing around still?"

"Playing around? No." She cooed, stroking a solid finger along Adora's face to her chin. "I just don't think you have it in you. To hurt anyone who cares for you, to hurt the one who raised you since you were a baby," her eyes narrowed further as she saw Adora's expression slowly waver, "to harm the one you've come to see as a mother."

"I-I-" Adora stuttered as her fist started to shake. "I did this before-!"

"You did it to an enemy." She reminded. "One you had nothing but hatred for. Face it, Adora. I know you can't do it, Hordak knows you couldn't do it, and you know you couldn't do it. It's not in you."

She... She was wrong! She was going to prove her wrong! She wanted to prove her wrong.

To prove all of them wrong! She was capable of getting information out of her, she was capable of earning Lord Hordak's respect, and she wasn't a failure. She had no attachments to this woman, not when she used her all her life. Right now, she was a prisoner, a prisoner of the Horde, because she was a dangerous threat and an enemy!

An enemy that groomed her since the day she was found, an enemy that took her time and patience raising Adora to be the appropriate soldier, the perfect tool. She wanted her for her own ends, to obtain power through the ranks of the Horde and to command a legion of soldiers, even if it meant using Adora as the head of everything.

Deep down, Adora knew she never wanted anything to do with her, never wanted anything close to a daughter. All she wanted was a tool, one that was loyal beyond reason, who would heed her beck and call.

Well now, things were on the opposite ends. She didn't look at Shadow Weaver as a mentor, never as a mother figure, of her life, and she wouldn't start now. She just had to push away all her past feelings for her, all the memories, all the love she thought she had for her. With her own two hands, she had a chance to turn everything around, and all it required from her was to get her hands dirty for the first time in her life, from her perspective.

"Ghh... Gahhhhhhhh!"

*WHAM!*

"..."

"..." The Force Captain slowly pulled back her slammed fist from the wall as her head as lowered, just inches away from the side of Shadow Weaver's head. For whatever reason, for whatever triviality, she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to hurt Shadow Weaver, no matter how much she hated her. Like everything else, it was amusing to Shadow Weaver. "I don't care anymore." Adora said, dropping the mentor as her shadows retracted.

Shadow Weaver rubbed her shoulder a little as she looked back up. Adora was doing everything in her power to keep her face from being seen. "Go ahead and go to your stupid island. I don't even care anymore." With her words spoke, she started to sulk a little as she made her way to the door, ready to put Shadow Weaver, and her past, behind her.

"Adora, wait." Shadow Weaver pleaded just as Adora reached for the door panel. "I ask of you to take pity on an old, powerless, woman, one last time. I know I used you again, and I have nothing to show for it. But, if anything I've ever done for you meant anything, then I beg you. I want to see my old Sorcerer's Guild badge one last time."

"... You think you're in any position to ask anything more of me?" Adora muttered, shoulders quivering as she refused to look back.

"It's the last that I will ever ask of you, my dear. This time, you know what I want, and why I want it. Do this, and I will give you a piece of information in return."

"Right, information." Adora hugged herself as she refused to look back. "That's what I expected last time, and you lied to me. And you expect me to believe you now?"

"Heh, look who's finally learning." She chuckled. "I could say I mean it, and it probably wouldn't mean anything. The decision is ultimately yours. Just consider it my last request, if you could."

"...I've given you more than enough here. You're on your own." Without another word, the Force Captain left, the forcefield doors closing behind her.

There was no way to determine how things would go for Shadow Weaver from this moment forward. Everything now relied on Adora, as it always did, to determine what would happen to her. She had no tools, no followers, and right now, no one who depended on her for anything. All she had now, was a picture frame.

One she remembered was held against her chest before Adora grabbed her.

One she now saw cracked a few feet away.

Reaching for it, the sorcerer of darkness held the cracked frame within her hands, eyeing it curiously. As much as she hated to admit it, a small part of her would miss this. Miss the way Adora clung to her day and night, the way she was the one who depended on her to survive, and, somewhat embarrassing to her, the way she smiled warmly to her every day.

It would be a lie to say the girl didn't have an impact on her in the slightest. She was charmed by her innocence, her willingness to do anything she could for Shadow Weaver, and her dedication to the Horde. While never a mother herself, she would be remiss if she didn't think of her as a daughter just a little bit.

Now, that same daughter would determine what happened to her.

...

"Mmmh..." Adora groaned internally as she traveled down the hallways.

She couldn't believe it. She just could not believe it! Actually, no. She could believe it. She could believe that she couldn't believe it. She could believe the fact that she believed Shadow Weaver would actually help her for a moment, that after doing all these favors for her, she would pay her back with some sort of information.

Perhaps that was Adora's fault in the end for trusting her. Once a traitor, always a traitor. She used her since day one, she wanted her to rule the Horde and guide her through Shadow Weaver's own agenda, and despite the fact she was on the brink of death, seeing how she was going to Beast Island in two days, she still preferred to use her than to save her own skin. All those memories of her meant nothing to her former mentor, she could see that now.

And you know what? Fine! If Shadow Weaver would prefer to go to Beast Island, then that was her decision, not Adora's, and she was just fine with that! It almost sickened her to think she wanted to believe in Shadow Weaver again, that she had change over these last couple months. If Shadow Weaver preferred having a pawn instead of a daughter, or an ally, then that was her decision!

*boom!*

The Force Captain felt her heart shake as roughly as the ground as a small explosion went off from the room two doors behind her. There was a sizable stack of smoke billowing out of it as she rushed to the room, hearing a familiar coughing sound emanating from the lab.

"Ack-ough!" With the smoke clearing out and the air becoming clear, Adora could see the ever-present Entrapta waving the air in front of her face. Her face was partly covered in soot, save for the eyes where she had a pair of goggles hanging. "Hoof! That was a smaller explosion than I expected!" She commented to herself, examining the broken mechanical parts as she inputted the data in a track pad with her hair.

"Entrapta?" Adora called out, examining the room's equipment. Most of the stuff appeared to be fine,a few things knocked over, others shaken off the shelves but still whole.

"Oh, hi Adora!" Entrapta greeted chipper as always, returning to her experimenting as she donned the goggles once more.

"What were you doing in here?"

"Oh, I was trying to build a substitute battery for one of the sockets to Hordak's portal technology." She replied, examining a very small screw-like part for a second before tossing it away. "I just need make a circuit that will last long enough to stabilize the portal for more than ten seconds, and then I'll be good to go!"

"Uh-huh. Sounds like you two are having some fun, huh?" She envied the scientist as she gave a solemn smile from behind, watching her friend fiddle with her device with sparks going off from her front.

"Oh yeah, the best! Did you know he actually discovered over seventeen mathematical mistakes based on our theories of Quantum Physics?!" She couldn't believe the numerous foundations he pointed out, or the fundamental ways he corrected them so easily!

"Yeah, that's... pretty impressive." It was hard for her to sound so enthusiastic about something she, or anyone, could barely grasp on.

"I'll say! Oh, can you hand me the Stability Analyser behind you?"

"Oh, sure." Okay, so she didn't have any clue on what Entrapta was doing with Hordak aside from portal technology. Fine. She could at least help her in doing whatever it was related to that. She turned around to the small shelf above the table she was leaning against. For such a specific thing, it really didn't narrow down the list of options she had. Everything looked whacky and sophisticated. She could've been asking for any one of these things! "Uh..."

"Oh, the round thing that looks like the internal battery to a skiff." She added, taking a brief pause to clarify. "It should be green I think?'

"Oh, I see it." She replied, reaching up for the device that looked like a mix between a football and a blender, as confusing as that sounded.

*dink*

"Huh?" Pulling the device from the shelf, her attention shifted to the small thumb-sized flat object that fell in front of it. Holding the device at her side, it took her a moment to realize what she was looking at, holding it up to her face. "You have a... Force Captain's badge?"

"Thanks!" Ignoring her questionable comment, the scientist swiftly pulled the large device from her side with her hair, returning to her work and her back to Adora.

"Where did you get this, Entrapta?" Something felt a little off to her, almost concerning.

"What? Oh, the badge? Hordak gave that to me after I met him for the first time and helped him with his device." She replied, leaning away from her device briefly as a small bit of smoke plumed for a few seconds. "He said it would help me get access from the science labs if I ever needed anything."

"He... Gave you... Made you a Force Captain... After meeting with him just once?" Adora's heart felt hollow at the notion.

Was she really being serious? Her? After one meeting? She's barely been here for over two months now, and she already had his attention, and enough respect to warrant a promotion? Adora's been here since infancy, she worked day in and out to prove her dedication to the Horde, and wasn't even given a badge from Hordak directly.

She didn't even GET her badge straight from Lord Hordak. It was more like a gift from Shadow Weaver of all people!

"Yeah, but I don't really want it." She casually smiled as she tweaked some of the wires and screws in the breaker she was messing with. "I'm just happy enough to be a scientist here. Though, he did say if I continued to impress him, he'd make me the Chief Scientist of my own Division. Can you believe that!?" She squealed at the mere thought as she squeezed her fist. "I swear, he's so easy to get along with!"

She would have her own staff, which would probably just be her own robots, her own equipment, and near-unlimited access to the possible experiments and inventions she could make! It was like she died and gone to heaven, it felt too good to be true!

All the same, Adora's eyes became hollow at the same announcement.

She... She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Entrapta, the princess that just joined them, was being gifted title and access to anything her heart could contend, and after knowing Hordak directly for just a few short weeks, and he practically treasured her like a newly discovered piece of technology. She had her brains and hair no more gifts, while Adora specialized in nearly all fields to a moderate extent, had magic in the form of shadows, and built ties with villages and regions all over Etheria.

And he was revolted by her.

All those years she spent training, all that time she proved her loyalty to the Horde, and what did she get out of it? A cursed magic that made her body ill, a loss of respect over the coming days, and a true leader who barely tolerated her presence by this point, and was considered a complete, utter, failure in his eyes.

She didn't care so much over the promotions or the badges. Her only wish was to be respected for her services, to be seen as useful to the people who raised her all their life, and she felt like nothing. Less than nothing at this rate. She was failing to show anything for all of her time and energy, and was a blemish to the likes of Hordak who she always aspired and looked up to.

Now? Entrapta was the one who caught his eye, in possibly the shortest amount of time possible. She didn't care about the fancy promotions all the same, she didn't even seem to realize what a great honor it was to be noticed by Hordak. She was completely oblivious to all of it, and all of the respect she gathered from this detail.

And Adora... she felt hatred over it. So much hatred as the shadows grew along the right side of her neck in her veins. She had a creeping terror of irritability, of disdain, for this scientist that she considered a friend, one who driveled on with her comments of science and experiments thinking Adora actually cared about that. Her cluelessness to social interactions, her inability to truly cherish what Adora always dreamed of in being seen as useful to the Horde... she hated all of it.

And it wasn't until the last few seconds that she realized- all behind Entrapta, she had a swarm of shadows she summoned subconsciously, taking the forms of spikes, tendrils, monster-like jaws, sprawling all around her, and ready to rend the very creature that stood between her and Hordak's respect.

"Hmm?" Entrapta looked back as her sixth sense told her something was up. All she saw was a vacated room and a missing friend, with no shadow in sight. "Adora?" She spoke up, switching her glances to each side of the room before shrugging, going back to work.

Outside the room, pressed against the wall next to the doorway, was a panting, sweating, Adora. She was squeezing her trembling hand as she forced her shadows to return, shocked and appalled by everything that did and nearly happened.

She was going to hurt Entrapta. Her emotions had reached their tipping point, and her mind was ready to hurt Entrapta because Hordak seemed to favor her, respected her. This was no longer an issue of trying to maintain her position and her duties as a commander. This became a matter of life and death that involved the people she cared about.

She was losing control of her emotions, she was feeling her shadows taking over whenever she felt herself tipping towards the edge of insanity and outrage. She needed to get this fixed, she needed to find some way to earn Hordak's respect before she snapped and hurt the people she cared about.

She needed someone like Shadow Weaver, now more than ever...

...

A/N: And another chapter complete! It gets me giddy to think that (hopefully), the story will reach its end in the next chapter, and that we'll be at the last episode of the season- which i still can not say appropriately since its practically half a season and all that XP

But hey, still looking forward to it ^^ I mean, it's not like it's some heartwrenching conclusion we're about to meet with, right? Let me just check the last few minutes of the episode ^^...O_O...T_T...XO... Welp, we're boned...

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and dear god brace yourselves for the conclusion next chp...

Chapter 86: S2 Episode 6: Future of the Past Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: Near 10.1K Pre-A/N's.

Oooooh golly, I uhhh... ahem... idk what to say. Umm opening might be little rushed cause my head was fuzzy last night when I started it, so apologies for that, but luckily the fuzziness didn't last long, only for like the first 1-2k words, so hopefully everything after that still flowed as smoothly.

With that said, I recommend three things on hand: Possible tissues, a bottle of whiskey, and an adorable cat video to immediately perk right up before you hit the ending. Luckily, I'm over age so I'm covered. *pops open the whiskey tab and glugs the first swig* Ugh... I forgot I hate whiskey but i'll make an exception to get through this X(

Only bit of relief is it might not be AS traumatic (then again i wouldn't know for sure) as the promise episode, as the feelings weren't, admittedly, as powerful as they were in that episode from this episode (lets face it: Promise was devastating T_T) so it might not leave people clincally depressed. But again, since I wrote it, i already know what'll happen from beginning to end. So with that said...

Well, I can't say "enjoy" or else you might seem like a total psychopath for enjoying a saddening event, so I will just say...be prepared.

...

Cold. Dank. Lifeless. That pretty much summed up Shadow Weaver's cell at the moment, save for lifeless. The sorcerer of darkness herself had nothing left within her cell to preoccupy her thoughts or time except for the lone picture that still clutched within her hands. It was the last fragment of her past that she had with her, possibly the only thing she'd be allow to take once she was taken to Beast Island.

What else could she bring with her than the clothes on her back? There was nothing left for her here, nothing left to gain, and no one to help her. There was Adora for a time, but there was no guarantee she would follow through. Not even Shadow Weaver knew what to expect anymore from this point onward.

How was she supposed to expect her help in the first place? She tricked her once into bringing her a useless badge and this picture, parting gifts to her and herself before the long haul away from the Fright Zone. She hid no detail that she used Adora to get what she wanted, made the girl traverse the Fright Zone in search of these items, and turned her down when she requested information in exchange.

She had nothing else to bargain with unless Adora trusted her one last time, nothing to lose, nothing to gain. For one of the few times of her life, she felt like she was on her own, and that fact scared her a little.

*fwoom*

With the sound of the forcefield to her cell turning off, she realized she may not be as alone as she thought. Turning her head from the end wall to the door, she saw a familiar figure she hadn't seen for hours.

"Ah, Adora." Shadow Weaver greeted in her usual calm manner as the girl entered with a tray. "Here to present to me my last meal, are you?"

"..." Adora remained quiet as she approached her, her head down enough to keep her eyes from being shown.

"I hope you didn't take my earlier repayment too hard, dear." She commented, swaying her hand back and forth. "To make it in this world, you have to open your eyes to reality. There is no one you can trust in this world more than yourself. Remember that."

"...Sh... Shadow Weaver..." Adora muttered. She had actually gained Shadow Weaver's curiosity as she saw her hands tremble, shaking the tray a little.

"Adora?"

"I... I need your help..." Her voice shook as much as her hands, the Force Captain gritting her teeth as she tried to contain herself.

"I'm sorry, Adora, but I already told you, I can't. There's nothing I can tell you that would guarantee my own safety." It was a tragic state of affairs, but one she couldn't help. Unless there was any guarantee she could escape her fate of going to Beast Island, there was nothing that she could do.

"I-I know that, but... But I need information..."

*drip*

"...Adora?" Was she seeing things right? Did she notice a drop of water dripping from Adora's chin. Was she sweating, or...

The blond girl dropped to her knees, nearly slamming the tray in the process as she pressed her hands to the floor. If she leaned any further, it would've looked like she was actually begging. Shadow Weaver could never imagine her, much less anyone, begging to another individual, and a prisoner at that!

"I... I can't do this anymore..." The drips continued to rush from her face as her eyes finally came into Shadow Weaver's view.

They were filled with sadness, despair, trauma, all at once. Like a raging torrent of emotions, her tears poured from her eyes one drip after the other, the events of today, and of her last two months, finally catching up to the poor girl.

"Adora, are you... Crying?" Shadow Weaver was a little relieved nobody else was here for a change. If any of the other officers or Force Captains caught sight of this, or worse, reported it to Lord Hordak, there was no telling what manner of trouble the girl would be in. She was a commander, a respected one at that, and for her to suddenly break down out of nowhere in front of a prisoner, it wasn't just a sign of weakness.

It was a sign of plausible betrayal, that she might be considered a risk if her loyalty was brought into question between her and a traitor.

"Please... I really... really... need your help. I just can't do this anymore..eheh...eheh..." Her bottom lip trembled as she failed to stifle a cry.

She was at her wits end. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The workload she's been given day in and day out from paperwork, requisitions, missions, forming alliances, and so forth, were bringing her to the point of deathly exhaustion. Every day she woke up she felt like another piece of her life was taken away, another portion of energy spent just trying to get out of bed. She could barely pull herself up nowadays to get ready for the next mission, and that didn't even include the shadows she was struggling to maintain.

With the shadows came the mental exhaustion she was facing. Every day she worked to control them and master her newfound powers, and at first it worked! They were at her command, she could summon them and manipulate them back and forth to however she saw fit, and even when they drained her of her energies, spreading through her body and making her sick, she could tolerate it until she recharged.

That's where the emotional exhaustion kicked in. Her shadows sprang on her command, more times than not. It was the other times, however, that they became a problem. They reacted to her on a conscious and subconscious level, reacting to whatever her emotions were drawn to or fixated on. While she could handle whatever drew her attention directly, it was when something bothered her, something upsetting that made them respond against her control, that truly troubled her.

Like Entrapta, not two hours ago.

She couldn't believe what her shadows were about to do, what her disturbances and exhaustion had finally brought her to. After learning of just how much Hordak favored her, respected her, possibly treasured her, despite being here for only a few months, it tore Adora up inside. She worked day in and out for the Horde, dedicated everything to them, and to hear her friend remark on how easy he was to get along with, all the pride he had in her, it almost made Adora snap.

The shadows were just inches away from Entrapta at the time, the scientist too preoccupied with the device in her hands to notice them gathering around her. If it wasn't some stroke of luck or a miracle that Adora came to her senses at the last minute, there was no telling how badly she would've hurt Entrapta, her ally, her friend. She had to remove herself from the lab immediately, for her sake and for her friend's. She didn't have a choice. It shouldn't be a choice, it was becoming that out of control.

Adora was reaching her breaking point in every possible category, and she dread what sort of monster she would turn into if she finally lost it. And that didn't cover the other problems.

The Horde was losing ground. Not a lot of it, but more than enough to make Adora start to lose it. Throughout the last day alone, she heard several occurrences where the Rebellion took over an outpost or recaptured a stronghold, which is something she could accept. What she couldn't accept was the reason behind them.

The alliances. The numerous villages and remote regions that pledged their loyalty to the Horde, betrayed them. Much like Frosta, they were turning their backs on the Horde, assisting the Rebellion whenever they showed up. Nothing Adora did in the past, from providing resources or giving them security, meant anything to them. They were losing their faith in the Horde for whatever reason, and willing to betray the Horde, betray Adora, without any care of who they hurt.

And it went on to damage Adora's mentality, her spirit, further. People were betraying her wherever she looked. Her strategies of forming alliances, of uniting Etheria under one banner, was falling apart. More and more people by the day were rising up against them, against her, and, as a result, she knew the Horde was losing their faith in her, especially Hordak.

She didn't care for the publicity or respect. She just wanted to prove herself. Prove herself to everyone who raised her, prove herself to those who were inspired by her that her way was the right way, and, most importantly, prove herself to Lord Hordak, hero, leader of the Horde, just how dedicated she was to repaying him for everything he's ever done for her. And she was failing in every regard. She was failing everyone, including him.

She was proving herself to be a failure, one of Hordak's worst mistakes in the Horde.

And she had nothing to show for it.

"Everyone I trust, every alliance I've formed... has started to betray me..." She continued, sniffling. "The Rebellion is starting to pull ground from our furthest outposts, one of the princesses themselves betrayed me, the last several missions I've lead have ended terribly, and I... I don't even know what I'm doing anymore..."

"Adora, that's not even-"

"That's not all!" She yelled, trying to maintain herself enough to speak. "I can't... I can't keep up like this... The work is literally burying me, I'm losing any respect I had from Lord Hordak, and... I-I can't keep my powers under control..." She paused briefly to look at her own two hands, noticing tiny tendrils of shadows rising from them. "The more emotion I lose control of, the more power that slips through my fingers, and I... I don't want to hurt anyone..." Her voice creaked as she squeezed them.

"And there's nothing I can do! I can't bring myself to just overthrow towns without reason, I don't want to hurt the people who have nothing to do with this! I... I need information here, Shadow Weaver..." She squeezed her eyes tightly as she lowered her head a little. "I'm... I'm begging... Mom..." Shadow Weaver was justifiably taken back by the utterance. "I need some information... anything... that can help me... please..."

Pathetic. It was a pathetic display to someone like Shadow Weaver as she stared at the whimpering Force Captain. Anyone like that, who would throw themselves at some prisoner's mercy, a traitor at that, would be cast out of the Horde in an instant. If anyone was to report this, if Shadow Weaver did of all people, it would do more than enough to help herself. She might be able to afford her freedom with this, be able to reclaim her position that was rightfully hers!

...And yet... she pitied the creature before her... the daughter weeping in distress. She recognized that torn soul with nowhere else to go, the way no one would listen to her as she tried to help everyone. A small portion of it reminded her of her own days in Mystacor, back when she knew the answers that almost nobody would listen to. She only had one person that seemingly helped her, one person to thank for her current position. Right now, Adora needed someone, too.

She didn't raise Adora to be like this. She taught her to be strong, clever, agile. Every trait necessary to become the perfect soldier, the perfect weapon, and the perfect tool. But the one thing she could never change herself was Adora's personality, no matter how hard she tried, how deeply she wished. It was the one part of her that did disgust her about the girl, how easily she was swayed by emotions. She was not the daughter she raised her to be.

... But... She did raise her.

"... Adora," Shadow Weaver spoke softly as always as she reached for the girl, brushing away her tears with her thumb, "don't you remember my policy about crying-"

"I'M NOT..." Adora attempted to yell as she was cut off by a small hiccup. "... Don't tell me not to cry... Not now!" She, like most people Adora's encountered, have taken everything else from her. She refused to let anyone take away her right to feel sad for a change. "I don't care if you hate me for it, okay? I just need-"

"Hate you?" The Captain made no attempt to resist as she felt Shadow Weaver pulling her up a little to her side, Adora trying to stifle her tears through sheer force of will as she lied her head against you. "Adora, I never hated your crying out of weakness." The witch lifted her head slowly in recollection as she stared at the ceiling.

"I disliked it, because it was the first time I ever saw you sad..."

...

Power, energy, all burning at her fingertips!

This, is what she wanted. With her newly acquired mask donned, position and power at her domain, she knew that this was what she was meant to be. Not some feeble sorceress surrounded by fools who were too frightened or too honorable to let some petty law forbid her rise to power, no. She was a sorceress who proved herself to be above the rest, better than anyone from the likes of Mystacor, and she would prove it to them, and the world, with her own two hands.

Siphoning the magical essence from the Black Garnet within her new chamber, she had to think to herself for a bit. What else could she want that would be better than this? The Black Garnet fueled her veins with magic that Eheria has never known, and she could access countless archives, studies, and experiments to increase her power even further.

With the red jewel encrusted at the top of her mask, it became official. She was no longer a part of Mystacor, no longer a part of the feeble minded fools that continued to plague society. She cast away her previous title and position for something more, something greater!

From this day forth, she would be known as Shadow Weaver, and nothing would stand in her way!

"Waaahahhhh!" Not to say it didn't come with distractions.

Cutting her focus away from the large device, she heard the strange sound of an infant's cry filling her chambers, emanating from somewhere outside her room. Traversing the mysterious halls she was still accommodating to, she noticed a strange infant being watched over by a pair of captains, the fools trying in vain to silence the crying as peacefully as possible. For just one moment, she felt a strangeness coming from the child as her eyes widened to the small figure bundled in cloth.

Shadow Weaver approached the stairs of Hordak's inner sanctum where her new lord and leader sat present.

"Was your excursion successful, Lord Hordak?" Shadow Weaver asked respectfully, kneeling before him.

There was already disdain hanging from the air surrounding him as he lowered his head. "I arrived too late." He stated. He showed only disgust as he leaned his arm against the chair's, waving off to the others without a single care. "I found something, but it's useless. Put it with the orphans in the infirmary."

Almost immediately, Shadow Weaver's eyes lit up again as she looked back, seeing the same soldiers nodding in confirmation to the leader as they began to walk away.

Shadow Weaver couldn't put a string on it. Why was this lowly infant in the forefront of her mind? Why was she mysteriously drawn to the creature she had never met before? She felt something emanating from the girl, a power, a gift, something that made her stand out from the rest of these people.

But what?

She needed to find out.

"This one is different." Shadow Weaver commented to him, watching them leave. "Can't you feel it? She has power." She knew if anyone could mold that power, it would be her.

"Fine take it. Just get it out of here." Hordak showed little interest in the child or care. He just wanted to be rid of its incessant whining.

At the demand, the blue-skinned officer uncaringly handed the small child to Shadow Weaver, holding it up by the tip of the security blanket wrapped around its body as he handed it to Shadow Weaver. Pushing aside her personal disgust at the way he treated it, Shadow Weaver held the figure gently in both her arms, slowly unwrapping a small bit of cloth that was covering the side of its face.

The lone infant had a golden blond hue to her hair, with the purest light-blue eyes imaginable. Almost immediately upon uncovering its face, the infant slowly hiccuped as it stared at the figure gazing down at it, sharing the same wonder and curiosity for the person who greeted her in return.

It didn't show any sign of fear, worry, or terror as it gazed at the shadowy sorceress. All it did was look on in curiosity as it raised its tiny hand to its wrist, touching the figure who welcomed her for the first time.

"Oooh." Shadow Weaver cooed as she let the infant grasp large finger with her tiny hand. "Oh, don't worry, little one. We're going to do great things together." She smiled behind the mask, something the infant seemed to be aware of as it smiled in turn, touching the mask over her face as it's tears subside.

She didn't know who or what this creature truly was, and she didn't care. With a power like that in her hands, she would protect it. She would vow that nothing in this world would come to harm it at the time she found use in it, and later on, would slowly grow attached to the young figure herself.

"My Adora..."

...

"When I saw those tear-filled eyes of yours for the first time, I knew two things to myself." Shadow Weaver continued as she stroked Adora's head. By now, while the tears had yet to stop completely, the Force Captain was resting her head peacefully against the woman's lap. "One, I knew you were different, special, compared to everyone else."

"A-And..." She choked a little as she leaned up, Adora gazing into her eyes. "The other thing?" She couldn't tell if she was smiling behind the mask for once. All she could tell was that her eyes softened as she brought a hand to Adora's left cheek, touching it gently.

"That I knew, for as long as I lived, that I never wanted to see those tears, again." It was ironic, to say the least. Here, Shadow Weaver was claiming that she never wanted to see Adora's tears again, and told her so directly. Yet, it did nothing to halt the rushing water draining from Adora's eyes. If anything, it only continued to escalate as she stared into her soothing eyes of comfort.

"You... D-Do you really mean that?" Adora couldn't tell if she was talking to the same Shadow Weaver here, or an even-more manipulative twin. With comforting eyes and a calmful pat on the head, she nodded.

"Yes, Adora." She assured. "I know I may not have raised you in the manner that a parent should, nor treated you like a real daughter, but I swear to you, your affection over the years has had its impact on me. Your struggles, your discipline, your determination. Everything that I saw you do, all in my name and respect, was the most beautiful thing I could ever ask for." And for once in the sorceress's twisted mind, she meant that.

She would never see Adora as accurately as a mother should, nor feel the same love of affection that a parent can give to a child, but she would cast away anyone who doubted hre care for the girl. The one she felt a bond with at first sight, the one she raised over the years with her own two hands. The one who looked at her now with starry eyes, even after all that's happened between them.

She truly felt a connection between them both.

"Tch... Mmh!" The girl moaned, angrily, to herself, as she threw her arms around Shadow Weaver. The sorceress was completely caught off by this gesture, feeling the girl's warm tears soak into her robe a little. "I'm sorry..."

"You're... sorry?" She asked with mild confusion.

"For betraying you." She admitted. What was she doing? Why did she do all of this? She felt the faucet running through her eyes as she whimpered. What started as tears of sadness from exhaustion and stress were now turning into tears of regret and guilt. "I never should have betrayed you! If I didn't, you wouldn't be here, I probably wouldn't be having this much trouble, and I..." She squeezed her eyes and her fists as she pulled back. "I don't know what I was thinking..."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Adora." Shadow Weaver admitted, resting a hand on her shoulder. Adora couldn't tell any longer if she was setting her up again or being genuine. Of all the reactions, the idea that she could accept something so quickly was truly outrageous. It was only due to the sincerity in her tone, the look in her eyes, that told her otherwise. "You did what any member of the Horde would do. You saw an opportunity, and you took it, whether it was to save yourself or otherwise."

"Y-Yeah, but," Adora frowned, turning her head away, "I never should have done it to you of all people." It was the harsh truth that she came to realize. All of this anger, all of this hate she had for the mentor, the mother-figure, didn't stem from simply being used. It stemmed from how Adora felt like she was looking at Catra, somebody who truly did use her for all her life for her own personal gain.

Even so, Shadow Weaver continued to soothe the depressed girl, lifting her head up with the tip of her finger to her chin. "It doesn't matter. You came out on top, and did whatever it was that was necessary to survive." At this, she brushed a few bangs of hair out of Adora's face. "And I couldn't be more prouder of you if I could."

"D... Do you really mean that?" Shadow Weaver came with a nod to Adora's question, earning a small, still slightly pained, smile from the girl as she rubbed her own tears away. She couldn't remember this feeling, this sense of joy, this warmth in her heart, for what felt like forever. Was it truly Shadow Weaver's presence that she missed the most out of this? Adora could no longer tell, could no longer trust herself with half of her emotions.

All she could tell right now, was that she felt comfort, warmth, love, from the presence of a mother.

"...It doesn't matter." And once more, she frowned, curling up her knees as she hugged her legs, pressing against the wall. "One way or another, you're still going to be sent to Beast Island, and this will have meant nothing."

"Oh... Yes..." Looking back on it, she did come to realize she, herself, was lost in the moment, and of emotions no less. The curious Shadow Weaver looked off to the side in contemplation at the reminder. "I suppose there is that..."

She needed something, anything, to work with right now. Not just for her own sake, but for Adora's. She didn't have a whole lot of time left, and there was still the chance she would be sent to Beast Island if she told Adora everything at once, anyway.

"...Although..." Perplexed with the small utterance, Adora turned to her in wonder. "I suppose..."

"What?"

"... There may be a way to help us both, Adora. Or at least buy us some time."

"R-Really?" Was she being serious? Was there actually going to be a way out for the both of them through this mess?

Who was she kidding? Of course there would be a way out! This was Shadow Weaver she was dealing with, and if anyone could figure out a way to help them, it would be her!

"... I'll tell you what." She began, grabbing Adora's gloved hand, "I'll tell you some information first thing in the morning. A fraction of what I already know, and more valuable to Lord Hordak than he could possibly understand. Tell him I'll only tell you one thing, and one thing per day, and make sure he really listens to you." She stroked her hair gently as Adora leaned her head comfortingly into her palm, closing her eyes.

"It might not be enough to keep me from going away, but it should buy us a few more weeks at the most. But if we play our cards right, I might be able to earn my freedom back, though I doubt my job."

"A-And you really mean it? You'll help me?" It still sounded too good to be true.

"I'll help myself, Adora." She said with a small, knowing, joking tone. What kind of witch would she be if she just did it for someone else's sake, after all? "...And you."

"..."

*tug*

"Thank you... mom..." She whispered softly. With her heart warmed, and her stress practically flushed out of her system from this one dramatic talk, Adora finally smiled warmly as she threw her arms around her neck, a few tears left dripping from her eyes out of pure happiness.

She had missed this. She had missed this sense of comfort and security like no other. She had her friends, sure. She had followers, soldiers, people willing to fight for her and with her on the battlefield. But she never felt that true sense of calm, that peace she had within someone else's presence, save for Scorpia and Entrapta, since Shadow Weaver was out of the picture.

For the first time ever, she felt a reason to smile again, a genuine smile, that she didn't wish to cool off anytime soon.

As for Shadow Weaver, she let out a mental sigh of her own as she embraced Adora again. Looking back on it, she knew her past self would be calling her future self soft, weak, for allowing emotions to flare up when it came to matters of her own survival. But, for Adora's sake, she was willing to make an exception, just this once.

*crinkle*

The witch ignored the small crinkling-like sound as she pulled herself up to Adora's chest, deciding to let it slide for a short while.

If Hordak still sent her to Beast Island, there was no telling what would happen, but at least then Adora would know who to trust more and less out of this. That knowledge that Hordak would lose the trust of one of his most faithful followers, the idea that Adora would finally start to see Hordak for what he truly was, what Shadow Weaver kept hidden from her at all times, would be more than enough to sate Shadow Weaver's vengeful appetite.

And who knows? Maybe another miracle would pop up. Perhaps Adora would completely turn on him if it meant saving Shadow Weaver, the person she saw as her mother? It wasn't anything she was willing to bet on, much less gamble, but it didn't hurt to think of such things, right?

Regardless, it didn't matter to her at this moment. As long as Adora was safe, sound, and her future was secured, for once, Shadow Weaver was satisfied.

"...?" And that's when she noticed it as she opened her eyes slowly. Through the small slit of Adora's glove, the base of where her wrist was as it was around her head, she noticed a part of her skin. Her tarnished, aged, skin. "Adora, what..." Adora was too distracted in the moment to stop her as Shadow Weaver slowly pulled back. "What happened to your..."

"No wait, don't-!" But it was too late. By the time she managed to say her piece, Shadow Weaver had pulled off her glove, eyes widening practically from terror.

Adora's hand looked rotten, ancient. It looked like the hand of a feeble old woman that fell into a vat of chemicals. There weren't boils or anything of the like, but the fact it looked so different from Adora's otherwise flawless skin, was what truly caught her attention. Not to mention the fact that, as she observed, it seemed to be spreading up her arm.

"What... What is this-?"

"It's nothing!" Adora fretted, quickly pulling back her arm as she covered it with the glove again. The girl squeezed her own hand in comfort, trying to ignore her own arm and its rising condition. It's not like Shadow Weaver wasn't aware of her shadows flaring up whenever Adora became angered, she demonstrated that enough herself. What she wasn't used to was the sight of her arm looking so... ugly. "It's just a little... side effect, from the magic I've been using."

"Side effect?" She actually felt concern for the girl's safety for a change.

"It's nothing, honest. I mean it's not the worst thing I've been dealing with, so I-"

"Not the worst?" Her eyes narrowed a little at this as she took Adora's gloved hand. "You mean you've been suffering from more than one?"

"I-I already told you it's nothing." Adora said with a small smile, rubbing her hand as she shifted her eyes away. "I mean, Entrapta already explained it to me plenty of times, so I'm sure if I ignore it, I'll be fi-"

"Ignore it? Ignore what?" Adora had a small look of worry on her face as she tried to shift her eyes away. It's not that she wanted to lie about the situation, she just didn't want anything to possibly ruin the moment they were having. And Shadow Weaver wouldn't have any of it as she grasped her chin gently. "Adora, what are you talking about ignoring?"

"...I-It's just... Just some conscious or something, it's nothing big."

"Your conscious?"

"Yeah, you know. It's been saything things from time to time, like..." Adora looked a little pained as she shifted her eyes away, feeling like she was making things worse for the both of them. "You know what, i-it's nothing. It's just in my head, it's fi-"

"Adora, what are they telling you? I need to know, now!" Adora couldn't understand the look in Shadow Weaver's eyes. Why was she suddenly getting so upset about this? What did she know? Was there something about all of this that she knew, something Adora wasn't aware of?

Speaking of unaware, the very same conscious, Aroda, slowly materialized, standing behind the girl as it stared at Shadow Weaver in resentment.

Holding her tongue for a bit, Adora gulped a little nervously, feeling as if anything she could say next could ruin everything between them. "...I-I'ts just... It's my mind telling me to..." She raised her eyes a little guiltily. "Telling me to get stronger... to become powerful..." There was no telling what Shadow Weaver was thinking, not that there ever was.

What bothered her so much about this that she didn't know? Was there some secret behind all of this?" Was there something affecting her that she wasn't aware of? The list and possibilities was endless when it came to magic, and it was that endlessness that truly worried her right now.

"...Oh... Is that all?" Shadow Weaver finally asked, softening in voice again as she let go of Adora's chin.

"Y-Yeah... Why? Is there a problem?"

"Problem? Oh, no, no problem." At that, Aroda grinned to herself as she slowly disappeared again. "That's perfectly natural, really. When you're first adjusting to magical abilities for the first time, it can play tricks with the mind."

"Really?" Adora sighed with relief as she smiled again. "That's a relief." She looked a little less convinced of herself as she noticed Shadow Weaver gazing away, as if in thought. "H-Hey... is something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, no, Adora." She cooed softly, resting a pleasing hand on her right shoulder. "I was thinking of a plan to start working together again, to provide information."

"G-Great!" Adora smiled brighter than ever within the last few weeks. She couldn't wait to hear the information Shadow Weaver had, to start proving herself to the Horde again, and make amends with her own mother. "I'm all ears!"

"Patience, Adora." Shadow Weaver said, patting her head again. "You've spent too long as it is in this room. People will become suspicious, especially if I'm uninjured."

"O-Oh, yeah..." Scratching the back of her head, she tried to think. "So... Should I just... come back in an hour, or-"

"Tomorrow." Her mother announced. "It'll give me enough time to come up with something. Something good." Smiling, Adora gave her one last hug, enjoying the feeling of Shadow Weaver's warm, loving, embrace.

"Thanks, again." With her final thanks given, the Force Captain stood back on her own two feet, brushing off the remaining tears on her face as she cleared away her hair. "Ahem. I um, believe this was a... successful interrogation, then." She said, mildly teasing.

"Very successful." Shadow Weaver emphasized, leaning back against the metallic walls of her cell. "Now, run along. You know what I said about getting a good night's rest before."

"Heheh, yeah, I remember." She replied, giving a brief wave as she returned to the door. Reaching for the door controls, Adora paused as she turned her head a little aback. "Hey, Shadow Weaver?" She spoke up, grabbing the masked figure's attention. "Thanks, for everything."

Nodding back, Shadow Weaver watched Adora leave, the familiar forcefield returning to its doorway, and watching as her Adora walked away.

And at this, Shadow Weaver sighed in regret.

Digging through her large sleeves, the witch pulled out the very thing that was crinkling earlier, the cause of the noise. It was a picture that Adora seemed to be carrying in her vest, one drawn on a requisition piece of paper. She didn't know why she had it, but she recognized the drawing from seeing it plenty of times, right above Adora's and Catra's bed.

It was a rough drawing of Adora and Catra, smiling to the viewers as it was drawn in the blackest ink.

At the same time, she dug through her food, noting that the ration bars looked a little more loose than usual this time around. If Adora's tears had nothing to do with it, then that could only mean one thing.

Sure enough, she discovered her old Sorcerer's badge from long ago, a relic of her time in Mystacor. For once, as she gazed over at the monitor, seeing the planets becoming aligned, she wasn't happy about it.

After all they've been through, what she's seen Adora going through in her eyes, she was not happy. She had everything she needed, everything she wanted, that could aid in her escape. Within the confines of the badge itself was a small amount of enchanted dust. On it's own, it proved to be nothing more than an unnecessary amount of dirt to clean up. On night's like this, however, it proved to be a blessing in disguise.

She knew what she had to do, though. Not just for her sake, but for Adora's sake. Her daughter's. If her fears had been realized, then she was in greater danger than she could ever know.

They all were.

And as she glanced over to the picture again, she groaned, knowing there was only one person on this entire planet that could possibly help her.

Even if she despised her.

"Forgive me, Adora..."

...

"Now?" Catra moaned with half-awake eyes, leaning lazily against the large curved pillar atop the castle. Of all the ridiculous things to ask, of the stupid, of the annoying, why on Etheria did she HAVE to get stuck with this? She could've been woken up for anything else, for a stupid meeting, to take her anger out on some surprised Horde invasion. Anything would've been better than this!

At least she didn't have to use her own hands for the time being. Her tail worked just as fine as she leaned against the pillar, crossing her arms.

Checking it over on the other end, practically a hundred feet below her, Bow examined his readings as he looked back to her. "A little to the left." He instructed.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed against the pillar with one arm, positioning her body and her tail a little further away. "How about now?"

"Better. Okay, now Glimmer, move yours more to the right." He instructed to his nearby friend. Like Catra, the Princess of Bright Moon rolled her tired eyes as she teleported from her spot, appearing along the opposite prong of pillar-like decoration where she left her own small antennae. There, she gave a careless tweak of the alignment as she pushed it ever so slightly to the left, wishing to be done for a long day.

Watching the static continue to build up over the tracker pad, Bow became the third and last person to roll his eyes, the only ones that weren't tired, as she teleported back to his side. "I mean my right." He corrected.

"Ugh!" For the first time, Glimmer was in one-hundred percent agreement with Catra, in terms of body language, exhaustion, and utter annoyance, as she teleported to and back again within a few seconds. "Why are we," she teleported again, "up on the roof," and a third and last time if Bow didn't want to test his ability to fly, yawning as she came back, "in the middle of the night again?"

"You know how I thought my Tracker Pad was broken in Alwyn?" He began, showing the static discharge going off his screen. "Well, I've been studying it, and I realized the garbled static I keep getting on my screen isn't a bug." He tried to tap it once more to get some sort of reaction, to no avail. "It's picking up some kind of transmission. With the three moons in alignment, all transmissions should be stronger."

"Should, or would be?" Catra called down, picking up the chatter as her ears twitched. "Cause I swear, if you woke me up for nothing..."

"Don't worry, it is, it is." He gave a wave of his hands as he kept his eyes to the monitor. "Catra, try and get a little higher, and more out-ish!"

"Geez..." Ok. She tried looking at the positives that didn't result in her strangling him. The sooner she got out, the sooner she could go back to bed. She sank her claws into the small cracks she could find along the pillar's wings, being as careful as she could to keep her balance as she gripped the antennae in her left hand at the same time. She just about had it. If she could get it a little bit further, she was sure she could-

*swiff*

"Wha- Guys, guys, guys!" Catra shouted in fear as she fell. Either her claws were too sharp or not sharp enough because the next thing she knew, her claws were scraping off the side of the wing's indents, falling for her life and hurdling towards the ground.

"Hold still. It's working!" Bow announced with utter joy, unaware of their predicament as Glimmer quickly teleported to catch her falling friend. "We did it! You guys, you got to see this!" He kept his eyes glued to the screen until he noticed the raining silence around him, followed by the sight of his missing friends as he looked around. "Guys?"

*swoosh*

In a cloud of pink sparkles, his friends appeared once more from behind, with Catra in Glimmer's arms for a change instead of the other way around. There was a small awkwardness to the setting as Catra nervously grinned up to her, having a moment of deja vue from their experience in Alwyn.

"Heh, thanks for catching me, Pinky."

"I didn't."

*Thud!*

"Ow!" Cara yelped, rubbing her head.

Ok, she could admit. She deserved that one.

Least now they could hopefully move on for the night as they gathered near the archer. "Please tell me you finally got the message." Catra wondered, still stretching her arms a little to stay awake.

"Some of its degraded." He admitted, showing the magicat the pad. "Can you read the rest?" Catra glanced over the images as she held it in her hands.

It still looked a bit jumbled to her, but she could make it out a lot more than the scribbles she was stuck with earlier. "Yeah, most of it." She replied, brushing her finger against each of the words that came to her mind. "Serenia... Portal... Mara." She did a double take on that last one. She didn't know which word surprised or confused her more between the first and the third. "Either of you heard of Serenia before?"

"I don't know." Glimmer shrugged. "But if it has to do with Mara, it can't be good." Catra gave a stern look at the pad again, seeing the word Mara flashing in her mind as she re-read the symbols.

Saying it wasn't good was as obvious as saying wood was flammable. Mara wasn't just another person. She was a She-Ra, a past She-Ra, like Catra, who gave into her own feelings of torment and emotions, who nearly wiped out the entire world a thousand years ago and nearly destroyed the She-Ra line itself. Her actions devastated Etheria, caused who knows how much destruction throughout the world, maybe even the universe, and, possibly, lead to the disappearance of the First Ones themselves.

Catra didn't know much about Mara that she cared to know. Throughout the weeks, she's been struggling to maintain her emotions, her raw anger, her hatreds, doing everything in her power to keep from ending up like her. To her, Mara was like an enemy, someone she never wanted to be or wanted to end up as.

And all she knew out of this, was that if the name "Mara" was involved, regardless of whatever Serenia was, it could only lead to trouble...

...

*beep-beep-beep*

*beep-beep-be-*

*click*

It was a morning like many others for Adora. The new alarm clock went off at the side of her bed. Her hair was a mess, she still felt a little tired, and she wasn't really looking forward to how the future was going to turn out. Just like everyday before it.

But, strangely, she felt a little lighter today. Her heart felt a little warmer than most mornings she woke up, like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't know how to describe it. It was like someone threw out her old body and she was upgraded with a brand new one, one with a brighter and warmer spirit. She still wore the same grey shirt and beige pajamas, but overall she felt different inside, better.

For the first time in awhile... she woke up with a smile. And a brighter spirit.

"Time for another great day!" She cheered to herself as she threw her legs out of bed.

The morning routine passed by much like it did before for the Force Captain as she stretched her arms out, an actual smile on her face as she exited her quarters, donning her usual vest and uniform as she always did. Her hair was nice and smooth for a change without a single strand out of place, the bags under her eyes finally departed after what felt like ages. She actually looked forward to what the day had to offer for once!

*tap*

"Whooooa-! A familiar blue-haired girl yelped as she tripped over Adora's shoe.

"Whoa, careful." Adora called out as she grabbed the back of her shirt with a shadow, keeping the girl's face from implanting with the ground as she stood her up. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, Miss Adora! Please don't be mad!" The girl said, trembling a little in fear.

"We're sorry we bumped into you, again!" The grey-haired girl apologized, worriedly.

"What do you have to be sorry for? You two seem to know where you're going." Adora casually replied, brushing off the girl's shoulder of any dust. The two kids eyed each other strangely as they turned back to the previously-scary commander.

"Miss Adora, are you feeling alright?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Um..."

The other one elbowed her a little, giving her a signal to be quiet. "Shh! Don't make her mad again!"

"Hahaha, you guys have nothing to worry about. I'm perfectly fine, really." She smiled, patting both their heads as she stood up. "Say, how about you guys treat yourselves to some muffins, huh?"

"Muffins?" The blue-haired one couldn't contain her excitement, or maintain it, as she glanced back nervously. "But, it's Thursday."

"No worries," she said raising a finger, "just tell the chef Miss Adora said to herself, and if they have any problems, then they can deal with me." Instantly, both girls looked at her in awe and excitement, watching the commander make a playful pounding of her fist.

"Really?"

"You mean it?" The grey squealed.

"Yup! You can tell your friends too. Now run along, girls. You don't want to miss breakfast before training."

"Yay! Thanks, Miss Adora!" They both cheered in delight as they ran down the halls, eager to tell their friends all the good news they had. Adora chuckled as she waved them off, glad to see their excitable faces after so long.

"Commander." A pair of guards rushed up to her, saluting in respect like always. "We have some bad news. We just lost another outpost near Turnwall, and most of our resources were scavenged."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Adora replied without a care in the world, patting both their shoulders as she walked right past them. "We'll just recapture them next time."

"...Uh... Y-Yes... Commander?" The right guard looked to the one on his left, the helmets they were both wearing doing nothing to hide the confused expressions each of them were sharing as they shrugged.

Man, everything felt brighter around here for some reason, and it was the best! She didn't feel any weight of worries for a change, she didn't feel anything tying her down for a change, even the fact they lost another outpost didn't seem to phase her. And why should it? It was like she said, she'd recapture the outposts in due time. What was there to worry about?

"Adora!" And right on cue, she turned around with a hearty smile as she saw Scorpia rushing up to her again, another stack of papers in her arms. "Huff, there you are." She panted looking over the pages. "Okay, so good news, um, ish. I helped with some of the introductory stuff, but the rest of this stuff might take most of the afternoon. But I think we can get it done early if we get a head start on it. What do you think?"

"Huh? Oh, the paperwork, right." Adora looked at the papers with a curious smile as she rubbed her chin, holding another arm behind her back. "...You know... I think I might just... I don't know, take the day off or something, from paperwork."

"I still haven't found the requisition from one of the outposts by Turnwal, by the way need to tell you something about that, but I-" Scorpia stopped as she blinked to herself, staring down at the perky commander who smiled back at her. "Did... You just say you'd rather hold off on the paperwork... for once?"

"Why, is that a problem?" She grinned. Scorpia tried to get a good look in her eye, trying to see if she was seeing things or if Adora was really Adora right now. Sparkling blue eyes, luscious hair, upbeat smile. Nope. Still the same. So what was so different about her?

"Problem?" Aside from the fact Adora might have been replaced with an imposter, she assumed. Looking between her and the papers, she quickly shook her head, and her claws, in response. "Oh, n-no problem! Nope, nope nope-" That was when she realized that in her haste to continue Adora's smile, she shook the piles of papers right out of her arms. "Um... Ok, except that, but still! No problem. I got this..." She dropped to her knees, fumbling to keep the papers together before Adora's mood could be ruined.

"Hehe, just have them placed on my desk." She directed, turning away. Scorpia lifted her head as she watched Adora take off, the Force Captain being as casual as ever, as she walked down the hall with her hands behind her head.

She couldn't explain this sudden turnaround of Adora's behavior. In one day, she went from, admittedly, moody, irritable, strict, to suddenly joyful, hopeful, and, for the first time in awhile, happy. She somehow transformed in her entirety in just one night.

And honestly, Scorpia was happy for her. She missed her old smiling friend she used to greet, missed the way she smiled over everything that came her way. Who cared if the paperwork would pile on a little by tomorrow if she held it off? If Adora was happy, Scorpia was happy, and that's all that mattered.

...And maybe she would let Scorpia keep the baby picture if she was lucky.

...

Still smiling, ever presently, Adora walked along the prison sector with her usual tray of food in hand for Shadow Weaver. She couldn't wait to hear what she had to offer, some insight that could finally turn her life around at long last. Maybe it was the info to some new weapon only she knew existed? Or a type of magic that could dominate the power of the princesses? Who knew what it could be?!

Feeling a little more generous for the day, and to give them a bit more of an excuse to have a conversation, she brought two muffins with her today. One for her, and one for Shadow Weaver. She didn't really know what her preference was, but compared to the usual tasteless ration bars provided for the prisoners, she doubt she would complain.

Not a single thing stood out of Adora's way to turn her mood over. And for the first time since meeting her, not even Aroda's presence as she leaned against the outside of Shadow Weaver's cell could bother her.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you~" She grinned.

Instantly. Immediately. Adora's heart skipped several beats as she quickly looked inside. Like a gun going off, her heart came back to normal as she breathed a sense of fresh air, smirking back to Adora as she disengaged the forcefield.

"Hah, nice try." She taunted, unaware of Aroda's shifting gaze as she smirked, watching the hopeless girl walking into the cell. "A-Ahem," Adora coughed, clearing her throat, "good morning, Shad-" She stopped. There was a small blush forming on her face as she lowered her head. Even after a thorough combing, she still had to brush a strand out of her face as she smiled. "I mean... Good morning... mother." She greeted properly, looking back to the mother figure of her life who stood in the center of her cell, back turned to her.

Adora waited a few seconds for a response before deciding to direct the start of the conversation herself, setting the tray down as she rubbed her right shoulder. "S-So, listen, um, I... I was just... thinking, a little bit, and..." She coughed once more as she took a deep breath.

"So, I was thinking, that, you know, maybe... Maybe, if things went well, we could- I-I mean, I could, um..." She chuckled a little as to why she was being so nervous with herself. "Can't believe this is hard to say. Um, maybe, i-if you get out of here, once Hordak gives the okay, then maybe, I could... give you your old job back?" She offered, lifting her head again as she smiled to her.

"I've been thinking about it to myself and everything, and, well... I... I don't think I'm all that cut out to be a commander, you know? With all that's been happening lately, and the territories we've been losing, I just... I just don't think I'm cut out to be a commander, anymore. I'm better at using my talents out in the battlefield, where they can actually be of some assistance. I was better at following your orders anyway rather than giving them."

"..."

She waited for some form of response, noticing the repeated silence emanating from her. She didn't find it so suspicious, given all that she was laying on her all at once. To take her old job back would be an effort in itself, seeing how Hordak gave Adora her old job anyway, and it still relied on whether or not Shadow Weaver wanted it back in the first place.

"I-I mean you don't have to answer all at once or anything, it was just a question." She continued. "I... I just thought that you would like your old position back, and it would be the least I could do to repay you for all of this. And... Not just this, either. I mean for everything, raising me and all." How else was she supposed to make amends with her own mother after all that's happened? She smiled lifting her head further, walking to her back.

"Would you be interested in that, by any chance? Mom?" Still, there was no response, so she lifted a hand to her shoulder. "Well come on, don't give me the silent treatment all day, I-" And they went right through it.

Her hand passed through the figure of Shadow Weaver easily, her touch being encircled by small shadowy flames that were as delicate as air, reforming immediately to the figure she used to know. The figure standing before her was nothing more than an illusion.

And the pain in Adora's chest was anything but.

"N-No..." Her heart felt like it was ripped straight out as she moved her hand all through the figure, unable to believe what she was seeing, what she was feeling. With vacant eyes and a mind that refused to accept what she was witnessing, she tried to grab any piece of Shadow Weaver as her eyes started to water. "T-This whole... This whole time, you were..."

Using her.

That was the truth Adora had come to realize. That was the pain she was truly feeling.

All those previous tasks, the badge, the picture frame, were all part of a carefully orchestrated plan. Of course Adora wouldn't raise suspicion if she wanted a badge of all things. Why would she if it was supposed to be a late gift for her. And a picture frame? Sure. There was nothing in it or about it that striked her as odd. It was a parting gift at this point, something for Shadow Weaver to remember her by, remember them by. It was touching when Adora thought about it.

So touching that she wouldn't even bat an eyelash at her third and final request.

Growing shadows along her arm, tired of the illusion that kept reshaping in front of her, Adora tore at it in a mad fury, eviscerating it with extreme prejudice until it tore to shreds, disappearing completely. Upon the floor, she saw the means of her escape, the truth behind the final item she got her, and the cracked picture frame she didn't even bother to take with.

The badge. That one, stupid, badge. After all she had to provide for her, because of how rudimentary and useless they appeared, Adora never bothered to question what would be so useful for this third and final item she brought in. How could she be any more foolish? If the first two meant nothing to her, then the third object was practically a treasure trove, one aiding in her escape as she saw the magical incantations still glowing along the floor.

Once again, despite every assurance, despite keeping herself in check, Shadow Weaver had managed to manipulate her through till the very end. She showed no sense of caring to the young girl, no reason to stick around, not even an excuse to leave her on her own. She abandoned Adora, right when she needed her most.

Once again, Shadow Weaver used her.

"Noo..." Adora's face slowly twisted from anguish, dread, to anger, outrage as she slowly dropped to her knees. Her tearful expression changed as she let out a cry, swiping at the revolting incantations that practically taunted her very being. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaahahhhh!" Adora cried so heavily after she swept aside everything else, squeezing her head in frustration as she cried on the very spot the illusion disappeared, what was always an illusion, given how heartless it could be.

She didn't bat an eye at the drawing she saw pinned to the wall with a fork, one that read "Thank You, Adora" written in a dried-up ink she wetted with water under the pictures, from the very person she was revolted to think about at this point. She cared nothing for the picture or its frame as she chucked it at the wall, ignoring it as it shattered into thousands of pieces of paper as the picture inside blew away. And the badge, the badge that felt like poison to the touch as she tore it from her sleeve.

She crushed it in her very hands, throwing it straight into the center of the monitor, ignoring it as it cracked, fizzling before bursting in place. She could only cry as she threw herself to the floor, squeezing her head and crying her eyes out in the hopes that she would wake up soon from a nightmare she was never experiencing.

Everywhere she went, everywhere she looked, she felt heartache, trauma, sadness, within this room. Everything she thought was a lie. The people she cared about always turned their back on her, the people she trusted used them at the very end, and the people she wanted back would never return to her. This time, it hurt worse. She didn't just lose a mentor, or an ally, or a friend. The one proud, honorable, Force Captain broke down as the tears fell around her, and the shadows rose from her back.

"No... No, no no, no, NO, NO, NO, NOOOO!" She shouted in fury, anguish, torment. Like the torrent of emotions that poured from her eyes, her powers manifested like a whirlwind as massive tendrils, claws, barbs, grew out of her back. Without any control from the girl, they ran amok within the small prison cell, destroying and clawing away at everything around them.

The claws tore the metal asunder with a thunderous creaking of metal, the tendrils pride whatever they could from the walls, pulling at the monitor attached to the screen before slamming it to against the wall, and the barbs, perhaps they were the worst. Piercing through the thick durable metal of the ceiling, they slowly tore across the metal sheets, pulling at wires and circuits as they grew from within like the roots of a tree, sprinkling a rain of sparks and torn cables falling around the Force Captain. Eventually, the electricity short circuited along the lights, trapping the young girl, in body and heart, in eternal darkness.

The person she cried to when she was sad, the one she could count on to lean on her shoulder. The woman who dedicated her life to Adora since she was an infant, who showed unwavering affection compared to all others, the one she was finally ready to open up to again. She was the one who inspired Adora all her life, to give her life meaning, to give her the dedication she wanted to return to the Horde, the one person who raised her. And the one who saw her only as a tool, a means to an end, and tossed her aside like she was nothing.

That person was now, and forever, gone.

She lost a mother.

She lost everything.

And her tears would know no end...

...

A/N: *hic!* Why are you'sh all crying T_O...*hic!* Shaddup! SHADDUP! It's jush a little reading... *downs another bottle of whiskey* You don't shee ME crying about i- Oh crap I read another line... *downs 13th bottle* Ah, you don't shee ME crying my eyesh'ish out! *hic!* Oh god, im gonna have a hangover after this...

*hic!* Well, okay, while I'm dealing with that depreshhing and all that crap, hope you ALLLLLLL enjoyed! *hic!* Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you didn't cry yourshelves to deaaaaath, *hic!* and I hope to see you in a much more light-hearted and humorous episode with our season finale! Not gid losht, I need to go cry about something I'm trying to forget P_P...*hic!*

Chapter 87: S2 Episode 7: Reunion Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9,175 Pre-A/N's.

Welp. This is it. We are at THE SEASON FINALE! Whoohooooooooo! I'll be honest, i didn't think I'd ever get here after the hiatus i took X) With all that happened and everything, I'm surprised i pushed myself to even get past the 2nd episode of this season, all things considered. It truly feels wonderful to be here folks, and with 7 minutes so spare, before i pass my daily-deadline. That's right- its currently 11:53 as i post this XD!

And I think we could all use some more joy for those of us who weren't devastated from last night's climax and currently huddled in a corner hugging themselves, and you'll be happy to know we're back to some lightheartedness and humor as I take a very interesting approach this chapter, with thanks going to Star Saber for the idea behind this one (which i can't 100% fully remember if he came up with it himself or agreed along the lines of it, but i do know he contributed to the structure of the idea regardless so props and thanks go to him ^^).

With that said, enjoy the first part of the Season 2 Finale!

...

"Haaaaaah!"

*CRASH!*

Catra roared as she slammed the sword atop another droid roaming the forest, sinking her claws directly around the blasters as two more came behind her. With her She-Ra endowed strength, right as it was charging, she directed the shot to the neighboring droid on the right. The shockwave was strong enough to temporarily disorient the droid for a few seconds, more than enough time to get herself under the mechanical creation.

Dropping down to her feet, digging the edges of her claw under its base, she lifted the war machine off its feet, grunting to herself as she pushed off the ground as hard as she could. With her ears picking up the sound of another droid approaching from the pathway down to the right, she threw the creation with all her might, crashing it straight into the oncoming droid, and destroying it in a magnificent explosion.

With the final droid destroyed, Catra barely breaking a sweat in her She-Ra state, she watched as the field around her returned to the inner sanctum of the Crystal Palace, watching as Light Hope appeared off to the side, and Swift Wind watching with excitement, lying on his stomach as he leaned on his wing.

"Again." Catra ordered.

Five minutes into the next simulation, Catra found herself being blasted back as she pushed back a powerful green beam with her shield. The immense force was enough to push her feet across the ground, just barely coming to a stop at the last second before she plummeted into a seemingly-bottomless cliff behind her.

Growling, seeing the more-advanced droid preparing another shot, she transformed her shield back into the sword and threw it straight at the center of the droid's head. It was just enough to interrupt it from firing another blast, though the droid remained functional as it attempted to scrape at the sword with several of its pincer-like appendages.

With it sufficiently distracted, she jumped for the center of the droid's round body, grabbing onto her sword right as it began to charge for its next attack. It proved to be a matter of speed, which Catra was naturally the victor of, as she shoved the sword further into the droid, piercing the mechanical heart of the creation at long last.

Cackling with electricity as sparks danced across its body, Catra jumped from the holographic opponent just as it exploded into a spectacular ball of fire. Like previously, the holographic simulation came to an end, and, like previously, Catra gave the same order as she panted.

"Again!"

*crackle*

"Ahh!" Catra yelped as she was bashed straight through a tree, skidding across the ground for a dozen yards before sliding onto her own two feet.

Of the numerous opponents she could be facing, she had to face a rather special one, a pair at that. Instead of the usual fighter of a droid, the very same that nearly took out the Princess Alliance singlehandedly, not only did Catra have to contend with one Orbkos-like creation, but two, at the same time.

On the bright side, they lacked the technical ability to adapt to anything she could do, which meant very little when they were eight feet in height, humanoid in stature, and could easily arm-wrestle Catra into a stalemate if she was at her current level of She-Ra.

And right now, she had to contend with two of them.

No sooner did she get to her feet even did she find herself jumped behind, finding a pair of metallic hands grabbing at her neck before pinning her to the ground. There, she saw the same ocular droid staring at her as it began to charge a laser straight at her face. At the same time, she also took notice of the same Orbkos-like droid that nailed her through the trees seconds ago as it lunged into the air, pulling back its fist as it intended to imprint Catra's being into the ground under her.

Neck pinned to the ground and sword tossed to the side, she needed to act fast. She needed to deal with both of them at the same time, less she leave herself open to an attack from the other one that was attacking her simultaneously.

Needless to say, an idea did quickly form into her mind right at the last second as she struggled against the hands against her throat. Pulling her hands away, she instead caught the strangling droid off guard as she pulled it ahead, right at the very moment that the other droid's fist dove straight towards her. She was met with a hand bashing straight through the previous droid's head, inches from her face, and leaving her alive and well.

The droid's grip faltered as it slowly lost its functionality, the circuits within its head slowly powering down and providing Catra the opportunity to pull away from the two droids as the other one tried to pry its hand from the other. Dashing for her sword, she hissed as she dove head first towards the other Orbkos, one who looked ready to deal with her despite its setback.

It wasn't ready in time.

Attempting to swipe at the girl with tis free hand as she approached, right as it swung, Catra dove under its arm and its legs, pushing off her feet and throwing her sword around its neck as she grabbed the blade with her other hand. Grumbling, Catra pulled the blade against its neck as hard as she could, slowly cutting through its exterior metal until finally severing the head clean off. Unsatisfied with her current work, she topped it off as she slammed the head back into the other droid's chasis to claim her victory.

Being the seventeenth simulation in a row that Catra's gone through, the magicat breathed heavily as she pulled her sword away, slowly walking away as the electricity crackled along the dorids behind her before exploding at the same time. Watching the simulation come to another end, Catra took a two-second breather as she pushed her hands against her knees, lifting her head up covered in sweat as she eyed the returning Light Hope with intent.

"A... Huff... Again..." She requested.

"No, Catra." Light Hope replied, waving her hand against a holographic monitor to her right. Catra groaned as she stood up straight, seeing the fields around her completely returning to their original environment. "You've done enough training for one day."

"Aw, come on!" She complained, powering down as she returned to her usual self. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, go Catra!" Swift Wind tried to encourage as he continued to watch, thrusting a slightly folded wing tip in the air like a fist. "Awesome job, eleven out of ten!"

"You said that the last seventeen fights I did, including the last two I got my tail kicked." She retorted.

"Oh... Ten-and-a-half out of ten?" It was a bit annoying but Catra couldn't help as she smirked a little at his efforts. She was at least able to understand that he was just trying to motivate her, and it's not like it bothered her as much these days.

"Seriously, can't we go again?" Catra asked back to Light Hope.

"You've done more than enough training for one day, Catra." Light Hope examined the several monitors of Catra's vitals and condition as she spoke. "I must admit, I'm surprised to see you so determined to train for once. What's the occasion?"

"What do you think?" She shrugged back, sheathing her sword. "I'm trying to work my way towards more of She-Ra's power. Light Hope, I've been at this for almost two months now, and the last month alone I still haven't obtained She-Ra's full potential!"

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." In any effort to brighten the girl's mood, she brought up a new monitor displaying the synchronicity again of Catra's bond with the sword. "In this last month alone, you've managed to reach nearly 63% of She-Ra's potential. That's nearly double than what you started with since you were designated as the newest She-Ra."

"Yeah, and that's the problem!" Swift Wind tilted his head as he approached his friend from behind. "Light Hope, I'm running out of things to change about myself here. Yeah, there's still issues I have with other people, but at least with them I know what the problem is." She rather not get into the details of who, namely Frosta, she had yet to forgive, less she wind up watching her bond with the sword decrease on the monitor.

"I've been more open to people, I've," she blushed a little scratching the back of her head, "been a bit more accepting of people recently, and-"

"And we strengthened our bond together!" Swift Wind answered for her, turning to Light Hope as she stepped to Catra's side. It felt even more awkward as the blush on her face intensified, trying to ignore the horse's contribution for her own sake.

"Y-Yeah, what he said. I've done more than I know what to do, and I really don't know what else is left." At least, that was the gist of it.

The last few weeks leading to today had been a tiring experience for the young warrior, both physically and emotionally. Fighting off a superdroid with the Princess Alliance and reclaiming the forest, improving her bond with Swift Wind, rejecting her desire for revenge against Entrapta after Alwyn, Frosta's betrayal, and coming to terms with herself over who she truly blamed for it, including the part where she met her She-Ra self in person, after being infected by a virus from the First Ones a thousand years ago?!

She needed a vacation. Another trip to Mystacor wouldn't sound too bad at this point.

Throughout her many journeys of late and hardships she's had to overcome, she's made significant progress in herself and her She-Ra form. She doubled the level of power she could draw from She-Ra, obtained more of the form that won them the Battle of Bright Moon, and felt ever closer to reaching her full potential and becoming the hero everyone else wanted her to be.

Granted, she would've preferred skipping the harshness these lessons came with. It was hard to admit her fear of turning into Mara with Swift Wind, it took forever to change her mind for revenge. She still wanted it, just now she wouldn't go through with it if it put the only few people she cared about in harms way. And she still needed to deal with Frosta at some point.

But, even so, what else could she do? What was she missing, what was she lacking that was keeping her from becoming a true She-Ra? What made Adora so special beside her personality that made her the candidate to become She-Ra instead of her? The closer to She-Ra's form Catra came the more desperate she was to finally complete it. She just needed a direction to head into to reach the final milestone.

"Training is the only thing that strengthens my bond with the sword without getting all emotional about something." It was a harsh reality, from Catra's point of view, when she thought about it. "Even if its incredibly slow, it's better than nothing. Unless you have any suggestions, that is."

"We could try more loop-de-loooops~?" Swift Wind offered, lowering the side of his head closer to Catra in excitement.

Naturally, this was met with Catra lowering her ears and her eyelids halfway as she stared on ahead. "Ask for loop-de-loops once more time today, and I won't let you do any on the way home."

"Eep, sorry." He knew better to press his chances as he pulled away.

Staring at the cat, one she could admit made remarkable progress over the last month, Light Hope took a moment to adjust several display monitors in front of her, tapping through the open air in the effort to find a solution. "Hmm... I will admit, you have nearly reached the limit of your emotional journey. But emotions aren't the only traits necessary to become She-Ra."

"What do you mean?" Catra asked, stepping closer to examine the displays.

"Recall before when I first met, what I said about how an act of true selflessness is required to reach She-Ra's potential."

"Yeah, and I get that. It's been the most annoying part about this. I've been fighting for the Rebellion since cutting off ties with Adora and the Horde, I've been saving towns all over left and right. How am I supposed to get more selfless than that?"

"I have taken note of your deeds and your actions, and must admit I am as curious as you are." Well that was a surprise Catra wasn't expecting to hear from her. Normally, she was the one with most of, if not all, the related answers she needed when she had something to ask. "On a conscious level, you seem to be of able-mind and focused. Save for a few misgivings you must overcome, you should have achieved more than this."

"So you don't know what's wrong, either?"

"I didn't say that." She stated matter-of-factly. With the wave of her hands, she brushed aside the remaining monitors as a new display revealed itself, one appearing to be a brainscan of some sort. "While I said on a conscious level you are displaying the necessary qualities, I believe I have found one setback that is keeping you from obtaining more of She-Ra's power."

"And?" Catra raised a brow. "If I get over it, will I reach She-Ra's full power?"

"Minus a few categories you must fulfill, I cannot say. However, if my analysis is accurate, should you managed to complete this obstacle," she turned to Catra with a smile, knowing what the girl's face would look like, "I believe you will acquire no less than 20% of She-Ra's potential."

"T-TWENTY PERCENT?!" Catra's jaw dropped to the likes of which she never thought possible, along with Swift Wind whose eyes bugged out at the statement.

Twenty? An actual twenty percent?! That was insane! Catra almost wanted to pull her own hair out at the very mention to see if she was actually dreaming or not. Like, how could she not feel excitement over this?

For weeks now, she's been dealing with a steady, uneven, progress that has either lead to her obtaining another fraction of She-Ra's power, or losing it, and managing to maintain a certain amount of it over the course of her journey. With a steady increase based on her emotional state, it was hard to tell what else she could improve herself, and, even if she could, how long she could maintain it before losing it again due to some anger or something.

But now, she had a chance to obtain, according to Light Hope, a whole fifth of She-Ra's power! A real chance to achieve a certain state if she could finish whatever task stood in her way! It wasn't just the fact she could obtain a substantial portion of her power that excited her, either. It was the fact it was unrelated to her emotional state, too.

If she got this fraction, went through whatever hairbrained scheme she needed to acquire her power, she wouldn't have to worry about losing a large portion of her power anytime soon. Based on her past record, she would be at a constant fifty-percent of her power at all times, no matter how angry she got as long as she didn't lose control.

It was a dream come true!

A blessing!

For once In Catra's life, she never looked more forward to a mission than she has now!

"Yes!" Catra shouted with such enthusiasm you would mistake it for a shout of anger. The girl squeezed her fist as she thought about how strong she would be afterwards. "Oh man, this is awesome!" The hairs on the end of her skin were as psyched as she was as they stood up. Catra pulled out her sword, waiting for whatever obstacle would head her way. "Okay, give me the word. What do I have to do? Save someone from a fire? Give a kid a piece of candy or something?"

*cough*

"LOOP-DE-LOOPS!"

*cough*

That was the worst display of a fake cough Catra had ever witnessed from anyone as Swift Wind attempted to play it slyly, lifting his view away from the magicat while still having his wingtip curled up like a fist to his mouth, one meant to cover a cough.

"...Seriously, is it loop-de-loops? Cause I'll do it all day if I have to." And it still didn't bother her as she looked back to Light Hope for confirmation.

"Ah! Please say yes! Please say yes!" Swift Wind begged.

"No, it's nothing as trivial as that." Light Hope replied with a smile, dashing someone's hopes away. "In fact, from my understanding, there is only one thing you must give up in order to achieve She-Ra's state."

"Oh yeah, like what?" There were so many things she had and she could get her hands on, living in a castle and everything. "The sword's obviously out of the question, so what else do you need? My bed, extra clothes I have? I'll even steal from the treasury if I have to-"

"Catra," Light Hope calmly interrupted, "what is it you want most in life?"

"...Want most?" Out of the excitement, probably the most confusing question Light Hope could've asked her was that. "Well, I don't know, a lot of things really. Getting over this stupid war, having my own servants, I guess, I don't know."

"Let me ask you differently, then. Catra, what made you join the Rebellion in the first place?"

"What made me join them?" That was a little more specific as she recollected. "Well, that's obvious. When I met Glimmer and Bow for the first time, all I wanted out of it was..." Slowly, the look of hopefulness and overwhelming joy on Catra's face slowly dwindled, being replaced with a shocked realization that made her heart sink, realizing what she was getting at.

There could be no doubt any longer. Out of everything that has proceeded since the announcement, she could officially state she was in reality right now, and not some fancy dream that seemed too good to be true. She waited and feared what possible downside this beacon of hope could possibly deliver to her, and now that she found it, she wanted to take it all back.

Swift Wind noticed as Catra shivered in place, that look of hope and excitement in her eyes being replaced with nothingness, emptiness. Every fiber of her being that told him she was excited and ready to give up anything in the world for this had completely disappeared.

"Catra," Light Hope spoke softly, preparing her to embrace the harsh truth, "if you want to achieve a sense of true selflessness, and reach a new potential, you must give up your quest for a Kingdom..."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The tracker pad never left Bow's hands as he continued to observe the strange formations and drawings within his device. Atop one of the many pillars of Bright Moon Castle, he continued to sit across the archway, never letting the symbols and drawings leave his eyes. He knew there was something important about these symbols, he just couldn't put his mind on what it could be.

"Serenia portal Mara." Those were the words he remembered Catra decoding, the words he spoke into his recorder. "Maybe Mara's last name is Serenia, or the portal is, uh, a Serenia?" Just picturing how stupid it must've sounded out loud made him sigh, feeling disgraced at his lack of discoveries.

These symbols were present within his tracker pad since their mission in Alwyn, a mission that wasn't even initially intended if they weren't stuck being dragged around by Catra, trying to keep the enraged magicat from going through with her vengeance by whatever means necessary. Thanks to her attitude, they came across the very village they would've been assigned to later, taking the opportunity to investigate its abandonment and where everyone had gone.

After discovering the village left of fear from the possible ghosts, which turned out to be holographic recordings from the First Ones over centuries ago, his tracker pad was infused with a strange message, the depictions on his screen, when their ordeal was over. He had no idea what the symbols meant until recently or what their importance was.

And that made him all the more determined to discover its hidden mysteries.

"I'll be honest with you, future Bow, I'm getting nowhere." He sighed, leaning back against the pillar. That was the unfortunate truth he came to time and again. Whenever he tried to make heads or tails of the image, he came up with a blank. Any resources within the castle's library proved useless from the race that was existed over a thousand years ago. Whenever or wherever he was going to find the answers, it wasn't going to be from here.

*beep*

"No. Was that today?" Bow fretted as his eyes lit up like his device. "This can't be happening, not now." Of all the times that he had to have an important meeting somewhere, why did it HAVE to be around this time? Already, he was panicking as he hopped from the pillar to the ground a few feet behind him over the castle, running for his life. "No, no, no, no, no!"

...

*swish*

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out, checking the kitchen as she teleported.

Nope, nothing.

*swish*

"Catra?" She wasn't goofing off in the library by adding her own "edited versions" of writing to books, again.

*swish*

"Catra!" And she wasn't currently exercising outside with the soldiers around camp and injuring who knows how many hopeless victims in the process. Groaning, the princess resigned herself to checking the very first place she looked as she teleported one more time.

Her bedroom.

Which was the perfect timing for said magicat as she slumped her way tiredly back through the doors to her bed, sliding her feet against the ground and dropping the sword carelessly a few feet from the bed. WIth a loud yawn, the half-awake kitty sluggishly pushed her body into the bed, diving under her covers until her face met the pillow on the other end.

"Note to self," she muttered as she closed her eyes, "don't get up at four in the morning for training..." It was a mistake that was in the past now, and one she wouldn't soon forget. Sure, she could admit, she might've gone overboard with the early training this time around, but with so much at stake and her She-Ra state still a ways off, she wanted to strengthen herself through She-Ra as soon as possible. At least now, she could welcome the sweet embrace of a good day's sle-

*swish*

"Catra!"

"YAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ahhhhh!"

*THUD*

The feline was unprepared for the sudden wake-up call as Glimmer teleported back to her bedroom, equally surprised in the teleportation as her friend was right under her nose all along. Now, she was above her nose, because the moment she screamed Catra's name, startling the cat to the point where her heart froze, she found herself tackled to the ground as Catra pinned her by her shoulder, raising one clawed hand above her head.

"Whoa, stop, stop, stop!" Glimmer pleaded, waving her hands back and forth. "It's me!"

"Pinky?" Catra blinked as her claws sunk back in, rolling and rubbing her eyes as she finally got off of her. 'What do you want, now? I'm trying to sleep."

"I've been looking all over for you." Glimmer remarked, hopping back to her feet. "Where have you been?"

"I've been out training with Light Hope, okay? I couldn't sleep after last night." She yawned again, emphasizing her point. "And if you don't mind, I'd prefer catching up on some sleep."

"Sleep? Catra, we don't have time to sleep!" She denied her right of sleepfulness as she grabbed the warrior's hand tightly. "I need your help, it's urgent!

"Ugh, give me one reason why I can't go to sleep right and I'll consider it." She played upon the girl's intentions quite well, considering there were barely a handful of things Catra actually cared about around here.

Sadly, what she brought up was one of the few things.

"It's Bow! He's in trouble!" Digging through her back pocket as Catra's eyes widened, she pulled out one of his arrows, one attached with a note that would determine his untimely fate.

...

The Whispering Wood.

One of the Rebellion's best defenses against the Horde invasions. When it wasn't frozen in its entirety, it acted as a defense that the Rebellion desperately needed, one that got wary travelers lost, possibly for the rest of their lives if they were unlucky. It was one of the first places Catra ever visited outside of the Fright Zone. In fact, it was within these very woods that her adventures began, finding the Sword of Protection, embarking on a journey that would take her across Etheria.

After it was healed through the efforts of the Princess Alliance, it returned to its former glory, continuing to sway unwanted travelers in the opposite direction until they found themselves back where they started. It was for this very reason the Rebellion continued to remain protected, hidden from the Horde's clutches less their massive armies wipe them out for good.

It was also the last place Catra wanted to be literally dragged through as Glimmer continued to pull her hand, forcing the girl to march through the woods against her will. Sure, she admits she was a little worried, and curious, as to where someone like Bow would sneak off to, but when she barely had three hours of sleep under her tail to start with, her cares began to falter.

"Bow's tracker pad and arrows are gone." Glimmer said, continuing to drag the uncaring friend behind her. "He must have left after he shot that note through the my window."

"Oh no, that means he must've taken his arrows and track pad with him..." Catra's sarcasm could scratch at the walls of a window, it was so thick.

"Mmh could you at least pretend to care?" She grumbled, shoving away her friend. "Bow's your friend too, Catra, don't act like he's not."

"Mmmh..." She had to use the F-word against her, didn't she? "Would you relax already? Look, the note says "I'm fine. Don't follow me." Don't you think you should take its advice?"

"He's not fine! We have to follow him!" She groaned. "And Catra, be honest with me. If you wrote that note, wouldn't you be hiding something too?"

"...Ugh..." All the girl wanted at this point was to get a decent bit of shuteye, but Glimmer kept increasing her curiosity by the second! At this point of the relationship, she knew what buttons to press when it came to Catra, and what reactions she would get when it came to her. "Fine, I'll help you, but only if you promise me I can get to bed as soon as we're done!"

"Deal!" Glimmer smiled brightly with relief, earning a small blush from Catra as she began to sniff around with her sense of smell.

It always did warm her heart to see how much Catra had changed since she first came to Bright Moon. Going from the bitter and lonesome person she was to... well, the bitter and lonesome person she is now with a much more caring attitude was always a highlight to be around. Despite all of her grievances and irritations with the people around her, she really did care for people than she let on.

Before all of this, she wouldn't bother getting out of bed for anything less than a reward, a favor, anything. At times in the past, they had to forcibly drag her to get her to go somewhere else, somewhere she was either uncomfortable with, or didn't care enough to go to. And at those times, she still expected some form of personal benefit out of it.

Now, she was willing to give in and help her friends with just a few short pleas and arguments, giving in without much of a struggle.

As she lead the way for the two, she started to notice something a little off about her, aside from the tiredness. She had this partial spaced-out look in her eyes like she was trying to process two things at once.

"Hey, Catra?"

"Yeah?" Catra asked without turning around, trying to see if she could ear something as her ears bobbed.

"Where did you say you were again this morning?"

"I was training with Light Hope. The more I work out with the sword physically, the stronger my bond gets. Just, you know, a lot slower than I'd like."

"Yeah, and did anything else happen?"

"Happen...?" There was a small hesitation in Catra's response that Glimmer picked up on.

"Yeah, like, did she tell you anything that could help? You keep having this look in your eyes like something's bothering you."

"Oh, that?" She grinned as she waved her hand, climbing up the tree's closest branch a few feet into the air. "It's nothing, just some stupid thing Light Hope told me, so forget about it."

"Does it bother you? Maybe I can help?" It was strange seeing Catra push away something like she did. Unlike usually, she would do whatever she could to avoid the question or drop it completely. Instead, she was being open about it and passing it off like it was nothing.

"No, it doesn't bother me, I just find it a little weird and all."

"Weird how? What did she tell you?" Waiting a few seconds for a response, she took a step back as Catra jumped down from the branch, crossing her arms with her back against the tree.

"Well, it's kind of weird and silly at the same time. It's... Ok, so do you remember what Light Hope said before, about the qualities I needed to reach She-Ra's true potential? The whole "selfless" bit thing?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, tch, hahaha!" Catra was starting to scare the girl as she held her sides in laughter. "Oh man, you should've heard her. Light Hope? She has this hilarious idea that in order to obtain another fraction of She-Ra's power, I should give up my desire for a kingdom! Can you imagine that?! Ahahahaha!" Seriously, of all the things, ridiculous, annoying, or outright laughable, this was the combination of all three!

How could she not take this without laughing her lungs out? It was so stupid it was hilarious! Sure, she was a bit pessimistic at first at the mention of it, she might've thought Light Hope was short circuiting or

something, but after taking a minute to realize, she came to understand how it was the funniest thing she ever heard from the advanced woman A.I. thing! How could she take it so seriously with a straight face?

Watching her laughing with her arms hugged around her, Glimmer shifted her eyes away anxiously, feeling a little off about the statement herself. "Uh, y-yeah, sounds... hilarious..." Catra took a few moments to wipe the nearly-formed tear in the corner of her eye as she smirked back to her.

'You're, heheh, you're not laughing?"

"Uh, n-no! I'm laughing? See? Haha haha! Haaa..." Like Catra couldn't with the thought of such a statement, Glimmer couldn't take the matter as seriously as Catra was for an entirely different reason. A reason Catra didn't agree with as a small stern look grew over her smile at Glimmer's forced chuckling.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you think it's funny? I mean me, giving up a kingdom here?" Did she not understand the joke in person? Maybe she didn't have as much of a grasp on it from her own viewpoint compared to Catra's? She couldn't blame that on her, seeing how she wasn't the one with a kingdom at stake to begin with.

"Umm..." Entire columns of awkwardness fell over Glimmer's demeanor as she tried to think of a response, poking the tips of her fingers together nervously.

"...Oh my gosh, YOU ACTUALLY AGREE WITH HER!?" Of the many things Catra could not believe in this world, this would be number eight. There were many things that Catra could agree or disagree with flat out and deal with those issues on her own time. When it came to something like this, this was a matter she couldn't put off, knowing if she had some misgivings then someone else likely would.

"No, no, I wouldn't say agree with her, it's just..." A small wave of a frown slowly formed from one corner of Glimmer's lips to the other as she rubbed the back of her neck. "You still want to get a kingdom out of this?"

"Hello! Etheria to Glimmer!" Catra yelled, rubbing her knuckles against the girl's hair harshly.

"Ah, hey! Stop that!" She yelped, pulling away from the magicat's grasp.

"Of course I still want a kingdom! That's my whole reason for joining the Rebellion in the first place, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, and I get that!" She held her hands up trying to soothe the savage beast. "It's just that-"

"Just what?" What was the big deal behind all of this? Why was she acting so strange?

"I thought that, you know, after everything that's happened, you might not... want one, anymore?" Catra looked taken back with this reasoning and turned her head away. "I mean, given all that's happened in the last few months, I thought you would've preferred just fighting for us because we're friends and everything."

"Pinky, it's not..." Now scratching her own neck, Catra tried to think of a response. She didn't want to say something that put the girl down, nor did she want to sound like she lost interest in her own goals. "It's not like I'd stop fighting if a kingdom wasn't involved or anything, but after all that's happened, especially with what I've been through, I still want to get a kingdom out of this."

"But why? You haven't brought up the kingdom thing since the Battle of Bright Moon? Why do you want one in the first place?" Now that Glimmer thought of it, she never did bother asking Catra why she wanted one at all.

Sure, there were the typical responses like "I'd get to rule a kingdom" or "I'll be in charge of everybody" like most people would come up with, but none of them were ever the answers Catra provided for them. As a matter of fact, she hasn't said a given them a single reason why she wanted a kingdom in the beginning of all of this, and why she still continued to harbor feelings for one now.

What was the secret behind all of this? What thoughts were Catra continuing to hide from the people she considered friends?

"...Hey, wait a minute. I just realized something!" Catra spoke up, snapping her attention back to Glimmer. "Why aren't you leading us right now?"

"Huh?" Glimmer was so thrown off by the change of conversation that she jumped a little at the question.

"Yeah, why aren't you the one leading us? You've known Bow longer than I have, so you should know where he is."

Now it was Glimmer's turn to be taken back by the question as she gave her an awkward grin, one of guilt, nervousness, and the fact that said "funny story about that" to Catra. "Uh..."

"Geez, you're serious, aren't you? You don't know where Bow is? I thought you were his friend or something?"

"I am his friend!" She snapped back a little defensively, fists to her side. "Bow just really values his privacy, okay? He doesn't talk that much about his past or where he came from. Ever. Remind you of anyone?"

"No, why? Should it?" The oblivious Catra blinked in response, actually dumbfounded and clueless on who she could be referring to.

"Ugh. Look, I'm really worried about him, okay? Bow is always talkative around here and if there was somewhere he needed to go, then he should've felt comfortable enough telling us about it! And that's why I need your help. I need to know where Bow really is!" Grabbing Catra's wrist at long last, the princess continued their journey through the woods as they attempted to find their missing friend.

For the time being, they would both be satisfied with dropping the previous conversation for seperate reasons. To Catra, she preferred not bringing it up at all, so dropping it right then and there was more than enough for her. And for Glimmer, knowing this was a conversation from one of her two closest friends, she felt it was only right that bow would partake in the same conversation too.

Different reasons, same intentions. That usually justified and explains the reasonings behind their work, and they were willing to agree with that as they pressed on.

The next half-hour of walking proved just as uneventful as the last half-hour. With the Whispering Woods constant ability to shift landscapes and directions for its travelers, even those it felt safest with, it was hard for Catra to pick up on Bow's scent from afar. Over the course of their small journey, she felt his presence getting stronger as they neared his last location.

Sniffing along, she came across a a tree with broken bark and branches, feeling along the small drips of sap along its body. "Wherever he is, we're getting closer." She announced, wiping the sap carelessly on her vest. "Broken twigs for arrows, sap for his special ones, and if his massive footprints are any indication." The footprints themselves weren't all that interesting to her. What was interesting was the item they lead to behond a leafy bush.

Bow's bow and arrows.

Glimmer let out a small gasp as she walked past Catra, gathering the items in her hands as Catra approached. "There's no way Bow would ever leave his trick arrows behind. I told you, Bow's in trouble." Glimmer had Catra's attention for only a second before she looked ahead, squinting a little as she tried to make out a mysterious structure.

"Hey, do you recognize that place?" She wondered, pointing to it.

Getting a closer view, the place was unlike either of the two had previously witnessed. It was a large structural building with beautifully designed pillars and walls encompassing its entrance, along with thick purpley root-like vines that stretched along the ground from the neighboring trees.

The entire setting screamed mysterious to the two as they drew closer, inspecting the craftsmanship from its proportionately decorated pillars with jewels encrusted around the top, its doorway with a circular pink design with a six-sided stare in the middle, and its windows which stretched high enough to let anyone see through their white tints.

At least, from the inside.

The two turned to each other knowingly as they nodded. Grabbing onto Glimmer's shoulder, she and Catra teleported from the outside reaches to the interior of the complex, the magicat grabbing the hilt of her sword in preparation as the two explored their new territory.

"We have to find Bow, and get him out of this, uh..." All the bravado and gusto Glimmer felt rising in her chest was dashed away as she and Catra observed their surroundings, Catra's sense of smell picking up Bow's scent from all over. Either the people here had a very bizarre method of torture devices that involved using books, some methods Catra would happily know, or this wasn't anything like the two were expecting. "... Library?" Catra lowered her arms again as she looked around.

Calling it a library would sell its greatest attributes short. All around the two, they bore witness to a scene of unimaginable discovery in the forms of ancient books, a variety of old remains around the tables, and abstract artwork with the most unusual patterns of cyan blue around it. They were framed with patterns most artists would call dated, and rightfully so if their appearance was any indication of their age.

Catra popped her head around one such antiquity encased in a glass square container, eyeing the miraculous marvel in wonder. Not the wonder of who could've developed these ancient marvels or anything, that was far beneath her. She was into the more sophisticated portions of the gallery, like how much all of this stuff was worth.

"This junk is either really valuable or really boring." She commented, turning her head around in every direction. "Do you know anything about a library within the Whispering Woods?" All she got in response from the princess of Bright Moon was a solemn shake of the head, still worried about her missing friend. This was followed by a small gasp as she looked past Catra, the warrior turning around and getting her claws ready to scrape at any would-be patrollers sent to take them down.

Or a familiar face carrying a large stack of books inside, sighing as he closed the door with his foot. That same figure's eyes widened as he saw Catra and Glimmer looking just as surprised as he was. "Catra? Glimmer?"

"Bow! I'm so glad we found you!" Glimmer was ecstatic that they found their friend before it was too late, all while Bow grew nervous as he rushed to set the books down at a table nearby. As happy as Glimmer was, Catra was beside herself as she took in Bow's appearance.

"Shhh!" Bow shushed, bringing a finger to his lips.

"Look, just to make this clear, Pinky was the one worried about you, I knew you were fine, so, if... uh..." She slowly trailed off as she took in the new appearance from up close.

"What have they done to you?!" Glimmer dropped her belongings as she rose her hands to her head in disbelief. She cried quietly to herself as she was devastated by his horrible transformation.

"They turned you into a dork?" Catra added, taking in his appearance. She could respect a nerd like him making explosive arrows and a variety of other trick arrows in the name of getting the upper hand on his enemies. Adding a strange white long-sleeve shirt with a collar with a blue trim around the neck and the wrists, and a shirt that was tucked into his pants!?

That was a cruelty even she would be want to put out of her misery over.

"We're here to bust you out of here! Who did this to you?" Glimmer asked looking around, wondering if the perpetrators were still around.

"Nobody! You guys shouldn't be here!" He looked to the door in worry as he gestured the two away.

"Finally! Something I can agree with." The tired warrior yawned as she stretched her arms. She didn't need any convincing after that if Bow as that insistent that they leave. If worse came to worse, she would avenge his honorable, outfit excluded, death some other time. For now, all she was worried about was getting some sleep around here as she headed for the nearest window, one overlooking a seven-row shelf.

"What? Catra, you can't just take off like this!" Glimmer complained recollecting the weaponry, following the girl and ignoring the poor archer who wished they would quiet down, following them. Without caring for the decor or the height, the girl started climbing on the large shelf that stretched up to the second floor of the room, being careful with her grip as the books took up most of the space between the edges and their spines. "We need to get Bow out of here!"

"Then teleport him out!" She hissed looking back for a second. "Better yet, teleport the rest of us out of here."

"Not until we figure out what's going on and stop whoever did this to him!"

"And that's why I'm leaving." It's not like she didn't care about Bow's safety or anything at the time, but it was hard to feel like something sinister was going on, again, clothes excluded, when he didn't appear to have a single scratch on him. And if there were any physically inflicted, bleeding, wounds from something like torture, her nose would've picked up on it. "I suggest you do the same."

"Catra, get down from there, you're going to get me in so much trouble!" Bow begged her, grabbing onto her right foot before it went out of reach.

"Hey! You want me gone too, don't you? Then let go of my fo-"

*Creak*

"Huh? Ears twitching, she turned her view back on the sixth shelf she reached for, feeling something dipping a little. To her surprise, and her shock, the shelf she pulled her hand against suddenly became undone, loosened by years of service or faulty carpentry, as the entire row of books came down to the teetering shelf, and Catra along with it. "Whoooah-!"

*THUD*

Catra was buried under a dozen books by the time she hit the ground, along with an archer by the name of Bow as she fell right on top of him. The collision threw the two off their balance as they slammed against the floor, somehow ending up with Bow falling atop the cat as Catra pulled him along by mistake.

The books and shelves that fell with her she could deal with. The small cloud of dust that kicked up upon their landing, which were irritating her senses, she could also deal with. The part that she couldn't deal with through all of this was the very archer falling right on top of her, his head near inches from her face as the two opened their eyes again.

"...You have five seconds to get off of me before I make your tucked-in shirt the least of your worries." She threatened, bearing her teeth. Bow didn't need to be warned twice as he quickly pulled himself off the ground, a matching blush over his face like Catra's as he pushed off the ground next to her.

"S-Sorry about that." He replied quietly, offering both his hands to help her up. As much as she'd rather do something else with those hands, like experiment with how many bones she can "find" under the skin of his palms, she sucked it up for now as she accepted the gesture, the blush still present on their faces in the process.

Right as two mysterious figures entered the room, something only Glimmer noticed in time as she hid behind the back of a couch, weaponry in hand.

*click*

"What's going on in here?" One of the figures asked as they approached, standing several yards away as the lights were turned on.

Taking in both their appearances, Catra noticed a strange similarity with the two that she couldn't put the tip of her claw on, and not just from the scent. Both of them had their own appropriate attire, somewhat matching the uniform Catra naturally saw Bow donning from earlier, as well as the outfit he was wearing now.

The man on the left had a rather rugged-looking moustache, the kind Sea Hawk would be impressed with, as he donned Bow's previous appearance. He wore a white and yellow-colored vest with a heart centered within the front of it, the fringes of his sleeves emblazoned with a red coloring as they jutted out from the arms of his shirt. Along with this, he sported his own belt and a pair of tight-fitting brown pants.

The other one looked more like a typical librarian, and closer to the regal fashion Bow was currently sporting. With peculiar glasses, he wore a white-colored robe that cut off around his thighs with a golden border along the edges. It was tied together against him with a red sash in the middle. Unlike Bow or the man standing next to him, he let his hair grow out with braided locks dripping from the sides of his face, and a small ponytail in the back.

Both of these two looked at the two in perplexion, taking in Catra's unusual appearance and the fact she appeared at all.

"Bow, who is this girl?" The moustached man asked as he prepared to step forward. Before he could take the first step, the other one's eyes widened, grabbing him by the shoulders and leaning closer to him.

"Huh!" He gasped. "George, look!" He directed the man lower between the two, the one referred to as "George" trailing his gaze and coming to utter shock.

"Huh!" George let out a gasp of his own, losing all the tension in his body as he retracted his earlier step.

These were the most pathetic pair of guards Catra could ever come across, and the most confusing she'd ever have to deal with if things turned violent.

What were they looking at that kept their confusing attention between the two? Were they making fun of or staring at the fact that Catra was part cat? She could get used to people staring for a few seconds over the tail and everything, but the way they looked at them made it feel like something else was drawing them to the duo, not something separately between them.

And it took Bow a full twenty seconds to try and grasp what their attention was hounded upon, double-taking back and forth between the older pair of men and the shocking part of their display that was leaving the two speechless.

He, and Catra, were still holding both their hands together in front of them. If that wasn't enough, the fact they still presented to the two a small blush over both their faces was what sealed the nail in the coffin.

"Oh no. No, no, no!" Bow panicked, shaking off Catra's hands. "Dad, dad, it's not what you think-!"

"Bow, don't be so embarrassed." The long-haired man had sparkles flashing over his eyes as he clasped his hands together.

"Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend?"

...

A/N: I'm questioning how many people are grinning madly right now right at the end of this XD Yup, we're going "that route" with this, and with Catra of all people...Hehehehe, I can't wait for the fun to begin X) Thanks again to Star Saber for his involvement this episode.

There's not much to say here before I lose my deadline, so hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 88: S2 Episode 7: Reunion Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 11.6k Pre-A/N's. Hoooooooh~ 2-3 Chapters to go! not as much in terms of "big finale" here in comparison to the first season, but, as I've repeated, and repeated about repeated XP, this is just about "half" a season instead of a full season in itself. And, let's face it; the finale to season 3 felt more finale-ish than this one did (though the twist at the end of this did leave me speechless). And as another reminder, i've yet to see season 4, so avoid spoiling please XP

Not as much in the terms of "girlfriend jokes" in this atm, but we'll still get a nice spicy dose of fun and humor throughout Catra's side of the episode for sure! Hope you all continue to enjoy the fic as we near the end of season 2!

Enjoy!

...

"His what?" Catra was beyond words from the sudden announcement, the direction the entire day had brought her to.

At first, the day started out pretty normal, for what it's worth. Having little to no sleep all day since last night, thanks to Bow's tracker pad finally detailing the words "Serenia", "portal", and "Mara" to Catra, she couldn't get an ounce of sleep. With nothing to do and with boredom looming over her for the next several hours till sunrise, she decided to take the opportunity to train at the Beacon, having Light Hope construct over a dozen simulations for her to train through.

There, after an extensive workout regime that brought her to the brink of collapse, she learned there was something she could do to improve her connection with the sword. Seeing how she developed over the weeks as a person alone, her bond with the sword was nearing its completion on an emotional level, which made it harder to find more things to improve on that would strengthen her bond.

And the revelation she discovered was possibly the hardest part to accept through all of this.

See, as Light Hope agreed to, the girl was nearing the end of her development on an emotional level, which was fine for Catra's sake. There was only so much touchy-feeling stuff she could put up with before she screamed. However, if she had known that the next step of her journey was to obtain a true sense of selflessness, which required her to give up her personal dream for a kingdom, she would've gladly accepted any and all alternatives.

From there, making her way back to Bright Moon for a hopeful rest after all of this, she was met with a screaming Glimmer looking for Bow as soon as she collapsed on the bed. She discovered a note he shot through her window with an arrow, alerting her that he had to go somewhere for awhile and not to be worried. Suffice to say, it had the complete opposite effect as she ended up dragging Catra against her will across the forest, hoping to find any trace of her suddenly-missing friend at all cost.

What they discovered through their small trek of the woods was a strange library, one neither of them were aware of in the Whispering Woods. Teleporting inside they discovered thousands upon thousands of books, ancient textures, and relics housed all over the room, looking less than a medieval torture room and more like a common housing place for books. On top of that, they discovered Bow, the mighty archer, brought down to new lows with his white-colored shirt and his tucked in pants.

Other than that, he seemed fine. More than fine. In fact, he seemed more worried about the two being here than his own safety, ushering them to leave asap. Wanting to catch up on her beauty sleep, Catra was more than happy to oblige as she attempted to climb out a window above a bookshelf, one with an unhinged shelf as she reached the sixth row, and ended up crashing onto the archer himself.

It was the very moment after when Bow helped Catra up that two mysterious men walked into the room, catching the sight of the two heroes with a blush over their face, and still holding their hands until Bow became aware of the staring.

And the tragedy had only just begun.

"Bow, you shouldn't feel embarrassed about bringing a girl over!" The moustached man of the two commented, grabbing Bow proudly by the shoulders. "It's perfectly natural to start dating for a boy your age!"

"D-DAAAD!" Bow couldn't tell who had the bigger blush on his face between him and Catra. The only thing he could tell was that her and Glimmer's unannounced appearance was making things worse.

"I repeat: His WHAT!?" Catra's mind was swirling around with a mix of confusing emotions right now that she didn't even know where to begin. Angry? Embarrassed? Scratching everyone accusing her of something right now? If it wasn't for the way Bow called them dad seconds ago she would've gladly threatened the two to stop calling her that.

Drawing up to the girl directly, the man with the brown locks of hair gently grabbed her hand, raising it to his chest as he gently stroked her hand. "Welcome to the family, sweetheart."

"DAAAAAAAD!" Bow yelped again. The only silver lining to that line was that Catra didn't seem to be taking offense or embarrassment from it as she tilted her head to this.

"The family?" She repeated in a confused tone.

"Now Lance, don't startle the girl. She only just arrived." George smiled back briefly.

"Look, I don't know what you guys saw, but it's not what you think!" Bow stammered.

"Then why was she trying to sneak into the library?" George asked curiously, noticing the knocked over books and putting the pieces together, in the opposite direction.

That was the one detail Bow needed to come up with, or accept the explanation as he tried to think. Between Catra's natural aggression, his fathers' cluelessness to what they witnessed, and Glimmer who still remained behind the couch, holding his weaponry and looking more confused than the rest of them, there was only a few seconds to come up with something to explain all of this.

Too bad Catra wouldn't give him the chance.

"What? Okay, hold on, no. Back up for a minute here." Catra didn't know what was going on right now, but she wasn't going to let it continue while her dignity was at stake!

"Catra, no-!" Bow pleaded, knowing what she was going to do.

"I'm actually-"

"FROM THE ACADEMY!" In a mad dash, Bow rushed over to Catra's side as he interrupted the girl, throwing an arm over her shoulder as he smiled awkwardly to the loving parents. "I, uh, wanted to surprise you guys, so I kept it a secret, which will BE EXPLAINED," he said forcefully through his teeth, shifting his eyes to the dumbfounded magicat and the confused princess in the hopes they would catch on to his plea, "to everybody."

The supposed parents were too awestruck at the sight as they smiled warmly, walking up to the confused warrior with stars in their eyes, each of them placing a respective hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, I knew it!" George beamed happily.

"You have to tell us all the details!" Lance announced, not taking no for an answer. "How did you two first meet?"

"Are you majoring in the same subjects?"

"Has he met your parents yet?"

"How long have you two been dating?"

"Uhhh..." There was so much wrong with all that was happening that Catra didn't know where to begin. If it wasn't for the still-pleading eyes of Bow as he backed away, along with the gesture of a finger to his mouth begging her to be quiet.

Watching the pair carefully as he did, he quietly rushed to Glimmer's side, still keeping his focus on the parents, as he gestured for his gear back. Standing up quietly, she returned his belongings as he hid it under a small flap behind the couch, pushing it under slowly so it wouldn't creak along the floor. In an effort to give the archer space, Glimmer ended up accidentally backing up to a small vase atop a round table at the end of the couch, letting out a small yelp as she grabbed it before it fell.

It was all the dads needed to turn back again, noticing another girl with a face of question just as Bow got back to his feet again. Glancing between the vase and the dads, Glimmer gave another nervous smile as she set it back to the table as if nothing had happened.

"H-Hi!" She waved, trying to play along. "I"m Glimmer, um, Bow's friend from the... academy, too?" She had never put on such a spontaneous display before in her life, and if they ever felt as awkward as this did, she never wanted to do so again.

"Yes, yes!" Bow nodded with a fake sense of enthusiasm. "Catra, Glimmer, I'd like to introduce you to... my dads." Like they were with Glimmer, there seemed to be no end to the excitement the parents felt as they walked over Glimmer and Bow, warmly welcoming the girl in a tight hug.

"Bow, I had no idea you were so popular with the ladies!" Lance nearly cried it was so beautiful.

"I-It's not like that!"

"Come now, Lance, you know Bow wouldn't be dating two girls at once." George remarked, patting his fellow man on the shoulder. "We raised him to be much more proper than that."

"I kid, I kid." He nudged back, holding his hand tenderly. "I know our Bow better than that." If some powerful force in the world could put Bow out of his embarrassing-misery, he would gladly welcome it right now. He had too many questions looming over his mind from the moment they arrived.

Why were they here? Why didn't they listen to the letter? Why did they bring his weapons with them? And, most of all, how long did he have to live before Catra strangled him to death?

And that's if she was being merciful.

...

"I want security to be tripled around here!" Adora snarled as she paced back and forth in front of several of her friends. Namely, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, and Scorpia, lined up and at attention with their hands behind their backs. "Bring all reports directly to me, and no one else. Got it?" Scorpia was tempted to shift her eyes around to watch the girl closely as she paced back and forth, distraught at her sudden change in personality.

It wasn't like the slow and gradual decline she's had over the last few weeks. She's been dealing with stresses from every corner of life within the Fright Zone, from missions failing, Lord Hordak's loss of respect, and a mountain of paperwork that never seemed to end. The girl was running herself ragged like no other, and still tried to keep up her appearance despite how much she was suffering from it.

So imagine her surprise this morning when she was greeted with a bright and cheery girl instead? The bags had left her eyes, her hair was neat and tidy, and she was smiling! A complete, and genuine, smile! Scorpia was almost touched at the sudden turn around. At the rate it was going, she thought she was going to lose Adora to whatever attitude she was creating. It was so refreshing to see her back to her cheerful self for a change.

So imagine her surprise AGAIN when it suddenly left her! Within the few hours that Scorpia had last seen her, she went through the emotions of her recent personality change that took weeks to go through within one morning. There was no way she could figure out what happened to the girl, whether or not she was just seeing things this morning with Adora smiling.

All she knew was that she was worried about her.

"Double our patrols, scan peoples' I.D.'s at every checkpoint, and-!" Adora's eyes widened in shock as she saw behind her attentive group of friends. Her eyes filled with horror as Lonnie and Kyle looked at her strangely, unaware of the familiar shadowy-figure that grew along the walls behind them that looked like Shadow Weaver.

"Ahh!" With a shriek, gathering her shadows over her arms in an instant, Lonnie and Kyle had to duck out of the way to narrowly avoid the massive arm of shadows that smashed behind them, impaling into the wall and leaving a fist-covered foot-long crater against it.

"Adora, are you okay?" Scorpia cried out worriedly.

"What do you mean her?!" Lonnie grumbled a little, feeling like she dodged a bullet the size of a baseball.

Nobody could believe what she just did or why she did it. They all looked back to their terrified friend as Adora breathed heavily, looking as if she had seen a ghost of some sort. It took her a couple of seconds to realize how she looked to the other four staring back at her, and discovering that the apparent shadow she was seeing was nothing more than her eyes playing tricks on her.

Pulling back her fist and standing with assertion as a commander should, she gave off a small cough as she tried to regain whatever professionalism she once had. "Ahem. U-Uh, that was just a... surprise test. Good dodging, you two."

"A little warning would've been nice..." Kyle muttered, legs still shaking as Rogelio helped him up.

"As I was saying, report anything suspicious to me immediately."

"You mean like the fact Shadow Weaver's cell is empty and destroyed? Why don't you start by explaining that?" Lonnie retorted with a raised brow. Lonnie's mistake was thinking she could get away with saying something like that to Adora in the snarky tone.

The second mistake? Saying it to Adora.

"Eh-!" Yelping, Lonnie found herself suddenly pulled by a large tendril groping the collar of her uniform up to Adora's face.

"I threw her into solitary last night, and she struggled! Got that!?" For once in her life, there was an actual sense of fear coming from Lonnie as she gazed into Adora's eyes. She had such a fiery anger burning within them, like a gasoline waiting for the smallest spark to set her off.

Lonnie was actually convinced that if she said the wrong thing here for a change, that Adora would physically rip her to shreds with her own shadows.

Slowly.

Gulping a little, she threw off a nervous smile as she gave a small salute. "Y-Y-Yes, mam."

"Whoa, Adora, calm down." Scorpia attempted to derail the tensions flaring up as she pushed the two apart a little. "Lonnie was just trying to-"

"I don't care what Lonnie was trying to do, Scorpia!" Adora shouted at her, walking back to the console along the wall behind her as she scraped her shadowy claws against it. If nothing of her current act bothered Scorpia, which it was, then what Adora did just now finally did.

Adora, this Adora, shouted at her. To her. Scorpia. Without a hint of remorse on her face like the previous times.

"I need soldiers that can do their job, and do it right. The next person to question me is going to see how long they last in that very same cell. Is that clear?" She glared back impatiently. "IS THAT CLEAR!?" None of the soldiers gave her anything other than an attentive nod and a salute. "Then get out!" And none of them bothered to waste their time as they headed for the door, Kyle sprinting as Lonnie walked with a quicker pace, and Rogelio taking it all in as normal.

Out of the four, Scorpia was the only one to look back as she passed the doorway, looking with concern over her friend's look of anguish and anger. "Adora-"

"!" There were no words conveyed between the two as Adora watched the door slam shut.

For the one second that Scorpia got a glimpse of her face, she saw it. Anger. Hate. Loathing. Everything that didn't make Adora her occupying her face, the shadows along her neck reaching her chin within a matter of seconds. It was the last Scorpia saw of the girl before the doors closed in front of her, worry crossing her mind for the safety and fear of her friend.

A friend that might have finally disappeared.

With her friend disappearing from view and the doors locking behind them, Adora finally collapsed to her knees. She gritted her teeth as she stared at her own two shadowy claws. She's never felt so much anger before, unbridled fury. Her claws sank into the console as she scraped them against the rough metallic surface as the tendrils grew along her back.

She still couldn't get the scene of this morning out of her mind, the immense feeling in her heart that sank with every flash. The way she thought things were finally starting to change, the idea that her life was finally going to turn around for one full morning, and the reality that sank in when she reached Shadow Weaver's cell today. There was nothing she could do to block it from her mind, to stop thinking about it for even a second.

And with every memory that looped through her mind brought with it a tear forming in the corner of her eyes.

"Ah, this has been quite a day. Wouldn't you say, Adora?" Aroda teased, appearing to her right as she sat atop the console with one leg over the other. "Clear dank weather as always, people smiling left and right, and mothers dropping their kids off somewhere and never coming back. Ahhh, what a life."

"J-Just shut up..." Adora growled, trying to push back the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"Aww, come on, don't pout like that." She grinned, kneeling next to her as she rested her arms and head on the console. "I know, let's play a game! It's called "I have something you don't"! It's very simple, I'll go first to get you started."

"Aroda, I swear-

"First off, I have a mother-... Oh, wait..." She poked at her chin curiously, as if she didn't already know. "No, I guess I don't anymore... Okay, let me try again. I have friends who'll never leave me behind... Oh shoot, I forgot about Catra, didn't I?"

"Sh... Shut..." Her eyes continued to water heavily as Adora turned around, pressing her back into the console as she curled up her knees.

"Oh, wait, wait, wait, I got it this time! I have people who will never betray me- Oh, darn it, there I go again!" She pouted, crossing her arms as she puffed her cheeks. "Man, I'm really bad at this game, aren't I?"

"JUST SHUT UP!" She shouted, squeezing her hands against her head as she cried into her knees. She wanted to block it all out, to block Aroda out, but nothing worked. And why would it? After all, everything she said, everything she was talking about, was all true.

Shadow Weaver.

Her mentor.

Her mother.

The person she finally started to trust again for a brief moment, someone she thought who had finally changed after all this time. She thought she could give her a chance after Hordak ordered her disposed of to Beast Island within the next two day, ordering Adora to carry it out whether or not she could extract anymore information out of her. It proved to be the very mission that would finally send Adora over the edge.

From the beginning, she knew she couldn't trust Shadow Weaver. She thought she would try to manipulate her, get her to release her in some shape or form. And you know what? She was right. She used her at the very end, she displayed her cunning through and through like she always did. So why did Adora still fall for it in the end?

Because she finally started to trust her. After all the seemingly annoying tasks, she played on the girl's memories of her of the good times they had, their warmest feelings, began to display an affection that only a mother could provide, or the closest thing one could within the Fright Zone. Hearing it left and right from the people around her, she started to see Shadow Weaver as a mother herself again at long last, and snuck in a Sorcerer's Badge as Shadow Weaver requested, believing she would start to help her and provide useful information that would secure both their futures.

Instead, she provided another source of betrayal, the worst Adora had ever felt. Returning to Shadow Weaver's cell that same day, ready to start working together as they used to, possibly relieving herself of her position as commander as a gift to her former mentor, she discovered she was gone, vanished. All she had left were the few trinkets she made Adora believe she cared about, and a personal note thanking her for her help, practically mocking her in Adora's eyes.

She lost another potential ally, someone she began to think of as a mother, and, finally, someone she thought actually cared for her, a parental figure that loved her.

"She betrayed me... Like all the others..." Adora whimpered, trying to keep herself from bursting out in cry. She couldn't afford another repeat of her emotions making her shadows go berserk like in Shadow Weaver's cell or else she'd never be able to explain her way out of it. "I thought... I thought..."

"Aww, you thought she loved you, huh?" Aroda taunted, lying on the console now as she stroked Adora's head below. "You thought all those memories, all those feelings, meant something to her, like she actually started to care. And just like everyone else who showed you any ounce of affection and decency, she betrayed you in the end."

"Geh..." She couldn't think of a way to counter what Aroda said. For the most part, she was right. Save for Scorpia, and questionably Entrapta as of late, she had nobody else she could trust. And even if she did, what was to keep those she had left to trust from betraying her too? She was losing her grip on reality as the betrayals continued to surmount. Any attempts to trust somebody again could result in another betrayal, and she was losing Hordak's patience with every one.

"It's like I keep telling you, Adora. As a matter of fact, it's like that tidbit Shadow Weaver gave you before abandoning you like all the others." Aroda smiled as she rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with her hands under her head. "There's nobody else in this world you can trust more than yourself, Adora. And me. When it comes right down to it, I'm the only person you can rely on in the end." This was going too perfect for Aroda, so much better than last time.

Adora was doing all the work for her by living her own life. People were betraying her of their own accord, they were inflicting on her such betrayals that would traumatize the girl for life, and they were making it harder for her to turn to anyone else than herself to trust in. She didn't have to lift a finger herself or give Adora the occasional lie to push her in the right direction.

Adora was on the tip of her fingers, with nothing standing in her way or of her desires.

...

The heroes and the fathers sat at the fireplace of the establishment as they all had cups of tea in their hands. There were so many questions floating around Catra's head right now that it would take a year just to go through them all. The same questions were floating through Glimmer's mind, though she was more preoccupied with the somewhat-hurt feelings of all the secrecy behind this. Right now, they were more focused on maintaining appearances for Bow's sake.

So far, the impression they were given of the two dads were, honestly, perfectly matching with Bow's personality.

The one known as Lance seemed to be the energetic one between the two as he continued to run around the four situated on separate couches from one another. He went around the entire room of the library to make sure everything was spotless and clean, as well as making sure there were enough refreshments to go around. Judging by his constant smile, he seemed to be the one Bow got his optimism and excitement from.

For the other, known as George, he seemed to have a more regal appearance about him. He sat with a profound poster to his seat, sipping on his own tea as the three stared anxiously at the parental figure. With his appearance alone, it could easily be determined that he was responsible for Bow's professional side, always wanting to maintain a sense of security and professionalism when addressing others and situations.

It was the perfect matchup for these two that resulted in Bow, the person they've come to know throughout the years with Glimmer, and the months with Catra. From their appearance to their behavior, to their strive, they could definitely look at the two and feel confident enough to say they were his parents. What they couldn't say was whether or not that's something to be proud of.

"You want anything, you just tell me, and I'll get it." Lance announced as he stopped behind George briefly, knocking him forward a little from behind the couch. "You want snacks? I'll get you snacks!"

George brushed against his moustache as he left, trying to dry up the few droplets of tea that sank into his cup as he leaned forward. "Yes, so energetic. Heh. You girls must love attending the Academy of Historic Enterprises with Bow."

"Y-Yup, they sure do!" Bow said with a forceful smile as he sat between the two with Glimmer to the left and Catra to the right. "Right guys?"

"O-Oh, o-o-of course!" Glimmer nervously smiled in agreement, taking a quick sip of the tea as she steadied her trembling hand. "We love our... history. Right, Catra? ...Catra?" Shifting her eyes over to the girl, the three were brought to a sight of the magicat eyeing her tea strangely, the girl taking a few whiffs of the substance without taking her eyes off the cup.

"What kind of tea is this?" She muttered, raising a brow to the strange glass she was hesitant to drink. Before she even realized it, she felt her body being leaned back as a small pink pillow with red hearts was placed behind her head by Lance.

"Rest your head, darling." He insisted, still smiling brightly at Bow's new "girlfriend". "You must be exhausted after your long journey over."

"Oh, um... thanks?" She shrugged back, unsure if he even heard her as he dashed around the room thereafter.

"Catra!" Glimmer hissed a little louder, trying to grab her attention.

"Huh?" She eyed the girl as she gestured her head towards one of the two fathers before them, trying to give her the hint. "O-Oh, right! Um, boy, what great tea you have here!" She tried to feign any sense of appreciation, and completely missing Glimmer's point as she facepalmed, and took an entire mouthful of the tea before swallowing it down.

It proved to be the worst mistake of her life as the very moment she slurped her lips in satisfaction, her entire body shook on its end as she processed the taste slithering down her throat. Whatever flavor of tea this was, she officially knew it was awful. Terrible. If it wasn't for the fact she was trying to keep up appearances, she would've eagerly spat it on in any direction, regardless of object, or person, in her way.

And it was only apparent how much she disliked the taste to Glimmer and Bow as George seemed to smile at her eagerness to down the entire cup in one sitting.

"Bbbboy," she stuttered, mouth twitching as she tried to smile, "it was delicious..."

This was becoming a disaster by the second. Anyone whose known these three for as long as Glimmer has could see it. Nothing was making sense around here, questions were still left unanswered, and it was nothing short of a miracle Catra had yet to break everything around her out of sheer rage! The fact she was composing herself as much as she did proved to be the most exhausting experience she ever saw her go through.

Throughout all of this, she continued to eye Bow in disapproval as the archer-turned-historian tried to ignore her, taking his own sips of tea for as long as possible. The less eye contact he made, the less he had to explain, and the sooner the two would be gone. As long as he held on to that delusional frame of mind, then nothing bad could happen.

If he was lucky.

"Oh, thank goodness you approve of it." Lance sighed, appearing right behind his son and girlfriend. "I was afraid I messed up the recipe when I was making it. I was so distracted by the fact Bow brought a girlfriend home that I wasn't thinking straight. But if you like it that much, then it can't be all bad!"

"I-It's fine dad, really!" Bow answered for her, knowing Catra had to bottle up her emotion from the harsh reality. If she had just told the truth, she wouldn't be sitting there waiting impatiently as Lance poured another serving into her cup.

"Oh! I bet you'd be interested in seeing our collection of First Ones artifacts!" He offered, displaying one of the many cases on the walls behind him.

"Artifacts?" Catra replied, actually curious for a change as she saw the glass display behind him. With every boring thing that happened so far today, and somehow growing more boring by the minute, this was the first genuine detail that interested her.

"Yes! We've even got some new pottery shards from-" The father paused in his increasing excitement as he noticed something off about the supposed girlfriend. "Is that a sword?"

"A sword-?!" Bow's face lit up with worry as he looked back. With all that has happened between his fathers' discovery of his friends and Catra pretending to be his girlfriend, he had completely forgotten about the sword that was still strapped to her back.

Without any care or concern over Catra's reaction, which would normally be a death sentence in and of itself, Lance casually pulled the sheathe from the girl, examining the hilt in all its splendor.

"Wha- Hey!" Catra almost yelled, nearly reaching for the sheathe again before being stopped by Bow.

"Y-Yes, that's Catra sword!" Bow admitted, trying to pull it away from his curious father. "She... happened to find it on a digsite!"

"A digsite?"

"Yes!" The moment of confusion given to him by Lance was enough to pull the sword away from him and back into Catra's arms before she could react violently. "I... forgot to mention, she's an archaeologist!"

"An archaeologist?" Returning behind the couch to his partner, the two dads looked at each other for a brief moment.

"But I thought you said in your letters she had a major in arts?" George brought up, raising his tea. Bow almost fainted on the spot out of fear as he fell back into his couch.

"Uhh, y-yeah! I just recently discovered that... she dual-majors, apparently." He stated, trying to play off his nervous facade as innocently as possible.

The thing about lies in this world was that when one person lied, it beget another lie. Then that lie would lead to another lie in order to keep the first lie in check. Eventually, one would be swept away in a river of lies until they were eventually caught in their own trap from a raging river of death, one that dealt with troublesome individuals accordingly based on the lie that started it all.

Thus, it was with good fortune that the fathers seemed to buy into this lie as Lance's eyes shined, looking down at George with such enthusiasm you could cut a cloud of it with a knife. "Did you hear that, honey? Our boy's girlfriend is gifted in multiple fields!"

"Huh?" With her sword safely returned, she came back to the conversation as someone mentioned her being great at something.

"You must have fantastic stories to tell us about your archaeological discoveries!"

"Archaeo-what?"

*thump!*

"Ghhh!" She bit down on her teeth harshly as she stifled a shout of pain, feeling Bow's shoe crushing some of her toes as he tried to signal for her. "I-I mean, yes! Yes! I have stories, I have loads of stories! I'm, um, very good at archaeological... ing..." She tried to force another smile, already passing her daily smiling quota of one by three smiles ago.

"..." The two fathers stared at her in contemplation as Bow's body turned white. He could already feel the noose tightening around his neck from the weight of his lie that Catra just had to make worse with her input. He didn't have much choice in the matter, so it's not like he could've complained, but at the very least, why couldn't he get mixed up with the fathers thinking Glimmer was the fake girlfriend instead?

Catra wasn't fairing much better as she continued with the nervous smile. She felt so stupid right now or a number of reasons, but between lying about who she is and having a lame background like being an artist or something, why couldn't she get set up with a cooler background? Like being a demolitionist or something? At least then, she'd be set with something she actually knew a thing or two in!

Being the odd one out, Glimmer mentally sighed to herself as she tried to sip her tea in silence, unable to do anything without possibly making a scene involving Catra's dimwitted responses.

"You really are a piece of art, Catra." She muttered, taking another sip.

"...Hahahahaha!" In a united effort that only a bond like theirs could share, both fathers bellowed out with laughter as they held each other's hand, trying to contain themselves from the humor that the others weren't aware of.

"Bow, why didn't you tell us she also had a sense of humor?" George asked, raising his glass in approval.

"I've never met such a gifted individual with a sense of humor!" Lance added. "I can't wait until your brothers meet her!"

"Hacck-!" Glimmer choked up at the announcement, the warm liquid going down the wrong tube as she was caught by surprise. She patted a fist against her chest, attempting to clear the airways as she lifted her head. "D-Did you say brothers?"

"O-Oh, yes, his brothers." Catra played along, glancing her eyes at any possible distraction in the room. "He mentions them quite often. Both of-"

"Youngest of thirteen, all historians like us!" Lance continued, shifting about the room to find some more refreshments.

"Both of his... dads." She quickly recovered. "He mentions how both of his dads are so proud of them... heh..." She forced herself to swallow another teensy bit of the disgusting tea, trying to come up with any possible excuse to avoid talking further. She never thought she'd say this, but she'd much rather be fighting with Adora right now compared to this.

"We are very proud of them, all of them." George nodded as Lance returned with a tray of snacks.

"And we'll be even more proud once Bow graduates from the academy and takes over the library." Lanced announced, the two fathers holding each other's hand, looking to one another in awe. At the same time, Catra and Glimmer glanced at frozen Bow, one who couldn't be brought to swallow his cup of tea as he spat it back into his cup.

"Don't bother, Lance." George waved off, noticing Bow's strange, comparatively speaking, behavior. "It looks like he's not very... "cha-tea" today!" The father nudged the other as he laughed at his own joke. Lance could only turn away in embarrassment for the first time. The joke was enough to make Catra wanna hurl up a hairball instead of listening to another dad joke that terrible.

"Rrright." Bow spoke up, setting down his tea. "Well, I'm glad you all got to meet each other, but I'm sure Catra and Glimmer would really like-"

"A tour of the library!" Lance decided for him, popping up behind their couch out of thin air. "Of course, our Bow would find people who share his zest for history, and such a lovely girl to share it with!" The father felt a sense of pride just thinking about it, pressing the side of his face against Bow's.

"Who? You mean Catra?" Glimmer raised a brow, earning a small grumble from the cat who lowered her eyes at her.

"Mmmmmh..."

"Just wait till we show you the oldest part of our collection." Lance continued as Bow slumped back to the couch. "A shard of an ancient, defunct, rune stone." There was an audible clinking of glass as Bow's other dad set the cup on his small dish against the table a little roughly.

"If it wasn't of historical value, it would be long gone." He announced, a spike of ire in his voice. "No need to keep a reminder of the princesses and their war." Bow could already tell which of the three were put off the most by this as Glimmer expression dropped by a mere centimeter.

"Uh... But the Horde started the war." She reminded. "And the princesses are fighting to save Etheria."

"You're too young to remember the first failed Princess Alliance. I'm not." The older gentlemen stood from the table as he walked over to the fireplace. "I enlisted, fought for what I thought was right." A rise of tension started to suffocate through the air as the man leaned an arm over the mantle of the fire.

"Dad, can we not-" Bow tried to intervene, wishing to keep the two friends from another long-winded story.

"When I came home, there was nothing left in my village but ash. I vowed then that my family would never get mixed up in or the princesses ever again." There was an ounce of hurt crossing both girls' faces as they refrained from replying to this.

On Catra's side, it was a small sense of guilt as to what the Horde could've possibly done, remembering how badly one such village looked when she started her journey. For Glimmer, it was unease at the tension one of Bow's parents, which probably was shared with the other, was giving off by the mere mention of a princess. And there was nothing they could say in response or their defense without raising suspicion.

What would they say, anyway? They couldn't begin to imagine how horribly it must've been to bare witness to one's village lying in waste after a warrior's return home. To see everything they ever loved burnt to a crisp, knowing that friends and family were gone, never to greet you upon your return, was heartbreaking to even consider.

It's not like Bow didn't share the sentiment, either, lowering his head at the story he's heard a dozen times. It still did hurt him to hear everything over and over again, but now it came with the added dilemma of who Catra and Glimmer really were, knowing they had to keep silent through all of this.

The very father also realized he was depressing the mood, involving personal history with talks of wonder inside of the library. That's why he was glad to have found a partner in life, the very same who held his hand softly by the fireplace as he looked into his eyes. The very same, Lance, kissed his fingers softly, brightening the man's mood, and releasing the tension that spread throughout the room.

With both father's vigor restored, Lance returned to the small gathering, smiling with joy. "Well now, I know what would lighten the mood, baby pictures!"

"Did you just say baby pictures?!" Oh god, this couldn't be happening, could it? Catra brightened up unexpectedly at the announcement, a treasure trove of gold embarrassment she could possibly use in the future right at her feet!

Already, Lance was taken in by her enthusiasm, nodding in return. "I've got some great ones from Bow's first bubble bath."

"Oh man, I GOT to see thi-!"

"On second thought, I'm gonna show Catra and Glimmer my room now!" Bow decided, unwilling to take no. for an answer.

"Oh come on! Just one little bath picture-!"

"NOW!" He yelled, dragging both girls by the shoulder over to the door and pushing them out. Slamming the door behind him, he groaned. "Huff... All right, so listen-"

*thud*

"You have one minute to explain what's going on back there, or I will turn and use my sword into a hacksaw, and you know I'll do it!" Catra threatened as she shoved Bow against the wall of the hallway, holding him by his collar of his shirt and the sword up to his neck. In all likelihood, that was her holding back. "What the heck is with this "girlfriend" business and being some stupid archaeologist thing?"

"Shh! Easy, easy!" He pleaded, looking to the doorway that lead back into the library. "Don't let them hear!"

"Bow, I can't believe I'm saying it, but I completely agree with Catra!" Glimmer started, leaning closer to him with a stern expression.

"You're going to let her cut my head off with a hacksaw?!"

"Nooo, of course not!... Buuuut I wouldn't put it past her, either."

"I'm still counting here..." Catra warned, pressing the sword closer.

"What is going on here, Bow? Tell us!" He was afraid of the inevitable explanation scene he knew was coming, and he knew there was no other way around it as he gazed back and forth. He couldn't hold off on an explanation without risking a scene, and with both girls pressed into this mess, he didn't' have a choice. Sighing, moaning, and rolling his eyes, he relented as he pulled his hands over his cheeks.

"...My dad's don't know I'm a Rebellion fighter." He revealed, Catra and Glimmer blinking to each other as the warrior finally eased up. "They think I'm at a boarding school, and I'm supposed to be on break right now."

"So, this is why you've never talked about your past?" Glimmer was still beside herself at the announcement. Even if he was trying to keep a secret, why did he have to go so far to do it? They were friends, he could've trusted her. At the very least, he could've told her something after all this time! "I thought it was because it was dark and painful for you, but your dads seem so nice and normal."

"Look, I love my dads, okay?" He frowned a little as he opened the door slightly, looking back in. "I just never mention them, because they decided when I was a little kid that I was gonna be the one to stay home, and take over the library when they retired." He explained, watching as Lance set out another tray of goodies over the table. Eagerly, George attempted to sneak a treat away, only to be caught by a watching Lance, hounding the sweets-thief back. "But I wanted to travel, to fight. So, I did the only thing."

Pulling the door closed again, he looked back to his fellow friends with determination. "I secretly taught myself archery, ran away, and pretended I was at a made-up boarding school."

"...Wow..." Catra blinked, crossing her arms. "I'm impressed." If she had any compliments to ever give Bow in his life, that would be only one. Crafty, underhanded, and been doing it for years. Surprisingly clever. He definitely would've fit in with the Horde if they were raised together.

"Please don't be impressed with me..." He already had his dads thinking Catra was a girlfriend, the last he needed was for her to actually start being impressed with it behind the scenes. "You saw what they were like. They don't listen to me. They just assume they know what I want. And if Lance knew I didn't want to be a historian... Worse, if George knew I was a Rebellion soldier fighting alongside Princesses, it'd kill them."

"...Sooooo pretending that Catra is supposed to be your girlfriend, along with everything else, is your idea of keeping them from suffering?" Glimmer mentioned, gesturing back to the irritated cat.

"Not forever, just... You know... Until we finally leave again, hopefully soon." He muttered. Everything that came to him happened on the spot. He barely had time to himself to come up with something throughout all of this, much less a realistic reason for why Catra looked like she was sneaking into, instead of out of, the library.

"Well not soon enough as far as I'm concerned." Catra grumbled. "What the heck is a "girlfriend" anyway? And why do they keep treating me so nicely?" It's not that she minded, but she's never felt that kind of compassion or respect before from someone who didn't know she was She-Ra. The two allies stared at the girl in silence, wondering if she was actually being serious. "What?"

"...You're kidding, right?" Glimmer actually hoped for once this was all some joke to her.

"Kidding about what? I mean, I am a girl and we are... you know, friends." She rolled her eyes with a small blush. "Doesn't that make you his girlfriend too?"

"What?! N-No, of course not! It's not like that!" Glimmer quickly stammered, shaking her head and hands back and forth. Her reaction was just as confusing as the immense blush over her face, one shared by Bow for a brief moment as she looked around. "You really don't know what a girlfriend is?"

"Of course not. Why do you think I was asking several times when it was first announced?" She reminded, wondering if there was some hidden meaning behind it. "Why, should I?" It didn't sound too complicated to the girl when she thought about it. She's a girl, and a friend. Girlfriend. In that sense, Bow was a boy, and a friend. Boyfriend. Simple, right? If it was so simple, why were the two blushing madly and hesitating to tell her? "Will somebody just tell me already?"

"Um... H-How about Glimmer explains it? She knows a lot about it!" Bow offered, peeking back into the room to check on the pair.

"Bow!" Glimmer grumbled, being put on the spot like that. She turned nervously to the still-waiting Catra who lowered her ears to her, waiting for an explanation. "Um... you see... It's like when two people... like each other... very much."

"... So... they're friends then?" Catra would've scratched the back of her head with her own tail at the confusion if her sword wasn't in the way.

"No, not exactly." Her lip trembled as she looked at her own two fingers, poking them nervously as she went on. "You see, it's, uh, when two people like each other a lot."

"Yeah?"

"Like... Like, like, each other. A whole lot." She raised an eye at the still-confused cat, questioning how she still couldn't get it at this point. "Like...the "they-were-planning-to-get-married-eventually", kind of like. You know, like... they were in... love?"

"Oh..." All at once, Catra's pupils shrank, her ears and tails went off, and warning lights were going all throughout her head. "OOOOOOOOH." Now the two had to brace themselves for the aftershock. It never came.

It was the most unexpected reaction they were bore witness to as Bow looked back to them, wondering if he was hearing things. "You mean you're not mad?" He asked.

"Mad? Pffft, about what? Pretending and getting to lie to two people I barely know like I usually do? As if."

"Huff, oh thank you Catra, you have no idea how much that means to me." He smiled back sighing, placing a hand over his chest.

*shiiim*

"I mean, for a second there, I was pretty sure you were going to... D-Did you just turn your sword into a chainsaw?!" He stammered, watching a small flash of light glow over her sword before it transformed. Comparatively, it would've been much more preferable to have the hacksaw show up right now over the deadlier device now placed within Catra's hands, watching the girl sneering as she grabbed the cord to it.

"Give me a minute and you'll find out!" She snarled, pulling at the string as much as possible so she could get it to start up.

"Catra, no!" Glimmer panicked, throwing both her arms over Catra's free arm as she held the angry beast at bay, trying to keep her from raising the chainsaw any closer to Bow.

There were so many times Catra would be happy to help someone in the art of lying. Whenever they wanted her to put on an act for appearances, whenever they wanted to hide a surprise for someone, usually if they promised her a small gift for doing so, and whenever they needed her help in hiding or covering something up they did. Catra was always there to help.

Then, there were the few times that she wasn't there to help. For example; WHEN SOMEONE WANTED HER TO PRETEND TO BE IN LOVE WITH SOMEBODY!

Of all the revolting, sickening, things she could've been asked to do, pretending to love somebody, IN LOVE, at that, was the most disgusting thing she could've heard of! She knows plenty about relationships, to an extent. The typical birds and bees, what it means to be someone's friend, yada, yada, yada, and she was fine with swallowing her own bile to admit that she didn't mind being someone's friend.

But, no matter how much she was willing to help someone lie, no matter how close she may have been with them, there was no way, in this lifetime or the next, that she would ever, ever, pretend to be in love with somebody! She wouldn't even be in love with somebody period, and now they wanted her to put on an act to appease his parents!? He should've been grateful she didn't rip him apart on the spot!

"Let go of me!" Catra yelled, still trying to keep her voice down. Not to keep up appearances, just to make sure there would be no witnessing-parents when they found their son dead in the hallway. "There is no way I'm pretending to be someone's love-friend or whatever garbage you guys are saying!"

"Catra, please, I'm begging you!" Bow pleaded. It was the sight of him actually getting onto his knees and holding up his hands like a peasant that finally simmered Catra a little. "My dads really like you, and I can't have them thinking you were actually trying to break in here or something! They might found out the truth if they did."

"And make them think we're," her entire body shivered from just thinking about it, "some lovey-dovey garbage?! Forget it!"

"Catra, please, I'll... I'll do whatever you say! For the entire day!" There was a noticeable hesitation as the magicat tried to pull her arm away from Glimmer again. She eyed the archer in suspicion as he looked deeply into her eyes, his pupils growing along with his eyes in begfulness. "I'll even do all your chores for the next year!"

"No thanks, I do enough chores as it is." She rejected.

"What are you talking about?" Glimmer scoffed. "You make me do at least half of your chores, plus the chores I have to do!"

"And the half I still have to is still unbearable!" She countered. "You ever try to clean up stables with a stronger sense of smell?!"

"Catra, pleeeeeease, I'll..." There was only one thing left he had to offer, a surefire way to get her on his side. "I'll even make more exploding arrows for you!" As expected, Catra immediately perked up to the announcement as she turned back to him.

"...Like, exploding, exploding arrows?" She wondered. "Not those sissy firecracker-sized explosions? Like, the ones you make yourself to blow up droids and tanks?"

"I'll make you a hundred, no. Two-hundred! You name it!" He promised. There were too many reasons for her not to decline the generous offer.

First, she would admit, the parents were rather nice for someone they just met ten minutes ago, and she wasn't usually one to turn down people who were nice to her for simply being her, even if it came with the idea she was dating Bow.

Two, the fact Bow was pleading and groveling as much as he was by her feet. As much as she loved the idea of people begging her for something like their life depended on it, even she could admit it was rather hard to watch someone like Bow doing it, friend or not.

And third, explosive arrows. Explosive! Arrows! She would be a fool not to take him up on the offer! For what few arrows she ever got to test out in combat, they were always, literally and metaphorically, a blast! Watching those babies blow up things ten times their size, seeing droids getting knocked down and blasted apart from just one shot, it was exhilarating! This did, of course, mean she would have to play the role of a girlfriend-thing, but the price was almost worth twice as much as the expense.

Seeming reluctant at the request, Catra finally gave in as she rolled her eyes in response, backing the two away as she turned her sword back to normal. "All right, fine. But you better do everything you promised me!" Much like Lance, Bow instantly beamed at this with stars in his own eyes, another trait he seemed to take on after his dads.

"Thanks, Catra!" He never felt so thankful to her before as he squeezed the life out of her, the magicat squealing a little in pain and blushing as he finally pulled away. "I swear, you won't regret this. Plus this'll go on to help the rest of us, too!"

"What do you mean?" Glimmer asked, keeping a hand on Catra's shoulder to make sure she wouldn't lunge for the desperate archer.

"My dads have the biggest collection of First Ones artifacts and writing in Etheria!" He exclaimed. "This is the perfect place to look for answers about She-Ra, the Mara messages, Serenia, everything!"

"Really?" Honestly, that actually did sound pretty exciting to Catra as she put her sword away. "Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" It was perhaps the one thing in this world that mattered more to her than Explosive Arrows. Any key information about Mara, the mystery of the First Ones, and possibly information on how to unlock more of She-Ra's power was its own blessing in disguise. With it, she might not even have to consider giving up her kingdom! "If She-Ra is involved, I'll do it!"

"Does that mean-"

"You're not getting out of your part of the deal." She smirked, victoriously.

"Worth a shot."

"Catra, are you sure about this?" She had an inkling of the reason why Catra was up for it, to some extent. She just wasn't sure if she was really up for everything this could entail. "I mean, you're going to have to act professional around his dads. Like, really, professional."

"Oh, relax! I've already proved to you before I know how to act like you guys. Remember when we practiced for the Princess Prom?"

"You started three fires-"

"Exactly, and I've had more practice since then. It'll be fine." Somehow, the confident smile beaming off of Catra's face was more worrying than when she was attempting to disembowel Bow.

"This is gonna be a disaster." She groaned, rubbing her head. One way or another, it would be. Either everything fell apart and Bow would have to explain himself, or they would have to worry about Catra turning her castle into swiss cheese with all the holes she'll end up making with his arrows. Either way, they lose.

"Oh relax already. We'll be fine!"

"Yeah, Catra has the right idea." Bow nodded as he turned to the door. "Just remember, you have to pretend to be my girlfriend the entire time, Catra. If they ask you any date-related questions, just have them ask me. Tell them I asked you personally to tell them to ask me. All right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'll be the best girlfriend-friend anyone can ask for. What's the worse that can happen?"

"You're the last person who should be asking that!" Glimmer snipped a little.

Right as he was about to open the door for the girls, he paused briefly to look back. "Oh, and by the way, I may have said in my letters that Glimmer is a physics major, Catra is an art major, nobody is a princess or has magical powers, and we all met freshmen year." All throughout the hasty proceedings, Catra was staring at the would-be boyfriend with a face of utter turmoil, her jaw and ears dropping further in shock, and a disturbed Glimmer who could only twitch her eyebrow in response.

"Okay, let's go!" He didn't give either of the two time to question or voice their opinion over the proceeding as he quickly ran behind them, pushing them through the door with a confident smile on his face.

This was going to be great! He was sure of it! If things went well, his father would think Catra is nothing more than his girlfriend, Glimmer's his friend, they're both professionals in their assigned majors, they would have their backstories covered throughout the visit, they wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his lie or make things worse, he could go on living as he normally did with his lie, and he wouldn't have to worry about any of this ever again.

And if he looked at the more plausible reality, he would realize that if any one detail wasn't accurate, he would be crushing both his fathers' dreams, discouraging them, proving to them that he was a horrible liar, Catra wasn't his girlfriend and she would likely cause a scene the moment the embarrassment became too much for her, Glimmer wouldn't want to be his friend anymore after all he pushed them through, he would no longer be welcome at either home, and the rest of his life would be nothing but misery.

So, he decided not to! He decided to keep every and all personal bad thoughts tucked away in the back of his mind so that when reality inevitably did crash, he would have a "happy place" to go into in the back of his mind. At worst, everything he feared would happen. At best, everything he hoped would happen!

From this point on, it was a waiting game to see what would crash and burn first; his wait for the girls to finally be allowed to leave without raising suspicion, or seeing how long it took before everything literally crashed and burned within the library.

Suffice to say, he wasn't looking forward to what the future had to hold.

...

Back in the Fright Zone, Adora continued to sort through the multiple stacks of paper surrounding her bed. So far, she hasn't heard anything about Shadow Weaver, and no one seems the wiser about her involvement in the endeavor.

She tried her best to keep to her work to avoid raising further suspicion through her emotional outbursts. As long as she kept doing her work like intended, she should be able to get through this ordeal without anyone finding out, and hopefully find a way to make up for this. To do so, seeing how the normal requisitions kept her too busy to the point of exhaustion, she stuck with the smaller files and requisitions for now, trying to do anything to take her mind off it.

*sheeem*

"Hey, Adora." Scorpia greeted calmly, checking in on her friend who kept her eyes on the papers. "Listen, I've been looking for anything suspicious just like you said, but, this is the Fright Zone, so, that's pretty much everything." She chuckled, trying to break whatever ice was over her friend's fiery move. The girl didn't seem to bat a single eyelash in her direction as she shuffled through another handful of papers, narrowing her eyes, as of Scorpia didn't exist.

"So, I was hoping you could just tell me what I'm supposed to be looking for."

"Ghhh!" That didn't seem to roll well with the Force Captain whatsoever. The very idea that she would bother her with a pointless question like that aggravated her when there was still so much work to be done! "Maybe if you spent a little more time thinking for two minutes instead of letting everyone else do the thinking for you, you wouldn't need me to tell you! Now get out!" She snapped, pointing to the door with a shadowy finger.

Scorpia was at a loss for words as she flinched. Adora had never shouted to her like that, never been so abrupt about Scorpia and her thinking. Worst of all, if she didn't know any better, she was pretty much convinced Adora actually insulted her for once. Her Adora, insulted, HER!

With that in mind, it was the final straw Scorpia could handle as she pushed her claws to her side. "Okay, shadowbunny." Scorpia began, walking around the bed.

"Shadow-what?" It was the one word that briefly drew Adora's attention.

"I really didn't wanna have to do this, but you leave me no choice." She stated, pulling up the ends of the bedsheets she was on.

"What are you talking about? What do you think you're doing?" She asked, leaning back a little. For a change of pace, Adora actually felt a little frightened as Scorpia held the blankets in her claws, staring menacingly at the overworked-commander.

Scorpia tried, and she tried, but Adora proved she wasn't getting any better. She tried being patient with her, she tried being reasonable with her, and tried comforting her when she needed it most, and nothing seemed to be working. Everyday she left Adora to her own devices, she seemed to be getting worse and worse, with no end of it in sight.

Well no more. Scorpia had finally had it with her stubbornness. If she was going to play hardball with everyone, then Scorpia was going to play it right back tenfold. It wasn't a punishment, it was a reminder. A reminder that if she crossed the wrong person again, then she would make sure she would never forget it! She knew, deep down, Adora brought this on herself!

She smiled.

"W-Ahhhh!" Adora cried out in fright as she was suddenly entangled in a mess of blankets that Scorpia through over her. By the time the wrapping was done, all that was left was Adora's face peeking through the opening as Scorpia cradled her in her arms like a newborn.

"Shh, shh, shh. Just let all your cares go away." Scorpia cooed as she closed her eyes, rocking the fussy captain gently. "You're safe. You're safe here."

"Ahh! Scorpia! Let me go!" Adora screeched, trying to untangle herself from the surprisingly sturdy bundle of cloth. She couldn't afford to use her shadows with all the emotions running through her heart right now without risking the chance she'd hurt Scorpia in the process. Ironically, throwing a tantrum like the newborn she was made out to be was her only defense as she tried to push herself away.

Scorpia couldn't help it. She didn't know much about young children of age, but she knew deep down that everyone just needed to feel comforted at some point, and Adora needed to let go of her worries. Deciding to put the two together, she opted to go down the middle by combining the two, cradling the young captain as she did and assuring her that all her troubles were gone.

All while being completely unaware of the tantrum she was throwing as she hummed softly. It wouldn't have mattered if she gave it much attention, anyway. Between the way she's been acting the last several hours and now, there was hardly a difference. Until the girl would finally calm down, she refused to let Adora anywhere outside of her grasp.

"Scorpia, seriously, put me down right now!" Adora continued to be ignored, reaching her breaking point as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Let all your problems drift away. There's nothing we can't handle-"

"I HELPED SHADOW WEAVER ESCAPE!"

Except for that.

Scorpia actually froze at the announcement as she watched a mournful frown appear over Adora's face, seeing the pain through her eyes as she turned away. "How are we supposed to handle that!?" Scopira looked as shocked as Adora looked regretful, the girl pouting slightly as she turned away.

"What?" She needed to know if she was hearing things as she set the girl down on the bed, sitting across for her.

Now Adora didn't seem to want to turn from her blanket, holding it a little tightly as she pulled it from her head. "Shadow Weaver used me to help her escape, okay?!" Her voice cracked a little as she teared up at the mention. She couldn't bring herself to look Scorpia in the eyes as she spoke.

"She tricked me into giving her some old badge she had that she used to escape. She made me believe there was a real bond between us throughout the day, she was insistent that she regretted her past mistakes and acted like she really cared for me like a daughter, and when I finally dropped my guard around her, she escaped! And now I have to find her before Lord Hordak learns the truth!"

"Adora..." She couldn't begin to imagine how the girl was beginning to feel, seeing her shuffling her shoulders from the mere mention of Shadow Weaver.

She wasn't oblivious to Adora's relationship with Shadow Weaver. She knew it was strained after the events over a month ago, she knew she was the very one who raised Adora into the great person she was today, and she knew Adora began the entire event without a shred of trust within the wicked witch.

For her to turn so suddenly, to do anything thinking she could trust Shadow Weaver, even a little, and then have that very person betray her a minute later? She must've been devastated inside, crushed.

Trying to offer a small smile, she scooted a little closer to the Force Captain, leaning her head into her chest as she patted her back. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. I'll help you look for her all over. And I bet Entrapta can whip up a locater, too!"

"No!" Adora instantly whipped back her head, looking strained as she gave a small angry look with tear-filled eyes. "She's too close with Lord Hordak, okay? She spends almost every day with him, she's going to let something slip! As soon as we tell her anything, she's going to blab about it to Lord Hordak, or someone else, they'll inform Lord Hordak themselves, and then I'll be counting down the days to my execution until-!"

"Okay, okay!" Scorpia spoke softly again, comforting the girl as she cried back into her chest. She began to feel sorry for the very girl she thought was being unfairly cruel towards everyone this morning, seeing how much she's lost of herself within the last few hours alone. "Then we'll make sure it doesn't happen. Wherever Shadow Weaver is, we'll find her, the two of us, and not a word will leave this room."

"N-No!" Adora choked a little to say.

"No?"

"Scorpia, you don't understand, do you? I'm the reason Shadow Weaver got out to begin with! I was tricked by the very person I didn't have an ounce of trust in, and I still helped her escape! The minute Hordak finds out about it, he's going to make me suffer, and I can't let that happen!" It wasn't just her own safety that she worried about through this madness. She knew that anyone affiliated with her that tried to help the girl cover up her crime would suffer just as much as she would.

Scorpia was the last person on her mind that deserved any form of suffering.

"Shh, shh, shh, calm down." Scorpia shushed again, rubbing away her tears with the blanket. "You don't need to worry." She gave a comforting smile as she saw Adora turn her head away again. "I'm your friend, Adora,", she reminded, glad to see Adora perk her head up at the mention, "and I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you."

"D... Do you promise?" She squeaked.

"I prom-!" She didn't even get the chance to finish her sentence as Adora pushed her head into her chest again, the taller girl giving a smile to her as she hugged her back, patting her head soothingly.

This was what Adora needed right now. It was all she had left. With the number of people in her life dwindling and the amount of trust she could afford to give starting to wane, she needed all the real friends she could count on, the people she could trust.

The next time someone betrayed her, she didn't know what she would do. She was declining off the deep end with every betrayal, every person who stabbed her in the back, making her regret her life's decisions over and over again. She needed someone, anyone, she could turn to for comfort at this point. And, thanks to having a true friend like Scorpia, she didn't need to look very far.

Unfortunately, the peaceful talk that was being dragged out of this didn't go unnoticed by prying ears. Within the tall vents above the room, a small imp was listening. It heard every detail, every word, every confession that came out of Adora's mouth, and it giggled.

It couldn't wait to inform its master...

...

A/N: And another chapter bites the dust. 2-3 chapters folks, we're almost there! I'll be honest, i thought this chapter was going to be longer by the way it felt like it was drawing out, ended up being wrong in that regard... huh...

Oh, by the way! You guys remember Petie doon on instagram? (writing it as insta gram in case fanfiction's stupid non-linking thing erases the word) He made 2 brand new, freaking amazing pictures! What are they of? Oh, not much, just the SEASON 1 FINALE ENDING IMAGES BABAY!

I'm serious, they are freaking amazing, and they really capture the emotion of the season's ending right to its very core. Massive and huge thanks to Petie doon for the amazing work he's done and continues to do for this fanfic and everyone who enjoys it. Everyone be sure to drop by his gallery on the site and give the pictures your thoughts because they are freaking beautiful.

With that said, not as many "girlfriend shenanigans" this chapter around, but no need to worry- we'll have plenty of that good ol' fun waiting around next chapter, and even then, hopefully people got enough laughs to go around in this chapter as well X)

Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 89: S2 Episode 7: Reunion Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 8.5k Pre-A/N's. Hidy-ho folks! Monokub here back with another daily update, and man was this a fun one X) I know it might shock you people, but the entire chapter today is mostly about laughs and humor round the clock. I know, I know you might be disappointed-

Audience: GET ON WITH THE HUMOR!

-but I can assure you it'll still be just as fun as the main story ^^ Really not much to say with this one, so once again, enjoy!

...

"Look, just a-" George tried to persuade as he reached for another jelly-filled pastry on the table.

*whap*

"Ow!" He yelped, pulling back his hand, shaking it a little.

"No." Lance stated, continuing to set the coffee table with another platter of delicious green-icing covered crumpets.

"Come on, just one-"

*whap*

"No!" He repeated, checking to make sure everything looked neat and symmetrical. "You will wait like a mature adult for the kids to come back. We don't want to ruin Bow's relationship with his girlfriend."

"I don't think the dear would be too disappointed if she noticed one out of a hundred different pastries missing." George tried to argue, looking for the perfect opening for when Lance wasn't looking.

"I don't care, it's improper manners." With the table fully set, he set his fists to his hips as he turned to his husband. "Bow has a real chance with a girl, and he might never get the same opportunity again once he takes over the library. You will not be ruining this for him! Is that clear?"

"Hmph," the other adult pouted a little, crossing his arms as he was forced to wait patiently, leaning back against the couch, "I wouldn't want them so badly if you made them more often, you know."

*creeeak*

"Ah, Bow! You're back!" Lance greeted as he watched his son pushing in his friends at long last, not after slapping away someone's hand for the fourth time. "I've set up refreshments! Help yourselves." He offered, gesturing to the wide assortment of snacks. "And, naturally, ladies first." There was no stopping the wildcat as she dashed for the couch again, seeing the wide assortment of food left for her and the others and fresh for the taking.

"If you insist!" Rubbing her hands with excitement, the magicat quickly grabbed a small paper plate from the corner of the table and began piling one of everything she could onto her plate. She left no spot open on her small tray as she took in the aroma wafting around them. She didn't know if it was going to be any better than the tea she was served, but if it tasted as good as it smelled right now, then she couldn't wait to taste that first bite!

"Ahem!" Glimmer coughed into hand as she sat next to her, intentionally brushing up to her a little to remind her. "I'm sure as Bow's girlfriend, you'll remember your manners, of course."

"Mmmh..." Catra grumbled quietly to the girl before eyeing the swirly pastry she took again, opting for a smaller bite instead of stuffing it all in her mouth at once, as usual. As annoying as it was, it was a small price to pay for everything she was doing this for. No, not for something simple like her friends or anything (not to say she wouldn't have done it if truly needed, not that they needed to know), but for something much more important. Something more valuable than life itself.

Explosive Arrows!

Perhaps, we should start over. The day started from one strenuous morning to a confusing morning to a possibly-hazardous morning all within a few short hours. Coming back from her extra-long training regime from Light Hope, Catra was dragged along by a panicking Glimmer who was worried about his sudden disappearance. Following whatever scent and trails they could, they discovered him at a mysterious library, one they were never aware of, within the Whispering Woods.

Exploring it for a few short seconds upon arrival, they discovered that not only was Bow seemingly-okay, he was also the son of two fathers who owned the estate, a blessing that they wished to pass off to Bow at some point. Neither of the fathers were aware of Bow's true history with the rest of the world, assuming he was at a boarding school, and begged his friends to continue playing the part to keep his cover.

That wasn't what made the day potentially hazardous.

The hazards of today were about to come from the misunderstanding that Catra, the very one and the same with all the anger issues, was Bow's girlfriend, and that Bow had been keeping her a secret to surprise them both. To keep up with the charade, he went along with the made-up story after they discovered her breaking into the library when she was trying to break out, begging Catra to play along once the three of them had a moment to themselves.

Naturally, Catra was pushed aside at the idea of being someone's girlfriend, especially when she discovered it meant pretending to be in love with somebody, something that would make her hurl if anyone ever accused her of feeling such an emotion. When it came down to it, Bow had to play at Catra's ego and interest as he offered to make her over a hundred explosive arrows for her usage, along with a few other favors, in exchange for putting up with the display and anything it might involve.

She wasn't one to let a good opportunity for some extra firepower go to waste. Besides, the deal got even sweeter once she found out the fathers were historians, people who might know more about She-Ra, and, to Catra's hope, the secrets to unlocking more of her power. She would take anything that helped her achieve She-Ra's status without giving up her dream for a kingdom.

Thus, we find our heroes as they were now, with everyone's reputation, and possibly Bow's neck, on the line if his secrets were ever revealed. All they needed to do was to pass off one simple afternoon, an evening at the most, by pretending to be members of Bow's boarding school, an on top of that, have Catra pretend to be someone's girlfriend for a few short hours.

None of them, Catra included, were feeling optimistic about their situation.

Taking the first bite already proved to be a challenge for Catra to get over as her eyes lit up. This was one of the best pastries she's ever had, perfectly blended with whipped cream, blue berries, and raspberries, topped off with a hint of a strawberry after taste.

She couldn't stop herself as she started gorging down on the sweet, delicious bites, taking another handful of the delicious pastries from the tray and putting them on her own plate. "This stuff's amazing!" She yelled, nearly shoving a handful of it down her throat, unaware of the crumbs she was spreading all over as Glimmer and Bow watched in horror. Not two bites in and she was already turning into a disaster.

Whatever force in the universe decided to bless them at that moment apparently did, though, as Lance sat on the opposite couch, watching with fascination as Catra stuffing herself. "Oh, I'm ecstatic you love it so much!" He said, taking another sip of his tea. "I can share the recipe with you if you like."

"Are you serious? Of course I want the recipe!" She beamed, taking another bite of the delicious pastry. "I can't wait to share this back at the castle!"

"Mh-!" Bow and Glimmer's eyes widened simultaneously, each of them with barely a bite into their own food, at the mention of it while the two fathers looked perplexed by the curious comment.

"The castle?" George questioned, leaning forward a bit. "What castle?"

"Whhhhat, Catra means is, the boarding school?" Glimmer offered, smiling nervously. She knew it was going to be the first of the thousand of nervous moments they had yet to go to. "You know, the "Castle of Knowledge", and all that. She considers every large structure a castle as an archaeologist. RIGHT-"

*thump*

"Oof-!" Catra nearly yelped midbite as Glimmer elbowed her a little.

"-Catra?" Blinking for a second, it took the girl a while to realize what she had said and what Glimmer had to do to cover for her.

Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, another movement Bow was thankful for that his parents didn't seem to mind, she nodded. "Y-Yeah, castles. You know, I just come across so many large castle-ish stuff, that every place feels like a castle to me."

"Impressive." George complimented, leaning forward a little in his seat. "It sounds like you have a lot of experience out in the field."

"Mmh... something like that." Catra shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck as she shrugged her shoulders a little.

"Is something wrong?" Lance asked, noticing the girl's discomfort, as did her friends who were genuinely curious.

"Mmh... N-Not... really, just..." She trailed off a little as the rubbing continued. What started out as a simple irritation began to grow into an unbelievable annoyance as she felt a crick in her shoulders, clearly from something she pulled during her training this morning. Not that she could tell them, of course. "Just a... pulled muscle I think from the traveling."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah." Her tail twitched a little as the irritation continued to grow. She needed something to stretch or to rub against that would straighten out her shoulders, feeling her joints starting to tighten from the aching alone. She tried to look around for a possible solution, something that could've come in the form of an answer. Or someone, as a smile grew over her lips. "Oh, Bow?" She called out, leaning back with a smile. "Why don't you give me one of those massages you usually do at the school?"

"What?" Bow questioned. He had an idea of what she was getting at, he just couldn't believe it would be so early into their charade.

"You know, those great shoulder massages you always give me? The ones before class?" She reminded, patting both her shoulders. "They always managed to freshen up my day."

"He gives you shoulder massages?" George asked, looking to his son.

"Everyday, in fact. You'd be surprised how many bones you pull when you're investigating dig sites and ruins every month."

"Bow," George spoke, the brief pause going on to add to his and Glimmer's nervousness, "that's so thoughtful of you!" He was so proud of his devoted son. He wished he could witness the joy the two brought each other at his boarding school.

"Y-Yeah, that's me." Bow feigned a smile, setting down his tea cup as he anxiously walked behind the couch. He eyed Catra's back a little unsteadily, watching as the magicat turned her head back a little to give him a sly smirk.

"What are you waiting for, Bow? I'm waiting~" She brushed back her hair a little bit, just enough for him to get a reach for her shoulders. With a small gulp, the thoughts of what would normally happen to him, or anyone, that usually approached Catra like this still in his mind, he slowly reached for the feline's shoulder, doing what he could to push his fingers against her shoulders soothingly, being careful not to hurt anything that could provoke her to spill the beans.

Within a few seconds, Catra felt like she was in heaven as she felt the aching motions of her shoulders beginning to unwind. With every creak that came from her unwinding bones came a small tremble from her bottom lip as she felt an urge to pur. She leaned against the couch as she took in all the relief leaving her tense muscles melting away like a puddle.

Looking back on it, it shouldn't have surprised her that Bow had an actual strong pair of hands, seeing how he spent a majority of his time pulling and shooting arrows constantly and making new devices everyday.

At the same time, Glimmer was hiding her irritated mouth behind the large cup of tea, eyeing the magicat with annoyance. Not three minutes into this little game and she was already taking advantage of him! He already needed her help, the least she could've done was try to make things easier.

Than again, sadly, it was Catra she was dealing with.

"Ahh, right there..." Catra sighed in relief as she felt her troubles melting away. Maybe she should hire Bow for this more often as one of the things she'd want out of this? "Thanks, Bowey."

"Bowey?" George repeated, noticing the blush illuminating his son's face for a bit before turning to Lance. "Did you hear that, Lance? They're-"

"-already giving each other nicknames!" He finished for him. The two dads held each other's hand in awe at the moment, finding the scene and the moment itself a beautiful sight to behold as Lance leaned his head on George's shoulder. Catra was completely unaware of why they were acting like they were, and didn't really care as she lost herself to the relaxing massage.

Another issue Bow finally realized that he never discussed with Catra: how NOT to act like a girlfriend in certain ways, like what it looked like when a girlfriend gave a boyfriend a nickname!

"You know, Catra," Glimmer spoke up, nudging her a little, "a proper girlfriend wouldn't be asking her boyfriend for a back massage." She commented as she took another sip of her tea.

"Ah, don't be jealous because I got to your boyfriend before you did."

"PFFFFFFFFFT!" Glimmer choked as her eyes lit up, coughing out a mouthful of tea and nearly dropping her cup as well. Bow eyes went completely white like he died inside, unable to comprehend the amount of stress and and embarrassment Glimmer must've been feeling, including his own. "Hack-ough! EXCUSE ME?!"

"Yeah, really sad story, you two." Catra pretended to sigh in regret as she set down her tea, grabbing a napkin pretending to wipe her face when in actuality she was hiding the knowing smirk to Glimmer. "Apparently Glimmer had eyes for him first for, like, years now at the school, but she was too nervous to ever tell him about it. By the time she had the courage to say anything, I've been on a "dating" with Bow for the last two months." She sneered as she opened an eye to Glimmer. "Isn't that right, Glimmer?"

CATRA, I WILL SHAVE EVERY HAIR OFF YOUR BODY WHEN WE GET HOME! Glimmer screamed in her mind as her cup-holding hand trembled. Catra knew exactly what kind of game she was playing at, and she knew Glimmer wouldn't be able to argue against any of it. If she did, she'd either have to explain a made up story about what really happen, or Catra would continue calling her a liar and making a bigger deal about this when they were supposed to be undercover!

Catra held all the cards in this game right between her hands. And as long as Bow was unwilling to admit what was really going on around here, Glimmer didn't have a choice but to accept Catra's rendition of the events, however embarrassing or misleading they might have been.

With the biggest, forced, smile of her life, Glimmer twitchily grew a teethy smile over her face as her right eye twitched, sweating profusely as she had to speak through said teeth to forced out any form of response. "Y-YUP. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. SHE GOT TO HIM FIRST."

"Aww, I'm sorry to hear that, darling." Lance apologized with a mournful look. "I know what you're going through. Before I met George, I struggled endlessly to find the right partner I wanted to share my life with. And whenever I did, I was either too late or too shy."

"But thanks to that, we also met each other." George smiled, earning one in return from Lance. "What I'm saying is, you shouldn't feel so down because your first sight was already taken. You never know what fate has in store, and your true love could be right around the corner."

Recovering a little from her bright red face, the non-princess coughed a little into her hand, trying to cool her temper. "T-Thank you for the advice. You're right." Watching the two fathers glance back to the massaged Catra, Glimmer tried to think.

There was no way she was going to let her get off the hook for something that embarrassing or snide. Around here, she thought she was untouchable in every manner, allowed to do or embarrass whoever she pleased! Well, if she wanted to play the role of a fake girlfriend and an archaeologist, then Glimmer would be happy to oblige.

"Say, Catra, why don't you tell them about one of the sites you excavated?" Glimmer suggested with a proud smile as Catra froze mid-sip.

"Glimmer!" Bow muttered anxiously trying to keep a straight face. The girl was so caught up with getting a payback shot that she forgot they were supposed to be keeping a lower profile in the first place.

"...Excavated?" Catra asked in a hinting tone, keeping her eyes on the dads as she smiled awkwardly.

"You know, of the various digsites you've seen." She added, turning right to her with a smile. "I'm sure you must have something you can share with them."

"Oh, I don't think they would want me to bore them with any stories." Catra replied, forgetting where she was for a moment and their professions.

"Are you kidding? We'd love to hear some!" George stated with excitement, feeling his historian blood rushing through him. "We insist!"

"Of course you would..." Catra turned her eyes away as she took a seemingly-long sip to think.

Okay, she could do this. She knew what kind of game Glimmer was playing at, too, so she just had to think of something. She was the Queen of impulsiveness and quick thinking, self-proclaimed, and this was just another roadblock that Glimmer expected her to squirm her way through like usual. Catra wouldn't let her have the satisfaction of a victory, and knew she could come up with something!

...But what was there to come up with?!

She doesn't know much beyond the basics of what an archeologist does, scavenging ancient ruins and collecting artifacts from across the world. Save for the sword, which she couldn't go into detail over without possibly revealing her secret, she hasn't scavenged or collected a single thing that came to mind, no ruin investigated that-

Catra blinked. Wait, duh! She actually smiled to herself, to Glimmer's surprise, as she sat the tea and dish on her lap, recalling every detail that could help her in her time of crisis. "Well, where to begin?" She began, drawing Bow's attention as he failed to notice the expression on her face. "Well, there was the first excavation I had where I discovered some ancient First Ones ruins right along the edge of the forest itself."

"You did?" Lance gasped a little.

"You did?" Glimmer repeated questionably.

"Oh, yeah, it was actually my first find. The entire ruin was built within the ground itself from a cave entrance it was sealed behind. I would've loved to show it to you two, but during the excavation, we had a cave-in. The entire place was buried under tons of rubble. I hope you understand." She waved her hand in apology.

"Oh, r-right!" Bow agreed as he looked back to his dads, finally understanding where Catra was coming up with this lie. "She brought me and Glimmer along, too. It was right around the time we first met her. Remember, Glimmer?" He hinted.

"Met her..." The girl blinked in contemplation before opening her eyes and mouth in surprise. "O-Oh, yes! That's how we all met and became friends!" Now she finally understood what the two were getting at, and where Catra was getting her story from.

How could she not remember the day? She wasn't coming up with some made-up lie, it was a real experience they had together. It was the first day the three friends met, the day when they came across She-Ra for the first time and were chased away by the giant bug creature into the First Ones ruins! Looking back on it, it actually was a sort of excavation the group had, one of the first unofficial missions they ever had together.

"Boy, you really should've seen her. It was... quite, the experience."

"It sounds like a fantastic tale." George nodded in agreement. "I wonder if I could commission a research team to find the ruins again? I'd be happy to pay you as well, Catra, to lead the excavation."

"Did you say, pay?" Catra grinned. The longer she kept on this act for, the more benefits there seemed to be behind it all! She was actually looking forward to continue this game of theirs for the rest of the evening at this rate.

"Hahaha, don't be silly, dad." Bow threw an arm around Catra's neck in a playful-looking manner, trying to cut the girl off before she could take advantage of the situation. "Catra would be more than happy to do it for free if she had the chance. Wouldn't you... dear?" He blushed a little at the name as Catra tried to unclamp the arm partially suffocating her.

"Y-Yes, of course... I was joking." She huffed as he released his hold.

"Please, you must tell us of another." Lance pleaded, on the edge of his seat with anticipation.

"Now, now, I don't think Catra would be interested in continuing-"

"Actually," Catra cut off as she held a hand up to Bow, "I'd be delighted to tell you more." The magicat stated as she began to regale them with moments from her past.

There were actually a lot of possibilities and examples she had to mention when it came down to it. She told them in detail, at least the parts deemed necessary enough, about the many "excavations" she went on, retelling them versions of the numerous missions she went on throughout the Rebellion and the places it sent her to.

To Bow and Glimmer's surprise, there was actually a lot she had to offer. She remarked the day she discovered the status in Salineas was actually a shield generator with a console built into the hand, how they came across several First Ones objects within Dryl, which were actually just pieces of tech Entrapta had collected through most of her life. And she went on with how she discovered the Mystery of the Beacon within the Whispering Woods all on her own, telling them everything they needed to hear without giving them too much information in the process.

Now that Glimmer really thought about it, Catra sort of was an archaeologist at this point, they all were. They've been to so many places across Etheria, finding First Ones ruins and technology across the world, even collecting some pieces for the Rebellion on the missions they were assigned to. In a bizarre way, Catra really fit the position of an archaeologist quite well.

Sure, she skimped on the details about them being missions and jobs from the castle, and she emphasized how it was usually her doing all the hard work and figuring out how they worked, even if Bow and Glimmer discovered most for themselves, but they weren't about to ruin the moment when Catra appeared to be on top of things.

By the time she finished telling the last of her most recent missions involving some ruins, the fathers were practically in tears. For once, it actually wasn't because Catra threatened them, scared them, beat them to a pulp previously, or all three. Instead, they were tears of pride.

"My word..." George sniffed. "Bow... she's perfect!" The announcement earned a completely satisfied smirk from the girl who leaned back into the seat of the couch, rubbing her knuckles against her chest like a professional.

"Well, I don't wish to brag, but..." It was no wonder Bow wanted to keep her a secret from them. Her, this girl, was everything the father's could have hoped for for their beloved Bow!

She was an archaeologist, an accomplished one who was still in boarding school, someone Bow would meet on a daily basis. She had fantastic stories and treasures she's collected over the years, unaware that the sword was the most prominent and impressive, and she had a sense of humor. She had every quality that a local historian could ask for!

The proud fathers couldn't wait to find out more about the outrageous girl, with every detail entering their minds being another moment of pride within their hearts. They knew, whatever happened, Bow would truly be happy with this girl.

"... Wow..." Okay, Glimmer had to admit. That was pretty good for Catra. She completely countered her own counter and paved her way through it. It almost didn't irritate her as Catra used the brief opportunity the fathers turned away to stick her tongue out at her victoriously.

Almost.

As for Bow, he couldn't even begin to express his relief, feeling a torrential waterfall of stress draining away as Catra recounted all of their adventures. The way his fathers appeared to be so taken with her, the fact Catra was actually making up believable stories all the way through to the end. He might actually pull this off!

"I'm sorry, I," Lance sniffed, wiping away a tear, "I've never met a school student so devoted to history as much as you."

"Yeah, what can I say?" Catra shrugged, grinning as she took another pastry from the platter. "I'm a keeper."

"More like a curse..." Glimmer mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes.

"And if you're so enthusiastic about this, I can't begin to imagine how excited your kids will be!"

"HAAAACKKKKKKKKKKK-!" All at once, Glimmer dropped her tea in utter redness, Catra nearly threw up on the spot, resulting in her choking on the pastry she was eating, and Bow collapsed behind the couch as everything of him went white. Never has anyone ever seen someone's face actually turn purple, but from the previous redness engulfing Catra's face and the lack of oxygen now going down her throat, it didn't surprise them.

"Now, Lance, don't go throwing ideas into their minds already." George said, patting his back. "They'll have plenty of time to start thinking of a family later.

"KKKKKHHHHHH M-M-MYYHHHHHHH-!" Catra choked as she tried to scream in terror, tears starting to form out of the corner of her eyes as she continued to suffocate. Her mind was screaming at her to abort the mission! No amount of explosive arrows, no level of compliments, no luxurious treatment from a pair of devoted fathers, were worth ANYTHING close to this!

"...Is she going to be okay?" Lance asked, noticing Catra's choking state. If she was lucky, she would die of suffocation right here and now before anyone tried to save her.

Sighing, Glimmer set down the tea in her hands onto the coffee tables, cracking her knuckles a little. "Allow me."

*WHACK!*

"Ough-!" Catra panted heavily as her chest rose and deflated repeatedly, leaning back into the couch as she was on the verge of death. Thank goodness Glimmer had enough strength in her arms to smack the choking hazard right out of her after slamming her fist down on Catra's back. It may have reinvigorated the annoying ache in her shoulders again as a result, but at least she was alive. "Th... Thank... you... G-Glimmer... huff... huff..." She wheezed, watching as the princess casually collected her tea again.

"I'm happy to oblige, Catra." There was no level of dishonesty in her voice as she sipped. If it meant she got to smack the living daylights out of Catra whenever she needed it, she'd be happy to do it anytime. In fact, she didn't need to wait. She'd do it any time Catra deserved it too if she got the chance.

With her breathing slowly returning to normal Catra's ears twitched as she looked behind herself, noticing a missing figure. "Hey, where's Bow?"

"Riiiiight... heeeere..." He mumbled, slowly raising a ghostly hand as he pulled himself back up to the couch. For a moment, he actually felt his soul leave his body as an unearthly amount of terror seeped into his minds. He was a little surprised he managed to wake up at all, assuming Catra would've torn his head off the moment the fathers mentioned anything about kids.

"Are you alright, Bow?" Lance asked, standing up from the couch. "You seem pale."

"I'm fine," he assured as the whiteness started to leave his skin, being replaced by a glowing redness, "I just... fell... on my own..."

"Bow, I can't do this!" Catra quietly whispered, coming closer to the archer's head as she leaned over the couch. "We didn't say anything about kids! The deals off!"

"Catra, you're not going to do anything with kids!" Glimmer tried to shush, leaning behind the couch too as she huddled in for the conversation. "Whatever they talk about that sounds embarrassing, just remember, it's all an act!"

"Catra, come on, it doesn't get any more embarrassing than that." Bow whispered back, getting to his knees. "George wouldn't let embarrassing talk like that continue anyway, so you just have to ignore it and pretend it's nothing."

"Who cares about nothing when he's talking about our children!?" She nearly screeched, her ears drooping as her tail dropped. There would be no end to the uncomfortable-ness that would befall her any time she saw Bow for the rest of her life if this sort of talk continued.

She didn't want kids, she didn't want to be a mother to anything, and she didn't want anything to do with this anymore!

"Hey, do you want to learn the secrets involving She-Ra, or not?" Glimmer retorted, pulling the girl a little closer by the shoulder. "Would you rather give up your entire kingdom, or would you rather put up with an act for one afternoon?" Catra frowned at the mention of her dream coming back again as Bow tilted his head at this.

"What about her kingdom?" He asked. "She still wants one?"

"I'll explain later, for right now-"

"What are you kids doing?" Lance asked, looking ready to step into whatever private conversation they were having.

"N-Nothing!" Bow smiled back as he and Glimmer stood up, Catra still leaning her head over the back of the couch. "We were just talking about... hoooow we should get that tour underway!" He rubbed Catra's shoulder as he kept his eyes on the parents. "Right... dear?"

"..." Catra frowned to herself as she sighed internally. There was no way she could afford to keep on a charade this embarrassing, but there was no way she could risk her only chance of maintaining a kingdom also. If her kingdom was on the line, then she didn't have a choice, unless someone was willing to put her out of her misery right then and there.

Begrudgingly, the girl slowly rose from the couch as she sluggishly got to her feet, straining every muscle from her physical training to offer a sincere, albeit strained, smile. "I... would l-love, to... d... d..." Catra swallowed back the bile rising to her throat. "Darling..."

"Ah, yes, the tour!" Lance clapped in eagerness as George stood by his side. "I almost forgot about it! Shall we?" He offered leading the way. With Glimmer following closely behind, Bow looked back to the still-shriveling Catra, one who had goosebumps riding on the edge of her skin, as he tried to offer a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"I swear, you'll owe me big time for this, Bow." She muttered, walking ahead as Bow whispered a thanks in return. Neither of them wanted to continue waiting around or prolong the day as they reached the other three, staying close behind them as the tour officially began.

The one-of-two fathers lead the group around the library over to the display cases, the area settled with dozens of different relics and artifacts from ages past, all neatly positioned, dusted, and kept safely behind the glass cases that shielded them from the outside world.

"This is the 1000-year-old Colonia pitcher." Lance began as Catra drew up to it, keeping her arms to herself as she observed. Personally, she wasn't that the useless knick knacks they felt that deserved mentioning like someone's drinking jug, but if any of this stuff lead her to unlocking more of She-Ra's power, then she listened with an open ear.

"And this tablet," he continued to the next display, housing a diamond-shaped item, "dates back to over two millennia."

"Really?" Catra wondered as she resisted the urge to tap the glass. I wonder if it's older than She-Ra? She thought to herself as the tour continued a few feet away.

"And this," Lance paused as he came across a wardrobe, one with a small curtained fort decorated underneath that Lance was drawn to, "is where Bow played pretend as a little boy."

At the sight of the small forth, Catra and Glimmer immediately ducked to their knees, inspecting the interior of "Bow's Fort". It was housed with every possible thing they could imagine from a five-year-old. Decorative heart-shaped lights over above, a small personal rug which covered most of the ground, stuffed animals around every corner, and a small cabinet-sized stack of shelves to the right. It truly was the most interesting thing Catra had seen so far as she grinned.

"Okay, now THAT is just adorable." She commented. It was adorable in the sense that it was, namely for a kid, as the parents believed she was referring to, and adorable in the amount of ammunition it provided for her to embarrass Bow with once this was over.

And Bow blushed to himself knowing that as he stood cross-armed a few feet away.

"Let me guess, playing pirates?" Glimmer asked as Lance kneeled over.

"Oh no. Bow doesn't like pirates." He replied shaking his head. "Playing historian, getting ready to take over the library even then. Right, Bow?" Lance asked looking back with the others.

"Right..." He nodded back, unfurling his arms just in time to keep from looking bored or depressed.

"I'm sure most of this stuff might seem boring to you." George commented, patting Catra's shoulder. For a second, she thought he might've been aware of her real personality. "After all, I can only imagine the hundreds of artifacts you must have discovered during your excavations."

"Oh, not at all!" She shook her head politely, giving a small smirk back to Bow. "This stuff has been very informative, I assure you." She grinned a little at the knowing look he gave back. "Speaking of which, as a First One Archaeolo-guest-"

"Gist." Glimmer muttered, audible enough so only Catra's ears would pick it up.

"Gist," she quickly corrected, not that it didn't disgust Glimmer any less from the way she pronounced it, "would you happen to have anything here related to She-Ra? Like, something that ties into her past or history?"

"Ah, what a great question." Lance clapped his hands, impressed with the girl's insightfulness and intrigue. "Accurate translations are hard to come by, but we think the name was actually "Her-Ra"."

"...Her-Ra?" A strange part of her somehow found that to be the dumbest alternative to a name given, as well as the most believable name from anyone in the past. "Somehow I really doubt that-"

"Not that you would know, Catra." Bow reminded, throwing an anxious hand to her shoulder.

"She'd fight for the power of Grayskull."

"That actually sounds cooler to me." Catra chuckled a little, Bow fretting for a moment thinking she would say something damaging.

"And, rode on a dragon!" Moving away from the view, he presented a beautifully decorated vase, one depicting a beautifully artistic outline of She-Ra, the very person Catra was trying to be, riding on the back of a dark violet dragon.

It was almost as if she teleported as Catra instantly reappeared in front of the vase, her eyes widening in disbelief as her pupils grew to match their size. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, or that it was actually something amazing around here. She-Ra, her full self, riding on the back of a giant, most-likely firebreating, dragon... AND IT WASN'T EVEN HERS!

"SHE GOT A DRAGON!?" Catra yelled as she teared up. "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I WANTED A DRAGON!" Glimmer and Bow quickly rushed to the girl's side, trying to pick her up and her stories as the fathers became questionable.

"You wanted a dragon?" Lance asked for clarification.

"Hahaha," Bow laughed worriedly as he threw his arm around the girl's throat again, Glimmer trying to pat her shoulder comfortingly to get her to calm down, "you know? She told me how when she was a kid, she always wanted to ride a dragon. Exploring caves for one is what got her interested in archaeology." He shifted his head a little towards the tormented kitty. "That's what you meant, isn't it, Catra?"

Catra sniffled a little before she could reply. "Yeeeeeeees..." She moaned.

Why was the universe conspiring against her?! Why was it being so cruel to her?! There were a few things the girl wanted in this lifetime since she was a kid. Ultimate power to crush her enemies, her very own kingdom where she was in charge, and, at the very end of an ongoing list, a dragon! An actual dragon that could breathe fire on her enemies and soar her through the sky at the same time! What kind of kid wouldn't wish for something THAT awesome?!

Instead? She got stuck with a horse! A talking, flying, horse with a horn! Okay, sure. She would admit, not to anyone out loud, that if push came to shove and she had the chance to take a dragon over Swift Wind, she'd stick with Swifty after all they've been through. But even then, why couldn't she get that choice in the beginning of all of this instead of a pony of all things?!

It wasn't fair!

"Anyway, uh, where was I?" Lance spoke up, trying to think for a minute.

As he did, Bow leaned closer to the magicat's ears, trying to straighten out her standing. "Every time you say something damaging, I'm taking away ten arrows." He warned whispering to her. All he needed was a certified moan to know she got the message.

"Princess nonsense." George answered for Lance as he walked past Glimmer, his voice filled with an ugliness for the phrase.

Coming up to another display behind a curtain, they pulled it back to reveal what might've been the second-coolest thing around here. Within a round glass case was a floating shard, one undoubtedly filled with some type of energy, as it hovered a little above the podium. It continued to glow with its energies coursing through it and all its pinkness, glittering with sparkles that almost looked like Glimmer's own magic rubbing off of it.

"The rune stone shard." Lance introduced as Catra gathered around it again. "It's the oldest First Ones object in our collection." If there was anything to calm Catra down from her dragon disappointment, this would be the closest thing to it. There was no telling how much power this thing had, or if it possibly could have some connection to She-Ra. Before she could even think about reaching for it, Lance continued on as he stood next to the display. "But enough about that. Tell us about your studies, Catra and Glimmer."

"Huh? Oh, you know, I already told you about a lot of it and all." Catra tried to play off as she scratched the back of her head.

"Yes, I know, but what about the stuff they actually teach you?" He emphasized, rubbing his chin in curiosity. "What kind of things have you learned."

"... Uh..."

"Uh, you know, physics are good." Glimmer shrugged, trying to give Catra a few seconds of precious time.

Problem again. Catra knew the kind of stuff archaeologists did, to a degree, but not the specific stuff its studies and teachings would entail. She had to think of something fast as she tried using her personal history again. "Well, I know how to dismantle and assemble the basics of a droid."

"Wait, robotics? I thought you had an arts major and were studying to be an archaeologist?"

"Uh, s-she is!" Shoving past Glimmer, Bow walked to the girl's side with a confident smile, throwing an arm around her shoulder as he tried to get the story straight. "She's taking other electives throughout her freetime, so she can keep her options open for the future."

"Y-Yup!" Catra nodded with a nervous smile. "You know, got to keep my education going, right?"

"And robotics will help with being an archaeologist?"

"Of course it would! With all the ancient technology I come across, it helps to know as much as I can in case I need to deactivate an old security system or something."

"But you would need a computer's major for that, and that's a different subject."

"I-I-I know it is, and, uh... Hoof, is it warm to anyone else?" She pretended to feel a little hot as she started to sweat from nervousness, fanning herself a little.

"And how are you affording all this free time if you're dating?"

"Well-"

Glimmer sighed with a small smile as she watched the two continuing to work together, whatever they were saying appearing to bring a smile to Lance's face.

"It's great to finally meet you, Glimmer." George said, stepping to her side as they smiled to one another. "To be honest, we thought Bow was making you up."

"Really?" She questioned, looking back to the two to see something going on. Whatever it was that revolved around Bow squeezing Catra's ears a little and Catra pulling at his nose, it seemed to be going fine as it sparked an inaudible laugh from Lance.

"You know how Bow is, shy, quiet, not so many friends." He commented, approving of their small bantering as nothing more playful teasing with one another, seeing how Lance was laughing. "From his letters, it sounds like you really brought him out of his shell."

"Yeah..." Glimmer smiled warmly on the inside as she watched the two. His words weren't just a comforting length of words that related to Bow, but also a reminder of how much Catra had changed since they first met.

As she watched the two continue to add on to their increasing lies, as stressful as it would appear, it was something kind of warming to Glimmer. Aside from all the things she wants out of this, it was comforting to see her pushing so hard to help somebody else around here, and one of their friends at that. No matter what she insisted on or how much, she knew that she truly cared for everyone else and was willing to do anything she could to help them, even at the risk of embarrassing herself.

She still had her snarky, sarcastic, self. The side of her that seemed disinterested in anything that didn't benefit her, and, truthfully, she was a little lazy as well whenever something didn't interest her. But even then, she's still shown so much growth over the time they've spent together, times Bow and Glimmer spent trying to get her to open up. They've come to realize Catra's just the kind of person who kept things to herself, and they were just fine with that.

Because in the end, it made it all the more warming when she finally trusted them enough to tell something about herself.

"I guess we did..." She replied, almost alluding to the fact she was referring to herself and Bow about Catra opening up. Their conversation together even got a small chuckle out of Catra as she pulled Bow's arm away, their explanation coming to an end.

"I completely understand." Lance smiled with a clap, satisfied with whatever winded explanation Bow and Catra came up with together.

"So for school, we've got this First Ones puzzle to solve." Bow said, wanting to move on with their main objective, something Catra almost forgot about as she stared at him in confusion. "That we could use your help in. Have you ever heard of Serenia?"

"Oooh!" Lance squealed as she rushed to several adjoining file cabinets in another corner of the room, his partner following him eagerly as Glimmer returned to the duo.

"How'd you talk your way out of that?" Glimer asked curiously, keeping the conversation between the three of them as Catra and Bow awkwardly smiled to the dads.

"Long story." Bow said, short and simple.

"But if anybody asks," Catra added, "I now have five different majors, know two forms of self-defense, and work part time as a fisherman's assistant."

"Huh?"

"Just roll with it!"

...

*thud*

Back at another coffee table, coming to another section of the library, the three friends sat along the floor as Lance and George dropped an entire pile's worth of scrolls, maps, history logs, data recording crystals, and so forth atop the table. There was barely an empty space of the table viewable from above. And while Catra was interested to learn all she could about She-Ra, she wasn't willing to risk devoting the next seven years as an actual scholar to understand all this data.

"Serenia was the name of a mythical First Ones hero." George explained professionally with his hands behind his back. Catra poked at some of the scrolls, almost flinching as one unrolled into a seven-foot-length sheet of details. "Although some of us think she was a real person." He said with a small snark to the tone, apparently part of some argument the fathers had in the past that Lance came out on top of.

"Mh-hm." Lance smiled back a little like he had won, again. "Some of us also think the Elberon vase dates back home to only one millennia." He sneered, raising his brow and crossing his arms.

"Is this everything you have on Serenia?" Bow asked as Catra and Glimmer continued to sort through the stack.

"Oh, no. I'm so sorry. Ha, ha. That's everything from the first floor. There's more on the second floor."

"There's another floor?!" Catra moaned as her ears drooped.

"Ugh, this is gonna take hours." Glimmer groaned in agreement.

"Hours, days, maybe weeks." For some reason, Lance smiled at the prospect for reasons they were about to fear as he glanced at Catra and Bow. "And if you're lucky, it might take you a whole lifetime." They were oblivious to the duo who blushed in response to the announcement as Lance hugged George a little, pulling him a bit by both his shoulders.

"Oh. You're so corny." George commented, rolling his eyes a little but accepting it as he held Lance's hand.

"An entire..." Catra squeaked.

"Lifetime?" Bow finished off. To the parents, it looked like another awe-able sight as they appeared to be finishing each other's sentences. To the duo who blushed, and Glimmer who was just as aware of the issue, it was a problem.

How were they expected to convince the pair for the rest of their lives if this is how long it took?! They weren't just talking about this being a one-time meeting, they were actually expecting to see each other time and time again in the future, growing, bonding, maturing together. Even if they decided to say they broke up at one point, they still needed to keep their story straight all throughout the proceedings.

On top of that, there was only so much that Catra could be expected to sit through, a limit to how many embarrassing situations she could put herself in before she finally snapped. The girl barely trusted herself with her emotions these days, and she knew for a guaranteed fact that she wouldn't last another week of this acting, much less another day!

And if she could, it still meant nothing in the long run. As long as the lie persisted, it would prove to be their downfall time and again as they kept having to build off of one another, were expected to play the part of their lie to a T, and go along with anything else they added every time.

It was impossible.

"Yup. Just picturing all the wonderful years you two could be spending together warms my heart." Lance commented, unaware of the warm red going the heroes' faces. "But before all that..." In a mad haste that only took the matter of seconds, Lance reappeared at Catra's, Bow's, and Glimmer's side, placing a spot of tea right next to them, before being situated on the couch behind Glimmer and Bow. "We wanna know."

"Uh, know what?" Catra questioned, taking a small sniff of the tea. Thankfully, it didn't appear to smell the same as the last time, though that didn't mean it couldn't taste the same.

"Come now, you kids have kept us waiting long enough." George said from behind the same couch. "Tell us everything."

"Everything...?" Bow was a little worried if he meant the truth, or something worse than the truth- another lie.

"Yes, tell us. We want all the details." At this, the two fathers clinked their glasses together before looking back, ready for an exciting tale. "We want to know how you two first met!"

...

A/N: And another chapter down! We're either officially halfway through the fic, or at the halfway-point. Idk if this'll turn into another 5 parter (I doubt six) or if i'll extend the finale to make it extra long and all since its the season finale. Either way i wanna thank everyone for their constant support of this fic and helping to keep the series alive. I hope to continue to bring you good she-ra-ness even after the main series comes to an end...*cry* this may X*(... *sniff*

So with that being said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 90: S2 Episode 7: Reunion Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 7.5k Pre-A/N's. This is definitely the shorted chapter i've posted in a long while, but for good reason XP. The break off point was perfectly fitting imo as it leads up to... we'll, you'll know when you see it. Point is, this is another chapter, and that means we get one more part to go.

As should be expected, aside from an occasional moment, we get back into the feel zone of things here so not as many laughs. But there will be some good lightheartedness I promise, plus with the size of it being what it is and the intention of the next/final part, it means we'll be able to leave off the finale with a larger size ^^!

So, with that all out of the way, enjoy!

...

"You... want to know..." Bow trailed off, his eyes filled with worry as he sat in the opposite couch with Glimmer and Catra, each of them shakily holding a cup of tea.

"H-How we met?" Catra almost gulped at the mention, the pretend girlfriend doing everything in her power to remain calm.

"Of course, you have to tell us!" Lance insisted, waiting on the other couch with George right next to him. "We've been waiting all day to hear about it!" For as long as they've been waiting, the trio had been hoping for just as long as they prayed they would forget the entire notion of how they first met to begin with.

Boy, were they wrong.

So far, acting as Bow's pretend girlfriend was interesting, to say the least. Despite a few ups and downs, mostly along with having to add another lie on top of the list of lies that were already piling up, the magicat and the archer managed to make their relationship seem believable, or just enough to throw Bow's fathers off their trail as they continued to buy in to the charade.

Needless to say, Catra was taking full advantage of the situation as much as she could, using the girlfriend story to make her own life a little easier while chatting in the library. From shoulder massages to the promise of explosive arrows made for her was a prize in and of itself. The real kicker behind it all was the vast knowledge this library could potentially have on She-Ra, the warrior hoping to find some form of information that could draw her closer to She-Ra's power.

She needed it, anything, to avoid losing out on her dream. The dream of one day acquiring a kingdom, the dream that she could finally rule somewhere like she always wanted since she was a child. In order to acquire another portion of She-Ra's power, she was informed by Light Hope that she must ellavate herself in a selfless manner, one which required for her to forego her personal greed and wish for a new kingdom.

It's not like she couldn't understand the reason behind it, since it would mean she would be working for the Rebellion since its the right thing to do and everything. The trouble was, she didn't want to. Like, really didn't want to. She had to find a way to keep her kingdom from slipping through her fingers, and pretending to be his girlfriend right now was their best bet.

Whatever happened, they needed to come up with a plan, and fast. Every second they wasted was another curiosity coming to the dads' minds, and the more curious they became, the closer they would come to the truth about everything between Catra and Glimmer, and how Bow lied about being at a boarding school for all these years.

"Uh, r-right!" Glimmer smiled anxiously, turning to Bow. "Bow, you said you wanted to take care of all the details right?" She reminded, hoping Bow had enough time to come up with something throughout the day.

"Eheheh..." He chuckled through his teeth, keeping the rest of his nervous grin hidden behind his cup of tea. "I might have a problem."

"What do you mean you have a problem?" Catra's feigned smile was almost as painful to watch as the rest of theirs, if not more so since she was the one forced into this situation. "We had plenty of time throughout the tour and everything."

"Yeah, but between shoulder massages and going into detail over your majors, I didn't have enough time..." He mumbled, keeping his face focused on the dads as he glanced back with his eyes.

The very dads couldn't help but notice the strange behavior as each of them looked more nervous than the last.

"Is something wrong?" Lance asked, looking back and forth.

"You don't have to give us all the details if it makes you more comfortable." George mentioned, thinking the kids probably have an embarrassing detail or two they wished to keep hidden.

"No, no, it's no problem." Glimmer eeped, shaking her hand. "W-We were just... discussing who should tell it to you. I mean, we were all excited to tell you how we- I mean, they first met, that we sort of planned to have one of us tell you. Heh, we're just... discussing who should tell it first. About how we met, I mean- I mean they met!."

"How we met?" Catra questioned looking at them. She took the moment to look at the reflection of herself in the light orangish tea in her cup, trying to think of something as the tension rose around them.

So far, using her past had worked to their advantage, and the parents remained none the wiser. If she kept sticking to her past, then they should be fine right. She would just... just have to recount how she met her that day, and fill in some gaps and pieces herself.

"I can tell you." Catra announced, much to Glimmer and Bow's surprise.

"You can?" Glimmer muttered. They didn't seem to share the same confidence that Catra showed on her face, but they trusted in her enough to take the lead if she was feeling up to it. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, totally." She smiled back, earning a trusting smile back from her friends as she began. "I... I remember it everyday, really." The images and memories flashed in her mind as she told them of the very day she met someone, met a friend for the first time.

How she met Adora.

"I wasn't really popular with... school, or anything. Most of the other kids, or... pre-teens, I guess, used to pick on me a lot because of my animal parts, or some other reason." She smiled staring up to the ceiling. Her magic appeared to be winning the parents over as they listened intently, holding each others hand.

"People can be cruel to things they don't understand." George commented, knowing a world of ignorance was a terrible place to think of.

"Well that's just it. I don't know if they misunderstood me or actually did seem to know me. All I knew was, the people... they didn't want anything to do with me. I was alone for the most part. Even when people were hanging out outside, they pretty much just left me alone. I didn't mind it or anything, it meant people weren't picking on me, obviously. But, yeah, I was... I was pretty much alone."

"And that's why Bow was drawn to you, wasn't it?" He felt another wave of pride rushing in as he glanced at his son, Bow scratching the back of his head a little embarrassed in response. "Because he noticed you by yourself."

"Eh, sort of. Honestly we met on a playgr- a park," she corrected, knowing a park was more likely to be on campus than a playground, "where he found me sitting by myself." She remembered the exact moment Adora found her on the side of a dumpster, trying to hide herself from the kids that bullied her when she stood up for someone else. "He found me there, we talked for a little bit, then he offered to be my friend."

"And your friendship grew from there, huh?" He assumed knowingly.

"Well, slowly, for the most part." She remarked, scratching the back of her head. "I was still getting picked on on the occasion, but with him around, it happened less often and he was there to comfort me afterwards. We became such good friends and everything that at one point sh- he, got transferred to another class because he did so well, and I was a little mad him at first."

As she conversed, Glimmer and Bow turned back to each other with the same strange look in their eye. For a moment there, it sounded like she was about to say someone else, or at least their gender. The thing was, her voice sounded a little strained as she mentioned it, and as she continued to describe the way she met Bow, they noticed Catra's ears lowering further and further.

"I thought it was more of his choice than it was some headmaster's or teacher's, and I was upset knowing I was gonna get picked on again. And I was. I couldn't go a single lunch again without someone throwing something at me. But eventually, I... worked my grades up, started getting better at the stuff, and next thing I knew I was being assigned to the same sco- school! School programs he was assigned to, and we've been friends ever since."

"What's going on?" A young blond child asked as she walked into the door's line of sight.

Seeing the child passed Shadow Weaver's flowing robe, Catra let out a squeal of pure delight. "Adora!" She ran straight passed the two adults as she ran straight into Adora's excited arms.

"Catra!" The two friends happily embraced each other in a warm hug as they laughed, overjoyed that they got to see the one friend neither of them thought they would ever see again.

Catra blinked to herself as her ears lowered further, recalling the event and the feeling of joy she felt for one of the few times in her life when she saw the person she never thought she'd meet again.

"Catra?" Glimmer muttered softly, noticing the girl seemed to be staring into space.

"...It was a bit rocky from there, then. I was still getting picked on, but thanks to Ad- Bow, I learned to stand up for myself. Eventually people stopped picking on me, and we became close. Occasionally we got into trouble for one stupid reason or another but it wasn't anything serious." She swirled the tea in her cup a little bit as she shook it around gently.

"Really?" Lance looked to Bow a little surprised. "I didn't think Bow was having any trouble at school."

"Eh heh," Bow chuckled nervously, muttering in response," I, eh, don't recall having... too much trouble."

"Again, it wasn't anything serious." Catra assured, never keeping her slowly mourning expression from the image of the tea's surface. "It was over years, you know? Have a lot of good days, the occasional bad days. For me, the days got bad enough that sometimes I started to feel a little hopeless, but..." She shifted her eyes to the corner away from everyone else. "No matter how bad things got, I wasn't worried be... because..."

As the final memory played out, the one event of her entire life that she'd never forget, she remained silent. Never was there a day she could forget about it, the day that surmounted their friendship for sure.

It was the day they snuck into Shadow Weaver's Black Garnet chamber when she wasn't around when they were really young, the day their curiosities got the better of them. Despite being caught in the same situation, Shadow Weaver directed all her anger, all her hate, to Catra, until the girl finally managed to run away in fear and sadness.

It took her several minutes later to find Catra, sniffling and weeping to herself on the bed, surrounded by a bundle of blankets. And it was in the exchange of words that she remembered the most comforting words anyone had ever given her in her life.

From Adora.

"Nothing bad can happen to us as long as we have each other..."

Catra was silent. Everyone stared at her in wonder, curiosity from the parents and a twinge of worry from her friends, as they noticed the tone in Catra's "made-up story" was starting to sound a little more factual as the tale went on. Now, she wasn't saying anything, or giving any of them her attention. It was a confusing, surprising, to the group, especially her friends, who had never seen this side of her before.

Looking at her own cup one more time, Catra placed the tea cup on the table as she stood from the couch.

"E-Excuse me for a moment, I, uh, need to use the restroom." She stated, keeping her head lowered as she headed for the door to the hallway. Again, the two friends looked back to each other before setting their own cups down, following in pursuit.

"Uh, I'll help her find it!" Bow announced, following behind her a little fast.

"I have to go, too!" Glimmer lied, trying to come up with any reason to excuse herself at the same time. The two fathers waited until they left before they turned to one another, giving the other a small shrug of confusion to the strange way the kids were acting. It wasn't enough for them to be suspicious of anything, seeing how the story sounded plausible enough in most regards, and were convinced that they actually were just heading to the restroom.

"Do you think they're alright?" George asked.

"I'm sure it's fine." Lance smiled, taking in a small whiff of the aromatic tea in peace. "Sometimes memories can be a little overbearing to recollect. I'm sure they're doing fine, though."

...

"Catra?" Glimmer spoke up as the two closed the door behind them. Luckily, they didn't have to go very far to find their furry friend again as they discovered the magicat leaning an arm against the wall with her backs turned to them.

She didn't seem to be crying and there wasn't any sniffling coming from her, so that was quite fortunate. What they did notice was the way Catra balled her right hand into a fist a little as she pushed it against the wall, the girl seeming to be deep in thought about something that bothered. Not too much to make a scene or become emotional over, but enough to make her want to leave the room for a bit.

"Hey, Catra?" Bow called over as they approached, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"... Guys, I..." Catra mumbled, turning her head a little to see behind her. "I... I think I finally know now."

"Know? Know what?" With such a vague response, it could've been anything to Bow.

"I," she finally turned a little as she pressed her back against the wall, crossing her arms, "I think I finally figured out why I lost the ability to transform into She-Ra, the true She-Ra, after the Battle of Bright Moon."

The two friends were shocked by the announcement as they gasped mentally to themselves. Throughout everything they've been through today, everything the last few weeks, the last they were expecting to hear today was the realization Catra had; an actual reason to explain why she lost the ability to transform completely.

It was one of the pressing concerns of the last few weeks, the struggle they were trying to overcome since Catra first confessed to them what she tried to keep secret. They've done what they could for her friend, supporting her at every side, encouraging the best out of Catra even if she lost the ability to turn into She-Ra at all, yet they could never comprehend why she lost the ability in the first place.

Emotional balance and peace was the key. That was the general idea behind it from what Catra described. With so many years of anger in her past and regrets, they wouldn't have been surprised if she couldn't fully reach the same level of She-Ra, and she slowly did overtime.

Now, they were about to bare witness to the truth. The truth Catra had been so focused on discovering for herself.

"You did? That's wonderful!" Glimmer beamed, trying to sound encouraging. If she knew the reason why, then that would bring them one step closer to finding out how to fix it! "What is it?"

Again, Catra remained silent for a moment. "I... I think it's because, deep down..." She kept her eyes lowered as she lifted her head to them. "I don't want to fight Adora." That was the response neither of them were expecting, or one that made any sense to them.

"You don't want to fight Adora?"

"Uh, Catra? I don't know if it's occurred to you, but you've been fighting Adora a lot lately." Bow commented with a raised brow.

"No you idiot, I mean fight her and win!" She snapped a little. "I can't bring myself to fight her at my full strength here, even if I felt like I wanted to. Despite everything she's done to us, to Etheria, I... I can't bring myself to hate her, not even a little."

"But why?"

"Catra," Glimmer spoke, stepping a little closer, "I get it, all right? She was your friend once and you can't let go of that."

"Are you crazy?" She grumbled. "I can't look at her and call her my friend these days! Sure, maybe she still is somewhere to me, but that's not the problem. It's not that I can't fight her because she used to be my friend."

"Then why do you think you can't fight her? You're just going back and forth with what you're saying, and I don't know how to make sense of it."

"It's not that I can't fight her because I think of her as a friend. The reason I can't fight her is because..." Like she did with the fake story with how she met Bow, her ears started to droop again as she squeezed her shoulders a little. "It's because I feel responsible for everything she's done to us, okay?" And there it was. The truth Catra came to realize about herself that she's harbored every time she messed up.

The feeling of Guilt.

It was different, somehow, when they saw the way her eyes looked, the way she came back to an issue she's dealt with in the past that related to a past guilt. Back then, she's always maintained a guilt of something that happened fairly recently, or as far as Entrapta's and Frosta's betrayals go.

Here? It was something else. Something indescribable. There was a torment in the corner of her eyes that she couldn't shake off, something further within that wasn't reaching the surface.

"Everything she's done to us happened because of me. I abused her, her friendship I mean. Whenever something came to trouble me, she either blocked it with herself or I used her against whatever threatened me. I did it to make my life easier in the Horde, to get fear or respected enough so that people would stop picking on me. And by the time I realized what I was acting like, so did she. She saw me as the freak everyone treated me like, the one that used people only." She explained, slowly squatting to her knees.

"But Catra, I don't understand." Bow replied as he squatted too, along with Glimmer who kneeled. "You've already shown you're not afraid to fight her and everything, so it can't just be guilt you're feeling. What exactly is it about fighting Adora that you're so worried about?"

"What I'm worried about..." She muttered, squeezing her claws a little against her knees. "Is what will happen after." She shot the two a small, knowing, look as she continued. "Say we ever come to a fight that will never end until we're dead unless we capture Adora, or we end up finishing this war and leave Adora defenseless. What do you suppose will happen to her afterwards?"

"... Oh..." It all started to come together as Glimmer began to realize. Catra wasn't just concerned with the present of their fighting. She was worried what the future would have in store for Adora if the Rebellion won in the end. "I get it now."

"Do you think we're just magically going to be buddy-buddy again after all of this? That a simple apology will make up for everything she's done? The minute we win the war or capture Adora, that'll be the end of her. At best, she serves an extremely light sentence for all she's done, and that's assuming she's lucky enough. At worst? At reality? She'll be spending the rest of her days rotting behind a prison bar, hating every second of my existence for as long as she lives!"

Just thinking about it caused a frown to form over the girl, the feline scratching tirelessly behind her ear at the thought. "Do you suppose we'll be lucky and your mom would take it easier on her? No! She's going to know what Adora's done to the world, Glimmer, and to you. She would never forgive her for what she did to you, and I doubt you would either."

Glimmer was silent at the notion. She wanted to say something, anything, right now to help her friend through her small crisis right now, something to brighten her mood. She wanted to say "I'll forgive her, no problem!" or tell her how she would accept Adora again, how she would be willing to get over her past with her and all she's done to her, all the torture.

But she couldn't. She could never forgive Adora for something like that. It wasn't just because she tortured her in the first place, it was beyond that. What else has Adora done lately that could've been just as ugly, if not worse? How many other people was she supposed to assume were tortured by Adora's very hands?

No amount of forgiveness in the world would wash away Adora's sins, all the crimes she committed trying to bring down the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance. She came to realize now that it wasn't the feeling of fear plaguing Catra's heart at the moment, the crux of the matter.

It was the fear of what would happen to Adora after.

"Adora wanted a friendship with me, and I abused it. And because of that, she's doing all of this now. She wants to make me suffer because of how greedy I was, because of how I used her and joined the Rebellion for a stupid kingdom." The words flashed in her mind as she recalled She-Ra's, the real version of her that she met some days ago, parting words.

"Until you let go of the past, you will always be alone with your own worst enemy."

There was no confusion behind it, Catra understood who her own worst enemy was by this point. The one who was keeping her back from achieving She-Ra's full power, the person who kept her from becoming the hero she needed to be.

Herself.

All because of her memories, all of the guilt she's harbored conflicting with herself. As long as she regretted what Adora turned into, what she's become, she would never turn into She-Ra.

"A kingdom?" That was the other matter that was drawn out of this, the second underlying problem regarding Catra's problem. "...Say, Catra?" She spoke up as Catra turned her head a little. "You never did tell us why. Why do you want to have a kingdom so badly in the first place?" Curiously, Catra stood at this as her expression changed. It didn't morph into a smile or a smaller frown or anything, it just looked like she was feeling passive about all of it.

"W-Well, why wouldn't you want a kingdom?" She said somewhat jokingly. "You'd get to make up rules, you'd get to do whatever you want, you could-"

"Catraaaa?" Bow smirked a little as the two looked at her accusingly. It was a little nice to see her frown disappear even if it didn't bring a direct smile out of it.

"... Mhhh..." She sighed, finally giving the pair her attention. "It was because of Adora, all right? And for me. Growing up in the Horde was... Basically all I said back there, it was related to the Horde. Everyone called me a freak and picked on me except for Adora, and I was getting tired of it. As we grew up together, I started telling her about how I always thought we should have our own place to rule where we could call the shots. At some point when we were kids, we both decided that the first thing we'd do when we got out of the Fright Zone was start a kingdom somewhere, where we were in charge of everything."

"And that's why you wanted to rule a kingdom?" Bow asked. "So you could be in charge?" Another ounce of pain crossed Catra's face, this time accompanied by a small blush.

"W-Well... mostly. The thing is... I kind of had another reason behind it all. It wasn't just so I could be in charge of everything. I wanted to have a place where people stopped calling me a freak, or one where everyone was a freak. Where outcasts could go without being picked on anymore because of how they looked."

"Awww~" Neither of the two friends could keep to themselves as they awed at the mention, Catra's blush intensifying as she looked away.

"Shut iiiit..." She hissed. "But beyond that, I just... I think I just wanted somewhere people treated me differently, you know? Where they'd stop calling me a freak, even if I was one." She pressed her back to the wall again as she finished with her explanation, Glimmer and Bow taking in everything they heard from the magicat.

The girl was afraid, of two things at this point. She was afraid of what would happen to Adora the moment the Rebellion achieved victory and took her prisoner if she didn't escape. The second thing was losing a kingdom she dreamed of since she was a kid, a dream she assumed she shared with the same friend, who wanted nothing in return.

It was Fear that played the ultimate factor in all this. The fear of what was to come next, the fear of losing one of the few remaining attachments she had left to Adora. The Fear of the Future and what was yet to come.

When it all boiled down to the very end, Fear was the ultimate enemy to Catra's powers.

The Princess of Bright Moon had her head lowered for a bit as she took in all Catra had to say, and came out with all she had to respond. "Catra? You don't really think you need one anymore, do you?"

Blushing again, Catra shifted her eyes away as she faced them. "I... I don't know anymore, okay? I don't see why I wouldn't." When she thought about it, she really didn't have much of an answer for herself anymore if Adora was out of the equation. Half the idea behind it all was to share it with her, and the other half involved being somewhere she felt like she belonged. "Why?"

"Because you don't need it, Catra." She said, getting the girl's eyes on her again. "However this war ends, you'll always be a part of the Rebellion, you'll always be among your friends. We don't consider you a freak, and we never did."

"I... I know that, it's just..."

"Just what?" Bow questioned directly. "Catra, your entire point of having the kingdom was to be somewhere you belonged, right? Then that's why you don't need it. You already have a kingdom with Bright Moon, you have us!"

"I... do?" She never once considered the fact that she didn't have her friends by her side like this. What she didn't consider the fact was the idea she might have had a kingdom already out of this.

The very place she's begun to consider a home for awhile, somewhere the Queen assured her she was safe from any harm. Yeah, the people had their annoying quirks to them and their irritations, but giving it some thought, that's kind what made them the same as her; Freaks. The very people she wanted her kingdom to be filled with.

"Of course you do!" Glimmer chuckled as she playfully pushed Catra's shoulder. "Catra, I don't know what to do about Adora. The best idea I can give you for that is to just be patient. We don't know what the future is going to hold in the end. For all we know, Adora might defect from the Horde too and become our ally, just like you and Frosta did. When we cross that bridge, we'll address it."

"But for right now, I'm promising you, you don't need your kingdom. You have friends here, Catra, and nobody who thinks of you like you're a freak. I'm not saying you need to drop everything your doing and renounce your kingdom or anything, but I'm telling you you don't have to feel alone anymore, not with us." Putting a hand to her shoulder in comfort, the two finally got to see a small smile on the girl's blushing face at long last, turning her head uneasily as she scratched her head.

"T... Thanks... Glimmer. Bow" And in a strange way, she had her second desire, too.

Nobody around here ever called her a freak, they didn't consider her to be one. She had her flaws and attitude around them, and they still accepted her for all her "freakiness". She was a part of their strange little family where they were all freaks, and none of them were, at the same time.

She was a part of them.

"So, um, I guess we should head back, right?" She decided, trying to rub the blush away from her cheeks.

"Yeah, we better hurry or else they're going to check on us themselves." Bow replied in agreement. The two friends watched as Catra took the lead ahead of the before Bow smiled back to Glimmer from the side. "I guess we got to find out a bit more about Catra's past after all, huh?"

"At least we got to hear more about somebody around here." She muttered, taking off before he could question it. There wasn't anything resentful or hurtful in the tone she used, but there was definitely a pain in the voice. A pain that was directed at herself and at Bow at the same time, leaving him in a state of confusion.

"Huh?"

...

*creeeak*

"Hey, we're back." Catra announced to the welcoming fathers as her friends followed behind her.

"Sorry for the wait, I, eh, wanted to show them something else while we were here." Bow explained as they returned to the couch.

"It's quite alright." George assured as Lance poured him another cup. "I understand there's quite a lot to see here."

"Heh, yeah." Glimmer smiled back as she observed the countless scrolls and parchments. "So, should we get started?"

"Allow me." Catra insisted, taking the first scroll and sitting at the edge of the couch. She was confident enough to get through the reading herself as she pulled out the first diagram she came across. Glancing over it, she started to blink as she checked the front of back of it, then tossed it away behind her. "Nope."

The other four watched this in confusion, the fathers beside themselves at her sudden and strange behavior as she tossed away a delicate piece of history. If it wasn't enough to worry them, she did the same thing again as she observed another parchment written over a green mat. "Not this." She threw again.

"Uh, Catra? Any chance you'd like to explain why you're throwing away my dads' collection like they were garbage?" Bow asked, trying to give a small smile as she was ruining her appearance again.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing personal." She shrugged back, looking at a blueprint. "The first two things were just the blueprints to a greenhouse garden and some sort of plumbing system." Her hopes for something a little more useful were dashed as she scanned over the recent finding. "And this one's just for some electrical appliance. It's kinda weird."

The two fathers turned to one another in shock and awe at the amount of detail the girl was providing. Without skipping a beat, the two fathers jumped to their feet, racing to the translating-girl who jumped at the sight of their spontaneous presence.

"Wait, you can read First Ones writing?" Lance asked her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Uh, I also studied linguistics?" Catra forced a smile, nervous over the unprecedented reading she had shown off. "I-It's an eighth major- I mean six! What am I at again?"

"Here, read this! What does it say?" Pulling back his sleeve, George demanded to know what the tattooed symbol on his arm meant, hoping it spelled exactly what he thought.

Pulling at the arm a little for a closer examination, Catra replied, "It says... Lunch."

"Oh no." Immediately, all the masculinity and excitement within the man's forearm evaporated, being replaced by a liquid of shame and embarrassment as Lance chuckled behind him. "I thought it said love."

"You thought it said..." Lance couldn't help it as he let out another laugh, holding his sides as he got up to his feet. "I like this girl!" He shouted, continuing to burst into a fit of chuckles. Catra couldn't tell is she should've been more flattered or creeped out by the person who laughed madly like a lunatic, giving a quiet laugh herself as she looked away unsettling. "Actually, there's one more debate you can settle for us, Catra."

As the gentleman he was, George offered the girl his hand as he started to lead her towards the door.

"Eh- You know, actually I think I should stick with my assignment?" She blushed, actually feeling more anxious being stuck with these two than with her friends. "I mean, we got a very big project going on. Yeah, and uh-" And then she froze.

Standing right in front of her, with the biggest, brightest, most pleading eyes she ever saw, Lance stood in front of her, begging his eyes out with stars dancing around him and a waft of pink, tenderly, smoke. Already the magicat was more embarrassed by this than anything else throughout this day, save for maybe the children comment.

It wasn't her fault she was so gifted that everybody wanted her. Why should she be punished just for being so talented in something as reading a different language? Okay, so to be fair, the sword was the one instilling her with knowledge of the First Ones, but that's besides the point.

Still, she couldn't turn away from the embarrassing begging, and while it might not be on Kim's level of embarrassingly cute, it was a close third.

Sighing mentally, she gave a small smile back as she threw her hands to her shoulder. "B-But, um, what kind of... girlfriend... would I be if I didn't help my boyfriend's parents?"

"Great!" Lance boomed with excitement as he threw an arm around Catra. "Onward, best research squad!" He announced, leading the charge.

And now she knew where Bow got that from.

The others could only look back with unease and hope that Catra would be able to keep herself out of trouble as they stayed behind to study. Hopefully it wouldn't take long.

...

Their first mistake was hoping.

Several hours into their research session and they still had nothing to go by. With all the data, notes, journals, translators they had that weren't Catra, resource materials listing books from all over the library, they had yet to uncover a single piece of documented info that could push them in the right direction for Serenia, Mara, or whatever the portal had to do with anything.

Bow lied back on the couch with a sigh as he took a brief minute to himself, worrying about how much time had passed and Catra, or more likely his fathers, were still okay. "We're still getting nowhere." The cushiony pad and the small fire burning in the fireplace did nothing to soothe either of the two. It just reminded them of how long it's felt since either of them stopped researching. "What does a mythological First Ones hero have to do with Mara?" He asked.

He stared up at the ceiling waiting for a response, but when nothing came to him, he turned his head back to Glimmer, who still wasn't looking at him. "Hey, Glimmer, what's up?"

The girl looked like she let out a large breath before she turned around again. "What's up with you?" She shot back, her expression full of hurt. "You have a secret family, and you're supposed to be a historian, and you apparently hate pirates, and you never told me any of this!" Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes as she turned away. "We've been friends for years Bow, and I feel like I know more about Catra than I do with you right now! Like I don't even know you at all!"

It hurt, very deeply. How was she supposed to feel right now? To think that the one person, the very first friend she's ever had in her life, would still be hiding an entire other half to her life that she didn't know about? Catra barely gave them anything at first and it took months to coax her to talk about herself, and as of now, after hearing everything on Catra's mind, it felt like Bow was the strange one here!

"Glimmer, you know everything about me, the real me." Bow smiled warmly as he touched her shoulder, the teary princess looking back as the water dripped from her cheeks. "I act like someone I'm not with my family because the truth would hurt them."

"And it's making you miserable, making all of us miserable." Glimmer stated, wiping away her tears. "I feel like I barely know you, you're pretending to be something your not, and its pulling more out of Catra's past than she's comfortable with. What if she had gotten angry instead of sad, or ran out of here because she was afraid of something?" The archer turned his head away in thought with a look of personal remorse.

Glimmer tried to comfort the archer back, squeezing his wrist with a gentle smile. "Bow, your dads love you. I'm sure they'll love the real you, too."

"You don't know that. They've had a plan for me since I was a baby. But the truth is, I'm nothing like the rest of my family. I've tried to tell them, but they don't want to hear it." He felt like a reverse-prisoner around here, feeling more trapped on the outside than he did within these walls. "So, I pretend." Pain crossed both their faces as Bow curled up a knee on the couch, hugging into it.

There was no way to tell how to react at a time like this. Glimmer was hurt that she didn't know a part of Bow's life despite their years of friendship, yet she understood why a little. Bow was caught between his real life and a fake one, unable to live a full life until he finally chose one to stick to forever. And Catra was stuck in a loop of memories as the useful stories of her past came back to haunt her, in ways that made her uncomfortable.

All of this, all these lies and hardships the group was experiencing today, because of one little lie, one little choice. To either embrace the life his fathers had for him, to go down the same path that they intended for all their lives, or to seemingly forsake his family name and live his true life, and disappoint the very people who raised him all his life...

...

"This was found at the same dig site as the rune stone shard." Lance explained as he lead Catra to he large metallic orb-like structure.

So far, the little additional tour Catra was dragged to was a little more enjoyable than she expected, and a lot less stressful than she thought it would be. It turns out, like they requested, the fathers wanted her to help translate some old glyphics and writings on various pieces of artifacts the two had come across all their lives.

The first was actually an ancient spear, or at least the remains of one by Catra's standards. They were trying to figure out if the spear was actually a descended treasure item from a long lost tribe Catra's never heard of, or cared, and if the spear had any particular value to it based on the inscription left along the rod.

Unfortunately, as Catra determined, it turned out the rod was nothing more than an offering for a marriage proposal, if the words "To my darling, Yeck" meant anything to the magicat.

That was among the first debates the fathers wanted to clear up, which came in the form of a small bet George appeared to have won.

The second thing was another vase with an ornate design of yellow and blue colorings, with a notable inscription on the bottom and top of the vase written in green symbols. The smell of it alone gave Catra a suspicion of what it was, and the writing on the rest of it confirmed it.

This wasn't just some sort of vase meant to be a decoration of some sort. It turns out it was supposed to be an urn with the remains of somebody's ashes in it, unless the translations meant it was discovered alongside the crypt of someone's remains. All she knew was that it was related to something dead, or housed the remains of someone dead, and nothing more.

Thus they reached the third milestone of their journey to the very round object itself. It was large in scale, almost an entire foot and a half taller than Catra was, as she gazed at the shiny surface of the metal.

"The thing is, we can't agree on what it is." Lance continued, the debate seeming to be the most important one they've come across as Catra examined it closely.

"...Oh, this one's simple." Catra smiled back with a proud grin. It was actually one of the most common names she's come across constantly, so much to the point she could probably figure it out for herself without the sword. "It's just a rudimentary password thing, something sophisticuts like mwah are taught." She bragged. "It just says "Eternia"."

*shiiiiiiiiim!*

All three of them jumped at once as a large glowing light suddenly burst from a small crevice-like indent of the round sphere. It glowed with a dazzling array of light, one that waited for the very word itself to awaken from its long slumber.

"Ooh, its working!" Lance squealed. Just thinking of the endless possibilities of what it had to teach them was exhilarating! Perhaps it was an ancient piece of First Ones technology? Maybe it lead to the coordinates to a First Ones vault where even more technology and relics awaited them? Or maybe-!

*rumble*

With the glow fading, the trio watched as the sphere burst open a little as a large mechanical pincer-like appendage popped out from both sides, crashing into the floor below the large pedestal. From its roundish base, the creature unfurled itself into an insectoid-like monstrosity, with several glowing eyes on each side of its face, and massive jaws as it roared in a ferocious fury.

"I-It's a-!"

"A monster." George stared in disbelief. Of all the artifacts lying around their library, all the mysterious and mystical curiosities around every corner, they never thought, not once, that a monster would be present within their domain.

"..." Catra turned back to the dads as she gestured to the creature. "Okay, just so we're clear, that is so not my fault..."

...

A/N Annnnnd done! This is it folks! We're down to the FINAL CHAPTER OF SEASON 2 ^_^! WHOOHOOOOOOOOOO! God, it feels good to almost be done with this... well, not done since i got 2 more seasons, and ones twice the size of the other XP...oh gawd X*(... *sigh*

But either way, we'll be breaking into some good ol' action next chapter as well as a stunning, thrilling, conclusion to season 2 ^^ I really wonder if by some miracle ill fin season 3 before the final season comes out. Sounds possible since its only 6 episodes, but at the same time, a lot of stuff happens in comparison, and dear god am i looking forward to the changes I have to make X)

Anywho! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you at the season finale!

Chapter 91: S2 Finale Episode 7: Runion End

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 14,069K Pre-A/N's.

Well guys, we did it. We're here. We're at the SEASON! FINALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Idk what to say that hasn't been said already. I'm touched, flattered, overjoyed, so many things and all of them at the same time. My freaking heart is actually jumping for joy, I didn't think we'd get to this ^^!

Credits and thanks will go down to the bottom again as I thank the following people who've been with us after all this time and continue to support the fanfic even now. I can not express my thanks enough, so instead, sit back, relax, and enjoy one heck of a finale!

ENJOY!

...

*Raaaaaaaoooooooooooooooooooo!*

The beast roared with such ferocity that the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. Everything around them shook violently as the beast stomped away from it's massive pedestal, gazing at its quarry like a hungry animal.

"You had a monster hanging around here this whole time?!" Catra stammered, still in disbelief.

"We didn't know it was a creature!" Lance retorted, taking a step back. "We thought it was just a piece of First Ones tech from the dig site."

"Ghhhh..." Catra gritted her teeth as she squeezed her fist. This whole day had taken so many twists and turns that she was expecting to become entangled in the very air itself by the time this day was over.

Finding out a way to strengthen her bond with the sword further, getting a mysterious letter from Bow telling her and Glimmer not to come find him, which Glimmer naturally ignored, getting caught in the library he was sent to that housed relics of the First Ones, including knowledge of the ancient hero known as She-Ra, being mistaken as Bow's girlfriend and forced to play along, and this was still the weirdest part to come out of her day!

At least she wouldn't have said it was a pointless at the end.

Throughout everything she did to keep up Bow's identity as a student at an illustrious Boarding School for history, Catra came to a revelation. Over the course of the many explanations behind their fake relationship, she came to realize why she lost the power to transform into She-Ra's true form following the Battle of Bright Moon. It wasn't some sickness or disease, it wasn't some muscle spasm, it wasn't even something wrong with the sword.

It was her this whole time. More specifically, it was her fear, her dread, of winning the war. It wasn't the victory or the stress of her status that worried her. What did worry her was everything that would happen after if they won, or if the day came that they captured Adora and returned her to Bright Moon.

The friend she's known since childhood, the person who had her back this whole time since she was little. The girl who's making it her life's goal to annihilate the Rebellion and the Princess Rebellion in order to keep Catra from achieving her selfish desire of a kingdom. After everything she did, Catra came to realize she was still worried about her.

And why wouldn't she be? She was still riddled with guilt that everything that's ever happened because of Adora was Catra's fault in the first place. She was convinced that none of this would've happened if Catra had been a little less selfish, none of the terrible acts Adora has committed would happen if she showed the slightest interest in their friendship, instead of taking it for granted like Adora saw.

It's not like she wouldn't fight Adora when the time comes again and again, but as long as she held that weight, that sense of guilt, hanging from the back of her mind, one yelling at her that Adora was her fault in the first place, she would never achieve the true power of She-Ra.

And right now, that was the least of her worries as the fathers continued to back up from behind her. The creature must've towered a good fifteen feet in height and length, its insectoid mandibles snapping its jaws as it slowly neared them. She knew what she had to do as the sword hung from the sheathe on her back. Despite Bow's desire to keep the truth of secret, her options were limited as the beast prepared to attack.

"Sorry about this Bow..." She muttered to herself before pulling the sword out of her back. With her focus on the monster, she rose the sacred sword to the heavens as she spoke the legendary oath, "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

And from their magnificent glow, the red cape slowly formed from behind her, connecting between the two as it slowly descended down to Catra's thigh.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

The two fathers who had shielded their eyes from the blinding light looked back, gasping at the sudden transformation that Bow's girlfriend had gone through. They didn't know what was possibly more shocking; that his girlfriend was magical and most likely a princess, or that her appearance changed in its entirety, resembling some form of She-Ra.

"Y-You're... You're a princess?" George gasped, finding this to be the most incredible and bizarre finding as his years of a historian.

"Kind of, that's still being debated." Catra replied as she looked back. "Now do you mind? I need to take care of this-"

*WHAM!*

"Whooooa!"

*CRASH!*

No sooner did she turn her head back to the mysterious creature, one she came to know as an Elemental, she found herself being smashed away by its tail, being flung through the air and over the balcony of the staircase from where Bow and Glimmer could be seen still studying their findings. Hurtling across the room as the fathers escaped to the stairway, her flight came to an abrupt end at the halfway point as she crashed into several pedestals along the way, being partly buried under a pile of rubble and broken glass.

"Catra!" Bow and Glimmer cried worriedly, seeing their friend-turned-hero being flung across the library.

While the crash itself wasn't as painful, the attack left her momentarily dizzy, the magicat leaning up from the rubble as she shook her head clear. She growled a bit as she saw the elemental rolling into a ball, crashing straight through the balcony's railing as it charged straight towards the girl.

"You wanna play hardball, huh? Fine!" Catra hissed, reaching for her sword... until she discovered it wasn't on her. "What?" It slowly dawned on her as she looked back to the charging beast that she dropped the sword after being launched from her surprise the sword, the legendary blade still settled across the ground on the second floor. "Tch, fine!" She wouldn't let it deter her from beating the elemental back.

She was reckless and resourceful, after all, and the library was chalked full of various pillars, tools, and relics from across the world. Kicking off with her feet, she jumped out of the way of the rolling creature as it nearly bowled her over, and reached for the closest pedestal which housed a strangely decorative jewel inside of it. The glass case remained over the pedestal even as she lifted it like a baseball bat with her incredible strength, ready to send the beast flying as it came near her again!

Or at least, she wanted to.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Lance cried out, grabbing the girl's attention, as well as her friends. "That's an ancient 9th century jewel from the Marnia Dynasty! It's priceless!"

"Ehhh..." The girl drooped her ears a little as she examined the jewel again. She supposed anything sturdy enough to keep the glass locked atop a pedestal to protect the jewel inside of it would have been valuable, so, with a heavy heart, she groaned as she set it back down to the ground, being careful not to knock it over.

*BAM!*

"Ahh!" She cried out again as the creature swiped its head across her entire body, throwing her through the library's room into a bookshelf. The books collapsed atop of her as she fell to the ground. Still not enough to keep her down for more than two seconds, but annoying enough to get her angry. "Fine, we'll try it a different way!" She declared.

Looking across the room again, she grinned as she saw decorative metallic spear with a large violet diamond-shaped crystal at the tip of it hanging from the wall near her. She could tell from first glance that it would've been more than capable of piercing the creature's body, or at least damage it enough get a few dents out of it.

Grabbing for the perfect weapon, she jumped through the air again as she landed on the creatures back, grinning as she maintained her balance as the creature tried to throw her off. With victory drawing near, she raised the majestic spear straight into the air, ready to pierce her target as easily as a knife through butter.

"Not the Spear of Lynctis!" Catra was distracted by the sound of George's rambling. "It took explorers over thirty years to track it down!"

"Are you kidding me right now?!" She grumbled. That moment of distraction was all beast needed to finally get the magicat off its head, throwing her, once again, into the air directly above it, dropping the spear like the sword, and slamming its head into her as it blasted her away with a single bash, scraping the poor girl up as slammed against the wall.

As it stood, she came to discover that fighting the giant monster wasn't her biggest issue right now, with or without her sword. No, her biggest issue was her stupid attachment and respect for the two people known as Bow's dads after how nicely they treated her throughout the day!

She was resourceful, she was capable of taking anything in the environment and finding a way to turn it against her enemies, as was her typical fighting style. What she wasn't used to though was having two people pleading with her not to damage the environment around her, two people she couldn't help but listen to given how kind they were.

On top of that, they were still Bow's dads. She didn't have it in herself to do anything that might've hurt or upset them after all she's been through. Nothing about these people stood out to her as selfish or cruel, granted a little annoying, that said they deserved to see their valuables destroyed.

Like a kid being told they couldn't open their presents until Christmas, it meant she was now weaponless in a room full of potential weapons!

With the beast nearing the injured cat who's legs felt a little numb from the attack, Glimmer turned her head around to see the panicking fathers holding Bow close to them in fright. Much like Catra came to realize, there were a few things more important than risking their necks out to keep Bow's identity a secret.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Glimmer shouted, teleporting on the spot. She reappeared just in the nick of time above the creature's head as it was about to chomp down on the recovering cat, throwing it off its guard as she began blasting at its head repeatedly with blasts of magic, irritating the creature as it was incapable of covering its own head.

The creature began flailing about like a mad bull, the princess hanging on for dear life to avoid suffering the same crashing Catra had several times by now. Noticing the creature's distracted state, the feeling returning to Catra's legs, she dashed ahead as she circled around the giant beast until she manged to reach its backside.

Grabbing hold of its tail, using all the strength she could muster in her current She-Ra state, she lifted the creature's entire body a few few from the ground, enough to get it to stop shaking and providing Glimmer enough time to teleport off its body safely. With her friend's safety secured, she roared angrily as she twirled the creature a full 180*, slamming it harshly into the wall of books to her left, topping the entire shelf on top of it.

It didn't matter if the case itself was destroyed as her only concern was damaging it in a way that kept the other items from being destroyed, and she knew the books were sturdy enough to withstand the impact... hopefully.

It proved fruitless, however, as it did nothing more than to irritate the creature further. With the bookcase still over its head, it charged in the very direction Catra was standing, pushing her back as she held onto the edge of the case, struggling to keep herself from falling over as it crashed over everything else in its path. By the end, the warrior found herself being pinned to a wall as the creature continued, slowly crushing her as the case pushed centimeter by centimeter further into the wall, Catra struggling to maintain what little grip she had to push it back against anything.

Thankfully, the always-dependable teleporter appeared in time above the bookcases' back, grabbing onto her friends shoulder before teleporting the both of them out of the way, right as the monster was about to sink a foot of the case straight through the wall.

With this miraculous display in front of them, as well as horrifying, both of Bow's fathers turned to the son they were still holding onto, their eyes practically demanding some form of explanation behind all of this.

"...What can I say? They really get into their studies...heheh..." He tried to explain, chuckling nervously at his own obvious lie.

With the creature finally slithering out from the case over its head, it rushed towards the charging cat and princess as it bashed away an entire display case towards them, forcing the two to dodge as Catra rushed the creature, jumping over the case, and Glimmer teleporting to safety. With the case still flying towards them, the two dads and their son ran out of the way in time of the impending case, running behind one of the large knocked over tables for to hide and for protection.

"Bow, is your girlfriend a princess? Are they both princesses?!" Lance stammered, unable to believe everything that happened within the last two minutes. The ongoing destruction of the library, the timeless artifacts that continued to be destroyed despite Catra's attempts to keep herself from destroying them, and the amount of damage proceeding throughout the room. It was mind boggling!

Oh, and who could forget? THEY WERE PRINCESSES!

"You are going to tell us what is happening right now, young man, or-" George attempted to instruct as he pointed to Bow accusingly.

"Right now, we have to act before the elemental turns on us." Bow interrupted defiantly. He couldn't push it away any further. Even if his fathers disapproved of him right now, he had much more important matters to contend to, like saving them along with his friends.

"You know what that is?" Lance yelled again, unable to believe what was happening.

"We've run into them before." His son replied. "They only attack when they're trying to protect something. So what is it trying to protect?" Bow squeezed his head as he tried to wrap his mind around it. There was literally anything in a room full of historic artifacts it could be protecting right now.

"You've run into them before? Who are you?!" George shouted angrily, standing to his feet. All the while, the monster could be seen being thrown into the air, in part thanks to Catra's current strength, before crashing back into the ground again. The trio covered themselves as a burst of dust erupted from this, scattering everywhere past the table.

"It was found alongside the shard." Lance revealed as George cleared his throat of the dust. "Could it be that?"

"Dad, you're a genius!" He exclaimed with excitement, realizing what he had to do. "I promise I'll explain everything, but right now you have to trust me." He informed as he stood, hopping over the table as he made his way towards one of the various couches of the library.

"Bow? Bow!" He yelled out for his son again as he ran away.

"Bow! You get back here!" The other, Lance, yelled.

At the same time, the hero known as She-Ra was slammed atop another display case, crushing the delicate relics beneath her body. It was by the sounds of his dads crying out for him in worry that the beast left the temporarily incapacitated She-Ra alone, eyeing the two figures with their heads over the table, as it morphed back into its ball again, speeding straight on ahead towards the two defenseless parents.

Shrieking at the sight of the approaching elemental, Lance gently pushed George down again as it waved its arms, gesturing for it to stop. "Whoa! Never mind. Stay away! STAY AWAY!"

"Glimmer!" Bow called out, earning a nod from his respective friend.

"Got it!" Teleporting in a matter of seconds, the princess vanished and reappeared right behind the two screaming parents, grabbing onto their shoulders and teleporting them to safety, right as the creature crashed through the table.

Reappearing on the second-story balcony, the princess quickly scanned the floor, locating Catra's sword within moments and rushing up to grab it. "Catra, catch!" Glimmer shouted down, seeing her friend getting back on her feet as the elemental charged back to her. With a mighty arm, the princess threw the sword towards her friend, Catra grinning at the perfect shot as the hilt stuck tightly to her hand as the beast neared.

Smirking to herself in satisfaction, the mighty warrior transformed the sword into a giant mace the size of her body, and struck the creature dead center on its right side. The elemental let out a cry of pain as it was blown across the room by Catra's incredible strength, crashing into another bookcase in the process. With this, Catra eagerly took charge at the beast now that her weapon was safely back where it belonged.

Smiling as well, Glimmer took the brief moment to notice the two fathers still staring into space, a look of shock and terror over their faces as they still had yet to realize they had avoided their untimely demise. "Uhhh, it's been really nice meeting you." She claimed, teleporting away to join the fight as the fathers came back to reality. They rushed to the balcony's broken railing in worry as they saw the discord continuing to unravel in the library, and their precious son caught in the middle of all of it.

Panting with each step, the archer ran across the room in desperation as Catra and Glimmer held off the beast for as long as possible, sliding across the ground as he came to the designated couch. Digging under it carefully, the archer struggled to grab onto the treasured weapon, hearing the cries of his friend in the background followed by more crashing as the beast chased them.

"Can't... reach..." He muttered. All of this was happening, everything, because of a lie.

He kept up his appearance as the "perfect son", pretending to be in a boarding school for something he wasn't even interested in, got the two dragged into this because he felt it necessary to spend time with his parents, pretending to be on break. And after everything they've gone through, they were now being chased around by an elemental, none of which would've been happening if he didn't lie in the first place and told his dads where he's been all this time.

Well, no more.

Grunting, the archer tore across the bottom of his tucked-in shirt, the small amount of leather restraining him from stretching his arm any further. The fathers watched in terror as he renounced his status as a scholar and became the archer he was meant to be, Lance and George yelling his name as time seemed to stop around them.

Their son just tore away the very fabric that made him the perfect historian. What was this world coming to?!

"Got it!" With the extra slack available to him now, the archer managed to stretch further under the large couch, finally grabbing at his weapons, and becoming the master archer the two knew him to be.

Back at the others, the two found themselves getting overwhelmed by the strength of the creature as Glimmer was knocked across the room to the other side of the wall. There was nothing Catra could do as the beast rolled back into a ball and rammed straight into her. To prevent herself from being crushed, she pushed back with the sword against the palms of her hand, the girl wincing as she as being pushed into a wall again as she watched a couple of sparks fly off the sword, the beast's endless rotation causing them to bounce around her.

*Boom!*

It was with the small explosion at its side that the beast backed away, giving Catra a moment to catch her breath as she looked back, right at the same time Glimmer got back to her feet.

"Bow!" They called out in unison, glad to finally see archer back to being the person they knew him to be, and the one the two fathers were more confused to see as they watched the archer's skills in action.

The momentary relief came to an abrupt end as the menacing creature narrowed its eyes, rolling back once more as it charged at the defenseless archer. He let out a small yelp of surprise as it neared him before he shot another arrow behind himself, a trick arrow with a rope extension and a claw at the very end. He wasn't trying to take down the beast itself or blast it away.

He was reaching for the very crystal that it was after on the other end of the library, the arrow perfectly breaking through the glass and retrieving the sacred crystal, and returning to the archer. Here, it was neck and neck as the creature and the returning-claw raced back to Bow, his fathers calling out in worry as the elemental was only a few feet away from its intended target. Speed proved to be on Bow's side in the end as the crystal was brought to his palm before the elemental was.

With a nervous gulp, the boy raised the stone before the roaring behemoth, closing his eyes as his life depended on whether or not the creature would stop in time. There was nothing but silence hanging in the air Bow awaited for his inevitable demise, or victory, whichever one he ended up with in the end.

Noticing the shadow looming over him and the lack of movement, the archer slowly opened his eyes until it was revealed, the sight of the large creature staring curiously at the crystal in his hands, all aggression and anger having vanished from its systems.

Using a gentle touch of its mandible, the creature took the crystal back from the archer, losing the will to fight as its sacred treasure had been returned to it. With this, another bright flash illuminated the room as the beast glowed with an impressive light, one that gave way to its transformation as it slowly returned to the sphere it once was, the slivers of light leaving it as it finally closed.

The day, while wrecked around them, had been won.

*swish*

"That's my Bow!" Glimmer cheered proudly, glad that everything, physically speaking, turned out to be okay.

Catra herself actually seemed a bit relieved at the sight as he gave him a smug grin and a shove from behind. "If anybody asks, I'm the one who beat it." She said, partly joking. There was nothing but laughter amongst the three at this, all of them relieved that everything actually turned out alright.

For about three seconds.

"What is going on here?" George finally asked as he approached the scene. All eyes turned to them as the two dads approached, nervousness hanging around everyone as the truth had to come out. There was no way to explain two princesses, a She-Ra, a giant elemental bursting from the library, and their son turning into a master archer, and get them to believe it was all just a school thing.

The three looked to each other anxiously as they frowned, knowing what was going to come out. Despite all the work and effort they put into it, everything that was starting to go smoothly for them, it all eventually crumbled around them, like a dozen of the displays throughout the library. None of them knew what to say or how to get out of this mess.

All Bow knew how to do was to make things right.

With his head hung low as the two girls looked back, Catra returning to normal, Bow moved on, approaching his huffing and puffing father who had such a fire in his eyes, demanding an explanation as Bow stood before him.

"I... I lied to you." He sighed. "There is no Academy of Historic Enterprises." Without looking, he gestured back to the duo, specifically at Catra. "And... Catra's isn't really my girlfriend. She's just a friend. One of my best friends, like Glimmer." The two fathers looked back to the slightly blushing magicat who looked away from the group, scratching the back of her head, unable to think of what to say.

"Um... sorry?" Was her only response, still embarrassed after all she's been through and trying to process this.

"I've been living at Bright Moon, fighting in the Rebellion, alongside Catra and Princess Glimmer." He continued, raising his head. The two fathers looked beside themselves as they glanced at each other, taking in all the information that had been kept under wraps for years and unfolding all around them.

"But... why?" Lance asked, taking a step forward along with George.

"I don't want to be a historian. I've never wanted to be a historian. I'm not a shy bookworm. I'm not a genius like you two. I make things. I'm a soldier. This is who I am and I can't lie about it anymore, even though I know I'm breaking your hearts." With this, the archer lowered his head again, keeping in his sadness and his regrets.

That was the truth of it, all of it. The fathers had finally been revealed the truth of all those years of lies. All the orchestrated schemes behind Bow's leaving, the reason he's been away from home for so long without so much as a warning other than a history of fake letters telling them where he was. Everything, in every little detail, made sense, no matter how much it hurt them.

His dad, George, stepped up to his son as Lance watched uneasily. There was no way to tell how the fathers would react to this, and that's what made it terrifying in the moment. What were they gonna do? Disown him? Berate him? Ground him for life so that he could never run away again? There were so many possibilities that Catra was coming up with that she couldn't tell which was the worse.

Although it was embarrassing to think of, the magicat hid a hand behind her back, stretching out her claws in case the archer needed saving.

After a long pause, a reaction finally occurred. Standing in front of him, with every muscle in his body, he embraced his son, a surprised one, as he hugged him tightly.

"What's breaking our hearts is the fact that you thought you had to lie about who you are." He finally admitted.

"You're not mad?" Bow nearly flinched, the reaction taking him by surprise as his heart began to flutter. At the same moment, Catra retracted her claws again, something Glimmer apparently witnessed as she nudged her with a teasing grin. "But I'm a fighter, and you hate fighters."

"I could never hate you. Never." He stated. "If you feel like you belong in the Rebellion, then that's where you belong." His eyes rose heavy with a sense of pride as he smiled, Lance approaching the two with his own smile.

"Oh, Bow, why didn't you just tell us?" He asked.

"I tried, but you didn't listen." Bow explained, still feeling regret. "You only listened to me if I said what you wanted to hear." The two fathers looked shocked at each other, feeling a sense of shame washing over them both as they looked at Bow with regret.

"We had no idea you felt that way. We were just trying to encourage you to pursue your dreams." It hurt him inside to know this. How could he have been so blind, so selfish, in that he only saw and heard what he wanted to hear? He felt terrible! Tears started to trickle down his and George's face at the emotions rising from his chest. "We thought we were being supportive when really we were being terrible." The father broke down as he cried into his own arm.

"We love you the way you are. And we're proud of you no matter what path you take in life." His other father assured, smiling with comfort. The archer himself finally broke into tears.

Despite everything, despite all the emotional lengths this took, they still forgave him, they still loved him. All this time, all he's done to prevent his parents from finding out, had been a complete waste of time.

He didn't need to hide anything from them, something he should've known since day one. He thought they were going to hate them for it when really they were prouder than ever for confessing the truth. They cared more about his safety and his happiness than the personal goals they had set out for him, and that's what made him cry the most.

The fact they truly loved him. That was the reality that Catra came to realize.

It was sort of a weird experience for the magicat as she continued to watch this as the people continued to break down around them. Sure, it was a touching scene, everything worked out in the end. So what? Why was everyone crying about it? It was embarrassing being in a room where his friends, Glimmer included, and two grown men were breaking down into tears, and a part of her wanted to stop it to keep everyone from embarrassing each other.

But she didn't. She didn't do anything to impede the scene, and for once, she was just fine with that. To her, it was the fact that everything turned out to be okay that truly mattered. And for a change, it actually got a sincere, comforting, smile out of the girl.

That was when Glimmer paused from wiping her teary eyes from her shirt as she heard a strange noise. A familiar one, but one hasn't heard in what felt like ages. Turning around, she let out a small gasp at what she saw on Catra's face.

"Catra... you're crying!" She whispered amongst themselves.

"What?" Catra was confused at the statement as she looked back. "Did you hit your head too hard or something? I'm smiling, not crying."

"No, Catra, seriously! You're crying!" Glimmer's heart beamed at the sight of it as she pointed to Catra's face.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not-" Catra stopped as she felt along her cheeks. Pulling her hand back, she felt it, saw it. Tears. Actual tears were rolling down her face. Confused at the sight, she tried wiping her face again with her other hand to make sure it wasn't just sweat, and sure enough, they were filled with tears too. "I'm... I am crying..." She muttered, still feeling around her eyes. "I'm actually crying for some reason."

"Ooooooh!" Squealing, Glimmer hugged the girl tightly, leaving the girl in a state of confusion as she tried to figure out what was wrong with herself. "Catra it's okay, it's wonderful!"

"What are you talking about? I'm just happy, I'm not crying. Maybe it's just dusty around here or something?" She wasn't trying to put it off or anything, she was legitimately confused by why she was crying. Given everything that was currently wrecked around here, it wouldn't have surprised her.

"Oh, Catra, don't you get it?" Glimmer said, continuing to smile as she let go. "You're feeling touched. Pure happiness. That's how you're supposed to feel at a time like this."

"Pure... happiness?" The girl wiped another droplet from her eye as she examined the tear closely.

She can't remember the phrase of if it had ever been an influence on her life, nor did she know anybody around her that ever cried from being too happy. It was weird feeling to describe to herself as she tried to think of every reason she could be crying. Maybe she was secretly frightened of the beast and that caused her to cry in the middle of battle? Maybe the tears just started to happen when she touched her eyes on accident and didn't even feel it?

It was a complete mystery to her. People should only cry when they're hurt or when they're angry, upset, relieved, or sad over something. Who in the right mind cried over something when they were happy? When they had nothing else to actually worry about?

...When was the last time she felt truly happy? That's what she was beginning to wonder as she stared back at the hugging family. Were they all crying because of how happy it was, or was that sadness? If she started crying over stuff like this, then how was she supposed to know when she was actually sad or happy anymore?

"But... I don't get it. Why am I crying, then? Why are they crying?"

"You still don't get it, huh?" Still teary-eyed, the princess looked back to the same sobbing family who embraced one another. "They're crying because they know what's most important, and it touches them. All their fears and their worries were for nothing, and they finally see that now. That's why they're crying."

"What truly... matters?" Catra blinked, slowly pulling out her sword as she gazed over the reflection she saw, one last time. What truly matters... to me, then? She thought to herself, trying to make heads or tails over this confusing dilemma. Was there something in her life she wanted more than her dream, more than a kingdom? And if so, then what?

"Hey!" The two nearly jumped as George called over, pulling away from the hugging pair. "This is a family hug, Princesses." What they thought was originally anger dwindled to shear warmth as his eyes softened. "You're part of Bow's family, too."

Glimmer let out a small gasp as she and Catra looked at each other. Without giving the girl a chance to decide for herself, she quickly pulled Catra by the wrist, jumping over to the small hugging squad as they held one another warmly.

Here, Catra was the only one who felt the odd one out. Not because she didn't appreciate the moment or the gesture, not because she was the magicat among regular people, but simply because she couldn't understand. She couldn't understand any of this or this "happy-sadness" she was feeling for the first time. It needed an explanation, someone to describe this feeling to her.

And for the first time in her life, she didn't care. She smiled a little as she closed her eyes, deciding to embrace the moment for now instead of questioning it. She didn't know what this feeling was, and she was more than happy to keep it that way if it meant it would stick with her. As long as she remembered this feeling throughout the day, then she was fine with it.

For once in her life, as if a distant memory, she came to realize how warm it felt to be loved for by others...

...

"On one of our missions, we received a message from an unknown source." Bow explained as his dads examined the tracker pad personally. From behind him, Catra and Glimmer waited eagerly as Bow explained one of the key purposes for this entire day, the reason they needed this information so badly. "If we knew what Serenia is, I think we could figure out the rest."

"Serenia portal Mara." Bringing the pad up closer to his face, adjusting his reading glasses, Lance tried to piece together the words and their strange meeting. "Okay. But what are these other words?"

"Honestly, I don't have a clue." Catra replied, scratching her head. "It's too degraded for me to understand."

"Wait a second. Lance!" Noticing something himself, the other father brought the pad closer between them as Lance held onto it. "What does this pattern look like to you?" It only took a single second for the thought to come to Lance's mind, and then he gasped.

"Huh! Oh, I think you're right!"

"What is it?" Bow asked walking towards them.

"Look at it, Bow. Really look at it." George directed as he brought the pad closer to his son. "What do you see?" Bow peered deeply into the pad as he focused.

What was it? What did his dads see that he couldn't? Was there a certain symbol that stuck out of place? A line of data that was encoded within the lines? He knew whether or not he wished to be as smart as them that he could figure it out. He just had to narrow down the parts of the image to see what came to him.

The trouble was specifically what came to him. He still couldn't tell what he was looking at or the hidden meaning possibly behind it. If he had some sort of hint, like maybe a Legend from a map that detailed the symbols on a paper, or some high-tech computer to analyze this stuff, he could understand it better. For all it was worth, the most he saw were the hundreds of lines that took up the screen, the strange patterns that came across it, and the round orbs scattered throughout that...

Wait a minute.

Eyes widening, Bow rose his head as a grand revelation finally came to him. "These aren't words at all, are they?" He guessed correctly.

"Oooh, now you've got it." Lance squealed, proud of his warrior-preferred son. "George, get the projector!" The friends questioned to each other what was going on as George ran in one direction across the room, all while Lance was smiling with glee as he awaited the necessary projector.

Wheeling it in, the historian started up the globe-like projector as everyone gathered around it. "The world of the First Ones was different from us." George began. "Climate, language, even the sky was different, filled with cosmic formations they called..." Eager to get it underway, the man touched the machine, projecting a holographic display above everyone.

It was something Catra hadn't seen in a long time, not since Madame Razz herself showed them to her. It was an image that she had only bore witness to herself once, and one she could never forget as her face lit up a little. "Stars!"

"The First Ones used them to navigate and named constellations after mythical heroes, including Serenia." Lance explained as the children gazed at the wonder around them. At the mention, they watched as a formation of lines started to appear above them, forming the familiar symbol that Catra came to know as Serenia.

"The Constellation Serenia would only appear in summer, and only over one place." George added, adjusting the projector as a new hologram came to the group. It wasn't like the previous ones that were displayed over the sky.

Instead, it was the terrain around them, displaying what appeared to be a horrible and mutilated piece of land that held no room for life, where hope went to die. It was the one place everyone knew of, where none dared to tread.

"The Crimson Waste." Just saying the name was enough to make Glimmer shiver a little. She's heard stories about many an adventurer who would seek out treasure, fame, fortune from all across the world, and how all their stories ended terribly within the region.

Even Catra was more than aware of how horrible the place was, having been threatened to be sent there multiple times as a child for disobedience. It was a threat that she never took personally since she knew that that would require people to actually bring her to the Crimson Waste itself to drop her off. But the idea of it alone was nerve wracking enough to make her claws tremble a little.

"We have to go there." She announced.

"What?! You can't just go into the Crimson Waste!" Lance stammered. No amount of love for his son would make him foolish enough to go to some place as dangerous as that. He could have an actual army behind him and he'd still forbid it, it was that dangerous! "It's a no-man's-land, a giant lifeless desert. No ones ever made it that far and come back alive."

"They haven't, huh?" Catra muttered to herself as she looked against the desert again. She knew it, they all did, that they didn't have a choice. It was only natural that one of the most dangerous places in Etheria would also be the location they needed to go, and it wasn't going to change for her because she wanted it to.

What would change for her is how she would do it. If they even thought about attempting it, they would need power, more than She-Ra had, something that would ensure their safety through the dreaded wasteland. They couldn't afford to drag the other princesses into it, knowing it was just as dangerous, if not possibly more, than the Fright Zone itself. If going to a place like the Fright Zone meant certain death, then going to the Crimson Waste was asking for death right then and there.

When she thought about it more, she realized something; maybe it wasn't a matter of how much strength She-Ra had, but how much strength she had now.

"Promise me, you kids will stay away from there." George pleaded.

Glimmer and Bow turned to one another in unease, wondering what the other was thinking. There was no way they could avoid it despite its dangers. The more they learned about She-Ra, the better chance they had at winning this war, of stopping the Horde possibly! They couldn't verbally acknowledge their intentions now to the troubled dads, but they could at least think about it for the time being.

"Okay, we promise." Glimmer assured, turning to her friend. "Right Cat-" She stopped.

Catra was gone. The four slowly grew aware of their surroundings that there was one person missing from the group, someone who mattered just as much as the rest of them. "Catra?"

*Tweeeeeeeeeet~!*

From the open window, ironically the same one Catra wanted to use to get out of this place at the start, they heard a familiar whistling. Looking back at one another, her friends quickly ran for the door, racing outside to see what their friend was doing and why she suddenly took off.

Coming through the front doors, they arrived just in time to see Swift Wind flying down from the sky, the eager horned-pegasus flapping his wings as he landed in front of the awaiting hero.

"Hey, Catra!" He greeted as his friend jumped atop his back. "You want to go do more training or something?"

"Take me to Bright Moon Castle." She ordered firmly.

"Wait, Catra!' Glimmer yelled, running up to Swifty with Bow following behind her, while the Horse began to flap his wings again. "What are you doing?"

"Don't you at least want to stay for dinner or something?" Bow asked? It was among the least of the things he could provide for them after all they've been through, on top of everything he now owed her.

Scratching the back of her neck, Catra replied in an unusual sense of awkwardness, keeping her eyes away from them. "I, uh, got something to take care of." She replied as they started flying a few feet from the ground. "I'll meet you guys later at the castle."

"The castle? But Catra, why do you need to go now?"

"I can't talk about it, I'll explain later!" She yelled as she started to ascend to the sky. "I'll explain later!" Was the last thing they heard before she disappeared past the trees overhead. The two waited for a few seconds before Glimmer could say anything, wondering the exact same thing the other was at this moment.

"What was that about?"

...

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Angella asked as she sat atop her throne.

By now, Catra was situated at the very center of the Throne Room, the very place she stood when she joined the Rebellion, and with Swift Wind at her back once again, this time, more as a friend. The evening dusk began to settle in as the sun was setting, glistening against the beautiful forest behind the open archways of the room. Like the time before, Catra felt an overwhelming sense of nervousness as she tried to speak, this time accompanied by the feeling of stupidity floating around her mind.

"Honestly, An- I mean, Your Majesty," she held back the need to roll her eyes, both of them knowing it was the proper way to address a royalty of the court, "I don't. I really don't want to do this. Right now, everything is screaming in my head to tell me to stop this and turn away."

"...Buuuut..." Angella piqued, knowing what was going to come.

Catra let out a sigh through her nose before she continued, "But... I can't. I really can't. If I'm to get stronger, then this needs to be done."

The Queen tapped at her chin in curiosity, wondering if something else could be done. "Well, if you'd prefer, we could postpone the deal until after the Horde has been dealt with-"

"No!" Catra nearly shouted, refraining from doing so in a room full of guards and people. "I... I can't have that. It needs to be this way, period. No postponing, no off-the-side deal, just..." She frowned a little as she turned her head slightly, still unable to believe what she was doing. "I need to do this right. Nothing more, nothing less."

Silence filled the air as all eyes turned to the Queen of Bright Moon. The one who had the final and only say within the throne room, the one who addressed the issues and details of Bright Moon and Etheria all over on a daily basis, the very one who was the leader of the Rebellion, the single driving force pushing back against the Horde with the might of She-Ra on their side.

At the beginning, the Queen held disdain for the girl, apprehensive about her demeanor. She didn't trust Catra from Day 1 for weeks and weeks after joining, it took forever for her to believe in her. She lacked any sense of reason to trust the girl, this Horde soldier who barged into her Throne Room on that day, claiming to be a defector who had decided to join the Rebellion for her own personal gain. Anyone that greedy was hard to accept as a trusted ally.

Now, she was looking at her with a warm smile, a gentle face. To see that person, to see how far she's come since then, leading up to this very moment, was perhaps one of the most touching displays Angella had ever gotten to bore witness to.

And it was thanks to Catra that she got the chance to see it.

"If that is your decision, so be it." Looking to her left and to her right, the Queen nodded slowly as she rose from her seat. "As Queen of Bright Moon, leader of the Rebellion, through the power of my court and my seat on the Throne, I hereby rescind the agreement we initially came upon. She-Ra," Catra lifted her head at the name, looking at her almost as if she was pleading for her to do this, "will not receive a kingdom in payment for bringing us to victory against the Horde."

At the declaration, all the guards rose the butt of their spears as the Queen stood, then pounded it against the ground in acknowledgement as the Queen sat. Catra gave a small smile back, almost letting out a brief chuckle as Swift Wind rubbed his head against the side of her cheek, displaying his own sense of pride for the girl. Catra herself actually gave a small bow of the head as she agreed upon the statement, patting for Swift Wind to turn around as the two began to make way for the door.

"I'm eager to see how else you'll continue to inspire us, Catra." Angella commented, feeling proud for the girl. To this sincerity, at no surprise at all, the girl just waved her hand carelessly in the air back to her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep your wings on." She joked, in a more playful manner than she usually did. "Just make sure there's a baked salmon waiting for me at dinner tonight, and we'll call it even."

It almost got a chuckle out of the Queen, seeing Catra actually trying to seem like her old self after everything they've been through. If that wasn't enough to get a laugh out of her, she most certainly earned one after Catra opened the door, resulting on Bow and Glimmer plopping on top of her as they pressed themselves against the doorway, trying to listen in on everything that happened.

"Hey, get off me!" Catra yelped, the other two scrambling to get to their and coming up with excuses as they vacated the Throne Room, Swift Wind's tail being the last thing the Queen saw as the door closed behind them.

"O-Oh, Catra, what are you doing here?" Bow feigned ignorance as Catra sneered at the two of them.

"We were just coming by to see you," Glimmer also feigned, trying to come up with a plausible excuse, "and what you were doing. What exactly were you doing in-"

"Yeah, can the small talk." Catra spat, throwing her hands behind her head. "I know you dweebs were listening on everything." She may not have known the exact moment they arrived, or if they actually followed her all the way back the moment she left, but she knew they would've been too curious to see what he was up to.

Chuckling to each other nervously, Bow and Glimmer prepared themselves as they tried to get to the heart of the matter.

"Catra, did you... Did you really give up your kingdom in there?" Glimmer asked, unable to believe what she heard through the door.

"Why? Do you have a problem about it?" She grumbled back.

"W-What? No, no, no, nothing like that!" She stammered, shaking her hands in front of her. "It's just... Catra, I thought it was your dream to have your own kingdom? Somewhere to call the shots and all that stuff?"

"I didn't expect you to ever give up on it." Bow added, crossing his arms. "Even if you haven't mentioned it for some time, I thought you wanted some reward out of all of this?"

"Yeah, well," a small tint of a blush formed around Catra's cheeks as she looked off to the side, "I just... figured, you know? What's the point of having a kingdom if you don't beat the Horde in the first place? And really, why would I want one anyway? All the paperwork, everyone coming to you with their stupid problems, it just seemed kind of annoying to me, so I decided to call it off."

"But you told me it was because you were worried about Glimmer and Bow?" Swift Wind stated.

"Gh-!" Catra bit down at her own teeth at the announcement as her blush intensified all over her cheeks, her tail shooting to the air.

"Yeah, don't you remember on the way over here?" Swift Wind smiled as he lifted his head, going off his thoughts as he waved his right wing tip like a hand. "You said, and I quote, "I need to become more like She-Ra in order to become stronger so I can protect those two when we go to the Crimson Waste-" " He was cut off as he was grabbed by Catra's hands pulling him over to her, clamping his mouth shut in the process.

"THERE WAS A REASON I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY ANYTHING IN THE THRONE ROOM TO BEGIN WITH!" She stammered as Bow and Glimmer laughed in response. "S-SHUT UP! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! HONEST!" That only cemented their laughter as it grew twice as loud.

Suffice to say, Swift Wind spoke the truth of Catra's words. She needed to become stronger, she wanted to, and that may have been somewhat seen as selfish. What truly made it a selfless act, however, was her desires behind it.

She wasn't doing it anymore for a kingdom, a dream she shared with a long lost friend of hers she could only hope to get back by this point. Instead, she did it for them. Her friends. The people she's started to feel like a family towards as each day drove by.

Yeah, she still wanted a lot of things personally out of this war. She was bummed beyond belief that she would no longer get the kingdom of her dreams, any chance she had of calling the shots and giving orders. And she would never fully admit it to the likes of them, friends or not, or even to her enemies, that she was doing it for someone else!

...But that was the truth behind it. It was for someone else. The people that mattered to her these days. As their missions continued to become more and more dangerous, she knew she couldn't let anyone hold her back, including herself. She needed to become stronger at any cost, even if it meant losing some of her personal benefits in the process.

Cheesy as it was, her current benefit were the friends and family she had right now rather than some hunk of rock she could name after for herself.

"C-Cat-ahahaha!" Glimmer continued to laugh, wiping at her eyes as she tried to calm down. "W-We're not laughing at you!" She chuckled to let out a few breaths as she collected herself. "We're just proud of you, that's all."

"Heh, yeah." Bow agreed, smiling back. "We're really happy for you. And we're glad you care so much, even if you won't admit it."

"Tch, whatever." Catra muttered, shifting her eyes away as she blushed again. "Don't think this means I'm going to be treating you guys anymore buddy-buddy than I usually do, got it? Nothing's changed."

"Haha, we get it, Catra, don't worry." Glimmer chuckled again before eyeing her sword. "So, how much stronger do you think you've gotten, now?"

"How much stronger?" The magicat was actually wondering for herself as she pulled out her sword, staring at it. Like it was actually approving of her, Catra could actually feel the sword's energy flowing from her hands, the intense boost flowing through her like a wave. That alone was enough proof of how much stronger her bond with the sword has gotten, and she grinned eagerly as she thought of the best way to test it out. "There's only one way to find out!"

Stepping away from her, her friends stood back and watched, preparing to see the newest transformation of Catra with their very eyes. Twirling the sword a little bit in her hand, waiting for the rest to step back, she grinned. She knew the right words to say, she knew the way she was supposed to hold it, and she knew that, no matter what, she was going to be prepared for the future.

She was ready for this.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"

...

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Aroda shouted as she continued to walk backwards ahead of Adora. "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! I FORBID IT!" The living reflection shouted as it tried to push back against the girl, being powerless as Adora easily pushed against her without a care despite all of her strength.

"My decision is final, Aroda." Adora stated, keeping her mind focused. "Hordak called to see me for something, and I'm going to tell him about Shadow Weaver." Nothing would convince Adora otherwise as she traveled through the halls of the citadel.

This was Adora's final decision, her final choice. She couldn't keep it bottled any longer, not while her friends had to suffer for it.

Following Shadow Weaver's escape, Adora had been at her wit's end. She couldn't handle the stress anymore. Everywhere she went when someone questioned how or why she did something, bumped into her on accident, or came to file a complaint, she snapped at them. She yelled at them, insulted them for bothering her, and even went as far as to threaten those who questioned her leadership. It was when she did it to Scorpia that the last straw had been pulled.

After a brief, rather strange comforting moment, Adora broke down. She broke down as she confessed everything to her, everything that had upset her throughout the last few days. How she was tricked and played for a fool by Shadow Weaver's own hands, how she manipulated her with the promise of exchange for information in exchange for her own safety, and how she tricked her into giving her an old Sorcerer's Badge from her time in Mystacor, which still housed enough magical energy to aid in her escape.

And just as Adora was starting to see her as a mother again.

The girl stayed by her side the entire hour as she cried into Scorpia's side. Scorpia proved herself to be an invaluable friend ot the distressing Force Captain as she listened to all of her fears, all of her worries. For the moment, she appreciated Scorpia in every regard, from her constant need to cheer Adora up, and always being there at her side. She was truly the closest thing Adora could consider to a new best friend, and practically felt it before she was summoned to see Lord Hordak.

She had no idea what to expect right now. Was he aware of Shadow Weaver's vanishing? Did he somehow discover her involvement behind everything? Or were her worries getting the better of her, knowing what would await her if she failed him one more time?

It didn't matter at the present, not as long as she was still a Force Captain and a commander. She still had a job to do and that required her to follow orders and to make sure everything ran smoothly for the time being.

She wouldn't allow her thoughts to get in the way, she wouldn't let her fears control her, and she definitely wasn't in the mood to listen to Aroda anytime soon.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's back up here for a second." The panicking Aroda pleaded as Adora crossed another intersection. "Do you really think any meeting involving Lord Hordak is going to run smoothly?"

"I don't even know what he wants, Aroda." Adora admitted, keeping a hardened expression. "For all I know maybe he has a new announcement he has to tell me."

"Oh, yeah, let's play with that idea." Crossing her eyes, Aroda spoke in Hordak's voice as she placed her hands behind her back. "Hello, Adora. I have an announcement to make. I'm going to execute you right now for losing Shadow Weaver. I'll send your belongings to your next of kin before they're executed, too."

"Knock it off." Adora pushed aside as Aroda floated to her side, still walking. "It's not like I can avoid Hordak even if I wanted to, in case you forgot. He's the leader of the Horde."

"Who says we have to avoid him? Just listen to me for a sec!" The reflection temporarily blocked Adora's path as she threw both her arms to each side, thankful the girl was giving her five seconds of peace. "Think about it. We go in there, and then what? He tries to execute us or something? So, we get a little defensive and fight back. We scuffle for a bit, throw a few insults back and forth, and then we pound him in the back of his head when his guard is down!"

"Ugh, are you crazy? I'm not going to fight Lord Hordak!" Adora scoffed, unable to believe she even considered listening to Aroda.

"Hey, hey, slow down there, I'm not saying necessarily fight him. Think about it, you've been doing all the work, and Tinman back there has been acting more and more aggressive towards you even after everything you done. So, and I'm just throwing it out there... what if we, you know, sneak in a little bit, see if the coast is clear... wait until his guard is down... and then-"

"Absolutely not!" Adora yelled, walking passed Aroda without a second thought.

"Hey, Adora, calm down. Listen for a second-"

"I'm not listening any more, you are insane! You want me to get rid of Lord Hordak?" There were many things that Adora would be willing to do if it meant proving her loyalty to Lord Hordak again. Take out a Rebellion stronghold on her own, capture a neighboring region, strengthen their weaponry, whatever came to mind, and he could torture and threaten her all the same in the end.

That still wasn't enough to convince her to go through with anything like Aroda was suggesting and getting rid of Lord Hordak like that.

"Who says it'd be us getting rid of him? Maybe we just found him like that after an accident? Get it?" Her nervously teethy grin didn't get so much as a wink from the girl as she walked right passed her, and it was starting to tick Aroda off. "Look, Adora, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but don't forget, you're piloting for two of us in there, and I don't like the idea of getting myself killed!"

"And I don't like the idea of getting rid of somebody like you're proposing. What would be the point in it, anyway?"

"Because you would be in charge then." At the statement, Aroda grinned a little as Adora came to another stop. She grinned to herself as she floated to Adora's side, placing a hand over her shoulder as she spoke gently into her ears.

"Think about it, Adora. If he suddenly disappeared, you would be next in line in his chain-of-command to run the Horde, and then, you'd be calling the shots. The Horde rules over half the planet as it is, and you can do whatever you want with that half. Expand it, control it, collect from it." She sneered as she leaned towards Adora's other ear, acting like the conscious on her shoulders. "Think about it. You've been doing such a great job, much better than Hordak ever could. Isn't it about time you got something in return?"

"Think of all the people still crying out for a hero, hmm? Think of everything you could help with your own two hands if the army was being ran your way? You could finally start running things the way you wanted, however you wanted, and nobody would dare to betray you."

"..." Adora remained silent as she contemplated every word. She wasn't about to go around and start ruling half the world or whatever Aroda wanted, but she did at least make a good point. If Hordak was gone, she would be free. She wouldn't have anyone to threaten her anymore, and she'd be calling the shots. But more importantly, she wouldn't have to live in fear anymore.

She wouldn't have to worry about being betrayed, not as often. Who would be gullible or foolish enough to betray the leader of the Horde in the first place? It'd be a guaranteed death sentence! And with all the people who were still struggling because of this war, she had the chance to finally help them, to prove once and for all that she was on the side of the righteous, the heroes this world needed to be.

She could shape everything, everyone, to make a better world... for herself...

"... No." It was with that very last thought that Adora pushed on, declining Aroda's idea yet again. "I'm not looking to rule anything, Aroda. I just want to do my job and defeat the Rebellion."

"Oh, come, OOOOOOOOOON!" She shouted. "Doesn't your life mean anything to you? Is it because of me? It's because of me, isn't it? Tell you what, you go with my idea, and I'll never bother you again. How does that sound?"

"The answer is still no!" She shouted with conviction. "I don't care about ruling anything, Aroda, I don't want to force people on how to live their lives, I just want to protect them! I'd rather take my chances with Hordak and be done with it, and if you don't like it, then that's your problem." As she finally reached the doors to the inner sanctum, Adora looked back. "Why don't you just wait on the sidelines like you always do and tell me "I told you so" if I end up being wrong?" Without another word, the captain walked through the opening doors, leaving a fuming Aroda to squeeze her fist as she disappeared.

"Oh, trust me Adora..." She seethed. "I will..."

With the captain having arrived at the inner sanctum, and Aroda thankfully out of sight and out of mind, Adora sighed. She combed her hair a little bit, making sure her posture was straight, and took those first few steps as she explored the confines of his lair.

To say she was nervous would be a severe understatement. Despite all the rantings and anger towards Adora's plan, she couldn't say Aroda was wrong for her reasoning. If Hordak was aware of the situation, then he was most likely planning to do away with her, to end her. And she still couldn't bring herself to back down from his summons.

Hordak was a respectable leader, a reasonable one, she believed. He wasn't one that would lash out without proper cause, not unless there was a good reason for it. If Adora just explained to him what happened, everything behind it, then surely he would understand that it was all a mistake, that she was tricked behind the master of deception.

That was the only way she could convince herself to move on ahead.

Walking through the seemingly-empty sanctum to the inner lab, Adora kept her heart rate steady, taking slow deep breaths as she prepared for whatever eventuality she would come across. As usual, the girl cleared her throat, preparing to address Lord Hordak in all his glory as she stood in the center of his lab.

"You wanted to see me, Lord Hordak?" Adora greeted to the man who dabbled away at the far table.

"Yes, Force Captain." Hordak replied, continuing to mess with something that she could only see the sparks of. "I wish to, how did you put it? Touch base with you."

"You... you did?" Adora questioned, squeezing her hands at her side.

"Yes, Adora." Turning his head a little to the side, she saw the last thing she ever expected to be present on his face as he continued to work. A small smile. "I must admit, you've surprised me as of late, with all the feedback I've been hearing. I'm impressed."

"I did?" Adora actually smiled a little in turn as he continued to work, typing away on a nearby console.

"Yes, with all the data from the outposts we've collected and the resources you've gained from your previous mission, I'm starting to think I was wrong about you." Adora swore that her heart skipped a beat briefly.

Maybe she wasn't in trouble after all? Maybe she was actually wrong about everything! Perhaps Hordak has been more on top with her accomplishments than she thought he was, and had been holding off on this meeting until she finally did something that impressed her.

The idea of that alone was more than enough for the girl. She, impressed, him! Hordak! She mentally shook her head to herself at the ridiculous thoughts she had about him before, all the fears washing away down a stream of nothingness as she stood proudly to be at his sanctum. He really was the great hero she knew him to be, the glorious leader of the Horde like she always dreamed of.

"T... Thank you, Lord Hordak!" Adora beamed happily, bowing her head at this.

"I trust that you've also been following my orders, and have been making sure everything is running efficiently?" He stopped as he set his tools away.

"Y-Yes, sir!" She saluted. "Everything's been running smoothly, I promise."

"Does this mean Shadow Weaver has been transferred to Beast Island, as per my orders?" He asked again, turning to look her in the eye.

The girl turned her eyes away for but a moment. "Uh, y-yes, sir. Everything's been..." As she slowed, a frown grew over her expression, lowering her head. She could have it all right now. His respect, being seen as useful to the Horde, somebody he could consider dependable. All she would have to do was lie about it and say what he expected to hear, what she wanted to tell him.

But she couldn't. She couldn't bring it in herself to lie to him, not when she was starting to gain his respect. He finally started to show trust in her, and the girl couldn't bring herself to lie to him, not when he expected the truth most.

She's spent more than enough time with liars.

"I-I mean... No, Lord Hordak." Adora shook her head, kneeling as Hordak turned around in full. "Shadow Weaver, she... she escaped, several nights ago, and we've... We've failed to locate her." She quickly stood up. "But we're still looking, honest. I've known her for all my life, and I know she couldn't have gone far. I promise you, I'll find her, tomorrow at the latest!"

"...I see." Hordak appeared to be thinking about everything she said as he rubbed his chin. "And is that all you have to tell me?" He asked again. Looking off to the side, Adora gave him a small smile as she nodded.

"Y-Yes sir, and I apologize again. But I swear, we're using our best equipment to find her. She'll be found in no time, and I'll-"

"I'm the reason Shadow Weaver got out to begin with!" Adora's heart froze as her eyes went hollow.

That wasn't her. That wasn't her voice. She heard the message playing over and over again in her head as she looked up to the ceiling, into the darkness above. There, she saw the downfall of herself, the creature that had this exact recording of her- The Imp.

The imp fluttered across the room as it continued to play the recording, mocking her and all of her foolishness. "I was tricked by the very person I didn't have an ounce of trust in, and I still helped her escape!" She saw Hordak's eyes. How they narrowed, how they were disgusted at the very sight of her. Those loathing, seething, glowing red eyes of pure hatred.

"The minute Hordak finds out about it, he's going to make me suffer, and I can't let that happen! Here, the Imp taunted her as it played the middle of that recording several times.

"-he's going to make me suffer-"

Finally, the beast had enough of its toying around as it flew to its master's side. It grinned to the girl who had been caught in the act as it climbed on top of his shoulders. From behind, it smiled viciously, with the girl completely unaware that Hordak had been drawing closer to her throughout all this feedback.

"At least you told the truth about that." Without another word, the leader of the Horde, the one Adora had been wrong about once again, pulled the lever that sealed her fate.

"W-Wait! It's not what you-" It was too late for Hordak to ignore the rest of the girl's pleading as he pulled the switch. Adora felt empty inside as she lifted her head, staring at the ceiling that was powering up against her wishes.

"I meant every word I said about you, Adora." He seethed. Right as he finished, the area around them erupted in a violent pink light, the air around them being suppressed in its entirety.

No, worse than that. It felt like the air was being sucked out of the girl's lungs as she struggled to breathe, Adora gasping for air as she grabbed at her throat. The field around her was being affected immensely as objects rose through the air, as life was being sucked clean out of the force field he conjured, and the energy around her was draining from her environment. There was nothing she could do, with or without her shadows as they responded in full, as dark veins rose against her arms on both sides and swarmed towards her neck.

"Multiple outposts lost under your watch." He went on in detail as he slowly approached the trembling girl, one who buckled under the weight of her own legs. "Resources depleting faster than you can collect them. I've heard you had this She-Ra under your grasp at one point, and still managed to fumble it up!"

"I-It's... It's not what..." She rasped. She couldn't do anything as he approached, other than to squeeze her own throat, tying to keep whatever air she had left.

"And it was with this final act that you proved me wrong, Adora." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as he grabbed her by the throat. There was no power in her shadows as the energy was drained around them, no way to help her from any outside forces, even if they were watching. The angered lord lifted her off the ground as he hung her in the air up to his face, feeling the pathetic worm's attempt to scratch away at his hands. It would've been amusing if he didn't hate her so.

"I gave you a chance, a chance to come clean about everything." He hissed. "A chance to prove your worth to the Horde, to prove your chance to me, and you failed. All you had to do was be honest with me this one, last time, and you couldn't even do that right."

"I... I-I..." The tears dripped from her face and under his hands as she felt her life fading, her struggling coming to an end.

"But worst of all, you thought you could slip by me, to throw in a lie with the truth, much like Shadow Weaver attempted multiple times in the past, and it disgusts me how much you resemble her right now. The fact that you tried to squeeze your way out of it proves that you have a limited amount of loyalty in your veins." The lights started to dim around her as Adora's limbs dropped to her side. She couldn't breath, she could barely see, and it was beginning to become harder to hear as the noise around her distorted.

All she saw left was a pair of glowing red eyes as she started to be surrounded by darkness.

"And if there's one thing I hate worse than failures, its soldiers, with LIMITED! LOYALTY!" It was the last thing she heard before even his eyes went dark to her.

But it wasn't the last thing that sang through her mind.

"I told you soooooo~"

...

Catra's chambers looked peaceful for a change, felt peaceful, at that. For one of the first times since the girl had officially joined the Rebellion, since she turned her back on everything in the Battle of Bright Moon, she actually went to sleep with a smile across her face.

It was rejuvenating, refreshing, for a change, as the outside lights of the night's sky filled her chambers, almost enshrouding the girl in their spectacular warmth. So many things had happened to her within the last month. So many adventures, so much drama, and this was the final thing she could ask for, a good night's rest.

Everything felt pleasant to her for a change since the ceremony this afternoon, since she recalled her offer for a kingdom. They had a typical dinner, which was thankfully baked salmon as Catra requested, the friends hung out for a bit, then made their way to their respective chambers as they turned in for the night, preparing for whatever the next day had to bring.

But she wouldn't even make it past midnight before the trouble finally began.

It was there, as Catra lied peacefully against the bed, her sword off to the side, that a figure appeared, their presence looming over the girl as they made their identity known. The figure itself was beyond comprehension that it would come to them of all people at this time of their lives, but it didn't have a choice. As much as it disgusted her to say, they needed the girl for their own agenda, to accomplish what no one else was capable of right now.

And standing over them, Shadow Weaver wouldn't take no for an answer...

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

Final Word Count: 970K+

~ We're right beside you ~

Special Thanks: Endless Chains, Star Saber, Peyton Helix, reaper king, Shadow Joestar for their constant love and support, as well as everyone else who saw this season through to the end.

Additional Special Thanks goes to Petie doon over on Instagram for his beautiful fan art and creations for the series, give him a look up to show your support!

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Final Review Count: 566

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Final Favorite Count: 195

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

Final Follower Count: 169

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Final Viewer Count: 111,257 viewers

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

SEASON 2 OF CAT-RA: Complete

...

A/N: Phew, we made it folks. All the way to the end as I stated above. I have nothing more to say that hasn't been said already, so instead, I'll sing about it!

*BANG!*

...I'll just talk about it instead, that works too...

Lol, seriously though folks, thanks to each and every one of you who have kept this fanfic going. Showing your support, throwing in all the excitement and wonder that has kept me going for the years now. I can't thank you all enough for the patience you've shown by supporting my creation right up until the very end.

With this said, HOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY! That cliff hangar, eh? Personally, I love cliff hangers myself :P (unless they're at the end of a season and it gets cancelled making it entirely pointless and disappointing). They add a nice layer of excitement over what's going to happen on the following episode, and HOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAN, DO I HAVE SOME TWISTS TO THROW IN O_O! Every episode of season 3 ended more shocking and exciting than the last, with each of them reaching new heights that even I would call unbelievable!

Which also makes them exciting ^^

Hofftah. Im definitely not going to fin season 4 unless i rushed a 1 sentence episode between this and now before the finale XP But my hope is to reach season 3 conclusion before 5 comes out so i can get a start on season 4 ^^ I can't wait to see what it has to offer!

With that said, I HOOOOOOOOOOPE you all enjoyed, and again, thank you so much for continuing to support the fanfic all the way from start to finish. We'll have more excitement, dangers, so many other made up things I'm still debating, and by the end of it all, we'll have a very satisfying(hopefully) conclusion, that I can't even wait to get started with X)

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you VERY soon ^^!

Chapter 92: S3 Episode 1: The Price of Power Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 11.8K+ Pre-A/N's. Howdy goys and birls! (and yes i know what I said XP) Time for another episode- NO! instead its time for... A BRAND NEW SEASON ^^! And I know the best way to start it out!

Audience: Yaaay!

You know how the last episode ended all bright and cheerful and was full of laughs and fun :D?

Audience: Yaaaaaay!

Then how about I twist at the heart strings and make this one cruel and depressing!

Audience: Yaaaaa- wait what?

TOO LATE YOU SAID YES-!

*sigh* Gonna be honest, MAN the end to this actually killed me a little X/ Spoiler warning- you are going to think its cruel and everything, but overall i think I explained it enough through the story as to *why* it happened, and confirmed it didn't mean it was *right*. Keep that in mind as you get to the end.

As a side note, I will state at this time its not going to be depressing and tears all throughout the episode, though will have some heavy moments (Its catra meeting Shadow Weaver again, what do you expect?), but i still promise to have the occasional laughs the show had too and everything.

So with all of that said, enjoy ^^! EPISODE ONE OF THE NEW SEASON!

...

But she wouldn't even make it past midnight before the trouble finally began.

And standing over them, Shadow Weaver wouldn't take no for an answer.

Reaching for the sleeping figure, Shadow Weaver prepared herself, knowing any and any likely reality this would turn into.

"Catra..." She spoke softly, reaching for her shoulder. "Catra, wake u-"

"Ah!" Catra yelped jumping from the bed as the arm neared her. Her senses were already going off like a warning light as she felt a presence looming over her, and the figure she saw before her confirmed it, even if it was the last person she ever expected to see. "You!" She growled, glaring daggers at the figure as she squeezed her fist.

This wasn't some form of dream or hallucination, Catra knew that at first glance. The way she loomed over her since she was a child, the atmosphere dropping to freezing temperatures by her mere presence, and the way the chill of her aura always resonated against Catra's skin, instilling her with the fear she had abused into her. There could be no doubt about it- this was the very same, very real, Shadow Weaver, floating before her.

"Catra, wai-!"

*WHAM!*

"Urgh!" The shadowy figure groveled in pain as she fell to the ground.

It was the most expected reaction she could expect from Catra. Not two seconds into seeing the figure in red again and she was already jumping the gun before Shadow Weaver could get the first word out.

With the enemy standing right in front of her, ignoring any and all possible reasons she had to be here, Catra lunged at her like the feral warrior she was. Grabbing the woman by her raised arm, she spun her around in a full loop, disorienting her, and threw her across the room into the wardrobe she had to the side, breaking the doors off its hinges.

The woman struggled to get off the ground, having already wasted enough energy just trying to get here. "I didn't come here to fight, I need your he-"

*CRASH!*

Once again, the woman let out a cough of pain as Catra continued her assault. No sooner did she get to her knees was she grabbed by the collars of her robe, the angry feline tossing her across the room again as she crashed her into a dresser with a mirror over it. Unlike the wardrobe where she simply crashed through the doors, this time she ended up crashing through the dresser in its entirety, destroying it in the process.

And Catra wouldn't let it end there as she charged at her again.

This was the woman. The single most vile, most deceptive, most vicious woman Catra had ever come to know in her life. From day one, she did everything in her power to make the girl's life miserable, whether intentionally or otherwise.

Petty insults, aggressive mannerisms, ignorance, loathing, and physical/magical abuse when she pushed Shadow Weaver too far. All of this and more resulting in Catra being the person she was today, the aggressive warrior who was supposed to be a symbol of hope like She-Ra was known to be. The person she needed to be to keep everyone safe. The one Shadow Weaver made regret her very existence. And now she came strolling right up to her like it was nothing.

She didn't care what reason Shadow Weaver had to be here, she wouldn't give her the chance to explain herself. The only time she could trust Shadow Weaver was whenever she was gone and out of her life, and even then, it was rare. Whatever reason she had to possibly be here wasn't to apologize or join sides with the girl, not that she'd allow her to anyway.

Here, Catra had the advantage. They were in Bright Moon, a place surrounded by an army of guards and magical energies. However Shadow Weaver got here, Catra knew she wouldn't be getting out. And as she charged for the woman again, she was going to make sure of it.

"Wait-! Ghh!" Catra stopped two feet away from the woman as she started to convulse a little. All around her, the woman groaned as she wheezed with pain. Not the pain Catra managed to inflict on her, but the pain caused by the small pools of magic seeping off the woman, dripping off of her like a hazy liquid.

"Sh... Shadow Weaver?" Catra spoke, never seeing the woman like this before. She wanted to pummel her face in for every day of abuse she suffered, but she at least wanted her to be on her own two feet. There wasn't much fun beating an opponent who was already down.

The shadowy witch coughed a little as she pushed herself to her knees, holding her sides in pain as the magic seeping from her slowly came to an end. "I... I didn't come... to fight you, Catra. I need your help..." She coughed. There was nothing about her that stood out to Catra like she was lying, seeing the way she feebly requested her aid, clutching her sides in agony, and the magic coming off of her.

For the first time in her life, she could tell that Shadow Weaver was telling the truth.

Whatever made her so desperate enough to come here, she meant it. She needed someone to help her, someone to assist her in whatever terrible fate she was going through right now. It was like the old crone was melting before her as the magic slowly seeped from her. The fact she brought herself to kneel in front of the girl was enough proof that it was real, knowing the woman would never bring herself to do something so humiliating to the likes of Catra, trick or not.

She needed Catra's help, and the witch didn't like it any more than Catra did. Of all the people of Etheria to turn to, to anyone that could fix her problem, both, with herself, and the other, she knew that Catra would be the only one left. She had no other choice, no other allies, only enemies and traitors that would gladly stab her in the back instead.

*crack*

*crackle*

Lifting her weak head from the ground, she saw a sight that didn't surprise her anymore than the rest. Instead of any look of sympathy or remorse, any intention of helping her in her eyes, Catra just grinned. She towered over the woman for once as she grinned and cracked her knuckles, refusing to let an opportunity like this go to waste.

"I've been waiting for this day my whole life..."

...

"So you're sure everything's okay?"

"It's fine, Bow. I already said I forgive you." Glimmer replied, smiling back as the two walked down the hallway. "It's over now, relax."

"I know, but I still feel guilty." The archer admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, none of that would've happened if it wasn't for me in the first place, you know? I should've just told you I was going to visit my dads. Better yet, I should've told you everything to start with."

"Yeah, but I get it now, okay." To think, one of the few issues she thought she had with Bow at the start of the day would be resolved by the very end of it. "You couldn't tell your dads you were a soldier for the Rebellion, you didn't want them to freak out or be disappointed, I get it. It's not like I don't understand where you're coming from."

"Heh, thanks." He smiled softly, still feeling a little off. "I still got a bit to make up for, though. Especially with Catra." The two chuckled a little as they thought about it.

"I can't believe your dads actually thought she was your girlfriend! Hehehe!"

"Heh, tell me about it. I'm just glad the truth came out before she was stuck being my girlfriend for the rest of my life. Could you imagine if we actually had to kiss at some point?"

"Egh, I so didn't need that image in my mind." The sight of the princess shriveling got another chuckle out of Bow. "But hey, everything worked out, and we got something we didn't even know we came for." There wasn't any necessary reminders for the two to know exactly what she was talking about, or the results that came after a long day of lies.

Having defeated the large Elemental awakened within the museum, the trio of friends had finally come to understand the secrets that had been plaguing them since Alwayn, the mysterious message encrypted by the large beacon-like pillar in the center of the village. It didn't specifically tell them what the message was or how to decipher its meaning anymore than when they left, but now, they knew where they had to go.

The Crimson Wastes. One of the most feared regions across all of Etheria, perhaps more than the Fright Zone itself. If going to the Fright Zone gave the person an option of life or death, then the Crimson Wastes gave people the option of death or death. There was no middle ground between it.

It didn't just get its name for being a seemingly-lifeless desert, either. Within the wastes, the very landscape itself was practically designed to kill you. Harsh sandstorms that stripped the skin off of any living creatures caught in its tracks, terrifying creatures that could never be seen and survived to be described, and outlaws from the farthest regions of the world, all seeking to either stake their fortune in a lifeless land, or to seek sanctuary by going to the one place no one would dare to look.

The Crimson Wastes was a land of absolute death and carnage, where only the ones who were stronger than the strong could survive. And it was the very place the heroes needed to go to find the answers.

To discover what Serenia was or who she is, along with the portal that was displayed within the mystery, too. On top of that, the name Mara was involved, the previous She-Ra from a thousand years ago that nearly destroyed the She-Ra line and the world itself, the person Catra feared turning into.

None of them were sure what to expect in the Crimson Wastes, they could only prepare themselves for any eventuality. In order to do so herself, Catra, after spending an entire day as Bow' pretend-girlfriend, knew what she had to do. With a heavy heart, with her mind screaming at her to reconsider, she made her way to Bright Moon to have an official meeting with the Queen, Angella, to sacrifice the one thing she could in order to obtain more of She-Ra's power.

Her very kingdom.

Nobody knew what to say at the magicat's development, not those close to her anyway, and they didn't need to. To be in the presence of her, after all that's happened, to see how much she's changed, how much she's willing to sacrifice to keep her friends safe, they were proud. And that's all they needed to be as they knew how much Catra cared.

"I still can't believe it's in the Crimson Wastes of all places." Bow commented crossing his arms. "Even if we get there, what are we supposed to look for?"

"Beats me." Glimmer shrugged. "Maybe we're looking for some record of Mara, or maybe we're supposed to find this portal thing that keeps coming up."

"Do you think we'll be fine? I know Catra's stronger now, but we still have no idea what to expect. For all we know, maybe it's been occupied by the Horde this whole time without us knowing! None of us bothered examining the Crimson Wastes, after all."

"Relax, Bow, I'm sure it's fine." It still made Glimmer beam with happiness as she recalled Catra's sacrifice not several hours ago. "With your arrows, my magic, and Catra's powers, we'll be ready for anything!"

*CRASH!*

They definitely weren't prepared for that as the two jumped. Just a foot away from the doorway, being crashed through the door like a ragdoll, the two were dumbfounded and shocked to find a familiar figure from their past, one Glimmer had met only once in her life, and was more than enough times to remember the woman.

"S-Shadow Weaver!?" She gasped. There were too many questions flashing in their mind at the same time to process, like what the woman was doing here in the first place or why she suddenly burst through Catra's doorway, covered in wooden chips atop of her as the woman was aching in pain.

"Haaaah!" The second they had a chance to breathe, the two were drawn to the sound of Catra's ferocious roar. The warrior could be seen charging for the door with the sword raised firmly to her side, ready to bring an end to the woman who humiliated and abused Catra through all her life.

"Catra, stop!" Bow yelled, rushing to the girl and blocking her path. With the full second Catra stopped from Bow's appearance, he used the opportunity to grab for the sword, reaching its hilt as he struggled to pry it from her grasp.

"Grrrrr! Let go!" She growled, trying to get it from the archer's tight grip.

"G-Guards! Guards!" Glimmer shouted through the hallway, taking her eyes off the two briefly as she shouted down both directions. With the sounds of footsteps arriving, the princess quickly teleported to the girl's side, helping Bow in trying to take the sword from the enraged girl, which eventually resulted in the trio falling to the ground. The two had no choice but to pin her down from the back of her shoulders, keeping her from making the worst mistake of her life.

They didn't know what was going on right now, and it proved to be the least important detail before them. They knew about Catra's hatred for the one named Shadow Weaver, even if Catra never provided the reasons for it. All they knew was that she abused her in some way, tormented her, did who knows what to her to make her both feared and hated by the magicat. And it was for that reason they couldn't allow her to go through with her vendetta.

The sword reacted to Catra through its bond with her on a physical, mental, and emotional level, and emotions proved to be the most prevalent of Catra's characteristics. The slightest irritation could usually set the girl off, the smallest hint of betrayal making her paranoid and irrational enough to never trust anyone for the simplest mistake.

They knew, because of this, that if Catra had gone through with it right now, with all the anger in her heart, all for a selfish desire for personal revenge against someone, that Catra's bond with the sword would likely break, and her bond with the blade would be gone.

Catra didn't care.

She didn't see her friends right now, just obstacles standing in her way as she glared at the weak figure. While she wouldn't hurt them, she wouldn't allow them to get in her way as she struggled under their grasp, even as the guards finally approached to claim the mysterious invader.

Before she could be taken, before she was out of Catra's reaches for good, the woman lifted her head a little to the side, her eyes piercing Catra's rage-driven mind as the two gazed at one another. Shadow Weaver's always-hidden, always-mysterious, expression hidden behind her mask, to Catra's enraged eyes with the eyes vengeance.

Just the way Shadow Weaver knew her to be.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, Catra..."

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"Double the perimeter, and triple it at the Moonstone. No one sleeps until we figure out how Shadow Weaver got into the castle." Angella ordered to the guard before he left. Walking down the halls with Castaspella by her side, her grief and angered expression told everyone how she was feeling right now.

She couldn't believe what she had heard when the guards first burst into her bedroom as she was about to start getting ready for bed. To hear that a high-ranking member of the Horde, one she was aware of for her daughter's suffering in the Fright Zone, was located and captured on the Castle's grounds, was the most devastating news she had ever been informed of in recent months. Between her being discovered and the fact it was Glimmer who called out for the guards, she didn't know what was worse.

Her first and biggest issue with this whole situation was the defenses she penetrated. Bright Moon had guards at various checkpoints across the walls, with alternating shifts always being accompanied by a second patrol to make sure everything went smoothly and to make sure there wasn't any suspicious activity between them.

Not to mention the fact Shadow Weaver would have had to cross the Whispering Woods in the first place.

The fact that this mysterious woman did so by herself, presumably, without any sort of assistance was what really troubled her. Who was to say how she got into Bright Moon with their security being, supposedly by this point, heavily guarded? Was there a spy among them? A secret way she didn't know about? The Queen had to know, and that's why she was determined to get the answers from Shadow Weaver immediately as they came to a door.

"Why are we stopping here?" Castaspella asked as she noticed Angella's halt.

"This is where we're holding the prisoner." She informed, gesturing to the door with a single guard.

"This is your prison?" She questioned back. Just because she was a sister-in-law didn't mean she had to agree with everything, or that she couldn't question anything about her kingdom.

"Well, technically it's a spare room, but it is more than adequate as a holding cell." She replied with a small shrug. "...We removed the cushions." She added, trying to sound a little bit thorough in her imprisoning-affairs. This was met with peer skepticism as Castaspella stared at her unamused, almost like she was bored. "Most of the cushions."

"WHERE IS SHE!?" And that was the familiar shout of somebody else who had been screaming throughout the castle for the last ten minutes. The two turned towards the leftern hallway to see an enraged magicat gritting her teeth as she stormed down the path.

"Catra, wait!" Glimmer pleaded as she ran behind her, the girl having chased her alongside Bow all this time. With the warrior coming to a stop, the two took a moment to finally catch their breaths, seeing how Catra was cut off by the appearance of the Queen and Glimmer's aunt.

"Sorry... Huff... She runs... Really fast... When she's angry..." Bow panted, exhausted from the nonstop running and the lateness of the day.

"Catra, you can relax now." Angella tried to inform, raising a hand to the girl's shoulder. "We have her imprisoned."

"Imprisoned?" The cat raised a brow to the door, blinking to the woman in disbelief. "You call this a prison?"

"Yes, its a prison!" She yelped a little, annoyed with everyone questioning her imprisoning abilities.

"You can't be serious! What was your version of imprisoning her? Taking away all the cushions?" Strangely, this actually got a small chuckle from Castaspella as the Queen gave a small blush, shifting her eyes at her for a second and back. "Look, Angella, you've got to let me in there. I'll deal with her. I know all of her tricks, all her methods." She cracked her knuckles threateningly. "Just give me five minutes with her and I PROMISE I'll get her to talk!"

"I will not allow that woman anywhere near you, Catra." She replied sternly, to Catra's dismay. "Near any of you. You are to stay away from this room."

"You really are kidding me, aren't you?!" Catra spaced, marching up to the woman's face as she glared. "What are you going to do with her? Offer her some tea and snacks to get her to talk? Any method you have around here won't get her to talk! I'm the only one who can deal with her!"

"It is precisely for that reason why I'm keeping you away from her, Catra." She replied as she stretched her wings a little bit as a sign of authority. "I'm not doing it for her safety, Catra. I'm doing it for yours. I may not know what sort of relationship you had with her, but I can tell she's dangerous. And until I figure out more about that woman, you will not be permitted anywhere near her. Understood?"

"Oh come on, you can't be-!"

"My decision is final!" She declared as Catra lowered her ears.

The girl took a moment to think about it before she sighed, casually placing her hands behind her head as she turned to walk away. "Okay, you win... HAAAAAAH!" With a blood curdling scream, right as she passed Glimmer and Bow, the magicat made a break for the door, charging at it with all her speed.

Unfortunately, having seen the girl display this trick at least seven times before in the past, Angella was already expecting it, as did everyone else, and easily managed to grab the back of the girl's shirt as she dove back. She struggled and squirmed as she continued to reach for the door, her claws mere inches away from her possible revenge.

As the queen ignored her, she gave a small solemn look to her friends, sharing the same look of worry they did. "Promise me you'll keep her away from here." She almost said with a plea, handing the girl back to her friends who grabbed her arms.

"I promise." Glimmer replied, watching her friend struggling for a few more seconds before she finally calmed down a little. With a nod in understanding, the queen made her way into the room followed by Glimmer's aunt, and closed the door behind it gently as they locked it. This left behind two still-worried friends, an irritated She-Ra, and a guard who placed themselves in front of the door, refusing to let anyone pass.

"This is so unfair!" Catra yelled, finally shaking her friends off of her and glaring back. "You guys know as well as I do that I have to get in there. I'm the only one who can make her talk! If your mom just gave me five minutes with her, then-"

"Catra," Glimmer spoke in a soft voice as she touched her shoulder, "maybe this is for the best." With a small smile, she lead the girl further away from the hallway, Bow following behind them as guarded the rear in case she tried to rush again.

"Are you kidding me? I can't believe you're against me too!" She complained, looking a little less hurt than Glimmer did at the mention.

"Against you?" Bow rose his brow as he questioned. "Catra, we're not against you in the slightest. We're trying to help you."

"By dragging me further AWAY from the door? Unless you have a secret passage I don't know about, I really don't see how that helps." She grumbled, crossing her arms as she looked away from them.

"Catra, we know that Shadow Weaver raised you." Glimmer said, trying to comfort her friend. "She knows how to get inside your head more than anyone."

"Pfft, raised?" She rolled her eyes at the word. "Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"Catra, you're already proving why we can't let you near her. Just mentioning her already has you on edge. I can't imagine what you would do to her if she was in five feet of you."

"What, do you want a show? Cause I'll gladly show you one!" She growled again as she glared at the guard several yards away in front of the door.

"But just think about it for a second, Catra." Bow tried to assist. "You've made so much progress with She-Ra and you're closer than ever to reaching your full power. Do you really want to let some revenge throw it all away?"

"Ghhh..." That was possibly the one thing that would calm the girl down, and by calm, it meant get her to reconsider.

She wouldn't deny how good it felt to be near She-Ra's full power again after all she's been through. Like she was informed by Light Hope, sacrificing her selfish desire for a kingdom drew her closer to She-Ra's true power than she's expected. It had to at least be a full 20%, if not more, than Light Hope predicted, because she was certain she was almost at the same level of strength she was last time.

But now, there was something on the line that was keeping her away from it, something that could possibly ruin all that hard work she's been doing, all that time she's wasted, to acquire She-Ra's true form, and it went by the name of Shadow Weaver.

If she went through her revenge, she knew it would be satisfying. She would finally feel a sense of relief, knowing someone like Shadow Weaver was no longer around to walk the planet any longer. She also knew if she did, she could kiss her progress goodbye, maybe even She-Ra herself, as her heart would be clouded with vile intent and anger for the rest of her days.

It was actually a dilemma Catra found herself put off by for a change, a question she didn't know the answer to after all these months. To go through with her vengeance if she had the opportunity and risk losing She-Ra, or to let it go for the sake of her friends.

...She already gave up a kingdom for them so why the heck should she have to give up this?!

"You guys still aren't getting it. Revenge or not, I'm the only one who's going to be able to make her talk. You know it, I know it, and Shadow Weaver knows it. And until I get in there, nobody is going to get her to talk."

"I'm sorry, but my answer is still no." Glimmer stated, crossing her arms with Bow as the two blocked her path.

The girl grunted to herself as she turned from the two again, trying to contemplate her options. She only needed to contemplate for four seconds before she grinned to herself, followed by letting out a fake yawn. "Awwhhhnn..." She rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Fine, you guys win. I'll give it till morning before I try anything again. You know, provided the USELESS GUARD AT THE DOOR," she commented, the two looking back as the guard let out a yawn, "doesn't let her escape by then..."

Even if the two had just met Catra for the first time right now, they'd still know she was lying through her teeth.

"You're planning to sneak in there the moment we turn around, aren't you?" Bow asked with a knowing brow.

"What?" She feigned her own innocence, proving even more how obvious her lying was. "Bow, I'm hurt. After all we've been through together, you don't think you can trust me to keep my word?"

"..." No response was necessary.

"...Yeah, I wouldn't believe that either." She admitted, scratching her head. "Fine then. But the minute she has the Rebellion begging at her feet and surrendering to the Horde, don't come crying to me!" She stated, walking away as she grumbled. Her friends barely got three seconds to look at each other with concern over their eyes before they heard the familiar sound of Catra screaming, the girl making a break for the door again as she passed the two.

This would mark the ninth time she attempted such a trick.

"Oh no you don't!" Glimmer yelled, quickly diving and grabbing at the girl before teleporting the two from the prison's hallway.

This was going to be a very long night.

...

"Mmmmh..." Shadow Weaver groaned with a twinge of pain as she slowly opened her eyes. Like the darkness that swirled around her with magic, so too did her eyesight reveal a bright light as they opened, seeing a strange glowing rune symbol along the floor.

With her senses returning to her in full, the masked woman briefly rubbed the openings through the mask's eyes, clearing up her somewhat blurry vision as reality came back to her. "Where... Where am I?" She asked, knowing someone would be there the moment she woke up. The woman attempted to move from the spot as she held a hand ahead of her, only to be shocked as she made contact with an invisible barrier.

Like the rune displayed around her indicated, she was trapped within a magical prison, one which barely covered a radius of ten feet.

"You're in the Bright Moon prison." A voice belonging to Angella replied as the woman approached the magical imprisonment. She showed no signs of fear or question, the way Shadow Weaver knew any authoritative figure should when they were running a kingdom.

"This is a prison?" Shadow Weaver was the third person to question that by this point as she looked around. Within the room she saw beautiful decorated walls, several cushioned chairs that were spread out around her, a few ornamental lights hanging from the walls and ceiling, and a few green plants that sat at every corner of the room.

If this was their idea of a prison, Shadow Weaver was actually looking forward to what a torture chamber looked like to these people.

"Why does everyone keep-!" She nearly squeaked, losing her composure for just a moment as she rested her hands at her hips. "Of course, this is a prison!" She grumbled.

"You must be Glimmer's mother." Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes as she spoke. "I can tell by the way your voice grows shrill when you scream."

"How dare you." Shadow Weaver had to compliment the way she stayed composed as she seethed with anger.

"Shadow Weaver." Aunt Castaspella stepped to Angella's side as she pointed to the woman accusingly. She wasn't going to let Angella handle the interrogation alone, or allow Shadow Weaver's trickery to get the best of her so soon. "You will answer for the crimes you committed during your time as my brother's teacher, and for the attack on Mystacor a while back!"

"Oh, yes." She hummed rising to her knees. "Sweet, talented Micah."

"You will not speak his name." Angella stated, almost warningly.

"I'm not the one who got him killed." She replied in a tone full of teasing. That appeared to be the stepping stone Angella needed to get pushed to far as she grumbled, attempting to approach the woman before Castaspella cut her off with her arm. The very moment she was stopped, the two turned back to hear the woman coughing.

Here, they witnessed what she was currently going through. With the coughs and choking like she was ill, the woman began to shed more of her magic as the power seeped from her person, dripping to the ground below her in a misty haze. It was as if the woman was bleeding herself as she wheezed, struggling to find the strength to remain on her hands and knees alone.

Neither of the two cared for the woman as Angella continued to take another step. "Tell us why you're here!"

Waiting for her throat to clear up, the woman finally replied, "I have vital information to defeat the Horde," she spoke slowly, weakly, as Angella grew surprised, "but I will only speak to Catra. No one else."

...

"...Mmh... Hm?" Adora's eyes snapped open as she was blinded by a light hanging overhead. Where am- She couldn't get so much as a thought out before she immediately surrounded by trouble in every direction, physically speaking. "Hmm? Mmhhh! Mhhhhh!" She grumbled, trying to pull herself up from every angle of her body.

She was restrained to a table, an operating table at that. With tape silencing her screams, each of her wrists and ankles were practically bolted at the ends to ensure she could never get out, and a large strap across the table over her stomach to tie her down. Everywhere she looked, save for this one spot, she was met with total and complete darkness, unable to make out anything past her limbs.

What's going on? She trembled a bit, trying to do what she could to break free in the only way she knew how, and nothing happened. M-My... My shadows are gone... She continued to struggle in vain to free herself as she couldn't move so much as an inch from the table.

There was no slack for her to take advantage of, no tools around her that could aid in her escape. All there was is a single overhead light from the ceiling, one she couldn't see either, as she began to sweat with fear.

"Hmm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmhmmmmmmmm~" And a familiar voice she recognized humming to herself as it drew near. Looking at every direction, she eventually spotted the familiar friend known as Entrapta as the scientist wheeled herself in with a computer chair, the scientist writing everything down in her pad as she approached the tied down Force Captain, having a familiar pair of goggles covering her eyes. "Oh, she's awake! Hi, Adora!" She greeted cheerfully as usual.

"Mhh! Mhhh!" She tried to shout for her to help her out. Even though she couldn't get a word out with the tape over her mouth, it still seemed to be enough for the scientist to understand as she shrug.

"Sorry, Adora, no can do." She replied, wheeling herself to Adora's other side as she pushed around with her hair. "I can't really help you after everything you did with Hordak."

With Hordak? She questioned to herself. As the scientist slowly made her way across various areas of the lit space, Adora finally came to remember everything that happened between now and when she lost consciousness, all of which Entrapta was more than happy to explain.

"It really is disappointing, Adora." She commented, pressing some commands into the pad. At this, Adora's focus shifted to the ceiling above her as an array of gadgets started to descend from the darkness, slowly approaching the fearful commander. "Hordak had all this respect for you, wanted you to be the best commander he ever had, and then you had to go and betray him, didn't you?"

"Hmmm?" Adora tried to ask as she mentioned this. Betray him? I-I would never-!

"Sure, you might have been failing your duties as a commander, but did you really have to lie to the poor guy, too? All you had to do was tell him how you lost Shadow Weaver and let her escape, and then he would've let you go free! Instead, you tried to lie to him in order to save your own skin." The scientist didn't show a hint of remorse or worry as she continued to smile at the helpless girl with a bubbly grin. "Not that I can complain. Look! He gave me your old job, himself! Look how shiny my badge is!"

Adora didn't give the girl a glance of her attention as her eyes widened at the approaching machinery. They were a mix of everything one could expect to construct a robot from head to toe, to create an obedient little machine that would follow any orders given to them without a second thought or an ounce of free will.

"So, yeah, sorry about that. But on the bright side, he is the one who's letting me do this!" Smiling, the girl clicked another button as the machine finally stopped, just two feet away from Adora's head.

"Mmmhh! Mmhmhm!" Adora feared what was about to happen, and for good reason. Was Entrapta being serious about this? All of this because of some little lie? Was she truly going to preform some sort of sickening surgery on her as a punishment?

"Oh, I know, I know, it looks scary at first glance. To be honest, you were supposed to stay asleep the entire time. That's okay, though, because now I can ask for your opinion." She held the display in front of Adora who continued to look past the screen, keeping her trembling eyes on the devices above her. "So, Hordak wants me to make you better, and I was wondering for your opinion on what sort of upgrades I should give you?" She pulled it away again as she tapped a pen against her temple with her hair.

"I was thinking maybe something like laser-vision or something typical like that, but I bet if I installed hydraulics into you I could make you ten times stronger physically!" She noticed the girl's silence as she kept her eyes on the machine. "...Oh, right, the machine. You don't have to worry too much. Hordak just wants me to make it so you can't lie or disobey ever again. Personally, I'm jealous! I always wanted to be a cyborg!... But then if something went wrong, I couldn't record the results very well, could I?"

"Mmmmmmh! Mmmh!" Adora was starting to scream as she tried to thrash away, feeling as if the restraints had actually gotten tighter as Entrapta was talking. Given everything she was pressing until now, maybe she tightened them.

"Aww don't be like that. I mean, I know you were jealous of me and everything, but I'm fine with that."

"Hmm?" That was the first thing she had to say that caught Adora's attention.

"Yeah, maybe Hordak wanted me more at his side than you, but I can't argue with his reasoning. I mean, I am the one always helping him, after all. When's the last time you succeeded in a mission by yourself?" She put an ear towards the girl mouth waiting for an answer, only to be met with more muffled screaming as she shrugged. "Yeah, that's what I thought. But don't worry Adora. With this, you'll be as good as new, and never have to worry about your emotions or attachments getting in your way ever again."

With this said, Adora shook with fear as the machine started up again as a large needle glowing red descended from the pile of the machines, aiming right at her forehead.

S-STOP! STOP! We're friends, remember?! Adora screamed in her mind as her restraints tightened further somehow, feeling like they were pulling into the table at this point.

"Friends?" While she was surprised that Entrapta appeared to know what she was thinking, she was still focused on the descending rack of tools, the needle finally reach several inches from her forehead. "Oh, Adora, we were never friends. I guess I thought of you as a friend, but your constant jealousy over me has become overbearing. I think you were actually planning to get rid of me at one moment."

"HMMMH! MMMMH!" Adora tried to apologize, tried to assure her that she wasn't going to do it, much less thinking about it, only to be muffled all the same.

Yeah, she was jealous of her, admittedly. She was envious of the respect and admiration Hordak seemed to give her, all the praise, all the compliments, even offering to promote her to a Force Captain of some sort so she could get more access to the Horde's technology, like it was a gift!

She wasn't interested in these qualities herself, personally. All she wished was to prove herself to the Horde, to prove herself to him of all people. She wanted to find a way to repay the very people that raised her since she was an infant, to protect and serve the Fright Zone that she came to know as her home, and become a symbol of Unity for all of Etheria.

None of that was what people saw from the outside, or Entrapta who shouldn't have known about the events in the first place.

"Like I said, Adora, you'll feel as good as new." Smiling as she appeared to Adora's right, she gave one simple click ot the pad as the finger-sized needle became brighter. "Just smile and think happy thoughts, and it'll be over before you know it!"

"MMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHH!"

...

"AHHHHH!" Adora screamed as she leaned up from the floor, panting and sweating feverishly as she woke up from a terrifying nightmare. She huffed and she puffed with a heavy supply of breaths, taking in the true reality around her as she realized it was all a dream. A terrifying, horrible, malicious dream. Waking up and looking around her, she came to realize something else.

She didn't wake up from it.

The room was dank and desecreted from the inside as she discovered where she was. The walls had large claw marks scratched upon them, the floor pounded upon by what could've been large fists. Above her from where she woke, she saw a familiar monitor, still broke as a few shards of glass remained over its screen, and the ceiling above her was torn with several different wires ripped from the interior. All of this, everything, made her realize where she was.

She was in Shadow Weaver's cell again. Only this time, she was the one behind the forcefield, the prisoner in this cruel and vicious place. Looking around, her eyes widened as she saw her wrists, recognizing the familiar cuffs that were wrapped around each one, with a familiar green cord that fed into a device on the wall. These were the very restraints that had kept Shadow Weaver prisoner, and now, much like this cell, they were hers.

"N-No..." This couldn't be happening, it had to be a mistake. Rising to her feet, she attempted to make a run for the forcefield, knowing these restraints were just her eyes playing tricks on her. "Agh!" With a cry of pain, she was pulled back again several feet from the door as the cords wouldn't reach any further.

She started to pant as she sweat, feeling like she was running a fever of some sort. Who knows, maybe she was? She had no idea what she was doing here, save for the nightmare that reminded her of the reason, only that she needed to get out of here and clear her name as soon as possible.

She ran back to the device that connected it to the wall, examining it in every corner and then back to her hands. Even if she was exhausted and feverish, she could still technically draw upon her power, hopefully enough of it to pry the restraining device from the wall and to smash it to pieces. With a deep breath, she tried to focus as she could feel a sliver of her power being drawn to her side-

*BZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhh!" And was immediately cut off from it as she screamed, collapsing to the floor as she breathed heavily again. Her body was aching with pain as it was wracked all over. Looking back to the device with a grin look of sorrow on her face, she realized how pointless it truly was.

These kinds of restraints weren't meant for the average person, big or small. They were meant for people of magic, specifically sorcerers and sorceresses, or anyone else gifted in the pools of magic. Whenever it detected the presence of magic growing within the individual or around them, it would deliver several thousand volts through the restraints, temporarily paralyzing them until they finally stopped.

Wincing in pain, she opened her teary eyes as she glared at the device, the very thing that should've kept Shadow Weaver within this cell herself. Seeing how the witch previously was left without magic, thanks to breaking off her connection with the Black Garnet, it came to no surprise that it didn't detect her as she escaped using an ancient rune incantation. Or, if it did, she powered through the pain for the sake of her life, proving herself to be stronger than Adora initially thought.

Whatever way, it didn't matter to her.

What mattered to her right now was where she was, where she was likely going to be staying for the rest of her life. Bringing her hands to her face, she squeezed them as she teared up, lowering her forehead to the ground as she sniffed.

"This can't be happening..." She muttered, shaking a little.

She did everything right. She worked harder than everyone else in the Horde that history has ever known. She formed uneasy alliances with regions all across Etheria, gaining allies and resources that kept each other in balance, regardless if the resources didn't expand as the territories were spread further and further apart.

Above all, she was loyal. She knew she was loyal! So she didn't tell an entire truth one little time. So what? Was it really deserving of sending her in here, bringing her locked up in the very prison cell Shadow Weaver herself once occupied? Of course not! She needed to get out of here, she needed to fix this! But how?

"Adoraaaa!" A voice called out as it ran through the sector. "Adoraaaaa!" Adora could tell the voice was drawing nearer as she heard the heavy footsteps approaching her.

"Scorpia?" She called back, looking to the door. "Scorpia! Over here!" She ran as close to the door as she could. Never had she been so relieved by the sight of a familiar face before, or a caring one at that.

The girl ended up running past the doorway for a moment before turning back, smiling back as she saw Adora's figure again. "Adora, I've found you!" She beamed so happily like she never smiled before, practically pressing against the force field in an attempt to hug at her beloved friend.

"Scorpia! I can't believe you're here!" Adora sighed with relief as she smiled too, before growing questionable at the presence. "What are you doing here? How did you even get in here?"

"Oh boy," Scorpia smiled as she recollected fondly, "it was quite the trick, I can tell you that..."

...

Standing around as she minded her own business, Scorpia waited outside the security station, right at the doorway as she waited for the next passing guard to come through. If she timed her intuition correctly, as she did, another guard came out of the station behind her, standing on the opposing side of the door as he stood at his designated post.

Taking a last look around to make sure the rest of the coast is clear, Scorpia leaned in a little closer as she smiled down to the guard who stared back at her. It was time for her to work her impressive charm, her magic, and her smooth talking, as she was about to get this guard wrapped around the very tip of her claws!

"...Which floor is Force Captain Adora on?"

"Uhh, the third one from the bottom." He replied, pointing down. "Why?"

"Thanks!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Three seconds later, that same guard was could be seen screaming for dear life as he was thrown over the bridge.

...

"Very high-level stuff, I'll teach you some of my moves at some other time." She continued, smiling back to her. "Anyway, come on. I've gotta-" She stopped. She shifted her eyes away uneasily as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Scorpia? What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the silence as she followed her eyes. "What are you looking a-" She froze immediately as she saw it. Her glove was gone. The leather that was wrapped around Adora's fingertips for the last few weeks. The one thing keeping her condition a secret to the rest of the Horde as she tried to deal with it. She didn't even realize it at first earlier as she was freaking out about her predicament, and now she was worrying twice as much as the truth was exposed.

"Oh... my..." Scorpia actually felt a little sick as she covered her mouth a little. "What did they do to you? Did someone torture you?" She glared as she looked down the pathway. "Hey, which one of you jerks hurt my friend-!"

"Stop!" Adora yelled, rubbing her malformed hand as Scorpia looked back. "They... None of them did any of this, Scorpia. This... This was me..."

"This... was you?" She tapped the tip of her claw to her chin as she got a good look to the spreading rot, the condition that made Adora's skin appear as if it had aged a hundred years in advanced while still functioning as normal. "How... Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"

"Why do you think?" She mumbled. "There was too much going on, Scorpia, and I couldn't be bothered dealing with people over my condition." She frowned a little more as she glanced off to the side. "Especially with... with Hordak already being ashamed of me..." Her heart felt a pang of emotion as she said this to herself.

"Shame? Ashamed?!" It felt more like an excuse to the girl as she pressed her claws against the door's force field. "Adora, who cares about shame or whatever? I mean look at yourself!"

"You don't get it, Scorpia!" Adora scowled as she looked at her own feet. "Hordak was aware of my condition the very next day that it happened, and he didn't care. All he cared about was for me to prove my worth to him time and again and to take care of it on my own time. I knew if I bothered anyone else or wasted anyone else's time on it, he'd shun me more than he already has."

"But who cares about that? Look at your hand, your neck, they look horrible!"

"I know that, Scorpia, but I-" Repeating what she said through her mind, she stared back. "Wait... what about my neck?" She looked around, trying to find something to confirm her suspicions.

"Uhhh n-nothing! Forget it! I didn't say anything!" Scorpia's eyes filled with worry as Adora tried to find something reflective, anything that could give her a small glimpse of what she, or her neck, at least, looked like. "Adora, forget I said anything. Your neck is pretty, it's fine, I swear!"

Ignoring the rambling girl, Adora drew to the broken monitor in order to see what she was getting so worked up about. She peered deeply at the broken screen as she twisted and turned her head around until she could see the very condition that had been plaguing her for weeks. She had to let out a gasp as she saw the fate that had befallen her.

She remembered everything now, in every little detail. The way she lied to Lord Hordak, the look of pure hatred bursting from his eyes as he activated the machine, and how powerless she was to fight against it as the field was being siphoned of everything from air, oxygen, and the magic within her veins.

The very magic that didn't stop even after being sucked out of her.

She remembered how they were among the last things she physically felt before losing consciousness, seeing the dark veins growing along her arms while the shadows remained lifeless around her. Despite her mind trying to keep her shadows dormant, knowing drawing upon them would be futile and work against her, the shadows didn't listen. They came to her side as they were siphoned off at the exact same time, draining the girl of everything she had, and breaking the lengths to how far she could exert herself.

As a result, now, getting a better look for herself as she stretched the collar of her shirt past her right shoulder a little, she got a glimpse of it. A glimpse of the rotting, the aging, however one was supposed to describe it. It was almost hard to make out as the darkness-filled veins had spread throughout most of her body, being concealed under her clothing. It spread all across her right arm, spreading a ways across her chest, and so much to the point where they stretched up the right corner of her neck.

It was like Hordak said. She was falling apart. And only now did she realize, he didn't care.

"I... I don't believe this..." She muttered loud enough for Scorpia to hear as she rubbed against her skin. It didn't feel any different than the rest of her, or painful to the touch. All the same, it was still horrible to look at. She never thought, as bad as it was, that it would continue to spread as it was now, or at least not before she could find a solution to it other than hiding it.

"Adora, it's going to be okay." Scorpia tried to encourage. She didn't know what was going on with Adora's face, or however much of her body had been affected, and she didn't care. "I'm going to break you out before it's too late, we're going to escape the Fright Zone, and we'll deal with it from there."

"...Too late?" Adora shot back as Scorpia realized she flipped the lid. "Too late for what? What's going on?"

The other Force Captain lowered her head, frowning as her best friend approached the door. "Uh... It's Hordak." She began to reveal. "He's called an assembly to witness your punishment."

"M-My..." She took a step back as her eyes wavered. "My punishment...?" She couldn't pinch herself any harder if she tried without her magic. This wasn't a nightmare again, this wasn't some bizarre hallucination she was suffering from some delirious fever she was going through caused by the veins of darkness.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing," she tried to encourage as she saw Adora's sadness, "but whatever it is, I won't let it happen. I'm gonna get you out of here!" She declared, trying to press the small buttons with her fingers. The sound of the code being entered incorrectly did nothing to grab at Adora's attention as she stared at the floor. "Nope, that wasn't right... or that one... Man I should've asked that guy for the code... Maybe it's his birthday? Or Hordak's birthday! Does Hordak have a birthday?"

This was truly happening, wasn't it? The day Adora finally felt doubt for the first time. Not in the Horde, not of their accomplishments or their ideals, but of herself. Everything was spiraling out of control around her since losing the Battle of Bright Moon, since she failed to capture the princesses at any point. Everything was coming to an abrupt end for the young girl.

And it was all her fault.

"...op..."

"What?" She heard Adora mumble.

"I said stop it!" She yelled again, glaring at her with tears in her eyes. "Don't you get it, Scorpia? It's pointless now, it's over! I-I messed up! Again! Like I always mess up!" She scratched at her head fervently with anger as she paced around the room. This was the reality of her world. The reality where she was the victim for trying to help.

"I keep thinking to myself, you know? Maybe things will work out in the end, maybe it won't be so bad? And I do my work, and I do my job, and does it ever work out? NO!" She screamed as the tears dripped from her face. She's never felt so angry before, never with sadness aching through her heart. "It just keeps getting worse! I keep making everything worse!"

She dropped to her knees as she squeezed her hands. "I'm not cut out to be a commander, okay?" She curled her knees up as she hugged her legs tightly. "Every outpost I've obtained, every ally I keep making. Within the last month alone, we've lost a third of those outposts, half of our allies are betraying me, and it's... it's all my fault..." The girl sniffed as she let the truth out, let the truth sink into her mind as she cried into her legs. "Hordak was right, as always... I'm a failure."

"No!"

*WHAM!*

Adora actually jumped a little as she heard Scorpia slamming her claws against the force field holding her within, keeping her behind bars.

"Hordak is wrong about you, all right? You're not a failure!" She insisted, willing to say it as many times as Adora needed to hear. "You can't give up yet. I can save you! I know I can."

"Do you really care that much about me?" Adora actually asked a little seriously. With all the betrayals she's suffered throughout all of this, it was hard to tell who was genuine and who was a traitor.

"Of course, I care. You're Adora. You're our leader. You're the one who inspires the kids to never give up. You're the first one on the scene of an accident to ask if everyone's okay first instead of the resources that are lost! You're the person the Horde needs, Adora! You're..." Adora continued to listen to the girl intently as she rose to her feet again. "You're my best friend. You're everything to me." The tears stopped forming in Adora's eyes as she heard this, seeing the scorpion girl smiling to her at the sight.

"And I swear, I'm going to get you out of there. We'll go somewhere nobody knows about us, or the Horde, or whatever." She continued to convince as she pressed away at the controls. "We'll forget about the war, forget about all the trouble. We'll find someone to help you with your condition, honest, and you won't have to worry about anything anymore."

"Scorpia..." She... she really meant every word. Even after everything that's happened, all the time she's shoved her away, all the times she berated, insulted, yelled at her, Scorpia was still willing to do this, to do everything, to save her best friend's life.

The blond almost smiled for a moment before she looked at her hands again, directing her attention to the cuffs around her wrists. The way they restrained her and kept her in her place, the way they were so firmly attached to the wall that locked her away. They were a reminder of Adora's imprisonment, of the way Adora was supposed to be right now.

And they reminded her of what would befall anyone associated with her.

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Huh?" Scorpia looked back inside as she saw Adora's shoulders shaking a little. What she first thought was the girl crying again turned out to be an insurmountable mass of anger, one directed at the taller girl as Aora glared angrily into her eyes.

"Are you seriously that stupid?! Since when were we ever friends!?" She shouted.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Scorpia frowned a little, standing in front of the force field in full. "Of course, we're friends, Adora. Why else would-"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on for a second." The girl actually chuckled with a snarky attitude. "You thought someone like me, a commander of the Horde, wanted, or was ever, your, friend? Oh my gosh, I knew you were stupid, but come on here!"

"Wha..." What was she saying? This was a completely different Adora than the one she saw five seconds ago. "What are you talking about?"

"What? Do I have to spell it out for you? Read my lips Scorpia- I, was NEVER, your friend. Got that!? I was never your friend. I never even asked to be your stupid friend! It's your fault," she grunted, kicking at the force field as hard as she could, "I'm in this stupid mess in the first place!"

"What are you talking about? I didn't... I didn't do anything."

"Exactly! You didn't do ANYTHING! Who was it that promised me they wouldn't let anything bad happen to me, huh? Who swore, as my "best friend" that I would be safe?! You didn't keep your promise, you didn't keep any word. You lied to me! You lied to me since day one! All you've been doing was holding me back to keep me from fulfilling my missions, haven't you?"

"Y-You... You don't mean that..." Scorpia raised a claw to the door a little sadly as her brow lowered. "And I had nothing to do with you getting sent in here, Adora. You know that."

"Really? Do I? Do I have this sort of trust with you telling me it wasn't your fault?" She scoffed. "Almost every mission I've ever been on with you has ended in failure, and I'm beginning to see why! I'm always picking up after you, I'm always fixing your messes plus everyone else's whenever they come to me for trouble, and you always try to make me feel guilty about it so I can't call you out on it."

"A... Adora, I... I haven't..." As she saw her bottom lip tremble a little, Adora knew the very words to deal the final blow.

"And you think after all your screw ups, I would ever want to be your "best friend", much less your friend? Even Catra was a better friend than you will ever be!"

That did it.

With a wince from her eyes, Adora watched as the other Force Captain teared up, staring at her friend as she pushed her claws away from the door. "I don't want to be your friend, I don't want to be your buddy, and I don't want to be rescued! Now get out!" She stared menacingly at the girl as Scorpia's eyes watered. Even after all of that, she tried one more time to get through to her as she opened her mouth to speak. "NOW!" And that was the end of it.

With a heavy and hurt heart, the other Force Captain ran away from the door, running away from the prison sector entirely with tears dripping down her cheeks. Adora kept her eyes frozen with the look of anger and resentment in her eyes, looking as angry as she's ever been. But once she waited long enough, by the time she was sure Scorpia was truly gone, she broke down.

"Tch... Geh..." She sniffed. Like a dam that had burst, the tears poured from Adora's eyes as she collapsed to her knees. She squeezed her palms against the ground, she grinded on her teeth as she tried to keep from shouting. She hated every second of her own existence as the entire scene played out in Adora's mind on an endless loop.

She had committed her greatest and most regrettable lie in her life.

"I'm sorry... I-I'm so sorry..." She whimpered to herself, curling in further until she was crying into her knees.

She didn't have a choice, she knew that from the moment Scorpia displayed her intentions. Adora was considered a traitor to the Horde and had messed up in Hordak's eyes. She was considered a nuisance, a blemish on the Horde, one that was going to be carried out in punishment in due time for all of her mistakes, for all that she had done.

And she couldn't let anyone go down with her.

She knew who Scorpia was, she knew what her intentions was, and she knew who's fault everything truly was for all that has happened to her.

Scorpia was the kind of friend Adora saw in Catra the day she met her. A kind, caring, and gentle soul that didn't deserve the abuse Adora had just given her. She was a person someone could depend on, someone the Horde could depend on, and the one Adora depended on for a moment before she realized what their future would look like in the end.

Running. Nothing but endless running. Each day, if they escaped, they would be spending the rest of their lives on the run. Looking over their shoulders, looking in every direction just to get a good night's sleep, and keeping contact with anyone and everyone on the outside world a secret from themselves, all for the sake of remaining in mystery, incognito. And this was just to keep themselves hidden from the Horde, and the war in general.

What else would that mean in the end? Nothing but fighting and hardships just for the two to stay alive. They would be fighting off any soldiers or bounty hunters sent their way to capture them, at best, to drag them back to the Horde, to bring them to their awaiting execution, by banishment to Beast Island, or otherwise. They would never know a moment's peace for as long as they lived, for as long as they fought for the rest of their lives.

And Adora couldn't let that happen to Scorpia. Not to someone that's been as great a friend as Catra once was, not to somebody who was innocent in every manner of the word. Scorpia deserved a better life than that, a better life than she was willing to accept with Adora. And, because of all that, Adora did the only thing she could.

She betrayed her.

She ripped at Scorpia's heart with every insult she could think of, every mockery she knew other jerks of the Horde to pass on the occasion. It didn't matter if Adora insisted on Scorpia to stop saving her, she knew she wouldn't listen. Knowing the kind of friend Scorpia was, she would've just kept coming back and time again, even if Adora threatened to call the guards. She couldn't let that happen, she had to develop a means to get rid of Scorpia permanently, knowing there was no way to convince her otherwise, and this was the only thing that came to mind.

To break her heart. To make her see Adora as a monster like Adora saw herself nowadays. She needed to make sure that there was no sense of guilt or consciousness between them, to make sure whatever happened to Adora that Scorpia wouldn't interfere in it. It was for her own safety, so she could continue to live on without any sort of regret by thinking Adora was the cruel one around here.

And it was the most painful thing Adora had ever forced herself to do.

The girl barely mustered the energy to pull herself to the wall, curling her knees to her chest as she waited out the rest of her day, to wait out the rest of her punishment. She knew she went overboard with what she did, and she didn't care. She wanted to save her friend at any cost, even if it meant she wasn't their friend anymore. To picture Scorpia in her position right now, to see her chained to a wall like this for the rest of her life... it was unbearable alone to just think of. She never wanted to see it for herself.

Yet, regardless of reason, she felt terrible all the same. She felt hopeless, terrible, and powerless to escape whatever fate awaited her right now, and whatever fate she felt like she deserved. In the end, she was all alone in the world, realizing that Hordak was right all along.

She was a failure.

...

A/N: Gawwd that hurt X/ you think it hurt to read? Try writing it!

Seriously, i wanna make it perfectly clear- I don't make it so jaw-dropping depressing for the feels and effect (least not all the time), but i do it out of realism or what I see the characters appropriately doing. I see Catra simply pushing Scorpia off as they just have a friend status- I KNOW Adora would do everything she's capable of knowing Scorpia is her best friend to make sure the girl didn't end up like she did or much worse. Even if the method would be different, I know the reasoning/result would likely be the same.

It's that kind of difference that makes the fic more suspenseful, touching, and tragic, and I only change it as much as the show, so you guys can't yell at me...

And just to make sure you can't...*burns a card with a lighter* I invoke my 1-time Can't-yell-at-me Policy card that ensures no one can blame me for being to harsh at the end... wait was that for one chapter or for one person... i can't remember now... huh...

Anyway, hope you all still enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 93: S3 Episode 1: The Price of Power Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10.6k Pre-A/N's. And once again, we come to another exciting chapter with another dash of excitement, humor, and emotion! Really not much to say here folks but thanks to everyone understanding my point about Adora with the last chapter- was honestly fretting how the feedback was going to turn out from that (I'm too paranoid after one chp of a fic i did some time ago i posted in 2 parts- without the 2nd part being posted on the same day or same chapter, people were freaking bashing it within hours X_X)

Speaking of which, writing might get a little sloppy/too straightforward towards the end, my head was getting a little fuzzy as I neared the ending scene. Headaches are a usual when I write/come up with 10k words worth of stuff to write a day XP

Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

...

"Mmmh..." This was the most infuriating staring contest Catra's ever been a part of as she sat across from Bow, atop the hanging bed from where Glimmer usually sleeps, where she slept now even as she rested her head against Bow's shoulder, as the two continued to stare at each other.

Bow made it his current-life mission to keep his eyes glued to the cat for as long as possible. He wasn't going to let her out of her sight, let her get the jump on them, or, most importantly, take off in a mad dash for Shadow Weaver's prison, like she wanted.

There was no warning for the witch's sudden appearance as she appeared in Catra's room in the middle of the night. Needless to say, Catra's greeting with her went about as well as anyone could have expected. Without wasting a beat, giving the woman a chance to explain her presence, she tore into the woman with her bare fists.

She got the jump on her as she kept lunging and charging at her, she smacked her around like it was nothing as she threw her into her assortment of furniture around the bedroom. She knew that the moment she gave Shadow Weaver a chance to catch her breath, that she would use some of her twisted magic on her, even with the sword by her side.

Instead, the witch never came here to cause trouble or fight them to begin with. As Catra came to understand, and still refused to care, the woman came seeking Catra's own assistance for something, reaching out for the girl she had tormented since childhood. Watching her collapse in front of her, practically on her knees, she knew that for the first time in her life that Shadow Weaver was being genuine, and sincere.

And she didn't care.

It took Bow and Glimmer's combined strength to pin the girl down long enough to get the guards to capture the weakened woman, to escort her to the makeshift cell. They couldn't let Catra carry out any angry vendettas she had against the woman, knowing not of what she did specifically to Catra, just that Catra's hated her for it ever since.

She wanted Shadow Weaver to suffer, to feel agony, to experience pain like she did throughout all her life. And, as it stood, she was very tempted to relinquish her bond with the sword, the thing tied to her emotions and her heart, if it meant possibly achieving that.

But first, she had to get past these two idiots who wouldn't let her leave the room!

It was getting harder and harder for the girl to keep her eyes open like this, never staring so intently before against somebody else. She's played plenty of games in the past against other kids growing up, usually when she was making bets and whatnot for snacks the kids were hoarding, and, of course, she skillfully won. Even if those skills required trickery on her part like making them flinch or something, a wins a win and a treat was still a treat!

Here, she couldn't afford to do any of those stupid tricks, unfortunately. As long as Glimmer rested sleepily on Bow's side like that, she couldn't move around too much without giving herself away or waking the princess up. Her eyes drooped a little at the thought of it, given how late it was in the night and the wake-up call she had a short while ago.

"Mmm..." She mumbled to herself as her eyes lowered a little. Bow copied this apparent drowsiness as his own eyes slowly lowered. Catra refused to give up in her quest for vengeance, that much was for certain... But... maybe a little sleep wouldn't hurt as much.

"Mmmmm..." The girl mumbled to herself again as her ears lowered, along with her eyes and head. Like mimicry, the archer found his own eyes drooping like the shades from a curtain. The magicat appeared to give her last yawn as her head bobbed up and down, the motion somehow making Bow's eyes feel even heavier.

Seeing how Catra was defeated, the archer finally dozed off on his own, hoping to take a quick power-nap, and finally closed his own eyes to join the duo in Snoozeville.

"...?" Or, so he thought, as Catra opened a single eye. She kept her eye on the two for a full ten seconds, counting to herself to make sure, before grinning.

Getting to her own two feet, the sly cat carefully reached over to the two, waving a short quiet hand in front of both of them, just to make sure there wasn't any sort of reaction. First Glimmer, then Bow. Nothing. And that was more than enough coverage for the girl as she slowly stepped towards the edge of the bed, being careful not to shake it too much as she jumped down. Feet planted firmly to the ground, she gave one last look to the bed before grinning, running towards the door.

"Hah! Idiots." Catra sneered as she peered her head out the door to make sure the coast was clear. No guards to the left, or to the right, and her ears weren't picking up anything. "This is almost too easy-"

*Twang*

"Huh? Ahhh!" The magicat let out a cry of fear as she was suddenly hoisted up into the air by her foot. To her surprise as she looked back down, apparently the so-called "idiots" didn't leave the room unguarded as much as she thought.

Not two steps out of the room did Catra find her foot crossing an incredibly thin yet durable tripwire, one that went off at the slightest touch. By the time she could so much as feel the wire her foot was crossing, it was already too late. In a matter of seconds, the cat's foot was suddenly snagged by a large sturdy rope as it was hoisted into the air, leaving the cat girl dangling from the ceiling as the pulley system worked its technical magic.

On top of that, her two friends didn't seem as asleep as she first expected because three seconds into the trap going off did she see both of their unamused faces staring up at her ten feet below her, both of them with their arms crossed and neither one of them looking surprised.

At this, Catra just gave a nervous grin, having realized she had been played for a fool this whole time. "Ehh... I had to go to the bathroom? Heheh..."

"You mean the one connected to my room by the other door?" Glimmer shot back.

Catra's Attempt To Break Into Shadow Weaver's Prison Cell #3 - Failed.

...

"My mom had Shadow Weaver transferred to this room." Glimmer informed the guard in front of the door, who nodded in response.

"We haven't seen Catra in the last ten minutes." Bow added. "Wherever she is, she couldn't have gotten far. And I doubt she knows about the switch yet."

"Either way, we should get some more guards." Glimmer suggested, earning an agreeable nod from Bow. "Long as she doesn't know about the switch, Shadow Weaver should be safe for now." And another agreeable nod from the guard. With this, the trio made their way down towards the hall, intending to find more help to guard the prisoner's cell from the sneaky cat.

The very cat who grinned as she heard every word as they passed by.

She wasn't surprised none of them were aware of her presence at the time, given how creative her hiding spot was. It was the last place the dweebs were expected to look for a person. It wasn't something like being right under their noses or anything. Rather, it was the complete opposite as Catra looked down upon them from the ceiling above.

One of the greatest traits she was proud to be blessed with were her claws. With nails as sharp as hers, it was easy for her to sink her claws into the ceiling, even if it required a great amount of strength to maintain her hold over the hallway's top as she traversed through the castle at a snail's pace.

Thanks to this, none of her friends were aware of her presence as she slowly unhooked her claws from the ceiling, leaping down to the floor's rug as quietly as possible. Gazing at the door, it made sense to her that they would try something as sneaky as transferring a prisoner she wanted to another room.

Looking back on it, it almost seemed like an act to the girl as Angella and Castaspella insisted the room they were about to enter, the prison room where she couldn't catch Shadow Weaver's scent thanks to the barrier, was the one they were holding Shadow Weaver in. And with everyone else having traversed the castle on a daily basis, there was no way in knowing which room the Queen and her friends had been to and which ones they haven't.

She had to admit, it was impressive how well their acting was.

But nothing pulls the wool over Catra's eyes twice.

Smiling, once again making sure the coast was clear as she reached for the handle, the magicat quickly dashed into the room, sliding against the ground in case there were another pair of guards hiding behind the door, ready for her. Jumping to her feet, she had her claws outstretched and ready as she glared at the center.

"All right Shadow Weaver, what are you-!" All of her fame and fluster grinded to a halt almost immediately as she blinked. "Huh?" She stood straight as she looked around the empty room, one that was identical to the guest room, save for a lowly prisoner, queen, and aunt that were missing from the premises. "Where is everybo-"

*Thud!*

*click*

"Wha- HEY!" Catra shouted as she rushed back for the door. The very moment that the cat had entered the room did she fall into, yet again, another of her friends' devious trap.

From the other side of the door, her friends smiled to themselves, along with the guard, as they pulled out the key from the handle, locking the door in place in time as they heard the familiar pounding from the other side.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" Catra shouted, pounding her fists against the door.

Of course, her friends were more than aware of Catra's tricks up to this point, including they ones that have yet to see that they knew she was capable of. With how easily Catra usually scaled the walls of the inside of the castle when she wanted her space, usually finding a good perch to sit on above them within the taller rooms, it made too much sense to expect that she'd be sneaking around a ceiling at some point.

Granted, the one thing they couldn't predict on was where and when the magicat was going to near them since acknowledging the sight of her would mean she would give up on her current trick to try and find another means of infiltrating the castle.

So, instead, they decided to play Catra's own game against her by staging a prison transfer to the current room she was occupying, and putting on their own act by pretending Shadow Weaver was inside the room they were in front of, and ran around the hallway in a full circle until Catra finally took the bait, hook-line and sinker.

An act they had to preform at least several times in a row before Catra finally fell for it.

"That should keep her out of trouble for a few minutes." Glimmer stated as she handed the key back to the guard. "Thanks for the help."

*Bam*

"You guys are dead after I get out of here, I swear!" Catra yelled from the other side as her friends continued to listen.

"It's for your own good, Catra." Bow called back in a casual tone. "Trust us."

"Gee, you're right. How about opening the door so I can shake your hand on how much I trust you?"

"You can forget it, Catra." Glimmer replied. "We're not letting you out of the room until my mother's done with Shadow Weaver. Period."

"Grrrrrr!"

*BAM*

Bow did have to admit, the girl was very persistent on getting out of there. "How long do you think that'll hold her for?" He asked looking to Glimmer.

"Meh," Glimmer shrugged back, "I'd give it five... six-ish minutes before she either breaks out or finds a way to sneak out herself."

Catra's Attempt To Break Into Shadow Weaver's Prison Cell #17 - Failed.

...

Peering around the corner, having finally lost track of Bow and Glimmer for the last fifteen minutes, Catra grinned to herself as she finally donned the helmet, making her way over to the guard outside of Shadow Weaver's prison cell and to her greatest plan yet!

"Ahem." She gruffed, catching the guards attention. Presently, the girl was clad in an oversized guard uniform with the ends of her outfit dragging to the floor. With all the supplies she could get her hands on, knowing Glimmer and Bow wouldn't think to check for her in the armory as she came out with a perfect disguise.

A large white robe that covered her whole body, the spears that all the guards were equipped with to prepare for combat, silken white, almost transparent, gloves to cover her furry hands, which she was thankful for as they gave off the appearance of white skin, and a helmet that covered her head, spending several minutes flattening her hair down enough so she could get it over her head without it puffing up in the back.

Yes, she truly had the perfect representation of somebody resembling a guard whose outfit was oversized and dragging... if the ears and the tail to her sides and behind her didn't make it even more blatantly obvious.

"The, uh, Queen wants to see you immediately." She saluted with a scruffy voice, trying to retain her disguise. "I'll remain guard in your stead."

"...You mean the Queen who's in the room behind me?" The female guard remarked. Catra paused as she contemplated to herself. There was a slight chance she may have been running out of ideas here.

Crud, that usually works... She cleared her throat again. "Uhh, y-yes! She wants you to go to the Throne Room first to, eh, secure it first for her arrival!"

*swiff*

*clang*

With the guard not wasting any of her or the horrible actress's time, she casually swiped off the tip of her helmet straight from Catra's head as it clattered against the floor. Here, Catra blinked to herself for a bit as she tried to come up with a new idea, all while her hair puffed up again and her ears rose.

"...Uhhh con... gratu... lations. You passed the... I'm not a guard test. You passed with flying colors!" She stated, pointing down the hallway. "There is an award ceremony in your honor to celebrate waiting for you in the kitchen."

*swish*

"CATRA!" Glimmer yelled, red-faced and irritated at the number of times she had to pull her friend away like this. She didn't give the girl a chance to explain herself as she grabbed onto her shoulder, teleporting the two away again like she had been for the last hour, leaving a bewildered and confused castle guard behind.

"So, wait, there isn't a ceremony for me, then?"

Catra's Attempt To Break Into Shadow Weaver's Prison Cell #35 - Failed.

...

*swish*

"Ah-!" From his peaceful rest on the bed, Bow nearly jumped as he drew his arrow at the sound of Catra and Glimmer teleporting back into her bedroom. As annoyed as Glimmer was for having to spend the past several hours dragging the magicat back to her room, it didn't come close to comparing to Catra's own irritation at their refusal to let her pass.

"Gahhh! You guys are such a PAIN!" She grumbled, squeezing at her head as she walked away from the girl.

"Look who's talking!" Glimmer shot back. "Don't you get it, Catra? We're just trying to look out for you!"

"I'm not asking you guys to look out for me!" She barked. "Look, I don't know what Shadow Weaver's doing here, but if anyone can get her to talk, it's me. Not you, not your mother, ME!"

"And that's probably what she wants." Bow replied, walking to Glimmer's side. "Don't you find it weird she came to you first of all people? If she was up to something else, she probably would've targeted Glimmer, or Queen Angella. Instead, you went to you first. And I'm willing to bet if you went in there, you'd be falling into any trap she has."

"Don't you think I know that?" She snarled, having already thought about every reason Shadow Weaver came here in the first place while trying to break into her prison. "That I didn't stop to think for one moment why she was so desperate? Whatever Shadow Weaver's planning, it has to do with me. And I don't have a choice but to fall into it before she makes people suffer for it." Growling a little, the angry warrior pulled out her sword from her back. "I should've just gone She-Ra from the start."

"Catra..." Pulling back his arrow, Bow grabbed her attention as she saw a sight she never expected to see, except for when she first met them.

Bow pulling back his arrow a little threateningly as he kept his eyes locked on her, and Glimmer actually gathering a tiny bit of her sparkling magic in her right hand. Unlike the archer, the princess had a small frown at her face, knowing where this was possibly headed.

"You're kidding, right?" Hissing, the girl gripped her sword tightly as she pointed it to the bowman. "You're really going to fight me if it means keeping me here, huh?"

"Not fight, hold back." He clarified. He knew the way Catra played, the way she insisted on whatever irritated her the most. If the girl was actually considering going She-Ra just to break into the prison cell, then Bow knew he couldn't let it past him. He kept an arrow locked on the sword itself, ready to shoot it out of her heads if he needed to.

"And you don't think I'll fight you to get through?" She said, slightly threateningly as she bared her teeth.

"Catra, we don't want to fight you." Glimmer remarked, taking a step closer. "We just want to keep you safe. It's not that we don't trust you to deal with Shadow Weaver, it's that we don't trust Shadow Weaver in whatever she has planned for you."

"So you're going to fight me to keep me safe from someone else?" She rolled her eyes at the comment. "Yeah, perfect logic right there."

"I already said, we don't want to, Catra." To prove her point, Glimmer diminished the energy she had gathering around her hand until it disappeared. To add to this, as he saw, Bow lowered his own weapon from her. "And I really don't think you want to either."

"You don't know me as well as you think, Glimmer." She growled. "Not when it comes to that woman."

"Yes, I do." She stated, taking another step forward as she looked into Catra's rage-filled eyes. "You hate her, Catra, and you don't want that woman anywhere near your life. But I don't think you'd start fighting us over her, either."

Catra glared at the girl with such a ferocity and anger the likes of which she's never felt before. Why were they being so ridiculous behind all of this? Why were they trying to make her feel like the bad guy here? Shadow Weaver was the one who started this whole mess, she's the one who ruined an otherwise great day for the girl, and just by showing up.

She knew what Shadow Weaver was like better than the rest of them, even Adora. She was cruel, vile, malicious, did everything she could for her own personal agenda, and was willing to use and hurt anybody that stood in her way, and make examples of others who disobeyed.

Examples like herself.

So, yeah. They were planning to get in her way, huh? That was actually perfectly fine for Catra as she squeezed her grip on the sword. In cases like these, this made them her enemies, and that was the best way she could think of them as. She wasn't going to let Shadow Weaver do whatever she wanted, she wasn't going to let her try to ruin her new life, and she wasn't going to let anything, or anyone, stand in her way!

"You wanna be like that? Fine!" With a scowl, the enraged magicat rose her sword to the air. "For the Honor of..." While she spoke the oath, she couldn't stop staring at the look Glimmer was giving her, or the one Bow was sharing. "...F-For... For the Honor of... of..." Her ears started to lower. They were making such stupid faces that she couldn't think straight. Why was she having such a hard time with this? She just had to say "Grayskull", and then she'd be unstoppable, capable of bursting into Shadow Weaver's cell within minutes!

"...Aaaaagggghhhh!"

*clang!*

The two watched as Catra threw her sword to the ground, grumbling as she made her way over to the wall, leaning against it and crossing her arms. "You guys are SO annoying!" She huffed, shifting her eyes away. The two friends ahead of her stared at each other before walking to the girl, trying to offer their support given the circumstances.

"Catra, do you really want to see her just to get revenge?" Glimmer asked curiously.

"What do you think? Of course, I do! Do you have any idea what that woman's done to me all my life?" Just mentioning it was enough make Catra's scowl soften, looking a little hurt as she wrapped her tail around her own waist, lowering her ears.

"Every day I spent growing up with that woman, she made my life miserable, okay? She abused me since I was a kid, she haunted me wherever I went, ordering me to do my work and insulting me even when I did it right. It was always "Adora this", "Adora that", with her, and when it came to me, she was sickened just by looking at me." The friends were a bit surprised by this as the cat continued to open up about her past with Shadow Weaver.

"I tried getting along with her almost everyday. She made me jealous of the fact Adora had something close to a... I don't know, something. And I thought if I managed to impress her somehow, I'd get the same kind of respect she gave Adora, and she never did. She just pushed me aside from day one like I was invisible or something, except when she needed someone to yell at."

"So... you hate her because you were jealous of Adora?" Bow wondered, trying to understand where the story was getting at.

"I hate her because of how she treated me! Any time I spoke out of turn, she'd abuse me. Whenever I did something against her orders or something she didn't like, she'd terrify me with her magic, assault me with it sometimes! And when I did something really stupid, something that got her precious Adora hurt," she paused as she slammed the side of her fist against the wall, "she'd actually torture me!" The scars she received from that memory, emotionally and mental, would never stop plaguing her.

"Catra..." Glimmer's brow wavered a bit as she heard the girl. They've never seen this side of Catra before, one who had an evenly balanced mix of outrage and sadness. It was like the angrier she was about Shadow Weaver the more sad she became, and vice versa. And any time she tried to speak out of anger or sadness, she sounded more hurt, like a child who didn't know how to feel.

Trying to do anything to comfort her friend, she held Catra's arm gently in her right hand, getting her to look at her. "Look, I know how you feel, all right? Don't forget she tortured me too-"

"You call THAT torture?" She hissed a little, shaking her arm off. "Pinky, what she did to you, is what I WISH she did to me. What you experienced was nothing more than Shadow Weaver doing her job." She stated, pointing back to herself. "What she did to me, on the other hand, I-..." She squeezed her fist as she looked away. "... I can't even mention it. And she did it for two days straight!" Glimmer was at an impasse, unable to comprehend just how terrified she should be right now.

To suffer physical abuse from someone one looked up to and being able to describe it, or suffering abuse from someone one looked up to and being unable to do so. She's never felt more sorry or hurt for Catra before in her life just thinking about it.

"And now she's here, and I finally have a chance to get some payback, and I..." Catra struggled to find the words to say, ones that wouldn't rise to her lips for some reason. "I need to do something about it."

"... Do... Do you really want revenge then?" Bow finally asked, getting Catra to turn back.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I do!"

"But it doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't?" Catra hoped he wasn't rubbing his chin trying to picture what Shadow Weaver did to her because if she couldn't describe it, she shouldn't have to.

"Well, think about it for a minute. Out of anywhere she could've gone, she came to you of all people."

"Yeah, and I think we explained that a dozen times by now."

"But that's just it, Catra. If Shadow Weaver did all that stuff to you, abused you, treated you so terribly, then she'd have to know about it too and all, right? Which meant she came here knowing how you felt about your past. So if that was the case... then why did she feel it necessary to come to you at all if she felt like you wouldn't listen to her anyway?"

"I-" Catra paused mid-sentence. "... I don't know..."

"Do you think it's really revenge you're feeling right now, Catra?" Glimmer questioned as Catra lowered her head. "Are you sure you're just not sure how else to feel about her, that you're mistaking it for something else?"

"Like what?"

"Like, I don't know, curiosity?" She suggested, getting a twinge of legitimate surprise out of Catra as she thought about it. "Maybe you don't really want to hurt her or anything, or as much as you're describing it as. Maybe you just want to talk? Was there anything she said to you when you first saw her?"

"She..." Catra recalled the state she was in, the way she groveled as she collapsed to her knees. The weakened form she had, the humiliating appearance of someone begging at her feet, the cry for help she requested from her, the one person in the world she knew would sooner throw her over a cliff rather than help her. It actually did make her motive questionable.

And she still didn't know how to feel. "I... I don't know." She admitted with a frown. "I... I just know if I don't figure out what's going on right now, she's going to make everything worse, you guys. And I... I don't want her to hurt anyone around here, not like she did me." She held a small mournful look on her face as she turned her head away from them. "Please..." She muttered, unable to finish her plea for their help.

The two looked among themselves in contemplation for this. From everything Catra told her, Shadow Weaver, this woman, was part of the reason Catra became the person she is today, the one that as cynical, apprehensive, quick to anger, and lacked a certain amount of trust in others. It wasn't just the trust she lacked from being hurt by others, but from others who would've hurt her back for hurting the ones they cared about.

And she was right about Shadow Weaver. The woman was, from her description, vile, manipulative, and cared for nothing other than one person in the world, and Catra had every right to be angry and untrusting of her. They almost would've agreed with her in that Shadow Weaver deserved to be punished, to an extent.

But they also knew there was another pain behind Catra's anger towards her. She had the anger of a child who never had the attention of a parent like she wanted, one that would lash out just to get them to notice her. All her life, Catra was the one who tried to be the perfect student, tried to be the one that Shadow Weaver recognized, and she denied her.

It was that denial that got her to where she was today, the jealousy that made her hate Shadow Weaver for what she did. Because she never felt the sensation of someone close to a family member before, never experiencing how it felt.

Growing a small smile to one another, Glimmer approached the girl again with a confident look in her eye. "We trust you, Catra, and we're with you." Hearing this, the girl's ears shot straight up, turning around in surprise.

"You... you are?" She was a little skeptical of the announcement, wondering if this was going to be another trick to lock her in a room again for the third time now.

"But we're not going to let you face her alone." Bow added, assuring their commitment as she smiled a little. "We're coming with you, one way or another. Now what do you need us to do?" Grinning, the cat went back to her sword, staring at it a little, before sheathing it in her back. If they were willing to help her then she knew she couldn't go through with her vendetta with them in the way. They were willing to give her a chance to prove herself, and it couldn't be squandered.

Not even for Shadow Weaver.

...

"For the last time, tell us what you know." Castaspella demanded as she crafted the mystical runes in front of her out of thin air.

The prison became far more depressing as the time went on, which was saying a lot given how luxurious it would be compared to actual prisons. Every question they demanded, every answer Angella and Castaspella wanted from Shadow Weaver, was met with another snide comment or a petty insult, infuriating the women who tried desperately to retain their composure.

If she wasn't insulting the women themselves, she was poking at their history. From the time she tortured Glimmer to the ways she remarked about Micah's past, and her past as his teacher when he was young. She knew all the right buttons to get a rise out of these two women as she delayed them, refusing to give them any answer until she got what she wanted herself.

And, while time was of the essence, she could do it for as long as she needed to.

"I know that when you use a truth spell, you should make sure you've drawn it correctly." Shadow Weaver replied, pointing out a line within the rune that was still incomplete like the others. "Sloppy work. Are you sure you're Micah's sister?" And there she went again with another insult.

This time, it proved to be enough for the woman as she tried to march her way towards her. Like she did before with Angella, this time Angella was the one who cut her off from making a scene, cutting off her path. ""She's trying to get under our skin." She stated.

"You could spare yourself the trouble if you would just let me talk to Catra." She casually reminded.

"No!" The Queen flat out denied her, shaking her arm. "You've put that girl through enough. Now tell us the truth."

"You want the truth?" Shadow Weaver sighed, leaning on her knuckles as she sat on her knees. "Very well." The women prepared themselves as Shadow Weaver appeared to be relenting. It was here that they forgot that appearances were deceiving.

"When I had my fun with your daughter, Adora had her share of the fun next." Her eyes narrowed with glee as the queen balled up her fist. "I can assure you, that at least one of them were enjoying themselves. But I'm sure Catra told you plenty about it herself, right? After all, she was such dear friends with the both of them, and you know how trusting she can be..."

Angella nearly lashed out in anger right then and there, her wings almost flapping open in aggression at the woman's statement. If she wasn't for the fact she was trying to keep a reasonable and dignified demeanor, she would've felt tempted to let Catra try her own hand at this woman. "Quit wasting our time and answer me! Why did the Horde send you here? What are you planning?"

In reaction, the woman laughed at her meager questions. "You think Hordak sent me? I escaped from Hordak and paid the price for it." She emphasized her point as she held up her arm, showing the magical dark hazy essence that continued to leech off the woman. That took more out of the woman than she expected in herself as she let out another violent cough.

All around her, the women watched as another mist of haze spread away from the wicked witch, Shadow Weaver struggling to hold herself up to her hands and knees as she coughed. During this, the queen came to realize exactly what she was going through, feeling a small drip of remorse for the horrendous woman.

"You're dying, aren't you?" The question caught Castaspella by surprise as she looked between the two. If there was one quality she knew Angella had as an immortal over most people, it was her vast knowledge of the world and its history, including possible ailments.

Looking at her in person, she came to realize that it couldn't be anything else herself. The way Shadow Weaver coughed violently, the small rasp in her voice from time to time. It had all the signs of a dying woman, the signs of someone with barely anyone left to live for as she forced her way to Bright Moon's castle. Nobody else would've done such a thing otherwise by themselves.

Taking a moment to take in the scene, she finally looked back to Angella as she spoke, "Angella, can I speak with you for a moment?" She requested. Glancing once more at the woman kneeling before her, she gave a small nod, heading to the door with head sorceress.

Even that didn't get the woman to stop in her little fun.

"Oh, and be sure to give my regards to your daughter." Angella shot her head back as Shadow Weaver brought her up again. "If I knew how much fun Adora intended to have with her, I would have told her to ease up..." She took all the satisfaction she needed as she saw a small glare forming over the woman's eye before the doors closed behind them.

This has been quite the amusing day to her so far.

"Mmmmmh!" Angella grumbled, trying to refrain from shouting as she stepped away from the door. "I owe Catra more of an apology than I thought. How did she put up with an entire lifetime with that insufferable woman? I can't even last an hour!" That was a study of the understatement.

To think, the person she thought was snide and rude and unbearing at first actually came from somebody she made look like the devil by comparison. It was almost surprising to her Catra was only as bad as she was when they first met if this was the woman who raised her!

"Angella, this isn't working." The head sorceress deemed as she frowned a little. "We've tried everything, and her condition is growing worse." As they conversed, the trio of heroes popped their heads out from the corner of the hallway, checking the area fro themselves. "Perhaps we should let Catra-"

"I am not letting that poor girl anywhere near Shadow Weaver!" Angella fumed, refusing the request before it was even completed. The women continued to chat with one another as Bow turned back to his friends.

"You guys go in. I'll distract them." He said with a confident smile. Nodding, Glimmer teleported herself and Catra as Bow made his way to the conversing women.

"We should consult with the Princess Alliance before we go further."

"Your Majesties. Hey." He greeted upon approach. With a casual look over his face, he dug out his pockets as he pulled out a pack of cards, shuffling them through the air playfully as he talked. "Soooo, who wants to see a magic trick?" There was an awkward feeling in the air as the women were offered to see a "magic trick" with cards to two women who were gifted in actual magic themselves.

"Bow, where's Catra and Glimmer?" Angella asked, a little concerned.

"Oh, Glimmer took her and Swift Wind to Light Hope to do some training. You know, to work out her aggression and everything." He replied, remembering his lines if they asked. "Glimmer went with to keep an eye on her and to make sure she couldn't get away. Now, moving on, tell me if you've seen this trick before..."

...

Already Catra was disgusted by the sight of her former mentor and the cell she was supposedly rotting in. The walls, the furnishes, the plants, all of it was far too good for her. Then again, she also knew that the cells of the Fright Zone were too good as well.

She didn't give it much thought or care as she heard Shadow Weaver let out a few coughs, seeing the woman continuing to convulse with energy that was slipping away from her.

Hearing the familiar patter of feet, one indistinguishable even with an unusual pair of boots, Shadow Weaver greeted her without even having to raise her head. "Ah, Catra." The young warrior was already scowling at this. "How nice it is to see you again."

"Listen up, lady!" Glimmer perked up from the side, standing between them with her hands at her hips. "After all your kidnapping and mind-wiping, I am just looking for an excuse to leave the room alone with just the two of you. Got that? I'm not here to keep you safe from her, so I could care less! I'm here to make sure she's safe from you. And if you try to do anything to hurt Catra-!" The princess began as she gathered a bolt of magic in her hands.

"Glimmer," Catra pulled her back, walking passed her before shoving the sword in her hands, "hold that for me. I'll be fine but too tempted to use it. And I'll be alright, okay?" Glimmer gave a quick nod as she took a step back, knowing how serious the situation was for her as she gave an okaying smile. With the sword out of the way, Catra glared back at the woman, one who kneeled to her in mercy for a change instead of the other way around.

Before giving the official okay, Glimmer shot Shadow Weaver one more stern look, shaking the sword in front of her face so she knew what to expect if she stepped out of line.

Whether or not she'd allow Catra to use the sword if she got pushed to far being besides the point.

"Ah, Catra, look at how much you've grown." Shadow Weaver cooed, raising a hand to her. "A comfy palace, a decent home, so many new friends-"

"Can it." Catra hissed, narrowing her brow further with her glare. "Just skip the small talk and tell me. What are you doing here?"

"Catra, I'm surprised at you." The woman fawned, waving her hand. "You know I always held a deep amount of respect for y-"

"Either tell me why you're here right now or I'm leaving. You have five seconds." She stated. Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes as she lowered her hand to her side.

"Just as reckless and to the point as ever, I see." She sighed. "Very well. If you must know the truth, I came here to see you."

"Me?" Catra shot Glimmer a look at this, actually as confused as she was as Glimmer shrugged back. "Out of anyone in the world, you wanted to see me?"

"Trust me, my options were severely limited." Ah. There's the old spiteful Shadow Weaver Catra knew and loathed. "But you're the only one I can trust. I need you Catra, more than you can possibly know."

"You're losing my patience, again." She warned, kneeling down to her.

Again, Shadow Weaver sighed. "That's the thing I didn't like about you Catra-"

"The feeling's mutual."

"You were always so quick to anger, quick to rush. As fast as you were, as agile, as keen, you never looked at the bigger picture of things."

"Gee, I wonder who's fault was that?" Catra spat. "Maybe its the one who tormented me all my life!"

"All I did was to keep you in line for Adora's sake!" She glared back. "Everything you did was looked down upon by the guards and soldiers. People started to talk, superiors became questionable. I knew if you went down then Adora would stick to your side and try to bail you out at the cost of her own future, and I couldn't let that happen."

"Oh, well that's more sense. Hey, while you're at it, why don't you-" She stopped as she saw Glimmer off to the side, giving her a small look, and making her groan. As much as she wanted to stop and play 20 Arguments all day long, she knew they only had so much time before Angella and Castaspella came back, and that she needed to control her anger. Sighing to herself, the girl rubbed her eyes briefly as she glared back to the woman. "Look. Just tell me what you want, and we can be out of each other's hair."

"That's just it, Catra. I need-! Hack-ough!" It was only two sentences in that Shadow Weaver started to convulse with a violent cough, catching Catra and Glimmer by surprise. All around her, the woman's energy drained from her more, this time actually hacking out a portion of her energy directly from the slits of her masks, the scars Catra left behind in their last encounter.

"Sh-Shadow Weaver?" Catra blinked as all her anger was draining away from her as magic drained away from the woman. "What... What's going on?"

The older woman wheezed as she gasped for breath, doing everything she could to stay alive for as long as she did. "It took all of my power to come see you. I'm dying, Catra."

"Y-You're... You're what?" Catra rose back to her feet as she stepped back. For the first time in Catra's life, she actually felt empty inside. Pure, utter, emptiness. She didn't feel angry at the news, she didn't feel sadness. She didn't feel happy or joyful, she wasn't confused at the statement, she simply felt empty. "Y-You're bluffing... You're trying to get something out of this, aren't you-"

"Catra," Glimmer spoke up, appearing next to the girl as she stared at the prisoner, "I don't think she is." Catra stared back as she took in the sight.

How was she supposed to react in this situation right now? The woman she hated for years, the one she still hates, the very person she wished was dead for some time now, actually WAS dying. She was dying right in front of her in a way Catra couldn't understand. Maybe it was the confusion behind it that kept her from enjoying it? Or maybe it was something else?

"You're... You're really dying?" Catra asked, stepping closer again.

"Either that, or this is the first time I've ever experienced a cold." She joked a little, not earning so much as a twitch from Catra's mouth. "This, is why I came to you Catra. This is why I need you."

"You..." Lowering her ears, she turned to the sword still in Glimmer's hand, putting the pieces together. "You came all this way... to ask me to heal you?"

"I came here to ask you to help me." She emphasized. "I need much more than simple healing before this is over."

To think. All this time, all this confusion, the reason why Shadow Weaver, the worst person in the world to her, would actually come seeking her help when her end drew near. She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, and nobody to help her. Like Catra, she was all alone in the world with nobody by her side except for her magic, and even that was leaving her.

"...Tch...Pfft...PFFFFFFFT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" All at once, Catra's stomach burst into a mad fit of laughter as the girl held her sides, actually coming close to crying as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is-! Bwahahaahahaahaha!" Catra couldn't help herself as she fell to her back, Glimmer watching in confusion as she hoped her mother and aunt wouldn't hear.

"C-Catra?" She tried to get her attention. "Are you okay?"

"Believe me," Shadow Weaver answered for her, "she's just getting started.

"Oh my gosh, this really is the greatest day in my life! Hahahahahahaha! Oh man, I'm gonna pee, I'm not kidding. I actually think I'm going to pee, this is so hilarious!" The girl struggled to get up to her feet as she continued to burst with laughter, wiping away her tears with her thumb. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this is really happening."

"The feeling's mutual." Shadow Weaver remarked, quoting Catra's own words.

"Oh man..." She sniffled a little, trying to get the words out. "I-I'm sorry, it's just... hoof... I just can't believe this. I can truly, completely, one-hundred percent, not believe this." There was so much beauty in the world right now to Catra. She actually swore she heard birds singing her name as she came to realize all that was happening in real life.

"Ah... Okay, okay, I'm sorry, but... Just let me get this straight." Still grinning, she cleared her throat as she smirked back to Shadow Weaver. "You're dying. You're at your end, your dying for reasons I don't care about, and you're running out of magic. Okay. I get that part. But out of everywhere in the entire world, out of everything you could have done to prevent it, you thought, and I'm being serious here, you thought that out of anybody, any one single person on this planet, that I would be the one to heal you? Much less want to heal you?! That's pure gold, right there! Hahahaha!"

"You're actually taking it better than I expected." She commented, positioning herself so she was a little more comfortable sitting on her side.

"Why wouldn't I be? This is perfect! I get my revenge, I don't even have to lift a finger, and I don't have to worry about losing She-Ra's power!" She chuckled. "Sure, maybe it'll drop a point or two from this, but it'll be SO worth it!"

"Catra!" Glimmer yelled a little. She could understand Catra's deep-rooted hatred for the woman, she despised her herself. But going and taking it as far as Catra was saying it, looking so happy to see someone in a dying state, was troubling to her. Almost frightening.

"Save it, Pinky." Catra told her, taking the sword back as she buried it in her sheathe. "It's over now."

"You're not going to at least hear what she has to say first? Maybe it's important?"

"And what? Heal her if she promises to talk?" She gestured to the dying woman who let out another loud cough. "I've dealt with her all my life, Glimmer. Even if I did heal her, she wouldn't keep her word. The minute I did, she would probably teleport out of here with her magic or something, using me, once again, and coming out the victory. Thanks, but no thanks." With her decision being final, Catra started to make her way towards the door, not caring in the slightest if the queen calls her out on being inside or not.

"But Catra-!"

"Save it." Shadow Weaver moaned. "You're wasting your time with her. Once she sets her mind on something, it's almost impossible to make her reconsider." She narrowed her white eyes as she said this.

"I'm glad we've come to understand each other, Shadow Weaver. Later." Catra waved off without looking back as she continued for the door.

"Even if that information involves Adora of all people..."

That was the word that made Catra stop, right as she was an inch away from reaching for the door. Ears twitching a bit, she quickly looked back, a look of confusion crossing her face. "Huh?"

"Never you mind, my dear." Shadow Weaver shook her head as she waved her hand. "Go on and live your life and enjoy yourself while I die. You know you want to."

"What did you say about Adora?" Like a fishing being snagged on a hook, Catra knew that she immediately fell for the bait as she came reeling back in.

"Oh, now you're interested in what I have to say?" She said in a teasing tone. "What happened to the girl that was laughing on the floor a minute ago?"

"Just shut up and answer me!" Catra growled, forcing Glimmer to hold her back a little as she grabbed her shoulders.

"There really isn't much you should be thinking about right now, Catra, except for how strange this day is. Strange that I felt it necessary to come to you instead of her, strange that I came all by myself without Adora around me, strange that I had to break out of the Horde's prison just to get here, and strange that out of everybody else in the world, that sword was meant for her..." She trailed off, leaving no hint of Adora's involvement behind this entire scene.

"What does Adora have to do with any of this? Huh? Tell me!" She tightened the grip on her sword as she felt the urge to turning She-Ra rising. Not to heal the wicked witch, but to MAKE her talk.

"Ough-!" Right as she opened her mouth to speak, the woman began to cough out some more, leaving a larger miasma of magic floating around her, taking longer to dissipate. Catra gritted her teeth as she looked at the sword.

Everything behind Catra being here started with this thing. Her desire to obtain a kingdom for the both of them, the long and tiring journeys she took along with Glimmer and Bow since day one, the fact that this sword was meant for Adora in the first place, and the fact that, because of her own involvement, she messed up some desired fate where Adora was the one with the sword and not her.

That's not what threw Catra out of the loop, though.

What did throw her out of the loop was Shadow Weaver, the sorceress of darkness who made Catra's everyday a living nightmare. Through all the ups and downs, through everything that Catra has done and has been doing as the new She-Ra, she somehow knew. She knew that, somehow, the sword was originally meant for her of all people, or at least that she had a key part to play in all of this.

Biting on her lower lip for a few seconds, she hissed audibly as she glared back to the coughing sorceress. "What's the point in asking me to heal you, anyway? I'm still trying to figure out how to be She-Ra, what makes you think I know how to heal you?"

"Because I can teach you, my child." She raspy replied. "I was once a teacher of magic in Mystacor. I taught your father, Princess" she commented, looking at Glimmer and back, "and I can teach you. I can help you learn to control the magical side of your abilities, Catra. But first, you're going to have to trust me."

"Trust you?" She slowly scowled as she pushed past Glimmer. "Trust you!? All my life, I gave you my trust. I trusted you to be impressed with me at some point, I trusted you enough to think I would earn your respect some day, and did I? NO! You are the last person I would ever trust- no. Scratch that. The last person I would even THINK about trusting! And you're asking me to trust you now?"

Glimmer reached for the girl for a moment as she saw Catra raising the tip of her sword up to Shadow Weaver's neck, as far as she could with the barrier in the way. Instead of attempting to cut it like she expected her to, or to destroy the barrier, she, instead, rose the sword slowly, Shadow Weaver raising her head until their eyes met as if she was actually touching her with the sword.

"Give me one good reason why I should trust you now of all times, of all places?" Whatever Shadow Weaver had to say, this was her last chance. She was tired of being lead astray with the woman, and she wasn't going to take anymore sass, anymore insults, from the woman who treated her so horribly through her life.

With that in mind, knowing it for herself, Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed, allowing Catra to see deeply into them as she saw the seriousness of the situation. "Because helping you also benefits me, in the end." She admitted. "I stand to lose more than just my life if you don't, and without my magical guidance, you will never defeat the Horde, or what Adora's turning into."

She looked for anything. A small twitch of the eyes, a shake of the hand, and found nothing. There was nothing Shadow Weaver did to point out that she was lying to her now of all times. The sincerity of her voice, the desperate look in her eye, it was all there. She was either the world's greatest actor, or telling the truth to Catra for the first time in her life, and she didn't know what to do.

"So, do we have a deal?"

...

The girl remained silent as she had been for some time. Sitting with her knees curled up against the torn walls of the cell, she couldn't begin to figure out how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? No matter how ridiculous the last option might have seemed, Adora didn't care. She shut her brain off as she awaited her own demise, waiting for Hordak's likely execution for, and to keep herself from feeling how she tore at Scorpia's heart.

She still hated herself for it, every second of every hour. The way she pulled at her emotionally, the way she berated her for her past mistakes, real and false, and the way she went as far as to say that Catra was a better friend than she would ever be, the one person Scorpia hated as much as Adora did. It didn't matter to her if she went to far, she needed to make sure it was far enough so she wouldn't risk trying to save her.

And she still felt horrible about it.

Horrible that she was officially all alone in the world with what felt like everyone hating her, the world was more upside in terms of Lord Hordak than she thought, and the fact that she broke apart the very person who was her friend, her newest best friend, in the end, when she was trying to raise her spirits.

She just wanted everything to be over now.

"Hmmm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmhm hmhmmmmm~" She barely batted an eyelash as she continued to stare at the ground in front of her curled-up legs, past her hugging arms. From the other side of the force field, Aroda could be seen, humming to herself in glee as she pushed her fists to her side in pride. "Ahhh, take a whiff of that sweet, fresh, freedom air!" She piqued, taking an exaggerated inhale with her back turned to Adora. "Ah, refreshing, isn't it?"

Adora just remained silent as she stared ahead of her at the ground.

"Come on, Adora, why don't you come on out of there and share the air with-" She paused intentionally as she turned back. "Oh, that's right, how silly of me. The cuffs, the cell. Honestly, I forgot you were a prisoner for a second because I thought things would have gone so well after your last meeting with Hordak. Oh well! I'll just have to take a breath for the both of us." The reflection closed her eyes as she inhaled through the nose. "Hnnnnnnnnnnnnh! Ahhhh, refreshing."

"..."

Surprisingly to her, this still didn't get a reaction out of the girl as she looked back. "What? Still pouty because of how you treated your friend?" She asked, stepping easily through the force field and standing right in front of her. "Or was it the fact I told you so, once again, what would inevitably happen? Because, I'll be honest, you can't blame me for either of them, especially with that scorpion girl."

"..."

"Geez, aren't you the mood killer?" Aroda said, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. "You know, I think we're lucky that we'll be facing banishment to Beast Island, at most. There, we should be just fine and dandy, provided we last two to three days of not getting eaten before starving to death, but besides that, I-"

"You were right."

Aroda blinked. "... I'm sorry, come again? I think I had something stuck in my ear." She asked looking down. Adora didn't look any more attentive of her presence than she did before, just bitter.

"You were right." Adora repeated. "About everything." Aroda would've gasped if it didn't ruin the moment for her, instead opting to drop her jaw as her eyes widened with surprise.

"Am I mishearing you or something? Because for a second there, I thought it sounded like you said I was right."

"I did." A sly grin grew over Aroda's face as she squatted down to her eye level. "You were right about everything. Hordak doesn't have any care or respect for me, I've been too soft on the enemies around me, and I've been fooling myself into thinking things would work out in the end." She took the moment to look at her frayed hand, the one that was aged beyond her years. "None of this would've happened if I had just gotten stronger instead."

"Adora, I'm," Aroda sniffed, wiping a finger against her eye, "I think I'm gonna cry! I've never been so proud~" Which was definitely an understatement in her present situation. With a gleeful smile, she playfully twirled a piece of Adora's own hair which dangled in front of her face. "Oh, Adora, you have nooooooo idea how much it means to me to hear that."

"It's not like I've changed my view completely." She restated. "I still don't want to hurt the people I care about or the people who had nothing to do with this war. But until I get stronger, I'm never going to be able to change anything."

"And you don't have to!" Aroda happily agreed. "Making friends or enemies is your own choice, there's pros and cons either way, so I'm not too picky on that. But what is important is how you go about living your life now. As long as you keep living your life the way you do, people are just going to take advantage of you and take you for granted. And as long as that happens, you'll never be growing stronger. Ever."

"I know." Adora's tone never changed so much as once throughout the conversation. "And I can't accept that anymore. If I'm going to learn to stand up for myself more within the Horde, to prove to everyone that I'm not a failure, then I need to change. I need to stop letting people look down on me after I do all the work. I can't allow them to waste anymore of my time with stupid paperwork every hour." At this, the girl finally raised her head a little, looking into Aroda's eyes with a stern look. "And I'm done being nice to the people who don't deserve it."

Aroda smirked.

This was too perfect. Beyond, perfect. Sure, it had some ups and downs, but it wasn't the worst experience she's ever been put through. In fact, she can't remember the last time someone made such a large development as she did. All it took was for her entire world to collapse around her, and then she'd come running into Aroda's arms like she should have done in the first place.

"Oh, Adora," Aroda smiled, scooting up to the girl's side as she kneeled next to her, gently patting the top of the girl's head soothingly, "you're finally starting to learn~"

...

A/N: And another chapter down! And with it, i have 2 big announcements folks!

1, We're nearing the 1 Million word mark ^^! Huzaahhhhhhhh! Let the confetti rain! And anything else that usually does. This is without a doubt my biggest line of work to date, and I can't wait to hit it. Double huzzah because we're almost reaching the ONE HUNDREDTH CHAPTERRRRRRRRRRR! So double hooplah for that!

To celebrate/commemorate the event, I decided to propose a writing contest/challenge. The rule of the game is simple: Make up a short story or one-shot taking place within the Cat-Ra universe. It can be about anything (except anything past season 3 to prevent spoilers, haven't seen 4 yet X/) within the show at the time, from a simple episode about everyone spending the day doing who knows what to something actiony. It can be a one shot or several chapters long oas as many as needed.

Everyone will have until I post the 100th chapter as a deadline, so it should be about a week or 2 at most, definitely a week at least.

The winner of the challenge will be acknowledge and commemorated by having their story posted on here on this very series for everybody to see! As for when it'll be posted, it'll likely be after I finish whatever episode i'm currently on at that point, so it might be a chapter or two before getting it. Let me know if you guys are interested in it, and if you need a little bit of extra time to do it. Whatever the plot is, remember to keep it kid/K7+ rated. Anything with cursing or large amount of blood (I mean if someone gets like a bloody nose or something due to something like a prank or like someone slamming their face into something, that's fine XP) but otherwise keep it kid friendly! - Says the guy who mentioned torture several times~*

The 2nd thing to announce is, that's right! We're going to finally learn what Aroda is after all this time! One of the biggest mysteries of this part of the She-Ra verse and this AU that people have been dying to know! No real contest on that part, sorry XP, but I am interested and curious in your peoples' thoughts about what and who you people think Aroda is by this point. I won't give any spoilers till then but, presumably, I will have it revealed or hinted-to-near-answered by the very end of the next chapter.

With that said, hope you all enjoy! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 94: S3 Episode 1: The Price of Power Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: Esti.(estimate) 15.3K Pre-A/N's. Whoa nelly this was exciting to write! Done within the span of about 6 hours straight, i had a blast writing this one (the fact it still has 1 part to go and is still this long should prove it).

I also hope you guys have a she-ra soundtrack of something of the music that plays in this episode cause listening to it and writing it myself got me so many tingles and goosebumps (the good kind ^^). Won't deny it might be a bit repetitive in some parts and emotional in others- actually i take that back, it WILL get emotional down the line as the reach the climax of the chapter, but for those of who you manage to power through it, you'll be rewarded with the answer to the ultimate question:

Who Or What Is Aroda!

With that all said, hope you all enjoy, and on to the show!

...

The leader of the Horde worked tirelessly as he always did within his lab, messing with one of his newest of gadgets as he tore away at his own devices. Literally.

As the leader of the Horde, he was in charge of everything, everyone. He ran algorithms almost nobody on this simple-minded planet could comprehend, knew the secrets behind vast technology that was centuries ahead of this this time, almost as grand as the First Ones tech itself, and was in charge of maintaining order within the very walls of his citadel, including everyone.

From the young to the old, the dimwitted and the brightest, the weak and the strongest, they all had their parts here as their pawns, as their uses for him. He took joy out of those who proved themselves to be the best of the rest, those who outdid themselves among others of the same variety. And for those he shunned, he had nothing but disgust with, bridled rage that could never be quenched, as he was forced to allow their brief existence until it was time to dispose of them.

Such as one lone Force Captain by the name of Adora.

The girl showed promise, at first. Her philosophy of doing things "peacefully" was cute in its own way. The girl actually proved invaluable for about the first month as she managed to gather resources and outposts at a rate faster than they had previously, and there was a moment where he thought she showed promise as such.

That all went away the following two weeks after when resources began to slow among the vast outposts and the numerous settlements they had acquired started to demand more and more resources.

The girl refused to turn down these pleas or cries for help, wasting who knows how many valuable pieces of metal, how many soldiers, just to clean up the problem of the meager and the weak, eventually reaching a point where the number of acquired resources to the amount of outposts and settlements maintained were evenly balanced, as opposed to being overwhelmed with resources like they initially were. Honestly, even that he could put up with until the very end.

What he couldn't tolerate, not even a little, was her lack of loyalty. Like Shadow Weaver, she tried to smooth her way out of a situation. He gave her one simple test, a test to prove her loyalty by admitting the truth, and like the crone who raised her, she tried to worm her way out by only giving him half the truth, not the part where she was responsible for the woman's escape.

Having enough of her constant failures and her lies, he tossed her away. Now, he waited patiently, toying away with his lab work as the hour of her judgement drew near. Nothing about the girl was of value to him anymore. A soldier with a limited sense of loyalty was a burden and a liability to any and all future orders. How was he supposed to trust someone as close as a commander when the same person could lie about the results of a mission, lie about the resources and valuable obtained from said mission?

He couldn't. And that was no longer his worry. All he cared about for the time being was doing his own work with his own tolds with his own belongings as he continued to upgrade the devices and tools around him.

*CRAack*

"Ngh!" He hissed as he felt a sharp pain on the side of his abdomen, holding his left arm to the side of his right as he swiped the tool away in anger. In addition to traitors and useless soldiers, he also had to deal with his own faulty equipment breaking down on him at all times, like this stupid suit of armor that refused to work properly!

"Hordak, great!" He also had to deal with random and sudden appearances of his newest assistant, one who actually proved herself valuable to him time and again as she popped out of the overhead vent. "I've got a lot to cover for you today. I've integrated the First Ones tech from the Northern Reach to our portal machine, but we're still missing something." She explained as she displayed four monitors to him at once, holding two in her arms and in her hair.

"Luckily, I just picked up a signal. It's some sort of First Ones message. I don't know what these other words are, but this one's easy. It means "portal". It could be the missing something we're looking for." The eager scientist paused as she scanned the room. "By the way, have you seen Adora? We should send her out to collect it, ASAP." Oh, she just couldn't wait to get a start on the mission and the piece of tech. She knew Adora would have some fun with the mission, and it'd be a good time to test out another band for her condition.

"Adora is no longer a concern of yours." He hissed, walking away as she stared back to him. "She's being sent away to Beast Island."

"Beast Island?" Entrapta blinked. "Why? Does she have some sort of mission to do there?"

"On the contrary, she is being exiled there as punishment for her transgressions and her inability as a commander. I've tolerated her failures far longer than I should." He stated, walking away from the curious scientist.

Entrapta really didn't know what to say for once, and not in the fun kind of way where some mysterious new piece of technology did something she has no idea of what! Looking among her many screens with a small frown, she looked back to the leader of the Horde as she followed him along her hair. "I'm confused." Grabbing onto a large pipe, she cut him off as she displayed the newest readings of Adora's performance.

"As you can see the overall productivity of the Horde has increased by 600% since Adora took over as your second-in-command. Troop morale has also seen a marginal increase by 30% within the last month alone." She tried to explain as the leader refused to even acknowledge her graphs, blocking it from his view as he walked away. "And look at this chart!" She tried to insist again with the same results. "The evidence shows that First Ones tech has gotten us closer than ever to creating a working portal."

She remained baffled by Hordak's decision as she spoke her mind and her statistics. Adora was far too valuable as a soldier to simply banish for any reason, and a good friend. She was the one who got Entrapta a job here in the first place, she was the one who helped her test out the gadgets some of the other officers and soldiers were too scared to try out.

So what if over half of them resulted in an explosion or a nuclear meltdown on a weekly basis? That didn't stop the girl from trying to help her out from time to time when she was available, especially since her shadows helped to keep her safe.

"Adora has been incredibly successful at getting new tech for us." She continued, trying to block his path again as she walked in front of him. "And this latest signal is coming from here. The Crimson Waste." She exclaimed, pulling out a map. "We don't have a moment to spare. We need Adora."

"Ghhh! It is meaningless!" In fury, the leader of the Horde smacked the map out of the scientist's hand, glaring back at the argumentative scientist who grew a small look of anger. "I'm not going to squander troops on a lifeless wasteland. This discussion is over." Entrapta looked at the charts one more time before lowering her head in despair, leaving the chart behind as she took off. If Hordak wasn't going to listen to reason, then the least she could do is making something quickly to help her friend before she left.

At the sound of her moaning, seeing the mopey scientist leaving him at least, he turned back to the table as he eyed the chart with seething eyes.

He meant what he said about her being intolerable, a failure, useless. A girl like that who can't even travel for four days without her own magic affecting her is more useless than Shadow Weaver was. At least with that woman she knew how to balance out her orders and her powers at the same time! It almost disgusted him that he had to think of something that the first traitor excelled at in comparison!

... Then again, as he thought about it, he wouldn't waste anything valuable if she failed him as always...

...

"You honestly think I'd ever make a deal with you?" Catra sneered at the dying woman. She could be armless, legless, magicaless, and headless, and Catra still wouldn't trust the woman with her life, much less anything else!

"I believe you would know an opportunity when you see one, Catra." Shadow Weaver replied, her once boisterous, proud, snide, and witty demeanor hollowed out by the aching sore of her throat, the endless coughing from her lungs. With every wave of her magic that dissipated from her body, another wave of her own magic disappeared with it, as well as her very life. "You want information I have, I want your magic to heal me. Personally, you have more to gain than I do by this point."

"Hmm, let me see." She raised her head in a sarcastic manner as she tapped her chin. "I heal you... you leave without telling me anything... Nope. Don't see how that benefits me."

"Catra..." Glimmer mumbled, nudging her again. She was the one factor keeping Catra's emotions at bay, less the girl lash out of her and cause a scene, an audible one for Angella and Castaspella who were right outside the door without knowing where they were.

Never has the princess seen Catra this cold hearted towards anyone, especially to the people she usually hated on a daily basis around here. This was like a new type of hatred she's never witnessed within the girl before, one that felt like a common anger towards someone, and at the same time, felt like she was forcing herself to be angry with this woman.

"The magic I can help teach you, the information from the Horde," the list went on as Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes, "the information on Adora herself."

"Tch..." That did remain the one reason Catra continued to listen to the temptress.

She didn't want to be here anymore than Shadow Weaver wanted to be here, and at first, it was a one way streak. Spending the last hour trying to sneak into the prison cell with Bow and Glimmer constantly stopping her at every turn, she finally got a chance to see the mad woman who tormented her all her life, who made her wish she was never born.

Here, she learned that Shadow Weaver was actually dying, and when she discovered she came here seeking Catra to heal her, she was absolutely ecstatic.

To think, the one simple woman, the dreaded Shadow Weaver, who went about her life making Catra miserable, would come groveling at Catra's own feet one day, begging and pleading for her help, and believing that for a second she would actually go through with it?! It sent Catra into a laughing riot the likes of which she's never felt before, finding the situation hysterical and poetic in some way. She was finally going to get her comeuppance for all the years of neglect and abuse, and Catra couldn't have been any happier even if she tried!

Then, she had to ruin it by mentioning Adora.

She knew something about Adora, more than Catra thought she knew herself. She knew Adora had some connection to the sword, she knew that she was supposed to take it originally unlike Catra, and she knew there was something special about her. On top of that, she also knew something that Catra didn't, something that was wrong with her that she refused to mention unless Catra healed her.

To sweeten the deal, she even offered to help Catra learn how to control She-Ra's magic, something that Light Hope had yet to do with the girl. She could understand why, seeing how she's barely mastered being She-Ra so far, but the least she could've done was teach her a few simple tricks here and there, none of which Light Hope said she was "ready for".

Even with that, Catra was extremely hesitant. She was dealing with Shadow Weaver, the master of manipulation, and the one who wouldn't give Catra the time of day if she ever asked. Now, she wanted Catra to help her of all people? There were so many literal thousands of reasons why she would argue against it that she knew they didn't have time for.

"Suppose I do help you. What then?" Catra asked, crossing her arms. "You tell us the information, then return to the Horde to your "favorite student"?"

"I can no longer go back to the Horde, Catra." Shadow Weaver informed. "Sense the Battle of Bright Moon, I have been imprisoned. I've been rotting in a cell, biding my time, until, eventually, Adora gave me the way out."

"If she was willing to help you get out, then why didn't she try to help heal you?" Glimmer asked curiously as Catra pondered. "She could've taken you anywhere the Horde occupied before they found out about your escape." Shadow Weaver remained silent at this as she lowered her head, a notion only Catra could understand as her eyes widened a little.

"...You used her, didn't you?" She assumed correctly. "You tricked her into helping you, and now she needs help because she's in trouble. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Whatever trouble she's in now is miniscule to the trouble we'll all be in if you don't let me help-! OUgh!" With another convulsion, more of the miasma-like mist spread away from Shadow Weaver, the woman coughing out even greater than she had before. This time, once the coughs subsided, the residual magic stayed behind.

"You're getting worse..." Glimmer commented, unaware as Catra lowered her ears at the sight. The magicat pulled out her sword, staring into the blade as she contemplated her options.

"If I help you, how do I know you won't try to run afterwards, or give me what I want?" The warrior asked, raising the sword to her.

"It's like I said, Catra." She hoarsely replied. "I have much more to lose than my own life if I don't help you... Hack..." She took a few moments to clear her throat, her eyes getting harder to stay open. "Whether or not you believe me remains your problem." Catra narrowed her eyes to her before looking at the sword again.

There were too many risks involved if she did end up helping her. She could end up trying to corrupt her or her friends, try to use her own magic against her, maybe even siphon Catra's power once she had the chance! She had nothing to play against her except for letting the woman die, and the moment Catra decided to help her, she lost her only advantage.

On the other hand, there was the mystery of Adora. She wouldn't deny she cared for Adora far less than she used to, given the history they've had within the last month, but she was also worried at the fear of the unknown. What was it about Adora that Shadow Weaver knew that Catra didn't? Was she just lying to her again, or was there something actually going on here that she couldn't explain? In her current condition, there would be no way she could explain everything without breaking out in a mad fit of coughs.

One way or another, she had no other options. It was either let Shadow Weaver die and let whatever was going to happen to Adora happen, or trust the mad woman for the first time since her life actually depended on Catra, and risk losing the only chance she had to learn more about her powers, Adora, and possibly Adora herself anyway?

"... Mmmh..." Her options were scarce, but not impossible. With the look of conviction, one Glimmer recognized as she stood back, she raised her sword to the sky. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

Below her knees, the stars gathered as protective anklets formed along the sides of her legs, also stretched halfway up to her knees, though lowered on the inner sides of them. From the base of these anklets, the sword continued to offer its protection to her as it grew a shining force of gold sandals across her feet, thin enough for her to use her feet's claws and as sturdy enough as a tank's armor, despite how thin it was.

And from their magnificent glow, the red cape slowly formed from behind her, connecting between the two as it slowly descended down to Catra's thigh.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

With the blinding flash coming to a slow end, Shadow Weaver lowered her protective arm from her eyes, taking in Catra's appearance that Glimmer had only gazed at once before. She remembers how happy Catra was to see the new her, feeling the power radiating from the sword before the transformation even began. Catra knew she was getting better as her bond with the sword deepened, and the stronger her bond had become, the stronger She-Ra had been in turn.

And, no matter what the girl said, Glimmer and Bow knew that Catra was growing better as a person as well.

"There. I'm She-Ra. Happy now?" Catra scoffed, still unable to believe she was going to let this opportunity pass her by.

"I must admit, you play the look of a pretend She-Ra rather well." Wow. Not three seconds in and Catra already wanted to punch her in the face with her She-Ra strength because of her sarcastic compliment. "Though, the hair definitely isn't your color."

"Pft-" Glimmer had to force her hand over her mouth, unable to resist as the comment got a small chuckle out of her, even though it was from Shadow Weaver of all power. That left the magicat with a very brief blush before glaring back to Shadow Weaver.

"Fine. I'm She-Ra. Now what?" Catra asked wanting to get to the point.

"First, you must acknowledge who you are right now, Catra." She stated. "You are a Princess, so, you have a Runestone. Yours dwells there, within the sword." Catra eyed te mysterious stone itself as she spoke. "With it, you channel the elemental magic of Etheria. Let it flow through your sword and into you."

Catra and Glimmer shared an uneasy look of doubt over their faces before the magicat raised the sword in front of herself, closing her eyes as she focused.

"You must learn to concentrate. Focus your power." She instructed as Catra's brows twitched. She tried to drown out all other noise and distractions as she was directed, with barely a thought distracting her, or the twitch of her ears concerning her. "Achieve a peace within yourself, let your mind drift like the gentle winds.

"Ghhh..." She snapped her eyes open with an irritated look in her eyes. "It'll be easier to concentrate if you stopped distracting me!"

"I'm not distracting you, I'm trying to help you." She argued. "If you can't block out the sounds of one's voice, then how do you ever expect to help those you care about in the Rebellion?" Rolling her eyes, the magicat returned to her concentration as she closed her eyes again, trying to focus on anything that wasn't her. All through this, Glimmer watched with fascination, wondering if the girl could do it.

What exactly was she supposed to feel here? Emptiness? Fulness? Some over mumbo jumbo she didn't have time for? She tried to picture it as she instructed. Picturing the wind, picturing a calmness of something stupid like leaves blowing in the air? Maybe even some grass blowing in the distance? How was she supposed to know if she was supposed to concentrate on something specific or something generic?

"Feel as if your a tide," she ushered softly, "one calling the waves of the ocean towards you. Feel as you you are the one in command behind it, calling it back and for with the pull of her hands."

"Wouldn't I be pulling it in with my sword instead-" Catra interrupted as she opened her right eye partway.

"Focus!"

"Alright, geez!" She hissed back at the bossy sorceress. "Huff... Feel a wave... Feel a wave..."

"Pull in the wave." Shadow Weaver emphasized. "Don't just feel it."

"I'm trying..." She squeezed her eyes a little harder as the irritation grew around her.

"Push away your negativity, Catra." Shadow Weaver's voice lowered as she instructed, feeling like the earlier years when she was training her in the Horde. "If you allow your frustration to build, the energy you will produce will be destructive if you're not careful. There must be peace."

"Oh, thanks for that info." Catra grumbled. "On top of channeling my powers, you're saying I have to like you now?" Catra took it all back. This was impossible!

"You don't have to picture me the one you're healing, you fool." She retorted, watching the girl close her eyes for the third time by now as she tried again. "Picture me as someone you actually care about, somebody you would want to help."

"How can I when your stupid mask keeps blocking their face?" Catra shook a little as she tried to concentrate harder, gripping the sword's hilt with both her hands now.

"Concentrate, Catra!" She refused to let Catra fail now of all times, not when the girl had the potential of living up to her name. "If I die, you'll never know what's going on or the truth about Adora. If you truly considered her as a friend through all your life, then prove it to me, right now!"

"Ngggghhhh..." Catra screeched as she tried harder to concentrate. She was trying, she was willing to do it, she wanted to do it. She didn't care about this witch or her ways, but the least she could do is show a little more encouragement when she depended on her to SAVE HER LIFE IN THE FIRST PLACE!

She did what she could to follow along with her, to obey her instructions, not that there was a reason for it anymore. She never cared, she never tried to listen, she never acted like whatever Glimmer or Bow had with their families. She was an enemy to her, through and through, without any regard for the girl except for her usefulness. If it wasn't for the answers she had she wouldn't want to do this in the first place!

Continuing on her concentration, going on for ten seconds of silence, a reaction finally occurred.

As Catra kept her eyes closed, the remaining party watched with wonder as Catra's body started to glow with a golden light, one that radiated with energy as a small shine from the sword's rune stone grew. It was a dazzling light within the stone, one that slowly started to burn brightly as Catra twitched her mouth more frequently, one that seemed to grow by the second as Catra's aura started to flicker off and on more repetitively.

Come on, Catra. Glimmer encouraged in her mind, remaining silent as she watched with hope. She knew Catra was more capable of than Shadow Weaver would let on, whether or not the vile woman wanted to. She was brave, she was strong, she was determined. She had all the qualities that She-Ra needed, all the traits the world needed. She could get through this, she just knew it.

If only Catra was more aware of this herself.

"Gah-!" Catra gasped as she huffed, feeling as if she was holding her breath for over an hour. In response, the light aura that had grown around the girl was instantly snuffed out, practically bursting in a small stream of light that dissipated within a single second. Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes at the girl as she watched her sweat, the magicat looking briefly at the sword before looking a bit cross at the dying woman. "W-Wait, let me try again."

"I think you've done enough." She muttered, turning her head away from the sight that disgusted her.

"N-No! I can do it!" She complained, retaking her stance again as she held the sword before her. "Concentrate... Concen-"

"I said, enough!" Shadow Weaver hissed, taking the girl's attention again. "You're incapable of doing it." She coughed a little. "This was a waste of my time..."

"S-Shut up!" She growled, shaking her fist a little as she squeezed around the sword's hilt. "Just give me another chance and I can do it! Like-"

"Like, Adora?" She questioned as she interrupted. If it wasn't getting so much harder to breathe, she would've laughed at the statement. "You think a sword that was meant for someone else, someone talented, someone gifted, someone chosen, could ever be used by the likes of you?" She didn't take in any intimidation as Catra glared furiously at her, unaware as her own sandals started to glow, pulsating as her emotions were starting to counteract her bond.

"You're nothing more than a child playing hero, a child who never wanted to be a hero, a child who wishes she was gifted. A meager child who wishes she could be better than what she is, and a child who wishes every day to be just like Adora-"

"I said SHUT UP!" She growled. In her primal fury, the girl rushed to the side of the barrier, dropping down to one knee, before grabbing her former instructor by the throat as she pushed her arm through the barrier, pulling her as close to the invisible wall as she could without touching it.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out, trying to pull Catra's empowered state with all her might from her shoulders. She couldn't risk teleporting the girl with the barrier currently attached to her, especially while she maintained her grip on the wicked sorceress on the other end.

"You're always going on about Adora, and I'm tired of hearing it!"

*shiiiim*

She had no idea, or care, as the sandals finally disappeared, leading to the anklets starting to glow next. ""Adora is stronger than me", "Adora is smarter than me", "Adora is faster than me", it never ends with you! I can be just as good as she is if you just gave me the chance!" The corner of her right eye began to seep with a single tear. She continued holding Shadow Weaver as tight as she could without harming her further. "Why is it so hard for you to do that!?"

"Ngh..." The teacher struggled to retrieve a response as she weakly held the girl's wrist against both her hands, trying to pry the tightening grip away from her throat. "You still haven't figured it out, have you?" She muttered. "Why the sword was meant for her, why all... of this is h-happening...?"

"What is that supposed to mean? Why can't you ever just be straight with me for a change instead of pretending like I don't exist?" There was almost a whimper to the tone as the girl asked this, the history of her past neglect starting to reach her again in the present. "You abused me, you hated me, you made me regret my life half the time, and you never bothered to say why. Why did you do all this to me when I didn't deserve it!?"

She mocked her constantly, she toyed with her. Day by day, she always looked down on Catra, whether she was within a few feet or miles away at a time. She always compared her to someone like Adora, someone she reminded always had a bright and better future ahead of her, and she finally had enough of it!

She came to her to ask for help. She's the one who wanted Catra to help her for a change, and even then she still couldn't give her the slightest hint of respect or understanding. It was beyond infuriating, beyond insulting. Right now she wanted to do nothing more than to crush the throat within her grasp, knowing it would've been so easy with her waning strength.

So why couldn't she?

And why was Shadow Weaver laughing?

"Y-You think... you didn't deserve it?"

...

"Iiiiis this your card?"

"For the last time, no!" Angella yelped, at her wits end as Bow revealed the last card of his now-empty deck of cards.

"That's impossible." Bow patted around himself to see if there were any cards remaining. "That was the last card, how could-" A small grin formed on the archer's mouth as he reached to the side of Angella's head, "Wait a minute," and pulled out a card from behind her ear, revealing the eight of diamonds, "is THIS your card?"

"Still, no."

"Really?" Bow was beside himself as he looked at the last card in his bundle. Maybe he truly was magical in some shape or form that he didn't know about? How else was she supposed to explain the factual disappearance of a card that vanished into his deck. "I could've sworn I had that trick patted down."

"Listen, Bow, we appreciate you... doing whatever it is you're trying to do." Castaspella commented, in the thought that he was attempting to cheer them up, as Angella rubbed her brow. "But we really don't have time for this. We need to assess the situation, determine what's to be done about Shadow Weaver."

"There's nothing that can be done, Castaspella." Angella deemed, crossing her arms. "She won't give us the information we're looking for, and we're not resorting to the Horde's method of cruelty to make her speak. And I refuse to let her anywhere near-"

"Catraaaa." A familiar-sounding steed called out as he walked through the hallways. Bow's let out a silent shriek at this as he shifted his eyes in the direction of the hallway behind him, the two women noticing Swift Wind as he explored through the castle. "Catra?"

"Swift Wind?" Angella questioned. The two adults looked at each other in confusion as Bow silently walked past them a little, standing in the way to the door as Swifty approached.

"Hey, Your Majesty." Swift Wind greeted with a casual smile. "Has anyone seen Catra around here?"

"Catra? She's supposed to be with you and Glimmer at the Beacon, isn't she?"

"The Beacon?" He tilted his head. "No way, I haven't seen her since she met with Glimmer and Bow after the Throne Room. I've been looking all over for her, I'm getting kind of worried."

"What's there to be worried about?" Castaspella asked.

"I don't know, but something is really bugging her right now. Her emotions are going all over the place and they've been zipping in and out of each other for, like, the last ten minutes alone. Something must be bothering her."

"Bothering her?" The queen turned her head to the side as she tried to think. "But what could-!" With a flash of the eyes, she quickly realized everything at the same time as Castaspella as the two women quickly turned around. There, they saw Bow with a nervous smile as they gazed at him with a stern look in their eyes.

The fact he kept bothering them with a pointless card trick, the reason he wasn't with Glimmer or Catra at the moment, and the fact Swift Wind stated how Catra was feeling a flux of emotions at the moment without being with either her or Glimmer.

With this in mind, Bow gulped. "I-If it makes you feel any better," he stuttered holding up another card, "I found your card..."

...

"Of course I didn't deserve it!" Catra grumbled, unable to figure out how or what she should be feeling at this point. "What makes you think I-!"

"Catra!" It was with the voice of the Queen's shouting and the door opening that Catra finally looked away from the door at long last, the queen, the head sorceress, and her noble steed rushing into the room with an anxious Bow following behind them. "Get away from her." It was with the sound of the queen's voice that Catra finally let go, felt compelled to let go, as she pulled Catra away from the barrier. "I told you you were not supposed to come in here. Any of you." She stated, giving a stern gaze at her own daughter who looked away with a sense of guilt.

With her throat clearing once more, letting out a fit of coughs as her airways cleared up for the most part, the witch of darkness gasped for breath, feeling her life force draining away more after this little event, as even more haze dispersed from her body. "You really think you didn't deserve... what I did, huh?"

"Of course not!" Catra hissed, being held back more firmly by the queen as she waved a fist. "I was just a kid! Everything you said I deserved I didn't deserve. I probably wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for you!"

"Then where's Adora?" She asked simply. Catra seemed rather profound at the mere question, confused for herself as her subconscious made her lower her ears at this. "Why isn't she with you, right here, right now, hm? Did you ever bother to think for a minute what she must be going through right now in the Horde, how much you've tormented her with your very existence?"

"That is enough-!" Angella tried to put a stop to the madness as she stepped forward, only to be cut off by Catra herself as she stepped in front of her and keeping her eyes on Shadow Weaver.

"Since day one, you've been- ough. You've been using her, to make your life easier, whether or not you were aware of it, before I even became involved in your life. She clung to your side... huff... She clung to your side, wanting a friend, all while you just wanted an easier life, and when she finally realized that, many years later... It tore her heart to pieces."

"Now, she suffers within... Within the Horde." It was becoming harder and harder to talk as her breathing became more painful by the minute. "Every day, she pushes herself, trying... Trying to make up for your betrayal, trying to prove herself in a world that punishes her decency."

"Tch, I... I wouldn't have taken advantage of her if-"

"While you continue to live your life in p-peace," she interrupted, uncaringly, "she pushes herself to the brink of exhaustion, as her newfound powers take a toll on her body... like you could never know. Within the Horde... She's unwanted by Hordak, unwanted for her kindness. Yet, despite all the putdowns, all the petty insults, all the comments that you can't even put up with yourself, she pushes past it. She pushes herself in ways you can hardly dream of, Catra, all because of how she once cared for you."

"B-But..." Her hands started to tremble as she tried to find the right words. All Adora was going through, all that was happening because of her, weighed down on the guilt the magicat was already feeling. And to top off her overflowing sense of guilt, Shadow Weaver continued to taunt the girl, remarking how she's going through what Shadow Weaver is doing to her right now within the last several months, when Catra couldn't even handle one lesson from the sorceress.

"And you still think you deserve a chance to be the hero? To take the destiny from someone who wasn't even a part of our world?" It was with that final hiss that Catra flinched, her mouth gaping open a small bit at the curious mention.

"Not of our..." Glimmer mumbled, trying to process all of what Shadow Weaver was saying as well. "What do you mean she's not a part of our world?"

Before she could answer, another wave of coughs and magic oozed from the waning Shadow Weaver, this time beginning to solidify into small gooey masses around the floor of the barrier. At least several splotches lied within the rune stone, the essence of her life force draining away faster by the explanation.

"I-I can't... Explain... Much longer... But face it... Catra... There's a reason that... She was the one destined... destined for greatness. And you..." She hacked again, struggling to keep her eyes halfway open. "You took that away... away from her..." The cat remained silent as her eyes started to water, gritting her teeth in anger as tried to hold back the rush of emotions.

"You... were the worst thing... to ever happen to her..." And it was then that the witch finally collapsed to her side, chest heaving heavily as she struggled to remain alive.

And with the final squeeze of her sword, Catra finally broke.

"Nghhhhh!" With a cry-filled growl, tears streaming from the corner of her eyes, Catra rushed. Not towards the woman who was already on death's bed, but out of the room, squeezing the sword tightly as she ran.

"Catra!" Swift Wind cried out worriedly, taking off after his dear friend as she ran down the hallways.

As the remaining four watched them leave, Angella gave a small look of anger back to both, Shadow Weaver, and her daughter. "This is exactly why I told you I didn't want Catra in here! I'm very disappointed in you, Glimmer!"

"But mom, she needed my help!" Glimmer argued, refusing to back down in her firm belief for her friend. "Catra knew what could happen coming in here, we all did, and she still insisted on it! She asked her to trust her, and we did. We still do!"

"Trusting your friend has nothing to do with doing what's right, and you should know that yourself!" She was angry, which was clear. She was angry at the betrayal by her own daughter's hand, angry that she became involved in the reason Catra is in the state she currently was, while knowing that Shadow Weaver was going to toy with the girl's heart like she expected.

Glimmer still didn't care. It's not that she didn't care how Catra was feeling right now, how she was likely going to feel by the end of all this, oh no. She didn't care that her mother ordered her to keep her out of the room, not when she knew she did something that was right. She was there for her like she should have been, both her and Bow were.

If she was going to yell at her for disobeying her mother then fine, she was up for that. But she refused to let her mother be mad at all three of them, Catra included, when they were trying to help their dear friend in the first place.

"Your Majesty, just let us explain-"

"And don't think you're off any better than she is." Castaspella cut off Bow, placing her hands at her hips in authority. "That little stunt with the cards, trying to stall us for as long as possible? You didn't think to take the initiative and tell us about the plan at any point? Especially when the girl has an obvious hatred for the woman who tormented her?"

"Catra wouldn't have listened to us even if she wasn't willing to fight us over it." Bow shot back, always quick, always precise with his target. "She would've hated us, possibly all of us, and the bond with her sword would've worsened regardless. Besides, she needed our support, and there wasn't any way we were going to turn her down!"

"So letting a dangerous warrior within several feet of someone she'd likely cut in half was your idea of helping her?!" Did Bow, or any of them, really not see the biggest issue here? The girl was aggressive in any way, shape, or form, and when it came to the one previously known as Light Spinner, she had every reason to be. But if she had actually gone through with it, enemy or not, she would've been held accountable and in trouble for her deeds, and they should've known that!

Which is why Bow still felt like they had to help her. He knows what it was like to keep things bottled up for too long or to keep them secret. With Shadow Weaver around, Catra felt vulnerable. She felt vulnerable every time she took it upon herself to open up about her past, specifically the parts she was uncomfortable with. If she didn't get it off her chest now, she would've felt entire levels of resentment for any of them, herself included, for the rest of her life.

This was the argument that currently plagued the room as everyone began yelling at one another, blaming one another about what they should have and shouldn't have done. They were all on the same side, the same family, and it mattered not. None of them would back down from their viewpoints and were determined to make themselves heard to the other by the end of this conversation.

Shadow Weaver grew a small grin at the sight.

It was like puppets on a string as she listened to them banter, friends and family yelling at one another for reasons she actually couldn't explain for once, yelling at each other despite the fact they loved one another. For the first time in her life, she actually didn't intend for this. She didn't intend to give any of them the harshness they currently had, including Catra for a change, as she taught the magicat how to focus her magic.

The fact that this was happening outside of her control, happened for unintentional reasons they couldn't explain, was what made it all the more humorous to the dying woman.

At least now she could look forward to some entertainment before she passed on...

...

"Ghhhh!" Catra hissed as she continued to run through the castle angrily with tears of her eyes, finally passing the main entrance of the grand structure.

"Catra, wait!" Swift Wind yelled from behind as he ran to her. With the magicat already reaching the bottom of the steps, heading off towards the forest, Swift Wind took to the air, racing past the cat until he could finally cut her off before she entered. "Catra, listen to me-"

"Get out of my way." She ordered, trying to get around the horse who kept blocking her every turn.

"Look, you can't let anything that woman says get to you, all right?" He tried to calm down, feeling the torrent of emotions still building behind Catra's heart. "Nothing she says is true, you got that?"

"I don't care about that, Swifty!" She retorted, much to his surprise.

"You don't?"

"No." It wasn't to say she wasn't bothered by anything the woman told her, the way she berated her, treated her, as if nothing had changed. It just wasn't the focus of her mind right now. "I'm going to see Light Hope, and if you're not going to stop me from that, then take me there. Now!"

"Light Hope?" He was questioning everything the girl was doing right now. Storming out of the castle, eyes still filled with tears and anger, the emotions he couldn't get a clear grasp on, the very ones Catra wasn't sure about herself. The girl felt like a total mystery to her all of a sudden, as if he just met her for the first time. "But why?"

"To get some answers!" There was only one person within this world she knew couldn't lie to her, a being that was capable of giving her the answers she so desperately needed.

...

The flight to the Beacon, the Crystal Castle, went without any further roadblocks as Swift Wind took her to her desired destination in less than three minutes. The moment his hooves touched the door, the magicat rushed to the Beacon, activating the secret entrance as she descended into the cold steel hallways, leaving a worried friend behind.

She was still angry, still upset, still confused, as she ran through the halls. She kept her eyes peeled in every intersection in case she passed her, ears open to hear her, as she ran to the inner sanctum of the castle, where she knew the woman would be waiting for her.

"Light Hope!" Catra shouted out, looking in every direction as she walked to the center of the room. "Light Hope, get out here! I need you-!"

"Greetings, Catra." Ten feet into her brief search, the familiar form of Light Hope appeared behind her, greeting her as she made her way to the center of the room. "I was not expecting you for training today, or this early. But it shows an improvement to your dedica-"

"Who is she!?" Catra practically roared as she asked. Light Hope remained silent for a few moments, processing the girl's state, before turning around.

"Is something the matter?" She asked as she materialized a monitor to her right with the First Ones data recorded over it. "My analysis shows you've broken 7% of your bond within the last half-hour. Did something happen?"

"Who is she?" She repeated, stomping closer to the tall figure.

"She?"

"Adora!" She clarified. "Who is she?"

"Adora? She is your past, is she not? A friend from when-"

"Stop giving me that garbage!" In her anger, the cat threw the sword through Light Hope's holographic feet, the woman watching the sword skid away before looking back to the angry teen. "You know what I'm talking about! Who is she, really? What is she? Why was she so special that she deserved the sword in the first place?!"

"..." The woman remained silent, intentionally as Catra came to realize.

"ANSWER ME!"

Once again, the woman remained silent for a few seconds, blinking until she finally gave a response. "I am sorry, but I am unable to authorize your request."

"Unable to? Don't give me that, I know you can!" She spoke with such determination that Light Hope has never experienced before. She glared brazenly at the tall figure as she stood right in front of her, looking her dead in the eye.

"I am sorry, Catra, but, again, I am not authorized to answer question. I am only authorized to answer specific questions of She-Ra by a designated She-Ra, not one founded by the Founder's Initiative-"

"You're lying." Every second that passed went on to boil Catra's blood more and more. "You've answered them before about the others, about Mara. Don't think you can get away with lying to me right now because it's not going to happen. I don't care if you think I deserve to know or not, I need to know!"

"You misunderstand, Catra. I am not withholding the information out of conveniency. I am doing it to keep you from feeling worse."

"Worse? Worse!? I just had my ruthless instructor appear to me out of nowhere a few hours ago and scold me after she asked me to heal her in the first place! I'm already feeling worse!" It was evident by the way the girl continued to squeeze her fist, the refusal to drop her anger since the moment of her arrival. "I demand to know who or what Adora really is, right now!"

"I am sorry, but I refuse to comply." She calmly stated, turning around as she walked away. "It is for your own wellbeing."

"Either tell me who she is or you can forget about this whole She-Ra nonsense for good!" She threatened, causing Light Hope to pause in her track with the same emotionless stare. Processing the girl's reaction, turning back to her, she gave no indication that she was bluffing, the anger within the girl almost doubling as time passed. "And you know I will!"

"..." She wouldn't put it past someone like Catra, not with the statistics she knew about her. Catra was dead serious about her sake of knowledge, for the information that she had come to know. Even now, as she glanced away from her, her attention had drawn to the monitor she displayed earlier. There, she could see the bond continuing to break by .1% every second, already going down by a full two-percent so far.

The girl had proven the severity of her request, the desperate action she took to get here and the threat she had made. She had every intention of leaving the sword behind forever and returning to the Rebellion without it, unless Light Hope gave her what she wanted.

Staring at the girl for another few seconds, she disappeared, rematerializing and almost startling the girl as she appeared behind her. "Very well." She stated. "Please state the nature of your question."

"My question is everything about Adora." Catra replied, finally calming down as the bond with her sword finally stabilized. "Who is she? What is she? Where did she come from?" Her eyes and ears lowered at the few realizations Shadow Weaver hinted at herself. "She... She isn't from Etheria, is she?"

"That is correct." She nodded. Raising her hand to the air, Catra let out a small gasp as monitors and screens began to spread around them. Above them, past them, reforming and reshaping the very environment itself into an entirely new place, a completely different realm.

Here, everything was different to the magicat. The sky was luscious pink with light-hearted clouds, the ground a mix of violet and green, spread evenly across the ground as far as her eyes could see. Along the various open plains, she saw crystals. Large ones, sturdy ones, all grown around her as if they were the trees of a forest, broken spires that were never damaged.

But what really drew her eye, what caught her attention the most, was the center of it all. A large purple vortex, one that pulsated with energy, the likes of which she's never known, standing ahead of her. Within the open air it swirled, cackling with power as electricity danced around it, as if it was signaling the start of things to come or to end.

It was all breathtaking and terrifying to the girl at the same time.

"This is the portal that Adora came through, the reason she exists within your world." Light Hope explained. The two watched as the portal began to close, losing its energy and its power to project. When it disappeared completely, Catra nearly jumped as a familiar figure walked through her from behind, one she knew of as Hordak, as the sounds of an infant's cry sang throughout the air.

"The Horde stole her, turned her into a soldier for their war." The brief existence of their scenery began to fade as quickly as it came, returning Catra's view to the Crystal Castle. Returning to the palace, Catra walked over to her sword, slowly descending to her knees as she held it in her hands again. "So, I watched and waited for the day I could unite her with the sword."

Catra took in all the information at a once, her ears lowering in despair. "All of She-Ra's powers, all her strength, everything she can do, it... it..."

"The First Ones came from beyond the stars." She continued. "They made the sword so that it would only respond to one of their own kind." Catra didn't need any further detail in that point.

"Adora's... A First One?" She didn't know how to react to that addition. How was one supposed to know how to act when you realize your friend is from an ancient civilization from over a thousand years ago? She was practically an alien in every way! "Then why did it react to me? You said it yourself I wasn't supposed to find the sword! So why-"

"But there was one obstacle I could not foresee." She interrupted, her directness already firing down Catra's question with an answer. "That obstacle was-"

"Me." Catra said for herself, slowly rising to her feet as she tightened her hand around the hilt.

"The sword is to react when a First One is within close proximity of the blade. It is only then that the blade will reveal itself. Because of this, we assumed the sword would have been safe until Adora came upon it. But we were wrong." Pulling up another display, she found a recording, a brief one, of the very event that started all of this.

The moment when Catra fell out of the skiff, with Adora calling out her name in fear.

"Adora was near, but-" Catra trailed off.

Despite preventing the crash, and possibly saving their lives, Catra still found herself a little irritated at the idea of Adora messing up her plan. "I got it, I got it. Just give me back the-"

*Whack!*

"Catra!" Adora cried out in fear, doing whatever she could to pilot the skiff again.

Only now did she realize how literal Shadow Weaver's words were.

"You... were the worst thing... to ever happen to her..."

"I... I got to the sword before she did..." She waved the sword a little. "Like she was supposed to..."

"If it is any consolation, you should feel honored." Light Hope tried to motivate, as much as an emotionless machine could when emotions were only hardwired to be there. "It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance that someone gets to be a part of the She-Ra lineage through the Initiative."

"... So, that's it...?" It was with these words, these few words that Catra's anger started to rise once again, the magicat angrily staring back at the hologram. "THAT'S IT!?"

"You are upset. I do not understand. You are experiencing anger?"

"Of course I'm angry!" She yelled. "That's the reason behind all of this?! Because she was just born differently than me? That's why she got all the special treatment?!"

"Treatment?" She wouldn't understand. Of course she wouldn't understand. How would Catra expect a soulless machine to possibly comprehend? In fairness, it wasn't as if she was referring to just being She-Ra, either. Catra had a jealousy, an anger, at Adora's history that wasn't there before. The very same Light Hope was trying to keep her from.

It didn't make any sense to Catra. This was the big reveal then behind the scenes? The very reason she was considered Shadow Weaver's favorite? Because she was a First One? Because she was a single person found on a different planet that shouldn't have even been brought here in the first place!?

IT WASN'T FAIR!

She could put up with it, sure. She could try to ignore it. The way Shadow Weaver fawned over Adora since day one, the way she got to experience what it was like to have a family around here. The way she was always treated nicely, treated better, than the rest of them, because she was just "born different". She didn't show any skills she excelled at in the beginning, she was just a baby, after all. And Catra was just fine with that, fine with how she came to be.

What was angering her about it? Everything else! She had to put up with Shadow Weaver's constant abuse all her life, had to deal with the way she ignored her, purposely ignored her, all the times she shoved her away forcefully, just because of a stupid explanation such as someone's birth?! That didn't mean anything to Catra!

How would she have known that it meant she was special? Why didn't she give everyone else the same amount of chances that she gave her? Why couldn't she give so much as a single chance to someone like Catra? At the very least she could've told her the reason behind this, regardless of how young Catra was at the time, at any point in the past. And did she? NO!

All that pain, all the times she suffered, was because of one simple reason: a birth. A birth that meant someone else was destined for greatness, to be treated like they were destined for greatness in a land where the weak were mocked and ridiculed like Catra.

It became more unfair the longer Catra thought about it, the longer it rested within her mind. And the more it dwelled within the recesses of it, the further Light Hope felt her bond lowering.

"Catra, temper yourself." Light Hope warned, looking across the displays.

"Don't tell me how to act, all right? I have every reason to be angry right now!" She shouted. "I thought it was just because she was gifted or something, because of the way she was better than me at everything, but it wasn't, was it?" She scratched furiously at her own head in rage, speaking her mind in an instant as the anger surfaced the words. "You said she was from a different planet, right? Somewhere else? Then make another portal thing and send her back!"

"I am afraid that is impossible, even if I wanted to." She replied calmly. "When Mara cut us off from the rest of the universe, she destroyed our portal capabilities." Her tone depend a little bit as she went on. "Attempting to open a new one now would have devastating consequences." For the moment, the single instance that Catra turned her head away in anger, she missed it. With the last two words spoken, she missed as Light Hope glitched a little, her entire body burning red as if corrupted.

"T-... Mara..." Catra whispered to herself as she heard this. "She was from another world too, wasn't she? The same place Adora was from? How did she do it? Why did she do it?"

"It is irrelevant." Light Hope answered, walking towards the angry girl. "This is She-Ra's home now. Adora's home. And yours. As She-Ra you must-"

"You're not listening!" Catra's anger knew no end as she shouted again. "I had to put up with all of it, all my life, because I thought there was something wrong with me! Because I was the one who was messing up all the time! Now you're telling me it was all a lie? That I was just born "unlucky"!?"

"You are behaving erratically. You are letting your past determine your present, She-Ra. As I've told you, it is an honor-"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT HONOR! I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF IT!" She fumed as tears of anger swelled in her eyes. "My past is my present! Don't you understand? Nothing's changed. I'm still the one falling behind in the end, I'm the one who's being treated like a burden, and the one who still isn't respected after all I've done! I haven't changed anything, and now I'm stuck with someone else's life, just because of an accident?! I don't want to be She-Ra anymore!"

"That is no longer your decision to make." Light Hope replied, emotionless, firmless. "It is a destiny you have stolen. Now, you must see it through." Catra opened her mouth at the statement, spiteful at everything unfolding around her. She was torn, she was in pieces, she was shattered. She felt as angry as she did when she discovered the truth of the sword the first time, now bursting with the fury of a volcano and clouded in a storm of emotions behind it.

And now, she had enough.

Without another word, without a care for anything in this moment, she turned around and walked away.

"Catra? Catra?" Light Hope tried to stop as the girl stormed off. "Where are you going?" There was no reply. There wasn't a gesture, there wasn't a response, there was nothing. There was only the image of a lowly girl who loathed her life for some stupid reason, marching away as her tail dangled behind her in angher.

There was only one worry coming to Light Hope's mind as her constantly-expressionless face watched her. "It is happening again..."

...

"Catra?" Swift Wind called out, trying to locate the girl in the everchanging forest. He had so many questions to ask her as she brushed past him after leaving the Beacon. What was with the range of emotions she was feeling? Why did she look so pained in every emotion?

She wouldn't say. All she told him was to leave her alone before walking away in the forest on her own, and he proudly did.

For about ten minutes.

She didn't really say how long she wanted to be alone, and it's not like he could just ignore her forever with how she was feeling. From anger, confusion, despair, regret, jealousy, and back to anger again in an endless loop. This is what Swift Wind has been feeling coming off of her from the moment she left the Beacon, and the longer it went on, the emptier it felt like she was becoming.

"Catraaaa." He looked beyond the sides of a tree, up and down and all around. It would've been easier to explore for her from above if the landscape wasn't constantly shifting, and if the tree's leaves didn't get in the way of his search. "Catraaa- oh!" He perked up as he finally found the girl, seeing her curled up atop a large flat boulder. "There you are, I've been wondering where you were." He was glad his momentary terror was over as he approached, standing at the girl's side on the rock.

"What'cha doin'?" He asked curiously, staring from the girl to the night's sky. "You planet gazing again? Can I join?" He didn't get any sort of response as he took it upon himself to sit down. He smiled looking up at the various planets. "Wow, look at 'em all up there. Must be at least seven right now." He rubbed the tip of his neck with a wing. "Do you know any of them? I don't. I mean, I've tried reading through a book about the planets, but," he chuckled a bit as he held up a hoof, "I kind of keep tearing out the pages by accident."

"..." She said nothing.

"...Catra?" He prodded as he laid a gentle wing on the girl's shoulder tip. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"... Everything." She muttered. "Nothing... I don't know anymore, all right."

"Everything and nothing?" He shot her a confused look at the repetition. "I don't get it. What does that mean?"

"It means I don't know, all right?" She snapped back a little, a brush of anger from everything she was still holding in. "... It has to do with Adora, maybe. It's... I can't explain it."

"Explain what? Catra, you know you can trust me. I'm your noble steed! Remember?" He tried to shoot her a smile as the magicat kept her head lowered.

"It's not about trusting you or anyone else, Swifty, it's just... I... I don't know how I'm supposed to feel right now, okay?" She couldn't get a grip on her emotions, they were moving around her heart so fast. Whenever she came close to gripping one, two more bumped into her hand and knocked the other away before escaping her grasp.

The horse tried to assist the girl with her spiraling emotions, trying to find the root cause of all of it. "Could it be... because of Shadow Weaver?"

"It's like I said, I don't know..." The girl shifted her eyes away along with her head. "Probably... Fine, we'll say it is. Happy?"

"No," he replied quickly, "because you're not happy. Catra, what about her is making you so angry?"

"What about her?" From zero to exploding, her anger burst out as she gave a small glare back at him. "Try everything!" The magicat hopped from the boulder as she she began to pace around, Swift Wind following her to the ground.

"Every day of my life, that woman made me miserable. You get that? She made me miserable! Made me an outcast! Because of her, everyone picked on me when they could, I was bossed around a lot more by the instructors, everyone treated me like I was the enemy, and so on! And you know what I did next?" She paused, turning to him for a response.

The winged horse shifted his eyes to each side as he tried to think of a rational answer, one that wouldn't cause her to explode. "Um... you got... mad?"

"I put up with it!" She still exploded. "I put up with it because of the way she treated Adora! I didn't want to tear Adora away from the person she liked so much, and I wanted to feel the same way Adora felt for a change! To know what it was like to have like a... a..." Groaning, the feline squeezed at her head. "I don't even know how to describe it."

"And I thought, you know, maybe I had to earn it. Like Adora did. Okay? So every day I kept pushing myself trying to surpass Adora, trying to be better at her at something, and it still didn't work! There was a moment where I thought I actually did surpass her at something, and instead of being proud about it, she just scoffed and tossed me aside! She hated me for all my life..." She squeezed her claws into her palms as her eyes started to water. "And I still put up with it for some reason."

"But why is it bothering you now?" He asked, walking to the girl's side as she turned away from him.

"Because now I find out there was a reason behind it, a reason that makes me realize how much of my life I wasted!" She stomped her way over to the nearby boulder as she clenched her fist. With a pull, she slammed her fist into the sturdy rock ahead of her, butting the tip of her head as she pressed her fist and head there.

"It was because she was born differently. That's it! I wasted my life being jealous over something I couldn't control in the first place! She got to have a nice and easy life because she wasn't Etherian while I had to work my way up the ladder by pushing myself everyday, and Shadow Weaver still wouldn't acknowledge me, even once!"

"And now, because I screwed up some destiny she was supposed to have, something is happening to Adora that only she knows, Shadow Weaver is dying, I'm realizing how pointless it all was, and I... And I don't know how to feel anymore..." Her face hardened with anger as tears began to drip down her cheeks. "It's not fair..." That was the crux of the matter as Swift Wind came to realize.

Fairness. Life was fair to some, and unfair to others, and despite knowing that, Catra was feeling the fair and unfair moments of her life slamming down on her heart all at the same time.

To the girl who got everything.

To the girl who wanted what she got.

And the woman who balanced the admiration she had between them unevenly.

To Catra, it was all unfair. It was unrelenting. It was burdening her heart as she felt all these moments clouding her mind, all these new details she had never known about before, clashing against each other in a state of war. A war where Catra felt like the victim on both sides.

"Catra..." Swift Wind muttered softly as his own ears lowered, feeling her sadness. Trotting up from behind the girl, he gave her all the comfort her could at the time as he comfortingly nudged his head against the back of her neck. He felt a small prick of warmth coming from Catra at the gesture that lasted briefly, knowing she felt some piece of comfort from all of this. "Do you... want to let Shadow Weaver die?"

"I-" She stopped as quickly as she answered, mouth hanging open as she prepared for a response. "I don't know, okay? I hate her after all she's done, for all the stupid reasons she treated Adora better than me, and... And the way she..." She shook her head of the thoughts covered over by the storm in her mind. "I don't know." It would've been easier to just let her die, to Catra. To walk away without a worry, with the idea in mind that it wouldn't have been her own fault.

But now, she had that stupid guilt back, all because Shadow Weaver knew she could possibly save her. "And it doesn't matter if I did or not. I already tried to save her one, and I messed up."

"So try again."

"I did, and she turned me down, like she always does."

"Then try it, again." He walked a little closer to her side so his eyes could meet hers. "Catra, she keeps putting you down because she knows it'll get you to stop. She wants to stop you, she knows it'll stop you from ever trying again. That's why you can't listen to her."

"And how am I supposed to come up with a way to heal her, huh?" She irked, looking him dead in the eyes. "She says I need to feel at peace, that I need to feel some calmness and junk to do it. But how am I supposed to do any of that when she's at the front of my mind? Even if I want to save her, I keep getting so angry at her and everything she's done to me. What am I supposed to think about to get passed that?!"

"Think about proving her wrong!" All at once, the torrent of emotions in Catra's mind cleared and dissipated from the storm. There was an emptiness inside of her, one that was forming an emotion she had yet to understand, one her mind couldn't complete until she heard what he had to say. "Catra, you said it yourself. She's always the one turning you away, putting you down, and denying your effort. And every time you do it, that gives her more power to work with to put you down again.

"Y... Yeah...?" She wanted to know where he was getting at here.

"Then push past it and prove her wrong. Prove to her that you're not the failure she expects you to be, prove to her that can be the hero she doubts in." She turned to her sword again, eyeing the rune stone that twinkled lightly in the moonlight. "If you let her die now, you'll just prove to her and yourself that she was right about everything, that you deserved the way she treated you." She looked up at that, a slight cut of pain in her eyes at the comment.

He knew it was a bit hurtful, but also that she needed to hear it to make his point. "Don't let her die being right about everything, Catra. Not for her sake, but for yours. Please." It wasn't for Shadow Weaver's sake he was concerned about. It was Catra's.

He knew if she let this go, if she died without trying as hard as she could, then it would swell within her for the rest of her life. All the emotions he felt at that moment were ones he never wanted to feel again, ones he never wanted her to feel again. To be torn apart by ones duty and one's history, the pain he felt coming from the girl, was unbearable. Dreadful.

And Catra had suffered enough in her life.

...

"Uuuuunnghhh..." Shadow Weaver moaned in pain as the energy that depleted around her continued to dissipate. The streaks and haze that were pouring from the woman were beginning to diminish, with less and less energy remaining in the girl, and more of her life nearing its end.

There wasn't anything the others could do except to be by the woman's side. Glimmer sitting on her side the closest to the barrier, Bow watching the woman in empathy at the pain she was in as he squatted a few feet away, and both women, Angella and Castaspella, looking down at her with mixed feelings of the woman's approaching demise.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" Glimmer asked, looking back to her mom and aunt. Regrettably, the two women could only shake their head at this.

"Without knowing the exact corruption afflicting her, she could still die." Castaspella answered. Shadow Weaver was as cruel and corrupt as they came, yet it was just as unbearable to watch someone slowly die in agony.

"Even if we did, it would take too much time to prepare a spell." Angella added. "And in the state she's in now, we may end up speeding up her end than saving her from it." Glimmer looked back to the dying woman in dismay.

Nobody deserved to die like this, not even an enemy. She would never forgive Shadow Weaver for all she's done, for all she did to her and to Catra, and at the same time, she refused to look down at the grieving woman with anger in her eyes. The only thing she could do right now was wish the best for her, hoping it would be over soon, one way or another.

*WHAM!*

Another way came.

(A/N: For Full dramatic affect, it is highly recommend listening to the theme that plays here in the background from the episode while reading until instructed)

All heads, those that could move, turned to the door again at the sound of the large crash, all to find a familiar figure staring back at them with a stern look in her eyes.

"Catra?" Glimmer and Bow said in unison.

The magicat didn't say anything or give any of them her direct attention. Instead, she walked. She walked straight ahead without any intention of stopping for them, walking past a surprised immortal and head sorceress who knew what she was doing.

"Catra, no-!"

"Mom, stop!" Teleporting from Shadow Weaver's side, Glimmer reappeared to her mother's side, pulling back her arms as she looked pleading into her pupils. "Just trust her... please?" She begged. The queen obviously had misgivings about whatever Catra was about to do, what she assumed she may do. But in the condition the feeble Shadow Weaver was in, the way she gasped to so much as breathe, she decided to trust her.

Catra, and her Daughter.

The warrior princess stopped briefly as she came to the edge of the barrier, carrying the sword over a shoulder as she looked down to the heaving woman. The person who tormented her all her life, the one who could be gone from this world in a matter of minutes of Catra gave it the chance. She wouldn't have to see her again, think about her, or know that she continued to walk the planet anymore if she let this slight, if she got her vengeance.

And for the first time since thinking about it, she couldn't allow it.

Without slowing down, without showing a sense of fear, the girl crossed the threshold of the barrier, a small strip of electricity scratching at her armor, being powerless to stop the girl from entering the barrier now that her mind was set on something. With a heavy heart, Catra kneeled to the ground, looking at Shadow Weaver's mask one more time, one that had the scratches that Catra cherished, as she began.

Placing the sword in both her hands, she held it upside down over Shadow Weaver, almost looking like she intended to stab the lady at first. Here, she concentrated. She focused all of her attention, all of her might, all the magic from the rune stone, each and every way that Shadow Weaver instructed, ignoring all other thoughts as best she could as a flicker of aura began to grow around her.

It wasn't enough. She tried her hardest, she tried to picture everything as instructed, feeling a bit of it working. But every time she came to the final blockade, the final thing holding her back, she kept picturing Shadow Weaver in her mind, the woman she wished to forget about, the one she didn't want to save.

Not entirely, at least.

That's when she felt it. Opening an eye, still concentrating with the flickering aura around her, she saw Shadow Weaver's weak right hand, gently touching the side of her hand, as much as she could, as she let out another cough, another wave of energy.

"Let..." She rasped. "Let yourself... feel... your fear," she instructed, possibly for the last time, "then move... past it." There was another cough that followed it, an actual sense of worry from the cat's mind as she saw the state she was in, and the way Shadow Weaver struggled to help her in this one moment, despite it all. "You are... greater... than your fear." With the last word, her hand fell to her side, the last few minutes of her life starting to fade away, saying all that she could in the end.

It was enough.

With this, Catra focused further, pressed harder, as she called upon the sword's energy. She saw the image again of Shadow Weaver in her mind, haunting her, like always. And it was there, within that darkness, that she saw herself, lifting the sword to her. Wielding it in one arm, she unleashed it, blasting away at the creature that plagued her all her life, and watched it disintegrate before her. From its death, from the disappearing, she saw it. A warmth, a light, connected to a destiny she never asked for, or a life she never wanted.

She embraced it.

Her body glowed with a magnificent light all across her body as her aura fully manifested around her. Her aura radiated with a tender warmth, one that spread throughout the entire room as the rest of her friends and allies felt it wash over them. From within the very heart of the rune stone, a powerful light of pure light illuminated, bursting from the tip of her sword as it filled Catra with an unknown energy, a radiance that was beyond any source of measure.

It was a power Catra had never felt before, one she was content with for a change. With a small gasp to herself, the warrior released the sword as it levitated on its own, a brief gust of wind blowing Catra's orange hair back as its power continued to grow.

"Wow..." Glimmer mumbled, at a loss for words like the rest of them were. They had never seen such a brilliant display of magic before, much less one taught to someone inexperienced so quickly. It was a miracle in every sense of the word to witness it. In its truest form, its brightest form.

In the form of Catra.

With her eyes glowing with a serene light of color, the warrior watched on as the power began to amplify itself, burning brightly like the sun, like a star that had never been seen before. Catra remained focused on her task- the task to save Shadow Weaver. With her arms spread in each direction, the girl waited, waiting for a signal, a feeling that told her when it was finally time to. It wasn't until she had a final thought to herself that she knew it was time.

Please, don't die... On that thought, the girl knew it was time. Looking deeply into Shadow Weaver's closing eyes, the girl brought her hands to the side of the woman's face. Gently, caressing, she actually begged to herself, her desire, to save her life for a change. And for once, it wasn't out of a petty selfishness to prove her right or wrong.

She did it for herself.

Radiating with the pulsating aura, Shadow Weaver's terrible stature began to take life as she gasped. Her entire body lit up like Catra's as her eyes widened in full for the first time in hours. With her first long breath, she felt it. Her body healing itself, the pain diminishing over the course. Her body was actually being healed, by Catra of all people, like she gambled upon.

Thus, it finally came to an end.

(A/N: End theme)

With another brilliant flash, the room illuminated as Catra was blasted a few feet outside of the barrier, returning to her normal state as she gasped for breath herself.

"Catra!" Bow and Glimmer cried out, running to their friend's side as they leaned her up.

"Huff... Huff... Never... doing that... again..." She gasped, her two friends smiling to her with pride and glad that she was okay. She felt like she just ran a marathon, hiked up three entire mountains, swam across a river, all under the course of five seconds. As great as the magical experience felt to her, she wouldn't mind taking a month before trying something like that again.

Or a year, for that matter.

Looking back, the three friends and family saw Shadow Weaver slowly rising up again, the once-feeble witch breathing heavily to herself as her lungs filled with air again, her body continuing to glow with a white light for a few more seconds as her life returned to her from the brink of death.

Seeing how the woman was fine for the moment, the mother made her way back to the children, helping each of them up with a stern look in her eyes. "The next time any of you do something so reckless, you will be grounded for a year. Understand?" Her seemingly-upset mood quickly changed into a warm smile as she embraced the trio soon after. "But I'm glad you're all right. All of you." It was warm, very warm, to Catra as she felt this.

The warmth of the queen's embrace with her friends, the knowledge that she did it despite Shadow Weaver's doubts, and the detail that, for the first time, she proved the witch wrong about her with her own two hands. And as much as she wanted to feel this moment for awhile, she couldn't.

Nudging the queen away gently, the girl walked past them, sword still gripped in her hand, as she made her way over to Shadow Weaver's cell, staring down at the healed witch.

"Well done, my dear." She heard her say. This was it. She finally did it. For the first time in her life, she actually acknowledged one of Catra's achievements.

Catra didn't know what to say about the feeling filling her heart right now as she closed her eyes. It felt so light for the first time, a lightness she partly knew was her bond with the sword strengthening again to what it once was, a lightness that felt as if Shadow Weaver was stroking her cheek, insisting on how proud she was. It was everything she wanted in her life, everything she worked to strive for. It felt... felt...

Meaningless to her, now.

Opening her eyes again, the cat refused to address the acknowledgement as she lifted her sword a little in the witch's direction, the others gathering behind her for both their safety.

"Alright, talk." Catra ordered. "I kept up my end of the bargain, now yours. Tell me what's wrong with Adora."

"Hmmm... talk?" Shadow Weaver questioned, looking around the room and to herself. "Whyever would I do that, now?" The expressions around the room dropped with mixed results, save for Catra's who was not in the mood. "I'm perfectly healed now, I can't go back to the Horde. If this is your idea of a cell, I could get used to spending the rest of my life like this." Her eyes narrowed as she gazed into Catra's. "Why should I hold up my end of the bargain?"

"Because we had a deal." She stated, firm and simple. There was a silence that hung in the air as the two kept their eyes on one another. For a change of pace, Shadow Weaver was surprised as Catra didn't turn away from her, didn't even twitch. She actually found it quite amusing, personally.

"... And you'd be right." She agreed, relaxing the faces of everyone who started to worry. "A deal is a deal. What is it you wish to know, first?"

"What's wrong with her?" Catra didn't give the others a chance to so much as come up with the first plan of questionings as she took over. "What's happening to her that you felt you needed to come here for?"

With a bit of a sigh, she replied, "Very well. I suppose there's no delaying the inevitable answer."

This was it. The moment Catra had been waiting for as she sheathed her sword again. All that struggling, all that waiting, all those emotions, were about to pay off. The witch had no intention to hide the truth, knowing that they had to prepare for the future ahead of them. Still, she regretted the fact that it was with her own two hands that she was partly to blame for all of this, and now relied on the hands of another to fix her mistakes.

"Tell me, Catra, have you ever heard of the Spell of Obtainment..."

...

A/N: Hmm let's see... what's the most suspenseful way I can end the chapter? Catra contemplating if she should heal or not?... Nah. Catra taking off to see light hope? Meh, sounds a little dull... I know! I'll reveal what Aroda is and hold off on possible explanations until the next episode ^^! Man, I can be no eviler than that!

Lol, i did say you would find out what/who she is, just not explain how or why she came to be XP But I 110% promise that'll be explained to you all in the next chapter/final part (obvs), so stay tuned for more ^^ Hope you all also kept the music on standby like I suggested for maximum feel effects cause if you didn't feel anything with the music, then shame on you for not letting your sensitive side out XP Lol jk.

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed this long and heavy chapter! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 95: S3 Episode 1: The Price of Power Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 17.1K Pre-A/N's. Dear GAWWWWWWWWWWD this was an exhausting endeavor, but a legitimately enjoyable one ^^ Its very late so i'm not going to sugarcoat anything here, but I will express my thanks beforehand to Gunter, Star, and Petie for assisting with the proof-reading in some of the exposition stuff I struggled with.

No it wasn't hard or anything. In fact, it was relatively fun making it out ^^ The hard/struggling part of it came in the form of being unable to tell if the exposition/story-explanation would've proved credible or at least good enough to be somewhat seem as canon, like if it was believable/entertaining enough or if it was downright stupid and ridiculous. Obviously since I wrote it, I couldn't consider it for myself XP Shocking or not, when an author writes his own work, he's going to generally assume it sounds good to themself everytime XP

Hoooof! But with all that said, thanks again for the assistance. It's time to read the grand finale behind everything, and see just where the origins of this Spell of Obtainment and its uses within the fanfic will finally take us!

Enjoy ^^!!!

...

"The Spell of Obtainment?" Catra questioned, blinking with confusion that the long night had continued to bring.

If it wasn't one mystery, it was another. For every answer they got throughout the evening, they got two more questions in its place. This was the basic system that Catra and her friends had to suffer through for the last several hours of the night, a night that was turning out to be a mix between excitement, anger, jealousy, and so forth as the hours drove on. And what was at the heart of the matter that kept bringing these emotions up within the atmosphere, within Catra?

Shadow Weaver.

The wicked witch, the sorceress of darkness, the blemish on Mystacor's past. She was the root cause behind everything that happened tonight, sneaking into the very student's chambers without nary a sound, awakening the magicat who promptly beat the stuffing out of her with glee. She got the payback she was looking for, the state she was in, and she was excited to continue doing it if she didn't found out the very next thing.

She was dying. The mentor she hated, the one who abused her all her life, was dying, and she didn't know how to process it. Happy? Sad? What? Nothing became an answer to the young girl as she tried to contemplate all the feelings welling up inside of her. She wanted to feel happy, she wanted to feel relief that she was leaving this world in some form, yet all her experiences up to this point, everything she's been through, confused her.

To make it worse, the old crone came specifically to Catra under the idea that she would heal her, could heal her, in the form of She-Ra's magic. It didn't go off without a hitch, naturally. Despite needing the girl's help, she constantly mocked and ridiculed the girl throughout the first attempt, mocking her and spiting her even though she was just trying to help her. Needless to say, it infuriated the girl, continued to break her focus, and eventually collapse under her own weight.

From there, she had to press on, hinting about the destiny she stole from Adora since day one, how she was supposed to be destined for greatness and not the other way around. In addition, she went out of her way to make her understand that she was not of this world, a detail that brought Catra to the Crystal Castle to understand just what or who she was by Light Hope. And, with the revelation that she was, in fact, a First One, how did she feel about it all?

Angry. Complete, miserable, anger. Anger that there was nothing different about the girl besides her birth, anger that she had to suffer a miserable existence because Adora was the one who was naturally gifted, the one chosen to be the hero. Add to the fact that for every day of peace Adora seemingly-lived within the Fright Zone, it added another day of despair and misery to the girl who had to push herself constantly, the one who envied the attention that Shadow Weaver gave her.

It wasn't until a heart-to-heart with Swift Wind that Catra came to an understanding, a sort of agreement in thought, as to why she should save Shadow Weaver after all she's done. Not for Adora, not for Shadow Weaver, but for herself. To prove her wrong. To show Shadow Weaver that everything that the witch said about her was false, a lie. Even if it meant saving her life, a life she still cared a little for, she'd rather have her live than die without giving Catra the chance to ever prove herself again.

And in the end, she did. She proved her wrong. With the shadow of her fear hanging over her head waning away, she managed to push herself enough to finally heal Shadow Weaver, to save the woman's life as she lied on the brink of death.

All that remained was for her to keep her end of the bargain, to bring this long confusing night to an end. And it all started with the very first line that Shadow Weaver had to say.

And MAN was it confusing.

"What's the "Spell of Obtainment"?" Bow asked curiously. As Glimmer was about to open her mouth to speak, she was hastily interrupted in anger as Castaspella stepped forth.

"Shadow Weaver, you didn't!" She grumbled, squeezing her fist to contain the rage.

"If it means anything, it wasn't intentional, I assure you." She replied in a casual manner, sitting as comfortably as one could when you were in an eight-foot-radius-sized barrier.

"Intentional or not, what you subjected that poor girl to is atrocious." Angella stated, feeling her own anger boiling right now.

"Mom?" Glimmer spoke, never seeing this side of her anger before from just one spell. "I don't get it. What's the big deal about this Spell of Obtainment?"

"Everything's a big deal about the spell!" Castaspella snapped. "It was forbidden for a reason. It's the very spell your father tried to keep Shadow Weaver from completing that got her banished from Mystacor in the first place!" Glimmer's eyes widened in shock at the news, turning to Shadow Weaver in dismay.

"My... dad?"

"Micah was young at the time, child." Shadow Weaver commented, remembering the past. "He was quite gifted in what he did, though, clearly that didn't keep him from falling, now did it?"

"How dare you speak to her that way." The queen was fuming. She could allow her to speak her petty insults as much as she wanted to toy with Angella, but she refused to allow her to direct them to her daughter.

"Would someone just tell us what the stupid Spell of Obtainment is already?!" Catra yelped, getting annoyed with all the background talk and the lack of answers that came with it. The two older women looked at each other in worry, knowing that they couldn't keep it to themselves for very long, not when the reveal of it was already out there.

With a heavy heart, one of shame, Castaspella answered. "The Spell of Obtainment is what it sounds like. It's a spell of tremendous power that can empower the caster's strength tenfold. It's a forbidden spell that causes it to leech power from the user's surrounding, drawing it for themselves and amplifying their strength like never before."

"What, seriously?!" Catra replied with a bit of excitement, a smile across her face at the thought of it. "Why the heck would you make a spell like that forbidden? It sounds awesome!"

"Because the aftereffects are what make it so dangerous." Angella answered in Casta's place. "It doesn't just leech power from the user's surrounding, it draws power from the individual themselves, siphoning off the user's life force if there isn't a source to draw power from. It could easily kill an individual, even the most gifted of casters."

All the excitement emanating from Catra dropped at an instant at the announcement. "The user's life..." Her eyes burned with anger as she glared back at the former mentor, the person she just saved. "YOU!" Knowing what their friend was about to do, Glimmer and Bow quickly grabbed the girl's arms, Angella gripping her right shoulder tightly, keeping her from undoing the recent saving that she just committed. "You rotten- You killed Adora, didn't you!?" She shouted. The tears didn't have enough time to well up in her eyes before Shadow Weaver spoke.

"Adora isn't dead, idiot." Shadow Weaver hissed, a little insulted that Catra would instantly jump to that. It was just enough to make Catra stop long enough to let her get a word out. "Nor was I aware that the spell transferred to her."

"Transferred?" At the raised brow, her friends finally released her, keeping their guard at the ready just in case she jumped again. "How do you transfer something without knowing you did in the first place? Why'd you even give it to her at all?"

"Huff, it's a bit of an explanation." Shadow Weaver sighed, knowing there was no use hiding it. "The Spell of Obtainment isn't like other spells that exist. It is an amalgamation of energy, a parasite of living magic that feeds and nurtures the host it inhabits as long as its sated. When it inhabits a host, they become the same parasitic creature that the parasite is, drawing on from any and all sources, including itself."

"Which is what makes it a danger in the first place." Casta added. "Unless the host dies, the spell itself can only be destroyed or banished by magic, the very means that drew it into the world to begin with."

"But what would it want with Adora?" Glimmer asked, unaware as Catra squeezed her fist at this knowingly. "Her own magic's been draining her since she got it, so it's not like she has an unlimited supply of energy-"

"It's because she's a First One." Catra stated bluntly, surprising the individuals, save for one, surrounding her. "Isn't she?" Everyone stared at the girl as if she had lost it, which was saying a lot since she just answered a question.

"A First One?" Bow looked to the others to see if anyone else was aware of this, including the witch currently behind enchanted bars. "Catra, the First Ones died out over a thousand years ago. How could-"

"I'm afraid Catra speaks the truth, for once." Shadow Weaver interrupted, irritated that she had to admit when said former student was actually right. "It was years ago, when Hordak attempted to perfect his portal technology." Even now, she could remember the girl's crying face, the way she brushed its tears away fondly. "It was only for a moment. And in that moment, a child came through. That child was Adora. She was brought here from another world."

"You're lying!" Glimmer instantly accused the moment she could get a word in. "You're lying like you always do. I mean, the First Ones? Portals? None of that makes any sense!"

"I gain nothing by lying, princess." She assured, finally getting to her feet as her energy continued to return. "Adora is different from the rest of us. Why do you think she was bequeathed with a sword, a gift that could bring a dying woman back to life?" Grimacing, Catra looked to her sword at this.

It still angered her when she thought about it. Thought about how Adora was the favored one because she was just born differently, how Catra was the one who had to suffer day in and day out just because she wasn't her. Now, she had something else to worry about, and more to come.

"I knew she was different from the moment I laid eyes on her, just not the true nature of her origin until recently." She continued. "I thought it was a gift at first, a trait she had that drew me to her. It wasn't until later I discovered it was-"

"Because of the parasite." Angella crossed her arms as she spoke, still revolted with the woman now more than ever before. "Because it wanted a new source of power, right?"

"Could you imagine it?" Shadow Weaver actually hoped they could picture it. The perfect symbiosis between parasite and host. "A girl born with a greater power than the likes that any Etherian is naturally born with. One that produces just enough power to satiate the parasite's hunger at all times... barely."

"I knew the spell drew me to her, but it was the reason for it that left me questionable for a time." She recalls the days she spent with the girl. Teaching, raising, training, all through as Adora grew up through the years. "I thought it wanted me to use the girl, as I intended to. To turn her into my greatest accomplishment, greatest weapon that the Horde had ever known." Her eyes lowered a little in sadness as she turned her head away. "It wasn't until a few years after Adora was taken by the Horde that I began to realize its true intentions."

"Realize it's intentions?" Catra turned to her two friends, wondering if they were following along any better than she was, before looking back. "What do you mean realize its intentions? It's just some parasite thing, isn't it? How could you know what it wanted specifically?"

"The parasite is far more complicated than you can understand, Catra." Castaspella replied in Shadow Weaver's place. "It doesn't just draw people to sources of power. It speaks with them, guides them to possibilities of newer and greater power."

"At first, it was manageable." The witch continued. "It came to me in a form that I could tolerate, being seen and heard only within my mind. It would throw out a suggestion here, an answer to a question that eluded me there, and continue to sniff out a sufficient source of energy for me at all times. It even started to affect my surroundings for a time, which did so under the guise of my own magic acting of its own accord."

"The drain it had on me until I perfected a connection to the Black Garnet proved unbearable for a time, but I managed to work through it." As she said this, the once-powerful sorceress pulled back the flap of her glove, revealing the same condition to the rest that she witnessed in Adora. "Though, suffice to say, it still left its mark on me."

And Catra thought she was ugly looking before! Well, she still was to her, but that's besides the point. The three friends looked at the revolting hand in disgust as she exposed it. Looked as if centuries had past within the limb itself, leaving it rotten, dried up, almost like a husk.

Thinking back on it, Catra could still recall the time she caught a glimpse of Shadow Weaver's face the one day she and Adora snuck into her Black Garnet chamber. If that was as bad as she looked back then, she didn't want to picture what lied behind the mask now.

"That's disgusting." Catra commented, sticking out her tongue at the sight.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Bow added, feeling like his lunch was fighting with itself between whether or not to throw up.

"And it was when Adora was a young child did I realize how vile it truly was." That was the first time Shadow Weaver finally disagreed with it, the first time she ignored, disobeyed what the parasite wanted. And she still couldn't get red of the memory of how she loomed over Adora's bed. The girl she was so drawn to since infancy, the person she spent her life caring for.

The innocent girl who saw Shadow Weaver as a mother figure, the only one she ever had in her life. It was the first and only time Shadow Weaver cared about something other than her lust for power, backing away from the innocent creature before Adora's curious eyes could pop open to her, leaving nothing to the imagination of those who listened to her memory.

"Y-You..." Catra trembled to speak a little. "You were going to... to..."

"But, wait, that doesn't make sense." Glimmer said, catching the attention of the rest. "You said the parasite was drawn to her as a baby, right? Adora didn't have her magic until recently, so why was it drawn to her then?"

Slowly, surely, Catra's eyes widened in understanding as she raised the sword to the three of them. "It... It knew. It knew she was-"

"So you finally understand, I take it?" Shadow Weaver felt it was about time she understood. "When the moment came, I finally realized what it wanted. It didn't want me to use Adora's power for my own sake. It wanted me to transfer Adora's powers to myself, to take control of it by any means necessary."

"It knew at first sight that Adora had a connection with the sacred sword. It wanted the limitless potential of the blade for itself." Shadow Weaver confirmed. "It gave me all the knowledge of what I would need, all the materials I would require to perform a ritual that would do it. A means to steal one's connection, a chance to obtain the sword. But I chose against it."

"You chose against it?"

"I assume you know what the word "choice" means, Catra." She teased lightly. "I disobeyed the parasite for the first time on that day, and it didn't take my choice too lightly in the process. It tormented me constantly, siphoned off more of my energy faster than it used to. It was going to drain my body dry of its own life until I gave it what it wanted. For years, I kept it locked away within myself, until-"

"Until it switched to Adora in the process." Angella answered for her, knowing where it was going. She was still angry with the woman as she walked around the barrier a bit, meeting Shadow Weaver at eye level as she took the moment to stare back at her imprisoning queen. "You almost sacrificed a girl's life in exchange for power... How can you live with yourself like that?"

"Rather easily," she replied in a slight snarky tone, "considering I didn't do it." It didn't make a potential murderer sound any better just because they didn't go through with a murder to begin with to Angella. "To keep it contained within me, to prevent its voices from trying to influence me any further, I had it sealed away, shut off within the far recesses of my mind where it could never tempt me again.."

"But what does any of this have to do with Adora?" The magicat was getting impatient as the backstory continued for what seemed like forever, without any explanation about the present. "What's it doing affecting her? Why is it in her in the first place?"

Shadow Weaver took the moment to sigh as she gathered a new fount of thoughts to explain. She's barely covered half the story she needed to so far, and that was just related to Adora. There were still many details she had to get through about the Horde's current objectives.

"That... is the one regret I've made in my life." She stated, sitting against the ground again on her side. Looking back on it now, she realized how foolish it must've been, questioning to this day whether she was truly free of the parasite's influence or not. "When I made the headband for Adora, the one that gave her the ability to draw in and use shadows, I gave her a fraction of my powers in the process. This included the very parasite as well."

"How do you call something like that an accident?!" Glimmer stammered, puffing out her cheeks a bit. "There's a big difference between accidental and intentional, you know!"

"It's not in the same way that you're thinking, child." Shadow Weaver lamented, shaking her head. "With the ritual I performed to transfer it, I used a portion of the Black Garnet's own rune stone as a container, entrapping the parasite along with my powers so it could never break free."

"You used the rune stone itself to contain the parasite?" Casta questioned, never once determining if such an event would prove feasible.

"Just a tiny piece of it. I could easily imagine the creature gorging itself on the Black Garnet's raw power until it destroyed the stone itself if I ever did something so foolish." She could easily see a catastrophe like that. Seeing the creature run rampant within the garnet itself, siphoning the rune stone of all its power, and eventually shattering it to pieces within mere minutes of entry.

"With the power of the rune stone, my magic, and the parasite mixed together, it created the perfect tool for the girl. It amplified her physically and emotionally, allowed her to draw in the shadows like a fuel source to feed the parasite within. And, in exchange, the parasite gave her the mastery she needed to control her new magic, a way to become a soldier of darkness."

"Well great job on that stupid bandana, idiot." Catra scoffed, crossing her arms in frustration. "Unless you didn't notice, your stupid bandana didn't work. Adora kept her powers even after it was destroyed, and the parasite with it." With the pieces slowly coming together, it fueled the fire of anger the girl had for the one known as Shadow Weaver.

To think, everything that happened, everything that sent Adora down this path, was because of one stupid headband, a forbidden magic, that turned Adora into whatever is happening now. There was no telling how much of it affected her since the day in Salineas when she first used it.

Maybe she wouldn't be as corrupt as she was now? Maybe she would've joined the Rebellion if the stupid power didn't amplify her emotions? With a power of something like that amplifying one's own being, including their emotions, there was no telling what sort of reactions it would have on the user. Especially, one who wasn't a gifted sorcerer or sorceress like Shadow Weaver who could bind the parasite's influence itself.

... Maybe she would've forgiven Catra months ago without the influence of the band itself...

Though, she acknowledged what the magicat was trying to point out, Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes to the girl. "Do you truly believe me so stupid that I would allow the parasite to affect her without any precautions?"

"Tch, you really don't want me to answer that." She spat, rolling her eyes.

"The parasite was fully incapable of penetrating Adora's mind, no matter how powerful it grew. If the headband was going to be destroyed, the parasite would have died along with it. Without a direct vessel to inhabit through magic, it never could have entered Adora's body."

"But that should still prove impossible." Casta continued to argue. "Without the alignment of the planets, even the most skilled magic users would've struggled to seal the spell within someone without a greater source of power. "

"Not to mention the fact they would've had to get past Adora in the first place to get the headband. Much less know about the parasite-thing to begin with." Bow brought up, scratching the back of his head as he tried to think. "How could anyone transfer the spell to her without anyone realizing it?"

"... Huh!" Glimmer let out a terror-filled gasp as she came to realize it. The only opportunity one would've had to get close enough to Adora, the power needed to perform such a spell, or magic in this case, and the one chance anyone would've had to get Adora and the headband together to bind the two. "No..." Her friends and loved ones looked to the girl at this, noticing the slight tremble the girl was giving off as she realized the truth.

"Glimmer? What's wrong?" Bow asked a little worried.

"You figure out who's responsible?" Catra blinked in wonder.

Slowly, the Princess of Bright Moon turned to face her feline-friend, lip trembling a little as she squeezed her hands a little nervously. "Ca-Catra..."

"What?" She stared at her in wonder, trying to figure out what the girl suddenly realized. It didn't come to her, not at first, but eventually, between the awkward stare the girl was giving off and the vibe she was spreading across the room, she finally raised her ears, tail wagging behind her with unease. "Y-You mean... me?"

"It would appear so, wouldn't it?" Shadow Weaver confirmed.

The girl looked all around. Save for Glimmer who continued to look worriedly, the others gave Catra the same questionable look of confusion that she had on her own face. "That... That doesn't make any sense! Even if I knew about the parasite, why would I ever... why would... I..." As she spoke, she tried to contemplate any and all interactions she had with Adora in the past before the headband was destroyed, slowly coming to a stop as she realized the one chance she had to do any of this stuff.

When someone had enough power.

When someone had a chance to get close enough to Adora.

When someone had the opportunity necessary to transfer the parasite to Adora in the first place.

The Battle of Bright Moon.

...

"Goodbye... Adora..." And with that, Catra screamed. With every last ounce of strength she could draw in from her sword, from her friends, she took a step forward as she unleashed a powerful blast of pure light straight into the darkness, the darkness doing nothing to slow down the terrible power of light that shot across the ravine, towards the defenseless Force Captain who could do nothing to move, not with all the shadows she was drawing to herself.

Within that one moment, right as the light was about to hit, the redness faded from Adora's eyes, as an expression of confusion and wonder crossed Adora's face. "Catra-?"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Adora's power, was gone.

...

"Remember what I said about channeling your emotions, Catra?" Shadow Weaver would've been seen with a curious look if the mask wasn't in the way. "When you regretted having to fight her to the bitter end, and desired to attack her at the same time, it did the unthinkable. You managed to destroy the headband itself while sealing the essence of my magic within Adora's mind. Including the parasite."

"N... No..." The memory played back in Catra's mind as she looked at her own two trembling hands.

She did it. She's the one who did it to Adora. She's the very reason Adora was infected by the parasite that started everything wrong with this headband, the reason she maintained her shadow powers after the Battle of Bright Moon.

It's not like she was completely oblivious to the fact Adora still retained her powers. Up till now, she, everyone around her, thought it was a side effect from using the headband too much, or that she acquired a portion of the headband's power after infusing herself with the shadows that spread across Bright Moon, the ones caused by the very clouds that blocked out the sun thanks to Entrapta's experiment on the Black Garnet.

But fate wouldn't be that kind to the girl, apparently.

It was still her. It was all on Catra. The fact she still had her powers, the reason she was a threat to the Rebellion. And, now, the very reason Adora looked so sickly and weak whenever she used too much of her powers.

"Y-You... You mean... I..." She didn't know what words to say, just a sense of anger that was rushing to her veins as the guilt began to grow.

"I must admit, even I was surprised when Adora retained her powers." Shadow Weaver said, remembering the number of times Adora showed off her own shadows in front of her, refusing to let Shadow Weaver mock her because the headband was destroyed.

"At first, I thought that was all she retained. Any princess with a connection to a rune stone can easily tell you that they need a constant connection with their power source to channel their magic. Isn't that right, princess?"

"Mmh..." Glimmer moaned irritably at the woman, a sentiment shared by her mother who was still on the side of Shadow Weaver's prison.

"When she became weak from overusing her power, I thought nothing of it. I assumed it was just a side effect of Adora using too much of her new magic, but I was wrong. It was the parasite that was feeding off the shadows from within her own body, one who hungered for more of the girl's power as time went on. It wasn't until Adora confided within me that she started hearing voices, voices telling her to obtain more power, that I realized that the parasite was still alive, and it was within her."

"... Wait." Any instance of Catra furthering her own guilt was immediately put to a halt as the girl's eyes opened brightly. "If... If the parasite was in Adora's body or head this whole time, then...!" She ran past her friends before they had a chance to react. She dashed to Shadow Weaver's side, kneeling down to the woman's height. She was only held back from going any closer as Angella grabbed her shoulder, refusing to let the girl enter Shadow Weaver's cell in whatever haste she was in.

"It's the parasite, isn't it?" Catra asked, almost begfully. She didn't even specify what she was referring to and Shadow Weaver already knew what she was going to ask. "I'm right, aren't I? It was the parasite this whole time. It's the thing that's been controlling Adora since day one. Right?" She prayed for the first time that she was right, she wanted to know that she was right about this more than anything.

Thoughts were already swarming in her mind one after another at the proposal. If Adora was being controlled by this parasite all along, then it was responsible for everything that happened, and not Adora! She was the innocent one here, not the cruel enemy that loathed Catra and her friends!

If it was true, then Catra wouldn't have to feel the guilt anymore. Sure, she would still feel a little responsible for putting the parasite in her, but that would be the end of it. If the parasite was making Adora do things against her control, then she couldn't be held accountable for anything she did. Catra could begin to fight her without holding back, without fearing of what would happen to Adora once they win the war, or if they captured Adora!

The queen would have to understand that, she would make her understand it! At worse, what would happen? A year or two of service in recompense? A single week to a month in a cell at most? She couldn't pin the entirety of the blame on her old friend, she couldn't judge Adora fairly for what was against her control, especially since Catra was partly responsible for putting it in her in the first place.

This... This was perfect! And she just needed to hear the words from Shadow Weaver's own mouth, and everything would be better!

"..." The previously-dying woman remained silent as Catra continued to stare into her eyes, the current She-Ra giving a small hiss as her claws scraped against the ground.

"Tell me!" She shouted, leaning a little closer to the sorceress's cage as Angella continued to hold her back.

"... Why bother asking me for? You know I would just lie to you." She turned her head to the direction of one of her previous students. "Why don't you ask her." Catra instantly shot a glance up at the figure known as Castaspella, Glimmer's aunt. The older woman was looking beside herself with a small frown, unable to look at the hopeful warrior directly.

Her silence spoke louder than words to the cat who rose to her feet again. "... You're serious... aren't you?" Catra spoke, emotionless. Lowering her head, the queen released her grip from her as Catra made her way over to the wall. Knowing the answer as well, Angella didn't give it much concern as Catra rose her right hand against the wall, slowly clawing it down as she tried to temper the anger rising in her.

Her two friends looked to the grown women around the room, wondering and dreading the very thing they already knew.

"... The... The parasite is capable of suggesting things to people, according to past studies." Casta admitted, rubbing her elbow to soothe her nerves. "It knows what they know, retains knowledge of a previous host if transferred. It uses the host's memories against them at times, toying with their deepest emotions to convince them to do their work for them... B-But..."

"Ultimately, the choice is always and forever on the host it inhabits." Angella admitted, feeling a bit of regret for Catra's current feelings. She didn't need a bond with the sword or She-Ra like Swift Wind to know what she was feeling. "It's completely incapable of forcing the user to do what they don't want to. It has no control over their actions."

"Nor would it ever lie to her." Shadow Weaver had to point out. "It wouldn't do itself any favors if it didn't have the trust of the host it inhabits. As such, there is no trickery involved, either." It almost felt intentional that Shadow Weaver had to say that to Catra, the magicat figuring out the minor detail for itself. And still regretting the reality of the situation.

Adora was in full control of her actions, of what she was doing. The parasite was nothing more than a mere conscious on her shoulder, an angel and devil whispering to her at once, telling her how to do things and what she should do, but never forcing her to do both.

It was the very realization that made her friends feel sorry for the warrior as they watched her continuing to scrape a claw against the wall in despair. There was no possible way to be lenient towards Adora if she was ever captured or if the Rebellion won this war.

She would be held accountable, in every extent of the laws.

"So now you know what we're dealing with." Shadow Weaver said softly, eyeing the rest of them as they took in the story of a forbidden spell. A spell capable of empowering its host, a spell that siphoned off the very essence of energy, including one's life. A parasite that drew strength from its victim's power, and their possible connection to a power source. "Every day that parasite continues to dwell within Adora, it will grow stronger. Adora will grow stronger. And each day, its hunger for the sword will grow."

"... How long does Adora have?" Bow bravely asked, knowing those around the room who would hiss in response. "Is the parasite a danger to her? Even if she's a First One?"

"As I've said, the fact Adora is a First One, and it's the only reason she continues to survive as she does. Any regular person infected with the parasite would've been drained of their life within a few days." She exclaimed.

"Because of her connection to the sword, she already provides a constant source of energy for the creature, however small, however minuscule, too keep the parasite sustained." She recalled the moment she discovered Adora's current state, the sickly state of her hand, and possibly how much the rest of her arm looked in comparison.

"But it will only sustain the parasite for so long. Eventually it will crave more power from her, in one form or another. And each time she fails to or disobeys, it'll siphon an excess amount of her power."

"Are you kidding me right now?!" Catra yelled, glaring as she walked back to the person she just saved. "You knew all of that, every detail, and you still came here instead of warning Adora herself? You didn't bother spending two minutes to tell her that she's in danger?!"

"And what exactly would I have told her, pest?" Shadow Weaver quipped. "That I infected her with a parasite created through forbidden magic? That I'm the reason she's hearing voices within her mind? The parasite would've easily convinced her that I was lying, without any proof. A proof I can no longer obtain after losing my magic."

"Lost your magic?" Catra was taken back a little at this. "How'd you lose your magic? I thought you said that Garnet thing was still allowing Adora to draw power from it?"

"It was... before Adora betrayed me." With all the time that passed, with all the seconds spent staring into the sorceress of darkness's eyes, only now did Catra and her friends finally noticed the shattered remains of her mask's jewel, the connection she had to the Black Garnet.

"Adora... betrayed you?" All this time, Catra was still under the assumption that she was working with Adora freely like she always did, telling the girl how to run things, proposing to the girl how to do what she did. It was either that, or she was still in a bit of denial that Adora turned into the person she was today because of Catra.

Never has Catra felt herself holding back so hard to stifle a laugh, or a smirk, when she knew the situation was more than serious.

A laughter Shadow Weaver knew she wanted to let out. "I bet you're trying to imagine the moment yourself, aren't you?" Catra bit her tongue at that as she looked away a little. "For the last several months, I've been rotting away in the Horde's prison. As far as I'm aware of, the only other person who knows how to mess with that stone would be the new scientist Adora introduced to the Horde some time ago."

"Entrapta!" Bow deduced correctly. They were all aware of how intelligent the girl was, how her advances in science lead her closer than anyone else to find a connection between science and magic itself.

"Thanks to her, She's managed to find traces of the Black Garnet's essence within Adora and the rune stone, finding a way to force the power back into the girl whenever she needs to recharge."

"Like a rechargeable battery." Bow also deduced. "She keeps infusing and restoring her power with the rune stone. She puts in her powers and takes it back out as good as new."

"Impressive," Shadow Weaver actually complimented a little, "you would have done wonders in the Horde with that kind of ingenuity."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

"And this is why I come to you." The sorceress stated, turning to the group as a whole. "If I'm to have any chance of stopping Adora and the parasite, then I need your help, the help of the Rebellion."

"Get real." Catra scoffed, crossing her arms. "Even if we believed a single thing you said about this obtainment thing, why should we believe you about anything else in the first place?"

"Because the information I have concerning the Horde itself outweighs a greater danger than a simple parasite among a First One."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"LIke another portal. Multiple ones that can carry entire armies over across the universe." Everyone stared at this intensely. She already mentioned this once before, but they didn't think that such things were entirely possible, not until Catra confirmed Shadow Weaver's First one story.

"Hordak has been working for years to build a machine capable of opening a portal through the fabric of space." The woman stood with a presence as she explained the greater of threats to them. "He intends to bring the rest of the Horde's armies through this portal and use it to conquer Etheria, once and for all."

"Armies?" The queen spoke with shock. "There's more of the Horde?"

"A force so large, you cannot even comprehend it." She warned. "You have struggled to hold off Hordak's paltry troops for years. You will stand no chance against the full might of the Horde."

"Says you!" Catra snapped back, the queen holding her by the shoulder again as she attempted to approach. "Portal or not we just need to get the Princess Alliance together and the Rebellion. We'll have more than enough firepower to fight back!"

"Oh, Catra," she sighed, leaning a palm against her own cheek, "your naivety was the most amusing part about you." Catra couldn't tell if that was supposed to be embarrassing or an insult, just that it was still annoying. "Everything that the Rebellion has fought up till now, all the years of countless struggle, constant violence," she held up her pointer-finger, "has been nothing more than the first wave." The comparative size of the Horde's scale was enough to shock even the best of them.

The Horde has been at war with Etheria for decades now, with the rest of the planet struggling just to push them back. Entire kingdoms have fallen in the past, countless lives lost by the hundreds of thousands to near-million. The Princess Alliance itself consisted of the Rebellion's forces and three other kingdoms, four before Entrapta changed sides. And it was still a struggle to achieve what victories they could, in part thanks to Adora's handiwork.

Now, they were warned about the size, the true vastness of the Horde, the likes of which they couldn't possibly imagine. To have an entire army where everything they fought up till now was just the first wave? It was terrifying to believe, incomprehensible to even the Head Sorceress of Mystacor. Even Catra was willing to admit that anything of that caliber was more than enough to crush them.

They stood no chance.

"T-That... That still doesn't mean anything!" And Catra still refused to believe it. "You said it yourself, it took him years to make one that brought Adora here, and it was barely functional. What makes you think he's going to finish the portal anytime soon?"

"Because now he has something he didn't have before." She claimed. "A princess who knows how to combine First Ones technology with the Horde's machine." None of the friends needed to verbally state the person she was referring to. The one Bow brought up minutes ago, the very reason Adora is continuing to last as long as she is with the parasite.

Entrapta.

"That's why she's been after all that First One's tech." Bow realized, shaking his head in sorrow. It was disappointing to think that the person they once considered a friend was the very same that would bring about the end of the Rebellion, the world for that matter, with an army she helped bring herself.

"When the Horde crushes the Rebellion, Hordak will achieve victory. You'll all be wiped out, you'll all rot away in one shape or form. And there'll be nothing standing in his or the parasite's way." She squeezed her fist before them as her eyes narrowed. "Which is why I want to help you. I want to take them down for their betrayal, and to banish the creature within Adora before its too late. Helping you is the best way to do that." With these final words said, her explanation came to an end, and the truth was laid bare before them.

A parasite that wanted an endless amount of power.

A portal that could open gateways and holes across the realm of space.

And bring an army of incomparable size to Etheria.

Troubling didn't begin to to come close to the word to describe their current situation. And none of them were sure of how to proceed with this information. They were looking at several ways that the world could come to an end, between a power-hungry spell that was never sated to an army capable of anihilating all of Etheria, and anyone that stood in their way.

Doom spelled out for all of them.

"So... So what happens now?" Catra finally asked, lifting her head up again.

"Now?" For a change, the mistress of dark waved her hand, crossing her arms uncaringly. "I suppose that remains up to the rest of you. Let me out to help. Keep me in here to help. It doesn't really matter to me. All that matters at this point is getting payback to the Horde. Whether I have a hand directly or otherwise is for the rest of you to decide."

Catra turned to her friends a bit discouraged at the information as Glimmer's mom and aunt returned to the children's side. There was trouble in every detail that Shadow Weaver explained to them, without a single hint of good news or plan to help them with. They couldn't risk saying something without Shadow Weaver shooting it down with details, and it was pointless to begin any discussion without all of their allies present.

At the very least, they all silently agreed with one another that Shadow Weaver couldn't be released, not for the time being anyway. Threat or ally, she still proved dangerous in her own way, capable of turning the rest of the friends and family against one another with just a few choice sentences.

Not to mention the fact over half of their problems, pertaining Adora that is, were her fault to begin with.

"Bow?" Glimmer spoke up a little, the archer's mood looking as down as the rest of them. "Any ideas?"

Angella turned to the children, studying each of their faces and their expression thoroughly. They were the Rebellion's best people, the best and the brightest, but they were still children first and foremost. None of them should be subjected to the harshness that this reality had to offer in this lifetime, or the next. Taking a deep silent breath through her nose, the queen offered a smile to them as she patted Glimmer and Bow's shoulder. "I suggest we reconvene in the morning, after a good night's sleep."

"I'll notify our allies in Mystacor." Castaspella said, making her way to the door. "They might be able to provide answers that'll help us with the Spell of Obtainment." She smiled to the rest of them as she opened the doorway to the lit halls outside of them. "I'm confident things will work out." She added before finally leaving. Her message wasn't just for the rest of them to hear, it was for Catra who needed the words most, given how much of it concerned her friend.

"She's right, I assure you." Angella agreed, smiling to each of them as she spread her wings. "Come along now, off to bed." She ordered, leading them to the doorway with a gentle nudge. It wasn't until Catra slipped through her wings that she paused for a moment. "Catra? Come along, you've done enough with her for one day."

Catra lowered her head, squeezing her hands tightly. The girl didn't look to them as she turned her head a little to the side, showing a light frown over her face. "Can... Can I just speak to her for a minute?" She requested. "It won't take long, promise."

The queen was uneasy with the requests presented to her. After all Catra had to put up with tonight, everything regarding Shadow Weaver, she more than earned a personal favor for a few minutes alone with somebody else for a discussion, provided that was what she wanted.

Yet she still felt apprehensive over the idea of her talking to Shadow Weaver of all people, one of the worst people to come out of the Horde. Even when she was healing her, she chose to mock and berate Catra, as she found out from Glimmer. Picturing Catra alone with anybody that cruel to their own rescuer was just unsettling, unnerving. She couldn't possibly leave her alone with the woman, and she knew Catra wouldn't bother chatting with another adult present.

Shifting her eyes to one another, with a quick slip out of her wing, Glimmer teleported to Catra's side, smiling to the two with a small wave. "I'll keep an eye on her. I promise." She said. Her mother gave her a small smile and a nod as she agreed to her terms, taking Bow along as she continued for the door.

"Come along, Bow." She said calmly, much of the archer's annoyance.

"Awww, why do I have to go?" He said, pouting a little.

"Because someone has a pile of cards to clear out of the hallway." Her reasoning was weak no matter how much merit it held. "I won't be having my guards slipping and getting injured because of a harmless card trick."

"Oh come on, no one ever slips on these things..." His groan was the last thing the remaining party heard before the door closed.

With all non-essential personnel vacated from the premises, Catra stepped forward, walking up to the very edge of the barrier, keeping a solemn look in her eyes and her voice as she spoke to the woman staring at her.

"Can... Can I ask you a simple question?" She wondered, actually sounding a little sheepish for the first time to Glimmer.

"I told you all that I know about Adora, if that's what you're wondering." She assured, though her credibility was debatable.

"No, it's not that, it's..." With the nerves running across her skin, she rubbed the side of her elbow, trying to ease the tension running through her. She never thought she'd have a conversation like this with Shadow Weaver of all people. "Why..." Her ears lowered, along with her head. "Why did you treat me the way you did? Why was I never good enough for you? Really, I wanna know."

"Catra-"

"No!" She cut off. "I don't want any lies, or excuses!" Glimmer prepared herself in case Catra was ready to jump the woman, even if her expression told her she wasn't ready to. "My whole life, you treated me like I was nothing. And I just saved your life, and I deserve to know why!" She crossed her arms, wincing a little in thought. "Was... Was it just because I wasn't "born differently"? Because I wasn't Adora? Is that it?" She deserved to know. She told herself she deserved to know.

So many years of wastefulness, being jealous of Adora for reasons that weren't even real. She held a small resentment for her friend as they grew up, a twinge of it the size of her pinkie nail. Barely anything, barely there, and still existing.

If it was because of a stupid reason like she wasn't Adora, then she deserved to hear it from the hag's own mouth, the very one that neglected and abused her for all this time. Anything the woman did to her she was undeserving of. She didn't deserve the constant hate, all the people that turned on her, all the reasons she hated her existence for.

After all that was said and done today, she deserved to know. Deserved the truth.

"I did everything you ever asked of us, I pushed myself to my limits when you kept pushing me down. You always ignored everything I did for the Horde, did for you, All I wanted was a little bit of approval, of respect. And you treated me like I didn't even exist. And I deserve to know why, Shadow Weaver!"

"You want the truth?" Shadow Weaver questioned, narrowing her eyes. "Because, you were pathetic." The girl winced once more as Glimmer gave a stern look to the woman. "You were filled with ideals that the world was better than it seemed. You were brave enough to try and face what you were against but weak and simple that you never succeeded." With her ears lowering further, Catra stepped aside from the cell, still hugging herself a bit as she forced herself to listen, all while Shadow Weaver stood in place.

"You tried to bring others in to your troubling little ways, you wanted people to help you when there was only one person willing to hear you out. As you grew older, you became arrogant, aggressive, tried to do things your own way that endangered yourself and those around you, those deemed important enough. You weren't looking for approval, you were looking for someone to praise you, to motivate you. But most of all," Catra closed her eyes, refusing to tear up or feel the tears that could've erupted at any moment, "... it's because you reminded me of myself."

All at once, Catra's eyes and ears flashed open as she heard this, Glimmer growing surprised by the sudden turn the conversation took, as Catra looked back.

"I... reminded you... of you?" She muttered, slowly walking up to the woman who kept her eyes closed.

"You always have." She nodded, opening her eyes a little. "Nothing was ever easy for me either. I thought I knew enough that the world would hear me. I wasn't born with power like Adora and these princesses. I had to earn my power. Fight for it. Why should it be any different for you?"

"I was a child when you took me in." Her expression was filled with pain as she spoke, yet elevated at the same time. "What could I have possibly done to deserve the way you treated me? I am nothing like you. You are bitter, old, and weak."

"Ah, but you are like me." She grinned behind the mask, Catra realizing the woman was holding her arms the same way she was. "You wanted approval when you didn't deserve it, you wanted reward for doing what everyone else was capable of." She turned her back to the young girl, the one still turning to her for some form of appreciation. "You were selfish no matter how much you insisted otherwise, you ignored the words of those you didn't care about. And threw yourself at whatever came to you, ignorant of how much strength you had or lacked."

At this, the woman turned her head to her. "You made all the mistakes I did. The only difference is that you didn't receive any praise that slowed you down, that kept you from being greater than what I am." The woman walked to the edge of the cell, raising her hand as close to the barrier as possible without touching it. "And you never did." Seeing this, the magicat did the same, placing a similar hand just inches away from that separated the two of them.

"You don't need foolish words to know how gifted you are." She cooed. Catra could've sworn, just for an instant, there was a softness in her eyes, a pleasant one. "The path ahead of you isn't going to get any easier, even with mere praise. It'll get harder, more dangerous than you could possibly imagine, and you'll continue to suffer along the way."

"But I meant what I said earlier. I always respected you for your resilience, Catra. Even when everything was against you, you never backed down. I want you to remember to always hold on to that, to always push through the trouble ahead. Do that, and nothing will stop you."

Catra... Catra was left speechless at these words, feeling the tipping point of water coming to the corner of her eyes that could never get over the edge. The tenderness of Shadow Weaver's words, the calmness in her voice. The eyes telling her every word she spoke was the truth. It was breathtaking to hear after so long, whether or not she cared about them.

"D... Do you really mean that?" Catra mumbled, wondering if this was a dream for a moment.

"How should I know?" With a jest, she turned away from the magicat again, refusing to give her any more attention than was necessary. "I'm the master of deception, remember? You tell me."

"... Heh. Right." With those two words, Catra said all she needed to as she turned away, walking for the door. There was a very tranquil, very light, blush over her face as she repeated those words endlessly in her mind.

She didn't care about the words or the praise anymore, she was sure of herself at this point. Yet, for all it was worth, it still felt... good, to finally hear them. To hear something from the old cro- from Shadow Weaver, that wasn't petty or insulting.

Maybe it was all just a lie she wanted to hear, or maybe it was the truth. Whichever the case, she still had to say them, to say all of them. Reaching the door, the girl paused for a moment, scratching behind her hair to the side of her face, and took the first big step that would lead her to the next day.

*swiff*

"Ack-!"

*Thud!*

"Ow!" She could be heard yelping as the door slowly closed behind her. "What's with all these stupid cards here?!"

"Sorry!" Bow apologized, scrambling across the ground as he continued to collect them.

It was a warm sight to see for Glimmer as she smiled at the cat. To have any sense of the praise she wanted for so long, any motivation from the one whose heart was blackened with mistrust and deceit to the rest of the world, and the one who mistreated her after all these years. It was nice to finally see a smile across Catra's face since Shadow Weaver's appearance, no matter how trustworthy the witch truly was or not.

Still, it didn't mean Glimmer was ready to start forgiving her even if Catra was open to the idea. For all the pain, for all the suffering she put them both through. None of the information mattered to her as much as the way she treated everybody, continued to treat everybody. With Catra gone, she was going to give the sorceress a piece of her own mind.

"You know, I might now know much about Catra when she was a kid, but I do know one thing." Glimmer began, crossing her arms with a look of anger. "She deserved a lot better than you gave her. She didn't deserve to be ignored, or the insults, and she deserved to be acknowledged more than you gave her. She deserved better than you." With her mind spoken, in a huff, she turned around as she proceeded to the door too, refusing to let the blemish of Mystacor have the final word.

She barely got halfway to the door before Shadow Weaver did something to annoy her in response.

She chuckled. "Ahahahaha..." She shook her head as Glimmer looked back. "What would be the point?"

"Huh?" Glimmer stood where she was as the woman glanced back at her.

"If I started giving her the praise where she wanted it, what would have happened?" She asked, knowing the answer for herself.

"What do you mean?" It felt so obvious to her as she counted off. "She would've been happy, she would've felt accomplished, she would've-"

"Started to slow down," she cut off, "would've let the experience go to her own head. She would've thought she had reached the limit of her potential every time, that she wouldn't have had to push farther than she already had."

"Pushed... farther..." Glimmer lowered her head in thought, feeling a recent memory bubbling to the surface as she became aware of her meaning.

...

"I think you've done enough." She muttered, turning her head away from the sight that disgusted her.

"N-No! I can do it!" She complained, retaking her stance again as she held the sword before her. "Concentrate... Concen-"

"I said, enough!" Shadow Weaver hissed, taking the girl's attention again. "You're incapable of doing it." She coughed a little. "This was a waste of my time..."

...

"You... were the worst thing... to ever happen to her..." And it was then that the witch finally collapsed to her side, chest heaving heavily as she struggled to remain alive.

And with the final squeeze of her sword, Catra finally broke.

...

Another way came.

All heads, those that could move, turned to the door again at the sound of the large crash, all to find a familiar figure staring back at them with a stern look in her eyes.

"Catra?" Glimmer and Bow said in unison.

...

Glimmer blinked to herself, her eyelids slowly rising as the truth became clearer. "Every... Every time you insulted her, she... she-"

"Came back more determined than she was before." She answered. "Was willing to push herself past what she was capable of previously. She wouldn't allow anything to slow her down until she got what she wanted, even a little bit."

This was... Startling, surprising, to say the least, as Glimmer came to realize. Everything she did. Every insult she threw at Catra. Whether Catra exceeded or failed in her expectations, she would never admit to them. Why?

Because it pushed Catra to try harder. For her.

To hear the sweet praise she's been longing for, to grab a sense of what Adora felt like just once in her life, and then to be done with it. Shadow Weaver was aware of the feature, this detail, since the moment she met the girl, knew of her. To give Catra the praise she wanted wouldn't meant she would try a little less harder to earn it, would only try as hard as it took the first time to hear the same words of comfort over and over again.

She was cruel to Catra, intentionally, to make her the strong warrior she was today. At least, that's what Glimmer came to understand.

"W-Well you still didn't have to be so cruel to her!" Glimmer tried to find another reason to be irritant with the woman. "You could have at least said something after all this time. At the very least you didn't need to torture her when-"

"Torture her?" Even to this, Shadow Weaver found a reason to laugh as she brought a hand to the head of her mask. "Hahahahaha, is she still going on about that? Haha. Tell me something. Are you referring to when she hurt Adora several years ago?"

"Y-Ye-Yes! And probably some other times too!" She wanted to feel confident that she pointed out a cruelty behind Shadow Weaver's mysterious ways of "teaching" someone. She'd enjoy seeing a possible explanation behind this!

"Hah... Oh, Catra." She shook her head. "She really doesn't let anything go, does she?"

Or not.

"O-Of course she wouldn't! No one would! Two days of straight torture? How could you be so cruel to a child?!"

"I wasn't." She gave the answer to her straight and to the point. "At least, not in the way you and her are thinking of it. Haven't you once wondered why or how a person like that, or anyone, could possibly go two days straight of torture without any scars? Physical scars, anyway?"

"Eh? U-Um..." Looking back on it, like when they were in Mystacor at the Hot Springs, she did remember how Catra looked when she was in her swim wear. For someone who suffered a torture that lasted for two days straight, there wasn't a single injury or scar noticeable on her body. "W-Well... I, uh..."

"There wasn't a scar because there was no physical torture." She revealed. "I won't pretend I wasn't angry with the girl, or that I didn't harm her for a period of time for what she did to Adora. The fact she almost risked her life when I trusted her with it. For ten straight minutes, I did assault her with my magic, and that I will not apologize for, or regret."

"You... You only tortured her for ten minutes?" It felt a little awkward for her to be commenting on how someone's torture wasn't as long as she expected, but there was still a mystery behind it that left her confused. "Then what were you doing for the rest of that time?"

"Simple," she raised a hand uncaring, "I used my magic to put her in a deep, endless sleep, subjecting her to a plague of never-ending nightmares of her worst fears."

"Never ending..." She shook her head at the mention. "But that still doesn't make it right! It hurt her in her dreams and scarred her! How do you apologize for that?!"

"I already told you, I don't apologize for it or anything I did to her." It felt pointless, needless, and useless to do so otherwise. "As to whether or not she could feel pain in her dreams was a play of the mind. I can't say what she experienced went without her feeling pain, but it didn't leave a physical scar on her body. Period. And it still wasn't without reason."

"You mean like a good reason to torture somebody?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." At least, it seemed good to her, and that's all she cared about. "Every time she was subjected to her fear, she eventually had to face it during the duration of the nightmare I inflicted upon her. And what do you suppose happened every time she over came a few of hers?" Only now did Glimmer come to understand the underhandedness of her tactics, a small trait Catra shared with her own trickery.

"She encountered a new fear, a new nightmare to replace it." Shadow Weaver continued for her. "I don't know how many fears still remain within the girl, or if she got over any of them, but I can assure you, one way or another, the only thing she truly fears in this world right now is me, as it should be."

Glimmer grumbled to all the details she was hearing, still just as sickened and disturbed by the various methods Shadow Weaver inflicted on her dear friend. Even if she saw the reason behind some of it, none of which she agreed to, it finally explained Shadow Weaver's character.

She was insane. Plain and simple. The type of insanity that always had a reason behind everything she did. From being a cruel and subjective person to a young girl who wanted nothing more than praise, to filling her with never-ending nightmares until she had nothing left to fear except for the one who put her through the torture, Shadow Weaver was completely insane!

"That doesn't make anything you did right." And Glimmer refused to look at her in any other light. "You're still a monster."

"Perhaps." Shadow Weaver showed no signs of arguing to it, somehow seeming to care less to her insults, as the two turned to the door. There, they heard a bit of a scuffling, most likely Catra still roughhousing with Bow out of anger over her recent slip-up. "But Catra wouldn't be nearly as strong as she was today if it wasn't for me."

"Ghhhh..." Hissing, Glimmer marched her way over to the door, refusing to listen to another word of Shadow Weaver's senselessness. "That doesn't change anything. Everything you did to her was cruel and vicious, pain or no pain."

"Face it, princess," Shadow Weaver's tongue stung the air as she watched her leave, "if it wasn't for me, Catra wouldn't be half the hero she is today..."

...

The three friends remained silent for a moment as they reconvened in Glimmer's bedroom. With the princess hanging a top her hanging bed, Bow lounging around on the couch at the end of the room near the window, and Catra looking to be in a huff, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall, none of the three knew what to say. They barely knew what to do at this point.

A massive Horde invasion was coming to Etheria, one the likes of which their history has never known. They were going to be swarmed with Horde soldiers, advanced technologies, and weaponry that could potentially raze the ground itself. Behind it all was a purple-haired scientist named Entrapta, once a treasured friend now turned enemy, who was more concerned about the science and technology behind what she was doing than the world itself.

In addition, there was Adora. What was, at first, a Force Captain that was capable of magic, now stood a person infused with a parasitic magic, one that was trying to make her stronger, one that was willing to help her, as long as she did what it wanted. To gain more power, to gain more allies, to sate its hunger whenever it wanted.

And to acquire the sword, the very blade Catra had founded.

In some sense, the accident that started all these misadventures proved to be a blessing in disguise, as the three came to realize. If Catra had never found the sword to begin with, if she wasn't the one who grabbed the blade in the first place, Adora could've become She-Ra, and returned to the Horde with it.

Just thinking about it was enough to give them the chills. Picturing a She-Ra as their mortal enemy, working with the Horde and their advanced technology, as they attempted to wipe out any and all resistance across Etheria, and anyone who stood in their way. To make matters worse, there was no telling what would've happened if the headband was gifted to Adora then, with or without the parasite. She would be nothing of the hero that the world's legend of her had come to know.

She would be a monster, one that could never be stopped, never be quenched of its thirst for power.

"So what do we do now?" Glimmer asked, peering down at her friends.

"I don't know." Bow shrugged, hunched over as he sat against the couch. "Stop Entrapta? Stop Adora? Stop the Horde? How do we determine which one to start with? They're all connected in their own way, and whichever one we choose, we'll have to deal with the others at the same time." With his mind spoken, he lifted his head to the remaining silencer of the room. "What do you think Catra?"

"..." And continued to be the silencer. She didn't look like she was going to remain silent for the rest of the night, she just looked like she needed a second to think. Think about everything that's happened, that is happening, that's going to happen. One way or another they'll be dealing with all their problems in the future. It was just a matter of which one was more crucial for the time being.

"...We have to go to the Crimson Waste." She declared, pushing away from the wall. "That's where Mara's message went to. Maybe with it, we'll figure something out about the portals and a way to stop the Horde and Entrapta, and then-" As she spoke, she noticed an uneasy silence between the two friends, both of them looking to one another with uncertainty as they gazed back at the warrior. "What?"

Neither of them wanted to be the one to say it, not when Catra looked so determined and hopeful for the first time about a mission. They could've said anything together at this and it still would've turned the girl down from her mood.

Deciding at the same time that the best was to get it over with, Glimmer teleported down from her bed as Bow walked over, the archer taking the initiative. "Catra, we've..." He scratched the back of his head. "We've been talking about it for a bit, and, well..."

"What?" She already knew whatever they had to say she wasn't going to enjoy it. And now that she was aware they had something to say, she wasn't going to let them stop from saying it. "What is it? Tell me."

"It's just..."

"We've been thinking," Glimmer took over, "that maybe we should wait on going to the Crimson Wastes."

"Are you serious right now?" Unsurprisingly, the magicat growled, squeezing her fist. "We've got Mara's message to deal with, and we know where it leads to. The sooner we find the stupid portal thing or whatever, the sooner we can stop the Horde!"

"Y-Yeah, and we get that, and we agree!" Bow nodded along. "We weren't thinking for a long time, just until, you know. Maybe we should wait until you finished becoming She-Ra first?" The cat flinched at the suggestion, for reasons beyond what they thought were simple surprise.

"You want me to... finish becoming She-Ra first?" Her voice became hollow as her ears lowered a bit, the sense of unease spreading through her hairs.

"It wouldn't take that long, Catra." Glimmer tried to encourage with a smile. "You're already close to reaching the same level you were before! We're just talking about a few days at most."

"A few da-" Catra cut herself off as she backed away from the two. "N-No, we... we can't wait that long. We need to go now."

"You mean tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, sure, whenever. L-Let's just go when we can, soon."

"But Catra, the Crimson Wastes is going to be extremely dangerous." Bow argued, trying to cut the magicat off as he headed for the door. "This won't be like our other missions. Just traveling to where we need to go is going to be dangerous in itself."

"Y-Yeah, I know that, but-"

"And this might be our only chance to get to the Crimson Wastes to stop the Horde." Glimmer added onto the tension going between the two. The stress of the night and the mystery behind all that was revealed was already egging on to Catra's stresses, and now the belief that they might postpone the trip that Catra was actually looking forward to was making it worse. "If we fail, there wont' be anyone else to take after us. We can't endanger the rest of the Princess Alliance on a mission this dangerous."

"I get that-"

"Then why are you so worried?" By this point, the two friends were up to her from both sides, both of them pressing on and wondering what was getting into the nervous cat. "Let's just train for a few more days, prepare our equipment, and we'll be to the Crimson Waste within a week, at the most-"

"Because I might not even have She-Ra by then, all right?!" She finally snapped, silencing the room.

Secrets were Catra's forte. They made her who she was, what she is. Everything within Catra's past remained a mystery to the two, everything that the feline felt that they didn't need to know or didn't want to share. This was one of the secrets related to both.

With a bit of a stinging grown, the cat lowered her head, somewhat shameful, as she shifted her eyes away. "After what happened with Frosta, when... When Adora made me go on a rampage at the stronghold, I lost almost all of my powers at once... I returned to normal. I couldn't transform again, I didn't have any of my strength I..." She hugged her arms a little for comfort. "I didn't stand a chance against Adora."

"But... But you still have them, right?" Glimmer was more confused as to why Catra said she didn't have what they saw, and more worried about what the revelation could be.

"That's because Light Hope summoned me in the middle of the night. She repaired the sword's bond, even though it was a one-time deal. But that's not the part that bothers me. The problem..." She took her sword out, examining the rune stone in the center of it all, the center of all her power. The sword's very essence, the power that makes her who she was, all resided within the rune stone. With it, her powers were complete.

WIthout it, she was nothing.

"...The problem is, she warned me. She said I was extremely close to breaking any bond I had with the sword, and if it happens again, I..." The girl lowered the sword to her side regretful that such an event happened at all in the first place. "That I could lose my connection to the sword... and She-Ra would be gone, forever." The two went silent at this, peering at each other in concern as the warrior sheathed her blade again.

"That's why I need to find Mara's message as soon as possible. I don't know if its foolish thinking or whatever but... But if there's some sort of clue she could give me... some idea about how to finish the bond I have with my sword, then I have to take it." The once mournful frown occupying her face was quickly switched with an expression of conviction, determination. "That's why I need to go as soon as possible."

With that said, the girl headed for the door, ready to make her way to the Wastes now if necessary. "And if you guys don't want to come with me, I won't blame you." For once out of Catra's reckless decision, the princess and the bowman didn't argue or try to cut her off.

Instead, Glimmer just gave her a grin as she teleported in front of her, right in front of the door. "Catra. Of course we're going with you." She proclaimed, much to Catra's surprise.

"Y-You are?" It's not like she was going to complain about it, she just didn't think they would switch sides so fast.

"You think you could get us to stay behind?" Bow teased, patting her shoulder. "If the message is really that important to you, then we'll go with. We were just saying what we both thought of. The decision was still yours to make."

"O-Oh..." There was a light blush on the girl's face at this. For a second there, she actually thought they were making the decision without her, were going to stick by it with or without her too. She felt relief over the reality of it, relief that her friends would actually stick by her side instead of leaving her to fend for the Crimson Wastes herself.

*tug*

... Now she would really prefer the information without it resulting in a hug as her friends embraced her from both sides. She still wasn't used to these things, the awkward way they felt, or how embarrassing it was to be a part of it.

... But they didn't need to know that...

...

*crack!*

*rumble*

Lightning danced across the red sky over the Fright Zone, as if a symbol of things to come, a representation of the destructive energies of the Horde itself. It was here that the Horde's devices and services were carried out, where vast technologies and weaponry were built from the ground up, aiding Hordak's armies in their never-ending conquests.

And it was to the very center of this citadel that Adora was being escorted. Handcuffed with reinforced steel, grafted with the technological advances that kept princesses or those gifted in magic from using their powers. It was here that those known to her, those who had seen the ex-commander before, caught a glimpse of her, the state she was in.

The aged, rotting hand that revealed just how much she was falling apart. The skin that was covered in veins of darkness from her head to the tip of her fingers. The feverish state that left her delusional at times and exhausted at others.

She was the prime example of a soldier falling to pieces.

Of the many armored soldiers and Force Captains she recognized, she saw Kyle, Lonnie, Rogelio, looking at her with a slight hint of worry, knowing the possible fate that might have awaited her. But none of them mattered more than the frown Scorpia gave her before she looked away, Adora's sorrow-filled expression being left behind in the process.

She still regrets what she said to her friend, one of her best ones at that. She wished she didn't say the things she said, compare her to the likes of Catra of all people, yet she still felt it was without a choice. How else would she be able to convince her not to try and rescue her? She cared about the girl, she was willing to risk her life for her. She was even willing to go as far as to escape the Fright Zone and live on the run for the rest of their lives, and Adora couldn't have that.

Now, she came to a stop. Stopping before the lord of all judgement within the Horde, the one who had the final say. The one that could end Adora's life on an instant if he wished to, or draw it out nice and slowly. And, judging by how he sat in his chair, leaning against his arm, disgusted by her mere sight, chances were she would fall under the latter.

"I want you all to watch and learn." He finally said, face partly shrouded in the shadows. Rising from his throne, he marched down the very steps of his sanctum, keeping his rage-filled gaze on the Force Captain who couldn't even lift her head to look at him. "There is nothing I do not know. Nothing I am not willing to do to punish those who betray my trust. Your former Force Captain has proven to be compromised," he stood before the girl, his voice hissing in disdain as she continued to lower her gaze from him, "ineffective, worthless."

He gave her a moment to earn an ounce of his respect, to show him the bravery that convinced him to make her a commander in the first place. When there was none being shown to him, he let out a low growl, brushing past the girl without a care. "To the rest of you, take a lesson from this." He eyed the remaining soldiers that stood at attention, at respect. Before all of them, he gestured to his greatest displeasure. "This, is what happens to failures."

Failure.

That word that came from his mouth with a spiteful sense behind it. The words that once made Adora drip with fear, to panic every time it was mentioned to her. The word was one of the most forbidden words to Adora's own dictionary, refusing to be seen as anything but. She worked her life tirelessly, toiled around, preformed labor after labor in dedication to prove herself to him, to prove herself to all of them. And he still used the word as if it and Adora's name went hand in hand with each other.

There was a time where she would've hated hearing the word from him. She would've done anything capable of distancing herself from the thought of using the word to describe her as. To be considered a failure to the eyes of your hero was one of the most horrible things Adora could imagine.

But not anymore.

"... Y... lure..." Adora muttered. It was just audible enough that the tip of everyone's ears caught a brush of the utterance without the words themselves. Turning his head in disgust, the leader of the Horde, of all of them, made his way back to the girl who refused to give him any eye contact, even when addressing him.

She could feel his piercing gaze seeing through her skull as he loomed over her from behind, tightening his fists. "Would you mind saying that again," he lowered closer to the girl's head, "Adora." He was menacing, frightening, powerful. He had the intelligence of the world's greatest scientists put together, the technology that carried them ahead of their time.

And for the first time ever, Adora wasn't scared as she opened her eyes.

"I said..."

*WHAP!*

"YOU'RE THE FAILURE!"

Silence filled the room in every direction, every corner, so much so that it stretched to the outside world surrounding the vast citadel.

Adora, the once proud member of the Horde, the person who looked up to Hordak more than anyone, did the unthinkable; she slapped Hordak as hard as her cuffed hands could, roughly across the left side of his face.

Everyone was in shock and disbelief, eyes widened, jaws open, expressions varied of those who couldn't be seen. Of those that could, of those that were either too afraid or unafraid of showing their reactions, they were at a loss.

Rogelio nearly stepped back in response as he nearly swallowed his own tongue. Lonnie covered her mouth in shock, not wishing to say a word that could somehow land her in any water hotter than what Adora just fell in. Kyle's legs felt like jello as he barely managed to stay standing, unable to close his bottom jaw to his mouth as his body and mind froze like blocks of ice. And Scorpia, the once self-proclaimed best friend of Adora, could only say one thing as she blinked.

"... Wow..."

Hordak slowly rose as he stood up straight, feeling the back of his wrist against his struck cheek. It was still warm, still fresh, still real. Adora, this Adora, the only Adora, had actually struck the leader of the Horde in front of his many followers. The soldiers, the officers, the other Force Captains. All of them bore witnessed to what she had just done, without any meaning of the word fear behind her spiteful eyes.

His anger knew no limits as he gnashed against his teeth.

"How DARE you!" He roared, ready to strike the girl down on the spot.

"Oh, "how dare I"?" Adora smirked, actually smirked, looking nonchalant at everything she just did and said. "How dare you is more like it!" Nobody knew if this was truly Adora or not. She had all the same mannerisms, all the same voices, all the same personalities as the one standing ahead of her. And she was still the most mysterious person in the room. "You wanna know what this is "Lord Headache"? This is a sham!"

Disgusted with the girl, refraining from wasting away the last of her usefulness, the leader of the Horde held his realization, walking away from the girl down the line of the soldiers on standby, stopping several feet after the end. He turned his back on the girl, refusing to let her speak her piece.

And she wouldn't allow him to deny her.

"All of this, is a sham! Every day, I dedicate my life to you and the Horde, we all do. We're the ones who are out on missions, we're the ones risking our necks out there every time we're on a mission, and for what? Your honor? Your respect? Your refusal to accept what little we fail in? No! We do it because we care about each other here. We care about the people who've come to know who we are!" Several eyes were drawn to the girl, most notably Scorpia's as she said this.

Continuing on, the ex-Force Captain began to walk over to the leader at a verily slow pace, still having a lot to get off her chest. All the while, unseen by anyone else, Aroda grinned from behind her. "While we're the ones out fighting, what are you doing in here? You do nothing more than play with your toys, work on your gadgets, sit on your tin can everyday barking orders at us because you're too lazy to do the hard work you make us do!"

"And you wanna know something else? You're not going to get rid of me. Why? Because I'm still useful. All of us are!" Finally, the blond reached the fearless leader, the one who was losing his patience with this child. "I'm the one who knows what makes the Rebellion tick. We're the ones suffering on the front lines trying to defeat them because you don't lift a finger to help us. We're doing the dirty work you're incapable of doing yourself, and do you know why that is?" She smirked again.

"Because the fact of the matter is, if you were half as competent as the rest of us, then you would've conquered the rest of Etheria years ago!" That was potentially Adora's first and last mistake she'd ever get to experience in this lifetime.

His anger was well past his limit for any one person in the Horde. From failures to rejects, the unmentionables that he didn't bother learning the names of, they were tolerable, inconsequential. Such things were beneath him at all times.

This one, however, was different. She had the nerve, she had the gull to speak to him in whatever manner she well pleased at this point. She showed ferocity in her tone that she wasn't afraid of him anymore, wasn't afraid of the possibilities that might come to her, and wasn't afraid to talk down to the very man she once respect.

Out of all of this, after all she had said and done, she had the ability. The ability to speak what she wanted, thinking this so-called "sham" was nothing less than that and would remain that way. A place where she wouldn't' or couldn't be punished further for actions she's already committed.

He was going to enjoy proving her wrong.

"Better brace yourself." Aroda warned from behind.

Hearing this, the girl closed her eyes tensely as she saw Hordak pulling back his hand, ready to subject her to the same discipline that she used to inflict on him at the start of all this, knowing it was going to hurt, knowing it would possibly last a few minutes until he was satisfied with her injuries. With her magic incapacitated, all she could do was wait for the inevitable, hearing the leader growl as he prepared to land the finishing blow.

"Hngh-?" Adora could hear his rage beginning to subside as it sounded like it was replaced by something of curiosity. Questioning. Waiting another few moments for whatever blow to come, she felt another presence by her side, one that wasn't Aroda's. Opening her eyes, she was surprised, shocked, at the person standing beside her, one that had their arm over Adora's shoulder.

"Scorpia?" She questioned, the scorpion girl keeping her eyes on him with an emotionless stare in her eyes.

"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing, Force Captain?" He grumbled, pulling his hand away to his side.

"Um," Scorpia looked like she was trying to think of what to say while trying to say it, all at the same time, "I'm, um... not uh... gonna let you hurt my friend, sir. Sorry." With this, the protective still-friend placed another claw in front of Adora's chest, keeping her out of Hordak's range.

Adora was in disbelief as her heart wavered at the sight of this. Even after everything she said, everything she did, everything that broke Scorpia's heart, she still considered her a friend, a good friend. A friend she was still willing to help protect at the cost of her own life, her own position in life.

Adora wished she could admit it right there and then, could apologize to the girl immediately in response. Yet knowing if she did, if she expressed her gratitude as she did right now, she would have ruined the atmosphere she had just created with her own words.

All she could do was give her a small tearful smile in approval of her. One that seemed more than enough to Scorpia as she shifted her eyes to her, growing a small smile too, before looking back.

"Force Captain, are you aware that you still have a position to keep up?" He warned, walking up to the girl who nearly reached him in height. "I suggest if you want this insubordination forgotten, that you step aside.

"But Adora's right. We are the ones doing all the work." Adora turned back to Lord Hordak as Scorpia spoke. "Every day we're out there fighting for you. We're risking our lives on the line getting defeated by the Rebellion, by She-Ra. We're not doing it for some pay or any sort of reward, we're just doing it to protect our home, and..." Scorpia tried to think of anything else to say, anything that could convince Adora that she supported her in every step of the way.

When nothing came to mind, the girl shook her head. She pulled Adora away from the leader as she took about two steps back. "If you want to hurt Adora, you're going to have to go through me." She decided.

*pat-pat*

"And us." Adora shot her head back in shock to realize it was Lonnie saying it, looking as determined as Scorpia was. Very unlike the two friends, Kyle and Rogelio, she pushed ahead of herself, already declaring for them that they were helping too.

She didn't care how much Adora scared her, not when she's seen what she's gone through in body and spirit. Every day she could expect the girl to impress her with her work and dedication, always finding her friend working on endless piles of paperwork, trying to impress and motivate the young children around the Horde, and trying to work past whatever condition she was currently suffering.

She was still somewhat scary, but she was friendly scary, to say the least.

All around, Hordak's eyes watched as the rest of the soldiers and officers turned to one another, muttering among themselves about everything they heard and witnessed. Half of them looked ready and willing to take the ex-commanders side as well to everything she was saying while the other half remained questionable about doing the same thing. They couldn't tell what the other was thinking, who was choosing whose side in this argument.

All Hordak knew at that moment was that this girl, this Adora, managed to rally up a handful of them with just a few choice words. A single prisoner, a former Force Captain who showed disrespect and insufferable discontent to the leader of the Horde, managed to do this. It was truly an insulting day in his book of history.

And, admittedly impressive.

"Hmph." With a single huff, the leader of the Horde made his way past the muttering soldiers, past the Force Captain who was still determined to protect her friend. "Amusing." He commented, turning around with his hands behind his back in authority. "Unfortunately, if you had bothered to let me finish, you would have known there's been a change of plans."

"Hi, Adora!" Entrapta greeted as she descended from the ceiling. Adora practically jumped as she felt her hair suddenly brush against her shoulders, the out-of-nowhere "hello" nearly giving her a heart attack. Smiling, the scientist gave her a quick peace sign with her fingers as she rubbed under her chin, and pinched her cheeks. "I saved your life. You're welcome."

"Saved my-" This... was rather not the direction Adora expected things to go, much less Aroda as she mouthed silently to herself about the strange appearance. Turning to Hordak as Entrapta strolled to her side, Adora raised a brow. "What does she mean by that?"

"Entrapta had interceded on your behalf." He explained, gesturing to the waving girl. "You should be thanking her. Instead of the many punishments I intended, ones that would have been more severe after your recent outburst, you are being sent to retrieve First Ones tech for us... in the Crimson Waste." The announcement shocked all of them on equal footing, the look of their fear being acknowledged by the leader's personal delight.

Those that showed their fear knew their place. It still wasn't enough to make Adora's look of fear forgiveable to the rest of them.

"T-The Crimson Waste?!" The ex-Force Captain knew full well of the many stories and legends past down within the Horde, hearing the terrifying renditions being past down through her years of service. Each new story came with it a more horrific picture to the imagination, none of which were proven false by those alive. Mostly because, they never came back. "It was supposed to be a dead zone out there, and..." She looked at her hands again.

The veins still pulsated as the black veins throbbed within them. They were an example of the greater of two fears Adora had in her head right now, and in her hands. "And I wouldn't last more than four days out there, and that's provided I didn't even use my powers!"

There was no concern, no cynicism, no pause. All there was was an eerie laughter left by the leader of the Horde, one one deciding Adora's fate. "Exactly."

Thus, Hordak's judgement had been passed. Once she left the Fright Zone, she would have four days in total to complete her mission, to find the First Ones tech, before her life was consumed by her very powers. There was no other way she could recharge herself outside of the Fright Zone, not without Entrapta's machine that kept the girl alive.

From what she understood.

And it did nothing to persuade or discourage Hordak's choice of action, finding the punishment fitting. He didn't need to worry about the girl making a break for it or trying to get away from her fate. If she was still gone after the fourth day, fifth at most, then her fate would have been sealed, and the reality of what befell her being obvious. And on the off chance she did come back with the technology, then she would have proven herself once again to the Horde.

It was a win-win situation from where he stood.

And from where Aroda stood, right behind Adora's shoulder, she had nothing to worry about.

"Don't worry, Adora." She swayed, leaning closer to the girl's ears in whisper. "I'll be sure to guide you, at every step of the way..."

...

A/N: Annnnnnnd with that done, we're already 1/6th of the entire season!...... idk if that should make me feel proud or not, sounds weird saying it out loud XD

Lol, anyway, not much to say here , other than thanks again for the help guys, it was a lot of fun. There might shockingly not be a post tomorrow. Why? Cause RE3-Remake comes out tomorrow baby and I'm gonna enjoy myself for a change X) Plus, as said, this chp was exhausting, probably around 10 hours in writing here, geez Xo......

Huff, but, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 96: S3 Episode 2: Huntara Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10,009 Pre-A/N's.

What's up party people! Monokub here with another dazzling chapter made by yours truly ^^ ...wow that sounded stupid to say out loud...

lol sorry, just got back from my day off of writing, and playing RE3/Resistance. The game is TOTALLY worth it, albeit short (I beat it within 5 hours) but there's so many unlockables for a lot of replay value every run. Plus, the best part is the Resistance mode where you play 4 survivors/players against 1 mastermind, which is totally fun X)!

But enough about that. Time to get on! We're on episode 2 now of and we're starting it off with a bit of a different opening that'll make more sense towards the end of the episode. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a boatload of fun.

With that said, on with the show!

...

"Okay. Now stick out your tongue and go "Ahhhh" for me."

"Ahhh-AACCKKK!" Adora nearly choked as the scientist checked her tongue, somewhat forcefully even after the machine grabbed it with the tip of its three pincers, stretching it as far as she could get it. Smiling as the device performed a routine scan, dashing a small red light over the length of her tongue, she calculated a few modifications into the machine as the pincers released their grip, returning Adora's tongue to the safety of her mouth.

"Annnnnd done!" With another click of the button, Adora sighed as she was unstrapped from the metallic plates trapping her wrist in place, allowing the soldier to get off of her chair after what felt like hours.

"Eggsh, finnily..." Adora lisped a little, her tongue feeling a little numb as she rubbed her jaw. Looking back to the large monitor that depicted a basic outline of Adora's body, and several additional smaller monitors next to them displaying how her organs were doing such as breathing and heart rate, she came to realize that she didn't have much to complain about in the first place.

Not when she owed Entrapta for somewhat-saving her life, even though the alternative meant going to the Crimson Waste.

She shouldn't really have to go there in the first place, not after everything that's happened. So she made one little mistake and tried to get away with a single lie to Lord Hordak. She gets that. It was wrong of her to do so. A warning would've been nice. But getting imprisoned in Shadow Weaver's place and preparing to put her through the same punishment, if not more, that she was going to suffer in her place?

That felt like a step too far!

It felt like a betrayal to her, in a way, from Lord Hordak himself. Despite everything she's done for the Horde, all she's done to help the Horde that she's come to love, why on Etheria, in any frame of mind, did he think punishing her as he did was justified? It was one little lie, so what!

Granted, the lie involved how she had a hand in Shadow Weaver's escape, which she didn't mention, but still. She felt like she suffered enough from that betrayal, seeing how she finally started to accept her as a mother right before she escaped. Adora wasn't even aware that she gave Shadow Weaver the means to escape to begin with!

With all of this in mind, and coming to realize that Hordak may not have been the hero she always thought he was, Adora had enough. At the height of her judgement, right as Hordak was about to announce his punishment, she told him off. She slapped him in the face, told him all of her thoughts, and why she believed it was a sham to begin with, remarking how much work she's done for the Horde and others like her.

It was only then that she realized she may have pushed a bit too far when he announced there was a change in her punishment. She had Entrapta to thank for that, as it turns out, as she suggested, unintentionally, that she would've proven the last of her value if Adora managed to acquire materials from the Crimson Waste, tech necessary to complete their portal machine.

If it wasn't for Entrapta then, there was no telling what would've happened to her. All she knew was that she owed her. At least, she would once she gave Adora her clean bill of health and she got back from her mission.

"So?" Adora peeped up, looking between the scientist and her data. "How is it?"

"Hmm..." Entrapta analyzed the details at least three times in a matter of seconds. She had so many curious questions for the young ex-Force Captain like why everything between her right arm up to the right side of her neck was aging, but health always came first before science! ...Sometimes. "Well, the good news is, whatever was causing it stopped for the time being. I don't see it spreading anytime soon."

"And the bad news?" Adora almost didn't want to ask, knowing there was never good news without the potential bad.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say it's bad, per se." Entrapta pulled one of the adjustable monitors to the top right closer to the two with her hair. "The main issue I'm having right now is the cause of these anomalies." She didn't let the reveal distract her as she immediately went back to her typing. "Based on everything you told me, their occurrences were far too random to be structural, to guarantee it was a decay of a virus or something."

"So, I'm not actually sick..." Adora rubbed her aging arm, still bothered by how it looked, even more so now that the Horde was aware of her condition.

"Not as long as you keep your powers charged up," she frowned a little as she looked off to the side, "at least, until you go to the Crimson Waste. For right now, all I can assume at this point is that the longer you're under the effects of your severe fever when you reach the limits of your power, the greater the drain it starts to have on the rest of your body."

Rubbing at her chin, the scientist leaned closer into the main monitor as she scanned the details of her readings. "What I find really strange is the effect its having on your body."

"Effects?" Adora tensed a little. "Like what? Is something going to happen to me?"

"That's just it. Despite how terrible the spread looks, no offense, there doesn't seem to be any loss of motor function or muscle control." She looked back to her friend as she continued typing away while scratching her head at the same time. "For all its worth, it's still just as functional as the rest of your body should be. In fact, it might actually be a little greater."

"Greater?" Adora looked over her hand again, how it looked like it was a century in age compared to the rest of her body, and back. "How would you call this any greater?"

"Well for one thing, it seems whatever is causing the aging process is also making it easier for your shadows to manifest around your arms, so you can draw them to your side more quickly. I wouldn't say it means your draining or using your powers any less than before, but at least with it, you should be able to call upon within an instant." That actually did sound like some good news for a change, even if she wasn't willing to test it.

The trip to the Crimson Waste alone would've taken several hours, even with their fastest mode of transportation. That already knocked off about half of Adora's day and time remaining she had to return to the Fright Zone with the technology. If she went out there for any longer, or overused her powers too much, she would've easily succumbed to the drainage of her powers within a couple of hours.

At best, she had about three hours worth of powers she could use without worrying of succumbing to the fever it produced. One major problem behind this, however, was the fact they didn't even know where they were supposed to start looking. For all she knew, she might never find the technology within three to four days, even without any particular problems.

And, as always, it was the Crimson Waste they were going to. Anywhere they looked they were bound to find some sort of trouble between the locals, if there were any, and the wildlife itself. It'd be a miracle if Adora actually made it back in time before her time was up, and that's what Hordak presided himself over with anticipation.

The fact it would take a miracle to complete her mission.

"Ah, it's no sweat." The two looked back to the corner of the room as Scorpia could be seen packing several bags, being watched over by her favorite oversized-droid, Emily. "We can just take one of the wrist bands with us and it'll give us as much extra time as we need."

"Ehhhh, yeaaaah... about that..." Regret crossed over Entrapta's face as she turned herself around in the chair, looking away as she poked her fingers innocently. "Hordak said I wasn't allowed to assist you in the mission in any way, which includes letting you test out any new wrist bands, too. The most I could do for you was give you a quick check-up-"

"Which lasted over two hours..." Adora added, smiling a little as she joked.

"And allow you to recharge your powers before you went on your way... Sorry about that."

"It's fine, Entrapta, really." The friend smiled, walking to her side as she leaned against the console. "You did more than enough for me. I really owe you for this one." Right as Entrapta gasped with joy, Adora knew she had to correct herself before she jumped the gun. "That doesn't involve me letting you scan peoples brains in the middle of the night while they sleep again."

"Awww..." She moaned, crossing her arms in a huff. So she might have scanned one or two or 36 people's brains in the middle of the night when she first joined the Horde for about two weeks. It's not her fault she accidentally tripped over someone's blaster, causing it to fire into a flammable portion of the wall, setting off the smoke alarms and sirens all around the facility, and causing zone-wide panic for at least three hours. Some people were such overreacters!

As she saw her friend pout, giving a small chuckle at this, her look of brief joy was slowly diminished as she looked over to her other friend, one who had her back through everything. Scorpia.

Words could not express how guilty she felt for what she did the other day. Telling Scorpia off, insulting her, trying to say that she was a worse friend than Catra ever was, was just horrible. It felt horrible, it still did, and while she may have kept to her reasoning, it still felt horrible to do!

Scorpia was going to bust her out. Scorpia, the one with a possible future here, was going to break her out, the current traitor of the Horde, Adora, and planned to escape with her. She didn't care what kind of trouble she would be in, she didn't know what they would do after, she just wanted to rescue her friend from whatever fate Hordak had in store for her before it was too late. And, knowing she was trying to prove herself as a best friend, Adora knew simply declining the offer wouldn't have worked.

She had to break her heart.

The guilt of the matter didn't just end with that, either. Following everything that happened, everything she told off Hordak about, she came to her side. Right as Hordak was about to deliver a bit of physical punishment along with Adora's new orders, she intervend, standing by the girl's side and ready to protect her no matter how much trouble it got her into. If it wasn't for Entrapta's news, there's no telling how much trouble she would be in along with Adora. She just knew she couldn't keep quiet about it.

With a heart still heavy with guilt, as Entrapta returned to her monitors, the Horde soldier walked over to her large friend, standing over the girl from behind as she rubbed her own arm in comfort. "H... Hey, Scorpia? C-Could we... talk, for a bit?" Adora mumbled. Turning her head, the scorpion woman gave her a casual smile as she stood up again, still towering over the shorter girl as she looked down at her.

"Look, um... About... About what I said before..." She had never felt as awkward as she did now in this very moment. She had to think of what she wanted to say, try to explain herself calmly for her actions. How else was she supposed to say, "Hey buddy, just so you know, I didn't mean anything when I broke your heart into pieces and made you run away crying. No hard feelings.", kindly, and prove to her that she meant it?

She couldn't! At least, not on the spot as she did now. She felt a little stupid for coming all this way to apologize to her before even thinking about what to say in the first place. "I... I just... I just want you to know that... that... I-I didn't-"

*tug*

Whatever else Adora had to say appeared to be enough for the taller girl as Adora felt herself embraced in a tight hug, the scorpion having wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her in tightly. She didn't even settle for having Adora hug her as she normally did. She actually lifted her off the ground a little so she could squeeze in tighter, the blond's head leaning over her shoulder in surprise.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She announced without a care in the world. Adora blinked to herself at this as she smiled, her eyes watering at the feeling as she threw an arm around Scorpia's head.

Nothing Adora did mattered to the friend, a best friend at that, in the end. As long as Adora was alive and well, she was still happy. She was content as she knew Adora didn't mean any of that, no matter how hurtful her words were. She was just happy enough to have her friend back to her side, with or without an apology to go with it.

Entrapta even smiled to herself as she saw the reflection of the two off her monitors.

"...Sc... Scor... pia..." Adora suttered, her body shaking a little as she turned blue. "I can't... brea... the..."

"I know, I'm so happy for you too!" Scorpia agreed, thinking the girl was referring to the moment they were sharing as her eyes were closed.

"I-I mean... y-y-you're... crushing me..." She squeaked, face turning from blue to purple in less than three seconds.

"I know, you're crushing my heart too!" She was so giddy with excitement to have the old Adora back that she didn't realize as she was coming close to actually BREAKING Adora's back in the squeezing hug.

All in all, as Adora puffed out the last bit of air she had left before passing out, she did have to admit.

She deserved this...

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The Crimson Waste.

The The Valley of Death.

The Nightmare Wasteland of Etheria.

There were a lot of names it went by within the Fright Zone, and, standing atop a giant skull, the remains of whatever great beast was felled here, Catra could easily see why as she looked out into the distance.

Everything about this place screamed death to her, lifelessness. There wasn't a single piece of forestry or grass over the view, the barren wastes of the land held little to no animal life, nothing that she could see, and the scent of this place alone was just crawling with death. She actually couldn't get a scent of anything out here other than death and decay, the heavy winds blowing near-endlessly of the creatures that met their demise here.

It was a little unsettling, really.

If the fact she could smell nothing but death within this massive wasteland wasn't enough to give her the jitters, the lack of sound picking up in her ears did. Usually, regardless of the environment, her ears could easily pick up the faint sounds of nearly anything. Birds chirping in their high-pitched tweets, animals running through a stream or cracking the branches beneath their feet, or the simple leaves being blown across the fauna.

And out here there was nothing. No sounds of animals or people that could've given her a clue, no animals calling to one another, nothing. Even a simple leaf falling against the ground would've been an indicator about what was out there. But this place? It was a dead zone for any and all of her heightened senses. Out here where death and decay rule, she wasn't going to be the one leading them straight ahead anytime soon.

She could've sworn this place was almost as bad as the Fright Zone was if she closed her eyes long enough.

"This place is huge..." She mumbled to herself, looking back to her friends as she jumped from the giant skull. "Are you guys sure you wanna come now? Honestly, I wouldn't blame you for turning around for once since I haven't completed my bond with She-Ra yet."

"Of course." Bow smiled in reply, Glimmer nodding her head in agreement as she crossed her arms. "We wouldn't even think of letting you go off on your own out here."

"It definitely beats being stuck in the castle with Shadow Weaver all day long." Glimmer added. "Even if she is locked up." As true as it was, the mission wouldn't have commenced this early if it wasn't for Shadow Weaver's arrival in the first place.

Not even one night ago, during the same evening in which Catra renounced her personal desire for a kingdom, the old tormenting witch who used to abuse Catra, known as Shadow Weaver, descended upon her. It wasn't for any specific attack, or any desire to harm the new She-Ra in any manner, but to request her aid, for herself, and for Adora.

Naturally, following a brief skirmish with the magicat who was more than delighted to smack down the sorceress of darkness for several minutes, the woman was imprisoned within a magical cell, one barely double the size of her arm's length in radius, and enchanted to prevent her from ever escaping it.

She had no desire to.

It was there that she requested aid from a rather reluctant Catra, one who would rather, on the surface, let her old tormentor die as payback for all the misery she caused her all her life. To her, she would've done the world a much greater service by allowing her to kick the bucket, without worrying of her bond with the sword diminishing in the process since it wasn't by her own hands. It wasn't until she mentioned Adora's recent predicament that she became interested in saving the old crone, purely out of self-interest, and later, partial desire.

Following a lengthy few hours until Catra finally returned to the group, prepared and capable of healing the wicked witch, Shadow Weaver finally delved into her history with the young girl known as Adora, one founded as an infant from another world, the one who was meant to be She-Ra, and a dreadful parasite that had come to infect her.

That parasite was none other than the forbidden Spell of Obtainment, the very same spell that got Shadow Weaver banished from Mystacor in the first place.

Here, she went to great lengths of explaining everything of history since she first used the spell on herself, to how it eventually came to be transferred to Adora after the headband it was infused into came to be destroyed. She explained to them everything that was happening with the girl, how the parasite was sapping away at her energy constantly, and how it would play on her own emotions and memories in order to tempt the girl to find more and greater sources of power, to quell a hunger that could never be sated.

In addition, she also explained what the Horde had been up to within recent months, including what they were trying to accomplish now. Lord Hordak, the Horde, were working on a machine capable of creating a portal, one large enough to open a wormhole between space, and capable of bringing a massive army from who-knew-where that would all but surely annihilate any and all resistance to the Horde once and for all.

The only hope they had at this point was Mara's message, the original She-Ra who stranded Etheria within the far reaches of spaces over a millenia ago. With a message that was broadcasted and traced all the way to the Crimson Waste, the three friends found themselves forced to traverse the dangerous wasteland in hopes for an answer that could save their home, something, anything, capable of stopping this portal from being made.

Along with that, it was also a personal quest for Catra herself. With her bond with the sword nearing completion, the magicat was starting to become a bit desperate to finish her long journey to become the legendary She-Ra once and for all. Only, there was one minor setback she was experiencing.

What else could she change about herself?

She opened up as much as she was willing to these days, and it seemed to be enough for the sword. Several times she put her personal vendetta on hold for the sake of the people she cared about. And, much to her annoyance, she gave up an entire kingdom just for a large portion of the bond, one of the last things she could've done to change anything about herself.

With time running out, options being limited, and Catra's growth to She-Ra hanging in the balance, the Crimson Waste would prove to be the best and last place for answers, either to their salvation or destruction.

"I'm more surprised your mom was alright with us taking off, Pinky." Catra mentioned, casually placing her hands behind her head. "I would've thought something like a mission to the Crimson Waste would've been too dangerous for her taste."

"Oh, she hates this idea," she passed off with a wave of her hand, "which is why I didn't tell her we were going. Besides, it's not like anyone else has a plan to stop Hordak from opening a portal."

"You lied about the fact we were going to a dangerous wasteland on a possible suicide mission to your mother?" Catra smirked. "Nice." She had to admit, she was a little impressed. Not as much as Bow lying to his fathers for years about his role within the Rebellion, but it was a start.

"And you're right." She continued, walking ahead as she lead the trio. "Tracking Mara's message to the source is the best lead we have out here."

"Plus, for an inhospitable desert, this place is kind of beautiful." Bow commented, taking in all the scenery.

For a place riddled with death all over, the way everything felt like it was balanced wherever he went with scenery, it kind of had an artistic look to it. The three even came across a small purple bird that flew bravely past them. "Aww, look, there's even a cute little bird." He smiled, observing the cuteness with Glimmer as the two watched it land on a plant, one that looked like it had claws growing out of a cactus.

Catra stared at the bird with her own sense of wonder, surprised something that cute was actually within this wasteland. Maybe there was hope for this place after all?

*sweesh*

And by the sight of the bird suddenly being frozen in a small block of ice, she realized how wrong she was.

"Ah!" Bow and Glimmer shrieked, startled by the sudden freeze.

"Annnnnd now there's a dead frozen little bird..." Catra mentioned, seeming only slightly fazed by the sight compared to the other two.

"Never mind, this place is terrifying." He decided, watching as the frozen bird landed harshly against the ground.

"Look, I get it. The place is dangerous," she said, looking back to the frozen bird, "and possibly a bit scarier than we thought. But this is the only chance we have to figure out more about the portals, and Mara, and..." She frowned a little looking back to the sword behind her back. "...And finishing my bond with the sword." She really didn't know which was more important to her at the moment.

If they found a way to stop the portal or to keep the Horde from opening one, then they would still have the Horde they know of to deal with, and Catra would always be susceptible to letting her emotions weakening her bond as long as the sword was incomplete. And, if they found a means to finish her quest to complete a bond with the sword, she would have a far greater advantage over the Horde in terms of strength, but then they would have a massive army coming through some portal to deal with.

In either scenario, there didn't seem to be a good piece of news without the bad. The only way this would've turned out to be good entirety was if there was an answer to both their problems, a solution to close the portal and complete her bond with the sword. As it stood now, there was no way she was going to finish her bond with the sword all on her own.

Not with the guilt of all that's happened, the worry she had over her ex-friend, still drowning in her heart.

*pat*

She tensed her lip a little as Bow playfully patted her over the head with the tracker pad, smiling with Glimmer as the two stared at her. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. We'll solve all our problems before anything can get worse. I promise."

"... Fine." It didn't bring a smile to her face, but it did seem to be enough to make her shrug it off a little. "So, which way are we going then?"

"...Eh heh..." The archer scratched his cheek as he turned his eyes away from the two. "So, uh, slight problem." Catra's eyelids immediately dropped with annoyance, considering he just said things couldn't get any worse. "Uh, my tracker pad, is dead." Leaning a little closer to their tech expert, the two looked at the monitor of his pad, one displaying a basic image of Bow's face with X's over his eyes and his tongue sticking out.

In other words, kaput.

"So, we have no map, my senses are useless here, and the plants turn birds into solid blocks of ice." She listed off, rolling her eyes at all the good information they had. "Definitely seems like we're off to a good start."

"At least we know we're in the north right now." Glimmer reminded, trying to remain optimistic. "So if we go south, we'll reach the center in no time, and we'll be halfway to wherever we're going regardless. Maybe even find what we're looking for in the center." She looked around in all directions for a bit as she tried to get her bearings. "... So... any idea which way is south?"

Taking a moment to look at the sun, shielding her eyes a bit with her hand, Catra said, "Well, from what usefulness I got out of my survival training, the sun rises and sets from the east to the west. Which means we want to go..." Pausing, she took a look at the nearest stalactite-like rock sticking out of the ground, seeing which way the shadow was moving to know where the sun was moving, before pointing off partly to the right. "That way." She declared, taking the lead.

Bow gave the Princess of Bright Moon a small smile, impressed with Catra's tracking skill, as the two began to follow the magicat from behind. Glimmer would admit that even with all the trust she had in her friend, she was a bit skeptical over how reliable it would be in a wasteland such as this. With everything that could kill you out here, even plants, she could've lead them into any direction, or any thing's direction in the process.

As she followed behind her friends, she came to a brief stop as she turned around again, realizing the small pile of debris they just passed was actually the remains of a crashed Horde skiff. Examining the small vehicle, her eyes widened at the sight that pretty much summed up the direction that this entire journey was going to take them.

A single Horde soldier, the dried up bones of one, lied straight against the rusty metal, with nothing save for it's dusty armor being the only thing to identify it as. Something killed the soldier out here years ago, and whatever it was, it was capable of bringing the whole vehicle down, given the gashes along the remains of the torn metal.

It was a perfect representation of the Crimson Waste, a dire warning for the princess as she fretted over the sight, and ran to catch up with her friends.

Here, nothing truly survived. Not for long, anyways. Out here, there was only one of two possible outcomes amongst the desert sand and the dangerous plants. Either you were skilled enough to survive the wasteland, and could make it to wherever your journey took you.

Or, you would become one with the many horror stories that gave this place its fear.

...

"Day 135, this could be it." Entrapta announced as she spoke into her tape recorder, standing at Hordak's side before their tireless effort. Her fruits of labor were about to pay off in a huge way, a great way, if everything went according to her calculations.

This was the moment that she, and more importantly Hordak, had been waiting for. With their combined genius, the two had managed to do the unthinkable as they finally finished the last key details to their portal technology, possibly creating the first and greatest device that Etheria's history has ever known!

They worked tirelessly together through hours on end, day in and day out as partners. Together, they went through the details, explored the range of their gathered technology, tested out the various algorithms that they had come across, and had finally achieved Hordak's Ultimate goal! The suspense was actually getting to the leader of the Horde, despite not showing it as he stood as he always did with his hands behind his back.

"Initiating the first test. Here we go. Aha!" With a genuine squee and a twirl, the scientist activated the device, backing away as the machine powered up before them.

Her hair was blown back as she pushed her hands together, almost as if she was praying, as she watched the technological magic work its wonder. From the mere tesla it once was, and always started with, it began to hum with electrical energies as the parts along the floor gathered around it. The scattered pieces of First Ones tech, the devices they managed to create with them, generated with life as sphere of energy grew ever brighter.

Personally, this would be the key victory that the Horde has ever known if they could pull this off. All the years of research, all the technology he had salvaged, all the years wasted on constant failures, had finally come to this! He actually smiled to himself as the portal finally materialized into thin air, then back to the assistant that helped him through all of this.

He had to admit, out of all the past assistances and scientists he had working at his side... she was the most useful to him.

*HMMMMMMMM!*

The wonder and excitement plastered over her face began to fall apart as the two looked back to the source of the increasingly loud hum. Already, Hordak could see it was destabilizing, falling apart, falling to pieces. It was a sight Hordak angrily watched time and again, knowing how it always started, and how it was going to end.

"Something's wrong!" She shrieked. "I'm turning it off!"

"No, you fool!" Hordak shouted, grabbing her arm before she reached the device. "It's going to-!"

*BOOOOM!*

A massive shockwave blew throughout the facility as the powerful explosion went off. It was a miracle that the explosion managed to remain mostly-contained, scaling in size to the portal itself in all directions, and nearly engulfing the eager young scientist in the process, as a white flare flashed across the room.

Smoke settling in, slowly dissipating around them, save for the machine, everything else appeared to be all right. Emily and the imp behind them were safely at a distance as the imp hid behind the droid. The leader of the Horde itself could actually be seen over the young scientist with an arm draped over her protectively, the young girl having no idea what happened seconds before the flash and head rattling from the shockwave thereafter.

For the most part, everything seemed to be fine. The machine was broken down into chunks of its former self, but nothing that couldn't be repaired over a bit of time. Hordak himself, on the other hand, looked a little less for wear as one of the large wires connected to his left arm's armor broke, the commander grunting in pain as he pulled away.

"This doesn't make any sense." Entrapta said, bewildered by the failure of their experiment as she leaned up. "It should work. The machine didn't have enough power, so we added First Ones Tech." The Horde leader watched as his assistant got back to her feet, strolling closer to the wreckage in contemplation. She ignored the electricity continuing to dance around it. "Then it was blowing out the power grid, so we rerouted it. Now it's powered, it's functioning, but it won't activate a portal."

Noticing as Hordak walked away, her attention was drawn to the broken chunk near her feet. "It's like there's a key. Maybe when Adora brings that tech back from the Crimson Waste-"

"Hah..." Hordak laughed in a deep tone, leaning over his work table at the mention. "Adora is never coming back from that fool's errand. The machine is a failure. We're done here. Get out." He felt shame hanging over his shoulder, over his cape as he lowered his head. Failure at his constant string of failures, failure over the fact he failed once again, and failure in knowing that the future would hold even more failures.

"But, that was just our first test." Entrapta pointed out, approaching from behind. "If we try-"

"I SAID WE'RE DONE!" He roared as he turned to face the girl, his very presence sending a powerful wave felt throughout the room capable enough to blow her hair back a little.

The quirky scientist lowered her brows a little bit in despair, following along as she felt the tiny imp on Emily pull her from behind. The imp was more than aware of his master's current anger, and how much he could be pushed when he was within this state.

None.

Reaching the door, the scientist gave another frown as she looked back to the fearless leader, hearing him pounding a fist against his table in frustration. She just couldn't understand his anger or why he was angry in the first place.

It was a failure. So what? One of the key fundamentals of being a scientist was failing and learning from new results. This was no different. So what did he have to be so angry about that he couldn't even look her in the eye? Couldn't tolerate her presence? For a moment, she could've sworn there was something else getting to him that he wasn't revealing, like it was holding him back.

Whatever it was, she didn't care. With the doors closing in front of her, she was convinced to get to the bottom of things before this day was through!

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Across the desert, the three friends could be seen screaming and running for their lives as they continued to outrun the massive three-headed snake.

"WHY IS IT STILL CHASING US?!" Catra shouted as she ran for her life, Bow and Glimmer to her right and left respectively.

"IT'S A DESERTED WASTELAND WHERE FOOD IS SCARCE, WHY DO YOU THINK?!" Glimmer shouted back, barely paying attention to the girl as she ran.

"CATRA, CAN'T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?" Bow yelped, barely putting rhyme or reason to his logic.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? ASK IT TO HOLD STILL LONG ENOUGH TO TURN SHE-RA?!"

"WELL, I DON'T KNOW! CAN'T YOU TALK TO IT OR SOMETHING? JUST SAYING!"

"WHAT PART ABOUT ME BEING PART CAT OF ALL THINGS MAKES YOU THINK I CAN TALK TO IT!?"

"CAN YOU BOTH JUST ZIP IT AND KEEP RUNNING BEFORE-"

"Aaaahhh!" With a cry in unison, the three friends felt the ground give way below them as they stepped over the rocky cliff they were on, sliding to the bottom of the large trench they were in as the snake came to a sudden stop. With no way to access the trench with its massive size, it gave off one more hiss to the group as it turned tail and slithered away.

At the bottom, breathing with such a relief after their ordeal, Catra was the first to jump back to her feet. Taking a quick peek at Glimmer who fell near her, and a Bow who was currently emptying his mouth from the handful of sand he practically inhaled, she let out a small groan as she shook the sand from her pants and her shoulders.

"Ok, so," the magicat listed off with her fingers, "the plants are trying to kill us, our tech is useless out here and trying to kill us, and apparently sitting against a boulder which turns out to be an egg can make a three-headed snake run rampant. Personally, we're lasting a lot longer than I expected." Her optimism wasn't shared with the two irritated friends, knowing it was the same cat's fault for sitting on the egg to begin with to take a breather.

"Ugh, why can't I just teleport us to the center of the Waste?" It felt like such an obvious plan to Glimmer that they should've started with it the moment they got here.

It felt even more obvious to the annoyed Bow who already had a reason for it. "Because you don't know where it is and you would run out of power before we made it." He stated, getting back to his feet as she gave him a bitter look in the eyes.

"Oh, thank you for reminding me that my powers are limited." She gruffed, walking ahead down the trench. "You think I don't kn- Whoooa!" The princess let out a panicked cry as she sunk straihgt into the ground, being caught in the sand trap that blended into their surroundings perfectly.

"Pinky!" Her senses went off on high alert as Catra dashed straight into the sandpit head first, intending to swim her gullible friend out before she drowned.

It took only three seconds of this for Glimmer to reappear at Bow's side, panting heavily and out of breath at the recent scare the sinking took out of her. "Huff... Huff... Not to worry. I'm fine!" It was times like this she was proud to be gifted with the ability to teleport. With talent like that, there was nothing she had to fear!

"... Where's Catra?" All she got in response was her remaining friend pointing to the pile of sand she just popped out of. Groaning, the princess teleported once again, reappearing this time with an exhausted looking Catra hanging an arm over her annoyed shoulders.

"Ughhghhgghh!" Catra gargled, shaking the sand out of her rough hair and coughing it out of her mouth. She didn't care in the slightest, or seem to notice for that matter, as she shook it around her friends like a wet dog, spreading the sand around them. "And quicksand. Now we can add quicksand to the list of things trying to kill us." Her eyes widened a bit as she took a deep breath. "Phew, so many things to learn about this place."

"Catra, we understand your desire to become She-Ra, but we're not fully prepared for this." Bow admitted, much to Catra's dismay. "Maybe we should reconsider this and gear up more back at the castle? We can try again tomorrow."

"Pffft, says you." She was willing and eager to prove themselves as she pulled her arm away from the other princess. "I'll make us a shelter, we can use this trench as basecamp."

"Or, we could go there?" Glimmer considered to the rest of them as she spotted a structure a short walk away.

Turning to her, the magicat peered over the distance, cupping her hand over her eyes to shield it from the sun and to make it out more clearly. Seeing this, the archer offered his binoculars to the accepting cat, getting a better view of the supposed structure Glimmer was looking at.

Off in the distance, she could make out what appeared to be some sort of bone graveyard, one compiled of a single large skeleton of a beast hanging out of the ground. From the distance, it didn't appear to be all that different, the stench of death hanging over the hollowed bones as much as the other skeletons and dead piles they came across.

However, the one key detail she noticed were the various drapes and tapestries over the colossal skeleton. It had enough silk over its ribcage to act as a wall, one capable of protecting those within it from the numerous sandstorms they were caught in. In addition, she could also make out some poles off to the front and back of it and a small line of rope connected to them, with a dozen pieces of clothing hanging over it like someone's laundry.

Whatever the place was, it gave Catra enough reason to smile at the sight before handing back the ocular device to the tech expert. "Or, that could work too. See? We'll be fine!" She kept up her foolish optimism as she walked on, ignoring the dead and dreary faces of her allies. "We'll get out of the heat, get some drinks, and maybe find a map while we're there."

"Catra, I doubt there's anything useful in there." Glimmer replied, following the cat through the entrance of its gaping mouth. "Even if there was, the people here could be just as ruthless as the wasteland itself. We'd get kicked out in an instant, and that's if we're lucky!"

"Uh, hello? Who do you think you're talking to?" Catra smirked back. "I'm from the Horde, I'm as ruthless as they come. Trust me," she told them as she pulled back the drape over the entrance, "these guys are going to be nothing compared to-"

*Thud!*

And at first glance, noticing the beaten green-scaled lizard tossed to her feet, she immediately realized how wrong she was as the three looked back. Ignoring the small gasp coming from her friends, who were just as surprised to find people here, this makeshift bar was a lot more upbeat, emphasis on the beating, than she anticipated.

The cantina itself was actually pretty decent looking, given their surroundings. It had many furnishes between leather chairs top of rugs, a half dozen tables scattered throughout the area, the walls of the establishment were actually constructed with blue walls over the bones of the structure, the countertop was occupied with several species between foxes, wolves, satyrs, lizards, etc., and a minotaur-like woman rubbing away the filth of the glass she was holding, several horns protruding on both sides of her head.

The ceiling around them was also met with its own kind of ambience, as well as a fellow cast to boot. Several of the occupants were hanging around from the dried bones above them, remaining silent to themselves as they stared at one another. Because of the way the lighting was angled, it reflected off of several of the hanging jugs, actually making some decorative scenery as the lights reflected off its surface into a glittery decoration.

If you took out the intense thugs and the person who just kicked someone between the legs from under the table and the fact no one addressed the person that was just tossed in front of them, this place would actually be somewhat decent compared to the rest of the wasteland.

And to Catra, it felt like her idea of home.

"Heh, this is nothing." Catra whispered, grinning back to the two. "Just try to act tough. Act like me. We'll be fine." With confidence hanging over her head, the magicat put on her best stern warface as she marched ahead, followed by Glimmer who puffed her cheeks a little ruggish before spitting off to the side.

Out of the trio, Bow was the only one who was still anxious at the scenery and Catra's hastiness. He kept it to himself as he repeated to himself what Catra said, taking a look around as he walked. "Good afternoon, fellow patrons." He said, almost sternly like he was ordering them to as he waved. "Except, I don't care if you do have a good afternoon, because I'm bad." He grumbled, flexing his muscles while walking.

"Wow, Bow, what can I say? You're an animal." Catra chuckled to herself, refraining from the burst of laughter she felt at Bow's pathetic aggressiveness. Facing forward again, she came to a stop as she sat along the stool in front of the counter, keeping a smug look on her face as she leaned an arm against the surface. "Hey lady, be a pal and get some water for me and the dweebs over here, will ya? And tell us where we are while you're at it." She ordered as the two friends stood some distance beside her.

*squeak*

Like she was intentionally doing it, the lady continued to ignore Catra as she rubbed the glass in her hands a little harder, an irritating sound rubbing off of it and twitching Catra's ears. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Catra growled a little, beginning to glare as the woman turned around. "Listen, bub-!

*SHINK!*

Catra didn't blink. She didn't breath. All she did was look down to her right hand pressed firmly against the countertop, and the thin skinning knife that stuck out right between the lines of the fingers. Waiting a few seconds until she finally did blink, her eyes were drawn back to the tauros-like woman who glared at her at eye level, tolding the hilt of the knife that nearly took any of her fingers off. She flared her ring-pierced nostril at her, not caring a little at how how much younger she was than her.

"Piece of advice, kitty." She growled. "Nobody, around here, calls me bub."

The normal person would've taken this threat to heart like any sane person did. Like the way Glimmer and Bow did, who watched with concern over her friend as they noticed some glances thrown in their direction.

Catra, on the other hand, didn't take this threat to heart, or any worry for that matter. Instead, she took it with stride, smirking at the sight and action caused right before her. These people didn't take any lip, any sass, any attitude they didn't like. Here, they made their point known, as violently as they needed to, without any concern of attention.

These were definitely Catra's kind of people.

"Kitty, huh?" She spat, never taking her eyes off the other's. "Not bad. I like it."

*tug*

"Ah-!" The barkeep let out a small yelp as Catra pulled. In the blink of an eye, without giving the woman any frame of warning, she found one of the magicat's fingers sticking through her nose ring, the gentlest pull causing an extreme amount of pain.

"But you I don't like. So tell us where we are, now!" She repeated. As if the woman hadn't learned a single lesson out of this, just proving to Catra how aggressive these people could be, she quickly grabbed at the warrior's wrist, the startling of it causing her to pull her fingers out of the nose ring, and twisted the magicat around. Without missing a beat, she slammed Catra's back onto the counter, glaring down at her even harder.

"You know what happened to the last person who pulled my ring?" She spat, leaning closer to Catra's fearless, grinning, face. "Let's just say he donated a bit of himself to be my new cleaning rag." At that moment, Catra knew only one thing about the Crimson Waste. Or, more specifically, this establishment.

This was the greatest place in the world.

"Huh, good to know."

*Bam!*

"Agh!" Letting out another shrill cry, the barkeep winced in pain as she rubbed her forehead. Without showing any sense of fear, Catra casually and painfully kicked her back with the butt of her right knee, decking her square in the forehead and knocking her back into the various glasses behind her.

Luckily, none of them appeared to rumble or break as the barkeep glared back at her. For whatever strange reason, she didn't seem to continue this little rumble they were having as she went back to wiping her glasses, as if she was calling off the rest of their fighting. Not only that, but the rest of the patrons were just as quiet to themselves as she was, as if they were intentionally trying to avoid making a scene for whatever reason while wanting to cause one.

"Where are you going?" Catra asked, raising a brow as the woman went further down the counter to continue her work. "Come on, I was winning!"

All throughout this, the magicat was completely unaware of the several handfuls of people giving Glimmer and Bow uneasy looks, some of them standing right at their side as they stared in silence. "Eh heh... Y-You know, Catra," Glimmer piped up, "I'm not so sure these are the kinds of people we should be asking for help." Bow remained silent himself through this as he stared straight ahead, ignoring the wolfman next to him who seemed to be getting his scent.

Turning around, Catra narrowed her brow in irritation as the rest continued to ignore her. Those that didn't seem to notice the fighting were minding their own business, and those who didn't care were much more interested in the archer and the princess than the cat who proved she wouldn't take any lip from those around her.

With a deep sigh, for a moment, it looked like Catra was actually going to listen for once as she leaned her elbows against the counter to her back. That foolish optimism disappeared when they remembered one crucial piece of information.

"Hey, dweebs!"

This was Catra they were talking about.

She shouted out, glaring in just about every direction around the room. Glimmer and Bow felt their spirits slowly leaving their bodies as Catra just signed their death warrant. "Which one of you lowlifes are going to give us directions around here?" Of the many faces that turned and seethed in silence, Glimmer and Bow were the only ones trying to gesture for the girl to stop, sliding their hands across their throat. "We're not from around here, so the faster someone tells us, the sooner we'll be out of your hair-!"

"You're outsiders." A voice broke the magicat's words as she turned to the sight of a misty-pink-colored satyr walking towards her, followed by a large lizard who was covered under a brown cloak, save for his hood.

"Tch, yeah?" Catra grinned again, not even bothering to give her direct attention to her. "And what if we are?" That proved to be another mistake as the satyr grabbed the feline's vest by the collar of her outfit and pushed her against the counter, all while the large lizard pulled in Glimmer and Bow into a hug-like headlock under both his arms.

"We don't like outsiders here." Her own eyes narrowed at the magicat who gritted her teeth in anger to her. "And since the Crimson Waste didn't take care of you," she grinned, "we will."

Even to this, Catra didn't show any sense of fear as she accepted the challenge. "Oh yeah? Well take your best shot. I'd like to see you tr-AHHHH!" With a startled yelped, the magicat felt both her arms being looped around from behind by a strong pair of arms, pulling her back. Lifting her head enough to see, her pupils shrank a little as she saw the barkeeper smirking back to her, intending to make the oncoming fight a bit more "interesting" for herself.

That was the only moment Catra wondered if she went too far with pulling the nose ring.

*CRASH!*

It was with the sound of the glass shattering over an orange frog-like lizard's head did anyone within the cantina look back, fright and worry filling most of their eyes. Catra and her friends stared along the rest of the residence as a mysterious and large figure walked over to the group, the girl blinking curiously as the stranger approached.

A curiosity that heightened as the satyr-like woman gulped, and the barkeep released her arms from behind.

"W-We didn't mean to disturb you." She muttered sheepishly.

In no more than 10 seconds, those very same pair of creeps were seen being tossed out the front entrance.

Standing in the light under the cantina's skylight, the rugged figure stood. Lights appeared as if they were dancing over the air around her as they descended from above. Everybody gave their attention to the figure as they rose to their feet, out of fear, and respect.

"There's only two rules in the Crimson Waste." The figure said, squeezing her intimidating fists at her side. "One, the strong make the rules. And two," turning back, the fellow warrior gazed piercingly at the trio who stood behind her, as well as the other idiots who knew better, "don't annoy me when I eat." Catra continued to stare at the woman as Glimmer and Bow watched from right behind her, practically using her like a shield. "I made rule one. They broke rule two."

"B-But that stupid cat started all this when-!" Whatever the barkeep had to complain about didn't go so well with the mighty warrior who grabbed her against the sleeve of her uniform.

"They didn't know the rules. This was their warning. You do, you broke it, and I didn't punish you for it. KEEP it that way." She warned, shoving away the barkeep soon after. "And get these brats a drink. Pronto!" Nodding in fear, the barkeep quickly rushing out of the way. By the time the warrior turned back to the trio, three mugs filled with water were slid down the counters, in front of each of the chairs. "Are you kids all right?" She asked, in a somewhat aggressive, softter, voice.

"Y-Yeah, we're fine." Bow stuttered, still intimidated by the towering figure like the rest of them were.

"I-I apologize on her behalf." Glimmer chuckled a little nervously. "Catra can be a bit of a... wild cat, at times. Heh heh... Right Catra?" She nudged her friend's shoulder trying to get her to apologize. "...Catra?" Noticing the cat's silence, she took a step ahead of her to see something she has truly never seen before.

Catra, staring awkstruck, as her eyes sparkled with flashes of stars around her head.

Instantly, this woman was everything to Catra.

The way she didn't take any annoyances that came her way.

How she enforced her own rules with her own two fists.

The way she intimidated everyone around her with her very presence, making her demands to whoever she wanted whenever she wanted.

And never taking excuses from the people around her, choosing to believe whoever she wanted to believe, not whoever she had to.

It was then and there Catra only thought of one very definitive thing.

She's... So... AWESOOOOOOOOME!

...

A/N: And with the environment around us, I can safely say another episode "bites the dust" and mean it this time ^^... and no it still doesn't make it sound any better out loud... *sigh*

Had a lot of fun towards the end of this episode as I remembered the kind of place were getting into. With Catra's kind of people hanging around the joint, I could only picture the numerous ways she could introduce herself to a group full of herselves- the tricky part was making it kid appropriate XP Lol

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, as I look forward to some of the scenes between the magicat and her new favorite idol throughout the next few chapters X)

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 97: S3 Episode 2: Huntara Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.4k Pre-A/N's. And another fun little chapter by yours truly presented for your enjoyment ^^.

I'm not gonna lie, this is going to take a somewhat goofier tone than the show by just a little. I know it might seem a bit out of place and character and everything, especially for Catra, but considering the series gets INCREDIBLY DEPRESSING after this episode, I think a single pass can be appreciated T_T! Beats making it all doom and gloom for every episode this season.

So with that said, and some silliness awaiting us, enjoy!

...

"Eh... Is she gonna be okay?" The mysterious, towering, figure known as Huntara asked, noticing the magicat's dazzling eyes staring at her.

*whiff*

"Um... I'm gonna be honest, we've never seen her like this either." Glimmer admitted, waving a hand in front Catra's eyes. The girl gave no response as she continued to stare at the holy symbol of everything that was an idol to her.

Up till now, the Crimson Waste appeared to be a lot more waste and a lot less crimson than the name given to it. Everywhere they went, something was trying to kill them, eat them, or usually both. From giant three-headed snakes underneath sand dunes, plants that could potentially freeze any living being solid in a single touch, and the land itself covered in quicksand that could swallow them whole. it became clearer by the minute why this place was given the nickname "The Valley of Death". Save for the crimson part of it, it earned the title the Crimson Waste for a reason.

Then again, maybe the lack of crimson had to do with anything that was dead or rotting out here was already devoured by monsters or buried under the sands.

The most they've come to in terms of civilization within the middle of the wasteland, provided that's where they were, was a cantina decorated and filled out from the remains of a large creature's bones. It housed everything from your typical furnishes, drinks, spaciousness, and the whole nine yards. While it was more surprising to find anybody around here, filled to the teeth with all manner of potential outlaws, it was just as surprising how well Catra managed to fit in with these people.

And by that, it meant not at all.

No more than three sentences did Catra already start to pick a fight with the barkeeper, a minotaur-like woman who had the muscles to match the anger Catra managed to yank out of her. Starting with a threat after the comfortable cat called her "Bub", it began to escalate into a small scuffle, one that didn't end until the barkeeper called it quits for reasons Catra wasn't aware of.

Those reasons came in the form of a grand warrior named Huntara, a large imposing figure who broke up another potential fight Catra started when two individuals discovered they were outsiders. The stranger didn't give any warning to the pair as she clonked someone over the head with a bottle when they annoyed her, and she certainly didn't give any warning to the two who were aware of the rules around here unlike Catra.

Specifically, those rules came in the form of the strong making the rules, and not to bother her when she was eating. Speaking it to the cantina itself was all she needed for everyone to go back to their work before she checked on the trio, getting them some water from the barkeeper herself. That's when Catra realized something.

SHE WAS THE COOLEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!

The massive muscles she had and the warrior-like outfit she was wearing just screamed Terror to her! The way she imposed everybody with her brutality and instilled fear with everything she said! How she made her demands know in front of an entire room full of potential outlaws and bandits without a care in the world! And who could forget the obvious, most redeemable fact about her?

SHE WAS SO AWESOME!

"Yoohoo, Catra?" Bow called on, waving his own hand in front of her face. "You in there?"

With a sigh, the pink princess casually walked behind the magicat's back. "Hold on." She instructed, taking a firm grip of the magicat's tail.

*SNAP*

"YEOUCH!" The feline roared as she jumped, blushing angrily as she glared back at her tail-snapping friend from behind her. "Hey! Never touch a girl's tail! Got it!?" She snapped, rubbing her slightly dented tail soothingly from the pain.

"Well how else was I supposed to snap you out of it?" Glimmer retorted, seeing how Catra was nearly oblivious to the trance-like state she was in a minute ago. "You looked like you were about to drool the minute this woman showed up."

"I'm surprised kids like you would be dumb enough to barge in here to start a fight with the locals." The presence of her words alone were more than intimidating enough for the pink-haired princess as she and Bow remained behind the silently-fawning Catra.

"Eh heh, a-actually, up until two minutes ago, we didn't know there was anyone in the Crimson Waste." She apologized before patting the back, harshly, of the troublemaker who started the fighting. "And CATRA, here, isn't exactly the best with first impressions."

"Well you should choose your fights more strategically, kid." Huntara warned, eyeing around the room in case of would-be eavesdroppers. "Scoundrels, criminals, outlaws, all of them roam around these parts. You should be careful with who you pick your fights with in the Crimson Waste, got it? Because next time, I might not be around to save you." With those parting words, the great warrior returned to her table before Catra had the chance to get so much as a single reply.

And she didn't care.

"... She's amazing..." The fearless, always proud, always solitary soldier commented as a curtain of eyelids lowered over her vision. She felt like she just met a wall of awesomeness for the first time in her life, someone somebody like her could actually look up to.

"She's what?" Bow asked, lifting an eyebrow at the... compliment? That must've been a mistake, though, because that would mean Catra actually complimented someone she just met totally at random for the first time.

"We need her!" Catra was gone just as quickly as her announcement before the two could so much as blink.

"Wait, what-?" Glimmer's question fell on deaf ears to Catra as the girl was already several tables away by the time she spoke them.

At the same time, back at the hunter's table, the pink-skinned huntress accepted the bartender's fang-shaped beverage warmly as she gave her a small, somewhat apologetic look. "Sorry about that." She whispered quietly. "Hope I didn't hurt you."

"It's fine, I get it." The bartender replied, leaning a little closer to the huntress as she accepted her welcoming warm hand. "You got to keep up appearances, right?" The two grinned to each other as they leaned closer a little bit, enjoying the presence of each other's company like they usually did.

"Hey, Huntara, you got a sec? Need to talk. Great!" Catra asked enthusiastically as she popped out from behind the table. The bartender gave the girl a bit of a scowl as she leaned up again, giving a small sympathy-like apology look to the hunter before returning to her countertops.

The hunter could only raise a hand in her direction before rolling her eyes, turning her attention to the alleycat who interrupted her time with her very appearance. With a single finger, adding on to the insane list of reasons Catra thought she was cool, she casually lifted the magicat by the chin of the warrior princess, planting her in the opposite chair from where she sat. "What do you want, Catty?" She huffed, taking a swig of her steaming drink.

"Actually, it's Catra, but who cares." She sputtered, barely giving so much as a blink as her friends arrived on her right. "That's Bow. That's Glimmer." She quickly cut off the archer before he could get a word in edgewise. "They're of no consequence. Anyway, I was wondering-"

*BAM*

With a fire in her eyes, she cut the cat off as she slammed her mug-filled hand over the table, pointing off the three. "Tiger, Boy, Glitter, got it. Huntara. Now what do you want?"

She thinks I'm a Tiger! Catra squealed in her mind, barely containing herself.

As the three continued to stare at her, the hunter's eyes shifted to the countertop again as she gave a small smile to the bartender rubbing the mugs, the same one who shot a small smile back. The nice view she had of her was interrupted just as quickly as the previous one as Glimmer's head popped in front of her view, cutting her off.

"It's Glimmer." She corrected with a calming smile, leaning a little over to catch the woman's attention. "Actually, Princess Glimmer." Standing back to her friend's side, Bow's pupils shrank at the announcement she just had to make as he slid a little ways away from her. Worry and dread filled his already worried mind at the fact she just announced something so casually.

"Oh, a Princess." Huntara grinned, leaning a little bit over the table. The princess's own pupils shrank as well at this, seeing the massive fist she was squeezing over the table and the horrifying look in her eyes as she stared at her. "Me, too. I'm the Princess of Crimson Waste. Can you tell? Or am I not sparkly enough for you?"

"Pfffffffft!" Catra nearly gagged on her own bout of laughter, lowering her head a little to keep the goofy expression on her face from being revealed. "Y-Yeah, don't let anything she says bother you. I barely pay attention to it myself half the time." The cat commented, leaning against her chair as she planted her heels on the table, ignoring the small irritation coming from the princess. "And the name's Catra, again."

"Catra, huh?" The hunter leaned against her own chair as she threw an arm over the back. "I got to admit, it's pretty gutsy starting a fight like that out of nowhere. But I meant what I said earlier about no more warnings. Let me eat in peace, and we won't have any problems. And stop harassing the barkeep, she's the only one who makes a decent drink around here." At the mention, the same barkeeper threw her a small smile with a blush to the mighty hunter.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard all that." She nonchalantly passed off as she waved. "I was actually wondering if you could give us a hand with something. We're looking for something in the center of the Crimson Waste. I can't say much but it's really important." Huntara kept her narrow gaze as she shifted looks between the three, especially the two nervous friends to her side. "Any chance you could lead us to it?"

"Did you not hear what I JUST said about trusting people?" She reminded, sitting back in her chair again.

"Uhhh, yeah? You were also saving us while doing it." Catra shot back with a grin. "Figured that makes you the most trusting least trustful person in here."

"Catra, I don't even know where to begin with that logic..." Glimmer mumbled, rubbing the bridge between her eyes.

"Did I mention her mom's rich? She can make it worth your while-!"

"Hahaha... Would you excuse us for a moment?" Chuckling nervously, grabbing onto the shoulders of both his friends, the archer ducked under the table with both his friends in hand, leaving a somewhat confused Huntara behind as she shrugged. "Catra, what are you doing?!" His eyes peered deep into Catra's glazed eyes as the cat continued to act like a lunatic compared to her normal self.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to recruit her, duh!" Catra rolled her eyes in retaliation. "If anyone's going to get us to the center of the Waste, it's her!"

"But telling her my mom's rich?" Even for Catra's line of recklessness, it felt a little more reckless than usual to the princess. "Why don't you shout it to the whole cantina while you're at it?"

"Coming from the girl who also announced she was a princess before me?" As much as she hated to admit, even for Catra's recklessness, she still managed to make a fair case against the same princess as she turned her eyes away with a small flush. "Look, you're dealing with thieves and desert outlaws here. If you want to get them to help you, then you need to appeal to them on their level. That means riches and rewards."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Besides, I've sized her up since the moment I saw her. She seems all right if you ask me."

"Catra, your definition of all right is a possible homicidal thug that beats people for interrupting her meals." Glimmer commented, looking over to the other side of the cantina where an unconscious orange lizard still lied. "And anyone else who gets in the way of her."

"Plus, all the scary people are scared of Huntara," Bow added, glancing around the room at the dangerous looking individuals who stepped out of Huntara's way, "which is not usually a good sign."

*thunk*

"Wh-Whoooa!" The three turned their attention above them as they heard the sudden rumble of something falling against the table, turning to their east as they saw another pair of legs standing out from under the table, next to Huntara. "Ah! S-Sorry, I didn't see you there! I didn't see-!

"Geeeeeeeehh!"

"Waaaaaah!"

*CRASH!*

In a remarkable display that could be made out as much as possible from under the confines of a table, the trio were greeted with a curious scene. While most of it went over their heads and out of view, from what little they could make out, they saw Huntara standing up at attention again to whoever bumped into her or the table.

Seeing the guy's feet being lifted off the ground, the trio didn't have to wonder very long about what became of him. The next thing they heard was a terrified cry of fear as the same individual was tossed across the room, seeing the ragdoll of a person crashing violently against a group of four's table and breaking it in the process.

Followed by a huff and the sound of someone clapping their hands clean of what they considered filth, the floor around them shook violently as she took her seat again.

In short, this all escalated because someone nearly tripped and bumped into the table. That alone was enough to set her off.

"...I don't see the problem." Catra shrugged, ignoring the brutal and unnecessary scene.

"But, Catra-"

"Look, Pinky, either way, we don't have a choice." She cut off. "We don't have a map of this place, remember? And even if we did, we still don't know the environment as well as these people. That includes the wildlife, plants, quicksand, and everything else trying to kill us out there. We need a guide."

"You kids are aware you picked the worst possible spot to hold a secret meeting, right?" Huntara commented, ducking her head under the table to see what was taking so long. Nearly shrieking in response, the three gathered themselves hastily, standing up again at the other side of the table while putting off an innocent appearance.

"Y-Yeah, so... about our request-"

"Save it." Much like Catra did with Glimmer, the huntress cut Catra off with a single hand, taking a moment to enjoy the last of her warm drink. "The minute i say no, you guys are going to run out there on your own and get yourselves killed anyway. Aren't you?"

"I mean, not ideally, but yeah." Glimmer half-heartedly confirmed, still just as anxious as every time she spoke to the woman. For a moment, it looked like the woman was just going to spend the rest of her life staring menacing at the trio for the rest of her life. Then, the unthinkable happened.

She grinned.

With the raise of her arm, she pulled over her long contractible spear, spinning it a bit within her fingertips before shrinking it down to size. Spear firmly in hand, she holstered it to the back of her waist, standing proud and strong before the three heroes and the silently admiring Catra as she came to a final decision.

"Well then, looks like you've got yourselves a guide." She declared, much to the feline's excitement as she raised a hand towards them.

"Awesome!" She yelped, shaking her hand tightly with her right, opposite of Huntara's as she looked back. "See? What did I tell you? We've got nothing to worry about."

...

"I know Hordak told me to go away, but I have some ideas for the portal machine." Entrapta told Emily as she tried to walk past the droid. The robot's only response was to push its master back away as Entrapta struggled to push back. "Emily, will you cut that- Ack!" She let out a small yelp as her back collided into something, feeling the coils around a machine pressing into a painful spot along her backside.

Turning around, the wondrous scientist gazed upon something she had never seen before, which was saying a lot in her field of work. Floating within a vat of a strange substance, the scientist seeing past her and Emily's reflection among the glass, they saw a mysterious embryo-like figure sleeping in a chemical liquid of some sort. The strange thing was bat-like in shape, yet retained an impish-like feature like Hordak's personal pet that hung around him.

When she started the afternoon, her only intention was to come here to repair the broken down machine, hoping to get it up and starting again for another test. So what if the first 135 tests were failures? It didn't mean they couldn't get up and try again. And, in doing this, she knew Hordak's mood would brighten the moment it started working again, and that was almost as important as science itself!

The attentive scientist was drawn away from the mysterious vat as she gazed off to the side, hearing the sound of someone wheezing and huffing off to the side, seeing a familiar leader within the center of the room.

There, she watched as the dozen or so machines that usually grafted Hordak's armor onto him were removing the very pieces that gave their leader his intimidating presence. On the side of the table to him, his imp watched with worry as the master panted with tiredness, gritting his teeth as he held in the pain that was caused each and every time this process was done. He didn't want to see anyone during this time, and he didn't wish to be bothered.

Entrapta realized this for herself as she turned back to Emily from behind the corner. "Okay, Emily, you might have a point." She whispered. "Quietly, quietly." She instructed, moving slowly backwards while maintaining her view of Hordak, making sure the coast was clear. Everyone knew if you looked in one direction and walked the other, nothing bad could happen.

At least, that's what she thought of on the spur of the moment as she couldn't go five steps in the opposite direction before trouble began.

*snap*

The sound of the cable snapping from the very vat she discovered earlier was the start of a chain reaction that would ultimately lead to her discovery. With an awkward look over her face, the scientist's eyes followed around as the sound of utter mayhem began to circle around her.

From the wire she snapped, the tiny tug it caused loosened a control panel that fed the cable through, causing it to drop to the ground. There, the vibration was enough to rattle a screw loose on another panel to a nearby wall that housed a small pillar, slanting it over just enough to collapse on its side and over the wall standing next to it. Here, it was a never ending spiral of cause and effect as each smaller reaction resulted in a larger reaction going off soon after.

Eventually, somehow, she ended up unhinging an entire generator connected to the ceiling above her, causing the scientist to let out a small shriek as it crashed right behind her. Surprisingly or not, it was just enough to catch Lord Hordak's attention as he heard this, turning his head in the direction of the trouble and spotting a familiar assistant he didn't wish to see by the doorway.

"Um... hi?" She greeted, waving uneasily.

"Get out." He weakly barked, turning around. "Get out-!" Ugh..." The weak action appeared to be more than Hordak himself could handle as he felt the energy draining from his bones at the slightest movement. The last thing he saw as his consciousness left him was his worried imp lying next to him in worry, followed by an equally worried Entrapta rushing over to the fallen leader.

Then, everything went black.

...

Scrapping her shortened spear against the stone, Catra watched with endless excitement as Huntara preformed the basics of using a makeshift compass within the wilderness of the Waste. Using a floating chunk of rock as a flatbed, the hunter waited until her spear pointed in the right direction, looking on ahead of herself, past the sandy fields and several crevices. Satisfied with her examinations, the hunter huffed to herself as she collected her spear again, traveling ahead on foot.

"Can you guys believe how awesome she is?!" Catra mentioned for about the 8th time in a row so far to the weary Glimmer and Bow, never giving them a word in edgewise as she ran back over to Catra's side.

"What's going on with Catra?" Glimmer asked quietly, trying to keep the cat from eavesdropping on them. For the past two hours, the two had to listen to her whenever Catra bothered to give them any convenience, and every time it was always remarking about how cool or amazing Huntara was before running back to her side. "I've never seen her like this!"

"I don't know." The tech expert shrugged his shoulders, watching the way Catra continued to gaze at the tall figure, giving her her full attention the entire time. "It's like she's a completely different person. I swear if I didn't know Catra any better, I'd think she was actually giddy around her."

"Her? Giddy?" The princess wondered who he was possibly referring to as her eyes darted from Bow to Catra and back. "We are still talking about the same person, right? Egomaniac? Reckless aggressor? Attacks first and asks questions later?"

"Not quite specific enough..."

"... Has a tail and cat ears?"

"Bingo."

The very same egomaniac tried to think of something to say to keep the conversation going with Huntara. "Heh, so, for a place that's supposed to be full of dead or dying things, there sure are a lot more people roaming around than I expected." The cat commented, walking by Huntara's side. She didn't care whatsoever as Glimmer and Bow were dragging their feet behind the two. An exhausted face of tiredness and heat was swamped over Bow's face, while Glimmer's face held more to the side of annoyance.

"The Crimson Waste takes in all sorts." Huntara replied as the group entered between a small gorge. "They come running from the law, from their enemies, from different kingdoms."

"Yeah, I can imagine." It was almost impressive how long the girl had a grin over her face, at least five minutes, to Bow if it wasn't also so disturbing at the same time. "What better place for the lawless than a lawless land, right? I bet you don't even have to worry about the Horde around here." Huntara stopped.

For a moment, Catra wondered if she said something that unsettled the great and mighty huntress that was Huntara. "The war will destroy all those idiots caught up in it." She told Catra firmly, moving on right as she finished. "This is the safest place from either side."

"What? Big tough hunter like you, worried about the war? Tch, I can't imagine what you must be running from." Catra, no joke, snickered. All at once, the world seemed to move slowly for the magicat and her two friends who saw the hunter take another pause.

Without warning, before any of the three could react, Glimmer and Bow were met with the shocking scene of Huntara suddenly grabbing Catra by the neck, pinning her to the wall of the gorge. Next thing they knew, without any sense of hesitation or warning, the hunter twirled the trusty spear briefly in her hands, and the next, was impaling it into Catra as her eyes went blank.

"Catra!" Bow and Glimmer cried out in worry and shock. They couldn't believe what they just saw! They were right about her, she truly couldn't be trusted! And yet they wished she could've proven that to them in a means that didn't resort to killing their friend in the process!

...At least, from the point of view they had.

Continuing to stare blankly into space, being overwhelmed with the shock and awesomeness that was Huntara's skills, Catra blinked. Looking down again, she saw exactly what the supposedly crazed hunter was really targeting, right off the left side of Catra's body that gave the duo the misinformed scene.

Pulling the spear out from the rock and Catra's side, they were presented with Huntara's newest prey, a multicolored scorpion with the spear through it's body. The small foot-long sized creature flailed its legs for a bit before dying, Huntara keeping her hardened gaze on the magicat throughout the ordeal.

"Huntara doesn't run from anything!" She declared, flinging the insect from the tip of her spear to the ground, crushing the rest of it below her foot. "Got that? I want to be here." She waited for a response from the still gazing Catra who looked somewhere between lost and found at the same time. She hunter figured it must've been from the recent feat she just performed. "Chameleorpions." She said, looking down to the bug's remains. "Nasty little critters that blend in with near anything around here."

"I didn't even feel it..." Catra commented, looking down at the squished insect as it's dead legs still twitched a little. At the same time, her two friends were overcome with relief like no tomorrow, feeling like their world had been completely shattered for a moment when they thought Catra was the one she was stabbing.

"That's what makes them so dangerous. They could be on you for hours and you wouldn't even know it." She informed, sheathing her spear once again without a care. "The only indication they give off is a rock-clacking noise they make every half hour when they can't hold their breath anymore." Catra was convinced that this woman just gave her even more reason to fear the Crimson Waste.

On top of her ears barely picking on the thing, the gusts of sand scraping against the rocks of the gorge and a rock dropping sounding commonplace within this gorge, she now had to be wary of anything possibly crawling around on her without her awareness.

It also gave her more respect and admiration she had for Huntara than she thought was possible! Just picturing it, the dramatic and awesome hunter actually picking up on something that Catra herself was incapable of. She knew she was already awesome, but MAN was she awesome! And she saved Catra's life! Double-awesomeness didn't even come close to describing her as she continued on ahead.

And now, Catra smirked, knowing how she was going to return the favor.

"Good to know." She replied as she stretched out her claws as far as she could" Haaah!"

*swiff!*

Roaring, the feline jumped for the mighty hunter as she swiped her claws at her, giving the huntress just enough time to look back. Reacting quickly at the approaching attack, glaring daggers furball that were half the size of the one she pulled out, Huntara growled angrily as she raised the tip of the spear to the very edge of Catra's throat, grabbing her other claw in her left hand. Her face was barely two inches from her own as Catra smirked at her, mischievously.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" She grumbled, waiting for the smallest twitch to give Huntara the perfect excuse to attack her.

Instead, Catra continued on with her smirking ways as she shifted her eyes down to the ground and back to the hunter several times, gesturing for the mighty hunter to look for herself. Tightening the grip she had on her wrist, she briefly looked down to the floor beneath them, dropping her expression and anger as soon as she saw what the cat had really struck.

Not just one, but two Chameleorpions that were on her back, both sliced up into several pieces each thanks to the tiger's razor sharp claws.

"Wha... " She was at a loss for words as she finally released the cat's wrist from her hand. "How did-"

"I can't pick up anything more than ten feet in this Waste compared to normal, but when you mentioned the distinct sound they make when they breathe, I just listened closely for the tiniest heartbeat they must be giving off when they're holding their breath." Catra explained, brushing off her claws in showmanship from the gooey remains of the insects.

The hunter had to admit when she's been impressed by someone else's handiwork, taking out her spear as precaution in case she bumped into any more of these dangerous bugs. "Sharp wit, quick reflexes, and amazing claws." She smirked for the first time to the girl with a raised brow. "Not bad, Tiger."

"Ah, what can I say?" Catra nonchalantly replied, giving a smug grin as she looked at her own claws. "It's a gift."

"Hahaha, cocky, huh? I like that." With the first chuckle Catra managed to get out of her since the day began, the proud hunter gave a firm pat on the back in appreciation, sending off who knew how many fireworks in Catra's mind that her recent idol complimented her strength along with her attitude, two things that people usually never complimented simultaneously. Continuing to give her supporting grin, she raised the tip of her spear to the cat, not that Catra seemed to mind.

"Give it some time, you'll do well here. I could always use another tough girl like you at my side."

"Really?" Stars lit up in Catra's eyes at the hunter's possible offer. If she didn't know any better, she was almost sure she was offering her a job around here, or at least the closest thing to a job one could afford in the Crimson Waste. "I mean, we got a mission to do here and all, and I'd like to avoid any giant three-headed snake run-ins anytime soon, but-"

"Uh, Catra?" With stars still in her eyes as she stared ahead, she was almost oblivious to the sound of Glimmer speaking behind her as she shook her by the shoulder. "Can I speak with you for a minute?"

"Wh-AH!" She didn't bother waiting for a response as she pulled Catra aside, Huntara watching the two in confusion as the princess dragged her along behind the turnway of the gorge. Before she could follow after them in pursuit, she was cut off by a casual looking Bow who smiled back to her, holding something behind his back that he wanted to show her, if only to distract her long enough.

"Hey, Huntara, by any chance are you interested in... Card tricks?"

*SHNK*

The enthusiastic offer her had to make with the girl didn't seem to be shared with the same sentiment. Too terrified to even blink, the hunter replied silently as she thrusted her spear easily through the paper cards, just stopping inches away from the archer's forehead. Frozen as he was, it was easy for Huntara to slip the cards right out of his hand, looking at the pierced deck of cards with a smirk on her face.

"How's that for a card trick?"

"I-Interesting..." Bow gulped.

...

*swish*

"Ah-!" Catra yelped a little startled by the sudden and unexpected teleportation as they reappeared at the top of the gorge. Looking over the side, she could see the hunter and Bow chatting about something involving a deck of cards in her hands. Knowing the hunter would wait a few minutes for them, she decided to give the irritated princess her undivided attention for a bit.

"Can you imagine what it must be like to be her? How cool it would be to live her life?" Already, the magicat was on with the compliments and praise, barely registering Glimmer's expression until she waited ten seconds for a response. "...What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Glimmer grumbled, crossing her arms. "Catra, what has gotten into you?"

"Into me?" The cat asked, trying to recall any single one thing that was wrong with her. "Like what?"

"Like everything!" The princess was just as frustrated with the fact Catra was completely oblivious to her meaning as much as she was with the cat herself. "Catra, all day you've been ogling her and smiling at her, and it's getting kinda creepy."

"What? Pffft, you're imagining it." The cat passed off her concern with the roll of her eyes. "I just think she's cool, that's all."

"But, Catra, that's just it. You shouldn't think she's cool."

"Why not?"

"Because she could be a crook!" It's as if Catra had completely forgotten where they were or the kind of people they were dealing with. Given all the eyeballing she's been doing, there was a good chance that she did. "She's from the Crimson Waste, she could be as ruthless as the rest of those people."

"What, seriously?" Catra peered off to the side of the cliff in the direction that Huntara and Bow were in. What at first seemed like genuine contemplation ended up turning into a greater annoyance as Catra smiled again. "Because that would be really cool!"

"Catra, wake up!" Glimmer finally yelled, shaking her by the shoulders. "You're acting like she's your role model or something when she's the last person who should be." A small frown crossed the princess's face as she looked off to the side. "And I'm really getting a bad vibe from her, like something isn't right."

"A role model?" Catra questioned the thought for a moment as her eyes rose in thought. "What's wrong with that?"

"Everything's wrong with it. We don't know anything about her, she acts like she owns the place, she barely says a word to us, she's doing it for her own reward, and-"

"And she's like me?" She lowered her brow a little angrily as she crossed her own arms. "That's why you can't put up with her, right? Because that's how I was."

"What? No, you're nothing like her." Glimmer back-peddled a little as she saw she was losing her again. "Catra, even when you were like that in the beginning, you still weren't afraid to be true to yourself. You didn't care who or what saw you for what you really were. But with her? She just keeps going off with this casual look on her face that seems to be way too peaceful for someone in the Crimson Waste, and I think she's showing off intentionally. And I'm more bothered by the fact she just happened to find a poisonous insect on you when you weren't even aware of it. Don't you find that a little strange?"

"Well obviously, she just knows the Crimson Waste better than we do. Of course she'd find the insect on me."

"But that's just it, Catra, you should've known or felt it. When did any poisonous bug even get the chance to get on you in the first place? How could it have gotten on you at all?"

"... What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying I think she placed the bug on you to begin with just to show off and possibly recruit you. You've been by her side the entire time, she could've put it on you at any moment."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she lies! She's deceitful, she's an outlaw, she's from the Crimson Waste. Don't you think you're being the least bit too trusting with her?"

Catra stared at the annoyed princess with misgivings. What was she so upset about that Catra wasn't seeing? Why was she so against someone as cool and respectful as Huntara of all people? Was it because she reminded her of Catra when she first joined? How she still was in some a way? Was it because she came from somewhere dangerous, somewhere feared? Again, like Catra?

Or was there something else in the mix? Did Glimmer have any reason to be angry about someone as cool and strong and clever as...

Slowly, a smirk appeared over Catra's face as a brow rose over her eyes. "Oooooh, I think I see what's going on here."

"Thank you!" Finally, she was starting to get through to Catra.

"You're just jealous!"

Or maybe not.

"What? Jealous? Of what?" There was a slight tremor to the girl's voice as she said this, clearly sparking something that she really wasn't admitting.

"Of everything!" Catra spat. "You're jealous because you know that no matter how hard you try, or what you do, you will never be as cool or as awesome as her."

There wasn't anything close to amusement or denial as Glimmer stared at Catra in disbelief. "Catra, she is the last person I would ever want to be like."

"Uh-huh, sure she is. I'm sure that's why you haven't said a single thing to me since the journey started."

"I haven't said a single thing to you BECAUSE you keep following around her! How am I supposed to know you won't say anything with the way you've been with her all day long? Or how about the fact you're actually thinking about joining her and leaving the Rebellion?!"

"It's not like I was actually gonna do it. And what's wrong with it if I did? Why can't I admire someone for once in my life, huh? What makes her so bad compared to anyone else we've met?"

"BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE HER ARE THE WORST-!" The anger boiling over Glimmer's head had finally reached its bursting point. Between trying to convince Catra that she shouldn't trust her to everything strange and suspicious going on around here, her anger had reached its peak. She was annoyed with how determined Catra was trying to prove that Huntara could be trusted, in disbelief with how open and trusting she could be with her, and a little disappointed that she'd actually go out of her way to defend someone like her when she didn't even know her to begin with!

And it wasn't until she saw Catra glare silently in response that she realized she may have pushed a step too far.

To Catra, Huntara was everything Catra was and everything she wishes she could be. Someone who didn't take people irritating her lying down, a self-proclaimed princess of her own land where power was the law of the land, and someone who had the respect and authority over everyone around her. To her, she was no different than how Catra was when she first met Glimmer and Bow.

And now, Glimmer was more than eager enough to express her resentment for such people that she thought were a nuisance, people that couldn't be trusted to begin with simply because of where they came from or where they were born. Huntara was no different than Catra was, no different in how she was possibly raised and brought up.

Like her.

"Catra... I-" By the time Glimmer raised a hand to her in apology, it was already too late. Forcefully brushing past her shoulder, the magical completely ignored as she made her way to the cliffside, silently climbing down it with several leaps. Glimmer frowned as she watched this, the sense of guilt filling her own mind at what she just said.

She didn't see Catra anywhere near like how she sees Huntara. Sure, there were plenty of similarities that were shared between them, but nothing that Glimmer felt irritated for or spiteful against. Looking back on it, on all the memories of the day that annoyed her of the two, maybe she was actually jealous? Maybe she really did have something against Huntara on a more personal level.

But what?

...

The evening sky gave way to a rather beautiful serene color in the wasteland as the group continued across the desert sands. Unsurprisingly, Catra had been at Huntara's side the entire time, acting as if she was doing so more to spite Glimmer personally than her other reasons. Relaying the information she got back to Bow, the archer was disappointed that she couldn't get Catra to come to her senses more, at least enough to stop trusting the hunter as much as they did.

It felt like the two were in complete silence, on the other side of the wasteland, despite being about twenty feet away from the duo, given all the silence towards them. They had to drag their feet for the last several hours, surprised both of them were able to continue on foot as well as they could, while dealing with their own unease rising as the day progressed.

"We should say something to her." Bow whispered to the princess to his right.

"Uh-uh, forget it." Glimmer dropped the suggestion with a whisper back, looking a little mad. "If she thinks Huntara's all high and mighty, then we'll let her deal with it when it blows up in her face. Besides, Catra won't forgive us if we do anything rash, so the most we can do is give her our support."

"Uh, hello? It'll probably blow up in our face, too, when that happens. I'd rather not be fed to some giant sand lizard swimming through the sand or something. And what'll we do if she actually attacks Catra?"

"Then we'll deal with it when the time comes. Now shh!" She hushed, bringing a finger to her mouth.

"You shh!" He shushed back irritably.

"Shhh!" She shushed louder, leaning closer to the equally irritated Bow.

"No, you shush!"

"Shhh!"

"SHHHH!"

"SHHHHHHHHH!"

Throughout the entire shush-off, the two warriors up ahead continued to ignore them, save for Catra who's hearing could pick up the stupid shushing, but didn't care. She was having enough fun hearing Huntara regale some of her past adventures as the two continued to chat back and forth.

"You call that a feat?" Huntara smirked. "One time, I had to fight a Bolvarian Sandstopper with nothing but my bare hands, with no other protection save for the bark of a withered tree around the area."

"Oh, yeah?" Catra grinned back, punching a fist into her other hand. "One time, I had to repel an army, and I mean an actual army, all by myself!" It was one of Catra's proudest of achievements in the Battle of Bright Moon. What she didn't mention was the part where the cavalry arrived minutes later to save the day, but she didn't need the minor details.

"Not bad, I guess." She shrugged off, feigning interest to the girl who was more than aware of it. As their walk continued, she couldn't help as she glanced in the direction of the two squabbling shushers some distance behind them, reminding her of the company. "Your friends are kind of-"

"Annoying?"

"I was gonna say loud, but yeah." She gave a small smile at the fact Catra didn't go easy on the details, a fine trait for a warrior in her viewpoint. "So, you thought anymore about my offer?"

"The offer?" Catra turned her head straight as she scratched the back of her head. "Well, it's a great offer and all that, but I wouldn't really know where to begin."

"What do you mean? You'd fit in great around here. You're strong, your quick, you're fearless. You're a lot like me."

Catra's heart skipped a beat for the first time as a small blush covered her cheeks. It was both exciting and a little embarrassing to be given what she considered to be high praise from someone like her. "Yeah, I know, it's just that... well... You know, with the whole thing with the war going on, and the Rebellion and the Horde. Plus the queen would probably chew my ear off back in Bright Moon if I suddenly up and left."

"Bright Moon?" Huntara questioned, her expression dropping for a change. "You're from Bright Moon?"

"Well, I am now, I guess. I defected from the Horde some time ago..." Catra's own face started to sour a little bit as she noticed Huntara's gloomy expression. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? N-Nothing..." She muttered, walking on ahead of the girl. It left Catra a moment to herself to wonder if she said something wrong all of a sudden. Maybe she was uncomfortable around members of the Horde, defectors or not? She didn't get the chance to ask her as right as she was about to, she was stopped by a concerned Bow grabbing her shoulder, the archer looking into his device with worry.

"Listen, I know my tracker pad isn't working, but I'm pretty sure we're going the wrong way, a different way than we'd be going. I'm pretty sure Huntara is taking us somewhere else." He tried to explain to an agitated Catra.

"Are you two still on about that? We wouldn't even be going anywhere if it wasn't for Huntara. I say we keep going until we find what we're looking for." She proclaimed. "Or are you two still going to be jealous and tell me why we shouldn't?"

"Catra, forget about the jealousy thing for a second and just think!" Glimmer tried to reason doing her best to maintain herself over the look of anger. "Why won't she tell us where we're going after all this time? Better yet, why don't you try to get a sense with your sword instead of yourself to see if you feel anything?"

"My sword is working just fine, I don't need it to sense where we're going."

"Don't need to, or don't want to?" Glimmer wondered with an accusing brow.

"Both." She hissed back.

"We're here." It was with Huntara's announcement that the group turned ahead, seeing the mighty hunter a short distance ahead of them. There, they saw her standing before a large pathway, a cave-like structure made out of the jagged rocks forming along the canyon. Giving her a brief smile, and look of disdain to the others, Catra carried on ahead as she joined she ran a little up the pathway, excited to see what they were searching for, and to prove those two wrong.

It was times like this the two wished they could abandon the mission, when Catra was dead set on something, instead of following along with her for the sake of keeping her spirits up. It was also their best and only means right now of proving their trust in her, even if they had none to offer Huntara.

Running along the great cave-like tunnel, the group eventually came to the epicenter on the other end, marveling at the interesting formation the clearing gave way to. Surrounded by cliff faces that sunk a couple feet below and away from each other in each row, looking like the rows one would expect to see within a coliseum of all places, the large gaping, shallow, hole in front of them that sank about thirty feet from their entrance looked exactly like Catra expected of the Waste's center.

In the middle of it all, there was a large stone structure jutting out of the ground, as if something had landed there years ago. Perhaps that would be the best way to describe the environment around her? As the remains of a large crater that sunk in centuries ago. Quite possibly the very thing they came to search for in the first place!

"Ha!" Catra snorted, poking Glimmer directly in the forehead. "Told you so!" The excited girl smirked as she started to descend the dozen rows of the great crater, her friends following behind with their own wonder as to whether or not this was genuine.

One of the best things Catra appreciated about this place so far was that her hearing was a little improved compared to the rest of the Crimson Waste. With the large area and the jagged rocks making the walls of this large crater, there was barely any sound of sand scraping against one another interfering with her senses.

Grinning, the magicat approached the center of the large stoney structure, taking out her sword as she examined the rock up close and personal. "Alright, so what do we do from..." The smile that was present on Catra's face slid into a bit of a frown and a confused look as she lowered the sword to her side.

"Uh... We're where?" Glimmer asked, approaching the boulder with Bow at her side.

Something wasn't right to the magicat. To her, it looked like the center of something, the mysterious formation of this crater-looking area felt like the center of something. But, for some reason, it didn't feel like the center of something. The warrior gave a puzzling look to the Hunter as she approached the three of them.

"I thought you said this was the center of the Crimson Waste?" She asked.

"It is. Can't you tell?" Huntara wondered, the look of genuine surprise on her face. Catra was sure she wasn't lying as she looked to the stone again. She has come across a whole manner of different digsites and First Ones ruins during her adventures, so it's not like it was completely impossible. "This is where the ship crashed."

"But it just looks like an ordinary boulder to me." Catra replied, feeling her fingers against the surface. "How could-" The cat's eyes widened in realization as it dawned on her, giving her an unsettling vibe as she faced her again. A vibe that was shared with her two friends as they watched her. "How did... you know we were looking for a ship when we didn't know what we were looking for?"

*clack*

Immediately, Catra's ears twitched as she took a defensive stance, gripping her sword tightly. "What was that?"

"What was what?" The Hunter asked back, looking around herself.

Catra's other senses were starting to go on high alert as she became worried. It was thanks to the very same area that gave her some of her heightened senses back that she heard the sound of a rock scraping against something, like the insects from earlier. Unlike the insects, this one had a very distinct clacking sound to it, one that couldn't be caused without one rock being scraped against the ground.

Or kicked to the side after someone knocked it by accident.

*siff*

"Ah!" Glimmer let out a yelp as something stung her on the back. Reaching behind her, the princess pulled out a strange dart of some sort, one with a blue feather at the end. "What the... Nghhh..." She didn't get so much as three words out before the world became heavy to the Princess of Bright Moon, her body falling to the ground as her consciousness faded.

"Glimmer!" Bow yelled worriedly, rushing over to his fallen friend. By the time he reached the halfway point, Catra's ears picked up the sound of another dart going off, this one nabbing Bow right in his exposed stomach. "Ughhhh..." And just like the previous friend, his consciousness finally left him too.

"Bow!" Catra cried out, staying on her toes as she looked all around. They were in the middle of an ambush, she realized that now. What she couldn't figure out for one reason or another was who's? It became even harder to tell as she saw Huntara pulling out her spear, backing up closer to the magicat as she kept her guard up, looking in the opposite direction.

"Where's it coming from?" She asked, keeping her eyes as open as Catra's.

"I-I don't know." The cat steadied her breathing as she gripped her sword. Whoever was attacking them had the high ground for sure. She needed to find a way to pick up their location without the use of her nose, seeing how nearly a dozen of the large cacti within the wasteland were housed on each of the rows, making them the perfect hiding spot from her eyes and nose. "It could be anywhere... It could be-"

*siff*

"Hah!" With a shout, the magicat swiftly deflected the oncoming dart with the flat side of her sword, knocking it away. With her hearing picking up the location, her expression hardened as she saw two familiar figures sticking their heads up from behind a large boulder- the two jerks who tried to tussle with Catra when she first arrived at the Waste's tavern. "I see them! They're-!"

"Right behind you."

*tip*

"Ahhhhhh!" Catra cried out, feeling a dart being forcefully slammed into the back of her neck. Pulling it out of herself, the girl felt her entire body wooz up in mere moments, her legs buckling from her own weight as her eyelids began to get heavy, dropping the sword in the process.

Staring at the dart bitterly, she gritted her teeth, trying to do anything to keep her consciousness from fading, as she saw a familiar foot stepping before her. "Y... You..." Catra couldn't believe it, any of it, as she watched the figure smirk. Casually, they picked up the dart, examining it thoroughly as the two goons from earlier revealed themselves on the higher rows completely.

And Huntara didn't show an ounce of care or remorse.

"Paralyzing darts." She stated, giving the sinister look that only an outlaw could provide to the fading girl. "But you probably already knew that, with your sharp wits and all."

"T-This... entire time..." Catra struggled to get out, trying to scrape against the ground as she pathetically reached for her sword.

"Sorry, Catra, but the strong make the rules." Huntara grinned further as Catra's eyes and ears became too heavy to bare. "And I always make the rules..." With the last of her consciousness finally fading, there was only one thought left in Catra's mind as her consciousness finally left her.

Glimmer was right...

...

A/N: And another exciting chapter come to an end ^^ Had a bit of a rough edge somewhere down the middle of this, but overall still had fun throughout the entire chapter ^^. I really don't have much more to say about it over the top, but as with changes to the story, however little, however brief, expect more of an exciting climax/fight by the end of the episode ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 98: S3 Episode 2: Huntara Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 12.6k Pre-A/N's. And we're cutting down to the wire folks with some good ol' fashion Cat-Ra-ness ^^! Had quite the fun with this one, not much to change, though there will be some notable differences here and there towards the end and the beginning.

Really don't have much to say this time around (like really don't) other than we're nearing down to the 100th chapter spectacular ^^! Can't wait to reach that milestone!

With that said, enjoy!

...

"..."

*sniff*

"Ngh..." Catra's face contorted as she took the first whiff of some bizarre substance. Her eyes opened to a blurred vision as everything appeared hazy to her, seeing a myriad of colors slowly coming into focus in front of her. The little she could make out was what appeared to be a figure squatting before her, and the sound of two people chuckling.

Eye's opening a little bit wider, she could make out a clear shape in front of her, one that appeared to be smirking still as Catra's consciousness became more and more clear. Eventually, she could finally make out the sight of someone familiar to her, and what felt like a pair of arms around both her shoulders.

"HUNTAR-nnngh..." Just as soon as she shouted did she just as quickly feel her body going numb again. There was a spur of laughter around her as the magicat attempted to swipe at the woman, only for her body to go numb again as she flailed to the ground disoriented. Where are we? She tried to make out her location as the view was different where she passed out.

Which was easier said than done when she was dealing with the memories of how they ended up in this mess to begin with.

She couldn't tell how much of it was completely on her and how much it was on the traitorous outlaw, something that should've been expected from her, named Huntara. She was a warrior of the Crimson Waste, a self-proclaimed princess who made all the rules around here where only the strongest survive and said what was done. She was strong, she was hardheaded, she was intimidating. Everything Catra used to be and everything she wished to be more of.

Within the Crimson Waste, she made a small settlement for herself and the outlaws and thieves that came to this land to escape the kingdoms, the laws, and the war raging around Etheria. She brought something close to order within these lands, and it was by her words that laws were made. And by her muscles, they were enforced.

She was also responsible for betraying the trio after they requested her help to begin with. After traveling through the desert for nearly half the day, Catra becoming more enamored by how cool she was, she finally brought them to what she claimed to be the center of the Crimson Waste. At first, it did appear to be what she claimed, coming along a large crater-like drop in the middle of the desert where something clearly crash landed. Within the first two minutes, she realized how wrong she was about the place and about Huntara.

Immediately upon entering, the gang was ambushed. Several trappers had lied in wait for them the entire time, paralyzing them with tranquilizer darts from their hiding places, getting the drop on all of them. Catra was the only one who managed to deflect one shooting straight at her with her sword, only for the same dart to be jammed into the back of her neck by the traitorous Huntara from behind.

The person she inspired to be in almost every way, the person who did a lot of what Catra always dreamed of. Becoming stronger, using her own muscles and intimidation to make things run her way, and getting a kingdom that she could call her own. She was the coolest person Catra had come to ever know since leaving the Horde.

And now she betrayed them.

"Hahaha!" The bellows of laughter that continued to fill the air around her brought her no end to the anger welling up, some of the voices she recognized from the tavern they met at.

"Whoa, easy there, tiger." She heard Huntara saying, the tall huntress picking the cat up from the back of her vest up to her feet. "You're gonna make yourself pass out again." Catra continued to growl a little as she sluggishly tried to get a few more swipes in. As funny as it was to watch, the people who watched wasted no time in grabbing her arms again, keeping her from moving around too much. The satyr from earlier grabbed Catra lightly by the chin as she lifted Catra's head, giving her a direct few of the traitor.

"Youuu..." She hissed a little, trying to force her body awake some more. Grinning, the huntress brought something to her nose again, forcing the disoriented cat to take another sniff of the substance that instantly sent a shock through her system. "Gah!" She squealed, slapping away the substance that made her body tingle unpleasantly. "Keep that out of my... huh?"

It was then that Catra realized that most of her motor function had returned to her, the cat's own resilience mixed with the dart's paralyzing agent beginning to wane.

"I said take it easy." She told her again, signaling for the two to finally release their hold on her. Nodding back, the two casually released their grip on her arms, giving another chuckle out as she fell to the ground again. This time, she managed to get back to her own feet, albeit at a much slower rate as the paralysis continued to wear off. "You should be happy you're not them."

"Not... them?" Catra muttered, trying to balance herself as her traitor gestured towards the large hole behind her. At it's ledge, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the body of, both, Glimmer and Bow being tossed in so casually by several of the other patrons of the tavern. "W-Wait, stop!" Catra shouted, trying to rush over to them. She was easily stopped by Huntara as she lowered the flat side of a familiar weapon to her, one that Catra recognized all too well. "My sword!"

*thud*

Ears twitching, she picked up on the sound of the two presumably hitting the bottom, hoping to herself they were still alive as she glared back at the prideful hunter. "What's going on here, Huntara?!" She demanded to know, glaring at her as she stood straight again.

"Nothing you need to worry about, tiger." She replied, flipping the strange scented substance that woke Catra up again. "You should consider yourself lucky I like you this much or I wouldn't have used this."

"Sheesh, tell me about it." She heard the satyr say behind her, crossing her arms. "She made me wait out the whole thing for like an hour."

"Otherwise, you'd be waking up down there with your friends."

"Waking up?" Turning to the hole again, the magicat swiftly ran past the hunter as Huntara grinned, seeing just how deep the hole was as she skid her knees against the ground. At the bottom, probably about thirty to forty feet in height, she saw the two people she cared about lying at the bottom, the soft sand cushioning their fall, thankfully. With a small hint of relief at the sight, she turned her rage filled gaze back to Huntara.

There, as imposing as ever, she saw at least a dozen or so of the patrons behind her, including the barkeep from earlier, smirking as she stood at Huntara's side. "You have two seconds to tell me what's going on here right now!"

"Like I said, nothing you need to worry about anymore, tiger." Huntara casually replied, holding out a hand. "Now that you're with us."

Catra blinked, confused beyond measure as she was taken back by this. "With us? What do you mean us?"

"What do you think, kitten?" The barkeeper teased. "With the Crimson Waste." She grinned back to Huntara as she leaned on her shoulder. "I told you she'd make a good addition."

"Will someone just tell me what's going on here?!" She yelled, growing frustrated with all the confusion and lack of answers being replaced with further questions.

"Pretty simple, Tiger." Huntara replied, tapping the edge of her sword on her own shoulder. "Every now and then we get a stupid outsider waltzing in here and thinking he knows how the place works. And occasionally, we get somebody different, people like us. We recruit a whole manner of different people. Outlaws, crooks, runaways. And then, people like you."

"LIke... me?" Catra wondered what they meant. Were they talking about her species as a whole or something entirely different.

"Defectors." She clarified, walking up to the girl who was barely three-fourths her side. "People who wanted to escape the Horde for one reason or another. People who wanted to survive. That's where you come in, Tiger." She called her the nickname as if it was her official title from this point onward.

"Are you kidding me? That's not why I left the Horde!"

"It doesn't matter why you left the Horde, cat." She grumbled a little. "You know the kind of people I'm talking about. The kind of people who wanted to make a life for themselves, a place where the strong called the shots. When I saw you starting that fight in the bar, I knew you were cut from the same cloth as us. You were strong. You were a fighter. Even she," she gestured to the barkeeper, "saw talent in you. Why do you think I was trying to recruit you?"

"Recruit me?" Catra tried to think back to everything, anything, that could've been a kind of invitation. A few things came to mind, but what she lacked was a motivation behind it, a trigger that would've drawn Catra closer to her ideals.

Until she remembered.

...

And I'm more bothered by the fact she just happened to find a poisonous insect on you when you weren't even aware of it. Don't you find that a little strange?"

"Well obviously, she just knows the Crimson Waste better than we do. Of course she'd find the insect on me."

"But that's just it, Catra, you should've known or felt it. When did any poisonous bug even get the chance to get on you in the first place? How could it have gotten on you at all?"

"... What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying I think she placed the bug on you to begin with just to show off and possibly recruit you. You've been by her side the entire time, she could've put it on you at any moment."

...

"That... That really was you, wasn't it?" Catra finally realized. "You really did put that bug on me."

"Honestly, it was just to prove a point about the Waste." Huntara grinned, sword in one hand, her hip in the other. "About how the strong are the only ones who survive. What I didn't count on was you finding two of those bug things on me. I'm guessing they hopped on when I snuck around to find the first one. The moment you saved my life, I knew you were already strong enough, and more than earned a chance to join us." With a grin, she offered her hand again to the very same person she betrayed.

"So? How about it, Tiger? You ready to join the strong in the Crimson Waste?" Catra stared between her and the hand she as she got up to her feet.

Was she serious about this? Really serious about this? Up till now, she thought the offer and a chance to recruit her was just a polite gesture on her part, something to think about to pass the time as they traveled. She didn't think someone like her was actually dead set on inviting her to join a group of strong survivors, the Crimson Waste at that. Until now, it was like an actual dream come true.

She really did see a lot of similarities between them as well. They both were intimidating in their own way, they didn't take any annoying people or issues lying down, they solved their problems with their fists and brute strength, and so on. They were also survivors in their own ways, from whatever reason Huntara had to Catra defecting for her own personal goals.

Now, she had a chance to take her up on that offer, a chance to be somewhere she's always wanted to be before, even if her life turned out differently than she expected. She'd be a personal fool right now not to take the offer if she assumed what alternative was going to be.

And she gave a grin of her own as she squeezed her hand around the thing she picked up from the ground when she kneeled.

"Sounds like a good deal to me." She replied. "Here's my counteroffer." With a growl, Catra jumped straight at the hunter as she raised her right hand up to the hunter's face, clutching the large rock she picked up tightly. Having already expected this as a possibility, the hunter showed no signs of fear as she easily gripped Catra's entire hand with her left, squeezing the girl's fist against the rock she was holding tightly.

"You know what else I hate?" She asked, squeezing the hand even tighter as Catra winced in pain.

"Ahh!" She cried out, trying to pull her hand away from the crushing force pushing her knuckles against the was a long shot, clearly, but it was the only one she had at the moment. If she managed to knock her over, however slightly, she could've gotten a grip on her sword long enough to summon She-Ra's strength.

"Being told "I told you so". Because now, thanks to you, I'm going to be hearing it all day tomorrow." It was starting to annoy Catra at how many similarities the two actually had with one another. Without giving the magicat a chance to respond, with a mighty roar, the powerful hunter threw the cat into the hole behind her, slamming Catra against the wall of the large hole and against the bottom floor.

Catra fell flat on her face, wincing a little from the sore back as she coughed up a few puffs of sand she inhaled when her face hit the ground. Down here, she had a better look of her friends, feeling relieved to know they were definitely okay as she saw them breathing. Shaking the pain off, she glared back up at an angered and disappointed Huntara, as well as seven to eight of the patrons from before.

"You think you can keep me in here, stupid?" She yelled, the sight of her face angering Catra as she stared at the pink moon above her.

"Well, if you're so confident, why don't you come out of there and prove me wrong, Catty?" She taunted back, riling Catra's anger further.

"Gladly!" With a leap, already reaching upwards of eight feet in that jump alone, she was grumbling to herself at all the thoughts she had about Huntara as she began to climb. She couldn't wait to get her hands on her, to make her pay for everything she did to her and her frie-

"Wh-Whoooa!" Near twenty feet from the ground and the opening, Catra felt herself slipping from the hole's smooth surface. In no time, she was tossed from the wall of the hole again as she fell back down, only a little softer than when she fell the first time. She shook and rubbed her head again in confusion. "What the..." Shaking off the thoughts, she growled again as she jumped to the wall a second time, ignoring the sneering laughter coming above her.

She was so preoccupied on the reasons she fell that she didn't realize why it happened until her second and third attempt. Each time she made it about half way or a few feet over, and each time she felt her hands flailing against the smooth surface as she landed on her back.

"What's going on here?" It didn't make any sense to her. No matter how smooth the wall was, she should've had a decent enough grip with her very own claws. It actually hurt a little for some reason as they continued to scrape against the rocky interior. They were freshly sharped as they were everyday, and looking back at them, they should've proven to be-

Catra gasped. "No..." She muttered, checking her own two feet as well as she heard more snicking above her.

*tweeeeeet*

"Hey, Catra!" Huntara called down, pulling something from under the collar of her own vest. The sight of it made her pupils shrink in disbelief and horror as Huntara flaunted them back and forth. "Thanks for the souvenir~"

It was her claws. All of them. Hanging blissfully on a string necklace, handcrafted with a solid string along the base of each of them. They were all rough and jagged and consisting of different sizes, but none of that mattered to her. What truly mattered, the only thing that did matter, was that she took them. Her claws. One of her defining features. One of her underhanded tricks of weaponry.

Were gone.

"YOU DECLAWED ME?!" She shouted furiously, still in disbelief at the sight. To say she was completely clawless would be a small exaggeration on her part. Looking at them again, she could see they were chipped and filed down to the very nubs of her fingers, barely getting half an inch out of them in full from where they grew.

True to her name, Huntara was a hunter first and a leader second. And every great hunter gathered a trophy from their quarry.

"I always did say your claws were amazing." She teased. One by one the patrons around her disappeared from view, the magicat watching them in dismay as she attempted to climb the wall again, being met with the same results.

"You should've taken my offer when you had the chance Catra. Who knows? Maybe you'll get lucky and your claws will regrow in a month's time or two. Assuming you don't starve to death or die from exposure out here." With a final taunt, she waved the sword as a goodbye to the distressed cat as she finally disappeared from her view.

Even with this, Catra refused to quit. She took her sword, took her trust, and took the third-most important things in the world to her, one of her aces in a fight when times were tough, her claws. She couldn't allow the desert princess to have the last laugh behind all of this, to get away with betraying her far more painfully than anyone else in her past. And just like the first few attempts at her escape, they were always met with the same result.

Catra jumping, Catra climbing, Catra falling.

Catra had been betrayed again, this time by a person she randomly met that she thought she had a connection with, a similar livelihood like hers. Someone she thought she understood, someone she thought could've been trusting if she saved a bunch of kids. Maybe she was what Cattra could've been if she never ran into Bow and Glimmer? Maybe not? She didn't know anymore, and she didn't care. All that mattered was that someone she trusted had betrayed her again.

And like a useless animal that could no longer walk, she tossed her away, without pity, or remorse.

...

"...Akh!" Horde gasped as he suddenly awoke, panting out of breath and confusion at what had befallen him. A confusion that was heightened as he noticed the strange blue blanket wrapped around him from his shoulders down, his armor removed for further comfort.

The last thing he remembered was trying to fix the alloy to his suit, following another failure from his teleportation device that left with him having to save the scientist at the cost of damaging his armor. With the wires that strengthened his muscles and bone greatly weakened, he had no choice other than to halt all proceedings with the scientist, working tirelessly for the next several hours to repair something that was falling apart.

Not just with his suit, but with himself.

The suit was one of the only things keeping him together in these times as his lifespan began to falter. With every year that passed, every year he wasted trying to better the enhancements and prowess gifted to him by his intelligence, another portion of his life fell with it, leaving the fearless leader more vulnerable and crippled with the passage of time.

That's why it was imperative to fix his suit, to fix himself, to prove himself worthy as the leader of the Horde. All of it was going well until a certain scientist by the name of Entrapta barged in unannounced, angering the leader to the point of exhausting his remaining energy for the day. That's what lead him to this, possibly, to waking up in such a strange state.

What was going on?

"Ta-da!" With a cheerful squeal, he lifted his head to the sight of his assistant approaching him again, holding a tray with half a dozen mugs over it. "I made you soup. Soup always makes me feel better." She said, placing the tray on his lap.

Shaking the blanket off himself, Hordak looked at the vile liquids with disgust, even more as the scientist tried to feed him herself with strands of her hair. When he turned away once, another spoon was there to greet him. Trying it again, there was also another one. Eventually, he was surrounded by all sides, at least eight spoonfuls of soup greeting him in every direction of his face. All he could do was hiss in disgust as the hair pulled away, refusing to take his medicine via soup.

"Okay, I know one big soup is probably better," Entrapta went on as Hordak sat the tray to the floor next to the imp, "but they're just so cute." The sentiment of the soup seemed to be shared with his pet as it turned away in disgust, covering its nose from the rancid smell.

That left him with an always eager, always annoying, Entrapta leaning on the arm of his chair, staring at him with big curious eyes as she wanted to discover the source of his mysterious state. "I am not discussing this." He stated, trying to hold in his resentment given the kind gesture she performed through this.

Walking alone proved more than a challenge for the leader as he grunted, trying to get his weak legs off the metallic chair as he stepped forward. He couldn't manage even a single foot as he collapsed forward, being caught by a worried Entrapta with her soft hair. Aside from rescuing him, again, it also gave the scientist a good look at the several holes over his upper back.

"Your armor, it's holding you together." She realized, seeing the state of his decay. It almost reminded her of the state Adora's right arm was in before she left. While it lacked the blue tint to it, there were numerous large splotches of skin that were dark in color.

"It is none of your concern." He stated calmly, finally rising to his feet.

"You're from another planet." It was her concern and then some as she in front of him again, holding his arms in shock and wonder. "That thing in the vitrine looks like you. And you've got tech compensating for your body." Hordak was actually a little amazed as the scientist tightened her grip, walking him backwards as one major discovery came with another at each passing second.

"As a scientist, I am not going to stop until I figure out what's going on." Or until she backed him up into another of the large vitrines behind him. "Now, tell me everything." This is a reason why he loathed any sort of companionship, even with an assistant as gifted- annoying, he meant, as her.

He turned away with a small seethe of anger as he contemplated. There wouldn't be any sense in trying to lie to her now when she's discovered so much. He couldn't get rid of someone who proved themselves invaluable to his portal technology. And in the current state he was in, he was powerless to keep her from doing anything, and chances were, she was going to keep him there until he confessed.

He hated her right now, like most people he came across who just wanted something stupid like glory or honor. But, he could admit at the very least, she did earn a token of his gratitude for at least trying to help him in his state.

Grumbling under his breath, he finally glared at the girl with his burning red eyes. "You want to know what I am?" He finally asked. "I am a clone!" Shouting, he slammed the back of his fist into the vitrine behind him, Entrapta watching as the glass containers lit up one after the other. Each of them contained another fetus-like specimen within, more fully developed than the last, and each one connected with multiple wires and to its back, likely with holes in them, like Hordak had.

Her eyes shifted all over the place, taking in the surprising development in shock, staring back at a grinning Hordak for answers. "A clone of the Emperor of the Known Universe. Horde Prime." Just speaking that name gave the clone itself some shivers as he pictured him. The glorious, the greatest, and strongest ruler in all the cosmos. It was with his hand that he brought the universe under his rule, and under his hand that he gave Hordak life.

A life that could just as easily be taken away if he so pleased.

"Horde Prime cloned himself, building an army to conquer all he saw. Planets, worlds, galaxies fell before us." He could easily remember the way it felt, the way the worlds burned under their rule if they would not submit to them. It was exhilarating, thrilling. Toppling entire empires that took several millennia for worlds to create in a matter of weeks, sometimes days. "I was his top general. But there was a defect in my cloning, and defects are worthless to Prime."

He could still feel the grip on that day, the way Prime's cold, hardened, hands felt against his throat as he was dragged off to his meet his demise in whichever way Prime desired. "I was sent to die on the front lines. But during battle, a portal opened and sent me crashing to Etheria. Standing me here." It was like fate itself was watching out for the defected clone, offering him a second chance to prove his worth, as it dropped him in an entirely new world. One untouched, one without the Horde.

One unconquered.

"With nothing but a broken ship, I built and empire." And with that empire, he saw a vision. A vision where this untapped, untainted, world was invaded by the machines he built, the weapons he constructed, all for the sake of world conquest. At the tip of that empire, he could picture it. A perfect portal, a perfect opening, for Horde Prime's army to advance through.

"When my portal opens, I shall bring forth my brothers' armies to crush the Rebellion. And Horde Prime will see that he was wrong. I am not a defect. I am worth something!" At the end of it all, he saw his master's hand being raised again, commemorating his pride in the defected clone, and offering a spot right at his side once more.

*Wham!*

In anger, the leader slammed his fist against the vitrine, lamenting the hopelessness of his situation as he despaired. "But my portal machine does not work." He felt as useless as the clone sleeping in the vat before him, half his face reflecting off the shallow husk's delicate form. "I haven't conquered the planet. I could not even clone a new body for myself." In his grief, his loss, he realized the ultimate truth.

"Perhaps... Perhaps Prime was right. I am a failure."

"Ahhhh!" There was a small shout from the purple haired scientist that drew Hordak's attention, seeing several tools and metals being tossed over his head. Had she been ignoring his story the whole time or was he just talking to himself? "Oh, no, no, no. I'm listening. I heard you." She assured, sorting through the scraps while wearing her mask. "I've got an idea, but I need my tools. Be right back." Before he could get any sort of response, the scientist dove into the vent above her, going to who knew where and for what reason.

It didn't matter to Hordak, not anymore as he sighed. There was no helping him, no working with him. He was, and always will be, a defect.

A failure.

...

"Okay, ninth time's the charm." Glimmer said as she took a deep breath. "Everyone, hold on." One, two..."

*swish*

With a burst of pink magic, the trio of allies found themselves right over the hole, out of their eternal prison and into the open air. Now if they could've been at the edge of the open hole and not right above where they were thrown into, that would've been an improvement.

"Ahhh!"

*THUD!*

"Oww!"

"Bow, are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly.

"Luckily," he moaned, "everyone landing on my ribs distracts me from my other bruises." He was sore all over, and there were only so many times he could be dropped into a hole before his body shattered like Humpty Dumpty.

"I'll get it this time. Hold... on!"

*swish-swish*

In two brief pink flashes, the group found themselves outside the hole again, thankfully over the edge and on the solid rocky ground. Never have any of them missed the feel of a cold hard rock under their feet or to land so painfully on it without a care in the world. It also didn't take very long for Glimmer to stand up again as the day's events resulted in the same misadventures all of their journeys had.

"Uggghhhh, I'm sick of this!" She groaned. "Why can't we go on a single adventure where nothing bad happens and everything works out just fine?!"

"Uh, Glimmer?" Bow tried to grab her attention as he saw something.

"I mean really, is it so hard to just walk to somewhere new, take a mission for one day, where everything goes right?!" The princess was about ready to pull her own hair out at the question as the frustration made her head boil.

"Glimmer!"

"And you know what? This one actually could've gone well. Sure, we had some ups and downs, but for the most part it was going just fine. And it would've been fine if someone didn't trust Huntara like we said! But no, you didn't listen, we lost all our stuff, and I'm going to enjoy myself for once when I say "I told you"-!"

"GLIMMER!" Bow finally shouted, grabbing the girl's attention.

"What-!" Glimmer stopped as she saw him. More accurately, he saw past him towards the girl he was gesturing to with his eyes. "... Oh..." So much for enjoying herself. Or being angry, for that matter. How could she when she had to look at that?

Off to the side, next to several large boulders, she saw her. Catra, leaning against a boulder with her arms crossed with a look of anger and sadness perfectly intertwined on her face. She scowled as she stared at the ground in front of her, grinding against her own teeth to hold in the anger welling up inside her. She also looked like she was struggling to hold back the tears trying to form in the corner of her twitching eyes, the girl knowing full well who's fault it was that they were in this mess.

Not Huntara's. Not the mission's. Her's.

Catra's.

It was because of her that they trusted Huntara in the first place. No, scratch that- actually push that aside, seeing how her claws were useless now. They didn't trust Huntara at all from the beginning. They only trusted in Catra that she trusted in Huntara, and they were suffering for it too because of her. If there was any mistake in their part, it was putting their trust in Catra, and she knew she couldn't accept that.

Admittedly, she could say that this was all on her for a change without any excuse or person to blame other than herself. She was the one who told them she could be trusted, she's the one who encouraged them to follow her through to the end, all because of some stupid message sent from some woman a thousand years ago, and a chance to find some way to complete her bond with the sword that was never going to happen in the first place!

It was all on her, by her own two hands. Catra had never felt so angry with how stupid she was. Waiting for the other two to wake up, after nearly thirty tries of climbing out for herself, she had plenty of time to figure out who was at fault here. And the answer bothered her to no end.

Her two friends looked at each other with their own worry, their own regret, wondering how the magicat must've been feeling after all that's happened to them, and to her.

"... I mean... I'm so glad we finally got out of there." She tried to sound genuine with a semi-smile, doing nothing to lift the magicat's head from her regret.

"... You guys were right." She stated boldly, keeping her attention where it was and away from their eyes. "About everything." Somehow, it actually hurt a little more to them to hear her admit when she was completely wrong for a change. "The whole tavern was in on it since the moment we arrived. Huntara betrayed us, and it's all on me this time." She looked at the stubbed claws within her fingertips, barely seeing anything left of them from where they surfaced. "And I can't even scratch anything right now to take my anger out on something!"

With a growl, Catra smacked the side of her fist against the rock, trying to get any sense of anger out of her system that didn't result in her taking it out on those two.

It didn't feel the same to her.

"Catra?" Bow tried to question, only for the magicat to turn her head away a little. Looking back to the Princess of Bright Moon, the two sighed among themselves as they walked over to her side. Like her, they both leaned against the rock with their arms crossed over, trying to figure out what to do next. Or how to get Catra out of her funk. "...It's not all bad." He tried to encourage. "We know the lay of the land better than we did before."

"He's right." Glimmer nodded, trying to offer another smile. "We're more prepared for the Crimson Waste now-"

"Without my claws?" Catra barely contained the need to hiss. "Without my sword? Bow's arrows? Even your magic is reaching its limit after trying to get us out of there for the last ten times. There's nothing we can do against them to get our stuff back. We'd be lucky enough to get out of the Crimson Waste ourselves by this point!" It was so frustrating to her to see everything that was wrong with their predicament and coming back to who's fault it was over and over again!

"And I don't mean just with Huntara, you guys were right about everything." She continued. "We never should've gone to the Crimson Waste unprepared, and I didn't listen. I wanted to find Mara's message so bad, I wanted to find a way to finish my bond as She-Ra, and I..." The girl finally frowned as her ears lowered to her side. "... I thought I might find out more about Adora in the process. About why she was chosen to wield the sword. Maybe even help her a little."

There was too much grief for the cat for either of them to convince her it wasn't her fault. Every way she looked at it, from a reasonable standpoint, it was her fault from start to finish. Every little thing that went about this day, that started on a mission Catra wasn't prepared for, resulted in this dynamic failure of an ending for her, for all of them.

And they all had to pay the price now, because of her. There was only so much they could do, so much to say, that could possibly make Catra feel a little better. They just didn't know what, or how to come across it.

But Glimmer did. "... Catra?" She spoke up with a bit of regret. "If... If it means anything to you... you were right about one thing."

"Yeah, like what? How it's all my fault?" She snarled rolling her eyes. "I already beat you to it, Pinky, so go ahead and told her how you said so and get it over with."

"No, not that. What I mean is... well..." She shifted her eyes a little away as her voice softened. "I was sort of... jealous, of Huntara." Catra slowly processed this as she came to realize what she said, blinking as she faced her.

"You were?" She asked. "Cause I'll be honest, I was partly joking about that whole "coolness" thing and all."

"I don't mean that, I mean..." It felt a little awkward and embarrassing to admit a jealousy she had over someone else, regardless of the cause of it. "I was jealous because... you became friends with her, so quickly and so fast. That's what made me jealous."

"We both were." Bow admitted, with a small sympathetic smile. Catra was confused. The conversation took an entirely different direction and to an entirely different topic to her than she expected. She stepped away from the rock as she stared at the two.

"What are you two talking about?" She wanted some sense made out of her question.

"We mean how you became friends with her so fast, Catra." Bow tried to explain, scratching the back of her head. "We've been working so hard to get you to open up to us about anything, and it took months for you to finally accept us as friends."

"And what were we supposed to say when you became friends in front of us with someone else in under a day?" Glimmer added, standing straight again. "We've been through so much just to get you to say we were friends for the first time, and seeing you being friends with someone completely different so easily? It just... It just felt a little unfair, okay?" Catra blinked as she looked back between the two.

They were actually serious. They were admitting to their own jealousy to help cheer her up a little, and the jealousy was of something she hadn't thought of up till now. They were jealous that someone like Huntara, who they knew they could never be in some shape or form, was Catra's friend, possibly from the very moment she met her. To them, it felt like a small betrayal, worsened by the fact that Catra showed so much trust over her compared to the two she's known for months now.

To think she was right about something about Glimmer, the both of them for that matter. To think that they were actually jealous of what they saw, of whatever connection Catra had with Huntara, right up to this very moment. There was no words to describe how she felt right now as she stared at the two.

Just confusion.

"I repeat, what are you two talking about? I wasn't trying to be friends with her." She revealed, surprising Bow and Glimmer as they stood from the rock.

"Wait, you weren't?" Glimmer didn't know whether to be more relieved or regretful at her apparent jealousy. "But you were being all friendly with her and everything."

"We even saw you smiling more than usual." It gave Bow the chills just thinking about it.

"Well, yeah, I liked her and everything, and but it didn't mean I considered her a friend."

"Then why were you warming up to her so easily?" Glimmer wanted to know, if only to push this matter behind them. "You kept talking to her like she was your friend for years compared to us."

"Why do you think? It's because it was easier to relate to her. Yeah, it would've been easier to get to know her, but I didn't think of her as a friend. It was just..." She blushed a little as she tilted her head, turning her eyes away. "It was easier to fit in with someone like that since I left the Horde, all right? I felt a little more comfortable around her."

"You don't feel comfortable with us?" Bow asked, growing surprisingly curious from the conversation.

"Well I do now, obviously," she blushed again, trying to keep herself from looking into either of their eyes out of embarrassment, "and it's... getting a lot easier... to be with you guys. I just thought, with someone like that, I could... I don't know... talk about stuff a little more openly, to someone who sees things the way I do." She squeezed her clawless fists as she held in the anger still welling inside of her. "And that proved to be a mistake."

Glimmer and Bow watched the magicat go on about her regret throughout the ordeal. What drove her to seemingly-make friends with a complete stranger so easily, why she was so attached to her in the first place, and why she managed to talk to her at lengths compared to someone like the two. Above all else, they saw a part of the real issue behind Catra's reason for doing it. It wasn't because she thought Huntara was easier to approach or simply because she was like her.

She was lonely.

Within Bright Moon, Catra didn't feel any common ground with anybody around her, the closest princess who had something of an attitude like her's was Mermista, and she was still more mellow and bored than Catra was. Around here, the place Catra had to start accepting as a place to call home, she didn't have anyone else she could see like her.

Nobody related to her by any means. None of them were defectors, presumably, none of them started an entire journey that flipped their entire world upside down, and none of them were a magicat like Catra was. Adora was the closest thing she had to someone who understood her back in the Fright Zone, and now she was her mortal enemy. To meet someone else for the first time in months like her, like Catra, it felt like a breath of fresh air for a change, and a chance to get some stuff off her chest.

The two felt a little more guilty at this as they realized their jealousy was for nothing, and it was misplaced. The whole time, Catra was suffering from a sense of loneliness that they couldn't assist, that they couldn't fill the void of.

The most they could do, was offer her their comfort, a smile, and a reminder that she was still at their side.

With a gentle hand on her shoulder, Catra finally looked back to the two friends she could always count on, whether or not she knew it. "It wasn't a mistake, Catra. And we're not beat yet." Looking at them both, Glimmer nodding in agreement, did nothing to change the look on her face, but it did feel comfortable.

"Sure, this road trip has been kind of a disaster," he said looking up in thought, "with all the killer snakes plants, and everything."

"Heh, since when is something not trying to kill us?" Glimmer joked, getting a small grin out of the feline.

"But we know you're going through a lot." Bow continued. "Whether it's Mara, the Horde, or Adora. We've got your back, whatever you need to do." It was hard for Catra to look at the two again as she blushed some more, only able to offer up a small smile in payment. And that's the way her friends were fine with.

They didn't need Catra to change the way she was about everything, or change the way she acted to make it easier to approach people different from her. Catra could still be the moody person she was and they would still be fine with it. And, knowing the struggle she's been going through, were fine with anyone she wanted to be friends with, provided they weren't trying to kill them, to an extent.

"Besides, it's not like you stole our weapons and left us stranded." Glimmer reminded, smirking. "It was Huntara's fault, like everything else that happened today."

"Yeah, well," she tried to think as she gently brushed off Bow's hand for once, "it still doesn't help our situatiiishhhhh!" All at once, Catra's face contorted a bit as her whole body shriveled briefly, starling Bow as he pulled his hand away.

"I-I swear, I barely touched her!" He defended, confused and slightly frightened at Catra's spontaneous facial contortion. Giving her a few seconds, the magicat shook her head furiously as she rubbed her nose along her arm.

"Egh, what is with your hands? They reek!" She stated, still getting the tingles out of her system. "They smell like...!" Catra blinked to herself as something dawned on her. "Bow, did you pick up anything weird in that hole?"

"What? Like this?" Still confused, the archer pulled out a small purple thumb-sized tablet from his right pocket. Catra's eyes were drawn to it immediately as she recognized the strange item.

...

It was then that Catra realized that most of her motor function had returned to her, the cat's own resilience mixed with the dart's paralyzing agent beginning to wane.

...

"That's the weird salt thing she used to cure my paralysis." Catra exclaimed, taking it into her own hands.

"See? There's good news already!" Glimmer smiled, trying to keep the motivation going. "We have something to counter the paralysis with."

"Yeah but how are we supposed to find them?" Bow asked, looking around the various directions. "The sand would've covered up any of their footprints by now. And we don't have Catra's nose to guide us back to the tavern they were at."

"No, but..." Moaning, Catra forced herself to take another sniff of the strange salt, struggling to keep her face from twitching, which ended up looking like she was stuck with a face about to sneeze, before looking around. "This stuff gives off a very distinct smell to it compared to the rest of the Crimson Waste." The girl began to sniff around the air as she stepped away a little in the scent's direction. "So even with everything else covering my smell, I should be able to find the direct smell from... there!"

Pointing over the wasteland, Catra directed them to southwest of where they were standing, pointing over to a large craggy mountain over the desert as her friends approached. While it wasn't clear to say if they had any footprints leading to their location after all the time that's passed, the one key indication they had was the amount of light they saw in the darkening desert, shining from the other side. With the night this late and the wasteland still dangerous, it was clear they made camp for the night before planning to continue on in the morning.

"That's gotta be where they are."

"Okay, so we know where they are... so what's the plan?" Bow asked, looking at the two.

"I can probably teleport and grab your arrows and Catra's sword?" Glimmer suggested.

"It'd still prove risky if half the tavern is with Huntara. And it would still leave Catra weaponless if you got caught the second time you teleported." That was the conundrum that Catra managed to realize. Without her claws and her sword, trying to engage the entire encampment 3 against a near-dozen would've been useless. They would have to deal with a dozen armed men and woman, Huntara, and possibly more of those darts that lead to their capture in the first place.

But Catra didn't falter as she squeezed her fist. In addition to all the guilt and regret she was stuck thinking about while they were all trapped in the hole, she also had another line of thoughts occupying her mind.

Like, how she was going to get back at Huntara.

"How are we supposed to fight them all?"

"We don't." Catra stated, looking back to the two determined. "We play Huntara's own game against her to get my sword back." And, knowing the many similarities that the two shared, Catra knew the best way how.

...

*piff*

"Oooooh," Entrapta marveled at the blowtorch as it came to life, "this is gonna be so much fun." She sped around the room, continuing to make final adjustments to her tools and organization as she prepared for one of her greatest creations.

Entrapta's perkiness and social flaws, Hordak could deal with. He could put up with her quirky mannerisms and her lack of respect for anything that isn't scientific or technological. In fact, he could admit it was a rather humorous part of her. And she always proved her usefulness time and again as she continued to improve and advanced all of his technological creations, finding tweaks and flaws she improved upon and nearly doubled their efficiency.

Yet, no matter how many uses she had, he refused to submit to someone, anyone, like this as he sat in the chair, crossing his arms in a huff as Entrapta insisted on helping him.

"I don't need your help in this." He declared, his imp watching him curiously on his chair's right arm, and Emily standing to his left.

"Everybody needs help sometimes." Entrapta continued to insist, her hair stretched all over the place as she worked on finalizing her schematics. "And you shouldn't be upset that you're not perfect. Take Emily for instance." At the mention, Hordak gave his attention to the obviously imperfect droid who wobbled in place, falling to the ground as it struggled to get up.

"Her programming is all glitchy, her left leg sticks, and she's loud." As if it was agreeing with her, the droid gave off a small hum as it spun in place. "Emily's got quirks but that's why I like her." Standing up, the droid beeped happily as Entrapta used another large stand of hair to pat her on the head.

"Imperfection is what makes scientific experimentation possible." She continued, turning around. "Imperfection is beautiful." She was briefly distracted as something sparkled around her, the area behind her lighting up behind her. Turning her head back, there was a strange glow to her. From the sparks or from the way she stood, something about her glowed to Hordak as she smiled back. "At least to me." There was a silence in he leader's mind for the first time in his life as he stared at her, never snapping out of it until the scientist finally pulled him over again to the center of his lab, right in front of her.

"Stand here." She forcefully instructed, looking at him from behind. "And you're really way to obsessed with this whole failure thing. I mean, I'm a failure."

"You are not a-"

"Shh." The scientist gave a gentle slap to the mouth as she shushed him. "I don't fit in." She went on, donning her mask once again. "I became friends with Catra, but she abandoned me. Then I became friends with Adora, and... huh... that's funny."

"What is?" He quickly muttered before she could shush him again.

"I'm just realizing how much you two are practically identical."

"Wha-!"

"SHHH!" She shushed one more time, cutting him off from the second-long rage he felt inside of him. Pressing against one of the many buttons, the machine above him beeped as it came to life. All around him, arms started to descend from the ceiling as they began their work, grafting and modifying pieces of something perfect to an otherwise imperfect creation.

"You both display the same personalities to a T." Entrapta said, smiling to him as the machine constructed around him. "Adora might not be a clone, but she refuses to quit until she gets the results she wants. She has her own personal defect with her magic, she needed my help to make herself feel better, and she absolutely refuses to be seen as a failure. She'll go to any length to prove herself to the Horde, and to you." The leader listened in silence, keeping her words in mind as a suit was made around him.

"And thanks to her, I got over some of my own imperfections and sociology issues, not that I ever minded." Her smile continued to brighten as she watched the machine continue to work, squealing silently to herself as she stood with her hair. "I scrounged up more pieces of First Ones Tech, and I can't think of a better use for it than this."

The leader of the Horde growled to himself as the sparks flew off his body, the parts of his tech bringing more renewed life to his being with each passing second. Eventually, he found himself overwhelmed and swarmed with the various metallic claws that gave him a greater chance at life, that helped him through his own defect, and turning him into something greater.

Something Perfect.

After another minute had passed, the arms had pulled away, and Entrapta's curious face was the first thing to greet him as she smiled. "Ta-Da!" He held his hands before him, gazing, marveling, at the new and improved version of himself, seeing the changes and feeling the strength welling up inside of him thanks to his new suit.

"Your armor is more of an exoskeleton now." She explained as Hordak took in all that was changed. Compared to his previous work, this one felt functional, felt alive. It was like he and the armor were one and the same now, all empowered, all strengthened, thanks to the lone gem at the base of his suit's collar. And it made him grin. "The tech is compensating for your organic body." She drew in closer to the impressed leader as he flexed a little, along with the imp on Emily. "What does it feel like?"

"Powerful." He stated, unable to believe how incredible this new source of strength felt. No longer would he have to put up with that insufferable suit, no longer would he find fault with his functioning creations. And it was all thanks to hi-... to her, for the assistance. "I..." He turned away. "I... acknowledge the work you put into this." He never felt like what it was to show gratitude to someone, to anyone, in many years. "It is very... technologically sound."

*thunk*

He looked down to the small imp as it screeched to him, kicking at his foot knowing he had to do better than that. "Uh... No matter what you say, you are not a failure. Any who discount you are utter fools." He declared. He would silence anyone else that would say otherwise about his helpful... assistant.

"Thanks." He paused as he placed a gentle grip on his shoulder, smiling up to him as she sat suspended with her hair. "I like being friends with you, too." It was a... different, feeling, for him to feel this kind of gratitude towards something, but he could accept it. He could accept it with a smile. "You should really be thanking Adora for it, though." She confessed. "She was the one who collected all the technology."

"Ghhh..." He growled lowly to himself as he turned his head away. It was times like these that made Entrapta really curious, moving herself over to whichever direction he tried to avoid meeting her eyes.

"You know, I think you're giving Adora a hard time given all that's happened." She commented, remarking the times Adora seemed exhausted with her own imperfection and work. "Why not try giving her a little more praise or something?"

"What?" He lowered his brow to her. "I'm to acknowledge that traitor's failures and losses and be thankful for it?!"

Blink.

"I am the leader of the Horde! The only acknowledgements I give out are those who prove themselves to me, those who earn my respect, like..." He stared at the scientist for a bit, turning his head away for only a moment. "Like some people around here."

Blink.

"Besides, unlike you, her failures are far greater than any you claim to have. Even with her..." He paused with himself, picturing briefly how he must've been as Horde Prime as she must have been as Lord Hordak. "... imperfections, that's no excuse for her failures."

Blink.

It was starting to become unsettling to him as she continued to stare curiously to him, even after everything he just said. The scientist saw a gentler side to the leader of the Horde that he didn't wish to acknowledge himself, and was confident he had a caring side to him, too. Either that, or she still needed to work on her sociology discussions with Adora at some point.

His mouth twitched a little as he looked down to the very imp who instructed him to thank her more the first time, expecting to see an answer. Getting nothing more than a mere shrug, he grimaced, staring at the scientist who did so much for him, who aided him in his need. Wishing to be rid of this strangeness he was feeling, he let out a small cough, placing his hands behind his back in authority like he always did. "W-Well, I... Suppose, I could... re-evaluate her contributions to the Horde, upon her return. But if, and only if, she returns successfully!"

"Awwwww."

*tug*

"I knew you cared." Yup, she clearly misread the room. At least, she did to the imp and the master of the Horde right now, because the next thing he knew, however brief, she leaned over and gave him a little hug, proud to see his kinder side of all things. A side which she could see growing from Adora.

Normally, he would've smacked anyone down for doing such a thing, regardless of position and commitment and contribution they might have done for him. And still, he decided to let it slide, just this once as the scientist pulled away, continuing to smile at him for his decency. She deserved some form of reward for her valued effort and display, and, if nothing else, allowing her to breathe after a humiliating act such as that should suffice.

...

"Cheers!"

*clank*

"Yeaaah!" The encampment roared in excitement and applause as they tapped their mugs together, partaking in another successful mission within the Crimson Waste. They caught three outsiders, several weapons, and suffered zero loss. Everything that Huntara said would happen did happen, minus one new outsider joining the Crimson Waste, and everything worked out fine for the group in the end.

Huntara smiled as she watched the dozen outlaws and criminals cheering among themselves around several of the campfires, celebrating for their safety and their own return as they did every mission. To the left slabs of meat were being handed out, some of it brawled over for bigger slices, and across the center some of the goons were playing with Bow's many arrows.

Within the leader's hand, Huntara stared at the sword, wondering what curiosity was held within it. She felt something strange about the sword that she couldn't put her finger on. Maybe she was just imagining it?

"More?" Looking up from where she sat, Huntara smiled up to the barkeeper as she offered her another mug, topping off the glass with the pitcher she brought along. Like she expected, not once did Catra manage to realize that they were being followed along since they left. Sure, they were about a mile in distance between the two parties, but with the Crimson Waste being what it was, nobody could gain the higher ground relying on only their senses.

They had to go above and beyond their normal instincts to last a day out here.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" The barkeeper asked, showing some concern for the kids as she sat at Huntara's side.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Huntara assured, patting her shoulder. "Nothing dangerous comes out at night that can fit in that hole. Chances are those kids will be up and about before morning."

"Awww," Huntara glared in to the right of the camp as she saw a smug-looking pink satyr looking at her, "look who's starting to care." She didn't show any signs of fear as Huntara started to walk over to her, drawing several pairs of eyes from the camp. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were starting to like them." She grinned as she swirled around the drink in her mug. "Are you feeling guilty?"

All at once, the festivities and mood began to drop at the sound of the sword dropping to the ground. Before the satyr knew it, she was being grabbed by the shoulder, and slammed harshly against the rock behind her. She glared daggers at the satyrs as she held her a good foot off the ground.

"I did what I had to to keep us all safe." She deemed, refusing to let anyone say otherwise.

Even to this, the satyr found a reason to chuckle. There was no bravery in her laugh as the rest of the encampment watched the small fight breaking out. Only stupidity, clearly. "You mean, keep yourself safe?" She accused, smirking. "You act so tough, but you're running scared from something, just like the rest of us."

*WHAM!*

Okay, she could admit, that might've been pushing it a bit too far. Her first indication? The large fist Huntara slammed into boulder behind her, leaving a decent-sized crack in it. "I don't run away from anything." She yelled, throwing the girl behind her, and nearly into the bonfire. It was more than enough to convince the satyr to stop as she shrieked, finding the idea of being tossed into a fire strangely unpleasant. "I am Huntara of the Crimson Waste!"

She looked at the staring eyes of the rest of her encampment as she collected the sword, seeing the respect and fear within their eyes still burning. "And I want all of you to remember that! The rules I make are what keep us safe. They're the reason we're so strong. I will not allow anyone who's not with us to set foot within this wasteland. Not Boy, not Glitter, and especially not Catty!"

*swish*

"Waah!" It was with a sudden cry of pain that everyone turned back to the leftmost side of the camp. There, they saw the aforementioned "Glitter" of the group toppled over one of the lunatics that had Bow's bow, swiping it away before teleporting again before anyone next to him could grab her.

"Actually, it's Catra." A surprisingly familiar voice spoke from behind, turning all eyes back to the boulder behind her. There, at the very top, she could see Catra squatting, looking casually at the piece of meat she swiped at some point, and picking it with her fingers.

*swish*

"Huh? Hey!" At the next sound of a teleportation, the large blue lizard that held Bow's quiver found himself being being mugged, getting a face full of pink energy knocking him away, and a nabbing the quiver filled with arrows.

"That's Glimmer." This time when she teleported it was easy to see where she ended up. Right above the center on the small craggy rock formation, the encampment saw the princess pop out of the air again, handing one of the many arrows to Bow who prepared a single arrow aiming at the camp. "And that's Bow." At this, Catra finally dropped to the ground, showing her own intimidating scowl as she glared at Huntara. "And I want my sword back!" She ordered.

Huntara looked at the three in amazement, surprised they not only got out of the hole, but also managed to sneak into the encampment at all and surprise them as much as this. It was pretty impressive, coming from an idiot who refused her invitation to start with. And this little act she just performed did more than enough to show her how stupid she could really be.

"Ahahahaha!" Huntara bellowed with laughter, one that was shared with the rest of the encampment as they all knew the situation as she did. Already, several of them were arming themselves with makeshift daggers and spears crafted out of stones and plants. "Is that really the best you could come up with? I knew you weren't really clever, but this is beyond idiocy! Do you really think I'm intimidated by one single arrow, a clawless cat, and a glittery princess threatening me?"

"If threatening was all I intended, then no." Catra shrugged, crossing her arms uncaringly as she smirked. "But I'm pretty sure you'd care enough if the arrow was pointed at someone in particular?" She hinted.

Huntara's confusion only lasted for a single second before her eyes widened. Looking back frantically, she saw the archer had his weapon directed across the camp, at the very barkeeper that was the only one weaponless, save for a mug in her hands. Any twitch or sudden movement would be enough to set the archer off to fire at her, possibly. She didn't really know the archer as well as she did Catra, and she wasn't willing to risk the barkeeper's life, or any of theirs truly, on a gamble.

Growling back to the magicat, Huntara wasted no time as she did the same as the satyr, except this time, she grabbed the girl by the throat, slamming her to the rock. "You got a lot of nerve, cat. Now tell your archer to drop his weapon, and I MAY let two of you leave." Catra knew it. She was like her. She kept to herself, she was strong and sturdy, and she did care for people without showing it. There was only one difference between the two right now.

Catra was willing to take a chance.

"Bow," she called out, "if any of them move, you be sure to fire. You hear me?"

"You got it." Bow replied, remembering the very few words Catra instructed him to say.

Glimmer looked between the archer and his target, keeping the intimidating look on her face while trying to whisper. "You're not really gonna shoot her, are you?"

"Considering you just handed me my boxing glove arrow, it wouldn't matter if I did." He muttered, regretting the fact he couldn't pull away or swap arrows without risking Catra's life.

It went on to further anger the huntress as she was more than tempted to squeeze harder, tempted to break a certain cat before she could do anymore harm. "You have some nerve, you know that?" She grumbled. "Do you really think I'll let you get away on your own if I give you the sword? We'll be the ones after you the moment you step away. Out in the Crimson Waste, you won't stand a chance against us."

"Awwwhn." Catra yawned, pretending to show little interest or concern. "Oh, I know that. You can probably swarm us and do all that stuff pretty easily. You probably won't even break a sweat."

"Then if you know that much then I suggest you get out before I finish my meal. NOW." She threatened, taking Catra's lack of concern or care as an insult.

"Oh, gladly. I'll do it just fine. Just as long as you're willing to do one thing for me."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" It was like rewatching the scene of a film as Catra predicted this, expected this, and knew the exact sort of thing that was going to happen next.

"Just admit that I'm stronger than you, and we'll leave."

Bingo.

That's what she wanted to see. All the curious looks on the rest of the encampments faces turning to them, dropping their battle-ready expressions and raising their curiosity.

"What?" Huntara asked as she finally released Catra, watching the girl pick herself from the ground as she continued to glare. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you think I mean, stupid?" She smirked back. "You said it yourself. The strongest one of the Waste is the one that makes the rules. So, just admit that I'm the strongest, and I'll order to have my sword returned, and then we'll leave."

"Oh, so that's your angle, huh?" Huntara grinned with a smug brow as she crossed her arms. "And what makes you think you're so much tougher than me?"

"Well for one thing, I wouldn't need to bring a dozen people with me to capture three complete strangers." She replied nonchalantly as she grinned, looking at what remained of her claws. Huntara's eyes shifted to her side as she heard some murmurs going on behind her, clearly some people contemplating her words. "Seems like only a WEAKLING would need a small army behind them."

"Tch, that's big talk from such a small brat." She spat. "And what makes you so sure I need any of them to take you down?"

"Well, if you're so full of yourself, prove it." Catra was grateful for once that she was dealing with someone like her. Someone with an image to keep up, a bravado she refused to let anyone break in front of her allies. Smirking to the taller warrior, she gestured back to herself with her thumb. "Me and you, one on one, to prove who's the strongest of the Crimson Waste. If I win, you have to agree to help me find what we're looking for, AND give me my sword back."

"Huh, funny." Not a look of concern or care filled Huntara's eyes, not that Catra needed it to know she had her attention. "And what if I win? You don't have anything else I want." Catra stared at her for a moment before giving her a simple shrug.

"I don't care what you take. Take Glimmer, she's a princess, remember?"

"Wh- Hey! Catra!" Glimmer yelled down to her. "Why am I being the bargaining chip? Why not Bow?"

"Well, I would pick Bow, but he's the only one with any sort of direction to the center of the Crimson Waste, so I don't have a choice!"

"Why are you two shouting about me like I'm an inconvenience?!" Bow shouted over the two of them, feeling insulted and depressed that they felt like they were forced to stick with Bow against their wills.

"And you really think I'll just say yes and accept your challenge?" Huntara questioned, grabbing the cat's attention back. "I could just snap my fingers, and throw you into something far worse than a mere hole in the ground."

"Yeah, but then again, I don't think you want the rest of your gang to know you were scared of fighting a child by yourself." The sight of Huntara's irritated look was amusing to Catra, knowing she had the hunter right where she wanted.

As much as Huntara hated the idea of wasting her time in something so pointless, she knew that the kid had a point. If she showed any signs of fear or restraint right now, she would obviously look weak. Her leadership and her strength would be challenged time and again until it was every man and woman for themselves out in the Waste. Everyone would be at each others throats again and total chaos would ensue.

Behind her, she could already tell people were having some misgivings about Huntara's possible softness towards these three total strangers just because they were children. Doing anything to enforce that would damage her reputation when strength and pride were all one had within the Crimson Waste. She wasn't willing to gamble as highly as Catra was, and fell for the bluff just as Catra hoped for.

Glaring again, Huntara stepped up to the magicat who was a little over half a head shorter to her, showing no signs of fear or backing down. "All right, Catty, I'll play your little game." She grinned as she turned back to the rest of her encampment. "You hear that fellas? It's Game Night again!"

"Hooray!" The cheers were aplenty as the encampment began to alternate between enjoying their meals and drinks while the others began to pack up to move out. Bow glanced over to Catra to see if she was sure about everything. With a small nod back from her, he finally lowered his weapon, teleporting with Glimmer over to Catra's side.

With the camp packing up for tonight's events, Huntara turned her glare back onto the magicat she pushed against the rock again, harshly. "And just go we're clear, Catty, when we win, I'm not going to take your princess or your useless bowman."

"Seriously, why are people hating on me all of a sudden!"

What little relief Catra started to feel was immediately dropped as she pressed a finger firmly into her neck, nearly causing her to gag. "Because I'm Huntara. I'm a hunter." She deemed, pulling out the necklace of claws still still around her neck. "And when I beat you again, I'm not going to settle for something small." Catra glared back a little as she saw the claws, pushing the finger away from her throat. "Because this time, I'm going to take your tail as a trophy..."

...

A/N: And we're nearing the end of our 2nd She-Ra episode of season 3, and by GOD i am not looking forward to the rest of the season after this episode X( Why? It's a little something called the feels and depression, and the remaining episodes of this one hits you like a sack of bricks, with each worse than the last X(!

Huuhuuhhhuhu..... i get goosebumps just thinking about it, and not the good kind Q_Q.... Huff... But, at least for now, we'll have one more fun-filled chapter tomorrow as we get a face off between Huntara and Catra, mono-a-mono, which I am looking quite forward to writing about ^^

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 99: S3 Episode 2: Huntara Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: A glorious 15.2K Words Pre-A/N's.

In this corner, weighing in 350 pounds of pure muscle, let's give it up, for Huuuuuuuuntaraaaaa! And in this corner, weighing in... huh... ok, I have just been informed under penalty of death that if I divulged the information of weight for her challenger, I would wake up with a leg of my choice missing, so... never mind...

Lol, As you can imagine, especially with the absurd size of this chapter for a mere THREE MINUTES OF EPISODE left, I had a lot of fun with this one X) I enjoyed the action and making it going above and beyond from the show. It gets hectic, crazy, and who knows what as we duke it out with two fighters who aren't afraid of pulling cheap shots and low blows against one another (which wouldn't matter as much since they're both girls, but that's besides the point).

Don't have as much to say about this, other than, of course, ENJOY!

...

"Whoooooooooooo!" The audience cheered with an uproar as the combatants took the center stage, save for Glimmer and Bow who were watching on the other half of the arena's viewing gallery on the same side that Catra was on.

"Catra is going to be all right... right?" Bow asked nervously, standing with Glimmer on the third row, the closest anyone was allowed to watch from during this fight.

"Normally, I'd say yes right away to any opponent she's fighting," Glimmer fretted, "but considering she's fighting someone who's like her exact double, I'd say they're evenly matched... I hope."

Catra stared around the large cave-like structure with disdain. To think that the very place where she would be fighting Huntara of all people would be the very place that her betrayal again. The center of this place proved to be spacious enough for her to expect any sort of brawl, where, at the middle of everything, sticking out from the ten foot pillar-like rock, was her beloved, irritating, sword.

After leading the group of three into an ambush, Huntara revealed her intentions to the magicat about how she wanted to recruit the young warrior to join the Crimson Waste, the wasteland where only the strong could survive. The two saw many similarities between one another, from their upbeat attitude, their mannerisms or lack thereof, their aggressive nature towards anyone and anything, and how they preferred letting their fists and feet do the talking for them. Needless to say, they were almost identical twins, save for their appearance. And how did Catra take this little news to heart? The same way she always did.

She immediately declined the offer by trying to attack Huntara head on, hoping to catch the anticipating hunter off guard long enough for her to reach her sword.

Disappointed but not surprised by her rejection, she threw Catra down the very same hole that she threw her paralyzed friends in, knowing that the magicat couldn't get out by herself as long as she held on to the one edge Catra had in most of her fights- her claws. They were Catra's ace in the hole, pun unintended, that gave her the edge over most of her fights, and, naturally, were her best friends whenever the need to climb something came up. Without them, the cat was powerless to get out of the hole as the walls were smoothed over, making it impossible for any one of them to simply climb out.

Because of this, she was forced to wait for nearly forty minutes until the rest of her friends had finally come to, detailing to them their situation and the lack of claws she was now without. Using Glimmer's magic, it was easy enough for the trio to escape the whole after ten or so tries, though it did leave the group with some mixed feelings and concerns about what they were supposed to do. With Huntara and half the tavern that respected her at her side, an assault of any variety would've been useless unless they desired to get captured on the spot. Fortunately, they did have one advantage over them that Huntara wasn't prepared for.

Catra.

The very magicat that she wanted to recruit would be the most likely to bring her downfall. Following a brief trek to Huntara's encampment, catching the huntress off guard and threatening the few she cared about, she made her an offer that she couldn't refuse. A one on one fight between her and the mighty hunter to prove who was the strongest, where strength determined who was the ruler of the Waste and the one who determined the rules around here. If Catra won, she would win her sword back and Huntara would bring them where they really wanted to be. If she lost, Huntara was going to take her tail as a trophy.

To say Catra wasn't nervous about the thought of that would be a lie, and she didn't care. It became personal the moment Huntara betrayed them, and even more personal when she took her claws from her.

Huntara grinned to the dozen or so patrons that followed her out there, raising her fist in a show of strength as the cheering around them continued. As long as Glimmer and Bow didn't interfere with the fight, they were welcomed among them as watchers for this grand spectacle. Crowd cheering with applause and praise alike, Huntara turned her hardened expression to the magicat on the other side of the field.

"This is the one place we settle disputes over strength within the wasteland." Huntara explained, pointing up to the sword. "If you want to win, you either need to reclaim your sword, or be the last one standing." Grinning, the hunter cracked her knuckles loud enough that even Bow and Glimmer could hear from where they stood above them. "I've been in this arena twenty-eight times, Catty. I think that says enough about your chances. Since I welcome a warm challenge, I'll let you be the one to make your first move."

"Really?" Catra spat with a smirk. "So all I have to do is grab my sword to win?" It was almost laughable at how easy this was going to be for her. "Did you hit your head or something on the way here? Climbing is in my nature." Just to prove her point, everyone watched Catra swiftly jumped into the air onto the rock before her, giving the sword a few tugs until it finally popped out, then grinned as she dropped back to the ground, admiring her sword and her easy victory. "See, what did I tell ya? Easy as-"

*Wham!*

*CRASH!*

Anything she had to say was cut off by the massive tackle slamming into her by the terrifying bull known as Huntara. With brute strength and determination, the hunter easily overpowered the magicat with a single punch, launching her through the arena and crashing her through the solid row behind her. The entire audience cheered again in unison as their fearless leader landed the first strike, catching the girl off guard with a grin, and picking up the sword she dropped in the process. Her friends winced in the pain she must've felt, knowing that was going to leave a mark in one way or another.

Everything was still shaking to the girl as Catra pulled herself out of the rubble, rubbing her head before shaking it to clear up the dizziness in her eyes. "Hey! You said the fight was over the minute I get my sword!" Catra growled, squeezing her fists angrily. Huntara gave her a playful taunting smirk as she sheathed the sword against her back like before.

"I said when you reclaim it. You don't reclaim anything until you get away with the sword or you get away from me." Huntara corrected in her own twisted sense. "And considering you don't get away with the sword unless you exit the Crimson Waste, I don't see that happening anytime soon." Catra growled as she was reminded of the one other dilemma she was going to have to deal with in this fight.

Here, she wasn't just going to be dealing with Huntara's brute strength and cunning, she was going to be dealing with someone like herself. Someone who used underhanded tactics and cheap shots to claim their victory, like how she intentionally forgot to go into detail about reclaiming the sword, making Catra drop her guard long enough for the first attack. It did give her a slight advantage in knowing possibly everything the hunter would do, but it also gave Huntara the same over Catra. It was going to be a battle of wits as much as it was strength from here on out.

"So, we're playing it that way, huh? Fine!" With a roar, Catra charged head first towards the huntress as she kicked off with a mighty leap. Pulling her fist back, she intended to deliver a strong pounding right in the center of Huntara's smug looking face, only to be caught with relative ease as Huntara caught the attack with one hand.

"Really, Catty?" She enjoyed the sight as she tightened her grip painfully over Catra's knuckles, seeing the girl flop to her feet as she grumbled a little in pain. "I was hoping for a little more excitement than that." She paused as Catra took the opportunity to launch her other fist at Huntara, meeting the same result as she caught it all the same. It brought double the pain as Huntara brought the magicat down to her knees slowly, squeezing both fists painfully. "I thought you would've been a little more creative than that." At this, she blinked in confusion as Catra smirked back to her.

"I am."

*ssssspppzzzzzzz*

"Agh!" Huntara cried out as a handful of sand was shot straight into her eyes, releasing her grip on the girl as she wiped at them furiously.

Knowing the hunter clearly had a smaller advantage at strength than Catra did, she knew she would've been forced to rely on her own trickery in order to gain the upper hand. While most of their arena was bereft of the sand that covered the desert, she managed to find a small pocket of it within the corer of the rows, like the one she crashed into. Forcing the hunter to use both her hands defensively, she easily managed to throw a small chunk of the sand she collected from under her toes, waiting until the huntress couldn't cover her eyes any longer and let the small particles of dust and dirt do the rest.

It didn't matter how much or how little Catra actually managed to grab. Any amount of sand thrown like this with the opponent's eyes wide open would've been more than enough to throw them off. And with the hunter rubbing her eyes in soreness, it gave Catra the perfect opportunity to land the following strike as she smashed her right fist against the side of Huntara's face.

*BAM!*

"Yeah!" Bow and Glimmer cheered out as the rest of the audience booed in dismay. It was actually hard to tell if they were booing Catra for her own cheap shot, or booing Huntara for falling for it. To Catra, she didn't care. She just delivered delivered two more shots to the middle of Huntara's stomach, and a following one directly under her jaw with a resounding uppercut. The force of it was enough to knock the hunter off her feet a few ways back, skidding against the ground with a sore chin.

It wasn't enough to keep the hunter down for long, seeing the way she wiped her chin in anger as she rose back up, yet it definitely did some damage, and that's all that Catra grinned about.

"How's that for creative?" She smirked, flexing her fingers a little as Huntara got up. Punching had a bit of a different feel to it when she couldn't feel her claws underneath her fingertips. Then again, so did climbing when she couldn't draw them out like she used to when she normally climbed.

None of it mattered to the mighty Huntara as she gave a casual grin back, spitting off to the side as she prepared herself again. "All right, I'll admit, you got some moves yourself." She complimented, re-cracking her knuckles. "But without your puny claws, this fight isn't going to end until I give the final word or you take me down. And I think we both know how that's going to go."

"With you begging for mercy at my feet? Yeah, I did know that." The girl went on to grin as Huntara took this with anger like everything else, and charged the girl again with her large muscles.

For the next several minutes, the two combatants were neck and neck in terms of skill and fighting prowess as the two exchanged blows with one another. Leading off with the charge, Catra ducked out of the way of the overhead swipe, grabbing Huntara's arm before throwing her over her shoulder behind, back into the very same pile of rubble she crashed Catra into seconds ago. Without the same show of force it did little more than agitate the hunter as hopped back to her feet, already preparing for her counterattack.

With Catra's eyes solely focused on Huntara's, the hunter rushed for the girl again as Catra prepared to counter the next overhead swing to blow that she knew was coming her way. What she didn't count on was Huntara grabbing several of the large piles of rocks from the rubble and throwing them straight at her, forcing her to dodge to the left and the right as her eyes were drawn to the incoming projectiles. The moment she finally did have a sense of respite was driven away by the charging Huntara who grabbed the girl whole, running her into and crashing her into the large solid row on the opposite side of the arena.

Catra was helpless to block the incoming strike to her face at that moment, feeling her face being pummeled by Huntara's relentless assault as she was pushed back an inch at a time into the round surroundings near them. Huntara refused to give her a moment's peace until the fight was over and victory was her's to claim.

And Catra wouldn't let her have it.

Following the third strike, Catra swiftly managed to duck out of the way in time for Huntara's fist to collide straight into the wall behind her, giving a small hiss at the painful collision as Catra dodged her. With another opening presenting itself, the warrior headbutted the strong soldier directly into her face, disorienting the hunter, and herself a little, in the process. It was just enough to get Huntara to wobble back on her feet, giving Catra the space she needed to duck to the ground on her hands, and deliver a devastating kick with both her feet directly into Huntara's jaw again, knocking her further away.

The crowd was wild with excitement as the cheers and murmurs went all around, enjoying themselves unlike the two friends who continued to cheer for Catra's side, knowing the girl had a She-Ra-less disadvantage for the time being.

Noticing the huntress was still disoriented from the double-footed straight to her mouth, Catra found it to be the best opening she needed to tackle the hunter to the ground, pinning her by her neck as she attempted to reach for her sword. Seeing this, Huntara grumbled back as she tried to push the girl away from her, holding her back by her own neck while holding her wrist in the other, one Catra was easing towards little by little with each second.

"Give me back my sword! It's mine!" Catra demanded, drawing her hand closer and closer to her prized possession.

"I don't see your name on it!" Huntara shouted back as the rest of the crowd became silent. They watched with excitement and worry as Catra drew near the treasured blade, knowing the fighting would've really kicked off once either of the warriors brought out their weapons. With the huntress pinned under her, Catra could easily make short work of the huntress at the very moment she grabbed her blade.

*Swiff!*

*Whack!*

"Agh!" Catra cried out suddenly in pain as she released her grip on Huntara's neck, rubbing her pained elbow.

This was more than enough for Huntara to deliver a windup punch to the feline's left cheek, smacking her off of her and skidding her across the harsh ground a few feet away, closer to Bow and Glimmer who watched her worriedly as she continued to hiss. They were surprised by the sudden cry of pain Catra released, even more at the red-colored bruise against her right elbow as she continued to rub it.

"Catra, what's wrong?" Glimmer asked worriedly as Catra kept her sights on the recovering huntress.

"I don't know, something just hit me!" She screeched, getting back to her own feet to prepare for the mighty hunter.

"What's wrong, Catty?" Huntara taunted, dusting herself off. "Did the big bad kitty-cat get a boo-boo?"

"Ghhhhh!" Okay, so she didn't know what happened out of the blue, and she didn't really care. She was starting to get tired of the smug look and insulting grin on Huntara's face as the hunter taunted her over. Being sure to keep her eyes out just in case, Catra charged for the hunter dead on. She wasn't going to let anyone look at her that way and get away with it, and while she held the speed advantage, she knew she could gain the upper hand at a moment's notice.

An advantage that didn't last long.

*swiff*

*whack!*

"Owww!" Painfully, the magicat yelped in pain again as she collapsed to her feet, holding her foot in agony. This time, she felt the same blow strike right against her right ankle, gritting her teeth at the sudden and sharp pain as she tried to find the source of the problem that attacked her twice in the same minute. All she could see was the sight of Huntara's approaching feet as the mighty hunter reached the girl, picking Catra up by tail, and slamming her into the large boulder behind her.

There, Huntara grinned as she turned the cat upwards before pinning her arm against her throat, pushing tighter as Catra struggled to deal with the sudden pains she was having and the forceful pressure being applied to her neck. With one foot sore and her elbow slightly numbed from the pain, it was taking all of Catra's arm strength to keep her from crushing her.

"You know, your tail has a pretty good grip to it." Huntara commented, pushing harsher against the magicat. "Maybe I won't display it as a trophy afterwards. Maybe I could fashion it into a nice little belt when this is over."

"Ghhh..." Catra winced, grumbling as she tried to force the arm back as much as she could.

"You know, you really are a wild animal when it comes down to it. Maybe it would've been more fitting to have this fight in a jungle instead."

"Tch, yeah, and then you would've forgotten one thing." Catra sneered back despite the look of pain in her eyes.

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" She was actually looking forward to the answer Catra had to give her.

And so was she. "Animals bite!"

*CHOMP!*

"Aggghhhhh!" Huntara yelled in pain as the the magicat bit down on the hunter's arm as hard as she could. With her muscles as toned and refined as they were, it wasn't enough to penetrate the skin as much, but with sharp teeth like the ones Catra had, it definitely left a painful mark on the hunter's arm as Catra refused to remove her teeth from the mighty warrior. "Let go of me you stupid cat!" Huntara shouted, pushing and slapping at Catra's forehead until the girl would let go.

Feeling her grip on the forearm fading, and refusing to lose her teeth over this fight, especially after losing her claws, Catra quickly jumped away from the hunter's arm before she could deliver another strike against her head. The hunter growled as she examined the minor bite mark against her arm, rubbing it soothingly as much as she could so it wouldn't falter any more during the fight.

Catra spat at this as she wiped her mouth clean with her wrist. "Yuck, and Glimmer complains when she thinks I don't bathe."

"We've been over this, Catra!" Glimmer yelled down with a small grumble. "Licking your hands and wiping your legs and arms clean doesn't count as bathing!"

"Hey, at least I started taking a bath more often!" She yelled back.

"Once a week isn't an improvement!"

"Haaaah!" Anymore pointless and senseless arguing was put on hold between the two as Catra heard the oncoming roar of Huntara charging at her again. With the hunter being on the offensive this time, Catra assumed she wouldn't have to worry about anything catching her by surprise again, and prepared herself to counter the hunter's strike. She soon came to realize how wrong she was within seconds.

*ting*

"Yeow!" Catra cried out again, this time feeling the surprise hit striking her from behind on the right side of the abdomen, stinging senselessly as whatever was struck against her this time was stuck over her skin and her vest. It proved to be more than enough for a distraction as Huntara slammed Catra away again, knocking the defenseless girl off her feet and sliding her against the ground on her back.

At least this time as Catra slowly got up, still wincing in pain, whatever struck her stuck around this time as she felt along her side. It didn't take long for the surprised and confused magicat to find the source of her constant interruptions as she pulled it in front of her face. "A rock?" The rock was smoothed over and felt durable enough to leave a sizable dent within an average droid, looking at the way it shined within the moonlight.

"A rock?" Glimmer repeated as she stared at what Catra found. "That's what's been hitting her? How?"

"Glimmer, look." Grabbing her attention, the archer directed her across the field so she could see exactly what his eyes spied upon admist the fight. Seeeing the two friends looking across from her, Catra leaned her head back, growling at the sight behind her.

Over on the other side of the rows and stands, nearly half the tavern people, half of Huntara's followers, were twirling their own rocks and ammo in various slings, primitive yet effective tools that could take out the most seasoned of animals in a single shot if they knew where to aim. Here, almost all of them had the precise accuracy to take aim at the magicat's various joints and muscles, whichever she was using to keep her edge over the battle. If it wasn't for the one unlucky misfire she recently experienced, assuming the last shot was supposed to strike her somewhere else, she never would've noticed.

All of them were still helping Huntara in their own special way. In this case, it was providing covering fighter for the smirking hunter who continued to grin at Catra, knowing she had the advantage of this fight since the moment it started. It was an unfair, cheap move, to make in what was supposed to be an honorable fight.

A cheap move Catra would've been glad to play upon if her enemy wasn't using it against her.

"Hey, that's not fair!" She growled. "You said it was supposed to be a one on one fight!"

"What can I say?" Huntara shrugged playfully, smirking the entire time she was doing it. "I can't imagine why they would suddenly help me in the middle of a fight."

"Yeah, I bet." Catra growled, getting back to her feet, being wary of the dozen heads that weren't her friends, seeing them all preparing to fire again whenever she needed them.

"Then again, I did this was a one on one fight between us. I can't be held responsible if they don't listen to me."

"You rotten-!"

*swiff*

"Hah!" Expecting it this time, she quickly managed to turn around as she grabbed one of the flinging rocks right in the palm of her hand, just inches away from her face.

*wham*

"Ugh!" It didn't matter by the looks of it. The very moment she grinned at the would-be slinger, she was kicked across the side of her head, throwing her back against the large rock. There, the magicat was pinned down again, this time by Huntara's leather boot, as she struggled to keep it from crushing her ribs.

It didn't matter in the end if Catra managed to fight off the slingers or Huntara. As long as she was dealing with both of them at the same time, she wouldn't be able to defend herself in any situation, putting her at the mercy of the people helping Huntara cheat, ad the hunter who's strength proved more than a match for the mighty warrior. She would never get a chance to get the drop on Huntara with these people by her side.

Which was another thing she expected as her friends knew what to do.

"Bow!" Glimmer said, gathering magic in her right hand before teleporting.

"I'm on it!" He replied, taking aim with one of his own arrows at the closest slnger to the right side of the rows.

Releasing a shot, the slinger quickly found himself ensnared in a sticky green-like substance, pinning him to the rocky exterior that surrounded him. At the same time, Glimmer appeared behind one of the other slingers as she blasted a solid wave of her sparkling magic at them, blasting them from the third row where they stood to the bottom of the first row where their landing drew Catra and Huntara's attention.

Again, Catra's foresight proved imperative in this situation. It would've been one thing for them to gather Bow's arrows again if they were forced into the fight at that very moment, but it also came for another reason.

Knowing the ensuing brawl that would've occurred if Huntara took the bait like she did, she needed both of her friends to be ready and capable of fighting back in the event they tried to charge the arena or help Huntara in some other ways. With Catra's sight solely focused on the hunter in front of her, she would've been incapable of defending herself without her sword or her claws. That's why, first and foremost, they needed to recover Bow's arrows above all else. Like many times before, Catra perfectly predicted what someone like Huntara would do.

Someone like her.

Seeing several of her allies already getting attacked in the stands, Huntara grumbled as she gave out the orders. "Get them! The cat's mine." With their leader's orders, everyone else turned their attention to her two friends, running from both sides towards the archer as Glimmer reappeared at Bow's side, teleporting him to the top of the rows where he had the aiming advantage. It also proved impeccable as several of the poison darts were already being shot at them by the pink satyr, the two ducking behind cover as the paralyzers missed their mark.

Noticing the brief distraction overtaking Huntara's face, Catra quickly got to work on breaking herself out from under her foot as she kicked at the back of Huntara's other knee. On reflex, the hunter's knee immediately buckled, losing the pressure she applied to Catra's stomach and giving her more than enough time to pull off to the side and out of Huntara's massive foot, and charging straight into the hunter's back, reaching straight away for her sword.

Despite everything going on and her minor buckling leg, it still proved to be no match for Huntara's anticipation as she grabbed the girl's hand from behind, squeezing on it tightly as she felt it approaching her shoulders, and throwing her across the field. While hoping for otherwise, Catra was expecting this little display as she easily managed to land on her own two feet, glaring back at the hunter who picked herself up off the ground.

"Well, would ya look at that, Catty?" Huntara said, gesturing to her friends above her. Keeping her focus on the hunter, Catra took a brief glance at her friends and the state they were in.

So far, they appeared to be doing all right, fighting off the outlaws that approached them as Glimmer blasted them and punched them aside, all while Bow was slowing them down with his many trick arrows, ensnaring some of them, and blasting away others with his explosive arrows, cutting off the pathways a little and forcing them to go a row over or below to approach them again.

As much as it appeared to be in their hands, as long as Huntara's group had the numbers and paralyzing darts in their possession, it would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

"Now you know why we call it "Game Night". Because one way or another, everybody gets involved." Charging again, the hunter slammed both her mighty fists against the ground, a poorly predictable move from Catra's end as she saw the attack coming on from a mile away, easily managing to avoid it as she jumped above the mighty hunter. What she couldn't avoid was the follow up as Huntara grabbed her by the foot before she could escape, slamming the girl back into the rough ground in front of her.

Before Catra had a chance to get up, she felt two powerful hands squeezing along her neck, Huntara pinning her down by her chest as she planted a firm knee on top of her. With the sores she was still recovering from with the slingers, and the full weight of the muscled hunter on top of her, Catra had little room to work with and little space to manage.

"Don't feel too bad about your friends." The hunter teased leaning closer to the girl. "I'll be sure to let them both go home nice and safe... assuming her mother pays a hefty ransom, of course. Thanks for that little tidbit about being rich, by the way." She grinned wider as Catra growled at the statement, knowing it was riling her up inside.

"It's not like you've met all my friends, freakshow!" Catra hissed back, earning a spiteful glare from the powerful hunter.

"Nobody calls me a freakshow!" It amazed Catra how many similarities the two truly had as Huntara finally got off of the girl. What she at first thought was a lucky break turned out to be a poor judgement on her part as Huntara kicked the magicat up into the air a bit, enough to get her fully off the ground as if she was standing, before grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the solid row behind her. "Just for that, I'm doubling the ransom money. For each of them."

Catra winced at the pressure starting to suffocate the magicat as Huntara squeezed down on her throat. "And what kind of friends could you possibly have around here?" Knowing the cat was defenseless for the moment, Huntara gleefully took a look around the arena, seeing nobody else, save for the parties between the two sides. "You got another princess or soldier boy you wanna introduce me to?"

"No... more like a pet!" Looking back, Huntara watched as Catra jammed both of her thumbs into each corner of her mouth, the magicat having to improvise since her claws were taken away. With her options limited, Catra finally came to the last resort in her inventory, being left with little choice.

*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!*

The entire arena went silence as all eyes turned to the whistling girl, including Bow and Glimmer. It was a brief moment of peace as everyone else looked around, Huntara actually growing a little curious of what possible friend or ally Catra had lying in wait to surprise them. Save for the three heroes, nobody saw anything out of the blue, nothing sticking out to them save for the small destruction of the arena.

Huntara kept her eyes to her surroundings for a bit before she finally looked back. "Who were you trying to call?"

Catra had a bit of a nervous look on her face as her ears lowered. "I'm gonna be honest, I thought they'd be here a lot sooner. I'm used to doing this with a horse that can respond within seconds." With their allies assistance apparently delayed for the time being, Catra took the initiative as she felt a small loosening in Huntara's hand.

Pulling at the suffocating grip as fast as she could, she managed to grip the mighty hunter's arm enough to kick off the ground and the wall behind her, pushing Huntara back enough for her to throw her own weight against her. Losing her grip and her balance thanks to the uneven surface below, the hunter was toppled over as Catra delivered a heavy strike against Huntara's chest before she could fling the magicat away, tossing her into the large boulder again.

The hunter gave a short growl as the fighting started to resume again, Bow and Glimmer using the small distraction to their advantage as they teleported away again to the opposite side of the arena. With everything going back to the way it was, Huntara sneered at the weakening cat, knowing no matter how agile and quick she was, she lacked the same muscle mass that made Huntara an expert fighter, especially without her claws.

"I have to admit, you're doing pretty good, Catty. You know, for a rookie." She taunted, enjoying the sight of Catra getting back to her feet as she refused to quit. "I might have to start taking this seriously on you if-"

*rumble-rumble-rumble*

Again, all noise within the cave went silent as everyone else lifted their heads at the strange tremor. It was unlike anything they were used to around here, with quakes and tremors being a rarity within the Crimson Waste. In fact, the only time they did go off was when something was approaching them, something Huntara came to recognized as her eyes widened.

"You didn't..." She muttered as Catra grinned back.

"Oh, I did!"

*CRASH!*

*HSSSSSSSSS!*

Off to the northern section of the large arena, the entire cave shook violently as three massive red heads bursts through the cave's walls. There, they were greeted and horrified by the sight of three long bodies slithering its way into the cave, the sounds of screaming from Huntara's gang filling the air as several members fled in terror, several of them were trying to scare the snake away with their slingers, and several of them were pursuing Bow and Glimmer around the other side.

At the sight of the vermin around it, the three-headed snake hissed violently at the individuals, the left head attempting to take a bite out of one in whole, with the brave soul barely jumping out of the way in time, as the right head swatted away at several attackers who tried to scare it off with their own crude spears. Between the two, the left head was keeping its eyes open, scanning the field as if searching for something.

"You gotta be kidding me..." For one of the few moments of Huntara's life, her expression dropped in disbelief as she saw the powerful ally Catra managed to obtain.

*BAM*

"Ngh!" She yelped as she felt a powerful force slam into her from behind, finding the magicat pinning her down to the ground as she sat a foot atop her back.

With what few seconds remained, Catra quickly grabbed for her sword's blade as she tried to call upon She-Ra's power. "For the-!"

"GET OFF!" Her vainful attempts proved to be just that, as no sooner did she get the first to words out was she struck from behind, Huntara using the powerful heel of her foot to kick the magicat off of her, keeping her own grip on the sword as she tightly squeezed around the hilt.

Rolling against the ground, Catra growled back at the girl, irritated at how she just missed her chance to turn the fight around to her favor. Darn it, I was close! She steamed with anger as Huntara got up again, deciding to pull the sword from her back as she fighting raged on around her.

"Okay. You have to tell me right now. How on Etheria did you learn to talk to snakes?!" Something like this was unprecedented in Huntara's line of work. Not once did she ever meet an individual who managed to train a snake like this, much less anything from the Crimson Waste, with relative ease.

Grinning with pride, Catra ignored the question in its entirety as she began to jump away. From one row to the next, Catra easily managed around the crazed members of Huntara's gang until she managed to reach the snake itself. Looking down at the girl, the middle head attempted to bite at her, leaving enough space for Catra to maneuver out of the way in time, jumping atop its head when it had the chance.

Without any pause, the head began to flail violently, the other two heads hissing at the middle one, specifically at the girl that was riding on top of it, knowing they couldn't risk biting it without accidentally biting the snake itself.

"If you wanna find out, why don't you come and get me?" Catra taunted down. All this did was provide Huntara was a reason to smirk, placing a fist to her hip as she twirled Catra's sword in her right hand.

"Oh please, you think I'm stupid enough to fall for that kind of trick?" Huntara chuckled. Every good hunter knew when one was being lead into a trap or one was being lead to a playing field where somebody else had the advantage. While there wasn't any specific place Catra had in mind, she knew as long as she fought on Huntara's own ground, the hunter would be the one with the advantage as long as they stood on even footing.

And she still had a means to make her follow her. "Oh, trust me, you're plenty stupid." With another proud grin, Catra pulled something out she was hiding behind her back, something very close and dear to Huntara as she wagged it in clear view from her tail. "But I'm pretty sure you're gonna want this back.

"Wha-!" She instantly shot a look to her own backside in anger as she realized it. Catra's last tackle in an attempt to reclaim her sword from the mighty huntress wasn't just an attempt at turning the fight around, it was a means to distract her as Catra stole Huntara's own weapon from her backside, the very spear that Huntara treasured like none other. "Hey, that's mine!"

"I don't see your name on it!" With a final yell, Catra ran past the massive three-headed snake as she escaped through the convenient opening the snake gave her. With the pest removed from its head, the terrifying snake slowly slithered its way out of the cave, giving chase to the lone girl who managed to summon it to her aid without it knowing.

Looking around, Huntara continued to grumble as she saw Catra's friends running through the entrance again, everyone making their own escape as Catra had planned it, and forcing the hunter to separate both sides if she wanted to reclaim her precious spear and victory over this fight. "Go after the brats like I told you morons!" She barked, everyone giving her a quick nod or simply doing as instructed as they ran after them. "That girl's gonna pay!"

...

*crish*

"Whoooa!" Catra yelped as she barely managed to slip out of the way in time of the snake's oncoming head. Now that she was back on the surface, the most she had to worry about was the dealing with the three-headed snake as it attempted to chase after her. Finding a secluded spot out in the wasteland to continue the fight was the easy part.

The hard part was figuring out how to deal with the snake afterwards.

"Come on, it's not like I did anything to them!" Catra yelled, struggling to stick to the snake's side while trying to get Huntara's spear to open up. "Uggghhh... stupid... spear... Open up!" She ordered it, slapping it about with the palm of her hand in any attempt to get it stretch open like Huntara did. For a moment, she started to open Huntara wasn't like her in this aspect as well, where she needed to use a correct phrase to use the spear's power or something.

*HSSSSSS!*

"Yeah, I heard you!" Catra growled, jumping atop the snake's left head as she ran across it's long neck like before.

Running some distance, the magicat came across another small gorge she could get into, just like the first time she and her friends were being chased by one of these three-headed snakes. The only difference this time was the large figure that tackled her out of the way, lying in wait for her behind a large boulder near the gorge's opening.

Pinning her by the shoulders, Huntara glared angrily at the magicat as she forced her to the ground. "Give it back!"

*HSSSSSSSSSSSSS*

And it was the sound of the familiar hiss that Catra smirked back, finding the convenient arrival working in her favor. "You forget about my new friend?" She reminded as the snake slithered rapidly towards the hunter. Before she had a chance to respond, Huntara found herself snapped by the middle head's massive jaws, avoiding both of its deadly fangs as the hunter was slowly being crushed under its massive jaws.

"Ghhhh!" Huntara let out another growl as she used her own strength to keep the snake's jaws from closing in on her, the left and right heads of it giving a small hiss as they watched. "H-How-?!"

"How'd I get it to listen to me?" Catra asked casually as she brushed the dust off her arms and legs. "It really wasn't as hard as you'd imagine trying to get the snake to listen to me. I just had to make it hate me too much to ignore..."

...

*Tweeeeeet*

The snake hissed again as Catra gave it the signal, lunging for the magicat who stood next to one of its many eggs as any protective parent would. Smiling as the snake took the bait, Catra quickly ran around the side of the deserted wasteland to a nearby giant skull of an animal. There, Catra took Glimmer's waiting hand as the two teleported a ways away, right as the snake managed to find them.

*Tweeeeet*

There it was again, with Catra signaling the giant three-headed snake as she playfully rubbed one of the large eggs left behind in its nest. To the snake, it was as if a predator was about to devour its unborn young, chasing after it to protect the life precious to it. To her, it was nothing more than a ruse to get the snake to follow her. Taunting it, agitating it, warning it that every time it heard the familiar whistle, that its young would be in danger and she would be near its eggs.

Like before, Catra managed to run away in time of the hungry snake, nearly getting devoured in the process as she slid against the cold sand in time to avoid its right head, and jumping over its tail as it attempted to grab her.

From afar, Catra insisting that the two remain hidden unless she needed the help, to make sure Glimmer conserved on energy, the two friends were amazed at one of Catra's schemes, and how well it was going for her. Eventually, she reached a point a half-hour into this plan of hers where the snake began to follow her around, without her being near its eggs.

It was also a little frightening to see Catra resort to a plan like this where she would lure out a vicious killer beast to her beck and call, all for the sake of getting revenge on someone who stole her sword and, almost as important, her very claws. There was a brief point where the two feared as Catra was reaching a dead end as Glimmer prepared to teleport to her rescue, only for the magicat to jump as high as she could against the wall's surface, grabbing onto it as the snake's three heads missed her completely, and jumping over the trio of hungry mouths as she ran away from it again.

All of this, all this desperation, all this anger, to get back at someone who stole her claws.

"Hey, Bow?"

"Yeah, Glimmer?"

Glimmer looked back to him with distress. "Remind me to warn my mother to never try and clip Catra's nails again when we get home..."

...

"You got it to listen to you over that?!" Huntara yelled, feeling the jaws closing in around her little by little.

"What can I say? It pays to have people hate you sometimes." Catra smirked, watching as the hunter slowly succumbed to her fate. "Bye~" And with a final, taunting, wave, the massive pair of jaws finally came down on top of her.

*Chomp!*

Finally, the fight was over, giving Catra a much-needed break as she let out a sigh. Okay, so far things were going fine. Now she just needed to figure out a way to get her sword out from the snakes stomach. No matter how valuable it was, she wasn't going to take her sword back after it was digested, so to speak.

Turning her focus back on the spear, she continued to examine it from all angles, being careful not to be sticking her face in front of it in case it popped open, as she tried to figure out how to activate it. Given her current circumstances, it looked like the spear was going to be her best bet to take down the snake now that Huntara was-

*rumble*

"Huh?" Catra refused to believe it as she heard a small tremble. Looking back at the snake's middle head, she saw the snake appearing as if it was squinting, shaking its massive jaw as it tried to keep it closed. Or, keep something from escaping. "You've gotta be kidding me..." Sadly, joking was not part of the equation on this moonlit night as Catra slowly backed up.

Slowly, surely, painfully, little by little, she watched with amazement and concern as she Saw Huntara slowly pushing the snake's jaws away from each other, the snake hissing in pain as its mouth was slowly forced open. The huntress known as Huntara refused to back down no matter what, finding this near-death experience as nothing more than an inconvenience, setting her sights and glare on the very girl who tried to get her eaten in the first place.

Knowing the snake was her first priority, she decided to make short work of it as she turned her attention to it. Ignoring the greasy slimy saliva covering her, the huntress gave a mighty push of the jaw as she jumped out of its mouth, grabbing onto the side of its mouth before it could snap its jaws closed again. Using her own weight and her muscles against the snake's middle head, in a surprising feat of strength, the mighty hunter gave a loud roar as she actually managed to roll the entirety of the snake's being onto its side, tossing the heads against one another as they fell on top of each other.

It wasn't enough to kill the mighty three-headed danger, but it was more than enough to teach the snake whose boss around here as it hissed at her, this time out of fear. Slowly backing away, the huntress watched as the snake slithered away, its tail slithering behind it as it buried itself back under the sand's surface, refusing to contend with something it couldn't eat.

With the snake leaving the combatants, Huntara turned her glare back onto the still-surprised magicat, who could only stare at her in wonder.

"... Okay, I know I'm supposed to hate you right now, but that was pretty cool." She commented.

"Haaaaah!"

"Ah!" Catra panicked as she tried to get the spear working again as Huntara charged at her with her own sword. Dashing towards the girl in a massive leap, Catra barely managed to get the spear to open in time before she clashed it against Huntara's, technically her, sword.

*CLANG!*

Both warriors continued to press on in the attack as they glared at one another, pressing into each other with all of their might as they clashed the other's weapon against each other. With their feets pressing against the sand, Catra found herself at a small disadvantage as her bare feet skid across the desert Waste, Huntara pushing against her with all her weight as she edged the magicat closer to the edge of the gorge. Without a snake to worry about, it would've proven fatal for Catra if the huntress managed to get the drop on her from above while she fell at the same time.

"I gotta hand it to ya, brat!" Huntara grinned, enjoying the sight of Catra struggling as her weakened ankle was proving harder to stay on top of with each passing breath. "You made this fight a lot more fun than the other people I fought. They never even thought of getting a giant snake in the mix."

"Gee, I can't imagine why!" Catra yelled back, feeling the brush of her heel nearing the edge of the gorge. With little other option, Catra gave her one last solid push as she managed to blow the huntress back by just a foot. A foot was all she needed as Catra attempted to tackle her away, resulting in another counter by the attentive Huntara as she easily sidestepped. With her back exposed, she delivered a painful kick into Catra's backside that tossed her away a few feet.

Surprisingly, this was exactly as Catra was hoping for, granted, with a little less pain in the mix. With the Huntress distancing her further from the gorge, she didn't need to worry about falling into it as she charged Huntara in full. Once again, their weapons clashed into one another as they were pressed into each other, their faces mere inches from the other to the point any one of them could bite the other one.

The battle was far from over, and neither of them were about to let up anytime soon.

...

*pew!*

"Ahhh!" Another lizard man cried out as Glimmer blasted him away with her magic.

With Catra giving her own signal, the two made their escape out of the cave and into the open area, continuing to distance themselves as far away as possible to draw their attention away from helping Huntara. Slowing down what he could, Bow fired his arrows several times into the pursuing outlaws in the cave, ensnaring several of them and getting others to topple those behind them forward.

It still proved difficult in itself to keep up their current pace as Bow's arrows were running low and Glimmer's magic was running out. With the princess's staff summoned to her side, she managed fight off the oncoming assaulters while saving off her magic when she needed it most. As for Bow, now that the two had more open ground to cover, he could help fight hand to hand against several of the fighters as their numbers were more spread out between the two.

Firing off another blast of energy, panting a little in exhaustion, Glimmer smashed away another of the attackers straight in the face with a fist full of magic before looking back. "Is it me, or are more of them starting to show up?"

Bow waited until his area was clear, taking the tackle of one in full readiness as he pulled the assailant backwards with him. WIth a solid roll, he managed to throw the pursuer straight into the other wolf outlaw that was trying to rush him from behind, hopping back to his feet with his arrow at the ready. "Huntara must've had a small scouting party to keep the perimeter safe that we didn't know abou-hhh!" Squealing a little, the archer was suddenly cut off as a large arm was wrapped around his neck, pulling him back enough as one of other outlaws tried to rush him again.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out, using some of her magical reserves as she teleported to his side. With the unexpecting outlaw growing surprised at this, he was an easy opening for Glimmer to blast away with his magic. It managed to make the lizard holding Bow loosen his grip enough from fright for Bow to dig through his quiver, pulling out one of his arrows before jamming it in front of the lizard's face.

In a small puff of smoke, the lizard found his eyes stinging from Bow's Pepper-Arrow, inhaling the fumes and feeling it wash over his eyes as it stung profusely.

*ting*

"Ahh!" Glimmer cried out, pulling a dart out of the back of her neck as the paralysis started to take effect over her. "Nnnhhh..."

"Glimmer!" Bow yelled out worriedly, rushing to her side to repay the favor as he caught her mid fall. Bow quickly dug through his front pocket as he pulled out a small purple Smelling Salt that Catra managed to unintentionally swipe from Huntara earlier, the only means of counteracting the paralysis.

Raising it up to Glimmer's nose, the Princess of Bright Moon only needed one sniff of the bizarre substance for it to take effect immediately. Like Catra, her face contorted a little as she tried to swipe the substance away from her face, finding it to be the most revolting sensation through her nostril. "Ughghhghgh," her body quivered, "it feels like I'm growing goosebumps down my spine! No wonder Catra hates that stuff."

"Look out!" With another shout of warning, the two rolled out of the way in time as one of the larger lizardmen, the very one that they had met previously in the ambush and at the cantina, slammed his mighty fists into the ground, nearly crushing them upon impact.

With both heroes safely in a fighting state once more, they felt the tension rise through the air as they slowly saw Huntara's gang beginning to surround them, forcing them to back up to one another with their weapons at the side and their magic in Glimmer's hand. They were running out of time.

Catra, please hurry...

...

*Clang!*

"Grrrrrrr!" Both fighters glared each other down as the fighting escalated to the midst of the sandy field, with nothing but cliffs and gorges surrounding them on both sides. Sword pressing down on her, Huntara pressed her other hand against the blade as she pushed down harder on Catra, forcing her down to one knee as the other struggled to maintain it's footing.

"You outsiders have no place in the Crimson Waste!" Huntara stated, kicking off the magicat several yards away, Catra wincing as she tried to hold in the pain. "Every time you show up you bring trouble with you, and I won't allow it!"

Barring her teeth before her, Catra hatched another plan. A risky one, but her opens were becoming more and more limited as Huntara managed to adapt to every situation. Firmly gripping the spear in her hand, she did something Huntara never expected her to do.

She tossed the spear straight at the huntress to stepped aside from it, barely dodging it inches away from her collarbone as it flew right past her. Looking back, the magicat was already continuing the offensive as she ducked and slid underneath the huntress's legs, grabbing her left foot and pulling with all her might, toppling the strong hunter flat on her face.

It did little more than annoy her as she saw the girl continuing to rush for her spear sticking out of the sand. If everything worked like Catra hoped it would, then she could finally turn this fight around in her favor. Finally reaching the sturdy spear, it began to look like favor was in her grasp as she began to pull it out.

That was all she managed to do before Huntara smacked her away with her bare fists, blasting the magicat aside a good twenty feet and causing her to skid her feet and fingertips painfully against the cold desert sand. Growling back at her, she realized there was now at a severe disadvantage as Huntara grinned back to her with something she no longer hand.

The spear she dropped.

"Well, how do you like that, Catty?" Huntara taunted as she kicked up the spear into the air, twirling it about in front of her before gripping it in her left hand. Now, the brave hunter was gripping a weapon in each hand, while Catra appeared to have none. "I'm almost going to feel bad about this next part."

"Ghhhhhhh!" Catra didn't care. With the ferocity of a wild animal like she was, she ran straight for the huntress who was armed and at the ready. Huntara watched the girl with a grin, preparing both her weapons firmly in each hand as the cat prepared to strike her. With two weapons for the price of none, she was going to claim an easy victor-

*skreeek!*

"AHHHHH!" Huntara yelled as she grabbed the side of her left arm. Instead of charging straight at the huntress the entire way, at the last second, Catra sidestepped the hunter, dashing across her left side in the blink of an eye as she slapped her knuckle across the arm. Looking at the damage directly, she became shocked to see three solid scratch marks against her arms, nearly breaking the skin in the process as it left three painful red marks. "Scratch marks? But how-!" She stopped as she saw her.

There, Catra stood with a smirk across her face, holding three separate claws in between each of her fingers in each hand. Thankfully for Catra, Huntara did more than an adequate job in removing the claws for her as they were well over an inch in length, each of them nearly the size of her pinky, and sharp enough to cut through living creatures like butter.

Against Huntara, they would've been no different than the average cut, but she didn't care. She was just glad to have some of her old pals back.

"How did you...!" Feeling around her neck, she realized her entire necklace was gone, the one she made out of Catra's own claws. That's when it finally hit her.

The spear Catra through wasn't targeted or aimed at the hunter herself, she was aiming them at the handcrafted necklace she made out of Catra's claws. She had just enough time to remove them from the spear in the ground as she collected it before the hunter managed to smack her away. Spear or no spear, Catra was no less dangerous now than she was with Huntara's weapon.

"How nice of you to give me back my very own claws." Catra teased, admiring the view of her beauties as she gave a threatening look to the hunter. "Allow me to return the favor.

With her preferred weapons back in her hands, or at least to the sides of them, Catra attacked the huntress head on as Huntara rushed in turn. Slamming the sword against the girl, Catra quickly backpedaled in the nick of time to avoid the overhead strike, grabbing onto her wrist as she pushed her feet off the ground, and planting them firmly into the huntress's face. With the huntress tilting back a little, Catra followed it up as she jumped behind her, scraping her claws against Huntara's left arm as she did so, and grinning as Huntara was on the receiving end of the pain for once.

Trying to counter the girl's attack like she always did, Huntara attempted to smack her away from the side as she pulled her fist back, lazily and predictable enough for Catra to duck out of the way in time as she jumped over the huntress again, this time leaving three more scratches against the left side of her face.

Out of reflex, the hunter attempted to rub at the sore cheek out of pain, giving Catra the perfect opportunity to toss her off her feet. Grabbing at the raised hand, Huntara surprised by the swift assault that Catra was managing, she found herself being lifted off her very feet by the struggling feline as she pulled the girl in a full loop, using the momentum to chuck the girl through the air and over to a nearby boulder, crashing her straight into its side. While it was enough to get her to drop the spear, wasn't enough for her to lose her grip on the sword, knowing the fight was over the moment she ran with it.

Huntara gasped with pain at this which didn't amount to the fury welling up inside of her. She refused to be made a fool of in front of her Crimson Waste, regardless if the others were near or not. Listening closely, she could hear the girl already in the air again, coming from behind as she planned to sink her claws into the hunter's back.

Huntara was done playing nicely with this girl.

"Haaaa-!" Roaring, Catra prepared to sink her claws the huntress's back, feeling good to end this fight with her claws at her side at long last.

The sensation of the fight nearing its end quickly faded from the back of her mind when Huntara managed to grab her fist in the palm of her hand, not even caring as the sharp claws almost dug into her skin. Like earlier, she pressed down harshly against Catra's hand, practically crushing her hand in the process as the hunter got back to her feet.

"I'm done playing games with you, Catty!" Bellowing with anger, Huntara screamed as she pulled Catra aside, slamming her back into the boulder behind her like she did at the start of this fight. Unlike last time, she eased up on the girl as she gave Catra a small warm-up of what she was capable of.

She refused to make that mistake again.

Trying to one up the hunter from where she stood, Catra tried dig her claws into her again as her hand was caught for a third time by this point. Holding onto Catra's fist, Huntara pressed her left fist painfully into Catra's stomach, watching the girl double over before she could let out a cry of pain before throwing her behind her again against the rough sand.

Catra was starting to lose the feeling in her muscles as she struggled to keep going, being pushed to her physical limits in terms of muscle as Huntara pressed on the attack.

Grabbing Catra by her very hair, she gave her a solid yank into the air as she grabbed hold of her tightly, wrapping both her arms around the girl as she pinned her arms to her side. Holding the cat in her powerful arms, Huntara charged forward directly into the boulder itself without relent, Catra never realizing where she was taking her until the last second.

By then, it was already too late.

*CRASH!*

Like a wrecking ball, the hunter crashed Catra through the solid two-foot thick boulder as Huntara toppled over her, throwing her over the distance with a roll as she watched Catra painfully collide with the ground.

Taking in the brunt of the impact on her back and half her joints still sore from the slinging, Catra was fumbling as she struggled to get up, squeezing her eyes tightly in pain as she tried to get up to her feet. She was having a hard enough time alone trying to push herself up to her knees as her arms and legs buckled under their own weight. Worst of all, wherever her claws were now, they were long gone and buried underneath the sand, having lost the grip of them by the time Huntara slammed her back into the boulder.

Huntara panted heavily at this as she wiped her chin, still giving a mild glare at the cat who refused to call it quits or knew when to give up. If nothing else, she could appreciate the determination Catra had in her bones. It almost made her feel guilty about ending her and this fight, knowing that a winner was only determined by the last man or woman standing.

Soon, Catra would be neither of those.

"I have to admit, you surprised me." She commented, wiping her chin as she casually walked over to the downed cat. In an act of desperation, Catra attempted to fling a handful of sand at the hunter, jumping straight at her with her fist pulled back before even seeing Huntara block the sandy attack with her arm. Moving it away just as fast, she knocked Catra back down again with a single punch, Catra grumbling in pain and anger as she realized she was losing.

"You got a lot more muscle and creativity in those puny fists of yours. I can imagine you would've won the fight a long time ago if you still had your claws, wouldn't you?" Looking ahead of herself, she saw as Catra attempted to pull herself over to a nearby rock she saw sticking out of the ground, which would've made the perfect bludgeoning tool if Huntara didn't spot this. In a simple swipe, she grabbed the back of Catra's right foot as she was an inch away from reaching it, pulling the girl against the sand over to her.

Catra barely had the time to roll herself over to her back before a large hand gripped the entirely of her throat. She could see Huntara's irritated face scowling at her, her sword gripped in her left hand as she suffocated her in the right. With all the injuries Catra had sustained and the advantage of strength Huntara had, they both knew this would be the end.

"Akk...eck... khhh..." Catra gasped as she struggled to breathe, trying to pry Huntara's hand from her throat. If she never had to contend with those stupid flingers striking at her joints, she could've pressed on for a lot longer throughout the fight. She was sure she could've.

"If it means anything, you definitely proved yourself strong, Catra. Really strong. But strength alone isn't going to mean much without the will to press on." It was a pointless life lesson Catra wasn't caring to hear as it became harder to breathe. "I'll make sure your friends go home safely after this, you have my word. But as for you..." She smirked. "I doubt you'll be sitting for the next year after this." She said, referring to Catra's tail and the soon-to-be lack thereof.

"Fffff... he..." Catra mumbled, slapping away weakly with each passing attempt to pull the hand away. "Ghhh... nor..."

Huntara blinked looking bored with the cat as her eyelids drooped partway. "Huh?"

"T... r..."

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Huntara teased a little, drawing the magicat closer to her ear, knowing she was in no position to bite her.

"I... said..." All at once, a serious expression filled Catra's face as the pain seemingly left her body. At this, the magicat finally wrapped her tail over the blade of her sword. "For the Honor of Grayskull."

*SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!*

In a powerful bursting light, the mighty hunter was blown away by the sheer force of power being drawn to the girl, scraping her feet twenty feet away against the ground as she attempted to shield her eyes with both her arms. "WHAT?!"

And from their magnificent glow, the red cape slowly formed from behind her, connecting between the two as it slowly descended down to Catra's thigh.

With this, her transformation had come to an end, and She-Ra had been formed.

Transformation complete, Huntara gazed at the mighty warrior in shock and wonder, seeing the magicat's transformation for the first time and in person. She had never seen someone come from the brink of defeat like that, to transform out of nowhere, and turn into a powerful figure like the one standing before her.

Catra's final gamble had paid off in the end.

Pretending to be losing her strength, getting Huntara to drop her guard long enough for Catra to get close, she just needed the perfect opportunity to reach closer to her sword, long enough for her to say those sacred words while touching it at the same time.

It was times like this she was glad to have a tail.

Despite the impressive transformation, Huntara refused to back down as she charged the unwavering Catra head on, pulling back her fist with all of her strength. Like every time Catra had attempted when it came to a headon collision, She-Ra had managed to easily grasp the hunter's hand, surprising her further with the newfound strength in her arms as she acutally forced Huntara down to her knees a little bit.

She wasn't as ruthless as that, of course. No, no, she just got done being smacked around by the mighty hunter who continued to struggle against her iron grip. Catra was going to make sure she felt an ounce of the payback she inflicted on her.

Starting with her face.

*Wham!*

Huntara was shot like a canon out of the air as Catra uppercut her with her free hand, sending the hunter soaring through the air over the desert wasteland and crashing her back into the pile of rubble she crashed Catra through. Unlike Catra, Huntara still managed to rise up from the rubble, wiping the scrape on her chin with anger as she refused to quit.

Seeing Huntara charging directly for her, Catra decided to meet her directly, charging straight for the woman with all her might as she ran across the sands, her trusty sword back in the palm of her hands. Flashing with a brilliant golden light as the two figures approached, as Huntara regathered her spear from the ground, Catra morphed her sword into the trusty shield she knew that would keep her safe, bashing the spear right out of Huntara's grip before smashing her in the face with the very same shield.

Much like her fist, the impact was enough to send her through the air again, but this time, Catra was ready to end it. Morphing her weapon into a trusted lasso, giving it a few quick twirls, she managed to throw an impressive shot nearly thirty feet away into the air, just latching onto Huntara tightly as the rope closed around her, pinning her arms to the side.

Growling with an unbridled fury, Catra gave a mighty heave as she pulled back, slamming Huntara back into the sand away from her, landing her close to the very spear she knocked away a second ago, and watching the air fill with a puff of dust and sand from the impact, Huntara coughing in pain as her back slammed against the ground.

Incapacitated as she was, Catra jumped into the air from her spot, much higher than she was previously capable of, before landing right at Huntara's side, surprising her more and more as the end drew near. Giving a stern look to the woman, still holding her with her lasso, Catra picked up the spear an arm's reach away, pointing it directly at Huntara's neck as the huntress came to realize her situation.

She had finaly lost.

Yet, even as she did, she showed no signs of fear or remorse. She couldn't account or explain Catra's bizarre transformation, and she didn't care. With a look of determination, seeing the spear pointing directly at her neck, she stared at the wildcat with determination in her eyes.

"Do it." She told her, getting a small growl out of the transformed wonder.

"You don't think I won't?" Catra spat, poking the tip of the spear at the neck.

"I know you won't, which is why you need to do it." Huntara replied. "This fight isn't over until one of us are left standing. I made that very clear when this fight began." Catra gave a low growl at this, hating to be told what to do even when it was something she felt like doing. "Once you claim victory, the Crimson Waste will be yours to lead as you see fit." To this, she finally looked off to the side in regret. "Just... promise me you'll keep everyone safe. That's all I ask."

"Ghhhh..." Clearly the woman didn't know how this worked, did she? First, she was supposed to beg and scream for her life. Second, someone was supposed to convince Catra not to go through with her little vendetta against people who betrayed her. And lastly, she was supposed to decide for herself as to whether or not she would go through with it.

She got the last part down, but the first two steps were too important to ignore.

Then again, she had a point. When Catra won, she could take command over the Crimson Waste. She would be saving her friends if they were still okay, she could add the Crimson Waste's numbers to the Rebellion's army, and she'd get something partially close to a kingdom like she always wanted. Maybe this was Karma's way of paying up for her personal sacrifice?

Plus, one big factor that played into it was the sword itself. It didn't flash, it didn't glow, it didn't' give any sort of indication that Catra should ignore her quest for vengeance like it usually did. It didn't seem to respond to anything as she contemplated her thoughts. She wasn't feeling her powers weakening, it wasn't taking away any of her strength or amor, there wasn't anything. It's like it was fine with whatever Catra was willing to choose.

Or, because it already knew what she would have.

"Go on, do it!" Huntara ordered, tightening her expression as the two glared into each other's eyes. "I know I would do it, and you're just like me." Catra grimaced at the statement as she tightened her grip on the spear. "It's the right thing to do, Catty."

"... Yeah, it is." Finally agreeing with it, she gave the spear a small twirl before screaming, plunging the spear straight at Huntara.

*SHNK*

And like that, the battle was over. Catra had finally won. She did exactly as Huntara told her, and plunged the spear directly at the hunter's throat without any sense of remorse for her actions or caring about who lied before her.

Too bad she missed by several inches away from her neck.

Shifting her eyes briefly at the spear sticking out of the ground next to her, Huntara looked back as Catra leaned closer to her head. "But I'm nothing like you." With this final statement, she released the hold on Huntara at long last, turning her sword back to normal as she pulled it to her side. "And the name, is She-Ra. NOT Catty." With the last of her words said, Catra finally turned away from the girl as she began to walk away.

"She-Ra?" Huntara blinked, realizing her life had been spared and by a remarkable figure known only to legend. "You're She-Ra? You look so much more different than I pictured." Catra stopped at this, turning around with a tip of confusion, surprise, and irritation.

"Funny you should happen to know about that." Catra commented, walking back over to the defeated huntress. "Then again, you'd be surprised what people can learn," her eyes narrowed a little, "when they're from the Horde..." Catra had known, had realized, up to this point. With all the struggles and similarities she's seen between the hunter and herself, it would've been a surprise if she wasn't from the Horde at this point.

Huntara turned her eyes away briefly with her own sense of shame, regret filling her mind over the history of her own life. "I was with the Horde, but I left." She replied. "They told us we were heroes freeing Etheria from the evil Princesses."

"Tell me about it..." Catra muttered, rolling her eyes a little.

"But when I saw what we were doing, how Hordak just threw soldiers away..." She couldn't finish her own sentence there. All she could do was look back to the person with a similar walk of life like hers. "Well, you know what we saw. You were one of us." Catra squeezed her fist as she looked away, remembering all the bad and, well, badder, times she had growing up. "You don't forget the image of a village desecrated before your eyes, do you?"

"... No... you don't." Catra replied. It didn't matter if she was the one who desecrated it in the first place, or if she came to it after. From day one since she left the Horde, the one memory she couldn't ignore was the first village they found burned to the ground, picturing the lives that were lost among the old.

And when she recalled the image of the doll she found within the rubble, the young as well.

"But I'm trying to make up for my mistakes. I joined the Rebellion, I became their greatest warrior!"

"Then you are a fool." Huntara spat, standing up to the figure who could easily break her in her current state. "One girl can't make a difference against the might of the Horde, even a tall shiny girl like you. It's useless to try."

"At least it beats waiting around to die!" Catra shot back. "I'm not just one girl fighting against them, I have an army behind me, allies at my side and... and friends. My mistake was never changing how I was in the past. That cost me my personal life. My solution is trying to fix the future, to make up for the mistakes I was too selfish to fix on my own. To stop the Horde, to stop their armies, and..." Her eyes softened a little as she continued. "To keep the people I care about safe."

Huntara looked away as she said this. She knew a thing about mistakes from her own past, ones she was too stubborn to ignore or try to fix with her own two hands. By the time she mustered any sense of courage to do so, it was already too late. The stains of those memories were forever printed on her hand, and in her memories. And they would haunt her for the rest of her days.

Seeing this for herself, Catra grabbed Huntara by the shoulder, turning her a little until she was looking into Huntara's eyes. "Huntara, I know what its like, okay? To try and ignore all the problems in your past and hoping they'll just go away. But it doesn't work! It'll just keep growing and growing until you can't bare it any longer. And that's why I need you to help us find what we're looking for, so I can help save everyone else from what we're going through. To keep them from feeling the same pain we're feeling right now To keep everyone from repeating what we've done."

Raising a hand to the mighty huntress, she gave her a firm look of solemness, of pain. "Huntara, I need your help to stop the Horde. Please-"

"You need to step away from her." At the sound of a familiar pink satyr, Catra looked back, feeling anger already welling up inside of her at what she saw.

Thirty feet away they stood. All of Huntara's goons and allies, probably up to about twenty of them now, grinning at the magicat as they held their weapon. Among them, two particular outlaws, the pink satyr and the blue lizard from the start of all this, had the nerve to go above and beyond getting Catra's anger riled up.

In both their arms, they held Bow and Glimmer respectively, with the lizard's holding two of Glimmer's arms behind her back and a pair around her neck, and the other one holding Bow in a headlock, pointing the blowpipe directly at his neck. As if that wasn't enough, surrounding both of them were several of Huntara's soldiers, pointing makeshift daggers and spears at their necks in case they pulled a fast one.

Glimmer refused to back down as she struggled against the lizard's tightening grip, especially around her neck, as Bow struggled and tried to think of a way out of this at the same time, knowing any escape would result in a handful of nasty spears and daggers being thrown into them.

And boy was Catra mad.

"Let them go!" She growled angrily, transforming her sword into an elongated spear, the same size as Huntara's own.

"Ah, ah, ah." The satyr grinned back, holding Bow's neck tighter. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I don't think you'd be willing to go through your friends just to hurt us, would you?" Immediately, panic overtook Bow and Glimmer's mind as the archer looked back with worry.

"Lady, you REALLY don't know Catra like we do!" He stammered.

Catra snarled at this as she tried to think of a plan. Sure, she actually wouldn't mind going through her friends to get to them, like Bow expected, but at the very least, she didn't want to get either of them hurt in the process because of her.

"Come on, Huntara. Claim your victory or take the loot, it doesn't matter. It's time we got out of this dump." There was a silence in the air as Huntara began to walk back to the group, the fellow soldiers and allies grinning to her as she approached them. It didn't matter to them if she won or not at this point, not with the fear of her and the respect for her filling the back of their minds.

She was their leader until the day she fell.

The pink satyr grinned as Huntara approached her, grabbing the spear along the way, accepting the comforting hand as she placed her palm firmly over the satyr's shoulder. Actually... a little too firmly. Now it was starting to hurt. Now she was two feet off the ground as she was locked into Huntara's tightening grip. And before she knew it, she was suddenly tossed away at the lizard, smacking into him as the two tumbled away.

Everyone watched with shock as the two turned tail and ran, terrified of their leader's sudden reaction. Everyone was still just as frightened of her as before, if not more now thanks to her sudden and strange behavior. With Bow and Glimmer picking themselves off the ground, rushing over to Catra's side, Huntara gave a stern look to the rest of them.

"Everybody go back, now!" She ordered. There were some turns and twists of heads of the outlaws as they stared at one another, never seeing their fearless leader like this before. "NOW!" With a thunderous voice, all eyes widened in horror as everyone took off, several people screaming about how crazy Huntara was suddenly acting tonight, others thinking she lost it.

Out of all of them, one particular individual, a certain barkeeper, stared at her for a bit, giving off an uneasy vibe to the huntress before she gave her a small smile. She was her friend through and through, and despite her strange behavior, she was just glad she was okay as she calmly walked back, planning to meet up with the rest of them on their journey home.

With the sight of her comrades leaving, Huntara stared deeply into her spear, a bit of remorse crossing her expression. "You're right." She admitted aloud. "What I saw in the Horde scared me, and I ran. I couldn't deal with the pain it caused." With a newfound determination, the huntress contracted the spear again to its normal size. "But I'm not gonna run anymore. I'll face my problems head on."

With this proclamation, the two ex-Horde soldiers grinned to one another as Huntara approached her again. "And if you're trying to stop the war, then... then I will do what I can to help you." With both their fists, they gave a small pat against the back of each other's hand, a symbol of strength, a sign of respect, as they accepted one another as equals. Bow and Glimmer smiled at this, glad that things turned out alright, and proud of Catra for making a new ally.

It didn't matter to them anymore if Catra made friends with her so easily or not. If Catra was feeling as lonely as she was within the Rebellion, when the two of them weren't there to comfort her, then she could make all the friends as she wanted.

The two stared at each other in silence for a bit before Catra scratched at her cheek, lowering her ears. "Um... so, what were you referring to earlier about a ship?"

...

The desert sun was beginning to break open over the wasteland by the time Huntara had brought the group to where they needed to be. Over a cliffside overlooking a small personal wasteland of rotting and dead animals, nothing remaining save for mere bones, Bow, Glimmer, and Catra gazed and marveled at the sight ahead of them. With Catra returning to her regular form, they bore witness to a sight that was unheard of, remarkable against everything they had ever seen.

"Catra... what is that?" Bow asked, unable to take his eyes off the structure. Catra tried to think, tried to rationalize everything that came to mind. When it got down to it, there was only one answer on her mind, one thought that connected the pieces all together.

"Mara..." She whispered.

Ahead of them, in the great barren valley surrounding them, they saw the most magnificent and surprising discovery they had ever seen. A lone, large, ship, one that towered even the great canyons of this wasteland, sticking out of the ground as the sunlight reflected off its beauty from behind.

Most of the structure retained its appearance, save for a few scratches and scrapes along the alloy. The mere presence of this colossal discovery blew the wind against them fiercer, being in awe at what they were beholding, being confused by what it all menat. Out of all of them, Catra was the only one who felt a mix of hope radiating in her chest that her answers might finally be revealed, and fear at what those answers would become.

She was at the neck of her journey, she could just feel it. All she needed to do now was answer one single question:

Would the answers bring to her the salvation she was looking for?

Or would it lead to her ultimate destruction...

...

A/N: Annnd another episode COMPLETEEEEEEEED! Whoohoooooo! I can't begin to tell ya folks how excited I am for the rest of the series ^^ I mean it, we have some serious times here and there, but above all , its all good ol' fashion fun when it comes down to it. I mean god, can you imagine if the rest of the season was all just depressing and waterworks where every episode from here on out got more grim than the last for the rest of the season? Hah, that would be ridiculous ^_^!... why's everyone staring at me for?

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and I hope to see you soon! Now, to start off the next episode with... Oh... that's why people were staring...

Chapter 100: S3 Episode 3: Once Upon a Time in the Waste Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 7.8K Pre-A/N's.

Dun dun di dun dun duuuuun!

Dun dun didi dun, didi dun, didi dun, dun didi dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

Presenting for all to see and bear witness to, to experience the extravagance, the exemplary, the awesomeness that is, without a doubt, my ONE-HUNDREDTH 100th CHAPTERRRRRRRRRR!

Yes folks, we did it! We reached the glorious big 1! 0! 0! And my god!... I wish i had something more interesting to show for it XP

Lol, yeah, kind of a short chapter compared to usual, but as many know of my work, I usually post chapters within 5 minutes through the episode, and this was all I got when it came down to it. Personally, i think/hope its justified given the incredible fight i pulled off yesterday within 8 hours and the 15k i added in a single day, so some slack is a little credited i think XP lol

On a bright side, we do move on to Adora's side of the season again as we get to experience everything and anything she's going through at the moment. And if anyone remembers the first five minutes of the episode, them I'm sure you remember fondly the interesting Bar fight that took place within the first five minutes and Catra's introduction to the masses. How does Adora do it?

Wellllllllll you'll just have to read and see. Hopefully it'll be good enough. Either way, we're here with episode 3, baby, kicking off things by being the glorious 100th chapter ^^!

So, with that said, enjoy!

...

The desert sand burned beneath her feet, even with boots on. The sound of the vultures above her was a constant reminder of the place she was in, what this valley had to offer. With dozens upon dozens of large bones from here to as far as her eyes could see, Adora knew that this place earned its name as the Valley of Death for a reason. Nothing survived out here, and given the time she had left before her powers would sicken her, neither would she.

The Crimson Waste. The Nightmare of Etheria.

It still bothered her to think of all the reasons why she was out here as she wore her brown linen cloak, shielding her eyes from the blistering sun as she stared into the sky.

To think, everything, all of this, was happening because of one little mistake, one little lie. Not even a lie, a coverup at that! She admitted that Shadow Weaver had escaped at least, so that should've counted for something, right? Apparently not, because she neglected to mention she was the reason she managed to escape in the first place, even though it was due to Shadow Weaver's trickery and manipulations that lead to it.

It didn't matter, not to Lord Hordak. In the end, in his eyes, Adora was a traitor, an outcast. For one simple lie, she was deemed unworthy in his eyes after all the work she's done for him and the Horde. She was no more useful to him than the chair he sat on, possibly less than that since he could always count on it to sit on while he couldn't count on her to follow her directions. And after spending a single night in Shadow Weaver's cell, what was her punishment for such a "heinous crime"?

Why, being sent to the Crimson Waste of course! And to add insult to injury, to make sure the captain was fully aware of her predicament, she had less than four days to complete her mission.

It wasn't like he gave her this specific timestamp himself. It was the fact that that was as long as Adora could usually last before the shadows corrupting her constantly made her sick again, starting off with a fever that usually progressed more and more until she recharged in the Fright Zone again. And if she failed to return with the First Ones technology upon her return, there would be dire consequences.

This was her last chance. Her last chance to prove herself to Lord Hordak, an endeavor that was starting to feel more like a chore these days than a necessity, her last chance to prove herself as a commander, and her last chance to prove herself as a soldier for the Horde.

She couldn't allow herself to fail.

"Adora?" A voice called out to her from behind. "Adora?... Adora!" Scorpia panted as she finally caught up to the girl, the desert heat already getting to her as she sweat. "Huff... Huff... I'm surprised you can move so fast around here. Doesn't the heat bother you? She swiped at the bits of sweat dripping from her forehead.

"Well, with all the fevers I've had, I guess I'm just used to it." Adora replied, scanning the area in front of her before looking back to Scorpia a bit concerned. "You really didn't need to come with me, Scorpia. Hordak sent me to die here, not you."

"I know, and it was so noble of you." Scorpia swooned as she pulled the ex-Force Captain over, wrapping a comforting arm around her neck, choking the girl a little. "The fact you were trying to push me away to keep me safe was just beautiful!" It almost made her want to tear up. She knew she was Adora's best friend! "And it just brought us closer together."

"Mmmh..." Adora blushed a little as she pushed the claw away distancing herself. "I get that Scorpia, but you really shouldn't have come here." It didn't matter if she managed to keep Scorpia from trying to rescue her for her sake if she just came on this suicide mission with her anyway. "I'm the one being punished for lying to Lord Hordak. A lie! If he's so worked up over a simple thing like that, then it won't even matter if I bring the First Ones tech back."

Sometimes it was funny for her to think about how her life turned out within the last several months. To go from Hordak's second-in-command, a Force Captain known for her kindness and decency, and someone who's put in more effort than any other soldier of the Horde, could be looked down upon and punished for one simple mistake... It was ridiculous to her!

"One way or another, I'm dead. It doesn't matter if I complete the mission or not." She continued, lowering her head a little off to the side. "Hordak's just going to punish me even if I succeed. It's pointless." This was one of the reasons Scorpia hated seeing Adora like this.

Since the two met, the girl had been a positive source of energy around her even when times were tough. She always put her best foot forward, worked harder than anyone to accomplish her goals, and did what she could to support those around her on the side. Save for the workload this caused, there was almost nothing that could bring her down.

So whenever she saw her like this, it hurt a little inside. To see one of the most positive-looking people in the world suddenly flip their smile upside down, to think of all the things that happened to make her out this way, it was painful to witness. Adora didn't deserve whatever was causing her misery or grief, not in Scorpia's eyes. The girl had been through enough with people betraying her left and right, especially with Catra.

With a small smile, the delightful friend gave her a gentle claw on her shoulder, drawing Adora's eyes to her. "Hey, don't worry about it. It could always be worse."

"Worse than getting sent to the Crimson Waste?" She would've gladly scoffed at the comment if it wasn't Scorpia she was dealing with. "How could it possibly get worse than this?"

"Well, just think about what would've happened if you weren't sent to the Crimson Waste and Hordak punished you?" Scorpia smiled, looking up in thought as she tapped her chin. "You could've been hung, used as target practice, sentence to a guillotine, spent the rest of your life rotting in a cell, buried alive, burned at a stake, experimented on or dissected, tortured, sent to Beast Island, or thrown into a bottomless pit until starvation." She smiled back to her friend. "Doesn't that make you feel better?"

Adora's eyes were completely blank. "... Well it does now!"

"Great!" The scorpion girl smiled as she was glad to know she made Adora feel better. And completely missing the point of what Adora meant.

Now on top of everything she had to worry about just to survive out here, Adora had to panic over what would happen to her if she DID fail the mission!

At least her attempts to clear her worries came with a bit of merit as Adora saw behind the large friend. "Hey, what's that?" Adora asked, directing the scorpion to look behind her.

Over in the distance, the two saw the remains of a large skeleton, one that was hollowed out and structured like the remains of a building. It had large drapes and walls surrounding the ribs and bones of the meatless carcass that it could've been mistaken as a crudely made fort or a tent. The place actually screamed mysterious to the blond as she followed along the pathless road ahead of her, wanting to examine the place for herself.

As the two walked, Scorpia glancing around the wasteland, a familiar presence made itself known as it floated backwards alongside Adora. "Well, isn't this a nice little place? Empty wasteland, killer fauna, and everything designed to kill you out here." Aroda commented, looking up at the desert sun as she casually slipped her hands into her pockets.

"What do you want, Aroda? I'm busy." Adora murmured back, trying to remain quiet to the scorpion girl behind her that caught the sound of her voice.

"Did you say something?" Scorpia asked curiously.

"N-Nothing," Adora replied, knowing nobody else could see the living reflection of her, "just... admiring the scenery."

"Oh, yeah." Scorpia smiled as she looked around. "Once you get past all the bones buried in the sand, this place is kind of beautiful." Her smile sweetened as she saw something off to the side. "Ooooh, look, there's even a cute little birdie taking a nap over there..." Which was just as quickly replaced with concern. "I think..."

"Just use your thoughts, Adora. I can hear everything going on in your mind, remember?" Aroda instructed, wanting to keep the conversation between them in private.

Fine. Happy? Adora thought to herself as Aroda suggested.

"Much better." The reflection smiled to her as she lied on her stomach in the air, leaning an arm under her head as she stared at Adora. "So? I'm waiting."

For what?

"What do you think? It starts with a "T" and ends in a "Thank you so much for helping me back there, Aroda. You're so wise and beautiful and definitely knows what's best for me!". Or, if that's too much to think about, a simple "thank you" will suffice." It was a little charming as Adora tried to maintain the stern expression on her face as she walked on ahead, knowing she couldn't keep her thoughts to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, Aroda was right.

Up until now, Adora had been ignoring and neglecting nearly everything Aroda had saying, never trusting the person who just randomly appeared out of the mirror one day and introduced herself as her reflection. And why should she? She knew her mind was already using her magic on a subconscious level, lashing out at times when her powers needed to be recharged or her emotions were running too wild. Add a conscious that only you could see and hear to the mix, and she knew she would've been crazy for listening to it!

And yet, she was still right. Everything Adora had done up to this point were her own thoughts and feelings, using her own mind to come up with the solution to things. And how did that turn out? She failed mission after mission, specifically when the Rebellion got involved, suffered a great betrayal at one of the kingdoms that joined them for awhile, and was starting to lose more and more Horde outposts by the day to villages who promised to join the Horde!

So for the first time, Adora listened to her. She listened to what Aroda had to say, how she instructed her to do things, and above all, told her to stop being the nice guy for once. She convinced her to stop playing the nice game with people for the first time, at her hearing and judgement by Lord Hordak, and things actually worked out for her.

She got to admit to her true feelings out in front of everyone, managed to draw in some friends who refused to leave her side when Hordak threatened to strike her, and she finally felt a load off her chest of everything she's been bottling up for the last several months.

It felt good. Really good. And she had Aroda to thank for that.

With a gentle sigh, Adora's expression softened a little as she turned her head away from the floating girl. Thank you, Aroda... She sheepishly thought to herself. It still didn't mean it felt any better to be thanking a living figment of your conscious or imagination.

With a chuckle, Aroda closed her eyes and smiled. "You're quite welcome, Adora." She politely replied. "Trust me. Just keep listening to me, and I promise, everything will work out for the better." With a final ta-ta, she gave a simple wave to the girl before fading along into darkness.

*crunch*

Adora was so preoccupied with everything that she didn't even notice the skull she crushed underneath her foot, and she didn't care. It was like Aroda said. If she kept letting her feelings get the better of her around every little thing, then she was never going to be a worthy commander, provided she got her job back when this was over.

"This place must be abandoned." Scorpia said, looking at the entrance of the giant skull as the two made their way through. "According to Force Captain orientation, the Crimson Waste is completely deserted."

"Then it's better for us, right?" Adora asked back, pulling along a door-like curtain to the interior. "As long as we don't bump into anyone out here, there shouldn't be any-" Adora stopped as she turned ahead, staring at the sight before her with Scorpia.

All around the place, which apparently turned out to be a tavern, was filled to the brim with thugs and outlaws who shot the girls a dirty look. All of them looked like they came from all corners of Etheria, the criminals of the underworld, and the people trying to escape their kingdoms' laws. Not one of them stared back at the two with a simple look or a smile. They all had glares to their eyes, the softened of them with a stern expression. Even the barkeeper looked a little less than friendly as she worked.

This was truly the kind of people she could expect from the Crimson Waste. Outlaws, bandits, and who knew what waiting to actually stab them in the back when they least expected. If the outside wildlife wasn't enough to kill them, then anyone around here definitely was.

"-trouble." Adora finished, observing the room in front of her.

"... Or that information could be completely wrong." Scorpia said with an awkward smile, missing as Adora rubbed her eyes in irritation. "Man, maybe I should've skipped orientation, haha, you know what I mean?" She joked, seeing if she could brighten Adora's mood a little more.

"Uggg-" It did not.

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"-ggghhhh!" Adora groaned deeply, letting out a large huff of annoyance as she entered the room.

"Why am I not surprised Hordak didn't provide us with any information?" She questioned, ignoring the few faces she was getting as Scorpia stuck close behind, watching for a moment as someone spat into a spittoon. "He sent me out here to die, why would he bother trying to help me at this point? He probably wouldn't have had any useful information anyway with all the time he spends in his lab."

She took a look at the seats next to the counter, not finding a single one vacant for her or her friend. "Hey, do you mind? My friend and I have been walking all day." Adora asked as she shrugged the shoulder of a large blue lizard wearing a cloak.

*HSSHHHHKKK!*

Adora leaned back at this, feeling as if the intimidating hiss was going to be followed by a bite. Normally when someone reacted this way to her, she would've shrugged it off as normal, picturing it was just the individual having a bad day. Usually this would've result in nothing more than letting each other pass beside them, or letting the person get their aggression out until they were ready to talk. That was the old Adora.

This was the new Adora.

*HAAAKKK!*

Gathering a bundle of shadows from under her cloak, the blond soldier gathered a dozen vein-like tendrils to cover the sides of Adora's face, making her look like she usually did whenever she got sick. Back then, it was usually a sad sight to see given the sorry state Adora seemed to be in with the fever and everything.

Here, it was downright terrifying to the lizard as Adora growled back ferociously with the looks that could kill. Seeing the shadows gather around her face like that lead him to believe that was her when she had little to be angry about. What terrified him, aside from the face she made, was picturing how scary she could look if he gave her a reason to be anymore mad than she was now.

Refusing to take a chance at that, the lizard quietly hissed away in fear as it ran from the table, Adora returning the shadows to her side as her face cleared up. She grinned a little as she took the seat with satisfaction, finally having a chance to get off her feet after the last five hours of wasteland. Turning to her right, she gave a small scowl at the other patron staring at her, already bringing up a bit of her shadows as she did the other guy.

The snakeman was already terrified before she gathered even half of her shadows like the first time.

"Hey, Adora," Scorpia interrupted quietly, blocking off her sight of the lizard with a calm look, "I'm not questioning your leadership here, but maybe we shouldn't pick on a heavily armored crowd?"

"I'm not trying to pick a fight, Scorpia." Adora replied softly, keeping her face covered with her hood, resting her arms over the counter. "I'm just keeping us safe. These guys are just like Catra, and the only way you'll get them to listen is to intimidate them a little. Besides, it's not like they could do anything worse than sending me to the Crimson Waste-"

"Good riddance to that Catra girl." All of Adora's attention shot back to the other end of the counter as she heard this, seeing a pink satyr and the familiar lizard she just scared off chatting to one another.

"You have to be joking..." It was like Catra was following her, intending to cut her off at any path, even going as far as to beat Adora to wherever she needed to go. Was that what was going on here? Was she following her? Or was it a case of pre-following her, by showing up where she knew she was going?

"They caused enough trouble as it is. If I ever see that boy or his sparkly friend, or that feisty little feline again, I swear, I'm gonna-" The satyr was cut off as she was suddenly grabbed from behind by the shoulder, Adora turning her around as she looked deeply into her eyes.

"Which way did they go?" Adora needed to know.

Staring at her, the satyr gave her a smug growl, already acting aggressive as she scanned Adora from top to bottom. "Who are you?"

"You said there was a sparkly girl, a boy, and a stubborn cat. I need to know where they went." Adora asked again.

*whap*

"Back off, blondie." The satyr ordered, shoving Adora back to her chair, almost tripping her up before she grabbed the countertop. "We don't like outsiders and we don't like question, so buzz off!"

"Leave her alone!" Scorpia stood between the two a little defensively, looking down at the satyr who wasn't afraid to glare back.

"It's always nice to know your bodyguard is around to fight your battles for you. Isn't it Adora?" Aroda teased as she sat on the countertop behind her.

The two stared at each other in irritation for a bit before Scorpia walked back to her friend, offering to help her up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Scorpia." Adora assured, refusing the offer as she pulled herself up. "I can handle the riff raff around here. I've taken on worse, remember?"

"Uh, right." Scorpia scratched the back of her head a little. "Why exactly were you asking them about Catra and the others? Last thing I remember, Hordak sent us here to find First Ones Tech, not those guys. So why do we need to know which way they were going?"

"Think about it, Scorpia. Everytime we go somewhere to find new tech, Catra and her stupid sidekicks are always after the same thing. So wherever they went, we want to go to the same place before they reach it." Adora explained, squeezing her fist a little angry as she looked away. "Seriously, of all the places to go to, why did it have to be this exact location now of all times? We're in a desert for crying out loud!" Refusing to be denied her answers, Adora brushed past Scorpia as she approached the satyr again.

"She had the nerve to-" Like before, the satyr was cut off mid-sentence as Adora grabbed her by the shoulder, this time a little more forcefully as she scowled.

"Hurry up and spit it out." She demanded. "Tell me where they're going right now." And just like before, the satyr ignored her question, slapping away her hand as she stood at nearly twice Adora's height.

"There are only two rules in the Crimson Waste." She stated as the lizard stood behind her, copying her as she held up a finger. "One, the strong make the rules. And two, the weak die around here." She shifted her eyes over to the right for a moment as the lizard whispered something into her ears. "I know that's not the rule but Huntara isn't here right now, is she?" She snapped a little.

As if to show the Horde soldier she meant business, she suddenly yanked Adora closer to her by the collar of her cloak, holding up a rusty stone carving knife to her throat.

"Adora!" Before Scorpia could rush to her side again, she heard the telltale hiss of the snakeman behind her brandishing his own stone knife. Around her, she saw several other people slowly rising out of their chairs, ready to attack at a moment's notice if things turned violent.

"Do you understand me, blondie?"

"Oh no, she has a knife!" Aroda pretended to gasp, giving a small, knowing, grin to Adora as she spoke from the counter behind her. "Whatever will wittle Adowa do?" This is exactly what Adora had been dealing with all her life, in some shape or form.

Letting people boss her around, letting people threaten her when all she did was give them a warning before the violence started. Usually, it proved effective enough as the people dispersed. However, annoyingly enough, it would still happen time and time again. Why? Because, as she came to realize it within the last few days, she was being too nice.

She was letting people have the last laugh, she was letting people talk down to her because she seemed like the average girl to everyone. She didn't care if people saw her that way, what she cared about was trying to break up the violence so she could continue on her own work. And even out here in the Crimson Waste, where life was supposed to be barren, she was still getting the same attitude from everyone else, from the people she barely knew to begin with.

So why bother?

"... Mhh... Tch... Ahahahaha!" The room went silent at the sound of Adora's burst of laughter, everyone staring at her with a mix of confusion and other emotions at the girl who laughed at the knife to her throat. The satyr blinked to the lizard behind her, the one who returned her look with a shrug, before glaring back to the girl.

"What's so funny?!" She grumbled, pressing the knife a little closer to her.

"Hahahahahaha!" Adora couldn't help it. The more she thought about it, the more it actually became funny to her! "Oh, man, you're... you're serious aren't you? Hahahaha!" She could feel herself tearing up a little, brushing away a few streaks of hair in front of her eyes as she tried to calm herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just... Ahh, gosh, that was so funny."

"What was?"

"Oh you know, the whole "trying to intimidate me" thing." She replied, wiping away her tears. "I've seen it a thousand times, and that was by far the worst."

"You wanna say that again you little-!" The satyr's eyes suddenly lit up as she felt Adora grab her hand. What became a simple gesture turned into something a little more unsettling as a swarm of shadows starting to gather around their hands, the satyr watching with disbelief as her shadows formed into a large hand-like claw, nearly twice the size it was originally, in both her hands. "What the-"

*crunch!*

"Ahhhh!" The satyr cried out in pain as Adora barely squeezed down on her hand, forcing the satyr to drop the knife as she pushed her to her knees.

"And I hate people who are trying to ruin my day." She steamed. She didn't care if she could afford up to about three hours of using her powers during this adventure, unless she wished to power through the fever and make it worse. It was high time she got some things off her chest as she finally released her grasp, walking to the other end of the countertop slowly.

"You wanna know what a bad days is for me?" Adora asked out loud, ignoring the seething satyr who rubbed her aching hand. As she spoke, Adora pressed her left claw to the counter, scraping the tips of it eerily against the wooden surface. "A bad day is when you do everything right, and somehow mess up." Scorpia watched her as she stepped out of her way. "A bad day is when you follow your orders right down to the period, and you still fail. A bad day is when you work your best to impress someone you look up to, and they shun you for it."

"Hssss!" The snakeman she approached gave her an aggressive hiss as he charged her, still holding up the knife. To someone like Adora, this was nothing more than someone trying to tag her with something.

All she needed to do was to sidestep the assailant as he tripped over her boot, dropping the knife in the process. Before he hit the ground, Adora's scowl deepened as she grabbed the snakeman by the back of his thin shirt, pulling him over and tossing him through the air over to a nearby table, crashing into it and destroying it completely in the process.

The wolf men who watched this watched in surprise before giving the girl the same look of irritation as the rest of the bar did, all while Adora picked up the knife the snake dropped.

"So when someone threatens me with a knife, I don't feel bothered. I've seen what true intimidation looks like, I've seen what pure hatred is in someone's eyes." Adora recalled all the times Hordak looked at her in disgust as she climb atop the counter, still staring at the knife. "This, is nothing to me. It's a kitchen knife, a butterknife, a plastic knife. A useless knife!" With a fire in her eyes, Adora carelessly threw the knife to her side, stabbing it straight in the middle of another groups card game.

Still watching the girl, everyone saw as Adora pulled off a bottle of juice she saw over the bar's counter with her shadowy tendril, connected to a rack full of other bottles that stood alongside it. Without any reason that concerned her, she casually popped open the cork, taking a sip of it before offering Scorpia. Tired and dried out from the desert sun, Scorpia was more than happy enough to oblige, playing up Adora's strange behavior as her acting the part.

"Hey, you're supposed to pay for that!" The barkeeper yelled, only to go silent as Adora shot her a look.

"... So when someone threatens me with a knife, I have to think to myself. Why would they be so stupid to do such a thing to begin with? A friend wouldn't try to threaten me with a knife?" Adora continued to ask around, taking another sip of the drink as Scorpia offered her some more.

*crash!*

Blinking as Adora drank, Scorpia turned around to see the orange frog person standing behind her. In his hands he held the remains of the now-broken apart chair, the very chair that he bashed over the girl's head with all of the weak force he head. And she just stared at him like it was nothing with a small glare.

"Hey!"

*wham!*

"You could hurt someone like that!" She stated. She wasn't really clear on whether or not the strange frogman got the point or not as Scorpia bashed him across the room, sending him flying over to the nearest wall where he tore some of the drapery. Then again, when someone snuck up behind you and tried to bash a chair over your head, you weren't really inclined to be nice to them back.

Drinking the remaining few gulps of the juice that was left, her ears picked up the sound of a wolf man charging at her from behind, turning around in time to see him at arm's reach as he swiped at her with her ferocious claws. Seeing how she couldn't talk with her mouth full anyway, she spat the remaining juice in front of his eyes eyes, causing him to squeal a bit as he rubbed his eyes hastily.

With the wolf temporarily blinded and the rest of her beverage tossed away, she decided to toss away the rest of the garbage surrounding her. Grabbing onto the wolf's hairy arm, giving it a bit of a twirl, she grumbled as she tossed the wolf over the counter, straight into the rack of bottles the barkeep had lined up on their sides. At least several of them broke upon impact as the rest shook from the vibration, the barkeep looking in shock at the unconscious wolf before looking back to Adora.

"Take whatever he has and consider it payment." It was less of a recommendation and more like an order as Adora told her. While not outright robbing the man, the barkeep kneeled to his side, checking him over and taking any jewelry as instructed, if only out of fear.

Smirking at the sight, Adora turned her hate-filled gaze back to the satyr, one who began to tremble in place as Adora slowly approached her, scraping her clawed arm against the counter again. "And then I realize, only an enemy would be threatening me with a knife. And that's just laughable, really." The next and last brave fool to try and assault Adora probably did the most damage compared to the rest of them.

Which is to say, none at all.

The closest he got to was sinking his orange cat-like claws into Adora's cloak, trying to grab at the girl who ignored the feline with a bandage over his eye. Like another piece of trash, like a filth she just bumped into, she tossed him aside. With several tendrils bursting from her left arm, wrapping around his neck, arm, and leg, she tossed the cat into a small crowd of frog-like reptilian people, all of them regretting the mere thought of attacking the girl next.

The satyr shriveled as Adora squatted in front of her, her pupils shrinking at the sight as Adora scowled at her, like a timebomb just waiting to go off.

"So tell me something." Adora requested as she slithered a shadowy tendril under the satyr's chin, holding it gently. "Are we all friends here? Or are you guys going to go out of your way to make sure I have a bad day?"

"I-I- w-w-we-" The satyr struggled to speak as she shifted her eyes around.

"Don't bother asking your buddy over there." Adora said, already knowing what she was trying to look at here. As if on cue, the same blue lizardman suddenly collapsed near her from behind, the satyr watching in horror as Adora's own friend stepped out from behind. "My friend got to him first."

Nobody knew what to say right now without risking setting the irritated blond off. She just blew away several of the tavern's thugs, all of them approaching her with knives and claws in their hands, and she dispatched of them in less than five seconds each. It was one of the reasons people hated outsiders around here. They came in all shapes and variety. Some were weak, some were strong, some were mysterious. People like Adora here? Like the blond that just came into their tavern out of nowhere?

They were terrifying. She was terrifying. And this was her in a good mood so far.

None of them were brave enough to try and assault the soldier next as they began to turn away from the violent blond, going back to their own business as if nothing had happened. Those without a table to sit at made due with standing around someone else's or finding a different spot to sit on. Everyone knew their chances against this girl was zero, and that was if they were lucky.

Adora had made it perfectly clear to the rest of them as they left the satyr on her own. Cross Adora, and you get the shadows. Anger Adora, and who knew what was going to happen to you. And none of them were brave enough to find out.

Gulping a little, the satyr gave the mysterious and terrifying stranger a nervous smile, trying her best to appease the girl's anger. "O-Of course, we're all friends here. We don't even think of you as outsiders. You are okay with us- Eh, I mean more than okay. You're great with us. We don't even see you or your friend as an outsider!" She shot a nervous pair of thumbs up to the girl. "We'll take you anywhere you want to go, boss."

Even Adora's smile was unnerving to her as she grinned, gently stroking the side of her face as she was satisfied. "Good girl. Then prepare to leave in a few minutes. We need a break." With a simple pat on the head, she stood up, walking back to the stool and the vacant one next to her as Scorpia sat at her side.

"Thatta girl." Aroda complimented with a grin, disappearing from Adora's view as she took her seat at the counter.

Looking around, the scorpion saw the terrified looks on everyone's faces as she slowly came back to Adora, the ex-Force Captain looking down at her shadowy fingers a little bored and disappointed with herself. Right as she was about to chat with the girl, they were interrupted by the barkeeper placing two mugs of water in front of them.

"H-Here, on the house." She offered nervously. "Just don't break anything else around here, please?" And went back again to her duties.

"Uh, thank you-" Scorpia tried to reply with a wave, only for the barkeep to distance herself as far as the other side of the counter would let her. Looking down at the drink again, she still noticed a small look on Adora's face after everything that's happened, and tried to give her a smile. "Haha, that was quite a show out there, huh, Adora?" Scorpia commented, patting on the girl's back.

For a moment, Adora almost acted on the defensive again as she turned to her, only to realize it was Scorpia patting her on the back. "Huh? Oh, right, the uh... show..." Adora rubbed the back of her head with her left arm as she looked around. For the most part, everyone was either staring in fear of the girl, ignoring the girl and going about their business, or seeing the girl looking at them before turning away in fear. "Eh... s-sorry, about that."

"Hey, what do you have to be sorry about? I get it." Scorpia assured, trying to grip her glass mug that kept slipping out of her claws. "You were just trying to keep up appearances and everything, right? A little intimidation?"

"Y-Yeah, that's what I was going for." Adora said with a small smile as she gripped her mug at the same time Scorpia did, the girl holding it in both her claws carefully. With a tink of the class, the two girls downed a bit of their beverage, Adora only taking a small sip of hers as Scorpia chugged hers down. "Just... intimidating..."

She wouldn't deny it felt a little good in the end. She didn't care so much about trying to scare everybody around her as long as she made her point to them. She wasn't going to allow any of them to bother her or her friend during this time. Anyone who tried to cross her or slow down her last chance to prove herself to the Horde was going to get smacked away like the insects they were.

"I'll say. I mean, you may have gone a little overboard with the table smashing part, but other than that you really showed them." Scorpia continued, patting her friend on the back again. "Besides, you said it yourself. They're just like Catra, a bunch of crooks and everything. It's not like you'd do that to your real friends in the Horde, right?"

"Y... Yeah, of course not." Adora smiled to her, taking another drink of her refreshment. Maybe that was why it was so easy for her to bash them around like that? Because she was picturing them as Catra to her? It's not like she needed an excuse to explain herself, seeing how she was doing it to defend herself and her friend from them. She just needed an explanation as to why it felt so... good, for a change. To get all that weight off her chest, for once.

With all the supply and demand and the workload the Horde had given out to her, there was never a chance of peace for the girl, with the closest thing to it being the times she hung out with Scorpia and Entrapta. And with all the work that has been building over the last several weeks alone, there was even less time to cool off with them.

Whatever the case was, it didn't matter. She showed her strength to everyone, she warned them about not threatening the two of them. As long as everyone did as they were told, as Adora needed them to, things would turn out just fine.

Maybe the mission will actually be successful for once!

"U-Um..." Hearing the sound of the satyr's voice again, Adora hardened her expression once more as she put on her display. "W-We're ready to go when you are... b-boss. As soon as he," she paused, giving the lizard next to her a small kick to wake up, "gets up."

"Good. And make sure you know were you're taking us." Adora warned, narrowing her eyes. "I wouldn't want to be you if I found out you were lying to me..."

"N-Nope, no lies. Honest." She assured her, grabbing the lizard's tail as she tried to wake him up while pulling him to the door.

"Awww, Adora." Scorpia moaned, catching the girl's attention again.

"Huh? What?" She wondered if she said anything that actually concerned her just now. As it turned out, there was something else the girl should've been concerned with that she suddenly noticed just now.

"Your jacket's torn." Scorpia informed her, pointing to her left arm.

"Huh?" Adora blinked at the sight of it in a bit of surprise. Like Scorpia told her, the entire left sleeve of her jacket was torn apart, finding the shredded remains of it on the floor a few feet away. "Ah, man. It must've been when that dumb cat guy grabbed me." She actually was a little disappointed in the realization. She probably would've noticed sooner if her shadows weren't keeping her forearms safe from any attack.

In the state it was now, the jacket was officially useless. With such a large tear in the red coat to the point where everything was torn from the sleeve to half the jacket itself downwards, there was no more use for it. It wouldn't keep her warm in the cold, it wouldn't keep her dry in the rain, and it wouldn't protect her thin sleeve white shirt from getting any worse. There was no means to repair it either. Unless she knew someone who could stitch together centimeter-sized tears, it wasn't going to happen.

"Aww, man." Adora sighed. Already, she was losing her favorite piece of clothing. Maybe her foolish optimism would've proven pointless after all. With a small bit of regret, the girl removed her bright red coat as she took one last look at it. "Guess I won't be needing this anymore." There wasn't going to be any point dragging around a useless piece of clothing like this slowing her down. The last she needed was some poisonous insect or lizard biting or stinging her out of nowhere, and she couldn't keep her shadows around forever.

With a heavy heart, she bid farewell to her precious jacket as she flung it behind herself, ignoring the table it landed on or the thugs who ran away at the sight of it. There was a small frown on both girls faces as Scorpia watched the jacket land softly against the table, trying to do what she could to keep her mood up with a small smile.

"It'll be okay. We can find you a new one when we get back to the Fright Zone. Ooh, we can even get you a new design for it! What do you like best? I think it would be awesome if you had a large overcoat, or... huh! We could get matching coats instead!" She tried to cheer up.

As she spoke, Adora looked across from her friend, noticing the same snakeman holding a bag of ice over his head. At the mere sight of Adora staring at him, he quickly turned around in fear, whistling to himself, minding his own business. That wasn't the part of what drew Adora's attention to him. What did draw her attention was the sight of the jacket her was wearing, noticing its design.

For the most part, it was a basic black design in color, a nice cool leather fabric to it that she knew would've been sturdy, and with long enough sleeves to fit her arms perfectly so she could roll them up as needed. The real kicker to it was the design she saw on the back, a basic full-colored outline of a snake eating its own tail, like an animal constantly hungering for something, hungering for more. And Adora grinned at the sight of it, and how much it represented her right now.

It was just in her style...

...

A/N: Ah, it was so much fun writing the bar scene ^^ you know what kind of adora is fun? Writing about an intimidating adora when she has shadow powers with her X) Lol. Not much else to say on the chapter, again, sorry for the size, but hoping it was enjoyable all the same.

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Special thanks to Star Saber, Peyton Helix, Gunter Hat, Shadow Joestar, Shrinai, Petie doon, and everyone else who've supported this fanfic from the day it was born or at least a few weeks into it XP Their constant love and encouragement and blood sacrifices to the unholy Cthulu is what keeps me going these days ^^

So with that said, again, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and remember to party people: WE HIT THE BIG 100!

Chapter 101: S3 Episode 3: Once Upon a Time in the Waste Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.6k Pre-A/N's. What's going on guys, Monokub here with another exciting chapter ^^! Believe it or not, i actually finished this around 10:40 last night, I kid you not. I could even prove it if I figured out how cameras worked with computers so i can show the date this was posted in my drafts XP Only reason i didn't post last night was because it was already late and chances are people would've missed it then, so hopefully an early posting will work just as well.

As many are aware, we are on our first chapter after reaching the 100th Chapter Milestone! Seriously, i think I should get some special banner or something for that on my fanfiction author page or something. Doesn't it seem like something that should give you a special reward like a stamp or something XP? Lol

However, what many may not be aware of is that to commemorate this wonderful event, petie doon posted a new surprise picture for me over on his instagram page. If you've seen his work before, you know who I'm mentioning, and you'll get a nice little cute kick out of the picture he made. And if you haven't seen his work, you are definitely missing out because the guy is a pro artist, and a dedicated fan to my series. I guarantee you'll love his work unless your colorblind (unless you don't mind seeing just black and white pictures in which case you'll enjoy the imagrey still XP Lol.

Well with that all said, on with the show!

...

"I don't believe it." Catra muttered as she continued to stare over the horizon. "It's really Mara's ship." Of the many places to find this thing, to think of all the ruins and plausible places she could expect any First Ones Tech to pop up, a giant-sized ship standing in the middle of the desert definitely wasn't one of them.

Then again, going to the Crimson Waste didn't seem as plausible, either.

To think that after all her adventures, all the things she had to do up to this point, that her adventures would lead her to the Crimson Waste of all places. The Valley of Death, the nightmare of Etheria, it was given many a horrifying name, and for good reason.

Out here, it was either kill or be killed, with everything trying to end the lives of the three heroes at every step. From giant three-headed snakes to dangerous fauna that could freeze a person instantly, there wasn't anything safe about this place. They needed to find a guide and fast if they were to ever have a chance to survive out here.

That's where Huntara came in.

The huntress was a strong and proud warrior who was more than eager to join the trio in their quest to find the message's origin, scouring the land while keeping the weary travelers safe. During the trip, Catra found herself becoming friendly with the strong warrior rather quickly, finding many similarities and walks of life with the woman who took strength and honor as seriously as breathing around here, and showed no signs of weakness whatsoever.

It remained that way until the very end of their journey when Huntara showed her true colors to the group. Having lead them into an ambush with the intention of robbing them, she offered Catra a place within the Crimson Waste's society, a place where the strong were respected, the very strength she saw within Catra herself. Naturally, the cat took this with some misgivings over what she did with her friends, and soon joined the duo as Huntara knocked her into the hole she threw the others in. She even went the extra mile by clipping away Catra's claws so she couldn't escape on her own.

If it wasn't for Glimmer's teleportation powers, there would be no telling what state they would've been in today. All that mattered was getting their equipment back, and getting back at Huntara for betraying them in the first place. Out of all the ways it could've been done, Catra knew that the best and most fitting method was playing Huntara's own game against her.

By challenging her to a one-on-one fight to prove to everyone who was the strongest of the Waste.

After a long and brutal fight, one where each of the girls relied upon their quick wits, fists, and underhanded tactics, the fight finally came to an end with the victory going to She-Ra. All it took was getting close enough to the girl to call upon She-Ra's powers, and Huntara went down without much of a struggle.

Actually, less than that even. She was willing to offer her life as she admitted defeat, claiming that Catra had every reason to since her friends wouldn't be let go and the fight never truly ended until one of them were six feet under. It was here that Catra learned of her origin, discovering throughout the intense brawl for herself that Huntara was a Horde defector, like her, who fled the Horde after witnessing the dire and terrible deeds the Horde was forced to commit on a daily basis. She truly lead Catra's walk of life with a guilt-ridden past and a history of suffering in her own way, and for the first time, Catra could relate.

It was thanks to that detail, the fact that they were so alike, that Catra managed to convince her to join her and the Rebellion, to make up for their past mistakes and to keep everyone else they care about safe. After a brief scuffle with her goons to release her friends, the huntress proudly announced her desire to join them, and together, took her to the real center of the Crimson Waste, and brought before them a sight that was just as marvelous as it was unsettling.

Out in the horizon, standing as tall as a mountain, stood a lone ship in the middle of the Crimson Waste. It blacked out the sun from the side, it was as tall as the spires around here. It had a presence about it that screamed First Ones to them, as well as being intimidating in its own right.

Here, Catra knew that all her questions would be answered, or at least most of them. They needed to discover more about Mara, about the portals, about She-Ra. And if she had anything to tell her, anything that could assist Catra in completing her bond with the sacred sword, allowing her to unlock the sword's true potential, then it would've been worth all this chaos.

"How do you know it's Mara's ship?" Glimmer asked as Catra continued to stare, the wind howling a little as it blew past everyone.

"Light Hope showed me an image of the ship crashing. Right before the stars disappeared." Catra replied before shrugging. "Besides, giant warship in the middle of nowhere, bigger than anything else than the Horde is capable of, who else could it belong to?"

"Well I don't know who this Mara is, but that's definitely the ship that says your name on it." Huntara stated as she walked to Catra's side, staring at the towering figure.

"Wait, my name's on that thing?" Catra nearly flinched at the detail. She wondered if she could actually keep the ship once this was all over?

"Not Catra." She clarified. "It says She-Ra." Without wasting anymore of their precious time, the hunter lead the way, a somewhat concerned Catra following behind her followed by Glimmer.

"This is incredible." Bow's mind was still reeling from all they were seeing, rubbing the side of his head as he paced a little back and forth. "A First Ones ship? This thing used to travel through space!" The archer felt overwhelmed with excitement as he squeed.

Imagine it, just for a moment! A ship. A real live spaceship. A ship designed to travel through space! They were looking at one of the greatest technological marvels that the history of Etheria has ever revealed to them! There was no telling what sort of wondrous things this vehicle could house! It could have artifacts from other planets, other civilizations, or have a history of the very origins of Etheria itself.

He almost gasped at the thought as he continued thinking of the possibilities. What if, with whatever miracle was required from them, some stroke of luck hit them, and it was still functional?! They could travel through the galaxy, see different worlds, maybe multiple universes! The possibilities were endless! And it was sitting right in front of them for all to bare witness!

Eyes widening with suspense, the archer let out another gasp as he stared at the machine. "Think of all the wonderful things it contains!"

...

"... Or maybe it could be empty." He solemnly said. "That works too."

For such a technological marvel, it didn't leave much imagination upon first glance. All around them there was nothing but rust, dirty metal, wires sticking out of the walls and ground. It looked so bad that he had to question how it was even functional to begin with. Actually, he wondered if this thing ever left the planet, it looked so bad.

Catra approached the rusted metal as she felt along the walls and the plates of the great ship's exterior. "This... this can't be the right place." She tried listening closely, picking up some sort of scent that wasn't the dead and decaying desert around her, and she found nothing. "Where's Mara's message? How is the signal coming from here?"

"Has this ship always been here?" Glimmer asked Huntara as Catra continued to explore.

"The Crimson Waste got hit with the mother of all dust storms." Huntara replied. "And when it cleared, this was unearthed." The two watched the archer as he examined one of the many blank walls of the ship.

"And then people stole everything they could pry up and take." He added, realizing the nature of the ship's current state.

"Look, if they didn't want things stolen, they should've bolted everything down." Huntara shrugged back a little defensively. "Besides, no one comes here anymore."

"Eh heh. Because there's nothing left to steal?" Glimmer chuckled nervously.

"Well, that. And it's haunted.

"She-Raaaa... Etheriaaaa... Goooone..." Everyone jumped at the sound of the hollowed wails and the ghostly cries emanating from the ship. The presence of the ghostly voice was enough to send shivers down several of their spines, Bow going as far as to hide behind Huntara, as Catra remained at the head of the group.

"Where's it coming from?" She asked looking in all directions. The voice had a low echo to it, sounding as if it came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It could've been from any part of the ship. For all she knew, it might've even come from outside somewhere. That's when she noticed something else was missing. "Where's the door?" She asked looking back to the huntress. "You can't expect me to believe a ship this huge doesn't have a single entrance for such a small room."

The magicat felt her hands around the walls a bit more, drawing in closer to the group as she stared at the ceiling. "Is the ship upside down or something? Pinky, any chance you could teleport us inside?"

"Inside where?" She questioned. "Catra, without knowing what's inside, I could teleport us into the middle of a wall or through a bunch of wires. It'd be too dangerous."

"Well that's gotta be some way to get in-" Catra slowly came to a pause as she examined the floor. Backing away from the group who turned their attention at this, the magicat thought of something that might've been the key to their entrance. "Hang on." She instructed as she pulled out her sword, transforming it into a shield.

With a bit of concentration, closing her eyes, she began to gather a small pool of illuminescent magic that began to radiate from the shield's runestone, lighting the area a little. At the ground in front of her, the friends and allies watched as the outlined image below them slowly came to life, brightening with a grand white light until every crevice along the circular pattern was illuminated.

They watched with shock as the magic began to hum at the floor beneath their feet, watching in wonder as Catra continued to channel the magic as best she could. All around them the image within the large display grew with a light violet light, magic pouring in and out of the ship as their surroundings started to burst with the same type of life-giving magic that was activating the floor.

All around them, there was nothing but life. The walls became enchanted with a violet glow of energy running through their veins. Symbols, runes, even basic cracks in the walls began to glow with the endless and beautiful light. It was beautiful and mystifying to witness, and they were the lucky few proud enough to see it within their lifetime.

At long last, the final wall behind them came to life as the image of She-Ra herself, the outline at least, started to shimmer with life. With the energies spiraling and coming to life, the mechanism holding the door, the technology that combined magic and science, finally activated, and opened before the travelers on their great journey, opening before them into a hallway of darkness.

And into a swarm of ferocious bats with glowing red eyes.

"Skreeeek! Skreeek!"

"Ahhh!" The three behind the current She-Ra covered their heads in fear as they protected themselves, Catra doing nothing more than keeping her stern gaze on the approaching animals who were smart enough to fear and avoid her. To her, they were nothing more than pests that were getting in her way, and they were right to fear her if they didn't want to tangle with a She-Ra.

With the last of the bats disappearing behind them, the group turned their attention to the pitch-black hallways, being greeted by a familiar ghostly wail that greeted them the first time.

"She-Raaaa... Etheriaaaa... Goooone..." It repeated, louder and more clear with the doorway open. Whatever loomed inside, Catra was ready for. She came so close to discovering the secrets of this strange portal Bow's message displayed, the mysteries behind Adora and her origin as a First One, and, if she was lucky, discover the final piece she was missing that would finish her bond with the sword.

She just hoped it wasn't too late.

...

"Hahahaha! You really had them going!" Scorpia continued to laugh as the four continued to walk throughout the wasteland. The satyr and lizard were doing their best to ignore the two friends behind them as they were forced to lead the way. Surprisingly, it wasn't by the big tough and buffed up scorpion girl that forced the two to lead them through the wasteland. Instead, it was the the younger girl by the name of Adora, who continued to give a small smile to Scorpia's rattling.

To be fair, if anyone from the Horde saw the way Adora stood up for herself for the first time to a completely new crowd of people, they would've had the same reaction.

Normally, Adora would've tried to talk things out peacefully, to prefer using violence and mayhem as a last resort, and wouldn't have resorted to using her fists, or her magic for that matter, unless it was absolutely necessary. And considering they still had who knew how far to go within the Crimson Waste, seeing how she only had three or so hours worth of magic before she made herself sick, she was very reluctant to use it in front of a crowd like that.

So why did she do it? To intimidate them, of course.

Within the Crimson Waste where might actually equaled right, and the strong were the ones who called the shots, she couldn't afford to be the soft girl she was anymore here, much less anywhere else if she wanted to gain something close to decency and respect from the Horde. All this time she tried using peaceful methods to sort out her problems, and what did that give her?

Nothing but disgust by Lord Hordak, the very leader who sent her out on this mission to find First Ones Tech in this deadly wasteland, people betraying her wherever she went, and a whole lot of trouble that wouldn't have picked up if she just pushed back a little harder against those who pushed first.

For a change of pace, she did just that. She did push back. She pushed back against the thugs and the outlaws who threatened her and Scorpia when she was trying to discover Catra's location, knowing it would lead them to the tech they were looking for. She pushed back against the people who thought of them lightly, as outsiders that had no place within their Waste. And she pushed back when a third of the tavern tried to attack her in retaliation. And what happened then?

Nothing. And everything. All at once. Everyone left her alone, whether they were intimidated, injured, or in some cases, both. She gained some of their respect as well as their fear of her as they decided to let her come and go as she so pleased. She even got a free refreshing drink of water with Scorpia after being out in the blazing sun for the last five hours.

The only casualty this did result in was the loss of her beloved red jacket, one that was too torn up, beyond repair, beyond salvaging, and was discarded and left behind. There was no way to fix the damages done to it, and in her current predicament, there wasn't enough time. All she could do was accept the loss of her coat, and be on her way.

At least someone was kind enough to lend her their black jacket before running away in fear. It was a cosy black leather jacket that was simple in design and just perfect for her size. On top of that, it had a unique image of a snake eating its own tail on the back. For some reason, it just felt right to her, like it was a part of her now.

She hated to admit it, but Aroda was starting to prove herself right throughout all of this. Her peaceful and sincere methods were getting her nowhere when speaking her mind didn't just work, it relaxed her. It felt decent to get all her harbored troubles out of her mind, it felt nice to be able to tell everyone how she felt for a change. Without holding anything in, she felt a bit more freer this way. While she wasn't used to this whole aggressive side of things, she did have to admit.

She felt a little more relaxed than she had in months.

"I mean it, I've never seen a room full of murderous toughs look so freaked out before." Scorpia continued. The best friend didn't have any complaints to make about the scene Adora gave her and the rest of the cantina, jotting it all down to her putting on a display like she said she was going to. It was definitely a change of pace for the old Adora, and it was nice to see a smile on her face after all these troubles she's been going through. "It was truly an honor to witness."

"I'm just glad I got my point across to the rest of them." Adora replied, briefly looking to her friend before staring back at the two leading figures. "Don't give me any problems, and I won't give any trouble in return."

"Well they won't be bothering us anymore, that's for sure! Hahaha!" The large friend laughed, taking in the memories of these events with a hearty chuckle. All throughout this the satyr and the lizardman leading the two were forced to suffer as they had to listen to this banter back and forth. It was so boring, so pointless. They wanted nothing more than to be put out of their misery between these two morons.

Then again, if they did that, Adora would be the ones who make their wish come true.

*Whack!*

"Agghhhh!" The lizardman squealed as Scorpia accidentally struck him across the back, laughing too much with her eyes closed to be aware of her surroundings.

The three watched as the large lizard man was thrown through the air into a bundle of the strange cacti-like fauna around the desert, ones with thorns and vines as far as the eye could see. Seeing where he was for himself, the lizardman panicked, flailing and twisting as he pulled himself out of the plants and trying to undo the painful snares of the vines wrapped around his limbs.

All he could do was scream and panic as an entire coating of clear ice encased his entire body from head to toe, the lizardman completely immobilized within seconds of being smacked in. The only indication they had to prove that he was still alive was the way his eyes continued to dart back and forth as his jaw stood open, gurgling to the rest of them as a desperate plea for help to get out of this mess.

"Oh, oops, sorry." Scorpia apologized. "Can you carry her again?"

"Ugh..." The pink satyr groaned, rolling her eyes as she stood there.

"Hang on, Scorpia. Let me try." Adora said calmly to her friend. All that calmness and decency quickly vanished from her expression as she shot a tendril from her left hand, growing a small amount of shadowy spikes around her left arm as a sign of intimidation. "Either do as my friend says, or you're going in there next! BEAT IT!" With a panicked cry, the satyr hastily ran over to her blue friend, trying to untangle and pry her blue friend before she angered the terrifying shadow girl more.

With the two currently preoccupied in their standings, Adora returned the shadows as she and Scorpia shared a questionable look.

"... Pffft ahahaahaha!" One that was followed up by a burst of laughter between the two of them. For Adora, it was the priceless looks on their face as she threatened them and how quickly they responded. For Scorpia, it was knowing she didn't mean a word of it, and it was still hilarious to think that the other two were intimidated by her.

"Did you see the look on her face?" Adora chuckled, holding her right arm over her side as she bellowed.

"She was all like "Eeeek!" or something. Hahaha!" The scorpion girl wiped a tear from her eye as the two traveled on ahead.

"You know, all things considered, this place isn't really all that bad." Adora commented, finding it humorous how one of the most dangerous places she's been to so far was actually becoming enjoyable.

"Oh, I'm with you." Scorpia nodded as she followed behind her. The two were completely ignoring the satyr who struggled to save her frozen friend.

"Er, a little help?" The satyr called out. As Scorpia returned her look with something resembling curiosity, Adora's expression was more towards spiteful as she looked at the pink woman. The satyr gulped nervously as the terrifying blond approached her, keeping her eyes on her the entire time. "P-Please?" She meeped as Adora crossed her arms.

She had no idea what this girl was like, and what she did come to know about the girl was terrifying! She had magic over shadows that could materialize into whatever convenience she needed. She could take down an entire gang of Huntara's allies within the Crimson Wast without breaking a sweat. She actually made Huntara seem approachable by comparison! What was she going to do to her for asking a simple request for help?!

Adora was going to show her.

What at first became instant panic and fear as she saw the soldier forming shadows along her arm ended up being relief at what she did next. Keeping it long and firm to avoid the direct touch of the thorny plants, the soldier swiftly sliced at the vines of the mysterious freezing plants, cutting the friend free and the satyr to fall back from the swiftness of it. She looked over her friend to make sure she didn't end up slicing her by mistake, or intentionally, before sighing.

"T-Thanks..." She mumbled, seeing the blond already leaving her again before she got a chance.

"Anyway, where were we?" Adora asked as she returned to the conversation moving along.

"Talking about how nice the place is?" Scorpia quickly reminded with claws at her hip. "It's nice and toasty. If you look for the ground ripples you can avoid the quicksand. And my exoskeleton is loving this dry climate." She gave a curious smile as she tapped her chin to Adora. "Are you sure you're not hot right now? Especially with that jacket?"

"Honestly?" Adora smiled looking down at her new black jacket. It clashed beautifully with its black coloring and her white long-sleeved undershirt. "It feels refreshing. I think I feel something close to a breeze with this thing on." She had to admit it was a little strange to her.

With all that she was wearing, with an undershirt and a jacket on top of it, not to mention her long pants, she would've thought it'd be a lot hotter around here, at least to the point where she was sweating constantly. But as it was, the only times she began to sweat a little around here was when she was walking for a long period of time. While it was a refreshing detail to keep her cool, it was also a little strange.

"You sure that guy you took it from won't need it?"

"Eh, I'm sure he'll be doing a lot less mugging around here without it for awhile. Which reminds me." Growing another small glare, seeing the satyr staring at the ground carrying her friend while she walked behind them, Adora gave her a small growl as she stopped her in her tracks. "You. Dart gun. Hand it over." She ordered.

"Oh, uh, r-right." The satyr instantly answered her request, handing over the dart gun without further question.

"Thanks." Adora grinned back, tossing the dart gun in her hand a bit to get a feel for it. "You got a name?"

"Huh? W-What?" The satyr stuttered to ask, wondering if it was a trick question or something.

"Your name." She groaned a little. "Do you have one or not?"

"O-Oh!" She really didn't expect such a general question from a figure like her. "M-My name is Tarruk, the merciless! I'm one of Huntara's personal allies, er, well was is more like it right now, but..." She glanced over to the Horde soldier who was looking at her with casual disbelief, like she knew that the girl was ying to her.

"Huh, funny. Now how about your real name, now?" Adora suggested, crossing her arms a little with a raised brow. As she tapped against her own arm impatiently, the satyr became a little anxious as she saw a small shadow rising at the tip of Adora's finger, as if hinting about the limits of her patience.

With a nervous gulp, and a small blush making her pink skin pinker around her cheeks, the satyr finally replied. "D... Daisy..." She revealed. Knowing her friend was still conscious despite her frozen state, she could already tell the lizard was going to give her such a tease after this. Even Scorpia was giving her a small chuckle at the mention, seeing Adora grow a smirk over her face at the reveal.

"Daisy, huh? Somehow it doesn't have as good a ring when you add "the merciless" to it, does it?" She commented.

"N... No..." She muttered, wondering if the question was actually rhetorical or not. She wasn't brave enough to ask. "Huntara gave the name to me after I helped her fend off a bandit raid on the tavern with her."

"Who's this Huntara person you guys keep mentioning? For someone who sounds important, I haven't really seen much of them."

"She's pretty much the one who leads us, alright? She makes the rules, we follow them. That's just how it works out here. The strongest makes the rules, no questions asked." The satyr frowned a little as she turned her head away. "Things were going fine, honestly, until that cat girl showed up." Adora scoffed a little at the mention of it, knowing exactly who she was referring to. Anyone who had a run-in with Catra like that had her sympathies when it left them in a state of despair.

"Trust me, Catra has that effect on people." Adora commented, giving her a small pat on the shoulder. "She shows up, she ruins things, then acts like they never happened."

"Tell me about it." Daisy mumbled, rolling her eyes a little. "Huntara been completely different since she showed up."

"Then help me find out where Catra is, and I promise I'll put a stop to her." Adora assured. Daisy had no idea on what to say about this girl.

She was intimidating, but had a gentle side to her. Rough, yet kind. She didn't just stand around and make others do the work for themselves, she actually gave out a helping hand on the occasion, even offering to give help to people when it was none of their business. She couldn't tell if she should still be just as terrified by this girl or a little more at ease.

All she knew was that she was willing to help, and if she had some way of getting Huntara back to normal to her old self, then she would be a fool not to take it. Actually, she'd be even more foolish if she turned down the person that could possibly break her in half with her magic.

"I... I'll do what I can to help you find her." Daisy replied, still unsure of how to feel about all of this. Adora gave her a simple smile as she nodded, walking back to Scorpia who was waiting patiently with an eager smile as the trip continued.

"Aww, look at you still helping people." Scorpia awed, proud that her friend hadn't changed entirely.

"Scorpia, I'm not changing that much." Adora replied, lowering her gaze a little ahead. "I'm still gonna lend a hand to people who need it, I'm just not going to let people push me around like they used to." Scorpia watched as something grew over Adora's face, something she hadn't seen with genuity in a long time. "And to be honest, it... It feels good, to be out in the field again, where I belong. You know what I mean, Scorpia?" Adora waited for any form of response before looking back, being startled and slightly disturbed by a wide-eyed Scorpia staring at her. "Scorpia?"

"Mmmhhhmm!" The red friend couldn't resist herself as she stared at her yellow-headed friend, holding in the biggest squeal of her life. "Oooooh, Adoraaaaaa~"

"Are... you okay?" Adora asked, wondering if she got bit or stung by something she wasn't aware of. As if to answer her question, the scorpion girl pulled her friend in roughly as she gave her the biggest squeeze of her life, blowing the air out of her friend in the process.

*crunch*

"Agh-!" Adora yelped, losing the precious air in her lungs for the second day in a row. "S-Scorpia, do I need to start limiting the number of h-hugs you're allowed to give me again? Because you're breaking my back..."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Her friend continued to swoon a little, shaking back and forth as she rubbed her own cheek, and inadvertently dropping Adora in the process. "It's just that, heh... You're smiling!"

Adora blinked to the huggable friend in a bit of confusion at this. "Um, Scorpia? I've been smiling in case you haven't noticed?"

"Yeah, but I mean like a real smile!" She emphasized, helping Adora up again. "Whenever we've been on missions lately, you always have this glum look in your eye like you're not really enjoying yourself or anything, you're just putting on an act."

"I have?"

"Yes. And this is the first true smile I've seen in over a month!" She continued. Adora looked down to her gloved hand for a bit as she flexed her fingertips.

Have I forgotten how to smile? She asked herself.

She didn't even realize that she wasn't smiling without a purpose around here lately, nor could she recall the last time she had a legitimate smile on her face for herself. All throughout the last several months, most of her smiles and grins were in part of the mission, through her diplomacies with neighboring villages of outposts or whenever she was talking to someone. Sometimes she thought she was smiling to herself, and maybe she was.

But what did she mean by really smiling? Was she actually unaware of herself when she was actually smiling or not? Did she forget how to be happy for a change when she was on a mission? That couldn't be the case, right. After all, she could recall the time when she... she... Um... Okay, but she remembered how happy she was when... when the... her...

Hmm. Looking back on it now, she wonders when the last time she truly smiled was? When was the last time she actually felt as happy as she did now? It wasn't a happiness from a spur of the moment for once, and that's what made all the difference to her. Back then, within the last few weeks to months, her happiness came from a simple moment in her daily job, when she was informed about good tidings and news from the frontlines.

But she couldn't recall much outside of that. When was the lat time she just smiled for herself for a change? When was the last time she just felt generally happy instead of happy for the moment?

Whenever it was, Adora shook her head at. She was just glad for the time being that things appeared to be going as well as they did. She was even more glad at the fact this was all thanks to the Crimson Waste of all places, a place where a mission that should've been at her worse was turning into one of her best times yet.

"Are you sure you aren't seeing things?" Adora smirked, raising a playful brow to her best friend.

"Of course not. I mean, there was that one time I thought I saw a ghost and after I tackled it it turned out to be Kyle, but other than that I'm sure of what I'm seeing." She gave a sweet smile as she poked Adora on the chest. "You're happy for once, and I'm happy for you."

"Heh heh, thanks." Adora really didn't know what to say, feeling a bit of embarrassment and surprise at the statement as she continued on ahead, keeping her gaze lowered again as she continued to give a small smile. "I guess I've just been stuck thinking about work all the time, you know? With all that's happened between the Horde, Frosta, the princesses, and... Catra... I haven't really been-"

*thump*

Adora was cut off and pulled aside as Scorpia stopped her in her tracks, the taller friend keeping a strict gaze over the path ahead of her. Looking back at it herself, she became a little suspicious of the strange mound of sand that stretched before her, wondering the same thing that Scorpia might've guessed for herself already.

Taking a nearby rock at her foot, the soldier casually tossed it a good twenty feet away, watching as the rock sunk into the sand like water, practically splashing as a result. Scorpia had just saved her from taking a dip into a sandy pool, and in general again.

She gave a cheerful smile at her saving ability as Adora looked off to the side, blushing a little at the timing of he event. "... paying attention to what's going on around me."

"Hehe!" Scorpia gave her a small chuckle, one that was joined in on a little by Adora at the irony.

"You sure they came through here?" Adora asked, looking at the quicksand and wondering if the land took care of her troubles for her.

"Positive. We followed them ourselves last night." Daisy replied, gesturing her head up the cliffside's path. "It's over along this way."

"Then let's hurry. I wanna catch up to them before they can get the First Ones Tech before we do." Nodding to the informative blond, she and Scorpia hustled a little up the pathway, leaving behind a sighing Daisy who lowered her friend from her shoulders.

In the long run, she should've asked Adora to help her now instead of earlier, because now she was going to be the one stuck dragging her friend up this long cliffside.

For the next hour...

...

The four continued on their way as they came to a small clearing within the gorge. Much like everywhere else, there was nothing except for the sight of death everywhere, and in this case, it was directly above them.

Surrounding them at the top were the largest bones of any animal any of them had seen, with rips large enough to practically scale the entire gorge itself from each side, and one of the largest animal heads, skeleton-wise at least, they had ever seen. Within the corner of this mighty clearing, they saw another large skull, one that took the shape of a large lizard's head that still had its mouth open, as if ready to devour the next living thing to enter its massive jaws.

And Daisy was STILL dragging around her friend without any sense of help.

"This is just crazy." Scorpia chuckled as she stared at the bones. "Are there really any animals this big? Come on."

"If there were, I'd doubt they're still around." Adora commented, knowing whatever was strong enough to take this large skeleton down definitely did the same to the rest.

*clak*

"Huh?" Adora flinched as a small rock dropped right in front of her, a small bit of rubble from the air. Taking a quick look above her, she saw the silhouette of a shadow standing above her on the large rib above them, one that quickly hid behind it again as soon as it was spotted.

"What was-"

"Ghhhhhhh!" Adora's grumble was enough to silence Scorpia's sudden question as the girl glared back to the satyr. Without giving her a chance to vouch for herself, she grabbed the girl by the throat with a tendril, dragging her over to her as she glared angrily into her eyes. "What are you planning around here? Answer me before I get mad!" Adora yelled angrily, tightening her grip a little with the tendril.

"N-Nothing." She shrieked, terrified at the prospect of seeing this girl's angry side if this was her good side. "What are you talking about?"

"Adora?" Scorpia spoke up, approaching the girl. "What's going on?"

"What do you think, Scorpia?" Her shadowy friend asked, tightening the grip further as the satyr tried to pry the suffocating limb from her throat. "Little miss Daisy over here lead us straight into an ambush! She betrayed us! She planned to betray us from the very beginning, didn't you!?" Of the many things Adora had little tolerance for, Catra and betrayal were the two things she had ZERO tolerance for around here.

She wasn't buying into it. She wasn't buying the innocent act the satyr was giving her as she pleaded for her to let go. Adora knew it, she just knew it. The minute she let her go, she was going to run to her buddies who were lying in wait behind cover, shouting at them to take whatever shot they had at the two Horde soldiers.

And why wouldn't she? After all, it wasn't like Adora actually knew this person, this frightened goat, this traitor. She was just some person she happened to meet a short while ago, like most of the people she let get close to her in some way. And how did it always go in the end? With them betraying her, leaving Adora to clean up the mess and suffer the consequences, an with them going about the rest of their lives with stupid smiles over their faces! There wasn't any alternatives! It was always like this!

And Adora was getting sick and tired of it. She was getting so annoyed with all the work she's done getting flushed down the drain every time because someone felt like they needed to stab her in the back at the last minute!

All this time, she was unaware of the satyr's state as she continued to grovel and plead for the ex-Force Captain to let her go, pleading for her very life. Looking between the two herself, a twinge of worry overcame Scorpia's look as she approached her angered friend.

"Adora, I don't think she's behind this." She told her, growing a little concerned over the scene.

"Of course it's her! Who else could it be? Her stupid lizard friend?" Adora yelled, not paying any attention as the frozen lizard shifted her eyes to her. "They're here to betray, I just know it!"

"But, Adora, just look at her!" Scorpia pleaded, trying to get her friend to really look at her. Her worry continued to rise as Adora continued to suffocate the girl, intentionally or otherwise. "Adora!" Scorpia repeated, raising her voice. Giving her a small look, Adora looked deeply into Daisy's eyes to see it for herself.

And, as she feared a little, to see herself in the reflection of her pupils. She didn't see anyone like a traitor in Daisy's eyes, she didn't even see an enemy. She saw someone who reminded her of how she was a few days ago, when she was the one suffocating and pleading at Hordak's feet, wishing for another chance. The only difference here was which end she was on this time.

With a growing concern in her own expression, gritting her teeth, the girl eventually released her grip on Daisy's throat, the satyr coughing and wheezing for dear life as the air returned to her.

Once again, the pink girl knew it was wiser to fear this girl than not.

"Whooohoohooo!" Adora shot her glare to the sky above her as everyone turned their attention to the people looking down upon them.

Everywhere she looked, along every ribcage, there were lizardmen, reptilian people of all shapes colors and sizes, cheering down at them as the action already appeared to be starting by the small show Adora just gave them. They sounded like heckling hyenas to the girl as their laughter and cheer filled the small opening of the gorge, all praising for the fun they were witnessing and the fun they had yet to have.

They didn't have to wait long to see what sort of fun they were waiting for either.

All of them were drawn to the large opened head again within the corner of this place as a large figure made its presence known. There, Adora saw what she could only assume to be the leader of these outlaws, standing with a presence that demanded to be known as superior upon first glance.

It was a large reddish lizardman, one that stood tall and proud with the slowly setting sun appearing behind him in the evening sky. He had bandages wrapped around his wrists, a clear indication of how often he used his fists, sporting his own black leather jacket with the sleeves torn off. His muscles were just as imposing as his figure as he stood there, wearing a tight leather belt with a gold plating in the section, along with a golden color stretched along the left side of his blue jeans.

Whoever the figure was, it was clear what his purpose was as he gnarled his teeth to the group, almost as if he was grinning to them with excitement. He wasn't going to let any of them leave without a little fun first. He wasn't going to let any of them leave without handing over any and all possible valuables they had on hand. And he wasn't going to let them leave, period. They entered histerritory, after all.

And they weren't going to leave it anytime soon.

...

"We do this on three. All right?" Glimmer said from behind the door. "One... two..."

"Wait!" Bow shouted, wishing to know a vital piece of information! "...On three or after three?" Catra and Huntara groaned at this in unison.

"On three!" Glimmer stated. "Now. One... two... three!" With the command, the door opened before the four heroes as Catra approached the door, shield still in hand as Glimmer and Bow walked carefully behind her.

There was no way to tell what could be popping out at them behind every metallic door, one that couldn't open unless Catra approached them with her shield. The fact that Catra was the only one who could open the doors alone already left them terrified, worried if they ever got separated or disappeared suddenly throughout the haunted ship.

What's worse was the unsettling voice that continued to repeat itself all throughout the ship as they explored it.

With every room they came upon, they were greeted with walls that lit up, sparkling textures and colors to the designs, patterns that mimicked entire solar systems in nature, and technology that was centuries ahead of its time. Every room they came upon refused to light up until Catra entered them herself, and every room she left closed behind her immediately. They couldn't explore anything without the magicat, and Catra refused to let any stone unturned in this place until she was ready to move on.

That's when the group came upon what might have been the final room of their journey, if not the most important one.

"Whoa..." Catra mumbled as she lowered her shield.

The room was simple in nature yet grand in design. Within the very center of the room they explored stood what appeared to be a grand throne, a single chair that stood in front of magnificent consoles along the edges of the room. Huntara inspected the floor next to it as she examined one of the damaged cables, all while the rest of the friends examined the room in every detail.

The longer the day had progressed, the closer Catra felt that they were coming to the very end. She knew somehow that the answers were within arms reach, getting closer and closer with every room they passed. Her heart raced faster and faster as she felt herself getting close to the truth behind everything, the truth about Adora, Mara, and She-Ra.

A truth that could finally complete her bond.

Examining the strange throne for himself, Bow felt along the chair's arms as he noticed a strange control-like device attached to it. Brushing his fingers over it, the archer jumped a little as a holographic screen flashed in front of the chair, falling back into the throne as a projection appeared before him. It took the bowman a few seconds of staring before he understood it.

"This is it." He announced, smiling as he leaned closer to hovering screen. Everyone approached him one by one as Glimmer directed Catra to the screen. "This is the same message from my tracker pad." Just as quickly as it appeared did the hologram disappear, the lights of the room turning on around them as a new mysterious thing appear over near the console of the machine. "Eghhh!" Bow yelped a bit, backing up further into his throne a little frightened.

Seeing the mysterious thing ascending through the air ahead of her, Catra drew in a little closer. It looked familiar in substance as it slowly materialized, like the holographic projections that they had seen before. Slowly, surely, her eyes widened a bit in shock as the projection began to take shape, forming into an appearance known to her yet alien in nature, all at the same time.

In a purple color, the form became whole as the figure known as She-Ra.

"I am Mara, She-Ra of Etheria, and I am gone." The hologram stated as it turned to face them.

"Mara, finally!" Catra exclaimed, approaching the figure with excitement. "I've been looking all over for you. I need your help, we all do-!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZT*

Catra stopped as she stared at the hologram glitching out on her, turning back into the small wave it appeared to be in before materializing anew.

"I am Mara, She-Ra of Etheria, and I am gone." It said, repeating the exact same movements and words as it did five seconds ago.

"Umm... hello? I'm Catra, the current She-Ra?" Catra tried to greet, wondering if there was a response system to it or something.

Approaching her from behind, Huntara waved the tip of her spear a little bit through the holographic projection, watching as it distorted at the slightest touch. "Well that's a little unsettling." She commented.

"This... This can't be happening." Catra couldn't believe it, she refused to. Waving a hand in front of the hologram and through it, she began to tremble a little as emotions began to swarm her mind. "You can't be serious, this can't be real!" She growled, taking several more swipes at the image hoping for some miracle to fix all this.

"Catra?" Glimmer spoke up as her friends approached her from behind.

"This isn't right. T-Th-There's usually a password or something, or maybe there's a switch." Her friends looked boldly into her eyes, seeing a sense of fear overshadowing the anger in her eyes. She turned around again nervously as she tried everything. "Eternia! She-Ra! I have the sword, look! Look at it!" Catra ordered it, holding the sword in front of the hologram. "Honor of Grayskull! Light Hope! Give me something!" She waited for an answer, a response, something different than what it was giving her.

It gave her nothing. Nothing new, nothing informative, nothing.

Against her will, Catra came to understand the reality of the situation, backing away from the hologram in a fear-filled anger. "It's... it's on a loop." She revealed. "Of course the stupid thing is on a loop!" She growled, swiping at the hologram again. When nothing new came about it, looking at her sword in dismay, the three watched as Catra approached the door again.

"Catra? Where are you going?" Glimmer asked, concerned.

"W-We have to go back!" Catra told them, never losing that sense of panic in her eyes. "We have to check the other rooms!"

"There aren't any other rooms," Bow replied, "we've checked them all."

"T-Then there's got to be something we missed. Something we overlooked." Getting down to the point, the magicat was already feeling along the walls of the current room, knowing it was all they had left. "This... T-This seriously can't be happening!" Biting down on her own teeth as she stopped, the catgirl slammed her fist into the wall of metal in front of her, looking down at the floor. "I did everything they asked..."

In a rage, the current She-Ra stomped over to the hologram as she shouted. "We came so close. I've done all the training I can afford to, I've changed so much about myself since I found the stupid sword. Why can't they just help me out this one time?" She glared angrily into the hologram's face, a small pocket of tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "Haven't I done enough for you!?"

"Catra- Hngh!" Whatever Glimmer had to say was instantly shot down at the raging glare Catra shot at her, one that almost terrified her before she looked back.

"I'm trying to become She-Ra here, I'm trying to make up for my mistakes, I'm trying to become better, but I can't go any farther with myself!" The cat yelled on as a single tear rolled down her left cheek. It was happening, no matter how much of it she wanted otherwise.

It didn't provide her with anything. No new information, no useful tips or idea on how to become a better She-Ra. There wasn't any guideline or rule she needed to follow, no experience that she could learn for herself, there wasn't anything. There was nothing but a useless hologram repeating the exact same words to her, as if taunting her, at her very problem.

With another growl, Catra walked straight through the hologram, planting her fingertips and hands firmly in the console ahead of her as her ears lowered.

"If I can't figure out how to become She-Ra soon, I'll lose it forever. I just know it." She was scared, terrified.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day, it was going to happen. Some day, she was going to lose control of herself, lose control of her powers, and break the connection with the sword, if not the sword itself. Once that happened, she was useless, weak, in capable of stopping the full might of the Horde.

She wouldn't be able to keep her friends safe from the friends of old, she wouldn't be able to protect anyone with her average strength, average intelligence, average skill in combat. They were going to need her to save them some day, need her to save them the most when it truly mattered.

And she wouldn't have the power left to keep them alive.

All she wanted was a clue, a sign, something. Something that could help her continue on her path of becoming She-Ra, a true She-Ra, that could save them all.

*bzzzt*

As if answering her prayers, Catra stared at the console. In front of her she saw it, a glowing pinkish hologram of her sword materializing, fitting into a slot perfectly like a keyhole.

A key that came in the form of her sword.

"Catra, I'm sorry." Glimmer apologized to her friend, knowing the state she must be in. "Maybe we could find-" Catra cut her off as she held up a hand. silencing the girl as she pulled out her sword. She didn't know what it meant, she didn't know what it could do, and she didn't care. She would become She-Ra at any cost.

Nothing would stand in her way.

With a deep breath, knowing the last of her hope rode on it, the magicat gently shoved the blade into the console's open port, watching it sink in until it matched the exact position as the hologram. And with this, a miracle came to life.

The very rune stone encrusted in the middle of the gem flashed with a brilliant white light as the room came to life, just like the entrance upon discovering this place. All around them, the white light spread like veins as the machines and the room came to life one by one. It hummed as if it was a living breathing machine, one that just needed the right flow of oxygen to get this place up and running again.

Or in this case, Catra's sword.

FIlling with light around them, Catra looked back to the shimmering hologram as it became more distorted than ever before, and that's when it finally happened. Within the center of the room, on the metallic throne that housed and organized the message that lead them here to start with, she appeared.

Mara. Accurately, another projection of Mara. One made in whole as the round floor surrounding the throne burst with a powerful light. There, Catra could see it, the previous She-Ra, the person who went crazy and nearly destroyed Etheria over a thousand years ago. The one who lost control of her emotions that put Catra into the state of fear she was currently in. She was everybody Catra wanted to be as a true and profesional She-Ra.

And nobody she wanted to be as a She-Ra that lost control of herself.

The projection of her could be seen leaning in pain over the throne, with a weak arm over the left arm of the chair and another one holding her stomach in pain. She was working, she was busy typing away something within the panel on her throne. Most of all, she was crying. Crying in a spot of pain over her injuries, or something far greater.

That's when she lifted her head, her eyes gazing across the room as if she could see the individuals in front of her. It didn't matter to Catra if she could or not. All that mattered to her was what Mara had to say.

"I don't have much time left. I barely made it out." She informed, leaning back into her throne.

Made it out? Catra wondered to herself, drawing closer to the figure she knew could provide the answers at long last. There was a small glitch at the mention that almost made her worry, hoping to herself that the message recorded everything she needed to say before it would expire.

"If you are seeing this, it means you wield the Sword. You are the new She-Ra... And it means I failed." The hologram of Mara winced to herself as she stared ahead, practically meeting Catra's gaze with regret. "I was supposed to be the last. And I am so, so, sorry..."

...

A/N: I swear, Idk who i have more fun with these days- Catra in her work to finalize her bond with the sword, or Adora's dark descent into villany. Idk anymore, what do you guys think? Adora? Catra? Both? Hard for me to say XP

Once again, huge shout out to petie and his wonderful artwork, definitely worth taking a look imo X) You won't be disappointed with his contributions to the series.

And with that said, and probably half of what i was going to say forgotten since it's late, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 102: S3 Episode 3: Once Upon a Time in the Waste Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10.8k. Another chapter in the same day? What are the chances~

...Actually pretty good since i posted the first one bright and early at like 7:40 or whatever, and this only took up to 6 hours to complete believe it or not XP Lol had quite a bit of fun. As you can expect, a majority of this consists of the fight scene between Adora and the gang leader, as we get to see how Adora days going down that end of things.

Really don't got much to say at the start of this thing, ending might be a little rushed, but considering what's to come up and what's to end next chapter, i felt it was a good stopping point. Really, not much to say other than that XP We're almost at the end people, hope you're excited!

Enjoy!

...

"Hoo! Hoo! Hooooooo!" The yipping sounds of the lizard folk surrounding them went off like a pack of dogs barking in the middle of the night. All around them, Adora, Scorpia, Daisy, and the blue lizard girl were surrounded, staring into the sky where the bandits and outlaws were watching from above. High up upon the rib cage of the giant beast that once was, they were cheering and excited as their presumed leader made his appearance.

Thus far, this was the worst the mission had gotten for Adora, which was actually pretty good all things considered. After arriving to the Crimson Waste in search for the First Ones Tech left behind, and showing the people at the tavern that Adora wasn't one to be messed with, she and Scorpia were properly guided through the wasteland, searching for the technology that Catra was no doubt in the midst of finding as well.

During their travels, the two got to chatting about their time here in which, in all fairness, actually wasn't all that bad. Sure, the scuffle at the cantina was a bit annoying, but it wasn't anything Adora couldn't handle on her own. And after demonstrating her strength to the outlaws and bandits who filled it, she was officially welcomed among them, even if it was out of fear than respect.

None of which mattered to her whatsoever.

What did matter to the girl was the recent turn the events took now. Following the pink satyr known as Daisy, the girl had accidentally lead the group into an ambush, surrounded by all sides within an open gorge where the remains of a large mammal's bones lied around. It was here that they found themselves surrounded by several dozen lizard folk, all of whom were cheering and excited about whatever event was about to take place.

An event that started the moment the mysterious leader of this group made his appearance.

"Soooo... someone mind filling me in here?" Adora asked, never taking her eyes off the leader.

"Oh no..." She turned to Daisy as the satyr gulped, still holding her frozen friend. "It's Tung Lashor."

"... Pfffft..." Adora had to cover her mouth, knowing the seriousness of the situation was too important to laugh about... maybe. "I'm sorry. It's what?"

"Tung Lashor leads the number two gang in the Crimson Waste. He's been itching to push Huntara out for years and become number one!" She explained, taking a step back from the leader above as he looked down upon them from the giant skull. "With her gone, they'd run this place."

"And it looks like today is our lucky, lucky day." Tung Lashor added. With a powerful kick off the ground, the four watched as the infamous leader leaped into the air, slamming down on the ground before them with enough force to make the ground tremble. As Adora stood her ground, Daisy and Scorpia felt wise enough to back away as the nefarious outlaw approached, with Scorpia wanting to give her friend the space she'd probably need.

"I never thought you'd be dumb enough to step foot out here without Huntara." He commented with a grin.

"Wow. He actually thinks he's threatening, doesn't he?" Aroda commented from Adora's right as the soldier stared at him in attention. "I almost feel sorry for the guy, and I just met him." Assuming what was going to happen, like Scorpia, the reflection just as quickly disappeared into the shadows.

Smirking, the number two gang leader tightened the grip around his whip, one he brought in front of himself as a display of pure strength. "But here you are. And now I'm gonna leave your bones as a warning to all who cross Tung Lashor, the strongest in the Crimson Wa-"

"Awwwwwhn..." The infamous leader blinked to himself as Adora let out a bored yawn, the blond girl actually looking tired as she rubbed her eyes. "Ahhhhhm sorry," she mumbled, "could you start over, please?"

Staring at the girl briefly, Tung Lashor quickly shook his head as he tightened the grip in his whip once again. "I said, I'm gonna leave your bones as a warning to all who cross Tung-"

"Huuuuuuuuffff..." The girl shook her head, giving a brief clap in front of herself as she tried to snap her attention back. "Okay, okay, I think that was the rest of it. One more time, now?"

"... I said, I'm gonna leave your bones as a-"

"Awwwwhn..." And again, the ex-Force Captain yawned, pinching between her eyes as she tried to rub all the sleepiness out of her. "Sorry, sorry, it's just the allergies, I guess."

"I didn't know you had allergies?" Scorpia commented, growing quite curious at the detail.

"Oh, yeah, didn't you know, Scorpia?" Adora smirked, giving her a small hint. "I'm usually put to sleep by extremely boring, non-threatening people."

"O-Oh, yeah!" Scorpia nodded in agreement, following along as she let out her own fake yawn. "Awwhn, boy, now you got me doing it. It must be contagious."

"I know, right? Maybe it's all the dust around here? Or maybe it's some sort of pollen thing going on? I don't know, it doesn't usually help when extremely tiring people are around me." She continued to smirk as she stared at the agitated leader. "Would you happen to know any extremely boring, tiring, non-threatening people like that Mr. ... I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again?"

"Ghhhhh! It's Tung Lashor you little brat!" He yelled, stretching his whip between his hands, giving it a loud "crack".

"... Pfffffft! Hmhmhmhmhm!" If it wasn't for her years of professionalism, there was no way Adora would've been able to hold back every ounce of the laughter welling up inside of her right now. "Oh man, you're actually serious about that, aren't you? Tung Lashor? Seriously? Please, please tell me that wasn't the name you were born with. I cannot take that seriously."

"What's it to you, punk?!" The lizard hissed angrily taking a step forward. "My name drives fear into the heart of my enemies! And it'll be the last name you'll ever hear!"

"Oh my gosh, I can't take this..." Adora snorted a little to herself, rubbing her forehead as she gestured behind to the satyr. "You're serious, aren't you? Tung Lashor? Tung Lashor was the best you could come up with? Daisy's name sounds more threatening than yours! I can at least picture a plant being poisonous to me." The satyr had a small smile at the comment, surprised anyone would take her real name as seriously as that.

"I mean, what is your name supposed to mean, anyway? What, do you lash peoples' tongues or something? It doesn't even make any sense. Or are you going to lash me with your tongue? Because that's just stupid, and it's kinda gross."

Many heads from above were turned and checked between one another as the blond soldier continued to throw her jokes and insults towards the dangerous leader. Among them, there was one individual who stood out between the brigandes as he let out a few chuckles at the jokes, finding the same sense of humor that the soldier did.

Three seconds later, that same individual lizard could be heard yelping as he let out a cry, getting thrown over the large rib he was standing on forty feet from the ground.

As the nefarious leader continued to growl in their direction, Adora's eyes were drawn to the weapon in his hands. "Say, do you mind if I take a look at that? I think I could actually get some much better use out of that than you." She had to admit, it did look pretty useful. If Catra was still far away or this journey would've taken another couple of days, she could use the whip to fall back on without exerting her powers too much.

"Hmph, that's pretty big talk from a little girlie like yourself." He grumbled, marching up to the shorter girl as she stared up to him with a grin. "If I didn't know any better, I think you'd want a closer look at my whip in person."

"... Uh, yeah?" Adora crossed her arms with a raised brow. "That's what I just said. Didn't you get that?"

"What? N-No, I- What I meant was that-"

"Are you sure you're even capable of being a gang leader? Because, no offense, but you seem kind of slow." Adora didn't give him the chance to reply on his own as Adora looked back. "Hey, Daisy, I thought you said this guy was supposed to be the number two gang leader of the Crimson Waste or whatever?"

"I-I am, you little punk-"

"Shush, adults are talking." Adora cut off with a small wave. "Is he or isn't he?"

"Listen here you stupid girl, I-"

"Hey, do you even know how to use a whip?" Scorpia asked curiously, approaching from the side.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Adora shrugged, looking at his feet. "I mean, he knows how to ties his own boots, so it can't be that hard unless someone else does it for him."

"Oh, maybe you could say something cool?" Scorpia suggested, flailing her arm in the air like she was holding the whip. "Like "crack"! Or "ka-pow"! Or maybe "whip"! That'd be kind of fun, right?"

"I don't know if it sounds cool to say "whip" while you're holding a whip, Scorpia." Adora commented as the two were starting to ignore the fearless thug.

"Ooh, maybe you could say a catchphrase then. Like, uh, like "whip"! Or maybe something like "prepared to get whipped!" or something?"

"That actually doesn't sound half bad."

"I know, right? Ooh, ooh, ooh! Maybe you could-" As the small talk continued between the two girls, Tung Lashor's anger steadily rose.

They came upon his territory, his land of the Crimson Waste, for no particular reason other than stupidity. They approach the leader like he was a joke, yawned at him and his intimidating speech, made fun of his name like it was all an act, and pretended to be so cocky that he wasn't even worth mentioning, save for the whip in his hands.

That was beyond insulting.

He squeezed his teeth tighter and tighter as he glared at the two individuals with a burning fury. He was Tung Lashor, the greatest gang leader in all of the Crimson Waste! He wasn't going to let a stupid little girl and an overgrown scorpion just waltz in here, talk down to him like he was some sort of joke, mock him, ridicule him, question him, and insult him like he was nothing!

His anger was reaching his limit as the stupid banter between the two continued. In front of him, he could hear their stupid voices! Around him, he could hear the chuckles and laughter of his own gang members. His gang members! They were laughing at him with them! All because of these two stupid girls who he's known for two minutes!

"ENOUGH!" He finally shouted, the slit-like pupils in his eyes thinning out as he growled. "I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face, outsider!" He angrily clutched his jacket in his hand as he swiped it off, throwing it into the air as it was blown into the wind, making his intimidating presence even more threatening as he exposed his muscles to the world around him.

"Who's the strongest in the Crimson Waste?" He demanded to know, turning to his fellow goons and bandits.

"Lashor! Lashor!"

The lizard screamed his name in cheer as they flailed their weapons in the air. All of them were proud to be a member of his gang, proud to serve someone as strong and cunning as him. As long as someone like him was around, they knew they were all safe, all protected, under his rule, so long as they followed his rules.

"And don't you forget it!" And with that, the battle had officially begun as the reptilian leader raised his mighty whip into the air, slamming it down with full force as everything within its path erupted into a path of dust.

The two friends backed away from the center of the impact as the lizard pulled the whip away in posthate. Examining the impact up close, Adora couldn't help but marvel at the whip's durability or raw power. The whip itself actually managed to sink into the ground itself as if the ground beneath where it landed was made of paper, tearing into the soil with ease.

She could already tell that any of those strikes against her could prove troublesome if her shadow armor was forced to protect her against any injuries. She'd have to play it careful, unless she wanted her magic to get her sick within minutes instead of days.

"Whip!" With a rallying hiss, the leader of the gang rushed after the ex-Force Captain as Adora took off, trying to formulate a plan as soon as she could.

"Adora!" Scorpia called out. Her attempts to rush at her friend's side were cut off by the half-dozen arrows and spears shot to the ground in front of her. She glanced up to the cliffs and the bones to see several of the lizardmen preparing to stop her if she tried getting in the way. All she could do for the time being was wait as Daisy backed up to her with her own friend on her back, the two hoping for themselves that Adora would be okay.

The being known as Tung Lashor didn't allow the young girl to get any further away from him as he cut her off at every attempt. Trying to rush to the right, he cut her off with the crack of his whip against the cliffside, nearly touching her face. Trying to turn around and distance herself that way, the leader improvised by using his impressive strength to wrap his whip around one of the large boulders surrounding the cliffs, pulling it through the air and throwing it at the dodger.

If she didn't notice it at the last second, she would've ended up flattened by the boulder's underside as it sank a good foot into the ground from its own weight.

With her left and her right cut off from her, the Horde soldier growled as she decided to take the challenge head on, rushing to the lizardman as she gathered a bundle of shadows along both her arms. Waiting for the right moment, Adora jumped through the air as the leader attempted to strike straight at her again, pulling back her shadowy fist as she prepared to flatten this Tung Lashor right in his smug face.

However, she ended up underestimating the leader's resourcefulness as he began to grin. Pulling at his whip with his other hand, Adora's attention was drawn back behind her as she let out a small gasp. Gathering as much of her magic as she could, she protected herself from most of the impact as she formed half a dome-like structure made of shadow over her her left side, preparing herself as she took the full force of the boulder behind her, throwing her across the gorge.

Apparently, and surprisingly, when the leader attempted to strike her the third time, he plan worked two-fold. In addition to trying to attack Adora directly, he hd a backup plan as he re-tied the whip around the boulder, pulling it back and straight at the Horde soldier as she left herself vulnerable through the air. It made for a rather interesting scene as he grinned, seeing the mysterious girl getting smashed with the boulder as she was shot across the open field, crashing into the other side of the gorge's walls.

"Adora!" Scorpia called out worriedly, attempting to take a step forward to help her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, bugsy!" Tung Lashor warned, holding a finger back up to her. "Take one more step away from there, and my boys will rain down on you and your little friends behind you." He stated, running after to the gorge's side as Scorpia looked back.

True to his word, she was left without any options. If she assisted, while she would be more than capable of defending herself, the other two wouldn't be able to protect themselves given the frozen state one of them were in. And without them, they would have no means of finding or tracking down Catra, making this entire trip completely worthless.

All she could do was moan to herself as she frowned with worry, hoping that Adora would be alright given her magical limitations.

Back on the other side, slowly peeling herself out of the gorge's wall, Adora let out a small groan of pain as she fell to her hands and knees, gritting her teeth as she glared up at the approaching lizard. Her sides more than hurt as she only protected one half of her entire body. The trouble was, she didn't know what hurt worse, the side she protected from the boulder, or the side that crashed into the wall just now.

Ignoring either scenario, the soldier grumbled to herself as she charged the lizardman again, this time taking note of her surroundings, including behind her, as she charged her head on. With nothing behind her this time, it was a simple matter for her to dodge out of the way of the overhead swipe directed towards her, sliding against the dusty ground beneath her feet as she arrived to the whipper's very front, kicking him harshly in the stomach as she landed her first impact on him.

"Agh!" He gurgled, clutching his stomach in pain as the blond was far from over. With the leader doubled over, Adora quickly jumped over the gang leader as she grabbed him by his tail, forming the shadowy claws and arms over her own for the added strength.

There, Adora began to pull, grumbling to herself as she pulled the leader off his own two feet as he rose a few feet into the air. Adora watched the delirious leader fumble around as Adora spun him, spinning faster and faster with each roundabout. Finally, when she felt like she had enough force and momentum behind her own movements, she let go, hurdling the helpless and screaming leader directly into the giant skull head he appeared from.

*CRASH!*

Everyone else watched with surprise at the young blond's feat of strength as their leader was tossed helplessly into the bony structure, crashing him straight into the top half of the mighty head. With the impact shaking everything loose and Tung Lashor still falling as a result, the leader of the gang let out another scream of terror as he and the shattered remains of the bones around him fell into the lower half of the skull, crashing straight through it until eventually the entire head came down to the ground.

Nothing but dust and bony debris scattered throughout the gorge with everyone, save for Adora, shielding their eyes from the fallout. A white cloud blanketed the area as everything shook around them, the last few remains of the giant bone structure still falling through the air as the last of the dust settled in.

Letting out a few coughs along with Daisy, Scorpia looked back to her good friend with a smile as Adora grinned back, giving her a small thumbs up. "Yeah, way to go, Adora!" She proudly cheered, smiling as Adora began walking back over to them.

"Uh, y-yeah, way to show him who's boss." Daisy cheered with slight enthusiasm, still unsure about the girl to give her full support but capable enough to give her her congrats.

The rest of the sounds surrounding them were the whispers and murmurs of the lizard folk, all of them staring at Adora in wonder and fear. Who was this mysterious girl that managed to defeat their powerful leader so easily? WIth a strange magic, no less? Was she a princess? A monster? None of them could say. All they knew was that she defeated the second strongest gang leader within the Crimson-

*swiff!*

"Agh!" Adora let out a gurgled cry as a powerful rope was suddenly wrapped around her throat, dropping her to one knee as it tightened. Behind her, everyone looked back at the still-settling cloud of whiteness as the aforementioned leader known as Tung Lashor finally appeared, huffing with a few scrapes and bruises, but otherwise okay.

"You destroyed my skull, you stupid kid!" Tung Lashor growled, pulling the girl forcefully and painfully towards him as hard as he could.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out again, knowing she wasn't going to be running to her side as the battle was apparently continuing.

Pulling over with a firm tug, the enraged leader dragged the helpless girl up as the suffocating grip was making it near-impossible for her to focus her magic, the shadows she was trying to get out of her actually dragging slowly behind her as if she was smearing them.

Giving it another good pull, Tung Lashor finally grinned with his sharp teeth as he finally dragged the girl over, raising her into the air as he hung her by the whip. "You still feeling like making jokes you little punk?"

"Geh..." Adora stuttered, trying to get a single breath out as she winced, giving a glare through her right eye as she was brought up to his face. "When's the last time you brushed your teeth?" She teased, cheekily. Unsurprisingly, this went on to fuel the leader's already-bursting rage, tightening the grip on her neck even more.

"You don't know when to quit, do you you little punk?" He scoffed, waiting for the chance to wail on her the moment she couldn't struggle any further.

"Call it a stubbornness. I consider it determination." With a small hiss, the hanging girl gave a swift kick to the leader's lower jaw, slamming it into his upper as he let out a cry of pain.

"Akkkk!" He cackled, dropping Adora to her knees as the noose-like whip loosened around her throat. Adora quickly coughed as she rubbed her throat to ease the pain going in, glad to have her airways flowing again. "You thupid kid, I bit my tunth becauth of you!" He lisped, still growing as he pulled back his arm.

*Wham!*

Still trying to breath, Adora was incapable of blocking herself with anything more than her arms as she took the brunt of the backhanded swing directly, nearly launching her halfway through the gorge as she crashed into the ground. While the pain was still there, it didn't manage to keep the girl down for long as she rolled back to her feet, scraping against the ground with her shadowy claws and her feet as she took a stance again, and just in time too.

No sooner did she get back into a fighting position, the raging lizard was already jumping through the air, ready to strike down on the enemy as Adora threw herself back, distancing herself as far as possible as Tung Lashor slammed both his fists straight through the solid ground, shaking everything around him.

He'd been humiliated, teased, ignored, had his favorite skull destroyed, made to bite his own tongue, and physically beaten by this girl for the last time! Every second of her existence was causing him nothing but grief and rage as the girl distanced herself away, and his patience was starting to wear thin.

"I'm done playing around with you, girlie!" He shouted. Looking behind himself, he grinned as he saw the ace up his sleeveless sleeve that he used twice so far. Thrusting his whip behind him, he pulled back with all his might as he hurled the giant boulder once again towards the shadowy girl.

This time, having enough of the stupid rock that got the better of her earlier, Adora concentrated a large portion of her magic as she readied herself, forming a massive pair of fists, almost four times thicker than usual, into both her arms. Giving off a large growl of anger, with all the might she could afford to muster, she smashed the giant rock with a single strike, shattering it to pieces as the debris and the broken pieces of rock flew past her.

And that's when his trap was ready.

The next thing Adora saw within a second of the rock being destroyed was the sight of the troubling whip that gave Tung Lashor his questionable name. With her arms still spread out in front of her, she became an easy target for the strong leader as his whip wrapped around both ends of her arms, pinning them together and keeping her from pulling out of them as they were pinned together tightly over her chest.

Grinning on his end, the leader prepared to finish the fight for good. With his pure, raw, strength, he easily managed to lift the ex-Force Captain off her feet, Adora screaming a little as she was raised almost as high as the rips around her, the speed making it nearly impossible for her eyes to keep up with as everything blurred around her. Then, with one last pull, it ended.

With her disoriented, weakened, and incapable of pulling herself out without risking her being sent flying into whatever direction immediately after, Tung Lashor slammed the girl down, as hard as he could, into an awaiting pool of quicksand. There was nothing save for a small splash as the quicksand swallowed Adora whole and with ease, the battle finally coming to an end as Adora sank however far the sands lead to pull.

Tung Lashor had won.

"Let's see your smug smile now, girlie!" He taunted out loud, pulling his rope steadily as he returned his whip from the watery sand, with no Adora on the other end of it.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out in fear, running over to the ripple that swallowed her friend hungrily. With the battle finally over, there was no need to protect the two guides with her, namely the pink satyr who was a little concerned as well as she ran over, still dragging her friend.

With his fist into the air and victory in his veins, the gang leader shouted into the air at his goons high above. "Who's the strongest in the Crimson Waste!"

"Lashor! Lashor!"

"Lashor! Lashor!" They all cheered, shooting their fists into the air as they chanted along.

There were admittedly a few close calls, but there was never any doubt! If anyone out there was the strongest of the Crimson Waste, if anyone ever asked who the strongest ever was, they would sing his name in chorus, shout it to the heavens, that the answer was none other than the mighty Tung Lashor! He was the one true ruler of the wasteland, and he demonstrated it again with ease and perfection!

Personally, he was too proud of his own victory which was a little trickier than he expected, but easy nonetheless. He didn't even care as he saw the large scorpion girl running over to the rippling sands. Once someone went in there, there was no getting them out. And he didn't care how much time she needed to herself to cope.

Because he was going to make messages out of their remains by the time this day was over.

"No! No, no, no..." Scorpia fretted to herself as she dropped to her knees in front of the ripples. She couldn't believe it, not to her, not to Adora of all people. She didn't care how foolhardy it was or stupid. She scooped at the sand as she tried to dig for her friend as fast as possible, hoping that she was still alive. "It can't be... Come on..." She teared up, feeling like it was useless as more sand seemed to replace the sand she tried to toss out. "Don't just stand there, help me!" She yelled back to Daisy.

The satyr could only give her an apologetic look, one of regret and dismay. She's had a fair share of experiences with her own allies who've fallen into the same sandtraps like these. "Scorpia, it's..." She shook her head. "It's not going to work. The sands too deep. I don't even know if there's a bottom."

"I don't care!" He yelled, digging at the sand again. "She has to be in there. M-Maybe she fell into an underground cave or something? Or maybe found an airpock? Or-"

"Scorpia." The scorpion girl came to a halt as she looked back, seeing Daisy resting a comforting and distraught hand on her left shoulder. "I'm sorry." Scorpia slowly looked back to the puddle as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes.

Adora. Her Adora. Her Friend. Her Best Friend. Was gone. Dead. Drowned. However one wanted to put it.

"No..." Scorpia squeezed her fists tightly as she stared at the sand puddle in front of her.

Why this? Why did it have to happen like this? To Adora of all people? She was decent, she was kind, she was gentle. She was one of the Horde's best and brightest, and most importantly, she was Scorpia's best friend. She was one of the first friends she ever had. She didn't deserve to be on this mission, she didn't deserve all the troubles and burdens her life had given her. She deserved to live a carefree and happy life after all she's been through. That's what Scorpia always thought, anyway.

And now she was gone.

"Hahahaha!" And it was with the hearty laughter behind her that her sadness quickly burned into anger as she glared back, still a bit teary eyed.

"You!" She shouted, shooting up to her feet as she turned around. She was still shaking with sadness and an anger that slowly rose with her as she stepped forward.

"Don't worry too much, bugsy. You're gonna be joining her soon." He smirked.

Scorpia didn't care what happened to her. She was going to make this jerk pay for what he did to Adora, to anyone's friends he sank into the sand like this, if it was the last thing she did! She snapped her right claw fiercely as she took another step forward, Tung Lashor's tail wagging eagerly behind him as he cracked his whip in the air.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to-!"

*RUMBLE*

All at once, the noise faded as the tremors appeared, the ground shaking angrily beneath all their feet. Overhead, several of the gang's members held on for dear life, some of them being shaken off the large ribs while others were falling with the ribs that collapsed from the sheer vibrations of the trembles as the gorge itself shook.

"W-What's happening?!" Daisy asked, looking all around. Scorpia was at a loss herself. With all the shaking, all the power it must've taken, there could've been any-

Scorpia quickly looked back to the sands, feeling a spark of hopefulness returning to her. "Adora?" Could it be? All these tremors? All these vibrations? If it was her power, then obviously it could be, but how much of it was she using? She couldn't exert herself more than usual, right? That was the questionable thinking that made her worry and hope it was Adora at the same time.

Her hope bore fruit.

*WHAM*

In the shape of a large shadowy hand.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out happily, relieved to know her friend was okay. Her happiness slowly turned to curiosity as her friends powers didn't end with just one shadowy claw, one nearly three feet in width at that, stretching all the way from the center of the watery sand.

One piece at a time, slow,y Scorpia and the others watched with surprise as another shadowy claw popped out from the left, then to the right. Then, there was even a third one to her back right, and a fourth to her back left. Finally, it culminated to another two finally popping out, one to her immediate right, and an opposing one to her left, and that's when she appeared.

Adora. Her best friend. Back from the supposed-dead. Slowly the girl rose from the sandy depths that swallowed her as if the shadows themselves were the ones pulling her out of the brink of death, like they were the ones in control instead of the other way around for once. Given her history of her shadows acting in self-defense at times, it wouldn't have surprised Scorpia if that was the case, and she didn't care.

She was just happy to see her friend rising from the sand as a lone blond figure was fished out of the quicksand, plopping her to the ground in front of the deadly quickness as Adora fell to her knees and hands, gasping for breath.

"Ahh! Huff... Huff... Huff..." She panted, coughing up a bit of sand in the process.

"No way!" Tung Lashor growled angrily. There should've been no way anyone could've pulled themselves out from the sand like that, magic or no magic. Then again, he's never contended with a spellcaster or magic user of any kind before.

"Adora!" Scorpia called out, dropping to her knees in front of her as she checked her all over. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you-"

"I... Huff..." Adora gave her a small pause as she held up her hands in front of her. "I think I swallowed... hack... some sand..." She slowly raised her head, giving Scorpia a soft smile so she could show her expectedly-worried friend her condition. "But I think I'm alright."

"Um... Adora?" Scorpia spoke up a little, looking a little closer to her friend's face.

Adora sighed as she assumed what she was going to say. "How bad is the damage? See any dark veins on my neck, yet?"

"What? Oh, no, I wasn't going to mention that. It looks fine, by the way. I was actually referring to your... well..." Figuring it would be easier to prove to her than just explain it, she flipped a small portion of Adora's hair before the girl's eyes, Adora blinking in response as she felt around her head.

"Huh?" She looked and pulled around as she felt along her hair. "Oh, come on..." Adora moaned, looking back into the sandy pit behind her.

Her ponytail was gone. Leaving her hair hanging lifelessly as it flopped all around her as it dangled down to her shoulders. Judging by the amount of sand and all the scuffling she's been through, it must've slipped off after she was thrown into the dreaded quicksand behind her, probably still sinking further into the watery sandy depths below.

First her favorite jacket was gone, and now she was ponytail-less. At this rate, it'd be a miracle if she didn't end up losing her pants, socks, and shoes by the time this entire evening was over. First Ones hoping she didn't lose anything else on top of that.

"Hey!" It was with that annoying, snarling voice that Adora glared on ahead, remembering the thug who tried to bury her in a sandy tomb to begin with. "If you're still kicking, then the battle's not done!" He growled, squeezing his fist.

"Adora, don't worry about this." Scorpia said, standing up as she faced the threatening menace that nearly cost her her friend to begin with. "I can handle-"

"Move." Adora ordered, not even waiting for her to respond as she walked right past her.

"Huh? But Adora, your magic-"

"I'm fine, Scorpia." She assured her, her tone lowered as she stared ahead to the reptilian menace. "I can handle this. Just keep the other two safe, okay?"

"Um... o-okay..." It was obvious to see that Scorpia was uneasy with leaving this in charge of her personal bestie, but at the same time, she didn't want to do anything else that distressed the young girl. Adora had been through so much of her life, like she knew she did, that if she felt confident over something, Scorpia would be there to give her her support, and help, as needed.

Besides, if she started an argument with her friend now, the both of them would be sitting ducks for this creep to attack, along with any of his other lackies if he chose to unleash them.

"Well, well, looks like girlie here came back for a round two, huh?" He hissed, cracking his whip around himself.

"... Huff..." Adora sighed, shaking her head to the reptile in disapproval, like a kid who was caught being naughty for some reason. "You know why you got the drop on me the first time, lizard breath?" She asked in a curious fashion, raising an eye to him.

'Huh?"

'It's because I was holding back." As she spoke, she gathered a bundle of shadows within her hands, stretching them out and forming her typical dark claws. "See, when I usually fight somebody that I just met for the first time, I think to myself "they don't know what they're doing", "it's not their fault they're so stupid". And I hold back time and again because I usually don't want to hurt them."

*crackle*

"What the-?!" Tung Lashor almost felt as if he was going to throw up in disgust.

Following the immediate cracking sound, he, and everyone else, watched as a large shadowy tendril burst from Adora's back, followed by another, and another, all while shadows slowly formed around Adora's body from the neck down. The shadows practically encased themselves to her side as they formed a protective casing around her like armor.

It reminded Scorpia of that day, the first time she assumed this form at the Battle of Bright Moon. She was strong, powerful, and used every bit of her strength in order to defeat the Rebellion once and for all. The only current difference between the two events at this point was, aside from the glowing red eyes that were absent, the left half of her hair didn't turn black, either.

And Adora didn't look anymore pained or exhausted as she called the shadows around her.

"But then I meet people like you. People who look down on everyone because they think they're better than everyone else, people that think they can do or say whatever want to everyone else because they have some fancy power or a gadget, in your case that stupid whip. People I go easy on because I think they deserve a second chance or something stupid, reasons I can't bother to remember for myself. And you wanna know what I think now?" Adora's expression hardened as her eyes narrowed.

"I don't care anymore."

"Ghhhhhhhhhh!" WIth a howling growl emanating from his whip, Tung Lashor had had enough of the girl's prattling, and thrusted his whip directly at the girl's neck.

And it would prove to be his first and last mistake.

*whap*

"Huh?" The lizard flinched, gasping silently as everyone watched around them.

Adora had caught the whip. Single Handedly. The girl didn't show any signs of pain or struggle as the whip was wrapped around her hand, staring at it like she was observing a butterfly that had just landed on her hand out of nowhere. It was almost mocking to him as she stared at it so carefree, like he wasn't around and wasn't important enough for her attention. Growling, the lizard pulled back with all the force he could muster, to lift the girl off her feet, and-!

It didn't happen. Nothing happened. Blinking to himself briefly, the leader hissed again as he tried to pull back, pull with all of his might, only for the girl to remain in place as she stretched a small bit of the whip on her side in silent observation. It was then that he realized that several of her tendrils had already wrapped around the other half of the whip, holding it in place, keeping it from being pulled back any further as Adora didn't' even bother to look.

All it took was a simple yank in return for the whip to come flying out of his hands.

"Huh!?" He couldn't understand what was happening to this girl. When did she get so strong? Or was she always this strong? How strong was she even?

"Huh, thanks for this." Adora smirked, cracking the whip around on her own end. "So nice of you to just hand me the whip over like a good little boy, isn't it?"

"Grrrrrr!" Okay, so she was clearly strong. That didn't mean she could take a beating, at least!

Like he had so many times before, the powerful leader had kicked his feet off the ground as he flew into the air, charging straight ahead at the girl with the intention to stomp her like the bug she was. His fury and wrath knew no bounds as he squeezed his fists tighter, Adora eying him as she let out a yawn, approaching the girl like a wrecking ball with nearly all the strength behind it.

And knowing how strong her shadows were compared to it.

*WHACK*

"Ahhhhhh!" Tung Lashor screamed in pain ashis fists came barreling down atop the girl's shoulder.

Adora didn't move a muscle, she showed no signs of fear to the bandit leader at this stage of her power. If she risked the chance of dying anyway by using too much of her powers, then why bother restraining herself? This man was clearly capable of impressive strength for a gang leader, if the last several minutes of fighting him were anything to go by, and she risked dying sooner if he got the drop on her again. So she didn't hold back as she stood her ground, amplifying the shadows around her with as much power as she could, and waited for him to land the first blow.

And that's when his fists cracked.

He heard the typical sounds of his knuckles cracking under his skin as he painfully slammed them into the girl's shadowy shoulders. It felt like he just slammed his fists into a brick wall! No, scratch that. He punched through plenty of brick walls back in his days, this was something else. This was like punching a pure metallic alloy made of steel, one that hardened with a ten-inch thickness to it that somehow became harder upon impact.

His fists were aching with pain as he dropped to his knees in front of her, Adora scoffing at the sight of him with a look of boredom on her face, just the way she had it when she first met him. Tung Lashor stared at his fists in disbelief, trying to twitch anything he could without feeling any of the excruciating pain behind it. He couldn't tell if they were broken or not, and it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was weaponless and strengthless against the magical user in front of him.

"I-I-I... Y-You..." He stuttered, unable to pick out the words to say. Should he still be enraged? Fearful? Confused? He couldn't say. All he knew was that Adora shook her head at him in disgust.

"I don't care about your stupid rules or your stupid Waste. I'll go where I feel like it, and when I feel like it. And if you try to come after me again, you'll be sorry." With a seething glare, the girl began to walk away, back towards her awaiting friend and allies who smiled at her in turn, while ignoring the small rage burning behind her.

She took pity on him. Her. A girl from nowhere, after beating him without breaking a sweat! It wasn't just humiliating to him, it was insulting. To beat him so easily, to show that she had been holding back the entire time because of some stupid reason, because of some stupid need to prove herself better than the rest of them, better than him. It was almost barbaric in its own nature to him, a grave dishonor to live with, and one that would haunt his memory for the rest of his days if he walked away.

"Y-Youuuuuuuuuu!" He roared with a beastial rage as he charged headfirst towards the girl, baring his razor sharp teeth. She might've broken his fists, or nearly done so, it didn't matter to him. What did matter was that despite all the possible protection she had, the one part she kept exposed was her head, and it his mouth was more than large enough for him bite her head clean off!

"Adora!" Scorpia and Daisy called out, trying to warn the girl who continued to walk at her leisurely pace. Their cries of warning proved to be pointless as the girl was already on top of things.

*SWIFF*

"Waaaaaaaah!" Tung Lashor screamed in fear as he flew overhead. Just mere inches away from the girl who seemed to ignore him, who broke him down in front of all of his followers like he was nothing, the leader of the second best gang in the Crimson Waste was caught. Caught by a large, shadowy tendril lhat burst from Adora's back at the last second, one that had perfectly predicted this outcome and had prepared for it accordingly.

Shooting straight out of the girl's back, Adora didn't bat an eye as the tendril wrapped around the attacker's neck in a second, squeezing at it tightly before throwing the assailant over the girl's head. Adora continued to walk at the same pace as she did, heading to the edge of the quicksand like she intended to, knowing where he was going to end up.

With a large watery-like splash, the person known as Tung Lasher fell in. "Aghhhh! Help! Somebody help me!" Struggling, panicking, pleading for the girl, or anyone that would listen to him, he begged to the high heavens for any one of these people to help him in his precious hour of need. He could barely keep himself afloat with the condition his hands were in, hurting like no tomorrow as he flailed about trying to survive.

"Here you go." Adora casually said, handing the other end of the whip over to him. Frantically, the leader grabbed at the whip, ignoring the pain it brought him if it meant sure survival.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much!" He yelped, sighing with relief as Adora slowly reeled him in a foot closer to the edge. She was going to save him, save him after all he did to her! He owed her so much, so much after this was over! He couldn't begin to imagine how he could pay her back for-

*whiff*

He froze. He pulled, and he pulled, and Adora didn't seem to care as she smirked to him. He pulled the whip as hard as possible, and still couldn't believe it as he reeled it in, all the way to the other end.

Adora had intentionally let go of the whip, and now, there was nothing to save him from the quicksand.

"N-No..."

"Hey, I did warn you." Adora reminded, still grinning to the guy. "You'd be sorry if you tried it again." With nothing more than a simple two finger-salute, the ex-Force Captain waved him goodbye as she returned to her allies a few yards away from her. "And you can keep the whip, I decided it's not in my color." Adora smiled as she returned to her companions, ignoring the desperate pleas behind her that echoed throughout the gorge.

"Adora..." Scorpia didn't know what to say as her friend returned to her.

"Oh, gimme a break Scorpia." Adora moaned, rubbing her forehead as her shadows finally returned. "Look, I already gave him a warning and that was after he tried to kill me. Plus he'll probably be fine if he stops struggling for a few days-"

*tug*

Adora was cut off as Scorpia embraced her in a gentle, girm, comforting hug, lasting only for a few seconds for a change as she pulled her friend away again with a warm smile. "I'm so glad you're okay." Adora was at a loss, thinking her friend would've been angry or upset with her or something.

Personally, Scorpia didn't care about the thug. It wasn't so much the fact that he nearly killed Adora, it was the fact that he tried to do it twice, even after Adora spared him the first time when she had the chance. Whatever happened to the Tung Lashor guy or whatever his real name possibly was, it was on him from now on. All Scorpia was concerned about was that her friend was okay.

And, realizing this for herself, Adora smiled back to her.

She had won.

It was over.

Looking between the two, setting her friend down for a moment, Daisy quickly rushed to Adora's side, raising the girl's gloved hand to the air as she smiled to the masses watching. "Who's the strongest of the Crimson Waste!" She shouted to them.

Shifting her eyes around, growing a small blush, Scorpia slowly rose her claw to the air as she started to pump it in tune with a chant. "Adora. Adora. Adora." The more she continued to chant it, the more pumped she got as she started raising both her arms in the air in tune with the chant.

"Adora! Adora! Adora! Adora!" Daisy joined in, still smiling to the person she was beginning to feel comfortable around.

"Heh, guys, you don't need to-" Adora was cut off as the noise surrounded her.

"Adora! Adora!"

"Adora! Adora!"

"ADORA! ADORA!"

All around her she looked. Turning, listening, watching, as the crowd above her chanted her name in unison, said her name as if they were wishing for her blessing, all being in harmony with one another in their chanting. From the cliffsides to the top of the gorge to the ribs above her, everyone was cheering for her.

Her.

Adora.

As their new leader.

Adora didn't know what to say.

She showed them what she was capable of, showed them how cruel she could be if she needed to be, and they... accepted her for it. They weren't scared of her acting out in a way that relieved her stress, that didn't require her to keep her emotions bottled up for everyone else's benefit. They saw the side of her that people should've been fearful of, the side that slowly twisted the girl in agony as she suffered through a life of betrayal.

And they weren't fearful of her.

She didn't know what this feeling of, nor could she control the way her lips began to curl. What started as a questionable glance as she continued to look around her, slowly became a grand, warming smile, so much so that her eyes began to water a little.

This place, this Crimson Waste, this supposed "Nightmare of Etheria", as it was called... it was paradise. Out here, she could be whatever she wanted to be, she could live without the hardships and burdens of the world back in the Fright Zone. Out here, where power was everything and chaos gripped the land...

She was their leader. They looked up to her. They wanted to be at her side through thick and thin. And she couldn't help but embrace the feeling herself as she raised a shadowy fist into the air, relishing the sound of the cheers nearly doubling in volume and mass.

She couldn't' think of anything to say, only what to do next as she spotted something along the ground. Walking over to it, Adora casually plucked the item off the ground before tossing it over to her friend, her best friend, Scorpia, who caught it with surprise. It was another jacket like the one she had, one that was perfect for her size.

Looking back at her, Adora smiled as she gave her a warm smile, the kind of smile that showed her true happiness for the second time in a month, and Scorpia accepted it graciously. After all, she always did say she wanted to have a matching pair of jackets after Adora's first one was ruined.

Turning around again, Adora smiled as the people continued to chant her name, chant her image, and slowly, began to smirk. Before she could get ahead of herself, she had some important business to take care of first, a certain business involving a pesky little cat and her friends.

And this time, she had an army to back her up.

...

Catra stared in mixed contemplation at the hologram of Mara. She, nor any of her friends and allies, knew what to say here.

She had finally found it. Mara. Her. Or at least a message left behind by her, one that displayed a hologram of her on the metallic throne. Mara was the She-Ra before her, the She-Ra from a thousand years ago. The She-Ra that was said to have nearly destroyed the world when her powers ran amok, when she gave in to fear, hate, and faulty reasoning.

She was everything Catra was afraid of becoming, going to any length to better herself in the hopes of becoming a better She-Ra. When she ran out of methods to do so, to strengthen her bond, to avoid the risk of turning into someone like Mara, she set out on this journey to an ancient message's location from Alwynn, hoping it would provide the answers to help her finally complete her bond before her emotions destroyed the connection she had to her sword.

Now, she wasn't so sure of herself.

Something was wrong from the moment this Mara came into being. She apologized that she failed to be the last one, she regretted everyone who might've turned out to be the next She-Ra in line. She was nothing like Catra expected her to be.

She expected her to look more like a tyrant, like a monster. Something that anyone and everyone should fear becoming, what she feared becoming. But when she looked at this woman in front of her, the girl who appeared to be filled with regret, pained, and injured, she didn't see any of those things, not a single piece.

She saw sadness. Helplessness. And despair.

"I don't know what they told you, but it wasn't all bad at first." The holographic message continued, Catra standing closest to it to hear what she had to say. "We were the first ones to settle Etheria, to study this planet's magic." There was a small glitch as the feed buzzed for a moment as she frowned. "How could it go so wrong?" Following another buzz, her eyes stared ahead again.

"Light Hope use the-"

*bzzzzt*

"Can't-"

*bzzzzt*

"Weapon-"

*bzzzzt*

Catra refrained from the need to growl or shout as the feed began to become unstable, growing irritable and impatient as she tightened her hand over her sword's hilt, shaking it a little. She went through so much trouble to get this message, and she wasn't willing to accept that it had to glitch out on her now of all times when she needed help.

"The weapon-"

*bzzzzt*

"Weapon-"

"What weapon?" Catra asked, hoping that it could respond to her in some way. "The sword? Is that what you're talking about? How do I use it? Tell me how to finish my bond!" The magicat stared at the image impatiently and tense as she looked back to the console. "Hey, Bowey, have you fixed it yet?" Catra asked.

"I'm trying, but I think the message got damaged when the ship crashed." He replied, regretful as he continued to examine the control console displaying the message.

"I opened a portal to a completely empty dimension and pulled Etheria in." All other heads were drawn back to the hologram as it continued. "I hid us from the rest of the universe to keep everyone safe."

Safe from what? Catra asked herself, her ears lowering throughout the conversation, tail wrapped around her waist to keep her nerves.

"This was the one play they'll never find us." She went on as Bow returned to the group. "I saw what they would do. The deaths that would follow. I couldn't stop them before, but I can now. Hiding is our only option."

"Catra, I..." Glimmer said quietly, staring at the hologram. "I don't think Mara was trying to destroy the world. I think she was-"

"Trying to save it..." Catra came to realize, feeling bits and pieces of her world being flipped all over the place.

"Maybe it's been a week?" Mara moaned, leaning back in the chair. "Maybe it's been thousands years. I never wanted to be a hero. I won't be remembered as one."

*aaang*

The alarms flashed within the hologram behind Mara, the She-Ra looking back in fear before staring off ahead. "You have the sword now. It is the Administrator Key to our planet. With it, you can activate a portal. So I'm begging you. Don't do it. Leave us here. If you open a portal, death and destruction will follow."

Catra felt her heart beginning to beat rapid, feeling a sense of fear swarming around it as Mara stood, still clutching her chest in pain. "For the good of the universe, Etheria must stay in Despondos. If not, everyone will-"

"Wait!" Catra tried to plead to forces unknown as she raised a hand withering message, feeling herself being drawn to the image as she took a step forward.

All this was for naught. In the end, the message had finally ceased to exist, disappearing along with the fading glow around it.

Silence filled the void around them as Catra's arm slowly lowered to her side, then her tail as it unwrapped around her waist. Slowly, her eyes shriveling at the sight, the magicat dropped to her hands and knees, lowering her head to the ground as if the girl was about to fall.

"Catra!" Bow and Glimmer called out to her worriedly, rushing to her side.

"What was the point..." Catra muttered as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Catra?" Glimmer questioned, leaning away as Catra raised a fist slowly behind her.

"WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THIS!?"

*BAM*

"Ghhhh!" The cat hissed to herself as she bashed her fist against the metallic floor, ignoring the pain it caused her hand as best she could as she slowly stood up. "I came all this way for some sort of help... A message... A hint... Anything, to keep me from ending up like Mara, and... and..." One of the last words spoken by her still haunted her repeatedly.

"I never wanted to be a hero."

"I've been just like her since the day I started!" She yelled, squeezing at her own head. With parts of the fractured truth coming to surface, the reality of the situation was finally coming to Catra.

Mara wasn't a hero. Catra wasn't a hero.

She didn't want to be a hero. Catra didn't want to be a hero.

"And now I'm finding out she tried to save everyone? I don't get it! Do I want to be like her or not!?" The person she was informed that trapped everyone within this terrible fate, who had let faulty logic and inner turmoil structure her heart, was someone trying to save all of them in the end. If it wasn't for her, for whatever she did and why, none of them would probably be here right now.

As if that wasn't a headache in itself, there was the other part of it that troubled her the most.

"She was still a full-fledged She-Ra... She had all these mixed emotions and she still managed to turn into She-Ra... SO WHY CAN'T I!?" In a huff, the magicat walked back over to the control console on the left side of the room, her friends following behind her with worry for her.

She didn't get anything she wanted, anything she was searching for. She was still the same old Catra, the reluctant hero, not a chosen one. She was the Catra who let emotions cloud her judgement, and at time, put her and the mission at risk. Her emotions were her greatest weakness, they were the exploit Adora would and could use over and over again every time they fought. And, eventually, she was going to snap.

She was going to lose it all completely. She would be driven so far into fear, anger, sorrow, that at some point, somehow, she was going to lose it. She would break the bond with the sword, she would let everything haunt her mind as she lashed out against the world. She might not even recognize friend from foe anymore, just like when she was under the virus's effect in the Northern Reaches.

For all she knew, all she was sure of, she was going to fail. And everyone she cared about would fall around her.

"Catra, it... It's not all bad." Bow tried to encourage, walking to her side. "Did you forget the other reason we came here? To discover more about Adora and the portal?"

"He's right." Glimmer tried to support, teleporting to Catra's side. "We know more than we ever did before. And we have an entire ship to examine in more detail." She could tell Catra was trying to bottle in her anger, her rage, as she refused to look at the two. All she could do as a sign of listening was lowering her ears to them. "You can't give up when you haven't seen every possibility, Catra. It's not what She-Ra would do, not what you should do."

"I don't know what the trouble is about this "power" or thing you're talking about, but your friends are right." Huntara nodded behind them, crossing her arms. "Whether you're a hunter or a warrior, you can't give up just because everything seems to be crashing down on you."

She felt... frightened, for a change. Legitimately, frightened. Scared. She felt a strange sense of unknowingness for the first time that left her frightened of what could happen. She didn't know where to take off from here, where her path would lead her, whether or not she should continue to struggle on like she has been. It was... bizarre. And Catra still didn't know what to say.

She's done this whole thing before. She's depressed, they say something to cheer her up, then they're back at it again by tomorrow and the process starts all over again! Nobody should have to be reminded this often of what a hero should be, it's probably one of the reasons the sword wouldn't choose her in the first place! Nobody would choose her! Not even-

"Well that was quite a show."

"Huh!" Everyone gasped as they turned around, hearing the familiar voice of a certain individual that could only belong to one person.

Ears twitching, her scent already picking up on the slightly familiar smell, Catra turned back. She couldn't believe at the person she saw, the one who looked radically different compared to normal, and the one lounging around in Mara's throne with her legs over the side and her hands behind her head like she owned the place.

Finally seeing all the attention drawing to her, the figure turned her head back, smirking at the one person she despised to see the most.

"Hey, Catra."

...

A/N: And another chapter down! Know it might seem like a weird point to stop (especially since its a bit different), but with a couple more interactions i have in store for the next chapter and everything, I felt it would be a good stopping point there X)

So, on top of a brand new black leather jacket, we have an adora without a ponytail now that's letting her hair hang naturally. Oh, and not to mention the black leather gloves. Hate to say it, but, and this was never intentional, she's starting to fill the villain role perfectly in terms of style if you ask me XP maybe there was a real mixup with the sword from the main series... hmm... Oh wells.

Lol, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 103: S3 Episode 3: Once Upon a Time in the Waste Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10.7k Pre-A/N's. Caution: Heavy Feelings and emotions starting now. You have been warned.

Hoooo boy, i gotta tell ya people. The ending towards this gave me the chills to picture. On a bright note, I'm thrilled i managed to push out over 10k of words with this despite only having like 3 1/2 minutes left to the episode ^^ On the darker side... everything else.

How bad does it get? Weeeeeeeeeeell... I'll leave that up to you. Honestly, all things considered, I get the feeling I should've labeled this episode the "no happy endings" episode . Why? Because with the way it was going and the way it ends... hoooooo boy, I think it was more appropriate.

So with that said, prepare yourselves. It's about to get a lot more grim from here on out...

...

"A-Adora...?" Catra questioned, more surprised at her recent appearance in terms of style rather than her appearance in general.

The whole day had been one lousy waste of time ot the magicat. All that work, all that energy and time spent, had been completely sent down the drain. There were no words to describe the frustration in her head, the fear and worry in her heart, and the confusion at everything that had yet to be answered around her.

And that was all before Adora showed up!

She came here to the Crimson Waste for a two-fold mission. First, she was supposed to locate an ancient message being sent to Bow's tracker pad after the events of Alwyn, a message from the first ones that had to do with something called Serenia, a portal, and, the previous She-Ra before her, Mara. There were so many mysteries behind the message that they were desperate to find the answers to, desperate to stop the Horde's portal technology to coming to fruition. At least, that was the primary goal for the rest of them.

The primary goal for Catra was to finally get some answers, some help, about finishing her bond with the Sword of Protection. She had come so close to perfecting her bond with the sword, to becoming a true hero and She-Ra like she needed to be, but she had reached the limits of what she was capable of about changing herself.

She let out of a lot of grudges from her past, save for certain betrayals still lingering in her mind. She had changed so much about her rough personality and brutish figure. Sure, she still picked on her friends occasionally and pulled a weekly prank back and forth, but she's done it less and less often which was a surprising turnaround than how she used to be. She came all the way here in the hope that something could help her, that the message could give her the final clue in becoming a true She-Ra.

And what did she get instead? Nothing. Zilch. Not only did she not get any help in trying to prevent herself from ending up like Mara, she also found out that Mara was sticking to her duties as a She-Ra, that she trapped all of Etheria in a separate dimension to protect everybody from something terrible, not because her powers ran amok and caused a total rampage.

Catra had never felt so confused in her life. Did she want to be like Mara or didn't she? Was there any clue to help her complete the bond with her sacred sword? Why did Mara trap them all within this dimension, Despondos, and what was she keeping them hidden from? And, most of all, what was Adora suddenly doing here?!

"What? Were you expecting something else?" Adora smirked to her, still leaning in the metallic chair with her legs and head over the arms like she owned the thing.

"Wha... What happened to you? You look... different." It was like Catra was talking to a completely different person as she examined her new appearance.

Since the day started for the ex-Force Captain, Adora's appearance and personality had taken on a radically new outlook. She no longer donned her infamous red jacket, having traded it for some new black one she got from Tung Lashor's gang. She let her hair fall out around her as she lost the ponytail that kept her hair usually bundled up. And the look in the eyes, that strange gloating look in her eyes... it was completely different from the Adora she knew.

"Like it?" She asked in a curious smugness, tapping on her new coat. "Personally, I would've preferred keeping the ponytail, but I think it's grown on me. Speaking of which, what's this whole administrator key and thing about Despondos?" She grinned.

"You... You heard all of that?" Glimmer fretted a little, raising her fists to her side as she prepared to charge her magic on a moment's notice.

"Oh, a little of this and that, I didn't really care much about the semantics of it. What I do care about, though," she said, pointing to the sword in the console behind them, "is that little blade you keep dragging around. Sounds like it's pretty important." At this, the soldier spun around as she hopped out of her seat. "I think I'll be taking it back with me."

"Not on your life!" Bow yelled, preparing his arrow as Glimmer charged her magic.

It was only now as she slowly came back to her senses that Catra's sense of smell finally kicked in, warning her of the hidden danger in the shadows. "Wait-!" She yelled, raising a hand to stop them.

Adora showed no signs of fear as she placed a hand at her side, raising her other one as she snapped her fingers.

*click*

*siff*

"Agh!" Bow was out like a light as the familiar blue dart struck him square in the neck, collapsing to the ground.

"Bow-!"

*siff*

"Ngh-! Nnnhhhh..." Glimmer's momentary cry for her collapsing friend was silenced just as quickly as he was as another dart shot straight into her arm, disabling the magic and dropping the princess to the ground in an instant.

"You guys!" Overwhelmed with the current fear still plaguing her heart, Catra had acted on instinct as she tried to take a quick step over to her fallen friends. It took her two entire steps before her ears picked up on the sound of another dart being shot directly at her.

*siff*

*clack!*

Catra nearly jumped as the projectile was blocked inches away from her by the sight of Huntara's grand spear, the huntress protecting the magicat from danger at the last second.

Looking back to her blond friend as she lowered her hand again, she continued to give off that same smug look on her face as her entire gang stepped out of the shadows. Catra didn't know what to say as she saw them, members from what used to be Huntara's hang like the satyr and blue lizard, and nearly half a dozen lizardmen stepping out from each side.

"You know, I've always wanted to do something like that where I snap my fingers and something happened. I was just too proud of myself to ever do it until now." Adora commented.

Huntara was actually surprised at the appearance of her former cohorts over at the mysterious blond's side, even more by the familiar jackets they were all wearing. "Tarruk? What do you two think you're doing? And why are you with Tung Lashor's gang?"

"The name is Daisy, Huntara." The satyr spat as she pointed to Adora. "And we're not with Tung Lashor, we're with a new leader."

"New... leader?" Huntara turned to the blond in question as Adora continued to smirk.

"What can I say?" She shrugged. "A little respect goes a long way, especially when you dispose of a gang's leader right in front of them."

Never giving the huntress or magicat a chance to recover, two of the other lizardmen within the shadows shot another pair of darts at the duo, intending to take them both down once and for all. Using herself as a human shield, Huntara sacrificed herself as she stepped ahead of Catra, stretching her arms as she took a direct shot to each side of her collar near her shoulders.

No matter how strong and mighty the previous leader of the Crimson Waste might've been, even she was no match to the very paralyzing darts that she used beforehand.

Catra's tail spiked up at the sight before her. All of her friends and allies were taken down with such ease, such swiftness, and by Adora of all people. Snapping out of her stupor, the magicat quickly rushed back to the main console, hastily grabbing at her sword before it was too late, and raising it to the heavens. Even if she wasn't a full She-Ra, it was still better than being no She-Ra right now!

"For the Honor of Gray-!"

*swiff*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as the legendary sword was swiped right out of her hands by two large shadowy tentacles from Adora's back, watching as the blade was pulled over by the original girl chosen to be She-Ra, the one who was supposed to be She-Ra, with ease. To add insult to injury, right before the girl could chase after it, she was suddenly caught from behind by Adora's always-faithful friend, Scorpia, as she grabbed Catra's wrists tightly in each claw, holding them up to the air. "Ah!"

There was no end to the girl's grin as she examined the blade from head to toe, admiring the reflection of herself in the blade's darkened light. "Wow. That was beyond easy. You know, either I'm starting to get really good at this, or you're starting to get really bad."

"Grrr!" Catra kept herself from panicking too much as she scanned the room.

Her friends were completely immobilized and unconscious thanks to the paralyzing darts, the same fate she was sure would befall her in a matter of seconds at this rate, Adora was using all of her powers at once without worry or care, they were surrounded, Catra was without the sword and gripped by Scorpia's strong claws, and she was the only one capable of doing something, anything.

But what?

She had no powers, she had no magic, and she didn't even have her claws of all things! Everything that happened in front of her proved to her all the reasons she was incapable of being a true hero, a true She-Ra, that she needed to be. It was over for all of them.

"Nnggghhh!" Or maybe not. To everyone's surprise, out of the remaining allies capable of fighting, Huntara slowly got back to her feet as she grumbled, barely shrugging off the paralyzing agent's double-dose that took both of her friends down. She was the only one still standing who could do anything, the only person dependable at this point.

"Huntara!" Catra shouted. "Get them out of here and run! Now!" Huntara grumbled in understanding as she finally got to her feet in full.

With a simple nod, understanding the feline's anger and determination, Huntara grabbed both of her friends, flinging them both over her shoulders, and made a mad dash towards the doorway. Despite the paralysis flowing in her system, she still proved more than a match for several of the lizardmen that tried to stop her as she bashed them out of the way with her pure physique.

She just wasn't capable of stopping that one individual in particular.

"And where do you think you're going?" Adora asked in a playful tone as she watched her.

*Swiff-Swiff-Swiff*

"Ghhhhhhhh!" Huntara grumbled as she became ensnared in several of Adora's shadowy tentacles. With a powerful grip over her right ankle, her waist, and her left arm, there was no way she could afford to pry the tentacles off of herself without dropping either of her two allies. All she could do was continue to grumble as she struggled to push herself forward.

"So you're the famous Huntara I kept hearing about, huh?" Adora said knowingly, examining the larger woman. "You know, I don't really have anything against you, so you can leave if you want to. But without tweedle-dee and tweedle-pink over there." Her smirk became a little more devious as she aimed a shadowy arm towards the woman. "Catra's the only one I need to bring back alive."

"No!" Catra shouted, fearing the worst before glaring back at the girl behind her. "LET GO!"

*Whack!*

"Ahh!" Scorpia cried out as she was smacked away. Before she could defend herself or get the sting on Catra, the magicat used the only accessible weapon available to her at a time like this- her feet. With a timely execution and acrobatic, the magicat managed to pull both her feet up to her chest before slamming them both directly at Scorpia's face, kicking her off of her and freeing her wrists.

The moment she dropped to the ground, Catra rushed madly for the girl behind all of this, the only one keeping her friends from freedom. Seeing the girl getting back to her feet and sprinting towards them, several of the lizardmen and Daisy attempted to stop her as they shot their blow pipes directly at the girl, only for Catra to nimbly dodge them from one side to the next, refusing to let anything stop her from performing at least one final act to save her friends, knowing it was her fault they were in this mess to start with.

With another dodge, leaping over one of the lizardmen who tried to grab her and kicking him off for an extra boost, Catra growled as she tackled away her ex-friend, the blond girl completely unaware of her approach until it was two late, and being pinned to the ground behind her as her connection with her shadows fell apart upon impact, losing the focus she had to maintain them for a few seconds.

Those few seconds were all that Huntara needed as she was finally released, looking back to the girl as she struggled to maintain her grip on the squirming and agitated Adora as she shifted her eyes back to her.

"Get off!" She demanded, trying to loosen herself from the arms wrapped around her own, keeping Catra too close to her for her to summon her own shadows at her side.

"I said hurry up and get them out of here!" Catra yelled again, continuing to struggle further as several of the lizardmen attempted to pry the surprisingly strong grip of the feline off of their new leader.

With a heavy heart, added with regret, Huntara followed the She-Ra's directions as she continued to run off, carrying both her friends to safety as Catra was left behind again. Even when her friends and allies were finally out of reach, Catra refused to budge, trying to provide as much time as possible as she felt several more hands trying to pry her loose from Adora's back.

It was only when she felt the last pair of hands, or claws in this case, that she finally lost.

*ting*

"Agh-!" There was a brief pain in her left side before she slowly felt her consciousness beginning to fade, being more than enough for Adora to shove her off herself as she fell to the floor at her side.

Looking up, Adora gave a small smile to Scorpia, the sight of her friend rescuing her being a sight of comfort, before giving off another grin to Catra as her consciousness faded.

"Sleep tight, kitty." She teased as Catra's eyes finally closed. "We have some catching up to do when you wake up..."

...

"Hoorah!" The cheers were aplenty as the drinks and knives were raised to the air.

The room they were still in was abuzz with cheer as everyone celebrated. Drinking themselves silly, cheering for their new leadership, and celebrating what Adora considered to be a great victory. With the lights now on, the new leader sitting proudly with her leg over the metallic throne's side, and the sword cupped in her very hands, Adora couldn't have been more ecstatic.

She had won. She had finally won. After so many failures, so many missions gone awry, things had finally worked out in the end. Just thinking about it, every detail, how this day turned out, and her change of personality gave her such excitement.

All of this happened on the day she changed herself. For the worse? For the better? She couldn't say. What she did know was that she won for the first time, a victory she could claim and be proud of, ever since her personal war against Catra started. She was proud of herself, proud of her friends, proud of what she managed to do! And it was the way she did it that truly inspired her to consider it.

Before, all those other times, it was with her sense of decency. She showed kindness as much as she could to those around her, only giving her hatred to her enemies, to Catra, and everything around her. Here, she showed everything she was repressing. She showed her anger towards the world, her grief and sorrow to those who tried to push her back down, and her despair of what she needed to become in order to achieve victory.

And you know what? It worked.

She did it. She showed everyone what she was truly capable of by just letting go of her compassion for the first time in her life.

Is this how it was? Is this truly how the world worked? By forgoing compassion and decency in order to complete her objectives? To get past her obstacles? Is this how she was meant to do things from now on? Given all that had happened today, it was hard to say. And for now, it didn't matter.

For now, all she was concerned about was celebrating, making sure everyone had a good time for their assistance in one of the greatest missions she's ever had in the last several months. This was a party for them as much as it was for her.

"A toast to driving Huntara out of the Waste!" Daisy cheered, raising her mug to the sky.

"Yaaaaaaaa!" Everyone else cheered in unison, Adora chuckling to herself as she watched.

"A toast to finding new loot, huh?" She added. Adora did have to admit, what they found was... more than impressive. To think, of anything they could've found, they found a ship of all things.

"Yaaaaaaaa!" Everyone cheered again.

"And a toast to Boss Adora, the best leader we've ever had!" She concluded for a third time.

"Yaaaaaaaaa!" The cheers were magnified by the mention of Adora, the blond girl giving a faint blush at the comment as she chuckled again. As they cheered, her attention shifted to her right as she saw her faithful companion appearing from behind the chair, wearing the very jacket that Tung Lashor had worn earlier that day.

"And Scorpia!" Adora announced, rising to her feet on the throne with a shadowy fist. "A toast for Scorpia!"

"Yaaa!"

"Woohoo!"

"Yeah, man!"

The cheers were varied in terms of Scorpia, but the praise and love came all the same as Scorpia blushed at the decency. "W-What? I can't." Scorpia chuckled, trying to pass off the praise. "You guys, I- Thank you. Yes. Gosh."

"And a toast to everybody!" Adora continued. "Everyone made this possible! Celebrate to your heart's content! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" The cheers were so overwhelming in that regard that several mugs and glasses were actually throne into the air, some people getting dunked overhead while one or two people slipped, sending bouts of laughter across the room, Adora included.

Looking up to her dear friend, Scorpia continued to smile as Adora laughed so dearly, felt so genuine, for the first time in ages.

"Can you believe this, Scorpia?" Adora asked the girl as she watched everyone around her. "This is what a "party" is supposed to be like, and it's amazing! Hahahaha! Oh, man, when we go back, we are definitely doing this more often. I'm gonna demand more of these when I get back to the Fright Zone."

She felt so happy for her, proud for her. Adora was finally, truly, happy for the first time in what felt like forever. "Uh, the crazy desert lady got away with the others." Scorpia reluctantly informed. She didn't want to put a damper on Adora's mood, but she knew it would've been worse to keep Adora from finding out.

"Ah, who cares about them?" Adora shrugged, which was saying a lot given her disdain for Glimmer and Bow. "We've got something way more important than any of them." Holding up the sword in front of her, Adora smiled at the reflection she caught of herself. "Do you remember what that hologram thing said? This thing is the key to the whole planet. When we bring this back to the Fright Zone, Hordak will finally see me for what i'm worth, I won't be a failure in his eyes, I'll finally have his respect!"

She could just see it now. She would have a place at his side once again, he would finally see her as his equal, not a letdown or a failure of the Horde. While she didn't hold the same amount of respect for him that she once harbored, it would've been a thrilling emotion to feel. To finally do something right, to finally have the honor and respect as his second-in-command. To be seen as a Hero among the Horde.

It would be beautiful, truly, sincerely. And she wouldn't have to feel jealous over Entrapta any longer. She would be able to approach her again without bouts of jealousy, without any sense of unease that would manifest in her powers coming to life on her own. She could finally hang out with her and never have to fear for herself or others ever again.

All of it would be perfect.

"Or, you know, counterpoint," Scorpia spoke up as she appeared in the reflection behind Adora, "we don't go back at all."

"What?" She was positive she misheard her over the sound of the party. "What do you mean we wouldn't go back? Why wouldn't we?"

"Uh... because you hate it there?" She stated, giving a small smile.

"What?" Adora got out of her chair as she stood before the tall friend. "No I... I don't..." She hesitated to reply. Why did she feel herself hesitating to answer something like that? She loved the Horde, she loved the people there she loved every... She loved the... She loved... Liked... Was alright with...?

"Look, just, hear me out for a second, okay?" Scorpia requested, still giving her a comforting smile. "Within one day, you've defeated gangs ruling the Crimson Waste and made yourself their leader." As she said this, Adora glanced across the room as she watched the rabble rousers. True to her word, they were all happy, celebrating, and proud to be under Adora's leadership. The girl didn't know what to say as she hugged the sword closer to her, looking down in thought.

At the same time, Scorpia kneeled down closer to her height until they were at eye-level, and gently holding her shoulders. "This is the happiest I've ever seen you since the Battle of Bright Moon- scratch that. This is the happiest I've ever seen you since I've met you!" Adora blushed a little with an awkward smile as she turned her eyes away, still scorpion girl continued as she stood back up.

"Let's stay here. Forget about Hordak. Forget about Catra, forget all of them! You deserve to be happy after everything that's happened. You deserve this!"

"I..." Adora was at a loss for what to say. A part of her had to agree with Scorpia given all that's happened up to this point. She was torn apart by Catra's betrayal, the war was putting so much stress on her, and she was starting to take it out on the people she cared about that didn't deserve this. She wanted to say yes on the spot, she wanted to agree with her. But there was a problem. "Scorpia, I... I would love to, but... But you know I can't."

To make her point in an instant, she gathered a small handful of shadows over her gloved hand. "As long as these powers keep eating away at me, I... I'll never be able to stop. I have to go back to the Horde, to recharge, to fix myself weekly... It wouldn't work." That was a small part of it that made Scorpia frown.

She wanted Adora to be as happy as she wanted to be, and she wouldn't get in the way of it if she truly desired it for herself. But she also couldn't sit back with herself and watch everything that's happened and allow her to stay if it meant Adora could die by her own powers. In a land like the Crimson Waste where weakness was prayed upon, anyone, at any opportunity, could strike her and claim leadership for their selfishness.

It wasn't fair to someone like Scorpia, it didn't feel fair at all, and it wasn't in any reality she could think of! And that's when she noticed, noticed closely to herself as she saw the back of Adora's left wrist as she hugged the sword.

"I don't think that'll be a problem." Scorpia commented as she removed the black glove from the normal-looking hand of hands.

"What? Scorpia, what are you-!" Adora froze, stared in disbelief as she saw the shadows covering the veins of her hand.

There weren't any. There wasn't a single line of shadow within her left hand at all. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Adora quickly took a peek at her other hand, pulling back the leather that was concealing part of her deformity, of the ugliness her power had cost her. There wasn't any shadow there either.

It was like she was cured.

"I... I don't..." Adora blinked between her two hands, still in disbelief. "I don't understand... W-Why isn't it... How...?"

Scorpia poked her chin for a bit in contemplation as a small thought came to her. "... Hey, Adora?" Adora looked up to her pondering friend, still in a state of shock. "When... When was the last time you went all out?"

"Huh? What do you mean "all out"?"

"I mean, when was the last time that you... you know... used your powers to their fullest?" She asked, getting a rather curious look from Adora herself.

"I... I'm not sure I follow..." She felt something at the tip of her mind being formulated, like something in Scorpia's mind was being transferred to the girl as she spoke.

"Well, and I'm just guessing here since the brainwork is usually Entrapta's job, but... When was the last time you let your powers go wild? Like at the Battle of Bright Moon? Or when you fought that Tung Lashor guy?"

"What... What are you saying?" As the fruition of what she was thinking came to her, Scorpia's smile started to widen.

"I'm saying, I think I know why your powers have been making you sick so much."

"Really? What is it?"

"What do you think, you goof? It's you." Scorpia stated, poking her in the chest.

"M-Me?" It... well, certain parts and details of it did make sense to her, she just wasn't fully aware of it yet.

"Yeah, think about it. Back in the Fright Zone, back with the Horde, you've been holding back. You're forcing yourself to repress yourself, you're forcing yourself to hold back when training, keeping your emotions from exploding, and always holding back when fighting your enemies because you're being strategic, not ruthless. But here," Scorpia smiled as she looked around with her, "you don't have to do any of that. You can be anything you want to, freely!"

Adora was... at a loss. A grand loss. And an accepting loss for a change.

Looking around herself, she realized that... she was right. Everything Adora did was with her repressing herself. She never raised her voice to people except in a spur of the moment, she never went all out in her training facilities out of fear of looking like a monster, fear of damaging everyone and everything around her. She kept herself back with all of her willpower to stop herself from hurting everything within the enclosed metallic walls of the Fright Zone.

And everytime it did, her powers punished her for it. Whenever her powers were drawn, a portion of them was being transfused through her bloodstream, her veins. Her emotions that she always kept in check, always kept quiet about when she knew her powers would manifest as a result, ate away at her with each passing breath. Every time she returned the shadows to her surroundings, refusing to let the same amount of power be unleashed around her, they virtually entered through her, sickening her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But here, she didn't have any of that.

Here, she had people who were armwrestling against one another and not even caring when one cheated by using two hands, even if a small brawl started in the side of the room. Here, where monsters roamed freely and outlaws and thugs ran wild, she wouldn't have to hold back any of her powers, and could be everything and anything she was meant to be. Most importantly, she could finally be true to herself and her emotions.

She could let herself be expressed freely for a change, and no one would bat an eye. She could yell at the occasional person without worrying about their feelings being hurt, knowing it was commonplace around the Crimson Waste. She could talk down to anyone she wanted to and they would give her a simple nod in return. She wouldn't have to hold herself back, to force her powers to be held back, and she could finally be happy, finally feel good about everything she was doing.

She could finally be free.

"You don't have to be afraid of who you are anymore, you don't have to be so nice to everyone around you when it bothers you. We could rule the Crimson Waste together, just the two of us." Scorpia continued. "We could, you know," Scorpia blushed a bright pink as she spoke, "be happy."

"... You're right."

"Huh?" Adora's small smile and nod came to her too quickly for Scorpia to process all at once. As she slowly did, a large smile started to spread across Scorpia's face, needing to hear those words again."What did you say?"

"You're... You're right." Adora smiled, looking at the party going on. "Everything I do for Hordak is looked down upon, and he shuns me for it. I tried to impress him, tried to keep him happy, and I end up in jail for it. But this... This day, this place... Has been the greatest time of my life for once. So... let's do it."

"You mean it?!" Scorpia's eyes sparkled so happily that she could barely contain herself.

"Yes!" Adora teared up a little as her happiness was overflowing. "Let's forget the Horde! We'll send someone to collect the sword on their own time, let them deal with it. We'll stay here from now on!"

"Yahoooo!" Adora was already mentally prepared, not so much physically, as Scorpia tightened her arms around her like a ravaged bear, a bear that twirled in place at the announcement as they squeezed the life out of her. Yet, unlike those other times, Adora embraced it, laughing along as Scorpia hugged her so tightly, a hug that thankfully didn't last longer than three entire seconds or one loop, Scorpia looking to the masses who continued to party. "You hear that, people? We're staying!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The eruption of cheers were topped with a small tremor from the floor, everyone's cheer reaching new limits as their voiced boomed across the room. Adora continued to laugh as she looked around her, already picturing everything from this point forward.

She would lead these people, all of them! They would see her and respect her as their ruler, one who knew to be kind, sincere, and also ruthless and aggressive as needed. She could turn the Crimson Waste into a practical paradise for those with nowhere else to go, a place where those with a hopeless future could start over!

And she would have a new friend at her side, a better friend. Together with Scorpia, the two would finally know something close to peace around here as they ran things their way, as their followers would respect them in their entirety. She would be seen, worshipped, as a kind leader, an honest leader, and one who knew how to fight for those she cared about.

This was her time. Her gift from the world. She could finally put every obstacle in her past behind her, and never have to look back. Maybe it was a little foolhardy to think of everything so optimistically, but who cared? Out here, she could be as foolish as she chose to be, as she wanted to be! Everything, anything, about this plan, actually sounded great, to her.

That is, until she looked down at the sword, remembering the other "occupant" in the next room over. "What... What about Catra?"

"Oh, that. Well..." Scorpia scratched the back of her head nervously. She already knew what to say, she just didn't know how Adora was going to take it. "We might have to... you know... " She coughed a little, straightening herself out. "Let her go."

"What?!" As expected, Adora nearly jumped at the comment.

"I know, I know, I know, just, just think about it, okay?" It was going to be near-impossible to convince her to let her go, given all the history they've had together. "Without Catra here, the Rebellion wouldn't have anymore reason to come and bother us, right? They wouldn't risk coming here unless something else came up. And unless we let them go, they'll just keep trying to break her out-"

"You're right."

"And they'll keep sending more and more-!" Scorpia stopped as she looked back. "I... I am?"

Adora frowned a little as she looked at the sword with regret. "If I don't let her go, it'll jeopardize everything, everyone here. They'll never stop coming here, and they'll ruin everything for us. Even if we did stop them all, that'd be too many people to hold prisoner, to deal with without giving a bad name for ourselves." It hurt a little to know the reality of the situation. If Adora truly wanted to start her life over, then she was going to have to put everything behind her.

She would have to let Catra go, forever.

"So... Are you... gonna do it?" Scorpia asked, knowing it wasn't her decision to make.

"Hey, boss?" A pair of lizardmen spoke up as they entered through the hallway doors. The one on the right was short in stature with an orange color to his scales, while the taller one was in green, sporting a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. "The prisoner's awake."

"Actually, she's been awake for the last half hour." The green one added.

"Then why didn't you guys bring her here like I asked?" Adora asked, stepping ahead of Scorpia.

"We tried to boss, but..."

Both lizardmen held up their right hands, showing off the numerous marks displayed all around their arms. "She bites!"

"Huff, of course she bites..." Personally, it sounded obvious to someone like Adora as she sighed, turning to Scorpia soon after with a small smile. "I'll be back in a bit, Scorpia, I... I need to check on her." Before Scorpia could stop her, raising a claw towards her, the leader of the new gang of outlaws and her best friend, had left through the doors. All Scorpia could do was watch with concern as she left, knowing if she was going to do this, it had to be done on her own.

During the small trip through the hall, still staring at the reflection of herself in the sword with a small frown, a certain voice made itself known as a familiar appearance floated by Adora's side from the left.

"You're not really planning on letting her go, are you?" Aroda asked, raising a brow and a grin.

"I... I don't know yet, I'm just... thinking..." It was hard for Adora to tell on the spot right now, right when everything was perfect. Could she truly go through with letting Catra go, after everything she's done in her past? Done to her? "It's a lot to take in, you know?"

"Mmmh, hard to say. On another note, I am LOVING the new digs here." Aroda commented, flashing her jacket with a wave. "All this power over people, all their respect, you've truly gone above and beyond yourself, Adora, and in only a day. I'm proud of ya."

"Thanks..." Adora muttered, pausing as she came to the door.

"But seriously, are you getting rid of her? Or getting rid of her?" She asked, leaning herself over a little to look at Adora's lowered face.

"I don't know, okay? It's... It's just a lot. I don't know if I can forgive her for everything and if I can let her go if I don't, but... if I have a chance to be happy around here... to have things finally going in a way I want it for once... shouldn't I?"

"Well, at the very least, you shouldn't get rid of that giant paperweight of yours." She said gesturing to the sword in her hands. "You know as well as I do that's way too much power to be in Catra's hands, right?" Adora stared into the rune stone of the sword as her brow lowered.

"A sword from the She-Ra before Catra. Something that could change the fate of the planet in its entirety."

"Seriously, you're not, right? Don't you think it'd be a lot better in your hands? Especially if a certain kitty-cat went Lights Out for good?"

"For the last time, I'm not getting rid of her like that." Adora grumbled. "Without the sword, she doesn't pose a threat, and even with it, if I let her go, she'll have no reason to stay here."

"Fine, be that way, party pooper." Aroda shrugged, watching as Adora activated the controls to the door. "But just remember, if you don't continue to get stronger, you'll still be letting everyone around you push you around." At this, she slowly started to disappear once more into the shadows. "And when realize I'm right again, you'll only have yourself to blame for what happens next."

"Hmph." Adora didn't care what she had to say or mumble about. All she cared about was dealing with the prisoner in the other room.

For good...

...

"Ghhh! Nggghhhh!" Catra growled as she tried to undo the bindings to the diamond-shaped pillar behind her, her wrists and ankles tied tightly around her to ensure she couldn't escape. "Of all the stupid times to declaw me, Huntara!" She grumbled.

All around her, the several guards continued to stare, all save one for of them, with various bite marks over their hands, and some of them along their shoulders. This cat was a nightmare, even if she was bound tightly without the use of her hands and feet!

Every time they approached her, she bit at them. Every time they tried to untie her enough to drag her to the main room where Adora was waiting, they attacked and bit at them, and that was just from untying her feet! It was a nightmare to even get those tied back together, with the magicat doing everything in her power to make it as unpleasant for them as it was for her!

At least it didn't seem like they would have to put up with it for much longer, not with the appearance of the one figure who showed no signs of fear to the magicat.

"Eesh, even as a prisoner, you're more of a wild animal than a damsel in distress." Adora mocked, slinging the sword over her shoulder. "Hmm... what would that make you? A "Wild in distress"? A "Damsel Animal"?"

"Adora!" Catra yelled, growling as her ears lowered in anger. There was so much anger welling up in her right now, so much of it she was struggling to put on hold. She had a lot to say to her, about her and about the portal, and everything else she needed to know. Yet, it was hard to do so when someone had a stupidly annoying SMUG SMILE ON THEIR FACE WHILE LEAVING HER TIED UP!

With the cat's attention drawn to her, Adora nodded to her fellow guards, giving them the signal to wait outside the doors for her. "There's been so much going on since we last met... when was it? Two weeks? Three? It's hard to tell, and I never care enough about you to pay attention." She taunted, balancing the tip of the sword's hilt on her finger playfully.

"Adora, listen to me, you're in danger, all right." Catra tried to explain, exerting so much willpower right now to keep herself from exploding. "And you can't give Hordak that sword!"

"Oh, and who says I can't? You?" She scoffed. "Wasn't listening to you the reason all of this happened to me? Weren't you the one who never came back for me in the Horde?" She smirked, Catra grumbling as she struggled to maintain herself.

"Adora, we don't have time for this, just listen! Hordak is making a portal, one big enough to summon a larger army of the Horde to wipe out all of Etheria!" She stated.

"Hmm, a larger army, you say?" She sarcastically looked off to the side with curiosity, tapping the tip of the sword against her chin as she contemplated. "So you're saying that Hordak, the guy I work for, is summoning an army that'll wipe you and your friends out... Nope! Can't see how that's my problem anymore." She chuckled.

"You don't understand, Adora!" She hissed. "Hordak isn't the main guy behind this, all right? He's part of a giant army from another world-"

"Where unicorns fly and giant rainbows talk to you, I'm sure~" She chuckled again, tipping the sword against the ground as she kneeled in front of her. "Let's pretend I actually believed you for a moment, for the first time ever, and said "okay". What would that have to do with me? It sounds more like your problem right now."

"It'll be EVERYONE'S problem if he uses that machine!" Catra shouted, her anger starting to get the best of her. "Light Hope and Mara both said that something extremely bad will happen if he opens that portal!"

"Uh huh, sure. I bet he's going to get a killer suntan or something."

"Just listen for a minute! I'm trying to save everyone, I'm trying to help you-!"

"Oh, right, HELP ME!" Adoar rolled her eyes as she stood. "Just like you helped me when you came back for me in the Horde. Just like you helped me by using my name to get everyone to do what you wanted. Just like you HELPED ME deal with my condition I've been struggling with since the Battle of Bright Moon." Adora spat, walking a few feet away as she continued to twirl the sword in her hands.

Thinking about it, she wondered if letting her go actually would've been the right thing to do at this point. No matter how much she hated her, she would never have to deal with her or her stupid face ever again if she was out of her life, and out of her mind, for good. The more she thought about it, the better it was beginning to sound.

So what if Hordak summoned some giant army? What were they going to do? "Cultivate the wasteland"? Unless they wanted a surprising amount of sand to make some sort of beach for themselves on a deserted island, she didn't see why any army would bother with the Crimson Waste to begin with.

"Every time you come into my life, Catra, you ruin something. You've ruined my home, you've ruined my body, you've..." She paused, raising the sword to her face as she stared into the blade. This time, she turned the sword a little so she could see Catra's reflection behind her in the steel. "You know, you're not going to be my problem for much longer, because I think I know what to do with you-"

"I KNOW ABOUT THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD!"

Adora froze, her expression becoming vacant for the first time since she started speaking with her. At the same time, Aroda herself popped up right next to her, crossing her arms as she raised an eyebrow to the magicat.

"She's bluffing." Aroda nonchalantly stated.

"You... You what?" Adora asked, turning her eyes a little.

"I know about the voices, Adora. They're not what you think! They're hurting you, trying to drain your life!" She shouted. She needed to do anything she could at this point to get her to listen, get her to reason with herself. She wasn't letting her get a word in edgewise, and if this kept up, she was never going to get her warning through to Adora before it was too late!

"Tch, yeah, sure we are." Aroda rolled her eyes, leaning back in the air as she floated. "I'm sure her dying helps me in many ways when I disappear with her."

Adora listened to what her reflection had to say, keeping the open minded as she continued her conversation. "And why should I trust you now of all times? First you tell me about some portal thing he's working on that benefits us more, then you try to say there's something wrong with the voices in my head. And the part where I believe you is where? It's not like you have anything to prove it."

"Because Shadow Weaver told me herself!"

*clang!*

All at once, everything around Adora dropped. The sword in her hands, her expression, her arms. Aroda was actually more surprised by the announcement as she blinked, leaning herself forward as she stared curiously at the magicat.

"Whoa. I, honestly, did not see that coming..." She muttered.

"S... Shad... Shadow Weaver..." Adora practically gulped as the bile rose to her throat. "Shadow Weaver... told you?" Adora looked back, distraught. "What do you mean she told you? How?"

"You... You didn't know?" Catra was taken back, a little surprised with this. Given everything the two have been through together, she didn't think Shadow Weaver would've left Adora's side without informing the girl in some way, even if she did betray her somehow.

"Answer me!" Adora yelled, grabbing her by the collar of her vest. "How did she tell you? When did she tell you?" Catra's eyes narrowed as the girl glared back to her. She didn't know what was going on at the moment, and she didn't care. If Adora was going to believe her for a change, she had to confess.

"How do you think, Adora? Shadow Weaver came to me in Bright Moon."

"Ah-!"

*ka-thump*

Everything became silent to Adora as she backed away at this, with only the sound of her own beating heart drawing to her ears. The girl was beyond expression, beyond words as she lifted her head, staring at the ceiling as her fingers twitched at her side.

"Shadow Weaver... Left me... For you?" She must've heard wrong, she had to have heard wrong. Why else was she believing this completely ridiculous story? Catra had to be lying. "B-But... You said that... That she disliked you... despised you... and she... she still picked you... over me..." Adora dropped to her knees as her hands pressed firmly against the ground.

"Adora?" Catra tried to call over, seeing the girl's shoulder shaking as her head lowered.

She left me... For her... She'd rather be with someone... someone like you... than her own daughter... Adora's eyes refused to blink as the tears pooled at the ends of Adora's eyes, dripping down her cheeks as her face shriveled up.

Shadow Weaver. The person she respected all her life. The person she loved as a mother. The person she regretted betraying after she wanted to use her for her own gain. The person she was going to start warming up to again, and vanished, in the blink of an eye.

First her life. The thing that everyone found most precious to themselves. The thing that was molded and shaped by an individual's actions. The thing that Catra twisted by forcing Adora through so many choices, forced her to commit decisions she would otherwise be appalled with, just for the sake of her own friend that was never with her to begin with.

Her friendship, her relationship, with someone that was like a sister to her. The person she cared about since day one, the person who she was always there for and claimed to be there for her. She used Adora to make her life easier, to use her friendship as a means to an end, every day of their life, and sending Adora spiraling down a discord of mistrust over who and who wasn't her friend.

And now, her mother.

The person who raised her since she was a baby. The woman who taught her how to tie her own boots, wield a combat knife, teach her about the logistics and details over strategy. The person who would tuck her in some nights when she was little.

She wasn't perfect, far from it. She pushed Adora to her limits, she showed disdain towards Catra, a disdain Adora always pushed to rectify between the two. She never accepted anything less than perfection, often at times exhausting Adora and showing disgust at her abysmal efforts that others would find admirable. She was a nightmare most days, and cruel in some.

But she was her's. She was her mother.

And Catra had to take that too.

"Tch... Ghhhh..." Adora slowly lowered her head to the floor as the tears continued to pour from her eyes, unaware as her emotions were flaring up into the shadows under her skin.

"Adora?" Catra called out, hearing the whimpering and sniffling from her ears. "What's wrong?"

"Awww, don't pout so much, Adora." Aroda cooed, kneeling down to the girl's side as she grinned at Catra. "At least you stuck true to your gut and refused to get rid of Catra, just like the first time I told you to. And who knows? Maybe if you're lucky, the next thing she'll take from you for sparing her won't be so bad?" She grinned wickedly as she leaned closer to Adora's ear. "Maybe next time, she'll just take Scorpia along as her new friend..."

"... Tch... Geh... GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ackkkkk!" Catra choked violently as she felt it clamp around her throat.

In a fit of rage, of sadness, Adora exploded. All behind her from her back, shadow and tendrils burst around wildly, looking for anything and everything to grip and tear apart! They were like wild animals with their own consciousness, all planning to rend and rip anything that came within distance for their own protection.

But none of that amounted to the rage of Adora, or her shadowy hands, as it squeezed around Catra's throat.

"Gcckkkk!" Catra struggled, feeling the grip tightening. "Adoraaa..." She squeaked. Adora refused to listen to her as she glared. She had never been so sickened, so disgusted, with a human, magicat, or otherwise, so much in her life than she had been right now.

Every time she let her go, Adora suffered for it. She took her life, her status, her position, her appearance. And now she had to take something from her. Something precious to her, something irreplaceable. She refused to get rid of her the first time, and this was what happened. What would happen the next time she refused to? Would she lose her home? Her life? Either of those would've been fine, she could deal with those.

But she refused. She refused to lose someone like Scorpia in her life, the one person who's never left Adora's side no matter how spicy things got. The person who was willing to risk her own life just to save hers. If Adora let her go again, she risked losing it forever, and she wouldn't allow it.

So it meant she had to do it right? To cross the one line no one could come back from, right? Who's to say it wouldn't work out for her if she did? If she did, she wouldn't have to think of Catra anymore, or the rest of the Rebellion! They wouldn't come to the Crimson Waste without her anymore, and there wouldn't be anything to stop them from fighting back! And right now, she didn't care about Catra's struggling expression on her face, or the sound of her toes scraping across the ground as she struggled.

She had to die.

"Ad... d-d-dor... ra..." Catra sheepishly said, the pain squeezing out the tears in the corner of her eyes as her vision blurred. What was she doing? Was she serious right now? Was she actually trying to kill her? A part of her new the reality of it, being so obvious that you'd have to be a fool not to notice. The other part of her was baffled, picturing someone, like Adora, doing this to her of all people like this.

"GHHHHHHH..." Adora pressed down on her own teeth as she shriveled a bit, Aroda looking between the two with her arms crossed.

"You know, if you don't get all that stress out now, it's just going to tear away at your appearance again." She reminded, knowing what happened every time something like this happened when she used too much of her powers at once. She may have found a loophole that prevented her from requiring to use the Black Garnet's waning energy to recharge herself, but even she knew if she let something like this continue, there was no going back from the damage it would have on her body. It was already up to her neck now.

There was no saying what would happen or how far the corruption would spread permanently if she choked.

It was becoming harder to breathe, Catra's mind and vision becoming hazy.

She was really going to do this, wasn't she? She was going to kill her like this, right here, right now.

"Ad... or... a..." Her voice softened, a heaviness over her mind as the haze intensified.

"GHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Adora squeezed her eyes, unable to look at her as her life faded in front of her.

"Come on, do it! You're almost there!" Aroda shouted, feeling like the girl was going to choke up. She was close, so close, to relinquishing Catra from her bond with the blade. Aroda's excitement became overwhelming, feeling so close to everything coming together. "Do it! Do it!" With Adora's eyes closed, a part of Aroda's face became distorted by a misty blackness, a third eye appearing over her forehead as she was seconds away from pulling it off, screaming at her in a distorted voice. "DO IIIIT!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was over. It ended. She ended.

Catra breathed profusely as she felt light headed, feeling the air returning to her as her heart started pumping again. The girl was sweating greatly as her lungs filled with fresh air, her muscles relaxing from the tense grip she had around her now-sore throat.

And ahead of her, she saw her.

Adora.

A tearful Adora who looked to be in more distress than Catra had been, the girl panting as a few strands of hair dangled over her eyes.

Aroda could only shake her head at this, her appearance looking normal again to Adora, as she turned away and disappeared into nothingness. "You're pathetic." And when she finally disappeared, it happened.

"Ngh-! Ahhhhhh!" Adora screamed, this time in agony, as she squeezed at her head, tightly.

"A-Adora?" Catra raspilly spoke, her voice a little weak from the lack of breath she had.

The blond was screaming for her life as her mind was assaulted with the influx of shadows coursing through her veins. Everything Scorpia said was true. Every time she refused to let go, every time she let her emotions get the best of her, to sway her, to pull her back from how she once was, she suffered for it. Her shadows manifested within herself, in her veins, as if punishing her, punishing her for her mistake. The mistake of never going through with it, for never acting out how she wanted to. And like every time it did, she suffered for it.

She felt like she was being stabbed by thousands upon thousands of tiny needles through her head at the same time, the shadows rapidly rushing through her veins as they stretched from her fingertips to her forehead in mere seconds compared to normal. All the emotions she held back, all the power she quickly withdrew to stop herself from going through with it, had lead to this, lead to her suffering some more.

All for Catra's sake, after everything she's done for her.

And with it, came the rotting, the aging, as it spread. She didn't know how far it was, only that she could feel it. From however much was around her neck previously, a part she managed to keep hidden, she was incapable of keeping this part hidden, incapable of holding back the pain it brought as it spread throughout her.

At long last, for possibly the longest single minute of her life, the pain subsided, and Adora huffed, lowering her head again as she panted. She had given up the one chance to be happy, the one chance to start over for good, because she was weak. Because she wasn't strong enough to go through with it herself.

At long last, she lifted her head, glaring daggers of tears and frustration at Catra as the magicat let out a gasp, seeing Adora's spreading corruption.

"A-Adora, your... your face..." Catra was at a loss of what to say.

Half her face was now inflicted with the mark of corruption, the rotting, the aging, as the corruption took over the right half of her face. Save for her eyes and hair, it did nothing to leave a part of her undone, as everything from the right half of Adora's torso to the top of her head, was aged. A century? Maybe two? It didn't matter. Now everyone would see the mark on Adora's face, less she wore a mask or something.

A Mark of Hate.

With the corner of her mouth still twitching from anger, unable to stem the flow of tears, Adora pulled back the sword on the ground with her own shadows as she began to head for the door.

"Adora? Adora, wait!" Catra called out, grumbling as she tried to free herself to no avail.

Adora waited all right. She stopped in front of the door, needing to tell Catra something personally. "Thank you, Catra." She spoke, Catching the girl's attention. She looked back at her with a heavy, pained, heart and a despairing look on the right half of her face. "Thank you, for reminding me why I hate you so much..." And with that, Adora opened the door.

The lizardmen were at a loss for words at what happened to Adora's face, none of them brave enough to speak up about her condition, even if it was to help her. Adora didn't care anymore about her look, her appearance. She just kept her head lowered as she pointed to the prisoner. "Bag up the cat. Prepare to leave. Now." She stated. There were no replies from the men as they nodded to her, running to the furious cat who was already squirming, trying to shake them off.

"Hey S-Stop! Stop! Let go of me!" She shouted, looking back to the door as they attempted to bind her for the trip. "Adora! Adoraaaaa!" Adora kept her head down as the door closed behind her, refusing to listen as she sauntered off.

Through the long hallway, her feet echoed as she stepped across the ground, reminding herself of everything she went on this mission for.

To Stop The Rebellion. To Unite Etheria. To Keep Catra From Her Selfish Dream.

None of that mattered anymore to her. She realized the true reason she fought for.

For Hate. For Betrayal. For Her Happiness.

Everywhere she looked, someone or something was taking her happiness and twisting it around. She hated them so much, she hated the Rebellion for all they put her through. She hated the Rebellion for allowing Catra to go through with her selfish dream, never realizing what had transpired recently. Even if she did, she didn't care.

Catra, the Rebellion, continued to make her life miserable. To steal her happiness. To make those she cared about betray her in the end, betrayals that she could never get over no matter how hard she tried. They even took the things they hated that she loved, and turned them against her. And she couldn't do this anymore.

As long as the Rebellion existed, as long as Catra was running around, she would never know happiness. She would never be free. She would always be haunted until the day she died.

Entering the party room again, Adora nearly bumped into the big friend she's come to know and care about. The only person she cared about around here. A care she felt becoming fleeting as she hesitated to let herself get close again, to avoid more pain. A care she wasn't sure about keeping.

All she kept was a fire in her eyes as Scorpia smiled down to her.

"Whoa, easy there Adora. Are you alright?" Scorpia asked, seeing how the girl wasn't even looking at her. Around her, her new companions and allies were cheering at her arrival, preparing to get the party more started than ever before! "...Adora?"

"... Pack up..." She muttered.

"What?" Scorpia almost let out a gasp as she dropped the mug she was holding, seeing the right half of Adora's tear-filled, hate-giving, face. "Adora... Your... Shadows, they're..." Adora barely felt the fever as the shadows were crept along the sides of her skin.

"I said pack everything up!" She yelled, turning to the rest of the room. "ALL OF YOU!" She shouted, her one single voice feeling as of a bomb was going off. While everyone had misgivings about her sudden state, they quickly wrapped up all they were doing, while Adora glared back up at Scorpia with the tears still dripping down her cheeks. "We are going back, Scorpia. We are going to keep fighting for the Horde." Scorpia was heartbroken at the announcement, feeling like whatever piece of Adora she saw coming back to life was dying again right in front of her.

"We are going to summon Hordak's army. We are going to finish the portal, and destroy the Rebellion once and for all." The shadows around Adora's face squeezed even closer to the center of her head, nearly touching as she repressed all the rage building up inside of her.

"And we are going to BURN! THEM! ALL!"

...

A/N: If the ending didn't give you goosebumps or chills of any variety, you are automatically a liar.

Lol... ehhhhhhh. I wanna say it gets brighter and more colorful from here, but... no. I can't. From here, as many people know, the emotions continue to run higher and the threat levels will only get worse. On a somewhat good bit of news, we are halfway through the season (which feels weird saying that only 3 episodes in XP). I still consider season 3 to be season 2 in all honesty, but even then it doesn't change much.

All I can say is that from here on out, the show gets dark for the next three episodes. With that in mind, be afraid- the show is now GIVING me a reason to make the rest of it dark T_T I am absolutely terrified with what I'll come up with since even I don't know what'll happen until the moment I write it. Be afraid, be very afraid...

Alsooooooo REALLY HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT ^^! Leave a like, a fave, a follow, and review if you enjoyed it and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 104: S3 Episode 4: Moment of Truth Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: An exact 8,999 Words Pre-A/N's.

Hooooof boy. Not gonna lie people, not my best work- halfway through this chapter i had like a complete brainfart to the point where i forgot everything i intended for the 2nd half of the chapter. Kind of becomes obvious a ways down the middle. So if the chapter is wonky and out of place and confusing at times, i apologize X/

But with that said, we are now at episode 4! We are so close to the finale that I can already taste it ^^... strangely, it tastes like caramel... huh... Well anyway, yes! We're at the direness of the season now, which honestly still feels like a part of season 2. Even with time constraints, i can't understand why they would separate the seasons like that, feels like it makes more sense to keep season 2 and 3 as a whole, it's weird...

Oh well. Anyway, apologies again, still don't understand what happened halfway through and hope its not too distracting.

With that said, on to episode 4!

...

The Leader of the Horde carried the several ton pile of scrap heap in his bare hands as he carried it across the room. setting it down with a slight tremor as machine and gravity connected. He felt proud of himself and his new exosuit, the new high-quality armor empowering his body and his strength tenfold from what his original armor used to be.

It was thanks to Entrapta and her genius, a genius he respected as she continued to work alongside him. With her help, her dedication, the portal was only a short ways away from nearing completion. All that remained was the power source that he continued to wait on, for anything of the sort.

*bzzzt*

"Ghhhh!" He grumbled, feeling a small tingle through his arm as electricity danced across it. Just when he thought his new suit was wonderful, it had to immediately go along and suit out a small volt of electricity through his right arm. "Grrrr!"

"No reason to get in a tizzy." Entrapta said, patting him on the shoulder with her hair as she approached.

"I have never been in a tizzy." Hordak responded, waving his arm away for her to fix and feeling awkward over having said it.

"You can't expect everything to work perfectly overnight." She commented as she began working and rewiring all the little wires and knobs in his exo's arm, fixing it with a multitude of tiny tools. The leader of the Horde just grumbled quietly to himself, refusing to bark to the likes of her. "Like our machine. We still haven't figured out the missing piece that'll let us cut through the planetary interference. If we try now, the portal might not be stable long enough to get anyone through."

The leader turned to her with a small sigh. All of his vastness, all of his hatem anger, and discord, he refused to show in front of this girl. She was the only reason that he had a new and improved, powered up exoskeleton to begin with. She was the one who pushed him to continue when he was down, refusing to give up after over a hundred and thirty tries of getting the portal to work. She was too innocent to his liking, to sincere to be yelled upon.

She didn't deserve his strife.

"We only need to open a portal for a short time." He calmly explained, raising his fist. He observed around himself at the various clones in the vitrines still in incubation. "Long enough to send a signal through to Horde Prime. Once he receives it, he should have no trouble opening a portal from his side."

"And then you'll have to go with them..." Entrapta remarked, growing a small frown. Though the leader obviously didn't respond to this, there was a small hiccup in his brow. "... But there's still so much data to collect. What's the rush? We'll just keep working on it until it's perfect." She offered, raising up to his level as she stood on her hair. At the proposition, Hordak smiled a little.

The idea did sound rather pleasing to him. After all, they needed to make sure that everything was right with the portal before everything could begin. With all the time and effort it would take, it could take weeks or months before the two could ever accomplish such a detail.

And even after they did, they would still need to run a few test runs back and forth. They'd have to work up to it, finely tuning and adjusting the levels of power and output they gave off, they would have to make sure everything was steady and that no possible side effects could occur like possible gamma radiation leaks and such, and there were so many other things to prepare for.

So, if it meant he would be forced to work with Entrapta for a few more days or so, he couldn't see the harm in that.

*Creeeeak*

It was with the sound of the large doors opening up that their attention was drawn to the darkened hallways, where they heard the sound of several footsteps and grunts approaching. From the darkness, they saw a strange light, a familiar light, as several figures appeared through the darkness. For a split second, Hordak thought they were about to be attacked as he saw a small shimmer from a familiar blade approaching him.

It was then than the figures made their appearance known.

Stepping out from the darkness, they saw them. Adora, without her jacket, wielding the Sword of Protection in her right hand, Scorpia, her faithful friend, walking behind her to her left. On her right were two individuals the leader was unfamiliar with, ones he was sure would be explained in her report. And it was with the sight of the wriggling mass over her shoulder, the one bundled up in a large tendril of shadows, that he realized a fifth individual was among them.

"Mmmh! Mmhh!" The figure screamed, refusing to stop the vainful struggle, even as Adora finally threw her to the ground. The figure rolled over as she was tossed in front of the duo, landing with a harsh thud until she finally came to a halt. Here, Catra winced, slowly blinking her eyes open as she looked up, fearing the worst as she saw the familiar glowing red pair of eyes staring down at her.

She couldn't believe it. She refused to believe it. But she was here, back, in the Fright Zone again after so much time. It was the one place she always feared returning to, never wishing to return, save for the time she rescued her friends, and only if she ever launched a final assault on the Fright Zone with the Rebellion at her back.

To be here, to be back to the land of nightmares, was horrifying to her. She wasn't scared of the people themselves, the scariest of people to her locked up back in Bright Moon. What she feared was the unknown, the fear of what would happen to her. Traitors were looked down upon within the Horde, as well as those who abandoned their line of duty, those who lost the will to fight.

When those people were captured and returned, death was made out to be a mercy to them compared to all else.

Lord Hordak... She fretted, struggling further to undo her bonds with all her might. Without the sword, it would prove useless.

Adora left nothing up to chance since they took her captive. She had her wrists restrained behind her with the metallic cuffs, along with her the cuffs just above her ankles. She refused to let Catra speak with the cloth over her face, and refused to let the girl anywhere more than three feet away from her. Every precaution was necessary when dealing with someone like her, like Catra, like the person who continued to rip her heart out at every instance.

"Lord Hordak." Adora greeted with an emotionless, respectful, bow, one that was repeated by those behind her in recognition as she raised her sword.

At the simple motion, the machines and circuitry around them roared with a wave of energy, flicking and flashing off and on. It made Adora almost proud to have the sword in her possession as she looked at it, remembering the feeling she had when everything came together.

She had won. She had finally won for the first time in what felt like ages against She-Ra and her stupid friends. She tracked her all the way down in the Crimson Waste, crossed thugs, bandits, outlaws, and anything else that would've stood in her path and she brushed them aside with ease with her shadows. Then came the moment that truly mattered, the moment she managed to capture Catra and the sword. Sure, having her friends getting away with a bit annoying, but when she heard from the hologram she listened to how this thing was a key to the whole planet, she knew she hit the jackpot.

And, honestly, she actually considered forgetting everything else. At Scorpia's insistence, she actually considered staying in the Crimson Waste to live out her life. Since coming here, she didn't have to hold anything back, not one ounce of her power. She could act how she wanted, she could beat up someone as much as she wanted, and no one would think differently of her. She could truly express herself around here, she could do whatever she wanted, and she could finally be happy!

On top of that, after all the events of the day, she discovered something thanks to Scorpia. She discovered her shadows no longer manifested within her skin, not when she was honest with herself. Holding herself back, mentally, physically, and emotionally, that was the driving force that made her sick this whole time, and she wouldn't have to do that anymore in the Crimson Waste if she stayed. Nothing would stand in her way from acting how she chose, and with the revelation, she was willing to settle down and start a new life all over.

Then, Catra came along, and reminded her of why she couldn't.

She didn't know how much she hated Catra at that moment, only that she loathed her now. She hadn't considered executing the cat, and to clean up her past, she even contemplated letting her go, knowing the Rebellion would've bothered them for days to come if she remained captive there. What then, pray tell, was the reason for it? How did she manage to change Adora's mind on everything? Because of Shadow Weaver, that's why.

It was through her mouth that she found out, through her discovery that her hatred was renewed. To find out on her end, from her own assumptions, that Shadow Weaver left her for Catra, CATRA, the person she always hated, over someone she loved, it tore away Adora. Painfully. Emotionally. The resounding spectacle of the revelation left the girl in an endless pool of tears of hatred for nearly an hour as her shadows were drawn in by her emotions, going so far as to almost choking Catra to death, pulling away at the last minute.

It was then she knew once and for all, as half her face deformed from her resistance, her refusal to end Catra's life on the spot. She realized she would never be happy, never know happiness again, as long as Catra, and her friends, and the Rebellion were still around. As long as they existed, Adora's happiness would never return to her. They would insist in getting in her way for as long as she lived. They had to be put to a stopped before she could truly start to live again.

And she was willing to go to any means necessary.

"I've returned with the First Ones Tech, as you requested." Adora stated, tossing over the sword towards him, sliding it and landing it just a few feet away behind Catra, enough for the magicat to turn her head to see it. "And I brought a few friends, and a certain She-Ra as a bonus."

"Ooooooh..." Entrapta oohed, feeling her hair around the right half of Adora's face with wonder. "What happened to your face?" She didn't pick up on the subtle clues, as in waving their heads and hands back and forth, that the people behind Adora were trying to warn her about. They didn't want her to end up like the last three people who asked Adora that question who were flung into the air by her shadows.

"Focus." Adora spat, slapping the hair away. "I got what you requested. That sword happens to be the key to this whole planet."

As they spoke, Catra narrowed her eyes at the sword, one that was just within an arm's reach of her. While her arms themselves were too bound up to be of any assistance, she still had her tail. She knew that if she could just get close enough to her sword, pull it to her side, and get the stupid cloth off of her face, she could summon She-Ra's strength, bust out of these cuffs, and get herself out of-!

*WHOMP!*

"MMMMHHHHHHHH!" Catra screamed into her gag, ears twitching in pain at the crushing force.

She knew it was a long shot, but so what? It definitely beat being held captive here for the rest of her days. And yet it was a fool's endeavor to think nobody would keep an eye on her throughout all the proceedings. With just a simple glance from where he stood, Hordak swiftly and painfully stomped on the middle of the magicat's tail, mere inches away from the blade to freedom.

Keeping the pressure on it, one that intensified a little as he kneeled down, adding on to more weight as he kneeled down, picking up the sword as he kept his eyes on the girl, and handed it to Entrapta. "Mhh! Mmmhhhhh!" The magicat continued to struggle further at the futile attempts at freedom, seeing it placed within the one girl's hand capable of making a portal out of it.

"Hmm, I suppose it makes sense." Entrapta assumed as she rubbed her chin, waving the sword a little and ignoring the muffling, struggling, cat. "She-Ra's sword is First Ones tech, maybe the most powerful I've ever seen. All this time, this was the key that we needed." Entrapta gazed at the mysterious sword with amazement.

Just thinking about the potential, the possibilities that could be unlocked from its studies, proved inspiring! Who knows what this sword could show them, what secrets were locked away within?

They could tell more about the history of the world than anything ever previously discovered. It could unlock the secrets to not just this planet, but multiple planets, entire worlds, if she knew how to get it working right. With the power to transform one into a powerful warrior, there was a chance it could unlock the mysteries of the human body, delve into channels of history that could provide medicine and growth to the human body!

She had never seen a weapon, a First Ones tech, more capable, more advanced, more capable than this one. To think, she finally had the very key, Entrapta mentally laughing at her own pun, to unlock the mysteries of the First Ones themselves. And it was all thanks to her.

Though, it did come with it's own spot of trouble as she tapped it against her head. "I guess I should figure out how it works." Her frown quickly subsided as it was replaced with a cheery demeanor, smiling back to her blond half-faced friend. "Thanks, Adora!" At this, the scientist turned her eyes towards the leader of the Horde, giving him a small nudge forward with the back of her hair as a small hint.

Grimacing a little to the scientist, Hordak cleared his throat. Giving Adora his undivided attention, and growing her curiosity, he held his hands behind his back with the regal authority he always gave off. "Y-Yes, Ado... Force Captain. You have done... well." Adora stared at the announcement, surprised at how genuine and peaceful it sounded compared to normal.

"I have reviewed your... contributions, to the Horde in more detail after you left. And I have come to the conclusion," Adora mentally rolled her eyes, knowing it was going to be more "praise" of how disappointed he was than impressed, "that your contributions to the Horde have been... admirable." See? Right as she assumed! The minute it sounded too good, he was going to shoot her down by saying-

Adora blinked, her heart going stiff for a moment at the thought. "It... It's what?"

"I'm saying, you have done well, Adora." It actually did pain him a little to force himself like this. If it was for the greater evil, though, in this case, keeping to the young scientist's respect, then he knew he had to do this. Besides, it not like he actually wasn't a little impressed. "A commendable job." He gave the girl a clear nod. "You have my respect, and thanks, for these results."

"O-OH... Th... Thank you, Lord Hordak." Adora smiled a little, kneeling down a little, an action that was, once again, repeated by those behind her before they all stood up.

It actually felt a little... nice, for a change, to hear that from him. She had learned from her first mistake the last time he acted so kindly towards her, which resulted in her spilling the beans and her involvement towards releasing Shadow Weaver, and she wasn't going to say anything that could jeopardize her moment, like a certain detail that Shadow Weaver is now in Bright Moon of all places.

Besides, personally, it felt great to hear it from him. With all the trauma inflicting the girl, all the hate, all the despair, it felt a little good to hear something positive from the person she originally admired so much, however much she did at this point.

"I promise to continue exceeding your expectations." She promised, striking a fist to her chest as she closed her eyes, lowering her head out of respect.

"Yes, well. I will be holding you to that." His gaze narrowed a bit. "But don't expect me to be so lenient the next time you strike me in front of my army, Adora. Even my patience has its limits."

"Heh, y-yeah." She pulled at her long flowing hair as she stroked it soothingly. "I-I apologize for that. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't." He softly warned, the threat of it all still real enough to be felt along the room.

"I would advise starting up the portal as soon as possible, sir." Adora continued, giving a firm look. "With She-Ra captive, it's only a matter of time before they mount an operation to save her, and secure the sword."

Entrapta and Hordak gave each other a look at this. They knew if a rescue operation was to commence, however hasty or however subtle, that it was only a matter of time before they came to Catra's rescue. With a nod, the leader of the Horde and Entrapta made their way back into the lab, preparing to put the finishing touches to their machine that would spell out doom for the rest of Etheria.

"Mmmmhhh! Mmh! Mmmmhhhh!" As he did, he took a small glance to the girl still bound on the floor to his side, giving a small scowl to the girl as he passed her.

"And Adora, would you please give our dear guest a proper welcoming." He requested, turning his back to the group as he went about his business. Adora smirked at this as she looked back to her former friend, the cat staring at the leaving leader with concern over the portal and her sword.

"Hmm? Mmhhh!" Catra yelped as she was suddenly dragged away, feeling the familiar large shadowy tendril pulling at her feet, dragging her all the way back to Adora as she picked her dear enemy up.

At this, she could see the hate, the disgust, raging behind Adora's eyes as she grinned to her. No amount of deformity across her face would make her presence any less threatening than it was now. She was with the Fright Zone again, possibly for good.

And as Adora pulled back a shadowy fist, she knew this was the first in a long line of things she was in for.

"Welcome home, Traitor!"

*WHAM!*

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The Meeting Room was as busy as ever as Queen Angella examined the holographic map up closely in her chair, Perfuma to her right and Swift Wind to her left as the trio pondered their options. Off to the side, Frosta could be seen with Spinnerella and Netossa at her back, the young princess standing on a chair in order to reach as she planted a paper with a firm depiction of the environment and the resources, with a small dagger of ice, in the center of the board on the wall.

Everyone, everywhere, were doing their best to discuss future strategies, plans of actions, and courses to take in order to secure the best route to victory. A day in the life of the Rebellion was never an easy one when they came about their options. From deciding how best to use resources against the Horde without spending too much to deciding which strategic locations would prove the most advantageous to capture. Nothing was ever set in stone, and when something unexpected came up, they were forced to begin their planning anew.

Out of the large group of planners, the only one taking this with any sense of relaxation was Mermista, the Princess of Salineas as she leaned back in her chair with a simple smile and her feet on the holographic map. They didn't need everyone to come up with the same idea over and over again, to her, and with Catra off on her mission with Bow and Glimmer to who-knew-where, it was the perfect time she had to relax around here.

*SWISH*

"Ahh!"

*THUD!*

For about three seconds. No sooner did she take a relaxing breath through the nose was she greeted by the familiar swish of her friends popping up right next to her, startling the girl enough to fall back with her chair. It was with this surprise pop-up that everyone's attention was diverted to the three individuals on the other side of the table.

"Oh. You're already here. Perfect." Glimmer said, relieved they didn't have to wait for everyone to show up.

"Yeah, we are. Where have you been?" Mermista mumbled as she pulled herself up to the table. Her attention was drawn to the large pink woman moving away from the group as she went to examine everything around her. "Is that some sort of new She-Ra form?"

"No. This is Huntara. She's the leader of the Crimson Waste. Or was." Glimmer explained as everyone saw the new ally among them. Leaning over the table, the ex-leader of the Waste waved her hand over the holographic map of the environment, growing curious as it buzzed and reformed in seconds.

Swift Wind took it upon himself to abruptly stop the woman's playing with the map as he casually pushed her away with his head.

"Uh, we don't have time to get into more details. We need to get to the Fright Zone. Now!" Glimmer stated.

"The world doesn't stop just because you're not here." Her mother commented, displaying the outline of the map before them. In the center of it, the new arrivals could see depictions of themselves including Catra as She-Ra as Horde tanks surrounded them. "We have been planning an our attack on the Horde." As she spoke, her attention was drawn to the one absentee vacant from the two she usually stuck around with. "Say, where's Catra? I haven't seen her in awhile."

"And I don't have an early headache like I usually do when I get here." Mermista commented as she leaned back in the chair again. "Rather refreshing not having to sit down on a woopiecusion out of nowhere because of her pranks." The small smile of the joke she gave off was met with concern as she stared back to the look on Bow's face. "...What?"

Immediately, worry crossed Glimmer and Bow's faces as they stared at each other, the archer being the bravest of the two to begin the announcement of what was to follow. "Um, yeah, so, it's great to know that we're already planning a strategy meeting here... because Adora kidnapped Catra, they took the sword, and she's now likely a prisoner in the Fright Zone." Bow exhaled loudly, holding in his breath till now.

"Huh?!" Gasps and shocks were felt throughout the room at the newest detail as all eyes turned to the duo, the three princesses off to the side included.

The Queen herself actually looked a little devastated at the newest revelation, at a loss for words. "The Horde... has Catra?"

"Which also means they can open a portal now because they have the sword." Glimmer added with a determined look in her eyes, one shared with Bow as he nodded.

"What? I don't understand."

"There's no time to explain."

"Glimmer, slow down-"

"We need to go to the Fright Zone now!"

"We?" The Queen's eyes hardened with confusion behind the wall of anger as she rose from her seat. To be told so many details and information after a few seconds of arrival, on the spot, and to learn that one of their own was likely in mortal danger? It was infuriating to hear! "You are not going anywhere until you explain yourselves, now!" The Queen yelled, raising her wings in anger to each side. "Glimmer, outside, now."

All the other princesses looked among themselves with the same feeling of worry and despair that was left around the room, even more as the Queen and Princess of Bright Moon made their ways out to the hallways.

Catra, the Catra, the Rebellion's Catra, and the hero known as She-Ra, was kidnapped. All throughout them knowing her, she talked constantly about the horrors of the Fright Zone, some of which were true based on Frosta's personal tour, and some which might've been exaggerated. The worry wasn't so much on how much Frosta had seen for herself. Rather, it was the stories Catra told them that she didn't see when it involved defectors.

There were no loss of details to Catra's stories, the many reasons she always feared going back to the Fright Zone. From something as simple as torture to experimentation, there was no telling what was happening to their friend right this second, if she was even alive by this point. Based on her stories and gruesome detailing, life imprisonment was considered the best possible scenario when Catra returned to the Fright Zone. And the worries among them were varied yet shared equally in measure.

Perfuma frowned greatly upon the revelation, unable to bare what could happen to the glorious She-Ra. For Frosta, it was the continued guilt of her past betrayal, a means she was still trying to make up for with everybody, especially Catra. When it came to Mermista, it was more of an awkwardness of the small joke she made about the seriousness of Catra's absence. As the noble steed, Swift Wind was already pacing along the end of the room as Netossa and Spinnerella tried to calm him down, the flying unicorn already contemplating an immediate rush to the Fright Zone in order to save her.

No matter how foolhardy of a plan it was.

Then, there was guilt felt between Bow and Glimmer, the latter still dealing with her mother's anger and confusion along with her own feelings. Upon awakening a short ways out of the Fright Zone thanks to Huntara's assistance, the two were distraught at the news about Catra. The girl sacrificed herself to save them despite all the anger and confliction she was feeling about, what she felt like was, a failed mission.

Going to the Crimson Waste to find Mara's message, trying to discover more about the portal, Adora, and the sword, was almost all for nothing. The only information they came upon was news about the portal, about what could occur if it was ever opened within Etheria. The rest of the information, as far as Catra was concerned, was utterly pointless.

Nothing about Adora or her origin. Nothing about how she could finish her bond with the sword before it was too late, a feeling she had grieved with since Frosta's betrayal. Nothing that could help her become a true hero like She-Ra like she was trying to be. Even worse was when she found out that Mara was trying to save everybody instead of running rampant as Light Hope had deemed. She was so lost about that revelation, loss about who she wanted to become, and she couldn't think straight throughout the ordeal.

It felt like it was all for nothing.

And then to hear about their rescue, how Catra sacrificed themselves after all she's been through, was dreadful. Bow knew they should've been more prepared, Glimmer believed she should've tried harder to convince Catra to wait before going to the Crimson Waste. Everything that had happened up to this point was just as much their fault as Catra felt like it was her own.

Now, they had to wait. Wait for an excruciating amount of time that seemed to go on forever as everyone awaited Glimmer and Angella to be done with their brief chat. One minute seemed to feel like an hour. Five minutes felt like they were waiting an entire afternoon. Ten minutes felt like a week had gone by as the worry and dread continued to occupy everyone's minds. The only ones absent from the room were Netossa and Spinnerella as they gave Huntara a small tour while trying to keep Swift Wind under control.

Finally, by the twelfth minute, everyone's curiosity got the better of them. Between Bow, Perfuma, Mermista, and Frosta, the main members of the Princess Alliance looked to one another, as if understanding and mentally speaking the same idea with each other. Giving each other a nod, the four slowly crept to the doorways, nudging the door with a gentle push as they peered into the conversation.

"We're wasting too much time." Glimmer continued to argue with her mother as she paced around the hall. All throughout it, the Queen retained her royal demeanor as she stood a short way down the hall, keeping herself in check even with all the tragedy and terror that her daughter and friends have been through. "We need to act. The Horde has Catra and the sword."

"And then what?" Her mother questioned with a firm tone, shooting straight to the point. "How are you going to get in? You have no plan. We are not rushing in. I won't lose anyone else." She stated, walking up to her daughter with authority.

"Before I started "rushing in"," Glimmer replied snidely, "the Rebellion hadn't made a move in years. You need me. You need Catra!"

"I need you to be a leader, and that means not running off whenever you feel like it." The Queen tempered her anger as best she could, trying to get Glimmer to see the bigger picture here.

Hearing this from her mother, Glimmer turned away. "What's the point? You'll always be around, telling me what I can't do." She huffed crossing her arms.

"Because you never listen. I try and try to reach you, to trust you-

"Hahaha, you wanna talk about trust?" Glimmer chuckled with a sarcastic tone, brushing her mother's hand off her shoulder. "How come you never told me that Shadow Weaver was dad's old teacher?"

"I..." For the first time in the conversation, the Queen appeared to be in her own loss as she backed up against the wall, the very same which held a mural of Glimmer's father battling for Bright Moon with his staff. "It was a long time ago." Although she was still angered over the mistrust and confusion behind it, Glimmer softened her expression a little at her mother's face of sorrow.

"You know what? We should be talking to her. She knows the Horde."

"She can't be trusted." And just as quickly as it came, it was left with more sternness from her mother.

"We have to do something! You would see that if you weren't totally paralyzed with fear." Everything felt stiff, solid, frozen around Glimmer as her mother's expression changed for the last time. It held no animosity, no anger, no sternness, nothing. All it held was an expression filled with authority, absolution. She wouldn't let anyone talk down to her from this point on as she stepped out of the shadows.

And it terrified Glimmer as she backed away.

"I am your Queen, and I say we cannot afford to lose anyone else." She approached her daughter with the same regalness as she ignored the look of fear in her eyes. "Either come up with a reasonable plan, Commander Glimmer, or stay out of the way." With that, the Queen left her daughter's side as she walked away from her, unable to continue the conversation without bursting into anger.

Glimmer was at an impasse, she didn't know what to say. To continue the conversation would lead to her being grounded for the rest of her life, which was the least of her worries for the first time. To see her mother so determined to keep her here, to keep anyone from acting out to save Catra, the same way she saved her, was almost baffling to her.

As scared as she was, she felt an anger in her saddened heart as she squeezed her fist. Her mother insisted she was going to be a Queen one day, right? That she was to determine the fate of everyone's future? Well, as she often remarked, a Queen mustn't back down to figures who towered them, who frightened them. Her mother scared her tremendously at this moment, never seeing the look of severity in her eyes as much as this.

And she couldn't allow it to hold her back. For Catra's sake.

"... So we have to lose Catra just to satisfy you?" Her mother stopped as her eyes stared off, unable to believe what she just heard as Glimmer looked back. "You'd rather have Catra spend the rest of her life as their prisoner, possibly being tortured like I was for the rest of her days?"

"... Glimmer-"

"No, I'm not going to stop mom, because it's true, isn't it?" Her daughter cut her off as she stepped closer. "Did you forget it's thanks to Catra that I was saved? That I was being tortured, too, until she came to my rescue? She rescued me mom, she's been saving us constantly!"

"And did you forget how you lost one of your own in the process?" Her mother retorted. "How not only did they get left behind, presumed dead, but also joined the Horde? Entrapta's loss was terrible to deal with, Glimmer, but I will not share the same loss I did with your father by losing you."

"So that's just it then. You'd rather lose anyone else in the Rebellion instead of losing me!"

"You watch your tone young lady-" Her mother tried to warn as she pointed a finger to her, only to grow surprised as Glimmer brushed it away.

"I won't! I get why you're scared, mom, we all get why you're scared! I'm terrified of going back to the Fright Zone, too! But I can't just abandon Catra like this, and we don't have much time!"

"I understand that, which is why-"

"Which is why we need to rescue her immediately! Doesn't she at least deserve that enough after all she's been through? All she's done for us? Or do you still hate her as much as the day you two first met-"

*Whoosh*

That was the last line Glimmer had crossed, a line she had crossed to far, as her mother opened her wings in a furious manner. In her eyes she could see her mother trying to repress her anger, her hatred, for those very lines she uttered. By the time Glimmer had realized she was getting ahead of herself, that she was feeling so empowered for a moment that she could say what she wanted to, that she had said the unthinkable to the likes of her, it was already too late.

The damage was done, and couldn't be salvaged.

With nothing else than an agitated look in her eyes, with a pain of hearing those words uttered when Glimmer could not comprehend how Angella truly felt about Catra, she pointed across the hall, to a location she was too familiar with. "Go. To. Your. Room." Her directions were blunt, swift, and heavy, all at the same time as she folded her wings once more.

She didn't bother waiting until she finally did, she knew Glimmer knew better than not to disobey. With nothing else to say to her daughter without possibly lashing out in anger, verbally speaking, the Queen turned around and headed for the door, but not before Glimmer could catch the small appearance of a tear forming in the corner of her mother's eye.

She pushed her mother too far, likely breaking a piece of her heart. She knew she's grown fond of Catra over the months since they first met and she still pushed her mother too far. She wanted her mother to see things more clearly, to understand better about why she felt it was so important to save Catra now, why she cared so much about rescuing her.

And it was from her anger she realized.

Her mother truly cared more than she could let on.

Seeing the queen returning to the Meeting Room, the princesses and Bow panicked, each of them walking off nonchalantly as best they could without seeming suspicious. Of the four, Bow was the odd one out who could only hop his feet in place as he looked around, struggling to find something as inconspicuous as the rest of them.

Fortunately, or otherwise, the Queen made her way through the door and ignored him as she returned to the meeting at hand. Sighing a bit with relief as she passed him, he peered back into the hallway to see an equally pained and teary Glimmer looking back to him, one who lowered her head as she made her way to her designated room.

She cared about Catra greatly as a friend, as much as Bow, Perfuma, Frosta, and the rest of the Rebellion did, and the Queen was no different. They all wanted to save her, to bring her back to her true home, but the Queen couldn't allow it. She wasn't strong enough to face another casualty like her father, the devastation of it still haunting her to this day.

There was nothing else she could do, Glimmer realized. Not when it came to convincing her mother. With time running out, and Catra's life on the line, as well as the rest of theirs, she knew there was only one person within all of Bright Moon with the capacity to help them, to save them. She just never thought she would be turning to her for help of all people.

Or that she would disobey her mother as much as this.

...

"Mmmh..." Catra's ears twitched a little as she slowly came to. Her vision was a bit hazy as she saw a figure standing across from her, one who had the same look of contempt in her eyes as they did when she was first knocked out. Barely ten feet across from her, still without her usual jacket and crossing her arm, Adora glared at her, spitefully, carrying the same shadowy veins under her face, having yet to recharge. "Mhmhhm-?"

*clank*

"Hmm?" Catra was cut off as she turned around, feeling something restricting her movements. Turning her head, the magicat became away of the large metallic pillar-like machine behind her that her wrists were bound between. She tried to struggle further to get a better look at her predicament and of herself. As she did, she became aware of two other official bindings to her.

The first were the cuffs around her ankles. Like her wrists with the cuffs connected to the glowing green chain-like instrument around them, her ankles were also connected by a larger green cord, one that looped aroudn the large base of the pole her cuffs were stuck behind. With them, they barely gave her feet so much as an inch to budge forward, practically keeping her legs stuck to each side.

And that wasn't the most annoying piece of her restraints as she came to realize.

Oh gimme a break! She grumbled to herself, just seeing the last of the annoying restraints through the corner of her eyes.

The reveal came to her as she tried to move her waist around, feeling something a bit restrictive to her rear in particular. Looking around, she became irritated as she saw a single cuff, the same size as any particular ring, wrapped around a few inches away from the middle of her tail. It was connected as an additional cord to the cords connecting her wrists together.

"Hope you like it." Adora commented in a smug grin. "I had Entrapta take extra precautions when it came to restraining you. I know how much trouble you can get into if so much as your tail was free." She wasn't wrong in her line of thinking when it came to so much as her tail.

She remembers numerous experiences of their past when Catra would often lift something off a person's being without their noticing, using nothing more than a small tug of her tail to relieve themselves of their trinkets and valuable. It was one of the methods she used to lift a pair of keys off of someone when the two wanted to fly a skiff for the first time as children.

She wouldn't put it past her if Catra managed to somehow wrangle a tool near her using her tail and managed to escape once she got it in her hands that way.

"Mmmmh!" Catra grumbled to herself, trying as best she could to break herself free. With her tail wrapped around the pole in a single loop and connected to the cord restraints to her wrists, and with her ankles pinned tightly with the larger base of the pole touching the floor, there was little to no room for the magicat to struggle from the legs down. She wouldn't be able to do anything as crazy as climb to the stop of this thing, she was secured so tightly.

At the thought of it, the girl turned her attention to the opening doorway, Adora keeping her eyes only on Catra the entire time, as she saw Lord Hordak and Entrapta making their way in.

"Told you she was here." Entrapta mentioned with a usual smile, carrying herself over to Adora's side.

"You are relieved of your duties for the time being, Force Captain." Hordak stated, looking off to the magicat who glared back. "I understand you haven't recovered yourself since returning from the Crimson Waste."

"Sorry, Hordak, but I refuse to take my eyes off of Catra until the portal is finished." Adora replied, ignoring the small flush of a fever spread across her face, no matter how heavy her head felt. "You don't know her as well as I do."

"Aw, come on, Adora, she's not going anywhere." Entrapta assured, patting her shoulder with her hair as she felt a hand against her head. "Besides, you really look like you could use a recharge. Your head is burning up."

"Beyond that, I wish to speak with the prisoner alone, Adora." He said as he turned. "Or do you think me incapable of watching a mere prisoner alone for five minutes?" It was bothersome for him to continue this tedious "politeness" to this girl for Entrapta's sake, but he would much rather put up with it if it meant maintaining a professional... workmanship with the scientist than otherwise.

Adora looked crossed as she continued to glare at Catra. She didn't want to take any further chances with the girl than she already had, regretting many of her decisions in the past for being too soft. At the same time, she didn't want to infuriate the commander again when she had a fraction of his respect.

As much as she didn't care about the leader's respect like she used to, she still felt some semblance of joy from it after all that's inflicted her within the past several months, all the losses and betrayal she had suffered. All of them stemmed from a certain magicat by the name of Catra, a former friend, a serious enemy, and somebody Adora continued to hate as she drew together everything she had lost since Catra defected to the Rebellion.

Having something as minuscule as Hordak's respect was the only ounce of decency she felt out of all her troubles. It made her wonder if getting the tiniest of things, the tiniest of values out of her enjoyment were the only means she had of happiness anymore. Could the rest of her life be spent by accepting a pebble of joy at a time for the rest of her life? She couldn't say.

All she knew was that the same amount of respect wouldn't last as long as she started to argue. And given how her head was feeling rather warm, Adora knew she wouldn't be doing herself any personal favors.

"Fine." Adora finally agreed, leaning up from the machine behind her. "But I wish to keep an eye on her as soon as you allow it, Lord Hordak." Adora wobbled a little as she took her first step from the machine, rubbing the right side of her face, her deformed half, as she felt especially warm over it.

"Don't worry, Adora," Entrapta said as she helped her friend walk away, throwing a tuffle of hair around her neck, "we'll get you patched up, good as new." Hordak waited as he watched the two leave through the darkened halls until the door's closed, turning back to the glaring magicat with a refined resentment, seeing her continuing to grumble as she pulled at her wrist, trying in vain to break free.

"So, it is you." Hordak began as he approached the girl. He waited until the girl stopped struggling long enough to glare at him, giving him a clear view of her eyes. "The magicat." Forcefully gripping around her head, Catra powerless to shake his palm away from her eyes as he turned it around, he scoffed. "You look just as pathetic as the day I first met you, cat. But only now do you surpass the limits of my disappointment."

"Mmmmmh!" A Catra grumbled, still shaking her head as much as she could until he finally released her from his grip.

The commander turned back as he stepped away from her, Catra seeing the fist balled into his hand behind himself. "Millions of resources. Thousands of soldiers captured. Hundreds of droids wasted. All because of you, by your very hands and that of your Rebellion's forces." He seethed in anger as he turned his head to her. "And to think I thought you showed promise."

"Hmm?"

"I thought you showed potential. Potential to be among the greatest, potential to be one of my mightiest warriors within the Horde. You could not have imagined my surprise from the day I discovered you, upon hearing that you managed to pull off such a physical, aggressive feat at such a young age." He commented, reminding the girl of the day he meant.

It wasn't too hard for her to forget. After all, it was because of that day that her whole manner of being changed, her line of reasoning. It was when she was six and she started a fight within the lunchroom, a fight that ended up with her breaking three kids' noses, and scratching thirteen enough to be sent to the medical ward, all because she couldn't take being picked on anymore.

It was from there that she met Hordak, when she was forced to mop and clean up the lunchroom after starting the fight to begin with. When he offered her a chance to be with Adora in exchange for pushing her training regime up, to train alongside Adora, she thought she learned how the world worked. By being the toughest one a person could be, to take within reasoning and to show no signs of fear to those around her.

In a bizarre way, it was the day he made her into what she was before her defection. Or at least enough to start the change in her lifestyle.

"You would have been one of greatest warriors, my greatest accomplishments. And instead, you ended up being one of my greatest disgusts. Almost as much as Adora has been in recent events."

Tch, "sorry" to ruin your mood. Catra thought to herself sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. That small gesture of eye-rolling appeared to be too much for the leader of the Horde in itself, as the next thing she knew, he gripped a hand roughly around her covered mouth, squeezing it almost painfully. "Mmhmmmm!" She muffled, trying to shake his hand off again.

Fear began to creep along the edges of her shoulders as he lowered his head towards her, peering his glowing red eyes deeply into her skull. "But I tell you this now as a warning, as a promise, for your betrayal, Catra." Continuing his intimidation, he pushed her head harshly into the pole, standing in all his glory. "When that portal is finally opened, the sight of my army stepping through will be the last thing you ever see."

He leaned closer as the fire in his eyes nearly blinded her. "Because your existence will no longer be tolerated once our army is through." Catra's eyes widened a bit in fear as she understood what he was referring to.

He didn't take chances. He didn't allow the disappointments of individual to persist around him. Fear and intimidation were his best skills, because with this announcement, the time limit had officially been placed upon the clock.

He was warning her so she would fear the next several hours of her life, so she would regret everything she had done up to this point even more than she already had. He wanted her to stew in this fearfulness that he created, to learn the value of what it means to betray someone like him.

He wanted her to know the futility of trying to oppose him, and the dread that would befall her until the portal was complete.

Because once the portal was completed and operational, she would be immediately, and painfully, executed.

...

A/N: You wanna know how bad my brainfart is? I need to go back and re-read some episodes cause i can't remember what i did reveal and didn't reveal to certain characters throughout them X/ Unlike season 1 where everything was flowing smoothly, i had to make season 2 and 3 seperately with a conjoined plot that just made everythign feel weird... honestly my head is just fuzzy now, idk what to say.

Ahs well. Either way, i hope the chapter wasn't too obscure or something and i kept the focus on it just fine.

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 105: S3 Episode 4: Moment Of Truth Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 13.9k Pre-A/N's. Hey guys, been a few days, but I'm back again, and this time roaring to go ^_^! God i can not begin to tell you how excited I am for the rest of the season, especially the next episode.

Why? Because after a nice chat with Petie doon from instagram, I came up with, what I consider to be, an incredibly awesome change to the episode! I was always wondering how i would change up the dream world thing since I already did it for entrapta's first episode (which btw i need to have a LOOOOOOOOOONG talk about XD) and developed a way to make the new dreamworld episode both fun, exciting, and dramatic X)

And no, i ain't spoiling what that is. you'll have to wait till those chapters come up after this episode. What I will offer though is an opportunity! To celebrate my 100th chapter, even though it's late, I'm looking for some scenes I can make flashbacks with for the dream world. For those interested in it, send me a PM or tell me in the review. Please note this WILL involve me giving spoilers ( i mean how else will you know what the flashbacks are supposed to be about?) but it will give people their very own chance to show their own work in the story for everyone to read ^_^!

But I'm getting ahead of myself, we still got a lot of story to cover. So with that said, enjoy!

...

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Nggghhhhhh!" Adora gritted her teeth as the electricity surged through her as her recharging took place.

"Come on, that's it, you're almost there." Entrapta said as she continued to observe the readings on the various monitors along with Adora's expression at the same time.

It was always like this when it came to Adora recharging her powers. After about two to three days, she'd come back to the lab, run the machine herself or with her friends help if she couldn't conjure the shadows at that point, and she would have to go through about twenty to thirty seconds worth of pain as the machine filtered the magic within her in and out, clearing up the shadows in her veins and clearing out her bloodstream.

It hurt as it always did, lasted as long as it always did, and for a change it actually lasted longer. She supposed it wouldn't have been that surprising, seeing how she's gone further and further from recharging since the last charge. It didn't make the pain any more bearable, no matter how many times she became used to this. All it did was make it slightly more understandable as time went on.

Giving it about another twenty seconds, Adora exhaled as the machine died down, the blond girl panting with exhaustion as the shadows subsided within her. Taking a onceover with herself, checking her hands and rolling up the sleeves to her shirt, Adora sighed.

"Annnnnnnnd done!" Entrapta chirped as the machine powered down, looking back to her readings for several seconds before rolling her swivel chair back to Adora. "How you doing, Adora? Feel any better?"

"Y-Yeah..." Adora muttered, still with a small frown over her face, rubbing the right side of her face where the corruption spread. "Thanks."

"Sorry about your face, Adora." Entrapta said with a small frown, feeling the side of it with her hair. "Does it hurt or anything?"

"Well, no, nothing like that. It just... It's gonna take some getting used to, that's all." She said with a small smile, pushing off the hair softly. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay!" With another colorful chirp, the scientist attempted to wheel back to her original spot by the console. Mentally rolling her eyes with a small chuckle, Adora quickly grabbed Entrapta's hair, pulling her back to where she was as Entrapta stared at her curiously.

"Next tip: when someone says don't worry about it, always check with them first just to make sure because they might not be serious about it." She advised.

"Ooooh... got'cha!" Entrapta replied, pulling out her tracker pad as she began typing away one of the new details she was given. "Don't assume... they really mean... "Don't worry about it". Annnnnd done!" The scientist smiled as she finished typing away. "Thanks, Adora! This is doing wonders for my Sociology Lessons."

"Heh, it's not a problem, Entrapta. It's the least I can do." Adora said as she slowly got up to her feet. She winced a little as she rubbed her shoulder, feeling a slight crick in her neck as she swerved her head around once. "You're the one always helping me out with this, right?"

"Yeah, but it's what friends do, like you said." Entrapta nodded, returning to her monitors and typing away at the readings she received. "Besides, I'm getting loads of feedback from these readings alone."

"Are you any closer to figuring out how to stop it?" Adora wondered as she approached from behind. "It's been getting in the way of my work lately, and my emotions are making it worse." Pain, sorrow, anger, everything that made her lose control of her powers and go berserk. To keep them to herself, to prevent herself from hurting anyone or lashing out at those around her.

That's what Scorpia and Adora came to discover yesterday, the possible clue to finding a solution to her magical fever.

"Unfortunately... no." Entrapta rubbed her chin with a length of her hair as she pondered. "Every time I come close to something, the reactions in your brain keep changing on me. I think it's part of the corruption affecting the rest of your body. The more it spreads the more the alterations are affecting your brain."

"So, in other words, you don't know any way to fix it yet?" Adora's guess was confirmed with a regretful frown from Entrapta.

"Not without getting up close and personal to your brain through surgery..." For a second, Entrapta's face lit up as she turned to Adora. "Huh-!"

"No."

"Awwwwww." And the next second, she was pouting as she went back to work.

"So there's no way to stop it from getting worse?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that. I could potentially make an emotional dampener for you if you want? It'll nullify your emotions, but you might be able to control your powers easier, and there's a good chance it'll stop the shadows from spreading in you."

"No thanks," Adora shook her head, "the last time I wore anything to dampen my emotions, all this happened. I don't to wear something that'll either make my emotions go berserk or keep me from feeling anything." She smiled a little as she crossed her arms, leaning against the device behind Entrapta that hooked her arms up to the Black Garnet. "Besides, minus Catra, I think I'll be good for a little while."

"Why's that?"

"Because of Hordak." Given all that's happened to her, from those who betrayed her and those who shunned her, any ounce of enjoyment the girl had was limited to the miniscule respect she garnered from the leader of the Horde, no matter how little of it she cared about. "To go through everything after all this time, to hear him say anything a little nice to me, it's... refreshing. Appreciated."

"Mhhm!" Entrapta smiled, giving her a short not as she resumed her typing. "No problem. I'm happy I could help."

"...?" As Adora stared off into thought, she thought more closely about what Entrapta had just said, sounding as if she was accepting the appreciation personally that she had for Hordak. "Happy you could... help?" Adora raised her head to her at this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I convinced him to review your contributions and everything." She said in a casual tone, typing away with her hair as she examined some printouts coming out from underneath one of the monitors. "I thought it would've been a bit harder to do like you said, but he seemed to really warm up to the idea eventually." Adora's heart shook at the announcement, knowing Entrapta had yet to fully understand the implications of what she meant.

"He... He only gave me respect... because of-"

"Oooh!" Entrapta shot up as she got back to her feet and hair. "I'm losing time. I should get back to work with Hordak." With her brief announcement, the quirky genius pulled herself along the way with her hair, giving off a simple wave to the friend she left behind. "See you later, Adora!"

"Ah..." Adora didn't get a chance to respond as she watched the scientist disappear into the darkened halls. With the metallic doors closing behind her, Adora stared down at the floor, her brow furrowing over the recent reveal she just had.

He... He still doesn't respect me... Not even a little...

"Ouch. Bet that's gonna leave a mark, among other ones." The ever-pleasant, ever untimely-arriving Aroda commented as she appeared behind Adora, floating around the girl. "You did all that work and he still shows more respect for the scientist than you." Grinning, the eager reflection tapped her chin as she floated onto her stomach in the air. "Actually, I take that back. That would imply he actually has any respect for you at all."

It didn't make any sense to Adora as she thought about everything. She went out of her way to prove herself for a final time, tried everything to make things right again, and even lost a good portion of her appearance after half of her face became corrupted. And after everything she's been through and the heartache that followed, he still didn't respect her, not even a little.

It was because of her. Because of Entrapta. The genius scientist that Adora could never even hope to come close to in terms of intelligence. She was the one "fighting Adora's battle for her", in this case, trying to gain Hordak's respect. She wasn't even aware of the reality of the situation herself and thought everything was fine.

Hordak only showed her any respect because Entrapta said so. That's it. He didn't take Adora's contributions at value, he didn't have anymore respect for her than when she left. In fact, she was willing to say he had less respect for her now than he ever did, if he did.

Just when she had a glimmer of hope that she earned something out of this, Adora was still nothing to him.

"All of this has... been for nothing..." Adora muttered as pain crossed her eyes, lowering her head as she hugged herself.

"Aww, don't pout like that. Look on the bright side, you finally completed a mission successfully." Aroda teased as she held up her fingers. "In fact, let's make a list of all of your successes around here. One, getting the First Ones tech and kidnapping Catra. Good job! Two..." Aroda blinked briefly as she rose her finger. "... Huh... I guess that's it. Oh well, now let's compare them to Entrapta's accomplishments! We're going to need a lot more fingers for this though."

"Ugh, will you just leave me alone already?" Aroda groaned walking towards the door. "I have enough annoyances to deal with as it is, like a certain ex-friend to be watching."

"Awww," Aroda moaned as she appeared in front of the girl in the blink of an eye, cutting her off, "are you just jelly because my face is still pretty while yours is... blegh."

"Knock it off." Adora grumbled a bit, walking right through her. "I'm not in the mood for this. I need to keep watch over Catra."

"Oh yeah, because Lord Headache over there really wants you in his company." There was no end to the taunts and teases she threw towards the blond companion as she floated her way over to her. "Don't you think it's about time you established a new pecking order around here?"

"We've been over this a hundred times, Aroda-"

"Technically 176-"

"Shut it. I'm not getting rid of him and that's final." The girl was interrupted again as she stopped in front of the door, a smirking Aroda grinning ear to ear to her as with everything else.

"Oh, I get that now. Big ol' persistent Adora has made herself clear on that. So, I'll accept it. Because I'm starting to think we should be focusing our priorities on a different target this time."

"Like who?" Adora asked, genuinely curious about Aroda's change of pace. The reflection didn't say anything to her. All she did was continue to grin to Adora, wanting the girl to figure out for herself who she should've been targeting. It took Adora a few moments, but as she continued to ponder Aroda's little game, she came to realize who she was referring to. "You... You think I should get rid of Entrapta?"

"Do birds fly?" She chuckled back.

"No, absolutely not!" Adora gave a stern expression at this as she finally vacated the room, keeping her eyes on the hallway ahead of her as Aroda floated behind.

"Yeah they do, I see them fly all the time. Birds, ducks, geese-"

"I mean I'm not-!" Adora paused as she passed a pair of guards, ones that were giving her a bit of a look over the "complexion" issue. Knowing she couldn't afford to speak with herself about getting rid of anyone, much less someone Hordak favored, she shifted her methods of communication to the way Aroda told her awhile ago. I mean I'm not getting rid of Entrapta!

"Awww, why not?"

Why do you think? Entrapta's been a great friend to me since I first met her, she's helped me deal with this whole shadow sickness thing, she even made an entire machine to fix my problem! Adora yelled in her mind.

"Yeaaaah... and?"

And forget it! It's not happening.

"So you'd rather keep living a fantasy where Hordak respects you through Entrapta and keep living your life that way?" Aroda raised a brow at the suggestion, glad to see the Force Captain coming to a halt as she stopped in the middle of the hall. "You want to pretend he shows you the slightest bit of decency through your friend? Because that definitely seems healthy to do."

Well... I mean... Adora's pained expression twisted with a frown as she tried to think of something. As much as she hated to admit it, Aroda was absolutely right about that. What kind of person would try to live their live through another person's life just to satisfy themselves? Even worse, it would feel like she was using Entrapta to do it, a person, a great friend who's been by her side since the two met, like Scorpia! Sure, they might not have shared the same bond the two had, but she was helpful nonetheless!

"Face it, Adora. As long as Entrapta's around, you'll never have the same position and understanding that Hordak shares with her. You can keep fooling everyone else that your satisfied, but is that really what matters to you after everything you've been through? That you can keep pretending things are fine even when they aren't?"

It... It's not... It's not like I don't want to be happy, I just... I... She was willing to do her part. She was willing to put on a brave face, to pretend things were fine, if it meant showing everyone that she was fine with everything. But how long would it be before her emotions burst again because of it? How long until she has another near meltdown like she did with Catra?

She almost suffocated Catra to death by mentioning how Shadow Weaver had come to her in Bright Moon, an event she still wasn't able to accept at heart. What would happen if another soldier, a guard, or even a passing child said something that made her snap again? That made her attack them due to an emotional break in her psyche?

She didn't need to think about the consequences for doing such a thing, either. Detainment, locked away forever, at best, depending on who she attacked. If she did it in front of the last few friends she had, in front of Scorpia of all people, there was no way they'd ever be able to maintain the friendship Adora was struggling to accept thanks to Catra's betrayal.

She didn't want to turn into a horrible monster that attacked her friends, she didn't want to be seen as a traitor that took down those closest to her just to improve her own status. Yet if she didn't get rid of one of the root causes of her anxiety and stress, then she would continue to be more and more emotionally unbalanced and her shadows would spread throughout her body faster.

There was no side she could accept, not one where both options came out on top. She knew it, and Aroda knew it.

"Face it, Adora. It's either you, or her." Aroda smirked, disappearing into nothingness and shadows. "And I think we both know who is going to come down to..."

...

"With the sword connected to the portal machine, we should finally be able to bypass the planetary interference." Entrapta explained as she held up the sword to Hordak. All around her, the girl ignored the trembling sounds and the sounds of struggling as Hordak noticed the vibrating machines and electricity dancing around the cords.

This was going to be one of the best days ever to the eager young scientist, she just knew it! To think, this sword, the Sword of Protection, created by the first ones, was also a planetary key that could affect the entire world in an instant! With the levels of energy it was outputting and the way it managed to affect its environment, there was no way this thing couldn't be the key to their solutions!

When the portal was reay and operational, she couldn't wait... well, she could since completing the portal device would mean never seeing her new friend again, Hordak. But the two were still just as satisfied to see the experiment come to a grinding success, and they knew they would work something out over time.

As for Hordak, he could hardly wait for his own reasons. This was the chance he needed, the chance to prove himself to his leader, to show he was wrong about his defection. By opening the portal, he would have it all back. His glory, his honor, his pride, and his leader's respect at long last. Once the portal was ready, Hordak's army would finally reach Etheria, and the conquest over the rest of Etheria would finally come to an end!

He did have to admit he felt some misgivings about leaving the scientist behind. Out of everyone on this backwater planet, she was the only one he could consider an equal in matters of the mind, of intellect. Perhaps his master may still have some use for the scientist when this was over, not that he would let it interfere with his goals.

"...I just have no idea how it works. Heh." Entrapta mentioned with her fists at her side, holding the sword in her hair.

"Mmmmh! Mmmmmmmh!" As pleasant as the scientist's presence was, the sound of the muffling prisoner was not as his small look of pride turned to anger.

"Must she be here?" He asked.

Turning around, Entrapta took notice of the very same prisoner who was struggling at the wrists, the only part she could move about herself given the circumstances. "Good question... I already said the two had a bond, but I don't know if we need Catra for the sword to work, She-Ra, or neither of them." At the comment, Catra's eyes briefly turned to worry as she stared back.

She had to get out of here, and now, for a number of reasons. Firstly, she couldn't allow them to use the sword. If the Horde managed to get the portal machine working, it would spell the end of Etheria. Hordak's army would be too large to stop and there would be no saving the rest of the world, much less Bright Moon, when his soldiers came through.

And that was the best case scenario. The other case scenario was something really bad happening if the portal worked at all. While she didn't know the exact specifics behind it all, Catra knew enough from Mara and Light Hope that something terrible would happen if a portal was ever to be activated within Etheria again.

And it still wasn't the part that worried her the most, as close as it was.

The real struggle, the real worry, was what would happen to her after this was all over. There wasn't any threats or warnings given to her by Lord Hordak, she didn't have to wait very long into her imprisonment to find out what would be her fate.

The moment that the portal was open, as soon as Hordak's army was through, he was going to have her executed, likely on the spot. According to him, her existence would no longer be "tolerated" once she had served her purpose.

For all of her betrayal, for all the resources Hordak had wasted since her defection, and his disappointment on whose side she ended up working for, he could no longer allow the girl to live, for personal motives or otherwise. His disgust for the girl was unending because of her betrayal, and he would see her removed from his list of disgusts as soon as possible.

For now, the fact that the portal wasn't working was the only thing prolonging her life, her reason for living. As long as it remained unfunctional she would have a brief moment of time to figure a way out of this mess. The only problem was the brains behind the machine at the time. Knowing someone like Entrapta, she had a few hours at best to break free somehow before she would meet her untimely, painful, end.

"Hey, Catra, you wouldn't happen to know, would you?" Entrapta asked curiously, using her hair to pull down her cloth gag.

Catra shook her face a little bit before glaring back to the duo. "Bite me!"

"I'll take that as a no." The scientist assumed with a casual tone, pulling the cloth back up over her nose. "And that's okay! I like figuring stuff out."

Catra grumbled a bit as her brow twitched, shaking her head irritably until she finally shook the cloth off her face again. "Entrapta, listen to me. You don't want to do this." Catra tried to warn, doing her best to contain any anger and past aggression she had against her.

"SILENCE!" Hordak yelled in anger, startling the scientist a little as he did. "Entrapta, begin."

"Grrrrr!" Catra growled, doing what she could to pull away from the immovable pillar that stood behind her. "Why'd you do it, huh?" The leader turned his head a single degree at the question. "Why'd you kidnap Adora when she was a baby? Did you know she was special? Do you know where she came from?" Catra narrowed her eyes. "Did you know she was meant for the sword?"

"I could not begin to care about Adora or her origins, because I have never known nor cared about someone as inconsequential as her." He stated.

He's worse than Shadow Weaver! Catra would never believe it unless she saw it for herself. At least when it came to Shadow Weaver, she waited for someone to start something before reacting with disgust. But this guy barely gave her two lines of dialogue here without seeming despicable! And all throughout her anger, she continued to pull her arms ahead as much as she tried to free herself from the impossible bindings.

With the way it was constructed, she would never get out without some sort of plan. The way the cord to her wrists were around the massive pillar and connected to a single ring-sized cuff to her tail, she could never pull her arms more than two feet past her head without yanking on it. She had yet to give up as she used said anger, trying to push herself to break through the stupid machine no matter how many times she needed to pull ahead.

If not for herself, then for the cretin in front of her who looked down upon someone Catra knew admired him.

"You know, it's easy to see how Adora became so messed up with you acting like her role model." Catra commented, growing a smug grin. "I guess failure runs with her icons too, don't it?"

"I will not fail!" He seethed as he turned around, Catra's ears drooping a little further in fear with every step of his approach. "You have no power over me, and you never did. I am opening that portal. And I am going to use your own sword to wipe out the rest of your pathetic Rebellion once and for-!"

*bzzzzzzt!*

"Agghhhh!" Before he had a chance to finish, the leader of the Horde let out a cry of pain as the collar around his exosuit began to spark with electricity, dropping him to his hands and knees.

"Aww, what happened? Big scary leader fall down?" She teased. If Catra was going to die anyway, she knew she could at least spend the most of it by toying with the fearless leader. At worst, she was going to die for it. At best, she was going to die for it. But at least then the sword might no longer work if a She-Ra wasn't around. "Geez, even Adora knows how to take ten steps ahead of herself without falling over."

"Ghhhhhhhhh!" He grumbled fiercely as he lifted his head. He knew exactly what he was doing and it took every ounce of his willpower to restrain himself.

Barely.

Looking off to the side without a seeming care in the world, Catra continued. "And what exactly is with all these restraints, huh? It takes all this equipment just to keep one girl tied down?" She sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprise. I mean, do you know how easy it was to break in here the first time to rescue the two dweebs back from Bright Moon? Man, your security sucks."

"Watch it, pest-!"

*BZZZZZZZT*

"Ghhhhhhhhh!" With another bout of anger came another resounding wave of the electricity the collar gave off, almost as if it was increasing with each rise of anger.

"Oh, that's new! You made a shock collar for yourself?" She smirked. "I guess you really are more like a dog, given how much you bark- Mmhhh!" Before Catra could let out another small quip or a jest, her mouth was closed forcefully as a shadowy tentacle wrapped around it, stretching all around her head, cutting her off.

"Lord Hordak!" Adora called as she approached with Entrapta at her side, the latter helping him up as Adora checked on him and glared to Catra. "Now do you know why I refused to leave her side?" Catra shot an equally irritated look as she tried to shake the tendril off her mouth.

While Hordak did wish to bare his teeth at the girl's pathetic, unnecessary rescue, he continued to withhold himself as Entrapta made her presence known. "I see what you mean... Force Captain." He continued to maintain his glare between the three as he turned back to the scientist. "Get back to work and fix the portal," he paused, narrowing his eyes at the prisoner, "faster!" He emphasized, making his point to Catra as he left the room.

It was nothing more than a threat telling Entrapta to speed things up, wanting to be rid of the magicat as soon as possible. And while Entrapta wanted to say something to him, the sight of his anger and the growl in his tone kept her from doing so, incapable of mustering the same bravery that Catra could manage as she frowned.

"You really can't go two minutes before causing trouble, can you?" Adora commented, finally pulling the shadow away from Catra, the girl gasping a bit for breath.

*bzzzzzzt!*

"Huh?" All three heads turned back as the sword began to hum, levitating a little as energy began to radiate around it.

They watched as the electricity appeared to build of its own accord, drawing in power from everything and anything around it as a powersource. While her connection with the sword was still incomplete, Catra could feel something was wrong as the blade began levitate a few inches higher. The way it started to glow, the way it acted as if it was alive, she could tell she wasn't going to enjoy what came next.

Like an animal learning to fly for the first time, the sword spun around as swift as lightning as it flew across the room, spinning endlessly as it encircled and drew closer and closer to the center of the room where the machine was being built. As if it was trying to agree to the scientists' wishes, it eventually stopped right in the center of the machine, standing up straight as it hummed further with a bountiful source of energy.

The scientist was amazed, Adora was speechless, and Catra was fearful. It was like the sword itself was trying to hasten her demise, giving the Horde less to deal with as it prepared to be a power source of its own choosing. Given the way it stood, glowing and illuminating with energy, Catra could tell it knocked off an hour of preparation needed to complete the portal, and drew her closer to her eventual execution.

"Hahaha!" Entrapta chuckled, returning to work as her hair pulled her over.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she pulled away her shadow. She stood across from Catra with her arms crossed in the same demeanor she was in several minutes ago, returning to her watchpost. "How are you making it do that?"

"Ngggghhh!" Catra struggled for a bit, trying to break free of her restraints, before answering. "Do you think if I was doing that, I wouldn't try to cut myself free or something?!" She yelled back.

Adora turned her head back to the sword, admitting to the small point Catra had with a shrug. "Fair enough, I guess."

"Adora, listen to me. You need to get me out of here, right now!"

And already Adora was annoyed with her, seeing her asking questions as soon as she arrived. "Hmm, a prisoner asking me to help them escape. Is that really the best you could come up with?" Adora questioned rolling her eyes, blowing a puff of air in front of her face to clear away the long strand hair in front of her eyes.

Again, Catra grumbled a bit as she tried to pull her arms ahead, eventually giving up when she realized Adora would stop her from escaping even if she did pry herself loose. "I mean it! You don't know what's going on here as much as I do."

"Oh, wow, I had no idea! I guess I should let you go in exchange for the information then, shouldn't I?" Catra could nearly vomit the amount of sarcasm coming out of Adora right now. "What could you possibly know that I don't right now? That the sword was "meant for me" again?"

"N-No..." Catra shifted her eyes away a bit as she pondered. "But... Haven't you... Haven't you ever wondered where you came from? Like who your real family is?" It was just for a moment, but there was a small twitch in Adora's eyes as she heard this. She definitely took that at heart, and definitely considered it.

She just refrained from looking at the girl as she turned her eyes away. "... Of course I have, everyone around here does with their own family. And I suppose you're going to tell me you know who they are?"

"Well... n-no." She muttered, earning an eye roll from the former friend.

"Typical."

"But I know who they are, what they are! I know why you were chosen for the sword, why you..." Catra frowned as she looked away. "Why you were chosen to be She-Ra instead of me..."

Adora stared at her a bit as Catra turned away. She hated to admit it, Catra loathed at the realization and the time she wasted being jealous over Adora for something she couldn't control. It wasn't just because Adora was better at her at everything. It wasn't because she was stronger, faster, smarter, everything Catra wished she was to prove herself as a child. It was because of what she was.

"... And why's that?" Catra shifted her eyes over to the asker, skeptical if Adora would believe her to begin with.

"It's because you're a First One Adora." If she didn't believe her, then the look of genuine surprise on Adora's face would've been a complete lie. "When you were a baby, Hordak attempted to use a portal device for the first time, and he took you from it."

"He... He what?" Adora lowered her arms to the side as she listened, showing a mixed bag of skepticism and belief in her face of corruption and purity. "You're lying... it's ridiculous."

"I know it's ridiculous, but it's the truth. You were meant to find the sword, you were better at... better at everything because of it... maybe... I don't know, maybe you were naturally gifted and everything, it's really confusing. But you are a First One, Adora. You're the reason I even came across the sword to begin with, it wouldn't have revealed itself if you weren't around." Adora was at a small loss on what to say.

On the one hand, she didn't trust Catra. Enough said.

On the other hand... why should she believe her? As in actually why? What would telling her she's a First One have to do with anything in the past? It's a little late to change anything as far as that went, but what was it supposed to mean? And why should she care, anyway? So she's a First One. Okay. She's also a girl. Did that determine if she became "She-Ra" or "He-Ra" or some other ridiculous thing?

"... Let's pretend for a brief moment that I believe you." At the mention, Catra lifted her head to her, a small spark of hope present in her mind. "What does that have to do with anything right now?"

"Uh, how about everything?" The magicat was tempted to talk in a snide tone, knowing she needed to restrain herself for her sake. "Doesn't that mean anything to you? He took you away from your family, Adora. Maybe you would've been She-Ra a long time ago if it never happened."

"I don't even want to be She-Ra if it means turning my back on everyone, Catra! Why would he even take me from my family to begin with?"

"I don't know. Maybe he knew who you were? Maybe he knew you were supposed to be She-Ra? It doesn't matter! You shouldn't be working for him, you shouldn't be a part of any of this."

"And why should I be listening to you? You'll have all your life to tell me these lies from your cell after this."

"Because he's going to kill me as soon as the portal is done!" She finally yelled. Instantly, the color drained from Adora's face and eyes as Entrapta looked back briefly, hearing the strange commotion for a few seconds before going back to work.

"Th... Then good! Maybe you'll fit in better at Beast Island! Traitors like you deserve to get sent there." For a second, Catra almost feared Adora had truly meant what she said, knowing she misunderstood what she was getting at.

"I don't mean sent to Beast Island, Adora. I mean he's really going to kill me as soon as it's done!" She stated, looking at Adora with a strict set of eyes.

Adora tried to get a proper read on her. From her look, from her expression, from the tone in her voice. All the evidence pointed to her telling the truth, a truth that Adora slowly took in as her expression revealed her true thoughts towards the matter.

"You mean he's really... planning on executing you?" She asked.

"Yes!" Catra prayed she was finally getting through to the girl. "As soon as Entrapta starts up that machine and he gets his army, he's going to execute me on the spot."

"T-That's outrageous."

"He said it to my face! He said it was for betraying the Horde, because he was disgusted with how I turned out."

"He wouldn't be the first one disgusted by you, Catra."

"Adora, please." The only thing Catra feared more than the thought of execution was the possible method she would be executed with. It was the Horde, it was Hordak, she was dealing with. There was any number of means he had to end her, some slower and more painful than the last. "I swear it's the truth. You can ask him yourself if you don't believe me."

"It's because I DON'T believe you that I'm not going to bother asking him, Catra." Adora grumbled, walking towards the friend-turned-prisoner. "You've lied to me all my life, Catra. Every time I trust you, every time I think about trusting you, you've ruined a piece of my life. You left me behind when we were in trouble, you had me take the fall knowing I wouldn't be yelled at as harshly." Adora turned her head away as she crossed her arms.

"Even after you've left, Catra, I've been suffering. I'm the one who's been cleaning up the mess you've made after each mission, I'm the one losing any self-respect I had after we lose each outpost. And you're..." While keeping her head away, only allowing her to see the corrupted half of her face, Adora shot her a small scowl. "You're the reason I'm suffering, Catra. You're the reason for... this..." She said, gesturing to her corrupted half.

"Every time your side wins, it hurts me. Every outpost you take, it hurts me. The stress continues build around me, the pressure keeps getting bigger with every new workload. The pain... The pain that Hordak puts me through whenever I fail a mission because of you... it hurts... it hurts a lot..." Catra could see it, just barely, as a small corner near the bridge of Adora's nose filled with tears. There was no lying on her part, nothing for Catra to poke at or convince her that she was lying.

"And now I finally have a chance, a chance to earn his respect, and you want to take that away from me? Haven't you already taken enough?"

"I-I don't..." It was getting hard to look at her. Not because of the way she looked, or the aged, corrupted, half of her face, but because of the guilt still welling in Catra's chest.

At first, it was for all the times she used her, all the times she wishes she could take back to make things right with her again. Then, it was knowing that she cared, that Adora still cared a lot about Catra, despite being on opposing sides. After that, it was the fact she stole her destiny, a destiny she was becoming sickened with herself, that turned her whole life upside down. Finally, it was for her jealous. All the years she wasted being jealous over Adora for something she couldn't control, something she should've accepted or be happy for her with.

Now, she had a new reality of guilt to deal with- how much she's taken from her former friend.

How she took all those things without a second thought, how she took those victories from Adora, her success, those she became close with like Frosta and Shadow Weaver, the latter she barely cared about. It's not like she would just g back in time and "give" her those victories back, obviously. It's just the fact she never considered what would be happening to Adora, why she would become more and more desperate after each time they met.

Hordak was hurting her. How much, in what way, she couldn't say. All she knew was that it was Hordak, the man Adora always idolized as a child, always inspired to be. The same monster that admitted his disgust with Adora, even after all she's done for him. To say she felt horrible over the guilt building up in her heart would be an understatement.

She was feeling like a monster.

"I... I didn't know it was like that, Adora. I'm... I'm sorry..." Adora turned her face a little more as Catra turned her's away. Her expression, her movements, all the key little details of a person Shadow Weaver taught her to recognize. Tips and keys to determine if someone was lying, and Adora couldn't spot an ounce of it from the girl.

"Yeah, well..." Adora lowered her head as she scoffed. "You never did care enough to ask." A silence befell the two girls for a brief period, an unusual tension within the air until Adora spoke up. "You still haven't told me why I should consider letting you go."

"Because we're... we were friends, Adora. And you're the only one who can save me." Adora became silent. Adora walked up to the magicat, staring into her eyes. Adora appeared to be staring into thought. Adora brought her hands up slowly to Catra's head. Adora was unreadable to the prisoner. And Adora's hands went around the magicat's head.

Catra was hopeful.

*TUG!*

"Mmmhhh?!" And Catra was letdown. Instead of doing anything to help her, Adora tightened the cloth gag over Catra's face again, tightening it enough to ensure it wouldn't be shaken off anytime soon.

The Force Captain's face twisted as she lowered her brow to her. "You were better when your mouth was shut." She spat, taking the liberty to walk away as Catra screamed to her.

"Mhhmhh! Mhhmhhhh!" Catra yelled, renewing her efforts in trying to break he hands free once more.

Adora couldn't put up with her. With her lies, with her trickery, she couldn't stand to listen to Catra cough up another one of her various lies and reasons. Every time she did, Adora suffered for it. Suffered through all of it, and she was tired of her always trying to get to her. There was no way she could believe a ridiculous story as hers, not without proof.

"I'm going out for a walk for a bit, Entrapta." Adora stated as she headed for the metallic doors. "Remember what I said about her?"

"Yup!" Entrapta saluted with a friendly smile as her hair continued to weld down some sheets of metal for the device. "Don't listen to a word she says because she's always lying!"

"Perfect." Adora glanced back to the grumbling girl as she continued to try and free herself. "And let me know when the portal is ready to be activated. I... I want to be there to witness it."

"Sure thing, Adora!" With nothing else to say, the Force Captain gave one last look to her former friend and prisoner, then made her way for the door.

"Mhhmhhhh! Mhhhh!"

Stop! Come back! Catra tried to yell at her, watching her leave though the metallic doors without any sense of care.

Catra couldn't believe it. She was actually going to leave her here, leave her to die! She always discussed how she hated Catra, even went to many lengths to practically end her life when her emotions got the best of her. But this? All of this? It was unthinkable.

*Bzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Oh, that's new!" Entrapta squealed, drawing the magicat's focus to her. Seeing what the scientist was seeing, she saw as a small ray of light encompassed the entire sword, giving off an aura of power around it as the lights flickered off and on for a short while around them. Looking back to her, Entrapta gave her an excited grin as she donned her mask partway through. "Don't worry, Catra. With this development, we should be ready to go in a few hours!" And as she went back to her work, without a care in the world and unaware of Catra's situation. Catra panicked.

She was running out of time.

She couldn't break herself free no matter how hard she struggled.

And no one was going to save her.

...

"This is a bad idea." Bow whispered as he peered over the corner of the hall, eyeing the two guards who stood at attention, blocking the door.

"It's a great idea." Glimmer whispered back to him, pressing her head against the wall for a peek. "...Okay, it's terrible. But what choice do we have?" Odds are, they had none.

Catra needed to be rescued, and the sword had to be retrieved before it was too late. Nothing more, nothing less. They were racing against the clock even more than they originally thought, unaware of the death sentence that had been placed on the magicat.

With Catra and the sword taken from them, Hordak had near-to-everything they needed to complete the portal. They had the power source and the planetary key to the world, they had a means of opening the portal as soon as it was ready, and they had She-Ra under their roof, the Rebellion's greatest weapon and ally in their battle against the Horde. To top it off, it was Catra, no less, the very person who would've known how to infiltrate the Horde in this situation.

And without one, Glimmer's mother had absolutely forbidden the girl from trying to attempt a rescue, incapable of bearing the loss of another member of her family.

Without Catra, they had no means of saving her. They didn't have a She-Ra of great strength, they didn't have any means of navigating through the Fright Zone, wherever she could be, and they didn't know the layout enough to launch a successful assault. Even if they had the right amount of people for the job, it would be pointless to attempt a rescue operation without any sort of plan or assistance.

So what were they to do? They needed somebody who knew the Fright Zone well. Somebody who had been there just as long as Catra has to know the area for themselves. Somebody who had come to them several nights ago out of the blue, who was still being held prisoner beyond those guarded doors. Somebody who was their last chance at saving Catra.

"I wanna help as much as you do, but Shadow Weaver?" Bow questioned arguably.

"Catra needs us now." Glimmer stated, eyeing the door again. "And Shadow Weaver would know all about the Fright Zone's weak points. Let's at least talk to her." She didn't give Bow a chance to get the first word out in argument as she grabbed his hand, teleporting the two of them past the walls and beyond the guards, into Shadow Weaver's "prison room".

"Princess." Shadow Weaver greeted with an amused tone as the two made their appearance. Taking the book from her face, the witch smiled to them behind the mask. "It's about time.

Certain luxuries and accommodations were hard to allow when you were supposed to be a prison room, which was nothing more than a spare room the castle had lying around. You couldn't be too sincere or too aggressive against the prisoners in question, less they snap or try to undermine the system. You had to be thorough, lenient to an extent, and maintain control over the prisoner at all times.

Here, Shadow Weaver was living the lifestyle in her new cell in comparison to the ones back in the Fright Zone. With a large, comfortable, cushiony, chair for her to lie and sit on, a book of enchantments and magical arts for her personal entertainment, and a magical barrier encompassing twenty feet around her, this was practically a vacation in all regards compared to the Fright Zone.

Shadow Weaver could live in this cell for the rest of her life if she so much as wished it.

"You knew we were coming?" Glimmer asked uneasily as the sorceress of darkness set the book aside.

"Him, I had no idea. But you..." Her colorless white eyes showed all of her expression. "You are smart, you want to stop the Horde, and you know I'm the only one who can help you do that. I must admit, I thought it would take you longer to speak with me." She confessed raising an eye.

"Adora kidnapped Catra in the Crimson Waste. We need to get her back, before the Horde uses her and her sword to open a portal." For one of the few times Glimmer's ever known Shadow Weaver, the black-haired sorcerer looked at the two with unguarded surprise.

"His machine is complete? And they have Catra?" She looked off to the side as her eyes narrowed. She never did think something like this would happen, even to Catra of all people. She figured the cat would've gladly gone down fighting instead compared to getting taken to the Fright Zone of all places. " This is more troubling than you think. We must hurry."

At this, the witch stood. "If Hordak has the opportunity to open a portal, he will do so immediately. And once he's finished with his work, he will have no more use for the girl."

"No more..." Bow turned to his friend with worry, fearing the worst. "You mean... she'll..."

"What did you expect? Catra's a defector, a traitor, and one of the Horde's greatest enemies. Any one of those reasons would guarantee her death. And I promise you, it'll be done slowly." She confirmed. Things just went from terrible to horrendous and fear and worry rushed over Glimmer and Bow's mind.

Catra... was going to die? Truly. It's not like they wouldn't have expected it as a result, but for it to be confirmed among all else was troubling. It was better to live with the unknown of whether or not Catra would be alright rather than the certainty that she would be put to death. And if anyone was going to make Catra face a death penalty, they could guarantee it would be Hordak.

"T-Then we have to hurry!" Glimmer fretted, nearing the magical barrier. "We can't listen to what my mom said, we have to go now!"

"I wouldn't bother." Shadow Weaver brushed off her fear with the wave of her hands. "No matter how soon you launched an assault, you would never make it in time. The moment the portal opens, we all lose-... unless... " The woman remained silent as she gazed away from the two.

"What? What is it?"

"Let me out and I can help you teleport right into the heart of the Fright Zone." Shadow Weaver proposed, squeezing a fist in front of the girl.

"Heh, me? I couldn't even get to the edge of the Fright Zone without running out of power. I'm nowhere near strong enough-"

"But I can make you stronger." She interjected. "I'm still the only sorceress who has ever been able to tap into a Runestone. If you allow me to access your connection to the Moonstone, I can enhance your powers. You could teleport us all the way there." An atmosphere of darkness fell over Glimmer as she listened intently to the witch's proposal.

Giving her all that power? The power to teleport all the way to another corner of the world? With all of them? Was such a thing actually possible? She knew Shadow Weaver was a great sorceress, she knew she somehow formed a connection to the Runestone. There could be any number of things that she could do for her, so much power that she could give her, but at what cost?

This was Shadow Weaver they were dealing with, the betrayer of Mystacor and Tormentor of Catra. Countless times Catra had warned them never to trust the woman, never to give her a chance, never to believe a word of her. She was the one who gave Catra the snarky, snide, irritable, foolish, jesting, subtle, prideful, and downright wholesome personality that Catra had come to know. Everything she learned to irritate and annoy people, to undermine them and drive them mad, was all from her.

And this was all revealed from Catra in just the last few days since she appeared! There were hundreds of stories she'd go on about with how untrusting someone like Shadow Weaver was, how horrible she could be. Who knew what other terrible stories she had to say about the woman if she revealed more about her since day one?

But what other choice did they have? To keep Shadow Weaver here to let Catra die? There was no way they could choose otherwise, no time to formulate another plan.

"Uh, us?" Bow threw in as he stepped forward, reminding Shadow Weaver that he was coming too.

"I suppose you could come." She shrugged. "We'll teleport directly into Hordak's sanctum, disable the portal machine, and save Catra."

The Princess of Bright Moon slowly stepped up to the barrier, a look of unease over her eyes as she squeezed a fist against her heart. "You can really make me that powerful?"

"You think of yourself only as a Princess," she grinned, her white vacant eyes narrowing, "but you're the child of a great sorcerer." She relished the sight of the sparks shining in Glimmer's eyes, the glittering dust of hope and wonder dashing through them. "You have a more powerful connection to magic than you ever realized." Finally, Shadow Weaver offered her hand. "Let me show you." Glimmer contemplated, standing there with her eyes open, unable to move of her own free will.

She could have it all right now. A chance to gain more power, a chance to teleport to the Fright Zone, and a chance to save Catra. All she had to do was take the woman's hand, and give her her trust.

"You just want to use Glimmer's power to escape!" Bow pointed out, standing at his friend's side. "And why should we trust you to help us save Catra, anyway? You've always hated her!"

"Hate is a strong word," she swayed, waving her hand, "and a little inaccurate. I despised the girl for everything she did, everything she was, growing up. I never hated her for only herself. Even if I was, it would prove pointless. When Hordak uses his portal, there will be nowhere in Etheria for me to escape to. Nor will I be able to rescue Adora from the Spell of Obtainment without Catra's help. Saving her and destroying Hordak benefits me as much as you."

"Yeah, but-"

"Besides, this is her decision. Not yours." She reminded, standing firmly before the Princess. "You know as well as I do that we must strike now. Hordak can't be allowed to open a portal. We'll never have another opportunity, and you know that." Glimmer turned her head a little anxiously, worried about all the things that could happen if she set her free, and if she didn't. "The moment he does, all of Etheria will fall and burned to ash from the might of the Horde. And Catra will be the first to die."

Staring into the Woman's eyes, Glimmer finally tightened her expression as a decision had come to her mind. She couldn't allow Shadow Weaver to escape, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was tricked and set a sorceress free. She also knew there were no other possibilities with time running out, with the life of her best friend hanging on the line.

Her choice had become clear.

Gathering as much of her magic, growing an aura of pink around her tightly squeezed hand, she decided. She slammed her palm flat against the surface of the barrier with all her might, using as much magic as she could to disrupt the barrier, and watching with shock as it finally fell apart in front of her. Like cherry blossoms in the wind, the three watched as residuals of the barrier's magic swept around them. Dissipating, dissolving, shrinking in front of their eyes. And then, nothing.

Glimmer had set Shadow Weaver free.

Bracing herself, the princess stepped over the edge of where the barrier once stood, the purple enchanted dust brushing against her shoes as she approached the wicked witch. She had no choice, she had no options. All she could do was raise her hand to Shadow Weaver in acceptance over their newly formed deal.

Leaving Bow to rub his hand between his eyes. There was no going back.

...

*creeeak*

The metallic, large, doors opened before the girl as she stepped through, surveying her surroundings as she searched for the person in question. If he was where she knew him to be, knowing he wasn't in his inner sanctum, then his personal lab would be the best place to search for him.

"Hello?" She called out, approaching the inner lab of his sanctuary. "Lord Hordak?"

Sure enough, the person in question was right where she expected him to be. The leader of the Horde was grumbling to himself as he worked with his personal devices, fixing the short circuiting collar around his neck as he stood within the center of the machine. Hearing the voice himself, Hordak have a small apprehensive look at the teenager, doing his best to keep himself from scowling. For all he knew, Entrapta could be anywhere around, or popping out of the vents at any moment.

"What do you want, Adora?" He asked, keeping his back to her as the machine repaired bits of his exoskeleton.

Brushing off the dust from her white long-sleeve shirt, Adora placed her hands in repect behind herself, standing at attention. "Ahem. I, um, interrogated the prisoner recently, My Lord." She stated.

"And?"

"And? Uh," it was hard for her to think of what to say without risking the thread of respect he had left to show her, "it has... come to my attention that, she..."

"Out with it!" He seethed, refusing to waste his precious time or sanity on a girl prattling on about what she deems important.

"S-Sorry. As I was trying to say, she had brought to my attention that... S-She believes you have the intention of executing her once the portal is finished." She didn't trust Catra a single bit, but it also didn't hurt to hear it directly from the source, right? After all, despite everything, there was no way he was possibly considering-

"What of it?" He showed no signs of hiding his intention as the machine finished tweaking his suit's collar, the leader examining the readings and layout of the armor within his monitors to the side.

Adora was slightly taken back by his casualness, staring at him for a bit as she pulled back some of her flowing long hair in front of her shoulders. "A-And I just wanted to confirm with you that..." So many thoughts were conflicting in her mind that she didn't know what to say. "Y-You don't really intend to execute her, do you?"

"Of course I do." Adora's heart became still at the confirmation. "Why?"

"Why? B-Because-... I-I just thought we were going to use her as a bargaining chip, My Lord. It would seem kind of wasteful not to use the opportunity given to us."

"And I don't intend to." He spat, typing for a short while within the consoles connected to his machine. "That girl has cost this army more than you could possibly know. So much time and resources wasted because of one defector, one traitor. And I presume you know how traitors are dealt with within the Horde."

"E-Exactly, Lord Hordak. I just thought like... W-Wouldn't it be better to hold her ransom or something? We could demand a shipment of resources from the Rebellion everyday, forcing them to pay tribute in exchange for keeping her alive as our prisoner."

"And, do tell, what exactly would you suggest if they refused to pay tribute?" The leader paused from his typing as he lifted his head a little, getting a strange feeling off the girl's behavior. "Would you have us just keep her around without any source of tribute? Or would you be willing to execute her yourself for all she has done?"

Adora froze as her eyes refused to blink. What was she supposed to say? Yes and she would execute Catra on the spot? No because they could still get another opportunity with holding her hostage? They could make an easy trade off for the girl, possibly demand their entire army back from the Rebellion's prisons in exchange for the legendary She-Ra again.

Better yet, why not demand the Queen herself in exchange for She-Ra? She was just as important to the Rebellion as Glimmer was, if not more so, and there's no way she would waste a chance to return the Rebellion's greatest warrior to their side.

Then again, knowing Catra as Adora did, she wouldn't be surprised if the Queen didn't want her back.

It was becoming increasingly concerning as Adora could actually feel her heart beating, feel the vibration against her chest with every passing tick. Staring back to Lord Hordak, throwing the respect he had left for him on the line, it was... maddening.

"I... I-I would... I would continue using her as we see fit!" She declared. "We could learn so much about her sword and She-Ra's powers by keeping her alive! Think of everything Entrapta could study from her if we could-"

"Do NOT use her name for your own reasoning, Force Captain!" He shouted with anger, unable to hold himself back. He could tell what she was trying to do, tell she was throwing Entrapta's name into the mix of things in order to better appease to Hordak's line of reasoning. To throw out someone's name like that, to use a respectable scientist's title like an item. It sickened him. The fear in her eye was well placed at the sound of his voice, the tension in her heart rising to new levels of stress.

And he didn't care. "Do not think to tarnish the little respect I have left for you after your own betrayal, Adora." He threatened, walking towards the Force Captain as she stood with fear. "That girl's very existence right now threatens to undermine everything we have accomplished, all that we have achieved, and I will not allow it's existence a second longer after the portal is finished."

Somehow the fear only heightened as he continued past her towards the door. "When that portal is finished, that girl's life will end by my hands, quickly, or slowly, if I so choose it. And I will let nothing stand in my way."

'BUT YOU CAN'T-! Mmmh!" Adora froze with unquestionable shock and fear as she covered her mouth, Hordak himself becoming speechless as he stopped at the sound of the girl's voice.

Adora didn't know what came over her. She just stammered the first thing that came to mind, and her mouth. Bits of sweat started to seep from the girl's forehead as she lowered her gaze, knowing there was no excuses for what she just did.

"... What did you just say, Adora?" Hordak was at his scariest when he spoke without emotion to Adora. The room going silent all around her, the sound of Hordak's footsteps echoing throughout the room. Somehow it all became more terrifying to the young blond as she forced herself to stare at the floor, eyes shriveling as her hair drooped to the sides.

"N... Nothing, sir." She muttered, overwhelmed with fear for the first time in her life.

"Did you just say what I could, or couldn't do?" His narrowed red eyes made him all the more menacing. Adora could feel his gaze directly on the back of her head.

"N-No... No. Of course not, L-Lord Hordak. That would be foolish, disrespectful... stupid."

"Hmph..." He wanted to strike the girl at any given moment, the restraint on his part nearing the limits of his patience as his anger seethed with clouds of anger. "That's what I thought." At this, the towering figure of anger turned again, leaving the girl behind as he finally vacated the room. Leaving Adora all to herself.

But not alone.

"Ooooh, did you hear what I heard?" Aroda awed, smiling cheerfully at Adora's side. She playfully brushed her shoes against the floor as she hovered, sliding against the ground as if she was ice skating around the girl. "It looks like boss man is going to be useful to use after all! Good choice in not getting rid of him, Adora. Turns out you "told me so" for once, huh?" She chuckled, smiling brightly at the door.

This was perfect, beyond perfect! With Hordak doing the work for her, they could finally move on with their life! He would execute the girl, the sword's bond with the magicat would be broken, and then Adora could reestablish her connection to the sword anew, with Aroda's help! She didn't even need to worry anymore about Adora's spinelessness or weakness now with someone else planning to take care of the cat for her! Everything was going smoothly, and ironically, thanks to Adora's desire of not wanting to get rid of the Lord of the Horde after all this time!

"Man, I really wish I had one of those party horns right now. Don't you?" She giggled, floating onto her back as she leaned her arms behind her head. "Catra gets taken down, you get to live with a clear conscious, and the sword will be ours! Talk about a lucky break, am I right, Adora?... Adora?" The reflection looked back, seeing the girl vanished from her spot and moving silently to the door. "Helloooo, Adora? You there?" This was new to her.

Usually, she could always tell what was on Adora's mind. Whether she's happy or sad, calm or angry, there wasn't an emotion she experienced without Aroda being aware of it, not a single thought to herself that Aroda wasn't aware of.

Until now.

The girl was like a blank slate to Aroda for once, more than usual, as her body moved clear of thought. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know if she was willing to accept what was happening to Catra or planned on getting in the way. For the first time, Aroda was actually troubled by this lack of unknowing, unable to grasp what was going on in the corner of Adora's mind.

All she did was humph to herself as she lowered her eyes a little in annoyance. "You better not screw this up for us, Adora..."

...

"Ooooh... Where is he..." Entrapta moaned as she sat on Emily, staring at the lever in front of her.

The lever that would determine it all, the lever that would begin the portal activation, the lever that was so irrisistable to pull!

This was a scientist's worst nightmare; having a shiny red button or a sparkling lever standing right in front of them just waiting to be tested and she couldn't afford to let herself pull it until Hordak was present with her. He had every right to witness the portal's activation as much as she did!

...Aghhhhhhh but it was so unbearable! Could you tell a fish not to swim? A bird not to fly? Or a scientist to not pull a lever that activated an ancient First Ones portal used by technology left behind by thousands of years ago that could revolutionize the history of the world by granting access across space itself that could summon and sent physical matter through an intergalactic wormhole that no one has ever created before!? OF COURSE NOT!

It was so tempting just standing there and... levering! She needed a distraction, a hobby! Sitting around and doing nothing was just as bad as standing around and doing nothing! And she still couldn't decide on if she should pull the lever or not!

"Mhhhh! Mhhhhh!" Oh yeah, there was that person in the room twenty feet away from her. Turning her head, she eyed the muffling magicat who was trying to speak with her.

Shrugging at the garbled words, she assumed it was better than asking no one. "What do you think, Catra? Should I pull it now or later?"

"Mhh mh mh mh mhhhh!" She tried to shout to her. She knew if she responded with a nod or a shake that she would assume it was a yes, regardless of what she actually meant, and that would be the end for her.

"Whaaat? Hold on." Giving her a moment, Catra breathed a little relieved as Entrapta lowered the cloth again with her hair. "Now what were you saying?"

"I said don't pull it you idiot!" She stated.

Entrapta just blinked at her. "... Oh. Right. Not friends." She reminded herself, staring back at the lever.

Catra lowered her head a bit in dismay. It wasn't her fault that everything was happening so soon and the stress was getting to the magicat's head. She was lucky enough she kept herself from trying to bite at Entrapta's hair, let alone threaten her like that.

"Look, Entrapta, I'm sorry about what happened, all right?" She said, drawing the Scientist's eyes. "We didn't know you were still alive, we all thought you were dead. That's why we didn't come back for you. It... It was my fault, okay? And I'm... I'm sorry"

Entrapta stared off into thought for a bit, lowering the mask over her face as she turned away from her. "But Adora said you abandoned me. And so far she hasn't given me any reason to doubt her." Taking the opportunity to chat, the eager young scientist pressed along the controls of a monitor, getting a small window to pop up in the middle of the left side of the screen.

There, it displayed a recording. A recording Catra wasn't surprised she had, given all the fancy gadgets and machines she's built on a regular basis. It was only natural that somehow, while she was unaware of it, she would have a drone with a recording showing the way Catra attacked her at the Northern Reach, the anger and ferocity in her eyes, showing no regret on her part.

"You even tried to attack me in the Northern Reach when we first met again." She said, turning her masked face in her direction. "That casts doubt on your part." Turning off the video again, she resumed her silent watching of the lever. "LIke why you would attack me if you guys did care about me."

"That... Look, that wasn't on them, all right? That was all me." No matter how many times she remembered how she felt over the guilt of Entrapta's loss, it never made the feeling in her heart any easier. "When I first thought you were dead, I was... sad. Really. And then when I thought you betrayed us because you wanted too, I was... I didn't know how to respond, but I shouldn't have tried to hurt you. I was angry and upset that you betrayed us. I was even more upset with myself."

"Because you failed to hurt me?"

"Because I felt guilty over the fact it was my fault!" She revealed. While still keeping her guard up and her curiosities in check, the purple-haired genius gave her a surprised look behind the mask. "I was really upset when we thought you died because I thought I was the one responsible for it. I threw you into those vents to begin with, I was torn up. I never would've come across the Beacon if it wasn't for that."

"... Hmmm..." She hummed to herself as she pulled out her own tracker pad, typing away with her hair as she went over her Rules of Sociology list. "I can't quite tell if you're lying or not, but Adora told me not to trust you either way."

"You can't listen to Adora, okay? She isn't herself lately, she can't be trusted."

"Sorry, Catra, but when the data comes down to it," she turned to the monitors again as a new screen was displayed, "she's been a much better friend to me than you." Looking at the monitor herself, Catra examined the strange head-like outlines of herself and Adora, both of them with nearly a dozen hearts pointing to a head outline of Entrapta, like a rating. And while Adora's rating had a full twelve hearts over her's, Catra's had nothing more than a giant red X over it.

Catra frowned further as she lowered her head away. All the guilt, all the anger, all the sadness, had been leading up to a moment like this. If their situations were reversed, she wasn't sure if she would be the one forgiving Entrapta or not. And at the same time, if she was aware that their situation was reversed, then Entrapta would want Catra to believe her right now.

"Is that what this is, then? Some revenge against me? Fine, deal with me. Do whatever you want! But you can't take it out on everyone else around you. They had nothing to do with how I was acting, I acted out all on my own." The girl listening to her remained silent as she lowered her head. Did Catra have the right idea behind all of this? Was she really doing this just for revenge? To get back at her for all the anger she shot at her?

...Who was she kidding? Entrapta wasn't like that. She was nice, sincere, quirky but with a big heart... and she didn't deserve Catra's anger.

"Look, I know what it's like, okay? She was my friend too. She does her best with everything with a big smile but the truth is she doesn't care. All she cares about is progress and results, she doesn't know if its right or wrong and she doesn't care anymore! If you go through with this, that portal is going to summon an army big enough to wipe out all of Etheria and nobody will be safe."

"..."

"..." The scientist contemplated as she slowly lifted the buns of her hair to her side, Catra watching as they shook like a balled-up fist. She looked troubled, angry, upset. All the signs that Catra gave off when she was about to lash out at someone. It wouldn't surprise her by what she did next.

*WHAP*

"Ah!" Catra yelped, covering her eyes. Like a bullet out of a canon, her twintails quickly shot at the magicat, looking ready to strike or strangle the girl at a given notice. But instead of feeling any sort of injury, any danger from her, Catra opened her left eye, then the other, as she trailed the hair from the source to where they were connecting to.

Right above her, around the metallic pillar. Staring at the curious twintails for a moment, Catra's eyes were drawn to the sound of Entrapta again as the girl dragged herself over to her, still sitting on Emily and scraping against the ground. There was no telling what sort of look on her face as she stared at her, breathing behind the mask with the glowing red round eyes. For a moment, Catra was actually scared of how she was going to react as she slowly reached to flip up her mask.

"Of course I can!" She smiled. "Did you miss the whole sword makes the portal machine work thing?" She wondered, drooping her arms and legs around Emily, staring right into Catra's face. "I really don't have time to explain."

"It's too dangerous!" Catra tried to argue as she pulled herself back to the machine.

"All exploration has an element of danger! But think of what we could find?" She became giddy with glee as she pulled her way to the monitors, marveling at the outline of the universe, filled with bright shining stars and entire planets just waiting to be explored. "Whole worlds, galaxies, things we can't even imagine."

"But it's not going to work." All the fluster and excitement drained from Entrapta's eyes as she turned them to the side by the magicat's voice. "Mara made it so another portal couldn't be opened. We don't know what could happen, it could destroy everything!"

The girl found herself at an impasse as she thought of this, tapping her chin with her hair and fingertips. On the one hand, what Catra said was true. There were a few issues she came across as she inputted the data over and over again. On the other hand, she wasn't supposed to listen or trust anything Catra said. So how was she supposed to decide if it was right or not?

"... I have noticed some anomalies in my portal trials." Taping against the consoles before the screen, Catra watched as several red X's in boxes flashed over the large monitor. "They could potentially pose a problem. Maybe I should run more tests... Then again, Adora told me not to trust you. And I can't let her down."

"Entrapta..." Catra had to think, and think fast. How was she supposed to get an eager young, quirky, annoying, gullible-as-she-was-smart, scientist to listen to her? It's like everything she was saying was draining out of both ears and keeping her from thinking straight! She doubt trying to use typical reverse psychology would do any good, especially if ADora had been helping her with interacting with people all this time. All she cared about was being a true friend to Adora and that meant...!

Wait a minute.

"... Huff, you're right. What was I thinking?" Catra sighed, looking away with regret.

"Oh, that's okay. This is going to be an exciting moment for all of us!"

"I mean, I thought since you knew as much as I did about what was wrong with her right now that you'd be trying to prove yourself as her friend and helping her with it." Glancing an eye over to the girl, she questioned exactly how much of Entrapta's curiosity she had piqued.

"... You know what's wrong with her?" She asked, turning her head to her.

Bingo.

"Eh, more or less. I doubt you'd believe me though, so why should I bother-"

"But I can help confirm it!" The scientist stated happily, rushing straight into Catra, pushing her face close enough until she was mere inches from Catra's nose. "I've been taking multiple readings from her since her illness began. I can prove it for myself!"

"U-Um, okay..." Catra muttered, waiting for starer to back away before she continued. "It might sound crazy and weird, but there's this thing inside her head trying to tell her how to do everything."

"What do you mean? Like a Associative Identity Disorder?"

"Um... I guess? All I know is that whatever's causing causing her deformity and appearance lately, it's connected to the very same illness. It might even be the cause of her shadows hurting herself."

"But... that can't be right." Tilting her head a little, the scientist looked over her tracker pad again as she reviewed her various scans. "I've done multiple brain scans of her during testing-"

"She let you do that?"

"- and so far I haven't found any anomaly with her mind. It seems to be the healthiest part of her body, really."

"Well maybe you missed something then? Something that was either so obvious or not obvious enough to notice?"

"Hmmm..." Entrapta frowned a little rubbing her chin, staring back at the prisoner herself. "I don't knoooow..."

"Look, Entrapta, just look over your findings one more time. If you find something wrong with it, then that means I was telling the truth. And if I am, then you have to trust me and stop what you're doing with the portal."

"And if you're lying?"

Catra shrugged. "Then nothing happens and you go right back to it. Plain and simple." She eyed the scientist hopefully. "Right?"

"..." She could've been thinking a million things, and Catra would never guess one of them. Everything at this point was riding on Entrapta trusting her, or Catra being lucky enough to prove to her that she could be trusted. She didn't know any of the bizarre sciencey things that Entrapta did when it came to examinations and scans, but if she was to have any chance of getting the girl to believe her, then this was her last resort.

Playing on Entrapta's care for her friends.

"... Okay!"

Catra breathed deeply at the agreement as Entrapta made her way towards the door. Inspecting the sword for a moment, Catra's eyes lowered as she stared at the key to the portal. "Uh, s-say, Entrapta? How much longer until your portal is complete?"

"Oh, it's already done." Her reveal was sending shockwaves of fear through Catra's systems. "Once Hordak and I are ready, we'll be opening the portal right away... You're not going to try and escape if I leave you alone, are you?"

The feline shot her an unamused look. "Don't you think I would've tried to by now if I could?"

"... Good point. Okay, bye!" With a cheerful wave, not having the sense to remain for any more questioning, Entrapta left, leaving Catra to panic, struggling with all her might against her newfound horror.

It was a serious case of do or die time at this point, all of it coming down to whether or not Entrapta could find anything. If she did, she might be able to stop the portal, stop the activation possibly for a few days, and, most importantly to her, stall the execution placed on Catra's head!

If not...

Then Catra could only pray that her death would be quick.

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:29:42

...

A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, it's cliche as all get-out writing that "Timer" at the end, what do ya want from me XD I just thought it'd be a nice bit of suspense to add to the end of this and the next chapter, and maybe after each new scene as the timer starts coming down little by little. I don't know, but i'm keeping it in anyway no matter how tacky it is XD Lol

Not much to say here, again refer to the top A/N's if you're interested in making scenes/flashbacks to go along with my dreamworld episode :D! Again, they will contain spoilers ahead of time since i'll need to tell people what they need to consist of, but outside of that, whatever scenes you want to do for them will be of your own choosing ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 106: S3 Episode 4: Moment of Truth Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N's: Final Word Count: 11.8k Pre-A/N's. We're counting down people (and i dont mean just the death clock XP). We're nearing the end of an episode, the end of a season, and most of all!... well.. no i don't think there's anything besides that... lol.

Anyway, of the one or two things i'd like to mention, it has come to my attention that apparently the satyr/Daisy's friend turns out to be a girl! A process i wish i knew earlier after writing about a chapter and a half about her saying she was a boy- and no i am not going back to change all that cause picking out "he's" and "her's" in an episode would be a royal headache, let alone several episodes of it XP

Lol, so with that said, enjoy!

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:27:33

*click*

"Nope."

*click*

"Nada."

"click*

"Negatory."

*click*

"Oh, wait-!... Oh, no, just the mouse. Ugggggghhhhh..." Entrapta moaned, bored out of her mind for the last several minutes as she finished examining the readings once again. If it wasn't for the constant companionship of her dear friend, Emily, by her side, this would've been he most boring job in the world!

Okay, so maybe not boring, but it definitely was when the alternative came down to activating a portal switch that could revolutionize the entire world!

Just thinking about it made Entrapta's mind shake and her heart race with excitement. Imagine, teleporting to other worlds, witnessing new and more advanced civilizations in the blink of an eye! To be able to go from point A to point B in less than a minute, to take people beyond the stars of the universe, stars she had never seen before, and visit entire worlds that have never been touched by modern science!

What was she doing instead? Looking at another person's brainwave pattern for inconsistencies! The least important job there was to be had at the moment!

Fine, it wasn't as unimportant as she might think. It related to Adora, her health, and her world. All of these readings, all of these scans of her were to discover a possible disorder or reason behind Adora's corruption, something Catra hinted about knowing. Normally she wouldn't believe anything the cat would tell her, fearing the worst if she fell for her tricks and became a pawn in another one of Catra's schemes... but how was she supposed to refuse when the life of one her great friends were on the line?!

She couldn't take the chance that something was wrong with Adora and that she had an opportunity to fix it before it was too late! She was her ally, her friend. She taught her what it meant to be a friend to people and gave her so much advice on how to interact with those around her, and she could never repay her for that. If something was wrong with her and Entrapta never discovered it before something bad happened, she could never forgive herself.

But why was it so BORING?! She's checked these readings countless times, even checked her resource material to make sure she was searching for the right irregularities. Between her brain waves, her amygdala, aka the part that tells her to be safe and to defend herself, even her nervous system through extensive research.

She had to sigh as she leaned away from her monitors, the very ones in the Black Garnet chamber where everything was hooked up. "I guess Catra just lied to me after all, huh, Emily?" She moaned, rubbing Emily's round metallic head and body. "And I really wanted to believe her for some reason... Oh well!" With a clap, the downed and depressed mood of the scientist shot back up in an instant. "Time to get back to portaling!" She squealed, hopping to her feet and running to the door.

Turning from its creator to the monitors, the droid known as Emily saw something through its scanners. It was a big hard to make out with a red tint to everything through its eyes, but it was clear enough for it to understand a missing detail.

Rushing back to its creator it quickly cut her off from the doorway, pushing itself against her as it lead her back to the console. "What? Emily, I don't have time for this. We can't play right now."

Wee-woo! Emily hummed as it shifted glances between its creator and the console.

Turning her head to the top right screen of the four monitors, Entrapta shrugged. "We've been over this, there's nothing wrong with Adora, she's fine. It's just Catra being Catra, lying and everything." She stated, walking back to the door. Once again, Emily got ahead of her, pushing against the feeble scientist who was struggling to push her back without hurting her. "Grrrr! Emily, if you don't stop this right now, you can forget one of those eight upgrades I had in store for you tomorrow!"

Whooooooooooooomp! Her warning didn't seem to effect the robot's behavior or its decision as it beeped again, switching between the monitor and creator alike.

"Ughhh... It's fine. Here, look." Wanting to make herself clear to the droid, she typed away against the keyboard in a haste, wishing to get back to her dear portal waiting for her to use her. Adjusting the three other monitors so they all displayed the same reading, she finally showed the robot her results. "There, look! It's like I said, they're all the same. See?" To be honest, it did make Entrapta smile a little to see her friend was perfectly fine. "All the readings are exactly the same as last week!"

"... Wait..." Something was off as Entrapta blinked. She checked all four screens closely to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks, getting in close and personal physically as she pressed her nose between each one at a time. "That can't be right..." Sitting down in her chair again, Entrapta typed away. Bounding up and and down where it stood, Emily whirred with joy as its master found the thing she was looking for.

Returning the screens to how they were originally, Entrapta began to edit and place the readings of the previous weeks right next to each other. "A person's brainwave is constantly giving off signals regardless of how much brain activity is in the works, like a pound with a ripple that goes on constantly." With the click of a button, she brought up four identical readings to the reading on the top left monitor, all displaying the same thing. "I didn't notice at first because every day they kept changing, but... this can't be right."

Turning to her right as she printed something, Entrapta drew the rushing printout as fast as she could, reading it off in her hands as it detailed the scans of Adora's brainwave patterns through the last several weeks. "But every week, her readings are exactly the same. Here, look." To prove her point to the robot, she highlighted the top left monitor with the four exact displays. "Here's Tuesday from this week, last week, the previous week, and so forth. It's like her mind is purposely giving off these patterns of its own accord."

How could she have been so stupid to not notice this glaring detail? Every single week was exactly the same in terms of readout. From the exact day, the exact time the scans were taking, there were readings of every possible angle to see the scans from, to list the dates of their creation. While she could jot it down to the unlikely possibility that her brain wave just read the same on the same day, she couldn't get past the timestamps posted.

All of them were of several hour differences between one another, which meant all the readings should've progressed or regressed from what it was previously. Yet, against all odds and explanation, she obtained the same brain reading she scanned on each of the following days, no matter what time of the day it was.

"I wouldn't say it was anything like an Associative Identity Disorder or else her whole brainwave pattern would've altered to accommodate a new personality." She rubbed her chin in thought, trying to make heads or tails of these readings. "But there is something going on with her mind right now, like it was alive and trying to fabricate the readings themselves." Slowly, the scientist's eyes widened as her jaw opened, coming to a greater realization. "But that would mean... Catra was telling the truth!"

This was bad. Really, really bad. Not just from the fact that Catra was telling the truth, but because of everything else she could've said that might've been the truth! Everything about this Mara character she mentioned earlier, everything about the portal, and... "Was... Catra telling the truth about me?" She questioned, turning to her faithful assistant. "Did she really feel guilty about me?" That didn't sound right. Catra was nowhere near that level of decency when they first met. She was wild, unruly, a whole bunch of other sociable terms Adora taught Entrapta about, but she was that way with everyone.

How much did Catra change over the course of when they last met?

Shaking her head at this, the girl quickly focused back on the bigger picture of things. "I'm getting ahead of myself." Clicking away with her computer, the scientist finally shut everything off as she made her way to the door. "Come on, Emily, we need to test the portal trials again while we still have time." A part of her hoped that she was actually wrong about all of this and this would've been a waste of time.

If the readings her initial trials gave her were a 110% accurate like they always were, then the catastrophe that would follow would be unthinkable! The damage it could create would reach unprecedented levels of destruction and chaos, entire cities being blown away seeming like a speck of dust compared to what was to come if the trials were accurate! It would be terrible, it would be mind blowing!

AND SHE'D NEVER GET TO USE HER LEVER!

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:23:41

*clank*

"Haha!" Daisy grinned as she opened up one of the lockers within the Locker Room. "Hey, would you look at this?" She must've hit the jackpot by teaming up with Adora and the rest of the Horde because this was awesome! An entire load out of gear, clothing, and everything one would need in the daily life of a Horde soldier. Like this nifty red leather jacket she found in one of the units with the Horde symbol on the back.

"You can't take that." Scorpia told her, trying to grab it out of her hands.

The satyr smirked as she dodged to the side, keeping it out of arm's reach of her before tossing it to her four-armed blue-skinned lizard friend. "Let's make this official."

"It doesn't even fit-!"

*riiiiiip*

Anything Scorpia had to say fell on deaf ears between the two outlaws as large tears of leather were pushed out from both ends of the red leather jacket, Scorpia growing worried over the damage the blue lizard caused. Looking at it for herself, the blue lizard grinned. It had a nice smooth leather touch to the feel, it was nice cozy and warm, and, thanks to her forcefully pushing her arms through the sides, it now fit her perfectly and could support all four of her arms at once.

Grinning, the blue lizard posed before the two girls as she flexed. The color really clashed with her blue skin, the roughness of her nature and her sense of style was taking a liking to it. She didn't care if it was a little tight fitting at first and it chaffed against her neck. All that matter to her was what she thought, and how she looked strong, intimidating, and studly.

Still carrying the same look of worry over her face, Scorpia rushed over to the blue lizard, trying to pry it from the uncaring lizard's chest from behind as she crossed all four of her arms. She wasn't about to give up such a catchy leather like this. Finding clothes as comfortable as these were a rarity within the Crimson Waste, and they almost always ended up going to Huntara first.

Eventually, following a brief struggle, the Force Captain ended up ridding a small tear between the two shoulders in the back of the jacket, moaning at the damage she had caused through her sheer strength, and irritating the lizard who was taking a liking to the jacket until now.

"Not bad, you look good in a uniform." Daisy commented, taken in with her friend's new look.

*swoosh!*

*bam*

Daisy nearly jumped at the sight of the shadowy tendril that rushed past her face, one that could belong to only one stronger leader that she and her friend continued to follow. "New rule, you two. Don't go through peoples lockers without their permission." Adora stated, crossing her arms with a small frown, looking down as she spoke. "I get enough trouble with that from Entrapta."

"Eh, r-right. Sorry boss." Daisy apologized, giving her a small salute with the lizard

"Adora!" Scorpia sighed with relief as she rushed up to her great friend. "I've been looking all over for you!" She hasn't had a chance to talk to her since the two arrived at the Fright Zone. What with keeping a close lock and key on Catra throughout the trip home, refusing to take her eyes off her former friend once, and her little chats with Daisy and the other lizardmen who came with them, this was the longest period of time she had gone without a friendly chat with her blond friend.

She also noticed a small look of pain and concern over her friend's face, both sides of it at that. "Adora? Is something wrong?" She scratched the back of her head. "Um, aside from the obvious face thing."

"Ah, don't sweat the look too much, boss." Daisy commented, walking towards the wall near the two as she leaned against it. "The two of us think it looks rough, in a good way. Like you took an explosion to the face and survived. Only the most hardcore bosses can survive that sort of thing." She turned to her silent friend who nodded in agreement of the look, giving her a thumbs up in appreciation.

Again, Adora remained silent to this as she started walking further into the room, keeping her head lowered and her backs to them. "... Hordak... Hordak plans on executing Catra as soon as the portal is operational." She revealed, much to Scorpia's surprise. She wondered what was going on through Adora's mind as she brought her claws to her lips, trying to keep herself from saying anything wrong.

The two strangers of the room looked at one another in confusion, unable to figure out the dilemma the girl was having. "Yeah, so? What's the big deal?" Daisy asked.

"She and Catra used to be best friends growing up." Scorpia whispered leaning over to her new pink ally.

"Oh..." The sudden awkwardness left Daisy scratching the back of her head, trying to determine the issue still behind this. "Well... that's good, isn't it?" Scorpia wished she stung her to keep her mouth quiet at that.

As much as she hated Catra herself for all she did to her, she knew the kind of bond the two shared, kind of like the one she shared with Adora right now. They had a best friend relationship, one that stemmed through years of growing up together, almost like sisters. It would take years before Scorpia reached that level of friendship with Adora and she already showed a great deal of care for her new friend. There was no way in knowing just how troubled she was with thinking that a former best friend of hers was about to die.

"I guess... maybe... I think?" Adora shrugged back, unable to make up her mind. "I... I just really don't know how I'm supposed to feel about it. Should I be happy? Good about it? What about you, Daisy. Would you be fine if your friend was about to be executed or put to death?"

"Oh yeah, totally." The blue lizard looked at her with disbelief and her jaw hanging open as she stood behind her. "If she messed something up badly enough, I'd take her out myself if I had the chan- Ahhhh!"

*thud!*

Anything the satyr had to say was immediately cut off as she was tackled away by her blue friend, the two roughhousing along the ground as they rolled a short distance away from the two.

"If you don't feel so good about it, Adora, why not tell Lord Hordak about it?" Scorpia suggested, giving a small hopeful smile. "Maybe you could use her in a different way that helps the Horde?"

"I already tried, but he refused." Adora replied, walking towards the door again. "He's dead set on executing Catra and I... I don't know if I should do something about it."

"Like what?" What was she suggesting? Was she... going to intervene in some way? Over her friend who betrayed her like a dozen times already over the last several months alone?

Growing silent at this, Adora turned her head to the halls ahead of her. "Never mind. Just... Just make sure things are running smoothly for when the portal opens, okay?" With those last set of instructions given, Adora left the room, leaving a troubled Scorpia to rub her arm in worry, and the two outlaw thugs still tussling along the ground.

There would be so many things to worry about throughout all of this, some of which she didn't know if she should be proud of to know Adora still had her sweet and sincere side over, or if she should be worried over her friend's concerns. More importantly, how troubled was Adora by these conflicting feelings for her friend?

Would... Would she be willing to do something drastic if it meant saving Catra's life?

It would be easier to think for herself if there weren't a couple of lunkheads rolling around her.

"Ow, let go of my horns!"

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:20:13

The dusk settled around the castle eerily as the runestone's enchanting glow gave rise to the illusion of peace. Atop the pillar of the ancient architecture Shadow Weaver could be seen, continuing to write her enchantments, to design a rune with the very tip of her fingers, one capable of bringing about the miracle needed to save Catra.

Quietly, steadily, their attention was drawn to the sound coming from behind, all eyes turning to Princess Perfuma as she rose to the top upon her enchanted vines. Along with her, riding on a sea of majestic waters, Mermista could be seen steering the way, shooting herself up ahead of her friend. And to the left behind her, Frosta descended, having road atop a pathway of ice across the valley, and dropping in from the very skies above.

These three princesses were here to witness what they were doing, to see Shadow Weaver standing before them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mermista asked, flaunting her hair as Frosta and Perfuma smiled behind her, the former crossing her arms.

"Please. Don't try to stop us." Glimmer begged as she summoned her father's staff in front of Shadow Weaver. She couldn't allow these three to get in the way, friends or not. "This is the only way to save Catra." She didn't care what she was doing or how foolish it was, they had no choice!

The Horde was using her sword to summon an army capable of wiping out Etheria. Catra was kidnapped by Adora and brought to the Fright Zone, the most terrifying place in the realm, especially for defectors and traitors. And above all, Catra was going to be executed at who knew when, tightening the clock and cutting down the time they had left to mere minutes.

Her mother refused to help her, not without reason, of course. They had no plans, they could only rush in and plan on the way. With Catra indisposed of at the time, incapable of freeing herself from her bonds, her mother could never accept the risk that came with an unplanned assault. Either they had a plan at the ready, or they were forbidden from going at all.

And Glimmer couldn't allow it.

She didn't want to do it, she hesitated to do it, but what other choice did she have? Of the limited options they had on hand, Shadow Weaver was the only person capable of stopping the Horde from activating the portal, of saving Catra's life! With the witch's assistance, she knew of a spell that was capable of empowering Glimmer's connection to her runestone, granting her enough power to teleport directly into the heart of the Horde.

She was the devil in deviler clothing, the monster among demons, the temptress of power, and she was the only hope they had left to save her. Glimmer didn't care how much trouble she got in, she could be grounded for all her life once this was over. But she refused to let the Horde summon their army, and refused to allow Catra to share a worse fate than herself, wishing to repay her for the kindness she's shown when she rescued her the first time.

Even if it meant fighting her friends.

"We're not trying to stop you," Perfuma stated brightly with a smile, "we wanna come with you."

Which it turned out she wouldn't need to fight.

"Look, we could do the whole "You can't come with us, it's too risky" thing." Mermista commented, grinning.

"Or you could just accept that we're coming." Frosta smirked. "Because we are."

As cheerful as the announcement was, Shadow Weaver was the one who seemed dissuaded by it. "A larger group will be a disadvantage. I won't-"

"Uh, you will. We're calling the shots here." Mermista interrupted, directing a finger straight at the witch. "You're gonna have to make that thing bigger, weird scary lady."

...

Making her way to the door, Angella sighed. She knew she must've been harsh on her for only caring for her friend, even she knew that. She was a caring and loving mother who loved her daughter deeply, wishing only for the best of her between her health, her future, and her life. Yet maybe she did go a little too far?

She couldn't expect Glimmer to understand the importance of everything when her friends were on the line, it was unfair that way. To ask her to choose between her responsibilities as royalty and the people she cared deeply about would've been unfair for anyone to ask.

She needed to apologize.

Giving a small knock on her daughter's spare room, the Queen called out, "Glimmer." Merely touching the door brushed it open a little, to the queen's surprise. She immediately felt something was off when the door wasn't slammed closed as it should be. Giving it a gentler nudge, she noticed the messy vacant room devoid of everything living, leaving only the cloths, clothes, and a small pillow along the floor.

Where could she be?

Did she run away from here to launch a rescue for Catra herself? That wouldn't make sense. While she knew she was more than determined enough to do such a thing, she lacked the time and the magic to get there herself, especially if she dragged Bow along like she usually did. She would need access to greater magic, a way to channel more energy from her runestone, and no one in Bright Moon-

The Queen's eyes widened in realization as she quickly sped down the hall, fearing the worst.

...

With the runes written beneath their feet and the hexagonal markings placed along the floor, everything was prepared. The lines were adjusted, the measurements taken, all that was left was to preform the ritual, the one necessary to give Glimmer the power she needed to save her dear friend.

"Quickly now." Shadow Weaver instructed, gesturing for the others to step forth as she stood under the Moonstone. Glimmer gave pause for a moment as her friends stepped ahead.

There was no going back from this point forward. Everything they did, everything the succeeded in or failed in, was all on her. She couldn't let herself be held back by anything as she approached the inner circle. Not her fears, not her doubts, and certainly, not her mother.

...

*wham*

The Queen shoved the doors open with posthaste as the guards stood behind her. It was just as she feared; Shadow Weaver was gone, the cell was empty. Approaching where the sorceress once sat, she examined the floors.

The markings on them were still fresh with the enchantment laid to keep the sorceress from escaping in the first place, and a large mound of it was missing. Whoever took the remaining enchanted dust couldn't have gone far, no matter how powerful they were, including Shadow Weaver. But why would she want the dust to begin with?

It was with a single gasp that the queen brought everything in full circle, the truth of the matter making her panic as she flew out of the room on her wings, rushing to the site of where her precious daughter and their prisoner could possibly be.

...

Everything was in alignment. Not one spot of doubt clouded the floor or the minds of the Princess Alliance as they stood apart from one another.

Gathering the essence of her magic, the being known as Shadow Weaver began to harness her dark purplish magic into her hands, the aura radiating like a violent flame, and spread them across the rune. The floors light up like the planets of the night sky as the enchanted etches within the massive rune finally came to life. Already the princesses could feel the power radiating from it, including Bow.

With the first stage complete, the witch continued to surmount her enchanted runestone arts as she brought her palms against each other, squaring in the opposite direction as a large ancient rune appeared in front of her, detailing the many planets and the solar systems within a glowing purple rune. It was the moment that it all came down to as the rune glowed, opening in the center as Shadow Weaver's hand passed harmlessly through it, directly to the Princess of Bright Moon in offering.

There was nothing left to do, the decision was all on her. To save Catra, to save Etheria, to save all of them, she had to shake hands with the devil, accept her offer, and obtain the power that was meant to save them all.

And the Queen's face hardened with discord and anger as she attempted to stop her daughter from her untimely decision.

And she would never make it in time.

Growing determined, ready to accept all risks and reality, Glimmer took Shadow Weaver's hand, and the deal was done.

Their hands conjoined, a purple transparent aura erupted from their hands, giving way to a larger erupting flame that spread across the air above them. Already, Glimmer could feel the effects of the magic rushing through her, almost hurting her, as she became empowered, enhanced, felt her magic rising beyond her understanding. This was it.

The energy being drawn, the reserves within the Moonstone, was being forced out of the mystical rune, siphoned against its will, as magics of chaos and darkness began to spread across all of the realm, leaving the Moonstone to glow with a violet darkness.

Magic burst forth from atop the pillar as the Queen watched, fearing for the worst and expecting it, knowing what it could all mean.

"Nooooo!" The Queen cried out. By the time Glimmer looked back to her, a look of sorrow, regret, and apology filling her eyes, it was already too late.

Gathering, swarming across everyone within the enchanted circle, the magic flourished as Glimmer slowly faded out of existence with the rest of them, all while the dark magic that encircled them finally burst into a brief powerful flame. Twisting, expanding, contracting, collapsing. This purple aura of darkness and magic engulfed the heroes and Shadow Weaver as Glimmer began to teleport, wishing she could apologize to her mother one last time, before everything came to an end.

With a great explosion across the sky, the Queen shielding her eyes with her arms, the ritual came to an end as quickly as it began. In a spiraling burst of energy, the ritual had finally ended, leaving nothing of what was left behind for the Queen to witness.

There were no allies, no friends, no Shadow Weaver, and no precious daughter who meant the world to her. All that was left behind was the mystical residue of the enchantment that lied upon the floor, the dark aura in the sky, and the Moonstone shining once more with a brilliant glow.

Queen Angella was too late.

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:18:07

It was within the heart of the Fright Zone that the spell re-materialized again as it manifested into a small blanket of darkness. Spreading across a small room, the runes that took up the teleportation spread across the room, far enough so that all who were present within the circle would reappear as they were.

Save for Glimmer and Shadow Weaver, the two still holding their hands through the dark ritual, the rest of the Princess Alliance had taken a stance, all standing at the ready for any Horde soldiers that might've been lurking throughout the room. Fortunately for them, the one they teleported into appeared to be empty, the princesses powering down their magics and Bow holding back his shot for the time being.

"We did it!" Glimmer exclaimed, looking around the room in delight. They were in the Fright Zone, the spell worked, and most of all, Shadow Weaver didn't betray them! "I did it! Oh, that as amazing." The power she felt rushing through her was genuine, forceful. She never felt such a surge of power like that before, and couldn't wait to try it again.

"Hmm. Kind of figured Hordak's sanctum would be way scarier and not so empty." Bow mentioned, looking around the room. Exploring around the room, the rest of the alliance and Shadow Weaver could see what he meant.

The room itself housed several storage units and containers along the side of the wall, with a small ramp leading up to the upper floors and an entryway next to them leading into the halls. This wasn't anything like they expected.

"Yeah, no, decorating is not their strongest suit." Mermista commented, eyeing Shadow Weaver as she looked around.

"We aimed for Hordak's sanctum, but obviously we missed." Shadow Weaver explained, slightly irritated as she headed for the hallway. She knew it would've been a long shot to expect them to do it perfectly on the first try, not that it made the situation any less irritable. "We're not far. Stay behind me. And try to stay quiet."

*creak*

All eyes turned to the east at the sight of the revealing blanket of light that burst through the room. On the opposite end of the door, they saw the familiar blue-skinned lizard, still wearing her new jacket with pride and holding a small cup of food in her bottom right hand. The sight of the many princesses and archer surprised the lizard to no end, staring blankly at them as she dropped the food container with a loud clack.

They had already been spotted in less than a minute of their arrival.

"We have to go!" Shadow Weaver rushed through the nearest exit, opening the metallic door they were nearing.

"I'll hold her off!" Perfuma declared, gathering her enchanted vines as she readied for combat.

"How do you know its a girl?" Bow asked curiously, eyeing the same lizard who looked down at her own outfit.

"What? Can't you tell at first sight? Now get going!" Without another word, the remainder of the alliance rushed towards the door as Perfuma prepared to engage the blue four-armed lizard. Already, the lizard was on the attack as it charged at her, Perfuma defending herself as she rose into the air atop one of her many vines. Hissing back, the lizard attempted to leap towards the magical princess only for Perfuma to strike back with another large wave, crashing it against the containers.

This did little more than to annoy the blue lizard as it hissed back at her. Grabbing onto the same massive vine that crashed into her with all four of her arms, the girl ripped the vine to shreds with her brute strength, tearing it apart and ripping it to pieces as Perfuma backed her way into the door. Without even looking, she sealed off the room with a small vine, preparing to fight off against the aggressive outlaw with all her might.

The race to save Catra had officially begun.

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:16:53

The others continued to race down the hallway leading towards the inner sanctum until they were cut off. Approaching from a hallway's metallic doorway, they were greeted by the sight of Lonnie and Rogelio seeing the intruders for themselves. The two stared as blankly and surprised as the previous enemy at the sight before them. They were facing down several princesses, Bow, and Shadow Weaver, while only two of them remained on the opposing side. What were they to do at a time like this?

Simple. Lonnie just continued to stare as she pulled the alarm next to her right.

*Woooooooooooooooooo!*

With the alarms pulled, everything went on high alert as guards and droids scrambled across the Fright Zone, heading for the source of the intrusion. With reinforcements already on their way, Lonnie prepared herself with her shock baton as Rogelio roared with a bestial fury, ready to take on the princesses despite their numbers and magic.

"My turn." Mermista decided as she casually approached the two. With the drains located along the side of the floor, the Princess of Salineas had an ample amount of power supply at her fingertips as she gathered a massive stream of water, harnessing and focusing massive gallons of it to her side. "I didn't almost drown and get flushed on in these sewers for nothing." She commented, finding it a little ironic that the worst experience of her life came with the knowledge of where the local water was around here.

Above her the water rose into several large thick streams, all ready to attack the first person that made the first move. Already seeing an opportunity to help for herself, Frosta grinned as she joined the foray. "I want in!" Grinning, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows harnessed the power on her own end, transforming the large streams of power into solid sheets of ice diamonds, all aimed and ready to take down the Horde at a moment's notice.

Seeing the ice appearing over them, the most Rogelio and Lonnie could do was cover their heads before the massive chunks of ice slammed on top of them, burying them in a small pile of frozen liquid and entrapping them in cases of ice over their limbs. With Lonnie's right arm stuck in a large bloc and Rogelio frozen on all sides, there wasn't much she could do. And she wouldn't have to.

Peering down the hallway behind them, Lonnie smirked back to the group as the sounds of approaching droids and soldiers came to them with the sight of their shadows down the hallway's corner.

"We'll keep them busy." Mermista said as she prepared for a water fight on their hands, or ice hands in Frosta's case. "Go." With a mere nod, the others raced down the intersecting hallway, continuing on foot as the two were left behind. Gathering another ample supply of water, Mermista grinned back to the short princess. "So, ready to take on your old buddies again?"

"They are not my buddies." Frosta state, forming small spikes of ice against her frozen fists, ready to smack down the robots and droids as harshly as possible. It's time I pay back Catra for everything...

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:14:37

The remaining trio rushed down the hallways as fast as they could, knowing time was of the essence on numerous levels. With every second that passed, another second towards's Catra execution came closer, and the closer the Horde drew to using their portal machine for their malicious purposes. The armies they could unleash upon the world, the devastation that could be wrought. They could not allow the Horde to succeed, or at the very least, they couldn't allow Catra to die.

That was when the group came across a rather large hall, a simple one where nobody appeared to be in sight. Said appearance ended up being misleading, however, as no sooner did the three take the first two steps into the room, they were greeted by the familiar voice of a certain Force Captain coming down the other end of the hall.

"Hey, who pulled the alarm for no-!" Adora stopped. "Sh... Shadow Weaver...?" She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it. Shadow Weaver was back, the real one this time, and with the Princess of Bright Moon at her side and the archer slowly pulling out one of his many arrows from the quiver. The person who left her behind, who brought her even more suffering than before, was back in the Fright Zone... and with the enemy.

Seeing the girl for herself, Shadow Weaver felt a twinge of grief at the state of Adora's face, one that didn't hold her back as she grabbed Glimmer's hand again. On contact, the pink-haired princess winced a little as their hands glowed with a shadowy aura, the power rushing through her once more as she readied herself for the fight ahead of her.

Adora was still dumbfounded by the spectacle as she just stared blankly, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. "Catra... was telling the truth." She muttered, unaware or uncaring as her shadows began to spread across the veins of her arms. Her focus was just as focused on the mother figure that returned to them as it was to their hands they were holding. "And she brought the Rebellion with her."

"Wow, another thing I didn't see coming." Aroda smirked, floating upside down without a care in the world at Adora's side. "Why is it out of everyone that Shadow Weaver is the only one to surprise me so far?" Still floating, she flipped her way back up as her feet levitated half a foot off the ground, continuing to grin at the blond who was at a loss for words. "Oh well, look on the bright side, Adora. It's not like you meant anything to her in the first place, so you should've seen this coming."She didn't know if she should've seen this coming, and she was too angry to care.

The girl glared as she gathered the shadows to both her fists, protruding two tendrils from her back, as she stepped forth. "So you really did join the Rebellion, huh?"

"We didn't come here to fight you, not that you stood a chance." Shadow Weaver said softly, keeping her hand tightly around Glimmer's. "Join us, Adora. And I can help you."

"Ooooh, yeah, great idea from mother of the year over there." Aroda joked, patting Adora on her shoulder with a smirk. "You give her your trust, she takes you to her side, and she definitely doesn't have you thrown into Bright Moon's prisons for the rest of eternity. After all, it's not like she ever stabbed us in the back before, right?" The memories flashed in Adora's mind no matter how hard she tried to block them.

The moment that she accepted Shadow Weaver back into her life, the time she spent rekindling a bond with the woman who ended up using her for her own ends, just to escape the Horde. She was losing people she could trust, finding more reasons to push others away, and hesitating to continue the bonds she had now!

This. All of this. Was because of her. Her, the princesses... Catra. All she wanted was to unite Etheria since day one, to be the hero that the world needed her to be that could preform such a feat. She looked up to Shadow Weaver, respected Shadow Weaver and loved her like a daughter, and how does she repay that kindness? She throws her away, abandons her, leaves her fate tot the Horde without a care.

Not only that, but she joins the Rebellion, she runs to Catra's side. She betrayed her only because Shadow Weaver betrayed her first, yet she still toyed with her emotions enough to make Adora care for her all over again just for this!?

There was no way she could.

"The last time I trusted you... you betrayed me... for them..." Adora squeezed her eyes shut tightly as the tears continued to pour from the corners. "And instead of coming back for me yourself... you brought them with you?!" And with a tremendous shout of anger, she attacked.

Adora charged like a mad demon as half her body was encased in the shadowy armor, stretching the shadowy claws of both her hands as wide as they could be, ready to tear and rend the very people that made her existence a nightmare. She didn't know how much of her magic she was using or how much her shadows would make her suffer for it, and she didn't care. She was going to end half of her troubles, once and for all.

Seeing the girl charging, Bow too the lead as he pressed on the attack, firing one of his many trick arrows directly at the Force Captain who blocked it with her massive right claw. What at first seemed to be a simple matter to deal with ended up being a pain to the young blond as her hand was suddenly stuck in a sticky green sap, one she struggled to pry loose as it maintained a forceful grip around her.

Pressing on with the assault, Bow fired several more shots at the girl, forcing Adora to stay ahead of herself as she dodged to the side, pulling against the wall to her left with her tendrils, then to the very ceiling above her as the archer attempted to shoot her down again. Barely dodging the last shot directed at her, the girl growled with anger as she lunged straight towards the archer who was prepared for the girl coming.

What he wasn't prepared for the trick up her white sleeves.

Gathering a small amount of her magic in the palm of her sap-covered hand, Adora finally managed to burst through the sticky substance as she shot a small wave of darkness, the size of a thumb in width,directly at the archer's chest. The impact collided with the very arrow he prepared for himself as it exploded, enveloping the archer in a massive green goop as he was blasted through the hallway, crashing into the floor at the other end. Suffering little damage, the soldier became aware of his situation as the goop covered around him and stuck to the floor, pinning him against his will and taking one enemy out of the game.

"Bow!" Glimmer cried out in worry, prepared to help him before Shadow Weaver looked back.

"Don't lose your focus!" She warned, turning her eyes back to the angered girl refused to let up.

Growling in rage, Adora charged the two with her tendrils flailing wildly behind her as she leaped into the air, pulling both of her massive shadowy fists above her head as she prepared to slam them into the ground.

"Concentrate!" It was with Shadow Weaver's last warning that Glimmer focused her powers, ready to take on Adora with all of her might and magic.

*swish*

*WHAM!*

Adora blinked as the two disappeared from her view, seeing nothing but the smashed metal beneath her powerful fists. With a single blink of the eye, her attention was drawn to the right side as they appeared once more, the Force Captain growling in anger as she attempted the same attack twice directly at them this time, and being met with the same result.

This period of fighting lasted for a full minute as the trio squared off, with Adora doing everything in her power to crush the two into pieces. These two were the biggest problems of her life, her mortal enemies. Glimmer, the pink princess that convinced Catra to join their side for whatever stupid reason, and Shadow Weaver, the one with no qualms or issues with betraying the very people closest to her. They were both stepping stones at the larger issue at hand, and both of these stones needed to be crushed with her bare hands.

Teleporting again another good distance behind the girl, Glimmer blasted a wave of her pink magic directly at Adora's back, injuring the girl as the force slammed her against the wall. The impact of the attack felt like her back had collided into a skiff, peeling away at the shadows behind her that kept her safe. To Adora's horror, not only did it manage to deal a good portion of damage on her, it actually made the shadowy tendrils on her back break apart upon impact, scattering them to the floor where they slowly vanished into thin air. It was nothing more than a minor inconvenience as Adora gritted her teeth, forcing a new pair of tendrils to form, but it came with the cost of more of her magic being used, the shadows in her veins reaching up to her neck.

Refusing to waste her time with these games any longer, Adora launched her right tendril directly where the princess stood, being prepared and unsurprised as she teleported again. Saving up her second tendril for the occasion, she launched her left one directly where they materialized, only to end up missing again as they dodged as soon as they appeared.

All around her, the girl continued to flail her tendrils, trying to get a single strike on either of the two girls who continued to blink in and out of existence around her like a flash of light. She wasn't making any ground, she realized, as she pulled her tendrils back to her side, shielding them around her as she closed her eyes.

Listening to the movements, she concentrated. She listened for the movements they made when they teleported in and out around her, tried to focus on the movements of their positions, tried anything to figure out where they would appear next.

While she couldn't focus as well on the hearing aspect of it, she did notice something else that caught her eye- a pattern. She heard them appearing and disappearing around the same spots, could feel the ground shake a little beneath their feet in a constant pattern. So, if everything was going to lead up as well as it would, then that would mean the next place they would teleport to would be...

There! Eyes bursting open, Adora yelled as she lunched both her shadowy tendrils down the hall to her left, just as Shadow Weaver and Glimmer materialized into existence, and where Adora caught them both in her shadowy grips as the tendrils wrapped around both their arms in a single loop.

"Ah!" Glimmer screamed in panic, feeling the tendrils already crushing around her.

"Found you." She smirked, protruding a third tendril behind her back that she was ready to end the fight with.

She would never get the chance.

With their powers still combined and the two still holding each other's hand, Shadow Weaver gripped the tendril's underside with her free hand as she channeled all of her combined magic through it.

*bzzzzzzzzzzt!*

"Ahhhhhh!" Before Adora could react, she was struck by a surge of red electricity dancing across the shadowy appendage, shocking the girl with a massive force of power that paralyzed her nerves a little, the pain of the attack dropping Adora to the floor as the static electricity of the magic pulsed around her, and disintegrating the shadows around her with it.

It was during this time, this one moment that Adora took on a full magical force directly over her entire self, that Aroda seemed to be affected. With the reflection that continued to haunt her mind assaulted by the same level of power, it, too, dropped to a knee, panting a little as it glared back at Shadow Weaver, knowing the witch was well aware of its existence and how the attack was meant for it as much as Adora.

"Adora, my dear, there's no need for us to be enemies." Shadow Weaver said as she approached the girl with Glimmer by her side. "I can help you. Just like I promised I would."

"Ghhhh... by bringing an army?" Adora growled, weakly and stiffly raising her head to her. "You tricked me into helping you escape, and rushed to the Rebellion the first chance you got. Why should I ever expect your help?"

"Why?" She questioned back. Raising her free hand, Adora continued to groan in pain as she was surrounded by an aura of ethereal shadows, one that circled around the girl as it lifted her up into the air, high enough until they were at eye-level with each other. "Because it's as I said, my dear." She moved the grip from Glimmer's hand to her elbow's sleeve as she gently brought her own hand to Adora's corruption-free side of her face. She brushed her thumb gently against her tear-stained cheek. "I promised I would help you, and I intend to keep my word. As your mother."

"No sHe's NoT!" Aroda's voice became distorted as half of her face became blemished with a shadowy skin, one that appeared to be burning away at her without Adora's notice. At the same time, a small demon-like eye started to appear over Aroda's forehead, one that slowly opened as the conversation progressed.

"No you're not!" Adora shouted in anger, still fresh with tears. "You're not my mother, you never wanted to be!" Her face tightened with pain and sadness as her eyes shriveled. "Do you know what happened to me after you left? Did you even care?! I know you knew what to expect, you've seen what Hordak's like, and you still left me behind!"

"I had to acquire Catra's assistance to help you, Adora." Shadow Weaver assured, brushing some of the hair out from Adora's eyes like she used to.

"LiKE she eveR carEd about you to begIn WItH!"

"Like you ever cared to begin with!" She cried as the shadowy veins reached her face. "You left me the minute you had a chance, you wanted to get away from me, you hated me!" Didn't she mean anything to her anymore? She betrayed her in the past, and Adora forgave her eventually and accepted her again. Why couldn't she do the same for her?!

"Because the danger you are in is far more serious than you could possibly know. Do you truly think figments of your imagination suddenly appear out of nowhere?" Adora froze. "Do you think they come seeking to help you in your hour of need, right after your skin begins to fall apart and age rapidly?"

"You're not gonna listen to her, I hoPe!" Aroda yelled angrily, catching Adora's attention a little as she shifted her eyes to her by an inch.

Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed at the sight as she turned her head in the same direction, being fully aware of what was plaguing Adora's mind right now. "It's here, isn't it? The voices, the things only you can see." Adora's attention fell entirely on her used-to-be mother figure at that. "I know what it is, Adora."

"You... do?" She whimpered a little.

"NooOoOoOOo!" Aroda's distorted voice became more aggressive as it struggled to rise to its feet, trying to ignore the red electricity running around its body.

"Yes, my dear," she soothed again as she brushed the rest of Adora's hair from her corrupted half of her face. "And I know how to remove it. You can be saved, and you can still return to the side you were meant to fight for." Shadow Weaver wasn't an idiot. She knew the events that would've likely transpired if Adora had found the sword, if she had fought for the side that was truly right in the end. It sickened her to admit it, but the Horde was not the place she belonged in. It was with the Rebellion, and their righteous side.

"You... You can?" Adora sniffed, shifting her eyes from the woman to a bit of an irritable sadness at the other. "But what about her? Do you think she can ever forgive me? Do you think any of them will?!"

Glimmer grimaced at the mention as she took a step forward. "Adora, you've done... terrible, terrible things. Things that shouldn't be forgiven, that can't be." Looking a little away, she continued. "Things that, I've experienced for myself." She could still remember the pain she caused her when she interrogated her, tortured her. All the same, she also saw the pain Adora was in, the look on her face in more ways than one.

"... But... You don't seem to be suffering any less than I did when we first met, so... I'm willing to put it aside." She spoke with great conviction, giving her a nod. "If you're willing to stop this, if you can help us save Catra's life, I'll... I'll forgive you." The last time Glimmer had this chance, she squandered it. She let her petty grievances with Adora push her away from her when Bow was thinking about recruiting her. They could've done so much for each other if she just tried harder, if they tried to give Adora the chance to become a good person, a better one.

She was not going to waste that opportunity again.

"F... Forgive... me?" Adora mumbled, the tears slowing down as she stared at her.

"Yes. And my mom will know it was you who saved Catra, and stopped the Horde." Adora... Adora didn't know what to say. "I promise."

"We're wasting time with this squabbling." Shadow Weaver stated as she began to work. Taking a step back from Adora, Shadow Weaver began to preform her magic as she brought the cusp of her wrists together, spreading them apart as a large blue rune appeared out of the air, one that was the size of Glimmer's and Adora's body, filled with various symbols and etches that glowed with a bright white in the center.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Adora asked, growing an ounce of concern.

"I'm going to remove the parasite as I said." Raising a hand to the center of the rune, Adora let out a small cry as a similar rune circle appeared over her forehead, ones matching the very same symbols displayed upon the rune.

Parasite?

"The longer it exists, the more it'll start to panic and drain your powers for itself." Bringing both of her hands to opposite ends of her shoulder, lying them steadily against her robes, Shadow Weaver concentrated. "You might feel light headed for a bit, my dear, but it will all go away. You just have to trust me." And then, it all stopped.

All around her, everything froze as if time had stood still for the young blond girl. Adora blinked, looking around, feeling the same sensation she felt previously when Frosta betrayed her. Everything was still, everything was silent. The only one who could move, the only one who had the capacity to speak with her, was herself.

And Aroda.

"I guess this is it, Adora." Aroda said calmly, standing at the girl's side with a small smile. "It's been fun while it lasted."

"A-Aroda?" Adora questioned, blinking to her. For once, there wasn't any snide remarks or cynical stares. There wasn't any aggression in her tone or heinous sarcasm behind it.

For the first time, Aroda just spoke softly, appearing as she did before, as she smiled a little. "You know, she's right and all. I'm not the figment you have in your head. Heh, I can't believe you thought I was your conscious. It was a little funny, really." She sighed, crossing her arms as if hugging herself. "To be honest, I wasn't really interested in the power just for myself, but... for you."

"For... For me?" Was she really talking to the same person here? Was this the same Aorda she's come to know and be annoyed with?

"Mhhm. I mean, if I got stronger as a benefit, then that would've been a bonus, but you..." She gave the girl a small smile, actually showing a tear in the corner of he right eye. "You've just been through so much, you know? You've taken abuse an hardships from the moment you were born, you fight with all of your might even when it's pointless. I just thought that... I just thought that you deserved a little better. You deserved a little respect now and then, and... Hmph, guess I was just looking out for myself."

"A... Aroda..." Adora didn't know what to say. Looking back on it, she was the one telling the truth. Every time an opportunity came, every chance she had, she's been convincing her to gain more power, more respect, to push herself ahead of the rest, the people who brought her down time and again like Lord Hordak, even after all she's done for them.

She had a brief moment at one point where she experienced what it meant to have power, what it was like to be the one respected by her followers and have all the power she needed in the grip of her hands. How could she forget such a memory when it happened the other day? One of the best days of her life, one where she could be free of her pride and unleash her power, and the people adored her.

It truly was a better life than the rest of her life thus far... and it's what Aroda was trying to tell her.

"Well, you won't have to worry about me, anymore." She said, looking to the giant rune still ahead of her. "Once that ritual is complete, I'll be long gone. Banished to the shadows, complete darkness... guess it's where I deserve to be." Adora and Aroda's eyes both watered at this, where Aroda looked back with a simple smile, Adora was distraught with grief. "Just... Just promise me one last thing."

"W... What?" What could she ask? What could a parasite ask from her now of all times? For more power? Not to trust them? WHAT!?

Aroda gave her one last smile as she slowly vanished into the shadows. "Promise me you won't be taken advantage of anymore, okay?" And with that Aroda was gone, and time seemed to resume around them.

Adora lowered her head as the tears continued against her will. This life, this whole life of hers had been a complete nightmare. Raised by the Horde to be used as a weapon of their own design, to be the perfect soldier to bring down the Rebellion that stood in their way. She sought to prove her loyalty to the Horde, still did, but everywhere she looked, everywhere she saw, she was pushed down and betrayed.

She tried to make up for her mistakes, made some friends along the way that were taken away from her, that betrayed her out of nowhere, for reasons she couldn't comprehend. Why did everyone leave her side when she needed them the most? Why did they betray her when she sought only to be their friends? Their allies? And why was Catra at the heart of it all, the one who started to turn her life upside down since the moment she found a sword meant for her? In fact, even before that as she used her all her life!

It was all on her. Because she was stupid. Because she threw her trust at people.

And she was doing it again.

"... Every... time..." Adora sniffed, the tone of her voice catching Shadow Weaver off guard. "Everytime I trust someone... every person I've ever met..." Mumbling out to them, Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed as the rune atop Adora's head began to flicker off and on.

"Something's wrong..." She stated.

"I give so much to the world... To help it... to unite it... and it keeps spitting in my face." Adora began to grit her teeth slowly as shadows began to rise from her back. "I try to make allies, I try to do the right thing... and all people can do is take things away from me... betraying me... I have to suffer, every time, because of what they do... and they never care..." Slowly lifting her head, Adora revealed the look on her face that said it all.

An expression of pure and utter hatred and tears, for all those around her. "And I'm done being betrayed for the LAST TIME!" Without warning, a large shadowy mass burst from Adora's back in the shape of thousands upon thousands of individual tendrils. All of them shot in every direction around her, piercing into the walls, the ceiling, like tiny little bullets.

The whiteness of Shadow Weaver's eyes flared up with shock as she backed away, watching the rune spell she was utilizing dissolving in front of her eyes. The spell was perfected beyond measure, a spell she had studied time and again since realizing the state she put Adora in, and came to the one conclusion she feared the most.

"The parasite's too strong." The bond it had with Adora was too strong compared to any of the archives and readings she done over the parasite's existence. From siphoning the girl's constant strength to Adora's own willpower and stature, the two had an inseparable bond that couldn't be tarnished unless Adora willed it herself. She was rejecting Shadow Weaver's help.

She was rejecting all of them.

"Nggghhhh!" Glimmer moaned internally as her body began to be enveloped by the dark ritual itself, forcing her to her knees in pain as she held onto Shadow Weaver's elbow. Looking back at the girl, Shadow Weaver hadn't realized it at first, but Adora was pushing against the magic holding her with all her strength, trying to break free with her own magic. Her eyes narrowed at this reality.

She had no choice. It had to be done. Even if it meant living with the regret of it, it was far too late. Holding up a hand to the girl once more as Bow started to break loose from his sap-like arrow, Shadow Weaver sighed. "Forgive me, Adora." She apologized before squeezing her hand.

"Aghhhhhhhhh!" Adora screamed in agony as her whole body felt like it was convulsing, being crushed on every side by Shadow Weaver's power, the small tendrils trying to rip the aura over herself from the inside out beginning to wane.

Shadow Weaver had no choice. It would be her burden and her loss to deal with after. The parasite's bond with Adora had grown too strong, too dangerous for the girl to maintain. If something like that continued to exist within the world, continued to absorb energy, to bond further with Adora for its quest for power, there's no telling how dangerous it would be.

Either of them.

Forcing her own hand, Shadow Weaver did what she could as she attempted to drive out the parasite's existence by force, a process that could ultimately shatter Adora's mind. She would be lucky enough to walk on her own if she survived the process, but between that and letting the parasite continue to thrive, to consume the life energy of all that surrounded them, she had no choice, no matter how painful it was for the both of-

"Stop!" It was with Bow's shout of pleading that the witch was distracted, feeling the grip on her elbow leaving her as her power dissipated. Looking back, she saw the tactical archer with Glimmer's now-free hand at his side, checking over his exhausted friend as she breathed heavily. "You're taking too much!"

"No..." Shadow Weaver was less concerned over the loss of connection and more concerned over the loss of power she had over Adora's person.

With the witch's magic leaving her, Adora finally gave one last shout of anger as she exploded in a literal burst of shadow, one that burst the trio away from her a good ten feet away. They were assaulted by a powerful gust of wind, one that continued to blow across the hallways and throughout the surrounding room behind her. It was then that Adora dropped to the floor, the remaining tendrils Adora had conjured on her back running rampant as they flailed violently.

Panting, wheezing, Adora never felt so light-headed and feverish in her life. All the stress she had to deal with, all the emotions running through her heart, and all the power she had spent had taken its toll on her. It was nothing short of her own willpower that helped her get to her knees, trembling a bit as she wiped her chin. And there, everyone had saw the toll it took over Adora's body.

By now, 3/4ths of her face was covered over by the corruption while the other fourth was covered in her shadowy veins. Her right eye had glazed over with a white tint over her blue pupil, a detail that had yet to bother Adora in the slightest as she could see clearly.

All the while Aroda smirked wickedly behind her.

Thatta girl~

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:08:01

"Gehh... come on..." Catra grumbled as she tried to pull away the wrists cuffs free, failing as she did for the last several hours. There was no way she was going to be waiting around for her own execution, not while she could still move a bit. If she could just get to her sword, get these stupid restraints off of her, she could bust herself out of the sanctum and save herself!

It's not like she wasn't aware of the alarm going off awhile ago. In fact, she was relieved by it. If it was who she thought it was, then Glimmer, Bow, and maybe the rest of the Princess Alliance had come to save her, something she took with joy. It was a joy that didn't last as long as she also realized if the alarms were tripped and half the Horde was aware of their presence, then that meant Hordak was aware of them as well.

And there was no way he was going to let his opportunity pass him by.

*creeeak*

All of the struggling came to an abrupt pause as Catra's ears twitched, eyes widening a little as she froze. Turning her head a little in the direction, she didn't see anyone entering the room as the doors opened, and with Hordak's exosuit, she couldn't get a scent of the guy around his own sanctum.

"He... Hello?" Catra uttered, staring at the doorway. The room was still silent to her save for the floating sword as it hummed, the magicat looking to her right and her left for good measure, trying to pick up any scent or sound that could've tipped her off of the intruder. Actually, was there an intruder? Was there anybody else? With all the chaos that was probably ensuing around the Horde, maybe there was a glitch in the system? If the princesses were around, then there was a good chance that maybe-

*tang*

"Huh?" Catra quickly looked above her as her wrists were forced together to the cuffs, pinning them next to each other from behind the pillar as it tightened, completely immobilizing. "What's going- Mhhhhh!" As if that wasn't enough, no sooner did she start to speak again did a familiar pair of hands tighten the dark green cloth over Catra's mouth and nose, muffling her protests and her screams as she tried to struggle again.

"Mhmhhhh!" Bound, muted, Catra couldn't do a thing. Someone had snuck into the room without the magicat's notice when the doors open, someone that definitely harbored a huge grudge against the cat to take her by surprise like this without their presence being known.

Until now.

Catra saw it, feared it. From behind her, thrusting past her and over her shoulders, she saw a large pronged spear, the prongs assuming the shape of a crow's foot the size of her head, green in nature and with the stench of previous use, as the figure slowly made his way around the girl. She wasn't the least bit surprised as Hordak came into her view, the leader of the Horde giving a small grin as he brushed the spear against her neck the entire time, intimidating her, threatening her.

The leader wouldn't leave anything up to chance as he prepared the executioner's, himself, choice of weapon. He wouldn't risk her trying to bite at it, or somehow moving her wrists enough to grab it as he intended to use it on her. She was going to die by his hand when the time finally came, and that moment was just a few minutes away.

And Catra had never been more fearful of her life than this very moment. A moment that entirely depended on Entrapta by this point.

"Time's up, Catra..."

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:07:12

...

A/N: Okay, so maybe not "times up" but close to it XP Figure of speech people, c'mon XP Lol

Anyway, for your convenience you'll be happy to know the countdown thing wont ever be returning outside of this episode (unless another future episode comes up which uses it in which case i swear to GOD someone's stealing my ideas XD) as they might be annoying. Personally, i think they add a good deal of suspenses as the countdown reaches zero, but that's just my opinion. And whether or not its annoying (unless people really love it), it won't be making a comeback save for the last/next chapter.

Also i have a plot related question- in the episode when Catra comes across the group, she's calling out and asking Lonnie why she pulled the lever, to which I'm just realizing... How does she know LONNIE was the one who pulled the lever? I mean she was with Rogelio and the blue lizard girl/guy I've yet to get a name to, not to mention the rest of the Horde probably wandering around there, so how did she know it was specifically lonnie that pulled it? It seems like an oversight on the shows part XP

So, yeah! Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and remember!... the heartbreaks have only just begun for this season q_p...

Chapter 107: S3 Episode 4: Moment of Truth Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.8k Pre-A/N's. This is it folks. It all comes down to this. The moment that comes in everyone's life that determines who's loyalty is at who's, where boundaries are met and crossed, and where all great decisions must come to an end.

I give you the moment you've all been waiting for (of this episode anyway) at long last.

Please enjoy the spectacular, dramatic, finish.

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:07:31

"Agggghhhhhh!" Adora screamed in pain as she clutched her head, the shadows running rampant through her system. All around her, a wave of pure darkness was being constantly streamed as her powers erupted around her, the numerous tiny tendrils from her back flailing to and fro in every direction, the corruption covering 3/4ths of her face as she tried to control her powers. The last fourth of her face that had yet to be corrupted were swarmed with dark veins stretching all across her body.

Given the circumstances and the emotional stress the girl had been put through in the last few minutes, it wasn't surprising.

Adora had had enough. She had enough of the betrayals, enough of the people she trusted turning her backs on her, and enough of those empty promises people had been giving her since day one. She was tired of being the one always left behind when they did, suffering the consequences for their betrayal in the first place, and forcing herself to push through it all just to do her job. Add that to Shadow Weaver's return with the Princess Alliance at her side, and she couldn't take it anymore.

She finally snapped, finally put her foot down for herself. She hated everyone who betrayed her, loathed them greatly. For someone like Shadow Weaver, the person who tricked her into seeing her as a mother once more as a ploy to gain her trust and set her free, to return with the princesses just to save Catra... The pain it brought her was unquenchable, never-ending. She couldn't bear it any longer as it made her heart ache, the feeling of her fever and her growing veins of darkness seeming like mere bumps in the head compared to all else.

The only pain worse right now was the stinging spike of a headache shooting through her forehead as the corruption continued to spread.

She wanted her to pay, she wanted everyone to pay. It was the only option, wasn't it? What else would she do? Just forgive them? How many times does she have to before they stop betraying her? Why should she be the one forced to forgive them?! She shouldn't! It was all their faults, all of it!

"What's happening to her?" Glimmer yelled over the gust of wind erupting from the shadowy soldier. The wind was so fierce she had to shield her own eyes from the forceful sting, holding an arm over her eyes as the aura waved around them.

"She's letting her emotions run rampant." Shadow Weaver explained as her hair was blown back endlessly, looking at the young princess as she covered her own head with a single hand. "She's connected too deeply with the parasite, I can't dispel it from her if she won't allow it.

"And you can't force it out of her like this." Bow added. Despite not having the magical know-how the others shared, he knew enough from the events he just saw. "You're taking too much energy from Glimmer, it's draining her too much."

"It wouldn't matter if I could." Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed as the aura bursting from her was starting to soften. "The spell's rooted too deeply into her mind. Doing so could shatter Adora's mind at this point."

The Force Captain threw her head forward again as she huffed, the aura around her finally dissipating as the the shadows upon her back slowly descended back to where they came. The girl just stood there as the non-corrupted half of her body continued to pulse with the dark shadowy veins, giving off a dark violet pulse from the girl's exposed skin.

"I don't... care... anymore..." Adora uttered through her teeth, lifting her head up again to give the rest a view of her expression. Hatred. Sadness. Nothingness. "About any of you." The girl winced in her right glazed-over eye as she held her right shoulder in pain, feeling the veins pulsing in and out around it like they could pop out at any moment. "We are going to open that portal, summon Hordak's army," her spiteful glare burned with anger, "and I am going to bury you... all of you!"

The three were left with little choice as they prepared themselves, Bow drawing another of his arrows in his weapon as Shadow Weaver held Glimmer's left hand again, the princess gathering an ample amount of magic in her other fist, ready to strike back against the person she gave one last chance to.

Adora wasn't ready to back down. She began to channel her power over both her arms, doing whatever she could to prepare for the fight ahead of her. It might kill her, it might leave her in a coma for some reason. She didn't care anymore. She wanted them all to pay, all to suffer, for everything they did with her, and she wasn't afraid to take them all on at once. She just wasn't capable of it.

"Nggghh!" Adora squeezed her eyes painfully as she dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach in pain. The shadows had spread all through her at the moment, the parasite taking too much of her power as she exerted her own strength. Seeing this for themselves, a small look of concern crossed over Glimmer and Bow's faces as they lowered their weapons, all the while Shadow Weaver's expression remained unfaltered.

The girl wasn't in any position to be a threat to them, not in the state she was in. She actually groaned to herself as she placed a palm against the floor, her flowing hair brushing in the small wind in the air as she tried to get back to her feet.

"Boss!" It was with Daisy's familiar voice that reinforcements, or in this case, reinforcement, showed up, running to Adora's side as she helped the girl up.

"Let go of me!" Adora yelled, panting heavily as her glare refused to cease upon the three. "I can take them, just let me go!"

"Boss, get ahold of yourself!" Daisy yelled back, grabbing the girl's attention. "We can't lose you right now. We need you, boss." Adora's face softened at the comment before she scowled back. As much as she hated to say it, Daisy was right.

If she tried to fight them right now, she'd be about as useless as a paperweight, not with the state of her current fever, headache, and spiraling shadows that continued to disappear around her. And she couldn't afford to let herself be taken down, not when parts of the Horde still needed her.

Growling, Adora finally relented as she stood up, pulling back the shadows manifested around her. "This isn't over!" With a final declaration, and a spit, Adora made her escape with Daisy as they traveled down the hall behind her.

With the alliance racing against the clock to save Catra's life and stop the portal from opening, they knew they couldn't afford to waste anymore of their precious time. Yet, it was with a heavy heart they accepted this reality as they looked amongst themselves.

Any chance they had of bringing Adora over to their side was forever lost to them, as was the only plan to remove the parasite from Adora's mind. With Shadow Weaver's ritual proving useless, the only options left to them was to either forcefully banish the parasite and break Adora's mind, or end Adora's life with their own two hands. And, knowing the small ounce of care Catra still had for her former friend, they knew it wasn't an option.

Worse yet was the streak of bad luck they were having within the few minutes they were here. Missing the heart of Hordak's inner sanctum, being cut off by guards on several hallways and forced to split up, and having to take care of Adora, a fight they barely won if not for Shadow Weaver, and then discovering that her ritual was a flop, they had to wonder to themselves.

Could they still save Catra? Or would she be among the many streaks of bad luck plaguing their every turn?

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:06:08

"Ah, boy, I really appreciate you letting me assist you. I miss hanging out." Scorpia said with a small smile, sitting between two large boxes with an assortment of tools within them. She watched with a curious smile as Entrapta continued to siffle through the tools and devices with her hair as she remained at her computer, catching a small bit of metal that slipped through her hairs and handing it back to her. "Yeah, you've been so busy with Hordak lately and Adora-" The mention of the name alone was enough to bring a small frown to her face. "Adora's been... off... lately." She didn't know how else to describe it.

What was one supposed to do when their friend had been through so much? So much that was understandable to see how they turned into what they were now, yet still bothered by what they were turning into all at the same time?

Since her imprisonment a little over a week ago, the girl hasn't been the same. She's been a bit stubborn, understandably, irritated, understandably, annoyed, understandably, easy to anger, understandably, pessimistic, understandably, and as of late, more bitter than usual, understandably. Come to think of it, to Scorpia, her closest friend, everything was understandable about her.

And it still bothered her so much that she couldn't do anything to fix that.

She thought they had a real connection for a moment when they were within the Crimson Waste just the other day, one of the most unruly places of Etheria and what should've been a complete nightmare. It was a place Hordak sent Adora off to collect First Ones Tech solely to die, with the alternative being her successfully completing her mission. To him, it was a win-win situation.

Instead, it ended up being one of the best experiences of their lives! Adora got to truly be free for the first time! She wasn't held back by her necessity to be kind or polite to everyone around her, she could show off as much of her powers as she wanted without fear of holding back. The experience itself taught the two enough to realize that it was her holding back that caused the shadows to manifest in her veins, giving them a way to forever go without ever having to recharge her powers again!

It seemed like the perfect place where the two could finally be happy, be free. Scorpia had never seen Adora smile so much in one day, or as much in her entire life since knowing her! She knew Adora could be happy and free to be herself at long last, and she was ready and willing to stick around with her and remain in the Crimson Waste if Adora wished it, and for a moment, she actually wanted to.

Then Catra had to come along and ruin it for them, like usual. She doesn't know what she said to Adora and Adora's been too... hurt, to tell her herself. All she knows was that she couldn't get a single moment with her since they kidnapped Catra after finishing their mission, the Force Captain refusing to let Catra out of arm's length from her. And she hasn't smiled once since then.

"She used to smile at least once an hour, and she occasionally had a break from the stress a few minutes out of the day every now and then." Scorpia continued, lamenting the old times and the new. "And we'd get to hang out! Play the usual board game, or watch the kids training..." With a sigh, the small look of cheer on Scorpia's face came crashing down. "But now... Now I don't know what to do. You know what I mean, Entrapta?... Entrapta?" The distraught BFF turned to the scientist in question with a curious look.

The entire time the scientist seemed to be completely unaware of the scorpion-girl's questions or speech, seeming more preoccupied with the monitors in front of her for the last half hour, sitting on her own hair like a chair as she typed away.

Inputting some data of the sword's portal trials, she finally entered the results before looking at the screen. She was met with a single fire over an image of Etheria, detailing the possible death and destruction that could follow and how badly it could be.

She tried the again with the same trials by modifying the data a little bit. She was met with several more flames. Clearly that was worse than the previous trial so she tried a last resort.

Inputting the data she believed would stabilize the scenarios in front of her, she thought she almost had it for a moment. The four flames that covered her screen had slowly poofed away into thin air, giving the illusion of a peaceful and relaxing outcome to the eager scientist.

All that foolish optimism disappeared in an instant ten seconds later after hundreds of flame-like symbols popped up all over the planet until the world itself exploded in a massive ball of flame. On top of that, a giant skull with a boney X behind it flashed over her monitor with a red screen, indicating the severity and direness of the outcome.

"Ugh, it's no good at all!" Entrapta groaned, scratching at her genius head with remorse.

"Huff, I understand. You want me to go too, huh?" Scorpia said with a small but unsurprised frown as she hopped off the crate she sat on. "It's fine. Everyone seems to want me out of the way-"

"No, not that." Entrapta replied, quickly grabbing the back of the scorpion's stinger with her hair before she could walk any farther. "I've been running diagnostics on the portal." Her friend let out a small yelp as she pulled her over to her side. "Watch." With the click of a button, Scorpia got to witness the same scenario she had herself several seconds ago.

Somehow, the explosion was even worse than before.

"You are right. That is not good." She wasn't a scientist, and, thankfully, she didn't need to be one to understand the importance of what Planet plus Boom equaled when it was followed by a red screen of death. "Is that gonna happen? I mean, to the actual planet?"

"This is just an illustration." Entrapta clarified before leaning up to the girl's eye level with her hair. "What will actually happen will be much worse. If my numbers are right, and they are, if we open a portal, the anomalies will be catastrophic." She stated, rubbing her chin with her hair. "It'll unhinge time and space, creating a warped reality that will collapse in on itself, erasing us from existence!"

Personally, she thought it was marvelous! Extraordinaire! To think of such an event that could be created through the power of technology and magic! Such an unprecedented event could never be achieved by modern man or otherwise. And she was the glorious proprietor of the supposed-doomsday theorem!

Too bad she had to hang her head low in shame.

"I never thought I'd say this, but we can't go through with it."

*creak*

It was with the sounds of the heavy metal doors opening that Scorpia's mood lit up a little, overjoyed to see the returning face of her friend Adora again as she shambled her way into the lab, breathing heavily and out of breath as she covered the right side of her face. At the same time, Daisy leaned against the edge of the doorway, watching her boss forcing her way into the lab.

"Adora!" Scorpia smiled, rushing up her dear friend.

"Beat it!" Snapping at the girl without a second thought or care, Adora pushed her side, inadvertently shoving her to the ground when she ended up tripping over a few cables. The girl was more surprised than hurt by her friend's reaction to her, and then disturbed as she saw the look on her face, physically speaking.

Nearly 3/4ths of Adora's face was covered up in the corruption, Scorpia getting a clear look of the remaining pure side of it when Adora moved her hand away from her face to push her friend away. The girl's right eye was glazed over with a white tint yet she stared bitterly at her like she could see her fallen friend clearly.

A friend she didn't seem to care about shoving over as she went on ahead, grabbing Entrapta by her shoulder as she glared into her eyes. "Why aren't you with Hordak in his lab?! I told you not to leave Catra by herself before!" She yelled.

"Ah-... Mmh..."

The noise alone of Entrapta trying to come up with an excuse made Adora want to pinch the nerve between her corrupted eyes enough to the point where they would pop off. "Never mind! Just get back to the lab and prepare the portal! The princesses are here!"

"We can't!" Entrapta refused, rummaging through her own pockets until she found her tracker pad. "Here, look!" Handing over the small display she showed up, Adora got a miniature version of the events Entrapta and Scorpia had witnessed over the big screen. "If we open the portal, something really bad could happen!"

"Geeeh!" Adora growled, continuing to glare at the chief scientist. "Could happen or will happen?"

"Could! A really big could!" She fretted. "If we tried to open a portal right now, the results could be disastrous! It's going to collapse and take us all with it. Catra was right!" The ambience in the room became deaf to the girl as her pupils narrowed, staring in disbelief at her purple-haired friend.

"What... did you..." She misheard her. There was no other way. In fact, she was so positive that she misheard her that she could only ask her again. "Did you just say... Catra was right?" The girl sneered as she slowly began to march up to her friend.

"Uhh... y-yes?" Entrapta responded nervously, shifting her eyes away a little as she backed up.

"What did I tell you about believing her? What did I say about believing ANYTHING she says?!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing at this moment, her mind swarming with a cesspool of anger and discord as her heart raced through her own chest.

"I didn't! I mean, not at first. But she gave me proof about you, Adora!" Adora blinked at the statement. "There is something going on with you, something I didn't discover earlier! And I checked the trials with the portal, too! She was right about that, also!" She became oblivious to Adora's heavy breathing as the girl continued to listen to her, tightening her grip over the tracker pad as she ignored everything spewing from the geek's mouth.

She believed her... over me... Adora thought to herself, drowning out the surrounding noise a little as Entrapta appeared to be speaking senselessly to her.

"Ah, don't take it like it's anything personal, Adora." Like she needed to turn around to know it was Aroda she felt patting her back at that. "It's like I told you earlier. Catra would get to your friends next, remember?" She grinned. "Personally I thought it was going to be the slow one first myself," Adora couldn't or refused to hear those words as she hyperventilated a little, "but I couldn't imagine Catra would manage to trick the smart one out of everybody. Man, she must be an expert."

Adora's eyes twitched a little as she grabbed the side of her head with her free hand, all the while Entrapta continued to drivel on about the cause and effects going on throughout the portal. She would've taken Adora's strange behavior more clearly if it wasn't for the presumed fever and veins over her face affecting her, or the possibility that she was taking in all these details much more shocking than anything else around her.

"-why we have to stop this, Adora!" Entrapta finished as Adora finally came too, shaking her head to clear her mind. "We can't go through with this."

"B-But how do we know it's the portal or the sword's fault? Maybe it's Catra? Maybe her connection with the sword is still incomplete?" Adora tried to argue, remembering some of the details Frosta gave her during her time in the Horde.

"It won't do any good, I've already factored it in." Entrapta informed with regret, using her hair to type away madly at the screen. "At most, I've found it'll only slow down the degradation of the reality's collapse on itself since Catra's link with the sword is still unstable. But the result will still be the same and everything will still be wiped out of existence." Like the previous times, it was met with the same flash of death over the monitors like it showed before. "I'm sorry Adora, but I have to stop this."

"B-B-But... But you can't..." She didn't know what to say to this... this... she couldn't bring herself to put her finger on the word, knowing it was the one word Adora despised to say about her allies and friends the most.

"I'm sorry, Adora, but I don't have a choice! Catra was right, I can't let Hordak do this, I have to stop him!" Without another word, without willing to waste another precious second of time, while time was still a portion of reality, Entrapta ran off, running towards the door as fast as her feet could carry her.

And once again, time slowed down for the young blond. Not to a standstill like previous times, but slow enough that a single blink could take a minute to preform, Entrapta's own foot falling to the ground at a snail's pace.

"Wow... So that's it then, huh?" Aroda whistled crossing her arms. "Catra gets to win, Entrapta remains Hordak's fave, and you... I'm sorry, what did you want in this, again, Adora? I keep forgetting."

"I... I just want to bring this war to an end... A-And..." Adora squeezed her free hand, feeling tears forming in the corners of her eyes as her fist tightened.

"Oh, don't look so upset. I saw what you did with the tracker pad, "Adory"~" Aroda teased, smirking. "Now all you have to do is finish it from here."

"B-B-But... B-But... Entrapta's my... my friend..." Adora's shoulders shook in recollection.

How could she go through with it? This was Entrapta, her second closest friend after Scorpia. The girl was a princess who knew right from wrong, who joined the Horde after the Rebellion abandoned them. Together, she made so many wondrous things for the Horde, things that kept people safe, and things that dismantled the Rebellion's strongholds in minutes without risking lives, the way a war should've been won.

To top it off, she was the reason Adora was probably alive to this day! There was no telling what state Adora would be in if she never had her assistance with her shadowy powers, her magical fever burning through her mind every time her emotions flared up or her powers were overused. She gave so much to help Adora, to prove what a great friend she was, and all Adora had to offer in return was tips on how to be sociable to people, how to interact, and how to make some humanoid friends of her own instead of machines.

They had great times together when it came to lab tests, testing the limits of Adora's magical abilities, even playing with the children from time to time, Entrapta really taking a liking to the popularity she garnered from the young ones interested in science like her.

She was irreplaceable.

"Awww, really? Come on, Adora, we both know that's not true. If it is, she wouldn't have forced herself on Hordak, making him respect you because she told him to." She commented, patting the girl's shoulder with her fingertip while circling her. "And besides, with her out of the way, Hordak would only be able to respect you, especially after what you just did."

"I-It... It was on instinct, I didn't-!" Adora stuttered, still looking at the tracker pad in her hands.

"Oh, pffffft. Yeah, sure." Aroda rolled her eyes as she puffed up a lump of hair from her eyes. "You just accidentally used that function without meaning to. You're just kidding yourself now." Seeing the girl still watching Entrapta slowly leave in turmoil, Aroda grinned mischievously, lifting up a small finger's worth of hair as she whispered into Adora's ears. "I think we both know what you have to do, Adora. This is the last chance you'll get." And with that, time returned to the world.

"...HEY, TRAITOR!"

"Huh-?"

*tug*

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Entrapta cried out in pain as thousands upon thousands of volts coursed through her body within seconds.

There was no time to react for the girl with the twintails, no sign of warning for the two who watched the foray. With a small tendril picking up a shock baton from the loads of crates throughout the room, Adora acted on instinct as she swiftly threw a large shadowy tentacle at Entrapta, wrapping it around her stomach before pull the girl all the way back.

Entrapta barely had a second to see into Adora's hate-filled eyes before the worst of it happened. Without word, without warning, she felt the baton stick into her gullet as Adora let loose, followed by the worst electrical experience the scientist had ever come across. Her entire body felt like it burned simultaneously for a moment as the electricity danced throughout her being, delivering to her the swift justice Adora thought was proper and fitting, continuing to maintain her glare on the girl all throughout it.

After awhile, probably at least ten seconds, Adora relented as she pulled the baton back. The last thing she saw in Entrapta's eyes was a look of remorse, a feeling that slowly entered Adora herself as she realized what she had done, before she finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." Adora was at a loss as she stared at the baton in her hands. Scorpia was at a loss as her mouth gaped open. Daisy was at a loss as Entrapta fell at her feet. Everybody was lost, and nowhere near as lost as Adora. "G-Get her out of here!" Adora shouted angrily, still keeping the fire in her eyes.

"Wha- Me? W-What do you want me to do with here?" Daisy asked, the situation escalating faster than she could handle.

"I-I don't know-!" Adora panicked as she tried to think. She couldn't afford to keep the girl around anymore, knowing what she knew, and she couldn't bring herself to finish her off. "I-I... Send her to the transport to Beast Island." She ordered madly, watching as Daisy collected the girl.

"B-Beast Island!?" Scorpia gasped, grabbing Adora by the shoulder. "Adora, you can't just-!"

Adora shot her. Adora shot her with a look of utter discontent and anger, as she brought the same baton to her face, still sparkling with the same electricity. "Are you going to betray me next, Scorpia? Are you a traitor too?!"

Scorpia was speechless as she stared at her in horror, Adora unaware as her corruption slowly started to spread further across her face. Adora was serious about this, serious about everything. She had the look in her eye that assured Scorpia that she would take her down too if she tried to get into Adora's way, or so much as spoke against her. Be it friend or foe. Because right now, everyone appeared to be a foe to her.

She wanted to say something, she really did. She wanted to ask her so many questions right now, like why she was so angry about everything, why she was threatening her of all people like she was the enemy, and, more importantly, WHY DID SHE ATTACK ENTRAPTA IN THE FIRST PLACE!? She had so many questions and not enough time on her claws to get through them all. She just needed to know where to begin!

And... she couldn't. She couldn't say anything. She was terrified at the reaction it would cause, mortified by the look in Adora's eyes. The person she saw minutes ago was nowhere near this girl to her. This was something else, something scary. All she could do was hang her head in despair, her silence saying as much as Adora needed to hear.

Her eyes narrowed a little further as she stared, making sure she left no room for doubt, before tossing the baton away. "That's what I thought." Without another word, the erupting Force Captain ran out of the room behind Daisy, though not in the same direction, before the doors closed.

Leaving behind a sullen Scorpia who could only drop to her knees in distress, bringing her claws to her eyes as reality slowly sunk in around her.

Adora was gone.

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:02:03

The three heroes, or two in this case, continued to speed down the hallway with all their energy as they ran like their lives depended on it. It wasn't actually their lives that truly mattered to them at the moment, it was the life of their dear friend who was minutes away from execution. They've battled soldiers, officers, and a deranged Force Captain who was growing worse for wear by the second, and they couldn't allow themselves to be stopped anytime soon.

Even for the minor annoyances.

*swoop*

*whap*

"Ah!" Glimmer yelped as a strange bluish creature flew over her head, slapping her in the back of her head before flying away.

*swoop*

*whap*

"Ow!" She yelped again, feeling the same annoying blue devil repeating the process.

Knowing they couldn't afford to waste time with the strange imp, and they couldn't let it distract them for so long, Bow quickly shot out one of his many trick arrows at the creature, one that burst into a solid sturdy rope that ensnared the creature, dropping it to the floor. With the minor nuisance incapacitated, the heroes came to a stop as their entryway was blocked off regardless.

Walking past the struggling imp, the heroes prepared themselves as several armed droids approached them, all sporting the red beams of death, ready to eradicate any and all intruders they came across. There were a few of them, mere annoyances at best with the three of them, yet enough to keep them delayed for as long as possible.

Seeing no other choice, unwilling to waste a second of their precious time, Glimmer grabbed Shadow Weaver's hand, preparing to use as much as her power as possible as their magic channeled together.

"Glimmer, no-!" Bow tried to warn, refusing to see her in the state she was in before.

"There's no choice." Glimmer shot back, already raising her hand to the droids as she prepared with Shadow Weaver. "Do it!" The witch didn't need to be told twice as she continued with the ritual that kept them strong, raising her own hand as they prepared to strike down anything and anyone around them.

...

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:01:21

*bzzzzzzzzt*

Catra couldn't tell what terrified her more right now. The sight of the sword going berserk behind Hordak as it flashed wildly with lightning, the sight of her own executioner grinning to his own weapon as he poked at the tip to ensure it was sharp, or the fact that any minute now, she was going to die, like, really die, and that would be the end of her.

Was this really the best she could do with her current status? To be tied to the machine like this, staring in fear at the executioner and his weapon of choice, and be helpless to stop it? She couldn't move her wrists from the cuffs that were tightened around her arms, or pull or push her feet any further or closer with how they tied around her ankles. She couldn't even scream for help or try to distract him with some sort of obscenity that could prolong the inevitable.

All she knew, deep down, was that she failed. She failed to be a hero, she failed to be a true She-Ra, and she failed to convince Adora, to convince any of them, that she was telling the truth about the portals. Somehow, the reality that she was about to die seemed like the second worst reality to turn to compared to the crueler reality to her world.

She wasn't a True She-Ra. And she never would be.

"You should feel honored to die by my hand, traitor." Hordak commented, taking a stance with his spear at the ready. "The last person to fall at my hands with this lasted three minutes."

"Mhmmhh! Mmhhhhh!" Catra muffled into the gag, struggling in vain again to free herself as he slowly approached.

He enjoyed the sight of her squirming in fear, the terror in her eyes being exactly what he knew she deserved. Fear was a great motivator to inspire or intimidate one's enemies. And the more of it you had, the more you controlled the individual. "I wonder if you'll even last two."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

From behind him, Hordak grinned, admiring the sound and the power emanating from the sword going out of control with energy. "She did it. I suppose, in a way, I should be thanking you, Catra. If you never found the sword, none of this could've been possible."

Oh, great, just what she needed right now. MORE guilt on her consciousness.

"Lord Hordak!" Adora panted having finally reached him, running up to him from behind and pushing through her incredible fever without care. "The princesses are here. We need to activate the portal-" Adora paused as she saw her friend again, the same one who looked upon her with worry as her ears drooped.

Given all that has happened, she had almost forgotten about Catra's execution for a moment, the one underlying detail behind all of this. If the portal was activated, Catra's fate would be sealed. Hordak would have no more use for her, he would get rid of one of the greatest threats to the Horde with his own two hands, and Catra would be gone.

"Where's Entrapta? I need her!" Hordak stated. Out of all of this, there was no way he could continue the portal's activation without her at his side. She was as big a part of this as the portal itself, maybe even more, after all her commitment and devotion to its development.

"W-What?" Adora shook her head, snapping her focus back to him. "We don't have time! The princesses will be here any minute, and-"

"If Entrapta isn't here, then go FIND her, Force Captain!" He barked, directing her with the spear.

A part of her didn't want to do this. A part of her couldn't think about doing this. And a part of her reeeeeally wanted to do this. She had no end to the wants and don'ts of her desire, of her mind as she lowered her head, squeezing her fist in anger.

No matter how much she devoted to him, he would never truly respect her. No matter how deeply she proved her care for the Horde, he would always shun her. Without Entrapta's ingenuity, without her intellect, she was nothing to him. She meant nothing to the Horde in his eyes. And as long as he held respect for Entrapta, there would be none left to give to her.

Finally coming up with her own decision, Adora began to chuckle as she walked behind him, shooting him a smirk as she caught Catra's eyes. "Who do you think let the princesses in?"

"...!" Shock came over his eyes in an instant, in a moment, that felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. And on the next, it was on his fist.

*WHAP!*

"Agh!" Adora cried out as she was smacked against from the back of his wrist right across her face. The force of it was strong enough to send her flying several yards behind her, slamming her back into the console of the machine. She barely had enough time to conjure a shadowy tentacle over her throat before Hordak grabbed at it with his hands, ready to squeeze the life out of her eyes.

"What did I warn you about using her name for your own reasoning!?" He shouted, steadily reaching closer to her throat with every breath. With the exosuit on, it was near impossible for Adora to push it away, not in the weakened state of herself and her magic.

Again, Adora let out another chuckle as she smirked back to him. "Don't take my word for it? Then hear it from her yourself." And with a shadowy tentacle reaching up between them, Hordak watched as she played an audio recording of the last few moments of Adora's conversation with Entrapta.

"I'm sorry Adora, but I have to stop this."

"B-B-But... But you can't..."

"I'm sorry, Adora, but I don't have a choice! Catra was right, I can't let Hordak do this, I have to stop him!"

Slowly, surly, enjoyably to Adora, she watched as the world within Hordak's eyes slowly came to a crumble. It was times like this that Adora displayed her intelligence, her initiative, her way of thinking ahead. Even if it was unlikely that she would actually need to use the information, let alone use a recording in general, it was always great to have a backup plan. And recording the talk between herself and Entrapta was one of the few greatest backups Adora has ever managed.

All around Hordak, his own world began to crumble as he softened his hold over the girl, eventually backing away from Adora in whole as he squeezed his fists.

Entrapta was... like no other, that he came across. She was wise, sincere, had an intelligence to her that almost rivaled his own, just a drop, like no other person he has ever come to know. She had shown great interest in his research, devoted herself wholly to the Horde as he saw it, and showed an interest in befriending the Lord of the Horde himself. He had never known such compassion in such an intelligent creature.

Now, he knew her for what she really was. A swine, a cretin, a traitor. This whole time, he realized she had just been using him for practical entertainment, perhaps as a distraction to cover her own purposes or intent. Maybe this whole time, all she wanted was nothing more than to keep herself alive, always planning to escape at the next possible convenience. With the princesses here to rescue Catra and the sword, it wouldn't surprise her if they rescued her with it.

"But, she..." Hordak muttered, unable to grasp his own words tighter than the grip on his spear. "She wouldn't."

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Adora showed no fear, no disdain, no relent, just pure amusement as she smirked at him, crossing his arms.

"Raaaaaaaah!" He growled, glaring deathly into her eyes, the red reflecting off her pupils.

"Take it from an expert, My Lord. You can't trust anyone, especially a princess." Adora said as she lowered her gaze to Catra with disgust. "They'll just use you for their own end, and toss you aside when something better comes along. I should know, it's happened before." Catra turned her head away with the still-surmountable look of guilt in her eyes as Adora teared up herself.

She still bore hatred. So much hatred for Catra for using her as she did. Not a day had gone by since their fallout at the Beacon where Adora had forgiven Catra, or so much as contemplated forgiving her. How could she? Why could she? After all, Catra saw it for herself through her own memories from the simulations, the barren truth that lead Adora down this path of evil, of corruption, and hatred.

Everything Adora did till now, all that she thought up, was her own fault, by her own hands. She wouldn't have turned out this way if she found the sword like she was supposed to, never wanted her friend to continue fighting for a side that would abuse her like this, and never wanted to hurt her as much as she did since the day she left her side. Every moment that went by was a moment that Catra regretted not going back for her, for abandoning her in the Horde when she had so many chances to return for her.

If it wasn't for her, if it wasn't for all of Catra's mistakes, she knew Adora wouldn't turn out like this. Maybe they would've been fighting with each other by now if she changed even a single mistake in her past. Maybe they would've defeated the Horde at this point and had their little kingdom somewhere?

It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did. Adora was the person she was today because of her suffering, a suffering Catra knew she brought on, whether or not it was intentional. And it took her an execution to realize all this.

The same power of guilt, the very thing that kept her from becoming a true She-Ra, was all on her.

And no one else.

"Open the portal and let's end this." Adora instructed, looking back to her friend. Without another word, Adora smirked to her friend as she began walking up to her, ready to watch all of her hard work finally bring an end to the Rebellion at long last.

Instead, she came to a stop as she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking back to see Hordak glaring up ahead, not at her, but at the traitor.

"You do it." He instructed, softly pushing her towards the lever. Confused for a moment, Adora soon realized why he wanted to bestow her the honor of pulling the lever as he approached the cat girl, one who began to panic as she tried to pull free of her restraints.

"Mmmhmhmmmh!" Catra screamed to herself, jerking her shoulders, her knees, anything as his glare intensified on her with each passing second.

Adora looked to her friend and back to the lever walking up to it hesitantly.

This was her chance. A chance to prove her loyalty and her deserved respect once and for all.

(A/N's: For increased dramatic effect, highly advised to play the suspenseful theme at this point until instructed otherwise)

Countdown to Catra's Execution: 00:00:21

All she had to do was pull the lever, and that would be the end of it. Looking back, both she and Catra shriveled at the sight as Hordak extended the spear with a click of a button before the magicat, nearly reaching mere inches from her eyes as it sparked with electricity.

00:00:20

Pulling the lever meant summoning Hordak's army, refusing to believe a word of Entrapta's nonsense, especially when the source came from a traitorous swine like Catra.

00:00:19

It also meant Catra's life would be forfeit the moment she pulled. All Hordak needed to do was wait for the portal to start up before he went through with it, to make sure the portal lasted for several seconds, before finishing off the feline for good. Like he said before, he refused to let an opportunity pass, including a chance for one of their greatest enemies to survive.

00:00:18

"What are you waiting for?" Hordak yelled back, raising the spear to his side as he prepared to strike the cat.

00:00:17

"Do it!" He ordered.

00:00:16

Adora's eyes slowly shriveled as she trembled, reaching steadily for the lever at her side. Somehow, the lever felt extremely heavy to the touch as she held onto it, and light as a feather, all at the same time. Adora couldn't breath.

00:00:15

"Come on, this is our chance!" Aroda deemed, squeezing her fist with excitement as she stood ahead of the lever. If she had the opportunity, she would've used the girl's powers herself to pull the lever if Adora had any concentration or control of it left at the time.

00:00:14

"Once you do this, it'll all be over!"

00:00:13

Adora looked back to Catra as the girl stared back at her, her friend tearing up with hopeful eyes that Adora didn't pull the lever. She had no means of escape, no clue as to how far or how near her allies and friends were. All she knew was that her life was in Adora's hands, the person who hated her so much.

00:00:12

"DO IT!" Aroda shouted again, not even trying to hold back as a shadowy aura started evaporating over herself, the demon-looking eye popping up over her forehead as her veins pulsed.

00:00:11

"I gave you an order!" Hordak yelled back, growling at the girl's ineptitude. He glared back at the magicat in front of him. It didn't take a genius to know what was keeping her from going through with it.

00:00:10

"If you won't pull the lever, then perhaps a little incentive would help!" He declared, raising the staff high above his head as Catra coward at the sight. Anyone would when you saw your executioner about to strike you down.

00:00:09

Adora looked back fearful at the reality. He was going to kill Catra without hesitation, without a second thought, even if it meant risking the chance the portal would no longer work. He would much rather risk losing a portal forever than letting She-Ra escape from his grasp.

00:00:08

Adora didn't know what to do as Catra closed her eyes, fearing the worst and refusing to watch the spear come down.

00:00:07

With what little power she had at her disposal, she could grab the spear or Hordak and push him away, but by then it would be over.

00:00:06

She would be branded a traitor for the rest of her life, cast out and pushed aside for all her life. She might get to join the Rebellion if she was lucky, if she wanted to prove optimistic, but it wouldn't guarantee her freedom after she declined their offer the first time.

00:00:05

Or, she could pull the lever. It would elevate her status to a respectable place at his side. She would have renown, his respect, honor, and be back on the path to uniting Etheria under one banner like she always dreamt of.

00:00:04

But Catra would die as a result. Her dream lied between her living or dying at this point, with no way to go back once she partook in Catra's death. It would be all on her, she would be the one to suffer with the knowledge for all eternity that she caused her friend's death.

00:00:03

Either choice came with and without consequences, there was no single option that would prevent such a fate or a calamity befalling Adora for the rest of her life. This was the moment that would finally expose Adora's true colors, who's side she was really on.

00:00:02

This was the Moment of Truth.

00:00:01

*BOOM!*

"Agh!" Hordak yelled as a small explosion struck him from the side, causing him to be blasted away a few feet and the force of it finally loosening Catra's gag enough to fall around her neck again. It wasn't enough to knock the leader of the Horde off his feet as he skid across the ground, but it definitely shifted his priorities with a menacing glare.

"Lord Horda-!"

*pew!*

"Ahh!" Adora cried out as she was struck from behind with a familiar pink burst of energy, the wave blasting Adora away from the lever as she collapsed over on the ground. Her whole body was aching from the fever alone, the blast she just took feeling like she took a baseball bat to the stomach. She refused to remain off her feet in front of Hordak as she weakly got up, holding her side in pain as she gritted her teeth at the three intruders.

A strange familiar scent, an explosive arrow with reduced forced, and a pink energy blast that could tear apart droids if enough force was applied to it. Catra had never known herself to grin as widely at the realization as she looked back down to the entrance of the lab, spotting three familiar faces, one of which disgusted her, arriving in the nick of time.

"You guys!" The dweebs, her dweebs, had finally arrived! Catra has never and will never be happier to see them in her life as much as she was now.

"Catra!" Glimmer exclaimed with joy, relieved to see her friend alive and well, even if a little tied up.

Still trying to maintain what little dignity the magicat shook herself a little, growing a snide grin as she rolled her eyes again. "About time you dweebs showed up. I was getting so bored with this place I was just about ready to break myself out."

It did nothing to tarnish the joy the others felt at the reality. They had made it in time. Catra was saved. And she still had the same old attitude her friends had come to love about her. Snarky, sarcastic, and hiding away her true feelings.

They were glad to see each other again.

"... Shadow Weaver?" Catra blinked with a raised brow, wondering if she was just seeing things or if the witch had really come to her rescue. "What are you doing here?"

"Believe me, pest," Shadow Weaver commented narrowing her eyes, "the feeling's mutual."

"GHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hordak growled, ruining the two or three second reunion the group had as all their attention focused back to him.

He knew Adora was useless. All she had to do was the simplest job in the world, one that any three-year-old could do on the spot without a second telling. With all the time she wasted hesitating, all the attachment and feelings of remorse she held for her ex-friend, she wasted all the time they had to put an end to Catra and summon the portal that would call forth his army.

And he wouldn't stand for it!

Running back, the leader grabbed the large machine he had dropped upon the ground earlier that day, using his massive strength from the exosuit to pull it out of the ground. Giving a great big heave, his intentions and his targets almost impossible to miss with it, he threw the massive five tons of steal at the princess and the traitorous witch, hurtling it across the room without mercy.

Knowing what to do, knowing how to put a stop to it, Glimmer grabbed onto Shadow Weaver's hands. Together, raising both their opposing hands, the two women channeled their powers with all their might at the flying metallic pillar, ensnaring it in an aura of violet dark, and stopping it in its place three feet away from them. With a firm grip over their metallic instrument, they threw it towards the side of the room, striking the metallic supports to the lab before crashing into the ground.

Along with the distortion caused by the sword's power, the electricity emanating from it bouncing around the room, the room had finally begun to collapse around them. Everywhere each of the residents looked, they saw vitrines bursting apart from the immense shockwave, cables to the ceiling and the various machines snapping in half as all the hard work within the leader's lab starting to become undone.

Throughout the various machinery that fell at their feet, a large crumbling mass of metal nearly crushed the leader of the Horde himself, Hordak backing away from the falling metals that could crush him like an ant, shielding his eyes from the debris. Glimmer's remaining rescuers faired little better than the leader as they barely got five feet towards their friend and sword before more rubble piled atop in front of them, blocking their path.

Glimmer took the moment to gather as much magical reserves as she had left, trying to phase herself through the distance and teleport to her friend. This did nothing more than leave the girl a bit light-headed as her powers tapped out, dropping to her knees before Bow caught her.

"I can't get any closer!" She yelled over the loud ambience and vibrations. "My powers won't let me teleport to them."

"It's the sword!" Shadow Weaver yelled at the same level of volume, trying to find a way around the rubble. "It's interfering with your powers!"

Seeing the world falling around her, Catra struggled again to break out of her restraints. Within the center of the room, where everything stood, this was the last chance she had to free herself, the last chance to take the sword back before anyone else could-

Catra stopped as she gasped with worry. Ahead of her, she saw Adora, her former friend, walking up to the lever, eyeing the mechanical switch curiously as she reached for it. She couldn't get a grasp on Adora's expression, whatever it was at the time, as her flowing hair blocked the side of her face, leaving only her mouth exposed to the girl.

"Adora!" Catra called out, Adora barely giving her head a nudge in her direction. "You don't have to do this anymore! Get me out of here and grab the sword. We can all go back!"

"Why would I want to do that?" Adora asked in a flat tone, grabbing the tip of the lever. "We're about to win this war."

"Adora, you don't have to put up with this act anymore." Catra reminded, growing more worried as the vibrations became worse. "You saved me from Hordak, all right? He can't reach us now. Let's take the sword and go back with the Rebellion!"

"... Heh... Heheh... HAHAHAHAAHAHA!" Adora bellowed with a boastful laughter as she threw back her head, squeezing her forehead tightly as she recalled what she just said. "Oh my gosh, what are you talking about?" She asked, smiling wickedly at the girl who lowered her ears. "What made you think I wanted to save you?"

"What are you talking about? I saw how you hesitated, I know you wanted to save me." Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong.

"Hesitated? Is that what you think?" Adora chuckled as she shook her head, pinching between her eyes with a shadowy pair of fingers. "Catra... I never cared about saving you from death! I wasn't having a problem with Hordak's plans to begin with."

"W-What...? But then..." She was fearful, terrified. Something was about to be revealed to her in ways she wasn't prepared for. "Then why were you acting so strange? I know you wanted to stop him from executing me. I'm sure he knew it himself!"

"Oh, Catra, still as slow as ever I see." At this Adora finally revealed her face to her once more, showing the corruption around her head slowly filling her entire face. "Catra, I didn't want Hordak to not execute you because I cared about you. I wanted to stop him from executing you because you haven't suffered enough!" Catra went silent, almost deathly so.

"I told you since the beginning, Catra. I want you to suffer. To suffer the way I have, to feel every ounce of pain you caused me by taking everything I cared about." She smirked at the lever at her hand, the one thing that could alter the course of this war. "With this portal... Hordak's army will reach Etheria, and that will be the end of that. Then, with their help... they will take everything you have, Catra. All of it." At this, there was barely an inch of Adora's face that wasn't covered by the corruption, her left eye glazing over with a more transparent whiteness than her right.

"I want you to feel what it's like to lose everything around you, to have someone else take things away from you against your control. And then... I'll finally forgive you."

It was by this time that Catra realized too late just whose side Adora was finally on.

She wasn't doing this any longer for the Horde, nor did she intend to join the Rebellion.

Adora was doing all of this... for herself.

*CRANK!*

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Catra screamed as Adora pulled the lever at long last.

Everyone watched on as Adora took a knee, bracing herself as a massive burst of wind filled the room, nearly blowing her off her feet. Everyone looked in astonishment, in shock, as the metallic parts around it began to levitate of their own free will, slowly standing and reorganizing itself into the portal machine, the device that Hordak so proudly worked on with the traitor known as Entrapta.

Surprise loomed over Hordak's face as the device began to hum. Shock covered the eyes of Glimmer, Bow, and Shadow Weaver as they just managed climb above and beyond the broken metal. And Catra, the warrior princess, the girl who tried so hard to be She-Ra, looked on in despair.

Adora had won. Adora always won. And it was with Adora's satisfied victory that she embraced the glowing whiteness that filled the void around them.

And then, everything ceased to be.

...

A/N: ...

Chapter 108: S3 Ep 5: A Parting Wish Part 1 Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 16.2k Pre-A/N's.

... er.

Ah, feels good to finally be out of that. Hello meat puppets and fellow humans- I mean particular humans, like myself. I am Aroda, your friendly neighborhood... Human... definitely from the same dimension you're from.

Today kicks off the start of one of everybody's favorite episode, the dream world episode! I'll be honest, the writer- I mean IIIIIIIIII, have been struggling to come up with a good scenario that would make the episode more unique and inspiring than the original. Not that anything was wrong with the original, the problem is... well... duh! THEY COMPLETELY COPIED MY IDEA TO BEGIN WITH XD!

In fact, let's go over the lowdown: Waking up in a strange new reality? Check. Having no memory of what happened previously? Check. Waking up in a world where everything is better? Check. Having people and things begin to slowly disappear around your world? Having this all be the result of a technology going awry? Check. Having said world start to crumble around you with a FREAKING WALL OF DEATH DISINTEGRATING EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH!? Annnnnd check.

Seriously, with all the stuff they freaking stole from my fanfic, I am one punch card away from a free sub sandwich for crying out loud XD! In fact, i'll make it easier for people- find something in my dreamworld episode (the one starring entrapta for the first time for those new to this) and tell me if you find something the show DIDNT steal from me XD I swear to god they read my fic's episode and decided to copy it! I mean i'm actually quite flattered, don't get me wrong, but i'd at least like the credit for it XD!

*sigh* Well, with that out of the way and off my chest, let's all take a moment to relish this new reality that is absolutely 100% perfect and have no reason to be suspicious of! Because again, I'm your friendly neighbor Aroda- *checks author name* ... I mean Monokub! And definitely not some bizarre parasite that feeds on power, idk where you come up with that kind of idea ^^

So with that said, enjoy!

...

It was within the sanctity of the white flash that everything became hollow, still to the falling magicat who was surrounded by a white void. She couldn't describe the feeling going through her senses, other than a falling sensation like she was on the ground yet falling all at the same time. She wanted to reach up to grab something but couldn't see, couldn't feel. All she could do was tremble at the sounds of the last things she heard.

"With this portal... Hordak's army will reach Etheria, and that will be the end of that. Then, with their help... they will take everything you have, Catra. All of it."

She couldn't recognize the familiar voice as she continued to experience her falling sensation. She felt fearful of it for some reason, something she couldn't put a grasp on. Who's voice was it? The more she tried to grab the person behind the voice the farther it felt like she was pushing away, the answer refusing to come to her in her time of need.

All she knew was that it wasn't her own. It was close yet far. It sounded like it was echoing all around her and whispering into her ear at the same time.

"And then... I'll finally forgive you."

That was the moment that made Catra's heart sink for whatever reason. The fear driven to her by the sound of that voice, the anxiety and tension behind all the unknown events that had played. Something bad happened, she was sure of it.

Or was it something good? Something natural? She couldn't tell with everything swarming her emptied mind. If it was so bad then why couldn't she remember it? Was it worth remembering in the first place? If it was she wouldn't have forgotten it, right? So why was she still trying to remember? Why did she feel like it was so important?

And why was she falling?

All around her the blank white void continued to terrify her as she felt something fading away. Flashes of her mind came to an abrupt end as new ones suddenly came out of nowhere. It was like a computer restoring its data to what it once was a week ago, deleting everything new and returning everything deleted or moved back to the way it was.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

She couldn't tell what this feeling was, only that it made her heart continue to race. Every stressful breath came with an increased speed as her heart continued to run rampant throughout the collapsing world around her. The sounds of people strange and familiar to her speaking all around her as they were drained from her ears, seeing the events that lead her to this strange predicament passing on the walls as she fell.

She was falling.

She was flying.

She was both and neither at the same time.

All she knew was that in the end, right as her heart was about to burst, it came to an end with her final scream.

"Nooo!" Catra huffed wildly as she panted, sweat dripping from her head as if she just returned from a trip through a desert like the Crimson Waste... for whatever reason she wanted to compare that too.

*swish*

"Catra, Catra!" A familiar voice called out to her as Glimmer teleported to her side. "Are you okay?" She rubbed the girl's shoulder a little concerned as she saw Catra continuing to stare ahead of herself. Taking a few seconds to collect her breath, Catra continued to breathe heavily as she turned her head, seeing Glimmer in her pajamas checking on her.

"G... Glimmer? Ugh..." The magicat moaned as she rubbed her fingers against her eyes. "My head feels like I fell out of a skiff." Once again, she couldn't figure out how or why she knew said comparison.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Do you want me to get mom?"

"What? N-No, I don't... I don't think so. I think I'll be fine." Catra relied, shaking her head a little as she continued to rub her forehead.

"Are you sure?" Glimmer asked, easing up a little on her as she leaned back.

"Y-Yeah, I'm sure. Probably just a bad dream or something." She shrugged off. She couldn't remember what it was, what she was screaming about, or why she felt so off. What else could be the reason except for a dream?

"Well... Okay then." With another swish, her pajama-wearing friend disappeared, returning to her bed once more.

Giving her eyes one more rubbed, blinking lightly to herself, Catra pushed aside the thoughts clouding her mind as she lied her head against the pillow again. Something was off to her, more than usual, about all of this. The fact it continued to remain unusual to her bothered her the most, seeing how she couldn't let go of this strange bizarreness surrounding her.

Maybe a good night's sleep would do the trick? Maybe she should actually wake up for the day? Who knows. All that mattered to her right now was trying to get some shut eye and her beauty sleep, hoping that whatever was plaguing her would disappear by morning.

*splash!*

"ACK-!" Catra yelped as she fell out of bed. The very moment her eyelids connected to her face she was assaulted like no other.

Jumping out of bed for dear life, the cat girl was incapable of falling to the floor at her side as she was pelted with, what she could understand, a water balloon. A single water balloon the size of her head, dousing the poor cat from head to hip as her hair shot up on all ends. She felt a rush of cold washing all over her from the sensation as she felt the water sinking into her fur-like skin, shaking her soaking wet mane like crazy as she shot a glare to the air above her.

On the other end of her view, she could see Glimmer, smirking as she covered a bit of her mouth with the tip of her fingers, trying to contain the laughter that she had bottling up inside of her. It didn't take a professor to know who the guilty party was, or who had a death wish for thinking it was a good idea to throw a stupid water balloon at Catra of all people!

"That's for yesterday's prank!" Glimmer chuckled, trying to contain her laughter.

"GLIMMER!" With a roar, the magicat leaped into the air as she charged immediately at the pink wonder who teleported on the spot. Grabbing onto the swinging bed frame, Catra grumbled as she scanned the room, seeing the menace teleporting back to the door of the bedroom, still letting out a fit of giggles before sticking her tongue out at the aggressor.

"Nyeeeeeeh!" She taunted, infuriating Catra further.

"Grrrrr!" Catra's threatening growls did nothing to frighten the young princess as she quickly opened the door, running out of it in a mad dash as Catra jumped from the bed to the doorway, rolling along the ground as she glared in the direction she ran.

"You're so dead when I... when I..." Slowly, the magicat's aggression subsided as she stood herself up straight, blinking at her surroundings. She was outside the hall of the room she slept in. Nothing unusual about that.

What was unusual about all of this was the fact Glimmer was there. Why was she sleeping in her room with her? Better question, as Catra looked around, why did Glimmer have her bed in her room to begin with? It seemed foreign to her in a weird way, like it was normal and strange all at the same time.

The bouts of laughter emanating from Glimmer begin to die down as she stopped, looking back to see Catra staring off into space around the outside of the hall. "Catra?" Catra just shot her a small look for a few seconds before looking around again.

"What... What's going..." She looked down to her own feet at her own words, eyeing the strange pink wrappings around her feet made of wool and velvet. "Why am I wearing slippers?" The girl stood on her right foot as she brought her left foot up, eyeing the strange fabric in detail.

It was soft, comfortable to her feet, and it still made less sense than anything else around here. She could've sworn that-

...

"Ummm Bow? Those are boots." Glimmer pointed out.

"Combat boots!" He corrected with a toothy smile. "Great for long travels, mountain climbing, trudging through the snow, annnnnd, best of all, they don't track mud!"

"Seem kinda hefty if you ask me." Catra commented, smelling the-

...

"Agh!" The confused girl let out a cry as she squeezed her head, feeling like someone was driving a nail through it just now. She felt like both sides of her brain were having a war against each other over who could give Catra the biggest headache right now, pushing against the other for complete dominance. The girl swung her head a little from side to side as she wobbled a bit, biting down on her own teeth while trying to make sense of anything.

"Mooooom!" Glimmer called out as she ran down the leftern hall. She couldn't figure out what was going on with Catra right now, only that, whatever it was, her mom would be the most likely one to fix it.

Opening her eyes again, Catra began to walk backwards through the hallway as she examined her surroundings. As she did, she felt like she saw two intersecting lifetimes crossing over each other, seeing what she was seeing right now with several guards stationed throughout the hallway at attention, and a transparent lifetime where guards were pacing in the hallway. The latter view of it is what troubled her the most, seeing it becoming more and more transparent to her surroundings before it disappeared.

That was when she saw something along the hall the caught her eyes, something that made the slit of her cat eyes narrow further than ever before.

It was her. A picture of her.

A picture of her hanging on the wall as a kid- no. She must've been a baby. Maybe one-and-a-half or nearly two, being held gently in Queen Angella's arm as she smiled to the picture. The queen was still wearing her usual attire that Catra's known her to as the infant that was Catra was being cradled in a woolen green blanket, one that covered her from the waist down as she slept in Angella's arms.

On the opposite side of her stood another person Catra had never seen before, one that was familiar to her for more than just the memories that were toying with her mind. There stood a stout man with a gold-plated pauldrons over his shoulders that connected at his chest, housing a solid round medal in the middle depicting a bright shining four-pointed star.

The stout man had a thin black goatee over his face, one that looked rugged yet symbolized a type of authority over him, blending in well with his purple cape with a pale blue coloring on the interior. He was wearing the traditional Bright Moon colors of a dark violet to the side of his vest with a more tranquil pink running down the center of it. Tying off his vest at the waist a dark violet sash tied at the middle, one that intensified the purity of his lighter colors.

Within his own hands held a smaller bundle, one that was a little smaller in size yet still housing a creature just as innocent as the one within Angella's arms. In it she saw a familiar tuft of pink hair over the infant's head as it was cradled softly in a light blue blanket, one that covered all save the infant's own face.

Catra could easily tell the smallest figure was Glimmer for sure but... who was the other one? Who was the man in the picture? She felt like she knew it, that she should know it, and for some reason it was bothering her that she should know it!

She was losing her grip on her senses as her mind continued to be swarmed and plagued with thoughts and ideas she couldn't recall, filling her mind as she continued backing away further down the hallway, keeping her mind solely focused on the picture her eyes were glued to.

Something wasn't right. Everything wasn't right! And it was still right at the same time! Why on Etheria was it confusing her so much?!

*thump*

"Oof-!" Catra nearly jumped as she backed into someone, someone she had seen everyday and never as she turned around. It was the man from the picture, the familiar man, the strange man. A man who gave her a simple smile like he's seen her a million times.

"Ah, good morning, sweetheart. You're up rather early this morning." He greeted.

Sweetheart? Catra winced at the sight of the man, unable to figure out what to say for reasons unknown to her.

Seeing this in person for himself, the same man grabbed her gently by the shoulders as concern overcame his eyes. "Are you alright, dear? You look pale. And why is your head all wet-?"

"Ahhhhh!"

*whack!*

"Ow!" Catra couldn't control herself as her mind was on high alert. The culmination of everything that was happening around her was starting to frighten her so much that she was powerless to stop herself from decking the same man in the jaw with a small uppercut, one powerful enough to push the man away a little.

Still in a state of panic as her eyes froze on the sight of the man, Catra ended up tumbling backwards as she fell, crawling backwards through the process as she slowly pulled away from the mysterious familiar man. "G-Get away from me! Who are you?!"

"What? Catra, it's me." The man replied, still looking more concerned than angry about someone who just knocked him square in the jaw a second ago. "What has gotten into you, sweetheart?"

"S-Stop calling me that!" She yelped, scrambling and stumbling a little until she got back to her feet. "What is going on here? What is all this? I-"

"-ting weird since she woke up." It was by the sound of Glimmer's voice that Catra finally looked back, seeing the pajama-wearing princess walking backwards a bit as she pulled her mother by the arm, Angella focusing her eyes on the girl in question as concern came across her. "I think something's wrong with her."

"Catra, are you alright?" Angella asked with a voice of concern as she entered the same hall. Looking from her mother to the girl in question, what Glimmer said might have been the one thing to knock the rest of this mysterious morning out of the park.

"Seriously, what's gotten into you, sis?"

"SIS!? Ugggggghhhh..."

*Thud!*

"Catra!" The three cried out in unison as they rushed to the girl's side as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, passing out, and dropping to the floor. The mysterious man was the first to collect the girl as he leaned her up in his arms, looking worriedly over the unconscious girl as Glimmer arrived second, appearing in a flash of pink as she appeared on her hands and knees before her.

Nothing of the day made sense to the magicat, that was evident. Nothing she did could keep her from passing out, not after all the stress she was experiencing and the disorienting feeling in her mind telling her all of this was right and wrong at once. Whatever was going on around here, she would have to wait until she regained consciousness once again, all while the rest of her family gathered at her side with worry.

And Glimmer fearing the most.

"I swear, I just put water in it!"

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

"Mmmmh..." Adora squeezed her eyes tightly as she continued to toss and turn, mumbling quietly to herself as a strange wave passed over her head. She felt lost in confused despite being unconscious, resting peacefully in a bed of her own.

"As soon as Entrapta starts up that machine and he gets his army, he's going to execute me on the spot."

"Adora..." A voice whispered to her as a shadow loomed over.

She hadn't a care in the world in her state as she snoozed, drifting off to dreamland like there was no tomorrow, or yesterday, for that matter. Her eyes twitched around the corner as she felt something was off, felt something coming to her that she couldn't put her finger on. Maybe it had to do with the fact she was already sleeping? Then again, it wouldn't explain why she was aware of it at the same time.

"Adoraaa..." The voice whispered again, this time slowly giving a poke to her shoulder.

Adora continued to moan as the irritation grew within her blank mind, the sounds of voices drifting in and out of her wavering consciousness as she tried to process any and all around her. She wanted to open her eyes, she felt like she needed to open her eyes.

"T-That's outrageous."

As the drifting semblance of reality slowly settled in around her, Adora found herself within a dark place. She was surrounded by darkness as far as the eye could see, but could see herself and her limbs as clear as day. It was like a spotlight was looming over her to give her such a vision, a light she couldn't see anywhere within her view.

"He said it to my face! He said it was for betraying the Horde, because he was disgusted with how-

All she heard was the still echoing voices of someone calling her name, someone that felt important to her that she couldn't recall. Something about the voice made her fear it and welcome it all at the same time. Somehow, that detail made her fear it even worse.

That was when she saw it. A strange darkness in the darkness that was more noticeable than the previous darkness. One that had a strange wave to it, almost an aura. She couldn't put her finger on who it was or what it was, and it was headed right for her. It wanted her to come closer, it was beckoning to her silently as it left her trembling with anticipation.

In the end, it ended with a scream, as the mysterious shadow approached. The last thing she remembered before waking up with a scream was a horrifying glowing eye from the shadow, one that engulfed her every being as she was quickly consumed by shadow.

"AdOrA!"

"CATRA-!"

"Ahhhhh!" The startled scream that followed did nothing to distract Adora from her panting exhausted state. The girl looked so distraught over her spontaneous wake-up call that she didn't register anyone else within the room save for herself.

Panting, wheezing, she looked just about ready to have a heart attack, to fall back into an eternal slumber in which she would never wake up from.

"Adora, Adora!" A friendly voice spoke to her worriedly, shaking her shoulder in comfort.

Blinking, giving her head a good shake, she looked to the person on her right to recognize the friendly face she was always happy to see, as well as confused by. "Scorpia?" She questioned, acting as if they had just met for the first time.

"Um... yeah?" Scorpia replied in an equally questionable tone, giving a small wave with her dainty claws. "Good morning."

"Morning? What- Agh!" Adora could barely get the third word out before her head was assaulted with a strange flash of darkness. It came as quickly as a memory tried to surface to her head, blocking her off from every angle, making her wonder if there was anything to remember or block off to begin with.

"Adora?" Scorpia said worriedly again, patting her head. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Pulling the hand from her head, Adora looked at her right hand, squeezing and opening it like as if she was testing it out. "Just a... bad dream, I guess?" Why did her hand feel strange to her? It was a hand.

Enough said.

It flexed, it bent, it grabbed, it held, it did every single thing a regular hand could do. And look! All five fingers were across her naturally flawless skin as it usually was. For some reason it made her smile as she looked at her nails, feeling as if she hadn't seen them in quite some time.

"I'll say. You've been tossing and turning for the last hour." Scorpia commented, leaning an arm on the bed as she sat with a smile. "I could barely sleep."

"Heh, yeah, well-" Adora paused as she looked to her again. "Wait, sleep?" It was at that time that Adora scanned the vicinity of her room for herself. It looked completely different to the bunkrooms she was normally used to. Why, it actually looked like a genuine bedroom, all things considered. It had a mirror, sink, personal bathroom the next room over, and so forth. "Where did... Where are we?"

"Um... our room?" Scorpia replied in a questionable tone as if it was a trick answer. "Where else would we be?"

"Our's?"

"Y-Yeah. Why else would there be a top bunk?" Scorpia pointed out with the tip of her claw, directing Adora's eyes to the bed fifteen feet above her own. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should get a little more shut-eye or-"

"What? No, no, no, it's fine, it's fine, I just..." Adora swung her legs over the side of her bed as she rubbed her frontal lobe in a circular motion. "Just got a little lightheaded. It's better now, it's better."

"Hmm..." The scorpion girl poked her chin in curiosity as she pondered, trying to deduce what was possibly wrong with her roommate. Of all the nights she's ever woken up, all the time she's known Adora for, not once could she recollect a single morning where she woke up so strangely like this. "... If you say so. By the way, why were you thinking of Princess Catra?" Scorpia asked scratching her head.

"Princess... Catra?" The name rang with her mind like she heard it before, knew it from a different period of time.

"Yeah, you screamed her name when you woke up just now."

"O-Oh... I... I don't know." Adora shrugged at the name as she tried to figure out what was right and wrong about all this. "I guess she was the one causing my nightmare?"

"I guess so." Her friend accepted easily. "It's pretty easy to get nightmares about the leaders of the Rebellion, especially of their children. Most of the young kids get nightmares of them every month trying to devour them and everything."

"Yeah... It sounds like them all right." She didn't want to say she assumed, but she didn't feel quite right about it either.

What was bothering her? Should something be bothering her? She couldn't tell. She just felt like, for whatever reason, all of this was... different, than it used to be. Like the picture on her nightstand next to the bed, the fact she had a nightstand bothering her just as much, it felt like everything was... supposed to be, and not to be, all at the same time.

"What's this?" Adora asked curiously, examining the picture in her hands.

The picture was... everything she's seen before. So why did she just ask that question?

It showed a picture of Adroa as a kid surrounded by several other kids, all smiling at the camera as a familiar Shadow Weaver stood in the background, resting her hand proudly on the back of Adora's head. What was curious about the image were the two discernible features to her: the sight of the small badges they were all wearing a promotion badge proudly on her sleeve. The second discernable portion was the familiar friend standing next to her.

It was a friend she could count on to always be by her side, one that was far different from the other kids, yet posed no sort of problem to someone like Adora. She was a person she could count on to always be by her side, to always cheer her up when something brought Adora down. And she continued to remain by her side to this day. Who was the mysterious figure that was always by her side?

Why, Scorpia, of course! Who else would have that familiar pair of claws wrapped her neck like that? The familiar young friend was as cheerful as she always was, back in the day when she let her hair stretch a little to her neck. It was the kind of look that assured everyone of the friendly nature tucked away within her heart, as well as how she would always be there for her friend.

"Oh, that's the picture we had after everyone got their promotional badges." Scorpia answered, smiling.

"Our promotional badges?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? You blew all other records out of the park. You were the fastest kid in there!"

"I was?"

"Yeah! I think it was... Ah! Yeah, your record came to under five minutes! You didn't let anything stand in your way." Her friend congratulated as she pat her on the back.

"Held... back..."

...

"Ha! I beat you! In your face!"

"Hahaha! I let you win, don't be ridiculous."

"Suuuuure you diiiiid, I believe you. Don't worry, Adora. When I leave you in the dust from now on, I'll be verrrry patient and wait for you, all the way at the finish line, every day."

"You didn't even come in first, you came in second!"

"Well you know, the second is always the best. And that's still two more places higher than yours, slowpoke!"

...

-ra? Adora? ...Adora!" Scorpia yelled, trying to bring her friend back to whatever reality she hailed from.

"What?" Adora blinked as she came to again, feeling a small memory flash in her mind that was completely erased as she recalled it. Whatever memory was erased from her coreceps must've proved unimportant to her, because the next thing she knew, she was smiling.

"Oh, I remember now!" She stated proudly, Scorpia smiling at the sight of her friend's wide grin as she stood from the bed. "I helped everyone practice with the track together! We all trained for a week, and- Eek!" Adora let out a sudden shriek of surprise as she felt herself being lifted off her leg. The next thing she knew, she was smiling down to a smiling-up Scorpia as the taller girl held her atop her right shoulder, holding her up proudly like a kid.

"You managed to bring the entire class's best record to under eight minutes!" Scorpia chirped. "The instructor was so proud of everyone for breaking a new class record, and Shadow Weaver was proud of you for pulling it off and getting the best score in the class!"

"Hahaha!" How could she forget such a thing like that? It was an amazing day for her! Just one small part of her natural everyday life here. She couldn't help but giggle as Scorpia hopped her up for a short while as she spun in place. She came to a stop as the two looked into the full length mirror on the wall next to the door, seeing the two reflections smiling back to them.

"There's no one better than my BFSC." Scorpia smiled as she hopped Adora off her shoulder gently.

"BFSC?" Adora raised a brow at.

"Best Friend Since Childhood? We've known each other since we were kids. You came up with the name yourself, ya goof." Her friend chuckled, giving Adora a playful poke at the shoulder. Her smile softened a it as she scratched the back of her head with her claw. "I admit, I was bit nervous at first, you know, being a princess and all that. But I'm glad you didn't let that bother you, and that I got to train with you growing up since I wasn't required to."

"Why would it bother me? You've been a friend to me for years. I wouldn't let something like that get between us." Adora smiled back, earning a small faint blush from the big scorpion.

"Now come on and get ready for the day. We've got a lot to do. And you don't want to keep Hordak waiting too long." Her friend was so giddy for some reason that she couldn't keep herself from running through the from door. Adora smiled to her as she left before getting a good look at herself in the mirror.

Everything was perfect about her life, like it always was, and she couldn't fully understand why. And for some reason, she didn't care.

She had a great friendship with someone like Scorpia, along with all her other friends, she was at the top of nearly all her classes physically and mentally, she had an outstanding record she earned, courtesy of her flashy Force Captain's badge, and so much more. Life was perfect, and that's all that mattered to her, all that should matter to her.

... So why wasn't it? She felt like something was off, like everything was off. Was it the way she woke up this morning? Was it all in her head and just her brief headache playing tricks on her? Yeah, that must be it. If this wasn't her life then why was she so happy with it? Why did it feel like everything was perfect because it was meant to be?

She must've been imagining things. She was imagining things! She knew who she was, she knew what her life was truly like.

Her name was Adora, proud Force Captain of the Horde and commander of Hordak's army. She lead her soldiers as she saw fit in a system that worked without any complications or moral issues, uniting everyone under one banner across the world. Only a few people were ever capable of such a magnificent feat, and this was one of hers!

Her eyes were hers, her clothes were hers. She represented the best of the Horde she knew and loved, and admired everything she saw in the mirror, including her reflection!

Specifically, the one standing behind her shoulder.

"Hey, Adora."

"Wah-!" Adora yelped for dear life as she quickly turned around, backing up into the mirror. Adora panted heavily as she stared at the nobody staring back at her, seeing neither hair nor hide of the second reflection she saw in the same mirror.

She didn't know who it was, why it was, or how it was that she saw someone who looked exactly like her standing from behind. Thinking there might've been a possible trick involved, Adora glanced back at the mirror to double check, finding a sense of relief as she sighed. There was no one there staring back at her, no other reflection to greet her except her own.

"I really am losing it here..." Adora muttered to herself as she scratched her head.

"Hey, Adora," she turned her head to the direction her friend was calling from, "are you ready yet?"

"Coming." Adora replied with a polite smile. With one last look to the mirror to make sure of herself, Adora gave her smiling face a simple nod to herself before running through the doors, eager to catch up with her stinger-tailed friend.

Unaware of the mysterious shadow that passed through the mirror.

...

To the right they were staring at her.

To the left they were staring at her.

Traversing down the hallway with Scorpia at her side, she was met with all eyes and ears of every guard and soldier she met. The way they were staring at her was rather strange, even for all the strangeness she's felt this morning. It was like they were... appreciative of her, more than usual. They were all greeting her with a casual likeness, waving and whatnot, and she could've sworn they were smiling behind the helmets she couldn't see past.

"Look, it's Adora."

"It's really her!"

"Whoa, it's Adora!"

Passing a small group of several whispering guards, one of which was a green lizard if the scales and tail were anything to go by, they all gave her a dignified and respectful salute for the short walk past them. Some of them looked a little giddy at seeing her with the small amount of trembling going on with the shorter one's legs. When she looked back to see them, they were all cheering at her name, two of them high-fiving and another guard giving her a round of applause out of nowhere.

'Woohoo!"

"We love you, Adora!"

"She actually saluted back to me!"

"This is the greatest day of my life!"

"Okay, I definitely hit my head or something the other day." Adora commented rubbing her head once more. "Why are they all staring at me like that?"

"Haha, like you don't know?" Scorpia chuckled back. "The Kingdom of Plumeria? The Kingdom of Snows? Ring any bells?"

"The Kingdoms..."

...

-as she saw through the tiny, unimportant, strands. "We... We offered them peace! Assistance! We gave them a chance to join us!-"

Adora kneeled down as she took a small cloth from her dress, prepared from every occasion. "Here." She offered. Still questionable on it, Frosta allowed her to place the cloth gently against her cheek, wincing a little from the sting as it was applied to-

...

"Ngh..." As quickly as it came did it disappear, Adora's eyes opening a little wider as she remembered the details. "Oh, yeah! I remember now! I managed to convince their kingdoms to join the Horde!"

"Oh, I remember now~" Scorpia mimicked with a teasing tone. "You're such a goof. Like you would forget anything like that-"

"Adora!" Before either of the two could question the greeters, they found themselves surrounded by at least eight young cadets around seven to ten in age, all rushing up to her and eager to greet her with a look full of happiness.

"Miss Adora!"

"Wow, it's Adora!"

"Hi, Adora!"

"Can we get an autograph?" One of the brown-haired cadets asked, followed by several more kids holding up small notepads for her to sign.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Behind the group of kids, all attention shifted to the blue-skinned and buff commander that finally caught up to them, giving a small puff of air from the exhausted five-minute run they put him through. "How many times do I have to tell you kids? You can't just run up to Hordak's First-in-Command like that!"

"First in-"

"...Very well, Force Captain Adora. You will have the opportunity to prove yourself to me as my-"

"I don't mind." Adora smiled to the excitable children as she began signing one notepad after the other with the small black marker they provided. "After all, how can I say no to a bunch of eager young faces?"

"Yaaaaay!" The children cheered, smiling even brighter as they received their autographs.

"You're too good to these kids, commander." The instructor commented, grinning as he crossed his arms. "Then again, I guess that's why you can manage the impossible. I still can't understand how you pulled off such an amazing feat."

"Well, you know," Adora shrugged as she handed back the last autograph, "a little decency can go a long way."

"Apparently so. Alright, Cadets, you got to see the commander. Now let's hop back to the track field, we've still got five laps to warm up with."

"Okay!" The kids happily obliged as they followed their commander, some of them mumbling and whispering about how cool they thought Adora was, some of them waving back for a last time.

"I'll never understand why I'm so popular with the kids." Adora said as she turned back to her friend, Scorpia sharing the same look of curiosity on her face.

"Heh, I'll say." She replied as the walk continued. "You must be the second coolest person in the entire Fright Zone."

"Second, huh?" Adora smirked with hands at her hip. "And who would number "first" be? You?"

"What? Of course not, don't be silly... I was ranked 16th on a chart the soldiers made. I was talking about Mr. Stud over there." Scorpia directed with her stinger, pointing further down the wall for Adora's pleasure?

"Oh, yeah? And who exactly is Mr. Stu-" Adora stopped as her jaw dropped.

Further down the hallway she could see him, the so-called "Stud" in question. Given his appearance and overall physique, it was no surprise why people called him Mr. Stud, or the fact he currently had nearly a dozen female guards and soldiers hounding him as crossed his arms, leaning against the wall.

With a pale blonde hairdo, sleek black glasses like a motorcyclist, a black leather jacket with a bit of white along the edges of the leather, and chewing on a toothpick, he appeared to be the epitome of cool and the master of all that was awesome.

He had the appearance of someone who listened when he chose to listen, not the kind of person who listened because he had to. If someone approached him to admire him, he would ignore them without a care in the world, somehow making him more cool. One could tell he was loving the attention given to the king of awesome no matter how much he insisted otherwise.

One could even think that if you stepped right next to him and he gave you a wink, a grin, or a thumbs up, you would die from an overflowing pool of awesome."

"Eeeek! I can't believe it's him!" Adora could hear the girls surrounding him say.

"You're so awesome!"

"Please marry me!"

"Ladies, ladies, please," the stud said, lowering his glasses a little with a cheeky grin, "there's plenty of me to go around for all of you. Especially, you~" It was at that time Adora got to witness his power herself as he winked to one of the adoring fangirls. In an instant, the girl let out a gasp of pure relief before throwing a hand to her forehead and her chest, passing out on the spot as she fell backwards.

Nobody bothered to catch her.

"Wow... He's a smooth sailor, isn't he?" Adora commented, crossing her arms as she and Scorpia continued to watch.

Scorpia let out another small chuckle as she kept her eyes on the stud. "Yeah, Kyle's always been the cool rebel around here."

"... I'm sorry, what?" Adora misheard her. There could be no doubt about that. "Did you just say... Kyle?"

"Well who did you think that was? You should know him better than anyone seeing how you trained with him and some of the others growing up." She reminded, unaware of her friend's partial disbelief as she stared back at the stud of legends.

"T-That's... Kyle?!" She was kidding. Someone was playing a prank on her. It had to be one of those many options because nothing else made sense to her! "B-But that's impossible! He's... He's...!"

"He's what, Adora?"

...

"Hey, Adora!" A familiar voice greeted from behind.

...

"... I don't know?" Adora blinked as she stared off at the living stud with confusion.

Why did she feel like something was off about him? She knew Kyle, of course that was Kyle! He was always the one who tried to show off in front of class even when it hurt him, he wasn't afraid of any obstacle course that came to him no matter how dangerous it looked, and, somehow, he always knew how to finish the course with a sense of style to it.

He was nothing short of cool and nowhere near the line of a loser. It was almost insulting to say the word "loser" and "Kyle" in the same sentence, he was that awesome! It made her question her own foolishness of why she didn't remember that detail on the spot.

"Are you sure you're okay, Adora? Maybe you should go back to bed, I can tell Lord Hordak you're not feeling well-"

"What? No, no, it's fine, really." Adora insisted as she began walking ahead of her. "I can handle Hordak on my own. Really."

"Um... okay, then?" Something felt a little off to the red girl as Adora said that. Like she wasn't fully sure of herself that Adora was sure of herself, and she didn't know why. "Well, anyway, you go on ahead and we'll meet up in the locker rooms later. I gotta talk to you about something private."

"You didn't want to talk in our room about it?" Adora pointed out with a little confusion.

"N-No, it's fine! We can talk in the locker room! It's- ehh... something I have to show you!" Scorpia replied nervously, beginning to walk backwards as she waved her claws peacefully.

"Are you sure? I thought you just said it was private, so why-"

"O-Oh, would you look at the time?" Scorpia interrupted, looking around her left wrist. "Aww darn it, is it that time already? Gee, I guess I better go!"

"Scorpia, you don't wear a watch-"

"Great! see ya later!" Scorpia said with a small blush, hastily running down the hallways before she could get anymore caught up in her excuses. Scorpia was hiding something. It was plain and simple for Adora to see. And all the same, it just made her smile without a care in the world as she paced herself to Hordak's inner sanctum.

Everything was perfect around her own little world, a world that she was helping to make better than before. Scorpia was still the same old self goofy self, all the soldiers and guards she passed near were admiring the sight of her almost as much as Kyle, which still felt a little weird to say for some reason, and everyone was happy to see their respectable commander in action.

It made her wonder a little why she thought everything was strange around here to begin with. Why would she think something was out of place around her everyday life? Better question, why would she want to change everything if it was perfect to begin with?

Everywhere she looked, everyone was smiling at her or one another, the way it should be. Okay, so maybe she couldn't exactly see all the smiles around her with everyone wearing a helmet and stuff, but she could tell they were happy. From their movements, from their reactions, everything seemed to be perfect about her life.

Even Mr. "Stud" back there, being admired by his eight-... by his seven admirable fans, she could tell that everything was all right.

...She could've sworn there were eight before...

...

"Nghhhh..." Catra pinched between her eyes as she sat the the edge of, what she still couldn't process, her parents bed.

This entire morning had been a bizarre wake-up call to deal with for reasons she couldn't understand. Why was she so bothered by everything that was surrounding her? She knew these people and she... cared? About them. And why wouldn't she? She was, after all, the daughter of King Micah and Queen Angella. There was nothing out of the normal besides that.

Okay, so maybe everything within Etheria was abnormal, but not to the same extent.

As the magicat continued to recover her father stroke her mane soothingly, like he always did whenever she was stressed, as he sat to her right with a bit of concern. The very same concern could be seen on Glimmer's face as she sat beside her father on the other end, looking at Catra until their mother finally appeared through the door.

"Here, sweetie." Angella said as she offered a warm cup to the slightly-disoriented feline. "This should help you relax."

Catra accepted the strange drink without hesitation, feeling like she could trust Angella with whatever she gave her as she took a brief sip.

"Blech-!" And immediately regretted it as she let out a minor choke-like cough, wiping away her mouth with her left arm as she handed the drink a little forcefully back into Angella's hands. "No thanks! That stuff tastes nasty." She coughed.

"Really?" Angella replied with reluctant surprise as she examined the drink herself. "You always said it was your favorite tea?"

"Tea? Since when do I drink..." Catra slowed down in her minor rant as she focused more on the taste in the back of her throat. Come to think of it, the more she focused on the taste of the drink, brushing her tongue along the gums of her mouth, she actually started to get more of a sense for the flavor of it.

It had a strange warmness to it that felt soothing as it went down her throat, brought in with the fresh scent of strawberries that wafted up to her nose as she could smell her own breath a little. Going over the taste of her drink once more over with her tongue, her ears lowered. It felt a bit embarrassing to admit it, as to why she couldn't comprehend, but the more she thought about how it actually tasted a little good, the sooner she found herself swiping it back out of her mother's hands.

Without skipping a beat, the girl began to down the drink through her throat as quickly as she could, to the surprise and amusement of her parents as Angella took a seat right next to the wild princess.

"Are you feeling better, sweetie?" Angella asked comfortingly, resting her hands on Catra's shoulder.

"Ah-!" Catra nearly jumped as she stood away. Her expression drooped a little more with her ears from a sense of guilt as she saw the calm looks of her supposed family growing more concerned by her strange antics. "Eh... I mean... I... I guess... so?" She couldn't stop rubbing her head as she felt like something was scraping to come to surface, a memory of someone she couldn't recall.

"Catra, what is troubling you so much?" The King known as Micah asked, gently taking Catra's hand as he stood. "If something is bothering you, you know you can tell us."

"Yeah, you've been acting really weird since you woke up this morning." Glimmer stated as she stood. "Did you hit your head when you fell out of bed?"

"Glimmer..." Angella muttered, reminding her to ease up after the terrible morning her sister has been through.

"What? N-No, nothing like that, I... I don't know..." Catra examined the room she was in. Despite only seeing their parents room on a handful of occasions she just felt like something in particular was very different about it. "I... Ugh, none of this makes any sense."

"What doesn't, dear?"

"This, all of this!" Catra groaned, examining the parts of her that made her different to begin with. "I mean I'm still," she double checked to make sure she had a tail, which she did in a sense that didn't relieve her, "you're all still... I'm completely different from the rest of you. I can't be your daughter."

For the first time, both her parents looked at her with relative surprise, somehow seeming more understanding of this detail than everything else she's said so far. The surprise didn't come from the fact they understood it came from, well, a look of regret. Confusion. Like they were fully aware of the fact that she wasn't their real daughter and still accepted her for some reason.

"Um, sis?" Glimmer spoke raising a curious brow. "We kind of know that."

"Y-You do?" Catra was taken back a little by the casual reply. For a second there, she thought they were going to completely deny her claims in an instant. "You're aware of it?"

"Of course we're aware of it, sweetheart, but that doesn't make you our daughter any less." Micah assured, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. Catra was a little uneasy with all of this. All these strange emotions she was having all this "daughter" stuff. It felt a little unusual to the girl, like they were getting everything backwards.

... And she didn't entirely mind it.

"Yeah! We've been raised together since we were babies. I don't know what else that would make us except for sisters." Glimmer smiled, taking Catra's hand.

Still a little unsettled by all of this, the girl took a step back, gently sliding her hand out of the girl's grip as she brought her cuffed hand to her heart. "I... I don't..."

"Wait." Angella said flatly. Walking up from the bed, the three family members watched her as she made her way to her personal dresser, rummaging through one of the various drawers within the center of it. The Queen smiled a little warming to herself as she pulled out a small picture frame from the farthest drawer to the right, bringing over the eager item for her daughter to see in all its glory. "Catra, do you remember this? From the first time we talked about this?"

"This?" Catra tilted her head in confusion as she accepted the picture as King Micah smiled behind her, gazing down at it.

It was a picture she wasn't... was familiar with as she examined it closely. Within the picture she saw about a dozen or so of the family's soldiers and guards at the side of the illustrious King and Queen who saluted with respec. All the while the two proud royal family members were smiling at the camera naturally, standing side by side with a sense of pride on their faces.

And in their arms.

Within their arms they held a small green bundle, one that Catra was sure was herself, if any of the royal paintings around here were any helpful indicators of that. She looked a little bit smaller in the picture than the paintings on the wall, possibly implying it was a few months earlier before the picture was made. There wasn't even that much of a goatee to him at all, barely a peach fuzz to his face. As for the Queen, she didn't resemble any difference than she had today. Then again, when you were dealing with an immortal que- mother, it wasn't surprising.

And between both their arms is the pride and joy that the two parents had come to love as one of their own, cradled in a soft green blanket that eagerly reached up to touch the mother's face with a giggling smile to their expression. To anyone, it could've been any other cat girl that one could jot down to an average magicat, but to someone like Catra, the blue and yellow eyes were unmistakable.

All of this, all of them, were surrounded by a jungle on all sides, save for the forefront of the clearing that this picture took place in.

"It certainly does bring back memories." He commented, smiling to Angella as he placed a hand on both, her and Catra's shoulder in each hand. "It was the day we officially became a family, sweetheart."

"When we... became a family?" Catra questioned with the turn of her head. That sounded strange to her on a number of levels. What did they mean by family, what was it meant to be a part of one? More importantly, how exactly did they "become" a family on the spot? If she was born naturally then she should've been a family immediately, right?

"Yes, Catra." The Queen said softly with a comforting smile. "When we became a family, the day we found you on Beast Island..."

...

The King and Queen recalled their time shortly after the arrival to Beast Island about 3 hours in. The trip alone through it has been hazardous and wrought with terrible creatures which proved challenging alone even with the near hundred guard/soldier dispatchment helping the King and Queen navigate through the island.

About eight miles in, they set up a base camp with various tents tucked away between a creak with an enchantment displayed over the camp to leave the encampment invisible to the naked eye.

"I want hourly updates on all proceedings." Micah ordered to another pair of guards as he stood at a small war table. He was currently occupied within the largest of the tents within the vicinity, one meant to discuss strategy and procedure throughout their time on Beast Island. "Make sure everyone is aware that they are not to leave the camp without several men with them at all times. It's too dangerous to explore on their own."

"Yes, sir!" The duo replied with a salute, taking off with haste to relay their orders.

With more space to voice his thoughts, the king sighed as he crossed his arms. "I really hope the rumors of a Horde establishment around here proves false."

"I can only imagine what terrible experiments they could unleash on Etheria if those labs prove to be true." Angella commented, flattening out the corners of the map as she surveyed the area.

While it did bring him some comfort to be surrounded by the one he loves, the king was a little dismayed at her presence around the table as he took her hand in comfort. "I really don't want you here, darling." He said, giving a soft kiss to her hand. "You know the island is wrought with danger. I couldn't possibly imagine if our precious Glimmer was raised in this world without her parents, let alone a mother."

"I know, Micah," Angella replied with a soft smile back, "but if those rumors prove to be true, then nowhere in Etheria would be safe. Their creatures could easily navigate and surround Bright Moon in minutes through the Whispering Woods. And who knows what other dangers they could be experimenting with."

As Micah was about to voice his complaint further, he was interrupted by the sound of a guard panting in a haste towards them. "Huff... Y-Your... Huff... Your majes... huff..." The guard couldn't have ran less an two miles straight to be as exhausted as he appeared.

"Calm down there, take a deep breath. Just relax and tell us what you have to report."

"Huff.. S... Sorry... my squad just outran a beast to get here... huff... Ahem." With his lungs cooled off from the humid air, the guard gave a short salute to his king and queen. "Sir, Your Highness, we've just received intel that a village was discovered not two miles east of here, sir." The two royals turned to each other with surprised at the announcement as they looked back.

"A village? There were no reports of any civilizations around here."

"At least not the reports that came back to us." Angella felt a pang of unease at the mention. "We should inspect the village ourselves to determine if the locals are friendly and can assist us, or hostile and support the Horde."

"I... I don't think that'll be an issue, mam." The guard murmured, shifting his eyes away mournfully.

"Why's that?"

"Well, eh... Ahem. The Head Guard thinks it would be easier to just show you."

Micah rubbed his chin at the thought, contemplating the surveillance of the island they had with what he already experienced. "Hmm... I wouldn't advise taking an unnecessary risk... but if something's happened to it, perhaps it could shed some light over the situation we're dealing with. Gather a handful of your finest men and prepare to escort us both. I won't be leaving my wife behind or alone to investigate herself."

The Queen in question gave the king a playful look at this. "Don't trust me to explore the woods on my own, dear?"

"In a forest of dangerous animals on your own?" He chuckled back. "Sure. Letting you go off on your own in a harmless forest? Of course not."

As the King had foreseen, the trip through the island was, indeed, perilous. Poisonous plants stalked every corner of the island along with a handful of insects that were poisonous to so much as touch, let along sting you. They found it quite fortunate that the trip to the village was otherwise peaceful, a fortune that couldn't be shared with their arrival.

The arrival of the large town seemed to be simple in nature but was desecrated and burned in every direction. The queen and king looked on in horror at the destruction that greeted their every turn, tuning the cryptic sense of dread that had already filled their soldiers and guards.

Many a building were smashed, some only partly, others wholly, as well as the towers that stood along the large gates of the city, half of them looking like something crashed into them and tore them apart with bare fangs. Those that weren't burnt to the ground had a clear indication of an attack with the blast marks that covered some of the holes of the architecture, though by whose hands they had yet to determine completely.

The one key detail that truly stood out from the rest was the lack of people- alive or dead. There were various footprints from men and beast alike throughout the proceedings, but no signs of blood or stains of people left behind. Not that there would be any reason for said individuals to stay behind, given the state of the village anyhow. There was little to no food among the dozen wooden stalls, no source of clean water with the various wells destroyed, and the walls along the establishments have all but been torn down.

To think that anyone lived here, so much as used to live here, was almost breathtaking to behold.

"My goodness... it's awful." The queen feared deeply for the people that once occupied these various walls. "What could've happened here?"

"It definitely has the Horde's handiwork behind it all, but beyond that, I can't say." Micah deemed. The usual signs of the Horde's handiwork were the telltale signs of destruction and mayhem left throughout a village, and the lack of Horde left behind in the chaos. During his brief glance of the village, the smoke still rising over some of the buildings caught his attentive eye. "Whatever happened here must've been recent... Captain!"

"Yes, sir?" The captain replied behind him as he pounded a fist to his chest as a salute, the two guards behind him doing the same.

"Have your men establish a small perimeter around this town. Look for any survivors or anything suspicious. Even the tiniest detail could tell us what happened here."

"Right away, sir!" The captain wasted no time retelling His Majesty's direct orders to the fellow soldiers that followed them, leading them further into the village as well as setting up a small patrol around the vicinity of the large village. The last thing they needed beyond tragic news was the arrival of "unwanted" company.

"I'm going to explore further ahead, perhaps we'll find something." Angella decided as she flew ahead of the group, leaving Micah little chance to voice his opinion.

"Be careful, Angie."

...

Angella spent the next half hour exploring the village on her own, finding many buildings nearly abandoned on the spot. With every pile of rubble she excavated through and observed, she felt another ounce of dread and remorse for the helpless villagers that may have once occupied this village. She couldn't begin to picture the horror on the villagers faces when whatever catastrophe struck drove them out of this remarkable village. She could only hope that the vast majority, if not all of them, managed to escape safely.

She took notice of the structures and architect that appeared to be as modern as the nearby towns of Bright Moon like Thaymor, many times larger in size. With what little she had to gather and observe, it could be suggested that this was a peaceful village, one that knew how to survive off the perils of the island and the beasts that inhabit it.

It made the queen wonder at times how adaptive or cultured the citizens of the island must've been to survive in such a constant state of peril. They were lucky enough to not lose anyone within the first three hours of their time here. She couldn't imagine anyone possibly spending their entire life within this dangerous jungle.

"How many people could have lived here?" The Queen wondered to herself as she rubbed her chin in contemplation. "And where could they have gone?" Perhaps her line of thinking was flawed. If she wanted to discover a way to find these villagers, she would need to figure out how they lived and how they would survive if such an event like this was to occur.

That's when she heard it.

"Waaaaaaahahaaaa!"

"Huh? Hello? Is someone there?" Angella spoke looking around. All of her hopeful optimism must've been pulling tricks on her mind here. Perfectly understandable really, given the circumstances and the cruel state of this village. For a moment there, she actually thought she heard someone's cry, calling out to her for help.

"Waaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

There was no longer any doubt as she gazed out into the open village again. There was someone calling for help, someone very young. "Is that... a child?" She couldn't afford to waste even a second as she spread her wings, taking off through the air as fast as she could to the nearest three-story building. With the sound becoming louder and more clear with each foot, the queen realized what the voice truly belonged to. "No... a baby?"

She couldn't have been imagining it. She didn't want to imagine it if it was truly all alone within this poor, poor village. At the same time, she could only hope that it wasn't within the confines of this dark and dreary place, not after all that befell these structures.

If it truly was here within the village, then perhaps it meant that there were other survivors around the area, people that could tell her exactly what became of the village and its inhabitants. If she was lucky, they could even provide some insight on the rumors of the Horde activities that surrounded this place.

At the very least, it would provide some sense of comfort that this mission wasn't all for nothing.

At last, Angella arrived to the large hole through the third-floor wall of the tall building, entering a small room of the stone structure. All around there was nothing but rubble and torn furniture. Curiously, it was one of the few rooms within the entire village that had some pastel clear colors to their walls, like a child's. And along the corner of the room her ears found the source of the crying buried under a large mound of rubble, one that apparently blocked off the rest of the debris from crushing the source.

"Is anyone there..." Angella muttered as she carefully approached, trying not to disrupt the carefully stacked rubble through the vibrations of her steps. She couldn't afford to be careless and take one giant step that she would regret for the rest of her life, one that would've resulted in the protective piece of rubble crashing down upon the helpless wailer. Reaching the small pile of rocks and debris, the queen carefully pulled apart the protective rubble until she found the source of the cries, and gasped.

Buried under the rubble, deeply protected the large mound two large boulders of rubble covering over her, the queen found a young infant within a slightly broken bassinet, the young figure still slightly bundled up in the protective green blankets that kept her warm. Likely hungry, smelling a little, but beyond that seeming perfectly fine.

Most importantly, she was alive.

"Oh, my goodness..." The queen awed at the sight of the innocent creature as she gently picked her up from the bassinet, still keeping her bundled in the green cloth. The queen gives a small warm smile to the figure as she cradled her in her arms. "What a little angel-"

*crick*

"Hmm? Ahh!"

*crash!*

The child's life was saved in the nick of time and not a moment too soon. As soon as the queen returned to her feet, the protective rubble that once shielded the young infant collapsed in on itself, either through the mere timing or from the queen's sorting. Either way, the queen sighed with relief before smiling back to the crying infant* "There, there, little one. It's alright."

"AHhhhhhhahehehhhhh!" The mysterious child hiccuped for a short while before slowly opening up her small eyes, still crying. During this, tiny, tiny black ears twitched a little, tilting and turning through her cries.

"Oh... what beautiful eyes you have..." The queen cooed at the precious angel bundled in her arms. She reminded her so much of Glimmer, one she missed deeply through all of this, and prayed to see again upon her return.

This child was no less adorable than her own offspring, from the tip of its tiny claws down to its rugged black mane. She had a face full of innocence despite all the sadness surrounding her, and gazed at Angella with fully opened eyes tear-filled eyes. She didn't know what was going on in this village or this world, only that she was fearful with innocence.

"It's alright, little one. You're safe now." Angella smiled warmly to the small figure as she cradled her up to her chest.

"Eehhehhhhehhh!" It was a baby. What could she expect from it other than her cries and wails, the very sounds that still brought a sense of warmth to the queen's heart as she smiled to her.

Looking around the desecrated room, the queen gave off a small frown. To be torn from a world like this, to be born and raised to a young age where you weren't even capable of understanding just how much you lost in your life... it was tragic. Knowing what she had to do, Angella rushed over to the hole in the wall, looking along the ground of the village in both directions. "Micah! Micah!" Angella called out, fluttering down to the ground softly with the infant in hand.

It was during this time that Micah heard the sound of his beloved's voice calling out to him as he continued to sort through the rubble. "Angella? Angie!" Hearing the distress of his wife, the king quickly ran through the village with several guards following closely behind. Luckily, it didn't take very long to find the winged wife further down the village, a process that would've been easier to deal with if she wasn't afraid of flying while carrying the bundle in her arms. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Yes, I'm fine." The queen nodded, much to his relief. "It's just..." Unable to muster the words to tell him herself, Angella slowly unfolded the top of the bundle in her arms, revealing the sniffling, whimpering face for all to see.

The king looked on with the same amount of surprise and hope in his eyes that captivated Angella at the thought of potential survivors within the village. "My word... Where did she come from?"

"I found her in the building behind me, buried under some rubble. Whatever happened to this village, she must've been hidden away from it safely." The queen snickered in her own mind at the thought. This infant was definitely a lucky kitty to have her pile of rubble turn out to be her salvation and protection from all that scarred this village.

"Incredible... Men!" The king called forth to the soldiers behind him as they stood at attention. "Gather a small detachment of soldiers and have them explore the area. Maybe her people are still around here somewhere." Giving a small nod of acknowledgement from his loyal soldiers, the warriors took off as quickly as their feet carried them, leaving two of the king's personal guards at the king and queen's side as they gazed and marveled at the young infant who could barely say a word.

Fifteen minutes had passed since the king gave his commands without a report of good news in sight. Still pacing around the village gates, still waiting for his guards to return, Micah glanced back to his wife as Angella sat upon a small crate of supplies they brought with them, smiling down to the small bundle still sniffling. He knew it reminded her of Glimmer as the queen fawned over it. It did the very same for himself as he smiled to her.

With the time that came to pass, the queen took it upon herself to take care of the child's needs, getting the child properly cleaned and changed as they waited, using a makeshift cloth diaper to wrap around it with the lack of supplies on hand. During said time, she took notice of the small tail the child was also sporting, growing more curious over the infant's mysterious nature and the race it must've originated from.

Everything the queen did with the child, from how she cleaned it, how she cradled it in her arms, reminded her of Glimmer. Thinking back on it, the child was exactly like Glimmer in every regard, save for the animal features she carried with her. The Queen was almost as eager to meet with its people once they showed up, even if she knew it meant parting with her small bundle of joy in the process.

It was at that time, following another few minutes, that the detachment of guards had returned, headed by the royal captain.

"Sir!" The captain saluted upon meeting, Angella looking ahead to the small group with open ears from where she sat.

"Did you find anything?" Micah asked in hopefulness. Sadly, before the captain had even replied, her expression said it all.

"Unfortunately... no, sir." The captain regretted to inform. "There's no traces of anyone else within the village or surrounding it."

"Well then return to camp and have them report their findings. They must've discovered something around-"

"Sorry for interrupting but we did sir." The guard behind the right of the captain apologized, sharing in the sorrow it had to report. "They had the perimeter swept while we were gone within five miles of the encampment. No one's noticed anything... I'm sorry."

Micah wanted to say something, ask anything, that could've turned their distraught emotions back from the brink of the abyss, but when nothing surfaced, he frowned. He could only assume the worse as he looked back to his wife, shaking his head to the tragic information she was already expecting, that she prayed to never hear.

As if the child was aware of its own predicament, the queen lowered her gaze to the crying bundle as its wails continued to surround the village. "I'm sorry, little one." Angella apologized, stroking her cheek softly. "But you don't need to cry, you're safe now." She brought a gentle finger to the child's chin, giving it a miniscule rub as she tickled under it. "It's okay, you'll be alright. Can I get a little smile, hmm?"

"Ehhheheheh...ehehhehh... * Its sniffles weakly subsided as if on command, blinking at the finger under her chin as the queen brought it up to her nose. Staring at it for a bit, her ears slowly started to lift as her eyelids did before she started to giggle, waving her hands around as she tried to catch the perilous finger of tickleness, eventually getting the tip of her nail in her small hands. "Geheheheh!"

"Oooh, you got me. What strong hands you have. Hmhmhmhm~" She chuckled, moving her finger in front of her eyes, circling them. Her giggling was topped off as she saw the infant's small eyes following around them.

It brought Angella such comfort, such warmth, to see a bright and cheery smile in a jungle such as this. Where the wildlife was aplenty with dangerous animals and plants that could consume a fully grown human in a matter of minutes, to see such a smile within a terrible place almost made her forget about the troubles surrounding them at the moment. It almost made her believe that everything surrounding them was alright.

Continuing to the small game of cat-and-finger, the baby's eyes were eventually drawn to the sight of Angella's warm face as she giggled to the winged mother of one. To Angella's delight, to her enjoyment, the infant began to reach for her smiling face, curious over it as her tiny fingers wiggled back and forth in an attempt to reach it. "Ehehhehh!"

The queen was a little surprised before giving a soft smile, raising her closer to face. "Hello there, little one. Did you want to say "hi" to me? I bet you did." The queen cooed, finding more and more amusement and adoration for the infant as she continued to playfully pat at her face, feeling like nothing more than a gentle leaf striking against her.

The king sighed at the sight of the two with a small smile, one he knew wouldn't last very long. As much as he would rather spend the time watching the two, being reminded of all the time he found Glimmer with her mother like this, he knew there was a job to be done, and a mission to be completed. With a heavy heart, Micah made his way over to his queen, followed by his captain of the guard and the two guards behind her.

"Angie, I'm sorry, but... We can't find anyone... or her family." Micah stated against his wishes.

Angella frowned at the information as she closed her eyes, opening them back to the young infant that continued to make Angella's day in these harsh environments. "Such a young girl... To be separated from her family... She can't be much older than Glimmer..." It was unfair. Beyond unfair, in her opinion.

She knew of the harshness of life, everyone did when they reached a certain age. As fair as life could be, it could also prove to be unfair at times to even the most luckiest of individuals, the proudest of people. At some point, something big was taken from someone's life. Whether that be a close relative or a pet, or even one's entire family. It a tragic lesson of life that nearly everyone had to deal with.

But this? This? This was beyond the realms of unfair. There was no fairness to it. For a child as young as this one to be taken away from a family, from a life, that it never grew up knowing about, was heartbreaking. She didn't know who she was, the queen didn't know who she was, for that matter, nor what her origins were. For all the queen knew, this wasn't even her home. It could've been a village her family was visiting. Given the location she found her in, it could've been a daycare for all that mattered.

For the rest of this child's life, she would grow up knowing nothing about her family. Not who they were, not where they lived, or even what they looked like. There was nothing Angella could find as a keepsake from them. All she knew was that they must've looked like this child herself, and that was the most obvious of information to deal with.

It was unfair, in its purest, simplest, form. And Angella couldn't stand for that.

"I want to take her back to Bright Moon." She decreed.

"Of course we will, Angie." Micah nodded in full agreement. "We'll help her find a proper home, and a loving family-"

"No!" Angella forcefully interrupted, taking a step back. "I mean... I want to take her in... as our family."

The king took this in with a gust of surprise as his jaw opened a little, and closed it with a crane of remorse.

"Angie, we can't just take her in, she's not ours. We already have a child of our own-"

"Then we'll raise them both!" Angella was starting to fret. Could he not see how the child needed them? Needed her?

"She's not royal blood." Micah tried to explain. How could Angella propose something as preposterous as this? It's not like he had anything against the child. In fact, he would've been more than willing to accept the child if the circumstances of his life were any different, like if they weren't of royalty, for example. "Unless something happened to Glimmer, she would never ascend the throne, and she could never use magic." With a pained expression on his face, he turned his gaze to Captain of the Guard, the very same woman who gave a nod in understanding as she approached the child.

The Captain didn't feel any better about her options, but the king's words were absolute. Even if it went on to burden her later in life, she had to think of everyone within her Guard first before all else, save for the royal family.

It was the sight of the approaching pair of arms that caught the young infant's attention. From the small sucking on her own fingers, her eyes caught on to the sight of the approaching arms, the very eyes that quickly watered as she waved her arms to Angella as if she knew what was happening. "Eghhhhhhhhhehehehhh!"

"Micah!" Angella yelled as she pulled away from the captain. The captain stopped herself as she watched the display, noticing the queen unfurling her wings out of pure emotion and protection for th young one.

"Angella-"

"Micah, please!" Angella begged as she cooed to the crying infant, stroking her cheek softly until her cries were reduced to hiccups. "She's already had so much of her world taken from her. I just... I just want to give her something good in return. Something better..." The king sighed silently as he stared at her, contemplating his thoughts.

She was always stubborn when it came to matters like this. Well, not matters where she picks up a child lost in the woods out of the blue and suddenly decides to adopt her. That'd be crazy even for him to deal with on a daily basis. It was more along the lines of how protective she got or determined she was to defend what she thought was right, that were right, in her eyes.

She wanted to provide for the child, to give her a happier life than the one she was currently living. Anything the kingdom could provide for her would've been more than enough, yet Angella wasn't satisfied with it. She wanted to raise the child under her own roof, her own castle, where she knew she would be nurtured and cared for for all her life.

She also knew the risks and dilemmas that came with it. What would the child do when she found out she wasn't theirs? How could she respond when she discovers she has no possible capacity for magic, if she was ungifted, at that? How would she relate to people that were so different from her on a daily basis, knowing the stares and the stress it would bring her when she became more self-aware of her surroundings.

It was moments like these when Angella's stubbornness really shined through between the both of them. It was also for the very reason he fell in love with her in the first place, and he wanted her to always remember that.

Growing a small comforting smile, the king finally rested his hand on her shoulder. "Angella..." For a moment, she worried over what he would have to say, what other possible details that would bring down her happiness. "Then we'll have to think of a name for her."

It was with those words that her world brightened up again, beaming with warmth and love for her husband and for her newfound daughter, smiling back to the girl who returned to sucking on her fingers. "She's so young and energetic... and she has a tail."

Micah smiled down in acceptance to his new daughter as she stared up at him in wonder. Grinning a little, he wagged a finger in front of her face softly, already being taken in as the girl attempted to reach for it, kicking in her swaddle cloth blanket as she wanted to eat the terrible fingeroo with all she's got!

"Such a feisty little girl. Like a cat... Raaaah!" Micah teased, giving of a playful roar to the girl. While most children might've been spooked by such a thing at a young age, the girl only increased her followed giggling as she reached for the father figure, all while the Captain of the guard smiled, happy for them.

It was at that moment that moment that a flash of inspiration came to Angella's mind as her smiled deepened. "Micah, that's a perfect name!" Angella announced as she smiled back to the infant, one who grabbed the tip of her finger's knuckle before nibbling on it. "Our little Catra..."

...

"... So... That's... That's how you found me?" Catra wondered as the story came to an end.

"We searched high and low around the island as much as we could for any of your people, but we couldn't find anyone." Angella said with a small smile, continuing to stand at her daughter's side as she stroked her head. She cusped Catra's chin gently in her hand, raising the girl's curious face to meet her gaze. "But not a single day has passed where I don't thank my blessings for finding you."

"Both of us, at that." Micah smiled warmly, patting her back. "I've been thankful for every day I've lived that I listened to your mother. Raising you and Glimmer both has been the greatest experience of my life."

"It... It has?" Catra questioned, earning a nod from her father. Still trying to process all of this, Catra stared back into the picture in her hands, trying to process everything that had been revealed to her.

What was all of this? Like, what was all of this? She was sure of these events she was told several times before, she knew these people with all of her heart, so why was it so strange and confusing to just accept them? Did she want to accept them? Was the problem that she was having a hard time coming to terms with what she couldn't accept?

Noticing the silence emanating her animal daughter, the queen gave her a soft look with a hopeful brow, drawing Catra's attention again as she spoke. "So? Do you remember anything, now?" She hoped. Catra stared back into her eyes.

She wanted the best for her, they both did, all of them did if she included Glimmer, the very one who looked the most hopeful that Catra could remember. And Catra didn't want to bring them down as she stared at the picture again.

She couldn't remember any of these events of her passed that collided with another life of hers, a life of hers she wasn't sure if she had before in the first place! When she thought about it like that, she felt really sorry for her parents. To put them through all of this, to make them think that she had forgotten all about them for some reason. Maybe she should just try? Just accept it for a change to see what happened.

Maybe if just tried to forget about these bizarre thoughts in her head or ignored them, she could-

"Oh!" Catra finally spoke up as a smile rose over her face and her eyes. "I remember something now!" Her parents were delighted to hear the words coming from her lips with pride.

"Really now?" Angella asked curiously. "And what do you remember?"

"Like, uh... L-Like the time when we were little! And there was a thunderstorm!"

...

(A/N: The Following Flashback has been provided by Petie doon from Instagram)

Dark and stormy was the night, as heavy rain poured down on the kingdom of Brightmoon. Inside the glowing castle, It was Queen Angella's turn to watch over the two princesses for the night. Here in the children's messy bedroom, Angella sat at the edge of their fluffy bed, looking half amused at the scene in front of her; Ranging from ages three to four, princess Glimmer and princess Catra held up pillows in weapon position, as they chased each other around the carpeted floor.

"Gwive it up! Horde Swcum!" Glimmer shouted, holding her pillow up in triumph.

"Glimmer!" Angella exclaimed.

Glimmer blushed, glancing over at her mother. "Sorry." Glimmer turned back to Catra. "Gwive it up! Horde Swider!"

Angella smiled, rolling her eyes. Oh the ignorance of youth.

A wide smirk spread over Catra's small face. She dropped her pillow, raised her stubby arms, and opened her mouth wide.

"rawwwrh." A small kitty yelp came out. Catra paused, then tried a bit louder. "rawwwrh." Nope. Still squeaky and adorable.

As Catra continued to squeak, Glimmer clutched her tummy, bursting into laughter. Catra blushed. She tried roaring some more but it only resulting in more squeaks. Glimmer laughs subsided as she smirked back at her older sister. As best as the infant could do, Glimmer bent her arms and raised her arms, getting into a fighting pose. Catra did the same. Both were ready for the fight of their life.

*CRACKLE!—CRACKLE!—BOOOOOOM!*

Lighting and Thunder slashed into the night outside.

"Waaaaahahahaha!" Both toddlers' cries of fear filled the room. Glimmer and Catra both scrambled over to Angella, flinging their arms around her waist and sticking their heads under her arms. They both whimpered in terror as the rain continued to pour outside.

"There. There. Shhhh," Angella assured with a calm smile. She waved a comforting hand over both girls' heads. "It's alright. Shhh. Every thing is fine."

With grace, Angella gently took both girls into her arms and rocked them back and forth. As she gazed down at the precious faces of her daughters, she couldn't help but smile. She began to sing them a little lullaby.

"...Hush my Little Darlings, Don't Fear and Don't Frown." Angella sang. "..I'll always Swoop In, Whenever You're Down...Hush My Sweet Darlings, No Need to Be Afraid...Tomorrow, We can Eat Treats on The Sunny Bay."

Glimmer's and Catra's eyelids started to grow heavy as Angella continued rocking them back and fourth. The queen carried them over to right side of their bed. She laid both their heads down on a pillow and gently pulled the covers over them. Angella then laid between the two infants, her wings covering them as well.

"..Hush My Little Darlings, We're All Here and Safe...Now You can Sleep, and Dream of Butterfly Cakes..."

Glimmer and Catra weakly chuckled at the last note. What even was a butterfly cake? Soon, their minds begin to slowly sag, and their eyes closed shut. Angella smiled at her little angels. She reached over and kissed Glimmer on her forehand, stroking her cheek. Angella then turned to Catra. Suddenly, Catra sprung up from her spot and wrapped her tiny arms around Angella's neck in embrace.

"I love you Mommy." Catra quietly muttered in the Queen's ear.

Angella paused, letting the moment sink in. She put a soft gloved hand behind Catra's back.

"...I love you too, Catra." She whispered.

Catra released Angella from her grip with a large smile on her face. Catra sat down and pulled the covers back over her. Angella ruffled the little magicat's mane. Catra giggled under her breath as Angella kissed her forehead goodnight. Catra then laid back and soon fell asleep, just as Glimmer did. Angela silently looked at both her girls, and just like them, gently closed her eyes.

...

"Exactly!" Glimmer squealed with delight, happy that she remembered something at long last.

How could Catra forget about something like that? It was a touching memory of hers that she never wanted to forget! She remembered how it felt to be comforted in her mother's arms, how she stayed with them all throughout the night, and how Catra... how wonderful it made Catra feel, to know she was cared for and loved by such a caring mother.

Gazing around the room, Catra brought herself over to a nearby large window along the wall, one with a perfect view gazing all over Bright Moon, a view which made her smile. Come to think of it, why was she having these troubling thoughts to begin with? They were annoying, they were a pain, they weren't anything she wanted to deal with. And why should she?

Here, she had a family that loved her, not some fantasy or nightmare that got in the way of that. She was a sister, one that was looked up to by a younger sibling, someone she grew up with since she was a baby. She would be loved and nurtured everyday of her life here, and as long as she was around, she was going to make sure her family was safe, now and forever.

It's a good thing she finally realized how phoney those weird thoughts she had were pointless. When she thought about it more, she couldn't even remember half the reasons she was worried in the first place. It's like those thoughts didn't even exist to begin with. Heh, actually, that was a fact. She knew they didn't exist at all. They were just some phoney thoughts of a nightmare she had, and that's why she couldn't remember them anymore.

Tapping her claws against the windowsill of the frame, she turned her head back as her ears lowered a little. "So... I'm Princess Catra, right?"

"Tch, no, you're Princess Frog." Glimmer teased, covering her mouth. "Can't you tell? Of course you're a princess." She squeed, teleporting to Catra's side.

"And even though you may not be of royal birth, your voice shall carry the same weight around here as any one of us." Angella decreed, smiling as she walked to her daughters.

"Not that we have to remind you, of course." Micah commented, approaching from the other side. "You're our daughter, and you always will be."

"We love you, sis." Glimmer smiled. Before Catra knew it, she was embraced by Glimmer's comforting arms as she brought her in for a tight hug. "That's all there is to it." Following this, Catra became even more surprised, and accepted, as her parents kneeled down to their level, embracing both their daughters and each other in a loving hug.

Catra... didn't know what to say. She felt a tear forming in the corner of her eye for some reason that should've been obvious to her. She couldn't say the words as they were lost in her throat, and she didn't need them. With slow, trembling arms, she embraced her family in turn, smiling with acceptance over them as the family she always knew and loved.

This was her life. This was always her life. Her little sister of a few months younger, her stout father who always did his best to be professional and joined in on Catra and Glimmer's wacky antics growing up, and a loving mother who was there for all of Catra's and Glimmer's laughters and cries, for nearly every day of their lives.

This was her reality. There wasn't anything else out there for her. She wouldn't accept anything else out there if it was offered to her. She was a Princess of Bright Moon, a daughter to King Micah and Queen Angella, and even had a somewhat annoying aunt Castaspella that she loved all the same.

Here, she was happy.

Here, she was content.

Nothing else mattered.

*swiff*

Even if she thought she heard something from behind her, turning around to see nothing pass her gaze, before smiling back to the family she embraced. For a second there, she thought she saw a small figure run past the window in the corner of her eye, but she knew it was more of her mind playing tricks on her.

Because, again, nothing else mattered...

...

A/N: Ah, it was such a fun thing to write (and tiring and long too T_T) Lol, but really, I had fun, especially with the flashbacks.

Speaking of which, as you might've guessed, yes! People can, in fact, contribute to this episode :D! As petie has shown, I'm accepting any and all scene ideas people send me. That means of course people will be incharge of writing it out themselves for me to post on my end. With a handful of parts to this (possibly 5 but at least 4) there is a golden opportunity for people to provide flashbacks of Catra's new life and when I say flashbacks I mean "flashbacks" (the non-real ones).

To take part of this fun little tribute to the fans and be recognized for your scenes and contributions, it's verily simple- send me a pm with a small scene in it of a flashback. that's it ^^ Only rules are they can take place at any point of Catra's "New life" from age 1 to 16/present (or however old they are). I will accept any and all scenes people send me at this time as long as they are sent before the episode is over. This is my way to pay back all the fans for supporting me for 100+ chapters, and its the least I can do ^^

And while you're at it, if you know a reliable power source of Ancient First Ones Tech you can send me, I would very much appreciate that too for no particular reason you need to be concerned about :D...

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to eat you- I mean see you soon!

Chapter 109: S3 Ep 5: A Parting Wish Part 1 Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 17.5K Pre-A/N's! Hot dang! Another long-sized chapter made by yours truly ^^ Not much to say about this one except I truly welcome everyone to enjoy the flashback endeavors that are soon to follow as well as everything else! This'll kick off more of our flashbacks down the middle as we see what some of the fellow fans have come up with ^^! For those who have sent over messages of their various scenes, they have all been credited accordingly before the start of each one. This is as fun for me as it is for the rest of you as we get to see the various shenanigans Catra has gone through "growing up" with her new family. It almost makes you ignore the fact that... well... if i said it i'd be too heartbroken to continue X...

Well with that said, enjoy!

...

*Creeeak*

"Eh-Hem." Adora took a deep breath as she cleared her throat, trying to regain her regular composure before stepping inside of Hordak's Inner Sanctum. "L-Lord Hordak?" She called out, feeling a strange twinge of tension as she walked through the doors.

Examining the room from top to bottom, the stairs well polished and the throne was unoccupied, save for the natural sleeping imp that was resting curled up on the chair. It was a bit of a cute sight for the blonde Force Captain and Commander, but sightseeing would have to wait. She had a job to do as a respectable member of the Horde.

"Lord Hordak?" She called out again, reaching his personal lab as she followed the sounds of metal being welded and wires being crossed as usual.

Sure enough, standing at the center of his lab stood the proud leader of the Horde, the one Adora always respected and felt proud to work for every day of her career. To know someone as peaceful, someone as understanding, as the leader he is today. It was the one thing Adora always had to look forward to, and nothing she regretted.

"Um, ehem..." Adora took another deep breath as she entered the lab by a few feet, giving him his usual salute before bowing respectfully as always. "G-Good morning, Lord H-Hordak." She greeted with confusion. For some reason her heart was racing at the thought of interacting with the leader of the Horde in any regard, and not because of excitement or honor. It was something fearful to her.

"Force Captain." Hordak stood at attention as he set his tools aside of his station. The sound of his sudden stillness made Adora's heart tremble, a single bead of sweat dripping from her forehead. "You're an hour late."

"F-Forgiveness, Lord Hordak." Adora apologized, standing again as she placed her hands behind her back professionally. "I-I was just side-tracked by everyone who had questions for me and-"

"Save it." He interrupted as he raised a hand. "You needn't explain yourself to me."`

Adora's eyes trembled a bit as she saw the leader of the Horde approaching a lever, a device familiar to her on a handful of forgotten occasions. "W-What are you doing?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm doing, Adora. Don't play coy with me." He spoke with a dreadful tone as his hands clasped around the tip of the lever.

All at once, Adora only knew fear and dread for a full second.

...

-the air was being sucked out of the girl's lungs as she struggled to breathe, Adora gasping for air as she grabbed at her throat. The field around her was being affected-

"-you proved me wrong, Adora." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as he grabbed her by the throat-

"-one thing I hate worse than failures, its soldiers, with LIMITED! LOYALTY-!"

...

"NO, STOP!" Adora yelled for dear life as she raised a hand towards the lever, too little, too late.

*crank!*

Hordak just stared at the girl as he tried to examine every detail of her bizarre outburst from the tone of her voice to her facial expression. "What's wrong?" He asked in a calmer tone.

Adora blinked as she stood frozen, hand still outstretched as she took in her surroundings.

Why did she suddenly scream like that? Like she was fearful for something about to happen with her life? All around her, things appeared to be as normal as they should be with not a spot out of place. There wasn't some strange force field around her, she could feel herself breathing normal, and there was less an an angered expression and more of a curious look on the leader's face for once for the short lifetime that Adora's known him.

*creeeak*

Wait, scratch that. Something did happen around here, and was continuing to happen. From the ceiling above Adora watched as a large mechanical storage unit descended. It was shaped like a large capsule, one naturally made out of pure metal, with a large screen-like covering to the front of it where she could see a cloud of cold steam pouring from it. Around it were dozens upon dozens of colored wiring, each fashioned and circulating electricity from the surrounding room.

Okay, so it wasn't... whatever Adora felt afraid of earlier. It wasn't anything near whatever her mind had conjured up previously. Did that give her any less reason to be scared of it, though? It came in a shape that almost resembled a casket with rounded edges and corners all around it. Maybe it was some sort of torture device meant to stuff a fully grown human inside to do who-knew-what to them. Or maybe she was just overthinking things for some reason that didn't need an explanation.

Whatever the case, it drew Adora's attention enough that she didn't notice Lord Hordak's presence until he was right behind her. "Marvelous, isn't it?" He asked, standing behind her with his hands behind his back. "It's coming closer along to completion with each passing day." Adora noticed a simple smile on the leader's face as he gazed at the device. "Soon you'll be ready for it."

"Ready for it?" Adora questioned as the leader walked ahead, examining the large black capsule as he brushed the tip of his fingers against it. "Ready for what?"

"What do you think, Adora?" Hordak grinned(?) back. "Your gift." Reaching to the side of the large capsule, Adora watched as Hordak pulled a small switch, slowly revealing the contents of the mysterious capsule.

*fffffffft*

Adora shielded her eyes with her arm as the capsule let off a loud rush of steam as the capsule opened itself. From the front screens that slowly peeled away into the capsule's interior one piece at a time, Adora bore witness to the wondrous invention and gift that Hordak had supposedly made for her. Whatever it was must've been hot if the trails of steam rushing out were any indication. With the last clouds of steam evaporating from the capsule's interior, Adora's eyes widened as she bore witness to its contents.

Within the center of the casket lied a particular suit, one meant to be crafted and flexible like any human's skin. Covering from her ankles up to her neck, the metallic suit gave an impression of power and wonder to anyone who would behold it.

Silver pauldrons lined along the shoulder that stretched past by the tip of her shoulders by several inches, layered several times atop of each other. The metallic surface of the gauntlets it came with were enhanced to increase one's strength tenfold, allowing any regular person to do the impossible. Within the center of the suit lied a tabard that went past her waist, with the familiar symbol of the Horde Insignia centered within the banner.

It was a familiar sight to Adora, despite just seeing it for the first time. Along with the parts that were familiar to her, she also noticed some distinct differences from it compared to... whatever else she was thinking of. For starters, it definitely had a distinct difference in color, sporting a bit of a dark red tint to the edges along the suit while giving off a brighter red throughout the rest. Along with it, housed two retractable curved blades along the sides of the arm, ones that could be swiftly drawn out and pulled into again at a moment's notice.

It was a set of armor that was made to be all but intimidating. It deeply housed a great power within the suit for any who would wear it, so that all would know the might of the Horde if one dared to make enemies of them.

And it was perfect for Adora's size.

"Th... That's for me?" Adora stuttered, staring in amazement at the genuine article. "You made me a-"

"Exosuit." Adora almost jumped from fright, a fright that would've been well-earned if the situation had differed from its predecessors. Turning her head back up with a curious fascination, Adora saw an actual smile of pride on Hordak's face as he patted her shoulder. "It will be yours one day."

"Y-You... Made something... for me?" Adora's heart paced rapidly at the very thought. He made something just for me... It was unheard of, to say the least. Never in a million years did Adora think she would be bequeathed with a gift from Hordak himself, nor that he would look upon her with a sense of pride for all she's done. "I-I can't accept this, My Lord." Adora felt too honored by such a thought as she shook her head. "It's too generous."

"You've earned it, Adora." He assured. Walking over to the casket-shaped capsule, he threw the same switch in reverse as Adora watched the capsule close once more. "It would have been yours regardless if the time had come. But your respectable efforts to serve the Horde have impressed me."

"I-I earned it...?" Adora smiled a little. This was almost like a dream come true to her, except it wasn't a dream! It was reality! The Force Captain blushed a little as she squeezed her hands behind her back, shifting her eyes away with a small smile. "Y-You're too kind, My Lord. B-But I haven't really done anything to earn this respect, really."

"Come now, Force Captain, don't be so modest." Hordak said as he pulled the same lever that descended the mysterious capsule. As expected, Adora watched for a bit as the same capsule returned to the pitch black that was the ceiling above before returning her attention to her Lord, watching the fearless leader returning to his technology. "I must admit I had my doubts at first, but you've proven me wrong about you."

"S-Sir, please..." Okay, now it was going from gratitude to embarrassing over how much praise he was giving her. She's never felt anything like this...

Actually, that would be a lie. Of course she knows how sincere and respectful he's been of her work. After all, she's worked at his side everyday, checking in with daily check-ups over her reports for the Horde, her contributions. Even minuscule things like shipment reports and alliance dealings come to him through her everyday.

The more praise he offered her, the more it made her question her own memories. Why couldn't she recall these daily memories until the very moment came up? It was like she was filling in the gaps of the memory as soon as she needed them to appear, somewhere from the back of her mind. Or maybe she was just overthinking all of this?

Yeah, that had to be it. This was how her life was nearly every day in the Horde since working at his side, working as his assistant, his partner. Everyday she continued to impress him and everyday she earned more of his respect through her hard work, her dedication, her-

...

"-Your methods were merely amusing at first, Force Captain, but they've begun to hinder our efforts. I can not have a Force Captain who can not continue to exceed my expectations," she jumped again as he suddenly grabbed her right arm, exposing the little secret she was trying to keep hidden behind her, "or ones that are already falling apart-"

...

-work ethic. Not many people could be as respectful as... as... What was that?

Shaking her head of the brief flash, Adora turned her attention to a certain curiosity forming at the foreground of her mind. "By the way, what did you mean when you said, "it would be mine when the time comes", Lord Hordak?" Hordak stopped at this as he stood in silence. For a moment, Adora fretted she had said something insincere, something that would've made all of this for nothing.

Giving another few seconds of silence, Hordak lifted his head to the side, eyeing Adora through the corner of his right eye. "I believe we've discussed this before, Adora." Hordak said softly as he typed into his console to his left. With another click, Adora approached Hordak's side as a large monitor came down in front of them, displaying a large outline of the Master of the Horde, as well as numerous dark marks over the outline's body. "My defect has continued worsen over the years. My exosuits aren't keeping up with the rest of my body like they used to."

"Aren't keeping..." Her eyes went a little hollow at the mention, fearing the worst of what he meant. "How... How long do you have?" She had to be dreaming this, right? No, not dreaming because that would imply she was happy to hear about this. Nightmare-ing? Maybe that was it. And at the same time, what kind of twisted nightmare was this?! She finally- She had Hordak's respect as she always did, and now she had to be... reminded... of all of this?

Despite the seemingly cruel circumstances, the supposedly-dying leader patted her shoulder, looking at her with confidence. "Nothing you need to worry about anytime soon. The suit I made for you was just a precaution if the inevitable happened sooner than later. I always prepare a contingency in the event of an incident."

That didn't surprise Adora in the slightest. With a leader as glorious and kindhearted as Hordak, it was only natural that he would prepare a backup plan in the event of a loss, something to carry on his will in his fight to Unite Etheria against the princesses. It almost made her wonder if the other Hordak had... the other Hordak... other...

Why did she feel like saying there was another Hordak for a moment?

"Besides, what I'm really trusting you with after I'm gone is this." Typing away at his console with a single hand, Adora watched as the images on the monitors switched again.

Here, they were displaying something vaguely familiar to the Force Captain, something that nearly struck a bullet through her heart at the shock of it. Within the center she saw a swirling pixelated vortex, one pulsating with electricity spiraling forth to all the reaches of the screen. Around the pulsating vortex were several pieces of machinery, almost like a gateway that acted as a door on behalf of the device.

Somehow, Adora already knew what this device was from the moment she laid eyes on it.

"The portal..."

...

"-how do we know it's the portal or the-"

-using her hair to type away madly at the screen. "At most, I've found it'll only slow down the degradation of the-"

"-link with the sword is still unstable. But the result will still be the same and everything will still be-"

...

Hordak gazed upon the blond girl with relative surprised at the mention. "Wh-... Why yes, it is." He grew an expression of wonder as he gazed to the Force Captain. "How did you know this?"

"I..." The blond lowered her head to the side as she looked away. "I don't know... Lucky guess?" She surmised. How did she know about something like this? It was a portal, one of Hordak's latest technological advances... and this was the first time she's seen it in her life.

As opposed to any sort of suspicion or grief he could've thrown at the girl, he instead gave her another smile of pride as he gazed back at the monitor. "Hmph. You're more insightful than I gave you credit for." He complimented once again, earning another grateful smile from the Force Captain with a soft look. "This portal will be the means to achieve our victory. Once it's activated, it will summon the forth the full might of the Horde, wiping out the Rebellion once and for all."

The leader grimaced as he lowered his head again in personal disgust. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a suitable power source, something strong enough to hold it open for more than ten seconds. Despite the technology you've uncovered, I've yet to find a method to harness its power into a functional machine with which to summon my army. At the present rate of progress, I'll never be able to see it to completion before my time is up."

"And... I won't be capable of making it myself, will I?" Adora sighed with regret. She wanted to prove herself more and more to him by the minute, to show Lord Hordak what she was truly capable of. She could fight, she could think things through, she had the drive to unite Plumeria and The Kingdom of Snows with the Horde. But no matter how resourceful she could be, she lacked the immense brainpower to even think about where to begin constructing a portal such as this.

"Unfortunately, you are correct in that matter." He regretted to inform. "The physics of it alone would take years to even comprehend, let alone create." While the circumstances of it might've seemed bitter at first, Adora was still surprised to find Hordak placing a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her with pride. "But I am confident, if anyone can find a way, it will be you, Adora."

"..." Adora didn't know what to say.

She felt like crying from sheer happiness at that moment, a feeling she wanted to capture forever, and an experience she felt like she would never relive. This was one of the greatest moments of Adora's life. Plain and simple.

To work everyday giving her all for the Horde, to work side by side with the leader himself, one who continued to show his pride and respect for Adora's abilities like this. It was heartwarming to experience, and even more to bare. This was a day that Adora never wanted to forget, never wanted to picture her life without.

He trusted her to take over the Horde in the event that something unfortunate happened to him. He wanted her to continue his research and development into this portal technology, to somehow call forth and find a way to summon the rest of Lord Hordak's army from who knows where. With it, it would ensure their victory against the Rebellion, and help to unite the rest of Etheria under a single banner.

If she wasn't sure it would ruin the moment, she was just about ready to hug from from the sheer beauty of the feeling welling up in her chest right now.

"If you've nothing else to report for today, then you may take your leave for the time being. I'll be running more tests for the portal this afternoon." He instructed, returning to the equipment he was working on as Adora gave him a respectful salute.

"Yes, Lord Hordak." His faithful and trusted assistant nodded as she took her leave, approaching the door. It was as she nearly took her first step away from the lab that he almost forgot something. "Oh, and Adora?" He called back, catching the girl's attention as she grabbed the side of the entryway. "Well done with your work with The Kingdom of Snows." He smiled, earning a just as bright grin from Adora. "I look forward to the next kingdom you bring under our side."

"And don't forget Plumeria." Adora eagerly reminded, wanting to make sure Lord Hordak knew all of her contributions within the last few days.

"... What's Plumeria?"

"It's..." Adora blinked to herself. "It's uh... Um... some thing I heard of this..." Huh... come to think of it, what was Plumeria? It sounded familiar, and she said it for certain as if she just knew it. So why couldn't she recall what this "Plumeria" was? "I'll... I'll look into it personally, My Lord." With another bow, Adora took her leave of her master as she made her way out of the sanctum. She would have to figure out this strange Plumeria at some point after her appointment with the Locker Room that Scorpia wanted to see.

Staring off to where the girl left for a bit, Hordak gave a small shrug before returning to his duties. While Adora had her weird quirks to her, she was nothing less than useful to him and the Horde, and his confidence in her ability was unquestionable.

...And yet, he had to wonder... How did she know about the portal he'd been working on? Perhaps it was a thought for another time, he decided, as he returned to his work. With so much to do, there was only so many matters that he could be bothered with, and people he could put up with that would waste his time, save for Adora.

And all throughout the spectacle that had been bore witness, neither of the two were aware of the mysterious absence of a certain blue imp upon the throne, or the lonesome shadow that continued to follow Adora's path...

...

"Mmmh..." Catra mellowed to herself in delight as she continued to dine at the table with her family. With her mom and dad at the head, and her sister, Glimmer, to the left of her, things couldn't get any better than how they were now.

Looking back on it, it had been a rather crazy morning for her. To think, for one moment, that she actually forgot all about her family and her daily life because of some stupid dream or nightmare. She didn't know what to say to herself, how to describe how bad a dream could be where it made her forget the very people that loved her unconditionally like this. It was baffling, and downright stupid, to her.

For some reason the very moment she woke up she felt like everything was off. The room she was in, the sister she now had, the supposed father she thought was never around. How could she have forgotten all this great and wonderful stuff at her side like this? She couldn't, or at least shouldn't! They loved her like a daughter, even if they were unrelated by blood.

Everyday they raised her since finding her at Beast Island, they treated her as one of their own. She grew up together with Glimmer, enjoyed various antics around the castle growing up, and had a bunch of laughs and tears all throughout their lives. It almost made her feel a little guilty that she could forget such a thing like that, an obvious, simple, thing.

Yet, the part that still bothered her was the unknown question. Why did it bother her to begin with? Why did she feel like everything was out of the ordinary? Did she just wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Considering her delightful sister surprised her with a water balloon this morning, it wouldn't have surprised her.

Sure, she still had some apparent misgivings here and there, but overall, she loved this life, and she loved the people at her side. And the more she came to accept the world around her the easier it was to forget those troubling thoughts, the very things that kept her from appreciating her everyday life.

Like now for instance. She was actually enjoying herself as she still wore her matching PJs that Glimmer was wearing, eating a delicious buffet of breakfast that consisted of near anything she could ask for. Sausage, bacon, eggs, yogurt. pancakes, juice, grapes, and the list went on. Angella- she means her mother was also still dressed for bed as everyone appeared to be taking it easy for the morning.

The only one who did seem dressed up for the day was their father, King Micah, and it wasn't as big a surprise. Even if he wasn't born of royalty, he took his job and professionalism rather seriously.

And by seriously, that meant about twice the maturity of Catra and Glimmer together, which really wasn't saying a lot.

"Pssst." Catra's ears twitched as she heard the strange noise. "Pst, hey, sis!" Glimmer whispered to her from the left. She eyed her parents with a grin as she directed Catra's eyes to them where she noticed they were both eating with their eyes closed.

Confused about the strange attention she brought up, Catra's eyes were directed to Glimmer's hands as she saw a spoon in her left hand and a single grape in her right. Before she could question the cogwheels spinning in Glimmer's head, he cheeky princess opened fire, flinging the grape squarely at her father's throat.

"Urk-! Ough-!" Micah coughed, rubbing his throat as the grape was struck straight in his larynx.

"Sis, I can't believe you!" Glimmer accused teasingly. "How could you throw a grape at our wonderful and smart-looking father like that?"

"Wai- What?!" Catra yelped, in complete disbelief that she'd have on pulled over on her like this. "That wasn't me! That was-"

"Oh, here you go again," Glimmer sighed, innocently rolling her eyes, "trying to blame the younger sibling for something you CLEARLY did." She sniffed dramatically. "It's almost cruel how you can blame your sister for everything, isn't it, mom?"

"Mhhm, I suppose so." Angella appeared to agree. What Catra at first took with disbelief soon turned to curiosity as she noticed her mother smirking with one eye open, holding a cup of coffee in front of her face. "Especially since Catra didn't appear to have any grapes to begin with this morning."

"Huh?" Glimmer blinked as she examined her plate and Catra's right next to her. Out of all her cunning and clever planning, there was one oversight that Glimmer apparently fell victim to; her inability to check and see if Catra took any grapes herself for breakfast. "O-Oh... I guess she just swiped it from my plate when I wasn't looking."

"You mean like how you immediately accused her of throwing the food instead of her accusing you when she threw it?" Micah pointed out with a raised brow.

"Busted." Catra smirked, stabbing at a piece of sausage with her own claw.

"Eh heh... sorry, dad." Glimmer apologized, rubbing the back of her head.

"Hmph. Well it was a simple grape, sweetie," Micah spoke in understanding, "so it's quite alright. I only hope that you remember this lesson to-" Micah froze as his eyes widened with shock. "Girls, look out! A Horde Spy!"

"Huh?" Both daughters turned to their backsides to see the expectant spy behind them. All they were met with was confusion at the very wall that stood fifteen feet behind them without a spy in sight.

*tack*

"Ah-!" And Glimmer immediately regretted it as she pulled at the back of her hair. The moment she so much as considered questioning her father at the missing spy, she felt her hair being pelted with a very greasy piece of sausage, one that appeared to be caught in the small tangle of hair she had.

"Whoops, my mistake." Micah apologized, taking his cup of coffee. "It was just the wall."

"Mmmmh..." Glimmer grumbled a little as she finally untangled the greasy slice of sausage from her hair.

Seeing the poor and defenseless younger sister that was hers being assaulted by their ruthless father, Catra took it upon herself to load up her own canon, or spoon in this case, as she gathered a large helping of yogurt within her spoon. She was already grinning ear to ear with a smirk as she pulled the spoon back.

"Returning fire!" Catra yelled before launching the missle at the target.

"Ah-!"

*sheem*

*splat*

"Uh-oh..." Catra mumbled as her ears lowered.

When was the best time to call it quits with this food fight? Was it when Glimmer struck her father in the throat with a single grape and tried to blame it on Catra? Was it when her father got revenge by flinging back a piece of sausage into her hair, greasing it up and getting it stuck in her hair for a bit? Perhaps it was when Catra returned fire to avenge her fallen sister by throwing a large glob of her orange yogurt at her father's face?

Or perhaps it was when Micah instinctively summoned a protective barrier to his rune using his magic, and inadvertently splattered the contents of the yogurt on the right side of Angella's face. Everyone stared at the surprised and slightly miffed mother who wanted no part in this foodfight as she glanced between her children and her nervous husband, the latter of which slowly dissolved the magical shield as he held his hands in the air.

Giving another glance at the flinger of said yogurt, Catra slowly drooped her ears lower as she chuckled nervously with a smile. "Eh heh... heh... oops?" She didn't know what to expect of her mother as she gently wiped her face clean with a napkin. Was she going to yell at her? Going to ground her? Or would she blame the person who put up the shield to defend himself from a harmless piece of produce in the first place?

"Now, Catra, I believe I've taught you countless times to set a better example as the older sibling." Angella reminded as she closed her eyes. "It's improper to set a bad example for the younger one, no matter how close your ages are."

"Mhhm, you're mother's right, sweetheart." Micah nodded in full agreement as he crossed his arms. "You must always be setting the better example for your sister."

"Mmmmh..." Catra moaned with a small pout, lowering her eyes with her ears. Typical. Someone else starts the fight and she ends up being the one getting in trouble for-

"Oh, Micah! You got a bit of it on your face, too!" Angella stated with a look of surprise.

"Really?" He wandered his hand around his face, trying to find any trace of the supposed yogurt covering his face. "Where? I don't feel any-"

*flap*

*splat!*

In a rather shocking turn of events, to Catra that is, the entire conversation took a complete 180* on her and the direction she thought it would follow. Instead of continuing to harbor blame for her daughter for setting a bad example, the queen used her husband's lowered guard to her own advantage. With his hand still to his face, he was powerless to conjure up another shield as Angella spread her right wing across the table, flinging the entire plate's contents squarely into his face.

"Right there, darling. Can't you see it?" Angella chuckled as she covered her mouth.

"Pffft ahahaahahaha!" The two siblings couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of their father's plate-covered face, especially after it slowly slid off and fell against the table again. By now, their father was covered in several small splatters of eggs, had a slice of bacon dangling over his right ear, and had a large mound of a pancake plastered over his forehead.

As opposed to getting mad, as Catra first expected, he instead partook in the bouts of laughter following the room, taking in the small spectacle of the food fight they just had with stride.

How could Catra have forgotten her parents playfulness towards her and her sister? Sure, they had plenty of times when they were stern about something, usually when it involved the girls' health and lives they put at risk, but whenever it came to something simple to cleanup or easy to pass off, they were always enjoyable enough to join in on the fun.

As well as the trouble.

...

(A/N: The following has been provided by Star Saber)

A five-year-old Catra and four-year-old Glimmer stood before their parents. The King and his hands on his hips and the Queen had her arms crossed, both frowning.

"We told you both there was to be no snacking before dinner." Angella said, her voice holding the authority of both a Queen and a mother. "No more than ten minutes later, we receive word from the kitchen staff that an entire tray of fresh jelly tarts had gone missing."

"So we thought to ourselves," the king placed a hand under his chin like he was thinking, "who loves jelly tarts?"

"Everyone." Glimmer pointed out.

Angella raised an eyebrow, "But not everyone loves them so much that theyd steal them from the kitchen."

"Why do you think it was us?" Catra asked indignantly, almost insulted by the accusation.

"You both still have jelly on your faces."Micah said bluntly.

Catra and Glimmer both indeed had bits of jelly around their mouths. The two sisters looked at each other and saw the undeniable evidence against them "oh"

"hmm," The king knelt down and looked at their hands. "Well we didnt catch you red handed, "there was no jelly on their hands. "But we did catch you red faced." he laughed at his own joke as girls groaned. He then took out a handkerchief and and began to wipe the jelly off their faces.

"Do you two have anything to say for your selves?" Angella asked them.

"We... were framed?" Catra offered, but the Queens expression made it clear she wasn't buying it.

"We're sorry." Glimmer apologized lowering her head. "The jelly tarts just smelled really good."

"Yeah, they really did." Catra never forgot the first time she smelled jelly tarts, she knew right away that she had to have one. She wished she had known to let it cool down first, but it was worth it. It was like she could still smell them. "Wait," she paused as she picked up that very scent. it was coming from ... the king?

"I know it seems unfair but snacks will ruin your appetite." Micah said as he wiped away the last of the jelly on the girls faces and was about to put the handkerchief away. "No matter how tasty they-" his words of wisdom her cut off as Catra pulled on his shirt, causing several jelly tarts to fall out and onto the floor. "...are."

Catra "I knew i smelled them!"

The king blinked and looked up at his wife, who was frowning at him even more than she had been their daughters. "It seems the girls are not the only ones who need to explain themselves."

"Angie i can see that your not happy, but if you give me a chance i can explain everything in a calm civilized manner." Micah said calmly before clearing his throat. "You see, the three of us have to... Run Away!" Within the blink of an eye, the king scooped up Catra and Glimmer in his arms and took off running down the hallway as quickly as his legs could carry him.

The Queen stood there a for few moments in surprised as she processed what had just happened. Her husband was guilty of snacking before dinner just like her daughters were, and now the culprit was makng a run for it.

"Micah!" Angella yelled as she spread her wings and flew off down the halls after them.

Further down the hall the king ran continued to run with his daughters in his arms who were starting to giggle at the situation. Their father was now in even more trouble then they were.

"Mommy sounds mad at you." Glimmer observed.

"I know." Micah sighed, knowing full well what was coming after his wife caught up to him. "But they were really good jelly tarts."

"They sure are." Catra took a bite of one.

Micah blinked, "where did you get that?" He looked to see Glimmer eating one to."

"We saved a couple before you and mommy found us." Glimmer explained.

"I see." The kind said, somewhat impressed by the girls sneakiness. "Would you happen to have a spare for a Daddy on the run?"

Glimmer smiled and held up a jelly tart before stuffing it in the kings mouth. he mumbled a "thank you" to which Glimmer simply nodded. "Your welcome."

...

"Is it ready?" Catra asked, peering around the corner of the hallway with a grin.

"You bet."Glimmer replied, peering past her sister's shoulder. "I took all the necessary precautions. You sure this is gonna work?"

"Hey, who's the older sibling here?"

"Who's the one who got their tail stuck in a toilet when they were younger?"

"That was one time!"

"And it's still hilarious! Hahahaha!" The younger sibling couldn't help as she busted a gut a little, laughing at the memory of a certain seven-year-old older sibling who got their tail stuck in the toilet after flushing it. She didn't remember all the specifics, just the fact it took their sister half an hour to get it out again with her parent's help.

"Listen you, I-!" Catra paused as her ears twitched. "Huh! Someone's coming, shush!" Pulling Glimmer back a little, Catra and Glimmer just had the end of their faces peering down the hallway as they watched the door slowly open. It felt nice for Catra to see her sister share her tastes in pranking, which she knew she always did.

Following a lighthearted breakfast and a bit of goofing around, the two siblings got themselves cleaned up for the day, a minor irritation Catra would never get used to due to the water, as they went about their business. With a majority of the day to themselves to spend and a small schedule to keep up with in the afternoon, they couldn't find a better way to spend the rest of the morning other than to partake in their favorite past time.

Pulling pranks on the guards and seeing the looks on their faces.

Getting dressed for the day, Catra was a little surprised by her options of clothing, which wasn't to say she necessarily minded it. With a thin pinkish long-sleeved shirt and a a pair of white full-length jeans, the magicat was ready for anything today, whether it be a day of fun, or an unexpected surprise attack from the Horde. To top it off, she also found she has custom made red shoes specifically made for her. With socks sewn into the inner lining of the shoes, they were made to allow Catra to wear and remove them with ease without getting the claws of her toes caught or tangled up in the strings of her socks.

With Breakfast, cleanup, and clothing done for the day, the two quickly made their way around the castle gathering the necessary preparations and equipment they'd need to begin their day of fun. When everything was planned and prepared, the two just needed to wait for the first of many guards to walk through the doorway to begin their glorious masterpiece.

As Catra's ears picked up, the two watched the slightly-opened door beginning to open further by a good foot as one of the fellow guards made her way through. Before opening it completely, the guard did a quick checkup on the door they passed through, inspecting their surroundings to see if anything or anyone left a nasty little surprise around for their amusement.

Like a pair of princesses who had a habit of pulling pranks on a monthly basis.

As expected, high above the door frame the guard spotted an inconspicuous bucket just lying around and sitting at the top of the door, waiting for anyone foolish or gullible enough to open the door completely. "Really, girls?" The guard sounded unfazed and unsurprised by the certain affair that was in order. "The old "Water bucket over the door" trick? You'd really have to do better than that." He didn't know where the girls were at this moment, only that, wherever they were, Catra could hear them. With a simple sigh, without opening the door completely, the guard casually slid herself between the doorway as she-

*twang*

-set off the real trap from below.

"Hmm?" The guard mumbled as she looked down, noticing the fragile tripwire she had just snapped. The very instant that the guard's attention was preoccupied with the floor, the real trap had already been making its way through the halls.

Following the string to a series of interconnected wires, the guard noticed as they all fed along the floors, up the walls, and to the very ceiling above her. When you were dealing with one princess that could climb atop the walls and over the ceilings with razor-sharp claws and a princess that could teleport wherever she needed to or desired, preforming such feats like this were nothing out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary for the guard was the sight that caused her eyes to widen, letting out a groan as the contents fell above her.

All along the ceiling, connected to various strings that attached to the edges of each one, were a handful of numerous buckets, at least a dozen, that began tilting the very moment the guard set off the trap. By the time she looked up to see the buckets for herself, it was already too late.

One after the other, the numerous buckets began pouring their contents from the ceiling, dousing the guard in an array of liquids and substances that one could find anywhere lying around a house. Honey, water, syrup, juice, milk, buttons, glitter, feathers, strings, anything you could find in the average household. The guard was helplessly soaked and covered in these various contents as she shielded her arms, feeling the items and condiments being poured all over her person.

To make matters worse, for her, the resulting waterfall of non-essentials ended up teetering the poor guard as she took a few steps back, closing the door right behind her int he process and pushing the bucket clear off its hinges as it fell atop the helpless guard. With all the contents that had poured over the guard, it was almost refreshing to find herself now doused in pure, clean water, which helped to wash away the filthy substances that clung to her skin.

Unfortunately, that mattered very little to the guard who had a house's worth of stuff poured over them, tripping them up to walk backwards behind them, being doused again with a deluge of water, and ended up finding a metal bucket stuck over their head now, blinding them in the process.

"Ahhh! Get it off me!" The guard yelped, trying to pry the tight bucket off over her head.

"Bahahahahahahahaha!" Glimmer and Catra bellowed with laughter over their perilous endeavor, holding their sides and their knees as they did. This prank went off without a hitch and then some. Initially, they just expected the guard to fall under the real trap they had set up ahead of the doorway, a trap that she successfully fell into hook-line-and-sinker.

What they didn't expect was for the guard to be flailing backwards as a result and getting the water poured all over themselves in the process. As if it wasn't enough to end with, the fact the very bucket itself fell atop and stuck to their head now was the piece of resistance that surly gave the two siblings something to laugh about. No matter how prepared a guard or family member was within the castle, the girls were almost always one step ahead of them.

"T-That went better than I thought!" Catra yelled, still bellowing with laughter.

"Hahahaha! Di-Did-Did you see the look on her face," Glimmer screamed, wiping a tear against her eyes, "when she saw the-... Uh oh." Noticing the lack of extreme laughter coming from their little sister, Catra quickly looked back, becoming intoxicated with the same look of worry that befell Glimmer's expression.

With all that had gone on with the guard and everything she fell for, the guard was clearly in a state of panic. So much so that, as she continued to try and pry the bucket from her head, she started walking ahead of herself to help loosen the hold it had over her. With one foot after the other, the poor guard was completely unaware of the direction she was going in, or the decorative vase that stood over a tall pedestal right in front of her.

"N-No, no, don't-!"

*crash*

It was too late. By the time the guard could even hear them, they had bumped into the pedestal ahead of them, shaking the large pole with enough force to shake the vase loose from it's standing, and causing it to crash into the ground.

It was only then that the two remembered- it was a very expensive vase.

"...Hey Glimmer? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Like, how we should probably teleport and get out of here before mom or dad find out?"

"Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?" Both girl's froze with fear as they slowly turned around, meeting the stern gaze of a cross-armed mother looking down upon the two.

Gulping a little, Glimmer tried to give her mother an innocent smile as she hid behind Catra. "T-That you love us so much that you wouldn't even consider grounding us in the first place?"

"Well, you got half of that right." Her mother acknowledged raising a brow. "Would you like to guess which?"

"... The part where you're not going to ground us?" Catra guessed with a nervous smile.

All it took was for her mother to point them to their room for the girls to get the gist of it. With a heavy groan, Glimmer teleported the two to their awaiting bedrooms where they would be occupied for the next two hours. The Queen sighed after they left as she dropped her expression, making her way over to a nearby closet to fetch a replica of the exact same face. It was rather fortunate she kept cheap imitations of the real vase down in the treasury or else there really would've been a lot of grounding to raise around here.

She admired the fact that the two siblings got along so well, as did Catra, but she at least wished that the two would spend their time on more recreational activities that didn't require them to prank everyone around the castle every couple of months. While she did appreciate the fact they were pranking others less and less often, she still wished the two would set a better example for themselves and others given their status as princesses.

... Then again, she did have to admit the prank was rather fun to watch.

As for the siblings themselves, they surrendered to their rooms as they both got into their respective beds, waiting around for the two-hour grounding to finally come to an end. Like many people know, the two shared in a lot of things together, from hobbies to personal tastes of food, quirky antics, and their share of the blame when they pulled such a heinous prank on someone who didn't deserve it.

To their mother's eyes anyway.

It also meant that they got to share many events with one another growing up in their lives together, from the he good, silly, and rambunctious, to the annoying, boring, and sometimes horrifying events.

...

(A/N: The following has been provided by Petie Doon)

"NOO!" The seven-year-old Catra screamed as she flailed around, trying to grab at anything she could in the Brightmoon hallways.

"We Won't DO It!" Glimmer cried beside her like any six-year-old who was about to face such a cruel fate.

"You Can't Make US!" "We Have Our Rights!"

"Oh come now!" King Micah of Brightmoon sighed. His two little princesses, now ages seven to eight, continued to struggle. Down the hallways of Brightmoon Castle, Micah was levitating a large magical bubble over his left hand. Inside the bubble, Catra and Glimmer scrambled and floated, trying to escape their current position. But no matter how hard they tried, their efforts are futile.

"It's not the worst thing in the world," Micah argued back at his daughters. "It's certainly not as worst taking a bath," He put on a small smirk as he looked up at his feline daughter. Catra only glared back down at him.

"You wanna bet!" Catra retorted.

"Okay. That's it!" Micah closed his fist, popping the magic bubble. His two daughters feel to the floor with a big clunk. As both got up, Micah pointed a stern figure down at them.

"Now listen here" He commanded. "Both of you are going to stop acting like babies-" Catra stuck her tongue out at him "-And behave yourselves today or else."

He looked sternly down at pair of them, crossing his arms. Catra and Glimmer groaned immaturely. They submitted to defeat.

"Alright fine," Glimmer sighed.

"But does it have to be-" Catra continued, but before she could finish. A yell from down the hallway made her ears sag.

"Where are my little animals?" From around the corner, Castaspella came walking down, eyeing both children a glowing smile. "There you two are!" Castaspella exclaimed.

Catra and Glimmer sighed. "Hi Auntie Casta."

Castaspella walked over and pinching both of their cheeks fiercely. "Look how big both of you have gotten!" She exclaimed with stars in her eyes. Castaspella absent-mindedly poked Glimmer's belly. "In fact, Glimmer, have you considered that diet plan I sent you?"

"AUNTIE!" Glimmer shouted, blushing furiously.

Catra bursted out laughing as Castaspella held a hand to her mouth, chuckling.

"Oh I'm such a tease." Castaspella chuckled. She turned to Catra. "Oh my dear" She stuck a hand through Catra's mane. "When was the last time to got a haircut?"

Catra's laughter abruptly stopped as her eye's widened. Before Catra could respond, Castaspella was pulling her down the hallway.

"Don't worry" Castaspella assured her. "I know a good barber spell we can try. I'll have you looking fabulous in a jiffy."

"What?!" Catra finally exclaimed. "I mean-uh-no I'm fine really-" but her words feel on deaf ears.

Castaspella continue to smile a glowing grin as she also grab Glimmer's arm "And, Glimmer, I have a few new sweaters you can try on as well."

Glimmer gulped. "Uhhhh, that's fine. I'm actually-"

"No need to thank me." Castaspella beamed "I know what a wonderful aunt I am already."

"Wait! No! NOOO!" Unable to stop their aunt as she dragged them off down the hallways, the two sisters let out yells of despair, leaving an uneasy Micah alone in the hallway.

"Hmmm," Micah thought aloud. "Maybe a bath wouldn't have been so bad…"

...

"Haaaaaaaaah!" With a roar, Catra slashed the sandbags with her broadsword one after another. With the bags swinging left and right around the girl, where even a single touch meant she would lose the training session, the magicat kept on guard, swerving and jumping out of the way of the next two incoming bags before slicing the one approaching behind her in half.

As a princess, she was expected to do more than set a proper example, more than take over the duties of her sister if something tragic or unexpected happened to her. She was also expected to be a righteous fighter and a soldier, one that would meet her fellow allies out on the battlefield like any proper and respectful leader should be. It didn't matter how royal they were in blood or law. A true leader knew when to step at the side of their fellow soldiers, even if just to inspire them.

It was also a lot of fun. When she wasn't pulling pranks with her sister, exploring the woods, or just hanging around her, the two sibling spent their time in the training hall, using various punching bags and dummies as test targets to work on their skills. With a severe lack of magic at her disposal, Catra had to rely on her physical prowess and her agility to get the job done. It was actually preferable to her in comparison to using magic since she didn't have to worry about running out of it or needing a recharge anytime soon, even though she still wished she had some sort of power.

With her powers as mighty as only her strength, the magicat practiced weekly, if not daily, within the training halls to hone her abilities. From sword fighting, exercising, knife throwing, the magicat practiced it all. She wanted to make sure that she was capable of fighting on her own as a princess, even without her magic. To show everybody that she shouldn't be underestimated just because she lacked a certain quality the rest of her family had.

Speaking of family, the very same shot forth a magical blast of pure energy right behind the cat girl, blasting away an approaching sandbag just before it could get the drop on Catra. Looking back at it herself, the older sibling gave the young one a nod of approval, the youngest doing the very same, before both girls resumed their training.

With Glimmer's magic and power, being capable of closing the distance between enemies and allies in an instant, mixed with Catra's agility, reflex, and raw strength, the two were an inseparable pair on the field. Missions and tasks they needed to fight for the Rebellion were cakewalk to the likes of them as they always had each other's back, refusing to let anything else happen to their fellow sister.

It also proved rather useful whenever one of their shenanigans got the better of them. Whether it was from training or from Catra's boredom from time to time, the two were always getting into mischief around the castle, which was tolerable to an extent. What was intolerable were the numerous times that Catra felt the need to take her fighting skills, physical prowess, and overall curiosity somewhere it got the better of her.

Even when it was dangerous.

...

(A/N: The following has been provided by a new fan on the Cat-Ra bandwagon- 444teme444 )

"Mom, is so gonna kill us this time" Glimmer moaned., rubbing the side of her mouth.

"Relax, she's not going to find out" Catra replied. "We can cover it up"

"You can cover up a black eye. I'm the one missing a tooth!"

Glimmer pointed a finger to mouth as she pulled open her right cheek with her other hand, revealing that one of her back teeth was now missing for all the world to see. Catra grimaced slightly at the sight of her sister's bloody gum, not enjoying the sight of it one of bit. And she imaged their mother would enjoy it far, far less if she found about it, on top of the fact that Catra was now sporting a fresh black eye, that was already starting to swell.

But that was nothing compared to what their mother would say if she found the two 11-year-olds had snuck out of the castle to visit the local, popular tavern down at Seaworthy. The same one that pirates that liked to visit.

It all seemed like such a good idea in the beginning. At least that what's Catra had told herself when she had decided to sneak out of the castle and take a trip down to Seawothy. Catra had planned on going alone, but she was soon followed by her sister, who had effortlessly teleported down to the grounds the moment Catra had already finished her arduous climb down the castle walls to avoid detection from the guards, much to the magicat's chagrin.

Nevertheless the two sister made their way toward Seaworthy, but before arriving, Catra had the two of them dress in simple, commoner attire as to not draw attention to themselves and so that their mother would have been less likely to hear about two princesses causing mischief.

Arriving in Seaworthy, they entered the tavern. Or rather than snuck into the tavern after having initially been denied entrance due to their age. While it did seem to be a pretty cool and interesting place, Glimmer only wanted to stay for no more than ten minutes as to not get themselves into any trouble. But it seemed like Catra had interpreted that as a personal challenge. Within that time limit, Catra managed to get an altercation with some of the more unsavory tavern patrons. Particularly a very large, and very menacing looking tentacle haired woman named Octavia, who did not take kindly to Catra's comments regarding her appearance. And it wasn't long before a fight broke between the two to them.

The fight started well in Catra's favour when she delivered a swift sucker punch to start off. Unfortunately, that was about the only hit she got in against her much larger and more terrifying opponent. Not to mention the fact, Octavia was joined by the rest of crewmates, who ganged up Catra, with no intent on showing her any mercy. It was at that point that Glimmer jumped into the fray to save her sister, the two of them fighting side by side against the larger group. The combined enthusiasm of all the combatants, plus one knocked over drink soon lead to the entre tavern erupting into an all-out brawl.

It was a spectacular at the girls did not even come close to winning and were lucky enough to slink away during the confusion, each now carrying their personal wounds from the fight. And now they had to trek back to Bright Moon castle, without their mother from finding out what happened.

"Then that's the perfect excuse for to keep your mouth closed and let me do the talking" Catra continued, waving her hand, beckoning Glimmer to close her mouth again. "Beside that was just a baby tooth". Catra threw Glimmer a second glance, feeling a little more unsure of that assessment. "Right?

Based on the angry glare Glimmer was now giving her in return, odds were coming in very strong that it may not in fact have been baby tooth she had lost.

"Look, I didn't ask you to follow me down there, ok" Catra said, feeling frustrated as she tried to comb her hair over the left side of her face in an effort to cover up the black eye, which was equally beginning to irritate her with the pain. "I could have handled it by myself"

"Oh, sure you did" Glimmer said, unconvinced as she remembered exactly how the encounter in the tavern went in thorough detail so that she could point every instance where it was Catra's fault. "I really liked the part where they had you hanging up by your ankles and you offered a bribe if they let you go"

"That's was all part of my strategy to let them guard down" Catra snapped indignantly. "And that would have worked if you hadn't swooped in and kicked the octopus lady in the face"

Glimmer groaned heavily. "Why did you keep insisting on going down there to pick fights with people. It's like you wanted it to happen."

"I just wanted a little excitement" Catra muttered, finally getting her hair into a position that seemed to cover up her eye. "Half the time it feels like I might die of boredom in that castle"

"Well some people have different ideas of recreational activities other than nose breaking and bone crushing"

"Oh, well if fighting is so below little Ms. Pinky Perfect Princess" Catra said, in a mocking sweet voice. "Maybe you should have just let me get beat up instead."

"Well, maybe I should have!" Glimmer shot back, crossing her arms and turning away from her sister. "Then maybe you'd finally learn a lesson. And if we get caught this, you can take all the blame"

"Oh, you wish we'd get caught. See, we're already back" Catra said as they were now less than ten feet away from the castle entrance. "Now we just to get back our room and pretend to be sick for a couple days, and by then this will all blow other. So long as we don't run into-".

"Girls, there you are!

Both Catra and Glimmer stopped in their tracks, looking wildly in every direction in panic as they heard the distinct sound of their mother approaching. The two princesses looked up as they felt a large shadow pass over them.

"Where have you two been?" Angella asked as she landed in front of the two girls. "Why are you dressed like that?

Glimmer gave her mother a nervous look as she already felt her composure beginning waver under the Queen's questioning gaze. She briefly tried to open her mouth to offer an explanation, before Catra immediately slapped her hand over her sisters' mouth, simultaneously preventing her from speaking and showing off her missing tooth in the process.

"We were out…picking flowers!" Catra said with a huge smile, plastered over her face. "Harmless flower picking that does not involve anything dangerous whatsoever. Me and Glimmer thought maybe we go and get our loving, generous and very forgiving mother a lovely bouquet. And we didn't want to get out good clothes dirty, so changed into some old clothes"

"I see…" Angella said slowly, taking in that entire story. She took a long look over each of her daughters in turn, noticing a distinct lack of any plant life on their persons.

"So where are the flowers then?" she asked.

"Ugh, I know right!" Catra said, quickly adopting a convincing tone of disgust and disappointment. "You wouldn't believe how terrible looking all flowers are days? I mean, hello how hard it is to grow some leaves? We should write a letter to Plumeria, tell them to stop hogging all the good flowers for themselves, am I right?"

Glimmer lightly smacked her hand to her forehead. No punishment her mother would think of could be worse than this.

"Anyway, me and Glimmer are both so tired" Catra said, pulling Glimmer along by the arm as they walked around their mother, who had yet to take her eyes off her two daughters. "So we might just head back to our room for a while. And we already ate, so can probably skip dinner this evening, so bye!"

Both Catra and Glimmer turned on their heels and quickened their pace as they were just about to enter the castle, but Angella was not about to let them go that easily.

"Catra" she called, making the two of them stop dead in their tracks. Sharing a nervous look, Catra and Glimmer slowly turned to face their mother who now over them. "Before you go, I have one more question."

"Yes?" Catra asked, with a nervous smile, her ears dropping.

"What have you done with your hair?"

"Oh this?" Catra laughed. "Oh, this is nothing, I'm trying out a new look. What do you think?

"Hmm." Angella touch her chin as she began to contemplate Catra new appearance. She had to admit it, she didn't look half bad. But the Queen was now officially done with this game. In a single motion, Angella unfurled her wings, sending out a small gust of wind that was strong enough to part Catra's hair from her face, revealing the bruised skin around her hidden eye. Catra instinctively threw her hands up to cover it, but the ruse was already exposed.

Angella crossed her arms and glowered down at the magicat with a piercing gaze, wanting nothing short of a full explanation before she could decide on her daughter's punishment

"What happened to your eye, young lady?" she asked, not sounding the least bit amused

Catra sighed. No backing out of it now. Might as well go down clean. "I was-"

"It's my fault" Glimmer said, stepping in between her mother and her sister. "I wanted to go to Seaworthy for some fun, but I ended up getting a fight. Catra then had to come and save me"

Angella gave Glimmer a hard stare as she listened. She then glanced over in Catra's direction. "Is that true, Catra?"

Catra glanced back and forth between her mother and sister, the latter giving her an apologetic smile, making it clear she was more than willing to take the fall for her this. Too bad Catra was not going to give Glimmer than satisfaction.

"No, it's my fault" she admitted. "It was my idea go down there and I'm the one who picked the fight. Glimmer only wanted to come to keep me out of trouble. And I didn't listen to her"

"That's not entirely true either" Glimmer said, with an embarrassed blush. Catra looked to Glimmer with surprise and confusion. "I was sorta hoping that we would get into a little bit of trouble. A big castle gets boring sometimes. And I kinda like the excitement". Glimmer then gave another smile in her sister's direction, showing that she understood her feelings better than she was letting on and not wanting to admit they had more in common they what Catra thought.

Catra smiled back at her sister, grateful for her words and that she would stick up for like that. Of course, that show of sentiment was clearly not enough to temper their mother's anger.

"Well, whatever your idea of excitement is, it has gotten you both grounded" she said. "Again. And if nothing else, I hope you both have learned an important from this experience

Both girls answered together.

"Always tell the truth?"

"Take on the weak looking guys first?"

"No, and definitely no" Angella replied turning her head to Glimmer and the Catra as she answered. "You two need to learn that you are sisters."

Both Catra and Glimmer glanced to each other, not sure if that was supposed to be some kind of rhetorical question

"Well, duh, mom" Catra said.

"What I mean is that no matter what happens, you two will always be sisters" the Queen continued, kneeling down to look her daughters at eye level, placing her hand on each of their shoulders. "That means no matter what kind of trouble you find yourselves in, the two of will be in it together. You always will have each other to rely on. I don't condone you sneaking out or picking fights or lying to me, but I'm always proud to see the two of you stand by one another, no matter the situation. Now, do you promise always to take care of each other?"

"Yes, Mom" the two princesses answered earnestly, smiling

Angella smiled back her girls with pride, feeling immensely pleased by their response. "Good. I'm just happy neither of you were seriously injured. Your eye should heal in no time Catra and that should be just enough time for how long you two will stay grounded and-" Angella abruptly paused in what she was saying when she noticed something about Glimmer. Narrowing her eyes, the Queen in lean, taking a closer look at her daughter's face. "Glimmer, are you missing a tooth?"

Glimmer and Catra froze up, realizing they were now officially dead.

"Uh, bye!" Glimmer smiled one last time at her mother, before quickly grabbing Catra's elbow and teleporting the both of them out of sight and hopefully somewhere far enough away from their mothers wrath as she screamed after them.

"GIRLS!"

...

Lounging around on the cushioned reclining purple chair beneath her, legs propped up on the footrest and arms thrown behind her head, Catra sighed deeply to herself with a content smile as she rested her eyes peacefully.

"This is the life."

Her life was perfect. Beyond perfect. Everything around her with her family and her life was too perfect for some and just right for her. She couldn't figure out why, but, for whatever reason, she's never felt as relaxed as she did today, never felt all of her tension leave her body at a slow and easy rate that she could adjust to. Within these walls, with this family always at her side, she wasn't just content with her belongings, she wasn't just basking in the glow of it.

She was happy.

She actually felt a sense of happiness around here that she couldn't recall.

How could she not when she finally had everything she could ever want around here? Fine meals where food and options were given to her at every course, an entire castle with servants and guards at her every side when she needed them, a sister that took part in the many hilarious pranks they pulled off against the guards at each side, and a family... A family she knew that loved her unconditionally.

They loved her with all their heart, they raised her since the day they took her in. They loved her no more or less than their own flesh and blood. And they smiled to her at nearly every convenience. She finally had a group of people that she could wholeheartedly say she loved, people she knew that loved her in return. They were always there for her whenever she needed them growing up, always there for the good and bad times throughout her lives, even if some of those bad times were caused by them in turn.

And usually whenever Aunt Casta was involved.

Still, she was satisfied with everything, satisfied with anything. She didn't have to worry about her problems she didn't have, save for the Horde, she didn't have to do much of anything she didn't want to that didn't require studying, tutors, schools, etc. She had an entire lifetime of happy memories to deal with that overcame the bad. And an entire future to look forward to for the rest of her life.

*swiff*

"Hmm?" Catra blinked as she leaned up. For a second there, she thought her ears picked up on something moving past her. Then again, the day itself has had its own share of weirdness going around when she thought about it.

At least several times she could've sworn a guard was missing from a post or that a member of the staff had disappeared from the castle. Whenever she asked anyone else about it, they passed if off like it was nothing, unable to recollect anything the girl was mentioning.

While it did give her some pause and hesitation, it wasn't anything that overly concerned her. Given the day she's had since waking up this morning, she could easily pass it off as her mind playing tricks on her. She still had yet to figure out what was going on around here with her life, or how she could wake up this morning from a horrible nightmare she couldn't recall, one horrible enough for her to forget everything for a second.

Glancing around the room, not noticing anyone or anything out of the ordinary, Catra gave it a small shrug before returning to her peaceful rest. Whenever she focused on the issues plaguing her mind for so long it made it all the more harder for her to relax. Here, in this lifestyle, with this family, she had everything she wanted, everything she needed. Why should she bother to think of something else that she couldn't even remember in the first place? Why would she even want to think of a different lifestyle than this?

To her, it was better to let herself get lost in the moment than to think about reality.

Or the shadow that caught her attention from above.

"Hello, Mara, dearie."

"Ahh!" Catra yelped, springing to her feet as she fell out of the chair. Just when she was getting used to everything, right as she thought things couldn't get any better... they didn't. Instead, they got more confusing as Catra was accosted by the sight of an elderly frail woman half her size appearing right above her chair's head. "How did you get in here?" It wasn't so much the fact that she appeared that frightened Catra so much. What really frightened her was how subtle she was about it as Catra never caught a whiff of her scent or heard her approaching.

"Ah, good, you're awake." The elderly woman said as she hopped off the chair. Without hesitation or reserve, the woman casually took Catra's hand as she lead her on her way. "There's no time to lose. We must act quickly before-"

"Act quickly? Before what?" Catra asked as she yanked her hand away. "What are you talking about? What do you even want?"

The old woman blinked at the girl in curiosity as several white butterflies flew around her. "What? Did you already forget Madame Razz, dearie?" The woman asked with a smile.

"Madame..." The moment she uttered her first word, the image flashed in her mind.

...

-as she shuffled around the room to collect some belongings. "Madame Razz always has the solution to your problems."

"Mara? Uhh my name's Catra, lady-"

"- The faster we get those berries the sooner Madame Razz can make your favorite stew-"

"-We used to come here all the time to look at stars." Razz awed in wonder. "Do you remember the stars, Mara?-"

...

"Madam Ra..." Catra shook her head as she squeezed it, taking a few steps back from the old crone.

"Yes, yes, good. You do remember Madame Razz." The woman smiled, glad that everything wasn't for naught.

"W-What? No, I..." Catra couldn't remember. She couldn't force herself to remember. She was too afraid of it for some reason. "I don't know you."

"Sure you do, Mara, dearie. You just need to remember-"

"No, I mean I don't remember you!" Catra stated, growing a small look of disdain for the elderly woman. "I never met you before. I don't even know what you want-!"

*clonk*

"Ow!" Catra yelped as she rubbed her newly-bonked head. Apparently the old woman's staff was a lot sturdier than she thought.

"Of course you remember Madame Razz, kitty. You're just choosing not to remember."

"No I'm not! I really can't remember you!" She insisted as she took another step back. Why did this woman insist on knowing her? Why did Catra herself insist on not remembering her? She felt something shaking at her core whenever she stared at this woman, something telling her to forget about her troubles again as she took another step back. "What do you even want with me, anyway? I'm warning you, I have guards right outside my room-"

*clonk*

"Ow! Stop that!"

"You shouldn't be wasting time, kitty. You still have a job to do, remember?" Madame Razz said as she squeezed the staff in her palms. "If you don't act soon, the whole world may be in jeopardy."

"I'm not wasting time! I seriously don't know you! I don't know anything about Mara, I don't even know who She-Ra is!"

"... Madame Razz never said She-Ra, dearie." Razz said with another smile.

Catra paused.

Why did she just say that? Why did she just say She-Ra? She knew plenty about She-Ra from the stories and the legends passed down from the world. She knew that she was a valiant warrior-

"She was still a full-fledged She-Ra... She had all these mixed emotions and she still managed to turn into She-Ra... SO WHY CAN'T I!?" In a huff, the magicat-

-who stood for justice and honor above all else. She was a selfless individual who gladly-

"You heard me right, Pinky. I want a Kingdom." Catra declared proudly. It had been a rather harsh day for the cat girl, and after what happened through the last half hour, she didn't care-

-stood for all that was good and just with the world. Catra knew she wasn't anything like that. She was-

"-Your reasoning and personality were against the sword's own judgement. It found you lacking in honor, sincerity, and purity, all of which individually would have given you the power to transform, regardless of the inhibitor placed upon the sword."

-selfish and self-serving in how she... She was a princess who was always sincere and polite to... She wanted to have her own kingdom to... She was supposed to inherit this if...

"Ngggh!" Catra grumbled squeezing her head again. What was going on around here? Why was her mind hurting her so much whenever she thought about something this woman was saying? With every word from this woman's mouth, the more flashes that came to Catra's mind, ones that made her head feel numb. The only thing worse with than the experience was the pain it brought her, the pain in her heart that became distorted with each event that she couldn't seem to recall. "W-What are you doing to me?!"

"I am not doing anything to you, Mara." The woman tried to assure as she gently rubbed her arm. "Madame Razz is simply trying to get you to remember-"

"No!" She yelled, slapping the hand away. "There is nothing to remember, okay? There's nothing wrong with this!" Catra was so confused by herself, now more than ever. Why was she starting to hate this woman? Sure, she randomly appeared out of nowhere and nearly scared Catra half to death, but this was something else.

She was blaming this woman for some reason, she hated these weird flashes the woman was giving her. They brought a strange pain with them, a pain that the current princess was unable to bare, refused to. She didn't know these memories of her or whoever they belonged to. She knew who she was! She was Princess Catra, daughter of King Micah and Queen Angella, and the older sister of Princess Glimmer!

Whoever this woman was, whatever she was trying to do to her, it was terrible. Awful. "I was founded and raised by my mom and dad. You got that? I've trained every day of my life to be as strong as Glimmer is with her magic, I have a whole kingdom I have to be responsible for! This is the stuff I remember, not whatever phony thing you're trying to tell me!"

"Mara, don't be that way." Razz said as her brows lowered a bit in sadness, stepping away. "If you lose yourself in this new reality, you'll forget everything that truly matters. This is not how She-Ra should be-"

"I'm NOT She-Ra, I'm Catra! Got it?" Catra's eyes started to water from the anger welling up in her. "Why are you trying to insist I'm someone I've never met before? All it's doing is hurting me by giving me a bigger headache than I need!"

"Madame Razz is just trying to keep you from suffering more pain later on. If you don't listen to her, terrible things will start to happen to the ones you care about."

"I don't have to do anything you tell me, all right?" Catra started to seethe with anger, narrowing her brows at the sight of the woman. "This is my life right now. This has always been my life."

"But Mara-"

"Guards!" Catra shouted, looking at the door. "Guards! Get in here!"

Madame Razz frowned at the sight of this as she shook her head in disapproval. No matter how hard she tried, Catra couldn't remember who she was. She refused to. She would rather live out this fantasy world of hers and believe it exists instead of facing the reality around her, the one she wasn't aware of that was slowly falling apart. "You are not a very good She-Ra, kitty."

"I told you, I'm not-!" Before Catra could voice her complaint again, the senile old woman had vanished from the room. Not three seconds after the initial call did Catra's door burst open with four- with three guards at the ready, willing and able to defend their princess's life.

"Princess!" The head of the trio yelled as they rushed to her side. "Is everything alright?"

Catra continued to scan the room around for her, questioning where she could've gone. For such an old-looking grandma she sure moved fast. Either that or she somehow had the same ability to teleport, too, like Glimmer.

Scowling a little to herself, Catra crossed her arms as she looked back. "Some... weirdo broke into my room while I was resting. Go check the outside for something, I think she came in through the window."

"Right away, Your Highness!" The guard saluted as the three of them left the room in a mad rush, following the princess's orders. Waiting until the three guards left, Catra's expression slightly lowered as her ears drooped, wrapping her own tail around her waist for personal comfort.

She didn't know who the old woman was. She was sure of it. This whole thing about being some She-Ra or anything like that was complete nonsense. Seriously, how could anyone expect her of all people to be someone like She-Ra? ...Not that there was anything remotely wrong with her, of course.

She was strong, she was kind, she was... decent. She could recall countless times she fought off Horde soldiers with her sister on their missions, the times they spent together practicing away with their skills put to the test. She could remember all the pranks they used to pull and still did, and the schemes they came up with when they wanted to get a treat from somewhere.

She also remembered her two loving parents, the people that were always there for her no matter what. They raised her and disciplined her wen the time called for it, but no matter what they loved her to no end. They would put their very lives on the line to save her if they needed to from whatever troubling manner she got herself into, alone or with her sister. That's just how much they loved her.

And Catra refused to let any of that go away. This WAS her reality, she was sure of it. One way or another, she was determined to see her reality continue around her like it always has. She was a princess. She was a warrior. She was Catra and nobody else.

This is the life she's lived since she was born. And she wasn't about to let anyone else convince her of that.

Not even herself...

...

"Hello? Scorpia?" Adora called out as she entered the darkened locker room. Peering into it from left to right, she made her way through the doorway curiously as she tried to figure out where and what her friend, Scorpia, wanted to talk about. She was a little curious as to what it was she wanted to talk about in private, and why she wanted to discuss it in the locker room of all places. With how public it was and how often people could be walking in and out of the facility, they might as well have had the conversation within the hallway for all that matters-

*click*

"Surpiiiise!" With he flash of the lights nearly blinding for a second, Adora let out a silent gasp as she saw the room. From both sides of the room from the surrounding lockers to the connecting doorway right in front of her, the room was filled with nearly two dozen Horde soldiers and guards all cheering for and applauding her for reasons she couldn't understand. Nor did she seem to care as she smiled.

And at the center of it all at the head of this small little surprise for her, she saw them. Scorpia in the middle holding a large tray, and the "always cool, always collected", jacket-wearing Kyle with his sunglasses to her right. Atop the tray within Scorpia's had were at least two dozen ration bars, all lined up and organized to resemble something close to a cake.

It even had a small picture of Adora's face in the center for her consideration.

"You guuuuys..." Adora smiled as she approached the group. "What is all this?"

"What do you think, you goof?" Scorpia chuckled, approaching with the tray with Kyle at her side. "It's a celebration!"

"A celebration for what?"

"Heh, good one, 'Dora." Kyle chuckled in his usual suwavey manner. "Like you don't know? It's to celebrate the kingdoms you convinced to join the Horde."

"Really?" Adora brushed a bang of hair out of her face as she held her elbows. "You guys didn't have to do that. I mean, it's just the Kingdom of Snows right now. We still have a long way to go."

"Just the Kingdom of Snows?" Scorpia grinned, turning her head to the rest of the group. "You see what I mean? She's too modest for her own good!"

"Hahahahah!" Adora looked on with confusion as several of the two dozen soldiers laughed around her, leaving the girl perplexed as she turned back to Scorpia.

"Adora, we're talking about all of the places you've recruited, not just the kingdom you recruited three days ago." She stated, catching Adora by more surprise.

"A... All the places I recruited?" Adora questioned. "Like what?"

"What do you think?" One of the Horde soldiers chuckled as he pat her on the back. "Turnwall, Leafless, you name it. We have nearly half of Etheria united under the Horde!"

"And with all the kingdoms and regions you've been recruiting, there's plenty of resources going around everywhere!" Another one of the soldiers mentioned, a girl with raven black hair in a ponytail. "We're actually able to get more food around the lunchroom for a change! Did you know they had this thing called "Pizza"? It's incredible!"

"And we would've gotten candles or something to make the cake more decorative, but Rogelio's running late." Scorpia apologized scratching her head. "He was supposed to be bringing them."

"Yeah, knowing him he's out flying again." Kyle shrugged nonchalant as people began to chat with one another.

Adora stared at everyone applauding and cheering at her in wonder. All these people, all these friends she had at her back. It felt new to her. She couldn't recall the last time she had this many friends. The most she could recall were the likes of Scorpia, Kyle, Rogelio, and... wait a minute.

"Hey, where's Lonnie?" All at once, the room went silent at Adora's question as all eyes turned to her. "What?"

"Um... Adora? No one's seen Lonnie in years." Scorpia revealed, turning to the other curious heads that were murmuring amongst themselves. "We're not even sure if she's even alive."

"Huh? But that's impossible, she was just-"

"And us." Adora shot her head back in shock to realize it was Lonnie saying it, looking as determined as-

The Force Captain realized she was staring off into space by the time she came back to reality, seeing her scorpion friend clicking her claws in front of her to snap her out of it. "Hey, hello? Adora? You there?"

"Huh?" Adora shook her head of the recent thought that occupied her mind. "O-Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just... taken away with all of this." She commented. It wouldn't have been a complete lie to be honest.

All these people still around her, all these friends, it was incredibly heartwarming. She felt like she hadn't felt this sensation in so long, like it was missing from her life for a long while. She felt a sense of satisfaction and contentment with all that had surrounded her. The way everyone cheered for her, the way her alliances were doing so well with the Horde, and the fact that everyone was benefiting from it in the end.

She felt joy. Complete, utter, joy, as Scorpia brought the ration bar cake to her. Given the amount of bars, she could easily tell it was made by everyone pitching in one of their own. They gave it to her knowing someone like her deserved it, someone who always put the Horde first before themselves. She was the one constantly helping people left and right, even when times were tough.

There was no one more deserving of a reward, of a symbol of their respect, than Adora. They knew that with someone like Adora at their side constantly, she was going to do great things for the Horde, greater than she already has.

She was the Hero the Horde needed.

"Well, since Rogelio is running late, just pretend the candles are on it and make a wish, Adora." Scorpia suggested, holding the cake before her. Adora gave one last look around the rest of the room, seeing the dozen or so faces without a helmet over their face smiling to her and the rest of them either cheering or nodding in approval, and looked back.

Why wish for anything? I have everything I need... She thought to herself before taking a great big breath. "Huuuuuuuuff-!"

*Whoosh!*

"Wh-Whoa!"

*splat*

With all eyes focused on the blonde preparing to blow out the illusionary candles, everyone was caught off guard and surprised by the tall lizard who zoomed his way into the locker room, eager to join the party with the rest of the soldiers and cadets as intended. With the dragon-like wings on his back, it was a simple job to skim through the Fright Zone's hallways from outside and reach the locker room in a single minute before making his appearance known.

And by making it known, it meant causing a short amount of chaos as it was enough to scare Scorpia enough to toss the tray partly in the air before crashing into the ground in the process. Everywhere, anywhere, little chunks and blotches of the ration bar cake burst upon impact, scattering the chunks of bars all across the locker room, leaving not a trace, or a face, of someone getting caught in the small explosion.

It took the winged-lizard a moment to realize all the attention had shifted to him as he folded his wings, patting the dust off his arms and sleeves professionally before gazing around the room.

"Agh, Rogelio!" Kyle grumbled to the green-scaled lizard as he wiped off his shades. With a decent amount of leftover bars in his hand from the explosion, Kyle eagerly threw a large glob of it to the fellow soldier in vengeance. What he didn't count on was Rogelio being swift enough to dodge out of the way in time, resulting in the projectile launching and being thrown at another red-haired teenager who didn't take the attack as well as Kyle hoped he would.

Without a second thought, the entire room erupted into a bout of laughter and mayhem as people were scraping pieces of their ration bars off of themselves before flinging it around the room, roaring and cheering at the fun they were having which was, once again, thanks to Adora's handiwork. Rogelio might've caused the splatter itself, but none of this would've happened in the first place if it wasn't to celebrate Adora.

"Heheheheh!" Adora laughed playfully as she shielded her eyes from one of the launching projectiles. With a great amount of reflex and dexterity, the Force Captain quickly ducked out of the way of another glob of the food being thrown at her, pulling her hair back enough so it wouldn't get struck.

This was the greatest day of her life. Plain and simple. She couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for her as she...

Adora froze as she looked to the floor. Along the remains of the splattered pieces of cake, Adora saw something within the mound that was written out all too finely for her, and far too much to call it a simple coincidence. Upon the surface of the splattered cake, she saw the one word that made her tremble:

REMEMBER

What was she supposed to remember? Why did no one else react to this bizarre message written out on the cake's surface? It was too much of a coincidence to-

"Adora." Everyone went silent and the room went pale as a familiar voice rang throughout the locker room. Turning back Adora saw the familiar figure known as Shadow Weaver approaching from the shadows, her narrow white eyes giving no hint into how she was feeling. "Get off the floor. You are the Force Captain who united half of Etheria under the Horde. You should be more professional.

Slowly getting up from the floor, wiping away the smudges of the ration bar from her face, Adora gave a quick look back to the cake in front of her. It was back to being the same old smudged cake it was before, even with Adora's facial image over it. Did she just imagine the whole thing up?

"S-Sorry, Shadow Weaver." Adora apologized as she stood with respect.

Shadow Weaver gazed around the room, inspecting the many faces of soldiers and guards alike that looked away from her with unease. It wasn't too surprising given the numerous smudges crossing their arms and faces. If someone like Hordak saw this sort of thing within his own Horde, he'd have over half the room imprisoned on the spot, the fortunate few Force Captains and officers only getting a slap on the wrist, if they were lucky.

"Just look at this mess." She said, peering at each of their faces. "Who's responsible for this?"

"It was my-"

"It was my fault, Shadow Weaver." Scorpia stood ahead of her friend as she cut her off. The girl had half her face covered in the grey ration bars as she rubbed her left arm guiltily. "I wanted to throw a small celebration for Adora, and... things just kind of got out of control from there." Adora was a little worried as she saw Shadow Weaver raising a hand to her friend.

What was she going to do? Slap her, smack her, unleash her magic on her? Even a stern talking to would've been too far, in Adora's opinion. All Scorpia wanted to do was to reward the friend she was grateful for, it's not her fault that things spiraled out of control from there.

It wasn't until she saw Shadow Weaver placing a gentle hand on the Force Captain's shoulder that Adora mentally sighed, seeing the simple look in Shadow Weaver's eyes. "You always were supportive of her, weren't you?" Shadow Weaver wouldn't harbor any sort of hatred for someone like Scorpia. Why would she when she was someone who treated Adora with the dignity and respect she deserved? Most importantly, she never got in Adora's way of progress, which was just how Shadow Weaver liked it.

Giving a small smile to the peaceful witch, Shadow Weaver turned her attention back back to her faithful Force Captain. "Adora, come with me." She instructed peacefully, earning a small nod from the Force Captain as she took off ahead into the halls. "As for the rest of you," Shadow Weaver briefly paused, giving them all a small wave as she casually followed Adora's footsteps, "enjoy yourselves."

There was nothing short of pandemonium as Shadow Weaver left through the closing doors. While the star of the celebration was gone, there was still plenty of fun to be had around here with all the mounds of ration bars left behind. From one corner of the room to the other, one could find a grey blob of mush being thrown across the air in a never-ending war that went on to claim thousands of lives...

Or thousands of mushed crumbs across people's faces.

*SPLAT!*

...

"I will admit, I had my fair share of doubts about your methods, my dear." Shadow Weaver commented as she walked by Adora's side, hair ever blowing like the bottom tips of her robe. "But you've gone to prove me wrong. You've proven yourself to be every bit of the leader that I knew you were capable of being, and have gone on to earn Hordak's favor. Even I have never managed such an incredible feat."

"T-Thank you, Shadow Weaver." Adora smiled back with pride.

"Adora, please, I told you it's fine when we're by ourselves." Shadow Weaver smiled to her from behind the mask as she pat her head. "You may call me mother." She assured as Adora stopped in her tracks.

"O-Okay... Mom." Adora was overwhelmed with joy from the announcement as her face flushed a little, quickly hurrying up to her "mother" as she came along a wide window stretching across the hall. It peered off into the horizon of the Fright Zone, showing all of its technological advancements and wonders to all who would gaze upon the nightmarish landscape.

"Look at it, Adora." Her mother gestured to the entirety of the scenery. "This is who you are. A proud, noble, and courageous member of the Horde. A Force Captain who will do well to lead the Horde to victory, and unite all of Etheria together." Touching Adora's shoulders, her daughter beamed happily at her with a warm smile. "And I have never been more proud of you."

"R... Really?" Adora teared up a little at the statement, something Shadow Weaver showed zero disgust with.

"Yes, my dear. I am." And with that, Shadow Weaver embraced her in loving hug, one Adora couldn't resist as she threw her arms around her, too, as she closed her eyes.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was glorious.

All around her, life was exactly the way it should be. Everyone was happy. Everyone was smiling. Everything was as it was several minutes ago, the way it should be!

She would go on to prove herself to the Horde, to Hordak, to her mother, like she always dreamed of. Together, they would wipe out the evil princesses of Etheria and secure an everlasting peace with the rest of the world. Together, they would unite in power, pave way towards peaceful relationships with neighboring regions, and, eventually, everyone would be at peace with one another.

It wasn't going to be easy, of course, not with the Rebellion in the way of things. But she was prepared for the challenge. As long as she held true to her convictions, proved stalwart in her desire for a peaceful world, she could do it. She would have friends and allies at her back, she would have leaders joining the Horde one after the other, and they would work together to drive off the evil forces of this world once and for all!

Most of all, Adora would finally feel peace. She would live the rest of her life knowing it was her. Her and her friends, that made this peace possible. Who threw down their lives to ensure a world where one knew no need for want, where everyone was happy.

Including her.

This was the happiest day of her life.

"You have no idea what you mean to-"

"... Mean to what, mother?" Adora squeaked a little as she asked. "... Mom?" Adora gazed in disbelief as she opened her eyes again.

She was gone. Shadow Weaver had disappeared. Vanished. Like she never existed. "M-Mom?" She looked in every direction of herself from the both ends of the hallway to the window itself before looking down at her own two hands. "What just...?"

*ZKKKKKKKT*

"Huh?" It went as quickly as it came as Adora caught sight of it. A sudden white flash blanketing all across the outside world. Was that in her head, too? Was she just picturing everything right now? Wait, no that was impossible, everyone saw Shadow Weaver with her earlier! "Where did-"

"Adooooraaaaaaa~" A familiar voice echoed through the world around Adora. "Adoooooooraaaaaaaa~" It sang again.

"Hello? Who's there?" Adora asked looking around. The voice sounded so familiar, so mysterious, so very much like... her own. But that couldn't be the case, she knew better than that! That would imply that she was crazy- or wait. Maybe she was crazy? She just hugged her mom a second ago and she disappeared before her very arms. There's no way she could-

There she was. The originator of her voice. Her. Herself. Or the other her, in this case. It was Adora. Another Adora! She was leaning against the end of the far hallway, smirking with a raised brow as she crossed her arms to her.

Adora rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, and when she saw her one more time, she did it again. There's no way she could believe what she was witnessing here, no possible way. She had to be dreaming right now. It's the only thing that would make sense, right? She hugs her mother, she disappears, a white flash goes across the Fright Zone for a moment, and then she sees herself standing across the hall from her current self with a curious smirk.

She had to be seeing things. She knows she was seeing things. In fact, just to prove it, she was going to ask it a simple question.

"Who are you?" And now it wasn't going to respond because it was a figment of her imagination.

"Better hurry, Adora." Okay, so it did respond. But it didn't answer her question, so that's gotta count for something, right? "You're not gonna want to stick around for much longer."

"Stick around for what?"

*ZKKKKKKKKKKKT!*

"Ah-!" Adora let out a small frightful scream as she looked outside again. Following another bright flash, the entire ground beneath her feet shook violently as it gave off a crackling hollowed sound. It lasted for several seconds much longer, but that wasn't the part that concerned her.

What concerned her was that her, the other her, was aware of it and predicted it would happen again. Turning back towards the hallway, she saw the other self casually turning the corner of the hallway as it went about their business.

"Hey, wait!" Adora shouted as she ran after them.

She didn't know why. A part of her didn't want to know why. For whatever reason, her heart was fearful of what she witnessed. Something inside of her told her mind that she knew what was happening around here, happening to her perfect world. She just didn't know what was actually doing the telling to her!

What happened to her mother just now? What was with the massive, freakish, flash that engulfed the Fright Zone a moment ago? More importantly, why were these things seemingly affecting her and nobody else? Nobody else seemed bothered about it, they didn't seem to care in the moment... unless it was only noticeable to her to begin with?!

Whatever was going on, it didn't matter. She knew she had to get to the bottom of whatever this was. She couldn't understand what was happening to her and to her perfect world, and she had no answers for her questions herself.

But something warned her that if she didn't discover the truth soon, there wouldn't be a world to look forward to...

...

A/N: Annnnd another chapter completed! And a near 18k like the last one too, that's a new record :P Granted, it takes an additional day getting these near-20ks done, but i think its fine if the reading is still enjoyable ^^... it is enjoyable right? *crosses fingers*

Anyway, for those of you wondering how you can get your own works in this episode, simply make a few scenes taking place at some point of Catra's life between 1-year-old to present-day-Catra. They can consist of anything (appropriate of course) that could possibly take place between catra's life growing up. Make sure they're written as actual scenes in the fanfic like the examples above. I will not unfortunately be taking RPs written as, well, RPs (like scripted for example) but if you have several ideas you want to go with and want to share them with me, you can send those over for me to review personally and see which one I'd recommend being rewritten as a scene.

But again, you just need to write out a scene yourself. Now just because it gets written doesnt guarantee it'll be posted. There might be up to 5 chapters this episode, and as such, I only plan on adding in about 3 flashbacks per chapter. Save for my first one, I will not likely be adding my own flashbacks (aside from the ones in the story mind you) within the story. Which means i currently have 9 spots left open for people, but i'll only be taking the top picks for each one (I mean i wouldn't mind posting them all but you get the idea).

I would also like to remind people that THIS IS THE ONLY EPISODE FANS WILL BE ABLE TO ADD TO. It's to commemorate the 100th chapter I reached and my way to give the fans a means to add onto the story too, so unless something convenient comes up in a future chapter, this'll be the only time for people to add their own spice of fun into the story, so for those interested, send over those ideas asap before the episode ends.

HOOFTAH, that was a lot to cover X_X. Huff. Well then, with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 110: S3 Ep 5: A Parting Wish Part 1 Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: Near-20k Pre-A/N's.

Dear GOOOOOOOOD this is turning into one of my longest episodes ever X_X! I don't just mean in terms of size or scale or anything, i don't even think i'll reach 6 chps this episode, maybe not even 5 depending on how the next part goes.

No, this is turning into my longest episode because there's SO MUCH to cover over these chapters i swear to god! This started at about 8.1k as of when I woke up this morning. It somehow stretched up to a glorious 20K (technically 19,830 but close enough) without even trying. Before you ask- yes, i felt it was necessary to convey everything. When you get a large reality-warping universe like this you really can't let anything skim off the top or come up just short, now can you?

Now granted, these are still with those scene flashbacks the fans are making so its perfectly understandable really- heck i think I got about 3k's worth of words from Petie's alone XP I'm just saying with those added to this, this is turning into a freaking massive episode X_X...

Enjoy!

...

"You sure you don't wanna talk about it, sis?" Glimmer asked as the two sat along the edge of the bridge connecting to the Moonstone's pillar.

"I said I'm fine." Catra mumbled, keeping her knees curled up as she hugged herself. There was only so much she could deal with in one afternoon, much less with what the rest of her day had to offer her.

Everything was going fine until now. After waking up from some sort of horrendous nightmare she still couldn't remember, things were fine for awhile. She had a great breakfast that resulted in a food fight with her family, she got to pull a few pranks with her younger sister, Glimmer, before their mom caught on and grounded them for the rest of the morning, and she got to train with her sister at her side as they worked off the rest of their energy for the day.

All throughout it, she got to remember all the good times she had with her sister and family, too. From their first bar fight that Catra was TOTALLY going to win if her little sister wasn't around to protect to their memorable Jelly Tart heist, one that ended with their own father taking the rap for everything for setting a bad example for his and Angella's four and five-year-old daughters. Even the less memorable moments of their lives were still fun to reminisce about as she recalled one of their many fun outings with their aunt Castaspella.

Truly, it was Catra's version of paradise for her change as she had everything she wanted. A place she could call home where she belonged, a family that loved her, and an environment that didn't traumatize her for... whatever reason she thought it would.

So, naturally, something had to come in to ruin it that took the form of a certain old hag half her size by the name of Madame Razz. While she had a familiarity about her, Catra couldn't recognize the old bat. She kept going on and on to Catra about how they had to fix something with the sword, about how this whole reality wasn't real, and how it was her responsibility to fix everything.

Needless to say, the cat was more than aggravated by the news. She truly couldn't remember anything that the bat was talking about, and those few flashes of someone's memory she did have brought her nothing but pain. She didn't know what life she was referring to or who this lady was, and she didn't want to! She was happy here, she was actually content and happy with her life! She had a family, a nice home, everything she could've wanted! With little choice in the matter, she eventually resorted to summoning the guards, forcing the old hag to disappear from her sight.

Yet, even with all that had transpired, Catra couldn't get it out of her head. What was the lady talking about? What wasn't real about this place? She's had memories of this place since her earliest years could recall, she remembers growing up in Bright Moon to this very day. So why... why did nothing sit right with her since meeting her? Why did her head start to hurt like it did this morning, when all the conflicting memories started to push themselves into her mind?

Whatever her deal was, Catra didn't want a part of it. She didn't want to be a part of anything the woman was telling her, part of any of the lies she had to say. She knew who she was, she knew where she was meant to be, and she intended for things to stay that way.

No matter what.

"And you don't know who it was?" Glimmer continued to ask. It wasn't everyday, or any, that Bright Moon had an intruder like this. As exciting as it was, it was also just as concerning on where the intruder came from, much less where they

"If I did, I would've been chasing after them myself." Catra snarled, taking a small rock from the bridge as she tossed it into the ravine.

"Well mom said they'll find her in time and she'll add extra patrols for our room for a bit, if it makes you feel any better."

"I don't care about whether or not they can find her, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"I... I don't know, it's just..." Catra lowered her ears as she turned her head away, scratching her left hand against the ground. "Hey, Gli-I mean... sis?"

"Yeah?" Glimmer stared at her sister in curiosity as she slowly turned her head to her without raising her eyes.

"If... If you had a chance to... to change the world back, would you do it?" She timidly asked.

"What do you mean?" She watched as Catra rose to her feet, walking away slowly down the bridge as Glimmer followed her.

"Well, for example, like... Say this world wasn't what it appeared to be, and it actually ended up being different from your own."

"Okay?"

"Now, say, for instance, this world was a lot better than your own world. Would you..." Scratching at her head did nothing to make the fuzziness dull from her senses. "Would you... I don't know... Go back to the way it once was? Where there were a whole bunch of problems with it?"

"Oh! Um..." The younger Princess of Bright Moon contemplated at this, stroking her chin and elbow in thought. "Gee, that's a tough question. The way I see it, it wouldn't make a difference between living in this world or the other one. I mean, all worlds have their own sorts of problems, right? We have the Horde to deal with, and, for all we know, the other one might have terrifying monsters roaming around entire kingdoms."

"E-Exactly!" Catra didn't know why it made her tail wag slightly with a brighter demeanor, but she wanted to accept it for herself. "So there wouldn't really be any point in going back-"

"However," Glimmer continued as she turned around, "if the world you were living in now was only better by your own standards, and it was forcefully made without anyone else's choice in mind, then I just couldn't accept it."

"But why not?" Catra needed to ask as she turned Glimmer around by her shoulder. "If everything was better in a new world where you were happy, then why change it?"

"Because it wouldn't be right. Just because your life turned out for the better doesn't mean it did so for everyone else. For all you know, someone who might've been a great success in life might've turned into a failure of a man who lives in a gutter somewhere. It wouldn't be right to change their already-happy lives to make your own happy. Get what I'm saying?"

"Mmmh..." Sadly, Catra did grasp on what she was trying to tell her as she looked over the bridge.

She could have this perfect lifestyle of hers to no end and be satisfied with it. If this was a dreamworld, she could live out her fantasies and joys every day of her life without a care, basking in everything she enjoyed through this new life. It also meant that someone somewhere else could be suffering in her place because of it.

For example, there was no telling how many lives could've been affected by the numerous people King Micah and Queen Angella during their time raising someone extra like Catra or Glimmer in a new reality. They might have ordered the last in stock of something someone else needed. Without it, a whole trail of events could have occurred where that same person was traveling to a new town to find their desired items, been mugged by bandits or eaten by wildlife, and left behind several children and a wife in what was now a broken family.

Sure, it was an extreme example, but the idea was all the same. It was like the whole Butterfly Effect by this point; for every great thing that was happening to Catra right now, somebody else could be suffering the exact opposite of it somewhere else. And if somebody forced her to live out a terrible life compared to her current and obvious reality, then she would want nothing more than to change it back to the way it was.

"But what if your life was much worse in a real reality?" Catra continued to argue. "Like, what if-"

...

"I don't get it, what's everyone so worked up about?"

"My dad died a long time ago fighting in the war." Glimmer muttered back.

"...Oh..."

...

"-what if dad was dead in your real reality?" Glimmer became silent as she stared at her sister in a bit of shock. Catra didn't need her to have cat ears like hers to tilt just to know how she was feeling from that question. The reaction was all over her face.

"Uh, okay, wow..." Glimmer mumbled uneasily as she rubbed the back of her neck. "That was sort of dark."

"Agh, I know, I know, I'm sorry." Catra grumbled, rubbing her eyes soothingly for a bit. "I don't know where that came from, it just popped into my head for some reason." Of all the examples she could've provided, she couldn't figure it out. Why did she feel the need to compare it to something as dreadful as that? She loved her father as much as Glimmer did, so to say anything out of the ordinary like that out of the blue was rather surprising.

"Are you sure everything's alright, Catra? You've been acting really strange since that intruder showed up."

"Yeah, I know. Everything's fine. It's just... Just that old hag, she-"

"If you lose yourself in this new reality, you'll forget everything that truly matters.

"... I don't know, just forget it." Catra decided as she sat against the ledge again.

"Um... okay." The younger sister still felt a little uneasy as she sat by Catra's side again. She's never seen a moment like this where Catra was acting so strange around her, which was saying a lot for someone with animalistic qualities to her. She had her typical hate for water, she liked eating fish more often than not, and it was still normal compared to this behavior.

As for Catra herself, she continued to process the stupid things the old hag had to say to her earlier. So much about it didn't make any sense to her. LIke, if this wasn't a real reality, then how come nobody else noticed anything out of the ordinary or brought this up? Was the old hag truly as senile as she appeared?

Then again, she couldn't get over the flashes in her mind that slowly came to her, the thoughts of events that have never occurred based on her memory. They came slowly to her one after the other, like a migraine that tried to resurface whenever possible. Every time they came to her, her head started to hurt and her heart started to ache. It was only when she tried to, when she desired to, ignore them that they finally left her in peace.

But why was she getting these flashes in the first place? Did that Madame Razz-whoever actually do something to her when she wasn't aware of it? Did Catra fall asleep for a few minutes long enough for the woman to drug her with some sort of odorless powder without Catra ever knowing? And, out of everybody, why did she come straight to Catra herself? Why not someone else more capable of fixing things like her mother and father, the King and Queen? If anybody had the authority to fix something as large as reality changing in itself, then it would be them.

The old lady must've been full of herself, as far as Catra was concerned. The memories she had of this place were pleasant, priceless, and joyful to her. She refused to believe what any old lady had to say about her or the world without some sort of proof. "Terrible things would happen"? "Trying to spare her from suffering greater pain later"? These were the words of a lunatic as far as Catra was concerned.

She was a Princess of Bright Moon, like her sister. She had her own responsibilities to deal with involving the Horde and everything they were doing. It was like Glimmer said, if this was a dreamworld, then why were the Horde still around? Obviously the woman was lying to her. She had to be.

Catra needed to hope that she was.

*ting*

"Huh?" Catra's attention shifted to the small arrow that suddenly shot up from below her, sticking into the floor of the bridge a few feet away from her.

"Oh, he's back!" Glimmer said with a smile as she saw the arrow.

"He?" Catra's question didn't come without explanation as no sooner did Glimmer stand up, a familiar archer was pulled up to the very top of the bridge by the very cable that was reeling him up.

With grace and finesse, the very archer jumped over the ledge of the bridge, doing a single flip forward before landing squarely on his right foot and left knee, the traditional way that any amazing archer would make their presence known. "Hey, guys." Bow greeted as he turned around. That's when Catra saw it.

Over the rim of his upper lift, with tiny little specks strewn across his face, was the hundred of tiny hairs that barely grew over Bow's upper lip, still leaving much of the skin exposed. Naturally, she replied in the most appropriate way she could think of as she got a good look at it.

"Pfffffffft! Tchahahahaahaha!" Catra bursted with laughter as she held her sides, pointing at Bow's face as her eyes snapped shut. "Oh my gosh, pfffffft-! What is on your face?!"

"Um... a mustache?" Bow replied with a small blush, feeling along the tips of hair growing over his face. "I've been growing it out for awhile."

"That's barely a peach-fuzz! Hahahaha!" She couldn't help it. The laughter had picked up so much that she ended up falling backwards as she continued to roll against the floor, holding her sides as her sister and friend looked at her in confusion.

"What's with her? It's not like the first time you guys have seen me like this?" Bow asked, blinking in confusion at the near-choking girl who continued to laugh.

"Don't mind her," Glimmer suggested as she rolled her eyes, "she's been acting weird all day since this morning." Waiting for her sister's laughter to die down, or the cat herself, Glimmer finally helped her sister up by the arm as she faced the archer. "Catra, you do remember Bow, right? That hasn't affected your memory or anything, I hope."

"B-Bow?" Catra let out another chuckle before grinning to the very archer. "Oh yeah, I remember him..."

...

(A/N: The following hilarity has been provided by Star Saber)

It was peaceful day in the Kingdom of Bright Moon. The ten-year-old Glimmer was in her room, sitting by the window reading a note with a smile on her face. Suddenly the doors burst open as a near-eleven-year-old Catra walked in. "Hey Glimmer!"

"GAH!" Glimmer nearly jumped out of her seat, before she recovered and put her hands behind her back. "Catra! What have I told you about knocking?"

"Oh please." Catra put her hands behind her head. "You teleport into rooms all the time without knocking. How is that any different?"

Glimmer sighed. "What do you want?"

"I'm bored." Catra walked around. "Theres nothing going on today. No training, no," it was then she noticed Glimmers hands were behind her back. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing!" Glimmer said quickly, too quickly as it only confirmed she was hiding something.

"Very believable." Catra rolled her eyes. "Seriously what is it?"

"I told you I'm not hiding anything." Glimmer repeated.

Catra grinned as she slowly moved in. "Sis, we can do this the easy way or the fun way."

Glimmer and Catra stared at one another for a moment, then the magicat jumped at her but Glimmer teleported to the other side of the room. "Catra stop it!" Catra jumped at her again but she teleported away again. "I'm not hiding anything!" The process repeated a few more times before Catra grabbed a cushion and threw it. Glimmer reappeared and the cushion hit her in the head catching her by surprise.

This moment of distraction was all Catra needed to dash in and grab the paper out of her hands. "Hey!"

Catra jumped up onto Glimmers bed and read the note. Intrigued by what it secrets it held that her sister tried so hard to keep hidden. "Hey Glimmer, I had a lot of fun today. We should hang out again soon, Bow." Catra blinked at the anti climactic words before looking down at Glimmer. "Whose Bow?"

Glimmer teleported up onto the bed. "Hes a friend of mine." But Catra jumped off it and back down to the floor. "Hes a new recruit that just joined the rebellion. Hes a great archer that makes his own trick arrows."

"Trick arrow?" Catra raised an eyebrow. "Sounds lame."

Glimmer teleported next to her and swiped the paper out of her hand. "There not lame. Theyre really impressive." She had seen some of them in action and they were the exact opposite of lame. "Hes made fire arrows, net arrows, electrical arrows, explosive arrows."

"Explosive arrows?" That caught Catras attention. "That's definitely not lame. I gotta get some of those."

"Yeah, I don't think your ready for explosive arrows." Glimmer said.

"Oh come on whats the worst that could happen?" Catra asked.

Glimmer looked at her before bluntly saying. "Something will blow up."

Catra rolled her eyes whatever. "That still doesn't explain why your acting so weird?"

"I am not acting weird." Glimmer defended.

"When why were you keeping your new friend a secret?" Catra inquired.

Glimmer put her hands on her hips. "Maybe I wanted you to stay away from his explosive arrows. For all our sakes."

Catra narrowed her eyes but then smirked. "Do you like him?"

"What? No!" Glimmer blushed a bit. "Hes just a friend!"

Catra leaned in as her smirk grew. "Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm not blushing!" Glimmer snapped as her hands sparkled with magic. "Now get out of my room!"

"Seesh, over react much?" Catra raised an eyebrow, then her eyes winded "You do like him."

"I do not!" Glimmers face grew redder.

"I was kidding, but you do!" Catra pointed at her. "You totally like him." She laughed. "Glimmer and Bow sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g."

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Glimmer threw magic at her sister who jumped out of the way and ran out the door.

But the older princess wouldn't let something like a magical attack stop her. "Glimmers got a boyfriend! Glimmers got a boyfriend!" Catra sand as she ran down the hallway while Glimmer gave chase and continued to throw magic blasts at her.

The King and Queen were taking advantage of the peace and quite and were currently sitting at a table enjoying some tea.

"I love these moments of peace." Angellasaid contently. "They don't come by too often."

"Well we are fighting war Angie." Micah reminded her. "It tends yo take up most of your time.

"That, and we have children." Angella sipped her tea.

Suddenly the peace and quite was broken by the sound of yelling and something breaking. They looked at an doorway to see Glimmer chasing after catra who was laughing loudly.

"Your aim needs work sister." Catra called back as she dodged another blast. "Maybe we should call a certain archer friend of yours?"

"THAT'S IT!" Glimmer began blasting wildly as she chased after her sister.

"Speak of the daughters, and they shall appear." Micah said in amusement.

"Girls Stop!" Angella got up but her husband grabbed her hand.

"Hold it Angie." Micah sat her back down. "This is perfectly normal for siblings."

"I highly doubt this is normal behavior." Angella said.

"That's because you don't have siblings." Micah pointed out. "Trust me I grew up with a sister, this is all part of the process."

Angella raised an eyebrow, "you threw magic bolts at Casta growing up?"

"Only when she started it." Micah stated, then added, "which was every time."

They heard something breaking in the next room. Angella looked at Micah. "Like I said, its all part of the process." He said calmly.

Then they heard the girls talking.

"Oh no!" Glimmer gasped. "Dads book case!"

"Quick head for the whispering woods!" Catra said.

Angella sipped her tea. "What part of the process are we at now?" You tell she was smirking on the inside.

The king sighed. "Like it often did when Casta and I were children, it leads to grounding." With that he ran out of the room. "Girls! What happeed to my bookcase?"

The Queen sat there and enjoyed her tea in amusement at the situation. "Wait," something occurred to her. "Whats this about an archer?"

...

"Of all the things you could've remembered..." Glimmer sighed, wishing for some of Catra's mixed up memories to be forgotten like that day.

"So, what? You here to take my little sissy on a date again?" Catra cooed in a teasing tone, poking at Glimmer's blushing face with a grin as her sister squeezed her eyes and teeth tightly, trying to simmer the small anger her sister was growing.

"N-No, nothing like that!" Bow blushed shaking his hands in front of her. "I'm just here to help with today's mission."

"The mission?" Finally, a piece of evidence that would prove to Catra that this world wasn't as perfect as it appeared to be! This would set her mind straight and ease her conscious. "What mission?"

"Did you forget that, too?" Glimmer asked with a heightened brow. "We're going to liberate Thaymor from the Horde."

...

"Wait!" Adora yelled out again as she followed the mysterious figure. Well, perhaps she wasn't mysterious in the sense that Adora didn't know her, quite the opposite. She was mysterious in the sense that she was her. Another Adora, another person who looked just like her as she ran down the halls. Strangely, this wasn't the most mysterious part of her day.

At first, everything seemed to be going well. She had a decent and professional relationship with everyone around her, including her adoptive mother, Shadow Weaver, and the leader of the Horde, Lord Hordak himself. During her meetings with each of them individually, she was overwhelmed with the respect and honor they treated her with, praising her many accomplishments and their numerous feats preformed in the Horde's name.

Which was how it always was for her, if memory came to serve.

She even had the respect of her fellow soldiers and officers, including her friends like Scorpia, Kyle, and Rogelio, as they threw her a small surprise party within the locker room. They all respected her, they cherished everything she had done for them, and wanted to celebrate her as much as the leaders did. Over two dozen people had arrived to partake in the short-lived party with a single Ration Bar cake at the center, and the ensuing food fight that was caused after the cake splattered against the ground in every direction. Truly, Adora didn't think her life could get any better than that... and it didn't.

Following a brief hug with her mother figure, everything came to a grinding halt as mystery and confusion consumed the air around her. No sooner did Adora accept her mother's loving hug did she find the very woman missing, the woman who was in her arms not two seconds earlier. On top of that, getting a brief look outside, she saw a bizarre flash of white that engulfed the Fright Zone, one that was followed with another a minute after, and filled with a thunderous shake to it.

Perhaps the day was getting weirder before all of that, like how she appeared to know things that had yet to be revealed to her, such as when Lord Hordak showed her the schematics to a portal machine, which he had never done before. Or maybe the way she could've sworn the words REMEMBER were written into the smushed ration cake for a few seconds before returning to the way it was before? An event that nobody else seemed to have noticed.

But by far, the strangest part of her day was when she saw herself down the hall, following her mother's disappearance. There was something strange about the girl and familiar somehow, and not because she was physically identical to her in every way. There was something about her, about the way Adora was chasing after someone who looked just like her, how she kept trying to talk to the doppelganger, that was eerily memorable.

Whoever the copy was, she appeared to know something that Adora didn't, something about this world and what was starting to happen to it. She wanted Adora to follow her to who knew where, as far as Adora presumed, as she lead her throughout the halls of the citadel they were in, all the while soldiers and guards alike saluted her, as if they were completely oblivious to the exact double they saw running ahead of her.

During this time, Adora noticed that fewer and fewer people were running around than there used to be. Where, at first, dozens of guards filled between every two hallways, there were now less than a puddle of them hanging around. Were they just off on a mission or off doing work somewhere else? Adora couldn't say. All she knew was that people were starting to disappear, perhaps forcefully and mysteriously just like her mother did minutes ago.

"Come back!" Adora pleaded, wanting this strange figure to answer the questions plaguing her mind. The copy of her smirked back to the Force Captain as she continued to run ahead, eventally passing through a door along the center of the hallway. For a moment, Adora had thought she finally had the girl, knowing the room only lead into a barrack of bunk beds where the cadets usually slept, and the fact there was only one door to the entire room. It wasn't until she finally appeared at the doorway, peering into the room, that she realized how wrong she was.

There was no copy of her in sight. There wasn't anybody in sight in front of her. All she saw were dozens of bunk beds against each side of the room, some of them with covers messily tossed around them while others were nice and flattened like a proper soldier's would be. All Adora cared about for now was finding the mysterious double as she walked into the room, keeping an open eye out for anything that looked suspicious.

"I'm not going to hurt you or yell at you." Adora stated as she glanced around the room. "I just wanna talk. I wanna know what's happening around here." As she happened upon the fifth row of bunk beds to her left, Adora finally found her target as she noticed a strange bulge sticking up from the bed itself, one that took the obvious shape of a human sitting up on the bed. "Look, do you know anything about this place? Because something weird is going-" Adora cut herself off as she pulled back the sheets.

There was nobody there. "-on." This didn't make any sense. She tried looking under the bed she was at and the beds up and down the room just in case, and still she found nothing. "What is going on here?" Adora muttered to herself as she sat on the bed.

*crinkle*

"Hm?" The Force Captain's attention was shifted to the seat under her as she heard the strange sound, finding what appeared to be a requisition form sticking out from under her. "What's this?" Examining the strange parcel, Adora didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about it until she turned it around, nearly gasping at what she saw. "This is... "

...

This... was a part of her. A part that was somehow still in her. And it made Adora's core shake a little.

...

"Ahh!" Adora screamed as the images came rushing into her mind forcefully. The shock of the flow of memories caused her to hyperventilate a little as she fell off the bed, landing on her hands and knees. "What was..." Slowly lifting herself from the ground, Adora examined the surrounding room again with complexity, feeling like everything was suddenly foreign to her. "This... This isn't right... right..."

"Ngh..." Catra mumbled in her sleep as she tossed in the corner of Adora's bed-

These were just a few of the words a sniffling Adora could use to describe her present situation as she sat curled up on the bunk bed she used to share with a dear friend-

"What... What is all this?" Something was wrong. Very wrong. All around her everything started to feel more confusing to her as these weird flashes came back into her mind, these scenes of a time forgotten rushing to her brain against her will. "This... This was my old room with... With..."

"Hey, where are you going?" She heard Adora whisper to her as the door opened again.

"Wha- Nowhere! Just go back to sleep." Catra whispered quickly as she tried to move on.

"... Catra..." What? What was going on around here?

Why did she just think this was a room she shared with Catra? Why was everything becoming stranger to her by the day? It didn't make any sense! She just found a picture in her room she could barely recall. So what? That didn't mean anything. For all she knew someone else could've drawn it. And the room here? She used to sleep in them every day with a whole bunch of other children growing up until she became a Force Captain. And even then, it was Scorpia she slept with every night, sometimes on the bunk above her, sometimes in the same bed when one of the two couldn't sleep.

Did she just get the image in her mind because of her strange, unknown, nightmare this morning that caused her to shout Princess Catra's name? That had to be the case. How else could she explain the strange phenomenon that was infiltrating her mind. It was a simple bunk room with a simple picture and nothing more. Look, even the walls of the establishment were the same as when she was a ki-

"Huh?" Adora froze as she stared off to the wall, slowly raising a hand towards it to see if it was real or not. Upon the wall, Adora found a drawing of both, Adora's and Catra's faces, drawn along the wall in a simple manner. It was... It was just like the drawing on her paper, the drawing that Adora just found on... on her own bed...

Adora decided, stretching her arms out of the blankets as she gently plucked the pink crayon from her friend's hand. She watched as her friend gave another cheeky grin as she began drawing a picture of herself, her head specifically. Eyeing the pink crayon in her own hand for a moment, Adora followed through as she did the same, drawing her own head to the best of her ability.

"C-Catra's... been here..." The Force Captain backed away from the doodled wall as she was left in distraught. Something was officially wrong here. Nothing was as it was supposed to be around here.

Princess Catra, the very one she just remembered about, wasn't supposed to be a princess! She was supposed to be a soldier of the Horde, and apparently an acquaintance of Adora in some way. Adora herself wasn't a first-in-command like the others told her, she was a second-in-command that took orders as well as addressed them to her fellow peers. And her mother... she couldn't really recall if anything was different about her, or Lord Hordak himself, for that matter.

Not all the bits and pieces had returned to her thus far.

Still, it mattered little compared to the majority of everything else that was toying with her mind. With every recollection she acquired in this room, another bright flash engulfed her vision for a split second, almost as if she was flashing between a world of everything and a world of nothingness. A nothingness that called out to her as it attempted to break through the reality.

*Ka-Rumble*

"What was that?" Adora mumbled to herself as she felt the strong vibrations again. Gazing around the room, the Force Captain's bangs of hair slowly drifted in front of her vision before she finally saw it.

At the very center of the room, three feet away from where the commander currently stood, the ground erupted. With an immeasurable quake following suit, the entire room lit up as the air and ground in front of her burst open, as if someone had smashed a window with a hammer.

Light poured in helplessly through the seams and the cracks that were escalating rapidly around them, the intensity of the quakes becoming more and more violent with each passing second. Seeing the small cracks spreading around the room for herself, the Force Captain's eyes widened in horror as she saw things beginning to disappear, things that were coming into contact with the white cracks in the air, such as the pillows and sheets spread around her.

Everything was falling apart as Adora screamed, running madly for the metal door as the mystical whiteness spread across the room. She couldn't let it touch her, she couldn't let herself disappear along with the rest of this place. Reaching for the small switch on the side of the doorway, she pressed against it hastily, waiting for the doorways to open.

*tap*

"What?" Panic ensnared the young blonde as she pressed the button again. "No..." Nothing was happening. She kept trying to press the button again and again, only to hear the sound of a simple click followed by the grunt of the door that refused to open up. "No, no, no!" Adora tried tugging on the metallic door herself to pry it loose, looking back at the gaping whiteness as she did.

"Hello? Hey! Can anyone hear me?!" Adora shouted through the doorway, seeing the white void that was eating away at the room. "Someone? Anyone! Open up, please!" The fear and dread creeping up on her didn't tarnish the realization that came to her. With all the things disappearing from her side of the door, she could figure out that the white void must've cut off the wiring and circuity that opened these doors, at least from her side of the door.

The white void was ten feet away. Ten feet became nine, nine to eight, a foot closer with every passing second. What was going to happen to her if she touched the white void? Was this all just a trick of the mind? Was it only inanimate objects that were sucked away with the void? With everything disappearing around her, including the people she noticed missing, she didn't want to take a chance to find out.

*creeak*

"Whoooa-!" Letting out a sudden yelp, the fortunate captain found herself falling back and out of the room right as she pressed against it. Slightly disoriented from the fall to the back of her head, Adora blinked away at her somewhat hazy vision until she could make out a familiar face staring back at her. "Scorpia?"

"Hey. Are you alright, Adora?" Scorpia asked as she reached a claw out to her young friend.

Given all that's happened in the last minute, Adora quickly jumped back to her feet as she kept her eyes pierced on the scorpion in front of her. "Scorpia, we have to move. Now!"

"What? Why?"

"Why do you think why?" Adora knew she had to be kidding her as she gestured her hand towards the door. "We need to get away from-!" It was gone. All of it was gone. The doorway, the door, everything. The wall was melded over like a door had never stood here to begin with. "But... But it was just here... T-T-The doorway was just... You pulled me from a doorway, remember?"

"A door?" Scorpia questioned, taking a quick look at the wall and back. "Adora, you were just falling over when I found you."

"No, no, I wasn't! It was just here, the doorway was right in front of us!" She pressed her hands against the metallic surface as if trying to find some hidden switch, some indication, that a door stood here in the first place.

"Adora, there's never been a door here. It's just a wall, unless you're saying there's a secret passage here I don't know about." Scorpia mused, rubbing her chin with the side of her claw. "Is there a secret passageway?"

"No, of course not! It's..." Okay, so trying to push the wall in front of her friend who just found her spazzing out in the middle of the hallway wasn't going to help. All it did was leave her with an irritable reason to rub her palms against her eyes as the stagnant air became heavy with confusion. "Okay, Scorpia, have you noticed anything weird going on around here? Like people disappearing or white flashes popping up out of nowhere?"

"Um... no?" Scorpia replied in a questionable manner as she raised a brow. "Is this a trick question or something?"

"Of course not! Just... Just give me a yes or no! I need to know I'm not the only one seeing things here."

"Seeing things like what?"

"LIKE A WHITE FLASH ENGULFING A ROOM!" She grumbled, trying to keep herself from wasting time with any pointless bickering or banter.

"A white flash in a...! Oh!" Scorpia lit up with a small smile as she realized it. "Yeah, actually, there was a light flash in the locker room shortly after you left!"

"There was?" Finally, she was getting somewhere with her!

"Yeah! One of Kyle's fangirls took a picture of him like several times in different poses. She even took a hilarious one just after Rogelio splattered a handful of cake over his face." She explained, digging through her pockets and pulling out several small pictures as Adora's expression and arms dropped. "You wanna see?"

"Uggghhhh!" Pacing around the hall back and forth, Adora groaned to herself as she tried a different approach, preferably one that didn't make her look insane. She had no way of convincing her that some other white flash was going on around here, she didn't know how to explain everything that happened to her, and she didn't have any proof of what was going on!

"... Wait a minute!" Stopping in place, Adora suddenly dug through her coat as she pulled out the familiar object she just gathered from the other room. "Ah-ha! Here! Look at this!" She demanded, shoving the paper into Scorpia's hand. "What do you see?"

"Uhhh," Scorpia mumbled as she eyed the strange piece of paper she handed her, "a requisition form?"

"What? No, I'm talking about the-" Adora didn't get the chance to prove her point as she took the paper back.

It was gone. The drawing of her and Catra's faces that were drawn upon the paper had upped and vanished out of thin air. All that lied between her hands were the simple details and requests of the requisition form she had before, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Oh, come on!" She groaned heavily as she briefly pressed the paper against her forehead. "It was just here! This had to be what the other me was trying to show me!"

"Other you?" Scorpia started to become a little uneasy as she watched Adora's seemingly-self destruction.

"After Shadow Weaver took me to the halls, she gave me a hug one second, and the next second after that she suddenly disappeared. Not long after that, there was a white flash outside, then I saw another me down the hallway, and then another flash, and then I followed myself to the room that disappeared where I found a picture of me and Catra on it, including a wall with the very same drawing!" Clearly, this explanation would prove to Scorpia that she wasn't insane!

"Okay, that does it." With a firm tone, the Force Captain found herself being dragged by the wrist from the claws of another Force Captain as she was pulled across the hall. "I knew you weren't well, and now you're just being crazy."

"What do you think you're doing?" Adora asked as she tried to pry Scorpia's surprisingly massive grip from her wrist.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm getting you back into bed, you're going to sleep peacefully until you're better, and we're going to pretend this whole crazy-talk never happened before Hordak thinks you've gone insane and has you committed."

"What? No!" Adora struggled to pry herself away from the girl further as Scorpia struggled to maintain her grip. "Let go of me, I'm not crazy."

"Adora, don't make me sting you..." Scorpia threatened with a raised tail. "As my BFSC, I can't let you roam around talking crazy and risk you getting hauled off to some nuthouse."

"But I'm not crazy!"

"Yes you are! I mean, just listen to yourself! Another you running around? Someone named "Shadow Weaver" disappearing right in front of you? Pretending that you had a drawing of you and Catra in a room you've never been to? Why would you even have a drawing of her in the first place? You hate her!"

Adora slowly realized something she had yet to realize herself. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"Because I-!" Like Adora, Scorpia ame to a sudden stop as she stood in place, letting Adora finally slip out of her grip. "Because... B-Because you..."

That was when it finally struck the first-in-command as she saw the look of wonder crossing Scorpia's face. She wouldn't get enough evidence to support her crazy theories or whacky detailings, but she could still prove it through her own memories. "You remember something, don't you?"

"I..." What was going on here? Was Adora's insanity contagious? All at once, it felt like her brain was fighting with her heart that was fighting with her brain that was fighting back against her heart in a never-ending struggle for dominance as something forced its way into the cortex of her mind. "Wait, this..." Scorpia looked in all directions, including her own claws in disbelief, and to the hopeful Force Captain in front of her. "Adora? What's... What's going on here?"

"You finally remember!" At long last, Adora sighed with relief, glad to have someone else at her side throughout this strange insanity she was going through.

"Remember? Remember..." Scorpia examined the hallway with a growing concern, acting as if the world was just dropping in front of her for the first time.

...

"Oh, hey Scorpia-"

...

Scorpia was caught by surprise as Adora embraced her in a tight hug, burying the side of her face against into her chest. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For showing me that not all princesses are evil-!"

...

"But it's true..." Adora sniffled a little.

"No it's not." Scorpia tried to assure in a positive attitude. "I'm sure there's a good reason for everything she did, you'll see. And hey, whatever you decide, I'll be right behind ya, okay-?"

...

Finally coming back to reality, Scorpia silently stared as she released her grip from Adora's arm. "Adora? Wh-What's going on here? What happened to everything?"

"I don't know, okay? I'm still trying to think." Adora informed her, trying to remain calm for the both of them. "How much can you remember?"

"Just bits and pieces. My memories all jumbled. What about you?"

"I-I don't know!" Adora scrambled her fingers against her head as she was trying to focus. "The closest thing I can remember was... was..." Adora gasped.

...

"If we tried to open a portal right now, the results could be disastrous! It's going to collapse and take us all with it. Catra was right-!"

...

"...The portal..." Adora muttered to her friend. "It was the portal that Entrapta was working on... with Hordak..." As the realization came to her, so, too, did the reality of her position.

Hordak didn't care about Adora in the real world, not like this one was shown to have. He treated someone with respect based on how useful they were to him, how intelligent they were and how constructive they could be. While someone like Entrapta had limitless potential at her disposal to be useful to him, others like Adora only grew to sicken him further.

"Entrapta?" Just mentioning the name alone seemed to trigger more of Scorpia's memories, some more recently than Adora's own. "Wait, wasn't Entrapta the one you... you..."

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

Entrapta cried out in pain as thousands upon thousands of volts coursed through her body within seconds.

-she saw in Entrapta's eyes was a look of remorse, a feeling that slowly entered Adora herself as she realized what she had done, before she finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious-

-Adora was at a loss as she stared at the baton in her hands. Scorpia was at a loss as her mouth gaped open.

"You... You shocked-"

"I shocked Entrapta..." Adora's pupils shrank as she stared at her own trembling hands. Pools of sweat started to drip from her forehead as the corners of her eyes started to tear up. "I... I tased her... Attacked her... S-She was my friend... Why did I attack her?!" She yelled to know as she dropped to her knees.

"Hey, hey, slow down, it's alright." Scorpia tried to comfort as she rubbed her shoulders. "You were just scared, I'm sure you didn't mean to-"

"We need to go." Adora stated firmly, somehow getting back to her feet in a second despite the display she put on. "Now."

"Go?" Scorpia wasn't bothered as much by her friend's recovery so much as she was by the spontaneous announcement. "Go where?"

"We need to go to Hordak's sanctum. He's working on the very portal that started all of this. I think-"

*zzzzzzzt*

"-something bad will happen if he completes that portal!"

"..."

Okay, this day just went from weird to confusing to bizarre to downright insane. Not two seconds after Adora announced they needed to get to Hordak's Sanctum did they reappear in an entirely different location. It was one of the connecting hallways that lead straight to the leader's lair, the exact location Adora was still planning to head for before it happened.

Checking around, the two came across their convenient surroundings with confusion and worry. "How did we get here?!"

...

*swish*

The three friends took their positions along the fauna as they gazed at the fortified defenses surrounding Thaymor.

Being assigned to a mission such as this was a bit of a surprise to the princess known as Catra, the very same who wanted to liberate Thaymor more than anyone for reasons she couldn't explain herself. To hear that the very day she had woken up to such a bizarre steam of events was also the same day they'd be assigned to a dangerous mission didn't sit too well with the cat girl, much less her parents, for Catra herself stated she was more than willing to do the mission, like she had to for some unexplained mystery.

Reaching the town wasn't as hard as the reports had initially let on. They expected heavier resistance, patrols all around, and at least a few traps within the surrounding wilderness. So imagine their surprise when they managed to easily navigate up to the city with barely any guards or droids to greet them, enemies they could dispatch and knock out silently before the alarms were rung. It gave way to a small bit of hope they had for the rest of Thaymor, which proved to be a fool's hopefulness in the end.

All around the great city, the Horde had already fortified its defense on every front. Massive fifteen-foot metallic walls over the already-placed walls of the cities, two guards and two droids at every checkpoint, and at least three watchtowers that were built within chokeholds of the city, each overlooking each other and could alert the rest of the city if an invasion had occurred.

It would prove to be one of the most dangerous missions Catra could recall as she remembered the mission statistics.

Step 1: Take down the three towers silently and simultaneously. Even if the action caught the attention of the nearby patrols, with the towers out of commission, they could keep the alarms from being sounded throughout the entire city, giving them the advantage of surprise.

Step 2: Clear a route from the three tours all the way to one of the exits of the city. Doing so would clear a pathway for both, the civilians still hiding away within the city, and make a clear path for Rebellion soldiers to infiltrate the city at full force.

Step 3: The Final Step. From there, they could invade and divide the city from two separate fronts, using the watchtowers' base as a focal point to spread out from. With the city divided and soldiers flooding into the city from one clear pathway, the city would be swarmed with Rebellion soldiers and retaken before the Horde knew what hit them, effectively liberating the city from the Horde's clutches.

However, that still required them to actually pull off the infiltration into the city towards the city's watchtowers. As long as they stood tall, infiltrating the city successfully would prove impossible for any of the Rebellion's forces. It would only take one alarm from any of the towers going off to not only warn everyone of the Rebellion's invasion, but also call back to HQ for reinforcements.

Basically, one alarm going off meant total failure on their part, and future attempts to liberate the great city would prove harder if not more impossible once the Horde re-fortified their defenses. It was a one-shot chance they had to save everyone.

"Are you guys ready?" Catra muttered quietly to the other two as she peered around the wall. Sure enough, she could already see a dozen soldiers walking along the patrols followed by the occasional droid crossing their path every four soldiers.

"Do you guys remember the plan?" Glimmer whispered back as she peered in from the wall across from her, Bow preparing his arrow at the ready.

"Spread out, infiltrate the city, and take out the towers simultaneously." The peach-fuzz mustached archer stated, peering up and down the wall in case of passing patrols. "I'm not so worried about the guards and security on the way there, but what are the chances we'll be able to take the towers at the exact same time? We'll be too spread out to signal each other and we can't use any radios to avoid being detected."

"We're just gonna have to take a chance." Glimmer replied, leaning away from the wall's edge. "We can't risk them spotting us if we all stick together, and we can't hit the towers individually or the other two will be alerted."

"Why don't you just take Bow to one of the towers and teleport to the next when you reach it?" Catra suggested, keeping her voice down.

"Because they'll see the pink flash going off and know its me! All the guards will be right next to the alarms, so we have to hit them at the exact same time or we lose everything!" Catra gritted her teeth upon hearing this as she peered back into the village.

Thaymor was one of the larger cities under the Rebellion's control, and a personal favorite to Catra because... it just was. When she thought about all those people being locked inside their homes or placed into personal prisons against their wills, it sickened her. Thaymor was possibly the last place that needed any sort of extreme measures, no matter how big it was.

It was a peaceful village, a decent one. The worst the Horde would have to worry about was them partying too much, if that. There were barely any guards throughout the city to begin with, the people here lived peaceful lives away from the Horde, and even if they did support the Rebellion, it didn't mean they wanted anymore trouble from one side or the other. They wouldn't even mind a passing Horde patrol as long as they kept their business peaceful around here.

Obviously, their opinions over the war were definitely changed with the recent Horde invasion not four months ago, and they were going to make sure they supported the Rebellion to this day, provided they lasted long enough to do so.

It was no wonder that Angella was hesitant to send her daughters off on a dangerous mission like this. Between losing one if not both her daughters, she was vehemently against it! It was only when the two convinced her of their subtleness and their skills, not to mention the fact that only a small strike force could infiltrate the town on foot, that she finally relented, provided they immediately retreat if things turned south, which her daughters sweared to.

After crossing their fingers behind their backs, of course. They weren't about to let a peaceful place like Thaymore remain in Horde captivity for much longer if they had anything to do about it.

"So, are you guys ready them?"

Ready!" Bow and Glimmer whispered back to her. It all came down to this.

Taking a deep breath, Catra let out a sigh as she prepared herself for the inevitable. "All right, we'll go on three. 1..."

...

"I don't know." Adora shushed as she looked around the corner of the machine in front of her, spotting the two personal guards to Hordak's lair. "I think the more we're remembering the more reality is distorting around us. Just go with it, okay? We can't afford to waste time." Keeping her head lowered, Adora examined around the machine they were behind, spying on the capable armed guards at the door.

Peering ahead of her friend, clouds of uncertainty dawned over the large scorpion girl by her side as she frowned. "Oh, man, this is bad!" She squealed. "What happens if we get caught? We are so fired!"

"Shhh! I know, okay? Just let me think of something!" Adora requested, keeping her gaze on the guards ahead of her. "We need to get past them without raising suspicion."

"Well think of something fast!" Scorpia nibbled on the tip of her claws as she checked their surroundings, making sure no one was headed in their directions. "We need to get past them, find the portal thing, stop Hordak, and-!" Scorpia came to a sudden stop as she blinked to the Force Captain ahead of her.

"What?" It was so weird seeing the girl suddenly going from so panicked and overreacting to dead silent out of nowhere.

"... Wait, aren't you Hordak's first-in-command?"

"..." Adora facepalmed. "For the love of..." Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, Adora casually stepped out from behind the metallic covering with Scorpia at her back as she approached the armed guards.

"Halt!" The right guard demanded as he drew his electrical spear and shield. "Who goes... Oh, it's just you, commander." The guards stood at attention as they gave her a salute with Adora doing the same. "Can we help you with something?"

"I need to speak with Lord Hordak immediately. It's urgent." Adora stated, standing in respect as she placed her hands behind her back.

The two guards gave a look to one another before the left one replied. "We're sorry, commander, but Lord Hordak isn't taking any visitors at this time. He's in the middle of something."

"Y-Yes, I know that but-"

"And why is she here?" The same guard asked pointing the spear to Scorpia. "You know only commanders are allowed to visit without requiring an appointment at this time unless it's an emergency."

"But it is an emergency! The whole universe is falling apart around us and we need to stop Hordak from finishing his portal right away!"

"..." The two guards stared at each other in silence for a moment before Adora pinched the bridge between her eyes.

"Might've been a little too honest there, Scorpia."

No sooner did she say that did the two guards steady their spears at her. "Alright you, let's take this somewhere else to talk about-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"Huh?" Like the trip that brought them here, both, Scorpia and Adora were briefly engulfed in a flash, faster than the blink of an eye, before seeing the scenery changed around them.

In front of them lied the two unconscious guards, the very ones that had drawn their weapons to the scorpion girl moments ago, or perhaps minutes if time jumped around them again. Searching for the possible explanation behind their sudden fall, Scorpia's let out a small startled yelp as she saw her stinger raised at the ready, one that was recently used and tested by two very likely guards just doing their job.

"It's official. I'm dead!" Oh, this was definitely the end of her! Scorpia knew that as she stared at the unconscious guards, pulling at her own hair in fear. Goodbye Adora, goodbye Horde, goodbye reasons for her existence!

"Scorpia, relax." Her friend tried to calm down as she opened the doorway ahead of them. The two gingerly stepped over the sleeping uglies below them as they entered the unholy sanctum. "Once we tell Hordak about everything that's happening, we can... We can..." It only took ten feet into the sanctum for Adora's heart to skip a beat.

It was gone. The lab was gone. Everything that made Hordak the technological genius that he is was officially vacated from the inner sanctum. "No, no, this can't be!" Fearing the worse, the Force Captain attempted to feel along the wall, praying to herself that this was some illusion to keep prying eyes outside of Hordak's space or that this was just some secret wall that came down during Hordak's work time.

"I-It was here! I know the machine was... the lab was..." Already, the new reality was trying to erase her old memories as Adora struggled to retain the old ones. She knew that the lab was here this morning, she was positive she saw something resembling Hordak's portal technology in here!

Or was that the other reality? She couldn't tell anymore, the interfering memories kept beating against her head when she tried to force the real memories to stick around. "There has to be a switch, or maybe he went into a different lab, or-"

"Adora?" Scorpia interrupted emotionlessly. Turning back, she saw her friend staring ahead of her as she looked upwards a little bit. Following her gaze, Adora saw the very thing that made Scorpia's tail quiver.

Hordak's throne was gone.

...

"2... 3!"

*ZZZZZZZZZZT*

With a sudden burst of speed, the magicat quickly climbed the wall as she rolled ahead of the other two, keeping herself low to the ground as she reached for her sword, ready to keep on the move or to keep the guards off of her as soon as she was noticed.

"What are you doing?" Glimmer's voice of curiousness came as a small surprise to the cat girl as she turned to her. Strangely, her sister and friend had forgone any sense or rationality to keep themselves hidden as they stood at the entrance of the village out in the open. On top of that, they were both carrying large boxes of provisions within their arms, not seeming the least bit ready or prepared to take on any Horde invasion.

Looking back into the village, Catra finally understood why.

Everything was normal again. Or was it Normal the whole time? She couldn't say. All around her she saw the busy folks of Thaymor minding their own business as they walked along, going about their daily lives without a care in the world and a smile on their faces. It was almost as if they had completely forgotten the Horde invasion that kept this town under Horde rule for a long period of time.

"Afternoon, Princess." Some of the villagers greeted her as they passed by. Like the looks on their faces, none of them seemed the least bit concerned or aware of the fact that the village was under hold control a second ago.

"Okay, this is just getting weird." Catra commented, looking around herself as Bow and Glimmer came to her side.

"What's so weird about it?" Bow asked, looking around the village that was the same as when they arrived. "Everything seems fine to me."

"That's just it, it shouldn't be fine!" Catra retorted, looking back at the entrance they just came through. Instead of anything resembling a Horde fortification, or so much as a wall, there was now a cart stacked with dozens of boxes on top of it, being lead by two horses that were waiting patiently for their riders. "W-We were just about to liberate Thaymor a second ago. Now everything's better."

"Liberate?" Glimmer raised her brow with confusion. "Catra, we were just doing a requisition run for the village. We weren't going to liberate anything around here. Everything's fine."

"I know everything's fine, but that's the problem. It was just filled with Horde soldiers when we got here." The two companions eyed each other at Catra's strange behavior as they continued to watch her ramble on. "Don't you remember? The whole mission we had? The watchtowers we were supposed to take down? Why do you think we came in carrying weapons?"

"Unless you were planning to beat someone over the head with that crate, I don't see a weapon, sis."

"What are you talking about?! I meant with my-!" Turning her head down, Catra could finally see what she was referring to. Instead of any sort of weapon, one that could slice Horde droids in half, she was carrying a large yellow crate, about thirty pounds, in her arms. Strangely, it wasn't until Glimmer pointed it out that she could feel the weight of the object in her arms. "My... crate... I'm holding a crate. Why am I holding a crate right now?"

Glimmer looked beside herself as her brows lowered with worry. She had never seen her sister act so weird before, much less in the exact same day. Just an hour ago they were discussing how they were going to distribute the rations and supplies among Thaymor at the castle, something their mother happily agreed to, and now Catra was acting like that whole conversation was non-existent. "You're not just trying to get out of working again, are you, Catra?" Personally, she'd prefer that as a liable explanation over the strangeness of her own sister.

"Of course not! I'm being serious you guys, we were... We were supposed to..." The more she tried to think of what happened within Thaymor a minute ago, the harder it was becoming to recall it. Why was she so convinced that the village was under Horde control until now? Looking around the peaceful place, she was positive this was how it was the moment they got here. "Supposed to... uh... What was I talking about just now?"

"That the Thaymor was under Horde control?" Bow answered.

"Y-Yeah, that, the, uh, Horde was just..." Why was it becoming so hard to remember what she knew about a minute ago? She had a waterfall of memories pouring into her mind one second and the very next it was all sucked down the drain and out her ears like it never happened. Or did she just think that it never happened? "They were just... um... Why was I saying that?"

The two companions worry started to change into knowing concern over their friend and family member as they gazed around the village. The last thing they wanted to do was for Catra to have another unexplained panic attack like she had just this morning. It would be uncouth if Catra freaked out again and uppercut someone in the jaw again like she did her father earlier.

"Mmmh... Maybe you should take a walk, sis?" Glimmer suggested. As if reading her mind, the brown-haired archer casually accepted the crate from Catra's arms, carrying both the heavy crates in both arms with a slight tremble. "I think the heat is starting to get to you. We can take care of the unloading ourselves, it'll just take a few minutes."

"A... A walk... right..." Her ears flattened against the side of her head as she started to rub her eyes, graciously accepting the offer as she started to walk away. Maybe it was all in her mind or the heat was getting to her? She had never felt so certain before about an uncertainty that she wasn't sure she ever had, and man was it making things even more confusing!

She came here to this village to... drop off supplies...? Was the Horde involved at all in their mission? Was there-

...

"-But with the help of Netossa and Spinnerella, our forces have manged to re-capture Thaymor. Again." With the announcement, Spinnerella and Netossa fistbumped each other in congratulations for themselves.

...

Oh, right. Maybe she was just getting it confused when that happened before? Yeah, it made sense in that way. She was probably getting confused with a mission from her past in this reality, when they discussed their plans with-

...

"-I know a different reason you're happy about it, Catwa~" Just from the sound of her voice, Catra instantly began to blush as an irritated vein appeared on her forehead, knowing who Glimmer was trying to mimic. "I'm sure a certain someone will be happy-"

...

Wait.

There was someone around here that she knew? Someone that would be happy to know about Thaymor being liberated from the Horde? Or was she just imagining things again? It was getting harder to grasp the reality around her with these weird visions she's been shuffling through her mind. So many things conflicted with each other, so many details that didn't make any sense.

Knowing the more she tried to contemplate to herself and make sense of it all, Catra finally gave in as she cleared her mind of any and all thoughts, focusing on the gentle breeze in the air as she walked throughout the village.

As long as everything was fine around here, that's all that mattered. Right? Thinking of unnecessary "what-ifs" would just keep her from enjoying her life here or anywhere, and the last thing she wanted to do was to make herself look any stranger to the folks who knew her as Princess Catra. Given enough time, and a few minutes to herself, she was positive these ridiculous thoughts would float away from her mind, and she would have a good laugh about it by tomorrow.

... She hoped...

...

"W-Where's Hordak's throne?" Adora asked as her eyes were pinpointed on the exact location of the missing throne. It felt so strange to see the top of the stairs up there without anything at its top, save for an empty space of something that once was. "It was right there! You can't expect me to believe that Hordak doesn't have a throne even if I can't remember it."

"... Hey, Adora?" Scorpia questioned with a slight gulp. "If someone or something disappears, you don't suppose that..." The current Force Captain was too frightened to continue with the possibility.

"... That everything that was affected by them... disappears to?" This was beyond the realm of bad and not even near the border of insanity.

From their understanding, Hordak had been erased from existence, most likely as Shadow Weaver had been earlier. With it, everything that was touched by his hand or created for his likeness had ceased to be too. And it was at that moment, Adora came to realize another fact that was crashing down like a meteor on top of a ton of bricks over her mind.

"T-Then that means-!"

*Ka-Rumble*

"What was that!?" Scorpia screeched as the room started to shake violently.

"No..." It was with a whimper that Adora realized what was coming to them. Or, more accurately, what was already here.

Like the crashing through a metallic wall, Scorpia and Adora gasped at the sight of the air in front of them. A literal crack had formed in the middle of the air which burst open with a glorious wave of light, one that continued to shake the foundation of the inner sanctum with tremendous force. It was taking all of their willpower just to keep themselves from collapsing on the spot their legs shook so violently. Pieces of metal, nuts and bolts, rained down around them as the white void started to grow.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Adora shouted, bolting for the door with Scorpia rushing at her side.

Everywhere they looked they could see the cracks of the reality around them starting to fall apart, the small intricate lines of existence slowly becoming unraveled. Worry took over both their minds as they saw the cracks getting ahead of them, panicking over the possibility that the void was right under their feet with every step. Neither of them were brave enough to turn their heads around, keeping their focus on their own survival as they just passed through the doorway.

For one moment, they saw the room filled with the glorious white light as it continued to approach them. And in the very next, it, the entire room, and the doorway itself, had ceased to be, as if they had never existed in the first place.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Scorpia panted as she pressed against her knees.

"I don't know, the Universe trying to swallow us? How should I know?!" Adora yelled back, the spike of fear still piercing her heart like a knife. She couldn't allow herself to be filled with this horrifying sense of fear, not when they were still far away from safety.

"I don't get it. Why are we still here if Hordak doesn't exist anymore?"

"Like I said, I don't know!" The blonde pulled at her hair madly as she tried to make sense of everything. "Maybe it takes longer to affect everything when someone with such a big influence over everyone's lives disappears. It's just a guess, I don't know anything more about this portal stuff than you do."

"Then how are we gonna stop it? The portals gone, and so is Hordak! The only one who does know anything else about it is Entrapta, and I-"

"-We can't remember where she's from..." Oh, great. THANKS universe! On top of everything from their memories that they had to take, they also had to take the memories of Entrapta's own home. Or maybe that was the sense of fear clouding their minds right now? Bottom line, it didn't matter. "We're not going to remember anything at this rate and we'll lose any chance we have to stop this."

"Then what are we going to do? Somebody else has to know about this stuff!"

"I-I don't know!" Adora yelled squeezing her head. "There's too much going on, and we don't even know if somebody who did know it still exists... unless..." That's when her mind turned to a thought, a thought of a certain someone who might be responsible for all of this.

...

"Catra... I think Catra might know something about this." Adora announced, much to Scorpia's surprise.

"You mean Princess Catra?" She wanted to clarify, seeing how all her memories had yet to catch up to her.

"Ye- I mean no, not exactly. She's not a princess, or at least not in whatever reality we're from." Adora tried to explain as she siphoned through her missing memories. "I don't know what she is, okay? All I know was that she seemed to know something about this portal stuff before all this happened. We need to hurry up and find her befo-"

*KA-RUMBLE*

As if the world itself was trying to keep her away from revealing all that was around her, the world beneath their feet shoot violently again with even greater force than before. "No-" Was all Adora managed to let out before it happened again.

From the space behind them, in a greater force than before, a massive white void erupted out of the air, the planes of reality actually breaking into little shards like glass around them before disappearing into the void. Adora was so disturbed by the sight of it all that she didn't even realize how frozen she was until a familiar pair of claws clamped around her shoulder.

"Come on!" Scorpia yelled, running away from the expanding voids as the two raced down the hallway.

The world was actually coming to an end around them. The universe itself was in jeopardy of ceasing to be as the two ran down the halls for their lives. As she glanced back at the approaching white abyss, one that seemed to be slower yet expanding all the same, a worry crossed Adora's mind.

When all of her memories returned to her, when everything finally made sense to her in the end, would she figure out a way to save everyone?

Or would she even want to remember once all of her memories came back?

...

*Neeeeeeeigh!*

Catra sighed as she leaned on the wooden fence post surrounding the small thirty-foot pasture, watching a strangely familiar white horse galloping in place as it examined its surroundings with joy.

The small break she took from everything did appear to dull the growing headache, but it didn't do anything to toss away the nerves still filling her mind.

It didn't bother her so much that she was having these weird feelings in her mind so much as the mystery of why she was having them in the first place. Was she still suffering from what weird old hag from earlier? Did whatever she was rambling about really affect her in such a way? Or did some part of her actually feel like there was some truth to be told? She didn't know if there was or if she wanted to know if there was.

With how great everything was around here, why would she want to change it in the first place?

*swish*

"Hey, sis. We're done." Glimmer announced with a common smile as she teleported to her side. Noticing the strange look she was giving, she turned her vision towards the same horse she was looking at, smiling at the reminiscing. "Oh, you were watching the horses, huh?"

"Yeah, it felt relaxing, I guess." Catra replied with a small shrug as Bow finally arrived at their side. "It just felt nice to watch them roam back and forth, you know?"

"Yeah, I get the feeling." Bow replied, smiling as watched the horse approaching another. "They have the simple life, don't they? They get to wander around back and forth without a care in the world, completely unaware of what's going on with the rest of the world, huh?"

"Yeah... Unaware..." The cat's eyes turned away from the two for a bit as she thought about what he said. With how great this world was, if it was all just a fake world, then did that mean there were still horrible things happening somewhere else around Etheria? Something she didn't know about?

"I'm a little surprised you came out here, really." Glimmer commented as she leaned an arm over the fence, observing the majestic animals. "You never really did take too kindly to horses growing up."

"Eh, I guess I just got used to it after awhile..."

...

(A/N: The following adorable flashback has been brought to you by Petie Doon from instagram)

On a bright, sunny, day, behind the bright, shinny walls of the Brightmoon castle, on one of the bright, grassy fields, the bright, happy family of Brightmoon was situated. Well at least most of them were bright..

Queen Angella sat eagerly in the vacant bleachers, watching in earnest as her husband and two daughters of ages seven and eight stepped onto the field. All three members of the family wore the royal equestrian apparel: helmets, tights, and long boots. Micah walked both girls up to two magnificent specimens: four legs, an incredibly long face, and a mohawk-like mane for hair. "Alright girls." Micah reached the two creatures and turned to his daughters, a smiling stretching across his face. "Today is the day of your first horseback riding lessons."

"Ehhhhhhh!" Glimmer squealed in delight. She had always found time to visit the stables of Brightmoon Castle. Now, she was all too ready to actually start riding around on a horse.

Micah smiled at his daughter's enthusiasm. "Now being able to ride a horse takes much time and practice." He gently grabbed on one of the horse's reins. "We'll just be going over some of the basics today. Glimmer?" Being guided by her father, Glimmer put her foot into the horse's saddle, and with a small hop, gently got on the horse's back, holding back more squeals.

Micah smiled at the accomplishment and the restraint his daughter was displaying. He let go of her hand, and stood along side her. "Now, just gently tap the horse with your heels and let it trot-" Glimmer quickly tapped her heels to the horse's back side, and with a light whinny, the horse got to trotting.

Glimmer's horse trotted elegantly around the field three times, starting with a small trot, then slowly going into a brisk pace. Micah and Angella marveled at the way Glimmer sat with ease on the horses back, smiling in utter content. Micah crossed his arms and smiled. He could just picture is his head; A day like today, when both princess led a charge to the Horde on back of noble steads. Swords clanging. Hooves stomping.

"Yes," thought Micah. Today was the gonna be a fantastic day…that is until he turned back to his other daughter.

Micah's upbeat outlook on the coming hours faltered at the sight of Catra. While Glimmer was all a delight at the prosper of riding a noble steed, Catra was frozen in place, eyes wide, staring horrified at the second horse standing a few feet away.

Fear and panic filled the young magicat's mind at the sight of the strange creature her family called a horse.

Yes. she has seen pretty strange stuff in her life living in Etheria, but these horses seemed to be the strangest creatures Catra had ever laid eyes on.

"Catra?" walking over to her, Micah put a worried hand over her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I-I-Uhhhhh-"

Micah assured her as he pated her shoulder. "Here, look." He gently reached up to the horse's muzzle and affectionately stroked its mane. "All you have to do is show that you mean no harm." He steps back and gestures over to Catra. "Why not try and give it a pet."

"I-I don't! I just…" starring to back away "Y-You know, don't want to catch fleas or something!" Catra answered.

"Brightmoon's horses don't have fleas, Catra. We have he best horse groomers in all of Etheria. These horses are squeaky clean."

"…..O-kay, then how about I don't want to give it my fleas." She smiled worriedly. Her excuses were starting to become too obvious.

"Catra?" Micah said, "You don't have to do this today. Riding lessons can start at any age, if you'd prefer."

Catra, still frozen to the spot, lowered her ears. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw how Glimmer seemed at home on her trotting stallion. She gulped back her saliva and clamped her jaw.

"N-no thanks." she blurted out. "I-I can do this."

With trembling legs, she slowly walked up to her horse and raised her hand.

*Neeeeiiiiigh!*

"Ahhhh-!" Faster than they could blink, Catra instantly disappeared from the spot, leaving a large trail of dust in her wake, and reappeared behind her mother's back in the bleachers.

Angella laid a gentle hand over her scared daughter's mane. She looked back down at her even more worried husband.

Even though now she was shaking in fear, both parents knew that Catra would remain out however long it took to get on that horse. Ever since she was a child, Catra would get unreasonably stubborn when it came to accomplishing something. She was the oldest princess of Castle Brightmoon after all. She wouldn't be defeated by a quadruped. When she committed to accomplishing a goal, Catra committed with all her nerves, or at least however many she had left after the horse spooked her.

The two parents mentality sighed at the long hours to come.

No matter what, this day was gonna be a long day.

...

After a few minutes, Micah was able to take Catra and place her gently on the other horse. Catra, keeping her lips tight, stood straight and rigid on the horse's saddle.

"Now remember Sweetheart," Micah said. "Just calmly take the reins and tap your heels to the horse."

With trembling claws, Catra leaned froward and grabbed the horse's reins. With the reins in hand, the horse rose its head to better a position. Catra's face squirmed. She quickly scooted to the back of the saddle, holding her breath.

"No no, don't worry." Micah tried to explain. "It's just getting in a ready position."

"MmHm" Catra tried to smile. Suddenly, the horse shook its head, ruffling some dirt out of his mane. Catra squeaked, scooting farther down the back side of the horse. Too far in fact. Before she could stop, her body slipped off the back end of the horse and collapsed down to the hard grass.

"…..Ow…"

The horse ruffled its tail.

...

After another few minutes, Micah was able to get Catra back on the horse.

Using both his hands, Micah formed a magic beam, creating a semi-transparent horse with glowing blue eyes out of thin air. Micah jumped onto the magic horse's back and smiled over to his daughter.

"Something to get you into the act is sometimes a good ole 'Hiyah!'"

Micah playfully slapped the rear end of his horse and trotted off, smiling an energetic grin. He turned back to his daughter.

"Now you try!"

With a gulp, Catra raised her clawed hands and slapped the back end of her horse. "Hiyah" she squeaked.

Sadly, in the fear of it all, the magicat forgot that she was, well, a cat. Her clawed hands starched the back end of the horse more forcefully than intended.

*Neeeeiiiiigh!*

The horse whinnied in pain, rising up to his hinged legs and kicking out. In the terror of the moment, Catra loosened her grip on the reins, and was hurdled off the horse's back, crashing into a pile of hay a few feet away.

Catra grumbled as she brushed the hay out of her hair. "What next?"

...

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Before Micah could even try, he gazed in despair as Catra ran around the field, her horse right on her heels.

Apparently, it had now gotten a taste for the magicat's mane. Its teeth bared, it tried to chomp down on the strands whenever it got close.

Glimmer, now off her horse, looked in equal despair as Catra ran around the field. Once her and her hungry horse got close enough, Glimmer held out a hand to the horse's rear. In a puff of pink sparkles, she and the rouge horse vanished. A second puff later, Glimmer reappeared.

"It's okay." Glimmer stated. "It's back in the staples."

"ErgH!" Catra ripped off her helmet, threw it to the ground, and stormed back to the castle in a rage.

Her three family members sighed as they watch her stomp away. As a princess, one was suppose to display special prowesses. A way to inspire people all throughout Brightmoon. King Micah was a wizard. Glimmer had teleportation powers. Angella was a literal immortal goddess. Catra was…well, Catra, who sadly put more pressure on herself when it came to...everything.

Suddenly a small smile crept over Angella's face. Maybe there was one other option.

...

Late that night, Catra was grumbling under the covers of her bed. Even when it came to sleeping, Glimmer was able to pick it up better. Silently furious, she punched her pillow a few times. It still remained puffed and disjointed.

"Event the pillows hate me." Her angsty mind thought.

After an abysmal day trying to ride a dumb horse, Catra was trying to get at least one dumb thing right. Only one problem—scratch that, many problems were making her blood boil more and more. She couldn't get to dumb sleep, on her dumb bed, trying to close her dumb eyes. Every time she tried closing them and emptying her head, her eyes would just snap back open, with nothing but the memory of her embarrassing performance today.

The magicat groaned as loud as she dared with her talented sister still asleep up above. She tossed and turned in her pajamas, but even her elegant princess bed couldn't satisfy her rising anger. She final huffed, thinking of one other option...Food.

Silently, Catra pulled the covers off herself and slinked over to the bedroom door. A princess was allowed to do a lot of things when it came down to it, and stuffing her emotions down with the best pastries the kingdom had too offer was one of those privileges.

With the sole purpose of raiding however many sweets were stored in the royal kitchen, Catra quietly open her bedroom door and stepped out into the deserted hallways. At least, she thought they were deserted.

*crunch*

Picking up the noise with her sensitive ears, Catra froze on the spot and turned. In her rush to get down to the kitchen, the magicat princess failed to notice her mother standing right doorway to the doorway, still in her clothes, her back slightly leaning on the hallway wall, eating a fresh apple.

The mighty mother smirked down at the caught daughter, as if she had read her mind and knew exactly where she was going.

"I told your father to put a lock spell over the royal kitchen's doors tonight." Angella took another bit out of her apple. "I wouldn't attempt it if I were you."

Catra opened her mouth too retort, but before she could, Angella held up a hand.

"Get a change of clothes on and follow me." She quietly stated as she stood up and walked over to her daughter.

"…..Now, please." She still smiled

Catra begrudgingly rolled her eyes and returned back to her room to change into some clothes.

"What ever it is," Catra thought. "It couldn't get worse."

...

It got worse.

A smiling Angella stood next to her groggy eyed daughter in the center of the grand Brightmoon horse stale. Almost a hundred horses were lined up in their own stables, either sleeping, drink water, or just standing around.

Angella smiled brightly at the scene while Catra just groaned up at her.

"Whyyyy" Catra moaned.

"Shush" Angella chuckled "Follow me, please."

She elegantly walked down the hay streaked stable while Catra followed with low spirits.

At the very end of the stable, Angella walked over to a tall golden brown horse. Catra noticed how shabby this one looked compared to the rest, yet the stabled it was in looked brand new.

"Catra," Angella looking down at her daughter "I want to introduce you too Bright Wing." She gestured to the golden horse in question.

"This darling is a new addition to the Brightmoon stables. The guards found him abandoned at recent village decimated by the Horde. I was hoping you could watch over him for a minute while I run a small errand."

Catra crosses her arms. "And why couldn't one of the guards do this?

Angella stared sternly down at the magicat. "Because I said so!" She almost commanded.

Catra winced.

"Wonderful" Angella smiled as if Catra's wince meant a "yes."

Angella rested a shoulder on Catra. "Part of training a horse is about building trust with them. Micah might be good at riding them, but what he knows in skill, he lacks in pacing. It's important not to rush this part."

"Are you some kind of horse expert-"

"When Micah and I were young." Angella interrupted "We use to train stallions for the royal guard." She smiled at the memory. "I'd fancy that I was a pretty useful on the back of a noble stead."

"Please!" Catra roller her eyes. "You have wings!"

Angella gazed down at her daughter so sternly, that Catra mentally zipped her lips. Angella continued on.

"Your horse has to get used to your touch, you can use a variety of techniques to help facilitate this."

Angella pushed Catra closer and closer to Bright Wing. As the cat's fur began to perk, Angella rubbed the girls shoulders. She knew she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her daughter tonight.

"First, stand right next to your horse's head, facing the same direction as he is." Angella positioned Catra right in front of Bright Wing's head. To the magicat's fright, the horse made eye contact with her.

"Slowly bend down your head down, and the horse will follow suit." Catra did just so. After a nail biting second, the Catra's eyes perked in surprise as horse bent his head down as well. "Wow" Catra thought. Angella smiled.

"Now, slowly stroke the horse's muzzle and-"

"What?!" Catra blurted out. This new task almost made her loose concentration with Bright Wing. Angella pated her shoulders in reassurance.

"Don't worry. don't worry. It's a simple enough exercise. It's the best way to soothe an anxious horse and get him used to your touch. See." Angella raised a hand and stroked its muzzle, up and down. The Bright Wing horse calmly tilting its head at the gesture.

Catra shivered, but her mother was making the task look so easy. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Except…

"I can't." Catra's ear lowered. "My claws.."

"It's all in the palm." Angella took Catra's hand and gently placed it over the horse's muzzle. Slowly, she moved Catra's hand down the horse's muzzle. Up and Down. Up and Down. "Gentle strokes." Angella took her hand away, letting Catra continue to stroke the horse on her own. "See?"

"I guess" Catra winced. "But I don't know if I can-"

"Perfect. Just keep him company for a bit. I'll be back before you know it!"

Before Catra could say anything else, Angella spread her wings as flew out of the crowded stable.

"Hey! HEY!" Catra tried to call, but to no luck. Now it was just her, and the horses.

Moodily, she looked back at the golden stead she was currently soothing. There they were, just starting at each other. Maybe for minutes, maybe for an hour. After sometime had passed, Catra's hand started getting tired.

"Sooooooo" Catra tried to say. "New here huh?"

Bright Wing the horse just stared back at her.

"Big new place. A lotta hay. That's what you guys eat right?"

Though her sister was more than eager to hang out her and pet the "horseies," Catra rather would have stayed as far away from this place as possible.

"I guess it's quite a lucky break." She continued. "All this nice space. Great area. Good...people." Catra hesitated for a moment. "...I bet you almost wonder what your even doing here for a moment...How could one guy get such a lucky life...You'd almost do anything-prove yourself in anyway!" Catra's ears sagged. "Because if you didn't...you might not get to stay..."

A long silence. Catra looked back up at the horse.

"Your a pretty good listener." She smirked. "Keep it up and I just might come-"

"Baaaack!"

Catra turned to see her mother flying gracefully back into the stable, something slung over one of her shoulders. She landed next to Catra with a wide smile on her face. Catra blushed and final took her hand away.

"Well-uh-it's about time you got back." Catra huffed.

"I know. I know. But I needed to make sure all the straps were secure." Angella took the object off her shoulder and held it out to Catra. She was carrying a large, sturdy horse saddle.

"Oh really?" Catra moaned. She was fine with talking to these things. Riding them was still another matter.

"Trust me." Angella held out her hand to Catra. Catra stares for a minute, then slowly took Angella's hand.

...

"I think I'm gonna throw up!" Catra moaned, holding onto Bright Wing's rein's for dear life.

"Oh hush now." Angella retorted. "Your fine."

A combination of the sparkling castle lights and the glowing moons of Etheria lite up the night sky as the two royals and Brightmoon were trotting along the vacant, grassy, field.

Angella had brought Catra and Bright Wing out of the stables for one more try. Fortunately for Catra, the queen decided to also get on the horse behind he, holding her daughter's shoulders assuradely.

"Just keep a good grip on the reins and you'll be fine." She told her daughter.

"O-kay" Catra gulped. She had to admit, the ordeal was a little better. Given that she spent a little time with Bright Wing already, her fur felt more at ease being on him. Given the helpful fact that her mom was carefully sitting behind her for assistance, Catra did feel a bit more safe than she would have perviously. In fact…it was actually quit nice.

Though they weren't really going that fast, the low breeze through Catra's mane was a little pleasant. Before she had half of her hair tucked into the helmet, but now here whole body felt the movement of the stead as she rode.

As hurling as it still felt, the magicat did have to admit it was pretty nice on the back of Bright Wing.

Over the next few laps, a small grin came onto Catra's face, her eyes lighting up.

She tightened her claws around the reins and lowered her head a bit. The light trot slowly increased to a brisk pace. Angella marveled as she saw her daughter's grin widen.

"Quite fun, eh?" Angella chuckled.

"Haha!" Catra laughed. Who could have known that riding a horse could be this exhilarating. She couldn't turn her eyes away.

This gave Angella the chance to silently unfold her wings and fly off of the horse. She rose up and flew over to the vacant bleachers, as her excited daughter didn't even seem to notice.

As Catra and Bright Wing continued to circle around and around the field, Angella softly smiled. She knew too well her daughter, and she knew that no matter what she would always put pressure on herself to be better, stronger, in order to live up to her status as a princess of Brightmoon. So for now, as Angella sat back, she decided to enjoy the scene of her daughter having a moment of peace.

...

See? Another memory she had. One that came right when she needed it. So how could she continue to think that this world wasn't real? When she had fond memories of her family as a whole, when she had memories she... didn't want to lose in the first place?

"Hehehehe!" Catra's ears shot straight up at the sound of a familiar laughter, shooting her head back immediately with unknowing excitement.

"Is that...!" Catra nearly gasped.

Off in the distance down a pathway, holding a genuine piece of cotton candy, walked a little girl with pink hair, a blue tunic, and sandals. She was somebody that Catra could never forget, the first person she could recall ever showing her a sense of decency just after meeting her. There was only one person in the world that Catra could never forget.

"Kim!" Catra yelled with glee as she rushed over. At the sight of their friend and princess bolting, the two companions looked at each other with confusion before giving chase after the eager cat. Upon hearing the name, the curious four-year-old turned around, looking up with her big beautiful eyes as her mouth gaped open a little with surprise. "How ya doing, squirt?" Catra asked with a small smile, squatting a little bit.

The one known as Kim just tilted her head a little in confusion before looking a little frightened, hiding her face a little behind the cotton candy as she stared. "Hey, what's wrong? Don't you remember me squirt?" Catra asked a little concerned as her ears lowered a little.

"Catra, do you know her?" Glimmer asked. While she was more than glad to see her sister's spirits lifted up again, she was also confused by the sudden randomness of it, especially to someone she's never met before.

"What? Did you already forget her? It's Kim, remember?" Catra smiled back for a second.

Not wanting to sour the surprising mood on Catra's expression, Glimmer shot Bow a small look of confusion, one telling him to play along with it for now. With a smile, she squatted down closer to the ground as she smiled to the young girl. "Hi, Kimmy. I'm Princess Glimmer, and this is our friend, Bow."

"Hi Kim..." Bow waved nervously with a smile, feeling more unsure of himself than he used to.

Even with their inclusion, Kim just looked all the more nervously at the three complete strangers as she frowned a little, her lip trembling as she squeaked. "Mmmhmm..."

"Catra, are you sure you know her?" Glimmer whispered over, growing worried over the frightened look in Kim's eyes.

"What are you talking about? Of course I do!" Catra insisted, offering a hand to the girl. "We played those party games and-"

"Ehhhhhh! Loloooooo!" Kim cried out as she burst into tears. It actually frightened Catra a little by how scared Kim seemed to be of her, but that didn't amount to the true despair of sadness that was filling her heart right now.

Kim didn't seem to recognize her, at all.

"What?" Catra muttered, standing a little higher. "Kim, it's... it's me. Don't you recognize-"

"Hey, freakshow!" Where Kim's laughter and voice filled the feline princess with hope and excitement, the sound of the other familiar voice filled her with disgust, anger, and shock. "What do you think you're doing to my-!" As Catra turned around, both, hers and the one who was yelling, was met with immediate shock, but for different reasons.

Standing there as she just arrived on the scene, the young teen brunette stared at the three of them with complete surprise, and a small bit of shock. Wearing beige leather pants, a green tunic with a white undershirt, and still sporting the same rugged haircut that she always did, there could be no doubt about who Catra was looking at right now.

"O-Oh!" The teen let out a small gasp as she rushed over to Kim's side, picking her up. "I am so sorry, princess, I didn't know it was you," she paused as she eyed the pink-haired one standing next to Catra, "either of you. I thought someone was picking on her or something. I turned away for two minutes and she walked off, and-"

"LONNIE!?" Catra stammered as she dropped her arms in front of her.

...

She raised herself to her feet so all Catra could see was Lonnie's night time shirt. "As for why we're doing this?" Although she couldn't see it, Lonnie grinned. "Because Shadow Weaver said we could-"

...

"You're always miles behind, freak!" Lonnie sneered as she looked over a young Catra dangling over a pit.

...

"Oh, y-you know my name?" Lonnie asked curiously, offering the girl a small smile. "Well, I'm flattered. But really, I'm sorry about the whole-"

*tug*

"Ah!"

"Catra!" Glimmer and Bow cried out as they grabbed each of her arms. Before the brunette could finish her sentence, she was taken by surprise and by Catra's clawed fingers as she grabbed her by the scruff of the shirt. Lonnie watched the princess with complete fear as she kept her hold on the younger girl in her arms, trying to keep her safe.

"What are you doing here, Lonnie!?" Catra yelled angrily, glaring into her eyes.

"What are you talking about? I live here." Lonnie tried to remain calm as she gazed nervously into the girl's eyes.

"Catra, let her go!" Glimmer grumbled as she and Bow finally removed her hold over the girl. "You're making a scene."

"Do you think I care?!" Catra shot back. It was almost surprising to Glimmer to see how angry her sister was over someone they had never met before. "Don't you remember her? She's from the Horde!" Of the several members who were surprised by this revelation out of the group, the only one who looked more shocked than surprised was Lonnie herself, the young teen sweating a little at the announcement as Kim whimpered back.

"W-Wha'd?" She lisped sheepishly, still keeping half her face buried into Lonnie's shoulder.

"Catra, what are you talking about? She's just a normal villager by the looks of it." Glimmer commented as she examined the girl from head to toe.

"Yeah, I think I've seen her a couple times in the past too." Bow added, recalling the few dozen times he's visited Thaymor in his life.

"Don't let anything she says or does fool you." Catra hissed, still baring her teeth at the past buly. "She's a member of the-"

"H-Hey, I know!" Lonnie quickly interrupted with a nervous smile. "Hey, Kimmy? Why don't you go say hi to the nice princess over there? Your big sis will sort things out with the scary-looking one, okay?" Lonnie offered as she somewhat forcefully shoved the young girl into Glimmer's arms. With everyone's attention turned towards the sight of the young girl being shoved away, nobody was prepared as the girl quickly grabbed Catra's hands before rushing away from the scene, ducking behind a building with the princess still behind her.

"Mmmmh..." Leaving a sad, adorable, and frightened Kim behind as she shuddered, still scared of the two strangers she was just left with.

"H-Hey, it's okay, Kimmy." Glimmer tried to cheer up with a smile. "M-My sister might look scary but she's really nice. She's just going to talk to her." Glimmer assured as she lead the girl to see the horses and ponies a few feet away.

I hope...

...

*thud*

"Ow!" Lonnie yelped as Catra pushed her against the wall.

"What are you doing here, Lonnie?!" Catra demanded to know as she growled. She could handle hearing the girl's voice, she could handle seeing her in person. But there was NO WAY she was going to let someone as vicious and cruel as Lonnie, her past tormentor, around the likes of someone like Kim and get away with it! "Why aren't you with the Horde?"

Grumbling a little to herself as she gave a short glare to the princess, Lonnie did her best to drop her anxiety and her irritation as she let out a small sigh. "Look, I don't know how you found out, but that was a long time ago, okay? I'm not with the Horde anymore."

"Are you kidding me? You tormented me for years and you-"

"I've never even met you!" Lonnie yelled back as she interrupted. Taking a deep breath, Lonnie explained herself.

"Look, around the time I was seven, I was getting fed up with the Horde, all right? The works, the duties, everyone fighting amongst each other constantly, I was getting tired of it all. So one day I just decided to get up and left in the middle of the night. I hopped a skiff that was getting sent out on patrol and when the coast was clear, I jumped the skiff and ran as fast as I could."

"To go where?"

"Anywhere, honestly." Lonnie replied as she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. "Trust me, you don't know what it was like growing up in the Horde. I kept trying to play it cool around the other kids and all, but without any way to show anyone how tough I was, I didn't get any respect. The kids started to pick on me and the adults ignored it saying it would "make me tougher" or some junk. Bottom line, I escaped from the Fright Zone, and I'm never going back." Right as Catra was about to argue, her mouth hung open with silence as she slowly closed it again.

Maybe this really was a different reality than she was thinking about? One where Lonnie wasn't a cruel manipulative sociopath, psychopath, whatever-path existed in Catra's vocabulary. If that was the case, then was that old hag speaking the truth about everything?

Then why would she want to change anything in the end? Given enough time, she could easily just adapt to this world again and forget her memories about Lonnie altogether. It sounded like a better win in Catra's opinion.

Again, if this really was a different reality, which she refused to believe in.

"So you just hopped onto the nearest skiff you could find and let it take you wherever it was going?" Catra questioned as she crossed her own arms. "Seems kinda..." Catra blushed a little as she turned her head away at the irony. "Reckless..."

"Yeah, I know, but I was just sick of the Horde, so anywhere it took me would've been better." Lonnie rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. "Even if some places were more preferable than the Whispering Woods. I got lost for almost an entire day around here until Rachel found m-"

"Wait, who's Rachel?"

"Rachel? Kim's mom? I've been living with her ever since." Lonnie explained. Catra mentally shrugged to herself as she thought back, realizing she never bothered or cared to get the name of Kim's mother. "Anyway, like I was saying, eventually Kim's mother found me in the woods starving and covered in dirt, so she offered me a place to stay. I didn't really trust anyone at first so I didn't tell them anything about me, and by the time I saw what the world was really like out here, I was too nervous to tell anyone I was from the Horde. I didn't know how they'd react."

"And she just let you stay, just like that?"

"For the most part. I did a few chores around the place but that was just my way of paying them back, I didn't need to do it." Lonnie said as she lowered her head with a small smile. "She treated me really nice, and I decided to stick around after they offered when I told her and her husband I had nowhere else to go. And after another few years, Kim was born, so I've kind of been like a big sister to her. She really grows on you once you get to know her."

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Catra muttered to herself with a small smile.

"Huh?"

Lifting her eyes up, Catra quickly shook her head at the confusing response she gave her. "N-Never mind."

"So... can I stay? Please?" Lonnie asked in an almost-begful tone. "I swear, Your Majesty, I'm not up to anything, and I really don't want to leave unless I really have to."

"Mmmh..." Despite the possibility that this could have been an alternate reality and the fact that she hated Lonnie's guts, she really couldn't bring herself to hate this particular version of her. She had no recollection of what her past with Catra was like, or anything she had to do with how much she tormented the girl. And as much as she didn't like the idea of someone like her anywhere near someone as innocent as Kim, she also knew if someone like Lonnie was around her, she'd be that much safer.

Besides, the fact she treated Catra with any respect felt like a bonus win in her book, and she was going to enjoy that side of it big time. "Well, as your Majestic and gracious Princess, I believe I can keep this discretion between us, for now."

"Oooh~!"

*tug*

"Thank you!"

...She was hugging her. Lonnie. Was hugging. Catra. This was the most bizarre and uncomfortable feeling in Catra's life that her former bully would be hugging her so dearly and sweetly, so much to the point that their cheeks were nearly pressed together. All Catra could do was blush and squeeze her claws together to refrain from yelping in pure terror and freakishness.

"U-Um... n-n-no problem..." She meeped. Wasting no time at all, the brunette quickly ran from the alleyway, leaving Catra to sigh to herself as she followed behind her.

...

*pat*

"See? It's a friendly horse, isn't it?" Glimmer commented with a smile, holding onto Kim as the eager girl gently petted the horse's forehead.

"It feels so fluffy at da top!" The four-year-old lisped, giggling a little as the horse brushed it's snout up to her cheek, giving a small ticklish whiff of the girl.

"Yeah, and they're useful, too." Bow added, petting a finger under it's chin. "When you train enough, you can ride these friendly little guys anywhere you-"

*nip*

"Ouch!" Bow yelped, tearing up as he sucked on his recently-nipped finger. It actually didn't hurt as much as he let on, he was just goofing around for the little girl's amusement, which worked like a charm.

"Heheheh!" She giggled, along with Glimmer who watched the charade. Turning her head around, Kim smiled back as she hopped out of Glimmer's arms, rushing up to the familiar person approaching them. "Sissy Lolo!" She squealed as Lonnie picked her up with a smile.

"Hey, squirt. You ready to go home?" Lonnie asked with a smile.

As the two continued to chat, Glimmer smiled over as she saw her own sister approaching her, a slight smile over her mouth which was a huge improvement over the disdain she showed earlier. "Hey, Catra. So did you clear everything up?"

"Yeah, yeah," Catra waved off uncaring, "it was my mistake. I thought she just looked like someone I knew, that's all." Giving a small smile back to the young four-year-old, the young girl eagerly waved to Catra with her small hands as Lonnie gave her a small nod in appreciation before making their way back into the village. "She's fine."

"Well that's a relief." Glimmer sighed. "You just looked so angry when you saw her. I actually thought she was from the Horde for a minute there.

"Yeah, but it's fine."

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"She isn't who I said she was, and she'll take great care of Kim."

"Who's Kim?"

"The girl she was with, remember?"

"What girl?" Bow raised a brow in confusion at the sudden mention.

"What do you mean what girl? I'm talking about the one who just le-" Catra lost her breath as she turned around, almost losing the pupils in her eyes as they glazed over at the sight behind her. They were gone. Both of them. No Lonne, no Kim, nobody. There was just the dozen or so villagers within her view going about their day without a care in the world. "Wh-Where did they go?"

"Where did who go?"

"The girls, the ones that were just here!" Catra yelled a little in frustration. She couldn't catch a single scent from either of them, or pick up on the sound of Lonnie's footsteps.

"Girls?" Glimmer asked looking to Bow, the archer shooting back with a small shrug in reply. "Catra, it's just been us for the last few minutes."

"Wha- No it wasn't! We were just talking to them a minute ago! Lonnie. Kim. Ring any bells?"

"Are... you okay, sis? I think the heat's starting to get to you." Catra tensed up as she heard Glimmer repeat the exact same thing the last time she swore something was one way instead of the other way around.

"This isn't funny, stop goofing around!" Catra yelled, grabbing Glimmer's shoulders.

"C-Catra, you're starting to scare me." Her eyes told her all, the fear spreading across Glimmer's face. She was telling the truth. She couldn't recall anything about this so-called "Lonnie" or "Kim", even if it was to save her own life. Realizing this for herself, Catra looked back in horror, her ears drooping at the reality of the situation.

They were erased from existence. Lonnie and Kim. And nobody appeared any wiser for the experience. It wasn't just the fact they disappeared at all that bothered Catra so deeply, it was the fact that nobody could recall any such thing about there being a Lonnie or Kim in the first place. To the rest of the Universe, any such individuals had ceased to exist, had yet to exist, and never would exist.

It was at that moment that Catra finally realized the truth.

Something was incredibly wrong with this world...

...

A/N: Hooftah, another large chapter completed! Sorry for the delay folks, between the outbreak and school its been kinda tiring around here lately, feel myself dozing off more than half the time. Mix that with the fact i'm actually going into this episode with a completely blank mind since its off the top of my head, and you got a winner XP... or a loser... idk which... I hope its a win...

Anyway! We're cutting down to the wire! We either got 1 or 2 chapters left, the amount im not sure of given how big these are turning out XP If there is 5, "shockingly" i don't think i'll have anything bigger than 9k (much less 8 possibly) since we're nearing down the last few episodes, and on top of that, the tragic revelation that we all know is coming to come up soon with an adora twist to it X*[ Keep your tissue boxes nearby folks just in case.

Also, the next chapter is likely going to be the last chapter to add custom-made flashbacks to it, so if you want to send your flashbacks for this episode, do it now before we reach the final chp of this episode!

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and keep yourselves prepared cause we might hit the finale of this 2-Parter episode next chapter!

Chapter 111: S3 Ep 5: A Parting Wsh Part 1 Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 12.9k Pre-A/N's. And with this chapter, we reach, not the end, but the last chapter to have a supporting flashback brought to you by the fans themselves.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your contribution for this episode, as well as your support for this fanfic as a whole. Even though we didn't get to use every flashback as I would have hoped, we still got more than enough to work with and a lot of fun "memories" to look back on throughout this episode. It was nice to see so many people willing and eager to send their support and their love for this fanfic and make their own little something to include into all of this, so thank you all for that ^^

And for those who didn't get to throw in their own flashbacks, not to worry! I might just do this thing some time in the future... after i hit the next 100th chapter, which looks to be a little less than 90 chapters from now... *sigh*

Oh well! With that all said, enjoy ^^!

...

"Come on!" Scorpia yelled back as the two continued to run. Looking back, Adora could see they barely made any distance between themselves and the gaping void that was attempting to swallow them for the last five minutes.

This was a nightmare, beyond a nightmare. Usually in a nightmare, you'd wake up after awhile. You'd get scared for a bit, maybe let out a scream or two in real life, and eventually wake up after a short amount of time. You would also wake up as soon as you felt anything physical within the nightmare or any dream for that matter, and should the horrifying monster or thing chasing you in your nightmare catch you, you would almost instantly wake up.

There was no waking up from this.

After spending a good portion of the day getting used to the perfect life that Adora seemed to have, all of it came crashing down on top of her, in some cases literally, as people began to disappear from her view. First Shadow Weaver, then Hordak, not to mention the other handful of guards and soldiers roaming around that slowly became more and more scarce. It wasn't until she had a run-in with her former self, quite literally in this case, that parts of her memories started to come back to her, as well as the cause behind all of this.

The Portal. The very machine that Entrapta and Hordak had been working on till now. Presumably. Maybe? It was hard to remember which memories were hers and which memories were from this world. All she knew was that somehow the portal had been activated before and it was causing a hole to rip in the fabric of reality as of right now. Initially, she thought going to the very lab which housed the wondrous machine would help her find the solution to their problem, a way to fix everything before everyone else disappeared.

The only setback? THERE WAS NO LAB TO GO BACK TO!

It was a miracle at all that she managed to remind Scorpia of some of these past events, ones that were still jumbled in her mind. It was the only surefire way for Adora to prove to herself that she wasn't insane, that the universe really was collapsing around her. Even if it meant they both looked insane in the process, it was at least comforting to know this wasn't all just one big hallucination.

With the portal gone, the universe itself appeared to react to their realization almost defensively as the tear in reality tried to swallow them whole within Hordak's sanctum. If that wasn't enough to convince them that the universe was trying to swallow them, the fact that it grew outside of the sanctum and has been spreading everywhere since then did. The two were running, panting, sweating for dear life as they continued to outrun the dreaded white void as they looked for a way out. There was only one person right now they knew could help them, help any of them, to stop this.

Princess Catra. Or perhaps, just Catra. Adora couldn't figure it out. She barely knew the girl, only that she was somehow related to all of this. Whatever Catra knew about the portal proved more vital than anything else they had to work with, seeing how they couldn't remember where Entrapta was and Lord Hordak had already been erased from existence. She was their last chance to save everything before it was too late.

But first they had to escape the gaping void themselves.

"Where are we even going?" Scorpia asked as Adora caught up to her.

"We need to find a vehicle, a skiff, anything!" Adora yelled as the two finally made it to the outside. "We need to find Catra and find some way for her to fix this!"

Just passing them, Adora spotted the so-called "stud" known as Kyle as he casually walked away from them, as if he was completely oblivious to the white void chasing them. Before Adora could even utter a word, the newly transformed teen had disappeared into the white void that hunted them, as if he never noticed the falling landscape right in front of them.

"Why isn't anyone else panicking?" Scorpia asked, witnessing the same terror that engulfed Kyle. "He just walked right into it!"

"I don't know! Maybe anyone whose fallen too deep into this world can't see it?" Adora yelled back as the two cut through a small metallic alley. "Do you really wanna stick around and ask them?!"

"Uh... not right now, no." Scorpia mumbled, actually a little curious at the prospect if it wasn't for the world that was falling around them at every turn!

By now, the gaping void that had continued to spread had stretched a good foot outside of Hordak's sanctum, stretching in nearly every direction from the center of where it last erupted. Running for their lives, gasping with every one-second pause they could afford, Adora looked on at her surrounding world falling into pieces.

Everything around here, everything that she had come to love, was being destroyed before her very eyes. Her home, her family, the friends she's come to know. There was no telling how many people were being affected by this catastrophe, or if it was occurring anywhere else in the world. All she knew was that as long as any of them survived, there was a decimal of a chance at fixing everything that was falling at the seams around them.

Not that it made the pain of the Fright Zone's destruction anymore bearable.

The casually walking soldiers and guards who passed them with a small wave before disappearing into the nothingness, the facilities she grew up in and the hundreds of memories she had around this place. Her entire world was being torn apart right in front of her, and she didn't have the power to stop it. Worse, there wasn't any guarantee that all of this would comeback if they even managed to. For all she knew everything could remain like this forever, never to see her friends or home ever again!

It was a grueling, terrifying thought, one that Adora forced herself to repress. As long as she and/or Scorpia survived, there was hope.

She just prayed she wasn't too late.

...

"Geeeeehhh!" Catra growled as she paced around the small room. She was flexing the tips of her fingers as she squeezed them closed and open repeatedly, fuming through the nose as she tried to process everything that just happened.

She was trying to recover from what the old hag told her, this supposed "Madame Razz" that she apparently new from another life, from another world. She tried to warn Catra about the danger that was coming to this world, how everything she was witnessing and experiencing was nothing more than a false reality. One that threatened to consume her if she gave in too deeply to her new world. One where her deepest fantasies and dreams would come true, that left her with a place to officially call home, and a group of people that accepted her like family.

Like Catra was going to believe what a crazy old lady from the woods would say, anyway! She loved it here, she had memories of being here! She remembered the way her mother looked at her with loving, caring, eyes. She could recall the numerous time her father scolded her and her sister for pulling a prank too far or breaking something in the midst of their shenanigans. And she had a sister that she actually cared about, one she could recall spending time with throughout her entire life!

And she was supposed to believe some old hag she could barely recall over her own memories, over her own desires? Yeah, right! Knowing the old hag, she was just messing with her, trying to get her to do something for her that Catra didn't want to. She had a perfectly good life here and she wasn't going to waste it by believing it was supposedly fake.

And she deeply regretted ever doubting her.

Following a mission to Thaymor, things started to go sideways in confusing, and south in despairing. After arriving at the village, sword at the ready, and prepared to liberate it from the Horde's clutches, the first of many bizarre occurrences happened when the village turned into a Horde-occupied city into a peaceful and welcoming environment. It was at that moment Catra started to question the authenticity of the old hag's warning, growing a little more concerned as to whether or not she was right, and if things could actually get worse.

To prove to the magicat that it could, reality sent her two deeply troubling revelations a few minutes later. While minding her own business and trying to process if this world truly was fake, or if she'd want to change it back if it was, she came across a familiar voice and an adorable figure known to her by the name of Kim. Unfortunately for her, she didn't recognize the girl known as Catra in this world despite Catra's memories telling her otherwise, memories that refused to forget someone as kind to her as Kim.

On top of that, not only did she not remember her, but she had a new "Big Sister" that went by the name of, no joke, LONNIE! Apparently the girl had taken it upon herself to escape the Horde when she was seven, getting tired of the lack of respect she managed to obtain around the Horde and how stubborn everyone was to her. With a bit of sneaking around and an occupied skiff, the girl managed to escape the Fright Zone and somehow wound up within Thaymor, living with Kim's mother since she was found.

The kicker to all of this? THIS STILL WASN'T THE WORST PART OF HER DAY!

The worst part came not even a minute after the two said their goodbyes to each other with Lonnie having no recollection of Catra other than her being a Princess. The moment that Catra turned her back to her and Kim walking away from them was the very moment disaster struck. Like the bizarre occurrence that changed Thaymor for the better, Catra discovered that the two had vanished into thin air, never to be seen again.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of it all was the fact that nobody seemed to remember these two to begin with, like they never existed for the five or ten minutes that Glimmer and Bow got to know Kim herself.

They were gone, possibly forever. And Catra had no one to blame but herself for refusing to listen to the old hag.

"Look, Catra, calm down, it's probably nothing." Glimmer tried to soothe as her sister continued to pace around their bedroom.

"It's not nothing!" Catra simmered her anger as she replied, trying to refrain from shouting at her sister as she continued to growl. "They were there one minute, and the next they were gone!"

"Are you sure you didn't just miss them turning down an alley or a path?" Bow asked curiously, trying to make as much sense about this as Glimmer was. It was hard for either of them to grasp the idea that somebody Catra knew could just disappear out of nowhere like this.

"They were RIGHT THERE! They couldn't have been ten steps past me before they disappeared."

"But we didn't see anyone behind you, sis. The street was perfectly clear."

"I know the street was clear, that's what I'm saying!"

"So there isn't an issue, then?"

"No-! Ugggghhhh!" Scratching at her forehead did nothing to quell the confusing anger welling up inside of her. "There were two people behind me, one of which I liked and one of which I hated. Okay? We talked to them for several minutes, then we said our goodbyes. Any of this ringing a bell so far?"

"Not really, no." Glimmer shook her head in skepticism and response. "We were just chatting, watching the horses, and then you started panicking about these people you said that disappeared."

"You mean to tell me you really can't recall anything else other than that?"

"Um, not really?"

"And you don't find it weird then that we didn't chat for, like, several minutes, during that time?"

"We just assumed you were off on a walk for a bit." Bow shrugged, unintentionally adding on to the magicat's frustration.

This is the headache that Catra's been dealing with on top of her already-annoying headache! Not only was she incapable of getting these two to recall anything that happened, but they couldn't find any issues or dilemmas in the missing blanks of their own memories. It was like, and most likely is, the Universe itself was correcting the missing plot holes within their own memory for them, keeping them oblivious to the troubles surrounding them and keeping them content within this dreamlike reality.

While it was a peaceful paradise to most, it was nothing short of horrifying and troubling to those that were aware of it like Catra.

"You guys seriously don't remember a single thing about either of them, do you?"

"Look, Catra, if you're that bothered by it, our mom can send out a small search party or something." Glimmer suggested as she stood, trying to ease her sister's distress. "I'm sure whoever you're looking for can be found within days."

"But that's my point, it won't do anything!" Catra grumbled, pushing her forehead against a wall. Ever since their disappearance, she's been struggling with the very last words Madame Razz warned her about before her own disappearance.

"Madame Razz is just trying to keep you from suffering more pain later on. If you don't listen to her, terrible things will start to happen to the ones you care about.

Madame Razz warned her about all of this, and she didn't listen. Because of her own denial and sensibility, she chose to ignore the lady's dire warning, and now somebody she actually cared about was gone forever. And while those she did were far and few between, Kim wouldn't be the last person she could lose that she cared about.

"These people already disappeared. They're gone, erased, everything! You won't be able to find them no matter how hard you search for them."

"Catra, you're really starting to worry me here." Glimmer commented as she hugged herself a little. "You've been acting weird all day and it's been getting worse lately. Do you want to talk to mom and dad again? Maybe they can help."

"Glimmer, you don't get it, there's nothing wrong with me." Catra pushed her claws gently against her own forehead as she tried to think. How was she supposed to convince these two that something was wrong going on here and nothing was wrong with her? Without any sort of proof, she'd look more insane with each passing argument. "Something is making these people disappear from our reality. Something that makes them forget."

"Okay, Catra, let's say you're right for a minute." Bow began as he tried to reason with her. "What exactly is making these people disappear?"

"I..." She gritted her teeth in anguish as her brows narrowed. "I don't know! I just know it's happening, and I'm one of the only people noticing it."

"But why you?" It was a bit more refreshing to hear Bow trying to work with the girl's disturbance rather than shooting her down at a first notice. "How come nobody else is noticing this if it's true?"

"I... Eghhh... I don't know."

"You keep saying that and you keep saying you're fine." Glimmer pointed out with increasing concern. "How do you expect us to believe you when you don't even know the answer yourself?"

"I don't know, alright!?" She finally yelled. "None of this is supposed to be happening, none of this should be happening! We wouldn't even be in this mess if it wasn't... for..."" Her blood boiled as anger gave way to frustration, and frustration, to answers. Remembrance slowly dawned on the magicat as she lifted her head, staring into space as she looked past Glimmer.

"Catra?" Her voice was almost in echo as it reached Catra's ears, brief glimpses of the familiar past flashing before her eyes.

...

"Hahaha!" Adora laughed back, tugging at her arms as she tried to shake her friend off. "I let you win, don't be ridiculous."

"You didn't even come in first, you came in second!"

"Well you know, the second is always the best. And that's still two more places higher than yours, slowpoke!" The two friends laughed with one another as they continued to tussle.

...

"Why can't we go back to those days?" Adora gently placed her hand on Catra's own over the railing, looking at her with a pained look in her eye.

"Adora..."

"I want to go back to the way things were. We were happier back then, we were a family!

...

"Because I'm not going to leave you this time." Catra replied, pulling Adora back to the platform and helping her across the gap to the other hallway.

"...Do you promise this time?"

She couldn't tell if the simple nod she smiled back with was assuring or not. "I promise-"

...

"Adora..." Catra finally muttered as she came back to.

"Huh?" Glimmer paused at the confused randomness of her sister's name-calling. "Adora?"

Catra blinked. She looked down at her own two hands as if they were new to her, unfamiliar somehow. Gazing all around her, she came to see the world for what it was, everything that was surrounding her, and what it finally meant to the girl.

It was all fake.

This whole world, this wonderful life that she had, everything that mattered to her... and she who mattered to everyone else. None of it was real, none of it was the life she was used to. She wasn't some princess from Bright Moon, she didn't have a loving, real, family. She wasn't supposed to be here in the first place, no matter how much she wished otherwise.

She was from the Horde. She was a soldier. She had something of a life back there, a life she had no interest in going back to. A place she was bullied constantly, a home that was more of a prison than not. But for all that made her suffer, for all that she hated about the place, there was somebody there she did care about, somebody who was probably still in the Horde right now.

A Friend.

"Catra?" Glimmer uttered the name as if it would snap Catra out of the trance she appeared to be in. "Are you okay?" She stared back.

She couldn't be here. She shouldn't be here. For all she knew, she wasn't meant to be here. For all that was glorious with this life, for everything it had to offer, Catra's ears faltered as she came to the sad realization of this wonderfully better world.

It wasn't meant for her.

"I..." Grabbing Glimmer's hands as she raised them to her, Catra winced. She couldn't embrace this life, not anymore. "I need to go." With a gentle push to her hands, Catra took off as she ran through the room. The two friends looked to each other in complexity before chasing after the feral warrior.

"Catra, wait!"

...

"Stun baton?"

"Got it. What about you?"

"What about me?" Scorpia snickered back, bobbing the tip of her tail as a reminder.

"Heh, right, duh." Adora chuckled as she continued to check the supplies. With such small bags on hand there was only a handful of stuff they could bring with them. But what other choice did they have?

After a near-ten straight minutes of running, the two finally caught a break. With lungs ready to burst with air and legs sore from the endless running, they had finally distanced themselves a good several minutes ahead of the ever growing white void that consumed anything and anyone in its path. Cutting across an alleyway and taking a small shortcut, the two were fortunate to get ahead a good distance until they finally came across a docked skiff. It would appear that they outran the worst that was behind them.

Either that or the void's all-consuming hunger had slowed down just a little.

With a skiff at their side, the two prepared themselves for the journey that was going to be at hand soon. There was no telling what they were going to do, only that their options were limited and their time was short.

They had to find the one known as Catra, the person Adora could vaguely remember as they discussed the details of their mission. They needed to find Catra, figure out what she knows about this portal thing, if anything, and help her find a way to stop this portal. With Adora's few memories of Catra recalling the portal, they knew that she was possibly their best and last chance of stopping this before all of Etheria ceased to exist, like the Fright Zone slowly disintegrating around them.

She was their last and only hope. The hope for the entire world at this rate.

"What are we gonna do if she doesn't believe us?" Scorpia asked with growing concern. The more they readied themselves for what lied ahead, the more doubts continued to plague her mind. "Or what if she was erased like everyone else?"

"Then we keep looking for something else." Adora stated, rechecking her supplies as she began to untie the rope securing the skiff to the metallic dock. "We won't give up until we find a way to fix all of this. There has to be somebody, anybody, that can fix this if she can't-"

She was there. She saw her again. Down the small cold metallic pathway, Adora saw her doppelganger smirking at her again with her arms crossed. The figure who appeared to know everything, the one who was always ten steps ahead of Adora through her pursuit.

The one who appeared to Adora before everything began to crumble.

"You know, we might get lucky and catch a break." Scorpia commented as she checked the skiff's small engine. "Maybe this whole "universe collapsing itself" thing will just stop after a few hours. Wouldn't that be someth-" Turning her head back, she noticed the vacant skiff that was devoid of anyone else, the surroundings empty of all life except for her own. "Adora?"

...

"Wait!" Adora yelled as she chased after the copy of herself again.

She couldn't allow her to get away this time, she couldn't just let her escape. She knew something, she had to know something. Something about this white void that was consuming everyone, something about the fact that her double seemed to know more about Adora than Adora did herself. She didn't know if this copy caught anyone else's attention, not that there was anyone else left to ponder, but she didn't care.

All that was happening, all that had happened, started with her appearance. Maybe even a little before that the moment Shadow Weaver disappeared, or even when she saw a guard missing from their post. She was the key to answering everything around her. She only had a few minutes to her estimate to get these answers, a way how to stop all of this, and possibly, an explanation to all that was unraveling around her.

"I said wait! Please!" Adora continued to shout. The small chase lead them to a small clearing of the Fright Zone, one with a reasonable view of the white void slowly approaching half a mile away from them. Thankfully, it appeared to be enough for the dopple as she grinned back. "Who are you? What's going on around here?"

The copy of herself chuckled back to her, stuffing her left hand into her red jacket's pocket. "You really don't remember a thing, do you?" She asked, raising a curious brow. "Or are you just playing ignorant to everything?"

"Ignorant? Ignorant to what? I don't know what you're talking about." Why did this double of herself give her the chills? Why did it make her heart beat with fear, a terror over the answers she didn't know? "Do you know what's going on? Do you know a way to stop this?"

"Stop what? This? Why would we want to stop it, Adora?"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"What?" Adora blinked as the scenery flashed briefly in front of her with a white flash. Not only was the mysterious double gone, but the white void nearly doubled in size as a result, now standing a mere twenty feet away from her as she yelped. "Ahhh!"

"We're the ones who wanted this to happen in the first place?" Adora nearly shrieked as her double appeared right behind her, feeling her resting a gentle hand on her right shoulder. "All to spite her."

"Huh?" Turning around, she disappeared again. It was as if she was toying with her and her mysterious words, purposely trying to sew even more confusion upon her troubled mind.

Eyeing the void still approaching the Force Captain, if rank meant anything in this world anymore, began to jog a short ways head, keeping her eyes peeled for her double's appearance. She didn't know how, but she could sense that she was close to her, somewhere right on top of her in plain sight. "To spite who? Why would we want any of this?" She asked aloud, being careful to watch her footing as she backed away from the void. "Why can't you just tell me?!"

"Aww, where's the fun in that?" The voice cooed playfully. Adora could swear she was speaking into her ear from one side at one moment, and be gone by the time she turned her head at the next. "It won't mean anything if you can't remember for yourself."

"Why not? Why can't you just be honest with me?" She questioned why she was putting up with this if she was just going to get turned around with every question, quaking of the growing void becoming more violent by the second. "If you know anything, then tell me! Otherwise, stop wasting my time!"

"I'm not wasting your time."

"Ahhh!" That time she couldn't resist the shriek that rose to her throat, falling backwards out of sheer fright. Like it was a necessity to respond in such a way, the double appeared right before her as the sight of her head greeted Adora's vision, descending outside from the point of view above her as it appeared upside down.

"I'm the only one you can trust." She stated, casually turning herself in a flip as she descended to the ground. "The only person you can ever trust in this world." Grinning, the malicious double started to casually approach the terrified blonde as Adora slowly backed away further and further.

"S-Stay back..." She stuttered softly. The more cryptic this strange copy of her continued to speak in, the more dread and fear started to plague Adora's mind. She remembered something about this girl, something Adora didn't want to remember and couldn't.

"And until you remember everything you've lost on your own, I'm not gonna stop bothering you."

*ZZZZZZZZZT*

"Ah-!" The gasp that flew from Adora's lips was met with reason. With another white flash in her vision, the figure that once stood a good ten feet away from her was now squatting in front of Adora as her expression covered Adora's vision, the double's legs on both ends of Adora's sides.

"Even if it means getting erased in the process." And without another word, it disappeared into a pool of shadow over the air, baiting Adora's eyes until it was gone completely.

And, lowering her head again, replacing her view with a pool of white.

"Ahhh!" Screaming, the Horde soldier rushed to her feet as she tried to run. With all this confusion running about her, all these cryptic messages from another self of her, she had almost forgotten about the gaping void that pursued her, one that nearly touched the rim of her boot's heels.

The double had tricked her, it must have, as Adora attempted to run. Luring her all the way out here, showing her the dying world around her, and trying to confuse her by pretending it knew what was best for this girl? It was all maddening, almost sickening. It cared for nothing more than to make Adora remember what she couldn't recall, even at the risk of her own life.

A life that lost its footing.

It wasn't three steps until Adora found herself falling, almost floating, as the ground beneath her feet gave way. With all that was being consumed, erased from this existence, the flooring beneath her had eroded into a near-rustic metal, one that couldn't support her weight as it crumbled underneath her. Instead of paving way to the possible underground or sewer system that ran throughout the Fright Zone, it gave way to an agonizing, terrifying, realm of fear as nothing but whiteness met her vision below.

It was almost a miracle that she managed to catch herself as she threw her arms ahead, barely grabbing onto the twisted metal that she dangled from. While she might have had the strength for it, she could do nothing to pull herself further up to the surface. She was struggling alone just to keep pulling at the metal that slowly disappeared ahead of her. Mix that with the suction of the void that wanted to consume her, it was nearly impossible.

She couldn't escape.

"Adora!" She shot back in attention as she heard Scorpia's voice, the look of horror crossing her face as she saw Adora's current state.

"Scorpia?" For a singe second, she was surprised by her friend's sudden appearance, as if she had completely forgotten she was still alive.

A second was all it took.

*crumble*

"Huh?"

*Kreeesh*

"Ahhh!" Adora screamed as she felt herself falling again. She was taken off guard, caught by surprised, and expected nothing in return, which lead to her downfall.

With the metal and the landscape being eaten away around her, just enough of it had finally disappeared to slip through Adora's grasp. With nothing but air to hold onto, the blonde girl found herself falling into the oblivion under her, her hands grasping at empty air. Flailing her arms around, there was nothing she could do except to accept her fate for the inevitable erasure.

*tug*

"Agh-!" Adora yelped as she was suddenly tugged at. From above her, she gasped. Holding onto the edge of the erasing world, gritting her teeth as she struggled to maintain her clawed grip, she saw Scorpia looking down at her, the scorpion's tail wrapped around Adora's waste as it gave her that few extra feet of arm's length she needed to save her dear friend.

"I got you!" She yelled, slowly and carefully removing one of her claws from the floor's edge as she reached for her dear friend with her other claw. Adora did the same as every second of this endeavor kept her heart from an even pace, beating faster as she saw the void continuing to spread to every corner around them.

*kreeesh*

"Ah!"

"Ahh!" Both, Scorpia and Adora yelped as the friend from above looked at the ground, grabbing at it again with both claws.

It was giving away. Little by little, the metals around them erupted into a small burst as they flew into the void behind them, the scorpion girl struggling to keep grasping at the metals that disappeared. With the struggle to maintain her status and the combined weight of her and her friend, Scorpia came to the ultimate conclusion that she wished wasn't true.

She couldn't save the both of them.

The skiff stood a good fifteen feet away from the crumbling edge, still struggling to maintain where it was itself as the rope was still tied to the large metallic pillar Scorpia hoisted it to. If she continued at her current rate, it wouldn't matter if she could keep themselves from falling into the oblivion growing around them. The Skiff would be pulled into the gravitational force of the void itself, and they would never escape from the Fright Zone in time. And she couldn't abandon her friend, even if it was to save her own life.

Silence fell over the girl as she lowered her head, realizing the reality of the matter. Either she saved herself and dropped Adora right now, or...

"Scorpia?" Adora muttered, noticing the strange silence coming over her. Staring, she watched as Scorpia gave her a small tearful smile to her, one that perplexed and worried the girl. "What... What's are you..." Her eyes slowly widened in realization as she came to understand the truth behind her tears. "Scorpia, no." She said almost commanding.

"For what it's worth," Scorpia said softly with a small sniff, "I'm glad I got to have a life's worth of memories to share with you." She said, rubbing her eyes with her free claw. "Even if they were fake."

"Scorpia, don't... don't even think about-!"

"I know you'll make things right." Her pleas fell on deaf ears as she felt herself being hoisted up higher to the girl by her tail, the large friend throwing a claw between her left shoulder in a tight grip. Before she could so much as think about pushing her away, Scorpia was ahead of her as she threw the girl with all her strength just as the metal she was gripping finally gave way.

Her sacrifice proved to be enough as Adora found herself being thrown through the air about seven feet away from the crumbling edge, landing with a harsh thud. As soon as she picked herself up from the ground, Adora shook her head, looking back at the ledge as she ran for it for dear life. "SCORPIA!" She shouted in sadness, throwing a useless arm at the edge before she could even see the state of her friend.

Scorpia was already gone.

Adora's tears fell into the void as everything was sucked in around her, stands of her hair blowing into the same direction. Scorpia had sacrificed herself without a second thought, all for Adora's sake. She had a lifetime of fake memories that stayed with her until she was erased, memories from a reality around them that made their dreams and wishes come true. Adora couldn't recall her own, but she knew exactly what Scorpia wanted since the day they truly met.

A friend to spend her life with since they were kids.

Adora sulked audibly for the few moments of reprieve she had, crying her eyes out as she stood on her hands and knees, scraping her nails against the dissolving metal. She proved herself to be more of a caring friend than Adora could give her credit for, one that was willing to risk her own life if it meant saving Adora's without a care in the world. Adora only wished she could have proven it without actually sacrificing herself in the process.

With her parting words, Adora knew she still had a job to do. Scorpia entrusted her to save the world like the hero she knew her to be, somebody she knew only Adora was capable of being. As much as it pained Adora to admit it, she couldn't afford to waste time mourning for her friend's sacrifice. If there was a way to save her, a way to fix everything around them, then Adora had to find it, no matter the cost.

*kreeesh*

"Ngh..." Adora groaned lightly to herself as she fell to her back again. The void was still encompassing the rest of the Fright Zone at the rate it was going without pause. It wouldn't allow the Force Captain to mourn for her friend no matter how much she wished otherwise.

With a heavy heart, wiping her tears away with her sleeve, Adora jumped up to her feet as she dashed away for the skiff. Luckily, all of their gathered supplies were still on hand. She rummaged through the several bags as quick as she could as she felt the skiff turning a little, knowing it was getting pulled by the void's increasing hunger. Brushing her fingers against the tip of what she needed, she quickly pulled out a small dagger, cutting away at the rope as fast as he could until it finally cut free from its binding.

With the skiff free and the engine running, the white void almost directly under her, Adora sped off. Controlling the steering of the rudder, she piloted the skiff as she accelerated her speed, dodging through the obstacles of the facilities that still remained and the small bits of debris that fell atop of one another as she made her escape.

She was all alone now without anybody by her side. She was all that remained of the Horde and the mission to save this world from its impending doom. There was no Hordak, no Shadow Weaver, no Scorpia there to support her. She was all that remained and all that was left of the one proud place she called home.

And the world depended on her, now more than ever.

...

"Come on... come on..." Catra grumbled as he fiddled with the engine's wiring.

One of the few fortunate outcomes of this illusionary dreamworld took the form of the necessary items she had on hand. One necessary item she required at this rate was a lone skiff that could be used to traverse the Whispering Woods and reach the Fright Zone within a matter of minutes. With time being of the essence and people disappearing left and right, she couldn't afford to waste any time traveling through the woods on foot, no matter how fast she ran.

Thankfully, said skiff came in the form of a lone one she found along the edge of Bright Moon's walls, lying against it flat and neatly buried under a pile of branches. By her guess, seeing how many of her new memories were starting to be replaced with real ones, she and Glimmer must've discovered this thing out in the woods at some point and dragged it all the way here for themselves. While scarce, one of the few indications she had of this were the annoying amount of vines and twigs she found choking the small engine of the vehicle, as well as some broken wiring she needed to fix.

Speaking of said memories, they were starting to become a bit of a blessing and a curse to her at the same time. She had yet to recall most of what lead her up to these events, only that Adora was involved in some way, but that didn't matter. Wherever she was right now, likely within the Fright Zone, she was in danger of being erased just like the rest of this world was, where anybody who's fallen too deeply into it's wondrous enchantment would forget her forever.

And she refused to forget about her herself.

On the other hand, in terms of curse, she discovered more memories of her and Adora fighting from time to time. Not just playful fighting when they were kids, real fighting, as enemies on the opposite side. What could have driven them so far apart? Why did she recognize small snippets of memories that showed Adora glaring death into her eyes like that?

She couldn't say. She didn't know if she even wanted the answers to that. All she knew was that if they were to have any hope of stopping all of this, then they needed to find each other, and find some way to convince her to stop the portal in the Fright Zone before it was too late.

Giving a firm tug of the green cable, tying it to a cut yellow wire, the magicat grinned as she heard the wondrous device suddenly humming with life, seeing a small yellow glow coming from the roar of the engine. Along with this, she felt the skiff itself beginning to hover a few feet off the ground. It had some wonkiness to it and some shaking, but it was better than nothing. This was her only means of traveling fast enough without endangering her possible-sister's life by making her teleport the two.

"Yeah, thatta girl." Catra grinned to herself, proud she still retained some of her knowledge of skiffs from her past life. Giving it a few small pushes from the controls, she jerked a little as the disoriented skiff pushed forward, wobbling a little until it evened itself out a few yards ahead. "It's better than nothing." She shrugged. With a soldier's sword to her back and a destination in mind, she knew exactly where she had to go.

Just not who would stand in her way next.

"Catra!" Her ears immediately perked up as she looked to her right, seeing her entire family and Bow rushing to the skiff.

"See? She's acting crazy again." Glimmer restated, evidently being the one who snitched about Catra's strange behavior to her parents.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Micah asked with raised hand, concerned for his daughter's bizarre behavior. "Come off of that thing, we can talk about this."

"Where do you think you're going?" Her mother was just as questionable at this as she gazed at the skiff itself. "And where did you get this vehicle?"

"Okay, I swear, we were gonna tell you about the skiff, we just wanted to get it fixed first." Bow threw in, waving his hands defensively as he held part of the blame. As the family continued to spur her with questions and comments, Catra turned her head away as her expression dropped with the tip of her ears.

This would be it.

The point of no return.

If she went through with everything, she'd be throwing it all away. Her palace lifestyle of luxury and content, a young sister that indulged in Catra's pranking as much as she did, and a family. A family that loved her dearly like one of her own, an experience that she never wanted to forget or to turn away. Out of all the memories she had of her old life, this was the one thing she never got to experience in the real world... and it's one she treasured most.

"I... I don't know what's going to happen after this." Catra finally said, still keeping her eyes down as she turned her head to them again. "Maybe things will go back to normal or it'll just be like this for the rest of our lives."

"Catra?" Glimmer blinked in confusion as she stared at her strange sister.

The magicat gave a small chuckle as she scratched the back of her right ear. "Personally, I kind of hope it does stay like this, but," she stared back up to the group with a mournful look, "I can't risk losing everyone in this life or the last, even if it's different."

"Catra, whatever this is about, we can talk about it. We love you." Her mother pleaded taking a step forth. Strangely, the action made Catra flinch with more concern, stopping the Queen in her tracks.

"I... I know." Her hand tightened around the handle of the skiff, squeezing it as she held back her own emotions. "And I'm sorry... for everything I might've done up till now or will do after this."

"Sis, please, you're starting to scare me..." Glimmer muttered as she squeezed her fists. The way Catra was speaking to her, the solemn look in her eye of solitude. She was acting as if they would never see each other again.

Curiously, it was the one comment that got a small chuckle out of the cat girl as she looked back. "Ah, don't sweat about it too much, Pinky."

"Pinky?"

"I'm not going away for good, it's just..." Tilting her ears back partway, staring at the forest ahead of her, Catra could feel the beat of her heart rate reaching greater heights. Once she crossed that threshold, once she crossed the edge of the first line of trees, something told her there was no going back. "I... I need to do something... to help someone..."

"Then let us help you, sweetheart." Micah suggested as the informative king he was. "I'll summon some guards, just tell us what's bothering you." Catra smiled again a little, more than she thought she would be if she had to say her goodbyes.

"You know, for what it's worth... I really hope I have a family to come back to after this." And, unable to bear the increasing pain in her chest, Catra took off.

*shooooooom~*

The skiff rocketed from the side of the castle as Catra flew headfirst into the large row of trees, leaving a blanket of dust behind for the rest of her family as they shielded their eyes. It didn't take much more than a single flap from Angella's glorious white wings to blow the dust away from their field. But once they could see again, when their vision became clear at long last, there was nothing there to greet them. Catra was already gone.

"Catra!" Glimmer yelled out, tearing up a little. Something spooked her, something that terrified her about all of this, like she would never see her ever again.

"I'm summoning the guard!" Micah stated firmly, resting a hand on Glimmer's shoulder to calm her nerves. "Don't worry, pumpkin. I swear we'll bring her back before something hap-"

"Wait." Both their attentions were drawn to the sound of Angella's voice, hearing the Queen speaking in a firm, soft, tone. She kept her eyes glued to the forest for a bit, still processing all around her, until, finally, she gave a small smile back. "Let her go."

"What?!" Micah gasped in disbelief. "Angie, are you out of your mind? We can't just let her go like this! She's unwell, she needs-"

"Some time to herself." Angella cut off, taking his and Glimmer's hand in each of her own. "I don't know what she's up to either, but..." She smiled somewhat with an unknown sense of pride as she gazed back into the forest. "I trust her to return to us, soon." Micah gave a short frown at his wife's sudden disposition before sighing, trust crossing over his eyes as he nodded to her, and welcoming Glimmer's small hug of worry as she tightened her arms around him in worry.

Catra was a mysterious creature since the day they met. This much was obvious to Angella and her husband than anyone else in the world. Since day one she had been different, from her sometimes-aggressive behavior to her way of lashing out to protect those she cared about and loved. She had as much brashness as any stubborn fool or reckless warrior, but it came with a good heart, a heart she believed in to return home to them.

Whatever was Catra's deal at the moment, something within Angella told her that she needed to be allowed to do this on her own, without them, for once. She didn't know what was telling her this or how she knew this to be, and she didn't care. Part of being a mother meant knowing when to let the kids act upon themselves for once, even if something seemed reckless and dangerous to them. And even if she wasn't of the same blood as the rest of her family, she knew that Catra was more determined than any of them put together to do what needed to be done.

And she knew where Catra belonged.

It's been like that throughout the majority of her life. And continued to present itself as such to this very day...

...

(A/N: The Following Final Flashnack has been provided, once again, by 444teme444's brilliant and appreciated contribution)

Catra sighed deeply, taking the moment to breath in the lofty sea air as she sat perched on the cliffside. As much as Catra disliked the Kingdom of Salineas, largely due to the fact it was a right next to the ocean, she couldn't deny that the view overlooking the ocean from the Seagate was pretty spectacular. It almost made up for the fact Salineas resident Princess was the biggest pain the tail Catra had ever come across.

It was simple outing to Salines for the annual alliance meeting. Angella and Micah were in council, with the rest of the leaders of the alliances, discussing the usual politics that come with ruling their Kingdoms, such trade routes, economics stability and a hundred or so other busy things Catra couldn't sit through for more than five minutes. Luckily, she didn't have to this time, since none of the younger Princess were allowed in the meeting. Instead they were asked by their parents to socialise with each other since they were expected to be the leading the same council together in a few years' time.

Glimmer at least wanted to make the effort to get along with the other Princesses. Catra knew exactly how much it meant to her and was willing to try and tolerate the Princesses, no matter how much they got her nerves. Princess Frosta was seven years old and acted much like an overzealous brat who couldn't even keep still for five minutes. Princess Perfuma was friendly enough, but her constant preaching above positivity, love and universal oneness was enough to make Catra want to gag.

And then there was Princess Mermista, who seemed to have been born without the concept of a filter between her thoughts and her words. Normally, this kind of callow bluntness would be something Catra could admire in a person. Until that person threw an unfiltered comment in Catra's direction

"Take that back!" Catra snapped

"No" Mermista replied, apathetic.

"I said take it back!"

"No"

"Grr!"

"Catra, please! We need to be diplomatic about this!"

Mermista made no attempt to move or dodge or even look, as Catra came charging right at her, swinging her claws directly at Mermista's face. The only thing that was stopping Catra from clawing Mermista's eyes out was Glimmer, who had to teleport in to grab Catra by her waist and teleport her back at least ten feet from Merimsta. But no matter how many time Glimmer did this, Catra managed to slip out from her sister's grasp and take another run at the mermaid Princess who stood rooted to the same spot, her arms crossed looking completely disinterested at Catra's attempt on her life, or really anything in general.

Perfuma and Frosta were watching all this from side-lines, making no attempt to intervene. Perfuma flinched and shielded her eyes as Catra took another leap toward Merimista, claws extended, much like an actual tiger would, while Frosta clapped in her hands in joy as Glimmer swiftly teleported in the middle of the air and teleported Catra away before she could reach her intended victim

"Again! Again!" she cheered as Glimmer desperately grabbed Catra by the end of her tail as she made another mad dash for Mermista, teleporting the two of them as back as far as she could. By now Glimmer was feeling completely exhausted and had half a mind to just let Catra have her way with Mermista, but she promised their mother she wouldn't get into trouble with the other Princesses, knowing how important keeping up the alliance was.

"Um, Mermista, perhaps we could resolve this conflict with a simple apology?" Perfuma asked politte, yet no less meek sounding.

"I'm not apologising" Mermista replied, again with her standard blint attitude. "All I did was state a fact"

"Fact!?" Catra snapped, struggling to pull herself free from Glimmer who now had her arms hooked under Catra's shoulders. "You said I wasn't a real Princess!"

"Um, no, I just said that it's important for us to get along because we're all Princesses and you're like not or whatever" Mermista said

"Yes, I am!" Catra growled.

"Yeah, but you're like adopted or something. That makes you makes you more like an honorary Princess or something. I mean, that's pretty nice and all, but you're not as important as the rest of us"

Catra suddenly ceased her struggling, her body freezing up. "Not important?"

Glimmer gulped knowing the horror that was about to be unleashed. Moving like a bolt of lighting and a monstrous burst of strength, Catra broke free from Glimmer, knocking her sister to the ground the process and ran straight toward Mermista, grabbing her the front of her collar, baring her fangs right into the mermaid Princess's face, who showed absolutely no sign of fear.

"Fight, fight, fight!" Frosta cheered happily.

Perfuma quickly covered her Frosta's eyes, now wanting the young child to be scarred for life. After a moment, Perfuma also covered her own eyes.

"What makes you think you're more important than I am!?" Catra snapped. "What's the difference between you and me?"

"Because we're all going to be the rulers of our own kingdoms some day and you're not" Mermista replied, with no hint of mockery or scorn; in her own mind, she really was just stating a fact. "You're not even going to be the ruler of your own kingdom. Your sister is the one who's going to be Queen, not you"

Catra's eyes widened, all her ferocity beginning to dissipate from her face as she allowed Mermista's statement to sink in. She didn't want to hear it, she didn't want to admit it, she didn't want to give Mermista the satisfaction of being right, but Catra knew there was nothing she could say to refute that statement. Growling in frustration, Catra released Mermista, not even feeling like punching her. Glimmer quickly rushed to Catra's side, putting a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"Uh oh" Frosta whispered, all of her enthusiasm draining at once, reading the change in atmosphere

"Please, let's not focus on the negative" Perfuma said cheerfully, now finally taking the opportunity to get in between the two quarreling Princess. "Let's all of us instead take a deep breath and use this moment to think about the positive things that we have in common. Like our unbridled love and appreciation for the wonders of nature"

"Catra, just ignore her ok." Glimmer said, beginning to lead her sister away. "It's not a big deal."

"Maybe you should order to leave or something?" Mermista said, as though that was some kind of friendly suggestion

"I'm not going to order my sister to do anything" Glimmer snapped back, indignantly

"Well, aren't you like gonna do that later when you're Queen?" Mermista continued. "Isn't she going to have to follow your orders?

Glimmer let out an incredulous snort of laughter. "Please, Catra barely listens to our Mom and Dad. Like she'd ever listen to me on anything"

"Then what's she supposed to be doing when you're busy being the in charge?" Mermista asked. " I mean, when we're all old people like our parents, we're the ones who are gonna be in the council and trying to fight the Horde. What's your sister supposed to be doing? What the heck she is even a Princess of anyway?"

"I'm sure there's lots of great things for you do. Mediation, basket weaving, pottery. You'll find your place in the universe like the rest of us have, Catra. A great way to start with that is breathing. Let's practice. Breath in, breath out"

Perfuma began to demonstrate her very loud breathing technique, as she continued to inhale and exhale in order, hoping to encourage her fellow Princesses to join in with her. The only encouragement this gave Catra was to find a way to cut off Peruma's breathing.

"Who cares who's running the Kingdoms anyway?" Catra spat angrily.

"Like, all of us?" Mermista said. "That's our responsibility as Princesses. Even Frosta will be leading her people soon. You're just like the understudy Princess or whatever"

"Alright, that's enough all of you" Glimmer said, stepping in between Catra and the rest of the Princesses, refusing to let this go on any further. "I don't care what any of you say. Catra is a great Princess and she's the best sister I could ask for. You act like your better than her over something she can't change or control. It isn't her fault she's not meant to be Queen"

Glimmer suddenly gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. She turned to Catra who gave her sister a cynical and bitter look, unmoved by the tears that were starting to form in Glimmer's eyes as she deeply wished that could take back what she had just said.

"Catra, I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

But Catra didn't want to hear her sister's excuses. She said what she had said and that was all that mattered. With nothing left to say Catra turned her back on Glimmer and the rest of the young Princesses, walking off down to the shore, wanting nothing more than to be alone.

"Does anybody still want to try the mediation?" Perfuma asked, still hopeful.

No matter how many times she played the events over in her head, it didn't seem to ease Catra's feelings. So instead she settled with just enjoying the sunset. Her ears then picked the familiar sound of her mother's wing flapping as she came down to land on the cliff right beside her.

"Catra, I heard about happened with Princess Mermista" Angella said, sounding concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure, peachy" Catra muttered sarcastically

"Glimmer is very upset" Angella said, sitting down next to her daughter. "She actually barged into the council meeting to us what happened. Luckily by then we were mostly done, and your father was in the middle of showing off his latest card trick. She's afraid that you're mad at her for what she said"

"I'm not mad at Glimmer, ok?" Catra replied without looking up at her mother

"Then what has you upset?" Angella asked.

"What's there to be upset about?" Catra said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Glimmer is gonna be Queen someday and I'm gonna be standing in the background when that happens

"Oh, Catra". Angella placed her hand on her daughter's cheek, running her fingers through a small tuff of her mane. "I don't want you to feel like that any of us think any less of you because of where you stand in the royal line of succession. You know we love you regardless of bloodline. And I know you would make a fine ruler as well"

"Pff, like I'd want to be a Queen someday" Catra said, turning away from her mother, her tone and posture changing revert back to her usual carefree and confident self. "Then people would be expecting things from me. Not like I care"

Angella gave her daughter a stern look, knowing first-hand how Catra would often try to hide her true feelings. "Catra, look at me"

Catra's ear dropped as she hesitantly turned and looked her mother in the eye, her confidence waning.

"Is that how you really feel?" Angella asked sincerely. "That you don't want people to expect great things from you? Or do you not want people to expect great things from you?"

"I don't know" Catra replied, pulling her legs up to her chest. "I mean, maybe. Glimmer is the one who supposed to be Queen someday. Not me. And it's like I don't know that. I've always known that. And I don't blame anybody for it, especially not Glimmer" she added quickly. Catra then sighed, with a sombre expression. "It's just…how things are, that's all. Somebody has to be the most important person in the room. And somebody has to be in second place

"Oh, Catra, you're not second to anyone" Angella said, putting her arm around Catra's shoulder. "Even when Glimmer becomes Queen, that doesn't mean you have no place in Bright Moon. I would be lost if I didn't have your father as well to help keep me moving forward. And Glimmer will still need you by her side. I'd be more worried if you weren't around to help. Glimmer doesn't show it, but I know she's doesn't feel like she'll ever be ready to be Queen."

Angella frowned now feeling uneasy as she remembered her own experience when the time for succession came. "Truth be told, I never felt like I'd be ready either. Not even the day I became Queen. Knowing what I was meant to do made it no less difficult when the time came"

Catra lowered her head and leaned in a little bit closer to her mother, starting to feel very safe. "What if I don't know what I'm meant to do?"

Angella placed her hand on the back of Catra's head, wishing she could ease her daughter's discomfort, when an idea came to her. "Well, how about this then". Angella placed her fingers under Catra's chin and gently lifted her head up, looking at her daughter with a smile. "I want you to be you. Just Catra. If you're really worried about expectations or what you are meant to do with your life, then just keep being the same Catra that we all love. I don't you ask for anything more, because I know you will do what's right. Think you handle that?"

Catra stared up at mother with almost a sense of disbelief, before she put on her usual laid back and cocky smile. "Pff, of course I can. You know, maybe I am the lucky one. Anybody can be a Queen, but I get to be my own person"

"That's better" Angella said. She the smirked once again, feeling a little mischievous. "And what is all this talk about becoming Queen anyway? You make it sound like I'm going somewhere. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm staying right here to keep an eye on you two"

Angella playfully tapped Catra on the nose, making her daughter laugh. Now feeling more content, Catra leaned in closer to her mother once again, who happily hugged her daughter in return, the two of them down beginning to enjoy the sunset together.

"You'll always be there for us, right?"

"Always."

...

Adora continued to dry the tears coming down from the sides of her face as she focused on the barren path ahead of her, taking a brief glimpse back in the Fright Zone. Anything that once resembled her old home, anything that indicated that intelligent life once roamed there was nearly non-existent. With the white void never seeming to end, from the epicenter of Hordak's inner sanctum from where it first erupted, it now stretched to nearly every corner of the Fright Zone, the pull of its force reaching Adora even from all the way out here as her hair fluttered back.

It was the sight of the last few buildings of metallic constructs that Adora knew there was no turning back, no hope to rebuild what was already lost. Across the deserted wasteland she now traversed on her skiff, anything resembling the beautiful home she once loved was nothing but an empty void of whiteness now.

Nothing of it remained, nothing of it bore any signs of life. Adora was the last living remnant of the slowly expanding void, and the fate of Etheria rested upon her shoulders. She was more than certain of it.

*CRASH!*

"Hu- WHOAAA!" Adora screamed as she turned the skiff to a sudden swerve to the right. Her heart was still pounding as she looked back at the expanding pillar before looking ahead of herself in disbelief.

All around her, much like the one she nearly ran into, multiple large pillars of light erupted from the surface below the skiff, the air practically shaking as the vibrations of their power shifted the skiff around. To Adora's shock of horror, apparently the white void had grown immensely, much further than she had initially thought. It wasn't just the surface itself that was being affected by this shattering reality.

The very planet of Etheria itself was being undone from the inside out.

Panic and worry crossed her mind multiple times as she forced herself to ignore it, piloting the skiff with as much accuracy as she could to make the close-corner calls and tight squeezes in-between. While the pillars themselves were no wider than a five-foot radius, a majority of them continued to expand with every passing second as she swerved around them.

What's more, she had to be careful to avoid any pockets of ground that appeared to be moving or cracking apart below her. The VERY last thing she needed was to fly over a pillar of light that didn't burst until she was right on top of it! Even if she only lost the skiff in the process and was flung out of her vehicle, there was no way she would be able outrun the slowly expanding void, much less with these new pillars she had to worry about.

It was the worry of these very same pillar's that nearly cost her her own life as she jumped out of fear. Just barely scratching the side of her skiff, right as she was within a hundred feet of the forest from her point of view, one of the aforementioned pillars of light actually erupted several feet away, the rim of the pillar scratching the right side of the skiff's body.

While it wasn't enough to vaporize everything in existence at first touch, it left Adora with an unbalanced skiff to deal with now as she struggled to maintain herself and the skiff that was missing the front right-half of its body, and the very edge of its mast.

"No, no, no..." Adora stuttered, struggling as she used both of her hands to pull the steering with as much strength as she could muster, just as she reached the rim of the woods.

At the same time, a certain magicat was keeping her eyes on the path ahead of her, dodging the numerous trees and the large wildlife she occasionally ran into on the way to the Fright Zone. No matter how hazy her memories were, she could never forget the direction to one of the cruelest regions across Etheria, especially one that turned her into what she was today.

It was as she continued to hope to herself that her friend was alright that something unexpected happened, or rather, continued to happen. Right as she reached the border of trees that nearly touched the edge of the Fright Zone, she saw a strange skiff bursting into the woods from her left, the wood's magical protection already relocating her entry, as she crossed Catra's path.

For a split second, the two became aware of the other skiff, and a mysterious individual piloting it, before the red-coated girl made her way across the woods.

"Adora?" Catra questioned to herself as she threw her head back into the direction that Adora left. Within the three seconds she spent staring and back, she immediately came to regret it. Not five seconds from where she was flying was a massive tree that toward all the others, nearly thirty foot in width, and way too wide for her to swerve around with her rustic skiff on hand. "Ahhh!" Screaming, and seeing little option in the matter, the magicat bailed from the skiff as she jumped towards the closest tree, barely grabbing onto the branches with a sigh of relief.

The moment she turned her head around her vision was engulfed with a small fiery haze, the skiff exploding into a pile of shattered metals as it fell to the ground. Naturally, she was more than relieved to be away from the dramatic explosion even if she didn't show it over her face. Her first and current concern was the girl who suddenly burst into the woods.

That same girl was still moaning to herself as she struggled to keep the skiff afloat, jerking the controls as hard as she could to no avail. "Come on... come on..." She muttered, wishing for the broken machine to show some spark of life as it continued to descend.

Seeing her options limited and knowing she wouldn't be able to direct herself out of the path of trees that consumed her once its engine died, Adora let out a hearty groan. Waiting until she found the most opportune moment, the skiff slowly falling at an evenly matched pace, she waited until the machine was at least ten feet above the ground before she jumped, landing directly into a hedge of leaves several feet below her that broke her fall.

Shaking about as she shook within her viney prison, Adora finally managed to pop her head out of the bushes, shaking the leaves out of her hair, as she saw the skiff crash a little harshly into the side of one of the mighty oaks. It was nowhere near as brutal Catra's crash as the front end of the mighty machine was bashed into completely, swirling the skiff about until the rest of it crashed into the ground below, snapping in half upon its frail impact.

As much as she wished otherwise, she knew she was going to have to continue the rest of the mission on foot, pulling herself out of the shrubbery bush as she dusted off the twigs clinging to her, and took note of her surroundings.

Without the skiff, the trek through the woods would prove time consuming, and not just because of the distance she would have to clear. With the wood's mystical habit of getting travelers, especially Horde invaders, lost within its thousands of trees, she could spend hours walking along the woods without making any sign of progress. For all she knew, she could wind up walking in a complete circle until the white void managed to reach her.

Still, it proved better than waiting for the inevitable to happen, especially after all she's been through. She needed to scour the woods as much as she could to find any trace of the Rebellion, assuming Catra was still a princess as her fake memories lead her to believe. With a stun baton firmly gripped in her hands, she took her first step further into the woods, keeping her nerves about her as calm as she could.

She knew she had to find Catra and figure out a way to stop this, but beyond that, she didn't know what to expect. There was always the chance that Catra or the Rebellion wouldn't believe them, and if they didn't, she didn't know what to do. They were the only ones with any information on where Entrapta could be if she needed to find her, as well as the ones who appeared to know more about the portal that her initial memories had let on.

And what guarantee did she have that they would be willing to listen to her in the first place? As far as she was concerned, Catra was just as likely to attack her on the spot if they ever met agai-

"Haaaaah!"

*Wham!*

Instincts kicking in immediately, following the horrendous cry of fury, Adora quickly rolled out of the way before Catra's clawed fist could slam itself into the ground where she stood. Shaking a small dizziness out of her head, Adora glared as she held her baton firmly between her hands, backing away and around the magicat as she circled her back.

It was like deja vu for the duo as they gazed at one another, holding their respective weapons in hand. They felt this sensation before, felt it clouding their judgement, their minds, their hearts. They didn't know what to expect from the other as they refused to keep their eyes off of each other, gripping their respective weapons firmly in front of them as they awaited for the other to make the first move.

Catra needed to take the girl by surprise, unable to tell if she was friend or foe, especially in this universe, as she lunged for the girl a moment ago. Unsurprisingly, the girl's combat instincts still seemed to be as sharp as Catra's current sword did, one that could be found among any soldier of the Rebellion, albeit it with a bit of a wider blade.

All the same, Adora knew she couldn't allow herself to be captured if this Catra didn't retain any of her memories as she kept her baton on the ready, the spark of electricity dancing at the tip of it. Either this Catra was a complete foe to her, or a foe to her in this Universe. Bottom line, she couldn't afford to act too hasty or too slowly when it came to this feral princess.

This was how the two found themselves over the next ten seconds as they circled each other from fifteen feet apart. It wasn't until a small breeze past Adora's hair that her expression finally softened, something Catra took note of as the two lowered their weapons a little.

"You... You've seen it too, haven't you?" Adora finally asked, Catra's own expression softening a little as if to confirm it. "How everything seems to be perfect in this world?"

"The strange things happening in this world?" Catra asked back. "Like people disappearing? People not noticing or not caring?"

Whether through stupidity or a familiar trust she had in the girl, Adora lowered her weapon further, turning off the electricity that could down an entire droid with a single shock. She needed to get to the bottom of everything, they both did, as their stance became straighter. There was no telling what the other had experienced up till now, or if the other could be trusted with what little memories they retained of their past.

All they knew, all Adora was certain of, was that they depended on each other for now.

"What's going on?"

...

A/N: And, as stated earlier, this'll be the last chapter to have flashbacks involving Catra's current "life", which I will deeply miss seeing what the eager fans have come to create and come up with.

Now, for those of you who'll be missing it just as much as I will, I would like to spend the opportunity to mention that I, as well as several close friends and fans have mentioned, have been talking about possibly making a new spin-off story involving Catra growing up in her new lifestyle, involving chapters suchs as these flashbacks. Now SHOCKINGLY, and I know it might disappoint the majority of you :o, it may not have chapters that reach up to the 10s of thousands of words to read.

Audience: Hooray!

But it will still be partly written by yours truly :D!

Audience: Awwwwwww!

...Why do I even bother anymore...

Lol, but seriously, it's nothing guaranteed yet, but i'm open for discussion between my friends and fans alike. Let me know in the reviews (after reviewing of course XP) if you guys would be interested in that sort of thing. It would be more than works from me, i'd be willing to post chapters/episodes of various times of catra's current life made by the fans themselves :P You could send me scenes like some of you have been involving snippets and chapters involving Catra's current lifestyle as if it was actually real. I still don't know if it'll actually do this yet, but i'm always open to the possibility ^^

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review as we move onto... *sniff... a potentially sad and heartbreaking final chapter for this episode X*(... and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 112: S3 Ep 5: A Parting Wish Part 1 Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 13.4k Pre-A/N's.

All I can say is... let me know when the tears stop flowing and when they start. Good luck, people.

...

"Okay, so let me see if I got this straight." Catra groveled as she paced around in front of the Force Captain as she leaned her back against the tree, hugging herself a little. "The Fright Zone is totally destroyed, there's nothing left over there, and some white void on your end is getting bigger and threatening to consume all of Etheria, correct?"

"Essentially." Adora nodded with a small frown. "I thought everything was perfect in this life like you did, and it was at first. But then people started disappearing left and right, and before I knew it... I was the only one left." It still pained her to think back to the beloved friend known as Scorpia, one who sacrificed herself for Adora's life without a second thought. She didn't even get enough time to thank her, to show her appreciation, as she was erased from existence. "When did you notice something was wrong?"

"Well, I didn't notice much as far as the guards went." Catra admitted, scratching at her head. "As far as I know, none of them disappeared. Then again, I didn't really know any of them personally, so I wouldn't have noticed." Like Adora, the young magicat slowly brought her arms together as she hugged herself. "But then someone I cared about..."

...

"Wh-Where did they go?"

"Where did who go?"

"The girls, the ones that were just here!" Catra yelled a little in frustration. She couldn't catch a single scent from either of them, or pick up on the sound of Lonnie's footsteps.

"Girls?" Glimmer asked looking to Bow, the archer shooting back with a small shrug in reply. "Catra, it's just been us for the last few minutes."

"Wha- No it wasn't! We were just talking to them a minute ago! Lonnie. Kim. Ring any bells?"

"This isn't funny, stop goofing around!" Catra yelled, grabbing Glimmer's shoulders.

...

"... You get the idea." Catra muttered. She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, not when it only brought her pain and guilt.

Both girls had been through a harrowing experience that neither of them wanted to recall. It was nothing short of luck and persistence that the two managed to find each other in this dreamworld to begin with as their separate skiffs crashed into the forest at the edge of the Whispering Woods. With Adora just having entered the tranquil forest and Catra just passing her from behind, the two could've gone straight passed each other without realizing it if neither of them were aware of the other's presence.

Needless to say, the introduction the two girls had was a bit of a rocky start, but one that appeared to pave over rather quickly as they noticed the similarities the two shared. The shattered past the two were struggling to recollect, being among the first and possibly only pair within this world to notice everything wrong with this shattered paradise, and the loss of someone dear to them that made them all the more aware of their dire circumstances.

With what little aggression the two could recall from each other's pass, the two were willing to hear each other out for the time being, focusing on the bigger task at hand and the dire state that the world was in.

"So, can you fix this?" Adora asked hopefully, walking up to her. "You knew something about the portal before all of this happened. You have to know how to stop this."

"Ngh... I can't..." Catra grumbled, squeezing at both sides of her head. "I can barely remember anything recently that happened, I don't even know how this all started."

"Mmmh..." Adora rubbed her chin with the tip of her thumb as she crossed her arms. "But there has to be something..."

"What about you?" Catra asked looking back. "You know about the portal Hordak was working on, so you have to know something."

"Nothing that can help." Adora shook her head in dismay. "The more I try to remember the recent events, the farther they push away. It's almost... wait a minute." A flash of revelation shimmered in Adora's eyes as she lifted her head.

"A power source..."

"Huh?" Catra's ears twitched at the sound of the small muttering. "What power source?" She watched as Adora stepped past her, still looking to be in a train of thought.

"Before Hordak could test out his portal tech this morning, he told me he was missing something." Adora explained as she looked back. "A power source, something that could generate the power in the first place. If we could find that power source again and get it running, then maybe-"

"Maybe it could reverse everything and set it back to normal!" Catra exclaimed with an eager look, one shared with the same Force Captain who stared at her.

"But what kind of power source could it use? There's no records of something like that existing in the Horde database, and even if it did, we wouldn't know where to look."

"... The power source..." As she muttered to herself, Catra came to a lone memory she had yet to forget.

...

*aaang*

...

Flashing within the cortex of her mind, Catra slowly pulled out the sword from her sheethe. In a lot of ways, it represented what Catra always knew best about herself. She was a warrior, a fighter, someone who relied more on brute strength and agility than any magical capabilities she could ever muster. But now she came to realize there was another reason she felt so connected to using a sword, a different sword that held the same reflection.

That's when she remembered it, remembered when it all began.

...

*Whack!*

"Ahhhhhh-!" The few feet of space Catra traveled to shove Adora out of the way-

...

That was when a strange glow suddenly caught her attention.

"Huh?"

...

The moment she touched the tip of the hilt though, she let out a gasp as everything around her began to be engulfed in a blinding light-

...

"... The sword..."

"The sword?" This time, it was Adora who drew curious to Catra's vacant expression.

Shaking her own head, she gestured the blond to the sword in her hands. "The sword! That First Ones sword! It's just like Entrapta said!"

...

For a moment, Catra was actually scared of how she was going to react as she slowly reached to flip up her mask.

"Of course I can!" She smiled. "Did you miss the whole sword makes the portal machine work thing-?"

...

"The sword was used to power up the portal, I'm sure of it! It's what started all of this! We found that sword together in the woods, right around here!"

"We found it?" Adora wondered, trying to recall anything about them finding a sword.

"Well, I did, but that's not really the point. My point is, I don't have the sword anymore because I was raised within Bright Moon this time! We were never friends in this world, so we never went to the woods and found it in the first place!"

"Then... Then we can just find it again and fix all of this in an instant!" Adora beamed happily. "We just have to find it again like the first time, figure out some way to reverse the portal, and everything will go back to normal!"

"Exactly!" Catra smiled in turn at this as she beamed with pride. Not two minutes together again and the two were already working on the same side, just like they used to back in the other world... before their unexplained falling out.

The two stared with silence at one another before their expressions dropped, turning their uneasy expressions away from one another. It was prevalent all throughout their planning that no matter how much they needed to work together, that they were still bitter enemies on both sides. One being a princess, and the other being a hardened Force Captain who fought for the Horde.

When this was all over, they knew what their fates would be. They would return to their own sides, assuming the Horde would return, and they would be enemies once more. Either that, or they would return to the real world where they were still bitter enemies, and still be fighting against each other for reasons they couldn't understand right now.

No matter how much they were willing to work with one another at this moment, nothing could amount to the chaos that would ensue if the two formed a small friendship out of this ordeal.

They would never be able to look at each other in the eye if they met on the battlefield, they wouldn't be able to fight against the other with all their heart. They couldn't risk any relationship with one another if either of them showed an ounce of care.

Catra was a princess.

Adora was a Horde commander.

And that's the way it was going to stay.

*Ka-Rumble*

The ground beneath them shook violently before the two pairs of eyes were drawn to the white void out side of the forest. Even at a slow pace, it was still a menacing sight to behold as they watched it slowly approaching, stretching as far as the eye could see into the sky, and widening with each expanse.

"How long do you think it'll be before it reaches the forest?" Catra asked, keeping her eyes on the wall of light.

"At its current rate? I'd say about ten minutes." She turned back as she felt Catra grab her shoulder.

"Then we need to leave now. Wherever the sword is, it wasn't that far from the border of the woods. Let's go." Catra stated, directing the girl as she began to run down the pathway. Preparing to follow behind her, Adora briefly looked back.

That wall was a representation of everything. The end of the world, the end of the fantasy life behind her, and the end of her dream. It's the very void that Scorpia gave her life to save Adora from, one that she still hasn't forgotten, regardless of how recent it was. She owed it to Scorpia to fix everything before they met the same fate as her.

All she wondered though, as she quickly ran ahead to catch up with Catra, was a singular thought.

Would everything return for the better once it was fixed...?

...

"So... How's the world on your end?" Adora asked as the two continued to talk. Within the first two minutes, they discovered that utter silence was more unnerving than the wall of death that slowly approached them. Without anything else to keep their minds preoccupied, there was nothing to distract them from Etheria's imminent doom, especially when it was towering above them at a snail's pace. "Compared to how it was, I mean."

"Eh, hard to say." Catra shrugged casually, throwing her hands behind her head as she walked. "I have the whole princess life going on, so that's good, I guess. Got adopted by the Queen and King apparently, making Glimmer my step-sister. Beyond that, I don't really know. I can't recall much of everything that happened after finding the sword the first time, just some of the people I actually cared about, and..."

"... And me?" Adora's curious question was answered for her as she saw Catra shift her eyes away, a brief flash of a blush over her cheeks.

"... Yeah..." That was still one of the many mysteries that eluded Adora at this very moment.

What happened between them? What came between the two that tore them apart so emotionally? Catra confessed her memories of Adora, an enemy on the opposite side, and even risked her life to come out here and save her. Adora remembered a good portion of her early life as a child growing up with Catra, the bittersweet memories still feeling like a blessing as they walked, and a curse as she feared what was to come.

With everything that was happening, what would she be like if they regained all of their memories again? Would they go back to wanting to kill each other without a second thought? To be scorned at the mere sight of each other, forgetting everything from this world, including this moment?

Or... nah, that was just Adora's hopefully thinking.

"What about you?" Catra asked turning her head back a little. "Any differences with the Horde?"

"Mmh, still hard to say, but a lot of things are different than I remember it." The thought of it actually made Adora chuckle a little. "Rogelio has a pair of wings now and can fly, Scorpia was, apparently, my friend since childhood in this world, and, pffft, Kyle actually became something of a stud in this universe. He has his own little fan club of girls and everything."

"Tch, you're kidding, right?" Catra snickered as she lowered her arms to the side. "You're talking about Kyle, right? "Kyle", Kyle? Big dork, pale hair, usually hanging out with Rogelio, Kyle?"

"Mhhm, that's the one."

"Oh gosh, I wish I could've seen that." Another boast of laughter came between the two girls as they compared what they knew about Kyle now to what they knew about Kyle before.

"The only thing missing from my end was Lonnie." Adora quipped, looking to the sky as if it would bring her the answers. "Nobody seems to know where she is."

"Oh, Lonnie? She's- well, she was back in Thaymor before she disappeared."

"Really?"

"Yup. Apparently she was sick of how the Horde was treating her and she ran away at some point." It still irked her a little at how much Lonnie appeared to have change, a Lonnie with no history with Catra compared to the Lonnie that bullied her on a daily basis. She still wished some form of her remained in that girl, one she could get payback towards as her new Princess. "I guess without using me as a punching bag, she didn't have any way to gain respect from the others."

"... About that..." Adora paused as she spoke, rubbing a thumb under her chin as Catra waited for her. "I don't think this world differs solely on the fact that you weren't a part of the Horde, Catra."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, given everything that's happened up until now, I don't think your absence affected everybody like a timeline being altered. I think this world, whatever it is, grants peoples' dreams and wishes to whatever they want the most in life."

"Whatever they want most?" Her ears lowered a bit as she tilted her head downward, contemplating the very thought.

"Yeah, just think about it. You existing or not wouldn't have had any effect on Rogelio having wings, right? Maybe that was just something Rogelio wishes he was born with. And even if you didn't exist, I still wouldn't have met Scorpia in this world like I-"

"... Like I met you." Another flash, another memory, came to her in that instant. Another endearing memory that Adora had yet to remember till then.

As Catra pondered the circumstances, another rush of questions flooded Adora's mind that she hadn't thought of. If this was a perfect world and everything, if this was supposed to be some hopeful paradise to everyone and anyone around her, then why did it erase her memories to do it? Wouldn't she want to remember the good memories that came with this new world of Catra, even if it meant she didn't exist in this Universe?

Something didn't add up to the girl, something that made her heart quiver with fear. Whatever was effecting her in this Universe that made her dreams and wishes come true, it wasn't the cause of Adora or Catra losing their memories around here.

It was something else.

"But... That's..." Catra turned away from the girl as she rubbed the side of her neck against the palm of her right hand. "That doesn't make any sense. That couldn't be the reason behind all of this."

"Why not?"

"Because if..." She wrapped a tail around her waist as she crossed her arms. "Because if this place really grants everyone's wishes, then I'm not the one who wished to have a family."

"You didn't?"

"No. I mean, after having one for the first time, then yeah. I... actually wouldn't mind having a family again after this." She admitted as the two continued down the path. "But I didn't even know what it was like to have a family up to this point, so I couldn't have wished for it myself."

"Then how or why did you end up living as a Princess?"

"I don't... I don't know. I just know that I didn't wish for it. Come to think of it... I don't even know what I wished for." Wow, even in this Universe, Catra came to realize, the world was conspiring against her. Why is it the one time she entered a land of wonder, where all the dreams she had could come true, that she couldn't remember her very own wish? "What about you? What did you wish for?"

"I... don't know either." Adora muttered as she walked along Catra's side. "Maybe it was just to gain more respect? From Lord Hordak?"

"What? So you wanted a little more respect from your leader to make your day perfect?" Catra grinned teasingly. "I bet that must've felt a little refreshing."

"... You have no idea. Or maybe it was to have a mother that actually loved me? So many great things happened on my end throughout the morning. It's hard to tell how much of it came from a single wish or how much of it was affected by... you not being here."

"Mmmh..." It didn't help getting constant reminders of their circumstances by the absence of one person in particular. Catra had already seen a lot of this world affected by her own existence in another life, a better life, than she previously had. Being told that so much had changed for the better since Catra wasn't around her, though, was unnerving. Exactly how much of the girl's life had Catra ruined by being there?

... How much of it had been improved by Catra not being there?

*Ka-Rumble*

The ground shook violently again as the two gazed back to the impending wall of light. By now, the width of the mighty void had stretched out severely on both sides, preventing Catra or Adora from seeing anything past the wall as they used to. The trees themselves shook fiercely against the planet's slow collapse, with leaves fluttering to the ground and with birds and wildlife scampering across the field.

"We need to hurry." Catra stated as she ran a little ahead. "If we don't get to the sword before the wall reaches it, we might not be able to stop it." Like before, as the girl ran ahead, Adora paused as she gazed at the approaching wall. This time, her focus wasn't set solely on the wall itself, but of the lone figure she saw standing in front of it.

Her double.

The Doppelganger.

The very person who appeared in Adora's view every time the situation became more and more unnerving.

Unlike before, she didn't say anything this time or seem to move as she was slowly enveloped by the wall of light coming in behind her, like she wasn't affected by the wall in any sense. She just stood there, menacingly, as she waited for Adora to make the first move, any move, that could get a rise out of her.

Yet, Adora didn't move, not towards the wall at least. Just standing there, watching the girl watching her back, she remembered. Nothing outside of this strange world related to her, nothing about this strange individual who appeared to be haunting Adora at every turn, but of the very few words she spoke of before she last disappeared.

"You really don't remember a thing, do you?" She asked, raising a curious brow. "Or are you just playing ignorant to everything?"

Ignorance was Bliss. An old saying from long ago, one that seemed more relevant than ever before in Adora's life.

She didn't know who this strange double of hers was. She didn't know what she wanted, what she was trying to tell Adora, or why she kept harassing her. All she knew was that for every occurrence where this stranger popped up, another piece of memory came flooding back to Adora's mind.

And this time, it was unbearable.

...

*CRASH!*

"Everything that's ever happened!"

*CRASH!*

"Has been because of her!"

...

"What do you want?" Glimmer cried out asking.

"I don't know anything! There is no spell!"

"Liar!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her entire body wracked with pain as the surge continued.

This, was Adora's payback. This was the device that was going to solve all her problems. Watching as the princess cried out in pain, she proceeded with the electrocutions.

...

"And we are going to BURN! THEM! ALL-!"

...

"Ah-!" Adora gasped for breath as the memories ceased for now. She was panting as if she had ran a marathon, hugging herself in comfort as the sweat dripped from her brow, and eyes trembling as the bangs of hair dangled over her vision. "Wh... What was that?" Adora breathed trembling.

Those memories- no. No, no, they couldn't be memories. Not memories of her. They... they must've been visions of some kind, visions of... maybe another reality? Not the one she and Catra came from? Yeah, that must be it!

How else... How else could Adora explain the bizarre... unsettling... demeanor of that girl she just saw? The one who stared daggers of fire into the eyes of her enemies? The one who held no disregard for who she put through misery, opting to get the results out of her efforts rather than the risks of failure?

The one who said they were ready to burn everything and everyone, all for a spot of satisfaction of some sort?

That... That couldn't have been her! Lifting her head up again, she saw the double continuing to smirk at her as she was finally engulfed in the white void, an action she doubted had any effect on her for some reason. These memories, these depictions of cruelty, they... they must've been hers! Yeah, that made sense! They were her memories, not Adora's!

Did this mean Adora knew the girl? Did she have a sister she didn't know about? Or was it-

"Hey, Adora!" Catra yelled ahead, distracting her from her thoughts. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up!"

...

And perhaps, that ended now.

...

"Catra...?" Adora mumbled before squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't remember it, she couldn't force herself to remember it, not now.

Pushing away the memories as best she could, she attempted to empty her mind as she sped along the path, catching up to her former- her friend, as fast as her legs could carry her.

That was not her. Period. She was positive of this. She didn't recognize the girl who harbored such hatred for everything else, for someone like Catra. Even if they were on opposing sides right now, she wasn't the kind of person that could go along with everything, the kind of person who could contemplate killing her own friend.

... Right?

...

The two steadied their breathing as they came to a stop. Wasting no time in their efforts to find the mysterious sword that started all of this, that could end all of this, even if they didn't know how. By their own estimates from when they started walking together to where the wall was now, they had less than three minutes to find the sword before they lost their one chance of putting everything back together that could be salvaged.

Thankfully, from Catra's point of view, that chance was soon upon them.

"Okay, it's not too far from here." She stated with a small smile, pulling back the familiar brush of leaves. "This is where I fell when I found the sword the first time."

"And you landed on the sword?" Adora guessed.

"No, it was shining a little ways away." She corrected, looking in all directions. "I fell down here, woke up a bit later, then I found it... Ah! There!" Grinning, the magicat pointed out the familiar direction as she took the lead, still never noticing the uneasiness falling over Adora's face since she last saw her.

"C-Catra, wait-" Adora sheepishly pleaded, only to fall on deaf ears as the magicat grinned back.

"Don't worry, it's a piece of cake." She commented, gesturing for her to follow. "The sword was just stuck in a bundle of thorns but it wasn't guarded or anything."

"I-I know that, it's just-"

"Once we find the sword, we can fall back to Bright Moon, find Entrapta, and-" All the hopefulness, all the curious optimism. All of it was drained away from the magicat's face as she finally turned the corner to the sword's location.

The sword was gone.

"W... What..." She mumbled, speeding up to the exact spot as Adora reached the site behind her. "No, no, no!" She looked in all directions, feeling her hands against the ground as she tried to feel for some indent into the earth, a familiar scent she might have recollected before, a sign of SOMETHING that proved that the sword was here. "It was here, it was right here! I'm sure of it!" She exclaimed, checking the sides of the tree just in case.

"Catra..." Adora lowered her head a little in dismay, just not for the reasons Catra thought she was.

"Maybe... Maybe it as somewhere else, actually?" Looking back on it, she had almost forgotten that the Whispering Woods was notorious for getting travelers lost, making them appear in one location and disappearing into the next half a mile into the forest itself. For all she knew, seeing how she was a Horde soldier at the time, the forest might've taken her all the way to the other side of the woods in the blink of an eye. "Let's just look around for a minute, before the wall shows up. We have to find it soon, or-"

*KA-RUMBLE!*

The vibrations increased immensely as Catra looked back. To her irritation, to her despair, the wall was already touching the border of the Whispering Woods if the vibrations were any indications. "We're out of time..." The girl growled as Adora walked to her side, staring up at the white void.

Ugh, typical! They finally found the spot where the sword previously was, were ready to grab the sword, head back to Bright Moon, and find a way to stop Etheria's destruction, and what happens instead? They don't find the sword, they don't know where it's located, the wall is already on its way, and they don't have a single clue about where to progress next.

Somehow this feeling of failure was one of the few irritating sensations Catra couldn't forget.

Shaking her head, feeling the brush of the void's suction blowing her mane on all sides, she turned to her questionable friend as an unfortunate reality struck her thoughts. "There's no time. We need to get back to Bright Moon now. The sword doesn't exist around here." With that statement, the magicat already took off running... for about five feet, before realizing she wasn't being followed. "Adora?"

The girl was standing there, gazing up at the large white wall with her right hand over her left arm, rubbing it soothingly. The girl showed no signs of fear, even if Catra could only catch her look with her back turned to her. Her knees didn't buckle, her gaze remained solely on the wall as Catra tried to get her attention, and she didn't seem the least bit bothered by the dreaded wall that could erase them from existence.

"Adora, what are you doing? We need to go, now!" Catra stated, brushing a hand to her friend's shoulder.

"... W... Why?" She mumbled as she lowered her head, staring passively at the floor.

"Why? What do you mean "why"? Do you not see the giant wall of death coming towards us?!" Also typical. When she was the only one who was acting with any sanity, everyone else around her was acting borderline confused. "We need to get away from here before we're sucked in, too!"

"I... I know that, b... but..." She finally peered into Catra's eyes with a profound sense of sorrow and... curiosity. "What if... What if we just stayed?"

"Stayed?" No matter how crazy things were, Catra refused to believe she heard her correctly. "You want us to stay and get sucked into that thing?!"

"I-I know it sounds bad, but think about it." Adora tried to waver as she grabbed Catra's shoulders in comfort. "Why would we want to go back to the real world? Why would we want to go back to being enemies? Back in the real world, we were always fighting, always at war with each other. We put so many lives in jeopardy just to spite each other. But around here, in this place? We have no history here, Catra. We can live out our fantasies until everything disappears."

"Live out our... fantasies?" Catra's ears drooped, perplexed and concerned, as she pondered what Adora meant.

The same girl gave her a small nod and a tearful smile at this. "Yes, our fantasies! You can go back to living with your family, you can pretend everything's all right, and I... I can stay here and just... just disappear like Scorpia did." As she gazed back into the wall, the ponytail of her hair slipped out of the bundle of her hair, allowing her long golden hair to breeze in the distance. "Nobody knows this thing is approaching, they don't see it as long as they give in to their desires. And you can do the same. Just forget about everything and move on, and you'll be able to live happily with a family like you always wanted. Wouldn't you prefer that instead?"

What was she supposed to say? "No" and continue to move on with everything outside of this craziness? Of course Catra wanted to live in this world with her new family, she wanted to have a family to return to after this was over! To know what it meant to be cared and loved for by those around her, to remember everything in her false memories before she inevitably disappeared compared to going back to a world full of war and chaos? Who wouldn't want the same thing!

And... sadly...

"What? No!" Catra yelled, pushing her hands off of her. "Are you out of your mind!? What's the point of waiting around to disappear like this? What's the point of doing any of that if it just means we'll disappear in a few hours or a few days?!"

"But, Catra, just think about it-"

"No!" Catra yelled firmly, now grabbing Adora by the arms with a small pleading look. "We can't ignore what happened in the past, Adora! It wouldn't make things right! I tried to do that, and I lost people I cared about! How can you even think that after Scorpia gave up her life for you?"

"That's exactly my point!" Adora countered, shaking her arms back. "She was so much happier disappearing with these fake memories than not!"

"Don't you get it? This is our chance to disappear peacefully for a change! To enjoy our life instead of spending every waking moment fighting against each other! Don't you want that?"

"Of course I want that, Adora, but I can't ignore everything the Horde's done!" Gazing back at the wall as she felt the vibrations increase, Catra recalled the many times the Horde's cruelty knew no bounds, the devastation she bore witness to, experienced for herself. "There's no forgiving what the Horde's done!"

...

Catra lunged the Force Captain as fast as she could, too little too late as Adora slipped the radio off her list and into the water below them. There was no going back from this point. Reacting quickly, Adora backed away several feet before Catra could swipe her, creating a good gap between the two as they stared at one another.

*BOOM!*

...

-She screamed angrily.

...

"Forgive, forgive, forgive," Adora taunted as she spat, "that's all I ever hear from you guys."

*Ka-Rumble*

"Why is it when we're the ones attacking you we're the evil ones and when you're the ones attacking us, you're the good guys?!" Frustration built upon the corners of Adora's mind as she lowered her brow a little. This feeling, this anger welling up inside of her, was familiar to her somehow.

"Because the Horde's EVIL Adora!" Catra yelled. Adora squeezed her hands over her ears as she shook her head back and forth to this, trying to block out the sounds.

"Shut up."

"I won't shut up!" She declared, pulling her hands away from her ears. "Look at this Adora, look around you!" Adora's eyes wavered a bit as she looked back, seeing everything disintegrating that came into contact with the void. "All of this stuff that's happening? Everything that's being erased? Does that seem like something the good guys would do?!"

"Stop it!"

"All this stuff that's happening? All this stuff that's going to happen? It's on you! It's always been on you! Like when you pulled the lever!"

...

"With this portal... Hordak's army will reach Etheria, and that will be the end of that. Then, with their help... they will take everything you have, Catra. All of it-"

"I want you to feel what it's like to lose everything around you, to have someone else take things away from you against your control-"

*CRANK!*

...

"Why did you do it, Adora?!" Catra continued to shout as Adora tried to block out the sounds. She couldn't help herself, she couldn't bottle it all up. As the memories flooded back to her, so, too, did all the pain, all the trauma, that she experienced at Adora's hands. "Why did you pull the lever?"

"I-I don't know!" Adora yelled back as the vibrations intensified. She couldn't bare to look at her, to speak to her at that moment. She just needed silence, anything, to calm her nerves. The memories that came flooding in, the look her own face as she declared her desires. She refused to believe that any part of it was her. "And I don't want to know! This is what I'm talking about! I don't want to go back to this!"

"We don't have a choice! We need to fix this, Adora, before everything around us disappears!"

"I said, SHUT! UP!" With a roaring shout and a burst of tears, Adora angrily slammed her foot against the ground. As if the world was reacting to her anger, towards her aggression, the ground began to quake. All around the clearing, small pillars of light erupted from the ground. A fist in size, but continuing to expand at a snail's pace, all the while the Force Captain glared directly into Catra's eyes without concern. "What is it with you always trying to ruin things? Why can't you ever just leave me alone?!"

"Because I already made that mistake before, Adora." Catra confessed, grabbing Adora's hand as she started to slowly pull her away from the erupting side of the forest. "I broke that promise once, and all of this happened. I'm not going to break that promise again!"

"That... promise...?" And with this, Adora's mind finally snapped. Like a great flood washing away all beneath the clouds, the memories, the pain, the promises, all came back to her as her head felt heavy. She tried to push her head again, as if it would contain all the unnecessary and unwanted thoughts and feelings, but it proved for naught.

No matter how much she wished otherwise, she could never forget them.

...

* The simple five-year-old Adora smiled to her blanket-covered friend as she hugged her. "You look out for me and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen to us as long as we have each other."

"You promise?"

"I-"

...

"-still haven't forgotten our promise, okay?" She felt a great warmth wash over her as she raised a pinkie between the two of them, seeing the small smile it managed to grow over the young Adora's face as the eight-year-old Catra squeezed her pinkie.

"I look out for you..." Adora spoke, taking hold of Catra's pinkie with her own.

"And I look out for you." Catra replied, tightening her pinkie against Adora's as they shook. "And I'll always be by your-"

...

"-side!" Catra promised, trying to snap her friend out of this insanity. "If I didn't break that promise to begin with, none of this would be happening!"

"You... You kept breaking..." Adora hiccuped to herself as the tears pried through her squeezing eyes.

...

Catra was finally home.

*sniff*

"I've missed you..."

"..."

*sniff*

"...I'M SORRY!"

Her sword.

...

"-BECAUSE I CARED ABOUT YOU THE MOST!" All at once, everything became silent to Catra as she could only see and two things: the sound of Adora's whimpering as her lip trembled.

...

"-every one..." Adora bit down on her lower lip as she dropped to her knees, the hair falling past her face as she ignored the tremors rushing between her veins and the ground beneath her.

"But I'm not breaking them any more." Catra tried to push through to her, squeezing a hand over her left shoulder. How many times could she apologize to her before she understood? She was sorry! She was regretful! She wanted to change everything she did if it meant Adora would forgive her! And how much longer would she have before the void consumed them both?! "Every time I turned my back on you, it hurt us both. I swear, if you'll stop this, I won't abandon you again!"

"..." Silence stirred from Adora's lips as she exhaled. The memories, the promises, everything that's happened up to this point. Adora finally understood it all, understood what she wanted. "I... I remember Catra..." She sniffed. "I remember all of it."

"Adora..." She didn't know if she should take that with relief or concern as she gazed back at the wall of light. "We need to keep moving. It's too dangerous to stick around here-"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Catra cried out in pain as thousands of volts were shocked through her system, leaving her to collapse on the ground. Her fingers twitched, her tail froze, her knees continued to buck as she tried to regain her motor controls again. As she opened one eye, standing right above her, she saw it.

The look. The pain. The hatred. Everything stemming from Adora's tear-filled eyes. "I remember all of it!" With another shout, the blonde soldier attempted to drive the stun baton directly at Catra's head. With what little functions she could control, Catra rolled onto her back, throwing her hands in the air as she grabbed Adora's tightening grip over the baton's base, and struggled to keep its tip from reaching any closer to her neck. Seeing it sparkling several inches away from her alone was terrifying enough. "It was all you! It was always you!"

"What are you talking about!?"

*KA-RUMBLE!*

Like the gods whose anger affected the scenery, the two continued to struggle against one another with bouts of anger and sadness, pushing against each other's grip as the environment slowly became undone around them.

"I'm talking about you! You and your way of messing things up!" Adora shouted, trying to lean over the butt of the baton as she applied more weight to it. "Whenever you're around, bad things happen to me! Whenever you're involved, you mess up everything I work towards!" Seeing the resilient magicat continuing to push away with all of her strength, Adora changed her tactics.

In a matter of seconds, pulling herself off of the warrior, Adora used Catra's momentary confusion to her advantage as she picked her up by the scruff of her neck. In one mighty push, getting the cat girl up to her feet, she shoved Catra against the bark of a large tree before charging straight at the girl again baton-first. Catra barely had the time to grab the edge of the baton's tip, struggling against the Force Captain's brute strength and the small slip of the baton pushing between her hands.

Seeing how the girl still refused to give up, Adora growled, pushing against the girl's shoulder with her left hand as she continued to jam the baton towards Catra's stomach as far as she could. With little option in the mix, eyeing the environment around her, Catra used the blonde's own strength against her as she pulled her arm, tilting her to the side.

Combined with the vibrations of the erupting forest, the two girls were knocked off balance as they began to tumble down a small hill to the left, scattering them across the ground for several yards until they finally came to a stop. With the vibrations worsening by the second, it took Catra a moment to realize when the two had stopped rolling and when the tumbling was even over.

For Adora, it was never over as she shook her head, glaring back at the girl.

"Adora, we can't do this!" Catra yelled over the howling of the tremors. "Look at this place! Is this really what you wanted?!"

"You think I care!?" With another roar, Adora lunged for the magicat, forcing Catra to defend herself as she drew her sword to block the overhead strike. "You think ANY of it matters to me anymore!? Nothing I do matters as long as you're near me! As long as you're there to ruin everything I've worked on, to turn everyone against me, nothing I do matters!"

Without care for her own safety, even against the sharpness of the sword, Adora swiped at the blade with her free hand, wrapping her fingers against it tightly as she pulled. Either from the sheer force of it, or catching Catra off guard once again, the magicat found the hilt of the sword slipping through her hands as Adora tossed it away, barely giving the girl enough time as she grabbed the length of her shirt, tossing her to the ground behind her.

It didn't do much to damage the magicat, or to knock her to the ground as her reflexes rolled her to her feet, but as she started to back away from the menacing friend, she found the predicament Adora had put her in; she was stuck between a Force Captain who knew all of her moves and tricks, and an approaching white void that grew stronger with every breath.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Adora, just look for a minute!" Catra shouted, gesturing to all around her. With her own safety seemingly secured, Adora gladly followed the magicat's directions, taking in the beautiful wall of nothingness that approached them. "You're going to let the whole world be destroyed at this rate!"

"I don't care! Let it be destroyed! I'd rather let the world come to an end than live in one where I can't trust anyone!" Catra. Frosta. Her Mother. There wasn't a single person she felt like she could trust, and those she did trust? Why bother giving them her trust? They were just going to betray her anyway later on in life, weren't they?!

Why bother with such an existence!? Why live somewhere where her worst enemies were her best friends, her family? It was a nightmare she could never wake up from, one where nobody came to save her when she screamed! All she had was herself and no one else! AND EVEN THAT WAS BEGINNING TO WAVER AFTER ALL THAT'S HAPPENED!

"But what about everyone else, huh?" Catra gritted her teeth as she slid further to the edge of reality, the white wall closing in on her from all directions behind her. "You're just going to let everyone die because of what I did? Because I made a mistake? Because I came back to save you?!"

"Heheheheh... Hahahahaha!" That was, without a doubt, the funniest thing Catra had said up till now. Even as her eyes continued to pool with streams of tears that flowed down her cheek, she continued to laugh. "You think it's because you made a mistake that I can't stand you? That I'm laughing my lungs out because you came to save me? Don't you get it already, Catra!?" Refusing to give her a moment of reprieve, Adora charged the girl again, forcing Catra to grip onto the body of the baton as she struggled, pushing back with all her might as her feet skid across the ground.

"I'm doing this because of you! Because even in an entirely knew world full of dreams, you still couldn't make mine come true!"

"Your..." Catra blinked, the sensation of fear clouding her mind as her ears lowered. "Your dream?"

"Yes, my dream! My wish! A wish you still managed to break with your own two hands!" Adora's pushing became more forceful as Catra found the both of them nearing the wall of light that continued to burst through the forest. "Haven't you figured it out yet? Why you never appeared back in the Horde? Why we don't seem to know each other in this world?" Her face tightened with rage at the prospect, doing everything she could to end the one making her suffer.

"Because that was my wish, Catra! I WISHED I NEVER MET YOU!" Catra gasped at the revelation, the crux of the matter finally revealing itself as the world burst around them.

As if it was the planet's way of protecting her, a small pillar of light burst through the ground, one no bigger than a baseball, as it snapped clear through the stun baton, breaking it in half. Adora nearly fell forward if she hadn't angled herself to the side at the last second, falling to her right side as she backed away from the erasable pillar of light.

On Catra's end, the magicat nearly jumped at the sight of the pillar bursting in front of her, nearly falling back into the white abyss that had grown up to her heels. With the threat of the baton away from her, the magicat quickly rounded the corner of the pillar to her right, trying to distance herself as far as possible from the impending doom of the white pillars.

The ground's tremors continued to roar with an unshakeable need for destruction, multiple pillars of light already bursting throughout a dozen portions of the Whispering Woods as far as Catra could see. She needed to think of something, think of a plan, something to get Adora to snap out of all of this.

Unfortunately, the girl showed no signs of slowing down, or letting Catra potentially escape. Just ten feet from where she ran, the magicat tripped, finding something ensnaring the calf of her ankle as she fell to the ground. Looking back, she saw Adora, still burning with hatred and tears in her eyes, the very ones Catra struggled to hold back, as the ground started to give way around them.

"Adora, stop this-!" Catra tried to warn, already seeing the ground cracking around them. Adora chose to ignore the girl as she pulled Catra closer to her, the magicat digging her claws back into the ground behind her to slow her down, attempting to suck her into the void behind her so the two could finally disappear together.

Instead, fate had other options.

Just as Adora had stretched her left arm out to Catra's knee, ready to drag her further, it finally happened. From twenty small cracks in the surface around them, covering Adora's front, the ground finally gave way, opening an abyss of nothingness and whiteness below her as the void drew near, as gravity began to drag her down. For a moment, Adora felt nothingness within her as the world slowly pulled away from her, as if it was moving itself and not the other way around.

And the next moment, she felt something. A powerful grip over her left hand as she felt like nails were digging into her skin. Lifting her head up, she saw Catra struggling. Struggling as she held onto the outgrown root of a large tree right next to her with her arm around it, and using her left hand to maintain her hold over Adora's wrist.

"Hold on!" She stuttered, trying to pull her friend away. It was like she was struggling to pull her out from the force of a tornado, the very aspect of nature itself attempting to consume her.

Even with this, Adora refused to relent as her brow narrowed, slapping at Catra's hand in order to loosen her grip. "Let go!" She screeched. She never even noticed as a small slip of paper started to poke out from the chest of her coat, something she had stuffed inside of it not too long ago.

"Agh, stop that!" Catra hissed, struggling further as her grip nearly loosened. "I'm trying to save you!"

"I don't want you to save me, Catra!" Adora yelled angrily, not once losing the stream of tears that continued. "I want you gone! I want you out of my life!"

"I don't care!" Catra yelled over the howling winds that continued to pull them apart. Her own tears were getting swept up with the wind. "I made that mistake last time as your friend, and it caused all of this. I'm trying to make it right!"

"Friends...?" Adora squeezed her other hand in anger as she looked on with disgust. "How... could I ever be friends with you? You've taken my home... my friends... my family... all you've ever done is take from me since the day we met, until I wind up with nothing. Does that sound like a friend to you?!"

*KA-RUMBLE!*

"Ahh!" Catra yelled as she nearly lost her grip. From the side, on the other end of the large tree, another massive pillar burst from the ground, practically exploding as it already expanded to the side of the tree that it touched. The vibration and force of it was enough to shake Catra's grip enough. Enough to make her temporarily lose her hold on Adora's hand, rushing her to lean in as she barely grabbed on again.

All that was separating Adora between oblivion and her traitorous friend, were the three fingers they had wrapped around each other, the feline still refusing to let her go.

And, as Adora's face wallowed with sadness, it still wasn't enough to move Adora's blackened heart.

"... I... hate you... so much..." And with nothing else left, Adora did it for her as she unfurled her fingers.

She let go.

"ADORAAAAAAAAA!" Catra shouted in tears as she watched her friend being sucked into the void.

She couldn't believe it. She refused to look away from this scenery. Adora, the one she still cared about, the one who held such a petty grudge over a lifetime of mistakes from long ago, chose death. She had proven to Catra, no matter how much Catra cared, no matter how much she changed over the given months, that she would choose death over the life of her friend.

She didn't show a single ounce of care for her friend. Not of her achievements, not of her changes, absolutely nothing. Adora would've gone to any lengths just to distance herself from the magicat, even if it meant fading into oblivion just to get away from her.

And somehow, it wasn't even the most painful part of it all.

*fwip*

Ears twitching, Catra saw something being blown in her direction, carried off by the force of the wind that pulled it back as it pushed Adora away. Reaching an arm out, Catra slowly collected the piece of paper as it blew into her hands, unfolding it as clear as she could as she tried to catch a glimpse of the message that could've been left behind.

It was a message she was never expecting.

It was a picture of her. And Adora. Both their heads. Drawn in a crude fashion, resembling the drawings along their bedside that the two once shared, one that Catra could never forget. Catra's eyes continued to water as her lip trembled, unintentionally gripping the paper tighter in both hands as she saw the two heads, saw the idea that it still meant something to Adora, that she would keep something like this even after all the two had been through. And even it didn't want anything to do with her.

It wasn't until it was too late that Catra realized she was squeezing the paper too tightly. Mixed with the wind that was trying to blow everything away and the void that was trying to suck everything in, the force of it all finally tore the paper in half, separating the heads at long last. The mere sight of it suddenly tearing apart before her very eyes made Catra flinch, so much so that the right half of the page, the half that depicted Adora's face, slipped right out of her hands, returning to the void from whence it hailed from.

"Adoraaaaaaaa!" Catra cried out again as the paper disappeared into nothingness, just like its predecessor.

There was nothing left for her here, she realized that no matter how much it hurt. She couldn't allow herself to get sucked into the void like... like Adora was just now. Even when it felt like she had nothing left to do around here, her legs picked her up from the ground for her, Catra's body acting almost instinctively as she forced herself to run away.

With the slowness of the void and the pillars of light starting to become less frequent, after a solid straight minute of running, Catra finally collapsed. On her arms, on her knees, she cried. "Eeeeeeeggggggggghhhhhh! Ehhehehhh... eheh..." She tried to hold it all in as she leaned her forehead to the ground, processing all that had happened, all that was continuing to happen, and all that she lost in what was supposed to be a "dreamworld".

Adora was gone. The Sword was gone. Any hope she had of fixing this, of making up for what happened to Kim, what happened to everyone before and after, had been swept away into the void. She had no means to do this on her own, nobody else could remember what she knew, it was all hopeless! And it still didn't get rid of the pain that she just suffered through!

"Ehhehh... eheheh..." Her tears soaked the ground under her eyes, still leaning her head against her arms against the ground. She didn't even have the single scrap of paper anymore in her hands, most likely losing it, like EVERYTHING she's continued to lose, since she regained her memories!

What was the point of it all? Trying to fix everything that she started to begin with? For what? A world that was doomed to die on her within days, maybe hours? She wasn't a friend, she wasn't a hero, she wasn't anything she tried to be.

She was just somebody who failed, who always came in second even when it meant she needed to win the most.

She was Nothing.

"Oh, is that you, Mara?" Catra opened her eyes again, quickly tilting her head back up as she came face to face with a familiar old hag. "You made it after all." She smiled adjusting her glasses, ignoring the butterflies flying around her.

It was at that moment that Catra finally remembered, finally recalled, the memory of the old hag at long last.

"Ah, good morning sunshine." The replied completely oblivious to Catra's insult. "It's nice to see you finally up and ready for the day."

"... M-Madame Razz..." Catra whimpered, growing a minuscule of a smile over her face.

*clonk*

"Ow!" Well now she had another reason to cry as she yelped, like rubbing over the small bruise the old lady's cane indefinitely left over her skull.

"That was for thinking Madame Razz is an old hag!" She quipped, pointing her cane at her accusingly.

"How do you even know about that?"

"It was written all over your face." The anger that seemed to fluster over Razz's face was quickly switched with a look of cheer once more as she smiled to the girl. "It's been such a long time since we've seen each other... or... I guess not here, no. But in the other one... which one, I now wonder?" The old lady puzzled herself as she crossed her fingers against one another, raising a brow in contemplation. "Ah well. Let us be off, Mara. There's still more work to do."

"Forget it." Catra mumbled. Sitting up again, the girl raised her knees into the air as she hugged herself, regret overwhelming her expression as she chose to ignore the old hag. "What's the point of going anywhere anymore? I failed. I keep failing. I-"

*clonk*

"Ow! Stop that!" She yelped again, grumbling a bit as Madame Razz prodded her to stand up with her cane. Once she was back on her own two feet, the cat growled lightly to her as she continued to push her forward.

"No more negative talk. Only future talk! We must discuss what to do now."

"Yeah, like what?" She gruffed, rubbing the side of her tear-riddled face against her shoulder as she crossed her arms. She had never felt as empty as she did right now, never feeling such a sense of despair that made her ears sink to her side. "I already failed to stop the portal, I failed to find the sword, and i couldn't even save Adora! Or Kim. And at this rate, I won't be able to save anybody!"

"It is not too late." Somehow, in some way, Catra's chest instantly beat again at the mention. From the casual way Madame Razz spoke, the calmness of her voice. Not a spot of doubt remained inside of Razz's tone. "You can still bring them back. But you must act quickly."

"And how would you know?" Catra asked as the old ha- woman, jumped atop another overgrown root, beaming down at her.

"Because this has all happened before." She revealed, helping Catra up the pathway as she offered the end of her cane to pull her up. "I remember it like it was yesterday. For Madame Razz, it was yesterday." She grinned cheekily.

"Before..." Catra's eyes opened a little more as she realized what she meant. "You mean with Mara!"

"Yes, dearie. When she moved Etheria and took away the stars. Heh, it was crazy."

"And she's still a better She-Ra than me..." Catra grumbled a bit, the events of the past starting to make her tear up again. "I did everything I could to stop myself from being another Mara, to be better than Mara, and all I did was follow in her footsteps! I destroyed the world, I put everyone in danger, I-"

*clonk*

"Okay, that's seriously getting annoying!" Catra spat. Strangely enough, it actually felt a little gentler than the previous times she bonked her on the head.

"Destroy the world? No, ho, ho!" Razz chuckled at the thought. "Mara saved the world. And so will you."

"Give me a break. If it wasn't for me, none of us would be in this mess!" She wanted to scream, to shout, to claw at anyone or anything at that moment to release her anger. But how could she release her anger when she had no one to blame but herself? "This all started because I wanted to get stronger, and I wanted to be a better She-Ra." She frowned slightly as she looked away from her. "You were right about before, all right? I am a bad She-Ra."

"Madame Razz never said you were a bad She-Ra, kitty." The old lady retorted as she poked her in the forehead. "Razz said that you are not a very good She-Ra. Not that you were bad."

"Like there's a difference! If I was a better She-Ra, I'd be a better hero. Plain and simple."

"You keep thinking that She-Ra and hero are the same, kitty." Razz said as she brought two hands to her front, gently clapping both of them together against each other. "Being a better She-Ra doesn't make you a better hero. You need to be a better you to be a better hero."

"A better me. Right." If there was never a good excuse for Catra to roll her eyes at something, there was now. "The person who started all of this by stealing someone else's sword. The one who can never beat Adora no matter how hard she tries on her own. The one-"

"-Who ventured all the way to the Fright Zone to stop this nonsense." Razz interrupted with a smile. Catra felt a little unguarded as the old woman stroked her head. "The person who risked everything to come back here to save her own friend. Is that not what a hero does?" Catra had to admit, as annoying as the old lady was, she wasn't wrong... entirely.

She didn't come to the Fright Zone to get her sword back. She didn't come out all this way in the hopes for an answer, to find a solution to their current problems. She came out all this way, against any odds that were stacked against her, in order to save someone close and dear to her, somebody who rejected her at all cost.

And she didn't even have a She-Ra by her side.

Personally, she thought it was just her own stupidity nearly getting her killed again.

"You need to stop thinking of the ifs and the past." She said softly, tilting the girl's chin with her fingers to get her attention. "You need to focus more on what you can do, and what you should do, kitty."

"... Like what?"

"Like, going back to the beginning. You need to find the sword. That is the only way this will stop."

(A/N: Highly recommended to listen to dramatic theme that plays during this scene until stated)

"Uggghhh, I already did that!" Catra groaned, losing the optimism she had of thinking this woman was more sane than she appeared. "The sword wasn't where I thought it was, and the Horde's been completely destroyed! There's nothing to go back to!"

"No, that wasn't the beginning." The old Razz smiled even as Catra felt a sharp breeze coming towards them. To her concern, she could see the wall of light already approaching them as it widened throughout the forest. "You need to go back to the very beginning."

"What do you mean the very beginning?!" She squeezed her head as the frustration welled up inside of her. "I did all I could. I don't know what else to do!"

"That's all right, dearie. You don't need to know to understand. You just need to remember..." Holding Catra's hand gently, she walked to the girl's side as she smiled at the approaching wall, Catra's eyes narrowing as her mind began to tremble like the soil.

"To... remember..." It was like an echo within a canyon, a drip of water splashing against a silent stream. Through this lady's craziness and soothing voice, to the very actions that brought her here, and the sword that lead her to her destiny, she started to recall.

To recall the day it all began.

To recall the actions she took that brought her here.

To recall the very people who still meant so much to her life, that depended on her even now.

The voices were silent to her as a waterfall began to fill her mind, one consisting of memories of the people she needed to save.

...

The two figures gasped simultaneously at the sight. Their eyes instantly locked on to Catra's very own, all three of them going wide-eyed at the sight of each other, each of them taking several seconds to so much as respond.

...

Catra nearly choked at the comment, a small blush forming on her cheeks. She stammered.

...

Glimmer instantly cried, hugging herself into Catra's stomach as she cried heavily. Catra let out a small cry as Glimmer threw her arms around her torso as she sobbed into her chest.

...

It really was his greatest quality.

...

With a smile, she spoke quietly, closing her eyes as she held back a trickling tear. It had been over a month since the Battle of Bright Moon, a day that took its toll on all of them. She was still dealing with scars from that fateful day, both physical and emotional. But after all of this, and everything she's been through in the last month, she felt something she hasn't felt in quite a long time.

Peace.

...

For once in her life, as if a distant memory, she came to realize how warm it felt to be loved for by others...

...

"Bow... " Catra gasped as she realized. "And Glimmer! They... They're the ones I started this with. It all started with them, not the sword!"

"Indeed. You better go on, dearie. Quickly!" Madame Razz urged with her cane, smiling for Catra as she began to run. Catra gave the old woman a small look of concern before giving her a smile, continuing on her way as she ran through the forest.

It was a sight most beautiful to Madame Razz and she smiled sweetly.

The girl who had been through so much, who has had so much of her life taken from her, continued to struggle for so long, so hard, against every odd, to be the best hero she could be. She cared more about trying to be the best She-Ra of them all when all she needed to do was to be the best hero she could be. Against all odds, against everything that stood in her path, Catra never let it bring her down.

Catra was the hero the sword never expected, but she was the She-Ra that everyone needed. And Madame Razz couldn't be more proud of the sight as she disappeared before her eyes.

She was the best She-Ra of them all.

With acceptance in her own heart, Madame Raze gazed back as she approached the void that consumed all in its wake. She knew what would happen, she knew she would cease for a moment, and she didn't care. She trusted Catra with her path, with her choices, and was ready to embrace what was to come with a warm smile.

Catra would be the one to save them.

(A/N: End theme)

...

Floating. Drifting. Was there really any other sensation to describe it as? This was how Adora found herself as she flew through the void, wavering in and out of consciousness, almost questioning if this was the void itself or the afterlife. Was the afterlife peaceful like this? Was disappearing supposed to be this genuine?

She didn't know. And she didn't care.

Nothing else mattered to her anymore. If disappearing meant she would no longer have to put up with the pain that continued to assault her heart, if it meant she could slowly disappear with the rest of the world, then she was ready to accept it. All of it.

Which didn't bode so well with another individual who floated above her.

Feeling the shadow over her face, Adora slowly opened her left eye, the other still disappearing along with the void. "... Aroda..." She whimpered, twitching her finger a little, too powerless to raise it any closer to her. She finally remembered her, just as Aroda wanted as the double grinned.

"Sorry, Adora." Aroda smirked to her as she grabbed her hand. Even in this dimension, in a void where power was everything and nothing at the same time, Aroda was still a part of Adora that Aroda could never allow herself to part with. "But I'm not done with you yet." With a girl grip over her left hand, the force that caused Adora to disappear slowly ended, replacing the girl's missing portions with a renewed energy, a dark one, twisted by Aroda's own magic.

Grinning, the force within her mind began to drag her through the air, back towards salvation of a land that was still falling apart.

"And until I get what I want, you'll never be rid of me..."

...

A/N: And now, we reach the epic conclusion of Part 1, as we move on to not just part two, not just the season finale, but the HALFWAY POINT OF THE ENTIRE SERIES! (also small reminder, i've yet to see season 4 yet, so please refrain from spoilers)

Ughhhh, its been hectic folks. Between jobs, school, outbreaks, cannibalism... which I had nothing to do with... it's been a wild ride. I'm running out of things to say, things to mention, and i gtg work on the yard for like 2 hours now XP So before all that (and apologies for the brief rush towards the end), I will just say this- I hope you're all prepared and ready for the dramatic conclusion of the final episode this season, and are just as prepared as I am to write it X)

With that said, hope you all enjoyed and stopped tearing up at some point. Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 113: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Part 2 Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 8.1k Pre-A/N's. Huh, i almost don't recognize this work without a freaking 15K+ words attached to it XP lol.

Ah, and now, we're at the beginning of the halfway point folks ^^ it seems just like yesterday i was posting chapter one, and now we're back with a brand spanking new episode! You know, it's not just the season finale of season 3 for us- it's also the last time we'll ever be using THIS intro :O! A moment of silence for our good friend Intro-Buddy X*(... Ok silence over ^^

I can not express my excitement for the climax and madhouse i have intended for the end of this season. I hope to make it big, i hope to make it jam packed with emotions and feels and whatnot, and I hope to leave a very satisfying and long-sized fight for the rest of you given the 2-3 minute finale we got between Adora and catra in the original.

All i can say is, we've reached the middle of the show, and now its time to reach the tip of the mountain!

Enjoy!

...

"Woohoo!" It was another joyous day in Bright Moon as Glimmer teleported out of thin air, dropping into her mother's arms as her mother played around with her.

From the side to the next, distancing herself several yards from hey giggling mother, the Princess of Bright Moon gave her mother no pause for rest, no time to pace herself. Higher and higher, the princess disappeared and reappeared from one side of the field to her next, awaiting her mother's eager embrace as the Queen chased her around. It was by the fourth teleport that the two paused a little, laughing at one another as they enjoyed each other's embrace.

Like was always peaceful like this for the royals of Bright Moon. Letting them play away their days without end, allowing them to enjoy all that life had to offer. And why wouldn't they be allowed to? This world was perfect, it was wonderful!

Swinging her daughter by her hands, Angella laughed and cheered at the playful antics of her daughter. She was never too old to enjoy her life, and with a world as peaceful as Etheria, she had no need to concern herself with her daughter's upbringing. They had all the time in the world, and all the freedom to do as they played.

Finally coming to a small end of their endeavors, the two laughed to one another as her mother descended from the sky, landing atop the entrance's balcony as Glimmer teleported out of her hands, popping up right next to her mother as she pressed her hands against her knees in excitement.

"Hahahaha! That was awesome!" Glimmer squealed, squeezing her hands together in excitement. "Can we do it one more time?"

"Hahaha." Angella chuckled, folding her wings up as she smiled proudly to her daughter, patting her head. "Oh, that's quite enough for today." She deemed. "Besides-"

"Did you two go flying without me?" A firm voice spoke as it approached the to girls. There, standing in all his regalness, all his splendor, was Glimmer's father, Micah. One of the best sorcerers across Etheria, one of the bright pupils to hail from Mystacor, and King to one of the greatest kingdoms of Etheria. He was also as jolly as the rest of them as his expression softened. "Hahaha!"

"Dad, you're back!" Glimmer gasped with excitement, running up to him.

Grinning, her father casually made a simple arcane symbol with the wave of his finger, the runes glowing with a bright blue, as he tossed it to his daughter. "Think fast!"

Seeing the speeding disk of magic flying above her, Glimmer quickly reached for the magical circle, grabbing onto it before unleashing it above her very head. Incredibly, it was another one of her father's great displays of magic as it burst into a pile of glitter all around her, earning more than enough excitement for the girl who loved her father so dearly.

With another laugh, Glimmer teleported from her spot as she reappeared in her father's arms, hugging around his waist and never wishing to let go.

"Heh heh, you're getting good at that." Micah complimented, embracing his daughter in turn.

"I've been practicing~"

"Yes." Angella said as she approached the duo. "She only blew up my flower garden twice. Smiling to one another, the Queen gave her husband a dutiful kiss on the cheek, enjoying the sight of his return as much as Glimmer was. "Welcome home, love."

"You looked like you were having so much fun without me, you can't have missed me much." He commented, crossing an arm over the other. With their defenses down, Micah gave a sneaky kiss to his daughter's forehead as he drew both his girls in. Angella chuckled at the display, seeing their husband's quirkiness had yet to leave him.

A loving family. Great weather. And a kingdom to call their own. Never have the three felt so thankful to be blessed with such a lifestyle.

Everything was Perfect.

"Your Majesties." A guard captain shouted as she ran to the royals playing around. "Your Majesties. We caught a girl sneaking into Bright Moon from the Whispering Woods. She demanded entry into the castle, and when we denied her, she tried to assault the guards to get past us."

"An intruder?" Angella looked her King in the eyes with concern, feeling the same sense of worry that spread across his face.

"Did she have an explanation? A reason for this upstart?" Micah asked as he stepped forth with Angella. Strangely, a look of question came over the guard captain as she glanced away for a sec.

"Well... that's the weird part, Your Majesties." The guard admitted, sewing concern between the two parents. "She claims to be... well... your daughter." Neither the Queen nor the King knew how to respond to this as they and their daughter gasped silently.

They didn't know what to say about this predicament or know where she was getting at. They trusted one another equally, there was no way they would have a family outside of their own that they didn't know about. From the mere sounds of it, it sounded like a lunatic raving nonsense of some sort. In a way, the two royals felt sorry about whoever claimed to be theirs, whatever insanity might've brought her to this day.

Whoever the mysterious girl was didn't remain a mystery for long. Beyond the Captain of the Guard, all eyes turned back as they heard some obsessive shouting, growling. Whoever was behind this farce sounded desperate enough to make their voice heard to the denizens of Bright Moon.

"Get off of me you idiots!" The prisoner shouted as she was marched up the stairs. Wrists tied behind her back and a length of rope around both her arms, Catra refused to surrender as she was pulled away. With one guard at her front pulling the rope and the other two pushing at her shoulders, she found no current means of escape. "Don't you remember who I am? I'm Princess Catra you morons-!" Catra gazed at the two adults away from her as they all stared at her.

It didn't make any sense to her currently. They didn't seem concerned for her safety, they didn't tell the guards to release her on the spot. They acted as if they couldn't even see her at this point. "Mom! Dad! Tell them to let me go!" She yelled, pushing back with all her strength as she tried to get past the restraining guards. It took all three of them just to drag the girl away again, which would've been easier if she wasn't willing to bite them to get away. "What are waiting for? Tell them! Get them off of me!"

She's never been more confused right now. This morning the two were embracing her and loving her as much as their own daughter, they were all a family not too long ago. Why were they suddenly acting like they never saw her before. "Come on, do something!" She shouted again, pushing her head away as she finally noticed the third member of their party. "Glimmer! Hey, Pinky! Tell them who I am already!" Before Catra's ramblings could go any further, the magicat was tragically pulled away, the head of the small trio finally having the courage to pull the feline by her ears.

"Captain, please escort my daughter safely into her room." Angella requested, earning an immediate nod from the guard with a salute. "I want her to remain there until we can determine the..." Angella was unsure of what to say as she gazed into Micah's eyes. Fake Daughter? Trespasser? Lunatic? None of those sounded pleasant to say and yet they were the closest descriptions they had of the girl. "... Prisoner's... intentions."

Following her orders, the head of the guard rushed to the princess's side as she gently placed her hands upon her shoulder, escorting her away from the scene. As she did, Glimmer couldn't help but look back to the entrance as her parents discussed their situation, heading for the door.

She couldn't say for certainty, she didn't know why she gave her this uneasy feeling, but she just felt it. Something about this mysterious girl, this half-human half-cat hybrid that apparently knew their name, just seemed familiar to Glimmer somehow. From her brutish nature and to her seeming lack of mannerisms, she acted as if she had known Glimmer, known all of them, all her life.

But just who was she?

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

Careful... Carefully...

*Thud*

"Awwwhhhh!" Bow groaned as the scrolls he was carrying were scattered amongst the ground.

He was sure he had a good grip on the dozen-and-a-half scrolls he was carrying at his side, yet closing the door with one foot and losing a mere second of balance proved to him otherwise. Adjusting the classes, the infamous scholar went about collecting his work again, hoping this time he could continue getting to where he was going without dropping the pile again for the 18th time this trip.

*swish*

"Ahh!" And it was with the fourth scroll he collected that he finally realized the futility of his collection as he fell back in fright. Like the many times since he's known her, once again, Glimmer dropped in at the most inopportune and unexpected moment as she teleported to his side again with a strange look in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Glimmer, what is going on?" He asked as she squatted down to him. "Everyone is really freaked out today."

"There's a trespasser in Bright Moon." She explained. "We need to figure out who she is." Without giving him a chance to agree, the princess casually touched his knee before teleporting again.

With the two side by side, the Princess of Bright Moon reappeared around the corner to the entrance of the Throne Room. As expected, there were several guards at the ready standing watch, making sure nobody unnecessary intruders could sneak in.

"Why do we need to figure out who she is?" Bow whispered as Glimmer continued to examine the coast.

"Because she says she's my sister and-"

"YOU HAVE A SISTER!?"

"SHHHHH!" Either from the audible shushing or the brief stammering that came before it managed to catch the left guard's attention as she turned her head. Thinking quickly at the sounds of the footsteps, the princess quickly teleported the two again to the opposite side of the entrance, just before the guard could catch a peek at the unusual noise.

Checking the coast one more time, Glimmer gave a quieter sigh before addressing the shouter again, uncovering his mouth. "Look, I don't know who she is, but I doubt she's my sister. If you've seen her, you'd understand too."

"Then why do you want to figure out who she is?" Bow asked as he wiped his mouth from her hand. "If you know she's lying then I don't see why you need to meet her."

"Because, I..." The princess furrowed her brow in thought. As prepared as she was to meet the girl herself, another part of her was curious about the strange feeling this cat girl gave her. "I just... feel like i know her somehow, so, we're gonna sneak in and spy while my parents interrogate her."

"What-! Mmh."

Learning from the first time around, the princes slapped a hand over his mouth in silence before he could screech again. "I know it sounds crazy. But she came here for a reason, and I need to know why. And if you wanna stay behind, just tell me." She offered, looking back around the corner.

"I whmm mh mhay mehind." He mumbled speaking through her hand.

"Hmm, didn't hear anything. Let's go." And with another flash, and another muffled yelp, the two teleported again.

This time the two reappeared a bit of the way outside of the Throne Room's massive gaping archway behind the very thrones of her mother and father, placing themselves carefully along a slanted arch's platform.

From here, they had the perfect view of everything: the two Majesties who sat proudly and respectfully upon their thrones, the half-dozen guards that stood at the base of the stairs to the throne, and the half dozen guards who circled the mysterious prisoner, the very one who wasn't doing herself any favors as she continued to growl at the "stupidly annoying guards", as she put it within the last ten seconds alone three times, who dragged her towards the room.

Though it couldn't be seen from where they were watching from, there were evidently several scratches and bite marks along the limbs of the guards escorting her. Many of them had learned their lesson to keep themselves behind or under the girl's neck to avoid further harm.

"Bring in the Prisoner." Angella requested. With a small gruff coming from the prisoner still in bindings, Catra made her way forward, lowering her ears as she stared at the two parents in irritation.

"Okay, I get the fact I left an hour ago without any explanation, but you guys are taking this whole *grounding* thing a bit too seriously, you know that?" Catra commented. This earned nothing more than an annoying shove from the guard captain as she pushed her down to her knees, returning the guard's gesture with a smaller grumble. "Lady, you are seriously getting fired when this is over."

Taking a brief moment to look back at one another, the King rose from his throne as he descended his stairs, approaching the prisoner without an ounce of fear. Standing a short walk away from the girl, he rose his hand before him as an arcane rune circle manifested in front of him, one that nearly tripled in size as he shot it forth. Catra let out a small yelp at the sight of the approaching spell as she ducked, unaware that the rune passed through her entirety harmlessly before the King spoke again.

"This is a truth spell." He explained as she lifted herself to her knees. "You will be compelled to answer honestly. Now tell us, who are you, and why did you break into Bright Moon?"

Catra really didn't know where to begin with everything as she rolled her eyes. Should she start off with everything annoying her right now about their strange behavior? Point out the fact that her father used this spell several times before just for tricks and not for interrogation as she previously knew? Or should she remind Angella that he was the one who's been sneaking a year's worth of jelly tarts all for himself and giving a small bribe of it to Catra and her sister to keep silent about it?

Figuring that there was supposed to be some dumb lesson behind all of this, Catra sighed. If they wanted her to learn some lesson about being an "honorary princess" or something and her duties to the kingdom, then so be it.

"Fine, I'll play along." She huffed. With a deep breath, she prepared for the long-winded explanation ahead of her.

"Okay, so the reason I left in the first place is because everyone was starting to disappear around here and being erased from peoples memories so I took it upon myself to fix this before anyone else got erased, and I'm sorry for that. Anyway, after I took the skiff I set out to the Fright Zone in order to save Adora and find some way to stop the portal or to turn everything back to normal, but by the time I got there Adora had already abandoned the Fright Zone and escaped from a giant white wall of death that is currently spreading around Etheria and threatening to consume and destroy everything it touches. We tried to find the sword of the First Ones that let me turn into She-Ra to begin with, by the way mom and dad, I'm She-Ra apparently, and tried searching for it in the Whispering Woods but it wasn't there. Then me and Adora got into a fight and she got sucked into the void that's still coming after us and I lost hope thinking that there was nothing left to do. Then I found Madame Razz again or she found me, doesn't matter, and she said I needed to go back to the beginning to find Bow and Glimmer so that they can help me find a way to stop the portal save Etheria and turn everything back to normal before everything gets swallowed and erased from existence-! HUUUUUUUFF!" Catra gasped for breath by the end of it all before trying to give an innocent smile.

All throughout the proceedings there was nothing but awkward glances, strange and confused looks, and disbelief being thrown all around the room as everybody tried to comprehend everything the cat girl had just said.

Her two unknown friends were looking at her like the lunatic she was making herself out to be. It was no wonder to them that Glimmer's parents were against her seeing the princess or vice versa. The girl had a chance to talk and in the span of thirty seconds, she managed to drivel on about one of the craziest stories any of them had ever heard of!

For Micah, there was nothing short of awkwardness as he listened closely to every detail presented by the magicat. Partway through it, as the girl continued to drivel on, he shot Angella a strange look as the Queen was trying to process the mile-a-minute fast talking cat herself. She didn't know what confused her more throughout the proceedings, the strange way in which Catra went on about everything, or the way she kept calling them "Mom" and "Dad".

And for the guards, they didn't know what to make of the girl anymore. First she was insane for possibly proposing she was the King and Queen's daughter, then she was considered violent given the way she attacked the guards after denying her entry, and then they thought she was insane for trying to convince anyone that she was at all, in any way, a princess.

Now, they, and everyone else in the room, didn't know what to say. There were blank stares, rubbed foreheads, and mild headaches all around them, and they didn't even know where to begin with the next set of questions.

"... I... Uh..." Micah mumbled as he tried to formulate a response.

"Who are you?" Angella demanded to know as she rose from her throne. There was something about her tone and demeanor that bothered Catra as her ears lowered further. The anger in her eyes, the frustration in her voice. It was like she really didn't remember the girl she ate breakfast with this morning. "How do you know about my daughter and the royal apprentice historian."

"... The historian? You mean he turned into a dork in the short time I've been gone?" Catra questioned. She did have to admit, for a mixed bag of a family, they sure got things done fast. Shaking her head, she focused on the priorities. "Look, doesn't matter. They've been my friends since I joined the Rebellion. I doubt you'd remember that part since it's a different reality, but you've at least got to remember the day we've had, right?" Catra said, offering a small smile to Micah. "Like the small food fight we had this morning? Come on, Micah, you have to remember."

"I've never seen you before." He simply stated, much to Catra's shock.

"What? How could you forget me? We have family portraits all over the castle for crying out loud!"

"The only people present in those portraits is my daughter, my husband, and I." Angella corrected. There was a bit of ire in the air as she stared at this girl, a sense of distrust she felt at the sight of her.

"What? Okay, okay, I get it, lesson learned, whatever. You guys can cut the act now." Catra waited for some form of response from the two parents as they looked at one another. When she saw nothing to assure her that the parents would recognize her any time soon, she grew concerned. "You... You guys really don't know who I am?"

"Whoever you're confusing us for, I'm afraid you're quite mistaken." The Queen apologized, still pondering this girl's strange behavior. "We've only ever had a single daughter, and it's not you."

"But... But we have a whole lifetime of memories, remember? The games we used to play, all the stuff we did? How you guys found me on Beast Island because of the Hor-!" At the realization, Catra blinked. Staring off into space, she slowly lowered her gaze to her own two bound hands as she understood. "The... The Horde doesn't exist anymore, so... So you guys never..."

They never went to Beast Island. They never had a reason to. With the destruction of the Fright Zone... With the Fright Zone being erased from existence, so did everything else they ever touched or effected get erased along with it. All that they had done, all they were going to do, stripped from the annals of history, never to touch the fabric of reality with it.

Which included Catra's own existence.

Without them ever existing, there was never a reason to go to Beast Island to begin with. There, they would never find Catra as an infant in the remains of what could've been Catra's own home, found her among the denizens that may or may not have existed without the Horde's involvement, and she never would've been adopted by King Micah and Queen Angella. To them, she was no less of a stranger to them than the average person walking on the street.

And that meant she was no longer a daughter, no longer a part of a family she got to experience for over a day. And she was the only one who had any sense of memories of the entire life she never got to experience out of anyone within the castle.

As much as she wished to discuss otherwise, she knew time was running short. Shaking her head, she gazed back at the King and Queen with determination. "Look, I don't know what you do and don't remember about me, but it doesn't matter. None of this is real. This whole perfect life thing is just an illusion. You're supposed to be more of a stuck-up Queen, Glimmer's supposed to be a commander of your army, and Micah's supposed to be dead in reali-"

*swiff*

"Ngh-!" Catra clicked her teeth as she felt the guard's blade rise up to her neck. And only now did Catra realize she should've stopped before mentioning the stuck-up portion of her sentence...

"Are you threatening the King?!" The captain was appalled by the mysterious girl's brash statement, her uncouth manner since meeting her half an hour ago.

"How dare you say such a thing?" The Queen yelled furiously, placing a hand over Micah's chest in protection.

"Oooookay, I admit that was a bit of a rush." Catra apologized, poking away the sword until it was away from her neck. "But it's the truth. Everything is being erased around us and nobody notices what is and isn't real anymore because they've been sucked into this new reality. It's all a hoax."

The Queen pinched the bridge between her nose in frustration as she continued to hear the girl prattle on about her make-believe life. As much as she sympathized with anyone confused enough to mistake themselves for someone else's family, this child was pushing the limit to what was and wasn't acceptable within her presence.

"I have heard quite enough!" She decreed as she walked back. She couldn't take the anxiety this girl was trying to induce within her, or the strange... feeling... reaping in her mind.

"Angella," Micah stopped as he grabbed her wrist, smiling warmly into her eyes, "it's all right."

It always brought a smile to her face when her loving husband proved his optimism to her in manners such as this. Whenever she was confused, intimidated, or angered over a situation such as this, it was always he who brought her down again. Back to her senses, back to her comfort and warmth, knowing that everything would be all right again.

"Look," gazing back at the magicat, the couple saw the guards pushing her down by her shoulders as Catra tried to rise from the ground, "I know it's all crazy, but I need to see Glimmer and Bow. They're two of the best people I know. I need their help to stop reality from falling apart before we're all erased from existence!"

"Guards, escort the young woman to our holding cell." Micah ordered as the Queen sighed again. For a moment, the several guards looked amongst each other in confusion, baffled by the King's demand as they turned to him again. "The spare room." The guards didn't need to be told a third time as they gave a nod to each other, grabbing the tailed girl who continued to struggle against them in disbelief.

"Wait! You have to believe me." Catra begged, grumbling as her feet slid against the smooth ground. "It's all fake! You have to remember-!"

"Don't listen to her." Micah said back to his wife, patting her shoulder in comfort. "She's lying."

"But your truth spell..." It did catch the King off guard a little as he tried to figure out their dilemma.

"I must have done it wrong." Even the greatest of sorcerers could make a mistake once in awhile, he assumed. "There's no way anything she said could be true. It's... It's not possible." The two were determined to discuss matters quietly to one another as the meeting was adjourned.

As for the two onlookers who saw everything from afar, Bow and Glimmer looked back to one another with concern, teleporting in a puff of pink magic as they made their way to their next destination. They had a variety of questions that needed answering.

And there was only one person they could turn to for them.

...

"Mmmh..." Catra grumbled crossing her arms, looking out the window.

How could she be so stupid to think that everything would still be the same upon her return? Sure, she knew that the Fright Zone was gone, but when the Horde was destroyed with it, she didn't think it would actually erase them from existence entirely. She thought everybody would've remained the same way as they did when she left, chalking it all down to something like an explosion that wiped out the Fright Zone.

Just because something blew up didn't mean people didn't know something was there, right? But here it was an entirely different story. No Fright Zone meant no Horde. And no Horde meant... Catra no longer had a family to return to.

While she knew it wasn't going to last once reality returned to normal, it still hurt a little to see the way they all gazed at her. The Queen with her anger, looking at Catra as if she was a possible spy from another Kingdom, one which may or may no longer exist now. The King using magic to force somebody he called "sweetheart" this morning as if she was an enemy. And she didn't even know how Glimmer was throughout all of this.

They had no memories of Catra, the same memories Catra was forced to bear, possibly for the rest of her life, that she had an entire lifetime of. They wouldn't recall anything they ever spoke of, never recollect everything they did together as... as a family. Catra would be the only one who knew she had a family once, and the only one to continue not having a family when this was all over again.

And as much as she hated to say it, none of that mattered to her right now. Staring out into the distance, in a few brief flashes, she saw the universe unraveling. Nearly a dozen pillars of light burst through the forest for a split second, the wall of light encompassing everything in the horizon, before it all returned to normal. People didn't see the brief flash, or they couldn't as they were too consumed in this perfect world that granted wishes, wishes that Catra still couldn't figure out she had.

Gritting her teeth, squeezing her fist, she turned away from the glass window wall as she ran back to the door. Obviously, it was locked, and it didn't phase her one bit. While it wasn't something she needed to attempt as often, stretching out a single claw with her right finger, she attempted to undo the lock herself as she jiggled her claw within the keyhole.

"Come on... come on..." She whispered to herself. There would be no telling if she could do it or not, and she didn't care. She needed every second she had to fix everything before everything was erased along with the rest of the world.

Just like Adora.

*swish*

"Catra-?"

"NOIWASN'T-!" Catra jumped, so focused in her thoughts that she nearly had a heart attack at the unannounced arrival of her two friends. Instantly, all that pooled up anxiety and stress quickly drained away from the girl as a small smile crossed over her face. "Bowey, Pinky!" She chuckled rushing up to them. Never had she been any happier to see her friends in awhile, even if it was just a few hours ago. "I knew you guys would-"

*swoosh*

Catra backed up as she stopped. Before the girl could confess her actual and legit joy of seeing her friends for a change, the Princess of Bright Moon raised her hands defensively as she gathered a small pool of magic around it, maintaining the same strict expression that appeared to be on Bow's face. The stern look in their eyes, the way they didn't seem to trust her. It was all reminiscent to what she had gone through several minutes ago.

" You guys... don't remember me either, do you?" Catra asked as her tail flopped to the side.

"Listen Cat-Lady." Glimmer puffed, ready to take this girl on if she tried to jump her. "My dad has never messed up a spell." While she didn't appear to show the amount of trust that Catra expected, she did appear ready to give her a chance as she powered down her magic. "You were telling the truth in there. How can that be?"

"Tch, of course you guys were listening." Catra chuckled, glancing to each of them. "Even you know more spots to hide in here than I..." She stopped as she stared at the boy in the glasses and the white collar shirt. "... Who are you?"

"Uh, Bow? The guy you greeted just a second ago?" Bow answered, feeling unusually awkward for some reason.

"Bow?!" She gasped, taking in the whole appearance with shock. "Oh my gosh, you turned into a bigger nerd than I thought you were!"

"Hey!"

"If you're just gonna use this time to insult us, then we'll just be on our way..." Glimmer warned, unwilling to put up with anyone picking on her friend.

"Ah, no, no! You're right, you're right, sorry." Catra apologized, forgetting these weren't the same dweebs she was used to insulting. "It's just... Wow, you look a lot different than I expected." Did the Horde existing really affect Bow's person as a whole? The tech guy on their team? The guy who knew how to many so many traps and gadgets. She almost wanted to put him out of her own misery, he was so hard to look at.

"Coming from the girl raving about being Glimmer's sister, the feeling's mutual."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I get it. I just," her lips curved in depression as she turned her eyes away, "just wasn't aware you guys would forget me like this."

"And would you stop acting like you know us?" He prompted. "We've never met you."

"Yes you have!" Catra quickly countered. "You did, you had, in the other world, and this one for awhile. Bow, you're not a nerd, all right? You're a tech genius in the real world who's good with gadgets and taking down droids. You were always the brains of the group who was always figuring out countless ways to get us out of trouble." She chuckled a bit. "And you have two dads who care about you, so don't worry about telling them the truth about who you really are, or who you really wanna be."

Bow didn't know if he should be more amazed or frightened by this girl's description of him. It's like she's known him her whole life, or at least a good chunks worth of it. He didn't even know how she knew about him or his two dads.

"And Glimmer-"

"Ah-!" Glimmer squeaked a little as she was caught off guard. She was still amazed by how much about Bow she knew that she hardly knew herself.

"You're a great spell caster like your dad. You're always the one lifting people up when they need it and... when I need it. No matter how dangerous something is, you're always looking for a way to help everybody you care about. I know I pick on you a lot and Bow a lot, but that's just because you guys are the ones I feel comfortable around in Bright Moon."

"And if it wasn't for you, I... I don't think I'd ever consider you two being my... best... friends." She blushed. She REALLY hoped none of them would remember this mushy stuff when reality returned to normal.

She hated to admit it, but she meant every word she said about the two. When it came down to it, they were her friends, the only friends she could count on whenever times were tough. Between Bow's ingenuity and Glimmer's magic, the three of them were an incredible team who took on many a Horde soldiers and droids and always had each others backs.

And they were the only people she actually felt comfortable around. She didn't mind the other members of the Princess Alliance. In fact, she was starting to like them all a little more as friends. She would gladly consider any of them to be except for the fact she's never hung out with them as much unless it came down to missions.

Given what little she has done to hang out with them regardless, she also didn't see herself getting along with them any time soon.

"...Agh, none of that is true!" Glimmer groaned, pressing her palms into her eyes before staring back at her. "I'm just a princess. And Bow isn't a fighter. He's... Bow." At this, the historian let out a small gasp to himself as he looked down at his tucked in shirt, tugging at it between his fingers.

The way it felt, the way he was dressed up all orderly, all of it felt... different. Almost... wrong.

"This... This isn't right?" Bow questioned looking back to the prisoner. "I mean, everything is perfect." And from his mentioned, Glimmer caught a glimpse of it as she stared of.

A memory, a scene, flashed in her mind. She could recall the little girl clutching a stuffed white bunny as she strolled through the hallways. She could recall the curious look on her face as she gazed at the mural along the wall depicting a great man. She could recall the great man that her father was, the one the mural was designed after.

And she could recall as her father was no longer by her side.

"My dad..." Anguish came over the princess's eyes, a look that Catra's seen too many times in the mirror as she frowned a little. She needed her to remember, the both of them, for the sake of the world. She just didn't think about how sad it would be to recollect those painful memories. "He's gone, isn't he?"

"... Yeah..." Catra muttered, unable to look Glimmer in the eyes as she lowered her head. She couldn't even bring herself to place a gentle hand on her shoulder like Bow was doing. "Sorry... "

"... Then..." The look of anguish over Glimmer's face didn't last long as she looked back. "Then you're supposed to be my sister?"

"Well... sort of. I was in this world." Catra replied as she walked over to the window, leaning against the wall. "When the Horde existed, I was found by your parents in this world, and they took me in and raised me, and we sort of grew up together. I still remember a great deal of what we did together, to be honest."

"But then... Why didn't I notice anything sooner? Why didn't any of us notice something was off with this world?"

"Beats me." Catra shrugged as she walked back. "By my guess, the world made it that way to make everything appear as normal to us. I mean, I thought something was a little different when I saw you this morning, but after finding out I was your sister, or your fake one, I guess I didn't think too much of it as being out of the ordinary." Glimmer supposed it made some sense.

With this world being designed to fulfill everyone's dreams and wishes, the statistics of which she wasn't yet sure of, it made sense that some things would be an oversight in this world. Things such as seeing somebody you never did before would be one thing. When you added that person to your life on a daily basis, however, and lived with them for a certain length of time, odds were that everybody would assume things were fine, as confusing as it was to say.

"And before all of this, we were off fighting this "Horde" you mentioned?" Bow wondered.

"Yeah. Well, I mean, it wasn't like we used to. In fact, we only had one mission before everything disappeared and-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"... What?" Glimmer blinked as she looked around the room. "Catra?" The girl who was going on and on about the real world, the one who seemed to know everything that was happening around them. She had disappeared, in the blink of an eye.

"What the..." Bow ran to the window, trying to see if there was any possible trace of her outside the room, before looking back to his friend. "Maybe she really was your sister?" He guessed.

It didn't make any sense. One moment, Catra was just there telling them about the reality currently around them and how it was all falling apart, and the very next thing, she disappeared in a brief flash of white. If she wasn't Glimmer's sister, she was definitely something else, because there wasn't a single trace of her anywhere in this-

*ZZZZZZZZZZT*

"-came back." And in the next flash of white, the magicat appeared, seeming none the wiser as she gazed back at the duo, or where she knew them to be. "Hey, where's-?" It only took a brief turn of the head for her to find her missing party member, yet it did leave her questionable about Bow's sudden position. "How'd you teleport behind me?"

"Catra..." The used-to-be-archer gaped with his mouth hanging open. "We... We didn't teleport just now. You... You just..."

"You disappeared!" Glimmer stated, staring at the girl in shock.

Catra was taken back by the statement as she raised a brow at the two. She actually looked like she was getting ready to smirk at the pair in an accusing manner. "Uh, right, sure I did."

"No, Catra, seriously, you disappeared and-... What are you wearing?"

"What? This?" Catra grinned as she pulled the collar of her shirt. "It's the same shirt I wore from this-" And as she looked back down, she had truly seen what she was getting at. The pinkish long-sleeved shirt, the tailored line of clothing that Catra had worn earlier, had disappeared. And in it's place, returned the proud and majestic red vest she had always worn till now. "Hey, my shirt's back." She checked out the rest of her outfit to notice nothing else out of the ordinary, or in this case, back into the ordinary, as she examined. "When did I-"

"Catra," Glimmer spoke up again to get her attention, "you seriously just disappeared. Right in front of us."

"I thought you just teleported to be honest," Bow admitted, "but you're standing exactly where you were earlier."

"What? That's impossible, I'm standing where I was a second ago, not even that." The magicat couldn't figure out what sort of game the two were trying to pull on her. She didn't even blink before the two started to look at her as if she was a ghost. Sure, she was surprised Bow suddenly vanished from her view, but that could've been some trick he had in this universe, or Glimmer...

... No... No, that couldn't be right. Nothing about a reality-bending world like this could've given Bow the ability to do something like that. Even everything else that happened to affect their lives happened within reason. But this? Him disappearing in the blink of her own eyes and teleporting behind him? It was impossible... which meant...

"I... Did I really disappear?" Catra finally asked, getting a small nervous nod from the both of them. "But that's... That can't be right. Why did I disappear?" She looked down at her shirt again with a bit of annoyance. "I guess i'm glad to have some of my clothes back, but it doesn't explain anything."

"Maybe it's reality catching up to you?" Glimmer suggested, taking in Catra's new look. Now that she had a better look over the girl, she also noticed her hair was a little more unkempt than it was earlier. "Maybe it's just giving you your old stuff back?"

"Huh... I guess it makes sense." She said unenthusiastically. When you were dealing with a world of constant magic, and in this case, a world that granted wishes that could change the lives of everyone around her, there was little you could do to make sense out of all of it. You were better off picking fights with the Horde than you were at explaining reality-warping effects. "I just don't get why I didn't notice myself disappearing."

"Disa... Oh no..." It was with Bow's gasp that the two pair of eyes turned back to him. "Catra, I... I don't think you just disappeared."

"Uh, yeah? I can see my shirt for myself, obviously."

"No, I mean I don't think the effects are over. I think... I think you might be disappearing from this world itself." There was a silence between the three friends as Catra stared at this.

She? Disappear-ing? She wasn't against the idea that it could happen to her randomly like it did to Kim and Lonnie earlier, she just couldn't figure out why she suddenly came back if she did supposedly disappear. "Why would I be disappearing slowly instead of all at once? When anyone else ever did, they disappeared entirely. Nobody came back."

"Yeah, but I don't think they were affected by the timeline like you were, Catra." Bow replied as he walked up to the girl.

"The timeline? What are you-" Through denial, through the inability to accept reality, or because she refused to give it so much as a chance, it wasn't until now that Catra finally grasped at what Bow was getting at.

The fact that she was no longer found on Beast Island didn't just mean she was no longer King Micah's or Queen Angella's daughter. It meant that without her, Catra wouldn't be anywhere near where she was right now.

Given the circumstances, it was equally possible that she wouldn't have survived at all if she was raised within Beast Island to her present age.

"Y-You mean... I'm going to..." Terror struck the magicat's heart as she gazed at her own claws.

It didn't matter if Catra could fix this world or not. It didn't matter if she was in a broken timeline that she could no longer exist in. If she failed to correct everything before reality was fixed, regardless of whether or not her friends could fix it themselves, there was a good chance that Catra would be erased from her own existence and disappear.

Forever...

...

A/N: Ah, I'll miss you intro buddy. You were a good dog... or a cat... squirrel? Ok i don't know you as well as I should have but still-!

You know, we kid a lot in this show, but I think we should all take this opportunity to say what we love most about the wonderful Aroda ^^ She's smart, she's beautiful, she's the head of this show... Really the entire show should've been about her, seeing how awesome and wonderful she is. In fact, I feel like we should really make the show in her favor, but that's just monoku- I mean ME talking about it ^^ Hahaha... haaa...

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! I know time-travel rules are a little bit confusing but it actually DOES make me wonder how Adora was still in the world if the Horde never existed. I honestly never considered that until now and I'd been thinking of going with the whole "catra disappearing route" since the beginning of this season XP. Seriously weird...

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 114: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Part 2 Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 14.1k Pre-A/N's. HOOOOOOOOOFTAH, god that was a painful amount of editing X_X. For those wondering where and why, it'll be obvious when you see down below. NEVER am I doing that sort of thing again. I dont' mind doing it but its a hassle to make sure every line is practically like it AFTER you finish writing it T_T Ughghghghgh....... But i wont deny, i had just as much fun with this story as we get into some early action as well as some feels followed by humor XP

So with that all said, enjoy!

...

"I'm... going to disappear?" It still made Catra shudder just thinking about it. It was even more unnerving considering she didn't notice it the first time.

Till now, she didn't think her day could get any worse, and that was saying a LOT given how amazing it started out. Waking up to a new world where she had a family, discovering she was an honorary princess, having people around her that actually loved and cared about her in a sense she was unfamiliar with, it was amazing! Her Mother was Angella, her father was King Micah, and she actually had a sister in Glimmer, the latter taking after some of her "older sister's" playful shenanigans and pranking. And she didn't possibly think it could get any better!

Sadly, it didn't.

It wasn't until someone she cared about, a young little four-year-old by the name of Kim that she knew in Thaymor, and Lonnie, disappeared from existence that she truly realized how horrific this world could be. They were erased from existence in every sense of the word. They were completely gone, nobody knew who Catra was talking about, and any history affected by them had ceased to exist. It wasn't just a physical manner that people were being erased by, it was EVERYTHING related to them and by them that was erased with it.

With the disaster that came with it, Catra only then realized this world was truly nothing like the one she hailed from, and flew across the Whispering Woods in her skiff in order to rescue Adora, only to find out her friend had little to no interest in returning everything to how it once was if it meant erasing all of her troubles with this world, including their past. After a brief struggle and heartbreak, with the forest slowly being erased from existence, Adora was sucked into the void, leaving Catra to fend for herself as she escaped.

If it wasn't for Madame Razz, the crazy old woman she met many months ago and her inspiring words, Catra would never have gotten the courage to continue on, or the memory of her dear friends who meant everything to her. With their aid, she knew she could find a way to fix everything before it was too late, a chance to stop the universe from being erased and save everybody. There was only one little dilemma she encountered on her way home: NOBODY REMEMBERED HER!

With the destruction of the Fright Zone and the Horde along with it, Catra came across two dire problems with her situation, both of which were caused by the same means. First, because the Horde never existed, the Queen and King never traveled to Beast Island to investigate a possible weapon's research lab, and, therefore, never encountered Catra as they did in this universe. This left Catra with the only memories she had of her fake family life, ones which nobody else could recall.

And, somehow, as depressing as it was, she didn't consider that to be her biggest issue.

Her biggest issue came in the other detail related to her origin. Without the King and Queen ever taking her in from Beast Island, without them ever rescuing her from whatever fate befell the rest of the village she was in, there was nobody to save her. With nobody to save her from the same fate, with no means to grow up outside of Beast Island, assuming that's where she was born or raised, and without a chance to have a decent life, there was nothing to bring her all the way to Bright Moon. And without a reason to be there, or anywhere, there was no reason for Catra to even exist.

"I... W-We don't know for sure!" Glimmer tried to encourage, holding Catra's hand. "Maybe it was just a one-time thing? Or maybe you just disappeared long enough to get some of your stuff back? We don't know for sure, right Bow?"

"Y-Yeah!" He nodded trying to throw in his support, although his nervous smile said otherwise. "Maybe you'll just disappear a few times until you get the rest of whatever you were wearing back?"

"Are... Are you sure?" Given the line of bad luck Catra's had till now, her optimism proved to be wavering on the manner.

"Trust us." Glimmer smiled back. "Even if you do, we'll fix everything. The portal, the universe. And everything will turn back to normal, like you said... right?"

"Y-Yeah... Hopefully." Still looking at her own hand, she squeezed it gently into a fist as she shook the thoughts out of her head. Right now, her priorities were clear. They needed to find a way to stop the portal that was slowly erasing the universe, find the sword, and set everything back to normal before everyone was wiped out from existence.

It felt a little nice to be on the same page again as they used to be when it came to missions. Going off on an adventure to somewhere unknown or perilous, seeing whatever wonders they had to explore. With all the memories that had been altered since coming to this new world, she had forgotten how refreshing it actually was, the way it usually broke the boring pace around her daily life.

It was almost refreshing.

*Ka-Rumble*

Almost.

"Uh... what's that?" Bow asked as he gazed out the window. Within the distance stretching far beyond the forest, just like before, there was a glowing, shimmering, light. One that grew rapidly in width from the tiny pinprick it started out as, and stretching to the sides of the forest as it drew near.

There was only one cause to a familiar shake like that, one that Catra knew all too well as she gazed over the horizon. "It's the void. That's the same thing that wiped out the Fright Zone and erased everybody." Catra stated.

"That's what wiped out the Fright Zone?" Gazing at the glowing white light for themselves, Glimmer did have to admit- for something that was going to erase their very existence, it was kind of beautiful to look at over the horizon. "How long do you think we'll have? It looks slow from here."

"Don't let it fool you," Catra warned, "it might move slowly but that thing grows rapidly. Plus, the void travels through the ground faster than on the surface. It could burst out at any moment."

"Then how are we supposed to stop it?" Glimmer asked as she placed a calming fist over her chest, trying to still her racing heart.

"IIIII'm not fully clear on that." Catra shrugged a little as she scratched the back of her head. "Madame Razz said I had to go back to the beginning, which is why I came here. But I don't really know what we're supposed to do next. The only thing Adora and I figured out was to find the sword and then find... someone..." She shook her head at the thought as she tried to recall. With the added stress of everything that happened within the last hour, mixed with the existence that was fading in and out of reality, a few portions of Catra's memory were a little scrambled. "Someone who knew more about what's going on."

"Ooookay, well you said a portal was involved in all of this." Bow reminded, eyeing the creeping wall of death as he faced her. "Do you know anyone who knows anything about portals or-" Bow's mind flashed with a geyser of memories as he started to recall something.

Somebody who had an IQ that possibly couldn't be measured by today's standards. Somebody with flowing purple hair that allowed her to move around, invaded people's personal space in order to study and examine observations about social interaction, and somebody who spent more time working on technology and magic than anyone else within Etheria.

Somebody who was a dear friend to the Princess Alliance.

"Entrapta." Bow gasped, staring back at the wall of light. At the mention of the name, everything started flooding back into Catra's mind as she remembered everything she discussed with Adora.

"Entrapta, right!" She smiled a little, looking at the slowly-approaching wall. At the current rate it was moving, she was positive they had enough time to find some means of transportation back to the Technological Kingdom. "She knew more about the portal than even Hordak did. Hey, Pinky-"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"-do you think you can teleport us to Dryl?"

"What?" The princess stared at the cat girl as if she was crazy... well, more than she currently appeared, anyway. "I barely managed to teleport me and Bow in here."

"Huh? But you could... Oh, right..." Man, this universal-timeline garbage was getting annoying!

Another cause and effect due to the Horde's lack of presence in this world; now that there was barely any war within Etheria and everyone lived peacefully, chances were Glimmer didn't train using her powers as often as she needed to back in the real world. Without missions, without using it to fight off her enemies, there was barely any need to other than to play with her mother and father and enjoy her life.

"Okay, then... We'll move on to Plan B." Catra decided, grinning as she punched her fist into her hand.

"What's Plan B?"

"Simple. We use cunning, stealth, and resort to what we do best..."

...

*WHAM!*

"Ahh!" The helpless guards on the other side of the door were powerless to stop the massive gaping doors from slamming into them as Catra kicked them open with her foot.

"RUN!" She shouted, already pulling the two by the shoulder of their clothing as she dragged the two out of the room.

"This is how we normally do things?!" Glimmer yelped, struggling to keep up with the girl while being dragged at the same time.

"Yeah, more or less." Catra yelled back, still grinning. "We get reckless, we hit them hard, and we hit them fast."

"You said the plan required stealth, what happened to that part?!" Bow stammered as Catra finally let them go to run on their own. For a cunning plan that required stealth, there really didn't seem to be any stealth involved, minus the two guards who were knocked out cold from the doors slamming them into the walls.

"It's just a saying when it came to us! We usually just hit the enemy before they even know what hit them! Think of it as improvising."

"I REALLY DON'T LIKE THIS IMPROVISING!" He wasn't looking forward to the rest of her improvised plan if this was how the rest of it was going to turn out. Improvised plans usually involved thinking of excuses, strategies, or layouts on the spot, not alerting and attacking half the guards in Bright Moon just to make a point!

The trio ran as fast as they could across the hall as they made their way towards the nearest exit to the outside world. None of them could afford to slow down, to show any lack of speed, to even tie their shoelaces, as they ran for their lives. With every second that passed, another portion of Etheria disappeared with it, the fate of the entire world resting on the hands of the very individuals everybody would've considered crazy at this point.

"Look, we'll be fine." Catra assured as her friends caught up to her. "We just need to get out of Bright Moon before-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

In another miraculous flash of light, one that was more terrifying than beautiful, her friends ran several yards ahead of the magicat before finally looking back. Scanning across the room, they made the horrifying discovery of what befell their missing friend.

"Catra?" Bow called out worriedly.

"She disappeared again!" Glimmer panicked, checking the hallways of the intersection they just crossed in case they somehow missed her. There wasn't a hairy mane or a furry tail in sight as her friends feared for the worst. A worse that became even more problematic as they waited past the five-second mark it took her last time to come back. "Shouldn't she be back by n-"

"Princess?" The two squeaked nervously to themselves as the captain of the guard was drawn to them from the right hallway, standing in front of them with a curious expression. "What are you doing here? You know your parents don't want you too close to the prisoner."

"Uhh, y-yeah, about that..." Glimmer twitched with a nervous smile, trying to come up with an excuse. "Y-You see, we were just-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"-it disappears like the Fright Zo-!"

*Thud*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as she fell to her posterior, colliding into the back of the fellow guard. "What the- How did you..." It took Catra a simple look at her familiar pair of trousers to understand what had happened as the same guard turned back to her in shock. "My pants are back?"

"Huh! It's the Prisoner!" The guard shouted, drawing her spear to the magicat's neck in a defensive manner. "Guards, the Prisoner's esca-"

*Thunk!*

"Ahh!" Whatever the guard was about to say was drowned out by the sudden placement of the potted plant slamming, and fitting, right over her head. Her entire field of vision was darkened as she dropped her spear, attempting to pry the tight-fitting pot from her skull as it hollowed out everything she was trying to say. "Get this thing off of me!" And it was with another push from the archer-turned-historian that the guard was knocked out of the way as Bow helped Catra to her feet, continuing their daring escape down the hall.

"I disappeared again, didn't I?" Catra assumed knowingly as they ran.

"It's a little more complicated than that, Catra." Bow stated, keeping his eyes on the path ahead of them. Glancing outside through the wall-sized window, Catra gritted her teeth with concern. Somehow, the approaching wall of light almost doubled in its size and its measure as it already blanketed over half the forest. She couldn't even get five seconds to look at the scenery before the window suddenly disappeared before her eyes, emphasizing their circumstances.

"What do you mean it's more complicated? I disappeared, and came back. Plain and simple." Catra deemed, almost wishing to shrug off what was already complicating matters.

"I don't think you understand, Catra." Glimmer retorted, turning her head back just enough to eye the magicat while paying attention to the hallway. "You didn't just disappear again, you disappeared longer than you did before!"

"Nghhhh..." It was hard for Catra to ignore the matter as she thought to herself.

Now on top of disappearing at random, she also had to worry about disappearing for longer periods of time. With the slow return of her clothing practically being a countdown for her, Catra could easily assume that if she disappeared again, once all of her clothing had returned, there was a verily good chance that she wouldn't be coming back.

So far, the only bit of good news was that there was still a short ways to go, in terms of her clothing, and the pathway to the nearest exit. She still had her sandals, her claws which were still a little manicured, something she resented since her claws weren't as sharp at the moment, and she was still missing her tiara. Once those things returned to her, THEN she could worry about disappearing one more time.

...Or, she could worry right now like the rest of them as they finally reached the exit, or what remained of it, as in, nothing. There was nothing but a blank wall here, a wall that was slowly cracking up with the same energy that was engulfing the rest of Etheria, ones that were slowly spreading against everything around them.

Without a door, obviously, there was no way out, but they also knew they couldn't risk teleporting either. Without knowing exactly how much had been consumed or erased on the other side of the wall, they could wind up walking straight into the very void that was destroying everything in it's path, effectively making Glimmer's powers pointless.

They were trapped.

"There was a door here..." Glimmer muttered as her eyes shriveled with worry. "There was a door here! Where'd it go?"

"Uhhh, guys?" Bow gulped as he turned around. "I think we might have bigger problems." Turning around for themselves, the two princesses of Etheria could see exactly what Bow was getting at as their eyes widened.

Standing before them, looking no less bitter or angered over the sight of the magicat as they did at the Throne Room, were the two proud and protective parents of a certain Princess named Glimmer. With Angella standing with her wings slightly unfolded, gathering a handful of pink magical energies in both her hands, and the proud King Micah, armed and ready with his magical staff in hand, the two parents were ready to defend their daughter with their very lives, by any means necessary.

"Step away from my daughter at once!" The Queen ordered, the magics gathered in her palms intensifying a little as she aimed her right hand at Catra. "Now!"

"Mom," Glimmer called out as she stood between her and the mother who was just protecting her precious angel, "stop. Can't you see what's happening? How everything's falling apart?! This isn't real!" It was with her daughter's persistence, the familiar look of sadness in her eyes, and the constitution of her character, that Angella's eyes truly opened around her.

She recalled everything in one instant. The memories of her precious angel arguing with her plenty of times, the moments when Glimmer showed such gratitude for letting her do something she felt as necessary. All the times she overexerted herself and required her mother's aid to reach the Moonstone to recharge, and all the precious memories that made her proud to be Glimmer's mother, even now.

She could also remember the most recent events that came before her. The final moments of when she last saw her beloved daughter the day before, standing defiantly in the hopes of saving her friend from the Fright Zone, how that lead on to her daughter turning her back on her to release Shadow Weaver from her prison, and how she gave the wicked witch her own trust, using a forbidden ritual to enhance her own powers from the Moonstone, and teleport herself and the rest of the alliance to the heart of the Fright Zone, the image of Glimmer disappearing being the last thing she ever saw.

She didn't even get the chance to say goodbye.

It was with that realization that everything flashed before her. This wasn't the perfect world she always envisioned, this wasn't the world in which she lived happily ever after with her own family. Standing in front of her, she saw the reality that was truly unfolding around her, a white flash going off before her eyes that revealed how this world was beginning to crumble, bits of debris floating up into the air. There was nothing here that was real.

"Angie?" And with Micah's voice, she, too, realized what else wasn't real. "What's wrong?" Looking at him again, her heart didn't feel the same sense of warmth it once did this morning, the way it felt every time she gazed at her beloved.

"I'm sorry, for everything." Glimmer continued, apologizing dearly for all her past mistakes. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, knowing her mother was drawn to the same conclusion that she was. "But we have to make this right."

*KAAKSHHHHHHHHH*

"Wh-WHOAAA!" Turning around at the mysterious sound, Bow jumped back out of fear at what was merely two inches from his own eyes as he did. Turning around with him, Catra and Glimmer were drawn to the sight something unholy before them.

Stabbed through the massive thick wall behind them, they were met with the sight of several large claw-like appendages sticking through the wall. Each of them were nearly a knife in size, each one almost half a size larger than the last as the four fingers slowly slashed through the sturdy wall that was already cracking up.

There was a strange pulsating aura of blue emanating from the silver-colored claws, each of them beating with their own source of energy. The chalked white skin encompassing them was thick and callous, a trail of blue veins stretching from the tips of the claws to the rest of the arm she couldn't see.

If nothing was unsettling about this situation as it was to them, the sound that reverberated through the two-inch thick claw marks in the wall definitely unsettled Catra's nerves.

"CaAAAaaTrrRraaa~" A voice echoed from the other side, distorted, unnatural, sounding like an echo, a whisper, angered and calming, near and far all at the same time. There was no telling what could turn the voice into something like this. There was only one person Catra recognized within the center of all these distorted sounds.

"A-Adora?" Catra spoke, trying to see past the gaming claw-sized holes in the wall. With the light blinding her, there was barely anything Catra could see past the openings. The only thing that stood out to her that she could see was a menacing yellow eye, one that was almost reverse in color. Instead of a black pupil with a yellow iris, the entirety of the eye itself was pitch black, save for a glowing yellow pupil in the center.

It was at the sight of the mysterious eye catching sight of Catra, a sight that made Catra back away in fear, that the voice spoke again.

"KnOCk, Knock~"

*KA-RUMBLE*

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Before anything else could be asked, anything else could be answered, the three screamed for their lives. The floor standing below them gave way, plunging the trio into the depths of who knows where.

"Glimmer-!" And by the time the Queen already called out to them in worry and panic, it was already too late. Just as quickly as the floor collapsed and her daughter and friends disappeared, did everything return to normal. Everything that was broken, the reality that appeared shattered, all of it was the way it was as good as new. It was as if the very realm of reality had never torn away to begin with, so much so that Micah didn't appear the least bit phased by the daughter's sudden disappearance.

All Angella could do was look on in horror, knowing the truth about this world now, and all who dwelled within.

...

"Ahhhhh-!"

*Thud*

"Oww!" The gripes and groans of the trio were spread all around as they collided into the harsh ground around them. If it was a flat surface, it'd be somewhat tolerable, but when it was many flat surfaces, in this scenario a staircase, it was a whole different, and painful, story.

Multiple non-broken broken, bones, a handful of invisible bruises, and a surefire pain that wasn't going to pass away at least for the next several minutes, they all felt the abuse of the gravity that collided them into the floor of their descent.

"Agh, I hate landing on my tail!" Catra yelped, rubbing base of her tail a little soothingly as she stood back up. There was nothing worse than a flattening feeling pushing between one's posterior and where the tail grew out of.

"What else would you possibly land on?" Glimmer groaned, shaking a little strangely as she picked herself up off the ground.

"Preferably on one of you doofuses." Catra spat back, hugging herself a little as she rubbed her arms.

"More importantly, who or what was that back there?" Bow felt the need to ask, nearly slipping on the stairs as he tried to balance himself. There was a strange slickness to the stairs that kept him from finding his footing along the ground.

"It..." Catra hesitated to answer as her ears lowered a bit, the image of that ghastly eye still flashing in her mind. "I think... I think it was Adora."

"Adora?" Just saying the name alone already brought a wave of unwanted memories to Glimmer's mind as she remembered. All the ruthless and terrible things she's done, all the people she's potentially hurt in the Horde's name. And, her favorite memory, the time she tortured her! "How was that Adora? I thought you said she got sucked into the void or whatever?"

"I did, I saw her getting sucked in myself!" She sounded as if she was arguing, still remembering the feeling of her hand leaving her as she Adora let go. "I... I tried to save her but..." She couldn't understand it.

She was sure Adora was sucked into the void, she saw her disappear into the white light. She didn't have a chance to free herself from her predicament, she didn't have her shadowy magic in this universe, at least not that Catra could tell. Otherwise she would've gladly used it against her when she went crazy earlier.

And she couldn't even tell what happened to her here! With reality bending and warping constantly as everything was being erased around them, there could've been any number of things that affected her here. More importantly, if she wasn't erased within the white light of the void, then what DID happen to her?

Her ears twitched frantically as she shivered a bit. "Is it me, or is it freezing around here?"

"No, I feel it too." Glimmer agreed as she rubbed her own arms, looking around the room as Bow got off from the ground. Out of the three, he was the only one who could tolerate the cold, debatably, as he examined the structures around them.

"This entire place," he began as he gently knocked on the railing of the stairs they were on, "it's made of ice."

"Ice?" Catra took in the surroundings further away from them as she tried to piece together their location, parts of her memory still jumbled from drawing a direct line. "But... the only place I know of filled with ice was-"

"Whoooooooo!" It was with a cheery squeal that the trio quickly ducked behind the rails, hearing something emanating from the center of the room. They couldn't be too careful with wherever they ended up given the laws and nature of this world were changed upon the individual's liking.

Poking their heads up from the protective wall-like rail that descended to the base of the stairs, the three were met with a sight most intriguing. Within the center of the large room, one the group recognized as the ballroom of the Kingdom of Snows, their eyes laid upon a small spectacle taking place between three individuals.

From the center of the great room stood a women, a proud and noble figure with long snow-blue hair, one who was happily skating across the very ground she formed into ice right as her feet passed over them. She wore a light blue elegant long cape that stretched down to her knees from behind as she wore a sapphire pendant over her chest. The rest of her clothing also matched her winter-esque attire as it stretched from the top of her chest to her waistline where her bright blue pants continued it, addorining with several patterns of blue and white snowflakes all across the design.

The mysteriously slender woman was laughing to herself among the other three as she continued to skate, using her familiar powers to freeze the landscape itself into a chilling field of ice for herself and the rest of her compatriots. Gathering a small bundle of energy between her hands, she chuckled even louder as she unleashed her creation into the air, filling the room with more of her icy magic, and dropping the temperature for our poor three heroes down by another five degrees.

On the opposing end of the makeshift ice rink, a somewhat curly blue-haired gentlemen with a inch-thin mustache, in a large white winter coat was laughing to himself as he continued to skate across the ice as well, wielding a large pole of ice in the shape of a hockey stick in his blue-gloved hands as he traversed the mighty tundra. With blades of ice under his own feet, woolen white pants under his thick winter jacket, he would prove to the world of three that he was the undefeated and undisputed champion of all spots related to ice, in this case, Hockey.

Yet, the final character of the trio, one the group recognized all too well, wouldn't let him have it. Skating across the ice like the blue-haired hockey player she playing against, the young child grinned as she reached up to the tall figure, the very individual who sneered back at the young figure teasingly.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you'll never catch up to me at this rate." He taunted.

"You wanna bet?" The smaller girl grinned as she gathered a handful of blue energy in her left palm. With the flick of her wrist, the blue-wonder shot a direct beam of ice in front of the mysterious man, growing a small ramp of ice that shot up three feet into the air.

Before the icy player could react, he was launched helplessly over the icy structure as he soared a dozen feet into the air, losing his grip and his center of gravity as he landed back to the hard ground. The force of the fall didn't keep him from sliding any further as he slid across the great mass of ice, screaming playfully for his life as he was slid into a dozen of pin-like icicles that were stacked atop the ground, clearing through them all with ease as he crashed.

"Strrrrike!" The young girl cheered, pumping her fist into the air as she dissolved her icicle hockey stick. "Hahahaha!" The child was having a blast, even more so as the mysterious woman from earlier swept her into her arms, laughing along with the young child as she skated them to the center of the ring.

Twirling about for a bit, the two eventually came to a stop as they simply laughed amongst themselves, the same man from earlier, having already recovered, joining in on the fun as he greeted them both in a hug. At this, the young girl nuzzled her head under the woman's chin, the same woman who stroked her head lovingly and caringly, as the man patted her back.

This was definitely Frosta's Kingdom.

"I get the short one, but who are the other two?" Catra whispered, raising a brow at the mysterious sight.

"Oh... Oh no..." The magicat's head turned to the sound of Glimmer's moan, seeing the regretful frown present on Glimmer's face, one that was shared by a depressed Bow to her left.

"What? Do you know those two?"

"Yeah, we've seen them before, Catra." Glimmer said with a small sigh. "They're Frosta's parents."

...

Destruction.

Ruin.

Nothingness.

Now that the world was truly opened to her eyes, the Queen had never been more devastated by the sight of her own kingdom as she was now. Pillars grew and sprouted across the land, trees and soil were being sucked into the air where they were evaporated like water. Most tragically of all, nobody appeared to be any wiser or concerned over the experience. They simply went about their day preforming their duties and talking to one another as they were erased one by one.

Even the sky looked sickening with its pale violet color as the darkened purple clouds around it looked sickening. Everything around them spoke of misery of death, and the people who went about their daily lives acted like it was nothing, completely consumed in the perfect fantasy world that had once hypnotized the Queen and Glimmer minutes ago.

All this destruction, all this chaos, it was one of the worst things the Queen had ever bore witness to, a sight she wished never to bare. And it was even worse to realize that she was the only one aware of it right now.

"Angie?" The sound of her love's voice from behind didn't distract her away from the enchanting and disastrous sight in front of her, not until he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We'll get her back, Angie." He promised, squeezing her hands softly. "And then everything will be perfect again."

The gentle smile, that glowing warmth, the beauty in his eyes. It was all great, all beautiful, to behold one last time. "This is perfect, my love," she admitted with a tearful smile, "but it's not real." A look of pain crossed his face as she stroked his cheek, sharing with him the very pain that had touched her own heart.

"I remember now." Standing atop the Moonstone's pillar, nothing mattered more to her than this moment right now. To see it all, to see it one last time, even if it was a fake, was the greatest gift Angella could ever ask for. She remembered all of it.

From the way he first smiled when the two had met, to the day he proposed to her, to take her hand as his bride, and no one else's. He remembered the look on his face when she announced he was to be a father, and the tears in his eye when he held his daughter for the first time.

And... the day it all disappeared. The day she wished over and over again for things to go right back to the way they were, to wake up one day to find the very man she loved at her bedside again. A day that never came to her.

"I miss you so much." She muttered softly, wishing this one moment would last forever. "But Glimmer needs my help, and I can't stay with nothing but memories."

What... What was she getting at? Was something wrong? Was this world not the perfect utopia that she wished it all to be? "Angella? I-" Micah tried to speak up, only for Angella to shake her head lightly.

"Goodbye, Micah." She couldn't stand to be around anymore. She feared if she stayed any longer, she would no longer be able to let go, to move on, to save the family she knew that still existed. With another kiss to the cheek, a single tear rolling down her eyes, Angella departed to the sky, leaving him behind.

It didn't make any sense to him. What was wrong with this perfect world? What was keeping her from being happy? Did he not provide enough for her? Did he not give her as much love as he could ever want and then some? She looked at him as if he had already departed from this world years ago, as if he wasn't...

Wait a minute.

Something was off.

The environment slowly dawned on him, the scenery, the atmosphere. These emotions that were plaguing his heart, the feeling he had welling up inside. They were all familiar somehow, clear as the very diamond he once laid on her finger.

It was then, with a small, silent, gasp, that he remembered.

"Angella!" He called out as the ground trembled around him. "Angella, wait! I'm not-!" But it was too late.

Before another word was uttered, before Angella could possibly turn around again to embrace him once more, another pillar of light burst through ground beneath him, erasing him and the pillar from this existence.

There was nothing left for Angella here. She had a daughter, a friend, and a hero that needed to be saved. Whatever troubles were ahead of her, whatever the path may lay in front of her, she was determined to rise through it, to push on through every obstacle that stood in her way. It was almost like a vow to herself as she pressed on, wiping one last tear from the fake reality as her kingdom had been erased behind her.

There was no going back. Only forward.

...

"Frosta's... parents?" Catra mumbled, looking back at the happy continued to laugh among themselves.

"Yeah. I've only met them a few times growing up before..." The pink princess couldn't bring herself to finish the line of dialogue, opting to lower her head a little with a frown instead. "Well, you know..." Like Catra needed any sort of reminder about them.

Out of all the princesses of the Princess Alliance, Frosta was the youngest out of everyone, and the only one among them to inherit a kingdom at the age of eight. With her parents tragic departing after the fall of the last Princess Alliance, there was little else for the young princess to enjoy in her life, other than a life of adulthood at an early age. She had no time to play, no time to enjoy herself, all she had to do with herself was learn to be a decent ruler, the responsibilities of the crown forced upon her.

It's not like she minded the responsibility, per se. Far from it. She was devoted to keeping her kingdom alive and prosperous, making it one of the most powerful kingdoms in all of Etheria. Being forced to mature, forced to learn what was necessary to be a decent ruler, she devoted every waking hour to being the proud member of the Princess Alliance that she was today.

And yet, given all Catra had experienced up till now, she had a new sense of remorse for the young princess. Throughout all of her memories in this dreamworld, she only ever got to experience a single day in her newfound life, and she loved it. A loving family, a cheerful home, a playful sister, they were all the things Catra didn't know she was missing, and she would do anything to experience having one again for just another day.

Here? Frosta had an entire eight years of her life with happy memories of her family, growing up with the very people who loved her every day of her life. If Catra was willing to do anything to know what it felt like to have a family again, there was no telling how badly Frosta felt living without her own family to greet her for the last three-and-a-half years she's missed them.

Or what she would be willing to do to keep the memory of her own family alive, such as her kingdom.

"We should hurry up out of here while we can." Bow commented, gesturing to the side of the room that used to leave to the balcony. In it's place, a large doorway stood at the top, one that appeared unfamiliar and foreign given the architecture surrounding this place.

Giving a small nod to the historian, Glimmer gestured quietly back to Catra, rubbing the girl's shoulder to get her attention, before the two followed behind. Reaching up the halfway point, Catra's right ear gave another twitch as she looked back down at the laughing family again in dismay.

Adora was right about one thing throughout all of this. Some of the people around here, those with truly tragic backgrounds, were definitely the happiest and the brightest out of all of this. If she could, Catra wouldn't mind keeping this world as it was and letting people like Frosta, like Glimmer, to live their new perfect lives with their entire family.

But no matter how much she wished it, she just couldn't. Not for some moral dilemma or some useless reason. It was because this entire existence was going to fade out of reality if Catra didn't do anything to stop it! Even if her allies resented her for it, she new she couldn't just let everyone die and disappear, not when there was a real reality to return to.

*swiff*

*thunk*

"Ow!" And it was with the small yelp that Catra finally blew their cover. Too distracted over the family of three who were enjoying the day of their lives, she was unprepared for the sudden slip her sandals caused her as they slid right against the edge of the stair's edge, tripping her over completely. If it wasn't enough of a loud thud to draw her attention, the recent yelp most certainly gave their cover away as the blue family of snow were caught by the sound.

"Catra!" Glimmer panicked, teleporting the short three yards over to her friend as she helped her to her feet.

"Remind me again why I started wearing these sandals in this world?" She grumbled, rubbing her bruised head. It was moments like this when she missed her tiara.

"Who are you?" The sound of the mysterious Queen of ice drew the attention of the two heroes, with the cold family meeting Glimmer's and Catra's gaze while being unaware of the historian at the top of the stairs as he ducked. Meeting Glimmer's gaze for a moment, getting the same idea, Bow gave a short nod in return as he attempted to pick the lock of the strange door with the temple of his glasses, leaving the two princesses to stall for enough time.

'Uhhh, h-hi!" Glimmer greeted with a nervous smile, standing at full attention as she pulled Catra to her feet. There wasn't any use in hiding anymore for the two, and attempting to do so would've been more suspicious. "W-We're not intruders or anything if that's what you're thinking. We were just... uh..."

"... Glimmer?" The mother questioned with a surprised look as she set her daughter down. Despite the few times they had met before Frosta lost her parents, Glimmer was almost surprised that the woman recognized her. "Is that you?"

"O-Oh, you recognize me. Yeah, um, hi."

"Look at you..." The mother fawned with a soft smile as she took in Glimmer's full appearance. "You've gotten so big."

"Well that's one way of putting it..." Catra muttered rolling her eyes, only to immediately regret it as Glimmer stomped her foot with a small blush. "Yeouch! Watch it, brat!"

"Brat...?" Frosta said quietly to herself. Where had she heard that insult before? She felt like she's heard it over a hundred times in her life, yet that couldn't be right. She's lived peacefully with her mother and father for years.

"And... Who's your friend?" The King asked, eyeing the somewhat grumbling girl as she rubbed her toe.

"Oh, this? This is Catra." Glimmer introduced, shifting her eyes briefly to Bow as she checked on his progress.

"Catra?" Hearing the name resounding in her ears, combined with the mysterious insult she failed to ignore, it finally dawned on her as her memories flashed over her mind.

...

Catra had actually brushed away some of the tears in her eyes with the tip of her tail-

...

"You're DEAD!" With an outcry of anger, Catra attempted to lunge straight for the little princess with her claws outstretched and prepared to claw at her.

...

"They are not my buddies." Frosta state, forming small spikes of ice against her frozen fists, ready to smack down the robots and droids as harshly as possible. It's time I pay back Catra for everything...

...

"Is your arm okay?" Catra's sudden question shocked the girl as she faced her.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah!" She felt excitement as her heart pumped a little, gesturing to the sling she was wearing.

"Then get lost-"

...

The swarm of history came rushing into Frosta's own mind against her will as she recounted the terrible past she had with the Princess Alliance. The time she became something close to friends with Catra, the magicat giving her her friendship far sooner than most of the other princesses of the alliance, the terrible day that Frosta broke that friendship and trust she had with her by betraying them to the Horde, and the events that brought her into the Fright Zone, hoping to save her friend and to at least start to patch up whatever wounds were still inflicted on Catra by her own betrayal.

It was a past she had deeply regretted since her betrayal, the look of hate and disgust in Catra's eye being present every time the girl had seen her since. It wasn't like she didn't deserve the girl's ire, not after everything she did to her and the rest of the Princess Alliance. She just wished there was still some way she could make it up to the magicat after all this time.

"Wait... W-What's going..." Frosta squeezed her eyes shut as she rubbed her forehead for a bit. When she looked back, she knew something, everything was off. "How did we... get here?"

"Frosta?" The sound of the familiar voice of a mother, one that Frosta could never forget, caused the girl to lose her voice in her own throat as she looked back. There, standing behind her, were the parents she once had, the parents she wished she could see at least one more time. "What's wrong sweetie? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"M... Mom?" The young princess pipped up as her mother kneeled to her, smiling. If it wasn't enough to make her heart waver, the sight of her father kneeling to her right most certainly did. "Dad?"

"Of course, sweetie." The father smiled, touching her right shoulder. "Who else would it be?"

"I-I... Y-You're here... You're really here..." The young princess began to tear up. It was evident by the sound of her voice even if her back was turned to Catra and Glimmer. The two older princesses looked to each other, a small frown on both their faces as they continued up the stairs. They couldn't bring themselves to ruin Frosta's touching moment, not when it was going to be erased shortly after anyway.

As for the young princess herself, she smiled brightly to the two parents with tears in her eyes before throwing an arm around both of them, hugging them tightly. "I missed you!" She sniffed.

The parents were a bit surprised by the sudden change in behavior, seeing the joyful smile turning into a cheerful smile in front of them, but refused to let it bother them. With a comforting heart and an arm around her, the Majesties of the Kingdom of Snows hugged her back, smiling.

"Of course we're here, sweetheart." The father said lovingly, wiping a tear from her eye. "We've always been with you."

"Y-Yeah... I know." She sniffed again, wiping her eyes. She didn't know the laws of this reality or what it was that brought her parents back to her. All that mattered to her right now was making the most of the time she had with them.

"I'm starting to hope she doesn't remember this when we get back." Glimmer commented, feeling sorry for the young princess as the two reached Bow. "I doubt she would forgive us."

"It wouldn't matter if she did or not." Bow replied, jiggling what felt like the last lock within the keyhole. "We have to stop all of this before reality is erased. We can't let everyone die."

"I know, but still-"

*Ka-Rumble*

"What?" The present guests and Frosta, those who were more aware of their situation, gazed to the ceiling above them as the entire ballroom started to shake madly. Several small pillars of ice started to break apart from the ceiling, smashing and scattering against the ground as everyone tried to make heads of their situation.

"What's going on?" Catra asked, looking around. Despite her pessimism of what it could be, she had a small hope that she was just imagining things. The part that made her doubtful in all of this was that the void that was consuming the world appeared to be so slow to her originally when she met it up with Adora. In that sense, there was no way this could possibly be happening here now, could it?

Sadly, yes. All around them the room started to crack and break apart as everything rumbled violently. The walls, the ceilings, bits of the floor, were all opening up with deepening cracks as a rush of white light filled the room. It was like a spiders web of trails as one crack opened, leading to dozens upon dozens of other smaller cracks spreading across everything.

The most shocking part out of all of this, the piece that didn't make any sense at first to the four heroes, was the one crack that opened up in the middle of the air, right before Frosta and her family. While she couldn't see it from there, there was something Catra noticed as she saw Frosta's horrified expression, a look of terror at whatever appeared in front of the girl.

*SSSKKKKKKKKTTTT*

Like stabbing a pillow through a bed and cutting it all the way too, the blue-haired princess watched as a mysterious, monstrous, claw tore an opening in the fabric of reality, stretching a good ten feet from side to side in front of the girl as the void's light began to shine through the seams. With one hand pushing at the bottom and one pulling up at the top, Frosta gasped as a somewhat familiar presence ripped a massive white hole in the reality of space, stretching out until it was wide enough for a fully grown adult to step through.

Or, in this case, an unlikely individual who resembled nothing like Frosta remembered.

"Huh, I wAS lookINg for a diffERENt traitor heRe, but You'll dO." Came the voice of a distorted creature, one that Catra heard earlier prior to their escape.

"A-Adora?" Frosta shook a little as she stepped back, all while Catra's jaw dropped in pure shock.

"Adora?" She whispered to herself. She couldn't get a good look at her former friend with the white void acting like a wall behind her, or whatever had changed about her that terrified Frosta so much.

All she could see was a small portion of the back of her head. While the left side of it appeared to be as it usually was, still flowing long and elegant, there was something twisted about the right half of her head. There was an eerie aura of shadow rising up from Adora's right half, almost as if it was leeching off of the girl at every second. Along with that, her hair appeared to be pure white on the right half of it.

"How'd she get here?" Glimmer asked, staring off in the same disbelief that Catra was.

*click*

"I got it!" Bow announced happily, relieved to have pried open the lock as he pulled the door's handle.

"Who are you?" Frosta's mother could be asked as she spoke to Adora. As if sensing the ill intent of what Adora had in store for their precious daughter, both parents began to channel their icy magic in the palms of both their hands, stepping in front of the girl as they prepared to defend their daughter with their very lives.

"Ooh, hOw cuTe." Adora's distorted voice awed. "You tHink you're menacING to me. THat's so SWeet."

Refusing to let the girl get the first jump on them, both parents channeled their powers into the same attack as they launched a torrential wave of pure cold directly at the corrupted Horde. What may have been an impressive feat to many, an attack like this being capable of freezing any unfortunate enemies into subzero temperatures, for the being that was known as Adora, whatever she turned into, it felt like nothing.

The girl casually sighed to herself as she let her hair flow back a little bit, enjoying the feeling of the temperatures that should've frozen her heart within seconds. "Ah, whAt a nice bREeze." She commented, sneering at the wonderful family that was just trying to protect their daughter. "UnFortUNately, I'm in a hurry HERe."

Without a second thought, without any instinct or care, Adora ended their brief little resistance sooner than it began. Lifting her malformed claw up, the very thing that she used to rip a hole in time and space to begin with, and swiped it through the two parents as if they were air. Instantly, the two parents shattered in front of the young princess, virtually cracking apart like the glass of a window, as they crumbled into little white shards.

And then, into nothingness.

"M-Mon... D-D-Dad...?" Frosta's eyes watered heavily as tears rolled down her cheek. Even if it was an illusion, the way Adora did it so carelessly, so easily, mortified her. Almost as much as it infuriated her.

"You didN'T REally think anythiNG made inside a false reALIty could hurt me, dID you?" Adora wondered, almost taunting the young princess as she glared with tear-filled eyes.

"Y-You... my parents..." The princess of ice had never known her blood to boil as intensely as it had now. The mocking tone, the way she flexed her claw in front of her face. She just needed any one thing in the world to set her off, and she would be prepared to lunge for Adora herself.

"AwwwW, don't pout, they were just faKE." She smirked vilely. "It'S not like your real paRENTs cARed enough to stay aroUND eITHEr~"

"Nnnnnngggggggghhhhhhhhhh!" Almost growling, the princess of ice lost her temper as she channeled as much power as she could within both her palms. All around them, the three friends continued to watch as the near-entire castle began to shook, the tremors and vibrations nearly tripled in ferocity as the white cracks across the ballroom began to amass rapidly.

"Frosta!" Glimmer shouted worriedly.

As much as she hated to say it for herself, Catra held her breath and her feelings back as she grabbed Glimmer's arm. "We need to go." She announced, much to Glimmer's surprise and shock.

"But what about Frosta?"

"Madame Razz already said everything will return to normal when we fix everything." Catra reminded from her earlier explanation to the King and Queen.

"But Catra-"

"Glimmer, Catra's right." Bow said regrettably. "Without our stuff, we can't fight her anyway." It didn't make the reality of the situation any easier for the pink princess as she looked back with dismay.

Almost as if she was sensing the onlookers staring at her, Frosta shouted back to them, "I'll hold her off, just get out of here!" She demanded. Hearing the young girl shouting to anyone but her, Adora slowly turned her head to the right, giving Catra another small look at the right side of Adora's face.

Like before, all that she caught a glimpse of was the menacing right yellow eye as she grinned to the cat girl. For better or worse, the eeriness of her voice appeared to have cleared up just a smidge as she addressed her former friend. "Hey, Catra~"

"GO!" With another shout, having channeled a sufficient amount of her powers as needed, the young princess launched an entire cluster of solid pillars of ice, dropping them from the ceilings high above as she attempted to bury the terrible corrupted soldier in an avalanche cascade of solid ice, each of the pillars almost the size of Adora's entire body.

"Come on!" Bow yelled. With little choice, despite their heavy hearts, Catra and Glimmer followed on through the doorway as they escaped from this wretched castle of horrors, just before another small pile of ice collapsed in front of the doorway, blocking it off completely.

Frosta kept up the assault for the next ten seconds as she attempted to gather as much power as she could throughout the attack, channeling all the power that she had into the massive avalanche of ice atop the girl. She didn't' know what happened to Adora or how she ended up that way, and she didn't care. She made it personal the moment she insulted the memory of her parents, and took them away again before her eyes.

The attack lasted for another ten full seconds before Frosta relented, panting out of breath as she waited for the large cloud of ice to dissipate from the scenery. The world around her was still cracking up, not that she cared as long as she took care of Adora for her friends here. Whatever they were up to, she was sure it would fix everything. Her only concern was stopping Adora while she had the chance.

Finally seeing the last particle of ice evaporating into thin air. With a wave of her hands, she brushed the remaining pile of snow and ice away from the landing zone. While there was plenty of broken ice shards and craters of ice around the impact, she didn't see a single thing resembling Adora, or whatever remained of her.

*SSSSSKKKKKKTTTTT*

"Hu- Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" The poor girl barely had the time to turn around before she screamed, hearing the familiar tear ripping open right behind her. With a simple pull by the back of her winter coat, the young princess found herself being pulled into a new opening created by the sinister transformed Adora as a hand burst through the seams, pulling Frosta into the void of light in its entirety.

With the young girl pulled in, all the cracks, all the damage and destruction that had entailed throughout the small fight and brief scuffle had finally vanished, the ballroom returning to the peaceful state it once was as Adora stepped through the white void again.

She has effectively erased the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows from this reality.

"Where are you CatrAAAaa~?"

...

"Huff... Huff..." The group panted as they entered the halls of this unknown world. Just as quickly as they entered this world did they see the very doorway dissolve around behind them. The horror, the terror, the princess they left behind. There were so many issues following them both figuratively and literally as the trio tried to save the world.

"How did Adora catch up to us?" Glimmer asked, figuring that Catra would have the answers to everything else.

"What? You're asking me?" The very answers the magicat couldn't provide. "How should I know? I'm still trying to figure out how she found us to start with!"

"Don't look at me," Bow insisted shaking his head, "I didn't tell her where we were going! I don't even know how we got there to begin with."

"Ugh, it must've been from the universe collapsing." That's the only conclusion Catra could come to given their short amount of time as she groaned. "This reality has the power to make everyone's fantasies come true so who knows what else it can do when it's falling apart?"

"Mmh, I just hope Frosta's okay." Glimmer frowned, the sense of unease filling Catra and Bow's mind in the same sense.

None of them knew what happened to Frosta back there, or how Adora easily managed to dispatch of her parents in front of her very eyes. They didn't want to begin to think of the horrible details that might've come about Frosta's end, the pain she must've bared in order to fight off Adora. It didn't matter how sure they were that Frosta could fend off Adora, they knew she had to be erased after seeing the state of the world collapsing in on itself.

"I feel kind of bad for her, you know?" Bow commented, crossing his arms in his own grief. "Being in a fantasy like that, then finding out it was fake before losing the same parents in front of her? It's terrible."

"Mmmh..." The low humming coming from the cat's throat did nothing to dissuade Glimmer and Bow's attention as she leaned against the wall. As sad as it was to see the former life of one of their friends, what their ultimate fantasy would be, it filled Catra with nothing else but worry for the rest of their journey.

She didn't want to give the others a simple reason for her to accept them as her friends, she refused to give them their trust until they earned it like Glimmer and Bow did. But the more she tried to ignore what she witnessed in the previous world, an encompassing backstory, a cause for her betrayal, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the young parentless princess.

And fearful of what was to come next.

"I can't even imagine how bad the others will be."

*tap*

"Hmm?" Ears twitching, attention shooting, tail raising, Catra gave all the signs of someone coming to attention as she heard the familiar footsteps of somebody approaching her. "Do you guys hear that?" Before any of the three could voice a response, the mysterious individual revealed himself as he gingerly walked down the hallway, carrying a bowl of fruit above his right shoulder.

The individual had nothing but long black pants, the kind that went with a tuxedo, a cumberbundt over his bare chest, and surprisingly massive pex for such a small frame. What truly caught their attention was the familiar facial hair and hairdo over his head, recognizing the chipper young man as the only adventurer who would dare to traverse any halls looking like that.

"Sea Hawk?" Bow gaped in disbelief as the rest of his friends stared. There was a small blush over Catra and Glimmer's face as they tried to avert their eyes a little from the shirtless individual who passed them along the halls.

"Good day." He greeted commonly as he continued on to the next room. Right as they were about to ask him something, something that would've cleared this whole situation up, they saw something even more inexplicably confusing and, somehow, more shocking than the last.

Another Sea Hawk appearing at the end of the hallway.

"Hurry now, mustn't keep her Excellency waiting." The other Sea Hawk stated, following behind the same Sea Hawk with a large fan-like leaf over his arms.

"Sea Hawk has a brother?!" Bow stammered, never realizing the secret life Sea Hawk apparently had.

"Mermista, Darling, your Sea Hawks have arrived~" The three turned to one another before following the trail of voices they heard, realizing along the way they were in Salineas, as hinted, most likely in Mermista's castle.

From the walls to the tapestries, everything around here was in perfectly Salinean architecture, with a few notable exceptions that the group came upon. For starters, unlike the previous trips to the kingdom capital, nearly every other wall within this place was decorated with paintings of Mermista, each one seeming more elegant than the last.

From a punk look, a goth look, a model look, there were looks of each and every possible depiction of Mermista within these halls, with each painting looking as if it was actually trying to out-captivate each other. Combine that with the beautiful pearls that decorated the frames of each and every painting, and you were looking at someone living a life of lavish luxury.

Along the way, they were also surprised, and somewhat disturbed, by the numerous Sea Hawks that they passed around. Nearly each and every Sea Hawk was dressed exactly the same, with some of them looking more buffed than the previous iteration, and every one of them holding an assortment of things from more bowls of fruit to carpentry to who knows what else as the rest were in boxes. There was no telling what was going on or why this was happening.

Until the group finally came to the Throne Room. There, Catra, Bow, and Glimmer stared in utter shock, all of their jaws gaping open at the disbelief of what their eyes laid upon.

"Oh..."

"My..."

"Gosh...

It was as if they were viewing into the self-absorbed world of Mermista's own mind as they witnessed everything around them.

At the head of the chamber, basking within a giant decorative opened pink clam, laid the elegant Mermista, the Princess of Salineas. The very princess was enjoying the luxurious and fashionable lifestyle of her own design as she was swarmed by over two dozen different Sea Hawks, all of whom were attending to her every whim.

To her right stood one of several Sea Hawks who were feeding her an assortment of delicious grapes and fruits whenever she beckoned. When one wasn't feeding her an assortment of delicious grapes, they were off to her left, massaging her feet tenderly between the toes. When they weren't massaging her, they were waving one of several large leafy fans as they cooled off the princess who was enjoying the fine fruity substances.

Along the rest of the chamber, kneeling before her, were the other dozen Sea Hawks who continued to admire her with all they had. All of them went on endlessly about how amazing and beautiful she was in every sense of the word as she relaxed, letting her troubles float away like the bubbles that rose to the ocean's surface.

She was truly living the lifestyle that any princess could dream of. One where they were worshipped like a goddess she believed herself to be, pampered endlessly by dozens of followers, in this case ones who looked like Sea Hawk for whatever twisted reason, and having her every desire and order waited upon by dozens of followers who would've wished to do nothing more than to earn Mermista's glorious attention, even if only for a second.

"... Bow, do you have your tracker pad or a Camera?" Catra asked, never taking her eyes off the scene in front of her.

"Why do you want that?"

"Because this will go down in history as the greatest blackmail I have ever witnessed." Just thinking about everything she could get out of this, if she could show any of the other Princesses a picture of this scene, brought her no end to the sheer amount of joy welling up inside of her. She needed to capture this moment forever, regardless of whether or not it would be erased when they fixed the world around them.

"How did Mermista get a dreamworld like this?" Glimmer questioned gazing around the throne. "Isn't this world still supposed to be some part of reality or something? How did Mermista get some bizarre fantasy like this?"

"Are you really going to ask that after Adora ripped a hole between time and space right in front of our eyes?" Bow argued as he reminded.

"Fair point."

"Mermista, darling, you're just so elegant and beautiful!" One of the many Sea Hawks praised with wide starry eyes.

"Uh, yeah, I know." Mermista casually replied, resting her eyes as she lied upon the soft bed within the open clam.

"I just wished there was something we could do to show our appreciation for just how amazing you are."

"And beautiful beyond words."

"I can only imagine how jealous all the other princesses must be of your beauty. Your flawless skin, your wonderful hair. It's making me jealous and I'm not even a princess."

"Yeah, yeah, what else is new?" Mermista opened her mouth knowingly as she accepted another luscious grape.

"Annnnd now I find her annoying again." Catra finally said as she decided to end this charade. "Hey, Mermista!"

At the tone of the familiar sounding voice, Mermista opened one of her eyes, growing mildly, or nearly nothing, surprised at the sight of her other friends as they approached. "Oh, hey. What's up?" She asked leaning up again.

"This is your "perfect world", Mermista?" Glimmer asked, staring at the slightly creepy Sea Hawks who continued to fawn over her as they kneeled. "Some place where everyone treasures you and... Wait, why am I even asking this?"

"Look, let's just get to the point," Catra insisted as she cut her off, "I know you don't know me, but we really need a way out of here and-"

"Uh, hello? Of course I know you, Catra." Mermista said with a bored yawn.

"You do?"

"Duhhh. You're Catra, that's Twinkles, and that's Arrowhead."

"Least its better than "Nerd"..." Bow muttered with a sigh.

"If you know who we are, then you're aware of where we are right now, right?"

"Hello? Of course I do. I'm not an idiot." She snapped her fingers as she had one of her other Sea Hawks kneel down in front of her, using him as a leg stool. "This is just a dream I'm having, and you're all figments of my imagination."

"I thought you said you weren't an idiot?"

*PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!*

"Ahhh!" Catra was blasted away as she was assaulted with a hundred gallons of pressurized water from the right, blasting her to the wall. Looking in the direction from whence it came, Bow and Glimmer saw several of the Sea Hawks giving a simple look to the duo as they held a fire hose attached to the wall behind them.

"Huh, I was wondering why I had that installed here."

"Mermista, this isn't some dream. You're in an alternate reality that's slowly falling apart." Bow tried to explain as Catra grumbled, shaking herself free of the water as she got back up.

"Uh, if this isn't a dream, then why are there, like, thirty Sea Hawks to answer my every call?" She shot back, accepting a refreshing glass of juice from one of the mentioned Sea Hawks.

"Because clearly you have some deep personal issues we don't have time to address right now!" Catra hissed.

*PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!*

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Unable to learn from her previous lesson, the magicat insulted her, getting blasted back to the same wall with almost twice as much force as the previous blast. "Would you stop-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

It happened again. The white flash filled the room temporarily as Catra disappeared, without any sign or warning of its inevitable approach. Personally, Mermista was a little bit freaked out about the sudden disappearance on a more personal level than she was emotional.

"Uh, did I do that or-?"

"I-It's fine." Glimmer assured, trying to sound sure for herself and the mermaid princess as she waited for Catra's return. "It's happened before."

"Y-Yeah." Bow gulped, waiting frantically as Catra had passed the ten second mark that it took her last time. "I'm sure she'll be back any second now... Any second..." He started to subconsciously hold his breath out of fear as he waited for the girl's return, Catra hitting the 30 second mark as he considered recounting again, just to be safe. "Annnny-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"-that!" Catra yelled. It was with the sign of her friends staring at her again, along with the rest of the Sea Hawks who watched in fascination, that Catra felt the need to examine herself again. As expected, feeling along her toes, she saw the dreaded sandals that slipped her up earlier were vanished, as another part of her had returned to her original state of being. "... It happened again, didn't it?" She didn't need to see Bow's nodding to confirm this, already knowing the truth.

"You know for people trying to convince me this isn't a dream, you're doing a really poor job of it.

"Mermista, please. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. If we don't fix everything, then the whole world is going to disappear!" Glimmer informed, trying to reach some sort of sense with the girl.

"Are there any doors or exits around here that look out of place?" Bow asked, catching a small look of the magicat as she grumbled her way over.

"Well..." The blue princess looked along her surroundings for a bit, taking in the sight of her loyal servants while also trying to look for a supposed exit. "I don't know about actual exits, but there's a trapdoor under my clam if you want to check it out. I never used it since I got here, not that I'd want to leave anyway."

"Really? That's perfect!" Glimmer exclaimed as Catra huffed.

"Yeah, perfect." She squeezed a bit of the irritating water out of her mane as Mermista stepped aside.

With the snap of her fingers, nearly a third of the thirty or so Sea Hawks dropped what they were doing as they went to work, knowing what she wanted. Setting aside the fruits, the leaves, and an assortment of other knick knacks, the small handful of them gathered around the giant pink clam, grabbing around the edges of the giant mass as they began to heave with all their might.

*Ka-Rumble!*

No sooner than they started, a familiar and unwelcoming tremor filled the land around them as everything started to shake. Bits of dust and debris from the seemingly-endless ceiling overhead dropped along the ground beside the heroes, with many of the Sea Hawks already franting about as they began to panic.

"Please tell me that's your Sea Hawks moving the clam?" Glimmer meeped, already knowing what the answer would be.

"We haven't even started moving it yet." One of the Sea Hawks said, looking to several of the other Sea Hawks who shrugged back to him.

Sure enough, without any hint of pausing, the familiar white cracks in reality started to burst through the room, light seeping in through the small openings penetrated through the distorting reality. Smaller physical cracks formed along the walls and the floor around them as more debris started to shake, the entire world becoming undone as a pillar burst through the ocean itself from the outside window.

"Caaatraaa~" A voice echoed as it resounded from the hallway. "This is starting to get annoying..."

"How is she keeping up with us?!" It left Catra in more shock that she was following them so fast than the fact she knew where to find them to begin with.

"You two," Mermista spoke as she pointed to two of the still-praising Sea Hawks, "figure out who that is and stop her!"

"Yes, your perfectness!" They replied obediently, running towards the hallway as Catra resisted the urge to hurl from all the cheap praising around her.

There was a brief silence for a few seconds following the Sea Hawks' exit until they heard the other Sea Hawks voice as they came upon the mysterious chaser. "Excuse me miss, but I'm afraid I'll have to force you to leave for your own-"

*Sheeem*

Whatever the Sea Hawk was going to say was cut off as the two Sea Hawks cried in horror. In merely two swipes with her appendages, Adora managed to easily erase the two Sea Hawks with the swipe of her arms, the others watching as a brief white flash went off in the pitch black hallway for only a second, followed by the sound of footsteps once more.

"Grrrr... All of you, stop her!" Mermista ordered. Nodding in return to their undersea goddess, the remaining Sea Hawks within the room rushed to the entrance, blocking the path of the Force Captain as she arrived a second after, any sign of her new appearance blocked off by the Sea Hawks barring her entry.

Unintentionally, the same Sea Hawks that were trying to move the giant clam also took this order as their own, dropping what they were doing as they charged for the doorway as well.

"Mermista!" Glimmer complained, reminding the oceanic princess of their predicament as she looked back.

"Oops." Seeing several white flashes going off as Adora swiped away at the dreamworld Sea Hawks with ease, the Princess of Salineas quickly rushed over to the giant clam with the rest of her friends as they began to heave, grunting and grumbling to one another as they slowly budged the clam an inch at a time.

"Come ooooon..." Catra grunted, sweating a little as the three continued to move it.

"It'd be easier if there were any handles to this thing..." Bow mentioned, trying his best not to think of the monstrous pursuer chasing them.

"It's a clam, what do you expect?!" Mermista growled, eyeing back to the mysterious intruder she was trying to recognize. By now, Adora had made short work of the last of the Sea Hawks as they slowly crumbled into a glittering pile of shards that dissolved into the air. With nothing standing in the girl's way, Adora chuckled creepily to herself as she made her way out of the pitch black shadows.

"And it was just getting fun too." She commented, her footsteps echoing throughout the room as the white cracks continued to spread around the decaying Throne Room.

"Gehhhhhh..." Mermista hissed as she finally stepped away from her enchanting throne, leaving the others to move the clam at an even slower pace.

"What are you doing?" Glimmer squeamishly asked, trying to push the stupidly oversized clam with all of her might.

"I'll try to buy you guys some time." Mermista offered as she gathered a small pool of water from the nearby drains and vents at the edges of her throne.

"OhHh, nOW You're gonna play with me?" Adora smirked as she continued to approach, her legs starting to be revealed as she stepped out of the darkness. "WHAt could you posSIBly do that FRosta cou-"

*PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!*

"Agh-!" There was a light yelp as Adora was blasted back a few feet by the strong torrent of water, dousing her with a wave of the enchanted waters.

"How about that, for instance?" Mermista smirked, gathering another pool water, almost twice in size. Hearing the deformed Horde soldier growling, the blonde beginning to rush to her, Mermista blasted her with an endless stream of her waters, attempting to push back the girl with as much water as she could collect.

While it succeeded to push the girl far out of the Throne Room and into the hallway, it failed to be anything more than a minor inconvenience at best. Already, Adora was grunting audibly to herself as she slowly pushed against the waterfall-like stream shooting straight at her, getting a single foot in length closer to the watery princess as Mermista pushed back with all her might.

"Any day now would be good!" Mermista yelled to the others as Adora managed to get the first foot into the room.

"Almost... got it..." Glimmer grunted, feeling like her stomach was about to explode if she tightened herself any further from the extraneous physical activity.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the three heroes gasped for breath as the giant clam was pushed off the five-by-five foot trapdoor, the clam sliding against the three steps leading up to it as it slid down behind Mermista.

"We got it!"

"Then go!" Mermista shouted, trying to gather another steam of water to blast at the girl. This did little to slow Adora down, only managing to push her back another three feet before renewing her efforts to approach. Luckily for the three heroes, there wasn't anything related to a lock or mechanic to the trapdoor as the hatch could be pulled open by the single silver ring at its base, giving off a puff of dust as Bow pulled it free.

"What do you think is down there?" Catra asked, looking down into the pitch blackness.

"It's gotta be better than here." Glimmer shrugged. Giving a nod to her two friends, the princess was the first to jump in, disappearing as soon as she entered, followed by the technological historian as he held his breath, just in case.

Before Catra could follow suit, she was cut off by the sound of Mermista's voice again. "Hey!" She yelled. "You better find a way to fix all this." She told her with a small grin. "Even though you'll never be as great as Sea-Ra, you're still more capable than you think." With the small joke in mind, Catra gave her a small grin back with a nod, joining her friends in the black abyss as she jumped.

Seeing the remaining friends having made their escape successfully, Mermista finally released her hold over the magical waters as she summoned her trident to her side. She didn't know what Adora had turned into, much less what she was at the moment, and she didn't care. All she cared about was buying as much time as she possibly could as she charged for Adora, the Force Captain doing the same in turn as she kept to the shadows, colliding her mysterious claw with the tip of the girl's trident.

As far as Mermista was concerned, she'd be fortunate enough to last any more than five minutes as the world crumbled around her.

...

*thud*

"Oof-!" Catra, Bow, and Glimmer yelped as they landed on the hard ground at long last. Despite the brief fall they all took, and the fact they took the plunge one at a time, they still ended up piled on top of one another as they finally reached the ground, one that didn't hurt as much as they expected from such a lengthy fall.

"Is everybody okay?" Bow asked as he shook his head, sitting up.

"No worse than the last several times we fell together." Catra shrugged, shaking off the dust from her mane.

"Where do you think we are now?" Glimmer asked, looking around as Catra and Bow examined their new surroundings.

"Hello." It was with the sound of the familiar voice that the trio knew exactly where they were before they had the chance to explore.

All around them, technology and machinery laid among them, with thousands of different wires connecting across the ceilings and cables running through the ground between circuitry and amplifiers alike. Not a single part of this room was untouched by the works of a mad genius as screws and tools littered every other step of this place, and whirring rang throughout the room.

Upon further inspection, the three were drawn to the far end of the room where the mysterious greeter found them.

There, at the head of the lab, they saw a familiar lock of hair as a certain scientist twiddled and toyed with the various machines in front of her as a handful of robots surrounded her in turn. Robots of all shapes and sizes littered the ground leading up to her, and filled the space bubble around her as the scientist doodled with her machines.

Following a small sparkle of electricity of whatever she was working on, the girl turned around, meeting the three mysterious guests' gaze as all the other robots looked back, too. All of them were curious, all of them were focused, as they examined the mysterious threesome, the individuals who she had never seen, and somehow always knew, since day one of her life.

And with her mask, Entrapta couldn't be any more curious about their arrival.

"Do I know you?"

...

A/N: Now do you see what i was getting at XP? Dear god writing Adora's distorted voice was a killer, my eye started physically twitching, no joke, as i had to go back and re-edit it all so it matched up. That took like 20+ minutes of extra editing T_T Buuuuuuut all the same, I think it made the voice deeply disturbing enough to the point where you can easily picture the distortion, can't yee ^^?

We're almost down to the wire folks, and I know what you're thinking- you want to see the amazing Aroda win in the end and get everything she could ever want, huh? Well me too. In fact, I feel like she's the most popular and amazing character within this show, so much so that I shouldn't even devote screen time to those other characters huh? But, *sigh* we have to put up with the *less awesome* characters for now. I know, i know i'm sorry P_P But, look at it this way- when I - I MEAN ARODA, finally wins, we'll all feel so much better about her, won't we ^^?

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon! Next chapter wont be as long as it sticks more to the plot, but that just means we'll get to the amazing reveal of Adora's new look at the very end of it X)!!!

Chapter 115: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Part 2 Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 7.3K Pre-A/N's. Hello all my delectable mortal- I mean Human friends ^^ Definitely Monokub here with a brand new post from yours truly~

We got a bit of a shorter chapter here, but that's just because the fun that's to come afterwards is going to be very, VERY, enjoyable for everyone (including me~). Also, I got a little surprise to mention after the end of this chapter. What is it? You'll just have to be patient and wait till the end. As such, I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapter, and look forward to the surprise~

Enjoy!

...

The Kingdom of Dryl. Home to one of Etheria's greatest, if not THE greatest scientist, and former member of the Princess Alliance, Princess Entrapta. Within the kingdom surrounded by a current thunderstorm, there was no telling what technological devices and gadgets the princess was in the middle of making. And there was never usually a safe method to find out.

The twin-tailed princess made it a habit of making traps all across her castle, constructing it like a maze as she filled it with all matter of droids and devices. From simple ones that were capable of washing clothes, helping her with her hygiene, and preparing food for her, to massive ones capable of demolishing walls, digging through entire mountains, and blasting apart any form of matter with high-powered blasts, the princess was capable of making droids for all occasions.

Yet, the princess also lead a solitary life at the same time.

For the most part, anything she did in her daily life she did alone. While she had a few human servants here and there who also did their part to assist her, they mostly dealt with the chores and smaller services they could provide compared to the more mundane tasks the robots were constructed to do. It's not like she minded being around other people, far from it. She just wasn't used to interacting with them like she was with her robot friends.

So imagine her surprise of all things when three such individuals, one who happened to be part animal at that, decided to drop in to her lab out of the blue? She was ecstatic! To think, three individuals she was never expecting or anticipating could fall right into her lab out of thin air! To get past all her traps, all her defenses, why, there were so many things she wanted to ask them!

Trying to be the gracious host she could, with about as much studies as she could gather from her few minutes of reading, she welcomed the three individuals by providing as much hospitality as she possibly could. A place to sit, warm refreshing water, and a dozen droids ready to listen to any further requests they had.

She was their hostess, and they were her guests. And she was ready to hear what brought them here while developing her social interaction skills further.

"This is fascinating." She commented with a wide smile. She watched with excitement as she lied on her stomach against her own hair a few feet off the ground, kicking her legs in the air and enjoying her refreshing fruit drink as the others were poured their own drinks of water. "I've never had non-robots visit me before. Usually it's just me and all my friends." She continued to stare as she sipped through her straw.

"What friends?" Catra asked absentmindedly. It took a quick nudge from Glimmer's shoulder before she got the idea of it, looking around at the various robots that were staring at them. "Oh..."

It was a little disturbing to be watched by so many eyes staring at them, robots programmed for numerous tasks and responses that none of them knew of. Like the one Bow gave a small look at, for example. Staring at it for just three seconds activated some programmed response within it's systems to turn away as three pink lines glowed on each of its cheeks, acting like the typical preteen who would turn away embarrassed from one of their own crushes and the like.

There were too many disturbing issues behind why someone would make a robot such as this that none of them were brave enough to ask about.

"Aren't they amazing?" She jumped, rising to the air through her hair as another butler came with a concealed platter. "And if they break, I can just make new friends!" She bellowed out with laughter, flipping upside as she stared back at the trio. "Tiny snacks?" Her offer was met by three simultaneous shakes of the head as the friends saw the delicious snacks she had in store for them.

A couple pounds of loose bolts, robotic oil, roasted lug nuts, and over a dozen screws. All of it was topped off with a bit of oregano for added flavor. As "appealing" as it might've appeared to some, specifically on the robot side of things, it didn't appear the least bit appetizing to the young guests.

"Oh, sorry about that." She apologized, waving away the droid. "They're still getting the hang of people food... Unless this is what you eat." Could they be the first organic guests she had that ate inorganic matter, on TOP of being the first guests she ever had?! This was so exciting! "I have so many questions. Tell me everything." She nearly demanded, bringing a tape recorder up to Catra's face without a second thought.

"... Look, Entrapta, this is going to be really hard to explain-" Catra began as she pushed the recorder away.

"Is this about the unstable portal slowly consuming and warping our reality?"

"-but there's something destroying our realityyyyy..." The magicat blinked as she stalled, processing the shocking reveal she had yet to say to Entrapta that the scientist herself already stated for her. The surprise was shared between her two friends as they stared at the eager scientist. "Oooookay, how did you already know that?"

"Oh, I figured it out awhile ago." She casually replied, typing away in her consoles as the three friends rose to their feet. "An unstable portal is the only thing that would account for all the anomalies I've been picking up in my research. The portal exists somewhere in our world, and as long as it's still open, it's gonna keep destabilizing reality, making things disappear faster and faster, until, BAM, there's nothing left! Hahahaha!" Like the crazed scientist she is, she cackled madly with laughter as she yelled in front of the three, holding her sides as she stood suspended in the air.

"...Which is a bad thing."

"Well is there any way to turn it off?" Catra asked hopefully. She already had enough unease to go about her day as she saw the monitors displaying the world being slowly consumed by a white void.

First, there was the void itself that was erasing everything in its path. With the Fright Zone gone and the sword of the First Ones missing from where she originally found it, she had little to no means of finding the power source, the thing that could potentially stop the portal in the process and turn everything back to normal. That's what this entire trip was about, why it was so imperative that they found Entrapta.

Secondly, there was a certain ex-friend by the name of Adora, someone who hated Catra with an unnatural rage. After watching her friend being sucked into the void itself, the girl refusing to accept Catra back into her life and refusing to live in a world where she had such a terrible history, the girl had changed- which was putting it lightly.

She couldn't get a good look at the girl, and given everything she's done so far, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to. Something happened to Adora within the void itself, something that allowed her to open up these cracks of the world that was falling apart, opening points between the space of reality itself that allowed her to pop up out of anywhere at a given notice. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't somehow finding Catra throughout all of this, making her a nightmare to deal with.

More than usual.

It also, somehow, made her immune to anything associated with the dreamworld around her, allowing her to brush off the combined efforts of Frosta's fake parents with ease, and destroy them in a simple swipe. She easily dispatched of the two powerful ice casters, and the army of Sea Hawks that could do nothing more than to block her path for mere seconds. There was no telling what else she could be capable of.

And it still wasn't the most pressing matter hanging over her mind.

Catra was dying. To be accurate, she was disappearing. With the Horde erased, the events that brought the King and Queen to Beast Island never occurred, and Catra was never found and raised as their own daughter. With this change to the timeline in effect, the reason for Catra's existence were non-existent, living in a world where the timeline didn't allow her to survive. And with each disappearance she had thus far lasting longer than the previous, she knew it was only a matter of time before she disappeared for good.

"Portals are gateways," Entrapta began to explain, going back to her monitors, "wormholes that connect one area of space to another. The only way to turn it off is from the inside."

"Well that'll be easy, then." Glimmer smiled to the other two as the images on the screen continued to change. "We just need someone to close it and then we can all go home!"

"Uhhh..." That was the one sound from the genius scientist that none of them were ready to hear. "Yeah, about that..."

"We're not going to like this, are we?" Catra huffed knowingly as she crossed her arms.

"Whoever shuts the portal down can't leave." She revealed, watching as a site of a lone stick figure was trapped behind bars. "They'll be trapped between realities, possibly forever. Oooooh, imagine the data they could collect."

"Wait, so, whoever turns it off will be trapped inside of it... forever?" Glimmer's heart felt cold with fear as the three friends exchanged glances.

Trapped inside of this fake reality, one of nothingness inside of it, forever? That almost seemed worse than Catra disappearing in her entirety! At least when it came to that, she wasn't the least bit aware of it until she saw herself again. But living in a dimension, or even in between dimensions, where there was next to nothing inside of it? She wouldn't wish that on her most hated enemy by the sounds of it.

"Exactly." Entrapta casually replied, typing away into her computer again.

"T-There has to be another way." Catra refused to think that there couldn't be some other way. "I mean, if... Glimmer, what if you turned it off and teleported right before the portal closed?"

"Y-Yeah, that could work!" Glimmer nodded, trying to show as much enthusiasm as she could in this dreaded scenario.

"No it couldn't." Of course, their small traces of hope for a miracle had to be dashed away by Entrapta as the scientist continued with her analysis. "The portal has to be kept open for the entire process. Attempting to close the portal briefly before it fully closes could destabilize the gateway further and erase the rest of the world in a near-instant."

"W-Well... then..." Catra tried to think. There was always a way out of these things, she just needed to think about it first before she got reckless like she always did. "W-What about your robots, then? Couldn't you program one of them to close it for us?"

"And lose one of my babies in the process?! I couldn't live with myself if I did!" What kind of cold-hearted monster was Catra? How could she compare organic life to something that folded her socks on a daily basis?! "Besides, wouldn't do any good. The gateways generating a constant electrical pulse. Nothing that'll affect organic matter, but it'll short out the robots before they could even reach the gateway."

"W-Well... T-Then we can... We can..."

Is this really how it had to go? With one o the three, or anyone, sacrificing themselves? What kind of decision was that to make? How could any of them consider sending one of their friends out like this without the possibility of coming back? Sometimes it was moments like these when Catra wished she wasn't as friendly towards the two companions she's known since her adventure's started. Otherwise, she'd find multiple excuses to send out either of them to save herself.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

Bow was the tech genius of the Rebellion and a fellow soldier of the Rebellion. What he lacked in magical powers or super strength he made up for in his cunning and technology he provided for the Princess Alliance. Without him, there would've been a handful of times where Catra and Glimmer wouldn't make it out of a sticky situation, and a handful of times where Bow's knowledge of First Ones tech often lead to new discoveries.

There was also no way they could possibly get rid of Glimmer for almost a thousand more reasons than Bow, not that it made his contributions any less significant. She was the daughter of Queen Angella and heir to the throne, and was the commander of the Rebellion Army and Princess Alliance. Without her magical capabilities, her quick thinking, and her constant optimism, Catra wouldn't have developed nearly as much as a person as she was today.

And then Catra... There was Catra to... To...

Catra felt a twinge of silence over her ears as she worried. What did she have to contribute that required her to stick around? She was the legendary She-Ra, and she saved the Rebellion countless times, for sure. But over half those times wouldn't have even resulted in danger if it wasn't for her selfishness and recklessness. She's endangered herself, her friends, and the Princess Alliance on a handful of occasions.

Even now, looking back on it, none of this would've happened if she wasn't so obsessed with becoming a stronger She-Ra and warrior, thinking solely on obtaining all of She-Ra's power throughout the given months. She was driven by fear and emotion through all of her past mistakes. Mistakes that lead to her and the sword getting captured. Mistakes that lead to everyone winding up in a world where everyone was starting to disappear.

Mistakes that turned her best friend into her mortal enemy.

And while the dread of the situation continued to hang over her head, she refused to think they were out of options. "There's got to be something else we can do. We can't just-"

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"Ah-! Glimmer yelped from fright as Catra disappeared in another white flash.

"Oooooh, another temporal anomaly!" Entrapta oohed with bright colorful eyes. She has never seen a temporal displacement like this before! "Does that happen often?"

"N-Not exactly," Glimmer replied, backing up from where Catra disappeared for safety, "she's just altered the timeline in this world. Because the Horde's gone now, she doesn't exist in a timeline where my parents adopted her."

"OOOOOOHHHHH!" The squee of excitement couldn't have been pitched any higher even if Entrapta wanted it to. Her eyes glazed over with stars as her own twin tails were squeezing at each other with suspense. "A time distortion anomaly! This has been the greatest day ever for science!" She couldn't wait for herself as she pulled out a small notebook and a pencil from the pockets of her hair, already writing notes. "Has this been happening often? What does she experience? How long does it take?" There were so many questions, she didn't know where to begin!

"Not too long... usually..." Bow muttered, growing increasingly concerned by the amount of time it was taking for her to return. With each time she came back, her appearance changed further to match what she looked like before she came to this world, parts of her old outfit and style usually returning to her.

"Yeah, she'll be back... right about... Um..." Lowering their brow as the silence continued, Bow and Glimmer stared at the vacant expanse of air as the time for her reappearance grew distant. They didn't know what was taking so long, what was causing these disappearances to last longer than the last.

By now, a full minute had past between the three of them as Glimmer and Bow grew more and more worried. There wasn't any indication that she was coming back to reality any time soon. Fear started to spread between the two as they thought the worst. Did Catra have less time than they originally thought? Did she lose her chance to fix everything and return to normal? Was she... was she... dead?

The last thought alone made Glimmer and Bow's hearts tremble, the eye of uncertainty filling both their minds. Perhaps she had less than a handful of disappearances left before she disappeared in front of them for good.

For all they knew, she was never coming back.

"C-Catra-"

*ZZZZZZZZT*

"-sacrifice ourselves." Catra stared as she noticed the silence, looking at a relieved almost-teary eyed Glimmer who sighed deeply with relief, and Bow who was exhaling a long breath from the stress welling up. Momentarily confused by their sudden mood shift, Catra examined around herself, trying to look for some semblance that told her she disappeared again.

This time, her return came with the freshly sharpened claws she's always had, looking a bit longer and more rough like they usually were before her fantasy life within Bright Moon. "So my claws are back to normal." She stated, feeling around her forehead for the lack of tiara. "Guess this means I can disappear one more time safely, at least."

"EEEEEEEEP!" In a pitched voice that nearly made Catra shrivel from the high frequency ringing in her ears, the magicat found her face getting pressed against Entrapta's as the scientist gazed deeply into her eyes. "HOWMUCHTIMEPASSEDFORYOU? WEREYOUGONEFORMONTHSORYEARSONYOUREND? WEREYOUINAFEATURELESSVOID? DIDYOUSEEANAFTERLIFE? DIDYOU-" The list and list of potential questions never ended as Entrapta kept sputtering one line of words at her after the next, her voice becoming increasingly higher as she pressed deeper and deeper into Catra's eyes until the girl found herself bending backwards about 45 degrees.

"Entrapta, Entrapta!" Glimmer yelled, pulling the girl away from the clueless magicat with Bow. "She doesn't notice when she disappears. To her it all happens in an instant."

"... Oh..." Entrapta blinked to herself for a few seconds before giving a shrug, going back to the computers. "Well that's boring." How was she supposed to ask somebody the questions of the universe and the timestream when they weren't even aware of it? It's like being given a computer that had all the knowledge of the universe and she didn't have a keyboard or mouse to interact with it!

Rolling her eyes at the pouting scientist, the furry feline gave her immediate attention to the two individuals at her side. "How long was I gone for this time?"

"Almost two minutes." Bow frowned meeting her gaze. "Catra, you're disappearing longer and longer around here. We don't have much time."

"I know." She moaned, giving her attention back to the only one who could save them, and herself. "Look, Entrapta, there has to be something else we can do. You're the one who built the machine with Hordak, so you have to know something that can help us." The mention of the name alone was all it took as Entrapta froze.

"Remember..." Like dominos collapsing one after the other, so did the sudden shift of memories from the real world enter her mind. From the time she first met Hordak personally, the countless experiments and theories she discussed with him, and all the fun and exciting inventions she got to try out because of him! He was the best friend a fellow scientist could ask for. "I remember. I... remember." She smiled calmly to the three curious friends.

"I had a lab partner, Hordak." She felt silly for the first time that she could forget someone as important as her first lab assistant. "Mm... We were friends, and then, Adora..." For all the hopefulness she was beginning to feel, all the excitement rushing through her veins, she was surprised to find it slowly dwindling away at the mention of the name. When it finally dawned on her, she lowered her head, a little perplexed, a little discouraged, and completely disappointed. "Oh. I remember everything now."

Adora. One of her new best friends, and one of the few friends she had in general. She remembered everything about her. All the times she helped her improve her sociability with other people, everything she did to help her feel welcomed to the Horde. All the nice things she did when she was first taken prisoner, treating her like a guest and a real person instead of interrogating her like she should've been. She couldn't have asked for a better friend. And then... and then...

She betrayed her. Through some unknown reasoning, possibly by the disorder that Catra warned her about before the portal was activated, she betrayed her. She saw her as an enemy rather than a friend, the surge of electricity being the last thing Entrapta experienced, and the sight of anger and disgust in Adora's eyes being the last thing she saw.

All the data, all the statistics, that told her that Adora was a friend she could believe in till the end... was proven wrong.

"I'm not really here."

*Ka-Rumble!*

The lab shook violently as the world began to tear itself apart like the three had experienced several times before. Small bits of debris broke apart from the ceiling and cracks formed along the metallic ground, filling the dank lab with a white light.

"What? No!" Catra yelled, looking around the room. "This can't... This shouldn't be happening right now! We should have more time, a few minutes at least!"

"There's... no more time..." Entrapta pondered as she rubbed a fist against her chin. "It... It all makes sense now. It's your sword. That portal is centered on you. It's follow you."

"... What?" Her friends stared at her as Entrapta announced this revelation. The portal was following her? What sense did that make? How was the portal following her like an animal? Like-

"That must be how Adora keeps finding you." Bow exclaimed, much to the others surprise. "She doesn't know where you are, specifically, she just keeps following where the portal is going."

"Hey, now that you mention it," Glimmer mumbled, looking into her recent memories, "that would explain her surprise from earlier."

"Huh, I wAS lookINg for a diffERENt traitor heRe, but You'll dO." Came the voice of a distorted creature, one that Catra heard earlier prior to their escape.

"She just knows where you're going to be, but not where you'll end up." It was the only logic that made sense in this non-logical world. Adora didn't have a complete grasp on where she was, she just followed wherever the portal was aiming at and assumed a location based on that.

*shhhhhmmmm*

Any questions the three had to ask were cut short as they heard a small shimmering noise coming from the head scientist. Lifting their eyes to the girl, all of them were shocked; Entrapta was smiling to them peacefully as she was fading out of existence.

"E-Entrapta..." Catra's ears dropped at the sight of the transparent girl, her existence disappearing further by the second.

"You need to remove the sword from the inside." Entrapta explained, giving a sweet smile to the magicat as she ran up to her. Catra didn't make any attempts to grab the girl as she continued staring, taking a precaution in the event that touching her somehow made her condition worse. It didn't make her feel any better by the sight, though. "It's powering the portal." Bow and Glimmer gasped as the ceiling cracked wide open above them, Catra turning to the sound of the crumbling behind her. "As soon as it's gone, everything will be right again."

Turning back, Catra gave her a small saddened frown as Entrapta teared up herself. "Entrapta..."

"Heh, I guess you get to get your revenge in the end after all, huh Catra?" Entrapta teared up as she made the light joke. "I still need to work on my humor I think... how was it to you?" Catra's heart took a stab of pain at the comment, further guilt wasting away inside of her.

Since finding out about her new allegiance, she wanted nothing more than revenge against Entrapta, to make her pay for all she did. For all the pain she brought the Princess Alliance, all the guilt that Catra felt thinking she was dead because of her, and all the time she wasted blaming herself for something that never happened, unlike everything she blamed herself for that did happen. She wanted revenge on her, revenge on all of it. And now, seeing her disappear like this? Knowing she was disappearing, dying, in a sense?

She didn't feel anything close to relief, joy, or a sense of justice for all her wrongdoings.

She just felt empty inside, almost... sad.

"It was nice being friends with you, Catra." Entrapta waved, as the last of her existence came to an end. "I hope we get to see each other again..."

"Wait-!" In that one second, for that one moment she didn't want her to disappear, Catra tried to reach for her.

But it was too late.

By the time the tip of her claws reached her, she was already gone, vanished. And the world crumbling around them would give them little time to mourn.

With the end of Entrapta's existence, the fabric of reality of all she touched started to come undone. The violent tremors were practically on a rampage as cracks formed along the walls and ceiling without pause, more streaks of light enveloping the laboratory, showing everyone that the end was near. The robots themselves began to float a little as they, too, were starting to cease to exist, the foundation of all of Entrapta's work becoming null and void.

And then, it flashed.

It flashed in front of all of them as the group found themselves somewhere else again, somewhere familiar. Surrounding them were blankets of trees and landscape, a direct path leading to a familiar construct that rang from Catra's past. With a clear sky above them, Catra realized they were in the Whispering Woods, and with the structure ahead of them, she knew exactly where they were.

"Where are we?" Glimmer asked, holding herself by her chest a little in fear.

"We're... We're at the Beacon..." Catra announced, walking ahead a little. There didn't seem to be any cracks or disturbances with this part of reality. Thus far, everything appeared to be as it was, for now. Staring at the sky, Catra could see the familiar moons and clouds over the Whispering Woods, still bright and pink as they always were. What she saw next came to her as a shock, letting out a startled gasp that alerted her friends.

In a white flash, Catra saw as thousands of tiny white specks started to light up the sky, filling the darkness with a small sense of light. "S... Stars?" She muttered, unable to take her trance-like gaze away from the skies above. It was with another flash that reality, this corrupted one, started to sink in with her.

Following another burst of light, the sky lit up with more of the tiny specks as they practically doubled in size between one another, sparkling and shining like the sun itself if it was far away from them. Thanks to the flash, the scenery changed around them as evening turned to solid night, illuminating all of the beautiful little miracles greatly, and leaving no room for darkness.

"Catra, what is happening?" Nothing was making sense to the pink princess! The more they came to understand what was going on, the more it was starting to confuse her!

"It's just like Entrapta said. Everything is falling apart, and it's getting worse. I-" She stuttered. The anxiety over her eyes was making everything harder to comprehend, the choices she had feeling much more limited. "We're not going to make it in time. We- Huh!" No way. There was no way. Catra's eyes had to be playing tricks on her again as she stared directly ahead.

Standing a short ways from the Beacon, staring right back at her, was her. The person she feared to become, the person she spent so much time trying to better herself as, and the last person Catra never thought she would see in front of her eyes.

Mara.

"M... Mara?" Catra was hallucinating. She knew she must be. Why else would Mara, of all people, be here staring back at her? It wasn't even a hologram or some recorded message, either. It was her. Really, really, her! The last She-Ra. The one who stranded everyone in Despondos. The last presumable First One to wield the sword, and the one who... supposedly gave in to her fears and doubts and tried to destroy the world during her time.

The girl looked just as surprised as she was as she stared at her, blinking, breathing, taking in Catra's appearance with a surprised look. Staring at one another was all the two could communicate back to each other in the amount of time they had. Right as Catra was about to take her first step towards the girl, when she thought about all the questions she could ask her about being She-Ra, it happened.

Without provocation or warning, a massive wall of light erupted before them as it separated Catra from the girl. Mara didn't seem the least bit fazed by the experience as Catra continued to gape at her, only giving a small smile before the blanket of light could disappear completely. When it had fully erupted, it lost all its opacity, and Mara was lost to Catra's sight.

All there was now was a blank wall of light.

Catra backed away to her friends as she watched the blanket erupting in front of her, the thing that was going to destroy Etheria for good. All around it, she watched in dismay as boulders of debris and fauna alike were being sucked into the void, erupting like a volcano as it displayed the fury of the temporal anomaly.

This would be the fate that would befall all of Etheria, all of her allies, and all of her friends, including... her best friends. She glanced back to the two with a solemn look, looking at them in fear. Not fear of them personally, but a fear for herself.

The people who meant a lot to Catra, who pulled her out of her shell and accepted her for who she was. They were the ones who always put up with Catra through thick and thin, convinced her that they cared more about her than the stupid sword she could never get to work. Without them, she might've been where Adora was today, if not somewhere worse. Because of them, she had a second chance at life, at everything.

Including her past mistake.

"It's... It's been following me this whole time... The world's coming to ruin all because of me..."

"Catra?" Bow called as the two noticed the strange look she was giving them.

"... Heh..." She gave a bit of a cheeky smile.

Then, she ran.

"Catra, no!" Glimmer shouted as they watched her.

Catra ran for the portal as quickly as she could, preferring to pull off one of her most dangerous and reckless ideas she has ever attempted to before. She didn't put any line of reasoning or care into the mix, opting to just go for it and making a break for the void. The one thing that would end her existence, the one thing that would end her journey throughout all of this.

The one thing that would keep her friends safe from further harm.

Unfortunately, for her, she would never get that chance.

*swish*

*Thud*

"Ahh!" Catra yelped as she was piled on from behind as the Princess of Bright Moon teleported above her, crashing down on her with all her force. "Get off of me!" Catra yelled, struggling to break out of Glimmer's grip on her arms as Bow reached the two to help her.

"Catra, stop!" Glimmer yelled over the void that continued to erupt. She struggled to maintain her grip over Catra's arms as she and Bow pulled her back, refusing to let Catra slip out of her grasp.

"Let go of me you idiots!" She shouted. "Don't you remember what Entrapta said? That thing is following me, I'm the reason everything is disappearing." She grumbled, shaking off her arms as she stared at the white wall. "All of this... all that's happening... is my fault..."

"I was the one who messed up some destiny and took the sword from Adora. I'm the one who left Entrapta behind and gave Hordak the help he needed to finish his portal. I'm the one who-" Catra paused, looking down at her right hand. Even without the blade in her grip, she could still feel as if she was holding it sometimes. "... I'm the idiot who dragged us to the Crimson Wastes when I wasn't prepared, when I still needed to complete my bond with She-Ra, and got captured by Adora instead. She wouldn't have the sword if it wasn't for me."

"Catra..." Glimmer's solemn look wasn't met with Catra's eyes as she saw all the expression she needed through her mournful ears.

"All I do is make things worse in the end. I know you keep saying not to "live in the past" and all, Pinky, and I'm not." Looking back, she gave something of a morbid, tragic, smile to her friends. "I finally have a chance to make things right. To make up for all the stuff I messed up. I'm not... I'm not gonna let you two suffer for my mistakes."

"Catra, stop!" Glimmer begged, pulling the girl's hand again as she attempted to walk away. "You said you knew us, right? Well, we know you too." That surefire of determination, that pleading look in her eye. It gave way to more guilt in Catra as she turned her head away, as the memories came back to her two fellow friends.

Since the day they met her, Catra had been a handful. She was snobbish, arrogant, always thought she knew better than everyone, and did whatever she pleased. She wanted things to be done her way, to be allowed her own freedom to do whatever she thought was right or wrong, and always wanted to rush into their troubles headon, with fists first and questions second.

Now, she was... exactly the same. But with more of an appeal to it.

They remembered her defending their lives in Mystacor when she was being possessed and nobody was with her. They remembered how she tried to appeal to Princess Frosta after their terrible introduction to her for the sake of cheering Glimmer up. They remember how she smiled happily to the point of tears for the first time when Bow was accepted by his fathers, how they all embraced together at the end of a heartfelt reunion.

And they remembered the day she cried. The day the Battle of Bright Moon was at an end, when she let all of her pent up feelings drain out of her. All the sadness she had bottled up since she was a child, all the guilt welling inside of her from her past mistakes that lead her to this life. It was the most painful day that Catra had ever experienced for herself. And it reminded them warmingly how she was no different than the rest of the Rebellion, or the Princess Alliance.

She was someone who was always trying to do the right thing in the end.

"You're the one who's ready to attack anyone who poses a threat to you." Bow reminded with a calming smile, holding her other hand in comfort. "You always let your instincts get the better of you, and you're the hardest person to ever talk to."

"You're stubborn, selfish, and never know when to stop, and you're our best friend." Glimmer added, squeezing her eyes as she teared up. Catra turned away as she teared up a little too, unable to look at the two with her sense of pride still in her, and unable to tell them how much they meant to her as she shriveled up.

"T-Then... What am I... What am I supposed to-" Catra stopped as she looked back, feeling her fingers slipping through both their hands. "Wait- No. No, no no. Please, not you guys!" She yelled, trying to throw an arm over either of them.

Her friends were fading from existence, her friends who smiled warmly at her, touched by the amount of care she truly had for them. No matter what she said, no matter how much she insisted, she loved these two like her own family. And they wouldn't trade their friendship up for anyone else in the world if it meant giving up her.

"NO!"

"You've got this, Catra." Glimmer said with a tearful smile as she faded. "We believe in you."

"If anybody can do this, it's you."

"NOOOO!" Catra's cries as she attempted to hug onto her friends, attempted to save them from fading away, was met with tragedy as she fell right through them as they finally disappeared. She caught herself from falling flat against the floor as she landed on her hands and knees.

She couldn't catch a single sound of them, a single scent, or hear the sound of their voices as their shadows disappeared from the ground next to her hands. They were utterly, and completely, wiped out from existence.

"AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHH!" With a bellowing roar, Catra sobbed, bitterly, as she squeezed her eyes shut. The worst fear she ever had in this new world of hers, the very thing she wanted to prevent since the day she cut her ties with her past, had finally happened.

Her two friends, one of the few people who meant anything in this world to her, were gone. Vanished. Scratched off the face of Etheria.

All this time, all she wanted was the power to keep something like this from happening, to keep her friends safe from what could possibly befall them. Instead, all she ended up doing, all she accomplished in her desire for power, regardless of motive, was exactly what she feared. Her friends were gone, the people who were always by her side, who were always there to support her, were no more. They were the ones she could rely on to always bail her out of her troubles, to help her when she was at her lowest.

Now, they were nothing. There was no pep talk to encourage her, there wasn't anybody that could help her. For the first time in Catra's life, she found herself completely and utterly alone.

... And yet... As her claws furled under the loose dirt, the sound of the forest being pulled away around her, she opened her still-teary eyes, seeing bits of wet dirt from her tears beneath her.

She was the last hope to save all of them, to save Etheria, and she couldn't let that go to waste. She couldn't sacrifice herself if it meant never seeing her friends again, she couldn't throw herself at the portal in the hopes they would come back. For once, she opted to stand up for a change, to do something right on her own. Her friends, all of her friends in the Princess Alliance, depended on her to make this world right.

Wiping the tears away from her eyes with her arms, she sighed. She needed to find a way to stop this, to stop everything, and save everyone before it was too late. And that started with her, taking the first step towards-

*WHAM!*

"AHHH!" Catra shouted in pain as she was knocked flat off her feet. Her face felt like it was slammed against a book as she slid against the hard ground beneath her, sliding her up to the edge of the white wall itself. She let out a little cough, rubbing the side of her dirtied face with her left wrist, as she spat a little. "Wh-Eckkk!" She couldn't get so much as the first word out before she was grabbed by the throat by an immense grip.

Slowly, steadily, against Catra's best efforts to pull the fingers away from her throat, she could break loose. It was hard enough to breathe as she winced, but as she opened her eyes, what she saw standing before her made her gasp all of the air out of her already deplenished lungs.

She's changed. Beyond changed. Everything that resembled the old person she knew was long gone, almost as if it never existed in this world. Looking into her eyes this close, as she raised her malformed arm, stretching and revealing the sharpened right claws of her transformation, she didn't see anything close to the old friend she used to know and care about. She didn't look like anyone she had met at all.

Everything from the right side of her chest, half her face, her arms, even her chest, was distorted beyond words while the left half of her body remained the same. Her right eye had been completely warped with a triangle-like pinpoint design in her right eye, the colors reversed and barely hers. Instead of a white eye with a black pupil and yellow iris, everything about it had been reversed. There was nothing but a darkness riddled black to her entire eye, with the yellow iris being the only other present color within her gaze. And there was almost a crack of white through the right corner of her right brow.

All along the edges of her deformation, the separation between the corrupted half of her to the normal left half, there was an array of light violet crystal-like patterns across her, from her center, to all the way along her waist. It almost looked like roots were growing along the borderline between her two halves as white crack-like lights stretched out to her regular side by just an inch.

The most terrifying part about her, aside from the menacing look of glee within her eyes, was the transformed portion itself. The entire right half of her that was malformed, covered in a lightness, was the lack of coloring, leaving a solid white case of color all over her transformed arm. Catra couldn't see any rough edges, any curves, anything. Save for the power that burned along her skin, all she could see was a pure whiteness that made up her terrifying transformation into the creature that had been stalking her all this time.

With all of this, with the sickening dark blue aura that appeared to be leeching off the girl's corrupted half without end, the girl presented herself to Catra like never before. As someone who took great stride and enjoyment from her new appearance, someone who had been hunting Catra down after all this time, and someone who was going to relish toying with their prey before ending them with their own claws.

Adora had never terrified Catra as much as she had now.

"Heeeeey, Catraaaaaa~"

...

A/N: Ahhh, the girl of the hour finally arrives ^^! I'm so proud of her... er... As a writer, I mean. She's been through so much, she's done all she's can, and thanks to her, the intelligent and highly respected Aroda will get her victory at long last!

Speaking of which, you guys are probably wondering what that so-called "surprise" is? Well do I have news for you- the very commendable and highly respected Petie Doon on instagram is going to post a picture of adora's new look for your viewing pleasure (and because i partly suck at descriptions XP). On his instagram you'll find a bonafide and awesome look into Adora's transformed state, so you can picture it all for yourself and enjoy what's to come even more! No guaranteed time of posting, but it should be within the next day or 2 before its uploaded, but it might also take him a little longer- which isn't a problem either since he's doing these pics for free.

So, with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review on all the reasons Aroda is the greatest person in the crumbling world, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 116: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Part 2 Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.2k Pre-A/N's. And weeeeee're finally here folks! Part one of the season 3 final showdown and OH DEAR GOD I HATE DOING DISTORTED DIALOGUE X*(! It was one thing to use bolds in here and there and whatnot, but mix that with capitals and whatnot, and it became a nightmare to go through all of this and edit and bolden everything- I ended up with 300+ * marks i used to find the spaces where to bold everything and whatnot, i practically re-read the entire story out of it T_T

But it does make the story more fun, and at least towards the end I dont have to worry about capitalizing words as much anymore ^^ (you'll see what i mean when you get there). Also, some bits of this might feel jumbled- halfway through this I completely had a space-out with my brain cause i forgot where I was, what I was doing, or where I was going with this, and everything just kind of jumbled all together. So if something is repeated constantly and whatnot, I apologize X/.

But with that said, it's time to get on with the show! Enjoy!

...

*Wham!*

"Ngh-!" Catra gritted her teeth as she slammed against the hardened wood of the table. Her head was still ringing from the aftermath of what she had just been through, let alone Adora's inexplicable return.

The world was being destroyed around them. Not just some matter of a war bringing devastation all around the world, not some anarchy where people were going crazy for no good reason and destroying everything around them. The world was LITERALLY being destroyed. By a white void of the portal that had been chasing Catra all throughout the world.

After reaching Entrapta at long last with a list of questions for her, she went into detail all about how the gateway and the portal was working. With the gateway acting as a sort of door, it could only be closed from the inside, this side, of the two realities that were being erased. On paper, that sounded easy enough, right? Just close the door or find whatever it is they needed to in order to shut down the portal for good and return to the real world.

Oh, how she wished it was that easy.

As it turns out, the one who closed the portal from the inside would be trapped between dimensions from this world and the real world, forever. Someone would have to sacrifice themselves to close the portal for them, someone willing to risk their life for the greater good. In addition, the reason the portal was catching up to them so fast was because it was following Catra, the magicat who blamed herself for all of this.

Everywhere she went, the portal followed as it tried to consume her. Everywhere it went, Adora was right on their trail, reappearing and disappearing between space itself and showing up in whatever direction the portal was going. The person who had a grudge against Catra since she realized her true colors, the one that Catra saw being sucked into the portal, and the very person Catra once called a good friend, who knew she was responsible for the path Adora had fallen.

This, however, was way beyond the realm of "the fallen". Following the tragic disappearance of her friends, Bow and Glimmer, and Entrapta beforehand, Catra was at a loss. With her friends gone, she could no longer consider sacrificing herself to the portal in the hopes it would save them, knowing the portal would either freeze where it was or disappear completely if it got what it wanted; her. Unwilling to let her friends disappear and die like this, she decided to pick herself up after a brief cry, knowing the only way to save them and everyone was to fix the portal once and for all.

And that's when Adora showed up.

"Hmm?" Catra looked around with confusion as she took note of her surroundings, such as the actual table she landed on.

She appeared to be back in the Crimson Waste, the place where her problems went from bad to worse. The place where Adora captured Catra and her sword. She saw she was back at the tavern they had first encountered on her exploration there with Bow and Glimmer, except there wasn't a single soul in sight. It filled her with a sense of unease, contemplating the possibility that she was one of the last few people left in this disappearing world.

"How'd I get here?" She was still rubbing the small bit of pain above her right eye, still feeling the impact of when Adora bashed her in the head with the butt of her palm.

Speaking of which...

*SHNK*

"Ahh!" Catra screamed as she scrambled off the table.

Barely an inch away from her right thigh, several massive white claws burst through the underside of the table, stabbing through it with ease as if it was paper. She jumped across to the next table as the claw cut across the flat table, giving a quick look back to catch a glimpse of the transformed girl as she stood.

Strangely, there wasn't any indication that Adora was under it. She somehow moved away from under the table before Catra had a chance to look back. Examining the room around her, everything else was still the same, and she failed to pick up on Adora's scent for some reason, much less hear her.

*SSSKKKTTT*

And it was with what sounded like fabric being torn to shreds behind her that she understood why. She just didn't have the time to respond as she looked back.

*BAM!*

*Crash!*

"Agh!" Catra yelped as a massive clawed fist punched her square in the face, shooting her back against the bar and crashing her into the table she had jumped from. The force of it was enough to bring the table crashing down as she landed back on top of it, wincing a bit as she landed painfully on the jagged cuts atop the table. It was a stroke of luck that she didn't cut herself in the process.

Gritting her teeth, trying to bare through the pain, Catra looked back, seeing the familiar, menacing, grin coming from her former friend as she stared back right in her face. She had her legs planted firmly against the wreckage of the table, standing right over the girl, as she stared at the troubled She-Ra, or ex-She-Ra in this case. She was taking an unusual sense of glee from the pain she inflicted on her friend and how she managed to catch her by surprise twice, a feat people could never claim to do so fast.

"HeeEy, CAAAtrA." Adora's fun had only just begun with the girl as she chuckled to herself. "WhaT happeNd to AlL your friends?" She brought the tip of her claw to her lip with a curious frown. "Did they aLl abbandon you?" Whatever sense of care Adora feigned in friend of the girl lasted as briefly as it appeared as she grinned back, pushing herself away from the cat.

Before Catra could get up from the wreckage, she let out another scream as the deformed soldier grabbed her right ankle, pulling her through the wreckage before rising her up to her feet. She didn't give so much as a nod to the magicat as she immediately threw her behind herself without a care, slamming Catra's back into... a metallic wall?

Like before, the girl hissed to herself a little in pain, especially from the unexpected force that collided into her back suddenly. Opening her eyes again, she saw that their environment had changed completely again.

Now, she was standing within the Fright Zone, within its massive gaping hallways that lead into the prison sector of the area. Like before there was nobody else in sight, nobody that could come to her aid, as Adora continued to walk towards the girl without a hint of fear.

"OhHh, that's rIGht, I FoRGOt. You DON't haVe ANy friendS."

A fear that Catra was willing to bring back to her as grumbled. "Ghhhhh!" Stretching out her own set of claws, she lunged for the girl. She didn't care if half of Adora's body from her waist, her right arm, and the right side of her face was deformed from whatever happened to her. She didn't care if it made her look menacing as it glowed with an eerie whiteness, one that had a blue aura leeching off of it like a roaring flame.

She wasn't going to allow anyone to talk down to the two friends she had recently lost.

Adora took this with a spot of humor as she chuckled, casually leaning to the left as Catra attempted to swipe from above her, then a step back as she nearly scratched at her face, barely breaking a sweat in the process. With the split second she left herself open, Adora grabbed the back of her wrist, squeezing it tightly as she as she spun the girl around a little bit until her left wrist came flailing back to her, grabbing onto it with her other hand. With both wrists gripped firmly from behind, she pushed down on the magicat, forcing her to her knees as Catra grumbled.

"ALL You havE is pEOple yOu manipulate." She echoed, delivering a solid kick from the butt of her boots to the center of her back, forcing Catra face-first into the solid metal in front of her.

*pomf*

... Or into an unexpected blanket of snow as her head was buried in it.

Realizing the immense freeze surrounding her face, Catra quickly pulled back, shaking her head fiercely as she realized Adora had released her grip from the girl. Looking around, she saw she was back in the Northern Reach, the last place she went on an adventure with Frosta and Sea Hawk. She appeared to be in the familiar area of the outpost, seeing the emergency lights and the Horde base right next to it.

She didn't care much for where she was as much as she did for the sudden freeze giving her goosebumps as a gust of wind blew past her. She got up to her feet as soon as she could, trying to ignore the freezing snow under her toes as she looked around, trying to find any sense of her missing enemy. The one who was getting the drop on her in every angle, the one who was casually smiling to her as she saw Adora leaning against a lamppost crossing her arms.

The enemy Catra had yet to ever beat on her own.

"PeOple you Can uSe. PeoPLE you cONSidEr usEfuL untIL theY BOrE you." Unsurprisingly, Catra, having yet to learn that she can't beat Adora, ran for her again, grabbing a handful of snow along the way as she attempted to surprise her. "THat's why aLL of thIs is happENIng, you know?"

With Adora shaking her head playfully at the girl, she completely ignored the wadd of snow that Catra threw into her face, covering her eyes as if it was nothing, before Catra pulled back her right claw. She was going to scratch that stupid smirk off her friend's face before this fight was over, she guaranteed it! And Adora?

Well, she was quite bored. Bored with a toy she just started playing with mere seconds ago. Going by the sound of the win, and having a good assumption on Catra's speed and direction, she easily blocked the swipe with her eyes still closed, catching Catra off guard instead as she pulled her around. In a near-full swing, she slammed Catra back into the lamppost itself, pressing the right side of her face against the cold metal as she leaned closer to her ears.

"BeCAuse all of thIS IS your fauLT." And with Catra's own arm still pressed against her back, Adora pulled. With more than enough strength to lift the magicat's entire body, Adora lifted and slammed her behind herself, slamming Catra's back into something other than the snow, something different than the environment. It was something Catra had become accustomed to at this point as she braced for the impact.

It didn't mean the pain hurt any less.

*WHAM!*

"Geh-!" She nearly choked a cry as her back was slammed against a hard flat surface, groaning to herself as she rolled over. She rubbed her sore spot as much as she as could to ease the tension, which, in this case, was her entire back.

Getting a good look for herself as to where she ended up this time, she was surprised to find herself back in Bright Moon, the land that should've been destroyed. Then again, reality was collapsing and she was just in the Fright Zone not two areas ago, so it wasn't implausible.

Based on her surroundings, seeing the familiar chairs lined up around her in the enormous table she landed on, she discovered she was lying on the giant table in the meeting room, one complete with it's holographic map and everything. It would've brought a sliver of relief to the girl to wind up in some location she had grown accustomed to, but there was just one problem with it. A problem that made the room more unsettling than comforting.

Half the chairs were gone. The seats she had come to know as each Princess's, each of the chairs that were their designated sitting spot, were missing. Instead, the surrounding chairs were spread evenly to make up for this lack of absence, sitting evenly spaced from each other as if they had always been that way.

As if there was never any Perfuma who rambled on about the beauty of the Universe and tried to make everyone get along with each other. Like Mermista wasn't the one lazing about in the corner chair of the table where she would usually just sit through the meetings and ask questions about what happened after it was over. It's like Frosta never existed as her missing chair was nothing more than a waste of empty space.

And... there were two certain spots that meant something to Catra at the time, two particular seats missing from the end of the round table near the door. Bow's and Glimmer's, two individuals who had been here since the beginning. Neither of their chairs were present, not the chairs that mattered the most to the Rebellion.

Or Catra.

*SSSKKKTTT*

Ears twitching at the sound of the familiar rip, Catra rolled back again, looking on in horror as she saw the familiar white claw tearing through the fabric of reality. Like it was a giant blanket that she was pulling herself out of, Adora pushed through the hole with ease as she casually stepped out of it, the tear in reality closing up and sealing behind her.

"H-How are you doing that?" Catra stuttered, crawling backwards along the table as she gaped in horror.

Taking the moment for herself, Adora gazed over her new glowing appendage, all that was deformed and monstrous about her. Unlike how she used to when her right arm was rotting and being corrupted in the real world, here, she took on her new appearance with stride, smiling to herself as she wiggled her fingers in front of the open air.

"DO you like iT?" She asked, slyly smiling back as she shifted her eyes to her. " It leT's mE crosS throuGh the portAL fOr a short time witHOuT faDInG awaY. A nICe litTle sidE EFFECT FrOM our lasT EnCounter. You KnoW, whEn I Fell intO thE PortAL?" Her brow narrowed with disgust as she marched over to the feline backing away from her.

"Th-That had nothing to do with me! You're the one who let go on your own, I tried to save you!"

"HmMm, you know the fUnnY thing iS, I dOn't caRe. I ReAllY doN'T care for Once." She scraped the tip of her thumb's claw between the sharp claws of her forefinger and middle finger, listening with amusement as they scraped against each other like knifes. "BECcuSe I'm noT here foR thaAt. I'm heRe foR You."

"For me?" Catra tried to think for herself as she neared the edge of the table. "But what do you want with me?"

"WhAt do you THinK?" At this, Adora stretched all five of her claws as wide as they could go, Catra's pupils shrinking at the sight of what she knew was to come. "To mAke yOu SuFFeR!"

"Whoooa!"

*clamp*

Before Adora could land the solid attack, before she slam her palm against the feline's head again, Catra ducked. More accurately, as Adora was about to attack, the magicat fell over the side of the table completely by accident, an accident she was blessed to receive as Adora blinked at the curious tumble.

Leaning up a little bit, she could see her ex-friend picking herself up from her side before looking back at her, using the only opportunity she had to crawl away back under the table. While it may have been somewhat cute to Adora to see the big bad kitty cat crawling away from the "big scary monster", she found it quite humorous at the same time.

"AwWwW, iS the sAd litTle kiTTy ruNNiNg away?" She cooed, slowly and casually getting to her knees as she slowly leaned over the edge of the table. Her hair dangled under her as she smirked, lowering her head further and further until she was looking directly under the table itself. "WheRE Are you CaTRa?"

"Right here!"

*BAM!*

"Owgh!" Adora shouted in pain as she pulled back, rubbing her nose and everything around it as the pain spread in every direction,.

There were many tricks she was prepared for when it came to Catra. She knew the way in which she fought, she knew of her underhanded tactics like when she tried to grab the snow earlier to blind Adora, and she knew the selfish way she had of blaming everybody else for the problems she clearly caused herself!

So when she saw her scurrying away, for one moment, she didn't think much of it. She didn't think she had a plan, could even come up with one, with all the fear driven into her eyes. And, given by the amount of flush she felt around her deformed face, she realized how wrong she would be.

The very next thing Adora was met with after she leaned over the table was a foot. A thick, sturdy, solid, foot that was just waiting for her to lean her head down for it. She wasn't prepared for the solid mass to meet her down below, and the brief hesitation she had at the sight of the strange object were the two seconds Catra needed to dive her foot right into the blonde's face, catching her off guard and presenting Catra with an opening.

With the girl rubbing at her face still, she let out another small yelp as she felt the table shake beneath her knees, catching herself from falling over it as she gripped onto the edge she was atop of. That one choice resulted in Catra's favor, as it turned out, as from beneath the table, Catra was grumbling. She might not have the strength of She-Ra on her side, but she was still plenty strong. She was fast, she was reckless, and she knew anyone caught between this thing was going to be in a world of hurt.

Giving herself a great push with her knees as she squatted under it, Catra pushed the table over from underneath her as she managed to flip it, giving it just enough of a push to land it a few inches over it's side. Letting gravity do the rest, she listened as Adora let out a small scream as the table came toppling over her, pinning her to the floor from the table's solid frame.

Seeing the small that kept the table partially over the floor, Catra used the opportunity to get a quick breath in, keeping her claws at the ready as she neared the table itself.

If Adora was going to come crawling out of there, she would've had to poke her head out first. The moment she did, Catra was confident enough to launch another follow-up attack, knowing the girl's arms would still be pinned under the table long enough to keep her from defending herself. As long as Catra kept catching Adora off guard like this, or kept her from fighting back with that arm of hers, she knew she could maintain the advantage.

"..." The feline furrowed her brow as she kept her claws at the ready, waiting for the eerie silence to pass. "Come on out, Adora," she muttered to herself, "make the first move..."

"..."

*sskktt*

*thud*

"Huh?" The magicat tilted her head slightly at the strangeness in front of her. Following another ripping-like sound, the table in front of her suddenly dropped, flattening against the surface of the floor. Did the table actually squish Adora or something? How could it...

With curiosity over the cat, the warrior ran to the table, keeping her guard up just in case, and grabbed for its side. Giving a small heave as she lifted the large slab, her worries were confirmed as she saw a small white crack within the ground slowly closing up, as if it was repairing itself from the damage it caused.

Or the damage Adora caused by tearing another hole in the fabric of reality.

*skkkt*

"Huh- Ahh!" The same soldier showed no signs of giving Catra a break as another tear ripped open from right under the girl's, catching her by surprise in the direction of the least expected of places- right under her. With swiftness, she felt a firm grip around her right ankle before she found herself falling through the tear in reality, and into the void itself.

For a moment, Catra's heart began to panic as she saw all around her. There was nothing but a white expanse of nothingness in all directions, covering the girl's vision in every direction, seeing the gravitational pull of the portal sucking in more wildlife of fauna, boulders, streams of water, everything. And for every second of their existence, a little more of them were erased by the portal's destructive force.

The only direction there was something different was the view right under her foot. There, she saw Adora pulling her through for a few seconds following the sudden tear she pulled her through. Looking back up, Catra was amazed and startled by the sight of the same tear in reality sealing itself up.

Adora had complete control over the void around here, enough to navigate through it safely for her own desires.

That very desire lead her to rip open another hole in the void with the same white claws she had come to know since seeing Adora for the first time, cackling to herself as she fell right through it, dragging Catra with her.

It was during that moment she pulled through the tear that Catra noticed part of her hands disappearing in front of her eyes. She realized that if she remained within this portal for too long, she risked disappearing all the same like everything else did, and if Adora wanted, she could simply throw open a tear in space and toss Catra right in there. So why didn't she?

Questions and answers were the least of her concerns, for now, as she finally came out of the white void of nothingness, finding herself back in the same ballroom of the Kingdom of Snows, the very place she found Frosta the first time, before Adora popped out like before. With the tear of reality disappearing over Catra's head as she finally fell through it, the crazed soldier yanked Catra's foot with both her hands, giving the girl a firm swing as she tossed her harshly against the ground, slamming her against the sturdy slabs of ice fifteen feet below them.

Catra could only brace for impact as she collided with the solid mass, painfully slamming atop of it as she slid against the slippery floor. She used her own claws as she struggled to stop herself from sliding any further, panting a little bit from the air that burst out of her lungs upon impact, and gazed back at the Force Captain who landed with ease in front of her on her own two feet.

"Huff... huff..." Wobbling a bit from the sores, Catra took a defensive stance as she glanced at her right hand. Thankfully, like expected, her hand started to become solid once more as it returned to its original state, not a hint of transparency within its skin. As long as she didn't spend too long in the void, she knew she'd be safe.

"AWwww, dOn't tell mE yOU're gETting tiRed aLREAdy?" Adora chuckled, tapping her claw against her bottom lip in a playful manner. "We hAven'T even goTten to thE fun Part yet."

"Fun? What fun part?" If only as a means to recover her stamina, Catra decided to play along as she stalled, asking questions that Adora might prefer responding to. "Why are you doing all of this? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"WhY? Huff. OH CaTrA, CaTRa. You ReAlly haven'T leaRNed a tHing, havE yoU?" The translucent white blonde shook her head in disappointment, sighing from the scenery surrounding her. "I'm doINg thIs to make you unDErsTanD." Grinning, the Force Captain casually approached the girl, raising her flexing claws threateningly with every step. Still trying to recover some of her stamina, the magicat backed up, keeping her own claws out as she waited on the defensive. "To undeRstand whosE faULt tHis is!"

Raising her right claw casually to her side, she smirked as she began ripping an entirely new hole in reality as a fountain of light poured through it. Coming to a stop, Adora watched the look on Catra's face shift to worry as the rip tore itself open for her, casually pushing her way through it and closing up behind her before Catra could stop her. Catra looked in all directions as she backed up, making sure to keep her backside at the ready too just in case.

The ability to tear open a point in space, to be able to cross between rips from wherever she was now to wherever she was going to end up, was a terrifying power to behold. It reminded her in some ways of Glimmer's power when she used to train with her often on, with the pink princess trying to get the drop on Catra a handful of times, and managing to get her by surprise on the occasion.

This, however, was incredibly different. Unlike Glimmer, there was no indication of where Adora was going to pop out of next. With the ability to pop out of anywhere and everything, she didn't need to worry about something being in her way, like a wall or a pillar or a person like Glimmer did. She could teleport right through it with ease like a hole in the wall. And unlike Glimmer, as far as Catra was aware of, there didn't seem to be any limit for how often Adora could do this. She could use her powers indefinitely if she wanted without having to recharge.

*SSSKKKTTTT*

"To uNderstand whAt I'Ve bEEn throUgh." Catra barely had the opportunity to turn to the right as she earned the tar opening beside her before she found a fist connecting to the side of her face.

*BAM*

"Ah!" The girl nearly fell off her own feet as she trembled a bit from the impact, rubbing the side of her face with a hiss as she watched Adora coming through the portal. Refusing to give Adora the edge, Catra rushed to her with her claws at the ready, preparing to sink her claws deep into the monstrous girl if only to knock some sense into her.

"WhY youR acTIons aRE the cause oF all this." Like before, Adora easily anticipated the swipe from the right, including the underhanded knee to her stomach that Catra tried to catch her off guard with. She gave Catra a small smirk as Catar looked at her with surprised by the sudden counter, and the weightlessness as Adora lifted her from the ground. "Why you BEcoming She-Ra waS thE worst mistaKe in hisTORy." With a swing like before, Adora tossed her behind herself as she threw her to the counters near the small bar-like setup at the side of the ballroom floor.

This time, Catra at least managed to anticipate this as she prepared herself, turning herself as much as possible so she could land with as much grace against the floor as possible, landing on her feet. The one moment of relief she had that she prepared herself so diligently lasted no longer than that as the next thing to fill her vision was another face smacking straight into her face, and shoving her straight into the counter top.

No sooner did her back collide into the counter did she feel another firm grip around her neck as it squeezed around her. Unable to resist, Catra opened her eyes to see the glare-filled gaze of her friend staring back at her. "AnD wHY You could never, wiLL nevER bE, tHe HeRO!" And with firm yank, Adora tossed her to the ground behind her, landing the magicat on her back.

Catra groaned quietly as she worked her way back to her feet, getting tired of the sensation of something beating against her back. "The... hero?" Something about the word twitched Catra's ears for some reason. Shaking her head from the slight dizziness, she backed up again as she saw Adora approached. "What does any of that have to do with what's going on?"

"It has everYThing to do wiTH ThiS!" She couldn't tell if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her or if it was from the beatings she was taking, but she could swear that just for a second, the aura leeching off of her burst a little wider, as if flaring up with her emotions. "YoUR stupiD selfIshness cost this woRld!" With a burst of speed, the Force Captain rushed for Catra, raising her hand high into the air for all to see.

Seeing the overhead strike, Catra shot both her hands up as she grabbed at both ends of Adora's hands, struggling to keep the maniac from cutting her into ribbons. Despite all the effort she was putting forth just to keep Adora's cutting into her, Adora didn't seem to be the least bit fazed by this, as she just stood there.

"You'RE the one whO wAnTeD to a sTUpiD KIngDom!" With both of Catra's hands pushing against her claws from within, it gave Adora the easy opening she needed as she lifted her corrupted arm back up, surprising Catra as her arms suddenly left her open to Adora's uppercut from her left fist. Being knocked into the air, temporarily disoriented, the cat was not at all surprised as she found herself falling onto something other than the solid sheets of ice.

Instead, she landed on a rather comforting and soft bed of flowers that took up the brunt of her landing. Surprised by the soft landing, it took the feline a single sniff of the air before she felt a small tingle in her nose, discovering herself in the land of Plumeria, or at least the dreamworld of it. Like everywhere else, it was devoid of people, devoid of a bubbly princess, devoid of anything save for the flora and empty houses that were once occupied.

*tug*

"Owww!" Catra yelled as she felt a painful pull on the back of her mane. Against her control, she was pulled along the ground as the white arm of the ex-friend dragged her to who-knew-where.

"You'Re tHE One whO was ONly interesTed in heRSelf!" With another pull, Catra was thrown against what first appeared to be a tree, and wound up becoming wall. The scenery had transitioned again through Adora's anger and emotions as they found themselves back within the Crimson Waste. This time, they were outside the familiar spaceship belonging to Mara, outside the door that only Catra could open.

The one that allowed Adora to follow her and kidnap her and the sword, something Catra should've been more than prepared for if her emotions at the time weren't distressed by Mara's lack of information.

Just like Adora said.

"You'rE the one WhO dragGed everyOne else intO yoUr tRoubLes!" Pulling back another fist, Catra barely had the time to duck out of the way this time, causing Adora to slam her fist into the solid sheet of metal behind her as the cat girl ran past her, trying to distant herself. She needed to cool her nerves, get a deep breath out of all this anxiety Adora was causing her, even if-

...

"-But if there's some sort of clue she could give me... some idea about how to finish the bond I have with my sword, then I have to take it." The once mournful frown occupying her face was quickly switched with an expression of conviction, determination. "That's why I need to go as soon as possible."

With that said, the girl headed for the door, ready to make her way to the Wastes now if necessary. "And if you guys don't want to come with me, I won't blame you."

...

... If she was partly right about all of this. About her own selfishness desires for being a better She-Ra took priority from her point of view. She just wanted to be a better She-Ra, to... be a stronger one... Did she still retain the same selfishness she's always had? Even if it was to protect her friends, her desire for the strength to protect them were more important to her at the time than the friends themselves.

*ffffssshhh*

"Wh-!" Catra didn't get a second to herself as she fell through the ground again. This time, it wasn't caused by Adora's own ability to rip and tear holes in the fabric of reality. It was caused by Catra's own foolishness, her distraction into her inner turmoil, as she never noticed the small ripple of sand she crossed in her escape until it was too late. Sand as far as the eye could see, sand burying up to her head, was all that was left in Catra's vision before everything turned black.

Then, it turned wet. Somehow, throughout the sinking sands, the very crumbles of dirt and rock that had engulfed her had turned into water, one that lead her several feet below the surface if any of the lime-colored light above her was any indication. Refusing to ponder while her lack of oxygen was at stake, she swam to the surface as fast as she could through the shivering waters, coughing for fresh air as she came to the surface.

And into Adora's awaiting grip.

"Ngh!" Catra tried to struggle out of her grip once again as she flailed her arms about. Between the freezing waters and the intense grip pulling her to a large rock along the side of the Kingdom of Salineas, there wasn't anywhere she could escape from.

"You onLy careD aboUt ThAt stupiD sWord, aNd what you goT out Of iT!" Catra couldn't understand how Adora sounded like she could be shouting in her ear and whispering at the same time. All she cared about was the lack of air she was about to receive as Adora shoved her head underwater again.

Was that just her selfishness speaking through her again?

...

...

"I told you three to get out of the way!" Catra yelled, barely even seeing Glimmer as she focused solely on the path before her.

"Come on, Catra, at least listen to reason!" Glimmer begged. "Even if you made it all the way to the Fright Zone on foot, how do expect to reach Entrapta who's at the center of it all?"

"Simple- I'll tear down every wall and toss away anyone that gets in my path. Now LEAVE!"

...

"Call it what you want, I already said I don't care. I'm working for the Rebellion now, with the only few people I care about, to stop the Horde for my own reasons. I don't care if you call it selfishness, stupidity, or anything. I'm not about to let someone change how I remember someone, how I look at them. If I forget everything I joined the Rebellion for, then there's not even a reason for me to be here, is there?"

"...Catra-"

"Just get me out of here." Catra interrupted, lowering her head to them as she turned away in anger. "I've had enough of this stupid place."

...

What about her had changed? HAD anything changed? All throughout her adventures, no matter how close she got to the two, she still put her own priorities before theirs, even going to the lengths of venturing into the Crimson Waste unprepared.

Through reasons she couldn't comprehend, she could still hear Adora's voice clearly as she spoke above her. "ANd wheN thAt wasn't enOugh, you wAntEd MOre!" Raising her to the surface, Catra gasped for breath again as Adora continued to taunt into her ears. "You hAd a sword thAt couLD DO all of thIs, and weRe you saTIsfiEd? NO!" Catra was powerless to pry her grip from her mane as she was plunged down again. "YoU juSt wanTeD MORe!"

She couldn't drown her out, she couldn't block out the noise as she kept trying to pull away from her underwater. She couldn't tell if her heart was racing from the lack of air or if it was from the possibility that she was right about all of this, right about her. She was her mortal enemy at this point and she still knew more about Catra's selfishness than Catra herself.

Being lifted through to the surface again, she wound up in another familiar place, a place that Catra had seen plenty of times before in her life. It was the Throne Room of Bright Moon, the place she had called home for several months now.

With a sudden force, she was thrown back into the stairs leading up to the two thrones, the rightful seats of the King and Queen of Bright Moon. Ironically, the recent force appeared to be just what Catra needed as she coughed the water out of her mouth, finally taking in the fresh air again at long last, gazing up to the approaching Force Captain as she did.

"AnD all yoU've dOne for yoUr seLfiSH grEED has goNe on to mAKe my lIfe miserABLe." Snarling at the girl, Catra rolled out of the way in time as Adora sunk her claws into the third step of the stairs, grimacing as she looked back from her missed prey. "FRoM yoUR misSions, from YOur LIfE. All you'VE doNe, you'vE DOne tO hurT Me!"

"I-I did not!" Catra tried to argue, even if she lacked the same conviction as before. "I was just trying to help everyone-"

"To bE usefUL to everYOne? BecaUsE you wanted tO wIn?" In disgust, Adora spat to the floor, squeezing her clawed hand into a fist. "WhEN you did a misSion, you dId it just To win. WheN I trIEd to succeEd a missOn, it waS to SuRvive!"

Catra's ears lowered at the statement as she saw the look in Adora's normal-looking eye. Even with all she's done so far, she still felt remorse at the look Adora had in her eye as the blonde winced. "To... Survive?" Adora turned her head away at this.

Nothing had changed. Not in her eyes. Catra was still the person to only think of herself and those she wanted to use, just like the day she met her. "You oNLy evEr care aBOut yoursElf and WiNNIng, don'T you?" She scoffed. "NeveR thinkIng of thOse around you, nEvEr about those you meEt. Just the herE And now... juSt lIKe ARoDa said!"

The name brought Catra a never-ending sense of confusion as she stared at the sudden statement. "Aroda?" She questioned. For some reason, this brought a small chuckle to Adora's lips as she covered it a little with her left hand.

"Oh, THat's riGht, whERe are mY manNErs?" Honestly, she felt like her head wasn't on straight sometimes. "I havEn't even introduCed you tWo yet, hAve I?" It was as if Adora had been waiting for this moment the entire time as her grin widened. Out of all the people in the world, out of anybody in existence to meet, this was the one person Adora desired to introduce to somebody, especially someone like Catra.

A person that was actually trustworthy.

Still grinning, Adora stood herself straight as she focused. All the raw energy that had been welling up inside of her, all the power that had been driven and taken by the void, had come to this. Focusing all of her power with such a simple thought, a simple desire, Adora's right arm began to glow as the aura surrounding it began to darken. It was as if the flames itself were the source of her powers, a factor Catra was smart enough to ignore, as it grew around her. Taking in the power within Adora, the Force Captain did the unthinkable before Catra's eyes.

Specifically, from where the arm glowed, right down the middle of Adora's corrupted half, the space surrounding her began to distort around her, almost as if static was taking place between Adora's two sides. There was a bit of confusion as Catra watched this process until she saw something that made her jaw drop.

She split apart.

With a great flash that nearly blinded Catra as she shielded her eyes, something emerged from Adora that shouldn't have been possible, something Catra believed was a trick of the blinding light before it started to move on its own.

Shifting right off of Adora's right side, standing there with the same provocation, same menacing grin, was another Adora. One who shouted with an aura of smugness as she placed her hands at her side, looking exactly like the Adora right next to her with an added hint of what appeared to be pride, stood before the magicat, taking in every detail of Adora right down to the same glowing clawed arm that she had.

Catra," Adora began, speaking with a voice that appeared to be less distorted as the girl split from her other half, " meet Aroda. Aroda, someone of little concern."

She greeted with a sly smile, wiggling her fingers childishly. "Hello. I'm Adora's guardian angel... or demon. Whichever floats your boat~"

"Y-You're... Aroda?" Catra stared at the girl from head to toe, trying to take in everything from the girl from her appearance, the sound of her voice, even down to the black and yellow eye that Adora had.

"What? Do you need to be told a fourth time?" She chuckled, gesturing to her with her thumb as she grinned to Adora. "Man, you were right. She is kind of slow." Catra was still in disbelief as she watched her, listened to her, breathed in front of her as if she was the very same Adora.

"No, you're..." And it was only with a memory that she knew who Aroda really was.

...

"At first, it was manageable." The witch continued. "It came to me in a form that I could tolerate, being seen and heard only within my mind.

...

"You're the parasite!" Catra gasped. The mention of it was enough to draw Aroda's curiosity and surprise, neither of which went on to tarnish the grin crossing over her face.

"Wow! Mabye you're brighter than I thought!" Her grin became more menacing as she stretched her claw before her. "Let's put that theory to a test. Haaaah!" With a roar, the one known as Aroda charged at the girl, pulling back her claw as she was prepared to swipe at the girl with everything she had.

While Catra could admit she had the same flow of movement as her, she noticed that the fake self was sloppy in terms of stance and attacking as she charged for her. Her form was completely off, completely predictable, as she prepared to cleave Catra into little shreds of string with one hand. Preparing herself for the oncoming strike, Catra took a stance, bracing for the impact as she defended herself with her own two claws, and grabbed-

*swiff*

"Huh?" Catra blinked, looking at herself before turning around. There, seven feet behind her, she saw Aroda, giving another playful tease as she waved at her with her corrupted hand. The girl had just passed right through Catra like she was nothing, not even air. "How did-"

*Wham!*

The girl was physically cut off as she turned back, meeting Adora's own fist in a sense of Deja vue that she's experienced up to three times by now. Being smashed through the air, the magicat as completely defenseless this time around as she slid against the ground, letting out a small cough as she tried to get her senses straight again after the solid strike against her forehead.

Looking back, she saw Aroda still grinning at her as Adora walked to the copy's side... or, was it Aroda walking to Adora's side now? She couldn't tell as both individuals appeared to be closer, the violence permeating through the air dulling her sense of smell as she failed to pick up on the real Adora's scent.

"Hahahaha!" Aroda bellowed with laughter as she held her side. "Oh my gosh, she thought I could actually hit her! That's hilarious!"

"Huh?"

"Hahahaha... ahh..." The illusionary figure wiped a tear from her own eye dramatically as she shook her head. "I hate to rain on your parade, but... Acutally, I take that back! I love raining on your parade! But I'm not really here, at least not entirely." Grinning to the originator of the copy, Aroda playfully teased as she poked at Adora's forehead, leaning on her shoulder. "Everything I am, I am from in here. We've been good neighbors with one another since day one. Right roomie?"

"Shut up." Adora spat as she swiped her hand away. Evidently, Adora and Aroda could touch each other, to some extent, even if Aroda couldn't touch Catra herself.

"See? The best!"

Okay. Catra could partly see how Adora's gone crazy if this thing was living in her head for the past several months. Catra had just met the girl and already she wanted to strangle herself if it meant getting away from this girl, this parasite-thing, for good. But at least her new companion was apparently stupid.

Why did Catra come to that conclusion as she got up? Because the illusion just gave away a big piece of her mystery and her capabilities right in front of her. She revealed that nothing she did could affect Catra, and, even if she couldn't get a scent from either of the two at the time, she knew she only had to worry about one of them at all.

The one that could hit her.

"Tch, it doesn't matter to me how buddy-buddy you two are." Catra scoffed, claws at the ready again as always. "I'm not gonna let you destroy everything just because you have a grudge against me!" No matter how much Adora hated her, it wasn't an excuse to make her friends, ESPECIALLY every other person on this planet, suffer because of her.

At this, the two "Adoras" looked to one another, looking unsurprised, uncaring, and both raising an eyebrow to her. "You're not gonna let me destroy the world?" Adora, or whoever was on the right, asked.

"And why would someone like you care?" The other asked, presumably Aroda by how she was leaning against the other again. "It's not like you're the hero here."

"Y-Yes, I am! I'm She-... I mean... I was..." Why was she struggling to admit what she already knew? Why couldn't she just say "I am She-Ra", or "I became She-Ra" or anything of the sort? Why couldn't she call herself the hero that she knew herself to be?

Because, as of right now, she couldn't.

All of this, regardless of reason, was happening out of selfishness. A selfishness to keep what she cared about from leaving her, a selfishness to beat the enemy at any cost, a selfishness to preserve anything she had left.

She wanted all that she had with a determination, one that drove her to rush through her training, to complete any of her missions without fail, in order to maintain what she felt was rightfully hers. Even if those came in the form of the lives of others, she still refused to let anything part them from her, such as an evil army by the name of the "Horde" who wanted to conquer the entire world.

Nothing she had done was out of the intention of goodness, of being a hero.

Just selfishness.

"It's like I told you before, Catra." Adora grabbed her attention again, snapping the cat out of her stupor. "You were never meant to be the hero, nor could you ever be one."

"..." Catra lowered her head a little as she tried to find a valid argument.

Since day one, the sword was never meant for her. She was reminded constantly about how Adora was the one meant for this greatness, how she was always the one who was designed to inherit the sword. It probably didn't matter anymore if she was a First One or not either by this point. As long as she still held that selfless desire to do good, even if it was twisted beyond recognition at this point, she was still more suitable for the sword than Catra could ever hope to be.

"... Eh... I... I..." The words left Catra's throat before she could even say them, the sorrow beginning to plague her mind already wracking her with guilt.

Just like Adora wanted, if only to begin the process of making her suffer.

"Aww don't pout about it too much, kitty~" Aroda teased, twirling a finger in the air in a circle. "After Adora reclaims what is rightfully hers, it'll all be over for you."

"R-Reclaim?" Okay, just because she was depressed didn't mean she was oblivious... sort of. "What do you mean reclaim?"

"The sword, silly." She cooed. "Once Adora touches it, everything will be allllll better. You know, when she becomes She-Ra, like she was supposed to be?"

"What... What are you talking about? Adora lost her chance the day she left me at the Beacon! The sword designated me as She-Ra after... after... af... ter...!" Slowly, surely, a grand design of cogs and wheels started to spin within Catra's mind.

All these tragic and terrible events that had befallen her.

All that was affected by the portal and all that was to happen.

All that had lead up to this exact moment. This beautiful, proud, amazing moment, that Aroda had been dreaming about since day one.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?" Her grin confirmed everything that Catra had come to realize. "If I'm remembering correctly, you never joined the Horde in this world, right? Which means you and Adora never went to the Whispering Woods and found the sword."

"This... This whole time, you were planning to..." Catra still couldn't believe it, was almost sickened to believe it, as she felt herself stepping back in pure shock. Everything revolving around the three of them was leading to this moment almost perfectly, in a way that benefitted Aroda in every manner of speaking.

"SO! Since neither of you found the sword to begin with, what do you suppose that means for the both of you?" At this point, Catra swallowed a lump in her throat as she hesitated to speak.

In this world, Catra was no longer She-Ra. She never found the sword of the First Ones, never became the hero of the Rebellion, and never gave Adora an excuse to go into the woods on her own in the first place. This meant that neither of them had touched the sword the first time, leaving it without an owner and leaving it up for grabs. All Adora needed to do was to find the sword first, to touch it, and then it would be over.

The Parasite would have exactly what it wanted.

And all the power within the sword, the power that managed to rewrite reality in this world of fantasy, would be within Aroda's grasp.

She would become more than just "one with the Sword", like she's always dreamed of.

She would be like a god.

In a world of Nothingness.

...

A/N: Eeeeep! She's here! She's finally in the show too now! Everyone's absolutely 100% guaranteed FAVORITE character.. ARODA :D! Ah, it's about time someone as marvelous and glorious as her got a spot in the sunshine, no ^^? Man, I'm so excited to see her win in the end, and i know the rest of you are too! Yes, we do have to put up with boring old Catra here and there throughout the next chapter, but mark my words, I- I mean, Aroda will FINALLy come out on top ^^!

Speaking of yours truly, the honorable and not-as-wonderful-but-a-close-second-to-Aroda Wonderful Petie has made an FREAKING AMAZING OMG PICTURE of a corrupted Adora! For those of you wondering what her new appearance looks like, head over to petie doon's instagram page to check it out right now! It's freaking creepy, amazing, horrifying, and awesome, all bundled into one ^^! I swear i can not express my gratitude to him for all he does, especially since its for free. Make sure you guys leave the love for him too, he deserves it for all the hard work he goes through (like putting up with monoku- I mean ME, throughout the process...)

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see Aroda win soon ^^!... I mean, hope to see you all soon, yes, that's what I meant...

Chapter 117: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Part 2 Part 5

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 14.4k Pre-A/N's.

God I hate corrupted dialogue so much T_T next time, after this episode, im just splitting between entire sentences being bolden or italicized or something cause i ended up with over 550* marks i had to MANUALLY GO BACK AND BOLDEN X_X I also had one of the biggest headaches with this one- idk how or why, but somehow, i wrote the first 2k in the beginning of this and the last 1k towards the end, and forgot about everything else in between somehow. So, naturally, i annoyingly had to go back and fill in for everything in that massive gap of nearly 11k words I didn't have T_T!!! Ughghghghhgh...

But on the bright side, we're here! The final chapter of Cat-Ra ^^! I can not believe it took us so long to get here, but here we are! We have a heck of a good time coming from this chapter folks, and i know you can't wait as much as I can ^^! So, without further ago, lets go!

...

The Portal's activation.

A parallel world where dreams and fantasies come true, at the cost of one's existence.

A parasitic being of living magic that feeds off of power and energy, from anything or anyone it comes into contact with.

This was Aroda's plan from the getgo.

And Catra still couldn't believe it as she stared at the illusionary figure who was poking at Adora's cheek, muttering to her with a teasing grin.

She thought the worst of this reality was far behind her. Losing the dreamworld where she had her own family around here, one where she was an adopted daughter to King Micah and Queen Angella. Mixed in with the fact that she was the only one who seemed to retain any memory of these events, and it made way for a beautiful tragedy.

Then, the world was starting to crumble around her, physically speaking. The portal that had run rampant throughout the entire world was slowly spreading across all of Etheria, erasing anything that came into contact with it, with nobody seeming the wiser for the experience. Those that gave in to their wildest dreams and wishes were completely oblivious to the phenomenon until it was already too late, being erased from life itself. It didn't need to touch anyone for them to be erased, with people disappearing left and right out of thin air even if they were thousands of miles away from it!

Among those that disappeared, were the two people Catra came to acknowledge as her best friends, Glimmer and Bow. The only two people she truly cared about in the last several months of living with them, of interacting with them. They were the ones who always stuck to her side through thick and thin, regardless of how much Catra annoyed or pranked them on a daily basis. They were the ones she could count on to pull her out of troubles, to help her through her struggles, and they were still erased like the rest of the world.

The moment they were erased, Catra thought the worst of her problems surfaced when Adora appeared, showing wicked glee as she fought against a near-helpless Catra who was trying to make sense of everything. The girl didn't just fight against her physically, she used Catra's own emotions, own sense of guilt that she saw as factual, to bring the girl down.

Everything she said, everything she taunted Catra about, was wearing down on the helpless magicat who struggled to block such thoughts and abuses from her mind. Mixed in with the fact the girl had acquired several new abilities, ranging from ripping tears in the fabric of reality to teleporting the two of them in the blink of an eye, and making an illusionary copy of herself that was controlled by Aroda, and she had a recipe for disaster. There was no way Catra could ever expect it to get worse.

And it did.

It was with Aroda's revelation that Catra came to understand the purpose to all of this. Being born in a world where she no longer existed, where she never interacted with Adora and all those from the Fright Zone, Catra had never come into contact with the Sword of Protection on the day that she and Adora went exploring into the Whispering Woods. She never became the famous She-Ra, she never interacted with it, which meant that the sword was left up to grabs for anyone who found it again.

Including Adora.

Including Aroda.

"I have to say, you made things pretty convenient for me." Aroda commented as she grinned back to the magicat. "Bringing the world to an end, creating an entirely new reality where the sword has no owner? It's like a beautiful work of art that's slowly being drawn upon a canvas~"

"This... So this whole time, you were planning on this... all of this..." Catra was still baffled by the revelation, all the pieces that came together that made this possible.

"What? Pffft! Of course not!" She chortled. "Even as amazing and talented as I am, I'm not psychic. I never would've anticipated something like this to occur. I just found a good opportunity and took it." She confessed. "I mean seriously, how much of a screw-up do you have to be to bring the world to an end? Are you sure you're supposed to be the hero?"

"I-I didn't cause this!" The conviction in her voice faltered despite the assurance in her eyes. "Adora, don't you get it? She- It, is just using you! Do you even know what'll happen when you take that sword? You'll-"

"Disappear in the gateway between both worlds?" Aroda guessed knowingly with a smirk. "Be stuck in a place of nothingness or something? Keep going with the juicy details, Adora already knows about them."

Catra was struck with bewilderment at the acknowledgement, one that came in the form of Adora's scowl hardening. "Y-You... You already know about it?" Something wasn't right, something that kept Catra's partial optimism that she wouldn't have to sacrifice herself at bay. "Then... Does that mean you're-"

"Don't even think about finishing that." Adora sneered taking a stance. "All I need to do is touch it, but I don't plan on sacrficinng myself or keeping the portal open!" With a roar, the Horde soldier charged for the magicat, refusing to let her recover her energy while she stalled. She's seen plenty of Catra's tricks, including recovery, on multiple occasions, and wasn't about to let her catch her breath.

Luckily, Catra still had a good chunk of stamina in her legs, regardless of how injured she was from Adora's initial assault. With a notable swiftness as Adora swiped, Catra leaped over the swinging claw of death as she jumped above the girl's shoulder, managing to deliver a small kick to the back of her head as she pushed herself away from the irritated blonde.

She definitely didn't have the power over Adora, especially with that massive arm of hers, but as long as she kept her distance, knowing Aroda couldn't touch her, she knew she could keep the distance between the two until she could think of a pla-

"Peekaboo!" Aroda screeched from behind her.

"Ahhh!" Catra yelped, swiping away at the blinding view.

Normally, a game of "Peekaboo" usually involved covering one's eyes with both their hands, or the other person's hands, and keeping it still until they popped up to reveal themselves. Aroda's case, however, seemed to be different, and a little more disturbing.

Her preferred style, apparently, involved her jamming her glowing white arm through Catra's head, none of which affected Catra physically, but was enough to startle the magicat, much less anyone, who saw a glowing white arm suddenly burst through their face. Her entire vision was covered up in whiteness as she jumped, swinging her head to the side to get the glowing madness out of her blinded eyes.

That was all the distract Adora needed as Catra rubbed her eyes from the blinding whiteness as she backhanded Catra across the face, smacking her into the counter of another tavern. Blinking a bit to clear up her eyesight, Catra managed to take in the sight of the tavern she visited on her trip to Salineas as she dodged to the side, barely managing to dodge out of the way of Adora's massive claw as it slammed into the counter, crashing through it.

Seeing the various objects throughout the room, Catra took in some relief that she had plenty of nearby objects to work with. Like the long stool she backed into as she swung it over Adora's head, forcing her to block it with her radiating claws. "What do you mean you don't plan on keeping it open?" She grunted, pushing away from Adora as she swiped back. She never paid attention to exactly what she just said, not with all the stress distracting her.

"It means what I said!" Adora yelled, attempting to slam back into the magicat again as Catra jumped atop the counter, dodging it. "All I need to do is touch the blade-"

"-At which point, yours truly, will enter the sword, live out the rest of eternity feeding on it's energy, and then live happily ever after~" Aroda swooned, leaning over the counter as she smirked to the cat.

"What do you mean live "happily ever after"?" Grunting, Catra scrambled over to the right side of the counter as Adora attempted a third strike against the counter, this time jumping atop it after to keep her enemy fro running away. "Everything's going to be erased you idiot-"

She was cut off as she saw her friend fast approaching with her clawed hand at the ready. With what little time and resources she had at her disposal, she pried the wide sign hanging above her from its chain, shielding herself right as Adora's claws plunged into her. The warrior's pupils shrank a bit as the claws were barely stopped by the two-inch thick sign, seeing three of the terrifying claws bursting through it, just inches away from her eyes.

"Everything within the gateways." Aroda clarified as her smirk widened. Catra couldn't afford to ponder what she was getting at as Adora jerked the sign around, trying to pry it from Catra's grip. Knowing she was on the losing end of the defensive shield, the girl allowed Adora to pull the board away as she hopped to the next table over. "As it stands, the sword is within a nexus of sorts, standing outside of the world's. When everything else disappears from reality, I'll be safely tucked away in the recesses of nothingness, with me and my sword."

"But that's..." Catra couldn't tell which of the two disturbed her more for right now. The one who came up with the idea to have the portals erase everything else from existence jUST so she could get her sword, or the one who continued to pursue her, forcing Catra to the next table over as Adora crashed her corrupted arm into the supportive table. "Adora, don't you get what she's doing here? She's just using you to get to the sword-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Adora shouted in rage, expecting this conversation a hundred times yet still annoyed that it had to be brought up at all. Learning from her past mistakes, and the way Catra was maneuvering around her, Adora feinted another attack as she slammed her claw into the table the girl was standing on, anticipating as Catra jumped over the girl again to eep her distance. What Catra didn't account for was the crashing blow turning out to be a firm pat on the table as Adora swiped her arm around the air immediately after, grabbing onto Catra's right ankle with near-crushing force. "I want to help her!"

Pulling all the muscles in both her arms as she grabbed onto the foot with both her hands, Adora twirled Catra around in a complete 180*, throwing her into the leafy bushes of the Whispering Woods that the scenery just transitioned to. "I want her to reclaim the sword!"

Shaking the leaves and twigs from her hair, Catra was awestruck with shock and terror as Adora made her announcement, pulling herself from the bush as the Force Captain fast approached. "You... You want to help her?" She, wanted to help someone, someone who didn't care if the world came to an end, intentionally? "B-But... But why?" With a leaping attack, Adora narrowly missed the agile ex-Horde as Catra leapt into the air, grabbing hold of the firm branch of the thin tree. "Why would you willingly help someone who-

"Because she never lies!" Screaming, Adora swiped her razor-sharp claws through the thin tree like paper, the seven-inch thick wood doing nothing to halt the Force Captain's slice. It wasn't just from the mere sharpness that brought the timbering fauna and magicat down, it was the small tear in reality Adora cut through it, physically separating the two halves through the power of her reality-tearing claws. "She's had my back since the day I met her!"

Trembling a bit, Catra was forced to jump away from the landing zone, unaware that the environment transitioned again as she found herself in the interior of the Lunarium of Mystacor, the very place she did battle with Shadow Weaver's specter. "She's the only one who's been honest with me this whole time." Seeing the pillar to her side, remembering how they helped her in her previous fight against Adora's own mentor, Catra began to climb the large structure as fast as her claws could carry her, knowing the amount of time it would take her enemy to reach her would give her plenty of time ot keep the distance between them.

What she failed to factor in was the amount flexibility her new claws gave her to work with. Already knowing what the magicat was trying to do, Adora tore open a new opening in the space in front of her before jumping into it. By the time Catra had reached the top of the pillar, reaching the main platform that lead her to the crystal lenses from above, Adora was already there to greet her.

Not two seconds had passed since Catra planted her foot atop the platform before the space tore open in front of her, revealing an agitated Adora who continued to look on to her in disgust. Despite the fact she was nearly thirty feet below her, it appeared the power of the void allowed her to transport between any form of space, and any form of elevation she needed to reach.

"Out of everyone who betrayed me, she's the only one who's been telling the truth this whole time!" And with a smack from the back of her claws, Catra found herself shoved back into the palace of Mermista's Throne Room within Salineas. "If I wasn't as trusting to Frosta as I was, then I could've prepared more for her betrayal. If I didn't warm up to Shadow Weaver again, she wouldn't have escaped and joined you! If I had listened to Aroda, just once, I wouldn't be suffering as much as I am!"

Upon the throne itself, a reluctant and smirking Aroda watched the fight play out with glee, watching as the magicat backed away from the Force Captain, one she knew she couldn't overpower with mere strength alone. "Technically I haven't told a single truth either," she admitted, "but you guys have been making it all so easy and convenient for me. Every single thing I've said, you guys have made come true. After all, it's not technically a lie if it happens as I've said it would. So, thanks for that~"

"And that's why I'm done playing nice." As a sign of aggression, the Horde soldier stopped as she swiped her claws threatening in the air, narrowing her eyes as she stared into what little of Catra's possible soul she had left. "You took my world from me, Catra. Now, I'm gonna take yours."

This was insane. Beyond insane.

Adora, the once proudest member of the Horde, oen of the most decent people one could ever meet, had been twisted and corrupted into... whatever she was right now... and it was because of her.

If Catra had ever shown a sense of care, just once, she wouldn't be in the state she was in right now. She wouldn't be the one threatening to destroy all of reality, a reality she was sickened with because she couldn't find a single person in her life to trust. Everything that's happened to Adora, everything that turned her into this, Catra couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt over, even for the aspects she couldn't control.

And why wouldn't she? All Adora wanted once in her life was for Catra to show a sense of understanding and care for her like she's always given her. It made her wonder if she had ever done something like that, just once in her life, then none of this would ever be happening. They would probably be on the same side again, a hope for a lost cause she knew could never come to terms. She was destined to be Adora's enemy from then on, now and forever, because of a lifetime of mistakes.

Adora was nothing more than a hideous monster, one deformed by the cruel reality of life that the Horde had provided for her since Catra's defection.

"Look, Adora, I..." What was she supposed to say at a time like this? How was she supposed to even think of an apology right now? "I never wanted any of this... I didn't mean for this to happen! I just wanted to-"

"Want, want, want..." Adora scoffed shaking her head. Annoyed with what felt like a never-ending spiral, the Force Captain marched towards the magicat with her claws at the ready. "That's always what it comes down to, isn't it?" With a brief kneel, Adora jumped from her spot as she rushed towards the magicat as Catra prepared herself.

What at first seemed like a simple charge that Catra could prepare for soon turned into a surprise launch as Adora split apart once again, seeing the copy of herself shooting straight ahead of the original with her clawed fist already pulled back at the ready. While confused by the spectacle, Catra prepared as she blocked in the overhead swipe, attempting to counter her the moment she touched her.

The part that hinged on Adora touching her is exactly what she counted on as the next thing Catra knew, the clawed fist was moving right through her again as empty air, another illusion perpetrated by Adora, by Aroda, whoever was behind this craziness!

And leaving Catra open by the surprise for Adora's real strike across her face.

*Wham!*

"Agh!" Catra yelped from the sting of the backhanded wrist, feeling like she was smacked across the face with a flat-sided hammer as she was pushed off her feet.

Like many times throughout the fight, the initial strike sent the both of them to reaches unknown as Catra landed harshly against a rocky terrain. Grumbling a bit as she picked herself up, she found the two three of them, Aroda included, on the very cliff side where Catra and Adora fought one another in the Battle of Bright Moon, the place where Adora showed just how ruthless she could be as she practically tore into Catra's back with her shadowy claws.

The environment itself was the least of her worries, seeing the stormy terrain that encompassed them unlike the view outside from the Throne Room, as she saw another Adora standing there with a smirk. A third copy had just been created by Adora without so much as flash, one who was met by the previous Aroda as the trio stood together.

"It's always about what you want, isn't it?" Adora continued, standing in the center of the three as the trio approached her simultaneously. "As long as your happy, everyone can be happy."

Preparing herself again, Catra took easy notice of the fact that only one of the three Adora's were talking, and the fact that the third one approached from behind them after. Spitting a bit off to the side, Catra readied her stance as she assumed where two of the Adoras were going to strike her from, ready to counter the middle and the right one as the three of them raised their claws.

With the oncoming swipe from the middle, Catra swiped back with as much speed as she could before the right one could make its own strike. Somewhat surprised as she passed harmlessly through it, she made a quick followup strike to the Adora on the right, knowing it had to be one of the two that greeted her from earlier.

Unfortunately, she would not be so lucky.

*swiff*

"What the-?" By the time she turned her head to the third one who ducked, the damage had been done.

With a massive force that one could only provide with a clawed hand that large, the real Adora smashed Catra from under her chin in a painful uppercut, sending the girl flying a good dozen feet through the air, and smashing her into a stack of, what felt to be, pottery.

The girl coughed as a bit of dust flew about as she pulled herself from the wreckage, wincing a bit as she took in her new surroundings. She appeared to be back in a vacant Thaymor, one that was now completely devoid of life. And still approaching her were the three menacing Adoras who didn't relent in their attack. "And if you can't be happy, everyone else has to suffer for it!"

Gritting her teeth as she saw the broken shards around her, Catra swiped up several of the large pieces as she tried to pinpoint where the real one was. One after the other, Catra threw each of the pieces at Adora with rapid speed, intending to lodge even a small shard into the girl's corrupted arm. If she could land a mark on the real one, she knew it could help her determine which of the Adoras were always the real one, knowing the illusions wouldn't be able to simulate the shards, at least she hoped.

What didn't help her in the long run was the fact that none of the shards hit any of them! Each of them were smirking widely as the shards passed through them one by one, all of whom stopped in their tracks as the shards went through them, with the closest one standing several feet away from the girl. By the time Catra could contemplate what happened, Adora was already making her next move.

*SSKKTT*

It took the sound of leather being torn apart like fabric for Catra to realize where Adora was, or rather, where she was coming from. No sooner did the girl turn her head around did she feel a strong force slam against her back, throwing her to the grounds of the Kingdom of Snows balcony, the stairway outside of the ballroom where Adora kidnapped Glimmer.

Struggling to get up, the magicat found four pairs of feet standing around her, all looking down at the magicat as she tried to get up to her feet from her injuries, let alone her knees.

"Tell me something, Catra." All four of the Adoras, or all of the Arodas, said simultaneously, their voices almost echoing off of one another with friction. "When's the last time you did something from the good of your so-called "Heart"?"

"Gh... It... I-" Catra tried to recall something, anything, to prove she wasn't the selfish person Adora knew her as. Yet with all the remarks, with all the details of her past coming back to haunt her, all that came to her were the times when her selfishness shined.

...

"You heard me right, Pinky. I want a Kingdom." Catra declared proudly. It had been a rather harsh day for the cat girl, and after what happened through the last half hour, she didn't care-

...

"Catra-"

...

"I came all this way for some sort of help... A message... A hint... Anything, to keep me from ending up like Mara, and... and..." One of the last words spoken by her still haunted her repeatedly.

"I've been just like her since the day I started!"

...

*Whack!*

Through the face of the Adora in front of her, a solid, firm, fist smacked right into Catra's face, sending the magicat tumbling back again as she hit the floor. Her face colliding into the cold solid steel of the floor assured her she was back in the Fright Zone. By the looks of it, she was back in the place where all her problems went from bad to horrible, worst to last. She was in the inner chamber Hordak's sanctum.

"When was the last time you did ANYTHING that didn't benefit you?!" One of the Adora's shouted angrily. For such a bunch of copies, they sure knew how to sound alike. Not even comparing them to the voice, it was the rage, the frustration underneath it that really sold the performance.

"Geh..." Catra choked a little as she pushed herself up with her arms, shaking a bit as she tried to maintain what little strength they still had.

"How about when you went to Salineas?" One of the Adoras, most like Aroda, asked as she squatted down to her with a curious smile.

"No, don't you remember?" Another one of the Adoras cut in, leaning atop of the other girl's shoulders. "That was when she wanted her Kingdom still!"

"Shut uuuuup..." Catra grumbled, trying to ignore whoever's voice she was currently listening to. She let out a small squeak-like yelp as she felt Adora's massive claw-like hand clamp over the top of her head, squeezing the tips of her ears in the claw's grip.

"Why deny it, Catra?" Adora asked with a small grin, leaning in with a small grin. "She only says it cause it's true." And with a simple pull, she yanked Catra behind her.

*Thud!*

Into a very painful pillar of ice belonging to the east side of the Ballroom, right back to the Kingdom of Snows where they were just moments ago.

"It's not t- Egh!" The struggling warrior was cut off as she felt Adora's arm pinning her up to the pillar of ice, using all of her strength to keep herself from choking as Adora gazed into her eyes menacingly.

"Of course it's true!" Adora yelled, all while the illusions of Aroda continued to mock and tease her with their various expressions like a child. "You haven't done one heroic thing all your life, not unless it benefited you!"

"Y-Yes I ha-ackkk!" Catra squealed a bit, feeling a small lump pushing against her throat as she tried to get the word out. "I've done plenty of heroic things... since joining the Rebellion-"

"Name one!" She demanded. She wanted to hear whatever lie Catra could come up with, whatever excuse she could give her so she could shoot her down! She wanted Catra to admit to herself that she wasn't the hero that she kept pretending to be!

"W-What do you care..." She winced, finding it harder and harder to breathe by the second. "It's not like you've done anything heroic since Bright Moon!"

"Oooooooh!" Several of the Arodas cooed from behind the Force Captain as Adora nearly flinched from the accusation.

Her? She hasn't done anything heroic? She has suffered more at the hands of every defeat than anyone else has, she's inspired hundreds of young cadets to be just like her, training every day and pushing herself to her limits! She's obtained more alliances than the history of the Horde has ever known. And she dares to call what she does anything but heroic?

Heroes weren't the ones who were doing it for only themselves. Heroes weren't people who abandoned their friends for their own benefit, leaving them behind without so much as a goodbye by the likes of someone like Catra. Heroes didn't make it a constant mission to abuse someone, to go about every day of their life just to make one person's life infuriating, painful. And they were never doing it for themselves or for a reward.

They were doing it for everybody.

And for someone like her, like Catra, to accuse her of such a thing? Practically accusing her of being a villain in the opposite stance? There was no temperature that could read the anger boiling inside of Adora's veins right now, nor the fiery aura leeching off of her as more of it began to burst.

"Don't take it too hard, Adora." Aroda cooed as she brushed up to Adora's shoulder, feeling the anger welling up inside of her. "If heroes always win, then I know where she's coming from~" What might have been like a light tease to some was a shot to the forehead to Adora's anger. It wasn't just a playful joke about who the villain was between them, it was a reminder of all the failures.

Failure to defeat the Princess Alliance or the Rebellion since Catra's defection. Her failure to wipe out the alliance because of Frosta's betrayal. All the failures she suffered just trying to live a semi-normal life in Bright Moon. Her failure to maintain any and all alliances, or friendships, with the numerous towns and outposts all across Etheria.

A list of endless failures that only a villain could be subjected to.

"Aggghhhhhh-!" With a maddening scream, Adora clenched the claws in her right hand, ready to swipe at Catra's head with full force. Unable to push the arm away from her own neck, Catra prepared for the worst of the attack as Adora brought the fist slamming down, ready to imprint the back of Catra's head into the very pillar itself-!

*ZZZZZZZZT!*

*WHACK!*

"OUCH!" Adora, all the Adoras, including Aroda, yelled simultaneously as they shook their corrupted hand in pain. As strong as the hand was, it also appeared to be just as painful when she slammed it into something hard, like a solid pillar of ice that barely had a small crack in it from where Adora smashed it. Grumbling to herself, the blonde soldier attempted to glare back at her friend before realizing something that caused the troubling hand-pain in the first place.

Catra was gone.

Disappeared.

Adora, all of them, looked around themselves at the vacant ballroom. Not a stone appeared out of place, nor was there any hint that Catra pulled off some magical feat out of nowhere. The only thing Adora did know at the time was that however Catra disappeared, it wasn't in the same manner that the people of this fake world did. She disappeared in a small flash, not gradually or spontaneously. It was as if she pulled it off all on her own.

"Where'd she go?" Aroda yelled, looking around the room. From where she stood, several more Adoras popped out, looking to the side of her and everywhere in-between.

"She couldn't have gotten far." Another of the Adora's said, much to the real Adora's annoyance.

"Would you stop pretending you're all different?" She grumbled, still flexing her claws a little. She never expected such a sturdy mass of ice to be so durable, or this painful, to smash into. "Spread out and find her. The world's falling apart, so she couldn't have gotten far!" With a playful salute from the dozen copies surrounding her, the copies who would turn out to be Aroda's own work, every one of them set off to search around the castle, and the various existing parts of the world that had yet to fully disappear.

With each of them out of the way, Adora grimaced as she stared back at the pillar one more time. She knew something was off about this, but without any reasoning or explanation that she knew of, she jotted it up to being her nerves getting to her. And without hesitation, the Force Captain ran for the main door out of the ballroom, unaware of the feline's presence eventual return.

"..."

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

"!... ?" Still keeping her hands up, Catra took a quick peek through the slit of her right eye, opening them completely when she realized se was alone. "Adora?" She muttered to herself as she stepped away from the pillar. Everyone was gone. Not that she wasn't relieved that they were, but where did everybody go? She was ready to strike Catra with her massive claws, and the next thing she knew, she-

She stopped as she felt felt along her head, feeling a familiar sensation brushing against the tip of her ears. Feeling along the red metal, sure enough, she realized her tiara had returned to her. This came as a small sense of relief as she realized she had disappeared again, as well as a sense of ultimate terror and dread when she realized what came with it.

She was back to normal. Every part of her. From the very clothes she wore on her back day in and day out, to the rough mane she barely brushed on a daily basis. Everything about her was back to normal, and not a hint of her from her previous life in this world remained. That meant that there would be no more chances if Catra disappeared again, no miracle disappearances that would keep her safe from Adora's wrath, if she lived long enough to feel it.

If she disappeared one more time, that would be the end of it.

"...I've got to find that sword." Catra determined for herself as she ran off. Coming up to the same ballroom door, she discovered upon opening it that it didn't leave to the exterior of the castle like she expected. Instead, it lead to the hallways of Bright Moon, what usually lead away into the halls leading up to Glimmer's bedroom, as well as an extra guest room further down the way.

The collapse of reality was eating away at more of the world as Catra's fight went on, with multiple portions of the world beginning to collide with one another, with doorways leading into actual doorways of another doorway of Etheria. There was no way in knowing which doors would lead to what, only knowing that the longer she waited around, the sooner she, or the sword, would be found by Adora. And while admittedly confused by the conundrum, Catra refused to let it delay her as she took off running, keeping an eye out for Adora or any of the copies that followed along with her.

All the guilt that she was laying on her was distracting her from what was most important, and that was finding a way to fix everything. She couldn't let everyone disappear for nothing, not when there was a chance to save everyone. They were what mattered to her right now as she checked Glimmer's door. Miraculously, she managed to close it in time before the Aroda on the other side, which apparently lead into the glades of Mystacor.

That was the other reason she couldn't afford to fight Adora right now: guilt. Guilt over what had lead to this, guilt over what's happened to her and her friends, and guilt over what's become of Adora. She was one of the most innocent people within Bright Moon, and Catra made a monster out of her. A monster that nearly caught sight of her as two more Aroda's passed down towards the hall, forcing Catra to hide behind the edge of the hallway before one of the Aroda's noticed her. Waiting for a few seconds for the sounds of footsteps to pass on, she continued to the furthest door.

There was too much guilt on the magicat's mind to even think about fighting her. She was already imagining all the things that must've happened to her to turn her out like this, all that she must've suffered in order become anything like her. She already remembered how terrible she looked after Frosta's betrayal.

...

"Adora, it's over."

"It's okay, it's okay." She shushed, gently. "We'll have you fixed up soon, I promise."

...

How could she be expected to fight Adora in her current state anyway? She overpowered her as it stood, she knew all of her tricks, and she knew how to play on her emotions. Even if Catra didn't feel any sense of guilt, she still knew more about the girl and what made her tick, as well as what could agitate her enough to fumble up and make a mistake. Especially with those copies of her distracting her and blinding her half the time, there was no way to tell Adora apart from the look-alikes! Until she found a way to get past them, or to tell them apart, Adora held all the cards in her hand.

Reaching the far door at the end of the hall, Catra opened it to discover the hallway leading into the Fright Zone, feeling a small rumble as reality continued to collapse further around them. Knowing it was going to follow her regardless, and there were at least several Arodas still behind her, Catra had no choice but to press on, running down the metallic halls as quietly as she could as she searched for the next door.

Like everywhere else, this place had several Arodas or Adora swarming the place too, spotting at least one in one of the doorways she attempted, and two more in the hallway leading to the prison sector. It was times like this that she also wondered just how far the parasite had driven Adora to become the person she is.

Was she at all responsible for what Adora had become? It would've been easy to just assume "yes". To put all the blame on the thing infesting Adora's mind, to assume that it was entirely responsible for everything that was happening, and pretend none of it was on Adora, if only to find a reason to fight back against her.

But she knew better. Like the parasite had told her, Aroda hasn't told a single lie to Adora, only things that could or could not happen in Adora's future. And, thanks to her, thanks to all of her involvements, all of her personal desires to just win the war so she could keep her new friends safe, she made them all true. She proved the parasite right time and again, driving Adora further into its arms as she reached all new levels of insanity.

Everything that happened to Adora was on Catra, one way or another. And she could never see past that.

"Hey!" Catra jumped at the sound of one of the Aroda copies as Catra bumped into it. Reaching what she thought would've been another possible door turned out to be the very door another Aroda was just about to pass through with her hand still in the hair as she prepared to open it. The copy glared at the sight of Catra as she ran for the hills, or further into the metallic halls in this case, as Aroda jumped out the door. "Hey, I found her!" The Aroda shouted, following after the Catra to keep a constant eye on her location.

Catra's heart raced as she ran through the halls, trying to ignore the Arodas who came stomping through several at a time, chasing after the same girl to keep an eye on her. They weren't the ones Catra had to worry about entirely. The real trouble was Adora and wherever she would've popped out of next. Glancing across the hallways that separated between bridges of steel, seeing more Arodas running out the doorways and several of them running back, most likely to inform Adora.

Seeing up ahead, she saw a door at the far end of the hallway, one that would've taken her to near-anywhere that would've been preferable to this place. Annoyingly enough, all the other doors she attempted to cross through were already preoccupied by Arodas waiting for her. Even though they couldn't physically stop her, she knew enough by looking past them that she would've cornered herself easier in the long hallways.

Also annoyingly enough, none of them could give her a moments peace, with several of the Arodas either waiting for her as she ran past them, leaning against the doorway, or running to catch up to her. All of them were smirking, all of them were grinning, all waiting to mock her about everything that's happened, everything she's done, and everything she could still mess up.

"You really do make a great villain, you know that?" The Aroda leaning against the door teased, watching as she ran from her.

"You must've been terrible to push somebody to want to destroy the world, you know that?" The second Aroda teased, leaning against the bridge on her back. She sneered wickedly as she continued watching the same Catra rushing past her, catching glimpses of her muttering to herself or biting her lip, knowing everything she was saying was sinking in, one word at a time.

"Maybe Shadow Weaver should've kept you two together more?" A third Aroda added, popping up as she floated down the ceiling, forcing Catra to run through her. "You seem pretty good at pushing people away on your own."

"Shut up!" Catra yelled, trying to drown out the sounds. She already knew it was her fault, she didn't need constant reminders of everything! She's the one who drove Adora to this, she's the reason she couldn't trust anyone else, she knew! So the very least these stupid copies could do was stop mocking her about it as she reached the door!

*tug*

"Ah-!" Catra barely got her head through the door before she pulled back, gasping at the expanse in front of her.

There was nothing else in front of her, save for the white featureless void that continued to engulf Etheria. Poking her head out for a bit, holding onto the door's handle, she grumbled to herself. Whether this process was slow or if it was fast, she could no longer tell. All she knew was that the more reality collapsed on itself, the less options she had to deal with, and the less doorways she had to get her away from her troubles.

*SSKKTT*

Like that one.

Shooting a look back, her troubles became her nightmares as she saw the tear in reality ten yards behind her as a handful of the Arodas gathered around it, still smirking at her. As expected, and disappointed, it was none other than the aforementioned Adora, the real one, ripping her way through the tear in reality and stepping through it as it closed behind her.

"Where do you think you're going?" She spat, running towards the girl. Catrafelt stuck between a hard place and a nothing-place.

Behind her, she had to contend with the Force Captain that could easily rip her to shreds with her massive sharp claws that could cut through trees like paper, and in front of her, she had to deal with the void that she would disappear into if she stepped outside of it for too long. Her options literally came down to dying by Adora's hands or disappearing into a void of nothingness and hoping for a miracle.

Taking one last look around her surroundings, both, inside the door and outside into the void, Catra moaned to herself as she made her decision.

She jumped through.

"Catra-?" Adora nearly gasped as she blinked, watching her friend jump through the door. Did she... did she really choose death over confronting her past? Sure, she would've disappeared anyway, but Adora refused to allow her until she paid for her crimes, for any- for all of them!

Knowing there could still be some time, Adora rushed to the door faster as she held her breath, sticking her head out of the door immediately as she looked down. She could't see anything other than the white void, the constant reminder of what was eating away at Etheria around every corner. That's what she found so strange about it, however; there was nothing related to Catra remaining, just the featureless void that should've consumed her. At the very least, there should've been some noticeable part about her still disappearing.

That's when she realized it. Catching it in the corner of her eye, she turned her head back to see something she never expected- Catra still holding onto the door handle for leverage as gritted her teeth.

"Hey, Adora."

*Wham!*

"Ugh!" Adora gurgled with a cringe of pain as she was kicked in the stomach directly by the heels of Catra's feet, slamming her into the several other Arodas behind her that collapsed around her.

Catra's entire plan hinged on a stroke of good luck since the moment she stepped out the door. Using the door's own handle to anchor herself to the door, she waited right outside of the door leading into the void, grasping onto the outside wall of the Horde that had yet to be erased. Pulling off her plan in such a way wasn't too hard to deal with. The hard part was the amount of luck involved if her plan was going to be pulled off without a hitch.

Luck to determine if the door would continue to hold her weight and continue to exist as everything was being erased around here, luck she wouldn't disappear slowly in the void, something that became all the more horrifying as her arms started to become transparent, and luck as to whether or not it would lure Adora to the doorway where she could get the drop on her. Any one of these things missing would've resulted in her immediate defeat, making it a miracle that luck proved to be on her side in every category.

With the Force Captain downed, Catra hastily jumped back through the entrance, running past, and intentionally over, the Force Captain as she continued to make her escape. Lifting her stomped head in anger, Adora glared in her retreating direction, the energy leeching from her bursting in a small flare as she struggled to get out of the mess of Arodas.

"Don't let her get away!" She shouted.

"Oh, relax, Adora." One of the Arodas chuckled from under her as they pulled themselves together. "She won't get far."

True to her word, Catra struggled as she searched high and low for another doorway, trying to ignore the dozens of Arodas she passed along the way who didn't seem to be chasing her anymore. All they were doing was grinning to her, laughing at the sight of her as if she had something funny on her face or something.

But it wasn't her appearance that they were laughing at, something Catra was well aware of as she heard them chatting amongst themselves. They were laughing at her. Laughing at all the mistakes she had made all throughout the proceedings. Everything that has happened up to this point was Catra's fault. They knew it. Adora knew it.

And Catra knew it.

"What made you think you could be the hero?"

"With friends like her, who needs enemies, right?"

"Maybe she never truly left the Horde? After all, look at all the damage she's done!"

The petty insults and remarks were endless as Catra felt like she was running in a loop, running, panting, trying to find some sort of way out of this mess, out of all of it. From one door to the next, she was met with every form of insult, every reminder of her past mistakes, and how everything that happened to this world was done by her own two hands.

She tried to get away from it as she passed through multiple doors, crossing into different regions of Etheria as the world continued to crumble around her.

She tried to get away from it as she passed through multiple doors, crossing into different regions of Etheria as the world continues to crumble around her. She crossed the doors between Thaymor's residences as the woods shook violently with the white light approaching. She jumped from the rooftops of Alwyn as she found more of the mocking Arodas blocking her path. And she scaled the cliffs of Dryl as the ground beneath began to eat away at everything.

And nothing worked.

No matter where she went, she found more of the mocking Arodas reminding her of her constant failures, she discovered new sources of guilt that she never even thought of. Eventually, she found herself surrounded by dozens upon dozens of the mocking Arodas as she wound up back in Bright Moon, finding herself outside the main entrance that lead to the pillar of the Moon Stone. The weather outside resembled that of the Battle of Bright Moon, with storm clouds raging down around them and thunder drumming throughout the air.

All the way from the entrance of the stairs to the pillar, there were dozens, maybe even hundreds of Arodas waiting for her, all mocking and laughing as she berated and taunted her, as she was skilled in, for all that she did. And right behind the magicat, she saw the world being destroyed by the light of the void, leaving her no choice but to run for her life across the bridge as the Arodas dismantled what sense of conviction she had left.

"Hey, there goes the Hero~"

"Way to save the world, hero!"

"Now we know who to count on to save us!"

"SHUT UP!" Catra shouted angrily as she ran, trying to tune them out as she reached the stairs.

There seemed to be no end to the copies as they continued to split apart from one another with the copies just walking out of the originals like they were nothing. None of them backed down as they ran with the girl, the void slowly consuming whatever timespan of Bright Moon remained, the bridge slowly being destroyed as it crumbled along with everything else.

Catra was forced to climb the steps as the Arodas practically poured in from below her. By the time she reached the top of the pillar, it was already packed with Arodas, the maniacal parasitic illusion laughing at her and mocking her from all sides as they surrounded her by this point.

"Thanks for taking care of the Rebellion for us, Catra~"

"Maybe the Horde would've won a long time ago if you defected sooner!"

"I bet your friends are so proud of you. Letting you join them wasn't a mistake for sure~"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Catra hissed angrily as she tried to hold back the sorrow. In anger, she lost sight of the fact these were illusions as she attempted to swipe at one of the, only for her claws to go straight through her.

"Oh, you're looking for Adora?" One of the Arodas asked, poking at their chin innocently. "She's over here~" Whether gullible, foolishness, or blind anger, Catra listened to the girl as she charged at the supposed Adora who gasped with fear, only to laugh holding herself as Catra swiped right through her again.

"No, it's me! I'm Adora!"

"No, I'm the real Adora!"

"No she's not, I am!"

The assurances and comment never ceased to end until Catra attacked for them, giving her a single second of peace between each of the taunters as they continued to draw the magicat's anger out of her, along with all the energy she could muster. No matter how many insisted they were Adora, none of them appeared to be the real deal, none of them left her alone until she finally played along and swiped at each of them.

And every time she did, her one second of peace was brought with more and more bouts of laughter, mockery, abuse, at how the "Great and Powerful She-Ra", the "Hero of Bright Moon", was nothing more than a failure who couldn't even keep the world from falling apart. It took several long minutes of Catra's attempts at making the voices stop until she couldn't stand it any longer, exhausted from the wild goose chase she was set on as she dropped to her hands and knees in the center of them.

There, the insults and laughter never came to an end as the cat's ears lowered, Catra being left unable to drown out the sounds as she squeezed her hands upon the ground.

There was laughter.

There was mockery.

There was despair.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha!"

The reality that she was still the cause behind all of this never faded as the voices and laughter never came to an end, all of them insulting her and laughing at her simultaneously. She tried to close them off to her as she squeezed her ears as tightly as possible, trying to push away any and all insults she could to no avail.

It was everywhere and nowhere at once, the sounds of laughter and insanity feeling like they were coming from Catra's own head by this point as she squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted nothing more than to bring an end to these voices at long last, an end to the craziness around her, and felt as if she could do anything to make such a thing happen.

Fortunately, or not, she didn't need to do anything herself.

*SSSKKKTTT*

Catra barely had any time left to open her eyes in response as the reality tore open in front of her, unleashing an aggressive Force Captain who jumped from the plane of non-existence as she grabbed Catra by the scruff of her neck. Without pause, without relent, Adora jumped from the stop of the pillar as she hurdled herself and Catra to the base of the pillar from such a massive height.

It was like the Battle of Bright Moon all over again as Catra stared at the enraged Adora, watching the hatred in her eyes as the two of them sank closer to the ground. There wasn't any hint of mercy in them as Catra saw past the hatred, saw all the pain within Adora's eyes that was behind all of it. She couldn't fight back against it even if she wanted to, not with the exhaustion already going through her body that Aroda tricked her into.

Like everything that lead her to the day she big her farewell to Catra, the day she thought she was ready to cut ties to her, she realized that it was still the same as on that day. The same angry friend, the same inability to help anyone, and, save for the sword, Catra was still the weak and pathetic one who could never fight back against her past. And she could never beat Adora, no matter how badly she wanted to.

Nothing has changed.

*CRASH!*

The ground ruptured as the two crashed to the ground in a small explosion of dust that scattered everywhere. Clearing out a little at a time, through the dense cloud one of the figures rose from the ashes as they stared down at the beaten and battered friend, the one who was guilty of everything, the person that started all of this.

Catra.

Catra's entire body wracked with an even amount of pain as she twitched, unaware for a moment that the environment had shifted again for what may have been the last time. She was scraped from head to toe, side to side, with bruises and cuts against her body as she struggled to pull herself away.

The sight of her friend continuing to go through all of this disgusted Adora. The fact that Catra was so bent on refusing to acknowledge who was at fault here, who was the cause of all of this, sickened her to no end. All she had to do was admit that it was her fault, and all of this would be over.

What did she do instead? She continued to cling on in the hopes that Adora would just quit. Quit and give up on everything and pretend that everything that was happening around here actually WAS Adora's fault, as if she was the villain in all of this.

Groveling in pain, Catra pulled herself out from the ground again as her whole body shook. Every inch of her was in pain as Adora's assault never seemed to cease. From the physical pain that Adora was inflicting herself to the emotional pain that Aroda was inflicting to Catra's psyche, nothing ever seemed to end. The girl had an abundant amount of energy about her, one that wouldn't let up until she was satisfied for herself, not when she was finally exhausted.

By now, she came to realize that the world had changed once again. They were no longer within the hallowed grounds of Bright Moon, or in the ravine which they should've landed in. They were somewhere surrounded by the white void in a grassy plain. Somewhere the world was still slowly eating away at, a place where the world could still be seen slowly decaying away, as everything came to an end.

It was almost beautiful, in some regard, as the tranquil white light mixed with the violet energies throughout the world. If the world wasn't being destroyed in the process, one would be forgiven for thinking that this was one of the most remarkable sights of Etheria, instead of an unholy nightmare that threatened to doom the planet.

"Why are you doing this...?" Catra stuttered, doing everything she could to stall any beat down she was taking.

"Why am I doing this?" Adora spat with a little disgust, furrowing her brow. "Because I want you to understand my suffering!" The voice shouted angrily. "I want you to know what you put me through day in and day out!" Grabbing at the collar of Catra's vest, Adora pulled her former friend to her feet, shoving her away when she could finally stand on her own two knees. Though this time it appeared to feel a little softer as she did. Either Catra was getting to the Heart of the Matter, or Adora wanted her full attention from this point.

Unlike the previous times, as Catra struggled to maintain her footing, or kneeing in this case, she didn't find herself anywhere else like the previous times Adora smacked her around. She was still within the mysterious planes the two seemed to have entered, with the only sense of warmth coming from the numbing pain throughout her body.

Lifting her head up, gritting the edges of her teeth to keep from showing any aggression, if only to stall for recovery, she watched as Adora stood there, glaring at her. Despite all the pain she inflicted on Catra, she still didn't seem the least bit satisfied, least bit happy, save for the Arodas that had all merged together into one specific spot to keep the area from being cluttered.

"I need to show you what you put me through." Adora stated, slowly raising a claw. "Maybe then you'll understand."

"Understand?" Catra questioned, trying to get to her feet. "Understand what-?"

With her claw fully raised, a twinge of worry came over Catra's mind as each of Adora's claws began to glow with an illuminating energy, one that would've brightened up even the blackest of nights. "To understand why you're the villain in all of this!" And with an eerie white glow around all of Adora's clawed fingers, the Force Captain swiped at the open air ahead of her, launching several growing blades of whiteness towards the feline.

Catra covered herself with her bare arms, still a little weak in the legs to dodge out of the way in time as she prepared for the worst. However, much to her surprise, none of the several blades came anywhere near her as they spread apart, slicing into the thick air surrounding the ballroom. What at first came to be seen as a stroke of pure luck from Catra's end swiftly came to be seen as surprise as Catra's eyes widened at the sight.

All around her, in several different spots throughout the ballroom, the energy-like slashes of blades cut into the thick air, much like Adora's own claws have done all throughout this fight. She didn't know what to expect at first, believing it was just another of Adora's tears in reality that she was going to use against her. But why did she make several of them, much less when she was aware of it?

The answer came to her as she saw what happened next: each of the large tears she made opened, one after the other. But they didn't open to tears in reality or anything of the sort. They opened up to glimpses of Adora's suffering, of her past, of everything that happened as a result of Catra's betrayal.

"What..." Catra felt the edges of her skin crawl as she looked around herself, seeing the various methods in which Adora was punished for her own failures. "What is all... all of this?"

...

This... This sensation was horrifying. She could barely see as her vision hazed from the immense pressure. She could've sworn she wasn't looking up to the eyes of a man.

She was seeing a monster.

"...Pathetic. Just like everything else on this backwards planet."

...

"I can never accept a commander who can't take care of herself, nor can I allow failures to rise through the upper ranks of my army. So tell me, Force Captain, are you reliable, or a failure?"

"I-I'm..." She swallowed silently. "I'm reliable, Lord Hordak. H-Honest."

...

With the sound of his footsteps drawing closer to her, the loom of his shadow hanging above her, she had never found herself more frightened of his presence than she did now. Or the tone of his voice. "Three failure, one day." He hissed. "Of all my time as your leader, I have never seen you, nor anyone, fail as greatly as you did today, Force Captain."

"And you still failed!" She squeezed her eyes shut as he shouted from right above her, his breathing practically coming down to the back of her neck. "Not only did you lose one of the most defensible towers the Horde has claimed in recent months, and not only did you fail when you were on the brink of victory, but then I hear, despite your assurance, that Frosta, the one you said could be counted on, betrayed us?!"

...

Catra couldn't turn away from the memories that were sprung all around her. She didn't know how Adora was doing this. Whether through the power of her reality-tearing gift, or a part of the stupid illusions that Aroda managed to create on the fly, and she didn't care. None of those questions would answer the reason behind all of Adora's suffering, or the guilt welling up inside of the cat girl as she refused to look away.

They showed all the moments that Adora had to suffer, suffer because of what she felt was Catra's fault. All her failed missions, all the times she failed to live up to Hordak's standards, even to the most recent events that lead Adora to be assigned to a mission to the Crimson Waste. All of it brought untold suffering to the girl. From the moments since the Battle of Bright Moon, to what brought them to where they were today.

"This is what you've been doing to me, Catra..." Adora seethed with anger as she glared at the magicat from behind. "When I said I needed to succeed to survive, I meant it!"

...

The angered lord lifted her off the ground as he hung her in the air up to his face, feeling the pathetic worm's attempt to scratch away at his hands. It would've been amusing if he didn't hate her so.

"I... I-I..." The tears dripped from her face and under his hands as she felt her life fading, her struggling coming to an end.

...

Every strand of memory that she saw playing out, the way Hordak abused her and punished her for every failure, every annoyance he caused her, brought another bout of pain to Catra's conscious. Adora wasn't exaggerating about her necessity to complete a mission just to survive, she meant every word of it! Her failures resulted in her own punishment, a punishment Catra brought on by her own two hands.

And they weren't even the worst of it.

No, the worst of it came from the deep-rooted memories Adora owned, the ones where she suffered the most. From who's hand, exactly? By the very friend she had grown up with, the one who was always at her side as a child, if only to use her like a tool.

"You didn't even care what about what I was going through!" Strangely enough, Adora herself actually teared up a little through the angered eyes as she watched the person watching her own memories. "You only cared about yourself!"

...

*thump*

She didn't so much as give her the care or time of day as she brushed her aside with a simple push of the hands.

...

"Huff... Huff... I'm sorry... Shad... Shadow Weaver..." She heaved, feeling her throat getting drier faster than she could drink from a water bottle.

"Y-Yeah... I understand." She finally sighed.

...

"I tried to make you happy... and it wasn't enough for you..."

...

"Hey... Adora?"

"Yeah?" She was curious by the strange look of sadness coming across Catra's face.

"Did... Did you really mean it when you said you let me win?"

...

"I-I... I didn't-" Catra struggled to find the words to say as the guilt surmounted around her. Every flash of the imagery felt like another stab into her conscious, the pool of confidence telling her it wasn't her fault slowly evaporating away.

"You never even stuck around to defend me when I needed it most!"

...

"Mmh... I'm sorryyyyyyy!" Catra yelled as she ran down out the door, unable to face the consequences alongside her friend.

Adora's heart sunk with regret as she watched her leave. "C... Catra?"

...

"I-I'm sorry-!" Adora tried to cry, only for Shadow Weaver to lean in closer, practically screaming in Adora's ears.

"I'm s-sorryyyeh...eheheh..." Adora started to cry as her ears rung from the sound of Shadow Weaver's screaming.

...

"No matter how old you were, I was the on always suffering!"

...

"Adora!" She finally heard her calling. "Adora? Adora! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"...Ah...Ahhhh...AHHHHHHHHHAHAHAAAA!" Adora finally snapped as she screamed.

...

At this, Adora squeezed her claw over the magicat's head, tightening her grip around it as Catra was barely able to put up any resistance. As the tears of reality began to close, and Aroda examined their surroundings for curiosity sake, Adora spoke, "And you think you deserve to be called a hero?" Catra squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes as Adora intensified her grip.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Catra?"

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

"... Tch..." Adora watched as her friend shook a little, unable to tell if it was from her own physical pain, or if she was actually feeling something from all of this. "... ry..."

"What?"

"I"M SORRY!" At the sound of the girl shouting, Adora finally dropped Catra down to her hands and knees, watching as the girl struggled to keep herself up. Her body felt as if it was being drained by every tear dripping from her face.

Or something else.

"Y-You... You're right, okay?" She cried, arms slumped to the ground as her elbows kept her from falling to her face. "About everything. This... This is all my fault..." There wasn't a lie, so much as a hint of a lie, as Catra poured her heart out in front of her friend for the first time. She wasn't doing it for Adora's sake, perhaps another form of her greedy selfishness shining through, but for her own. She couldn't deny it any longer.

Everything was her fault. All of it. What was happening to the world, everything that lead up to it, even finding the Sword of Protection in the first place. None of this should've been happening, not to someone who was a real hero. A real hero was honorable, full of valor, able to take charge in any situation and come out on top, and capable of protecting those they cared about with her own two hands.

Catra, felt like none of those things.

She was an orphan raised through the Horde to be another instrument of destruction. Since day one she never thought about making the world a better place like Adora always had, she didn't care about any of the cruel things happening throughout Etheria. All she cared about was her petty grudge against Adora for always coming out on top of her in the end, always beating her in every event. She wanted to beat Adora so badly that she trained day in and day out, using everything, and everyone in her disposal. And this was the price that was to be paid.

A world that was slowly crumbling apart. A handful of friends that had disappeared in this false reality, in a world where she couldn't protect a single one of them. She's never felt the sense of guilt she's had all throughout her time in the Rebellion, not as much as she does now. She felt like the farthest thing from a hero as she came to accept her own mistakes, came to accept the fact that she never should have been granted the title of She-Ra, even honorary at that.

All she knew, right then and there, was that there was only one villain between the two of them.

And it wasn't Adora.

*Ka-Thump*

"Agh!" Catra yelped as she clenched her chest in pain.

"Ca... Catra?" For a moment, Adora raised an arm out to her in worry, the sight of the sudden pain surprising her as Catra struggled to stay up as much as she could.

She didn't know what that was, or what was happening, only that a sharp pain suddenly rang through her chest at the time. The air felt constrictive as she panted a little, feeling a little harder to breathe by the second as her body became numb.

Wh... What's happening? Her inner voice became mudied and shallow as she finally fell to the ground on her stomach. Weakly bringing her left hand to her face, bits of sweat dripping from her forehead as exhaustion and tiredness drew near, Catra finally saw what was happening with her own two eyes, the horrific realization lying right in front of her.

From the very tip of her claws, Catra was starting to disappear. Little bits of white particles, ones glowing and shining through reality, were beginning to evaporate from the girl's body. It was a slow process, albeit a painless one, as Catra saw bits and strands of her fingers starting to waste away into nothing more than dust in the wind.

It was the effect of the timeline finally catching up to her completely for the first and last time. She was being erased from this existence, from a timeline that no longer recognized her, that never recounted her as being alive. She was foreign to this world as much as Adora was, one without any sense of history or anchor to this world.

She was being erased in front of Adora's own eyes, and, for once, Catra wouldn't have blamed her if she didn't care this time.

The erasure didn't hurt in the slightest, which was probably the only sense of relief she could afford to get out of all this. It was happening at the tip of all three ends of her body; her fingers, her toes, and even her tail. Presumably, the girl's existence would come to an end once it reached it head, giving her enough time to lament everything she did wrong in this world, and how she could've made it right.

"C... Catra..." Adora didn't really know what to say at the moment, surprised as she was by the sudden development, but at a cross on how to feel. She would've preferred her contemplating her mistakes a bit longer, not immediately after, lasting as long as the world did before they were all erased. At the same time, it did appear to be from Catra's own doing as well.

The girl had regretted her mistakes. So much so to the point that she lost the will to exist on her own, almost giving in to the fact she no longer existed in this world of her own free will.

A part of her actually wondered if Catra was truly resentful of her actions, was willing to disappear for her if it meant showing her how much she meant about all she was saying. It was beautiful in a tragic kind of way, and one that almost touched Adora for a moment.

Provided any of it was real.

"Adora!" It was by Aroda's shout that Adora's attention shifted ahead of, seeing the parasitic illusion gazing ahead of her. Noticing her distracted attention, she saw what was bringing the parasite to such a heartwarming grin as a large smile plastered over her face, staring up into the sky. The sight of it alone sent tremors through Adora's own heart as she saw it.

The Sword of Protection. The very blade that started all of this. Hovering in place in the air, it was surrounded by an immense vortex that channeled the blade's energy to everything around it, and continued to erase the world around her.

In a way, it was a cursed blade from Adora's perspective. That stupid sword turned her life upside down from the very beginning. Like this world, she almost would've preferred living in blissful illusion to all that was around her, to how Catra really was, in comparison to the cold reality that she had woken up to.

And now it was within her grasp. All she had to do was reach the blade, give it a firm touch, and it would all be over.

Looking back to her sullen friend, Adora frowned a little. Thus far, everything up to the girl's elbows, her knees, and half her tail was disintegrated, as Catra's mournful expression remained the same. There truly was no hint that she was lying any longer, not that it mattered anymore. Catra had truly shown her sorrow through all of this.

With a heavy heart of her own, Adora began to walk past the lone ex-Horde soldier, with Catra barely giving a notice to her presence until she saw Adora's foot.

"Adora..." She muttered weakly, shifting her eyes to her. "Please... Don't..." Adora did a small double take from her friend to the sword.

The world truly was ending, and that part was undeniable. There wasn't a chance to save it without sacrificing herself, there was still a war waiting for them with an awful history of Adora's past in the real Eatheria, and both sides had their fair share of problems. The only difference now was that Adora had the power to change all that by one given action, all of which depended on her next choice.

"Hey Adora, you coming?" Aroda grinned, gesturing to the way ahead. Given the amount of power radiating off the blade, Adora knew she couldn't just tear her way up to the sword. The reality's distortion was spread all across Etheria, and trying to tear her way to the sword could've resulted in her winding up on the other side of the planet for all she knew.

Giving one last look to her friend, she kneeled down briefly, giving one last, comforting, pat to the side of Cara's head. "For what it's worth now, Catra," she whispered softly, "I forgive you." Without a second thought, a second opinion, Adora left, proceeding to the sword as Aroda watched in all her eagerness. There was only one path ahead for Adora now, one she couldn't back down from, not after coming all this way.

It was the same path that brought such delight to Aroda in the end as she watched Adora pass her, already feeling the thoughts in her head about how she would have to use a variety of the levitating boulders and landmasses surrounding them to reach it.

Adora would finally reclaim her sword.

Catra was finally disappearing.

And, at long last, everything would come to the spectacular end that she's always dreamed of- a sword to call her own.

For all Eternity.

...

A/N: Three cheers for Aroda! Hip hip! Hip hip! Hip hip! Woohoo!!!

Ah, what a blast! Everything worked out for me- I mean her in the end! I can not thank you guys enough for staying with the Cat-Ra story up to this point. We had some laughs, some tears, and a whole lot of fun. But now, like everything, this story has to come to an end. And I don't think we can have a much better ending than with Aroda finally reaching victory at long last ^^!!!

I want to thank each and every one of you people for supporting me to this date. I can safely say with assurance that there will be no more updates, not that there can be since Catra's out of commission, or going to be soon anyway.

So with that being said, hope you all enjoyed this 100% guaranteed final chapter of the fic! Leave a like, a fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and thank you ever so much for placing your trust in me- I mean Aroda, until she finally got the ending she wanted, with no negative repercussions or downsides headed her way!

.......... Why's everyone staring at me?

Chapter 118: S3 Finale: A Parting Wish Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 25.4K Pre-A/N's

... Uhh... why is there another author's note? The story's over, I- I mean Aroda won, the end... huh... I wonder what happens below...

...

Sorrow.

Hopelessness.

Despair.

Any one of these words could be used to describe the situation presented to three of the last remaining creatures around Etheria.

How could it all happen to begin with? How could the world be on the brink of ruin? How could it be crumbling away into nothingness as people and creatures around the world began to disappear? It would've taken someone of great evil, of great foolishness, to pull off such a horrific feat. Somebody who cared more about their personal gain, someone who preferred having things done her way, and somebody whose selfishness mattered more to them than the rest of the world.

Somebody like Catra, whose personal quest to obtain the complete power of She-Ra lead her to unwittingly start a chain of events that went on to destroy the rest of the world. That's how she saw it after all that's happened. Even as she slowly disappeared, with her disappearance passing her knees and elbow as she lied there in the grass, she couldn't help but think it was all her fault.

If she never became obsessed with obtaining She-Ra's full power, regardless of reason, then she wouldn't have bothered going to the Crimson Waste unprepared. If she took a moment to make all the necessary preparations, she might not have gotten captured by Adora, kidnapped and dragged to the Fright Zone along with her sword, and provided the Horde with a power source that could activate the portal that started all of this.

If she had acted sooner than giving in to her fantasy life, one where she found herself in the comfort of an adoptive family by King Micah and Queen Angella, then she might've found the sword before the world began to crumble. If she wasn't obsessed over her guilt for how she treated her, she wouldn't have tried to save Adora, who might never have regained her lost memories if it wasn't for her. And if she never regained those memories, she wouldn't have become the terrifying monster she was now.

Starting from the Fright Zone, the world began to crumble around her, with landscapes and people disappearing left and right, and nobody seeming the wiser. Save for the mysterious pockets of reality that Adora managed to rip through space, the lands and environments around her were being completely destroyed, with those living in their fantasy lives being completely oblivious until it was too late.

The Whispering Woods, Bright Moon, The Kingdom of Snows, Salineas. One after the other, everywhere she had been to, the places she recalled, were erased from existence, including the allies and friends she made along the way. As if it wasn't hard enough to lose those that Catra has fought with until now, the final piece that tore at her heart was seeing the only two people she could call her best friends disappearing before her eyes, a final act that sealed the guilt inside of her.

At least, that's the conclusion she came to after being emotionally and mentally destroyed by the constant tauntings and horrific memories brought to her by Adora and Aroda, the latter of which pushed Catra's emotions to the point of exhaustion.

The two were relentless as they fought against the unpowered magicat, with Adora taking use out of her new abilities she siphoned from the portal itself, in part thanks to the parasite's own magic, as she tore away and reappeared in different fragments of reality to fight Catra against. Despite the seemingly-empowered state, with her corrupted arm allowing her to move freely within the void for a few seconds without disappearing, the deadlier of the duo was turning out to be Aroda herself, the parasite who wanted the sword beyond all else.

Everything she said, every insult she threw at the girl, stung like a dagger to the heart. While never having the same memories as Catra, she knew enough of her from Adora's own memories, her experiences, with her former friends. She mocked her for every failure she ever had, berated her for her involvement in Adora's own corruption, and never ceased to remind her it was by her actions that lead to the world getting destroyed, slamming down on her the reality of the situation until the girl finally snapped.

Following a horrific view of Adora's personal memories, memories the girl shared with her ability to tear fabrics of reality out of thin air, combined with Aroda's ability to make illusions of herself that kept taunting and foolishing Catra on a handful of occasions.

Here, Catra bore witness to Adora's suffering. All the failures, all the punishments that were included in her suffering, that turned Adora into the monster she was today. She knew she couldn't let Adora win, of course, and she knew that she was still her enemy. But seeing how severely she had suffered through the course of her life since Catra's defection, all the physical and verbal abuse she suffered after every defeat, it appalled Catra. She finally snapped.

She was already beaten and battered by the time she finally cracked, unable to bare the thoughts of what she had done with her own two claws, all because of her past selfishness and mistreatment towards her friend. Whether from the lack of will, the sorrow filling her heart, or the timeline of this reality having simply caught up with her, Catra had finally lost it.

Slowly, surely, Catra began to disappear little by little as small particles of her evaporated into the air in a white cloud of dust. It wasn't a painful process. In fact, she barely felt anything more and more as her body felt lighter from the experience. Maybe it's the best she could hope for, given all that she's done? She's been told countless times not to live in the past or with past mistakes, but how was she supposed to accept it when the world was like this?

Literally falling apart.

Incapable of saving anyone.

Unable to beat Adora, just like every other time.

Being useless on her own.

It was a sight that Aroda took glee in as she saw the magicat continuing to disappear, keeping a watchful and eager eye on her host as Adora walked past her. After everything that's happened, everything that it's come to, she had finally reached this moment. The moment where Adora would gain some semblance of control of the sword, where the mere touch of it would allow Aroda to pass through her and inhabit the sword itself, where she would live in blissful power for all eternity while everything else was erased.

Out of the many hosts she's inhabited, Adora proved to be the most resilient. She wasn't keen on killing anyone, much less harming them, save for Catra and her friends, and she took forever to convince to be more forceful to those around her. Heck, it wasn't until several days ago that she managed the courage to stand up to Hordak, which sent her to the Crimson Waste and resulted in all of this. She truly was a hardened soldier.

But, for what it was worth, it made the victory at hand all the more sweeter. Even if Adora wasn't worthy of the sword any longer, it wouldn't matter. Without the protection placed upon it when a new She-Ra was designated, Aroda could easily slip into it. Without anyone left in the world to stop her, anyone to interfere with Adora, there was nothing that could ruin her ultimate victory.

And then, there was Adora, the one who had sunk so low to the point of causing all of this.

Walking along the plains, approaching the several dozen boulders that could prove useful stepping stones to reach the blade itself, not a shred of guilt remained on Adora's shoulders. To her, all of this, any of this, was solely on Catra. And she was prepared to continue thinking that way until Aroda left her side, and she disappeared along with the rest of the world.

She didn't care. She didn't feel a sense of responsibility for all of this. Not out of some petty pride or some nonsense, but out of hate. Out of hate for Catra and all she's done to ruin her life since day one. If she had been a little more attentive of Catra's true colors, knew what she was really like in the inside, she might've been able to spare herself the pain of all that's happened.

Because of Catra, she was doubting everything in her life. Because of Catra, Adora experienced an emotional pain like no other that resulted in her cutting ties to her former friend. Because of Catra, she pulled away another friend from Adora, a princess at that, who Adora thought she could trust. Because of Catra, she pulled away the one family figure she had in her life by the name of Shadow Weaver, one she had just grown accustomed to again after so long only for her to rip her heart to pieces by abandoning her.

Everywhere she looked, everything she heard, every thought she had filling the cortex of her mind, made her think about how Catra was responsible for all of it. She wanted the girl to feel the same sense of pain that Adora had for the last several months, to understand why Adora was as angry as she was, and what she thought Catra was turning into. At long last, after months and months of effort, she finally managed to, and managed to make Catra see how this was all her fault.

And it only took the world coming to an end for it to transpire.

She wouldn't deny she felt a little bad for her friend at long last, seeing her disappearing a few seconds ago before walking to the very sword that started all of this. To think, Catra had FINALLY accepted the blame for everything she did, finally accepted that it was all her fault, and now was disappearing as a result of it. She would've preferred disappearing with Catra after all that's happened, though she supposed it was inevitable either way. They would've both disappeared after Adora had finished her task, and if Catra wanted to disappear on her own, then she could.

It's all... my fault... Catra frowned weakly as she thought to herself, the disappearing act reaching the center of her spine as it continued. Dark clouds of guilt filled Catra's mind from every angle as she teared up in the corner of her eye. I did this... all of it...

...

"Don't you understand? Nothing's changed. I'm still the one falling behind in the end, I'm the one who's being treated like a burden, and the one who still isn't respected after all I've done! I haven't changed anything, and now I'm stuck with someone else's life, just because of an accident?! I don't want to be She-Ra anymore!"

...

My selfishness... My stupid anger... How could she not blame herself with a lifetime of personal resentment up to this point? A lifetime of only wanting what was best for her, not for everyone else.

...

"Then get lost." Just like that, all the optimism she felt rising up was quickly torn asunder by Catra's next line.

...

I was horrible... She squeezed her eyes tightly as she tried to keep the tears from pouring out. Everything Aroda had said about her, about how she was the screw-up behind the world, was accurate in her eyes. She didn't show any care for her allies when they wanted or needed her at her side, or show an ounce of forgiveness to them for one little mistake.

...

"I'm not letting it go to waste. I'm going to use it to pull every strand of hair from her head, and THEN I'm going to toss her off a cliff! I'll let gravity do the rest." Apparently not.

...

Why did they waste time trusting me to begin with...? It didn't make any sense to her, looking back on it. She never forgave anyone who betrayed her, she still harbored hatred towards those people. Yet, in the end, they still smiled to her, some of them even in their final moments.

...

"It was nice being friends with you, Catra." Entrapta waved, as the last of her existence came to an end. "I hope we get to see each other again..."

...

I'm sorry... Her mind felt a little bit fuzzier as flashes of her life continued to haunt her, to plague her, as Adora finally reached the first of many boulders, and began the arduous and dangerous leap towards each individual one that drew closer to the sword.

Maybe I deserve to disappear... It wouldn't matter if she did muster the courage to continue fighting. In the weakened physical state she was in, there was no way she could continue fighting it out against Adora.

Maybe it was always going to end like this somehow... She was always the one making mistake, always the one making brash decisions in her life. She didn't make judgement based on thoughts or opinions, just with whatever felt right to her. And, most of those times, it always ended up being wrong.

...

"BeCAuse all of thIS IS your fauLT." And with Catra's own arm still pressed against her back, Adora pulled.

...

She couldn't trust herself.

I'm sorry, guys... Her eyes trembled a little as she continued to squeeze them shut, the tears seeping through as the disappearance had reached up to her neck. You never should've put your faith in me... I failed all of you...

She couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't take the thoughts always bringing up more and more painful memories of her past, of all her mistakes. With the disappearing particles slowly encircling her face from every corner, Catra had one last thought on her mind before being wiped out from existence.

I just wished I could've been the hero you guys deserved...

...

But deep down, I'm pretty sure, she can be the one thing this Rebellion needs most of all.

Someone who can be there for you when you need her the most.

...

Catra opened her eyelid a little as the memory came to pass. ... Then... why did you keep me around...? With the disappearance slowly reaching that of her eyes, she was completely unaware as the process of her inevitable demise began to slow to a crawl. I... I was a terrible She-Ra...

...

The disappearance came to a halt as it had just reached the very edge of her yellow eye. You guys didn't... You guys couldn't care for a screw up like me...

...

It... It didn't matter. Maybe they did care about her, or maybe it was all an act, not counting her closer friends. Either way, it didn't make her any less of a screw-up when push came to shove. When times were at their worst, she was always the first one to be brought down. The first one to always-

...

... To always...

...

"Catra, everyone has made a mistake at least once in their life, okay? We're in the middle of a war, and I guarantee you we're all going to make plenty of more mistakes before it's over. But it's not a mistake to keep on fighting, not when you're trying to fix everything you've done. It's only a mistake when you don't try to fix what you've done."

...

Her eye opened a little more as the tears continued. Unaware of her surroundings, being a disembodied eye floating in place as the rest of her disappeared, she never noticed as Aroda stared back to her, wondering if she was just seeing things or if some part of Catra was still sticking around.

*crumble*

"Ah-!" Before the illusionary parasite could attempt an approach, she was distracted by the sound of Adora suddenly letting out a yelp, followed by some rocks crumbling from the air. Above Aroda, she saw the Force Captain holding onto the edge of one of the boulders, most likely slipping from it before she caught herself. Looking past her, Aroda was more than satisfied with the fact that she was halfway up to the sword, making her previous thoughts seeming pointless by comparison.

During this, Catra continued to think for herself. It wasn't like she wanted to disappear or anything like that. It was just hard to think that she could ever be, or continue to be, someone like She-Ra, someone who was a hero. Even if-

...

"...They at least had the decency to look like they care about me. Even if it's fake, they at least put more effort into it than you ever did! And even if I don't like them," she grinded her teeth as she prepared for anything, "I'd still rather protect them a hundred times over before I went back to the Horde!"

...

... Even if she wanted to win. I... I can't beat her... The magicat's mind had yet to perish as long as some part of her still remained. I never could on my own-

...

"You... You idiots..." Catra teared up. "Why can't you ever leave me alone when I want you to?!"

"Because, Catra, and I'm telling you this for the very last time!" Glimmer said in a stricter tone. "We're your friends. And we're not going to leave your side no matter what happens, got it!"

...

And she was alone as it stood, without her friends at her side, she knew she couldn't beat her.

...

"You've got this, Catra." Glimmer said with a tearful smile as she faded. "We believe in you."

"If anybody can do this, it's you."

...

But her friends... Her friends... Thought she could. A-And she wanted to, but she didn't have the strength to do it! She wasn't smart enough, she wasn't fast enough. All she has is her-

...

Is her... Her...

"..."

What... am I doing? A long lost thought finally came to her mind.

She knew the facts. She knew she was the one who always messed up. She knew she wasn't the hero she was supposed to be. She as bitter, aggressive, took everything at face value, and held grudges like no one else within the Rebellion. She also knew that she could never beat Adora on her own, and right now, that's how she was.

All on her own.

By now, Adora reached the edge of the last boulder as she predicted its projectry. Following its movement with her eyes, she knew it was going to pass the sword within a minute of its time, and climbing herself up to the levitating platform, she finally knew her final moments were drawing near, and Aroda's personal ascension was at hand.

I... I can't beat her, but...

...

Everyone else... is depending on me...

...

As the troubling thoughts continued to envelope her, Adora began to raise her hand in the direction of the sword, filling Aroda with a sense of euphoria as she was barely ten feet from the legendary blade.

At the same time, Catra's tears began to flow, but for every other possible reason.

She couldn't beat Adora. She couldn't figure out any way to beat someone like her. She was all on her own, had nobody by her side, and had no one to pick her up again save for herself. Her chances of victory were slim to none at best, and, most likely, a second chance would just delay the inevitable that was to come.

... But... she couldn't give up. She couldn't allow herself to give up. Not for her own sake, not for something as simple and pointless like her inability to accept defeat at Adora's hands, but for their sake. Her friends. The people who were erased from this world with no hope of ever coming back, unless Catra pulled the miracle off herself.

She couldn't pull it off, she didn't know how she could pull it off, and, for once, it didn't matter. She teared up as she thought of the people who came into her lives, the destiny that lead her to this path, and the changes she's made through herself and others throughout the journey.

A journey that all started the day she became She-Ra.

I don't... I don't...

...

And it did... as she turned Catra around, lowered down to her height, and smiled warmly in her eyes as she stroked Catra's cheek. "And to remember, that within Bright Moon, you're surrounded by people who love you-"

...

And, all at once, Catra snapped her eyes shut as she screamed inside her head.

I DON'T WANNA DISAPPEAR!

*HRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMM-!*

"What?" Just as the Force Captain's fingers were about to brush against the hilt of the blade, the impossible, the unexpected, happened.

The energies that were radiating off the blade nearly tripled in scale as a massive pool of energy began to illuminate from its runestone. A glowing white light, one that felt of warmth and calmness to Adora's own heart, began to expand in a miraculous wave of power as a single large ring-like energy, one that grew and shot out in all directions, expanded from the blade. For a moment, Aroda felt the wave of energy as it connected to Adora's mind, and relished how it felt.

Unaware that it would be the last time she ever felt such an extreme power.

The radiating pool of energy wasn't just for show- it caught the Force Captain completely off her guard as she was blasted back from the intense, crashing through one of the several large boulders before slamming into the ground. And while it wasn't enough to lay any extreme injury on the blonde Horde soldier, it wasn't the most troubling part of the display as it glowed again.

With all of its power centering on the runestone, the blade going mad with energy as lightning flourished from the tip of it's blade within the nexus, a miracle occurred. In a single concentrated blast, in a beam of light the size of the runestone itself, Adora let out a small shriek as she ducked, avoiding the oncoming blast that nearly struck her in the head, potentially saving her life and that of Aroda's as the two sighed back to each other in relief.

Before realizing she wasn't the intended target as they shot a look back.

A distance behind them, right where they left her, they saw it. An aura of miraculous golden light began to shine all around Catra as a tranquil energy was filling the missing portions of her body. Slowly, from the lone fragment of her eye that still remained, Catra's entire being began to come back into existence as Adora and Aroda gasped, unable to stop the process without potentially risking their own lives in the process.

She felt warmth returning to her being as the haze in her mind began to disappear, the sensation of touch returning to every in of her as her body filled out to match the yellow outline the magic had displayed that was returning her to her being. As it did, Catra finally knew.

She couldn't stop here, no matter what. She still didn't believe herself to be the hero her friends deserved, or anywhere near it, but right now, she was the only one they had left. She was the only one capable of saving their lives, the lives of everyone that mattered to her. From her ups and her downs, they accepted her, and even if it would take time for her to do the same, she knew she would come to accept them.

They needed her.

They depended on her.

And she refused to lie down until they were finally back into her life.

At long last, with every corner of the magicat returning, including her tail, Catra let out a gasp of breath as she jumped to her hands and knees. The energies pooled forth as her injuries healed, from her cuts, to her bruises, to everything. It was so weird being alive without the sensation of a heartbeat, or feeling anything for that matter, for a moment and coming back to it. At the same time, Aroda and Adora watched as the light finally returned to the sword itself, with the energies dancing around it growing chaotic by the second.

All the same, Adora was passive about the magicat's return. Even if she came back, she was just going to disappear after this was over anyway, and she couldn't beat her. She knew that, and Aroda knew that as she grumbled back to her.

"Ghhhhh, ignore the stupid cat." Aroda hissed. "Just get the sword while you still can." With a bit of a stern look in her eyes, Adora nodded back to her as she turned around again.

Still panting out of breath, the air refilling her newly-reformed lungs, Catra's eyes wavered. Not one with sorrow, or remorse, but realization. "I... I remember..." She muttered, finally lifting her head back as she stared into the sky. "I remembered what I wished for..."

The world was still falling apart around her, and she didn't know how pulling the sword was going to stop it. Yet she knew, as long as she was alive, as long as she stood, she was the only thing standing between never seeing her friends again, and the former friend who went on to... who went on to...

... destroy the world.

"..."

*swiff*

*Thunk!*

"Ah!" Adora yelped as she was struck in the back of the head by a harsh object, rubbing the small she could've sworn she felt growing. She was ten feet away from returning to the first floating landmass that brought her to the sword before being stopped. Thankful for the lack of blood or an open wound, she quickly glared back with a growl to see something she didn't expect after all of this.

A confident-standing Catra casually tossing another rock in her hand, sneering back to the girl.

"Where do you think you're going?" She spat with a small scowl.

"Grrrrrrrr!" The Force Captain growled as she squeezed her corrupted hand. Seeing the fight hadn't come to an end as of yet, Aroda marched too, reflecting the same grumbling look over Adora's face as she prepared to use her own illusions again. "You really haven't learned a thing, have you?" Her distorted voice cackled, flexing the sharp claws of her right glowing hand. And to think, for a moment, she had actually forgiven her ex-friend after all she's done.

"Trust me, I've learned plenty." She could see plenty too. As the storms of judgement and self-doubt began to evaporate from her mind, she saw some things she never did before as Adora raised back her claw with a menacing roar.

*swiff*

Adora blinked as if she had never seen this happen before. For one of the few times since their fight began, Catra dodged the overhead strike with ease. Not dramatically, not by putting a barrier of some sort between them, just... casually to her right. Without a care in the world.

"Like whose fault this is!"

*WHAM!*

"Ugh!" Adora groaned as she was decked in the jaw, taking several steps back as Aroda did the same. That wasn't like any of the previous strikes Adora had come to experience from her former friend, it actually hurt, like...

Like she wasn't holding anything back.

"I'm not the one who made you to stay in the Horde this whole time, Adora!" Catra shouted as she marched over to her, squeezing her hands into a fist. She still didn't trust herself, not even a little. But at the very least, she could trust her friends, and trust them to trust herself. Like when they told her she wasn't the one responsible for all of this!

Giving another growl, a pool of anger rose in Adora's chest at the statement. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn that sounded like Catra was actually blaming her for something that Catra was responsible for. Clearly, her friend hasn't learned her place, or learned to accept responsibility for her own actions.

And she was all too proud to correct her on the matter.

"Raaaaaaaah!" She screeched, charging for her friend again as she pulled back her claw. It was weird, to say the least.

Normally when Catra fought her, she fought her with her emotions in tact. The guilt that hung over her head blinded her to what was obvious, to what she should've been doing in the first place during all those fights with her. Here, without that guilt, she could actually see things better, from the destruction of the world Adora was causing to all the little movements in her charge.

Perhaps that's how she easily managed to avoid Adora's impaling arm as she swerved around it, wrapping her arms around it tightly as Adora flinched. "I'm not the one who made you drag an entire army all the way to Bright Moon!" With a mighty heave, Catra flung the girl through the air behind her, actually managing to toss her into one of the levitating landmasses with a loud crack as Adora's back slammed into it.

There was no telling how much damage it did, if any, given Adora's new state of being. All she knew as she fell back to the ground was that it definitely ticked her off.

The more she fought against her former friend, the more she fought against her guilt, the more she began to see passed everything else. She truly wasn't the one who told Adora to invade Bright Moon. She had nothing to do with the weather machine that froze the forest, and she NEVER would've planned or asked Adora to invade the very kingdom she's come to call home. That was all on Adora.

And so was everything else.

Refusing to be the odd one out of this part, Aroda smirked to the magicat wickedly as she stood between her and her enemy. Without so much as a flash, Aroda multiplied as she spread in a circle all around Catra ten feet away from her, spreading out even further as all the Aroda's multiplied from that into nearly five additional rows. There must've been at least a good fifty of them or so, all looking as threatening as the real Adora, wherever Aroda hid her in these multitude of illusions.

And she still didn't look the least bit concerned for some reason as she glared around.

"I didn't drive Frosta away from you," she yelled looking around, watching as the Arodas feinted charging at her as they passed through her with ease, "you did that on your own!" Somehow, through a means Aroda couldn't understand, Catra saw through the trick. As Adora was charging up from her left side, blending in all too well with the Arodas, Catra delivered a swift kick to the side of Adora's right face, knocking Adora and the Arodas who were connected to her off their feet and several feet away.

As Adora grumbled angrily at the sight of her rejectful friend, brushing off the small scrape on the side of her face, a twinge of worry crossed over Aroda's mind. S-Something's wrong! She yelled in her own mind.

How was she keeping up with her? How was she seeing past all the copies that mimicked Adora perfectly in every way? They had her look right down to a T, they mimicked her behavior and her voice flawlessly. So how was Catra making a comeback all of a sudden like this?! What happened to all the despair and anguish that was trapped in her heart just moments ago?!

Having more than her own fair share of irritation and rage, Adora yelled angrily as she swiped at the open air, creating another tear in the fabric of reality that closed quickly after she jumped through it. Here, the Arodas all sprang back to their feet, going back to their previous attempts at hampering the magicat's consciousness as Adora appeared from wherever she was going to strike.

"Do you wanna mess up again, little Miss Hero?"

"I ca't wait to see what you screw up next~"

"I wonder who will defeat the Rebellion in the end, Adora or you?"

"Maybe we should let you win to see how badly you screw up again!"

The verbal attacks of insults and mockery came to no end like they did before. They were savage, cruel, bitter, and downright distasteful as Catra gazed among the many Arodas. But no matter how badly they became, Catra's anger stayed the same as she kneeled down, collecting one of the many large rocks littering the ground, one of the few very same rocks Adora kicked off when she slipped a few minutes ago.

"I'm not the one who helped Shadow Weaver escape, and I had nothing to do with who she ran to!" Catra continued to acknowledge Adora's own faults despite the girl not being there, waiting and listening past all the mocking Arodas until Adora finally made her move. With her mind clearer than ever, she knew Adora couldn't afford to spend too much time between reality and the void without risking disappearing herself.

*SSKKTT*

Like she anticipated, her attack soon came to her from behind as Adora lunged for her, her anger reaching new limits as she was ready to end Catra's miserable existence for herself if it meant shutting her up. She didn't know where Catra was getting this newfound source of energy, this irrational display of putting the blame on Adora herself, and she wasn't going to let her have her way. She wasn't going to let Catra's selfishness prevail as she lunged at her. It was all exactly as Catra expected.

With the breeze of the rift opening behind her, with noen of the Arodas distracting her in the slightest, Catra finally counted. With a mere sidestep to the left, Catra threw her right arm over the air before wrapping it around Adora's elbow, keeping the girl locked in her grip as she wrestled it to the ground, pinning her own weight over it. Locked securely between the ground as her body, as Adora stared off dumbfounded, Catra raised the large stone with her other hand.

"I didn't make you kidnap me and steal the sword!"

*CRACK*

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Adora cried out with a bloodcurdling roar as she pulled her clawed hand back, Catra jumping away to her feet as her hardened gaze never left her expression.

All of them, all around her, Catra saw as all the Arodas were crying out in pain and agony as they clutched their hands simultaneously from the massive injury Catra just caused.

Catra shattered several of the claws stretching from her fingertips with a single strike of the rock. It wasn't so much painful on Adora's end as it was shocking. All at once, she watched in horror as half a gallon's worth of white energy, energy obtained through her merging with Aroda in this world, began to burst out of the broken stubs. All that energy, all that sweet, sweet, energy that allowed her to travel between tears in reality, were flowing from her broken pinkish claws like a fountain, until nothing more than a dried husk of greyness remained.

"Nooo, nooo, nooo!" Adora shouted angrily with fear. Immediately, she tried to form new tears in reality, hoping to herself that it was all in her head and that the energy didn't do what she thought it was responsible for. Sadly, fate proved to be unkind to the menacing monster she's become as nothing emanated from her attempted swipes. Not a scar, not a tear, not so much as a small cut.

Catra had broken the power from Adora's very own fingertips. And she made sure she had Adora's attention as she tossed one of the broken remnants of her claw right to Adora's feet.

"And I didn't make you pull the lever, Adora." Her scowl intensified as she squeezed her fist again. With another mighty growl, Adora burst towards her enemy as Aroda's illusions kicked in again.

From one to three. From three to nine. And nine to twenty-seven. The copies that came pouring out of Adora came one after the other as she attempted to catch the magicat off guard again, attempted to confuse her and mix her up, throwing herself two steps forward and one step back off and on to keep her from guessing her appearance and timing.

And still, it somehow proved to be pointless in the end to the magicat. Through means that neither of the two, Adora or Aroda, could comprehend, Catra saw through all of it as she waited a full seven seconds before swerving her arm in the air, catching Adora's real broken-clawed arm out of the hundreds that attempted to trick her through the chaos unfolding. It was here that Adora felt so much pressure being applied to Adora's arm, and all the hatred that came through it.

"You did!" Using her own momentum and Adora's own weight, Catra backrolled against the ground as she kicked Adora off of her, sending her flying nearly fifteen feet away from her as her back collided harshly against the ground. At the same time, many of the Arodas began to fall apart as Adora's mind simulated the pain between all of them, the copies of Aroda falling apart as Adora's energy continued to be used up.

"It was your choice, Adora. It was always your choice!" Gritting her teeth, Adora had just enough time to roll over onto her stomach to see Catra standing several feet away from her, a look of disappointment over her own face as she gazed at the frustrated Force Captain.

"I might not be the world's greatest hero, Adora," she admitted, "or the hero the Rebellion deserves." She still wished she could be. She wanted to be the one she could see as a shining beacon of hope, be the one she could see in a new light. But that's where her problems always came down to. It didn't matter to her anymore how she saw herself.

...

It mattered to her how her friends saw her.

And from there, her gaze hardened again as she glared. "But I'm more of a hero than you will ever be." Expectantly, Adora hissed as she seethed with anger at the remark, already jumping to her feet as she teared up with cries of frustration and rage. "I'm a part of the Rebellion. I'm She-Ra. And you-"

*whack!*

For one moment, Adora thought she had her again as her glowing arm punched Catra straight across the face, grinning victoriously for a battle that yet to be won. And just as quickly as it started, all that excitement, all that hopefulness, fell to pieces as Catra's head was already turning back, ignoring the small bruise on her cheek. She used the weight of her own body as she slid against Adora's arm, bringing a fist around on the other side as she took one step towards the girl, straight into Adora's face.

Her next two words were the last thing Adora ever heard.

"YOU'RE NOTHING!"

*wham*

*Wham!*

*WHAM!*

The air cracked with thunder as Catra delivered the powerful blow square between Adora's eyes, slamming the girl straight into the ground as her head collided with the hard earth beneath her feet, knocking her flat out. The girl showed no signs of energy or consciousness as she lied there before Catra, the warrior panting with exhaustion at the firefight she had just been pushed through. It was a harrowing experience, and one that she couldn't believe for herself as she stumbled backwards a bit, gazing at her own two hands as if she had pulled off a miracle.

Catra had just beaten Adora, for the first time Catra could consider it all on her own.

"I... I won...?" It didn't make any sense to her at the moment, surprising herself through the whole ordeal as she gazed back to her unconscious friend. Why did she win? How did she win? She's tried as hard as she always did before. Even if her injuries had recovered, it didn't make her any stronger in the process. She wanted to beat Adora, plain and simple. She had the same reasons as before for wanting to beat her, so what made it all different this time around?

... Or maybe... she didn't have as good a reason to win before? Previously, on a handful of occasions, she had only been trying to win for herself. Even if it was to win for one side or the other, it had always been for the sole purpose of wanting to defeat Adora out of personal pride, not because it was right or wrong around here.

This time, however, was different. She wasn't fighting for herself for a change, she wasn't trying to be any different than herself. She was trying to beat Adora for a sake that actually mattered to her, more than anything else within this entire world.

She was fighting to save her friends. The people who meant something to her.

*crackle*

Ears twitching at the crick, Catra bore witness as the earth in front of her began to break apart, as if the dying world itself was trying to consume Adora through all of this in vengeance. It was happening too much for Catra to respond to as the ground gave way, watching her fall into the void, a fate she deserved after all that's happened, one that wouldn't last for long after Catra saved everybody. In its own sense, Catra could say she defeated Adora once and for all in this world, and feel glad that she did.

Despite the sense of pride that came with it, there was also a bit of shame that did as Catra teared up a bit. She didn't just cut her ties with Adora from this point on, recognizing her as the true villain behind all of this. She tore those strings to shreds with her bare hands, and ripped them apart until there was nothing left.

She choked briefly as she collapsed to her knees a single tear being all she could muster for her fallen friend. She was no longer the person she recognized, no longer the same innocent person Catra knew she could never get back.

But she was going to miss her. Now and forever.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Running right through her for an instant, Catra watched as Aroda ran to the edge of the crackling ground, sliding to her feet as she reached in the direction Adora fell into, looking devastated beyond measure. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" She screeched with worry and panic, pulling at her own face in horror as she watched this.

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't accept that it was happening. It had to be a bad dream or a nightmare, the first ever that she's experienced. She was at the edge of it, had a whiff of the wonderful power that brought Catra back into existence, that had the power to shift the entirety of reality in one direction, and then wipe it out, all in one go. All Adora had to do was touch the blade, it was right at her fingertips! And what happened then?

CATRA HAPPENED! RIGHT AT THE LAST MOMENT SHE JUST HAD TO GET UP FROM OUT OF NOWHERE, RECOVER FROM HER INJURIES, BOTH PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL, AND KICK ADORA TO THE CURB! SHE SHOULD'VE JUST BEEN DISTRAUGHT FROM THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE, SHOULD'VE KEPT HER HEAD DOWN LIKE A GOOD LITTLE PET, AND SHE COULDN'T EVEN DO THAT FOR FIVE MORE SECONDS!

Shooting her head in every direction, she glared back at Catra with dismay. "You! You have to save her! Go get her or something!" She demanded more than begged.

Wiping the tear from her eye, Catra rose back to her feet. A heavy heart in her chest as she accepted the reality before her. "You're confusing me for one of her friends, Aroda." She scoffed. "Besides, I don't see why you don't just save her yourself."

"Idiot! I can't!" She revealed. "She's used up too much energy! And even then, I can't if she's unconscious!" With that, Aroda shot a look back, already feeling the effects of what was happening to Adora.

Adora was fading away, disappearing into a mass of light as parts of her disappeared much like Catra did.

"Noo..." And it began. From the tip of her own fingers, small cracks of red began to grow along Aroda's own body, slowly spreading and stretching from the edges of her very being. Confused for a moment, it was then that Catra remembered the details behind The Spell of Obtainment's existence.

Specifically, how to get rid of it.

...

The parasite traveled to this new world through the use of technology, one by Entrapta's very own hand. Even if the timeline had been altered, and Adora never redonned the headband that started all of this, it still wasn't enough to be rid of the parasite itself, just like Casta said. The power of time was incapable of removing the parasite by force. And at the same time, through this entire feat, a means to remove the parasite from Adora had finally been presented to Catra.

Non-existence. A temporary death. A death that she couldn't even consider calling it knowing she was going to restore everything back to normal anyway. In this matter, Adora would cease to exist, and everything inside of her would disappear.

Including Aroda.

"This... this can't be happening..." Aroda panted and huffed as she stood up, legs trembling as they looked prepared to buckle at any given opportunity. She slow turned herself around, wobbling as she did, as Aroda's own existence continued to whither and dissipate, she mustered what little strength she could to stare back at Catra. "Y-You... It doesn't h-have to be like this..." She gulped. "W-We... We could work together!" Catra's eyes narrowed in disgust at the parasite's suggestion.

"Excuse me?"

"Y-Yes, I- I ... G-G-Go down there, and grab Adora's hand! The glowing part of her! Anything!" She smiled in a teethy nervous grin as her eye twitched, the glowing red spreading up to her elbows. "I-I'm sure something can... I-I bet I can transfer to you through the world's collapse! Or something! Just try it!"

"And why should I?" With a good spit, Catra began to walk away, as Aroda fumbled with her own words.

"B-Because we're the same!" She twitched with a smile as she saw Catra stop several feet from where she was. "I-I know what you're like! You think this is the first time we met?" Catra did have to admit, sghe was a little curious on the prospect. "I've seen you through Shadow Weaver for several years. Always wanting to prove yourself, to be stronger. That's what you did this all for, isn't it? To get stronger?"

Catra was rather surprised by this. With all that had happened within the last several days, or months to follow, she had completely forgotten about the one underlining detail. Aroda, the parasite, used to inhabit Shadow Weaver's body, making her the host to a source that could siphon energy from anything and everyone around her. Between the issue with her face she covered with a mask, and ability to draw power from the runestone through her magic, she had almost forgotten she parasite inhabited her to begin with.

It made Catra wonder, for a bit, just how much of herself the parasite actually knew about, how long it was watching Catra, Adora, and anyone else growing up in the Fright Zone.

"You can have that power if you help me! We can both survive this!" It continued to plead, actually forming beads of its own sweat as the red cracks had reached her shoulders and her chest. "What do you say?!"

"... What do I say?" Aroda watched hopefully as she saw Catra lift her head a bit, seeing the tip of her noes from the back of her head that was still facing her. "... I say you're wrong." Aroda blinked. "You're wrong about me." Turning her head back to her, Aroda could see the hatred in her seething eyes, a hatred that was once directed on Adora, now doubled upon Aroda.

"I didn't want power to make myself stronger, not anymore. I just wanted the power to keep my friends safe. That's all it's ever been about. I don't care about having She-Ra's power directly. Whether it's She-Ra's power or some other power, all I wanted to do with it was to be able to keep my friends safe. Nothing more, nothing less."

"B-Bu... But..." Aroda nearly fell to her knees at this, already feeling the time for talk was past them. Even if she did agree to it, there wouldn't be any chance of her reaching Adora from this point. It was hopeless. "T... Then... You have to tell me. How?" Catra barely had a sense of care left in her to give after today as she raised a brow.

"How what?"

"How... did you know?" Shadowy mists began to emanate from the girl as Adora's end had drawn closer and closer to the parasite by the second. "How did you see through the illusion?" She was going to die, to perish. That much she was sure of at this very moment. At the very least, the one thing Catra could do, was explain to her, how.

How in Etheria did she see past Aroda's illusions?

"What? Is that all?" A small, smug, grin crossed Catra's lips a little bit as she maintained the look of resentment on her face. "There were two big things that I noticed when I finally came to my senses. First off, you were a terrible actor. You had every detail down to the right detail when you mimicked Adora, but you couldn't copy that look in her eye."

...

She was nothing to her, Adora realized that now. And Catra was dead to Adora in turn.

"Goodbye, Catra." With that final utterance, Adora walked her way into the light, refusing to look back as Catra raised a clawed hand for her.

...

Even now, it continued to haunt her, like a nightmare every time she closed her eyes. That look that told her she wanted nothing more to do with her, a look that took everything Catra had to finally move on from. Despite all that's happened, despite the care she lost for her former friend from this point, she never would've, nor ever will, get that image out of her mind.

"Adora always had this spark in her eye, one that she could never get rid of when she glared at me. You? You had nothing of the sort."

Aroda held back the urge to growl as she twitched, gritting her teeth through sheer force of will. Of course, someone like this stupid, STUPID, ANIMAL, just had to, just HAD TO HAVE SOME FORM OF CONNECTION WITH SOMEONE SHE HATED! She was no longer her friend, plain and simple, and the damage from her past could no longer be restored. Possibly, undeniably, but Catra could no longer forsake the rest of her world on uncertainty.

She had to move forward.

"And... the second thing..." Aroda hissed, taking a step forward. She needed to know where she went wrong, what she did to mess things up so badly to the point where Catra could see through her deception.

"Honestly?" A smirk almost crossed Catra's lips again which she shook off. "Your feet gave it away."

"... Huh?" Aroda tilted her head in confusion as she looked down. What about her feet? There was nothing out of place about them. She wore the same boots Adora did, the same leather woolen pants, the same everything. She stared for what felt like hours in a matter of seconds, analyzing every detail about her new look, and she didn't notice anything underneath her fe-

... Her feet... Underneath... Oh no...

Catra continued to grimace as she stared at the living illusion, resisting the urge to grin ever so slightly to the sight of Aroda's face slowly expanding with terror. Out of all her preparations, all of her necessities every little detail that she insisted and made sure would play out perfectly, there was one, JUST ONE thing she neglected to assure of herself, something that brought about her ultimate end.

She didn't have a shadow.

With all the time she spent being seen by Adora on a daily basis, all the interactions and whatnot she displayed around her, not once did Aroda ever bother to manifest a shadow of her own. And why would she? She was a living figment of someone else's head, someone who saw her and only her, day in and day out, and nobody else. It was easy passing off her shadow left and right in the Fright Zone, that was thanks to the shadowy manipulations she had at her disposal, due to Adora's shadow magic.

Here? In this reality? She never obtained that power. She never maintained the same shadow magic in this world, one that let Aroda conjure up shadows for herself without even thinking about it. That lack of thought kept her from remembering the shadows around herself, kept her from paying attention to her own surroundings, as she was too stuck up on putting Catra down as far as she could.

Her own senseless pride became her ultimate downfall.

"T... Tha..." Aroda was beside herself with fury incarnate as her shadowy blood boiled. "That doesn't matter!" A sneer grew over Aroda's lips as she cackled, trying to maintain whatever form of dignity she had left. "Y-You think I'm scared? Of death!? Without using magic, I can't die! When Adora's dead, I'll simply return to my plane of existence, biding my time until some other fool summons me again!" The parasite grew a hearty laugh at the reality of the situation.

This was nothing new to her, not in the long run. Some fool summoned her, couldn't control her powers right, and resulted in her host dying and sending the parasite back right down to the plane of magic, a realm where creatures like her were called forth. Within the sacred place, time flowed differently. Sometimes a minute there was a year in the real world, sometime a decade within that realm was only half a second in the real world. It was always inconsistent and always shaky.

But it was always moving forward. If it took her a minute, an hour, a year, a century, she didn't care. Some day, she would be back from that sacred realm, and when she was, she was going to do everything in her power to make sure Catra and her idiots paid, and if not, then their descendants certainly would!

"...You know," Catra continued, resting a hand at her hip, "looking back on it here, the fact that you lost shouldn't be the biggest thing that concerns you." Aroda's confusion took the better of her as she listened intently to the magicat. "Because the way I see it, if you have anything close to some spirit or form after this, there'll be nothing left for you in this world. When Adora disappears, and everyone goes back, you'll be stuck here in limbo, forever."

"Ah-!" Aroda's false heart froze solid at the revelation.

She was right.

Without someone else to perform the spell, nobody could re-summon Aroda from the magical plane of existence once she faded. A spell that only a select few knew of, such as Shadow Weaver herself. When she disappeared, she wouldn't just return to an astral plane of magic once more, she would return to a plane of nothingness, almost an entire world of nothingness inside of this realm of even more nothingness!

Nobody could remake this world to being exactly the way it was. Nobody could restore this world itself back to the false reality that created it. She wouldn't just be locked between worlds. She would be locked between a world between a world connected to another world. She would be trapped there for all eternity, with no way out.

And Catra couldn't think of a better punishment for one who drove her former friend to madness.

"No..."

*crick*

And it was with that last sound of cracking, a sound of a solid line breaking over glass, that her final end came about.

"Enjoy oblivion, Aroda." Those were Catra's final words as she stood there to watch.

All around her, Aroda began to panic with despair as the cracks around herself, including the ones that formed over her fake clothing, began to fall apart. A piece at a time, like barks of the tree splintering off of a tree, the parasite watched with horror as chunks of her own body began to break apart, disintegrating from the edges of her limb, slowly climbing towards the parasite's head as she let out a blood-curdling scream.

"AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her face contorted and twisted left and right as its form broke apart, revealing to Catra the terrible form of the parasite itself, the form it once dawned before all of this.

It truly was an amalgamation of pure magic as it became a living essence of darkness. All around it, its body began to blacken as it's body slowly disintegrated, multiple eyes of pure red with black slits forming all along its cloud-like body. It feared its end now more than ever for the first time in its life, knowing the eternity of nothingness that had awaited it, what Catra felt was justly deserved for one who wanted to destroy the world just to obtain power.

For a moment, it almost made her fearful about how much she represented everything the parasite once was. How she was consumed with getting more power for herself at the expense of those around her, and how she almost ruined the world itself with what little responsibility she had behind all of this. There was just one big difference between her and the parasite at this very moment.

She had friends right beside her all this time.

"GGAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The parasite screamed in agony as it expanded, almost looking like a cloud as the rest of its smoke-like body finally began to disintegrate too. Like it did originally in its fake body, from the tips of its appearance, the smoke-like haze began to disintegrate into a red minst. Seeping, spewing, burning with every fiber of its being.

At the end, all that remained was a single eye of the dozens that had formed around it, looking away in fear frantically in all directions. The very last thing it saw was Catra's scowl, a sense of true hatred burning within the magicat for all it has done, and it would be the last face it ever saw. With one last cry of fear, without anything left in this world, the eye finally shriveled up in a small explosion of redness, one that scattered across every direction of the world.

Aroda, was finally destroyed.

And so was Adora, however brief it may be.

*Ka-Rumble*

"Huh?" Catra barely had the time to register the ground shaking before she gaped in terror. All around her, spreading across the floor like a wildfire, were hundreds of large cracks forming along the surface of the ground beneath her feet. It wasn't just a few feet or a dozen feet around her. As if by Aroda's last wish and will, nearly everything, everywhere, she was standing on was beginning to crumble, the cracks pooling to every corner of the landmass around her.

She couldn't take more than two feet from where she stood before the ground came tumbling to pieces, and her along with it.

"Ahh!" She screamed in terror as she fell into the oblivion that awaited her, watching as over dirt and debris fell from above her as the whole ground she was standing on corroded and erased away. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she continued to fall, staring off in disbelief as the ground, the sword drew away from her as the nothingness consumed her. No... Even in her mind, her voice sounded like an echo, a distant cry as she looked down at her own two hands.

She was fading away. She was disappearing. It wasn't like before when she was disappearing a little at a time, oh no. Here, she saw her entirety beginning to fade from existence from being within the void itself, a detail she observed the first time Adora dragged her through it. As scared as she was at the sight of disappearing again, nothing surmounted to the dread she was feeling as she squeezed her watery eyes, knowing there was no saving her, or her friends for that matter.

I'm sorry guys... She tried so hard, did what she could never accomplish before on her own, and still lost. The victory she finally claimed over Adora for the first time did nothing to quell the anguish she was feeling, the reality that she would never see her friends again, or anybody that she cared about. All the people she let down, all the people she didn't know and didn't know her who needed her to save them, it was a horrible experience.

She just wished she had one last chance to make things right.

"Catraaaaaa!" Even now, as she hugged herself, she could've sworn she heard someone's voice. No doubt it was her cruel consciousness playing tricks on her- "Catraaaaaaa!" The voice shouted again, snapping Catra's eyes open. It definitely wasn't in her head.

Shooting her view around in every direction, her eyes widened as she gasped looking right above her. There, she saw the person that was once her mother in this fake reality, the person who cared for her like her very own daughter. Queen Angella had arrived in the nick of time, providing the miracle that Catra desperately needed.

"Angella...?" She muttered, still slightly skeptical if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not.

It took the sweet embrace of the Queen's arms around her to realize it was real, and the soaring through the voidless air to acknowledge that she was saved.

...

"Huff... Huff..." Catra panted a little out of breath as she pushed her hands against her knees, standing before the Queen. She didn't know she was holding her breath at this point until her feet collided with the solid ground of another large landmass, securing her safety. And the whole time, the Queen never released her gentle grip from her shoulders as she stood before her.

"I remember, Catra. I remember everything." She said, worry and concern crossing her face over the troubled girl. "I know this isn't our world anymore, none of it is." She brought Catra to attention softly as she scanned the feline's face. "How do we fix this?" Catra said nothing as she stared, a stare that caught the Queen's attention as she looked back into the sky, seeing the very thing that started all of this.

The Sword of Protection. A mystical blade crafted by the First Ones.

The energies it was unleashing continued to run rampant as the vortex swirled above it, slowly growing in mass and in strength as the world around it continued to crumble. From what was just a few pieces of solid earth and boulders now practically looked like an asteroid belt in comparison, with thousands of large rock embedded in the air that swirled in an endless ring of despair, and more as the world continued to crumble.

Despite her never being destined, never being chosen, Catra could still feel the connection with the sword as it rang within her soul. All of her mistakes, all of her past began with this very sword. A sword that was meant for someone truly worthy of it. If she never found the sword from the beginning, if she never touched the sword that set her on a journey of personal discovery, she didn't know who or what she would've turned into.

And a part of her feared it.

All the same, the memory of how it all started, the fact that it was the blade that began all of this, sung within Catra's ears as she stepped forth, walking passed the Queen as her trance-like state focused entirely on the mystical wonder. "Go back to the beginning..." Catra muttered, catching the Queen's ear. "Razz... wasn't talking about me. She was talking about Adora!" Somehow, she didn't feel a sense of jealousy anymore over the fact. The fact this wasn't her sword, the fact this wasn't her destiny, and the fact she was never meant to be She-Ra.

"To the place where she came through as a baby..." Squeezing her fists, Catra's ears subconsciously lowered as the girl tilted her head a little, keeping her expression from the Queen's prying curiosity. "I know what I have to do. I need to go into the portal and pull out the sword. It'll shut down the portal and return everybody who disappeared! Then... everything will go back to normal."

"And you'll come back too, right?" Angella asked. The silence within the air struck the cords of Angella's nerves as she noticed Catra's mute voice. The lack of reaction, the heaviness in her stance. Something was telling her she wouldn't enjoy the answer. "Catra," she spoke up, walking to the girl's back, "you will return with us too, right?" Again, another brief wave of silence followed before she answered.

"... Heh, of course I will!" She smiled back, extremely casual and innocent as she did. "Then we can all go back home and, you know... you can ground me for a year or whatever for almost destroying the world."

"Ground... you?" She has never heard Catra, much less anyone, take the idea of grounding as something to be relieved about. On top of that, the cheerful smile in Catra's eyes, and her lips, was... unwelcomed, for a change. A sight that harbored a greater turmoil than Catra was trying to let on.

"Y-Yeah, for as long as you want!" She chuckled as she began to walk away from the Queen. "Man, I can't wait to see the talking to I'll get when this is over-"

"Catra!" The Queen gripped the girl's shoulder firmly, knowing something was amiss. "... I want you to turn around, and look me in the eye, and tell me you will return with everyone else." The Queen wanted her to, oh so badly. She wanted this nightmare world to be brought to an end, to embrace her daughter and her friends in her arms in the Kingdom of Bright Moon once more! All she needed was for Catra to tell her what she wanted, and she would let her go.

But Catra couldn't answer. "Catra? Please, just turn around and tell me you'll be coming home." She wanted to. She wanted to shout about how she was returning to the kingdom she's called home, how everything would be all right. All she had to do was turn around for her, look her in the eye, and lie to her, like hundreds of other times she's done it. Then, she could finally be free to make her decision.

And yet, mo matter how badly she wanted to, for the first time in her life, she couldn't bring herself to lie to the Queen, not for the last time she would ever be seeing her. "... I..." She finally gazed back to the Queen, as she wanted... only she couldn't look her in the eye. She couldn't bring herself to smile for a change despite having done so a thousand times before. "Who... Whoever pulls the sword won't... They'll be trapped on the other side, in-between the gateway... forever." The Queen gasped silently at the revelation as she released her hold from her shoulder.

This had to be some sort of sick joke, right? One of Catra's hilariously-awful pranks? She was sure of it. She was going to say "Ha! Fooled you!" or something any second now and tell the Queen that she didn't really mean it, that her twisted sense of humor just came up with it on the spot. For once in the Queen's immortal life since Catra came to Bright Moon, she wanted to hear nothing more than those exact words.

"For... ever?" The Queen's eyes softened as sadness took over. She glanced to the roaring sky above her as the blade continued to pulsate with energy, the vortex growing more and more violent by the second. Who knew what would be on the other side, if there was anything, or if anyone would be able to return?

Catra knew. She knew from Entrapta that this would be a one-way trip for one person, and everyone else would return home safe and sound. There, they could go back to their boring war-filled life that never seemed to end, and go about their day like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Save for one individual who would never be at their side.

"Catra-"

"Don't!" Catra sputtered as she squeezed her fists again, turning her back on the Queen as she stepped away. "Don't say... anything. Alright? I," she stared into the swirling sky once more, "I have to do this."

"You have to?" The Queen wondered, questioning if she meant she literally have to or personally did.

"Yes, I have to! All of this started the day I stole Adora's destiny from her, all that's happened since then has been my fault. I never should've become She-Ra, I never should've joined the Rebellion, I never should've done anything! And now the world's falling apart, Glimmer and Bow are gone, along with the rest of the world, and I... It's not about feeling guilty, anymore. I have to make things right."

"But why? Why do you have to make things right, Catra? There has to be another way."

"Because that's what I wished for!" She stated, holding back a tear as she gritted her teeth. "I wished for the one thing I always wanted. To be She-Ra, to be a hero of the Rebellion. I wanted to be the person who could never lose as long as she didn't give up, and now," still shaking a bit, she gave a sweetened sad-filled smile to Her Majesty as she approached, "now I finally have a chance to make it right. To make everything right, like I wanted."

"To make everything right?" Angella was rather shocked to hear all of this. Not for the information she put down, not for the knowledge that it was her wish to finally be the She-Ra she always wanted to be, but for the very words that were coming out of the individual in front of her. "Catra, are... Are you saying that you would willingly sacrifice your own life, just to save ours?"

Catra didn't say as pain filled her eyes. Still keeping her ears down, never showing a single sign of happiness or relief, Catra hung her head low. There, she stared gazingly at the grass beneath her feet, the sight of Angella's footwear. If she was going to disappear for the rest of eternity, if she was never going to see any of the people she cared about again, then she wanted to take in their appearance, to remember what everyone looked like, one last time.

"... P... Pft... Hahahahahaha!" For the first time in history, the Queen did something that Catra had never seen before in such a dire situation; she laughed. Covering her mouth with one hand and covering her stomach with the other, closing her eyes softly as Catra's expression twisted to confusion, she laughed.

"W-What's so funny?!" Seriously, she was about to disappear here! The least she could do is let her in on whatever joke she thought up!

"I-I'm- Tch, hahahaha!" Angella swiped a tear from her eye with her thumb as she relaxed. "Forgive me, Catra, it's just, heh... When I look at you, as your ally, I can't even recognize the girl who barged into the Throne Room all those months ago, demanding a kingdom in exchange for their assistance." At this, Catra blushed a little as she turned her head away. So the Queen wanted to get a bit of embarrassment out of her? Fine. The least she could do was make it quick for her.

Then, the Queen gently touched Catra's chin with her soft thumb and finger, nudging the girl's head in her direction where Catra could see a pride-filled sense of warm emanating from her. "And, as a mother," she brushed a few bangs out of Catra's eyes, "I can not begin to tell you how proud I would have been, this day, to have called you my daughter." All at once, everything made sense to Catra as she froze, reliving the memory she had many hours ago.

...

"But... That's..." Catra turned away from the girl as she rubbed the side of her neck against the palm of her right hand. "That doesn't make any sense. That couldn't be the reason behind all of this."

"Why not?"

"Because if..." She wrapped a tail around her waist as she crossed her arms. "Because if this place really grants everyone's wishes, then I'm not the one who wished to have a family."

"You didn't?"

"Then how or why did you end up living as a Princess?"

"I don't... I don't know. I just know that I didn't wish for it-"

...

And, coming out of her memory-filled haze, Catra could see the familiar sense of warmth in Angella's eyes.

The warmth of a mother.

"It... It was you." She muttered softly. "You were the one who wished that... that I could be a part of your family?" The Queen's smile confirmed this as she continued stroking Catra's cheek, the magicat unaware as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I told you, I remember everything." She nodded. "My wish wasn't for you to join mine, my wish was for you to experience what it would have been like to live with a family, one who would love you as one of their own... I just turned out to be lucky that it was ours." Catra didn't know... anything. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know how to respond. All she knew was that the Queen embraced her lovingly in a hug, resting her head over the taller woman's shoulder as her eyes watered.

"You've suffered so much, experienced so many hardships. Just for once, I wished for you to experience what it was like. To know what it felt like to love another and be loved for in turn. To have a mother that could tuck you in every night, a father who would protect you every day, and a sibling who would look up to you, no matter how much older or younger you were. And I hope it was everything you could've wanted."

"...W-Why..." Catra choked. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Catra," Angella went on as she pulled her away a little, still smiling with pride as her own eyes watered, "you were the best thing to ever happen. To all of us." She... She was aching right now. Hearing every word coming from Angella, every word of praise that she's always wanted to hear from someone, it was... horrible. She felt the comfort she longed for through all of it, the memories of what it was like to be part of a family.

All she didn't know was whether or not she could still push herself to pull away from it all now.

"Catra-"

"S-Stop!" Catra choked again as she feebly tried to push the Queen away. It was nothing more than a child throwing a small tantrum to the Queen's eyes as she gently grasped Catra's waving wrists. "Just stop! I don't..." She couldn't contain the tears as they streamed from her face, especially as Angella embraced her again, resting her head softly against her chest as she caressed Catra's head. "Why are you telling me all of... all of this!? I have a job to do, remember?"

"Because it's true." Angella deemed, resting her chin against her head as she closed her eyes. "You've done so much for the Rebellion, so much more than you could possibly know." Her smile continued as she opened her eyes a little.

"You've become an inspiration to everyone around you. You've lead us to so many victories when all seemed impossible. And you've reminded me what it means to be brave, Catra." The Queen stroked her mane as Catra cried silently into her chest. "You were the best thing to happen to everyone. The best thing to happen to the Rebellion, the best thing to happen to my daughter and her friends, and the best thing that happened to me. The Rebellion has need for people like you, Catra. It always has. And there's nothing I could do to ever pay you back."

"Ghh..." Catra couldn't even get the words to come out of her mouth anymore. Trying to push the Queen away from her only made Catra's hands pull her in tighter as she through them around her chest, unable to bare hearing these words for the final time.

Angella meant every word of it, too. Never has the Rebellion had anyone more obnoxious, more cynical, more selfish, than someone like Catra. Nor, did they ever have someone with so much pain in their past, so much history to their character, and someone who was a lonely child behind the rough exterior they made themselves out to be.

When she first joined the Rebellion, Angella didn't know what to make of her. To make of someone who wanted a kingdom for herself, simply to find out it so she wouldn't be alone. Someone who pushed through everything with all their might because of fear of being seen as a failure. Someone who relished a mere amount of praise because they never knew what it could feel like. Someone who was torn to shreds on the inside after being forced to throw their life away, who cried loudly into everyone's arms after the Battle of Bright Moon.

Catra truly was the best thing a Queen, and a mother, could ever ask for.

Looking up to the vortex again, the queen lowered her gaze more firmly as she saw the sword that would end it all.

"And that's why... I can't let you do this." Catra's eyes shot open at the announcement. By the time she managed to turn her head in her direction, it was already too late.

Angella flew off.

*Swoosh!*

"Wha-?" For a moment, Catra was confused. With all the emotions she had running through her mind, she had almost forgotten everything that was about to happen, and realized everything that was going to happen next. "No- NOOO!" Shouting, Catra quickly searched around before running towards the closest piece of land that was being pulled up to the vortex.

"So I will be watching you, got it? And if you do anything do anything to betray that trust, raise suspicion, cause doubt, or even disappoint her in any way," it was like staring into a black void as Catra was forced to look into her eyes, "I will make whatever nightmare you fear most look like paradise compared to what I will do to you. Are we clear!?"

"Y-Yesh mam." She muttered through her puckered lips.

She was crazy, insane. The tears quickly dried up from her eyes as she realized the terrible truth of this situation. Angella, the Queen and leader of the Rebellion, was going to sacrifice herself, all for Catra's sake. Never has the feline met someone as crazy as she has now. For Her Majesty's sake, she prayed she would be the last.

"Angella, stop!" Catra shouted, running to the edge of the landmass as it tilted before using her cat-like agility to leap to the next piece of land leading up to the vortex. She had to stop her no matter what. This was supposed to be Catra's fate, not hers! She had an entire life waiting for her back in Bright Moon. A daughter, an army, people who needed her to continue to lead them. And she refused to let anyone else make a choice for her again.

One where the plan was to let Catra be Catra, at that.

"I should've never let her leave this castle." Angella spoke, pushing her eyes into her hands as she rested her elbows on the table. "Not with you."

Ok, that was painful.

Seeing the magicat that was surprisingly keeping up with the winged woman, using the various pieces of land floating upwards towards the sword of destiny, she felt remorse. "I'm sorry, Catra." With the wave of her hand, the Queen blasted a beam of energy at the next platform the magicat was aiming for, shattering it to pieces before Catra could touch it, falling straight through the cloud of dust as she fell a short distance lower, grabbing onto the next nearest piece of land she could reach.

"You." The Queen casually made her way over to the nervous Catra as her ears lowered.

Her claws barely skimmed the surface of the platform as she gripped it, pulling herself up with all of her might and in haste. She couldn't understand it. Why was Angella doing this for her? She wasn't her real mother, she wasn't anything to Catra, so there shouldn't be any reason for her to do this at all! Catra hated her, she always hated her! So she could be going back down to leave Catra to her fate!

"You... actually want me at dinner tonight?"

"That... uh... does sound pretty good..."

Shooting her head back, she found that the Queen's attempts to foil her may have been a blessing in disguise as she saw another large mount of rock approaching her. From the pathway it was traveling, it was leading up to a straight and narrow path that lead closer to the vortex. Scrambling to her feet, Catra dashed as fast as she could as the world continued to crumble.

"You have a family back home, don't do this!" Catra continued to plead as she pushed herself to her limits, running as fast as her legs could carry her. When she nearly tumbled at one point, she didn't bother stopping to catch her balance. She ran a short way on all fours with swift leaps across the surface before reaching the next elevation.

"Why are you of all people defending her? You should be just as angry as I am! Don't you get it? We could've died on that mission, Pinky could've died on that mission! Doesn't that mean anything to you? Because for someone who claims to be a "loving mother", you really don't seem to care about what happens to your own daughter-!"

"CATRA!" The Queen's anger as she rose from her seat, winged spread in fold, was enough to shake everyone, even Catra herself as her ears lowered. "Go to your room. Now."

Catra couldn't understand. The Queen knew that with all of her heart as tears rolled from her cheek, seeing the girl pushing herself as far as she could as Angella was nearly there. Angella DID intend to protect her family, her whole family. And that included the very daughter she had for nearly a day, yet an entire lifetime of memories before it. Even without them, Catra was no less important than the rest of the people in Bright Moon, and it was a Queen's duty to protect her people.

Once more, the Queen sighed. "Sometimes I count that among my blessings..."

She owed it to Catra for giving her the courage to do so.

Reaching the end of the large pathway of floating rocks, Catra began to panic. There was nothing left between her and the sword, which was probably at least twenty feet away, and fifteen feet above her. While she could potentially reach the sword by shooting straight up, she would never make the jump herself from this angle. She needed something to jump towards and onto before making her next great leap, all while worrying as the Queen neared the blade herself.

That's when Catra realized- someone could work just as well.

*swiff*

*thomp*

"Agh!" The Queen yelped from a mix of fright and surprise as she was suddenly jumped. With all the power in her feet, Catra shot herself directly at the Queen herself, grasping onto the center of her back before kicking off her royal highness with her own two feet, jumping straight for the sword. "Catra, no!"

Catra reached as she neared the sacred blade, lamenting everything that she would be leaving behind. She was going to save everyone, be the She-Ra she always wished to be in spirit, not in appearance. For once in her life, she was going to make a choice that she knew she could never regret, knew there could be no downsides to.

She almost wanted to see how stupid it was going to be.

So what if she disappeared, and She-Ra along with it? The Rebellion was surely going to win at any rate. There was no way Adora would get the best over her dear friends, no chance of her possibly catching them off guard again without her around. Her two friends were going to continue uniting the Princess Alliance, continue winning the war against Hordak and his army, and she knew they were going to win in the end.

She shifted her eyes away as she gently grabbed Angella's hand, pulling her hand away softly as she tried to find something to say. "U-Um... I-"

She smiled a bit to herself at the thought as another tear rolled down her face. Her one regret was the fact she wasn't going to get to see it for herself, but she knew it would've been worth it. One live to save an entire world, who wouldn't wish for a greater chance to be a hero like that? It seemed like a pretty good deal in Catra's book as long as she was chosen. Her one mistake was her entire past. Now, she was going to fix it for her entire future.

By giving the world one to fight for as she reached for the sword.

*swiff*

And missed it by a mere inch as she came to a stop. Time seemed to slow down for her as gravity took charge over the magicat's fate, and began to slowly pull the feline back to the world below. Her heart felt hollow as she stared, unable to comprehend the fact that she just missed by one entire inch, or the fact that the Queen passed her by immediately after, giving her a soft warming smile again as Catra began to fall back.

She had failed.

"I love you Mommy." Catra quietly muttered in the Queen's ear.

Angella paused, letting the moment sink in. She put a soft gloved hand behind Catra's back.

"...I love you too, Catra." She whispered.

"ANGELLA!" Catra cried out in scream as the essence of time returned to her, feeling herself falling again for several seconds before slamming into a slab of soft-covered dirt.

With Catra out of the way, Her Majesty rose through the vortex as she gazed upon the sword. This sword was the cause of everything right and wrong in this world. It nearly brought the end of the world, and it brought a lone girl who never experienced what it was like to be a part of the family. It was the best of both sides and worst of both sides.

And now, she had a chance to do what was right for the very first time.

With both her hands, she grasped the magnificent blade with all her might, groaning to herself as she shook off the pain that shot forth. Still radiating with a surge of energy, electricity coursed through the Queen's body as she grunted, pulling the powerful blade with all of her strength.

It hurt, suffice to say. It hurt a lot. If she failed to pull this thing out, all of Etheria, possibly the entire universe, would've been wiped out of existence. Before, she was a Queen who stood behind a Rebellion in fear, one who would let her daughter do the work, while regretting the fact she could never hope to be as brave enough as her husband, Micah. That's why, when she looked back down, she saw someone standing with tears and shock in their eyes that gave her the strength to push forward, like many times before.

Catra.

"Take good care of each other." This was Angella's Parting Wish.

The Queen wished for Catra to promise as she finally focused. With all the power her immortal body would call forth, every strength in her wings pushing her away from the sword, Angella finally managed to preform the miracle needed to save the world.

In a glorious bout of light, the sword was removed.

Catra shielded her eyes with her arm and closed them, feeling the blinding light pushing through her very eyelids themselves. When she felt the wave of light pass over them, she finally gave the world a small peek, looking over everything that ever was, and everything that had yet to be erased by the portal destroying Etheria. That's when she saw it.

The Sword of Protection. The blade she was destined to stand with to this very day. It glowed with a blue, wondrous light as energy continued to blossom within the blade, all while the vortex, the void that had encased Etheria, ceased to be.

Including Angella.

The sword descended from the air as Catra watched. It felt like so long since the magicat saw the beloved blade she wanted everything to do with. Grasping it in her hands again as the light finally faded, she wanted nothing more than to trade it all back again to bring Her Majesty back from her eternal sacrifice.

Angella was gone. Her eyes watered as she wiped away the tears. She had made the ultimate sacrifice so that Catra wouldn't have to. She was done living in the past. Perhaps that's the only reason she had the energy left to continue standing, unwilling to drop to her knees and cry in despair like before. She needed to move on for everyone's sake to bring them back, the way Angella would've wanted.

But she was still going to miss her.

"..." Looking at the sword again, Catra's face hardened with anger. It all started with the very words she used to transform into She-Ra. Raising her sword into the air, she knew it was time to bring it all back, all while the tears never came to an end.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"

Opening her eyes, her transformation had finally been complete, the look of pride crossing her expression and amusement at what she had become.

The TRUE She-Ra had been formed.

...

A white resounding flash was the first indication that was world was returned to the way it once was. One by one, the individuals who had traversed this reality, the real world of this reality, started to return. Bow was still hugging Glimmer as the two made their return from nothingness, eyeing the familiar lab where all of their troubles began. Then, the two known as Lord Hordak and Shadow Weaver, individuals of the Horde and traitors to each other, returned from another corner, still crouched and slumped to the ground as their energy slowly returned to them.

Lastly, was Adora. A Force Captain who would've let the entire world go to ruin for her own selfish reasons as she returned to the real world. Groaning a bit, with the shake of her head, Adora rubbed her noggin as her head felt like it slammed into a brick wall. Upon touching the surface of her forehead, though, she noticed something out of place.

Or rather, something back in place.

She blinked as she felt herself a little more before examining her hand. Removing her glove, the sight appeared too good to be true as she rolled up her sleeve. Like everything else, it made her come to the same realization that she was having trouble coming to terms with.

Her corruption was gone. Her skin was back to the flawless normality that it once was.

*rumble*

It was a moment of joy that couldn't last any longer than it came. From the ground beneath her, Adora's hair blew in the wind as it was pulled in the direction of the swirling vortex behind her. Wrenches, bolts, various mechanical parts that made up the most of the laboratory, were being drawn in by the strong gravitational force of the portal. And just like Adora's moment of joy, it did't last any longer than it began.

The tools and appliances froze in front of Adora as she watched, turning to the portal once more as everything felt still around her. Eyes turned from every corner of the room as everyone was drawn to the sight of the portal, the sight of the figure that began to walk through it. The very person who was the mortal enemy to the Horde, and the hero of Etheria.

Catra. She-Ra. Hero, defector, survivor. Her friends were amazed by the sight as she stepped forth through the swirling green portal, a firm look of justice within her angry eyes as she made her appearance. Without skipping a beat, without waiting for any sense of planning, Catra turned back to the portal, glaring at the dreaded device with hatred and resentment.

"Haaaaaaaah!" With a bellowing cry of anger, raising her mighty sword above her head before crashing it down to the ground in front of her, cleaving the portal in one solid swipe.

Instantly, the sanctum shook violently from the girl's raw power that surged through the room, the portal destabilizing as all of Hordak's hard-earned work had come to an end. Brackets of machinery, twisted metals, broken wires. All of this and then some fell from the ceiling as everything began to crash around them. She-Ra had emerged victoriously through her troubles, and there wasn't anyone to defend Hordak from her wrath.

Or Adora.

"Come on!" Running up to her leader, Adora grabbed his wrist. "You have to go. Now!" Pondering the dilemma presented before him, Hordak grimaced.

All of his hard work, all of his time and effort, had come to ruin. Ruin by the hands of a traitor, a traitor that would've been one of his most valuable soldiers if she ever learned her place and finished her training. Instead, she ended up being the most destructive force he had ever had to deal with, one who turned the blade of the First Ones against the Horde itself. One of his greatest soldiers were forever his enemy, one he failed to execute when the time called for it.

Still outraged by the turnabout, the leader sighed silently to himself as he touched the jewel encrusted on his suit of armor. All of his effort had been for nothing. He couldn't call upon Horde Prime as intended, he couldn't make the portal last any longer than before, and now, he had the Rebellion to deal with.

He truly was a defect.

With a heavy heart, the leader fled, with Adora following a short distance behind him. Watching as he passed the doors, she turned her view back to her former friend, giving a small glare to the girl as she did something back that Adora never experienced before.

Catra glared back. No, not just glared. She resented the very sight of Adora. Her eyes narrowed as she saw her former friend. The one who caused all of this, the one who tore apart the entire world for her own selfish desires. The very person who was responsible for the death of Queen Angella, someone Catra was never going to see again. All of her hatred, all of her sorrow, was transfixed on her gaze to Adora as she glared intensely, actually sending a small pang of fear through the girl's heart.

Adora was dead to her.

Still refusing to let Catra have the final victory behind all of this, Adora gathered her powers as she raised her arms to her side. If she was going to be her enemy, then Adora was going to treat her like one as she... as she... she...

Adora's eyes widened a bit before looking at her arms. Despite all of her effort, all of her power, something tragic bell the girl as she stared at her twitching fingers.

"My powers are... gone..." She muttered, looking back to her former friend. As if waiting for some sort of reaction to occur, Adora waited for Aroda to pop up. For some figment of her mind to comment about how things were dire or "I told you so" before telling her to run, something that would've refreshed her senses as Catra stared to bare her fangs .

Nothing ever did. She couldn't summon her shadows, she couldn't summon any source of power. She had nothing. Nothing except for a mysterious fear of her former friend, one that showed in her eyes as she slowly backed away. With a heart of solid coldness, one that was breaking apart at every smooth edge, Adora retreated, dripping one last tear from her eyes as she vanished into the safety of the Horde, the cover of darkness behind her.

She was going to pay. Catra would make sure that whatever happens, Adora paid for what she did. But for now, she was just glad that everything else was alright.

Speaking of which...

"Catra!" It took the combined voices of her two friends rushing towards their grown friend to snap her out of it, returning the smiles to them as Glimmer jumped into her right arm and Bow into her left. All three of them began to tear up from sheer happiness as the air felt lighter around them, both smiling with beams of pride to their constantly-troubled friend. "See? We told you you could do it!" Glimmer was ecstatic, beyond words at the happiness around them."

"And check it out!" Bow gazed in amazement as he pulled his head back a little bit, seeing the familiar Claymore sword that he had only experienced once before in his lifetime. "You did it! You're She-Ra again."

"Yeah, well, hopefully it stays that way this time." Catra chuckled as she joked.

"SHE-RA!" Their attention shifted once again to the sound from the faraway door as they saw the several princesses rushing through the corridor. Unsurprisingly, with stars in her eyes, the first one to throw her arms around the girl's neck was Perfuma as Catra spun a little, nearly getting dizzy from a single turnaround as Perfuma smiled to her. "Thank the Universe you're all right! We were so worried!" She squealed as she hugged her again.

"Yeah," Catra jumped a little as she felt a soft nudge from Mermista's knuckle patting her shoulder, "you're definitely not cooler than Sea-Ra, but its pretty close." She joked too, placing a comforting arm around the girl's neck as her own way of hugging her.

For a moment, Catra embraced everyone. Feeling the sense of warmth coming off from the people who officially mattered in her life. Not the Horde, not Adora, these people. The ones who were always there to bring her up every day when she was down, and had her back at every waking moment of her life. These were the people she fought for, the people who gave her a reason to smile.

Except for that.

With the same eagerness that the rest of the princesses and Bow displayed, Frosta briefly rushed up to the same She-Ra they were all hugging stopping just a few short feet of it as she remembered.

She was still a traitor. She betrayed them. And Catra hated her guts. With an uneasy feeling of remembrance, reminded of the day that she nearly broke her arm, even if it was outside of her control, Frosta rubbed her right shoulder uneasily, unaware of the small frown growing on Catra's face.

What was Frosta supposed to say at the moment? She came here to save her, so that's good, right? She doubted it would've been enough, though, to quell Catra's anger. Knowing her, this was only the start of it all. If she was lucky, she probably would've had to do something drastic, like single-handedly win the entire war on her own, get shot in Catra's place or something, be ailing and sick on a deathbed, or some other ridiculous thing just to get Catra to accept her agai-

*tug*

Frosta blinked. She must've been hallucinating or something, cause for a moment, she could've sworn she was standing right beside Catra, in the middle of everybody, as Catra hugged her head closely to her. Just to make sure, she lifted her curious eyes up, staring up to a... possibly-fake, small, comforting smile on Catra's lips as she stared softly at the young princess in appreciation.

"Thanks for coming to save me, Frosty." She thanked.

She was hugging her, sorta. She was smiling to her. She gave her her own nickname again that wasn't something like "brat"! For the time, Frosta didn't seem to care as her own eyes watered with tears. Instead, she just embraced the possible insanity as she wrapped her small arms around Catra's legs, proud to be counted among her possible friends again.

"As touching as this is, we need to go." And to break the pleasant moment of peace the friends had was none other than Shadow Weaver with her announcement. Snapping them all out of their happiness-induced matter, the group was reminded of their present situation as they felt the lab shaking around them. They still needed to get out of the Fright Zone and back home in one piece before they could officially call it a day.

Nodding to one another, everyone gathered around Shadow Weaver and Glimmer as the pink-haired princess embraced Shadow Weavers' hand again in her own, combining their powers once more as the ritual had commenced.

Like before, and all other times, the group was surrounded by a dark flame of shadow on the outside edge of their small circle, one spinning around them in a mist of haze as the group prepared to teleport back to the comfort of Bright Moon. Glimmer winced with a small groan as she took the witch's power, feeling like she was losing something in the process as she did, but continued to push on through it all for the sake of her friends.

Consuming them in their entirety, the shadows danced and swirled around the group as it encased them in a dome-like sphere of protection, one large enough to keep everybody safe from harm, as they were all transported through with the same spell. In a reverse explosion from a wave of energy, the shadows poured into the center of the small dome before bursting in a gust of power, encompassing the room in a wave of shadow, and sending the friends to the place they all called Home.

...

*Swoosh*

The glowing enchanted circle of shadow was the first thing to arrive on the scene before the group slowly appeared in a flash of darkness. For a moment, Glimmer hesitated to open her eyes again, fearful of what she would see. Would it be back to the way it once was, or was she going to find herself in a world destroyed by the portal, where everything was crumbling to a pile of dust, the way she left it. Or was she going to get a stern talking to that would leave her ears bleeding for days? Any one of those scenarios sounded horrible to her.

It only took one small peek to know for sure.

They were home. Everyone was. And the place was just as beautiful as when she left it. The sky was crystal clear as the water in the ravine, the forest rustled with the gentle sound of wind blowing through the leaves, and her castle, the place that she called home, was still in one piece. Everything was exactly the way it should be.

Naturally, everyone cheered with excitement as they jumped about, shooting off a bit of magic in the escalating excitement as they returned from a very successful mission, and a very dear friend to them all. Glimmer swung in Bow's arms, Perfuma spun Frosta in her hands as the two laughed to one another, and Mermista's power surged all the way up to the top of the pillar they were all located at, shooting off into the breeze in recognition for their accomplishment.

This was a moment of joy for the wondrous heroes of Bright Moon, and the Rebellion.

"Did we do it?" Bow asked briefly, already knowing the answers as he set Glimmer back to her feet. "We did iiiit!"

"Hahaha! I'm probably going to be grounded for the rest of my life, but reality is back to normal!" Glimmer had never felt so relieved to be grounded upon her return as she smiled back. "Speaking of which, I guess I should go find my mom." Instantly, Catra's pupils shrank as she finished talking to Mermista, taking in what she had just heard. "Maybe she'll be so happy to see me that she'll forget about grounding me." She was completely unaware of the reality that transpired as Catra gritted away at her teeth, refusing to let her temper flare up.

Turning around, the feline slowly approached the Princess of Bright Moon as her friend caught notice of her strange expression. It wasn't happiness, it wasn't sadness, it was just... vacant. A vacancy that appeared to be making way for whatever sorrow was behind her eyes. "Catra?" Glimmer's voice caught the attention of her friends as they all noticed the same sorrow radiating off of Catra as well. "What is it?"

She didn't want to do First Ones, she desperately didn't want to do this. She almost wished they were back in their false reality again where everything was perfect, if only to spare herself of the pain that was sure to follow. Yet, the Queen's last words hung in her ears, even now.

"Take good care of each other."

They were going to haunt her for the rest of her life, Catra knew that as a fact. But she couldn't break the promise she gave her life for, and that included sharing in all the hardships and sadness from this point forward.

Even if it meant the sadness wasn't coming from her.

"... Glimmer..." In a white flash, the mystical warrior known as She-Ra returned to her original state, as their dear friend known as Catra stood before them again. That was when she did something that nobody, not even her closest friends, had ever seen her do before.

She embraced Glimmer in a hug as she wrapped her arms around her neck, without needing someone else to start it herself. "I'm sorry, but she... She stayed behind..." Everyone else froze with shock at the announcement, the wavering in Catra's tear-filled voice giving them no means to doubt her.

Save for a lone princess who's eyes almost watered before backing up from her feline friend. "Eh... Heheh, yeah, good one, C-Catra." The denial in her voice was evident, even if she didn't display it in her face. "That's just... one of your dark senses of humor, right? Come on, stop joking now," she tried to push away from the conversation as Catra just stood there, walking past her friend like everything was right in the world, "my mom's going to be upset if she hears you-"

*tug*

She couldn't move any further. Catra was still gripping her shoulder in her claws, refusing to let go as the anguish began to fill the void of the space between them. Gently as she could, Catra pulled the girl back, embracing her in a hug once more as her eyes continued to water. "She gave her life... So I wouldn't have to... tch..." She choked, already feeling the tears of denial flowing from Glimmer's cheeks. "She saved us... I'm sorry..." As the two princesses began to pull tighter, they were accompanied by the sorrow of their friends, ones who were feeling the same sense of despair that they were.

This was a moment of terror and sorrow for the heroes of Bright Moon, and the Rebellion.

They had all returned safely, but at the cost of a dear mother. A leader that was a hero to all of them, a mother to some of them, and an ally that they could never replace. For all their ups and downs, all of their faults, Angella was the one who balanced things between them, raising them all to depend on one another, and for Glimmer to be the rightful heir she always knew her out to be.

There was nothing but silence that filled in the air.

There was nothing but sorrow that filled in their hearts.

Angella, was never coming back.

...

*tap*

From his chair, he watched the screen intently. In front of him stood the complexed details and diagrams of the various signatures throughout space. A map that displayed the entire cosmos, markings and theorems that the simpleminded could never come to grasp, and a display that had yet to prove any viable results.

Until now.

*blip*

Turning his chair a little, he saw an energy signature going off on his charts, a small little speck of a backwater planet that was displaying a mysterious source of energy. It was there that the left-most screen filled in with an image of Hordak himself, displaying and analyzing every detail of his being, including his accomplishments and failures in war's past.

Horde Prime had finally found the last world in the Universe that had yet to bow to his might.

"So, that's where you've been, little brother." All around him, screens and various readings continued to read off as the expanse of the world filled the found around him.

From outside of his humble domain revealed an immense spaceship, one of countless thousands, that continued to patrol the vast emptiness of space. They had just finished off the nearest planet, one with a large gaping chunk scraped from its surface, one of many that had refused to submit to his almighty will, and chose to be resilient until he was bored.

Within the glory of the Horde, there were never any two options when it came to Horde Prime. It was only "Join him", never die. Never until he was bored with whatever meager resistance a planet tried to rally. Such was the fate of all worlds, and such would be the fate of the mysterious planet his mighty empire had yet to discover until recently. With the information before him, Horde Prime, hidden by his chair, grinned a little as he already contemplated his next victory, over a quaint little planet that was nothing more than dust in the wind.

A planet, by the name, of Etheria...

...

The intro starts with Shadow Weaver in the Black Garnet chamber spying and glaring at a image of Catra. Than the image dives into the water of her scrying spell.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra at Bright Moon looking both determined and forlorn out into the distance.

~ turning darkness into light ~

Final Word Count: 1.301+ Million

~ We're right beside you ~

Special Thanks: Endless Chains, Star Saber, Peyton Helix, Shadow Joestar, 444teme444, and Petie Doon for their constant love and support, including contributions such as writings and fan art in Petie's case (seriously go to instagram and look at all he's done, its amazing) as well as everyone else who saw this season through to the end.

~ Ready to Fight! ~

Catra raises her sword, transforming into She-Ra in a glorious flash of light

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

Then She-Ra rushes off into battle with Glimmer and Bow following right behind her.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Final Review Count: 799

Mermista rises out of a tide, blasting Horde soldiers with water.

~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the ground, capturing and tying up Horde soldiers with vines.

~(we must be brave) ~

Final Favorite Count: 209

Frosta rides an entire wave of frozen water, freezing Horde tanks in their tracks.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

Final Follower Count: 183

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Final Viewer Count: 136,017

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends- Entrapta and Scorpia for Adora, and for Catra Bow and Glimmer.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

SEASON 3 OF CAT-RA: Complete

...

"No..."

*HRRRrrrrrooom*

The machine whirred with a brief life before dying down again.

"Come on..."

*HRRRrrrrrooom*

Different effort, same result.

"This can't be happening..." Adora choked on her own tears as she finally collapsed to the ground, pressing against it on her hands and knees. "What have I done?"

The Horde, was going to lose. Adora, was going to lose. Everything, was going to end. And it all came down on the one who tossed away a good friend, a friend she was jealous of since she first met Hordak, and one she let her jealousy show over one little time.

Entrapta was gone. The genius scientist, purple-haired friend to Adora, or ex-friend as of now, was no longer within the Horde. She was the Horde's best and brightest, Adora knew that clearly. She was the genius who made the Rebellion's defeat almost occur, not her. And now, that very person was either on a trip to Beast Island, or still going to Beast Island.

She didn't know if she still cared for her if she saw her again, only that she could acknowledge what she had accomplished. She was the one who knew how to build the Horde's mightiest weapons, the one behind the Horde's advanced portal technology that almost wiped out the entire world. Without her, the Horde suffered a loss and a severe disadvantage, as now, they were without one of the top scientists of Etheria, and Adora was without her magic.

She tried desperately, everything she could, to make the machine work again. The very machine that refilled her magic, siphoned off the dark energies corrupting her body, and made her good as new each and every day. She was hoping for a miracle, a miracle that would come once the machine recharged her energies again. Still connected to the Black Garnet, she thought the machine would work again like it always did, and it would refill her with the strength needed to fend off She-Ra, fend off Catra.

But nothing came.

There was no surge of power, there was no shadowy magic at her fingertips, there wasn't anything. Without Aroda, Adora realized that her powers were gone. Without any magical residual power, the machine would never work. She would no longer have the power to combat against the Rebellion, and she was the same weak young girl who stood little to no chance against Catra's new state of being for more than a minute. She was completely alone, now more than ever, for the first time in her life.

"Aroda... Aroda!" She called out, looking in every direction of the dark chamber. "Please... I need you... " She didn't have anyone else at her side, nobody to hug her as she hugged herself, still wearing the same long white-sleeved shirt as always, squeezing her arms as she pondered her sudden tragedy. "It's my fault... it's all my fault..." She cried to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut, her long flowing hair dangling in front of her as her eyes dripped to the ground.

Without Entrapta they had no technology. Without Aroda, she had no magic. Without either of them, it was only a matter of time before the Rebellion could wipe the Horde out. Catra and her stupid selfishness would win in the end, she would be locked away forever, at best, and everything she ever cared about would be gone forever.

All because of her.

"Adora?" The sound of Scorpia's voice did nothing to comfort Adora as she continued to cry in the middle of the dark room, approaching the sniveling girl quietly from behind as she kneeled down to her.

"It's all my fault, Scorpia..." Adora sniffed, unable to hold back her tears. "She's gone because of me..."

Scorpia was beside herself at this, but being the always-supportive friend she wanted to be, she did her best to give somewhat of a comforting smile to the girl. "H-Hey, it's okay, everything will be alright." From behind, the big friend gave a soft hug to her troubled ally. "I miss her, too."

For a moment, Adora was completely taken back by this. "Y-You... You do?" She sniffed.

"Of course! Entrapta was a good friend." Scorpia commented, clearly missing the mark of who Adora truly was referring to. "She made so many wonderful things, and she helped us both out a lot, especially you."

"O-Oh... y-yeah..." Adora feigned acceptance as she pretended to agree. There was no way she could state it was the "talking voice" in her head that she was referring to, knowing there was no way to explain it to her that made sense, or kept her from seeming any more senile than she already was. She softly clutched Scorpia's claw a little, appreciating the comfort all the same. "I don't know what I was thinking... Ugh, I'm such an idiot!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, it'll be alright." Scorpia assured, patting her head. "I'm... sure you were just scared when tased her, a lot was going on around here. But we'll work through it like we always do. With you leading us, the Horde will be just fine. After all, you managed to fix the world like I knew you would, right?"

"Mmmh... y-yeah." She wanted to tell her the truth, now more than ever, for a change. Not just to comfort her own sense of assurance, but because it was Scorpia she was dealing with. Through thick and thin, she was the only one who she could count on to be by her side, all the way until the very end. And she couldn't fathom having someone like her of all people finally leaving her side like all the others. She wasn't like everyone else. She was somebody Adora knew that could be trusted.

She was the only one left that could be trusted. "I... guess you're right..." She sniffed, wiping away her tears from her soaked eyes. "Thanks, Scorpia."

"Anytime!' Scorpia always felt proud of herself when she managed to brighten up Adora's day. She couldn't sit by and watch Adora's troubles crying out from her and doing nothing about it. There was no telling what the girl had been through all throughout her experience after she disappeared from the fake world. All she knew was that with someone was reliable as Adora behind everyone, that she was going to keep them safe.

With a smile, the large friend finally stood up from the girl, walking towards the door as she intended to give the girl her much-needed space. As she reached the door, holding a claw against the metallic frame, a thought crossed her mind that she was hopeful for. "Say, uh, Adora?" She piqued, looking back into the room. "Would you, uh... I don't know..." She blushed a little, turning her eyes away. "Maybe, want to... play a board game, or something, later on? We could invite Lonnie and Daisy to play too. I mean, it could be just us, too, but I don't mind the extra company. Unless you plan on doing something else, or whatever, that works too."

"... You know..." Adora lifted her head a little, forcing herself to give as soft of a pained smile as she could looking back. "I'd love to play a game after all of this." Instantly, as expected, Scorpia beamed with excitement as she suppressed an incredible squee of enjoyment from her heart, pressing her claws against her mouth with happiness.

"Eeeep!" She screamed internally. "I'll go make some popcorn!" She was already planning on a hundred different fun things they could do while they played and a variety of rules they could enlist in the boardgame. Just thinking about all the fun she and all her friends would have was sending off rockets of excitement throughout her mind without end!

Waiting until the door finally closed behind her, Adora moaned a tearful sigh as she stood up. Once again, she lied to Scorpia. She wasn't interested in a board game right now of all times, there was still too much on her mind, too much despair in her heart. She wanted nothing more than to be alone right now where nobody could see her like this, as someone who was weak and defenseless as she was.

But she also couldn't disappoint her friend, either. Not just for her sake, but for her future as well. This might have been one of the last few times in either of their lives where they got to do something fun with each other before everything came to a terrible end. An end that resulted in both of them being held prisoners, along with the rest of the Horde, where nothing but despair and sorrow filled the remains of their days.

She just wanted to give her another day where she could be happy, for old time's sake, before everything was pulled out of her arms.

Walking up to the Black Garnet, Adora teared up again as she gazed into it, spotting her reflection. She put a hand against it as she pushed her head into it, trembling again as the tears dripped from her closed eyes.

"I'm sorry... everyone..." And with her final utterance, a tear dripped from her chin, onto one of the small crevices of the red crystal standing before her.

She would never know peace again as she sighed. Because of her, defeat was inevitable. Her many alliances were failing with traitors left and right, the princesses were growing empowered as time went on, and now, they lacked a genius princess of their own that could bring them out through the darkness that lied ahead, somebody that Hordak, that Adora, knew could be depended upon.

Someone reliable.

"Huff..." She wondered how long they had as she pulled away from the giant crystal. With nothing else to do, the most she could hope for was for Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, everyone she cared about, to be spared from the Rebellion's, from She-Ra's, wrath. Nothing but endless sorrow and dark clouds loomed over Adora's mind as she-

*tug*

... As she-

*tug*

...

*tug-tug*

Okay, what was going on here? She looked back to the crystal as she noticed her hand's refusal to pull away from it. Did she get her sleeve caught on something stuck to the Black Garnet. She blinked curiously at the strange rock as she looked around her right hand. She couldn't see anything pulling on her sleeve. In fact, her sleeve was several inches from her wrist, so there couldn't be anything pulling against it right now.

So why couldn't she move her hand from the crystal?

*zip*

... She just imagined that right? For a second there, Adora could've sworn that-

*zip*

There it was again. There was no doubt any longer. Static-like electricity began to draw from the tips of her hands as her fingertips sparkled. It was bizarre, like really bizarre. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn she was making the electricity coming from her hands itself, not some build-up of static like when she rubs her socks against a rug and touched something.

And it was when the Black Garnet began to brighten around her hand that things truly began to grow mysterious.

"What the-?" Was all Adora managed to say to herself before it happened.

*ZZZZZZZZZZSHSHSHSHSHSHSH*

"Nggggggh! Aghhhhh-!" Adora cried out as quietly to herself as possible as it all came to her. From every surface of the large massive crystal, every corner, every edge, she felt a strange sense of warmth building up from under her palms as felt something being drawn into her body. "W-What's... happ..." She squeezed her mouth shut as she tried to power through the pain, trying to ignore whatever terrible sensation was wracking her body with a familiar pain that she felt dozens of times before.

It was as if her hand had a mind of its own as it continued to pulsate with electricity, a strange power that was dancing around the seams of her nails. She's never experienced such a strange state of being before, a raw energy that was being sucked into her very own body. Stranger still, the longer it lasted, the lighter her body began to feel, almost as if her very existence was being... elevated in such a way. And that was when she saw something else in the reflection of her eyes.

The blue iris of her eyes had turned red, much like she did whenever she wore the headband.

"What?" Finally, after several more grueling shocking seconds, she finally managed to let go, swinging her hand back with haste. Almost immediately after, from the ground beneath her feet, a pool of shadows appeared as a dozen familiar tendrils of shadowy magic waved around her, ready to keep the master safe as Adora stared off into the darkness around her.

"Huh?" Her powers... returned? Was that even possible? To lose them again and to get them back? Actually, thinking about it for a few seconds, she didn't have powers to start out with, and then obtained them, so it was just as likely. The thing that bothered her about her strange unexplained power were the drawbacks she was experiencing.

There was none.

All around her hands, both of them, she scanned from from head to toe, several times each, multiple times, and couldn't find a single trace of the dark shadows in her veins, the things that made her constantly sick, that limited her functionality and how long she could maintain her magic for. She even checked her feet for added precaution, and still didn't find anything amiss. If anything, she felt better right now, better than ever, in fact, as she continued to examine the situation unfolding around her.

It's not like it bothered her or anything. Why, she was more than thankful to discover that her powers had returned to her in some way. The only part she wanted to understand was how? How did her powers return to her out of the blue like that? Or out of... the Black Garnet...

She shot back to her giant crystal as she peered deeply into it, recounting the reflection that she saw. There was no Aroda, no voices or uncontrollable shadows plaguing her like they always had, but her eyes had turned red in the iris as they did before, as they always did when she wore her headband. When she put it on, when it empowered her, when she drew upon the power from her surroundi-...

"Wait a minute..." Adora gazed back at her own two hands again before trying something. With a bit of determination and willpower, she placed her hands firmly against the crystal once more, finding the answers to what she was guessing as another wave of power coursed through her body. Only this time, it didn't hurt. Why, she almost could've sworn it felt... good. Very good as her look of pain slowly morphed into glee.

After another few seconds, she finally pulled her hands away again without any interruptions or stalling, and watched with amazement as the shadows around her intensified in power and size. It was then, that she finally remembered the look Shadow Weaver was giving her in her eyes, when she saw her former mother one last time...

...

Either of them.

...

"Heh... Heheheh... Hehehahahahahahaha!" Adora cackled madly with a rush of happiness as she threw her head back with glee. While her words were never uttered, Adora could tell everything going on within Shadow Weaver's mind by the way she looked at her, the strain as she feared her, and what she dreaded Adora becoming if she was exposed to Aroda, the Spell of Obtainment, for too long.

Through her prolonged exposure to the spell, Adora had acquired the power to drain magic through the touch of her hands.

"Hahahaha, hmhmhmhmmhm..." Thousands and thousands of opportunities came spiraling into Adora's smiled as she smiled mischievously to herself. She felt good about herself again, about her situation. She finally had a chance to turn their dark future around again at the conundrum presented in front of her. Most importantly, she felt powerful, and it felt good as her eyes returned to the normal shade of blue, and her shadows retreated to nothingness.

"You were right, Aroda. You were right all along." Proudly, Adora began to march out of the Black Garnet chamber, and into the darkness of the Fright Zone. "The more power I have, the more I control." She recalled to herself. "If I want to control what happens around me, I need more power." This was the way of the universe. Adora realized that now. And with a new power at her fingertips, she couldn't think of anything more powerful than having a sword that could alter the very landscape of reality itself, one that held the very power to create a peaceful paradise for an entire world.

And destroy it.

She wanted more power. She wanted that sword. For a moment, she wanted to have everything that could save her ideal world.

Adora Has Become The Parasite.

...

A/N: ... Awwwwhnnnnnn... *yawns heavily* Okay, alright! After several weeks of being on hiatus, it's time to finally get back to my work and begin episode 5 of season 3-... WHO THE HECK"S BEEN USING MY ACCOUNT AND POSTING IN MY PLACE?! I outta delete it all right now and-!... uhh... hmmm... huh... not bad writing now that i look at it... wellll i guess I can ignore it just this one. Saves me the trouble.

Lol, how's it going guys XP hopefully no one cried themselves to death because dear GOD was this a depressing chapter to go through _ I can not tell you how many times i teared up from just writing it alone (seriously you think reading it is hard?). But now we've done it, we've completed, a one of a kind, SEASON 3 FINALE! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

UGGGGGGGHHHHH im exhausted and tired XD! But god it feels good to accomplish so much! I can't thank anyone more than the constant times i have in my chapters and everything. I want everyone to know how much I appreciate the constant feedback, the reviews, and the fact this story is NOT over and thankful for those who understood the joke for the last 2 episodes XP lol.

Anyway, now a big question for you guys- do you want me to continue to episode one of season 4 or to watch the whole season first BEFORE i write again? I ask this because, guilty me, I actually kinda cheated and watched the first episode of the next season XP i know i know, i'm sorry, i was just too excited and shocked to see what would happen next, and after seeing it, im more than excited to continue watching it before I stop, THEN watch the rest of the season.

Or would you prefer me watching the entire season? I ask this because Petie has made, no joking, a freaking AWESOME adora drawing for her new appearance of season 4. It's great! The catch? ITS NOT POSTED YET! Or at least not without being on a private viewing gallery. He'll only post Adora's new appearance after I finish episode 1, INCLUDING CATRAS, who is also getting a new look :D!

But again, i know it would also be kind of weird to stop after episode 1 instead of the season finale. I also ask this in case i wind up on another hiatus again, and it could take another near-year to get back into writing again X/ ultimately, this is your choice people, so no pressure... *cough* AWESOMEPICTURE-! *cough*

Lol, seriously thuogh, thank you all so much for continuing this journey with me, and reaching the halfway point of the ENTIRE SERIES ^^! WHOOOOOOOOO! Huff, and now, with that said, I'd like to thank you all and hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 119: S4 Episode 1: The Coronation Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 7.2k Pre-A/N's. Ah, it feels good to do a short chapter again ^^ Hahaha, how's it goin folks? Monokub here, naturallay~

For those wondering why I decided to continue, it's well, 2 reasons: 1, I'm too excited not to continue before i watch the rest of season 4, and I really wanna show those awesome pictures of Catra's and Adora's new look before I start the rest of the season, which requires finishing the episode naturally XP But on top of that, it's also because of hype!

Idk how long i'll be writing before I crash again, and with everything going on, there's a good chance if I stopped writing for more than two or 3 days, I'll be back on my year-long hiatus X/ And before that, I wanna at least get everyone hyped for what's to come next. There'll be something at the end of this episode that I guarantee everyone has been waiting to see, and I promise to deliver it in all it's splendor X) Plus, with the new intros, you'll get a small glimpse of the excitement that is to come X)

So, with that said, let's begin with our fabulously new (and still unwatched except for the first episode XP) season 4!

...

Bright Moon. A perfect kingdom with a perfect view of the perfect world surrounding its doorsteps at every angle. Within the walls of its glorious castle stood a regal figure who was touching up on her hair, finalizing her appearance as she brushed some strokes to the side. She represented the best and brightest of Bright Moon and everything it had to offer, from its citizens, to its soldiers, to the proud history that stood behind it all. This individual was known as none other than Princess Glimmer.

... Actually, that was a lie. All of it was a lie. The Kingdom was not so perfect, despite the elegant view of the scenery which was beautiful to behold. Glimmer did not feel as much as a Princess figure as she once did, nor the Queen figure she was going to become, as she gazed solemnly at the stranger in the mirror. She was not the best and brightest of Castle Bright Moon, but she felt like she was all they had left. Because there would never be a figure that could compare to the one who came before her.

Queen Angella of Bright Moon. Wife of the great sorcerer and late King Micah, and mother to Princess Glimmer. She was everything that a person could hope to be and then some as she lead the Rebellion and her kingdom in Etheria's fight against the Horde. She was the person Glimmer always aspired to be, even when they argued more often than not.

And there was nothing that Glimmer wanted more than to argue with her mother, one last time.

The righteous noble Queen made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of Etheria, for the sake of She-Ra, on the day that the Horde's portal technology had been completed. Waking up to a new world with no memories of the world before, the Queen came to realize what was happening as the world crumbled around her, and discovered Catra's struggle as she saved her from falling into the void that slowly consumed the rest of the world, including her daughter.

There, the Queen gave up her own immortal life as she sacrificed herself, sacrificed her existence as she pulled the sword, the gateway to the portal, and ended the terrible destruction that was plaguing all of Etheria. With it, with the sword's deliverance to its current She-Ra, the magicat known as Catra called forth its legendary power as she escaped from the twisted world, returning to the reality she once knew and destroying the terrible machine once and for all.

It was a moment of celebration as everyone returned, having saved Catra and the sword from the Horde's evil clutches, and everyone appeared to be safe and sound. That was except for the lone Queen who didn't come back, the one Catra was distraught to inform Glimmer of her mother's disappearance. The celebration ended faster than it began, and it left nothing but tears for the rest of the evening.

Following the next several days, it felt like empty silence all throughout the proceedings that followed. More than enough tears were shed for a funeral with no casket, paper work and decrees were established as leadership of the Rebellion was transferred to the rightful heir, and everybody, well, almost everybody, went about their day as if it was normal.

And now it was the day. The day of Glimmer's own coronation. It was a momentous occasion for the new queen as she sighed, setting aside her brush on the table as she gazed into the mirror.

A new look. A new hairstyle. A new her. It was all supposed to represent the strong leader that Glimmer was to become, and the new heir that was to ascend the throne. With a white glistening earing on her left ear, a cape that sparkled with nearly twice the shine as its feather-like pads hung from her shoulder, Glimmer knew this was supposed to be a day of smiles and wonder.

So why didn't she feel like it?

*thud*

"Glimmer," Aunt Casta nearly gave the poor soon-to-be-Queen a heart attack as the door burst open, reflecting in the mirror, "come at once. We need you in the War Room right away!" Panic filled Glimmer's mind as her aunt left, quickly following the woman right behind her. If it was as terrible as she expected, then she knew that time was of the essence!

"There's no time to waste. You must make a decision." She ran a little behind her aunt, passing the familiar guards who gave her an unfamiliar feeling of authority as she was to become Queen, and all who saluted her as they always did as she passed the doors to the War Room. There, she was greeted by a troubled-looking Perfuma and Bow, who stood by her side as Glimmer ran between them, overlooking the chaos that had filled the War Table.

"We're here for you." Perfuma smiled supportively as Glimmer focused.

It was a hard decision to make. Every second she wasted, another second was descending into madness. With every decision she made, she was going to impact the lives of everyone she came into contact with. As one of her newly appointed duties, she was charged with making the tough choices, the hardest decisions, and would be forced to live with those blood-curdling dilemmas for the rest of her days!

"Mmmh... That one!" With a rigorous voice, the soon-to-be-Queen decided as she pointed with authority.

The decision had been made. Silence and shock filled the air as Bow gasped, Perfuma nodded, and her aunt nodded with approval. It was a hard decision to make, one that nobody could make on a whim, but she did it. Her niece had made one of the toughest decisions of her entire life. Now, they were all going to be forced to live with it, whether they liked it or not.

"The Future Queen has spoken." Castaspella announced with an approving nod. "At Glimmer's coronation, we will be serving... Ice Cream Cake!" Her eyes lit up with sparkles as she took in the sight of the magnificent choice she had chosen. The guards all saluted simultaneously in respect for the decision, as they would for every decision she would make from hence onward.

Upon the table stood a variety of baked goods, given to them by the best chefs from all around Etheria. With a coronation as large and important as this, not one detail could be blemished. Everything needed to be perfect, from the lines that were to be spoken, the readings that must be detailed, and, most importantly, the food that was to be provided. And Glimmer couldn't have chosen a more appropriate choice than the one she did now!

The end of the table housed a mighty cake, one that symbolized everything that the Rebellion stood for. Atop of it, two small figurines stood, one representing a proud and majestic Princess Glimmer with her arms raised in the air, prepared to fight, and the other representing a lowly leader of the Horde, one who knew better as he kneeled in surrender before the powerful girl that had, and would eventually, defeat him.

The cake itself was to dine for as it represented the tranquility and peacefulness of Bright Moon, as well as the fullness of what it had to offer. With pink glazing around every edge of the cakes, a wonderful ice cream filling addressed to the sides, and vanilla swirls along every edge and layer of the legendary food, it truly represented the best that Bright Moon had to offer, as well as the deliciousness that would eventually be consumed.

At this, her two friends laughed alongside, as well as her aunt, as they patted her back. Obviously not all of her decisions would be as *dire* as this one, or delicious for that matter, but it was times like these that they needed to enjoy themselves, to remind themselves that everything else was alright in the world. Glimmer did admit, the situation called for a few smiles as she chuckled, relishing the sense of joy she could feel growing from her heart.

Yet all the same, the reality of the situation irked her expression a little as a small crease formed along the corner of her eyes. This was going to be the most glorious day in all of Bright Moon for many.

And the most painful to accept for her.

Glimmer's Coronation Day had officially begun.

...

The intro starts with a mysterious pair of gauntleted hands holding a communicator pad, showing a still image of Catra on it. The hands shake as their grip tightens on the pad, and the image dives into the screen.

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

Where we have Catra staring off with anger into the distance of the Fright Zone to the left. With a turn to the right, the scene transitions to a view of her new home of Bright Moon, with Catra's new outfit and an unsure look upon her face.

~ turning darkness into light ~

From behind in the valley, the two she's come to know as friends teleport behind her, running up to her side with a small hug each, and turning the uncertainty of doubt into a small smile of her own.

~ We're right beside you ~

Compared to before, Catra accepts this with a soft pat on their shoulders as the three begin running towards the cliffs. Bow readied at the arrow, Glimmer donning her new Queenly attire, and Catra drawing her sword for battle.

~ Ready to Fight! ~

With a jump through the air, Catra descends forth as She-Ra, prepared for battle as she draws her weapon to the Horde army below.

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

And following right beside her are her two friends, weapons drawn, and magic blasted as the three storm the battlefield.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, smirking to herself against the colorful warm background with trident at the ready.

We must be strong, and we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the bud of a sunny flower, captivated by the tranquility of nature surrounding her with glee.

~ (we must be brave) ~

Frosta skates her way across the scenery, morphing large chunks of ice into weapons over both her hands with a silent laugh.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

The scene shifts to Hordak's throne room. Where once Hordak sat, now Adora lounges with her new outfit in his place with the former standing at her side in contempt, a cruel smile on her lips, surrounded by her old squadron, and Double Trouble, glancing aside at Adora with a grin. Scorpia stands to the side, eyes closed and sad. And throughout it, the camera zooms in on Adora's right eye as it changes from blue to red, all while a sinister dark spectre of Horde Prime appears in her pupils with a black outline and glowing green eyes.

~ and never let go ~

The scene shifts to an epic clash between Catra and Adora, the She-Ra gritting her teeth as she presses her sword against Adora's crossed blades, as the Force Captain herself grins with chaotic excitement as the electricity of her twin swords lights up her face.

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

Adora and Catra push each other off as they back up into their friends: Double Trouble and Scorpia for Adora with the Horde standing behind them, Bow and Glimmer for Catra at her sides as the Princess Alliance stands bravely behind them.

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The sound of birds singing in the air was always a refreshing way to start everyday of Bright Moon. As the soon-to-be-Queen gazed at the scenery, a large smile was brought to her face as she peered out the window. Along the pathway leading up to the runestone's pillar, she saw a parade of nobles and royalty arriving in a straight line, all ready and eager to meet the young new princess that was soon to become Queen.

"People are starting to arrive." Glimmer chirped with a smile. "I can't believe this is really my coronation day." Like every moment she's felt a small sliver of happiness, it was soon brought to a close as she remembered why it was happening to begin with. "Me... Queen Glimmer... Ugh, it sounds so weird."

"Queen... Glimmer..." Bow pondered as he rubbed his chin. He tried to find a good ring to it as he said it in different tones. "Queen Glimmer... QUEEN Glimmer! ... Yeah, that's going to take some getting used to." He chuckled along with the princess of plants as she gave him a small pat on the arm.

"I just... never thought it would actually happen." She slouched her arms staring back out the window. To say she never expected to be Queen would be an understatement. When your mother was an immortal, one who couldn't die under normal biological circumstances, how could you ever expect to inherit the throne? Yet, it was actually happening. She was going to be the new Queen of Bright Moon, and next Leader of the Rebellion.

It was as heartwarming as it was dreadful.

"You'll be fine." Perfuma assured with a warm smile, patting her shoulder as she rose from the chair. "You have me and Bow, and all the other princesses. And Ca-" She came to a stop as she saw the look on Glimmer's face when she turned around. With all that was said and done, she had almost forgotten everything going on with Catra's end of the situation. "I mean, uh... O-Oh, hey! I think I hear your aunt calling me!" She obviously lied before bursting out the door, nearly spinning Bow in a whirlwind as she did.

Glancing at the direction of the escaping princess, there was a small frown on Bow's face as it reached the same levels as Glimmer's. "Has she... said anything to you since we got back?"

"No," she shook her head in dismay as she leaned out the window, "nothing. I've barely seen her for that matter. Whenever I do see her, she just bolts away from me before I even have a chance to say something. I think she might be mad at me."

"Mad at you? What would she have to be mad at you over?"

"I don't know. She hasn't told us anything else about what happened after the portal incident, and..." She stared up into thought as she tried to make heads or tails of this magicat fiasco. "What if something happened she didn't tell us about? Like, maybe I said or did something before in that world that made her feel worse? Ugh, it'd be easier to know if she could just tell me."

"Glimmer..." What was Bow supposed to say at a time like this?

As stated, ever since the friends and allies returned to the Kingdom of Bright Moon, Catra had gone nearly silent in regards to Angella or Glimmer herself. She hasn't spoken to her about anything, she's barely given her a passing glance. She never even attended the funeral for Queen Angella, for that matter! Swift Wind tried his best to coax the girl to to attend to it, but in the end, he said he couldn't get her to budge from her room.

The strange part about it all was that it wasn't like last time when she went silent following the Battle of Bright Moon. To everyone else, she's been completely normal. She chatted, she hung out, she gossiped occasionally. She was still eating normally too, so there wasn't any concern over her physical health or anything.

To everyone else, she's been just her.

So why wasn't she towards Glimmer?

The fact of the matter, for now, was that Catra was practically missing from Glmmer's life since she returned to Bright Moon. It was almost like she didn't exist at some moments, and in others, she didn't want Glimmer or herself to exist. It would've been so much easier to understand what was wrong with her if she just said one little thing to her.

The one constant line of reasoning Glimmer could believe in was that it had something to do over her own mother's death. Nobody knows what transpired between the two during their final moments together. The only tricky part behind all of this was finding out exactly what, and what about it was bothering Catra so much that she was purposely avoiding Glimmer?

Right now, Glimmer needed as much support as Catra did. So, with as confident of a smile as he could muster, he stood over by her side, staring out the window with her. "Look, whatever is going on with Catra, I promise you she'll be back to her old self in time to see the coronation take place."

"Do you really think so?" Glimmer wondered with a little less enthusiasm than she would've hoped.

"Trust me, I know so. For all we know, maybe she's planning to pull some giant prank at the coronation. You know how much she loves to make a scene with that stuff, right?" He chuckled, getting a small grin out of Glimmer as he nudged her shoulder.

"Heh, yeah. Maybe she plans on some whoopee cushion thing or something." It actually did sound a little refreshing to hear. Even on a momentous and large day as this where royalties from all over would be attending, if Catra could just provide a little bit of communication on her end to Glimmer, it would have been worth it.

... Mostly.

All the same, it still only brought a bitter smile to the young soon-to-be-Queen's face. "I just wish I knew what she was doing after all this time..."

...

"No, no no, these apples are all wrong." Swift Wind shook his head as he observed the basket. "They should all be red and in various sizes from big to large."

"... Um... aren't those the same sizes though?" The purple-dressed caterer asked as she examined the basket she was carrying. She was already carrying thirty pounds worth of apples in a wicker basket, so the least he could do is simplify some of the details.

"Look, I don't know what to tell you, but these are She-Ra's orders herself, and if there's one thing she made clear, its that there must be enough refreshments for even a horse to eat."

"But... You'll most likely be the only horse... pegasus... thing, attending."

"Well perhaps we should fix that, too!" He stated, thrusting up a wingtip like a finger. "Make sure the room is spacious enough so that every noble horse within the stables can be free to roam about! This is what I want- I mean, what I want... according to She-Ra's exact words."

"... Are these really her words, or are you just pretending she said them?"

"Ah! I can't believe you could ask me something like that! I'm so appalled by it that I'm not going to dignify that with a response-"

"Pssst."

"Hmm?" It was at the sound of the familiar whispering noise that Swift Wind lifted his head from the increasingly frustrated caterer. Scanning against the ballroom where the coronation would be celebrated, his head came across the two large doors at the entrance, seeing a familiar magicat's head poking out as she gestured for him to follow. Immediately, worry washed over his mind as he feared the possibility that he was found out. "Oh, uh, um, you know what, never mind, the apples are fine!" He pranced a bit in panic, tapping his hooves against the floor before making his escape.

For about two seconds before he pushed his head up to her again. "You know what, on second thought, make those apples green- Ow!" Anything he had to add after was cut off by the bizarre magicat who grabbed his ear, pulling it with haste as she dragged him out of the room behind her.

Leaving a bewildered and confused caterer behind as she stared at the basket.

"But we don't have any green apples...?"

...

*clunk*

"Phew." Catra sighed in relief as she closed her bedroom door behind her, thankful that she didn't have any unexpected, or wanted, run-ins with a certain pink-haired princess. Already, as she turned around, she saw Swift Wind making himself at home as he lied on her better, smiling to her expectantly as he waited.

"Hey, Catra." He greeted with a winged wave. "So, have you come up with an apology yet?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Catra muttered, scratching the back of her mane with a nervous look in her eye. The comfort of her own room didn't make the situation any easier for the girl as she stepped into the center of the room, staring at the floor. "Alright... Um... H-How should I start this?"

"I don't know, just be yourself, I guess." He suggested casually, eager to hear the progress of her new development. "Like, here, pretend I'm Glimmer for a minute and apologize to me."

"Um... okay." She shook the nerves out of her arms and mane as she prepared herself, giving a small cough as she cleared her throat. Swift Wind waited patiently and calmly as the magicat prepared herself. After all, this was what she wanted to do for her friends. "Hoof. Alright, ahem..." She paused briefly as she stared at the rainbow-winged horse. "So, um... Hey, Pink-"

"Aaang!" Immediately, the warrior was cut off as Swift Wind interrupted, holding up a firm hoof. "First Rule: Always address someone by their real name when apologizing, not nicknames."

"Ah! Right, right, sorry." She already felt stupid enough for doing this as she pinched between her eyes, the least he could do is not provide so many rules about how to "Apologize" to someone. Then again, she was the one who wanted to get this done right. "Okay. Huff.. So, hey... Glimmer-"

"Yeeees?" It almost startled Catra at how disturbing Swift Wind sounded as he tried horribly to mimic Glimmer's voice, flashing his eyelashes like a girl.

"Ehh.. Mhhm. Okay, so I..." It was so distracting looking at Swift Wind like that as he flashed his eyebrows so dramatically. "I, uh..."

"Yeeeeeees...?"

"Want to say that..."

"Yeeeeeeeeees...?"

"I'm sorry your mother threw her life away and is trapped in another dimension for all eternity."

"..." Swifty just blinked dumbfounded as he stared at the magicat, looking almost devastated beyond words.

"Well? How was it?"

Swift Wind didn't know where to begin with everything related to that one line of dialogue as he swallowed a lump in his throat. "Oh my go- er... I mean... Oh my... good?" He pretended with a smile despite his ears giving it away. "That was really... something..."

"You hated it." Catra gruffed, rubbing her forehead in irritation.

"What? N-No, no, of course not! It was good, really-"

"So if I walked out of this room right now and said that to her, you'd be okay with it?"

"... Um... Are you going to say the whole thing, or just the sorry part?" His worry overshadowed the false sense of security as Catra groaned.

"Ugghhhh! This is so annoying!"

The noble steed frowned at the sight of its dear friend fumbling about. It didn't matter if he could or couldn't read her emotions on a constant basis thanks to their bond. The sight of her struggling and arguing with herself over a matter she shouldn't be worried about in the first place was hard to watch.

"Catra, I don't understand." The horse went on as he rose from the bed. "Why do you feel like you need to apologize to Glimmer in the first place? It's not like she's mad at you."

"I know that, and that's the problem!"

"You... want her to be mad at you?"

"What? No, I mean... ugh..." Never has Catra found herself so bothered by such a simple task, one that barely required any effort! "I need to apologize to her for myself, not just for her."

"But why do you need to do it?" The horse tried to understand as he approached her, only for Catra to turn her back to him with her arms crossed.

"Because I-!" And, like every time before, Catra froze. A look of fear filled her eyes as she pictured it. Pictured Glimmer standing there in front of her, pictured her smiling or looking at her curiously. The way she felt comfortable to be around like Bow, the fact that Catra knew she could trust her.

All of it went on to plague her with the same haunting vision in her head again as she recalled.

"Take good care of each other."

It practically made the magicat shiver at the thought as she hugged herself, ears instantly dropping to the sides of her head, and a flux of emotions emanating from the girl's heart that Swift Wind could sense with worry.

"Catra?" He spoke calmly, brushing the girl's shoulder with the tip of his wing. Shaking her head, scratching at her own mane in frustration, the feline anger-wielding She-Ra took a deep breath for herself.

"I'm... I'm fine..." She sighed, closing her eyes as she took several deep yet shallow breaths. "Look, I just... I just need to apologize to her. That's why I asked you to help me to begin with, remember?"

"Well... yeah..." He looked regretful as he shifted his eyes away. "I kind of wish I didn't have to lie to them about the funeral though..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'll tell them it was my fault, too. I just need your help to apologize to her. That's all."

"Catra, why don't you just try talking to her for once, then?" The horse suggested, trying to find any means to reason with her. "You're never going to be able to apologize to her unless you actually talk to her first, and practicing won't feel the same way when you're addressing Glimmer herself."

"I know that, but..." How was she supposed to explain a situation like this without sounding terrible? She was already conscious enough to know how it looked to be avoiding her throughout this whole time, at least, somewhat did, and whatever she had to say she knew she wouldn't get out right. "I just..."

"Look, we'll even go together to help start you off." He offered with a genuine smile as he stood behind her.

"It doesn't matter if you're there to help or not, I just-"

"Nonsense! Come on, I'm right behind you." Without waiting for a rebuttal or acceptance, the noble steed took it upon himself as he began pushing her towards the door. Knowing the stubbornness that was Catra, he knew that the best way to get her to do something was to help push her through it, sometimes literally in this case.

"What? No! Stop it! STOP IT!" She scrambled, trying to push back against the horse's strong head as her feet slid against the floor. "Stop pushing! I'll go She-Ra on you and you know I will!"

"I know you won't~"

"Hey!" She grumbled as she was pressed against the door, forcing her to find fumble with the door handle as she tried to unlock it. "What did I say about staying out of my head!"

"We've been over this, I'm not in your head."

"You know what I mean!"

*click*

"Come on, you'll be just fine. I believe in you!"

"That just makes it one for one." She continued to argue as the doors finally opened.

"Who's the other one?"

"Me!"

*thud*

"Ah-! ... Oh..."

"Hu... Uh..." Catra stared in silence as she gazed at the very person she was just arguing with over her horse for, meeting her along with her Aunt Castaspella and a just-as-surprised Bow by the sudden appearance.

"Um, hey... Catra." Glimmer greeted a little awkwardly with a wave, being the first time she's seen Catra in what felt like forever.

"Ghhh..." The warrior grumbled back with a stern look to her feathered companion, the very same steed who was smiling back nervously after causing the accidental run-in, before glancing back to the soon-to-be-Queen herself. "H... Hey... Gli-"

"Take good care of each other."

"Ngh!" Already, the vision was flashing in the middle of her eyes as she stuttered, her heart racing like a sports car driving at 300 mph. While Casta seemed more or less passive about the strange look on her face, having little interaction with the girl even after joining the Rebellion, her two friends showed a mix of worry and confusion as their friend stared off into space.

"Catra?" Glimmer called out again, reaching for her shaking hand.

Almost instantly, Catra snapped herself out of the situation as she backed up from the three, trying to put on her best forced smile as she finally managed to look at the three. "Oh... H-Hey... guys..." She twitched her eye a little, another process that didn't seem to faze Castaspella as much as her friends. "I-I'd love to stay and chat, but-"

"Oh, Catra! I was actually wondering where you were." Casta smiled as she grabbed the girl's shoulders. "I need to go over some things with you for tonight's coronation." Against the girl's wishes, Catra found herself forced ahead with her as Aunt Castaspella wrapped a comforting arm around her neck, dragging her away as Glimmer and Bow followed behind her.

"Wait- What?" Catra tried to force herself from her grasp without in any way harming her. She didn't want to ruin things for the coronation before they actually proceeded, after all. "N-No! No thanks! I'm good! I was just going to-"

"Oh nonsense, there's much to discuss for tonight's ceremony!" It was as if everything was flowing into one ear and out the other without reaching Casta's brain as she continued to drag the feline against her will. "Now, when you arrive tonight and transform into She-Ra-" Catra groaned internally as she lowered her ears, being dragged against her will as the two friends watched her.

Suffice to say, they were at a loss. On the one hand, they were glad that Catra was finally with them throughout all of this, although they wished it wasn't against her will, as it appeared. The girl looked like she was holding herself back more than ever before since the two had come to know her, and was straining every hair on her body not to get violent around the lovable aunt that was just trying to help run things around here.

On the one bright side, there was something Glimmer could at least admit.

This was the longest she's seen Catra in person in almost a week...

...

"So, the ceremony begins with the Ritual Quest," Casta continued as Glimmer listened intently at her side, "followed by your first speech as queen, and most importantly, the whole thing ends with a Grand Ball!" During their walk through the halls, passing various caterers and guards along the way who were setting up for the celebration, Glimmer was doing her best to refrain from looking at Catra behind her, the latter still seeming uncomfortable being within Glimmer's presence for some reason.

At least she seemed to be talking more as the walk continued, not that any of it was directed to Glimmer herself.

"What's the "Ritual Quest" thing?" Catra asked curiously, unaware as Glimmer smiled a little at the sound of her voice.

"The Quest of Queens, in which Glimmer will forge her connection to the Moonstone." Casta explained, coming to a halt as she turned to the three. "The Moonstone's elemental power has been balanced between you and your mother since you were born, but now, with her..." She turned her eyes away as she tried to find the right words. "Her... absence..." It did nothing to prevent the frown that was still to come over Glimmer's face, or the small concern over Catra's as she saw her.

"So," Bow cheerfully interrupted as he stood between the thee, "about that quest! We're great at quests, right guys?"

"Yes, yes, it's all in the scroll." Casta happily continued, growing the same idea of moving on as she materialized a large scroll out of thin air for the three. "Secret ritual, witnesses, light, etcetera, etcetera." The archer took it upon himself glance over the scroll's contents, scanning and fretting over every little detail the three would need to address over the coronation. "Oh, and you'll need this." She quickly added, throwing a small glowing lamp into the archer's full arms.

No sooner did she explain herself were her eyes drawn to the assortment of colorful pink and red flowers brought to her side by one of Plumeria's caterers. "Ooh, are those the flower arrangements? Glimmer, what do you think?"

"Oh, uh, they're, uh, fine?" She replied unsuringly as the nervous caterer smiled.

"... You're right, they're awful! Burn them at once!" She yelled to the panicked caterer. "Also, you're fired." This brought nothing but tears to the lone caterer as he ran away crying, a sight that almost made the three feel sorry for him.

"Aunt Casta, you really don't-"

"Don't you worry about a thing." Casta smiled back, giving her a small boop to the noes. "In addition to being a powerful sorceress, I am also a legendary party-planner!" The lights faded and zoomed in with the wave of her magical hands, awing at the sight of the wonderful illusionary decorations and treats that would be presented by tonight, along with two kneeling, nervous, caterers at her side. "This will be a coronation for the ages! Glimmer, take us to the terrace!" She couldn't wait to get a head start on the ordeal the moment that Glimmer teleported them, eagerly holding her niece's shoulders as she waited.

Glimmer let out nothing more than a small sigh as she gently shoved the hands from her shoulder, a frown hanging over her look as she casually lead the way to the terrace itself. "O-Oh, we're- We're walking, are we?" Casta was a little surprised by the speculation, refraining from making a big deal over it given the circumstances. "Great! We can use the exercise."

Naturally, the most valid response out of all of this was the sound of Catra moaning as she rolled her eyes, preparing to turn tail and walk in the other direction as fast as she possibly could. That was, until she was made aware of a very curious and questionable archer who grabbed tail from two feet away.

"Uh, Catra, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked, not entirely willing to let the cat run off regardless if it could be helped.

"Um, sure." She shrugged. "What's up?"

"What do you mean what's up? It's Glimmer's Coronation Day, and you've barely been around!" He stated, showing a small matter of annoyance at the friend's strange behavior. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Oh, uh," the She-Ra turned her head away as she scratched her head, "you know, just... stuff..."

"Like what kind of stuff?"

"You know, just... stuff..."

This was the strangest that Bow's ever seen Catra, and that was saying a LOT. He's seen her depressed, moody, irritable, baffled, annoyed, confused, happy, laughing, silent, fuming, mostly nine times out of ten some negative emotion. And not once did he ever see her in a state such as this! She looked somewhere between uncomfortable and unsure of herself, or something else that was bothering her.

"Look, can we just talk about this some other time, or something?" She asked, crossing her arms as she leaned a shoulder against the wall. "I really don't want to make a big deal about anything today."

"Uh, Catra? I don't know if you noticed, but today kind of is a big deal." Bow reminded as he leaned against the wall next to her. "Glimmer's going to be counting on you to support her and get her through all of this. You know it hasn't been easy for her since... you know..."

"Yeah, I do know. It's just... egh..." She continued to keep her head down as she scratched at her left ear. "I... I need to talk to her about... something..."

"Something?" Finally, he felt like he was making progress! "What kind of "something"?"

"Just... something, okay? And I'm not entirely comfortable about it."

"Well, you could just tell me, couldn't you? I don't mind. I could tell it to her for you if you like?"

"That's the problem, I need to talk to her about it myself. It's been hanging over my head since we got back, and... Mmh, I don't know what to do right now, okay? Things have just been... crazy. All right?" There was a stirring silence in the air as the two looked off to the side.

One of the many reasonings Bow and Glimmer came up with for Catra's mysterious behavior was just Catra's own way of dealing with the Queen's passing. The silent treatment she gave Glimmer, the inability to meet with her or talk about it with anyone, they were all the usual signs that Catra portrayed when something deeply emotional bothered her.

And they were just fine with it!

But the confusing portion behind it all was the fact she wasn't talking to Glimmer specifically. She was silent for a day or two like the rest of the Rebellion as they mourned Angella's leaving, but afterwards she was right back to talking to everyone else again like the good ol' days, save for Glimmer who she almost seemed too afraid of to approach. If he didn't know any better, he could've sworn she was actually scared of the girl for some reason, which is the last thing they needed while Glimmer was going through this tough time.

"Look, Catra," Bow spoke softly as he rested a hand on her shoulder, "I know what you're going through, all right?"

"You... You do?" She turned her head around curiously, earning a smile and a nod from the bowman.

"Yeah, of course I do. Everyone does."

"E-Everyone?" A small ounce of worry crossed Catra's mind at the sound of it.

"Yeah! And I'm telling you it's alright. We miss the Queen, too, so you don't have to be afraid of how you look."

"I... Mmmh..." Catra wanted to tell him how he was wrong about the situation, but what would be the point? Aside from the fact he possibly wouldn't believe her, there was no way she could explain herself to someone the matter wasn't related to. It was hard enough telling Swift Wind about everything, telling it to someone else would've been impossible. "I.. I don't-"

"Besides, I'm sure if you helped with the catering preparations, it'll help take your mind off things."

"Bow, I don't-" Catra stopped as a thought struck her. "Wait... what do you mean by that?"

"Well, you know, just help out with everything!" Bow smiled with pride as he felt he made a breakthrough with the magicat. "Help with the decorations, make sure everything's organized, all the little stuff. Then you'll be able to talk to Glimmer about everything later in peace."

"Helping the..." Slowly, the small wheels of Catra's mind began to speed up as a large smile finally filled the vacant void of Catra's face. "Bow, you're a genius!" She officially declared to the slightly blushful, smiling, archer.

"Heh, well, I don't wanna brag, but-"

"If I help her out with Coronation, then I won't even need to apologize to her!"

"Yeah, that's-... Wait, what?"

Of course! Why didn't she think of this before?! It was so obvious for crying out loud!

She couldn't bring herself to confront Glimmer because of her sense of guilt at the moment, and with a momentous day such as this, she was going to be forced to reconcile with her at some point against her will, and then she would be forced to talk to her regardless. She already failed miserably just trying to think of an apology, if the last near-week of thinking of one was any indication, and at the rate it was going, she was never going to be able to talk to her again!

BUT! But if she managed to do something that she felt could make them even, then she wouldn't have to worry about apologizing in the first place! Her guilt would go away, she would finally be able to approach the princess again without any of these horrific flashes going off constantly in her mind, and everything would go back to normal in a world ruled by magic and technology!

Best of all, she wouldn't have to explain herself anymore afterwards! She could just come up with the excuse that she was helping to plan for the Coronation or something. Something would come to her mind eventually, and until then, she just had to play the part of a "part-ee planner", whatever that was. And she wouldn't have to feel guilty over not apologizing for something she felt was absolutely necessary at the time!

"I need to go catch up with them, there's a lot of stuff to do today before the ceremony!" Catra announced, giving the archer a small playful punch to the shoulder before she ran off. "Thanks, Bow!"

"..."

"..." Bow had never been more confused or worried about what transpired before him.

"What did I just say?"

...

A/N: I said it once and I'll say it again, it feels good to take it easy for a change and post a shorter chapter. I know its a bit of a weird cut off point since this only covers about 3 1/2 minutes of the episode, but I found it to be a good cut off point since the following ones are far and few in-between, which means I'll have less opportunities to find an appropriate cutoff point on my own.

But with that said, hope you all enjoyed and got a small excitable taste of what's to come from the intro above X) Kudos and major thanks to Peyton Helix for his help and assistance with it, as well as leaving some of the best reviews I have to date X) if you guys wanna thank one of the few people in my life for keeping me going, its him, star, and petie from instagram, so send those guys your support and thanks when you have the time.

So with that all said-! Hope you all enjoyed ^^! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you on the rest of the incredibly interesting episode VERY soon X)...

Chapter 120: S4 Episode 1: The Coronation Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 8.4k Pre-A/N's. What's going on guys, monokub here with another fun-filled episode to boot ^^

Don't have a lot to say this time around. Chapters might be surprisingly short (and by that i mean like 8-10k a piece) for a good while folks, but honestly not too surprising XP "Shocking" as it might be, this is the size it usually was when the full episodes came out. Heck, the first two chapters alone were 1 episode in total (god I miss those days...) But still XP

My ultimate goal is to hopefully fin this before Friday when season 5 FINALLY comes out so i can watch the entire season 4 before then XP i'm forcing myself not to until i fin this episode since I cheated a little and watched it after season 3 finale. I couldn't help myself XP lol

Anyway, enjoy!

...

"So, what do you think?" The eager young princess of the Kingdom of Snows known as Frosta asked, excited to see the reaction of the soon Queen-to-be as they stood outside upon the terrace. "I wanted to do something special for you."

The three gazed at the marvelous (which was one way to put it) statuesque figurines standing in front of them, made completely out of solid ice. Upon the platform of the masterpiece of ice, the one that Frosta made with all the love and care and destructive force of ice in the world, stood what would be the centerpiece of her very own coronation.

Upon the platform were two familiar individuals known as Glimmer of Bright Moon, and Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows, flexing their incredible muscles more than ever for everybody to bare witness to! They even came with Frosta's personal touch to them as they stood, with both their muscles almost bulging out the seams as Glimmer stood, with her always faithful, always trustworthy, and definitely favorite friend, Frosta, kneeling at her side, flexing her own gigantic muscles that were clearly just a little more awesome than Glimmer's own.

It almost petrified Catra and Bow as they stared at the statue, at a loss for words as it was more than they could handle. Bow didnt' know exactly what he could say, or any of them, that could be said without hurting the young princess's feelings. As for Catra, well, she was struggling to hold in the biggest groan in her entire body, unable to tell what she should be doing at a time like this.

"I don't know if I should laugh or be disturbed..." She mumbled, swallowing down whatever answer was piling up in her throat. This was her own little issue she had to deal with as Glimmer went about her own.

All throughout the last week, a majority of it, Catra had been all but silent to Glimmer. Barely speaking in her presence, and that's if she was talking to someone else, unable to bother being in the same room with her, the magicat had made it a priority to avoid Glimmer at any cost, going as far as to run away if she caught so much as a whiff of her scent. The strange thing was, it wasn't due to anything Glimmer did herself. Instead, it lied solely on Catra as the main, personal, cause.

She couldn't be with Glimmer after the tragedy a week ago. Ever since the Queen sacrificed her life so Catra wouldn't have to, she's been rattled by a bizarre haunting where she saw the Queen's face every time she saw Glimmer. Just seeing that stare in her eye, that smile, every little detail of it reminded her of the Queen, and threw on a heaping helping of guilt that Catra didn't know how to process.

She couldn't find a way to make up for such a huge loss, she couldn't think of how to repay her, or her mother which would be impossible from this point, and left Catra with seemingly no choice but to apologize for her loss in order to move on with her life. A way to make her feel better through her words than her actions.

The minor setback?

CATRA WAS TERRIBLE AT MAKING PEOPLE FEEL BETTER!

Don't get her wrong, she was used to helping people out and everything. She's been on plenty of missions, helped dozens of regions and lands, and kicked plenty of Horde butt along the way. But not once has there ever been a case where she needed to directly talk to someone like this in order to make them feel better. She didn't even have to do this when she tried cheering her up at the Princess Prom, she just went with her actions instead of words.

Which is why Catra opted to try her hand at actions rather than words, seeing it as the only means to get past her struggling blockade. With the Princess's Coronation Ceremony being held this afternoon, she found no greater means to support her friend than by pitching in and attempting to help make sure everything was perfect. When she did, she knew she was going to be able to see her again, her guilt would go away, and she could go about their daily lives of the Horde trying to wipe them out, just like the good old days!

... But MAN was it forcing her to bite her own tongue! She passed by a dozen things on the way to the terrace alone that made her want to laugh and burst out into fits, and she couldn't over the fear of messing up Glimmer's coronation! She had to make sure everything was perfect throughout the proceedings, not just for her, but for both their sakes.

"This is going to be awful." Glimmer groaned, lowering her head.

"Awfully inspiring, right?" Frosta jumped pumping her fists to her, looking dead in the eyes to the soon-to-be-Queen as waves of light shined through them with excitement and hope. There was nothing else she wanted to do other than to help her proclaimed-best friend! "I can make more!"

"I... appreciate the idea." Glimmer declined, gently lowering the fists Frosta raised. "But I need someone for an important job to, uh... greet the guests!" For a moment, Catra almost wanted to volunteer at the sign that it was important, until she realized the trick behind it.

"Oh! You mean like a Bouncer?" Frosta smiled with greater excitement than before as she forced icicles over her fists, nearly doubling their size. With a grin, she slammed the two fists together, alerting all those who would try to bounce pass the amazing princess that she would bounce them right back! "I'm on it! Bouncerrrr!"

"Hey, wait. I didn't say Bouncerrr... okay." Glimmer's attempt to stop the young princess were in vain as she ran off, preparing to bounce the infiltrators who refused to be bounced. There was no stopping the unshakeable will of an 11 and 3/4ths year old girl.

"Glimmer!"

"Ah!" Nearly all of her friends yelped in fright as the familiar Aunt Castaspella popped out of nowhere from her right, holding along two differently colored drapes in both over both her sleeves.

"I need your opinion on color schemes." The proud aunt was excited for the answer she was about to hear. Between the cruddy, simple, bland, boring blue one on her right, it would only make too much sense to pick the obviously atmospheric, beautiful, elegant, graceful, and all-around better looking purple one, there was only ONE possible answer she could expect from such a perfect niece!

"Uh... Blue?"

"..." Maybe she wasn't related to Glimmer after all. The bored look in her eyes as she shrugged to it said everything.

"Uh, what about purple?"

"... Excellent choice." Never mind! Crisis averted. "Isn't this fun? Soon, you will have to make many decisions, just like your moth... erm..." Anything the aunt had to say was cut off as she was reminded about the certain loss behind all of this, as well as the princess she was addressing, as she gazed at the two friends gesturing behind her.

To her right, she a nervous-looking Bow silently gesturing with his hand sliding against his neck to cut the question short before it was too late. And to her left, she saw the easily irritable creature known as Catra, the cat girl giving her a threatening scowl as her eye twitched, trying to suppress the anger for her own sake as well as her friends.

"That is, uh... Chop, chop, everyone!" She purposely tried to move the conversation ahead as to ignore the conversation that almost was. "Catra, move the ice sculpture to the side." Giving a simple nod, Catra followed her instructions as she and Bow dispersed from the group. "We still need flower arrangements. Where is that florist?"

"... You fired him." Glimmer reminded unhappily. At the rate things were going, she was going to fire half the staff before everything was set up.

"Oh, right." The aunt stirred in her thoughts as she tried to think of a counter-plan, refusing to let up as her own mistake threw a hitch in the coronation's development. "Perhaps you'd like to do the flowers, Glimmer?"

"Uh..." Uncertainty crossed her mind as she looked back to her two troubled friends. Towards the center of the terrace, she could see Catra struggling to move the massive hunk of rock as she pushed against it with her back, scrambling her feet across the floor as she heaved with all her might an inch at a time. It was moments like this where she wished she could just use She-Ra to solve her problems, but the last thing she wanted was to cause panic or concern during Glimmer's big day if people saw that She-Ra was running about.

On Bow's end of the world, things weren't fairing much better as he glossed over the list of things and arrangements from the scroll. He didn't appear to be enjoying himself any better than Catra was as he groaned, burying his face in the mountaintop of things they would have to go over before they were done for the day.

Based on their expressions alone, there was little more than fear as she thought over the various and exhausting tasks she would be forced to do if their first assignments alone brought them this much stress. She also worried over what sort of magic she would need to do it. That's when she was drawn to the sound of Mermista groaning to her right, standing out in the open with an exaggeratedly bored yawn that escaped her throat.

She was the only one not helping with anything right now.

"You know, I bet Mermista would love to do the flowers!" She finally offered, chuckling a bit as her aunt turned around. "Right, Mermista?"

"Wow, how did you know?" You'd have to be a complete idiot not to notice the extreme sarcasm coming out of her tone as she crossed her arms. "Flower arranging is my passion."

"Ah, wonderful!" Her aunt spoke with satisfaction as she threw an arm around Mermista's free one, causing a small blush as she was dragged away. "Now let's talk stem length."

"What? No, why?!" And leaving Perfuma, who was a few feet away behind her, to collapse to her knees in despair as the overgrown plants to her side withered away. Why did Mermista get to have the fun job of Flower Arranging? Why was the Universe punishing her like this?!

"Is now a good time to talk about my song at the coronation?" Swift Wind abruptly asked, catching Glimmer by surprise as she squeaked. "I will require a stage and oats for the backup horses."

*creeeak*

Before Glimmer could get any sort of word out, pertaining to information about Catra's strange behavior, a solid clear wall of ice was grown between them as Frosta arrived to save the day. "Stop bothering Glimmer!" She yelled, waving her icy fists as she scared off the horse. Nobody was going to get passed Super Bouncer Frosta whether they were friend or foe! "Bouncer!"

"Wait-! Ugh..." Although she had little to no work to do herself right now, she was feeling just as exhausted as the rest of them. Between people coming in and out every two seconds, plans and assignments being thrown around one after the other, and nobody giving her a chance to speak to speak with them for more than a sentence, this was becoming the most grueling day of her life.

At least some people appeared to be making progress as she looked past the ice. On the other side of the cold clear wall, she could see Catra looking as tired as the rest of them as she slid against the floor, her tongue hanging out a little in sweat. Despite the icy feel pressing against her back, the found the situation anything but tiring as she was forced to push the giant block of ice like her life depended on it.

Partly, because it did.

Seeing how everyone else was preoccupied, and Perfuma was still weeping over her shattered dream, the pink-haired soon-to-be-Queen made her way around the solid wall of as she approached the tired magicat as she got back up again to push. "Hey, Catra?" Catra immediately shot her head back at the sound of her voice as she continued to push with her arms. "Could we talk for a minute-"

"Take good care of each other."

Catra's face twitched as the haunting visage came to her again. Wasn't she doing enough around here to keep the visions from clouding her mind? It was aggravating alone just dealing with everything without letting out a scoff or two at everything around here. The last thing she needed was for something to haunt her every time Glimmer came into her life.

Shaking her head briefly, the magicat turned her head back to the icicle itself as she tried to focus solely on the task at hand. "Uh, c-can't talk now! Working!" She sputtered, trying to ignore the friend for both their sakes.

"Look, I really need to talk to you, okay?" Glimmer said in a slightly mournful voice as she tried walking to her side to grab her attention. "I've barely seen you around the castle, and I haven't heard from you since we got back. And there's a lot of stuff on my mind right now, and I-"

"Eh, n-nope! Nope! Sorry!" Catra spat, side stepping a little further away as she pushed the icicle from another angle. It did nothing to stop the same princess from simply walking over to her as she followed, knowing the cat was too busy to actually get away.

"I just really need someone to talk to right now-"

"Ehh... H-Hey! Bow!" Trying to find anything to distract the tension already rising within Catra's mane, the warrior caught sight of an equally exhausted Bow as she began to approach him. Glimmer could barely raise a hand to her before she left again, like she always did every time Glimmer tried to talk to her.

Did Catra hate her right now? Was she trying to avoid her because of something she did? It was Catra they were talking about, so there could've been any number of things that she could've done to set her off. The only difference between then and now was the fact Glimmer couldn't recall a single thing that she could've done to cause this.

Sighing, following the continued sounds of Frosta crashing something else and Perfuma still weeping, Glimmer resigned herself to follow Catra around as she did anything she could to reconnect with her old friend.

"Hey, Bow," Catra greeted as she ignored the princess's approach, "do we need to do anything else?"

"Still don't know what the lantern is for!" He moaned, reading over the massive scroll that had unfolded and stretched over his head to the back of his feet as he continued reading. "This is all so official and confusing. And it says Glimmer needs to wear some kind of ceremonial robe? I don't know where to get that!" Of the massive list of lists he ever listed, this was the most troubling list of all.

"Maybe, if we all work together-" Glimmer tried to encourage with a hopeful smile, only to be shot down as Catra panicked again.

"N-No need!" She stammered, raising her hands up defensively with a nervous smile. "I'm great at tracking things! I'll find it myself. Better yet, I'll take Bow with me." She added, pulling the archer against his own wishes to her side. Even this was troubling to the soon-to-be-Queen of Bright Moon, seeing Catra more than eager to work with someone else if it meant avoiding her.

"But-"

"Glimmer," And of course, her aunt had to come and interrupt her before she could get a word in edgewise, "you're needed in the Dining Room, at once, to choose the napkin folding technique! I'm thinking swans, what do you think?"

"Uh... I-"

"You're right, it's a terrible idea." She felt so disgraceful to have thought up such an unruly idea. What kind of favored aunt was she?! Tears were already forming in the corner of her eyes as she rusted a fist to her chin. "I should just fire myself!"

"Aunt Casta, no-"

*SPLASH!*

The two were suddenly submerged in a brief deluge of seawater as the Princess of Salineas doused them from overhead with her magic. Within moments of the water clearing, the two were seen covered in seaweed over their head and shoulders, and a starfish wrapped around Glimmer's face before she plucked it off. There wasn't any room for doubt about the cause of this little ruckus as Casta grumbled back.

"Mermista! Vases!" She clarified.

"Don't stifle my creativity!" She yelled back, standing in a pool of water that reached her ankles.

"Ugh. Please." She needed to clear the air around herself as she walked off, hoping to calm down before making a scene.

"No worries," Catra assured as she pulled out her sword, transforming it into a mix between a squeegee and a mob on both ends, "Bow and I can handle this, you relax. Let's go!"

"Wait, why do I have to?" Groans could be heard emanating from his voice as Catra dragged him away by the wrist, leaving the lone princess on her own again as everyone left her side.

"Relax... Right..." Unsatisfied with the events that were unfolding, Glimmer sighed in silence as she was forced to accept this. This is the most that she's gotten out of Catra all day so far, and if listening to what she had to say to her on the spot was her way of talking to her right now, then so be it. She gathered a pool of her own magic as her body shined for a short moment, only to turn away as a feeling struck her, gazing upon the Moonstone far behind her.

The Moonstone represented the peace and tranquility that was always within Bright Moon's borders, and would always stand as a testament of Bright Moon's power over the fierce technological might of the Horde. It would be here long after they were gone, long after the Rebellion or the Horde was gone, and long after the war was over, one way and another. She just wished it would've been gone before losing...

At the thought of her missing mother, the power faded from Glimmer's body as she moaned, walking away in silence. Nothing ever felt the same the same to Glimmer since her mom's passing, and she doubt anything ever would again. Between the ceremony commencing this evening, the people that were moving away from her life, and the feeling of despair looming over her head, she saw very little reason to be happy right now.

It was the same look that Catra caught as she eyed her from the corner of her eye. She grimaced over the expression in her eyes as she continued to stand over the water in her boots, trying to ignore the cold feeling around her feet. She was working her hardest physically and mentally as she played along with everything, and Glimmer still didn't feel or look any better about it. All it did was make the guilt stronger in her heart as she grumbled, trying to mop away the water even harder as she did anything to push the pain away.

For all it was worth, both, she and Glimmer, shared the same thought with one another, even if they weren't aware of this.

This day was going to be Perfect... ly disastrous.

...

The Inner Sanctum. One of the most unseen places of the Fright Zone.

To be associated with this place, one must have the honor and status as being one of Hordak's closest followers, usually reserved for Force Captains, officers, and commanders alike. Very rarely was anyone allowed access or brought to his Inner Sanctum otherwise, and those that did, usually weren't seen again.

It looked no worse for wear as Adora entered through the metallic doors of the sanctum, seeing the lab was still a mess. Everything looked to be about the same as when she left it, with maybe a few more broken pieces of machinery and destroyed vestige tanks still dripping with liquid after the lab was destroyed by a certain traitorous enemy. The same enemy who wore a familiar pair of cuffs, ones that were still active, as she stepped over the broken devices.

To think, this is where it almost happened. This is where she almost succeeded in stopping Catra from ruining her happiness like time and time again. If not for her, everything would've been peaceful. People could disappear in the portal world without a care in the world, completely unaware of it, and nobody would have to return to the miserable lives of war that were continuing to run amok within the real world itself. Everyone could live out their greatest fantasies and desires until the very end, and it was a more peaceful reality than anything else Adora has ever known since her time as a Force Captain in the Fright Zone.

Then SHE came along and had to ruin it!

Catra couldn't just live out her life in happiness and wonder over this place, oh, no, no, no, no, no. She was unsatisfied. She apparently wanted more of something, more of anything, just to make herself satisfied in the end! People could've disappeared peacefully, happily, and that's all Adora wanted for them after everything she's been through! And did Catra allow that? NO! She had to get herself involved again and find some pitiful excuse to ruin it for her all over again!

Make no mistake, it's not like she wanted everyone to disappear, heck, it wasn't even her original agenda. But as the illusionary world began to fall apart, she felt her memories returning, too. Memories of a life of deeds she regretted, memories of terrible thoughts she didn't want to recall. It wasn't until Catra forced her to remember them that she remembered why she hated her old friend so much, and how much Catra had taken from her life in the first place. Making her experience the same pain was the only solution she saw.

Not to mention the fact everyone seemed happier here than a world of constant war and fear. Why on Etheria would she ever want to return to such a life where so much constant pain was inflicted?

And then, there was Aroda, her source of power. When the world acme to an end, everything was back to normal, including herself. The corruption that had rotted away at her, all of Aroda's influence around her, had vanished after the parasite had ceased to be. While it was something of a comfort to see her old skin back to the flawless shape it was before, it also came with a temporary side-effect of her powers being gone as well.

Leaving behind a small gift that was almost just as good.

Finally rifling through the wreckage, the jacket-less girl came upon the leader of the Horde, sitting in the same spot she saw him last time. Sitting along the broken archway of the portal, having yet to clean up a single spot around him. It was almost disgraceful to her to see her once-beloved ruler in such a state.

Making her way over to him, standing with the same respect she always showed, though no longer felt, Adora stood at attention as she cleared her throat, placing her hands behind her back. "Ahem. Lord Hordak?" She said calmly. "Our troops are just waiting around. They need to be given orders. What are we waiting for? We need to talk about plans for-"

"Plans?" The leader of the Horde spoke coldly, not even lifting his head in her direction as he chuckled bitterly. "Your last plan was to set off the portal machine before it was ready. Do you remember how that ended?" Adora choked back a bitterness in her throat as she clenched her hands behind her back tighter.

He still didn't have an ounce of respect for her after everything that's happened, as he always did. What she first adored and desired from him later turned into a coldness that she no longer cared about.

Now, it did nothing more than anger her.

It was YOUR orders to do so... She was smart enough to not speak her mind at the moment as she glanced away. "It still proved to be a success in the end, anyway. The Rebellion's in shambles, and their Queen is gone. If we were to strike now, we could catch them completely off guard-!"

"And how are we going to do that when you couldn't even prevent the Rebellion from infiltrating the Fright Zone?" Her leader sneered as he rose from his seat, glaring anger and seething rage from his core.

"We've already been over this. Entrapta was the one who betrayed you, I'm the one who's been helpi-"

"RAAAAHHHH!" Boasting with a newfound rage, the leader of the Horde pulled apart a metallic support beam with his bare hands before tossing it directly at the Force Captain. Adora barely managed to duck out of the way in time as the two ton steal flew past her, forcing her to the ground in reflex. From where she lied, it was almost as if she was bowing at his very feet as he loomed over her again. "I TOLD YOU NEVER TO MENTION THAT NAME IN MY PRESENCE!"

At that moment, she noticed a small light emanating from the collar of his exoskeleton, glowing around his collar in response to his newfound rage.

And, primarily, strength.

"If you are so desperate for a task, redouble our defenses so that no Princess can ever set foot in the Fright Zone again." The master was fuming with anger as Adora slowly rose to her feet, being wise enough to keep her head down as he hugged, if only to keep her own skin alive. "Fortunately for you," he continued, gesturing to one of the cracked monitors along the room, "my signal to Horde Prime went through."

"I understand that, so let's-"

The leader was quick to cut her off as he began to approach her in a menacing manner, the very one that forced her to back away a little in fear like it always has. "That is the only reason you're here instead of facing punishment for your failure." Adora's breathing became still at that remark.

Her failure.

Her... Failure?!

"My failure?!" She growled back, squeezing a fist at her side. "How is it my failure when you're the one who built the portal in the first place-!"

*WHAM!*

"Agh!"

*crash!*

It was like getting slammed into by a skiff as Hordak lashed out in anger. With a single swipe from the back of his hand, Adora found herself being thrown through the air, crashing into a small pile of metallic alloys, miraculously coming out of it alive with only a few aches and pains. She was fortunate enough she wasn't cut or impaled on any of the jagged pieces.

Said fortune might have only lasted as long as such as the leader of the Horde was already standing over the blonde soldier, pressing the palm of his hand against her chest right below her neck, nearly suffocating her in the process as she tried to pull away.

"You DARE to accuse me of failing this!?" He roared. With but a simple toss, Adora was once again thrown across the room, this time slamming against one of the few unbroken glass tanks within the room. Within a second, before she could fall, she felt a tight grip around her very own neck as Hordak pushed her up to the center of the glass, pinning her in place.

"If not for your minuscule contributions to the Horde, you'd be taking Catra's place at the execution at this very moment." He lowered is menacing gaze lower to her face as Adora turned her head as the red eyes reflected off her face.

During this moment, she noticed a small shine of something reflecting off the dark ceiling above, something that was hard to make out as his face was pressed so closely. It took her eyes a moment to adjust, but she almost could've sworn it almost looked like... Is that...?

"Do not waste what little reason is left to keep you alive, Adora." He scoffed at the word before finally tossing her away to the ground. "Now, get OUT!" With his order ringing in her ears, Adora quickly scrambled to her feet, pulling herself together before heading out the metal doors. Looking back into the room of the menacing leader, Adora had officially decided for herself as a small glare crossed her brow.

She's had enough. She's had enough of people ruining her ways, enough of people pushing her around, and enough of people taking her for granted. She worked day in and day out for Hordak, and did he give her any sense of respect? No! All he does is push her around physically all the time, and now he had the gall to blame her for his own mistakes!

She might not have Entrapta's and technological advancements, but she had spirit, she had her loyalty. A loyalty she displayed to Lord Hordak on a daily basis where she asked for little more than acknowledgement, for appreciation, after all she's suffered through from the Rebellion, from She-Ra, and from Hordak himself. And he treated her no better than a stepping stool or a punching bag.

And she was pretty sure he'd respect those things more than her!

Well, as of now, no more. She didn't care about Hordak's personal desires or his wishes. He didn't represent what she thought the Horde was about. He was nothing more than a cruel tyrant who pushed away those he considered a nuisance, those whose uses he exhausted, reminding her of Catra in some way.

And if he didn't want anything to do with her, then so be it. She smiled to herself as the doors closed, knowing a change had to be in order.

Such as who ran things around here...

...

Glimmer stared into her hands as she tried to concentrate. A pulse, a wave, some sort of energy. She wanted to create any source of magic that she could within her palms like the past, some sort of connection to a better time in her life. Maybe she would feel better about everything if she had something that recounted her troubled history, something to remember what it was like to live back then.

Try as she might, in the end, she couldn't get anything more than a few sparks of magic. Within her cold fingertips, she watched helplessly as the magic barely conjured a strand of malleable energy, one that barely waved through her hands. It just didn't have the same feel to it as everything else did, feeling as foreign as the rest of the castle felt to her right now.

She knew that nothing would ever be the same again. That much was clear. She just wished at least something could retain some semblance of normalcy around here.

"Well, it took some searching," Bow captured the girl's attention as he, Catra, and Casta entered the room, "but we finally found the Royal Coronation Robe!" Approaching with the robes in hand, Catra tossed the leatery sheet over her pink friend, taking a few steps back to examine the entire outfit in person.

"There, see? You look... um..." Catra rubbed her chin in wonder as she tried to find the best words. It was hard to when most of those words involved jokes, teasing, or were just plain insulting like she usually did. Especially when the very robe she was wearing stretched out to, like, twenty feet in full length on both sides. "... Something..." She said with a nervous smile. What little smile she got from her young friend quickly turned to despair as she lowered her head again, moving on to further Catra's guilt.

"Oh, my little Glimmer." Casta mourned for her sorrowful niece as she approached her side. She smiled warmly as an aunt could as she caressed her saddened cheek in her hand. "I'm so proud of you. I know you're going to make such a wonderful queen." The aunt's kind words did little to soothe the sadness in her heart, but it did at least keep the frown from deepening as she shifted her eyes away.

"Well, almost time for your quest!" She happily announced, brightening her own mood at the mention as she booped her young niece in the nose again.. "Give me a tick and this robe will fit like a dream."

...

"Of course." Glimmer huffed as she sat against the spare bed of the room, still wearing the same robes from earlier as she spoke with her friends. "The quest we still don't know anything about. But it'll be fine." She spoke with a sense of denial in her voice as she tried to force a smile. "Castaspella will fix the robe, Bow has the lantern, and I'll have you guys by my side the whole way. Right?"

"Um... R-Right." Bow replied hesitantly, supporting his troubled friend as much as possible.

"Wait, you mean we all have to go on this quest thing?" Catra questioned, hoping for once that she misheard things around here. She ended up regretting it as soon as she asked it as she saw the expression dropping on Glimmer's face again. "Nnnnot that... it would be a problem... of course." She slowly added, giving an uneasy smile as she did.

"Hey, um Catra, can I talk to you real quick?" For better or worse, the archer pushed her furry butt out the door with him, leaving a somber princess alone with her thoughts as the door closed behind them. "I don't know where the lantern is! Glimmer can't do the quest without it, and she can't be queen without the quest!"

Dear First Ones, he could see it now! Riots and pillaging on the streets, castles burning and being torn asunder, and everyone knowing it was Bow's fault for losing the sacred lantern in the first place! He wasn't ready to be torn to pieces by an angry pitchfork-wielding mob!

*whap!*

"Bow, calm down!" Catra yelled shaking his shoulder as the archer rubbed his sore cheek.

"Owww, you didn't have to slap me, I wasn't panicking that much."

"I know that, but when else would I get the chance?" She joked, earning another moan from the same archer. He would've preferred a more verbal joke than a physical one for a time like this. "Look, it's a lantern, it couldn't have gotten far. Just retrace your steps, figure out where you left it, and I'll be fi- I mean, Glimmer will be fine, okay?"

"You'll be...?" Raising a questionable brow to the seemingly calm magicat, Bow gently brushed her hands from his shoulder. "Catra, what's going on with you lately? You've been a bit more... active, than usual."

"Well what do you expect? It's a coronation thing, everyone's working around here." She shrugged back, trying to walk past the archer before he blocked the way.

"Yeah, but you're not acting like you're doing it for the coronation. You're acting like you're doing it just to make Glimmer look happy, not because it's important."

"And what's wrong with that?" Catra raised a brow back, trying to pass the archer again before he moved. "I'm still helping, and it's not like I don't want to make sure her day doesn't go smoothly."

"I just wanna know what's going on with you. You haven't been acting like your usual self lately."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No."

*whap!*

"Ow!" He muttered to himself as realized what it sounded like out loud. "What I mean is, why are you acting like you're forcing yourself to make Glimmer happy? It's like you're more focused on making her happy than helping at all with the ceremony."

"W-Well that's good then, right? As long as it's helping her, then who cares why I'm doing it, right?"

"So, what? Is this supposed to lead up to one of your pranks or something?"

"What? No, I know how important this is-"

"So you're doing it because someone told you to do it?"

"No, it's just-" She was starting to feel her veins tighten around her skin in distress as the accusations continued.

"Then why are you acting so close and distant at the same time, then?"

"BECAUSE I-" And with a pause, it happened again.

"Take good care of each other."

Catra looked around herself nervously as her ears faltered, trying to see if there was any sense of Glimmer around them at all. When nothing showed up, she started silently at Bow for a few seconds until the archer himself waved a hand in front of her.

"Um, Catra? Are you there?" He asked, waiting until the girl finished shaking her head, blinking to him.

"Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm just-"

"Take good care of each other."

It happened again, and this Catra reacted physically as she took a few steps back from the archer, looking as if she saw a ghost. Her eyes were darting back and forth around her as she faced Bow's direction, the archer taking note of her mysterious behavior and how it seemed to be affecting her with him as well.

"Okay, something is officially going on with you." Bow stated as he grabbed her wrist. "Come on, we're going to talk with Glimmer about thi-"

"Wh- No!" Catra yelled, swiping away her wrists. She was mortified, troubled, as the visions continued to haunt her mind without pause. Pulling away from the archer, rubbing her grabbed fist, a senseless worry came over her as she backed away down the hallway, trying to distance herself from the new source of her trouble.

It was now affecting her with Bow as well.

"Just... Just get on with the celebration thing. I'll find the lantern and then Glimmer will forgive me and everything will go back to normal."

"Forgive you?" For once, he was at a loss by a completely surprised reaction from the girl. "Catra, what are you-"

"N-No time to talk, gotta hurry!" She sputtered, racing down the hallways as she continued with her ceremonial preparations.

None of this made any sense to the archer. Catra was plenty weird as it was, and she had a handful of strange habits and behaviors around here. Easily angered, easily amused by people's misfortune, usually along the lines of pranks, and easy to get under her skin unwittingly.

But this was nothing like Bow had ever seen before. Catra wasn't just acting like she didn't want anything to do with her friends, she was acting like she was becoming fearful of them herself. Of the many things he's known her to be, easily startled and frightened wasn't one of them, no matter how was involved or what she actually feared.

That's when he recalled what she said a moment ago before she left. About Glimmer forgiving her for something that nobody could recollect. There was nothing to forgive her for, not to Bow's knowledge anyway, and the way she was acting, it was as if whatever problem came about her she came up with herself.

And then, it suddenly hit him with a strange thought.

Does Catra have Survivor's Guilt?

...

Racing down the hallways, Catra distanced herself as far as possible as she tried to go about her day like the rest of them. Whatever it was that just happened with Bow had to be a coincidence, it just had to! like, maybe mentioning Glimmer too much triggered it, or maybe it was something else? She didn't know for sure, she just knew that whatever it was, she needed to hurry up and fix it.

If it actually carried over to Bow now of all times, then that meant it was getting worse, that it was spreading. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone within Bright Moon or the Princess Alliance for that matter without having these stupid visions haunting her!

At best, she could go about this day, get Glimmer to forgive her for herself, and then everything would be back to normal as much as possible. At worst, she was stuck with these stupid visions haunting her day in and day out for the rest of her life, be committed to an insane asylum, and be making friends with several imaginary friends within the padded walls of an asylum, which she knew would be just plain ridiculous.

The asylum wouldn't let her keep any imaginary friends with her.

As she raced down the halls, she was sidetracked for a bit by a pair of guards standing overhead with their backs turned to her. Initially, she thought nothing of it until the pair faced her again, revealing the familiar figure who once shook Catra at her core.

"Catra." Shadow Weaver greeted in a calming voice, keeping her hands to herself.

"... Shadow Weaver..." Catra returned her greeting with a little disdain as she lowered her brow.

"There's no need to be alarmed, my dear. I'm a guest now. Can't you tell?"

"Tch, the only thing different about you is your mask." Catra spat, reminding her of her position. Of the few amenities Shadow Weaver had acquired since helping the Princess Alliance save Catra, getting the three irritating scratch marks Catra leftover since their last encounter removed was one of them.

"Oh, come now, Catra." Shadow Weaver cooed a bit as the magicat walked past her. "I believe we both know things have changed between us. Or am I mistaken into thinking you had no involvement over my release." There she goes again, pushing Catra's buttons right where she knew them, whether or not other people were aware of her doing so. The magicat grinded on her teeth at the accusation as she shifted her eyes over, refusing to let the old witch amuse herself by the expression on her face.

"The reason you're free at all is because you helped save me. That's it. And you know more about teaching me how to use She-Ra's powers better than anyone." She stated, growling. "As long as you're helpful, that's all that matters. The minute you do anything suspicious around here, that gets under my skin, I'll make you wish they threw you back into the prison." For a moment, the two guards escorting her turned to each other with a bit of confusion. "... The spare room! You know what I mean."

"On the contrary, Catra, I believe you know I can be more than helpful around here." Swooning a bit, she brought a gentle hand to the cat's face. "Surely you-"

Before it could make contact with her skin, Catra grabbed the old crone's hand, glaring into her eyes. "Save it. I'm not interested in anything you have to tell me. I'm doing just fine on my own." She stated again as she tried to take off."

"Is that why you've been worried about your Princess friend all day?"

How does she always know?! That was the very question that struck Catra time and again as she stopped once more. Whenever something was bothering her, whenever she had the smallest hint of something causing her distress, somehow Shadow Weaver was among the first to know about it. First, it was just plain annoying. Now it was borderline creepy.

"You didn't really think you could be as active as you have been without raising some gossip, could you?" Shadow Weaver commented, answering the girl's question before being asked.

"It's none of your business, got it?" She trudged back to the wicked witch, knowing there was nothing she could do that would cause a scene. "I just want to help out with Glimmer's coronation as best I can. That's all."

"Then perhaps you could start out by not embarrassing her at the Coronation's Ball tonight?" She hinted, saying her piece as she began to walk away with the guards.

Catra was easy to manipulate for someone like her. She knew how to stir the pot in her favor, how to get a reaction out of the girl, and how to gradually build up the girl's curiosity without her even knowing it. Why, if her predictions were correct, Catra could be stopping her right about-

"What do you mean so I don't embarrass her?" Catra asked in a timely fashion as the shadowy witch looked back.

"It means exactly what I said." She gestured around the entirety of the girl from her feet to all the way up her head, and then back again. "Look at yourself, you're a mess. If you want to start making a good impression among the royals for Glimmer's sake, then I recommend a change in attire."

"A change?" Catra repeated as she looked at her own outfit. "We'll be dressed up for the coronation when it begins, I don't see why-"

"You'll be dressed up for the coronation only." She corrected. "Before that, you'll be walking around parading yourself as a member of the Horde still. Scaring off individuals and drawing attention to yourself, which will no doubt spread rumors and comments about the people Glimmer associates with."

"Then what's wrong with the stuff I'm wearing?"

"Try everything." Shadow Weaver left no room for second guesses as she addressed the entire look. "Torn pants, messy hair, aggressive outlook," she paused as she took a whiff of the air, "and judging by the smell, you haven't bathed in two days."

"Hey! ...Technically it was only one day, but still!"

"My point is, if you want to help out your friend at all, the least you could do is make yourself more presentable. Provided, of course, you are still her friend after this. Power tends to change people. Just ask Ado-"

"Don't even say that word in front of me." Any emotion the magicat had fell within an abyss of outrage and anger as she shot a deathly glare in her eye.

"Oh, right. You're not friends anymore, are you?" Never did she think she would be witnessing the day the two would officially break off from one another. Sadly, it never happened when they were growing up. "I can't imagine how you're feeling for her right now."

"I don't feel anything for her right now." She snarled, squeezing her fist as tightly as possible. "And Glimmer is nothing like her. She's strong, she's brave, and she's a good friend. She's not going to end up being anything like Adora!"

"Hmm, I hope for your sake, you're right." She mused, earning a threatening claw from the magicat who glared daggers at her. "Just remember everything I told you if you truly wish to help her. From this day forth, everything you do will be reflected on the Rebellion more so than it ever has before. You would do well to remember that." Without another word, the old sorceress continued down the hallway as she made her farewell, leaving Catra to grumble to herself as she crossed her arms.

She didn't care about Adora anymore. Her home and her friends were the only concerns to her life now, and she intended to take care of them. And she knew for a fact that Glimmer would be nothing like a world-ending monster like Adora turned out to be.

... Then again, she never thought that Adora would end up that way, either. Even if it was due to a lifetime of mistakes on both their ends, it still didn't excuse what Adora did to the world, or the sacrifice it required that haunted her today. She used to be selfless, concerned over others, honest, and did everything she could to make the world right again. Glimmer was... admittedly the same.

But that's where the lines were drawn.

Glimmer was a princess and a noble one at that. She was calm, she was passionate, and Catra wasn't going to make the same mistakes with her that she did with Adora, she'd be there by her side all the way through. Glimmer and Bow were two of the first people she came to accept as being friends again, and that meant something to the magicat.

It also meant she grew more concerned over their livelihoods and what happened to them. Looking back down at her pants, she did notice the slits she had around her knees were a little wider than usual, guessing they must've been stretched too far awhile back or something. And she supposed she could at least wash her hair a little more or comb it by this afternoon.

"..."

*sniff*

Buuuuut judging by the smell of her right armpit, maybe a bit of soap wouldn't hurt either.

Maybe it was three days?

...

A/N: Annnd another chapter bites the dust... so to speak ^^ lol.

Hoping you guys are enjoying these as much as the long 2 episodes we had earlier. There really isn't much room or space to change things up here since its clustered around both sides of Etheria, and what little I am getting out of it is going on to make these as long as possible. But I promise to add a few nice little goodies to the next few chapters, including the final chp for this episode, cause trust me folks: things are gonna hit the fan like no tomorrow X)

So, with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 121: S4 Episode 1: The Coronation Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 11.3k Pre-A/N's. Howdy folks, here with another exciting chapter as always! And you thought I couldn't write this much again in a single day, hahaha ^^...... SHAME ON YOU T_T!!!!!!!

Lol, seriously though, good to know i still got the stuff here and there, even if some of it is with additional stuff, its no different than what I pushed out before with plenty of feels, laughs, action, etc. ^^

So with that said, enjoy!

...

"Survivor's Guilt?" Frosta questioned as she listened to the archer's every detail.

"That's the only thing that makes sense." Bow replied, shrugging as he leaned against the large potted planet. "Sh's been acting distant to Glimmer at every chance she had, and it's not out of anger this time, it's fear. That's why she's been pushing herself so much around here lately because she either thinks Glimmer can't forgive her over Angella or because she blames herself. She hopes helping out with the party will make everything better."

"Oh, the poor thing..." Perfuma felt remorse over her friend's possible suffering, wondering how she was pushing herself through all of this. Among the three, it was the shortest and youngest of the princesses that continued to look confused.

"I don't get it." Frosta was baffled by the explanation she still had little understanding over. "Why does she feel guilty she survived? I mean, she survived. Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"That's not the issue behind it." Bow replied, still looking over the terrace as caterers and servants continued to ready the place. "She feels guilty because she doesn't think she should have survived."

"... Because that's... bad?" How the heck was someone supposed to feel badly over their own survival? If Frosta was in her position, she's pretty sure she would've been ecstatic to survive a world-destroying portal device that was erasing everything from existence. "She's unhappy she survived?"

"She's unhappy because of who didn't survive in her place." Perfuma clarified with a small frown. It took a few seconds for Frosta to register what she meant before a wave of understanding filled her mind.

"Oh..." And a wave of depression that followed. "Oooooh... now I get it..." Who wouldn't feel guilty given all that's happened?

With the loss of Queen Angella, everyone was affected on a number of levels ranging from mentally and emotionally. Many tears were shed for her own funeral, many words were spoken in remembrance of her, and many people were changed in accordance to the laws of the land. With Glimmer taking over the Throne immediately after her mother's passing, the rest had thought there was enough to worry about alone.

Now, they had another dilemma to deal with, a certain magicat by the name of Catra. Every time she interacted with the girl, she was plagued by haunting visions of Angella's last words, constantly reminding her of everything she promised her. It was a promise Catra could neither accept or deny, the situation was escalating so fast, but in the end, Catra resigned herself to accept the promise to the brief mother figure she once had.

Unfortunately, that also came with the guilt that transpired with it. Not a day went by where she didn't regret the fact that she survived in Angella's place when she was ready to sacrifice her own life to save Etheria and her friends. Even if she wasn't aware of it on a subconscious level, her subconscious was constantly reminding her of Angella's cruel fate and her inability to prevent it. Angella's sacrifice proved to be a blessing and a curse on the girl, one that was proving more unbearable as it started to affect her when addressing her other friends.

And, true to Bow's word, she's tried everything. Thinking she needed to be forgiven in some shape or form, she pushed herself more actively than ever before in order to make amends to Glimmer, which wasn't really anymore active than the average person around here, but it was still saying a lot. Organizing the party planning, helping clean wherever she could, and making sure the party ran smoothly, Catra needed to do this for as much as herself as she did Glimmer.

Even if Glimmer didn't hold any disregard for one of her best friends in the first place.

"Well, at the very least, we should tell Glimmer then." Perfuma decided, trying to alleviate the situation with a smile. "I'm sure she'll be happy to know that Catra isn't actually mad at her or anything."

"I... don't think that's a good idea." Bow shot down in response. "Glimmer already has enough on her mind as it is. If we tell her Catra thinks she's angry at her, it'll just cause more distress. And it's not like we can get Catra to approach her on her own without her freaking out about it."

"Then what do we do?"

"I don't know yet, I'm still thinking." It was frustrating to think of a possible solution with everything going on right now. They couldn't get Catra to approach Glimmer on her own, and by the looks of it she was starting to be affected by Bow, and they couldn't worry Glimmer over it without causing more distress than she was already going through. "For now, we just need to keep an eye on both of them. And if you see Catra starting to freak out, now you know why."

"I still say we should tell her, though." The moody Frosta suggested, still not fully grasping how this "Survivor's Guilt" thing was supposed to work. "Even if it makes one of them worse, at least the other will feel better. Better to have one uneasy princess than two of them.

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh Mermista darling," a familiar voice song out as three pairs of eyes were drawn to the center of the terrace, "your heroic Sea Hawk has arrived to assist you-" The excitable adventurer was cut short as he stood in the presence of the very ice statue that Frosta created with her own two hands. "... What is this disturbing thing?" The sea captain asked himself as he gazed at the mysterious marvel.

He had never seen anything like it, which in this case, was appreciated because whatever this thing was, it was creeping him out beyond measure. He couldn't grasp the idea that the melting sculptures were supposed to depict Princess Glimmer, the soon-to-be-Queen of Bright Moon, and Princess Frosta, the Princess of the Kingdom of Snows, that stood before him.

He did have to admit he recognized the craftsmanship at least, appreciating the small detail of whoever it was supposed to be or whatever it was supposed to be. Glancing around the large structure, he casually tapped at the elbow of the Frosta sculpture, taking in its smoothness amidst the melting waters.

"I'd have to admire the texture, but the details are too hard to make ou-"

*crack*

"Whoops." He didn't know how hard he was tapping his finger away at the sculpture because the next thing he knew, about an inch of the solid chunk of ice cracked apart from the stature, breaking apart from the weakening melting ice as it cracked along the ground. Luckily for him, nobody was hurt.

"Hey!" Unluckily for him, that was about to change soon as a grumbling ice princess saw the destruction to her masterpiece, and refused to let anyone ruin her creation or Glimmer's big day! Especially one who wrecked her hard work! "Nobody tresspasses on Coronation-Property!" She shouted, jumping up to the rail of the guardway the three were standing near before forming icicle fists over both her hands. "Bouncerrrr!"

"Hmm?" The muscular mustached adventurer turned to the sound of the familiar shouting before recognizing a young princess running up to him. "Oh, hello there, Frosta. Have you seen MermistaaaAAAHHHHH!"

*creeeeak*

The next thing the adventurer knew, he was frozen encased in a solid block of ice from head to toe, with at least a foot of ice covering every corner of his body, leaving only his eyes capable of movement as he stared down at the huffing girl.

"Frosta, wait-" Bow tried to stop before another sound took their attention away.

"Ow!" That would be the sound of a small yelp emanating from the very Princess Sea Hawk was here to assist as the two saw her over to the corner of the terrace, working delicately on... what could only be described the oceanic version of a florist's design.

Multiple barnacles stacked over the face of a rock, sea fauna from dried up seaweed, annenomes, several sprouts of coral, as well as some starfish caked over the side, and it was the very definition of the ocean. And while it may have proved viable to some with interesting tastes, it was nothing more than irritating to see from someone who was the self-proclaimed Queen of Florists, and the actual Princess of Plants known as Perfuma.

"Mmmh!" She grumbled to herself as she marched off. "That is NOT an adequate floral arrangement..."

"Perfuma-!" Bow groaned internally as he sighed. Realizing he was on his own again, checking over the scroll of things he'd require on his back, he resigned himself to continuing his previous duties of finding the missing lantern he had been tasked to do earlier, hoping to himself that things would shortly improve as he moved around the terrace.

It was at that exact moment that Catra finally made her way out into the balcony stairway of the terrace, descending the very steps and still grumbling to herself as she sniffed around her arms. "I don't smell that bad, do I-?"

"Catra!" Frosta interrupted as she rushed to her side as she reached the ground floor. "I've been freezing anyone trying to sneak in, but I'm running out of space to put them." She said, pointing her thumb towards the human popsicle behind her. There was nothing but eternal sorrow and fear in Sea Hawk's frozen eyes as he contemplated his mistake for existing.

"As funny as it would be to watch him catch hypothermia," Catra joked in return, "you need to get him out of there, now." It was almost painful to her that she couldn't indulge in her usual shenanigans or playfulness as long as Glimmer's coronation was in jeopardy.

"Aww, but he ruined my sculture's elbow-"

"NOW!" Catra shouted sternly to the young princess. Remembering what Bow told her earlier, and the fact she was absolutely terrifying at the moment, the icy princess gave her a nervous nod before rushing back to the adventurer. She didn't know how but she as pretty sure Catra would've stuffed her inside of one if she didn't.

On the other end of the busy terrace, another princess was finding her own problems to deal with as she snuck upon a certain blue mermaid who was given a task she always dreamed of. She approached her silently, swiftly, and determined as jealousy and anger filled her core.

That's now how you arrange a plant... She thought to herself, gaining more ground with every thought. The colors are too dark for a festive arrangement. It made her lips curl up in envy as she drew closer to the lucky princess of waters. That's not even a real flower! By now, she was practically breathing down the neck of the blue-haired princess who was completely ignorant of the plant princess's presence.

"Mermista, um, flowers are sort of my thing." Perfuma commented as politely as she could. Dear Universe, just looking at it was painful for Perfuma to do!

"Uh, it's art and it's what Glimmer wants." Mermista asserted carefree, actually proud of her own handiwork. "New queen, new era." And one she was personally proud of for embracing her unique taste of art, even if she never saw it before.

"Stop fighting!" Frosta yelled, pushing away both their faces with her hands. "You're ruining Glimmer's big day!" And she refused to let someone ruin the big day of one of her personal besties! "Bouncerrr!"

"Okay, has anyone seen a sacred lantern?" Bow begged to know as he gazed among the three. He as at his wits end searching for something he barely spent two minutes looking for!

"Um, right there?" Mermista pointed behind him as she directed him to the very lantern he was looking for for the last ten minutes.

Hanging from it's handle over Swift Wind's horn with pride. "Haha!"

"Huff, finally!" Catra rolled her eyes in relief as she approached, reaching up to take the very lantern. "I was wondering where that was. Thanks, Swifty."

*swiff*

"And I'll present it to Queen Glimmer." He insisted, pulling the lantern away with the turn of his head before Catra could take it.

"Excuse me?"

"And then she'll be all, "Swift Wind, why don't you sing the coronation song you made up?"." Just the thought of Swift Wind singing alone brought irritation to Catra's trembling brow. The fact he knew what she was going through, or at least part of it, and was still doing it made her more than a little irritable.

"Ha. Ha. Now give it!"

"No need to, Catra, I'll take it to the princess herself!" Swift Wind assured as he casually trotted away. "And then you'll all be greeted to my majestic singing voice!"

"Oh no you don't!" Friend or not, she wasn't going to put up with a horse's singing insistence as she jumped atop the horse's neck, hanging onto it as she struggled to wrestle the lantern away from the very horse. "I'm giving it to her!"

"But then I'll never be able to sing tonight!"

"Exactly!"

"Huh! Traitor! This is not what we agreed upon!" Swift Wind deemed, keeping the tip of his horn out of her reach as she growled.

"WE DIDN'T AGREE ON ANYTHING!"

"Catra, careful!" Bow panicked, jumping over the other side of the horse's neck as he struggled to keep the two calm and keep the lantern from accidentally breaking.

This was the very sight Glimmer was greeted to as she stepped outside the castle, coming to the very terrace were the chaos was slowly unraveling.

The sight of her ice sculptures, however sure she was to actually have them in the first place, melting in place, a frozen Sea Hawk who was probably running out of air at this point as he shifted his eyes to each side for help, a very questionable and, for some reason, disturbing "floral arrangement" made by a water princess who was arguing with Perfuma over her spectacular design, and her two closest friends currently struggling with a singing horse that was refusing to let go of the very lantern they needed tonight.

All in all, if she closed her eyes and the tragedy of the past wasn't looming over her head, this would've been an average day for the denizens of Bright Moon.

"Glimmer," Mermista spoke up, snapping the girl out of her trance-like stare, "can you please tell Perfuma to stop questioning your wise judgement." The flower princess flared her nostrils a bit at the comment.

"What? I'm not-"

"Where do you keep the blankets?" Frosta forcefully interrupted Glimmer as she turned her head to her right. "Sea Hawk is whining about being frozen."

"Why did you fre-"

"Glimmer, the quest is due to begin." Aunt Castaspella interrupted herself, turning her young and bright niece around as she spoke calmly. "Where is the lantern?"

"Oooh, I have it!" Swift Wind announced, nearly tossing the two riders off of him as he raised his head. "And now, my song!"

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING A SONG!" Catra shouted angrily jumping over his neck again. If the craziness unfolding around her wasn't irritating enough, she swore the terrible singing voice was going to make her ears bleed.

"Everyone knows Glimmer would be happier with me on flowers!" Perfuma yelled, angry over the smirking Mermista who took pride in Perfuma's jealousy.

"Glimmer, obviously, disagrees." Mermista shot back. Such was the way of those with inferior floral arranging skills, she supposed.

It was starting to be too much. All around her everyone was shouting at one another, fighting against one another, causing too much chaos between one another, or doing all three at the same time. She's never seen such a chaotic moment like this on what she felt was one of the worst days of her life.

And it was only a few minutes passed noon!

"Glimmer, your guests are waiting." Aunt Castaspella stated.

"Everyone stop bothering Glimmer. She has a ton on her plate..." Frosta whined, trying to help her friend.

"Till the end,

Until I die of course~"

"Stop singing or I swear your end is going to come faster!"

The voices were screaming from every angle of her as her sanity reached new levels of bottomless. In one ear, another ear was being filled with twice as much chaos. From one eye, she saw another sight being filled with turmoil. No matter where she looked everything was falling apart around her, and she seemed to be the only one aware of it!

It was too much.

It was too obnoxious.

It was driving her insane!

"EVERYONE, JUST STOP!" She finally shouted, silencing the cast.

*criiick*

*CRACK*

Everyone exchanged looks and glances at the sight before them. From a mix of Glimmer's incredible vocals and the ice that was slowly melting away, the sculpture of Glimmer had done what the real Glimmer had been doing all throughout the morning; it broke apart from the ice and lost its head, rolling shakily towards the downtrodden princess's own feet.

The look on her face brought everyone to a standstill and silence, even Catra despite how cool she thought it was that she managed to do something like that. The atmosphere gave her no joy in any of this as their friends exchanged apologetic glances to one another, knowing this was neither the time nor the place. It wasn't about them or their minor grudges against one another.

It was about Glimmer, and one of Bright Moon's most important days ever.

"Glimmer, we will fix all of this." Her aunt tried to comfort with a soothing palm over her shoulder.

Glimmer didn't say anything in response as she brushed the hand away. Without looking anyone directly in the eye, she casually walked up to the archer who finally managed to pry the lantern from Swift Wind's head, silently accepting it without a "please" or "thank you" before returning to the head of the group. Never has Catra felt as sorry for someone within the Rebellion as much as she did now.

And it only made the guilt in her heart feel worse over everything that's happened.

"Let's just get this over with." The princess finally grumbled, barely turning her head to her friends as she spoke before taking off.

There was nothing, not even a calming silence, amongst the group as everyone's head lowered. No matter how confident or bright everyone else was acting, they forgot about who truly mattered the most at the time.

And how she seemed to be the least brightest of all...

...

Adora continued to stew in her own thoughts as she opened the doors to Entrapta's lab, or, what would probably be referred to now as a lab now since it was now scientist-less. Even after all the physical abuse Adora suffered by Hordak's lab, all the things she has accomplished over the things she hasn't, she still couldn't believe it.

Hordak still didn't respect her.

He didn't value any sense of loyalty or discipline, and she was fed up with trying to show him how much value it could be over what few or lacking accomplishments she had under her belt. To her, a leader couldn't ask for anything more than a person who was willing to go to any length to be a model Force Captain, or a soldier of the Horde for that matter. What did he value instead?

WHO CARES! She's had enough of it! Enough of being nice to the person who threw her around physically almost every time she saw him or every time she messed up! She has had enough with the constant mistreatment she's suffered at his hands when she didn't deserve it! And the way he was going about as if she was the one who failed the Horde when the portal malfunctioned when HE was the one who made the portal, along with a nameless princess, in the first place?!

THAT WAS THE FINAL STRAW!

She couldn't put up with him anymore. Not now, not ever. She's had enough of the constant abusement. If he wasn't going to treat her with the respect she deserved after everything she's done for him, then she was going to bring changes to the Horde on her own volition, with or without him. Funny enough, to her, the first of many changes she had to make around here wouldn't be possible without his involvement.

Why?

Because the first thing she needed to change around here was who was calling the shots from now on!

Which is why she was surprised, relieved, and confused upon entering Entrapta's lab. Scattered all around the floor were various boxes of Entrapta's old tools and gadgets that had yet to be disposed of or shipped out to somewhere more useful. While she was actually glad at the convenient arrangement of possible tools, she was also confused as to why the room hadn't been picked up yet by one of the few remaining people still within the Horde sitting across the room.

"What are you doing here?" Adora asked, startling the scorpion friend as she rose from her knees.

"Oh! Uh-" Scorpia tried to think of an excuse as she continued to hold the bowl of various lug nuts and screws she could find.

"Hordak wanted all of this junk disposed of as soon as possible." The other Force Captain directed as she began to rifle her hands through one of the boxes. "Why isn't this place cleaned up yet?" She wondered pulling out a simple wrench, grimacing at the sight before checking the next box of equipment.

"... Hey, so, I know you made a heat of the moment decision which I totally get," Scorpia began as Adora seemed to be listening absentmindedly, "but, um, you didn't really want Entrapta to stay on Beast Island forever." The sound of the very name brought a small pause to her blonde friend as she seemed to be paying attention, just for a few moments, before returning to the wreckage she was sorting through. "Anyway, I was thinking, we could go get her."

*screech*

The sound of a small sheet of metal screeching in Adora's hands as she looked back to her let her know she struck a nerve, and how she was treading on dangerous waters as she gave a small glare back. "I mean, she is our friend." This was one of the times Adora was thankful her new powers didn't flare up at all like her old shadow powers did. Otherwise, there'd be no telling how they'd flare up right about now with Adora's own anger.

"Entrapta betrayed us, Scorpia." Adora reminded in her own twisted sense. "She got what she deserved, just like anyone else who betrays the Horde." Trying to cool her tension, given the friend she was dealing with, Adora went back to the wreckage she was plundering, trying to find anything she could to distract her that might've been useful.

"But... She didn't betray us." Scorpia tried to remind, too, albeit a more corrected version of the events. "She just wanted to save us from the portal. And she was right, if Catra didn't shut it down-"

"Haaggghhhh!"

*CRASH!*

Which wasn't useful enough to distract her from the very mention. With one swift motion, manifesting the shadows over her left arm, Adora screamed angrily as she chucked the large box against the wall, nearly striking the monitor as the contents scattered across the ground. Losing control of herself, the Force Captain didn't notice, or didn't care, as she shoved her friend against a wall, planting a spiral-like shadow directly into the wall next to her head, a mere half-foot away.

From here, up close, Scorpia could see the rage filled eyes of Adora's as her eyes' iris actually turned red at this. "Entrapta betrayed Hordak! I already told you, after I restored our reality, it was working fine, until She-Ra came in and ruined everything for us again! The Horde doesn't allow traitors and neither do I anymore. Is that CLEAR, Scorpia?" She huffed. She was lost in anger, lost to herself, as she panted angrily with a violent tone.

Maybe that's why she was so surprised by the sight of Scorpia tearing up a bit in the corner of her left eye.

Scorpia was at a loss over what's become of her best friend. Over the last week, she's been a bit moodier than usual, more bossy to the guards and soldiers she's come across, and hasn't done a single lick of paperwork that she usually did. Okay, so the last one she could do without after all the stress it was causing her, but still.

It didn't mean everything was bad, of course. She actually got to hang out with Adora little more frequently than she usually did prior to the months leading up to today. But at moments like this, where she showed her angry side more often than not, it made her worry over her dear friend, one she could barely recognize right now as she glared into her eyes.

If she closed her eyes right now and just listened to her voice, she could swear, she hardly recognized the person talking to her anymore.

Realizing the tone and anger she was using herself, Adora blinked. Giving her head a good shake, her eyes reverted to the same natural lue they always were as she backed away from her good friend, clearing her throat as she stood at respect in front of her.

"Ahem. But, uh... Eh hem. I uh, know I don't have to remind you of this, Scorpia." Adora said apologetically, looking off to the side as the look in her eye pained her a bit. "I know you wouldn't betray me." She hoped. "You're my best friend... right?"

"Y-Yeah, of course I am." Scorpia replied, rubbing away at her own eyes. There was a small awkward silence between the two as Adora looked away, a face of regret crossing her frowning eyes at what she just did.

Part of her new persona required her to be more strict and firm with people she was addressing. That was one of the many lessons Aroda talked to her about. Acting "nice" and "politely" everywhere she went wasn't going to win her any favors. For the one day she didn't do it in the Crimson Wasteland, she accomplished so much. Even now, she was just picturing her status if she behaved that way towards everyone on a daily basis.

She needed more respect than she did broken promises, which meant being harder on people. She couldn't allow people to betray her again or think about betraying her if they thought she was too soft. She had to change for herself and for the Horde if she was going to gain any more respect around here and accomplish her goals.

That didn't mean she necessarily liked it when she was addressing her friends.

"Anyway, I need your help with something in Hordak's lab." Adora continued, mustering the energy and courage again to speak with her directly. "Do you think you can help me?"

"Um, y-yeah. Sure thing, Adora." Scorpia smiled back with a nod. "I just need to... eh... sort through the stuff here real quick. I, uh, think I left something in one of these boxes I need to grab." Questionable as her strange reply was, Adora smiled back with a nod, knowing whatever it was, it was just Scorpia's usual playful shenanigans.

Returning to the door, Adora made one quick check over the box under the one she just tossed away, recognizing a familiar stun baton she had used after... Entrapta's betrayal, and smiled to herself as she plucked it out of the box before making her exit.

Waiting for a brief moment after her friend left, Scorpia sighed to herself with relief before turning around again, smiling as she held the bowl of metals as she kneeled to the floor. "It's okay." She called out in a soothing tone. "You can come out."

With a few beeps and whirs, the familiar droid known as Emily had reappeared. It was one of the few items, or people in this case, that Entrapta left behind after her banishment to Beast Island. It was one of the few things that Scorpia always admired when hanging out with her friend Entrapta, and one of her personal friends within the Horde.

She also knew she was the most liable and at risk if she was ever caught by anyone else. Judging by Adora's own performance a minute ago, she fretted over the possibility of telling her long friend, knowing it would just put the female genderless droid at risk.

"Hey there, Emily." Scorpia greeted as she petted her round body. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." Smiling, the two butted their heads together peacefully. There was no telling what was going to happen around the Horde, knowing change was in the air.

But as long as Emily was around, Scorpia could always feel some part of Entrapta still left behind.

...

With the light evening hanging through the air, the shimmering waterfall of Bright Moon had never looked so beautiful before. In an array of dazzling colors of warm yellow, sunny orange, and light blue, one could be mistaken for looking at the very heart of a rainbow as the Coronation Ceremony had begun to commence.

All around many eyes were waiting in patience as they awaited the soon-to-be-Queen to make her grand entrance. Among the many groups of people stood three particular individuals at the head of the waterfall, those closest to Glimmer in every matter of business, and two particular individuals who Glimmer saw as her closest friends.

There Catra and Bow stood, both reveling and waiting as they donned the same attire they had at the Princess Prom many months ago. Thankfully, to Catra's case, the black suit still fit like a glove while the undershirt was still just as snug as before. As for Bow, he was more preoccupied over waiting for his dear friend, as well as keeping the occasional glance on Catra as the ceremony commence. Thus far, she didn't seem to show any signs of fear or concern like she had been up till now.

Then again, she's hardly spoken a word to anyone, which was probably for the better, less she make a panicked scene over it.

Finally, off in the distance, she appeared. All eyes and heads turned down the pathway from the waterfall as the glorious new soon-to-be-Queen made her appearance, dazzling everyone with her looks as she held the lantern solemnly in her hands. Her mood didn't look any better, but not any more depressing either as she donned the now-fitting robes.

There was nothing but respect for the young princess as she made her way down the aisle, with the mass of crowd on both sides of her gazing to her in wonder. No matter how much or how little they knew of her, they were all just as proud of the young princess as they would be for their own lords, royals, and children. Anyone taking over the throne at such a young age deserved nothing but the highest honors and respect from any kingdom.

At long last, the young princess made her way to the opposite end of the aisle, giving a small look to both of her friends. While Bow might have seemed enthusiastic as possible about all he could, she could've sworn there was something constrained about the way Catra was smiling to her, like she was more worried about smiling to her than the fact she was just smiling in general.

With a silent lamenting sigh, the soon-to-be-Queen finally turned around, standing at the head of the aisle as Catra suppressed a frown, trying to do everything to keep things calm.

This was the biggest moment of her life.

Stretching out the scroll professionally, Aunt Castaspella began to read from the ancient text. "We are gathered here today to witness the crowning of Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon as she completes the Quests of Queens and begins her reign as our new leader." The aunt explained, trying to act as normally as possible despite the sullen look on Glimmer's face. The two friends to her side eyed each other before giving a small smile of their own, Catra's ears still tilting nervously as she tried to pass off as if everything was normal.

"She will be accompanied by two witnesses, Master Archer Bow, and Catra, She-Ra, Princess of Power." She added, addressing the two individuals who grew a second-long blush. Catra had to be honest, as cool as it was being called and addressed as the "Princess of Power", there was something kind of embarrassing about it when it was in front of a lot of people.

With the ceremony underway, Mermista, wearing the most elegant dress she could, made her way to the front of the row. Channeling all of her power, she focused a direct path above the waterfall's secret entrance, separating the pouring waters as she cleared the path ahead for the young trio.

"Let the light guide you, and go forth in peace and safety to emerge as Queen of Bright Moon." With a graceful bow for good luck, the head sorceress stepped back as her young niece and her friends proceeded, Catra feeling her heart racing for a bit as her guilt continued to spread. Together, they stepped forth past the waterfall, filling the air with silence in the lit cave as the entrance of water closed behind them.

"..." Catra twitched from ear to ear as she tried to think of something to say. The only thing that would come to mind without causing those horrific visions again was the question she's been dying to know until now. "So, eh, guess I can't call you "Queen Pinky" after this is over, right? It doesn't have as good a ring to it as Princess does." She chuckled, trying to smooth over any troubles she might've had with a small joke. "So, how would you say the day has been? I mean, the day has been pretty great if you ask me, what with all the-"

"Can we just do this, please?" Glimmer forcefully interrupted with a huff. "I don't want to think about flowers, or colors, or stupid decisions. And for the record, this day has been a DISASTER!" The pink princess was losing it, unaware as to how much it meant to the magicat who nearly shriveled. Like the many times before, the haunting memory of Angella's last words came to plague her, as if confirming her present situation.

"Take good care of each other."

The magicat was unaware as she breathed a little heavily until Glimmer called her out on it. "Catra?" She said, almost preparing to wave a hand before the girl shook her head.

"Y-You know what? I'll take the lead- I-I mean I'll stand guard at front, yeah..." She quickly brushed aside as she walked on ahead, leaving a confused Glimmer behind her as Bow rubbed his eyes with a moan.

Catra was failing so far. That's the only conclusion she was drawn to if the haunting visions still weren't going away. She wasn't making Glimmer's day any better, and if anything, her visions were telling her that she was doing an even worse job than if she had done nothing.

Seriously, someone cut her a break already! She already felt like she was being more than active enough on her own if the last several hours of work were anything to go by, and the visions were still plaguing her! They tormented her day in and day out all throughout the proceedings, and when she finally thought they were over after the last two straight hours without them, they were still haunting her!

She needed to step up her game. Maybe it wasn't a matter of making her any happier? Maybe she just needed to see her through this whole coronation in order to get past whatever was continuing to haunt her? At this point, she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to find the solution to her hauntings once and for all.

Which left a rather confused Glimmer behind at the somewhat timid reaction Catra gave her. She didn't even know Catra could do timid around here.

"Is... something wrong with her?" She asked, hoping for some explanation to Catra's rather passive reaction.

As much as Bow wanted to explain himself, the small drop of Glimmer's found pushed him away again. Like he expected, giving her anything else worry over would've made the situation worse. "I'll... explain later." He replied, taking off as Glimmer walked by her side.

The trek through the waterfall was nothing short of amazing for the three as Glimmer's lantern barely lit up anything around them compared to the dazzling jewels and crystals thrown around the place. Luminescent stones reflected their tranquil skyblue lights off of every surface, allowing them to navigate through the dank cavern with ease.

With the quest prioritizing Glimmer's own involvement, Catra allowed her to take the lead a few minutes into the journey as the pathways diverged at several points throughout the trail. As much as she preferred keeping things the way they were, she knew any arguing with it would've made the guilt so much worse.

"I can't believe these tunnels have been underneath our feets this whole time." Bow commented with a smile, admiring the beautiful view. Trying to find anything to pass the tension, hoping it would help somewhat, Catra threw in her own two cents as she chipped in.

"Uh, y-yeah." She mumbled. To her relief, as long as she pretended to be talking to herself out loud, she could find the visions haunting her less and less. "It's brighter than the royal treasury... Nooot that I would know or anything, it's just-"

"Okay, what's with you guys!?" Glimmer finally snapped glaring back. "Stop acting like this!" Catra couldn't deny, for the first time, she nearly jumped at Glimmer's anger.

Or was that just from the visions again?

"L-Like what?" Catra replied with as much force power as possible, looking straight past her to do so.

"Like... Like... like this!" She couldn't find the words behind her anger, she just knew how she felt.

What she didn't know was why everyone else was acting like everything was okay! Seriously, it was like being Catra for the first time where everything was just so annoying! They acted like everything would be alright, they acted like everything was still normal with the world!

They acted like an important mother figure who was no longer around them wasn't missing and that's what really set her off!

The two friends eyed one another with concern, with Bow taking the reigns as he noticed Catra's growing unease. "G-Glimmer, we're not-"

"Whatever." The princess ignored the archer's words, being fed up with the world around her. "None of this even matters!" With a pang in her voice, the agitated princess finally lost her temper as she threw the stupid lantern down the right tunnel, wishing to be rid of everything that was annoying her!

She wanted Catra to act like her old self again!

She wanted Bow to stop trying to fix everyone's problems when she knew he couldn't fix her own!

She wanted-!... She just wanted everything to go back to the way it-

"Wait, look!" Bow announced calmly as he pointed down the dark tunnel, drawing Glimmer's eyes towards the light. Further upon the path, the three could see a large bundle of light emanating from the other side, one they knew would direct them to the end of their long trail. With wonder and relief over their faces separately, the three ran down the corridor as Glimmer swiped up the lantern along the way, hoping to bring an end to this farce at long last.

She wanted to get this day over with, Bow wanted to help his friends as much as possible, and Catra wanted the coronation to finally be over so she could help her friend at long last and stop feeling this stupid feeling in her chest!

Entering the large room, the three friends were amazed by the beauty of its light. With large pillars stretching throughout the vast expanse, and hundreds of the same glowing crystals covering every end of the walls. Complete with a surreal four-sided flower-like design at the heart of the room, with a staircase leading up to the other end of it, and there could be no doubt about where they were.

"I think... I think this is the Chamber of Queens!" Bow announced, still in all over the room.

"Look!" And up ahead, much to Catra's relief as well as the rest of them, was the very spot they needed to go.

Provided the altar-like slot that was the perfect shape and size for the lantern was anything to go by.

"That altar. I read about that in the scroll." Bow explained, amazed by beautiful sight. "I think its for the lantern." For the first time in what felt like forever, the three friends finally found something to smile over as they raced to the sacred altar, ready to finish this quest and the coronation for good.

*skitter*

"Huh?" At least, two of the three did as Catra looked back, her ears twitching at the familiar sound as her friends saw her standing at the other end of the room.

"Catra?" Glimmer spoke, noticing the far away look in her eye. "Is something wrong?" Catra lowered her eyelids a bit as she scanned the place, turning back to the questers as uncertainty filled her mind.

"I-"

"Take good care of each other."

"Agh!" Catra's head panged with a minor headache as she squeezed at it, the stupid vision making the most inopportune moment to appear now of all times. Regardless of the visions that were coming and going, she knew she couldn't keep silent about the worry spreading through her tail right now. "Guys, I... I don't think we're-" And before the magicat could utter the final word, the very thing she was about to warn them about dropped from the ceiling.

*CRASH!*

In a massive scale and size descended a creature unlike anything the group had ever witnessed before, separating the trio on each side of the room. It was a cross between a massive purple worm and a snake, with a thick flubbery skin on its top half, and a protective underbelly of violet silver scales that allowed it to skitter across any surface, like the ceiling it had covered until recently.

Within the center of its head was a lone, massive, blue eye that peered at the two individuals closest to the altar, blinking its massiveness to them along with the large feelers spread all around the upper half of its face, including two massive ones on each side of its mouth.

A mouth that had yet to reveal the razorsharp teeth within its maw.

"-alone." Catra muttered, finishing her sentence as she gazed in shock and amazement at the same creature her two friends were staring at from the front end.

"Haaaakkkk!" The creature gnarled its massive jaws as it slowly opened its mouth, giving a full presentation to the large dagger-like teeth within its maw.

"Giant teeth!" Bow exclaimed, pointing in fear. The two friends barely had time to move out of the way as the massive beast lunged straight for them, crashing into the ground and sending the two flying screaming through the air from the tremendous force of the impact. The force of it alone was enough to knock the lantern right out of Glimmer's grip, throwing it and sliding it against the ground until it brushed up to the wall.

It was a miracle that it remained in one piece in such a state.

"You guys!" Catra shouted in worry before growling at the large behemoth-like creature. With her cat-like agility, the warrior quickly hopped atop the massive beast as she ran across its back, the creature lifting its head up briefly at the sensation as it slowly turned its massive skull around.

By the, the feline had taken it upon herself to leap towards the back of the creature's large head, hiding from its view. With so much going on and the vibration of the room still going against its body, it wasn't aware of her presence or how closely it was under, or in this case above, it's nose.

At least until she made her presence known as she hung in front of its massive eye from its lid with her left hand, and holding out her claws with the other.

"Back off!"

*Squeech*

"Haaaaaaaaaoooooo!" The creature roared with an unbridled fury and pain as Catra scratched against its massive eye.

"Whooaaaaa!" The girl was holding on for dear life as it swung its head back and forth until it calmed down, at least enough for her to jump from its massive head to her two friends. It was amazing to know that a massive giant monster would be enough to make her annoying visions come to a halt, if only for a little while.

With a small distance between them, the girl landed near her two friends, shaking off the gooiness from her hand as she still kept her claws at the ready. "Okay, anytime you wanna teleport us out of here, Glimmer, that'd be nice!" She yelled, watching as the massive creature was rubbing at its own eye with its tail.

"U-Uh..." The girl's trembling and mumbling to herself turned Catra's head in her direction as she noticed the worried look over both her eyes, and the unease she was feeling inside of her bubbling to the surface of her face.

"Glimmer?" Bow questioned, wondering what the girl was shaking for.

"I... I can't teleport!"

"WHAT?!" Both her friends shouted in unison at the shocking information.

"Haaaaaaaaaaoooooooo!" In a ravenous display of anger, the large creature bellowed with a fury like no other, one that allowed it to open its massive eye in anger as it glared at the she-demon who attempted to blind it in the first place, leaving only a few red scratch marks against its surface.

Catra found the situation to be more than just typical at a time like this. Naturally, the one time they needed to teleport more than ever, and someone who could always be depended upon to take them out of a sticky situation wasn't reliable anymore.

"What kind of person can't use her powers and doesn't tell her friends about it!?" Catra stammered, shouting over the great beast's massive roar.

It took her a matter of five seconds before she noticed the silence emanating from her friends before looking back to them, seeing a mix of irritation, boredom, and disbelief as they both raised an eyebrow to her.

"... What? ... WHAT?" Clearly, she wasn't getting it.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And with another massive roar, the beast lunged at the three again, forcing them to scatter.

It would take a miracle for them to get out alive.

...

*creeeak*

With the doors opening, Adora poked her head out, checking to make sure the room was empty before gesturing to the companion following behind her.

"Okay, the coast is clear. Come on." She ushered in, walking into the lab as she explored its contents. From behind, Scorpia entered in suit, rubbing her claws as she gazed around the destroyed lab nervously.

"Adora, are you sure we should be doing this?" She asked sheepishly, dreading all the possible punishments this could involve. "We could get into a lot of trouble for this."

"I'm already in trouble, Scorpia." Adora emphasized, pulling away some of the broken machinery as she tried to find any sort of lever. "You didn't see how Hordak was earlier. He said for himself that if I messed up just one more time, he was going to have me executed." Which wasn't entirely untrue, given how much of it was implied. She couldn't take the chance that anything could set him off, that the slightest mistake or failure would result in her body being thrown into an incinerator.

She was as angry of it as she was fearful.

"Then why don't we just run?" Scorpia suggested, looking at some of the broken machine pieces before tossing them away. "You don't need to recharge anymore, there could be anywhere we could go."

"Scorpia, even if I did, for all we know, he'd make Rogelio, Lonnie, or even Kyle the next Force Captain." Adora retorted, frowning a little at the thought. "I don't want them to go through anything I did with Hordak, you don't know what he's really like behind closed doors." Just the thought of it alone gave Adora goosebumps as she recalled all of the abuse.

The multiple times he forced her through the oxygen-siphoning device, sucking the air out of her lungs in the process, the numerous times he's choked her or smacked her around when she spoke out of line, to the way he simply gazed over her threateningly to keep her head down. It was terrifying enough to think about with all the strength at his disposal.

She didn't want to picture that happening to any of her friends, convinced that none of them would last more than a week before Hordak disposed of them for their arrogance, failures, or annoyances. Even if it wasn't them, she didn't want to picture anyone going through that kind of terror and torture!

He had to be stopped. He had to be brought down a peg. That's why Adora was trying to find something, something that would give her the upper hand against Hordak's tyranny, and finally give her the respect that was rightfully hers at long last.

Even if she had to force it out of him.

"Do you want the rest of our friends to suffer what I've been through?" Adora continued, clearing away the space at a small table to check and see if it had anything else that was useful.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then keep looking." Adora cut off, prioritizing her own survival right now than her manners.

It did hurt a little, but Scorpia was convinced that whatever had Adora worked up right now, it had to be terrifying. Enough to make her act this way, enough to make her shout and scream at any sign of insubordination, and enough to make her forget who her friends are for a brief moment. If Hordak was really being as cruel as Adora claimed he was, then she wanted to do whatever was necessary to keep her friend safe. "What are we even looking for around here?"

"When I was in the other world, Hordak had this power suit thing he made for me. I think he said it was like his exosuit." Adora explained, searching through the drawers of various tools at his disposal, and none of it resembling a lever or a switch. There could've been any number of things that summoned the capsule containing the suit in this universe.

And that's provided she was lucky enough for it to exist here.

"Um, not that you probably don't deserve something for your hard work, but if he's been treating you the way you say he has, then what makes you think he even has one in this world to begin with?" Scorpia asked, trying to figure out what sort of container the suit would even be in to begin with.

"Hordak said he made it as a backup in the event that something happened to him. Assuming the two Hordaks both think alike enough, then he should've made one in this world too just in case."

"Well how did he show you the suit last time? I mean, this would be a lot easier if I knew where it was."

"It's on the ceiling." Adora directed, pointing to the pitch blackness above.

"The ceiling?" Scorpia questioned, looking up into the air.

"Yeah, but he used a lever to bring it down. I don't even know how high up it is from here to reach it, much less how to bring it down. I just hope it wasn't destroyed with the rest of the lab-"

"You mean like this?" Scorpia asked, pulling on one of the few levers she came across on the right side of the room.

*Zzzzzzzzzt-*

Glancing up to the ceiling above, instead of anything resembling the large coffin-like capsule that displayed her wonderful outfit, she was greeted by the horrifying sight of a familiar red light emanating from several pillars above her, one that made her heart quiver with fear.

"TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!" She hastily shouted, paralyzed from the very fear to move from where she stood. Panicking at her friend's reaction, Scorpia pushed the lever back into place, earning a sigh of relief from the blonde soldier before grumbling back to the person who nearly gave her a heart attack.

"Heh, sorry..." She apologized, rubbing the back of her head innocently with a nervous smile. Noticing the first lever near her to start the previous machine and the one in the middle of it to stop it, her eyes drew to the third mysterious lever that didn't appear to function the same way. "What's this one do?"

*criiiick*

"Huh?" Adora's eyes were drawn to the ceiling again as the two heard the mysterious creaking sound from above. Her eyes flashed with hope for a moment as she backed away as the two gathered near one another, preparing for whatever came to greet them as the sounds of gears crunching against one another and wires breaking apart echoed throughout the room.

"Uh, hey, is it supposed to be sounding like that or-"

"LOOK OUT!" With a shout, gathering as much of her magic as she could, Adora pulled the large scorpion girl aside in a shadowy tendril wrapped around her arms before ducking out of the way to the side with her, avoiding the collision of the massive capsule-like holding device from behind the cover. The room shook fiercely at this, metals aching and creaking in turn as the Force Captains lifted their heads to the silent shockwave.

Whatever force in the universe was on her side, she as just glad that Lord Hordak was off running business in another part of the Fright Zone, eavesdropping on a conversation that required his attention at the lab immediately. Otherwise, that sound would've been nothing compared to the extreme outrage Hordak would've had if he caught these two snooping into his personal lab.

Waiting a few seconds, the two finally stood from behind their metallic cover as they gazed at the marvelous device that fell from the black heavens, lying flatly against its back as the capsule itself still appeared to be in one piece. By Adora's estimate, she could figure the aftermath of the portal's explosion shook something loose, something she was thankful of her shadow magic returning for when she realized the danger her and her friend were in.

The girl let out a small cough as a cloud of smoke erupted from capsule's fall, waving her hand away as she cleared the air ahead of her. Approaching the great device, her heart lit up for the first time in what felt like forever since becoming Hordak's Second-in-Command, gazing at the metallic structure that would house the treasure she's been searching for.

Unaware of a pair of eyes that slowly crept down the walls. Just because its master was gone didn't mean the imp wasn't tasked with keeping a watchful eye on the place. The very imp crept along the interior of the place while remaining out of sight, trying to catch any source of their conversation that it could record back to its master.

"It's... it's really here..." Adora suttered, grinning ear to ear as she felt her hand against the metal.

"It looks like a coffin." Scorpia commented, inspecting the device for the first time herself.

"Yeah, I know, but its definitely what we're looking for." Adora assured, examining the sides of the machine as she noticed the metal hatch over its doorway. With the cables and wires cut from its side, she wasn't going to be able to open the capsule manually like in the other world. And right now, she didn't care.

Already a world of possibilities were flooding her mind at the mere thought of this fully powered suit. Sure, it might not be as functional as it would've been when it was completed, but it was definitely going to be better than anything else at her dispos-

Adora's red eyes lit up as she lifted her head again. As if empowering one of her six senses, the Black Garnet's energy coursing through her veins were already alerting her of someone else's presence nearby, shooing her head immediately back to the surprised-looking imp who was baffled that its silent presence was exposed somehow.

"You!" Adora shouted angrily as her shadows grew along her arm. Immediately the imp tried to flutter away as it jumped from a small pile of wreckage it was hiding behind, only for it to find its leg wrapped around by the same shadowy tendril as it was pulled over to Adora's glaring eyes, holding the imp intensely by the scruff of its small shirt. The imp let out a few screeches and tugs against its captor's hand until it saw the horrifying look in Adora's currently-red eyes as she glared fire into its gaze.

"If you tell your master ANYTHING about this," she threatened harshly, such rage and bile within her voice that would've made anyone fear her over Hordak at the present, "and I swear, you'll WISH you were dealing with Shadow Weaver instead of dealing with me! GOT IT!?" Her rage and contempt was met with a terrified and agreeable nod as the imp shirked, giving her a small bob of its head with a small salute. With her and Scorpia's safety secure, the Force Captain threw the imp away, watching it flutter for a brief moment before getting its wings back, and escaping as far as possible from the terrifying girl.

Breathing heavily to herself for a bit, Adora's anger slowly subsided as her red eyes returned to the shade of blue from earlier, Adora swiping back the few strands of her long hair that flowed in front of her face. Noticing the silence still surrounding her, she turned her attention to her good friend, who looked more than surprised by Adora's recent bout of anger.

"What?"

"Uh," Scorpia glanced off to the side, trying to find the right words to say, "okay, um, wow. That was, uh... kind of scary." She commented, smiling nervously again as Adora rolled her eyes a bit.

"It's fine, Scorpia, I was just trying to scare it." Adora promised her, explaining her sudden anger. "The last time that thing ratted me out, I woke up in a Horde Prison Cell, remember?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess..." Scorpia shrugged, still feeling a twinge of fear from the sudden performance. "So, how are we supposed to open this-"

*Crackle*

"Oh, I guess like that." Seemed to make sense, or about as much sense as one could make at the sight of their friend pulling the metallic hatch off of an encapsulating capsule with shadow magic could be. There was a small pile of dust that burst from the same frame as the two waited for it to settle.

This was it.

This was the moment Adora was waiting for.

She wouldn't have to put up with Hordak's abuse anymore!

She could finally start running things her own way, the right way!

She would finally-!

"WHAT!?" Adora stammered in disbelief as her jaw dropped, taking in the sight before her with disappointment.

"Aww, it's cute." Scorpia cooed, looking at the mysterious item. "He made you a tracksuit!" As much as Adora refused to believe it, it was as Scorpia said.

Instead of the multitude of weaponry, schematics, and armor that she had seen from the other world, instead, all she was greeted with was the sight of the black exoskin itself, one that proudly displayed the Horde symbol within its center. It didn't have any of the fancy gadgets, any of the top quality armor pieces, it didn't have near anything that she would've hoped for.

"This... this can't be it..." Adora refused to believe it as she pulled out the useless exoskin, feeling around underneath it to see if it had some sort of hidden compartment or something that she wasn't seeing underneath it.

Sadly, she was not. "Where's all the weaponry, all the armor? The other one had wrist blades for crying out loud!" This couldn't be happening, not to her! ... Actually given the track record, it could be happening, but she still couldn't process that it was to her of all people!

"I dunno," Scorpia shrugged, beside herself since all the big buildup appeared to be disappointing in the end, "maybe he didn't have the time to do it in this world compared to the other."

"Enough time to...! Aaaaawwwwwwwww!" All at once, it finally dawned on the poor Force Captain as she slowly slid to her knees against the capsule. She let out a massive groan in sheer disappointment as she hung her head against the capsule, realizing the situation for itself.

It wasn't that Hordak didn't have enough time to do so in this world, its that he didn't want or care enough to complete the suit in this world! With Adora's so-called "failures" in this world, not to mention his favoritism towards Entrapta bringing him more than enough assistance and success than he could ever hope for from Adora, of course wouldn't feel the need to make her an exosuit in this universe. She was surprised he even started making her one for crying out loud!

"Now what am I supposed to do?" Adora groaned, rubbing against her eyes as she tried to push back the small sniffles and her watery eyes. "Without that suit, I'm dead... I'm dead, Scorpia..."

"H-Hey, it'll be alright." Scorpia tried to encourage as she kneeled down, patting her friends back as she gave her a gentle smile. "I'm sure you'll think of something."

"No I won't, don't you see that?" Adora yelled a little with tear-soaked eyes staring at her. "The next excuse Hordak finds to get rid of me, he's going to take it, I just know it!" She pulled at her own hair to the side in frustration. "Knowing him, he'll get rid of me the moment the rest of the Horde arrives, too. He doesn't have any use for me, and he's tired of my failures... and so am I."

She didn't need to think of a reason or an excuse. It was Hordak she was dealing with- he was going to GIVE her a reason to eliminate her. No matter what she pushes out for him, he's never satisfied, and she was finally starting to see why. Throughout all her commitment, throughout all of her time in the Horde, she's never given them any devastating or major victory over the Rebellion, she saw that now.

Without her magic she wasn't anywhere near the strongest Horde soldier, she didn't have Entrapta's intelligence or expertise, and there was no way she could fight She-Ra again without anything else at her disposal. He thought of her as nothing, and for good reason too as she came to realize it.

She WAS nothing.

"Okay, that's enough!" Scorpia yelled, drawing Adora's eyes again. "You're not a failure, alright? Whatever you do next, it's going to work out, I promise. I'll help you every step of the way. Besides," she smiled sweetly as she patted her head, "I already promised, I wont let him do anything to you. You have my word."

"You..." Adora rubbed her eyes away from the tears as she sniffled. "You promise?"

"Of course I promise!" See, it was just like Scorpia always knew. Despite whatever tough exterior Adora tried to display, she was still the sweet loveable friend she's always been since Scorpia met her. And she would always shoot down any naysayers who would tell her otherwise, even if Adora did have her scary... and admittedly questionable... moments.

"Trust me. You don't need to worry about anything stopping you. Not me, not Hordak, or this useless junk." And with the clunk of her massive claws, she went on to show the innocent friend how junky it was by smashing her claw against the small panel on the side of it.

*FSFSFSFSFSFSFSHHHHHHH!*

"Ahh! I angered it!" Scorpia yelped as she and Adora suddenly backed up.

There was a massive burst of steam from the mysterious capsule as the placement where the tracksuit lied upon suddenly rose to a complete 90* standing before the two who got to their feet as they were struck with a sudden curiosity. Still humming with a strange life-like likeness, to both their surprise, the flat surface started to slowly turn in a half circle, revealing the contents that appeared to be dormant on the other side of the mysterious black hatchway that concealed it.

And unveiled the very contents that existed to bring a small smile of surprise to Adora's person.

"... Scorpia..." Adora spoke up, slowly turning her head to the reliable friend who was always by her side. "You're a genius..."

...

A/N: And we're FINALLY counting down! We have one more chapter before I'm officially done folks! No not done with the fic, i mean done to the point where I can FINALLY watch the rest of the season because dear god this is torture XD seriously try writing a fic Au series where you rewrite every episode, force yourself to watch only what you're caught up to, all the while numerous seasons are still ahead of you. Trust me- its torture XD

Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed, and i mean really enjoyed because after this, aside from my hard-earned break at long last, you guys will be able to catch a glimpse of Catra's and Adora's new attire from Petie himself, who has completed the awesome pictures but wont post it till i post the final chapter... which means I own you fans now X)... and Im thinking of a lot of money for me.... lol jk XP

Seriously, i can't wait to see them posted either even though I have access to them XP they freaking amazing pictures and you guy HAVE to see them when they're done X)

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 122: S4 Episode 1: The Coronation Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 17.7K Pre-A/N's

HOOFTAH! After another rousing day, not only did I just finish another chapter, I managed to finish this within 24 hours since this morning X)! As you could guess, I had a lot of fun with this one XD

As expected, as we draw to a close, we will be meeting a lot of things here. Changes (not major plot things or anything but i mean like in this world and all, you get my meaning XP), laughs, tears, and feels all around as everyone finally draws to a close for this episode.

Seeing how this is my last chapter before im fully caught up (so to speak) with the show, I think its fitting i leave it on a massive chapter such as this, one that I'm sure will leave people on the edge of their seats, ESPECIALLY when you get to the VERY very end XD! I wont go into spoils much, but it will concern a curious question I've come to time to time. So, hopefully, i leave you guys with a satisfying cliffhanger before I go on my long break.

And with that being said, please, enjoy the last chapter i'll post... possibly within the next week XP

Enjoy!

...

*CRASH!*

"Whoooa!" Catra screamed as she flew threw the air again, the creature's massive girth creating a shockwave capable of throwing everyone across the room upon impact.

This was just something in the average day of Catra's life now, and given all that was happening, she was starting to find it more and more annoying with each passing day. It was becoming so repetitive to the point where Catra could start to make a list of everything that was going to happen in order. First something annoying happened to start her day off, which was more along the lines of a week-long endeavor in this case, then some big important event or mission was going to come up to overlap, and, finally, something was going to bring the whole thing crashing down to kingdom come.

There were only two parts of it she could never tell or see coming, the first being what was going to bring their whole day crashing down upon them, in this case being a giant worm-like snake monster trying to devour them as they completed the Ritual Quest, and the second being how it would all end. No matter how many times they kept coming out on top in the end, it always left a twinge of worry and doubt in the young magicat's mind to the point where she could never tell if they would survive or not.

Which made things even more obnoxious to deal with since Catra thought the day was progressing so well too, or at least to the point where she could get over her survivor's guilt.

Ever since the Queen's sacrifice, not a day had gone by where Catra wasn't plagued by the Queen's haunting memory, overwhelmed with a sense of unknown guilt and belief that Glimmer was mad at her for something the princess was completely unaware of. She tried everything to make up for it throughout the last day, ranging from cleaning duties, party planning, and so forth, all for the sake of hopefully making things "even" between the two so that Glimmer could forgive her. Instead, she made the party, based on Glimmer's last reaction, more of a nightmare than ever.

The princess was beside herself with anger and grief over her mother's loss still, wishing to do nothing more than to get over this sorrow-filled day of dread and misery. Everyone was smiling, everyone was acting like nothing was a big deal despite the fact it was a Coronation Day. Why was she seeming to be the only one who was worked up about everything around her? Then there was Catra, the girl who went out of her way to avoid Glimmer for nearly a week, then came back to acting like nothing was out of the ordinary just to see if Glimmer was happy already? What was her deal?!

After all that's happened throughout today's proceedings, it made the giant monster trying to devour them seem like the least of their worries! ... Actually, looking back on it, it sort of was, because thanks to the grief and loss she's been suffering throughout the last week, Glimmer hasn't been recharging her powers even once, leaving the group stranded in the cave until the monster was dealt with or the Ritual Quest was complete.

Regaining her balance midair, the magicat scanned the room around her, spotting where her two friends wound up amidst the chaos as the one-eyed leviathan continued to hunt its prey. With the chaos that was ensuing and the monster running rampant, Catra found it as good a time as any as she unsheathed her sacred sword.

"I am really getting tired of this day..." She commented to herself before raising the blade before her. "For the Honor of-!"

*Wham!*

"Ah!" Catra let out a small cry of pain as she was based away with ease by the creature's massive tail, knocking her senselessly across the other side of the room. The impact and force behind it didn't get Catra so worked up as she jumped back to her feet. What she did find problematic was the very sword itself getting knocked out of her own two hands when the creature struck her, which was still, unfortunately, on the opposite side of the room. "No!" Catra hissed, barely getting two steps ahead before the creature slammed its massive tail in front of her. "You're still mad about the whole "trying to blind you" thing, aren't you?"

"Haaakkkkkk!" The creature roared angrily at the eye-scratching menace, barely seeming phased or disoriented by the red scratches left over to the corner of its ten-foot long eye.

*Thwack!*

As if adding on to the creature's irritation, along came a familiar archer who struck the side of its massive eye with a boxing glove arrow, hitting the creature square in the in the center of the left side of its massive one eye.

"Hey! Over here!" Bow shouted, waving its arms to distract the beast as Glimmer ran around it. As planned the creature took the bait as Bow fled from the terrifying menace, all the while the princess of Bright Moon managed to circle around its left side, reaching the majestic sword before the creature could notice her.

"Catra!" Glimmer yelled, throwing the sword with all her might across the room, the cat girl leaping against onto the wall before pushing off of it, nabbing the sword in her hands in midair.

That one moment of relief quickly came to an abrupt end as she felt a small tug around her feet, looking down in horror as she saw the coil of the large beast wrapped around her leg and encircling her further. Panic rushed into the young warriors mind as she felt the massive wrapping around her limbs, all the way up to her thighs, and pinning her arms to her side all the way up to her elbows. Surprisingly, the monster was more clever than she gave it credit for, because it was almost as if it pretended to be distract just to draw Catra out in the open.

Or it was really determined to crush the person who tried to blind it two minutes ago.

"No!" Catra grumbled, trying to free her hand enough to pull out her sword. There was barely any wiggle room with the beast's large size wrapped around her on all sides, the sheer mass of it alone making it nothing more than a miracle that it wasn't currently crushing her in place.

"Haaaaaaoooooo!" Her attempts came to a frightening halt as she slowly turned her head again, realizing she was currently suspended in midair, staring face to face against the monster who practically glared at the young cat girl who clawed its eye, opening its massive jaw slowly as Catra watched a waterfall of saliva dripping from its teeth.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out worriedly. In an attempt to stop the creature, the archer fired several more of his explosive arrows at the creature, only for it to be proven ineffective as he kept hitting the back of its head where it shrugged it off. With the limited time he had, he didn't have a chance to run around to the other side in time in order to line up a shot, knowing that the young warrior was going to be swallowed whole in seconds.

There was nothing anyone could do.

*Chomp!*

"Nooo!" Glimmer cried out in horror as she screamed. Without any regard for its own body, the massive jaws clamped down over the magicat and its own tail, slowly pulling it out as if it was a finger as it consumed its meal. Neither of the two could comprehend the terror they had witnessed as their hearts felt empty, the sheer sight of the event being more than either of them could handle.

Catra, one of the strongest fighters they had ever known, was go-

*Chnk*

"HAAAAKKKKKKK!" The creature cried out in pain as it threw its head back in forth. As it did so, to both her friends' surprise, they could see the young magicat still within its mouth, apparently holding onto something along with her sword still. It took a few moments of thrusting back and forth before the creature had enough, coming to a pause as it blinked to itself.

Pulling its head back again, attempting to get rid of the vile vermin lodged in its mouth, the gave a firm push of its head forward, spewing Catra out of its mouth at long last as it continued to shake its head a little in pain. As for Catra herself, she had never been more relieved and mortified to be alive than she was now.

From head to toe, the girl was covered in a gooey saliva that slung to her hair, the girl doing whatever she could to shake the disgusting ooze off of her body, especially her mane. Strangely enough, that didn't appear to be the most disturbing part of the magicat's saving grace. No, for whatever reason, she was yelling in disgust of herself as she tried licking any part of her body that wasn't covered in slime, apparently trying to get something off her tongue or off her taste buds.

At least this time the warrior managed to maintain her grip on the sword as Glimmer came running to her side.

"Bleeeegh!" Catra garbled, going as far as to lick the ground for a few licks to get the disgusting taste out of her mouth. "That was so disgusting!"

"Catra, did you-?"

"I BIT ITS TONGUE, ALRIGHT!" Catra shouted angrily as she interrupted the archer. Of all the ways to save herself, taking a mouthful of a giant creature's tongue was definitely the most disgusting method she had ever come up with. Even now, she didn't know what was worse- surviving to be covered in spit she was finally shaking off, or living with the fact she took a mouthful of a monster's tongue just to survive.

All in all, she was still contemplating letting the monster eat her again just so she didn't have to live with such misery.

"Are you okay?" Glimmer asked worriedly as she reached for her. Like clockwork, the very instant she came within three feet of the girl with a gentle hand, the same haunting visions came to plague the girl once more.

"Take good care of each other."

"Ah-!" The cat jumped to her feet as she stepped back back, rubbing her head again as she backed away a few feet. "Y-Yeah, I'm perfect. It's fine." She lied, turning to the archer as he ran for the duo, trailed by the massive worm creature slithering directly behind.

"We need to take cover!" He yelled, pointing over to the small entrance at the right side of the room. "Over there!"

"But what about the lantern-!" Glimmer tried to argue, only to be pulled away by her two friends as they took a head start of the conversation.

"What about us!" Catra retorted, leaving no room for discussion as the three finally ran together. She already got eaten once, and she was NOT biting a monster's tongue again twice within the same day, preferably ever!

There wouldn't have been any use for a lantern if everyone died trying to get it in the first place, and without Glimmer's powers, they needed a plan. Fortunately, the small entrance the three ran for was large enough for the three to run through, leading them to a dead end that dug a short way back into the cave, while remaining small enough to keep the raging monster from getting in.

That didn't keep it from repeatedly slamming against the entrance trying to get in, growling with anger as it shook the entire room and the crystal-lit cave the trio were currently trapped in.

*Wham!*

Catra and Bow covered their arms as small bits of rubble fell from the ceiling. They needed to come up with a plan fast before the creature either broke into the room itself or the small cave itself came crashing in on top of them.

"Didn't your scrolls mention anything about a giant worm monster living in the tunnels under Bright Moon?" Catra shouted over the ramming, nearly falling to her feet as the monster's constant bashing became more violent.

Bow braced himself against the interior of the cave as the tremors continued. "Come to think of it, I might remember some mention of a Bright Moon guardian that we'd have to subdue." He said with a slightly guilty smile.

"You didn't think to mention that earlier?!"

"It was confusingly worded!" He apologized back.

"And why can't you teleport?" Catra shot back to Glimmer. "Did you lose your powers or something?"

"B-Because, I..." The Princess trembled a bit as she backed against the corner of the cave.

"Because why?"

"BECAUSE I HAVEN'T BEEN RECHARGING MY POWERS, OKAY!" She finally broke down collapsing against the ground as she sat, wrapping her arms around her knees as she teared up.

"What?!" Bow and Catra yelled in disbelief at the same time. If her powers weren't working because of something involving the portal world, Catra could partly understand that. A whole bunch of crazy stuff was happening within the portal, there was no telling what effect it might have on everyone else.

But to willingly ignore and go without using her powers of her own free will? That was insane!

"Recharging my powers would mean taking the Moonstone's full power for myself." Glimmer explained as the tears began to roll down her eyes, her friends approaching her with silence. "It would mean... It would mean admitting that she's really gone." Catra's ears lowered at this as she felt a twinge in the corner of her eye, her teeth unknowingly grinding against themselves as she felt a pain through her heart.

"Everyone's already acting like she doesn't matter. It's like no one remembers her. No one cares..." The princess choked up a little as she hugged the large glowing crystal next to her. "We're having a coronation because she's gone, and everyone is acting like its a fun party and its not. They're acting like they never cared about my mother to begin with, like nothing she did ever mattered! At the end of the day, nobody cares about what happened to her. They just expect me to fill in the gap she left behind and replace her-!"

"Shut up..." Catra hissed quietly through her teeth. Shocked by the quiet outburst and choice of words, Glimmer and Bow lifted their heads to see a sight that neither of the two expected throughout her ordeal in this Quest.

Catra glaring angrily at the soon-to-be-Queen of Bright Moon, gritting her teeth before her as she glared down at the young princess... as tears pooled from her eyes.

"Nobody else cares about her? You think you're the only one who cared for her?" Catra grumbled through her teeth, squeezing her fists at her side as the memory played through her mind for one final time.

"Take good care of each other."

She was willing to put up with a lot of things. She was willing to put up with this day turning out to be a disaster. She was willing to put up with everyone driving her insane while the memories of the Queen's last words continued to haunt her. She was willing to put up with all the misgivings between herself and Shadow Weaver, working every waking hour of the day like she never had before, and was going out of her way to be as friendly and helpful as possible just for the hopes that Glimmer could forgive her.

But this was the one thing she would never put up with. She would never put up with anyone claiming that nobody cared for the Queen's passing, especially Glimmer.

"I hate to disappoint you, Pinky, but you're not! Got that?" The girl kneeled in front of her as the tears dripped through her own eyes. Tears of anger, tears of sorrow, and tears of regret. "Not a second has gone by where I don't miss her, alright? Every time I see your face I keep seeing her. I keep hating myself over the fact that she gave her life for me when I should've been the one who disappeared. And knowing that nothing I can do can ever make you forgive me!"

"For... give you?" Glimmer questioned with a sniff, the tears still dripping from her eyes without end, Bow's own eyes beginning to tear as he kneeled to the side of his torn friends.

"She was one of the few people that showed me any decency, that treated me like I belonged here. Not just for me, either, but for all of us. All of us are missing her, Glimmer, and nobody is going to be able to replace her! And you think we don't care about her? That's not you being insincere, that's just selfish! Selfish in thinking that you're the only one who cared out of all of us!" Maybe it wasn't the word she was looking for, but as it stood, Catra wasn't speaking from her mind anymore. She was speaking through her heart.

Perhaps that's why she embraced Glimmer in a small hug again, the Queen's words finally beginning to fade while they remained forever ingrained in her heart.

"She asked me to take care of you, Glimmer. To take care of everyone." Glimmer's eyes shriveled with sadness before she closed her eyes, squeezing herself into Catra's shoulder as the feline stared off ahead, still maintaining the same glare in her eyes despite the tears. "She didn't even give me a choice! She forced me to survive, she made me live on for the Rebellion's sake, for everyone's. And I can't... tch... I can't do that until everyone moves on. Until you can... until I can... forgive me..."

"Forgive...?" Still dripping with tears, the princess finally pulled away a little from the tear-ridden cat. "Catra, what are you talking about? I don't," she sniffled again, "I don't hate you."

"How can you not? Angella gave her life for mine when she still had a family to think of, when she still had a daughter to think about. I still wish I could go back and turn things around, to stop her from sacrificing herself."

"Catra, don't you get it? It doesn't matter how many times you went back to fix things, because in the end, she would've sacrificed herself every time!" Glimmer explained as Catra's rage finally began to subside, her ears tilting to her side.

"But... why?" It was a question she felt like she should've known, one that should've been obvious to her from the very beginning. With all the tears, with all the stress finally reaching her breaking point, perhaps it wasn't a matter that she had forgotten for herself.

Maybe she just needed someone, even herself, to confirm it.

"Because you're her family, too. We all are." Bow smiled tearfully as he wiped his eyes cleared. "She considered you just as important as her actual family, she would've given up her life for your sake regardless, for any of our sakes."

"And she wouldn't want you to survive with grief and despair, Catra." Glimmer continued as her tears finally began to slow. "She would've wanted you to-..." And, all at once, it finally dawned on Glimmer's own mind as she slowly looked at her own hand. "... She would've wanted you to move on with your life... for your sake as much as everyone else's." At this, the hero known as Catra finally lowered her head as her tears had finally diminished.

All of them cared for Angella, including the rest of the Princess Alliance. She was the mother most of them never had, the one who was always looking out for each of them from the moment they joined the Princess Alliance and the Rebellion itself. As a Queen, she directed them through their missions and their tasks, but as a mother, she guided each and every one of them into who they were today. For some, the changes were minor, and others, they were changed completely. She was the best part of the Rebellion, the part that no one wanted to see taken away.

And they were all going to miss her deeply.

*Wham!*

"Okay, that thing is really starting to irritate me." Catra growled looking back for a moment.

"So... what do we do now?" Glimmer asked, wiping her eyes one more time.

"Beats me, but..." There was a small smile in Catra's eyes as she finally lifted her head up. "We're not going to do it alone. You're supposed to be in charge of this, so just point in the right direction, and I'll break whatever's standing there." For the first time in a week, Catra's heart finally felt alleviated from the turmoil and despair that had been haunting her. For once, she was finally able to look into Glimmer's eyes for a change without Angella's memory coming back to haunt her.

She was finally ready to move on.

"Even if that path leads to a giant crystal monster?" The princess wondered, the tears finally coming to an end between the three of them.

"Hey, we came into this cave for a reason, didn't we? And I don't want to be known as the warrior who was scared off by some worm." She joked a little, back to her old self at long last.

"Nothing we can't handle." Bow smiled standing up. "We're great with quests, no matter how disastrous the day gets."

"Then come on. Let's do this." With a confident grin on her face, the princess stood before them, ready to take charge of the quest that had yet to be fulfilled. All of them were ready with a nod to each other. All of them were prepared to move on for the sake of Etheria.

And none of them were about to let anything stand in their way.

This time when Catra pulled out her sword, she knew nothing was going to stop her.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!"

Opening her eyes, her transformation had finally been complete, the look of pride crossing her expression and amusement at what she had become.

The true She-Ra had been formed.

With the heroes finally prepared, inside and out, they charged, with She-Ra taking the lead as they ran from the small seclusion of safety and into the sight of the one-eyed guardian itself. Catra had never been happier to deliver a pounding to a giant monster's face more than now.

Specifically, against its eye as she jumped.

*WHAM!*

With massive force, the creature threw its head back with a cry of pain as Catra grinned.

One of the few good things to have come about in the last week was the fact that Catra had finally achieved her full bond as She-Ra, including the large amount of power that had come with it. She was stronger, faster, even if only by another 15-20%, and most of all, she was finally the hero she always needed to be for the Rebellion's sake.

True to her own thoughts several days prior to the journey through the Crimson Waste, guilt had been the ultimate factor holding her back. The guilt she had over a lifetime of regrets, the guilt she had over her past mistakes, and the guilt she held over Adora, had always kept her from accepting her role in full, kept her from pushing herself as far as she could to fight against her former friend for the sake of Etheria.

After a harrowing journey that nearly brought about the end of the world, there was nothing seemingly close to regret remaining in the young girl's heart. She knew who her enemies were, she knew what she had to do. She wouldn't hold back any longer against any of her enemies, be they past friends or new foes.

Including Adora.

And including the massive beast that continued to roar as Glimmer ran for the lantern, picking it up as she ran for the Altar of Queens.

*Boom!*

"HAAAAKKKKKK!" Now the arrows were finding their usefulness again as one of them exploded against the side of the creature's eye, the irritation causing it enough distress to be drawn to the racing archer.

Bow fired several shots one after the other as he kept ahead of the creature, firing off each of his explosive arrows as to keep the creature's attention for good this time. Attempting to stop the irritating nuisance, the guardian lunged head first straight at the archer, getting shot in the eye again by another explosive as it curved from its trajectory. This just might have been the small boost Bow needed to distance himself from the horrifying creature as he rolled out of the way in time, being blasted away by the shockwave that followed from the creature's ramming.

With the creature momentarily dazed from the impact, the archer took the opportunity to fire another arrow at it, launching a Goo-filled sap-like arrow straight at the creature's maw. Halfway through the flight the ammo burst, flinging itself over every corner of the beast's mouth as it stuck together, forcing it closed as it thrashed from side to side.

With the state it found itself in, Catra rushed. Running up to the archer, the duo worked in tandem as Bow grabbed onto her hands, rolling over to his back before giving Catra the extra jump she needed to launch herself into the air.

Still struggling to remove the sticky substance covering its lips, the magicat found the perfect opportunity to hold the creature at bay as she transformed her sword, morphing into a massive golden lasso that she managed to wrap around the creature's head from upside down, still flying over the massive worm as she flipped through the air. Securing the large rope over it with a firm tug, She-Ra ran her way across the edge of the room as she landed on the floor.

Thanks to her She-Ra strength, she managed to pull the creature's head back with all her might as she ran around one of the massive support columns of the chamber, securing its head between the narrow space that not even its tongue could worm through. There, she grumbled to herself as she continued to pull, the creature thrashing from left to right as it roared with bloody vengeance.

It was from here that the two managed to secure the creature as Bow ran around it, trying to dodge around it as it swung its tail from side to side across the room.

And it was from here that their hard work started to become undone.

Nearly reaching the top of the stairs, Glimmer looked back in time to see how their work started to crumble before them. The creature becoming enraged from its minor captivity, it began to muffle another roaring cry as it lurched further, attempting to pull against Catra's grip from the lasso that bound it. While ineffective, it did manage to distract the cat long enough from its tail until it was too late, with the transformed warrior slamming into its tail fin as it flung the warrior across the ground, crashing into Bow in the process as she came charging in like a bullet.

Finally losing the grip on the golden lasso, the beast managed to pull away, growling angrily and fiercely as it finally managed to pry the sticky sap away from its mouth, all while the sword returned to its original state, separated far away from She-Ra as it was. By the time the two managed to pick themselves off the ground, both rubbing their heads respectively, they saw the giant creature standing over them, angrier than ever as it roared to the heavens.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Hey, over here!" Glimmer shouted, drawing the creature's anger again to a new location. Without thought or reason, the beast ignored its two attackers as it charged for the pink-haired girl, one who was defenseless without her magic.

"Glimmer!" Bow cried out worriedly as Catra jumped to her feet.

"No!" She-Ra yelled as she ran as fast as she could, hoping to stop the fearful creature before it was too late.

As for Glimmer herself, she didn't waver. "No." She didn't show any signs of fear or worry as she glared at the creature's singular eye, the very beast that tried to harm her friends countless times throughout their quest. "I'm Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, and you will leave my friends alone!" And with the strength and conviction that only a Queen could carry, Glimmer finally inserted the lantern at long last, ready to bring an end to this day of sorrow once and for all!

In a flash, the room illuminated into a bright shining light, one that encapsulated the entirety of the room as a brightness flooded every corner. The effects of this miraculous light extended to the far reaches of the kingdom as outside of the room, beyond the castle itself, the Moonstone itself admitted an aura, one that captivated and caught the eyes of everyone still waiting for them in the outside world. Many hearts and mind were filled with a great happiness at the sight of the miracle shine, watching in awe as the possibility of what it meant.

"They did it!" Perfuma was among one of the many happy denizens cheering from outside the waterfall, with Frosta laughing with joy with her fists in the air, and a smirking Mermista who was legitimately proud of her friends.

Within the chamber itself, everyone began to watch as hundreds upon thousands of beautiful pink orbs of energy began to flow about the room, the creature itself seeming entranced by the dazzling display. At the center of it all, a lone princess named Glimmer watched in wonder as a dozen pieces of the sacred pink lights were absorbed into her, filling her with an energy like never before. It was with this energy that she began to ascend, her eyes turning white as her body glowed with a pinkness, and a swirling blue aura enshrouding her very being.

Then, it happened.

The blue shrouds that had circled the young girl had attached to her back as the radiating aura of magic filled her in its entirety. Here, her body shined with a solid pink light as the shrouds formed along with the wings she had yet to carry, wings that she would be leading the Rebellion with from this day forward. The magnificent shine of the light forced everybody to shield their eyes as it blinded them, still leaving them with enough sight to awe at the great marvel taking place in front of them.

Finally, she accepted. She accepted that she was destined to be Queen, one day or another, and this was nothing more than history hasting itself. It was a destiny she was always meant to fulfill one day of her own volition, of her own choosing. Closing her eyes peacefully, Glimmer descended to the floor, accepting her new responsibilities, her new title, and her new position. She was no longer a mere Princess.

She was Glimmer, Queen of Bright Moon.

Opening her eyes again, the creature stared at her in wonder, as of amazed by the presence standing before it. It also knew its role as guardian of Bright Moon as it recognized the new Queen. Almost with a solemn bow to it, it slowly lowered itself to the ground before slithering away, leaving the three heroes to themselves.

Or so they thought.

"Glimmer?" The voice made the heroes hearts skip a beat as they gazed back at the altar, the warrior and archer rushing up to her side as fast as they could. Turning around herself, Glimmer was shocked at the presence of what appeared to be her mother, standing over the altar colored in a transparent pink.

"M-Mom?" Her eyes watered again as she stepped towards the altar, wondering if she was dreaming all of this or if this was still the cruel reality she had to accept.

"Glimmer," the projection of Angella spoke as it observed the many tranquil lights, "you are walking in the footsteps of all those who have come before us. And now my darling, it's your turn." Examining it for herself, Glimmer tried to grasp the hand of her beloved mother, only to swipe through the empty air as she realized what this was.

A simple recording, and the last time she would hear her mother's beautiful voice.

"I wish I didn't have to leave you." The recording continued as Glimmer closed her eyes, doing nothing to prevent the tears rolling down her face. "But I know you will be alright. Because you are Glimmer, and you are so, so, strong." The projection smiled as it looked on ahead, almost as if it was her mother's own voice speaking back to her. Glimmer ignored the small light from behind as Catra returned to her original state behind her, the two having reached her after a brief teary walk up the stairs.

It went on to remind Glimmer that she was alone. She wasn't going to see her mother or hear of her voice again as she listened to the recording. Throughout all her ups and downs, nothing would return the greatest gift a mother could have, one of simply being there for someone at their time of need.

It was a sorrow that filled Catra's eyes almost as much as Glimmer's, frowning with remorse over a fate she couldn't prevent, and a reality she couldn't change as she turned her head away. She barely had a mother for over a day and her heart was still torn from the memories of the other world.

There was no telling how much pain her friend was in at this very moment.

*tug*

Opening her eyes again, Glimmer examined the small pull she felt around her wrist. To her surprise, and her warmth, she saw Catra's tail wrapped around her wrist a little tightly, and remembered once more that she wasn't , nor would she ever be. Unsurprisingly, the girl herself had a small blush on her face as she looked away. It was always Catra's way to be one way with people and not the other. But she always made sure to be there for them at the hardest of times.

And she was here for her, too.

So was Bow as she looked back, seeing a comforting smile as he rested a soft hand on her shoulder. They were in this together from the moment they met. And nothing would break them apart.

"I have done my best to prepare you to rule, but you were always ready to lead." Angella continued as Glimmer smiled tearfully. "I am so proud of you, Glimmer. I love you." And with a final reminder of what Glimmer could never forget, the image dissipated as it came to an end. The image shrank down to the size of the many pink orbs before it as it flew to the air, giving Glimmer her last, tearful, goodbye as she, and the rest of her friends, watched the lights vanish into the crystal above.

"I love you too, mom." It was the final farewell she truly needed. Looking back at her wrist as the light within the room returned to normal, the prin- the Queen gave off a small chuckle as she looked back to the magicat, one who was brushing a tear out of her own eye as she continued to look away. "Heh, you can let go now, Catra."

"Huh?" Catra mumbled back before looking down. "Oh, yeah..." She had never felt as embarrassed as she has now, and for the first time, she didn't mind it... too much. "Say anything of this to Frosta and Mermista and you're dead." She threatened, which was a welcoming sight to the Queen who chuckled again, rejoicing over the long week of silence from the girl coming to an end.

Personally, she would always prefer the sound of Catra's constant threats and jokes over never hearing from her again.

Without another word, she pulled the two over to her, wrapping an arm around both their necks as she let out a final tear. "Thank you, both of you." She said softly one last time. As Bow was more than eager to throw his arms around the two of them, Catra was a little more hesitant at the gesture, but slowly finding her arms around them all the same.

In a weird way, Catra realized her other wish had come true, one that she made back in the other world before everything fell apart. Between Glimmer, Bow, and the rest of the Princess Alliance, she had what she truly wanted after never having one to begin with.

In the end, she still had a family to come home to.

"So, are you ready, Your Majesty?" Bow cheekily grinned as the three pulled apart.

"As long as you two are with me, I am." She replied, keeping her hold over both their shoulders. "Now come on, let's get out of here." With another small hug, the three friends smiled to themselves as they finally teleported safely to the comfort of their own home, leaving the Chamber of Queens and the quest behind after all this time.

...

It was at the steps of the waterfall that those closest to them were still waiting. Following the bright miraculous light, the Princess Alliance, and her Aunt Castaspella, waited patiently for their triumphant return.

Personally, many of them were nervous as a few other people stayed behind, the vast majority returning to the festivities as they awaited the new Queen. What could have happened within the Queen's chamber, the place none of them had ventured forth into, and one where none of them ever would until they came of age? What sort of challenge or quest would they possibly have to partake in their own respective Kingdoms?

There was never any knowing, never any info. The sacred ritual was forbidden from going into detail with others pertaining to the task itself, not that it would have helped them regardless since their own rites of passage could have been completely different. All they knew from here was that she must place a lantern at the end of the cave. For all they knew, Mermista might have had to swim to the bottom of the ocean, or Perfuma could've needed to grow a plant that scales the size of Etheria!

Whatever the cases, they were still a year or two away from their worries as they continued to wait. It was a wait they didn't have to ponder for much longer as, much to their delight, a familiar hum of energy began to emanate from the front of the waterfall, where three miraculous friends appeared at long last during the busy afternoon.

*swish*

"You're back!" Frosta cheered, running up to the group. Perfuma was the first among them to hug her returning friends after the aunt, one who threw her arms around her niece with a newfound sense of pride that she's never experienced before.

"I am so proud of you." She acknowledged, smiling to the young girl who became a woman, one who changed so much over the course of knowing her, of raising her on the side as much as an Aunt could.

"Looks like I owe Sea Hawk a twenty." Mermista commented, greeting her returning friends as well.

"You made a bet on whether or not we'd survive?" Bow questioned rather surprised.

"No, but be wanted to bet you'd be done faster before I had the chance." She chuckled back, along with the same archer who was touched by his friend's belief in them.

This was the perfect family one could ask for to a young princess, or a magicat for that matter. Quirky, bizarre, annoying, and one that could never be traded for. It was also the same group of people that Catra thought of as she looked at her attire again.

While it wasn't too worn or damaged from her battle with the Guardian, it did make her think of what Shadow Weaver had to say to her, a thought she came to as she looked back at a socializing Glimmer. This was her big day, and she wanted to help it as much as possible. If not for herself, then for one of the few friends who meant something to her still.

With a silent sigh to herself, resigning herself to her fate, the cat made her way over to a excitable aunt that was still talking to her niece. "Oh, and just wait until you see the surprise we have waiting for you. It's almost done-!" The aunt was cut off as she felt a tug on the arm, surprised as Glimmer was to see her staring at the aunt for a change.

"Could I, uh, talk with you for a minute?" Catra asked.

"What's wrong, Catra?" Glimmer asked curiously, wondering what else could be on her friend's mind.

"Nothing, I just need to borrow her for a bit." She didn't really give the aunt to vocalize a response as she was dragged away from the group, all of whom were looking at each other with confusion, as she dragged the aunt all the way back to the inside of the castle across from them.

"Well this is a surprise," the aunt commented as they finally came to a stop, "and here I thought you didn't like me."

You're making this too easy for me... Catra thought to herself before shaking her head. "Hey, is there, uh, any chance you could sew something? Like, maybe my old pants, or whatever?" She asked with a small blush, scratching the back of her mane.

"Sew your... pants?" The aunt wonder, looking at the girl's leg wear.

"Not these ones, the ones I normally wear." She clarified.

"You... don't want to dress nicely for the ceremony?"

"No, it's not that, I just..." The cat tilted her ears a bit as she tried to find the right words. "I... wanna freshen up a bit, you know? Show the guests I don't dress like a slob or whatever... for Glimmer's sake." With the rising blush on her face as she turned her eyes away again, Casta slowly came to realize what the girl was getting at as her eyes widened a little.

"Oh... Oooooooh! I see here." She smiled warmly as she rubbed her chin. "It's so sweet that you want to freshen up for Glimmer's sake-"

"Don't make a fuss over it-"

"-but, um..." Catra turned back as she noticed the strange pause in her demeanor.

"What?"

Blinking to herself, the aunt gazed over Catra from head to toe as she pictured her with what she usually wore. "Are you sure you don't wish to change anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Well, I always figured you would look a little more dashing with a new color, not to mention entirely new pants completely-"

"What? Whoah, no, no, no, I just want the pants fixed up, that's all." Catra replied assertively, waving her hands back and forth.

"And I think a brief rinse in a tub would bring your hair out nicely."

"Okay, absolutely not." Anything touched by the evils of water would not touch her. "Besides, I already soaped myself up before we went on the Ritual Quest."

"With water?" The aunt ask, raising a semi-knowing brow.

"Why is it always something with you people?!" Seriously, she used soap before she left. Wasn't that enough for these tyrants?!

"You know what? You're right," Aunt Casta said as she took the girl's wrist, "you should get your mane combed, too."

"That's not at all what I said!" Catra screeched, struggling for a few moments before pulling her wrist away.

"Catra-!" The Aunt complained as Catra started to back away.

"Y-You know what? On second thought I think I'll just stick to what I have. I mean, I already have the suit, and I smell better, so I think I'm goo-"

*thump*

It was by the small bump behind her that she realized they were no longer alone. She could see Shadow Weaver standing in front of her as she turned around, never finding a moment in her life where she had actually been as happy to see her as she was now.

"What is going on here?" The witch asked, raising a brow of her own from behind the mask.

"Oh thank goodness, I can't believe this, but I'm actually happy to see you." She admitted as she gestured to the smiling sorceress. "Would you mind telling her I just need my pants sewn up or nothing at all? She wants to give me like a complete makeover or something."

"And why would I do that?" She questioned, glancing between the two individuals.

"Because I asked her for some help after... you..." Slowly, the small alarm clock in Catra's mind chipped away as her suspicions drew closer to the siren's inevitable warning system telling her something was wrong. "Wait... What are you doing here?"

"I told you she would make a fuss of things." Shadow Weaver said, not to the girl between them, but to the head sorceress herself.

"I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt." Aunt Casta replied back, crossing her arms with a small smile.

"Make a fuss of..." And that's when the entire world blew up in Catra's face as reality fell around her. "You mean..." The girl's eyes widened as she peered into the witch's evil eyes. "You were in on it the whole time?!" She couldn't believe it!... No, actually, she could. To think that Shadow Weaver would manipulate her into getting herself cleaned up of all things!

"Who do you think gave me the idea?" She insisted, the young girl looking back in horror to a waving aunt.

"This is... Okay, no, nice try, you almost had me there." Catra chuckled lightheartedly at the old crone. "Like you actually care about how I present myself."

"And I didn't... until Casta made a convincing argument that your appearance would reflect on my own personal standing of how I raised you, as well." Shadow Weaver did have to admit, for a sorceress that hated her guts, she knew how to convince the shadowy witch in her favor. Maybe she taught her more than she remembered. "While I could care less about how you present yourself, I refuse to be thought of as a blemish by the other royals."

Annnnd there it was. The surefire way to know that Shadow Weaver was being serious about all of this.

By admitting how it benefits her in the end.

Never had Catra been more terrified of the two women than she was now. For once, they were willing to put aside their differences if only to help themselves in the end, with Shadow Weaver improving her possible standing and appearance within Bright Moon, and aunt Casta making one of Glimmer's friends look a little more presentable in public.

It would've been of little importance if Catra was just donning whatever appearance they wanted to give her for just one night, but no. That wasn't the case here. She knew, from the evil look in their eyes that only Catra could see for herself, that whatever she ended up looking like would be on a more permanent basis.

Naturally, her own response was invalid against the proceedings. This was going to be done whether she hated it or despised it herself. There was no liking to it.

"... You know, maybe it wouldn't be so bad actually if-" Hoping to catch the two off guard, however brief, the feline quickly dashed away past Shadow Weaver and the Sorceress who matched Shadow Weaver's evilness in this one hour they had as she made a break for the door down the hall to the outside, knowing they wouldn't risk her putting up a fuss outside as much as she would.

"Annnnnd she's running." Aunt Casta commented with a gentle sigh.

"I keep telling you, you're never prepared." With a flick of her hand, the shadowy witch conjured up a small shadowy bump in the road, one directly over the running girl's right foot where she tripped herself. Her head was dazed for a short moment as she slammed into the ground, reaching out towards the door that was just ten yards ahead of her before feeling a tight grip around her left ankle, and then the other.

She gazed back in horror and disbelief as her two mortal enemies, one of whom just recently became her enemy, were working together as they talked amongst one another.

"You know this doesn't make up for anything you did to Mystacor or my family." Casta reminded, paying no heed to the girl who's foot she was still holding.

"We each have our own reasons for doing this." Shadow Weaver casually pointed out. "That should be enough for one bath."

"WHAT!?" Catra's shout was completely ignored as she began to be dragged away by the two wicked spellcasters of the world, struggling endlessly and fervently as she tried to claw away at the ground, scratching at the rug to no avail. "Someone help me! HELP MEEE!"

The next half hour would go down in history as the worst of Catra's life. There, no one would be there to help her through her life of misery as her two torturers forced her to clean up from top to bottom, scrubbed the filth and grime out of her system, and prepared a new world of attire for the young magicat that she would be forever forced to partake in.

Her overall fear of water was what really turned the tipping point in all of this as she continued to shout, hating the realization that everyone, save for the guards who were aware of this, was outside and going to remain outside until the coronation ended itself.

Never has she wished to be back awaiting Hordak's execution of her until this very moment.

Growing annoyed over the magicat's obsessive whining, the shadowy witch turned her head back as she continued to drag the magicat to what felt like her grave. "Do you want to help your Queen's big night, or don't you?"

To Catra's own grief, that was just enough to surrender any resistance she had as she moaned, allowing the two to continue dragging her as her fingers ran smoothly across the surface. She was ready to take on any army or challenge the day had to bring with it, except for matters involving the coldness of water against her skin, regardless of almost any temperature.

But for Glimmer, the person who was once her sister, who was always her best friend, she was willing to make a sacrifice for as her mood drooped, along with her ears as her chin skimmed across the carpeting.

If just for one day.

"Let's just get this over with..."

...

"Come on, come on!" Frosta ushered Glimmer in as the friends finally traveled to the Throne Room.

An hour after their return, the new Queen had been lying in wait for the chance to inspect the Throne Room, knowing where the rest of the Coronation Ceremony was going to take place upon their return. They kept telling her that she had to wait a little longer, spending the time socializing with her as each of her friends had left for brief periods of a time to attend something important before returning later.

By the time they had given their new Queen the okay, the sun had died down as a warmly lit night sky filled up the entire evening air, presenting a majestic color of violet across the edge of the world. Needless to say, the new Queen was curious and more excited to see her new throne room that her friends had constantly been hinting at. Especially after Bow caught a brief glimpse of it and came back with a massive smile on his face, all while refusing to tell her why.

Upon reaching the room at long last, she could finally see why as she let out a small gasp.

It was beautiful.

The entire Throne Room had been decorated and expanded upon with arrangements the likes of which she never expected, finding herself dazzled by one miraculous display after the other. The floral arrangements were beautiful as streams of colorful pink flowers and wreathes stretched across the pillars of the magnificent hall. But what really caught her attention was the sight of a beloved pair of sculptures that brought tears to her eyes as she entered the magnificent room.

To the Left and Right, standing in front of the throne, were a massive pair of icicles that brought sorrow and happiness to the new Queen's eyes without end. It displayed a depiction of Glimmer, as the Queen she was now, and her mother to the right of her, as the Queen she was then, standing side to side as they held each other's hand.

The sculptures weren't anything like the ones that Frosta made before it. They were beautiful, marvelous. They captured the very image of her mother's beauty, of her smile when she was proud, and of the joy she had in her eye every time she saw her little Glimmer again.

It was almost like she was standing right in front of her, like she was there for her even now. The peaceful smile in her expression, the calm breeze of the warm air, and the birds that flew pass it peacefully. And it was at the sight of the statues that she realized she was already there.

Her mother would always be watching over her, from this day hence.

"This place looks amazing!" She exclaimed, wiping a tear away as she smiled back.

"We wanted it to be perfect for you." Frosta said, smiling with pride over her handiwork, which she KNEW was the best thing about it.

"So we worked together to finish it." Perfuma added sweetly, wearing the same dress from the Princess Prom like the rest of them were wearing.

"That was my idea." Mermista nodded, crossing her arms.

"Glimmer," and with the soft voice of her aunt calling her from behind, she remembered that the coronation wasn't over just yet, "it's time." Smiling with tears of pride, her aunt made way as she gestured for the Throne, Glimmer's Throne, from this day forward.

Right as the girl was about to take her first step, something had caught her eye that she had noticed, or rather, didn't notice within the room as she looked around. "Wait, where's Catra?" The Queen asked, looking around as her friends turned their heads with the same level of confusion.

"Oh yeah... I thought it was too peaceful in here..." Mermista commented, trying to see what all the non-fuss was about.

"Did she get too nervous?" Perfuma wondered, concerned over the missing She-Ra's presence.

"She didn't leave, did she?" Frosta casually asked, unaware of the worry it sent to her two closest friends.

"She wouldn't do that... I'm sure of it..." Bow said quietly as he scanned the room. The same look of worry started to cross over the young Queen's eye as she looked.

This was a big day. Not just for her, but for all the Rebellion, including Catra! She was her best friend who has been with her through thick and thin, bad times and, somewhat, worse times. But she was always there for her and her friends in the end, and she deserved to be a part of this too. A part of Glimmer worried if she would be forced to go through the proceedings if Catra never showed up.

That was when she was drawn to the small grin on Castaspella's face, the proud aunt still looking at her with little concern out of the group.

"You don't need to be concerned, sweetheart." Her aunt assured before calling out to the end of the room, specifically the entrance. "You can come in now."

There was a silence as all heads shifted to the entrance of the room, the Princess Alliance gazing at one another with curious looks as they waited for whatever surprise, a surprise from Catra apparently, that the magicat had waiting for them.

At first, there was nothing short of the small breeze as the time felt still around them. It was almost as if it was frozen altogether, with the only indication it was still running being the turning heads and eyes of the many guests that attended. It wasn't until the group of friends caught a glimpse of a faraway head peeking briefly into the room for an instant second that they knew Catra had finally arrived. The magicat herself was sighing to calm herself on the other side before finally making her appearance.

An appearance that spread a lot of surprised words as gasps to one another among the aisles as Catra made her way over.

The broken silence wasn't just limited to those of the aisle, either. One by one, the people who came to know her as their ally and friend, each gazed at the young magicat as she started to walk down the aisle.

"Whoa..." Mermista blinked with surprised eyes, trying to tell if she was seeing things.

"Is that really Catra?" Frosta asked, scratching at her own head.

"Oooh, she looks wonderful!" Perfuma beamed, as she naturally did whenever She-Ra was usually involved.

Even Bow and Glimmer were amazed by the recent transformation as Catra finally approached. Throughout the small walk, the cat showed an obvious sign of discomfort and personal embarrassment as she shifted her eyes to each side, listening to the words and mumbles that nobody else knew she could hear.

She didn't know what embarrassed her more: the fact that they had something to say about the young warrior, or the fact that none of it sounded bad to her.

Finally, at long last the warrior known as Catra had stood before the young Queen, leaving Glimmer near-speechless as she took in Catra's attire. "C... Catra? Is that really you?"

"Don't ask..." She muttered quietly, if only for the two of them to hear it.

Nothing of the friend they knew stood before them, save for the few freckles across the face, the heterochromic eyes of yellow and blue, and the attitude that would never change. Oh, and let's not forget the sword, obviously. As for everything else?

Well, that had all but changed.

For starters, the red violent shirt she always wore was no longer red with the color of hate or blood that would usually instill fear into her enemies. Instead, it wore a similar design scheme of an overlapping mix of colors, blue in this case, that gave off a tranquil warmness to any that would gaze upon it. It represented a color of purity, one that gave way to reason and order.

Her old pants were completely thrown out from this equation. Instead, the girl was now sporting a new white-colored long silk jeans that tucked away into the boots of her character, the very boots that had been redesigned and stretched a little further up the girl's leg, almost touching her black coloring of the boots actually clashed brilliantly with the white pants that tucked into the boots, giving a semblance of balance and equilibrium between them. All while giving way to an interior red within the boot's inner leather, reminding them of who she once was on the inside.

And there wasn't a tear or a scratch in sight of the pants whatsoever!

But by far, the most surprising part of her appearance would have to be her hair. For one of the few times the group has come to know her, it didn't stick out of place. It wasn't sticking up all over the place, it wasn't sticking up at whichever end drew it to the world, it wasn't anything of the sort.

Instead, it was smooth, peaceful looking for the first time. The hair was combed and brushed evenly as her new hairstyle now had a sense of elegance to it, one captured by Catra's usual performance when addressing people outside of Bright Moon to the best of her ability. The only parts that were sticking out were the two large strands hanging over her shoulder by just an inch, almost keeping the hair in place from any occasion save for a strong wind.

And finally, the one part that stuck out to them most of all was the obvious. The one part that gave Catra's look her own. It was almost a centerpiece to the magicat since first joining the Rebellion, letting one spot the magicat from afar to even a mile away. The once crystalline jewel of her character, the feature that made her appearance constantly threatening to new faces, had been taken away from her character.

Catra, ex-soldier and defector of the Horde, was no longer wearing her tiara.

Catra had been transformed.

"Catra, what..." The young Queen was speechless as she still processed Catra's new look. "What happened to you?"

"I said don't ask..." She muttered again, rubbing the back of her neck as she raised her sword to the air. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"

*shiiiiiim*

With a beautiful white light, the room briefly lit up as the hero known as She-Ra, one who still retained the same features and character as always, stood ahead of the aisle again. With a heavy, embarrassed, heart, the young warrior let out a silent sigh before kneeling to the ground in front of her, raising her sword to the air perfectly ahead of her face. It was a sight that bewildered the new Queen and her friends as murmurs and gasps alike filled the audience

She-Ra, the legendary hero, was kneeling before the young Queen. While unaware of it for herself at the time, it was a sign of allegiance, of unity, as Catra was pledging her very life to the young Queen and those who fought with her. Whether it meant anything to Catra herself or otherwise, it meant that from this day forth, Catra pledged herself, and She-Ra's strength, to the Rebellion.

It was an honor that any lord or king would be proud of to have. To have an actual living legend, a symbol of peace and unity, kneeling before one's reign before it even began, was the highest sign of respect any one person could ever be given at a time like this.

And Catra, Glimmer, and the rest of their friends still didn't understand the importance as much as the kings and queens of the Throne Room.

"... What are you doing?" Glimmer finally asked.

"I'm kneeling." Catra muttered, opening her left eye as she continued.

"Why?"

"Because it's part of the ceremony."

"... Nnnno it's not." Glimmer muttered as Catra blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, Catra, you didn't need to kneel or anything for this." Bow said with a small chuckle.

"What? But your aunt said-!" And all at once, it made too much sense as Catra twitched irritably at the treasured aunt who was smiling with an innocent wave to the girl. As another method of improving Glimmer's standing, to help her stand above the rest of the nobles, she wanted to make sure everything was absolutely perfect, which included a performance of the great She-Ra herself, The Princess of Power, kneeling in respect to the young Queen.

And leaving Catra wracked with a new hatred for the evil aunt as she jumped to her feet.

"ARE YOU KI-!"

*tug*

She was cut off by the pull. Knowing it was going to cause a scene, her aunt seeming unaware of just how far Catra's own anger can sink, the new Queen of Bright Moon threw her arms around the tall figure as she embraced her in a hug, cutting her off from the small scene she would've made for all of their sakes.

And because she's never been touched as she was now by one of her two best friends.

Catra.

THE Catra.

The one who hated near-everything in the world, who was stuck up, bitter, cynical, a prankster, and proud of herself beyond reason, had did something Glimmer could never expect her friend to do. She threw away all of her dignity, all of her self-worth, for one night, just to make Glimmer's night especially memorable, if only for her friends sake. For the first time to Glimmer's teary smiling eyes as she rubbed the side of her head into She-Ra's stomach, Catra showed her just what their friendship truly meant to her.

It was spectacular.

"Thank you so much, for everything," Glimmer muttered quietly, knowing nobody from the aisle would hear them, save for her friends and aunt, "Catra."

"..." Catra lowered her ears at the sight as she gave a quick annoyed glance to the cheerful aunt before sighing internally. With her free hand, she threw her arm around the girl again, giving a small look as she shifted her eyes away. "Happy Coronation Day... Pinky." There was a small chuckle from the Queen as she heard this, glad to see her friend truly was still standing in front of her.

"Thanks," she replied, wiping her tear away again before making her way to the throne, "sis."

"...?" Catra's eyelids dashed rapidly for a second as she tilted her head for a bit. "What did you just say?"

"Huh?" Glimmer asked looking back, seeming confused by Catra's own confusion. It's like she didn't know what she just said, if she even said it to begin with.

"I... heh, never mind." Catra shook her head in acceptance as she made her way to the side of the throne, across from where Bow stood as they both took their place at the head of the small series of steps leading up to the very throne itself. Catra didn't know if she was just hearing things or not, and personally, she didn't care.

She already knew she was a part of the family regardless.

As such, the young Glimmer made her way to the Throne, passing by familiar and new faces who smiled to her with the same proud as her fellow guards and soldiers. The captain of the guard herself saluted to the young Queen with the same level of respect she always showed the Queen, an would continue to show the Queen standing in front of her even now. She wished her own mother was here to see the beautiful Queen her daughter turned out to be.

The captain swore to herself that she would protect Angella's legacy until her dying breath.

Finally, she arrived. Standing ahead of her were the very steps that lead to her throne. Was it normal for one's heart to race even now after everything they've been through today? It must be because either Glimmer's heart was pounding to the thought of her future, or she was unknowingly having a heart attack at this very moment.

Thankfully, it appeared to be the former as the young Queen took a deep breath, stepping atop the many stones one after the other as she ascended the royal throne. Reaching the top of the amazing throne for herself, she let out a second sigh before turning around. Standing before her were all her friends, all the people she cared about, and the future that would be on her shoulders from this day forward. And since Angella's passing, for the first time, she knew.

She could do this.

"I'm here today... because Queen Angella, my mother, sacrificed herself to save Etheria." Glimmer began, giving the speech she's prepared for endlessly within her own head. The eyes and faces of the people greeted her watched in wonder, taking in the information with heavy hearts and tearless faces as Glimmer said her piece.

"We can't let her bravery be in vain. But there's so much we still need to do. Hordak is still in power, and we know there's an even larger Horde army out there somewhere." Many heads nodded, many people agreed, with the dark reality of their future. But none of them showed fear. "We can't let them win. It's time for us to take back our home. Together, we will push out the Horde once and for all! For Etheria!"

"For Etheria!" Catra cheered with pride, raising her sword.

"For Etheria!" Bow added immediately after with his trusty bow and arrow.

"For Etheria!" Came the words of the Princess Alliance behind them, lifting their fists into the air in unity.

"For Etheria!" And with a final bellowing chant, the rest of the room roared in unison, before cheers and outbursts alike filled the room.

Everyone was smiling, everyone was cheering, everyone made Glimmer so proud to be their Queen as a final tear for the day rolled down her eye. It barely phased Catra as Bow threw himself at her in a hug, deciding to just roll with it this one last time.

And just for a moment, as if some sign from the heavens themselves, a single liquid of frozen water dripped from the eye of the sculpture known as Angella. Perhaps she was smiling somewhere herself, or it could have just as easily been the icicle melting as all ice does.

It didn't matter. Not even a little.

Together, they knew they were going to win.

Together, they would stand side by side knowing they had each others backs.

Nothing was going to break them apart. Not Hordak, not Adora, not the massive Horde army that was slowly approaching them by the day.

This would be the memory they had, the reminder of their salvation, and what once was. Because they knew from here on out, it was only going to become more dangerous, more painful, for all to bare witness.

But as long as they kept this memory within their heart, they knew they would not break.

"By the way, Catra," Glimmer called over as the cheers continued, "what happened with your old outfit?"

"Eh, I got rid of them." Catra shrugged, much to Glimmer and Bow's surprise.

"You got rid of your whole outfit?" Bow questioned, still unable to believe Catra's new look. "But, why?"

"Well it's not like I had a choice." She said with a light grumble "Aunty Castaway over there told Shadow Weaver to get rid of them. And by that, she apparently burned them."

"Ohhh, I'm sorry." Glimmer said with a small frown, regretting the girl's apparently forced clothing.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I was getting sick of that stuff anyway." She chuckled. In truth, she would've preferred finding clothing matching her own particular tastes, but with the aunt's insistence that it would help Glimmer tremendously, she finally gave in.

"But what about your tiara?" Bow asked, raising an eye. "I can't imagine that burned away, too."

"No, actually, I was allowed to keep it, but I wasn't allowed to wear it for the ceremony so I decided to keep it somewhere else from now on."

"Really? Where?"

Catra grinned.

The waterfall that lead to the Chamber of Queens wasn't just for show or appearance. Above the great entrance, along a floating pathway traversable only by foot, stood a small mass of land where something had been built upon it. The small landmass's size was noticeable all the way from Bright Moon, though, it would've been hard to make out from afar or below what exactly was atop of the great mass of land.

What was actually on top of it held great significance to anyone and everyone who had once acknowledged the Queen's existence, the old one who sacrificed her life to save those precious to her.

It was a small altar dedicated to Queen Angella herself, a grave of sorts for a Queen with no body to return to the earth. The statue was beautifully handcrafted and decorated with flowers along all angles, as well as a stone casket at least five foot in height, and seven in length. Over the casket itself was a small memorial of sorts of various items from those who knew of the old Queen, who sent their best wishes and love every day with their offerings.

The trio that had known Angella the closest had left their own small offerings. Among them was something shared among the three, a small picture frame depicting a picture of a loveable daughter, an active archer, and a moody magicat crossing her arms as she stood away, apparently forced to partake in the picture against her own free will, seeing as she stared away from the camera. That didn't do anything to keep the young girl out of Angella's reach as the tip of her wing just managed to graze against her shoulder, an action Catra didn't know of or mind until the picture was taken.

And personally, they each left their own belongings with the memorial as well. For Glimmer, it was her old boots, the very boots she used to wear on her constant adventures and missions throughout Etheria. It gave new meaning to the term "big shoes to fill" as Glimmer finally had a new pair of boots, one she would be filling from this day forward as Queen of Bright Moon.

For Bow, it was several of his old arrows, each of them stacked atop one another as they all pointed in the same direction at varying angles. It meant so much to him that Angella took a liking to Bow at such a young age, even before she knew anything about him. It would never feel the same without her presence again, but he swore that as long as he lived, he was going to help protect the Rebellion with his own two hands and his brilliant mind, no matter what.

Finally, there was one last addition, a new one that had recently been placed upon the memorial within the last hour. It wasn't much to the eye, to many it would've looked like part of a costume meant to scare people. It was a freshly wiped, shining red tiara that had once been worn by a proud warrior, one who still roamed the home she called Bright Moon.

To the one who left it, it was more than their acceptance of Angella's loss, it meant more to them than just a place to dump their stuff. To them, it was a symbol. A symbol of the person that she once was, of what she could've been, and what she would have been. If not for Angella's kind and gentle touch over their history together, she might not have become the person she was today. It didn't just represent the person she left behind.

It represented the person Catra had come to be, a person that never would've existed without a mother's touch.

And she would miss her with all her heart.

"I left it somewhere it means more to me."

...

The room was barren of sound, save for the lone Leader of the Horde as his steps echoed throughout the room. Everything was falling apart before him, from his soldiers, from his labs. Even the useless assistants he used to have were failing him. He began to wonder if it would be his legacy, if everything would be in ruins by the time Horde Prime arrived to begin with, or if he would deliver himself onto the planet just in time to see Hordak's moment of complete failure.

It didn't matter at this point. Barely anything mattered to him right now. All he could do was prepare for his master's return, to show him and hopefully appease him to some small degree of the progress he made, of the work that he had accomplished under his name. Perhaps he would still be left with his head attached by the time he got here.

That was when he noticed it. The small imp several steps up from the base of the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Hordak questioned, staring at the imp's strange behavior. The small blue figure turned its head to him in fear, its body still shriveling as it lied on its arms and knees. Usually, it would've been a sight that Hordak was used to, seeing the timid imp usually running off scared when his master appeared in a foul mood.

The problem here was, the imp was already shriveling before Hordak even arrived.

"Answer me!" He shouted, prompting the small imp to let out a squeal. Stretching its wings open, it took off like a mad bat, escaping from whatever terror would've been inflicted upon it from either end.

Hordak had never seen the unusual behavior as he watched the imp retreat, slowly realizing the way it looked as he stared back up ahead. Something was going on above the stairs that the imp knew about, something he would find either terrifying, or irritable. It wouldn't have been the first time the imp was scared off simply because a piece of machinery fell from the ceiling.

Grimacing to himself, the leader marched his way up the steps, shaking his head mentally to the possible annoyances that had come to plague him for the day. He could put up with another failure, or another failure of a soldier, but he could not put up with both. As he reached the final step, he finally bore witness to the very sight that made his imp terrified, a sight that left him more surprised than frightened.

In fact, there was nothing close to frightening about the presence in front of him. Just aggravation.

Upon his royal throne, a throne reserved only for the one true leader of the Horde, lied a girl who thought she owned the place. A girl that had proven herself to be a nuisance time and again throughout his many works, and this time, her little act was barely pushing past the tipping point.

It was his Second-in-Command, a Force Captain by the name of Adora, a girl who was lounging around the chair with both her legs other the side as she leaned over the arm of the other side, lying about with both her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling.

And she had been completely transformed.

She no longer wore the white uniform she always did that usually had the red jacket over it, or the woolen pants and boots she always wore from her day-to-day activities. Why, nothing even close to the outfit came to mind as he brought in all the details through his eyes.

For one thing, she had an exoskin under all the armor. However on Etheria she came to learn of it, she was wearing the very exoskin to a suit he had contemplated making for the girl for a mere month, a skin that covered every inch of the girl from the neck down, before he became fed up with her failures. It displayed the Horde symbol proudly as many of his finer works did. This time, it was displaying over something that was the most disappointing of his efforts.

Over the skin itself were the vast armaments that he had bent for it himself, as part of a backup set of pieces if the exosuit he would have worked on ever fell apart. Across the girl's waist was a metal skirt-like apparatus, one tied at the waist with a leather belt as metal clung to the sides of her hips, leaving the centers exposed. Below that, two pieces of titanium leggins were donned, ones that stretched from just over the girl's knees to the tip of her feet, each with a dark red interior that was just noticeable at the tip of the protective guards.

Like her legs, both her shoulders and arms had been encased in a similar titanium alloy, one that was twice as flexible as it allowed for greater reaction and reflex when the girl was fighting. The arms stopped just below her elbows as they stretched all across her hands, the metal against the fingers themselves being retractable in case the girl needed to grab something personally with her own two hands, or to better grip whatever she held. The shoulders themselves were edged several layers over stacked atop of one another, providing great protection as they connected to the small chest piece at the back of her neck.

That chest piece was thoroughly covered in itself by a piece that he never included in the armor's design. Wrapped across her neck, stretching at least a foot in width, and perhaps ten in length, given how it stretched to the floor behind her neck and then some, was a bright red scarf, one that had a familiar essence to it that he had almost forgotten from someone else.

Finally, she was armed. Perhaps not quite armed as she was now, but she had the very weapons that could turn the tide against anyone she fought against. Standing against the side of the thrown were two powerful prototype taser swords, ones serrated down the middle that turned each of the twin swords into two separate blades at once, along with the sheathes that were used to holster them. They provided great agility and swiftness over durability under normal circumstances.

Circumstances Hordak had rectified in the event they were needed.

All of this, in every detail, gave Adora the appearance of a dreaded knight, one who knew nothing of worry or concern over her environment, as she bobbed her foot playfully in the air, as if waiting for something this whole time.

Or in her case, some one.

"You know," Adora began as her bobbing came to a stop, "after awhile, it really does feel like you're sitting on a tin can all day long." With a sinister grin, the girl finally turned her head, revealing the final new addition to Adora's look. The first quarter of the right side of her hair had been dyed completely pitch black, representing, with the scarf, the image of someone who once meant something to Adora.

And all the wickedness she commonly displayed.

"Wouldn't you agree, partner?"

"You!" Hordak growled in bursts of anger at the sight of Adora's cockiness. Of all the people who have angered him thusly, he never thought it would be Adora. Or, at least, never to the point of sheer disgust. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Who, me?" She asked innocently, waving a hand through the air. "Oh, nothing. Just chillaxin' and all."

"And that armor... that exo-"

"You like it?" Adora didn't have a care in the world for his hisses and grunts as she interrupted. "Yeah, I have to admit, you really know how to catch a girl's size. This thing fits like a glove."

"How did you even find out about-!" Hordak stopped as he lowered his head to the size, realizing the only explanation. "The other world..." Of those who remembered their experience within the other world, none of them consisted of people who gave in to their desires or became part of someone else's. They were completely oblivious to the destruction the other world suffered, some of them returning to this Etheria without ever realizing of the events that transpired.

If not for Adora's report, he, too, would have been completely blinded by the reality that he briefly existed in.

"I have to say, I'm touched you went out of your way to make something like this for me." Adora commented as she finally sat up against the throne. "I guess it means you really DO consider me a partner, don't you? And here I thought we were just friends..."

"Grrrrrrrrr!" He was going to enjoy proving her wrong on so many levels as he stomped his way over, tightening his fist that he so wanted to use. "I should have gotten rid of you a long time ago, from the moment I brought you into the Horde!"

"Aww, now why would you do that?" Adora sneered as she stood upon the throne, raising an eye. "It's not like it would've made you any less of a failure~"

"GHHHHHHHHHHH!" That tears it! No more excuses, no more chances. Just violence and anger awaited this girl as he came rushing at her with all his mighty, ready to tear her limb from limb.

And walking right into her trap as Adora grabbed onto the wires dangling from the ceiling next to her.

*SNAP!*

*WoooooOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOoooo-!*

With the snap of the wires, the electricity died around the inner sanctum as the lights suddenly shut down all around them. For the next minute, the emergency lights would flicker on and off along with the alarm, all until the backup generator kicked in to relight the place. Glaring fire at the girl, knowing she had a plan, Hordak stood his ground, prepared to dispose of the pathetic soldier the moment the lights returned to them.

For just a moment, he saw Adora's grin grow more sinister as the lights flicked to reveal her. When they flicked off, all he saw next was a glowing pair of red eyes in the darkness. And finally, as the lights flicked once more, Adora, and her swords, were suddenly gone.

The leader of the Horde examined his surroundings carefully, taking in all that was happening as he listened for the smallest clue to Adora's presence. At least, he would have if the irritating sound of her voice didn't continue to drive him mad.

"You know, I actually can't believe I respected you for a time." It was right there, he was sure of it in the corner of his eye. Swinging his arms around, he attempted to strike the brief figure he saw in the flicker of the lights, only to see empty air as he turned around.

"I don't know what drew me to you anymore. Maybe it was all the stories I was told, really."

"Haaaahhhhh!" He attempted to strike the girl again as he missed. The girl's voice echoed throughout the entire sanctum, unable to pick up on the girl's sound as the noise of her swords dragging across the ground drew closer to him.

"Maybe it wasn't respect now that I think about it."

The girl was being nothing short of a nightmare, a stupid one he couldn't fear, as he tried to strike her for a third time. Somehow, some way, the girl managed to disappear once again, despite the trail of static that lead her up to him, the small light of her swords streaking in the darkness.

"Maybe it was just pity for you? Because I've never known a single person to be as wretched or vile as you are. And trust me, I've had experience with people like that~"

*flick*

Finally, the lights had returned, and the backup generator had kicked in. Searching around the throne at long last, he came to see nothing but empty air greeting him from all sides. The girl had vanished, this time without reappearing. There could only be so many places for her to appear from, what bothered him is why she didn't have so much as a crumb of her appearance in those places.

Until he finally discovered why.

"Aaaahhhhh!" With a battlecry, the blonde warrior with a strip of black to her hair, lunged at the master of the Horde from above, diving in swords first as she roared with anger. Adora's first mistake was assuming she could catch him off guard, even after the surprise attack from above.

The second mistake? Trying to attack him at all.

"Hgghhhh!" He seethed in return as he threw his hands up. With his surprising strength and technology superior to her own exo, the leader of the Horde grabbed the twin blades in both her hands, stopping them just inches away from his face as Adora's glare met him from barely a foot apart. She had cunning, he could recognize that. But she would never stand against his own genius, a genius whose suit was capable of conducting the electricity and ignore it.

"You decided, wretched, INGRATE!" Screaming, Hordak finally lowered the girl's sword and the wielder along with it as he placed her right in front of himself. With one solid kick, he smashed the base of his foot against the girl's chest, slamming her back into the very throne she desired to sit in not long ago.

*WHAM!*

"Ngh-!" She winced, rubbing the back of her head. As a personal future note, she'd need to remind herself to watch her head, being one of the few bits of her completely exposed.

From this, she watched as Hordak approached her with both blades in his hands, drawing closer to the girl as he prepared to cut her down. "You've made a mockery of this Horde for the last time!" He declared, ready to thrust the blades into the very commander who turned out to be his ultimate failure.

Surprisingly, the girl didn't show any fear at this as she leaned against the arm of the chair. "Oh, really?" She grinned. That was when something was pulled out of the scruff of her neck, from within the red scarf that raised a shadowy tendril as it held something. "Because I was just starting to have so much fuuuun." Hordak stared in complete shock as he looked down, dropping the swords as he felt against the collar of his exosuit.

She took the very gem that gave the suit its very power.

And his own life.

"Do you mind if I keep it?" Adora teased, looking at the beautiful gem as if gazing into the moonlight. "I have to say, it'll make a nice little memento."

"How DARE you-!"

*Bzzzzzzzt!*

"Arghhhh!" The master let out a sudden bout of pain as he screamed, dropping to his knees as the suit's missing power source reacted violently against him. His entire body was convulsed with a painful electricity, one that was siphoning his energy every second as he continued to collapse further and further.

Seeing the pathetic state of her once proud monster groveling in front of her almost brought a sense of shame to the girl's red eyes. At least, it would have if she had any care left for her former leader. She rose once again from her seat as she made her way over, watching as the fearless leader was brought down to a height that Adora found suitable for him- one where he was kissing the ground in front of her.

"Aww, what's wrong?" She cooed playfully, watching as the leader lifted his rage consumed eyes. "Big leader fall down and can't get up?"

"Why... y-you..."

Smiling, Adora finally placed a leg against the shoulder of the leader's suit. "Good."

*Wham!*

And kicked it over the edge of the stairs behind him.

*Crash!*

By the time he hit the bottom, his whole body convulsed with pain. Every blow siphoned off more of the suits energy which, in turn, siphoned off his. He felt his body aching on all sides as his head collided to the harsh ground repeatedly, his legs busted up against the edges of the stairs. And, throughout the proceedings, Adora watched with a curious amusement until he finally reached the bottom.

It hurt. Everywhere hurt. The leader struggled to ruse up however little against the ground, still contemplating all the harsh punishments and tortures he'll put this girl through for treating him like this! He was going to make her regret the day that she so much as looked at him weird, make her suffer for every day she served under his leadership before ending her.

And he wasn't referring to just the time spent working directly under him. He meant every year since the moment she was founded.

"W-When... I... finish with you..." He grunted, struggling to push anything else from the floor. Rolling her eyes, Adora gingerly made her way down the stairs as she took the swords along with her.

Her look of amusement was replaced with one of boredom as she descended the flight with a leisurely pace. "You'll do what? Burn me? Electrocute me? Make me spend every waking hour of my day in nothing but misery and despair? Hate to break it to you, but that's how you've been treating me since I started working with you." She flicked the gem in her hands absentmindedly as she stepped forth one after the other. "Which is why, we're going to change things up a bit. Unless you want big bad Horde Prime to see how much you failed."

The grin returned to the girl again as she saw the pained silence coming from the Horde leader, one that left him speechless as he lowered his head in shame. "Can you imagine how he'll react when he sees your line of failures? When he sees a planet unconquered in his glorious name? Why do I get the feeling he takes failure worse than you do?" The girl was clearly after something more than his own life. Otherwise, she would've ended him right there on the spot.

Because he knew he would have.

"What do you want..." He hissed, biting down on his own teeth.

Finally, Adora grinned to the sight of progress as she reached the final step.

"First things first. From now on, I'm running things here. Capiche?" She declared. "You can go about waving your hand in whatever direction you want, but from now on, you answer to me and me alone. Got it?" She waited for a sign, any sort of response, and when one wasn't given to him, her impatience grew like a wildfire. "GOT IT!?"

*BZZZZZZZZZT!*

"AGGGHHHHH!" For over five seconds, the leader felt as the electricity coursed through his back as Adora stuck the very tip of the blade right along the side of Hordak's suit. "Do you know what I'll do to you when-!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Auuughhhhhh!" It didn't penetrate the suit or anything, and it didn't need to. Just the slightest touch was enough to send several thousand volts through the clone's body. "FINE!" He shouted, shouting over the pain as Adora pulled the sword back.

"Good boy." It was such a rush. She has never felt so elevated before, pushing Hordak through the very pain he put her through every day he failed her or simply disgusted her. "Second, we're partners now. Which means every day, we'll be working alongside each other much more comfortably from now on." She knew he hated it. Without so much as looking at his face, she could feel the hate coming off of him. If he didn't reply as soon as he did, she would've been more than eager to deliver another reminder to him.

"Fine..." He hissed again.

"See? Isn't it so much easier when you listen to me instead of abusing me everyday?" She teased, squatting a little closer to the ground. "Third, we're going to conquer Etheria, and we're going to crush the Rebellion for good this time. No more personal projects, no more stupid inventions for your own ego, and no more wastes of time. We hit them hard, we hit them fast, and we do it as I see fit. Understood?"

"Crystal."

"Excellent. Now, tell me something, Hordy." Adora grinned ear to ear as she lowered herself closer. "Are you reliable, or a failure?"

Hordak grimaced at the question as he turned his head, knowing where she was headed with this. "I'm reliable-"

"NO!" Shouting enraged, the leader found himself being lifted up in anger by the Force Captain herself, grabbing him by the collar of his metal exosuit as she raised him to his head. "ANSWER THE QUESTION! ARE YOU RELIABLE, OR A FAILURE!?" Even now, the leader chose to grit his teeth at the present company.

He was willing to put up with a lot of things this girl did, and was willing to play along if it meant she had some sort of plan against the Rebellion. But mark his words, she was going to suffer for all of this if she continued to fail him, no matter what sort of contributions her new direction was taking her.

For all its worth, he had to shove away his personal pride as she glared her red eyes into his. "... I'm a failure." As expected, this brought a simple smirk from the girl as her eyes returned to normal.

"I thought so."

*thud!*

"Geh..." To add insult to injury, or just plain injury, the girl carelessly dropped him back to the floor, finally satisfied with her own little vendetta as he clattered against the floor. For all it was worth, it did come with the added benefit as Adora finally dropped the gem in front of him. She watched with glee as he scrambled to pick it up, quickly inserting it back into his suit as he could breathe easily again at long last.

Assured that he was aware of his new placement within her pecking order, the girl began to ascend the stairs at long last, leaving the figurehead of a leader to rise up to his knees weakly. "Dare I ask what our-" Just remembering his new placement brought fury to his mind, knowing what he had to say. "What your plan is, Adora." At this, Adora stopped. There was a brief silence that fell over the two before the girl finally turned around, giving a stern look into his eyes.

"You know, I'm starting to get tired of that name when I think about it." She commented in return. "It doesn't have the same ring or intimidation to it that tells people I mean business. It sounds just like a regular stupid name that people think they can push around 24/7. So, from now on, you will address me by a new name." She was never going to be used again.

She wasn't going to be abused. Manipulated. Played for a fool. She was going to crush everything that took away her happiness, that drove her to the brink of the world's end without a second thought. To those loyal, those trusting, she would gladly stand aside as their ally and friend. But to anyone desperate or foolish enough to turn her back on her, she would end with a merciful swiftness, a pain that was instant come pared to the pain their betrayal caused her.

Never again would she allow someone to break her heart without retribution.

"From now on, call me... Despara."

...

A/N: "And noooow, the end is neeea-" *gets sued* Oh come on, that wasn't even the first line of lyrics X(! Stupid copywriters!

Lol, ah man, I gotta tell you folks, this was a blast. I mean really. With this episode, I can finally stop for myself and take a much deserved rest because i NEEED to see the rest of the season before I continue, especially before season 5 comes out Friday XD Will I see it when it appears? Answer= no XP I wanna keep myself surprised and everything and have the same level of knowledge as anyone else did when they made their season 4 stuff so it feels more fair and genuine XP

Now with that said, as a reminder, I haven't seen anything past episode one. So from this point on, I'll be on a break watching the next season. Idk how long it'll take, maybe a week, maybe a day if I binge, or maybe a month (pray its not a year again XP). I just know I wont be posting for a few days minimum as i catch up on school work and whatnot until next friday. I got a lot of stuff to catch up on X/

But with that said, I have a surprise for you! You know that incredible amazing one of a kind author there's no replacing i keep talking about :D?!... Yeah, he died. So in stead, Petie will have to be the next best thing as he posts his work. (lol, jk Petie XD). No, seriously though, in recognition of this glorious new season with glorious new discoveries, Petie has made, count them, FOUR ENTIRE NEW PICS OVER ON INSTAGRAM, several of which will give you all a glorious glimpse at what Catra's and Adora's new attire look like. I will say, you will be 100% satisfied. So much so that only the blind would be unsatisfied upon seeing it, and not even them XP Lol

Sorry, im just so giddy to finally be done with this X) Like I said, idk when I'll be back, but I am not abandoning this fic any time soon. Im here with you guys to bring a glorious end to Cat-Ra as She-Ra will to, well, She-Ra.

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and I hope to see you guys eventually. But until then, have a great For The Honor of Grayskull, and hope to see you soon X)

Chapter 123: S4 Episode 2: The Valley Of The Lost Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.6k Pre-A/N's. Hoooooofty lala! How's it going folks, monokub here, ready to get back from my looooong(3day) break ^^! Man, it feels so good to watch season 4 and JUST season four! Haha, god I can't help but wodner what the next season will bring, I mean it's just so... sooo... Eghhhh... OK I ADMIT IT! I CHEATED! I WENT AHEAD AND WATCHED SEASON 5 ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND I DONT REGRET THING A THIIIIING X*D!

DEAR FREAKING GOD THAT FINAL SEASON WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED AND THEN SOME! HOLY SMOKES! I swear- I freaking tear up at the final episode finale every time i watch it on netflix and youtube, it was everything I wanted to see in the end of She-Ra and they delivered it with breathtaking emotions and feels. And I do not exaggerate-i mean EVERY time i watch it I tear up even now X*D god I love this show so bad, WHY DID IT HAVE TO END X*(! Ughhghhgh... *sigh*

But, we must move on, to bigger and better things-... and sadly that means more Cat-ra XP lol.

Now with the announcement and confessed that i watched season 5, a few things to be aware of- 1, the chapters here miiiight be a little choppy today, i was having a bit of issue concentrating cause i couldn't stop thinking about the freaking finale which I can't stop watching X*D. On top of it, my tinnitus has been distracting me more so concentrating on the fanfic has gotten a little harder as of late. Add in the fact its been at least 3 days since I last wrote so my quality might be a little wobbly to and forth. There also might be more delays since I'm not 100% sure the direction to take this season; not that I dont have a solid script/idea, i just need to clarify a few things because some of the changes I do have in store all depend on a few key features X)... (mwahahaha!)

Also, this season might actually have a lot of chapters that are 3 chapters long, pray to god not lower, and for 2 certain reasons: 1, I WANT TO GET TO THAT FINALE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND MAKE MY OWN ENDING CATRA VERSION OF IT DARN IT XD-! Lol, but aside from that, the more IMPORTANT reason; a lot of the scenes within the season kind of take place within the same clustered area- like the party from the next episode, they were at that place for a solid 8 minutes before the action kicked up :/ It's not that it'll be that big of a deal or anything, but idk how i'd make an 8 minute bit into 2 chapters or whatever to get a full 4-part episode out.

Then again, like i said, my tinnitus has been acting up, so it's most likely just me XP

Lol, anyway, so yeah, no need to worry about spoils people, I'm 100% caught up and weeping over the finale i can't freaking shut up about XD hands down #1 best ending to a series and greatest cartoon ever.

Now with that said, let's work our own way up to the next season and take a wild ride on Cat-Ra: Episode 2 ^^! Enjoy!

...

"Yaaaaay!" The children cheered in unison as they gorged themselves with the tasty foods the likes of which the Fright Zone has never known of.

Jelly-filled tarts.

Fresh grapes.

Whatever a "oat-meal" is supposed to be.

It was food with a good taste that was new to these children, these future members of the Horde, and they were ecstatic. To obtain food this good, one would have to already be a soldier, working somewhere on the front lines against the Evil Princesses of Etheria. All around the lunchroom, the kids were treating themselves like royalty for the very first time!

And it was all thanks to a smirking Adora who leaned against the entrance to the room, watching the future cadets and soldiers eating to their hearts content with a sense of pride.

None of this would've been possible before Adora's involvement, and none of this would've happened if she never took over leadership of the Horde, not that anyone else below Hordak himself was aware of. Along with this, there were also additional resources being sent to the medical wing of the Fright Zone, providing more pain relievers and sedatives to the soldiers and cadets with more severe physical injuries. And those benefiting from the surplus of supplies had never been more thankful.

To them, this was simply Hordak showing compassion for the first time, or rewarding his Horde for doing such a great job in their daily efforts to contribute to the Horde.

To Adora, it was the fruits of her labor as everything fell into place.

Since the transformed soldier had forcefully made a partnership with the leader of the Horde, everything was going her way, and everything was going lovely. When it came to recruiting new regions and villages to join the Horde, either one of two things usually occurred.

A, they would sign without hesitation. Whether its through fear, intimidation, or their own desperate need, they would always sign the transactions that would solidify their unity to the Horde right in front of Adora and her soldiers, wherever they were. Her primary first targets were villages that were plagued by one disaster from another, between possible creatures running rampant or places struck with terrible conditions of one form or another.

From this, Adora would make good on her promises as she established trade routes and helpful working conditions to the newly aligned village, and, in exchange, they would donate a large commodity of their resources to the Horde. Things from cloth, weaponry, and food were the minimum they produced. Otherwise, they would recruit soldiers from the pleasant villages.

Then, there was Option B, an option that usually irked Adora's sight. Option B usually involved some head of the village or region either declining or physically tearing up the contract and dealings Adora presented to them, even with an army at her back. Usually it was because they weren't interested, they were with the Rebellion already, Adora never bothered to care.

Those villages were quick to change their tunes when Adora snapped her fingers, watching passively as the soldiers walked past her and began to march their way into the declining village. While nobody was hurt, people were forced to submit to the Horde through this, with the Horde establishing some force of control over the town and capturing the heads of these villages, usually placing them under house arrest of some sort as the Horde ran their business.

To those villages, they were forced to pay double, sometimes triple, the allotted tribute that Adora had established. Adora didn't accept no for an answer, and when she did, she usually made things work around it after.

This, was the new Adora. The one who was tired of people treating her like a rat, the one that people could push around dy in and day out. She realized she was being too merciful to those who betrayed her, those who wanted to steal her happiness of uniting Etheria under one roof. She would help and reward those that paid tribute to the Horde, that were willing to join her side without hesitation. And to those who don't, well...

They would join her eventually.

All that was and all that shall be was by the might of Adora's new campaign. She would prove herself to Etheria as the savior that united it under one banner, that allowed everyone to live in peace and prosperity. And for those who would tarnish it, who would turn their backs on her, she would drive fear into their hearts, remind them of their consequences, and she would do it under the new name she had given herself, one that inspired terror and intimidation into all who heard it.

And she would call herself, Despara...

...

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"S-Stop laughing!" Adora yelled with a small blush, watching as all of her friends laughed in unison within the locker room. It wasn't that funny, was it?

"Ahahaha... haha... ha... S-Sorry, Ado- Pfffft! Despara?" Lonnie bellowed with a cry, wiping away a tear.

"I-I thought it was a good name! It sounds intimidating, doesn't it?"

"Tch, hahah! Ehhhh..." It took Kyle a moment to compose himself as he held his side. "I-I can't help it, Adora, it's just... pfffft!"

"Y-Yeah," Daisy chuckled a little as she leaned over Adora's shoulder, "I mean, no offense boss, but you? Intimidating? Except when you're fighting, you and intimidation usually don't go hand in hand."

"I- Tch..." Scorpia sniffed a little as she smiled to her best friend. "I think it's kind of cute!"

"I-It's not supposed to be cute!" Adora stuttered, still blushing a bit. "It's supposed to be scary! Threatening!" Despite her insistence, the rest of the gang continued to laugh at the name of the supposedly horrifying person known as Adora.

Sure, she had her angry sides to her, but this was Adora they were all talking about. She was the one who was always looking out for everybody else, she was the one who put her team before herself. Whenever there was an issue to deal with, people could always count on the one known as Adora to help them through whatever crisis.

The words "Adora" and "intimidating", never usually went so hand in hand. And the additional outfit she was wearing didn't help matters either.

"And really, what's with the hairdo?" Daisy continued to ask, pulling on the few bangs she dyed black without much care.

"H-Hey!" Adora yelped, trying to pull them back as Daisy's blue lizard friend laughed alongside her.

"You only did like a quarter of your hair? Not even that?"

"Doesn't this scarf get caught in everything around you?" Lonnie added, giving it a firm and the wearer a small choke.

"You guys-!" Adora's attempts at getting the bellows and chuckles to clear up were overshadowed by the powerful laughs still filling around the room. From the left, to the right, it felt like everyone was laughing at her for being her, not just because of what she was doing. They reminded her of her laughter, the one that haunted her around every corner.

Mocking her of her failure.

Reminding her that she failed.

Tormenting her with the reality that Catra, someone as selfish and greedy as her, deserved better in her life, while Adora was made to suffer.

And, just for a moment, she saw them. All of her friends, all of them, being replaced by Catra in image and sound, as the world turned red around her.

And in her eyes.

"ENOUGH!"

*WHAM!*

"Huff... Huff..." A few strands of the Force Captain's hair dangled in front of her face as her friends went silence. In a burst of rage the young girl formed a shadow over her fist as she slammed it into the locker behind her, finally grabbing everyone's attention as they stared at the huffing girl.

Taking a few deep breaths to clear her mind, the girl finally pulled the fist back from the dented locker as she turned back to her friends. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! Everyone keeps treating me like a joke around here and it has to stop!" The girl was still squeezing her fists as her friends continued to stare, feeling a sense of unease slowly filling up the air.

"H-Hey, cool it, boss." Daisy replied with a slightly nervous smile. "We were just goofing around and all."

"Yeah, Adora," Scorpia nodded in addition, "we were just playing around. We don't think of you as a joke or anything."

"But everyone else does." Adora stated, looking at her fist. "Everytime I play nicely with everyone, they keep pushing me around. They don't take me seriously enough and they keep betraying us!"

"Well, Adora, that's just..." Scorpia tried to find the right words. She knew of the history Adora had, somewhat, with relations in the past, and the stress and grief that caused her alone. She just didn't know what to make of this side of her. "There's no controlling who does or doesn't betray us-"

"Before, there wasn't a way to control who did or didn't betray us." Adora crudely interrupted. "Everyone who betrayed the Horde in the past became a greater threat to us in the future. Villages assisting the Rebellion in taking down Horde outposts, entire regions rising up against us because the Rebellion persuaded them, but no more." She gazed intently at her surrounding friends as she stared into each of their eyes with her glowing red.

"And I want each of you to remember this going forward. From now on, we don't let anyone betray us, we don't let ourselves be pushed around. And anyone who does so otherwise, who thinks they can leave us all behind while they run away..." With her anger directing, the Force Captain marched her way out of the locker room through the door behind her, leaving her friends a bit anxious and concerned over the one now calling herself Despara as everything faded to black.

"They'll be sorry..."

...

"Uggghhh... How much longer?" Catra groaned as she leaned against the chair of the Meeting Room. Much like the huntress that was filing her nails across from her, aka Huntara, the ex-Horde soldier was bored out of her mind for a ridiculous wait she felt was taking too long. "I thought Glimmer was the one who called us in the first place?"

A week after the events of the portal incident, things have been far from the same involving the trio of best friends. Following her mother's passing, the day of Glimmer's Coronation came and went, leaving many people in distress prior and during the festivities until the very end.

For Glimmer, it was the grief she still suffered from the loss of her mom. Everywhere, everyone, people were acting like it was supposed to be a joyous occasion, like there was supposed to be things worth celebrating instead of remembering the heroic sacrifice of her mother. On top of that, Catra, the person she unknowingly became sisters with in a parallel timeline during their time in the portal, had been avoiding her for nearly a week. Was it because she was mad at her? Because she blamed Glimmer for something she unknowingly did?

The answer? No. Quite the opposite, in fact. Throughout the last week, Catra was subjected to a painful sense of Survivor's Guilt, one that manifested through the use of a haunting vision of Angella's last words to her before sacrificing herself, one that always seemed to flare up anytime she spoke to or so much as looked at the daughter Angella left behind, and leaving Catra with the inability to communicate with Glimmer on some level.

During the day of the Coronation itself, the magicat resigned herself into trying to help with the festivities, ranging from cleaning to catering and so forth, thinking that it would make Glimmer forgive her for an event she never blamed her for. Sadly, from her perspective, all she ended up doing was making things worse. Worse to the point that it took a run in with a giant guardian during the ceremonial Ritual Quest for Glimmer's coronation, for the two of them to reconnect.

There, they confessed. They confessed their sorrows, confessed their griefs, and all that had befallen them through Angella's passing. Both girls would miss the mother figure they shared, even if Glimmer never knew it, and came to realize they would both have to move on for their own sakes.

Looking back on it, if it never came to pass, if Catra never admitted her care for Angella or her promise to watch over Glimmer and her friends, chances were her Survivor's Guilt would still be haunting her to this day.

With the Ritual Quest complete and the ceremony taking place, Catra had one last surprise for Glimmer, albeit one that was slightly forced on her. Wanting to make a good impression with the rest of the royals attending, to prove that Glimmer kept good company, and to help her overall image, Catra had a complete makeover, forced courtesy of Glimmer's Aunt Castaspella tricking her into agreeing with it.

It was the new attire she wore to this day that would greet her every morning she woke up from now on, seeing how Shadow Weaver had the rest of her clothes burned, at least those she could find, and Catra herself placed her tiara upon Angella's altar in recognition of everything she meant to her. On top of it, it would also be the last time she was allowed to attend the world without brushing her hair in the morning, something she was annoyingly reminded of for the last several days by a certain witch who played a hand in Casta's ploy.

"Uh, I'm sure she'll be here soon." Bow tried to assure with a calm smile. In truth, he didn't know how busy or how swift the new Queen would be, knowing the tasks required of her almost doubled in size since her coronation.

Papers, documents, meetings, strategies. There was a whole list of important work thrown under her belt as Queen, so much so that she could appear at any moment.

*swish*

"Ah-!" Catra yelped, nearly falling out of her chair as she planted her feet against the ground. For a moment, she almost reached for her collar itself out of surprise.

"You're all here." She smiled, ignoring the cat furrowing her brow from behind as she stood. "Good. Just one second.

"Glim-" Was all the magicat could get out before the pink Queen disappeared again, dropping her ears and expression in annoyance. "-mer."

"Oh, I see. She's really taking this queen stuff seriously." Huntara commented, getting a small chuckle out of the sight as she continued her filing. There was something a little irritable about the whole situation. Not just with Huntara, with everything.

Ever since Glimmer officially became the Queen of Bright Moon, she's been available for less and less activities around the castle. Most of which involved pranks, others usually involved just being around to hang out with with Bow and Catra, her tasks taking priority above all else. It's not like the feline couldn't understand her importance, she just wished the girl could catch a break once in awhile, long enough to have a conversation together after the week-long silence she gave her friend after the portal incident.

*swish*

At least she appeared to be keeping herself busy, such as the way she teleported back into the meeting room with a slightly surprised Mermista who was still drinking a glass of juice with a straw in it and a fish cracker. "As part of my new anti-Horde strategy, I'm sending you, Catra, Bow, and Huntara to retrieve Mara's ship from the Crimson Waste. Then, Bow will repair it and we'll have a spaceship." Just thinking of the prospect of having a technology over the Horde left her giddy enough to punch her fists into the air. "Take that, Horde!"

"Hahaha," the magicat's tail twirled a bit a she stared between the two teleportees, "what? Is she going to construct some sort of enchanted sandcastle or something for us while we're there?"

"What's wrong with Mermista?"

"How long do you have?"

"I mean with the mission." As sarcastic as Catra was, Glimmer wouldn't deny that she missed these small quips too after the week of silence the two shared. "She'll be able to help using her water in the... desert of..."

*sllllllllurp*

And by the sound of the mermaid's slurping through a straw did she finally understand the root of sending a mermaid to a wasteland. "... Oh... good point. Be right back." With a grab and another sparkle of dust, the pink princess teleported once more, leaving her three friends behind again.

"Is she going to do that all the time now?" Huntara asked, still focusing more on her nails than the rest of them.

"Most likely." Catra shrugged back, leaning against the table as she crossed her arms.

"Did I just hear the queen?" The guard captain asked as she entered the room.

"Huh? Well, yeah, why? Is there an emergency?"

"Oh, no, she's just needed in the defense meeting immediately."

"A meeting? But we're about to-"

*swish*

As if on cue, the Queen returned with another familiar ally by the name of Perfuma, one who appeared to have a handful of snow over her shoulders and a bit above her head. "What a wonderful..."

*achoo!*

"-interruption to my morning meditation and to see so much of our beautiful planet before I've had my daily tea ceremony." It's not like she minds the fact that she was interrupted from her daily ritual by a Queen who popped out of nowhere to drag her into the freezing WASTE OF THE NORTH LANDS WHERE HER SKIN WAS EXPOSED TO THE HARSH CONDITIONS OF WINTER EARLY IN THE MORNING! If she did that, she wouldn't be squeezing the flakes of melted snow out of her hair as Glimmer walked ahead.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I may have gotten a little lost on the way. But, like I was saying, the Waste has tons of plants which you can use to bring the ship back."

"The Crimson Waste?"

"That's the one." She smiled confidently with her hands at her hip. "As my first act as queen, I'm sending you all on the mission while I... stay back and do important queen duties..."

The cat's ears fell to her side at the announcement as she stood away from the table. "Wait, you mean... You're not going to come with us?"

"Huh? Oh..." The small discovery the Queen had about Catra's lack of knowledge over the development was a little surprising to her as she replied. "You... didn't know?"

"Catra, we already said the Queen was sending us on a mission, remember?" Bow reminded, leaning a little from behind as he looked at her.

"W-Well, yeah, I know that, I just... I don't know, thought it was just a way of saying we were all going on a mission or something." Glimmer wasn't... coming... with them? The way it sounded in her head sounded less weird than when she sad it to herself out loud.

Princess, now Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, wasn't joining them on their next mission to the Crimson Waste, or anywhere for that matter. The pink-haired wonder that annoyed Catra since day one, the one who knew how to get in and out of places in a jiff, and one of two of Catra's best friends.

Without Glimmer around, it would just be her, Bow, Perfuma, and Huntara, with the former of the two somehow being the odd one out of the list. Bow was just fine, he knew how to be useful, and he had his fair share of dealings between his two friends. She could accept him coming along just fine, or Glimmer coming along if he couldn't.

But now it was just going to be with one of her friends instead of both, one of which was gifted in calming Catra's anger at times, something she felt was a little more important to her at times, and... She couldn't really explain the feeling, it was just weird to her.

It was also weird to the the pink queen who noticed the faraway look in Catra's eye, sensing a concern emanating from her violent friend as she stood there. "Look, Catra, if... If you don't really want to go on the mission, then-"

"What? Oh, no, no, it's fine, honest." She assured, giving her always smug look as her allies gathered at her side. There was also the added fact that she didn't want to stress her friend out, knowing she would already have a lot to deal with given her new role as Queen. "We'll be fine, really. We'll go to the Waste, pick up the ship, and be back faster than you could teleport from there."

"Heh, you wanna bet?" The Queen asked, raising a glowing fist to the challenging magicat.

"Queen Glimmer, you are extremely late for your next meeting." The guard captain interrupted, diverging the direction of the conversation.

With a small sigh, the cheerful eyes of a well-known friend returned to Glimmer as she smiled to the guard captain. "We'll go the fun way!" And with a grab of the arm and another teleportation, the Queen had said her piece before the group could officially take off for their very next mission!

Without her...

...

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

~ turning darkness into light ~

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

With a jump through the air, Catra descends forth as She-Ra, prepared for battle as she draws her weapon to the Horde army below.

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

And following right beside her are her two friends, weapons drawn, and magic blasted as the three storm the battlefield.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, smirking to herself against the colorful warm background with trident at the ready.

We must be strong, and we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the bud of a sunny flower, captivated by the tranquility of nature surrounding her with glee.

~ (we must be brave) ~

Frosta skates her way across the scenery, morphing large chunks of ice into weapons over both her hands with a silent laugh, followed by a masked Entrapta stares into the view before lifting her mask off with a hearty smile.

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The desert sun felt just as humid as it used to as Catra walked across the Crimson Waste. Being out here, with a group of allies and one of two best friends, gave Catra a small sense of dread, remembering the first excursion she took out here and how the world almost ended because of it. And while that wasn't going to be a concern, hopefully, anytime soon, it did make her hairs stick up on the ends of her skin, including her new blue shirt... and white pants... and boots still.

And it would be like this from henceforth, no matter where the magicat went. Even when they were out on certain missions that took her, Bow, Perfuma, and Huntara across the Crimson Waste.

"Does this feel... I don't know... Sort of weird to you?" Catra asked as she walked alongside Bow.

"What? Being back in the Crimson Waste?" Bow replied curiously.

"No, not that, I mean..." There was a small hint of remorse in her irritated eyes as she stared at the soft sand around them. "Being out here on a mission like before but... without Glimmer."

"Oh..." The archer shared her silence as he looked to the side. The unease was shared evenly between the two as they walked under the bones of a great beast, thinking about all they've been through together. This would be one of the very first missions the two ever went on without the third friend to their party, the friend who was no longer princess at their side. "Yeah, I... guess it is a bit strange. But Glimmer's a Queen now," Bow reminded, "and she has a lot more responsibilities now."

"We're out saving Etheria, what could be more important?"

"Keeping Bright Moon safe? Discussing everything related to the entire Rebellion? She has a lot to deal with now, Catra. She's not a princess anymore. Besides, we're just here to recover Mara's ship, so it shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm just sayin'." The bowman couldn't help but feel sorry for his sullen friend as she walked off ahead. She still wasn't used to the other allies of the Rebellion enough to call them her friends, even though they were close to it. With Glimmer's new position as Queen, they would be attending missions less and less throughout their time together, making what little time they did have to be together rare and in-between.

Throughout their small chat, the princess of plants, Princess of Plumeria, known as Perfuma was also trying to strike up a conversation, specifically with a rough and outgoing huntress known as Huntara as she smiled to her. "So, this is, like, your kingdom?" She asked with a curious smile.

"I'm not a princess." Huntara stated bluntly, keeping her eyes ahead of them.

"Still, it must be nice to be home. Do you miss it?"

"I left. Now I'm back. No need to make a big deal out of it."

"Mh-hm." The huntress continued staring off ahead as she shifted her eyes over to the Princess of Plumeria, one who was still smiling to the girl as they walked.

What exactly was her deal here? Throughout the huntress's life, she has made it a deal to be able to read anything or anyone around her. For example, Bow was the technological genius of the Rebellion. He was quirky, had some keen shooting skills, and was capable of disabling droids with a single arrow. Glimmer was a young girl aspiring to fill the shoes of her beloved mother. She was kind, caring, sincere, and she was great with magic. Able to perform feats and magic like no other that made her a formidable opponent to face out in the field. And then Catra was-

... Well... Catra.

But this girl? She was something else. She didn't have the same air about her like everyone else did. She knew she was supposedly good with plant magic, capable of making flowers and vines grow to great lengths, but the girl herself was just a mystery to her. From what she could gather, she was a perky, friendly, type.

That's it.

She didn't display any characteristics that really stood out from the others, ironically making her stand out more to Huntara, she didn't appear to have any hidden agendas or the eyes of one who did, and she seemed interested in nearly everything about the new people she barely met, such as herself. She was just weird.

"You, um, make flowers?" Huntara finally asked, wondering about the girl.

"Heh heh, I control all plants." She replied with a small wave of her hands. "Watch." Spotting a purple cacti along the path, the eager princess of nature began to channel her powers as she waved her hands, ready to sprout and blossom the wonderful fauna into a working miracle of nature! "...Hm?" Any minute now!

"Uh-huh." Huntara shrugged crossing her arms unimpressed.

"Hmmmm!" This was it! ... Eventually! ...Hopefully... Okay, it was proving to be a bit of a hassle, but she wasn't going to give up! She was the princess of plants, a humble gift for a princess of elegance and peacefulness such as her. Drawing forth as much power as she could within this wasteland, she focused, harnessed her energies until it finally happened.

With a burst of growth that surprised even the mighty Huntara, the princess of plants managed to grow the small purple cacti to nearly three times its original size, almost looking like a small tree in comparison. Everything about it was bulging and grotesque in appearance as it stretched as high as Perfuma's neck, but it still proved a point the princess was proud to make. "See? It's just something I'm blessed with to be able to-"

*SPLAT!*

For about three seconds.

"Ah!" The mysterious cacti unknown to Perfuma wasn't as done growing as she initially assumed. The small moment of pride the princess had quickly vanished as she found herself sprayed upon by a torrential spout of green goo, covering the young princess in head to toe of the disgusting muck.

"Uh-huh." The hunter smirked teasingly as she wiped a finger of the gallons of goo covering the princess. "Blessed." As she walked away from the sniveling goo-covered princess, Huntara had officially made an assessment of her fellow ally as she caught up to Catra. She was hopeless. "If we run into trouble, is flower girl gonna be able to handle herself?"

"Who? Perfuma/" Catra asked to clarify as she glanced back. "Ah, don't worry about her. I know she's, eh. Perfuma, but her plants are a lot tougher than they look." Looking back herself, Huntara hoped so because all she could see of the powerful plant princess was someone who was whining in disgust as they continued. "Besides, even without her plants, who needs nature when we have this?" She asked, smiling with pride at the collar around her neck.

The collar had a very intricate, familiar, design to it that was almost recognizable to the hunter. In a mask of solid gold with a blue gem encrusted in the center of the one-inch accessory, one could almost assume that it came from the royal treasury, where it most likely did.

"A collar?"

With Catra taking the initiative to show off for herself, the magicat pried the collar from herself as it glowed with a flash of light, revealing the Sword of Protection in its rightful form as it always came in. "This is how I'll carry the sword from now on."

"... By keeping a sharp, dangerous, object that grows into a sword over your neck?" Huntara joked, raising a brow back as Catra sneered.

"Well where else would I keep it? Over my arm where it could get cut off?" Catra joked back, returning the sword to its previous form as she placed it around her neck in one swift motion.

"Well at least then, you'd still have one more arm left."

"And I couldn't carry it in my sheathe anymore." She added, grumbling a bit as she pulled at her mane. "Thanks to Aunt Castaway, she forces me to brush my mane almost every day. I kept grabbing at my mane almost every time I tried to grab for it."

"Didn't you ever grab for it when your mane was normal?"

"Not all the time. It was still bunched up enough to reach the bottom part of it. But thanks to the stupid combing it kept getting caught up and tangled when I tried pulling it out."

"And you're just going to keep combing your hair then like they tell you to?"

"Like I have much choice. Like I said, she keeps forcing me to comb my mane and having Shadow Weaver make sure I do it." The magicat was unaware as the huntress stood back for a moment, watching the girl moving on ahead.

This wasn't anything like the brave warrior she's known for several weeks now, the rebellious teenager that would go about throwing a fit at nearly every little thing. Sure, she still had her snarky side and groaned at anything irritable the moment it appeared, but now it had more of a playful edge towards it. Not to mention the lack of pranks she's been pulling off around the castle, even IF it was because someone told her to ease up on the shenanigans.

Thinking of that, it also didn't make sense that she was listening to someone in the first place! She was the one who ignored people whenever they had a dumb plan or something stupid to say (which to Catra, was nearly everything) constantly. She was the one who was quick to scratch, bite, or punch the nearest person that so much as brushed against, pulled, or get her tail caught in a doorway, even if it was herself.

And how could she ever forget the clothes she was wearing? No longer did she resemble the mighty ex-Horde soldier that struck fear into the heart of her enemies, or at least could pass off with some intimidation. Instead, she looked like some sort of high schooler going off on her way to the academy, or someone who was just walking around a village on your average day.

There could be only one explanation that Huntara came to as she finally commented on the reformed magicat, "I know you trained with the Horde, too, but I think all this time with the princesses has made you... soft~"

Frozen like a statue, arms bent out of shape from mere stress, the warrior came to a sudden halt as her ears twitched, her right eye blinking rapidly as her expression contorted into pain. Never, in all of Catra's lifetime, has anyone, ever, said something so horrific, terrible, completely unrealistic, to the hero of the Rebellion.

"Geeehhhhh-!" Already, her hairs were on end as her claws extended a little, growling bitterly at the huntress as she marched up right in front of her. "What did you just say?" She seethed to the smug-looking cross armed Huntara.

"You heard me, little kitty. Soft. You're losing your edge. The Catra I fought against awhile back wouldn't let a bunch of people run around and tell her how to do things. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were almost acting nicely towards people."

"What? Oh, right. Hah!" Catra sneered, still squeezing her fists with a twisted look in her eye. "Nice try. Me? Soft? I'm the least softest person in the Rebellion. I'm the toughest warrior you'll ever meet, even without She-Ra. Everyone knows from Bright Moon, all the way to Thaymor, not to mess with me! And the clothes? My lifestyle? It's a free roof over my head and decent meals all day, so I'm just playing along."

"Uh-huh, sure. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the new Queen or your archer friend. You know, the people you've known since day one and have been holding your hand this whole time? I bet if I closed my eyes right now and just listened to your voice, I'd think I was actually talking to one of the princesses around here."

"... You take that back, NOW!" She had never been so insulted in all of her life. Even Shadow Weaver said nicer things to her than that!

"And what if I refuse?"

"Then I'll make you take it back." She threatened, showing off the claws that had yet to be regrown to their previous size.

"Oh, yeah? How so?"

"By..." Catra tried to think for a moment. As much as she wanted to claw her face off right now, she was still an ally, and the best person who knew how to navigate the Crimson Waste, seeing how the constant death and decay meddled with Catra's senses still. With a raised eye to the side, she smirked back to the senile huntress who clearly didn't know who she was messing with. "By beating you to the ship."

The reaction got a small chuckling snort out of the woman as she lowered her head to her eye-level, leaving Catra satisfied as she wiped the smug look off her face. "That'll never happen."

There was a small bit of static shooting off between their eyes as they sneered to one another. Neither of them were going to let the other tell them what to do, nor would they allow their honor and pride be tarnished by some brat who clearly didn't know who they were dealing with.

"..."

Without missing a beat, the two ex-Horde soldiers began to tear down the pathway as fast as their legs could carry, blowing up a pack of dust that blew past the young archer as they ran past him. Watching the two fighting over whatever it was, it brought a small sigh to the archer's mouth as he saw the two soldiers butting heads and shoving each other out of the way as they constantly tried to one up the other while keeping ahead in the race.

It was moments like these where he missed having Glimmer around, knowing she was best at dragging Catra back to the group.

Such pleasant thoughts and ideals would have to be on hold though as he was drawn to the small whine still coming from behind, seeing the goo-riddled Perfuma trying to move about with the sticky cactus sap covering every inch of her body.

"Here, let me help." Bow offered as he pulled out one of his arrows, lining it through his weapon as he aimed at the defenseless princess.

It was the sight of the archer pulling back on his arrow that truly frightened the girl over the sight of the arrow itself. "What are you...?" Perfuma exhaled with terror at the sight, questioning whatever desert madness was making the Bow point an arrow at the defenseless ally-

*Spzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

"Ahhhh!" Or blast the princess with a new trick arrow that doused her in a gallon of water. Now instead of being thankful for being covered in goo, she could be thankful for the freezing cold water covering every inch of her body.

"I'm trying to expand my arsenal with new tech. What do you think?" Bow asked with an innocent smile, showing off one of his arrows.

"Why would you have an arrow for this?" The unhappy princess moaned as she squeezed the water out of her hair. "It just seems like there are easier ways." Bow was a little surprised by the reaction to be honest. With all the peacefulness and tranquility that the young princess was about, he would've expected a small thank you before the princess chewed him out for such an act. "... Your intention was kind. Thank you."

Smiling back to one another, the archer graciously accepted the young princess's hand and her attention as he noticed the small discomfort coming off of her. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm really trying to be zen about it," Perfuma went on as she pulled against a strand of her hair in distress, "but if I'm being honest, and I always speak the truth, I just don't get cacti. They're so rough and unfriendly."

Bow grinned a little at the choice of words the princess had, catching the idea. "Well, maybe if you give cacti a chance," he hinted, eyeing the two ex-Hordes who were trying to pull each other off the cliff they were climbing, "you'll find that under that rough surface, she's a really great friend."

"... Huh?" A friend as a cactus? What was Bow talking about?

"... Uh... This cacti thing is about Huntara, right?"

"What? No, I really mean cacti!" She stated, directing him to the surrounding fauna of the Crimson Waste. She didn't even know where he was coming from with Huntara as she stopped in her tracks. "They're the one plant I can't control or keep alive. And everyone says they're so easy, but you still have to water them, and I always under water and then over water. And I... Mmph!" She couldn't go on like this, not with the discord running through her heart.

Coming to a small stop as she climbed up the small hill, Perfuma began to hum to herself as she hummed where she stood, trying to regain her composure and her zen state as she let all of the negativity float out of her body. There wasn't any point for her being so worked up over one plant, not when the universe was filled with thousands and millions of possible fauna.

Letting out a deep breath as the archer caught up to her, she finally let out a heartfelt peaceful sigh, smiling to her fellow friend who didn't need all the negative energy directed at him.

"That's better. I'm... I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She apologized with a smile, clapping her hands together. "I greet each dawn with a centering morning ritual to make sure I am my best, but today my ritual was interrupted." There was a small twinge in the girl's step as she ascended the hill again. "And now I am here... surrounded by cacti! Cacti that hate me!" She sniffed as she cried into Bow's arms. "How am I ever gonna use them to move the ship?"

She had never been punished so deviously by the universe as she was now. Nor would she expect what happened next after the next words to come out of Bow's mouth as he patted her back.

"Uh... That... may... not... matter." The archer slowly muttered as he walked past the the troubled princess, seeing something that was clearly missing out of place over the large hill. Jogging up to meet him, the princess let out a small gasp of her own at the sight that befuddled the archer's imagination.

Where once stood a mighty ship of unknown origin, one that was a sight to behold within the dreaded Crimson Waste, now stood an open underlying crater that an exhausted Catra and Huntara observing the scenery as the former panted,, clearly pushing herself to her limits while trying to outrun and out-shove the other.

"Di... Did the Horde really take that huge ship?" Catra panted, toddling a short distance with her hands pressed against her knees as she reached the crater. "Also... I totally won that."

"No, they didn't take it." Huntara huffed, looking back to the panting cat girl. "It's a cloaking device that triggers every evening till early morning." The huntress explained as she began waving her hands around the invisible structure. "Sometimes, you need to come into contact with the ship directly to get it to disable the cloaking device."

"Wait... really?" Catra raised an ear and a brow at the statement as she looked over the invisible ship. She wasn't one to instantly buy into whatever someone said, but given the advanced First Ones technology they were dealing with, odds were there was some truth behind it. It would've been easier to dictate for herself if her senses worked as well around here as they did anywhere else.

"Yeah, I just need to feel around for... Ah, here." The hunter smiled as she came to a stop, placing her hand on seemingly-empty air. "With this here, it means you should be able to walk into it from over there." The Huntress directed as she pointed a few feet away from where Catra stood.

Catra stared off between the hunter and the spot she was pointing to as she gave her a questionable look, gesturing to the spot her fellow ex-soldier was pointing to as she nodded. Finding her place along the ground at the edge of the invisible ship, she gave one more look back to Huntara before letting out a sigh. Placing a hand in front of her for good measure, she took her first step onto the rim of the invisi-

"Ahhhhh-!"

*Thud*

"Tchahahahahaha!" Oh man, Huntara has never bellowed out with so much laughter before quite like she has now. She actually began to tear up for the first time in her life as she looked back down, laughing at the grumbling magicat who was rubbing her head in the ten foot crater before glaring up at the liar. "See? I knew you were going soft!" She laughed. "The real Catra I know wouldn't have been so gullible enough to trust someone like that. Hahaha-!"

"Nggghhhh!" With a menacing grumble, and agile swiftness, the magicat quickly lunged for the proud huntress from her ten foot divit as she tackled her to the ground, the hunter still laughing as she tussled with the warrior trying to swipe at her face as they rolled around.

"The Horde took the ship?" Bow still couldn't believe it as he finally reached the ground with Perfuma, seeing it with his very eyes.

"Gosh, well, I guess we'll just have to come back another time." Perfuma disappointedly sighed. Gosh darn, and she was so looking forward into spending the remainder of her day in a barren wasteland of evil cacti she couldn't control.

*biiiip*

Immediately, the two former Horde soldiers sprang to their feet as a mysterious signal went off around them. Huntara refused to take any chances around her as she grabbed her trusty spear, preparing it at the ready as Catra prepared her own two claws. No matter how juvenile their antics may have been from time to time, they were ready to fight alongside each other if it meant being able to bash some Horde skulls.

Even if Catra did have a bit of a forced aggressive look on her face. "Ah! Where are they!"

"Sorry, it's my pad." Bow revealed, blowing out all the fluster and excitement from the two disappointed warriors. "I souped it up so Glimmer can check in."

"Glimmer?" Catra repeated, growing a small thought as the video buzzed with life.

"How's the mission going? Got the ship yet?" The excited Queen wondered from the other end, hoping there was some sort of fun news out of her morning of boredom.

"Eh heh, well there's-"

"Gimme that." Without hesitation or concern over the current mission the feline swiped the tracker pad out of the archer's grip, walking away without a second thought.

"Wha- Hey! Catra!"

"Hey, Glimmer, you mind settling something for me?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, Catra. What's up?" She asked, leaning to the side of the view from her perspective as she looked around her friend's shoulders. "Did you complete the mission-"

"Doesn't matter, who cares." She quickly waved off. Who cared about a rusty old ship anyway when something more important to the universe was at stake here?! "Listen, I was just wondering, um..." There was a small blush on the cat's face as she turned her eyes away, rubbing a hand against the back of her neck.

"Yeah?"

"... I was just, uh, wondering. You don't think I've gone, like, soft or anything, do you?" The Queen stared at the figure waiting for an answer, pondering what sort of importance this question had over the mission itself.

"Um... No, I don't think so?" Glimmer shrugged, much to Catra's relief as she smirked back to the hunter of the wasteland.

"Hah! Told you so!"

"You've just been nicer to everyone lately, but you're still tough."

Oh no.

"... I'm sorry, what?" Terror infested the young girl's mind with fear as she slowly looked back to the smiling Queen in the video.

"Yeah! I mean, you tried to make my coronation better, you've been pulling less pranks around the castle, and you've been doing your share of the chores a lot more. It's really helped me spare the time I need to manage my tasks as Queen."

"But... But it's still done, like, jokingly, right?" She grinned nervously. She couldn't bare the thought otherwise. She needed to hear her say how Catra has been terrible, rude, obnoxious, or so forth just to move on with her day.

And Glimmer couldn't give that to her as she tapped her chin.

"Mmh... no, I don't think so. If I had to be honest-"

No. Please dear First Ones no. If she was about to say what Catra thought she was going to say-

"- I'd have to say you were being a little more... considerate..."

*crackle*

The word felt like it was being drawn out forever to Catra's mind despite it being said all at once. In an instant, the magicat found herself in a black featureless void as a look of pain, disgust, horror, trauma, and shock filled the magicat's consciousness.

Never had something so terrifying been uttered over the magicat's demeanor. Never has anyone said something so not-true to her to the point that it would make her eye twitch so rapidly. In all of the young warrior's time in the Rebellion, in all the various ways the girl had been humiliated and troubled by those surrounding her, not once did it ever leave her with a state of being such as this.

One where everything in the universe was collapsing in on itself as the black void cracked around her until it shattered, returning her to the empty dimension of where her friend and allies were all staring at her.

"Oh gosh, it's TRUE!" She finally stammered, yelling to the heavens as she inadvertently tossed the pad into the air, caring for nothing else as she sulked away from the group. She didn't want to believe it, she didn't want to think it, but if one of her two best friends were there to confirm it, there could be no denying it any longer.

Catra, ex-soldier of the Horde, one capable of tearing bots to shreds with her bare claws and throwing tanks with the power of She-Ra, has, officially, gone soft.

"Ah! Catra!" Bow cried out as he dove, barely catching the tracker pad before it could break against the ground. Sighing in relief, the technical genius of the Rebellion glanced up to the sulking magicat who was muttering to herself as she sluggishly walked around the shipless crater, contemplating the purpose of life if people thought she was going soft.

"... What was that about?" Glimmer asked, trying to see the magicat behind Bow as he turned the camera away from the missing ship.

"Iiii honestly have no idea." Catra's strange mood would have to be the least of his priorities at the moment as he continued to feign ignorance with a nervous tone. "Anyway, uhhh the mission is going... super well! In fact, it's, uh, going so well that we're off to do more mission stuff now!"

"More mission stuff? But I didn't assign any-"

"Great! Talk later, bye!"

"Wait, don't-!" Glimmer's plead to continue fell on deaf ears as the master archer clicked the side of the device, cutting off communications for good before letting out a sigh of relief. To say that conversation could've gone better, between turning on the communications and Catra's sporadic behavior, would've been an understatement. It's a miracle she didn't discover the ship was missing throughout the brief exchange.

"Is... Catra alright?" Perfuma asked with a bit of concern, watching as her friend and Universal Hero dragged her feet around the crater as she returned to them.

"You do realize it's Catra you're asking about, don't you?" Huntara teased as Catra grumbled over.

"Shut it." She spat, directing her one wandering yellow eye to one of the two friends she accepted. "Anyway, what's the story with the ship? Are we going to wait for something or do you want me to track it?" Of the many senses that were dulled within the Crimson Waste, one of the few that weren't was her keen eyesight. As long as she stayed hydrated enough or kept from seeing mirages, she could find a good perch along the jagged plateaus of the wasteland to find some sort of clue over the boiling sand.

"Huntara will be the one to track it, kitty." Huntara assured, taking the offer to track it almost like a challenge from the young cat. Examining the ground beneath them, she kneeled down for a moment of observation as she brushed a small bit of sand with her fingertips, giving it a solid taste to study the elements she found within. "Mm-hm. Rubber, mechanical. You may be right, it was the Horde." She agreed, nodding back to Catra's earlier guess as she offered to join in.

"You already got me to walk into a hole, I'm not going to be stupid enough to eat sand after that." Catra's statement did nothing to prevent the smirk growing over the hunter's face as she stood aain.

"Yeah, but you didn't deny it was pretty stupid, did you?

"Grrrrrr-!"

"OR," Bow gladly interrupted as he stood between the two friends, quickly pushing them an arm's length away before the magicat could step any closer, "instead of killing each other, we could, you know, follow the tracks?" To his relief, his suggestion caught the attention of the two ex-Hordes as they looked back, seeing the same thing the archer noticed from the start.

Along the twisted sands was a straight and cut pathway that lead off into the distance, a definite trail that could take them to the missing ship and the perpetrators behind its mysterious disappearance. Grumbling back to the Huntress that had been toying with her for the last few minutes, Catra resigned herself to march on ahead, grinding her teeth against one another as she kept her anger bottled up.

With this, Bow watched as he was passed by a ferocious wildcat, a taunting Huntress who went on to make Catra's experience more and more irritating, and a somewhat moaning Perfuma who was still uncomfortable with the limited variety of plants that surrounded everything around them. It was then, he had the ultimate revelation.

He was the only one out of the entire group who was sane enough to keep the rest of the team from getting themselves killed, or, more importantly, each other.

It was moments like this where he was surrounded by questionable friends on his own that he would need to keep in check that he realized one thing.

He officially missed Glimmer...

...

A/N: Annnnnd scene ^^ You know the other fun little detail about being at the start of a new season? Now that I'm back to the first half of the season, I can start making some more light-hearted adventure episodes :P Don't get me wrong, there will still be plenty of serious moments, especially for the later third or so, but otherwise, with episodes like this one where people are just being silly, it gives me a greater excuse to pull off some funny quirks here and there like exploiting Catra's denial of being "soft" XP lol

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, and hoping my writing quality is still up to speed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and SHE-RA HAS THE BEST ENDING TO A CARTOON EVER I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH X*D!

Chapter 124: S4 Episode 2: The Valley Of The Lost Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10.1k Pre-A/N's. Hooftah, what a tiring night people! Monokub here with another exciting and fun-filled chapter for y'all. Gonna be honest, about the 7k mark hit a snag somewhere. Idky or how ever- I had the whole bar/tavern scene thought out from start to finish but i just couldn't put words to paper for some reason (Or computer but you get the idea). So if its a bit jumbled up there, or down there i guess, I apologize.

Aside from that though, everything should still be flowing smoothly and whatnot and overall enjoyable as we get some old and new scenes fun for the whole family ^^~

And with that said, enjoy!

...

The path before them was pretty straight forward compared to the rest of the Crimson Waste. Then again, it usually helped when there was a solid set of tracks to lead them as the four heroes traversed down the sandy trail.

Thus far, the trip had been... about as well as any of them could expect. Given a mission by the new Queen Glimmer, the four allies were tasked with traveling across the Crimson Waste in order to procure Mara's ship, a ship left behind by the First Ones technology, and a technological advancement that even the Horde didn't have. There was no telling what sort of capabilities it could perform from them! Anything from flight, reaching top speed within seconds across Etheria, and possible weaponry, it could be the greatest Rebellion finding in Rebellion history! And after Glimmer's first official order as Queen!

It was absolutely perfect!... And then it wasn't.

Much like the previous missions the self-proclaimed-by-Bow "Best Friend Squad" had to endure, this one came with several hiccups. Some personal, some eventful, and usually negative. In the matter of this mission, it was the fact that the First One's ship had completely disappeared, with no signs of it ever being there save for the massive crater left behind. Luckily, whoever carried it out also left a massive trail behind them with cuts into the desert sand, but it was still the least of their worries.

The biggest worries they had to deal with, or more specifically Bow?

It was dealing with all his friends at once without Glimmer's help. As useful and supportive as his friends were, they were also probably the last group of people Glimmer and Bow probably should've brought into a desert together.

For starters, there was Perfuma, who was the least problematic of the three to deal with. She had her supportive optimism and her "zen" to her as she always did that lead her through her troubles. With her positive outlook and constantly cheery demeanor, there was nothing wrong with her. The only personal trouble she had was her control over cacti, a plant that continued to hound her efforts to claim that she could control every plant in Etheria.

The next problematic person came from the ex-Horde soldier who wasn't a princess by the name of Huntara. She was probably split evenly between being helpful to troubling. The helpful side came from her tracking skills as she lead the group across the desert as they searched for the missing ship. The troubling side of her was her constant banter with Catra as she kept teasing the girl about her going "soft" over the course of their trek. In itself, it didn't appear to be anything more than playful teasing, not that Bow could understand exactly what was said, but that's where the most troubling person came in.

Catra. Warrior Princess and She-Ra, wielder of the Sword of Protection, was grumbling to herself constantly throughout the last ten minutes of walking. Of all the things to call her, of all the irritating insults and put-downs she's had to deal with in her life, none of them were as terrible, as horrendous, as hurtful, as being called soft! She was a proud, headstrong, warrior of Bright Moon, she was the infamous She-Ra! to be called something as delicate as soft was an insult to her standing.

Not to mention the part of her that wondered if it was true.

Throughout her time in Bright Moon, she was known as many things. A prankster, snide, manipulative, did a lot of things for herself, and always put other people's concerns after her own, though the latter could easily be seen as a facade. To call someone like her soft was a blemish on everything that made her Catra, a disgrace to the proud warrior that she was.

Also, more importantly, what if she was growing soft? Being tough, reckless, uncaring was what made her such a menace on the field of battle, a terror on the streets. Without that tough exterior edge, what was she? Was she the person who was stupid enough to believe everyone from now on when they trick her into falling into a hole like Huntara did to her? What if she started acting... thought alone wanted to make her hurl... considerate like Glimmer said?

Oh dear First Ones, what if she actually did start to act like one of the princesses?!

She couldn't allow it! She wouldn't! As long as she was soft, she was weak. That was the only likely conclusion she could come to given her predisposition. She needed some way to remind the others that she wasn't some soft "kitty" that should be taken care of at all times!

And fortunately for her, she had an entire day to do so as she grinned at the sight of Bow's quiver as the archer fiddled with his tracker pad.

"Hm, hm, hm... Hey, Bow." Catra casually greeted as she walked to his side, at the device he was messing with. "What'cha working on?"

"Oh, not much." Bow shrugged, too focused on his data to pay attention to his surroundings. "I'm just trying to see if I can get a reading on the ship's location. It'll save us a lot of time if-"

*swiff*

"-it's still -

"Yawwwwwn." Catra moaned, purposely interrupting the quizzical archer as she walked off ahead without a care. "By the way," she glanced back, pointing to the very spot behind the archer with her extended claw, "I think you dropped something there."

"Huh?" Stopping in place, the archer looked back in surprise, almost gasping at the sight of his quiver almost two yards behind him with the string connecting to it completely cut through. It didn't take a genius like him to know who was responsible for the damage, or why the magicat was suddenly chuckling. "Hey! Catra!" He groaned, running back to collect his items and the arrows that fell out.

"Loser. Hah!" She felt ecstatic again as she ran off ahead, passing a focused Huntara who continued to follow the trail. She felt so good again knowing she didn't change, taking the annoyance she caused to the mumbling archer with a sense of pride.

"What was that about?" Perfuma asked as she assisted the archer, helping him to collect the arrows before rebinding the broken string to the quiver.

"I don't know, it was just random." Bow replied, still trying to process the random act of mischief. "She used to do it before just for fun, but that was usually when I was doing target practice. It's never been on a mission before."

"Hey!" Catra called out from afar. "Would you slowpokes hurry up or something? We got a job to do!"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was acting like her old self, back when we first met her."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Perfuma wondered as she helped the archer to his feet.

"It's a Catra-thing." That was all Bow could summarize it as as the two continued on to catch up with Huntara. There really wasn't any way to describe Catra's behavior as either good or bad since she joined the Rebellion. Everything she did, she did for an ulterior motive.

When she was causing pranks, it was just to spruce up the place and have a little fun around the castle. When she decided to help people, it was usually to get a favor out of them in return, such as having them help her with a chore or something or to spar with them. Whatever the reason was, it usually came with a good and bad intention behind it, but never one-sided.

At least, not before she started to better herself over their time together.

The rest of the trip through the wasteland continued in small talk between the company as they followed the trail ahead. Throughout the travel, Bow and Perfuma were keeping a watchful eye over the warrior princess as she drew near and off from time to time, as if purposely toying with them with her mere presence. Given everything that had gone on in the last fifteen minutes of travel, it probably was.

That was when Huntara noticed something up ahead, something out of the simple view that went unnoticed to the rest of her friends. "Oh, of course." It felt so obvious to her given where they were. "I should have known."

"Uh... should you, though?" Bow asked, taking in the same view as her without any revelation. "Because I don't see anything."

"Oh, well, we tried!" Perfuma dramatically stated, wishing to give up on the impossible mission.

"Don't give up yet, flower girl." Huntara smiled back in confidence before taking off ahead of the group. Racing past the warrior and archer, she came to the very cliffside she knew would house all the answers to her problems. "The Valley Of the Lost. It's a smuggler's haven, and my home." One by one, the three allies took in the scenery below them, and, eventually, around them.

The Valley Of The Lost was filled to the brim with thieves and cutthroats alike as they descended the mighty valley. Bridges connected a vast majority of the terrain from one cliffside to the next as they accessed every corner of the hidden town. Drapes and leathers were hung over many of the rooftops and portions over the great town, leaving it rather cool and almost breezy compared to the rest of the canyon.

The town itself was about as much as the gang could expect from somewhere where Huntara grew up in. All around them they saw all manners of outlaws running back and forth, conducting business in some form or other as they went about their day. From people pouching others' pockets to people exchanging items with one another through trade- and immediately tazing the other person to steal back what they gave.

And somehow, it was still the least troubling aspect of this whole place.

Out of the many denizens the group came across, the one they truly had to keep an eye out for were the Horde soldiers and guards patrolling the place. From the tall cliff towers above they had to sneak through to enter, to the hidden canyon to the checkpoints Huntara barely managed to intimidate her way through, the canyon was crawling with soldiers from head to toe.

Even now, there were nerves being raised on all sides of the fellow allies and friends, particularly Bow, who had to keep an even more watchful eye on his surroundings and the people he traveled with. Between the people outside of his group that were gambling, betting insects who were fighting one another, and causing trouble for the Horde, and his friends who could be set off by some single other thing he was unaware of, he didn't know which he should be more cautious over.

All he knew was that his fear would never end.

At least with Huntara's help, navigating the Valley Of The Lost was easier to handle. With the hunter's knowledge of every nook and alleyway of this place, she managed to lead them through the least occupied paths of the valley while covering the most ground at the same time. Eventually, the hunter came across several tan sheet the others managed to cloak themselves under. With Huntara being new to the Rebellion, the outsiders were more likely to be drawn out by the citizens rather than the Horde themselves.

"You mind telling us how we're supposed to find anything covered up like this?" Catra questioned, wrapping her tail around herself under the cloak.

"This has been my gang's base since I arrived here." Huntara replied, grinning as she looked outside of the alley they were in. "Nothing can hide from me in this valley."

"Oh joy..." Catra mumbled, rolling her eyes as Huntara lead the way. Even something like this went on to confuse Bow and Perfuma as they glanced at one another, finding Catra's sarcasm a little more forceful than usual.

Much like their arrival here, nothing really stood out all too different as the group navigated through the streets. People were still conducting their illegal businesses and marketing back and forth, others were being questioned by the local Horde guards.

The only thing that truly stood out through this small walk through the village, something that they were completely unaware of, was the mysterious green-skinned figure watching them from above an alleyway, one who sensed a strange enjoyment at the sight of these people. Even with Catra's own instincts telling her something was amiss, by the time she lifted her head up, the figure was already gone.

*thud*

And she was walking into Bow's back. who was walking into Huntara's back without noticing. Hearing the small growl emanating from the hunter's throat, the feline took the chance to examine the scene for herself, discovering a familiar sight that made her own blood burn a little with rage.

Within the near-empty street ahead of them, the group could see three particular figures, two of which stood out the most to them as the third in-between them remained a mystery. To the left and right of the small frog-like humanoid was a certain four-armed lizard with the same brownish cloak she wore before, and the familiar pink satyr known as Daisy to her right. Both proud members of the Horde and Adora's newest allies since she last visited the Crimson Waste.

And Huntara's old henchmen.

"Ngghhhh!" The hunter's anger surged as she stepped forward, ready to charge into the small threesome of people in order to remind them of who they really work for.

"No!" And was immediately stopped by a panicking Bow as he pulled her arm back, ducking back behind the alleyway.

"What's wrong?" Perfuma asked, bing the only one who had yet to see the street ahead.

"Adora's allies are here." Bow replied, still holding onto the hunter's arm until she finally turned back.

"They're not her allies, they're MY goons!" Huntara felt cheated that they would betray her like that. Just thinking of how easily those two nitwits switched sides to the Horde was enough to make her muscles tighten as she squeezed her fists angrily.

"Maybe it's best to avoid confrontation?" Perfuma suggested, trying to cool her friend's temper. Hearing this for herself, Catra's ears twitched a little as she peered back into the street, seeing whatever business was being conducted between the three laughing figures, narrowing her own eyes at the sight of them.

I doubt the old Catra would listen to orders...

"You're afraid to fight, flower girl?" It was almost adorable the way she held her arm nervous as she stared up at the big hulking huntress that looked down on her.

"Huntara, Perfuma's right." Bow butted in, trying to calm down both sides. "We can't afford to be spotted by the Horde forces. If they see us, they'll swarm all over the place including the ship."

"Uh, Bow?"

"I don't like not fighting." Huntara stated with pride. It wasn't in her nature or her blood to back down from any challenge, especially when it was against traitors like those two.

"Huntara?"

"I get that, but there's too many of them. Even if we managed to fight them all off, they could run off with the ship by the time we fought through them all." Bow tried to explain in a way that Huntara would agree with.

"So, what? We're supposed to turn tail and run from every corner? What if every way we come to has a Horde patrol around it? Are we supposed to run from that?!"

"You guys!" Perfuma finally yelled, blushing as she realized she lost some of her composure.

"What!"

"Where's Catra?"

"..." There were a few words that the Princess Alliance, much less the Rebellion, never wished to hear. "The Queen's been captured", "The Horde is Winning", and "Where is Catra", because of the three, the last one almost always resulted in a bad situation going worse.

*CRASH!*

Much worse.

"Ahh!" From the brief throw the mysterious frogman suffered after crashing into the wooden crates before sprinting past the fellow heroes, it didn't too long to find Catra's location as they peered back into the street ahead.

In it, they could already see the magicat causing trouble as she held the blue lizard girl's brown robe tightly within her grips, barring her teeth to the irritating menace as Daisy stared at her in shock and surprise.

"Listen lizard breath, if you want to keep three of your four arms after this, you're going to tell me where Mara's ship is, and you're going to tell me now!" Catra threatened, glaring furiously into the lizard's eyes. All this prompted was a returning hiss of anger as the blue lizard grabbed her wrists back with a pair of arms wrapping around each.

"Hey, I know you!" Daisy shouted, just figuring out the mysteriously blue-clad girl's identity. "You're that tiger girl who's with the Rebellion!"

"My name is- Ngh!" Before the girl could give a more proper introduction, specifically one that came with a name, the vengeful magicat was rudely interrupted by the several projectiles she saw shooting straight at her, the familiar paralyzing darts that could take down Catra with a single strike.

Noticing the surprisingly strong grip the lizard had over her wrists still, the feline quickly jumped into the air as she leapt over the blue lizard's head as it held onto her, raising its arms into the air before being pelted by the several tranquilizers itself. Effectively paralyzing the lizard in place as Catra jumped behind its back, the warrior followed it up with a heavy kick against its spine as it shot straight at the pink satyr, crashing the two of them scaffolding that surrounded them and burying them under a blanket of cloth.

Filling the air with a small cloud of dust, the satyr rubbed her bruised head for a bit trying to alleviate the pain in her skull. Such attempts to soothe any pain from her body would be pulled away from her graces as she felt another grip over her white tank top, pulling her upwards a bit as Catra gave the same menacing glare into her eyes.

"Like I said before. Tell me where Mara's ship is. NOW!" Catra growled, pulling back one of her clawed hands threatening. She was going to prove she wasn't the soft kitty that everyone felt she was, that she was still the same arrogant stubborn fighter that continued to be a menace to the might of the Horde. Just because she was wearing still dull clothing didn't make her any less of the great warrior she was!

Unfortunately, her stance on the matter didn't hold any water to the desert outlaw who grinned back to her, casually squeezing a hand around the girl's wrist as she held her. "You think I'm gonna talk just because you asked nicely?" She sneered. "Even Huntara was more intimidating than you without being angry." And with two fingers brought to her mouth, Catra failed to realize one thing.

She should've shut her up first and then asked questions.

*Tweeeeet!*

"Hey! The Rebellion's over here-!"

*Wham!*

"Ugh..." The consolation of beating Daisy's head soon after did nothing to cheer the magicat up as her ears twitched to the sound of several patrolling guards coming down from the alleyway she exited from. Letting out a small hiss, wishing Daisy was still conscious so she could get another punch out of her, Catra relented in her assault as she ran down the other pathway just as the soldiers made their appearance.

"She went down this way!" One of the female guards shouted, sporting a green lizard tail as the three gave chase. As they did, the head of the trio pressed the side of her helmet as she gave chase into the same alley. "This is Unit-7 reporting in. We have confirmation that the Rebellion is within the Valley. I repeat, the Rebellion is here..."

The coast became silent as the remaining members of the Rebellion revealed themselves from behind the large crates and vases within the alley they were still hiding in. Lifting their heads from cover one at a time, Huntara, Bow, and Perfuma waited for the chasing Horde soldiers to clear the area before finally revealing themselves in full.

"Catra!" Perfuma cried out as she tried to run in the girl's direction. Not two steps into her attempted rescue was she blocked off by the large muscly arm of Huntara, the huntress giving no signs of attention to the girl's worry as she peered into the street ahead.

"Leave her, flower girl." Huntara said, though without a sense of coldness behind it. "If we give chase after her, we'll just be running into the soldiers already chasing her and drawing more to us along the way. Catra can handle herself on her own."

"But Catra's-"

"Perfuma, I hate to say it, but Huntara's right." Bow regretfully agreed.

"Why do you hate the fact I was right?"

"The Valley is crawling with Horde soldiers. And we still don't know where Mara's ship is. If we focus solely on rescuing Catra, the Horde's going to get away with the ship. We need to work on finding the ship and Catra at the same time."

Perfuma tried to find some line of argument against her friends' judgements, but she just couldn't. With the plants of the valley already proving problematic for her, there was no way she could use her powers to their fullest to help in the search for Catra, even if she wanted to. She'd be putting her in more danger if she got herself or the others captured and Catra had to go back to save them. "Then how are we supposed to find the ship and Catra at the same time?"

"You're forgetting, this is my home." The fearless hunter reminded, comforting the plant girl a little with a gentle hand and a sly grin. "And I know who can help."

...

"Huff... huff..." Catra remained hidden behind the alleyway as she leaned her head slightly over the corner, seeing the passing patrol of soldiers scouring the alleyway she ran from. Listening intently with her raised ears, she waited for the sound of footsteps to to pass over her before letting out a final breath.

Okay, so some things had a slight hiccup to them around here. Charging headfirst into the enemies that knew her, demanding information from them without going She-Ra, and expecting them to take her seriously when she was dressed like this.

Man, did she miss her tiara!

But overall, with a satisfied grin, the alley-cat made her way around the corner again as she casually walked on, grabbing a passing purple curtain she draped over herself to provide some cover. With her tail wrapped around her waist and her ears covered, she stood out less than the last cover she used.

All that showboating and recklessness did was prove to her that she was the same bad cat she knew she was, smirking to herself as she eyed the many outlaws she passed. She showed she wasn't someone who was meant to be underestimated, that she was still the best of the best out there. Surrounded by other thieves and bandits, she knew her work was far from over.

She needed to prove that she was a cut above the rest of these crooks who fled to this Canyon as their home. Just because she proved it enough with the last few instances of her mission didn't mean anything to her. She needed to keep it up in order to ensure she wasn't going soft, that the last few instances weren't just flukes. In a town like this where people stole from one another about a hundred times a day and fights were picked up in the street left and right, she grinned to herself.

She was going to show all of them that she was the top cat before this day was over.

...

"Let's move it, people! I want this stuff ready to be shipped off within the next half-hour!" Adora barked as the soldiers scuttled about the ship.

"Heh, I get it." Scorpia chuckled, giving a playful nudge with her elbow to Adora's side a little roughly. "Shipped off? Cause we're in a ship? That's a good one, Adora! Haha..."

"..." The mostly-blonde friend said nothing to the chuckling sidekick at this point as she starred at her with an annoyed look. There wasn't a crack or a smile over her expression. Not so much as a pity laugh as Scorpia tried to brighten the commander's mood.

"Heh... heh heh... ehh..." Seeing the look over her eyes refusing to dull, the scorpion girl rubbed the back of her neck as the air began to chill around her. "Ehh... I-I'll get right on that." She assured, returning from her vain attempts at cracking a joke. Adora rolled her eyes at this as she continued to look over the assets and details listed over her device, sorting through the various tasks completed and still in progress.

Aside from Scorpia, things have gone relatively well with Adora's, or with her current title, "Despara's" operation so far. With a small contingent of Horde soldiers at her back, the unconfirmed leader of the Horde had managed to reach Mara's ship, the place where her life had reached its happiest and worst moment, and managed to enlist the locals' help in exchange for a few payments. It was a wonder they managed to move such a heavy piece of machinery like this. Then again, with the desolate wasteland surrounding them, they must've been used to dragging heavy resources or hunted creatures throughout the wastes.

Once she managed to acquire their help in dragging it halfway through the desert, the harder part was breaking down the ship enough until they could access every room within its metallic belly. The instruments and tech they found at their disposal was like a treasure trove underneath the deep blue sea as the soldiers went about collecting everything. Simple items that could power up entire tank engines if utilized properly, various gadgets and gizmos that could enhance weaponry, not that Adora would complain given her dual swords, and so forth. And it was all under the new persona Adora was shooting for, the one that gave orders instead of taking them all the time.

Life had become surprisingly easier for the girl since she adopted the new personality. Everywhere she went, she did exactly as her new appearance was supposed to do. Her enemies were intimidated by the mere sight of her, no one questioned her leadership or second-guessed it since she gained dominance. It was moments like this that made her truly wonder if Catra was onto something, something about manipulating individuals or forcing her way towards getting what she wanted.

And every time she had such a thought, she quickly shook it angrily out of her head, reminding herself of who she refused to compare herself to.

Catra left her home, her family, her friends. As long as Adora lived, she refused to turn her back on the Horde and everything it meant to her. She was going to crush the Rebellion once and for all no matter who stood in her way. And this time, she wasn't going to take silly jokes or playful gestures like some sort of fool.

"Commander Despara!" Two soldiers greeted with a salute as they ran up to her.

"What do you want?" Like Scorpia had seen many times before as she continued collecting her pile, Adora didn't give any sort of passing glance or acknowledgement as she remained focused on the data pad in her hand.

B-Because she was so busy, of course!

"Commander, we were wondering if a small break would be in order." The left soldier requested, peering back to the soldiers outside the ship. "A lot of the men are getting tired and one of them came down with heatstroke."

"Oh my. That sounds very-"

"Stupid." Adora spat, finally giving her attention to the two soldiers with stern red-colored eyes. "We're running an operation here and you think it's a good idea to waste my time on some pointless nonsense?"

"U-Uh..." The soldier on the right turned his head to his fellow questioning companion, getting the same look back in return. "We were just saying-"

"If you need a dumb break or something, then go sit in the shade for five minutes or grab a drink of water. Don't waste my time with useless questions that should be obvious. If you need a break, take a break. If you're thirsty, get a drink. Don't just rush to me at every obvious concern you have and just do it! That's an order!"

"Y-Yes, commander!" The Guards nervously apologized with another salute, making their way out of the ship again as fast as their tired legs could carry them. Adora narrowed her gaze in irritation as she watched the two morons leave her, and eventually grinned when they were out of sight.

This was among the many things she was annoyed about putting up with. When she was the same useless weak-boned commander she was previously, people ALWAYS came up to her with their concerns. From simple stuff like if they could catch a break or annoying stuff like how to deal with a soldier that was injured. These were among the many time wasters of Adora's previous personality, and one of the massive things she was proud to make a change over.

Turning her attention back to the scorpion girl behind her, she shot her a small look as her grey-haired companion continued to blink at her. "What?"

"O-Oh! N-N-Nothing!" Scorpia sputtered, hastily grabbing at the remaining items around her as she stood from the ground, knees trembling as she did.

"Careful!" Adora almost hissed as she grabbed one of the cylinder-like objects with her shadow, placing it back at the top of Scorpia's pile. "We need this stuff in tact for Hordak to make new weapons. I don't want to see so much as a scratch on it when we get back."

"Y-Yup, no problem, Adora- I mean Despara- I me- Whoooa!"

*crash*

Adora rolled her eyes with a silent groan as she watched her klutzy companion falling over the ground from the loss of balance. This kind of thing was almost predictable to her at this point. "Oh, I am so sorry about that." Scorpia apologized, regathering the materials that fell out of the pile. "This isn't what I want to be happening right now. Sorry... sorry.." Adora waited until Scorpia made her way out the large bay doors before she got her hopes up again that she could do this simple job, returning to her data pad as she continued her examinations and readings.

Save for Scorpia, to an extent, this kind of foolishness wasn't tolerated around Adora's presence anymore, much like everything else that wasn't tolerable to her. The more she pressed on, the more diligently her soldiers worked and then some, making progress that was almost twice as constructive as it used to be, and turning usual hour-long tasks into mere minutes of work with half the time and twice the effort. She almost wished she was always like this. At least then, she probably would've had Hordak's respect like she rightfully deserved.

"Hey there~" Adora flinched to herself as she turned around again, seeing a sly smile over her friend's lips as she stared back to her.

"That was fast." She commented, wondering if her efforts were finally reaching Scorpia like everyone else.

"What, did you miss me already?"

"... Noooo... You were just here, like, ten seconds ago." Adora stated, walking a little further into the ship as Scorpia trailed behind her. "But, whatever. If you're looking for more work, why don't you help the soldiers collect more stuff? I'm sure they could use the extra muscle."

"Nah, they look like they know what they're doing." Scorpia shrugged back, eyeing the various soldiers hoarding crates at a time. "Besides, I'd rather use my extra muscle to help you~" Adora stopped as she heard this, shifting her eyes to the side as they flashed red for a brief moment. "Come on, what do you say? Need something lifted? Something piled? Or would you just prefer a massage?"

"... Heh, yeah, I guess I could use the extra help around here." Adora smiled back with a satisfied grin. "You know, it's funny. I didn't think you could scrub the engines outside as fast as you did earlier."

"What can I say? I'm a big tough girl." Scorpia flexed, showing off her big clawed muscles. "Scrubbing stuff is just what I do."

"Yeah, I'll say... except there's one thing that still bothers me about it. I'm just trying to remember what it is. Now what was it..." Adora continued, crossing her arm over her side as she rubbed between her eyes in thought.

"Ah, you're thinking too hard." Scorpia swooned, casually walking behind the Force Captain again as she began to massage her soldiers. "Take a seat off, relax, enjoy the sunshine for a little while."

"Yeah, I guess I could take a break. After all, I am your little "sunflower", like you keep telling me."

"You bet you are~"

"Yeah... I am..." And at this, the commander finally shot a glare back with glowing-red eyes. "Except Scorpia calls me a "shadow-rabbit" or whatever." Without giving it a second thought, summoning an armful of shadows over her right hand, the suspecting leader pushed her mysterious friend into the metal crates behind her, pulling out one of her two swords in her left hand. "And I never asked Scorpia to scrub the engines, it'd be pointless with the ship nonoperational." She added, showing off the sparks of her taser sword as Scorpia smirked. "Now, you're gonna tell me who you are, and why I shouldn't-"

"Again, I am just so sorry about-" The REAL Scorpia said looking around, scratching the back of her head before gasping at the sight of her best friend and the mysterious doppler. Her small shriek was enough to turn the heads of the wary captain and the identical double as she gasped in shock. "Okay. This is... This is a thing that I'm seeing." She breathed heavily, approaching the duo in complete and utter disbelief. Who was she? Where did she come from? Was she even real? "Are you also seeing two of me? Huuuuh!"

Of course.

It was so obvious!

Why didn't she see it before?!

"Oh, I have a twin! I always felt this emptiness like there was someone who would just understand! Oh, this is making so much sense to me!" The restrictive soldier and the fake Scorpia eyed each other briefly as the real Scorpia turned away. "Ugh. Who am I kidding? Hordak probably cloned me. I signed a lot of paperwork at some point." Whatever the case was, she was just so happy to have an identical copy of herself. Already, she was picturing the thousands of things they could both do together! Talk about Adora, have sleepover everyday, and-

Wait. Oh no. Could it be? Did she also share the same feelings for her best friend like she did?! That was too cruel to believe! Why in Etheria would the world bless her with an identical copy of herself that shared all the same ideas and thoughts and feelings as she did?! Oh, she should've seen this coming, it was obviously too good to be true. Already, the two were practically hugging each other as Adora pressed her against the wall. Huh! That must mean she was the evil twin!

Wait again. How did she know she was the evil twin? What if Scorpia herself was the evil twin?! Oh god, it was too much to think about! The words just kept flying out of her mouth with every thought, the madness consuming her mind making her speak without end! She-

*twitch*

Adora could only imagine the senseless dribble going on in Scorpia's mind and her mouth as Scorpia finally noticed the twitching glare coming off of her. "... Yeah, I'll stop talking now."

"... All right. Who are you and what exactly are you doing here?" Adora demanded from the smirking figure. She didn't care if she looked like her companion or not. Knowing who the real one was from that brief performance alone, she wasn't against imprisoning such an individual for trying to sleaze her way into Horde territory like she did.

And that's when the unthinkable happened.

She didn't give her an answer. Not a word, not a gesture, not anything. Instead, all she gave her was a performance of her unique trick as her body glowed with a bright darkness, one that changed everything about her character as she transformed, leaving only her eyes noticeable. It was over as soon as it began, taking no less than a single second before the figure changed in stature, shape, and size. What the mysterious individual was doing wasn't what got a rise out of the girl. What did was specifically who she ended up turning into.

Herself.

"Ahh!" Adora was at a loss as she screamed, backing away from the mysterious copy of herself who continued to display the same easygoing smile as before. Scorpia was at a loss as she looked back between the two. The copy had everything this Adora had. Her hair, her looks, her clothes. She even had a copy of her two sheathes behind her backs with the hilt of the swords sticking out. She was an exact double of Adora in every single way.

And that's what made her most troubling.

...

*thump*

"Hey, watch it!" The red lizard man hissed at the passerby as she bumped into him.

"Sorry, my bad. The cloaked figure apologized with a smirk, giving him a simple wave before moving on. The lizard rolled his eyes at this as he walked on ahead, trying to ignore the stupidity of the blind walker. Seriously, the nerve of some people! What kind of moron would just bump into someone like tha-

Hang on. Something was off. The lizard felt around himself as he noticed his pockets suddenly felt a little lighter. No, not his pockets, his belongings. He had at least several bags of gold on his person and he was only finding two of them. He looked around all over the ground, wondering if they fell off when he bumped into that stupid traveler from earlier. It took him two more seconds of searching before realizing the reality of the situation as he raised his head, turning back to the direction the mysterious individual disappeared to.

"That stupid brat robbed me!"

...

*jingle-jingle*

"Heh, fathead." Catra sneered with pride as she shook the pouch of money in front of her eyes. This was about her third or forth run-in in one of the outlaws and crooks, and her third or fourth successful pick-pocketing within the last ten minutes. She would've known for sure if it was her third or fourth one, but she was pretty sure she ended up picking the pockets of the same person twice at one point, which meant it was easy, so it didn't count.

All that she counted for were the outlaws and thieves she managed to pry from, the neanderthals that thought they were the cream of the crop, or whatever lame expression that was. Picking from anyone else's pockets would've been too easy for someone like her to do, whereas other thieves and wannabes knew how to keep their pockets to themselves better, making them more of a challenge. Not to mention the fact they couldn't report it to any of the Horde soldiers without raising suspicion for themselves, since they would've had to reveal the part where they stole whatever was taken in the first place.

I-It obviously wasn't because she didn't want to steal from those who didn't deserve it or anything like that! She didn't care who she stole from if it looked valuable enough. She'd gladly take the richest jewels straight off a child's necklace if she had the chance!

She just didn't want to be dealing with those whiny brats crying their eyes out left and right and ratting her out!

Besides, she was relishing the rewards she managed to pick off of the unsuspecting thieves. Thus far, aside from the small bag of coins she just nicked, she managed to collect several personal items, one of which proved how professional her pickpocketing skills were.

Despite the individual wearing it themselves, she managed to swipe a gold ruby-encrusted ring right off their person, something that should've been immediately noticed if it was stolen by any lower form of thief, a gold chain necklace, and a useless earring she decided to take home as a trophy. The ring was all she truly cared about.

To be able to pick off a ring like that out of the blue, kind of reminded her of her glory days, or the days she spent growing up in the Horde, to be precise. She could recall the numerous times she stole something from a Force Captain of Horde Officer here and there, often keys to the lunchroom's hidden stash of treats or whenever she needed to borrow an instructor's answer sheet for a test. It almost brought a smile to her face reminiscing how much of a demon she was back then.

There was just one more rite of passage she needed to push off, one more task to solidify her position as a the rough and tough tiger from the Horde that she was. Pickpocketing was okay, but she was going to start drawing attention if she stole anything more than she needed. She needed something to ensure it wasn't dumb luck or coincidence that she made it as far as she did. She needed to find an opportunity to prove she was tough, inside and out.

*wham!*

"Ahhhh!" And by the sight and sound of the wailing red-skinned horned guy that was just tossed outside the door in front of her, she knew she didn't have to look far.

Taking a peek past the crooked, rotting, and unhinged swivel doors, Catra grinned. It looked like another tavern like the one she came to the first time she and her dweebs crossed the Crimson Waste, just half the size and half the people. The stools were nothing more than wooden barrels, the tables made out of wooden fences or doors, and not a single person she recognized from her previous visit. Just a bunch of losers who thought they knew what being tough meant, about five excluding the tavern keeper.

All in all, it was her kind of place. What better way to get into trouble and show 'em whose boss than with a gentle knocking on the front door?

*Whack!*

Or a strong boot kicking in the front entrance without a care.

All eyes turned to the door assaulter as the rest of the patrons went about themselves, the goat-like keeper of the establishment keeping an eye on her as she wiped a rusty mug over her hands with a dirty white rag.

Not one of these people seemed the least bit threatening, not to a tough girl like Catra. The wolf barred his fang, one of the bizarre mantis-like customers gave her a weird look, or maybe that was just how he looked at everyone, and the large blue pig guy with the tusk and sporting a good three-hundred pounds over her looked ready to eat her on a notice.

Just the kind of people she wouldn't mind agitating as she swooned her way over to the counter-top.

"Hey there." She greeted casually, taking over one of the seats as she leaned over. "Got anything to drink?"

"Beat it kid," the goat huffed, adding a bit of spit to his polish as he rubbed hoarsely, "we don't serve brats."

"Oh, yeah?"

*jingle*

She smirked at the sight of the owner's surprised look, watching him stare intently at the small pouch of coins as one of the golden chips popped out. "How's that for service?"

"..." The goat took one of the coins for a personal inspection, eyeing it carefully before biting down on it. Counterfeits were commonplace around here, and the fact he didn't bite straight through it was enough to prove it's authenticity. "Ugh, fine, but we barely have anything to cover brats like you."

"That's fine. Just get me some sort of juice or something cool and-"

*tap*

The goat man himself looked a little fearful at the sight as he steadily inched away. From the magicat's back, she felt a firm strong grip on her shoulder and the shadows of three certain individuals looming over her. From the reflections off the various bottles across the counter, she could tell it was the giant pig guy and two of the others, the wolf guy she saw a second ago, and a cloaked lizard who hissed into her right ear.

"That's an awful lot of money for a scrub to be carrying around here." The pigman commented, giving Catra a chance to turn her head back to see the eye patch over his left eye and a blue mohawk over his head. "Where your parents, girly."

"Pffft, like I need those." Catra replied back, stretching out a hand as the owner slid a mug of cactus juice over to her. "I get around on my own just fine." Taking a sip of her mug, uncaring if it was the same mug the owner spat in or not earlier, she noticed the wolf to her left giving her a small growl, a greeting she returned with as politely as possible.

*Hissss!*

"Rgh..." There was a small whine from the very wolf she thought would've barked back. For such a rough-looking dog, he didn't seem to have as much bark as he did bite.

"You know, it's funny. I don't think I've seen your face around here, kitty." The pig-man rubbed one of his several chins as he examined the cat more closely through the hooded cloak. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were an outsider. And we-"

"Don't take kindly to outsiders, don't want them around, blah, blah, blah." She could make an endless list of stupid things people kept telling as she mouthed her hand in response. "I've heard it all before. Either give me something new or beat it because you're starting to bore me."

"Fine. How's this for new?" He sneered, grabbing the hem of the feline's cloak. "A couple of my boys have been talking about a furball walking back and forth and sneaking away with their pockets. Ring any bells?"

"Heard of a mint?" She gagged back. What little humor she meant to indulge apparently went on to earn a full-on bellow of laughter from the surrounding patrons who were easy to please. It took one menacing shot behind him to return the silence to the room, not that any of the damage to his pride had been undone.

"Heh, cute, girly. Now tell me where you got the money, and maybe I'll forget your little comment."

"Alright then... I found it." She shrugged, looking off to the side with a bored look in her eyes.

"... You found it?"

"Yeah, found it. I don't know how reliable your bozos are, but apparently they aren't good at keeping their money to themselves. I can't help it if they misplaced a thing or two."

"... Oh, is that so?"

"Hngh-!" The feline let out a small yelp through her throat as she felt a rough hand grab around it, pushing her a little further into the counter top.

"And what's to keep me and my boys from taking it from ya?" A grin to the left, and a grin to the right. Both his goons looked ready for a fight the moment Catra made the first move. Oh how much she missed this.

"Well for starters, I doubt the Horde would take it very well if they heard the screaming." She hinted, raising a brow and a grin.

"The Horde?"

"Yeah, you know? Horde? Wearing a helmet? Ridiculous symbol on their outfits? Invading the town? Ring any bells?"

"Tch, and what does that have to do with anything?" The lizard to her left asked, trying to show any ounce of intimidation he could.

"Use your head, lizard-breath. They see three grown idiots attacking an innocent girl, do you really think they're going to take your side over me?"

"Your side?" The pig-man looked to his companions with the same sense of confusion that they felt, snorting a puff of hair into them magicat's face as he demanded his answers. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think?" Putting on the most pathetic display she could, she put on her best performance as she tilted her ears down, trying to make her voice crack up as she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Ngh... please, help me, soldiers. I was just minding my own business and these three horrible, ugly, stupid, fat, lazy thugs just started attacking me. I tried to fight them off, but... but..." She sniffed. "It was just horrible~" And she immediately dropped the persona with a smug grin.

"You're bluffing."

"Try me!" She threatened back as she pulled the pig's face closer to her own. "Three oversized thugs versus a girl half their size? Who do you think they're going to believe?" The second part of showing how tough she was held within her ability to bluff.

Anybody could lie. That was a basic fact. A true liar knew how to keep a straight face, hold all the cards on the table, and how to get away with it all at the same time. But someone who knew how to bluff their way out of a situation was even more dangerous.

They could persuade anyone to their side, convince one of two enemies to betray one another, and even rally a cause to their side by making themselves look like the victim. The ability to bluff came with a necessary courage one needed to throw themselves into any danger. Bluffing meant risking the chance of losing everything for yourself, with the only one coming out on top being the one who could keep a straight face the longest.

It was a matter of will power and sheer force of will, and Catra had yet to be defeated.

"...Ughhhh! Whatever..." And, judging by the immediate gruff the pig let out, she wasn't going to anytime soon. With another snort to his two cohorts, Catra smirked as she watched the three walk away, knowing they weren't going to be picking a fight with her anytime soon. This is the kind of thing she lived for, to prove how tough she was as she sat back in her seat and grabbed a drink. To show everyone she was the toughest around and she wasn't to be underestimated.

She just wished there was one more way she could prove herself as the tough cat she was...

"Hey, boss, are you sure you wanna let her walk away?" She heard the lizard hiss from behind.

"Yeah, I don't care. She's not worth the trouble if the brat is going to rat us out to the Horde like some freak."

"..." She grinned. Oh, and of course, there was the one final rite of passage she had left to prove how tough and indomitable she was. First there was stealing, then there was bluffing. And last but not least, there was the final rite she had to pass in order to assure herself of her own toughness.

A fight.

"Oh boooys..."

*2 Minutes Later*

*Crash!*

"Ahh! Beat it!" The lizard yelped as the wolf was thrown into him outside the alley. As if getting a wolf tossed on top of him wasn't bad enough, the worst part of it came from the oversized gang leader of the three that was toppled right on top of the two, nearly crushing the bones in the lizard's body as he squeaked.

All three of them squirmed and squabbled amongst each other as they tried to pull themselves from the ground, turning tail in the nearest direction of the next open street before booking it. None of them wanted to mess with the psycho cat that just tore, scratched and beat the living snot out of the three single-handedly just for calling her a "freak". Not that the recent beatdown did anything to dissuade their judgement of her, they were just smart enough not to repeat it out loud this time.

Marching her way out the doorway, Catra sneered at the sight of the three retreating gangsters before smiling ear to ear. She felt unstoppable! Invincible! She still had it in her to be all of these things and then some! She was on her own for the last... who knew how long, and she didn't care! She was having a blast!

She was still the same Horde girl that knew how to make things come her way! She was the one who decided how tough she was, how strong she was. She wasn't going to let the likes of Huntara or Bow or even Glimmer tell her she was being "soft" or "considerate" or some other garbage. She was Catra, fearless ex-Horde soldier and defector, and most of all She-Ra!

*clink*

And by the looks of it, a rather lucky cat, too. Just off the corner from the end of the alley, she saw a single gold coin rolling down the street as if coming to greet her. She didn't know what chump possibly dropped it or who it belonged to, and she didn't care! Why should she? The old Catra never cared for anyone but herself, and that's the way she was going to keep it as she ran straight for the coin at full speed, only being careful enough to keep the robes on her and nothing more.

Drawing closer, she saw a small shadow of someone else who was approaching the very same coin, making the cat more eager to pry the coin from the floor before them. She was already thinking of the many things she could do to the thug. Maybe she could get into another small scuffle, or maybe she could threaten him for more money? No, wait! First she was going to intimidate him and THEN threaten him!

There was hardly any containing herself as she reached the end. She reached deep within herself as she kneeled towards the coin before pulling the most threatening face she could think of.

"GHHHHHHHHHHHH!-!"

"Ngh..."

Wait.

Something's wrong.

"Mmmhmhmmm..."

Catra blinked.

Why was the thug only about three feet in height? No, better question. Why was the thug about the size of a kid? No, even better question. Why did the kid look like a normal kid about one or two years older than Kim that had big sparkly eyes? Wait, this was the best question. Why did the kid dressed in rags who looked like one of the horned people around here look like they were innocent in all of this in a land full of thugs and thieves... and people who might've had families... and families they might've brought along... and people that... that...

Oh no.

"Wa... Wait..." Catra flinched from herself as she stood back up, her ears deepening with the guilt she felt. "I... I didn't mean to-"

*shuffle*

It was too late. Before Catra could deliver any form of an apology, the young six to seven-year-old girl was already running away, crying silently down the alley way before Catra could so much as raise an arm in her direction.

What just... What just happened? That didn't... That didn't go anywhere near as planned as Catra had hoped for. She backed up from the site for a bit as she replayed the events that were supposed to go off in her head. She was supposed to bump right into some lizard or giant bull or even another wolf like she has been till now, get right up into their face, and hiss angrily at them so they would growl right back. Then, after a brief rumble, she'd come out on top and prove how tough she was-

*thump*

"Ah-!" She was so lost in her own thoughts that she nearly jumped as she backed into a strange object behind her. To her surprise, it was just an ordinary round mirror, one that caught a perfect image of her face despite the large crack running down the middle. She probably would've been less jumpy about it if the person in the mirror didn't freak her out. Standing there with all that loose jewelry, looking ready to attack for no reason, the person who...

The person who... scared off a little kid over a stupid coin just now. The person who slowly looked at the jewels and belongings she swiped off of everyone else without any particular interest for them. The person who tried to pick a fight with three random strangers she just met simply because she could. The moron who's been stealing left and right for various kicks and giggles, all to prove a point to nobody but herself about how tough she was.

...What was she doing here? She wasn't supposed to be doing this. She was supposed to be out helping her friends with a mission, not proving a point to nobody that knew her to begin with. She spent all this time trying to make herself look tough when in reality she just felt like a jerk, a freak. A bully who made a kid cry all of a sudden over one lousy coin.

Taking a last look at herself, she examined all the goods she managed to swindle and steal from peoples' belts before sighing, pulling apart and dropping all the various jewels and pouches around her feet. This wasn't anything like who she was anymore, nobody that she used to be. Whatever Catra she was before,might've been tougher, but at least then she didn't feel as guilty as she did now. She didn't like the stuff she stole, she didn't like the fact she made an innocent kid cry. With a heavy heart and a regretful frown, Catra finally accepted the sad reality of the situation as she made her way down the street, intending to find her friends.

She really has gone soft...

...

A/N: Annnnd booyah, Ep 2 par 2 Year 2, Something 2, complete ^^ Strangely i really did just have a problem with that bar scene. I know i said this once before but there's a good chance some of these chapters might come down to being 3 parters people, since we're coming back into the full swing of seasons and whatnot :/ If you guys are alright with that, then I can move on ahead without having to add in some pointless filler here and there (even though I did want to hit this matter of the episode when Huntara mentioned "soft" because it was obviously too good to pass off XP). Otherwise i'll stick to the main story- we'll be relatively similar with some dramatic differences but overall it'll help me get through the story faster ^^

Oh yeah, and before i forget again like I JUST did just now and almost posted before remembering, for those of you who notice, we have a brand spanking new cover image designed by the infamous petie doon on instagram! The cover is hard to make out in full but trust me when I say the picture is freaking EPIC! Be sure to check it out for yourself on instagram, its an AWESOME SEASON 4 POSTER and one i just HAD to use for my new cover image, so thanks petie ^^!

With that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 125: S4 Episode 2: The Valley Of The Lost Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.7K Pre-A/N's. Another hooftah and a yawn, and everyone lives happily ever after or something ^^ Ugh, i gotta tell you guys, doing Glimmer and Double Trouble descriptions are going to be a pain to deal with XD Reason being? For Glimmer, there's going to be a handful of times i call her princess and not queen, i actually caught myself doing that on several occasions. For Double Trouble, it'll be calling him an "It" or "They".

Thing is i heard the voice actor actually is transgender or whatever, they identify as the opposite sex than they are, and i'm just fine with that! It was even one of the driving forces behind his/her character's development in the first place. But it feels really awkward calling his character an "It" or "that/they". Idky, it just sounds rude calling them a "thing" X/. If its a guy who identifies as a girl, great- i'll call him "her". If the other way around, I'll call her "him" or whatever. I'm fine with addressing them differently.

But it feels kind of rude otherwise addressing them like an object or something. Idk, it just feels weird. What do you guys think? should i call him a "them/they" still or would it be easier to refer to DT as "him/he" and such? Granted i know its a shapeshifter and whatnot still so technically its genderless, but you guys get the idea XP

Anyway, enjoy ^^!

...

The dusty descent down the road did nothing to tarnish the spirits of the three heroes as they made their way down a small flight of stars. Mostly because, there wasn't really much left to tarnish in the first place.

The entire mission had gone off the deep end since the moment the members of the Rebellion and Princess Alliance arrived, almost making it a new record at this point as far as how long it too for a mission to become a disaster.

With the intention of retrieving Mara's ship, the newly queened Glimmer assigned Catra, Perfuma, Bow, and Huntara to the center of the Crimson Waste, hoping to find the wondrous technology and use it to their advantage against the Horde. With their own spaceship, they could unlock more secrets behind the First Ones, discover new technologies, and, who could forget, HAVE A GIANT SPACESHIP TO FLY AROUND ETHERIA!

This obviously meant that acquiring such an admirable vessel was going to border near the impossible at this point because the ship itself was already located and abducted by Adora and her soldiers, enlisting the aid of The Valley Of The Lost's citizens, or outlaws in this case, to help them retrieve the vessel and relocate it deep within the canyon. This made Huntara all the more essential as she lead the group through the city of criminals and crooks in an attempt to find the whereabouts of their missing ship. All in all, it actually had the same basic pace as all of the Rebellion's other missions to date.

That's when Catra came in to spice up the flow, so to speak, by letting Catra be herself. Her old self, her former self. The self that people were usually intimidated by and feared to approach, the one that kept getting into reckless trouble and danger, and the one who never backed down from most challenges.

Thanks to Huntara's input of mentioning how Catra had gone "soft", this lead to an entire chain of events making things bad to worse. From Catra rushing off ahead to attack two of Huntara's old goons, alerting the guards, to the girl running away on her own when the soldiers should up, the group now found themselves stuck between trying to locate the ship and Catra at the same time before Adora could run off with it.

There was no way they waste time doing one when the other was in jeopardy, and there was no way they could let the Horde run off with the ship or kidnap Catra again. Their only option was to move forward and try to locate both.

Luckily, there was a liaison, someone from Huntara's past, that she knew she could count on as they made their way through the town. Whoever this mysterious individual was, Bow and Perfuma could only hope that they would have the answers to both, Mara's Ship and Catra's whereabouts.

"Are you sure we can trust her contact?" Perfuma whispered over, still donning the same cloak concealing their identity.

"Huntara says it's an old friend of theirs." Bow replied back, still keeping a watchful eye out for Horde soldiers or their missing friend. "They probably know more about the Horde's operations around here than we do."

"Yeah, but this place is full of... you know... criminals." Huntara shifted her eyes to the side as she heard this. "How do we know they can be trusted?"

"What? You scared, princess?" Huntara turned back, staring with a smug grin to the two.

"N-No, we're fine!" Bow assured waving his hands. "We're just... being cautious, is all."

"Cautious? Hah! You've got nothing to be cautious over." There was a confident shine to Huntara's teeth as she grinned. "This girl's had my back more times than I can count. If anybody can help us, it's her."

"I... I guess it's okay then..." Perfuma sheepishly muttered, still wary of her surroundings.

"Good. Because we're here." With a boast of stature, the huntress finally came to a complete stop as she arrived at an abandoned street.

The scaffolding ahead of her was as crooked and dirty as the rest of the place, but it did at least provide some semblance of someone's humble abode. The front of it was littered with broken shelves and wooden crates with a variety of items on stock. Most covered in dirt, they ranged from many amenities to wooden instruments like a flute or a drum, to carving knives, bow and arrows, leather skins, and the works.

"Ugh. Who would pay for this junk?" Huntara commented as she groaned over the sickening display.

"Fools," came a voice pulling back a worn-out curtain, "just like you." She was a sight for sore eyes and had the beef of a woman who had seen her many troubles throughout the years. With a scruffy hairstyle that stretched all the way down around her chin and down to her breast, an eye-patch over the left eye, and a metallic arm of gears with a wrench-like tip for a claw with a small ribbon at the wrist. Anyone could look at this person and assume she had a troubled past behind her, a war she wouldn't mention.

And she was the best type of friend a proud Huntara could ask for.

"You shouldn't be here." She stated, fearlessly approaching the hunter like no one else. "It's not safe. Hurry." She directed the three companions past her curtain, keeping an open eye out for any other travelers as the group ran past her.

"Grox, what's going on? Where's the gang?"

"Hiding." She announced covering the entrance again. "The Waste has been infested with Horde scum since you left. Can't turn without running into them, interfering with business." It was almost impossible to make a dishonest living around here as spat at the wall.

"Ah!" And nearly hitting the ducking Perfuma in the process.

"Things haven't been easy. You're a real sight for sore eyes." That was the one truth Huntara knew for sure as her old friend threw an arm around her shoulder. Of all the ugly faces Huntara could've been greeted with, she was glad it was Grox's the most.

"Grox, I need your help. We're looking for a ship."

"And I got just the thing to help." With an assuring finger, the merchant went around the side to the doorway of their small housing, sorting through the small heaps of scraps and metals in their pile of junk as Huntara grinned to the anxious Perfuma.

"See? What did I tell you?" Huntara chuckled, giving a playfully-rough slap to Perfuma's back, nearly knocking her over. "If there was anyone you could trust, it's Grox." It did nothing to ease the stress along the young princess's mind as she moaned to herself.

She didn't leave much of an impression to Bow either as he watched Grox going through everything, leaning against the wall near her with his arms crossed. Something about all of this seemed a little too easy to him given the circumstances. Then again, given all that's lead on to this point, perhaps the typical "bad part" of their mission had already come and passed? They still needed to find Catra and Perfuma needed to get some sort of grip with cacti. Then again-

*thump*

"Huh?" The archer dropped his train of thought as Grox tossed away a small red leather jacket against the ground. The sight of it alone was more than troubling to the archer as the warning lights in his mind were going off left and right, yet buried behind a question that kept blocking out all of the noise.

Why did Grox have a Horde jacket in her stockpile?

A fresh one, at that?

Grinning, the merchant finally pulled away from the pile as she found exactly what she needed for Huntara. "Now, before I do this, Huntara, I need you to remember one thing." Her friend began to back up as she raised a finger and Huntara's suspicion. "One very important thing you forgot. This is the Crimson Waste."

"Trust no one." And with the tusk horn raised to her mouth, she blew.

*Woohoowoohoooooooooooooooooo~!*

The horn blew violently as it rang throughout the air. It was like a piercing scream that nearly half the valley could hear, alerting the denizens and soldiers alike of a crisis. The horn wasn't a means to assist Huntara as she realized they were betrayed. She was alerting everyone else to her location. "I've got the Rebel Intruders!" She screamed, blowing into her horn once more. This time, she barely got a second of air through the horn before she was squeezed by the throat by an enraged Huntara, dropping the dull horn as she scraped to pry the grip from her neck.

"You sold us out?!" She couldn't believe it. She refused to, even Grox laughed at her own futility. She was actually doing it, betraying her, in front of her very eyes after all this time.

"Look at you." She sneered. "The Huntara I knew would've seen this coming. You've gone... soft."

No. She didn't. She just said the most forbidden words within Huntara's arsenal. The words no ex-Horde would ever want to hear in the history of their career, post or otherwise. They were like a nail to the chest, a blemish upon a tough girl's reputation, and they were...

... Exactly what she said to Catra earlier.

"They're in there. Come on!" A voice could be heard shouting from afar, one close enough to still be heard.

"Huntara, we have to go." Bow stated with a small look.

"That's right. Run along now." There were a number of things Huntara wanted to do with the sneering wench in her grip right now- running wasn't one of them. "That's what you're good at."

She wanted to deck her in the jaw right now. She pulled back her right fist with all the fury and anger in her veins, ready to add another eyepatch to Grox's second eye. If she thought turning her back on people was the way to run this world, then she was going to open her eyes as much as possible, by making sure she couldn't see anything again!

Then, she saw her. The small worried frown of the princess watching her as Grox covered her face with her hand. It was a face that spelled a lot of worry for various reasons. Worry over Huntara doing something drastic, worry over their friend who was still missing, and worry for the amount of time they had before reinforcements showed up. She wanted to prove to her, especially Grox, that she wasn't soft or weak, and she still knew how to make fools pay for betraying her!

But, it was still her fault this happened in the first place. They wouldn't be needing to run right now if it wasn't for her foolishness in trusting a past ally. So, with a heavy heart, and a heavy shove through the curtains, Huntara tossed the traitor out into the street, running with the two friends out the other side as the Horde discovered the tossed Grox.

"They went out the back!" The Horde gave little heed to the slightly bruised merchant as they gave chase, rushing in pursuit of their missing quarry.

The escape from the armed soldiers didn't last long for trio as they ran across the alley. It was just at the halfway mark that they managed to escape as far as they did before Huntara cut them off with a raised arm. Ahead of them they could see two familiar faces and two familiar goons who brought no end to the anger in Huntara's frame of mind.

Her former cohorts, Daisy, annnnnnd the name of the four-armed lizard she never bothered to remember. Both of them wielding rusty pipes, and both of them blocking off the other end of the road.

"Looks like there's no avoiding a fight now, Princess." Huntara didn't mind as her two old goons spat.

Standing at her side, the heroic archer drew his own weapon as he prepared for the two approaching goons as he looked back to Perfuma. With the Horde on their trails, they needed something to cover their rear, and, given the small overgrowth against the wall, there was a perfect opportunity to assist them. "Perfuma, use the cactus to block off the alley so they can't flank us."

"We won't need it!" With a bellowing shout, Huntara charged at the pink satyr, Daisy, with all her might, forcing the girl to block the overhead strike as the huntress pressed down on her. It was enough to press the girl down halfway to her right knee, but she didn't falter in the slightest.

With the huntress goon preoccupied, the four-armed lizard tried to get the same drop on her boss, only to be thrown back with a shot from a net arrow as Bow launched it. With the grueling training it went through day by day, now that it was with the Horde, the lizard managed to counter this as he used his own momentum to pull the same net in his direction before flinging it back to the archer, forcing him to dodge out of the way before blocking the same lizard's rusty pipe with his weapon.

All of this, without pause, was going on as Perfuma concentrated. She tried channeling her powers differently, tried to to grow the plant into a suitable weapon or defense that could be used to help her friends, and it was still in vain.

"You have a lot of nerve coming back here, Huntara!" Daisy grumbled, her head into the huntress's chest just enough to push her back. Following this, she quickly dashed forward as she tried to land several blows against the hunter, keeping her on her feet as she continued to block.

"You're one to talk!" She hissed back, grabbing at the pipe from the fourth strike that came over her head. With brute force, Huntara began to push back against the goat as each of them held theirs and their enemy's weapon in each hand, Daisy gritting her teeth the entire way as she slowly slid back. "I go on one little job to help the Rebellion and you turn tail and run to the Horde? How hard did you hit your head to do something stupid like that?"

"At least we stuck to the code of the Crimson Waste!" She yelled back. Catching the mighty hunter off guard, the goat hastily released her grip on both the weapons, using Huntara's surprise against her as she butted the top of her horns against her face soon after. It was like taking a brick to the face as Huntara threw her head back, taking a step in the opposite direction from the impact. "The strong makes the rules, and unlike you, Adora actually treats her allies with respect. At least she knows how to be a decent leader." She added as she swiped the pipe back from Huntara's grip.

Hearing this for herself brought no end to the anger rising in Huntara's person, specifically to her forehead. Using her own weight against same attacker, Huntara countered with a similar attack of her own, headbutting the girl back with enough force to send her flying off the ground several feet away, crashing into a pair of barrels along the end of the intersection.

"I am a decent leader." She stated with pride, watching as the weaker goat pulled herself out of the wreckage. "A decent leader knows when and when not to act, and the difference between right and wrong. The only thing I was wrong about was recruiting you into the fold."

"Tch, is that just another way of saying you're stupid?" She smirked, rushing back towards the stronger woman with her pipe at the ready. She didn't care how much stronger Huntara was compared to her, she just needed to keep her stalled long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.

That same line of thought went on through her lizard friend's mind as she pushed down against the archer on her side of things. Unlike Daisy, the lizard was grinning as she pushed back against Bow more and more, with the same archer struggling to keep his footing as he lost a good foot of ground. It was hard enough dealing with someone's weight like that pressing against him, and adding an additional pair of arms grabbing and pushing his bow as well didn't do him any favors.

Then again, it was times like these that he was glad he was more on the tactical side of things than he was on the physical side of it. When strength triumphed over his own, brains were his fall back, including the variety of arrows at his disposal. Pulling out one of said arrows, Bow cocked it against the string of his weapon, conveniently finding the bow itself directed straight at the lizard girl which she was just now realizing.

Before it could react in any sort of way, the archer made use out of his technical arrow as he lined it up straight at the lizard's forehead, keeping a grip on the bow as he lined the arrow between two of his fingers in a perfect shot. With one big slap to the butt of it, the lizard found itself covered in a massive torrent of water, blinding her eyes as it was unable to cover itself with its arms in use. Trying to wipe the stinging water from its haze gave Bow the chance he needed to swipe his weapon against the lizard's head, knocking it several feet away to Daisy's side against the ground.

"Annnnd that's why I have it." He said with a bit of pride, preparing as the lizard got back to her feet.

"You can do this. You can do this!" Perfuma continued to chant to herself, trying to draw as much optimism as she could as she kept a clear head. All throughout this as both sides were fighting back against one another, the one having the most problems right now was the only one who wasn't actually fighting against anyone, unless you count a wretched piece of cacti that refused to cooperate with her!

Why did it have to be so annoying? Why couldn't it be just like every other plant that listened to her and grew as naturally as they did?! Plants should only need a few things; love, water, and fresh air. She gave cacti a chance like this one before, but no matter how many times she tried to play it nicely, it never cooperated with her. It's like it was actually aware of everything she was trying to do and purposely keeping itself from growing just to annoy her!

The annoyance of the situation was something she could handle as she wriggled her fingers and hands up and down. What she couldn't deal with was the stress of the situation as the Horde soldiers started to appear at the other end of the alley way, drawing in closer from behind as Perfuma began to sweat.

Come on... come on... She focused harder with each passing breath, trying to push the thoughts of what the Horde could do to them away from her mind as the plant began to shake. She needed something to happen with this thing soon, anything that could keep her and her friends safe from the Horde's pincer attack.

A simple growth to form a wall behind them? Get the plant to attack them or to push back against the Horde? At this point she didn't care. She just wanted this stupid plant to do something, anything, useful that could be better than being a stupid plant that did there and DID NOTHING TO BEGIN WITH!

She immediately regretted that train of thought.

*SPTSTSTSTSTST-!*

"AHH! OW! AGH!" The princess shrieked as her body was covered from every corner of her front.

As if responding to Perfuma's line of thinking, sensing an immediate danger, the cacti responded as it shot a volley of hundreds if not thousands of tiny inch-long, hair-wide, needles straight at the princess in distress. Nearly every inch of her front was pelted by a barrage of the needle-thin projectiles, shooting into her skin, through her dress, and her hair as she did whatever she could to cover her eyes.

While her face might have been saved from the torturous pricks, there was little else she could do as the cactus shot everything it had at her, leaving her to be nothing short of a small distraction as the approaching Horde soldiers stopped briefly to look at each other.

"Aghhh! I can't do this!" Perfuma whined as she dropped her stinging arms, drawing the others' attention as they looked back.

Cacti was evil! That was the only explanation behind everything. Why it never survived under her tender care, why it refused to help her, and why it shot a thousand needles at her instead of trying to help her! There was no way she could ever get the cactus to help them in time, especially as the soldiers continued to advance.

Things were looking bleak as Huntara surveyed the area. With Horde coming from both sides, and the sounds of footsteps continuing to approach from farther away, there was no chance of them gaining the upper ground. Even if they could handle the Horde approaching them from both sides, there'd be no end to them or the Horde that continued to advance from farther away.

Her old goons were more than aware of this as they grinned, taunting the huntress with their pipes as they casually pat it against their palms. Either Huntara gave in to her rage and fought through these two, leaving the others to fend for themselves, or she fought the ones approaching Perfuma from behind, the princess still in no state to fight with her needle-covered injuries. They were out of options save for retreating. She just needed a moment she didn't have to find an escape route.

"Hey! Bozos!" That's when one presented itself to them as a voice shouted from above.

*WHAM!*

Without any hesitation or fear, from directly above the approaching Horde soldier, a familiar friend known as Catra descended as she jumped atop the very soldier by the time she looked up, tackling her to the ground. Using the other lizard soldier's surprised state against her, Catra used took the initiative as she grabbed the soldiers arm, giving her a good pull as she shouted to her friends ahead of her. "Get down!"

The three barely needed a second telling as they followed Catra's orders, dropping to their knees or squatting as Catra lead the attack. The moment the three had cleared the air above them the three saw the same lizard soldier being tossed overhead, surprising Daisy and the lizard girl as they found themselves being toppled by a squealing Horde soldier that was throne against them.

"Catra!" Perfuma beamed with delight, ignoring the sight of several more soldiers appearing from her end of the alley way.

With the brief repreve given to them, Huntara scanned the alley way once more as she noticed another curtain along the wall behind Bow that nearly blended in with the walls that stretched halfway down. "Come on!" She shouted, grabbing Perfuma's stinging arm as she pushed her through the curtain and down the dark alley. Being among the last ones through the gap, Catra swiped at a small shelf of barrels, impeding the Horde's progress as they collapsed atop the chasing army and buying some precious time.

The soldiers ran as fast as they could down the same alley once the pathway was clear. Being lead by Daisy and her lizard friend, the two stormed down the street as they chased after the combatants. None of their injuries or grief with their former leader mattered to them now that they were with the Horde, and were going to prove their own worth by capturing the Rebellion members like before, including Huntara this time.

It was easier said than done as another minute of running passed. Coming out of the darkened alley, the small group found themselves at a loss as the street they came out of intersected again, diverging into several potential pathways they could've escaped to. The confusing part behind it was that several soldiers arrived from the opposing ends with none of them seeming anymore aware of the Rebellion's whereabouts as she was.

Fumbling her brow for a bit, the pink goat continued down the rightmost path with the others as they expanded their search, giving the same order to following soldiers as they followed behind her. It was in their haste that they overlooked another small pathway to the left of them, one that provided just enough cover behind the large crates for the four heroes in hiding.

Each of them popping their heads out for a second, they each reached the same level of relief as they sighed, hiding back within the street as they paused to catch their breath.

"Phew, that was close." Catra muttered, taking in the fresh air as her troubles left her and her friends.

*whap!*

"Ow!" Except one.

"Where did you run off to, you stupid cat?" Huntara grumbled, earning a hiss back from the very same ex-Horde.

"Catra, we were worried about you." Perfuma said solemnly, wincing a bit as she tried to prick the needles off of her. "What made you take off like that?"

"It's none of your business." Catra muttered, turning her head away. "I was just off doing some stuff, that's all."

"How did you even find us?" Huntara wondered, knowing of the magicat's lack of senses within the Crimson Waste.

"Simple. I just followed the sound of the horn going off and followed wherever the soldiers were going from the rooftops. It wasn't that hard to-"

*BIIIIIIIIP*

The quiet sound in this mute alley was like a fire alarm being pulled as Bow's data pad suddenly went off. The archer scrambled with fear as he hastily gathered the pad, trying his best to keep it quiet as the rest of his friends looked at him with concern.

"SHHHHHH!"

"Keep it down!" Catra shushed along with Huntara. It took him another several seconds before he finally answered the call, wishing to silence the disturbing interrupter before it could draw any more attention to them.

"Ughhhh." It was almost as if it was intentional as the group heard Glimmer groan in misery from her end of the communication. She never noticed the small shushes and pleads of quiet as she was staring off to the side of whatever was bothering her. "I'm in the middle of the most boring meeting."

"Can't talk." Bow whispered panicking, popping an eye out of the street to see if anyone was near. "We're being chased through a smuggler's den right now."

"You are?" Glimmer gasped as her eyes lit up with stars. "That sounds so fun!"

"Quiet that thing." The huntress grumbled, keeping an eye out as the Queen squealed.

"I'm gonna have to call you back."

"Wait, don't hang u-!" The Queen's pleas fell on deaf ears as Bow ended the call from his end, putting an end to the potential trouble as he groaned. The group wasn't any closer to finding the missing ship, they weren't anywhere near the edge of town, and trouble continued to hunt them from every corner of the Valley Of The Lost.

But at least they were together now.

...

"Okay, this is... Adora is this some sort of new power you're trying out? Because I have to be honest, it's a little disturbing." Scorpia commented as she looked between the two Adora's. If it wasn't for the fact the one to the left was just as freaked out as she was, she would've gotten the two mixed up by now.

"Scorpia, if I could make duplicates of myself, this war would've been over by now..." Adora commented back, staring at the exact double of herself from straight ahead.

Why did every mission she went on have to have something weird about it? In Salineas, it was dealing with a mermaid princess. At the Northern Reaches, it was giant bug monsters that resembled the technology of the First Ones in some way, which went berserk when they were affected by the same virus she infected Catra with. And in the Crimson Waste, the first time that is, it was dealing with an entire gang of outlaws and thieves, one of which was a gang leader who thought the name "Tung Lashor" sounded threatening.

Continuing on with the trend of weirdness now was the mysterious sight of the person ahead of her, an exact double of her in every way. At first, she thought of her as nothing more than a spy when she infiltrated the ship the Horde was trying to harvest for parts, approaching and trying to swoon Scorpia in a perfect resemblance of her body. She had the lingo down and the voice, yet it wasn't enough to pull the wool over Adora's eyes as she managed to see through the imposter's ruse.

That's when things became even weirder for her when the same mysterious stranger transformed into a perfect representation of herself. It captured Adora in every likeness, right down from adjusting to her size and having the same expression on her face whenever she was happy. She couldn't tell if this doppelganger had a gender at all at this point.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The Adora copy greeted with a small bow as they approached. "The name's Double Trouble. And I'm about to become your new best friend." She smiled slyly into the girl's eyes as she stood inches away from her face.

"Oh, really?" Adora batted an eye in skepticism as she leaned closer herself. "Well guess what? I'm not looking for best friends these days."

*click*

"Hmm?" Catching the double off guard, she was surprised to see a pair of cuffs wrapped around her wrists. "Ah!"

"Yeah, she already has one! Me!" Scorpia stated proudly, unaware as Adora rolled an annoyed pair of eyes to this.

Not now, Scorpia... Adora bitterly thought as she shoved the copy back onto a three-foot crate. "Now quit playing around. Tell me what you want, what you're doing here, and why I shouldn't throw you in a Horde prison for posing as a Force Captain!" She demanded as her eyes briefly flashed red. Somehow, compared to everyone else, she took this with glee as she leaned forward a bit, resting her chin on her fist as she planted her elbows in her lap.

"Oooh, you can make your eyes change too? Most impressive." The sly grin on the copy's face did wonders for Adora's irritation as she gritted her teeth. "I can tell we're going to get along juuuust fine~"

"Geh..." Adora grabbed the copy by the collar of her fake scarf as she pulled her a little closer. "I don't want to get along with anyone like you. All I want is to know is why you're on my ship, and for you to stop copying me!"

"Oh, heh, sorry. I plain forgot." She almost forgot where her manners were as she blinked sideways, creeping Adora out enough to step back. "Sometimes I just get so lost in my character." With apologies given and spaces cleared, the double finally stood proud on her own two feet as they gave the audience a small twirl.

In a flash of darkness encasing their entire body, the Adora double that stood in front of them was no more, and was replaced by something else entirely. The figure now stood at a slightly taller height as they reappeared, sporting a long pale green tail and skin. Their eyes had a flash of yellow as their bleach colored dangled down to the back of their shoulders. With the way its outfit came in sections of black and green along the joints, and the pointed ears it had, they could almost be mistaken for some reptilian-like humanoid.

Just what was it?

"Ta-daaaaa~!" The figure greeted in a high pitched masculine voice. "A thank you, thank you."

Seeing the powers presented for a third time now did nothing to keep the two viewers from being surprised, especially a gasping Scorpia who backed into another crate. "I gotta sit down. This is... too weird..." Adora shared her sentiment as Scorpia scratched her head, watching as her friend approached the stranger once more.

"So, this is who you really are?" Adora asked, taking in the whole appearance in an awkward gaze.

"Mmh, more or less." Double Trouble replied, sitting back down with a leg crossed over the other. "Of course, we all wear costumes. I just happen to be able to wear other people as costumes... For a price."

"Typical. Come to the Crimson Waste, and the only allies one finds are those looking for money."

"Hmhmhm, aren't we all looking for something, darling?" At least she could credit him... her... them, for their honesty. "But if you don't require someone with my gifts, I'll just take my business to the other side."

Wow.

Gutsy.

Adora had to give them credit for commendable bravery for something like that. To just casually address a person like Adora out of nowhere with a desire for wealth or reward, pose as one of her allies to infiltrate the place, and then to openly state they'll join the Rebellion if they don't get paid themselves? It was pretty brave.

Then again, as Adora smirked at the wrists binding its hands, it was also pretty stupid. "Oh, yeah? And how exactly do you think you'll get out of here after saying that?"

"Mmmh, I have a knack for getting out of tight spots." They replied, shifting their wrists around in place as they spoke. "I may not look like it, but I"m quite skilled in many forms of art, darling. Including... escapism." With the flick of its wrists, the proud performer stood gracefully as it held the previously confining cuffs at the tip of their thumbs, playfully letting it drop in front of them as they swung their hands with a bow.

"What?" Scorpia was amazed as she covered her mouth from a gasp. She's never seen someone perform an escape act such as that, especially with those kinds of cuffs. She remembered the one time she tried playing around with them just to see how sturdy they were.

She then regretted the fact she didn't have anyone to uncuff her several minutes later.

Adora gave the mysterious being a small examination as she rubbed her chin, trying to think of the benefits it could have for her army. "And you can change into anyone at will?"

"Ugh. Change." They groaned, flexing their fingers with the word. It sickened them to ever hear someone utter the word "change" when they compared it to what they do. "What I do is so much more than changing." With a graceful leap, the twice-the-trouble Double jumped atop the metal crate as he posed dramatically. "I prefer "transform". My real gift is committing to my roles. Sure, I can physically replicate anyone, but that doesn't mean a thing if you can't be them emotionally. It's an art~"

And with a graceful slide of their body, they leaned atop the very crate as they held themselves up with their right arm, playfully kicking their feet back and forth in the air. "So, what do you say, darling?"

"What do I say?" There were a number of things she could say at the time, but was too professional to speak her mind. "That's a hard pass." It actually surprised Double Trouble a bit as they raised a brow, watching the Force Captain turn to their friend without much thought. "Scorpia, round up the troops and secure whatever that is. I don't want them joining the Rebellion after this."

"So you don't want my services, then?" Their intrigue was heightened as the same girl turned back to him, looking no less gazed by the circumstances than they were. She was definitely a fun rabbit to do business with.

"We're trying to run an operation here, and even if your skills are admittedly useful, you're never going to trick someone like Catra. Not with her annoying sense of smell."

And there was the angle they had to work with, an angle that grew a sly smirk over their face. "Oh yes, poor kitty-kitty, eh?" Adora rolled her eyes at this as she began to walk away, all while the double behind her continued to speak. "It's too bad, too. I was just reminiscing about how lovely those blue and yellow eyes were, too~"

Adora came to a complete stop as she flinched. There was no way he could've known about her heterochromic eyes without meeting her up close.

"You... met Catra, before?"

"Oh, in disguise on a handful of occasions, I should add." With the flick of its wrist, not that it did anything in particular, the double transformed themselves again, first appearing to her as a red-skinned lizard who was robbed by the girl. "She had quite a bit of fun robbing me on several occasions." With another flick, they transformed into a bull-like stud with a golden nose ring, one complete with thick abs and muscles of steel. "She was easy to bait as long as I flashed the right kind of jewelry." It was almost eerie a little as they spoke in the respective voices of the characters before returning to their original state.

"And each time, she got up close and personal." They teased, wagging a finger with a wink. "She didn't bat so much as an eyelash when she ran into me each time."

"So you... can mask your scent, too?" Adora revelled in the information as her curiosity returned.

"Oh, not just mask. Match it. There wouldn't be much use as an artist if I couldn't pin down every detail, now would there?" It was with that final line that Adora's interest had reached its limit.

A powerful ally that could easily trick the Rebellion, and Catra of all people, without alerting them in the slightest. That's provided if they were telling the truth, of course. For all she knew they could be lying to her about everything and jotting it down as a wild guess.

That's why it was almost imperative that another Horde soldier rushed into the ship, dropping in on the conversation.

"Commander! Rebellion forces have been spotted within the valley." As opposed to the annoyance that would usually behold the Force Captain at an announcement such as this, for once, Adora grinned. True to Double Trouble's word, Catra was definitely within the valley itself, and was keen enough to mention the descriptive details to the commander as proof of their ability. There was no way she could possibly turn down a potential ally such as this.

"Why don't we have a little trial run first..."

...

The Horde continued to scatter through the streets as they searched high and low for the Rebellion intruders. With orders from their commander, they were to search every single street and housing they could find, allowing for naught to stand in the way as the settlements were investigated top to bottom. Anyone that didn't comply with the search requests were immediately detained until the inspections were over.

So far, they couldn't find any trace of the intruders after the last twenty minutes of searching, but they refused to give up. Their commander made it their priority to find the Rebellion before any of them were to leave this town, even if they couldn't capture them. For their sake, they started to hope they were still in the town at all, knowing what awaited them if they failed in their duty.

Perhaps their searching skills were the very reason for the pitiful results that followed. Awaiting the passing of another Horde Skiff, Bow poked his head out from behind the worn out stall the gang was hiding behind. Between passing streets and checking stalls, it was a harrowing experience to get this far across the Valley, let alone without detection.

Letting out a small sigh, seeing that the coast was clear, Bow turned his remaining attention back to the three princesses, or leader in Huntara's case, as they all appeared to be lost in thought with their own set of issues. Perfuma trying not to touch any of the needles sticking out of her, Huntara trying to come to terms with the fate of her beloved home, and a pouting Catra who stared off into space with her legs curled up.

"Perfuma, what happened back there?" The archer finally asked, wincing a bit as Perfuma plucked another needle from her forehead.

The girl squealed a bit with pain as she plucked several more needles from herself before finally letting out a grumble. "I hate cacti!" She yelled, teetering on the brink of anger-filled insanity. "There! I said it! I love and honor all things, except cacti. And I don't like spitting, or Crimson Waste. It is full of negative energy."

"At least you don't have to worry about being soft." Catra grumbled, barely lifting her head before turning away. After the day she's had, she's never wanted to go home more than ever before.

Ever since she arrived to The Valley Of The Lost, she's wanted to do nothing more than to prove how tough she was, to show the world that she wasn't the weak soft "kitty" that Huntara kept telling her she was. Doing the most Catra-thing possible, she tried acting like her old self after getting separated from the group, venturing out on her own in order to prove her worth.

And at first, it was going great! She was pickpocketing off of stupid outlaws and thieves, pushing aside any twinge of morality that she might've held as she stole from those who stole first. She was standing up for herself against a bunch of thugs that were trying to house in on her score. And when they called her a freak, she made each of them pay as she clobbered them with her own two hands, all without She-Ra's massive strength!

Truly, she was a force to be reckoned with!

And then she was a force with nothing but regret.

As if experiencing a high from the fruitful outlook, she pushed one button too far as she came across a single coin rolling down the alley she fought her way into, sneering at the sight of the easy pickings and the shadow that appeared to be approaching it. Without so much as a thought or concern, she growled with as much ferocity as she could to scare away the individual, one that turned out to be nothing more than a lonely little girl in rags, no more than seven years of age. The very girl was almost instantly in tears before Catra realized what she had done, and ran immediately from the terrifying warrior.

It was then that Catra realized what she had been doing all of this time, or, rather, what she hasn't been doing. This whole vain attempt to prove that she wasn't soft and then going on to frighten a young child she regretted scaring... what was the point of it all? Ditching her friends earlier beforehand, there wasn't anyone to prove her toughness to. All she did was act like a moron who went around picking random fights with strangers or stealing from nobodies she didn't know.

Who the heck was she proving herself to after all this time if none of her friends or allies were around to see it? Why did she feel the need to start so many random acts of meanness in the first place? And why didn't she know the answers to her own questions?!

She didn't know, and she didn't care anymore. All she cared about was the fact she was returning to the same soft-hearted cat the rest of the gang was already, and it'd only be a matter of time before her softness got the rest of her friends in danger somehow.

"Well, it wasn't always like this." Huntara shook her head in dismay, sitting between the two with a knee up, still reeling in from the betrayal she suffered minutes ago. "It used to be a great place, where an honest criminal could carve out a life."

"Well, it's terrible now." Perfuma fumed, squeezing her fists trying to contain the negative energy.

"I know..."

"I'm gonna turn into Perfuma at this rate..." And, with a heavy group sigh, all three girls pushed their hands into their faces, with Perfuma being the only one to regret doing so as she pricked some of the needles in the process.

"Ow! Can someone get this off of me, please?"

"Huff, I'll do it." Catra sighed, scooting over to the girl as she used her claws to remove the razor-thin needles. She was just three needles into her job when the four of them heard the familiar blipping sound going off from Bow's tracker pad, drawing their attention to the device as the archer responded to the communications.

"Did you seriously hang up on me?!" The Queen on the other side grumbled. She had to deal with all the jobs her mother had, all the jobs that she had, and all the stupid meetings she was forced to attend. The least someone like Bow could do was be a little more sincere with how he communicated with her, which included not hanging up on her after a stressfully boring day!

"Glimmer?" Catra perked up with a curiousness, one noticeable only to Perfuma.

"Yeah, but just because we were running from the Horde." Bow explained, keeping his voice down for their own safety as Catra sat next to him, looking at the screen. "And now we're hiding from the Horde. Also, the Horde has Mara's ship."

"They don't have the ship yet, doofus. They're just hiding in the Valley somewhere." Catra corrected, unwilling to look like the mission was failing on them. "And the mission's going just fine withou-"

"Really?" Glimmer squealed with delight as she smiled brightly from the other end at the two friends. "This is so cool. A dire situation. Odds against us. I can't believe I'm missing this for a dumb meeting." Seriously, it was the most unfair thing in the world!

She came to terms with her mother's death. That part was unavoidable. It was a tragic loss she suffered for through the following week, and something she adjusted to the week after with the help of her friends. And she was grateful for that.

The least reality could do for her was cut her a break at least and give her one day of fun where she wasn't sitting at a dumb table discussing the ethics of farming produce! Sure, the defensive strategy meetings had some merit and interesting things to them, but she rarely gave her own input. She had to sit back and listen to relay the orders to those around her that the generals were telling her about.

Well, not anymore!

"Okay, hang on. I'm on my way."

"Wait-Wait-Wait! We don't need any-" The archer tried to dissuade his friend from the possible idea, only to fall on deaf ears as the Queen teleported from the screen. It was an annoying reality the archer would have to face, but no matter how much he tried to insist things in one way, they would always come out in another. "Ugh, great."

"Ah, what are you complaining about?" Catra said with a small shove. "At least when she gets here, there'll be someone more interesting talk to."

"Someone to... talk to?" The three allies looked among one another from the sporadic confusion. Where did the random comment come from? Why was Catra bringing it up at all for the first time?

Actually, looking back on it, the three did notice a small quietness to Catra since the adventure began, with a mellow overlook on Catra's character since she first discovered that one of her friends weren't coming along. She didn't have a problem with Bow in the slightest, heck, she pretty much talked to him on the entire trip here. She just didn't have much else to say to him after they actually arrived to the Crimson Waste itself.

Out of the three, Perfuma was the first one to get a small bit of insight to Catra's negativity, wincing a bit as she continued to pick off her own needles. "Catra, do you... Do you miss Glimmer?" She asked.

"W-What?" There was a small hesitant grin on the cat's face as her ears twitched on both sides. "You serious? Of course not. What would make you think that?"

"Well for one thing, your tail has been wagging since you heard from her again." Huntara pointed out, drawing her eyes to the tail to Catra's right that continued to wiggle back and forth. Never has Catra eeped in silence or blushed so flashily as she grabbed the traitorous tail, trying to stop the squirming as she hid it behind her person.

"T-That doesn't prove anything!" She yelped, still trying to keep the tail still. "I'm just glad to have this mission over soon, that's all."

"... Catra have..." Bow pondered for another moment before declaring his thoughts. "Have you been acting out because you miss Glimmer?"

"Huh?" Okay, Catra did have to admit. She really didn't know where that one came out of. "What are you talking about? I already told you dweebs, I was just trying to prove I wasn't soft."

"Yeah, but usually when you try to act out, Glimmer's usually snapping you back to your senses or dragging you back by teleporting, and you usually give up then." The strange direction of his words didn't seem to affect the cat on an entire level, but it was enough to get a small droop in her ears as she turned her head away. "This is the first time where Glimmer isn't around to tell you what to do."

"W-Well it's not true, alright!" She continued to grumble, curling up her knees again as she lowered her head. "It's just that..." Another small blush formed on her face as she tried to think of a reasonable excuse. "Things were usually more fun when we were on missions together, alright? Your tech, her magic, my sword. We did a lot of stuff and all that. And it... it just feels weird being on a mission without one of you two guys around for it." She turned her eyes away from the group as she hissed to herself. "I don't know if it makes me soft or what but it... it just makes me feel weird, okay?"

The friends stared in silence for a bit at the revelation from their friend.

Catra was one of the most complicated people within the Rebellion to adjust to, that went without saying. She had events from her past she couldn't tell anyone, whether for the sake of her pride or her own fears, and still usually obsessed over things in the same manner. Those events that turned her into what she was today affected her to no end, keeping her from being in touch with the rest of them.

At the same time, it was due to her pride that she refused to be in touch with the rest of them. Without her sense of pride, she wouldn't be part of the warrior she was today. She enjoyed taking on a challenge ahead of her, she tried to hide any of her fears as she fought on, and she wasn't afraid of acting superior over everyone else, even if she didn't mean any of it.

So in a case like this that turned from a simple retrieval mission to a harrowing disaster within minutes of arriving to the Valley, it came as no surprise that none of it made any sense. It was Catra, she acted without thinking. And it wasn't until after she thought about it did the mystery of her actions unravel around her, such as the reason she's been acting so weird.

Because she missed Glimmer, and was afraid of looking soft for it.

"... You're not soft, tiger." All eyes turned to the fearless hunter as she spoke at long last. The huntress herself felt a small ounce of shame over the matter, between Catra, and her own doing. "And if you are, then so am I. I thought I could trust my old team to have my back here when I came home, and instead they turned to the Horde, all because I left them behind. We wouldn't be in a mess like this if it wasn't for me."

Catra did have to admit, she was relatively surprised by the touching words, or at least as touching as they could be from an ex-Horde. Both of them were trying to prove their toughness, but in the end, they both put the mission into jeopardy, all for the sake of their own ego. They were both tough in body but soft in the mind.

"I might not know how things work in the Horde," Perfuma interjected, drawing the two to her, "but being having trust in your friends doesn't make you soft or weak. You put your lives on the line to trust the people around you, and that takes real- Ow!" She meeped as she plucked another needle from her cheek. "Real strength. And bravery." Both pairs of eyes widened a little at this before turning to each other.

Looking back on it, she really did have a point. These were the people they knew of everyday, the people they got used to. They were the ones who they trusted their very lives with, to pull them out of harms way when they were in danger. If they couldn't count on anyone, they'd be throwing themselves into an open fire without safety on every mission, rendering them paranoid with the inability to trust anyone around them.

It was also, admittedly, embarrassing that out of any of them, Perfuma was the one who had to open their eyes.

And neither of them wanted to give up on this mission until it was over.

"So then... What's the plan?" Catra asked, looking back to her friend... among her other friends. "I haven't heard anything about a ship around here, and judging by you guys, you didn't make much progress, either."

"I think I might have an idea." Bow smiled as she dug into the back of his shirt, pulling out a familiar red leather jacket. Upon its lapel, there was a familiar Force Captain badge on it, one that signified any leading Horde's status. "We'll use this."

"Where'd you get the jacket?"

"He must've plucked it up from Grox's place before we left." Huntara replied, crossing her arms with a bit of skepticism. "But I don't see how that's going to help us find the ship."

"It's simple." He stated, trying not to sound rude as he plucked the Horde badge itself, and began digging into it with an arrow from his quiver. ""Horde badges have tracking devices built in. That's how they found Adora when we... we kidnapped her." He felt a little shame that they would stoop to something so low back then. "I can hack into their system and see where all of the Horde soldiers are in the valley. They're sure to be with the ship."

Prying off the metal casing, the archer smiled proudly as he connected the wires from his data pad with the badge's own computer system. It was a simple process, or at least one that Bow made look easy with his superior genius. With a bit of patience, the tech expert grinned widely as the details came over his data pad, feeling an inner victory behind all of this. "And there's our ship." All four of the friends leaned in on this as they studied the data pad's entry.

From where they were, the ship stood a short distance east of their location, a small signal going off from the range and proximity between them and the group of soldiers that surrounded the Horde ship. With the location spotted, the four friends smiled to one another as they knew what they had to do.

They were going to finish this mission if it was the last thing they did. With Huntara's expertise, Bow's tech, Perfuma's magic, and She-Ra's sword, the four of them were going to prove to the Horde and themselves that none of them were soft.

Together, they were strong...

...

A/N: And another chapter down the tube along with the others ^_^ 1 more chapter to go and it'll be a full-fledged episode after this one ^^! And i gotta say, im ESPECIALLY excited for the next episode, cause some fun is going to be had around it X)....... hehehehehe~

Lol, but i shan't spoil. I shall only hint. It'll be a fun-filled episode which will make the series all the more (hopefully) fun ^^

And with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Might've gotten a bit rushed at the end but it's freaking 10 pm here, i wanna go to bed XD!!! Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 126: S4 Episode 2: The Valley Of The Lost Final

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 11.2 Pre-A/N's. Hooftah, what an episode this has been. What's going on guys, monokub here with another exciting chapter, and a final part to today's episode to boot ^^ Sorry for the small delay, was having issues with slowdowns and whatnot for reasons I don't know. I guess i'm still obsessing over trying to lengthen the episodes into 4 parters if not more like I said before. With this slowdown, I've decided to focus more on the episodes themselves rather than purposely trying to extend them, so if an episode comes down to 3 parts occasionally for the rest of the season, don't be too surprised.

Does this mean it'll be the complete same as the rest of the season? Of course not. Heck... nope, nope, not going to say anything X) let's just say this season is going to start off with a massive amount of fun quite soon, and that's all I'm going to say about it. For now, I just want to give a shout out and a thank to the advice I got about how to deal with DT's gender-neutral debate. I brought up last A/N's.

First off, a little clarification as I turned out to be wrong- it wasn't a "cyst gender/reverse gender preference" they had, apparently the voice actor and character categorized themselves as "Non-Binary"... i swear i have not heard of a SINGLE person ever calling themselves like that before, which is already a migraine to think about on top of everything else this season XP But aside from that little apology for the mix-up, I thank the feedback and suggestions I got from the rest of the reviewers who gave me hints and ideas about how to refer to DT all the time, such as actually DO refer to them as "He/She", but only when they've transformed into somebody else (which I guess would make more sense in the long run) so that already helps ^^

My overall issue wasn't that i was bothered by calling them as "they/them" (which still sounds weird to me calling 1 person as "them/they"), my issue was I felt like i was calling them an "it" or whatever by doing it. Without directing to them as a singular person, i felt like i was intentionally refusing to refer to them as a specific gender/person which felt a little rude to me. And i mean as in I didn't want to be rude in the process, so that alone already sparked some confusion X/ overall, thanks to those with the suggestions, someone even recommended referring to them as "zee/zir" as it appears to be a way to refer to a singular non-binary person... man this is so confusing XD Also, don't be too surprised if I accidentally refer to them as "he" occasionally, it's hard enough remembering Glimmer isn't a princess anymore XP Just know it won't be intentional.

Lol, anyway, confusion aside, let's move on to an exciting conclusion below ^^ Enjoy!

...

"That's definitely Mara's ship." Catra commented as she looked below the large crevice, taking in the sight of the large canyon, the ship, and the Horde soldiers that continued to swarm it.

From up above, the magicat had a clear view of the defenses and soldiers that guarded it, all from the relative safety of the boulder she hit behind. She was looking forward to retrieving the vessel and calling an end to the day after the ordeal they've all had to go through.

It was supposed to be a simple mission, or at least as simple as a mission could get. Retrieve an alien spacecraft that was stranded in the middle of a desert, have Perfuma's assistance in bringing it back to Bright Moon and using Huntara to navigate the Crimson Waste, and bring it back for Bow to fix up so they'd have an advanced piece of technology over the Horde that they didn't.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't simple, but the idea was sound.

What happened instead? Nothing much different compared to the usual hijinks and chaos that usually came from a new mission. Between Catra's seeming state of mind obsessing over the idea of being "soft", Perfuma's inability to control the wild cacti that roamed these parts, as in the *only* fauna that roamed around here, and Huntara's trust in her friend who ended up betraying her, everything was going on schedule about as badly as it could be.

At least as of a few minutes ago, the group managed to find each other again after being temporarily separated from Catra. With a small talk to one another, and a revelation of a certain magicat taking out her unknown emotions for missing Glimmer as reverting to her previous state of being, the group had finally come to a small understanding as they were ready to press forward. All that was needed was the coordinates to the First One's, Mara's ship, which Bow managed to acquire through the use of a Horde badge from a jacket he acquired at Huntara's friend's market before their escape.

It also gave Bow a small question to ask as he looked back at Catra from afar. "By the way, Catra, why are you bringing the jacket?"

"Why not?" She shrugged back, looking down to the newly acquired jacket. It had a nice cozy feel to it as she kept the sleeves rolled up past her elbow, giving it a perfect fit like her new pants. "It's red, it's free, and it'll be easy to lug around when it gets cold. I'm keeping it." It's no wonder Adora kept wearing these things. Then again, she failed to see the value if she always wore a long-sleeve undershirt underneath.

At least now she could wear something that Castaspella or Shadow Weaver couldn't argue against, provided she gave the excuse it was for the weather.

"So, are we good to go?"

"Do we have an actual plan?" Bow wondered, wanting to make sure everyone stayed focused on the same goal instead of running off like before.

"Yeah, we have an actual plan this time." She rolled her eyes a little, getting the idea as she looked at the depressed Perfuma sitting curled up on a boulder. "Hey, Perfuma, you ready? We're gonna need you for this."

"If you need me for a plan, then you should come up with a different one." The gloomy optimist muttered, keeping her backs to them.

"Oh, come on, Perfuma." The archer tried to encourage to the unwavering princess. "You're one of our strongest friends. You rescued me from the Fright Zone."

"You're always keeping everyone's spirits raised in Bright Moon." Huntara added before nudging the magicat with her elbow.

Rubbing the small punt to her side, the feline let out a small sigh as she tried to give her own bit of encouragement, scratching her head with a small sympathetic smile. "And, to be fair, you've saved my life at least twice so far. Once in the Fright Zone and at the Battle of Bright Moon. So that's, you know... gotta count for something, right?" She awkwardly smiled as she tried to support the glum friend.

"But we're not in the Fright Zone or in Bright Moon." She whined back as she squeezed her eyes shut to stem the flow of tears. "We're here, and I'm just a useless flower girl."

"So?"

*WHACK!*

"OW!" Catra grumbled over the unnecessary fist of Huntara's that struck her over the head, the huntress giving her a silent glare over the weeping princess. "What I mean is," she continued as she approached Perfuma's side, trying her best to cheer her up as she perched her feet against the rock, "back when we first met, you didn't have the will to fight against the Horde at first to save Plumeria, and everything worked out. You'll be just fine here, too."

"But last time we were in a field, with flowers, and nature, and around here, I..." The miserable crier resigned herself as she buried her eyes into her knees. "I can't do anything here." The depression was starting to get to the magicat herself as her own ears lowered.

She wanted to cheer the girl up after all the support she's given her, recently and before, but she wasn't the same "perky optimist" that Perfuma was. She couldn't pay her with the same encouragement she always did without recounting her own memories from past experiences. She was actually starting to feel sorry over the person she was starting to consider a friend like the others, and guilt over her own inability to assist.

That's why she was welcoming of the help as Huntara made her way over, resting a comforting hand on the grieving princess's shoulder. "No, you're not." The girl had a lot of spirit, a lot of strength that Huntara could respect as a hunter. There was no way she could allow her friend to cry out of an inability she didn't have. "I've been wrong about a lot. I was wrong to leave my home. I was wrong about Grox. And I hope I'm wrong about you because we need your help."

"You want... my help?" Perfuma wondered as if she was talking to someone else entirely before noticing the confident smile on her person. Not just hers, but Catra's too as the girl gave her a small nod. They were some of the toughest people she knew of, the ones who did all the heavy muscle work on their own, and the last to show decency to anyone.

And they were both here for her, to comfort her in her hour of need. She was touched. They believed in her for the first time compared to how much she believed in herself.

She wanted to believe them. With a brightening smile, the Princess of Plumeria gratefully accepted the welcoming Hunter's hand as she rose to her feet, along with Catra as the four friends smiled to one another.

With everybody's grief behind them, with all the worries and all the fears locked behind their steel resolve, they prepared themselves for the coming battle ahead. Reaching for the golden collar around her neck, Catra materialized her enchanted weapon into the sacred sword that has lead her bravely into every battle, and recited the sacred oath.

"For The Honor Of Grayskull!"

Opening her eyes, her transformation had finally been complete, the look of pride crossing her expression and amusement at what she had become.

The TRUE She-Ra had been formed.

...

"Haah!" With a roaring battlecry, the Warrior Princess lunged headfirst into the fray as she landed atop one of the many wooden scaffoldings of the crevice. She was a sight of surprise and shock for the lone Horde soldier to cross her path as she landed before him, smirking to him as she rose to her feet with her oversized sword over the shoulder. "Hiya."

With great courage, or great stupidity from Catra's point of view, the onlooking soldier gave his own mighty roar as he charged for the princess with a stun baton in hand. It was more than tempting to roll her eyes at this as she dodged to the left from his frontal assault, the magicat toying with him purposely as she gave him the first few hits for free.

When the boredom came over her, she took care of the first of many soldiers she had to deal with as she grabbed at the soldier's wrist, pulling him off his feet with ease before tossing him off the scaffolding to the wooden planks below where he landed with a harsh "thud". She almost started to think this was going to be too easy before she heard the fire of an oncoming blast, ducking out of the way of the massive laser that burst apart the rocky wall behind her.

Throwing herself back to her feet, Catra was more prepared this time as a secondary blast shot towards her. Morphing her weapon again into an incredible solid shield, she stood her ground steadily as she blocked the incoming blast with full force, watching as the mystical shield deflected the array of lasers to every corner ahead of her, blasting at some of the other scaffolds below and above her where several soldiers were seen crashing through as a result.

Before another shot could be fired from the assailant across the field, a lone arrow struck the tip of its barrel, one which proved to be its undoing as the entire cannon itself was disabled. Checking the direction of the fire for themselves, they were surprised to see a lone, master archer by the name of Bow, kneeling atop one of the higher scaffolds getting a bird's eye view and a perfect vantage point to fire his arrows from.

The very archer gave a smiling nod to the feline who returned the gesture as he covered her from above, all while the powerful She-Ra continued the assault as she charged towards the next group of soldiers that ran for her.

All throughout the forray, two more of their allies were subtly making their way to the base of the grand crevice, with Huntara acting as protector as she knocked two of the guards under the very ship itself unconscious. With the coast clear, Perfuma ran her way under the ship from the crates they were hiding behind, thankful for the allotted time they were given by two of their friends.

Perfuma's turn came to shine as she made her way to the center of the massive ship, finding a handful of wonderful plants located within the right center of the ship, even if they were cacti. With all of her friends trying so hard, she knew she couldn't give up as she focused. Humming to herself as she rose her hands, closing hey eyes as she concentrated, she knew the entire mission relied on her, and she couldn't afford to give in to the despair of failing.

"Look out!" A sudden shout interrupted her thoughts as she popped her eyes open again. The next thing she saw was Huntara throwing herself ahead of her as the huntress shielded her with her arms, taking in one of several paralyzer darts thats flew on by. With her extensive muscles and physique, it wasn't enough to bring the mighty hunter down to her knees.

But it was definitely enough to make her body feel a little more sluggish as she glared over at the two familiar goons who fired at her. Approaching her with their own menacing looks, the two females tossed aside their own blow darts as they waved the rusty pipes in their arms carelessly, feeling a sense of superiority over their past leader as they saw her struggling just to keep her feet up.

"Huntara!" Perfuma cried out with worry, only for the huntress to grin back to her with ease.

"I'm fine. Just focus on the plants." She instructed, equipping her massive double-sided spear with a harsh glare towards the other two. "I can handle these two." The mighty hunter charged ahead of her as the two goons lead their own attack in turn, leaving Perfuma to her own devices as she struggled with the surrounding plants.

Seeing the previous head honcho of their gang charging before them, the two goons lead the attack as they both attempted to strike from overhead. Although Huntara's strength was normally more than a match for the both of them combined, the added numbness to her muscles took its toll on the fierce huntress as she buckled down on her right leg. She gritted her teeth in anger as she pushed back and forth between the two attackers with all her might, putting forth a reverse game of tug-of-war as the two sides pushed against one another.

"I show a simple bit of kindness one time, and you idiots think to turn on me?" Huntara growled, pushing a few feet further until the lizard girl used her two extra arms to grab for the spear, placing them at a stalemate.

"A lot more kindness than you ever showed us!" Daisy yelled back. Like she had done in their previous fight, with the exception of releasing her weapon this time, the pink goat pulled back her horned head as she delivered another painful bash across Huntara's forehead. The added shock through her body went on to add to her numbness, causing her to lose ground a little more as she was pushed back.

"We've been with you for years and you treated us cruelly. With the threats, using us as decoys, and faking those stupid bar fights over and over again without so much as a thank you. These brats show up for one day- Not even that! And you immediately insist on helping them?" It wasn't so much that Daisy cared for the cruelness anymore so much as she did the unfairness of it. After all her hard work, Huntara still tossed them around like her personal tools, yet another Horde defector shows up and suddenly their friends?

Where was the fairness in that?!

"Is that what this stupid thing is about?" Huntara grumbled, planting her foot in the ground as she refused to budge any closer to the ship. "Unless you haven't noticed, this is the Crimson Waste you knuckleheads. I wasn't treating you unfairly for my own fun, I was trying to toughen you two out for this wasteland! Besides, if I acted anywhere near soft around you, we'd be taken advantage of in an instant. I was protecting you."

"Like you care!" Preparing herself again, the satyr leaned her head back as she delivered another headbutt to the aggressive hunter.

I did care!

This time, the strong hunter was prepared for the strike, having fallen for it at least twice thus far since arriving to the Valley. Right before the goat could lock her head against hers, she pulled her own head back, catching the girl off guard. With the firm tautness in her strike alleviating from the brief surprise, it gave Huntara the additional push she needed to slam her own head back against the goat's, delivering her own powerful headbutt that managed to knock Daisy several yards through the air, landing her in a pile of metal crates in disorientation.

Shocked at the sight of her fallen friend and enraged by the attacker who pulled it off, the lizard grabbed the very pipe Daisy dropped from the attack, pressing the hunter's spear back with two arms and her current pipe and bashing away at the weapon repeatedly with the additional pipe. The repetitive vibrations and strikes against the spear were enough to keep the mighty huntress on guard as she stood her ground, unable to find an opening that wouldn't have left her vulnerable.

As it stood, this was the position Huntara could maintain, as long as she continued to make sure Perfuma was okay as she concentrated.

This is how the group found themselves battling throughout the small canyon for the last two minutes, everybody perfectly in synch with one another as they went about their own jobs. With Catra leading the assault against the soldiers along the scaffolds, Bow providing overhead protection to anyone out of range, Perfuma focusing as she tried to channel the cacti's lifeforce, and Huntara keeping her old goons and various soldiers at bay, everyone was in perfect unison with one another as the fighting escalated.

Until she showed up.

Bashing her way through another handful of guards, Catra was relentless. She almost felt sorry for everyone she was beating to a pulp as she lassoed one of the two guards behind her with her enchanted weapon, and swung them into the charging three head of her, collapsing the scaffolding to the ground below. With She-Ra's awesome might, there was little she needed to fear as she attacked, with those fortune enough to land so much as a single blow on her being shrugged off with ease.

*Pew*

*BOOM!*

Catra let out a instant cry out of fright as the laser barely missed her, but was surprised by the shockwave it created from the wall behind her, knocking her off the third floor scaffolding in the process. Her own agility and swiftness saved her from a painful landing as she flipped through the air, landing perfectly against the lower platform with her fist and a knee. Lifting her head up proved to be the last sensible option Catra had within her before her eyes locked on to the one who dashed it away.

On the opposite side of the very magicat, all the way across the crevice to another scaffolding, was someone Catra hadn't seen in some time, nearly two weeks since their last endeavor. Leaning against the recently used Horde turret, with the same smug look on their face as always, stood the one known as Adora, who locked her eyes against Catra's own.

"You know," she called over in a joking tone, "it doesn't really help dodging a blast if you can't avoid the shockwave after." She rubbed her knuckles against her mysterious new outfit, one that brought no sense of urgency or care to Catra's mentality. "Then again, thinking never really was your strong suit, was it," she grinned, "Catra?" Not a single word of her dialogue registered in Catra's ears as her body trembled. Not out of fear, not out of disgust, nor out of shock, but of anger.

She felt every portion of her body contorting and twisting with anger as she stared at her ex-friend, caught a glimpse of what she had become. It wasn't the appearance of Adora herself that brought her an undeniable rage from within. It wasn't the stupid remarks and comments she had to make about Catra like every other time they usually met on the battlefield. It wasn't anything of the sort.

It was of the history that brought her here, and what her actions took away from her as her mind flashed again.

"Take good care of each other."

Because of her, Catra would never see her again. Not her, not Glimmer, not Bow, not any of them. She would be lost to them forever because of what she did. She wouldn't hear the sound of her voice, save for her own haunting visions, she wouldn't hear her arguing with Catra over a petty ordeal or ridiculous prank Catra set up, and she would never be there to bring her comfort whenever she needed it, even if Catra didn't show any signs of distress.

Queen Angella's death was all on Adora's hands.

And that's all that mattered to her.

"You... Geh... Tch..." Catra hissed as she squeezed the hilt of her sword, all while her sword returned to its previous nature with a brief flash. "AAAAGGGHHH" Catra roared with an insatiable fury as she charged directly at her former friend, her wild instincts taking over her as she was seething with rage and anger. The distance that spread the two apart mattered little to the furious warrior as she hopped atop the very ship they were tasked with retrieving, running across in haste before leaping to the other scaffolding.

The sight of it all amused Adora greatly as she sneered, the Force Captain already running away before Catra landed on the ship itself. It was also this sight that caught Bow's attention after he fired another trick arrow, noticing Catra's break of formation as she gave chase in an opposite direction.

"Wait, Catra!" Bow shouted over as he stood. "Where are you going?" His question was met with another startling blast as he ducked behind a pile of crates, avoiding the enemy fire as several electrical blasts were shot in his direction. With Catra's break of formation, it was giving the guards that were previously pursuing her an excuse to ignore the magicat as they made their way down towards the lower platforms, heading straight for Perfuma's direction.

Bow had no choice but to scale his way down the current platform he was on, holding onto one of the poles connected to the crevice's walls with the scaffold as he slid against it. He continued to provide covering fire to the best of his abilities as he made his way closer to the princess and huntress down below. Thankfully, he did at least manage to disable the several turrets along the crevice during his work.

Now he just had to keep the rushing soldiers chasing after him and his friends at the same time.

Catra herself was no longer aware of her surroundings or what was happening around her as she focused solely on catching Adora. The young Force Captain proved quick on her feet as she ran to the edge of the platform, sneering back to Catra the whole way as Catra chased for her in her mad fury. She didn't care anything for the soldiers they passed as she knocked them off to the side with ease, ignoring their yells as landed painfully to the platforms below her. Nothing else mattered to her at this moment. All she was obsessed about was making Adora pay.

At any cost.

"Either I'm getting faster or you've gotten a lot slower, you know that?" Adora joked back, still smirking at the sight of the enraged kitten chasing her.

Looking back ahead, she saw herself coming to a halt as she reached the end of the scaffolding, exactly to where Catra intended to lead her. Unlike her, any jump from this height definitely would've hurt her legs, however minor, and while the damage wouldn't be severe, any injuries to her legs could've caused a slowdown in speed. Given the demon that was chasing her, she couldn't afford any slowdowns.

"You are so dead..." Catra grumbled under her breath, practically stomping her way towards her friend as her feet shook the wooden platform violently.

Even with the sight of a formidable beast coming up right behind her, Adora didn't seem bothered by this in the slightest, grinning ear to ear to the girl with an innocent expression on her face. "Hmm... Fall to my death, or deal with you..." She grinned, tapping her cheek playfully. "Tough choice... later!" Without any provocation, any sense of care or worry, and to Catra's surprise, the Force Captain spread her arms to each side in full before casually falling backwards off the platform.

"Adora?" Catra was taken back by the sight before she rushed after the edge of the scaffold. Peering over the edge, she was surprised and confused by the lack of sight. She didn't see anything resembling Adora, anything resembling a possible dead body, and she didn't hear anything indicating a great fall beneath her feet.

That was when she noticed it. A small little tiny leaf-like trail of shadows growing up from the edge of the wooden planks, as if grasping it. Unaware from Catra's sight, unaware from her prying eyes, completely oblivious to the young figure who had her back pressed firmly against the underside of the wooden platform until it was too late.

*Wham!*

"Ngh-!" Catra groaned out as her face was bashed away by a powerful pair of feet. Using all the weight in her body, knowing Catra's stupid head was looking over the edge, Adora flipped herself all the way back onto the platform, smacking Catra's face in the process as she slammed the heels of both her feet into the magicat's head, and making her stumble backwards from the experience. It gave her more than enough time to get herself back atop the wooden structure with ease, enjoying the sight of her former friend's misery as she rubbed her face.

"Don't you just enjoy shadow powers?" Adora continued to taunt, gazing at the waving hand of shadows in front of her that grew from underneath her red scarf. "They always seem to be by your side whenever you need them... which is a lot more than I can say about-"

"Haagh!" Without any sense of care or worry, the magicat continued her own assault as she morphed the powerful sword into a massive spiked mace, slamming it down upon the wooden structure beneath both their feet. The sheer force of it was enough to cause the wooden structure to explode from underneath their toes as the magicat leapt backwards from the impact. At the same time, she took ample joy from watching Adora letting out a small squeak as she collapsed through the ground below her.

With her shadows at her beck and call, Adora managed to summon a handful of them that grew out from underneath her scarf, scraping them along the wall of the crevice as they slowed her descent to the lower platform below. She managed to land on her own two feet nearly unscathed, but the fall itself took a minor toll on her as she scraped her right cheek along the broken pieces of wood that cracked apart formed along the crash.

It got nothing more than a small wince from the girl as she rubbed the injury before powering on through, collecting her shadows again as she took off running. Catra didn't care how far Adora got as she growled at the sight of her. She jumped from the open hole as she gave chase, intending to catch her prey if it was the last thing she did.

The chaos continued to fill the great crevice as friend and foe alike were fighting against one another. Bow continued to fight against swarming soldiers that Catra had missed, including the very ones that were still trying to reach the ship where Perfuma was. Continuing to concentrate as she did, Perfuma didn't have a single chance to focus on the oncoming soldiers as she opened her eyes. All she could do was pray to herself as she tried to focus on the plants, hoping any of these cacti could save her life.

As it turned out, one did.

Looking back from her current position, Huntara furrowed her brow as she saw several of the Horde soldiers trying to reach Perfuma as she continued to deal with her own line of problems involving the lizard who was starting to crack her spear a little with the repeated striking. She needed to find some way to get the lizard off her back and stop the soldiers trying to reach Perfuma. She just needed a large heavy object of some sort to...

Huntara grinned.

"You know, it's a good thing I ditched you guys when I had the chance." She commented, grinning at the sight of the lizard's narrowing brow. "My only regret wasn't doing it sooner if I knew I could take the easy way out by ditching you losers for the Rebellion."

*HiSSSSSS!*

With an unbridled fury, the lizard girl rose both her arms into the air, the two carrying the pipe, as she held onto Huntara's spear, ready to snap the wicked weapon into bits. That minor loss of force was just the boost Huntara needed as she gave a mighty push to the lizard girl as she managed to shove her back, stumbling her enough to lose the grip on the spear. Combining the stumble of her feet and the sudden loss in grip gave Huntara the opening she needed to knock the lizard clean off her feet with an underhand strike to its jaw, throwing her to the ground.

Hissing a little to itself, the lizard was completely unprepared for what happened next as its eyes snapped open. Pulling with all of her strength, the mighty huntress lifted the lizard off the ground as she began to spin, twirling the lizard in every direction as fast as her muscles could allow her to pull. Giving it a firm solid yank, once she built up enough speed, Huntara released her grip on the traitorous lizard as she tossed it straight into the oncoming path of the soldiers.

It was like being tackled by a wrecking ball as the three screaming soldiers cried out from the impact, being blown away by the tremendous force and the massive object that threw them across the landscape.

Clearing the area from her respective end of things, the huntress used the moment of clarity to run up to the princess's side, checking to see if she was okay. "What's the hold up over here? We're running out of time."

"Mmh... Ergh... Ugh, it's useless." The princess of plants felt like crying again as she draped her arms to the side. "I keep trying, but nothing works. I can barely keep them from exploding on me again."

"Focus-" Huntara nearly snapped before she remembered who she was talking to. She couldn't bring herself to get angry over the girl, not when she was already trying so hard. "Um, uh..." Pushing aside personal pride and dignity for her sake, Huntara gathered her own senses as she brought her fingers to her side, closing her eyes in meditation. "Hoooom... Right? Do it with me. Hoooom..."

Still confused by the endeavor, it was enough to bring a peaceful smile to the princess's face. She was touched that such a battle-hardened friend of hers was trying so hard to bring comfort and peace to the girl as she pushed away her own insecurities. She knew she couldn't give up if her friend was willing to bring out the best in her by any means necessary, and happily joined her friend in the peaceful meditation.

Joining in with her friend's efforts, Perfuma began to hum as she meditated, focusing on letting her power flow through her rather than trying to force it. "Huuuuum..."

"Yeah, come on, you got this..." Huntara cheered as she opened one eye briefly, returning to their meditation as their surroundings were still cleared of enemies, thanks to Bow's keen eye.

The power drawing forth from Perfuma began to flow evenly as she focused more on the peacefulness of her meditation rather than the forcefulness she usually required to draw said power. She felt the energy itself actually beginning to channel through her without much focus or thought, actually managing to grow the cacti in front of her as they bloomed into a tower of their previous selves.

"Come on, that's good, just like that." Huntara continued to encourage with another opened eye. She made sure the vicinity was clear around them as the powerful cacti began to grow before her very eyes. They reached new heights and lengths that the hunter had never seen before as they began to press against the underbelly of the formidable ship.

Yet, despite her persistence, despite all the plants around them pushing up against the belly of the beast, it wasn't working. There wasn't a single budge in the ship's movement as the princess pushed with all her might, causing her to wallow in the eventual despair that followed. "Oh, it's no good. I'm not strong enough to lift this by myself."

Was this the end of her usefulness? Was this how far her powers could get her? Nothing more than a few overgrown cacti incapable of pulling up a massive ship into the air? Everybody else was giving it their all, they were risking life and limb around her to save Mara's ship. Why couldn't she?

That was when she saw something. As if the Universe was cutting her a small break, she saw the one thing that could lift her spirits and the ship all at the same time. "And I don't have to be! We're underground!"

*whack*

"You're just noticing that now?" Huntara asked after bashing away another guard with her fist.

"And do you know what else is underground?" Perfuma's expression filled with a renewed sense of vigor as she grinned. She was going to channel her powers one more time and knew for a guaranteed fact that it was going to work.

"Roots!"

The ultimate lifegiver of plants.

The source that gave beautiful plants their nourishment.

The source of all energy that helped the plants grow into the beautiful nature it was today.

Drawing forth all the power she could gather, Perfuma channeled all of the energy within her veins as she brought control of the mighty roots under her grasp with ease. They were so much more stable within the valiant cacti, they had a sturdiness she had never experienced before in such plants. They were the beautiful mystery behind this wasteland of a desert. They were the very rose she needed in order to bring her powers out to their fullest.

And they were only the beginning.

*clang*

Focusing, exerting her will, Perfuma did it all as she gathered all of the energy around her and brought the mighty roots under her control. With all of the power they could muster, she propelled the giant ship above her slowly, gradually pushing it further and further from the ground as she brought every ounce of power she could from her veins. She was making a good start of it as the giant roots burst through the ground, but knew she was far from over.

There was nature all around her, and with her gifted green thumb, she was all but powerful within this hidden rose of a desert. Empowering her concentration with as much clarity as she could, she focused her power to her left hand as she harnessed the essence of nature itself from every nook and cranny embedded within the dried withered wasteland around her. Every wall of the crevice, every surface, she brought nature under her rule as she pulled with all her might.

And it was with this newfound power, this sense of peace, that she managed to do the impossible.

Countless roots from every corner of this hole, every crack and hovel, she pulled the massive roots of the wasteland to her beck and call. Huntara watched with astonishment as she gasped, seeing the girl's power before her very eyes. Perfuma's hand glowed green as she sweated, pulling the massive roots to her aid as she gathered every ounce of nature in front of her. It was there that she grew a mighty stem of roots, almost forming a massive tree that grew by the second in constant scale. Nothing was going to stop her from completing her task, and now she had the confidence to do it!

All thanks to a certain rose she found blooming in the desert, one that grew by her side this whole time.

"These cacti have the most powerful root systems I've ever seen!" Amazing didn't come close to covering how awed she was by the sight, completely ignoring the huntress's expression as she continued to gape. "I was so wrong about them."

"Oh, and I was definitely wrong about you, flower girl." Never has Huntara felt so proud of a fellow friend before as she smiled at the show. She watched the towering oak continuing to raise the mighty ship to the crevice above, completely uncaring about her surroundings or the soldier she backhanded without even turning away, smacking the back of her fist into their helmet and knocking them out cold as she watched.

She has never felt so proud of a fellow ally of hers before, or a friend.

The ship continued to ascend as the fighting continued all around them. With the troops sprinting into the canyon beginning to dwindle, with many of the forces starting to retreat from the crumbling canyon. Save for those knocked out, the few that did remain were the lone archer who continued to provide covering fire, the two at the bottom who were maintaining the ship, and a lone warrior whose battle reached the middle of the canyon as Catra and Adora fought to their heart's content, and anger.

There were millions of possible questions Catra would've had for the girl, such as how her shadows were still working. what the new wardrobe change was for, and why she seemed to be using her fists and shadows against her despite the two swords she appeared to have sheathed on her back. Perhaps she would've been more inclined to ask her about any of those details if there wasn't so much unyielding rage underneath her blood!

*Wham!*

"Ngh!" Catra grunted as she took the next blow to her face, Adora leaving her little room to work with as she kept her on her toes. Her fists and feet alone were hard enough to deal with, but adding the shadows to the mix added a whole new list of problems for her. As long as they remained hidden within the scarf, they could surprise her at any angle. They could strike from the very tip of it from where it reached, or hide in waiting along her neck, surprising the girl at they range.

Just the way Adora intended for it to be used- with subtlety, and deception.

One of the few advantages she did have at this point was the lack of weaponry Adora was using at her disposal, and that included the shadows. No matter how many times she struck her, she never used her actual weaponry or morphed the shadowy claws into anything viable like a blade or the blade of a scythe. It was like she was toying with her for no discernable reason.

Perhaps that was because Catra kept lunging at her at every opportunity. She didn't care how often Adora smacked her around, she shrugged off all the pain she was delivering. She wasn't going to be satisfied until she made Adora regret the day she was born.

Following another quick jab to Catra's chin by the tip of her steel-plated boots in the middle of a backflip, the magicat had enough. As Adora was recovering herself mid-flip, Catra struck her sword in the base of the wooden structure. Pulling at it with all her might, she flung countless shards of broken wood at Adora just as she hit the ground again, leaving her no choice but to shield her face with her arms. The very instant the splintering assault ended, the next thing she was greeted with was the sight of Catra's fist as it smacked her square in the face, launching her across the wooden bridge until she hit the crevice's wall.

*Crash!*

She crashed with notable brute force into the rocky structure surrounding them, leaving a decent-sized crack along the solid mass where her back slammed into. Adora did have to admit, even for She-Ra, that attack stung a little. She was pretty sure she would've broken her nose if her attack aimed a single centimeter lower.

What ifs and possibilities would have to be put on hold as the Force Captain cleared her head of the attack after hearing the sound of another roaring shout. Already, Catra's relentless assault was being followed by another attack as the girl charged at her with a golden spear that was ready for impalement.

Reacting quickly to the attack, Adora smirked as she easily leapt away from the incoming strike, using the shadows within her scarf to reach up and pull herself upwards towards the next scaffolding above, just before Catra's spear struck through the solid earth. Catra hissed to herself as she forcefully ripped the spear from the wall, pulling apart several small boulders in the process as she glared up to the girl leering down at her, her legs dangling over the scaffolding casually.

"You're not going to get away, Adora!" She yelled angrily, reforming the spear back into its classic appearance. "I swear you're going to pay!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hate you, you hate me, blah, blah, blah." It was almost cute how angry Catra looked when she was feisty. "I'd love to stay and play "20 Reasons I hate you", but personally, I don't think you have the time for it."

"Huh?" Catra looked back as she saw Adora's attention shifting to the center of the canyon behind her.

No sooner than she did did she see the situation unfolding itself around them. From the combined pressure Perfuma's magic was placing over the large crevice and the roots buried deep within, the small canyon itself began to crumble as dozens of large boulders were breaking apart from the surrounding area. All of them were massive in scale, all of them hurdling down with intense speed, and all of them landing atop the very ship itself, among other places.

Perfuma winced in slight pain as she felt the piling boulders stacking atop the ship, feeling the pressure for herself as the ship started to slow down from its ascent. She refused to relent as the boulders continued to pile atop of her, the ship starting to double in weight with every couple of seconds that passed. Bow nearly became flatted by one such boulder as it popped out from above him, forcing him to flee from the structure he was on before he was crushed just like he was.

It was a sight for worry for the huntress as she watched Perfuma struggle. Knowing there was nothing she could do on her end, the hunter scanned the vicinity until she caught sight of Catra who was looking back at them. "We got a problem!"

"It's your choice, Catra." Adora continued to sneer from above, enjoying the look of aggression on the magicat's face. "It's either them, or me." And without giving the magicat a chance to respond, the Force Captain jumped to her own two feet before she finally took off. "Later."

"Ado-... Grrrrrr..." She wasn't done with her yet. She wanted her to pay, to make her suffer for everything she did. With her enhanced strength and muscles, she knew she could easily catch up to her with a single jump, chase her away into whatever dead end she could lure her to, and finish her off once and for all!

... But... she refused to let her friends pay the price. Foregoing the mission would mean putting their lives in jeopardy, and she already did that once today when she took off on her own. She wouldn't do something like that again.

With a heavy heart, a heavy conscious, Catra gritted her teeth as she took off in the opposite direction, running towards the ship in order to save her friends. It took a single large jump for the magicat to clear the fifty-foot distance between the nearest structure and the center of the ship. Once she did, continuing her momentum with a brief roll against the metal, she lashed out her sword with as much force as she could draw, unleashing a devastating slice that blasted apart a wave of magic to her surroundings.

The magic itself actually surprised Catra a little bit. Even with all the training she's had from Light Hope, and a few lessons from Shadow Weaver herself, she's never managed to channel her power into something like that.

But, once again, she found a more important reason to push herself to her limits, much like she did in the dreamworld.

Continuing on with the clearing, Catra began to shove off several large boulders at a time as the ships load became lighter, and the falling grinding to a halt. Hearing the sound of another crackling rock formation above, Catra grabbed the nearest boulder she could find before hurdling it towards several more of the smaller boulders coming towards her. With those out of the way, all she had left to deal with was the last boulder that came right towards her.

Squeezing both her hands against the sword's hilt, she embraced it. She embraced the emotions flowing within her, the drive to save her friends from being crushed to death, and the reality that she was no longer the same fearless Horde that once struck fear into the heart of her enemies. She was soft in comparison to her previous predecessor in every way.

And now, she was okay with it.

"HAAAAHHHH!"

*SWOOSH!*

Eyes glowing alight with a golden aura, Catra shot another burst of energy as she blew apart the massive boulder in all of its entirety. The energy radiating off the girl was neverending as her entire body lit with a familiar aura, one that surged with power as she continued to blast away several more of the massive rocks.

That same energy wasn't just limited to herself, either. Down below, right as Perfuma felt she was reaching her limits, her body began to glow with a familiar energy she hadn't felt since the Whispering Woods at the Beacon, filling her with renewed vigor as her body and her roots glowed with the color of nature. With this newfound energy, Perfuma finally lifted herself from her knee as she continued to channel everything she had, doubling the speed and the size of the gathering roots as Mara's ship began to shoot for the heavens above.

Bow stared in amazement as the ship passed him, seeing the two princesses working together in tandem as the ship continued to ascend. As it neared the final stretch of the long reach, so did the final crumble of the small canyon come about as the entire edge of the crevice began to crumble, bringing with it an avalanche of massive proportions. It would've been a frightening sight for anyone to bare witness, the most natural reaction being to run for the hills to save one's self.

Not for Catra. Not when she had something to protect.

Again, her entire body began to glow with an even more encompassing light as she held her sword firmly in her hands. With a final burst of energy, her sunny hair flowing like the crimson fire of the sun, Catra unleashed a massive burst of her power, completely obliterating every piece of debris that came crashing towards them with the same light of protection. With the final wave unleashed, the pathway to the ground above was at last in reach, and the ship finally met the solid ground of the majestic desert.

Finally, the mission had come to a successful end.

*whap*

"Oh!" Perfuma was a little startled before smiling to the congratulatory pat she received from the huntress behind her, Huntara chuckling with a job well done. With the mission's success, the failing Horde began to retreat as the rest of the debris came crashing down round them, escaping with their many skiffs and high-tailing it out of harm's way.

It was a sight to behold as Catra smiled a little down to the cheering friends before looking away with disgust. With all the skiffs retreating simultaneously, there was no way she could figure out which skiff Adora ran off with. Not even her enhanced state with She-Ra could improve her senses within this wasteland's environmental stench. For now, Adora was gone, but she swore to herself she would get her next time as she jumped to the nearest scaffolding, returning to her previous state with the sword-turned-collar around her neck.

"Yeah!" Bow's cheering was the first thing to greet her as she smiled back, giving a small high five to one another as the rest of her friends arrived. There was no less enjoyment from the fact that the mission had been a success, even with its ups and downs.

"I'm sorry I doubted you." Huntara apologized to the princess of plants, pulling her in a little with an arm around her neck playfully.

"It's alright." Perfuma smiled back as she let go. "We were all on a journey of personal growth today. I was so wrong to insult your home." She felt so guilty over not giving this place a chance, finding the hidden beauty of this place at long last as she pulled out one of the many items she had gathered. "It turns out... cacti have flowers too." She graciously offered a small cactus-like crown to the mighty hunter, one that had several beautiful blooming sun-red flowers growing from them.

Huntara smiled as she glanced between the two flowers standing before her- the one for her head, and the one offering it to her. With a grateful smile in acceptance, the proud hunter gladly accepted the crown, placing it upon her head with a sense of comfort. She had never been so thankful before to accept a gift such as this, one she could be proud to accept from her friends.

*swish!*

"Hnnngghhhh-!" And it was with a startling burst of pink light that the group suddenly found Glimmer popping out in front of them, wielding a full suit of armor below the head, and her father's trusty staff raised above her head. She was partly soaked in what smelled like seawater as she had several pieces of kelp dangling over her shoulders.

"Don't worry, I'm here to-!... Hey, you guys didn't save any bad guys for me!" She complained, disappearing her father's staff in disappointment. "I made it here as soon as I could. I only got a little lost, in the ocean." She moaned slightly as she plucked the last of the seaweed from her wrist. "You should've waited for me."

"Glimmer, you're-!" Catra nearly jumped with excitement for the first time before she caught herself after the first step. Composing herself with a brief blush over her cheeks, the magicat turned her head away as she scratched the back of her head. "Er- I mean, uh... H-Hey, you're here..."

Now normally, the smart thing to do would be to let it slide and pass after the day she's had. But, Queen excluded, the rest of her friends were all eagerly grinning at the magicat in a knowing look. They've seen what's been bothering her today, they all witnessed what it did to her. For themselves and for her own sake, they knew what she had to do.

But mostly for themselves.

"Catraaaa..." Bow grinned slyly with a knowing brow. Confused by the strange saying, Glimmer looked between her friends and the silent cat as Catra reformed a small blush over her cheeks.

"No."

"Come on, kitty, she's here now..."

"S-So?"

"Don't you have something to saaay~?" One by one the three friends egged her on as Catra tried to pass it off harder and harder, trying to ignore the blush forming over her face.

"Whaaat exactly is going on here?" Glimmer asked looking around. There was either some joke going on or something else because she didn't have a clue about why everyone was acting so weird. The only thing she knew was that it seemed to be centered on Catra of all people. "Catra, what's going on?"

"N-Nothing."

"If you don't say it tiger, we will." Huntara threatened as she grinned.

"Say what?"

"I-It's nothing, not that big of a deal-!" Catra nearly yelped as her face blushed harder. With her ears lowering to her side and her chest exhaling, the flush on her face briefly doubled in brightness before finally disappearing in front of their eyes. "I just... sorta... maybe... mhmm ymm..."

"You what?" Glimmer questioned tilting her head. Whatever the joke was she really wanted to hear it, or get over it so they could continue about their day.

"I said I might've mimmh moo..." She lowered her head with more embarrassment with each passing second.

"I couldn't hear that, Catra. Can you speak up or something-"

"I SAID I MISSED YOU, OKAY!" She finally stammered, heaving to herself as her eyes bugged out. "The entire mission's been boring since you weren't here, and I was stuck with these dweebs all day long!"

"..." Glimmer didn't know whether to be surprised or startled by the announcement that made the rest of her friends gush.

Internally, knowing it would be the safest.

After a long grueling boring day of meetings, and a mission she knew her friends could handle, she didn't expect to hear anything of the sort from somebody after the last few hours, much less Catra of all people. It was also with this that she noticed the bright red Horde jacket she was wearing, not that it surprised her as much given her heritage.

With the revelation made clear and the Queen still at a loss, Glimmer came to the one and only possible explanation that filled her mind as she looked back to her friends.

"Guys, who is this and where's Catra?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

*TUG*

"Ah! Hey!" Glimmer squealed as she tried to escape Catra, the magicat furious over her sudden response as she looped an arm around her neck and used her other to pull at her hair.

"I SAY SOMETHING EMBARRASSING LIKE THAT AND YOU DON'T EVEN BELIEVE IT!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH OF A HEADACHE YOU PUT ME THROUGH TODAY, AND INSTEAD OF A SIMPLE THANK YOU OR SOMETHING YOU ACCUSE ME OF BEING A FAKE-!"

"Ah! Stop! Stop!" Glimmer pleaded as she pulled her arm. "It's hurting! I order you to stop as your Queen!"

"YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF DEAD AFTER I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" Even with the sight of Catra jokingly (hopefully) trying to pull Glimmer's hair out, the rest of their friends just laughed.

It was so nice to see such a humorous moment after the trip they took to get here. With all the ups and downs and all its issues, the day turned out to be a pretty successful mission on multiple accounts, not just with the mission itself. It was a comforting sight to see Catra back to her old self again, her better self, just by seeing Glimmer again after a long drawn out afternoon.

Sadly, it was a sight Huntara realized she wasn't going to see again as she made her own decision. "Queen Glimmer, I need to stay, and take back the Waste for the Rebellion, and for my people." She announced as Catra finally let her go. "I won't abandon my home again."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Catra was a little disappointed by the announcement, knowing she was the most relatable person she had to hang out with in the Rebellion.

"Sorry, tiger, but as long as the Horde is roaming these parts, the Crimson Waste will never be safe. Besides, the Rebellion will be fine. They already got someone tough looking out for them." She smirked, earning a small grin from the feline as they butted their fists together. It was their own little way of saying goodbye, ignoring the fact that they were going to miss each other a little.

"Aw, say no, Glimmer." Perfuma cooed as she brushed the huntress aside playfully. "I've gotten fond of this desert rose." That might've been her first and last mistake in this lifetime because the next thing Perfuma knew, Huntara was lifting her up from under her arms as she gave the girl a small glare.

"Let anyone hear you calling me that, and I'll throw you into another exploding cactus." She threatened. As severe and direct as her threat was, it turned out to be nothing more than another playful bit of banter as Huntara's expression immediately turned into a chuckling smile soon after, one that was shared by a slightly nervous Perfuma all the same.

Glimmer felt like the only one left out as the rest of her friends laughed alongside them, even Catra a little as if she had completely forgotten the attempted murder she just tried to pull off a second ago. It was nice to see everyone happy again after such a long day, but she still felt a little left out as she pouted. "Seriously, what did I miss?"

"Heh heh, it's a long story." Bow replied, giving her a small nudge as he continued to chuckle. Though she might not ever hear the whole story of it, Glimmer was just fine with everything. With all that she was required to do as the new Queen, she knew she would be available less and less for missions such as this, and would be on constant alert for the safety of her friends.

But, no matter what the odds were that were stacked against them, she knew they could take great care of themselves as long as they were always together.

...

The desert's heat knew no end as the last of the traveling skiffs continued to cross the desert. Floating above the Crimson Waste that the Horde currently occupied, the three allies continued to make their way across its blazing surface as they prided themselves over a successful operation.

"Wow! Haha! That was amazing!" Scorpia clapped in cheer as she applauded the Adora standing on the large skiff's engine, the very one who bowed in encore as another Adora climbed up from the storage space underneath.

"Oh, stop." The further Adora fawned over the praise and attention as she took another bow. With a flash of darkness over their person, the one previously known as Adora reverted to their previous appearance known as Double Trouble, one who was still marked with the few scratch marks against their face. "Did you really like my audition?"

"More than words can say." The real Adora grinned as she leaned on the large skiff's side. Double Trouble took this with pride and joy as they gave another small bow at the following praise. "You went above and beyond with that performance. I'm a little curious how you made those shadows appear."

"It's all part of the act, my dear." They replied, growing another small pair of arms from their neck that appeared to be completely made of shadow. "I can grow anything and anywhere you need them to. Wings, color, tails," they went on as they flashed the variations of themselves before their new allies, "you name it. It's all part of the magic."

"And Catra didn't notice a single thing the entire time?"

"Not a single bit. Or if she did, she definitely didn't show it. That little kitty was more obsessed with smashing my beautiful face in rather than talking to it." They nearly fainted dramatically at the mere thought. If anything else of theirs got damaged to such an extend, there would be no end to the ruination of their beautiful career!

"Yeah, that's her alright. The fact that you managed to fool her so convincingly after the years I spent with her is what really amazes me." To think, the person she spent her whole life with, the one she grew up alongside, didn't notice a single break in DT's character. "If you're as good as you proved yourself to be, you can already expect an advanced pay when we get back."

"Oh, thank you, darling~ I promise you, my skills will not let you down." They smiled as Scorpia began to chat with them, patting their back in acceptance to the Horde.

She relished the feeling of the wind over her hair and scarf as she looked on ahead, her expression twisting with pure delight as the ideas were already flowing into her mind. A shapeshifter that could mimic anyone in any way, command over the Horde with her newfound strength, and an army that was truly starting to understand her seriousness as they started to push themselves around her. Everything was going up Adora, or Despara, as a sinister grin formed over her lips.

"Catra's never going to know what hit her..."

...

A/N: Annnd hooftah again, another exciting episode completed ^^ Not much to say in terms of DT that i didn't say above, thanks again for those with tips, and apologies to those who thought i was insulting the person- I was NOT, i was asking for help on how to refer to them, so let's make sure that point is clear, don't want anyone else accusing me of sexism (or i guess non-sexism in this case?) or something XP lol

Anyway, we now move on to the next exciting episode which may or may not be in 3 parts compared to the previous. Like i said, some of these eps may get shorter if i can't cover a large amount. Next episode alone has 8 minutes worth of stuff happening at the party alone, like perfuma's episode, it might be a 3 parter even with new stuff to add here and there :/ Hope you guys don't mind that cause then I can move on with regular speed and such X)

Anyhoo! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 127: S4 Episode 3: Flutterina Part 1

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 6.8K Pre-A/N's. No people, you are not seeing things. Do not attempt to adjust your monitors because you might end up breaking something just to see if you're seeing things. There is no seeing-things here issue and your eyes aren't playing tricks on you (whether you ingested anything unknown or otherwise is a different matter). We are looking at an update that's.. that's... *sniff* UNDER 7K WORDS X*(! I feel so ashamed! Dirty! Used! I've never seen something so disgraceful X*(!

Lol, honestly, I'm a bit at a shock, but like I said, trying to cut down on the number of words I use for the sake of making the chapter bigger so I don't fill in emptiness with dullness and whatnot XP as such, relatively similar part here today since it covers the first 5 mins like in the show (seeing how i do my show in parts like this anyway). That doesn't mean this'll all be a shot for shot recount, heck, the opening of the next one is going to be a bit different as it stands, and I can't wait to reach the conclusion.

All i'm saying is, like I said, be prepared for shorter parts throughout this season. I'd rather produce quality over quantity and whatnot, though i kind of strive for both. On a brighter note, it's apparently NOT my shortest chapter ever- that distinction comes down to chapter 40, the Episode 10 Finale that comes down to a 6.4k words, and several hundred of that over in Author's notes (god it feels so freaking saying chapter 40 when you're 80+ chapters ahead XD).

So, with that all said, enjoy!

...

"Ngggh..." The bed-ridden Adora moaned and squirmed as she tossed and turned within her bed. The images that were haunting her were causing her to sweat profusely, her nightmares cascading into a boiling fever dream as the images and scenery haunted her. Her hair was sprawled about her pillow as she tried to combat the horrendous nightmare, inside and out, doing everything within her power to keep the visions at bay.

But there was no rest for the restless as the suffering continued...

...

"-why we have to stop this, Adora!" Entrapta finished as Adora finally came too, shaking her head to clear her mind. "We can't go through with this."

"...HEY, TRAITOR!"

"Huh-?"

*tug*

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!*

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Entrapta cried out in pain as thousands upon thousands of volts coursed through her body within seconds.

Adora breathed heavily as she took a step back. The baton was still freshly steaming with the hot energy that flowed through its tip, the burn of what she had done still flashing in her mind. Entrapta betrayed her. She betrayed the Horde. She deserved to be tased and then banished to Beast Island. That's what happened to traitors! That's what should've happened to Shadow Weaver in the first place!

Right?

That was when she saw the shadow as the scenery dissolved. A large gleaming shadow in the shape of a person, a familiar one at that left no room for doubt as Adora saw nothing but red. It was Entrapta, another Entrapta, the same Entrapta, staring emotionlessly at the girl. There was no hate, no sorrow, no joy, just an emptiness. An emptiness that filled the white void surrounding them as Entrapta's final thoughts echoed within Adora's own mind.

"You're worse than Catra could ever be."

It was a familiar line she had once heard by Queen Glimmer herself, a princess at that point, and now with the added dread of Entrapta's own voice ringing in her ears as the scenery flashed again. Now she she saw herself, all alone, with nobody around her, save for an angry-looking Catra staring straight at her as her voice echoed all around them.

"Why did you pull the lever?!"

"I-I... I didn't know... I-I thought you were lying!" Adora trembled as she backed up, something about the look on Catra's face actually terrifying her. How could she be held responsible for a stupid portal malfunction? She was supposed to take Catra's word for it, a traitor's word at that, and call off the entire device that could turn the tide of this war? Of course not! She was her enemy, and nothing more! She couldn't trust her just so she could use her!

Not again!

Humming with an electrical pulse that was felt all around them, Adora watched in horror as the portal began to manifest behind the magicat, coming to live as the machine assembled itself behind her ex-friend. Without any source of power, without any logic or reason, the portal activated as the gravity fluctuated around them. There was nothing to keep the girl on her feet as she felt herself being drawn in.

She was terrified. She didn't want to go anywhere near that portal, or towards the girl who scared her right now. With the pull of the portal's gravitational force, she fell off her feet. She scrambled, scraped, tried to cling for anything along the ground as she attempted to pull herself away from the violent portal, unable to bare the thought of what was waiting for her on the other side.

Emptiness.

Darkness.

Nothingness.

It didn't matter. All that mattered was her attempts to escape from the dreaded machine.

An attempt that Catra wouldn't allow as she felt the girl's claws pulling the bun of her hair above her head. She pulled back Adora's head as she stared at her with a sinister grin, one that was excited about the torment that awaited her, and the vicious suffering she was going to endure.

"Where do you think you're going?" Her echoey voice asked, without moving that godawful grin from face. "This is exactly what you wanted, wasn't it?"

"N-No! NO!" Adora shouted back as she felt Catra continuing to tug her along. Somehow the feline was kneeling at her side all throughout this, as if completely unaffected by the suction of the portal and the void that awaited her. "I didn't want this! I-I didn't want any of this!"

"Like that matters anymore." Somehow the terrifying grin intensified as Catra began to pull against her arms, Adora doing everything in her power to stick to the floor. "It's like I said, Adora. I'm more of a hero than you'll ever be." And it was with the glow of burning red eyes that Catra's final words shook her to the core.

"Now, let me show you how I deal with villains~!" And with a horrendous scream, Adora was pulled back by the magicat, Catra's cackling laughter as she held Adora against her will as the two were pulled into the burning fires of the portal, the cries of a thousand lives screaming from the other side as she grew closer.

"No- Let me go!" Adora begged as her tears flowed from her face and into the void itself. "Catra! Catra-!"

...

And then, she woke up.

"CATRA!" Adora panted as she shot up out of bed, heaving and sweating incredibly as her eyes still watered uncontrollably. She felt like her heart had ran a mile while outside of her own body she was breathing so heavily. She surveyed the area only when her breathing finally became stable, taking in the sight of everything that belonged to her with as her hands shook.

She was back in her old room, one specifically given to Force Captains like her. People that deserved such luxuries when they performed harder than anyone else in the Horde. More than that, these very walls that surrounded her, her room, her bed, reminded her of where she was. She was home with the Horde, where she had always been, and where she was safe.

"Huff... Huff..." It took Adora another minute of heavy breathing as she stared down at her own two hands, waiting for the shaking to finally stop. She could feel the amount of sweat through her grey tank top PJs, the tips of her hair draining with liquid... no, not just her hair. Her eyes too. They were tearing again, outside of her control. Everything about this situation, all that was present, was how she woke up from every nightmare she had suffered.

For the last several weeks since the Portal incident.

Wiping her eyes dry, the Force Captain took one last deep breath through her nose before exhaling, lying her head back against the pillow with her wrist over her forehead. How many times was she going to have this nightmare? How long would it be before they go away? Months? Years? Never?! She didn't do anything to deserve this. It was all Catra and her stupid friends' fault, she was sure of it! What, now that they beat her in reality, they were going to deprive her of sleep next?

*beep-boop*

"Ahhh!" Apparently not. The next person that came to startle her wasn't a person at all. It was a single lonely droid by the name of Emily that whirred and wooed at the sound of Adora's persistent squirming, to her trembling. It was a gesture that was supposed to be comforting in some respects, or something that was just supposed to irritate Adora to no end. "Eghhhh, Emily..." She grumbled, grabbing one of the several pillows she had before chucking it at the purple light of its sensor. "Get out!"

The robot let out a sad whirr as it beeped again, shaking its body as if it was scrambling amongst its legs before finally making its way out of Adora's room. Adora waited with a stern pair of eyes as she watched the droid leave through the automatic doors, and once she was sure it was gone for good, she moaned, stretching her arms briefly before lying back into bed.

So many things bothered her. The Rebellion. She-Ra. The Portal. Catra. Everything that plagued her in her life all came from that one lowly girl who used her constantly, day in and day out. She didn't know how much of Catra was greedy anymore, she didn't know how selfish she still could've been, and she didn't care anymore. Someone like that, someone as manipulative and deceitful as her, didn't deserve to be called a hero. Adora was going to prove to her and the rest of Etheria that she was the hero the world needed, that the Horde stood unified for everything right with Etheria.

It wasn't even a matter of personal pride anymore, it was vengeance. Vengeance against the girl who ruined her life, payback after everything she stole from her. She was going to end Catra's reign if it was the last thing she ever had to do, and prove to her that she was the true hero out of all of this no matter what happened to her. And she would use any means to put a stop to Catra once and for all.

Even if she had to cut her down for good...

...

~ We're on the edge of greatness ~

~ turning darkness into light ~

From behind in the valley, the two she's come to know as friends teleport behind her, running up to her side with a small hug each, and turning the uncertainty of doubt into a small smile of her own.

~ We're right beside you ~

~ Ready to Fight! ~

With a jump through the air, Catra descends forth as She-Ra, prepared for battle as she draws her weapon to the Horde army below.

~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~

And following right beside her are her two friends, weapons drawn, and magic blasted as the three storm the battlefield.

~ We're gonna win in the end! ~

Mermista rises out of a tide, smirking to herself against the colorful warm background with trident at the ready.

We must be strong, and we must be brave ~

Perfuma burst from the bud of a sunny flower, captivated by the tranquility of nature surrounding her with glee.

~ (we must be brave) ~

~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~

~ and never let go ~

~ (Oh ah Oh) ~

~ We must be STRONG! ~

The scene ends with a final shot of both sides looking across the field, a transparent image of Catra and Adora's faces filling the sky as the colors are split between them;

A majestic darkness shining into light upon Catra's side, and a horrid light seeping into darkness on Adora's half.

...

The wreckage didn't tell him anything else he didn't already know. The bots were completely scrapped, the devices that made these advanced machinations beyond obsolete. There was nothing around him better than junk and scraps at best. The rest of these useless tools and metals were nothing more than a paperweight at most as they littered every corner of his sanctum. The only one that drew any interest to the side-leader of the Horde was the lone droid that lied atop his lab table.

And not because it amused the once proud Hordak as he examined it.

Like many of the other droids, this one was scrapped from every angle, this one in particular looking as if something had sliced it in half, something other than a troublesome warrior and her sword. The fringes of the edge were dissolved by something with a high combustible energy source, the fractures along its internal circuitry being dismantled by sheer force of strength. This wasn't just a show of brute strength or intelligence. These were made by the tools and weapons crafted by everyday civilians, a militia in some cases. A single militia managed to do this to an army of droids, and who knows what else.

All because of that, possibly. Eyeing the mysterious object within the center of one of the destroyed droids, Hordak plucked a single object from the wreckage, a small pink meter-like device that was integrated within the core of the machine. Nothing like this existed within the Horde's database, and he was pretty sure he would've known if something like this, in pink, was ever made by Horde hands.

There was only one probable explanation behind this, a question that left his mouth on pure instinct.

"Was this your doing," he narrowed his eyes as his throat turned to bile, "Entrapta?" To think, a once promising scientist he actually didn't mind having at his side, would turn traitor like this. To betray the Horde, to betray all it stood for, and... to betray him.

"Entrapta!" The sound of his own imp mocking him with the sound of his own voice was enough to cause a blush, a real blush, to form over his cheeks for the first time in his disgraceful existence. "Entrapta! Entrapta!" The voice was mocking and teasing the fearless leader of the Horde as he dove under his hands, avoiding the swipes and blows that tried to strike it as it rose high into the air.

With nothing else at his disposal, Hordak chucked the very object he plucked from the machine, attempting to shoot down the irritating ingrate that nimbly dodged to the side, bouncing the small device off a large pipe. The object landed a short ways away at the other end of the room where another figure stood waiting, watching as the small device slid across the ground to their very feet. It almost amused Adora as she picked it up from the ground with little curiosity, enjoying the drama that played out before her.

But not as much as she enjoyed the sight of the very imp landing on her own right shoulder, rubbing its face against the side of her cheek as she scratched its pur-like-filled chin. "You really outta try some compassion once in awhile, Hordy~" Adora teased with a smug grin, enjoying the sight of her former abuser scoffing at the sight of her. "It might win you some friends."

"Ghhh... Despara..." He seethed as he returned to the work at hand.

He loathed the name more than anything within his domain, within his rule. Then again, considering she forcefully took judgement over who ran what around here, there wasn't much left that was his. All the countless fools and subjects that bent to his will still obeyed without question, but ultimately, the final choice and say was under Adora's thumb.

However long that was going to last.

"What is all this junk?" Adora questioned, observing the various tools and broken parts as she approached.

Groaning, the former leader of the Horde released the pent up aggression, knowing he was going to have to play her little game, for now. "The rebels managed to capture one of our bots and retrofit it with some sort of surge device. It decimated an entire squadron of our machines." He explained, going about his business as he grabbed one of his tools, seeing what he could salvage from the various wreckage.

"Tch, broken bots and broken dreams." Adora rolled her eyes, squatting next to a large hump of a broken droid. "It's the same story over and over again. When are you going to learn, Lord Headache." She smirked as she scratched the imp under its chin again. "It doesn't matter how many droids you make in your spare time. What really wins the day is loyalty and obedience. Isn't that right~?"

"Loyal! Loyal! Loyal!" The imp mimicked as it opened it's mouth, playing a sound-for-sound portion of Adora's words all over again. Grimacing at the annoying imp, and how easily it turned traitor when it found someone else to fear and respect, the nefarious leader flicked a scrap of metal directly at its forehead, scaring off the poor creature as it flew away again.

"Loyalty means nothing if you don't have the manpower, Ad-" He shook his head in annoyance, remembering his current place. "Despara. Loyalty won't mean anything without soldiers, and soldiers are nothing without power. If you intend to run the Horde as you see fit, you'd do well to remember that lesson."

"Yeah, yeah, your bots are tough and shiny, I get it." Rolling her eyes again, Adora's smile twisted playfully as she stood by his side, tossing the coin-like object back and forth in the palm of her hands. "You have your toys, I have my soldiers. But how many of those do you lose on a daily basis compared to me?"

*swiff*

Adora flinched as the ex-leader swiped the object before her eyes, narrowing his own with a small scowl. "Do not be flippant with me, Despara. No matter what power you think you hold over me, do not think for a moment that I will hesitate to be rid of you if your agendas put the entirety of the Horde at risk."

Cute.

Simply cute.

He still thought that he held some sort of presence over her, that she was intimidated by the very sight of him, and the sound of his threat. She almost wanted to call it adorable if the person themself didn't revolt her so much. "I'm just saying. My soldiers seem to be doing pretty well in comparison. I'm starting to wonder if "Big Boss Man Prime" will make me his new general when he sees how well I'm doing compared to-"

"Even you, Adora, should fear being this bold in my presence." His rage knew no bounds as he began to march up to the girl, his glowing red eyes burning with a hatred as backed her up a step at a time.

He would not allow any sort of playfulness such as this when it came to matters of his one and only master. He toyed with her disrespect and put up with it all till now, but there was a limit where even HIS infinite patience with this girl would run thin. She could destroy him, he could destroy her, it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that she learned what true fear really was. "I-"

*clap*

That noise. That stupid clapping. He's heard such a pat before when Adora thought once to foolishly applaud him for something trivial in the past. He was hearing it again after so long, coming from the same person who was standing right in front of him.

And fifteen feet away from him to his right.

"Bravo, brava." Adora cheered passively as the worried look over the previous Adora's face smiled once more. "Not a bad performance, huh? Like looking in a mirror." Hordak shifted his view between the two Adoras as the one in front of him gave a small bow, walking her way over to the new one as the true leader of the Horde gave the proper introductions. "Lord Hordak, I'd like to introduce you to Double Trouble. We met when I was out scavenging Mara's ship for parts."

Hordak watched with amazement as the familiar cretin he mistook transformed before his very eyes, watching their body morph with a night's illuminating sky as they changed in size and appearance into what they truly were. A bizarre green-skinned tailed figure that stepped forth, bowing graciously before their captivated audience. "They're going to help us take down the Rebellion for good."

"Apologies for being rude." They said lifting their head up as they backed away to Adora's side, hiding behind her a little for protection. "I was getting into character. Did it work? Be honest. As always, I'm open to constructive criticism." Somehow, Adora became the second-most disgusting creature within his presence.

"A shape-shifter." The creature that stood before him wasn't unknown to the technological mastermind, having not seen one for countless years. To his knowledge at least. He was also a little baffled that anyone, much less Adora, managed to acquire such an asset. "Do not attempt to deceive me again." It was there that Adora, the real one, had the exact same thought about Hordak's dire warning that the doppelganger had previously.

His threat was cute.

But not intimidating.

Especially when she eyed the small crystal around the collar of his exosuit. He followed her gaze to the same suit as he grimaced, knowing exactly what she was thinking. Unlike her exoskin-based suit, she didn't need a crystal to keep it empowered, or to keep herself alive. It was that very detail that gave her a slight edge over him, with the shadows at her possible disposal making it near impossible to reach her in a fight from a safe distance.

Biting his own tongue, the ex-leader returned to his work as Adora watched in satisfaction, glad that the fearless leader finally knew his place for the time being. "So, what's with all the broken toys?" She asked, gingerly making her way to his side as she sat atop his work table.

"The bots were a part of the occupation of Elberon. A failed operation. The rebels seized the town." Adora shook her head at the information. To think, not two weeks ago, she would've taken the news with a dash of salt, the bittersweet information rolling down her tongue with disgust. Now, it was nothing more to her than the foolish rebels making a mistake they were going to regret later. "It seems their tactical capabilities have increased since... Since Entrapta returned to them." And yet he still knew what to say to make the bile rise up once more.

Even after all she's accomplished, more than tripling her previous alliances with various towns and outposts in the last few weeks compared to her first few months as his Second-in-command, he still felt the need to bring her up now and again. If it wasn't for the fact she knew he wouldn't attempt to rile her up intentionally, not with his suit's limitations, she would've sworn he was doing it on purpose.

"It is of no consequence. I will improve our machines and we will seize Elberon back." This he swore.

"Why Elberon?" The Force Captain asked, glancing over the broken droids. "It doesn't seem any more important to Horde than any other town we've come across."

"It may have escaped your notice, but we are trying to win a war."

"Win this, win that. You know, that's what your biggest problem is, Hordy." Adora commented as she pulled one of the coils from a broken droid, playing with it and bending it between her fingers. "You always focus on how to take over the place when you should be focusing on how we can get them to work with us even if they don't want to."

... He had to admit. She piqued his curiosity ever so slightly as he contemplated her words. "And what do you propose, then?" Adora said nothing as she grinned, looking off to the center of the room where Hordak's eyes followed.

There, sitting cross-legged atop a mound of debris, was the newest ally and recruit who went by the name of Double Trouble. Everything that went on with her plans involved them in one way or another. They were going to bring the Rebellion crashing down upon them with her newest ally, one who could transform without giving off their scent to Catra in any regard. They would be the ultimate weapon at her disposal, and, together, they were going to change everything.

And it all started with a little town by the name of Elberon.

...

"That's when Catra turned her sword into a long chain sickle, punctured it with the blade, hooked it up, and slammed it into several more bots like a wrecking ball!" Bow exclaimed through the data pad's video, all while the smug Catra rubbed her claws against her chest nonchalantly with pride.

"What can I say? I'm a natural." She only says it because she knows its true, grinning with pride as she stared back into the monitor. "Personally, I think my favorite part though was when Bow used one of his oil slick arrows to slip them them, gathered them at the edge of the cliff, and then I slammed the one I had into them like bowling pins, knocking them over the edge. Bam!"

"And I kicked them!" Swift Wind added, popping into the screen with the same enthusiasm as Catra tried to shove him out of her view.

"Yes! Get them." Glimmer cried out in cheer as she pumped her fist. This was what always excited Glimmer since her reign as Queen began several weeks ago.

Throughout the many proceedings and work she had to do, what with all the meetings, all the business she had to conduct, and resources to distribute throughout the Rebellion, she was beyond exhausted spiritually as every dull task kept her from enjoying the fun stuff that the rest of her friends were going through. The only semblance of fun she had was listening to their reports through the data pad about how they kicked the Horde's metal butt over and over again.

Even if she was stuck hundreds of miles away from Bright Moon.

At least her job as the new Queen was going relatively well. Among the many assignments she had, one of the few that she actually enjoyed was coming up with the new missions and details that Catra and her friends always found themselves on. In a way, it still made her feel like she was part of the mission too as she assigned the tasks they would then complete.

Take the mission to the Crimson Waste for example, the very first mission she assigned as her role as Queen. With Huntara and Perfuma at their side, Catra and Bow were tasked with retrieving a First One's vehicle, Mara's ship, from the desolate wasteland so the Rebellion could repair it and have an edge over the Horde. It was a simple enough task with Huntara acting as their guide, the same huntress who stayed behind soon after the mission was finished, and Perfuma's magic over her plants to carry it.

Like all of their missions had been up to this point, and most likely will be for the foreseeable future, it steadily got worse before it got better. For the current mission, it came down to the very ship being taken and dragged away by the Horde, to the very friends and allies who went on the mission to start with.

Between Catra's apparent need for acting out to prove she wasn't soft, unknowingly missing Glimmer throughout the day, Perfuma's inability to command the cacti surrounding them, the one plant she saw as the bane of her existence, and Huntara's old friends betraying her and selling her out to the Horde when they were trying to search for the ship, there was no end to the troubles that chased them all throughout the Valley Of The Lost.

And like the many missions they had beforehand, eventually, everything started to work out. Catra had accepted she wasn't the same Horde soldier she once was, Perfuma managed to use the powerful roots of the Valley to hoist the ship up, Bow used his technological expertise to track and locate the ship through a Horde badge from a jacket her collected, one that Catra was still wearing, and Huntara provided the encouragement the two needed to hear to push themselves through the day. And in the end, everything was resolved by the time Glimmer appeared to lend her support.

Yup, everything was just the way it should be!

... Except for her. She was still missing out on the missions, with the most exciting part of her day being waiting for the meetings to be over. All she could rely upon was her trusty data pad to keep in touch with Bow and Catra on a daily basis as they went on the missions they usually did as a trio, the missions that brought them closer together as friends. If it wasn't for them right now, she was pretty sure she would've died of boredom as a Queen by the third day alone.

"And just when we thought it was over, a dozen more of the bots swarmed all around us!" Catra continued, drawing her sword from her collar for dramatic effect. "And that's when..."

"My new surge device worked perfectly." Bow revealed, showing off the very device that would continue to lead to the Horde's downfall. Circular in shape, pink in color with a few wires along one corner, and coin-like in size. "Took out the rest of the bots in one go."

"And I kicked them!" Swift Wind wanted to make sure the new Queen would never forget how valiantly he kicked them!

"Amazing." Glimmer always wondered what it felt like to be proud of her friends like her mother always did, and now she knew. "Those bots didn't stand a chance against the Best Friend Squad!" And then she realized how her mother must've felt when she gazed around the room again, feeling the same feeling that the Meeting Room represented.

Emptiness.

There was a small divot in Glimmer's expression as she frowned, the once boisterous Queen looking glum as if she had seen a depressing film. "I really wish I could've been there. At least you'll come back soon, right?"

"Uhh..." Bow checked over the magicat's own expression as the three walked through the woods. She had something of unease within her eyes that was filled with guilt, partly masking the excitement she was feeling at the same time. "Soon. Yeah. There's just one more thing we have to take care of."

"Er... Y-Yeah! It's just some small, eh... p-patrol we're taking to make sure we got them all." Catra's best efforts to sound genuine were met with skepticism, but at least they were better than Swift Wind's involvement with what he said next.

"The people love us because we saved Elberon, so they're throwing us a celebratory dinner!" The device practically screeched with Swift Wind's announcement his voice was so high pitched. He was completely missing the look of annoyance coming off of the two friends as Catra rolled his eyes and Bow stared in abstract silence.

"Heh. A dinner? That sounds like fun." Glimmer said, trying to sound supportive of her friends.

"Ah, i-it's nothing much, just a small thank you, a few snacks, you know." Now Catra could understand why Bow told her not to sound too excited about the dinner for them as she shoved Swift Wind away. The look in Glimmer's eyes alone was enough to make her feel guilty about what she was missing out. Too bad she neglected to tell Swift Wind the same thing.

"Yeah, I mean, I bet they do this for everyone." Bow conceded, recognizing the same look that Catra noticed.

"You guys, of course they wanna thank you. You freed a whole town from Horde control! I just... Ugh..." This was so unfair. She was the Queen, which meant she could've decided how things were run around here, right? So why couldn't she make a stupid rule that allowed her to go on missions as often as she wanted?!

"Well, if you need us, we could always skip out on the dinner thing?" Bow suggested before Catra shoved into his way.

"Or, better idea, you could just ditch work and come join us?" Catra threw in a little enthusiastically. "I mean, missing one meeting couldn't hurt, right?"

Apparently it did have to hurt, because the immediate response to this was Glimmer sighing. "Catra, we've been over this. I have too many duties now as the new Queen." Honestly, she was touched when she found out Catra actually missed her a little since the last mission. She just wished she could get through to her about why she couldn't hang out like they used to. "I can't afford to be missing if something happens. What if the Horde suddenly attacked Bright Moon?"

Catra merely blinked at this as she shifted her eyes to the side for a few seconds, returning her view to the monitor with a small grin. "All the more reason to come and be out of harms way then, right?"

"Heh, that would make for a decent excuse, couldn't it? I'm sorry, Catra, but I really can't."

"Mmmh... Do you know how much you're pushing my niceness-quota for the day?" The cat's brow furrowed as she grumbled.

"You can put it on my bill. Really, go enjoy your victory you guys. You earned it."

Great, because I am famished. Are we going now?" Swift Wind popped in again as he shoved Catra's head away with his own. It was times like this Catra could understand what it was like being someone else while another Catra was at her side.

It was painfully obnoxious.

"You really aren't missing anything." Bow assured as the three made their way into the central hut of the village. With such a remote setting, with simple people and folk alike, it was hard to expect anything glamorous from this place. "You know, we'll drop by for a little while to be polite-"

"Pick you up a few snacks." Catra threw in.

"-and be back home."

"Seriously, it's a small village in the middle of nowhere." Catra chuckled as she and Bow pushed open the double doors. "How much of a party can it be?"

*POOOOF!*

"Whoooooooo!" It was hard to tell which surprised them first, the incredibly loud sound of party favors going off with streamers and confetti, or the insatiable crowd that was applauding with cheer the moment Catra and Bow stepped through the door.

For such a seemingly-peaceful quiet village, this place was the furthest thing from it!

All around them, the Main Hall of the village was packed to the brim with people in just about every shape and color. They stretched as far as the very end of the room to the edges of the surrounding wall. Nothing about this place didn't scream party to these two as they stood there, mouths gaped open from utter shock, and faces filled with disbelief.

Streamers and balloons stretched across every archway connected to the ceiling, the overhead chandeliers were lit with candles at every foot. Every single one of these people were showing their utmost affection and cheer for their town's heroes. It was almost hard to tell if they were all here for their accomplishments or just here for them, they were so cheerful.

The biggest draw to any of this, the thing that truly caught Catra's eyes the most, was the sight of the far wall in the background. There, for reasons she couldn't explain, for answers one couldn't check, there was a memorial dedicated to her, Swift Wind, and Bow, in the shape of a large painting. The entire wall in the back had the rough details of their characters drawn about, each of them holding their weapons or themselves with honor as they represented the best and the bright of Etheria.

If Catra didn't know any better, she could've sworn she was in Plumeria again, remembering the way they all cheered for her for just being her as they praised and adored her. Only this time, she knew this was for her, not She-Ra. She could look at this place and say to herself that absolutely nothing could ruin this day for once.

And the rain of confetti never seemed to end as it piled over their shoulders and head.

"What was that?" Glimmer could be heard asking through the device. "What's going on?"

"Horde's here. Gotta run!" Catra stammered before charging into the crowd with Swift Wind at her tail.

"Gotta go. Wish you were here." And with Bow turning off the device before stashing it away, he soon followed suit.

This was going to be a very interesting day.

...

A/N: God, this is going to be a fun party X) It'll even be a funner episode with what i got in store for you folks... Heh heh heh X)... Eh hem, but uhh... With that said! Not much else to say about this overall since we've barely just started.

So with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 128: S4 Episode 3: Flutterina Part 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 9.9k Pre-A/N's. Woohoohooooo! Man this was a fun chapter to write ^^ Everything about it was exciting to do between the characters, the party, and the small action we got towards the end (which, not to worry, there'll be plenty more of next chapter and the one leading after it). I don't really have much else to say on this chapter, though I am glad i managed to get the size to a nice chunk after the last minor chapter I threw in. Hope you guys are ready because by the end, the excitement starts to mound X)

And with that said, enjoy!

...

"Get everything into position, pronto!" Adora shouted as she directed the soldiers rushed about to their assigned stations.

"You heard Commander Despara! Move it people!" The helmet-wearing Captain of her guard ushered, following about the various soldiers as they went about their assigned duties. Adora watched as the various guards and soldiers went about their work, watching carefully for anyone that could be slouching or slacking off on the job as she stood at the top of the base's bridge within the center.

This was going to be the day that she finally brought the Rebellion down to its knees, one way or another. All the soldiers ran about as they set up the base's defenses within the woods, preparing all the necessary precautions that were needed to ensure Commander Despara's plan succeeded without question. None of them were brave enough to incur the commander's newfound wrath or anger, not that any of them were foolish enough yet to propose such a thing.

For this to work, Adora needed to make sure everything was in place. That everyone did as they were instructed for a change without her having to hold their useless hands through it. Anybody that slacked off from their duties were no better than a nuisance, and a blemish on the Horde. She was going to make sure everything ran as it should be from start to finish. And she wasn't going to allow anyone to give her the same phoney useless excuses they always did.

Everyone felt her menacing gaze on them, nobody was brave enough to look up from their posts or stations as they continued to do as they were told. Soldiers were carrying heavy crates they were unloading from the multiple skiffs, others were unboxing them and assembling the machinery that was housed inside. They all knew what their tasks were, and they all knew better than to do anything that would cross Despara.

No matter how unsettling it was to watch for some of them. Such as a close best friend that continued to follow her from behind.

"Heh, eh, everyone's working pretty hard. Huh, Adora?" Scorpia commented with a questionable chuckle, watching the soldiers pushing themselves for the first time in Adora's presence.

Adora didn't give her any glance or gaze back as she remained focused on the people around her, watching from above to ensure they performed their duties admirably. "As they should be." Adora stated, reaching the end of the bridge as she walked down the small metal staircase. "This is how I should've been from the start, Scorpia. I mean, look at them all! Before they were lazing about going at half their speed. Now? They're working like their lives depend on it, mostly because it does." For a moment, there was a brief flash of red over Adora's eyes as she said this, reaching the grounds of the base herself.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, I know. We need to keep our defenses up and everything..." Scorpia said awkwardly, scratching the back of her head as she watched the soldiers running about. Some of them ran a little faster as they noticed Adora's approach, most likely due to the fear of her anger that was coming off of her. "So... I was just wondering and all," she went off as she poked the tip of her claws, "exactly... how long are you going to do this whole "scary-Adora" thing for?"

"What do you mean?" Adora continued to keep her attention ahead of herself as she signed a small checklist handed to her by a guard.

"Well, it's just with the whole... you know... pretending to be this "big aggressive person" all of a sudden and pushing everyone around you." She tried to explain herself as Adora finished the brief list, continuing on ahead. "Like, how long exactly do you plan to keep it up for? Is there a certain day or time you'll be done with it, or-?"

"Scorpia, I don't know what you're talking about." There was an emotionless streak to Adora's tone as she walked about the base. "I'm not acting for anyone or anything, I'm just being me."

"O-Oh, right, Despara, heh, yeah. I get that. But, aren't you getting, like, tired of the whole charade?" Scorpia continued to walk on as Adora stopped unknowingly. "You know we haven't played a single board game or something in weeks, and I don't think we've hung out lately except for missions or-"

*thump*

Scorpia stopped as she suddenly bumped into the smaller Force Captain, looking ahead of herself as she noticed Adora standing still as if in thought. She didn't give the taller girl any bit of her attention as she squeezed her fists to her side. "Scorpia, I want to make this perfectly clear before this day is over." She stated as she turned to her with her reddened eyes. "This is the new me. The current me. Look around for yourself!" Her friend did as she was told as she watched the bustling soldiers and guards.

"Before I became this way, people needed my approval to wipe their own two feet and tie their shoelaces. They kept wasting my time with the pointless nonsense like if they could get a break or a drink when they needed one, like a bunch of children! On top of that, I was getting pushed back and forth constantly with stupid requests on top of the paperwork I had to do!"

"Now? Nobody pushes me around. People are getting their work done on time, they're putting in more effort than I've ever been capable of pushing them through. Not only that, but I finally have others doing the paperwork for me, which I should've done in the first place if I wasn't being so gutless."

"Gutless?" Her friend questioned. "Adora, you weren't being gutless, you were being compassionate. You were being nice, and friendly, and-"

"And everyone was taking advantage of it." Adora cut off with a scowl. "So I want to be perfectly clear, Scorpia, because this is the last time I'm going to say it. This, is the new me. I will be as hard as I need to be. I will not be soft-hearted person I was in front of these soldiers or anyone else when we're in public like this. And you had better get used to me like this, Scorpia, because until this war is over, I'll never be the same again. Are we clear?"

She almost shocked Scorpia with her words as she said this. She probably would have if Scorpia didn't notice a small twinge in her expression for a minute, one that almost looked apologetic and depressed about everything going on around her. But before she could call her out on this, Adora walked away, continuing to make the necessary preparations for the outpost, and leaving Scorpia with her thoughts.

She really has changed over the last few months. She's gone from the kind-hearted girl she used to laugh and play with to... this, within a matter of weeks. She didn't smile as often as she did, she didn't usually want to hang out with her like they used to, and she honestly can't remember the last time she gave her a hug within the last week.

At least, not one that wasn't followed by a small growl in her throat.

But at the same time, she knew. She knew, she was confident, that all of this was because of the Rebellion, the people she was trying to defeat. She knew the person Adora was deep down wasn't this crazy overzealous commander who cared more about her mission than her troops. After all, she was the one who risked her life to shut down the portal world when they were all stuck inside of it, and even though Catra ultimately destroyed it in the end, she at least tried.

She knew with a certainty that what Adora needed right now was a friend. A friend that would listen to her every step of the way and help her through her problems until the fight with the Rebellion was over. She was going to do her best to make sure Adora came back to her so they could go back to the good old days like they used to. Maybe if she helped enough, Adora might calm down about the possibility of returning Entrapta from Beast Island, too! It was a large gamble, but one that deserved the risk to reunite the three friends together.

And then, once it was all settled, she knew. She would turn back to the Adora who cried to her occasionally when the stress was overwhelming. They would go back to being the great friends they already were, like a "Best Friend Squad" or something. Scorpia didn't know if they would actually be something that ridiculous sounding, much less if that even existed, and she didn't care. She knew, when the Rebellion's days were over, and Etheria was reunited under the Horde, that everything would go back to normal within the Horde, as well as her best friend.

At least, she hoped.

...

The music sprang across the room as the Central Hut of Elberon was abuzz with celebration. Instruments, dancing, streamers, food, every festivity fit under one roof, every possible piece of a party standing before them. They were standing in the center of one of the biggest parties they had ever seen before, and it was all for them!

They couldn't even understand why! Okay, sure. They just liberated Elberon from the Horde's clutches a short while ago. It wasn't anything major, it was a simple battle, really. They whacked a few droids, blew up a few others, dismantled pieces of a tank, all that sorta stuff. And it wasn't like they've never done something so heroic before. Almost all of their missions involved the Horde at some point, even ones where they were just dropping off relief supplies to ruined towns.

And, almost every time, they earned nothing more than a simple thank you, maybe a parting gift or two. Not that Catra was in the mood to complain since she always welcomed a small reward from all of their hard work and effort.

But this? This was something far beyond the scope of anything they had ever seen before. The entire Hut was decked out with all sorts of goodies and party favors, half of which none of the three had ever seen before. The colorful confetti was still raining from the sky almost every five minutes as the party drew on. Catra, Bow, and Swift Wind still couldn't take their eyes off from everything Elberon had to offer as they stood within the center of the room. This village might've been happier than Plumeria, and that was saying a lot!

All around them people played and praised to their heart's content. There was laughter, there was dancing. Children were playing with the remains of a broken tank as if it was a jungle gym, grown adults and children alike climbing over one of the larger bots the trio had destroyed through their hard work. Several of them were still setting up decorations and paper mache cutouts of the three heroes who saved their village. And under it...

Oh gosh, under it, was the greatest sight that Swift Wind ever beheld. Someone was making figurines out of the likeness of the trio, all out of thin bendable wood and straw, and a feather! It was a size fit for a child's toy as they ran off with it, passing the starry-eyed pegasus who couldn't believe what he was seeing.

It was a spectacular party to behold.

"This... is a party..." Catra said as the three of the stared off blankly in the same direction.

"This is a big party." Bow was stunned as he spoke, the riling crowd of partygoers surrounding them in every direction.

"And it's... It's all for us!"

"It's a big party for us!"

"Bow, be honest. This isn't because I'm She-Ra or anything, is it?" Catra trembled as she anticipated the answer. "I'm still in Plumeria, right? Am I dreaming right now? Are they celebrating for me or are they celebrating for She-Ra?!"

"Even if they were celebrating for She-Ra, that wouldn't explain why they're celebrating for us, too." Bow tried to calm down. "This is really happening, and I think it's for us us!"

"Ah, there you are. Our heroes." The three turned to the source of the chipper voice as they saw the head of the village approaching them in her traditional garbs. "Oh, we couldn't possibly thank you enough for liberating our town." She felt so honored as she shook the hands of the town's saviors, including Swift Wind's hoof, one at a time.

"Yeah, no problem, whatever. Listen, just out of curiosity... Is this supposed to be celebrating She-Ra-me, or just me-me?"

"She-Ra-you?" The village head questioned raising a brow. "No, no, of course not. This is to celebrate your heroic deeds and all that you've accomplished for us. For all of you."

Oh my gosh, I love this place... It was official. This was Catra's new favorite place in all of Etheria as she grinned. With the confirmation that this was in support of her and her deeds rather than her just being She-Ra, she no longer had the nagging sensation of deja vu from Plumeria. If she stayed to party, she could stay to party indefinitely without any underlying fear.

"It was really nothing, r-really." Catra smiled back, unaware as a small blush of excitement formed over her cheeks. "We do this sort of stuff all the time. I'm just surprised by how big this whole party is."

"It was supposed to be a small dinner. You know, a quiet meal, but then word got out and suddenly everyone's invited. So here we are." The woman explained, returning a small smile herself. "Rowdy, calling attention to ourselves, we're basically sitting targets."

*BOOM!*

"What was that!?" The woman jumped with fear as her butterfly-like wings springing to each end for a second.

Along the sides of the wall, the source of the massive explosive sound came from the toys the children were playing with, as in fully armed and stable Horde tanks that were filled to the brim with confetti. The very same confetti that continued to rain upon them as they continued to fire off a shot every several minutes.

"... Okay, okay. Terrifying booming sounds were probably a bad idea." She was relieved that the Horde nightmare was just a false alarm as she straightened out her hair. When she made her way over to to a quiet halt to the shenanigans, another villager appeared to Catra's side, one skinned in pink and bulging in muscles like she's never seen before.

"She-Ra. You saved us!" There was no warning for the feline warrior as she found herself crushed under the bulk of woman's muscular arms, the pink-skinned woman squeezing the life out of her as she suffocated her in a hug. Catra could've sworn she actually felt her ribs being crushed a little bit closer together as the grateful woman smushed the side of her face against her chest.

"Mmu... memmwy don't mave to moo mis... Mish mah mob... Mit mas muffing... (You... really don't have to do this... It's my job... It was nothing...)." Catra muffled into the woman's arms as her bluing cheeks were practically touching on the inside.

"And Tech Master Bow of the Rebellion." The woman continued as she finally released the suffocating girl to approach the famous archer. She gave the archer some more leniency as she threw a muscular arm over his neck, pulling him over. "Oh, you have to show off your arrows to the kids. They're obsessed with them."

"Really?" The unsure archer looked behind him as he saw a sight that neither Catra nor Bow could ever see coming.

Standing before the surrounding adults, were a handful of winged children who were all giving him a nervous smile of joy. In front of those very kids was another one, a small boy with a bluish tunic, who slid gracefully against the floor as he fired his toy bow and arrow a foot ahead of him. They all wanted to be archers just like the infamous Bow, the Tech Master of the Rebellion, when they grew up. And as Bow waved to the giggling children who took off after, his eyes watered with joy as he realized one thing.

He had his own fan club!

"We've heard stories of your victories," the woman recounted as Bow silently wept with joy, "but to see you destroy those bots in person? Mmh! Amazing!"

"That's nothing compared to when She-Ra took on the monsters of the Northern Reach. Or when she single-handedly won the Battle of Bright Moon!" A fluttery child a little over half a head shorter than Catra's jumped in, regaling the incredible victories that were brought on by none other than Catra herself.

"Ah, well, you know, it wasn't really anything special." Catra gloated as she crossed her arms uncaringly, admiring the view of her own still-growing claws as she smirked. "It was just me, being awesome as always, while protecting all of Bright Moon by myself..." She grinned further internally as the girl's eyes sparkled like a star at the announcement.

"Didn't the other princesses show up to help you, though?" Swift Wind whispered lowering her head to her.

"Shhh!"

"Just awesome? Try incredible!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist in to the air. "You fought off the Horde, you united the Princesses, and you saved Etheria-"

"Hey, now, it wasn't that big of a deal." Catra tried to pass off with a playful roll of her eyes. "All I was doing was saving the entire world from the brink of destruction... for the second time in my life." This lone girl was the greatest source of Catra's amusement as her sparkling eyes widened in anticipation and wonder.

Squealing to herself, trying her hardest to hold back a scream as she squeezed her mouth shut, the pink-haired butterfly finally dropped the four greatest words that Catra always wanted to hear from a complete stranger. "You are the COOLEST!"

Coolest...

COOLEST...

COOLEST...

All around her, the world became silent to the magicat as her pupils widened. Within the course of 30 seconds since meeting this mysterious young girl, she had done the impossible, done what no other being in existence could ever possibly do. Legends spoke of such a feat only being capable by the gods themselves, a higher source of power that would need to bend to Catra's will just for her to consider such a possibility.

There could be no denying it. There could be no misguidance or false truth to the thought proclaiming dominion over Catra's mind. She knew it, right then and there, the one thing she knew about anybody who would run up to her out of nowhere and state she was the coolest person ever to them.

"You... are officially... my all time favorite person in the world..." Catra stated without worry nor care, turning her attention to the beloved stallion that was always at her side. "Swift Wind, you're fired."

"Fi- What?!" The horse stammered as he threw his head back in disbelief. "What am I fired from?!"

"From being my sidekick."

"Sidekick? I wasn't your sidekick, I'm your partner!" The horse nearly cried for a moment, thinking she was referring to that.

"Then pick something I can fire you from so she can join in!"

"Why do you need to fire me in the first place? Why can't we both be your partner or sidekick?"

"Because I already have Bow and Glimmer, and no good hero has four sidekicks by their side!"

"Wait, since when are me and Glimmer your "sidekicks"? We've saved the world and you countless times."

"Which is exactly a sidekick is supposed to do."

"We're not your sidekicks!"

"Neither am I!" Swift Wind snorted.

"Then why are you yelling?!"

"BECAUSE YOU FIRED ME!"

"Hahahaha! You guys are hilarious!" All three heads turned to the young girl as she bellowed out with laughter, all of them getting a small chuckle out of it at their own shenanigans. Regardless of however much Catra meant or joked about, as she usually did, it was always refreshing to see a child warming up to the group as quickly as she did. "One day, I'm gonna leave Elberon and join the Rebellion, fighting side-by-side with you. I'm Flutterina, by the way." She greeted as she extended a hand.

"Catra-"

"Ohohoho!" Catra nearly flinched as she barely touched the hand back when she got the reaction that she did. "I'm shaking hands with She-Ra!" Never has Catra blushed before from being too overwhelmed by someone's adoration for her. Remaining silent as she glanced away, she gave the girl a playful toothy grin that twinkled with light, giving her a small wink of approval as she did. "Ahahahahha...ah...AH!"

*flap!*

With a burst of excitement, an unknown excitement rushed over the young girl as her wings fluttered open, nearly fainting as she fell back into the muscular woman's arms as she panted out of breath. She felt like she touched the face of heaven itself for a moment. Catra couldn't contain herself as she casually brushed past the seemingly frozen girl who was stuck in a trance, pulling Bow along the room as she found a spot to talk in private.

"Bow. This is really happening, isn't it?" The disbelief filling Catra's mind was unprecedented as she gazed around the room. "This whole party? It's for us? Please tell me I'm dreaming right now, I'm going to be so mad if it starts getting good and I wake up in the middle of the night!"

"This isn't a dream, it's for real!" Bow nearly squealed himself, his eyes flashing with excitement as he squeezed her elbows to prove this was reality.

"Everyone loves us!" As excited as the magicat was, all the optimism in her mind slowly drained away along with her ears as she remembered the missing member of their group. "But... We told Glimmer we wouldn't stay long..."

"Yeaaah, but weeee have to stay for now." Bow drove on, shifting his eyes around as he came up with the possible excuse- er, reasons, for why they had to stay. "It would be rude if we just left in the middle of all this, right?"

"Oh, r-right!" Catra instantly beamed up again. "It would be insincere! We're just being polite, that's all! We'll just stay until- AHHHHHHH!" With a near-screech, Catra swiftly pushed Bow off to the side a little as the most captivating piece of art drew her attention. "They have a Me-Cake! A Me-Cake!" The wonderful work of art was one of the greatest tributes to Catra's awesomeness that she had ever known!

The cake itself was designed out of her She-Ra likeness, two of the hosts wheeling it in on a cart as the cake stood at a good three feet in height. Each layer was stacked upon with a white frostine at the base, a flower-ish decoration at the center for her chest, and a mix of brown frostine with an orange coating for the third layer at the top, one decorated and designed off of her She-Ra appearance. They even had a slim separate cake for her sword, they even put detail into her tiara for crying out loud!

She was so enamoured by the presentation that she didn't register or care in the slightest as Bow squeezed her by the cheeks, staring into her eyes in pure shock as both their mouths dropped open.

"This is the best Party ever!"

"LET'S PARTAY!"

The two were convinced that it should have been illegal for a party to be this amazing. And they loved every second they were breaking the law.

...

The party went off without a hitch as the gang integrated themselves throughout the ordeal. One of the first things Bow was proud to do was show off his amazing card tricks to the children, his fan club, something he was still tearing over having, with his new deck of cards he had to replace after Huntara speared his previous deck. Like many times before, he gladly showed off his mystifying skills to the young children as the entire deck disappeared before their very eyes with the wave of his hand, just after flipping them through the air from one arm to the next.

They all gasped over the sight of the vanishing cards. Where did they go? They couldn't have gone up his sleeves, especially since he had none to begin with given the shirt he was wearing. The archer himself seemed to be at a complete loss over the mysteriously disappearing cards, feeling around himself as he appeared to have misplaced them.

All throughout it, the one naysayer of the group was an older woman who watched bored and dulled out of her mind. She didn't want to watch these stupid card tricks, she wanted something more exciting! All she was getting was the same trick of the cards that could trick any five-year-old crybaby. When he decided to show her some real magic, THEN she would be impressed.

As it turned out, she didn't have to wait very long.

Casually making his way over to the bored girl, Bow hummed to himself carefree as he stared out at the ceiling, the woman watching through a puff of her hair as he approached her. Thinking nothing of it, the girl wasn't the least bit drawn to him until he did the unthinkable. Reaching behind her head, through dense hair just behind her ears, he produced one of the mysterious cards before her, the woman shocked beyond measure as she stared at the mystical card. It was simply amazing!

The same ounce of fun could be seen from Catra's side of the room as she continued to chat along with Flutterina about all the wonderful stuff here, as well as how wonderful she was in general. Their fun little talk came to an abrupt pause as one of the many Horde banners, ones that were X'ed out and drawn over from the children, suddenly loosed from its post, covering the unsuspecting butterfly as she fell from the recent tumble.

Lifting up the edge of the banner to get a look at the girl's face, finding out Flutterina was okay, Catra did a small double take between the girl and the post before grinning. In a few seconds, there was a small flash of light in the middle of a crowd before the proud and mighty She-Ra stood before the crowd, the people cheering as she helped Flutterina reach the top of the post along the wooden beam.

With the banner fully secure, the room burst into another round of laughter and applause once again as Flutterina sat upon Catra's She-Ra powered arm, the two laughing among themselves as they waved to the crowd around them.

It was official; Catra loved it here.

*splash!*

It was a sight to behold as a certain figure watched the young kids on the side. All of the kids were having a roughhousing good time as they all dunked their head in a large barrel of water, bobbing out for the apples as fast as many of them could without using their hands. Joining in on the fun, the same figure dunked their own head in as the kids continued to play.

One by one, the kids returned their heads to the surface, some of them with an apple in their mouth from the tip of its stem or the apple itself, and those who didn't were joining in on the laughter as they saw the dunked and watery faces of their fellow friends and siblings.

That's when they noticed the last of the partygoers who were lifting their own head out of the water. Mane completely soaked in every direction, the figure lifted their long white neck from the water before shaking it about profusely, trying to throw the watery hair out of their eyes as the kids chuckled from the small sprinkle of water. What was even more amazing to them was the proud Swift Wind that at the center of them, carrying not one, not two, but three full apples in his mouth at the same time, earning him the biggest laugh from a group of children he's ever heard.

Kicking things off back on his end, Bow was having the time of his life as he was teaching the young future archers of Etheria, aka his fan club, aka the thing that was still making him teary eyed by this point, how to practice their aim. One after another, he watched as the young archers attempted to hit the center of the makeshift bullseye constructed out of a paper plate, hanging from one of the beams of the mighty party-filled hut.

He watched as each of the archers performed valiantly against the dreaded piece of paper, each one of them being polite and taking turns as they all shared the same toy bow and arrows each of them had. Every one of them performed to the best of their abilities despite never hitting the target, much less reaching it. The closest any one of them came to was the second youngest girl of the group managing to hit the base of the beam itself, which earned her a rousing cheer from her friends. He could admit, she was pretty good.

Now, it was time for the main event.

With a sly smile as he stepped forth, Bow produced his own set of arrows he unleashed one at a time, in style that only he was capable of. The first shot firing straight into the center of the corner left of the plate, the second shot hitting straight above the bullseye as he turned, barely having a glimpse of it as he fired behind, and then for his third and final shot to thee right corner, he did the unthinkable for the kids. He bent backwards from where he stood as he shot upside down and from behind, hitting it squarely in the corner.

With all three of these arrows combined, they formed the perfect triangle as they distanced themselves from each other at a perfect length. And for the added icing on top, pulling out a fourth arrow from his options, instead of hitting dead center in the middle of them all like the kids expected, he shot the forth one straight into the air, the kids watching bedazzled as his trick arrow exploded above them into a beautiful array of fireworks and sparklers. Truly, he was a gentlemen in scholar... among other things.

The party itself continued to be more than a fun time for the rousers as they continued to partake in their various party favors and tokens of appreciation. In particular, Catra, still in her She-Ra attire, was enjoying herself as she casually yawned, leaning an arm across the table with her elbow firmly planted into the wood.

On the other end of the spectrum, or the table as it were, nearly a dozen civilians could be seen trying to beat the incredibly powerful She-Ra in a game of arm-wrestling. Oh, it wouldn't be much fun or fair if she went all out on them, right? No, no, she decided to be lenient and let them all face her at the same time. And by lenient, it meant pretending it didn't amuse her as all of their hands struggled to pull down her awesome muscles at the same time.

She could applaud them for a notable try. She thinks at one point she actually felt a nudge in her elbow. Then again, she also had an itch to deal with which threw her off too for a nanosecond. Yup, these future soldiers and warriors of the Rebellion sure were giving it their all, but sadly, Catra was going to have to let them all down as her hand slowly started to desce-

*SPZZZZZZZT*

*Thud*

Keeping whatever freakish reaction she could bottled up inside of her, Catra nearly hissed in fright as the soaking gallon of water sprayed her from behind. This one brief distraction was all the townsfolk needed to finally catch the magicat off guard, slamming her fist back against the table victoriously! Who happened to be the perpetrator behind this horribly wretched surprise attack?

Why, a lowly little archer by the name of Bow, one who was grinning cheekily back to the girl as he covered his mouth in laughter. Normally, her immediate response would've been to pulverise, beat the brains out of, or throw anyone across the room after dousing her with so much water out of nowhere like that. Friends included. But, with the fun atmosphere going on around here, making up for a decent change of pace, the feline joined in on the laughter, getting caught up in all the excitement around them to be too angry about anything.

It didn't help that several or so kids dogpiled her immediately after either from the large group of wrestlers, still wishing to play with the infamous She-Ra.

And she wasn't the only one having more fun with the kids either as Swift Wind came abound. Mere moments after getting his tail braided by a hairstylist that truly knew her stuff, or just wanted to get a horse's butt out of her face as soon as possible, he found himself caught by several tiny hands pulling on his luscious tail, turning his head back to find the dreaded culprits ruining his great posterior. As it turned out, those hands belonged to several young children who were eyeing the horse with a certain curiosity, one that made the noble steed turn to Catra for a second to get her approval.

It took a simple nod before the majestic stallion found himself flapping about as he flew a short distance around the large hut. He was a sight for many to behold as the three children on his back praised and cheered for the incredibly awesome steed they were riding on. Already, many of them were hoping one of their parents would get them a flying horse for their own birthday, hoping to fly like the wind like the white stallion between their legs!

If only they knew...

This is how Catra and Bow eventually found themselves dancing at the center of the hut along with the dozens of other dances moving about. There was no other place in all of Etheria like this one, no other mission that had gone this smoothly for them, and no greater reward than this party right here! They didn't know what paradise was, but they were pretty sure this party was the closest thing to it!

This was, hands down, the single most greatest day, of their lives.

...

By now, at least several hours into the party had flown by by the time Catra had collapsed alongside Swift Wind, the latter resting his weary and exhausted head as he lied on the floor, Catra using him as a pillow right beside him. The horse himself had a party horn still tucked away in his mouth, lacking the energy to spit it out by this point. Unless Catra needed him of course. For now, he was just content to rest by the fire as the party continued around them.

"This... is the single greatest place... in the world..." Catra officially decreed as Swift Wind raised his tired head a little, blowing the party favor.

*Twooooooooot~!*

"Is it possible to actually party too much? Because I swear, I have never had so much fun before at a party."

With the small jerk of his ear, the gallant steed raised his head further as he looked to his left, noticing a certain archer missing from their side. "Hey, do you see Bow anywhere?" He asked.

"Ah, he's fine." Catra casually replied, leaning against the horse in relaxation as she pointed further away. "He's over there nerding it up with the kids over there."

Sure enough, true to her word, Bow as indeed showing the kids the technological marvels of his work. Among the several children who were watching with anticipation was the older one among the kids, a delightful and eager Flutterina who was watching curiously as the tech expert was fiddling with something on the other end of the hut. "-connect this wire over here like this, and throw this switch, and viola! You have yourself a personalized miniature EMP!"

"Ooooh!" The several kids watched with interest as Flutterina blinked at the small makeshift device.

"Does it really work?" She asked, watching as the archer disconnected the wires from his data pad.

"Well, for one this size, you could get it to work on something within a few yards of yourself." He stated, reconfiguring his data pad as he put the tools away. "If you want to take out a whole bunch of bots, you'll need to find a bigger power source to hook up the data pad to. Just make sure you don't need it though cause otherwise you'll short out your own electronics with it." He offered the data pad to examine it for herself, the pink-haired butterfly examining it up closely.

"Hmm..." The curious winged girl poked at her chin curiously before noticing the magiat across the room. She gave another smile and greeting as she waved to the hero of the hour, Catra grinning a little back as she waved a small hand back in turn.

Relaxing with herself, Catra eased herself back into the horse's side as she rested her eyes peacefully. She almost wished another Horde attack could happen so they'd have another party to celebrate soon-

"It's the Horde!" The familiar head of the village shouted in worry as they ran in, catching the three heroes by surprise.

And leaving Catra with a dramatic sense of bad timing as she jumped to her feet.

The three heroes gathered near each other as the woman approached, Swift Wind shaking off a few flowers from his mane as he prepared for whatever action was upon them. "Our scouts have reported a bot. Several of them, unlike anything we've seen before. And they're on their way here!" The woman fretted as the townspeople murmured among themselves, worry coming over people by the handfuls. "Oh, we need to evacuate the town. Now."

Catra glanced around as she listened to the gossiping and whimpering people left and right. All these people, these people who've been nothing but nice to her and her friends since they saved them? They didn't deserve to lose their town! Especially one that was great at throwing parties like they did.

Besides, if they evacuated now, the Horde would easily tear through this place and none of them would have a home to return to, simply building new ones would leave them defenseless to further invasions. When it came down to it, defending their home was the best bet either way.

"Everyone, calm down." Catra called out to the worrying men and women alike. She gave them all a confident smile, as did Bow, as she gazed around the room. "You're under my protection. Let She-Ra handle this."

"... She-Ra. She-Ra. She-Ra! She-Ra!" The crowd began to chant in cheer as they praised their honorable savior. Catra's ego had never known such heights before coming to this village. It was then that she knew once and for all.

She was officially moving to Elberon when she got back, forever.

"Are you sure we shouldn't prepare?" The head woman asked with concern in her eyes. "As I always say, cautious today, here tomorrow."

"Relax, it'll be fine." Catra assured as she soothed her shoulder. "If there's one thing I'm the best at, it's smashing bots. Plain and simple. We'll find the bots, take care of them, and be back in time for another cake. The rest of you enjoy the party till I get back!"

"Woohoo!" The cheering crowd roared as Catra dashed away, passing through the partiers as she made her way to the door with Bow at her side and Swift Wind to the other.

"Ugh, why do our parties have to end with the Horde attacking?" Bow complained as he settled his quiver and devices.

"Ah, relax, Bow. You can stay here with the rest of them, I got this." Catra said as she encouraged the skilled archer to remain. "You can keep them all safe while I take care of the bots myself."

"Are you sure?" Bow asked as Catra ran up ahead with the majestic pegasus.

"Swifty and I can handle this. It's just a few bots, and I've been training with Light Hope against dozens at a time." She fitted herself over the horse's back as she held onto his braided mane. "Go enjoy the party, I'll be back in no time."

"She-Ra and Swift Wind Forever!" With a rallying cry, the majestic horse burst from the ground as he flew off into the air, leaving behind a large gust of wind as Catra chuckled a little, still having a bit of the partiness rushing through her veins.

Soaring through the air, wind brushing past both their manes, Catra found herself smiling for a change as she couldn't wait to finish a fight against a Horde bot. Once this was over, they were going to swing right on back to the party, they were going to continue having a ton of fun, and she was going to throw herself right into whatever cake they made for her next! Man, she actually couldn't wait to go somewhere for a change!

Maybe she could get Glimmer to tag along too once she saw what the party had to offer. Being cooped up in the castle like that with nothing but boring meetings left and right, it would drive anyone crazy. She's surprised Glimmer hasn't up and ran away somewhere with all the work she was given. Catra would be out of that castle within two days if she had to put up with meetings like that.

Although, come to think of it, she's never been a real princess before.

"Down there." Swift Wind directed to the small clearing down below. Catra couldn't tell if she was just seeing things on her end, but she could've sworn the bot they were looking at below was sort of... small... Like, really small. Maybe it would get bigger when the two flew down closer to it?

... Nope. Still small. The horse landed gracefully as Catra jumped from his back, walking across the field as she approached what she presumed to be the bot. "This is the Horde's newest droid?" She lifted a brow to the strange machinery in front of her, if it even was that, as the bot remained motionless.

It was unlike anything Catra had ever seen before, and given all the weird stuff she's been through since her adventures began, that was saying a lot. She's seen droids that were threatening, droids that could level entire beings. She's fought them a dozen times in the forest, sometimes in the mountains, once or twice she even had to do it underwater! If it wasn't for the fact she did so in her She-Ra state, she would've hated the water more than the fight itself.

And these things were the furthest thing from the word "threatening" to her.

These... droids... things... were incredibly small compared to their usual size. They were about half the size of a droid, about two to two-and-a-half feet in radius, and completely silver. The one that stood before her barely came up to her knees as She-Ra, and didn't have any comparable features to it that stood out to her. Why, the fact it didn't have any notable features WAS the part that stood out to her. It was just silver, all around.

The only spot around it that had anything different to it was the top of it, or possibly the bottom of it if this thing was upside down. There was a small circular line running around it, about the size of her palm. Beyond that, there wasn't anything about this thing that came out as dangerous to her.

"Awww, I think it's kinda cute." Swift Wind said with a smile, lowering his head towards it as he saw his reflection shining off in the polished silver. "Hey there little guy."

"Swifty, it's not a... ehh... I'm honestly not sure what it is, but don't get so close." Catra warned, pulling his head back a little as she kept her eyes on the bot. Scanning the small clearing they were in, she could see several more of these orbs lying about, one of them rolling back and forth almost in a playful manner. Turning her attention back to the one in front of her, she slowly rose her sword to the top of its possible head, giving it a small tap to see what sort of reaction she could get out of it.

*clank-clank*

Still nothing.

"So... do they just stand there or-"

*PPPPPFFFFFF-*

Immediately, Catra and Swift Wind jumped back a decent foot as they prepared themselves for the silver bot ahead of them. Whatever Catra did to anger it or get a reaction out of it, it appeared to have an immediate effect as the small circular lining over its top began to burst with a bit of steam. Steadily, the two watched as a small hydraulic press began to force its way out of the silver tin ball, stretching itself further into the air, annnnnd doing nothing like everything else it did.

The two blinked as they stared at the orb still, confused beyond words. All it did was lift up the hydraulic press about a foot into the air and nothing more. Like the droid itself, it was still useless beyond measure, and incapable of being any possible harm to them.

It was practically a dud.

"Still think it'll attack us now?" Swift Wind playfully teased as Catra approached it again. The magicat remained silent as she got up close and personal to the device.

Despite Swift Wind's assurance, something about all of this wasn't right. All of this had Adora's handiwork to it. The deception, the peaceful nature. Something about all of this was telling her that the droids were more than they let on to be. She just couldn't figure out what at the moment. If it was that easy to get into Adora's head, she would've beaten her a long time ago.

Watching for another few moments, seeing a small reflection of light pass over her face's reflection in the orb, Catra tsked to herself with a small moan, standing up again as she decided to take off. "Yeah, let's just go." The moment she said that, the same droid's hydraulic popped back into its own body before rolling halfway in her direction. There, the small droid began to hum to itself as its body shook fervently, all the while Catra went about her business. "It's probably some new spy bot the Horde invented or something. We can get Bow to dismantle one or something to check it out-"

*WHOMP*

"Look out-!"

"Huh?"

*WHAM!*

"Augh!" Catra yelped as she let out a cry in pain.

In a matter of seconds, the droid that barely came up to her knees in height delivered what might've been one of the most painful strikes Catra had ever felt, and that was saying something given her current She-Ra state. Using its own hydraulic press as a launch pad, the small orb-like droid shot off like a cannon ball as it slammed into Catra's back, knocking her clear off her feet as it bounced back off of her.

She felt like she was just struck solid by a skiff ramming into her, wincing in pain as she rubbed her sore back a little before glaring back at the troublemaker who she showed the slightest bit of mercy to.

A mistake she wouldn't make again.

"Catra!" Swift Wind yelled with worry as he ran to her side, giving his own stern look as he stood protectively over his friend. "Are you okay?"

"Ngh... I-I'm fine." She spat, wobbling a little as she made it back to her feet. If she wasn't fortunate enough to be in her She-Ra state, she was convinced that would've broken her spine in two. "Just sore. Keep your guard up." She cast her eyes in the surrounding area as she saw the other roly polies beginning to come to life themselves, counting at least five others in the area as they began to advance on her.

Readying herself, she caught sight of the next rolling silver ball as it lunged at her head, shooting off like a bottle rocket that was ready to shove her head clean off her shoulders. She was more than ready for it this time as she morphed her sword into a spiked mace, bating away at the sphere like a giant baseball as she shot it back where it came from, directly at another rolling ball that was making its way closer to them.

At the same time as her, Swift Wind neighed fiercely as he backed his feet up to two of the approaching balls, managing to slam both of the projectiles back towards the trees from his force. Their armor continued to prove its durability to them throughout the constant bashing as Catra had yet to see any dents along their surface from where they struck. She couldn't see so much as a scratch on them, really. It was then that she realized one detail too late as she fisted another ball back to its predecessor.

These balls were a lot smarter than they appeared.

Before the launched ball could smash into the other one, the second sphere did the unthinkable as it showed off a display of higher intelligence. Positioning itself again like all the other ones that used their launching capabilities, it shot off directly at the ball shooting at it, knocking it back in the air as it ricochet'ed off its partner.

The projectory launched it right back at the magicat who braced herself, feeling twice the pressure being applied to her as she stopped the ball's launching with her bare hands. It almost burned as she felt the sphere spinning rapidly in her hands until it came to a complete stop.

Growling at the irritating contraption, Catra noticed how the small hydraulic opening remained partially vulnerable, giving her the insight she needed as she forcefully dove a fist right into the small circular spot of the large sphere. To her satisfaction, as expected, she managed to break her fist into robot's interior body, pulling out all its circuitry and wiring until it finally powered down, and throwing it threw the air as she watched it explode twenty feet away.

"The round openings on their head." Catra shouted as she backed into Swift Wind. "It's softer because of the hydraulic parts within their system, that's their weak point!" With Swift Wind nodding back to her, the two readied themselves for the firefight on their hands, knowing the battle was far from over.

Or, maybe it was? As soon as Catra had spoke those words, all of the roly polies came to a sudden stop. The steam of their hydraulics simmered a little bit as they shook to themselves, Catra and Swift Wind preparing for whatever surprise attack they had in store for them next.

An attack that never came.

Instead of continuing to assault the heroes head on, the remaining five orbs began to roll away from the duo, all of them converging on the center of the clearing in a neat and orderly line, side by side against one another.

"What are they doing?" Swift Wind asked, keeping his questionable eyes on the bounceable droids that continued to simmer with steam.

Catra refused to let her eyes off these machines for even a second as she reformed her sword to its original state, gripping it tightly in front of herself as she prepared for anything. "Don't let your guard down. They're definitely up to something."

Noticing the distress concerning the magicat's emotional state, Swift Wind tried to give her some words of comfort as he smiled back to her a little. "Oh relax, I'm sure it's nothing. How could they possibly get any worse than this?"

With a final burst of steam from their soft centers, all of the roly polies began to freeze as they initiated another portion of their capabilities. Opening up each of their weak spots one at a time, the small rolling orbs began to practically hop onto one another as they formed a small stack of orbs piling on top of one another with perfect balance. The five two-foot droids all formed a small tower of a sort as it now stood at a glorious ten foot height, at least an orb and a half taller than Catra was in her current state.

That wasn't he part that became most troubling. The troubling aspect came from what happened next.

From within all of the opening weak points among each of the droids, the hydraulic presses within them suddenly shot up and into the next droid, connecting them to the next droid on top of them as they formed a solid stack of a tower of orbs. The five remaining orbs let out a great burst of steam in all directions, spreading around themselves a few feet, as they fully integrated and connected with each other in a perfect unison.

Lastly, as if the big tower stacking wasn't enough, the combined bots topped off their small performance by what happened to occur next. At the top of the very large tower, and along the edges of each of the orbs, two more unnoticeable openings appeared. For all the orbs under the top one, small leg-like protrusions, the ones that resembled a centipedes, burst into the open, skittering against the open air as they awaited the head of its body.

Said head was the last thing to fully form as its own two openings began to make way for its pincer-like jaws, ones that were more than capable of cutting down a whole tree in a single snap, or an unlucky Catra if she was unfortunate to get caught in its grip.

With all the portions connected and the protrusions grown along every orb, the towering droid finally began to back itself up as each of the orbs slowly came down to the ground floor, its mandible-like jaws snapping threateningly at the magicat as it cast its unseen eyes in her directions. What it now lacked in height it made up for in its near ten-foot length, and its ability to conceal the most vulnerable parts of its body by working together, putting them at odds with the same durability they had yet to break the surface of.

Whoops.

"Ooooooh, that bad, huh?"

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ASK THAT!?"

...

"Should we still evacuate?"

"We don't even know which direction they're coming from, we could end up walking straight into them."

"Maybe we shouldn't have filled the tanks with confetti before she left."

"Everyone, everyone, calm down." Bow waved his hands soothingly as he drew the many eyes of the worried townsfolk. He did what he could to ease the burden and fear that was filling the minds of so many in what was supposed to be a fun party. "Listen, I know the Horde is dangerous, but you have nothing to worry about. Catra's the Rebellion's strongest warrior, a few droids are nothing to her."

"Yeah! She even saved all of Bright Moon all by herself!" Flutterina cheered from above one of the giant broken droids in remembrance as many eyes were being comforted.

"Exactly." Not quite the way he would've put it, but close enough. "Catra's a lot more capable on her own than anyone else I've seen. I bet she's on her way here right now after dealing with those bots. Then we can go on back to having a great party!"

*knock*

"Speaking of which..."

There were a few shrieks and jumps as all eyes turned to the front of the hut as the party echoed with the sound of a casual knocking. Where many some people were met with questioning and worried eyes, Bow's were met with a smile over his face and a light in his eyes as he approached the door for himself.

"See? What did I tell you?" He said looking back as he opened the twin doors. "She's right on-" And it was when he looked back that he realized; time wasn't on their side at all.

It wasn't Catra.

It wasn't someone else from the Rebellion.

It wasn't anyone hat Bow would've preferred to the alternative.

As opposed to the charming, carefree, grin of a magicat that had just gotten back from her mission, he was instead greeted by the sight of a familiar figure that stood before the rest of them. It was the last person on Ethera that Bow ever wanted to cross paths with on his own, or the army she had waiting behind her sneering gaze as she saw a familiar face in return.

"Hey, Bow..."

...

A/N: Heheheeeee! I love doing cliffhangers ^^ I know, it's *SHOCKING* to hear, but its true XP They always leave people on the edge of their seats, they leave them in anticipation for the next episode, and they provide so much need to watch the next episode immediately after. It's one of the things I love about the She-Ra series, nearly every episode ends with an exciting build up at the end towards the next chapter in some way. Whether its a clever twist or a shocking one, it'll always leave you wanting more ^^... just like the season five finale leAVES ME WANTING MORE AFTER EVERYTHING I JUST WITNESSED-!

Phew, deep breath... sorry, I just can't get over that finale still even today XP lol

Anyway! Hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 129: S4 Episode 3: Flutterina Part 3

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 10.5k Pre-A/N's.

Hoooo boy, what's going on folks! Sorry for the delay here, things have been rather crazy on my end of the world. I was just going to post a long explanation about the reason behind it, but, unwilling to add in to the fear around here, let's just say things have been hectic on my end of the world recently. All you need to know is that I'm okay personally and I apologize for the delay, with all that's happened its been hard to focus/concentrate on the writing. As such, some of the writing will most likely be a little rushed/forced through places here and there and i hope that doesn't distract from the writing itself. If it does, i apologize, because like i said, it's been hectic.

But without further delays, on with the show ^^!

...

*Crash!*

The dirt and debris burst from the ground upon impact as Swift Wind and Catra dodged to each side.

The Horde's newest droid was proving more formidable than their previously small stature had proposed. With the base of the metallic centipede-like construct's bottom orb planted firmly in the ground, the creature followed up its attack as it swept across the ground everywhere within a ten-foot radius, leaving Catra to block the blunt of the attack with her sword-turned-shield as she was knocked back while Swift Wind had more than ample opportunity to fly himself back, dodging over the elongated creature.

Catra's feet scraped against the ground as she was pushed backwards, maintaining her stance while trying to think of a plan. So far, this droid proved to be more troublesome than anything she had faced in recent weeks, and more durable than anything she ever clobbered before. And as annoying as the fight itself was starting to turn out, what annoyed her most was the awesome party she was continuing to miss as she lunged for the creature again.

Today had been one of the best days in Catra's life since joining the Rebellion, or at least one of the best days she's ever had to attend a party. The party itself was beyond wild given the small size of the village itself. Gathering in the central hut of the village where the townsfolk had gathered, in recognition of their previous victory of driving out the Horde from Elberon, the citizens had thrown together one of the largest celebrations the town has ever known, and the greatest reward Catra, Bow, and Swift Wind had ever been given for a job well done.

Streamers. Confetti. Games. A cake stylized after Catra's She-Ra form. This town had everything a great party needed and then some, and it was all for the three heroes themselves! Never have they seen a party of this size offered to them as a reward before, nor has a party ever been as massive as the one they stood upon.

The entire town was offering them cheer and praise throughout the several hours Catra and Bow attended the festivities, and they were having a blast! Between Catra showing off her She-Ra-ness, Bow hanging out with an apparent fan club he had, and Swift Wind entertaining the children, it seemed like the perfect day!

Sure, there was some minor guilt added along with the knowledge that Glimmer was missing out on such a festivity, but it would've been rude to decline such a generous offer after all the hard work the townspeople went through. At least, that was the general excuse Catra and Bow had come up with before deciding to stick around. After all, how could they not offer to join in on the fun when they went through the trouble of making a She-Ra cake of all things?!

Sadly, like all good things, the party eventually came to an end, at least for the magicat. With the scouts having reported several new droids within the forest, Catra took off on her own with Swift Wind, leaving Bow behind to continue enjoying the party and to watch over the town just in case. When she found the droids, they didn't leave much to the imagination at first as they were solid silver, as rounded as a bowling ball, and appeared pretty harmless upon first inspection.

She severely retracted that last statement after the first two minutes.

These droids proved to be more of a nuisance than they eventually lead on. With hydraulics built into them that allowed them to jettison themselves off the ground like a cannonball, with all the force and firepower behind it, and the durability to take a She-Ra's spiked mace to the face without leaving a scratch, these annoying little buggers ended up being one of the more tougher enemies Catra had yet to face.

Even when she did find a weak spot upon the hydraulic opening themselves, it proved useless. Discovering the particular weak point immediately resulted in the five remaining orbs combining, stacking atop of one another to keep their weak point from being exposed while transforming into an insectoid-like creature in the form of a centipede, and one that was still proving troubling all the same.

Catra's heroic lunge for the creature wasn't met with any results particularly better than the last. Spotting the girl who was charging straight at them, the creature continued to prove its versatility as it pulled its head back. As opposed to a simple dodge like Catra had expected, it turned out to be a form of counterattack as it quickly threw its head back in her direction with a fling- literally.

"Agh!" Catra found the head of the creature with its protruding mandibles retracting into its body launching straight at her, leaving her defenseless as she helplessly took on the attack straight away, the silver-coated head slamming into her stomach like a rocket as it knocked her off her feet, slamming her into the ground before pushing off the injured She-Ra all the same.

"Catra!" Swift Wind's cry of worry was enough of a distraction for the centipede to turn its 4-layered attention to him next. With another swing of its shorter body, it flung another large orb directly at the noble steed, catching him off guard as another two-foot sphere collided straight into the noble horse's side, and nearly knocking him off his own feet. He considered himself lucky that the creature missed the entirety of his wing. Otherwise, he was pretty sure it would've grounded him indefinitely from a broken wing.

Wincing a little, more irritated than in pain, Catra picked herself off the ground a little as she looked back, hearing the same spherical droid returning to her as it rolled towards a tree.

With precise timing and trajectory, she watched as the simple rounded droid propelled itself a few feet into the tree before using the tree itself as a bumper, shooting itself straight at the downed warrior with enough force that it cracked the tree it shot off with in half. She barely managed to roll over to the side in time as the bumper ball smashed into the ground just inches from her, bouncing off the ground again ahead of her as it left a notably sized imprint in the ground where it landed.

That thing would've crushed her easily if she was a single second too late.

Sighing with a little relief to herself, she turned her glare back on the annoying roly polies as the two disconnected orbs returned to the main body, attaching themselves to the back of the line as they re-covered their weak spots again, leaving them near invulnerable to her current strength, and leaving the head to reform its mandible-like cruncher that gave the centipede its appearance.

It still wasn't enough to keep the noble steed from worrying over his partner and friend as Swift Wind rushed over to Catra's side, standing guard a little over her as She-Ra pushed herself to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"Tch, I'm fine." She spat, gripping her shield tightly as she remained focused on her opponent. "You?"

"Eh, sore side, but nothing major." He chuckled lightly back before looking over the dreaded creature. "How are we supposed to stop that thing? It keeps covering its own weak points before we can it 'em. It's practically cheating!"

"Whatever that thing is, it can't conceal the weak point at its head." Catra stated, watching as the creature snapped its jaws threatening in her direction. She kept her eyes focused to the center of its head between the two mandibles, noticing it was the only hydraulic sticking out, and that it would have to have been aligned with all the other weak spots in a straight line. "We need destroy those things all at the same time."

"Same time?" The gallant steed thought for a moment before gasping with excitement. "Is it Magical Sacred Bond time?!" Ooooh, he couldn't wait! One of the best parts about it was simply knowing the fact that for Catra to perform such a feat with her sacred horse, she needed to have a strong connection to it through an emotional level, one that guaranteed the two had a friendly bond with each other that solidified their friendship.

It also solidified the small blush over Catra's grumbling cheeks as she stared back. "Can you at least call it something better than a "magical sacred bond" or something?"

"Hmm... How about Super Best Friendship Power?"

"... Sacred Bond is fine." At least that one sounded less cheesy to her.

With their objective in mind, the two heroes banded together as they prepared to take the annoying centipede-like creation down for good. Morphing her shield back into her trusted sword, Catra's entire body glowed with a tranquil white aura as she charged at the creature from head on, all while her flyable friend took off into the air, circling behind it. Seeing the enemy coming straight for itself, the centipede charged ahead at her as well, using its mandibles to grip the tip of the blade before it could reach the droid's weak point.

Here the creature worked tirelessly as it began thrashing about its backside left and right, trying to shake the girl off her feet, or pry the sword from her hardened grip. If she remained like this for any longer, odds were the sword actually would be able to slip out of her hands, seeing how these things could push or pull with the same force as a cannonball.

That's why it was, admittedly, good to have friends in certain situations, like a flying horse that got behind the durable creature as Catra kept it distracted. Like her, Swift Wind was also glowing alight with a bright aura, ready to put his strength to the test for She-Ra's sake.

Waiting for the creature's thrashing to settle enough, or at least until he could find the right timing, he eventually managed to slam his frontal hooves straight atop of the creature's tail, lining it up in a straight path along with the rest of the obnoxious orbs. From this, the head of the creature jerked a little as the rest of its body tried to squirm away from itself. Unfortunately, thanks to the same hydraulics that kept the creature connected, it was also impossible for the interior orbs to move about as long as the orbs ahead of it and behind it remained connected as it did, effectively leaving it pinned and in distress over its predicament.

A predicament it wouldn't have to worry about for long.

Smirking at the successful bit of teamwork, Catra finally pulled off the additional edge they needed to as she transformed her sword again. Bringing the tip of her blade up to the creature's face-like weak point, she transformed the mighty sword into a powerful lance, one that stretched as far as the droid's combined form, and skewered every single droid in one sitting as the tip of the lance just reached past the hydraulic of the last droid.

With this, and her incredible strength, Catra grinned as she finally lifted the lance into the air, keeping the Shishkabobbed droids within the lance's steel frame, and slamming them all into the rough ground behind her.

Using the energy from her sacred bond, she unleashed a small torrent of power into the lance, filling the droids from the inside with an aggressive energy that short circuited the twitching roly polies from within. What followed was a beautiful explosion that would always put a smile to Catra's face as each of the bots exploded in a domino-like effect, from the head of the centipede creation all the way to the tail of the metallic monstrosity.

At long last, the troublesome droids had been laid to waste, and the battle had been won.

"Hah!" Catra laughed as she and her sword returned to their original state, the proud warrior placing the sword back around her neck as a collar. "I can't wait to see the party we'll get after this." Already she was anticipating the wonderful flavors that would come to meet her tongue from the delicious cake they would make for her. "Heh, maybe they'll make a cake after you, too."

"Yeah..." Swift Wind muttered back as he kept his eyes on the destroyed droids with a questionable look. Looking back to it herself, she didn't notice anything amiss about the wreckage that laid behind as the smoke cleared, seeing nothing out of the ordinary other than a pile of broken droid parts and pieces.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, it's just..." Like Catra had previously when she first saw the droids, now that they were destroyed he couldn't help but feel like something was off. "Didn't that seem a little... I don't know... easy to you?"

"Easy? I got slammed in the back and the stomach by a pair of wrecking balls, I don't consider that easy." She shrugged back, making her way over to the broken machinery to inspect them up closer.

"Yeah, I know that, it's just..."

"What?"

"Don't you think there should've been a little tougher? Or that they could've caused more damage if there were more around here?"

"Hey, they gave us six of these things to deal with, and they were trouble enough. Now relax." She smiled a little back as she mounted the horse. "It's just like the people of Elberon said. We're the heroes that won the Battle of Bright Moon, remember? Something like this is nothing to us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Swift Wind smiled back, unwilling to tarnish Catra's high spirits with his pessimism. Truthfully, the battle really was easier compared to most of their other battles have been, even ones by themselves. As long as the two had an inseparable bond, one that Catra would never admit to, there wasn't anything the two could handle.

Thus, with hungry bellies and excitable minds, Swift Wind took off to the skies above, ready to partake in the amazing party that lied in store for them.

...

"All right everyone, bust out the confetti again, because your heroes have a... rrived..." The excitement and suspense for the party that awaited the questionably noble heroes was quickly dashed away as Catra threw open the doors. All the wonder, all the joy, all the fun that once filled this wonderful building had been replaced with overwhelming despair and sorrow as the two stepped through.

Everything, and everyone, was gone.

What wasn't missing from the party was torn to shreds and broken into pieces as the wondrous energy that elevated this room had been drained away like a bad storm. Many of the streamers were torn down, some of the tables were knocked over, and the color of this charming place had faded. The dark room was barren of anyone they could see as they entered the sacred hall, trying to process what had become of the occupants and the wonderful festivities that had yet to greet them upon return.

"Where did everyone go?" Swift Wind asked as the two looked around. "Is this one of those parties where people hide and shout "surprise"?"

"Well, they got the surprise part of it down, but where's everyone hiding?" Catra asked back as she tried to get her senses to pick up anything around here.

"... m... n..."

"Maybe they all went outside somewhere or-" Swift Wind came to a stop as Catra held her hand up. Her ears could pick up a faint whimpering sound she heard from somewhere within the large hut, something that proved to her she wasn't alone around here.

Slowly, she silently moved her way over to the sound of the mysterious figure as she approached one of the knocked over tables, being careful to avoid stepping on anything with the boots she was forced to wear. She didn't know if they were a friend or a foe, only that, whoever they were, they could provide the answers she needed. All the same, she didn't hesitate to ready her claws as she drew closer to the sounds of the voices, keeping her guard up just in case.

"... om... n..." The voice grew louder with every step, Catra steadying herself as she lowered herself to the ground more. "... om... on... Come on..." She couldn't tell whose voice it was that was meeting her ears, just that it sounded familiar to her.

REaching the wooden surface, Catra gave a small look of approval to the stallion who nodded back to her, ready to make a move in case it turned out to be an enemy of some sort. Slowly bringing herself around the wooden object, Catra was met by the sight of someone she hadn't expected to remain around here, nor the small data pad she appeared to be fiddling with in her hand as her back was turned to her.

"Come on... come on... please work..." She whimpered to herself, pressing her finger against the strange device she couldn't seem to figure out.

"Flutterina?"

"Ah-! You're back!" Flutterina cried sadly and relieved as she ran up to the girl, quickly taking her in a hug as Catra threw a comfortable arm back.

"Flutterina, what happened here? Where is everyone?" Catra asked as the weeping girl collected herself.

"The Horde, it was awful." She cried. "They attacked as soon as you left. Bow tried to fight, he's the only reason some people were able to escape." She couldn't keep herself from the sorrow as the tears poured from her eyes. "But they took him and everyone else."

All this news came as devastation to the young Catra as she processed all of this. The people who've been nice and considerate to her since meeting them, everyone who depended on her to keep them safe from the Horde, and everyone that was taken away because she wasn't here to defend them. Not to mention Bow, who stayed behind just to get captured because of her.

"Those bots in the woods." Catra squeezed her fist in anger as she realized. "They were just distracting me from the party so I'd leave everyone defenseless. Everyone got captured because," her ears slowly lowered as she surveyed the empty room, "because of me..." She had her ego, she could admit to some extent. And she had her prideful side that she could never get rid of, much less feel as if she needed to get rid of it given her position.

But everyone here, everyone that depended on her, she abandoned. She should've listened to what the village head told her about evacuating the town just in case, she should've taken more precautions before leaving a town she already liberated to fend for itself. And what did she do instead? She gave into her own sense of pride and selfishness again as she wished to show off for the partygoers and villagers that rewarded her so openly.

Sure. She didn't blame herself entirely on the matter, much less at all. It was still the fact the Horde appeared and did all this in the first place that really irritated her. But she still felt the same guilt that Swift Wind could sense from her, the guilt that it happened at all because of her. None of these people would've gotten hurt if it wasn't for her.

It was her fault once again.

The remaining friend behind her nudged his head against hers in comfort, Catra petting the side of Swift Wind's head in a small bit of appreciation for it.

"We're going to get them back." She declared, refusing to leave the villagers behind after all they've done for her. She turned to the sniffling girl again as she felt a small tug on her jacket, giving her hero a small anxious look as she placed her hands to the front of her dress.

"I know I'm small and not a Rebellion fighter, but... I wanna help." She pleaded.

As much as Catra enjoyed the enthusiasm and willingness on joining her, the magicat regretfully refused as she shook her head. "Sorry, Flutters, but I can't risk it. It's going to be too dangerous."

"B-But I can help!" She insisted. "I could... I could help look for the villagers or-"

"I said no!" Catra repeated with a small growl in her voice. Already, she was regretting the small yell as she noticed Flutterina tearing up a little again, causing the guilty feline to turn her head away with remorse.

"Don't take it too personally, Flutterina." Swift Wind tried to absolve the magicat of her temper as he pat Flutterina's back with his wing. "Catra can be a little blunt with her emotions but she means well. She's just looking out for you."

"But I just wanna help." Flutterina continued to argue lightly as she looked between the two. "They took a bunch of my friends, too, and I wanna save them."

"I get that, Flutterina, but you can't just-" Catra's oppressive argument came to a standstill as she eyed the familiar data pad in Flutterina's hand. "Where did you get that?"

"What? This?" She asked for clarification as she held it up. "Bow gave it to me when he was teaching us how to make stuff, and I forgot to give it back. I've been trying to contact anyone that could help, but I don't know how to use this thing."

"Someone to..." The idea came to the magicat as she spoke, knowing the potential danger of what lied in store for her if the Horde was desperate enough to trap her with a simple distraction. With what little she had to work with, and what few allies remained at her side, she knew who she had to call. "Actually, you might be able to help with something."

...

"How much longer are we going to have to wait..." Catra grumbled as she paced back and forth outside of the party hut.

"It's only been ten minutes." Flutterina pointed out as she sat on a nearby rock, watching the magicat walking back and forth impatiently alongside Swift Wind. "Are you sure we shouldn't just rush to the Horde outpost ourselves? What if something happens to the villagers?"

"I doubt anything is going to happen to them." Catra returned as she looked back. "The Horde wouldn't have taken any prisoners unless they knew I'd come to rescue them. Without them, there'd be no bait to draw me in. They've done this before, they want me to walk into a trap of some sort." There was a handful of experiences that Catra wished she could forget.

The time Adora tricked her into ruining the Princess Prom to make the Rebellion look bad.

The day she got up close enough to Catra to infect her with a First One's virus.

Each and every one of those traps were simple in execution and catastrophic in result. They were all plans that were easy to fall for without much work or effort put into them. Here, they orchestrated such events to lure Catra away from the party in order to abduct the entire village with the intention of drawing Catra all the way to them. Whatever trap lied in wait for her, she knew she was going to fall for even if she was well aware of it.

And she couldn't afford to act carelessly if she was dealing with her of all people.

"Maybe we should at least scout ahead to see what we're dealing with?" Swift Wind suggested as he sensed the growing impatience upon his friend. "We could at least see what we're dealing with before-

"No." Catra cut off. "If they see us flying over them, they'll know we're coming. And for all we know, that might just be the trap itself. We can't take any chances until-

*swish*

"Ah! Huff... Huff... I'm here... I'm... I'm here..." A huffing and tired Glimmer announced as she finally appeared. She was adorned in the same suit of armor she wore before at the Crimson Waste, wielding her father's treasured staff that had yet to see the air of battle within the last few weeks.

Within two seconds of seeing the new Queen of Bright Moon, Flutterina was already lost for words. Awing, gasping, her eyes sparkled as she stood with her fists to her front, wings fluttering as they perked up behind her. "Aheheh!" She stifled the squeal rising to her lips as she tried to keep herself composed. "I-It's you! Oh my gosh, Princess- I mean, Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon! Leader of the Rebellion!" She shot forth a hand excitement.

"Huh? Oh, uh, hello there." Glimmer greeted as she smiled. "I'm, well, Glimmer, as you said. And you are?"

"My name's Flutterina!" She couldn't believe she was actually standing here in front of the very Queen herself! It was almost as exciting as meeting the legendary She-Ra! "One day, I hope to join the Rebellion, too. I am such a huge fan!"

I thought you were MY biggest fan? Catra thought to herself as she approached her slightly exhausted friend. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry, but it took forever to actually get out of the castle! First I had to cancel a bunch of meetings, then I had to convince the Captain of the Guard to actually let me leave, then I had to direct a handful of soldiers to patrol certain areas while I was gone, and I was teleporting this way and that way and... Ughhh!" She groaned as she pulled at her cheeks a little. "I just finished talking to the last advisor thirty seconds ago!"

"Well, if you're ready then, then let's go." Catra stated, refusing to waste a single minute longer than she already had.

"Wait," Glimmer stopped in front of her in a bit of a haste, "remind me again what happened? You were stressing out all throughout the conversation. I understand Bow was taken but what exactly happened?" Catra rolled her eyes at this as she groaned, wishing to push the unnecessary details and thoughts out of her mind as fast as possible.

"Long story short? We were in the middle of a small party Elberon threw us after reclaiming the village for them when some of the villagers warned us about bots being spotted in the woods. I went there to take care of them, left Bow here to keep the rest of the villagers safe, and by the time I finished with them and got back, the Horde abducted everybody else, including Bow." She frowned slightly as she turned to the only fluttery villager left. "Flutterina's the only one who escaped."

"I'm sorry," the girl meeped a bit as her expression filled with regret, "I wish I could've helped more. Bow's the only reason I even got away."

Knowing the sense of guilt filling over the young girl's mind, one that resembled a survivor's guilt Catra experienced several weeks ago, the Queen of Bright Moon offered up a comforting smile as she rested a hand on her shoulder. "Flutterina, it's alright. There was nothing you could've done. You did more than enough by having Bow's data pad with you or else Catra wouldn't be able to call for help." Touched by the Queen's kind words, Flutterina gave her a small hug as she sniffled into her shoulder.

These were the moments that Catra was glad to have someone else on hand to deal with the touching-feely stuff. She wasn't against trying to cheer someone else up these days or trying to comfort them, she just wasn't used to doing so with her words. Like at the Coronation itself, she couldn't bring herself to talk to Glimmer about her issues. All she could rely on was trying to make things better through her actions than words.

Provided she never had to take a bath or get water involved, she wouldn't mind doing what she could to brighten the young girl's mood. And this included charging into the nearest Horde base with one of her friends at her side.

Smiling as the young girl calmed herself again, Glimmer gave her undivided attention back to the one who summoned her. "So, what's the plan?"

...

Adora grinned as she eyed the concealed pit that the prisoners were all locked away in, going over the records and transcripts she had over her digital data pad. Everything about her plan worked like a charm from beginning to end.

With how friendly the locals were, it was no surprise that they would throw a celebration of some sort for the "heroes" of the Rebellion. Gathering everyone in one place, it was easy to round up every single villager of Elberon without much resistance or care. Even with all of Bow's support, there was nothing he could do as the Force Captain captured every last one of the villagers in one sitting, making the next several steps of her plan a cakewalk in comparison.

There was just one hiccup that came along with everything that actually worked.

"Look at us. You and me in the field, side-by-side." A gushing Scorpia commented as she stood along the bridge Adora was on. The blonde soldier twitched her brow a little bit as she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the second hiccup of her day as she focused on her data. "Taking a bunch of random prisoners from a party, putting said prisoners in a big pit, guarding said pit. Ugh, if that doesn't say friendship, I don't know what does. The super pal duo is back!"

"Please don't ever call us that when soldiers are around." Adora muttered as she kept her eyes pinned to the device's screen. "Did you manage to confiscate all their personal items before locking them in?"

"Uh, yeah." Digging through her pockets, she revealed some of the belongings she acquired from the villagers as per Adora's instructions. "Glasses, bobby pins, hair clips... Why did you want this stuff, again?"

"Because with the archer in there, I don't want to take any chances of him getting out." Adora glanced over to the pit again, eyeing it closely. "He managed to bring down an entire handful of droids with such a small device. I wouldn't put it past him being able to escape if he had so much as a paperclip on hand." Scorpia supposed that made sense as she set the items aside. She felt kind of bad for the people who needed the glasses, though. "And what about the weapons?"

"Oh, oh, yeah. You gotta see this." Giggling, she jogged a little ways away from the blonde towards one of the defensive wall's ramparts. She couldn't wait to see the look on Adora's excited face when she got a look over this thing. Running around the corner, keeping an eye on her distracted friend, she chuckled one more time as she gave the red button to the device a small press.

*click*

*POOF!*

"Ahhhh!" Adora's heart nearly gave out from fright as she heard the loud explosion, nearly dropping her data pad in the process. What she first thought was the sound of thunder and cannon fire going off within the facility ended up being nothing more than a colorful rain of confetti that blew from the confiscated tank's cannon. The girl was still panting a little as Scorpia made her way back to her, laughing again as she jumped from the upper wall near the tank.

"Huh? Huh? Heheheh!" She couldn't wait to see the smile of surprise that would put on Adora's face! ...Whenever it was going to appear by the looks of it. "I know it's just cup up pieces of paper, but isn't it so much fun?"

"Yeah, peachy." Adora snarled as she shook her head, turning away from the comrade as she went about her work. There was a small awkwardness lifting in Scorpia's chest as she said this, following along her friend on the bridge as she tried to figure out what was bothering her. "She-Ra was in Elberon. Which means she'll be nearby."

"Do you think she'll try some secret attack?"

"An attack? Yes. Secret? In your dreams." She grinned. "Knowing Catra, she's going to try bashing her way in here like she always does. That's why we'll be ready for her to make an appearance." There was something a little off about Adora's tone as she spoke. It was almost like she was excited about the idea of someone invading their base just to destroy them. Mixed in with how they just recently kidnapped an entire village, and it was a little concerning about how strange she's been recently.

"Is that why you kidnapped everyone in Elberon? Some plot against the Princess Alliance?" Scorpia walked ahead a little as she cut her friend off her path. "I could help if I knew what you were up to. You know, like old times."

"Trust me, Scorpia. The less you know about the plan, the better." Still refusing to give her old friend any direct attention, Adora turned herself away as she continued sorting out the details in her pad.

"Oh, yeah, sure, sure, gotcha." She felt a little neglected as she rubbed her arm anxiously, looking away with a small frown. "It's just, uh, feeling a little left out is all. You know? I mean we used to work together a lot more closely, so it's, uh, kinda weird not being kept in the loop."

"All you need to be concerned about is doing what I tell you for now." She stated, finally turning her head back a little. "We have a real chance to take out the Rebellion here, and I don't want anything to mess it up."

"... You don't... you don't trust me enough to tell me the plan?" Adora finally stopped for once as she heard this. She couldn't tell if Scorpia was being stricken with grief or despair, just that she saw Adora's quietness as a sign of Adora losing her trust in herself.

Taking a moment to look around the base, noticing that most of the remaining soldiers were either far away or preparing to leave, Adora let out a silent sigh to herself as she finally turned back. "Look, Scorpia, it's not... How do I put this..." The girl furrow her brow as she rubbed her chin. "You not knowing the plan helps put me at ease, okay? I can't take any chance of gossip spreading around or tipping off our enemies by mistake. I mean, what am I supposed to do if you get captured or interrogated? Then the whole plan would be ruined. Get what I'm trying to tell you?"

"Y-Yeah, I... I guess I under-"

"Good." She wouldn't give Scorpia so much as the time of day as she went back to her data input, feeling like she didn't need anything more than a simple yes or no to make herself clear.

"It's just... You've been so quiet lately about everything and we haven't hung out as much."

"And I already told you, I've been busy. I don't have time to play around like we used to."

"I know that, but think of all the fun we used to have. We told stories back and forth, played some games, worked on missions for the next day. And lately you've just been... focusing more on work rather than spending time with your friends."

"Ugh, Scorpia, it's complicated, all right? I have a whole range of duties now, not just being a Force Captain anymore. I can't be allowed to slack off or grow lazy by playing some games whenever you feel like it."

"And I get that, I really do. But don't you think you've been going a little overboard lately? You know, ever since you and Catra came back from that portal incident," the blonde friend came to a stop as her face hardened with anger, "you've been like a completely different pers-"

"How many times do I have to tell you NOT to bring up that stupid portal thing!?" Adora shouted as she stood up to the scorpion girl. She had such a fire in her eyes, almost as if she was glaring at Catra herself. "Nothing about the portal matters anymore. All that matters right now is doing your job and following my instructions. Got that?"

"I-" Scorpia didn't get so much as a second to respond before Adora stormed off, scowling as she tried to push Scorpia's comment out of the far recesses of her mind.

With this one simple act, she went on to prove Scorpia's point to her, and Scorpia wasn't even sure if Adora was actually aware of it herself. Going ballistic about a mere comment about the portal, kidnapping and abducting a town she invaded twice by this point, and yelling at someone who was one of her best friends?

What was going on with her?

...

"Alright. We need to get past the guards without them alerting the base." Catra stated as she watched behind the cover of the woods. "Once we pass the gate, we can figure out where Bow and the others are."

The trek through the woods had little to offer for the four companions as they traveled to the Horde base. Thanks to Flutterina's insight on the Horde's location, having seen them previously when they first invaded, it was easy to figure out which direction they came from. Combined with Catra's keen sense of smell, and the trip through the forest took mere minutes to find the outpost.

As expected, the base itself was heavily defended on every side. Mountable turrets housed every corner, the walls scaled up nearly thirty feet in height with at least two feet thick of raw steel. They saw a patrol crossing the outer wall every ten minutes, and security cameras keeping an eye on the top of the walls themselves.

With such a heavy-handed method of security, and one obvious point of entry they could break through, it was almost teasing Catra's frame of mind as if goading her to come in through that way.

And she never had a choice if it meant saving one of her friends.

"How are we supposed to get in there without being seen?" Swift Wind asked, poking his head closer to the magicat as he eyed the same pair of guards. "I mean, you're She-Ra. And I don't exactly blend in." He gave a short flash of his mane with a grin as it sparkled in the sunshine. "It's a side effect of being majestic."

"I could teleport us in there, easily." Glimmer suggested, keeping her back to the tree as she peered around it. "We could find the prisoners easily and break them out."

"And then what? Teleport an entire village out of there one at a time?" Catra rolled her eyes at the mention. "We don't even know where they are on the inside. By the time you finish teleporting in and out everywhere, the security is going to be on high alert. They could take the prisoners hostage or something." It might've been a bit of a long shot, but after all that had happened, she couldn't allow herself to take any chances for the day.

She already lost an entire village because she wasn't cautious enough, like the village head wanted to be. None of this stuff would've happened if she had stayed behind, or if she helped evacuate the village before leaving like she suggested. Because of that, she lost one of her closest friends and an entire village that counted on her for their safety.

She would NOT repeat that mistake with the few friends that remained.

"We need to come up with a plan that'll get everybody out and deal with the Horde at the same time. And that starts with getting past the two guards up there."

"Um..." A small voice spoke up from behind them as Flutterina rubbed her chin. "I think I might have an idea..."

...

*scrizz*

"Hah! Three games in a row!" The boastful guard cheered as he finished the most recent match of tic-tac-toe with the dirt in the ground. The losing guard shook his head in annoyance, knowing this meant he was going to have to put up with another several weeks of him mocking him and gloating to him about how superior he was in everything related to tic-tac-toe.

Honestly, it was just a stupid game made for three year olds, it wasn't like he won the lottery!

"Ahem." It was the sound of another voice that drew the two guards' attention as they looked out to the clearing. There, they saw a lone Flutterina standing idly by with her hands behind her back, trying to look as innocent as possible to the two guards before her as she put on the best act she could. "Oh no. You've caught me. How will I ever get away?" Lifting an eye briefly to the two, gauging their confused turns of the head, she let out one more terrified shriek as she dashed away in fear, the two guards following in on her trail closely behind her.

The guards bought her little performance hook line and sinker as they chased her around the corner. IT was pretty easy to get their attention without alerting security, seeing how it was just one "little girl" vs a pair of armed soldiers. Best part about this little act was the fact the fear was all too real. She couldn't afford to be captured by the pair of guards, and she knew she would've been in a world of trouble if they had caught up to her.

"Oh no." She squeaked, running past the corner as fast as possible as the guards neared it. As she planned, the little performance went off without a hitch as the first of the two guards met an untimely fate as turned the corner.

*Thunk*

It was the sight of a rainbow-winged pegasus clonking his horn over the soldier's helmet, knocking him out, that greeted the second guard as he reached them. The next thing he witnessed when he tried to turn tail and run was the sight of the new Queen of Bright Moon, Queen Glimmer, teleporting right behind him, smirking with her arms crossed and a staff in hand. Finally, the last and most terrifying of the three scenes was the magicat that tapped him on the back, grinning a bit to the terrified guard in front of her as Flutterina smiled from behind.

"You can either deal with her, or you can deal with me." Catra belittled as she grabbed him by the shoulder. "But, spoiler warning, it's still going to hurt."

*WHAM!*

There was almost a crack that formed over the visor of his helmet as he was knocked out cold, dropping the data pad in his hands as he passed out. Collecting it for herself, Catra scrolled through the details and logs until she finally came across a basic outline of the entire base, including a section of it that was highlighted as her friends looked over her shoulder. "That has to be where they're keeping everyone."

"The whole village?" Flutterina hoped as she peered closer to the image.

"Hopefully."

"Does the data pad display any of it's defenses?" Glimmer asked looking to her friend.

Skimming over it, Catra's multiple expressions left the Queen clueless as she processed the information she was given. "Did anyone else see anymore guards aside from the two at the front and the two patrolling the walls we took care of?"

"Um, I don't think so. Why?"

Tenseness filled Catra's eyes as she glanced back to her friend. "Because if this is accurate, there aren't anymore guards around the outpost." She scanned the data she had one more time as she stood. Sure enough, if the map was at all accurate, there weren't anymore defenses or soldiers labeled anywhere within the map. Either the Horde went without revealing such information, or somebody forgot to account for every soldier stationed within the outpost.

And neither of those two reasons were plausible.

"Well we made it this far," her friend shrugged back, "we might as well push on through." Without any other means of preparing themselves, Catra nodded to this as she swiped the collar from her neck, transforming it into the glorious sword that was by her side at all times.

She was about to give Flutterina another spectacular show of her transformation as her eyes sparkled.

"For The Honor of Grayskull!"

Opening her eyes, her transformation had finally been complete, the look of pride crossing her expression and amusement at what she had become.

The TRUE She-Ra had been formed.

"Awwwsoooome~!" The pink-haired girl shriveled as she pressed her knuckles to her cheeks. Nothing was more awe inspiring than watching She-Ra transform in front of her very eyes, especially on a mission to save a village!

"We're going in." Catra announced as she turned to the noble steed that was Swift Wind. "Swifty, stay here and watch over Flutterina. Glimmer and I will charge in."

"Awwww, can't I come?" Flutterina pouted with a whine. "I'm the one who helped with the guards at the front, you know."

"Sorry, Flutters, but I'm not taking anymore chances. If you get captured trying to help us or something then the mission would've been pointless."

"But-" The girl wasn't given enough time to verbalize a response. By the time she opened her mouth to complain, Catra was already running around the corner. Feeling Swift Wind's wing over her shoulder, she knew that he wasn't going to leave her on her own, or give her the chance to take off without him.

"Don't worry, Flutterina. You did more than enough to help us out." Glimmer gave a comforting smile as she patted her shoulder. "Let us handle the rest." And it was with the teleportation that, just like Catra, Glimmer left before she could say anything.

This did nothing to prevent the small frown forming on the girl's face as she lowered her head. She did so much to help them so far. Providing the data pad to call for backup, leading them directly to the Horde base. Wasn't that enough for them to trust her? It almost felt like they were calling her a burden in a strange way, refusing to let someone without any magical powers or strength assist them.

Feeling the discomfort emanating from his new friend, Swift Wind did his best to encourage the girl as he brushed the shoulder of his wing against her arm. "So... Do you like loop-de-loops?"

...

*CRASH!*

Without waiting for someone to answer the door, the entrance of the base burst open from the tremendous force of Catra's blow as she charged her way into the outpost. With Glimmer at her side, she knew she was more than ready to take on anything the Horde threw at them. With her teleporting and Catra's strength, there was nothing they couldn't handle for be unprepared for .

And somehow, they still were as they reached the very location they were looking for upon the map. Actually, even before they reached this portion of the base, there was something off about it. The place was deserted. For such an advanced outpost, she at least expected there to be some sort of defenses still waiting for her.

She was actually disappointed for a moment that there wouldn't be anyone or anything to smash. And it still ended up being the least of her concerns.

"Wait... this doesn't make any sense." The two princesses, the latter technically a Queen, lowered their guard as they examined the surrounding area. "The map said that the pit would be right here. We should be in the right spot."

"Are you sure it was a map of this outpost?" The Queen kept her eyes on the scenery circling them as she asked. "Maybe it was an older version of the outpost, or maybe a different one?"

"No, no, that can't be right. It had the exact number of guards and where they were stationed on it. They should've been here, I'm sure of it!"

"Tch, hahaha. And since when are you ever sure about anything?" A voice cackled from above, baiting the eyes and ears of those below her. Raising their heads, Catra's veins intensified with anger as she saw a familiar ex-friend sitting on the railing of the bridge ahead of them, along with a red tailed lacky by the name of Scorpia.

"Adora!" Her shout contained the same magnitude of anger Glimer experienced once before, and still managed to frighten the girl a bit as she gnashed at her teeth. Like a fish drawing in to a lure, Catra took every single bait Adora had planned for time and again. And given the small switch-like button she held firmly in her hand, she couldn't wait for the coup de grace that their battle could give them.

With a small flip through the air as she landed, Adora continued with her performance as she met the ground beneath her to meet with them, keeping her eyes closed as she relished in the delight of this encounter. "It's been quite awhile since we last saw each other, hasn't-"

*WHAM!*

*Crash!*

"-it..." She blinked. She opened her eyes to a sight unlike anything from before. Or, more accurately, something she had seen a thousand times before, yet never experienced in the midst of her sentence as Catra physically cut her off.

Within the instant that Adora opened her eyes, she found her face getting bashed with the metallic fury of a golden-plated gauntlet, one that easily knocked the Force Captain off her feet and threw her halfway across the base where she slammed into the newly formed wreckage of a Horde tank, dropping the switch under the bridge she passed in the process. If she didn't have her shadow armor over herself and her exoskin providing her with some physical protection, she was pretty sure she would've lost her head on the spot. That also begged the question.

What the heck was that about!? She just met Catra after a few weeks as the very instant that she placed herself before her old adversary she decided to cut her off by slamming a She-Ra powered fist straight at her face? How did she not break her nose out of that?!

Adora winced a bit as she slowly pulled herself out of the wreckage, using her shadows to help pry her from the damaged tank as she slid herself out of the opening. "O-Okay, I see someone's a little sword-happy already-"

"Haaaaah!" She-Ra's battlecry was the only thing that Adora heard before she ducked herself out of the way in time. With a powerful thrust, or a crash, neither of which truly mattered to the blonde soldier, she saw Catra leaping through the air and slamming her weapon down on the tank she just pulled herself out of. Adora threw herself to the ground to the side as she rolled over to her back, watching as a few sparks of electricity cracked around the damaged tank before it exploded in a mass of fire and metals.

And it still wasn't enough to slow her down. Already, Catra was walking through the fire menacingly with her sword clutched in hand. Somehow the fire burning in Catra's eyes were hotter than the actual fire she paid little attention to. It was one of the few genuine moments that Adora found herself fearful of her former friend as she backed away on the ground. Even Catra's breath felt menacing to her as she breathed with a hoarse throat.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out worriedly as she watched the display.

"Oh no you don't!" Before Scorpia could climb over the railing of the bridge, she found her own troubles to preoccupy her as Glimmer teleported above her. She slammed her father's staff over her head as the scorpion girl was forced to deflect with her claws. "You're not getting past me!" She yelled as she teleported a few feet away. She wouldn't let anyone interfere with Catra's fight with Adora, no matter how uncomfortable Catra made her feel at the moment.

"Geez, what's your problem?" Adora spat as she worked her way up to her feet. "At least let me finish my sentence before-"

"Ghhhhhh!" She wouldn't let the girl finish her sentence ABOUT finishing her sentence as Catra lunged again. Forcing the Force Captain to block her assault, Adora donned the two Taser blades she was dual wielding, feeling herself being pressed back to no end as her sword clashed against Catra's. There was only worry in one pair of eyes, and they were the very ones Catra wanted to snuff out.

Pressing her blade harder against Adora's, the agitated She-Ra slid Adora away one step at a time as she continued to glare daggers at her old friend. When Adora finally realized this was happening at all, she summoned several shadowy tendrils around her, piercing them into the ground as she held her position for the time being.

And giving her the perfect view of Catra's rage as the girl was just one foot away from her head.

"W-What's gotten into you, Catra?" It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and one she never wanted to see again. And to this, Catra didn't budge an inch as she sent shivers down Adora's spine. "Aren't you going to even talk to me?"

"There's Nothing to talk about." Hissing, Catra delivered a painful knee to Adora's stomach as she doubled over in pain. Briefly distracted by this unexpected injury, Catra took the opportunity to lift the girl from her feet as she grabbed the collar of her scarf. With great ferocity, she threw the troubled girl against the ground behind her, making the girl let out a small cough as the air was forced out of her. "Personally, I thought you'd be happier, Adora, because you finally got what you wanted."

"What I... wanted?" The slightly disoriented girl shook her head as she looked back, and barely managed to roll out of the way in time as Catra slammed her fist through the ground, pounding several inches into it as she struck. Catra had never been more terrifying than she had now as Adora crept slowly away, feeling the energy in her legs leaving her as fear overwhelmed her.

"What? Did you forget already? Then let me spell it out for you." Seeing the girl slowly inching away from the dreaded Catra, the magicat grabbed Adora's leg roughly by the ankle as she pulled her back, sliding her up to Catra's face as she grabbed her by the throat.

"You got exactly what you set out to do. You took away someone I cared about, ruined a life I had with them, and felt all the extreme pain that went along with it. Because of you, I am never going to see them again, I am never going to get them back, and knowing that much tore my heart enough to know it will never recover, all because you had to go and pull a stupid lever."

"So congratulations, Adora, because you got what you wanted. I felt your pain, I suffered for what you did like you always dreamed of. And, for your sake, I hope it was worth it." Drawing the girl's head closer to her, Adora could catch a glimpse of her own fear as she saw herself reflected from within Catra's eye. "Because unlike you, I'm never going to be satisfied with just making you feel the same pain I do."

"I'm never going to be satisfied until you die..."

...

A/N: Annnnnd another chapter down the drain ^^~ Hope you all enjoyed, and thanks to those of you who were checking in with me recently like peyton and omacc. Sorry again for the quietness (if you were on instagram chats you'd know i've been anything BUT quiet XP). It's been a bit of a hecticness around here and everything, and even without it, the delay has been mostly due to the lack of energy lately XP i'm not sure if the recent events are a play into that, but I wouldn't be surprised given all that's happened XP

So, with that said, hope you all enjoyed ^^ Leave a like, fave, follow, and review and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 130: S4 Episode 3: Flutterina Part 4

Chapter Text

A/N: Final WOrd Count: 10.6k Pre-A/N's. Gah, finally! What took you guys so long?! I've been waiting forever for an update!... Wait... I think I had that backwards. Let me start over: Eh hem.... !Etadpu na rof reverof gnitiaw neeb ev'I !?gonl os syug uoy koot tahW !yllanif ,haG ... There we go, I think I got it right now ^^

Lol, what's going on guys? HOOF, this was an enxhausting several weeks. Sorry for the long delay, as you can see, I'm fine now and I have not been replaced with some shadowy organization pretending to be me cause that would just be silly XP......SO DON'T LOOK INTO IT T_T....

Lol, but seriously though, sorry for the long delay on this one folks (not nearly long as the last one, mind you, but still XP). I wasn't caught up in any trouble, the recent news issues hasn't affected me in any sorta way (I think). No, this is all jotted down to a lack of medication on my end. Without going into too much detail, mostly cause I can't provide much, for the past several weeks I've been without my adderall for my ADHD and whatnot, the stuff that helps me focus and all. Not focusing isn't the issue for the delay.

The problem is that without my medication, my body has become so accustomed to it where if I don't take it in the morning, I'm drowsy and groggy to the point where I'm usually napping an hour or 2 of the day away around noon X/ I had enough trouble trying to stay awake till 3 or so when I would finally wake myself up, and by that point, I was to sluggish to do any writing for the rest of the day X/. Normally when I need a medication refill, it only takes a few days at most- here, IT TOOK NEARLY A FREAKING MONTH TO GET A REFILL FOR SOME REASON T_T Idk if it was a shipment issue (hence idk if the recent news stuff played a part in it) or something else, all I know is that I didn't get any pills till like last friday, and it took that amount of time to readjust to them again AND get my energy for writing back within the last several days.

Like seriously, I had the first third of this done over two weeks ago and haven't had the energy to write and finish until saturday, slowly building it up more and more, and eventually, viola.

Now with that said, don't expect my best writing to be below. It's been awhile and still trying to get some sluggishness out, so chances are I'll be 100% rusty from the below X/ Hopefully that still doesn't make it any less engaging and fun for the rest of you to read ^^

So, with that said, onward with the show!!!

...

"Huff..." Flutterina sighed as she sat on the boulder next to the Horde base, leaning on her hands as her elbows were planted firmly in her lap. "It's not fair." She complained, ignoring the feathered horse that continued to circle around her every now and again as he kept an eye out. "I help them get into the base itself and they don't want me to help them with the rest of the work?"

"It's not like they don't appreciate the help or anything, Flutterina." Swift Wind replied with a smile. "They're just concerned for your safety, that's all."

"I know, they told me that already. But I wish they would've trusted me enough to help them some more. I want to prove to them I can help out in the Rebellion just as much as they can."

"Flutterina, you're looking at it the wrong way." Swift Wind surized as he tried to think of a reasonable explanation. "They're not asking you to stay out of the way because they don't think you can handle it, they're asking you to stay out of the way because they don't trust themselves to keep you safe. When they're fighting in the field, they have to be able to keep the people around them safe along with themselves. If something happened to you, they would put the blame on themselves. Does that make sense?"

Flutterina sighed again as she lowered her head. "I guess so. But aren't you worried about Catra, too? Shouldn't we at least keep an eye on them?"

"Who? Catra? Pffft! Catra will be fine!" It was almost comical enough to make Swift Wind laugh at the very thought of it. "Did you forget she's the Legendary She-Ra?" It brightened his mood to see the girl herself smiling a little. "She can lift an entire tank like it was nothing and toss it threw the air."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! She once took on forty soldiers at once and came out of it without a scratch on her! ... I think she got her tail tased once though by accident, but don't tell her I said that." There was the small chuckle he wanted to see. Just because he was tasked with keeping the girl safe and on the spot didn't mean he couldn't keep her entertained, either. "Trust me, with Glimmer at her side, there's nothing she can't hand-nnghhhhh!" Before the noble and trusting steed could get his point across, his entire face twitched with an unruly expression as shivers were shot through his spine.

The sight of it was enough to startle the pink-haired girl a bit as she jumped from the boulder, watching the horse's face contort as if he was in a mix of pain, shock, and confusion all at the same time. "Swift Wind? Are you okay?"

It took Swift Wind a few seconds for the bizarre tingling sensation to finally pass through his body before he could compose himself. He just felt like he was shocked with a current of warmth and cold while being doused in a liquid that instantly evaporated. "Ghhhhh! I just felt like..." He didn't want to bring it up in front of Flutterina after mentioning how they were supposed to remain put, and he couldn't deny his eagerness to check on his dear friend as well.

"It's Catra, isn't it? Is she in trouble?" Honestly, he couldn't say.

He felt a sudden surge of emotions emanating from the young magicat's heart that filled the void of his mind with indefinite bouts of anger and despair. It was unlike anything he felt before from his friend, at least within recent months to this day. Even meeting Shadow Weaver again didn't fill her with the same fits of emotional anger that was now coursing through her. Whatever was setting Catra off, it was burning through her system at an alarming rate.

And he felt it teetering on the edge of no return, as if something she could do could break that bond forever.

"We have to go help her!"

"B-But we can't." As much as he wanted to, he still couldn't bring himself to break whatever trust he had with his fellow rider knowing how hard it was to regain that trust from her. "I promised Catra I'd keep an eye on you."

"But... Mmmmh..." The young girl tried to think of a solution to this dilemma, spending no more than several seconds as a thought occurred to her. "Well... technically she just said for you to keep me safe and to keep an eye on me, right?"

"Yeahhh...?"

"Well, couldn't you keep an eye on me while we both keep an eye on Catra, too?" She proposed with a curious smile. He had to admit, he actually found the idea quite convincing at the time. Catra always had a knack for twisting ideas and plans around in her favor, and situations like this were no exception. Then again, if something happened to Flutterina in the process, she would never forgive him for his carelessness or her mistrust in him.

"I-I know that, but-"

"Please, Swift Wind?" Oh, now she was just being unfair! How could he say no when she looked up to him with big pearly beg-filled eyes? "We'll stay out of their way and everything, I promise."

"Mmmh..." He gazed at the sky as he felt Catra's surge of anger one more time. Whatever was happening to her right now, it was making her lose control of her emotions and making her run rampant. When it came down to it, he'd much rather have a friend that was forever mad at him than have a friend who was forever gone for one reason or another.

With a heavy heart, and a moan, Swift Wind finally relented as he looked back. "Alright, but stay-" And came to realize that Flutterina was already running around the corner towards the entrance by the time he saw her again. "-close to me..." Smiling a litte, with the roll of his eyes, the ever-favorable horse galloped after her as quietly as possible. Looking back on it, he came to realize Catra was more than something the girl idolized. Catra was a symbol that Flutterina herself wanted to be in every possible way.

... Why did the thought of that make him shudder a little?

...

"Haaaaaah!" Catra screamed as she lunged for the girl again with her sword-turned-trident for the third time, leaving Adora more than a second of time to roll of the way before she found herself impaled like the solid concrete behind her. Shooting out two tendril-like shadows from the confines of her scarf, the mostly blonde Force Captain pulled herself away from the hazardous She-Ra as she tried to formulate a plan.

To say the following situation unfolded unexpectedly would be a dramatic understatement. Most plans that don't follow along with an idea usually involve one or two hiccups in an overall scheme that, while never diverting from the same objective, usually result in the plan going awry in one form or another while ultimately succeeding in the end.

This was not one of those times.

This was not anywhere near it.

This was one of those times where the entire plan had been flipped upside down from the moment the slightest hiccup occurred.

It all started with Adora pulling off what was, arguably, one of her best plans to date. After the way the "Heroes of Elberon" liberated the Horde from their great city, they let their guard down enough by throwing the party of all parties for Catra, Bow, and Swift Wind. The three friends were ecstatic with all the festivities and reception they received that when they heard reports of Horde bots being located within the field, Catra, letting her personal ego get to her again, didn't think much of it as she set off on her own with her noble steed.

With the town She-Ra-less and Bow being the only one capable of guarding the townsfolk against a literal army at Adora's back, retaking the town once again proved to be of little effort. There were barely any droids destroyed in the attack as the archer's pitiful attempts to resist them were in vain. The most he managed to do was destroy three droids before he was taken along with the rest of the town.

Following that, it became a mere waiting game as Catra expectantly returned to the base where her trap was ready to spring. She had to admit, there was a little surprise when she saw Glimmer show up, but, then again, she didn't really care much for her, either. And any excuse to take out the current leader of the Rebellion as well as the dreaded She-Ra would've been a bonus in this situation.

And, as expected, Catra indeed came charging into the Horde base, one that had been cleared out of fellow soldiers and guards, save for the several roaming around the base to give the illusion of being maintained. She needed everything to look like it was running naturally until Catra came crashing through the doors. The minute she showed up, Adora casually made her descent from the bridge she and Scorpia was on as she was ready to unleash the fulness of her plans.

And that would be where mistakes were made, among several.

Almost immediately as Adora touched the ground, she found a gauntlet-covered fist smashing into her face at full-on force, slamming the unsuspecting Force Captain into the now burning remains of a tank. It took her a few seconds to process this, and how lucky she was for the exoskin and the invisible shadow armor providing some method of protection, because the moment she did she found herself jumping away for dear life as Catra's assault continued.

The girl was a nightmare in the rage induced sense. Whenever Adora rolled to one side, Catra tried to cut her off. When she tried to question Catra's strange behavior, her friend simply spat as she attempted to swipe at her with her sword or her claws. Everything about Catra screamed anger and vengeance towards the girl for reasons Adora herself was to blame for.

Adora gave her pain. She inflicted upon Catra the desired pain she put Adora through since the two went about their separate ways several months ago. Catra lost something resembling that of a mother for the first time, a life that she had only a day to experience in a dreamworld, and a lifetime of memories that were all falsified. None of those things would ever return to Catra, and there was nobody to blame but Adora. She was the one who did all this, she was the one who caused such pain to the cat girl.

And Catra wouldn't be satisfied until Adora was dead at her feet.

Rolling onto her back, Adora barely had enough time to block Catra's follow-up strike as she pried the spear forcefully from the ground, scattering a handful of debris at the Force Captain that she was forced to block with her arms and shadows. By the time she found the small assault coming to an end, she immediately blocked off the She-Ra's oncoming strike with her twin swords as Catra continued her relentless attacks. From up close, just inches from her eyes, she could see a fire burning within Catra's eyes, one that was fueled by the reflecting fear of Adora's own person within her pupils.

"Don't you think you're overreacting!?" Adora yelled as she struggled to push the blade back. Her sense of strength was dulled by the brief fear she felt overwhelming her, and the confusion that played upon her person as Catra continued to push her back.

"Overreacting to what?" Catra growled back. Pushing with all her might, She-Ra forced the young blonde a good dozen feet away from her as the warrior slid her feet against the ground, making her struggle to maintain her balance. "You said it yourself, Adora. You wanted me to feel your pain since the day you left me at the Beacon. What did you expect my reaction to be!"

"Tch, a little more believable than this, honestly." She snarled back. "Seriously, did you actually lose someone you care about or are you just acting like you did? Because frankly, you're acting the way I've always pictured you on the inside. It's just now you're pretending there's somebody you actually care about. I almost feel sorry for the loser you're pretending to care f-"

*CLANG!*

Adora barely blinked before she found herself assaulted again by the fervorous cat girl's attack. Changing her sword into a single claw blade over her right, Adora barely managed to intercept her two swords between the three piercing protrusions before they could reach her face. They were so close, she stared wide eyed at the rightmost blade as it barely reached two inches from her eye.

Was Catra actually serious about all of this? Did she actually take away someone Catra cared about? If so, then who? There wasn't anyone Adora could think of save for the previous Queen of Bright Moon. And what did she even mean to her if she did? She's barely known her for several months compared to someone like Adora, and now she was mad enough to avenge the fallen Queen like this?

Adora didn't know whether to be impressed that Catra actually found someone or something to care for this much, or enraged at the fact that she's still proven that she cared more about someone else other than her despite the dozens of years they spent being raised together.

Whatever the case, all she knew was that Catra was intending to show her how much pain she inflicted- and that started with the free hand she just realized the magicat still had.

*swish!*

"Agh!" Adora cried out in pain as she nearly lost her stance, resisting the urge to squeeze her injured shoulder.

With the two combatants staring down each other, only one of them had the means to strike while defending at the same time, and would continue to do so until Adora became aware of her situation.

For what the exoskin made up for in mobility and flexibility, it lacked in defense.

Using her free hand, Adora failed to notice in time as the magicat swiped her claws fiercely against her right shoulder, scratching off a good portion of her skin underneath the exoskin armor and her shadow armor despite their previous protection.

Adora couldn't tell how much of her skin was cut up by the three claw marks that raked a good several inches against her right arm, just that it hurt like no other as she tried to shrug off the pain. She also dealt with the realization that with Catra in her current state of power, even her claws were sharp enough to penetrate her shadow armor. Given all the confusion she knew she was distracted by, Adora focused the remainder of her shadows against her skin for now, refusing to let up because of an injured arm while contemplating her next course of action.

And ignoring the metallic wall the magicat pushed her up to.

She needed something to get the situation back under her control, something to turn the tide of this battle in her favor. That was when she noticed a small twinkle coming from a short ways away under the bridge, seeing the familiar switch she had intended to use before Catra forcefully interrupted her and knocked it clear out of her hands. Once she had that, she knew she could turn things around again and finally activate the trap she had waiting for her. She just needed a moment to distance herself from her insane ex-friend.

Meanwhile, Scorpia was dealing with her own princess, or Queen as she now was, as she continued to fight off Glimmer's own assault. The girl wasn't letting up any easier as she fought the scorpion girl, Glimmer doing everything in her power to fight off the very people responsible for kidnapping them on a handful of occasions. Nor would she allow the girl to assist Adora in any way as long as Catra was handling her own situation.

"Haaaaah!" Glimmer yelled as she blasted several bolts of her magic at the defending other Force Captain, Scorpia shrugging off the brunt of her assault as she shielded herself with her arms. With the four blast landing, the spellcaster teleported from her spot as she reappeared right behind the scorpion girl herself, delivering another powerful blast to the back of Scorpia's head that nearly knocked her off her feet.

Reacting quickly, the soldier rolled herself across the metal slab of the bridge as she glanced back, taking a brief look back to her friend who was still pinned to the wall. "Adora, hang on!" Scorpia called out before blocking the next overhead strike that came to her. This time she managed to grab the staff itself, keeping the princess from teleporting again with it, though that was the least of her concerns. "Get off!"

Raising her stinger, Glimmer was forced to teleport herself to safety a few yards away as Scorpia attempted to strike the enchanted princess, nearly grazing the tip of her stinger against her armor before Glimmer vanished. While she did get a good distance between the two, this left the Queen weaponless without her father's mystical staff that was now within the other princess's claws. "Why can't you guys ever just leave us alone?"

With as much force as she could muster, the scorpion girl threw the enchanted staff straight towards the pink-haired queen as she was forced to teleport once again to avoid it. Disappearing and reappearing in the same place in the matter of three seconds, the flinging staff proved to be a suitable distraction as Glimmer watched it land punctured within the base's walls at least twenty feet behind her. That distraction gave Scorpia enough time to charge the girl again, slamming into her with enough force to knock the queen off her feet.

Glimmer was so distracted over the sudden attack that she barely had time to react as Scorpia followed up with a quick grab for her right ankle, dangling her upside down in front of her as Scorpia gave a small glare into her eyes. "All she's trying to do is unite Etheria!"

"Pffft, yeah right!" It made Glimmer wonder if she rolled her eyes right now if they would still be considered rolling upwards or technically downwards as she scoffed. "Kidnapping an entire village is your way of uniting Etheria?"

"W-Well," a small pang of a frown crossed Scorpia's eyes as she shifted them away, "it's not ideal or anything. But Adora's doing the best she can." She could see that easily as she saw Adora continuing to fight off her former friend, so why couldn't anyone else? "She's had her whole world turned upside down and she's still trying to save everyone by bringing them together."

"Oh, right, save everyone." If she rolled her eyes any further back Glimmer was sure she would've saw her own brain. "Just like how she saved everyone from the portal, I bet."

"... The... Portal?" It was a word that had been on the cornerstone of Scorpia's mind no matter how many times Adora told her to drop it, one with the power to draw the scorpion's attention again as she turned her head again. "What are you talking about-"

*SWISH!*

Scorpia couldn't tell if the blast came to her before turned her head back or while she was doing it. All she knew was that she was assaulted by a large burst of pink magic that blasted her off her feet, far enough to the other end of the bridge and dropping the pink-haired princess in the process. Any stronger and that blast would've blinded her indefinitely.

The small reprieve of time she had was enough for Glimmer to collect herself as she pulled herself back to her feet, right as Scorpia slowly worked herself from the floor on the other end of the bridge. While there was, admittedly, a bit of curiosity behind the questioning tone Scorpia had before she blasted her, she had little time to prod as she teleported back to the piercing staff. Grabbing it in both her hands, pressing her right boot into the wall with a small jiggle, she managed to pry it from the steel slab of wall just in time before preparing herself again for the assailing scorpion.

This was the violence that filled the entirety of the otherwise empty Horde base as both pairs attempted to overpower the other, struggling to fight them off for the sake of the village that had once been overtaken by the Horde. And while the fighters themselves were more accustomed to one another, it was a more than curious sight to the two individuals who spied upon the fighters from the desecrated walls of metal to the Horde base.

Specifically, two individuals by the name of Flutterina and Swift Wind.

Continuing to watch over her as Catra instructed the noble pegasus made sure to keep their distances between the ongoing struggle and the safety behind the walls torn edges. From above, they had a perfect view of the two princesses fighting atop the small metallic bridge, and below they could see the magicat that was struggling to swipe again at her former friend.

"Wow, look at them go..." Flutterina muttered, sounding a bit amazed as the two watched the fight continue to escalate. It was quite a sight for the young villager to watch the legendary She-Ra of all people out in the field, even if it was just against a single opponent. "I think She-Ra has the upper hand."

"Yeah, she... she does..." Despite the seeming edge Catra appeared to have over the latter on the outside, what troubled Swift Wind was the inner turmoil he could sense coming from within.

Nothing but hatred and anger emanated from Catra's being. Unlike most other times when the magicat felt a spike of rage or anger, this one was different. This wasn't like her usual pool of outrage that simmered at a certain point, this was full-on hatred that continued to rise with every passing moment. It was unlike anything he's ever encountered before, nothing that he's ever felt, even from Catra of all people.

And that's not what troubled the most. It was the way her anger was rising that was truly concerning him. It felt like she was purposely trying to make her own anger rise throughout the proceeding, trying to find a reason to push all of her hate and her grudge against her opponent for a change. If he didn't know any better, it was almost as if she was intentionally making herself angrier than usual against Adora, for reasons whether or not justified.

"Is something wrong?" Flutterina asked as she noticed the unusual stare in Swift Wind's gaze.

"N-No... It's... It's nothing." He tried to assure with a small smile as his ears tilted a little to show otherwise. At least she appeared to have the edge over her ex-friend, so that was all that mattered... He hoped.

It was in the midst of the violent struggle between friends and enemies that he discovered that his hopes would soon prove to be unabated.

Throughout the struggling fighters, the moment that would come to be Adora's undoing finally transpired. With her back slowly being pressed closer towards the interior of the base, struggling to maintain her grip on Catra's free hand with her shadows and pushing back her sword at the same time, the Force Captain attempted to get the final jump she needed that would hopefully turn the situation around.

Peering behind herself at the approaching wall, Adora prepared herself as she summoned several tendrils from behind, keeping her focus directly on her enemy as a means of distraction as she lengthened the tendrils as far and discreetly as she could. When Catra attempted to shove the girl fully into the wall again, that's when she made her move.

With a single step back, she gracefully leapt into the air above as her tendrils shot to the top of the wall behind her, catching the magicat off guard as her sword stabbed into the wall itself. This, combined with a small kick to the back of Catra's head as Adora descended again, gave the Force Captain the small push she needed as she made a break for the control switch that was still under the bridge, figuring she had more than enough time to dash for the switch that would turn the battle into her favor.

She didn't count on Catra proving her wrong, however. Still enraged with the sense of loss that Adora made her suffer, the magicat had nothing but contempt for the blonde girl as she angrily pulled her sword from the wall, needing little more than a few pulls and wiggles to break it free. With the sword in hand and without a second thought the proud warrior transformed her sword into a golden whip, one long enough to reach the Force Captain as she whipped the very lasso at the young girl's legs.

Adora's hope turned to horror as she felt the strong lasso whipping around both her legs, just inches away from the switch before she could reach for it. With the rope tangled around her legs, there was little Adora could do other than brace herself as she fell to her front, bumping her head a little in the process as she lost balance and dropped her swords. Before she could lift her head again to reach for the miracle switch she was already being dragged back by the berserk warrior as she jumped atop her fallen prey.

There, with Adora flipped onto her back, Catra grabbed her. Without any remorse or concern for her friend's safety, she gripped her right claw around Adora's throat and began to squeeze.

"Agh-!" Adora yipped in a small cry as she grasped the girl's wrist, trying to pull it from her neck. "C-Catra, st-stop!" She choked almost immediately as she drew her last breath in, the airwaves constricting as she could feel the inside of her throat squeezing from within.

There were several miscalculations Adora officially discovered throughout the fighting that lead her to this point. For one, her shadows were not as defensive as they once were. As she slowly came to realize, without Aroda, the parasitic entity that had lied dormant in her headband until the Battle of Bright Moon and later in her own mind, there was no "second passenger" within her mind trying to keep her safe. The girl who had grown accustomed to the shadows acting on their own till now, and was suffering from the lack of direct training she never realized she needed again.

Secondly, there was Catra herself. A person she once thought of as a friend, a girl who had gone out of her way to tear away at Adora's life in every possible way. Someone that Adora wanted to make suffer, to make her feel the pain that she inflicted upon Adora after all these years which lead to her seeming betrayal, and turned her into the worst enemy Adora had ever known. She thought she had seen the cruel and manipulative side of Catra several times over. She's seen her anger reach limits like no one else.

And her mistake was thinking they couldn't reach any higher.

She-Ra, this She-Ra, barely reminded her of the Catra she used to know. The one who was naturally stuck up and stubborn as she ran around foiling Adora's plans and alliances on a handful of occasions. This one was nothing but bloodthirsty and vengeful, someone who could never be satiated until her appetite was appeased. And that's where Adora's final miscalculation kicked in.

She wanted her dead. She burned seething hatred through her eyes as she continued to watch Adora struggle in vain to free herself from the She-Ra's immense strength. Adora was doing everything she could alone to keep her hand from crushing her throat like a twig, the shadows she had amassed barely maintaining their grip on Catra's fingertips as they struggled to pull them away from her aching throat.

The Force Captain teared up a little in pain as she squeaked a little, clenching her teeth as she tried to stop the seemingly unexplained bout of anger flowing through Catra's eyes. "Ca... Tra... S-Sto..." Her vision started to blur a little. She couldn't tell if it was from the tears in the corner of her eyes or the lack of air flowing to her lungs, only that it was the scaring her with each passing beat of her heart.

She's... She's really serious... Her mind trembled with thought. She's... She's really going to kill me...

On the other end of the suffocation, Catra continued to glare into her eyes as her rage continued to burn. She didn't care who she was looking at at the moment. She didn't care what history they had, what they did to her in the past, or what they still meant to her. This girl, this person she once thought of as a friend, took someone away from her, someone that Catra had a lifetime of false memories of, and only ones she remembered.

It didn't matter to her right now if they were from an alternate timeline within the portal. So what if they were just memories and just that? Things that never actually happened once in her life and were there to just be fake memories? She didn't care. She remembered them. She remembered every sweet and sincere moment that she had with the person she once thought of as a mother figure she never had in that world, and wished for nothing more than to reclaim that figure in her life.

And how it was Adora's fault it would never happen again.

She needed this. That's what she kept telling herself. She needed someone to vent her anger on, someone to pay for how terrible she felt since the portal incident, and someone that was responsible for putting those haunting visions, those last precious words from the previous Queen's lips, on a constant recording within Catra's mind.

Take good care of each other.

It was a promise she never got a say in the matter of, but one she was entrusted to keep. She was going to take care of her friends until the Horde was finally defeated, she was going to make sure everyone suffered for their part in what role they played in the Queen's sudden loss. And she would purge the person who caused all of this in the first place, regardless of her history with them.

All of this, without hesitation or concern, circled around Catra's mind without end as she slowly raised her other hand, extending the still-regrowing claws as far as she could, and intended to use them to snuff out an enemy's life once and for all. All while being unaware as the jewel of her lasso, the runestone that continued to persist through its various transformations, started to flash almost warningly.

From above, Glimmer grumbled as she finally managed to push Scorpia to the railing of the metal bridge, the Horde's own princess gurgling a bit as Glimmer pressed the rod of the staff against her throat and kept her pinned in place. Because of the small fence-like mesh of the railing, she couldn't raise her tail up without it getting caught on something, effectively cutting her off from using her stinger to help her. It was as she looked back to see what her tail was getting stuck to, however, that she saw the terrible sight below.

Down there she could see it. See as the terrible ex-friend had Adora pinned to the ground by her throat, the way Adora was powerless to defend herself, and the way she hesitantly raised her claws to the air, intending to bring them down on the only obstacle within Catra's life.

"Adora!" Scorpia cried out before grumbling a bit. "Lemme go," she squealed, barely making headway as she began to push the new queen back a few inches, "I have to stop her! She's going to kill her!"

"Kill her?" Confused briefly by which girl she was referring to, Glimmer looked past the scorpion girl a little as she saw the ground below the bridge, and the two combatants who were practically mimicking Glimmer's current status of keeping the other girl pinned to a surface. "Catra?" She muttered, keeping her grip on her staff as she tried to process what she was seeing and pushing Scorpia back at the same time.

Catra was... winning. Quite easily by the looks of it. She had Adora pinned to the ground, she was disarmed and trapped by the lasso around her legs and her enemy was too powerless to stop her. That was a good thing, right? So why did the sight of it all leave her with a sense of unease? If Catra was winning, that should've been good, it should've made her happy.

Yet it did nothing but concern the girl as she saw the small runestone of her weapon beginning to shimmer, and Catra along with it. She knew right then and there that she didn't intend to end the fight with just capturing Adora or fighting her off. She fully intended to end the girl's life if it was the last thing she would do. And it was almost hesitating to consider stopping her, too.

She took her mother away. Adora deserved to pay for her actions, plain and simple. But the anger in her expression, the twitch of her claws as she prepared to claw out Adora's life, it all... it wasn't right. There was nothing right about the way Catra was doing all of this. And the way the sword was shimmering like a warning, it only spelled out one thing that Glimmer could conclude as the magicat finished pulling back her claw.

If she ended Adora's life, she would've lost herself and broken her connection to the sword.

"Catra, no!" With a pink flash, Glimmer teleported.

"Huh-?"

*clang!*

"Ow!" There was no room for warning for the scorpion princess as she blinked. In the blink of an eye, Glimmer teleported before her eyes as Scorpia continued to push into the empty air in front of her. With nothing to stop her unsuspecting force, she was powerless to keep her forehead from slamming into the railing on the other side side, dazing the young soldier as she collapsed to a knee, disoriented.

It was at the final second, right as Catra had prepared to bring her claw down out of anger, that she was finally halted by a pair of arms she nearly forgot about in her rage. "Catra, stop!" Glimmer pleaded as she kneeled at Adora's side, wrapping her arms around Catra's own halfway towards their victim.

"Get off of me, Pinky!" Catra shouted angrily, barely containing herself, even for a friend. "She has to pay for what she did!"

"I know Catra, but not like this!" She struggled to convince the magicat as well as herself as she barely held back Catra's arm. Allthewhile Adora struggled weakly as she attempted to swipe her arm at anything blurry in front of her, her mind growing fuzzier with each passing heartbeat.

"Isn't the way? Are you KIDDING me!?" Every fiber of Catra's being was stuck on its end as she barely kept herself from lashing out at the person keeping her from achieving her desire. "Aren't you mad about what she's done? Don't you want her to pay for what she did to your mom?!"

"Of course I do, Catra, but this isn't the way! You're going to lose your connection with the sword if you keep this up. Just look at yourself!" Like instructed, the warrior princess did as she was instructed as she took a small glance at herself. Even without it all completely disappearing, or any of it for that matter, she could feel her strength ebbing and flowing back and forth without end, like it was having its own anxiety attack with each breath. "Do you want to lose everything after all you've been through?"

"Tch, like I care!" There was such animosity in her tone that left little doubt for her sincerity. "If we have a shot to take out Hordak's second in command, then it'll be worth it, won't it? Besides, why are you of all people defending her?" She felt a little betrayed that Glimmer, especially Glimmer, was defending the very person who was responsible for what happened to her mother!

"I'm not defending her, Catra! But your powers-"

Nothing the two were saying were reaching Adora's ears as the girl's consciousness continued to wane. To her, everything sounded muffled, garbled, like they were speaking through a cloth over a busted microphone or something. And with the diminishing supply of air as Catra continued to squeeze her strengthened hand around her throat, she found little reason to care.

She was dying. That much she could still process as she flailed her left arm around, trying to grasp for something, anything, as her shadows began to dissipate from her control. It hardly mattered to her if the metal surrounding her hand retracted into the wrist of her gauntlets, she needed to feel something familiar to her skin that she could use to save herself from Catra's squeeze.

If she continued on like this, she could easily break her neck when the shadows around her throat finally receded. She didn't know what this anger stemmed from and she still didn't care. All she was concerned with was finding a way to save herself from an untimely fate, and there was nothing within arm's reach that wasn't blurry to her.

That's why it came as a surprise. A surprise when she finally grasped something in her hand. A surprise when it felt like someone's arm that she was finally grasping, almost hoping they could help her up. And a surprise as to what happened next.

*ZZZZZZZZZZSHSHSHSHSHSHSH-*

"Ngahhhhh!"

"Agghhhhh!" Adora and Glimmer both screamed in unison as they cried out in pain.

It began as a simple spark. A blip. Barely a static of energy. And in less than a second, it became like a geyser blowing its top of for the first time. From the constant flailing, Adora gripped Glimmer's right sleeveless wrist. She couldn't tell who she was grabbing, not that it mattered, but from there everything escalated within seconds.

With a white light practically glowing from underneath Adora's palm, the new Queen of Bright Moon felt a surge of energy being sapped from her person as it felt like electricity was coursing throughout her body. The shock-like feeling felt like it was emanating from herself rather than Adora as it flowed through her, traveling and surging to Adora's hand.

On the other end of the surge, Adora entire body felt like it was burning up and electrifying as the energy flowed forth. From what was visible of Glimmer's right arm, a small trail of red solid lines flowed from Glimmer's shoulder and steadily crept along Adora's own arm. They were visible over her sleeves unlike Glimmer, traveling along the girl's arm as the energy was drawn forth against the blonde's own will.

"Gl-Glimmer?" Catra flinched a little as she finally pulled back, releasing her hold over Adora's throat despite the shot of pain the two still seemed to be in. "H-Hey! What's going on!" Better question, was she supposed to do at a time like this?

This came out of nowhere the moment Adora grabbed Glimmer, and she couldn't tell if she should pry the girl's hand from Glimmer's arm or if she would get infected with... whatever's happening with them, too. On top of the red lines that seemed to stretch along from Glimmer's arm to Adora's, there was a small cackle of red lightning dancing around where their hands met.

She couldn't describe what she was seeing, only what the red lines reminded her of. They reminded her of the mysterious etchings and traces that ran across Catra's own body whenever she was possessed by that stupid First One's virus that Entrapta had lying around. Only instead of going ballistic and spreading throughout her entire person, the red lines were being drawn from Glimmer's right arm to Adora's left arm, as if draining away a virus that never existed within the new Queen to begin with.

And all throughout this, Adora felt lightheaded. Where there was once a fuzziness from the lack of air flowing into her mind, she now felt a surreal fulness of something she couldn't understand, like information that was being forced inside her mind. She couldn't make heads or tails of what she was experiencing, just that it was making her eyes roll back a little as she struggled to withstand the pain and find a way to release her grip from the Queen's very wrist.

Something was entering her mind, something that she knew and didn't simultaneously. It was like when she touched upon the Black Garnet for the first time after the portal incident, when she thought she lost any chance of reclaiming her magic. Unlike then, the process was longer as the unexpectedness of it left her in pain. Her pain turned to fear, fear turned to confusion.

And somewhere in the mix of it all, it somehow turned into power as she felt herself become a bit lighter.

"GET OFF!" Catra finally shouted as she forced Adora to the ground again with harsh shove. Incapable of doing much else, she pushed past her apparent confusion as she threw the girl back, releasing her grip from Glimmer's wrist as the strange scene finally came to an end. Near-immediately, the small trails of red that were upon Glimmer's arm dissipated with the pink-haired Queen gasping a bit for breath as Catra caught her before she collapsed. "Are you okay?"

"Ngh..." Glimmer mumbled to herself as she rubbed her forehead. Sure, if you took away the briefly throbbing headache and the energy she felt like she had sucked out of her, she'd be fit as a fiddle. "What... What just happened?" Glancing at her own arm, she watched as the last remnants of the red streaks disappeared before her eyes. "What was that?"

"Grrr..." Catra growled a little as she glared back to the grabber. "What did you just do to her?"

Adora was still huffing a bit on her own as she stared up at the sky, slowly leaning herself upwards as she took assessment of her own damage. "What... is this...?" She examined the entirety of her right arm from top to bottom.

All along from the palm of her hand to the brush of her shoulder, the mysterious red vein-like lines continued to permated over her sleeves. They gave off a strange warmth to the girl, something that filled her with more than just fear. And it was from within the center of her palm that she saw a small circle, an outline that glowed lightly where the rest of the trailing lines emanated from.

She continued to marvel at the sight, lost for words, even as the lines over her right arm's sleeves began to seep in. If the red circle that remained within her hand was any indication, the red lines were overlapping Adora's right arm placing upon her skin directly. She could still feel the warmth of the energy as her right arm tingled a bit, the energy still radiating off her sudden endeavor. She knew that she had just done something incredible.

She just didn't know what at that moment.

"Hngh!" And whatever it was, Catra didn't care. Whatever she did to Glimmer she was going to pay for, just like everything else she was going to pay for. Without any hesitation, knowing the lasso was still tangled around her legs, Catra lunged for her with her claws at the ready. It was her growl that drew Adora's attention again, and her reaction that would set off the chain of events that would determine the future.

"Ahhh!"

*swish!*

*scritch!*

"Huh?" Catra blinked. "Wha... What just-"

*swish!*

"-aaah-!"

*thud*

"Ah!" Catra yelped as she fell to the ground, feeling the unexpecting weight suddenly falling onto her back. She grumbled a bit as she slowly lifted herself up from her chest, more angry than surprised by the Adora that suddenly fell onto her back from nowhere. "Get off of me!" She hissed as the briefly dazed blonde shook her head. She reorganized herself just in time to see the attempting swipe of her claws coming straight for her, letting out another yelp as the unthinkable happened again.

*swish!*

"What-?" She was seeing things. She had to be seeing things. Not once but twice now before Catra's rapidly blinking eyes, the girl teleported away in a flurry of pink magic as she leaned back. Both, she and Glimmer, were at a loss for words at what they had just witnessed, but nowhere near as lost as the Force Captain that wound up nearly ten feet above the ground a good several yards behind them.

"What the-"

*thud*

"Ow!" She hated experiencing anything related to her forehead colliding to a solid steel floor. The unexplained elevation as she mumbled only made it worse. She had a million questions going through her mind as she rose to her feet, legs still trembling yet free from the lasso's constraints that were left behind with the She-Ra. "What's going...?" She couldn't afford to lose focus as she shook her head.

However she ended up on the other side of the clear facility from Catra and Glimmer would have to remain a mystery as she saw below the bridge, and gritted her teeth at the sight. There was still a switch between her enemies and her, and a still disoriented Scorpia that was still trying to shake the ringing out of her slightly bruised head.

Unwilling to offer the girl who nearly strangled her and the new Queen of Bright Moon a moment of peace, Adora stepped forth as she sped off, racing towards the-

*swish!*

*wham*

"Ow!" ... Obstacle that she just slammed her nose into. "Who put this wall here?!" She yelled, rubbing her slightly stinging nose as she winced. This last minute went from shocking to confusing to annoying and now a little bit painful within a brief course of time. And through it all, it did nothing to tarnish the shock and disbelief as Catra, Glimmer, and the two companions who continue to spy upon them in secret, watched the delirious Force Captain trying to control herself.

"She can teleport?" Flutterina wondered, looking back to the supposedly knowledgeable horse.

"She can teleport?" He asked back.

"She's teleporting..." Catra still couldn't believe it as she stared motionlessly. On the one head, it was amusing to watch her slam herself into a wall for a bout three seconds. On the other, it was deeply concerning as she looked back to the pink-haired Queen. "Are... Are you doing this?"

"Catra, I... I can't teleport other people like this." She winced a little as she stood up, rubbing her sore arm as she felt the partial numbness wearing off.

Up above, Scorpia was still rubbing her sore head as she finally pulled up to the trailing, looking over her friend as her vision cleared and her thoughts returned. She must've hit her head a lot harder than she thought because for a second here, from where she stood, she could almost swear that the person she saw teleporting left and right hysterically was... "Adora?"

Adora couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on here anymore than the rest of them. She was teleporting. That much she knew from her past experiences with Glimmer. But there was no way she could be doing this to her from afar! If she could, she would've dropped everyone from the Fright Zone off a cliff ages ago. Or better yet, drop an explosive device within the heart of the very Horde!

"She... She took away your powers?" Catra questioned as her gaze remained solely on Adora as she teleported again, this time bumping her head into the barrel of a tank.

Looking at her own two hands, wanting to see how dire the situation was in person, Glimmer attempted to draw forth her magical energies to her fists as she concentrated. Thankfully, her powers came surging to her hands within seconds as a small pool of pink magic glowed around them. "No..." Following this up with a small teleport to Catra's side again, and she could tell she still maintained her magic, albeit, a little less of it from the recent drainage.

And it still did nothing to relieve the two princesses as they turned back to Adora.

"Catra, I... I don't think she just drained me of my energy." Glimmer determined as she watched the girl teleport again into a cloud of pink energy. "I... I think she-"

"She copied your power." It didn't make any sense to either of the princesses as Adora reappeared again, panting a little in exhaustion as she leaned an arm against the wall while looking back to the two far to her right.

From what became a simple struggle to free herself from Catra's cruel hands, she did the unthinkable. She drained Glimmer of her magic, the amount of which mattered very little to the perplexed warrior. She absorbed her magic with her left hand, and not only did it partially revitalize her own energies, it gave her a portion of the same power Glimmer had.

This was Aroda's final tribute to her- the ability to absorb magic, not just from the Black Garnet which she initially misunderstood, but from a princess herself. Perhaps all the princesses, if she ever got to test that theory. It was a gift, a blessing, and, as far as she could see, the furthest thing from a curse as she couldn't see any downsides to this power, save for the red veins that trailed over her left arm, including the armor.

The fact that she wasn't shooting energy blasts out of her hands proved it didn't carry over everything, less she'd be blasting around the base uncontrollably *and* teleporting, but it didn't matter. She had the ability to drain and copy the power of another princess. Combined with the shadows she drew to her right hand, she slowly became aware that the potential for what she could do was enormous, even if she lacked the control of it.

And what better time was there to master a new power than on the battlefield?

Okay, so wherever I intend to go, that's where I'll end up, right? She thought to herself as she surveyed the arena. The tension that filled Adora's heart, the fear that plagued her until now, began to crumble along with her worries. Where once a troubled face took over Adora's lips now twisted into a small grin as she peered over to the single item she had been trying to reach this whole time.

With a quick breath, preparing herself, she concentrated. The ability that took Glimmer several months to a year to master when she was a child, Adora was already getting a grasp on as she poofed. From one pink cloud to the next, everyone watched her as she blinked in and out of existence, wobbling on a single foot during the second instance, until she made her way to the beloved switch.

By the time she managed to finally reach it, she was panting a little as she sweated. The amount of magic required of her putting more than enough of a strain on her personal energy as she used her own shadows to swipe the switch from the floor and into her hand.

"How are you doing this?!" Catra demanded an answer as Adora grinned to her.

"What can I say?" Knowing what was up above her, she smirked as she prepared to teleport herself again as Scorpia watched her directly from above. "Just gifted, I guess."

*swish!*

*thud!*

"Oww!" She hissed a little as she fell back to the ground on her stomach.

Note to self- Even if she can teleport, she still needs to work on teleporting over solid objects, not into them. Case in point, the underside of the metallic bridge she just bumped her head into. Stupid teleporting!

Catra wasted no time as she collected her sword again, charging straight for the Force Captain as she tried to stop her before she could make her next move. Unfortunately, with the newly acquired powers she had obtained, it took less than a second for Adora to notice the charging brute before teleporting back to safely. This time she managed to successfully teleport herself over the bridge as intended, though, with about a dozen feet added above the trajectory.

"Whoooa!"

"I got you!" Scorpia assured as she watched her friend appear above her. She gave a relieved smile as she caught her squirming friend in her claws, setting the grumbling girl to her feet by her side. "Are you okay?"

"Mmmhhh... I'm fine." She muttered back, trying to hide her disdain from her ally as she directed back to Catra. "Now we can finally get things back to the way they were before you rudely interrupted me."

"I'm not here for another of your stupid games, Adora!" Catra yelled back, gripping her murder-weapon tightly. "I'm here to get the villagers, get Bow back, and then, I'm ending you!" Finally having a moment to catch her breath, the slightly black-hair dyed Horde soldier became much more aware of how much Catra disgusted her right now.

Acting like she actually cared for someone Adora never knew, going on about how she intended to make Adora sorry for something that obviously wasn't her fault, all of it. It disgusted her to see how much Catra was going on about caring for someone, a care she never once bothered to show her friend in the past. As if more proof was necessary, it went on to further Adora's own judgement about Catra.

Catra never cared for her. She never cared about the possibility of being her friend. She just wanted Adora around to make her own life easier. And if anything, the recent act of trying to kill her outright only confirmed everything she already knew.

Catra was a monster.

She could never be a hero.

"... Heh... Tell me, Catra. How were the bots in the forest I sent your way?" She asked in a curious tone, almost taunting her as she casually tossed the switch between her hands. "You know, the ones you ran off to fight on your own and left the entire village defenseless? The place you abandoned because you wanted to run off and pretend you were someone's savior?"

"I didn't abandon the village!"

"Oh, right, my mistake. You didn't abandon them. You left them with a single person standing behind. What was his name? "Toe" or something?"

"His name was Bow!" Glimmer yelled back in defense for her close friend. She was already charging her magic back into her fists as she prepared to wipe that smug look off of Adora's face and blast that switch right out of her hands.

If only she was a second faster.

"My mistake. Don't care. Have fun." And without another word, her smile widened further as she finally pressed the switch.

*RumbLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE*

The ground shook violently as the button had finally been pressed, soon after being crushed within Adora's palm to ensure there wasn't a means of turning it off. All around the base the ground began to rumble with enough force to shake Flutterina off her own feet if she wasn't bracing herself against the wall and Swift Wind from the safety of the destroyed wall.

"W-What's going on?" Flutterina stuttered as she tried to maintain her footing.

"How should I k-k-knoW?" If Flutterina was having enough trouble trying to maintain balance on two of her feet, then she had no idea how much of a problem a four-legged horse was carrying as he tapped hoof after hoof against the ground in order to brace himself.

Within the interior of the base itself, Glimmer and Catra both struggled to keep their own balance, even though Catra had a much better degree of it as she managed to maintain her position. Nothing could stop her anger from festering over the loss Adora caused her, and she wasn't going to let a few sudden earthquakes determine the outcome of this battle.

Not to say she wasn't at least growing curious over the matter. "What did you just do?" She scanned her surroundings as she asked, trying to pick up on anything out of place with her senses.

Adora said nothing at first. She just continued to smirk as the surprise she had waiting for her was about to be revealed. "Like I said, Catra. I hope you had fun with the bots in the woods," her sly grin revealed enough to Catra to realize where she was going with this, "because that was just a fraction of what I had in store for you." And it was with that statement they appeared.

From the other sector of the small Horde base, within the interior of the small storage unit they had on hand, dozens upon dozens of two-foot-radius droids began to flood into the Horde base, all directing and centering to wards their intended location as they rolled along the grounds of the empty Horde Base. All of them were moving along the same fellow path, all of them bustling next to each other as they hurried along to their assigned targets.

It was Swift Wind and Flutterina who were the first to be greeted by the rolling droids of silver, the young girl giving off a small eep at the sight of their approach. As if it would provide some form of cover or hiding, Swift Wind quickly lowered himself as he covered himself and Flutterina within the wings of his feather, hoping it would be enough to ward off the droids as simple scenery. Fortunately, either from a lack of care, orders, or the impossibility that it worked, the droids continued past the two as Flutterina peeked out from a small fold of the feathers.

At one point, she saw one of the last droids to pass them before moving through the wall taking a brief stop as it turned to them, opening the small hydraulic-like hatch at the tip of its head as if to scan her. Quickly retreating back to the safety of the horse, not that it mattered at this point, the droid continued to stare a bit before continuing onward, finally allowing Swift Wind and Flutterina to break from cover as the pegasus sighed with relief.

Before remembering where they were actually heading.

It was within the main interior of the base, where Catra, Adora, Glimmer, and Scorpia had been fighting up till now, that the two looked back. From within, Catra watched in her own personal shock at the amount of droids that began to roll their way into the base, the numbers of them more than tripling in comparison to the lone group she had to fight with Swift Wind's help. Already, some of them were bouncing in place as they hobbled along the other side of their field, waiting for their brethren to appear before them. It wasn't the number of them that truly worried Catra as she watched the last of them arrive.

It was what they could do when a bunch of them were finally together.

With the arrival of the final one, their playful bouncing-ness came to a complete stop. Giving a few seconds of silence as the wind blew through the air, they began to perform. Like Catra had witnessed earlier, one by one, all of the small robotic droids began to roll towards one another as their hydraulics connected to each other. From one pair of two became one pair of four. One pair of four quickly became a group of eight. And so on and so forth as steam began to fill the small area around the droids, all of their hydraulics heating up the place and concealing their surprise.

Finally, with one last "clank" of metal, Catra and Glimmer waited for the steam to dissipate, to reveal whatever brutish creation the handful of Roly-polies formed. As it turned out, they didn't have to.

From within the cloud of steam itself, a large burst of metal, a long strand of metallic spheres connected to one another, whipped out of the steam. All of them, from what could only be the head of the creature, all the way down to the base, the minuscule droids had formed an enlarged centipede-like creation that put the original one to shame, so much so that it towered the very base itself as it stood behind the confident-looking Adora and Scorpia who were still standing atop the bridge.

There, the creature gave off a hiss-like roar as the steam began to dry up from itself, all while the sides of each of the orbs began to form the leg-like protrusions that gave the centipede-like creation its form. Somehow, despite having the exact same face of the original, it appeared to be more menacing and aggressive to the two heroes as it lowered its head to Adora's side, knowing who its true master was, and who its enemies were.

And it was this very being that would bring Catra's downfall.

"How are you against thirty of them~?"

...

A/N: Annnnd I think that'll be a great place to cut off for the chp X) Hehehe, Cliffhangers are so fun~

Lol, anyway, hope you all enjoyed! I am hoping to end the ep as of the next chapter- which means the final "round" might not be as long as many of you are probably going to be expecting, but then again, I never know what to expect from how long my works are going to be until they're ACTUALLY posted XP for all I know i might end up with a big 12k next chp, or at least somewhere near 10k. Either way, I apologize again for any rush-ness you guys felt in this and hope you're doing fine on your own ends. It's been crazy all over the world lately but I ain't letting it get in the way of my mood or writing for you guys ^^

(Also, personal message to people from Ao3- how do I turn off the "completion status" on this fic? Cause apparently someone pointed out this fic is registered as "complete" even though it's not. Just wondering, no biggee since I can still post XP)

So with that all said, hope you all enjoyed and hope the writing was still good ^^ Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 131: Personal Status And Patreon announcement

Summary:

Personal Status And Patreon announcement

Chapter Text

Hey folks! Monokub here with another status update of my, well, status. As you can tell by this post alone, unless they perfected ghost-writing technology (which is still in development last i checked), I am still doing A-okay...ish. Many people have been messaging me and wondering if I'm alright, which I can safety say, I am. Health wise, at least.

To make a long story short, I've been busy with school. I've had final projects for a portfolio I needed done for the last several weeks, and just managed to finish them last week, which covers about half the problems I'm going through at the moment. The other problem is... I'm running low on savings X(. With money being tight as it is, i've been needing to manage what little I have and the stress of it alone is causing a mental block atm. I got enough to get by with the months ahead for awhile but it's still causing enough of a hassle on my end that it's eating up my attention X/ And until now, there wasn't any viable solution to my dilemma. With Covid everywhere and everything being affected by it, my family's too paranoid about me going out and looking for a job.

But, as I've said, there wasn't a way to figure out how to fix it until now, and that's where my announcement comes in- I've officially started a pa-treon account (have to space it or stupid fanfiction deletes the word X/)! The accounts to help take a bit of an edge off the current situation. I can't really describe the current situation in full (that's how bad it's gotten around here), but any bit of donation can help. And before you ask, you're probably wondering what the benefits are going to be, right? Well... I'll be writing!... That does not sound all too convincing or encouraging does it XP?

Well, with my mind slowly becoming numb, it's the best I can say I have, and honestly, the will help more than you think :P. With a , it'll help ease the stress on my shoulders a lot by covering for some of the bills. On top of that, with less stress weighing me down, i'll be able to get my head together, and be capable of writing again sooner than later. Heck, if this kicks off enough, it'll get me enough incentive to devote my full time to the writing, which would be awesome in my opinion, but it's not something that's 100% necessary XP.

Whether or not anyone s, I'll get back to my writing one way or another. For right now, with things as tight as they are, and I'm still nervous as I wait for my final grades to be posted (teachers taking for freaking EVER to get anything posted T_T), and the anxiety of it is driving me a little stir crazy. But I don't want anyone to think this is the only way I come back to my writing- one way or another, I promise to be writing again within the next few months, this is just a means to help ease the bills a little bit. And who knows, if someone donates enough, I might even do oneshots or bonus chapters of Cat-Ra with a story idea they want to see for an "episode" :P.

But again, it's not mandatory. i promise I'll be back to writing in the future, and I'm currently okay health-wise, so nobody needs to worry about that X) And thanks to all the fans out there that have been wondering how i'm doing. If you are interested in ing, you can find my on my instagram account Monokubkub (yeah i know i wanted Monokub too but someone already took it or something XP). You can also just type in Monokub in pa-treon 's (again, it's all 1 word, "Pa" and then "treon", blame fanfiction for not letting it show up X/) search engine and it should come up now ^^!

Once again, thanks to everyone who's been keeping up to date on me and checking on me. Hopefully I'll be writing again fairly soon, and until then, thank you for your continued support ^^!

Chapter 132: 1000 Review Bonus Chapter!

Chapter Text

A/N: Dun di di dun dun duuuun! Dun di di dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun! Dun dun di duuuuuun, dun dun di duuuuuun, dun didi dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Friends, families, and prison inmates currently in the middle of a riot and accessing a computer to read this, we've done it. It's official. As the title of this chapter goes, no joke, we have officially hit the 1,000th REVIEW ^^!

God, I don't know if I ever expected this fanfic to reach 1000 or not when I first started out XP Admittedly, i expected a couple hundred. Not out of some pride-related thing, but given I planned on doing the whole series when I started, covering about 52 episodes and who knows how many parts, odds were we were going to be in the hundred range, but god, I've barely hit over the halfway mark and we already hit 1000 reviews X)!

And god, I couldn't think of what to do. What to do to celebrate, what to come back with. For those of you wondering, no, im not on hiatus, I'm slowly working on the fanfic as it is, but at a rather slow rate X/ with everything going on in the world, everything's been mellowed out and people are being idiots left and right, and yadda yadda yadda... Plus the cold atm is making it very hard to concentrate with the cough meds im on, makes my head a little foggy.

So, i figured, what sort of way could we celebrate this momentous occasion since I would need to do a MAJOR chapter/original episode which i can't unfortunately do since im already in the middle of one. With this in mind, it got me thinking of something I did with Star and petie awhile ago; our very own pitch meetings!

For those unfamiliar with them, they're these hilarious pitch meeting videos on youtube where a guy is basically pitching the meeting to himself as 2 different people back and forth, and its just hilarious XP Out of our love for the vids, we did our own pitch meetings back and forth to each other- thus far, all of us have done the first 2 seasons and given them to one another. And out of the 3 of us, Star had the best pitch meetings hands down X)

So for those familiar with them or unfamiliar with them, please enjoy his take on the first 2 seasons of Cat-Ra in the frame of a pitch meeting X)!

Enjoy!

...

Cat-Ra Season 1 Pitch Meeting
Producer "So you have a fanfic for me?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yes sir I do. Its based off a popular netflix show called She-Ra."

Producer "What did she ra?"

Screenwriter Guy "What?"

Producer "You said she ra-ed something what was it?"

Screenwriter Guy "No sir, it's a reboot."

Producer "She rebooted? How does that work?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh this pitch off to a bad start. No the fanfic is a AU where the Hero and Villain switch places."

Producer "Sounds exciting tell me More."

Screenwriter Guy "Well its set on the planet of Etheria, these two best friends called Catra and Adora. They grew up in a place called the Fright Zone, being trained to fight for the Horde to take over Etheria. Adoras like that kid in high school who works hard, gets good grades and is loved by everyone."

Producer "Okay."

Screenwriter Guy "But Catra more like the kid who smokes in the bathroom and is rude to teachers because growing up she was bullied and called a freak by everyone because shes part cat."

Producer "Oh so shes the only part animal person?"

Screenwriter Guy "oh no theres lots of different kinds of half animal people."

Producer "There are?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah there's half goat people, half scorpion people, heck one guy in Catras group is a lizard man."

Producer "And no one makes fun of him?"

Screenwriter Guy "Nope."

Producer "Okay then."

Screenwriter Guy "So what makes this story different to the show is that instead of Adora finding the sword of Protection, Catra finds it and becomes She-Ra Princess of Power."

Producer "Wow, wow, wow."

Screenwriter Guy "She meets with members of the the Rebellion who are fighting to save Etheria from the Horde. Theres Glimmer, the princess of Bright Moon, she teleports and blast people with magic sparkly light. And Bow an archer who uses trick arrows."

Producer "Oh like Hawkeye."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah like Hawkeye."

Producer "You didn't say this was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

Screenwriter Guy "What?"

Producer "Could we have Spider-Man do a cameo?"

Screenwriter Guy "No its not in the MCU. Its not even a movie, it's a fanfic."

Producer "Oh… so no Spidey?"

Screenwriter Guy "No Spidey."

Producer "Well what else happens in this thing?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well after a struggle Catra gets the sword and transforms into She-Ra, but freaks out cause her pants disappear."

Producer "Disappear? So everyone can see-"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no they are replaced by shorts."

Producer "Oh magic shorts are tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway Catra knows that the Horde are the bad guys but doesn't care, but when the Horde attack a village they stop at she saves a little girl from being crushed by a collapsing house. So she agrees to fight for the Rebellion."

Producer "Oh that sounds pretty caring."

Screenwriter Guy "in exchange for her own kingdom"

Producer "What?"

Screenwriter Guy "So then there's some shenanigans."

Producer "What kind of shenanigans?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well while trying to transform Catra ends up blasting a horse and turns it into a magic talking unicorn with wings called Swift Wind."

Producer "Wow, I bet hes gonna play a big part throughout this story huh?"

Screenwriter Guy "oh no he flies away and doesn't show up again till near the end."

Producer "What was he doing all that time?"

Screenwriter Guy "Coming to terms with his new self."

Producer "Sounds deep how does he do that?"

Screenwriter Guy "I don't know."

Producer "Okay then."

Screenwriter Guy "So we meet Glimmers mom, Queen Angella an immortal angelic being with wings."

Producer "Oh I bet shes super excited to have a She-Ra join them."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually she threatens Catra that if she betrays them or disappoints her daughter in anyway she'll make her most feared nightmare look like a paradise compared to what she'll do to her."

Producer "Oh my god. And this is the leader of the good guys?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they set out to Rebuild the Princess Alliance, a group of magical princess from other kingdoms."

Producer "What are they like?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well there's there's Perfuma, shes a hippie with plant magic and everyone her kingdom pretty much worships She-ra. There's Mermista, shes like that one person that's always bored and has water magic and can breath under water. Shes also in this on again off again relationship with a sailor named Sea Hawk who sings santies and sets his boat of fire. Frosta who's a little kid but hates being treated like a kid and has ice magic. And then there's Entrapta whose like a mad scientist, she doesn't have magic but is crazy smart and can move her hair like with her mind."

Producer "Why doesn't Entrapta have magic?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well the princess's get their powers from these Runestones. Entrapta doesn't have one. But she builds lots of robots."

Producer "Sounds fair."

Screenwriter Guy "And while this is happening Adora is trying to bring Catra back to the Horde because she thinks that Catras under princess mind control, and Shadow Weaver encourages this so Adora keeps believing that the Horde are the good guys."

Producer "Shadow Weaver?"

Screenwriter Guy "An evil witch who raised Adora like she was her daughter, and Catra who she abused."

Producer "Is she like a wolf in sheep's clothing kinda villain, she seems good to others but behind the scenes she shows her true colors?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no, the moment you see her and hear her talk you know shes evil."

Producer "How long did it take Adora to realise the Horde was evil in the show?"

Screenwriter Guy "The second episode."

Producer "So Shadow Weaver, Fright Zone, the Horde, none of that sounded off to her?"

Screenwriter Guy "I guess not."

Producer "So how does this fanfic differ from the show?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well unlike Adora who automatically becomes friends with Bow and Glimmer, Catra doesn't want to be their friend at first because of her rough personality."

Producer "Boy shes gonna be a totally different She-Ra huh?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh yeah… when actually becomes She-Ra."

Producer "What?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well a big part of the fanfic is that sword almost never works for Catra when she tries to transform. Shes only gonna transform like 5 times."

Producer "Are there at least really cool scenes when she does transform?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh yeah. There one scene where she makes a big angry bug stop being angry for a few minutes. One where she tries on boots for the first time, one where she pulls a cart of supplies, one where she fights a sea monster-"

Producer "Oh!"

Screenwriter Guy "Underwater where we don't see anything or get any of the details."

Producer "… oh. Don't you think that's gonna frustrate and annoy fans?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no they'll love it."

Producer "if you say so. So what about Adora?"

Screenwriter Guy "She gets this magic headband from Shadow Weaver that lets her control Shadows, but it makes her emotions go crazy so she had to learn to shut them shut them off while she wears it."

Producer "I bet its gonna be hard to learn that kind of discipline."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually super easy, barley an inconvenience."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah it takes her like a day to perfectly master. She also gets partnered up with Scorpia, a force captain Catra was partnered with in the show. Only this time… actually Scorpias exactly like in the show, smiling comforting and gives great hugs."

Producer "Oh hugs are tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Sometimes too tight. She doesn't really know her own strength."

Producer "So what else happens?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well Adora makes Catra look bad at a party Frosta was holding then kidnaps Glimmer and Bow, then steals her sword which she left with jackets cause the rules say she couldn't bring it with her."

Producer "Then isn't it Frosta responsibility because it was left with her staff?"

Screenwriter Guy "I don't know."

Producer "Fair Enough."

Screenwriter Guy "So Catra and other princesses try to rescue them and they succeed but Entrapta dies and the alliance disbands."

Producer "Oh my god."

Screenwriter Guy "But Entraptas actually alive and hiding in the Fright Zone."

Producer "Shes so smart I bet the Horde will never find her."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually she falls out of a vent right in front of Adora and Scorpia."

Producer "Oh."

Screenwriter Guy "So then Adora and Scorpia and nice to Entrapta so agrees to betray the Rebellion and join the Horde."

Producer "She betrays them just like that?"

Screenwriter Guy "Don't forgot sir, they were nice t her."

Producer "Was the Rebellion not nice to her?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh they were, but with the Horde she can do more science. So she automatically forgets about all the bad stuff the Horde does and joins them."

Producer "I guess that's a reason."

Screenwriter Guy "So Catra goes to find away to help Glimmer who got messed up when she was held prisoner. She and Adora end up trapped a place called the Beacon, Built by the First Ones thousands of years ago. There they're attacked by robot spiders and see memories of their childhood together."

Producer "Oh a scary trip down memory lane. What happens then?"

Screenwriter Guy "After seeing a memory of Catra using Adoras name to make a bully leave her alone, Adora thinks Catra was never her friend and just used her."

Producer "Wait did Adora know Catra had such a hard time growing up?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh definitely."

Producer "Kinda seems like its not a big deal if it stops her from getting beaten up."

Screenwriter Guy "Either way Adora ends her friendship with Catra and leaves her to be eaten by the spiders. In a scene that's gonna make anyone with a soul who reads it burst into tears."

Producer "Oh good thing I don't have one of those. Hail Satan."

Screenwriter Guy "Wait what?"

Producer "What happens next?"

Screenwriter Guy "Catra meets Light Hope, an artificial intelligence programmed by the First ones to train She-Ra, shes kinda like J.A.R.V.I.S. who runs Iron Mans systems."

Producer "Oh is Catra getting Iron Man armor?"

Screenwriter Guy "No Sir, once again this isn't in the MCU."

Producer "Aw dang it."

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway it turns out Catra was never meant to become She-Ra, Adora was."

Producer "Isn't that the whole point of the story?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, but the sword was destined for Adora by the first ones."

Producer "Didn't you say the first Ones were around thousands of years ago?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, yeah yeah."

Producer "How did they know Adora was going to go to where ever the sword was? Or how'd they know she was even going to be born? And how come during all that time no one else ever found the sword?"

Screenwriter Guy "Listen sir Im gonna need you to get all the way off my back about how the First Ones could somehow see the future."

Producer "Oh okay, let me get off of that thing."

Screenwriter Guy "This part is actually a big reveal for the story. Light Hope explains this thing called the Finders Protocol that lets someone who finds the sword get a portion of She-ras power and they're to use it to find the destined She-Ra. But she catra was bad person she didn't get the message properly. Luckily the she sword has a feature that stops it from working if its destined wielder is close by.

Producer "Wouldn't a super advanced race be able to come up with a better signal than nothing happening? Like maybe a holographic message telling them they're supposed to be She-Ra?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah that would've been a smart move."

Producer "Whoops."

Screenwriter Guy "Whoopsie. Anyway now Adora is too evil to use the sword and now Catra is She-Ra. But Catra doesn't want to be because she feels like shes does nothing but screw up even though shes saved like four separate kingdoms and a whole bunch of people. But then Glimmer, Bow come get her and they fly away on Swift Wind, who shocks everyone by talking."

Producer "Whats Adora up to?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well she finally realises Shadow Weaver is evil, destroys her powers and takes her place as Hordaks second in command. Entrapta then uses the Black Garnet to mess with the other rune stones and makes the weather go crazy. So Adora decides it's the perfect time to attack Bright Moon."

Producer "Wait Adora still thinks shes the good guy, doesn't she worry about all the people who could be harmed by this crazy weather?"

Screenwriter Guy "No."

Producer "Okay then."

Screenwriter Guy "So Catra decides its best she leaves because she cant fight Adora. This leaves only Angella, Glimmer, Bow, Netossa and Spinnerella to defend the castle."

Producer "Wait who were those last two?"

Screenwriter Guy "Netossa and Spinnerella. They're from the old princess alliance. Netossa can throw energy nets that can trap people, act as shields, even catch explosive energy and throw it back. Spinnerella can control the wind, even make tornadoes."

Producer "Wow they sound really powerful. Why weren't they out there helping others?"

Screenwriter Guy "Because."

Producer "That makes sense. But wait their princesses with magic powers like the others how come they don't have rune stones? Or kingdoms of their own?"

Screenwriter Guy "Unclear."

Producer "Do we learn anything about them?"

Screenwriter Guy "They're lesbians."

Producer "Oh lesbians are tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh my,"

Producer "Oh man I really hope HR didn't hear me say that." he gets a text and reads it. "Nope they heard me. I am in big trouble."

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway because of the clouds blocking out the sun Adoras headband absorbs a whole bunch of shadows and she gets this shadow armor with tentacles on her back. But Catra comes back to help and finally admits Bow and Glimmer are her friends."

Producer "Oh that's nice."

Screenwriter Guy "So there's this huge fight but the Rebellion is beaten. So Catra challenges Adora to a won on one fight. If Catra wins, Adora hast to take her army and leave, but if Adora wins the Rebellion is finished."

Producer "But hes already beaten them, she can just have her army attack. Why would she accept that challenge?"

Screenwriter Guy "So we can have a cool fight scene."

Producer "makes total sense to me. So hows this fight go?"

Screenwriter Guy "Not great. Catra tries her best but gets beaten up pretty bad. But then she reaches out for the sword just wants to save everyone and her selfishness lets her unlock She-Ras full power."

Producer "Wasn't she already being selfless when she came back to help everyone, or when she tried to fight Adora one on one?"

Screenwriter Guy "My back sir, please get off of it."

Producer "Sorry."

Screenwriter Guy "So then all the other princesses show up to help and then Catra starts glowing, then they others glow healing the others and they all start fighting off the Horde army."

Producer "Oh bet Catra and Adora next fight is gonna be super exciting."

Screenwriter Guy nods "Yeah… Not really."

Producer "No?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well I already wrote a big intense fight scene for the two and I didnt feel like writing a second one."

Producer "But Catras finally got her full power, after all the struggle shes been through I think the fans are really looking forward to a fight where she dominates."

Screenwriter Guy "Yea but here's the thing, I don't wanna."

Producer "Fair enough."

Screenwriter Guy "So Catra and Adora are blasting magic at each other, and Catra starts losing but then Bow and Glimmer point out that their Catras friends again, so Catra finally severs her ties with Adora and is able to blast her so hard she destroys her headband, so the Horde army retreats."

Producer "Oh everyone most be super thrilled they won."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, yeah yeah, except for Catra she starts crying about losing her best friend. But then Bow, Glimmer and Angella give her a comforting hug. Then Bow and Glimmer throw Catra a slumber party to make her feel better with a big pillow fight."

Producer "Pillow fights solve every problem."

Screenwriter Guy "So what do you think?"

Producer "Well it seems kinda dark when compared to the show."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah but there's gonna be some really funny moments. Like when Catra gets infected the the first ones virus, instead of acting drunk she acts like a cat."

Producer "Really?"

Screenwriter Guy "She licks Glimmers face and even eats a mouse."

Producer "Oh that is funny."

Screenwriter Guy "And afterwards we discover not only does Adora still have her shadow powers, but shes got Frosta acting as a spy for the Hode."

Producer "Oh my god that's terrible."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah but it gets everyone excited for the next season."

Producer "Wait didn't Frosta save the Moon Stone when she arrived to the fight?"

Screenwriter Guy "That's right."

Producer "If shes actually with the Horde why help the rebellion and learn their secrets when they couldn't have just tried to destroy them once and for all?"

Screenwriter Guy "So there can be future season."

Producer "Well it all sounds interesting. But I gotta say all the struggle, heartache and hardships Catra ends up facing and her not being able to turn into She-Ra are gonna turn a lot of people away."

Cat-Ra Season 1
Final Review Count: 272

Final Favorite Count: 80

Final Follower Count: 72

Final Viewer Count: 25,811

And the delectable second season pitch meeting ^^

Cat-Ra Season 2 Pitch Meeting

Producer "So you've got a new season for that fanfic?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yes sir I do. It focuses on events of the second season of Cat-Ra."

Producer "Season 2 of the show was a lot less serious and more fun than the first. After all the trouble in season one it'll be nice to see some happier times."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah… no."

Producer "No?"

Screenwriter Guy "No this seasons gonna be full hurt and dark moments."

Producer "Uh oh."

Producer "Anyway the princess alliance has been fighting off drones while the Whispering Woods recovers. They have a meeting in the War Room with everyone there. Catra, Glimmer, Bow, Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, Angella, Netossa, Spinnerella and Castaspella."

Producer "Oh I bet we're gonna be seeing a lot more of those three this season."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no this is last time we see them this season."

Producer "What? Why aren't they going on missions with the others?"

Screenwriter Guy "I don't know."

Producer "Okay then."

Screenwriter Guy "So Bow says if they can capture an intact droid he can rig up a droid kill switch so they don't have to keep fighting them."

Producer "Should be easy now that Catra has unlocked She-Ras full power."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no she doesn't have that anymore."

Producer "What?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah turns out cause she wants to end the war for selfish reasons she lost most of the power and is back to a quarter strength and hasn't transformed during fights cause she doesn't want the others to find out."

Producer "What selfish reasons?"

Screenwriter Guy "She doesn't want to lose anything else in her life."

Producer "That don't sound selfish at all."

Screenwriter Guy "Maybe, So turns out the sword is kinda like Thors hammer, how you need to be worthy to wield it. But in Catras case the better a person she becomes, the stronger her bond with the sword gets and the more of She-Ras power she gets."

Producer "Thor VS She-Ra, I love it."

Screenwriter Guy "What?"

Producer "We could have this funny moment where the two of them are about to go into battle but grab each others weapons by mistake."

Screenwriter Guy "No sir we've talked about this. It's a fanfic, its not in the MCU."

Producer "Oh right I forgot. So what going on with Adora?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well now that shes Hordaks second in command, she has the Horde take a much more gentle approach."

Producer "How do you take over a planet gently?"

Screenwriter Guy "Don't forget she still thinks the Horde are the good guys so shes been making alliances with villages instead of conquering them. And you'll remember she still has her powers but if she over uses them she gets these black vains on her body and gets sick so she needs to restore herself using the black garnet. But she starts hearing voices."

Producer "Seems kind rude to listen in on other people talking."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no shes hearing them in her head."

Producer "Oh that's also bad."

Screenwriter Guy "So in the show Entrapta builds three new drones that can repair themselves. But thanks to Adora recruiting Princess Frosta they have resources from the kingdom of snows, so she builds a robot called Orbko that can adapt itself against whoever its fighting."

Producer "Adapt how?"

Screenwriter Guy "If attacked by blasters, its armor becomes to reflective. If attacked by fire it can freeze stuff. If its arms are restrained it fires them like rockets"

Producer "Oh rocket fists! That sounds awesome."

Screenwriter Guy "Unfortunately its too awesome."

Producer "What do you mean?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well all the driods are programmed to recognise Frosta as ally so they don't attack her and let her destroy them. But when she attacks Orbko, it rewrites its own programming so it can attack her."

Producer "Oh hows it do that?"

Screenwriter Guy "Science."

Producer "Perfect explination."

Screenwriter Guy "Luckily Catra and Frosta a moment and they figure out they can pretend to fight each other, but their attacks hit the robot. But then Adora has it switch to attack mode where its stops adapting and just attacks any threats. Catra finally turns into She-Ra to save Frosta and they are then able to disable the droid, but first since she knows Adoras watching she says "Hey Adora."

Producer just stares at him.

Screenwriter Guy "You know, what she usually says."

Producer "I don't remember her saying that. When was the last time?"

Screenwriter Guy "Not since the very first episode. But she said it all the time in the show, so its gonna be a big deal for fans."

Producer "I doubt anyone's gonna get it. So what happened next?"

Screenwriter Guy "Catra finally opens up and tells the others the truth. This makes everyone glow and the Whispering Woods starts healing. It also strengthens her bond with the sword and she gets her cape back."

Producer "Wow, wow, wow…. Wow."

Screenwriter Guy "But when Bow examines the robot he finds First Ones tech inside and recognises Entraptas work, realising shes alive. So he and Glimmer set out to rescue her."

Producer "What about Catra?"

Screenwitrer Guy "Well Light Hope sends her on a mission to bond with Swift Wind by repairing this thing called the Watchtower that was damaged by Mara, the previous She-Ra. So that Light Hope will start running at 100%."

Producer "Oh what will she be able to do at 100%?"

Screenwriter Guy "Exactly what she can do now, but for longer."

Producer "I guess that's something."

Screenwriter Guy "But Catras worried because if someone who was chosen to be She-Ra could snap and attack Etheria, how did Catra who became She-Ra by accident have until she did the same."

Producer "That does sound concerning."

Screenwriter Guy "Meanwhile Bow and Glimmer go to the kingdom of Dryl which is now occupied by the Horde. After a scuffle with Adora and Scorpia, they teleport away with Adora who passes out after pushing her powers too far. She wakes to discover shes been tied up."

Producer "Oh its never good when you wake up and are tied up. I know this from experience."

Screenwriter Guy "Glimmer and Bow still think Entraptas being held prison so they decide to trade Adora for her. But Adora sees opportunity when Bow tells Glimmer to be so hard on her."

Producer "He thinks shes being too hard on the girl who not only kidnapped her but literally tortured her about a month ago?"

Screenwriter Guy "Exactly. So Adora sees that Bow is actually a good guy and decides to try and recruit him."

Producer "Hows she gonna do that?"

Screenwriter Guy "With her tongue."

Producer "Oh! The rating of this story just jumped up."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no I mean shes gonna use her words to convince him to join. He thinks shes helpless because shes also feverish. She also makes Glimmer teleport so she'll use up her magic and makes her look bad."

Producer "Oh very sneaky."

Screenwriter Guy "Plus Entrapta makes something to help Adora and sends it by droid."

Producer "Sends it by drone? Oh maybe we could get some money from Amazon advertising."

Screenwriter Guy "Not drone sir, droid. Anyway after sleeping in a cave to wait out a storm they are found by Scopria, Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio."

Producer "Oh hey since Adoras kinda deleaious with fever we could have funny scene here."

Screenwriter Guy "Like what?"

Producer "Well when Scorpia shows up Bow says "Horde soldiers!" He and Glimmer take a fighting stance but Adoras like "Where?" and looks behind them, then Bow turns her around, "Oh hey guys!"

Screenwriter Guy "That is funny."

Producer "I got more. Adora tries to set Bow and Scorpia up."

Screenwriter Guy "What?"

Producer "Yeah shes says "Hey Scorpia have you met Bow? I think you two would really hit it off."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh man that is funny stuff. I am definitely gonna use that."

Producer "You wanna write in down so you don't forget it?"

Screenwriter Guy "Nah I'll remember. So like in the show they have to give her back. Then Scorpia gives Adora the wristband Entrapta made and it made the black veins mostly go away and she feels better. Adora then asks Bow to join the Horde but turns Bow knew Adora was up to something."

Producer "How?"

Screenwriter Guy "When Adora fell asleep in the cave he put a listening device on her, letting him hear everything she said when he wasn't around."

Producer "Oh spy gadgets."

Screenwriter Guy "So he turns down the offer but still want to know Entrapta is okay, which is then the discover Entrata really joined the Horde willingly and that makes them sad. Then they fight and it ends with Scorpia accidentally stinging Adora."

Producer "Cool, your gonna remember that scene I came up with right?"

Screenwriter Guy "Absolutely. Meanwhile Catra and Swift Wind find the Watch Tower and its in pieces floating in the air. Catra tries to bring all the pieces together but it doesn't work and she gets real upset and angry. She finally admits that shes afraid of turning into Mara and doing more harm than good."

Producer "Its gonna be hard to get over those kind of fears."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah Swift Wind tell her shes shouldn't worry about being the best She-Ra she can be, just work on being the best Catra she can be. That strengthens their bond and they fix the Watchtower. Then Catra gets more She-Ra power and has pants now which shes really happy about."

Producer "Oh magic pants are tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "But all this happiness disappears when she gets back to Bright Moon and the others tell her about Entrapta."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah and Adoras having problems two. Her hand ages like a hundred years in few seconds."

Producer "Eww old lady hand."

Screenwriter Guy "And then her reflection climbs out of the mirror."

Producer "Oh that's way scarier."

Screenwriter Guy "And she calls herself Aroda. Which is Adora spelled backwards."

Producer "Oh satanic backwards talking is tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Wait what?"

Producers eyes glow red "Taog eht em hctef."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh my god."

Producer "So what about Catra?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well shes was feeling pretty bad about the whole Entrapta thing, so she decided the the best way to deal with those feelings was to you know, murder her."

Producer "Oh my."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah she took off for the Fright Zone while literally dragging Glimmer, Bow and Swift Wind along as they tried to stop her. But she starts losing her She-Ra power. Shes already lost her cape and pants."

Producer "Lost her her pants? Did she lose them in a fun way like at a party?"

Screenwriter Guy "What? No. Remember the better person Catra becomes the more She-Ra power she gets. But when she does bad stuff, like go off to murder someone, she loses power.

Producer "I see, that not fun at all."

Screenwriter Guy "But they end up in a village they lost contact with but find it abandoned. Its all spooky and Catras starts telling scary stories to scare the others."

Producer "Very spooky."

Screenwriter Guy "Meanwhile Adora goes through the same Catra did in the show. But she has Frosta visit for a tour of the Fight Zone."

Producer "Oh that's an original idea."

Screenwriter Guy "Scorpia thinks Frostas so cute she automatically hugs her."

Producer "Sounds like Scorpia. Hows the tour go?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well Frosta tries the awful food, a bunch of children start crying in fear when they see her cause shes a princess. Runs into Entrapta who nearly suffocates her and reveals the main thing shes been doing is making weapons for the Horde. She wanders into a training course and gets attacked by cadets."

Producer "Boy its gonna be impossible for Adora to explain all of that."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah she admit's the palce pretty bad. But says its like this cause they put everything they have into uniting Etheria and that the Horde is a family. So Frosta tell her about an attack on a Horde outpost the Rebellions planning."

Producer "Oh that's not good. So whats happening in the spooky village?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well Catras lost most of her power by the time they discover the ghosts they've been seeing are actually holograms of First Ones running in a loop that scared away the villagers. Catra deactivates the antennae and realises that even if she did sneak into the Fright Zone and took her revenge on Entrapta, she'd get captured then her friends would be put in danger trying to rescue her. So she puts off her revenge plans and gets her cape back."

Producer "Is the next episode as much fun as it was in the show?"

Screenwriter Guy "You bet it will… for the first half."

Producer "Grea- wait what?"

Screenwriter Guy "So Catra, Glimmer and Bow are trying to come up with a plan to take the outpost and the others come in with their funny plans and it drives Catra nuts."

Producer "Oh yeah?"

Screenwriter Guy "Glimmers plan has Catra dressed nerdy social worker while Adoras a James Bond like villain. Bows plan puts her in her clothes from the old She-Ra cartoon and shes mad about wearing make up. This time Adoras a vampire!"

Producer "Wait do vampires even exist in that universe?"

Screenwriter Guy "No idea. Perfumas plan puts them all in a Sailor Moon squad thing, which gets worse for Catra cause her tail keep lifting her skirt."

Producer "Oh lifting skirts is tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh,"

Producer "Wow that sounded bad."

Screenwriter Guy "It really did."

Producer gets a text and looks at it. "Yeah HR thinks so two."

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway after listening to everyones plans Catra snaps and lists off all the bad things that will happen when they attack. But the others say they don't need a plan because they have Catra and the faith they have in her gives Catra more She-Ra power giving her longer orange hair."

Producer "Neat."

Screenwriter Guy "But Frosta leads Mermista and Perfuma away and the others get caught inside the a force field covering the entire outpost. Adora then reveals Frosta been a double agent for the Horde the whole time."

Producer "Oh that's gonna be awkward.

Screenwriter Guy "Oh big time. Catra becomes so mad she really bashes Adora around the outpost and nearly kills her, but then Catra loses her powers and her She-Ra costume disappears."

Producer "Oh my god shes naked?"

Screenwriter Guy "No shes back in her normal clothes."

Producer "Oh good, crisis averted."

Screenwriter Guy "But shes lost all her powers."

Producer "Oh different crisis."

Screenwriter Guy "While trying to survive Adoras attacks she falls into the lower levels of the outpost. There Lonnie saves her from being found by soldiers."

Producer "Why does she do that?"

Screenwriter Guy "She also believes in Catras ideal of paying back someone for helping. Plus she after Catra throws her into some crates she reveals the reason she picked on Catra was because Shadow Weaver made her."

Producer "Oh a surprise character development."

Screenwriter Guy "She shows Catra an exit but Catra won't leave without Bow and Glimmer she she goes back for them."

Producer "Bet its gonna be pretty hard to stop Adora without her powers."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah Perfuma shows understanding and forgiveness to Frosta so she turns against Adora. Her armband is destroyed and she gets sick and the Horde is forced to retreat. So the day is won and Catra immediately tries to murder Frosta."

Producer "Oh my god."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah shes kinda upset about the whole betrayal thing. The others stop her and they go back to Bright Moon and tell the Queen what happened. Its decided decided that Frostas punishment will be helping the Rebellion defeat the Horde."

Producer "Not much of a punishment. Aren't they mad?"

Screenwriter Guy "They are are but they can see that Frosta made her choice as a ruler doing what she thought was best for her kingdom."

Producer "Oh… so its because shes a child?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh difficulty. But Catras not happy and is arguing with the Queen about letting Frosta stay with the Rebellion after she betrayed them."

Producer "Oh shes gonna point out the Queens being a hypocrite after how she threatened Catra about if she ever betrayed them."

Screenwriter Guy "Oh I had totally forgotten about that. That would have been a good line to use."

Producer "So what does happen?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well the queen says they're done talking about this and sends Catra to her room. Its all part of the mother daughter relationship they have."

Producer "Who has?"

Screenwriter Guy "Angella and Catra."

Producer "They have a mother daughter relationship? Since when?"

Screenwriter Guy "Since the beginning."

Producer "You mean when she gave Catra a terrifying threat. Then didn't say a single nice thing to her, not even a good job after she saved four kingdoms and rebuilt the princess alliance. Then only after she rescued her own daughter she invites Catra to join them for dinner, which isn't so much nice as it is a common courtesy since they live together?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Producer "And now she brushes off Catras very real concerns and sends her to her room her room like a child, which is the worst possible thing you can do with teenagers?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah you know, parenting."

Producer "Do you have any kids?"

Screenwriter Guy "No."

Producer "Thank god."

Screenwriter Guy "What?"

Producer "Then what happens?"

Screenwriter Guy "Catra gets summoned by Light Hope, so she tries to sneak out but runs into the Queen and they have another heart warming moment."

Producer "I seriously doubt that."

Screenwriter Guy "Light Hope re-energizes the sword and Catra gets most of her power back. But warns her it's a one time thing and if it happens again she'll lose her bond to the sword completely."

Producer "How much power does she get back?"

Screenwriter Guy "Enough to get her cape and pants back."

Producer "I once wore pants and a cape but they asked me to leave the restaurant."

Screenwriter Guy "Why were only wearing pants and a cape?"

Producer "Because."

Screenwriter Guy "Fair enough. Wait that's what I normally say to you."

Producer "Yup."

Screenwriter Guy "Wow, shoes on the other foot."

Producer "Actually I was wearing roller blades on my feet. They are harder to use than people think."

Screenwriter Guy "I mean, okay."

Producer "So I'm guessing after all this the best course of action is to keep Catra and Frosta away from each other for awhile."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually Glimmer invites Frosta to join them on their next mission."

Producer "What?"

Screenwriter Guy "They're going to this North Pole like place called the Northern Reach on Sea Hawks ship, so she figures Frostas ice powers are perfect for it. But her plan is that by the end of the mission Catra will forgive Frosta."

Producer "That sounds like a bad idea."

Screenwriter Guy "That's what Bow tells her, and Catra is very vocal about how unhappy she is with the situation. They arrive at the Northern Reach and when they run into Adora, Scorpia and Entrapta. So catra then tries to murder Entrapta."

Producer "Oh so she gonna lose her powers again?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh no, she doesn't lose any of it."

Producer "What? But when Catra was heading towards the Fright Zone to kill Entrapta she was constantly losing power. Now that shes in the process of trying to kill Entrapta, she doesn't lose any?"

Screenwriter Guy "Look sir I'm gonna need you to get all the way off my back about how the the sword judges how okay murder is."

Producer "Okay let me get off of that thing."

Screenwriter Guy "But then Adora infects Catra with the First Ones virus and she goes into a rage. She attacks her friends and they fall down a cliff, but then Catra attacks Adora and give her a brutal beating."

Producer "Oh yeah?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah she rips her shadow tentacles off her back and its like ripping real limbs off. Then she starts choking her and is about to kill her with her claws."

Producer "Loving this fight so far. But last time she tired to kill Adora she lost all her power."

Screenwriter Guy "My back sir, please get off of it."

Producer "You got it."

Screenwriter Guy "So Scopria save Adora and when Catra returns to normal, then boops Adoras nose."

Producer "Boops?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah see I asked some readers to vote for either Catra acting like a cat in season 1 or acting drunk like Adora did in the show. Drunk won."

Producer "So what kinda stuff does drunk Catra do?"

Screenwriter Guy "Lots of funny stuff. She bites Scorpia thinking shes a crab. Jumps off some crates thinking she can fly, she draws on the paperwork adora was working on and almost pees in a room she thought was the bathroom but wasn't."

Producer "Oh you never wanna pee outside of a bathroom. That's actually how I met the HR department."

Screenwriter Guy "… okay. Well Entrapta reveals a name she came up with for Catra back when she was in her cat like state, Cat-Ra!"

Producer "That's the name of the story."

Screenwriter Guy "That's right, and in Catras mind she heading for a mountain top while meeting younger versions of herself who ask her to forgive them. But at the end its revealed it was never about Catra forgiving Frosta, it was about forgiving herself."

Producer "Forgiving herself?"

Screenwriter Guy "Turns out Catra blames herself for Frosta joining the Horde. She fell for Adoras trick and it made the Rebellion look bad and allowed Adroa to manipulate Frosta."

Producer "I did not see that coming."

Screenwriter Guy "Then another version of Catra appears, one of her with She-ras full power and she offers make Catra forget all the bad things that happened to her in the Horde. That way she wont have such baggage and will be able to unlock She-Ra's power. But Catra refuses because all as much as she hated the terrible life she had, it made her what she is."

Producer "Oh tragic backstories are tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Meanwhile in the real world everyone's attacked by these snow monsters that were driven crazy by the First Ones virus. There's a fight for the virus crystal in the end Scorpia breaks it to save Adora from getting eaten by the snow monsters. On the way back Scoprai and Adora comfort Adora whose afraid shes going to turn into a monster, which leads to a funny whose driving the boat moment. The good guys head back and Catra still hasn't forgiven Frosta and Glimmer realises sometimes people just don't change."

Producer "Don't change? But this entire story is about how Catra and Adora have changed and are still changing. Also if Catra blames herself for what Frosta did shouldn't she at least start being open to let Frosta make up for what shes done?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well the thing is… I don't wanna do that. But the chapter ends with Catra talking to Angella and the Queen finally sees growing up in the Horde is why Catras is both the toughest person to get through to and the mist sensitive. So make she makes a deal with Catra. She promises to stop giving Catra orders as the Queen if Catra realizes shes not in the Fright Zone anymore. Shes in Bright Moon where shes safe and surrounded by people who love her."

Producer "Aww."

Screenwriter Guy "She tells Catra is she agrees she can sit out there with her, and if not she can go back inside. At first it looks like she goes inside but then she sits down beside her and they look up at the planets together."

Producer "Its nice to finally see them have a nice moment."

Screenwriter Guy "I think you mean, another nice moment."

Producer "No I don't. What happens next?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well unlike the show which had flashbacks of Shadow Weaver when she was Light Spinner, its gonna have flashbacks fo Shadow Weaver raising Adora and at first Adora actually called Shadow Weaver mom.

Producer "Switching things up I see."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we see in less than two months, Adoras gone from bright eyed and bushy tailed, loving every moment of being in charge. To being a total mess, yelling at people and being almost literally crushed by all the paperwork. Then goes to Horaks inner Sanctum and sees him without his armor."

Producer "Oh my god."

Screenwriter Guy "He still had clothes on."

Producer "Oh good. Its really awkward and uncomfortable to see your boss naked."

Screenwriter Guy "Really wish you had locked your door sir, or at least not left it wide oen.

Producer "It was really hot that day."

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway like in the episode Hordak orders Shadow Weaver be sent to Beast island and gives Adora a couple of days to get any information out of her."

Producer "Hows that go?"

Screenwriter Guy "Well she sends her on errands. First is a secret compartment in her on desk where she finds a baby picture of Adora that Scorpia loves and a promotion badge. Then to geta framed photo of Shadow Weaver and Adora. Through out the episode there's flashbacks of Shadow Weaver reaching Adora to read. Introducing Catra who Shadow Weaver instantly mistreated the moment Adora left the room. Shadow Weaver being mad at a Adora for not being first in a race and for a prank the damaged a skiff."

Producer "Oh yeah?"

Screenwriter Guy "The point of the flashbacks is to show that even though she was Shadow Weavers favourite, growing up wasn't always easy for her."

Producer "Still sounds better than everyone else's lives in the Fright Zone."

Screenwriter Guy "After Adora nearly loses control of her powers and hurts Entrapta out of jealousy. She goes to Shadow Weaver and completely breaks down in tears."

Producer "uh oh."

Screenwriter Guy "Adora apologises for betraying her but Shadow Weaver says there's no need to apologise and shes proud of her for all shes accomplished. She agrees to help Adora later but then sees her old lady hand, but tells her Aroda is no big deal."

Producer "Is she lying?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh big time. As soon as Adora leave, Shadow Weaver escapes just like she did in the show. When Adora finds Shadow Weaver left a magic hologram of herself, she trashes the cell in rage."

Producer "Hey using a magic hologram of yourself to trick people is Loki signature move."

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah I guess it is."

Producer "Did Shadow Weaver learn it from him?"

Screenwriter Guy "Not in the MCU sir."

Producer "Dang it. What happens next?"

Screenwriter Guy "Catras training with Swift Wind and complains to Light Hope that she doesn't know how else to change herself so she can get more She-Ra power. So Light Hope says Catra needs to give up on getting her own kingdom."

Producer "Her what?"

Screenwriter Guy "Remember in season one, she made a deal the Rebellion that in exchange for defeating the Horde she would get her own kingdom to rule."

Producer "Huh, I had totally forgotten about that."

Screenwriter Guy "So did the others, they thought she didn't want it anymore. But Catra feels like shes already sacrificed so much she shouldn't have to give up her dream."

Producer "So Glimmer has her mom tell Catra about how hard it is to rule a kingdom?"

Screenwriter Guy "No they just go looking for Bow and find him in a big house, terrified to see hes wearing a tucked in shirt."

Producer "Oh my god… for some reason."

Screenwriter Guy "He tries to get them to leave but Catra falls on top of Bow."

Producer "Oh people falling on other people is tight!"

Screenwriter Guy "Then George and Lance, Bows Dads show up and they say "Bow why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend?"

Producers eyes widen "Girlfriend? They think Catra is Bows girlfriend?"

Screenwriter Guy "Bet you didn't see that coming."

Producer "That's amazing! Its gonna be so funny. This is the best idea you've ever come up with."

Screenwriter Guy "Well I don't know about that."

Producer "I do. That is hands down the best idea you 've ever had or will ever have."

Screenwriter Guy "Uh…"

Producer "You did come up with it right?"

Screenwriter Guy "Actually it was by another writer called Star Saber21"

Producer "Wow this guys good, you should try more of his ideas."

Screenwriter Guy "I won't though."

Producer "Shame."

Screenwriter Guy "Anyway Bow gets the girls alone and explains that his dads don't know hes in the rebellion, they think he'd been at boarding school. He also explains what a girlfriend is to Catra, who then turns her sword into a chainsaw."

Producer "Oh that escalated quickly."

Screenwriter Guy "But shes on board with playing the part after Bow tells her about all the information Lance and George have on She-Ra. Plus a bunch of explosive arrows."

Producer "You got some funny shenanigans planned?"

Screenwriter Guy "You bet. Bow tells his dads that Catras an accomplished archaeologist and she tells them about about their missions like they were archaeology expeditions. Catra makes Bow give her shoulder massage and makes up a story about that Glimmer having a crush on Bow and she has to say it was true. Then George and Lance mention grandkids, catra nearly chokes on a cookie and Glimmer happily hits her back so she'll cough it up."

Producer "Wow, wow,wow… wow."

Screenwriter Guy "Its all going great until George and Lance ask the question all parents ask when meeting their kids partners."

Producer "Hows reproduction gonna work since their partners part cat?"

Screenwriter Guy "What no. How did they meet."

Producer "Oh that makes more sense. Bet its gonna be really hard to come up with a way out of this one."

Screenwriter Guy "Actually super easy, barely an inconvenience."

Producer "Oh really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Catra uses the story of how she and Adora met but puts Bow in instead of Adora. But Catra gets emotional and leaves the room, finally realising the reason why she lost She-Ra's full power after the Battle of Bright Moon is cause she doesn't want to fight Adora."

Producer "Hasn't she fought Adora like twice since then?"

Screenwriter Guy "No she means whats gonna happen to Adora after, cause the Queens not gonna be happy about how Adora tortured Glimmer in season 1."

Producer "Yeah I can safely see a guillotine in her future."

Screenwriter Guy "Things go a lot like the episode, except after Catra awakens the that First Ones thing she gets separated from her sword. She keeps grabbing things to hit it with but George and Lance keep saying how archaeology important they are are and then she can't use them as weapons."

Producer "Very inconvenient. But wouldnt it be better to lure it outside so she'd have more room and it couldn't damage anything?"

Screenwriter Guy "Oh whoops."

Producer "Whoopise."

Screenwriter Guy "So once they stop the thing and Bow tells his dads the truth, they hug accepting him and apologising for making him feel he had to hide who he is. This causes Catra to cry tears of pure happiness as she and Glimmer are brought into the hug cause they're Bow's family two."

Producer "Aww that's sweet."

Screenwriter Guy "So after finding out the message is actually coordinates to the Crimson Wastes, Catra flies back to Bright Moon and has the Queen rescind their deal. So now even if they beat th Horde, no kingdom for Catra."

Producer "Really?"

Screenwriter Guy "Yeah she realises that she needs to be become stronger so she can protect her friends. Everybodies really touched by it. Then Catra transforms to find out how much more power she has."

Producer "How much?"

Screenwriter Guy "We'll find out next season."

Producer "Wait what?"

Screenwriter Guy "Back in the Fright Zone, Adora ignores Arodas warnings and tells Hordak that Shadow Weaver escaped. He seems okay with it but he goes "Is there anything else?" She says nothen the Imp plays what she said to Scorpia."

Producer "How is it able to do that?"

Screenwriter Guy "No idea. But he gets mad, traps her in that no air thing and she passes out. In our final scene Catras sleeping peacefully in her bed, when Shadow Weaver appears in the room and standing over her."

Producer "Super spooky note to end on."

Screenwriter Guy "So what do you think?"

Producer "Well you really went back and forth from the upbeat fun of season 2 to dark and hurting moments."

Screenwriter Guy "Its what the people want."

Producer "Very debatable."

Screenwriter Guy "Now that I've finished season 2, I can watch season 3 of She-Ra."

Producer "You havent watched season 3 yet? But its been out for months. Infact season 4 is gonna start soon."

Screenwriter Guy "Well I have a rule that I won't watch the next season of She-Ra until I finish writing the current season of Cat-Ra."

Producer "So your saying you wrote season 1 and that whole Frostas a spy plot, with no idea what was gonna happen with her in season 2?"

Screenwriter Guy "Her personality was very different to what I was expecting but it all worked out in the end."

Producer "Yeah I think that's gonna cause major problems."

Cat-Ra Season 2

Final Review Count: 566

Final Favorite Count: 195

Final Follower Count: 169

Final Viewer Count: 111,257 Viewers

...

A/N: The Satan bit gets me every time XD Lol. Once again, this was written by Star, who definitely has a hilarious viewpoint on the show when it comes down to pitching the idea for it XD Lol. Also, if you want some extra Cat-Ra-ness to tie you over, check up his spin-off stories that take place within the same universe. They're both oneshots/side stories of the main series, and they're definitely enjoyable X)!

Ah, well, idk what to say folks (mostly cause my heads foggy from the cough drops and whatnot), but I will say this- Thank you. Thank you to each and every one of you who have raised the reviews to the highest-reviewed story I've ever posted on this site X) I never thought it'd get past the rwby one (I mean cripes its in the 900s :/) so this is truly a momentous occasion when I can safely say... I might have the best she-ra fic on the net XP lol Jk (maybe XP), Idk. But seriously, this is all due to your guys and your constant support.

And major thanks to those of you who've helped with the . I am thinking of a way to reward those who've helped this series and have been helping me with my financial difficulties- with the pandemic everywhere and now it's freaking snowing where I'm at (I am sooooo tempted to dress as a killer santa for halloween if it keeps up XD), work has been near impossible to come by and im living off savings, or what little i have left. So from the bottom of my heart, thanks to those of you who've helped me with my difficulties of late.

And if anyone else is interested in assisting with this, you can find my online. Best way to find it is to find my instagram account (Monokubkub) and look for the direct link in the profile. Not only does this help me financially, but it'll take a load off my shoulders and help me get to writing faster.

Make no mistakes folks, this series is not over. Heck, I'm honestly getting back into the reading again, and at the rate its going, I swear I might actually have the work back up soon :D

Till then, once again, thank you all for your continued love and support. You guys are as much the makers of this thing as I am... I think XP... but still your support is what's kept this thing going, and because of that, you all have my gratitude X)

As always, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed, and hope to see you soon!

Chapter 133: S4 Episode 3: Flutterina Finale

Chapter Text

A/N: Final Word Count: 19.6K

HALLLLLLELUJAH!

HALLLLLLLLLLELUJAH!

HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!

HALLEEE-LUUU-JAHHHHHHHH!

YES FOLKS, IT IS I, AND NO YOU ARE NOT SEEING THINGS OR DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN!... well... okay I don't 100% know about that last part, depends on how the wifi situation is up there these days... huh...

Lol, hows it going guys! Monokub here! And you thought it was going to take me forever to post this ^^ Haha! Well you'll be happy to know it's only been a few days since my last post according to my calander! Haha, yes, a few days... and weeks... and months... and a year- Okay so it was a long time what do you want from me XP?

Lol, I am deeply, DEEPLY sorry for everyone who waited for forever, honestly idk what happened... well actually I do, it was mostly school. First school, then dealing with covid (which i never got, hooray ^^), then elections, then holidays, etc. and etc. I have no excuse other than possibly being possessed by a demon, would probably explain the way time flew by regardless, but with that said, i am very, VERY sorry for this long delay, and as a way of reprimand, i hope this extra special near-20k posting more than makes up for it ^^.

I had some other things to say too, but I think i'll save that for afterwards. as a reminder, it's been a year, and not going to lie... not my best work X/ the first 3-4 k of this i had done over a year ago... and the remaining 15-16k i just did within the last week and a half. a good start, especially the last 6-8 k i just did today :D a good sign i might be getting my writing mojo back soon! But as such, likely lost some of the skill i used to have in completing this episode, so quality might not be my best work. Hoping to get that back soon. If it is good, then great, if not, i apologize X(

So with that all said, let's get on to the part you all came here for, and enjoy the fanfic!

...

"What... are those thi-"

"Look out!"

*wham!*

Cat-like reflexes weren't an attribute to Catra's feline features, they just came with the territory. It was a pretty good thing they did, too, because any slower before the pink-haired princess realized what was happening and she would've been flattened by the metallic steel ball that was just flung at her.

Grabbing her friend and ducking them out of the way, the two narrowly avoided the collision course of the metallic silver that crashed into the ground behind them, rebounding off the twisted steel of the ground as it bounced away to another wall. There, the two watched as it casually rolled its way back to the tail of the mechanized centipede-like creation as a new sphere protruded an additional pair of mandibles like the previous head that was flung to them.

And it was just a taste of what Catra knew to expect as she glared back to the towering figure past her smug friend.

"What is that thing?" Glimmer finally managed to ask as Catra helped her up to her feet.

"Some annoying droid that can connect to the other ones to get bigger." She replied, steadying her grip for the assault that would eventually rush to her. "They're more annoying when they're separated than together, though. They keep bouncing back whenever you hit them and they can bounce into each other to ram into you twice as hard."

"I thought you would appreciate the design, Catra~" Adora teased as she admired the reflection of herself in the head of the silver beasts' metallic alloy. "I made it with you in mind. Something you could hit over and over again and it would keep bouncing back to you." She eyed the magicat curiously with a small brow in her direction. "Least something that would want to come back to you..." Her verbal comments did nothing to irritate the magicat any less as the feline continued to burn with hatred for her old friend.

"Any advice on how to fight it?" Glimmer asked as she charged her fists with her magic at the ready.

"Yeah- Hit it hard if it launches at you and then bolt out of the way before it rebounds." It wasn't the most sound advice that Catra could give, but it was the amount she could afford to share knowing her enemies weren't going to wait around all day for thoroughly detailed step-by-step instructions on how to beat that thing.

With a small slap to the metallic beast's head, Adora sneered at the two princesses below her, relishing the sound of the centipede-like creation snapping its mandibles aggressively as it rose its head higher into the air.

With the power of her shadows, a grasp on them being something she had yet to fully regain since her separation from Aroda's usage, her twin swords on hand, a giant robotic centipede, a fellow Force Captain who was part scorpion at that, and a new gift she had discovered she was recently blessed with, for once, Adora felt confident in how her battle would play out against the likes of She-Ra. And she was going to prove to her who the real her was after weeks upon weeks of endless nightmares.

And it all started with the first step as she kicked off from the railing of the bridge.

*swish!*

Annnnnd disappeared into a cloud of pink sparkles, leaving four confused heads to stare in wonder at her recent disappearance.

"Uhhh," Scorpia muttered scratching her head, taking a quick peek of their surroundings to see if she was truly gone, "where did she go?"

...

*swish*

"H- uh? Waah-!"

*fwish!*

Within an entanglement of sticks and leaves as Adora reappeared over a bundle of trees, the otherwise fearless Force Captain let out a small shriek as she fell into the waiting arms of dozens upon dozens of tree branches and leaves. The array of twigs and leaves that brushed against her faces as she fell did little else than annoy her as she fell through the many arms, eventually catching her grip halfway down a small ladder of branches as she finally stopped.

Her whole head felt dizzy for a moment as she surveyed her surroundings. Given where she was now to the Horde base that was within the center of the clearing that she was on the edge of, she figured she must've covered a good hundred feet with that little sporadic leap through time and space. And while the act in itself might'be been a rather surprising and entertaining display, there was only one realization Adora could come to as she spat out a wad of inch-long twigs and leaves from her mouth.

"I officially hate teleporting..." She moaned. Not to say she wouldn't gladly take the power she copied all over again, but with what little practice she's had to be able to master this newfound power, she found herself teleporting everywhere except where she wanted to go.

Like to her targets that were just ten feet below her!

The entire battle against her former friend had taken many downs since she appeared at the Horde base a good distance from Elberon. From discovering that her old friend was now bent on ending every fraction of Adora's life to going berserk at the mere sight of her, not a single thing had gone Adora's way since the start of the mission. Save for successfully capturing the town after its recent liberation, everything had been blowing up in Adora's face from start to finish.

Literally.

Catra had no interest in taking her friend alive, no commitment to what little friendship they once had. All she wanted to do was to end Adora's life with the claws of her own two hands, and drown out what little life Adora had left within her. At one point, it almost came down to that very situation.

Continuing to take the Force Captain off guard with her sudden aggression, the magicat managed to ensnare Adora's leg with her sword-turned lasso before she could reach the switch that summoned the army of silver bots at her side. Reeling her in like cattle, powerless against She-Ra's full strength and anger, Adora was helpless as Catra began to strangle her with a single claw, raising the other one to scratch out what little life remained within the helpless Force Captain.

If it wasn't for Glimmer's saving grace as she stopped the enraged warrior from going through with it, fearing she would lose her connection to She-Ra in the process, Adora might not be here right now to rant about her teleportation issues. At the same time, she also wouldn't have discovered this newfound ability that could turn the tide of the war.

She could absorb and copy the magic of people she touched. Unaware of the girl's own presence as her vision was fading from Catra's suffocation, she inadvertently grabbed Glimmer's wrist and began to siphon off a portion of her power with it. While not everything, like Glimmer's ability to conjure up blasts of energy with her sparkly magic, she managed to acquire the unique ability to teleport to and fro from one location to the next.

Obviously, this didn't mean she had anywhere near the amount of control she would have preferred over her new ability. Quite the contrary, she had little to no control over her new powers as she ended up teleporting from one location to the next, crashing into several obstacles, walls included, as she distanced herself from her adversary. Like a toddler learning how to walk, it took her several minutes to figure out how to walk several steps ahead of herself without teleporting in the process.

At least she eventually managed to get a handle on her powers long enough to summon the very droids that could turn this whole situation around. Now she just needed to figure out a way to teleport back to where the action was.

And possibly get the bird nest that was nestled atop her scalp out of her hair...

...

*crash!*

The metallic beast continued to thrash about as it assaulted the fearless magicat, Catra grumbling to herself as she focused on her oversized friend as Glimmer teleported out of the way of another full-bodied slam from the elongated behemoth. Like the ones she fought in the woods, the irritating centipede was using every trick at its disposal and then some as it constantly kept Glimmer and Catra on their toes.

Flinging several portions of itself at the two battlers, attacking directly with its head or its tail, and keeping the two from getting any further from this section of the base as it kept cutting them off with its massive length, and it was proving to be one of the most formidable droids the Rebellion had yet to face. There wasn't a single opportunity for Catra or Glimmer to get the edge over the massive insectoid, either.

Several times Catra attempted to strike the head of the massive creature, hoping to chip away at the various droids that made it whole, and every time her attempts were in vain. Attempting to charge the creature up close resulted in it pulling back far enough before the agile cat could reach it. Trying to approach the body of the beast itself lead to the beast easily shaking the magicat off as it left her little room for her to get a grip on the mighty leviathan. And any time Glimmer appeared to have its attention distracted long enough for Catra to approach ended with the beast bashing her with the butt of its tail.

With the additional input Glimmer could weigh in on the fight against the creature, Catra came to realize their situation was far more severe than she originally anticipated. On top of the thirty individual droids that made up the one large droid, it also lead to that many pairs of eyes that she had to deal with as well. In addition to each individual droid working as a whole in unison, it also meant each individual droid was scanning its environment at a constant rate, meaning it could keep track of every individual thing within its radius.

There was zero opportunity for the two heroes of the Rebellion to get the drop on the creature, and that was provided it gave them enough leeway to catch their breath in the first place.

"Nnngghhh!" Growling under her breath as the creature attempted to charge her again, Catra prepared herself as she transformed her sword into a durable spiked mace, one that could match the size that composed the centipede of itself and all the weight that was hidden underneath it. Gripping it firmly between her claws, she eagerly smashed the side of the creature's head away with a resounding crash, smashing it again as it tried to center itself back to her.

As amusing as it was to get a couple of good hits in, she would find her amusement lasting only for so long. Following the second bash against its noggin, a strike that didn't appear to faze it anymore than the previous attacks, the giant centipede swiped its head quickly back in her direction, sending the magicat flying through the air as she crashed into the metallic wall on the other side of the section they were in.

"Geh-!" Catra winced a bit with a startled gasp as the air was pushed out of her, unable to stop herself from falling as she landed on her front, clutching her stomach a little bit in pain. That was like taking a wrecking ball straight to the stomach it hurt so bad, an experience she prayed she'd never have to witness ever again as her joints felt a little numb from the impact.

*Wsssssss-!*

Given the small hiss-like roar of steam that emanated from the creature as it rose above her, chances were she wouldn't have to.

"Catra!" Glimmer cried out as she picked herself from the ground from the most recent impact. With the small window of time she had between the droid's wind-up to slamming down upon Catra, the new Queen of Bright Moon swiftly teleported to her friends side, and teleported away the instant she grabbed Catra's shoulder.

*swish*

*WHAM!*

The two could practically feel the wind of the massive weight coming down upon them by the time she teleported again to safety.

Throughout the entire battle, the two silent spectators known as Flutterina and Swift Wind watched with worry, safely hidden behind the hole of the torn-away wall, as She-Ra and the Queen struggled to bring down the mighty droid. Even with the magic of a powerful spellcaster and the strength of She-Ra, the two were still finding themselves on the defensive as the centipede fought against them with seeming ease.

Like Adora had anticipated, the bot was working wonders against Catra as the magicat struggled to keep her guard up and defend herself all at the same time. Sure, she was used to counterattacks from her training with Light Hope, the advanced A.I. always training Catra to be prepared for any individuality and circumstance. But she's never dealt with an enemy like this before where they reacted so fluidly against her physical attacks, especially against this many at the same time!

"Shouldn't you try to help her?" Flutterina kept her worried eyes on the battlefield as she asked.

"I promised Catra I'd keep you safe." He nervously replied, silently gulping as the situation escalated. Of course he wanted to jump into the foray and do something to help his dear friend, yet what could he do that wouldn't get in the way? Keeping Flutterina guarded like Catrta instructed aside, he found little in the way he could assist the two. The droids' metal alloy was near invulnerable to most attacks, and even if they did have a means to break it apart, there wasn't any way they could get it to hold still long enough to destroy all the droids at once.

Besides, he wasn't entirely convinced things were out of control. It was Catra they were talking about after all. Whenever something looked bleak to her, she always found a way to turn the battle around. It was hard to find a warrior more determined than her to win a fight, even if the reasons behind it were a little off at times. Watching as his friend teleported back into existence a ways away from the conjoined centipede, practically near the two viewers at that. They probably would've noticed their presence if they weren't so focused on the menacing droid at hand.

The ground was still trembling as they reappeared on the other side of the sector, buying themselves a moment's rest as the beast turned its long body to its tail end towards them. "How are we supposed to stop that thing?"

"Egh, those round spots on its head it uses to bounce off of everything," Catra wiped off a small scrape from her chin as she got up, "that's the only weak spot they have. The rest is too durable to smash." Of the many things in Catra's life she found easier to say than do, she found this detail to be up within the top five moments of when she truly meant it.

"But how are we supposed to destroy it without it moving around so much?"

"Working on it, hang on." Catra pondered her options as she returned her sword to its original state. It more than proved its resilience when she bashed it away with her mace earlier, so how was she expecting to find some way to destroy the whole thing? It took her combined might with Swift Wind's sacred bond to destroy just five of these things before.

What was she supposed to do against thirty of these things at the exact same time?

Glancing around the environment, trying to find something to use to their advantage, Glimmer's eyes set upon one of the few defensive turrets spread across the edges of the Horde base, grinning as a thought popped into her mind. "Hang on, I have an idea!" Without warning or clue as to what that idea could be, the pink-haired princess began to glow as she prepared to jump from her friend's location to the point of interest atop the rightmost wall's corner.

"An idea?" Catra wondered as she looked into the direction her friend was facing before she left, curious as to what plan the Queen of Bright Moon could have against a foe she had never dealt with before. When her eyes came upon what could be her most likely target, a small twinge of worry crossed her mind. "Wait, Glimmer-!" But it was too late. By the time she opened her mouth to speak, Glimmer had teleported across the field of the base to the wall's corner, missing the disappointing warning Catra had for her.

Reappearing at her intended target, Glimmer grinned as she checked the controls. Like many of the bases they've raided in the past on their missions, the control schemes and equipment were fairly standard and easy to get a grasp on. Even if the design of it was a little bit strange compared to most of the other turrets she's seen, this one looking more like a tank that could be operated from above, it was still verily simple in concept and easy to figure out.

It was almost poetic in a way as the princess smirked at the sight of the towering centipede that finally managed to turn around to face Catra. What better way to destroy a droid than by using their own technology against them? She might not know how durable these things were, but anything blasted with a turret was sure to do some damage. With her target appearing none the wiser, she drew the creature's attention over to her as she pinched her finger and thumb between her lips.

*Tweeeeeeeeeet~!*

"HEY! BUGSY!" She shouted over, growing all the more excited as the creature turned its elongated form around to her in curiosity. Without any need for hesitation or concern, the young Glimmer fired the turret, and watched as she rained a storm of fiery energy-filled vengeance upon the insectoid-!

*POMPF!*

... Or... possibly several pounds of colorful confetti that was stuffed inside of the turret's barrel without her knowing. "... That... wasn't supposed to happen..."

This was the exact warning Catra tried to give her before she teleported to the defenses. She recognized the rugged tank in an instant from the party she attended with Bow mere hours ago. She could never forget how much her heart jumped the first time they set one off, or how awesome they were to fill them for a celebration in her own honor.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like the Horde themselves were anymore aware of this detail as they stole the armored tanks back along with the village they abducted. A small part of Catra wished they had noticed the detail in the hopes that Glimmer's plan could've worked. She would've found the situation a little more humorous if the agitated centipede didn't seem more hostile at the attempted assault.

Pulling back it's large upper half, Glimmer barely had the time to let out a split-second shriek before she teleported again, dodging the immense droid as it crashed its upper half against the turret and the entire corner of the wall under it's massive strength. Glimmer's heart was still racing from how close the massive droid came to crushing her as she reappeared on the other side of the sector across the undamaged bridge.

Nor had she felt a sense of worry over what they could possibly do to stop a towering creature such as this when it managed to shrug off most of Catra's physical strength and Glimmer's energy blasts. And it was still the least of her concerns when her two seconds of relief came to an abrupt end.

"Haaaah!"

*clang*

With all that had happened, Glimmer had almost forgotten that Scorpia was still here as she blocked the overhead swing that came down upon her from Scorpia's own two claws, blocking the attack just a foot away from her face as she defended herself with her father's staff. If it wasn't for the fact the centipede wouldn't bother her if she was this close to a fellow Horde soldier, she would've found the situation more unbearable to deal with as she struggled to stand her ground.

Sadly, the same could not be said for the same magicat who didn't have to deal with anyone else to deal with as the centipede turned back.

"Tch, great..." She hissed a little as the centipede attacked.

Like many times before, the centipede charged for her as crashed through the metal bridge, throwing back its head as threw several of the metallic droids from itself at the formidable She-Ra. Reacting quickly, the swift warrior dodged out of the way as she kept herself on the move to her right, running around the sector as she knew the droids would attempt to ricochet off the surroundings to strike her. It forced the girl to stay on the move at all times, preventing her from catching her own breath as the droids and the centipede gave chase.

In its efforts to cut her off, the centipede lashed its tail in her direction, something Catra caught onto as she nimbly slid under the massive steel chain of droids, her smooth sandal-like boots giving her a good distance as she did. What she didn't account for, though, was the intended target as no sooner did she dodge the overhead swipe did the tail end of the centipede slam down ahead of her, cutting her off from her escape as the tail overlapped several portions of itself and forming a wall-like blockade of several of the rolly-pollies stacked atop of one another.

Gritting her teeth as she heard the sound of the rolling droids behind her, Catra manifested a shield out of her sword as she braced herself for the charging rolling droids. As expected as the shield took the brunt of the attack, each of the droids bounced and struck against her instrument with enough to be mistaken as a wrecking ball, Catra doing her best to shrug off the individual strikes as she bashed the droids back with her weapon.

Upon deflecting the fourth orb that bounced against her shield, she found herself caught off guard as the head of the large centipede dove straight at her from above. With little option left, the magicat was forced to brace herself as she turned the sword into a gold-plated gauntlet over her right claw, and grabbed the mandibles of the dreaded creature as she stopped it just inches above her head.

There, Catra grumbled as she bit against her own teeth, struggling to maintain her own ground as she was slowly forced to one knee. For such a disjointed creature, the centipede definitely knew how to apply a sense of force against someone as strong as She-Ra as it continued to lower her to the ground, the sound of the metal creaking under Catra's feet ringing within her twitching ears.

If it was just dealing with the centipede and possibly Scorpia afterwards, then Catra was confident in her chances. Despite the towering droid that continued to lower her to the ground, she knew she could come up with something to dismantle the bucket of bolts for good. Sadly, fate wouldn't be so kind to her as she had nearly forgotten a missing individual up till now.

*swish*

"Hey, Catra." A certain smirk-filled ex-friend that belonged to one by the name of Adora, the very one who reappeared out of thin air in a small burst of pink magic.

There was little time to react as her ex-friend appeared above her, grinning at her predicament with both swords in hand. With nothing more to defend herself with since her hands were full, the magicat was forced to duck under the lunging centipede's from, diving out of the way of the creature's strike while using the droids themselves to block off Adora's strike.

This did little more than annoy the girl as Catra rolled away from the machine's underside, distancing herself a few yards away as she redrew her sword once more. She barely caught wind of Adora's movement before blocking the dual-bladed strike from Adora's lunge, the Force Captain pressing into the magicat's blade as hard as she could, inching the girl back a good foot.

During the same time, the same amount of distress was being fought on Glimmer's end of the arena as she continued to bat away Scorpia's claws, avoiding the stinger that already made several attempts on her throughout the battle. Strangely, however, while Scorpia appeared to be fighting at her fullest, there was something off about it compared to the previous time Glimmer fought her.

If it wasn't for the look in her eyes, Glimmer never would've anticipated the question that soon came.

"What did you mean about the portal earlier?" Scorpia asked quietly as if purposely avoiding Adora's ears.

"What do you think I meant?" There was almost mockery in Glimmer's tone as she attempted to push back against the scorpion princess's strength, unable to process whether Scorpia was being deliberate or insincere. "I meant what I said earlier! Adora didn't try to close the portal herself, she tried to let everything be destroyed!"

"What...?" Scorpia glanced back at her friend for a brief second as she attempted to strike Catra from the side with her twinblades.

She had to be lying, of course she had to! This was one of the Rebellion's own after all! They were the people they were constantly at war with, the people that kept taking away Adora's happiness and made things worse for her young friend in the process. There was no way anything out of Glimmer's mouth could possibly be true!

Besides, how could she take her word over Adora's anyway? This was her friend she was talking about, one of her best friends. Adora's always been the one trying to help people, the one who always stood between those being picked on and those causing the trouble. She would never let such a thing like that happen! She's sweet, considerate, she couldn't possibly take Glimmer's words over Adora's! Even if-!

...Even if Adora's been a bit different as of late. S-Sure there was a reasonable explanation in there...

The older princess shook her head as she shoved such thoughts from her mind. "Y-You're... You're lying!" With a gruff in her tone, the princess pushed back the newly made queen with a brief rush of anger. "Adora would never do such a thing!"

"Oh yeah? Then how did she do it?" Glimmer challenged, maintaining her footing as she kept from being pushed back further.

"Do what?"

"Close the portal! Did she tell you how she heroically stopped the portal from the inside? Or make up some excuse about how Catra beat her to stopping the portal first?"

"... She..." The shift in Scorpia's tone strangely caught the Queen off guard for a moment, noticing the pained look in her eye. "She hasn't..." Glimmer was the new Queen of Bright Moon. She knew she couldn't be trusted, she wouldn't even dream of trusting the Rebellion Leader's words right now over her friend's.

So why... Why was it causing a small twinge of doubt in her mind?

She... hasn't told her? A part of Glimmer felt sorry for the fellow enemy. Another part of her wanted to tell her everything about Adora, about what she really attempted to do within the distorted reality. And yet, as much as she wanted to, she was more concerned over her other friend, one who was still contending with an overgrown insectoid and a commander with a surprising and unsettling new ability.

Whether her grip was slipping or the cloud of confusion was distracting her from the situation, Glimmer found Scorpia's grip loosening for less than a second. It was all the time the girl needed to find an opening.

With a single teleport, the flash alone being more than enough to catch the Force Captain off her guard, Glimmer reappeared behind her, channeling all the magic she could in her hands as she blasted her aside, causing her to drop the staff in the process. It was nowhere near enough to keep the older girl off her feet for long, rolling to her side before jumping back to her feet, but it was at least enough to get her staff back firmly in her hands. Now she just needed to figure out a way to delay Scorpia long enough to assist Catra in her endeavor.

An endeavor that she slowly seemed to be losing a handle on as she contended with the giant centipede-like machine and the Horde Commander who relished the new advantage she had after the first few minutes of their recent encounter.

"What happened to all that excitement you had earlier?" Adora lightly taunted as she grinned. There was a small streak of sparks as Catra pushed herself away from the magically charged commander with their swords.

"Ghhhhh...!" Catra hissed with a brief pant. The swords themselves were starting to prove a bit more troublesome than she initially anticipated. While they were nowhere near as harmful as they could've been, the electricity from the swords continued to surge through Catra's body without pause, and despite being incapable of damaging the young She-Ra, it proved to be a minor annoyance as she felt a slight numbness whenever they clashed. It almost matched Adora's strength to her own.

If it wasn't for Adora's continued hinderance by her own powers, there would hardly be any amusement in this situation.

Like now, for instance, when the blonde warrior attempted to swipe across the air at Catra from the side. Where she stood one moment, she found herself several yards away with a finishing stroke. Blinking to herself for a mere moment, the dual wielder rolled her eyes in a small huff as she teleported again from above, this time connecting her blades with hers. And even that enjoyment was starting to wane as she noticed Adora gaining more and more control of her powers.

"You know you keep going back and forth between everything being "my fault" and being "your fault" that I'm starting to wonder who's REALLY at fault for all this~?" Adora taunted as she recalled their previous bout within the portal's world itself.

"SHUT U-Ngh!"

*Clang!*

She couldn't get two simple words in edgewise before she already found herself falling for Adora's bait. With a few simple strokes to her anger, the magicat lashed out in fury with her sword as she attempted to strike swiftly with her sword. Unfortunately, still struggling to grow accustomed to Adora's new ability, she wasn't prepared for her to just-as-quickly teleport from her present location, nor the elongated centipede's head to collide fiercely into her sword.

She found herself incapable of pushing back as her feet skid across the ground, the massive beast pushing with all its force as it pushed Catra closer to the metallic walls behind her. Noticing the closing gap between her and her target, she quickly mustered up as much strength as she could as she briefly reformed the sword into a bracelet along her left wrist, freeing her hands enough to grab the mandibles from the creature's head. With a solid push, the feline bashed the creature's front directly into the floor beneath them, long enough for Catra to quickly climb atop its back as she reformed her sword.

Just as an unwanted commander made her reappearance just ahead, smirking as she kept pace with Catra just several orbs ahead running backwards. All the while, the centipede's body slowly ramped up higher and higher as the rest of its body came to a brief halt following the front's collision.

"And then I remember why you left to begin with and realize it's not even a question at this point." It was with the following sneer accompanied by Catra's audible growling that Adora knew would seal her fate.

With a mighty kick from the most recent foothold, Catra shot straight towards Adora with a burst of speed, wishing beyond anything to wipe that smug look off her face one and for all. She had anger in her veins, a desire in her mind, and a weapon at the ready as she prepared to cleave Adora in two. Out of all of this, there was one simple detail she didn't have that would cost her the battle.

Anticipation.

Without so much as a passing grin, the Force Captain disappeared from her sight, an was immediately met with the other end of the metallic centipede. Throughout her anger-fueled ordeal with her ex-friend, she had almost forgotten the balls were made up of separate metallic droids that didn't need to act upon the front of the centipede's head. Both ends could act on their own without the need for a front or a back. As if that wasn't enough, there wasn't even a need for it to be whole in the first place.

Which she learned the hard way as the centipede disconnected its two halves before she could land her footing.

*WHAM!*

"Ahh!" Catra let out a small yelp in pain as she was slammed.

With nothing else to brace herself against, already caught off guard with the previous Centipede head's appearance, she found herself incapable of protecting herself from the strike that came directly under her. No sooner did the centipede disconnect itself did the two halves briefly form their own set of mandibles, acting as the heads the two sides once had on the other end.

Without any means to defend herself from the impending strike, Catra was helpless as the new halves reeled themselves in briefly before slamming against the warrior's stomach with all their might. The initial launch threw her at least another good ten feet in the air from the fifteen feet she started on the centipede's back, and it would prove to be the least of her concerns after what followed.

Reconnecting within seconds of launching the now-defenseless cat, the centipede reformed in whole as it once was, taking every moment to use the defenseless state to its advantage. With a solid thrust towards the air, the magicat was powerless as it shot itself over the young teen before wrapping her within its coils.

"Nghhh! There was a tightening pain across Catra's chest as she felt the crushing force of the several metallic droids close in together. It was like being crushed together by four wrecking balls simultaneously with half the size, the force being more than enough to crush the average person like a twig within seconds. It was taking all the strength She-Ra had to offer just to push back enough from an untimely end, her arms pinned tightly to her side as Adora intended.

It also proved to be the final push for a certain companion to care more for his friend's safety than following her direct orders.

"CATRA"! Swift Wind and Glimmer shouted in worry, the latter being drawn to the sight of the flung magicat, and it would prove to be both their downfalls.

The majestic pegasus couldn't help himself as he burst from his spot. Flutterina nearly got caught up in the small gust he left off as he flew to Catra's rescue from the broken wall's opening, willing and able to do anything he needed to rescue one of his dear friends. He could live with Catra being angry at him for however long she wanted to afterwards, but he refused to risk his close friend's life just for the sake of their bond.

In any given situation, his speed and his flight would give him just the boost he needed for a hasty rescue. He could easily fly on in, swoop down and save his friend, then continue the mission as a duo like the two were destined to be. There was just a complication he wasn't prepared for: Adora was already on top of him.

Literally.

"I was wondering when you'd show." She commented as she appeared above him in a miraculous burst of pink, the very same Glimmer had been known for when teleporting. Without any hesitation, before the noble steed could so much as blink, she enshrouded her arms in pure shadow before launching them out, entangling them both in a cloud of darkness that slowly pinned the colorful wings to the side.

"W-Whoooa!" Despite the added strength that came with being Catra's self-proclaimed "Greatest of Steeds", there was nothing he could do against the dreadful shadows in her icy grip. By the time Adora had let up on them, he already dropped several feet from the air, low enough for another several orbs to coil around him, binding him just as it did his close friend seconds beforehand.

"Swifty!" Catra yelled with anger and worry. It took several seconds for the horse to regain all semblance of self, and by that time, it was already too late. No matter how free his front and back hooves were, with his wings pinned to his side, there was no amount of force he could muster that would break him free of his bonds.

And all throughout his struggle, Adora landed gracefully to the surface as she grinned back to the two captured individuals. She didn't know as much about Catra's capabilities or the power of their "Sacred Bond", sneering at the thought that they actually had one, but she didn't leave anything up to chance. She made sure the centipede kept the two of them several yards apart as it lowered both of them to the ground at her level.

It was at the same time that this transpired that Glimmer and Scorpia were caught by the sight of Catra flailing in the air, unable to keep their eyes off the feat until the centipede had ensnared Catra in it's grasp. By the time Swift Wind attempted to mount his own rescue did Glimmer finally snap out of her trance-like state.

Only one thing stood between her and rescuing her troubled friend from the Centipede's clutches- the fact that Scorpia snapped out of it one second sooner.

Seeing the distracted look in Glimmer's eyes, Scorpia took full advantage of her opening as she dashed past her. There was a mere blur of movement that Glimmer caught of Scorpia before the princess had the drop on the newly-made queen.

Reaching ahead of her, the strong Force Captain pinned the staff just above Glimmer's chest as she pressed the young Queen back into her, holding her in place. What use Glimmer could've made with her hands in order to escape was put on hold as not even a second had passed before she caught Scorpia's stinger in her grip, only a solid foot away as she struggled to keep it at pay.

"Ngh..." Glimmer gritted her teeth as she tried to push the stinger away with all her might, the rod pressed against her chest making it a little hard to breathe and still being the least of her worries. She couldn't teleport herself to help Catra without dragging Scorpia along with her, and likely stinging her in the process, and there wasn't enough distance between her and the tail to blast it away without hurting herself in the face as well.

Catra was completely on her own on this one, with nobody capable of helping her.

Even those who were the only ones free at this point.

Ca-!" Adora shot her head in the direction of the voice in curiosity, seeing nothing more than a broken down wall to greet her with nothing else around here. She stared at the opening for a food good seconds before turning her attention back towards Catra, figuring the sound must've been from Glimmer or Swift Wind again, if it wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her.

It was only thanks to this saving grace that Flutterina continued to breathe nervously to herself as her heart skipped a beat. She gave it a full ten seconds before feeling her heart beat back to her, taking a silent breath before looking back into the base's interior where the situation continued to worsen.

"Mmmh..." She moaned to herself in fear as she took out the datapad she still had on hand. "Come on, come on, someone pick up." She-Ra, one of the greatest heroes of Etheria and the Rebellion, was in trouble. The Queen of Bright Moon was in trouble. And her majestic steed was in trouble, all while anyone else who could help was being held in a cell buried in the ground, leaving Flutterina all on her own with a datapad that she didn't know how to function.

"There has to be something..." She needed a plan. Something, anything, to turn the situation around in just a few short minutes. She needed to find someone else to help, anyone that was in contact with these datapads the Rebellion and Horde were known for lugging around. Maybe she could call a nearby princess? Reinforcements? Anyone would be a huge help right now, and all of it was hindered by the simple fact that she DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO CONTACT ANYONE WITH THESE THINGS!

Then again, who was she kidding? With another groan, she gazed at her surroundings as she tried to formulate a plan. Even if she did manage to get into contact with someone, it would take too long for them to get here anyway! But it raised the question of what she was supposed to do if calling for backup was a no-go. She didn't know where any of the weaponry was located and nothing short of a full-fledged Horde Tank would stand a chance against that giant metallic bug, much less Adora. If only she had a piece of tech around her, she could figure out someth-

Flutterina blinked as the realization dawned on her. "Wait a minute..."

"-connect this wire over here like this, and throw this switch, and viola! You have yourself a personalized miniature EMP!"

"Ooooh!" The several kids watched with interest as Flutterina blinked at the small makeshift device.

"Does it really work?" She asked, watching as the archer disconnected the wires from his data pad.

"That's it!" Her wings perked up a little along with her expression as she looked around. The solution to her problems were already in her hands! All she needed was to find the missing component to her solution, something that could draw enough power for her plan to work. It wasn't until she saw the reflection from behind her in the blank screen that she found all the pieces she was looking for, smiling as she guard tower continued to stand tall as she rushed inside.

Now all she needed was to hope she was fast enough before Adora lost her nerves.

The very same Adora who grinned as she took in the scenery around herself. "How often do we wind up here, Catra?" She casually asked, twirling one of her taser swords briefly before sheathing it in her left. "You know, the whole "me over here trying to unite Etheria", you and your friends "ruining things at every turn"? Because it's been getting very annoying recently."

"Tch, the feelings mutual..." Catra scoffed, grumbling as she continued to struggle herself free.

"No, really, it's gotten very annoying for me. Anytime I try to get people to join the Horde, you have to get involved in a way that ruins it for everyone involved, especially me!" Just the memories of those instances brought spite to Adora's mind. The countless outposts she's lost, the numerous towns that have turned back on their agreed alliances. And all because Catra got such enjoyment out of her misery!

"Oh, what? Kidnapping an entire town is your new recruiting allies to your side?" There was a smug grin on Catra's face that sickened the blonde warrior as she turned a little. "Pffft, that's rich. Hey, while you're at it, how about next time you set fires to their homes before stealing everything they have? I'm sure they'll love ya then-"

"I could care less about this stupid town or what it has to offer!" Adora snapped back as she stood straight into Catra's face. "I'm finished with going for the minor victories, and letting you ruin everything!"

"Oh, right, because I'm the center of alllll your problems." Catra rolled her eyes once again, much to Swift Wind's nervousness.

"Ehhh Catra?" He muttered softly. "Maybe we shouldn't be antagonizing the girl with the swords right n-" His warning was cut off as he noticed a small gesture with Catra's hand pinned behind her, a simple gesture urging him to follow or come closer, and giving him all the info he needed to know.

She was stalling her. For as long as she could pique Adora's attention, she wanted him to get closer so the two could set off the only thing that could save them right now; their Sacred Bond. As long as Adora was focused on Catra, the mighty steed could struggle to free one of his wings, being the only thing long enough to reach her from this distance, and preform the miracle that would empower them both enough to break free of the mighty insect, and hopefully destroy it.

The question became a matter of what would happen first- if Swift Wind would manage to wiggle his wings free, or if Adora's anger would reach it's breaking point. Given how resentful the Force Captain already was of her ex-friend, he prayed it wouldn't be the latter.

"You are the cause for all my problems!" Adora continued to yell. "Everytime I do something, you have to be there to ruin it. Everytime I gain a new ally, you have to be the one to take them away from me. No matter how large or how minor I obtain something, you have to be the one to break it away from me, and I've had it!"

"Oh yeah? And what's your big strategy now? Actually winning for a change?" There was no end to the spite rising in Adora's heart, her mind becoming more clouded and darker as Catra continued to pull on her strings. At this rate, any single thing that originated from Catra's mouth could easily set her off. "Face it, Adora. If you actually ever did your job for a change, then MAYBE you would be someone that even Hordak appreciated!"

That did it.

With her back to her, Catra watched as the shadows began to swirl around Adora a little, her fists clenching tightly to both her sides as the red mystical veins along her left arm began to bright. As if reacting to her emotions, the veins gave off very minuscule sparks of red, growing brighter and brighter with each passing second.

She couldn't keep her mouth shut. No matter what she did, Catra just had to antagonize her every time. She couldn't let her be happy. She couldn't let her win for a change when it really mattered. She didn't care what she had, she would steal everything from Adora if it brought so much as a smile to her face. And now, she couldn't even give her the peace of silence as she continued to flip her lip with every other sentence.

And it was with that sudden revelation that everything came to a halt. The air of anger that swirled around Adora went off. Her powers weren't reacting to her, the veins returned to their normal glow, and her shadows dissipated, all as Adora seemingly let go of her anger. "You're right." Catra blinked, her ears twitching at the two words she clearly misheard. "You're right for once. I haven't been doing my job around here." The Force Captain glanced at the taser blade clutched in her right hand.

...

It was at the same time this was going on that Flutterina finally reached the top of the Guard Tower's interior, panting a little out of breath. Not that she could blame a tower that only stood about 40 feet tall, but you'd think they'd have some sort of elevator in these places for an emergency like this.

At least the tower itself was empty. If there was any silver lining to her present situation, it's that the tower, like much of the base, was barren of Horde soldiers. The last she'd need to deal with was an entire room waiting for her as she ran inside, interrupting her work as she tried to find any sort of loose panel with access to the wires of the facility.

Thankfully, as she had hoped, there was a terminal station with several monitors and stands next to them, all along with wall-sized windows to every corner of the base for the view. If they were connected to the entire base as a whole, then she could draw all the power she needed for an emp blast strong enough to bring the whole machine down, or at least do something to it to help her save She-Ra and Swift Wind.

"Okay, just like Bow said..." Flutterina mulled to herself as she came across an access panel. Getting ahead of herself, she quickly picked around the edges of the datapad until she could finally get it open, getting everything ready as she felt her hands along the console's panel for an opening. "Just find the orange wire, connect it to blue, and hit the switch!"

For a brief moment she felt excitement as she pulled apart the panel at the prospect of saving her hero, She-Ra, with her own two hands. As soon as she found the right wire she needed, she was going to be the one saving the Rebellion's greatest ally for a change, and prove herself at the same time!

It wasn't until she pulled away the panel that she blinked, groaning to herself as she squeezed her head a little in frustration. "WHY IS EVERY WIRE ORANGE?!"

...

"Everything I've done, everything I'm doing... it's been nice... too nice..." Just the grip of her own sword was enough to affirm how soft she's been to everything. She should've been gripping it tighter, rougher, so it would never slip out of her hands. "I keep leaving myself open to betrayal... I kept letting people push me around... And I never argued with what I was told... Even when I didn't agree with it." It was with this statement that she pushed beyond her tightened grip, squeezing it firmly in her hand as she shot a look back to her mortal enemy. "And now... I'm done."

Fiercely, Adora grabbed the collar of Catra's outfit, pulling her as close as she could so she could see the fire in Adora's eyes. "I don't care what I have to do, and I don't care what it takes. I am going to crush every kingdom between me and Bright Moon that gets in my way, along with their stupid princesses. And when I finally unite Etheria and crush the Rebellion, then you will see who the real villain is, Catra!" There was a brief silence that fell over several individuals as they took in Adora's words.

For Catra, it was due to the inability to recognize the person who just said that to her. That anger, that spite, everything that was uttered just now? It was like nothing compared to the person she once knew. Sure, she egged her on and she still wanted her dead, but just hearing all that from Adora's mouth? And without any known magical parasite messing with her mind at this moment?

It was like she was someone she had never met before. And the red eyes were not helping.

And it wasn't just her ears that were bothered by the declaration, either. From the floor above the ramp, at the side of the walls interior, Scorpia looked back to her unaware friend with unease.

Did she just hear all of that right? Did Adora actually say something like what Hordak or Shadow Weaver would say? She knew the Horde's methods weren't always the best, but with someone like Adora around, she never had to worry about that sort of thing. She was compassionate, she was patient. She cared for everyone around her and preferred to make friends than enemies.

It wasn't enough to loosen her grip as she continued in her attempts to sting the young Queen, but for a moment, if she had closed her eyes right now, she could've sworn to herself.

The person standing down there wasn't Adora. And it almost frightened her for a single second.

Yet even with this, Catra refused to show any sign of fear in turn or relent. With a twitch of her left ear, it sounded like Swift Wind almost freed one of his wings from the Centipede's grasp. She just needed to keep Adora's attention for another minute longer, then she was sure she could get out.

With another unfazed chuckle, Catra continued to smirk to the tempered commander as she shook her head. "Pffft, yeah, and we'll see how many people stick by you to the end at that point." She snarled, enjoying the sight of Adora's fuming as the grip on her outfit's collar tightened. "Keep living in your fantasy world as a hero and maybe Shadow Weaver won't be the only one you lose by the time it's all over!" Adora stepped back as her eyes returned to their regular hue momentarily. Catra paused.

...

"Mmmh... which is it...?" Flutterina mumbled to herself as she continued to search the interior of the large computer's console.

57 Wires, not a single one orange, and only a dozen of them left to go through. She couldn't afford to make a mistake as she searched for the wire connected to the base's entire computer system. If she ended up using the wrong wire there would be no second chances. With the datapad in hand, she only had one chance to activate it, and if she used a wire that caused an emp blast no further than the outside of this room, the pad would be inoperable again for a second use.

Somewhat fortunately, sorting through the various wires were proving a little easier than she initially expected. Most of the wires ran from one end of the console to the opposite side of the computer that had absolutely nothing to do with the console's configuration or keyboard that she needed it to.

Of course, the further in she got, being about a foot and a half way into the machine with her arms, the less wires she had to work with and the more stress she had to experience. Rifling through another handful of them, she found at least seven remaining wires that were likely the ones she needed. Every good piece of news involving the wires made every wire she had remaining more stressful as she found it harder and harder to tell which wires were connected to the power grid.

And she was running out of time.

"Mmmh... No wonder everyone hates the Horde, they can't even make their wiring simple!"

...

That bile that was once rising upon Adora moments before, the one she had let go upon her grand revelation slowly returned, her expression hardening as her eyes narrowed. Catra just couldn't keep her own thoughts to her just once. She couldn't give her the solace of peace that she yearned for after finishing a sentence. She just had to keep rambling on, taking this way and that, all because she had to do the one thing Adora knew about her by this point: Take.

"... I never lost them." Adora stated firmly, tightening the grip in her taser sword as the electricity danced across the blade. "Everything I've ever had... everything I've ever cared about... were taken. By you. Even after you left, you still couldn't help but take everything I had just to make your life easier, could you?"

At this, the electricity dancing across the blade surged, reaching its maximum intensity as Adora's anger finally peaked. "I'm not letting you take a single thing from me again, Catra. Not now,", with a pulse of her power, she raised the sword well above her head, tightening it's grip even further as the shadows squeezed around its grip, "not EVER! And with all the force she could bring, she brought the blade down full swing atop of Catra's head.

It was with the resounding shout that Glimmer's attention was caught by the Horde commander as her eyes widened in terror. "CATRA!" She still couldn't do anything on her end as Scorpia still kept her pinned to herself, the Force Captain refusing to let up as she attempted to sting the princess to knock her out for good.

Neither was Swift Wind in any condition to come to Catra's aid, either. The most he managed to wiggle out of the robot's grip was nothing short of an inch, with still a whole half of a wing to get free. Even with all his strength, struggling as much as he could at this moment, there was nothing he could do to get to She-Ra faster to perform their Sacred Bond, the one ace up their sleeve that could save the day.

Catra herself felt everything around her come to a grinding halt as time seemingly slowed down around her. She didn't have any tricks up her sleeve, she couldn't use her sword in any way as long as it was pinned under her at her side, and she didn't have any surprises she was waiting to spring at the last minute. It almost felt like she was as her heart skipped a beat, knowing for the first time in her life, there was nothing she could do.

Adora had actually won. She had planned for everything this time and even came with a surprising new power even she was unaware of. And now, she was going to enjoy the fruits of her labor at long last as she prepared to take Catra's life herself, ending She-Ra and the Rebellion's greatest ally all at the same time.

And with nothing left to do, Catra just closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the end to be brought upon her.

"-I suffered for what you did like you always dreamed of-"

*Swiff*

"..."

She could feel it just inches from her head as the heat of the electricity rose from the blade. Was this just time going even slower for her as her end came even closer? She's never come so close to death like this, at least not without knowing or having a surprise trick in her bag to get her out of the situation, so there was no telling how fast or slow time would go right now. All she knew was that she could only wait for the end to come...

And waited.

And waited...

And was still waiting.

Okay this is taking way too long... Catra thought to herself as she decided to take a chance and look. Slowly opening one eye, she wondered if time had truly come to a stand still for a moment, or if something else had occurred in its place. Much to her surprise, and her disbelief, the thing that had stopped Adora's sudden execution was... nothing.

There wasn't anyone blocking the blade or grabbing her arm. Her sword didn't lose any power, not that it would matter in the present situation. There wasn't some magical force field over Catra protecting her, there wasn't some spell over Adora that made her suddenly freeze in place, there wasn't anything. There was just Catra stuck there blinking a bit, a sword directly over her head just inches from her face. And on the other end of that?

Adora, who appeared to be gritting her teeth as her hand shook a little.

"Adora?" Scorpia muttered, wondering what was stalling her friend as she was. She kept going off and on about how she wanted to put a stop to Catra's interference for days on end, especially since the portal incident a few weeks back. Yet now that she finally had the opportunity to, what was keeping her back? Nobody had the answer to this sudden mystery.

Not even Adora herself. She just grunted a bit to herself as if she was struggling to go through with it. She finally had a chance to get rid of She-Ra, to get rid of Catra! She could end the Horde's greatest threat with a single stroke, she could rid herself of the headache and nightmares that have been plaguing her increasingly with each passing day! So now that she finally had the opportunity to do it at long last, WHY COULDN'T SHE GO THROUGH WITH IT?!

She couldn't describe the feeling that was making her stop, either. She felt like the moment she came within several inches of Catra's head, her heart suddenly stopped, and would continue to stop each time she attempted to perform the same act of violence without end. She didn't feel sick, she wasn't under any orders to bring She-Ra in alive, not that Hordak was in the position to give her said orders anyway, and she knew deep down, that if she could and finally did go through with this, she would earn the respect she deserved.

She would show Hordak that she was wrong about her at long last, that she was truly the Horde soldier she had always aspired to be and that she was always trying to show him. She would earn the admiration and respect she's suffered through so much for, and all it took would be finishing off Catra once and for all. And most importantly, it would bring her continuous struggle against her former friend to a final end.

So why?

Why on Etheria did her hands freeze like this?

"Nnngggh..." Adora grumbled as she narrowed her eyes to the point of closing them, her body tightening with each beat of her heart. It was almost like her mind and her hand were disconnected from each other she had so little control over it right now. Times like this she almost wished she had a disembodied magical parasite infesting her mind.

At least then, someone could tell her what's going on or what she's feeling.

After another ten seconds of internal grumbling, the Force Captain finally scoffed, pulling her sword away as she scowled. "Forget it."

Huh? Catra was beyond words as she was plagued by confusion. She had to admit, if Adora was up to a trick of some sort, she had absolutely no idea what Adora was planning.

"You're more valuable to us alive, anyways." She stated as she turned her back to her once more. "Scorpia, hurry up with her Royal Majesty, this place is getting on my nerves." There was so much Catra found confusing about Adora's sudden turnaround, both, figuratively and literally, but with her back turned as it was, she focused her direct attention back to her winged friend as she gestured to herself one more time.

Now that the looming threat of Adora's sword seemed to be past them, he redoubled his efforts in loosening his wings, doing everything he could to free it in time to reach Catra's hand. There was never going to be another chance like this with Adora's back turned to them and they couldn't afford to squander their last remaining opportunity.

Sadly, they also never had one.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me..." Retrieving Catra's lost attention once more, the magicat watched as Adora rose her free hand to as high as her shoulder, and gave it a single, authoritative, snap.

*Click*

*Skreeeeeee-!*

"Aghhhh!" Catra cried out along with Swift Wind, squeezing her eyes from the pain. Whatever minor annoyance they were in previously, whatever grip the giant metallic bug had over them moments ago, was nothing compared to the crushing force that now squeezed against them from all sides. The metallic creature almost groaned as it grinded it's metallic spheres closer to one another, putting the two heroes between a crushing force unlike anything they've ever experienced.

"What? Did you honestly think I didn't notice?" Adora shot back with a sly smirk. "I know all of your tricks, Catra, like when you're purposely drawing out a distraction." The cat in question let out a small hiss under her grumbling, opening one of her closed eyes to see Adora's sneer. "I meant what I said earlier about crushing everything that stands in my way. Besides, it'll be easier to drag you back with a broken limb or two..." She paused turning a glance to her winged companion. "I don't really know about your pony sidekick though..."

"Ghhhh... He's not a pony! His name is Swifty!" Catra hissed again.

"Actually, it's- eghhh... It's Swift Wind!" The horse corrected.

"NOT NOW!"

...

"Mmmmh..." Flutterina sweated a little as she looked at her options. There were only two wires left. Two. Entire. Wires. Everything that came to saving Catra and Swift Wind from the metallic Centipede that was currently crushing them hinged on getting the right wire at this very moment, so while there was a 50% chance of getting the wire right, there was also a 50% chance on getting the wire wrong.

It felt like she was in the middle of defusing a bomb to herself as she examined both the wires closely. There was no indication which wire could be the correct wire as the ends of both wires were fed through a small hole connected to the console, making it easy to pull them out, but making it impossible for her to tell what wire was connected to the computer's power grid and what wire was connected to anything else.

Maybe they were both the right wires? Maybe neither of them were the right wires? Maybe this wasn't even a suitable power source and she was wasting her time to begin with? All of this hinged on the single chance that this plan would even work in the first place!

And, as if to add on to the pressures, she saw the situation unfolding outside as the robot began to crush She-Ra and Swift Wind. If there was any chance of saving the two at this point, it was on the hope that this plan could and would work at all, and the hope that she wouldn't be known as the one who let She-Ra get beaten all because she picked the WRONG CHOICE WHEN HER ENTIRE CHANCE OF RESCUING THEM ALL HINGED ON A SINGLE ORANGE WIRE!

Still, as stressful as it was, she shook her head as she came to a decision. Against her judgement of rushing things, if there was any chance on saving She-Ra, it would have to be now. So, with a deep breath, she steadied her heart as she tossed the right wire aside and went with the left one. Tearing away the rubber insulation, the young rescuer silently prayed to herself as she attached the wires as she was shown previously, setting up the datapad to set off the EMP, provided she chose correctly.

With a final deep breath, she closed her eyes as she steadied her finger for the final time. "Please let this work..."

*click*

"... No..." She muttered with fear in her heart. Nothing happened. There wasn't even a beep. She panicked as she scanned over the device on all sides, unable to comprehend what she had done. She chose wro-

*BZZZZZZZZZZ-*

"Ahhh-!" Flutterina crawled back as the datapad practically leapt from her hands.

In a sudden display that caught her completely off guard, the entire room began to surge with electricity from the console as the lights began to flicker in rapid succession throughout the building. From the wire connected to the computer's interior, Flutterina watched with wonder as the streaks of lightning danced across the floor, ceiling, and walls alike as if it was an electrical pulse that was spreading from and to the datapad itself.

The EMP was working!

...

The effects of the datapad's accomplishment wasn't just stationed within the interior of the Guard Tower's station. All across the entire base, the Horde outpost began to run amok with power fluctuating back and forth with electricity. All around the facility, sensors and light posts were flickering back and forth as they began to be drained of power one by one. From the outside to the inside, the energy of the outpost was being siphoned as it slowly gathered inward to the very guard tower were it started from.

All around her, Adora was struck with confusion as she, Scorpia, and Glimmer saw the chaos unfolding around them, the three of them perplexed by the sudden random event striking at the outpost. "What's going on?" Adora yelled as she scanned around the facility. Was there another attack taking place she wasn't expecting? Or was the entire fight a diversion for this exact scenario to play out?

Looking around herself, Scorpia's eyes were drawn beyond the walls to the other part of the facility, her head giving her just enough height to see past the barriers. "Uhhh Adora?" She called out, worried by the sight. The containment field, the temporary prison for the people of Elberon, began to waver off and on with increasing ferocity. Whatever was assaulting the base just now was causing the barrier to dwindle in power, and each wave causing the prison to erode with every passing second. "Something's going on with the prison..."

"What?" Adora yelled back, unable to hear through the rumble of the facility.

"I said the prison-"

*swish*

"Huh?"

*swish!*

*CRASH!*

"Scorpia!" Adora shouted as the scene unfolded.

This distraction. The electricity dancing around everything and the two Force Captains wondering aimlessly as they watched the strangeness unfold around them. Then the moment Scorpia turned from looking to the prison to looking at her best friend. All of this, was exactly what Glimmer needed to free herself from her predicament.

With the stinging girl's attention drawn away from her in its entirety, she finally managed to afford the time she needed to pull off a successful teleport. With the loss of her grip on the staff, Scorpia was unprepared as she let her guard down for Glimmer to give a single, solitary, push away of her stinger, finally giving her the space she needed to push away the staff pinning them together.

After managing to push the staff just out of her claws, Glimmer finally had the mere inches she needed to teleport herself without the unexpected company. From the surprise of the princess's disappearance combined with the electrical storm currently running through the base, the Princess of the Black Garnet was ill-prepared to defend herself as Glimmer reappeared behind her, blasting her with a wave of her pink energy, and throwing her over the rail of the bridge into the crates on the other end.

With her freedom and father's staff reclaimed, Glimmer turned her attention back to the commander a level below her. She was prepared to take on the soldier herself as Catra continued to struggle from the centipede's tightening grip. Hopefully, if she was quick enough, she could beat Adora in time to save Catra from being crushed.

Fortunately for her, she wouldn't have to.

As the electronics around the facility continued to be siphoned, the datapad on Flutterina's end began to brighten little by little with a light-blue glow as it hummed. The pink-haired girl watched with a slight curiosity as the datapad began to rattle with its building light, starting first as a light stutter, quickly evolving into a rapid nonstop tapping that began to shake with the rest of the room. Already knowing what was about to befall the base, the young girl hurried herself out of the room as the datapad practically levitated with energy, vacating the tower as fast as her legs could carry her.

And just two feet out the doors, all at once, it was finally unleashed.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

*Sksksksksksksksksk-!*

It was like a bright singular wave of energy as a ring of blue spread across the entirety of the base, even reaching up to the trees at the edge of the clearing and then some. All throughout the base, everything electronic, from simple radio equipment to the outside turrets began to short circuit. Sparks and streaks of lightning danced across every mechanical surface, even Adora's own swords which ceased to power, began to shut down.

But most of all, the metal behemoth that had been the bane of Catra and Swift Wind's struggles till now was also affected.

The creature hissed as bolts and steam grinded against each other as it short out. While not outright disabling the creature, the centipede began to whir and shake violently as its motor functions struggled to maintain their current grip on the heroic leg of the creature twisted back and forth without end as the robot began to squeeze and expanded without end. The head and tail of the creature waved back and forth out of its own control, as if struggling and failing to detach itself from the spheres that connected it.

It was nauseating to detail what the creature truly felt at this moment, feeling half its functions disabling while the other half remained enabled, and continuing to switch back and forth from this status in a perpetual loop. The fact the creature managed to maintain its functionality to this extent proved wonders for what the mechanical engineerings of the Horde's scientists were capable of, but none of that mattered right now. What truly mattered was that the creature had lost its once-formidable grip and, most importantly, gave the two teh opening they finally needed.

"Swifty, now!" Catra shouted directly as she gave a final push. Grumbling, the pair struggled with all their might as they gave it the final shove, pushing away the creatures body on all sides as they loosened their arms and wings respectively.

With its functionality less than even a fourth of what it was previously capable of, the centipede was helpless to resist as Catra and Swift Wind finally managed to push away the creature's coil with ease. Reaching for each other without hesitation the two gathered their power to perform the miracle they needed most, one that was finally unleashed as Catra's fingers grabbed onto the shoulder blade of Swift Wind's right wing.

Their Sacred Bond.

*SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM*

A glorious bright erupted from where the two were once captive that enveloped everything within the same reach of the mighty construct. It almost reminded Adora that day of the Battle for Bright Moon, more spherical in shape and just as powerful as the wave that once was. It radiated with the same aura that haunted her several times since then in her nightmares, reminding her of the constant point in that war that turned the tide in Catra's favor. And here was no different- save for

Within seconds of the erupting light's birth, Adora watched as a gallant steed shot forth into the sky high above them, shining with the same majestic power they once donned earlier that day against the lesser centipede-like droids. Sword in hand, Catra grasped the mane of Swift Wind's hair, hanging onto it as he shot forth like a rocket, one that was speeding off towards the sky in the direction of the sun. This alone proved enough to temporarily blind the force captain as she shielded her eyes, the illumination of their aura combined with the sunlight filling her entire view with white temporarily.

It left little in the way for the dynamic duo as Catra looked back to the ground, seeing the centipede machination completely incapacitated and Adora blinded from her view of them. With the coast being as clear as it was, she gave a firm tug to Swift Wind's mane once again, the horse nodding in approval, as it turned in a full one-eighty, shooting straight towards the towering creation for a final attack.

Gathering as much energy as she could with his help, rising her feet to the horses back, Catra leaped from the great white body as she shot towards the very head of the creature. "Haaaaaah!" Bellowing a thunderous warcry, the magicat rose her sword above herself in two, aiming directly between the creature's mandibles, the weak point of the dreaded mech, as its head threw back, barely able to focus on Catra's assault as she finally landed atop the metallic being. And finally, with a firm thrust of her blade, she impaled her sword straight into the droid's head.

*creeeeeeesh!*

Like the EMP that gave them their opportunity of freedom, the creature's head erupted with a surge of electricity as it was breaking apart from the inside out. Unlike the EMP, however, there was the added spice of Catra's own magic at play here. Even if she still didn't have the expertise of her magic on her own, with Swift Wind's added power, she managed to inject a massive wave of She-Ra's power within the destructive droid, one that surged all throughout the body, and to every connecting sphere.

Cracks began to erupt one after the other among the various spheres, the energy cracking apart the metal armor from within, leaving behind small streaks of light to erupt from each individual crack. More than enough power was poured into the elongated being, and the satisfaction at the sight of her accomplishment was more than enough to convince Catra not to stick around any longer. With another graceful leap into the air, she landed onto Swift Wind's back as he passed over again, and watched as the fruits of her labor would finally pay off.

With the creature's destruction.

*boom-boom-boom-boom-!*

"Noooo!" Adora shouted angrily. Her vision returned just in time to see the destruction of one of the Horde's greatest creations, almost as if time itself was mocking her with a glimpse at this painful destruction. Like dominos being toppled over, she watched as every segment of the droid burst apart in an array of light, destroying the construct at long last.

Nothing remained of the creature that had any value to Adora or Catra as they examined the remains of the destroyed creature. The metals were nearly melted from the extreme heat of the ensuing blasts, and what few parts did remain of the centipede's many spheres would barely put together a single piece of the 30 orbs that made the droid so fearsome to begin with. Everything was gone, and nothing remained but ash.

Except for an old Force Captain Catra still had a score to settle with.

Regathering the energy shared between the two, Catra centered the energy she had remaining into her blade as it began to glow with it's own aura of power. What would've taken a short time to pull off on her own was done in nearly a single second with Swift Wind's assistance, the noble steed sharing the energy that their bond blessed them with. Raising her sword towards the sky for a final time, still atop her friend as they flew in Adora's direction, and with a single swipe of her magnificent sword, she swiped.

The commander gritted her teeth as the magicat unleashed her energy, firing a solid stream of wave-like energy towards the young girl with all her might. Normally, the sight of the massive yellowish wave of energy would send shivers down most peoples' spine. On the other hand, for Adora, she just found it as a new inconvenience at best.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Adora commented with a smug grin. Did Catra truly forget about her new ability to begin with? Now that she had a sample of Glimmer's powers, she could easily teleport herself out of the way. It didn't matter if her lack of control landed her 20 feet in the air or the other side of the world. Anywhere would've been better than-

*zzzzt*

"Huh?" Adora flinched as she looked down at her arm. The red veins that normally glowed over her suit, the ones that were illuminated right up to this point, were shrunk to the size of an inch long along her arm.

Trying to gather the power she needed to teleport again, she saw nothing more than a simple spark of red electric streaks bouncing off her arm before fizzling out of existence. It was only then that Adora had realized her mistake: she carried the same amount of magical energies as the princess she copied them from, including the number of teleports Glimmer was previously limited to.

*CRASH!*

"Ngh!" Adora let out a small squeal as she was thrown through one of the interior walls from the resulting explosion. With little choice in the matter and barely any time left, Adora was forced to defend herself with her own two hands. Gathering what remaining power she could, she encircled herself in a thin brief dome of shadows, barricading herself from the majority of the blast's impact.

There was barely an inch separating her from the direct impact of the explosive waves as it collided against her magic. It was unknown how devastating the blast would've been if she hadn't shielded herself, or if she would've survived at all with most of her limbs attached, but with the combined might of the exoskin and the protection her shadows managed to enforce, she staved of the worst of it.

The pain was an entirely separate matter, but was a debate for another time as she groggily picked herself up from the dusty outside ground.

Compared to the rest of her body, strangely, it was her left arm that hurt the most as she grasped it, specifically along her wrist. Apparently exerting herself was meeting with similar results as she did when she was possessed by Aroda, the strain of her magic putting a hamper on her body. In this case, with the veins barely visible over her left arm, she felt a strange stinging sensation all along her wrist, either from the great exertion, or from the massive blast she experienced seconds prior.

Whichever the case mattered little to the Force Captain as she gazed at the sky once more, seeing Catra still flying a little above the base. Both girls narrowed their eyes in anger at one another as Scorpia made her way to Adora's side, being almost completely ignored as Scorpia checked on each other.

The events of today would never be over, nor forgotten by either girl as the paths before them were made clear. For Catra, it was revenge for what Adora put her through and for what she did within the portal world. For Adora, she would no longer put up with everything Catra had taken from her, and would ensure that the next time they met, that she was the one who had it all taken from her.

Nevertheless, there was little either of the two could do as the dust began to clear. With little choice in the matter, Adora resigned herself to a hasty retreat with Scorpia trailing behind her. Catra would've been more than willing to give chase to the former friend if she wasn't tired already from the arduous battle she just experienced. Tip that off with the sound of the villagers from the in-ground prison, and seeing Flutterina panting along the ground as she exited the guard tower, the source of the EMP explosion, and she knew there were bigger priorities at stake here.

Besides, from the sound of the prison area, she already heard a familiar voice calling out as he began climbing his way out of the cell, helping the other villagers as they followed in suit behind him. "Alright, take my hand... I got you... there we go..." It was the sound of his voice that got Glimmer truly excited as she teleported to the prison area.

"Bow!" She called out overjoyed, relieved to see one of her closest friends were safe from harm. The very archer was just as relieved as he turned around after helping another villager out of the pit.

"Glimmer!" He called out as the two rushed up to each other in a hug. Catra would have to admit, not openly of course, that she was just as relieved to see everyone okay, including her close friends. Even if it wasn't openly, she knew Swift Wind could tell what she was feeling as she gave a small grin to him, patting his head a bit for a job well done.

It might not have been easy, but everything had turned out okay.

...

"Thank you so much." The Village Leader's voice was pleasant to hear after all this time. Within the last several hours, Catra found herself saving the village for a third time in a single day, fought off Adora, and destroyed a new and destructive type of Horde robot that almost crushed her and her steed. With the Horde threat removed from the village, hopefully for good this time, and the three friends reunited once more, they managed to help the villagers out of the prison's pit, and finally saved everyone. "We couldn't have gotten out without you! We really don't know how to thank you!"

"Aww, you know," Catra sneered, rubbing her knuckles against her chest, "no thanks are necessary. I'm used to it."

*thunk*

"Ow!" The magicat yelped as the others chuckled, rubbing her arm a little from Glimmer's "accidental" nudge of her elbow.

"I think what Catra meant to say was, it was Flutterina you should really be thanking." Glimmer corrected, graciously pulling Flutterina to her side for all to see. "It was her idea that pulled us all out of that mess. I don't think we would've made it without her help." There was a brief, awkward, smile from the young girl as she scratched her cheek, lowering her head a little in embarrassment.

"I know you think I'm just a kid, but I'm ready to join the Rebellion." She stated almost pleadingly. "I wanna fight the Horde, and keep my people safe, like She-Ra... If... it's alright?" Now Catra was the one to blush a little, a flash of red streaking her face as she looked around to her friends. They gave her a confident smile and a nod, already voicing their opinion on the matter. They just wanted to give Catra the final say-so.

"Are you kidding me?" Catra started off, already to Glimmer and Bow's regret. "You ignored my orders about getting involved, rushed into danger without any sort of backup, messed with Horde technology without any idea of what it did or how to use it, and disabled all the tech in the area without any concern of what we could salvage?!" Needless to say, Flutterina lowered her head in disappointment at this.

Despite being the reason they were all saved, it's also true that she risked herself in the process and destroyed any valuable equipment within the Horde base they could've used. If she was a member of the Rebellion, she'd be forced to get up close and in person on nearly every mission like this, and they couldn't afford to risk every victory on a chance like this. All of these details would've made her a danger to herself and everyone else wherever they went!

...It was also needless to say, it sounded perfect to someone like Catra as she patted her head, grabbing her attention. "I'd take you along even if everyone else was against it!" Immediately, this brought Flutterina to a warm tearful smile as she quickly hugged her hero, earning bouts of chuckles and laughs from those around her. To think she was actually going to join the Rebellion and fight with She-Ra, THE She-Ra, against the forces of the Horde for the foreseeable future! "Besides, I still need a new sidekick after Swift Wind was fired."

"Wh-Wait! I'm still fired?!" Swift Wind stammered in disbelief.

"Of course you are! I already told you you were at the party, remember?"

"I thought you were just joking about that! I mean I still helped rescue you so don't I get points for that?"

"Well maybe if you called me the "coolest" the first day we met, we wouldn't be having this discussion!"

"I couldn't even talk then, I was just a normal horse!"

"And whose fault is that?!"

"Hahahaha!" Bouts of laughter erupted from the villagers and friends alike, including the newest addition to the group, Flutterina. All in all, everyone came out on top today from an arduous rescue mission that nearly resulted in Catra's demise, and perhaps the rest of the Rebellion if anything happened to Glimmer. And while there was no new tech for them in store, and barely a day's worth of stuff to salvage, they came on top of it with a new addition to the team, and a valuable ally they knew they were going to cherish.

Everything was wholesome by the end of it as everyone smiled, inside and out... even if... Catra still had a slight frown to her person as she looked away a bit...

...

The pier overlooking the docks forty feet below did little to assuage Adora's irritation as she looked around. Knees curled up in front of her, a solemn look over her expression with a hint of anger in her eyes.

Normally, this would be the spot she would go to to get all manner of thoughts of a day's mission out of her head. Whether she was dealing with personal matters, a tiring assignment, Hordak expressing his... "disappointment" in her failures, and so forth. This would be the single spot she knew she could relax, one where she saw everything that reminded her of what she was fighting for and why she was doing everything.

But now? It did little more than to remind her of the constant headache that continued to flash in her mind, ever since she failed to finish off Catra earlier that day.

"You got exactly what you set out to do. You took away someone I cared about-"

"Hey, Adora!" Scorpia could be heard calling out from behind, reaching her friend with a typical, casual, smile. Waiting for her friend to respond to her, she sat along the edge of the towering pier to her right as Adora turned her head away. "Are you okay? You've been quiet ever since we got back. Is it about the mission?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Adora stated firmly, unable to bring herself to speak with a more pleasant tone.

"Hey, don't worry about all that Catra stuff, alright? We did a great job on the mission and we almost won." Nothing Scorpia said soothed Adora's internal anger, even when she tried patting her on the back. "And hey, you have a fancy new power now, remember?" She reminded, pointing out to the glowing red veins along Adora's left arm again.

Okay. She could admit that. The fact she could absorb the princess's magic was a startling new twist she hadn't expected, or the fact she could copy an ability of it at the same time. Thankfully, it took little more than a simple recharge from the Black Garnet to re-energize her magic. In addition to having her shadows back to full capacity, it came with the deeply-appreciated bonus of retaining her teleportation magic as well. Adora did have to admit, out of everything that happened, it was one of the only two good things that happened today.

And it still didn't get her out of her sour mood. There was only one concern that truly irked her.

"She was right in front of me..." Adora commented, squeezing her hand in front of her face. "I had Catra right where I wanted her. I had the perfect chance to finish her off and put an end to the Rebellion and I didn't!" It almost felt like a bad dream in a sense. She almost wished it was a bad dream so she would have an excuse for everything that happened within the last few hours!

Seeing the look of anguish over her friend's face, Scorpia did her best to provide whatever comfort she could as she leant an ear. "Well... Why did you?" She blatantly asked. "I mean, sure, she was your former friend and everything, and you told me she was more valuable to us alive, which I agree with entirely, but then why did you-"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Adora shouted, jumping to her feet. She squeezed her fists angrily, keeping control on her own power as her eyes briefly flashed red. "I don't know, alright?! I just don't! I hate her for all she's done to me, I've wanted to make her pay for everything she's done to me, and then-"

"And, for your sake, I hope it was worth it."

"-And then she tells me some stupid lie about how she finally learned how I feel, and then... Ughhh! I don't know how to describe it!" It was the most confusing feeling she's ever experienced in the recent days as she rubbed the bridge between her eyes.

Why was it bothering her so much?! What exactly did those words do to her to make her stall her so much?!

For the first time in months, ever since the incident at the beacon, she's felt... different, somehow, compared to the norm. Usually everything regarding Catra was with nothing but vile and hate along with it, memories of what she realized after all these years of wasting a friendship with her. There was no way to describe the pain it made her feel, even to this day. It almost haunted her, just as constantly as the nightmares she's suffered since the portal incident.

And now? Now of all days when she came closer to defeating Catra and her irritating friends out of all the times she's ever fought them, what gets to happen? She suddenly finds herself physically incapable of finishing off Catra for good, all because she said a few stupid words to her that made no sense to her that kept flashing every time she thought about ending her!

Did she cast some unknown spell on her or something? She's never fought Catra at She-Ra's full strength. Maybe there was some underlining incantation or something that caused her to lose like this? Or maybe the taser swords she had to get fixed malfunctioned and numbed her without her knowing. Whatever explanation she could come up with was MORE PROBABLE THAN ANYTHING SHE CARED TO THINK OF RIGHT NOW!

Out of all of this, out of all the ways the answer could've come to her, she had to rely on Scorpia to give her the one suggestion that made her heart stop in its tracks.

"Maybe you just forgave her?" Adora froze upon hearing this with nothing more than a blink, processing the words on a continual loop for nearly ten seconds as she looked at her trembling hands.

"I... Forgive her?" It almost revolted her to hear such a suggestion. Then again, what other answer could there be, no matter how sickeningly?

"Well... yeah. Just think about it," Scorpia went on with a casual smile, unaware of Adora's boiling rage as she stood up, "all you've been doing was to try to get Catra to understand how you feel, and now you finally do, so maybe you forgive her a little for everything." She took Adora's silence as a clam as she stretched a claw over to her shoulder in comfort. "I mean, I know you wouldn't let that interfere with Horde business, and i have your back either way, but-"

*WHAP!*

It was with a startling slap against her claw when Adora finally turned around, her eyes flashing red again as her anger rose with her magic a little. "I DON'T WANT TO FORGIVE HER!" She shouted angrily. "Don't you get it? Do you understand what me "forgiving her" would mean around here? It means allowing her to continue to do what she's doing all for her selfish reasons, let her go on like nothing in the past ever happened. It means I should just let her forget about everything she's done for me in the past, and let her achieve whatever reward she has in store in her future. And I'm just supposed to stand around and accept that? NO!"

"I-I didn't say you had to accept it, I just-"

"She needs to learn that her actions have consequences!" Adora continued to interrupt, taking a step forward as Scorpia stepped back. "She needs to know that life doesn't go happily just because she did one good thing with her life, in her world! We don't live in a world where she's rewarded after a lifetime of betrayal, and I refuse to accept we live in anything close like that! Do you understand? Because I am done repeating myself, and I will not hear you bring it up again! Are we clear?" There was barely a huff in Adora's tone as Scorpia's eyes wavered.

She looked like she just saw the most graphic or horrifying part of a horror movie, speechless beyond words at everything that Adora just said. Adora wasn't just repeating herself about how she wouldn't forgive Catra like everything else, it was almost like a declaration of every reason why she couldn't forgive Catra, why she couldn't get over her anger and rage.

Adora refused to accept this world was the forgiving sort, not after all she's been through.

As for Adora herself, she stormed off in anger as she neglected everything Scorpia just said, not even paying her a second thought as she Scorpia sighed to herself, sitting along the edge of the pier with a frown.

The Force Captain didn't fully intend to take her anger out on Scorpia like that, but as it stood, she also didn't care right now. To think of some drivel like that, some stupid reasoning for staying Adora's hand like that, that kept her from finishing off the greatest threat to the Horde's existence, was unthinkable. She didn't forgive Catra, she was positive about that. She couldn't forgive catra. She refused to forgive Catra. Because why?

Because it would mean she no longer hated her, and that was never going to happen. Even if she didn't have one right now, she knew. She definitely hated Catra beyond compare. She might not know why she was having these weird thoughts, and she was going to push them aside for the sake of the Horde. She would ensure by the end of all this, she had a single, solitary, reason for hating Catra again.

Even if she didn't know it yet.

"Oh, hey Scorpia?" Scorpia's heart began to lift up again as she heard Adora's voice, no doubt ready to apologize like she knew she would. Instead, she was greeted with a brief flash of red in the eyes again before they returned to their natural tranquil shade. "If Emily disturbs me in the middle of the night one more time, I'm sending her to get scrapped got it?" Either there was some hidden language within that line of dialogue Scorpia was unaware of, or there wasn't anything apologetic about it. "I'll be checking in on the prisoner if you need me."

Once again, Scorpia lowered her head as she took in all that happened today. Everything with the villagers, everything with Catra... and everything Glimmer told her during their fight.

Did she tell you how she heroically stopped the portal from the inside? Or make up some excuse about how Catra beat her to stopping the portal first?"

She would never take her word for it, especially compared to that of her best friend's. Adora might've been moody, to put it lightly, around here lately, but there was no way she was cruel or evil enough to want to destroy the entire universe, much less the world, in the process!

... And yet... did... Did Adora hate the world they lived in right now? Would something like that ever drive her to wanting to see this world gone in the first place? Whatever happened in the portal world was none of her business, she knew whatever Adora had gone through had to be overwhelming. But did it at least mean she couldn't question the bits and pieces that bothered her when Adora refused to tell her?

Or... Or did Adora not even remember herself?

"...?" Scorpia blinked as her train of thought was suddenly interrupted with a new line of thinking. "Wait... What prisoner?"

...

"Hmhmhm, Sacred Bond, saving the day~" The noble steed sang quietly as the group of friends traveled through the Whispering Woods.

How could he not be excited after everything that happened? Once again, the power of their Sacred Bond saved the day for the heroes, and everyone around here got a happy reunion. Sure, there was Flutterina's timely save, too, but it was the fact they could perform their Sacred Bond more frequently that truly excited him. It meant that, no matter how much Catra protests otherwise, that they truly had a special bond, one that Catra was more than willing to call a friendship over.

On top of this, there was a new addition to the Rebellion now by the name of Flutterina. The perkily pink-haired girl was more than excited about her status as she walked beside majestic beast alongside Glimmer and Bow. "I'm joining the Rebellion. Can you believe it?" She could squeal for the 80th time in excitement today!... If it didn't hurt Catra's ears again. It still gave her plenty of permission to let her eyes water in happiness. "Me. Flutterina. This is the most exciting day of my life!"

"Hey, you deserve it more than anybody if you ask me." Bow replied with an optimistic smile. "After all, if it wasn't for you, I don't think any of us would've made it out of that outpost in one piece."

"Plus now it looks like I might have a new flying buddy." Swift Wind added, lowering his head towards her. "How about it, Flutters? You? Me? Ten laps around Bright Moon first to see who wins?"

"Heh, I'll... think about it." She chuckled. Honestly, she didn't know what to say about the racing. Even if she did agree to it, there was likely an unfair advantage he had over her, what with being She-Ra's noble steed and everything. There was no telling how much extra power that came with it. "Besides, everyone should be thanking you, Bow. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off if you never taught me earlier."

"What I... taught you?" Bow asked curiously. With all the days events it was hard to keep track of specifically what she was referring to.

"Yeah, you know? With how to make an EMP? At the party?" She reminded.

"Oh, that? Hah, I'm surprised that ended up being what saved the day in the end. I wouldn't have thought that would work against a giant centipede like that."

"Well, to be fair it didn't. She-Ra and Swifty are the ones who destroyed it in the end-"

"Buuuuuut where credit is due, if it wasn't for Flutterina, we wouldn't have gotten the chance in the first place." Swift Wind happily interjected, supporting the girl. There was no way he was going to let her get down on herself anytime soon, even if he had to watch out for her from taking his sidekick position.

There was a heartful laugh as the three companions continued to relish in their victory, save for a certain one that Glimmer noticed to be silent about throughout the trek home. Looking back, she caught the familiar glum look of Catra's expression as she walked a few yards away from the group. While it wouldn't be anything out of the norm for her, it was a little depressing to see her frowning a little like this when they achieved a great victory. At the same time, she knew there were a few matters hanging over her mind, even one she needed to address.

With a casual teleport, the princess reappeared at Catra's side, the warrior giving her a casual glance before continuing on forward. "Catra? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine..." She replied, scratching the back of her head.

"... Do you want to talk about Adora-?"

"No." She stated firmly. It was already clear by that alone what was nagging at her.

"Look, Catra, I get it. She messed up a lot of things within the portal world, but-"

"No, you don't get it, none of you do." She hissed a little, doing her best to keep the conversation to themselves. "It wasn't just the portal world she messed up, Pinky. Or what happened with Angella."

"Then what are you so upset about? Catra, I don't remember the last time I've seen you so angry at someone else. You looked like you were really about to kill her, and you know what almost happened, don't you? What is it that you're so upset about?"

Oh, nothing, just the fact I'm the only one who has any memories of a former lifetime within the dreamworld. Man she wanted to say that so badly. She wanted to tell her everything that she experienced, that she was part of her family in a different timeline before the Horde was erased, how she had memories of growing up from childhood with Angella, Micah, and Glimmer, and how much it meant to her.

But what would be the point as of now? To her dismay upon the world returning to its former self, none of them remembered. None of them knew that Catra once had an alternate lifestyle within the portal world, or that she was once a part of Glimmer's family. The memory of those things were painful alone just for Catra to bare. What would be the point of telling Glimmer all of this now when she wouldn't understand in the first place? How would she even begin to explain herself?

At times, it felt like a curse. At others, she admitted she was blessed with a lifetime of memories that she could remember fondly. On the whole, there was no telling where she was or how she felt on the line of thinking. All she knew was that she cared a little too much about her friends to fill them in on a lifetime of memories, and regrets that they would never recall them.

Still, she knew where she was going with this. If she had crossed that line, she may have shattered her connection to She-Ra for good. It was something she was going to have to talk to Light Hope about, about finding some way to deal with her newfound anger for her former friend. But as it stood, she knew better than to continue with the line of thinking currently plaguing her mind.

With a bit of a small chuckle, Glimmer was rather surprised as Catra's glum look turned into a small grin. "Eh, I'll tell you about it later, okay? Now come on, we need to beat them there. I can't let the sidekicks get there before me." She teased, racing on ahead and apparently drawing in the rest of the gang in a small race.

Catra was definitely hiding something. That much Glimmer knew. And as much as she wished Catra would just tell her what was up, she knew it was pointless. This was the Catra they had gotten to know over the year, and the fact she assured her she would tell her "eventually" was more comforting than otherwise. In truth, she preferred these moments of Catra finding something to be happy about even if it was false. At least then it showed she cared enough about her friends still to go along with whatever they said.

Hopefully, it was the same optimism that would keep Catra from making a future decision that she would surely regret...

...

"Flutterina, on behalf of the Rebellion, welcome to Bright Moon." Glimmer officially and warmly greeted as she revealed the land behind her. It was amazing and adorable to see Flutterina's eyes widen as they did as she took in the scenery before her.

Everything about this place spoke in lengths of just how awe inspiring and beautiful it truly was. She knew Glimmer was an actual princess, a Queen as of now, but everything about this was like something out of a fairytale!

The landscape itself was more than enough to captivate the eye. The tranquil woods they just came out of, the luscious landscape that made its way towards the castle, and the flowing waters from the waterfall to the surrounding stream around the castle. Everything about this place was the very definition of beautiful. And that didn't even include the fact there was a gorgeous castle as well, one many had never laid eyes on before, and one few were even gifted enough to ever be given the chance to see.

And now, it was going to be a new home for the newest member of the Rebellion, Flutterina.

"Oh... my... GOSH!" She squeaked, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"If you think it looks good now, just wait until you see what's inside." Bow commented, getting the already-excitable girl even more excited for what's to come.

"And while we're at it, let me go over the pecking order with you..." Catra volunteered as she pulled Flutterina casually along by the shoulder.

"We don't have a pecking order!" Glimmer smirked as she walked along. She wouldn't WAIT to hear how this would go.

"Well maybe not an official one, buuuut it's one I've found to be quite useful in knowing who runs things around here."

"Oh gee, I can't imagine who's at the top of this list..."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, there's a list involving a meatshield I know you'll love the placement of~"

"Catra!"

"Heheheh!" This was awesome, beyond words of amazing to Flutterina. An entire castle filled with who knows what, a chance to work with one of her favorite heroes, and being able to be a new part of the Rebellion, one that would fight off the Horde at every given opportunity. Every fiber of her being was filled with excitement.

And she couldn't wait for her first mission...

...

"... Ngh..." Their head felt like it met face to face with a pickup truck as their consciousness slowly returned to them. "What happened...? They could barely remember as they became aware of their surroundings. Feeling the hard metallic floor against their skin as they pushed from the ground, the dizziness and nausea from waking up, it all felt so familiar to them. If they didn't know any better, they could've sworn they were back in-

"No." All sense of fear and panic returned to them in full as they realized the reality of their situation. They were in the Fright Zone. Not just the Fright Zone, the Horde's prison as well. The one place they remembered coldly from the last time they were imprisoned within this place along with their friends. It had to be a bad dream, a nightmare, or something! Anything would've been better than the steely walls they were seeing again.

"Well, well, well, look who finally woke up." Or the familiar voice that grabbed their attention. Their eyes were turned to the sight of the smirking Force Captain as she leaned on the rails along the prison's platform, crossing her arms with pride as she observed her "trophy" again. "I was beginning to think we hit you too hard earlier. Thank goodness that wasn't the case."

"Adora..." They muttered. Unlike before, they didn't show any sign of fear or concern for themselves as they stood firmly, marching up to the forcefield door as they never took their gaze off the girl.

"Yeah, yeah, save me the whole "duh, you'll never get away wit dis" speech. I've heard it a thousand times." She teased, casually making her way up to the prisoner with a datapad in her own hand.

"And it's true! When my friends realize I'm gone-"

"Gone?" Adora interrupted this as she grinned with wicked glee. She drew his attention to the small video being displayed as she revealed the footage that was currently being broadcasted over real time. "Why, whatever do you mean? You're with your friends right now..."

...

Someone had taken their place. Someone who assumed their form. Someone capable of putting on the display as a typical friend while working to undermine the Rebellion for as much pay as they could get out of it. It wasn't just going to be a matter of simple espionage, oh no. It was going to be the performance of a lifetime, and one that Double Trouble couldn't wait for the curtain to rise!

This would be the world's greatest act in the history of the Universe! And as he blinked within their newfound form, they grinned, knowing the exact words that Adora must've been uttering at this very moment:

"I always knew you'd fit in the Horde... Bow..."

...

A/N: Hehehehe...HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! Oh man you guys have nooooooo idea how long I've been holding that twist in all this time X) god i could not wait to unleash it, and man am i excited to see your reactions to it!

Yes: Flutterina is 100% real in this, and i'm excited in her future inclusions! You know it always bothered me with the Elberon episode: i think i expressed my grievance with whether or not the show suddenly got dark and Double Trouble killed and replaced Flutterina (and im too lazy to check for myself cause god its been forever XP), but with that said, I just recently realized another issue- if Flutterina wasn't real to begin with, how come no one in Elberon mentioned never seeing her before? Idky it always just bothered me.

Anyway! Needless to say, there is a lot of love and thanks i need to give to everyone who continued to support me. Special mention to both Star and Petie who kept up to date with me on a daily basis and helped me sort through a few things, and most of all, special thanks to all my fans who've supported my work and have kept the reviews coming in every now and then. Its your marvelous feedback and contributions that have kept this fic going guys X)

And especially MAAAAAAJOR thanks to everyone who supported me over . now that I'm back, hoping to keep the open for any and all welcoming support ^^. From those who supported $5 to those who supported so much as $1, every bit helped, and kept me from looking for a job and getting my work done.

And once again, i apologize if the quality of the fic is lacking. Especially towards the end, obviously i was getting a bit tired so might've skimmed/rushed the last thousand words or so, so sorry about that X/ Even right now im writing on fumes as its nearly 10 PM, but I refused to let this go another day longer without a posting. I think part of the issue stemmed from the same issue that caused my hiatus last time during the season 2 ep 2 thing, where i wasn't 100% sure of where my writing was going or if the idea i was writing for the episode was even good enough for the episode and whatnot. A part of me is actually hoping thats the case, cause the last time it happened, i wrote endlessly for the next 12 episode's worth of chapters ^^ On the downside, it means i'll likely be on another hiatus in the middle of episode 2 or 3 of season 5 XP lol.

At the same time, not sure if i'll be able to post frequently (or at least this weekend) as we might be babysitting my sister's kids over the weekend so going to be busy. Apologies, but now that i'm over the problem chapter, here's hoping i can keep up my writing streak ^^!

So, with that said, hope you all enjoyed! Leave a like, fave, follow, and review! If you wish to support more directly, please pledge as much as you'd like to my , which can be found simply by typing "Monokub " on your fellow search browser, or looking at my instagram "Monokubkub" and following the direct link from there. Every dollar helps ^^

Hope you all have a fantastic day and hope to see you soon!

Series this work belongs to:

Part 1 of Cat-Ra

Works inspired by this one:

Cat-Ra: Prank Buddies by Peyton_Helix

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ShiranaiAtsune on Chapter 1 Thu 28 Mar 2019 01:05AM UTC

Wow! A new Cat-ra AU fanfic! I love it! So long with many chapters already! I wish I’d read this sooner!

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vase on Chapter 1 Thu 16 May 2019 12:48PM UTC

A very energetic opening and Light Hopes reaction is intriguing!

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Hazbinreader2000 on Chapter 1 Sun 01 Dec 2019 08:18PM UTC

I really like the story you made I hope you have time to do the rest of the chapters

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Aurora Skipworth (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 14 Apr 2020 02:49AM UTC

Dang, this has a whole lotta dang chapters. But, question, why was lighthope glitching so much?? Anyways, I like this a lot. But again, this is a whole lotta dang chapters!! (104 to be exact)

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Aron (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 20 May 2020 08:59AM UTC

Hello, sorry for this question, but can I translate this beautiful work for Russian community?🥺👉👈

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1. Monokub on Chapter 1 Wed 20 May 2020 11:05AM UTC
  
  Sure ^^
  
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Guest (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 26 May 2020 02:03PM UTC

Dude, Shadow Weaver is just an abusive mom.

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weirdoughnut on Chapter 1 Mon 20 Jul 2020 07:01PM UTC

This is incredible??! I can't believe you've written all of this in just a few months! This has me so hyped!!

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Mazikin (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 18 Aug 2020 06:58PM UTC

Hello. I am very interested in the work and read it with great pleasure. This work was started on the Russian platform, but not completed. And could I ask You for permission to translate this work to the Russian platform, facbook?

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Melody (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 19 Aug 2020 06:25AM UTC

Good afternoon. Sorry for the question, but can I translate this work for Russian Shi-Ra fans?

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Malicious_Epiphany on Chapter 1 Sun 30 Aug 2020 09:19AM UTC

Hmm...So, was Catra not meant to be She-Ra? Ooh, that makes it even more interesting.

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the_chronic_system on Chapter 1 Thu 22 Oct 2020 09:43PM UTC

holy shit, that's a lot of chapters. mad respect.

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Reeda_Book on Chapter 1 Mon 02 Aug 2021 06:25AM UTC

George RR Martin has written 1,770,000 words in the game of thrones thus far. You are 300,000 away. I have not read your story and yet I am blown away by your dedication and hard work on this story. I'm looking forward to reading!

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FluidWillow (Guest) on Chapter 1 Wed 04 Aug 2021 03:19AM UTC

Certainly the most unique take on She-Ra that I’ve ever seen. Great work. ;)

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TitanMaster on Chapter 1 Sat 30 Oct 2021 06:17AM UTC

Loving this so far! Catra really deserves some more spotlight as a hero.
Quick thought though, and I don't mean to be rude, but at the beginning of the chapter, you kept saying Eternia, and not Etheria. Just thought you should know.

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bubblekiller97 on Chapter 1 Thu 31 Aug 2023 01:54PM UTC

Just wanted to put this in perspective that this fic has more words than the bible. I love when people write something even longer than the bible. <3 Haven't even read yet but will certainly give it a shot.

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Arthur0098 on Chapter 1 Sat 20 Jul 2024 01:20AM UTC

Ooh! I'm always of the opinion that Light Hope would've done the exact same nonsense to Catra she did Adora just by virtue of which lesbian picked it up first. The last few fics I read didn't have this idea, so kudos to you for having it! I can't wait to see where it goes next

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KaiserdeDiez on Chapter 2 Mon 11 Mar 2019 03:28AM UTC

In my case I find accurate characterization to be the harder part.

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1. Monokub on Chapter 2 Mon 11 Mar 2019 12:07PM UTC
  
  You have no idea ;/ harder still to keep that characterization throughout multiple chapters.
  Welcome aboard the comment or train ^^! Hope you enjoy the series and leave me your feedback!
  
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vase on Chapter 2 Thu 16 May 2019 01:22PM UTC

I enjoyed this chapter, it feels a bit on the canon rails, but the differences make that familiarity all the more fun, and the general tone and dialogue of the characters fits them extremely well, thanks for sharing!

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1. Monokub on Chapter 2 Thu 16 May 2019 01:24PM UTC
  
  glad to see i have a new fan of the series :P if you like it now, you're in for a wild roller coaster up ahead ^^ The fic might not be as popular on here as it is on fanfiction, but considering i have the highest review rating on that site for this series, i'm pretty sure its good ^^
  
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2. 1. vase on Chapter 2 Fri 17 May 2019 10:43AM UTC
    
    Haha, happy to be here, it was an impressive read, and an amazing accomplishment to have written as much as you have and actually finished, massive kudos to you!
    
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Aurora Skipworth (Guest) on Chapter 2 Tue 14 Apr 2020 03:23AM UTC

So, I would 100% recommend this to my friends, but there is a slight dilemma. So, out of all of my friends, not a single intel of them actually watches she-ra, which is very sad. Anyways, I loved this chapter, and I’m really excited for the one where she-ra gets infected with the murder virus, and then goes all loopy. Also, I wanna know why lighthope keeps glitching. Oh well, we will wait and see.

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Book_Vs_Lupus on Chapter 2 Mon 22 Jun 2020 06:13AM UTC

I didn't realize you had a shera catra profile pic but when i read the 1st and 2nd page i stopped reading to draw myself a shera catra as well... And I'm proud of it. 😊

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1. Book_Vs_Lupus on Chapter 2 Mon 22 Jun 2020 06:19AM UTC
  
  Also this story inspired me before I even saw your profile pic.
  
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2. 1. Monokub on Chapter 2 Mon 22 Jun 2020 12:39PM UTC
    
    Lol gtk ^^ I always do what i can to inspire the fellow fans ^^~ hope you enjoy writing your catra fic as much as you like reading mine ^^ love the pic btw
    
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